Greetings readers.

I'm sure that most people who watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 were reeling after the gut punch that was Rocket's tragic backstory. I'm sure we all expected it to be tragic. I'm sure we all knew that his animal friends were all going to die. But the way it happened was so . . .hard to describe. It happened in the worst way possible for poor Rocket. It gets even worse when you realize that Rocket was a CHILD at the time. At least Telltalle Games made it happen when Rocket was presumably older. We all wanted them to all make it, even though we knew they couldn't. Especially when you realize that both Lylla and Wal Rus/Teefs were actually recurring characters in the comics. It would be interesting to see them interact with other Marvel characters and stuff. I'm sure many of us are hoping for an episode of Marvel's WHAT IF. . . ? where Rocket and his friends all make it out alive. I honestly wanted to write it myself, but I was unsure how to go about it beyond "Rocket tackles Lylla out of the way of the bullet." But then I saw the Rocket & Groot shorts, and I was inspired.

This story will be exactly what it says it is: Lylla, Floor, and Teefs added to the storyline of these shorts.

But don't expect laziness! I'm not just shoving them into the episodes! I will expand their characters into their logical progression and have them actively contribute to the story. ALL of them. Not just Lylla, Floor and Teefs will have their time to shine as well.

Therefore, I suppose I should give a spoiler warning for Rocket & Groot. The whole series is free on YouTube and is about 20 minutes long. But then again, seeing as I'm changing things around and expanding the plots of the shorts into something more interesting, watching the series might actually spoil my story! But maybe my changes might make it beneficial to watch the shorts, seeing as I plan to even change some of the endings. Maybe just watch the first episode to get a feel for it and then come back here? I'm not sure what's the best way to experience this, so I guess you should just trust your own judgment.

So, without further ado:

WHAT IF . . . ?

"Rocket & Groot & Lylla & Floor & Teefs"

Or

Rocket's Friends Survived and Had Adventures with Him and Groot

Part One: Dream Machine

Rocket considers himself a very lucky guy, all things considered.

He was uplifted and granted heightened intelligence, and forged true friendships with three others like him. A white rabbit with metal jaws, metal antennae, and metal spider-like legs named Floor, a walrus with a pair of wheels on his lower body named Teefs, and an otter with thin cybernetic arms named Lylla.

Even when the one who had given him these gifts turned out to be a compassionless mad man with a god-complex who planned to have his friends killed and his brain removed, luck was still on Rocket's side. He easily built a key to set himself and his friends free, and when the heartless megalomaniac very nearly shot Lylla in the back, Rocket made sure he paid the price for his cruelty.

The escape was hectic and heart pounding, and many of the madman's guards were gunned down by the now dual wielding gun toting raccoon. But in the end, they made it to a ship, with only a few wounds from where gunshots had grazed them. Rocket succeeded in showing his friends not just the sky, but the stars and universe beyond.

The group of four enjoyed their freedom and explored the universe freely, with Rocket's intellect guiding them and helping them to acclimate to the realm of self-reliance outside of a cage with a bed of wood shavings and a diet of food pellets. The bits of information on society and civilization gleaned from the vile madman were of great use to Rocket, and he was able to explain the concepts to his friends in ways they could understand.

Years passed, with adventures and misadventures big and small. There were times of action, but also times of simple fun and relaxation and the appreciation of a life with no borders in an infinite universe full of planets in turn filled with peace and beauty. Eventually, their travels led them to the meeting of a fifth friend: a tree-like being named Groot. His manner of speaking was odd to say the least, but in time, both Rocket and Lylla were able to understand him with ease.

The group of five went on to explore and have more adventures, earning credits through claiming bounties on bad guys big and small.

But now, it seemed that Rocket's luck was finally running out. The group had met with failure after failure for quite some time now, and it seemed like things weren't going to be different this time either.

Rocket's ship shot through space in pursuit of a ship that was much faster. Rocket's ship was clearly in great distress, smoking and sputtering. Groot was clinging to the outside of it, desperately trying to patch it up as it flew.

"I AM GROOT!" he shouted, the wrench in his hand flying out as Rocket continued to fly after the enemy ship.

"Slow down?" Rocket replied incredulously, "We can't slow down! This bounty is worth a million credits, and we almost got him!"

Floor ran up to Rocket and shouted and pointed at the holographic warning signs that were popping up. "Red lights! Flashing red lights! That means bad!" the rabbit shouted.

"I'll say!" Teefs shouted as he rolled about in the back of the ship on a set of speedier wheels made of lighter materials courtesy of Rocket. He also had a yellow collar around his neck, out of which extended a pair of mechanical arms. This was another gift courtesy of Rocket, and said arms currently held a welding torch in one and a roll of black electrical tape in the other. Teefs hastily patched a leaking air hose and shouted, "This ship is falling apart!"

Outside, Groot stretched out his arms to literally hold the entire ship together. "I AM GROOT" he shouted as strained to the limit of his strength.

"What do you mean 'get a new ship'? This ship runs fine! It's running just like the day I got it," Rocket said irately as he hammered the control panel back into place as it came apart as he was using it.

In the copilot's seat next to him, Lylla sat staring at him with concern. She clung tightly to the arms of her chair with the far more articulate hands of the upgraded cybernetic arms Rocket had made for her a while back.

"Rocket, I don't think we can catch him," Lylla said honestly, "Our ship is too damaged. We need to land and fix it."

"But we can't let him get away!" Rocket exclaimed as he turned to Lylla, "You read his wanted poster. The crimes he committed! You agreed we needed to-."

"I AM GROOT!"

"Of course I see it, I'm not gonna let us- AHHH!" Rocket screamed as he turned back to look out the windshield and saw that they were headed for a massive asteroid. He yanked the steering back hard, only for it to snap right off.

Floor shook her head so fast that her antennae rattled and she cried out, "Not good, not good!"

The target flew off into the distance while Rocket's ship continued downward. It just narrowly missed a direct collision with the massive asteroid, but its tail struck the bottom of the space rock repeatedly. The ship eventually ground to a halt and drifted in space.

Rocket and Floor were both thrown up against the windshield and slid down and fell to the floor in a heap. Meanwhile, Teefs was lying flat on his back and shouted, "Can we please land now?!"

Rocket slowly got up and slammed the steering back into the slot. He huffed loudly and said, "Okay. . . I think we can make it the nearest junkyard planet. . . Let's go. . ."

As the ship slowly began to move along, Lylla managed to catch her breath and said gently, "Um. . .we'll get him next time. . ."

Rocket just sighed and kept looking straight ahead.

After a janky landing on Broker's Junkyard, the males were soon hard at work digging for parts, while Lylla and Floor waited back in the ship.

"Poor Rocket," Lylla mused aloud.

"Rocket not broken! Ship broken!" Floor remarked.

Lylla sighed and said, "What I mean is, right now, Rocket probably feels like a failure. But nothing could be further from the truth." With certainty and adoration in her eyes and voice, Lylla went on, "Rocket is nothing short of a living success story. Just think of all that he's accomplished! It just hurts to see him be so unnecessarily hard on himself. Maybe that's why he's so attached to this old ship."

Floor's antenna twitched in thought, then she piped up, "Floor and Lylla go cheer Rocket up!"

Lylla smiled back and said, "That's a great idea. Come on."

The males were all atop a large broken rocket, ironically, as Rocket dug through its metal guts.

"Rocket. Buddy. Don't make us stage an intervention for ya," Teefs said sympathetically.

"I am Groot."

"I told you, our ship is fine," Rocket insisted as he tossed bits and pieces aside, "Just help me scour this junkyard for some spare parts."

"Maybe you should take a break?" came Lylla's voice.

Rocket looked up to see Lylla and Floor right in front of him. "Huh? What are you girls doing here? It's not safe," Rocket said, clearly surprised to see them there.

Lylla put a metal hand gently on his shoulder and said, "Rocket, you're pushing yourself too hard. It's okay. We can get another ship-."

"No, I promised!" Rocket said as he gently nudged Lylla's hand off of him.

"Promised?" Lylla asked.

Rocket sighed and said solemnly, "Don't you remember what I said years ago? Back in that cage? I said that I was gonna make great machines that fly for me and my friends. Not buy. Make. Sure, I didn't make that ship from scratch. But I've modded it and customized it and upgraded it and done so much that I practically did build it! That's why I'm not letting it go."

Lylla just chuckled and shook her head. "Oh, Rocket. . . you've already fulfilled that promise. You've already done more than enough. More than I can even put into words. You're allowed to make yourself happy, you know. We all know that you'd love to get a better ship."

Rocket stared at Lylla for a long moment, considering her words. Then he shook his head and knelt back down. "Thanks, but it's fine. Maybe fixing that ship is -urk- what makes me -grr- happy -urrrrrrg-."

Rocket grabbed some wires as he spoke and was tugging on them. Eventually a large mechanical part came out and bounced down the side of the rocket. The raccoon chased after it, following it to a hole in the scrap heap. Rocket looked down into the hole and gasped at what he saw. He then jumped down into the hole with no hesitation.

His friends all quickly followed after him, and they quickly saw what had grabbed his attention. Sitting inside this hole, hidden away from the outside world, was a beautiful pristine ship about the size of their current one. This ship, however, was clearly more modern. It was sleek with sharp angles and a red chrome paint job. It looked like it had just come off the assembly line.

Floor was practically vibrating with glee as she shouted, "So SHINY!"

Rocket, meanwhile, was simply staring at the ship with wide eyes and a big dumb smile, complete with his tongue hanging out. Groot walked over and waved his hand in front of Rocket's face, only to get no response.

Lylla stifled her laughter behind a metal hand. She found it so adorable to see Rocket this happy and excited about something. "Looks like I've got competition," she thought jokingly.

Teefs whistled and said, "Talk about a lucky find."

At the moment, the owner of the junkyard made his presence known. Broker was a thin, pointy-eared, pink-skinned, humanoid alien dressed in green. He smiled and said to the enamored raccoon, "You have a fine eye for machines my friend. That beautiful mint condition restored classic ion drive starship can be yours for only three million credits."

The price finally brought Rocket out of his daze. He blinked, but then smiled and turned to Groot and said cockily, "Look Groot, I know you're attached to our old clunker, but you know what? I think it's time to get a new ship."

Teefs couldn't help but laugh as Groot just rolled his eyes.

"So, three million credits, huh? How much we got in the bank, Teefs?" Rocket asked.

Teefs waved his flippers about and said, "Let's see. . . not counting our spending credits for food, fuel, spare parts, and repairs. . . . we got. . . zero."

"What?!"

"It's been ages since we've actually completed a bounty," Teefs explained.

Rocket's face fell in disappointment, and he said, "Eh. We've got some work to do."

Lylla nodded and said, "Well, now we have a goal to shoot for. We might have had a bit of bad luck before, but I'm certain that this is a sign that we can get our. . .our. . ."

"Our mojo back?" Rocket supplied with a grin.

"Of course!" Lylla said confidently.

"Friends get mojo! Friends get mojo!" Floor shouted excitedly.

With his confidence in full swing, Rocket nodded and said, "Well then, let's do this thing!"

"YEAH!" / "I AM GROOT!" everyone shouted.

End of part one. . .