"Having survived the Contest of Champions with the help of the honorable warrior Bill, Batch 89 were given back their freedom and found themselves personally invited to stay in the Grandmaster's palace. While they had the time to take advantage of the elder being's hospitality, our furry quartet kept their eyes towards the stars and the day they'd get back to exploring the vast galaxy…"
"You want us to what now?" Rocket raised an eyebrow at the request. It was the following morning after the Contest of Champions, and Batch 89 had woken up to find Scrapper 142 at their door alongside other servants of the Grandmaster, each of them holding fabrics of some kind.
"Grandmaster wants you all to look presentable while you're in his presence," Scrapper 142 explained. "Doesn't explain why he's having me do this, though…"
"Presentable? What's the matter with how we are now?" Teefs questioned.
"While you all did well in the arena, it wasn't hard to see that all four of you lack appropriate attire," one of the servants said.
"So you're here to make us clothes?" Lylla translated.
"Oh, funny cloth that others wear! Floor want to try clothes!" Floor said excitedly.
"I guess if we're Grandmaster's guests, we can humor him here," Rocket shrugged. "Besides, if we're gonna be exploring the galaxy after all this, might as well try to blend in with everyone else."
"Good. Let's get this over with," Scrapper 142 said. The servants all entered the room and started taking measurements of Batch 89, as well was asking various questions about what the four would like the most to wear.
"I've never put much thought into clothes, if I'm being honest," Lylla said with a hum. "But I guess something that's like water, all flowy, if that makes sense."
"Perhaps a dress, or a robe?" one of the dressmakers muttered.
"This one we can't do much with," the dressmaker working with Teefs said. "But a vest of some kind should work…"
"Floor want to be flowy like Lylla!" Floor stated.
Her dressmaker gave the rabbit an odd look. "Are you sure? That style of clothing is more for females. And your proportions… well, it's hard to tell by your body type, but I'm sure that-"
"You saying Floor ain't female?" Rocket said, crossing his arms. "Because she definitely is."
"I didn't mean to offend," the dressmaker said quickly. "It's just that, due to the unique way her body has been modified, I just assumed…"
"Sire's experiments were… unkind to Floor, especially to her cognitive functions. So when we asked if Floor was a male or female, she chose to use female pronouns for identification," Lylla stated.
"Either way, Floor is Floor, so if she wants flowy clothes, she can have flowy clothes," Rocket said.
"Yes! Want pretty robes like Lylla!" Floor nodded.
It was a sore subject that Rocket and the others would have to face going forward whenever people looked at Floor. While her voice and demeanor were feminine, her physical body had been mutilated by the High Evolutionary in such a way that any distinguishing characteristics of sex, male or female, had been completely removed from Floor's body. Even her scent was unidentifiable as either, which led to a confusion of gender by many alien species. But Floor was most happy when identifying as a girl, so that was what her friends chose to call her by.
"Now then, Mr. Rocket, which color would you prefer?" his dressmaker asked, holding up various colors.
Rocket's eyes flickered between the choices presented before him, before stopping on a bright green color. It reminded him of the grass and trees that he'd seen on their journey across various planets. While the forever sky was their calling, there was something about climbing a tree and hiding in the leaves that just felt right to Rocket (it might have been part of his raccoon instincts, but he wasn't sure). "That one," he said, pointing to the green.
"Rocket, which color should I go with for the sash?" Lylla asked. She was currently thumbing through various ribbons, letting them slide around her waist as she experimented with color. Rocket felt some heat rising to his face as he watched the otter glide through the ribbons. "I'm thinking something softer in tone, to contrast with the blue I already picked out for the robes…"
Lylla stopped on a pink ribbon, letting it twist around her waist as Rocket looked on in awe. Something in his brain clicked in that moment, but he couldn't really say what it was. The High Evolutionary had taught the raccoon many different things, but whatever this feeling was wasn't one of them. Rocket had never considered something like what his favorite color was, but seeing Lylla wrapped in pink ribbon… "That one!" he blurted out, before giving a cough and calming himself. "I-I think you should go with the pink. It's my favorite."
"Then pink it is," Lylla giggled, covering her mouth as Rocket's face lit up to match the ribbon's color.
After a few hours, Batch 89 had their new attire, and Rocket had to admit that it made them all look great. The raccoon himself was wearing a green leotard with a large black belt around his waist and a pair of gloves that were a lighter shade of green. Lylla was wearing deep blue robes with a pink sash tied around her waist held by a golden brooch. Floor's attire was similar to Lylla's by lavender in color with a baby blue sash, the robes fitted to match her more quadrupedal stance. Teefs on the other hand had a simple dull orange vest that fitted around his upper body, a yellow undershirt peeking out beneath it.
With their adventure into the fashion world complete, the quartet were free to enjoy the amenities of the Grandmaster's palace, indulging in food, drinks, and music. Rocket especially loved that last one, his tail swaying to the beat as he danced like no one was watching. Learning that there was more to music than just listening to it, that you could move to the music in way to express your feelings… it was freeing to the raccoon.
"Is this like what Sire showed you, Rocket?" Teefs asked.
"This is way better than what he showed me, Teefs," Rocket laughed.
"Fun! Music is fun!" Floor cheered, hopping around the dance floor.
"Indeed it is," Lylla said. Her tail swayed to the music, the otter feeling the sensation of her robes flowing as she moved about. Lylla smiled as she looked around, watching as other aliens danced to the Grandmaster's beats, some of them dancing together. "Rocket, can we do that?"
"Do what?" the raccoon asked.
"Dance like those people," Lylla said, pointing to a couple dancing together.
"…We can try," Rocket shrugged. He took Lylla's metal paw in his own flesh one, feeling the warmth of the circuitry he'd been responsible for making. The two didn't know exactly what to do at first, just standing there and awkwardly spinning around each other, but the music became their guide as they glided across the dance floor together.
"Floor want to dance with Rocket and Lylla!" Floor said, only to Teefs to hold her back.
"Let them have this," Teefs said. Floor tilted her head in confusion up at her large friend. "I think… they want this moment to themselves."
[***]
Rocket only planned for his friends to stay on Sakaar for two weeks at the most. The raccoon wanted to get back to flying in the forever sky, so he requested to have his ship brought up to one of the hangers so he could finish working on it. While Rocket was doing that, Lylla was looking through the Batch 89 file, seeing if she could find any more information on what each of them was created for. Rocket had a genius-level intellect, and Lylla was programmed with medical knowledge; surely, Teefs and Floor had special skills as well.
"Maybe we should come up with a name for our ship…" Rocket suggested. "I mean, all these other pilots here named their ships. Yeah, and then I can get it painted on the side. You guys got any suggestions for names?"
"Ship, because it's a ship!" Floor exclaimed.
"Lucy… I don't know why, but I like that name," Teefs said.
"I'm not sure…" Lylla hummed.
"Eh, we can decide later," Rocket shrugged. "You found anything useful in the files, Lylla?"
"Somewhat," Lylla replied. "It looks like Sire's work on Teefs was similar to what he did with you, Rocket, but the process didn't give the results he was looking for. As for Floor, her modifications are… unclear. I see notes in here about things like "comfort" and "manipulation" but neither of those connect in a way that makes sense to me."
"Rocket, can I borrow some of your scraps you aren't using?" Teefs asked suddenly.
"Uh, sure. Whatever you want, Teefs," Rocket said. "Whatcha gonna do with them?"
"I feel inspired to build, like you do," Teefs replied, scooping up some scraps and putting them on the table. His mechanical arms got to work, grabbing tools to manipulate the metal into a new shape. After an hour of work, the walrus proudly presented a crudely made miniature sculpture that took the shape of some sort of animal. "I present: a Rocket."
Rocket quirked an eyebrow and picked up the metallic creation. If he squinted at it, the sculpture did look kinda like himself. "Is it… me?" he asked.
"Yes," Teefs smiled.
"See, he has an inquisitive mind, it's just different from your own," Lylla said.
Rocket looked at the sculpture again before setting it down. "You know Teefs, if you want I could teach you how I fix the ship. Could be useful to have someone else that can work on this thing."
"I'd love to help, Rocket," Teefs replied.
'A bit crude, yes, but Teefs does seem to have a mind for building… Perhaps Sire put that in there because Teefs' body lets him carry heavy objects,' Lylla thought as she looked at the Rocket sculpture Teefs had made. 'Now, as for what Floor is good at, I'll have to figure that out later.'
"Is ship ready yet?" Floor asked.
"Eh, I'd say give it until tomorrow, and then we'll be back out into the stars," Rocket said. "I'm getting tired of looking at all the endless piles of trash. I say we go to a planet with lots of trees, or maybe find somewhere with snow…"
"What's snow?" Teefs asked, handing Rocket a wrench.
"The High Evolutionary said it's white stuff that falls from the sky and feels cold when you touch it," the raccoon explained.
"Oh, I saw funny men with Grandmaster with white stuff!" Floor said. "They act silly and say funny words!"
"I don't think that's what snow is, Floor," Lylla said. "Hm… What about Groot, though? We did promise to find a way to get him his freedom."
"That's why I got this off of that Topaz lady," Rocket said with a smirk, pulling out a key fob device from his pocket. "I memorized the cell Groot and I were being held in, and this key is the one to our cell. All we gotta do is sneak in tonight and bust him out of there."
"Isn't that illegal?" Teefs questioned.
"We got forced to participate in a death arena against our will and only got out because someone else traded their freedom for ours," Rocket said. "When we were locked up with Groot, I really connected with the guy, even if I didn't understand what he was saying half the time. I'm not just gonna let him rot in a cell until the day he dies. That's what was gonna happen to us, and I don't want anyone to experience that feeling. Only bad people should be locked up, and Groot isn't a bad person."
"Yes. Groot is friend. I help Rocket free Groot," Floor offered.
"With the way you were handing those guys in the arena, you're probably best for the job, Floor," Rocket nodded. "Teefs, Lylla, it'll be up to you to have the ship ready for when we break Groot out. Think you can do that."
"The Rakk 'n' Ruin will be ready, Rocket," Teefs said, giving a salute.
"Rakk 'n' Ruin, huh? Did you just come up with that? I like the sound of it," Rocket said.
"It does have a nice ring to it," Lylla nodded. "Still, both of you need to be careful. It can't be that easy to break someone out of the Grandmaster's Arena."
[***]
"Huh, it's that easy," Lylla said dumbly, looking out the back of the Rakk 'n' Ruin as they made a speedy getaway from Sakaar before anyone noticed them.
"To be fair, Korg starting up his revolution attempt gave us plenty of cover to slip past," Rocket pointed out.
"I am Groot," Groot said.
"Oh yeah, you lifting up that Topaz chick by her nostril was hilarious!" Rocket laughed.
"Do I want to know?" Lylla shuttered.
"Some things Floor has seen tonight cannot be unseen by Floor!" Floor said in her usual happy tone.
"I am Groot," Groot said with concern.
"We worry about her too, Groot," Rocket nodded, giving the ship a quick turn to dodge some laser fire before they finally reached the jump gate. "So, no that we have all that out of the way, where do you guys want to go. I may or may not have picked up some units on the way out from the guards, so we have some cash now for the more fancy planets."
"Snow world! Floor want to see snow!" Floor chanted.
"I think a beachside would be nice," Teefs mused.
"I am Groot," Groot added.
"I liked the idea of going to a forest planet," Lylla said.
"Okay, that's a lot of ideas," Rocket said. He turned on the ship's navigation and started looking at nearby planets after their jump was over. "Well, will you look at that. There's a planet coming up with beaches, snow, and forests. Sounds like paradise, don't you think?"
"Let's go/I am Groot!" the crew cheered, Rocket smiling as they soared through the stars once again. Their time on Sakaar had been eventful, but it was time to get back to adventuring with his friends out in the stars once more.
Author's Note
A bit of a shorter chapter this time, I'll admit, but I got done what I wanted to do on Sakaar with Batch 89 so that's good. Mostly I just wanted the gang to get their first outfits and for them all to experience music together for the first time. Rocket is definitely starting to feel something towards Lylla now, but we'll see how long it takes him to realize what that feeling is.
I based Batch 89's first outfits off of the original Rocket Raccoon mini-series, minus Floor for obvious reasons, who instead gets a color swapped version of Lylla's outfit. And speaking of Floor, I decided to make her gender ambiguous (I think that's the right word, correct me if I'm wrong) in this story as a way to show some of the lasting effects the High Evolutionary will have on the gang's lives, but also how caring they are as friends that they support whatever decision Floor chooses. Floor is just Floor, and that's all she needs to be for her friends.
Speaking of which, Teefs' has his skill revealed, that being engineering and building! This ties in to how his comic counterpart was Rocket's second-in-command that helped run the ship, so Teefs being secretly good at making and fixing things just fits. The name of their ship, the Rakk 'n' Ruin, also comes from that original comic book run (for those wondering, in this story the ship looks like a version of the ship Rocket used to escape Counter-Earth in the Volume 3 movie).
I'd also like to say that currently the plan is to start covering the movies at around chapter 6, so we're halfway through the "Batch 89 Beginnings" arc as you may call it. Next time will be the gang hanging out on a vacation planet. Surely nothing can go wrong there, right?