Author's Note: Hey, everyone. Here's another fanfic for my second Marvel/Disney crossover series which I call the Defenders series. I know that we started with the She-Hulk/Kim Possible fanfic before deciding to make a series, but this will be the center of it all. That's mainly because this series is based on Lilo and Stitch the Series along with their crossover episodes with other Disney shows. Here is a list of all the fanfics I plan.

Guardians of the Galaxy x Lilo and Stitch
She-Hulk x Kim Possible
Shang-Chi x American Dragon: Jake Long
Spider-Man (Miles Morales) x the Proud Family
Moon Girl x Recess

Now, I have seen Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three less than a week ago and I loved it. So now, I'm deeply invested in this story where the Guardians work with Lilo and Stitch in rounding up all 625 Experiments and protecting the galaxy.

For future reference, I will be including lyrics from real life into here since the Guardians are known for their use in old-timey music. I do not own any of these songs. They belong to their respective owners. Please, let that be known. If anyone has any songs they'd like me to include here (other than the ones in the movies, TV show, and games), let me know.

Anyway, that's all I have to say right now about this fanfic. Enjoy the start to it. Any and all comments are welcome.

The planet Dantex, a mostly-desert world with a humble population of farmers, laborers, and other developing lifestyles. It's here where a small village was about to be leveled by a beast from the stars. That is, it would be if it wasn't for the interference of the most unlikely team of heroes in the galaxy.

First, we have the leader of the team, Peter Quill, also known as Star Lord. His half-human/half-alien hybrid was abducted at a young age and was raised as a space pirate. With nothing but his wit and an old Walkman full of classic songs, he overcame any obstacle.

Next, there is Gamora, the Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy. Her planet was attacked and nearly destroyed by the Mad Titan, Thanos, who took her in as his daughter and trained her to be the ultimate killing machine. He succeeded, but as soon as she grew up, she cut all ties to him and ran off to make up for all the wrongs she did.

Drax the Destroyer was a barbaric gladiator who also has a history with the Mad Titan. After Thanos masterminded an event which took the lives of his wife and daughter, Drax vowed vengeance.

Rocket may look like a raccoon, but he keeps insisting he wasn't. And although he was small and fluffy, he has a genius-level intellect which makes him the gearhead of the team. What he lacks in people skills, he makes up for with technological know-how and a taste for money.

Groot is the heart of the team. Despite being the last of his kind, he's more than willing to lay down his life if it meant his friends would be safe. This giant tree man may only be able to say the words "I am Groot", but that doesn't diminish his loyalty.

Last, but not least, we have Mantis. This antennae woman is the gentlest member of the team with an empathic ability. Whenever she touches someone, she can sense their emotions and sometimes manipulate them.

These six people aren't the poster people for galactic protection, but you can certainly count on them for some form of entertainment, especially when it comes to preventing the destruction of an alien village. They are the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"Showtime, everyone!" Star Lord declared just as he and his team stood at the outskirts of the village. "Rocket, how long until the creature comes here?"

"Any minute now," Rocket replied while he worked on a large gun that was bigger than himself. His giant, wooden companion noticed the gun and got curious.

"I am Groot?"

"This?" Rocket asked presenting his gun. "Get a load of this baby."

"That thing is an infant?" Drax asked.

"Not an actual baby, you meathead." Rocket said. "This new toy of mine can pop a star like it was a bubble. Can't wait to see what will happen if I aim it at that monster."

"Won't it hurt?" Mantis asked.

"Nah. I won't feel a thing."

"What if I just use my powers on it?" Mantis asked. "One touch, and all its violent tendencies will vanish."

"Meh. My way is more fun."

"Besides, we don't know if your powers will work on it." Gamora said. "If it fails, you'll be swallowed whole."

"I was just looking for alternate ideas." Mantis grumbled.

"Don't feel bad about it, Mantis." Star Lord said. "All ideas are welcome."

"Even the stupid ones?" Drax asked.

"Eh… That varies."

Just then, a monstrous roar exploded from afar. Everyone turned their attention to the distance to get a good look at what they were up to. Much to their surprise, what they found wasn't one monster; it was several. Many assorted insectoids made of metal stampeded their way toward the Guardians and the village they were protecting.

"Oh, flarg." Rocket said. "Just our luck. Phalanx, robot conquerors who absorb organic matter. Definitely can't change their minds, Mantis. Just give me some time to modify my gun. I think I know how to put them all down at once."

"Well, no one said this was going to be easy." Star Lord declared as he put on his black helmet with red lenses. "Rocket, you got the sound system working?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just tell me which song you want."

"All right then. Play… Track 7."

"Got it." Rocket said as he pulled out a remote and pressed a button on it. Peter was excited until he heard the music that was played.

"Never gonna give you up

Never gonna let you down

Never gonna run around and desert you

Never gonna make you cry

Never gonna say goodbye

Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you"

"Rocket! I said Track 7!" Star Lord shouted.

Rocket snickered before pressing the button again. Heavy guitar music began to play while he continued to work on his gun.

Meanwhile, the other Guardians charged ahead to meet the robots halfway. As soon as they began running toward their enemies, the lyrics began to play.

"When I get high, I get high on speed

Top fuel funny car's a drug for me

My heart! My heart

Kickstart my heart

Always got the cops coming after me

Custom built bike doing 103

My heart! My heart

Kickstart my heart

Yeah! Are you ready, girls

Yeah! Are you ready now"

As soon as the song reached that point, the clash began. Star Lord used his jet boots to fly overhead and blast the Phalanx robots from above with his quad blasters. Gamora unsheathed her sword and sliced down five drones with one swing. Drax used his brute strength to crush drones and used his twin knives to cut a couple more open. Mantis jumped up and sent several flying kicks to knock the drones over. Groot was without a doubt the most destructive of the group, using his powers to dig into the ground, attack the drones from below, and crush them in his vines. All the while, Rocket kept tinkering with his gun at a rapid pace.

"Oh! Yeh!

Kickstart my heart

Give it a start

Ooh, yeah, baby

Oh! Yeh!

Kickstart my heart

Hope it never stops

Ooh, yeah, babyyyyyyyyyyy

Yeah"

A surprise Phalanx attack forced Peter to fly backwards closer to Rocket. He turned to him seeing him keep on modifying his weapon.

"How much longer, Rocket?"

"It's be faster if you didn't stop to ask me!"

Star Lord groaned and flew over to the side. He fired at the drones to get their attention. "Hey! Look at me! I'm a distraction!"

The Phalanx were about to attack Peter until they were caught from behind by the rest of the Guardians who impaled them from behind and tore them up. Unfortunately they were only halfway done.

"Skydive naked from an aeroplane

Or a lady with a body from outerspace

My heart! My heart

Kickstart my heart

Say I got trouble! Trouble in my eyes

I'm just looking for another good time

My heart! My heart

Kickstart my heart"

"Okay! I think I got it all finished!" Rocket cried out as he carried his gun. "If it works, we won't worry about more Phalanx tin cans!"

"And if it fails?" Gamora asked using her sword defensively.

"Then the the galaxy's going to need new guardians!" Rocket replied.

"What?" Star Lord asked. "Wait! Maybe we should talk about it!"

"Too late! Duck and cover!" Rocket said quickly before squeezing the trigger tightly.

All the Guardians jumped to either left or right just out of Rocket's line of fire. The Phalanx were now the only ones in his crosshairs as his gun began to light up a bright, white glow. The Phalanx were on their way to attack him, but just when they were a few feet away from making contact, Rocket's ship shot out a white beam that hit the closest robot. Once it got hit, it let out a series of electrical sparks which connected to other robots like a chain. They all surged out letting out electrical spasms while Rocket turned ran away from them.

One by one, each of the robots combusted, blowing into several pieces. Once the last one was over, all that was left were several scraps of smoking metal. The Guardians regrouped admiring what was left of their fallen enemies.

"It appears the day is ours, friends." Drax said. "Our respective afterlives will have to await our arrival another day."

"Whatever you say, shirtless." Rocket said.

The villagers cheered while their leader personally congratulated the Guardians. He shook Peter's hand enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Guardians of the Galaxy. Our humble village thanks you."

"Hey. All in a day's work." Peter said before Rocket cleared his throat dramatically. "Right. Any chance this 'humble village' might have a reward that's not so humble? I mean, you did say you could pay."

"Not that it's our primary reason for helping." Gamora said. "We just want to help."

"Although, some units would help us help even more." Drax said. "We can even have some installations on the Milano to make things better. Like a punching bag or a weapons locker."

"Or a coffee machine." Mantis said. "Peter's always talking about this coffee and I'd like to try it out."

"No, no, Mantis." Star Lord said. "Trust me. The last thing you need is caffeine. But we will accept your pay, village leader."

"Of course." The village leader said handing him a handheld orb made of golden metal. "This is the most valuable item in our village. It should be about a thousand units."

"We'll take it." Star Lord said. "Pleasure doing business with you. Whenever you need help, give us a call."

"And make sure the price is right!" Rocket called out.

"Rocket!" Gamora reprimanded.

The Guardians turned and left the village with the cheering villagers behind them. Along the way, Peter threw the golden orb up a bit before catching it in his hand again over and over.

"Not a bad day's work, fellas." Peter said. "We kicked butt and we looked awesome doing it."

"We did more than just kicking, Quill." Drax said. "And it was toward the Phalanx robots' entire bodies, not just their buttocks. I'm not sure if they even have buttocks."

"Don't be so literal, muscles." Rocket said. "Just take in the fact that we just got paid."

"Is money really all you think about?" Gamora asked. "You could stand to be a bit more generous."

"I am so generous." Rocket said.

"I am Groot."

"Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one."

All of a sudden, the Guardians were surprised by the sudden appearance of a bright-blue spaceship that showed up right above them. Three people jumped out and landed before them. They were all wearing blue uniforms with golden helmets.

"The Nova Corps?" Peter asked. "What are they doing here?"

"Barging their cop noses into our business as per usual." Rocket said.

The center Nova officer approached the Guardians and removed his helmet. It was a face that Peter smiled at.

"Ah. If it ain't my old friend, Rhomann Dey. How can we help you? And before you start accusing us, we were here in legitimate business. You don't have to…"

"Ah! Hold it, Quill." Corpsman Dey interrupted. "You're not under arrest. Actually, the lady in charge wants to ask for your help."

"Really?" Gamora asked. "Nova Prime wants our help?"

"Uh, no. I mean someone even bigger than her."

"NO WAY!" Rocket shouted looking out the tower window. "We're actually on Turo!"

"Headquarters of the Galactic Alliance." Gamora said. "They practically run the galaxy. Hard to believe the Grand Councilwoman wants to hire us."

"This way, please." Corpsman Dey said leading the Guardians down the hallway. "Now, I don't know the details of this job she has, but she's hiring you out of the recommendation of myself and Nova Prime. So whatever you do, please don't make us regret it."

"I am Groot."

"Really, Groot?" Rocket asked. "You're promising on behalf of all of us?"

Dey sighed just as they reached the office door. He opened and gestured the Guardians in. He closed the door as soon as they entered and they approached the desk where the Grand Councilwoman sat.

The Grand Councilwoman was a blue, skinny alien who had the appearance of a middle aged woman. Her most noticeable feature was her high, golden collar.

"Ah. You must be the Guardians of the Galaxy." She greeted.

"Yep. We got business cards and everything." Peter said.

"Only one for each of us." Mantis said. "Our printer broke down."

"Only because Drax kept smashing it." Rocket said.

"I did apologize for that." Drax said.

"Anyway!" Gamora shouted before calming down. "We heard you had a job for us?"

"Yes." The Grand Councilwoman said. "Have you ever heard of the scientist known as Dr. Jumba Jookiba?"

"I have." Rocket said. "He's this nutty scientist who performed crazy genetic experiments. I heard he was arrested."

"He was. But around the same time, one of his latest successes, Experiment 626, managed to escape our reach and retreated to another planet. According to Jumba, he is bulletproof, fireproof, and can think faster than a supercomputer. He can see in the dark, move objects three-thousand times his size, and possess other powerful abilities."

"I get it." Peter said. "You want us to find this Experiment 626 where he ran off, bag it, and bring it back to you. We can do that."

"Actually, no." the Grand Councilwoman said. "The matter has already been resolved months ago."

"What?" Peter asked.

"Yes. By the time we found Experiment 626, he has already fallen into the care of a local girl who reformed him. So now, he's staying with that girl alongside Jumba and one of our own."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rocket said. "Why even bring up this whole 'Experiment 626' talk if it's already long over?"

"I never said it was over. We thought it was. But then, we picked up the recent activities of a certain man."

Above the Grand Councilwoman, a holographic screen appeared. It showed a colossal fish alien in a black uniform. His head looked similar to that of a killer whale.

"This is Gantu. He used to be one of our own who was originally assigned to apprehend Experiment 626. When his irresponsible actions and relentless arrogance nearly got out of hand however, he was put under forced retirement. However, it seems he is still up to no good. Just a short while ago, we were able to intercept a video call between him and his latest client, a former partner to Dr. Jumba Jookiba who, until recently, we thought to be dead."

"Sounds like this guy's a real master of the disappearing act." Rocket said. "Who is this guy anyway?"

"His name is Dr. Jacques von Hamsterviel."

The very sound of that name made Rocket gasp silently and his eyes open wide. He looked up at the screen again which showed a short, chubby, rodent-like alien with white fur. He had long ears, buck teeth, and a long tail with fur at the end. He wore a a red cape with a golden "H" at the front.

Peter couldn't help but laugh at Hamsterviel's appearance. "Wait! So this is the bad guy? He looks more cute than menacing!"

"He may be adorable, Quill, but you of all people should know that one shouldn't judge others by appearance alone." Drax said.

"Uh… Wait, what do you mean 'you of all people'?" Peter asked.

"What does this Hamsterviel want from Gantu?" Gamora asked.

"We don't know." The Grand Councilwoman answered. "Most of the transmission was hard to interpret. But we do know that Gantu is heading for the same planet where 626 is sheltered. We believe he may be attempting to apprehend him again, but we're not entirely sure. We have an ally on the planet's surface ready to alert us if something goes wrong, but we may need a preemptive action to ensure nothing has the chance to go wrong."

"So you're hiring us to see what Gantu is up to and stop him." Peter surmised.

Groot looked down at his companion and noticed him staring at Hamsterviel's picture with his chest heaving. He then clenched his teeth and growled silently.

"We'll do it." Rocket spoke up finally catching everyone's attention.

"Whoa, Rocket." Peter said. "We haven't yet discussed the pay."

"Whatever you want to pay us, we'll take it." Rocket insisted trying to hide his inner ferocity.

"Um… Okay." Peter said. "I guess we're sold."

"Marvelous." The Grand Councilwoman said.

"You said that Gantu is heading to the same place Experiment 626 is at." Mantis said. "Where is that exactly?"

"That would be the planet, Earth."

Peter's face dropped looking shocked toward the Grand Councilwoman. "Say what now?"

"I know you don't like going to Earth, Peter, but we gave the Grand Councilwoman our word." Gamora said after the Guardians returned to their ship.

"No. Rocket did." Peter responded.

"And we're doing it." Rocket said jumping up to his co-pilot seat.

Peter groaned and sat in the seat next to Rocket. "What was that anyway? It's not like you to take a job before negotiating the price, especially with someone as powerful as the Grand Councilwoman."

"I just want to get this done as soon as possible." Rocket huffed. "The sooner we get to Hamsterviel, the better."

"I am Groot?"

"I'm fine." Rocket said, although his facial expression says different.

"You don't seem to be fine." Mantis said.

"Hey! Who told you could you sense me?"

"I didn't have to."

"Are you upset because there is another talking rodent out in the universe and you're afraid he's going to undermine you?" Drax asked.

"What? Drax, that doesn't make any sense." Gamora said.

"It's not that, Drax." Rocket said with a frown. "It's… something else. I'll tell you later."

Peter sighed. "All right. Guess we're going to Earth then. Well, I guess it's not all bad. At least we're going to Hawaii."

"Is this 'Hawaii' a nice place, Peter?" Mantis asked.

"You have no idea." Peter said just as he booted up the ship.

As the Milano hovered up and exited into space, Rocket stared blankly reliving his past as a flashback.

After a long day of painful, horrible experiments, Rocket was thrown back into his cage by the scientists who prodded him. They locked the cage door leaving him locked in the dark, cold hallway with the rest of the animals who were also locked up.

Recovering from the pain, Rocket looked across at the cage directly in front of him. Inside was an otter-like alien who made him feel better just by looking at her.

"Are you okay, Rocket?" she asked.

"I'm fine. They've actually taken it easy on me today." Rocket said. He did his best to cover up the fact that it was a bald-faced lie so he wouldn't make his friend worried.

"Enough with the flirting, you flirting flirterers!" shouted Rocket's cellmate. "Did you get it or not?"

Rocket turned to his cellmate. "Don't worry. I got it." He held up a small piece of tech that he hid between his fingers. "We're one step closer to breaking out of here. Then everyone's going to be free, including me, Lyla, and you too, Jacques."

The hamster-like critter took the piece to examine it before giving it back to Rocket. "You better be right."

"Don't worry." Rocket assured. "I ain't never gonna leave my friends behind."