"The Guardians of the Galaxy were reunited at last, and with Yondu, Mantis, and Nebula as their allies, the team raced into the heart of Ego's planet to stop his plans of assimilating the universe into his being. Time was of the essence, and it would take everyone working together to save the galaxy…"

As the Guardians were saving the universe once more, Kraglin was left in charge of the ship hovering above the surface of Ego. The Ravager was whistling along with Quill's music as it played, keeping the coms open and watching over Sale, the raccoon still tied up in her chair and looking miserable. Kraglin thought it was weird seeing another creature like Rocket, considering he thought Batch 89 were a one-of-a-kind freak science experiment, but maybe there was a whole planet of creatures that were just like Rocket out there in the universe? It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to imagine existing.

"You all are insane, you know that?" Sale said. "Taking on a being as powerful as a celestial… that's suicide!"

"Well, it's not like the alternative is much better," Kraglin replied. "I mean, Quill and his friends stopped a crazy Kree warrior using an Infinity Stone, so I think they can win this."

"That kind of faith is a fool's errand," Sale scoffed. "All of you are but scum without a purpose, unlike-"

"Unlike who, your supposed "Sire" that you're always yapping on about?" Kraglin snapped, making Sale shut up in surprise. "I don't know if you realize this, lady, but the guy you're working for is just as bad as Ego if everything I've heard about him is true. Rocket and his critter friends were all tortured and experimented on by your Sire, and they've never said anything food about where they came from."

"That's only because Rocket is delusional. Sire doesn't hurt anyone that doesn't deserve it," Sale rolled her eyes.

"So those mechanical parts and scars were "deserved"?" Kraglin questioned. "And what about that thing your Sire has on your heart that shocks you when you disobey him? A boss that hurts you to get what he wants ain't a good boss, Sale!"

"And your think Yondu is better?" Sale asked.

"The captain can be a hard-ass, but he cared about his crew, especially Quill. Yondu crawled all the way out of slavery and found a home with the Ravagers, and sure he's made mistakes along the way, but I'd follow Yondu to the end of the universe and back if he asked," Kraglin retorted. "Yondu has my respect, and he respects me back for my loyalty to him. Does your Sire respect you, Sale?"

Sale didn't know what to say in response to that. "…When we talked before, you said Subject 89P13 and his batchmates were like a family. And you said that Sire creating us… doesn't mean he's family?"

Kraglin nodded. "Yeah. Just cause someone made us, doesn't make 'em family. Hell, I'd say Yondu is more like Quill's dad than Ego ever was. Rocket and Lylla are like the parents of little Groot too, even if he ain't their birth kid. Family can be a mess, but we can choose who we consider family… You can choose who yer family is, Sale."

Sale gave a harsh laugh. "Not if Sire has anything to say about it. If I can't deliver Subject 89P13 to him, that'll be the end of me. I don't even know why he needs Rocket in the first place when he's got me… You know, I was made to capture Subject 89P13, but after that, I don't know what I'll do."

"Well, if there's anything else to know about family, it's that a family sticks up for each other, not just demanding stuff out of others," Kraglin added. "if you decide to wise up and see which side you really want to be on, you could always join Yondu and I. We kinda have to rebuild our Ravager group now if you didn't notice."

"Seriously? You'd let me join you after I basically caused the death of your crew?" Sale raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, I've had friends do worse before. Being a space pirate is dangerous work and all, but you looked like you were having fun when you were captain," Kraglin said.

Sale didn't say anything after that, just staring out the window as she pondered on what she was going to do after all of this. '…The stars sure are beautiful at the end of the world, aren't they?' she idly thought.

[***]

Down on Ego, the Guardians were still drilling into the planet's surface to make it to the core. "Mr. Star-Lord, why does Ego want you here?" Teefs asked.

"He needs my genetic connection to the light to help destroy the universe," Quill explained. "He tried to teach me how to control the power."

"Star-Lord has power!?" Floor gasped.

"So could you?" Yondu asked.

"A little," Quill shrugged. "I made a ball."

"A ball?" Yondu raised an eyebrow.

"I thought as hard as I could. It was all that I could come up with," Quill said.

"You "thought." You think when I make this arrow fly, I use my head?" Yondu asked.

The ship suddenly lurched as they rammed against the cavern wall, everyone holding on tight as they squeezed through into the core of the planet. Part of the ship's wall had been torn off, giving the Guardians a good view of the inside of Ego, filled with various structures that connected to every part of the world like a nervous system.

"There. That's Ego's core," Mantis stated, pointing to a blue ball at the center of the planet.

"That ore is think, Rocket," Lylla warned.

"I got it covered," Rocket assured her, firing up the lasers on the ship and aligning them to the front for maximum output.

"We must hurry. It will not take Ego long to find us," Mantis said.

"Keep it steady!" Rocket called as he turned on the lasers, sending a massive beam into the core to slowly drill their way inside.

"We drill into the center, we kill him!" Quill relayed the plan.

As the beam continued to fire, it suddenly made a groaning sound before cutting out, Rocket pushing a few buttons in the controls before clutching his head in panic. "Oh flark, come on!"

"Rocket, why'd you stop firing the laser?" Quill asked.

"The laser's overheated and blew out the generator. Damned thing is too old and doesn't have enough power to cut through the center," Rocket said, hopping out of his chair and grabbing his bag.

"Can we fix it?" Teefs asked.

"We don't have time for that. What we need is to toss and explosive down the hole to blow the core to kingdom come," Rocket said, pulling out scraps from his bag. "I think I packed a detonator in here…"

"A detonator is worthless without an explosive," Nebula pointed out.

Rocket grinned and held up the stolen batteries. "I do have these. If we blow them up inside the core, it'll cause a chain reaction throughout Ego's entire nervous system."

"Meaning what?" Quill asked.

"Planet go big boom!" Floor cheered.

"Then we'll have to make our escape as soon as the bomb goes off," Lylla said. She looked outside with concern as parts of Ego started glowing. "And we need to set it up fast before Ego catches us as well…"

Rocket finished putting the final touches on the makeshift bomb and smiled. "There, I rigged a timer."

"Then let's go," Quill nodded. "Everyone, find a way to stall Ego until we get the bomb in there, okay?"

"On it, Star-Lord," Lylla said with a nod as Quill, Rocket, and Groot flew off to go plant the bomb. The rest of the team took the ship down to the ground as lights started to glow around them.

Gamora turned to Mantis. "Can't you make Ego go to sleep?"

"When he wants to. He's too powerful," Mantis shook her head. "I can't do it."

"You don't have to believe in yourself," Drax said. "Because I believe in you."

Mantis looked to him surprise but took a deep breath and pressed a hand to the ground. "SLEEP!" she shouted, the lights around Ego cutting out as she reached out to her former master with her powers.

"Bug lady made planet take a nap!" Floor cheered.

"Good job, Mantis," Lylla nodded.

"I never thought she would be able to do it with as weak and skinny as she appears to be," Drax admitted.

"I don't know how long I can hold him," Mantis warned, some lights on the planet flickering as pockets of energy came up.

"Man… Tis…" Ego's voice rang out, glowing clones of himself coming out of the lights. "Let… Me… Rise…"

"Get ready for a fight, team," Gamora said as she took out her sword, Drax, Lylla, Floor, and Nebula pulling out their respective weapons as well. "Yondu, you and Teefs keep out ship in the air. The last thing we need is our way out being destroyed."

"On it, Ms. Gamora!" Teefs saluted as he hopped back in the ship, Yondu piloting it back up as the Walrus took out his cannon, positioning himself at the ship's entrance to act as a gunner from the air.

Back with Rocket, he turned on a flashlight as they entered the hole the laser had made. "The metal's too thick," Rocket sighed. "For the bomb to work we'd need to actually place it on Ego's core. And our fat butt's aren't going to fit through those tiny holes. Hell, even Floor couldn't make it through!"

Quill looked down at Groot. "Well…"

"That is a terrible idea," Rocket said.

"Which is the only kind of idea we have left," Quill pointed out.

Rocket groaned, picking up Groot and muttering to himself as Quill went outside to join his friends in fighting the Ego clones. The raccoon set Groot down before placing the detonator in front of the tree child. "All right, first you flick this switch, then this switch. That activates it. Then you push this button, which will give you five minutes to get out of there. Now, whatever you do, don't. Push. This. Button. Because that will set off the bomb immediately and we'll all be dead. Now, repeat back what I just said."

Groot looked to the detonator, then to Rocket. "I am Groot."

"Uh huh…"

"I am Groot."

"That's right."

Groot pointed at the second button. "I am Groot!"

"No! No, that's the button that will kill everyone!" Rocket shouted. "Try again."

Groot thought about it before replying, "I am Groot."

"Mm-Hm."

"I am Groot?"

"Uh huh."

He pointed at the second button with a smile. "I am Groot."

"No! That's exactly what you just said!" Rocket exclaimed. "How is that even possible!? Which button is the button you're supposed to push? Point to it." Groot pointed at the second button. "NO!"

Lylla chimed in over the coms as she shot down one of the Ego clones. "Rocket, I hope you're being patient with Groot. He gets nervous when you yell at him."

"Well he's not making it easy, Lady!" Rocket groaned, switching the coms to the team channel. "I need some tape! Does anyone have any tape out there? I wanna put some tape over the death button."

"Why is there a death button in the first place!?" Nebula shouted as he sliced two clones at once.

"It was a rush job, I couldn't mod the detonator in that short of a time!" Rocket replied.

"I don't have any tape," Quill said.

"None here," Gamora added, spinning in a circle to cut down a group of clones.

"I too do not have any tape," Drax replied, throwing Floor like a football and unleashing the rabbit on the clones, her legs stabbing and slicing at whatever part of Ego they touched.

"I left all of my tape on the Milano. Sorry, Rocket," Teefs said.

"Not a single person has tape!?" Rocket exclaimed in exasperation.

"Doesn't seem like it," Lylla said.

"Does Kraglin have tape?" Rocket asked.

"…Let me check," Yondu said, switching com channels. "Kraglin! Do you got any tape up there?"

"Sorry captain, but we used the last of it last week to keep the ship's manual together, remember?" Kraglin replied.

Yondu sighed and changed back to the team channel. "Kraglin doesn't have tape either."

"I'm surprised Rocket doesn't have tape," Teefs admitted.

"Yeah, you're the one carrying an atomic bomb in your bag, Rocket. If anyone's gonna have tape, it's you!" Quill pointed out.

"That's exactly my point! I have to do everything!" Rocket shouted.

"Boys, you are wasting a lot of time arguing here!" Lylla cut in.

Rocket sighed and turned around to try and explain the plan to Groot again, only to watch as the tree child ran off into the one of the holes, laughing with glee as he slid down into Ego's core with the detonator in hand. "…We're all gonna die," he sighed.

On the transport ship, Teefs winced as the Ego clones started tossing themselves at the ship, the walrus having to blast them away from the engines so they could stay in the air. "While I appreciate having the high ground advantage, I can't focus on supporting the team when they're coming up here as well!" Teefs shouted, switching his collar over to his repair tools to fix the engine. He flinched back in shock as the stress of the damage made the machinery catch mire. "Oh dear…"

Quill came into the ship for a landing. "What's going on?"

"I don't think this ship is going to last much longer," Teefs said with worry.

"…Then let's make Ego hurt with what we've got," Yondu said, getting out of his chair and whistling for his arrow.

Down on the ground, Rocket made his entrance known by blasting through a few Ego clones, laughing as he finally got to get in on the action. "You doing good up there, Teefs?" he called.

"The ship has been compromised, so prepare for an emergency landing!" Teefs shouted. The ship's innards soon flashed with warning signs as the walrus jumped from the hole, his wheels fanning out into emergency thrusters to slow his fall.

Quill and Yondu came down with him, using their jetpack and arrow respectively to slow their descent as the ship was sent spiraling into the heart of the Ego hoard, exploding in spectacular fashion that brought a tear to Rocket's eye. Quill couldn't help but laugh at bit as he looked up at Yondu. "You look like Mary Poppins," he commented.

"Is he cool?" Yondu asked.

Quill nodded. "Hell yeah, he's cool."

"I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!" Yondu shouted as he landed.

The group all gathered around, ready to face off against the rest of the Ego clones until Groot planted the bomb… only for a piece of the ship's debris to fly out and clock Mantis in the head, knocking her out cold. "Mantis, look out!" Drax said after a beat.

"…Welp, we're doomed," Rocket sighed as Ego's light shone throughout the cavern again.

"At least Mantis is just unconscious," Lylla noted as Drax picked her up. "Rocket, how long do we have until the bomb goes off?"

"In the unlikely event that Groot doesn't kill us all… about six minutes," the raccoon replied.

"Kraglin, we need the quadrant for an extraction! T minus five minutes," Yondu called as the cavern above them started opening up.

"Somebody's gotta be up top when Kraglin arrives," Quill ordered, taking off his aero-rig and slapping it on Drax. "Drax, you take Mantis."

"Ow! My nipples!" Drax screamed as he rocketed up to the surface.

The ground beneath the team started to crumble, and while Rocket was able to grab Lylla and pull her to safety, Gamora, Floor, Nebula, and Teefs all started falling into the abyss below. Teefs flailed about before activating his wheels again, this time sending out a tow cable that latched onto the wall, tethering himself to the stone. Nebula meanwhile used her cyborg strength to catch Gamora, who in turn caught Floor.

"I'll send down another line for you three to pull yourselves up!" Teefs called, sending out said line for Nebula to latch onto.

"Floor having fun swinging!" Floor giggled as she used her spider legs to skitter up Gamora and Nebula to climb the line.

"I'm going to kill that rodent if we survive this…" Nebula muttered.

"Come now, Peter. I know this isn't what you want," Ego said, sending out tendrils of energy to attack the Guardians while they fought back with blasters and Yondu's arrow. "What kind of father would I be to let you make this choice?"

"Rocket, do you have any more tricks that could help?" Lylla asked as she fired at the tendrils with her blaster.

"I've been meaning to test this out for a while!" Rocket shouted, tossing out small bombs that magnetized together to create a protective electric field around them. When the tendrils closed in, the raccoon detonated the bombs, destroying their adversaries.

"So, Peter, we will be all there is. So stop pissing me off!" Ego shouted, slapping Quill across the face so hard that it broke his mask.

"We need to get up to the extraction point!" Gamora ordered once Teefs managed to pull them all to safety.

"Oh, friends ride rocks to top!" Floor suggested, pointing to the rising pillars.

"That's… actually a good plan," Nebula admitted, the four of them making their escape to the surface by hopping from pillar to pillar as they ascended upwards.

It was then, however, that Ego finally managed to reform his body, his powers coming back in full as his tendrils lashed out and subdued all of the Guardians wherever they stood on the planet, including Groot and the escape ship. "I told you, I don't want to do this alone," Ego said as he approached Quill, stabbing him with energy again. "You cannot deny the purpose the universe has bestowed upon you! It doesn't need to be like this, Peter… Why are you destroying our chance? Stop pretending you aren't what you are. One in billions. Trillions. Even more. What greater meaning can life possibly have to offer?"

"You as that is if all that matters is you!" Rocket shouted, grunting as he was slowly being crushed to death. "But I know from working with these guys that living only your yourself, ain't really living at all!"

"I don't use my head to fly the arrow, boy!" Yondu shouted. "I use my heart!"

With those words, Quill thought of all the moment he'd spent with his family: listening to music with his mom, telling jokes with Drax, testing Rocket's jetpacks, fixing the Milano with Teefs, cooking meals with Lylla, reading stories with Floor and Groot, dancing with Gamora, and Yondu teaching him to use a blaster. With a clenching of his fist, Ego's energy started to swirl around Quill, he said, "You shouldn't have killed my mom and squished my Walkman," before rushing at Ego with everything he had.

With Ego thoroughly distracted and getting the tar punched out of him by Quill, the other Guardians were able to break free of their bindings, Rocket and Lylla flying up to where Groot was to get him. "Groot! Can you hear us?" Lylla shouted.

"Hurry up, little buddy! We gotta go!" Rocket added. "I'm not sure how long Quill can keep him distracted!"

It wasn't long before Groot came running out, shouting, "I am Groot!" before jumping into Lylla's arms.

"You hit the right button!? Well… great job, Groot!" Rocket said with a nod.

"Yondu, the bomb's been set! We need to get Quill and go!" Lylla said over the coms.

"I'll get him out of here! You two need to take care of the twig," Yondu replied.

"No way, we're not leaving without you," Rocket shook his head.

"I ain't done nothing right my whole damn life, rat. You need to give me this," Yondu said.

Rocket contemplated what those words meant, before flying down and giving something to Yondu. "A spacesuit and an aero rig. I only have one of each," the raccoon said.

"I am Groot," Groot said.

"What's that?" Yondu asked.

"He said, "Welcome to the fricking Guardians of the Galaxy." Only he didn't say fricking," Rocket replied. "We're going to need to have a real discussion about your language."

Lylla looked between the two and realized what was going on. "W-Wait!" she said before they took off into the sky. "Rocket, we can't leave Yondu! You know he's going to sacrifice himself for Quill!"

"Just like Groot did for us back on Xandar, and like I'd do for any of you guys if it came down to it," Rocket said solemnly, wincing as Lylla bitterly hit against his chest and tears flowed down her face. "He's doing this for all of us, Lylla. You understand?"

Lylla just sobbed, before going silent and nodding as they made it up to the surface.

"Friends have made it!" Floor called as the three landed inside.

"Where's Mr. Star-Lord?" Teefs asked. Rocket didn't answer, just pulling out the countdown timer as it ticked down. "…Rocket, Lylla? Where's Quill?" Lylla just sobbed as Groot pointed outside.

"Peter! We have to go after him," Gamora said, rushing to grab a gun and race to where Quill was. She was stopped by an electro-blast from Rocket, the raccoon sadly shaking his head.

"Rocket, why shoot Friend Gamora?" Floor gasped.

"I can only afford to lose one friend today," Rocket replied. "Kraglin, go!"

"Rocket, where's Quill?" Drax asked. "Rocket! Where's Quill!?"

Despite everyone's protests, the ship took off up and away from Ego as the planet exploded. 'Soar on, Yondu Udonta. Into the endless and forever sky…' Rocket thought, a tear falling down his cheek as he simply knelt down next to Lylla to comfort her.

Author's Note

After a lot of thinking, I made the hard decision to let Yondu still sacrifice himself for Quill in this story. It feels almost like a "nexus event" and I didn't have any good ideas for what I would do if Yondu lived, so keeping his sacrifice was what I went with. Honestly, I thought taking the Sovereign out of the equation would have changed more but they really just show up and get one-shot by the drill's lasers. Instead the golden boys and girls were replaced by Ego creating energy clones of himself, which was based on the episode of "What If...?" where Yondu did deliver Quill to Ego when he was a kid. That was a really cool episode so bringing the Ego clones in was a no-brainer alternative to give our big bad some minions for the heroes to trounce.

Other than that, Sale and Kraglin have another talk, with the raccoon and Ravager discussing what family is and questioning what Sale's purpose is after the High Evolutionary is done using her. Sale's ultimate fate will be revealed in the next chapter, along with the confusion to Volume 2 of this story. See you all then!