By Jesus Abon
⚠️ [Spoiler Alert] ⚠️ An alternate ending for one of the most intense scenes in superhero cinema. If you’ve already seen Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
I too cried and suffered with the fate of Rocket’s three great friends. Unable to overcome the sadness caused by their tragic fate, I wrote this Fan Fiction with the idea that they would have the happy ending that I believe we all wish for them.
In honor of Rocket, Lylla, Teefs, and little Floor.
After discovering that the High Evolutionary would kill them all and faced with the horrible prospect of watching his friends being incinerated alive, Rocket was determined to flee with them.
“We have to get out of here,” he said with tears in his eyes. “But we will go to the new world,” replied Teefs.
Rocket didn’t know how to tell them they would die without frightening them. “You don’t understand, it was all a lie. They won’t take us with them; they will kill us in the morning.” There was no time to sugarcoat things; they had to escape.
Lylla understood. She blindly trusted Rocket and secretly loved him. She also knew that the young raccoon wouldn’t be able to leave without them. They were all the family they had.
Then she looked at the whole group and then fixed her big eyes on Rocket. “Alright, we’ll do it. But how?”
Rocket then picked up a series of mechanical parts he had collected every time they took him away and assembled an electronic key that he believed would be able to open their cages. His hand trembled at the possibility that it wouldn’t work. His friends trusted him, and now their lives were in his hands. When he swiped the card and saw his door open, he felt a huge relief.
Floor couldn’t stop hopping with joy at the idea of going with them, excited at the prospect of seeing the sky. She had suffered so much that she only knew pain.
However, Rocket asked them to stay in their cages. He was smart enough to know that the High Evolutionary would return after confessing that they would all die. Rocket began to scream, “Let us out! We want to go to the new world!”
He did so at the top of his lungs and hitting the bars of his cage with all his strength. When the High Evolutionary arrived, he began to laugh in his face, “Do you think that by screaming louder, you’ll be worthy of going to the new world? My intelligent little monster, I created you for a purpose, and that purpose has been fulfilled. Now we will discover what makes your brain so special.”
Rocket then told him there was something else he hadn’t told him about his new creations, something that would allow them to be as creative and intelligent as him without having to kill him. The High Evolutionary’s eyes widened in surprise.
Then the little raccoon told him to come closer. “I don’t want them to know their fate,” he said to his creator. He approached close enough for his face to be within reach. He didn’t fear him, for to him, Rocket was just a useless and defenseless creature unable to rebel against his creator.
Suddenly, Rocket yelled, “Lylla, now!” The otter had silently stretched her mechanical arms towards the High Evolutionary, grabbing the tip of his laser gun. When Rocket gave the order, she pulled the gun and threw it into her friend’s cage.
Rocket quickly grabbed it in front of the astonished High Evolutionary and fired, not before saying, “My name is Rocket.”
The villain collapsed in front of the horrified gaze of Teefs, whose mind couldn’t imagine his little friend capable of killing. Floor, on the other hand, couldn’t stop hopping and screaming, both scared and excited. Rocket asked her to be quiet because the complicated part was coming.
They would have to cross an entire hallway full of guards. The main problem would be Teefs; with his large wheels, it would be difficult for him to go unnoticed. The guards wouldn’t take long to notice that their leader wasn’t responding.
Rocket then came up with a brilliant idea. He sneaked out of the room/prison they were in and returned with a cleaning robot.It had large wheels and an empty shell. What he did was remove the shell and cover Teefs’ face and body with it. He told Floor to make herself as small as possible and sit on his lap.
Next, he made a hole in the shell so Floor could see and guide Teefs while Rocket and Lylla would go ahead of them. They started walking silently, sticking to the wall, hiding behind machines. The raccoon remembered that there was a system controlling the lighting; they would need it so that Lylla and he could go unnoticed once they were near the ships at the end of the hallway, where they could no longer hide behind the machines.
When they reached that point, Rocket said to Lylla, “Wait here. When the lights go out, run with all your strength and don’t look back. I’ll catch up.” Lylla was terrified that Rocket wouldn’t return. But when he said, “You are my purpose,” she knew that one way or another, this wouldn’t be the last time they saw each other.
The raccoon took off running. When he reached the control room, two guards saw him. Before they could yell, he shot them. When he deactivated the lights, an alarm went off, and almost immediately, a great commotion began. Everywhere they heard the boots of guards running to find the High Evolutionary and see who was controlling the lights.
Rocket began to run, protected by the darkness, shaking inside at the thought of his friends being captured. “The master is dead!” he heard. Although the lights were off, one of the guards managed to see him and began shooting at him. He dodged the bullets as best he could and ran even faster.
When he reached the ship station, he saw one with the cockpit slightly open, but he didn’t see his friends. Suddenly, a shot hit the ship, and Rocket understood that he had to leave if he wanted to save his life. He began to ascend in tears, sure that his friends hadn’t made it.
When he climbed high enough, and the sun appeared, he heard a voice behind him: “So this is the sky, it’s more beautiful than I imagined!”
Rocket hesitated to turn around, wondering if it was his imagination or if all this was just a dream. Finally, gathering his courage, he looked and saw them: it was Lylla, and next to her was Floor, her small red eyes fixed on the blue sky, unable to say a single word. Rocket didn’t know how, but he sensed that behind that large metal piece, there was an innocent smile.
Teefs was a sea of tears, but his expression was one of great happiness. The three of them had hidden in the back of the ship when they heard the gunshots. “I promised you,” said Rocket, through his tears. For the first time in his life, he was free, and the future was bright.
Lylla moved her nose toward his, and he hugged her with all his strength. They loved each other, there was no doubt, and he reciprocated the deep feelings that had been born amidst the horrors of the laboratory.
Not much was heard from them for a while. The chronicles say that many years later, Rocket met a talking tree that joined the team, and together with his friends – his beloved Lylla, Teefs, and Floor (the latter turned into a great warrior) – they traveled the cosmos, freeing other enslaved beings.
And so the four friends and Groot flew through the beautiful and infinite sky. Over time, they became known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, joined by lost souls seeking a new purpose in life. But that’s another story.