Grande is a specific term--one which here means of amazing proportions and/or stature. In this unfortunate part of our heroes' tale, you may have come to realize that their obstacles are not at all grande, but rather depressing and dreadful. For an example, take the situation of Rocket, Derpy and Yondu as they were lead to their containment chambers.
Their cell wasn't grande, in way whatsoever. It was medium sized, if anything, and seemed even smaller with the three of them in it. There were both blood and urine stains all over the concrete and a few teeth to spare in the corner. There was no furniture (unless one counted a few smashed crates as a reliable couch or kitchen sink) and it was clearly a place that didn't look like an ideal home environment, that Derpy was certain enough. And it would be made less comfy by the three of them randomly being thrown inside.
“You'll be staying here until we reach our wealthy buyers.” The Ravager captain grinned a nasty, drooling grin as they picked themselves up off the ground. “For now, please enjoy the many hospitalities we have to offer you.”
“Thanks, Taserface! I'll see you later, Taserface!” Rocket called after him sarcastically, grinning when he heard angry growls coming from the disappearing pirate. “Tell everybody I said Hi, Taserface! Stay cool, Taserface! Don't be a stranger, Taserface!”
Needless to say, the new captain growled on his merry way off from the trio of cellmates and left them in brewing silence. Derpy shook grin from her mane and spared balances at both rocket and the blue dude. The blue guy looked emotionally weary if that was any way to describe to his face and he didn't even offer them a glance as he leaned back against the wall. Rocket seemed to be scanning the ceiling for something; maybe a wire panel above their heads.
“Nice trick, Derpy.” Rocket remarked, almost hesitant to give her any kind of praise. “Got us out of that mess real good.”
Derpy opened her mouth, perhaps to explain that she never thinks about half of what she says, but closed it immediately and nodded. “Sure. You're welcome.” She frowned as she looked around the dingy old cell. “Wish I'd known it'd be like this.”
Rocket raised an eyebrow, so she inhaled and continued. “Well, I...before I met you guys, I thought I'd enjoy a little break from life to do some cool stuff--thats why this whole super hero thing seemed interesting! Kinda wish I'd known there were life or death stakes in this.”
The pony was met with a scoff from the raccoon. “Ain't it better dying doing something new than living out some boring life?”
She shook her head almost immediately. “Heck no--death is like, my worst fear! Unless by dying, I get to live out a safe life like I used to do. Then maybe dying isn't so bad.” She kicked away a tooth on the ground near her. “Don't you ever get scared of dying? Like back there, we could have died. Or...we might dead soon. You're not worried about that at all?”
“Nope.”
“...Death ain't somethin’ to fear, ”
“Woah!” Derpy flinched back against Rocket in shock, blinking owlishly. The two animals stared at the former leader of the Ravagers, his scruffy blue face wearing a resolute grimace. The pegasus blinked again. “Wow, he can talk.”
“Living can be a helluva lot worse, if you play all the cards wrong. Every wrong turn you take just adds up to something, ” Yondu remarked solemnly, not even starting at them but rather off into the small distance of the cell. Who knew what he was picturing in his mind, what could be more enrapturing than the very thought of his end creeping towards him minute by minute. “And before y’know it, yer not looking back on yer life. Y’looking at a screwed up mess, yeah?”
Derpy cast a slightly nervous glance at Rocket, then shrugged at Yondu. “Well, I don't think this is a part of that. I don't want to offend you, but your co-workers seem like big jerks.”
Yondu snorted a little. “Not all of ‘ems jerks. I was a Kree battle slave for 20 years...when ol’ Stakar freed me. He offered me a place with the Ravagers, said I could live as good as a king. All I had to do was adhere to the code. That's all...But I was young…and greedy, and real stupid.” His eyes lifted to the raccoon. “Like you stealing those batteries.”
“That was Drax, ” He flinched Derpy glared at him. “Okay...that was mostly Drax.”
“Me and Stakar and the other captains…we wasn’t so different from you and yer screwed up friends. The only family I ever had after I was freed. When I broke their code...they exiled me.” Yondu nodded in acceptance. “This is what an Exile deserves.”
The Pegasus wrinkled her nose. “What? No you don't!”
Rocket scoffed at the both of them. “Derpy, don't lie to his face. Drama Queen deserves all of this shit. But you and me? We don't. We gotta get offa this ship.”
Yondu scratched his chin with a sigh and leveled a stare in Rocket's direction. “An’ where's Quill, eh?”
Rocket scoffed. “Who knows? Off playing catch with his new daddy.”
“Ego?”
“That's right.” Derby giggled to herself as she flapped her wings, hovering into the air without much effort. “I guess it's ‘funny names’ day, huh guys?”
The small joke was lame but its always the small jokes--no matter how bizarrely corny they are--that end up making others chuckle anyway. The trio were not immune to this universal code and quickly found themselves in a soft fit of chuckling. Rocket grinned toothily at Yondu. “Ey! Ya smiling! And for a second there, I got a warm feeling...but then you ruined it with your fucked up teeth.”
Derpy coughed, sputtered and went silent. Yondu ceased his snickering faster, sneering at the infernal beast across from him. “You always was a professional asshole, weren't ya?”
The Racoon looked smug. “Yeah, pretty much a pro.”
Derpy grimaced at him, his confirmation bringing to mind past scuffles and arguments. She looked at Yondu again, an ear raised curiously to listen to him. “We heard from that Ego guy that you were hired to bring Quill to him...Why keep him?”
A shrug was almost all she got. “He was a skinny twig. Could fit into places we couldn’t. Good for thievin’.”
“Nah, you liked him!” Derby edged close enough to elbow Yondu slightly. Though he didn't appreciate the friendly gesture or accusations given by this pony prisoner, he didn't react with any dissuading hostility. “He was like the son you never had and stuff! Or at least, you were an uncle or a really big brother.”
“Ah said he was skinny and good for theivin’. Nothing else.”
She shook her head innocently. “I know you said that, but it means something else entirely. You just don't see it yet!”
Before Yondu could summon enough volume to restate what he really thought of Quill, Rocket poked his nose between the bars of the cell and interrupted the talk. “Yondu, ya gave me an idea jes’ now. And here comes the main key now, strutting his way over and…”
The others soon discovered why Rocket had trailed off when Groot slowly shuffled his way up to the bars. Groot was in a state of disarray--a term which here means 'looked really, really bad.' He was dressed in a very bright red leather outfit that seemed impossible to take off, his entire body reeked of something disgusting and his tiny posture looked utterly crippled. When he was close enough to the bars of the cell, the trio could see he was soaked to the twig in some sort of alcoholic substance and wearing a depressed pout.
“Aw, Groot, ” Derpy cooed sadly when he shambled through the bars and hugged her foreleg. She cradled the tiny being to her chest, trying to ignore the horrible smell if only to bring some comfort to the plant. “What did they do to you?”
“I am Groot, ” His tiny voice reassured the worried faces of Derpy and Rocket, but it wasn't very convincing. “I am Groot.”
“Those pirates are a real bunch of poopheads. Don't worry about them though, ” Derpy shifted Groot so that he was still comfortable and able to see Yondu. “Hey, why don't you help us break out of here? It’ll be really fun and then we can get outta here.”
When a nervous nod answered her, Yondu adopted the most kind voice that a middle aged pirate leader could fathom in three seconds time. “Hey, uh Twig. There’s something I need you to get and bring back to me.” He explained slowly, pronouncing each word as though he were teaching a kindergarten class. “In th’ captain’s quarters, there’s a prototype fin…the--the thing I wore on m’head? There’s a drawer next to the bunk. It’s in that….oh--It’s red.
“You got it?”
Derpy set him down carefully and patted his small head affectionately. “Yeah, go get the the fin! And I promise that someday, we'll all go out and eat ice cream until it explodes out of our eye sockets! Right, guys?”
Yondu grinned his fastest, most cheesy grin that he could and Rocket soon followed suit, to which Groot grinned brightly and saluted Derpy. As he ran off with a newfound purpose in the belly of the pirate den, the trio grinned cheek-harmful smiles and waved him off the farther he traveled down the hallway.
Yondu slowly looked at Rocket, still smiling.
Rocket slowly looked at Yondu, still smiling.
“...Rat?”
“...Yeah?”
“...What is Ice Cream?”
Groot returned a little quicker than expected!
They eventually went to doing minor tasks in an attempt to wait patiently on their tiny spy. Derpy had flown to the ceiling to count the amount of dust on the ceiling, Rocket had settled for grooming himself in the corner and Yondu was curled up in a ball; trying to figure out just where his life went this wrong. This had to be karma for something stupid he did as a pirate. The universe had judged him and punished him by leaving his fate in the hands of a baby tree and two grande morons. Maybe it was that silver hoverboard he stole from Planet Dregok--the one that was supposed to have belonged to some powerful surfing bozo. Stupid thing was a fake though, so he must have been punished for that one time--
“I am Groot!”
The trio smiled happily at hearing that same old sentence and rushed to the bars to get the fun that Yondu desired to be aloft his cranium once more. Their smiles fell rather quickly when they saw that Groot hadn't brought them a prototype fun, but rather--
“My underwear, ” Yondu said with slow disbelief, staring at the white briefs clutched in the twig's hands. “That's my underwear.”
Derpy cringed. “Do you ever wash your clothes?!”
“Yeah, I figured he didn't understand you the first time.” Rocket rolled his eyes as he leaned against the bars. “You have to explain it to him more carefully.”
“How can I even--?! You know what? Okay. Fine.” The blue ravager pointed at the damaged part of his skull again. “It's a. PROTOTYPE.FIN.”
Groot returned a little later than expected.
Everyone was back in their waiting positions when he showed up with noises much different than his usual sentence. When they slowly shuffled over to the bars again, they found Groot holding one of the vermin of the ship. It clearly didn't like to be held, if it's ear-piercing caws were anything to go off of.
Derpy grinned anyway, even if it was faltering. “....uh, ha ha! Groot, that's not the fin!”
Yondu chilled his gaze down upon her. “NO. It's NOT my fin?! But they look so IDENTICAL! Rat, you explain it this time.”
The mildly amused Racoon shrugged at the request. “Sure, alright. That’s an orloni, Groot. It’s a fin. Real big and mechanical looking.”
Groot had come quickly again.
Yondu was contemplating whether or not he wished to have died quickly with his loyal crew members, Derpy was cleaning the ceiling of all the dust and Rocket was yelling at her for getting dust in his face. When those famous three words were uttered, the trio reluctantly glanced at each other and went to see just what the cat dragged in this time.
Yondu held his face in his hands. “...That's Vorker's eye.”
Derpy tsked in disappointment at the cybernetic eye Groot held up to them, twitching horribly in his grip. “Well, you brought us something mechanical, at least. Just, uh, try again.
Groot started to walk off from them. “But leave the eye here.”
Yondu started down at him in confusion. “Why? You gonna make a gadget out of it?”
“...H-He's gonna wake up in the morning...and hE’s nOT GONNA KNOW...WHERE HIS EYE IS! HA HAAAA HA HAA!”
Rocket crumpled to the ground in a fit of grande laughter, beating his paws on the ground with each amused wheeze. Derpy and Yondu stared blankly at him, but the racoon only laughed all the more.
Groot was...well, how can one even tell if he was any earlier or any later? There was no clock in the cell for anyone to be certain.
Derpy and Rocket were in the middle of talking Yondu down from banging his head on the wall until his skull caved in and he'd be free from this endless torture. The sound of something heavy scraping to a half in front of them made them all cringe in apprehension.
One look was all Yondu needed. “THAT'S A FRICKIN’ DESK!”
Rocket held his paws up. “We told you it was this big! THIS. BIG.”
The three of them started at Groot with wide, round eyes. Groot, innocently grinning, held up the object to them without an ounce of understanding.
“...Yondu...do you guys have a refrigerator full of people's d--”
“No. God no.”
Derpy blinked for the first time in two silent minutes. “...s-so he cut off someone’s p--”
“Yes.”
Grande silence reigned for quite some time after that. It was only broken when Rocket coughed and nodded slowly.
“Okay. Um. Let's...lets just take this to our graves.”
After making him throw away the you know what and wash his hands three times, Groot returned for a different set of instructions. Yondu, still a bit more torture away from going insane, pulled out something from his pocket; a bronze symbol that was light as a coined and somewhat resembled a leaf. He held it at eye level for Groot to see. “The drawer you're looking for...has this symbol on it. Okay?”
They all watched with fierce tenseness as Groot slowly took the symbol. He looked at it this way, then that way, then upside down and right side up. Practically biting their fingernails/claws/hooves, the trio observed the plant's careful examination until finally he lifted it overhead and--
“WHAT?! NO!”
Derpy massaged her forehead while Groot balanced the symbol on his cranium.“He...thinks you want him to wear it as a hat.”
Yondu growled. “That's not what I said.”
“I am Groot.”
Rocket's ears perked up. “He’s relieved you don’t want him to.”
“I am Groot.”
“He hates hats.”
“I am Groot.”
“On anyone, not just himself.”
“I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot.”
“One minute y’think someone has a weird-shaped head; the next minute it’s just because you realize part of that head is the hat…” Rocket sneered at him. “That is a stupid reason to hate hats, you know?”
Yondu interjected soon after Groot just shrugged silently. “This is an important conversation to be having right now?”
Derpy leaned down to his level in exasperation. “Okay, look. It's on a drawer. Something shaped like that is on a drawer. Get the big, red, flat thing in it. Pleeeease?”
“Ah knew it. Th’ twigs been caught.”
“Hey!” The mare exclaimed in fearful surprise, pacing one corner of the room. “Let's not think like that! We need to think positively! He's only been gone for three minutes, right Rocket?”
“Three plus ten minutes, yeah. We may have to go to with plan b to get out of this cell.”
Derpy’s hoof shot up fast enough stop Rocket's paws from reaching his mouth, and the pony herself shook her head frantically. “Will you just stop with the ‘pulling out your own teeth to pick the lock plan’?! That's not a good idea.”
Rocket rolled his eyes. “Quill says animals on earth would bite their own arm off to escape captivity. If they got balls like that, then mine are bound to be bigger.”
Derpy groaned at the ceiling in exasperation. “Rocket--the animal dies of blood loss anyway!”
“Pfft, ” He snickered. “You think I'm gonna bleed out from a ripped tooth?! You can't bleed out from that!”
She shrugged hesitantly. “You could if you don't cauterize the wound!”
“Cauterize? WOUND? It's a tooth!”
Derpy nodded frantically. "It can happen! A buddy of mine in Filly Scouts had that happen to her once when she yanked out a loose tooth!" She paused and thought over the memory briefly, before mumbling: "Oh wait. She lived through that. The wound stopped bleeding after thirty seconds."
Rocket put his paws on his hips. "I'm just shocked that you're using the word wound to describe this."
Derpy shrugged defensively. "It counts! If you have a papercut, it counts as a wound! Yondu, doesn't a pulled tooth count as a wound?"
Yondu looked up at the ceiling, or maybe at something beyond the cieling. “ OKAY! I'll apologize! Is that whatchu want?! Whatever I did to deserve this nightmare, I'm sorry!"
The prototype fin clanged noisily on the ground next to Yondu. It was so sudden that he nearly flinched at seeing it, but rather picked it up slowly. All eyes turned to the cell door as it opened up, revealing a waving Groot held by a particular figure.
Yondu stood up slowly, leveling a narrowed gaze with Kraglin as he slowly approached him. Waryness was in the former captain's eyes, but it was mixed with deep confusion. Kraglin looked down at the ground and didn't look up.
"I ain't mean to cause a mutiny. Ain't mean to kill all my friends. Or Tulik." Kraglin swallowed, a sorrowful tone in his throat. "I forgot who you were, I guess. Y'loyal to everyone, not jes' us. Not jes' Quill."
To that, there was no immediate response. Yondu placed a firm hand on his shoulder and gave an emotionless sigh, as he often did with his subordinates. But this time, he finally acknowledged Kraglin with one nod and lopsided grin. "Get th' third quadrant ready for release."
Kraglin nodded back, glanced at the other freed captives and saluted Yondu with stuff respect. Before he could even turn to get started, a Swift cough brought his attention back down to the Raccoon.
"That was cute, " He smiled. "Just wanted to ask, you got any copies of Quill's old music?"
Kraglin raised an eyebrow at Yondu, but his captain just shrugged.