//------------------------------//
// The Camp 
// Story: Journey Of A Tree And A Raccoon 
// by FoxWithAMask 
//------------------------------//

I looked over the engine again, in the four weeks since Wade had left we’d been working on the van, but so far no luck. So...the Vortex Manipulator...the big glowy ball...is connected to...the...the Anti-Grav Generator...the giant floppy discs. Sighing, I looked back to the manual I'd found inside the lorry. "Yeah, I don't know anything about this thing." Well, that wasn't entirely true. For one, I'd put most of the workings back together. But that was mostly just following the manual. I'd also discovered that the lorry was, in fact, carrying equipment for some sort of space cops. Yay, go correct guessing!

Groot on the other hand was having a wonderful time stealing food from Fapsville. Ninja-like, of course. We had gone through most of the crates and found most of the boxes contained ammo that would work for both my blaster rifle and my new blaster pistols. Well, I think it’s ammo, but they haven’t exactly run out of blasts through my practice, so I don’t know. I'd dumped the old ones in favour of ones with a 'stun' setting. Urgh, why has being the ‘good guy’ got to be so lame?

"So...this...goes..." I groaned and shook my head. "This could be going better."

"<Hey, Rocket, I'm back!>" Groot called from somewhere behind me.

"Yeah, great, whatever." I muttered. "Hey, Groot! You take over!" I yelled over my shoulder, jumping down off the hood.

He chuckled, "<Sure thing.>" He took my place as I flopped into one of the chairs we'd found and started cleaning my weapons as Groot began fiddling around with the engine.

After about twenty minutes I had finished with all my weapons and looked over to Groot. “Any luck?”

“<Almost…>” He grunted. “<Got it…”

I sighed, “Don’t think it’s going to work, Groot.” He growled and gave it a solid slap. “Hey! Watch it!” I yelled. “Don’t break it, you…” I trailed off as I heard the soft rumbling of the engine. “Holy shit. How did you…?”

He gave me a grin, “<Percussive maintenance. Always worked on my computer.>” He blinked before groaning in pain and rubbing his head.

“You remembered something?” I asked.

He nodded, “<For a second. It’s gone again.>”

I sighed, “Yeah, seems we can’t remember for long, huh?” It happened when I saw Wade’s summon and now it happens to Groot. Damn that Merchant bastard, or whoever it was that did this to us.

…

Still say it’s cultists.

Groot reached into the van and turned the engine off. Now it’s working it’s probably best to save power. Or whatever it is that thing runs off. Groot came over and sat down besides me. “<Is the hoard necessary?>” He asked, nodding his head towards the large pile of guns, stun grenades and ammo that was piled behind me

“I’M NOT HOARDING IT!!! IT’S MY STASH!!!” I yelled.

He shook his head and gave a small grin, “<Whatever you say, man.>” He looked up as the sun began to set. “<Another day, another memory made, right, Rocket?>”

I smiled, “Yeah. While we’ve got each other, we can take anything.” I sighed and rubbed my eyes, “Come on, let’s get some rest.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I screamed in agony as the laser sliced through my chest. I couldn’t take the pain, I didn’t want the pain! Damn this place! I’ll blow this kratucking lab sky high when I get out! I swear! I screamed again as some began poking my insides.

Then it was gone and there was some kind of alien in a lab coat standing above me with a twisted smirk. I tried to attack him but I was strapped down, my tail twitching wildly in panic. He raised his hand and several drills and saw descended from a machine, slowly coming closer to me. No...no! Stay away! I started screaming wildly, hoping against hope that they would shut the machine off.

But they didn't.

I let out one last scream as my chest was torn open and-

I woke up, my fur stuck to my skin, panting for breath. "It's...it's not real, Rocket. It's not real." I had been having these nightmare since just after we'd found the space van. They...they seemed so real. Are they? Could they...be memories?

I shook my head. No. No, I'm human. They're...just bad dreams. Nothing more. I took a drink of water from my canteen before settling back down and trying to get back to sleep. Hopefully I can avoid more nightmares.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The next day was nothing special, we spent most of the day going through the boxes and sorting them out. Despite the boring work the day quickly passed and by late afternoon we were playing a game of Rummy with some cards we’d found in the glovebox.

"So..." I drawled as Groot dealt the cards. "You think we have a chance convincing the population we're the good guys?"

Groot nodded, "<I have to hope so. And we've gotten lucky so far, so maybe it'll stick.>" He paused. "<But...let's create a backup plan, just in case.>"

"Yeah. Not a bad idea." I mused. "Get a crew and become pirates?"

Groot stopped and gave me an even glare, "<Really?>"

“What?” I shrugged. “Pirates are cool.”

He sighed and picked up his cards. “<Be serious.>”

I chuckled, “Alright, I’ll give it some thought later. Right now let’s play.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


We played fifteen games. Groot won twelve. Damn him.

We’d given up on cards and were just looking at the early evening sky. Groot had grown quiet. Too quiet. What's he thinking about? I sighed, "Alright. Come on, spit it out. What's wrong?"

"<I'm...worried about you.>" He admitted. Wait, worried about me? "<Don't, Rocket. I've seen you at night. Crying, shaking, shivering. It's not right, you need to talk about it.>"

I paused. "I...I'm fi-"

"<No.>" Groot grunted. "<You need to talk about it.>"

I winced, “I...I guess.” I sighed. “Alright. I’ll talk...just...not now, okay?”

He nodded, “<No pressure, but if it gets too bad I’m going to hug you and not let go till you talk, got it?>”

I gave a low chuckle, “Sure thing, Groot.”

He froze for a second and looked towards the forest. "<Someone's coming!>" He hissed.

I grabbed my blaster and took aim. As the minutes passed my mouth dried up. “Come on out, you bugger.”

My patience was finally rewarded as two white coated Diamond Dogs stumbled through the trees. I blinked before lowering my blaster slightly, "Sasha?" It looks like her. "Is that you?"

She stopped and waved, "Hey, it's you guys!" Yep, it’s her.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


After making a fire in the middle of the ‘camp’ we all gathered around it as night fell. “So, you’re...being vigilantes?” Sasha asked. “The non-lethal kind?”

I shrugged, “It’s a phase.”

“<No, it’s not.>” Groot said.

“Totally is!” I grinned.

“<No.>”

I grinned and turned my attention to Sasha and her brother. “So, I don’t think I ever caught your name.”

Her brother gave a smile, “The name’s Digger. Call me Digg.”

I nodded, “So, what brings you two over here?”

“Just looking for the next town. Thought we’d go to Ponyville, it sounds nice. Relaxing. We could do with that after all we’ve been through.”

I nodded, “Ponyville, huh? We were going to head there eventually. Hey, can you do us a favour when you get there? Spread the word that we’re not the bad guys.” I chuckled. “We’re sort of fugitives at the moment. The whole ‘killing’ thing apparently pushed some buttons high up.”

Sasha snorted, “Yeah, ponies are generally soft like that. Don’t worry, we’ll spread the word.” She shook her head. “Where your little axe crazy friend?”

I chuckled, “Oh, he’s...he’s gone home.”

She nodded, “Well, thanks for everything. But we’ll probably be leaving early in the morning. Probably be gone before you wake, so...thanks.”

I nodded, “No problem. Let’s get some sleep, huh?”

That night I had no nightmares to cope with.