Last month, we thought Rocket Raccoon could use a power-up. Enjoy, and see him go absolutely mad with power at Big Stories now!

Art by  silver-stag

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Rocket actually didn't enjoy that many parts of his job— being one of the Guardians of the Galaxy meant that he had to listen to every belly-aching, bleeding-heart, mealy-mouthed moron from across the cosmos bitch and moan about their problems to convince the Guardians to take on the job, and then some more whining to bring down their prices. But he wasn't entirely joyless; there were two parts of the job Rocket absolutely enjoyed. The first was any chance to blow something up or fill someone full of lead; always a good time, as far as he was concerned. The other part was getting paid. After a third time saving the temple of High Priestess Ayesha of the Sovereign, the Guardians were due for a big pay day. Multiple rescues from the same threats charged interest, an idea Quill came up with— one of his better ones, Rocket had to admit.

The High Priestess had let the Guardians fill their hold with treasure from the temple's reliquary. All of them were picking out items that caught their eye, but Rocket found something that stood out amongst the mountains of gold; a little purple gem that the uplifted raccoon found hauntingly familiar.

"Nah… It can't be." Rocket muttered, picking it up. It was rough-hewn, not polished or cut, but it glowed a brilliant shade and hummed with a pulsing power. As he held it up to look at it in the light, there was an electric surge that rushed into his body— at first, he felt his fur standing on end and a shuddering pulse rush through his body. His arm trembled, but as he saw his tensed veins poking through his fur, lean muscle suddenly jolted to life, tensed biceps starting to swell, triceps filling out and spreading out into the rest of his body.

"Woah." Rocket huffed.

"I am Groot?"

"What?" Rocket swerved around, clutching the purple gem in his fist as he saw Groot looking over his shoulder. "Nothing! Zip it!" He then craned his neck, shouting over the piles of treasure. "Hey, Quill! I'm keeping this one gem for my share!"

"Huh?" Star Lord shouted from somewhere else in the reliquary. "Uh, lemme take a look at it first and we'll see."

"Yeah," Rocket grinned toothily, hefting up his custom rifle over his shoulder, noticing how much lighter it felt, and tensing the new muscle in his arm. "I wasn't askin'."