Red// GOFTG Rocket Raccoon//

I

Images of a baby red panda flash through quickly, with humans hovering over the child, their faces blurry.  A needle slowly descends on the baby, and the baby screams.

I jolt awake, breathing heavily. I wipe the sweat from my fur and pull my legs close to my chest. I rest my arms on my knees and stay in that position for a bit, calming my rapid breathing. 

I hop off my bed and pick up the discarded clothes off the floor. I pull my shirt on, a black off-the-shoulder shirt with red stripes going down the front. I struggle with my pants, also black, hopping as I try to pull them up. Grunting, I finally get them up, sticking my tail through the cutout hole in the back. 

As I head to my bedroom door, I pass a mirror and cringe and the way my fur is sticking up. I try and smooth it down, but it puffs back up. My ear twitches in annoyance, Rolling my eyes, I give up and grab my blasters on the way out of the door. 

I hum along to the song that is playing through the ship's stereo system as I make my way to the co-pilot's seat. I hope up with a grunt.

"Mornin' Maria," Peter says, glancing over at me.

"Mornin'," I respond. "How far away are we?" 

"Maybe a few minutes," Peter says.

I nod and the two of us sit in comfortable silence as Peter continues to fly the ship towards our destination. 

~

We eventually land on the abandoned planet, Morag. Peter shuts off the ship and gets up. I climb up my chair and hop on his shoulders. 

"Ready?" I ask.

Peter nods and puts on his helmet, I do the same. He opens the hatch and the two of us are walking out and heading into the unknown. 

~

This planet is very windy and rainy, which is a combination I do not like.  Peter trudges through, stepping in mud and who knows what else. 

He stops for a moment and looks around. I tilt my head, wondering what he is doing.

He pulls out a device. He has to shake it a few times to get it to work. It finally turns on and a blue beam lights up our way, showing what this planet used to look like before god knows what happened to it.  A yellow marker pops up in the distance with a path that shows us where to go. That must be what we came for. 

Peter continues walking, moving the device side to guide us through. We pass many people doing different things, but one scene, in particular, catches my attention. It shows a young girl, maybe five or so, playing with a puppy. I smile softly. The girl laughs and hugs the puppy, but the image is gone a second later when Peter shuts the device off. 

We come to a massive cave entrance, with many huge spikes hanging from the ceiling.  Peter comes to a stop and takes his helmet off. I follow soon after. 

He takes out his walkman and his headphones. "What do you wanna listen to Maria?" he asks, 

I shrug. "I don't care." 

Peter nods. He places one headphone on his ear and then places the other one on my ear. He clips the walkman to his belt and presses play. The intro to "Come and Get Your Love" plays and my tail swishes happily behind me. This song is one of my favorites. 

Peter dances along the way and I have to hold onto the back of his jacket so I don't go flying off. He comes to a puddle and splashes it, some of the dirty water getting on my fur. I growl but he ignores me. 

I'm gonna have to take a shower when we get back to the ship.

Three small, rat-like creatures run up to us but Peter kicks them away. I hear one to the side and just before it can jump on me, Peter grabs it and uses it as a microphone.