While Ellie may not know many things (her own choice of words, believe me!) she knew this much: getting sucked into a universe that doesn't really exist isn't her idea of fun, not to mention it should be impossible.

Her ears were ringing. Colours span around in her head and before her eyes; light, dark, light again; there was no regularity with them, just like the pattern of accidents in the world. Her thoughts muddled, she tried to make sense of what had just happened. She had been in her friend's front room just a few seconds ago, twirling a piece of popcorn between two fingers, waiting for him to return with the much needed Dr Pepper to continue what he had called an 'emergency meeting.' He had been horrified by the fact that she had never been exposed to what he called 'the movie of their generation,' and had promised to awaken her to the wonders of both the movie and the music that existed before dubstep.

And now? The screen had been in front of her, what she had called 'aged title music' had been playing, and then nothing. Perhaps the popcorn was off. What was beneath her was surely hard ground, not the comfortable sofa she had been sitting on.

"What's this here? You reckon its dead?"

The unexpected words echoed above her; loud and intrusive they reverberated and Ellie winced at their intensity, ready to deliver a much deserved kick to whoever it was. Plus, whoever had drugged her popcorn. She cracked open an eye. There above her, gently moving in a breeze was the branches of a spreading tree, solid and of warm colours; the occasional vine or olive green leaf clutching to its form. In its comforting shadow, Ellie was instantly reminded of long summer afternoons, lying beneath the majestic oak at the bottom of her garden, an excellent book spread over her lap, devouring Dippin' Dots and fiction alike. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in, nostalgia easing the pain in her head somewhat. Ellie grinned up at the tree.

It blinked.

With a choked inhale, she jerked violently and backed away, raising one hand in front of her as a shield. Her back collided with the wall behind her as he head throbbed painfully. The tree towered over her, parts of it protruding outwards to serve as limbs and what she could now see was a head; a humanoid tree. It seemed to fill out every part of her vision with its forestry. For Ellie, it was a creature which until minutes before had existed only on the cover of a DVD case.

This is a dream. It must be. This is a movie for crying out loud! How can-?

"Aw, it's alive. Damn."

The voice had come not from above Ellie, but in front. Wrenching her eyes away from the spectacle that was the walking tree with some difficulty, she faced the source of the words; her breath caught in her chest. The speaker wore something which resembled ravagers getup, nothing that anyone earthly would be able to get away with without being accused of being a hard-core comic-con worshipper, with a gun enormous for his size slung over his back. But these could not compare to the most surreal factor.

A racoon. Good Lord, it's a racoon. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Cuddle!

Hang on, I remember him. She racked her brains for the little information she had. His name is Rocket, and he winds up as one of the heroes, right? Calm down. She took deep breaths, calming herself and organising her thoughts, meeting the small unblinking eyes of the racoon with a steady gaze. Whatever's going on here, be it a dream or LSD, nothing will be solved with panic. Looking around, Ellie became aware that she was in some sort of alleyway; narrow and whitewashed, not filthy like the ones near her home. She was crouched in the shadows, away from the warmth of the sun which crept into the first few feet of the alley.

"What's the matter with you, blondie?" The furry specimen had his arms crossed, distrust glittering in his beady eyes. "One too many canteens?"

"I've got one mother of a headache." I'm talking to a racoon. Well, you know what they say about the rich tapestry of life… "Scratch that actually; call it a grandmother. Ouch!" She pressed a hand to the side of her head among her blonde curls, relieved that when she pulled her hand away there was no blood. Internal concussion was fine, but blood? No thank you.

The vast humanoid tree leaned down; his face, while bark clad, somehow managed to look concerned. He blinked once, slowly taking in Ellie's face and form, before rewarding her patience with a smile.

"I am Groot."

His voice was deep and guttural, advantageous to his alien form Ellie supposed, but it was oddly comforting too. She grinned up at him.

"Nice to know you, Mr. Groot. I'm Ellie."

"I am Groot."

"Ah, yeah, I got that."

"I am Groot."

"Nope." Rocket leapt up onto the humanoid tree's shoulder, wrapping one small hand around a vine in the creature's neck. "Very much alive."

"I am Groot?"

Rocket groaned. "How should I know if there's any lasting damage?"

"Does he say anything else?" Ellie asked as she pushed herself to her feet, still leaning against the wall in case her head began to pound and throb again.

Rocket snorted, tugging at the collar of his tunic about his neck. "Don't get into that; trust me. No good will come from it. Or money for that matter, rendering it pointless."

"Money?" So this guy must be the 'Han Solo' sort of character? Or perhaps 'R2D2' is more accurate? 'Star Wars' was one movie she had seen, though looking at the effects Rocket was supporting, not to mention his colossal gun, Ellie thought it best to not compare him to the tiny stout droid to his face, be it a fictional character or not. But Rocket is a fictional character too! At least I thought so…

"What have you got on you, anyhow?" Rocket peered down at her from Groot's shoulder, picking her apart.

"Apart from my clothes?" Thank God. "Nothing."

Rocket huffed in disappointment. "Well, you ain't got nothing on you worth our time, so we'll be making tracks now."

Ellie frowned. "Were you going to mug me?"

"No! Just loot your dead corpse; much less dangerous."

"Oh, well that's fine then." Ellie snorted sarcastically. "You always this honourable, Mr. Rocket?"

Rocket's little back eyes widened and narrowed in almost a nanosecond, his form stiffening. Groot stood stock still, rooted to the ground almost like the tree he was.

"Hold up one second, lady." Rocket slid down one of Groot's arms and stood in front of her. "How do you know who we are?"

Ellie gulped as subtly as she dared. Her knowledge, or rather, where she acquired said knowledge, made no sense even to her. She knew the names of the main characters and bits and pieces she had been told by hard-core fan boys/girls that she called friends, but that was about it. It's all general knowledge back home. All that she could see around her was Canon, make belief, a resurrected 60s comic book; right? But it probably won't do to tell this gun wielding rodent that.

"Well, Groot here already introduced himself, as you must have noticed by now…"

"I am Groot." The giant creature nodded his head. Encouraged, Ellie clutched at the small knowledge she had of the blockbuster hit that she had foolishly refused to pay the admission price for.

"I've heard of your particular duo; I mean a giant walking tree and a racoon? Come on."

Ellie heard Rocket hiss "What's a racoon?" but chose to ignore him.

"You aren't exactly easy to miss." Ellie tidied her T-shirt and jeans as she spoke. "You guys are outlaws right? You must have a wanted poster somewhere."

"Outlaws? Criminals yes, but we hunt for bounties, missy; we're not your run of the mill petty thieves or murderers. We're in it for the money. You want outlaws, you can try the little time ones like the ones we hunt for, or the world shaking kind like Ronan the Accuser."

Ronan? Oh yeah, he's the antagonist of this movie, right? Some terrorist fanatic? I remember the promotional movie poster of him, but that's about it. Damn, why did I condemn the movie as a flop before going to see it for myself?

"Don't clump us together with them." Rocket finished, his furry features offended and his arms folded across his chest.

"That's rich, coming from someone who has no problem with looting dead bodies." Ellie mimicked him, crossing her arms. "I'm just trying to make sure you didn't think I knew you through a dangerous third party or something."

"You? With your banged up head, dangerous to us? What are you, a teenager? Missy, if you were anywhere but Xandar, you'd have been eaten alive by now."

"I'm twenty years old, actually." Ellie huffed, before blinking at the unfamiliar word. "Xandar? What's that?"

"Boy you really are smacked up aren't you? This," Rocket stamped his foot on the ground beneath him, "Is Xandar. This alley is Xandar, the air, the sky and the folks are all something to do with Xandar."

Rocket walked to the end of the alleyway, and gestured airily beyond it.

"Xandarians. What a bunch of losers. Ah, look at them in a big hurry to get from something stupid to nothing at all." He shook his small head, fingering the gun on his back. "Pathetic."

Ellie was barely listening. Leaning out of the dankness of the alley just behind where Rocket was trying to monologue, she was dazzled for a moment by the sun, which reflected effortlessly off the whiteness; but this did nothing to prevent Ellie's mouth from falling open at the sight. Xandar (wherever that was) was visibly and unbelievably technologically and architecturally advanced; nowhere Ellie could think of on earth could compare even the slightest to the slender curves of the buildings or the whiteness of their colour, nor to their mammoth structure. Staring around, she suddenly became aware of her own insignificance; her father had once told her that the sassiest person meant as much as the sassiest beetle, and only now did she understand what he meant.

The people were a curiosity too; they were indiscriminate when it came to primary colours, boosting all kinds of elaborate and colourful hairstyles, with the golden sun glancing off their catholic skin hues. They moved about their business gracefully, adults and children alike; Ellie certainly didn't agree with Rocket calling them pathetic. But all this held marginal interest for her when compared to one simple fact; most of them if not all looked content, smiling easily.

If this is a dream or something induced, it's a damn good one. It seems so real! Then another, perhaps more disconcerting thought pushed its way to the surface of her mind. Can it be real?

"It's amazing." She said quietly.

Something snorted disparagingly at her elbow. Rocket was watching her enraptured face cynically, and with a dismissive scoff he unhitched something that looked suspiciously like an iPad from his belt, turning it on with an electronic beep.

"Let's see if any of these useless suckers have heavy enough prices for our time."

Ellie frowned, ready to ask what was so purposeful about his life that he could judge others so, but she stopped when she felt something touch her shoulder lightly. The branches of Groot's gentle fingers gripped around her shoulder mildly.

"I am Groot?" It was a question, Ellie could tell.

"I'm sorry." She shrugged, "I'm afraid I don't-"

"He asked if you're a Xandarian." Came Rocket's voice from the mouth of the alleyway.

"I'm a person."

"Well, that really narrows it down – hold up! What have we here?"

His change in tone was enough to make her curious. Ellie frowned and peered at the machine in Rocket's paws. She blinked. It was most definitely not an iPad; never mind that, it was most definitely the most advanced hunk of technology she had ever seen, the likes of which couldn't possibly be from earth. He had it held up to the level of his face and had been scanning the crowds, but now it was focused on the face of a man on the higher levels. Okay, it's bleeping and there are red flashes. Ellie mused while looking at the machine. This must be a critical plot point.

"Okay, let's see how bad someone wants to find ya." Information began to pile up on the screen, a name and codename for the face and a numerical figure which caused Rocket's eyes to widen and his paws to tighten on his machine. "Forty-thousand units? Groot, we're gonna be rich!" He turned about with glee, clicking his bounty seeker back to his belt.

"Come on, Groot!" He disappeared around the corner, but not before Ellie heard his parting wish. "We're bagging this one if it kills him!"

Ellie started as she felt Groot move past her, the gentle pressure of his hand leaving her shoulder. He turned back for a moment to deliver a small parting wave before following his furry companion, his long strides soon allowing Rocket to swing upwards onto his shoulders once more, unfurling what looked like a body bag as he went.

"Kills him? Aw man, they can't kill the protagonist!"

Before any rationality became possible, Ellie found herself sprinting after the retreating bounty seekers. After all, Peter Quill aka Star Lord was the only one on the DVD case who looked even remotely human. Perhaps he was human; there must be a possibility that earth still exists in this TV wormhole. Perhaps he knew enough about relevant pop culture to get her home.