The adventures of Guardians of the Galaxy continue as they look for more Pandorian crystals.

The
Collector has given them all the locations where they can find the objects. Although they still doubt the
authenticity of this information, they still go. Drax sees that they are being followed by Corpsman Titus
from the space station The Conjunction. How determined is he to apprehend them? Quill and the others
have been acquitted of all their crimes by the Nova Corps themselves. Understandably, not all cops trust
them, but this is too much. Quill hits Titus’ ship, forcing him to land on a nearby planet, which happens to
be the same planet they are going to.

They land in a place that looks like a forest. Quill, being his playful and savage self, teases Groot about
finding missing branches from his family tree. Rocket tells him off, saying Groot is a sensitive guy. Yeah,
Quill, leave our adorable tree alone.

Gahmora spots a village not far from them. They walk towards it, leaving Groot to guard the ship. From a
plateau near the village, they can see the villagers expertly cutting logs. On one side, they see the
Pandorian crystal lodged on an altar. Quill tells them to disguise themselves as villagers. They get near the
crystal but the village leader spots them. Fortunately, he doesn’t do anything drastic. He only wants to
trade the crystal with Quill’s knife. It should have been an easy mission, except for the fact that Groot
suddenly starts running at them, followed by the forest monsters. They are made of rocks, with striking
orange coats all over them. These monsters start rampaging into the village. The Guardians defend the
villagers and start fighting the monsters. Eventually, they go back to the forest. The villagers create a wall
of fire, as this is the only way to keep the monsters at bay. After this, they celebrate their victory, along
with the Guardians whom they consider their heroes. They are invited to eat, dance, compete, and even
chop up wood. Quill is still teasing Groot. Due to his carelessness, he doesn’t notice the crystal falling
from his pocket. Rocket sees this and decides to give it to Groot for safekeeping. Then they go to
Gahmora, who is talking to the village leader.

According to him, they call the monsters Rexians. They first appeared after a fireball fell into their planet.
A few days later, fungi started spreading throughout the forest, giving birth to those creatures. As they
talk, the burning wood from the bonfire behind them starts to crackle. Embers fly from it and land on
Groot. The tree starts to panic, as fire is his worst enemy. He runs around, spreading fire to houses.
Fortunately, he puts it out, but it leaves itchy orange marks on his barks. Quill chides him for being
careless. This time, his words may have gone too far. Groot walks away dejected.

The villagers are unhappy about what happened. Quill wants to leave, but Gahmora says they can’t leave
them vulnerable to the monster attacks. Drax agrees. Rocket adds that they won’t go anywhere until Quill
apologizes to Groot. Reluctantly, Quill agrees. He follows Groot into the forest. This is easy, as the tree has
left orange marks along the way. Eventually, he sees him sitting by the cliff. He thinks Groot is still sulking.
The truth is, something is transforming inside him, and not in a good way. A few moments later, the tree
becomes gigantic. He growls his iconic lines “I am Groot” while being covered by an orange coat similar
to the rock monsters earlier.
Quill goes back to the village, followed by Monster Groot. Everyone thinks he’s done something. But
Rocket confirms his best friend has truly transformed into a monster. He can’t even translate what he’s
saying. Monster Groot destroys houses. Quill manages to freeze one leg, making Monster Groot lose
balance, and then his consciousness. He suggests he and Rocket should go through an opening on Groot’s
leg. They think the orange fungus must be infecting him from the inside. Drax and Gahmora will keep the
villagers away.

Once inside, Quill and Rocket see that the fungus has covered almost everything. Branches crisscross
here and there, all bright with infection. Burning it is not an option, as each branch is covered in
flammable sap. However, the villagers launch a burning wood into the opening, causing a pit of fire that
surprisingly doesn’t spread. But it causes Groot to wake up. Quill and Rocket continue to look for the
possible source of infection inside. Outside, Drax and Gahmora are doing their best to distract Monster
Groot from destroying the village. It doesn’t help that Titus has eventually fixed his ship and sees the
rampaging tree monster. At the same time, Gahmora sees the meteor told by the village leader earlier. It
must be the cause of the fungi spread, therefore it must be destroyed. Drax volunteers to do it. But first,
he needs to deal with Titus.

The Nova Corps officer is preparing to fire anti-matter missiles without permission. He’ll do anything just
to carry out his justice. Drax jumps on his ship and manages to dislodge one missile. But the other still
fires. Drax uses his strength to stop the missile from making contact with Groot. Eventually, he directs it
towards the meteorite, effectively destroying it from spreading fungi. Back inside Groot, Quill spots the
Pandorian Crystal on top of a large, green, glowing seed. He jumps towards it, but he slips, making him
fall into the seed. Surprisingly, it contains water instead of a solid material. When he opens his eyes, Quill
gets a vision of what it really is. He sees Groot planting it on the ground. When watered, several blocks of
trees begin emerging from the ground, and the birth of many Groots. Then Quill says “I am Groot”.
Finally, he understands what his friend feels, and the burden he always carries within him. Intuitively,
Quill starts to water the seedling from the inside.

Instantly, all the fungi dissolve as the branches return to normal. Quill and Rocket only have time to get
out. Groot returns to normal and coughs out the crystal and gives it to Quill. Titus intends to shoot Groot,
but the villagers protect the Guardians out of gratitude.

When they leave the planet, Quill checks the Cryptobox. It shows him another point on the map that they
must go to. He sees Groot and expresses his appreciation for his resilience. He now understands that
their tree friend is carrying the only seedling that can revive his whole civilization. Well, to truly
understand each other, one must speak the other’s language.
A few days later, the whole crew is inside the Nova Corps headquarters. The last of the Pandorian Crystal
is stored in the archives. According to Quill, the best way to get it aside from directly stealing it, is to
pretend they are officers. Then they can steal it legally. As the others know it, Quill’s plans are always
dubious. Drax describes it best: it’s unethical. Quill tells him that sometimes, they must act to fool other
people to get what they want.

They arrive at the Nova Corps archives. Rocket and Groot are in the control room. They are supposed to
disable the force field protecting the archives. Instead, Rocket disables ALL the force fields, including the
ones in holding cells. This causes Supergiant, one of Quill’s many ex-girlfriends, to escape. Gahmora
retrieves the crystal, then finds her friends wrestling with the giant alien lady. She has to strike some
nerve on the Supergiant’s neck just to make her fall unconscious. Then they proceed to their ship which is
disguised as a Nova Corps’ ship, the Star Blaster. Unfortunately, Titus spots Quill putting on his helmet. He
informs his colleagues, but it’s too late. The fake Star Blaster is already launching under the orders of
Corpsman Titus. The Guardians would have escaped without any hitch, except that there’s always a hitch.

First, the mechanism for the cloaking field malfunctions. This means they can’t shut off the disguise and
they still appear as a Star Blaster under the Nova Corps radar. Next, a civilian ship falls right in front of
them. They are called to rescue the passengers. They can’t help them without risking getting captured.
But Drax is too immersed in his acting as a Nova Corps officer. He jumps out of their ship and rescues the
children. Quill and others have no choice. He jumps after Drax and uses his boosters to slow down their
fall. Groot uses his branches to carry the civilian ship, which still contains the parents. Eventually, they all
landed safely. Another heroic point for the Guardians. But Titus is already waiting for them. Then, Rocket
finally fixes the cloaking field on the Milano, giving more reasons for Titus to arrest them.

In the prison, the feline officer threatens to return their crimes on the record. Unless they can work with
a deal. Quill listens, so Titus relays to them the necessary information. A gang called the Black Order
intends to drop a dangerous weapon on the black market. The Guardians need to infiltrate the gang to
know where it is and seize it. Supergiant was a member, so that should give them leverage to get in.
When asked about why they don’t send an officer from their ranks as an undercover, Titus says the gang
will immediately find out. That’s why it’s better to send criminals known in the underworld to avoid
spoiling the operation. Titus offers them freedom and their things back if they are successful in this
quest. Quill is suspicious about this. Also, they need to get going in finding the Cosmic Seed. So he agrees
with the deal.

The Guardians travel to another planet to meet the Black Order. Quill instructs Drax that this time, they
need to act like they hate the Nova Corps, so they won’t get busted immediately. When they arrive at a
club, they see the Black Order lounging on one table. Quill pretends to know them, but he easily falls for
the mind-control trick by the leader. He inadvertently reveals that he’s working undercover for the
galactic police force and even surrenders his blaster and tracking device. Thankfully, Gahmora and the
others are more resilient, with Drax even proudly announcing how he hates the Nova Corps. They take
advantage of the situation by pretending to apprehend Quill. Then Gahmora and Rocket gain their trust
by using the information about Supergiant and the weapon that is supposed to be transported. The Black
Order believes them to be legit, so they lead them inside a cave where the weapon is.

They dig until they unearth a rectangular box. When they open it, they see an unexpected item inside. It’s
the universal weapon previously wielded by Ronan the Accuser. And the Black Order is supposed to
deliver it to Thanos. But before doing that, they need to terminate Gahmora and others, just to close
loose ends. A fight breaks between the Guardians and the Black Order. The leader of the gang uses his
mind control trick and orders Quill to fight. He uses his blaster to hit Drax. Then, one of them picks up the
universal weapon. It produces a powerful blast that causes some rocks to fall. When the dust has settled,
another one picks it up. This time it’s Titus. The guardians think they’re finally safe with his presence. But
they’re wrong. It turns out, Titus is only pretending to be a tough cop strictly following the laws. In truth,
he wants the universal weapon for himself. He tricked the Guardians into doing his bidding. Then he
attacks both them and the Black Order. For a few minutes, the two groups team up to defeat Titus. Quill
orders the leader to use his mind-control thing on the cop traitor. But it doesn’t work. Titus uses the
universal weapon to hit all of them. Then he plunges towards Drax, who tells him he’s not honoring his
oath as a Nova Corps. Titus reveals he doesn't care. He has been doing illegal transactions in the black
market.

What he doesn’t know is that Quill is actually recording Titus’s words. And it has been broadcasted to the
headquarters! Enraged, Titus attacks him. But Drax seizes the weapon and uses it to hit him.

At last, Titus is apprehended by his former colleagues, along with the Black Order. The Guardians get back
their things including the Cryptobox. The Pandorian Crystals are complete. Now they can start their
search for the Cosmic Seed.