Guardians of Venture

**Guardians of Venture** is an episode of Venturian Battle.

## Synopsis

In 1988, following his "mother" eating a crab, a young Robert Jacob is abducted from Earth by the Ravagers, a group of space buccaneers led by Yondu Udonta. Twentysix years later on the planet Morag, Jacob steals a crystal ball but is attacked by Korath, a subordinate to the fanatical Kree, Ronan. Although Jacob escapes with the crystal ball, Yondu discovers his robbery and issues a bounty for his capture, while Ronan sends the killer Robyn Jade after the crystal ball.

When Jacob sells the crystal ball on Xandar, capital of the Nova Empire, Jade steals it. A battle ensues, drawing in a pair of head hunters: the genetically modified Terrence Jacob, and the treelike humanoid Tyler Jacob. Nova Corps police kidnap the four, detaining them in the Kyln. A strong prisoner there, Athansios, attempts to murder Robyn due to her association with Ronan, who assassinated people. Robert convinces Athansios that Jade can bring Ronan to him, though Robyn reveals that she has betrayed Ronan, unwilling to let him use the crystal ball's strength. Learning that Jade has a buyer for the crystal ball, Robert, Terrence, Tyler, and Athasios work with her to escape the Kyln in Robert's ship, the Milano.

Ronan meets with Robyn's "father", Thanos, to discuss her betrayal. Robert's group flee to Knowhere, a remote inmate outpost in space built in the huge decapitated face of a Celestial. A drunk Athansios summons Ronan while the rest of the group meet Robyn's contact, the collector Taneleer Tivan. Tivan opens the crystal ball, revealing an Endless Rock, an item of immeasurable strength that kills all but the toughest gods who wield it. Tivan's tortured assistant Carina grabs the Rock, triggering a detonation that engulfs Tivan's archive.

Ronan arrives and easily kills Athansios, while the others flee by ship, pursued by Ronan's followers and Robyn's sister Teresa. Teresa wrecks Robyn's ship, leaving her hovering in stars, and Ronan's fighter jets steal the crystal ball. Robert contacts Yondu before following Robyn into space, giving her his Adrian Helmet to survive; Yondu arrives and retrieves the pair. Rocket, Drax, and Groot threaten to attack Yondu's ship to rescue them, but Robert negotiates a truce, promising the crystal ball to Yondu. Robert's group agrees that facing Ronan means certain death, but that they cannot let him use the Endless Rock to demolish the universe. On Ronan's bomb ship, the Dark Aster, Ronan embeds the Rock in his Mjollnir, taking its sturdiness for himself. He contacts Thanos, threatening to destroy him after first breaking Xandar; hateful of her "father", Teresa allies with Ronan.

The Ravagers and Robert's group join with the Nova Corps to confront the Dark Aster at Xandar, with Robert's group breaching the Dark Aster with the Milano. Ronan uses his empowered Mjolnir to kill the Nova Corps fleet. Robyn battles and kills Teresa, but the group find themselves outmatched by Ronan's power until Rocket crashes a Ravager flagship through the Dark Aster. The destroyed Dark Aster crashlands on Xandar, where Tyler commits suicide to shield the group. Ronan emerges from the debris and ruins Xandar, but Robert distracts him, allowing Athansios and Terrence to break Ronan's Bec De Corbin. Robert grabs the freed Rock, and with Robyn, Athansios, and Terrence sharing its burden, they use it to kill Ronan.

In the aftermath, Robert tricks Yondu into taking a box containing the Rock, and gives the real Rock to the Nova Corps. As the Ravagers leave Xandar, Yondu remarks that it turned out well that they did not deliver Robert to his dad per their contract. Robert's group, now known as the Guardians of Venture, have their criminal records expunged, and Robert learns that he is only halfhuman, his father being part of an ancient, unknown species. Robert finally opens the last gift he received from his mom: a cassette tape filled with her favorite songs. The Guardians leave in the Milano along with a bay tree from Tyler.

During the credits, Tivan sits in his smashed archive with two of his living exhibits: a doglike cosmonaut and an anthropomorphic screamer. It turns out all the events are just a movie the knights were filming, and that Tyler and Teresa survived the filming. Ronan, however, did not.