It was another day here on Xandar when Ronin came, he destroyed everything...but then, they came...the Guardians of the Galaxy. All of them were my heroes, but one of them I truly looked up to and his name was Rocket Raccoon. I've always wanted to meet them and now that they're back on Xandar,I mustered all the courage to go to Star-lord and asked if i could be on their team. Luckily, Star-lord wasn't to busy and agreed to meet me. Who am I you ask? My name's Shadowmancer and this is my story...
Quill was looking around and found Shadowmancer by the bar and asked "So, you wanted to talk to me?"
"Yeah...I just wanted to ask you if..." Shadow stammered 'dammit! not now!' he thought
"if?" Quill asked
"If I could join you guys" he said, fearing a no answer.
"Sure! We could use some new recruits!" he said as he put an arm on Shadow's shoulder
"Thanks!" Shadow replied
"Oh! by the way, what's your name?" he asked
"Shadowmancer"
"Cool name" Quill commented "Oh and do you have any special skills, cause if not that's fine" Quill continued
Then Shadow decided to show him, something that he hesitated to show anyone. He opened my palm and concentrated, then a greenish black fire-ball appeared on my hand, he flicked it and threw it up on the air and it exploded like a firework that spelt his name. Quill's eyes widened and his jaw dropped a little
"YOU CAN THROW FIRE?! COOOLL!"
"That's not all" Shadow smiled as he called fourth the shadows and made a Terran motorbike, which he then turned to a sword, then a gun.
"I'm Impressed Shadow...can I call ya that?" Quill asked as he led him to his ship
"Yeah you can" he responded "Oh and do you guys work in partners?"
"Yeah? want one?"
"The hell I do!"
"Who then? Me?, Gamora? Drax?..."
"What about Rocket?" he asked
"Rocket?!...er...lemme ask him" Quill said. Shadowmancer could tell that that was an unusual request by his response
We both got onto the Milano and Shadowmancer waited in the cockpit as Quill instructed. He then went to Rocket and asked him something
"hey Rocket" Quill said
"hey" he replied
"Hey em...you and Groot are partners right?" Quill asked
"duh" Rocket said as he continued to fiddle with his gun
"So...do you want an extra partner?" Quill asked and Rocket was surprised by this as his ears rocketed up and his eyes widened
"Why would I need an...Quill...what did you do?" Rocket asked, now frowning and his ears dropped
"I'll explain later when you come to the meeting room" Quill said and Rocket followed
"What's this about?" Rocket asked
"Ok so you guys remember saying that we needed a new member?" Quill said
"yeah...go on..." Gamora said
"Well...I found one, and boy is he good" Quill said
"Wait a sec...you aren't thinking of sticking him with me are ya?!" Rocket said
"Well I was just as surprised as you were when he actually requested it" Quill explained
Seeing as there was no other alternative Rocket sighed and said "Alright...where is he?"
"Yo Shadow, that's your cue" Quill shouted.
He came down from the cockpit with a different attire then when he met Quill, now Shadow was in shadowy black robes and a skull mask that somehow managed to spook Drax
"GAH!" Rocket shouted as he jumped behind Groot "Quill! what the krutech is that?!"
Shadow laughed and flicked his wrist, making the shadows leave him and revealing his ordinary self, a tall human with black hair slick straight back with blue eyes and a fair complexion. Shadow was wearing a red shirt with a black bikers Jacket, long black jeans with grey sneakers, this was a more comforting appearance than his Shadow-wraith form.
"Hello everyone" he said
Rocket cleared his throat and moved in front of Groot again and Drax became more relaxed.
"You look familiar, have I seen you before?" Gamora asked narrowing her eyes in suspicion
"Not that I would know" Shadow replied
"So we'll start by introductions...like who are you?" Rocket said and I got nervous
"Just call me Shadow, I don't really know my real name cause I got abducted by Ronin and well...that's a story for another time. Weird thing is, I remember everything, the movies I watched, everything but my real name"
"Is that so?" Gamora asked and she put her hand on her chin and started to wonder why Shadow seemed so familiar
"Yeah..." Shadow frowned as he brushed my hair back with my hand
"So...you from Xandar?" Rocket asked again
"Earth actually, but Ronin abducted me, and experimented on me, I escaped and took refuge on Xandar"
"You and me both pal, experimented on I mean" Rocket said
"Well we can't have you going round without a name" Quill said
"Just call me Shadow" he repeated
"Ok, if that's what you're comfortable with...then Shadow it is!" Quill responded with one of his cheep grins
"Well if you wanna be my partner you gotta abide by my rules got that?" Rocket stated
"Sure" he responded as he followed Rocket to his new room
"Well...here it is, your new home" Rocket said
He went in and switched the light on, Shadow's room was moderate in size with a medium sized bed ,a desk, a wardrobe and a few chairs.
"I know it's not much but we all have the same thing so no complaints got that?" He continued
"I think it's perfect!" he exclaimed
"Huh...ok well enjoy it then, but be ready for missions...but first you gotta report to Drax for training" Rocket chuckled
"What's so funny?"
"Nah, forgive me if I sound a little rude but I kinda enjoy seeing new recruits getting pummeled by Drax"
Shadow grinned and said "Oh...we'll see about that partner"
"Woah there Shadow, to be my partner, you gotta prove you got what it takes by beating the krutech out of Drax" Rocket explained
"Ok...challenge accepted, I'll beat the living daylights outta Drax" Shadow smirked as he folded his arms
"You got determination, I like that...see ya round Kid" Rocket said as he walked out of Shadow's room.
An hour later, Shadow turned up at the training area where Drax was already waiting.
"Are you ready to begin?" Drax asked as he withdrew his knives
Shadowmancer nodded and summoned Shadows in his fists and Drax charged.
Shadow remembered something form Earth's video games and used the Shadows to create six Old Republic Era Imperial Troopers. The troopers held up their blaster and Shadow transformed himself into an Old Republic Era Republic Commando and charged.
Drax found himself outnumbered, but that didn't stop him from smashing his fist into the first Trooper's face sending him crumbling down to the floor. The second Imperial hit Drax from the back with the back of his rifle, Drax then showed his knife up the Imperial's chest. The third Shadow Imperial manages to shoot Drax but he deflected it and smashed his knee on his face. Another two imperials threw Shadow grenades which release high impact Shadow blasts instead of explosives, Drax caught one and threw it back, the grenade exploded and sent the two Imperials smashing into the walls of the training and sent them crumbling down. Drax then grabbed the other Grenade and threw it to the last Imperial,finishing off the last Soldier. Leaving just Shadow and Drax
"Your soldiers were brave...are you?" Drax questioned as he charged towards Shadow, who summoned a massive force of raw Shadow and held out his palm, the shadow's slammed into Drax and sent him flying into the wall. Drax charged again and managed to punch Shadow on the stomach. Drax threw Shadow into the walls of the training area. The impact was devastating, Shadow groaned and managed to summon a German WW2 trench like structure, with a watchtower armed with a machine gun. But like the Imperial Soldiers the trench and the soldier's within it were on the ground, crumbled to the ground.
Shadow recovered and blasted Drax off of him, he then summoned a ninja sword and recalled a certain form of combat that would be great for situations like this, Soresu, the best defensive form of sword combat.
Shadow readied himself in a very defensive position, Drax charged with his knives and Shadow deflected them with his defensive form. He veered away and kicked Drax's back and he staggered forward. Resuming his defensive form he stepped back, awaiting the rampage by Drax. He charged again and again but couldn't break Shadow's defense. How it was annoying for Drax to not be able to break Shadow's defenses, he charged again and this time they ended up in a clash where shadow flicked his wrist and sent on of Drax's blades out of his hands and onto the ground.
Drax retreated backwards and found Gamora's training sword and advanced with that, still using his Soresu form. Drax's attempts ended up in smoke, then in one final moment. Drax managed to cut Shadow across the cheek and went abit to far when he stabbed him, only because Shadow allowed it. He was getting tired of not being allowed to attack. He then absorbed all the shadow out of all his constructs and soldiers and blasted Drax with a massive force that sent him flying to the wall, cracking it in the process. Shadow switched his form to Vaapad, he accessed his hate and rage in order to strengthen but to to overwhelm him. His speed improved tremendously, he came at Drax with all he had, slicing and stabbing, using his powers and martial arts abilities as well.
Drax was taken into shock when he realized that he couldn't defend against those blows. In the end Shadow amassed his strength and changed his form to Juyo. He focused his rage, anger, sorrow, which fueled him as well as overwhelm him and in one savage and precise strike, he shattered Drax's blade with his own,stepped back and pushed him to the wall again and leveled the blade at Drax's chest as he smirked as Drax's broken blade clanked behind him "You're beaten!"
He heard clapping at the back of him, he turned and saw Rocket smirking and clapping along with Gamora and Starlord as well as Groot clapping and even whistling in approval.
"That...Was...AWESOME!" Rocket exclaimed along with Quill
"Most impressive" Gamora praised as she picked up the blade and studied it, a clean cut.
"I am Groot!" (That was so cool!)
Shadow smiled as he made his blade vanish, "Thanks everyone!"
"That was most impressive indeed" Drax said as he stood up
"Thanks Drax"
"The way you were fighting...what was that? Drax barely broke through your defense" Gamora inquired
"It's called Soresu...one of 7 forms of sword combat, I also used Vaapad for my fast movements and I shattered that blade using Juyo. But Juyo's some dark stuff so I don't tend to use it much"
Shadow fell to his knees as he started to feel the aftermath of the battle, plus he just noticed that he got stabbed. Gamora and Rocket helped him to the medical bay where he go treated.
"So...this Juyo form, why'd you say it was dark?" Gamora asked
"Yeah...I'm curious" Rocket said
"Juyo basically uses your rage, anger and sorrow. Basically your darkside, the side you want to keep locked up and hope others don't find out, it's bad because if you use it too much there's a chance that your darkside will consume you and turn you evil as you only focus on what makes you angry and upset. Things you want to destroy or make suffer. Take those feelings and put them into a focused fighting style and that's doomsday to whoever you're fighting" Shadow explained
Rocket was speechless and Gamora was shocked "Then why'd use it?" she asked
"I wanted to end it fast cause I needed to make sure Drax doesn't get back up. Like i said, I only use it in extreme circumstances or when I'm pissed...very pissed."
"Ok...well you're recovering from the stab and from what I've heard, you'd better not be using Juyo anytime so" Gamora advised and Rocket nodded in agreement
"Not to worry, I use Soresu, Shii-cho and ataru most of the time" Shadow smirked
"What about Vaapad?" Rocket asked
"Vaapad is basically Juyo, but there's a difference"
"And that is?" Gamora and Rocket asked
"Well...you do use those emotions but...you don't let the, fuel you and overwhelm you. You basically have to stay focused and keep those emotions in check for the entire battle, for if even one goes out of check then it's not Vaapad anymore. It's Juyo"
"Sounds stressful" Rocket commented
"Yeah...so in place of Vaapad I use Dejim so. To put it short, it's a form that turns a defense into offence without the use of the emotions used by Vaapad and Juyo. Very good for deflecting blaster fire"
"That's really useful" Rocket noted
"I should learn some of those forms when I have the time" Gamora commented.
Then Quill's voice rang out in the intercom "Strap up we got a distress call from a Nova core cruiser"
"Well we go work to do" Gamora sighed as she went out
"We ought to go to...partner" Rocket said
"So...we're not there yet?"
"Nope...you gotta earn that, my friendship's gotta be earned to. Just saying" Rocket said as he walked out
Then Shadow thought to himself as he frowned 'Was this a good idea? Maybe I shouldn't have bumped into Rocket like that...it was too sudden. But I'll prove myself to him"