Chapter 14: Rock Lee: The Youthful Poozer.
Warning: The following consists of material owned by DC Comics, VIZ Media, Masashi Kishimoto, and Geoff Johns this story on the other hand is of my collective thought and covered under the fair rights usage act.
Several weeks had passed since Naruto left the village with Jiriaya and Saint Walker, life had been going on like usual for the three remaining lanterns of the leaf village right now it was the middle of the night when Rock Lee decided to hit the near by Dango bar for a snack before heading home after a long day of training with his power ring when he saw as he sat down he felt a strange chill go down his spine he turned around only to find nothing or no one following him. "Why do I have the feeling I'm being watched?" He asked himself as he shrugged the feeling off and continuing on his way again towards the bar. When he got there he ordered his Dango and began to dig into his meal unaware that someone was still following him. After he finished eating and paying for his meal, he turned the corner he got jumped behind by an individual wearing a cloak over their face so he couldn't tell who he was up against but Lee was able to fight him off by making a green fist from his ring sending the attacker into a wall when suddenly he became entangled in a bunch of green ropes that tripped him up and then tied themselves around his ankles and wrists before the figure approached him and knocked him out with a punch. The cloaked individual then started to take him into deep space and before he used his ring to create an alien freighter ship to and placed Lee inside it with his task done he headed back to OA.
Several hours or days later Lee regained consciousness and found himself on a strange world. "Something tells me I'm not in Konohagakure anymore." He said to himself before he turned around and saw the cloaked attacker from before; he got into his battle stance before the figure cut him off with a raise of his hand.
"Relax young lantern I mean you no harm." The voice said under the cloak which confused Lee as he settled down and stared at the figure who had abducted him.
"Who are you and how do you know that I'm a lantern?" Lee asked him.
"Simple I've been monitoring you for some time young one." He said as he pulled the hood down Lee was shocked to find that on the figure's head were orange scales and a fin on top of his head similar to a fish but he spoke much like a human. The fish like alien flew up to him and said "so you are the new Green Lantern of Sector 2814 hmm a human and a human adolescent at that, curious!" He said to himself as he looked at Lee
"YIKES GIANT TALKING FISH MAN!" Lee screamed as the fish man chuckled.
"You are right my species does resemble Earth's aquatic creatures" said the Alien amused "I am Tomar-Re protector of Sector 2813 and I'm…" Tomar started to say before Lee cut him off.
"A Xudarian of the planet Xudar…" Lee said before he cut himself off. "How did I know that?" He asked aloud to himself.
"Simple the Ring gives the user a universal database" Tomar-Re said "We Green Lanterns are brave fearless individuals chosen by our rings to fight fear and tyranny across the universe!" Tomar explained as they headed towards the training ground
"You probably already know that the ring makes any thought into reality by means of your will." Tomar said as Lee nodded as he focused on creating something, as the green light from his ring that had projected itself outward began to take some type of form, his ring blinked three times for some unknown reason. "The ring will inform you of an approaching threat." Tomar told him only for a pulse of green light to hit Lee in the back sending him flying. "This particular threat's name is Kilowog; he'll be your combat training officer." Tomar said nonchalantly as Lee turned around and saw a large alien with a huge muscular body and a pig-like face; this was Kilowog senior combat training officer of the Corps and protector of galactic sector 674.
"Never let your guard down for a second poozer." He said to Lee before he started walking towards him. Lee got up and stood in shock at the imposing figure in front of him. "Welcome to ring slinging 101 aka the worst day of your miserable life." Kilowog said trying to intimidate Lee as he snorted at Lee; "You smell funny." Kilowog said but Lee just looked up at him smiling.
"Yes sir, I'll show you what I've got and if I fail to impress you than I'll do 2000 laps around the planet blindfolded and with one hand tied behind my back, should I fail that then I'll do 500 push-ups on my nose, and if I fail that then I'll do…." Lee rambled until Kilowog forged a cork with his ring and stuck it in Lee's mouth just to shut him up.
"Okay poozer I get it but if you want to be a lantern you've got to commit to the corps now let's get started." Kilowog said as he removed the cork from Lee's mouth and walked a few feet back. "Alright poozer let's see what you got." Kilowag said as he willed a pair of shackles to Lee's feet keeping him pinned to the ground. Kilowag then fired his ring above Lee and dropped a meteor construct on him, but Lee stopped it by forming a shield construct but it was wavering slightly from the weight of the meteor.
"Your constructs are only going to be as strong as your will and your will is pathetic." Kilowog said as he dropped several more meteors on Lee forcing him to turn his shield into a trampoline just to keep the strain off his arm. "I'm going to hit you until your will is strong enough to be worthy of the Corps." Kilowog said as he through some discs at Lee who dodged the first two that were thrown at him only for Kilowog to throw the third one at him at an angle that it ricocheted on the ground and into the legs of Lee's construct breaking them before the last one hit him in the gut sending him flying.
"Ouch!" Lee exclaimed as he tried to recover his breath too bad Kilowog wouldn't have any of that as he fired another pulse from his ring this one forming a green version of Earth's sun trying to suck Lee in but Lee thought quickly and used his ring to form a life line.
"Next lesson; you feel that? That's the gravitation pull of your average sun, makes flying through space very dangerous; the bigger you are the quicker you burn." Kilowog said as he was being dragged by his own creation's gravity before releasing it and causing Lee to face plant on the ground. "Gravity's a bitch, here let me help you up." Kilowog said extending his hand to Lee which he thankfully accepted only to have Kilowog punch him in the face. "Remember your enemy's not going to play fair." Kilowog said with a confident smirk on his face until Lee used his ring to focus some energy towards his own foot and then he kicked Kilowog in the face knocking him back a little allowing Lee to get back on his feet and run right at Kilowog wrap a construct whip chain around his neck and pull him to the ground.
"I thank you for the youthful advice Kilowog-sensei." Lee said as he walked off before another lantern cut him off this one was a teenage girl wearing a green skirt, with a white blouse, green gloves, and boots, she had blonde hair, as well as gold skin and eyes she stared at Lee for a moment
"Oh hello there allow me to introduce myself; I'm Arisia Rrab of Graxos four and 5th generation protector of sector 2815." "Who are you?" She asked the bowl cut lantern.
"I'm Rock Lee, Green Lantern of sector 2814. It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Rrab." He said causing Arisia to laugh a little bit.
"Likewise Lee, since what do you say to you and I find something to eat around here?" She asked him.
"Sure I would love to join such a beautiful blossom such as you for lunch so let's get going!" He replied giving her his nice guy pose and flying off trying to find something to eat which caused Arisia to both blush at the compliments but sweat drop at how over the top Lee was while Kilowog, and Tomar just sweat dropped at Lee's excitement causing Kilowog to look at Tomar.
"Is he always like that?" He asked the Xudarian.
"From what I've seen of him yes he is." Tomar answered.
Kilowog palmed his face and sighed in exasperation while Tomar just shook his head; "Looks like this is one Poozer whose will may prove to be too much for even that ring to contain." Kilowog said to Tomar who just chuckled at Kilowog's plight while Arisia took off after Lee.
"I wish all the luck in the universe with him my old friend." Tomar told the big guy as the two went their separate ways. Meanwhile Lee, and Arisia had found the local eatery and to Lee's surprise there were many different foods from across the galaxy including several from dishes from Earth which right now he and Arisia were sitting at a table just talking about various things like; how they came to be lanterns, past adventures, and other things they had to deal with as lanterns, after lunch Arisia bid Lee farewell while Lee just smiled at her giving her his usual thumbs up and they went their separate ways.
"I wonder what other fantastic mysteries I will see on this world." Lee asked himself as he flew across the sky of the planet as he decided to head for a training facility. He found one and when he got there he spotted the strangest lantern he had seen yet it was a small yellow furred squirrel or at least that's what it looked like to him anyway. "What's a squirrel doing here on OA?" Lee asked himself when suddenly said squirrel stopped his training and stared at him.
"Who are you calling a squirrel buster?" The rodent asked. "I'll have you know I'm H'lvenite the name's Ch'p protector of sector 1014." He said to Lee.
"You can talk?!" Lee asked him in shock seeing as how squirrels back on Earth never talked to him before save for maybe that one time during the Chunin exams but that was a different circumstance.
"Of course I can talk you twit, so you're the new guy from Earth?" Ch'p asked to which Lee nodded. "Well kid I wish you the best of luck around here not many of us have seen a human join the ranks of the corps." Ch'p warned him that's when Kilowog showed up and spotted Lee.
"So that's where you've been huh poozer?" Kilowog asked as he approached him.
"Yes sir, I was having a tough time trying to find somewhere to train." Lee admitted to the giant.
"Yeah I can see that actually I was on my way to find Ch'p and see if wanted to spar against you." Kilowog asked.
"You know me Kilowog I'm more than ready to show a rookie how it's done in the corps." Ch'p said as they entered a sparring ring.
"You do realize that just because you're a squirrel doesn't mean I'll go easy on you Ch'p." Lee said.
"I don't expect you to kid." Ch'p said as he charged at Lee who formed several ropes and hands to try and catch the little rodent but Ch'p just bobbed and weaved around, over, and under each of them until he got within range of Lee and started throwing hundreds of acorn constructs at Lee hitting him in all places including one nut that hit Lee in his own nuts.
"I'm in pain!" Lee exclaimed in a high squeaky voice from having his loins smashed. Ch'p then rammed Lee in the chest with his head but then Lee grabbed the squirrel lantern by his tail and then formed a slingshot with ring. "Happy trails Ch'p." He said as he loaded Ch'p into the weapon and launched him at the wall, thinking quickly Ch'p used his ring to form a spring to bounce back at Lee on but just when he was ready to collide with Lee, the young ninja lantern kicked Ch'p in the face then he jumped up into the air and unwrapped a small portion of his bandages grabbing Ch'p and then slamming him down to the ground; "Chibi Lotus!" Lee screamed as he brought Ch'p to the ground with a thud. "I must admit Ch'p you are a capable fighter for someone as small as you." Lee said to the little guy.
"Thanks and same to you kid, you have the making of lantern alright and the will that's worthy of the corps." Ch'p complimented as Lee smiled and left the training room. Lee then made his way outside towards a balcony and was about to take off however Kilowog approached him.
"Where do you think you're going poozer?" He asked Lee.
"I'm sorry for having to leave Kilowog-sensei but I have a village to get back to on Earth that needs my protection." Lee explained to Kilowog everything about his village, his life and everything that had happened up to that point although Kilowog was a very hard nosed instructor he did prove that he was able to listen to people when he felt like it as Lee was about to take off Kilowog grabbed him by the arm.
"Hold it Lee if you're going to make a trip back to Earth you're going to need a full ring." Kilowog said as he took Lee over to the central power battery of the planet.
"Whoa that is probably the biggest lantern I've ever seen in my life!" Lee exclaimed
"That is the driving force of all the power rings distributed to every candidate for the corps, you could power up from it at anytime but don't do it too often you might just go insane." Kilowog said as Lee nodded and approached the giant lantern. Lee then placed his ring in the face of the lantern, took a deep breath, and spoke the oath.
"In brightest day, in blackest night; No evil shall escape my sight; let those who worship evil's might; beware my power Green Lantern's light!" He said as he started to glow an intense shade of green. "Well I thank you Kilowog-sensei but if you excuse I've got to go before I worry my youthful comrades." He said flashing his bright smile and then taking off. When he left OA Kilowog just sighed to himself and slapped his palm against his face.
"Something tells me that kid will be the end of me one of these days." He said to himself.
Meanwhile back on Earth, Lee's teammates were still looking for him since he never showed up for their training regiment and it left Gai down in the dumps.
"Oh where has Lee gone, how can he forsake the ways of youth and why did he leave?!" Gai cried out in anguish. Tenten was also confused as to where Lee had run off to while Neji since he had been given the whole scoop about the lantern rings and each corps just looked calm as usual.
"Gai-sensei if I know Lee he'll show up sooner or later." Neji said on the outside but inside; "Lee where are you if you don't show up soon I might be left with no choice but to expose your secret." Neji said to himself and sure enough a green comet started to flash across the sky until it crashed outside of the forest of death. "Come on we better go see what that was." Neji said as he led the Tenten and Gai towards the crash site.
Meanwhile at the crash site, Lee had gotten up after his hard landing and spat up a few clumps of dirt. "Note to self; remember to work on the brakes when flying." He said to himself as he changed back into his usual jumpsuit.
"Lee!" He heard someone call out. He turned around and saw his team running towards him, he then waived to them as surprisingly Tenten was the first to reach him tackling him to the ground before she pulled him back up by the collar of his jumpsuit and started shaking him like a rag doll. "Lee you idiot where the hell have you been; Do you have any idea how worried sick we've been? I was almost about to go insane with you gone and Gai sensei crying about how you abandoned us. Don't ever do something like that again!" Tenten screamed before she cried into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry Tenten for worrying you like that but if I told you where I've been you wouldn't believe me and have me committed to the nut house." Lee said as he wrapped his arms Tenten's waist and back before letting go. That's when Gai-sensei ran up to Lee and punched him in the face.
"You Idiot; when was the last time I told to never abandon your comrades for your own selfish needs?" Gai asked him with tears flowing down his face.
"I'm sorry Gai-Sensei but I had no choice in this matter please forgive me; to make it up to you I'll do 5000 laps on my hands with my eyes closed and if I fail to do that then I'll attempt to burp the entire alphabet in gulp of a 3 liter soda bottle, and I fail at that then I'll do 10000 push ups with both hands tied behind my back….." Lee said before Gai cut him off.
"Lee give it a rest please, I understand if you don't wish to tell me why you took off on your own right now but sooner or later you'll have to tell me." Gai said as he looked at Lee.
"Yes Gai-sensei I'll tell you when I feel like I'm ready but for now please forgive me." Lee said crying his eyes out.
"All is forgiven Lee." Gai said as their usual ritual occurred.
"Oh thank you Gai-Sensei!" Lee cried out
"Lee!" Gai said and you know the rest; several more cycles of one saying the others name, cue the sunset beach backdrop and Neji and Tenten heaving the contents of their stomachs up just from how gross the scene was. Overall Lee had a pretty eventful and youthful day for something that was meant to be the worst of his "worthless" life at least that's what his commanding officer in the corps said.
A/N: Finally glad I got that done, so yeah I might not be all that proud of this chapter but hey you can't blame me for trying here so Lee has met four of the more recognized lanterns in the green corps so next time what happens when to Sasuke when he finally meets Atrocitus face to face? Next Time: Sasuke and Atrocitus: Their Hellish Hate. Also for those wondering what a poozer is; it's basically a term that Kilowog's old mentor used to call trainees he thought were worthless and all bark with no bite.