Shado Style
Disclaimer: I own nothing but what you see here and I'm not gonna lie, the use of Aikido (at least with the staff) in The Walking Dead has inspired me to write this. Set somewhere in season 1 but before Tommy knows about Oliver's double life. Also is pretty much a continuation of chapter 2's Some Chili.
Summary: One thing about Oliver is that he hadn't just come back from the Island of Lian Yu with a new quirk here and there, he had also come back with an entirely new and unexpected style.
It had taken awhile for Oliver's friends and family to catch on to some of the differences about Oliver Queen after he had made his return home after being believed dead for five years. Amongst a few of the differences being that he gave more of a damn, was far more alert in his surroudings and it made a few that knew Oliver aside from John Diggle wonder when he wouldn't feel the need for it, a love for making some damn good chili in a fairly interesting way, and apparently he knew karate. Or at least that's what they had thought til Tommy made a remark about it and got an earful from his best friend and brother in all but blood about how it wasn't karate. That it was pretty much a way of life for him as it combined two styles that had been taught to him over the years he was gone. Those styles being Aikido and Wing Chun that he had learned on Lian Yu and later in China. Something Tommy knew nothing about since martial arts had never been his thing, though he would decide to look those up and wind up becoming a huge Donnie Yen fan.
Much to the amusement of Laurel and Thea after they had found him doing a marathon of the man's movies. Another thing about Oliver and his new style that he didn't really have a name for, is that he included a staff or Jo if you wanted to get proper about things into it and could occasionally be seen walking around with the thing. Something that had been asked about and the answer they got was that he felt the thing was pretty much an extension of himself. Even Diggle hadn't quite understood it but if it made the man feel comfortable then that's all that mattered really. Moira however, who'd been somewhat less accepting of it then Thea at first since she just wanted things to be normal, an attitude that was definitely not healthy in anybody's opinion. Though Quentin Lance had little room to talk considering some of his unhealthy habits during the five years Oliver was gone.
"Oliver? Sweetheart, why do you continue to do that when clearly there's no need too anymore?" As really, he was home and he was safe and the need for keeping up with the training he'd learned from whoever while on that cursed island wasn't needed anymore!
The returned son looked at her after he completed a small portion of his training with the Jo. "Because mother, its engrained into me by this point and to stop now would be an insult to those who trained me in the arts. Besides, never know when you might get attacked." His slight paranoia about anything possibly happening and his situational awareness was also two other things the mother of two wasn't liking one bit.
"Now Oliver, I hardly think you have anything to worry about when it comes to getting attacked." Tried the woman in a reasonable tone. Sure, she had him kidnapped but that was more to prove to Malcolm that her son didn't know anything!
He scoffed at that. "Yeah, and I imagine no one expected me to get kidnapped the second day I'm home either."
She had to wince at that one as it was quite true for most everyone else but her. Moira watched her son continue his training for several minutes before sighing to herself. "There is nothing that can sway you is there?"
"No, and I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to make me stop as I actually love doing this." He informed her slightly annoyed.
Moira nodded but the woman couldn't help herself despite hearing his claim of loving it because really, that had to be just his island experiences talking. "But you don't even have a name for the style you've made."
The look he gave his mother showed the woman just how much that annoyed him and she realized then and there how foolhardy she was being as really, what would that even prove? "I do actually have a name for it."
His pause after that made the mother of two very curious and was about to ask what it was when he spoke up again. "I call this style… Shado." He told her reverently with a saddened smile on his face and it made Moira Queen wonder about the name since it had garnered such a reaction from him.
The Queen Matriarch didn't have much else to say to that and eventually left her son to his devices and would later learn her husband was interested in learning the style from Oliver. Something her boy had been hesitant about but eventually agreed to do so. At the most, it would mean her two boys would grow closer to one another and that made the woman happy. This would also help Thea in being able to re-connect with her big brother and she and Walter would later receive their own personal Jo staffs that would include their names on them. A move that both of the two loved greatly and did their absolute best to ensure their gifts from Oliver would be well looked after.
Author's Notes: Annnnd boom! Hope you all will have enjoyed this one! Kind of considering adding Supergirl material to this but not sure if I should since so far her show isn't part of the Flarrow verse.