Dream Guardian AMS: Welcome back everyone! I am sorry for taking so long between chapters. I have started going back to college and put that as my focus as well as my part-time job. I didn't have a lot of time to write during this time of work and dealing with personal issues. During that time, I made some decisions regarding this story. One: All but two of the guest characters will not make an appearance in this story, this has enough characters with what I have planned. Two: I thought of a story element to build up tension for the plot, it won't be introduced this chapter. I had to do some research with Amaterasu since I have not played the game, but I think I did a good job. If there is anything references you guys suggest for characters, such as games, cartoons and such, let me know. I want to get these guys right. Now, this is overdue, let's get on with the show!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STUFF I MAKE UP!
"We'll be right back after these messages," said the announcer as the wrestling fight goes to commercial.
"NO! Bring back the carnage," yelled Drax.
"Calm down, it's just a wrestling match. It will be back on in a minute," said Rocket.
"It is more than that. It is a contest of brave warriors showing who is stronger," said Drax.
"I am Groot," said Groot.
"What? No, Haggar is better than Zangief," said Rocket.
"Zangief could break Haggar's back with little effort," said Drax.
The three started arguing till Gamora came in, "Alright you three, break it up. Don't forget that we have a job to do at Knowmoon. Peter, what's the job? Peter? Peter!"
Peter Quill aka Starlord was listening to his Walkman and couldn't hear. Gamora came over and took the headphones off of him. "Hey! What are you doing?" asked Starlord.
"We need to focus on the mission and these three are arguing again," answered Gamora.
Starlord looks behind him and sees the three arguing with Mantis still sitting in her chair and smiling. "Hey, hey, HEY! Knock it off! We are here on a job for the Collector, so put on a smile and be ready to greet the man," said Starlord as everyone went back to their seats.
The Milano soon docked at the space station known as Knowmoon. The Guardians left the ship and took in the place. "Geez, this place hasn't changed much since the last time I was here," said Rocket.
"At least we don't have to deal with the Grandmaster ever again," said Gamora.
A steward of the Collector soon approached them, "My master awaits. This way." They were soon led to a part of Knowmoon where the Collector had stored his vast collection. "May I introduce, The Collector."
The Collector made an appearance, "Guardians, how nice to see you all once more. I was so happy that you could answer my distress call."
"We help out whenever we can," said Starlord.
"Especially if someone is giving us one heck of a paycheck," said Rocket as he brought out his gun.
"What do you want us to do?" asked Gamora.
"A creature is running around my collection room and destroying anything in its path. My collection is in danger, you must help me capture the creature before it can cause any real harm," said The Collector as an explosion sounded off along with a long howl.
"I am Groot?" asked Groot.
"Don't know big guy, but it sounds like fun," said Rocket.
"Let's hunt this beast and slay it," said Drax as he got out his knives.
"No! No, we are hired to catch it, not kill it," said Starlord making Drax groan. "Let's go guys," the group went into the collection room.
The room was a storage room filled with many cages filled with various creatures. They looked around the room and soon found the source of the conflict. They slowly made their way to the source, meanwhile, Mantis felt something and went in a different direction. The Guardians hid as they found the creature: a white wolf with red markings, it carried a round flat stone on its back. The wolf was sniffing around as if it was looking for something.
"Ok, here's the plan: I'll throw a gravity mine and trap the beast, then Mantis will go over to it and make it fall asleep. You ready Mantis?" asked Starlord before seeing that Mantis was gone. "Where the hell is Mantis?" whispered Starlord.
"Don't know," said Drax.
"Don't care. Let's bag this ugly creature," said Rocket as he charged up his gun.
"No! Rocket don't!" yelled Gamora as she diverted Rocket's gun before it fired. The gun fired a shot that missed the white wolf and blew up something else.
"D'oh! You made me miss," complained Rocket. The white wolf took notice of the Guardians and started snarling at them. "Well, there goes the element of surprise."
"Enough talk! Let's fight this beast," yelled Drax as he charged at the white wolf.
"Looks like we are improvising again," said Gamora as she brought out her sword.
"I AM GROOT!" roared Groot.
The white wolf tossed its flaming green disk at the Guardians, hitting Drax and sending him backward.
Starlord blasted at the white wolf, but it dodged and summoned a series of yellow beads around its neck and started firing lightning at Peter. "Oh crap!" yelled Starlord. "This thing shoots lightning? What is this thing?"
"Don't know, and quite honestly, I don't care. It's going down," yelled Rocket as he started blasting the white wolf with his rifle. Rocket managed to get a few shots in but the wolf summoned a sword and tried to cut Rocket in half. Luckily, Gamora blocked the white wolf's sword.
"If you want to cross swords, why not do it with me?" asked Gamora with the white wolf growling at the assassin. The two soon engaged in an epic swordfight, the metal of their blades clanged against each other as they both blocked every attack.
"Should we, you know help her?" asked Rocket.
"After being on the wrong end of that blade so many times after making her mad, do you really want to?" asked Starlord.
"I am Groot," said Groot shaking his head.
"I'm with you on that big guy. Let's let Gamora tire it out when we join," said Rocket.
Suddenly, Drax comes in, "Die vile beast!" Drax jumps and tries to stab the white wolf, but the wolf dodges Drax's knives and they stab the ground. Gamora nearly decapitates Drax but stops before she does.
"What are you doing? I had everything under control," said Gamora.
Drax was about to answer but he got hit with lightning and sent back into a pile of rubble. Drax was knocked out and the white wolf was snarling at Gamora charging its lightning beads. Gamora prepared for another fight. The white wolf was ready to unleash its attack but was interrupted by laser blasts.
"Forget about us fleabag?" yelled Rocket as he continued to fire at the white wolf. Starlord circled around and started firing at the white wolf as well. The white wolf was surrounded on three fronts, it looked all over for an opening but couldn't find any. Groot came up from behind and knock the white wolf into the air which allowed Rocket to hit it with his big gun. The white wolf was sent flying into a glass cage causing it to crack. "Nice shot Rocket. Now, Groot, wrap this puppy up and we can get our pay," said Starlord.
Groot went over and started wrapping the white wolf in branches, but the white wolf woke up and looked at Groot. The white wolf's eyes glowed for a second while its tail drew a circle and then cherry blossoms suddenly sprouted on Groot causing him to panic.
"Groot! This is no time for you to show off your spring look," said Starlord.
"I am Groot," said Groot in a panic trying to get the blossoms off him.
"Don't start pulling that excuse. Now get that annoying pile of fur so we can get paid," said Rocket. The white wolf's eyes glowed again, and a vine appeared, allowing the white wolf to zip to an upper floor of the Collector's collection room and run away. The Guardians finally got the flower blossoms off Groot.
Starlord looks and sees that the wolf is gone, "Ah great. Now we lost it."
"Not quite, I saw it zip up to one of the upper levels using a vine," said Gamora.
Rocket noticed a flower on the wall in the direction Gamora pointed out, "Was that there before we got here?"
Starlord uses his rocket boots and investigates the area the wolf zipped up to. He then noticed a trail of grass and flowers, "I think I found where our wolf friend went. Come on, let's get it." Gamora, Rocket, and Groot followed Starlord.
Meanwhile, Mantis was wondering through the maze of cages filled with creatures that the Collector had 'procured' over the years. She soon stopped at one cage and placed her hand on the glass. "Hello," said Mantis as she smiled.
Back with Drax, he was soon waking back up from the white wolf's attack. He soon felt something on his chest, he slowly looks up to see a tiny green light hoping on his chest. "Dang it Ammy. You left me here with this big green ogre. Now what am I supposed to do?" said the green light. Drax slowly brought his arms into position and then clapped his hands on the green light. "I have captured green flea," yelled Drax.
"Hey! I am not a flea! I am a master traveling artist! Companion of Amaterasu. I am the mighty Issun," said the green light.
Drax looked inside his hands and found a tiny boy dressed in purple with a green cape and hat. "How can someone so small be mighty? You are barely bigger than an insect," said Drax.
"I'll show you mighty," said Issun as he punched Drax's eye causing him and scream in pain letting the artist go. Issun hopped away hoping to find his traveling companion.
Drax soon recovered and chased after the green light. "You will pay for that tiny drawer!"
The white wolf was sniffing around the cages before it stopped at an opened cage. The wolf sniffed the cage before letting out a whimper of worry. So, it started sniffing again as it found the trail again.
Suddenly, the wolf became trapped in a net that sprang forth from the shadows and shocked the white wolf. Rocket comes out of the shadows laughing, "Thought you got rid of us didn't you. Wasn't easy finding you after your trail of flowers got cold, but we got you now," said Rocket as the rest of the Guardians came in.
"Nice work Rocket. Now let's take this wolf over to the Collector," said Starlord.
Gamora looked at the open cage and found short white hair inside. "Why is cage so important?"
"How should I know? This wolf's been giving us the run around for the last few hours. Let's just drag this wolf to our client," said Rocket.
Groot was about to grab the white wolf when the wolf's eyes glowed again. The tail moved to make an upside-down Q and a bomb appeared in front of the Guardians. They panicked and jumped out of the way before the bomb exploded into a display of fireworks.
"That's it! I have had enough of this thing! Time for you to explode into millions of pieces!" yelled Rocket as he started firing his blaster at the white wolf. The wolf brings back its sword and blocks all the blasts before jumping away while launching thunderbolts at Rocket using its beads. Starlord fired at the wolf and managed to get a few shots in before the wolf started firing blizzard beads at Peter. Starlord got his arm trapped in ice and tried to break it off with one of his guns. The wolf then spotted Gamora jumped from cage to cage, the wolf's eyes glowed and its tail made a slash. The top of one cage was slashed and slid off causing Gamora to lose her footing and fall to the ground.
The wolf brought out its reflector once more and threw it at Gamora. Gamora blocked it and tries to slash the wolf, the wolf blocks the sword using the reflector. The wolf summons fire from its reflector and tosses Gamora off. Gamora gets back into a battle stance only to block the wolf's attack as it uses as a fiery saw blade, Gamora holds strong against the fiery disk. The white wolf growls at Gamora and ready to finish her off.
Groot comes in and throws his fist at the white wolf, "I am Groot!" The force of the blow sends the white wolf into a pile of debris. Starlord and Rocket begin to fire wildly at the pile, sending grenades and whatever they had left, Gamora came in and fired her blaster as well. They continued firing till the debris pile was nothing but dust and smoke. They stopped firing to catch their breath and wait for something to move.
"Did we get it this time?" asked Starlord.
"I think we did," said Rocket. "HOW DO YOU LIKE US NOW YOU PILE OF ASHES!"
The guardians were all breathing heavily, so much so that they didn't notice the bomb that appeared behind them. Groot looked behind him and saw the bomb, "I AM GROO-aaahhhhh!" Groot tried to grab everyone to safety, but the bomb exploded and sent everyone in different directions. Soon the white wolf came out of the smoke looking very battered from their fighting.
"So, you are still kicking, good. Ready for round 3?" asked Rocket as the wolf growled at him. "Let's do this." Rocket let out a battle cry and fired at the white wolf once more as the white wolf fired more lightning bolts.
Meanwhile, back with Drax, he was chasing Issun through the ruins of the Collector's collection. Issun hopped with all his might and tried to avoid becoming a stain on the floor thanks to Drax. Issun soon landed on a table and hid underneath a bowl, three bowls were in a row with Issun hiding in the left one. Drax soon comes to the bowls and looks under the left bowl but finds nothing. Issun peaks out of the right and hides again only for Drax to look under the right bowl, only to find nothing again. Issun peaks from under the center bowl, Drax notices this and looks under the center bowl to find nothing again!
Drax lets out a yell of frustration and sweeps the bowls away, causing Issun to fall out onto the table. "Found you, bug," says Drax as he jumps onto the table and chases Issun by trying to stab the artist with his knives. Issun dodges the knives as his life depended on it, Drax kept on trying to stab Issun while laughing like a maniac. One of Drax's knives get caught on something and Drax lets go of it. Drax continues trying to stab Issun but the artist continues to dodge the attacks. Issun soon tripped on some debris and fell, he tried to get up but Drax slammed his fist down on Issun. "Finally caught you. Now prepare to die," laughed Drax as he got ready to stab Issun.
Suddenly, a hand placed itself on Drax's forehead, "Calm down." In an instant, Drax felt his killing urge fade away. He looked up and saw Mantis.
"Mantis? What did you do?" asked Drax as he didn't have any will to fight.
"I had to stop you before you did something you would regret," said Mantis in a sad tone.
"What do you…." Started Drax before he saw what was in Mantis's arms. "So, this is what this is all about. I understand," said Drax. He let go of Issun and gently held him in his hand, "Forgive me, little green bug man. I let my emotions dictate my action."
"Well, just don't let it happen again. But now we need to save Ammy from your friends," said Issun.
"Of course, I will help you in this matter," said Drax as they heard an explosion. "Thankfully, my friends do not make themselves hard to find."
Back with the Guardians and the white wolf, things were getting very heated as the white wolf was constantly switching weapons and opponents. The guardians were throwing everything they had but the wolf was able to match them in nearly every way. Starlord kept firing his blasters at the white wolf, Rocket was using his blasters as well. Gamora tried to get in close but with everything going on, she couldn't without risking getting hurt. Groot had to avoid the fire as much as possible and threw anything he could at the white wolf.
The white wolf fired thunderbolts and blizzard balls at the Guardians, dodged and repeat the process. Everything around them was getting torn up, the cages were being smashed open and various creatures were escaping from their prison. The white wolf would block the blaster fire with its sword but having two people firing at you at different points made things difficult.
"PETER! I could really use something to end this!" yelled Rocket.
"What do you suggest?" yelled Starlord.
"Throw down some gravity mines near it. They will hold the beast down, then we can finish it," yelled Gamora.
"Right. Keep it busy while I throw the mines. Then grab onto something," said Starlord. The Guardians kept the wolf preoccupied whilst Peter threw mines around it. The mines whirled to life and increased the gravity around the wolf, making it bend the knee. "I got it!" The wolf's eyes started to glow with great intensity, "That's not good."
The wolf unleashed a storm of fire, ice, and electricity, throwing everyone back and destroying everything else. Once the dust settled and the mines powered down, the wolf finally fell. The Guardians got back up one by one and approached the wolf, they had burn marks, injuries and were just about ready to fall. "Is it dead?" asked Starlord with what breath he had.
"If it ain't, it's lucky. Let's back this thing and leave," said Rocket aiming his gun at the wolf. Drax shows up out of nowhere and blocks Rocket's shot. "Drax! What are you doing?"
"You will not lay another finger on this majestic creature," said Drax while in a battle stance.
"Majestic?! Drax, did you see what that thing did to us. To this place?" yelled Rocket.
"Going to have to agree with Rocket. We had way too much trouble taking this thing down. And now, you want to protect it?" asked Starlord.
"There was a good reason for her wrath. She had come to reclaim what the collector had taken from her," said Drax.
"And what would that be?" asked Gamora.
"It was for this," said Mantis as she came from around the corner with a white wolf pup in her arms.
"I am Groot," said Groot.
"Way to speak the obvious Groot," said Rocket as Mantis put down the wolf pup onto the floor. The pup saw the wolf and ran to her. The pup started licking the wolf's face causing her to stir. The wolf opened her eyes and saw the pup, the pup barked happily as the wolf licked the young pup.
Drax put away his knives and kneel down next to the wolf. "My friends and I are sorry. If we knew about what had happened here, we would have helped you in your quest." The wolf nodded her head in understanding with Drax smiling.
"Can someone please tell me what is going on?" said Rocket.
Drax stood up and looked at his teammates, "Friends, this is Amaterasu, Celestia Brush goddess of the Sun. She traveled here to find her son after the Collector had taken him."
"And I'm guessing that the Collector was all to pleased to add her to his collection to complete the set," said Gamora.
"That would explain why she tore this place apart," said Starlord. "But how do you know this?"
"It's because I told him," said Issun as he revealed himself to the rest of the group. "I am Issun, traveling artist, and traveling companion of Amaterasu and Chibirasu."
"A glowing green man the size of a bug. Ok, now I think we have seen everything," said Rocket.
"When we first got here, I sensed the pup's fear and went to set him free," said Mantis.
"Glad you did, otherwise, things would have gotten much worse," said Gamora.
"I am Groot," said Groot.
"I hear that buddy. Let's get out of here," said Rocket.
"Hey, would you like a lift? We could give you a ride to some folks that can help get back home," offered Starlord. Amaterasu nodded and tried to get up but fell back down to the ground.
"Please allow me to carry you," said Drax as he picked up Amaterasu in his arms, Issun perched himself on Ammy's head. Mantis scooped Chibirasu into her arms and the Guardians left the Collector's collection.
The Guardians made it outside and the Collector went to greet them. "Magnificent display! Though, you did manage to release the rest of my collection. No matter, did you at least secure my little pest problem?" The Collector sees Drax holding Amaterasu. "Excellent! Now if you would be so kind as to hand it over to me…" started Collector before Gamora drew her blade at Collector's throat, he looked to see Starlord and Rocket pointing their guns at him. "My friends, what is this all about?" He soon sees Mantis and Chibirasu and puts two and two together, "Oh."
"You took an innocent life away from his mother, led her here so you could add her to your collection," said Gamora.
"And you used us to do all your dirty work. Not cool," said Starlord.
"You are just lucky we are tired because we would be putting you through a world of pain," said Rocket.
"So, here's the new deal: you let us and our new friends walk away in peace, and we don't report your backside to the Nova Corps. Deal?" asked Starlord with the Collector nodding his head. "Good. Alright everyone, let's go." The group left the Collector alone with his destroyed collection room and went back to the Milano.
Once back on the ship, everyone was groaning in pain from the injuries they had all endured once finally sat down in the cockpit. "So, where are you guys from?" asks Starlord.
"We are from Nippon," said Issun. "But we don't know how we even left. Last thing we remember before Chibirasu was taken was that this guy attacking our home. He called himself 'The Conqueror.'" This caught the Guardians attention.
"The Conqueror? Do you have any other ways of describing this guy?" asks Rocket.
"Yeah, he had a blue face, and was wearing green and purple clothes I have never seen before," said Issun. This made the Guardians worried.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Starlord.
"That Kang has returned and is invading time periods of other worlds? Yes," said Gamora.
"We need to get to Earth now and warn them. Plot a course for Earth and contact Nova," says Starlord as he starts up the navigation computer.
Gamora nods and calls Nova. "This is Nova."
"Nova, we need you to meet us on Earth. It is an emergency," said Gamora.
"What's going on?" asks Nova.
"We just meet a group of refugees that have escaped Kang the Conqueror. We think he maybe staging another Chronopolis with the worlds that the Convergence has revealed to us," said Gamora.
"Alright. I'll grab Captain Commando and meet you there. Nova out," said Nova as he ended the call.
"I just hope we are not too late," said Starlord as the Milano rocketed towards Earth.
Dream Guardian AMS: And this chapter is finally done. I hope you all enjoyed it. For this story, I am picturing the Marvel characters using their models from Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, they look so much better in that game. As for who the two guest characters are, you are free to guess who they are. In the meantime, I will be working towards having more updates for this story and my Super Smash Bros 20th Anniversary tournament. I look forward to seeing how you guys liked this chapter. Until next time, bye!
Next Time: The X-Men train some new students. Welcome to Taiyo X Academy.