Storm Shadow
| F In 40 |
A In 40 |
S Gd 10 |
E Rm 30 |
R Ex 20 |
I Am 50 |
P In 40 |
Res Rm 30 |
Pop Gd -10 |
| Health: Karma: |
120 110 |
Origin:
Unlike the vast majority of his allies on the Gi Joe team (when he's working with them), much less most of his allies in the Cobra organization (when he's instead working with them), Tommy is an otherwise normal human who has acquired several quasi-mystic powers thanks to his time with the Arashikage ninja clan.
Known Powers:
Ninja Powers: nephew to both the Hard and Soft masters of the Arashikage ninja clan, Tommy was sent to study the 'family business' with them as a child, and mastered his martial arts prowess with them after the Vietnam War. He has to date demonstrated these supernatural, ninja trained powers:
* Arashikage Mind-Set: a rare and potent meditation technique, this mind-set allows those who are trained in its use, once they make eye contact, to instantly free a body from any sort of brainwashing or other mind control power or influence. This handy hypnotic ability works at Amazing (50) rank.
However, the Mind-Set also has a secondary use. It can be utilized to place a body in a sort of Zen combat trance, one which will focus their mind absolutely on a given task, to the detriment of all else that may concern said body - or even any sort of non-related action going on in the vicinity.
* the Cloak of the Chameleon: this unique Arashikage technique is one that they can use to disguise themselves as another person. Not in the visual sense, mind you, but in the actual assumption of their heart and breathing rate, their style of movement, and even the sounds they make when doing so.
This technique, the Cloak of the Chameleon, is a powerful complement to any disguise skills that one may utilize. In fact, it is so potent that it is about the only way to fool the Ear that Sees, another Arashikage technique that is on a par with superhuman senses of hearing. This ability works at Amazing (50) rank.
* the Ear that Sees: one of Tommy's most potent - and dangerous - ninja techniques is the Ear that Sees, an uncanny ability to tune his hearing to an almost super human degree. When using this technique, he can locate a target by the sounds they make - no matter how quiet they may be.
This allows him, when doing nothing else, to make hearing-based Intuition FEAT rolls at a +2 CS. This ninja-enhanced hearing ability is so potent that Tommy can target opponents without seeing them, even through solid objects such as walls or doors, thus ending their threat before they know what hits them.
* Psychic Link: Tommy has been shown to share a mental bond with his sword-brother, the one and only Snake-Eyes. This bond works on a global level, and likely has at least an Unearthly (100) rank, allowing one to sense when the other is in trouble, powerful emotional conflicts, etc...
Equipment:
Compound Bow: his personal weapon of choice, Tommy can use this weapon to incredibly lethal effect if he so chooses. Any arrows he fires from this bow will inflict his Strength +1 CS (Excellent (20)) in Shooting damage - and considering his skill with the bow, this is a bad, bad thing.
Katanas: while not as good with these weapons as is his sword-brother, Snake-Eyes, Tommy always carries at least one of these weapons on him at all times. He can use this blade (or blades, for he occasionally carries several) to inflict his Strength rank +1 CS in Edged Attack damage.
Knives: in addition to his Katana(s), Tommy is always armed with at least one shorter blade. Usually, these come in the form of a regular knife, but are occasionally accompanied by a Wakizashi, an Oriental short sword. These weapons allow Tommy to inflict Edged Attack damage in melee.
Shuriken: Tommy has always got several throwing weapons on him, and if they aren't knives, they'll invariably be these throwing stars. He can use these small bladed weapons to inflict his Strength rank (Good (10)) in Edged Throwing damage to his foes, as long as they are within three areas of his person.
Staff (v1): on occasion, Tommy will wield a wooden staff in melee in addition to his normal weaponry. This collapsible, two piece staff is made from Incredible (40) m.s. materials, and he can use it in melee to inflict his Strength +1 CS in Blunt Attack damage.
Quirks:
(none)
Talents:
Climbing: his years as a ninja, whether he be the student or the master, have given Tommy quite the climbing ability. He can move up almost any vertical surface, even those that at first glance have no hand-holds to speak of, as though his Agility score was +1 CS higher than is listed above.
Guns: though he is one of the most accurate and dangerous archers in the world, Tommy is still more than competent with guns - any gun. Whether it be a standard, semi-automatic, or fully automatic rifle or pistol, Tommy may use such weapons as though his Agility score was +1 CS in rank.
Languages / English and Japanese: being an American citizen of immediate Japanese descent, much less one that has trained in the martial arts for years in Japan, Tommy is fluent in both English and Japanese. He may know additional tongues, but they have not yet been demonstrated.
Martial Arts types A, B, C, D, and E: Tommy can make melee and grappling attacks, dodge, or evade as if the applicable ability score were +1 CS, slam or stun an opponent regardless of comparative strength or endurance ranks, and gains a +1 initiative modifier in melee combat.
Furthermore, he can completely ignore the effects of body armor when delivering slam and stun effects, if he can study an opponent for at least two rounds beforehand.
Military / United States: a long range recon patrolman during his stay in Vietnam, Tommy can be considered a highly trained military operative. This talent also offers him additional military contacts (as of yet undefined), and offers him an inherent understanding of military protocols and procedures.
Oriental Weapons: thanks to the extensive training he received from the Arashikage ninja clan, Tommy can competently use any oriental fighting weapon (blowgun, crossbow, katanas, kris, nunchaku, sais, and shuriken) at his Fighting (or Agility, if the weapon is thrown) score +1 CS.
Survival: more than anything else, Tommy is rather skilled at keeping himself alive. Regardless of the environment, situation, or even what appears to be his obvious destruction, Tommy always wins out in the end - he's simply too stubborn to give up - especially since he's already died once...
Trance: Tommy has mastered the Sleeping Phoenix technique, giving him the ability to slow his metabolic processes to the point that he appears dead. Anyone checking this must pass a yellow Intuition FEAT roll to see through this deception. While in such a trance, Tommy needs little or no air to survive.
Weapon Specialist / Bow: while he's competent with most other weapons related to the 'family business', Tommy is truly a world class archer. He can fire any style of bow as though his Agility was +2 CS in rank; however, when used in conjunction with his Ear that Sees, this bonus is raised to +3 CS.
Contacts:
Depending on his current allegiance, Tommy can usually depend on the Gi Joe team or the Cobra organization for assistance - unless, in the latter case, it is more convenient to not assist him. Of course, he can always count on Snake-Eyes, his sword-brother, for help if he should only ask for it.
Costume:
Tommy's seventeenth costume is similar to fourteenth in color and design. It includes a white shirt with gray trim and a white dragon on the back, white and gray trousers, a white mask with a Cobra emblem on the front, white gloves, white boots and knee pads, yellow wrist wraps, and a red scarf.
His eighteenth costume is identical to his fifteenth. It consists of a white shirt with red trim and a silver dragon on the back, white and red trousers, a white mask with a Cobra emblem on the front, white gloves, white boots and knee pads, yellow wrist wraps, and a gray scarf.
Tommy's nineteenth costume is a subdued version of his eleventh. It includes a white shirt and a gray dragon on the back, white and red trousers, a white mask worn under a white hood, white gloves, gray boots and knee pads, gray wrist wraps, and a tan scarf.
Personality:
Tommy is a good guy, really, who is continually in the midst of incredibly bad situations. Despite having had to walk a hard road for the majority of his life, Tommy usually comes out on top, and he hasn't become a bitter man despite the years of hardship he's endured thanks to the Gi Joe / Cobra conflict.
Real Name: Tommy Arashikage
Occupation: ninja
Legal Status: citizen of the United States with a considerable criminal record, one that is never really followed up on...
Marital Status: single
Alias(es), if any: none
Group Affiliation: Gi Joe (occasionally), Cobra (occasionally), former leader of the Ninja Force (Gi Joe sub team)
Height: 5' 7"
Hair: black
Eyes: brown
Weight: 160 lbs
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: Tommy has the Arashikage ninja clan emblem tattooed onto his lower right arm. Also, he has several bullet hole scars on his chest from when the Baroness tried to shoot him dead, not to mention all kinds of other, minor scars elsewhere.
Story:
Tommy was born in San Francisco, but he didn't spend all of his childhood there, oh no. You see, when his father died, Tommy moved to Japan for a time, in order to study the 'family business' with his two uncles. Of course, the family business was that of the Arashikage - a powerful ninja clan!
Tommy stayed with his uncles until his eighteenth birthday, at which point he defied them to return to the United States, registering for the Draft. Soon after, Tommy was in the Army, and with his exceptional discipline, the young man quickly went through Airborne - and then Ranger - school.
Winding up in Vietnam thanks to his prowess, Tommy spent years in the same Long Range Recon Patrol unit as did Snake-Eyes, Stalker, and one Wade Collins, a man who would wind up getting entangled with Cobra as Tommy eventually did himself; though that's a tale for another time.
Tommy did get on rather well with Snake-Eyes, however, and the two were constant companions. Tommy seemed to do all the talking whenever the two of them were hanging out together - which was all the time - but the duo became incredibly tight friends during their time together in the 'Nam.
On a particularly hairy patrol, two members of their LRRP squad were killed, and it was thought that Wade was also slain; however, he managed to survive, and became a P.O.W. for several years. After Stalker called in an extraction, the enemy following the survivors caught up to them.
As Snake-Eyes covered them while they boarded the extraction Huey, he was gunned down from behind. Though Stalker ordered him to leave the man behind, Tommy leapt into action, dodging bullets like they weren't even moving, and retrieved his friend (and a picture of his twin sister) before leaving the field.
After the War, Tommy returned to Japan, and resumed his martial arts studies with his uncles: the Hard Master and the Soft Master. A terrible tragedy also brought Snake-Eyes to Japan, however; Tommy had promised his good friend a place in the family business while they were in Vietnam.
Since he had nowhere else to go, Snake-Eyes took Tommy up on his offer. While Tommy had the edge on Snake-Eyes time-wise, Snake-Eyes' single-minded drive pushed him such that his mastery of the fighting arts grew in tiger leaps, and soon enough, the two were almost equal in martial prowess.
In fact, Snake-Eyes had managed to exceed his close friend's skill in the blade, even though he could never match Tommy's ability with the bow. While the two were like unto brothers, it eventually became apparent that the Hard Master favored Snake-Eyes over Tommy for eventual clan leadership.
Some of the Arashikage whispered that Tommy was secretly resentful of this, but this was far from the truth; Tommy would've never faulted Snake-Eyes for leading the ninjas if he had in fact been worthy of it. These whispers were what ultimately broke up the Arashikage ninja clan, however.
You see, unknown to everybody involved, the brother of the stoned-out Vietnam vet who had killed Snake-Eyes' family (the tragedy that drove him to Japan) was insane with grief over the death of his brother, and he felt the need to blame someone for his loss - irrationally, he chose Snake-Eyes.
To this end, he hired not one, but two assassins to take care of his blissfully unaware nemesis: Zartan, a mutant shapechanger, and Firefly, himself a ninja of the Koga clan. Infiltrating the Arashikage to get at Snake-Eyes, Firefly quickly learned that there was no way he could defeat the man.
As such, he brought Zartan in to help him with the plan. Though Zartan found he didn't want to go through with the job once he'd gotten used to his meditative life there in Japan, the man who hired him - the man who would eventually become the Cobra Commander - blackmailed him into finishing the job.
As such, armed with sound amplification gear and a compound bow worthy of his superhuman strength, Zartan went about his plan, stealing a practice arrow from Tommy (in order to implicate him for the deed) and listening to Snake-Eyes to learn the sounds that the man made - in order to kill him from a distance.
That night, the Hard Master was demonstrating the Cloak of the Chameleon to Snake-Eyes even as he offered to make him the heir to clan leadership instead of Tommy. Though he refused the offer, the Hard Master continued to demonstrate the Cloak - at least, until he was stricken down by an arrow.
One of Tommy's arrows!
Zartan had been listening for the sounds Snake-Eyes makes you see, and these were being issued forth from the Hard Master as he imitated Snake-Eyes - a truly impressive demonstration of the Cloak. As the other Arashikage discovered what had happened, Tommy fled into the night.
He was chasing the assassins down, but they managed to escape in a F.A.N.G. helicopter. Knowing what he must do, Tommy left the Arashikage at once, leaving his family to believe it was he that killed his uncle while he went to infiltrate Cobra, hoping to learn who it was that killed the Hard Master.
For years, he worked his way through the organization, and eventually became trusted enough to be Cobra Commander's own bodyguard. The Commander knew he could keep Tommy in check, though, for he promised to reveal the identity of the assassin for his loyal service.
This ultimately failed, however, for Tommy found himself impressed by the unwavering loyalty that the Commander's own son, Billy, had demonstrated to those that brainwashed him into an assassination attempt on his father. Seeing what the man would do to his own son, Tommy rescued him.
This got him on Cobra's bad side, for those that weren't behind the assassination attempt assumed that the whole thing was Tommy's idea. Regardless, Tommy disappeared for a while, setting up shop in a water tower atop one of New York City's many buildings, where he trained Billy in the family arts.
Tommy continued to do so until he was approached by Snake-Eyes, who had received the information that Tommy was looking for from the Soft Master - shortly before he was killed by Firefly and Scrap-Iron in Cobra's Springfield headquarters: they learned that Zartan was behind the Hard Master's death!
Traveling to Cobra Island in a stolen Rattler jet, the two ninjas put the beat-down on everything that Cobra threw at them, but the terrorist nation couldn't stop two master ninjas bent on revenge. They eventually caught up to the man they thought was Zartan, but was in fact the Joe known as Ripcord.
He had encountered Zartan on his own unauthorized mission to Cobra Island, and was defeated. Thinking this the perfect opportunity to infiltrate the Joes, Zartan took Ripcord's place while at the same time dressing Ripcord as himself, in order to confuse anybody looking into the mess until it was too late.
However, Cobra picked Ripcord up, and Professor Appel (a chief Crimson Guardsman) figured out who Ripcord really was: the Joe that was dating his daughter. When Tommy and Snake-Eyes came to kill 'Zartan', the Professor blocked Tommy's sword strike with his own body, sacrificing himself to save the Joe.
Launching the Firebat that he put Ripcord in as his dying action, the scientist passed even as the two ninjas found their mission to have ended in failure. Moving to get off the island before a concerted effort to eliminate them could be made, the two fought their way to the Cobra Island airport.
By the time they got there though, it had been pretty much demolished when Destro and the Baroness' transport helicopter crashed there (after Cutter shot it down, of course). Deciding to try for a boat, the duo then stole a Cobra Hydrofoil, but were ultimately sunk on the island's rocky shores.
As the Joes nearby collected Snake-Eyes (they were originally there to rescue Ripcord, but saw the ninjas going to town on everybody present), they saw Tommy fighting it out with two Cobra Eels - and a bunch of sharks that were attracted by their blood. Only Tommy survived this encounter.
Only to be shot down by the Baroness as he reached the shore of Cobra Island. Not wanting such 'fine genetic material' to go to waste, Doctor Mindbender collected Tommy's limp body and put him into storage, transporting him to Springfield after he'd collected everything he needed for another project.
This project was of course the creation of the ultimate warrior, built from the genetic material of the earth's greatest military minds. In addition to the remnant genes used to make this warrior, Mindbender added Tommy's body in order to 'get some fresh blood into the mix'... which worked out rather well.
As he activated his apparatus, though, the essences of these dead warlords passed through Tommy's mind; he wasn't dead, you see, so much as deep in the trance of the Sleeping Phoenix. He'd been almost-dead this whole time, but the otherworldly energies he was exposed to him brought him back.
Though the experience changed him a whole lot.
Escaping from the city as the Gi Joe team assaulted the city, tipped off to its location thanks to Ripcord (whose Firebat eventually brought him to the sleepy little terrorist town on autopilot), Tommy spent a short period of time with the Dreadnoks before finally infiltrating the Gi Joe team's Pit headquarters.
Once he defeated the Joes that were in his way, he finally got what he wanted - to talk to Snake-Eyes. You see, his bizarre experience with the afterlife - or a small portion of it, at any rate - had made Tommy realize that he'd been living solely for revenge, and he suddenly felt dead inside.
Even if he was no longer dead without. Hoping to help his sword-brother, Snake-Eyes gave Tommy the key to what was left of his cabin in the High Sierras, thinking that would allow him to come to terms with his life. Tommy spent some time there, and did indeed sort his life out once and for all.
Having become quite philosophical, Tommy returned to civilization once he was ready, founding the Arashikage Martial Arts Academy in San Francisco. He ran this school for a time with both Billy (his apprentice) and Jinx, another Arashikage clan member and distant relative of his.
He did this for a time, at least until Zartan came after him with a busload of renegade, former Arashikage ninjas gone bad. The shapechanger believed that Tommy was still after him, not knowing that the ninja no longer wanted to kill him for his many misdeeds of the past, and Zartan was obsessing over this.
To this end, he and his ninja cronies assaulted the Academy with everything the had, the ultimate result of which was that Tommy almost killed Zartan, his van careening off the side of the Golden Gate Bridge during the two archers' incredible battle through the city of San Francisco.
Shortly after this, Tommy spent some time with Snake-Eyes and Scarlett (and Timber, of course) in the Sierras, during which time the ninjas that were formerly working with Zartan, the so-called Red Ninjas, tracked them down and tried to kill them. They naturally failed in this, of course.
Seeing that conflict surrounded him, Tommy decided to return to active military duty with Snake-Eyes and Scarlett, and assisted the Gi Joe team with various tricky operations. This culminated with his becoming the leader of a new Gi Joe task force, the so-called Ninja Force.
These guys were the Gi Joe team's ultimate dirty tricks squad, and dealt with the growing number of such individuals that Cobra employed, like Slice, Dice, and of course the Night Creepers - thus allowing the more 'conventional' Joes to handle the 'normal' Cobra operatives on missions.
The Ninja Force was active up to and through the Battle of Millville, at which point they seem to have been disbanded. With the exception of Tommy, Snake-Eyes, and Scarlett, these martial artists journeyed to Harlem to reopen the Arashikage Martial Arts Academy anew - allowing access to anybody who wanted in.
Tommy continued to serve the Joes on covert missions, at least until one fateful day when he was captured in Cobra's new citadel in Trans-Carpathia, thanks to Doctor Mindbender's newly-devised, ninja-beating Cyberspace Matrix (which functioned almost like a 'danger room', really).
Tommy journeyed there to rescue his former apprentice, Billy, who had been captured by Cobra Commander - he obviously failed, however. Once they got their grubby little hands on him, Cobra Commander and Dr. Mindbender subjected him to the Brain-Wave Scanner, rewiring his personality.
While he was never really loyal to Cobra's cause before, the ninja was now truly a servant of the organization - even if unwillingly. As the Commander did with several other former operatives, like Destro, the Baroness, Zartan, and even Billy - he simply tinkered with Tommy's brain until he was 'evil'.
Snake-Eyes attempted in turn to rescue Tommy (and by proxy, the others), but their brainwashing was too complete, and in order to avoid hurting his friends, Snake-Eyes had to leave them to the tender mercies of the Commander - though he did beat the snot out of the villain for his troubles.
Shortly after this, the Gi Joe team was disbanded, and the fight against Cobra was left to a very large contingent of conventional military forces - forces that ultimately disbanded the terrorist organization; this was possible only after the Commander abandoned the diplomatic safety that Cobra Island offered.
Luckily for Tommy and company, one final 'off the records' Joe mission wreaked havoc on Cobra's computer network, which had the welcome side effect of disrupting the effects of their Brain-Wave Scanner, letting them resume their normal personalities. Tommy was thus free of Cobra for several years.
He eventually was caught by Cobra Commander and brainwashed anew, forced to serve the terrorist organization for quite some time - at least until Tommy inadvertently injured Billy while his former student tried to snap him out of it. Shortly after this, Tommy shook off his brainwashing anew.
He went on several subsequent missions with the third incarnation of the Gi Joe team, though he left soon after Snake-Eyes was apparently killed - and resurrected - by one of their clan's foes. Walking the earth for a time, Tommy had a string of adventures all by himself.
He returned to the team when Cobra unleashed World War III however, doing everything he could to help his comrades defeat the terrorist organization once and for all. Though it was a close fight, Tommy and company finally won out in the end, even capturing the Commander at long, long last.
He's presumably with the team to this very day, helping them to round up the Cobra goons that managed to escape in the wake of their greatest defeat.
Extra Goodies:
Gi Joe directories featuring a version of Storm Shadow:
| 1988 | 1992 | 1994 | 1997 | 2006 |
Cobra directories featuring a version of Storm Shadow:
| 1984 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2005 | 2008 |
Note: 2002 saw four versions of Storm Shadow (Versions 7, 8, 9, and 10), 2004 saw six versions of him (Versions 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16), 2005 saw three versions of him (Versions 17, 18 and 19), and 2008 saw two versions of him (Versions 21 and 22).