Red Panther

The Panther Dies

Xalius threw his cloak off and drew his pistols, aiming them at Dick. "Now I know what I meant..." Xalius said, "You either die a hero, or live long enough to become a villain. You chose the latter and became Grimwing." "Excellent observation, my apprentice." Dick said before sliding his escrima sticks out of their holsters. Xalius pulled the triggers back quickly, but Dick easily deflected the bullets. Dick ran at Xalius when he was out of bullets. He leaped up and swung his escrima sticks down at Xalius, who rolled backwards just in time. Then, Xalius pounced at Dick. Dick flipped backwards and kicked him upwards when Xalius passed over him. The kick was strong. It knocked the breath out of Xalius, though he got a grip on reality again and flipped forward, landing behind Dick, who flipped backwards and slammed his heel into Xalius's head. "My apprentice, you've learned nothing new. It's such a shame..." Dick taunted as Xalius struggled to get back up. "New? How's this?!" He called out, swinging his left arm at Dick, sending a blade attached to the end of a wire at him. The blade cut into his back and got a grip before Xalius jerked his arm back hard, pulling Dick back in the process. When Dick was three feet away from him, he slammed his heel into Dick's back, sending him twenty feet back and off the blade. The blade retracted back into Xalius's left gauntlet. "Very nice, very nice indeed..." Dick said before he got up and swiftly threw one of his escrima sticks straight at Xalius. The escrima stick hit him and filled him with electricity for a brief second before it fell. Xalius grunted loudly in pain before flipping backwards. Then, he pulled several bat-a-rangs from his belt, throwing all ten at Dick. Dick deflected all of them with a single escrima stick before he leaped forward to pick up his other one. Then, Xalius ran forward and leaped up, attempting to kick Dick. Dick leaned back, ducking under Xalius before grabbing his ankle and slamming him down on the top of the train. "Pathetic." Dick said before releasing his ankle and kicking him so that he slid across the top of the train. He slowly got up, a few meters away from Dick. Then, he took several gel-coated needles out of his belt and threw them at Dick. When they were about a foot away from him, Xalius pressed the button on his gel-gun, detonating the gel as a distraction while they came up upon a building. He threw down a smoke pellet quickly and drew his grappling gun, aiming it up at the edge of the building before pulling the trigger and letting himself be pulled up lightning fast. He got onto the roof of the building before running to the edge opposite to the one he got up on, jumping off of it and down onto the train behind Dick. As soon as he landed he leaped up and spun around in the air, kicking dick in the side of the head, causing him to fly off the train. Dick quickly took out his grappling gun and shot it at the train, being jerked forwards as soon as the magnet made contact with the train. Then, it pulled him up just as fast as Xalius's had him. He swung onto the top of the train and put his grappling gun up, taking out his escrima sticks to fend off Xalius's incoming attack. He jabbed Xalius's stomach with them, sending electricity through his body for another brief second before Dick pulled his sticks back and slammed his foot into Xalius's stomach, sending him flying several feet back. He landed on his feet, struggling to stay conscious.

"Dick... Please..." Xalius begged looking up at him, "Don't go down this path... You taught me almost everything I know." "I didn't teach you not to save Barbara." He said in a cold, deadly tone. This shot heat through Xalius's body. The flames... They were stopped... I need to let them come out... Xalius thought to himself before he ran at Dick. He leaped up and threw his leg out at Dick, who easily caught him by the ankles, throwing him back in the direction where he'd come from. Xalius swung his arm out in front of him in midair, shooting the blades on the side of his right gauntlet out at Dick. Dick hadn't seen this coming, thus he could only dodge two. The other one landed in his bicep. He grunted and pulled it out, throwing it off the train. Xalius landed on his feet with the help of a little effort before Dick yelled. "Why couldn't you save Barbara?! I trained you for things like that!" Dick called out, furiously. This filled Xalius's body with heat yet again. "You know damn well that wasn't my fault... You weren't even here for her funeral..." Xalius said in a harsh tone. "No, but I'm here to avenge her." Dick said. "Maybe if you were here then, she wouldn't be dead right now!" Xalius called out in rage. "You can't truly blame this on me, because deep down inside you know it's your fault. It's your fault that you couldn't save her." He explained. "Yeah... I couldn't save her... But the fact that you're doing this now doesn't change jack shit." Xalius explained. "Revenge and justice are of the same category."Dick stated. "You know damn well that there is a fine line between revenge and justice." Xalius said as he felt his body heat up more. "The angriest man in the world is the last one I need to hear that from." Dick said. Xalius ran at Dick quite suddenly, catching him off guard. He slammed his foot into Dick's side, sending him off the train. Xalius leaped off the other side of the train. Both of them slipped out their grappling guns, shooting the magnets out at the bottom of the train, sending them swinging at each other. The two collided, kicking each other, sending them both flying back onto the top of the train from the recoil before their magnets retracted. They put their grappling guns away. Long claws slid from Xalius's suit at his fingertips as Dick got out his escrima sticks and swung them at Xalius. Xalius ducked under them and kicked Dick to the side before pouncing onto him, cutting down his other bicep before Dick kicked him off. Xalius flipped backwards, landing on his feet and preparing for Dick's incoming attack as he ran at Xalius. He swung his escrima sticks at him again, Xalius slid under Dick, between his legs, sweeping his feet off the ground with his arms. Then, Xalius flipped up behind Dick before flipping back, sending his heels into the back of Dick's head, throwing him forward several feet. Dick quickly got up as Xalius flipped back, barely avoiding the bat-a-rangs that Dick threw at him. Then, he clicked the button in the middle of his belt, causing the bat-a-rang to unfold and come out into his hand. Xalius threw it at Dick. However, Dick flipped backwards, avoiding it. Xalius pulled his arm back, catching the bat-a-rang before throwing it again and again. Though, Dick dodged it both times. However, Xalius had successfully caught Dick off guard. Xalius quickly coated the bat-a-rang in explosive gel for as long as he could before he came back into view of Dick. He put the gel-gun up and quickly threw the bat-a-rang again. Dick flipped backwards before noticing the gel on the bat-a-rang. Damnit... He thought to himself before Xalius ignited the gel, throwing Dick back a bit.