Nightwing Vs. Elektra: Fantasy Battle Tournament
After a long hiatus our Fantasy Battle Tournament is back! You pick the winners, we write it out. Stepping into the ring today is the leader of the Teen Titans vs the silent yet lethal assassin. The fans have been polled. Their votes have been recorded. Let the battle begin:
….
Darkness. Something is not right about this darkness. It feels unnatural yet somehow familiar. Wait it out. Villains tend to reveal their plans often enough. Just stay calm and rely on your training. What is the last thing you remember? He can recall leaving Titans Tower and returning to Bludhaven. He remembers talking to Barbara before going to bed. After that, nothing. This darkness, however, is not something new. He’s experienced something like it before. Reaching into his utility belt, which he is surprised to see is still in his possession, Nightwing pulls out a flashlight and flicks it on.
Suddenly, the world bursts into light. A voice speaks in his head. “Defeat your enemy and you live. Lose, and you die. Refuse to fight and I’ll kill you both.”
“We’ll see.” says Nightwing calmly. “Show yourself and we can settle this right now.”
The only response Nightwing gets is a laugh and another burst of light. This time, after Nightwing adjusts his eyes, he can see his surroundings. He is in what appears to be a shrine. Lit candles are everywhere. Scattered all over the ground are dozens of empty red ninja outfits. Some kind of ritual must have occurred, thinks Nightwing. Maybe his enemy is a demon of some sort. Well he’s seen his fair share of demons in his life. He’ll find a way to defeat this one.
Looking around the area, Nightwing sees nothing else that seems important other than a door across the room. Slowly, Nightwing heads towards the door. Cautiously opening it, Nightwing looks through. Inside, Nightwing sees what is obviously a dojo. Candles light up this room as well. Mats are all over the floors. Martial arts weapons like swords, sai and bo staffs are scattered all across the walls and on the ground. Multiple shoji and fusuma separate areas of the room as well as surround it completely. Also, like inside the shrine, in this room there are multiple empty red ninja outfits lying all over the ground. Slowly, Nightwing enters the room.
Just then, without any warning, three throwing knives fly through the nearest shoji straight at Nightwing’s chest. Almost instinctively, using his razor sharp reflexes, Nightwing dives to the ground. Even still, one of the knives manages to hit him in the bicep causing a mean gash to appear that instantly begins to bleed. Quickly rolling to his knees, Nightwing tosses a batarang in the direction the knives came from. Rolling to his right almost immediately after the throw, Nightwing barely manages to dodge another two throwing knives that sink into the ground where he was just crouching.
This is no way to fight, thinks Nightwing. I’m being outmaneuvered and fighting blind. Time to level the playing field.
Reaching into his utility belt, Nightwing pulls out three flash bombs and some smoke pellets which he tosses in every direction. As the weapons explode, Nightwing quickly runs back towards the shrine door and jumps through it, slamming the door behind him. As the door closes, Nightwing hears three thuds. Three more knives, he assumes, sinking into the thick wood of the door. Pulling a vial of liquid from his belt, Nightwing swallows a general poison antidote. He then tears a piece of cloth from his costume and binds his bicep to slow the bleeding. He quickly starts to put out the candles in the room and turns on the infra-red in his visor. Then, as he has done countless times before, he relaxes his mind, regulates his breathing, and begins to wait.
After what seems like an hour of silence, Nightwing notices a quick flash of light from the direction of the door, then a flicker of motion. Then the door closes and the light is gone. Luckily, with his infra-red vision, Nightwing sees a body that is giving off plenty of heat, dart across the room and behind the altar.
Nightwing plans his next moves quickly. Pulling out another batarang, Nightwing hurls it at the shrine while immediately rolling to his left. His assailant responds by hurling multiple shurikens in his direction but because of his constant movement, all of them bounce harmlessly off the ground. Nightwing then tosses his last batarang and rolls to his right. When no return fire comes, Nightwing shouts out to his attacker.
“All out of sharp objects to throw?” he calls, still moving from spot to spot. Just in case his assailant has some hidden toys, it’s better to be in motion, he thinks. He still receives no answer. “Why don’t you come out and fight me like a man? Face to face.”
Suddenly, a laugh resonates throughout the shrine. Surprisingly, the laugh sounds female.
“Fighting you man to man would be impossible.” says Elektra, stepping from behind the altar. “I will be more than happy to kill you, though. Anyone who can slaughter a small army of hand assassins should pose a proper challenge. Since you seem to know where I am, but I can only tell your location by the sound of your voice, let’s even the odds.”
Lighting up a flare, Elektra tosses it over her shoulder and into the center of the shrine, lighting the huge pit. Nightwing, sensing that something was going to happen, turned off his infra-red visor before the flare was lit, avoiding getting suddenly blinded. With the light of the fire brightening the room, Nightwing finally gets a glimpse of his opponent. That’s all he gets though as Elektra immediately springs at him, sai aiming directly at his throat. Pulling out his eskrima sticks, Nightwing parries the deadly weapons.
“You have skill” grunts Elektra, throwing a roundhouse at Nightwing, which he blocks as well. “Very impressive. You might even be better than Matt.” Another blocked punch is followed by a flying kick which grazes Nightwing. “Pity I have to kill you, but it seems you are my enemy.” More kicks and punches continue to rain in Nightwing’s direction. Some connect but most miss.
“You have skill as well.” says Nightwing, finally seizing an opportunity and going on the offensive. “And I guess you are my enemy as well. I will not kill you, but I will defeat you.” Getting into his groove, Nightwing uses his incredible speed and agility to attack his opponent and force her on the defensive. Elektra tries valiantly to outskill and outmaneuver Nightwing but he is just too good. Soon she is disarmed and knocked out into oblivion.
Standing over his fallen opponent, Nightwing breathes a sigh of relief. “She was a tough one. Are you ready to face me as well? You will have to eventually. And when you do, you will fall just like her.”
The only answer he receives is a laugh and darkness.
The Winner: Nightwing
With a small edge of 57% of the votes, Nightwing is the winner and moves on to round two. Is that who you would have picked? Make your opinion heard. Please comment on this article. Don’t forget to keep voting for the next battles…
8 Comments
Great to see this feature back! I’ve been missing it something fierce. Disappointed to see Nightwing win, but Marvel still has the lead (yeah I’m a fanboy, go ahead hate me for it).
Overall a good job with the article. 3.5 out of 5. Keep it up.
Hey Richie, thanks for the love. I was also a tad upset at this win for DC but I guess Bat Jr. can whup DD Jr. so it did make sense. It was close though. What didn’t you like about the article that you only gave it a 3.5 out of 5. Let me know and I’ll try to make the next one better. Thanks.
What I didn’t like were a few of your descriptions of the setting. The one that really stands out to me is how you described the dojo. The only way I can put it is that the writing felt a bit “clunky” (for lack of a better word). Also this sentence: “Nightwing, sensing that something was going to happen, turned off his infra-red visor before the flare was lit, avoiding getting suddenly blinded.” kind of made me cringe. It’s mostly the “sensing that something was going to happen” part that bothered me. If I had written it I would have said something along the lines of “thanks to his amazing reflexes, honed through years of experience, Nightwing was able to swiftly deactivate his night vision but was still left with a bright spot in his vision that could prove catastrophic for him.” That’s just how I feel though; I’m not saying you need to change it. I’ll read it and enjoy it either way.
Thank you for your comment, Richie. This is my first attempt at comic writing. I actually thought my dojo description was quite nice. I even researched the proper terms to make it more realistic. I’ll try to be better.
What about the Bronze Tiger vs DD?
Bronze Tiger is facing Bullseye in round 1. Daredevil has already fought in round 1 against the Karate Kid and won.
Yes! Go Nightwing.
You’re doing a great job for your first time Victor, and I’m certainly not complaining about somebody writing fanfiction about superheroes/villians fighting (better than what you mostly see them doing in fanfiction). I really admire your dedication in actually doing research so keep up the great work. My only intention was to provide some constructive criticism, and let’s be honest it’s not like I’m a literary critic.