Author's Note: All aspects of martial arts presented in this article are based on my own knowledge, not all of them from experience though. All of the moves and techniques are derived from different forms of martial arts, although some of the names are somewhat invented to help non-martial-arts-oriented readers picture the moves. The paragraph about the "Celiac/Solar Plexus" is scientific fact in real life, although the swing of the punching bag is a little exaggerated. Also, the part in this story where Robin recalls an encounter with Slade is a reference to the episode "Apprentice pt.1".
Chapter V
Titans Tower, Jump City, the present.
It had been quite peaceful so far. No villainous activity had threatened Jump City all day. Beast Boy was, as usual, wasting his life in front of the television. Cyborg decided to join him. Starfire decided to go on patrol just for the fun of flying over the city. Raven was meditating in her room.
As for Robin, he spent the day in the gym inside Titans Tower. He was practicing a few moves on the punching bag.
Two left-hand jabs, immediately followed by a spinning, right-hand backfist.
A left-hand jab, followed by a right-hand reverse punch, followed by a spinning right-foot full-moon kick.
He was still thinking about all the leads he had on Slade…
Turning, right-foot outward fake kick, covering for a spinning, left-foot roundhouse.
…and how they all led to dead ends…
Left-hand backfist to midsection, left-hand backfist to head section, right-hand hook to head section, right elbow-smash to face, right-hand backfist to face, right-hand kneck-chop.
…and suddenly, it was no longer a punching bag he was hitting…to him, it was Slade…
Bone-crushing right-hand reverse punch! Wind-slicing right-foot roundhouse! Gut-busting right-foot sidekick! Soul-piercing left-hand reverse punch!
The punching bag swung a good total of ninety degrees and hit the ceiling before violently swinging a few more arcs (all of which Robin evaded) to get back into vertical position.
That last blow would've been life-threatening if a real person took it. It would've been taken somewhere between the navel and the heart, all the way to what is called the "Celiac Plexus" or "Solar Plexus". This is the very punch that gave birth to the expression "having the wind knocked out of you" due to its temporary paralysis of the diaphragm. However, a blow as powerful as the one Robin just unleashed would have done more than just knock the wind out of a target…it would've been fatal.
Robin stood heaving after that. Powerful as his punch may have been, he knew that it was not enough to put Slade out of commission. He already tried it in one of their encounters, and it didn't work. That's how strong Slade is. And then Robin remembered that, just seconds before he had given Slade that punch, Slade had actually done it to him first and Robin didn't fare as well. This memory just fueled his hate for Slade even further. And now, Slade's left eye was glancing at Robin from the head that he imagined to be on the punching bag. He surrendered all his remaining strength to a right-hand reverse punch as strong as the previous one...but this time, it was aimed for the face.
His fist was closing in…closing in on the target. If Slade had lost his right eye before, Robin was going to cost him his left eye now.
At the moment of impact, there was a bright flash of white light that blinded Robin for a second. It was accompanied by an invisible shockwave of force that pushed itself against Robin, but wasn't quite strong enough to move him. As his eyes fought to regain focus, he saw a huge object getting larger and larger. And then he realized that it was the punching bag, swinging back to him. He tried to evade it, but he was too late. It hit him right in the face.
With a muffled scream, Robin was thrown back. By instinct, he remembered one of the principles of drunken-master fighting: when you fall, don't be as stiff as wood or stone…rather, be as soft as a mattress and land smoothly without hurting yourself. So he did accordingly and plopped down on the floor like a thick sheet of cloth.
He set himself up again and shook the dust off of his costume. "I'm not that strong…" he thought to himself, wondering where the light and the shockwave had come from. He set his eyes down on the floor. There, right below the punching bag, he found a ruined piece of metal that looked direly familiar.