Author's note: Sorry this took so long. I was undergoing a mild stage of depression. I'm over it now, so here's the chapter.
-
Chapter 23: VS Metal Leo
(Hold on to your hat, this is gonna take up the entire chapter)
-
Since Metal Leo had turned his attention to me, he was not watching Tails. Tails took the opportunity to sidle off to the side, where he crawled up beside me and copied my fighting pose.
"I can't let you steal the show all the time, can I?" Tails explained. "Come on, Leo. It's two against one. Your robotic twin doesn't stand half a chance!"
Giving Tails the thumbs-up, I faced Metal Leo. "All right, robot, let's see what you can do. I'll let you make the first move."
I picked up a hint of anger in Metal Leo's eyes. In one smooth motion, he rose his hand and pointed his finger directly at me. In a fraction of a second, a blood-red blast of energy formed and shot forward in the direction he pointed.
By the time Tails and I realized what Metal Leo was doing, it was too late. The energy blast connected directly with my shoulder and disintegrated with so much force that I keeled back and hit the floor with a resounding THUNK!
Tails rushed to my side. "Leo! Are you all right?"
"I think I'm okay," I explained, "but next time, I think I'll play offense."
Tails had to agree. "I guess those energy blasts are like your feathers. I think we'll be fine if we can keep track of their colors."
During this short conversation between me and Tails, Metal Leo had taken the opportunity to sneak behind the two of us. As I got up, Tails spotted Metal Leo, but there was insufficient time to react defensively.
Metal Leo pointed again, sending another blast of energy whizzing through the air. This one was a fiery orange color, and when it shattered against my left wing, I caught fire in an instant.
I was panicked. "T-Tails, quick, help me put it out!"
Tails grabbed a fire extinguisher from a shelf on the wall and sprayed me with it, getting me soaking wet but putting out the flames.
He then turned to face Metal Leo, and put the fire extinguisher on full blast, but Metal Leo wasn't fooled so easily. He shot from his finger a blast of light blue ice energy which was sufficient to freeze the fire extinguisher's spray solid.
The ground battle was becoming boring, so Metal Leo decided to take to the skies. He jumped up, and I caught a glimpse of the jet engines on his wings as they flared to life, supporting him as he hovered in the air.
"So we're taking this battle to the sky," I commented. "All right, so be it!"
My own wings were in motion almost immediately, and my height quickly matched that of Metal Leo. Tails whirled his twin tails around like helicopter blades, and he joined the two of us above ground.
"Say, Tails," I whispered to Tails, "how do you do that, anyway?"
"It's all a matter of angling my tails to deflect the wind in the right direction," Tails responded off-handedly.
"No," I interjected, "I mean … how do you spin your tails like that without them getting-"
My question remained unfinished, not to mention unanswered. Metal Leo had used a green energy blast, and green meant wind, to take advantage of how vulnerable we were. This blast struck Tails in a direct hit, tearing him from the air. I looked helplessly at Tails as he plummeted.
SPLASH! Tails fell directly into one of the vats of chemicals he'd used to dye my feathers. Glancing at the color of the vat's contents, I recognized this particular chemical mixture as the Flame Feather mixture.
When Tails emerged, his fur was dyed a deep orange. "Great," he muttered. "This shade of orange just isn't my color at all."
I swooped down and helped Tails climb out of the vat. "Tails, this is no time to worry about that."
Unfortunately, Metal Leo had slipped behind me again, and attempted to throw me into the vat that Tails had just fallen into. I reacted quickly this time, though, and opened my wings as wide as I could, snagging the edge of the vat and keeping me dry.
After Tails helped me out of the vat, Metal Leo attempted to rush us. "Scramble!" Tails yelled, and we split up. Metal Leo missed us both completely, colliding with a stack of documents on the table. Recognizing these documents as the same ones I had sent flying when I was testing my Wind Feathers, I couldn't help but chuckle a little.
Looking over at Metal Leo's collision, Tails realized that now was his chance. He landed on the ground right in front of him as he got up, and spun around, knocking Metal Leo backwards with his trademark tail-whip attack.
As Tails performed this attack, the documents on the floor where the two of them were standing suddenly burst into flame. All three of us were shocked by this turn of events, but I was able to connect this happenstance with Tails' bath in the Flame Feather dye.
I was able to fence in the fire with Ice Feathers, but by now the smoke had made it barely possible for anyone to see anything. I found myself shooting feathers blindly, and I may have hit Tails once or twice.
Metal Leo managed to pierce the smokescreen with another blast of green wind energy. He was open to attack for a split second, which was ample time for me to spot him and hit right on target with a Bolt Feather.
The electric shock caused by the Bolt Feather sparked all over Metal Leo. Tails smiled as he watched him short-circuit and lose power, until finally Metal Leo couldn't stand upright, and dropped to the floor.
I stood in front of my counterpart. "Any last requests, my replica?"
Metal Leo took me by surprise and grabbed my leg, applying a mild electric shock to me. Before I knew what was happening, I felt dizzy and fell to the ground, my consciousness leaving me.
The last thing I remember before I lost myself completely was me and Metal Leo lying on the floor of Tails' lab, unable to move and surrounded by burnt documents.
-
I think that pretty much says it all.
Quote of the Chapter:
"I told you to take the blueprints. The blueprints are right here. You grabbed a crossword puzzle I was working on."
-Tails, New Challenges, Ch. 1