Zephyr and Metal exchanged body blows as the fight continued. Amy watched with anticipation as they fought. She glanced down at Sonic before returning her attention to the battle. Zephyr broke the power strugle and floated aloft in the air and gathered more power. He shot five rapid fire Ki (Spiritual Energy) blasts at Metal. He blocked them all with crossed arms, but Zephyr was on him in seconds. He kneed Metal in the soft metal of his gut and sent him flying through the air. He caught up with him and back-handed him twards the ground where he caught him and tossed him a couple feet away on his metalic rump. Metal made a caughing sound and looked up at Zephyr with one red eye. Zephyr walked over to him and his right arm suddenly was suddenly ablaze with blue fire! He picked Metal up by the neck and looked him in the eye. He raised his flaming fist and delivered an energy filled punch to Metals chest, "Shakunetsuken!" He yelled as Metals chest plate cracked and shattered and fell as Zephyrs fist went through his chest! He ripped his fist out and tossed Metal.
"So week. Maby I should just end this now." Zephyr said as his fire died down.
"You... You will die! I do not need your pity..." Metal said.
"I was meerly showing mercy for such a weekling." Zephyr taunted as he stood with his aura playing with the wind.
"Shut up! I do not know who you think you are, but I am the strongest person in the world!" Metal said. He atemped to get on one knee but fell.
"Yes, I believe you are. In this world." Zephyr said. He smirked and gestured to the sky with his hands. "We share the same sky. The same stars... But we hail from different worlds." He said. He closed his eyes and listened to the wind flow through the air. The birds play in the nearby trees. The water flow from the river.
"So... An alien? Ha! I must be at least ten times as strong as you are!" Metal said.
"What?" Zephyr asked. It apeared to him, at least, that Metal had been fighting at his top strength and loosing. "If you've got more power then why wait until now to tell and show me? I'm not interested in fighting weeklings." Zephyr said.
Metal sweat dropped, "I've got nothing left to fight with..." He thought.
"Maby I should just end this. Unless you are going to fight back, i'm going to kill you no-" Zephyr was sent flying to some rubble behind him. A Mecha MK II stood with his arm outstretched with it's fist balled into a fist. It's blue metalic armor was cracked all over and two of the six floating spikes behind it had fallen off.
"Defend... Master..." It whirred. Zephyr blew away the rubble with his aura.
"You piece of scrap metal!" He said. He flew at the Mecha and stopped in front of him. He crouched and did a backflip to kick it in the chin! Zephyr smirked and launched himself after it. He punched it in it's metal abdomen and kept it airborn. He phased out of sight and then back into above the Mecha and gave it a roundhouse kick to the face! He phased in and out of sight again to apear behind the Mecha and shove his elbow into it's back! A loud audible crack was herd. Zephyr had shattered the Mechas armor from the back! Zephyr did a flip in the air and slammed his fists into the Mechas head with a combined grand slam! He sent the Mecha into the ground at Metal's feet. Zephyr decended from the air to land a few yards away from Metal.
"This will be your end result, Metal." Zephyr motioned twards the broken up Mecha.
Metal shook his head, "NO! I am the ultimate fighter! I am stronger than Sonic!" He yelled. He stood and brought up a small red aura.
"I beg to differ." Zephyr was standing in front of Metal, his fist raised. "Hayaiken!" He called out. He launched his fist at Metal, but it turned into four! Metal was getting rapid fire punched to the chest, face, and abdomen! "HAAA!" Zephyr yelled as he asaulted the robot. He just kept punching and punching until Metal hit a wall of rubble. He kept moving him back into the wall. He was imprinting him into it, so to speak. He finaly stopped when Metal was embeded into the wall.
"What... Have you done?" Metal said between small breaths. Even though he dosn't need them, seing as he is a robot.
"Finished you." Zephyr jumped back and put his hands behind his back. He charged energy into his hands and a blue ball was formed in his palms.
"Wait, no! You wouldn't! You don't kill! You're you the good guy!" Metal pleaded for his life.
Zephyr gigled a little, "You've got it all wrong. I'm only a good guy when I want to be. I can be as evil as I want to be as well." Zephyr said.
"Please, show me mercy!" Metal yelled.
Zephyr gritted his teath and yelled at Metal, "You selfish bastard! After what you did you Knuckles? Sonic!? TAILS!? You expect me to show you mercy? I think the only thing i'm going to show you in the next five seconds is the other side off Hell!" The ball of energy in Zephyr's hands grew twice as big as before.
"I was wrong. It was wrong of me to hurt them. Please, i'll do any-" Metal stopped himself as Zephyr gave him a death glare.
"Die." Zephyr said in a deathly calm voice. "HADOKEN!!" Zephyr launched a gigantic blue beam at the wall Metal was stuck on. Metal's eyes widened as it aproatched him. The wave enveloped his entire being and he was dicintegrated. The beam disipated and there was no more Metal. Zephyr however was left panting on his knees with his eyes shut tight due to lack of energy.
"Thats the first time i've ever had to use that much energy in one blast." Zephyr said. His hands were still extended in the Hadoken position.
"You did it!" Amy ran up to Zephyr from behind and hugged him. Zephyr let his arms drop to his sides. He smiled and felt more releaved than before.
"That I did... Though, I don't think I could have done it without the help of the others. The pain of loss is a powerful thing Amy. Remember that." Zephyr said. With some help from Amy he stood and walked over to the others. "Speeking of the pain of loss, where did Rouge get off to?" Zephyr said.
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure she got out of here though." Amy said.
"Good. Now, one thing left to do before we go home." Zephyr pulled out the shades he had from the house. He set them down on the ground in front of them. A projection screen apeared in front of them. "Custom frequency eight." Zephyr said. The screen bleeped and it showed Tails' kitchen. "Winter? Are you there?" Zephyr asked.
Winter's head poked into view from around the corner, "Zephyr? Is that you?" Winter said.
"Yea, it's me. I'm speeking from the shades I gave you. Either put them on or push the little buttong on the corner of the left lense." Zephyr instructed. Winter pushed the button. She yipped and hid for a second and then looked into the projection.
"Hey, what are you doing with Amy? I thought she was with Sonic." Winter said.
"I am!" Amy said. She shoved Zephyr away from her. Zephyr stumbled and fell.
"That wasn't nice Amy!" Winter said.
"No, it wasn't. But I will forgive you." Zephyr said. He got up with some effort but none the less stood. "Now, Winter. Do you think you could come and pick us up?" He asked the cerulian fox.
"Maby, but I don't have my drivers license yet." Winter said. Zephyr and Amy did animefall.
"This is sort of an emergency Winter. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails have been hurt. We need you to-" Zephyr was cut off by Winters screem.
"Tails got hurt!? I'll be right there!" Winter said and pushed the button on the shades.
"Well, that solves that problem. Now all we have to do is wait." Zephyr said.
"I tell you, the first thing i'm going to do when I get home is take a shower." Amy said.
"I hear you. The next thing on my list is a nice long interupted sleep." Zephyr said. He smiled and leaned back on the rubble to get into a comfortable poition. Lucky for him there was a slab of concrete behind him at a nice bent angle. He just needed a pilow and everything would be perfect until Winter got here. Amy sat next to Sonic and stroked his quills. She stared at his unconcious body and for the umpteenth time wondered if he was going to be allright.
Later...
Finaly Winter pulled up in a mini-van. She got out of the car and ran up to the four fallen heros and the two concious ones. Zephyr was sitting up right in a meditation position and doing said action. Amy was just sitting next to Sonic. Winter went to her knees and picked up Tails' upper body in a hug.
"Oh... My hero... What happened to you?" Winter said.
"Do you want the detailed version or do you just want me to say 'he got beat the crap out of and tossed aside like a rag doll?'" Zephyr said without opening his eyes. Winter payed him no heed. She cried onto Tails as she hugged him tightly.
"Come on Zephyr. We should move the guys into the car." Amy said.
"Right." Zephyr jumped and landed softly next to Shadow. He picked him up and thew him over his shoulder and walked to the mini-van. He opened the back with one hand and set Shadow inside. He walked around the side and put down the back seat so that he would be laying down. Amy dragged Sonic over to the van. She lugged him up and set him next to Shadow. Zephyr phased in and out of sight to apear next to Winter.
"It's time to go. I'll drive." Zephyr said to the blue fox. She ignored him. Zephyr sighed. "I'll give you till I get back from taking Knuckles to the car. Then it's time to go." Zephyr said and took Knuckles over his shoulder. He walked back to the van and set him next to Sonic. He walked back and still found Winter holding Tails.
"Alright, that does it." Zephyr said. He picked up Winter and set her on his shoulder so that she was sitting with Tails in her arms. He walked back to the van with some effort but not too much. He pried the the vulpines apart and set Tails next to Knuckles. He put Winter in the back seat and Amy got in the passenger side.
"Ready to go Zephyr?" Amy said.
"Right." Zephyr stepped on the gas. He wanted to get to Tails house fast.
Elsewhere...
A dark grey wolf cub with light grey tips was huddled into a corner in a dank and dimly lit room. He was wearing an unzipped red vest with yellow edges and zipper. His shoes pretty much matched his vest. His gloves were white (Just like every other Sonic character in the story). The end of a fire was buring in the brick fire-place on his left. Book shelves lined the south, west and east walls. Two chairs sat in the center of the room pointed at the fire-place.
"Why did they leave me?" He asked. He sat in the dim light waiting for an answer. None came. He sighed and looked down at his feat. He had been sitting in that position for over an hour. His leg was starting to fall asleep. He got up and sighed then walked out into the masacre that used to be his house.
Alot of the house had been burned down and destroyed. Most of what remained was broken wood and ash. The only reason the room the cub came out of was intact was because it was a safe room for his parents. He walked around and outside the structure and started for the town of Breckonary that was on the edge of his view.
"This is going to be a long walk..." He said to himself. His ears drooped and he walked on. It was late in the afternoon and was slowly becoming dark.
Back with Tails and Co.
Tails woke at the sound of crying. He opened his eyes slightly and looked around where he was. He was back in his room and under the covers of his bed. The last thing he remembered was getting beat by Metal Sonic. Suddenly he clutched his left shoulder in pain and yelled out. "Augh! God it hurts!" He said. Winter 'eeped' when Tails moved and yelled.
"Tails, whats wrong!?" Sonic said. He had woken up at the sound of Tails screem. He ran in the room alarmed for his best friend.
"My shoulder... Its in alot of pain..." Tails said in between gasps.
Sonic gasped and held his body in the same way, "I know how you... feel..." Sonic went to one knee.
"Sonic?" Winter said. She was worried for both of them.
"Dammit... Whats with all the racket?" Zephyr walked up behind Sonic. He turned to look at the fox/wolf and continued to breath heavily.
"Sorry... Tails and I are in alot of pain all of a sudden..." Sonic said with a week sarcastic grin.
"Oh yea... The side effects are kicking in..." Zephyr said with a sigh.
"What... 'Side-efects'?" Sonic asked.
"Well when Metal attacked you guys... I healed you. But at a price." Zephyr said.
"What price are we talkin' here buddy?" Sonic asked.
"Well... When I use the first level of my healing powers... Your body heals completely without any concequence to your life-span. But the pain that came from the origional wound stays for a longer period than it was origionaly supposed to." Zephyr explained.
"Why did you do that!?" Sonic said. He was kinda angry.
"If I had left you like you were you would have bled to death. The same probably goes with Tails. If you guys hadn't woken up until eight hours had passed since the healing, you would have never even felt this side effect. I was glad you were passed out." Zephyr said.
"Well thats all fine and dandy- owowow..." Sonic tried to move.
"I would advise against that. Hang on-" Zephyr dug something out of his 'infinit space' pockets. "-Take these." He handed Sonic two bluish-green pills.
"Why?" Sonic said. He usualy didn't take medication unless he had to.
"They are REALLY good pain killers. They will take away the pain in less than a minute. Though you may feal sorta drowsy." Zephyr said. Sonic was reluctant to take the pills... But he swallowed them anyway. Zephyr nodded and walked over to Tails. The golden fox looked at Zephyr through pinched eyes.
"Take these and you won't feal pain for a while." Zephyr said.
Tails nodded, "Anything to get... Rid of this pain." He swallowed the pills.
"Alright. Now you two, even though you can't feal pain, don't do anything stupid. Got it?" The hedgehog and fox nodded. "Good. Now, go back to bed and we will talk more when we ALL wake up." Zephyr said. He walked back to the guest room. Sonic walked back to the recliner and layed down. Tails fell back to unconiousness. Winter crawled into her bed and watched her lover from across the room.
"Good night... My hero..."