Life After OZ Ch. 4
By Dan

Guy and Cody stood back-to-back as the men all attacked them. One man bum-rushes Cody, and a "Criminal" Upper sends him reeling in pain! Another attacks Guy. In a heartbeat, Guy seemingly vanishes from sight!

"What the..." CRACK! It's obvious the man's jaw is broken. Guy reappears, diving down on another one of the men in an Izuna Drop. Cody's simply punching and kicking his way through these chumps. Cody with a yell, throws one guy into the wall as others begin to close in on him!

"Cody! WATCH OUT!", Guy calls. Too late. One man sneaking up on Cody bashes him with a bar stool, sending Cody to the floor in a heap. As the men pummel the fallen Cody, Guy realizes that he's in serious trouble! Guy, with a quick karate yell, flips backwards (effectively catching one advancing man in the jaw), and lands directly in front of the men! Grabbing one by the collar, Guy easily goes into his Bushin Musourenge.

"What the f***!?!", the men all exclaim as everything arond them goes dark. Cody, seeing this as an oppportunity, kicks one man in the groin, doubling him over in obvious pain, then with two clenched fists, swung hard toward the back of his head, knocking him out effectively.

"HAHA!", Cody exclaims. Just like old times, him and Guy were cleaning house! Just then a series of small explosions made Guy and Cody turn around.

"Ready...?", Rolento said with feigned mockery. Sodom was standing close by, twirling his jitte. Guy looked at Cody, Cody looked at Guy. After a brief nod, they went into action! Nobody had noticed that the bartender had called the cops...

*****

(Warden Ferguson's Jeep)

*****

"Hell-o, what's this?", the warden said with a slight smile. He, along with his guards were listening to a sudden police report on the radio. Eddy E frowned.

"Um, sir. Isn't tapping into police reports illegal?"

"What's your point.", the warden said flatly. Eddy E said not another word. As the warden listnened to the rest of the report to get all the information, he smiled again. "All right, boys, set a course for the Metro City docks!" The guard turned around in traffic, and floored the pedal. Eddy E sighed. He didn't know if he wanted to be a part of this "recovery" mission anymore. Just then, his thoughts were interrupted by a large clicking sound. He looked over, and saw that the warden had pulled out a shotgun. Even the guard gulped in a bit of worry.

"What is that?", the guard asked.

"Ain't it obvious? A gun!", the warden said. As the others looked around nervously, the warden continued.

"Yup, top of the line deer-hunting shotgun. Well, it used to be for deer..."

*****

(The bar)

*****

Guy ran towards Rolento and before Rolento could react, flipped over his head and behind him. Rolento thrust his baton behind him, catching Guy in the ribs. As Guy struggled for breath, Rolento went into his Patriot Circle. Guy sensed the danger, but only blocked three hits. Rolling away to safety, Guy stood quickly.

Cody had his hands full with Sodom. Sodom's jitte had caught him in the shoulder, spilling a bit of blood on Cody already disheveled frame. Sodom went charging Cody in his Daikyo Burning attack, but Cody countered with a Crack Kick, sending Sodom backwards. Using that to his advantage Cody ran towards him. "*Bad move, hero...*" Sodom suddenly with a loud grunt went into Meido no Miyage! Cody wasn't prepared for the onslaught of the multiple jitte strikes and took each of the seven hits. Crashing into a table, Cody almost looked out for the count...

Guy realizing Cody was in trouble, looked for a way to get oast Rolento. Rolento with a chuckle, threw a grenade onto the floor, and watched Guy scurry as the blast rocked the entire bar.

"Grade C! You're in need of serious training!", Rolento said with a taunt. Guy simply focused his energy and within a second, he vanished again!

"Ohhh, no you don't!" Rolento suddenly somersaulted backwards, sending a half-dozen grenades in the air with him! Guy saw the grenades and cursed himself for being so predictable.

BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM! Guy's body was hit with the searing effect of the explosions as he reappeared on the floor, dazed and in a good amount of pain.

Sodom had Cody by the throat, and was gripping tightly. "Heh. It's about time we got our revenge on you, hero." Cody eyes tried to focus on Sodom. He was beginning to lose energy rapidly...

"Any last words?", Sodom said gripping tighter. Cody smiled weakly.

"What's three plus four?"

"Wha?", Sodom asked uncertain. Too late! Cody spit directly in the mouthhole of Sodom's mask! Cody wiggled free of Sodom's grip, and began punching him. Left hook. Right cross. Uppercut. The 3-hit combos were too much for Sodom. Cody grinned. "YAHHHH!" With another furious Criminal Upper from Cody, Sodom was finally seeing stars. Cody realized they were next to a glass window, and beyond that glass window was nothing but water...

Cody briefly charged up whatever energy he had left. Then with a surge, he swung out at Sodom in his Dead End Irony! Three straight kicks smashed Sodom in the ribs. Then suddenly Cody jumped, sending Sodom in the air with rising kicks, then in classic form, Cody blasted him through the window with a spectacular mid-air kick to the face. Cody simply watched as the unconscious Sodom hit the water and sunk. Then, something struck him! Guy!

Guy was being hit mercilessly by Rolento's tonfa baton. One swing sent him careening into a table, shattering the table in the process. Cody slowly crept up. This would have to be planned perfectly...

"You got anything to say for yourself, Guy?", Rolento said laughing. Guy momentarily looked at Cody, who was already rushing Rolento.

"Yeah. Watch out..."

"For wha-" BAM! Cody hit him multiple times with his Final Destruction technique. Punch after punch, Rolento slipped into dreamy-land before Cody even layed down the uppercut. Finally with a yell of approval, Cody finished the eighteen-hit barrage with an uppercut that crashed Rolento's jaw. Guy nodded in approval as Rolento groaned once, and lied still. Cody suddenly heard police sirens fast approaching!

"Whoa! We gotta' scram!", Cody said. Guy was already on foot, running hard.

"Wait up!", Cody said. The cops pulled up just as they slipped underneath the docks.

*****

(The chase)

*****

As Guy and Cody hid in the abandoned ground level train station, they knew they couldn't hide here for too long... This spot was a hideout for the Skull Cross gang...

"Guy.", Cody said. Guy looked at Cody.

"What."

"How come you helped me, bro? I figured you wouldn't give a d*mn whether I lived or died when I tried to attack you in prison."

Guy chuckled. "You, know, I thought that myself. Why am I helping an ingrate? 'Cause he's my d*mn best friend in the world, that's why."

Cody smiled. "So are we still cool?"

Guy looked at him seriously. "No."

Cody was aghast. "Whaddya' mean no?"

Guy smiled. "We're brothers, man. Whatever happens, happens. I've got your back, bro."

"Same for you.", Cody said giving him a high-five. They didn't realize a man was steadily approaching...

"Well... lookee what we got here!", the man said. Cody and Guy both looked at the figure and groaned. it was Axl! And he had six other people with him!

"Don't try to fight us, bro. We're tired enough as it is.", Cody said to Axl. Axl chuckled.

"Nahh, I ain't fightin' ya'. I wanna' help youse two." Guy and Cody looked at each other, and then said:

"Wha?"

"Yup", Axl said, "It's true. Seeing that we're all on the wrong side of the tracks now, I figures ya' need a little help."

"Thanks", Guy said, "But no thanks. We do need help, but not of your kind."

Axl pouted in a comical manner. "Ya heard that, guys? They don't want help from the likes of us!" All the guys grumbled in response. Axl continued.

"If they don't help, we'll give 'em help... MEDICAL HELP!"

"Hold it right there!" A loudspeaker said from behind them. Everyone turned around. It was six police cars, followed by warden ferguson's jeep!

"PUT YOUR HANDS WERE WE CAN SEE THEM!", the loudspeaker blared.

"Oh, f*** that!", Axl said pulling out a gun. BLAMBLAMBLAM! Semi-automatics fired in the midnight air. Cody and Guy continued running. Ahead they saw the track break off into two. They knew their best best would be to split up, so as they ran down the deserted train tracks, the two gave each other a pound as one went down one side of the tracks, and the other went to the other.

"*Stay safe, Guy. And thanks.*", Cody thought with a smile as he furiously ran down the tracks.