[X] "Yeah, I'll watch until Melanie finishes, then I can head back to Junior's."
Even as Yang gave her reply to Blast, there was a gunshot from within the pit. Looking back down in it, Yang watched at the teenager with leg mounted guns continued an assault, not giving his opponent time to react. From what she could tell by the attempts to deflect, the man who had defeated her seemed to be using graceful and controlled movements, but his opponent, while as controlled, was far more aggressive.
One of them was clearly better suited to close quarters combat.
The alarm rang, and it took a moment for the boy to stop kicking, with his attacks already planned out and in motion before he could process the alarm. His opponent stood shakily, and was lifted out of the ring.
"Melanie Malachite!" The announcer declared, and the girl in white jumped down a moment later. Her heels folded momentarily, shifting into blades.
Oh, great. They were both kickers.
Yang had trouble following fighters who used their legs above anything else. She was a brawler, she'd use anything in a fight, but her fists were her primary weapon. She'd learnt about the best ways to punch someone.
Legs? That's where things got difficult. Her experience with arms didn't transfer to legs well. She always misjudged how much force a kick had in it until it hit, the difference in posture needed to kick someone compared to punching someone made them harder to read, length of the legs and body always meant she misjudged how close she was to their range of attack.
With most people, this was fine. People would use their legs to attack when they got the chance. Kick someone in the leg, sweep them off their feet, knee them if they're bent over, it was simple.
With someone who specialised in kicking you? Their footwork could get complex, and Yang struggled to read what was an attack, what was a feint, what was meant to hit and what was meant to set up a stronger hit.
Indeed, as soon as the battle began, Yang was lost on what exactly was happening.
Maybe it was because she struggled to pick apart leg-based combat, but the two fighters seemed to be somewhat similar in combat style. Both moved aggressively, not giving any ground to the other except as a plot to set up another attack. Yang did notice that Melanie attacked less frequently, with a lot of her movements being feint or simply striking out to force her foe on the defensive, whereas her foe seemed to make every attack with the intent to either hurt or get ready to hurt.
"Are you following this any better than I am?" Yang asked.
"You having trouble?" Blast asked. "You know, you don't get to get that distracted over some well muscled legs-"
"I'm sorry, I've spent so much time around you I'm used to people having twigs." Yang replied sarcastically.
Blast put a hand over his heart. "Urk! Thus I am slain, by thou cruel words, my fair maiden."
"But seriously." Yang cut in. "Can you read this any better than me?"
"I think Mercury's winning." Blast replied. "He's had more control over the flow of the fight. He looks like he's going somewhere with it."
Yang nodded, and returned to looking at the fight. Melanie sliced at Mercury, who grabbed her leg and threw his own up at her. His boots fired, striking her in the chest with a projectile, and he flipped through the air as he switched to his other leg and fired again.
Rolling off the floor and kicking up to cut the approaching projectile in two, Melanie proceeded to stomp her raised leg downwards, leveraging the rest of her upwards as she danced towards Mercury.
The grey-haired teen flipped as he approached, trying to sweep his leg under her feet to pull her off balance, but someone trained in kicking people in the face had better footwork than that, and Melanie was able to step over his attempted trip. He rolled back as she approached, ducking under a slicing kick from Melanie, and then firing his heel backwards to propel himself forward. Rolling on the ground to preserve his momentum but change his positioning, Mercury kicked Melanie in the face.
Rather then fire off immediately, as Yang had been expecting, Mercury swept his other leg around, kicking her in the side before she could move backwards, sending her sideways instead. Hitting the ground as Melanie slammed into it, Mercury brought his arm around to catch her as she bounced and threw her upwards just so he could hook his legs around and slam her down again.
Melanie said something that Yang couldn't quiet here, and then gave a soft laugh.
With a sudden burst of strength that she hadn't had a moment ago, Melanie pulled Mercury off his feet, forcing her legs up and leveraging them for a slice at Mercury's neck.
"Huh." Blast said, as the clash continued. "She wasn't that strong last time."
Yang looked at him. "Last time?"
"A while ago. The seventh or so. Didn't do well, lost a round badly. She must've been training like crazy since then."
Yang nodded, and looked back to the fight.
At some point, Melanie and Mercury had gotten some distance, and Mercury let out another shot that barely missed Melanie as she stepped to the side. The next shot of his was casually sliced through, but even as Melanie started approaching, Yang noted the projectile behind Melanie looping around.
It struck her in the back as she got close to Mercury, and she stumbled momentarily. Barely a heartbeat of surprise. But that was all Mercury needed, as he immediately slammed her into the ground. He took his chance to stamp down on her back, and fired repeatedly while she was pinned down, and continued doing so for a few minutes.
Then, Melanie shifted, and in a surprising show of strength, managed to roll over despite the foot pinning her down, before spinning herself upwards and kicking around her. Mercury took a leap back as Melanie moved into action, but Melanie laughed.
"Is that all you have?" She asked. "That barely even stung! I'm not even hurt! I feel great!"
In a flash, she approached Mercury, casually deflecting his kick with her knee and striking at his chest, hard enough to send him flying into the wa-
There was another smashing sound, as Melanie reached the wall first and kicked Mercury away from it, before he could hit it himself. The sudden change in momentum caused him to cry as the whiplash hit him, and as he was slammed into the ground, Melanie moved into motion, slicing across his neck. The alarm blared, and Melanie froze for a moment, before stepping back.
Before Mercury could be lifted out of the ring, Marcus was beside him. Looking up in fear, Mercury couldn't react before his father put a hand around his throat, and physically threw him from the pit. Marcus jumped after Mercury, forcibly pulled him up to his feet, and though Yang couldn't see the older man's expression, the expression on Mercury's face wasn't one she found very reassuring. It twisted into hatred for a moment, before fear ruled it again, and finally went blank.
...Yeah, that wasn't a healthy family there.
The next competitor went in, a man dressed in light blue with a phantasmal sword in his grip. In only a few minutes, Melanie proceeded to take the man apart, disarming him multiple times. Each time, the man would shift the weapon back to him and change it's form, and would also change it's form multiple times while in combat, often trying to build up momentum with a smaller weapon before striking with a bigger one, or extending the range at the last moment to get a hit, but he was unable to strike Melanie once in the conflict.
In the end, Melanie had finished her fifth opponent by the time she retired from the ring. She seemed exhilarated, and barely even tired, as she exited next to Yang.
Everyone looked at her for a moment, before the announcer gave the next two names, and they were distracted again.
"Yang." Melanie said, happier than Yang had seen her all night. "Come on, back to Junior's."
Yang nodded, getting to her feet, and looked back down at Blast.
"See you later." Yang said. "Business time."
Blast waved. "Hey, see if you can get Melanie to tell you how she trained, because I want to know how she got that good."
Melanie gave a chuckle, and started leaving. Yang followed her, out the door, past the elevator, and down some stairs.
Noting Melanie's increased good mode, Yang risked talking, to see if Melanie would still be annoyed by it or if she'd let it slid.
"You were pretty good in there." Yang complimented. "Though, Blast said you'd improved a lot recently. You've been training?"
"Oh, you can say that." Melanie replied, still laughing softly. "I met a friend while on a job, and they had some good tips."
Yang raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"They were there on the ninth." Melanie explained, waving a hand. "Enjoying the area, but then they wanted to hire out a place in the city. I took the job, escorted them to the best place, and we talked."
"And you made a good friend that day?" Yang asked, curious. "So how'd they help you get so strong?"
"Oh, that's simple." Melanie said, as she turned back to look at Yang. Her eyes were a bright red.
"She sang me a song."
By the time Yang processed the attack, she was on the floor, a bladed heel to her neck.
"Wha-"
The heel pressed in, damaging Yang's Aura, as Melanie continued.
"Miltia and Junior still don't understand." Melanie said. "Five's song was more than just sound. It had more soul in it. I've gotten this much stronger just remembering it."
Kicking Yang in the side, Melanie hit her prey into the wall, and pinned Yang to the wall by her neck as she continued.
"And I got all this just from helping her move!" Melanie giggled. "Imagine what she'd give me once she finds out I stopped you from looking into her?"
"T-Trai-"
Melanie punched Yang in the face, once more doing severe damage to her Aura.
"I can almost hear it now." Melanie whispered. "La la la..."
Her fist stuck again, and Yang was forced into the wall slightly, as it crumbled around her.
"La la LA la laaaa..."
Melanie giggled as she grinned to herself, striking Yang again and again. Even with her Semblance working as well as it was, she couldn't pull free from Melanie, until eventually, one of the blows sent Yang too far, and the wall collapsed. Yang was held over a sheer drop by her throat, and Melanie laughed.
"Too easy." She said, as she threw Yang away.
Shaking her head to work through the pain as she fell, Yang looked around, spotting the nearest rooftop.
Oh, good, one not too far away. A bit down, but it was only a six floor drop rather than a ten.
Landing strategy, then.
Moving her right hand behind her, Yang fired Ember Celica, propelling herself towards the raised building. She fell for a moment as Ember Celica prepared for another shot, and as she fell over the top of the building in question, Yang fired downwards to slow her fall.
She landed a moment later, still enough to do more damage to her Aura, but not enough to eliminate it completely.
Looking up to the Yang-shaped hole in the wall, the huntress in training saw Melanie step out of the gap, running down the building for a moment before kicking down and jumping.
She landed in front of Yang a moment later, a bloodthirsty grin on her face.
"Why didn't I do this sooner?" She asked, as she walked towards Yang. "Do you have any idea how amazing I feel right now?"
"Psycho bitch." Yang swore.
Melanie laughed. "This feeling... This is the greatest high!"
Yang punched forward, firing Ember Celica, and watched momentarily as Melanie simply batted the projectile away. That was fine. It wasn't meant to be an attack, anyway.
Pushed back by the force of her blast, Yang slid over the edge of the building, and quickly flipped in the air. Her foot touched the building, and Yang ran down, going down three floors before changing her angle, moving the momentum to a horizontal plane while still running down vertically slightly. As she approached a street corner, Yang jumped, rolled on the ground, and came to a stop as she crashed into the building on the other side of a street.
Could have gone worse. But then...
Melanie stepped off the building, and came crashing down six levels down, leaving cracks in the pavement as she didn't even bother bracing herself.
...Could have gone better.
Yang took a moment to consider. She definitely attracted attention with that stunt. And she had help nearby. She didn't need to run, she just had to not lose.
With that in mind, she charged.
If the sudden change in tactics caught Melanie off guard, she was too power drunk to react to it, simply kicking upwards as Yang approached. Yang leapt back, keeping out of range, and fired Ember Celica again to slow her forward momentum. Melanie brought her leg back down again, and gave Yang a glare with those hate filled red eyes, before charging in.
Yang moved to the side, jumping over a car to slow Melanie's pursuit, and was surprised when her attacker just sliced the vehicle in half instead of going over it. Firing again, Yang propelled herself upwards, hit the side of a building, and ran up for a bit before jumping out, over Melanie.
Almost casually, as if seeing how easy it could be, Melanie appeared in front of Yang in a flash and moved to hit her in the neck.
A hand caught Melanie's foot, and Yang smiled as her father's cloak fell away.
"Really, Yang." Taiyang smiled. "You have to stop antagonising everyone you meet."
"I learnt if all from you, dad."
Melanie leaped off the ground, trying to hit Taiyang with her other heel, and Yang's father widened his eyes as he pulled his head back to avoid being cut. Then, as Melanie tried to pry her leg from his grasp, he slammed her into the ground.
Melanie pulled from and cartwheeled away, getting back to her feet and looking at the father and daughter before her.
"You got your weapon busted." Taiyang casually noted to his daughter. "I thought I told you to take better care of your toys."
"Hey, I thought we agreed that what happened to Mr Smuggles wasn't my fault."
"I was just done with the conversation, it's totally your fault."
Melanie growled. "Stop-"
She appeared behind Taiyang, slamming here heel into his back.
"-Ignoring me!"
Taiyang spun around, swiping a fist at her, and Melanie danced out of range even as she made to cut his wrist as she did so.
"Oh, did I need to take you seriously?" Taiyang asked. "I thought security had that handled for me."
There was the sound of movement, before a trio of figures leaped down from the rooftops in front of Melanie.
"Malachite." Said the one in the front, with a sinister voice that sent a shiver down Yang's spine. "I believe an explanation is in order, for why you damaged my building and attacked a combatant outside of the pit."
Melanie grinned. "Hehe... Am I in trouble? Little old me?"
The lead man looked at Taiyang and Yang for a moment, then back at Melanie.
"You are outnumbered." He continued. "You will not be winning this fight. If you surrender now, we will allow you to pick which finger you like the least."
"Oh, not this one." Melanie continued, as she flipped the bird at him. "I'm rather fond of this one."
At the back of the group, there was a growl. "Take this seriously, Malachite. I don't think you understand the situation you're in."
Melanie laughed. "Oh, that's okay. Five's going to be sad I couldn't stop you here, but she'll sing me a song all the same for telling her she's being hunted..."
"What makes you think you're getting away?" The third member of the group asked.
Melanie smiled. "I called for backup before Yang even had her fight."
There was a shattering like glass, and Melanie was gone.
The three men who had appeared to oppose her reacted in shock.
"Find her!" The apparent leader ordered. "Don't let her get away!"
As the other two ran, the one in the middle approached Yang.
"My apologies, miss." He said, in a voice that still gave Yang the chills. "We do not accept this sort of behaviour in our... Events. Even if you were leaving, we apologise greatly for not assisting you sooner."
He disappeared in a burst of speed, and Taiyang turned to Yang, his earlier humour gone and a look of concern on his face.
"What happened?" He asked. "Are you hurt? Did she break Ember Celica? Did she do anything to you? Did sh-"
"I'm fine." Yang reassured him. "She wasn't the one who broke the left glove, no. Come on, I'll explain everything, but we should-"
[X] Chase Melanie. She couldn't have gone far, and there has to be a limit on her Semblance.
[X] Go back to Junior. Answers were needed desperately, and after that, Junior better freaking have them.
[X] Go home. Yang needed time to relax and think about what happened before further investigating.