Melody's Gone

With the new information about where to head to obtained from the poor Kishin, the group headed out. Not wasting a second to get to their location. They quickly moved out desperate to find their friend who was being held in the prison. The Kishins that managed to find them stood little chance of surviving. When the Kishin struck out, Melody and Ash's combined attacks rendered whatever armor they were wearing virtually useless. They struck them down with wicked speed and power. The chain mail buckled and snapped from the force.

They kept their eyes out for any way out at all. They were going to need to make a quick break for it, the instance they rescued May they needed to flee and break free without wasting a moment. The prison was growing closer with every step they took. They took turn after turn without ever slowing down and taking a breather, all those days in the school they trained their absolute hardest in order to ensure that if a situation like this ever happened they would be able to do exactly that. They moved out quickly acting, almost as if they were one person.

"We are almost there," said Michael as he pressed himself against wall. Ash was in front of him already checking the corridor for opponents. Michael turned around and looked behind him to check on Melody's state. He was shocked to notice that she was missing. "Ash! Melo-" Ash cut him off as he brought his hand up to his mouth.

"Shh," said Ash without turning around and keeping his attention ahead of him. A Kishin was walking down the corridor; luckily he was walking away from both them and their goal. He just didn't want to attract the Kishin's attention with any noise. Bad news, he heard something that gave him pause. The Kishin froze in the pathway and turned around. He scratched his head as he thought about the noise. He held still for a couple more seconds checking the hallway for the noise. He took a step towards them. Ash gritted his teeth as he prepared to launch a quick strike with Xander. He looked back to give Melody her orders, he nearly jumped back when he noticed she was missing.

"Crap," muttered Ash as he relaxed against the wall and double-checked on the upcoming Kishin. It was one-on-one now. He wasn't worried about winning, he would definitely win against this ugly Kishin, but the question would be whether or not he would get away with as few injuries as physically possible. He prepared for a surprise attack, he crouched down. He held his hand out with Xander just barely poking out around the corner. When the Kishin got close enough that would be Ash's signal. That's when he would strike. For the time being Ash just had to push the thought of Melody out of his head. Their armed forces were already basically halved with May missing, but now he was all alone guarding Michael. Talk about pressure.

"NOW!" shouted Xander. Ash reacted instantaneously. He jumped up into the air. He spun around in middle air launching a jab with his fist with all of his weight behind. With the jump he was put right around head level with the Kishin. He struck out landing the blade directly into the Kishin's eyes. The Kishin backed up with a cruel and inhuman guttural growl. He stumbled back and couldn't keep his feet planted. As soon as Ash landed he didn't stop with the attacks. A quick swipe with his blade across the Kishin's stomach. It ripped through the chain mail. Ash withdrew his arm and then fired a quick jab into the Kishin's stomach, right where he ripped into the chain mail, except this time he pushed in as deep as he could into the Kishin's body. The Kishin didn't even get to growl as he hit the ground. He went up in smoke leaving behind a Kishin Egg.

After collecting the Kishin Egg, Ash backed up and looked at Michael. "Okay, so how long ago do you think we lost her?" asked Ash as he moved back to the corner and peered down it. He was trying his absolute best to make sure there wasn't any other Kishins were waiting to ambush them. He kept looking over his shoulder and at Michael. Ordinarily Ash would examine around the corner while Melody protected Michael, since Michael didn't have a weapon someone had to protect him while the other person checked the hall. However, it was up to Ash to perform both jobs.

"I don't think it was that long ago," stated Michael as he walked over to a nearby door and peered into the window looking for anything that could give them a hint of which way Melody went. He crouched down and looked at the floor. He was hoping to find scuffs and marks that Melody may have made to give them a hint. Nothing.

They were stuck. They could either keep going forward and rescue May or they could turn around and try to rescue Melody. Either way they were putting the lives of their friends on the line. But sitting around here thinking about it was the ultimate wrong choice! They didn't have any time to waste and that's what they were doing, just wasting time. The more time that pressed on the higher the chance of someone dying. May was already imprisoned so if anyone would be sentenced to death it would be her, but Kishins really didn't sentence people to death, they just killed.

"Now is not the time!" shouted Michael as he pulled himself out of his head. Ash came to at the same time. Michael was already rushing down the path where Melody disappeared. Ash was taken for surprise. He thought that if it came down to it, Michael would rush to May. But instead he immediately chose Melody. Ash didn't fully understand why.

"Why are we going after Melody?" asked Ash as he ran alongside Michael. He didn't mean to. He didn't quite mean to. He accidentally asked it. Now Michael might second-guess himself and stop, they couldn't afford that right now!

Michael didn't stop or even slow down. He continued to run as fast as he could, still examining the floor for some sort of sign that Melody left them to show them the way she was taken. He still couldn't find anything. He must be missing something. "They know we are coming attack and get back May," explained Michael, finally answering Ash's question. "Chances are they are already putting up counter-measures to protect her. If we are going to blast past those defenses, we need as much manpower as we can muster. So, we need Melody to do that."

Ash bit his lip as he considered it. They are going to need more physical force in order to win. It was sort of ironic that the MANpower they needed was going to be coming from a girl, a teenage girl at that, but it was true. They continued to rush through the halls trying to find some sort of hint on the floor or even on the walls. It looked like she just disappeared into thin air.

(-With Melody-)

"Ze har har har!" laughed a Kishin as he crawled about. Melody was strapped to his back with a thick and heavy cord. The Kishin moved about with surprising ease despite the fact that he had Melody strapped to his back. Melody was struggling and squirming. She needed to free at least one hand to get Shi free and strike out, but Shi was currently blocked in with the cord.

There was no way Michael or Ash could find her. The Kishin had made sure of that, even if they were in the same room they wouldn't spot her. The Kishin was walking on ceiling! Melody wasn't sure how he was doing it, but with her strapped to his back he was using both his hands and feet to crawl along the ceiling. Michael and Ash had such faith that Melody would manage to leave them a note they would be focusing on the floor or walls, something she would have easy access to not something like the ceiling that there was nowhere in hell she could reach!

"We now got three prisoners!" cheered the Kishin as he continued moving along the ceiling. "And since I got one of them, I'm almost certain to get a promotion!"

Melody was starting to panic. She had been struggling all this time and nothing was coming to show for it. Despite all of the time she had wasted, the cord was just as tight as when they stared. She had to think of way to free Shi and get him out of the cords. Once ze got out they could launch an attack on the Kishin and free themselves that way. SHI! Maybe Shi was the answer.

Melody tugged on Shi trying to drag him up higher, not out of the tight cord cocoon just higher up in it. Finally, she felt Shi move. She shivered at the thought of dragging Shi around and against her body, especially considering her plan to get them out. It was definitely not something she wanted to do often, but the situation called for. "Shi!" commanded Melody through a muffled voice. "Trusfurm*!"

Shi waited for a few seconds. He couldn't quite make out what she said, but it sounded like transform or something similar. But to transform in this situation seemed stupid! They were bound and tied to each other very tightly even in Shi's form he could still tell that. If he expanded right now the binding would only tighten up on them even more. Melody left out another muffled shout. Shi gritted his teeth; he really didn't like this idea, but resigned himself to it anyways. His body slowly began to expand in the tight confine of the cord.

"Hey!" shouted the Kishin as he felt a very sharp and hard tug on his cord. "What do you think you are doing back there?" The tugging became harder and more constant. He felt the cord slip out of his hand and give his prisoners even more room within the cord cocoon. He wasn't aware of what was going on. He may be able to walk on the ceiling but he didn't have eyes on the back of his head.

"Trusfurm!" commanded Melody once more. Shi felt a drop of relief as he returned to his weapon form, finally feeling the stress of the cord come off of his body. Melody didn't waste a moment; the space that Shi's body had created when he returned to his human form was still there. When he shrunk down to his weapon form the space became excess and enough room for Melody to maneuver. Melody flicked her wrist out and sent Shi flying free from the cord. With another flick of the wrist, Melody managed to send Shi flying upwards and at the Kishin.

The Kishin's eyes widened as he saw the yo-yo flying upwards at him. The yo-yo sprouted its signature sharp blades as it continued the arc at his face. The blades burrowed themselves into the Kishin's face. He let the cord loose as his hands scurried to his face to remove the yo-yo. He pried it loose with his power and tossed it to the side. "What just happened?" he asked he quickly grabbed onto the cord again. He was breathing heavily now due to the wound.

While he was still recovering from that attack another attack came flying at him. This time the blades swung into the Kishin's side, drawing blood. The Kishin let out a scream. The force from the attack screwed up his grip on the ceiling. He felt his feet slip and he fell from the ceiling. He smashed into the floor.

"Y-you jerk!" shouted the Kishin as he strained himself to stand up again. His legs starting to strain already. "You were my quick ticket to a promotion from Vigrid, but now...NOW YOU ARE MY DINNER!" The Kishin roared, opening his mouth revealing his sharp fangs.

*Trusfurm was indeed Melody saying transform, except she couldn't talk well at the time.

I personally like to think of the Kishin as a big spider if that helps anyone envision him. I'm going to try to update at a pretty decent speed like before despite having writer's block.