The Rope Cage
The Kishin was now injured and walking about on the ground. He was stumbling about. He had two simultaneous injuries that had completely screwed with his balance. The strike to his head and side made it hard for him to keep standing in one place. He let his cord loose as he prepared to strike. He flipped it around and into the air, he wasn't expecting as much resistant from her since he had her wrapped up tightly in the cord. Oh, well, if that hadn't beaten her fighting spirit out of her, then he would just have to take it up another notch.
He sent whip flying out with extreme speed. It sped off towards Melody. Melody dove to the side avoiding the whip just barely. The whip was large, thick, and incredibly dense, but despite all of this its speed and flexibility was still on a whole other level from most weapons Melody faced. The Kishin sent the whip back up around and into the air, he spiraled it around in a circle. It came crashing back down to the ground with an incredibly loud snap. Melody moved backwards and cowered for a brief second as she heard the whip smash into the ground, coughing up small pebbles and stones.
Melody lashed out with her yo-yo. Sending it spinning across the floor with the blades, fully extended. The yo-yo dashed around the Kishin's legs, threatening to bury themselves into it. He jumped into the air and using the same mysterious power as before, his feet clung to the wall holding himself out of the yo-yo's current range.
"Ze har har har!" laughed the Kishin as he looked downwards at Melody from his spot on the wall, "I'll give you one last chance to tie yourself up and come along with me!" Melody didn't look worried as she brought her arm up, sending Shi upwards along the wall and at the Kishin. The blades juttng outside of Shi made for excellent grappling device and allowed Shi to scale the wall with ease. The Kishin leapt off and up onto the ceiling. "No matter how hard you try," shouted the Kishin, "having a yo-yo run along the ceiling is just impossible!"
"Just you wait," defied Shi as the reflection in the yo-yo showed Shi waving fists around angrily at the Kishin, "I'm going to scale that ceiling and strike you down an infinite number of times! Also, for your information if anyone is going to tie Melody up its going to be me!" Melody quickly dropped the yo-yo to the ground and brought her foot down on top of it.
"I don't want to be tied up by either of you!" yelled Melody. "Actually, in all reality I'd rather be tied up by the Kishin then by you!" The Kishin leaped forward with his cords happy to oblige. Melody brought Shi back up into the air, smashing the blunt yo-yo with the Kishin's chin. While the yo-yo without its blades had no real power or force in it, it was still enough to cause the Kishin to back up and return to his position on the ceiling and away from them.
"Ze har har har!" laughed the Kishin as he remained on the ceiling, "that wasn't me running away cause I got hit! That was me perfectly dodging that last blow and taking my distance!" Melody shook her head. She knew she hit him, but it didn't quite matter right now. She had to focus on taking him out as quickly as possible.
The Kishin remained on the ceiling, but he dropped the cord and began swinging it slowly from side-to-side. Melody stepped back and tried to watch the rope as it swung from one side to the other, expecting the Kishin to suddenly have it lash out at her. The Kishin began to swing it faster and faster. Melody tried to keep her eyes on it, but it was becoming more and more difficult. Finally the Kishin abandoned the side-to-side approach and was swinging the large cord around in a circle, completely trapping Melody in the center of the circle.
Melody was feverishly trying to keep an eye on the cord as it slowly began to disappear into a blurry cage around her. Whichever side she looked to the cord was there blocking off any chance of escape. It was hard for Melody to think in this situation an enemy attack could come from any direction and she could barely make out what was on the other side of the cord, unlike it mattered, she probably couldn't get to it anyways.
The Kishin smirked, "And now it is time to start with the attack!" the Kishin tugged on the cord sending it flying through the center of the circle. Melody was caught off guard as the heavy rope smacked into her. The cord was definitely a dangerous weapon. It felt like getting hit with a hammer in the side. Melody tenderly touched the area, only to find out it was incredibly sore due to the attack.
The weapon was still spinning around her keeping her trapped in the cage. Not only that, but Melody could swear that the more it spun the faster it became. The faster it became the more damage the Kishin could deliver by having it cross into the center of the circle and swing at Melody. On top of that from the Kishin's vantage on the ceiling, he could see every step that Melody took and redirect his rope in that direction with frightening accuracy.
However, if the strategy had one flaw it was the fact that the Kishin could not move. He was stuck staying above her, even the slightest move on his part would screw up his cage and cause it to move away from Melody and help Melody free herself. So, in other words the flaw to the Kishin's strategy was the key piece in Melody's. She sent Shi flying up at the cord's handle.
"Ze har har har!" laughed the Kishin, "a small attack like that is easily repelled especially when it is within my rope cage!" With a flick of the wrist, once more the cord came crashing through batting the yo-yo to the side. Along with batting the yo-yo to the side the rest of the rope continued on with its swing and slammed into Melody, knocking her down. Melody scrambled back to her feet just in time to watch the rope rotate around in the circle again.
There was no chance they'd be able beat them while holding back. They'd need to take it up another notch to beat him. "Shi!" shouted Melody. Shi's reflection nodded in agreement. "SOUL RESONANCE!" Fire exploded from Melody's hand and crept down the yo-yo string lighting the yo-yo in a brilliant blaze. The flames along with the blade made Melody's yo-yo no joke.
Melody whipped the yo-yo up into the air once more trying to break through the rope once more. The Kishin laughed loudly, "you can try and try, but you'll never break through my rope technique." With another flick of the rope, he sent flying through smashing into the yo-yo and knocking it aside. The rope once more came swinging at Melody. Melody dove to the side intending to avoid the swinging rope, but she couldn't completely. The rope came by smashing into her ankle. Melody let out a squeal due to the pain as she smashed into the ground.
The rope was definitely tougher then it looked. It felt like a rock smashed into her ankle. She struggled to her feet. It stung terribly. It was probably sprained from the sheer force of the rope. Melody looked back up at the Kishin, who currently had a twisted smile on his face, but why wouldn't he? He had been winning this fight every step of the way and now he injured Melody's foot and made it hard for her to do anything, especially running away.
Melody looked back at the swinging rope. If she wasn't just imagining it then it was definitely going slower. With how many times it collided with her yo-yo and her it made sense, but the Kishin already showed off its skill at increasing its speed. It would only take a couple more minutes for the rope to speed back up. Maybe if she slowed it down she would stand a chance at getting the yo-yo through the top. She looked up at the Kishin once more and watched his circular motions with the rope. She was trying to measure the speed of the rope and see her chances, but the more she watched the more she doubted the fact that she could break through it. Even if it was slowed down it wasn't enough for her to break through, her only option was to stop it completely.
One idea jumped to Melody's head, but that seemed unlikely to work. She looked back up and into the air at the rope swinging. She had no better ideas, she just had to cross her fingers and hope. She tossed Shi back up at the Kishin. Once more he smirked as he yelled at her for her futile efforts. He swung the large rope back over at the yo-yo. Melody grunted and pulled on the yo-yo at the same time. She adjusted the trajectory of the yo-yo around, rather then flying upwards at the Kishin it came around and collided with the rope. The force behind the yo-yo wasn't enough and couldn't deflect the rope. This only made the Kishin laugh even more.
Melody laughed and looked up at the Kishin, "I don't know why you are laughing. My plan is working." The Kishin looked down and twisted its head trying to see anything that could translate what her plan was. He didn't see anything.
Melody suddenly began tugging on her yo-yo string. The Kishin paused as it looked down at it. What was she trying to do? Finally he felt a tug on his rope. He looked down at the rope to see what his rope got caught on. He paused as he saw Melody's yo-yo attached. The sharp blade had come at and dug into the rope and caught it. He felt his control on the rope wane and the rope itself even began going slower. Melody was swinging her yo-yo in the exact opposite direction then him. So the two conflicting forces of his swing and her swing were canceling each other out. His weapon was slowing down! His cage was breaking down and soon it would disappear completely!
"NO!" he shouted as he tried to break his rope free from the yo-yo's blade tugging and swinging the rope wildly. Melody smiled as the rope's frantic movements broke the cage open. Melody smiled as she dashed out into the open and rushed over to the wall. The Kishin's attention was focused solely on the yo-yo rather then on Melody.
Melody leapt up and towards the wall. She compressed her legs and kicked off of the wall, using one of the strengths that Meisters were known for, to propel herself up and into the air towards the Kishin. He didn't notice it until it was too late. Melody spun around and launched a powerful kick at the Kishin. The Kishin feet slipped off of the ceiling due to the force. He fell off of the ceiling and panicked as he fell, flailing his arms and legs all about. He neared the ground and finally crashed into the ground, spitting up blood from force.
Melody landed next to him, but unlike him, she landed well and on both of her feet. She grimaced as her injured ankle nearly broke underneath her own weight. She ignored and limped over to the Kishin's rope and broke Shi free from the rope. She continued to limp out of the room and towards the door, she pushed it open and looked out of the room. She let out a sigh of relief as no Kishins were around. If one was around, she would be in tremendous trouble.
Okay, a good fight to get me back in the swing of things. Big surprises next time, so stay tuned!