A and K Chapter 83: Free the Caged Birds!

With a loud noise, the cages slowly begin to be lowered down to the ground.
Saki: Tch, so, you’re going to try and keep me away from the lever? Not exactly the best plan you could come up with.
Rie: Its the best plan we have at our disposal.
Saki: Let’s see if you can keep it up.
Saki throws her knee at Rie, but she simply dodges.
Saki: (Thinking) Faster than I thought.
Rie simply charges into her, pushing her farther away. She wasn’t attacking but driving her backwards.
Saki: Tch, you’re stronger than you look.
Rie: My muscles are sore, and I hate the whole thing, but if it means I can help my brother, I will!
Saki throws Rie off of her, and on to the ground, before she can move forward, energy shots ring out directly in front of her.
Alexandria: Move and I’ll shoot!
Saki: (Thinking) Alone, I could easily take them. Together, they’re proving to be quite a nuisance.
Kei: (Thinking) Well now Saki, they may prove to be more resourceful than you thought, what’re you gonna do?
Saki charges against Alexandria and deftly moves to avoid Alexandria’s attacks, but before she can reach her, she’s speared by Yui. Alexandria moves toward the lever to protect it. Yui and Saki fall to the ground as Yui uses her bo staff to keep Saki pinned.
Yui: No way I’m letting you hurt Alexandria.
Saki: For the-you guys are become really annoying.
Saki flips Yui on to her back and uses her own bo staff against her.
Saki: Persistent bunch of brats aren’t you?
Rie then throws her own body at Saki, knocking her off Yui.
Rie: Don’t hurt my sister!
Saki throws Rie off of her. She looks at Isao.
Saki: What, you’re not going to jump into this clusterfest too?
Isao: This is not my fight.
Yui swings her Bo staff at Saki, only for Saki to nimbly dodge. She’s forced to roll backwards as she avoids the staff. She gets back to her feet as Yui and Rie stand just in front of her.
Saki: For three girls who can barely fight, the three of you are beginning to really make me mad.
Yui: We’re going to save our mom and brother.
Rie: Not you, or anyone is going to stand in our way.
Saki’s glove creeps up the right side of her arm again.
Saki: You’ve now justified letting me use more of my power because I won’t lose. And I hate losing.
Kei: (Thinking) Uh-oh.
Saki: Flash Bang.
Yui covers her eyes. Rie throws her fan, and the fan impacts Saki’s glove as she tries to throw the punch. The attack malfunctions and blinds Saki instead.
Saki: IDIOT!
She yells as she can’t see a single thing. Rie retrieves her fan.
Rie: Call me names all you want, it worked.
Saki: If that backfires, that could’ve hurt everyone!
Rie and Yui charge at her. They pin her to the ground. Rie lays on her stomach. Yui uses her bo staff to keep her arms from going anywhere. Saki just tries to get her vision back.
Yui: We’ve got you pinned. Give up.
Saki: Like I’d ever give up to novices like the two of you.
Rie: We aren’t getting up until you give up.
Saki: Get off!
Rie & Yui: (At the same time) No.
Slowly Saki can get a good sense of where they both are. Sick of being double teamed, she lets her glove creep up her right arm again.
Yui: Uh, Rie…
Rie: What?
Yui: Get ready to jump away.
Saki: Get off! Ring the bell!
A blast of energy surges forth as Yui and Rie duck away. They weren’t entirely unscathed as they sustain some cuts from the attack, but they avoid the brunt of it. Saki gets up, but she’d definitely had expanded some energy. As the glove fades, her right arm was taking more of the brunt of her attacks. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be in trouble.
Saki: (Thinking) Damn, they’ve made me waste so much energy.
Yui and Rie get up and prepare their weapons once more. Saki seemed more annoyed that they were still bothering her.
Saki: The two of you are really getting on my last nerve.
Saki uses her left arm this time and lets her glove creep up.
Saki: If you two don’t move, I’ll go right through both of you.
Yui: Easy, Rie. We have to be careful.
A ball of energy appears in Saki’s left hand.
Saki: Tell me girls, just how good were you in dodgeball?
Yui smiles. Rie seemed less likely to participate. Rie retreats over to Alexandria, not intent on participating in this exercise.
Rie: I’ll be cheering you on from here Yui!
Yui: (Thinking) Thanks Rie, you’re so supportive.
Saki throws the ball of energy at Yui. Yui moves her hands near the bottom of the Bo staff.
Yui: I’m not a big fan of dodgeball. How about…
Yui’s Bo staff connects with the ball of energy.
Yui: Baseball!
The ball of energy comes back toward Saki.
Saki: (Thinking) The hell kind of staff does she have?
Saki rolls away and the ball leaves a hole in the side of the warehouse. Saki stands back up and looks straight at Yui.
Saki: Alright then.
She creates another ball of energy.
Saki: Batter up!
Saki throws another ball of energy, but this one is faster, stronger. Yui tries to smack it again, but when she does connect with the ball. It knocks the Bo staff out of her hands, causing her to lose control of the Bo staff. Saki quickly capitalizes and spears Yui into the ground. She rolls away. Rie steps up in front of Alexandria.
Rie: Alexandria, I have an idea, but I’ll need to borrow your energy. Care to work with me?
Alexandria: (nodding) I’ve got your back.
Rie: Shoot as many shots as you can and let me redirect them.
Alexandria: Okay.
Alexandria aims her gun at Saki.
Saki: Just because you aim your gun at me doesn’t mean its going to do anything.
Rie: You like dodgeball? Let’s see how good you are.
Alexandria begins shooting, and Rie uses her fan to redirect the shots causing them to bounce all around the building. Ten in all was all Alexandria could muster. They bounce around Saki, and its difficult to pay attention to them all. Saki decides to simply wait and then punches one as it goes by. She was simply punching the balls of energy towards Rie and Alexandria. Rie deflects it away. Saki simply just waits and keeps punching the remainder of them back towards her, and Rie simply deflects them away until none are remaining. It is at that moment, the room goes quiet. What had once been noisy due to the cages being lowered was now silenced. Yui gets back up and joins Rie and Alexandria as Kei walks out of the cage, but something didn’t add up to Rie.
Rie: Wait...why was the cage unlocked?
Kei walks over to Saki and holds out his hand.
Kei: You lost.
Saki: Grr...I hate losing.
She shakes his hand.
Yui: Wait, what’s going on here?
Kei turns back to the others.
Kei: Things are not as they seem.
Category:A and K
Category:Novel Chapter