Angelic Layer
By Pyro1588
"That is an egg filled with dreams. Its name is 'Angel Egg.' One can raise the egg with wisdom, love, and courage. That is Angelic Layer."
Chapter 1: Hello! My Very Own Angel
The Tokyo station was as crowded as ever. All sorts of people milled around, each one of them waiting for something. Some were standing, waiting for the next subway to arrive. Others were reading maps, trying to figure which train would take them to wherever they wanted to go. Some were even looking at travel brochures or pamphlets on Hokkaido vacations.
Another subway slowed and then came to a stop. As the doors slid open, a young girl stepped down off the train. She looked to be about twelve years old, though she was a little small for her age. She was dressed in green stockings, a lighter-green shirt, and a golden vest. She had short brown hair with two long pigtails hanging down to just past her shoulders. Her eyes were a sky-blue that was almost fuchsia and had a gentle look in them.
A voice over the PA announced the train's arrival. "Tokyo. You are now at Tokyo. Thank you for your patronage."
She looked around the station, trying to get her bearings. "Umm..."
She set out through the crowd and towards the stairs leading down. She found herself in a long hallway that branched out to various other platforms. Brightly-colored numbers directed passengers to various different trains. She looked around at them, then took out a piece of paper with directions scribbled on it. "From the transfer point..."
She turned right and continued down another set of stairs. "...outer ring of the Yamanote Route..."
She looked up at a map on the wall, double-checking her destination. A person walked by, accidentally bumping her. She regained her balance and continued on.
She glanced at the paper again as she entered a new part of the station. "...Station No. 8, 19th Train..."
She found a sign directing her to her next waypoint. She passed through a set of metal detectors and continued on. "...exit at Ebisu Station..."
She found herself in a large lobby packed with even more people. "What? I left the station already?"
She began to make her way towards the main doors of the train complex. "Too bad Auntie Shouko can't pick me up, especially since I've never been here before."
A tall man in a white lab coat and glasses noticed her walking by. He grinned to himself and began to follow her, concealing himself as best he was able.
She found her way outside and stopped on the edge of the street. "I wonder if I'll be okay in Tokyo by myself," she mumbled to herself, unaware of her pursuer.
As she stepped out into the sunlight, she suddenly heard the cheers of a large crowd. There, in a huge plaza, a vast crowd of people was watching a large projector screen on the side a skyscraper. She walked into the crowd and looked up at the screen. There, for the crowd to see, were two people dueling. "What is this?"
The first character, a woman with long blond hair and dressed in a white suit, jumped away from an attack by the other character. He was tall and garbed in a black suit with short spikes embedded on it. They both were wearing helmets with reflective visors.
The woman charged forward, flipping from hands to feet, then jumped and tried to plant her feet in the man's chest. He put his arms up and blocked the attack. He ran at her and swung, missing her by just inches as she jumped out of his path.
The girl stood transfixed in the crowd, watching the fight progress. She broke out into a grin as the woman on the screen flew up, feet-first, into the sky. "Beautiful..."
The woman began to fly down at the man, right foot extended like a spear. He crossed his arms in defense as she flew towards him. She landed on him, but he successfully blocked the attack, a defensive sphere becoming visible as her blow connected. Sparks flew and the camera panned out to show the entire arena. Two huge people came into view, seated on either end of the arena. The girl realized that the arena was just a large table and the combatants were no larger than dolls.
The two women on either side of the arena were wearing visors connected by wires to the table. One of them gasped as the two fighters clashed. The other sat still, staring intently at the battle.
The two combatants continued to fight, launching numerous punches and kicks at each other, then taking turns blocking. The girl still stood there in the crowd, watching. "Amazing..."
The male one almost hit the other one, prompting her to jump back. He charged forward again and swung, almost connecting.
"...but, why are they suddenly fighting?"
The female swung around with a roundhouse kick. The other combatant caught her leg and flipped her onto her back. She skidded across the arena, sliding to a stop.
Two young kids ran into the crowd and stopped by the girl. "Look," one said to the other, "it's Angelic Layer!"
"Really? Angelic Layer?"
The girl looked at the first kid. "Angelic Layer? The fight between the white and black side?"
They both turned around in unison. "No, it's AN-GE-LIC LA-YER!" they shouted together.
"Y-Yes..." She looked back to the screen. The black one was charging again. As soon as he reached the white one, he began punching repeatedly while she blocked. "The black one is too strong," the girl said as the white woman's feet were forced closer to the edge of the arena. "If this continues, the white one is going to lose."
'I don't get it,' she thought to herself as the fight continued. 'Is this how... Is this how the small ones will end up, regardless of their efforts?'
She was brought back to reality when the crowd started cheering again. She looked back up at the screen. The black one had just jumped and was about to finish the fight. As he flew down at her, fist extended, she jumped up and, with a lightning-speed backflip, connected her foot with his jaw.
He flew back and skidded to a stop, regaining his feet. She backflipped away him, jumped high in the air, and brought her foot down again. A shockwave flew out, hitting him full-force. He rolled around and grabbed her ankle, pulling her down. He jumped up and started to descend, extending one of the spikes on his armor.
"Watch out!" the girl yelled.
She pulled herself back as he landed, then grabbed his head between her feet. She pushed herself up onto her hands and began spinning rapidly, flinging him around like a ball on a string. She released him and let him slide to a stop as she jumped again. In midair, a glowing halo appeared and two angel wings extended from her back, holding her in midair. The girl gasped.
The white one put her hands together, a glowing ball of energy forming. Lightning flew out as the girl watched in amazement. The white combatant hauled back and let it fly. The black one tried to block as the green ball of energy flew at him, but to no avail. It struck him full force, exploding to fill the entire arena.
The status bar showing the black ones health drained. Its owner stared in shock as she heard the announcer. "Atena, wins!"
The crowd cheered wildly as the angel fighter set down and gently moved her wings. The announcer was still talking. "An incredible comeback! This is the 3rdconsecutive victory! And making this the 97th official victory, she has a firm grip on the Champion's title!"
The girl watched the angel stand there, wings still flowing slightly. "She... won. She won!"
She shook the hands of the two little kids that had told her what was going on. "She won, she won! She won!"
She crouched down and faced them. "Amazing! Even though the white girl is small, she beat the bigger one."
Someone behind her corrected her statement. "Nope, that's wrong. It's not a person."
She turned around and saw a man in a white lab coat and glasses. "That's an Angel."
"Angel?" she replied.
"They are controlled by humans, in other words, a doll."
The two ran off to find their parents, but the girl remained. "What? That's a doll!"
"Although it's a doll, it's a to completely packed with sophisticated technology."
"A toy?"
"That's right," he replied, smiling at her. "Like that Angel you saw on TV. In other words, it's something you play by making the dolls fight each other."
"So... that's Angelic Layer..."
"In short, that's about it," he said as she stood back up.
"Excuse me..." she said.
"What?"
"Excuse me, you said it's a toy, so can I buy it from a store?"
"Yup, you can buy one."
"Umm... even I can own one?" she asked, amazement showing in her voice.
"If you still have any leftover New Year's money, that shouldn't be a problem," he replied, rubbing his clean-shaven chin. He turned and faced her. "You want to get one?"
"Where can I buy it?" she asked.
"The toy store on the other side of the country, department store, electrical store, and sometimes even convenience stores." He gasped as soon as he realized that she had already left. "Where did she go!"
A few blocks away, she had already found a large toy store. She walked in and looked around. "Hmm..."
She saw a stand of kitchenware. "What a cute plate. But, it seems like I'm kinda lost now..."
She started running around the store, looking for the Angelic Layer section. She found more kitchenware. "None..." Pots and pans. "Not here..." More plates. "Not there..."
A store employee walked up. "Excuse me, what are you looking for?"
She looked up at the lady. "Umm... hmm... a d-d-doll!"
"A doll? What kind of doll?"
"Hmm... it's white, beautiful, it looks very cool... Um... and it can move!"
The lady smiled. "Hmm...?"
Suddenly the man from before ran up, panting and trying to catch his breath. "Let's not annoy this nice sister," he said to her, still gasping.
He grabbed her and led her to another section of the store. "What you are looking for is this way!"
There it was. Angelic Layer. An entire stand was set up with several model dolls. There were also eggs with wings on them, boxes with kits in them, and all sorts of accessories. On one shelf, a small laptop screen glowed with different colors.
She stared in amazement. "Wow... there are so many!"
The man grabbed one of the clear plastic eggs with wings on it and held it ou to her. "First, you'll need this."
She looked inside of it. A small doll model was curled up inside it. "An egg?"
"The Angel model is inside it. Well, you could call it the egg of an Angel. After you design the doll inside the egg, you can make it your own Angel."
"My own... Angel?"
"Just like the ones you just saw on the TV screen, they were originally in the same form. And then inside the egg, the doll transformed into an Angel."
"If I can also..." She looked back up at him. "Excuse me... Can you tell me... Can you tell me more about Angelic Layer?"
"You wanna try Angelic Layer?"
She smiled. "Yes. I want to try. I want to make my own Angel."
"If you say so, I don't mind at all."
"Really?"
"However, Angelic Layer is a bit noisy."
She bowed and smiled. "Thank you very much."
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Misaki. Suzuhara Misaki. 12 years old."
"I am Miha..." He stopped himself. "No, Icchan, call me Icchan. So..." He started grabbing things off the shelves. "This... this and that and this!"
She found herself holding an ever-growing stack of boxes.
"Well, this is what you need in order to begin. Alright, go and pay!"
"Yes!" she replied, running off to the cash register.
"This way," the store employee said. She walked up with two police officers. "That's him! He's the one who took the little girl away!"
They grabbed him by the arms and dragged him off. "Le-Let me go! I didn't do anything wrong at all!"
"Be quiet!" one of them responded. "You can talk as much as you like in the police station."
He kept kicking. "Let me go!"
Over at the register, Misaki was just finishing paying for all her new things. "Icchan-san, I've bought the stuff."
She ran over to where he had been standing. "Eh? Icchan-san?"
He was gone. "I still wanted to ask him a lot of questions about Angelic Layer... It costs so much money... Anyways, I gotta go to Auntie's place... AH... the money!"
She opened up her purse and found a few yen of spare change. "What! I don't even have enough money to make a phone call!"
Later that night, she found herself at her aunt's house. She rang the bell and the door opened. "Misaki! Why are you late? What happened at the bullet train?" She caught herself. "Misaki!" There, kneeling on the step, barely awake, was Misaki. "Good evening... Auntie Shouko..." She laid her head down on one of the bags and fell asleep.
Ten minutes and a small meal later, they were ready to talk. "What? It's impossible for you to walk all the way from Tokyo Station... What station did you think you were at?"
Misaki held a piece of pie up to her mouth and gave her aunt a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry. A lot of things happened today... and then I did some shopping." She shrugged at Shouko.
"going shopping right after you got here. Misaki is really acting like a girl."
She set down the tea tray that she was carrying. "So, what did you buy? Can I take a look at it?"
"Sure."
Shouko unwrapped one of the boxes and was greeted with the surprising sight of an entire Angel kit. "This is..."
Misaki moved over next to her and smiled. "That's called Angelic Layer. You can create your own Angel with that. I happened to see one outside Tokyo Station. It was a white one with wings and looked really cool." She waved her arms, her excitement showing. "After that, I wanted to get one too..." She trailed off and looked at her aunt, who was still staring at the Angel egg. "What's wrong, Auntie? Auntie Shouko..."
She felt her aunt pinch her cheek and drag her face closer. "It should be Shouko-san! Shouko-san. I'm still in my twenties." She let her go and smiled. "And some even call me the 'beautiful news broadcaster.' Although, I am your mother's sister. By the way, when did you last see shuuko-oneesan?" (Oneesan: Older sister.)
"Mom? It was when I was in kindergarten. Although I don't really remember. I think Mom must've been busy with work. But she sent me money every month..." Misaki looked up and smiled "...and thanks to her, I can go to school in Tokyo now."
Shouko-san smiled back. "Really? You're right. Okay, you must be very tired. How about a bath?"
Misaki smiled and stood up. "Mm!"
Shouko-san pointed over her shoulder. "The bathroom is that way."
Misaki ran off. "Okay." Halfway there, she turned around and came back.
Her aunt looked back at her. "What's wrong?"
Misaki grabbed the Angel egg. "I want to open this in the bathroom just as the manual said." She ran off to the bathroom again.
Shouko-san looked back at the Angelic Layer paraphernalia. "After all, her family is really broken into pieces."
Misaki sat down in the warm bath water and started reading the Angel instructions. "First, the padding fluid is non-edible. Since this product contains small parts that can be ingested by small children, please open it with adult supervision." She looked up. "...I am a high school student this year already! I guess I could count as an adult."
She pulled the top half of the egg and it opened at the seem. The light-blue padding fluid spilled out of the egg and in into the bathwater.
She gently picked up the Angel out of the egg. "So... this is the doll..." It looked so plain in its current state. It didn't even have a face. Its skin was the same shade of blue as the fluid. "It looks a bit scary... No! But if I don't get over this, I can't make my own Angel!" She set her face with determination.
A dark tan Angel with long red hair spun around and kicked. The screen froze and several windows displayed its status.
Another Angel, this one with deep blue hair, jumped up and launched a barrage of lightning-fast kicks. The screen froze again and the windows popped up.
An angel with short blue hair, cat ears and a tail spun rapidly and slammed his palm forward. The screen froze.
One dressed in nurse garb stepped backwards. The screen froze.
Another one with long, turquoise hair stood up, two bells on her clothing ringing. The screen froze.
A man sat at a computer console, working and analyzing the Angels. "Man... where did Chief go?"
He stopped typing and leaned back in his chair. "My battle is gonna start soon."
He opened his eyes and looked to his right as the door slid open. "Welcome back, Chief. Where did you go?"
Icchan leaned up against another computer console. "Police."
"Police! You... finally got caught?" He pulled his hair. "I knew you would get caught some day."
Icchan looked at him, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"
"Isn't that obvious? HE-N-TAI!"
Icchan grabbed a folded map and smacked his assistant on the head, sending the office chair he was in spinning. "Totally wrong. Pranksters like you will endure the penalty game..." He reached in his pocket. "...Living octopus in your pants!" He pulled out a small octopus and grabbed his assistant. "Yahhhh! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Ahhhh..." The octopus was dropped in the back of his pants.
As his assistant ran into a wall, Icchan continued. "It was just a mistake. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to come back."
"You're right."
Icchan pulled out a family picture with Misaki in it. "Although, it's only worth this little."
Misaki, now dressed in pajamas, walked into her new bedroom, still carrying her doll. She switched on the light and the room came to life. It was a large carpeted room with an oak desk, a beautiful dresser with a plant on it and a bed with yellow sheets. She smiled "Wow, what a pretty room. I thought she wouldn't prepare this for me. It'd be such a waste if I didn't live in this beautiful place."
She walked into the middle of the room and stretched, obviously tired from her long day. "Alright! This will be my room from now on."
Meanwhile in the living room, Shouko-san was on the phone. "Yes, she just arrived here... Yeah... there was some trouble. She'll be okay, she's a high school student already. Speaking of which, is it okay not to let them meet? They're now finally in the same city... Therefore, as I said before..."
She was interrupted by a cheerful "Shouko-san!" from across the room. "Please hold for a sec."
Misaki walked up. Shouko-san covered the phone and looked down at her. "What is it?"
"Can you lend me a pair of scissors?"
"Scissors? Hmm... let's see..."
She scanned over her little desk and found a pair. "Here you go. Is this all you need?"
Misaki took the scissors and smiled. "Thank you."
"Please be careful when you use it."
"I'll be okay. I'm good at things like tailoring... therefore don't worry about me. Cal me if there is anything."
The phone was uncovered just enough to let the person on the other end hear the exchange. "Misaki..."
"First, attach the wig on the head." Misaki gently placed the long red hair on the head of the doll.
"Okay, what kind of hair style should it be?" she asked herself, scissors ready in her hand.
"Long hair is nice, but my hair is short... I think short hair would be the best."
She carefully began to clip the dolls hair to almost shoulder length. The scissors slipped slightly. "Oops! I cut too much! Hmm... Cut here like this..." She kept carefully snipping, cleaning up the hair. "Done!"
She tucked the doll under her arm and picked up one of the boxes. "The next step is... this."
Two minutes later, she had the laptop and doll pedestal set up on her desk and plugged in. "Put this one like this and then like that."
She carefully placed two rings on the little pedestal and then hit a button on the computer. The top ring lifted up about eighteen inches and a yellow glow filled the pedestal and the air above it.
She placed the doll in the top of the glowing cylinder. "Put this inside it."
The doll hovered a couple inches off the bottom of the pedestal. Its diagram came up on the laptop screen.
Misaki picked up the instruction manual. "Please choose what kind of Angel you want. Focus on speed, vitality, attack or defense... etc. Please distribute the parameters as above."
She looked at the screen and considered her options. 'It'll be better to have the settings small rather than big. One just like me, small yet strong. Strong and...'
Her thoughts returned to the battle she had seen earlier. She remembered the white Angel flying up through the air. 'Cool looking and...'
She could see the wings again, extending from the back and holding the Angel in midair. 'Pretty.'
She could almost see the wings coming off the back of her Angel as she began to press buttons on the computer. 'Small like me, but energetic and hard working... My own Angel!'
She pressed the enter button and watched the cylinder's glow change and become brighter. There was a beep and the top ring began to descend, revealing the doll, its skin now a normal tone and hair gently waving.
"...Fi...Finished..."
The computer beeped again and popped up a text input window. She looked back to the screen. "Please make a name for the Angel."
She looked back at the doll. "Name? This doll... Her name...?"
Misaki smiled and typed something on the keyboard. The computer clicked and beeped as it accepted the name. The doll's eyes slowly opened. She smiled at it. "Hikaru."
Squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, making sure she wasn't dreaming. "Your name is Hikaru!"
The glow faded and the doll started to fall forward. Misaki caught it and held it up. She smiled and giggled. "I did it! I made it!"
She started dancing around the room. "I made it! I made it! I made i!"
She hugged the doll and then held it out, admiring it. "Hikaru! I've got my own Angel!"
Shouko-san sat on a couch in the living room, sipping her iced tea. "Angelic Layer...?"
Icchan stared at the picture, chuckling to himself while his assistant moaned in defeat.
A/N: Okay, an explanation. This is my first year in the NaNo WriMo and, well, I suck at original plots, so I figured I'd try novelizing a good anime instead. Whether or not I'm doing a good job is up to you, but I'd appreciate any feedback you could give me. Please take a few seconds and let me know how I'm doing. I'm addicted to reviews =)
Thanks!
Pyro1588
Planet Weyard
7:54 PM
05/06/05
3945 words