Chapter One: Angelic Layer

In the peaceful streets of England, the bakery was crowded today, "Okay, here's your order, sir!" said a twelve year old girl. She has long, dark brown hair and a pair of sapphire coloured eyes. She continued, "Thank you, sir. Come again!"

"That's enough work for you today, Marina. Here's your payment I promised you," said an old woman.

Marina nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you, ma'am! Good bye!" then, she ran out of the bakery. It was already evening, Marina thought the roads would be quiet, But not today. In one stores nearby, with a banner labeled 'Piffle Princess', was crowded with people. The people are taking out money from their pockets. There are even some people pushing their way out of the crowd with some paper bags in their hands.

Marina also heard yells from the owner of the store, "Angel Eggs! Thirty-five dollars for one only! Angel cloth for twenty-three dollars! Angel hair for seventeen dollars! Angel voices for twenty-six dollars only! Everything is very cheap and affordable!"

"Angels?" Marina said to herself, curiously. She slowly walked into the shop. It was crowded so, she can't see anything. But she tried pushing her way to the front.

After and few minutes, she finally hop out of the crowd, "Finally!" she said to herself with relief. But when she looked around her surroundings, the crowd was the one that pushed her back to the entrance!

"Oh! I'll never get through!" Marina cried grumpily.

"Excuse me, miss," said a woman dress in a pinkish red uniform with a pink ribbon tied around her neck, "Do you need anything?" she continued.

"Um… uh… no, really! I'm just trying to push through the crowd to see what's happening," Marina said to the woman.

The woman giggled and said, "Didn't you know that Angelic Layer has came to England? It was a game created by Japan."

"Angelic Layer? A game? Created by Japan?" Marina asked in a hurry.

"Why, yes. Watch," said the woman as she pointed at a television on the wall. It was repeating the same trailers all over again.

First, a picture of an oval orb appeared on the screen. There was a robotic figure in it. The television then sounded with a fade-like voice:

An Angel Egg… Your dream egg… With this, you can create an own Angel of your own. With this Angel, you can play Angelic Layer! A game fit for young and old to play. Now, we provide weapons, voices and more for you Angel! With your Angel, you can enter battles, contest and more! Your Angel, you control it!

Marina blinked a few times and said, "Amazing! But… do you think that… I can play too?"

The woman smiled and said, "Of course you can! As my job as a shop assistant, I will help you out. First, follow me."

The woman took Marina to a shelf of Angel Eggs. She took down one of the eggs and handed it to Marina, "Here you go. The instructions are written on the egg."

Next, she took Sapphire to a glass case. She opened it and took out different types of chips, "These are chips to make your Angel talk," the woman said.

"Wait, you mean Angel voices aren't automatic?" Marina asked.

The woman giggled and said, "Of course not! They Angel voices aren't automatic incase you all aren't content with your Angel's voice. Now, pick one," the woman handed some chips to Sapphire.

"Um… How can I hear them? Do I test them all out on my Angel?" Marina asked and was about to open the Angel Egg. But the woman quickly stopped her and shook her head, "No, that's not the way. Use the voice tester," she said as she pointed at a small, square machine with a small empty hole shaped like a square in the middle. There was a round blue button under the hole too. The woman then continued, "Now, place each voice in the square hold one by one. Then, push the blue buttons to hear it."

Marina quickly tests out every voice she had in her hands. Every time she pushed the blue buttons, a different voice always said, "Hi, I'm an Angel!" The voices were all so lovely. Not even one sounded like a robot. Marina had absolutely no idea which one to choose.

Soon, she placed another chip in the hole. She pressed the blue button and heard a lovely tone. The voice was not too rough, not too gentle either. But it was a fair and beautiful voice, "I'll take this one!" Marina said happily.

"Great, now, follow me," the woman said.

Then, she took her to another shelf – a short and longer one. There were different types of cloth, accessories and hair, "Now, all you have to do is to choose at least one form each section and then you can bring everything to the cashier," the woman said and continued, "Good luck!" Not for long, she walked away.

Marina stood at the same spot at stared at the shelf with colourful items. Not for long, she searched around the shelf with hair in it, "Ah… So many colours to choose…" Marina said to herself. She never liked the colour black for some reason, even though balck matches everything, it's just the sign of darkness. Red was the colour of blood, which made her thought of her parent's death. Not blue, not yellow, nor purple neither.

Then, she searched at the bottom of the shelf. There was a paper with the words 'Rejected' on it. Marina blinked and searched there. Instead, she found a lot of beautiful hair. There are colours from the non-rejected ones, but it seemed a bit different. She dug in the box of hair and managed to pull out the only long hair with the colour of the stars - Silver. Sapphire loved the stars so, she put the star coloured hair into a brown paper bag.

Next, she went to the shelf with different types of cloth on it. She searched through all the cloth. She saw the colour white; she was always fond of that colour. But she walked away from it. She was very picky with things like these. Since art was her hobby. She then found a piece of cloth that was coloured steel blue. She also pulled out silver coloured lace from a small box. Then, she found navy coloured cloth that might match the steel blue coloured cloth. Marina also took brown cloth to make her Angel a pair of boots. She browsed through a taller part of the shelf and managed to pull down some strings that won't break no matter how hard you pull them. They weren't rubber bands at all. They have small objects at the end of the string. It also comes in different colours, length and shapes. Marina looked through all the strings and thought, maybe these are used for the Angel's costumes…She was right about that. But somewhere in her mind keeps on telling her that they aren't just decorations for Angels. Not for long, she found a pair of steel blue coloured strings with small silver object at the end. She placed that in the paper bag too.

After that, she searched for some accessories in the next cupboard. All the accessories were small and beautiful. Some were even glimmering like diamonds. Marina didn't want to get any shiny things. Instead, she took two pink ribbons with her.

"Well, I guess that's it!" Marina said excitingly. She quickly ran to the cashier and waited in the line. Luckily, the line wasn't that long anymore. She waited for five or four minutes and managed to reach the front. She placed the things she wanted to buy on the table. Then, the cashier took out too out a box of machine things that Marina was not familiar with. After a few seconds, the cashier said to Marina, "That would be one hundred and twenty dollars, please."

Marina was shock to hear the expensive price, she was about to reject the cashier's offer and put all the things she wanted back. But getting her own Angel was making her excited so, she slowly pulled out money from her purse and handed it to the cashier, "Thank you," the cashier thanked as she handed a plastic bag with Marina's items in it, "Enjoy!"

Marina walked out of the store and quickly ran to a small house near a beautiful park. Marina pulled out a key and unlocked the wooden door. She stepped into the house and closed the door.

The house was messy, because there were newspapers with stains of paint on it. There were boxes of paint and different types of brushes in cups. The house didn't have a second floor so, the bed was placed beside a window. The wooden dining table was small – enough to fit one person only. There was also a wooden chair there. The plates, bowls, pot, forks and teapots on the shelf were the cheapest crockery ever sold in England. Not to mention, low quality too.

A wooden easel was set on one side of the room. Blank papers, brushes, paint and pallets were settled there. The only advance she had was a plug. She opened the box and took out a wire. She plugged it in and took out weird machines that she had never seen before. She read out some instructions behind her Angel Egg:

It is always the best to open your Angel Egg in the bathroom.

Marina was about to go to the bathroom anyways. After a long day on working at the bakery, she decided to take a bath. She picked up her white nightgown and her yellow towel before entering the bathroom. She didn't have a bath tub, she only have a small shower and a sink. She open the tap as water leaked out of it. She waited for a minute for the sink to be filled up by water.

Then, she out read the rules again:

Now, open your Angel Egg. Liquid will rush out of it. Quickly wash your Angel in clean water. Remember, this is a parent's job.

There was a pause, but Marina didn't care. She just opened the Angel Egg as liquid poured out of it. She held the robotic figure and placed it gently in the water. After that, she took it out.

After twenty minutes, she came out form the bathroom wearing her white nightgown. She hung her towel on a hook on the wall. She held the Angel in her hands and sat on the wooden chair with the machines on the table. Sapphire took out the star coloured hair and a pair of scissors. She placed the hair on her Angel and started to trim it. She only trimmed a bit to make the bottom fair. Then, she slowly tied it up into a rope. She used the two navy coloured ribbons to secure it.

After that, she read the instructions out:

Plug the machine's wire with the plug. Next, set everything by opening the machines power. A laptop is there to set your Angel's looks, attack etc. Before that, a scanner with activate as soon as you open your power. All you have to do is to insert the voice chip behind your Angel. Then, slide your Angel in the round scanner.

After reading the instructions, she opened a small lid on the Angel's back. She placed the Voice Chip in it and closed it tightly. She pressed a button to activate the scanner's power. A yellow light formed on a round flat surface. Marina slides her Angel in the round light and opened the laptop.

"My Angel must have speed and endurance!" Marina said. She continued and said, "She has to be a female of course! And I want her light. Um… I'll give her sapphire coloured eyes… like mine!"

Please give your Angel a name:

Marina didn't know you can give an Angel a name. So, she slowly typed down the name. She was so excited that it felt like a dream.

After that, the Angel suddenly had skin colour on her. The Angel slowly opened her eyes as her glimmering hair swayed back and forward. As her eyes open, she began to see the Angel's sapphire coloured eyes. Sapphire stared at her Angel and whispered her Angel's name quietly, "Starwing…"