Battle 14: The Christmas Tournament: The Practice of the Silver Dragon. A Sleep Over?
Marty placed a grin on his face after seeing what the three girls had done. The phone than rang breaking Marty's concentration. "JIM, get the phone." The phone kept ringing. "JIM, ANSWER THE PHONE!" Marty screamed. "Oh yeah, he went out to get me some plum tea." Marty then went to answer the phone.
"It's me," it said. Marty smiled. "Did you get it on video tape?" the voice asked. Marty adjusted his glasses. "Yes. As a matter of fact, I think that we should tell them it is time to prepare." There was a pause. "Good. Then I should train."
While Ai was explaining to the crowd who were capable of entering the Semi-Finals, Catherine, Taylor, and Haruna sat silently in the waiting room. "What happened back there?" Catherine asked. Haruna looked at Hiraku. 'I've only did so much as to have thought about it, but when it happened…" Catherine looked at Rikka and sighed. "It was the angels," Haruna finally said. She stood up and turned to face Taylor and Catherine. "I was told once that the one with the strongest heart will win. Since we wanted to create a creature that no one could imitate, we were able to do it." Haruna then closed her eyes and pictured Misaki in her head.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, BOYS AND GIRLS. WE INTRODUCE THE TEAMS ENTERING THE SEMI-FINALS!" the crowd went wild. "There will be four teams to participate. The last two teams standing will be able to go worldwide. First…"
Haruna began to think, the nationals went by very quickly. Just one day. In Japan it takes a while. Catherine smiled as if she had read Haruna's mind. The tournaments go by faster here," She said. Haruna jumped. Taylor nodded. "Yea. And since there was that team arrangement, then it's three angels, a couple of teams, and time to spare." She leaned back on the couch with Hinote on her chest. Haruna smiled. "They never did this in Japan."
"…Finally, these three girls had worked together as if they had been together since they were in dippers. They work as one: ANGELS: RIKKA, HINOTE, AND HIRAKU. DEUSES: CATHERINE PARKER, TAYLOR GREEN, AND HARUNA SAZAKI!" the crowd went crazy and the three girls entered the layer. Haruna looked around to see Rebecca and Danielle as a team. There was another girl, but Haruna never met her. The other team had Zoe on it with two other girls whom Haruna still did not know. Finally, Haruna saw the final team and gasped. There stood Jack Martin with his red ninja angel on his arm. Haruna blushed and then looked straight at the audience.
"Are you okay?" Taylor asked. Haruna nodded. She looked at her angel and sighed. As they got off the layer, Haruna felt someone touch her shoulder. She turned around to see Jack looking at her with a smile on his face. Haruna went red and took a deep breath. "Looks like we might fight each other in the semi-finals," he said. Haruna looked away. "I didn't know that you were participating," she said. He laughed. "Well, we should practice soon. I wanna have a good fight with you." Haruna straightened up. He smiled and walked away.
Haruna stood still with her heart racing 3 billion miles per minute. She didn't move until Catherine tapped her shoulder. "We should go home and get some rest. We need to get all of the practice we can get." Haruna nodded. Catherine then started to wave. "Jeffery!" Jeffery came running towards the three of them with a video camera. "Hey," He said. Catherine snatched the camera. "What's this?" she asked.
"sweat drop Oh…well, mom wanted me to video tape the battles, so I did." Catherine sighed. "Your hopeless." "WHAT!" he screamed. Then he calmed down. "Also, Mom said that maybe Haruna and Taylor should sleep over." Taylor and Haruna gasped. Catherine sighed. "Alright." She then turned towards Haruna and Taylor. "But what ever you see stays between us. OKAY!"
Haruna packed everything for her sleepover. Lets see, I have everything I need, she thought. She then looked at Hiraku. "You're coming too, of course," Haruna said aloud. She grabbed Hiraku and went to the front door. "Mom, Dad, I'm going. I'll see you when I get back." No one answered. She then dropped her stuff at the front door and was about to look around. On her front door table was a note. "Haruna, something urgent has come up at work. We might not be at home for a while. IF anything goes wrong, you can call us on our cells. NOT AT WORK. Love mom & dad," it said. Haruna sighed. It can't be helped, she thought. "That means we can stay at Catherine's as long as we like," She said to Hiraku. She grabbed her things and left her house.
"Your late," Catherine said as she opened the door to greet Haruna. "Sorry, my parents left a note saying they won't be back for a while, so I had to make sure that everything was okay at home," Haruna said. Catherine sighed. "Oh well, at least you showed up. We have a lot of work to do," was Catherine's response. Haruna took off her shoes and picked them up. "Why do you have to take off your shoes?" Taylor asked. Haruna smiled. "I grew up in Japan, and that's what we do when we enter a house." Taylor nodded and Haruna made her way towards the main area. Haruna's jaw dropped at the sight of Catherine's apartment. It was huge. There were TWO staircases leading up to the second floor. Above her head was a crystal chandelier that shone brightly. Catherine, already on the second floor, looked down at Haruna. "You comin' up or what?" Haruna nodded.
Catherine's room was more amusing than the main hallway. It was white covered in Angelic Layer posters. In the center of her room was a layer…ANGELIC layer. Taylor and Hinote were already practicing on the layer. Hinote was wearing a different outfit than what she usually wore. She wore red sandals with a knee length skirt. It was flowy and as red as the sandals. Her shirt was spaghetti strapped (a little small so it showed a bit of her stomach) and red with a pink heart on it.
"Hey," Taylor said. Haruna smiled. "Hey. Hinote's outfit changed." Taylor put a grin on her face. "Well, I wanted to try something new…" Catherine came up to Taylor. "Like trying to change your angels clothes on the layer?" She asked. Taylor blushed. "Well, you never know when we might need to change. Plus, I don't want to steel the original outfit done by Haruna Sazaki herself." Haruna giggled. Catherine went towards the layer and placed Rikka on the layer. Her outfit looked more like a nightgown. Hinote changed her outfit to a nightgown similar to Rikka's.
"What's with the nightgowns?" Haruna asked. "Well, it would be unfair to the angels if they had to sleep in their fighting clothes," She said. Haruna sighed. "I don't have one for Hiraku." Taylor gave a thumbs up. "That's alright. Catherine has about twenty of them." Catherine nodded. "That's right. Pick your favorite and put it on Hiraku. Then we can start practicing." Haruna chose a light blue, short sleeved one. She put it on Hiraku and placed her on the layer. She pictured her in her regular outfit so as not to ruin her nightgown. "That's a good idea," Catherine said, and both she and Taylor pictured their everyday outfit on their angels. "Alright. Let's start practicing," Taylor said.
After about three hours of none stop, there was a knock on Catherine's door. Jeffery came in with a few snacks and juice. "You guys have been practicing for three hours straight. You should take a break or go to bed," he said. Catherine shook her head. "We can't do that. The finals are next week. We have to be ready." Jeffery sighed. "Fine, but if you push yourself to hard, you will become more weaker." Taylor ran towards him and karate chopped on his head. He fell to the floor face first. "Don't worry. We'll be fine," she said. Jeffery rolled onto his back and glared at Taylor. "Well sorry for being concerned," he said. Taylor stuck out her tongue. "You should be," she said teasingly. Haruna giggled. Her cell phone began to ring. Haruna looked at it to see who was calling her. When she saw who was calling, she screamed. Catherine, Taylor, and even Jeffery jumped up. "What's wrong?" Taylor asked. Haruna didn't hear.
"HEY!" Haruna said on the phone. Catherine, Taylor, and Jeffery looked at her. "Who is it?" Catherine asked. Haruna was still not listening. "Yea, my team made it……Yea, I have Catherine Parker and Taylor Green……That's them. They're amazing. It's as if they are replicas of Tamayo and Hatoko……" Haruna said on the phone. The other three stood in silence. "I'm actually at Catherine's house. She has a practice layer in the middle of her room. It's defiantly bigger than the one Ohjiro-san got you……REALLY! You never told me that Tamayo and Ohjiro-san were going out……wow, I would be a bit surprised if I still liked him……SHUT UP " Haruna began to speak Japanese on the phone to not give away much of her conversation.
After an hour, Haruna hung up. Taylor went crazy "WHY WERE YOU ON THE PHONE FOR AN HOUR? WE WERE SUPPOSED TO PRACTICE! WHO WAS ON THE PHONE ANYWAY " Haruna's eyes were wide and she couldn't move. "It was Misaki," she finally said. Catherine screamed. "REALLY?" Haruna nodded. Jeffery straightened himself out and tapped Catherine on the shoulder. "You gotta go to bed." Catherine pulled away.
"I'm old enough o stay up late," she said. Jeffery sighed. "Fine. I'm going to bed." He waved good night and left. "Jeff can be a pain sometimes," Catherine said. A pillow then came flying at her head. "I HEARD THAT!" Jeffery said. Haruna had to laugh. She put on her headset and the three of them began to practice.
Three hours later, Haruna, Taylor, and Catherine could barely keep their eyes open any more. They had mastered the Silver Dragon about 20 times. "Hey…Lets call it….quits…" Taylor said before falling of her chair…asleep. Catherine yawned. "Yea…we should…probably get…some…rest…" she said before lying her head on her crossed arms crossed over the layer. Haruna, before falling asleep as well, noticed that neither Taylor nor Catherine took off their headset. Haruna was too lazy to take it off, so she left in on while lying her hands and head on the layer. The three angels' outfits went back into their nightgown form. They too, fell asleep. But about an hour after they fell asleep, Rikka, Hinote, and Hiraku stood up. Why? Because someone had broken into Catherine's room.