Chapter 14: A Knight's Joust and a Deuce's Heart
"Mom? No mom…how could…" a young boy asked.
"I'm sorry Jing but your mother has died from her disease and never got better from it." His father said.
I remember the last few words that my mother said….
"Jing…you are my little knight…please stay that way with your little brother…make sure you protect him…"
I kept those words with me especially until I saw the Angelic Layer commercials.
"That woman on the t.v. screen looks like mom!" his younger brother, Tai, said.
"Yeah but she's an angel and I want an angel like her." Jing said.
"You should make one and make it strong." Tai said with a smile.
"I will!" Jing exclaimed.
My younger brother was the one who got me into creating Knight in the first place and I know he's protected with every battle I win and if I lost any of the battle I don't think I would ever face him again!
"Jing, it's almost time for your next match!" one of his friends said.
"Coming! Adrienne Stone, you will be going down along with Takehiro Sano." Jing said as he looked at Knight.
"There we go, all done!" Takehiro exclaimed after he finished fixing up Aerial.
"I am so glad he's okay now." Adrienne said as she took him from Takehiro.
"He is in shape to fight we can find him some new stuff to wear later on but you need to focus on your fight against Knight." Takehiro told her.
"Right, planning on it!" she exclaimed as she put on the torn clothes back on Aerial. "Come on Aerial, let's take down Knight!" She went towards the layer.
"Good luck! Come on Lara, let's root for them!" Takehiro said as he took his angel and went into the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the next fight! This match will determine the champion of this round and the loser will be the semi-finalist and will also move onto the next part of the games! Now in the West corner is the knight of the layer, Jing Samamura and his angel Knight!"
"Go Jing!"
"Kick that girl's ass!"
"And in the East corner is the rookie that has been spreading her own wings on the layer, Adrienne Stone with her angel, Aerial!"
"Yeah Adrienne!"
"Teach Jing a lesson!"
"Now enter the angels you two!"
""Joust with your wings Knight!" Jing yelled as he threw his angel onto the layer. "The angel descends!"
"Spread your silver wings and fly Aerial!" Adrienne yelled as she threw hers onto the layer. "The angel descends!"
"Let's have an angelic fight!"
"So, it looks they chose a jousting ring this time." Takehiro said as he noticed the virtual scene.
"Yeah." Nanaka said.
"I watched your battle against Aura, pretty impressive but not impressive enough when it comes to versing against me!" Jing exclaimed as he had Knight charge at Aerial. Aerial dodged and started to dodge Knight's punches and kicks and started to do the same back. "So Adrienne, tell me how were you able to get this far? Just beginner's luck or a move that you depended on with your angel?"
"What?" Adrienne asked and she saw Aerial take Knight down and Knight got back up. "That's not true."
"Oh it is, I saw those techniques you uses, you wait until that little censor blinks in your visor and then take out the angel with it." Jing said.
"Shut up! You don't even know about it!" she yelled and had Aerial dodge and kick Knight down again.
"Oh it is, you don't even try!" Jing yelled as he had Knight kick Aerial. Aerial started fihting back.
"What the hell is he doing?" Hatori asked.
"Damn that bastard, he's psyching her out." Takehiro growled.
Adrienne saw Aerial get kicked down and the buzzer sounded. "No Aerial!" she yelled. She had him get up.
"I thought you would give up." Jing said.
"No, no I never give up!" she yelled and had Aerial charge at Knight and started fighting Knight head on.
Damn it, my psyche out didn't work! Why isn't she giving into it? Jing thought and saw Knight fall down.
"Wow! It looks like Aerial is not giving up this time around. I guess after his fight against Vampire caused a major spark!" the announcer exclaimed.
Jing had Knight get up from the layer.
"Tell me Jing, why are you like this and why is winning so important to you?" Adrienne asked.
"You won't understand!" Jing yelled as he had Knight charge head on. "Jousting kick!"
"Adrienne!" Takehiro yelled.
Aerial blocked the kick with one hand and flipped Knight over onto the layer.
"Whoa! That was amzing, I never knew an angel would block the kick without any hesitation! Let's see what else Aerial will offer in his next move!"
"Good move but not good nough!" Jing yelled as he had Knight gget up and charge at Aerial and he dodged the charge and jumped up and kicked Knight from behind.
"Why are you dodging and hitting when you are supposed to be down and out!?" Jing yelled.
"You said before I only rely on Aerial's silver wing mode, right? I am proving that I can't and able to beat you with brute force! Now Aerial, finish him off with your Horizon Kick!" Adrienne yelled. Aerial's leg glowed silver as he ran and kick Knight right in the center and caused him to fall off the layer. The buzzer sounded. Jing's visor fell off. "I finally proved it to you…"
"AERIAL WINS! UNBELIEVABLE…"
"She cheated!" Jing yelled.
"What?" the announcer asked.
"I did not, I didn't use the silver wing mode at all! He glows silver naturally with each move since he is a silver model!" Adrienne yelled.
"The only way to win this argument is is to see the video again of the final move!" the announcer exclaimed. "Let's watch shall we?"
On the screen above the Horizon Kick was replayed and it shown that only Aerial's leg glowed not his whole body and Knight got kicked off the layer. "The video has spken! Aerial has won this match and that means Adrienne Stone is the winner and finalist while Jing Samamura as semi-finalist!"
"All right!" Adrienne exclaimed. She noticed Jing take Knight and run off and sighed.
"Brother!" Jing heard as he kept on running.
"Leave me alone Tai, I failed you as a deuce and not only that, mom!" Jing yelled.
"No you didn't Jing, you did your best!" Tai yelled.
"Sht up!" Jing yelled.
"Hey! Stop it!" Adrienne yelled as she ran over.
"You're the one who won!" Tai exclaimed.
"Listen Jing, the reason why I won is to teach you a lesson in what you have done by fighting forcefully. You injured Lara with your reckless technique." Adrienne said.
"There you are!" they heard and saw Hatori, Nanaka, and Takehiro.
"When you psyched me out during that fight, it didn't mess me up at all. I saw the censor beeping after a few jabs and kicks but I didn't use it because I wanted to beat you with all I got and I did. After seeing you go against Takehiro, I knew I wanted to go against you and I was happy I got to and when I asked you why you fight, you didn't answer, please tell me." Adrienne said.
"It's because of our mother." Tai answered for him.
"Tai!" Jing yelled.
"No, I won't shut up! The reason why he fights and wants to win so much is because years ago our mother died from a disease she got two years after I was born and Jing remembered what she said as her last words." Tai said.
"Which were?" Hatori asked.
"Jing you are my little knight please stay that way…" Jing answered.
"Now I could see why you named it Knight." Nanaka said.
"Yeah, he did because of mom." Tai told them as he looked at Jing.
"Listen Jing, after the years you hung out with me, I never knew that you would feel this way." Hatori said.
"Yeah, maybe for the rest of your layer battles you should fight with a better heart and instead of with force." Nanaka told him.
"Angelic Layer is just about fun and not about just proving who's the best by winning." Adrienne said.
"You're right, maybe I should keep that in mind in the next part. Stone, keep on fighting the same way you always have been with our without that that hyper mode. Come on, Tai, let's go home! I got some strategies to think about."
"All right, I'll see you guys at the next portion of the games in Kansai!" Tai exclaimed and left with Jing.
"Kansai?" Adrienne asked.
"Yeah, our games are the Kanto region so the next prtion is in Kansai and that's the finals. Not only that, in the rest of the games you need a partner to help you out with the fights. I will explain later, let's go." Takehiro told her.
Everyone left the stadium and headed home for the night. When Adrienne arrived at home, she said, "I'm home, guess who won!"
"Adrienne?" she heard her father ask.
"Yeah, I won the second part the games!" she exclaimed.
"Games, what games?" he heard and noticed a woman. "M-mom?