********
Sakura stood in a grassy field. The wind blew
hard against her face. Syaoran's face appeared in the sky. He smiled
at her. Then he started to laugh. The sky went dark and his
eyes went red.
Sakura sprang up from her bed. She was sweating
and breathing hard. She hoped this wasn't another 'This is what will
happen in the future if...' dream. She glanced at her alarm clock.
6:30. Her father was already up. She got up, changed, and went
down the stairs to the kitchen. Her father was in the kitchen making
pancakes.
"Sakura? You're up early. And before your brother
too! Have some pancakes," said her father handing her a plate of
pancakes.
"Thanks," said Sakura.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah. I just couldn't sleep."
"Well, eat your breakfast. I'll be leaving
for work soon."
"all right," said Sakura, now a lot more cheerful.
She quietly ate her pancakes while her father got ready for work. Shortly after their conversation, Touya came down the stairs.
"Amazing! The Squirt's up early."
Sakura ignored him and continued to eat. Touya
grabbed a fork and plate and got himself some pancakes. He sat down
across from her and ate quickly. He put his dishes in the sink and
left for work. Her father came back down, grabbed his bag, and left.
She cleaned up, then brought Kero the leftover pancakes. After that,
she went outside to wait for Tomoyo. She had asked her father if
she could go to the competition before she went to bed. It would
only be for a few hours.
The limo arrived shortly. This time, only
Tomoyo was there. She explained that her mother had something to
do. Sakura understood and stepped into the car.
"Hey, Sakura! Ready for your first angel battle?"
asked Tomoyo.
"I think. How about you?"
"I think I'll be all right."
They stopped at Syaoran's house. Syaoran was already waiting outside. They opened the door and he sat across from Sakura and Tomoyo. The bodyguard drove them to the same place they went to practice. They entered the lobby which was now full of chairs, only a few people were seated. They got seats in the front. More people continued to file into the room. A woman was standing in the front. She was holding a mic so Sakura assumed she would be speaking to them before the competition. After most of the seats were filled, she began her speech.
"Welcome to this year's new comers competition! Instead of what we usually do, we have silent battles. First, everyone pick a number out of the hat being passed around. Each slip of paper is in a small cube that can only be opened when you place it on the layer," said the woman.
A top hat was passed through the rows. Sakura,
Syaoran, and Tomoyo picked their cubes, then passed it on.
"Has everyone gotten their number? Okay. Now
will you all check under your chairs? If you find a piece of paper
taped to the bottom, you will be taken to the rooms."
Sakura reached her hand under her chair. She felt around but only felt the fabric of the chair. Syaoran and Tomoyo did the same. Neither of them found anything. About half of the crowd left and were led through the door and elevator to the right. The woman waited for all of them to leave, then continued.
"For those of you that are left, the computer will
randomly bring up your the numbers. You will open your cubes on this
portable layer and go to the specified room. You will battle, then come
back in here. Are the directions clear?"
"Yes," said everyone else in the room.
They crowded around the portable layer, each placing their tiny cube on it. After a few minutes, Sakura got to the layer. She placed her cube on it. It shook back and forth several times until it opened and revealed a small piece of paper. She picked it up and unfolded it. On it was written the number 6. She had seen that room before and headed to the door. Syaoran and Tomoyo were close behind her but they both went up the elevator. When she entered the room, a girl was sitting at the layer. She couldn't have been older than seven. Sakura sat across from her and put her angel on the layer. She grabbed the headset, put it on, and extended the wings. In a few seconds, the woman appeared on a small double sided video screen.
"Is everyone ready? all right then. Let the battle begin!"
Sakura stared at the layer. Syaoran was up. So was her opponent.
"Hi! My name's Kiyoshi! What's yours?"
asked the girl.
"Sakura. And this is my angel, Syaoran."
"My angel's name is Sailor Phoenix! Good luck!"
Kiyoshi's angel was in a school uniform with long boots like the one's in the Sailor Moon manga Sakura had seen at the store. There were two beeps and the battle began. Sailor Phoenix ran toward Syaoran. Syaoran tried to grab her arm but she flipped and landed behind him. She kicked him. Syaoran got back up and grabbed her arm flipping her over onto the ground. They continued to trade blows. The battle was short but to Sakura, it felt like forever. Finally, Syaoran did the final blow that knocked Sailor Phoenix out of the layer and into Kiyoshi's hands. Sakura grabbed her angel and stood up. Kiyoshi followed suit and they shook hands.
"Great job!" said Kiyoshi.
"Thanks!" said Sakura.
They shook hands one final time, then went back to the lobby. Several other people had finished their battle including Syaoran and Tomoyo.
"Hey, Sakura!" said Tomoyo.
"Hi. How did your battles go?" asked Sakura.
"I won! I was the second person out here,"
said Tomoyo.
"It was easy..." said Syaoran.
"And you?" asked Tomoyo.
Sakura nodded. Tomoyo and Syaoran smiled.
They sat and ate some snacks while they waited. More people came
back, some grinning while the others frowning with defeat. Finally,
everyone came back out along with the woman.
"Those that lost, please go through the door to your right for round two. For those that won, please come up here to receive your angel card," said the woman.
The crowd ran up to the desk. She handed each one a card. They were handed a special pen that could not be erased, washed away, or photocopied. They wrote their name and their angel's name on it. Sakura looked at her card. The letters seemed to glow and sparkle in the light from the window. Tomoyo called the bodyguard to pick them up. The limo drove up shortly. The door opened and the three stepped in. They told each other about their battles.
"I barely made it. My opponent was hitting
me really hard. But that's where I got her! I used my speed
against him.^_^" said Tomoyo.
"Mine was an easy battle," Syaoran.
"That's it? No details?" asked Tomoyo.
Syaoran stayed silent. They reached his house
and he got out. On the way to Sakura's house, Tomoyo and Sakura stayed
silent. They were extremely tired. The limo stopped in front
of her house. Sakura got out, waved to Tomoyo, and went inside.
It was only the afternoon so no one was home, not including Kero.
She made Kero and herself sandwiches. She brought one up to Kero,
who was playing video games, and went back down to turn on the tv.
She flipped through the channels and took a few bites from her sandwich.
One channel had an Angelic Layer competition on. She decided to watch
and see if she could get any tips. On the screen were the pictures
of two angels. One in white with long, shiny, blond hair. The
other was in black with spikes coming from the shoulders and was a whole
head taller and a lot more muscular than the other. Then the screen
flicked over to the layer. They started the battle. The black
grabbed the white one and flipped it but the white lifted her leg to flip
the other over. The battle raged on until it looked like the end
for the white one. Then, just before she was hit, she jumped into
the air and made a ball of energy that she threw at her opponent.
It knocked it out of the layer.
Sakura stared at the screen flaberghasted.
Could she do that if she got better. She clicked off the tv and went
upstairs. Kero was playing Xylon Warriors. She thought and
decided to watch his moves and try them in the layer in her next battle.
*************
Well...That's it for now. The next chapter will be coming out
soon. The fall is going to slow it down with school and all. Anyway,
Enjoy it when it does get updated. Thank you for reading and please
tell me what you think. Thanks!^_-
Pika112388