Angelic Layer

By Ryke12

Disclaimer: I do not own Angelic Layer, these characters are not mine (well, some of them ). Please do not sue me, for I am poor and am in need of money myself.

Chapter 1

I circle my enemy, watching her as she readies for another inevitable clash. I managed to dash to the side as the little red one sped past me, then started circling around for another shot. Hehe…this fight is nothing to me… it's so easy to win this. Running to meet her, I kicked at the last moment possible, ducking under the inevitable punch.

"Oh! And the strange rookie from Osaka, Ryke, lands another blow on Hikaru, the Miracle Rookie who won last year's nationals!" the Announcer shouts, staring at the battle that was unfolding.

On the Layer, a small red Angel was fighting a small Angel clothed in black. As the red Angel –Hikaru- jumped into midair, the black one ran to the very edge of the Layer, obviously waiting for something.

"Go, Misakichi, go!" Tamayo yelled, staring enraptured at the fight. Just then

Hikaru smashed the Layer, temporarily stunned from the impact, while the black Angel Dragon-kicked her.

Flipping upright, Hikaru dashed towards the black Angel one last time… and was clothes-lined. The entire audience watched in disappointment as the points on Hikaru's bar dropped to nothing.

"She lost?!" Kotaro yelled, looking at Tamayo. Meanwhile, Hatoko was running towards Misaki, shouting encouragement. The other Deus merely stepped off of his chair, and was proceeding to the exit when Misaki stopped him.

"E-Excuse me." She said, looking at him. The strange part, she thought, was that I can look at him, eye-to-eye. "I… was just wondering. What is your name?" she asked bravely.

The short (well, he's standing eye-to-eye with Misaki) boy looked at her and said, "Ryke, that's the name of me and the angel."

Tamayo and Kotaro ran up to Misaki just in time to hear this comment. "Little arrogant, isn't he?" Tamayo asked, nudging Kotaro.

"Well, it was fun playing with you, Ryke!" Misaki cheerfully said, then they shook hands. Hatoko ran up right after that.

"Took you long enough, Hatoko." Tamayo said.

"Weird group of friends you have. Enthusiastic, but weird." Ryke turned around and left as Kotaro was straining to hold Tamayo back.

"Lemme at him! I'll teach him to call us weird!" she shouted, eventually resorting to flipping Kotaro in order to chase Ryke.

As she was about to catch him, another hand caught her shoulder. She was forced to stop, "Why are you grabbing me?! Leggo!" she tried to shake it off.

"Why chase after him?" the strange man in a business suit asked.

"Because he called us weird!"

"Well, then you'll have to go through us in order to get to Ryke." The man calmly said as five more people stepped out of the crowd, easily making themselves visible.

"Ahh…. That's OK. I'm suddenly not mad at him…" Tamayo mumbled, then went back to Misaki, cursing under her breath. When she reached Misaki, she looked around. Seeing no more of the men, she dashed out of the room.

"Hey! Misaki! What are you doing?! Where are you going?!" Kotaro asked, running after her.

"Let her do this. She needs to." Hatoko said, calmly pulling Kotaro back.

"Hmm… she's probably going to spy on me, I assume." Ryke said, popping up from nowhere.

Where'd he come from? It's like he knew what she's doing… who IS this guy? Kotaro wondered to himself. Suddenly, Ohjiro came out of nowhere, and put his hand on Ryke's shoulder forcefully.

"Don't mess with Misaki." Ohjiro said sternly, trying to keep Ryke from approaching Misaki. Ryke, in a surprising move, grabbed Ohjiro's hand and forcibly flipped him onto the floor, knocking the wind from his lungs and opening a window of opportunity for Ryke to reach Misaki.

"Don't try and stop me." Ryke said coldly, looking over his shoulder at Ohjiro.

"Wh-what do you want?" Misaki asked Ryke nervously, eyeing him while he was approaching.

"Keep Tamayo away from me. I was kind this time. Next time it won't be so easy to follow me."

"What about your thugs?!" Kotaro shouted after Ryke when he tried to leave.

"What thugs? I don't know what you're talking about." Ryke looked at Kotaro like he was trying to trick him.

"The guys in the suits. There were about six of them." Kotaro said, looking perplexed now.

"What! Six guys in suits? Damn! Your friend is in trouble. Big trouble. You guys should get out of here while you can."

"But… why? Aren't they your bodyguards? Or friends?"

"No. They've been trying to find me for a while. Damnit. I guess this spectacle was too public." Ryke ran off, leaving Kotaro and company to wonder about what he said.