Angelic Layer: Angels and Oni
By: Jamie Varney
Battle 01: Home
Mihara Ichirou had accomplished some great things in his life, but none of them have ever given him the feeling of pride that was swelling in him at the moment. It took three years of back-breaking work on a rigorous daily schedule, but today was the day all his hard work paid off. The hardest part was keeping it all a secret, Misaki is a very bright girl, and under no circumstances could he let her know what he had planed. Now the only thing left to do was wait.
oooooooooooooooo
"Tadaima!" Misaki said as she entered the house and removed her shoes. Today had been a very long day, and Misaki was quite tired. Like most days she spent her time scavenging for parts for Ichirou, and like most days she came home empty handed.
"Ichirou?" She yelled into the back room, "you there? Ichirou!"
He must be caught up in his work again She thought to herself. I may as well go ahead and get dinner ready for him. Misaki wheeled her way into the kitchen and started to gather the pots and pans she would need to prepare dinner. Food was scares these days, but thanks to her husband she was able to cook some meat at least twice a week. After gathering her materials she moved over to the rice steamer and opened the lid.
"Icchan is here!" A mass of white goo shot up out of the cooker and qucikly took the shape of Ichirou standing on the counter.
"NYAAAHHH!" Misaki screamed as she rolled her chair backward, directly into the table full of pans; her face never releasing from her classic childlike look of shock. Ichirou erupted into a fit of laughter over her expression, after all this is what he had worked so hard for all these years.
"Three years!" Deep breath, "It took me three hard years!" Holding his sides Icchan fell to the floor with laughter, "And after all that time, it was well worth it to see that look on your face again!"
Regaining her composure Misaki rolled her chair forward and looked down at Icchan's convulsing body.
"Seriously Ichirou don't you think you are a little old to be playing these childish tricks?" Icchan's body instantly stiffened as he shot to his feet. His expression was a practiced one, the same one that he had often used to frighten his underlings.
"And aren't you a little old to be rolling around in that chair of yours?" Even though Misaki had long since gotten used to Ichirou's menacing expression, something about his tone of voice gave her goose bumps. This shook her up enough that she dropped her bravado and reverted back to the shy girl she is at heart.
"Well… Ummo… You see…" She stuttered, "You know I need it to…"
"Don't give me that young lady! Right there in the next room is a set of prosthetic legs, just like your mothers. No! Better then your mothers! Do you really think she wants you to go through your life with the same disability she did?" Fury began building in Misaki's eyes and he knew it. It had been a long time since they had this particular conversation, but none the less he knew how it was going to end all to well.
"What does it matter anyway! How long do you think we have Ichirou? A month? Maybe a year?" Misaki's eyes began to glisten over over as she talked. "We are both going to be back with Mom soon anyway! Why don't you just let me live out my days the way I want to!" With that Misaki lowered her head and let her tears fall into her lap.
Icchan lowered himself down to one knee and placed his hand on the side of Misaki's face. "Don't speak like that Misaki" Icchan said softly while wiping her tears away. "While we will both rejoin your mother someday, trust me when I say it's not going to be for a very long time." After several minuets Misaki's sobbing grew low.
"How do you know?" She whispered "How do you know for sure?"
"Because you are my daughter… And I have faith in you."
oooooooooooooooo
How the hell do I let her talk me into these things? Kotarou thought to himself as he dodged yet another talon intended for his face. The demon continued toward him slashing with its vicious claws, completely intent on making his innards not live up to their name. Kotarou continued to dodge when he could and block when he must to fend of the beast, but he knew he would soon be backed into a wall, and that was something he was not looking forward to.
Over the past five years Kotarou had served with many good men, he had also watched most of them die. When Koratou first joined the force it was hard for him to accept that he was going to be killing for a living, even if they weren't human. But his attitude changed quickly when he saw a demon kill a man for the first time, it was so cold… so ruthless… At that point he decided to dedicate his entire mind, body and soul to protecting the human race, and he never looked back. Now after years of being known as 'the luckiest man in the war' it seemed that he was finally going to meet his end. But even at such a bleak time Kotarou couldn't help but laugh at the irony, he always knew he was going to die a violent death, most soldiers do, but he always thought it would be at the hands of his wife.
"Get off him you bastard!" Before Kotarou even had a chance to find the source of the voice, he seen an arm wrap around the monsters neck from behind and a leg wrap around its ankles to knock it off balance. And then with a sickening snap the monster went limp. After using her mass the swing the creature out of the way Tamayo turned back giving Kotarou a victory sign… and a nice little jiggle from her skin tight shirt.
Ah, now I remember how I let her talk me into these things now.
"You alright Kotarou? Look's like it got you pretty good" She said while inspecting his wounds.
"When you're around I know I have nothing to worry about. By the way, what was that you did to that demon? Don't tell me that you learned a new form of martial arts in the half hour since I last seen you!" He said in a playful voice.
"Nah, nothing new. Just some Akido."
"No way in hell that's Akido!" he said as he slowly sat down to inspect his wounds for himself.
"Sure it is! I just did it a little backwards…" Tamayo said while taking a few steps closer to him.
Kotarou gave her a look showing that he didn't believe a word of it.
"And rather then using his arm I used its neck… Anyway, the important thing is that he didn't tear you up to bad." She said as she dropped down and sat in his lap, kotarou winced at the added weight. "Oh you think that's bad huh? Just wait 'till tonight!"
Even through the pain Kotarou couldn't help but smile in anticipation.
oooooooooooooooo
Though she didn't understand why Misaki felt a lot better after letting out all her bottled up emotions last night. Nothing had changed, not really; there was still a good chance that she and every other human being would be dead by the end of the week. Then again she trusted Icchan and he had faith, not just faith in himself, or faith in god, but faith in her. Whether she believed herself or not, Icchan believes that she can save the world.
Once upon a time Misaki had faith in herself, it even led her to winning three consecutive Angelic Layer championships. But as she grew older she began to understand the error of her childish ways; of course age and size matter, and just having friends doesn't mean everything is going to be alright. Sometimes it takes more to get ahead in the 'real world,' and most of the time it takes more then any one person can handle.
"Ah, there you are!" Ichirou said as he walked into storage room, "I was wondering where you had got off to after we finished in the garden." Ichirou looked around at he stacks of junk that had accumulated over the years, turning there once guest room into nothing more then a storage area. He then shifted his gaze down at Misaki who was sitting on the floor.
"Yeah, I was just… I was kinda hoping to find my old sewing stuff." She said while fiddling with the doll in her hands. "Hikaru's gettin' a little ragged and I thought…"
"I see." Ichirou said in an even voice, "Why don't you let me take a look at her."
Misaki handed him the doll and watched as he gave it a thorough inspection, just as he had done the first time he as seen the angel all those years ago. While Misaki didn't have much faith in herself, she was looking at one of the two people left in this world she trusts without question.
The day Oujirou left Ichirou made solemn vow to care for Misaki until he returned; and he always stayed true to his word. There had been many days that there wasn't enough food, and despite her greatest rejections Icchan always gave up his portion to misaki, he usually used the excuse, "I am to busy to eat." Or, "I have a summer flu, the food would go to waste if I ate it just to regurgitate it 10 minuets later!" Misaki never once believed his excuses, but she knew that no matter what she did he wasn't going to eat it anyway, and there is no point in letting good food go to waste.
"I will tell you what," Icchan said while removing Hikaru's clothing, "You find you needle and thread to fix her clothes, and I will take Hikaru down to my lab and fix her up best I can."
"Thank you Icchan!" She said brightly, before a wave of realization came over her. "But don't you have more important things to do?"
"Nonsense! Keeping my daughter slash sister-in-law happy is my only reason for living!" He said in the over-the-top manor he is known for. "Anyway, Hikaru is going to need to be in good shape so you can practice with her." Ichirou said in an I-know-something-you-don't tone, and walked out of the room.
Misaki just sat there staring after him, with a clear expression of shock on her face.
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For as long as Tamayo could remember she always loved cheering her friends on, whether it be on the layer or the battlefield. An odd silence loomed as Tamayo took a minute to inspect the faces of the thirty men and woman who sat in front of her, and in her heart she knew that there isn't a single one of them she wouldn't call 'friend'. Taking a deep breath she laid her hands on the lectern and began.
"Five years ago the military assembled an elite strategic group known as 'The Force'. Over one-hundred men and women were chosen to join, and I am honored to say that I fought by the side of every one of them!" Tamayo paused just long enough to make eye contact with Kontarou, from the expression on his face she must be doing good. "Day after day we have fought our enemy, and while we may not know where they came from we do know where they are going!" She paused for a split second to build tension. "Straight to hell!"
A barrage of yells filled the room as the soldiers shouted and cheered in unison. Tamayo took a second to bask in her men's enthusiasm before continuing.
"Our group alone has killed more of those oni bastards then any other four teams put together! And it's not going to end there!" Tamayo was impressed with her men, she had given dozens of these speeches over the years; and while the number of men in the room dropped each time, their willingness to fight only seemed to rise. "As you all know yesterday's offensive was a complete success, we were able to cleanse the entire Yamagata Prefecture of the demon scum! And thanks to our efforts AWDF was able to extend the static shield another fifty kilometers! We have regained control of over seventy percent of Japan!"
Tamayo grinned as she waited for the cheers to die down once again. Everyone in the room knew what to expect next, it was always the same, congratulate them on a job well done, and send them off on the next mission.
"As I am sure you all have know new orders came in this morning; and without a doubt I believe that these are the most important orders we have ever received! And as always I expect every one of you to follow them without question!" Tamayo glanced back at husband and noticed the slight grin on his face, "Go home, rest, we all get one week off. Thats an order!" With a sly grin she looked at Kontarou and added, "Enjoy you time off, I know I will."
The reaction among the crowed was mixed, some of the soldiers were thrilled they were getting a break, while others were pissed that they were going to have to go an entire week without kicking some ass. But the most common reaction from the majority of the men, and even some of the women, was jealously over the look Tamayo was giving Kontarou.
Kontarou remained seated until the room cleared out. Getting to his feet he started toward his wife, but without warning he found himself in a very painful arm bar.
"Your speech was good." Kontarou gritted out though the pain. Shifting his weight slightly and moving his arm up and over he managed to force his wife into a headlock from behind. "I think you need to give your writer a bonus."
With a slight grunt Tamayo dropped to one knee and flipped Kontarou onto the floor in front of her. "I don't know about a bonus." She said as she slowly sat down, startling her husband. "But I do plan on giving him a 'raise.'"
A heavy blush came across Kontarou's face as Tamayo began running her hands down the front of his uniform. In one quick movement Kontarou gently but firmly grabbed his wife's hands, and slid her onto his lap as he sat up.
"What are we going to do?" He said.
"What do you mean? I know it has been a few hours, but I don't think you would have forgotten how to…" Kontarou quickly cut her off before she could finish.
"That's not what I mean!" he said defensively. "I'm talking about this vacation, what are we going to do? We have no place to go. Besides, while we may be pushing those god forsaken demons back, we are still losing the war!"
Sighing Tamayo said, "That's exactly why we need this vacation, we both know there is someone we need to see before those bastards kill us all. Lets take this week to heal some old wounds."
Before he knew what hit him Kontarou was flat on his back once again.
oooooooooooooooo
"What do you mean that I am off the team! It's my god damn project!" Oujirou could count on one hand the number of times in his life he had truly been mad, now it looked like he was going to move on to his other hand.
"Listen Mihara-san, I did you a favor." Said Nagi Matta, the Advanced Weapons Force leader. "You did me a favor? The static shield was my creation! I have been working with the ADWF on it since the day I graduated high school! For god's sake three years ago I left my home, and my wife to work on it full time!" The expression on Oujirou's face was completely unnatural, even his emerald hair looked as if it were shaking from anger.
"That's my point exactly! You have sacrificed more for this program then any man should." Nagi removed his glasses and began to clean the lenses. "As you know we extended the shield yesterday to encompass the Yamagata Prefecture." Sighing Nagi continued. "It was a bust."
Calming down slightly Oujirou asked him what he meant.
"That whole 'reclaiming Japan' bullshit is pure propaganda, who cares if we take back another city? That just means that we have more area to guard and less man power to do it. And the whole time those demons out there multiplying at an ungodly speed."
Oujirou had always considered himself to be intelligent, but not once in the six months since the shield expansion campaign started had he ever questioned their reasons. Nothing made sense anymore. "Okay, why have we been doing this then? And what the hell does it have to do with firing me?" Oujirou asked
"Oil. Gas. Petrol. Eighty percent of our power is based off of fossil fuels! And our reserves are running low, that why we kept expanding the shield, we were hoping to find fuel stashed somewhere. But this last expansion was all we could handle, we didn't even find enough gas to cover the power we used."
A shocked Oujirou leaned back against the hard cinder block wall and tried to gather he thoughts.
"I can see how this is a serious problem, but I still don't understand what it has to do with me."
"You said it yourself Oujirou-kun," Nagi's voice was much softer and kinder now. "Without you we would have no shield, and none of us would be here right now. You have a wife at home that you haven't seen in years, go be with her; after all we only have a 10 days until we run out of gas and the shield drops…"
oooooooooooooooo
"I don't know if I can do this…" Misaki held the familiar headset in her hand as if it were a snake that could strike at any moment.
"Sure you can!" Icchan said in an encouraging voice. "Angelic layer is just like riding a bike, and you haven't forgot how to ride a bike have you."
Ichirou flowed Misaki's gaze as it fell to her lap. Damn it Ichirou, she's a paraplegic! Could you have said anything more stupid?
"gomen dasai! I didn't mean to… Anyway your not going to let yourself get your ass kicked by an old man like me are you?"
Ichirou took a seat at the opposite end of table and opened a small wooden box he had sitting near by. From the box he pulled out an angel that Misaki recognized immediately, SI-1754. The same angel icchan used to nearly knock her out of her first tournament, the same angel that allowed her and Ochirou to work together for the first time.
"I am sure that you remember Hoshi."
"Hoshi?" Misaki asked weakly.
"That's what I named her, she is my star after all. Sounds much better then SI-1754, don't you think?" Misaki nodded and shifted her gaze to the layer in front of her for the first time.
The layer itself was small and patched together. The normally glowing white surface was now almost grey from microscopic stress cracks. The sides of they layer were riddled with parts and pieces that were salvaged from other machines and wire-wrapped together. The entire table was nothing but well placed rubbish. And yet somehow it works, Misaki thought to herself. Much like our lives.
Deciding it would be easier if he went first Icchan drew his arm back and launched his angel onto the layer.
"In all the heavens, and all the earth, nothing burns so brightly as my shooting star! Angel, fall in!"
As Hoshi crossed the threshold of the layer she gracefully twisted her body resembling a sky diver in freefall. Her speed seemed to grow exponentially as she approached the oncoming layer. Misaki gasped when she heard the thud of the angel hitting the surface; but thanks to years of dust that became airborne upon Hoshi's impact Misaki was unable to tell if there was any damage. As the dust cleared the outline of the angel suddenly became clear. She was simply crouched down with one hand and knee on the ground. Slowly Hoshi righted herself into a full standing position.
"It's your turn." Icchan said in a voice that was friendly but firm.
Misaki nodded and tossed Hikaru into the layer.
"Wings of an angel, please guide me and Hikaru. Angel Fall in." Misaki said quite limply.
As Hikaru made the transition into the layer her movements resembled those of a rookie rather then those of a three time world champion. Even Hikaru's landing was less then impressive. she could barley stand on her own two feet.
This is bad, Ichirou thought to himself. She has a complete lack of confidence in both Hikaru and herself. This is going to be tough.
"Don't give me that 'I don't remember how' routine; I'm not going to fall for it, not from the 'Miracle Rookie.'" Icchan said with a slight smirk, "I'm not going to go easy on you."
Calm down. Concentrate. Focus on Hikaru. Misaki thought to herself. Just like a bike…
Very slowly Hikaru regained her balance and posture. Before Misaki even had a chance smile Hoshi charged across the layer and landed a kick straight into Hikaru's ribs. Hikaru droped to a kneeling position from the kick, but quicky tried to use it to her advantage by moving straight into a legsweep. Nearly caught off guard Hoshi tried to jump backward out of the way of Hikaru's leg, and failed. After tumbling for several centimeters Hoshi returns to her feet, and stares across the layer at a now standing Hikaru.
"Not bad." Icchan said to Misaki while never letting his eyes leave the layer. "I am going to have to remember to watch out for that speed of yours."
"Just luck. It's always been just luck."
"Do you really think luck has anything to do with it here on the layer?" Icchan said semi-quoting one of his favorite movies. "Do you think that is air that you are breathing now?"
Misaki's head snapped up from the fight to look at Icchan.
"What?" She asked, very confused.
The slight distraction was all that Ichirou needed to rush Hikarou and deliver a devastating uppercut. Misaki gasped as she watched her life meter drop to half.
"That was a dirty trick! Twenty years ago you would have never done such a thing!" Misaki yelled across the layer.
"Your right, twenty years ago I wouldn't have, but I've changed. People change. And if you haven't noticed the world's changed. You're going to have to get used t- HEY!"
Misaki giggled as Hikaru delivered a flying kick to the small of Hoshi's back. A tear nearly fell from Icchan's eye as Hoshi's life fell to the same level as Hikaru's.
"You weren't supposed to learn the lesson that fast! Oh well, I still have plenty more lessons to g—HEY!"
oooooooooooooooo
"Do you think is alright? You know, just showing up like this?" Kotarou asked while closely keeping his eyes on the road ahead. Driving could be quite hazardous these days since there were no organizations left to repair the roads.
"Sure! Why wouldn't it be? We haven't seen Misaki and Oujirou in years! Who knows, they may have a couple of litte rug-rats by now!" Tamayo answered.
"You know the last time we didn't exactly part under the best conditions…"
It had been Five years since Shuuko's funeral; it was a very hard day for all, especially Misaki and Ichirou. Hundreds of mourners showed up for the death of "the Mother of Angelic Layer," and millions more from around the world held their own private ceremonies honoring her life. It was quite possibly one of the most beautiful funerals ever conceived, until one heckler opened his mouth. A self proclaimed 'Angelic Layer hotshot' named Santaru Junichi started ranting about how she was 'better off dead, she was a has-been anyway.'
For first twenty-six years of her life thoughts of violence had never even crossed Misaki's mind; Junichi changed that. Misaki had charged her way though the crowd and knocked Junichi on his back with a single well placed punch. No one blamed her for this; he did deserve it after all. But Misaki didn't stop there dropping to the ground she landed punch after punch to baka's face. By the time Kotarou and Tamayo reached Miskai she had already beaten Junichi unconscious, they had no choice but to pull her off. Still furious Misaki lashed out at the two for stopping her, saying if they were really her friends they would have not stopped her. At this point Oujirou finally made his way to his wife and tried to calm her down, he asked the two to leave them alone for a while… That was the last time they ever seen their best friends.
Kotarou and Tamayo fully planed to go see her again the following day, but Tamayo was recalled into emergency service only hours later. Kotarou went with her to a military base in the far northern part of Japan, reports started coming in from all over the world about strange beasts. Within a year there were so many demons terrorizing the world the U.N. officially declared war on the Oni. The Japanese military started recruiting anyone willing, and Kotarou decided to join. The only time that kotarou and Tomayo had seen Misaki since was on a news broadcast several weeks after the funeral when she offered a public apology to Junichi, and declared that she was no longer going to make public appearances related to Angelic Layer. She was retiring.
Snapping back to reality Tamayo picked up where their conversation left off. "I know, we should have made the time to see her before this, but we didn't and there is noting we can do about it." Tamayo said regretfully. "But that's why we are going now. The world may be doomed, but I'll be damned if I'll let our friendship be too!"
oooooooooooooooo
The last half of Misaki and Ichirou's battle took much longer then the first. It was a game of small hits and little damage, but each small hit added up. With one final blow Hoshi managed to knock Hikaru out of the layer.
"Hoshi Win!"
Misaki and Icchan both snapped their heads around to see who had been secretly watching them; a wicked smile came across Ichirou's face when he seen who it was.
"Ogata-kun, it would seem that you are three minuets late. You know what that means!"
"No chief please! I was here early I swear! I just didn't want to interrupt your game!" Ogata said while dropping to his knees and assuming the classic begging position.
After thinking about it for a few seconds Ichirou decided that Ogata was probably telling the truth, and sighed.
"Fine, but I am saving these for next time." He said sitting down the pantyhose and the can of shaving cream he had seemed to pull from nowhere. "Let's get down to the lab, we have a lot of work to do. And Misaki?"
"Yes?" Misaki chirped.
"You can take the day off, I have everything I need for now." With that Ichirou and Ogata walked through the heavy metal door leading to his lab.
Misaki shook her head clear of haze that had gathered there over the last several minuets and rolled her chair over to pick up Hikaru. After inspecting Hikaru for damage she carefully cleaned up the layer and put Hoshi back into her wooden box. Satisfied that everything was in its place she rolled her chair in front of the door that lead to Icchan's lab and lost herself in deep thought.
What could he be doing down there? She wondered to herself, and what does it have to do with making me play Angelic Layer again? In the years leading up to her mother's death Misaki had all but given up Angelic Layer. Sure she had made the occasional appearance at conventions, and she even practiced in private, but she felt that it was the younger generation who deserved to compete.
After her temporary lapse at her mothers funeral, and the unwanted media attention it brought Misaki decided it would be for the best publicly announce her retirement. In all the years since Misaki had never let Hikaru out of her sight, but always knew that she would never get to bring her to life again. That was until this morning, something about the tone of Ichirou's voice when he told her she was going to play compelled her. She didn't know why, but their match today was important, and it all had to do with what was behind that large metal door…
oooooooooooooooo