Chapter 5: First Fight
Disclaimer: I only own Akiru, Hajima, and Ichiro nothing else.
Akiru walked nervously into the small shopping center exhibition site. He didn't want to play a game! Yet somehow, he
did… At least Tamayo was there. And Misaki. And Kotaro. He looked down at the small plastic card in his hands. It had a
letter, and a number. W18.
"Now for the 17th game! In the east corner is Deus Suzuki Naomi with angel Reiko! In the west corner is Deus Sato Etsu,
with angel Kin!" With these opening words, the deuses made their entrances, and the battle begun. Obviously these people
were not very experienced; their attacks were broken and they didn't guard very well. The match was very close, but in the
end 'Reiko' won. Then it was his turn.
"You'll be great, Akiru-chan." Tamayo whispered. As he walked up to the west corner, the girl who had lost ran past him,
sobbing, which didn't help his nerves at all.He finished going up to the stand (he took the 'w' to mean west) and sat down.
His opponent was a girl, named Yoshiko, with an angel called Zen. She made a simple entrance, simply throwing the angel
into the layer and saying "Do your best, Zen!"
"Kougeki! Shin shutsu ki botsu, Ichiro!" (Attack! Appear and disappear like a phantom, Ichiro) Ichiro did his backflip-
spring-straighten move. Then the battle began. The whistle blew.
Akiru decided to let the opponent go first, to see how she moved. Zen suddenly sprang forward, moving quickly and adeptly.
Ichiro got down in a battle stance. Zen ran at him like lightning. Ichiro could barely get away fast enough. Zen quickly changed
course, running at him again. He leapt at him, her feet leaving the ground. Akiru instantly knew what to do. On instinct he
dropped to the ground and did a backwards somersault, kicking his feet up in the air. Zen's own momentum carried him up
into the air. She crashed back down, hard, not able to twist to land quickly enough. Akiru knew that the time was ripe. He
began assaulting Zen with furious attacks to the stomach and the head. He could only defend. Slowly and inconspicuously, he
raised his right leg so it was at a 90-degree angle to his waist. Zen saw it a fraction of a second too late.
Ichiro's foot swung around Zen, while his fists were still chipping away at Zen's remaining damage points. His foot slammed
into Zen's back, flipping him. Ichiro jumped, so Zen's writhing body wouldn't hit his foot and flip him too. He swung his
body around Zen, with Zen's body as the hinge connecting him to his foot, and his body was now right behind Zen's. He
punched Zen in the back, catapulting him forward. Zen's body skittered across the floor like a doll, screeching to a halt inches
from the layer's edge. His opponent looked as if she had been struck by lightning. Zen's damage reached 5 percent. Akiru was
sweating. It was hard to picture such a weird move.
Yoshiko was fighting a hard angel to beat. She knew that. He was only at 83 damage, she was at 5. She didn't know what
to do. If she attacked, she might be able to get a few points on her angel card. She decided to play on.
Akiru focused on all his might on his opponent. What was she planning? Then he looked at the layer. Ichiro was now only
half a foot away from Zen, who had been sneaking up on him. Ichiro sat down. Zen was now just 3 inches away from him.
Akiru pretended to not be looking. Then, as Zen reached target point, Ichiro reached up and pressed one of the three blue
buttons on his hood. The effect was instantaneous.
Akiru had looked it up online. The Angelic Layer rules accepted additional weapons, but the owner had to create them
themselves. This was no exception. Akiru had threaded the wires behind one of the buttons to the bottom of his cape and
boots, where boosters, concealed, lay hidden.
Like sleepers on the battlefield, the flames on the boosters ignited. They were not made to burn the other angel, of course, just
to pack some extra punch-well, into Ichiro's punch. It worked. Zen's fruitless guard was obliterated when Ichiro's fist hit
Zen's arms so hard that a small semicircle of wind and sparks was created around them. Finally, Zen collapsed. His damage
point reached critical, and he had 0.
The whistle sounded. "Angel Ichiro and Deus Takahashi Akiru have beaten quite experienced Zen and Yoshiko! Wow, folks,
you don't see this every day!" Akiru picked up Ichiro, and the battered Zen. He looked at Zen.
"I'm so sorry! Is Zen ok? I can't really tell. You're a really good deus! I'm sorry… Waaaa…" Akiru said, handing Zen to
Yoshiko.
"Silly, all he needs is some armor patch ups! See, there, and there. Wow, those hard kicks were really powerful. That was a
great match. How long have you been playing? Maybe we'll play again sometime, huh?" She said, waving aside his apology.
They shook hands, and the people cheered. Akiru couldn't believe how happy winning a game could make you feel. The
people here were sooo friendly. "I've been playing for um, half an hour." He replied. The girl's eyes widened. "Wow! I guess
I'll just have to play harder next time then! See ya!"
Akiru walked through the crowd of spectators. He found Tamayo quite easily, as she was bouncing up and down, hugging
some very alarmed bystanders. "YOU KNOW, I FEEL ALMOST AS HAPPY AS WHEN MISAKICHI WON HER FIRST
GAME!" Tamayo yelled. Akiru patted her on the back.
"Very nice, Tamayo…" Misaki muttered, while Kotaro, on the other hand, took a different approach.
"Geez, shut up…" he said, looking around nervously and wiping the sweatdrop from the back of his neck.
Tamayo hugged Misaki, Kotaro, and Akiru, who turned bright red.
"So now what?" He asked. Kotaro explained that now, since he had won an official game, he would get his angel card in about
a week. Then he would be able to participate in tournaments and such.
"Hatoko, my bratty little sister, is an Angelic Layer nut. I know these things." He answered when Akiru asked him how he
knew this. Together, they walked back past Eriol to his house.
"YOU'RE AN AL CHAMPION NOW!" Tamayo yelled. "SEE YA TOMORROW!" Misaki and Kotaro waved, and Akiru
waved back.
See you tomorrow, Tamayo, He thought, and walked into the kitchen, where he was welcomed by Hajima.