Chapter 8: The Tournament Arena

Disclaimer: Angelic Layer is owned by Clamp. I only invented the events in this book, and Akiru and his family, Hajima, and Ichiro.

Akiru put Ichiro gently back in his egg, which was his holder, his cape, hands, and stomach repaired. He went over to the box that he kept his saving in, and wondered what

he could possibly do with so much money (Besides practicing Angelic Layer 9 times). He then went to bed, thinking of the size of the tournament layer. Would it be as big

as the layer on the video? Would it be… zzzzzzz.

He woke up bright and early. It was 6 am, even before Hajima-san woke up. He got some eggs out of the fridge, with a mango, assorted fresh fruit, and a fish. Then, walking

over to the stove, he began to cook.

Hajima woke up to the sound of fish sizzling, and the smell of rice and curry. He walked into the steamy kitchen and saw lots and lots of food, sitting on the table. Akiru

smiled.

"Eat it, Hajima-san! It's not poisoned, I tasted it myself." Hajima sat down and ate. And ate. And ate.

"So, Akiru, are you going to be anywhere Angelic Layer-related after school?"

"Um, yes! That strange guy I met on the airplane, I saw him yesterday and he gave me some stuff. My Angel Card, for a start!"

"Good! So where are you going to be?"

"Down at the tournament layer. I got a pass into the building!"

"Ok. Dfo wellsch at schoofl!" Hajima said, with his mouth full.

Akiru grabbed his bag, his money, and Ichiro, and ran off to school.


Later, at Eriol Academy

Akiru took notes in History, while he wondered why Tamayo wasn't in any of his classes. It wasn't fair.

Tamayo took notes in Japanese, while she wondered why Akiru wasn't in any of her classes. It wasn't fair.

In gym class, Akiru watched while Tamayo broke a wooden board that was 2 inches thick, with a roundhouse kick. She took a karate pose. A bar was above her head, and

she had to break it without use of her hands. She flipped, landed on her hands, and bent her legs in both directions. Then she swung both legs back so they were side by

side. The bar, in between them, was caught by the right leg swinging back and the left going forward. It snapped, and was driven into the ground as Tamayo swung it back

down. Akiru watched in amazement. It was his turn to do something. He had to kick a board that was next to his head, on the right. He swung his left foot, and ducking out

of the way, turned around and kicked it, snapping it in half.

After school, Akiru went to the tournament layer. He slid the paper in between the 8th and 9th bricks. The titanium door swung open, clicking ominously behind him as it

locked.

Icchan sniggled, hiding in a doorway just above where Akiru was.

Akiru heard a noise. Puzzled, he looked around. Then, a figure dropped on top of him, trying to strangle him and putting a hand over his mouth… Wait. He looked up, and

saw, unsurprisingly, the mad scientist stereotype. Icchan burst out laughing.

"HAHAHA! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN YOUR FACE! CHOKE… WHEEZE…" Icchan looked at Akiru. "Ok, tournament layer this-a-way. I knew you'd get lost…"

Akiru rolled his eyes, thoroughly unimpressed.


At the tournament stadium

"Whoa. It's GIANT!" Akiru said, thoroughly impressed.

"Yep! I'm here every afternoon. I will commentate. I have got an opponent for you. Ronin!" Icchan called. A boy, about 17, by the looks of him, walked out of the

shadows of another door, carrying an angel in a black costume. Black pants. Black shirt. Black armor. Black skin! Black hair! Except for a pair of white lightning strikes

down the sides of his body, the whole guy was black. He stepped up to the layer and pressed a button and another button. The stadium lit up, and then 3 egg-shaped

chairs zoomed down. Icchan got into one that was kind of off to the side. Akiru, nervous, got into one, Ronin got into the other.

"When thunder rolls around, lightning strikes! Vanquish your opponent, Thunder! Angel, fall in!" Ronin threw the angel in.

"Kougeki! Shin shutsu ki botsu, Ichiro! Angel, fall in!" Ichiro fell onto the layer. Ichiro started to commentate.

"And the layer for today… will be this!" Instantly, a strange pockmarked layer appeared. Akiru gasped. It was light beige, and huge craters were everywhere. Ichiro

hopped onto the layer. As soon as he touched down, he bounced back up. "ICCHAN! WHAT IS THIS?"

"Very simple, Akiru. If the layer was ice, it would be slippery, right?"

"Right."

"Well, you're on the moon. Hee hee." Akiru stared at the layer. It did bear a resemblance to the moon. Thunder bounded across the layer, heading straight for Ichiro. Ichiro,

caught off guard, was not even able to block. He was kicked right in the neck and he skidded into one of the craters. Akiru heard his damage points zip down to 60. Ichiro

got back up, and walked back to the center of the layer. He sat down, and kicked Thunder's legs out from under him. Ichiro picked up one of his legs, slid Thunder through

his own legs, and brought him over his head. He was about to slam him down when Thunder punched him right in the stomach. Thunder dropped to the ground, and Ichiro

kneed him in the chest and escaped. He only had 40 now.

Thunder, taking advantage of the bounciness of the layer, zoomed right next to Ichiro's head, planning to land behind him and kick him off the layer. Ichiro imitated what

Akiru had done earlier, swinging around and kicking Thunder's stomach. Thunder bounced up high, and landed on his feet. He then kicked off, his head going right over

Ichiro's, his feet headed right for Ichiro's neck. Akiru did a handstand to avoid it, then thought of Tamayo. He splayed his legs, waited till Thunder was in between them,

then snapped them back together. Thunder was caught in between Ichiro's legs. Ichiro sprang off of the ground, and landed on his feet, Thunder slamming into the ground.

Thunder then resorted to a dirty trick. He pretended to be down, and when Ichiro turned to retreat, he grabbed his foot. However, Akiru had been expecting something like

this. He flipped. Thunder, hanging on to Ichiro's foot, flipped along with Ichiro's body. Thunder crashed down on the ground. He had 30 left.

Akiru sweated. He had thought that that last blow would finish him off. Tamayo's move. Tamayo… Akiru knew what to do. Ichiro ran at Thunder, and caught him in a

headlock. He crashed back down, his damage reaching 10. He guarded… and Ichiro did a furious roundhouse, which hit Thunder's arms and blasted him off the layer. The

game was over.

"ICHIRO- WINS!" Icchan's voice thundered through the remains of the game. However, when Thunder had slid off the layer, he had been trying to hang on. His fingertips

were still on the layer, still alive. If even a bit of him was off the layer, though, Ichiro would have won. Akiru knew that the game was done. Ichiro walked over to

Thunder's hands. Grabbing one in a viselike grip, his hand went off the layer and became inanimate. However, the rest of him was still very much alive He tugged, and

succeeded in pulling Thunder back onto the layer. They walked to the center of the layer. Ichiro held out his hand, and slowly, Thunder took it.

Icchan grinned.

"You're a great fighter!" Ronin said. "Practice sometime?"

"H-hai!" Akiru answered. He concentrated, and Ichiro sprang off the layer into his hands.

Icchan thought. He needed to enter this boy in the tournament. When Akiru had left, he walked into the lab. He walked over to Ogata and for once, addressed him without

any weird, shall we say, attachments.

"Hello, Ogata."

"Hello, Chief Icchan!"

"Did you tape the match?"

"Yup. Got every bit of it. Here's the tape." He waved a tape in the air, and Icchan took it. He stored it away with Akiru's other matches then went to a website called the

official site for Angelic Layer tournaments. He logged in, his username "Theboss," his password . He went to the sign up page, and registered Akiru. He would tell him

tomorrow, no biggie. Then he checked up on who else was entering.

There was the usual, Suzuka, Shirahime, Alice, Blanche, Mao, and Hikaru. There were also a TON of newbies. There was a picture of each one. He would have to change

the Angelic Layer rules. He didn't like what he was seeing. Most of these kids must have excellent small-motor skills, because there were swords trained to come out of

their hands, and those could severely damage an angel. He also saw things like mace-and-chains, clubs, fire weapons, and things to make the angels grow, in size.

He logged onto another techie website, which allowed him to change the Angelic Layer rules. He typed in: Weapons may be used, but they must not directly harm the

opponent. All angels with such weapons must disable them at once. They will be disqualified and their angel cards taken away if they do not remove these weapons.

Then he sighed and sat back in his chair. "Ogata, could you get me some Ramen? I'm hungry."

Ogata, surprised by his boss's outburst of sanity, said, "yes, sir" at once and ran to get Ramen.

Akiru walked home, thinking of Tamayo and how she had helped him when his angel had needed it most. Hajima called out to him, asking how his game went. Akiru replied

'fine', but he hardly heard himself. He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts. Tamayo…