Chapter 10: The Tournament Begins!

Disclaimer: I don't own Angelic Layer. (Unfortunately.)

Misaki yawned. She got out of bed on the first weekend of summer break. "Hello, Hikaru! Hello, Athena! Time for the tournament, Hikaru! Aren't you excited?" Hikaru, her soft red hair glistening in the light, swayed a bit as if to nod. Misaki grinned.

Akiru got out of bed, feeling a great sense of relief at not having to wake up at 5. The doorbell had rung. He stretched and walked over to the front door's peephole. He looked through it. Oh, it was only Misaki and Hatoko. He opened the door. "Hi, guys!"

"AKIRU, DID YOU FORGET? The first tournament game's today! We're going to be late! Hikaru's already done her match, and you missed it!" Hatoko yelled. Just then, Kotaro and Tamayo ran up, panting. "GARG! I didn't know you could run so fast, Misakichi!" Tamayo grunted, wheezing.

"Yeah, you are really quick." Kotaro agreed.

Tamayo seized on the opportunity. "I can't even take my eyes off of you for a millisecond, Kotaro! Honestly!" She knocked him down, lay down next to him, and drove the heel of her hand into the base of his head. Kotaro blocked it, mostly.

Akiru, Tamayo, Kotaro, Hatoko, and Misaki walked down to the tournament area. There were a lot of people there. That was an understatement; there were probably about a thousand people there! Hatoko looked at her game number. Tamayo looked at Akiru.

"The place where you get the game number is over there. We are in section D, row 8 if you need us. See ya after your game!"

Akiru walked off to the desk. He handed his card to the lady. When she handed it back with a slip of paper, she said, "The waiting room for the deuses is right over there. Good luck!" She sounded slightly mechanical. Akiru walked into the waiting room. Lots of hostile-looking faces glared at him. Then he saw a girl sitting in the corner. She was holding the angel that was on Hatoko's wall, what was it… snaps fingers impatiently Blanche! And, um, Kaede.

Akiru walked to the back of the room, near where Kaede was sitting. He bowed.

"Hello! Is anyone sitting next to you?" Akiru asked her.

"No. Go ahead. I'm Kaede, and this is Blanche. Our game is in just a couple minutes." Akiru sat down and looked at her angel. It was definitely lightweight, even Akiru could tell just by looking at her. Kaede held her out to Akiru and he looked closely at Blanche. She felt different. Suddenly…

"AND NOW, FOR GAME 39! ANGEL BLANCHE AND DEUS KAEDE SAITOU VS. ANGEL AYAME AND DEUS AIKO! Entry angel." Kaede made her entrance.

"Blanche, everything is to your will! Angel, fall in!" Blanche fluttered down and landed lightly on a surface that was very windy and rocky, the top of a mountain. Ayame skidded to a halt just before she fell off a jagged cliff. Akiru saw that this angel was noticeably bigger than Blanche.

Kaede grinned. She evaded every one of Ayame's attacks, and landed on top of a cliff. When Ayame soared up to grab her leg, she simply swung her leg around and around, then finally hit the other angel's hands so the grip loosened. The other angel zoomed out of the layer by the force of the spinning. Kaede smiled benignly and picked Blanche up off the layer. Then it was Akiru's match.

It was one thing to do a game in a deserted tournament area. Another to do it with like half of Japan watching. Akiru walked up to the layer. He tripped on the way up and heard people expressing mirth. He turned red. He got into one of the egg chairs. His opponent, a girl named Sai, was his opponent. The announcer well, announced the contestants.

"First, in the East Corner! Jounouchi Sai, with angel Shirahime!" Thunderous applause sounded all over the stadium. "And in the West corner, a newbie, Takahashi Akiru, with angel Ichiro!" A small smattering of applause could be heard from section D.

"And the layer for today… will be this!" A layer where the ground was red and fiery on one half, gaseous and swirling on the other. "Entry angel!" The announcer announced.

"Let the silver snow fall! Dance, Shirahime!"

"Kougeki! Shin shutsu ki botsu, Ichiro!"

Shirahime gracefully entered the layer. Ichiro followed. The game had not yet started, so the special effects of the layer could not be seen… for the moment.

"ANGELIC… FIGHT!" The announcer yelled. Immediately, something very strange began to happen. "Oh. Unlucky deuses today, folks! They have been chosen to test out the new invention of the genius who created Angelic Layer! 0-GRAVITY ATMOSPHERE!"

Both Sai and Akiru gasped. 0-g? Akiru glanced at Ichiro. He was floating around.

"Now the deuses must battle not only the other angel, but the atmosphere as well!"

Akiru made Ichiro press the first button on his hood. He could fly and maneuver that way. Shirahime simply dropped her kimono, which began to float around. Shirahime, somehow, could move quite easily. Perhaps it was because she was very much a heavyweight, weighing 9 oz. Ichiro only weighed 6 oz. Shirahime lunged toward Ichiro, who dodged.

Ichiro brought his foot down, meaning to smash into Shirahime, but she turned upside down and grabbed his foot in both of hers. Then she backflipped and sent Ichiro spinning almost to the edge of the layer, but he started up his boosters and barely managed to avoid a layer out. He got up to Shirahime and spun into a blitz of spinning kicks, which hit her arms and stomach. Shirahime dodged his last kick and sent her foot straight into his back. Shirahime was ahead by a lot. He zoomed away into retreat. He stuck out his fist, and started up the boosters again. Ichiro headed straight for Shirahime, with his fist sticking out, but at the last moment soared up above Shirahime, who was blocking. He went behind her and kicked her. She flew across the layer.

Shirahime flew up to Ichiro, who was hovering there. She faced like she was going to attack from below, then rose back up and punched Ichiro in the face. His damage points zipped down to 15. Shirahime was still sitting pretty on 90. Akiru started to sweat.

Ichiro suddenly zoomed down onto the fiery surface. His feet slowly began to blacken. Shirahime flew after him. He looked up and acted like nothing was going to happen. He expected her, when he dodged, to try and move with him. He supposed correctly. He sidestepped neatly, and Shirahime changed directions suddenly. Ichiro cartwheeled over her, glad to be off the scorching hot surface. Shirahime crashed onto it, and started to smoke. However, she soon recovered when she got back into the air. However, that blow had cost her. She was now at 60. Ichiro had to be careful. He decided to see what the other layer was like. He touched down, and sank right through.

Ichiro plummeted through layers of red mist. He flew over to the side, where it was thinner. He didn't realize that the layer's edge was barely a hairs breadth away from him. He heard something swooshing towards him. On instinct, he took a judo pose. Shirahime descended at 50 miles an hour. Ichiro waited until the last possible second, then lay down, and hooked his right foot into the air. Shirahime grabbed it, and Ichiro swung it ont the layer's bottom. She crashed down, hard. However, she pulled Ichiro's foot with her. He landed on his face. Ichiro, who now had 5 left, quickly got up and rose high into the air, then fell with all his weight and strength onto Shirahim, sho was still struggling to get up. She collapsed, but Akiru couldn't be sure that she was finished. Ichiro took her hand and swung it over his head, then brought it back down. This time, he heard every last damage point vanish.

Ichiro grabbed Shirahime in a viselike grip. He flew her up to the edge of the layer, where Sai, smiling at Akiru's antics, took her. "Good game."

Akiru shook her hand. The stadium exploded. "However!..." Said Sai. "Don't count me out yet. I still have to lose one more game before I'm disqualified." She gave another rare smile. Akiru smiled back and walked back to section D, row 8, and sat down next to Tamayo to watch Hatoko's game. (Which she won. Big surprise.) Their hands were almost touching.