Brooke sat down on the bench after her tennis lesson. Well, actually she was the one giving the lesson today. She was the assistant coach. The real coach, Coach Mary, was sick and had asked Brooke to teach today. She had heard the desperation in her voice and had agreed. And it was really easy to teach. Brooke had been playing since she was four and now that she was fourteen she was getting close to be at the professional level. It shocked her when she thought about it, but it was true. If she learned a little bit more she could easily qualify for the professional.
But for now she was just happy to be playing. Most of the kids had already gone home or had been picked up. The last boys was throwing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it. He dropped it a couple times, but was slowly getting better. A car horn came out and he left. Then Brooke was left all alone. She figured she might as well head home seeing as no one else was there. She took her racket and bent over to pick up her water bottle when she saw something under the bench. It was a pink tennis ball.
Brooke remembered it as it belonging to Anna, a six-year-old girl with brown hair and green eyes. Brooke herself had light brown hair with blonde highlights, and blue-gray eyes. She picked up the ball and felt it in her hand. It was a little smaller than most balls, and as she bounced it on the ground she found it a little bouncier. She put her water bottle back down and walked over to the backboard with her racket and the ball. She served it hard and it came right back. She could see why Anna liked it.
She kept up with it like a bullet. She ran fast and didn't miss a ball once. She hit it thirty-seven times before her legs began to feel a little stress. But she didn't stop. She kept on going till she hit eighty, then ninety, then finally one hundred!
Finally when she couldn't run anymore she stopped and let the ball bounce a couple times of the ground before she went and retrieved it. She leaned up against the fence and breathed heavily. She had a stitch in her side and rubbed it. She had forgotten to stretch again before she started to play again. Now she was paying for it.
She heard a honk and looked up the hill where the parking lot. She saw her older sister in her car, a green Saturn. She grabbed her water from the inside bench and pocketed the pink ball. She ran up the steps and leaned into her sister's car by the open window.
"What Aimee? I'm supposed to ride my bike home today." She retorted impatiently. She had left her blue bike down the hill, against the fence. She raised an eyebrow and waited for her sister's answer to why she was here unannounced. Aimee sighed.
"Mom wanted you home now. She usually lets you stay late but she wants you home earlier today. Get your bike and put it in the back seat. Brooke gave an "Uhh." She glanced back at her bike and then looked in the back seat.
"It's not going to fit." She said unbelievingly.
"Oh, I'll make it fit." Aimee said getting out of the car. She ran down to the court and Brooke saw her pick up the bike and walk back up with it. She set it down next to the car and then popped open the trunk and rummaged around in it or a second, finally pulling out a wrench. She went over to the bike and lowered the handles and seat. It became considerably smaller. With the help of Brooke she barely fitted it in the small car.
"C'mon." She told her sister. Brooke sighed and got into the passenger side seat. Closing the door behind her she raised her head up towards the sky. She saw it was getting cloudier and that it looked like it was going to rain. She thought this was the reason her mom wanted her home. Even if she rode as fast as she could she probably would have got caught in the rain. It was a fifteen-minute ride from the courts to her house, but a thirty-minute ride with a bike. She tried to put her head back against the rest, but ne of the bike's handle was sticking over her seat. She improvised by leaning her head on the window. She realized she had forgotten to cover the tennis balls, but Aimee was already driving away. She wanted to tell her to stop, but once she got driving she didn't stop till she got to her destination, like their dad.
They had gone past the school before either of them said anything. It was Brooke who spoke first.
"Aren't you supposed to be working right now?" She wondered. Aimee had a job at Dunkin' Doughnuts/ Baskin Robins. She usually didn't stop working past four, and she worked every day after school
"Well somehow a kid got back behind the counter. I think it was Nick who wasn't watching what was going on, you know how lazy he is. I can't even believe they hired him. Anyway a kid got back and broke half of the machines. My boss got so mad he banned the kid from coming again and closed the shop. But he gave us each a dozen of left over doughnuts. It could take a while before the machines are fixed and we can reopen. Hard to believe, we've barely even been open for a month." Aimee added slapping the wheel. Brooke nodded in agreement.
She gently banged her head against the window and went back to watching the sights go by. They were almost half way home when the rain started to come down. It was the rain of the latest hurricane. It came down hard and Aimee could barely see where she was going. She finally pulled over in a church parking lot. They couldn't seen out of any of the window's and it was getting very muggy and humid
Brooke took a large sniff and smelled something good. Aimee noticed her.
"Oh yeah, I stopped at McDonalds and got something to eat. There are some fries left and the doughnuts and under them. Help yourself. I dot know how long we're going to be stuck here. Brooke unbuckled and reached over in the back seat. She found the fries first, Aimee had gotten a large and had hardly eaten any of it. She picked one up and found that it was still warm. Brooke and Aimee munched on them for a while before finally finishing them off. The rain was still coming down hard and it was still impossible to see anything outside of the car.
Brooke opened up the front compartment and pulled out a book she had snuck in there. Aimee looked at her strangely, but didn't say anything. Brooke groaned and began to read. She didn't get far before her eyes fell heavy and she yawned loudly. She blinked a few time before she fell asleep.
"Brooke wake up." Aimee said shaking her sister. Brooke's eyes fluttered before her vision became clear.
"Wha?" She muttered groggily, "Where ar' we?" She pushed herself up and her book fell off of her chest.
"Home. The rain stopped barely a couple minutes ago. We were at the parking lot for over an hour." She grabbed Brooke's arm and helped her out of the car. She then pulled Booke's bike out. Brooke herself grabbed the doughnuts and sluggily walked up the steps and into her house where her German Shepard greeted her. Followed behind her was Brooke's little brother Cobey.
She patted Maple and grabbed Cobey's hand. She led him into the kitchen where she sat him on the counter. The little two-year-old just looked at her with his green eyes, and watched her as she made Raman Noodles. He got a hungry look on his face as Brooke scooped some into a bowl for him, then one for her.
They both went into the living room where Aimee was already sitting on the couch watching TV. She was watching the Japanese channel. The trio's dad was from Japan so he taught them Japanese when they were little. Cobey was still learning of course. But even so half of the shows were in English. It was Brooke's favorite channel, it had most of her favorite shows. She held her chopsticks full of Ramen to her mouth and slightly slurped them. She listened to the end credits of the previous show, which was n Japanese.
A few commercials came one and then the next program started. This time it was in English. Cobey coughed, so Brooke couldn't hear the title. An announcers voice came on and Brooke was suddenly drawn in. She hung onto every word, she didn't even notice Aimee was doing it too. Cobey had just put his empty bowl on his head and laughed.
"Welcome to the final battle of the Angelic Layer competition! Last years champion in the east side, Misaki Suzuhara!" The crowd went wild at the little girl's name. The camera did a close up of her and Brooke saw she was short and had brown hair styled in a different way and blue eyes. She was obviously was wearing some school's uniform. On her shoulder was a pink, red, and white angel. Its eyes were closed and it looked really cool in Brooke's opinion.
"And her challenger from the west side, Nikomi Tanayhami!" The crowd still cheered, but Brooke definitely heard the volume lower than the cheers for Misaki. Nikomi wore her red hair loose and she wore black slacks and a green shirt.
"The layer for this battle will be…" The announcer said as a screen above the white table flashed different settings. It got faster and faster before it finally stopped on a brown dirt field with a volcano.
"The layer for this battle will be a volcano! Sometime during this battle lava will flow down. If your angel touches it all points will be lost, but since this is fake lava it won't do and permanent damage to your angel. You might just have to get some more angel armor. Other layer out rules also apply of course. Now enter the angels!" He yelled into his microphone.
Misaki held her angel high above her head and shouted out words.
"Angel wings! Please guide me and Hikaru!" She threw her angel into the white light and Hikaru's eyes opened. Brooke saw them as pink like her hair. Hikaru landed on her feet and got into a fighting stance. She waited for her opponent.
"Jasmine! Find you strength and win!" Nikomi threw Jasmine the angel in the layer. Jasmine was wearing brown Chinese looking pants with a see-through blue ribbon around her waist. She wore a brown tube top and brown strips of cloth over her shoulder. Brooke could see that her elbows and wrist had uncovered joints. On her face she had a blue cloth like her belt over her nose and mouth. Her hands had brown fingerless gloves with a wavy edge. Her feet had dainty brown slippers with the same blue ribbon covering half of it. She landed gently in the layer and went into a curtsy, but her hands were in a position almost identical to Hikaru's.
"Now, ANGELIC FIGHT!" The announcer said. Jasmine rose up and charged towards Hikaru. Hikaru waited till Jasmine got close and then dodged. She grabbed Jasmine's arm and pushed her back. She tripped and then Hikaru, who was still holding onto the arm pulled her up and then slammed her into the ground behind her. She still didn't let go.
Brooke's mouth dropped a little bit, her ramen totally forgotten. Cobey had found it though. Most of it was gone now. He didn't have a clue what was happening, but Brooke and Aimee were totally mesmerized.
Jasmine had managed to escape and was trying to lay a punch of Misaki again. She threw a punch and Hikaru dodged again, but then she did something surprising. Jasmine continued to run forward, and grabbed both of Hikaru's legs. Misaki was totally surprised. Jasmine pounded Hikaru on the ground and then twirled around. She was also slowly walking towards the edge of the volcano. She suddenly stopped and Hikaru was rammed into the side of the hard rock. She fell limp against the ground. Brooke looked at her stats and saw they were getting low. But she then saw something in Misaki's eyes.
Hikaru put her hands firmly into the ground and pulled her legs forward. Nikomi was confused and Jasmine let go of Hikaru's legs. Nonetheless she was still thrown over and she fell against the ground once more. Hikaru regained her stance and the crowd went crazy. But then a loud rumbling came from volcano and smoke could be seen from the top. The lava was coming. Both angels briefly forgot the fight as the bright red and charcoal black came pouring out of the tip. It was rolling down the step hill. But it seemed to be following slightly carved trails.
Hikaru bravely ran up the hill not looking back. Jasmine hesitated and then followed in suit. They were both heading right towards the lava. Suddenly Hikaru stopped and Jasmine didn't. She ran right into Hikaru, making her fall towards the lava. A couple of the people in the audience screamed. Then in a flash Hikaru grabbed Jasmine and used her as a shield from the lava. Jasmine hit it with Hikaru on top of her, barely avoiding the scorching flow. The layer disappeared and Hikaru got off Jasmine whose points were all gone. Brooke saw that she didn't have any burns, but her top was starting to fall off. Then she nearly cried as Hikaru pulled her up, held her shirt together, and then laid her down at the edge of the layer by her Deus. The crowd cheered louder than they had the few seconds before.
"The winner for her second year in a row Misaki Suzuhara and her angel Hikaru! They continue to show their strengths while being incredibly kind to other angels they have had to hurt in order to win their battles. Let give a cheer for her!" The crowd clapped and cheered out her name. Misaki who was already holding Hikaru in her hand bushed.
"And give a cheer for our courageous loser Nikomi Tanayhami and her angel Jasmine!" The crowd cheered for her just like they did for Misaki. Nikomi was holding Jasmine and had put a piece of cloth around her chest area. She nervously waved and then shook Misaki's hand. She then left the arena.
"Now our champion will face the ultimate Deus-." They never heard more than that. The power went off and Brooke and Aimee were shaken out of their trance. They looked outside and saw that the rain had started this time, looking even more ferouscious. They saw that a tree had fallen on an electrical wire. As Cobey started to cry Brooke picked him up and took the bowl off his head while Aimee closed the blinds. Their mother came into the room with a couple of flashlight and an oil lamp, and some few candles. The formed a circle in the center of the room. They had lit all the candles, had all the flashlights on, and the lamp was glowing brightly in the center of them. Aimee was in the middle of making a fire in the fireplace. Cobey was sitting on Brooke's lap with a blanket around them.
Their mom explained the situation. They weren't in life treating danger, but every one was told it was mandatory to stay inside. She had briefly heard it on the radio before the power went out. She then preceded to ask while the girls hadn't noticed the rain. Slowly they began to tell their story of the angel battle. The talk continued into the night where they all fell asleep on the floor, covered in blankets and using couch cushions as pillows.
A/N: Well what do you think? I tried to make it as realistic as possible. It was kinda long, but rather well written I thought. Please tell me what you think.