It was currently heading into the next round of the tournament, and Misaka Keiichi was looking to win again. His last match against Mikage didn't end very well for him, despite being fun still. This round he was up against a deus he'd not heard of before, though he'd witnessed a couple of her matches. The angel had an interesting fighting style, but he was confident in his abilities for now. At the moment, the boy is sitting quietly in the waiting room and peering over towards the monitor on the wall. It was only a matter of time before his match was up.

Two losses weren't really building her confidence as a deus, she knew that Katashi could beat those other angels if she could only figure out what she was doing wrong. But overcoming failure or losing is the only way to truely master something, Ojiisan was very adamant about that when he still ran the dojo. She watches the match ahead of her on the big screen, this time, this time she and Katashikun would win their match and prove to Sensei that angelic layer isn't just a fancy toy.

It took a few moments before Keiichi's attention returned to the waiting room itself, but when if finally did he took note of Kokoro and offered a nod her way. "Fukauchi-san. . . wasn't it? I'm Misaka Keiichi. Seems we're paired up for this round." He offers her a friendly smile and seems nice enough for the moment.

Kokoro grins and nods back. "It's a pleasure ot meet you, but Katashi-kun and I will defeat you... but we enjoy matches because of the match not winning." she says of course this may be pure bravado but since she doesn't talk out on the layer now is her only time to psych herself up and of course looking confident to your opponent is always a step forward.

Keiichi grins a bit at his opponent's bravado and nods, "Of course, but you know I won't go down easily. You'll have to fight with everything you have if you want to defeat Zankoku and me." He rises to his feet, stretching out a bit and then offers another smile towards the girl. "Don't forget."

Yet another intermission between matches, but it couldn't be helped. People needed to use the restroom, eat some stuff, stretch their legs, and most of all the deuses needed to be gathered up and shuffled into the waiting room before their matches! After all, if they participants weren't around there couldn't be a fight right?

The dimness of the arena is finally cut by bright and blinding lights, causing the highlight reels that had been playing on the large over-head monitors to cut out. The lights shift about dancing and swirling all over the place before a few come to settle upon a smug looking announcer, sitting high and mighty in his mechanical chair above the layer. His confidence in his appearance was quite evident, and he was still wearing his 'cool' purple suit with the giant red bowtie, and his nifty indoor sun-glasses. Down below, two two female appearing angels walked about the layer while holding up the cards with the battle number upon them, indicating the next round was about to begin.

The stage is set, so the Announcer begins by lifting his microphone to his mouth. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, may I have your attention please! On behalf of Angelic Layer, Inc. I welcome you to next match for this round of the Tokyo city games! Also known as the qualifying tournament for the Kanto Regional Games! Are you all ready for another ANGELIC FAIT-O?!" The crowd roars their approval in a deafening manner, giving the announcer good reason to grin.

"Then without further ado I give you, in the West corner a deus who has put up a good show so far, the deus is Fukauchi Kokoro with her angel Katashi! Let's have a good showing you two." He lets the crowd give their cheers, pausing briefly before moving on. "And in the East corner, coming into this round with a strong showing for the third year in a row, the deus is Misaka Keiichi with his angel, Zankoku! Come on out and take your places!" With the beckon call given, he slumps down into his seat for a quick breather while the cameras focus upon the tunnel from the waiting room out into the arena.

Kokoro nods "If you promise to fight with everything you have then we will give it all we have." as many enthusiasts seem to do, Kokoro talks about Katashi more like a friend or brother than she does as the small sophisticated robot he is. She smiles as they're announced and bows to the other Deus. "Good luck." she says and heads out into the the arena.

Kokoro makes her way onto the arena floor, once passing the doors she straitens up, holds Katashi a bit less like he's a favored teddy bear and more like the warrior he is. She makes her way steady on across the floor towards her assigned eggshell. As has become normal to see when this girl is out on the floor she moves like the martial artist she was raised to be. Stopping beside her chair she bows to the layer, then to her oponent, and lastly to the announcer, before climbing into the eggshell and settling her visor on to her head.

Keiichi makes his way out onto the arena floor as well, following after Kokoro and smiling a small smile out towards the crowd. He gives them a wave before finally stopping at his chair, and when his opponent offers him a bow he returns it out of respect. Then he hops into his chair, and plops the headset onto his head before powering it on. Everything seemed to be ready, now all there was to do was wait.

After the deuses settle into the assigned seats, a click is heard beneath them and a smooth motion carries the chairs up high above the layer. This allowed a wider view of the layer than a normal piffle princess run, and it also made it easier to toss the angels in. When everyone was ready the cameras pan over towards the announcer once again.

The Announcer rises up in his chair, arms crossed over his chest as he peers down to the layer below, the angels that had been holding up the cards now gone. He offers an approving nod and then brings the microphone up to his mouth once more. "Our players are in place, now it's time to set the stage! What sort of wonderful location will our battle take place today I wonder?" His arm flicks out in a flourish before pointing down at the layer below.

The glowy white layer flickers away and a vast array of different sceneries begin passing one by one, almost too swift to see. Some ancient ruins of a long gone civilization, the temple halls of some forlorn deity, the active and lava filled crater of a volcano, and finally it settles. The sky is a perfect blue with patches of puffy white clouds, the forebearing of a wonderful and peaceful day. Down below the layer is filled from one end to the other in the wonderful coppery colors of rye, which seems to be in a uniform sea of ears that potentially reach up to an angel's waist.

"The serene rye field, where an angel can take cover and hide should the battle become too difficult! What sort of fight will we witness in this place that speaks of peace to one's soul?" The announcer calls out, grinning wide. "And now, ENTRY ANGELS!"

Kokoro lifts Katashikun up as she rises in her eggshell. "Gi! Yu! Jin! Rei! Makoto! Meiyo! Chugi!" she chants out the virtues of Bushido as she throws Katashi onto the layer.

A ripple forms as the Cheetah falls through the layer edge, his golden eyes flicking open as the ripples reflect back the colors of the rye field. He tucks, shoulder landing first and is lost for a moment, the ripple of grain the only indication the angel was there at all. A few heartbeats pass and Katashi stands proudly, his golden fur blending with the ripe grain so that it seems he newly formed from the earth as he stands. He takes up his fighting position dropping into an easy graceful stance..

Keiichi makes some final adjustments to settings after his chair has risen to where it is supposed to be. When it finally reaches the apex, he sucks in a deep breath and then sighs it out to steady himself. This opponent may not be Mikage or Ranmaru, but that didn't mean he could take her lightly. He's seen what she can do on the layer, and she wasn't someone to ignore when facing them on the layer. He smiles a little, and then looks over towards his opponent and offers her a nod, having witnessed her angel's entry into the layer.

Finally Zankoku is lifted high above his head, and then in one sweeping motion is tossed towards the layer while Keiichi calls out, "Never give up, even when staring in the grim face of death, Zankoku!" The angel is launched, spinning through the air before passing through the layer barrier and sending ripples out from the point of impact. While passing through his body is coated in a bright energy, shortly followed by the zombie-angel's eyes opening slowly and flashing a brilliant red. The energy coat then twists and corrupts into a dark purplish colour before it is sucked into his body, followed by a flexing and a twist that sends him hurtling down towards the layer surface.

He smashes into the sea of rye, flattening a large area of rye in a circular area around the point of impact. Quite a bit of rye flutters through the air before gently falling back towards the layer's surface. There he stays crouched for a moment, and then finally he rises and passes his arms under his cloak to give it a dramatic flourish and allow a gentle breeze to catch it in flutters.

The Announcer still grinning his wide grin, makes another flourishing motion with his free hand before adjusting his sun-glasses. "Everything is set, so it's about time to begin! A fateful battle on a sea of rye, only one can be victorious? Let's find out who with another, ANGELIC FAIT-O!" That was the queue, the timer begins counting down indicating that now was the time for action!

Katashi rests in the tall grain, an easy stance that lets him watch how things are going. This is the first time he's ever seen a zombie much less fought one, a careful approch will be his plan for now, though who ever knows when angels battle and the rules change. He lets his shoulders flex and shift as if working out a few kinks as his golden eyes range over the strange creature before him.

On the layer, Zankoku's arms cross over his chest as his billowing cloak finally settles about his body. Dully glowing red eyes settle upon Katashi, appraising him for the moment and pondering how best to proceed. It seemed that he was being cautious as well, but he wasn't stretching out to prepare for anything. In fact he was apparently just staring for now.

Katashi watches the zombie with his golden eyes before dipping down a bit until his shoulders are hidden by the tall grain, and then digs in with the blunt claws at hands and feet to rush the other angel, coming in close and just off angle his foot comes scything in under the hight of the grain, a ripple of heavy heads showing the wake of his kick as he goes for the zombies knee.

On the layer, Zankoku warily watches Katashi's approach and loosens up his stance a bit. One might expect a zombie to just stand around and take a beating, but this one was different. He actually had a little quickness in him! As the strike comes in at his knee, he twists into a leaping spin and sends a snapping kick out towards Katashi's head. Hit or miss, he intends to crouch low upon landing and send another low spinning kick in an attempt to bring the mighty cat off his paws!

Katashi drops from spinning kick like he's been polaxed, but once below the bobing heads of rye the zombie finds nothing to impact. A split second later the cheetah is back this time his arm going for one of the zombies legs, to take him to the rich earth below and preferbaly pound him until he gives up.

On the layer, Zankoku slips his leg out of reach just in the nick of time and narrowly avoids being brought down for thrash time. The attack was unsuccessful, and now the zombie-angel had a bead on where his opponent was laying in wait. His eyes flash a bright red briefly before his body snaps into extremely quick movements, an unrelenting barrage of punches and kicks are sent flailing down towards Katashi, hoping to push him back for now.

Katashi, rolls back away from the blows before they can do any serious damage, but he'll have to be on the lookout for the strength and speed this angel seems to have hidden under his waisted exterior. The large cat comes to his feet emerging from the rye behind Zankoku like a kami of the harvest, and what is ripe now is zombie. He dives in again, if nothing the feline is persistant, his strong arms attempt to slide around the other angels neck and arm to pull him into a submission from behind.

On the layer, Zankoku seems slightly annoyed that his barrage of attacks leave little to show for the effort. In that brief moment it seems his guard is let down, and Katashi easily grabs hold and pulls the zombie-angel down. Showing an oddly high bit of flexibility though, Zankoku's arm snaps in towards Katashi's neck in retaliation targetting the nerve clusters in that region to interrupt his inputs briefly. Mostly so he can get away though.

Katashi pulls apon the other angels throat as he goes down and then suddenly finds himself just laying below the surface of the grain, staring at the blue sky and trying to determin why his limbs fail to follow the commands he and his deus send to them.

Zankoku breaks free after his strike hits home, and he rolls away from Katashi and pulls up into a low crouch within the rye. He then turns and rises slowly, to face his opponent and give him some time to regain his footing and start the match from that brief lull. There's a small grin on the zombie-angels features, seemingly somewhat impressed with the other angel's aggressive style.

Katashi slowly rolls to his feet, his hand coming up to massage his neck where he was struck. He grins at the Zombie and nods his head to acknowledge the skill it takes for that kind of precision. His tongue comes out to stroke across the top of his muzzle before he simply charges in again, the rippling wake of rye behind him before he ducks down to come in low, an aggresive judo take down in the offing, preferably he'll end up with the zombies arm in a position where he can apply leverage on his elbow in all the wrong and painful ways.

On the layer, Zankoku seems to be standing loose and easy, not even tensing as Katashi gets back to his feet. What can't be seen though, is that down at the layer floor dark energies swirl and converge upon his lower body as the zombie-angel syphons off some more power than normal. He only grins when his opponent comes in for the takedown and meets instead a field of energy that seems to drain away at his reserves. It's powerful enough to slow him down so that only some kinetic force passes through and registers damage upon Zankoku, who twists into a movement to deliver a roundhouse kick towards the other angel's head. At least, that's the target.

Katashi catches the kick in his clawed hands and then in typical fashion for him attempts to pull the zombie off his feet, where the cheetah's intent is to put some serious hurt on that knee, cause nothing says I love you like major joint damage.

On the layer, Zankoku's leg is caught easily enough, and he is easily pulled down to the ground. However when Katashi goes to attack the joint, he finds that it is rather resilient and refuses to budge. Since they were all close up and on the ground, and the zombie-angel once again found himself held tight, he decides to try the same tactic as before. His hand strikes out with blinding speed to once more snake into a nerve cluster on the cheetah's neck. If he hits home he'll wiggle free and roll away before coming back up to his feet.

Katashi once again finds himself staring up at the clouds, this really isn't the kind of thing he's looking for in a fight, all this laying around watching the scenery, not that it's his choice, since he's telling his arms and legs to beat the zombie until it stops moving. Instead he simply stairs at the clouds and attempts to get those limbs to obey his commands and those his Deus is sending.

On the layer, Zankoku takes the lull in battle to begin charging up another attack of sorts. Unfortunately it's not entirely clear what the purpose is as of yet since he's simply standing there. Dark energies swirl about the layer's surface and dance up along his body before forming a sphere about his body. There is also a low humming noise passing through the atmosphere, like a whir of a turbine perhaps. For now though, it doesn't look like the zombie-angel is going to do anything and he once more gives up his advantage and lets the cheetah back to his feet.

The cheetah gets back to his feet though with the kinds of energies he's encountered so far coming from this zombie, he wants nothing to do with it. He simply backs off and disapears into the waving grasses.

On the layer, Zankoku grins as he watches Katashi move into the deep rye, attempting to hide his position. Unfortunately for the cheetah there is no hiding from this attack. The dark energies swirl and build, and the whirring hum gets louder and louder. Just then the energy sphere sucks into the zombie-angel's body, and a popping noise is heard before the energy rushes outwards in an explosion. It rips through the rye, flattening and destroying mostly everything in its way. There doesn't appear to be any escape as the pulse wave lashes all the way out to the layer edges, mowing down anything in its way with oppressive force.

Katashi hides amongst the grain not expecting the attack to be such that it sweeps all on the field before it and is sent tumbling, though the cheetah is as ever persistant and as soon as his feet are under him he charges the zombie, bent stalks of rye poping under his paws as he goes low, sweeping in and attemping to pull the zombie down, hopefuly this time the zombie will stay down, or at least won't leave him to stare at the sky again.

On the layer, Zankoku watches warily as he falls into a defensive posture. He didn't have to wait too long for Katashi to be on the move and on the attack again, which is good because he didn't like waiting around too much. As the cheetah streaks in for the kill, Zankoku manages to just barely twirl into a sidestep to avoid the blow. His leg lifts up at the start of the spin, and as he comes about it comes smashing down to plant the heel of his foot hopefully into the other angel's back.

Katashi shakes off the kick slowly watching the other angel, and decides simply to go for it, all or nothing at least he can't be acused of backing down. The cheetah rolls back to his feet and charges in again this time to attempt another grapple that will hopefuly allow him to subdue the other angel.

On the layer, Zankoku seems to be able to keep just out of reach yet again, though he's visibly worn and only just barely manages to do so. While keeping out of reach, his arm pulls back and a jolt of dark energy passes through to his fist before he smashes it forward, attempting to take out Katashi with one final attack.

Katashi crumples around the attack and the buzzer sounds as he falls to the layer.

The match had been going on for some time now, but it appears that it was finally over with only two minutes left to go. The Announcer once more takes up his microphone and gives a flourish of his hand, "It was a long and hard battle, but in the end. . . Zankoku wins!" With that the layer scenery fades away to the base white and the angels await retrieval by their respective deuses.

Keiichi's chair makes its way down towards the layer, and once there he retrieves his angel before it finally brings him down to the ground where he can hop out. He offers a wave up to the crowd, and that small smile of his before turning his attention towards his opponent. He waits for her seat to make its way down before offering a bow, "Well fought, Fukauchi-san. Katashi is well built, and his movements are solid and well thought out. I think you've only got improvement ahead of you if you keep at it." The boy's words are sincere as he tries to offer some encouragement to the newer player, knowing what it's like to be new to the game despite how long it has been.

Kokoro glides her eggshell close to scoop him off the layer and hold him to her chest, another very strong oponent, but she'l have the memory of being in the qualifiers even if she doesn't make it past them. She smiles and strokes Katashi's hair, he's been so strong through the whole tourney. She turns off her visor and steps from the eggshell so she can set the headset down in it for the next deus. She smiles a little and bows to her opponent. "Thank you Misaka-san." she says the first thing she's actualy said out on the floor "Zankoku is very strong." she bows to the announcer and then lastly to the layer before she starts to walk back towards the waiting room.

Keiichi nods and follows along towards the waiting room, "It took a long time to get him here. . . some of the newer players seem to be advancing so quickly by comparison." He chuckles a little and shrugs his shoulders a bit as they enter into the tunnel towards the waiting room. "But that's good I guess, gives me something to look forward to in the future."

Kokoro nods and smiles "Thank you, I hope that Katashi and I will grow quickly, we would like to see how good we can get. I need to get Katashikun looked at, I'm glad the tournement is providing repairs."

Keiichi nods in return and offers a small wave of parting. "Well then, I'll leave you too it. Good luck with your next match, and fight well. I'll make sure to watch and see how you do." He grins a bit and then makes his way out towards the foyer, intending to head into the stands and watch the next match. The boy loved watching almost as much as playing really.