An Alter Wish written by Shaun Garin *** Ah! My Goddess is owned by Kosuke Fujishima *** Rewrite, Omega Version *** Chapter 2 : Adjustements Parry, Parry, Thrust, Thrust, Ripose, Slash, Duck, Kick, Pain. I hit the ground painfully once again. I guess after a few millenia, fighting is a chore all over again. Not to mention that they have a lot of practice since they were, well, alive, while my soul just hung about. I stood up and decided, hey, lets try that armor thing again. “Armor Maximize!” The codes worked again and my armor went up once again when it left crawling from my left arm, all the way up and over my head, forming a skintight yet insanely durable material. I guess that when He added the command codes to my powers, it would help until I regain my full powers. I got to admit that I like his choice of activation codes. For my armor, its “Armor Maximize,” my change to a godlike state from a normal person (meaning, my wings retract and I loose five inches of hight) is “I Am Transformed.” Ishtar is summoned by “Call,” and storing her away is “Away.” Kind of simplistic, ain’t it? Now, describing my armor is kind of complicated. For one, it’s a dark silver grey color, futuristic in look, and hugs my torso and legs like a second skin. My forearms are wrapped even more with thick bands of some kind of metal that I haven’t figured out yet, and is hard enough to parry a sword strike. Possibly deflect attacks by bullets. Or worse. My chest is reinforced with titanium bands that just HAPPEN to be powerful enough to repel heavy spells, and I have a helmet that seems like a second skin, making me look in all like the ice guy in Killer Instinct. There are eyeholes that glow a golden color and the suit is moulded to fit my head. My wings stick out of the back, and I spun Ishtar about my body, feeling long forgotten skills remerge. And it feels only two ounces light. The whole freaking thing. On my gauntlets, I have repulsor cannons that retract seamlessly into the wrists and a small energy whip. Impressive as all hell and good enough to scare criminals. I gotta try it out sometime. Did I mention that all of it is actually nanotechnology? Sweet. The whole kit and kaboodle is stored in a watch like device. Seems like I was a technogod back then. I spun Ishtar in my hands and pointed it at Tyr who braced himself. “Lightning Blade!” The end of the blade of Ishtar started to rotate insanely fast and lightning started to crackle on the end. I rose it upwards and swung it at Tyr. A curved blade lanced out, and Tyr caught it on his sword. The energy crackled for a second before it winked out. Tyr grinned and lunged, moving faster than I could notice. Suddenly, a dull pain rocked my chest and I flew backwards, into the walls. As pain rocked my world, I tried to utilize my wings and pull upwards. I felt the wall brush the hairs of my head as I pulled up at the last second. I rose into the air once more and pointed Ishtar at Tyr. (Got anything else besides that Lightning Blade?) I asked her. [Well, here’s one. Point me at the ground and shout Earthquake Crash.] I pointed Ishtar at the ground and she started to glow once again. “Earthquake CRASH!” A thin beam of energy lanced out and pierced the ground. Tyr had this astonished look on his face, two seconds before the ground exploded under his feet. Landing, Ishtar swept the dust from the place, revealing... HOLY COW! He’s like Nappa! Vegita even! Not a freakin scratch. Tyr looked a bit disgruntled before sheathing his huge sword. “That damn weapon of yours is always giving you tips on magical elemental attacks. This time, we start on the phsyical stuff.” *** For most of the summer, I spent my days being run about the heavens, and learning how to control most of my powers. At the end of the summer, I was a Class Three Limited. Not bad, conisdering the amount of practice I had recieved. When I grumbled about it, Urd just put a comforting hand on my shoulder, and said, “There’s a God that was run about the heavens just like you. Don’t feel like you’re the only one who went through the twenty-four hour training regiment.” I just thought about it for a second before blinking and returning to studies. Man those manuals on how to work on Yggdrasil are freakin thick! I found out the second day of work that my title was meaning that I was a Protector of Life. And the addition of knowing the background of people I come in physical contact with, my official title meant that I was a primarily martial god, with some special talents. My title was Protector of Life and God of Fortune. This title, I would come to regret later in life. Not that I don’t MIND the friends I make, but it makes it hard to stay loyal to Urd, kno’ what I mean? I mean, with the amount of pretty women around me, always falling for me.. (well, think about it. I changed to a five foot nine man, with a leaness, slender muscleculture, unruly ebony hair and a power rivaling Goku on Super Sayijin Level 4, not to mention the impressive dark silver armor, faceless helmet, shiny weapon, and six feathery wings on my back, I think that both forms are rather impressive.) I winced as the crack in my neck didn’t relieve the tention on the spine, and I nearly bent over backwards before shrugging out my shoulders. Now, to my astonishement, the girls, especially Urd, decided to alienate me for most of the first week, taking some time to work on the adjustments my file needed. After all, twenty four years as a mortal, and being out of power for nearly a millenia, I guess that some adjustments ARE needed. The first half of the week was checking the material that I needed to start teaching during the fall semester over at New Parkview Academy. The other half, I took a crash course on how to fix cars and make em run when you were done by Keiichi and his sister, Megumi. Those two seems a bit uncomfortable having a teacher around but I was just like any other person. Oh well. *** Keiichi sat there, on the otherside of the table, as I quickly demolished the food set before me. Oops. Oh well, old habits die hard. As I slowed, Keiichi asked, “So, you’ve been out of... circulation for at least a millenium?” “Seems like it.” I qwaffed my mug of iced tea and grimaced. “Gross. I hate unsweetened varieties of iced tea. Tastes like bad water.” Keiichi shrugged before returning to his own can of some sort of green tea that I personally found nausiating. I repressed a shudder before sipping gingerly at the tea. Needs a LOT of sugar. “So, you’re going to be an engineer?” “More like a race car driver,” Keiichi said. The meal went with a cone of silence draped over our heads. *** It was about early evening in mid-July when I actually found out what Protector of Life actually meant. It was one of those places in Nekomi. Run down, reconstruction everywhere, and a small amount of homeless people everywhere. I swear that I saw no less than seventeen prostitutes on the street before coming across IT. A young girl, about seventeen at the most, was being cornered by several hostile looking thugs, armed to the teeth with items that ranged from blunt whacky pain thingies to sharp pointy thingies, to weapons of severe pain. And I had to admit, the girl was cute. Reddish brown hair with japanese features, huge brown eyes and soft skin. Now, this was a situation for the police. Or at the extreme side, me. Since I didn’t see anyone that was dressed in the Tokyo police uniform, I ducked into the closest abandoned house and I clenched my hands, summoning my powers. “I Am Transformed.” I gained a few inches of height, and six white wings sprung from my back. My body gained a huge amount of muscle as well, making me look like a walking tank. Or at the least, Thor. I pressed my watch after the subtle transformation and activated the nanotechnology. “Armor, Maximize. Stealth mode.” The nanobots crawled up my arm and soon, covered my body with a dark silver-greyish armor. I winked out of sight for a second, leaving golden eyes behind. *** Amelia gasped as the man hit her across the face once again, and started to wrench his pants loose. “Shut up and take it like a woman, bitch!” Suddenly, he was knocked to the side by an unseen force, and went sprawling into the wall, and the garbage that was piled on its side. The other men looked about wildly, before an amused chuckle echoed from behind one of the men holding a large spiked baseball bat. The man spun about and screamed in horror, before he was struck in the face, crumpling him to the floor. There, seemingly hovering in the darkness of the shadowed alley were two glowing golden eyes. “What the hell?! Fire, FIRE!” The leader pulled out his handgun and started to fire. More rounds followed. As the bullets fired, a shadowed form seemed to fade in, blocking the projectiles with its wrists, the bullets seeming to bounce off... no, become absorbed into the metal. As their clips ran out, the dark angel that stood before them straightened and spoke in a distorted voice that resonated menace. “Sonics on.” Amelia ducked and clasped her hands to her ears as the earsplitting sound curled her blood. The others ran away, before collapsing in the street, unconcious. The armored figure spoke again and the screaming sound halted. As Amelia stood up, she looked him over, examining him. She, unlike her sisters, had a photogenic memory, and hopefully, she could find out who this guy was. Despite her youthful looks, she was about twenty one, and one of the most respected people in the Nekomi Daily Bugle newspaper, dispite she was still a college student. He was about, six feet, golden eyes, dark silver armor, and six wings that sprouted from his back, from out of his armor, seemingly seamless. Impressive muscles as well. He looked at her and somehow, the silver metal from in front of his mouth moved away for a second, revealing lips and a strong chin. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Amelia studied his jawline. The voice was deep, bass actually. A rumble that she would expect from someone his size. “Yeah, thanks. Who are you?” He suddenly grinned, an air of cockiness running over his aura. “Ah ah, well, THAT is a secret,” he said, waging his finger from side to side, just like that Xelloss charecter from Slayers NEXT. “But for media purposes, call me... Angel.” With that, he took to the sky, his powerful six wings flapping hard, as he dissapeared in the horizion, leaving a powerful slipstream in his wake. A small smile ran on her face as Amelia picked up her groceries. She had a story to write. *** For weeks, I read the paper, smiling at the reports of the mysterious person called Angel. A type of indistructible superhero, he appeared when some sort of crime was occouring. He was a huge man, with white wings, and could stop any weapon with his hands, and as I read the paper, my grin widened. Just then, Urd came into the room, and handed me a letter. “Here. You got a request from Nekomi Tech for an English Teacher job. Seems like father decided to send you here since you’re doing such a good job as a Protector of Life.” I smiled. “Excellent.” *** September 01, 2005 AD *** Amelia sat down in her english literature class, her textbook in her hands. Opening her binder, she started to write a bit before class started. Sitting in the front row of the medium sized room, she looked up as the bell started to chime. The room quickly filled up before the teacher came in the room, carrying a briefcase. Amelia blushed a bit at the teacher, his physique impressive but he was slender, about five foot five, had thick black hair, brown eyes and a heritage that was most definately not Japanese, but still asian. He opened the briefcase and took out a small dry erace pen and started to write. When he was finished, he turned about and grinned. “Hello class. I’m Professor Shaun Garin. I know that I’m listed as Derrin Garin but Shaun was my old name. At this point in time, I would like to say that I hate being formal, so call me Shaun. Or Derrin. Whichever.” A round of chuckling rose and he grinned even wider. And in that grin, Amelia saw a flash of mild insanity that came from the love of writing. “Now, I’m not like any other Professor. First off, I grew up in the ninties so I use a lot of wierd expressions. Secondly, this class will learn by writing their own story, of a mininum of twelve chapters, including a prologue and epilogue. I will grade you by the chapters written, and the amount of work put into it. I will NOT accept any chapters less than nine pages.” A row of groaning rose from the back of the classroom. He smirked and sat down in his chair with a flourish. “Now, lets take attendance, just for the sake of my knowing who’s in here, who you are, and the office when they come to nag me about the attendance slips.” *** The day was cool for September, and I was enjoying the cool wind, eracing the heat from my suit clad body. As I stopped on the road to check my watch, a sudden collison knocked the wind out of me, sending me into the pavement. The body that collided with me was female most definately, and... hello, its Amelia Hayashima, the girl I saved a while ago. And she had to be a nosy reporter. For some reason, she appeared whenever I appeared about Tokyo transformed. Must be a reporter thing that includes costumed superheros and female reporters. “Oh, hello. Sorry ‘bout this.” Amelia gasped for a second, her hand on my chest. Why was she blushing... oh. “I’m sorry teach,” she said, standing up, extending a hand. I took it and stood up, brushing dust from my dark green suit. “No problem. Say, you any closer to finding out who’s that Angel guy?” She shook her head and I could tell through my contact with her hand, her emotions were in flux from anger, to frustration, and, wow, that’s some heavy lust there. “He never sticks around to talk and I can’t trace his voice from anyone I know. It’s like he has a totally different lifestyle when out of that silver armor.” “You’d like to get an interview with him?” I asked. Uh oh, Superman situation. Her huge brown eyes glistened with stardom. “It would mean so much to me! I could become a world famous reporter like Lois Lane! She and Superman are the hottest couple out there, and I would LOVE to get some rep for the Tokyo Daily Planet just like Miss Lane got for the Metropolis Branch!” I chuckled. Why the hell not? “Maybe, if you wish for it to come true, it just might.” She laughed for a second. Just then, the bell rang and she gasped. “I got class! See you Shaun!” As she dashed off, I instantly knew that the girls would hate me for this. Aw well, something close to the truth would be best. *** Amelia put her car phone down and sighed. Hikaru was being stubborn. Just like his uncle, Perry, the owner of the Planet in Metropolis. Suddenly, her car lurched and it started to rise slowly. “Excuse me Miss, but I believe you should hold on.” Amelia gripped her steering wheel as the car blazed off, the white wings flapping underneath her car. She felt a rush of exhileration. Her distant cousin Lois had the exact same thing happen to her! Except now, that was ANGEL under there instead of Superman. *** When they landed, Amelia looked him over for a second. He was larger in the sunlight, and the sunlight seemed to glint off the armor. She looked him over for a second and said in a jokingly voice, “you don’t suppose I can see the man under the clothes?” Angel seemed to chuckle inwardly before saying in that distorted voice, “Armor, retract, leave helmet on.” The armor melted away into a watch that he wore, leaving his whole face covered from back to front, and the mouth opened. He was dressed in some ornate clothing that seemed out of place. But he was HUGE! One of his arms were as big as her leg! “Wow, didn’t expect you to actually REMOVE your armor.” He smiled and nodded. “Well, think of me as Steel with nanotechnology.” “Nanotechnology?” She whiped out her notebook and started to type. “Anything else?” “Well, most of my powers are inherited, and have been dormant for a long time.” Angel leaned on the railing of the quiet road, his wings shining in the sunlight. “I’m, something of a mutant. Born with powers that didn’t manifest itself before the beginning of the summer.” “Does that mean you’re NOT human?” she asked. He looked at her and his face split into a silly grin. He burst into laughter for a few minutes before calming. “No, I’m definately human. Powerful, but human. My abilities are augmented by the suit.” “Like what?” He started to tick his fingers. “Lets see, strength, speed, defence and special powers such as flight. My wings are still getting stronger each day.” “Are you from a planet such as Krypton?” If he was a Superman from Krypton, then she could have some fun with him by asking about his family. “Naw, but I’m from someplace that remains unknown. I’m just an ordanairy person.” She chuckled. “An ordanairy person that can fly with six wings?” “Touche,” he quipped before stretching out, his bones cracking. “Armor, Maximize.” The armor slid back into place and he leapt into the air, his wings beating powerfully. He turned about and blew her a kiss. “Nekomi is only a couple of kicks away in the northern direction. Take care miss...” “Amelia Hayashima. For the Tokyo Daily Planet.” He nodded and bowed classically in the swashbuckler style of olde before flying off, his wings sending a powerful wake. *** Urd slammed down the paper and glared at me. “You couldn’t resist, COULD you?!” she demanded. “What’re you complaining about?” I asked her, calmly sipping the delicious tea blend that Bell had on hand. “At least to them, most of the mystery of who’s Angel. Besides, I didn’t tell Amelia anything about my Godhood.” Right then and there, she could have sent a lightning bolt into my face, but Belldandy interfeared. “Shaun,” she said, using my preferred name. “you do realize that Superheros and Reporters do not mix.” “That’s right,” Skuld piped up from the other side of the table. “Just look at that Kryptonian and that Lane reporter. They both have problems of their own.” “Tratior,” I grumbled while quaffing the last of my tea. “I’m going to work. Class starts in half an hour.” I stole a glance at the paper before leaving. The headline read, ANGEL : A MAN OF DEPTH. I grinned. My secret was safe. Everything changed when I became Angel. There was no WAY that someone could find out that I, the fun loving English Professor was a superhero in silver metal. *** Amelia stared hard at the voice recording she had running through her recorder. The voice... she tried to place it but the answer kept eluding her. A deep bass, but it carried an... canadian infliction. Besides that, everything else was without question. There were thousands of people in here that had Canadian decent and hundreds of former Canadian residents. She grumbled miserably before shutting off the recording. Better get a good night’s sleep on it. End Chapter 2