Zodiac High: The Fallen Stars

Chapter 8: Surprise Attacks

"I'm pretty much doomed if anything appears now," Connor sweatdropped, laughing nervously. "I can only manipulate already existing water, plus, what can you even do with water??"

"Drown?" Emilia asked, raising an eyebrow at the small boy.

"Doesn't help much if whatever we're up against is immune to drowning or water in general," Penny added. "At least Connor's healing ability is useful, even if it can't heal big injuries like Caitlin."

"Your clairvoyance is useful too," Connor pointed out, looking over at Penny.

"Yeah, but it doesn't really do much," Penny replied disappointingly. "I can only see a few seconds into the future if I can even get it to work. I'm really intuitive, but that's really it..."

"What about fighting?" Emilia asked. "You guys had combat training, right?"

Both Connor and Penny shook their heads.

"Never?" Emilia aske'd in awe, averting her gaze to both Water Signs, who both shook their heads. "Does your teachers not want you guys to reach your full potential?? Imagine the twenty four Zodiac Signs with both magic and combat abilities, you'd be unstoppable!"

Penny averted her gaze to the ground in front of her. Emilia was right; if they were to go up against Sullivan, combat skills would definitely be needed. You'd think that there'd be combat training at a school training students to beat someone who's taken over an entire planet.

"But hey," Emilia started, catching Penny and Connor's attention. "If something happens, at least I have fighting abilities." Connor and Penny breathed out in relief.

"Good..." Penny mumbled. Penny let out a small gasp, stopping in her tracks.

"Penny?" Connor asked worriedly, looking over at the brunette. Her navy blue eyes turned to a pale blue, almost white, before turning back to her usual cover.

"There!" She exclaimed, pointing to the left. Emilia turned to face it, instantly having a spear thrown at her face. She ducked to the side, catching it with her hand in time. She threw it at a nearby tree, jumping on it and bouncing up to a branch, where a guy was hiding. She thew a punch at his face before he could even blink, knocking him off the branch and to the ground, knocking him out.

Several others her appeared, surrounding them. Emilia fought two at the same time, throwing punches left and right. One appeared behind Connor and Penny as Penny's eyes turned pale blue again, turning back to navy blue almost instantly. She turned around to see him swinging their knife at Connor, who had his back to the attacker.

Penny instinctively put her hands up, using her water powers on the guy. The impact threw him back a few meters, knocking the breath out of him as his back hit a tree. He groaned as he fell to the ground, looking up at the brunette angrily.

"Oh now I'm angry," he growled, standing up and charging at Penny. Penny stood frozen in fear, not able to do anything as the guy neared. Connor managed to punch the guy before he could hurt Penny, before manipulating the water Penny created and trapping the guy in it.

"Emilia!" Connor yelled, holding his hands up to continue using his water abilities. Emilia had just managed to knock the two guys out, breathing out in relief as they fell to the ground unconscious.

"I've got it," Emilia insisted, walking up to Connor as he let the water fall to the ground and disappear. The guy fell to the ground, coughing up water. Emilia took advantage of his position, landing a kick to the side of his head, knocking him out.

Connor watched as Emilia took rope out of her book bag, tying up each of the guys that had attacked them to trees. Penny still stood in shock, looking down at her hands.

"Are you ok?" Connor asked, placing a hand on Penny's shoulder out of concern.

"I'm fine," Penny replied a little louder than planned, pushing off Connor's hand and turning around slightly to hide her face. She felt tears prickle her eyes as she balled her fists, Connor watching worriedly.

"We should keep going," Emilia said, throwing her book bag over her shoulder and walking past Penny and Connor. "They were some of Sullivan's soldiers. I can't promise there won't be more."

Connor nodded even though Emilia wasn't looking, before looking back at Penny. Penny swallowed the lump in her throat, blinking away her tears before following Emilia. Connor wanted to say something to Penny, but figured she was at an unstable and vulnerable state. Connor followed after the two quietly, and Penny clenched her teeth together.

----

Fun fact: Both Caitlin and Connor seem like the sweet and bubbly type, but they have a side you never wanna see. They're low-key psychopaths, having tendencies of losing control while fighting (especially later on in the book, when there's actual fights)

All the water signs are psychopaths though tbh--

- Kate ⭐️