Before we begin, I'd like to go over some things.
The zodiacs have special non-conscious powers that come from their sign. For instance:
The Fire Signs: can never be burned by fire and will never feel extreme temperatures (as in ARCTIC COLD or DESERT HOT)
The Earth Signs: no matter how high they fall they will never be harmed, and can hide underground indefinetly without any trouble.
The Air Signs: can all levitate off the ground slightly, and will never have any trouble breathing no matter the air.
The Water Signs: can all breathe underwater and hide underwater indefintely.
And all of the zodiacs share a special telepathic connection that allows them to talk to another telepathically.
Just wanted to clarify that, thanks!
And now, the story begins.
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Nobody's POV (3rd person's?)
They awoke in a room.
Actually, room didn't quite describe it right.
More like a giant palace room, because that's what it was.
However, the 12 teenage kids that had just been transported here were not at all happy about what was going on.
"What the hell?" Scorpio was the first to say. "Where the heck are we?"
"It's the middle of the night, too," Gemini complained, rubbing his eyes. All twelve were, in fact, in their pajamas. Pisces and Cancer were still asleep.
"Where are my headphones?!" Aquarius asked, panicking.
Taurus rolled her eyes and tossed him the pair of headphones she'd found teetering on her head. "Here you go."
"Was anybody else awake when we got transported here?" Leo asked. "I mean, I was."
"I was," Libra and Taurus replied in unison.
"I was studying my books," Libra said.
"I was getting a snack," Taurus said.
"I was about to get up," Aries said, shrugging. "I couldn't sleep, so I was going to go shoot some basketballs."
"Um, excuse me," A soft voice piped up. All heads turned towards Virgo. "I don't know who you are," she stammered, all eyes on her. "I-I mean, it'd be nice if we could introduce ourselves..."
All the zodiacs went around and introduced themselves. The two sleeping woke up too. (and because I'm lazy I'll skip this part)
"Okay, whatever! Forget introductions, check out this crib!" Saggitarius burst out after the last person went. She pointed to the setting around them. "Is this swag or what?!"
"I don't think swag is a word-" Pisces's voice was drowned out by the rest of the zodiacs' oooos and aaahhhhs. Well, except for Scorpio. He just studied it.
But the room was amazing, and like nothing they'd ever seen before on Earth. The walls were a deep blue, and embedded with gold and diamonds and precious jewels in a stars and galaxy pattern, forming familiar constellations like the Big Dipper and Orion. There were several large, arced windows with wispy dark blue curtains that glittered with gold and silver. It was gilded in gold, too, and frankly, as Leo commented, this entire room 'screamed of wealth.'
Then Cancer gasped. "Look!" She was standing by the window and gaping at the view. The other zodiacs hurried over to a window.
The sight was, of course, glorious. The galaxy spiraled out before them in shining stars that shined, an occasional comet passing through.
But that wasn't what Cancer had gasped at. No, she had gasped at something else-a certain blue-and-green planet somewhat nearby.
It was Earth.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" A soft voice asked.
The twelve looked up from the view and a few girls (or boys) gasped a bit.
A man and a woman had walked in, but they were unlike any people they on Earth had seen before.
The man seemed to radiate warmth. He had longish pale blonde hair with highlights of fire dancing through his hair. His skin was veined with fire, and he was dressed in an elegant cross between a blazer and a toga.
The woman, on the other hand, was cold. It wasn't that she wasn't warm and kind-looking. She was wearing a silver dress dotted with stars and had long, black hair with silver highlights. She wore a crown of stars.
"Who are you?" Capricorn asked.
"I am Sun," The man said, smiling.
"And I am Moon," said the woman, also smiling kindly at us. "And you, my dear children, are the twelve zodiacs the universe have chosen."
Silence...
"Okay, will someone please explain what's going on?" Scorpio finally blurted out. "Because I don't know about you, but why is there a freakin' Earth in our sight when we're supposed to be on it?!"
Sun smiled warmly at him. "The reason is is because you aren't there anymore." He spread his arms. "You are in the Palace of Stars."
"Ohh, so that's what this place is called," Saggitarius said slightly dramatically. "I was wondering, and also, are you guys rich? Second, why are we here? I mean, we were just sleeping..."
"A reasonable assumption," Moon said. "But before we begin explaining, please take a seat." She snapped her fingers and instantly fourteen blue-cushioned armchairs appeared in a circle. "Sit in order of your signs."
When nobody moved, Sun sighed. "It appears that you obviously have not studied. Haven't you ever taken astrology?"
Moon elbowed her counterpart. "Sun, obviously they haven't!"
"How sad." Sun shrugged. "Oh well. Just follow me."
He pointed to each person and seat in turn until the twelve were accordingly seated. He and Moon took a seat as well, at the head of the circle. "Good, so you're all here." He crossed his legs. "Where should I begin? Oh yes.
"From the beginning of time, the twelve zodiacs existed. At first they were merely stars in the sky, until humans like you came along and gave them names and characteristics. Eventually they became well known, but still just constellations. Then Universe-that's the big wide space out there-decided that they should fight for him.
"Every new generation he would go down and choose twelve special kids-like you!-and send them up here, to the Palace of Stars, where Moon and I would train you. You are the protectors of the universe, keeping the darkness away."
"Wait, what does Universe look like?" Taurus suddenly asked. There was a strange expression in her eyes. "Did he had ridiculously slicked black hair, curled mustache, black sunglasses, and also wore a black suit 24/7 with about a million sparkles over it?"
Moon smiled fondly. "Yep, that's him."
Taurus slapped her knees and laughed. "Seriously? That guy was my neighbor, Mr. Pinkletoes!"
"Funny, I remember him being the principal of my school," Pisces said.
"He was my basketball coach for me," Aries put in.
"One of my teachers," Capricorn said.
"The delivery boy," Leo said. "I mean, it's kind of hard to forget a name and face like that."
Sun sighed-loudly. "I will never understand why out of all the names in the world Universe chose Mr. Pinkletoes. It's so...degrading."
Moon elbowed him again and he sighed again. "Yes, yes, but still. Okay, moving on from his name, yes, that was Universe. He disguised himself near you to monitor your actions and etc."
"Wait, so like a stalker?" Libra asked. "I've heard of those."
Sun looked uncomfortable. "Not exactly. He was merely observing."
"He talked to me a million times," Taurus pointed out mildly. "Not sure that counts as just observing. And he spent most of his time in his garden failing to weed the weeds. Eventually I stepped in and did it for him."
"Sometimes he had to engage," Moon agreed. "It was neccessary."
Sun coughed politely. "Continuing with the story... so as I said, you are the twelve zodiacs that Universe has chosen. You may have already noticed that your names are, in fact, corresponding to your signs."
"What if I didn't want to be 'a protector of the universe?'" Scorpio asked, making air quotations around the last part. "I didn't choose it."
"Neither of us did," Taurus said. "But I guess that-"
"Quiet, would you?" Scorpio snapped. "Sheesh, what a loudmouth."
"How dare you!" Taurus exclaimed, glaring across the chairs at him as she clenched her fists. "That's rude!"
Sun and Moon exchanged looks that clearly read, Kids these days.
"Please, do not fight," Moon said gently.
"If all, you should be honored and happy about this privilege," Sun said. "After all, you get a longer life, superpowers, and an awesome crib to live in!"
"Superpowers?" Gemini asked eagerly. "Like, like, Superman and Batman?"
"I will never understand why all the superheroes' names end in man," Virgo muttered.
"Sort of," Sun said. "And I was going to explain, IF YOU'D ALL BE QUIET FOR ONE MOMENT." To himself he sort-of whispered, "Honestly, and this is why I told Universe that teenage zodiacs would be a bad idea."
Finally, the 'teenage zodiacs' fell silent.
"Thank you," Sun smiled and stood up. "As I was saying, you do get powers, which will correspond to your elemental sign. You're either fire, earth, air, or water. Your powers have laid dormant since now, so I will quickly recite a seven-hour incantation to awaken them."
"A SEVEN-HOUR INCANTATION?!"
Sun sighed and rolled his eyes, raising his arms. "Sheesh, can't you guys tell sarcasm when you see it?"
"Yes," Cancer said. "You're just horrible at using it."
"Shhhh," Sun ignored her comment. "Quiet down. Calm as I recite the spell." Sun closed his golden eyes and lifted his arms higher. He murmured a few unintelligible words under his breath.
All 12 kids suddenly felt a weird tingling sensation in their bodies, from the top of their heads to the tips of their fingers and the soles of their feet.
"Woah," Aquarius breathed. "That's so cool."
"And weird," Pisces muttered, shifting in her seat.
Then the sensation was over, but it left something behind. A warm, glowing spark inside of each of them.
Sun took a seat again. "There. We should have finished by now."
"Are we supposed to feel anything?" Leo questioned, wiggling his fingers. "Other than the brief moment where everything fell asleep?"
"It's painless, so no," Moon said. "But give it a few minutes. Your powers are still awakening."
"I will now, going in order of the signs, tell you what your power is," Sun said. The zodiacs exchanged excited glances. "Aries, you're first. Once I say your ability please try and use it. Stand please, everyone." They did.
Moon snapped her fingers and the chairs disappeared. Sun made his way over to stand in front of Aries. Sun studied him with golden irises for a few moments. "You have the ability to turn into fire and morph into the shape of a ram."
"Cool," Aries said. He squeezed his eyes shut. A moment later, his left arm, from his hand to his elbow, changed into a flickering fire. It took shape into a ram's front hoof for a moment, then fire again. "Look!"
"Very good," Sun praised him. "As with all of the other zodiacs, the more you practice the more you'll be able to do."
Sun moved in front of Taurus. He studied her. A small wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. He studied her some more, then frowned.
"What's wrong?" Moon asked. "Yeah, what's wrong?" Taurus echoed.
"Nothing's wrong, exactly," Sun said slowly. "I just find her ability interesting, especially since she's an earth sign."
Moon also looked at Taurus. "Oh my. You're quite right."
"Will someone please tell me the problem?" Taurus blurted, a slightly exasperated tone hiding the small note of worry.
"You have the ability to manipulate the buoyancy around you and yourself," Sun said, as slowly as before. "And I also detect that you can control the earth and plants, but not as much as the other."
Taurus blinked up at him. "Okay. What's so wrong about that? What what does that even mean?"
"He means," Moon said gently, because Sun was deep in thought. "Something like that is usually attained by a water or air sign, not earth."
"What's the big deal, then? It's just a small thing, so why does Mr. Sun look like I'm a living bomb all of a sudden?"
"Even a small mistake, no matter how small, can have dire consequences," Sun explained in his best fatherly voice. "You are not a mistake. I just find your power... oddly paired."
Taurus blinked again, a very brief, very quick expression of hurt and pain flashing across her face that barely anybody saw before it was replaced by a normal one. "Oh. I don't even understand what I'm supposed to, I mean I think that all I can do is probably make something heavy float or something."
"Actually..." Aquarius interjected quietly, "You can do a lot of things by manipulating buoyancy. If you'd like, and if there's a library here, I can help you find books on it." He looked at the two older people. "There is a library here, right?"
"Of course there is," Moon reassured him. "The Palace of Stars changed to match each of your certain preferences as soon as you were transported here."
Taurus beamed at Aquarius. "Thanks, I'd really appreciate that-wah!"
Sun had taken off Moon's crown (earning him a slap from the latter) and unexpectedly thrown it at her.
It never hit Taurus. Instead it fell to the ground as soon as it neared her.
"Hey! That was totally uncalled for!" Taurus yelled at Sun. Sun was stroking his chin thoughtfully as he retrieved the crown and put it back on Moon's head. "Intriguing indeed. That, my dear, was your power at work. You must have unconsciously or semi-consciously made the buoyancy around you drop to zero, which is why the crown dropped."
Now she looked delighted. "Well, I'm glad it worked. That crown looks kind of heavy. And sharp."
Sun moved to Gemini. (I will no longer specify partly because lazy and partly because I don't want to repeat what you already know twelve times over)
Gemini, apparently, could teleport using air currents and could see into the future for a very brief amount of time. He teleported Moon's crown (which was apparently the guinea pig now) onto Libra's head. "Bro, since you can do that," Libra said, returning the crown to Sun. "I bet we could soooooo many awesome tricks!"
"Brother?" Everybody else echoed.
"Yeah, we're bros," Gemini said, air high-fiving Libra. "I mean, couldn't you tell? The white-silver hair is a dead giveaway, y'know?"
"Another odd case," Sun said thoughtfully. "Universe rarely choose two from the same family to be the zodiacs."
Taurus turned to Gemini and gave him a high-five. "Odd-case-buddies-right here."
Cancer could morph water into desired shapes and use them to attack. She formed a small crab shape out of water and made it scuttle around for a little while, explaining that she used to have a pet crab named Captain Redclaws back on Earth.
Leo could turn into a lion and had pyro/heliokinesis. When he tried to turn into a lion, though, he turned into a lion cub and everybody laughed at his total adorableness.
Virgo could control vines and plants and also turn herself into earthen substances. Like Aries, she only managed to turn her arms into stone and back. "Don't worry," Sun had to reassure everyone many times over. "They only just manifested. Tomorrow I bet you'll find that they are much stronger."
Libra could create jets and blasts of air wherever he wanted and control air a little. He managed to make a small geyser on the floor. "This would also work for pranks," he mused.
Scorpio begrudgingly let Sun 'read' him. It turned out he had hydrokinesis and could produce poisons through his skin. He formed a water bubble and splashed it in Sun's face. "Sorry, I really needed to do that."
Saggitarius could shoot a bow and arrows of fire and could also breathe if hot enough. She took a moment to decided which she wanted, then managed to breathe out a tiny flame. The bow and arrows appeared for a moment, then disappeared again.
Capricorn had geokinesis and could manipulate the earth and rocks. She stomped her foot and a small rock launched out of the ground. She was happy with that, though.
Aquarius was by far the most nervous. He apparently could create little air balls to ride on, and turn air into water. He made a small air ball, then made it turn into a trickle of water.
Pisces was last. She could control ice and frost, and everybody was singing 'Elsa!' at her as she made some small snowflakes swirl in her palm.
"Now that everybody know their power, I'd like for you to go to sleep," Sun said. "It's almost nighttime and Moon has to work."
"Wait!" Virgo cried. "Our families and lives back on Earth-what will happen?"
"You will stay here now," Moon said gently. "Your parents have been notified of this and as of now they are the only people who know about it. Everybody else will have their memories washed."
"B-but..." Cancer said, her lip trembling, "That's not fair... we didn't even get a chance to say goodbye."
"You will be able to visit once a month," Sun reassured us. "But you must keep a low profile then. No one can know your true identity."
"Training begins tomorrow," Moon said. Her body started to float away and disappear. "I will be watching over you, my dear..." she disappeared completely and took her place in the sky as the moon.
"Hurry along to your dorms now," Sun said. "I have to rest too. You will be sleeping with your signs. Have a good night's sleep."
Slowly, as Moon rose in the sky, and as the chatter of the day died down, the twelve zodiacs... with a new destiny and life.... drifted off to sleep.
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Hiiiiii!
Done with another chapter!
Tomorrow their powers will be much stronger, so don't freak out.
Hope you enjoyed reading!
nyaaaaaaaah~
-awakened-angel-chan :D