Chapter dedication to the amazing Andro-meda- for helping me with the weapons and stuff! Thanks for making this chapter interesting!!! :D
I realize that I never specified their outfits. You can imagine them because I'll drive myself CRAZY if I try and describe their outfits every day.
By all means, if you don't know what the weapons I mention here are, feel free to look it up. There's no shame in doing so, probably because I looked up half of the weapons here XD.
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And I also realized that I never described the other dorms. Here~
Fire Dorms: warm, sunny, fire patterns, gold-and-fire canopies, fire rugs, sections for each of the sign's preferances (archery range for Sagittarius, basketball for Aries, and a ton of inflamable stuff for Leo-he likes to practice his powers sometimes) the entire dorm is inflammable, thank goodness.
Water Dorms: cool, calm, tranquil, water randomly floats at all times in the dorm sometimes assuming shapes, blue, gray and white color scheme, silver-and-water canopies, lots of little water ponds everywhere with flowers, and the room can't get wet. Water plants everywhere.
Air Dorms: cool, light, and airy. It can be open-air or closed, mostly open-air with wide-open windows. Purple, white, gray, and gold color scheme. Beds float around on clouds, white marble-and-purple-wispy-leaves canopies. Usually, objects are seen floating randomly around.
Hope they are to your liking, I tried to make them to fit the signs' personalities and the elements!
And now, the story.
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Nobody's POV
The twelve zodiacs were literally buzzing with excitement the next morning. Some were still talking (read: gossiping) over yesterday's battles, but a lot of people were also excited for today's training which, if Sun was telling the truth, would involve all-weapons all-fighting and no-powers.
"Training starts at 10:00," Sun said warningly. "And this time Moon will be there too, so do not be late."
Such, the zodiacs disbanded again (it was only eight)
Aries and Leo went off for another friendly shooting competition.
Saggitarius, Gemini, and Libra snuck off to make some mischief and gossip.
Capricorn and Virgo spent most of their time convincing Pisces and Cancer that it would be okay and no blood would be drawn, mostly through talking about random things.
Taurus went off to her dorm (after nabbing a few more books) and continued to train herself in secret.
Aquarius walked into the library, sighed in relief, took out a book, plopped his headphones on, and read in happy bliss.
What of Scorpio?
Well, he ended up at the library too.
"Hey, Aquarius," He said as he pushed open the door. "How's it going?"
Apparently, Aquarius could hear really well, even with his headphones on, because he responded immediately. He jerked upwards and quickly took off his headphones. "S-Scorpio! Hey!"
"Hey," Scorpio coolly replied, closing the door. Aquarius watched slightly nervously as the water sign surveyed the library with a hint of awe. If he was telling the truth, the scorpion scared him a little, especially after watching how easily he had defeated Leo yesterday.
"S-so, um! Are you looking for something?"
Scorpio met his gaze. "Of sorts," he replied vaguely. "Do you know if there are any hydrokinetic books anywhere?"
"That'd be under the H's," Aquarius responded immediately. He stood up, going into librarian-mode. "Follow me. Are you looking for a specific book, or...?"
"No, not especially," Scorpio said swiftly.
Aquarius got the strong sense of deja vu as he led Scorpio to the H shelf... except that this time the aura he felt behind him was definitely not as friendly and warm as Taurus's.
"Here we are," Aquarius finally said, stopping and pulling out two books. Both were dark blue with waves and sea designs along the edges and cover. "There are more, but I think that these two are the most informative."
Scorpio flashed a quick smile at him, flustering Aquarius even though they were both boys. "Thanks. I'll take a couple more." He grabbed a few more hydrokinesis books as he spoke, and went back to the table and flipped open a book to start reading.
Now very flustered, Aquarius also sat down and continued reading-he left his headphones off, just for the sake of politeness.
"Say, Taurus was here yesterday, was she not?" Scorpio suddenly asked.
Startled, a "Yes" slipped out of Aquarius's mouth before he could think.
"What did she want?"
"W-why do you want to know?" He countered.
Another quick smile. "The sake of curiosity. You were gone all morning." He leaned closer, a sly smile spreading over his face. "And tell me the truth. You weren't reading all the time, were you?"
Aquarius was now so flustered he was sure his face was as red as a tomato. "W-well... Okay fine! To tell the truth, after about an hour and a half she finished reading her buoyancy book-well, actually, it looked like she skimmed it-and wanted to try out some new things. And, since I was here, I was forced to be her partner. Though I think I was more of a guinea pig. That's how I ended up getting thrown into the air, but I suppose it was a good thing, because that's when my powers kicked in. Thank gods, too. Taurus reassured me that she would catch me if I fell, but given her size and age, I was very skeptical of that. D-don't tell her I said that!"
Scorpio hummed a laugh as he turned a page. "I see. I gotta say I agree."
Aquarius turned his head back to his book, embarrassed. It was still hard for him to warm up to others. He was much more comfortable with books.
Both boys' heads jerked up as the door banged loudly open and Taurus walked right in, smiling widely. "Hey, Aqua, I finished reading the book-and yes, actually reading, and I've got some tricks that I could really use your help with, and I promise I won't drop you this time, so-oh."
Her smile faded and her footsteps slowed when she noticed Scorpio. "Mr. I-Lurk-Constantly-In-The-Shadows."
"Miss I-Can-Totally-Lift-A-Giant-Piece-Of-Rubble," He replied with a small mocking smile.
(A/N: I am sorry if it feels like the story is only centering around these three, it's just that I really like writing drama and where else can it bloom but here? I promise that soon, on the weekends, the other signs will get plenty of attention.)
Her only response was a brief frown before turning back to Aquarius. "Is this a bad time? I could come back another time."
"N-no!" He said quickly, closing his book. "But with all due respect, maybe you could alternate between Scorpio and I as guinea pigs? I really don't want to be used as a weight lifter again."
Taurus flashed a smile. "Ah, don't worry, that won't be happening to you." She turned to Scorpio and widened her grin. "It'll be happening to you."
She didn't wait for an answer before making one clean stride over and lifted him over her head with one hand with ease. Her hair, unbraided, floated everywhere. "Wow, you're a lot lighter than I expected," she joked, spitting some of her hair out of her mouth. "Amazing."
"You know, I never agreed to this, you know," Scorpio remarked drily. Aquarius noted that his face was a light tinge of pink and smiled a little to himself. So there were some emotions beneath that cold mask!
Taurus ignored him. "Castle, please clear all of the bookshelves so that I can have a clear path," she called out loudly.
The walls rumbled. "With pleasure." A moment later the bookshelves flattened against one another to form a clear pathway.
"Thank you. Now, my guinea pig," She said, lifting the unfortunate test subject over her head, "Get ready! And try to keep your mouth shut."
An actual look of panic crossed Scorpio's face as Taurus wound up. "Wait wait wait Taurus what are you planning on dooooooooooooiiiiing!!!!!!!"
The rest of his words turned into a scream-quieter than Aquarius's but still a scream.
Taurus, however, had prepared for this. She took a few steps forwards, then leaped into the air. She neatly caught Scorpio and landed gently on the ground. "I told you to try and keep your mouth shut."
Scorpio stumbled a little. "Yeah, but you never told me you'd be throwing me into the air." He looked at Aquarius. "Did you have to do that every single time yesterday?"
"Yep," confirmed Aquarius. "And one time she didn't manage to catch me. Luckily Castle was watching and cushioned me with some pillows. The second time she didn't was when I summoned the air ball. After that, it was basically us half-goofing off and half-training."
Scorpio shook his head. "I feel bad for you, man."
"Oh, really!" Taurus chided them. "Don't be such babies. In fact, I'll pound some bravery into you both!"
The boys took a step back as she advanced, a wicked smile on her face. "Castle, be ready for anything. Boy, get ready to become human slingshots!"
The two unlucky guinea pigs' shouts echoed through the castle.
(Man I really enjoyed writing that! Just thought it'd give you some inside view on what Taurus's idea of 'training' was.)
Somewhere in the gardens, Virgo tilted her head. "Did you hear that?" She'd thought she'd heard a scream somewhere. Capricorn, Pisces, and Cancer shook their heads. "Probably just one of the boys," Cancer decided.
They continued on with their conversations.
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Two hours later...
"You know what?" Aquarius asked. Mini-training was over, and the three were making their way back to the main hall. "I think all this tossing and throwing and catching is actually helping. I think I can trust a little more. And I'm not as afraid of heights or falling as I was before."
"Mm-hmm. Told ya so," Taurus replied, but she was busy noting that even Aquarius was taller than she was. She sighed inwardly. Why am I so short...
Scorpio, walking silently behind them, had returned to the cold and dark guy he was before. He surprised everyone when he spoke. "Why don't we just ask Castle to transport us there? It'll be easier."
"Yeah, but it's more fun this way!" Taurus said, leaping another five feet into the air and landing way ahead of them.
"Dummy," Scorpio muttered under his breath, but there was a small teasing glint in his eyes.
They were both distracted by Taurus shouting, "Main hall, please, Castle!"
Thankfully they were not late.
Switching perspectives...sort of...
"Hello, my lovely zodiacs," Moon greeted us. She looked tired, but then again she was supposed to be sleeping right now. "I'll simply be a spectator. Today."
Sun strode into the room, clearly excited. "Okay, everybody! Gather 'round."
He was so excited that he didn't bother waiting for the Castle, he simply snapped his fingers and all of a sudden they found themselves back in the arena.
"Today, as I mentioned yesterday, we will be using WEAPONS!!!" Sun exclaimed. "Saggitarius, don't even think about commenting."
He swiped his arm down his front and when he put his arm back down to the side, there in his hand was a long glowing golden sword with a sun sign on it. Even at a small distance the zodiacs could feel and see the warmth and burning heat of the sun coming off it and took a tiny step back.
"How the heck did you do that?" Saggitarius asked.
"I reached into my energy core. In order to do so, you must reach for the handle inside your soul and pull it out. It'll become solid and stable as you do so, with your energy stored inside. It cannot be broken by regular weapons or humans for that matter, will not dent, will not rust, and will last you until you step down," Sun explained, making his sword disappear again. "Give it a try. Don't worry if you don't get it on the first try, and remember that everybody has a different way of pulling it out."
Everybody started attempting. Unsurprisingly, Leo was the first to pull his out, a large gleaming gold gladius with a lion on the hilt. The lion had a blazing mane and the entire thing had a warm aura, though not as blazing as Sun's had been. It was obviously his.
"Dude, how did you freakin' do that?" This time it was Scorpio who said that aloud.
"I followed Sun's instructions," Leo said smugly. "And I also visualized the sword in my hand." (A/N: A gladius and a sword are two very different things. Do not get them confused.)
"That's got to be the worst answer in the history of complicated question answers."
"Okay, fine! When I was trying to pull it out I thought about the things that make me me-like, um, I don't know, my awesomeness and leadership skills, my total love for-um, for living, obviously, and stuff like that."
"Oh, so like this, hm?" The next moment Scorpio's weapon came into existence. It was a long silver spear. He looked at it with awe. The spear part was crafted to look like a scorpion's stinger, and the entire weapon was made to resemble a scorpion, designs and all. "Woah."
"Are all of our weapons going to be in the same category?" Cancer piped up, eyeing the super-sharp blades the boys had.
"It depends on you," was Sun's vague reply.
"I say no," came Taurus's voice, and all heads turned.
While they were distracted by Leo talking, she had been trying her hand. Now in her hand was a long, glowing katana, where she had pulled it from her heart. There were runes or something etched along the edge of the blade that glowed from dark green all the way to pale green.
Taurus frowned at the familiar design on the hilt, which was exactly the same as the one on the biography she'd taken from the library, except a bit smaller and surrounded by a bull. "Hey, Sun, mind telling me what's up with this sign?"
Sun smiled fondly when he saw it. "Ah, I recognize it. That was Kamichi Stargress's emblem. She served as the 300th Taurus. And I also remember that-" a small crease formed between his eyebrows- "Her power was something like yours. Strange, since I believe that was her katana, except it was slightly longer and sturdier than yours."
Taurus examined the blade with a great deal of amazement and respect on her face. "Well, I did read-never mind. I mean, I guess then I'm not the only odd bull." She didn't want the others to learn her trick of learning new tricks. Not yet.
Excited and encouraged by her success, the other zodiacs started going at it with more gusto while the three who had summoned it successfully started play-fighting.
Aries got it next, no surprise about that either. His was another warm-auraed golden sword with a blazing ram sign on the hilt. "Swanky!"
Gemini and Libra pulled theirs out at the exact same time. Gemini got two twin knives. Their blades were made of deadly sharp amethyst, the hilt silver, with a subtle face design along it.
Libra's was a double-edged sword. One half was amethyst, like his brother's (which made sense) but the rest of made of silver. It glowed in purple and gold.
Cancer whimpered when she pulled out a sword. She pulled them apart and they turned into two swords, each with a jagged edge that made it look like a crab's claws. It glowed a soft red. "I guess I'll have to just cope," she sighed and started practicing slicing the sword through the air.
Saggitarius raised her hand. "Um, I don't really need one," she said, making her fiery bow and arrows appear. "But just so you know, I was an archery champion back on Earth, so make sure you have a bow of some sorts at the ready."
"That's perfectly fine," Sun reassured her. "I've had more than one Saggitarius have the same predicament."
Pisces was delighted when she pulled out a staff that apparently, according to her, was 'mostly non-violent'. It was silver and glowed blue. The top of the staff, however, was topped with two fish swimming around each other, her sign, and they looked very sharp.
Aquarius pulled out a jutte. "At least I know what it is," he said. It also glowed blue, just deeper, and the entire weapon looked somehow like flowing water even though it was solid. (Feel free to look this up)
Capricorn's weapon was... interesting. And she was, apparently, the only who knew what it was besides Sun. "At least I know what mine is, too," she said, spinning the hook around her head. She'd gotten a kyoketsu-shoge (by all means look it up!). The hoop was designed to look like her sign curving all the way around it, and the blade was slightly scaled.
Virgo was last to pull hers out, and it turned out to be an elegant, slightly tinged pink crossbow. (the simpler version, not the one with about a million extra gears in it) It had a maiden's face on the handle.
Sun looked like an excited little kid again. "Great! Now that our weapons are here, let's start trai-"
"Suuuuuuuuun," came a simultaneous whine.
Sun whirled around and snorted a laugh when he found the pile of boys that had taken on a certain smug bull that was standing on top of them. "If you get defeated that easily then I really do need to teach you some things!" he exclaimed, chortling.
"We didn't ask you to laugh, we asked for help," Gemini whined. "I don't know how but Taurus is using her power to make her heavier than she normally is and it's crushing us!"
Taurus launched herself off the heap of boys and smoothed down her hair. "What can I say? That was a lot of fun. Let's do it again!"
"Tell me, did you disarm them or fight them?" Sun asserted.
Taurus shrugged. "Let's see, I drop-kicked three-that's one of my favorite moves-I disarmed two, and punched the last."
"I was the one she punched," Libra muttered, rubbing his sore cheek.
"You were also the one to create that air jet that launched me into the air as soon as I walked into my room," Taurus noted. "And if I didn't have my powers I would be in the emergency room, because you also made that air jet launch me towards an upright knife."
Sun looked horrified. "If this is your idea of a joke then I'd like to politely ask you to cut them out," he told Libra.
Libra rolled his eyes. "Calm down, I knew she'd be able to dodge it. And besides, the knife would've disappeared if you had actually not been able to dodge it."
"Oh-kay," Sun quickly intervened, "Let's move on to basic combat moves."
He showed the zodiacs some basic fighting moves-counter, parry, slash, stab, etc. etc. etc. (a bunch of things that I'm too lazy to put down, you can look 'em up if you'd like)
For Saggitarius, Capricorn, and Virgo, who had different kinds of weapons that involved shooting and such, he took them aside and gave them tips on their weapons too.
"And now, the last move lesson of the day!" Sun announced after about an hour of them practicing. "My personal favorite, too..."
"Is it going to be as difficult as the others?" Aries asked, wiping sweat off his brow. "Because I'm getting tired of getting whacked and hacked everywhere by Taurus." He had had the misfortune of being her sparring partner.
"It's actually the most simple out of all of them," Sun promised. "The famous... ultra-amazing.... side-step!!!"
The way he said it, it made it seem a lot more amazing than it actually was.
"Seriously?" Scorpio couldn't help but voice.
"Yes, seriously! Here, Leo, come on and attack me."
Leo shrugged and ran towards Sun, sword at the ready to swing. But somehow he missed and hit the dirt. "Aw, man! You just had to choose me, didn't you? Great, a face full of dirt yesterday and today too. Humph." (Yes, yes, sorry to the ones against Leo hitting the dirt, somehow he ended up being the unlucky guy that falls constantly again)
"How'd you do that?" Pisces wondered out loud. "I'm glad you weren't hurt, but how exactly did Leo fall if you didn't even move?"
"Actually," A quiet voice spoke up from the back of the group. Aquarius's face flushed as all heads turned towards him. His eyes skipped between Sun, Taurus, and Scorpio-relatively the only few actual friends he hand. Living in a dorm with two brothers who had known each other mainly their entire lives, it was no surprise that Aquarius all too often felt like a third wheel. "Actually," He repeated, "Sun didn't do nothing. He, um, sidestepped."
Sun's face split into a wide blazing smile and he thrust a finger at him. "My new favorite zodiac!" he exclaimed. "Of course, I love you all equally, but y'know, I also love the sidestep, and he's the only one who pointed it out. Yes, Aquarius is correct. I sidestepped, except that most of you were so focused on Leo's attack that you didn't notice."
"When two great forces oppose each other," came Moon's whispery voice. She smiled serenely, a bit faded. The zodiacs had almost forgotten she was there. "The victory goes to the one who knows how to yield." (this is seriously good advice, people, so keep that in mind next time you're in a real fix)
"See, Moon knows what I'm talking about!" Sun cried. "Now, try with each other. And rotate partners."
"This is not fair," Gemini muttered as they rotated and he found himself with a grinning Taurus. "You already beat me yesterday, so apparently you want to rub in today."
"Maybe, if you would man up, you'd actually beat me," Taurus taunted, her smile growing more wicked by the second as she slashed her katana through the air.
"Actually," Saggitarius chimed in, "Let's put in 'all the boys' in place of just Gemmy Boy here."
"Not to mention that none them spend enough time studying," Capricorn put in, rolling her eyes.
The three girls fist-bumped.
"Girls are harsh," Aries muttered.
"I second that," Libra said. "And who's the one who was studying to become a businessman or an entrepreneur here?"
"Yeah, and besides, I'm your leader, so quiet down!" Leo added.
"WHO SAID YOU WERE OUR DAMN LEADER?!" (that was all of the arguing people)
"U-um, please stop arguing!" Pisces said desperately.
"This happens about three times a day, does it not?" Scorpio asked, a bored expression on his face.
Sun rubbed his temples. "Moon, you're free to go. You've been up long enough."
Moon nodded then slowly glittered away.
"Guys, guys, seriously," Sun addressed them next. "Get to work."
The sound of frustrated grunts and yelps echoed throughout the arena for another half hour.
At the end the zodiacs were all very tired. "Great job, gang!" Sun said, obviously very proud. "Now, please sheath your weapons. In other words, sink it back into the place where you drew it from."
The zodiacs did so. The feeling was painless and harmless but it felt very strange to see a weapon go into their bodies without any blood.
Then again, a couple hours ago they had pulled the very weapons going in from themselves, so that was another dizzying thought now that they looked back on it.
Sun beamed brightly. "You have no idea how proud I am! Good job! You're dismiss-"
Before Sun could finish Saggitarius spoke up. "Aww, c'mon, can't we keep on sparring a little while longer?"
"With you," chorused the boys, except for Aquarius, who went to stand on the side.
"With you too," Taurus added.
"I should be studying, but what the heck," Capricorn said, shrugging. She pulled out her kyoketsu-shoge. "Let's fight!"
As the rest of the zodiacs stood and watched as their friends pulled out their weapons once more, Moon glittered into existence, her expression worried. She whispered something into Sun's ear.
"I see," he murmured. "I wonder how the zodiacs will react to him-he did say he, right?"
Moon nodded. "At least for now. You know how quickly he changes. Should we tell them now?"
"Not yet," Sun said, turning away to gaze upon the field where the sound of metal on metal clashed and rang out. He sighed heavily.
"It seems that tomorrow the zodiacs will be able to meet somebody new."
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Annnnnnnnd CLIFFHANGER!!!
You'll find out exactly what everyone meant in the next chapter ~!
Love y'all!!!!
-awakened-angel-chan
nyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaa~