Gemini searched through boxes that he had emptied and repacked several times. He couldn't find his favourite hoodie and he refused to leave without it.

"Why are you so worried when you can just buy a new hoodie?" asked Taurus who had already packed her stuff.

"Capricorn likes borrowing that specific hoodie so I have to find it."

"What a simp."

"Be quiet or I'll tell Ophiuchus you snuck up here from class F."

Taurus shrugged. "She already tried to kill me. I'm not worried about getting reclassed anymore."

"I can't wait to see Capra again."

After Gemini heard knocking, he got up and opened the door for Libra.

"Why are you here?" Gemini began looking through his empty closet again.

"I'm seeing if anyone needs help packing." Libra sat beside Taurus. "Why are you looking through an empty closet?"

"He's a simp," replied Taurus.

"Libra can you help me push Taurus out the window?"

Taurus pouted. "Gemini is bullying me."

"How dare you bully Taurus." Libra crossed her arms and jokingly glared at Gemini.

"What's Ophiuchus' phone number again?" joked Gemini. "I want to report a class F who snuck up to class B."

Taurus stuck her tongue at Gemini. "This is why your boyfriend is cooler than you!"

"Can you take my side just once?"

"Cappy is my earth sign buddy."

"Everyone always teams against me."

Taurus sighed. "Fine. You're cooler than Cappy!"

"Tell him that next time you see him!"

Libra looked through one of the boxes on Gemini's floor. "I'd suggest we all team up against Virgo again, but I'm afraid the children will make me their new bully victim."

"Children?" asked Taurus.

"Aries, Gem, Cancer, Leo, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Pisces. I call them children because they act like it." Libra pulled a few rocks out of the box. "Since when do you like rocks?"

Gemini put the rocks back into the box. "I don't but Cappy does. He gives me really cool rocks that he finds sometimes. I just place them on my dresser."

Taurus smirked at Gemini while signing something.

"You had better not be calling me a simp in sign language." Gemini opened a box next to him. "I have to find that hoodie!"

"Is this where the losers meet up?" Capricorn used his keycard to open Gemini's door.

"How did he get in?" asked Libra.

"You can allow other people to get into your room with their key cards," explained Taurus. "The staff at the front desk just scan the other person's card and it'll open your door."

Gemini stared at Capricorn. "I spent two hours looking for that hoodie."

Capricorn looked down at the hoodie he stole from Gemini. "You told me I could borrow it whenever I want."

"You should have asked him first!" Taurus looked at Gemini. "There. I took your side. Also Gemini is cooler than Cappy."

Capricorn dramatically played dead. "I can't believe Taurus betrayed me."

"HES DYING!" Libra began performing chest compressions on Capricorn who tried to push her away. "I'm not doing mouth to mouth so I guess he'll die."

Gemini sat beside Capricorn. "If he's dead can I steal my hoodie back?"

Capricorn sat up and wrapped his arms around himself. "I officially claim ownership of this hoodie. It's comfy."

Gemini pinched Capricorn's cheeks. "I unpacked and repacked those boxes several times because I wanted to find that hoodie, only because you like it so much."

"Simp," mouthed Taurus.

"Sounds like you have a crush on me. That's kinda gay."

Gemini rolled his eyes. "Can we push him out the window along with Taurus?"

"You couldn't live a day without me."

Taurus chuckled. "It's true, he couldn't."

Gemini grabbed Taurus' wheelchair. "Out the window you go!"

"I'll save you!" Capricorn crawled over to Taurus and grabbed onto the wheel of her chair.

Gemini picked Capricorn up bridal style. "Do you guys think we could toss him off the roof without anyone noticing?"

"I'll report you to Ophiuchus," joked Taurus who picked rocks out of one of the boxes.

"You love me too much." Capricorn made a kissy face at Gemini.

"You're such a loser." Gemini gave him a quick kiss before putting him back down. "Now help me bring my stuff to the roof since it's your fault I spent an extra two hours packing."

Taurus grinned at Gemini. "Look! I spelled something with the rocks!"

Without reading what she spelled out, Gemini put the rocks back into the box.

***

Capra was a country with many hills and farmland. The cities closer to the capital were like any other city with sky scrapers and cars, but outside the cities were small farm towns where people grew their own food. There were even a few deserts in the villages closest to the equator.

The castle sat on top of the largest hill in the country, so citizens either took an elevator or a gondola to the top. Many waterfalls splashed into pools between the mountains.

The hotel was located in the capital city Collis. Everyone unpacked their stuff before deciding what they wanted to do for the rest of the day.

***

Pie and Cancy sat on the gym mats in the training room. They were doing push-ups until Scor entered. He took off his shirts and grabbed onto the pull-up bar.

Pie sighed when she noticed Cancy stopped doing push-ups to watch Scor.

"I want to do s-some pull, pull-ups."

"Then go."

Cancy's face turned red as she stood next to Scor. She tried to reach the pull-up bar but she was too short.

Scor paused his workout to lift Cancy up to the pull-up bar.

Her blush reached her ears and neck.

Leon sat beside Pie. "I wonder if he realizes how much she likes him."

"I don't know why everyone likes him. He's just your typical fit shy boy who cares a lot about the people around him." Pie snapped her fingers at Leon who was spaced out.

"Yeah I don't understand either." Leon tied his long blond hair into a high ponytail that almost reached his waist. "But if I were to guess I'd say everyone likes his abs. They are very defined."

Pie rolled her eyes. "I could get abs. Would everyone like me then?"

"You also tend to be a bit violent sometimes."

Pie frowned. "I am not!"

"You shot at Scorpio when we first met because she lunged at Lee with a knife. Libra ended up getting shot instead."

"I should have let Scorpio stab him. I hate Lee but I thought the originals were worse."

"Whose attention is it exactly that you want?"

Pie shrugged. "I thought I knew. But as I watch Cancy and Scor get closer and closer, the more it makes me realize that she'd never love me."

Leon pulled Pie into a hug. "After the trials are over we'll find you somebody. We'll find Capri a new boyfriend and we'll find you a girlfriend."

Pie watched as Cancy dropped from the bar. Scor praised her stamina, making her blush again. "If they ever got together, I think I could live with it."

"Well that turns our love hexagon or whatever it is into a pentagon."

"I didn't like being part of a love hexagon anyway."

***

Aries and Leo snuck out of the hotel to look around the city. What they didn't know was that two ninjas followed them.

Aries and Leo sat at a bakery and ordered cheesecake. They sat there for ten minutes until Leo noticed two familiar ninjas sitting at a table across the room.

Leo sighed and brought her food over to Gem and Sagittarius' table. Aries followed.

"What are you guys doing?" Leo twirled the ends of Sagittarius' fake moustache.

"We don't know you," replied Gem.

Aries pulled Gem into a tight hug. "They're looking over us to make sure nothing bad happens. Aren't they kind?"

Gem pried Aries' arms away from her. "We got bored of annoying Aquarius."

"Did you guys have any lunch yet?" Leo pulled Sagittarius' ninja hood off and offered her a fork full of strawberry cheesecake.

Gem stole a black berry from Aries' cake. "Earlier Aquarius force fed us bananas to keep us quiet."

"We should probably go train later." Sagittarius checked the time in her phone. "Ares and Scorpio probably have been in the training room all day."

"Training doesn't really help with the trials," shrugged Aries. "It's more about decoding Ophiuchus' mind games."

"Training still makes it easier," replied Leo. "But focus more on stamina training than anything else."

"Where are we going to follow you guys next?" asked Sagittarius.

Aries checked her pockets. "Let's go to the mall. I'm running low on confetti."

Gem took a handful of rainbow confetti out of her pocket and dumped it on Aries. "How could you run low on confetti?"

"When is our creation day again?" asked Leo.

"July sixth I think," replied Sagittarius. "Virgo and Libra will know."

Gem shrugged. "Maybe Ophiuchus will bake us a cake."

"Would you eat food prepared by Ophiuchus?" Leo fed Sagittarius the last piece of her cake.

"Capricorn will probably bake a cake." Gem pushed her bangs out of her face. "Cappy makes good cakes."

"We should leave now so we can get to the mall before it becomes crowded." Aries searched up directions on her phone. "Apparently you can rent hover boards here."

The group left the cafe and looked around until they found a hover board rental. It was a small shop that rented hover boards. They let you borrow a hover board, then charged you based on how long you rented the board. The boards also had trackers in case someone tried to steal one. They also sold hover boards for a very expensive price. Leo spoke to the store owner and discovered that the hover boards follow a path made of magnets under the sidewalk, so you can't swerve into a building or into traffic.

The shop owner gave them helmets and special shoes that connected to the hover board to keep the person riding the hover board from falling off. He explained that a small remote started and turned the hover board off.

"Can't be worse than a flying bike," said Gem who stepped onto the board behind Sagittarius. Her shoes automatically clicked into place, as if her shoes were magnets. As soon as they were ready, Sagittarius pulled a remote out of her pocket with a button that turned the board on. It immediately rose eight feet in the air, making the girls squeal.

A holographic map appeared in front of them, with an option to pick a location. Sagittarius googled the name of the mall using her phone before typing it into the hologram screen.

Then the screen asked how fast they wanted to travel in kilometres per hour.

Sagittarius decided it would be fun to type in the maximum which was two hundred.

The map remained displayed as the board began moving, slowly increasing in speed until it reached two hundred kilometres per hour.

Leo sighed as she heard team GemSag screaming. She reached for Aries' arms, wrapping them around her waist, before selecting eighty kilometres per hour.

Aries closed ear eyes and rested her chin on Leo's shoulder as her stomach flipped at the increase in speed. Eighty kilometres per hour wasn't much when she was driving in a car, but on a hover board it felt like she was about to fall off at any moment. Or maybe that's because she wasn't used to riding a hover board.

***

When Leo and Aries arrived at the mall, Gem and Sagittarius were sitting on a bench outside looking pale like they were about to vomit.

"Ready to go in?" asked Leo.

"My head is still spinning." Sagittarius leaned over the trash can to vomit.

"Let's find out where to leave our hover board." Aries looked around before finding a hover board rack, kind of like the ones they had for bicycles. Because the hover boards were so expensive, the store owner gave them special locks that use a retinal scanner to open. He let the locks scan their eyes to set them up, and he would reset the locks after they returned them.

"I wish all countries were this technologically developed." Leo decided to enter the mall with Aries, and agreed to meet up with Gem and Sagittarius after they recover from their nausea.

Aries gave them each a motion-sickness pill that she carried around for her own motion-sickness in hopes it would help them recover faster.

***

Aquarius swam laps in the training room pool with Pisces and Cancer. Pisces and Cancer raced Aquarius, and he was surprised that they beat him every time.

That is until he stopped swimming and noticed a slight current pushing him back. He reached into the lane where Pisces swam, and felt a strong current pushing in the opposite direction.

Aquarius sighed and swam back to the edge of the pool. "I was going to praise how good you two became at swimming. But you're just cheaters."

"How can we cheat at swimming?" asked Cancer with an innocent expression.

"It's not like we have water powers or anything," added Pisces.

Aquarius pulled himself out of the pool and sat in the hot tub.

The two cheaters followed him.

"I feel like I'm the only guy who doesn't have abs," said Cancer who glanced at Aquarius.

Aquarius self-consciously crossed his arms over his stomach before Pisces pulled his arms away, poking all his abs one by one.

"Someone people build muscle easier than others," replied Aquarius. "It's only because of all the training we do. Most of the guys who have abs wouldn't have them if we weren't training every day. I think I'm the only one who had abs before we all started preparing for the trials."

Pisces pressed a finger against each of Cancer's cheeks. "If you were muscular you wouldn't be so cute. Cwutie babwy Cancie."

Cancer pushed Pisces away. "When I'm older I'll be hotter than you. Then I'll torment you."

"Pisces you're literally five foot seven." Aquarius patted Pisces on the head. "You look like you're sixteen. Cancer just looks younger because he has bangs."

Cancer brushed his bangs back with his hands. "Do I look older now?"

Aquarius shook his head. "You still have a baby face. You'll look older in a few years."

Pisces got out of the hot tub. "Lets go buy some candy or something."

Cancer and Aquarius followed, discussing a big store in a nearby mall that sold candy.

***

When Aquarius, Pisces, and Cancer got off the bus; they did not expect to see Gem and Sagittarius hugging each other on a bench outside.

Pisces ran over to them. "Look at the weirdos on the bench!"

Sagittarius looked up and attempted to smile. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Buying candy," replied Cancer. "Why do you guys look so sick?"

Gem thought of an excuse. "A wild horse escaped. Me and Sagittarius heroically chased after it and stopped it from hurting anybody. We're just tired after saving the city."

Aquarius gave them a blank stare.

Sagittarius sighed. "Did you know two hundred kilometres per hour on a hover board is very fast?"

"Anyone with a working brain would know that." Aquarius sat beside Sagittarius. "I'll take you guys home."

"We were supposed to shop for prank supplies with Aries and Leo." Gem stood up. "I think I'm better now."

Sagittarius cautiously stepped forward. "I'll text Leo and see where they are." Both girls entered the mall.

Pisces grinned at Aquarius. "Can we-"

Aquarius put his hand over Pisces' mouth. "I am never getting on a hover board with you."

"I'll go with you." Cancer used his phone to look for a hover board shop. "There's a hover board rental on the other side of the mall!" Both water signs eagerly ran towards the other side of the building.

Aquarius entered the mall and decided he was going to see if Gem and Sagittarius wanted to buy candy with him.

***

Virgo left the training room and was on his way to his room when he ran into Taurus. She was dressed up with her jacket and a long scarf.

"Virgo! Are you busy?"

"Nope. Do you need something?"

Taurus grinned. "I'm going to buy a pet!"

"What kind of pet?"

"I'll figure that out when I get to the shelter. There's this big place with abandoned animals so I want to adopt one. Do you want to come with me?"

"I need to shower first."

"Okay. I'll wait in the lobby for you."

***

Virgo and Taurus entered the shelter. Virgo was expecting animals locked in small cages. He was happy to see that the animals had large rooms to play in, and there was even a large fenced off area behind the shelter where a bunch of dogs and cats ran freely.

"Are you looking for a dog or a cat?" asked Virgo.

Taurus shrugged. "I don't know yet."

"Usually people put a lot of thought into which pet they want before they adopt one." 

"I'm an unusual person."

A volunteer who looked like he was still in high school spoke to them in Arabic.

Virgo smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. We don't speak Arabic."

"I know English!" He smiled back at them. "My name is Taavi. Can I help you with anything?"

"I'm here to adopt a pet," replied Taurus.

Taavi grinned from ear to ear. "Great! Are you looking for a specific pet?"

"Can you just show me the ones that are up for adoption?"

"Of course! Come this way!" He led them down a hallway full of rooms just for cats.

After looking at the cats, Taavi led them down a different hallway with the dogs. "I'll show you my favourite." He led them to a room where three dogs played. A fluffy brown and white Pomeranian played with a ball while a chocolate Labrador retriever and a black Labrador retriever played with each other.

"The fluffy dog's name is Sparky. The brown and black dogs are brother and sister. The brown one is Sachi. The black one is Sable. Their mother died giving birth. The other brothers and sisters were adopted. They're the only ones left."

Taurus smiled at the puppies. "Can I see them?"

Taavi swiped the card on his lanyard, opening the door.

Virgo petted the Pomeranian while Taurus bent over to play with the two labs.

"They're so gentle." Virgo reached out and petted Sachi who nuzzled her nose against his hand.

Taurus smiled at Taavi. "I'll take them!"

Taavi nodded. "I'll go tell my boss the good news!" He led them out of the room towards the front desk. A middle-aged woman with a paw print patterned hijab spoke in Arabic to Taavi who translated for Virgo and Taurus.

As Taurus was getting ready to leave with her two new dogs who were sleeping in the dog carrier, Virgo sighed. "I'll take the Pomeranian."

***

Taurus and Virgo sat in Taurus' room, playing with their new puppies when someone knocked on the door. Virgo let Libra in who simply stared at the three new dogs.

"Whose dogs are those?" Libra sat down and petted Sparky.

"The labs are mine. I didn't want to separate them because they're bother and sister." Taurus threw a ball to the other side of the room.

The dogs watched it bounce before pawing at Taurus' legs.

"And this one?" Libra looked at Virgo.

Virgo smiled awkwardly. "He's really cute. Taurus was buying dogs so I kind of wanted to buy one too."

"Cancer still misses Lotus, so I'll surprise him with these dogs. We can share them." Taurus picked up Sable and Sachi, cuddling them in her lap. "They're only puppies. They're so small."

"Handsome is a golden Labrador retriever. He'll probably get along with the two puppies." Libra made a kissy face at Taurus' two puppies. Sachi bopped Libra's nose with her own.

"I'm here." Cancer knocked on the door. Libra let him in. "Don't go on a hover board with Pisces. And don't set it to two hundred kilometres per hour."

Virgo rolled his eyes. "Not even Gem and Sagittarius would be stupid enough to do that."

Cancer gave Taurus a kiss on the forehead before noticing the puppies in her lab. "PUPPIES?"

Taurus handed Sable to Cancer. "I adopted them. Their names are Sable and Sachi. You can co-own them with me."

Cancer sat down and pressed his forehead against the black lab with tears pooling in his eyes. "I would love to."

***

After spending the day asking locals about tourist locations, Scorpio snuck out of the hotel and stood at the bottom of a hill. She heard at the top of this hill was a waterfall and a pool. Supposedly there was a cave behind the waterfall, and Scorpio wanted to explore. Especially after hearing what was rumoured to be hidden in the cave.

She wore a tank top and shorts, not caring if her clothes got wet once she reached the pool. She let go of the straps of her backpack and began climbing.

***

By the time Scorpio reached the top of the hill, the sky was hidden behind dark grey clouds. The locals were right. There was a pool and at the end of the pool, a waterfall crashed down. Scorpio pulled a map out of her pocket. This pool was dangerous as locals reported that deep down enough there were whirlpools and currents that shoved people into underground tunnels where they drowned.

Not being afraid at the intensity at which the water crashed down, or the whirlpools and currents, Scorpio removed her backpack and sandals when she heard a twig snap.

Scorpio sighed and looked around. "Ares if you followed me I swear-"

She paused when a snake slithered towards her. The snake hissed and glared its teeth at her.

Before she had a chance to study the map, Scorpio dove in the water. She smirked at the snake, when she felt water dropping on her face. It started to rain. This didn't bother Scorpio until she heard a crackle of thunder.

She decided that she already came this far, so she was going to finish her adventure.

"Scorpio!" Scorpio turned around to see Ares standing at the edge of the pool soaked from the rain, looking at her like she was insane. "SCORPIO! GET OUT OF THE WATER!"

"ILL BE FINE!" replied Scorpio who kept swimming.

Ares removed his shirt and dove in the water. Scorpio watched in horror as he swam towards her. "There's whirlpools and currents! This pool is very dangerous for someone who can't breathe underwater. Get your ass back to shore."

"Swimming during a thunderstorm is stupid, even if you can breathe underwater." Ares panted as he caught up to her. "I'll just follow behind you."

"You idiot it's too dangerous! You're my friend and I care about you!"

The thunder crackled above them.

"If you get electrocuted and fried alive in this pool, then I don't know how I'd break it to the others. That's why I'm following you. If you want to risk your life, then you'll risk mine too. Let's get out of here."

"We're almost there. We can wait the thunderstorm out in the cave, if there even is one." Scorpio continued swimming.

Once they reached the waterfall, Scorpio swam under. She called out to Ares. Ares dove behind the waterfall, and Scorpio quickly pulled him up as lightning struck something nearby.

"What are we looking for?" asked Ares whose life flashed before his eyes.

Scorpio shushed him and pulled a water-proof flashlight that she bought in one of the advanced technology stores before coming here. She began walking. "I heard there's ancient stories here. There's secret information carved into stone." Scorpio pulled a waterproof camera out of her pocket.

"You risked both of our lives for stories carved into stone?"

"Something about the trials isn't right at all. Ophiuchus is hiding something. I spent a lot of money to discover this place."

Scorpio and Ares passed a small pool within the cave. She didn't want to imagine what kind of bacteria was growing in there.

"What are these?" Ares picked up a stone tablet.

Scorpio was about to investigate when they heard what sounded like a motor boat. "Hide!" she whispered.

"Where?" asked Ares.

Scorpio didn't think twice before jumping in the pool of water. She tried holding her breath because she was afraid to breaths in this water. She saw a few tiny water bugs swimming around and shuddered, reaching for Ares who dove in beside her.

"Anybody here?" The voice was muffled but sounded familiar. "There has to be someone. I found a map at the edge of the pool."

Wanting to see what would happen, Scorpio slowly made a bubble of water rise from the pool where they hid. She made the bubble engulf a rock, before crashing it against a wall.

Scorpio held onto Ares tighter as they heard gunshots. The intruder investigated, standing in front of the pool as they looked around.

The intruder eventually gave up and Scorpio heard a sound of something heavy being dragged towards the entrance of the pool.

After they heard the boat drive away, Scorpio and Ares pulled themselves up just enough to breath in some air. After being sure the intruder was gone, Scorpio and Ares pulled themselves out of the pool.

Ares held onto Scorpio who shook from fear.

"Wh-why was someone here with, with a gun?" asked Scorpio.

Ares tried to control his own fear, but he held onto Scorpio with shaking hands. "Those tablets must have been important."

"How did they know we were here?"

"One of the locals probably ratted you out. Were you careful in the way you retrieved this information?"

"I was but... maybe not careful enough. I wore a disguise, so whoever that was shouldn't know it was me."

"We need to bring this back to the others." Ares grabbed the tablet by his feet. "I held onto this while we were in the pool."

Scorpio took a picture with her waterproof camera. "Let's wait here for a bit. Because of the thunderstorm and to make sure whoever that was isn't lurking around."

"I could use a shower." Ares scraped a bit of algae off his leg.

"Hold still." Scorpio walked to the cave entrance. Ares followed.

All of the sudden the waterfall caved inwards, soaking them both with water that was cleaner than whatever was sitting in that pool.

"That's going to look suspicious if the intruder sees the waterfall cave in out of nowhere."

The waterfall returned to normal. "We'll just hide again. If the intruder comes back, I'll just flood this entire cave. I wish I thought of that before, but I was too afraid."

Ares laughed. "THE Scorpio? Afraid?"

"You were shaking too!"

Ares sat on the floor. "I have never met anyone as brave as you before."

Scorpio sat facing him. "You swam in a pool with me during a thunderstorm. Your bravery is also impressive."

Ares played with the friendship bracelet around his wrist. "I hope this doesn't sound weird, but I don't think I could live without you anymore."

"Don't be so dramatic. You've lived without me for almost eighteen years."

Ares didn't know why he was telling her this. Maybe because they just survived two near-death experiences together, or maybe because she was the coolest person he had ever met. "As soon as I met you, I wanted to keep you close. I heard a lot about you before we met, but when I saw you in person I decided to call you my rival. I just wanted attention from you."

"But you used to purposely piss me off."

"It got your attention. I've realized that bad attention is worse than no attention, but at the time I pretended to hate you and want to discover your weaknesses as an excuse to stay close to you. You've always wanted to know my phobia, so that kept you close to me."

"You're a lot smarter than I gave you credit for."

"Eventually I got tired of arguing with you, so I tried being your friend several times. You didn't trust me and didn't listen until you realized how serious I was. I didn't think you'd ever actually want to be on good terms until you gave me a friendship bracelet."

Scorpio buried her face in her knees to hide her blush. "I always just wanted to show off how strong and smart I was to you. I discovered quickly that you were almost on my level, so I also wanted attention from you."

"Almost?"

"I was being generous."

Ares laughed and played with Scorpio's almost-black hair with silver highlights. "Now that I've met you, I don't want to leave your side."

Scorpio looked up hoping the dark cave hid her blush. "You're making it sound like you have a crush on me or something."

Scorpio's breath hitched as Ares inched closer until his face was six inches from hers. "I don't have a crush on you. I think I'm in love with you."

Scorpio stared at him, processing what he said before cupping his face and kissing him.

When she pulled away, she smirked. "You said you never want to leave my side. I think I could get used to that."

"It's animatronics."

"What?"

"My phobia. It's animatronics."