Hi Guys! 

There was originally a prologue before this where they all received their invitations, which I will post later. I've decided that I can't wait and so, here you go! 

The prologue will be posted later, okay? Yes. 

Without further ado, here we go! 

Nobody POV

"... Argh! Damn! What the hell?!" 

Aquarius was the first that got ahold of his senses. Groaning, he sat up, rubbing his head, which felt like someone had just violently warped it then hurriedly reshaped it. As his eyes readjusted, they widened. Holy... what in the world happened? 

First of all, he was pretty sure that he'd been sleeping peacefully in his bed last he checked. Now he was seated in what seemed to be a green and flourishing garden, bordering an old and slightly crumbling cathedral-like building. And second, there were other people sprawled around him-eleven, to be exact, and they were all stirring awake too. 

The first person he recognized was Leo. He'd had to do a deal with her movie producer once, and had briefly discussed business with her. Still, even though she was all charm and smiles, he had gotten the very distinct feeling that she was acting all the while. 

He then recognized the other 10 geniuses, having seen them on magazines or TV or etc., but he lingered a little on the strange brown-haired boy, who he didn't recognize. A quick once-over and Aquarius deemed him pretty much a wallflower, no threat there. 

"Where are we?" Capricorn murmured. "Last I checked, I was in my ship sleeping..." 

Cancer let out a screech. "This place is absolutely overgrown with weeds! Whoever owns this place, hi, sign me up as your gardener!" 

"Ugh... be quiet, my head is splitting," Libra moaned, holding her head. Her pink bun was disheveled. 

"Hey, I've never seen this place before!" Gem said eagerly, looking around. "Mini, have you? I thought we had charted the entire world and-Mini?" She looked around. "What? She was absorbed? That's just rude!" 

"You've got a point, sister," Sagittarius said, patting her hair down. "I thought for sure I'd seen the entire world, but..." 

Taurus tried to get up then collapsed with a cry. Pisces rushed over. "Are you okay?" Taurus opened his mouth, then closed it, then eventually said, "... Ah... Yes." 

"How did I get here again?" Aries asked, stretching out his arms which made popping noises. 

Suddenly Pisces's eyes grew wide and she let out a terrified scream. "M-m-m-monster!!" 

They all swung around and saw a towering... what was it exactly? It had many arms and many eyes and it definitely did not look like a costume. It lunged towards Pisces, but before it could even lay a hand on her, Scorpio's sword slashed it to pieces easily. She exhaled. "T-Thank you, mister!" Scorpio gave a curt nod. 

"Ah, you must be the world's best swordsman," Gem said, snapping her fingers. "It's a pleasure to meet you." 

Virgo touched the creature's blood and sniffed it. "It's not human blood. It doesn't match the blood of any human or animal at all... I wonder what this could be." 

"Well, whatever it is, I don't like it!" Cancer yelled. "Why did it attack? Was it because he liked how cute that girl is?" 

Pisces beamed. "Aw, thanks!" 

"We'd all like to know the answer to that," Aquarius said drily. "And what exactly is going on right now." 

A laugh interrupted them. "Ah, I told Rita that one of those monsters wouldn't be enough... as to be expected on the world's best, right?" Pale green-yellow lights floated down from the sky and when they cleared a man was standing there.

He had light brown hair under a worn top hat and a long black jacket over a classic white dress shirt. He had black pants, gloves and shoes, and his eyes were golden when they looked at them. He tipped his hat. "Howdy folks! How're you all doin' tonight?" 

The twelve all blinked at him. "Uhhhhhhhh..." 

"Woah, how did you just appear like that? Is it like a magic trick or something?" Sagittarius asked eagerly at the same time Capricorn inquired, "Did you use a device to transport yourself here?" 

"Neither," The man replied. "Hello, my twelve players. My name is Universe, the overseer of this 'game'. You can call me Mr. Zero if you'd like, either is fine." [NOTE:] We're going to switch constantly between 'Universe' and 'Mr. Zero'. If it's confusing for you tell me and I'll stop. 

"Wait a minute! That game?" Aries exclaimed. 

Leo's head swiveled towards him. "Huh? You got a mysterious email too?" 

"So did I," Cancer chimed in. 

"And I," Virgo added. 

"And-" 

"I sent one to all of you, so yes all of you got one," Universe interrupted before he could hear the same thing twelve times. 

"Wait... in the email you said you'd pick us up tomorrow..." Libra said slowly. "Does that mean the game or whatever you mentioned has started?" 

Mr. Zero beamed. "Yes! As smart as ever, Libra my dear." 

"That's great and good to know," Pisces said hesitantly, "But, um, Mr. Universe, I'd like to know why we were attacked as soon as we got here..." 

Universe waved a hand. "Please, no 'Mr.' before Universe. It sounds too weird. The reason why you were attacked almost immediately was like your 'pre-test' of sorts. Oh, and also because I knew that Scorpio would easily take it out." 

"Ooooo, tell me more about them," Gem said eagerly. "What species? How come I've never seen them before? Ooo, I need to write this down, Mini, even though you're in my head, can you see this right now this is such a scoop I need to know more and-" 

Mr. Zero held up a hand. "All will be explained soon enough. But first, have a seat!" He snapped his fingers and the twelve found themselves seated in twelve rather comfortable seats. "By the way, Taurus, I'm sorry about the rough landing. Here's your crutch." 

Taurus took his crutch, smiling gratefully. "Thank you, and it's okay. I've endured worse."

"Now that we're all sitting, let me explain," Mr. Zero started, sitting down as well. "In the email you received, you were invited to play in a game, correct?" The twelve nodded. "The game has begun. There are twelve of you and you are going to be collectively referred to as 'zodiacs'. In order to clear this game you must clear 'levels' one at a time. Each level will be extremely difficult and will test your abilities and your natural skills as geniuses. The tests will be conducted and chosen by the Constellation NPCs, otherwise known as the Non-Playing Constellations. You'll have two weeks between each test to train and regain your strength." 

"'Abilities?'" Scorpio spoke for the first time, his deep voice cutting through the silence. "What does that mean?" 

"Ah, right, I forgot you guys are all new to this, tee hee!" 

The zodiacs exchanged looks like, 'And THIS is the guy we're supposed to trust to oversee the game?!' 

"Here, since you're new here I'll open your inventories for you!" Mr. Zero held out a hand and a square blue holographic screen appeared before each zodiac. 

"This is so cool..." Capricorn murmured, lightly touching the screen. It showed a picture of him and his stats. "How'd this appear? How did you make it? I need to research..." 

"These are called your inventories," Universe explained. "They can store whatever you buy and can display your stats, etc." 

"'Buy'?" Cancer immediately latched on to that word, eyes gleaming. "What do you mean by 'buy?' and what kind of items are available exactly?" 

Universe laughed. "We buy things with points in this world," He said. "You earn them through completing levels. All twelve of you start out with 500 points. That's very generous, I would say." 

"500..." 

"You can use your points at the Ability Shop-that's just its name, it really actually sells a ton of stuff-to buy things." 

"'Ability'?" Libra asked. "I don't get this." Her screen read: Ability: Yin/Yang Manipulation. 

"Ah, abilities. Each of you were gifted with an ability and a passive skill when you entered," Mr. Zero explained. "They're on your screens." 

There was a moment as the zodiacs all read their new powers and some very loud reactions. Then Aquarius, who was level-headed as ever, posed a very important question. "How are we supposed to use our abilities?" 

"Oh, right! Well, I don't know about that. You know, it's kind of one of those 'instincts' things, or whatever they're called nowadays..." Mr. Zero replied, waving a hand carelessly. 

"Universe-sensei," Leo said sweetly. "Please elaborate a little more." 

Universe blushed. "W-well! I'm flattered! Kyaaah! Nobody's ever called me sensei before, except for Rita! Ahhh this feels so good!" (Rita = his apprentice before she was his personal assistant) 

"Dude, we just called you sensei," Aries said. "I mean, it's not that big of a deal, is it...?" 

"It is to me!" Mr. Zero said, putting a hand on his chest. "All of the NPCs refer to me by name and they never call me sensei! That may be because I've only had one student, and that was only for a few months before I gave up teaching..." 

"Okay then! We'll call you Universe-sensei from now on, is that okay?" Pisces beamed. 

*gussssh* "Ah! Don't cry, be happy!" 

"So, does that mean I can do... THIS?" Gem's eyes gleamed maliciously and then a minute later Cancer let out a screech. "What the hell is happening? Where'd you all go?! I'm in the middle of a field surrounded by blood and gore and my clothes are absolutely ruined and-WAIT A MINUTE." 

Gem burst into a high-pitched giggle as the vision faded away from his eyes. "Looks like it worked!" 

"Um, hello, the rest of us need an explanation," Sagittarius demanded. "What'd you do?" 

"My ability," Gem said dramatically, "Is Mind Illusion. I can project illusions in one's mind, and in that weeb's case, well, it's not hard to figure out that he can't stand his clothes getting ruined or anything too messy." 

Cancer pouted. "You're so mean...!" 

"Aw man, I wish Mini were here to experience this too," Gem sighed wistfully. "But for some reason I can't get her to come out and I have a strong suspicion it's because of him." She looked pointedly at Universe. She bared her teeth in a rather intimidating grin. "Do you want to fight?"

"Shut up, both of you." 

Electricity crackled in the air as Aquarius fried both of them. "Argh! Sensei, he's abusing his power!!" 

"Not abusing it if I'm just quieting two idiots." 

"Right, I forgot that geniuses or not, I'm still dealing with high school students here..." Universe facepalmed, sighing heavily. "Well, there you have it. They used their powers without any instruction!" 

"That tells us nothing, you realize that right?" Aries pointed out. 

"Maybe you're just slow," Libra called, and they turned to find her juggling a ball of darkness in one hand and a ball of light in the other. "Figured out mine, though-Yaaawwn." She toppled over. "Tiring." 

"Oooo! I got it!" Sagittarius started snapping and each time she did so random objects started appearing. "Hey, here's my costume when I was seven... here's the trapeze bar... oh and hello, smoke bombs..." Then she snapped and a boulder conjured itself from the void. "Oof, that's why it felt so heavy, and-KYAHHHHHHH!" Before any of them could react it had promptly dropped itself onto an unsuspecting Taurus's head. 

"I-I'm a murderer," Sagittarius said in shock. 

"Don't worry, I think he's fine," Mr. Zero reassured the terrified zodiacs. "No blood, and look!" He pointed to the boulder, which was crackling with electricity, and then as molecules drifted from under the boulder and slowly formed the shape of Taurus.

Sagittarius breathed a loud sigh of relief. "Thank goodness!" She rushed to help him as he tried to stand them promptly fell down. 

"How'd he do that?" Capricorn demanded, eyes shining with new information. 

"R-reflex?" Taurus tried after a few minutes of struggling to find the right words. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Miss Sagittarius." 

Sagittarius beamed and smothered him in a hug. "Awww, don't be sad, my sweet little innocent cinnaroll!" 

"Aside from that," Leo cut in. "Let me try something. You, blue-hair." Aquarius faced her, scowling. "It's Aquarius, thanks." 

"Aquarius, whatever." She paused for a minute, then opened her mouth. The words that came out seemed to be gilded with gold. "Go and fetch me some water." 

Aquarius's limbs twitched, and he opened his mouth, "Of course-Wait, where do I even find water?" His eyes narrowed. "In that matter of speaking, I am not your servant and you'd better watch what you tell me or I'll fry you. Actually, I should do that." He flicked a hand and a volt zapped Leo, who was frowning. 

"Why didn't it work?" Leo muttered. "Let me try again." She turned to Cancer and repeated her question. This time Cancer actually got moving, bowing. "Of course. I'll be right back." 

Leo laughed out loud. "Ha! It worked!" She frowned at Aquarius. "Why didn't it work on you?" 

"Gurl, there's no way any power of yours could ever come close to touching me," was Aquarius's snarky reply. 

"Ahem... Aquarius here naturally is very opposed to being controlled so that's probably why..." Universe coughed. "And there you go, good job!" 

"Um... sir, I have a problem," Capricorn piped up. "I can't use my ability because... uh... there aren't any shadows that I can manipulate." 

"Yeah, and I can't manipulate any of the light that we can see," Scorpio added. 

"And, um... I'm just kind of nervous about necromancy," Virgo said, blushing in embarrassment. "I don't know much about that." 

"I'm working on healing!" Pisces said cheerfully. "None of us are harmed right now, that's probably why." 

"Well, I don't know how to use my ability because I don't want to let go of my blood!" Cancer exclaimed. "Their abilities are all super-easy to use! Not fair!" 

"If you don't like your ability, you're always welcome to trade it off or buy another one from Lovene," Mr. Zero said, crossing his arms. "She runs the Ability Shop. You're going to have to get more points than just 500 if you want to afford an ability and survive, though. As for how you use it, it's a matter of wanting to use it, how well you know it, and how your body responds. For instance, Taurus's ability activated because his body instinctively knew if it didn't he'd get crushed. Then again, he could use his Passive Skill, but that would crush Sagittarius." 

"I see!" Virgo clenched her fists, a determined smile on her face. "Then I'll be sure to study up on necromancy! You'll see!" 

Universe chuckled. "I like your spirit! Nice!" 

"About our Passive Skills," Aries interrupted. "It says that we can only use it twice a day, and-" 

"Nope, mine says that I can use mine thrice a day and for thirty minutes each time!" Sagittarius cut in shamelessly. 

"I can only use mine only once a day," Aquarius lamented. 

"About that..." Mr. Zero hurried to explain. Maybe it would've been easier to just transport them to the house and make them read the game guidebook instead of me explaining things...?! "The better the Passive Skill, the longer it takes to 'cool down'. In your case, Aquarius, if you could constantly recover from all attacks the balance of the game would be thrown off, which is why you can only use it once a day." 

Libra nodded sagely. She was now juggling balls of fire and water, valiantly trying to keep her eyes open as a result. "Nice, I like how things are designed to keep things fair here. And take it from me, I'm a-yawn-a lawyer." 

"Exactly! And I'm only educated in the mystery of 'fairness' after receiving several lectures of 'no favoritism!' and 'no special treatment!' and 'you have to follow the rules of YOUR game!' from Rita... wahh..." Mr. Zero dabbed away tears. 

"Who's Rita?" Gem asked immediately. 

"Oh, she's my personal assistant and the NPC for Level Three," Universe replied. "I probably would have had to step down from being the game's overseer if it weren't for her holding me in shape. She reminds me to stop breaking the rules allll the time." 

"You know... you shouldn't tell us that... if you're trying to set a good example, you're failing..." 

"Well, anyway," Mr. Zero waved a hand. "Any more questions? If not then I'm going to teleport you all to the house I have very kindly arranged for you to stay in until the Level One tests starts." 

"Yeah, I have a question," Aquarius said. "When does the first test start? I'd like to know how much time I have. And are there any other ways to gain points besides finishing levels?" 

Mr. Zero rubbed his head. "Let's see... since it's the first test you'll have about three weeks to prepare, and yes, you can get more points by defeating monsters like the one that attacked you when you arrived, but not as much." 

Aquarius grinned. "And are we only the players?" 

"Oh, absolutely not!" Universe replied cheerfully. "I host this game once or twice a generation, and each time all the residents that have died or want to participate play! I don't know how many players there are, but I do know that there are a lot. Right, and you can also take points from other people when you kill or defeat them." 

Aquarius now had a shit-eating grin on his face that said he was very much planning to get as many points as possible through some very Aquarius means. 

"Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention-" Mr. Zero held up a hand. "You're going to take four mini-tests to see if you're worthy before taking the final test." 

"WHAAAAAT?!" 

"Don't worry that much. The mini-tests aren't that hard, but they're conducted in the real world so you have to make sure you stay incognito while completing your mission. And only three of you are allowed to go at a time." 

"Um, Universe-sensei?" Pisces asked nervously, raising her hand slightly. "Will we have to... kill anyone here?" 

"You'll have to eventually if you want to survive," Mr. Zero replied kindly. "Don't fret, though, in this game when people die they burst into pieces of light and fade away and however many points they had before are immediately transferred to you." Pisces let out a sigh of relief. 

"Where's my sister?" Gem demanded. 

Universe winced. "I had to fuse you together since it would be easier. My deepest apologies, but you'll be able to separate once the teleportation is finished." 

"Wait, what teleportation-?!" 

A wide green circle puffed into existence under their feet. "I'll see you here and there, children. I wish you the best of luck. You can find all other information in your library." 

He tipped his hat at them, and then a bright beam of light shot up from the circle and enveloped them. There was a flash of light and then they were gone. 

"I hope you'll be able to clear the game... my zodiacs." 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"... Ugh! Ow, my head! I really don't like that teleport!" 

The zodiacs were sprawled across the floor of a house, after the teleport had not-so-gently dumped them there. 

"A...Are you all... okay...?" 

They turned their heads and found Taurus, who was the only one not clutching his body in pain, sitting in a chair a few feet away, watching them with concerned eyes. 

"Hey! How come you got special treatment?!" Cancer yelled, dusting his sleeves off. "This is the second time today!" 

Taurus held up a note. 'Because his body is more susceptible to pain than yours are, he gets a soft landing. -Mr. Zero.' 

"Are you sure he's just not favoring that cute face?" Libra muttered, rubbing her head. "Owww, my head..." 

"Well, I wouldn't blame him!" Sagittarius squeezed Taurus tight. "He's so cute! Like a kawaii stuffed animal that I can just squeeze!" 

"Besides that," Aquarius said, sitting up. "Where are we?" 

"Looks like a house," Leo observed. "A pretty large one at that." 

"Why should I be surprised that you're good at gauging the size of houses?" Aquarius shook his head. He looked out a nearby window, where he could clearly see other houses that made up a town of sorts. "Looks like we're in a town." 

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but..." Pisces said shyly. "Could we maybe go around and introduce ourselves? I only know a few of you, like Mr. Cancer over there." 

The zodiacs quickly went around and introduced themselves. 

"Great! Now that the boring part's over, let's go and explore!" Gem lept to her feet, eager for excitement. "We've got three weeks to explore this town and have fun-" 

Scorpio held a sword in front of her, blocking her exit. "I don't mean to be rude," He said quietly in his deep voice. "But this house may be dangerous and it would be good to first make sure there isn't a monster waiting for us." 

"I can help with that," Libra's sleepy voice rang out. "My passive skill is Clairvoyance. I can use it as long as I'm looking for something specific." She opened her eyes and a glowing circle surrounded them as, from her point of view, she seemed to rush through the house, but the house's lines were lined in glowing pink. A few moments later the circles faded away. "There aren't any monsters here. No traps either. There are twelve bedrooms-one has two beds for the twins. A library on the second floor as well. There's a kitchen down here and two bathrooms up there. The third floor is reserved for Capricorn. Other than that everything is normal. I don't know about outside, though," she added. "So you might want to be cautious outside." 

"Okay, now that she gave her diagnosis, now can we go?" Gem asked impatiently, one pink heel tapping on the ground and she stared at Scorpio, who let her pass. They could hear her high-pitched screech as she opened doors. "Guys, the fifth room is ours and if you value your life then don't argue! It's perfect for us!!" 

The rest of the zodiacs slowly trickled into the house, exploring their new settlement. Aries found the gym and started getting his muscles back into shape. Taurus walked into the library, got several books (some dictionaries, some about the world), seated himself in a corner, and started soaking in the words. Gem unfused from Mini and they talked avidly in their room. Cancer locked himself in his room and started designing (or thoroughly cleaning himself, nobody could really tell) Leo wandered into the karaoke room (why it was there, she had no idea) and started working on her singing muscles again. Virgo also went into the library and picked out books on necromancy, sat down (unaware of Taurus), and started studying on her ability and the different types of illnesses in this world. Libra immediately collapsed into her bed and started snoozing. Scorpio went into his room and started practicing with his sword and his ability. Sagittarius wandered through the halls, thinking up of new magic tricks which she would show at dinner. Capricorn immediately climbed the stairs to the top floor, which turned out to be a workshop customized for him. And Pisces, well, everyone could hear her delighted squeal when she discovered the full makeup table in her room and she started trying them out on the dummies in her room. 

And what of Aquarius? 

He sat in his room for a while-which he had to admit was exactly how he liked it-thinking up of how to get points, before realizing with a smack on his head for his own stupidity that he couldn't think up of strategies before finding out what he was going to use it for. "Ugh... two falls in one day must've messed my head..." He muttered, walking towards the library. 

When he pushed open the doors to the library it seemed empty. (Virgo had left earlier to go outside and try to summon a dead person) Easily he found the section where items you could buy in this world were located and the books that would tell you the basics of the game, but the problem was... they were all gone. 

"Did that doctor take them all?" Aquarius muttered. "No, she wouldn't be interested in that kind of thing..." A sound in the back caught his attention and he was instantly on the guard. Silently he made his way to the back. 

Aquarius was extremely surprised to find the brown-haired boy (Taurus, right?) that he hadn't recognized sitting at a table. He was leaning over a book and was surrounded by books. Curiously he stepped closer and realized that they were the books that he hadn't found. So he was the one that took them... 

After a moment, though, Taurus lifted his head and stared at him. "Mr... Mr. Aquarius?" He mumbled, yawning afterward. 

"That's me," Aquarius replied, not sure what to make of this strange boy. He obviously had no idea who he was-

A second later his gold eyes became wide. "Oh! Mr. Aquarius! I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there!" He leaned down to grab something and Aquarius realized his crutch-why did he had that, anyway?-had fallen to the ground, which was probably the sound he'd heard earlier. 

"It's fine," Aquarius said. He gestured towards some of the books. "Can I take some of them?" 

Taurus tried for words but settled on nodding. 

"Thanks." Aquarius quickly picked up the books he wanted, then realized that Taurus was also surrounded by several thick dictionaries. He was, however, reading a book-something titled, Tales of the Faerie. "How's the book?" When he was met with a tense silence he continued, "I thought you were studying...?" 

Taurus blushed. "W-well, I was... but then I saw a word in the dictionary that reminded me of this book, and..." He trailed off, evidently embarrassed. 

Aquarius smirked. Easily distractable, huh? "I see. May I sit?" Again he was met with a small nod and he took a seat, carefully avoiding the stacks of books that practically hid the already short boy as he started looking through the books. "Did you like your life before coming here, Mr. Taurus?" 

He stopped flipping pages when he didn't receive an answer for two, three minutes. When he looked up finally at Taurus he was kind of surprised. The other boy looked like he was in deep thought, struggling almost, as his lips kept on forming words that never sounded. "Taurus?" He prodded. 

The other boy jumped. "A-ah! I guess...?" 

Aquarius chuckled. "You're a quiet one, aren't you?" 

Taurus flushed, hiding his face. "A-actually, I've lived alone for the majority of my life, so talking is hard for me... plus, I want to make sure that what I'm saying is right before saying it, which is probably why I always take so long before answering..." 

Aquarius blinked. This boy, who looked shy and innocent, had lived alone? He couldn't believe that someone like him would even survive a day in the harsh world. "Really. Then allow me to help. I'm looking for ways to gain more points, that way I'll have a better chance of surviving here." 

"Oh! I have an idea for that," Taurus said. "I just gained 200 points from a servant." 

"... What?" Aquarius asked, stunned. "We've only been in here for about an hour. And there isn't anyone else here." 

"Oh, the servants are invisible," Taurus explained. "They won't appear unless you ask them to appear. I honestly don't know what I did, but when I summoned a servant they were lamenting over their ripped pillow and how they didn't have the time to fix it, so I fixed it for them and they offered me the 200. I didn't want to take it, but they insisted." 

(Both Sagittarius and Pisces had already discovered this, both getting 100 points for entertaining a servant and making a servant look pretty, respectively.) 

Aquarius raised an eyebrow. Is he lying? There's no way someone like this exists in the world. Then again, look at Pisces, who's a total airhead. But who in their right mind would want to turn away 200 points. In this world, the more money you have the benefited you'll be, since you can buy things that can possibly save you. "Are you sure you're not lying? Who in their right mind would turn away that much money?" 

A flash irritation flashed across Taurus's face. Ah. So he can feel anything other than innocence and sunshine. "Mr. Aquarius, I don't know what you're implying, but I assure you that I am not lying." 

"My apologies, I wasn't trying to offend you," Aquarius replied smoothly. "So? What's this idea of yours?" 

Taurus looked at him. "Can I trust you?"

That was such a rhetorical question that Aquarius let a laugh escape. "Oh, you're amusing. The answer is, of course-" His deep cobalt eyes glinted. "-No. It's not a wise idea to trust me nor to involve yourself with me, but in this game we're supposed to be allies, aren't we?" 

"... Electricity's your ability, isn't it?" Taurus said after a few minutes. Aquarius nodded. "Then even if you decide to attack I'd survive." 

"Oh yeah?" Aquarius asked, leaning forward at the challenge. "And what makes you so sure?" 

Taurus stared unflinchingly back. "Nothing at all. Just a feeling." 

"And what's your ability?" Aquarius questioned. 

Taurus paused for a moment before reply. "Molecularization. I can turn my body into molecules using electricity and can also manipulate them." 

"Ah, so that's how you didn't turn into a pancake earlier," Aquarius mused. Interesting... though I still don't know how he could survive being zapped with my volts. "Would you care for a little friendly spar?" 

Taurus smiled a little at him. "My apologies, Mr. Aquarius, but I'll have to politely decline. I don't want to waste my passive skill on something like that, and I wouldn't want to see you crushed before we even begin the tests." 

Aquarius blinked at him for a moment, a fleeting thought of flowing dark hair and a quick smile passing through his mind. How long has it been since someone had talked to me like that? Then he laughed. He extended a hand. "I look forward to working with you, Mr. Taurus." 

Taurus smiled at him as he took his hand and shook it. "Same, Mr. Aquarius." 

-------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Sagittarius was walking through the hallways, a pen tapped to her mouth and a pad in one hand. "I won't need to use my passive skill, since I can already trick people into thinking I can levitate," she mumbled. "Is there any way that I can possibly summon things without snapping? It'd be more interesting that way... Ouch!" 

"Watch where you're going," A deep voice rumbled above her. Sagittarius tilted her head and found Scorpio standing in front of her, looking down at her-literally. He was the second-tallest in the group, right after Aries, and Sagittarius had to admit that while she was many things she was most definitely not tall. She only came up to his chin. 

But right now she was so not the mood. She had just about to grasp the perfect idea when she'd bumped into him, and now she had forgotten all about the idea. "Do you mind?" She snapped irritably. "If anything I should be the one telling you that. Most people know to stay out of my way when I'm drifting." 

Scorpio raised an eyebrow at her, his expression showing just a hint of annoyance. "Excuse me, but I was kind enough to tell you instead of pushing you away," he said. "And I'm literally white. Can't you see colors right in front of your eyes?" 

"White, pink, red," Sagittarius replied breezily. "I don't care. When I'm thinking I'm going on autopilot. All I've got on is my senses so I don't fall or anything and my brain and nothing else. Why didn't you get out the way if your sight is so good?" 

Scorpio had an absolute poker face as he said without hesitation, "Sorry, it's hard for me to acknowledge midgets like you." 

Sagittarius's jaw dropped, snapping. (Not-so-secret-secret: She's extremely sensitive about her height.) "How dare you...!!!" She snapped and three knives from the circus tent were conjured above Scorpio's head. He easily deflected them with his sword. "Oh, is the little dwarf angry now?" 

"Shut up!" She yelled back, conjuring more weapons from the tent (used by the knife throwers) which he all deflected. When he sliced apart the boulder she conjured, she sighed. "Fine. You want to fight? Let's fight." 

"With pleasure," Scorpio said, sheathing his sword. Sagittarius frowned. "Why're you sheathing your weapon? Don't you need that to-oh." Light was gathering in his hands, slowly taking the shape of a glowing, flickering sword which Scorpio hefted up. A wide smile cracked through his facade. "Now shall we begin?" 

Ten Minutes Later...

Sagittarius lay on the ground. Various slashes were bleeding on her arms and legs and chest, but she paid them no mind. It was definitely less painful than that one time when the lion had raked its claws across her chest... (the scars were still there) What was hurt the most, though, was her pride as a woman. 

The grounds around them (they'd moved outside after a few minutes for the sake of the house) were smoking and there was a crater in the ground where Sagittarius was currently lying, staring up at the bright blue sky that was practically taunting her. She let out a bitter breath. "Haaaaahh..." 

The sky was suddenly blocked out by Scorpio's form. "Well? Had enough?" 

She grinned back up at him. "For today. We're going to settle this later, with a proper fight." 

"You put up a good fight," Scorpio admitted, holding out a hand. "I guess living in a circus can be helpful at times." He had less wounds than Sagittarius but still some thin slashes across his cheek and limbs. 

Sagittarius accepted his hand and he tugged her up, dusting herself off. "Yeah, well, you're not so bad yourself." She stretched leisurely. "Ahhh! That was pretty nice. It's been a long time since I had to put my limber bones to work. And I got to let off some steam." 

There was an awkward silence, then Scorpio coughed. "Erm... Pisces's ability is Heal, right? Should we call her over?" 

"... Good idea." 

Pisces screamed when she saw their injuries. "Goodness! And this is why we shouldn't fight!" She chided them when they explained. "Come here first, Sagittarius." Pisces took Sagittarius's wounded arm and closed her eyes. Her hands lit up with an aquamarine light and where the light touched the wound healed. She repeated the process on the rest of her injuries and on Scorpio. "There. Now stand outside and get along again!" She slammed the door in their faces. 

Another awkward silence descended on them-actually, if Scorpio was being honest, it was only applying to him. Sagittarius seemed perfectly fine. (and she was) 

Finally she looked up and beamed brightly. "That was fun, Swordsman! Let's do that again sometimes, alright?" She thrust out a hand. After a moment Scorpio hesitantly. Her hand was small in his and calloused from her years of doing all kinds of circus acts. It was also warm. "Ah... yeah. You too." 

"Well, bye! See you later!" Sagittarius waved, then she cheerfully skipped off. Scorpio watched her go with a slightly puzzled expression on his face. She confused him in more ways than one. She just got brutally beaten and yet she can walk away with a cheerful smile and smile at the one who defeated her in the first place? His lips twitched. 

It looks like maybe I made the right choice to come here. 

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And the first chapter is DONE! That was really fun. 

We'll have more zodiac interactions later on, those are just the ones that I've decided on for now since I think I'm going to have fun writing their dynamics ;) 

Anyway, I hope this wasn't too confusing and that the basics are explained. Just in case, though, here are the basics of the game: 

1. There are six levels overall to clear and each are super difficult. 

2. You must take four mini-tests before you can take the final test. Only three at a time can participate in the mini-tests and they are conducted in the real world. 

3. The unit of currency people use here are points. You can use them to buy things and as Aquarius stated it's a good idea to get as much as possible. The ranking in the game are also decided partly on how many points you have as well. 

4. In reality the NPC conducting the test can decide when to start, but typically they have one-two weeks to prepare. 

So yeah! That's basically it! 

I hope you liked this chapter and the new zodiacs! :D

See you in the next chapter,

-awakened-angel-chan