Vinn and Scor relaxed at a library. Scor wasn't a big reader, but he liked to come here with Vinn since she likes to read a lot.

While Vinn read from a new book, Scor tried to read as well, but he couldn't find a story that interested him.

Vinn sighed and placed a book mark in her book. "We can go somewhere else if you don't want to be here."

"I don't mind," replied Scor. "Unless there's somewhere you'd rather go."

"I don't have anywhere in mind."

"Me either."

Vinn smiled. "Let's go get some lemonades after we're finished hiding from Ophiuchus."

"That sounds like a very good idea."

"What do you think of all this?"

"All of what?"

"The Trials."

"Something is off. I don't know what Ophiuchus has planned, but somehow I feel uneasy."

"Maybe you're just worried?"

"When do my guy feelings ever end up wrong?"

"Never."

"She's planning something big for that final trial. I don't think I want to know what it is."

"Don't worry. I'll protect you!"

"It's not me that I'm worried about."

"Are you worried about me?"

"Not at all."

Vinn playfully punched Scor. "I'm worried about you too. You're my best friend."

"Is it weird that I'm worried for the originals too? I wouldn't mind being friends with them."

"I don't want anything to happen to them either. I just want to beat them so I can keep my kingdom."

"Maybe it would be easier if I just let Scorpio take my kingdom. Sometimes I think I'd rather live a peaceful life."

"You can let Scorpio rule and come live with me in my kingdom!"

"I can do that... but..."

"But?"

"Nothing."

"You clearly meant something!"

"It's a secret."

"Tell me!"

"No."

"Then I'll ignore you until you tell me."

"Okay."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"FINE! You know I can't ignore you for long."

Scor checked his phone. "Ophiuchus is going to be in this area soon. Let's go."

"Alright."

***

After setting up the prank, Sagittarius and Pisces hid together in the meeting room where Ophiuchus was supposed to meet everyone.

"I can't believe you hacked the security system." Pisces spun around in circles while sitting in Ophiuchus' wheeled chair. "The look on her face when you detonated that slime bomb was the best thing I've seen in a while."

Sagittarius smirked as she checked her I-Pad which was now hooked up to every camera in the hotel. "Team SagGem can do anything."

"Yeah. You guys are really cool!"

"You're good at pranking too."

"I didn't do much pranking lately."

"You prank texted the alternates. They knew it was you but it was still funny."

"I'm funny looking! Haha." IDIOT! Pisces mentally cursed at himself.

Sagittarius laughed out of surprise. "I didn't expect you to say that."

"Me either."

"It's so warm in here." Sagittarius opened a window and let her hair blow in the cool breeze. "My country is hot like this too. I wonder when I'll get a chance to visit."

Pisces tried not to stare at Sagittarius but couldn't help it. "I like your country. I'd like to go back too."

Sagittarius sat in Aries' chair, beside Ophiuchus'. "We should set up another prank for when Ophiuchus returns!"

"Do you have any ideas?"

"I want to find Ophiuchus' room."

"I don't intend on becoming classless. Maybe we could accidentally flood the ground floor and cause lots of damage."

"But how will we do that without her knowing?"

Pisces smirked and stared at the wall ahead of him in concentration. Then water started flowing in from under the door. "It would appear Ophiuchus needs a plumber. One of the pipes in the lobby suddenly burst out of nowhere."

"She'll know one of the water signs did this."

"But which one? You can hack the video cameras and delete all footage from the last hour or so."

"I'll do that after we sneak out."

Pisces walked towards the window and jumped out. He stretched his arms back towards the window. "I'll catch you!"

Sagittarius jumped out the window. Pisces dropped her.

"Pisces you're useless!" laughed Sagittarius.

"I thought I could catch you!" Pisces chuckled and hugged Sagittarius. "I'll hug it better."

***

Libra hid in a movie theatre and decided to watch a movie while Ophiuchus searched for everyone. She bought herself a large popcorn, a pack of skittles, and a slushy, deciding to treat herself today.

As the lights dimmed, a guy with silvery white hair caught her eye. Libra pulled out her phone to text Gemini.

Libra: Is that you?

Gemini: where?

Libra: turn around

Gemini turned around to see Libra sitting two rows behind him. He chuckled and moved to sit beside her. "I thought I was the only one with this idea."

"I'm not in the mood to hide around Aspectu for a few hours. I figured Ophiuchus wouldn't think to check the movie theatre."

"I just really wanted to see this movie."

Libra checked her phone. "Virgo and Capricorn are hanging out."

"How do you know?"

Libra showed him a picture of Virgo walking around Aspectu with Capricorn on his back. "Capricorn sent me this with the caption Guess who stole your platonic boyfriend?"

"Why does he have to use the P word?"

"If I become queen I'm going to make the P word illegal."

"Why do you hate it so much? You're the reason we all hate that word in the first place."

"I'll send him a picture in reply." Libra smiled and took a picture of her and Gemini.

"This seems familiar. I'm getting a major sense of déjà-vu."

"I knew I recognized you losers!" Pie smiled and sat on the other side of Gemini. "What movie are we watching?"

Libra furrowed her brow. "How do you not know what movie you bought a ticket for?"

"I just came to buy popcorn but then I saw you walk in this room so I snuck in."

Gemini rolled his eyes. "It's a horror movie."

"I LOVE THOSE!" Suddenly the lights dimmed. Advertisements for other movies started playing. "So... where's your boyfriends?"

Libra laughed at her phone. "Capricorn just bought ice cream and smushed it all over Virgo's face! Look at him!"

Gemini laughed at the picture of Virgo making a funny face that was covered in Neapolitan.

The next picture was blurry with what looked like an angry Virgo chasing Capricorn.

"They're being idiots as usual." Libra turned her phone on silent.

Suddenly everyone received a text from Ophiuchus.

"Ophiuchus says she won't punish anyone who meets her outside the hotel in an hour." Pie snorted. "What a dummy!"

Gemini smirked. "Later we should take pictures with areas that are easy to find, then send them to Ophiuchus after we leave."

"Let's leave a few traps for her as well."

"Happy birthday to Ophiuchus," joked Libra.

Pie shrugged. "Maybe we'd care if she wasn't so mean."

***

Aquari and Saggi casually followed Ophiuchus while wearing disguises. Aquari wore a curly black wig while Saggi wore a long blonde wig that Aquari picked out for him. They both wore sunglasses. Saggi and Aquari paused outside a small café while Ophiuchus went inside.

Aquari reached inside a large backpack and pulled out a map, trying to pass as a tourist incase Ophiuchus noticed them, while Saggi updated the others with Ophiuchus' location. They faced away from the window, not wanting Ophiuchus to see their faces.

"She hasn't caught anyone else," muttered Saggi. "Maybe we could stop following her and let her catch the others."

"But that wouldn't be as fun."

"Following her isn't much fun either."

"You don't have to."

"I don't really have anything else to do."

"Can't do anything without me?"

"I just prefer hanging out with you."

"I've noticed that the original Sagittarius and Aquarius have a friendship similar to ours." Aquari pulled a pocket mirror out of her bag and casually spied on Ophiuchus through the reflection of the café window. "She's watching us."

Saggi grabbed Aquari's hand and pulled her away, acting as a couple until they were out of sight.

"Now we have to change wigs." Aquari opened her bag to replace her black curly wig with a short, brown wig. She passed Saggi a chin-length black wig.

Saggi frowned at the wig before putting it on. "As boring as this is, spending time with you is better than anything else."

"Are you admitting how much you like being my friend?"

"No. Everything else just seems super boring."

"Admit it! I'm your favourite best friend ever!"

"I'll never admit it!"

"We sound like Vinn and Scor right now."

"Yeah, except I'm pretty sure they secretly like each other."

"Everyone is pretty sure they secretly like each other. They call themselves best friends but it sounds so fake."

"Apparently the original Libra and Virgo were like that, except much worst."

"Why is everything always so complicated? If you like someone just tell them."

"Usually people get nervous."

"Being nervous is just an excuse."

"It's not that easy for people who acknowledge their emotions."

"It's not like I pretend I don't have them. I just find emotions useless. They cloud your judgement."

"I try to ignore my emotions too but it doesn't work all the time."

Aquari checked find my I-Phone. "Ophiuchus left the café. Let's go find her."

***

Aries and Leo sat on their balcony while everyone else left the hotel. They loved the thrill of being in plain sight if Ophiuchus were to return. They were enjoying fruit and relaxing.

"I'm so glad to be here." Leo smiled at the city below. "I've missed this place so much."

"You even worked a part time job at that ice cream shop to save money to come back."

"I don't know what I was thinking. How would I have even gotten here when I'm still banned?"

"Ophiuchus said there will be one trial in every country. I wonder when we'll go back to mine."

"I'd like to visit Fortis again."

"I want to see if everything is still the same or if Ares changed much."

"I'm glad Leon didn't change too much. Although, I don't think I'd mind if he made more changes. He ran this country well while I was gone."

"We should make Leon an honorary original. He's too cool to be an alternate. So is Cancy, Vinn... actually, most of the alternates are pretty cool."

"It's just Lee that sucks. I'm not a big fan of Pie but I'm starting to hate her less and less."

"There's one black berry left." Aries picked the last berry out of the container. "Do you want it?"

Leo smiled. "Of course!"

"Then come and get it." Aries smirked and stuck half the black berry in her mouth, holding it in place with her teeth.

Leo shrugged and kissed her, managing to steal the black berry. "Did you think that was going to stop me?"

Aries blushed. "I wasn't expecting you to do that. Not that I'm complaining."

"It's boring just waiting for everyone to get caught."

"Apparently Cancy and Taur just got caught."

"There's still twenty people left."

"We could go swimming. Ophiuchus already checked the hotel earlier, so I doubt she'll come back."

"Alright."

"Anyone who doesn't get in the hotel within the next thirty seconds has to cuddle Shomari!" Aries jumped up and held the glass doors closed. "One... two... three..."

Leo tried to rip the doors open. "You can't actually make me cuddle the snake!"

"Four... five... six..."

"... seven..."

"Eight... nine... ten..."

"You're so dead when I get in there." Leo turned around and jumped off the balcony.

Aries panicked and hid in her room, locking the door.

A few minutes later, Leo exited the elevator and walked around their floor, looking for Aries. "You didn't think I'd jump and use a fire shield to absorb the impact, did you?"

I didn't consider that at all. Haha haha haha... haha. I'm so dead.

"Where are you babe? I know you're here somewhere." Leo smiled when she tried the door to Aries' room but found that it was locked. "You dropped your card key when you jumped up to close the balcony doors on me."

Aries gasped as her door clicked unlocked and opened to reveal Leo holding the card key to her room. "I was planning to let you in!"

"It's punishment time!" Leo lunged for Aries and began tickling her.

"AHAHAHAH STOP AHAHAHAHAHAHA HOW DARE YOU TICKLE ME!"

"This is what happens to naughty rams who try to lock me out of the hotel!"

***

"Where should we go now?" asked Virgo.

Capricorn shrugged. "I'm getting tired. I want to go home and sleep."

"I don't get to sleep well. The class F beds aren't much better than the classless beds."

"Gem told me all about it."

"I have to get out of class F. I don't want one of you to take my place, but I have to make it to at least class B next time."

"I'm worried I'll drop from class A to class F."

"I'd like to see Scorpio and Ares drop to class F. They're always competing as if everyone else isn't even a threat."

"Scorpio and Ares are always at each other's throats as it is. Imagine if they both dropped to class F together."

"They might actually kill each other."

Capricorn smiled as they passed a prank shop. "Let's give Ophiuchus a birthday present."

"The others are probably already messing with her."

"But that store has lots of glitter!"

"Do you want to risk dropping to classless?"

"You're right." Capricorn checked his phone. "Ophiuchus demanded we all return immediately. A pipe burst on the ground floor of the hotel and she wants to know which water sign did it. The camera footage from the last few hours was deleted."

Virgo read the messages from his phone. "Somehow I'm pretty sure it was Pisces."

"I wonder how she's going to punish us this time."

"I don't care. I'm not afraid of her."

"She killed Gina."

"I'm still not scared. I'm used to her now."

"Wait. Didn't someone say Ophiuchus didn't cut off the credit cards yet?"

"We don't have her credit card."

"Let's find someone who does and buy a whole bunch of food."

"That's actually a really good idea."

"Aquarius just got caught by Ophiuchus."

"Where is she now?"

"Not too far from us."

"Let's take a bus to get away."

***

A few hours after everyone hid from Ophiuchus, she found Gem hiding in an arcade. Ophiuchus brought Gem back to the hotel and locked her in a large empty room on the seventh floor.

"If you leave before I come to get you, you'll become classless." Ophiuchus left, leaving Gem in a room with Lee, Capri, Cancy, Taur, and Aquarius.

"I didn't expect you to get caught." Aquarius walked over to Gem. "Where did you hide?"

"An arcade."

"She found me in a small café. She also found Cancy and Taur in a different café."

"Is this room supposed to be like a temporary jail cell or something?"

"Yeah. We're not allowed to leave and she brings everyone here after she finds them."

"At least I get to be with my bestie!"

"I forgot you are one of my self proclaimed best friends."

"You're best friends with all the girls at this point."

"Maybe I should be best friends with all the girls except you."

Gem put her hands on her hips and glared at Aquarius. "You wouldn't."

Aquarius smiled and petted Gem on the head. "Sorry, I had to."

It was then that Gem realized how short she was compared to Aquarius. The top of her head barely reached his armpits.

Gem playfully punched Aquarius. "You suck."

"Jealousy won't make you grow taller."

"You can't just be best friends with all the other girls except me."

"I can't remember if I'm best friends with Libra or not."

"I think you are."

"I guess I have to be your best friend then. It's only fair."

"If you want more best friends, I could use some more!" Capri smiled as she approached Gem and Aquarius.

What do I do? I want to talk to her but Lee might get mad, thought Gem.

Aquarius noticed Lee sleeping in the corner of the room. "We can be friends."

"What's it like in class A?" asked Capri.

"The rooms are really nice. I hope you guys get so see them sometime."

"Do your floorboards creak too?" asked Gem.

Capri nodded. "There's a leak in the pipes above my room somewhere. Water keeps dripping from my ceiling, but Ophiuchus said she doesn't do repairs on the class F floors."

"And we have like two floors. The others are completely empty like this one."

"Why did she build a hotel with empty floors?" wondered Aquarius out loud.

"Maybe for us to throw dance parties!" Capri blasted music from her phone and started dancing. Gem, Aquarius, Cancy, and Taur joined in.