The Forgotten Zodiac

Kazue looked around warily at all the serpents, not really knowing what to do or where he was supposed to be recalling Franz from. His fists clenched, the relaxed. Trying to punch one of the snakes probably wasn't a good idea.

Rin had pressed herself up against the wall of the canyon, trying to get as far away from the snakes as possible. She had never really liked snakes... the myths surrounding them were interesting, but it wasn't for no reason that the snake was depicted as the bearer of evil.

Igneous pointed his dagger around at the snakes, wondering if it were a good idea to start stabbing, or if he should just throw the knife and hope it hit something.

Isabella flinched back slightly when the snakes began sliding out of Franz, wondering how she was supposed to deal with that. "I don't intend to die." She said quietly, though she was clearly quite frightened. "A giant talking snake is hardly that unusual. Giant could be a mutation from all the magic and radiation going around, talking could be something else that I haven't thought of yet, or magic." For someone who loved the woods, fear of snakes was a rather obnoxious pain. "So are you being controlled by the snake, are you the snake, or are you both just obnoxious with terrible fashion sense?"

"Where do we know him from, Quinn?" Quint asked, disturbed by the snakes, but not backing down, pulling Quinn to his feet.

"I...I don't know," Quint bit his lip. "I can't remember."

"That's ridiculous, you remember everything!"

"I don't remember!" Quinn wailed as a couple of the snakes approached, curling around Quint's foot, baring its fangs at them. Quint froze, staring down at the serpent in horror. His body naturally rejected most poisons and venoms, but this definitely wasn't natural. And Quinn forgetting things...that was perhaps more unsettling than the snakes.

"Don't insssssssult me, human. I can sssssmell your fear. Ha! Even the Zodiacsssss, in all their might and power, fear me." Serpens laughed. "The human issss my pet and sssslave. In return for his sssservices, I grant him immortality. I couldn't care lessss what he chooses to wear." Franz sat on the cobra's head, his eyes no longer red. Now, they were blue, and somewhat distant and glazed over. He seemed much less...evil, now that the serpent wasn't inside him anymore.

"Smell my fear?" She rolled her eyes, attempting to convince Serpens and herself that she wasn't absolutely terrified. "Poor you. I can't imagine fear smells very good. I wonder, did he choose to be your 'pet and slave' or was that just your decision and once you were using him, you didn't want to stop? I really don't believe that you offered him immortality and slavery and he chose both." She eyed the snakes nervously and gripped the knife tighter, reaching for another in her pants pocket.

((I don't know what to do with myself.))

Kazue glanced up at Franz. "Hey! Hey, make them stop!" he tried, kicking a snake aside with such force that it flew about twenty feet before hitting the ground. "Can you?" he asked.

((Which is a very infectious problem. I do feel like I should mention that Quinn's 'not remembering' and other things I've dropped in (like the Zodiacs not remembering Serpens) are all involved with the grand plot twist I have planned. We should get Trin in here first, though. Like a hero dropping in at the right time. Hinthint.))

"Make them...stop?" Franz blinked down at the Zodiac that was yelling at him. He shook his head slowly. "Can't. Impossible."

"It doessssn't rightly matter, doessss it, human? And for your information, your fear ssssmells delicioussss. Your blood moressssso, though." Serpens hissed, the snakes splitting into groups and advancing after each and every one of the Zodiacs, as well as Isabella. "Goodbye, oh forgetful ones."

Ophile darted in from the side, biting the head off the snake that had been about to bite into Quint's leg. He was in somewhat of a panic; all of the Zodiacs were in serious danger, now. He couldn't protect them all.

Suddenly, a figure dropped seemingly out of the sky and landed next to Serpens' head, then kicked the snake, knocking Franz off, laughing loudly. "You've all lost your touch, Zodiacs!" the figure called, then jumped forward and punched a snake's face in. The figure had wild curly red hair and green eyes, and the body of a muscular 18 year old boy. His skin was a permanent tanned color, and flickers of turquoise color glowed along his skin. This strange glow faded soon after he landed, however, and he began decimating snake after snake. Any bites they tried to give him just broke their fangs.

He was Leo, the Zodiac.

Isabella immediately swung her blade and stabbed a snake in the head, piercing through the skull and into the air behind. Her eyes glowed white for a second, and her pupils shifted from normal, humanoid pupils to those that looked much more feline. She jerked the blade out of the snake and moved toward the other one. In her other hand she held a second blade of equal length to the first, about a foot long. "I'm hardly helpless, in case you hadn't noticed." Her voice was off, as if two people with incredibly different voices were talking in exact unison from inside her. "So do me a favor and don't insult my pride by going easy on me."

Cancer jolted into action. Now that others had decided to start the attack and he knew that it wasn't just his overly-active temper, he was perfectly happy to join in the frey. He immediately activated his shields and began swinging his swords, stabbing and slashing snakes repeatedly.

Rin was standing protectively in front of Quint and Quinn; she wasn't much of a fighter, so she'd just stay out of the way for now. "Leo, good to see you! Where's Capricorn?" she called.

((YOu are playing that one too, right, Trin? -can't remember and page won't load- ))

Igneous flailed around with his dagger, hitting a few snakes here and there but also nicking Kazue on the arm. "Watch it, useless!" Kazue snapped, kicking a few more snakes to record length. "You're fighting the snakes, not us!"
"Sorry!" the human called, trying to be more careful now.

Franz landed with a dull thud on the ground. He didn't bother getting up or moving, choosing instead to stare up at the moon in empty-minded apathy. Serpens recoiled instantly, rearing his head back with a cry of pain. He snarled angrily, then swung his head down at Leo, fangs bared.

"Leo?" Quint blinked.

"Leo!" Quinn said in surprise and joy. Leo would help them out of this nasty situation, he definitely would. Ophile was drawing snakes away from Rin by making as much of a show out of biting the snakes' heads off as they drew closer.

Leo turned as the voices he heard, making mental notes of where they all were on the battle field. "Yo!" he called in reply to the twins, grinning at them. When Serpens struck at him, he dodged easily to the side, then kicked the creature in the face. "Wasted effort." he said, then just stood there, staring at the snake as if daring it to try again. "Just to let you know, you can’t hurt me." he said, then pulled a knife out of his pocket and stabbed it towards his own arm. The knife bent when it came into contact with his skin. His power was that he was nearly indestructible. He could jump off of a mountain and be perfectly fine when he hit the ground.

When Rin asked about Capricorn, Leo glanced over at her. "Cyan? Yep, he’s around." He turned his gaze to the sky and waved a hand wildly. A few seconds later, a thin, pale-skinned boy with black eyes and gold pupils landed on the ground in a crouch. He had small goat horns growing on either side of his head, just above his ears.

Capricorn, the Zodiac, though he took the name of Cyan.

He had several tendrils of turquoise colored strands wrapping around his body, like what had been on Leo moments ago, and a few seconds later, the strands disappeared.

((Cancer's going to go get lost, probably. Lyre can grab him.

Oh, would Tyler know Trin's characters? If they both came from the camp, they would probably know each other...))

Cancer was slowly backing toward Libra and the demon, knowing the snakes would follow him. As far as he was concerned, they were both his enemies. If the snakes ate them, it would kill some of the snakes and get rid of them. Probably. Without realizing it, he led the snakes around the two fighters and back past the valley, moving toward Lyre's position.

Isabella was having a much harder time of it than the Zodiacs. For one, she could be killed by normal poisons, though they would probably hurt a bunch before she died. For two, she had less energy then they did, had walked all night, and was being leached off by Libra on a regular basis. In order to not be bitten through the leg, she slowly moved toward Rin, hoping the wolf-creature wouldn't bite her as well.

((Lyre shall kidnaps now.))

Lyre blinked slowly, once, twice, and watched as the motions of everyone slowed down and finally stopped. She ran out of her hiding place, grabbing Libra and Isabella, 'waking' them up in the frozen time. "Come on, let's get out of here," she said. She paused and looked at Cancer. A smile spread over her face. "Anyone for company?" she asked, indicating the closest Zodiac. If she were to touch him, he would 'wake', but if Libra and Isabella dragged him off, he would remain frozen.

((Remember, Isabella's not coming. But that's okay. I shall just work it in somehow.))

Isabella turned slowly toward Libra and the demon. She walked forward carefully, then looked back at the demon, straight into his face. She jolted slightly; then she turned back to Libra, looking like she wanted to kill someone very soon. "Libra? Who is this?" She asked quietly, a definite edge to her voice.

Libra turned around and looked at Isabella, gaze expressing both superiority and discomfort. "Isabella, stop being ridiculous and go grab Cancer. It doesn't matter who that is." Actually, it did. It mattered quite a lot, but he wasn't going to tell Isabella that. She was incapable of understanding.

Lyre crossed her arms impatiently, waiting for Isabella or Libra to get Cancer. "Come on, we have three minutes before my power times out," she said.

((And the demon gets a name.))

Isabella turned to Lyre, then shook her head. "No. No, I don't think I'm going to." Bloodied knives still in hand, she glared at Libra; though all the while she looked eerily calm. "Libra, that is Michael. You told me he was dead. You swore." She passed through calmly annoyed to calmly livid, or, perhaps, more than livid. She suddenly swung at him, straight for his throat.

Lyre glared. "What are you two doing? We need to go!" she hissed.

Libra sighed and ducked under the blade, shoving three quick jabs into her side. "Oh, Isabella. I'm afraid you're not as useful as you used to be." His bare fingers blurred slightly and he backhanded her across the cheek, almost gently. "Goodbye." There was a small flash where their skin touched and she collapsed against the ground, her human mind incappable of dealing with the pain he was inflicting. That done, he turned around and grabbed Cancer, hurrying toward the exit of the valley.

Lyre did not give a second glance to Isabella; she was, after all, a human, and what place did she have in Borealis's new world? She had much more intrest in following after Libra and Cancer.

They did not get very far, however, before time began to catch up with them. Lyre sensed it coming. She pulled some rope out of her back. "Libra, here. Bind Cancer," she said.

Libra shot a glare Lyre, being hugely annoyed at the way she was ordering him arround, but didn't think it was the best time to have a power dispute. He tied Cancer up the way she'd asked, then turned back to her. "Anything else?"