Horoscopic

a r i e s

"Previously,  Aquarius had been knocked out in the middle of the street, and a terrible fate awaits him if Aries doesn't do something about it in time. Now, it's time for the curtains to open for a certain member of the Council..." 
--------
Marcus knew something was up the moment Jason stopped walking.
  "Are you okay?" Marcus asked. "You don't look-"
  "Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's probably just a stiff neck or some....thing..."
  Jason went unresponsive after that, like he was in some sort of trance. 
  "Jason?"
Jason's entire body fell to the floor, his eyes closed, none of his body parts even twitching. 
  "JASON!" 
  That's when he realized it: there was a small dart in the back of his neck, slightly covered in Jason's blood and also what seemed to be something runny and purple.
  Poison.
  "Damn...." Marcus cursed as he bent down to inspect the dart. "You've got to be kidding me...."
  Another object flew from the sky, headed in Marcus' direction. Out of the corner of his eye, he managed to take note of it and rolled out of the way for it to hit and get stuck in someone's lawn, but just barely near the pavement.
  Marcus frantically scanned his surroundings. Man, that was too close for comfort, he thought. He laid his eyes on a slightly older yet familiar young man who was standing on the rooftop of the brick house nearest to him, hair blowing in the wind and gazing back at Marcus as if he wanted to taunt him to come closer.
  The man jumped off the rooftop, planting his feet firmly on the ground. In his early twenties, his neat hair had a dark purple color to it, so much that it almost seemed black. His toned and muscular body was evident, but not exactly in a way that was exaggerated. Donning a plum 3/4 sleeved shirt with a black collared vest, tan-colored slacks, black boots and a finger-less glove on his right hand, it was obvious that this guy was someone that you shouldn't be messing with. A tattoo on his left hand symbolized his Zodiac sign, he had already transformed into his combat mode, which was evident by the giant scorpion tail behind him.
  Marcus growled under his breath. He remembered this man, who turned against the Council not because he was corrupted, but out of his own will. And yet his behavior fit his name, the traitor of the Council and yet of the angels as well. He was kind when he wanted to be in the past, but now...
  "Samael... what are you up to now?"
  Sam laughed, then smirked at Marcus, his gray eyes staring back at the hazel ones of Aries. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
  "What's wrong with you?!" Marcus screamed. "How could you betray the Council? Don't you know what you're doing, Scorpio? That you could-"
  "Ruin the fate of the entire world?" Sam cut off Marcus calmly. "I know, it's quite a risky wager. And yet, it's quite promising what I'll get if I manage to pull this scandal off."
  "Who's the one of charge of your scandal anyway?" the Aries member asked. "Just what do think you're getting from this?"
  "None of your concern, Aries," Sam scorned. "And stop asking so many questions, now will you?"
  If Marcus had been facing a school bully, he would've just slapped him in the face. Someone like that was nothing compared to others. But it was Sam who had been caught up in this dilemma, and he wasn't just anyone you could manage to land a hit on. Looks could be deceiving. Still, this didn't change the fact that the former representative was beginning to get on Marcus' nerves. He looked behind him at Jason, who was still unconscious.
  "Worried about your friend?" Samael asked, with no hint of concern for Aquarius. "You know fully well that he's been poisoned, and there isn't much time to react if you want to save him." He grabbed something from the inside of his vest, a bottle filled with clear liquid. "This here is the antidote. Of course, I'm not just going to hand it over, you'll have to get to it first!"
  Marcus clenched a fist. He knew the poison was strong and deadly, after all, this was Samael's kind of power. But he was at his limit now, and besides, Jason wouldn't last very long if Marcus just stood there with a bag of popcorn.
  "I'll kill you, Scorpio," he declared, clenching his fist tighter. "I'll freaking KILL you!!!"
  Aries took out a small card, about the size of a regular playing card, out of his back pocket. He quickly inserted it into a slit in his silver bracelet, and a magic circle began to appear on the ground below Marcus, swirling around and glowing a bright red with the mark of Aries in the middle of it. Beams of red began to surround him as he closed his eyes, making his way into his transformation process.
  His clothing changed from a red hoodie and jeans to a creme-color tunic and white slacks, with his right arm covered completely in silver armor similar to the style of a barbarian's. Marcus' sneakers altered into knee-high combat boots with a slight lining of wool on the top edges. A large scarf was also part of this ensemble, as well as a silver helmet that didn't cover his face at all and had a pair of ram horns attached at the top, his glasses disappearing. A belt for a long, silver sword sat at his waistline.
  "Looks like Mary's Little Lamb wants to pick a fight," Aries' opponent scorned as the magic circle disappeared, completing the morph. "Better off for you to leave."
  "And leave Aquarius behind? No way!"
  Scorpio smirked, then chuckled a little at Aries' response. "As persistent as ever, aren't you? Well then, I'll make this quick, poisoning you and destroying you from the inside then leaving you near death like that stupid Aqualad over there."
  What's with him?! Aries thought furiously. Who does he think he is? A god?! With each thought, his anger began to boil up inside of him. And Aquarius... Scorpio has NO right to insult him...!!!
  "That's it!" Aries yelled, taking his sword out of it's sheath. "You're done for!" The angered representative screamed a slight battle cry as he charged toward Scorpio recklessly to no avail, being swiftly dodged by his opponent.
  "Is that all you got, Little Lamb?" Scorpio taunted. "You'll have to do more than that!" As the last word was said, the young man pulled a dart out of the inside of his vest quickly and aimed it at the Ram. Aries saw this coming, and leaned over to his left to dodge, as well as a few other poison-tipped darts from the Scorpion. Charging forward again, Aries slashed his sword at Scorpio but it got stuck in the sidewalk. Scorpio took this as an opening and kicked him from behind, slamming Aries to the ground.
  Staggering to his feet, Aries was just about to get punched in the head when he suddenly dodged, taking the sword out of the cement and slamming the hilt into Scorpio's chest. Scorpio quickly got to his feet, coughing a little bit and aiming his tail stinger at Aries.
  Aries avoided being pinned down by the stinger numerous times, and jumped up quickly to slice Scorpio in half. Scorpio moved out of the way, but managed to get a small cut behind his ear.
  The two kept fighting, weapons clashing together, eager to strike the other. Aries was getting impatient by now, his fury building up the more he fought back.
  "You're pretty quick for a little lamb, Aries," Scorpio mocked.
  "It's a RAM, you moron!" Aries responded loudly as he clashed his weapon with Scorpio's tail.
  "Be careful, Aries..." Scorpio taunted, standing completely still and giving his opponent a signature smirk. "Think a little more wisely, or you'll end up like your friend over there."
  He's just standing right there, as if he wants me to slice him in half, Aries thought confidently, staggering toward his opponent. He's stopped throwing darts at me too. Oh well, the idiot will get what he deserves sooner or later. Aiming for Scorpio's hip, Aries sliced in his opponent's direction...
  ...only for Scorpio to vanish in a split-second.

  "Too little, too late," he heard Scorpio mutter.

  Aries felt a sudden kick to his back, knocking him to the ground. His sword made a "clang" as it hit the cement again, landing farther away from Aries. Owww... that actually hurt, he thought. I bet it left a mark...
  Scorpio was right. Of course Aries was going to be hasty and look for an opening. But it was only a trap, a way to lure in Aries and take advantage of him.
  "My, my, is the lamb out of strength?" Scorpio chuckled, digging his foot into Aries' back a little more. "What a shame! I thought I'd get a better performance from you, since you're Aries and all, but this fight was pretty one-sided!"
  Aries coughed as he endured the pain from his back. Anymore force there and he probably would've choked blood or something. He hated to admit it, but he screwed up the match. It was him that got himself pummeled in the first place.
  Scorpio's smirk grew wider, amused at Aries' lack of response. "Now then, I guess I should finish this quickly," he added, his scorpion tail raised and ready to strike. "It's over."
  The tail curled around itself for a bit, then lunged at Aries' neck. He knew it was over, he didn't have much of a chance at this point-

  "GET OFF OF HIM!"

  A stick-like object blocked Aries from the giant stinger. A chant was yelled out by a familiar voice, followed by a spell that sent Scorpio flying and ended up with him slamming into a house wall.
  Aries managed to get up, his back still a little bit sore. Looking over to his left, he noticed a red-haired girl who had her staff raised and pointed toward Scorpio. She donned a dress that was grey on the top, but gradually turned to a turquoise by the end of the skirt. A slit was visible on the left of the dress, revealing grey ankle-length boots with short tan heels. Her finger-less gloves were made out of goat fleece and she now had horns coming out from her head. By the waistline of the dress, a dark grey belt donned a pin with the sign of Capricorn.
  "Rose..."
  Rosalinda, now Capricorn, turned back to face Aries. "We should get out of here. Aquarius is running out of time."
  "But what about Scorpio?! Are we just going to let him get away or-"
  "Let him go for now. Aquarius matters more than that traitor of a Council member."
  Aries sighed. Once Capricorn made up her mind, there's no point in trying to get her to change it. And besides, Aquarius did need medical attention.
  "Alright, whatever." Aries undid his transformation by taking out the tarot card from his bracelet and reverted back to his original clothing. Capricorn did the same.
  "This isn't over, you livestock," Scorpio muttered, struggling to get up.
  "Say that one more time and I'll cut your stinger off," Marcus threatened, carefully picking up Jason's unconscious body. Rosalinda made her way over to Scorpio, reaching into his vest.
  "I'll be taking this," she said as she took hold of the antidote, receiving only a grunt in response. "Let's go, Marcus." Another magic circle similar to a transformation one appeared on the ground, and she vanished. The circle swirled around, getting smaller and disappearing a second afterward.
  Aries took a deep breath, summoning his own magic circle and teleporting back to the Council Base.
--------
  "Aries and Capricorn have managed to buy time and escape the hands of Scorpio. However, it wouldn't be as fun if this was the only battle, and our little story isn't over just yet."