Zodiac Girls

Many years ago, humans and animals were not the only beings in existence. Gods often set foot on their land, but they did not live with them. There was one other race that lived alongside humans. A race that is quite rare, and under god's protection. Beasties. To put in simpler terms, they are human girls with animal characteristics. Some were unnoticeable characters such as eyes and claws. Others were more noticeable ones such as ears or tail, or even fur. Outside appearance aside, there was another reason why they were under god's protection. Or rather... it may be that it was a gift from God, and was mistaken as a form of protection. Unlike humans, in addition to their animal strengths, beasties were able to control elements, consisting of fire, water, wood, metal, and earth. The element they use varies, based on their beast type. To humans, beasties were practically their saviors in their everyday life.  Of course, not all humans think that; some thought of them as weapons to be used to conquer others, or even monsters to be defeated. And it didn't help that since all beasties were female, some males thought low of their opposing gender. In turn, even some female humans despised the beasties for existing. An endless cycle of respect and hatred... All beasties ever asked for was to live peacefully. Be it with the humans or without them. As though heeding to their prayers, god has descended down onto the earth, blessing many people with his presence, as well as requested all the beasties to meet him once more at a particular island before a certain amount of time has passed, and for the humans to assist the beasties in guiding them to the port that leads to the island however they could. Merely grateful enough to be blessed by god's appearance, both human and beasties alike banded together to get the latter group to the island he spoke of.  After many trials, however, only twelve beasties made it to the port leading to the island. There, humans were f*******n from assisting; it was up to them how they were to cross the waters to get to the distant island before them. "We could fly over there!" suggested a beastie with mouse characteristics. "Dracian, can't you fly us?!"   "Even if I do fly us there, Ratalia, I can only do one or two at a time at most, and not all of us will be able to make it over in time," Dracian, a beastie with dragon characteristics, the most rarest of beasties, reasoned. "How about swimming? The water looks great for a swim~" a beastie with dog parts suggested.  "You're just saying that, but you just want to play in the water, don't you?" a beastie with snake fangs and eyes accused, noticing the sparkle in her eyes. "Still, a swim is a good idea," stated a beastie with tiger fur, ears, and tail, with a beastie with bull horns nodding in agreement. "It's not like we can run across it," a beastie with horse parts said, indirectly agreeing to the idea as well. "Or jump over," a beastie with rabbit ears added. "But not all of us can swim across," a beastie with a monkey tail opposed. "Yeah. We made a promise we will get to the island together," a beastie with pig ears reminded. These twelve came from the same town. The moment god descended down and gave his request, they banded together and decided to get to the island together, leaving no beastie behind. More than that, they were to do it without human help. It wasn't that they were mistreated in their village; in fact, it was the opposite. Just as they did everything for the village, the villagers did everything to repay these twelve of their help. When the time came for the beasties to leave on their adventure, some humans wanted to come with and help, but the beasties declined, stating this was something they had to do as beasties, and find their true place in the world. The villagers all understood their feeling, and bid them all farewell and many good lucks.  "You say that but..." a beastie with goat horns trailed off, looking out the open waters. Everyone else looked out at the sea, all wondering the same exact thing. "How are we going to get across?" a beastie with rooster parts worded out. "How about building a raft? Or maybe a boat?" came a different, thirteenth voice, one familiar to everyone. They all turned to the source and saw a young child hiding behind some barrels. Not just any child; a beastie like them, one with orange and white cat ears, and orange and black striped tail. "Clara! Why are you here?" the tiger beastie asked. "Sorry... I wanted to come along," the cat beastie said. "I'm a beastie, too, after all! I... I didn't want to be left behind..." "We told you back then, didn't we? You're too young to come along on this dangerous quest, even if this is god's order," the rooster beastie reminded the child. "I know but... But I still wanted to come!" "No way. You're going home to the village, where it's safe," the tiger beastie opposed. "I don't know how you even managed to make it this far, but from here, it is bound to be even more dangerous!" Hearing this particular beastie be so against her coming saddened the cat beastie, as she looked down with a saddened expression, ears drooping, and tears forming in her eyes. "But... But I want to come with..." she said, her voice starting to get a little hoarse. "Ah, come on, Tigress. Let the kid come with us," the goat beastie insisted, feeling bad for the cat beastie. "Yeah. Besides, she made it this far on her own. I don't see why she should go home," the bull beastie agreed.  "Not only that, but you did tell her to stay in the village before we left, didn't you? The fact that she's here now... Do you really expect her to go home just because you told her to?" the rabbit beastie questioned. "You know, they're not wrong," the snake beastie agreed. "Rebellious nature aside, don't forget our village is also quite far from here. It's one thing to follow us all the way out here, but I don't think Clara can go back home on her own. She's better off with us." Tigress looked to her friends, feeling quite betrayed that they were all for the child coming along. At the same time, though, she knew they had a point. Admirable as it was that Clara made it to port, most likely had followed close to them this whole time without anyone noticing, but sending her back home? That was an entirely different story. It was dangerous enough making it to port; she couldn't imagine how dangerous it would be for a child to even attempt to find her way back home. Beastie or human. "... Fine..." she sighed. "But stick close to any one of us. Understand?" Happy to hear she gets to stay, Clara nodded happily. "Right!" ****** After managing to build the boat, as the child had suggested earlier, the beasties all got on and sailed on over to the island. Some time into the sail, however, tragedy struck. Dark clouds came overhead, and started pouring heavy rain. As if that was not bad enough, thunder roared above them, with lightning flashing, and even the sea started to get a little strong, as it rocked the boat around. Most of the beasties held on to whatever they could on the boat, while Tigress and Dracian did what they could to control the vessel, and keep it steady in these raging waters. Clara held on to the edge of the boat, trying her best to not get flung off their ride. When the boat rode up a wave and fell back to the lower surface, however, she suddenly found herself off the boat. The young beastie glanced back at the boat just moments before hitting the ocean waters. She quickly swam up to the surface, gasping for breath, and looked around for the wooden craft. It didn't take long for her to find the ship and its sail. "Help! Over here!" she shouted, swimming to the vessel as best as she could in the freezing sea. From where she was, she could see the beasties gathering at the edge of the boat, with some of them holding back one from jumping in. Clara tried to cry out for help once more, but it took all her strength to get her head above the stormy sea. Eventually, she heard something coming from behind her and looked back to see, to her great fear and shock, a large wave approaching. The child could do nothing but stare, as the surf came and swallowed her up. ****** Eyes were shot open, and a body sat up with a gasp. Face full of sweat, a hand was raised to wipe it off, and move some hair out of the panting owner's face. "That dream again...?" she spoke. This girl has had this reoccurring dream for a long while now. She did not know why she kept having this dream; it just came and never went away. Well, then again, compared to the other recurring dream she also had been having, she would much rather have an eternal repeat of this one. Fully awake, the girl turned to the curtains on her left, and moved them to the side, letting in some sunlight from her closed windows, so bright she had to cover her eyes for a brief moment. Once her eyes had fully adjusted to the brightness, the girl opened the windows and looked right out at the morning view. The sky was clear and blue, and the woods below- not far from the building she resides in- was green and peaceful as always. After she took in the morning air, the girl got off her bed, and made her way to her bathroom to freshen herself up. One look at her reflection in the mirror, she saw, with her amber eyes, her orange, medium-length hair had become quite messy, no doubt from her tossing and turning in her sleep from that dream. After getting herself refreshed, the girl changed out of her white and yellow pajamas and into a school uniform, consisting of a white dress shirt, red blazer, and grey skirt. On the left side of her blazer, right where her heart was, there was a logo of her school, written as 'LA', with the bottom part of the 'L' cutting through the triangular part of the 'A'. Just as she finished changing, a knock was heard at her door, and was then forcibly slammed open. "Good morning, Rain~" a cheery girl called, she with green eyes and blonde hair, a streak of red bangs in her hair. The girl, Rain, simply smiled and turned to her, quite used to the morning greeting. "Good morning, Sherry," she greeted back.