Zodiac Girls

The New Club

It was late in the afternoon. Out in the woods near the village, Clara leapt from tree to tree, running from something. The cat beastie briefly glanced behind her, checking to see if the person she was running from was behind her. Upon doing so, however, she slipped off the branch she was going to land on, and fell. Rather than painfully hitting the ground, the child managed to straighten herself and landed right on her feet, resuming her run at full speed.

A bit of time later, she made it to a clearing and skidded to a stop, right at the center. The moment she did, a pair of figures emerged out of the woods after her; one from the trees, and one dashing along the ground.

The moment they appeared, Clara had her claws out at ready and rushed back at one of them. She swiped at her opponent, who in turn leapt over the girl, avoiding the attack. Clara kept her eyes- her focus- on this opponent, she neglected the one above her, and got karate chopped by them right on the head.

“Ouch!” she cried out, holding her head in pain.

As she did, her two attackers looked down at her with a sigh.

“Clara. You kept too much focus on one target again,” one of them, Tigress, told her.

“Sorry…” Clara apologized.

“You’re a beastie; you should be trusting your instincts in tough battles,” the other one, a monkey beastie, advised.

“I know… But it’s hard. How do you guys do it?”

The pair of adults turned to each other in thought at the question. “… Just instinct.”

Their response made Clara sigh. As she had been living in a human village with her beastie family, they who were always too busy to properly teach her how to be a real beastie, much less fight like one, it was especially hard for her to understand what it meant to trust her instincts in battle. She had control over her powers, but her instincts were a different story. She was grateful they were willing to teach her how to fight during whatever free time they had, but she wished they were better at explaining.

“That isn’t going to help me at all…” she muttered.

This made the pair of beasties let out nervous chuckles. “Yeah… I guess it wouldn’t,” Tigress admitted. “Then again, it’s not like it can be helped. Unlike us, who were around fellow beasties training us on a daily basis, you only have this sort of training once a month or two.”

“Or three,” the monkey beastie added.

Clara sighed once more, for her two of the twelve fellow beasties were not really of much help in her matter. Then again, neither were the other ten, who trained her as though she already knew the stuff she should’ve already known.

“Well, in your case, it’s best to take this sort of thing one step at a time,” Tigress then said. “You may be a beastie, but… we have been bad parents and teachers.”

Clara was taken aback by those words. “That’s not true at all!” she exclaimed. “I mean, yes, you all have been busy helping around the village lately, but I never thought of you as a bad parent or teacher. I just… I’m slow in learning these things…”

 At that, Tigress knelt down to Clara at eye level, and placed a hand on her head. “That’s right, you are a slow learner. And it was our job as your teachers to realize that, and find out a way to make these lessons easier for you. It’s time like this that it’s better to go off at your own pace instead of forcing yourself to follow ours.”

“But… what if my pace is still no good?” Clara asked.

Tigress only kept a small smile on her face. “Then we’ll just have to keep trying. Now then, let’s take things slow, and start with a little race around the woods.”

******

In the present day, Rain was in the academy with Sherry, posting up a notice of recruitment for their new Luminoir Academy's Parkou Club.

"It's a real good thing Principal Vyper permitted the club's formation. Between you and me, I think parkour is the best training method for us," Sherry stated.

"She didn't 'approve' it. She gave us conditions to have it formed," Rain corrected.

As the latter said, when the pair went to the principal's office to talk about forming a new club, one that would also serve as training for reincarnates, Vyper was more than happy to comply. However, like all clubs, there were certain requirements to fulfill for it to be made official. For one thing, they need to locate a proper area for the club. As parkour was a sort of sports activity, places like a gym would suffice. However, plenty other sports clubs need to use it as well, so unless if Rain and Sherry- both soon-to-be founders of their club- can find a way to compromise with them on its usage, they were better off finding some other place else to do their activity. As for the other requirement, they need to have a certain amount of students to start the club. And in Luminoir Academy... the starting amount of members is ten.

"I'm at least glad she didn't say we need ten beasties to form this club, but can we really find either other people willing to join?" Rain began to question.

"'Eight'? Don't you mean 'seven'?" Sherry asked back.

Rain knew who her friend was referring to in that statement. "I doubt Riley can join. Don't forget, she's captain of the soccer team," she reminded. As captain, Rain knew Riley had to focus on training the soccer team for Inter-High, thanks to the latter and Sherry bringing their team to a big victory against their last opponent. That being said, she highly doubted their senior and fellow reincarnate would have time to join on any parkour activity as a club member.

"Well... Yeah, but surely she can take time to join in on some parkour," Sherry insisted. "Besides, Coach Redsbull is in charge of every sports club on campus. If she can manage that and be our advisor for parkour, wouldn't that be the same for club captains? Plus, plenty of other students are in multiple clubs as well."

Rain thought about what she said. As Sherry had pointed out, Redsbull- that is, the reincarnate who is also their soccer coach- is also coach to all other sports clubs in Luminoir Academy. Not only that, but the woman was present when Rain and Sherry spoke to Principal Vyper about the formation of the Parkour Club. Despite the initial rage towards the orangette for claiming them to be just like their enemies, Redsbull liked her idea of starting a new club. Especially since the true intention of starting it was to train reincarnates in being able to use and control their beastie powers, starting with their instincts. That being said, despite being busy with many other sports clubs, and the initial irritation toward Rain, she didn't mind being their advisor as well, once the club is formed.

"True as that may be, she is a coach and an advisor, not a student or a team player," Rain pointed out. "Besides, even if Riley does join, soccer and parkour doesn't go hand-in-hand. What if people will as 'why'? What then?"

Sherry tilted her head at the question. "Hm Then what about for you?"

Rain turned back to her at the question. "What about me?"

"Rain... You were the Soccer Team's Passing Ace. I know what I will say, but what about you?"

It took the orangette a few seconds the process those wods in her head. After those seconds, it finally donned to her what the blonde was insinuating. Like Riley, Rain was just as important in the soccer team. Though she was only active in the team for at least three months, she had left quite the large impact on them, and even had some fans. For her to leave so abruptly... even if on doctor's orders- orders which were supposed to be temporary- how was she going to explain the change?

"Rain!" came a call, prompting the pair of reincarnates to turn to the voice, and see a few of their classmates- one a brunette with a bob cut and a light green headband on her head, one with wavy black hair and a white flower over her ear, and one a blonde with a ponytail, and some makeup on her face- rushing towards them, specifically to Rain.

"We heard the news! Is it true that you're quitting soccer?!" the brunette asked.

The feline reincarnate slightly flinched at the question, the very question that she and her friend were just talking about.

"Why though?! You're one of the major players on the team!" the flower girl questioned. 

"Is it because of what happened the day before the last game? When you were found unconscious in the woods? I'm sure it was nothing for you to worry about to just quit the team!" the blonde-ponytailed girl exclaimed.

Rain was at a loss here. How on earth was she ever going to explain her situation to them? They who are innocent, normal human beings who know nothing about reincarnates, much less beasties. Obvious enough, telling the truth was out of question, but what can she say?

It wasn't long for one of them to notice the recruitment poster on the bulletin board on the wall. "Hm? What's this?"

The question caught the other two girls' attention, as they also turned to the poster. "Huh? 'Recruiting for the newly formed Parkour Club'? Isn't parkour that freestyle running?" the flower girl asked.

"That's... putting it quite lightly..." Rain uttered out.

"'Newly formed'? As in... 'formed just now'? Wait, Rain. Why are you standing in front of the poster?" the ponytailed girl asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sherry spoke, bringing all attention to her. "You see, Rain and I are both starting this club."

That caught the three girls by surprise. "Huh?! You're both starting this club?! Why?" the brunette asked.

"Oh, come on. You girls know I'm way faster than other girls on the field, right? Well, I'm just not satisfied with just being fast; I want to be fast with a challenge. Even though I'm often targeted and trapped by a number of players, I always find my way past them and score a goal no problem. Not only that, but I've never really felt satisfied with how fast I run. Even though I've ran so freely, I kept feeling like something is holding me back. Parkour sounds like the exact sort of thrill I'm looking for."

"And Rain?" the brunette asked.

"She only joined the soccer team at my insistence. Don't you remember how shy she was when she first transferred here? Rain may have warmed up to us, but not to the point she could tell us everything. At least... Not until recently, when she told me she wanted to start the parkour club. Sure, there are no tournaments for it, but she still liked it way better than any other sports. So, I decided to help her start the club."

The three girls and Rain looked at Sherry in surprise. The former group for the reason Parkour Club was getting formed, and the latter for the very convincing lie the blonde reincarnate had thought of right off the bat.

"Is this true, Rain?" the ponytailed girl asked.

"Huh? Oh! Well... Yeah..." the orangette stuttered. "I uh... wasn't sure how to tell everyone, considering the reputation I was building in the soccer team. I... didn't want to disappoint anyone."

"Well, you most certainly have failed in doing that," the flower girl said, puzzling Rain. "Who do you think we are? I can't speak for the soccer team, but we sure can understand you."

"Yeah, Rain. If you wanted to start a new club so much, you should've just asked. We are friends," the brunette stated.

"So, we just write our names on this form, right?" the ponytailed girl asked, gesturing to the signup sheet on the wall.

Rain was baffled with the turn of events. "Huh? You really want to join?"

"Of course we do! Like I said, we're friends," the brunette repeated.

"Parkour can help with diet, right? I've been giving in to my sweet tooth a bit too often lately..." the flower girl asked in slight embarrassment. 

"Ah, no wonder why I thought you seemed a little round," the ponytailed girl joked, resulting in some laughs from the others, while a pout from the flower girl.

"Yeah, parkour can help with the calories," Rain confirmed. "And uh... Thanks, you guys. Thanks a lot for this."

The three girls all smiled at the reincarnate.

"Of course, Rain!" the brunette exclaimed, as she and the other two went to put their names on the board.

As they did that, Sherry placed a hand on Rain's shoulder, bringing her attention to her. "Well... There's three of our seven members," she told her.

Skeptical as she still was about Riley joining, Rain had to agree with the blonde reincarnate. Maybe finding the necessary members would be an easy job.