Star Darlings; The Starlight Mirror

VIII. The Red-Hot Desert!

Once the other Star Darlings had un-transformed, Hoshi generated the aura to teleport them somewhere else. Now, they were in a hot, red desert (emphasis on the hot). "Oh my stars, it's so hot!" Sage complained as they all began to sweat. "If I could transform into Darling Virgo to cool us all down, I would." Vega moaned. "Vega, you can't transform into your magic form for simply no reason other than that, you have to transform whenever it's necessary!" Hoshi said, harshly lecturing Vega. "Let's get going before we all melt." Piper agreed. The hot red sand wasn't helping matters, and neither was how big, wide, and spacious the desert was. "My feet!" Leona would exclaim at random intervals, and the Star Darlings panting was among the only noise that could be heard in the desert, along with the sand-filled wind. There were random palm trees with copper-coloured leaves standing at different points in the desert so the Star Darlings could cool down. "At least we can all take a break from the heat." Sage sighed. "But let's not take so long, Sage, we have to find five more Star Darlings," Piper said. 

Later on, as Hoshi and the Star Darlings crossed the dunes, Vega suddenly let out a yell. "Guys! Watch where you're going!" Six of the Star Darlings got stuck in a large, rust-red quicksand pit. "Oh no! We're sinking!" Cassie exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us any sooner, Vega?" Scarlet demanded. "I tried to!" Vega snapped. "Vega! Transform and perform Virgo Snowflake Explosion!" Hoshi exclaimed, Vega went and transformed. "I am the Star Darling, who represents the sign of The Maiden! I am Darling Virgo!" She announced. By now, the Star Darlings were up to their waists in quicksand - Sage was panicking, Cassie was inaudibly crying and wishing goodbye to her uncle Andreas, Leona was giving up hope, Libby and Piper were both numb, and Scarlet was secretly wishing she hadn't gotten into this mess - "Virgo Snowflake Explosion!" Darling Virgo exclaimed, freezing the quicksand. For a few seconds, the other Star Darlings were shocked and silent. "Great, but how are we going to get out, Virgo?" Sage asked, looking over to Darling Virgo. She stomped one foot on the frozen quicksand and it shattered. One by one, Darling Virgo helped everyone out of the icy surface, and once everyone was out, she transformed back to Vega. "Are you okay, Cassie?" Sage asked Cassie as she hugged the girl and wiped tears from her eyes. She nodded. "Well, that was Starmendously intense, if I do say so myself," Vega said, casually. As the girls tried to ignore the fact that almost all of them were almost taken out, they stumbled upon a temple - it was no ordinary temple, it had four sides that looked distinctly triangular, and an entrance on the right (or rather, front) side - "I wonder what's in that building..." Sage mumbled. "Maybe it'll have some information on where to find the next Star Darling." Leona chimed in. "Either way, let's go in." Hoshi blurted out. The Star Darlings and Hoshi entered the pyramid, there were torches in every hallway, weird-looking artwork, and strange inscriptions in a language no Starling can understand. "Hold on, I think it means something." Vega said, taking her Star-Zap (which she conveniently had on her, and was somehow not stolen by Agev) out of her jacket and holding it up to the wall. "What does it say?" Piper asked. "Mountain smoking burning hot stuff. No very bad." Vega read. "That....doesn't mean anything." Scarlet said, dryly. "Well, neither does your Cycle of Life but I'm not complaining." Vega said, not looking at Scarlet. Soon, they came to a large room full of more inscriptions and weird-looking artefacts. "Let's hope that the translation of this is a little less vague." Hoshi said to Vega. The translation of the ancient inscriptions read: Awaken spirits of the underground, awaken, return to the ground. "What?" Sage asked. Suddenly, dozens of humanoids wrapped in bad-smelling bandages appeared. "Leo Star Formation!" Leona exclaimed as she transformed into Darling Leo. "I am the Star Darling, who represents the sign of The Lion! I am Darling Leo!" She announced. The mummies kept stumbling towards Darling Leo. "Leo Luminous Globe!" Darling Leo exclaimed as she attacked the mummies. Leo Luminous Globe produced a wormhole that lead to the outside of the pyramid. The Star Darlings now found themselves near a "mountain" range, which was more like a chain of volcanoes. "That must be the "burning mountain" from the ancient text." Sage said. As the Star Darlings headed towards the volcano, an earthquake began. "Oh no! A starquake!" Sage exclaimed. "An Earthquake, Sage." Hoshi said. They ran towards the volcano, not knowing that it'll erupt. "Oh No! The volcano is erupting!" Vega said as lava began to spew out of the volcano. 

"Pisces Star Formation!" Piper exclaimed. "Piper! Now isn't the-" Before Hoshi could tell Piper to stop, she had transformed. "I am the Star Darling, who represents the sign of The Fish! I am Darling Pisces!" Darling Pisces announced. She looked at the volcano, a look of determination on her face. "Pisces Aquatic Meditation!" She exclaimed, Piper's water blast flew towards the volcano, putting the lava out. After Piper transformed back, the Star Darlings climbed into the volcano. At the base was Astra, handcuffed and standing next to a Dark Darling version of herself. "Astra!" Libby exclaimed. "You!" Sage snarled at the dark Astra. "Oh please." She said. "I, Artsa, was doing you a favour." Artsa explained. Sage shook her head. Artsa still had that annoyingly condescending look as she watched the Star Darlings transform. Eventually, Astra, tired of this, gained some strength and broke the handcuffs, unwilling to be held captive anymore. "I am the-" Darling Sagittarius was about to recite her speech before seeing Astra break free. She chucked the pale red, flame-shaped Star Pact to Astra, who looked at it as if Sage wrote something less than respectable on it. "And what am I supposed to do with this?" She asked. "Take the puff, say: "Aries Star Formation!" And transform." Darling Sagittarius answered. "Aries Star Formation!" Astra exclaimed. She took the puff and patted her whole body, producing flames, the handcuffs burnt as she transformed. Astra's Star Darling uniform was red and had Aries motifs. "I am the Star Darling, who represents the sign of The Ram! I am Darling Aries!" She announced. She drew a circle of fire in the air and crumbled it into a soccer ball, and looked at Artsa. "Don't you dare." Artsa said, coldly. "Aries Burning Soccer Ball!" Darling Aries exclaimed as she kicked the ball toward Artsa. The latter was then burnt to ashes and negative energy.