Jake smirked.

"Nah, I don't think it'll be that easy. Still, I'll take you up on that offer sometime."

With that, he gave a friendly salute and walked off to follow the others.

Ascot had been so tired, from these emotionally trying times, that he had failed to answer Jake's question. This tiredness had not proceeded from the fight he had been in; his reserves were not so easily taxed by that. No, rather, this tiredness was emotional, coming from the rollercoaster of upheveals that Lucus' coming and Amelia's near-death experience had brought to being.

"I'm here now, Mom; are you okay?" Ascot said as he arrived at Rose's side. He smiled as he saw her cuddling Amelia; it seemed as though Rose was all right, after all. The boy then looked at Elyse, who was feeling jealous, and sat down beside her, taking out a few lollipops from his Inventory and handing one over to her in a placatory gesture. He then said:

"'Want some, Elyse?"

After saying goodbye to everyone they met in Twilight Town it was time for the group to continue in their quest to look for the Signs of Zodiac. The map showed that there were three worlds left to explore, and one of them would be their next destination: Sugar Rush. A colorful looking world from the outside, seemingly consisting of candy. Once they arrived in the world they landed on a pink flat surface in the middle of a candy cane forest.

Belle looked around amazed by the place, so much candy. There probably wouldn't be any hunger here. She had to think about Reno though, if he was here he would probably freak out by the amount of candy in the world. Reno liked food, and she guessed not only making it himself. She hoped he would join them soon. "Isn't this a beautiful world? And no sign of Heartless yet." Belle said to the rest of the group.

Jake just blinked as he looked around.

"Oh-kay, I think I'm going to become a diabetic just by standing here. What kind of a land is this?"

He reached out a felt one of the sugar cane branches, testing its flexibility and strength.

"So, how do we find... erm... what we're looking for?" With the recent attack on the arena, Jake felt it may not be wise to openly mention what it was they're looking for. He looked around in all directions, trying to get a bead on civilization somewhere.

Thomas turned to Serin as the older mage walked up and presented the tomes, himself secretly elated to have the chance to learn some new magic in the endless game of catch up he seemed to be engaged in. He'd have to figure out when he would have the time to learn and practice what was in the books, since doing so in transition to another world wasn't a very viable option, due to the lack of time needed to get a spell down, as well as the other things that might demand his attention in the meanwhile. But he'd manage somehow. "Thanks," he replied with a grin, taking the three books and slipping them into his own bag. "And don't worry about it. I've come to expect it." though that never really seemed to change how annoying it was.

The crowd slowly dispersed, and Thomas summoned his armor and keyblade glider for the journey. "Alright, let's go," he announced, gesturing and allowing Belle to get on the glider for this trip as well since she still didn't have her own. Not that he minded much. Together (except for Reno who had not shown up), they headed off to the next world, a place called Sugar Rush.

Arriving there, he was....impressed. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing, but hopping off and sending his armor away, he found himself surrounded by candy. Lots and lots of candy. First, he slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming, then he walked over to one of the trees, snapping off a twig and popping it into his mouth, humming as he was assaulted with the taste of peppermint. Oh yeah, that was real. If there was some flaw, it was that the candy was so big. Now, he wouldn't freak out and start stuffing his bags, but he had a bit of a sweet tooth, candy a luxury he hadn't had often except for special occasions when he was younger. It was almost mind blowing to see a world made of it here.

Candy cane twig jutting from his mouth, he walked over to Jake. "Well, Amaya can sometimes sense them, though I'm not sure if that ability is gone now. Alternatively, we usually just run into it. Next to the largest mob of Heartless on the world or the largest one. Or by someone particularly evil. To be honest they aren't hidden that well, it's just figuring out what the Sign actually is."

Candy was nonexistent in Ascot's world, although Honey and Sugar did, giving Ascot a reference once he learned about Candy from the toons at Disney Town. Ever since, Ascot had fallen in love with the concept, that said, since his commune of scholars had already made the connection between diabetes, tooth decay, and sweets, he was careful to restrict his consumption of candy.

Not that he wasn't tempted by the profuse distribution of sugary snacks that literally made up this world. Nevertheless, the boy forcefully brought himself short once he realized that this discussion was going somewhere he can be of help. So, the boy spoke:

"Normally, the Sign just comes to us after we defeat whoever the 'main villain' is in this world; said villains are usually a very unsubtle sort. Said villains are, usually, the ones with the most power in the world, at least temporarily. So, we go find a settlement, find out who the most powerful guy is, and investigate them to see if they are evil. If they are, well, we beat them up."

Amaya said goodbye to her mother and sister and her nobody as she dis get a souvenir, that being the summon tinker bell from her nobody. Amaya was kinda happy to receive the summon from the fact she might be more useful in a stealth situation then Shiva.

Amaya follwed the others coming to this world of sugar. It was like a little kids dreams world. She looked towards Thomas answering him "it isn't as strong but I still think I can sense them since they are opposite of me so to say"she commented gently placing a hand on her cheast where the sign was. It hurt and even touching the skin hire alot from the sign being forced out of her body by that cloaked stranger that seemed to know a lot more then the senses did.

Joshua said goodbye to Rose and Elyse after everyone who used a glider left. Getting a fix on their location with the help of the signs he had, he opened a CoD to their location and was there in seconds. The moment he saw their surroundings he was thankful Elyse wasn't there.
"Man if Elyse was with us we'd need to put a leash on that girl to keep her in our sights here." He said while sniffing the air and almost gagging on the overly sweet scent. He liked sweets as much as the next guy but this was too much. Still back to the task at hand and already everyone was turning to Amaya, apparently still seeing her as the 'sign radar'. That ki da ticked him off" Don't push yourself Amaya. If you can't sense it we'll just do thinks the old-fashioned way. If you can and it hurts just stop. You needn't hurt yourself to help us."

"Look, maybe we shouldn't rely on Amaya. She got badly hurt back there, and she hasn't fully recovered yet."

He looked around.

"Though it's hard to believe there's Heartless here. Everything's just so... bright pastel."

He picked a berry off a vine, popped it into his mouth, and then cringed strongly at the taste.

"Oh man talk about sour grapes!" he mumbled, forcing himself to complete it. "Talk about chewing the scenery, though...

"Hold on, though, I think I have an idea..."

He jumped up onto the nearest candy cane tree, and began leaping from branch to branch. He kept going up to the top of the tree, trying to locate the nearest town or any notable landmarks.

"Yes, it is hard to believe that Heartless could be in a world like this". A voice would suddenly speak to the group, but where it came from was completely unclear. It was quiet and faint, like a whisper, yet they would all be able to hear it. Due to the faintness of the voice it would be unclear to even tell who it belonged to. It might have seemed familiar, but at the same time it wasn't. It was unclear as to just what this voice was. Then all of a sudden one of Belle's daggers would begin to act strange, it floating upward and moving to a position about five yards away from the group, it swathed in harmonious light and darkness as this occurred.

Then it seemed to float there for a few moments before the two serene elements suddenly seemed to move to the reflective surface of the blade, swirling in the reflection of it before it began to glow a little more. This seemed to go on for a few long, still moments as then suddenly the light and darkness slowly flowed and swirled out onto the ground from the reflective blade, the two elements seeming to continue to pour out of the blade's surface before soon enough a human silhouette was standing there, the sillhouette made of light and darkness. It pointed a finger at the group towards Belle, the dagger floating back to her before slowly the light swirling in the silhouette, it seeming to mix and swirl with the darkness in a very balanced, serene, and harmonious manner but never actually merged or combined with it, seemed to enter the silhouette.

Soon enough just a silhouette of pure darkness remained, the darkness soon slowly fading until soon enough a figure was revealed. It was Reno, only he seemed just a small bit older. Not really by appearance, but just by a sort of feeling, like it had been a very long time since anyone had seen him despite his absence not lasting more than around half a day. The black lines on his body going down his entire body and face from the black circle on his forehead were glowing slightly and there seemed to be a slightly more intricate and neat way they did this now than there was the last time anyone saw him, almost as if the 'markings', if they could be called that, had changed and looked more mysterious now.

Soon enough though that small glow of serene darkness that came from the lines and circle on his forehead faded, his red eye and green eye slowly opening before he stretched a little, a grin forming on his face as he looked at the group. "Hey everyone, long time no see, I can't believe its been a year". And just as it seemed Reno was about to get distracted and ecstatic about all the candy that made up this world, as he was just about to look around at it all, his appearance changed. His pale white hair turned jet black, his red eye turned green and his green eye turned red, and the lines going down from the circle on his forehead all turned white as now it seemed Oner had manifested now.

"Well what he means to say is that it has been a year since we have seen you, but it also hasn't been that long either for neither you all or the two of us since we last talked or saw one another". Oner's voice, if by just a little bit, also seemed a bit older now. Not really by much though, but he just felt like he was a year older although Oner always was a very mature person to begin with.

Belle looked surprised when one of her daggers suddenly flew through the air. A silhouette appeared out of the dagger, and as far as Belle knew she didn't have a spirit residing in one of her weapons. The silhouette pointed back at her and the dagger flew back to her, she snatched it out of the air when it was close enough and attached it to her belt again. Within a few moments it was revealed that Reno was the mysterious person who had come out of the dagger. It was only then that she realized that the dagger had a reflection and could be used as a mirror, thus a gateway to the Mirror Realm. When Reno appeared she noticed he was different than before, more mature.

"So it seems the group is complete again." she said after Reno was done talking. She then looked to Jake who was up in the candy cane tree. "Any luck of finding something yet, Jake?!" she shouted. Maybe Jake also saw it in the distance if he looked down. Two people were walking through the candy cane forest. A big man with big fists and next to him a little girl. Both of them looked surprised when they stumbled into the group. "These also people out of your game?" the girls asked.

"No... I don't think so. From which game are you guys?" the big man asked. "Ow, but let me introduce myself first. I am Ralph from Wreck-It Ralph, and this is Vanellope von Schweetz from this game Sugar Rush." he said.

Thomas continued with the candy cane stick in his mouth, twirling it about and listening to the other explanations given by those present, as well as Amaya commenting on how her ability might have been affected. At the comment that they shouldn't rely on her he shrugged, gesturing with the twig he held in his non armored hand as he added to that. "Well, we never really paid any special attention to it before, so I don't have a problem with not doing so now." It couldn't make things that much more difficult, unless they had to go looking through another planet composed of treasure to find one, in which case an exception would have to be made. But that was understandable and hopefully that situation wouldn't arise.

The conversation turned to the Heartless, and the candy cane twig returned to his mouth to be finished off, just as soon another broken off and in it's place. He liked to think the peppermint was making his mind sharper, and it acted as a distraction from the turmoil within him. He watched Jake take to the trees and hop away like some sort of monkey, looking for some sign of civilization, which Thomas didn't comment on given the man was his elder. "There's always something hiding beneath the surface," he commented idly.

Then, the distraction was no longer needed, for one was provided for him. Namely, one of Belle's daggers flying away from her and into the air, hovering there as light and darkness gathered on it's blade, then spreading out from that onto the ground, duality of element as they swirled against each other until only pure darkness remained, and when that faded away his eyes widened to see Reno. That was some kind of entrance. His eyes widened imperceptibly more as he beheld Reno, who's markings had changed somewhat, if only a little, and he seemed to radiate an aura of maturity that hadn't been there before, even if it was faint. Then the thunderbolt that Rneo brought crashing down as he revealed it had been a year for him left Thomas's mind staggering just a bit. wait, a year? What? Perhaps it was his fault for assuming, but here it had only been a day or two, and there, a whole year? He hadn't considered the notion that time might work differently there, assuming it went like all the other realms here and flew concurrently with everyone else.

"I...see," he replied somewhat hesitantly, not sure what this would mean for their journey with Reno/Oner having grown for a year while everyone else basically stood still. What magic did he now know, how much more powerful had he grown, or did his growth only involve his maturity and mental capacity being greater than when they had first met. He didn't even want to think about what it meant for his own position as a mage in the group.

Waiting for Jake to return, Thomas had his attention drawn to yet more arrivals, them talking to each other before the group before them, asking a decidedly weird question. Taking on his role of team leader, he stepped to the fore, twig jutting from his mouth. "Hey there, nice to meet you both. The name's Thomas, and these are Belle, Ascot, Amaya, Joshua, Oner, and Jake is up in a tree somewhere so you might have seen him already." He gestured to them each in turn, before turning to the other question. "Um, not sure what you mean by 'game', but we came from Twilight Town. Otherwise as far as I know this is just reality, not a game." He shrugged to end that answer. "Though you'll forgive me for asking why the entire world is made out of candy. It doesn't seem that practical."

"Reno, Oner; you're back!" shouted Ascot at Reno and Oner's sudden apperance. Unlike Thomas, he greeted most of this as positive; Reno/Oner had come back, both were more mature, and both were more powerful. And, of course, he was their best friend, and so their return was a cause for celebration. So, the boy went over to the other child and gave him an impulsive hug, a brief one.

Then, he saw how Thomas looked, and there was cause for yet more wariness; the sixteen-year old didn't seem to be greeting the news with rejoicing, which was understandable, as Thomas had been...uncomfortable with Reno's level of power. To be honest, though, Ascot himself didn't mind, what was good for the party was good for him. Since his ephiphany after Narnia, he no longer felt the need to catch up to the others.

When the newcomers, Ralph and Vanellope, came into view, Ascot took the time to observe them. Ralph was obviously strong, and obviously a little grumpy, but Ascot thought that he can sense a little bit of kindness in his expression and demeanor. Vanellope, meanwhile, was a perky little kid, a bit overeager, but still a good person, with perhaps a trace of suffering?

"Game? Like a Videogame?" Ascot replied. Videogames had interested Ascot ever since he found out about them in Disney Town, but he'd only played them a few hours before tiring out. "Well, what Thomas means is that we come from a videogame called Keybladers!, with Twilight Town as one of its levels. We're here in...pursuit of a game item that originally came out of our game, but ended up being launched to another by mistake."

Amaya looked at Joshua as she could tell he was still bothered by rhepld busses of her sensing the signs by rhw one that once was in her cheast. She wasn't sure if she could sense them or not. She nodded "i promise its going to be alright,i will be taking it easy if that helps you not be on guard all the time"amaya commented before noticing the two people come to the group letting everyone handle the explainin

Joshua needed at Amaya in response to her saying that she would take it easy so he could let his guard down a bit, but that was unlikely either way. She was still in bad shape, whether she would admit it or not, and he was going to protect her no matter what. That was a vow he would never break again. He knew it was impossible to keep completely but that wouldn't stop him from trying.

When Reno/Oner appeared, Joshua made it a point to ignore him/them. The two-in-one entity both annoyed and confused the hell out of him and the less he knew, the better he felt. Instead he kept his eyes on his surroundings, trying to see if there were any heartless or hostile denizens of this world. But all he was candy, bright colors, and more candy. Frankly the amount here was sickening to him and all the brightness hurt his eyes. He almost wished a heartless would show up and a big one at that. Least it would give him something dark to look at.

Sadly the first thing to appear was a pair of friendly denizens. When asked what 'game' they were from, Joshua had to smirk at Thomas' utter failure at coming up with a response. One the other hand, Ascot's quick response, which was likely a good one as well, impressed him. He wondered if the boy was finally getting used to things and calming down and approaching things more naturally. If so there was probably hope for the boy yet.

Jake got back down, hopping from branch to branch, then jumping off the lowest branch and making a perfect landing on the ground. He wipes off the peppermint cane dust off his hands on the tree.

"Well, a bit of good news," he starts, not yet aware of the welcoming committee. "I *think* I caught sight of a castle way over there in the distance. There's also roads and some buildings, though for some crazy reason it looks like some sort of giant racetrack. Oh, and it appears the whole place is made of candy; seriously, there's even a mountain that looks like a bottle of cola."

He then noticed the two locals, and shrugs.

"On... the other hand, it appears the locals found us, so I'm not sure if anything I just did had any purpose."

He stretches out a hand for the big guy to shake.

"Hi there, big guy. Name's Jake, me 'n' my buddies here are tourists, though we'll try not to make a scene. I don't think I caught your name. You know, on account of me playing lookout just now."

He notes that the big guy is not wearing shoes, and has hands big enough to hold the little girl in.

Though when he heard Ascot's explanation about them being "Keybladers", he nearly did a double take.

'Huh,' he thought to himself. 'Must be something in the local jargon.;

Ralph being the nice guy responded to each reply to him in order. He first turned to Thomas who introduced him and Vanellope to everyone. "Nice to meet you, and of course the rest of you." he then turned to Ascot. "Oh that's really cool and interesting. I am here to become a hero, so maybe I can help you, then I may become a hero." he said. Vanellope was giggling behind him. Ralph then turned to Jake, who just descended from a candy cane tree. He ignored that Jake changed it that they were tourists now, maybe he wasn't the brightest one of the group. "I shall introduce myself again. I'm Ralph and this is Vanellope." he said to Jake.

Vanellope just thought they were acting very suspicious and wasn't afraid to share that thought. "But what is the real reason why you all are here?" the girl asked. "Because how do you actually know that it landed here?" she asked.

"Vanellope. I am also trying to get you into the racing tournament while you actually don't have a ticket for it. This medal is the only reason why you can get in." he explained to her and revealed the golden medal. However when he was holding the medal in the air a dark creature flew by. It resembled a Heartless, but Ralph drew other conclusions. "A Cy-Bug!" he shouted. "We have to get the medal back!" Vanellope added.

But as they wanted to chase the Cy-Bug more appeared around them, out of the darkness just like Heartless. Along with those were also the magic-resistant Junkdroids. "It seems we are dealing with some Heartless here!" Belle said as she readied her weapons to attack the Heartless. Ralph also readied his large fists to slam the creatures of the darkness away. Vanellope however looked for a safe place to stay while the others were fighting.

So they were in the world of a video game. Oner thought that was interesting, but let the others speak. Reno was more of an expert on the subject of video games than Oner was as Oner preferred reading books. From what Jake said though this must be some form of racing game as he remembered Reno playing some of those. This was apparently some other digital world then like the inside of Ansem's computer where Tron lived, which was something Reno read in the history books that Serin brought to him from the libraries of Radiant Garden since Oner didn't often venture outside for fear of not knowing when he would switch back to being Reno again.

Ralph and Vanellope seemed nice as well. Alot of the people they met in these worlds were usually nice people, except for the apparent 'villains' of those worlds. And speaking of villains a large creature suddenly appeared, apparently called a Cy-Bug by Ralph. More of them appeared followed by a bunch of Heartless. Whether or not all of the creatures here were heartless was unclear. Still these creatures seemed like Heartless. Either that or viruses of some kind. Either way these creatures were a threat to those here and to this world. Oner readied his Keyblade, the Keyblade being completely different than Reno's.

'Aura' He muttered this beneath his breath, a small blue aura glowing around his body as this unique spell cast all his buff spells on him all at once. "Hikari." Upon saying this second word Oner's blade began to glow brightly as light was imbued into the blade, the light magic in his blade having the same level of strength as one of Bahamhut's Mega Flares. After that he spoke one more word, a little louder this time. "Ultiga!" A large, immense, and powerful surge of magical power burst forth from Oner in the same manner that Reno's Ultija limit break spell did that one day on Narnia with nearly the same level of strength since Oner and Reno's powers are both more complete now than Reno's power was back in Narnia. Just like all of Reno's magic, Oner's magic did not hurt any of his allies.

After casting that one powerful spell he charged whatever Heartless that hadn't been destroyed by the large spell, probably some of the Junkdroids since they had magic resistance, rather swiftly, magic aiding his own natural swiftness as he began to slash at them with his light magic imbued blade which looked like it could hew through heartless with ease, and seemed to do so as he slashed at the magic resistant Junkdroids and this being the first time that Oner had actually fought with the others. While he didn't have as much Mana as Reno did, that Ultiga spell and the other two he cast taking a somewhat decent chunk of it (although the Ultiga spell was more than responsible for it really), he was decently skilled with a blade as he had learned from Serin. Nowhere near the level of a master, but he was pretty good nonetheless.

"We have a map," spoke Ascot, who was sure that back when Nagi was there, they did have a map. This was in response to Vanellope's question as to how they can locate 'game items' that had ended up in other games. As for Vanellope herself, Ascot took the time to observe her and Ralph; Vanellope was a precocious child, albeit not to the level of Joshua or him.

As for Ralph himself, he seemed to be the gentle giant, a good person on his own quest. He did, however, bear the marks of emotional pain, as though someone had hurt him inside, in the past. Ascot would observe further, if not for the interruption of creatures called Cy-Bugs, insectoid creatures that seemed carnivorous. These were accompanied by new Custom Heartless that showed that the Six Senses had stepped up their ante.

Ascot moved to attack with a swiftness that could be mistaken for magical, but was not, striking at a Junkroid, then dodging its counterattack. Then, he launched a Fira...only to see the monster acting with a resilience that spoke of magic resistance. Before Ascot can react, Oner was already casting Ultiga; which blasted away the Cy-Bugs and, well, weakened the Junkroids.

Now was Ascot's time to shine. Finally casting Haste on himself, he attacked the Junkroids with flurries of swift blows, each one with the fury of Coastal Style Eskrima. With this same speed, he dodged their counterattacks as swift as the wind, or parried them to gain a cheap counter. Then, he finally began using his techniques, Slapshot and Aerial Slam, to great effect.

Joshua was SO happy to see the heartless arrive. He was itching for a fight and ready to pounce on the first chance he got. Sadly this fight was a rather short one as Oner decided to put on a rather... bright, flashy display of power, eliminating most of the heartless with a few quick but powerful spells. Seeing most of the enemies gone Joshua restrained himself and let Ascot play janitor and mop up the ones that remained while he watched him, observing how Ascot fought and how confident the boy seemed. The boy was getting faster and moving more confidently, that was for sure. Joshua wondered who would win if he and Ascot went head-to-head again.

Seeing the fight practically over, Joshua let out a sigh and looked around for a hopefully tough, bigger opponent. He really needed to hit something. Heard.