Mirror Man huh? Well Oner really didn't mind. It was sort of comical actually, not that it actually listed any chuckles from the Denizen, but it didn't bring a negative response either. "As interesting of a name as Mirror Man is, Joshua", Oner actually using his real name instead of some nick name like Reno always did, "It would be useful for you to know the signs so that you can tell which one of us is currently manifested." He now pointed at his jet black hair "If my hair is jet black like it is now, and my Spirit Veins are white", he then gestured to the white circle on his forehead and the white lines going down them, "then currently I am Oner. If our hair is pale white and the veins black, then Reno is the one who is manifested."

It was a simple enough explanation on how to tell which of the two Keybladers were currently manifested, much simpler than what Reno would have probably given the other Keyblader, plus it would be good for the other two people here to know it as well if they were going to search for something together. Of course there was also the other sign as well that Oner acted and just felt much more mature than Reno did.

Joshua had trusted him with Amaya's safety again, and this time, Ascot wasn't ready to fail him. As the group walked with Ralph and Vanellope, the boy spoke to his adoptive sister:

"Hey, Amaya, feeling all right? I know you went through a lot in Twilight Town, and, well, I did so too. But, you're the one who's suffered worse, so, I'm going to ask; do you want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about though i can't believe signs could hide in someone i mean could thus mean that others are hidden in possible people and items? And it was add to see that nobody that looked like my father but the man i knew was never mean and cared a lot for me andmom from what i remember"she said gently walking beside ascot and the others "i am fine and will make it through this...sure that sign might have helped with my control of magic but i think ivcan still be of jaw"she said

Jake went to Ralph and Vanellope and said that the Cy-Bug was heading towards the castle. "Well, isn't it obvious? We need to stop that thing before it gets there!" Vanellope said. "I need it for my entr... Ralph needs his medal to prove that he is a hero." she said. Ralph looked down at Vanellope. "Thank you." he simply said. "But now that we know where it is headed we have to go after it."

Belle overheard the rest and walked towards them. "Jake, why don't we catch that thing? Ascot and Amaya can stay with Ralph and Vanellope." she said. "I can take it down with a shuriken, or you with a magic spell. You know magic spells, right?" she said. After Jake had answered they would go after the Cy-Bug. Once they had caught up with the Cy-Bug Belle threw some shurikens into its direction and took it down. The medallion fell down and landed near Jake on the ground, unless he caught it. "That went easier than expected."

---

"You guys really found Ralph? We have to go to him!" Felix said.

"If their friends are with him then we will surely meet up with him. We have to eliminate the Cy-Bugs before they destroy this game." Calhoun said. "Are you guys with me?" she asked. If one looked good they could see that there was a dark cloud forming above Frost Mountain. A cloud made out of Heartless.

Well, that was easy, thought Ascot as he saw Belle bring down the Cy-Bug and get the medal back. He then turned towards Ralph and Vanellope, and smiled, saying:

"It seems that we did it; the medal's back in your possesion, or rather, it'll be soon. Anyway, I forgot to introduce myself - my name is Ascot Carver, from the Keybladers! game, and I'm glad to meet you, Ralph and Vanellope." Then, he changed the subject.

"So, who does that castle belong to, and what race are you talking about? Judging from your reactions, that race seems to be the centre of your game, right? Perhaps, it's even what the game's all about?"

Oner nodded. "Yes we shall go with thee. Protecting this game from destruction is important." Even if this was a game it was still a living world inhabited by and enjoyed by many, since if it was a game alot of children probably played it, so they needed to protect it and they could just look for the sign while hunting these Cy-Bugs. Still it was unclear how they flew directly into a digital world in the void of space. "The mortal realm sure was a strange place. Oner thought to himself, but then put that thought out of his head since this realm was his home and it wasn't like the Mirror Realm wasn't strange either based on the standards of this realm.

"But before we go looking for them it seems we have yet another problem to contend with." Oner looked at the dark cloud and slowly the white circle on his head began to glow softly with light, it moving through the lines going down from the circle like blood through veins. "It seems that you will be getting the fight that thou was pining for after all, Joshua." Without another word Oner readied his Keyblade for the oncoming threat.

"I was hoping for more quality then quantity but this'll do for now. And the only reason I'm looking for a good fight is to see how well I can do." Joshua said while watching the cloud of now angered heartless approach the group with his arms folded. While a sigh he unfolded them and summoned Total Eclipse to his hand as an aura of darkness surrounded him, an aura that would make his the primary target for the heartless." For now the rest of y'all stay back. I want to see how well I can do against this barrage of wild animals. At the very least it should be a tad bit fun."

Thomas nodded at Calhoun's suggestion. agreeing with her assessment of what their priorities should be, In a way, he was somewhat envious, and he turned an eye to keeping a better watch on her. Not simply because of physical attractiveness, but more because she exuded an aura of authority. The Sergeant was by any guess in the military, and seemed to be used to leading. He wanted to learn from her there, see how she did it so he could replicate it, and get some respect or at least more concrete authority from the one certain role he had in this group. So anything he could learn, the better.

He summoned his Keyblade, but upon seeing the aura of darkness that manifested around his companion, and hearing Joshua's words, he stood back. to let the man fight. "Fine,' he said. "But if it looks like you're going to die, then I'm getting involved.' It also provided a convenient excuse for him as he moved away, his arm wound having an....adverse effect to the presence of the dark aura. It felt like pins and needles, like something was digging into his arm and just. Wouldn't. Stop. It was not adding up to a good combination with everything else that had happened recently, and he wondered if he looked as much like hell to everyone else as he felt.

For now, he focused on keeping himself under control while watching Joshua fight, hoping that that would distract everyone's attention from him so no one noticed if he was having some physical reaction, like how his fist clenched and arm shook beneath the armor covering.

Before Jake could respond, Belle nailed the flying Cy-bug rather expertly. He managed to grab the medal before it landed on the ground.

"That's a pretty good shot," he whistled. "Though about magic... um, yeah, not really my field. Sorry, but I'm more of a straight-up close combat expert.

"Besides, this just solves the issue of the medal - it doesn't answer where the Cy-Bug's hive is, nor where the Sign is."

He takes a good look at the medal, noting that the medal seems rather... military in nature. He takes a glance at Ralph and Vanellope, sensing something was amiss. Still, it was their medallion, so he hands it over.

Ascot introduced himself properly to Ralph and Vanellope. "Nice to meet you Ascot." Ralph said. Ascot asked the two who the castle belongs to and what the race exactly was. Ralph probably had the same amount of information about the world as Ascot had. So Vanellope was the one who would explain it to him, and anyone else who would listen.

"The castle is from the stupid King Candy. He always organizes the races, and participates in it too. But for some reason I am never allowed to race. The only way for me to enter is if I have a gold coin." she explains. Belle and Jake approached the group again having reclaimed the medal from the Cy-Bug.

"Ah I didn't know that you are more a combat guy. It's nice to have those for variety. Most of the guys use magic, like Thomas and Reno for example. But don't worry, I also only know one spell... not that I have used it yet." she listed to Jake again who pointed out that they did get the medal but have no clue yet of where the Cy-Bug hive or Sign is. "Don't worry, I'm sure we will stumble upon it sooner or later." the two joined the group again and Jake handed the medal over to Ralph, as it belonged to him. Ralph put the medal in his pocket, with the band sticking out of it. "So, where to now?"

"I guess I'm going to try and head back to my original game. Then I can finally show my hero medal to him, thanks to you guys for retrieving it." Ralph wanted to grab the medallion out of his pocket again but saw that it was missing. And not only that, Vanellope was missing as well. "Wait, did she take my medal again!? I have to get her!"

"We will go with you." Belle said. She turned to Ascot, Jake and Amaya. "If we go along, we'll probably figure out who has the Sign. That said, any of you guys have an idea of where she might have headed?" she asked. Now that Thomas wasn't around she kinda took the leader role. She hoped that no one would have a problem with it, but she thought that the decisions she made were the best. She remembered agreeing with Thomas on some things in the past although she didn't agree with it, although they turned out well. She just hoped that her decisions would work out as well.

---

The dark cloud of Heartless was flying on high speed down to the five heroes at the bottom of Frost Mountain. The cloud was filled with Cy-Bugs, but among them were also Runemasters, Magic Phantoms, Hook Bats and Aeroplanes, indicating that also in this world there were many Heartless. Calhoun grabbed her blaster and began to shoot, specifically, the Cy-Bugs when they came within the range of her blaster. Felix readied his hammer to smash the Heartless with it. Because his golden hammer had magical properties of fixing things, he would stay at the sideline.

"So, in essence, King Candy is the ruler of this land, he organizes the races that are probably the purpose of this 'game', and he is also a bully. Any reason why he discriminates against you, Vanellope?" Ascot asked. But, no one heard him, because everyone else began talking, ending with Vanellope disappearing and Ralph going after her.

Okay, there's a history behind this, but Ralph and Vanellope were reticent about it, which frustrated Ascot, who liked history and stories, to no end. Well, best to accept Belle's role as leader; she seemed to be capable enough for it. Oh, and, best to offer his ideas:

"Vanellope wanted to enter a race, right? What about looking for the racetrack?" he spoke. "Anyway, I'll cast Haste on everyone, since we're moving to intercept someone."

"Only place she can go," Jake said in response to Belle, his arm pointing out to the races. "She did mention she needed it to enter the race, so that's your safest bet.

"As for the Cy-Bug nest..." Jake walked up to the dead Cy-Bug, and tore Belle's giant shuriken from it with a mighty yank. He sniffed the bug blood on the blade, then the bug itself, noting the pattern colors of its carapace while he was at it.

"Well, that's weird," he mused. "It definitely smells like grease, bug, and metal under it all, but it's like it's been marinated in candy and strawberry fudge. Like somehow it's been trying to meld in with this world."

He turns to his comrades.

"And I don't like the sound of that," he continued, hefting his axe on his shoulder. "Not one bit.

"For now, though, let's just head for the racetrack. From the looks of it, most of the locals have turned up to watch. If you listen, you can faintly hear the crowds. So yeah, some fast footwork is gonna be a good idea.

"Anyone want a lift? I'm probably the fastest endurance runner among you guys, so it might help us move together."

Joshua smiled slightly as the heartless approached. Once they were within range he quickly jumped towards them and got in the center, a few slashes taking out a few Aeroplanes and Hook Bats. He quickly scanned his enemies and saw he would need a mixed bag of tricks to get rid of them. Once again he thanked the gods that the Defense Committee kept a database of heartless on their computers and that he had spent hours studying it. He also liked that he had a better mixed bag of tricks as well.

The first thing he did was cast a Dark Thundara spell. A single black bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking a nearby Aeroplane heartless. However the Dark versions of common spells tended to have to distinguishing characteristics: They tended to be more powerful and they often had a little extra trick to spread the damage or cause more to a single enemy. In this case several smaller bolts arced from the point of contact and hit several more nearby heartless, destroying all those not immune to magic. While he had been casting the spell however, a Runemaster cast it's own spell at Joshua but he instinctively teleported away and finished that heartless out with a powerful counter-slash to the back. He then pointed Total Eclipse behind him and cast Dark Blizzara, hitting a Magic Phantom, Destroying with and several of it's companions that were following it as the initial shard broke down into several smaller, but no less deadly, shards. He then spotted a nearby Hook Bat and, smiling, jumped up and grabbed it by it's hook.
"Pardon me, I need to use you for a second." he said to the heartless before swinging it around wildly, battering several heartless and cybugs, either weakening or destroying them with several hits. When he was done with his battering ram he stabbed the Hook Bat with his keyblade, destroying it, and landed on the ground with a bit of breathing room but still surrounded by a big swarm of heartless" Oi vae, you lot just don't end don't you?"

Laughing he cast several more spells, destroying small to medium amounts of the heartless and cybugs, all the while taking and avoiding several blows. Sadly, while he hadn't been paying attention a fair amount of Magic Phantoms had surrounded him and, as one, tried to swing their candles at him. Joshua managed to raise his Dark Barrier at the last second and blew the heartless away with his Counter Aura ability. Feeling his mana running out, he decided to get a bit more physical, especially since a vast majority of the heartless left were Rune Masters, which were completely immune to magic. Switching his focus to them he used Shadowbreaker, closing the gap between him and a few of them with two jumping slashes, one of darkness and one of light. The moment he was near them he seamlessly went into Dark Break, preforming three, jumping downward slashes, were the heartless didn't seem to be capable of blocking for some reason. The next couple of minutes were filled with him either teleporting behind the Runemasters and counter-slashing, using either Shadowbreaker or Dark Break on them, or trying to get behind their defenses by normal means. When he finally had enough, as there was no way in hell he could take out the entire cloud by himself, he used a CoD to get to safety
"Alright... your turn... to show off." he said to Thomas and Oner, breathing a bit heavily

Thomas watched on as Calhoun cut loose with that cool gun she had, shooting up into the cloud above and destroying one enemy after another. Meanwhile, Joshua went in on the attack as well, sword swinging and magic flying. That he was less appreciative of, the usage of dark attacks, and the ending Corridor not making themselves much approved by his dark wound, which flared high in the presence of the dark energy. It was another struggle to keep it hidden as Joshua emerged next to them, as if passing on his approval for them to attack, Though it didn't help any that a lot of the heartless left where those immune to magic, rendering useless some of the things he had learned.

But he wasn't going to let that stop him as he summoned his Keyblade glider and took into the air, and giving them an unusual sight as he brought out the staff he had used before he got his Keyblade. It was this he wielded as he moved amongst the cloud of enemies, swinging and spinning the wooden staff to slam it home. The glider aided in his agility as he moved, even being used as a weapon as it's wings cut through dark matter.

he pulled up, cutting loose with a jet of flame as Fira leapt from his staff to roast the Heartless in it's path before a snap turn brought it again to bear, Thundara leaping out in a bolt of lightning to crackle as well, with the butt of the staff planted atop the glider. Lasers flew through the air and past as he soared, a trail of rainbow left behind him. His staff grabbed at a Bat's hook, using it to do a snap spin and slam the front of his glider through another enemy, it breaking apart and vanishing in in a puff of black.

Maybe it wasn't as impressive as going all out, but that couldn't accomplish much more with the enemies magic resistant, and there was no need with how things stood. Let them keep underestimating him and how strong he was becoming. They would see in time. And then he would get the recognition he deserved.

Oner watched both Joshua and Thomas fight the Heartless. It felt strange taking turns like this, but Oner was ready to jump in at any moment during any of their fights with the Heartless and Cy-Bugs in case they were in danger. Luckily these creatures seemed to stand no chance against Joshua's dark powers or Thomas' magic and glider skills. Oner decided after a bit of watching Thomas fight that it was his 'turn' to jump in. "I guess it must be my turn then." He let his Keyblade appear in his hand as he said this, ready to take on this foe as he placed his other hand on the surface of the blade, the circle on his forehead glowing softly with light as it seemed to flow through the lines descending from the circle. In the next moment a blue aura appeared around him for just a single moment and his Keyblade, in the next moment, seemed to be infused with a powerful surge of light, the blade no longer looking like a blade, but just a sword made of just light.

After that quick moment Oner dashed forward like a bullet right towards the large, yet dwindled thanks to Joshua and Thomas, cloud of Heartless. Oner's blade of light was slashing deep into heartless after he charged forward, his sword skills being pretty stellar and his magic only augmenting them further. As he slashed at and through heartless he did so with not two hands, but one. In his other hand he used it to launch and control small yet very powerful and concentrated bursts of magic at enemies from a very close range, the magic attacks being more like point blank melee attacks. The bursts looked like very small, yet still powerful, versions of the Ultima spell.

That was not all he did though. Those more magical resistant heartless were tough, but not even they were resistant to light. Instead of launching or slamming small bursts, jets, or streams of ultima into them he would imbue a good amount of ultima magic into his blade. This gave his blade and each of his slashes incredible bursts of explosive power as it now shredded through enemies he cut. Granted some took more hits than others, the blade was still very effective. Those flying enemies were still troublesome to deal with though. At one point, right as he slashed through one enemy he gathered a quick bit of his focus and the remainder of his Mana within him to let out a powerful wave of magical energy from his body, explosions of magic erupting throughout the air and the cloud in what was a different version of ultima meant for taking out more widespread clusters of flying enemies. Of course it didn't have the same instant elimination power as the omnidirectional single wave did, but what heartless weren't caught in the small explosions were still damaged a slight bit.

There were still alot of them though and Oner still felt like going all out would be unneeded at this point. Even if he had used all of his mana to take out a good bit of heartless he still had the magic in his blade and decided to get a little more. He had dodged, and got hit, by some blows, but now decided to give some of those Rune Masters a taste of their own magic. As one of them let loose its powerful thundaga spell towards Oner he suddenly let the spell hit his blade, the thunder magic seeming to be captured into it. "I thank thee for thine assistance." He smirked, his blade of light and magical energy suddenly coming to life with a surge of electricity that seemed to become a literal part of the blade.

There were just too many Heartless though, but that wasn't going to stop Oner. His blade seemed more precise and more destructive, like lightning itself as each slash tore through the air and whatever enemies that had the unfortunate pleasure of getting hit by it. Oner's mana may have been all drained by the bursts of ultima he used, plus that final burst to take down a good number of them, but he was going to keep on fighting. He decided though that this needed to end and they couldn't waste time on these enemies. "And now I shall give it back!"

With that declaration he aimed his blade towards the sky. Electricity, light, and magical energy erupted from his blade in a powerful surge right into the cloud of the heartless. Still there were still plenty of the creatures left. He wondered if there were as many here as there were back in Radiant Garden. Still he needed time to recharge the rest of his mana. "Reno, you're up!"

in a single instant he changed, Oner's keyblade disappearing and that same glove that looks like Reno's Keyblade appeared on his hand and now the physical signs of Reno were there in an instant as they quickly switched places. Reno quickly raised his gloved hand towards the sky as the black circle on his head shined with pure, serene darkness that flowed through the lines on the circle. Suddenly a large beam of darkness resembling a Mega Flare in both general appearance and strength shot from his hand through the cloud, blasting anything in its path as it tore through the sky, luckily for the Heartless there still being plenty that weren't in the very large beam's path. With a clench of his fist the explosion that looked like it was beginning to form was suddenly swirled about into a large tornado that appeared on the battlefield. The Dark Mega Flare's remaining energy swirled in the tornado, making it move faster and causing what heartless that got caught in it to be damaged either by the incredibly fast and tearing winds of the tornado, which had no affect on any of the Keybladers or the two videogame characters, and by the darkness infused magical energy swirling in the winds.

Reno watched after that, hoping that spell combo would finish off the rest of the heartless that hadn't been defeated by Joshua, Thomas, and Oner.

Ascot had cast Haste on the team which was always helpful. Jake then suggested to carry someone, as he supposedly was the fastest of the group. Belle laughed. "Jake, I'm a thief. I think I can outrun you to the tracks!" she said with a playful smile. Belle quickly climbed into a candy cane tree, luckily the candy canes weren't very sticky or anything. They were actually a bit slippery. When she was close to the top she could see the racetrack lying close to the castle. Belle immediately jumped out of the tree, grabbing a branch of another one to make a save landing. "Seems like the racetrack is straight ahead." she said and started running.

"Not too fast guys! I'm not the fastest runner!" Ralph said as he ran after the group. Once the group would arrive at the racetrack they could spot Vanellope in the distance, handing in the golden medal from Hero's Duty. However Vanellope quickly gets chased by the police of the event and is bullied away by the other racers. Vanellope is quickly gone again and Ralph looked disappointed. "So... my medal is gone?" he asked himself.

"Ascot, Jake, Amaya. Let's go to the track to check out if we can find some more information about Vanellope, the medal, this world and maybe the sign." she said.

"Belle," spoke Ascot, "considering that King Candy rules this world and apparently wants to bully Vanellope, we risk that we might be talking to one of his cronies, collaborators, or unwitting believers who swallow whatever propaganda the King puts up. No, we go by the logic of the previous worlds, and assume that King Candy is both 1.) Evil, and 2.) has access to great power and knowledge."

"Instead of going around and asking for information - from people who might alert the King, no less, I think that we should enter an infiltrator into the castle instead. Belle's a thief, she can enter the King's castle and find out whatever information is needed. That, or we can meet up with Joshua and Reno/Oner again, and attack the castle openly. I know I'm operating by 'story logic' here, but I'm sure that either King Candy is evil enough to deserve an attack, or he'll be good enough to forgive us."

"I think ascot is right belle is best to go into the Castro for the rest of us will stick out...maybe i can cause a distraction with guards among the castle after all you can't moss a girl in white or i could call Joshua for.help.."She said with a giggle
((Sorry for the small post

Belle nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. So, if you guys just take care for a distraction then I will sneak into the castle." here she was acting like she was a temporary leader of the group. But she didn't fufill that position really good. I guess there was a reason behind Nagi choosing Thomas to be the new leader of the group. She was sure that Thomas was taking the lead in the other group, although it is hard to say that with Joshua around. Or someone must have appeared who was a real leader. Amaya also mentioned Joshua again, that he could help them. She added the giggle afterwards, but Belle knew that it is difficult to be without Joshua.

"I think we can handle this on her own." Belle said with a smile. "And Joshua probably is having fun with the other guys, I hope." well, I'll see what kind of distraction you guys come up with. I'll head to the castle." Belle said and left the group. Ralph was looking down to the others, "What if I just storm in there and terrify everyone... although is it the right thing to do if I am trying to be a hero?" he asked the group, who indeed were heroes, unlike him.

---

Calhoun shot another Cy-Bug and looked around. "Seems like we have cleared this area." she sighed. "If there already are so many here then it must mean that there is a huge hive of Cy-Bugs somewhere in this game, they are reproducing at rapid speed." she said. Calhoun went down to the Cy-Bug she just shot down and checked the insides. She went with her finger in the corpse and pulled it out. Her finger was covered with black and pink. "The Cy-Bugs have already begun fusing with this world. It's like they have been marinated with candy and strawberry fudge. And somehow I think those other dark creatures from your game speed up the process." she said.

"Then let's go!" Felix shouted. "The sooner we find the hive, the sooner we will find Ralph." Felix said worried.

"You're right Felix. I hope no one got to exhausted from fighting, because we are going." she said and took the lead, in search for the hive of the Cy-Bugs. Wherever it may be. Felix walked next to the other guys and looked up, as Felix wasn't the tallest. "She's really a dynamite gal, isn't she." Felix said with a blushing smile.

When Belle darted off, Jake reacted quickly.

"Oh, that's how you wanna play, huh?" he grinned. "Have it your way!"

He quickly picked up both Ascot and Amaya, told them to hold on, and then ran as quickly as his strong legs could carry him. His feet pounded through the forest path, his sense of direction keen, his heartbeat strong and regular. He leapt over obstacles and creeks in strong bounds. Yet despite his athletic effort, he arrived just a touch behind the nimble little thief. He put down the two kids carefully.

"Darn, I must be getting old," he said in a joking tone. "Oh dearie, dearie me, my arthritis is acting up!"

His chuckles were cut short when the ruckus caused by Vanellope's appearance and escape at the race.

Jake listens intently to Ascot and Belle's plan, nodding in agreement.

"I'm going with Belle. She might need the backup, you never know when you could use some muscle."

Then he turns to Ralph.

"Think you're up to the challenge, big guy?"