[IC] Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

[Flamelord]

Thomas walked angrily through the devastated landscape, seeing shattered trees, rubble, churned ground all around him, candy wreckage transformed into a panorama of destruction. Much as it was though, he didn't care, muttering under his breath and venting his rage against Joshua in a forum in which his complaints would not be heard by anyone else. He was a leader, and he had to be strong, to be a mainstay that people could turn to. A leader did not show weakness before those he was leading, and so he wouldn't.

A slightly trembling hand reached up and grabbed a twig of peppermint, slipping it into his mouth, but almost immediately it was spit back out again, the Keyblade warrior wincing and sputtering at the turgid taste. He sighed, wiped his hands, and continued walking, until his attention was drawn by the sound of nearby movement. So, welcoming the distraction, Thomas went to see what it was. And what he found was....Turbo, as a Cy Bug, blasted and horribly damaged, barely able to move. Thomas might not like the guy, but at this point he just felt bad for him. It was a hell of a way to live.

And then he started talking, and the sympathy vanished as Turbo proclaimed his desire to at least defeat one member of the group before he went. Thomas took a step back in surprise as the armor cracked and scattered, revealing a centipede body with a lot of sharp bits, Turbo's head atop it. And then the former King rushed forward on the attack.

"Thanks," he replied with an anticipatory grin. "I needed to work out some aggression." So he flipped back, swiftly dodging the strikes that came at him as he got a bit of distance before coming to a halt. Ready, he reached out, touching the magic within him, focusing it on his sword, using Magic Blade, like he had learned so recently, but this time with a different spell imbued. Not simply fire, or ice, or lightning, but something far more destructive. Black Hole.

The Keyblade shimmered as magic ran through it, shimmered and vanished, light seeming to bend visibly around where the blade should be as it was affected by the Black Hole spell he had placed upon it. Ready then, he smirked and charged forward, striking quick and fast, using his size and agility to his advantage to dance around Turbo and wear him down, as he sliced and chopped off limb after limb and segment after segment. But there was no action taken for an immediate kill. Instead, it seemed he wanted to draw this out as long as he could, even if it made his opponent suffer. This would show him, would show all of them.

[Joshua Tamashii]

"My, my, my, having a little hissy fit there little boy?" A voice asked above Thomas before Turbo was put out of his misery a little early by an attack too fact for Thomas to register. The man in the black cloak that had extracted the sign from Amaya in Twilight Town, but Thomas had missed by mere seconds, was sitting in one of the trees above him, chewing on a candy cane casually. Sadly nothing of his face could be seen yet. Bloody magic cloaks. He tossed the candy cane aside before jumping down from the tree and slowly landed on the ground" What's the matter big boy Thomas, apprentice of Donald Duck, always going to be in the shadow of his mentor. The one who leads but yet gets no respect. The one who is constantly over shadowed by the others, especially those mirror denizens, Reno and Oner.

Tell me, what's on your mind?"

---

Joshua looked around before summoning his keyblade.
"We have company." He said before the carcass of the Cybug Queen burst into flames and was burst to ashes in seconds, the heat of the flames quickly heating up the area and any metal or rock around them, causing Joshua to dismiss Total Eclipse with a curse. The flames quickly began to die down as another cloaked figure, wearing a literally flaming red cloak, walked out, a bastard sword in their left hand, flames licking the red blade as the eyes of the demonic face on the guard glowed red.

"Anyone betting that they aren't here to talk?" Joshua asked, resummoning his keyblade and getting ready to fight, worried about how the others were hold up. Amaya was of particular concern. She HATED fire and heat, unless that changed during the time she was in Underland. Her doubted it though.

[Flamelord]

Thomas was about to get into the good bit of removing his frustration when he was suddenly brought short by an interloper, Turbo destroyed before he could even register an attack occurring. He was, however, able to register the condescending tone of the person speaking to him, and he quickly sought out where the voice was coming from, which appeared to be a cloaked figure in a tree above him, chewing on a candy cane. At least for a bit, until he vaulted to the ground.

"I had it under control," Thomas pointed out, this time most likely correctly, though there was no way to know for sure now that Turbo had been dealt with in so rapid a fashion. He squared off against the newcomer, keeping off his face as best he could the gut instinct reaction he had to the person's accusations. Keyblade at the ready, blade wavy with the bent light of the black hole spell on it, he eyes the man with evident distrust. "Who are you and why should I tell you anything," he asked defiantly in return. He had a feeling that this was not a 'good guy' ,given that he went around with an enchanted cloak to hide his face and all.

[Letter Bee]

Ascot wasn't normally a 'Blood Knight', but the fight with Turbo had been...uninteresting, just him throwing out attacks and Turbo 'soaking' them. Although he was surprised by the flames, and had to desummon his Keyblade as a result, his observation of the flame-cloaked warrior showed that the boy was paying extremely close attention, and, furthermore, was anticipating the fight; he might get beaten, he might not, but he would still feel the adrenaline rush.

"You're powerful," spoke Ascot, "more powerful than Turbo. And genuinely terrifying, not like that Gula person. What are you here for? What have you come for? Then again, you won't answer; that's what you 'mysterious agenda' villains do." And with that, he cast Haste on the members of the group, one by one, then began to think up possible tactics for use against the enemy.

The boy didn't have Blizzard or Water spells; his specializations were Light, Speed, and Fire; only two of which were marginally useful. This meant that he would have to play a support role in the battle, and leave 'tanking' up to Jake. Fair enough; Paladin though he was, Ascot was still a small kid, and if back stabs were how he can make himself useful, then back stabs were what he was going to do.

[Amaya Tamashii]

Amaya watched the scene kinda worried about Thomas and his hidden darkness and worried of his and Joshua's natural rivalry. She was taken surprise by the sudden flames, hiding behind Joshua while peering over his shoulder at the flame cloaked warrior "is this guy with that one guy that forced the sign out of my cheast?" she asked Joshua noticing the cloaked warriors element "I am still a little weak but my ice magic should have a lot of effect on this guy unless his fire can't be put out..."she commented to Joshua wanting to know his opinions before doing anything

[BioHazard]

Belle thought it finally was over. That they could finally move on to the next world with only one thing left to do. Let Vanellope finish the race. However none of that would be happening now with the arrival of another villain. King Candy was easy to take down with their well-structured plan. It seemed that each villain became crazy during the final battle, only making it easier on them. At least the ones of the worlds they visit. The organizations were a much bigger threat.

Belle turned towards Amaya. "I think Shiva could help us in this battle. As her Blizzard attacks should be effective against him. I could use my Mist Dragon to limit his sight. He wears flames so we should be able to spot him in this mist." Belle glanced over to Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun. "Someone needs to get them to safety. This is hard for us, and really too much for them. I don't want to involve them in our conflict." she said. "I'll bring them to safety. You take care of this guy, I'll be back." she said before taking her leave. She was gone in a blink of an eye, had hopped on her Keyblade Glider and let the other four board it, as it was able to take a group on her glider. Belle dropped them off near the finish line and told them to wait till they come back. Belle would quickly head back to join the battle. She wondered if it already had begun.

[Renose]

When this new figure appeared Oner looked towards him, eyes narrowing. It was never easy was it? He seemed to be a fire user, judging from the fact that he just wielded fire. Still, the exact nature of his fire was unknown, Oner not being phased too much by the nearby rock and metal heating up. It may have been hot, but the flames of Reno's Ardor, which were blue, were hotter as Blue flame was many times hotter than red flames. "I agree. I doubt that our new company has no intention of speaking to us." Reno had Blizzard spells sure, all the way up to the powerful Blizzaja, and with his precise control over elemental magics putting out fires would be no problem.

Still, there was a concern of whether or not his fires could be put out through either normal or magical means. Of course, there was only one way to find out. First, Oner dismissed Bahamhut, the figure behind him vanishing in a small flash of red light. He figured the dragon deserved a bit of rest and that they could take care of this foe without his help. Still, as much as he wanted to lay down the first strike, he figured he would go on the defensive first. He first cast Aura on himself, then on the rest of their group, including on Belle right before she left, to increase their Speed, Magical Power, Defense, and Magical Defense all with the spells Hasteaja, Shellga, Protega, and Faithga as said unique spell used all of his positive affect spells at once with low Mana cost to him.

After that, Oner simply readied his own Keyblade, figuring that he could Transform if need be, but for now he would save that trump card in case it was needed.

[shadowsaint007]

Jake cheered when the volcano erupted.

"Now THAT'S what I call roasting to perfection! Look at the suckers pop!"

He wiped off the remaining Cy-Bug muck off himself, allowed himself a relieved grin - but then noticed something was amiss.

"Hey, Guys... where's Thomas gone off to?"

He barely had time to get a response when the Cy-Bug queen's corpse suddenly exploded into flames, burning so quickly all that remained of it was ashes.

"Sonuva-!" Jake swore, going into a tiger roll to avoid getting caught in the heat blast. He looked up, and saw a man wreathed in flames, wielding a sword in one hand and more fire in the other. He picked up his keyaxes, twirled them in his hands. "Great, some people really know when to pick a bad time to visit."

He got up, stood his ground, and got ready. For some reason, he wasn't going to start a fight unless the other guy moved first.

He felt the cornucopia of boosting spells surge through his form, and rolled his shoulders in response, grinning as he felt the warmth spread to his limbs and fingers. Taking the chance, he braced himself, ready to strike once he found an opening.

[Joshua Tamashii]

The cloaked man chucked
"Geez, kids these days are so sensitive." He said while watching Thomas" Then again I guess that's the problem with hearts. Emotins are their upside and their downside. But enough about what I don't have. Let's talk about what you have hidden under that armor. I have to wonder if that arm even looks human at you'd been keeping all your darkness locked up in that particular limb for so long."

---

The figure, almost lazily, swept their sword, sending a wave of flames at the group. They would be easy to avoid or block, almost as if the figure wasn't even really trying.

Joshua summoned his barrier, blocking the attack for Amaya and himself. While he was grateful for Oner's magic, he wasn't so eager to put them to use
"Something tells me attacking recklessly would not be in our interest." He said" Amaya, if you want to summon Shiva go ahead. And a little lack of control when it comes to your ice magic might be appreciated. I still remember when you froze Tummus' house... and then Thomas almost burn it down."

[Letter Bee]

Ascot avoided the flames with practied ease, before remembering to do what might be the deciding factor in a battle: assess the enemy's strengths as well as oneself's. It seemed that the Elemental Embodiment was holding back its power, which in turn meant that it was more powerful than expected, and, in turn, meant that he should be more cautious; his nature was against caution, but his experience was not.

He began to glide, trying to maneuver himself into a place near the Elemental Embodiment's side or back, while at the same time hearing Joshua's words with his keen ears - there he was again, overrelying on his natural abilities! Either way, his strategy was to use whatever distraction the others offered to get near the back or side of the person, while at the same time, keeping his Reflara spell in reserve in case he needed to defend himself...

[Amaya Tamashii]

"I think I have enough energy to summon her..I just hope she wishes to help"said amaya pulling out the blue pebble as she tossed it up calling Shiva forth. "Alright...Shiva do your thing"she commented pointing to the flame Knight as Shiva unleashed a wave of ice at the flame knight. Amaya kept close to Joshua as she was first going to see if Shiva's own power did anything

[Flamelord]

Thomas didn't let up from his combat ready position, his hand flexing and clenching at the mention of his arm and the insinuation that it might be totally different from how he knew it. That was something that he didn't even want to consider, so he was quick to reply. "It may be injured, but my arm still works well enough to beat you," he said angrily.

Of course, the comment, that one and the earlier one pertaining to emotions or the lack thereof, didn't distract Thomas from the fact that Mr. Cloak had avoided the question that he had been asked. "I'll ask again, who are you and why should I tell you anything. I mean, you're not exactly giving off positive vibes here with the enchanted cloak and all." Unless he had a hideous scar, but Thomas doubted that that was the case

[Renose]

Oner didn't even need to move to avoid the fires. A simple 'Reflect' and any fire that hit him was taken in by the spell and sent back at the enemy. It barely took any mana for Oner either since the lazily shot fire was easily repelled with a somewhat very weak usage of the Reflect spell, Mana that he was easily able to regain with just a quick moment of meditation, which all it was in this case was Oner closing his eyes, taking in a deep breath, then exhaling, Oner restoring the mana from both the usages of Aura and that usage of Reflect just then, putting him back up to full, which he needed. Normally Oner wouldn't have let down his guard like that, but the enemy wasn't doing anything, so he decided not to let that moment of the stillness of battle be wasted.

Ascot seemed to move first, moving around the battle field while Amaya summoned Shiva to put a powerful ice attack on the field. Joshua was indeed right. Recklessly attacking an enemy who they knew nothing of probably wasn't the best idea. So instead, Oner got into a stance, powerful Light forming in his Keyblade with a muttered Diaja spell, the blade now looking like one made of solid light as he sat and waited for the enemy, or Ascot, to act, hoping to find an opening within the enemies movements to take advantage of for a decisive strike.

[Joshua Tamashii]

"Beat me? You honestly think you can beat me?" The figure said before appearing in front of Thomas, his hand on Thomas' keyblade and completely negating the black hole magic around it" Face the facts kid, you might be ready to take on the Six Sense but none of you are ready to take on us. The Six Senses are just a bunch of random people brought together through greed. Me and my people though, we're all warriors. We're all trained to fight and kill. You're not ready for that yet. And neither are the people you travel with."

---

The figure raised a hand, surrounding Ascot in a ring of fir, trapping him in place for the time being. They then moved their hand in front of Shiva's wave of ice before unleashing a large wave of white flames, not only completely blowing through the wave of ice but also destroying Shiva with little to no effort, forcing her to retreat back into her summon stone. Joshua meanwhile had to use a CoD to save himself, Amaya, and Belle from being fried by the flames, trusting Reno to have some ability to get out alive on his own.

[Renose]

"Reflectaga!" Oner raised his blade of light, crystal like pieces now floating around it as he quickly held the blade in front of him as a shield as the flame wave headed towards him. The flames would hit, but hit the blade. Reflect, the barrier anyway, captured attacks and sent them back as part of its magic. That much was true. Oner was also extremely adept at controlling his magic. While he may not have had that many offensive spells, that didn't mean his foes didn't. Instead of sending the flames back though, the flames were captured by the Reflectaga in the blade, or at least all of the flames that hit him anyway.

All of the flames that had hit him were now his now, a part of his magic, and thus his to control as suddenly the Keyblade changed. Now instead of being a blade of solid light, it was a blade of swirling light and white fire, Oner glaring at the figure. "Get the others out of here Joshua..." He looked back towards the other Keyblader. "Ill hold him off while you all escape." It was clear that this man was incredibly powerful. He destroyed Shiva, a high level summon, instantly, and didn't even look like he was trying, which made Oner unsure of whether or not he could win, especially without the use of their trump card, or if even all of them teaming up on this man could win. "Lets see how thee fares against thine own flames..." He muttered this before charging forward. Oner's speed had gone up recently, thanks to the permanent Haste affect. His speed was with magic, and Hasteaja made him extremely swift.

When he got to the figure a few high speed slashes of his blade followed by a highly dense orb of Ultima right to the mid section as part of the extremely swift combo attack, which was finished off with the Explosion finisher, three orbs of light and magic flowing around him meant to each slam into the foe, something that he was adept enough at that he didn't have to stop moving to do so. Oner wasn't going to go all out yet, not until he knew what this man was fully capable of, but he figured he certainly wouldn't attack lazily, lest he had a death wish, which Oner certainly did not, so Oner was giving it his best shot.

[Letter Bee]

So, the Elemental Embodiment can create constructs of Fire; that increased his threat level by about a mile upward. Not to mention that both it and Oner have been holding back in their battle, making it uncertain who can win or who cannot. Thankfully, though, the Elemental Embodiment had created a ring of fire, not a cage or a prison. That meant that if Ascot leapt high enough, he can evade this ring...unless of course, it hid some other enchantment that he didn't know about.

But, he still should try. And with that, the boy made a few practice hops, before jumping up, as high as he could, and then, if he successfully escaped, gliding, gliding in circles atop the monster's head, striking with his shotlock at the same time that Oner used his Explosion.

[Amaya Tamashii]

"Ascot!"she exclaimed watching a ring of fire before she turned to watch Shiva retreat from the white flames "Shiva...but how she is a high level summon" exclaimed amaya holding on to the stone. She heard oner speak of them escaping before a Cod formed and whisked Joshua, belle and her away. She kept her eyes shut as she held on to joshua

[Flamelord]

Thomas blinked, obviously surprised as the strange man suddenly appeared in front of him, actually touching his blade despite the magic upon it that should have been ripping his hand apart molecule by molecule, or something. Not just that, he negated the spell entirely, the Keyblade returned to normal. What the hell was that then? Teeth gritted, he pulled his sword free and danced back a few steps before settling into a ready stance once again, as ineffectual as it might be.

"Alright, so you've got some nice tricks," he admitted."But I'll ask again, who are 'you and your people', and why should I listen to a word you're saying? Congrats, you're trained to fight, very impressive. What does that have to do with me?" Yes, despite the show Thomas had still noticed the fact that the mystery man was dodging the question. His headache was kicking up with his annoyance, and he heard some noise back the way he came, but for the moment he was focused on the confrontation in front of him.

[shadowsaint007]

Jake managed to dodge the fires once again, picking up the pace to circle around the opponent. The guy had taken out Shiva in a single hit; no use fooling around with this one. Instead, the best he could do was get the heat (pun unintentional) off the kids, so that they could flank the guy. Superpowered fire or not, he couldn't keep his focus on everyone at once.

Jake smashed his axes into the ground, managing to snag a couple of large rocks on the edges. With a loud grunt, he swung his axes, hurling the boulders at the enemy, then running in a different direction, zig-zagging to keep the enemy's aim off. Performing a Tiger roll, he slammed his axes into the ground again, kicking up a large storm of dust and debris to obscure himself, then taking advantage of the smoke cloud to toss another couple of large rocks by his sheer arm power at the enemy. Back-flipping, he then turned around and made for a nearby piece of debris sticking out of the ground, then took a running jump off the tip as he made right for the enemy. He knew this wasn;t going to work, but he could at least throw a few surprises at the enemy.

[Joshua Tamashii]

"Nothing about it has to do with you. You're nothing more then a speck of dust in my eyes... at least right now you are. However, if you were to listen to me... well maybe we could be friends or worse enemies. Who's to say?" The man said, shrugging" Who knows. Listen to me and take my advice however and maybe good things could happen. Like, fore example, you could really assert your authority over everyone in your little group, especially that upstart Joshua and the mirror denizen. You might be able to impress one of those girls and get to court them. You might get hailed as a greater hero then even Sora and finally step out of your master Donald's shadow."

While the man spoke he, very discreetly, messed with the Darkness in Thomas' heart, helping it overcome the boys light just enough so it could start taking over more easily. He didn't bother Thomas' arm as that would give his actions away.

---

When Ascot tried to jump out of the Ring of fire, it became a column, completely surrounding and trapping him. After a few seconds, it exploded inwardly, damaging Ascot but none of it's surroundings

The figure meanwhile handled both Jake and Oner's assaults with ease, pulling a sheathe out of their sleeve and using it as a second sword to deal with both fighters, using small explosions to speed up her movements so as to keep up with their opponents. When the boulder's finally reached them, they jumped away and used the boulders as platforms to jump from one to the next and successfully navigate them all. The dust cloud was blown away by a big explosion and Oner's Explosion was simply jumped over.

Their attacks over for the time being, the figure decided to deal with their opponents in different ways. Oner made it clear that he was a mage, and therefore relied on his mana. Flames would burn more then just the physical and over had their flames, a decision he would regret. The flames took on an ethereal look and began spread up Oner's arm. While they wouldn't burn him physically, but they would begin to burn his mana, slowly depleting it before he could use it.

As for Jake, since he liked run around and seemed to like to show up, a straight up fight suited them just fine. The figure took a relaxed combat stance before casually beckoning him towards them, basically asking for a show down.