[IC] Kingdom Hearts: Signs of Zodiac

[Letter Bee]

Ascot, regaining his bravery now, was a little dissatisfied about the answers given by War, but decided not to look the gift horse in the mouth, instead, with poise and grace, the boy bowed his head down, and said:

"Thank you. Thank you for answering the questions and thank you for the harsh lesson that you gave us." Ascot's mind was already working, trying to absorb as much clues as possible. However, he could only grasp the obvious: War was a noble person, after a fashion, but Fear and Chaos were not, and War was a little tainted by association. Same for Destruction, the Elemental Embodiment whom Jake can hardly match, especially as Destruction seemed less sympatethic. In the meantime, his suspicions about Fear were correct; Fear was someone who fought for amusement and the pain of others and herself; Ascot can understand, but not condone. But enough editorializing - he loved that word! Point was, the Mystery Group was an Enigma wrapped in a riddle.

"One more thing," spoke Ascot, "I concede not only the physical victory, but the intellectual victory, to your group. It seems that we do know nothing, which, as the Socratics would say, is the beginning of wisdom. So, farewell, then?"

[Amaya Tamashii]

"How ironic he had to have the name of the element my protector and better half is accustomed to fighting every second and it wasn't as bad as my four year imprisonment..." she commented keeping the promise war told her that darkness would assist her if she called for his assistance.

She listened to everyone's questions as he answerer each one. She looked at Joshua,checking his wound

[Renose]

So they knew what Reno was? Well that wouldn't be surprising if they had watched their group and overheard their conversations. Its not like Oner intended for it to be a secret either. Of course, they didn't know what he was in the beginning, as the man who first came from this organization assumed that Reno and Oner were two souls in a single body which wasn't entirely too far from the truth, but at the same time was also pretty far off as well. The thought of wanting to fight for fun, being raised to fight, or seeking fights to test ones might were all concepts that were foreign to both Reno and Oner.

Serin had taught him Magic as both a pursuit of knowledge and as a way to be able to use it to help people. If anything, Oner and Reno knew why they fought. To protect others and the peace that they all deserve. To fight for fun though and to hurt others for enjoyment? That was a vile thought according to Oner, and even Reno knew that wasn't right. But its not like they could change someone just like that. They already realized that a long time ago. Oner didn't really think that the answer to Reno's question, of why this mysterious group was helping their own, but decided to just forgo mentioning this detail for now. If just Fighting was their reason for helping, then it was clear that Oner would get no more answers from them.

But still, may have been why they lost that fight, because Reno and Oner's reason wasn't there since they weren't fighting for peace or to protect others. Sure they were fighting with Jake to help him and that could count as protecting someone else, but ultimately it was a fight of self defense, a fight that Oner and Reno both thought was unnecessary and pointless. It was why they held back, which was perhaps arrogant of them. Would they need to go all out next time? Would that help next time? They would need to be alot stronger though, and Reno and Oner both thought of someone who could give them more power than they had now. The problem was finding the time to talk with this person.

Both halves of the Denizen knew that they would need to find the time though, and if they couldn't find it then they needed to make the time, and hopefully the rest of their Quest to gather the Signs would give them that time.

[Flamelord]

Thomas waited with all the patience he could muster (admittedly not much in this current situation), as this 'War' guy gave them the answers to the questions they sought. And it wasn't too amazing. The guy didn't know what their end goal was, had blind faith in this leader of his, said something about finding your own reason to fight, and unsurprisingly answered Ascot's question as Thomas expected he would. This Q&A session had pretty much been a waste of time at this point.

And then his own question was answered, and he frowned. So basically, the guy was saying 'Trust me because I'm honorable, but don't trust me because that's the smart thing to do'? Talk about mixed signals, to say the least. This guy was still quite obviously a villain, even if he was 'a man of honor', so Thomas would continue to treat what he said with all the suspicion it deserved, until he could prove he was telling the truth in some fashion or other.

"If I say no, will it make a difference," Thomas replied to the question of if they were satisfied with their answers. He could care less what the others thought at the moment, since aside from Belle's, most of those questions had simply been wastes of time, earning only evasions, enigmatic answers, and things that hardly inspired any sort of confidence in this guy. Well fine. Let him be like that. They'd defeat the Six Senses, then they'd go and kick their butts too. It wasn't like they had a reason not to, since despite helping them at some point along the way, their actions still screamed 'I'm evil'. He just needed to get stronger, and then he'd be the one delivering a lesson.

[BioHazard]

Belle was relieved to hear that she could get her Mist Dragon back. She knew Misty could take care of her own, but she was still worried about her. But they have been together for such a long time, they would find each other again. Belle only nodded when War answered his question. She was surprised that she got this kind of answer, she would have never expect that of this group. However this didn't mean they were not the villains, they obviously were. However, unlike her answer, the answers of the other questions were dispensable. No one really got anything out of it that we didn't already know... or could guess ourselves. Especially Jake's question, she had long figured out that the organization wasn't after the Signs.

After her inside talk, Belle headed over to Thomas. She laid her hand on his shoulder. "That's a really crappy answer you got there. I want to talk to about something, but that can wait till we arrive at the next world." she sighed. "I think we should say our goodbyes to the people of this world and move to the next one, what do you think? Seeing you're the leader and all." she asked even though War was still there or not.

[shadowsaint007]

Jake said nothing, merely observed with suspicion and silence. However, he was feeling... exhausted by the effort, holding himself together. Apparently, he had underestimated how badly he had been hurt, making him wonder what the elf truly was.

Still, he was not going to give them the satisfaction, so he endured, and merely glared at the opponents who had ostensibly beaten their faces in to teach them a lesson with a supposedly benevolent intention...

[Joshua Tamashii]

"Well, what has you so unsatisfied Thomas? If you all have issues with the answers, speak up and I will try to elaborate. A reward isn't much of a reward if you don't get the full value." War said." Of course this applies to all of you."

Destruction hopped down from the tree and walked over to Jake before giving him a hard poke to see if he would fall over, sensing an air of exhaustion around him.

Joshua meanwhile got out of Amaya's grasp, having enough strength to stand and move on his own now. He went over to Belle, handing her a potion to apply to her wound before returning back to Amaya.

[Letter Bee]

"You really want to 'reward' us, don't you?" Ascot spoke, his curiosity perking up. "Okay then, let me narrow down my question: you say that the knowledge of the Multiverse inflicts a huge burden on those who possess it. I can understand that. You also say that you know little to nothing. I can also understand that. However, you guys are intelligent, so you can speculate."

"I won't lie; the main thrust of my question was to figure out two things: One, where your power comes from, and Two, your motivation. I daren't ask for your weaknesses because that would be cheating, and I don't want that. However, I won't lie; I want to find out the source of your powers because 1.) I am currently weak, and 2.) Because I want to know how I can fight you in the future, if its needed."

"That said, I'm not so much a fool as to actively go for said source of power, if any, especially if said source of power is nothing more than the immense potential of a Sapient Nobody combined with training and experience. No, I only want to know how you became so strong, stronger than even Organization XIII, it even seems. And smarter, craftier, too."

"So, where do you think your power comes from?"

[Flamelord]

Arms folded, Thomas tapped his elbow with his index finger as War asked him what the matter was, and offered to elaborate. How nice, as if he didn't most likely recognize the logical fallacies in the answer he had given in the first place. It certainly made him wonder what this guy was trying to accomplish, since a bad guy would only voluntarily offer information if it played into their plans somehow.

"Hm, let's see. You said to trust you because you're an honorable person, but to not trust you because the truth might not be the truth. You see where I might have a problem with that answer? Contradicting yourself and casting doubt on whether you're actually an 'honorable person' doesn't help your case."

Honestly, at this point he was about ready to ignore everything this guy said. There was no proof he was honorable, and he was still a bad guy, working with people who'd fought them. Regardless of the help they'd given in the past, the reality was that now they were enemies, just enemies with a common foe. The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy, we just don't shoot each other right away. That was something he wouldn't be forgetting so easily.

So he was glad for the distraction as Belle came over, him glancing over to her as she rested a hand on his shoulder. "Alright," he agreed with a nod, even if he had doubts as to whether he was truly the leader or not. That was a question he hadn't gotten a chance to ask Calhoun in private, and now it looked like he wouldn't. Nor learn the spells for which he'd gotten those books from Serin, which was something of a shame. He'd have to look for the opportunity later.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he confirmed once more, just about ready to do that and ignore their guests. Unless War said something interesitng in the next ten seconds, he was done with this conversation.

[Renose]

"You never truly answered my question. You answered Reno's, which was why you fight, but that has little connection to my question. I simply inquired to the reason that you were all helping us". Oner opened his eyes now, the different colored eyes gazing at War, his feet firmly on the ground unlike Reno's. That, and the change in hair color from white to black was indeed a huge sign that Oner had manifested once again.

"Thou art indeed powerful, I am not disagreeing with that. If the Six Senses are your enemy though then why not destroy them yourselves? If you were truly wanting to teach us a lesson in arrogance, you could destroy an enemy that is around our level with such ease to do so after collecting the signs yourselves, making us see that all of our battles and efforts are worthless before your might". There was no way that there wasn't some ulterior motive. "Is it because you can't defeat the six senses and thou aren't as strong as you make yourselves out to be? Do you have some other hidden motives perhaps? Or do you just want us to do thine dirty work?"

Oner's gaze went right into War's eyes, Oner calm as he questioned this man's motives for giving them this lesson and sparing their lives. If questioning their strength would bring out a response, then Oner was willing to do so. He didn't like being a pawn in someone else's plan, and that was what sparing their lives did, made them into pawns. He was glad to be alive sure, but still did not like to be a pawn. This was too much of an enigma for Oner's liking. Of course, nowhere near as big of an enigma as Reno was, but that was a different sort of enigma that no one would ever be able to solve.

"So ill ask again. Why art thou helping us? What is thine real motivation for helping us in this strange manner? Not your reason for fighting, but your reason for helping us". Oner went silent after that, waiting for a response. Sure he could say things like the enemy was in fact Arrogant here, letting the Keybladers go thinking that they were such easy prey and not a threat only to have the possibility of later being defeated at the hands of this 'easy prey' present itself. If their power was so great, why help them at all? Oner wanted the truth, and if bringing their strength and even their pride into question was necessary to get the information he wanted, then he would do so.

He had no doubts about their incredible strength, he just wanted some answers.

[shadowsaint007]

Joshua Tamashii said
"Well, what has you so unsatisfied Thomas? If you all have issues with the answers, speak up and I will try to elaborate. A reward isn't much of a reward if you don't get the full value." War said." Of course this applies to all of you."Destruction hopped down from the tree and walked over to Jake before giving him a hard poke to see if he would fall over, sensing an air of exhaustion around him.Joshua meanwhile got out of Amaya's grasp, having enough strength to stand and move on his own now. He went over to Belle, handing her a potion to apply to her wound before returning back to Amaya.

Jake grabbed her hand, breathing a little hard, but his glare never wavered.

"I would highly advise against that."

[Amaya Tamashii]

Amaya watched Joshua closely as she could tell he was in very bad shape and using what energy he had to move to assist belle. "Just like I dreamed"she whispered meeting him half way

[shadowsaint007]

Jake brushed aside Devastation's hand before she could try anything else.

[Joshua Tamashii]

"For a veteran you're a fool. Lie down and rest or I'll knock you out myself." Destruction said, folding her arms and giving Jake a slightly miffed look, but the corners of her mouth seemed to be trying to go up despite her efforts. She seemed to like Jake for some reason.

War meanwhile remained quiet for several seconds before speaking again

"Thomas first this time, as that seems to be the most pressing. You're all young and naïve, so your confusion is understandable. I have not lied to any of you, in any of my answers, nor will I start to. that would go against the point of this. However, while everything I say is true, you would be a fool to trust blindly. Even if something is true, at any given point it could be proven false. Example, everyone believed that Master Xehanort worked for the greater good at one point, did they not? They believed that to be true and thus they were blind to his true intentions until it was too late.

Remember this then. Even the 'truth' is not always true.

Now you Oner. The reason we're not going after the Six Sense ourselves is because we're rather curious in this groups ability to deal with them. A new generation of keyblade warriors... how will you all turn out to be? What trials will you over come? Will you eventually become a threat to us? These are all questions we want to answer and more. Even if the last one turns out to have an answer of 'yes', we will not kill you. Maybe you will end up helping us in some form or another. Who can say?

And finally Ascot... I have no answer for you because I do not know where our power comes from. Likewise I do not know how our powers are determined. Destructions power is almost ironic given her history while mine makes a lot of sense given how I was raised. Likewise, I doubt you could tell me how the keyblade came into existence if I were to ask now, could you?

Now, we must be going soon, as you have a mission to continue on. The sign from this world should be in your hands shortly. Our main concern is one of the next worlds you may end up going to. It is a place of spirits and so I have to warn you. You might be looking for one thing, but the world will give you something you truly need. Once you have that, you might be able to find what you seek.

Now, unless there is anything else, we will be going. Last chance. Otherwise Destruction and I will say good day and wish you the best of luck in your endeavors."

[Letter Bee]

Ascot gave things some thought, while at the same time noticing the...tension between Destruction and Jake. It seemed as though Destruction was not immune to attraction after all, although he did not know what would come of it, if any. He would have smiled as well, but, that would draw Jake's ire. All tears had faded from Ascot's eyes, and, well, although he was a little disappointed by the lack of a good answer, he can shrug aside that disappointment.

"All right then," spoke Ascot, "I think we've taken your time and attention long enough. So, at least for me, farewell." War's answers, as mentioned, were disappointing, but the man had proven himself to be intelligent, and, well, the boy can grudgingly - very grudgingly - respect that. However, he knew this, that War and the others were still their enemy; that while War was affable, and so was Destruction to a lesser extent, Chaos and Fear...

Chaos and Fear were cruel people who reveled in their own cruelty, while Darkness was an unknown. When he remembered their names, a chill passed through him, as though they would hurt him in the future. After all, they already hurt, or tried to hurt, those he loved. He would have to look out for them in the future, get stronger...even though getting stronger was what he had been doing all this while; he just wasn't strong enough.

Problem was, with him, he was focusing too much on what he was able to do, not what the opponent was able to. He was also prone to expending energy in battle, instead of economizing like Joshua did. He also insisted on taking the front lines instead of the rear and back, as well as learning powers that were more suited for a front-liner instead of a flanker. True, he was a Paladin, but, well, he was also a small kid.

"Thomas," he then spoke to the other boy, giving him the warranted deference, "what should we do now? For myself, and this is merely offering advice, I think that we should take our leave of this world as soon as possible, and go to the next one; we've overstayed our welcome. Sorry if I'm suggesting the obvious. Also, another thing I'd like to say," his voice was now that of the faithful adviser.

"For a long time, we haven't been working as a group. We don't coordinate, we rarely support each other, we're too overconfident in our individual strengths. And, in doing that, we neglected you, our leader. And, for that, I apologize, as well as advise something: Once we travel to the next world, perhaps we can set up which roles each member of the group should undertake?"

"You and Jake can be the main fighters and diplomats, Joshua and Me take up the position of investigators and scouts, Reno and Oner can be either our 'artillery' or the healers, Amaya is support, while Belle is, well, the Rogue. You can also set the agenda that we'll be doing after we arrive in another world." Every position Ascot listed was an attempt to make each member of the group feel important, but Thomas most of all. He can see why and how their 'leader' got neglected, and, well, the boy was trying to make amends. Problem was, he was already doing so when it was too late, when the darkness had already consumed Thomas. Oh, and Ascot did notice that Thomas' wound had healed and that his arm was no longer armored.

So, Ascot's attempts to make amends did not blind him from the suspicion that there was something 'off' about Thomas, something he had suspected since long ago - if one still remembered. Nevertheless, the boy would still try to keep the group together as long as possible, because that was the most useful thing he can do.

Anyway, time to go to the Moogle Shop to buy more food, eat, do one's bodily rituals, and perhaps sleep on the way to the next world. Oh, and of course, see what happened to Ralph, Vanellope, and the others. He yawned; still so much to do.

Nevertheless, the boy noticed something; he was growing. Long ago, his losses would have afflicted him badly, but this specific loss, Ascot can feel this loss strengthening him, not in battle, but in other ways, psychological ways...

[shadowsaint007]

Jake had to prop himself up on a rock as his form transformed back from lionlike to human once more. Evidently, the transformation took quite a bit out of him.

"Lady," Jake responded between breaths, his tone indicating more mild amusement than anything, "that's not the first time I've heard that, and it certainly won't be the last.

"Doesn't make it any less true, admittedly."

[Amaya Tamashii]

"Actually Belle would be a good scout..oner and you should be support.. I am better with healing and support..."said amaya to ascot putting a hand on his shoulder "draw your strength from somewhere of light, family, friends...become Elyse's shield...Joshua is only amongst us as himself because he has someone who can't fight...he has a reason to protect the light...he protects weaklings like me..."said amaya gently

[Flamelord]

While it was certainly more detailed than thee previous one, War's answer still said basically the same thing, and offered no proof beyond his supposedly trustworthy word that he was actually trustworthy and not just lying like a rug to them all. So yeah, as he went on to answer other peoples questions, Thomas was basically done with this conversation.

"Yeah, whatever. See yah, wouldn't want to be yah," he replied to the most likely evil couple with a dismissive wave as he turned to other things, showing how he felt on the subject.

That left him to deal with other issues, such as Ascot swinging about from his near breakdown or whatever to some sort of motivation frenzy, deciding that now would be a good time to recognize that he was the person who was supposed to be in charge, which was about dang time, and at the same time offering suggestions for 'roles' for everyone. Joy.

"Thanks, but I think considering what we're doing, assigned 'roles' aren't the best choice. We've gotta be flexible after all, rather than being shoehorned into positions. As we've seen throughout this trip, there's a good possibility we're not going to be traveling together all the time, so specializing like that would be a bad idea,' he replied, thinking of it from a standpoint of moving forward, when they couldn't expect to stay together for the rest of this quest.

Asked what to do as well, he reiterated somewhat what others had thought or outright said. "For now, we get the Sign, wrap things up here, and then get going to the next world. Unless someone wants to stick around and see how much of stomachache they can get from all this candy." So yeah, maybe he was playing a broken record, but it wasn't like there was much else to be gained by sticking around, unless they planned to stay for a day or two so he could learn this new magic of his.

[BioHazard]

Belle turned to Thomas, ready to change the subject. "But what should we do now? We have no clue where the Sign is, and we need to get it before heading to the next world." she sighed frustrated. "You possibly didn't happen to bump into it when you were taking that stroll earlier." she responded. Suddenly the people in the group would hear the sound of a cart coming closer. Inside of it was Vanellope.

"Guys! Guys! Come with us, we found the remains of King Candy up ahead, he's really wrecked! But we found something inside of it that may interest you." Vanellope made an U-turn and quickly drove back to the place where Thomas had is battle with King Candy, it wasn't that far away so Belle wouldn't take out her Keyblade Glider and just run behind the cart, of which she could see stopped somewhere in the distance next to a pile of Cy-Bug candy. Along with that; Ralph, Calhoun and Felix were present.

"So what is that thing that might interest us?" Belle asked, slightly out of breath. Calhoun dug into the remains and retrieved the Sign and showed it to the group. "Is this that thing you guys have been looking for?"

[Joshua Tamashii]

"I guess that's our cue to leave." Destruction said going back over to War. She gave the group a small smile and a wave before vanishing through a Corridor.

"Honestly, if and when the time comes I hope you don't kill her. She's a sweet girl when you're not fighting her." War said before vanishing as well

"Guess we're done here." Joshua muttered" So, where to next?"