Author's Note: All characters, locales, and creations in the Aladdin series belong to the original owners and copyright holders. I'm just telling a fun story as an exercise in creativity. My original characters and the actual story itself are creations of my own mind. Take of that what you will, however odd it may turn. :)

For this new Aladdin story, I have an interesting scenario. It was partially inspired by a reverse Pinocchio tale. I guess I might as well say it - I don't think many people will have heard of the older animated movie "Pinocchio and the Emperor of Night" (James Earl Jones plays the voice of the villain, many people know him as the voice of Darth Vader from Star Wars and Mufasa from The Lion King). It's a story where Pinocchio's a real boy and he gets turned back into a puppet by several manipulations of his own doing. There's more to it than that, but it's actually an interesting little movie, and quite dark. So I decided to have fun pulling strings...I mean crafting this respective Aladdin story. =P

Mirage, from the Aladdin TV series, is the villain for this story. Warek, one of the merchants from one of my previous stories - "Fear Itself", makes an appearance in here too, but you don't have to read that story to get the events in this.

I also ended up penning a few original songs in this story, "Just a Little More" and "Puppet Pace". You'll find the purpose they serve when those parts come up, but all the intermittent songs belong to me too, unless otherwise noted. (I actually haven't penned any songs in a fic since the Alvin and the Chipmunks stories I did - that was a while ago.)

Synopsis: Aladdin wants to give Jasmine and the Sultan a special gift by putting on a mini arts festival in Agrabah, complete with puppet shows, food and decorations. But things don't quite work out as planned when Mirage gets a hold of the news. She kidnaps and curses Aladdin under a spell that turns him into a doll, as part of a money making scheme she's conducting in the casino for Getzistan. If Aladdin can't manage to engage and entertain the audience every night that he's under the puppet influence, he could become a puppet forever! Can he find a way to cut the strings Mirage has him under?

Prince of the Dolls

Chapter 1: I've Got No Strings

Agrabah was much busier these days than usual. Part of what defined the activity for the late evening in the city were several builders trying to construct special stands outside of the normal Marketplace. Merchants had closed down for the evening, and the dens were just becoming active.

Aladdin stood in the middle of a group of merchants who were constructing a puppet stand.

"Just a little more to the center, guys...there! That's it. Looks good." Aladdin grinned as he checked off a list on one of the long scrolls he kept his goals on. "Now all we have to do is paint it. This is gonna look great for the festival."

Iago was nearby, dragging a paint can with some difficulty towards the stand. Abu was on the ground tending to his own can of green paint.

"Geez, do we need all of these colors? Seriously?" Iago complained. "Why can't we just be monochromatic or somethin'? Would save time and expense."

Aladdin folded his arms across his chest. "Somehow, Iago, I don't think you're all that concerned about how much we're spending on the festival. More like you're trying to get out of all the work we have to do."

Iago shrugged his wings sheepishly. "Don't blame me for penny pinchin' if somethin' goes wrong. Word of advice."

Abu chuckled beneath his paw as one of the merchants accidentally knocked Iago, with floating plumage, into one of the cans of blue paint. Iago wasn't impressed.

Aladdin stretched his arms over his head, his muscles tired from lifting most of the evening. It would be dark soon, and he'd have to go back to his hiding place to do some of his own painting. Genie was already there, making some of the dolls and puppets they planned on using for the festival. Carpet waited as Aladdin boarded him.

"I trust you guys will make sure things are running smoothly while I go check on Genie?" Aladdin asked.

Abu gave a salute while Iago groaned, still trying to shake the paint from his feathers.

The night was cloudless as Aladdin and Carpet sped through the city. The streets were mostly empty and it'd been a few days since anything had happened in Agrabah, besides an occasional brush with Mozenrath and Xerxes, Abis Mal and Haroud trying to concoct another scheme to infiltrate the palace, Mechanacles trying to build clone robots to fool the Sultan into thinking the robot was Aladdin and Jasmine...

Aladdin frowned. Okay, so a lot had happened in the past few days. But nothing that he couldn't handle.

When Aladdin and Carpet Arrived, Genie was in the middle of painting the faces on a number of puppet dolls.

"Hey, these look great! You've got the sets of them almost done!"

Genie beamed, wearing an artist's cap and smock. "Yes, it iz mah finest work!" He donned a fake French accent as he held up one of the dolls in its attire. "What do you think? She iz pretty, oui?"

Aladdin held a doll that looked like Jasmine, with bright wide eyes, a small smile and beautiful clothes adorned with jewels. "Aww, Jasmine will love this. It's cute."

Genie reverted to his normal voice. "Aha, but you're thinking the real person's cuter, no?"

Aladdin felt his face flushing. "Genie..." He paused a moment. "Wait, if all of these dolls are of us, then what kind of stories are we going to perform for the play? Iago's already going to do some of the voices - might as well use his voice imitation for something. But...we don't have any scripts."

Genie frowned. "Huh, that IS a problem. We could just tell some of your many adventures through the deserts and defending the city. That'll draw a crowd."

"True, but which ones? We don't have a millenia to tell them all, just a few days. I wanna make this the best arts festival for the Sultan that there is."

"Uh, relax kiddo, it's just the first arts festival we're holding in Agrabah."

"That's just it though - it's the first!" Aladdin groaned. "I know you're going to say there's no pressure, but this could define whether we have others to follow. It's special too because it's a surprise - not just for Jasmine and the Sultan, but everyone at the palace. I just want the city to make a good impression. Everyone's been working so hard on it." Aladdin took a seat on the bed near his window, overlooking the city skyline. He rested his elbows on his knees.

"And that is the reason why it will be g-g-great!" Genie said. "Everyone's giving it their best so it will be the best! So says Puppet Aladdin." Genie picked up a half finished doll that was similarly dressed to what Aladdin would wear if he were in his street clothes. His face wasn't painted yet and the puppet was notably bald and without arms. "We still have to work out how to give him the poofy hair and fez among other things, but..."

Aladdin laughed. "He does kinda look like me. Did you make one for Carpet and Abu too?"

Genie pointed to two puppets, one of a miniature version of Carpet on strings, while Abu's doll looked like a plush monkey. "Yep, all ready to go."

Aladdin suddenly heard a screech and crash behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see a trembling Abu holding a tiny stick over his head advancing toward the puppet that resembled him.

"Abu? " Aladdin said, surprised to see that his friend had followed him.

Genie picked up Abu by the tail before he could advance much further. "Hang on a sec, monkey boy, it's just a puppet. It's not gonna hurt ya."

"Puppet?" Abu knocked a paw against the surface of the puppet when Genie set him down gingerly in front of it. The puppet slumped forward, making Abu screech before running and finding a place to hide down the front of Aladdin's shirt.

Aladdin grinned. "It's not real. It's just for the puppet show. I think it kinda looks like you."

Abu popped his head from the collar of Aladdin shirt, looked between the puppet and Aladdin and stuck out his tongue. "Bleh."

Aladdin laughed. "I don't think he likes his representation much."

Genie put a forefinger and thumb under his chin, looking at the puppet. "I think it might be the facial expression. Hang on, let's whip up a little semi-phenomenal magic."

Genie's magic transformed the puppets expression in a number of scary and weird ways that made Abu screech with fear or disgust. At least until the last one, and then Abu seemed content.

Aladdin shrugged his shoulders. "See? Nothing to it. Now I thought you were supposed to be helping Iago with the merchants getting the painting done."

Abu winced, smiling sheepishly as he screeched a reply. Aladdin's expression fell into one of exasperation. "Genie, looks like we're going to need your help."

Genie flexed his muscles. "I knew my strength would be needed at some point."

The three of them left the hiding space, but none of them saw the puff of smoke that billowed behind them as a figure, lean and with cat ears, appeared.

Mirage looked around, a grin appearing on her face as she eyed the dolls. She purred softly.

"So, Aladdin and his companions are putting on a show. For the Sultan and Princess, no less. And they didn't even think to invite me? How rude."

She frowned, walking closer to the array of puppets Genie finished. "Such plans are going to put a dent in my aims in Getzistan. I was hoping not to have competition. But..." She picked up the unfinished doll of Aladdin. "This gives me an idea for the main attraction. That ought to make the venue more interesting. Especially if I raise the stakes to be a little...deadly."

Mirage started to laugh, and as her fingers closed around the doll, she squeezed part of it so that the head of the doll popped off, falling to the floor.