Back at the palace, Aladdin and Jasmine had arrived home from their ride atop Carpet. Their faithful flying friend carried them back to the balcony and hovered close to the balcony's stone floor to allow the two lovers to disembark. Carpet then followed Aladdin and Jasmine onto the balcony.
"Oh Carpet, thank you so much for the ride," Jasmine said happily as she petted the magic carpet affectionately with her hand. "You're always the sweetest."
Aladdin, Jasmine and Carpet walked back into the palace throne room, where they found Genie entertaining the Sultan. Genie was performing numerous magical tricks and transforming himself into various wacky objects, animals and people while the Sultan laughed merrily at these antics. Nearby the Sultan's throne, the palace's animals were sitting and watching Genie's little show. Abu, Iago, and Jasmine's pet tiger Rajah looked on as Genie went through numerous transformations.
Genie saw Aladdin, Jasmine and Carpet entering the throne room. "Hey! The lovebirds are back!" he shouted. "Come on, you guys! Be part of the audience!"
As he spoke, Genie made his arms elongate and caused his hands to grow to a huge size. Reaching across the room with his elongated arms, he grabbed Aladdin, Jasmine and Carpet with his now-giant hands and then set them down on the steps below the Sultan's throne.
"Whoa!" Aladdin and Jasmine said simultaneously. They had certainly been taken by surprise by Genie's sudden grabbing of them with his giant hands, but they laughed anyway because it was funny.
"Ah, Jasmine!" the Sultan said cheerfully. "I'm so glad that you and Aladdin arrived when you did. We're having quite a lot of fun!" He laughed again as he watched Genie change himself into a circus juggler, juggling several balls while riding a unicycle across a circus tightrope he had conjured up.
"Thanks, Father. We had quite a pleasant time ourselves." Jasmine stood up to kiss her father on the cheek before sitting back down next to Aladdin.
Genie transformed himself into a blue tiger next, and he walked up to Rajah on all fours in his tiger form. The sight of the two tigers staring at each other face-to-face made everyone laugh. Genie, as a tiger, displayed a broad, toothy grin in front of Rajah, while Rajah looked puzzled, not knowing what to make of this blue tiger.
"From one tiger to another, let's dance!" shouted Genie. He grabbed Rajah and pulled him out into the middle of the throne room. With his magic, Genie made Rajah stand on two legs instead of four. Then, standing on two legs himself, Genie grabbed the surprised tiger and started leading him in a waltz across the throne room floor, with waltz music playing in the background. Everybody laughed at the sight of two tigers waltzing all over the room.
"We big felines gotta stick together!" Genie declared to Rajah, who looked quite stunned as he was led around in a dance. Then Genie broke the spell and returned Rajah to his place in the audience next to Abu and Iago. Everyone in the throne room laughed and clapped. At first Rajah looked perplexed, but when he saw how happy everyone was, he smiled as well.
"That was most entertaining, Genie!" the Sultan said as Genie took a bow.
"Of course!" Genie affirmed as he transformed himself into Tigger from Winnie the Pooh and started bouncing around. "Entertainin' is what Tiggers do the best!"
"It was really funny, Genie," Aladdin said with a smile.
"I actually think you may have worn out Rajah with that act," Jasmine giggled. "I'll have to put him to bed now."
Iago let out a yawn. "Yeah, I could use some shut-eye myself. As soon as I get a quick bite at dinner, I'm turning in for the night."
"Well then," the Sultan said, "why don't we all go eat now? Then everyone can get some rest. And by the way, Aladdin, thank you very much again for helping me to draft those trade agreements. You were very helpful to me."
"Well, thank you, Your Highness," Aladdin said. "I tried my best. But you have so much experience in this area that I don't know exactly how helpful I can be."
"Oh nonsense, my dear boy," the Sultan replied. "Your assistance was extremely valuable. Because you've lived among the ordinary people of this kingdom all your life, you know their wants and needs better than anyone else. You know what types of goods and services would serve them best. Thanks to your input, we've crafted our trade proposals to make sure that future trade can provide our people with many more needed goods and services at much lower prices."
"Way to go, Al!" Genie cheered. "You'll make a regular Adam Smith!"
"Who's that, Genie?" Aladdin inquired.
"Oh, he's a bigtime economist in the future," Genie chuckled. "Sorry for the anti-chronological references. I do that."
"Now everyone, let's go eat dinner so we can get some sleep," the Sultan said.
Everybody followed the Sultan into the royal dining room, with Jasmine and Aladdin tenderly holding hands as they walked out of the throne room.
Later that night, everyone had gone to bed and was soon fast asleep. The Sultan was slumbering peacefully in his bedchamber, and little did he know, something was happening right above him. A flash of white light suddenly pierced through the darkness of the bedroom, and a black hole took shape above the Sultan's bed. Out of the dark portal floated an airborne, bowl-sized, dodecahedron-shaped black crystal, which descended from the air slowly and ominously toward the sleeping monarch. Something about the crystal or the portal must have disturbed the Sultan's sleep, for he soon began to stir as the crystal hovered overhead.
The Sultan slowly opened his tired eyes, stroked his white beard, and glanced up at the ceiling. The sight of the hovering airborne crystal descending toward him instantly shocked him out of his groggy state.
"What?!" the Sultan sputtered as he rolled over to the side of his bed away from the crystal. "What is happening here?! Help!"
The airborne object flew after him, and the Sultan leaped out of his bed and ran across the room. Despite his somewhat advanced age, the Sultan was actually quite quick on his feet. Soon, however, the floating crystal cornered him, pinning him to the wall on the other side of the bedroom.
"Stop!" cried the Sultan. "Get away from me!"
No response came from the crystal; it merely hovered over the old man and unleashed a ray of glistening light in his direction. The light engulfed the Sultan and dragged the terrified monarch toward the crystal like some inexorable force of nature. The poor man's struggles were to no avail; the energy beam soon trapped him inside the black crystal and froze him in a state of unconsciousness. With its target now captured, the crystal floated back into the portal, and then both the black hole and the black crystal disappeared. No trace whatsoever of the Sultan of Agrabah remained within the bedchamber.
Jasmine was sleeping soundly in her bedchamber, and Rajah was curled up beside her bed purring serenely. Out of nowhere, a burst of bright light filled the room, and a low rumble sounded through the air. A black hole appeared abruptly above Jasmine's bed, cutting through the fabric of space and time and leading to what seemed a dark, empty void. A floating black crystalline object flew menacingly out of the hole. Jasmine stirred somewhat in her bed, but did not fully awaken.
Rajah, however, woke up from his sleep and sensed that something was wrong. He looked up and saw the black crystal emerge from the portal. Appalled, the tiger leapt to his feet and approached the object ever so cautiously.
The crystal released a ray of white light which enveloped Jasmine's body as she lay in her bed. When this happened, the princess finally awakened, and she let out a terrified shriek.
"Aaah! Help!" she screamed as she was ensnared by the crystal's energy ray. "What's happening to me?!"
The energy ray levitated Jasmine's helpless body from her bed and into the air. The ray began to pull her toward the crystal, but it did not get far. Rajah had come to his mistress's rescue, grabbing her left pant leg in his mouth and holding down firmly on the fabric with his teeth. The tiger's strong grip prevented the black crystal from sucking Jasmine into its interior, though it continued to try to drag the princess into the air. The result was a fierce tug of war between Rajah and the crystal for Jasmine, with a stalemate resulting as Jasmine hung in mid-air, kept from being sucked into the crystal only by Rajah's determined efforts.
Jasmine took advantage of this delay by screaming ever more loudly for help. She was unable to free herself from the energy beam's grasp, so she knew she needed more help immediately before it was too late.
Down the palace hallways, Jasmine's screams reached the ears of her friends. Aladdin, Genie, Abu, Iago and Carpet came racing out of their rooms and made straight for the princess's chamber. Aladdin's mind was racing as he ran, worried sick about what might be happening to Jasmine and fearing the worst as he bounded down the hall and toward the doors to Jasmine's room. Aladdin got to the room before the others because his room was closest to Jasmine's.
Aladdin threw the doors open and gasped in horror when saw Jasmine suspended in mid-air and clinging desperately to Rajah, who was still trying to pull his mistress back down with his teeth. Looking up, Aladdin saw the airborne crystal which was responsible for this attack on his fiancée.
"Jasmine! Hang on!" he shouted.
"Aladdin, please hurry!" Jasmine cried out. "I can't hold much longer!" She could feel the crystal's pull growing stronger, and she knew that neither she nor Rajah could keep this up forever.
Aladdin ran over and grabbed Jasmine's arm, and he pulled with all his might to bring Jasmine away from the enchanted crystal above them. Genie, Abu, Iago and Carpet now arrived as well, and they all looked horrified by the sight that greeted them.
"Guys! Give me a hand!" Aladdin yelled. "Something's trying to grab Jasmine!"
Genie and Carpet each seized one of Jasmine's legs, and Abu and Iago grabbed her other arm. Along with Rajah, everyone was now struggling to pull the princess away from the menacing crystal. But the crystal's relentless pulling force would not abate, and Aladdin knew that it had to be stopped immediately.
"Genie! Do something to stop that crystal!" he shouted as he worked with all his might to keep Jasmine from rising any higher into the air toward the crystal.
"I'm on it, my man!" Genie shouted back. Genie let go of Jasmine's leg and darted over to where the black crystal was hovering. With both hands, Genie unleashed two magic bolts of energy at the crystal, but the bolts only bounced off the dark object.
"Uh oh! That one wasn't good enough!" Genie said. "Time to bring out the big guns!"
Genie conjured up a golf club in his hand, and the golf club surged with his magical energy. Then Genie magically took on the clothing of a golfer and flew up into the air next to the black crystal. Settling firmly into a golfing position and ready to tee off, he aimed his golf club at the crystal.
"Fore!" he yelled as he swung with all his might. The golf club struck the black crystal and sent it hurtling across the room, and the white energy ray it had projected to ensnare Jasmine disappeared. The crystal flew through the air, hit the wall on the other side of the bedroom, and shattered into a hundred pieces. The shards of the crystal clattered to the floor and did not move. The magic object had finally been stopped.
"Oh yeah! Score!" Genie cheered as he waved the golf club over his head.
Jasmine was free now, and was sprawled out on her bed as she took several deep breaths to regain her calm. Then she instantly hugged Aladdin, Rajah and all her other friends before finishing up with an extra-large embrace for Genie, who had permanently destroyed that terrifying magical artifact.
"You guys, you're the best!" she beamed as she wrapped her arms around Genie. "I was scared out of my wits! Oh, if you hadn't been here, I would have been done for!"
"Don't mention it, Jas," Genie said gently. "That's why you've got friends."
"Wait a minute!" Aladdin suddenly called out. "We're not out of the woods yet! Look!"
The gang looked up and saw the strange dark portal floating in space. They hadn't even noticed it earlier because their attention had been focused on the black crystal. Now the black hole was crackling with dazzling white sparks.
"Oh great, like we didn't have enough nightmare fuel already," Iago growled as he winced and rolled his eyes. "First some flying chunk of charcoal tries to snag Jas, and now we've got a hole in our house that just screams 'evil magic doorway'!"
"That black crystal must have come from this portal!" Aladdin said. "We have to close it! If we don't, there might be more of those things coming through it!"
Iago shuddered. "That's the last thing we need!"
"Genie," Jasmine said quickly, "do you think you can shut that portal and keep out any more of those crystals?"
"I think so," Genie replied. "But it might only be temporary. I'm still not fully sure what kind of magic it is we're dealing with here."
"That's better than nothing," Aladdin said. "It'll buy us some time to figure out what to do next. Go for it, Genie."
Genie flew into the air and made a monkey wrench materialize in his hand. He hurled the wrench the portal, and the sound of a crash was heard emanating from somewhere within the hole. Then Genie waved his arms and conjured up an aura of magical energy which engulfed the portal and forced it to close. Soon there was nothing left of the black hole, with no sign of its previous existence anywhere.
"All done, Al," Genie reported. "The portal is closed. You were right—there was something on the other side of that portal that was transporting black crystals like the one that attacked Jasmine. I could sense it. So I literally threw a monkey wrench into the plans of whoever was sending out those crystals." Genie grinned mischievously.
"Great job, Genie," Aladdin said. "But are we safe yet?"
Genie sighed. "We're safe—for now. I wish I could say we're protected for good from those things, but it just ain't so. I disabled whatever was sending those crystals from the other side of the black hole, and I closed the hole and set up a protection spell around the palace to keep the crystals away. But it won't last forever. This is very strange magic we're dealing with, and my powers can only hold it off for a while. We're gonna have to find a way to permanently stop this magic before it attacks us again."
"Right, Genie," Aladdin said. "And that means we have to find out what kind of magic it is and who's responsible for it."
For Aladdin, this kind of thing was all too common. Agrabah had been attacked by numerous magical threats at various times. Ever since Aladdin had first met Jasmine and saved the kingdom from the evil Jafar, he had encountered countless magical dangers in his new role as a hero. These mystical threats could take many forms and could come from innumerable sources. It was only through Aladdin's efforts and his friends' efforts that Agrabah remained safe.
Jasmine folded her arms. "Whatever this magic is, one thing's for certain: It's a serious threat to all of Agrabah. We have to stop it now. Just imagine, these crystals could appear anywhere in the city when you least expect them to appear and trap anyone in—"
Suddenly Jasmine stopped talking. She froze. Her eyes grew to the size of baseballs, and a look of absolute horror crossed over her face.
"FATHER!" she shrieked. She bolted out of the room, running as fast as her legs could carry her down the hallway and toward the Sultan's bedchamber. The others followed close behind. In seconds, Jasmine reached her father's bedroom and threw the doors open.
"Father! Father!" she cried out as she raced into the room. To her dismay, Jasmine found the Sultan's bed empty! She desperately glanced everywhere in the room, but she saw no sign of her father anyplace.
"He's—he's—GONE!" screamed Jasmine. "NO!"
Aladdin, Genie, Rajah, Carpet, Abu and Iago ran into the room as well, and they all exchanged horrified looks when they saw that the Sultan was missing. Everyone knew exactly what had happened.
Jasmine was absolutely beside herself, exhibiting an intensely distraught expression which was a mixture of fury and sorrow. In her moment of hyper-distress, she fiercely kicked a nearby footstool, bringing her foot down on the stool with a frightening ardor. The stool rolled to one side after Jasmine kicked it. Aladdin ran over to console her, while Rajah, who at first had growled angrily about the situation, sauntered over to Jasmine and nuzzled her soothingly.
Genie looked around the room and groaned. "No doubt about it," he said. "One of those crystal thingies must have floated in while we were still asleep. Those things are fast."
Iago looked ill. "The Sultan's gone," he breathed with disbelief. "And if those airborne rocks manage to come back, any one of us could be next!"
"You got that right, bird man," Genie agreed. "It grabbed the Sultan in his own room, and it did it so fast that the palace guards weren't even aware of anything."
Abu and Carpet both twitched anxiously.
As Aladdin gently held Jasmine in his arms, Jasmine breathed deeply in order to pull herself together. After inhaling and exhaling a few times, she regained control of herself and managed to focus.
"Let's get to work," she said to Aladdin as she touched his shoulders. "We have to find Father, and we have to protect the city from any more of these attacks. Our people are at risk."
"You're right," Aladdin agreed as he stroked Jasmine's cheek. "It's bad enough that those magic crystals are out there, but with the Sultan gone, Agrabah is even more vulnerable."
"I wish I had been there to save him," Jasmine said sadly. "I wish I could have woken up long enough to hear him cry for help. Maybe I could have prevented this and…"
"Don't talk like that," Aladdin interjected. "You did nothing wrong, Jasmine. None of us could have known this would happen. Let's just focus on rescuing him."
Jasmine nodded, and then she and Aladdin gathered their friends so that they could start planning their next move.
"The first thing we have to do is learn what kind of magic we're up against," said Aladdin. "When Genie smashed the crystal, he smashed it into little pieces. If we go back and analyze those pieces of the crystal, we can learn more about the crystal's magic. Then we'll probably be able to figure out where the crystal came from and where the Sultan may have been taken."
"Good thinking, Al!" Genie said. "I'll scoop up a few of those crystal shards and start studying them. With all my magical experience, I'll find out what we're dealing with."
Genie transformed himself into a laboratory scientist in a white lab coat and holding a microscope in one hand. "Let us conduct a thorough examination of this strange, dangerous and ugly specimen," he said with a German accent and a wide grin.
As the gang followed Genie out of the room to retrieve the crystal shards, Aladdin fretted internally over how to save the Sultan and protect the people of the city. He thought about how he was going to have to get used to acting both as a hero and a leader, especially with the Sultan missing. Jasmine walked beside him, and though she was not speaking at the moment, Aladdin could read her face easily. She was worried sick, but also determined.
If Jasmine can handle the anxiety of this whole miserable situation, then I can, Aladdin thought. I have to. There's no choice.
While they marched down the hall, Jasmine reached over and patted Aladdin's arm gently with her pretty hand. It made Aladdin feel good, lifting his morale and making him more determined than ever to do what he needed to do.