A/N: Hi! It's the weekend, so I got to post another chapter. Don't look for updates this soon again (or at least not until next weekend).
On your mark, get set, go!
Chapter 2: The Forty Thieves
Cassim and Sa'luk were standing in a quiet corner just outside the pavilion. "You distract the guards." Cassim ordered.
"Part of your plan?" Sa'luk retorted with a hint of contempt.
Cassim approached an elephant hitched nearby and patted its trunk. "A large part." Cassim then strode over to the nineteen remaining camels and rapped on one of the baskets it carried. "It's time."
Suddenly, from the baskets emerged thirty-eight thieves. Their numbers, when added to Cassim and Sa'luk, equalled forty.
Forty thieves.
Cassim climbed to the top of the pavilion and scouted out a safe entrance. Once he found one, he drew his sword and angled it so that it would gleam in the sunlight.
Sa'luk, who was waiting below, saw the signal and approached the elephant. A muscular thief was trying to get it to move, but to no avail. Sa'luk pushed the guard out of the way and brandished his claws. "Let me be the point man." he said as she shoved the claws into the elephant's backside. This effectively caused the elephant to charge forward, trumpeting in pain.
Suddenly, in the wedding pavilion, the ground began to shake. Kairi nearly fell, but Sora caught her and held her upright. He was used to the ground moving as a result of countless fights with giant Heartless, and could easily stand in the earthquake.
Genie was also upright, and flinched as a few pieces of rubble fell from the roof. "I thought the earth wasn't supposed to move until the honeymoon." he commented.
Sultan, on the other hand, was bouncing on the ground, desperately trying to regain his balance. "My word!" he cried.
Suddenly, something caught Sora's eye: elephants! Three of the large, tusked beasts were headed toward the pavilion with a crazed look in their eyes. "Stampede!" Genie exclaimed as the elephants crashed through the pillars of the pavilion, sending large chunks of stone roof raining on the guests.
Sora summoned his keyblade, the Oathkeeper, in his right hand and held Kairi close to him with his left. "Sora, what's going on?" Kairi asked.
"I don't know," Sora admitted as he sliced a falling chunk of roof in half, narrowly avoiding getting crushed, "but it can't be good."
The elephants continued to charge through the pavilion, threatening to trample the guests. Sora took Kairi by the hand and led her away from the thundering pachyderms. "Find somewhere safe." he instructed her. "I'll come for you as soon as everything's under control."
Kairi nodded and ran. Sora brandished the Oathkeeper keyblade and charged toward the elephants. They had just run over Carpet. "Oh, they trampled the carpet!" Genie lamented. "That's a little redundant. So this isn't a bad day for you really, is it?"
At that point, a hulking bull elephant charged into the pavilion, shattering the smaller structure under which Aladdin and Jasmine had been standing a moment before. Razoul heard the commotion and led his guards into the pavilion to see what all the fuss was about.
What they failed to notice was the figure in a blue cowl crouching in the shadows.
As the guards ran toward the commotion, they found the castle being invaded by thieves! "It is an attack!" one guard exclaimed.
"Not in this palace." Razoul growled. He drew his scimitar and rushed at the thieves, signaling for the other guards to follow.
Meanwhile, an elephant knocked over another pillar, knocking loose a large boulder that once made up part of the ceiling just above Kairi. Kairi didn't have time to move before the boulder began its descent. Genie quickly swooped down and moved her to safety. "Careful, there." Genie warned. "I didn't bring enough syrup for Kairi pancakes."
Kairi thanked him and tried to avoid more falling chunks of roof. "I think we're gonna have a little problem with leaks." Genie murmured before flying to the collapsing ceiling and using his body to hold most of it together.
The thieves were skillfully fighting off guards and robbing the frightened guests. one thief, upon seeing the guards returning, delivered a precise chop with his hand to the nearest pillar, sending it crashing down. This successfully halted the guards, but only hurt the already straining roof.
"It must be here somewhere."
Cassim searched through the large room containing various wedding gifts, most of which were gold. Although there were enough riches in the room to buy the palace of Agrabah, Cassim shoved them all aside. There was something in particular he wanted.
Cassim was torn from his thoughts by a large golden plate sailing toward his head. "Meet your match, Zorro!" squawked a voice.
Turning around and finding no one, Cassim scanned the room until he found a red parrot named Iago. Iago was another of Aladdin's friends, and was wielding a candlestick (also gold). "Good birdie," Cassim told Iago, "Polly want a little--"
"Say cracker and I'll let you have it on principle!" Iago shouted. He began to swing the candlestick threateningly at Cassim.
Cassim easily seized the candlestick and grabbed Iago by the wings. "You have a lot of spirit." Cassim said as he stuffed Iago into a vase. "And a lot of mouth."
The guards were losing.
In the main part of the pavilion, the walls were crumbling and the thieves were securing every last bit of wealth in the building. Sora's keyblade was locked with Sa'luk's claws, and they struggled to gain ground. One of the guards came to help Sora, but Sa'luk punched the guard with his left fist, sending him to the floor. "They fight like demons!" the guard shouted.
"Worse than demons!" another guard replied as he came to retrieve his comrade. "These are the Forty Thieves!"
"Really?" Genie questioned from his vantage point just below the roof. "I get thirty-nine."
Aladdin scanned the room, counting the thieves himself. Sure enough, one was missing. He found the missing person crouching down and going through more of the wedding gifts. "Forty." he muttered.
Sora finally worked up enough strength to push Sa'luk away. "Aladdin!" he called to his friend. "Where do you think you're going?"
But Aladdin was already gone.
"Where is it?"
Cassim searched frantically through the wedding gifts. The thieves would only hold out for so long, and he needed to find his desired object quickly. Although, truth be told, he was about to give up. But suddenly, there it was!
It was a golden rod, no more than three feet long. At the head sat a perfectly round emerald. Cassim held up the rod to affirm that it was really the one he was searching for. But before he could get a good look at it, he was ambushed!
Cassim was thrown to the ground. He looked up at his attacker to find a lad in his early twenties, who somehow reminded Cassim very much of himself. It was Aladdin! "Did I see your invitation?" he asked with a smug grin on his face. He had the rod! The poor fool probably had no idea of the power it held.
"Stay out of my way, boy." Cassim warned Aladdin, reaching for a nearby statue of a cat. "You won't get hurt!" Cassim flung the cat statue at Aladdin, hitting the boy in the gut. Aladdin fell to the floor, but kept his grip on the rod. He tried to strike Cassim with it, but Cassim caught his wrist. "You don't stand a chance against the King of Thieves." the thief warned the boy.
Apparently, Aladdin wasn't going to listen. "When I get up, I'll bow to you." he grunted as he kicked Cassim away and rose to his feet.
Cassim and Aladdin struggled with each other, each keeping a firm grip on the rod. Cassim glared at Aladdin, but the boy was determined. He is a lot like me. the King of Thieves reflected as he fought for control. But if he keeps this up I might be forced to hurt him.
Now that Sora had finally gotten away from Sa'luk, he could help deal with the other thieves. Although the thieves were being driven back, the pavilion continued to collapse. Genie finally realized that his method wasn't helping, and floated away. "I guess there's really no point to this now." he sighed as he joined his friends.
He found Sora surrounded by no less than twenty of the Forty Thieves. "Oh, Sora!" he called. "Need any help?"
Sora nodded, blocking a sword strike from one of the thieves. "If you've got time."
Genie floated down to Sora transformed into a giant floating head and hands, commencing to zap the thieves with blasts from his fingertips. Sora continued to battle the now frightened thieves until they began to flee the pavilion.
Sa'luk watched the spectacle and snarled. "Cassim said nothing about facing the powers of a genie! Get the others out of here!" he ordered one of his fellow thieves. "We'll leave the king to his plans."
Cassim finally wrested the rod free form Aladdin's grip and turned to flee, noticing his men doing the same. But before he could get away, Aladdin leaped and grabbed onto his ankles, sending the King of Thieves crashing to the ground. Aladdin again grabbed the rod, and Cassim struggled to get it back. During this skirmish, Aladdin kicked over a vase--the one that held Iago. The parrot was freed and immediately flew off to find a nice hiding place.
Suddenly, a renegade elephant crashed through the wall, catching both combatants off guard. Each leaped in an opposite direction. Aladdin had the rod. Cassim, on the other hand, had only a means of escape. He leaped onto the elephant and rode it out of the palace and into the city streets. "I'll see you again, boy." he muttered before disappearing into the crowd.
Sora and Genie looked around. The remaining pillars of the pavilion collapsed into a mound of rubble. Kairi emerged from her cover and rejoined her husband. The Sultan and Jasmine came into view a moment later. Iago was perched on Sultan's shoulder. "Good luck gettin' back the catering deposit." he squawked.
"Oh my." Sultan sighed as he looked around at the mess.
"Is there any way you can fix it, Genie?" Kairi asked hopefully.
"Not to worry, little lady." Genie assured her. "I've fixed messes way bigger than this one. And I would like to reopen the issue of adding swimming pools!"
Sora shook his head and smiled. "No, Genie. Please just fix it."
"Good grief! You people have no vision!" In a puff of blue smoke, Genie transformed into a construction worker (complete with hairy chest and beer gut, no less). "All right, a wedding pavilion it is, my man."
In another poof, Carpet, Abu, and Iago were also given hard hats and tools. "Hey!" Genie whispered to Sora and Kairi. "I wanna see some résumés on these guys, and don't let the one with the beak near any power tools."
Kairi giggled. That was good--it showed Sora that whatever was going on, it wasn't affecting her too much. Sultan, on the other hand, remained quite serious. "I am sorry about all this, Jasmine."
Sora, Kairi, and Sultan looked around. "Daughter?" Sultan called. But Jasmine was nowhere in sight.
"What were they after, the gifts?"
Jasmine was standing with Aladdin, going through the large pile of wedding gifts scattered about on the floor. Jasmine tried to hide her disappointment that the wedding for which these gifts were given had failed to take place.
"Not all the gifts." Aladdin explained. He held up the rod he'd managed to secure from Cassim. "This is what the King of Thieves wanted."
At this point, Sora and Kairi entered the room, followed closely by Iago and Genie. "With all the other great stuff, why go for this thing?" Iago asked as he perched upon the rod.
Suddenly, the rod began to glow with a strange white light. "Your question is mine to answer!" a feminine voice called from it as the rod floated from Aladdin's hand to the center of the room. From it sprang the spectral form of a woman wearing a ceremonial robe and headdress. "The King of thieves sought my sight to find the ultimate treasure." the woman explained.
"Did someone say treasure?" Iago repeated.
"Can somebody tell me what's going on?" Sora asked plainly.
Genie put on a pair of sunglasses to shield his eyes from the brightness of the woman's spectral image. "Ooh. Looks like an Oracle."
"I see all that has been and all that will be." the Oracle stated.
"Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Definitely an Oracle. Tells the future. Uh-oh." Genie muttered.
"Okay, so where is the treasure?" Iago demanded. He had no need for talk of Oracles and such, but he did have a need for wealth. "You know... the ultimate one."
"I am bound by the Rule of One." the oracle told him promptly. "One question, one answer."
"I only want one answer!" Iago pleaded. "Where is the ultimate treasure?"
"You have already asked your one question." the Oracle told him.
Iago wasn't finished. He flew up into the Oracle's face. "You mean before? That wasn't a question, that was... uh... thinking out loud."
Genie reached up and yanked Iago from the air. "Very loud."
While everyone else had been talking, Jasmine had been trying to examine her possibilities. The answer to any question she could think of? The possibilities were endless! "Aladdin, we could learn anything." she told her fiancé. "About our lives... our future!"
"You have but to ask." the Oracle affirmed.
"I know what my future is." Aladdin told Jasmine. "My future is you. But my past... is a blank. My mother died when I was just a kid, and I never even knew my father. I have no idea where I come from!"
"The question is your choice," the Oracle reminded him, "but remember the Rule of One: one question, one answer."
"Oh sure, she warns him about the 'one question' thing." Iago grumbled.
"I don't think you could help me." Aladdin sighed. "My past isn't just one question, it's a million."
"Ah," the Oracle observed, "but mere questions about your past can be answered by your father."
Aladdin's eyes went wide in shock. His father was supposed to be dead! If he were really alive...
The Oracle left no room for doubt. She spread her arms, and an image appeared inside her spectral form. The image was of a man with black hair and graying temples, sporting a full moustache and goatee. Everyone examined the image carefully. The man did resemble Aladdin in a few ways. But how could they be sure?
Aladdin didn't share the others' doubt. He took one look at the image, and he knew. "My father is alive?"
A/N: Well, there you have it. I know this is a lot like the movie right now, but these are just the first two chapters. Keep reading and a big thank-you to those two people who reviewed my first chapter.
A message to LoriMina: You were really hooked from the first word? 'Cause the first word was "Pooh-koo," and I don't know if I'd be hooked from there. Thanks for your support!
Until next time, Lord Moldybutt signing off.