Floor 2
Agrabah
As Sora, Donald, and Goofy walked to the second floor Jiminy jumped from Sora's pocket and stared at the floor in deep thought.
"Something wrong, Jiminy?" Sora asked.
"What Axel said's been bothering me. What could he have meant by you may no longer be you?" Jiminy pondered some more.
"Come on," Sora brushed it off. "How can I be anyone else besides me?"
"I know, I know," Jiminy nodded. "Still, it always pays to be careful."
"Yeah, just about anything could happen here in Castle Oblibbity…uh, Oblostemy…" Goofy struggled to think of the castles name.
"Oblivion!" Donald shouted.
"Right, what you said," Goofy laughed.
"We'll be fine," Sora assured them. "Whatever they're cooking up, together we can handle it."
"Hey, remember that other castle we explored together?" Goofy asked. "With all the contraptions?"
"When was that?" Sora asked.
"Contraptions?" Donald thought for a second. "I don't remember any castle like that. What was it called?"
"Gawrsh, what was it called?" Goofy struggled to think. "Holla…Holler…" He tried several other words. "I forget."
"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Donald yelled.
"You sure you didn't make it up?" Sora asked.
"I don't think so…" Goofy said sadly. Sora pulled out the cards he got from Axel and picked one out. The top read Agrabah. He held up the card, the door opened, and they walked inside.
As soon as they arrived in Agrabah Goofy quickly pointed out something up ahead of them.
"Look, Sora!" he shouted. "Someone's in trouble!" Sure enough ahead of them was a man in white pants and a purple vest surrounded by Heartless.
"We'd better do something!" Donald pulled out his staff and they ran forward.
"Looks like you could use some help!" Sora told the man as he used the Keyblade to slash through a Shadow. Sora's eyes widened a little when he saw that the Keyblade had turned into its Three Wishes form.
"Thanks!" the man used his own scimitar to attack. "I thought I was done for!" At this point Donald and Goofy were pulled back inside their cards. Sora ran at the nearest Bandit and slashed with the Three Wishes. The Bandit blocked the attack and Sora had seen this coming. Sora brought his right foot up and kicked the Bandit in the head, stunning it, then whipped around and sliced it in half with the Three Wishes.
"Who are you, anyway?" the man questioned.
"The name's Sora, how about you?" Sora cut down a Bandit that was jumping through the air and punted a Shadow away.
"My name's Aladdin," he replied while he shoved the tip of his scimitar through one Bandit and then pushing further until it also went through the Bandit behind the first one.
Two Shadows jumped at him. He swung his scimitar in a vertical arc and caught one but the second landed on him. The shadow raised its arm high and with a cry of victory plunged his hand into Aladdin's chest. With a fierce yell Aladdin used all of his strength and pushed the Shadow off of him. The glowing wound in his chest sealed up and he slammed his scimitar through the Shadow.
However rusty Sora may have been before with his fighting he was no longer. Every single attack was graceful and perfectly executed like a choreographed dance. Only the Heartless hadn't been taught this dance. Sora dropped low and spun the Three Wishes in a full 360-circle cutting through three Bandits and a Shadow. Five Shadows growled at each other and then jumped at Sora all together. Sora surprised them by running right at them.
"Fire!" Sora held up the Three Wishes and was glad to remember the Fire spell. Four of the five Heartless were killed immediately and the fifth was sent flying straight toward Sora. With a grin Sora pulled the Three Wishes back like a baseball bat and smashed the Three Wishes completely through the Shadow.
"They just keep coming!" Donald shouted as he and Goofy were pulled out of their cards once more.
"Guess we'd better see if the legends are true," Aladdin said and pulled a gold lamp from his vest. "Magic lamp, my first wish! Get rid of these Heartless!" With this a large form flew from the lamp. It was a large man that floated off the ground and had blue skin.
"Did someone say 'wish'? Then stand back, kids, Genie of the lamp coming through!" Genie shouted. "There ain't nothin' I can't make right as rain, well, if we had rain. But enough dry jokes! One Heartless disappearing act coming right up!" With a snap of his fingers the Heartless gone.
"Gawrsh!" Goofy's eyes widened.
"Why didn't you call him in the first place?" Donald asked.
"It's not that simple," Aladdin said. "You see…"
"I couldn't have said it better myself," Genie interrupted. "But I will anyway! I'm strictly limited to three wishes per master. And no wishing for more wishes!" With a wink and a puff of blue smoke Genie went back into the lamp.
"So you've got two wishes left?" Sora asked. "Better use them carefully."
"I've got to get back to the palace somehow. But with all these Heartless…"
"Hey, Sora. We're headed that way too, so why don't we go with Aladdin?" Goofy informed him.
"Sounds like a plan," Sora nodded.
"That would be great!" Aladdin grinned. "Thanks a lot guys!" Aladdin pointed toward the palace and they started walking.
"So, uh, why are you going to the palace Aladdin?" Goofy asked.
"It's this magic lamp I found in the Cave of Wonders," Aladdin pulled the lamp out. "I need to get it to the palace right away! I'm lucky I made it back to Agrabah in one piece! The cave was crawling with Heartless."
"Wasn't there anyone else there to help you out?" Sora asked.
"I know how you feel, Master," Genie appeared from the lamp. "I've been delivering happiness for 2,000 years. And what help do I get? I keep dreaming someone will wish me out of this gig. But go figure the odds on that."
"Well, how 'bout I use my third wish to set you free?" Aladdin asked and Genie stopped in his tracks.
"Doth my pointy ears deceive me? Master, you'd do that for me?" Genie gave him and accusing look. "You're not just pullin' my topknot now, are you?"
"I promise Genie. Anyway, there's only one thing I really want."
"Then we'll just have to do something about that, Al! Can I call you Al? So, what'll it be? Fortune? A herd of luxury camels to call your very own?"
"Well, there's this girl. Her name is Jasmine. She's princess of Agrabah. And that's the problem. It's hard for a guy like me to get a chance to see her. That's how this all started. Jafar, the royal vizier, said he would help me meet Jasmine."
"Sounds like you wish should be that you can see Jasmine anytime you want, huh?" Sora offered.
"Well, I've got just the package for you! You'll not only meet the lady, you'll go in style as Prince Ali! How do you like the sound of that Al?"
"Me, a prince! Can you really do that?"
"In an Agrabah minute!"
"I guess the legends were true after all. Sora, let's hurry to the palace!" They all nodded and started running. Donald's yell brought them to a stop.
"Hey! Look at that!" Donald pointed somewhere ahead of them
"Who is that…" Aladdin peered closer as he saw a person surrounded by various types of Heartless. "It's Jasmine!"
"She needs our help!" Goofy said with a stern look.
"We'll never make it in time!" Sora pointed out. Due to the way Agrabah was built they were probably two floors above her.
"Then I've no choice," Aladdin said with his head down. "Genie I wish for you to save Jasmine!"
"Can do!" Genie flew forward quickly. "CHAAARGE!" Then with a snap of his fingers the Heartless disappeared.
"Jasmine!" Aladdin jumped down to the princess with Sora, Donald, and Goofy close behind him.
"We're lucky!" Goofy pointed out. "She fainted, but it looks like she's okay."
"But now you've only got one wish left," Sora reminded Aladdin. Suddenly even more Heartless appeared around them.
"Not again!" Aladdin shouted. "Sorry, Genie. But you're the only one who can…"
"Wait!" Sora stopped him. "This is your last wish! Don't waste it." With a smirk the Three Wishes appeared in his hand. "This time, let us handle the wish-granting!" As normal Goofy and Donald went back into their cards but this time Aladdin turned into a card as well.
Sora ran forward at the Heartless. He swung the Three Wishes and almost got the lead Bandit but it had quickly jumped away. Sora swung the Three Wishes high above his head and brought it down cutting a Bandit in half. Bring the Three Wishes back, Sora swung for two more Bandits. The blow never landed because of a large form that appeared to defend the Bandits, a Fat Bandit. Two more Fat Bandits appeared behind the first. This was not good.
Sora tightened his grip on the Three Wishes and ran headlong into the battle. Sora put himself between a Bandit and a Fat Bandit. The Fat Bandit jumped into the air in an attempt to crush Sora. At the last second Sora jumped away and the regular Bandit was crushed instead of Sora. The Fat Bandit couldn't care less and turned to Sora again. The other two were coming up on him from behind.
"Sonic Blade!" Sora rushed forward and in a blur he slashed through the Fat Bandit with a clean strike. When Sora turned to focus on the other two, three Bandits jumped up and grabbed his arms. Sora was pinned to the ground. The Fat Bandits almost seemed to laugh at him. Sora was able to slip a hand into his pocket and tossed out a card. There was a light and Aladdin appeared. Aladdin slashed his scimitar through Sora's captors and then turned for the Fat Bandits. He had taken too long however and one of the Fat Bandits landed a hard punch square into his jaw.
Sora allowed Aladdin to return to his card and raised the Three Wishes high over his head. The two Fat Bandits moved like one toward Sora. This would prove to be their downfall, as Sora didn't feel like he was paying attention to two different enemies. With a great leap Sora went over the Fat Bandits and then drove the Three Wishes into the back of one of them. As the other one turned around Sora swung the Three Wishes up and caught the Fat Bandit right in its head, killing it.
"See? We didn't need Genie this time," Sora grinned.
"Thanks, Sora. So I'm down to my last wish…" Aladdin started pondering his wish when several flashes filled their vision.
"What the…" Sora blinked through the light.
"What's happening?" Donald shouted.
"Oh, no!" they heard Aladdin shout. Turning they saw him patting himself down with a terrified look. "The lamp! It's gone!"
"Hmm, it seems my plans have gone amiss," a sinister voice came form above. I was certain you'd waste your last wish, what with poor Jasmine in distress and the Heartless to deal with." Looking up they saw a man in red and black robes with a long staff with a snakehead at the top. "But no matter. At last the lamp is mine to command!"
"Why are you doing this, Jafar?" Aladdin shouted. "I brought you the lamp, just as you asked!"
"Don't think you can fool me, boy!" Jafar sneered. "You were going to use the lamp to win Jasmine! But we can't have that, now can we? You see, I am the one Jasmine will marry!" Jafar laughed.
"You!" Sora shouted in disgust.
"If I marry Princess Jasmine, nothing can stop me from becoming king of Agrabah! You're nothing more than a pawn in my game, street rat!" Jafar raised the lamp high above his head. "Genie! My first wish! Deliver Jasmine to me!" In a flash Genie floated next to Jafar with Jasmine in his arms.
"Genie!" Aladdin shouted in shock. "What are you doing?"
"Sorry, Al. My hands are tied on this one," Genie lowered his head. "I gotta obey whoever has his mitts on the lamp."
"Precisely," Jafar smirked. "Farewell, Aladdin, you fool!" Jafar laughed and walked away with Genie close behind.
"Great," Aladdin kicked the dirt. "Now I've lost Jasmine and the lamp."
"Well, you can feel bad about it some other time!" Sora said firmly. If you don't pull yourself together, you'll never see Jasmine again! You lost the lamp. So what? You can still save her on your own! Losing someone you care about is bad, but not as bad as never getting them back!"
"Sora…" Aladdin muttered. "You're right. I can't give up now! I'm going to save Jasmine!"
"But Jafar's got the lamp," Donald reminded everyone. "We can't just walk up to him and expect to win." Aladdin seemed to think about this for a moment when his eyes lit up with a plan.
"Maybe we can," he grinned. "I've got an idea. Listen up!"
Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran through the streets of Agrabah until they reached the gigantic palace. In front of the gate stood Jafar with Jasmine unconscious on the ground beside him.
"What's this?" Jafar smirked. "Has Aladdin given up on his precious Jasmine already? Well, I'm not going to waste a wish on the likes of you three. I'll deal with you myself!" Jafar walked toward them with his staff raised.
"Aladdin! Now!" Sora shouted suddenly. Jafar whipped around to see Aladdin drop from the roof of a building to the ground.
"What? You!" Jafar yelled. "Genie, seize him!" Aladdin ran toward Jasmine but Genie appeared and stopped him.
"Al, forgive me!" Genie said before landing a punch across Aladdin's face and sending him flying backwards. Aladdin got back to his feet and was rubbing where he was hit but had a grin on his face.
"You fell for it, Jafar!" he chuckled a little.
"What do you mean?" Jafar demanded.
"He means you just blew your second wish!" Sora laughed. "Only one left!"
"Go ahead, use it to win Jasmine's heart," Aladdin pulled out his scimitar. "You'll still have us to deal with!"
"Oh, now I get it!" Genie laughed as well. "Al, you are so clever!"
"Well, well," Jafar walked slowly toward Aladdin, his voice oddly calm. "The cunning of a rat. But unfortunately, you can't see beyond the cheese. Your little ploy changes nothing! I can crush you once and for all and make Jasmine my own!" Jafar turned and raised the lamp. "Genie! My last wish! Transform me into an all powerful Genie!" Jafar was laughing like a madman as Genie granted the wish.
It was like a storm. Jafar was enveloped by dark clouds that had electricity jumping between them. Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin were turned into cards and Sora tried to run. There was a deep laughter as the clouds came over Sora and he felt an odd pulling sensation.
"No way," Sora muttered as he looked around. He stood in a gigantic room that was filled with lava. He stood on a large platform suspended over the lava. "It's so hot. Jafar must be doing this." At the mention of his name Jafar burst out of the lava. Now however, he was a large and muscular red genie.
Sora raised the Three Wishes in a defense position. It was times like this when he wished Donald and Goofy weren't turned into cards. Jafar let out a deep laughter and beams of fire flew from his eyes. Sora quickly dived to his right but he could still feel the heat from the attack. He stood back up only to be blasted down as more fire beams shot from Jafar's eyes and struck Sora on the chest.
"I'll never beat him like this," Sora groaned. Jafar didn't let up as he brought his fist down. Sora jumped back as he saw Jafar's hand crush the ground he had been standing on seconds earlier. Sora took his opening and rammed the Three Wishes into Jafar's hand. Jafar simply laughed as the wound was healed quickly. Jafar quickly brought his other hand down and punched Sora knocking him way back and nearly off the platform into the lava below.
"I am immortal! You will never defeat me!" Jafar shouted. Using his giant arms he reached into the lava and pulled out a huge ball of volcanic rock. Sora ran straight for Jafar, hoping to stop the attack. He was not quick enough however and Jafar through his deadly weapon. Sora was not struck directly but the explosion sent him flying into the air and now he knew he would hit the lava, no matter what.
"Genie! Help me!" Sora shouted and in a great puff of blue smoke Genie appeared. Flying at an incredible speed Genie caught Sora right before he fell into the lava. Sora grinned as he looked into the air. There was Jafar's parrot, Iago, and he had Jafar's lamp with him. Sora pulled Donald's card from his pocket. Donald appeared and with a Thunder spell Iago was knocked out of the air and the lamp with him. Sora ran over and help the lamp up.
"No! Put that down! NO!" Jafar shouted, but it was useless. He was being sucked into the lamp and he had no chance of escaping it.
Sora shouted in victory as Jafar was pulled into the lamp. He suddenly felt the same pulling sensation and he was taken back to Agrabah.
"That takes care of that!" Donald said triumphantly as they stood in front of Agrabah palace once again.
"Yep! Jasmine's saved and we got the lamp back, too!" Goofy grinned. "Hey, Aladdin, don't you still have one wish left?"
"He sure does," Genie interrupted. "Time for me to make a prince out of this guy! 'Course, I'd like to be free. But like they always say, genies can't be choosers. You're probably miffed about that whole puppet-of-Jafar thing, anyway. Go on, Al. Wish for what's really in your heart. Be a prince. Get the girl."
"Okay, here goes," Aladdin said quietly. "I wish for Genie's freedom!"
"But Al!" Genie started but he was cut off as blue smoke whirled all around him. When he cleared he stood on legs and the golden rings on his arms broke off.
"Now no one like Jafar can use you for evil again," Aladdin nodded. "Genie, you're free!"
"Al, I'll never forget this," Genie placed his hand on Aladdin's shoulder. "But what about Jasmine? What are you going to do?"
"I was wrong, Genie. If I used you to help win Jasmine I'd be no better than Jafar. Jasmine means the world to me. I want to show her the real me."
"That's the spirit!" Sora grinned.
"Thanks, Sora. And good luck!"
"What for?"
"I was ready to give up back there, but then you said some things to keep me going. That's when it hit me. You must be looking for someone you care about, too."
"Yeah…"
"Listen, Genie…" Aladdin turned back to Genie but Genie stopped him.
"Say no more, little pal! I know just what you're thinking. Her you go, Sora!" Genie waved his hand and a card appeared before Sora with Genie's picture. "Whenever you need me, just call. That okay with you, Al?"
"Of course!"
"Are you sure?" Sora asked.
"Anytime at all," Genie assured them. "Hey, without you guys, I might never have been able to ditch that lamp. And I think Aladdin will be fine on his own now."
"Wow, thanks a lot!" Sora pocketed the card.
"Let's hope both are wishes come true, then," Aladdin shook Sora's hand. "Take care, Sora!" Aladdin and Genie both ran off. Sora started wondering about what to do next when a door suddenly appeared on the wall next to them. Sora stared back at Donald and Goofy and they stepped through.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy emerged on the next floor of Castle Oblivion, they sparkling white walls nearly blinding them. They started walking for the next door when Goofy suddenly stopped.
"What is it, Goofy?" Donald asked.
"It's that castle I mentioned earlier," Goofy appeared to be in deep thought. "I'm sure I didn't make it up. That was the castle where Sora used the Keyblade to free Kairi's heart. Then he disappeared for a while, remember? I'll never forget how worried I was."
"Oh, yeah!" Sora suddenly said. "When I turned into a Heartless! Wait, that happened in…a castle?"
"You forgot?" Donald asked. "Well I remember it perfectly."
"What was the castle called then?"
"Easy! It was…" Donald trailed off. "Hey, Jiminy! You wrote down everything that happened in your journal, right?"
"Every letter!" Jiminy leaped out of Sora's pocket. "I finished off the first volume right before we got to this castle. Let's see if I can find the old book. Ah, here it is! Let's have a look…" Jiminy opened the book and froze with a look of shock on his face. "This isn't possible! All the entries have vanished! Every page, blank!"
"What!" Donald shouted.
"How could this happen?" Jiminy muttered. "I take such good care of my journals! All that hard work, gone…"
"What kind of castle is this?" Sora questioned.
In a room in a much higher floor of Castle Oblivion a girl sat in a chair. Her blonde hair fell over her shoulder. Her elegant white dress going down to her ankles. She appeared to be writing something in her sketchbook.
"Something funny's going on…" Donald pulled Sora aside so they could talk. "How could everything Jiminy wrote vanish like that?"
"Maybe it's not just stuff we write down. Goofy said we've been to some other castle. But I don't remember it at all. None of us really do. Maybe…maybe we don't remember because those memories are gone."
"Gone? Don't be ridiculous!"
"Wait!" Jiminy interrupted them. "Remember what that guy in black hood said? 'In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find.' He was talking about memories!"
"So if we keep going we'll lose our memories," Sora said in slight disbelief. "No wonder they call it Castle Oblivion."
"So, the higher we go the more we forget?" Donald asked. "What if we forget everything and can't get it back?"
"I'd forget Riku and Kairi too…" Sora frowned.
"Maybe we should turn back," Donald suggested.
"Don't worry!" Goofy walked over. "We might forget where we've been or what we saw, but we won't forget our friends."
"What makes you so sure?" Donald asked.
"Sora, when you turned into a Heartless, did you forget about us?"
"Of course not!" Sora said quickly. "I'd never forget you!"
"Well, see, there you go! No matter what happens, you won't forget your friends."
"Yeah, you're right," Sora nodded. "Thanks, Goofy."
"I guess there's nothing to be afraid of after all. So let's go!" Donald pointed toward the next door.
"Hey, Donald?" Sora stopped him. "When I was a Heartless, who was the one who clobbered me?"
"That's what you should be forgetting!" Donald fumed and the rest of them laughed.
