Chapter 9: In the Mists of Agrabah

Iago pulled himself up enough to realize that Genie was beside him, face buried in the sand where they'd been thrown back to the underground, out of Lamrai's entrance. Genie tried many times to pull himself out of the space, but with no success.

"Geez, ya think ya could faceplant a little harder?" Iago looked over to Aladdin, who groaned and used his elbows to raise himself from where he lay on the ground.

"Are you guys okay?" Aladdin asked. "Grenden's magic didn't exactly promise a soft landing."

Iago flinched. "I landed on my bad wing, how do YOU think I feel? And why the heck is Grenden alive? Someone please tell me that was all a bad dream!"

Aladdin shook his head, lowering it slightly. His hair fell forward over his eyes. "I wish it was. But then again, I don't think I'd want to be dreaming right now considering Jasmine and everyone..." Aladdin trailed off as he looked a distance past where they lay, his eyes widened, his breath hitched. He bolted to his feet, running towards the opening of the ground leading back to Agrabah.

"Hey! Where do ya think you're going?" Iago tucked his wings behind him and hobbled behind Aladdin on foot since he couldn't fly.

Genie, at the last possible moment, pulled his head out of the sand. His eyes were swirls until he rubbed them back to normal. "I thought I'd never thought I'd get out of there. I've heard about burying your head in the sand, but that wasn't intentional." He knocked against the side of his head with a hand, and sand came out both of his ears. "Al? Iago?" Genie looked around, realizing he was alone.

It wasn't until Aladdin called out to him that Genie realized something was definitely wrong. He caught up to where Aladdin and Iago were occupied staring out of the entrance.

"What's going on, Al? You guys okay?" Genie asked.

"We may be, but the city's not. Look." Aladdin pointed ahead of them.

Genie's jaw dropped like a dead weight to the ground. He had to use his hands to lift it back into place. Then he laughed nervously. "Grenden said he did some decorating in Agrabah, but I don't think he mentioned trapping the city in a half-shell."

"Not to mention all the black vines," Iago said dryly. "Even if I could fly, I'd make it past the vines but not that big black dome thing."

"It's so dark, it's even masking the light of the moon." Aladdin took a slow, shaky breath. "I'm worried about everyone in the city, and we need to see how the Sultan's doing. If it's this bad out here, then the Palace..." He trailed off, trying to think of his next move, then nodded. "We can see who we can help on the way there. Maybe even get an idea of what's going on."

Genie nodded. "And maybe figure out what Grenden wanted with those crystals he wants us to find."

Aladdin groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me. I still don't know what he meant by that."

"I have an idea what's going on, and it don't involve too much thinkin' about it!" Iago cried, knocking a wing against Aladdin's head as if he were knocking on a door. Aladdin winced. "Everything's dark, so everyone's panicking and wanting to get outta the city!"

Aladdin snapped his fingers. "Then we'll go to the outskirts first. Genie, you think you can take us there?"

Genie winked, transforming into a bumper car. His door opened to let Iago and Aladdin inside. "Let's go, mis amigos. Keep your hands and wings inside, it's going to be a bumpy ride."

"Enough with the weird rhyming, already," Iago said dryly.

Aladdin, Iago and Genie arrived just outside the palace walls, where a large group of worried merchants stood discussing matters among themselves. The group seemed relieved to see Aladdin, chattering all at once in an effort to tell the prince their stories, but reluctantly, Aladdin had to interrupt them.

"I'm sorry, but there's too many of you that are trying to tell me things at the same time. Can someone start by telling me what happened to the city?" Aladdin asked.

One merchant trembled at the knees. "It is awful, my prince. It was about mid afternoon when the sky suddenly got dark, and the dome over the city appeared. We can get as far as stepping outside the wall, but...well look for yourself." He pointed at the edge of the dome's wall which stood tall, curving over them. It crackled with tendrils of electric magic.

"That...looks hazardous to my health just lookin' at it," Iago said while perched on Aladdin's shoulder.

Genie started walking up to the wall without pretense. "Not to worry, stand back and let the expert carve a path through."

"Uh, Genie, I think that might be a bad idea," Aladdin said, looking between Genie and the dome's wall.

"Not to worry, I'm not actually going to touch it. That would be silly!" Genie waved a dismissive hand. "But..." He pulled out a large drill from behind his back. "...I'm bringing out the big guns on this one."

Iago slapped his good wing against his forehead. "Oh sure, this is gonna be a bust."

Genie ignored him and turned on the large drill with the metal point. It wasn't long before Genie attempted to make contact with the wall that it sent a dark shockwave that jolted both the drill and Genie both. Aladdin, Iago, and the group of merchants winced with each yelp Genie gave (probably about ten counting) before the magic blew him and the drill back away from it.

Genie blew out a huff of smoke from his mouth, looking like soot covered him from head to foot. "I'm okay, just a little burnt around the edges."

"Hate to...no wait, I'm actually glad to say we told ya so." Iago said with a sly grin.

"It doesn't seem like it made a dent in the dome at all," another merchant said. "The magic is too powerful. What's worse, Prince Aladdin, is that we can't even get back inside the city to our loved ones. There are too many vines."

Aladdin nodded. "I know, we saw them on the way here."

One of the merchants took Aladdin's hands. "Please, you must find a way to destroy them. Even when we tried to take them down, they would grow back. And there are rumors that there are..." he paused, swallowing nervously, "Monsters."

"Monsters?" Aladdin said.

Genie caught onto Aladdin's suspicion. "They wouldn't happen to be of the four legged variety, misty type beasts?"

The merchant shook his head. "No, I've heard these monsters could walk upright. They move like they're in shadow, but they've knocked many of our merchant stands to bits."

Aladdin looked at Genie with concern. "That's different than what we know."

"Yeah, I guess since we're not going anywhere out of the city any time soon, might as well see what Grenden's got on the monster menu for us to deal with," Genie said, crossing his arms across his chest and frowning.

"Nuh uh, not me. I'm stayin' right here, where I know I'm in the safety zone," Iago said.

"Okay then, Genie, let's go." That had Iago and Genie stop in surprise. Iago recovered faster when he found a place to watch a few other merchants talking over some food they were able to share from a fellow merchant.

Aladdin moved forward, past the front gate of the city, but Genie appeared in his path. Aladdin had to back a step to keep from running into him.

"Uh, you okay with just leaving him like that?"

Aladdin spoke in a low tone. "Genie, he's injured. If he's safe here with the other merchants, I'd feel a lot better about that than making him go to where we know there's trouble."

"Huh, good point. For a moment, I thought you were ditching him. I wonder why Grenden chose Iago to go with us anyway. Probably thought he was a liability."

Aladdin shook his head. "If he thought that, he doesn't know Iago very well. Sometimes I think he has more of a conscience than anyone gives him credit for. Still, we can't waste time. Let's move."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Genie said with a salute.

Iago had been a distance away and had overheard Genie saying the word "liability" and figured that was all he needed to hear.

"Liability, smiability. Good riddance. I didn't wanna go with them anyway. Leave the bird with the broken wing behind, why don't ya?" But there was something that broke slightly inside Iago along with his voice, and he wasn't sure what that was.

He rejoined the merchants around the campfire, finding a cluster of grapes to eat from.