Agrabah look relatively normal – that is, normal if you imagined that instead of sandstone, it had been built out of the bug blocks. Everything else was unchanged, market vendors still hawked their wares, locals still went about their business, but all the architecture was constructed from bug blocks. Where the perfect squares of the blocks couldn't match arches, or just couldn't imitate the area, the real sandstone appeared instead, though heavily pixellated, like a badly loaded image.
"Don't lie to me this time," Data-Sora said as we started through the sandy streets. "You're not entirely in control, are you?" I said nothing, so he went on, "You can't hide it from me. I'm you, just using Sora's name because that's what you did."
"I'm dealing with it," I answered shortly. "We need to find Jasmine. Most likely she's being menaced by Jafar. We're probably meant to find Aladdin first, but since we already know what's going on, I'm just going to skip that."
"You know, it's a good thing Neku stored the original journal data in my code, otherwise I'd have no idea what you were talking about."
"Riku's meant to bear that data," I said absently. "When did Neku give it to you?"
"Before I was encoded," he shrugged. "Since the Journal wasn't data at the time, he didn't have a problem. He just has trouble when it comes to programming, data and the like."
We rounded into an alleyway, though in Agrabah these places often look the same as the main streets but less populated, then Data-Sora suddenly asked, "Are you sure you're going to be able to handle this?"
"I already told you-" I started, then broke off as something shot past between us close to the ground, then the end of an angry cry followed, "... monkey!"
We shared a momentary look, then the short figure of the peddler ran between us and down the alley, shaking his fist angrily. There was some heavy thumping, which we quickly got out the way of we realised it belonged to none other than Pete rounding the same corner, following the whatever-it-was with a cry of, "Outta the way, outta the way! Coming through!"
To further confuse the issue, someone in that typical black coat of the Organization rounded the corner, weaved between us, and darted after Pete.
"Hey, come back here!" Aladdin's voice called.
"Too bad, sucker!" Iago chortled, flying into view just out of reach. "The lamp is as good as ours now!"
"Abu!" Aladdin complained. "Why did you have to run off just then... oh, hi Liam," he added, passing by me in a hurry to head up the rear of the chain of pursuit.
There was a quiet moment after he passed by.
"Wait, what?" I said, doing a double take. "He recognised me?"
"Apparently so," Data-Sora murmured. "Who was the guy in the black coat?"
"I don't know, but he has to be someone from outside the datascape. That coat has always meant the Organization before, and if not them, trouble. Except when Riku wore it."
"After them?" he suggested.
"Get away from me you-" Jasmine's unmistakable voice was cut off, but had definitely come from the alleyway opposite the one everyone else had gone down.
"I'll go," I told Data-Sora. "You help Jasmine. Don't let Jafar get his hands on her."
I didn't give him a chance to argue, heading down the alley to join the long pursuit of what I was sure now was Abu. As the alley was thankfully one single route with no side paths, another brief Haste spell allowed me to catch sight of them in no time, catching up with Aladdin easily.
"Want to explain what's going on here?" I asked.
"Abu stole a lamp from a market peddler while that big bully was arguing with the guy in the coat. Iago is probably just trying to steal it from Abu for Jafar, I'm guessing."
"It wouldn't surprise me. How did you know me?"
"Are you kidding me? How could I not know you! You and Sora came by here and... that's odd. I don't remember anything else. I'm sure you came here with him though."
"He's picking up on the real Aladdin's memories," Neku's voice told me. "Your heart touched on his, and now because of your friendship with the real Aladdin he's getting fragments of real memories. Worse yet, it's bugging up the Journal further – we might have to do a second run through this area."
"Oh, joy," I breathed, then caught sight of the mysterious figure in the black coat and shouted ahead, "Hey, you!" The hooded figure turned briefly to look, then ignored me and carried on, shoving Pete to the ground.
"Oi!" Pete yelled after him. "No one does that to Pete, hear!"
"Yeah, we hear you, you clumsy oaf," I muttered as we passed.
"Why you!" I heard Pete cry. I'd underestimated his hearing.
We left the long alleyway and broke back out into the main streets, then from there out into a market area. Patrons and vendors alike got out of the way of the chase, those who weren't paying attention hauled hurriedly out the way by those who were. Behind us there were sounds of outrage and crashing, no doubt caused by Pete being his usual clumsy self. I quietly sent a brief and very small Gravity spell to one of his feet, causing him to plant his face into the sandy street. Who says magic isn't fun?
"We're never gonna catch them like this," Aladdin muttered. "Iago can just fly over anything, Abu's more agile than all of us put together, and that peddler is amazingly quick. Not to mention the guy in the coat – he must be sweltering under all that. Black in a desert isn't a good choice."
"Now's probably not the time to become a fashion critic, Aladdin," I chided him. "Let's see if I can't slow them down a bit though. I still have a few tricks I haven't had the chance to use yet."
The part I didn't voice was that I had no idea which one would be most effective, certainly not here in the city itself. Abu neatly solved that one for us by heading for one of the imposing gates set in the outer walls, showing an oasis just outside where caravans were watering their camels.
I snatched up two short pieces of wood from a caravan on it's way into the market after having a sudden inspiration caused by them, tossing one to Aladdin. He had the sense not to question what I was doing, which is more than I can say for some others I've gone adventuring with.
In my free hand I took up my Keyblade yet again, routing fire magic into it and out through the frequently used, and sometimes abused, beams of light. With the magic also applied it sent out a searing beam of fire.
"Fire, in a desert?" Aladdin asked sceptically. "You do know what you're doing, don't you?"
"Trust me," I grunted, concentrating as I tried to keep a more or less steady aim. I wasn't aiming for the peddler, Iago or even the mysterious figure, more for the sand ahead of us leading up to them. I did catch the coat of that last, who gave a startled outcry that gave no hint to who they were, then chose to vanish into a corridor rather than keep up the pursuit.
Aladdin fell back a ways then came up on the other side of me, taking the other piece of wood off me. "Now try," he said. "You might have better aim with two hands."
He's smarter than he looks.
With two hands I found my range and aim much easier, increasing how much magic I was sending out to widen the beam of fire considerably. All but Iago and Abu had to move again or get caught by the new radius as the fire began to head up and melt the sand into glass.
"Now, quickly," I told Aladdin, dismissing my Keyblade and holding a hand out for the plank again. He handed it back as I replaced the fire magic with ice, rapidly cooling the glassy sand before us. It cracked in many places, cooling with many 'plink' sounds, but it provided what I was after: a surface I could put the plank on and use as a kind of snowboard, but on the glass. Not perfect, and I had to keep putting out more magic to keep the ice ahead cooled enough, but it got us moving far quicker.
"So long!" Aladdin said amicably to the peddler, who looked understandably furious as we slid past him. Iago noticed our gaining on him and dived down toward Abu, who was clearly starting to tire. We had come a fair way by now, after all. Iago's ability to simply fly over most obstacles had left him with plenty of energy though, and he snatched the lamp off Abu easily.
"So long!" Iago cackled, mimicking Aladdin.
"I'll give you so long," I muttered irritably. "Lightning!"
The effect of that was actually surprising. You'd think it wouldn't be too different from a Thunder spell, right? Not the case. The sky above had been clear, blue and cloudless, but with that spell snapped out a single inky black cloud began to form rapidly in the air with ominous rumbling sounds.
"That's all you've got?" Iago laughed. "Jafar could do better than that!"
I almost agreed with him, but my answer was drowned out by an impressively loud boom from the cloud, then a massive thunderbolt jolted down from it. Iago gave a startled cry in the tiny moment before it hit him, the lamp thrown from his grasp.
"Get that lamp!" Aladdin called over the sound of the still grumbling cloud. As if in response to that, the figure in the coat reappeared out of a new corridor, catching it out of the air then holding out a hand to open another corridor.
"Stop him!" the peddler cried.
Ironically, it was Pete that answered that summons, flying in on Aladdin's magic carpet to steal the lamp from the figure's hand just before he entered the corridor. Pete gave a triumphant laugh, then the cloud struck again, the lamp once again going flying.
Aladdin scooped up Abu then leapt up onto the carpet, shoving Pete off it so he could take control and turn around after the lamp. We all rounded on it, though Aladdin had to continually evade the repeated assaults of the cloud before I finally figured out a counterspell to it, since it didn't show any signs of dissipating on it's own, but we all missed out chance to get hold of it.
The lamp landed, then out of thin air Jafar appeared, plucking it out of the sand.
"You fools have bumbled the lamp right into my hands," he said. "You couldn't have done me any greater service. Just think how your dear Jasmine will feel when she finds out you helped me," he added, seeing Aladdin swoop in. Jafar levelled his staff at the carpet, a brief burst of his own magic flinging them into a sand dune, then he turned his attention to the peddler.
"That's my merchandise you have there!" he told the grand vizier – a job that in the description you'll always find such things as 'Must have ambitions to overthrow the palace' or 'Evil laugh required'.
"Is that so?" Jafar asked. "Then you should be rewarded for having exactly what I require." The staff was levelled again, and the peddler vanished entirely. "The little fool should have no issues with my ownership of the lamp now. Unless his morality gets in the way, wouldn't you agree Liam?"
"Give me the lamp, Jafar."
"No, I don't think so. If there's any giving to be done around here, it'll be you doing it. You're going to work for me, I think."
My answer is, at best, unrepeatable. Iago was shocked enough by some of it that he actually fell out of the air, and Aladdin looked no less shocked at my choice of words. I went on for some time, during which I may have made some passing remarks about Jafar's questionable ancestors and probably, if unlikely, descendants, among others about any other relatives he might have had.
Jafar let me go on for a while, taking advantage of a pause I took to breath to ask, "Is that all?" Iago feigned fainting when he heard the renewed remarks I made.
Most irritatingly of all, he just stood there with his staff in one hand, the lamp in the other, and that oily smirk on his face as he listened to everything I had to say without a single change in expression.
When I finally ran out of unsavoury remarks, he waited in case there was any more before he responded. "I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding me when you change your mind, dear boy," he told me, then disappeared again.