Welcome back everyone~! I hope you've all had a Happy Holiday and great New Year~! ^^ So to kick off the first chapter of this year, I'll be updating not only today, but tomorrow as well. ;) But please make sure to review for both, I want to know what all of you think of them not just as a whole, but separately as well. ^^ Anyway, on to the chapter.
Inverted Sky
Chapter 21: Agrabah part 1
Sora blinked a great many times at the sight of the sand-colored walls of the buildings around her. Each of them standing quite tall, yet not as tall as the perimeter wall around the entire area. Though as Sora continued to walk through the sandy streets of this new, desert-like world, she took on a small smirk.
"I wonder what sort of things will be happening around here." she muttered silently as Donald and Goofy came up beside her.
"Well...lets just hope this place holds some clues to where the King might be." the duck muttered with a brief huff.
"Yeah...and Kairi too." Goofy added as he nodded his head in agreement to his friend's words.
"Plus, I'm hoping to run into Riku soon too." Sora said silently as she smirked a bit wider.
"I know Leon said he hadn't seen him yet, but I really wanna tell him about all the cool stuff we've been doing." the teen continued, yet she quickly began to look around with a raised brow in question.
"Hmm...does this place seem a bit...empty to you guys?" she questioned, her glancing over to the two with a raised brow.
Immediately following her words, both Donald and Goofy nodded their heads lightly before looking from side to side. "Now that you mention it..." the duck began, but never finished as a large group of Heartless suddenly swarmed around them.
"Whoa! This place looks like it's been overrun! The people must all be hiddin'!" Goofy exclaimed in surprised as each of the three brought their weapons forth.
After a few moments of fighting the Heartless, they finally claimed victory and sat down on some boxes to take a short break. "Boy...these guys seem to be getting tougher." Sora muttered as she stretched her arms over her head while dismissing her Keyblade.
"Hmm...maybe a little. The darkness must be gloomin' over this place pretty heavily. We better be better be careful." the dog said with a glance around, to which the other two nodded in agreement.
"Well...we better find and beat the one they're taking orders from, then seal the Keyhole." the brown-haired teen said, yet soon turned to the side as she noticed someone within one of the empty merchant stalls.
"Huh? Did you get caught out here during the Heartless' attack?" Sora questioned as she stood up and walked slowly over to the stall to see who was within it.
"N-Not exactly." a woman's voice spoke up as she came out of the stall to greet the trio.
This girl revealed to be a very beautiful teenager with dark skin, and dark brown eyes. Her thick, black hair was tied into a low ponytail using a blue ribbon, accompanied by a headband of the same color. However, the band itself held what appeared to be a sapphire in the center, which had a golden frame. She wore a blue bedlah outfit with long poofy bustle pants, and a top that left her forearms and midriff bare. The girl also had on a set of earrings, a necklace and slipper-like shoes that were all gold in color.
"I am Princess Jasmine, my father is the Sultan of Agrabah. But Jafar, the royal vizier, has taken over by using those creatures to not only imprison my father, but keep all the people scared enough to not even come out of their homes." the girl explained, to which each of the three blinked in response.
"You're a Princess?" Goofy asked with blinking eyes, yet soon bowed to the dark-skinned girl.
Whom just waved a hand with a small smile; "You can save that for another time...right now, might I ask you three to help me to defeat Jafar and those creatures? I saw how you fought against them just now, so I feel I can trust you." Jasmine questioned while looking at each of them.
"Though I might not be of much help, I know this place quite well. So I should be able to help you to get just about anywhere you need to go." she continued, to which the three glanced to one another briefly before back to the Princess.
"Of course we'll help~!" Sora spoke up with a grin on her features, causing Jasmine to smile softly in response.
However, just as she opened her mouth to thank them, another person spoke up from behind them. "Oh dear...now this just won't do." came the deep, yet almost snake like voice.
As they all turned, they saw a tall, yet thin man with small dark eyes, a twisted, black goatee and a faint mustache. His rather extravagant clothing consisted of black robes that reached the ground, which was worn over a red-violet garment with bell sleeves. Underneath this second article of clothing, he had yet another shirt that was black in color and had very close-fitting sleeves that reach his wrists. The shoulders of his outer robe were pointed and connect to a long, billowing black cape with a blood red interior.
The man's brown shoes were curled inward at the tip, while a red-violet sash could be seen tied around his thin waist. There was also an odd, light-colored garment that appeared to cover his neck, the back of his head, and his chest. He wore grey colored eye-shadow, along with a distinctive black mitre on his head. This having a thin, yellow pattern wrapped around the middle as well as a ruby set in the front, and a bright red feather placed just above it. Though there was a red-violet cloth hanging from the mitre, it draped over and past his shoulders.
However, as if to tie all of this together, he had a long gold, ruby-eyed, cobra-shaped scepter in his right hand. This making Sora whistle silently as she smirked; 'That thing looks cool. I'm totally taking that thing after we beat him.' she thought to herself just as Jasmine called out the name of this man in an angered tone. "Jafar!"
"My dear Princess, I'm afraid I will have to place our conversation on hold for a moment." Jafar began before looking directly to Sora with a small smirk curling his lips.
Though upon this gaze, the teen brought forth her Keyblade and narrowed her eyes on the man. "Ah yes...the dark realm's Keyblade." he said silently with a wider smirk, to which everyone raised a brow to him in question.
"Oh~? Didn't you know? Surely you must have realized by now that the Keyblade you hold in your hand is the Keyblade of the dark realm." Jafar continued, to which each of the others gasped while Sora just looked down at her weapon in shock.
All of this just made the man laugh in response as he took a step forward; "You might fight on the side of the Light, but your true destiny lies with the Darkness." he stated while pointing to the golden Keyblade with his similarly colored staff.
"So why fight against those who are on the same side?" the man in black and red questioned, him continuing to widen his smirk.
Jafar able to tell from the expression on Sora's face that she was somewhat shaken from this sudden information. Yet after she sent him a quick glance, she tilted her head down and closed her eyes. "Well, since the Keyblade chose me..." she started before opening her eyes, looking back to the man and grinning lightly.
"...I think it's all up to me on what 'side' I choose!" the teen claimed as she gained a red aura.
"And right now...I'm on my friends side!" she continued before bringing up her free hand and shooting a ball of fire at Jafar.
Whom quickly got over his shock of seeing her using such advanced magic, to which he deflected this attack with his staff. Yet immediately following this, Sora had suddenly appeared right in front of him with a yellow aura around her now. She then swung her Keyblade into Jafar's hand and knocked the staff out of his hand.
Instantly after these actions, the teen then brought her free hand forward once more as a great amount of electricity magic around it. All of which was slammed into Jafar as she sent a strong palm into the man's midsection. This causing him to groan in pain as he was knocked backward from the attack's force as he soon hit the wall behind him.
Jafar ground his teeth tightly in aggravation as he slowly stepped forward, yet his eyes soon widened when he saw Sora now holding his staff. Her having caught it just before it fell to the ground, to which she grinned lightly to him. "Oh dear...it seems that you've gone and lost your staff." the teen said with a voice that sounded as if she was mocking Jafar's own.
"Tch! You filthy street rat!" the man all but spat out as he glared at the girl.
All the while, Jasmine looked at this with a shocked, yet impressed gaze. Though she soon looked around as a great many Heartless began surrounding them. This being followed by a red parrot flying down toward them and landing on Jafar's shoulder. "I heard the racket going on, so I thought I'd lend a quick feather." the bird spoke up in a strange, yet unique voice.
The man himself slowly smirked lightly in response as he just crossed his arms and glanced to the bird. "Your timing couldn't have been more perfect, Iago." he muttered silently before turning his gaze back to Sora.
"You might be powerful...but you're still just an amateur. Not even you can defeat this many Heartless and me all at once." he stated as his expression became almost amused.
Though this quickly turned shocked once more as he noticed a black aura radiating from his staff. Of which appeared to be slowly being absorbed into Sora's hand as she continued to hold in. Yet the teen herself seemed to be completely unaware of this as she simply raised a brow at the man's constant staring. However, by the time she finally followed his gaze, the aura had vanished and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
"Hmph...we'll see who the amateur is." Sora muttered out with another quick glance down to the staff.
'Just when I finally got it too.' she thought silently, to which a small smirk curled her features as she lifted and slammed the staff down on the ground.
This created a burst of sand around her and the others, so much so that it was impossible to see them until it finally settled down. Though by the time it had, each of the four had already disappeared from the spot where they had been standing. Only the staff remained, which was still sticking in the ground in the same place the teen hit it into the sand. Jafar quickly clenched his teeth together once more in agitation as he retrieved his staff.
But the man soon shifted his gaze around him and toward the many Heartless nearby. "Find and dispose of them! But make sure to bring the Princess back to me alive! And find that blasted Keyhole, it has to be here somewhere!" he ordered out loudly, his anger being quite obvious.
Immediately following his orders, the Heartless disappeared and Jafar himself headed off on his own way to find the 'escapees' or possibly the Keyhole. Yet just off to the side, on the roof of one of the nearby buildings Sora and the others were hiding carefully out of sight. Though once everything and everyone was gone, the teen let out a breath in relief and looked to each of the three.
"Looks like we know who the 'big boss' is that we need to beat." Sora started as she tapped her chin lightly.
'Though it was kind of a surprise that I could manipulate sand with that staff. I wonder if I could somehow learn how to do that without even needing the staff.' she thought quickly before clearing her throat.
"Now we just need to beat him, then find the Keyhole and lock it." she continued aloud, yet in a silent voice as she then turned to Jasmine.
"Have you seen anything that could be the Keyhole? It...well...it literally looks like a large keyhole that may or may not be in a spot that they normally would be." the teen said with a brief shrug of her shoulders at the end.
"Maybe somewhere that is normally hidden and only accessible in some secret way?" Sora finished as the princess tilted her head down in thought.
"Hmm...I can't say that I've seen anything like that." Jasmine answered with an apologetic gaze and shrug.
This making each of the other three look down as if trying to think of what else they could do. Yet the princess quickly spoke up once more to them; "But it's possible that Aladdin might know."
Sora turned to her with a raised brow along with the other two, to which they each tilted their heads to the side in question as to whom she was talking about. Though Jasmine just smiled softly and placed a hand over her heart while continuing on. "He's the one who's been showing me around Agrabah, that's why I know it so well. But he's also gone off places outside of this city, so if anyone would know where this 'Keyhole' might be, it's him."
The brown-haired teen tapped her chin briefly as she nodded in response to her words; "Sounds logical. So where to we find him?" she questioned with a whisper as they heard a group of Heartless rush by below.
"He's outside the city looking for some treasures. He left just before all of this started, so he has no idea what's going on." Jasmine said back in a silent voice.
"Alright...I'll go out and look for him. It'll be easier to sneak out if it's just one of us." Sora began with a small smirk growing on her features.
"So the rest of you, try and take out as many of the Heartless as you can without drawing attention." she continued while keeping her tone as low as possible to not be heard.
"Jasmine...you help them stay out of sight after they attack." the teen said, to which she received a nod from the princess.
"Got it." the raven-haired girl muttered quickly, her gaining a smirk of her own.
"Hopefully it won't take too long to find him, but at least we can wither down Jafar's forces little by little using guerrilla tactics." Sora said silently, to which the others nodded lightly just before the teen stood up quickly and grinned.
"But in the mean time...I'll draw some out for you." she claimed loudly, to which she gained the attention of many Heartless down below.
However, as the brown-haired girl jumped down from the roof, she hit a few of the larger Heartless along the way. Once she touched the sandy ground, she immediately began running as fast as possible to and through the city's front gates. Though nearly all of the Heartless that saw her began their pursuit, the few that were left were quickly defeated by Donald and Goofy. Both of whom then rushed into one of the nearby buildings along with Jasmine to stay out of sight.
All the while, Sora brought the small army of Heartless further into the desert before finally stopping and fighting them. Although she claimed victory after a few minutes, the teen breathed heavily soon afterward and even fell to one knee. "Man...something is wrong. I don't feel like I've used that much power, yet it feels like I'm getting really exhausted after these fights lately." she muttered silently, yet unbeknownst to her, a large aura of darkness surged across her body.
Alright, that's the first chapter for this world. ^^ I'm not sure just how many chapters this one will be since it's kind of a longer one than most. 0.o But we'll see. ;) Anyway, look forward to the next chapter tomorrow...though if you're only reading this after I've already posted it, then...um...it's available. ;3 Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you'll review for this, the next, and the many chapters to come. ^^ Until next time everyone~!