Author's Note: Woo, finally we're at the final leg of this story! Will Nazz and the others be rescued from the clutches of the Centaur Heartless, what about Double D? And can anyone stop Jafar? Many of these questions will be answered below so, kick back, relax and enjoy the newest chapter.
The carpet flew above the sandy, stone walls of Agrabah with ease and soared over the town. Unlike the last time they were there, the entire town was in ruins and a mass group of people could be seen darting around in a panic, trying to move away to a safer place. Most of the small buildings had been toppled over into rubble and a wave of fire had already engulfed nearly half of the city.
"What the heck," Eddy peered over the carpet, his eyes full in shock at the sight before him.
"Wow," Ed said in awe, the reflection of the fire shone in his eyes. He seemed lost in the deep orange that covered the town, unaware of the immediate danger. He continued on like this for the next couple of seconds, gasping and chanting about how the fire was both "cool" and "just like the fire monsters from Planet Whocares"; then it finally hit him. "Eddy, Double D and the others are there!" He got back onto his feet and proceeded to hop in place in a fruitless attempt to go down.
"Ed, stop!" Donald quacked. "You're gonna make us fall!"
"No," without waiting for a response, Ed pulled on the carpet, sending it veering sharply to the right before spiraling down onto the ground. The five passengers fell into the rubble with a thump and quickly dusted themselves off after drunkenly stumbling back up.
"Ed, what the heck," Eddy grabbed the taller boy by the collar of his shirt and shook him back and forth.
"Eddy, we've gotta save the others, something bad's happening, I just know it!" He nervously hopped in place, earning a look of confusion from the others.
"Lumpy's right," Toph calmly stated, standing between the two. "We better find the others, fast."
Aladdin kept his distance from the others, keeping his thoughts about the whereabouts and safety of Jasmine to himself.
"Dude," Toph shot at the man, "we're going."
"O-okay."
They took a few steps forward, but before they could good far puffs of dark energy blew into the air surrounding them. Of of the billowing black smoke jumped dark, humanoid, sword-wielding Heartless. This species had Turbans neatly tied around their heads and faces, covering everything except their eyes.
"Those things," Aladdin muttered to the other kids in his group, "they look like bandits, and," he drifted his view. "There're twelve of them, we're surrounded."
"Guys, we've gotta go, now!" Ed charged towards one of the Heartless, and with the flick of his shield one of the Bandit Heartless was sent spiraling into the air. He didn't stop there, however, and spun around, knocking away two more enemies.
"Let's do something too!" Donald rose his staff into the air to prepare a spell. "Thundara,"
A flash of thunderbolts shot down from the sky, damaging a fair number of the monsters.
"Fira," He launched a wisp of fire at another Bandit, the Heartless however was too quick and acrobatically jumped up into the air. It seeming stopped in midair before zipping back down, once it got within range it slashed at the duck. "Protect," instead of the sword leaving a visible wound, Donald was just sent flying back, though he still took considerable damage.
Eddy was the next to act, he ran towards the Bandit that had attacked Donald and whacked his enemy in the ribs with his Keyblade, he then landed another hit, and then another until the Heartless dissolved into smoke. However, he didn't keep his guard up and in his moment of weakness another Bandit ran towards him and delivered a kick to his stomach, forcing him away in pain. The Bandit swung its curved blade with considerable force; it looked like Eddy was about to get sliced before Ed stood before him, blocking the attack with his sturdy shield. Using his enormous strength Ed managed to push the Heartless back and then, grabbing the handle of the shield with his fist, landed a powerful uppercut, killing the heart-thirsty monster.
"Eddy, come on, get up!" He pulled the shorter boy up and looked towards the other two fighters. Aladdin had just defeated two Bandits with seemingly no effort, and Toph, using a giant club made of stone, had pounded two more Heartless into the dirt. "Eddy come on, come on, we need to find Double D,"
"I heard you the first time," Eddy said in an annoyed manner as he dodged a few more swishes from the enemy Heartless. "We gotta take care of these jerks first." He swung his weapon again, taking out two more. "Heh, these guys ain't too tough."
Immediately after he said that the remaining six Heartless attempted to pounce on him, though before they could come near him, they were all reduced to wispy puffs of smoke.
"What the,"
Behind him he could see Aladdin holding the lamp again with the Genie outside, who's index finger, which was spouting a small amount of magical looking blue smoke, pointed out to where the monsters were just standing.
"That's one wish left kiddo," Genie solemnly said. "I guess you're still going to use that last wish for yourself, right?"
Aladdin stood quiet, he knew he shouldn't've wasted his second wish. Now he would either have to keep his promise to the magical entity or use the wish for himself, at the moment, however, he was speechless.
"Guys, come on, Double D's in trouble." Ed interrupted the man before running ahead through the deserted, fiery streets.
"Lumpy, wait up," Eddy followed the much taller boy.
"Yeah," Toph looked back at Aladdin and the Genie. "You can carry on you're little love issues later, let's just find the others."
The man turned away. "Sorry, but now's not the time to worry about stuff like that. Jasmine's in trouble, we can talk about my last wish later," he looked Genie in the eyes again, "okay?"
The resident of the lamp replied with a forced smile. "Yeah."
Ed and the others continued to run through the maze-like town, easily destroying the Heartless that dared stand in their way.
A Bandit appeared, bam, it was reduced to nothingness.
Another Bandit, it suffered the same fate as the one before.
A third Bandit, again it was easily taken care of.
They continued on like this until they were in the wide alleyway that led straight to the Palace, even though it was dark, they could just barely see a huge monster with is fist grappled around a tiny figure.
"No way, that's…"
Upon their realization that the figure was the Centaur Heartless, and that the tiny figure was Nazz, they charged forward. Getting closer they could see that in the mess of spikes directly before the beast's feet were three other mangled bodies. They continued running forward unveiling their weapons for the inevitable fight that would take place shortly but were pushed back by an invisible barrier of clear energy that separated them from the monster.
"Eddy, that thing's got Nazz and I think the others are hurt too! We've gotta help them!" He rushed forward, only to be repelled back by the semi-translucent barrier again.
"What the," Eddy attempted to push forward, though the barrier didn't seem to budge. "Hey," he yelled at the gargantuan Heartless, waving his Keyblade through the air in a wild fashion. The Centaur, unfortunately didn't turn around or twitch at the sound of the short boy's sharp voice, instead focusing solely on squeezing the life out of the girl in its hand.
"What the heck," a gauntlet of stone coated Toph's hands and she mercilessly punched the barrier with all her might, though no visable damage to the protective wall could be seen..
"Why," Aladdin pondered out loud. "What is this here, to keep us out, or to keep them in?"
Nazz could hear an angelic voice call out to her. She fluttered her eyes open and found that she was floating in a deep, dark abyss. Nothing was around her; she was all alone in the darkness.
"N...zz, Na… Naz…"
"W-what,"
By now, the blonde girl couldn't feel any more pain, it was as if something inside of her was dulling it away, something holy and majestic and wonderful.
"Nazz, Nazz, can you hear me, Nazz"
Her eyes shot open She found a way to somehow float upright putting her fists up to her face in case she needed to defend herself from some unknown threat. "W-who are you?"
She could hear the voice chuckle warmly, somehow that voice made Nazz feel comforted and warm; it reminded her of coming home on cold winter nights to sneak into her bed and snuggle herself inside the warmest blanket she could find.
"Really, who are you, I've been hearing your voice a lot lately, a-are you a ghost or something?"
She could hear the feminine voice laugh, gingerly, again. "My, my, Nazz Van Fartenshmere, have you forgotten already."
"Forgotten, forgotten what?"
Just then she felt a gust of warm air run through her body, her shortish hair whipping gently behind her ears. A flood of memories came gushing back to her. And, he vision became clouded by light, when the intense energy died down she could see that she was back home, in her living room. "What the..." She stopped herself when she saw a a younger version of herself running towards an unknown figure with short stubby legs.
"No way, that's me! But, who am I running towards?" She attempted to shift her vision to see who her baby version was running towards but before she could move everything disappeared in a flash of light, only to be replaced by another memory from her distant past.
She stared on in awe at the scene before her. Now she was in the Cul-De-Sac Park. Her seven year-old self was swinging recklessly on one of the swings, much higher than any kid should be.
"Hey, watch out, you're gonna-" Just then her younger self toppled from the swing, falling down face first onto the ground. "… Fall…"
"Mommy, mommy," her child-self cried out. Almost immediately a woman came running in, picking the girl and and nuzzling her against her busom.
"Now, now, it's alright,"
Nazz gasped out loud, though the other two didn't seem to hear. "I can't believe it, this is…"
The woman turned around and stared at the present-age Nazz with a warm smile.
"Mommy, what are you looking at?"
"Nothing dear,"
The scene was washed away in a flash of white and this time she found herself on a flat, grassy field. The sky here wasn't blue; instead it was bright white, giving the already large field of grass an infinite look. Before her, Nazz could see a tall, slender, woman in her mid-forties standing with a flowing blue dress. Her hair was carefully curled over her ears and her bright red lips were daintily pursed closed.
"I can't believe it, it was you!" Nazz could feel her eyes water up and, at an impulse, she ran up to the woman, wrapping her arms carefully around the other's waist. "Mom," she huffed, "you've been with me this entire time?"
"Yes, I've always been watching over you." She looked down at her daughter's face and spoke again. "You've really grown into a nice young girl." Nazz could feel teardrops fall onto her hair and responded by holding her tighter.
"Mom, there's like, so much we need to talk about, and you need to-"
The elder woman huffed her quiet, putter her index finger to Nazz's lips, gingerly. "It's alright, there are others that you need to worry about first."
And image of the Centaur ran through her head, she could see the monster's hand gripped around her body now limp body.
"But, I'm here, I'm not getting-" She could feel something cold and metal squeezing against her chest, sending a jolt of pain through her body. "What,"
"I'm sorry," the mother gingerly put her palm to Nazz's chest, a spark of light coming from the point of contact . "You and your friends are in grave danger, which is why I called you here."
"What did you…" Nazz brought her hand to her heart, suddenly she felt as if something inside of her had been unlocked, something strong and powerful.
"Goodbye," Nazz's mom smiled one last time before everything was blotted out in white…
... I... lo...v...e...y.o.u...
She opened her eyes again to find herself in the grip of the Heartless. Pain immediately shot through her body as she cried out. The monster responded by screeching outwards, shutting its fists even tighter.
"Let go, let go!" She beat her fists against the monster; though it didn't seem to do anything other than slightly annoy the beast who "answered" back by simply squeezing even harder.
It was just then that she felt that power inside of her again. She could feel it in the pit of her heart, it felt warm, almost... fiery...
Instinctually, almost as if she had done it conutless times before, she channeled the power through her arms and into her fists, she could feel that energy rolling around through her knuckles, ready to be released. Once more, she slammed her fists against the monster's wrists, at the moment of impact an explosion of fire shot from Nazz's fists, literally searing off the monster's arm and forcing it to drop her onto the ground, free. She stared at the Centaur writhe in pain and, before a counterattack could be made she flew forward with another punch, nailing the Heartless in the face and causing it to explode in another burst of flame, watching as the monster's crystaline heart was sent flying into the sky before blotting out into a wisp of dark.
"What was that?" Out of adrenaline, the girl tumbled down onto the ground. She nervously put her hands in front of her face, staring at them in shock. They seemed to be the same, only a few nicks and cuts grazed her skin, and no burn marks could be seen. It also seemed that her earlier wounds from the Heartless' thorn attack had been completely healed.
Almost immediately the sea of thorns that held the three others disappeared into smoke and the barrier that was trapping them inside crumbled into dust.
"Nazz,"
The blonde turned towards the voice, whom she instantly recognized as Ed.
"What the heck happened?" Eddy too ran up to the girl and helped her up.
"W-we got attacked and Sora, and Goofy and Jas-" she shot up and jolted towards the other three who lay on the ground. "No," she glanced at the three who had deep cuts and scrapes covering their bodies.
"Jasmine," Aladdin ran to the unconscious princess, picking her up, gently. "I-I'm sorry, I came too late." He held her tightly.
Just then, Toph calmly walked up to the man and curled up her fist, slugging the man with considerable force. He was sent flying away and eventually collided with the palace's stone walls.
"Toph, w-what was that for."
She didn't respond, but turned around with a smug smile on her face, casually putting her hands back into her pockets as it nothing had occured.
"She's gone mad!" Eddy squealed out in horror.
"Relax," the Earthbender finally answered in a cool manner. "They're not dead." She shifted her gaze to Donald, who stood in a worried manner. "Hey, duck, go take care of the others."
"Huh,"
"Did I stutter," she shot back in a beat. "Go heal the others, now." She cracked her knuckles in an intimidating manner.
"Curaga,"
The duck-mage rose his staff into the air and suddenly, three bell shaped flowers floated above the three downed people. A small, bright powder-like substance drifted from the bell and sprinkled onto the people, slowly, but surely closing their wounds.
There was a long silence as everyone waited for Sora, Goofy and Jasmine to heal up and everyone sat down onto the dusty ground as the process took place.
"Guys, guys," Ed jumped in place again. "Double D, I can't find him anywhere."
"Oh," Nazz replied. "Maybe he got lost somewhere, we haven't seen him since we all split up."
"But guys, I think he's in trouble too, we have to save him!"
An unfamiliar voice called out to them in a shrill voice. "That won't be necessary, rats."
Everyone shot back onto their feet as they stared at the man who had spoke. He wasn't standing on the ground, he was floating in midair and holding an limp, unconscious figure by the neck, Double D.
"Who the hell are you?" Toph shouted with a balled up fist.
"Jafar," Aladdin answered. "That monster, was it yours?"
"I need not answer your mindless dribble." He pointed his long, boney finger to Jasmine. "All I need is that."
"That? Is that what you call her?"
"Jafar, what do you want with Jasmine, why did you send that thing to attack h-"
Ed interrupted the man and walked forward, incriminately pointed a bruised finger at the wizard. "Why do you have Double D?"
"This street rat was found lurking around my palace, so I… "Took care" of him."
The entire party all drew their weapons and got into their battle stances. If it was a fight he was looking for they'd all be glad to comply, especially for the sake of their sock wearing friend and Jasmine.
Slowly, Jasmine managed to stumble back onto her feet. She still wasn't fully healed, as was evident by the cuts that still hadn't closed up. "What do you mean, the palace isn't yours, it belongs to my father - the Sultan- Agrabah will never be yours."
"Oh, but it will, and soon I'll have even more. Oh, and I have no more need for this rat." He tossed Double D onto the hard ground without a shred of care, watching as the tiny boy whimpered in pain. "Iago," he called out.
Soaring from the sky a red parrot swooped down and snatched the Genie's Lamp from Aladdin's grasp. "Jafar, Jafar," The bird chanted while carrying the priceless lamp in his talons. "I got the lamp, it was so easy!"
The evil wizard snatched the lamp from the bird, eyeing it with greedy eyes. "Finally," without a moment's notice he rubbed it, the Genie shot out with vigor, preparing another one of his speeches.
"Hey, Ally," He patted the man on the shoulder, acting as if the two were old chums. "Ready for your last wish, dude?"
"Ahem," he turned back to Jafar and noticed the lamp in his greedy little arms. "My first wish, I wish Princess Jasmine was mine."
The Genie didn't reply, or even move for that matter, he simply stared down onto the ground with a sad expression on his face, it seemed like he knew that Jafar's wishes would be greedy and evil.
"Your job is to make any three wishes come true, now, as I said, my first wish is for the capture of Princess Jasmine."
"Genie," Aladdin spoke up. "You can't,"
The blue dweller of the lamp simply nodded his head from side to side. "I'm sorry, but that's the rules, the one with the lamp calls the shots, I'm not at liberty to say whether or not it's right or wrong, sorry Ally…" He snapped his fingers and a bubble of pale pink energy surrounded the princess, carrying her up into the air until she was side by side with the evil wizard, Jafar.
"Let me out of here," her muffled voice shouted out as she banged against the inside of her bubble container.
"As for you rats," the wizard shifted his gaze onto the heroes. "The Princess no longer requires your company, now her only necessity is to be in the presence of Maleficent."
"Are you kidding me!" Nazz replied in an angered tone. "You think she needs that? The only thing she needs is to be away from a freak like you!"
"Yeah," Eddy was the next to speak. "You hurt Double D and try to kidnap a totally good looking princess," he earned a few looks of annoyance as he said that. "And you expect us not to do anything? Heh, you haven't seen what we've gone through yet, we're gonna kick your butt." He pointed his Keyblade at the man with a look of pure confidence. "You'll be nothing compared to the other things we've fought."
Ed rose his shield above his head "Y-you hurt Double D, one of my bestest friends in the whole world, and you're going to hurt other people too! We'll stop you!"
"Yeah," the other agreed.
"Is that so, it seems that you rats won't go away unless I force you to." Jafar lowered himself down onto the ground. "Then, join me in battle for the fate of this girl, and your lives."
Author's Note: And with that, the final battle begins. Expect a hell of a lot of drama, action and... comedy (?) in the next few chapters. You know, I've noticed that nobody in the team really cares about Bouquet; hey, atleast she'll be getting some character development in the next saga.