He was wrong; the desert was more than harsh on him. He was sure it would be the death of him.
The minute they had teleported down to the sand covered world, Toshiro had collapsed from the force of the heat. Panicking, Sora rushed to help him stand while Donald cast the cooling spell several times. It helped, but it was just too hot and their icy friend could hardly stand it.
'This is too dangerous, go back to the ship.' Hyorinmaru growled.
'I can't…' Toshiro argued, barely registering Sora telling his animal friends to find somewhere shady and cool, which would be impossible here. 'What if one of the key items is here?'
'You won't have any energy to charge it. You hardly have enough to remain standing.'
There was a noticeable difference in temperature and Toshiro opened his eyes. They had moved into a well shaded spot of the city, boxes piled high to the side for even more shade.
"Sorry." Toshiro managed to say, breath coming short due to the heat.
"Hey, don't apologize." Sora shook his head. "I'll go find Aladdin. He lives here somewhere and he's got this friend who can do all kinds of things, maybe he can help you out."
"You mean Genie?" Donald turned to the Keybearer.
"Yeah. Genie can probably help him out."
"Genies are spirits." Toshiro said. "He'll probably recognize what I am, and most aren't too inclined to help Soul Reapers."
"But maybe if Al can convince him he will."
"Don't worry, Captain. We'll think of something." Goofy promised with a salute.
"Thank you…"
"I'll stay with you to keep you cool." Donald said, sitting down beside him with his staff out, casting a blizzard spell at the ground. Toshiro put his arm against the ice and let out a content sigh at the refreshing coolness.
With one last reassuring smile, Sora turned around and started heading off with Goofy to find their friend Aladdin. Toshiro really hoped they found him. Even in the shade with Donald's magic he knew his temperature was far too high, and Hyorinmaru was feeling rather watery. Things could get dangerous quickly.
"Man, the Captain's got it rough." Sora heaved a sigh, searching through the streets to try and spot Aladdin. "Maybe we should have gone to the other world."
"Gawrsh, maybe we should have let him stay on the Gummi Ship." Goofy frowned in concern.
"He wouldn't stay; he wants to find the way home. I don't blame him, though." Sora started walking ahead of Goofy as the dog spotted something. "If we can find Genie we can help him no problem."
"Uh-oh, it's um." Sora paused as Goofy went on. "Uh…Iago!"
Now alert, Sora whipped around with Keyblade in hand, spotting the red and blue macaw hovering around Goofy's head.
"Wait!" Iago spluttered. "You got me all wrong! It's not the old me! I've turned over a new leaf! I'm legit! No more scams, promise!"
"Bet that's you're new scam." Sora snorted.
"Ya gotta believe me." The bird whined, alighting on a nearby stairway. "I was stuck inside that lamp with Jafar, remember? I finally escaped and then some things happened and, uh…"
"Free as a bird, huh?" Sora looked disbelieving.
"Gawrsh, he looks pretty sad." Goofy pointed out.
Catching onto this kindness, Iago fluttered over.
"I wanna apologize to Aladdin and Jasmine." He begged, landing in Goofy's waiting paws. "Could you guys maybe put in a good word for me?"
"Sure!" Goofy turned to Sora. "We can do that, can't we?"
"But we've got to find Aladdin, first!" Sora argued. "Remember? Toshiro's getting sick; we need Genie to help him."
"Oh! I'll help you find him!" Iago lifted off. "Who's this Toshiro person, anyway?"
"None of your business." Sora huffed. "If you help us find Aladdin then I'll tell you."
"Okay! He might be at the palace with Jasmine!" Iago paused, spotting something. "Watch out!"
Turning quickly, Sora and Goofy found themselves surrounded by thief-like Heartless with black and red scimitars.
"Not right now." Sora groaned. They didn't have long before the heat really did some damage to their Soul Reaper friend.
Further away, said Reaper sensed the Heartless and grimaced, attempting to sit up.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Donald grumbled, snapping up and pushing Toshiro back up against the wall. "You can't walk like that."
"There's Heartless." Toshiro argued, pushing the white wing aside. He noticed with some worry that it was easy for Donald to push back.
"You're not fighting in this condition." The duck huffed. "I'll go help, you stay here."
Casting one last higher level blizzard spell to try and keep him cool, Donald ran off at a sprint to help his comrades. This ice crystal formed into a smooth sided pillar so Toshiro was able to lean up against it. He wasn't sure how long it would last.
He closed his eyes and went to his Inner World, hoping the heat wasn't melting it too much as tended to happen during heat spells back home. This way he could reserve energy and hopefully not dehydrate too quickly.
In the city, Sora and the others, Donald now included as he arrived and helped them take out the Heartless, moved with haste towards the palace and went inside to meet Jasmine, the dark skinned, black haired princess of the desert city and a Princess of Heart, her light blue outfit only lightly coated with sand. She greeted them kindly but noticed they were on edge.
"Have you seen Aladdin?" Sora asked quickly. Iago could wait, the bird hiding behind Goofy, they needed help for Toshiro.
"No…he's been acting strange lately." Jasmine sighed.
"Heartless?" Donald scowled, holding up his staff.
"No, nothing like that. He's usually the same cheery Aladdin but…sometimes he just seems sad." She looked curiously at them. "What's wrong, everyone?"
"Well, we have this friend and he does really, and I mean REALLY bad in the heat." Sora explained.
"We've got him in the shade but we're worried about him." Donald continued. "My ice spells don't last long enough to keep him cool."
"Oh dear. You should bring him to the palace immediately." Jasmine hurried them off. "And try to find Aladdin if you can. He can help."
"We were hoping to find Genie." Goofy said. "He might be able to do something for him."
"Let's hope you find him." Jasmine nodded. "I'll have the palace servants fetch some water. Hurry, now!"
Nodding, they left, Iago still hidden away.
"Hey, maybe if I help bring him to the palace Princess Jasmine will forgive me." The bird said, hovering above them.
"Iago, if you really want us to trust you, find Aladdin." Sora demanded. "Mind going with him, Goody? That way Aladdin will believe him."
"Gotcha!" The dog broke off from their group and went with the bird to check the city for their missing friend.
Donald and Sora ran quickly back to where they'd left Toshiro. They were quite alarmed when they found him passed out on the dirt ground, the ice melted and his breath ragged. It was midday and even this amount of shade was doing him little good.
"Uh-oh!" Donald quacked. "We better hurry!"
"Jeez did we pick the wrong world to go to." Sora picked up the tiny Captain with little difficulty and they started heading back towards the palace, Donald holding onto the dropped zanpaktou. What a way to reunite with old friends, having their new friend on death's door.
In some other part of the city, Goofy and Iago saw a small peddler running after a familiar figure, a black haired man in a purple open top and poufy white pants, running barefoot after a small brown monkey.
"There's Aladdin!" Iago called out.
"Yup! Come on!"
They followed the line to a dead end wall, Aladdin looking a little lost with his monkey friend Abu chattering madly, holding tightly to a black lamp.
"If you can't control that fur ball, keep him on a leash!" The peddler spat, frustrated.
Sighing, Aladdin turned back to him.
"Look, I'm sorry." He promised. Now frustrated himself, he turned to Abu and knelt down. "Abu, you should be ashamed of yourself.
The monkey snapped something back, unwilling to give up his prize. With a stern glare, Aladdin got Abu to give up the lamp, albeit reluctantly and with an indignant screech. Heaving another sigh, Aladdin handed it back to the peddler, who walked off with a huff, lamp in hand.
Goofy approached the pair then, catching their attention.
"Hey, Goofy!" Aladdin greeted cheerfully. "Where the rest of the gang?"
"Helping out a friend." Goofy replied. "He's not feeling good."
"Oh?" Aladdin looked interested. "Who's this friend?"
"He's a Captain from a faraway place, but he's not used to the heat. It's making him sick."
"Poor guy."
"Is Genie here?"
Aladdin shook his head sadly.
"He and Carpet went out to see the world. That's why I come out here; the action and the people, there's always something going on. Sorry I can't help your friend."
"Sora and Donald are bringin' him to the palace now."
"Guess you better go meet up with them. I'll go with you."
They started heading out to the streets when they spotted Iago shivering on the ground, looking at the direction the peddler had gone.
"Iago!?" Aladdin shouted in alarm.
"Oh yeah, he wanted to apologize." Goofy quickly explained. "Gawrsh, he's so sorry he's shakin'."
"Th-the-that lamp!" The macaw shot up and over to them. "It's THE lamp!"
"There are a million more just like it." Aladdin frowned, confused.
"Hey, I was stuck in that thing FOR MONTHS! There's no way I'd mistake it! That's Jafar's lamp."
Now the ex-thief frowned in concern, knowing what that could mean. The last thing they needed was the evil man-turned-Genie on the loose.
"Sorry Goofy, I'm gonna go talk to that peddler. Hope you're friend's okay."
Abu at his heels, Aladdin took off after the peddler, Iago landing on Goofy's shoulder and shivering. His evil master Jafar had been so close, scaring him right down to the bone. He hoped to never see that black lamp again.
"Gawrsh, everything's gettin' kinda crazy around here." Goofy mused aloud as he made his way to the palace.
Crazy was only the beginning of this madness.
Short chapter, my bad. Just them running around trying to prevent Toshiro from dying of heat while still going through the storyline. I rushed this chapter T^T Hope it's still good! Enjoy!
