Author's Note: Only a month to go before the E3 event and hopefully a release date of KH3! I'm still hoping for the game to have all of my favorite characters to survive, but I'm not holding my breath since hope doesn't seem to work for me. *Sigh*
Anyway, here's a new chapter and the conclusion to Agrabah!
I don't own Kingdom Hearts, or Final Fantasy.
CH34: Restoring the Lamp.
"How about I help you guys out?" A strikingly familiar voice suggested, which caused the Worldly Travellers to freeze up as they recongised it. They, Aladdin, Shantotto, Jasmine, Genie, Abu, and Iago whirled around and saw the familiar man in the black coat standing there as he had appeared out of nowhere.
"You!" Sora grunted, summoning his Keyblade as he recongised the Master of Masters.
What did the Master of Masters want this time?
"I thought you said the Organization were gone!" Iago shrieked in terror, quickly hiding behind Abu who gave him a skeptical look. He then grunted angrily before he quickly stood in front of Abu and pulled out a stick from the sand, yelling at the Master of Masters, "Back off, Organize-Loser!"
This only made the Master of Masters laugh, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "Whoa, easy there, Tiger. Does Polly want a..."
"Say 'Cracker' and I'll let you have it on princible!" Iago warned, and was about attack, only to be quickly grabbed by Kairi who held him in her hands to stop him from doing anything foolish.
"Don't, Iago!" Kairi told him quickly, as she struggled to keep the bird from flying off. "You'll just hurt yourself!"
To the group's surprise, the Master of Masters stared at Iago, rather shocked and a bit awkwardly before he muttered, "...I'll take that as a no. Never known a parrot to hate Crackers."
"I sense a strong and incredible power. Enough to make even the strongest men cower." Shantotto remarked, frowning at the Master of Masters. She then smirked and added, "But strong as he may be, it'll take more than that to frighten me."
"Who's this guy?" Prompto asked, confused.
"Someone Skuld heard about but never met 'til recently." Noctis answered, not letting his guard down.
"Why are you here?" Riku demanded.
"Like I said; I'm here to help. If you want some." The Master of Masters responded, gazing at both Sora and Aladdin and explaining, this time in a somewhat dark and serious tone that made most of the worldly travellers feel chilled. "I know what you guys are doing, and that's why that female Genie Bizarrah seperated you and trapped you in the city earlier."
"How do you know that?" Aladdin asked, suspiciously.
"Because he can see through time. He has the power to see the future." Skuld answered this time. "Sort of a fortune teller, if you will."
"Oooh. That sounds like he's a human version of the Oracle." Genie quivered nervously.
The Master of Master grinned underneath his hood, saying, "Bingo! And that's how Bizarrah knew about all of you in the first place. She too could see the future, and she knows that, given Sora's strength and Aladdin's clever mind, those are enough to stop her in her tracks. You both have the power to stop her, once you restore her Lamp. That's why she was after all of you because she knows that you are the threat of her goals."
Sora didn't feel like trusting the man in front of him and his friends yet, though. He simply glared, saying scoffingly, "How do we know that you're lying?"
"Well...say that I give you a hint to see that I'm telling the truth. Third piece of the Lamp is on that little floating Pyramid she was stuck in for centuries and managed to somehow escape. Problem is, she might be on her way to stop you guys now if you don't think fast. One more thing; the Sultan and the former King of Thieves are there too." The Master of Masters informed, and before anyone to say anything further, he opened up a Corridor of Light and Darkness and stepped backwards into it, vanishing before anyone to stop him.
"Wait!" Sora cried out, but was too late. He sighed in frustration. "That guy is getting more and more bizzare."
"He said that our fathers are at the Pyramid too." Jasmine said, even more concerned, and Aladdin shared that feeling.
"He kind of reminds me of Ardyn." Prompto admitted, nervously. He didn't like the looks of the Master of Masters.
"Even so, if he is speaking the truth, then at least we know where it is." Ignis thought deeply, then said with a concerned frown. "Yet, if not, then it makes our search for the final piece harder."
"And with Bizarrah on the loose, she could attack us off-guard without us really knowing if she does know everything the man had just informed us." Isa agreed.
"On the other hand, that Pyramid is where she was imprisoned in the first place, right?" Lea pointed out with a one-shoulder shrug.
Aladdin thought deeply. While it was true that the man they just encountered was strange and he could very well be lying, he had to admit, it wouldn't hurt to go and take a look anyway just in case, especially when it concernde his father and his father-in-law, and as Lea just said, that was the very place Bizarrah had escaped from in the first place. But with her on the loose, she could stop them if they all went. Then again, she had to be sealed up back there anyway.
"I've got an idea." Aladdin spoke up, gesturing at the group to come closer before they formed in a circle and he then whispered the plan. Once he was finished, while Kairi, Xion and Aqua were worried about this plan, everyone else smiled in agreement.
"I like it." Jack muttered, impressed. "Simple, easy to remember."
"Are you sure this will work?" Aqua inquired.
"It'll be fine. It takes more than an evil Genie to stop us, right?" Terra told his friend, confidently.
"Bizarrah wouldn't even know what we're really doing." Riku agreed.
"Welp, it's the only chance we've got. Let's get to it, fellas!" Mickey declared. Everyone else nodded.
Those fools managed to escape, and Bizarrah was beyond angry. Now she had to stop them once again by first finding out where they even disappeared to. She flew all over Agrabah to find them, but had no luck.
Where in the Desert could they be!?
"Hey, Bizarrah!" Aladdin's voice called out.
Blinking in confusion and surprise, the evil female Genie turned to the direction where the voice had come from and saw Aladdin himself on the Magic Carpet, with Jasmine, Abu, Shantotto and Skuld who had summoned her Keyblade. Hovering near them were Ventus, Aqua and Terra in their Armor, already having transformed their Keyblades into their gliders. Noctis was with Ven, Prompto was with Terra, and Ignis was with Aqua.
"Come and get us if you want us!" Aladdin taunted, with the others waving and Abu giving Bizarrah a cheeky raspberry.
Enraged by the taunts, Bizarrah growled as darkness began to cover her body, "I will make you and your friends regret in taunting me, boy!" and to the group's shock, familiar bat-like flying Heartless appeared.
"She's even summoned the Heartless!" Ven cried out, alarmed.
"Care to explain that?" Prompto asked.
"No time! We've got work to do!" Terra quickly reminded, "Let's go!" he commanded and already took flight, with the others quickly following.
Bizarrah followed them, as planned. "Come back here!" She was followed by the Heartless who were quickly fought by the four Keyblade wielders, Noctis, Prompto and Ignis. Even Aladdin sliced at some with his sword, and Jasmine surprisingly punched one, causing it to stumble and get crashed into by another Heartless which made them both fall towards the ground below. Shantotto used her Magic to blast away the Heartless that came too close and laughed, which creeped the others out but they decided to ignore it for the time being.
The group continued the midair chase and fight against Bizarrah and the Heartless before finally deciding that it was time to head towards the others after a long enough time to stall the villianess.
Meanwhile, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Myde, Jack, and Iago were on an airplane Genie magically crafted and was piloting towards the floating Pyramid which, given the directions and the magical scanner Genie also made, it seemed they were getting closer and closer until they finally reached the very place; it sure lived up for it's name because it was a floating Pyramid.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we're about to land in the Floating Pyramid. Please put away your trays and do not stand until we've come to a complete stop. Thank for you riding on the Genie Airlines." Genie announced.
"...Does he always do that?" Jack asked, a bit uncomfortably.
"Constantly." Iago groaned as he rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Once they were at the entrance of the building, the twelve passengers boarded off while Genie reverted to normal and made the Airplane disappear. All of them gazed into the deep tunnel, somewhat nervously.
"Well...that's really creepy." Lea muttered, peering inside.
"More like totally spooky." Myde shuddered.
"We have to be careful. Who knows what else we'll find in there." Riku cautioned, and the others nodded in agreement, despite Iago wanting nothing more than to leave immediately.
Unfortunately, Myde accidently stepped onto the bird's tail, causing Iago to yell in pain and the Mullet-haired young man to step back once realising what he did. "Sorry, Polly." Myde muttered apologetically, cringing at Iago's angry glare.
"Ya wanna not pull back traffic?" Iago grumbled, rubbing his tail feathers. "I want to get in, get out, and go home." Before squeeking in fear as he reluctantedly followed the others, "Actually, I wouldn't mind skipping right to the go home..."
He was shushed by Sora who, along with everyone else, paused in their tracks as they carefully gazed around the tunnels, passing many statues of men with dog-heads. However, the moment they passed the statues, the entrance they came from immediately slid shut, trapping them inside. This was followed by the room becoming a bit darker and then the statues began to shudder and crack slightly, before somehow slowly moving, stepping off their platforms surround the group. The worldly travellers, shocked, summoned their weapons while Iago screamed and hid behind Genie who cringed.
"Gawrsh! Moving statues!" Goofy cried out, briefly hiding behind his shield.
"There always has to be traps." Donald groaned in dismay.
The statues didn't give the group time to continue the conversation, because they immediately attacked, thrusting spears and sand arrows they conjoured up to kill the group. Fortunately, Mickey, Sora and Riku summoned their barrier spells to reflect that attacks before they and their friends moved to fight. Sora blocked the spear-wielding statue with his Keyblade, before jumping and kicked it in the stomach and caused it to stumble backwards. He then summoned a combination of Blizzaraga and Firaga to make water to soak and soften it. This allowed him to leap and slice it in half with the Keyblade and it vanished instantly in a wind of sands.
Kairi used her Pink Orbs of Light to send two other Statues back stumbling before she was forced to leap back to avoid their swords. She then was pushed and shoved back as they managed to catch her off-guard before she rolled out of the way to avoid their weapons from stabbing her. She then slashed their arms with her Keyblade and used Blizzard to freeze them in their place. Xion and Roxas combined their strengths by sharing each others' Keyblades in a double-clash before touching their weapons at the tips and held them up, creating a double-gravity spell that pulled three Statues into the air and destroyed them by the power of their light.
"Dance, water! Dance!" Myde chanted as he summoned his Water Pillers to knock back the Statues that surrounded him and, to his luck, had no chance of getting anywhere near him because they all practically drowned by his power over water.
"Burn, baby!" Lea yelled as he flared up his Fires on his Keyblade, slashing a huge wall of Fire right at his own Statue opponents. To his shock, while he destroyed most of them, another one ran over and knocked him back, right into Jack who'd been busy sword fighting another Statue with his Keyblade. The two men fell onto the floor, but it wasn't enough to stop the redhead from switching out his Keyblade and summoned his Chakrams, tossing them at the two Statues and sliced them in half into oblivion.
Lea and Jack then stood up and quickly rejoined the fight, while Isa summoned a powerful Wind Spell to create a small tornado that sucked up the Statues he was fighting, causing them to hit each other and vanish instantly upon the hard impact. Donald froze some with his Blizzard before using his Fire-Works Spell to smash several others, while Goofy blocked another with his Shield, smacking it in the face when he managed to find an opening before leaping out of the way and shrieked with Iago, narrowly avoiding another sword-wielding Statue.
"C'mon!" Mickey called up to Riku who nodded and took his hand. The two of them formed in a circle, held out their Keyblades and shot out orbs of Light while spinning around. The statues didn't stand a chance against the light, because they were destroyed the moment they tried to reach them and made contact with the spinning light around them.
Genie in the meantime, wanting to be useful, turned into a boxer and punched and smacked several other Statues that came his way, smashing them into pieces of stone as he went. Seeing five more coming, he decided to take things to the next level and magically brought up a huge sledge hammer and smashed them into dust when they made contact in remarkable speed. By the time he was done, all of the statues had been smashed or disintegrated and when everyone panted, the door they came from and the door leading to where they want to go all slowly opened.
"I guess that was an obstacle." Lea remarked, realising why they'd been forced to fight the moving statues.
"Of course it was. No places like this never have an obstacle or trials." Jack informed, as though this was a casual thing to do.
"Do you think we'll find the Sultan, Aladdin's father and the third piece of the Lamp in there?" Kairi asked, slightly hesitant to believe the Master of Masters' words.
"Only one way to find out." Sora shrugged. They were already here and there was no point of leaving now without checking, just in case. Plus, he knew that Aladdin and the others couldn't keep Bizarrah at bay forever.
"Once we go through, there's no turning back." Riku told them firmly. "It's only our only chance."
Iago cowardly hid behind Myde, suggesting in a high-pitched voice, "Uh...maybe I should just sit this one out."
But when he turned to go back while everyone else slowly moved towards inside the chamber, Iago then noticed a lingering shadow around the corner and not a friendly one at that. "On second thought, I'm safer with these guys and the Genie." He quickly changed his mind and flew to catch up to his friends.
It took a bit of a while to locate Bizarrah's Chamber, especially fighting off the Heartless and other defenses, but finally Sora and his friends located the very place the evil Genie escaped from earlier. Inside, as they lit up the torches with Fire Spells, not only there stood the small stone that acted like a table or statue top, but behind it was a set of stone stairs leading to a coffin that was sealed shut.
"Maybe it's in there." Roxas suggested, gazing at the coffin.
"But where are the Sultan and Cassim?" Xion wondered, concerned.
Sora and the others glanced around, only to find that the Sultan and Cassim were no where in the room. So the spiky-haired teen called out, "Hello?"
Almost immediately, they heard a voice, somewhat soft and distant but close at the same time, call out, sounding a bit muffled, "Is someone out there?" and to Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Genie and Iago, it was very familiar.
"Cassim? Where are you?" Roxas inquired. He couldn't tell where Cassim's voice was coming from, and from the looks of the others, neither could they.
"In here!" Cassim called, and after a few moments of trying to piece where the voice was coming from, the group soon realised that it was coming from the coffin.
Myde, Donald, Goofy and Iago immediately shook in fear at this realization, before the mullet-haired man asked nervously, "Uh, he wouldn't be a ghost now, would he?"
"Dead men tell no tales." Jack told him sarcastically.
The group slowly approached the coffin before realising that it was locked. After sharing a glance, they nodded before Sora summoned his Keyblade to unlock it, only for the entire chamber to shake and a huge hissing sound was heard behind them. Sora and his friends spun around and to their dismay, a giant Cobra-like Heartless appeared, blocking their exit and towered over them, hissing dangerously.
"When you said 'Dead men tell no tales'...we're about to die and won't be able to tell anyone what happened...!" Iago squeeked in terror before quickly hiding behind the coffin.
Everyone summoned their weapons to fight against the Heartless, knowing that it was the only way to gain access to the final piece of Bizarrah's lamp. It lunged towards them with it's fangs dripping vemon. Sora and Roxas both quickly tossed their Keyblades at it's eyes, hitting it full on and causing it to rear back, hissing in agony. This allowed Riku, Isa and Lea to strike at it's body with their weapons while Kairi, Mickey and Donald used their magic to disable it. But to their and everyone else's shock, it recovered enough to use it's tail and smack all of them to the side of the wall in the chamber. The group winced as the Heartless slithered up towards them.
Jack, despite running dangerously low on his ammo and gun powder, knew that there was only one way to get out of this mess. He pulled out his pistol and fired a shot at it's face, causing it to rear back once more and allowing Mickey and Donald enough time to use Curaga on all of them to continue the fight. Riku casted Firaga on the Heartless's body before he and everyone else jumped out of the way to avoid it's tail for the second time and then had to run around the chamber to avoid it's spikes that it created on the floor when it bit into the ground. They then decided to attack it's back which they quickly realised was it's weak spot.
Before they could repeat their attack, the Heartless spun around and shot out vemon from it's mouth and forcing them to dodge again. Mickey quickly preformed his triple air-somersault, hitting it's side before glowing in light and spun around while slashing towards it's back and finishing off his move by creating a surprisingly larger Orb of Light, hitting it's head. Jack slashed at it's back with his Keyblade successfully twice before he was knocked back by it's tail again, landing near the coffin.
Fortunately, Myde shot out a huge jet of water from his Sitar to block the vemon and saving the Pirate's life, and then jumped back to avoid the Heartless's tail. He then smacked it several times while everyone else preformed their own assults on the Heartless, including Genie shooting out beams of energy with his magic to force the Heartless off-course when it attempted to eat any one of them.
Sora in the meantime used his Flowmotion ability, leaping from wall to wall to reach up to the Heartless's head and then leaped to hover above it, then descended down and slashed it's face with the Kingdom Key hitting it squarely in the eyes and he continued to slash and hack at it before sliding down on it's back and stabbed the weapon into it along the way before safely landing on the ground. He then quickly blocked it's tail by wacking it off-course when it made to reach Kairi who was about to shoot out a Fire Spell on it's side and she nodded her thanks for saving her and he nodded back.
Goofy spun around and hit the Heartless several times to decrease it's health, before he was knocked back by it's tail, causing him to cry out in pain before stumbling and then had to jump out of the way to avoid it's acid and then smacked away it's teeth with his Shield, causing it to reflect backwards once again. Donald casted Thunderaga to zap it but was hit and smacked against the wall, dazed for a moment before he was pulled out of the way by Goofy to save him from being eaten. The Heartless in the meantime smacked it's face against the wall, before shaking it and hissed, becoming more and more angry.
Xion sent out a blast of energy from her Keyblade before leaping in the air and struck it downward and then landed on the ground before turning quickly and leaped out of the way to avoid it's spikes. She then casted Gravita to force it to lower on the ground and then she and Roxas who was tossing his Keyblade to hit it's side twice before casting a Blizzaga Spell on it's head, begain to hit and smack it's head now that it was on ground level. It also gave Lea and Isa an idea as the former used his powers of Fire to create a Fire pillar while Isa chanted his Wind Spell, the two of them combining their powers and created a Fire-Nado, hitting the Heartless with ease.
Riku followed up by using his own Flowmotion ability and sped-slid on the ground while smacking and hitting the Heartless and narrowly avoiding it's spikes and tail at once with his Keyblade, and then somehow went under the floor and disappeared before emerging by leaping upward and stabbed and sliced the Heartless before leaping and landing on the ground safely. He then dodge-rolled out of the way when the Heartless attempted to flatten him by thrusting it's tail onto the ground but missed. To his and everyone else's shock and horror, the Heartless then reared it's head upward and hissed before they all suddenly felt themselves briefly frozen stiff, unable to move. This allowed it to swipe it's tail at them and captured them in it's coils. While this released them from it's spell, they were all trapped in it's grasp.
'This is bad!' Sora thought desperately, as he struggled to try and free himself in order to attack the Heartless and free his friends. But the coils was too tight, and he couldn't even move. As the Heartless prepared to eat them, Sora desperately thought of something, anything, to get them out of this or they were all goners.
He just wished he could at least call for his Dream Eater friends for help. Suddenly, as though Sora's wish was granted, his heart gave off a glow of familiar dream-like light, and before he and everyone else knew it, a familiar blue-puppy like animal appeared out of nowhere and repeatedly bounched onto the Heartless' head, causing it to hiss in pain while the attack by the animal released it's grip on Sora and everyone else who landed on the ground safely. When Sora and his friends looked, the little fat animal hopped over and happily nearly glomped him before licking his face, causing him to laugh due to being a bit ticklish there.
This then gave him an idea and then Sora and the Dream Eater rushed over before bouncing and smashing on the Heartless hard, causing more and more damage towards it, giving it much less time to attack now, especially with the sudden arrival of a creature that wasn't a Heartless. Despite the confusion everyone else displayed, even though Riku immediately recongised Sora's earlier companion, they all immediately hurried to attack the Heartless all at once after Sora finished the attack with the Dream Eater helping.
Genie then used his Magic to trap the Heartless in chains and Mickey used Stopza to freeze the Heartless in time, allowing Kairi and Donald to use Thundera and Fire to weaken it further, Jack, Myde and Goofy to attack it's sides and back, and finally Sora, Xion, Roxas, Lea, Isa and Riku to leap into the air and successfully slashed at the Heartless all at once in a finishing blow. Immediately afterwards they backed up while surrounding the Heartless in a circle, in case they needed to continue fighting it despite their exhaustion. They didn't need to worry because the Heartless hissed in agony before collasping onto the floor, unmoving. A Heart then emerged from it's body and floated away while the body itself vanished into nothing.
Sighing in relief and relaxing while desummoning their weapons, their attention turned to the Dream Eater as Sora approached it, patting it's head fondly and in gratitude, saying happily, "Thanks, Meow Wow. You were a big help."
Meow Wow whimpered happily before vanishing in light, while Sora's friends were immediately surprised that he'd recongise it as though it was a friend.
"Meow Wow?" Myde asked, dumbfounded at the name Sora called the...whatever the cute blue puppy-cat like thing was that had saved their butts.
"Seems friendly enough, considering how it likes Sora a lot." Jack commented. He had already decided that whatever that blue thing was, it was indeed friendly. Especially since Sora was friends with it.
Kairi giggled, "I think it's very sweet and cute."
"Yeah, yeah. Adorable." Iago scoffed, as he came out from his hiding spot before pointing out urgently, "Now can we get the last piece of the lamp and put it back together and then find Cassim and the Sultan?"
"Oh. Right." Sora quickly remembered, as did everyone else. They then approached the coffin once again and doing what he intended on doing before, he held out his Keyblade at the lock on the side, and the beam of light shot out from it's tip, unlocking the coffin which then slid open. Then three mists came out and not only a third piece of Bizarrah's Lamp which, joined by the other two pieces collected, all glowed and formed into one, which made the group realise that the Lamp had reformed itself and floated back onto it's pedestal where it belonged, but the other two mists formed into two people; one short and tubby dressed in royal arabian clothes, the other a tall man wearing a blue cloak and black outfit, and to those who didn't recongise him, he looked just like an older version of Aladdin.
"Good heavens. This boy has freed us." The shorter man remarked to Cassim, then gazed at Sora who shrugged a little. "You must be Sora; I've heard quite a lot about you, young man."
"I guess this means you're the Sultan, right?" Sora guessed, and at the Sultan's nod, the teenager and the rest of the group, even Mickey and Jack, and Myde(who'd been smacked by Isa on the back of the head to do the same) bowed before the shorter man in respect, with Mickey wisely greeting him, "Your Majesty." even though he was a King himself.
"Hey, Cassim." Lea greeted the older man after standing up straight with the others. "How'd you and the Sultan end up in there?" While Sora, Kairi, Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Myde and Jack introduced themselves to the Sultan and then to Cassim who greeted them back.
"Not sure, but I think it has something to do with the red smoke that seperated me from Iago and shrunk me and the Sultan into that coffin with that piece of what we realised was a lamp." Cassim explained.
"That was Bizarrah doing that. She's an evil Genie who was sealed away a long time ago. Somehow she escaped and caught all of us off-guard." Roxas quickly explained, "Right now, Aladdin and the others are keeping her busy while we came here to save you guys and fix up the Lamp to put her back in."
Jack then turned back to where they came from and added, "Which they should be here any moment now...hopefully without Bizarrah causing anymore problems."
As if on cue, they could hear a loud commotion outside and then the next thing the group knew, Aladdin's group came zooming in and while Shantotto, Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu and Skuld hopped off Carpet and both Jasmine and her Husband hurried over to their fathers in huge relief, Noctis, Prompto and Ignis hopped off the gliders as Ven, Terra and Aqua dismissed their armors and their gliders turning back into their Keybaldes. Before anyone else could say anything, a furious shout echoed through the tunnels and then Bizarrah appeared before them, looking a bit bigger and extremely angry.
"You will never escape me, you infidals!" Bizarrah exclaimed, while the worldly travellers and their friends stood in defense stances. "Once I be rid of you, I will bring this world to ruin and rule it as it's Sultana!" She laughed evilly.
"Any ideas how to stop her completely?" Noctis asked, panting.
"Genies are immortal! We can't stop her like this!" Sora replied. It looked like they'd have to fight, but this would most likely be a battle they wouldn't win against since, as he'd just said, Bizarrah is immortal.
Aladdin hissed before he caught sight of the fully formed Lamp, and as he knew that they had to get Bizarrah back in somehow, a risky idea formed into his head. He knew that it was very dangerous, it seemed like the only chance they got.
"Genie! Put me inside that lamp!" Aladdin whispered to his blue Genie friend, who looked at him shocked, while Aqua and Skuld quickly chanted a Barrier to block Bizarrah's dark energy attack.
"What!?" Everyone else exclaimed, shocked, while Noctis then warpped towards Bizarrah and fought against her to keep her busy.
"Just do it!" Aladdin pleaded.
"No! Aladdin!" Cassim protested, shaking his head. He wasn't going to risk in losing his only son. Not again.
"Aladdin, you can't do this!" Jasmine pleaded.
Despite the protests and feeling nervous about this idea, Genie immediately understood his best friend's plan and nodded, "Sure thing, Al'! Don't worry, you'll be fine! We'll let you out in a jiffy!"
Sora and the others didn't like this idea either, but as they quickly blocked more of Bizarrah's attacks, they knew that they didn't have much of a choice. After most of them leaped out of the way, Genie used his magic to magically shrink Aladdin who called out tauntingly at Bizarrah, "Hey, Bizarrah! You want and get me? Come after me!" before he disappeared into the Lamp.
Not realising the plan and more focused on killing Aladdin, Bizarrah growled, "If you say so, boy! I'm going in!" and then shrunk herself into the Lamp...only to realise too late that, once she was back inside the Lamp, she was imprisoned and bound to it once more, meaning that her only way out was for someone to rub the Lamp.
"Oops..." She muttered sheepisly, then groaned in sheer annoyance.
Donald and Myde both laughed hysterically at Bizarrah's stupidity.
"Her fault for falling for that trick." Lea grinned, before asking, "Um...how do we get Al' back out again?"
"Easy! Just rub the Lamp." Genie replied. Everyone looked at each other, quickly becoming concerned.
"But wouldn't that let Bizarrah out too?" Goofy asked.
"Nah! The first person who entered the lamp will be the only one to be set free, especially if they're not a Genie." Genie replied.
"Well...if that's the case..." Sora trailled of as he then gently picked up the Lamp and, with some hesitation, rubbed it. A pink magical smoke formed out from the Lamp and reformed into the revealed Aladdin who sighed before he was glomped on by the relieved Jasmine as she kissed him on the cheek. Everyone else sighed in relief before Sora placed the Lamp back onto the pedestal.
"I must admit, young man. While reckless and rash, it was indeed a clever plan." Shantotto praised to Aladdin who rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Now she won't be causing anymore problems." Terra declared. "Lets head back to Agrabah."
Everyone else nodded in agreement, though along the way as they flew back to the Kingdom, Jasmine couldn't help but ponder, "That's one thing I still don't get. How did Bizarrah escape?"
The others shared confused glances, before they all shrugged. They were equally as clueless as the Princess was. Which prompted Ven to say, "Well, let's just hope she doesn't escape again anytime soon, if ever."
Everyone hoped Ven was right.
Half an hour after Sora and everyone else left, Bizarrah was grumbling at her own stupidity for having fallen into Aladdin's trap and ended up retrapping herself into this forsaken Lamp. Worst part was that the former Street Rat was released due to being a mortal human. Now she was back right where she started.
It was then that she heard a hissing sound, because outside of the Lamp, the Snake from earlier, having hidden from the entire event, slithered up on the pedestal but froze when Bizarrah, recongising the snake, commanded, "Snake! You have returned. I order you to release me at once!"
Unfortunately, the Snake, remembering the last time, shook his head and then slithered away from the Lamp and ignored her angry outbursts to be freed. He wasn't about to repeat that mistake twice.
When the group arrived at the entrance of Agrabah, Cassim and Iago took this as their chance to leave due to the former still being an Outlaw to the Kingdom and the two only gave his son and their friends a quick goodbye before riding off on Cassim's horse which had just arrived.
"Wonder why Iago decided to go with him?" Sora thought, a bit saddened.
"I think it's now that Jasmine and I are married, he couldn't handle the two of us being romantic more often." Aladdin guessed with a chuckle. "He'll be fine."
Quickly remembering the wedding that he missed out on, Sora turned to his close friend, saying apologetically, "About that...sorry I wasn't there to attend."
Aladdin smiled, "That's okay. If you like, you guys can come back to visit for an anniversary party next year." and Jasmine nodded in agreement enthusiastically.
"We'd be happy to!" Mickey replied, and most of the worldly travellers nodded in agreement. That was something they would be looking forward to.
"Hey, you wanna come too Shanto...Huh?" Ven trailled off as he turned to face the Tarutaru, only to realise that she was suddenly missing. The others then noticed that Shantotto was gone.
"Shantotto?" Mickey called out, but rechieved no answer.
"Where'd she go?" Aladdin asked, shrugging.
"I guess she decided to leave, without saying goodbye." Skuld realised, shrugging. Everyone else sighed.
"That wasn't nice, leaving without a formal farewell." Jack commented, a bit miffed.
"Who was that mage?" Ignis couldn't help but inquire.
"Well, whoever she was, I think she'll be fine. So we shouldn't really worry about her." Noctis shrugged. He had a feeling that Shantotto would be alright, anyway.
"Yeah. You're right." Sora nodded in agreement, having the same feeling as the Prince.
"Hey, almost forgot." Prompto spoke up, as he pulled something from his pockets and held out a familiar cube, saying, "I found this while we were in that Pyramid."
Instantly, Mickey and the others recongised it and he softly gasped, "The Gummi Block!" before sighing in relief, "Gosh, I almost forgot about it."
"Guess that means we can fix up the Gummi Ship completely now, right?" Riku smirked, relieved.
It was then that Genie's Lamp, which he used to sleep in but was still able to fly around freely whenever he wanted, glowed and floated out from Aladdin's pockets and then Sora's Keyblade appeared in his hand. Taking the hint, he held it out as the crown shape appearing underneath him as the world's Keyhole appeared via a beam of light shooting out from the Lamp. Sora then thrusted the Kingdom Key upward and via another beam of light, he locked up the world's keyhole, protecting it from the darkness before things returned to normal.
"Whoa! What was that cool display?" Prompto exclaimed, amazed.
"The world's now safe from darkness." Aqua replied, "It was the Keyhole Sora locked. This means it's time for us to go."
"Really?" Prompto asked, before requesting, "Hey, mind if I come along too? Y'know, to see Gladio?"
The rest of the worldly travellers nodded, with Lea saying, "Yeah. We were gonna ask you to come with us anyway. No fair in leaving you behind, right?"
Prompto chuckled, "That's true."
"You're all welcome here anytime." Sultan offered kindly.
"Take care, guys." Aladdin waved.
"Be sure to tune in next time, and if you need any help, just give me a buzz, 'kay?" Genie added.
"Good luck on your journey." Jasmine added.
The worldly travellers nodded their thanks, and now with Prompto briefly joining them and despite that it would take a while to place the Gummi Block into the vessel, before long, the group returned to the Gummi Ship and left Agrabah behind once more and finally made their way back to Olympus Coliseum. Though while they were aware that they would meet up with Gladio, little did the group know, there would be more to this second visit than they thought.
From a sand dune two miles away from the Kingdom, Shantotto stood there watching the worldly travellers leave.
"Hearts burning in powerful Light, perhaps Sora's alone would be enough to win the upcoming fight." The mage mused herself. After a few moments of silence, she sensed something but knew who was walking up behind her, as she greeted, "There's no need to continue to be gruff. You know fully well your last battle was admittedly tough."
"Who says I was being a gruffy?" A sharp toned female voice inquired. "You know as well as I do that they're going up against a God that was defeated once before. If Chaos isn't stopped, Bhunivelze will end up waking up."
Shantotto laughed, "Sometimes fighting is such a chore. But very necessary for the upcoming War. However, with bonds that is becoming more and more tightening, the worlds need to be brought together by Sora's heart to help you reunite with your sister...isn't that right, Lightning?"
She turned as she said the woman's name as there stood a tallish young woman in her mid-twenties, with strawberry Blonde hair, wearing some kind of godly warrior outfit of black, white and red, with a crimson blade attatched to her back, her eyes sharp blue.
"We should get going and meet up with that other kid. I can't show myself to Serah yet." Lightning told Shantotto.
The two females said nothing more, as they turned and walked away to leave the world of Agrabah behind as well, as their own mission could soon be linked to the Worldly Travellers' and many others.
{AGRABAH}
Meanwhile, Cloud and Zack had just arrived in another world, one that strangely looked and felt familiar, but found themselves in a completely different area. Everything looked in completely different language which, given that Cloud had travelled across different worlds before, it sort of reminded him of that world with, what he realised and remembered, Chinese writing.
"Where are we?" Zack asked, looking around as he and Cloud gazed around in the empty path of wet wood and darkening sky.
"I don't know. I know that this isn't the Land of Dragons, but I can't tell if this place is familiar or not." The younger man replied.
"Guess we're lookin' around here too." Zack shrugged, placing his hands behind his head casually. His friend nodded in agreement, but the two of them heard movement and stopped, spinning around and drew out their swords.
"Who's there?" Cloud demanded, glaring in the direction of the sound. Emerging from the corner was a man, slightly older than Cloud and Zack, wearing a blue royal Navy Uniform. He was carrying a rifle in his grasp and from the man's expression upon seeing the two swordsmen, they knew that they were already in trouble.
"Intruders! Intru-" The man quickly then turned and made to run fore reinforcements, but he was ultimately cut off when a clean shot right through the back stopped him in his tracks which he didn't even see coming, nor did Cloud and Zack who both stood there, shocked and confused as the soldier simply just dropped to the wet wood face first, dead. Who was it that suddenly shot a man dead without making a sound?
The question was answered as a man, a Pirate close to his late forties, maybe early fifties, emerged with a pistol in hand and a monkey rested on his shoulder. He wore a huge black hat.
"If ye be want to avoid in being caught, ye best to kill the man upon sight." The man told them, lowering his pistol. "And seeing how ye both are not pirates but not from these waters, I venture a guess that ye both are from a different land."
Cloud and Zack shared an uncertain glance before turning their attention back to the unfamiliar man, the former finally asking, "Who are you?"
The answer he got was shockingly unexpected. "Captain Barbossa, lad."
Cloud gasped softly. He knew that name. Sora told him about this guy once; the man whom Jack had killed a year ago, the same one who Pete tried to recruit for Maleficent's scheme.
"Barbossa?" Cloud repeated, shocked. He then groaned and said sarcastically, "Do I feel sorry for you to be back from the dead."
"You know this guy?" Zack asked his friend.
"No, but Sora told me about him a while back. He was killed a year ago." Cloud answered.
It took Zack five seconds to absorb this info, and when he did, he turned to the Pirate before them and exclaimed in shock at his fellow 'dead' man, "No way!"
This seemed to amuse Barbossa, because he chuckled. "Ah. So ye both are friends of that boy, Sora. Then ye know of the the certain quest to be at hand."
"Not interested." Cloud immediately responded. Whether he knew Barbossa or not, Cloud wasn't going to trust this guy anytime soon, especially since he'd been brought back to life as a sick joke. It's one more problem Jack has now when he eventually returns somehow. Knowing Sora, probably after Cloud and Zack left this world empty handed...again.
"Oh? Not interested in going to the land of the dead...to rescue Jack Sparrow?" Barbossa mocked a disappointed expression.
Now Cloud and Zack were again confused as they shared another glance, not sure what to say about that. What was Barbossa talking about? How did he know something happened earlier in this world, now that they realised they were back in Port Royal...in a completely different part of it. And more than that...Jack wasn't dead. He just wasn't here. He was with Sora...or did something happen and Sora and the others were really here?
The confusion only grew when other familiar people appeared behind Barbossa, with expressions of surprise and confusion as well; Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Gibbs, Marty, Cotton and his Parrot, Pintel and Ragetti. With them was a very unfamiliar dark-skinned woman with locked black hair and lips with a long dress. From the looks of her, Cloud and Zack both felt the chills.
"Cloud. Zack." Will muttered, being the first to speak. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh...I was about to ask the same thing about you guys." Zack awkwardly replied.
It seems a lot of explaination is needed.
Back at Maleficent's Domain, the witch herself sighed in exasperation as Pete finally emerged from the corrider of darkness, all battered up after narrowly escaping the three-headed Lion in Agrabah. Dulor shook his head at the sight of the fat villian as well and even more so when Pete explained what happened and that he'd come up empty handed.
"So even Agrabah is useless." Dulor sighed, annoyed. "I'm beginning to doubt the Book of Prophecies even exists. We've searched many worlds for it and still do not have it."
Maleficent however, remained stubborn and determined to get what she wants. "The book is out there, as well as the Black Box which may hold the secrets of the Seven Hearts of Light." She calmly told him. "Perhaps Port Royal may be our next destination. After all, Lord Beckett is eliminating Pirates and is using the Heart of Davy Jones to achieve that goal as we speak. Perhaps you should join him now, Dulor."
"With pleasure." Dulor grinned as he then opened up a Corridor of Darkness before stepping through, taking his leave.
"W-what about those brats? Oh, if they go back to d'at world, they'll just get in the way. Especially that Pirate fellow who got rid of Barbossa. We can't beat'em if they get in the way." Pete pointed out, worriedly.
The evil Witch smiled evilly, turning to gaze at the sky once more. "There is always a chance that Sora and his friends cannot interfere. Besides which, that Jack Sparrow is a prime target in his world, and I have a feeling his death will be absolute very soon. His death will decrease Sora's chances in defeating the Darkness."
She was confident that Sora will fail.
In the dark dungeon where Yen Sid, Angeal and Genesis were still chained up, the Sorcerer had been slowly recovering his powers but still weak and helpless to break free from this prison. None the less, his eyes were closed as he somehow concentrated on something.
When he finally opened them, he was admittedly shocked but still kept calm. "I sense more allies that will join Sora and his friends in this quest. A few, astonishingly, were reborn from many centuries ago." He informed his fellow prisoners.
"And who are they?" Angeal inquired, curious.
"I cannot say." Yen Sid lowered his head. "My magic is not yet fully returned. However, I can at least reveal that they are fully aware of Chaos' goal. What that goal is, we do not know. I have no doubt that Sora will accompish this perilous trial. But, the dangers are becoming more severe and they must be fully prepared of the clash that lies before us."
"Indeed." Genesis spoke in agreement, then spoke in a way of being troubled, "However, that is not Sora's only problem. A dark shadow lingers in his heart, and unless he learns it's true reason of being there, he may be at risk of becoming the vessel of that darkness. The only way to weaken it...is to reveal it to his friends."
A dark shadow lingering in Sora's heart? Who could that be? Yen Sid thought deeply for the answer to that question, his mind somewhat returning to when he and Riku had left with Aqua to retrieve Ventus and return his heart to his body. His eyes widen in shock and horror. He almost immediately knew who Genesis was talking about.
"Vanitas."
Caius continiously gazed up at the sky in the rock valley outside of Thebes, which looked more like a rock stadium considering. Those children were returning to this world. He could sense it. They really didn't know what they were doing and absolutely had no power to stop the upcoming war that was befalling upon the worlds.
There was only one way to keep them busy.
"Everything set in place, I gather?"
Turning to the direction of the familiar voice and seeing Arydn standing in front of the huge rock pile that rested for the past few years, Cauis snorted before answering, "Once they return here, we must accompish the deed that failed in Port Royal. They cannot hope to stop what is about to happen soon."
Ardyn chuckled as he approached the other man, saying, "Stopping the upcoming War is one thing, but is it necessary to take out your anger on those who you hardly even know?"
"You're the one to talk. You have a grudge against that Prince; the young man named Noctis. He is much like Sora, Cloud and Lightning combined." Caius pointed out.
"I hide nothing; not from a comrade." Ardyn shook his head with a smirk. "They are a problem, whether Sora is around or not. You remember how his Nobody, Roxas, the replica Xion, that former Organization No,8, Axel and those three children stopped the Brotherhood of Darkness a year ago after Organization XIII's first defeat? Together or not, they are troublesome and yet determined to save the Realm of Light."
"That was different. Those organizations are not Gods." Caius hissed, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
This didn't faze Arydn, "And yet, they were dangerous none the less. Should they have succeeded in their goals, the Realm of Light would have been lost, and then Chaos wouldn't have awoken. It would've still remained in the body of Vincent Valentine. Sad to say, it was Sora's destiny to save those who were lost; to end their hurting."
Caius turned away in disgust before storming off, but not before saying to Arydn, "He must know the true meaning of hurting. Saving those who suffered does not make him understand the agony and failure."
But once Caius had left, Arydn's expression turned to that of a dangerous frown. "Nor do you, Caius. You at least still have what you had desired for centuries. To end all this, Chaos and Bhunivelze must succeed...!" He then summoned a Corridor of Darkness and vanished inside.
Little did he and Caius know, the entire thing was secretly listened in by Arlene, Lamuria, Shelke and Shalua who all frowned deeply.
"So those two are the ones causing this new mess. They bigger jerks than Axel, and that guy in the hat is more of a bozo than Vexen." Arlene remarked snootily.
"This only proves that Sora and his friends had only made things worse. Had things gone differently, those two would not have appeared." Shelke stated, before admitting, "However...I sense that they had been around longer before Sora and Riku had even destroyed Xehanort's Keyblade."
"But would Master Aced want first; stop Sora and his friends, or stop Chaos and his cohorts from reviving Bhunivelze?" Shalua inquired, troubled.
Lamuria shook his head, "It's very clear that a War is about to happen."
"War? Didn't those brats just stopped that grandpa from creating the Keyblade War? Are you saying that it's still going to happen?" Arlene asked in annoyed disbelief.
"Not the Keyblade War." The pink-haired man corrected, much to the women's shock. He turned his attention to the sky, saying, "A War between the Gods of Good and Evil. One Godess, I fear, is set to be free soon, and once she is...well...it would only be a matter of time before Chaos makes his move."
"Then let's report back to Master Aced. He would want to know about this and find a way how to prevent this from happening." Shelke advised.
The other three nodded in agreement, even though Arlene looked even more annoyed by this. None the less, they then left Olympus Coliseum behind to inform Aced of the new dangers that were coming closer and closer.
With the Gummi Ship fully restored, the Worldly Travellers, now including Prompto, were finally on their way back towards Olympus Coliseum to find Gladio to reunite him with his three friends. And a good thing too, because it had gotten a bit crowded in the vessel.
That didn't seem to faze them, though. It wouldn't last long anyway. Sora thought about everything that's happened as he watched the worlds and stars pass way. Though again, he couldn't help but think about he had those dreams of confront Vanitas. Plus, after seeing the alternate dimension through a mirror back in Agrabah, the Keyblade Master was getting more and more worried.
'Maybe I should tell them...but how can I do that?' Sora thought to himself. He knew, though, given how he hid this from his friends for so long, he knew that they would be angry with him. He was starting to realise now how both Cloud and Riku felt with their secrets, and how Mickey felt in not telling him about what happened to Riku.
"You're not thinking of telling them about me, are you?" Vanitas spoke in his mind, mocking a shocked tone. "I don't want to disappear."
Sora mentally rolled his eyes. 'Don't you have anything better to do than taunt me or try and take over my heart?'
The former darkness of Vanitas scoffed, "In case you haven't noticed, idiot, I'm stuck inside you as much as you're stuck having me stuck inside you. But seriously, what do you think will happen if you do tell them about me?"
'Well, I know they'll be angry with me for keeping you secret for so long. I just didn't want them to look like I was crazy. Besides, I have no idea how to handle this other than ignore you. I won't give into the darkness, and I definitely won't give into you.' Sora replied.
Vanitas must've been surprised, because he admitted, "I actually thought you'd say that they would understand. As I remember since I can see into your memories, you weren't that angry with the King keeping you out of the loop about Riku."
'I was a little annoyed and impatient, but after what Riku told me and that he made the King promise in order to keep me from attacking him by mistake or hurt my feelings, I got the better idea in the end. But even I know that no one's the same. Sure, some of us share similiar personalites, but we're not the same. We're not like Heartless or Nobodies.' Sora admitted and explained. 'Besides, if everyone was the same, that'd take the fun outta learn about what other people do and if they're bad like what the bad guys are thinking of doing or are doing, at least I can put a stop to it.'
It seemed that Vanitas wasn't interested in talking anymore for now, because he seemed to have faded, much to Sora's relief. At least he had some peace and quiet to continue dwelling in his own thoughts.
However, he'd been unaware that Lea had been watching him the whole time, and even quirked an suspicious eye-brow when Sora seemed to be thinking...or perhaps talking to himself in his head. This just confirmed that the kid was hiding a similiar secret the redhead had with Axel a year ago.
But before Lea could speak up to talk to Sora, the scanner beeped and got everyone's attentions, even both Myde and Noctis who'd both dozed off a little while ago.
"We've made it back to Olympus Coliseum." Mickey announced.
"That was fast." Prompto admitted and getting even more excited now.
"The Gummi Ship is always fast." Goofy explained, "Ay-yhuck!"
Sora stood smiling, saying leadership-like, "Well, better get going. Maybe we'll get an update from Herc' and the Gods."
But little did the group know, as they all began to descend into the familiar world, that things were about to get much more intensed than the situation calls for it.
A/N: Sorry that Agrabah was short, but I did my best. Get ready for the next chapter...once I've come up with an idea how it would go and I'll try to update this again sooner than what I did. See you then!