---CHAPTER V---

The little wooden puppet longing to be a real boy, Pinocchio, was walking next to the hotel of the second district of Traverse Town. He looked on the rooftops to see a few black-hooded figures on the rooftops. Gepetto told him that if he saw those figures he should run home immediately. He started to run but was mesmerized by the glyph that had appeared on the ground in the central rectangular area, in front of the fountain. The bell of Traverse Town began to ring and Pinocchio immediately ran back into the first district.

Out of the glyph in the center of the area came one of the largest men Traverse Town had ever seen. They watched as he emerged from the glyph wearing a long black jacket. After the man rose a little bit more a few citizens saw a very long sword emerge from him.

Sephiroth took the sword and plunged it into the ground in front of him. Just then some green lights emerged. One citizen noticed the lights were actually some sort of liquid emerging from the ground. The green liquid seemed to be absorbing itself into Sephiroth. All of a sudden chunks of the ground began flying and disappearing from the street. Every citizen then began to run. The green liquid spread and more ground began to be disintegrated or thrown.

Within an hour some gummi ships that managed to escape watched their home get completely destroyed. Traverse Town was the first to go, and Sephiroth didn't intend to stop there.

Aladdin, Riku, Abu, Genie, and the King all arrived at the front gates to Agrabah. The group got off the magic carpet and everybody went to Aladdin's hideout to plan what to do next.

"So, Riku," said Aladdin, "What exactly do you need to go home?" Riku turned to King Mickey. King Mickey had established a law about other worlds knowing about the other worlds out there, and throughout his travels Riku had learned exactly what the King meant by that. It would make the villains of the worlds of Kingdom Hearts even more power hungry, as Maleficent was when she learned about the power of the darkness spreading across many worlds.

King Mickey held out his hand, showing Aladdin a few of the gummi blocks they needed. "These are what we need. The only problem is we'll need a cave to get them in. And seeing the Cave of Wonders in the state it's in now, I don't think we'll be going back anytime soon." spoke the King as he put the gummi blocks away.

Riku then heard something dangle outside the doorway. He drew his soul eater and began to walk outside, giving a small signal to the others to be quiet. He jumped whatever was outside and was instantly blinded by the glare of the Agrabah sun. All he could see was a red object carrying something shiny. Riku knew what it was and ran back inside.

"Aladdin, do you still have the lamp?" asked Riku as he looked around. Genie was also nowhere to be found. Just then a red light came over the sky and both Riku and Aladdin ran outside. They both saw that the sky had turned red and the palace had moved to the top of a large cliff in the distance. "Damn, that old man must have stolen the lamp!" exclaimed Riku as he quickly went to where carpet was.

"What exactly are you doing?" asked Aladdin.

"I'm going to stop that guy and get the lamp back!" shouted Riku as he jumped on the carpet. Aladdin got on with Riku.

"I'm coming with you. I've got to save Jasmine and the Sultan." King Mickey followed the two. The carpet then whisked them all away in the direction of the palace.

It had only been a couple of standard days, but already Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Halloween Town, Atlantica and Neverland had all been absorbed by Sephiroth. In Hollow Bastion, Ansem had begun to wonder exactly what he had gotten himself into. The Revolution was going perfect, perhaps too perfect. If Sephiroth destroyed all of the worlds before the Revolution was complete, then there would be no glory in Ansem ruling the entire universe. He was going to need something to stop Sephiroth, but nobody on the light was powerful enough to stop him that was available.

Then a thought came to him. Maybe he didn't need somebody from the light, but rather the darkness… He knew then he could kill two birds with one stone, he could stop Sephiroth and figure out where Sora was, just in time to end Sora's life once and for all. The Revolution was just too easy. His final plan for dominion was about to come to fruition. A dark smile once again went across Ansem's face. He knew he wasn't so different from Sephiroth after all…

Jafar was sitting on his throne in Agrabah palace with princess Jasmine by his side. Jasmine had shown signs of trying to resist, but Jafar's sorcery was too powerful. The chains were pure magic, which meant only Jafar or Genie could open them.

Riku then came jumping down from above. "Let her go!" shouted Riku enthusiastically.

"Well, well, well, the offworlder. I see that you found the lamp. Now if my assistant didn't have to bring the lamp to me, you would be a very rich boy right now." laughed Jafar as he ate on some fruits in front of him. Aladdin began to sneak around the corner and watched Iago eat some berries of his own. Abu then jumped up and grabbed Iago. Jafar was too concentrated on Riku to notice what was going on.

Genie went to Aladdin's position. "Al, little buddy! What are you doing here?" asked the Genie, whispering. "You know I can't help you. I work for senior psychopath now." Aladdin just hushed Genie and watched as Riku grabbed a hand on his soul eater.

"All right, Jafar. Let's end this." said Riku as he grabbed his soul eater and lunged for Jafar. Jafar immediately grabbed his snake staff and used his magic to push Riku away. Riku fell straight on his back.

"Boy, don't even think you have the power to stop me!" yelled Jafar as he took a couple of steps toward Riku. "I am the most powerful sorcerer in the world, you know!"

Riku jumped back to his feet and took a few swings at Jafar, both of which were guarded by Jafar's snake staff. Aladdin, seeing this, picked up a sword in one of the huge gold piles and rushed Jafar while Riku was distracting him. Jafar once again succeeded in pushing Riku back, almost off the edge of a balcony behind him. Aladdin swung and cut Jafar across the arm. Jafar took several steps back. He seemed to be in a lot of pain after the wound Aladdin gave him.

Riku stumbled back to his feet. "Thanks, Aladdin" said Riku.

"Don't mention it. But I've got a feeling Jafar's not done yet."

Jafar was holding his wound. "Fine. You want to play rough, you've got it." Jafar said as he made it back to his throne. In an instant flames surrounded Aladdin and Riku. Jafar seemed to be growing taller, and quickly transformed himself into a giant cobra. Aladdin stood in shock as the gigantic cobra began to wrap its tail around Riku and Aladdin.

---TO BE CONTINUED---