Prologue
(Philia speaking) Hi, my name is Philia. A while ago, I ended up getting sent away from my world, and now I have no memory of my past, other than my skills with a dagger and the fact that I was a treasure hunter. I am currently joining alongside my new friends Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, as we journey to different worlds, and using the power of Sora's Keyblade to stop the dark threat known as the Heartless, and sealing the Keyholes before the Heartless take the hearts of the worlds.
Last time, we ended up returning to Traverse Town to talk to Leon and the gang about a new Gummi we got. Turns out, it'll help us traverse to more worlds, so while Cid installed it, we ended up taking on a few tasks, meeting new people and gaining new gifts in the process.
One of these people was Sora's close friend, Riku, who just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. While everything seemed good between all of us, he almost convinced me to leave Sora's side, making me believe that my wishes and reasons to join him were just interfering with Sora's journey to find Kairi. However, after we defeated a large Heartless and sealed Traverse Town's Keyhole, my friends assured me that I had no need to worry. I was just as important to the team, and my hopes to find my memories were not a hinderance to anyone else's wishes. This renewed my friendship in them, and I knew where I belonged.
But was Riku really trying to help Sora? I get the feeling his intentions were darker than that. I worry something might be wrong with him and what he planned to do, but for now, I'll continue on this path with Sora and my friends, as we continue to stomp out the Heartless threat, and seal up the Keyholes!
(Cue 'Digimon Adventure Tri Opening 1 - Butterfly TV Size', music on Youtube)
My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly
(As the viewer zoom in on a grassy field, a red shape passes the viewer, revealing Sora in the distance. A light blue shape passes, revealing Philia, then a green one reveals Goofy, and a dark blue one reveals Donald.)
Oh My Love (guitar intro)
(The viewer zooms in and circles around to see the four of them standing there, looking off into the distance. The image becomes blurry as the title appears in front of them.)
I become a happy butterfly and flying the shimmering wind And I will go to see you right away
(Sora was asleep on the shore of the Destiny Islands, but was awoken by a voice behind him. He turned to see Kairi and Riku standing there by the raft, the latter looking somewhat annoyed by Sora's laziness while Kairi waved him over to help. Sora got to his feet and raced to his friends. The screen fades to white.)
Better you forget about unnecessary things, There's no time to joke anymore.
(The viewer zoom out of the white in Philia's eyes as she practices with her Sword Breaker, with Leon and Yuffie watching her. Her blade glowing yellow-green as she thrusted her blade forward in a Dagger Skill. She holds her position for a moment as Yuffie applauds her, then Philia lowers her weapon, looking up at the sky with a sad expression. The viewer looks into the sky, seeing the stars as they shined for a seconds, before quickly disappearing one by one.)
I wonder, wow wow wow wow wow, what will reach the sky
(The viewer zooms out as Maleficent comes into view, standing at the table with the shadowy silhouettes of her villainous allies, and Riku at her side.)
But, wow wow wow wow wow, don't even have a plan for tomorrow
(The scene changes to six of the seven Princesses of Heart, their eyes closed as if they were asleep. Kairi appears in the middle of it, her arms crossed in front of her as she opens her eyes and her body scatters into lights, replacing her position with Sora as he stood there beside Philia, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy on Donald's head as the viewer shifts the angle to behind them, seeing the hundreds of Heartless in front of them.)
Living in a world of nothing after the infinite dream, My love to you is growing weak
(The four begin to display to the viewers their combat skills against the Heartless one at a time, starting with Sora, then Philia, then Goofy, then finally Donald, who rains down lightning onto the Heartless before the heroes charge in to continue fighting.)
My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly. Oh My Love
(The viewer passes the Heartless to see Riku standing at the end, reaching out to Sora as to invite him to the darkness, with the shadowy image of Heartless Ansem mimicking his movements. Philia clears the path for Sora as he races forward, reaching out to his friend. The view shifts to Sora's view, his hand reaching out to Riku as he and the darkness fade away into the light.)
Guitar solo ending
(The screen shines an image of King Mickey holding the Keyblade as Donald and Goofy looking in from the sides. The view shifts to a dark image of Aincrad as it crumbles away, with Philia's face looking to the viewer. The view zooms out as Sora pats Philia's shoulder, causing her to look and smile at Sora as he grinned back. The view zooms back even further to show quartet and Jiminy standing there, smiling at the viewers as they stood on the same hill as before, before the view shifts back to the sky again, with the flower petals flying by once again.)
Olympus Coliseum
After the team left Traverse Town, they decided to make their way to the Olympus Coliseum to take part in the tournament that Hades told them about. The tournament was known as the Phil Cup, and it consisted of nine rounds. Each round had a group of Heartless to take care of, and each one needed a different strategy on how to beat them. This was great for the heroes, as they needed to improve their ability to think on the fly, and defeat their opponents. Now, they were on their last round.
"That's it for those smaller Heartless!" Goofy stated, after he and Donald eliminated the last Yellow Opera and Blue Rhapsody.
"Now it's onto the big one!" Donald declared, turning to the last target; a pink Armored Torso Heartless. Philia and Sora were already dealing with it at the moment, with Philia in the lead, unleashing a Round Accel Dagger Skill, counteracting the rotating armor.
When the two canceled each other out, Philia shouted, "Switch out!" She backed off as Sora charged forward, and unleashed a flurry of slashes, followed by a Sonic Blade technique, piercing the armor several times, then ending its' life with the final attack.
"We got 'em!" Sora cheered, turning to Philia, who smiled and nodded in response. Sora raised his Keyblade high, shouting, "We're the champs!" The others gathered around him, cheering at their own victory. They won the first cup.
Moment's later, the team left the coliseum, and returned to their Gummi Ship, expressing their happiness at their win. "Gawrsh, that trophy sure looked nice with our names on it!" Goofy noted.
"And we got some new magic!" Donald pointed out, waving his staff as he felt the new magic they gained as prizes from the tournament.
"You said it was called Gravity magic, right?" Sora asked, looking at his hand, "It sounds pretty powerful."
"Forget about that for the moment. I think I really liked how we got stronger and a better team by partaking in that tournament." Philia stated.
"We even impressed Phil, even if he didn't say it." Goofy added.
"He did say another tournament would come at a later date, so let's keep an eye out for it!" Sora told the others.
"For now, let's move onto the next world!" Donald declared, taking the wheel of the Gummi Ship, and guiding it to the next world.
After navigating through a series of obstacles and Heartless, not to mention discovering a portal that led them to another pathway, they soon discovered the next world they were gonna visit. From their point of view, they could see a large city in a desert.
"What's this world about?" Sora asked Donald, who looked at the monitor.
"It's called Agrabah." The duck explained, "Definitely has some Heartless trouble down there. A whole ton of it!"
"Guess we'd better go down there and find out what's makin' them stir here?" Goofy assumed.
"Not like we were gonna ignore this place." Philia stated, walking to the teleport panel with Sora at her side, "Let's see if we can't find either what we're looking for, or even the Keyhole." Sora nodded in agreement, as Goofy came to join them. Donald locked in the coordinates, and they teleported down to the surface of the world.
When they arrived, they found themselves at the entrance of the city, which clearly had an old Arabian-style look to it. Not to mention that behind them, with the exception of a few palm trees and some water, it was nothing but a desert. A hot, hot, desert.
"Oy, this heat..." Philia moaned, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked to the sky.
"It sure is steamy..." Goofy muttered, pulling his turtleneck to one side to let loose some steam.
"It's not too bad." Sora defended, "Then again, I grew up on the islands, so I'm use to hot days."
"Lucky you..." Philia muttered, looking back at him.
"Heartless at 12 o'clock!" Donald exclaimed, seeing the market being overrun by the Heartless.
"Including some new ones!" Sora noted, seeing Heartless with turbans and scimitars amongst the group.
The four went to work, taking on the Heartless with their newly-improved strength, thanks to training at the Olympus Coliseum. They even tried using their new Gravity spell, which pressed the Heartless down to the ground hard, and cut their stamina in half, making it easier to defeat them.
"What were those new Heartless?" Goofy asked Philia when they were done.
Seeing that she had the book of Heartless knowledge, Philia opened it up, and looked into it. "Got it. They are known as Bandit Heartless." she read, "Not only are they sword-wielding Heartless, but are a bit on the nimble side. It says here there are also Large Body variants of the Bandits, called Fat Bandits, who can breath fire."
"They sound tricky." Sora noted.
"Ah, who cares?!" Donald squawked, "We're already strong enough, so we can take 'em!"
"We shouldn't get too cocky, remember that." Philia mentioned, putting the book away, "Remember the old saying, 'Pride leads to a fall'."
"Right. Let's not lose focus!" Goofy stated.
Donald huffed, feeling like his confidence should be fine, and the four entered further into Agrabah, searching for clues.
They made their way into the market, dealing with more Heartless along the way, before making their way to the alley nearby. As they made it there, Sora stopped, sensing someone was hiding and watching them. He looked about, then saw, in the corner of his eye, someone hidden behind some crates.
"I see someone!" Sora gasped, pointing at the crates.
The person gasped, and tried to hide themselves from sight. "Who's there?" The person demanded. The voice was female.
"We're not Heartless, if that's what you're asking." Philia answered, "Don't worry. We won't harm you."
The woman took a second, then pushed the crates to one side to reveal herself. She was young and beautiful, with an hourglass figure, dark skin, and dark brown eyes. Her thick, black hair was tied into a low ponytail in a blue ribbon, accompanied by a headband with a sapphire in the center set in a gold frame. Her attire was composed of a blue bedlah outfit with long poofy bustle pants and a top which leaves her forearms and midriff bare. She also had on golden earrings, a golden necklace, and gold slipper-like shoes.
"Who are you?" Sora asked her.
"I'm Jasmine. My father is the sultan of Agrabah." She introduced herself.
"Sultan?" Sora echoed, confused by the term.
"I think that means he's like a king." Philia assumed, looking at Jasmine.
"Uh... So that makes you the princess." Goofy summed up.
"But if you're a princess, what are you doing out here?" Sora asked.
"My father has been deposed by Jafar, who now controls the city." Jasmine explained.
"Jafar?" Donald questioned.
"You haven't heard of him?" Jasmine asked, amazed.
"We're travelers, so we don't know too much about this kingdom." Philia explained, making up on the spot.
"He's the royal vizier." the princess explained, "He's gained evil powers and seized Agrabah. He's desperately looking for something...something he calls the 'Keyhole'."
The team looked at one another in shock. So this Jafar guy was familiar with the Keyhole. Meaning he more than likely knew about stuff outside of this world. That meant he was a dangerous adversary.
"Jafar caught me trying to escape, but 'he' helped me." Jasmine continued.
"Who helped you?" Sora asked.
"We were hiding nearby, but he left a while ago to take care of something..." Jasmine explained, looking to the sky with worry, "Oh, I hope Aladdin's all right."
"Aladdin?" A deep, male voice echoed from above, "Where might I find this street rat?" They looked up to see the owner of the voice, and saw a tall, thin, bony man with a black goatee and mustache, his head adorned with a black and yellow-lined mitre with a ruby set in front and a red feather protruding from it. He wore black and red robes with a violet-red sash around his waist, light-colored clothing that covered his neck, and a black and blood-red cape draped down his back. He had a gold, ruby-eyed, cobra scepter in his right hand.
"Jasmine, allow me to find you more suitable company, my dear princess." He told the hesitant princess, "These little rats won't do, you see."
"And he must be Jafar." Philia assumed, feeling the villainous vibes coming from him.
"Jasmine, run!" Sora ordered to the princess, who acknowledged and ran away from the scene. With her out of the way, they all drew their weapons, ready to fight.
"Ah, the boy who holds the key." Jafar noticed the weapon in Sora's hands.
'So he even knows about the Keyblade!' Philia realized.
"Get back here!" Sora shouted, as he and the others took care of the Heartless before they even had a chance to take them out.
"He seems to know about the Keyhole and the Keyblade." Goofy noticed.
"And he controls the Heartless." Donald added.
"If he is after Jasmine, it must be for a sinister reason." Philia assumed, looking towards where the princess ran.
"Should we look for her?" Sora asked.
"Maybe, but what about that Aladdin feller?" Goofy asked, "Jafar looked like he was interested in him, too."
"Hm... I am worried about him, too." Sora agreed, messing with his hair, "Gaaah, what do we do?!"
The team paused for a moment, then Philia answered, "Let's split up and look about. Find clues about where Aladdin was, while looking for Jasmine."
"We gotta split up again?!" Sora questioned, "Shouldn't we stick together?"
"Sora, I know you want us to stay as a team, but this is a desperate situation." Philia told him, "Besides, the streets here are too small for us to fight properly together."
"But-!" Sora started, but Philia stopped him and continued, "Look, we can just split up this one time in this world. Afterwards, we can stick together! Alright?"
Sora paused for a moment to think about it. Finally, he answered, "Alright, but if something goes wrong, please find us!"
"Deal." Philia answered, raising a hand to Sora. He took it, and they shook.
With that, Sora, Donald and Goofy took off, while Philia leapt up to the upper levels where Jafar was at before. She looked to see a lock mechanism nearby with a large keyhole, and used her dagger to pick the lock. There was a click, and she saw, on the other side of the upper level of the alleyway, a gate raising on a door. "Well, let's see where this will go." She told herself, and she made her way over there.
While Sora, Donald and Goofy traversed the streets of Agrabah on the ground, Philia took to the rooftops to search for clues. They did find a few items and treasures here and there, along with several Heartless groups. However, there was no signs of Aladdin or Jasmine.
After a good long while of searching, the four looked into an open storage place, where they discovered the princess had hidden herself within the place. The fact that there was a bulged, shifting carpet told them enough someone was hiding there.
"Princess Jasmine, is that you?" Sora asked.
The princess peered from underneath the carpet, and saw the four there. "It's you!" She realized, pulling herself out, "I thought for sure those monsters Jafar sent out..."
"They were no match for us!" Donald stated triumphantly.
"Still, it's not safe anywhere here." Sora noted, "The Heartless are everywhere."
While Jasmine looked worried, Philia couldn't help but feel something. There was something about Jasmine that was different from the normal people. The only time she ever felt this kind of feeling was when she was talking to Alice. It was as if her heart was filled with nothing but kindness, and she had no reason to not trust this girl.
"Please, can you do me a favor?" Jasmine started, drawing Philia out of her thoughts, "Can you help search for Aladdin for me, please. I worry something might've happened to him."
"I guess we can..." Sora answered, "...but where could he be?"
"I'm not too sure. He left without telling me." Jasmine explained, "Maybe you should look for clues at where he lives. There's a pole you can climb up to his place in the upper parts of the market street."
"Right. Let's go there!" Sora told the team, about to race out of the storage room.
"Hold on, what about Jasmine?" Philia asked, "Jafar is out there. We can't leave her alone."
"Guess that's true." Goofy agreed, "If Jafar is after her, and he knows about the Keyhole, it can't be a good thing."
"Is the Keyhole that important?" Jasmine asked.
"Well-." Sora started, but Donald shouted, "Order!", clamming him up. If she knew about what the Keyhole was, they would have to bring in the fact that they were from another world. That was against the rules.
"Let's just say that the monsters Jafar commands shouldn't go anywhere near it." Philia summed up, turning to her friends, "As for Jasmine, I think it would be best if I stayed with her."
"Why you?" Sora asked, confused.
"Because it would be best for us girls to stick together." She answered, looking to her, "Plus, I get the feeling she has to be protected, no matter what."
Sora, Donald and Goofy looked at one another, then back at Philia, who gave a serious nod at the trio. This was something she wanted to do. "Okay..." Sora understood, kinda feeling a bit sad. After when she said that they only needed to split up that one time, she chose to do it again. It kinda hurt him a bit that she would break her word like that. However, there was a part of him that told him that Philia protecting her was an important thing. In other words, he had to let her protect Jasmine.
"C'mon! We gotta find this Aladdin feller!" Goofy told Sora. He nodded in agreement, and he, Donald and Goofy left Philia and Jasmine alone.
"Are you sure you don't want to go with him?" Jasmine asked her, "He seemed disappointed at your choice."
"Sometimes, we gotta make hard choices that others don't always agree on." Philia answered, looking down at her hand, "Besides, it's not like I DON'T wanna be around Sora. After everything that happened before..."
She thought back to Traverse Town, and what Sora and the others said when she planned to leave them. She could clearly remember Sora's words to her that they would never leave her side until they all found what they were looking for. Sora's smiling, confident face was pictured her mind, and she blushed.
"Are you okay?" Jasmine asked.
"F-Fine! Never been better!" Philia stammered hastily, "In any case, we gotta make sure you are hidden really well. Let's start with your look, okay?"
"My look?" Jasmine asked, looking down herself.
"Sure. Walking about the place as a princess would not do you any good." Philia explained, looking about the place. She suddenly discovered something that could work; a dirty brown cloak with a hood attached. "This could work." She told herself, and she took the cloak, handing it to Jasmine, "Let's make sure that look is well-hidden..."
Meanwhile, Sora, Donald and Goofy climbed a pole that led into an open room that was open and a bit dirty, and a large hole that had a great view of the palace. It looked like a place where a homeless person would live. Sora was still hung up on leaving Philia behind as he wondered out loud, "Why would she just choose to split up like that again? And after she said we would just split up that one time?"
"Well, it's not like we didn't choose to come together to find Jasmine then." Goofy pointed out.
"Besides, she's tough and mature." Donald added, "She is so not like you, Sora."
"Hey, I'm tough! AND I'm mature!" Sora snapped. Donald snickered at this, finding his latter sentence funny.
Sora chased after Donald as they raced around the place, while Goofy looked about, seeing something. Underneath a furniture piece of some sort was a purple, finely-designed carpet with gold tassels. However, it wasn't how good the design looked. It was the fact that the carpet was actually moving, trying to tug itself out from underneath the heavy furniture.
"Hey, fellas." Goofy called out to the pair, with Sora holding Donald up by the collar as the duck whacked his head with his staff. The two paused and looked to Goofy, who pointed out the carpet. They looked to it, and noticed it moving.
"That carpet... is alive?" Sora exclaimed, dropping Donald and racing to the carpet, which looked like it saw the team surrounding it. It used its' tassels to point at the furniture, and tugged itself hard.
"I think it might be stuck." Goofy noticed.
"Let's help it out." Sora told the two, and they pulled the piece of furniture off of it. The carpet was happy to be free as it started to fly and circle around the team, causing them to realize that this wasn't just any ordinary carpet. It was a magic flying carpet.
"Do you know Aladdin?" Sora asked the carpet as it landed with its back tassels touched the ground like they were its' feet. It nodded, and it flew out the hole in the wall, out to where the entrance was.
"The carpet flew off toward the desert. Let's follow it, Sora!" Donald told the Keyblade wielder. The trio slid down the pole, and out towards the desert.
When they arrived outside, they discovered that the magic carpet was waiting for the trio. It flew down to meet them, waving them over. "Does it want us to come along with it?" Sora asked, looking to the others for assurance. They weren't completely sure, but guessed it the answer was a yes.
The carpet flattened itself on the ground, beckoning them to get on. The trio climbed aboard the carpet, wondering if it could carry all three of them. Fortunately, it could, as it levitated off the ground with them on it, and took off towards the darkened skies beyond.
"I think it'll take us to where Aladdin is." Goofy assumed.
"Then lead the way, Carpet!" Sora ordered, raising a fist as they flew onwards.
Back in Agrabah, Philia was outside the storage, looking about the place. She saw there were no Heartless, and stated, "The coast is clear." She looked back to see Jasmine come out, her body covered with the cloak, with her hood covering her head.
"Thank you for keeping an eye out for me." The princess thanked her.
"It's not a problem." She replied, "Now come on. Let's go see if the others found Aladdin." She led Jasmine throughout the streets, keeping an eye out for Heartless.
"So, why don't you clear things up for me." Philia started, "I get that Jafar is interested in taking over Agrabah. I mean, he looks like the kind of power-hungry mongrel who would want to take over to gain power. But what about his fixation on you? Does he want you out of the way, or is he lusting after you, or what?"
"I'm... pretty disturbed at what you considered, but I don't think that's it." Jasmine stated, shuddering at the two ideas Philia came up with.
"Sorry." Philia apologized, "Just that when I read certain kinds of stories, when a guy takes over a country, the princess or queen is either banished, executed, forcefully married, or made his mistress."
"I guess those options would make sense, as sad as they are." Jasmine understood, "But I think Jafar himself is not wanting any of those things from me."
"What do you mean?" Philia asked, looking at the stalls.
"I was actually hiding when I overheard him talking to someone." the princess explained, "She looked like a sorceress, in a black cloak and carried a staff. She looked so unusual, it's as if she wasn't from this world. But she definitely had an evil feeling coming off of her."
'A sorceress who doesn't look like she is part of this world?' Philia echoed in her mind, 'The only person I heard ever given that reference close to that would be that person Leon and the others spoke of, Maleficent.'
"I overheard them talking about the Keyhole, and said something about me being a 'princess of heart'." Jasmine continued, "They said they needed seven of them to open a 'final door'. I'm not too entirely sure what that is suppose to mean, but I know it cannot be good."
"Princess of heart? Final door?" Philia echoed, looking down with a puzzled expression, "I wonder what that is suppose to mean?" She looked to Jasmine as she asked, "Do you know anything about what a 'princess of heart' is?"
"No..." Jasmine answered, looking away from Philia, "Even in the stories I was read to, I've never heard of such a thing."
"I see..." Philia understood, feeling like she should change the subject, "So...tell me about what it's like being a princess?"
"What?" Jasmine asked, looking at her in confusion.
"Well, I'm a girl. And like most girls, we wonder what it's like to be a princess." Philia stated, noticing a stall that had some weapons on it. She noticed a golden-bladed dagger halfway in its' scabbard, and took a look at it.
"Well, it's not all as it is cracked up to be." Jasmine stated, looking a bit disgruntled, "Before Jafar took over, I wasn't even allowed to be outside the palace. I was constantly told what to do, sent suitors for me to get married to... I felt trapped."
Philia looked back, seeing the sad expression on her face. "Sorry to hear that. I guess it's only worse for you that the first time you left the palace was during a tyrant's takeover."
"You're not very good with words, are you?" Jasmine questioned the treasure hunter, who went back to examining the dagger.
"Gotta make up for Sora's childish attitude on so many levels." Philia stated, putting down the dagger, and begun digging into her satchel to bring out her purse, "He's great in a fight, lightens the mood, and easily makes friends, no matter where he goes. But he's childish, an adventure-seeker, and a constant idiot who doesn't get a clue on the situation he is in. I constantly have to be around him a lot so he, Donald or Goofy don't do anything foolish. Makes me wonder why I constantly split up from them whenever we do this..."
"Maybe...it's because you trust him to do the right thing." Jasmine answered, causing Philia to turn to her, "What I want out of a person I will be married to is trust. Trust to do the right thing. Trust to not think about himself, and to consider my feelings. Trust to love me for the person I am..." She looked to the area where Aladdin's house was at, her expression filled with worry for the resident.
Philia looked to where she gazed, then a smile formed on her face as she asked, "And I assume Aladdin has those qualities, huh?"
Jasmine looked back at her, her face blushing a bit as she answered, "Well, it is a bit too soon to give any clear answer. But he has been selfless, noble and kind. Something I can see in Sora, too. I can tell you see the same..."
Now it was Philia's turn to blush, looking away as she stammered, "O-Oh, please! You think he and I... That's ridiculous! I mean, he's a great guy and all, but still..." She paused, as Jasmine gave her a mischievous smirk, catching her off guard. After all the blunt comments she delivered to the princess, now it was Philia's turn to get struck down in embarrassment.
Philia hid her face as she dug into her pocket, pulling out the Munny she needed to buy the golden dagger, and slid it underneath the counter. "Might as well get this, in any case." She told herself, raising up the dagger to see it shine in the light, "I can tell this might be a special kind of weapon to use."
Suddenly, there were a swarm of Bandit Heartless appearing all around the pair, who went back to back with one another. They turned, and saw a Fat Bandit appearing close by, thumping its' belly with its hand. "Guess we spent too long here..." Philia realized.
"Jafar will find out we're here if we don't get away!" Jasmine stated. Philia nodded in confirmation, as she readied her dagger, prepared to protect the princess, unaware of another pair of eyes in the sky. They belonged to a red parrot with a yellow beak. This was Iago, a henchman of Jafar.
At this point, the trio of boys were underneath the dark sky as they saw, far off in the distance, something that looked like a lion's head made of sand. However, in front of the sand, there was a quicksand pit, and two figures seemed to be stuck in it. One was a monkey with a purple fez and a vest. The other looked like a lean young man with an open purple vest, a red sash around his waist, and baggy white pants. They were both struggling to try and get out.
"Is that Aladdin?" Goofy asked as they started to descend.
"He looks like he's in trouble!" Donald noticed.
"We gotta go save him!" Sora declared, and they hopped off Carpet, and raced towards the quicksand trap.
Suddenly, numerous Bandit Heartless appeared out of the sands, surrounding the pit, and preventing the heroes from getting near it.
"Now what?!" Donald questioned.
"Hold on... Maybe..." Sora reached into his pocket, and pulled out the stone Leon gave him. The one the Fairy Godmother claimed housed the spirit of a character within. "Let's try this!" He declared, raising the stone to his chest, and concentrated.
"Power! Summon: Simba!" He shouted, and both the stone and his Keyblade shined. He waved his Keyblade high, creating a swirl of clouds appear high above him. After a moment, something on four legs came out of the clouds. It turned out to be an adult male lion, with a red mane around its' neck. It roared upon being summoned, ready to fight.
Donald and Goofy looked shocked and a bit frightened at the sight of the lion, while Sora looked to Simba, and they nodded in confirmation. They were gonna need one another to defeat the Heartless.
The Bandit Heartless came at Sora and Simba, but with one swipe of their Keyblade and claws, they took out the Bandits. "Give me strength!" Sora declared, concentrating his magic energy towards Simba, who took it all in, charging up for an attack while the Heartless surrounded them. When they were fully charged, Simba unleashed a roar that sent a powerful shockwave that destroyed the Heartless around them with ease.
"Whoa...!" Donald and Goofy gasped, seeing the damage done by the pair.
Sora and Simba looked about, making sure the coast was clear for the two. Finally, Sora sighed as he placed his Keyblade away. "Thank you for helping me out, Simba." He told the summoned lion.
"Thank you for bringing me to life." Sora was startled when he heard Simba speak, "I will make sure to help you whenever you summon me to fight. Until then, hakuna matata." His body shined brightly, and he vanished, returning to the summon stone.
Sora looked at the stone for a second, then turned and raced to Aladdin, who was exhausted from struggling in the sand with his monkey. "Grab on!" Sora shouted, reaching his Keyblade out to him. Aladdin opened his eyes, and saw the weapon. He reached out and grabbed the shaft, and Sora tugged at him, pulling him out. Aladdin then reached out and grabbed his monkey, who quickly got onto his shoulders.
"Gawrsh, not again!" Goofy cried out. Sora and Aladdin looked to see Donald and Goofy with their weapons at the ready as more bandits suddenly appeared, blocking them from escaping the scene, and drawing them closer to the quicksand trap.
"Now what?!" Sora questioned, looking for an escape route. He used all of his magic energy just to call out Simba and unleash their attack before.
Aladdin finally caught his breath as he pulled out an old, Arabian-looking lamp. He then rubbed the side of it as he shouted, "Genie, get rid of these guys!"
Suddenly blue smoke shot out of the nozzle of the lamp, sparking with magic energy. Then suddenly, out of the smoke appeared a blue-skinned, humanoid figure, with black hair and a goatee on his face, gold bracelets on his wrists, a gold earring on his right ear, a red sash on his waist, and a smoky tail instead of feet.
He screamed what seemed to be a battlecry as he appeared from the smoke, then cried out 'Oy!', as he massaged his neck. "Wish number one, comin' right up!" He answered, "Hold on a second, Al. I still gotta a bit of a crick in my neck that just won't..." He then popped his head off of his body, spun it around once, and slammed it back on, creating magic sparks. Suddenly, all of the Heartless vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Whoa!" Sora, Donald and Goofy gasped, seeing the Heartless defeated in an instant.
"Thanks, Genie." Aladdin thanked the blue, floating character.
"Hey, no problem, kid." Genie answered, zooming to his side, and nudging him with his shoulder, "If you think that's good, just wait till I actually try." He suddenly puffed into smoke, turning into a Terminator-like figure with sunglasses and a shotgun as he said in a deep voice, "Hasta la vista, baby!" He shot his gun, unleashing magic energy that zoomed over Sora, Donald and Goofy's head, causing them to duck. When they rose up slowly, Sora noticed Goofy's hat had a little bit of a fire on top, so he pinched it out before the owner noticed.
"You really saved me there. Thanks!" Aladdin thanked the trio as they rose back up to their feet again.
"No problem." Sora replied, looking to see Carpet fly past them, "We managed to get here in time to save you thanks to that magic carpet and Jasmine."
"Jasmine? Really?!" Aladdin gasped.
"Yeah. She was worried about ya." Goofy added.
"I see..." the young man understood, looking down, feeling guilty he worried the princess.
"We should introduce ourselves." Sora suggested, "I'm Sora. This is Donald and Goofy." His companions waved at their name being called.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Aladdin." He introduced himself, looking to his monkey partner on his shoulder, "This is Abu." The monkey cooed as it tipped its fez to them in greeting. "So, how do you know Jasmine?" He asked the trio.
"First, we'd better head back to Agrabah." Donald suggested.
"Yeah. Philia's there helping Jasmine out, but who knows what might be going on with them." Sora stated, "I'll tell you about the details on our way back."
"Good idea." Aladdin understood, looking behind to see Genie, strangely with a Greek toga and a green laurel on his head, and both characters holding a frisbee, "Let's get out of here, guys!"
"Hold on. I've been waiting ten thousand years for this rematch to come..." Genie stated, pumping his arms to show off impressive muscles, "Time for our discus throwing competition! I will become victorious this time around, for I have trained all this time to best you, rug-man. So let's see what you-."
Before he could finish his sentence, Carpet twisted its' whole body like it was a towel being wrung, holding a frisbee in one tassel. It then unwound itself, and sent the frisbee soaring straight into the land far beyond them, straight and true, till it vanished from sight. Genie's face look astounded as his pumped muscled deflated like air coming out of balloons, and he placed on a familiar brown hairstyle as he stated, "Wow. You can go the distance..."
"Let's go!" Donald squawked angrily. Carpet and Genie looked to one another, before Carpet flew to catch up with the team. Genie looked at his frisbee, shrugged, and tossed it behind him. The frisbee ricochet off of five pillars like bumpers on a pinball machine, and neon lights flashing 'TILT' shown underneath them, while the frisbee flew to who knows where.
Once they were out in the daylight, Sora had just finished talking about everything that happened in Agrabah to Aladdin, including the request to go and save him from Jasmine. "I see..." Aladdin chuckled, "Thanks, Sora."
"Aladdin, what're you doing out here?" Sora asked.
"Same old stuff. Hunting legendary treasure." he answered, "Just paid a visit to the Cave of Wonders. I found this magic carpet. And this lamp." He looked to the carpet who guided them here, then pulled out the lamp he used before. "Legend has it that whoever holds the lamp can summon the—."
"Please, leave the introductions to the professionals!" Genie spontaneously appeared in the middle of the group, "I am..." He suddenly became muscular as he said, "The ever impressive..." He suddenly then became trapped in a elastic, see-through cube, "...The long contained..." He suddenly popped out of the cube, holding a ventriloquist dummy in one hand, "...often imitated. But never..." He suddenly surrounded the four as he created clones that said 'duplicated'. "Genie! Of! The Laaaaamp!"
Genie suddenly produced himself into his lamp, popping the top off and forcing Aladdin to rub his lamp, "See all you gotta do is rub that lamp, and I'll grant any wish you want!" He summoned himself into the air, wearing a professor's hat as he held out a chalkboard with three particular pictures, "...As long as it does not involve killing, resurrecting, or making someone fall in love with you. And today's winner of the lamp is... Aladdin! Congratulations!" He summoned confetti over Aladdin as he had him on a winner's pedestal, holding the lamp like a trophy and popping a cork of champagne in the other hand.
"As many wishes as we want?!" Donald questioned.
"Patience, my fine, feathered friend!" Genie stopped him, backing off and bringing out three large fingers, and duplicating himself into three, "Any THREE wishes! And ex-nay on the wishing for more wishes! A one wish, a two wish, a three wish. Then I make l make like a banana, and split!"
Genie disappeared and reappeared next to Aladdin's side as he continued, "Our lucky winner made his first wish..." He then appeared mock whispering into Sora's ear, "And let me tell you, what a doozy that wish was..." He then appeared above as a trio, representing the Three Stooges, "With one wish gone..." The one representing Curly pulls out a large hammer, and slams Moe out of existence, "...He has two left!" He then disappeared and readied his smoky tail with a microphone, "So, master, what'll you have for wish number 2?!" The area went dark as a spotlight was shone on Aladdin.
"Hmm.. How about making me a fabulously famous prince?" Aladdin asked in an eager manner.
"OOOH! Money! Royalty! Fame! Why didn't I think of that?!" Genie questioned, going all over the place, "Okay, hang onto your turban, kid! I'm gonna make you a star! Complete with seventy-five golden camels, fifty-three purple peacocks, slaves, servants, and flunkies who love to serve you, the works! Just say the word and I'll deliver it in 30 minutes or less, or your meal's free. I'll even throw in a cappuccino!"
"No thanks!" Aladdin apologized.
"Okay..." Genie sighed.
"Actually, I think I'll put that on hold until we reach Agrabah." Aladdin told Genie.
"No problem, Al!" Genie answered, transforming into a woman with a curly wig, sitting behind a desk with a phone, "Genie's wish, please hold. Genie's wish, please hold. Hello, are you here for that audition, Mr. Smith?" The phone exploded in his face, causing his face to be blackened in soot. "Well, that audition bombed..." he groaned.
"Uh, why a prince?" Goofy asked Aladdin.
"It's because of Jasmine. She's smart and fun and beautiful. But, she's a princess, and I'm... Aw, she could never fall for a guy like me. To even have a chance, I'd have to be a prince."
"Oh, that's right! We still gotta go back to her!" Sora realized, "Philia might be there, but she's still in trouble!"
"Well, c'mon, let's get going!" Aladdin declared. The four of them climbed onto Carpet, and they took off, with Genie flying right next to them.
"Ah, fresh air! The great outdoors!" Genie sighed, transforming into a paraglider flyer, "Just makes you want to take off to the wild blue yonder. Dare to adventure!"
"I guess you don't get out much, huh?" Sora questioned.
"It's all part of the magic Genie gig." Genie became gigantic, flowing with insane magic energy as he shouted, "Phenomenal cosmic powers!" He then shrunk down, squeezing into his lamp as he said in a squeaky voice, "Itty-bitty living space."
"Genie, that's terrible." Aladdin said with a sympathetic tone.
"But to be free..." Genie muttered, flowing back out of the lamp, "Not to always be like POOF! What do you need?! Granting three wishes before going back to my portable prison. To be my own master, such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in all the world! But the only way I get out of this is if my master wishes me out. So you can guess how often that's happened..."
Aladdin pondered for a moment, then said, "Say, Genie, what if I use my last wish to free you from the lamp?"
"Uh, huh. Yeah, sure." the Genie, in disbelief, made his head into Pinocchio's, his nose going long, as if telling Aladdin he was lying. Jiminy popped out of Sora's shirt, shocked to see he knew Pinocchio.
"No, really! I promise!" Aladdin assured him, shoving the long nose back, turning Genie's face to normal, "After we save Jasmine, I'll make sure to use my last wish to free you."
"Alright... It's a deal!" Genie answered, slightly hesitant, but happy for the hope for his wish to come true as they flew towards Agrabah, hoping that Jasmine and Philia were alright.
Back in front of the Palace, Philia was panting from exhaustion as she had Jasmine behind her back, and her blade out in front as she had a couple of Bandits, a couple Yellow Operas along with a Fat Bandit left in front of her. Behind them was Jafar, with Iago on his shoulder, glaring at the two.
"Give it up, little girl. The princess is better off with me than with you." Jafar mocked at Philia, while one of his Bandit Heartless spun at her, only for Philia to block it with her Golden Dagger, which was the name of the blade. She then slashed it and the other Bandit, destroying them, only to double back as she nearly got roasted from the Fat Bandit's fire breath. She held her ground, but failed to notice the Yellow Operas charged up, and unleash Thunder spells right on top of her. She cried out in pain from the electricity, and collapsed to her hands and knees.
"Philia!" Jasmine cried out, racing to her side as she tried to pull her up to her feet. Jafar merely laughed at their struggle.
"Dang it..." she grimaced, trying to use her own strength to stay upright, 'I was really trying to take out these guys so I can get a shot at beating him into telling me what the princesses of heart were all about. But at this rate, I won't even be able to hold my own in protecting Jasmine before the others arrive.'
"Now, my dear princess, if you want to make sure this street rat lives, you best come with me." Jafar told Jasmine. The princess gritted her teeth, not wanting him to get his way.
"Fat...chance..." Philia answered, keeping herself on her feet, "I'm...not letting you have her...until you tell...me what I wanna know!"
She charged forward, her dagger glowing a yellow hue as she readied to unleash her Round Accel Dagger Skill. The Fat Bandit aimed and blasted at her with fire, but she leapt up. It wasn't the target, after all. It was the two Yellow Operas. She unleashed her area attack, destroying both targets at once. She then dove down and unleashed her Gravity spell on the Heartless, causing the ground beneath it to dome in slightly, crushing the Fat Bandit with it. Philia then roared in a battlecry as she went dagger-first into its' back, causing it to be defeated and vanish.
"Got 'em..." Philia panted, shakily rising to her feet, "Now, for some answers—!" She suddenly was struck by a magic blast of electricity, piercing through her body. The attack came from Jafar's staff, the eyes of the serpent shooting a piercing blast of electricity. She gagged in pain as she slowly fell backwards, and fell to the ground, unconscious.
"No!" Jasmine cried, about to take a step towards her, but Jafar suddenly appeared in front of her, causing her to fall back.
"Now, my dear Princess Jasmine, It's time for us to go!" He told her, grabbing her wrist with his free hand, while she struggled to break free.
"Stop it!" the two suddenly turned to see Sora and Aladdin's group suddenly appear from the rooftops, leaping down to confront Jafar.
Donald suddenly noticed Philia and squawked, "Look!", pointing his finger at her.
"Oh, no! Philia!" Sora exclaimed, seeing her defeated. He then turned with a ferocious expression at Jafar, who huffed at the sight of them.
"Setting your sights a little high, aren't you, boy?" Jafar questioned Aladdin, "Back to your hole, street rat. I will not allow you to trouble the princess any more. Unless..." He waved his staff at Philia, "...You want to be taught a lesson, like this one did?"
"Jasmine!" Aladdin shouted.
"What did you do to her?!" Sora demanded to Jafar.
"I'm so sorry." Jasmine apologized from behind Jafar, "Philia tried to protect me, but..."
Sora gritted his teeth, angry that Philia, of all people, was taken down by this person. He hadn't felt this angry since the time a large fish nearly ate Kairi by knocking her out of the boat to the Destiny Islands. He and Riku went all out and decimated that fish before it could do her harm.
Aladdin calmed himself, and quickly rubbed the lamp behind his back, out of Jafar's view as he whispered, "Genie, help Jasmine. Please!"
Jafar thought he heard the street rat say something, but then heard the sound of propellor blades high above. He looked up, and was startled to see the Genie in a helicopter, complete with a picture of Aladdin on its' sides, using a rope and stretcher to pull up Jasmine off the ground behind her. "This Bravo Genie to Delta Al, we have one wish fulfilled and one wish left!" He called out into the intercom on his helicopter, "We are carrying one damsel in distress princess to safety. Over!"
Aladdin looked relieved, then heard Jafar chuckle as he stated slyly, "So sorry, boy. I'm afraid your second wish has been denied." Aladdin looked confused, wondering what he meant by that. Suddenly, he heard a parrot cry, and saw Jafar's hench-bird, Iago, with the Genie's lamp in its' claws. He looked back at his hands, and was startled to see it had been stolen so easily.
"The great lamp doth change hands." Jafar snickered as Iago dropped the lamp in his hands.
Genie looked sadly, as he called through the intercom, "Looks like Bravo Genie had to change sides. Sorry, Al. Over!" Genie and the helicopter vanished, and Jasmine suddenly fell, right into one of the pots around the area. It closed itself up, and suddenly produced legs. It was a Heartless.
"And now, I bid you all farewell." Jafar told the heroes, "Attack!" several other jars sprouted legs. Behind the four, two jars exploded, creating an insect head and tail.
"What is this?!" Sora exclaimed, seeing the creature come together, creating a centipede-like being, with jars as its' main body.
"Look! Jafar is gone!" Donald noticed, seeing the spot where the sorcerer and his parrot were before, now gone.
"Forget them for a moment. One of those jars must have Jasmine in it!" Aladdin stated, pulling out a scimitar, "We gotta destroy it so we can save Jasmine!"
"I'll get Philia!" Goofy shouted, racing to where their fallen ally was at, avoiding nearly getting struck by the Pot Centipede Heartless as he did so. He snatched Philia, helped her over one shoulder, and dragged her behind one of the market stands, making sure she was safe.
He caught up to the rest of the group as they were trying to deal with the Heartless, all the while hearing Jasmine call out for help. Unfortunately, with the body constantly moving about, they couldn't tell which pot she was in. "We need to destroy each pot on its' body!" Sora told the team, "Let's try targeting them!"
"I'll aim for the head!" Aladdin told Sora, and he charged ahead, leaping up and over the canopies of the stalls before landing in the crossroad of the market street, leaping forward and unleashing a series of slashes at the Heartless head. Meanwhile, Sora and Donald cooperated at taking on the jar body. Goofy was bringing up the rear, striking the tail-end of the Heartless. For the ones dealing with each end, they learned the hard way that they were dealing with the difficult ones, as the antennae each part had could electrify and harm them.
After twenty seconds, Donald and Sora's plan actually worked. After breaking a couple of the jars, the body scattered, leaving the head and tail vulnerable. "Fellas, make sure it doesn't come back together!" Goofy shouted, racing towards a Spider Pot and destroying it.
"Donald, let's take care of that head and tail!" Sora shouted, "Watch out for its' electricity!"
"Got it!" Donald declared, unleashing Fire spells at the tail of the Heartless, while Sora went in for a Sonic Blade technique that sent him piercing through the Heartless numerous times. Aladdin and Goofy took care of the pots, though more kept sprouting about to take their place, making it confusing as to which pots they destroyed, and which one actually had Jasmine in it, since she was still crying out for help. It took them a few minutes to keep up this consistency, trying to prevent it from coming back together. However, they were finally able to destroy the Heartless.
When it was finished, Sora discovered a bauble on the ground that contained a pure white light within. He felt the magic energy from it as he picked it up, and chose to keep it, pocketing it in his pants.
"Jasmine!" Aladdin cried out, looking about. There were no other signs of Spider Pots, but no Jasmine, either. All that could be heard, was the echoing laughter of Jafar, cackling at the desperation of Aladdin's voice. "To the desert! Come on, let's move!" Aladdin shouted to the team.
"Wait! We need to get Philia!" Sora pointed out, racing back to where they left her.
Aladdin looked back at the desert with desperation, but Goofy said, "Don't cha worry, Aladdin. We'll catch up to her. But first, we need to make sure our friend is safe."
"Yeah! She helped protect Jasmine, too. Remember?" Donald reminded him.
"Mmm... Okay. But we gotta be quick!" Aladdin responded, following the trio as they raced to where Philia and Sora were at.
When they arrived, they saw a Sora crouching as he had already lifted Philia over the stall, her back against it as she was still unconscious. "How is she?" Aladdin asked as the trio joined him.
"She looks pretty banged up." Goofy whimpered.
Sora looked at her state, then looked at his weapon hand. Finally, he came up with a solution and said, "Donald, let's use Cure, together."
"Right!" Donald replied, readying his staff, while Sora backed up and readied his Keyblade. The two pointed them at Philia and shouted, "Heal!" There was a shining glow, and the two spells started curing Philia's wounds. When it was done, there was a moan from the girl, and she started to wake up. Her eyes weakly fluttered as she looked up at the four, all of which were pleased at her recovery.
"You doing okay?" Sora asked her, crouching next to her.
"I...could be better..." Philia answered, feeling the weakness internally. She suddenly looked up and about, asking, "Where's Jasmine? And Jafar?"
"Gone. Jafar took Jasmine, and Genie, and took off!" Aladdin answered angrily.
Philia, realizing the loss they took, looked down with a sad expression, saying, "I'm so sorry. I tried as hard as I could, but..."
"We know you did!" Sora assured her, "But let's stick together and help save Jasmine!" Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement.
"Right. Let's not waste any time..." Philia started, getting to her feet and taking a step forward, only to wince nearly fall over. Sora quickly caught her above her chest, keeping her from falling.
"You're still not in the best condition to keep moving!" Sora pointed out.
"Plus, I think Carpet can only really hold four people at max." Aladdin added.
"But..." Sora muttered, looking at her trying to stay upright. He hadn't seen her so weakened before. It scared him to see her in such a state, and he refused to leave her behind again, no matter what anyone says.
"How 'bout if one of us stays behind to take care of Philia, while the others go on Carpet to where Jafar is at?" Goofy suggested, "Then, Carpet can come back and pick the rest of us up!"
"Good idea!" Sora answered, finding the plan assuring, "Why don't you stay behind, and Donald, Aladdin and I will go on ahead?"
The team heard some screeching, and Abu suddenly appeared, landing on Aladdin's shoulder. He chirped like he wanted to come. "Looks like we have one more helper, too." the monkey's owner added, seeing the confident monkey with his arms crossed and a smug demeanor.
"Let's go!" Donald declared as Carpet flew down to them. The first trio climbed on board, and took to the sky, going after Jafar.
Philia slunk back into a sitting position, then curled up into a ball. Goofy looked at her in a worried manner, then smiled as he stated, "Don't worry. We'll get Princess Jasmine back."
"I hope so..." Philia responded, looking up at them, "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so guilty. I put a lot of trust in you guys to find Aladdin, and you guys did. I only hoped I could do the same. Guess that faith in me didn't work out."
"Oh, I don't think Sora felt like you couldn't do it." Goofy pointed out, "I knew the princess was important, too."
"Then, what was the problem?" Philia asked, "Did Sora not like me protecting Jasmine? Would it had been better if he stayed to protect her, and I went with you guys to find Aladdin?"
"I don't think that was the problem, either." Goofy answered, "I think he just doesn't like one of us being on our lonesome to try and handle things."
Philia looked at him for a moment, then huffed a chuckle. "Yeah... I probably should've seen that. I mean, look what happened in Traverse Town. I was left alone for a moment, and because of what Riku said when I met up with him again, I ended up almost leaving you guys."
"Riku?" Goofy asked, confused.
Philia suddenly realized she let something slip. She didn't tell the team that Riku was responsible for her almost leaving them. "I..." she started, looking worried at being questioned, but hurriedly stated, "Please don't tell Sora! I don't want him and Riku to be on bad terms because of me!"
"I guess..." Goofy answered, "But what does Riku have to do with what happened in Traverse Town?"
Philia looked down, wondering how to phrase this. Riku was Sora's best friend, so she could interpret what Riku told her as concern for his friend. On the other hand, there was a part of her that felt this wasn't completely true. Like he wanted her to not be around Sora for a more...sinister reason. Was it just a gut feeling, or was it out of a vendetta she had for Riku for trying such a ploy?
Out in the desert, Sora, Donald, Aladdin and Abu were hunkered down, trying to gain less wind resistance as Carpet flew them to where Jafar most likely went. "It has to be the Cave of Wonders!" Aladdin assumed, "If Jafar is planning to go anywhere near Agrabah, it has to be that place!"
"I hope you're right." Donald responded.
Sora was quiet, looking back at the path they left behind. Abu suddenly tugged on his shoulder, and Sora looked down to see him speak words at him he couldn't understand. However, based on how he was pointing ahead, he assumed Abu was telling him to concentrate more on where they were heading, rather than who they left behind. "I know, I know." he assured him, "But can I at least be worried about Philia and Goofy?"
"You worry too much." Donald pointed out, gettin an irritated expression from Sora.
"Sora, I get you're concerned about those guys. Frankly, I can't appreciate how far Philia went to trying to protect Jasmine." Aladdin started, "But if you constantly worry about them, it shows you can't trust them to take care of themselves when they need to."
"I do trust Philia." Sora responded, "I know she's strong, but that's the problem. Seeing her injured that badly makes me not want her to go off on her own again. We need to stick together so as not let our team get harmed like that."
"Guess that makes sense." Aladdin understood, looking at Abu, "Abu and I have been together for the longest of time. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't there to protect him when he was in danger." Abu cooed in happiness at Aladdin's care for him.
"Sora, Goofy is there to help her." Donald noted, "Goofy isn't captain of the guard back home for nothing. He'll protect her until Carpet goes back to get them."
"Right. We just gotta make sure that there are no problems for them when they catch up with us." Aladdin added, seeing the sky turn dark, "Let's make sure they arrive without too much danger."
They finally arrived at the area where the Cave of Wonders entrance was suppose to be at. However, when they arrived, they didn't see the lion's head entrance. "That's weird. The entrance SHOULD be here." Aladdin noted, looking about.
As soon as they climbed off Carpet, Sora told it, "Go back and get Philia and Goofy as fast as you can, okay?" Carpet saluted him, and took off back to Agrabah.
Donald and Aladdin marched forward, looking about to see where the entrance was at. "It should be...here!" Aladdin stated, spreading his hands out at the scene, "Where is the entrance?" Abu scratched his head, confused as well.
As Sora joined the two, there was a sudden rumbling from the earth itself, and the trio braced themselves. Abu panicked and hid behind a rock at the edge of the area. The team noticed the ground before them rise up, revealing to be the Cave of Wonders entrance. However, as it turned out, it became alive, and its' eyes glowed a dark purple hue. The same hue as the Heartless. It roared at the trio as they looked fearfully back up at it.
"What's up with the guardian?!" Aladdin exclaimed.
"It must be possessed by the darkness of the Heartless!" Sora assumed, producing his Keyblade, "We outta knock it back to its' senses!"
"I think the eyes are where we should hit it at!" Donald pointed at the dark energy-covered eyes.
Suddenly, the lion head inhaled, then expelled fire from its' mouth. The trio ducked out of the way, nearly getting blasted by the flames. "Gotta get to the top of its' head!" Sora stated, racing to the lion head, and leaping as high up it as he could. He managed to grab the snout of the beast, and pull himself up in range to target its eyes.
The Guardian roared, and suddenly, Heartless appeared around Donald and Aladdin, cutting them off to catch up with Sora. "No!" Aladdin grimaced, parrying a Bandit Heartless with his own scimitar.
"We can take 'em!" Donald declared, smacking a Heartless back with his staff, before unleashing a Fire spell to finish it off.
Sora saw his friends in danger, then shook himself of his worries. He had to stop worrying about his friends in constant danger, especially when they were capable of holding off the enemy themselves. He needed to concentrate on the bigger picture. He went and started slashing at the eyes of the lion.
The Guardian roared as it tried shaking off Sora, who grounded his footing, stabbing his key into the head to prevent himself from falling off. Its' dark eyes glowed stronger, and unleashed energy shots from them, much like the Stealth Sneak in Tarzan's world. They went around and came back at Sora, who dislodged his Keyblade from the head and jumped up, evading the attack that came at the spot he was on. "Thunder!" He shouted, unleashing his Thunder spell from midair, which struck down at both eyes.
"Keep it up, Sora!" Aladdin shouted, slashing down a Bandit Heartless, "We have to stop the guardian so we can go save Jasmine and Genie!"
"Working on it!" Sora shouted back, continuing his attacks on the eyes, then mentally adding, 'I gotta finish this before Philia gets here. The less problems, the better!'
In the middle of the desert, Philia and Goofy had just left Agrabah, thanks to Carpet's incredible speeds making it there. Thanks to a bit of nursing and the motivational speaking from Goofy, Philia was now in a better condition than before. However, she did tell him what happened between her and Riku back in Traverse Town, along with what she learned from Jasmine.
"Sorry for making you keep that thing about Riku a secret, but I didn't want to damage Sora's friendship." Philia apologized.
"Oh, don't ya worry. I understand." Goofy responded, "I just wished ya might've told us sooner. Sora's way too nice to let somethin' like that harm his friendship."
"Guess that's true." Philia agreed, looking down at the design on Carpet, "But even so, I was worried it might cause harm to Sora. Even he has limits. I mean, look what happened to him and Donald in Tarzan's world."
"Well, I'm more concerned about what you said about the 'Princesses of Heart'." Goofy pointed out, "I think the king might've mentioned them once or twice before. I just don't remember."
"Guess that's another good reason to find King Mickey." Philia pointed out, looking to the dark skies beyond, "But right now, we need to prioritize saving Jasmine from Jafar. I just hope Sora's not in too much trouble, right now..."
Back in the battle field, Sora had just slammed his Keyblade down on the right eye of the Guardian, and the dark energy surrounding it evaporated. "Yes! One eye down!" Sora cheered, before seeing another energy shot from the other eye come around and try to hit him. He blocked with his Keyblade, but slipped and fell off the Guardian's head. He fell to the ground in front of the lion's mouth. Rising up, he saw the lion's head inhale deeply, then unleashed flames at Sora, who braced himself. The fire breath caused Sora to be burned everywhere, as he was sent flying from the attack. He fell onto his back, his Keyblade sticking into the sand next to him. He winced, but rose back up onto his feet again, covered in burns.
"Sora, are you okay?!" Donald questioned, racing to his side as he helped him get to his feet again.
"I'm fine." Sora grimaced, "But MAN, that stung like heck!"
"Here!" Donald stated, handing him a potion, "I keep one, just in case." Sora took it and downed the potion, his injuries healing magically.
"Where's Aladdin?" Sora questioned, seeing the area void of Heartless and Aladdin.
"There!" Donald replied, pointing up at the Guardian. Sora looked to see that Aladdin had climbed up onto the head of the Guardian, then took a leap upwards before being shook off. He then took a nose-dive, sword-first, into the left eye. With one powerful strike, he destroyed the darkness surrounding the eye. The Guardian roared, throwing Aladdin off in an instant, landing near Sora and Donald. They looked up to see the sand lion finally calm down, its' mouth gaping to reveal the entrance ahead. It was back to normal.
The trio gave a sigh of relief, rising to their feet. "I thought it was gonna attack us again..." Sora muttered.
"Looks like clearing the darkness calmed it down." Donald understood.
"That means we can go chase after Jafar and save Jasmine and Genie!" Aladdin declared, "Let's go!"
"Wait!" Sora shouted, stopping Aladdin from going in, "What about Goofy and Philia? We need to wait for them."
"Guys!" Shouted a voice from the distance. Philia's voice rang through the darkened sky, and the team saw her, Goofy and Carpet arrived on the scene. As soon as they landed, Philia examined the place, and saw the condition the trio was in. "Guess I missed something big, huh?" She assumed.
"Nothing we couldn't handle!" Sora answered with a fist pump.
"That's good..." Philia answered, looking away from him, "I could always count on you to get the job done. Wish I could say the same about me..."
"Stop beating yourself up about Jasmine." Donald scolded her.
"Donald's right. You did everything you could to protect her back then." Sora agreed, "Now, we have a chance to get her back. Let's go save her and Genie!"
Philia nodded in agreement, and the five heroes ventured into the Cave of Wonders, in pursuit of Jafar and his hostages.
If they were to say they went through with ease, they would be lying. If anything, getting through the Cave of Wonders was no easy feat. Not only were there Heartless, but branching paths, traps all over the place, and puzzles they needed to solve, sometimes with Abu's help. There was the occasional treasure box or item they discovered throughout their passage through the place. They even discovered a torn page from the children's book in Merlin's house, and more Dalmatian puppies, too.
As they reached the Treasure Chamber, Sora looked at his Keyblade, and looked to the path ahead. "What's up?" Goofy asked him.
"It's weird. My Keyblade seems to be telling me something." He explained, "Like it is pointing me towards this direction."
"Why is that?" Donald questioned him.
"Could it be...the Keyhole might be that way?!" Philia assumed.
"Keyhole?" Aladdin asked, confused.
"That was something Jafar was looking for." Philia recalled, "I bet my new dagger that he is that way!" The team ventured on ahead, making their way to the place where Jafar was at.
Meanwhile, in the lamp chamber, Jafar and Iago had arrived on the scene, with an unconscious Jasmine on the ground before him, and Genie floating in the air, reluctant for the new master he had to serve.
Jafar raised Genie's lamp high as he ordered, "My first wish, Genie! Show me the Keyhole!" Genie looked begrudgingly at him, but was unable to deny his master. With one finger, he pointed to the far end of the chamber. Through his magic, the wall broke and fallen apart, revealing two pillars and a decorated wall with the very Keyhole Jafar had been looking for.
"Your reputed omnipotence proves itself true, slave!" Jafar cackled, "Surely the conquest of the world is to one of your power a triviality. Would you care to be my ally in this matter?"
"Sorry, no can do, Master!" Genie denied him.
As he walked towards the Keyhole, an eerie presence spoke up from behind him as it said, "Violating the statuses of the concern ARE grounds for removal." He turned in fear to see Maleficent standing behind him, her eyes narrowed from the words he said. "After all, you are merely an expendable asset. Remember that." She warned him, "I wouldn't regret your dismissal, in truth."
"I-I merely jested!" Jafar stammered hastily, "I-In any case, we must hurry and take control of this world! The boy who wields the Keyblade is on his way!"
"The boy again?" Maleficent questioned.
"He is more persistent than I expected." Jafar noted, "Why not explain the situation to that boy, Riku? Doing so may actually prove useful to our—." He stopped when he heard the sounds of footsteps echoing. He turned around and saw the five heroes enter into the chamber, standing in the center as they glared up at the two villainous figures, one of which they never met until now.
"This intense evil... You're Maleficent, aren't you?!" Sora demanded. Maleficent merely scoffed at the sight of the heroes, producing a portal of darkness, and walked through it, closing the door behind. This left the heroes, Jafar, Iago, the unconscious Jasmine, and Genie remaining in the chamber.
"Jafar, let Jasmine go!" Aladdin demanded.
"Not a chance." Jafar denied him, "You see, Jasmine is a princess; one of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door."
"Open..." Goofy echoed.
"...the door?" Donald finished.
"Is that...could that be what the Princess of Heart are?" Philia muttered, getting Sora's attention, "Tell me, what is this 'door' you're talking about?!"
"I do not have to answer you that." Jafar answered, "Besides, you fools won't see what lies beyond it." He raised Genie's lamp high as he shouted, "Genie, my second wish! Crush these infidels like the rats they are!" Genie looked to him in shock, then sadly looked at the team.
"Genie, don't listen to him!" Aladdin called out to him.
"Sorry, Al." Genie apologized, "The one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice." As Iago flew up out of range, Jafar cackled as he raised his staff, and a magic barrier was formed at the entrance, and in front of the Keyhole and Jasmine.
"Now, perish! Like the street rats you are!" He shouted, unleashing a thunder stream from his staff down at the heroes, while Genie unleashed a blast of magic from his finger. The team scattered, narrowly avoiding the spot that was struck, which became a descent-sized crater.
"What do we do?!" Donald demanded.
"I don't want to fight Genie, but he can't stop his attack!" Aladdin stated.
"Then aim for Jafar!" Sora shouted, rushing to where Jafar was at, firing Fire spell after Fire spell at him as he ran. Sora's spell was hitting its' mark, until Jafar suddenly created a barrier around him, nullifying the spells. "You'll have to do better than that, boy!" He cackled.
"Is this better?!" Philia demanded, rushing from behind with her shining-white dagger, unleashing her Fad Edge Dagger Skill, slicing through the barrier, striking Jafar and sending him falling to his hands and knees. "This is for that sneak attack on me back in Agrabah!" she shouted, charging up her dagger for the Armor Pierce Dagger skill.
"No you don't!" Jafar snapped, creating dark energy that went to the bottom tip of his staff, creating a shockwave that countered Philia's attack. The clash caused Philia to back off, and for Jafar to become encased in a black smoke, becoming one with it as he flew away from her. "Come back here, you coward!" Philia shouted.
"Quick! Quick! Get out of the way!" Genie's outcry caused Philia to look and narrowly avoid getting struck by the Genie as he flew like a top in the air at her.
"Genie, try to miss, will ya?!" Philia demanded.
"Believe me, I'm trying!" he cried, then he rushed at her, and smacked her with an enlarged hand. "Whoops! Sorry about that! Hang in there!" Genie suddenly dropped a bit of magic that healed Philia of her wounds.
"Jafar!" Aladdin shouted, racing to the spot he reappeared, and unleashing a slash at him. Jafar endured the slash, then growled, "Take that!" Unleashing a blast of electricity from his staff, striking Aladdin and making him howl in pain as he fell. "Did that hurt?" He taunted.
"Will this?!" Sora demanded, leaping up, and unleashing his Sonic Slash on Jafar, striking him multiple times, and making him falter. Sora gave himself some distance from Jafar, landing near where Donald used Cure on Aladdin, and Goofy repelled an attack from Genie.
"You can't win!" Jafar mocked them, unleashing an icy tornado of blizzard magic, causing the four frostbite from the attack.
"Stop it!" Philia shouted, racing towards Jafar and unleashing a Thunder spell as she did so. However, Jafar cackled as he became black smoke again, and moved away from Philia's range. The attack did make the ice storm stop, and save the four in the middle.
"Thanks for the save, Philia." Goofy thanked her.
"Hey, you guys protected me when I was down. Call this even." She replied, "But we need to keep Jafar from moving around so much!"
"Just keep pursuing him, and make sure we tire him out!" Sora declared, charging ahead, with Goofy at his side.
"I'll distract Genie. Donald, come on!" Aladdin ordered the duck, and the two went after Genie, who saw the game they were playing, and pretended to chase after them.
"Keeping up with Jafar constantly won't be enough..." Philia muttered, "If only I had a move that could hold him still." Suddenly, her head throb, and she braced herself. However, she knew this meant one thing; Her wish through her heart was gonna come true.
"Just give it up!" Jafar growled, creating a dark shockwave from his staff that caused Goofy and Sora to be knocked back, "When are you gonna realize that you can't win?!"
"When are YOU gonna realize we won't give up!" Sora retorted, unleashing a Blizzard spell, which struck Jafar. Goofy threw his shield at Jafar, hitting him on the other side.
"This little game of cat and rat is going on long enough!" He snapped at them, and he turned into black smoke, fleeing the two. He reappeared near where Donald and Aladdin were escaping Genie to. They skidded to a halt, seeing Jafar raise his staff, aiming at the two, ready to strike them down. "Farewell, street rat!" He growled. Genie looked scared at his buddy being ended.
"Got you..." Philia growled, and Jafar felt a presence behind him. He turned in time to see a dark purple aura, much like the Heartless's aura. However, it was the light shining from Philia's dagger, unleashing a brand new Dagger Skill. She unleashed a swift horizontal slash with her dagger, planting her free hand on the ground, and then unleashing a double roundhouse kick that emanated the same energy as her dagger. Jafar was nearly sent over the edge of the platform he was on, but held on. Unfortunately, he felt something weird. His whole body was paralyzed, unable to move.
"What...did you do...?!" He grimaced, feeling the paralysis?
"Like it? That's my Shadow Stitch Dagger Skill." Philia told him, "It has a tendency to paralyze my target.
"Booyah!" Genie cheered, creating pom-poms, and turning into a cheerleader.
"A new move, just like that?!" Sora questioned.
"Less admiring, more attacking!" Philia shouted, readying her Round Accel Dagger skill.
"You got it!" Sora shouted, taking a mighty leap, with Aladdin joining him. As Aladdin went into a spin dash with his sword, Sora spun into a sword spin with his Keyblade. Both he, Aladdin and Philia struck from either side of Jafar, who cried out in pain at the trio's attack, feeling the full damage from the trio. His body went black, and magic sparked like electricity from his body as he howled in pain, before he became black smoke, and shot into the air, disappearing from view.
"Jafar!" Iago squawked, "Wait up! Don't leave me to deal with this mess!"
"We did it!" Sora cheered.
"Look!" Donald cried out, pointing at the spot Jafar stood before. Three balls of magic energy formed there, before flying into the bodies of Philia, Sora and Donald.
"More magic?" Philia questioned.
"It feels cold, like that Blizzard spell." Sora noted.
"Our Blizzard spell is a lot stronger, now." Donald told them, "It has evolved into Blizzara."
"So, spells can evolve and get stronger, huh?" Philia understood, looking at her chest, feeling the new spell.
"Jasmine!" Aladdin's voice caught the trio's attention, and they saw the young man and Goofy help Jasmine snap out of her unconscious state. They helped her up to her feet, and she suddenly saw who she was surrounded by.
"You're here..." she noticed, looking to Aladdin, and smiling sweetly at him. He looked happy and relieved to see her still alive and well. Genie had a handkerchief in his one hand, wiping a tear at the touching reunion between the two lovebirds.
"Slave! You disappoint me!" The sudden bellowing of Jafar's voice caught everyone off-guard. They all turned to see Jafar floating there, with Iago flapping next to him, and Genie's lamp still held in his hand. He was glaring at Genie as he growled, "I shall show you myself the true way to use your abilities!" He raised the lamp high as he shouted, "Genie, I make my third wish! I wish to be an all-powerful genie!"
Everyone looked to Genie, who looked afraid, then sighed, "Alright. Your wish is my command." He covered his eyes with one hand as he zapped Jafar with magic. Suddenly, his body pulsed with a surge of magic energy that was so strong, everyone could feel it around the area. It caused the floor to break and shattered, revealing a further level to the underground caverns, where lava was flowing around a large platform. Jafar floated all the way down to the level below as his body pulsed and started to transform. Iago flew down after him.
Everyone looked down to see him disappear down below. "What happened?!" Goofy questioned.
"Jafar got his wish granted. He's turned into a genie." Aladdin realized.
"Now what're we gonna do?!" Donald questioned, "He's too powerful!"
"We go after him!" Sora answered, "We gotta end this before it's too late!"
"And exactly how do you plan to beat him?!" Philia questioned his motives.
"We'll...we'll have to figure it out when we get down there." Sora answered, and he leapt into the pit. The team looked at one another, then Donald and Goofy dove down after him.
"Jasmine, you'd better stay here until we come back!" Aladdin told the princess.
"I understand. Go." she told him.
He nodded in agreement, then looked at Abu, telling him, "You'd better stay here, too!" Abu saluted him, and hopped off of his friend's shoulder.
Aladdin then looked to his djinn friend. "Don't worry, Al!" Genie assured him, "Ol' doom-and-gloom ain't my Master anymore, since he used up his wishes." With a puff of smoke, he suddenly produced motion lasers and bear traps all around Jasmine as he turned into a security guard. "No one gets near the princess under my watch!" He told him, saluting his friend.
"Thanks, Genie." Aladdin told him, and he looked to Philia, "Let's get moving!" He jumped into the pit after the other three.
Philia took one last look at Jasmine, and the two smiled in assurance at her being safe from now on. Suddenly, Philia's smile vanished when she noticed a black portal open up from behind Jasmine. For a brief moment, she could've sworn she saw Riku's face peer out of it, his hand reaching out to Jasmine. "Jas-!" she started, but a sudden shake from the ground caused her to stop, fumble backwards, and fall into the pit after the others.
She cried out as she tumbled through the air down to the platform below. Sora looked up to see her fall, and raced towards the spot she fell. He had his hands out to catch her, but the collision of her and Sora was too much to catch, and both of them hit the ground hard. The other three looked to them to see Sora face-first to the ground. He tilted his head to see Philia on her side, her face just inches from his own. She opened her eyes, seeing how close the two were to one another, and yelped as she backed off hastily, blushing red.
"Wh-why were you that close to me?!" She questioned him.
"It wasn't my fault!" Sora replied, "It's just how things ended up!"
The two rose to their feet as they looked about. The scene was nothing but carved rock platforms, along with the red and orange hues coming from the lava flowing beneath them, and falling like waterfalls around them. "Where's Jafar?!"
"Look!" Goofy noticed something, and went to pick it up. It was Genie's lamp.
"Jafar dropped this?" Aladdin asked, taking the lamp.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of lava from behind them, and they all looked around. Their gaze slowly went upwards as, towering above them, was none other than Jafar, now a full-fledged genie. Instead of the blue-skin the good one had, Jafar was red-skinned, with a red belly-warmer, and his eyes were yellow. Apart from that, he looked nearly the same as their Genie.
"Yes! This power! This absolute power!" He bellowed, pumping his arms out wide, "Fear me, Maleficent! With this power, the universe is mine to command! To control!" He cackled as he stared down at the five heroes, and finished, "And I'll start by unleashing my new powers at you insects!" He reached below, and picked up a large, massive boulder, heated by the lava, and tossed it at the team, who scattered to avoid the boulder crashing into the ground.
"What do we do?!" Donald questioned, "We can't beat him!"
Aladdin looked about the place, and saw a small ray of hope. Iago was flying about the place, with a new, pitch black lamp like Genie's in his talons. "I got it!" He called out, pointing to the lamp.
Iago turned and saw everyone gaze up at him. "What're you staring at?!" He demanded, "I ain't part of this mess!"
"He's right. What's the point of attacking him?" Sora questioned.
"It's the lamp!" Aladdin told them, "Jafar's now a genie, so he has a lamp. If we control the lamp..."
"We control Jafar!" Philia realized, "We can seal him up inside of it!"
"Quick! Get the lamp!" Donald shouted, racing at Iago, who panicked and started flying about.
"Perish, maggots!" Jafar shouted, throwing another boulder at Donald and Aladdin, who were charging at the lamp. They looked to see the attack coming, and barely dodged it. Aladdin's arm got grazed by a shrapnel piece of the boulder, feeling the cut and burn of the attack. He fell to his side, grasping the spot he got hit.
"Careful!" Goofy shouted, "We gotta keep an eye out on Jafar attacking us!"
"This is not gonna be easy..." Philia muttered, "We already had to deal with Jafar in his other form. Now we have to worry about him as this monstrosity!"
"I'll play decoy!" Sora told her, racing to Jafar, "Guys, get the lamp!"
"Sora!" Donald, Goofy and Philia shouted as he raced up to Jafar, and aimed his Keyblade at him.
"Freeze!" He shouted, unleashing his new Blizzara spell. The attack struck Jafar as he floated there, his arms crossed in front of him, and he wasn't phased by it.
"Goodness, that tickled!" He mocked, looking at Sora, "Did you really think your attack could harm me?!" He raised his hand, about to strike Sora with it.
"Wind!" Philia shouted, creating her Aero shield around her body as she got in front of Sora, protecting him as she took the hit. She collided into Sora as the two flew backwards, hitting the ground with one on top of the other.
"Geez, and you tell me not to do anything on my own." Philia grimaced, getting off of Sora and helping him to his feet, "You need at least one of us next to you to help out. We're better off working as a team!"
"Right. Sorry about that." Sora apologized, "But now, you know how I feel whenever you go on your own."
Philia looked down, realizing he was talking about how she went to find and protect Jasmine on her own. It didn't really work out for her then, and that made her realize how limited she was on her own. She needed to take her own advice, and have her friends by her side to help her out. "Right. Better practice what I preach." She told Sora, who nodded in agreement.
"Do I need to remind you that I am here?!" Jafar questioned the two. They looked up to see Jafar with another large, lava-hot boulder in his hands. He tossed it down at the two, and they went and ran forward to avoid it.
"Gotta make sure he doesn't distract us from getting the lamp!" Sora told Philia.
"Right. You, Donald and Goofy handle distraction." Philia told Sora, "Leave Aladdin and I to handling Polly and the lamp. After all, I am a treasure hunter!"
"Right. Better make it quick!" Sora told her, and the two high-fives one another as they went their separate ways.
While Sora went to distracting Jafar, while Philia went to Aladdin, Donald and Goofy, who were having a hard time trying to knock out Iago. Apparently, he had been given magically enhanced endurance. "Donald! Goofy! Help Sora out!" Philia cried out, "Aladdin and I got this!"
"Right!" "You got it!" The two responded, and they raced passed her as they went to Sora's side.
"Oh, give me a break!" Iago grimaced, seeing the two who were after him.
"How 'bout Polly wanna crack!" Philia retorted, both she and Aladdin readying their weapons.
Sora, Donald and Goofy went to work on being a distraction for Jafar, unleashing magic and even taunting him with every miss he made with his boulders. Their distraction was working most of the time, though at some points, he did try to target Philia and Aladdin, who were doing as much as they could to Iago, trying to pry the lamp from his talons.
"I can't take much more of this!" Iago cried as he flew as fast as he could.
"I agree. Sora, Donald and Goofy are counting on us!" Philia stated, pointing her dagger at Iago, "Let's ground this fight! Force!" She unleashed her Gravity spell on Iago, forcing him to the ground. He seemed dazed as he tried to get up again. Suddenly, shadows covered him, and he looked up to see Aladdin and Philia over him.
"Please be gentle..." Iago whimpered.
"Too late for that." Aladdin answered him, their blades at the ready.
Sora, Donald and Goofy were panting as they were wearing down from evading and attacking Jafar, who looked totally unfazed by their attacks. Jafar chuckled at the sight of their worn characters. "You will bow down to me!" He told them, ready for another attack on them.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of damage from behind the three heroes, followed by the sound of Iago crying out in agony. The combatants looked around, and saw Aladdin and Philia standing there, with Iago knocked out, and Philia holding the lamp in her hands. "What?!" Jafar exclaimed, seeing the result of the battle, "This cannot be!"
"Look who's your new 'Master', Jafar!" Philia told him, raising the pitch-black lamp high, "As your new owner, I order you follow the rules of the djinn, and return to your lamp once more!"
Suddenly, Jafar felt the great magic energy of the lamp suck him in. He was unable to escape it, no matter how much he tried. Iago was panicking, trying to fly away from the scene. However as he passed Jafar, the djinn caught his tail-feathers, and pulled him along with as both he and Jafar were sucked into the nozzle of the lamp, where they remained, trapped forever.
"Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty-bitty living space." Aladdin chuckled, recalling Genie's words about the lifestyle of a djinn.
Suddenly, out of the nozzle of the lamp came four things; three of them were balls of red magic energy, much like the Blizzard magic orbs from before, and a loose piece of paper. The three orbs went into Sora, Donald and Philia, where they could feel the surge of flames build up from within their bodies. They didn't need to ask. Their Fire spell evolved into the Fira spell.
Philia magically sheathed her dagger, and caught the piece of paper, looking at its' contents. "This is..." Philia realized, "It's one of the pieces of information from Ansem's research!"
"We found one of Ansem's Reports?" Sora realized as he, Donald and Goofy raced to her and Aladdin.
"Who?" Aladdin asked.
"Nothing for you to know, but it is important to us." Philia told him.
"Look!" Donald pointed to the sky. Above them, Carpet had suddenly appeared, with Abu and Genie also arriving on the scene.
"Guys!" Sora greeted them.
"You did it, you little geniuses!" Genie congratulated them.
Aladdin looked at the trio, then asked, "Where's Jasmine?! Is she safe?" Abu, Genie and Carpet looked to one another, their expressions showing they had bad news for Aladdin.
They returned to the lamp chamber again, and saw that Jasmine was no longer there anymore. "Jasmine!" Aladdin called out, looking about.
"Sorry, Al. By the time the monkey and I looked, she was gone." Genie mournfully admitted, "We don't know where she went to, either." Abu looked really guilty for not keeping a closer eye on her.
Philia looked at the spot where she last saw Jasmine. The last sight she had of her was a black portal opening, and Riku seemingly reaching out to her. 'There was no mistaking what I saw. That was definitely Riku coming out of that thing. And if he was the one who took Jasmine, where did he take her. That dark portal was the same one Maleficent used. Could it be that Riku is...'
She looked to Sora, who looked past that spot, and at the Keyhole that was still on the wall. He raised his Keyblade, and the tip of the blade shined. It then shot a beam of light from its' tip, and connected with the Keyhole. Shining, swirling energy seemed to be absorbed from all around, going into the hole. After a second, the sound of it locking could be heard echoing throughout the chamber. What followed was what looked like a cascade of gold coins covering the wall and the Keyhole, then after a magic surge, the coins became sand and rocks, sealing the wall and Keyhole once more.
"That's it for this Keyhole." Sora stated, shouldering his Keyblade.
Suddenly, the area started to shake about them. It was like everything was gonna collapse upon them. "Whoa! We'd better get outta here!" Goofy cried out, shielding his head with his weapon.
"Wait! What about Jasmine?!" Aladdin demanded, "She has to be here! If we just search hard enough—!"
"She isn't here!" Philia barked at him, "We'll explain it later, but we can't do that if we're buried alive!" Aladdin looked to her for a moment, then understood the desperation to get out.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, Aladdin, and Abu climbed onto Carpet, but there wasn't any room for Philia. "What do we do?!" Donald questioned, worried about leaving Philia behind.
"I'm not gonna be left behind! I'm staying with you guys!" Philia barked, looking to Genie, "Can you do us a favor as a friend, please?! Let me hop on your back!"
"Hmm... Is a favor also a wish?" Genie questioned, pulling out a dictionary, "Let's see, a favor means this..." he thumbed through the dictionary, "...A wish means that... Welp, those two don't mean the same thing!"
He tossed the dictionary away, and transformed into a motorbike and a Hell's Angel-like rider. "Hop on, baby! We're gonna tear this cavern up outta here!" He spoke like what he was impersonating. Philia got onto the back of his bike, and a helmet magically appeared on her head. "Remember, children, safety first!" he added in a young teacher voice. He then revved up the engine of his motorbike, and magically drove through the air out of the chamber, with the team riding on Carpet behind them.
After speeding through the cavern, avoiding the rising lava and the falling ceiling, the team came flying out of the Cave of Wonders. As they flew out and back to Agrabah, Philia pulled out Jafar's lamp, hearing both he and Iago bickering within the cramped container. She then looked all about the desert, saying, "No one's gonna look for anything out here..." She pulled back her arm, and tossed the lamp as hard as she could. It soared into the great beyond, and vanished from sight. "One less problem on our minds, now..." she told herself, as they continued their way back to Agrabah.
After a good long while, the team found themselves back in Aladdin's home once more. Although they triumphed against Jafar, and sealed up the Keyhole, they still had concerns on their minds. Mainly, the fact that Jasmine had not been saved, and had vanished. The team gave a brief explanation as to what might've happened to the princess, including adding in the fact that they were from another world. Philia, however, remained mute on what she thought she saw. It was just like how she refrained from mentioning what Riku told her in Traverse Town.
"So, Jasmine's not in Agrabah." Aladdin understood sadly, "Sora, please take me with you!"
"Sorry, but we can't." Sora denied his request.
"Wh-Why not?!" Aladdin questioned.
"It's the law, and breaking it will have dire consequences." Donald explained, "We can't take folks from one world to another."
After a moment of thinking, Aladdin admitted, "Well, I guess it would be too chaotic to bring people from one world to another."
"Sorry about that, Aladdin." Sora apologized, "But we will find Jasmine, no matter what!"
Genie looked mournfully at Aladdin, then noted, "Hey, Al, no problem. You still have one wish left. Just say the word, and I can find Jasmine for you!"
"But, Genie...what about your freedom?"
"Hey it's only an eternity of servitude. But this is love." Genie pointed out, hesitant on his first sentence.
Aladdin paused, with everyone watching him, wondering what wish he would make. Finally, he said, "Alright, I've decided on my wish. I wish...for your freedom, Genie!"
Genie, who was prepared for the other wish, seemed stunned at the choice. Suddenly, Genie's lamp shined as magic energy swirled like a tornado out of it, encasing Genie. His muscled tightened as he braced himself against the magic that seemed to be pushing off of him. Finally, the magic caused him to grow a pair of legs with pointed shoes, as his gold shackles on his wrists came off of him. The lamp suddenly went limp, and clattered on the floor in front of Genie's feet. He picked it up, his face expression of disbelief that he was truly free of his servitude.
"A deal's a deal, Genie." Aladdin told him, "I promised I would free you."
"You kept your promise..." Genie understood, and he pulled Aladdin into a hug, "I will never, ever forget this, Al!"
"Now you can go anywhere you want. You're your own master, now." Aladdin told him, "But...if you can, it would be great if you went along with them to help Sora and the others find Jasmine."
"Well, I'm no longer wanting to grant wishes for anyone, anymore." Genie pointed out, "But a favor, as I said before, is entirely different!"
He gave Sora his lamp as he said, "I may not be bound to it anymore, but if you need me, give it a rub, and I'll come calling! After all..." He pulled Sora, Donald, Goofy, Philia, Aladdin and Abu into each of his arms for a group hug, "...we're all pals, right?! Just leave it to me!" Aladdin smiled happily at Genie at his words of encouragement.
"We will do everything in our power to find Jasmine and bring her home to Aladdin." Philia assured them, with Sora, Donald and Goofy nodding in agreement.
As they all got out of the group hug, Aladdin went over to one of his drawers, and took something out of it. "Here, Sora. I want you to have this." He dropped something in Sora's hand. It was a metallic blue keychain with a token that was shaped and had the color of Genie's lamp on it.
"Is this...a Keyblade keychain?" Sora asked, looking at it. He then placed it onto his Keyblade, replacing his Jungle King Keyblade. This one had a gold and sky blue guard, a simple wooden handle, a blue base and gold blade, bronze teeth that took the form of a fancy number three, and the keychain attached at the end.
"A new Keyblade!" Goofy noticed.
"Someone told me that's called the 'Three Wishes'. Hope it'll help you out." Aladdin told Sora.
"Thanks!" The Keyblade wielder thanked him.
"Also, let me teach you a nifty trick!" Genie added, "I learned it a couple centuries ago. I call it 'Green Trinity'."
"A new Trinity technique?" Goofy asked excitedly.
"Watch this!" Genie shouted, bending down, "Al, get on my shoulders!" Aladdin did just that, and saddled onto Genie's shoulders. Carpet carried Abu with it as it went up and wrapped his tassels around Aladdin, stretching up high. Abu sat on top of Carpet, looking about with surprise.
"So we basically piggy-back on each other." Philia understood.
"Hey, I don't remember any monkeys on top." Genie noticed Abu on the perch of their stack.
"No, that actually works!" Sora noted, "It can be how we can perform our 'Green Quartet'! Let's give it a go."
After much debating, the solution on what order they took was settled; Goofy on the bottom, Philia on his shoulders, then Sora on her's, and Donald on top. For their first try, they didn't do too bad of a job on their newfound Quartet technique. When they got the mark of approval from Genie, they said farewell to Aladdin, Carpet, and Abu, and left to get back to their ship in the sky.
"Whew!" Sora sighed, sinking back into his chair, "I am beat."
"But we sure did a lot there." Goofy noted.
"I placed the Dalmatian pups we found in the storage room again." Philia told them, "And I also made sure we kept that torn page we found in a safe place."
"That's suppose to be part of the book in Merlin's house, right?" Sora recalled.
"But more importantly..." Philia pulled out the Ansem's Report they got from Jafar, "We ended up getting one of Ansem's research notes."
Jiminy Cricket, who remained hidden in Sora's pocket, came out and said, "Well, lets see what it says."
"I'll read it out loud." Philia told the team, and she began to read:
"Much of my life has been dedicated to pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that. I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand. I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times."
"Darkness… Darkness of the heart. How is it born? How does it come to affect us so? As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness."
When she was done, Philia looked at the others who had listened to her. "Sounds like this Ansem feller was a curious fellow." Goofy noted.
"And smart, too." Donald added, looking to Sora, "Way smarter than you."
"What's that suppose to mean?!" Sora growled, glaring at Donald.
"But at least we know he started his research on darkness." Jiminy understood, "Wish we knew more."
"This is only the first page, as well as the only page we have about him." Philia noted, holding the note, before placing it in a compartment nearby for safekeeping, "But it still doesn't answer all the questions we have, right now. Especially what we found out about the seven 'Princesses of Heart'."
"Right. Jasmine was suppose to be one of them, right?" Donald recalled Jafar's words.
"Hmm..." Goofy pondered on something, then said, "Ya know, I wonder if Jasmine's disappearance is related to Alice's disappearance?"
The other four looked to him in confusion as Sora asked, "What brought that up?"
"Well, it seems to me that they are pretty similar, don't ya think?" Goofy asked, "I mean, both of them were girls, and both vanished when we were not lookin'."
"That is true..." Philia agreed, "Also... I really can't put this in any other form, but they did have a sort of radiance about them. Like they had purity in their hearts. It's kind of a feeling I had from both Alice and Jasmine."
"Does that mean Alice is one of these 'Princesses of Heart'?" Sora asked.
"It's possible." Philia answered, "We don't have enough facts to back up our claim, but Goofy might be right. We might have a connection between the two."
"Then if we find Jasmine, we find Alice, too!" Sora understood, "Let's keep going on to the next world!"
Philia took the controls, and steered the ship onward. As she did so, one more thing still burdened her mind. Riku's involvement with Jasmine's disappearance. Was he really the one who kidnapped the princess? What was Riku doing at this point? And more importantly, was he really being Sora's friend, or was he their foe?
Inside a dark room, Maleficent, Hades and Riku were standing around the circular table, having just witnessed the end of Jafar with magic. "That smarmy vizier could've had 'em..." Hades sighed, looking to Riku, "...if SOMEONE stuck around to lend him a hand."
"Hey, I did my part." Riku smugly retorted, "I got the princess, didn't I?"
"Jafar was beyond help, consumed by his hatred." Maleficent noted, turning her back on the other two, "One should beware of letting it burn too fiercely." She paused, closing her eyes as she seemed to indicated a certain flame-haired person in the room.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Lighten up. I'm as cool as they come, okay?" Hades told her, then to Riku, "By the way, kid. Have we got something special for you."
Riku looked from him to Maleficent as she said, "We had a deal, yes? You help us, and we grant you your wish..." There was a magic circle that appeared on the table, and it show one person on it. Laying on her back, supposedly asleep to the world, was Kairi.
"Kairi!" Riku shouted, seeing the image of the person he cared for so much.
"Go to her." Maleficent ordered, "Your vessel is waiting."
Suddenly, there were footsteps coming from behind them, and Riku turned to see a man who had the look of a pirate captain. He had black, curly, shoulder-length hair, topped with a maroon hat with a huge white feather, a hooked nose, and a thin, black mustache. He wore a red coat with gold linings and maroon cuffs, a white shirt underneath, an orange sash over his right shoulder that held his scabbard and rapier by his left hip, maroon pants, white, knee-high socks, black shoes with large tongues. His most notable part of him, however, was the hook that replaced his hand on his left hand. This man was Captain Hook.
"Just remember, this is no pleasure cruise." he warned Riku, "It won't be a pleasant voyage."
Riku narrowed his eyes at him, then a question came across his mind. "Why are you doing all of this for me?" He demanded to Maleficent, "What's the catch?"
"Catch? What's the catch?" Maleficent walked over and placed a hand on Riku's left cheek, brushing his hair, "Silly boy. You're like a son to me. I only want you to be happy."
Riku knocked the hand away as he retorted, "I seriously doubt that."
"Believe what you wish." Maleficent continued, "But lest we forget, I kept up my end of the bargain." Riku glared at her for a moment, then walked away to Captain Hook, ready to see Kairi once again. His wish was something he desired, more than anything. And he would do anything to get what he wanted. Even if it meant betraying the trust of his closest friend.
Next time on Sword Art Kingdom: Heart's Origin:
Monstro! Honesty of Betrayal!