CHAPTER XXXIII
PARTING GIFTS
"My, my, my…Ember, do you see this?" Jafar taunted.
"Yeah…four on two. That just isn't fair, is it Jafar?" Ember replied.
"Indeed it is not…let's even the odds, shall we?" Jafar said, raising his staff into the air. Instantly, a blue chain-link pattern formed around the snake head staff and spread out, forming a dome that stopped right behind Sora and Kairi and before Donald and Goofy.
"Hey! Dat's no fair!" Donald said, running into the shield and slamming his wand into it.
"Perhaps, for you, Duck. I must say, I find it quite suitable," Jafar said serenely as he began to hover over the ground. "Let's see how things work out when we are forced to play…fair."
Jafar dove toward Kairi, staff over head. With a mighty swing, he sent Kairi careening backward into the shield. When she hit, a flash of blue energy coursed through her body, sending her down to the ground. Obviously, Jafar had forgotten to mention that particular effect of the dome.
Sora didn't wait for Ember to move first – he slashed at his legs twice, but as Kairi had learned at the bailey, he was much faster than he looked. His brown hair whipped around him like a tail as he jabbed at Sora with his laser sais, nearly looping Sora with how fast he was now going. Sora regained his balance and jumped upward, hoping to do a downward slash at Ember…but as his keyblade was halfway through its arc, Ember let his sais go in midair. They hung there, as if unaffected by gravity, as Ember grabbed the keyblade and swung Sora upward into the roof of the dome, shocking him as well. As Sora limply fell to the ground, Ember reached out calmly and reclaimed his sais.
Jafar turned to Ember inside the prison as Donald and Goofy howled with rage outside. "Much easier when you divide and conquer…" he said, causing a small rip in the dome. Ember dashed out of the rip as Jafar glided after him. Once outside, Jafar sealed the dome once again, locking the unconscious Sora and Kairi inside.
Donald dove straight at Jafar, wand outstretched. Once he was within range, he shot a powerful blizzaga attack, knocking Jafar backwards into the wall. Goofy ducked down, grabbed his ankles, and did a powerful rolling somersault attack at Ember. Ember was caught off guard, but still managed to sidestep Goofy.
Jafar broke the ice crystals imprisoning him with his staff. "Use magic against the great sorcerer Jafar? I'll show you magic, duck." He raised his staff overhead and twirled it rapidly. Suddenly, a giant ball of ice formed above, jagged spikes pointing down at Donald as it plowed into him at full force…Donald was surely crushed…
Goofy stood upright, charging a shot with his stone boomerang shield…it was times like this that he wished he took the time to study magic…he only had one shot at this…and he let go. In a flash, the boomerang shield sliced through the air, straight for Ember.
Ember laughed at the futile attempt as the boomerang came his way…but the boomerang shifted, no longer aiming at Ember…it was now aiming at his sais…exactly where Goofy had wanted them to aim.
They struck his sais with a force more powerful than Ember had anticipated. They were launched from his hands with a stunning velocity as Goofy ran forward and grabbed them both, diving upwards into the air. But instead of aiming for Ember or Jafar, Goofy was concentrating at the large shard of ice in the center of the hangar…as he drove the laser sais into the ice, the heat of the lasers immediately started to melt the ice as Goofy's shield sailed back into his grip.
Sora and Kairi regained conscious at about the same time, back in the prison. They got as close to the wall without touching it as they could…another shock like that would knock them out cold again…
The ice melted around Donald as Jafar and Ember regrouped near the Barrett. Goofy pulled Donald from the ice just as an enormous bolt of lightening cracked down on the ice shard, sending Donald and Goofy reeling.
"Hey! Watch it! My sais are in there!" Ember said, reaching his hands out and summoning the sais back to him. The residual electric energy zapped him as Jafar let out a small chuckle. "It's not funny! I've got a good mind to…"
Jafar eyed him cautiously. He barked like a dog, "you've got a good mind to…what?"
Goofy and Donald, noticing a fantastic opportunity, looked at each other and nodded twice. Donald reached his arms up, backwards, and out toward Jafar as Goofy placed his shield on the ground and stood on it like a skateboard. They cried out the powerful limit attack "ROLLING THUNDER!" as Donald conjured a massive firework in the sky above Goofy – the firework situated on his back, as he aimed it at Jafar and Ember, locked in a heated discussion. Donald fired an incredible thundagun attack at the rear of the firework, filling it with energy and sending Goofy and the rocket directly at the Legion members.
As it struck them, Goofy did a fantastic sliding roll on his shield to escape the blast – colors of every variety juggled Jafar and Ember in the air, doing massive damage. As the fireworks sputtered out, Donald finished the combo with another massive thundagun as his magic was depleted. Goofy was panting by Donald's side, hoping it was over.
"I'll show you magic…" Donald panted. "My foot!"
Jafar and Ember hit the ground with a thud. They were badly beaten…but strangely enough, Jafar used his staff to stand himself up. With his last ounce of strength, he summoned another blue force field that stopped just short of him and contained both Donald and Goofy.
Ember stood up and steadied himself as he unsummoned his sais. "Why didn't you just do that in the first place?"
Jafar didn't answer him as he squeezed his fist – the two domes closed in on Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy…the walls got so close that they had to ball themselves up to keep from touching them…but soon it was unavoidable…they coursed with blue energy as they blacked out, Jafar's cackles in the background.
