The team flew the Gummi ship towards their next destination. They decided to go in order with how they did it before, and went to Agrabah before they went to Halloween Town. Asuna was grateful for this, since she was still scared of going flew straight to Aladdin's world, and flew right above the atmosphere.
"I wonder how things are going there?" Sora asked.
"I hope they are starting to trust Iago." Yui said her concerns out loud.
"Oh, I'm sure their fine." Goofy replied, "I bet Iago and Aladdin are doing just fine together."
"I hope you're right." said Kirito as Yui set the coordinates. Everyone got on the transporter, and they teleported down to the surface of the world.
When they got there, they arrived at the Peddler's Shop, and found that the place changed drastically. Everything seemed to be made of gold! The walls, shelves, and merchandise was made of gold. The peddler was there too, and he was looking away from them. They also noticed the treasure they gave him right next to him. It would seem that the peddler had a 'get rich quick' scheme that turned out really successful.
As the team looked around, Donald almost knocked over a vase. "Ack!" he squawked, trying to sustain it.
The peddler turned to them. "You break it, you buy it!" he warned them. Then he noticed who it was, and his tone changed. "Oh! Hello there, friends." he greeted them.
"Wow! You made out like a bandit!" Sora complimented him.
"Please…I am but an honest merchant." the peddler corrected him.
"How'd you get this much is such a short period of time?" Kirito asked.
"These are merely the reward for my hard work." the peddler answered him. Kirito was suspicious at the man. He didn't see how he got so rich in such a short period of time.
"Gawrsh, they sure are nice." Goofy said.
"And they're on sale! Interested?" tempted the peddler.
He's this rich and he's still selling stuff? Kirito asked, If I were him I would retire.
"No thanks." Sora answered the peddler as he walked to him, "Listen, have you seen a guy in a black coat? Someone from Organization XIII?"
"Who me? Most certainly not…" the peddler answered, though he did seem a bit hesitant.
"Okay. We'll keep asking around, then." Sora stated, turning to his friends.
Just then, the curtain door flung open, and Aladdin, Abu and Iago came flying in. They noticed Sora and the others close to him, and shouted, "Sora! Don't let him get away!" Everybody was too fixated at Aladdin's abrupt entrance, and when they turned, the peddler was nowhere to be found. Aladdin sighed in frustration.
"What's going on?" Sora asked.
"Can't believe it…" groaned Aladdin, "That stupid peddler let Jafar out of the lamp!"
"Jafar?!" Sora, Donald and Goofy gasped.
"You mean the lamp we sealed away before?" Asuna asked. Aladdin nodded.
"Jafar's an enemy you've faced in the past, right?" Kirito asked Sora, who nodded in response.
"I knew we should've sealed it a bit better." Yui moaned, flying out of Kirito's pocket. Kirito had to admit that just putting it into a stone chest and having a stone slab the only thing to cover it seemed a bit weak. At least put some chains or a lock on it.
"You guys better be careful." Aladdin warned the group.
"What do you mean?" Asuna asked.
"I'm sure Jafar wants to take over Agrabah again, but I know he's out for revenge, too." Aladdin assumed.
"When you say revenge, you mean on just you guys, right?" Kirito asked, looking to Sora, Donald, Goofy and Aladdin, "I mean, we won't let him get his revenge on you, but I'm just saying..."
"I guess he's still sore about that whole lamp thing, huh." Sora guessed.
"Well, I guess we'll have to help you guys put him back in his place." Asuna decided, "If this guy is as dangerous as you guys say, then you need all the support that you can get."
"Do you know where Jafar is right now?" Kirito asked Aladdin.
"No…" he replied, "But Iago was there when Jafar was released." He turned to the parrot, who looked somewhat worried. "Okay, Iago. Spill it." Aladdin told him harshly.
"Hey! I told you everything I know!" Iago said to him.
"This is your one and only chance, Iago." Aladdin warned him, "If I find out later that you've been lying or hiding things from us, we're through. I'll never speak to you again!"
Iago knew these warnings were not graceful. After all the work Sora, Kirito and the others helped him in order to gain Aladdin and Jasmine's trust, he didn't want to lose it. "I can't take it!" he squawked, "I know where Jafar is!"
"Where?" Goofy asked.
"Uh, er, I mean, that is, I, um…" stammered Iago, unsure if he should answer, "Ack! I really shouldn't…"
"Iago!" growled Aladdin.
Finally, Iago admitted defeat and sighed, "He's in the desert ruins."
"Then that's where were going." Kirito stated.
"Let's get the jump on him." Sora declared, "Lead the way!"
Iago flew in front of the crew, with Yui and Asuna in the rear. "I get the feeling that Iago is not telling us the whole story." Yui assumed.
"I agree." Asuna replied, "It's like he was trying to warn us not to go there. Question is why?" Asuna and Yui looked to each other, curious. In the end, they decided they'll follow along and see where things will go.
The team walked out of the shop and started making their way through town. Heartless started appearing in the streets and in the bazaar, and more dangerous ones than before. The team went to work on destroying them when they appeared. There were several different types, like the usual Fat Bandits and Fiery Globes, but now there were Neo Shadows, Crimson Jazzes and Emerald Blues. In the Bazaar, there was even a new, rare enemy called a Bulky Vendor. Yui suggested to used the Keyblade to open it up. Sora did the honors, damaging it only slightly before opening it up, revealing a Bright Gem and a rare Orichalcum. They finally made it to the Oasis outside of the city, and noticed that off in the distance, a swirling sandstorm was kicking up, impeding their path to the desert ruins.
"What a disaster!" Iago cried as the team looked towards the sandstorm, "We're just gonna haft turn back."
"Iago's right." Asuna agreed, "We won't stand a chance in that storm. Looks like we'll just sit this one out until the storm clears."
"There's gotta be a way…" said Aladdin, pondering on any idea to clear the sandstorm.
"Aw, c'mon, kid, that's an easy one!" shouted a familiar, flamboyant voice. Everybody looked around to see where the voice came from. Then they heard something in the sky, and noticed Genie flying towards them. "Al, ol' buddy, ol' pal!" he shouted as he flew right next to Aladdin, "This is what having a genie for a best friend is all about. I mean, how can you leave me on the sidelines in a time like this?!" Genie disappeared, only to reappear above the team, super-sized. "Live large!" Genie stated, then his eyes shot out as he said, "Wow'em, Al!" He disappeared to reappear in a tiny form in front of Aladdin. "Give 'em the old razzmatazz! What do you say, kid?" he asked.
"Hey, Genie!" Sora greeted him.
"Sora!" Genie addressed, disappearing to reappear normal size in front of them, "Wanna see a little something I call 'Sandstorm Sweep'?"
"Uh-huh!" Sora, Donald and Goofy replied excitedly.
"Sounds interesting." Kirito followed, intrigued to see Genie's powers. Asuna and Yui both nodded in agreement, eager as well.
"Take it away, Genie!" declared Aladdin.
Genie looked pumped as he turned and started to say "Alakaza-", then he noticed the sandstorm and looked disappointed. "You know? One lousy sandstorm is just too easy." Genie moaned as he turned to Aladdin. He then casually pointed his finger behind his shoulder, and a magic light came out of it. The light flew to the sandstorm and made it disappear in a blink of an eye. Everyone gasped in surprise at how easily it was dealt with. Iago, however, looked disappointed, and Asuna was the only one who noticed him.
The team looked around and noticed that the Genie disappeared on them. "How about giving me a challenge next time, eh Al?" Genie's voice called out.
"He really doesn't seem to settle down." Yui pointed out.
"Y-Yeah." Asuna agreed, shaking off her gaze from Iago, "I bet he should loosen up on the sugar."
"I don't know. That Sandstorm Sweep trick did sound interesting." Kirito stated, "Hey, if he could use magic, he could probably produced more sandstorms and then…"
"No, Kirito!" Asuna shouted at him.
"That will cause too much damage!" Yui warned him.
"I was kidding! I was kidding!" Kirito told them, backing away with his hands out in front.
"Come on! Let's go find Jafar!" Sora told the group, and the team ran into the desert towards the desert ruins.
"Iago." Asuna addressed the parrot, "Are you sure he's at the desert ruins?"
"He's at the ruins! I swear!" Iago replied, "Still, maybe it'd be best if you didn't go…"
"Why's that?" Yui asked, flying right next to Asuna.
"Well, it's just, em', I mean…" Iago stammered, looking somewhat afraid to answer.
"Are you just worried about us?" Yui asked. Iago was still too nervous to answer.
"Don't worry." Asuna assured him, "We can take on this Jafar, no problem. Just trust us like we trust you." Iago looked to all his friends, who were looking to him, and sighed deeply.
"Right then." Sora stated, "Let's get moving!" And with that, they pressed onward through the desert. It took some time, but the team finally arrived at the ruins. The ruins themselves were vast and wide. What was left of a city now crumbled away. Not to mention that they were standing on the edge of a deep drop towards the ground of the ruins.
"Now what do we do?" Aladdin asked, looking around.
"Seems a bit too far down for us to just drop in." Sora stated, kicking a small rock down to the ground below.
"If only we could search the place in the air." Kirito stated, wishing he had his fairy wings right now.
Suddenly, out of the blue, something came flying at them from who knows where. It was the magic carpet that the team noticed before. I flew down to the group and onto their level. It waved one of its' tassels to cue them to get on. "Nice timing, Carpet!" Sora complimented it.
"Yeah, but it doesn't seem like there's enough room on it." Asuna noticed.
"It can't carry all of us. I wish me and Kirito had our flight skills right about now." The team pondered on what they should do.
"I know!" Yui squeaked, "I bet I could tap into your clothing's powers and see if I can do something."
"Really?" Kirito asked, surprised at this.
"How are you able to do that?!" Asuna asked.
"I don't know. I think accessing my Summon powers before has given me a powerup." Yui explained, "In fact, I have been feeling a swelling of magic within me since we came to this dimension."
"That's amazing!" Asuna stated, while Kirito pondered a bit. Yui had been pulling some tricks here and there since they came here. One example was when she channeled energy with Cogsworth to bring Beast to his senses. Did it have to do with the data that was added to her from DiZ's computer?
"But I need some special energy to do so." Yui stated, thinking for a second before turning to Carpet, "Maybe I could borrow some of yours, if you please?" She flew onto the carpet, placed her hands onto the carpet and concentrated. Yui and Carpet started to glow a bit for a few seconds. Yui then flew off the Carpet, still emitting that strange glow and flew over to Kirito and Asuna. "Touch me, mama and papa." Yui told them, and they did so. She concentrated hard, trying to see if she could do this. Finally, Kirito and Asuna's backs started to glow a bit, and their fairy wings suddenly produced themselves. The others gasped as the two witnessed the return of their wings.
"Yes! We got them back!" Asuna cheered, looking to both sides of her back.
"Yui, you are amazing!" Kirito stated, making sure he was able to flap them like before, which he was.
"I had to get a bit creative." Yui stated, "Those wings are like your ALO fairy wings, and they have the same limitations of flight time. Also, you have to be within twenty meters from Carpet, otherwise they will disappear. That's because the powers are linked to the Carpet's flight powers."
"Got it." Kirito understood, and he and Asuna started to float up a bit with their fairy wings. Sora, Donald, Goofy and Aladdin got onto Carpet, with Sora the only one standing up with his Keyblade raised. Iago flew with the crowd, and they took off into the ruins. They flew down to the lower parts and looked around for Jafar. Finally, Sora noticed something first; a puff of red smoke, followed by what looked like a man carrying a staff, but it was slightly hard to tell because it looked like it was made of water.
"Is that Jafar?" Kirito asked.
"I don't know." Sora answered.
"Gawrsh, it certainly doesn't seem like Jafar." Goofy stated, looking at the liquid person.
"Lets get in closer." Aladdin suggested. The team charged at the liquid Jafar, getting in close at it. The moment they got close to it, the liquid Jafar looked like it laughed as it raised it staff, and it disappeared, only for a bunch of Heartless to appear all around them, along with a barrier that surrounded them.
"He tricked us!" Asuna moaned as the team raised their weapons.
"Nah, he's just giving us free target practice." Kirito corrected her. The team dispersed as they took on the Heartless, which composed of Rapid Thrusters, Hook Bats and Fortunetellers. Getting use to air combat was slightly difficult at first, especially for Sora's group. As for Kirito and Asuna, they quickly got back to the same feeling they had back in ALO. Sora was also able to get use to flying eventually, but because of the lack of space the team had, he was the only one able to fight.
The moment they cleared the Heartless, Jafar's shadow reappeared again, laughed, and flew off. The team pursued it. It was swift, but the team was just as so. It attempted to cast magic of some kind, but Kirito slashed it before it used it. The pursuit continued until it stopped to try another spell again, only to be thwarted by Asuna this time. The pursuit continued, darting through the ruins. The tight spaces they had to go through nearly knocked Donald and Goofy off. Thankfully, Asuna grabbed Donald and Kirito grabbed Goofy. Jafar's shadow stopped to use magic again, only Kirito and Asuna's hands were full with their friends. Sora flew in and ended the shadow with a barrage of strikes.
Jafar's shadow looked as if it was ticked off at being beaten by them. He then waved its' staff, and a barrier leading further into the ruins disappeared. It flew away to a central tower in the distance, surrounded by sand that fell like waterfalls all around. Kirito and Asuna dropped Donald and Goofy off onto the magic carpet again, and the team gave chase. This time, there were swarms of Heartless impeding their path, and they were unable to follow Jafar's shadow until they cleared the way. There were a few waves of them, but they eventually made it to the tower. The shadow was waiting for them at the top of the tower. The team flew up to meet it. Donald, Goofy and Aladdin landed on the top of the rooftop as Sora, Kirito and Asuna stayed airborne, in a triangle formation around it.
"Ready to give up?" Sora asked Jafar's shadow. It looked as if it knew it was cornered, and it raised its' staff again. A barrier encircled itself around the rooftop, preventing them escape. It then disappeared in a puff of smoke, and more Heartless appeared around them.
"We got more?" Asuna asked.
"Doesn't matter." Kirito replied, "Let's take them out!" The team went to work, dispersing around and taking on the Heartless. The first wave was composed of Rapid Thrusters, which were easy enough. The second wave had Hook Bats, followed quickly by the third wave of Fortunetellers. The team managed to fight against them, especially repelling the Blizzard spells that the Fortunetellers casted back at them. The final wave was a couple of Crimson Jazzes, and they were quite difficult to deal with in the air, but eventually were defeated after avoiding their fire attacks.
As soon as they cleared the Heartless, more smoke appeared on the roof of the tower, and an odd monument appeared in its' place. It was magenta and purple coordinated. The team gathered together to get a closer looks.
"What is it?" Kirito asked, observing it. Yui flew out and examined it.
"I believe it wants to show you something." Yui told them, "Touch it and see." They did so, and in their minds, three images appeared. They seemed to be in different parts of the ruins, and there were certain groups of floating orbs in each image.
"What were those?" Kirito asked as the team stopped touching the monument.
"I believe they are switches that will allow us access to this tower." Yui answered, "We need to go to each one and trigger them."
"Then lets do it." Sora stated. They left Donald, Goofy and Aladdin behind as they took off to the three spots.
The first one was very close. In fact, it was underneath the crumbling bridge that led to the tower. Once they got down there, the orbs suddenly configured into red orbs and hovered in a horizontal circle.
"Now what?" Asuna asked. Kirito flew right into the middle of the circle and looked at the orbs. What was the key here? What was he suppose to do?
"I know!" Sora spoke up, "Kirito, try using the Fira spell." Kirito looked to Sora, then to the orbs, and noticed he was onto something. "Fira!" Kirito shouted, and he was encircled with his fiery spell. It worked like a charm on the red orbs, cause they configured together in a plus formation, and the orbs turned white.
"That's one down." Sora stated.
"Two more to go." Asuna ended. The trio took off to their next destination.
After going through a horde of Heartless that impeded their path, they finally made it to the second location, in the corner of the ruins that was close to the path to where the tower was. The switch was shrouded by ruined structures, preventing them to see from above. Once they got in close, the orbs went into a horizontal line and turned blue, but they also started to sway a bit every once in a while. "My guess is that we need to use Blizzard on this one." Kirito assumed.
"Let me do the honors." Asuna stated, moving into position. She took careful aim and waited for the time was right before she fired a Blizzara spell on the line of blue orbs. She triggered it, and it turned white like the previous one.
"One more left." Sora stated, "But let me do the last one, okay?"
They got past another swarm of Heartless to get to the final one, which was in another corner of the ruins, the one closest to the path to the tower. The switch was now hovering above the top of one of the ruined buildings. The team got in close to see the orbs now face vertical and turn yellow. "This looks like a Thunder spell will do." Asuna stated, seeing the switch.
"You're up, Sora." Kirito told his friend. Sora moved forward, waited for the right opportunity, and casted Thundara, activating the switch.
"Got it!" Sora cheered.
Suddenly, the group that was left behind noticed that the monument activated. Then down below, a light bursted, and an entrance to the tower opened. "Let's get to the tower!" Sora told the group, and they charged to where the tower was, not even dealing with any Heartless that tried to impede them. One they got there, they flew up to where the others are, got them on board Carpet, and flew into the chamber just in time. They entered the ruined chambers of the tower. Kirito and Asuna rested their wings while everyone else got off Carpet.
"Gawrsh, this place is a mess." Goofy pointed out, looking all around.
"I wonder what Jafar is doing here?" Sora asked. Asuna looked to Iago, who was now looking even more hesitant than before. Something did seem off with the situation. Yui felt the same way too after looking to Iago as well.
"Jafar's just up ahead." Aladdin said, pointing to the path that leads further up in the tower.
The team dashed in, with Sora and Kirito in the lead, brandishing their weapons in preparation. They got to the top and spread out as Sora shouted, "The game's up, Jafar!" The team looked around and noticed that Jafar wasn't in the room they were standing in. There wasn't any staircases that led even further. It was a dead end. It was only at this point when the team truly understood something was definitely wrong. Everyone turned to Iago.
"You sure this is it?" Aladdin asked the parrot. Iago looked very nervous at this point.
"Iago?" Donald asked, looking at him. Iago flew away from everyone and landed in the corner of the room, looking very worried.
Yui flew over to him at this point. "You can tell us." Yui told him, "You know that Jafar was never here to begin with."
Iago looked at her, and gave an expression of admitting defeat. "Ya gotta understand. It wasn't my idea!" he squawked to everyone defense, bowing to them, "It was Jafar. He made me bring you here. You don't know him like I do! He can be VERY convincing!… He said if I didn't cooperate, he was gonna…" He gasped at the idea and fell silent.
Aladdin stepped forward to the parrot, glaring at him. "Where is he?" Aladdin asked.
"C'mon Al, you've gotta forgive me." Iago moaned, looking up at him.
"Where's Jafar?!" Aladdin demanded, making Iago jump into the air as Yui flew back to Kirito and Asuna.
"Well…um, let's see… right about now, he's probably attacking the palace." Iago assumed, flying to them, "I had no choice! His eyes, they got all creepy and WEIRD!"
"Like we care." Kirito growled.
"Iago, you're supposed to be our friend." Sora scolded the parrot, "But you've been playing both sides, just to make sure you save yourself."
"I knew you were still a bad guy." Donald squawked angrily at him.
"You should've told us about this." Asuna told him off, "But because of what you've done, you caused more trouble for everyone!"
"I'm sorry!" apologized Iago, backing away from them. He didn't noticed where he was going, and accidentally bumped into a vase on a stone table, which had the same color coordination as the monument outside. The vase rolled across the table and fell to the floor, where it broke. the part of the table where the vase laid suddenly sank into itself. Almost immediately after, the tower started to shake violently. Pieces of rubble started falling from above them. They looked around, wondering what they should do. Suddenly, Carpet flew from down below, and flew right next to Sora's feet.
"Let's go!" declared Aladdin. Kirito and Asuna produced their wings again and, with everyone else on board Carpet, they flew out of the chamber, with Iago following them.
The moment they got outside, they knew something was off. It seemed like the sand was covering the place faster, and the ruins were starting to crumble even more. What's more, there were tons of Heartless that were impeding their path.
"What do we do?" Goofy asked in a panicked tone.
"We need to get the lead out!" Kirito answered, "Let's make sure these Heartless don't pursue us at the same time."
The team had no choice but to take awkward ways around the sandy ruins to escape the mess. The Heartless kept impeding them, but Sora, Kirito and Asuna knocked them away as best as they could as the Carpet led them through all the twists and turns of the ruins. Several times, buildings almost collapsed onto them, but they swiftly avoided them. At one point, they had to stop because of all the Heartless that surrounded them. They had no choice but to clear the air of all the Heartless that were stopping them. Once they cleared the road, they flew down into the ruins, darted through the sand geysers, and flew straight up to the exit for which they came here.
They flew all the way back to the oasis of Agrabah, and everyone got to the ground again. Carpet looked exhausted from fly so fast and hard, and fell to the ground. "Get some rest, Carpet." Aladdin told his friend, "You earned it."
"Looks like we won't be flying for a while until Carpet is well rested." Kirito stated, looking to Asuna.
"C'mon, let's get Jafar!" Iago declared.
"And who asked you?" Sora snapped at him.
"Be easy on him." Yui stated in a sympathetic tone, flying to Iago's side, "Jafar must be powerful, and his psychological reasoning told him to do such things so as not to be killed. If there's one person who should blame for Iago's crimes, it's Jafar."
"Yeah, well still…" Kirito started, starting to see things from that point of view, and realized she was right in many ways.
"The palace is through there. Hurry!" Aladdin told the group, and he led the team into Agrabah again.
Kirito was expecting to see a lot more Heartless in the streets now with Jafar in there. What he had not expected was the place to have no Heartless whatsoever. The bazaar was all clear, and so were the streets. "I thought you said before that Jafar was able to control the Heartless." Kirito recalled to Sora.
"He does." Sora replied, looking around, "But why aren't there any Heartless in the streets? Surely he would want to terrorize the streets before he made his way to the palace."
"Unless he was just skipping to the good part." Asuna suggested, and the others looked to each other, worried. They ran along the streets towards the palace. Just as they got there, they noticed the peddler in the street, walking around a bit nervously. Then they remembered that they attempted to get him before.
"Hold it, you!" Kirito shouted, startling the peddler as they came in close. He looked to all of them, and somewhat understood something.
"I guess you know everything, huh?" he asked them.
"You can't keep shady stuff secret for long." Sora told him.
"So true." the peddler replied, admitting his mistake.
"So mind telling us how you got your hands on Jafar's lamp?" Kirito asked him.
"I had just snuck into the Palace to, er, borrow some treasure when I heard this…voice."
"A voice?" Asuna asked. "It said 'Release me, and I will give you an even greater reward'." Sora, Kirito and Asuna looked to each other, believing the voice was more than likely Jafar's.
"'Who are you?" I asked." the peddler continued, walking away from them slightly, "The voice spoke again. 'The true Sultan of Agrabah,' he said, 'Imprisoned by villains.' Oh! Why did I believe such a tall, tall tale? Perhaps I was under Jafar's spell. Yes! That must be it!"
"And I'm sure the treasure had nothing to do with it, right?" Sora asked.
"Maybe a bit." admitted the peddler, turning to them, "But Jafar, he never gave me a thing…"
"So where did you get all your treasure?" Kirito asked as he and Sora stepped towards the peddler.
"Why, the man in the black coat, of course." the peddler replied.
"Organization XIII?!" Donald exclaimed.
"I KNEW it!" stated Sora.
"Really, Sora?" Kirito asked suspiciously.
"Okay, maybe I didn't." he corrected. Who would guess they were behind this whole mess, and not just the peddler?
"But why would the Organization give you treasure?" Asuna asked, "What's in it for them?"
"The treasure was a gift, so I would tell no one about Jafar's return." the peddler answered.
"Why's that?" Kirito asked, seemingly knowing the answer before the peddler spoke.
"He said he would destroy Jafar after turning him into a…'Heartless'. So there was no need to upset Agrabah."
"And you bought that?" Kirito asked him.
"I'm a merchant. And a good one at that." the peddler answered, "I'll buy anything if the price is right. It would have been a successful transaction if I hadn't been seen…"
"Oh, you're so kind…" Iago stated. Everybody but Yui looked to him with a 'you shouldn't be talking' sort of look, and the downcast eyes caused Iago to become shameful again.
"We should make our way to the palace now." Aladdin told the group, "Hurry! Jasmine could be in danger." And with that, they left the peddler behind and made their way to the palace.
At the Palace doors, a tall, bony man stood in front of Jasmine, who was chained to the door to the palace by her arms. The man was dressed in black and red, with a red cape, a black turban with golden lining and a red feather. He had a black goatee, and he carried a golden, ruby-eyed, cobra scepter. He was Jafar.
"Just wait, Jafar!" spat Jasmine, "You'll get exactly what's coming to you!"
"Indeed I will, Princess." Jafar replied, leaning down to her, "All of Agrabah will belong to me, while you…" he laughed as he continued, "You, my queen, shall weep at my side for all eternity!"
Jasmine struggled to look towards the path that lead to the town, hoping to see Aladdin. "Oh, please!" Jafar scoffed, looking to where Jasmine was looking at, then turning back to Jasmine, forcing her head towards his, "Right about now…your precious Aladdin is whispering your name with his last breath."
Jasmine forcefully looked away from Jafar, looking to one side, hoping it wasn't true. Then she noticed something that brought her happiness, and Jafar surprise. The team arrived, with Aladdin and Sora in the lead. Everyone but Aladdin had their weapons raised at Jafar, who was disappointed to see them alive. "What was that you were saying, Jafar?" Aladdin asked.
Iago, who was on Kirito's shoulder, looked at Jafar hesitantly. "You dare defy me! You useless bird!" Jafar growled at Iago, pointing his staff at Iago, with the ruby eyes on it starting to glow. Kirito's face was set as he was prepared to take on anything the man would send while Iago coward behind him. Then Jafar redirected the attack towards Aladdin, and shot red bolts at him.
"Al!" shouted Iago, flying in front of Aladdin. He took the hit, and he landed on the ground, seemingly lifeless. The team gathered around, shocked at the atrocity that just happened.
"Iago!" Goofy called to him.
"He just…saved Aladdin's life!" Yui gasped, covering her mouth with her hands as she was shocked.
"You'll all be joining him…" Jafar told them, bringing everyone's attention, "…VERY soon!" He then emanated a red aura as red smoke consumed him, and he disappeared as a burst of energy shot up into the sky. There, Jafar took on his genie form, a blood red deity like the good Genie, only bigger, had a few differences, and much more scarier. Everyone was shocked at the transformation of Jafar. One of the towers broke from the Palace and almost landed on top of the group had they not ran out of the way.
They also noticed that Carpet was back, and went to the team's side. Sora leapt onto it as Kirito and Asuna, now within the twenty meter range of Carpet, produced their fairy wings. "We'll end this!" Sora told Aladdin and the others, "Get Iago and Jasmine out of here!" And with that the trio of flyers, with Yui at their side, took off to face Jafar.
They got high above the city where Jafar was waiting for them, cackling madly as he hovered there, displaying his magical powers. "It's gonna be difficult taking on this guy." Asuna, "He's a genie, and who knows what he'll throw at us."
"It doesn't matter." Kirito told her off, "He's bound to have a weakness on him. Besides, he hasn't play ALO as much as we do, so we know how to maneuver better in the air."
"Look out, he's making his move!" Yui warned them, pointing at Jafar. They noticed his hands starting to glow as he produced more broken off pieces of the Palace near him. He then whipped his hands out and the towers were shot at the trio, who used their evasive maneuvers to dodge them quickly.
"Great! Now what?!" Kirito asked, escaping the attack.
"If you want to stop his attack, aim for his hands!" Yui told the group.
"Then take them out!" Sora shouted to them, "I'll aim for his head!"
They all dispersed towards their individual targets. Kirito and Asuna distracted Jafar at first by firing Blizzara spells at his head, getting his attention. Then while he started attacking them, Sora flew around behind Jafar and started targeting the back of his head. Kirito and Asuna then went to his hands and attacked them. They dispelled them, and the building debris fell. "You'll never escape!" Jafar boomed to the two in front of him, and he used some sort of magic to not only paralyze Kirito and Asuna, but bring them in close to him. Sora was also affected, only from behind Jafar. Then he put his hands together and did a fiery fist swing, knocking all three of them away. The team flew back in pain, but recovered almost simultaneously.
"Ok, that hurt!" Asuna groaned.
"So he has an attack like that, huh?" Kirito stated, thinking of the paralysis attack, "That's not gonna be easy to deal with." Sora was flying all around Jafar, avoiding all the lightning bolts he brought down upon him. Sora stopped running at Jafar's torso, and started attacking from there. After a few hits, Jafar doubled over, seemingly in pain. As Kirito and Asuna flew in to help, Sora had a crazy idea. He grabbed the tail of Jafar, and wrapped it around Jafar's body. Then with one strong tug, he twirled Jafar around like a pull-string and top, causing him to spin in the air until he came to a stop, completely dazed.
"Incredibly unusual, yet affective." Kirito pointed out as Sora flew right next to them. Sora grinned at his own smarts.
"Let's attack while he's down." Asuna told the boys, and the trio went in and started waylaying Jafar with their Keyblades. After a short while, Jafar came to his senses, and attacked them with a barrage of lighting bolts. The team did their best avoiding getting hit, though a sneaky bolt did hit Kirito. Jafar's hands started to glow again, and he gathered a couple more building debris. He then started shooting them every which way, and Sora was hit by one of them hard. Carpet barely grabbed him in time before he fell. Asuna almost got by a building piece too if Kirito hadn't darted and blocked it, giving the two enough time to avoid damage. Asuna bolted at Jafar's head, and started a repetitive jab onto him, damaging him. Kirito and Sora went to Jafar's hands and dispelled his attack again. Jafar used his paralysis spell on all of them again, bringing all three in front of him. He was ready to swing at them again, but Sora was the first to recover from paralysis, and he got Asuna and Kirito out of the way just in time.
"Thanks, Sora." Asuna told him as she and Kirito recovered as well. Kirito gave Sora a thumbs up, then he dived down to Jafar's torso, and did furious slashes at it. He got Jafar doubling over in pain again, and he did the same trick with his tail like Sora, spinning him around and making him dizzy. Once he was dazed, he continued his furious slashing onto Jafar's head once more. Sora and Asuna joined in with the attack, and caused definite damage to Jafar.
When Jafar came to his senses again, he unleashed his paralysis attack on them, moving them in front of him. He panted from his injuries and snared at the trio. He then caused everything to go black for a second, then the next second the trio found themselves in another area, surrounded by dark red clouds, wind swirling around, a black hole beneath them, and a bunch of debris circling around the area. Jafar was out of reach. "I will destroy it all!" he boomed to them, then started sending pieces of buildings at them.
"Oh, crap! Move!" Kirito shouted to everyone, and they started darting around, avoiding as well as they could from all the debris attacking them. There were just some that were unavoidable to them, what with all the pieces flying around. After a while of this, the atmosphere changed again, and they were back in the skies over Agrabah.
The trio were exhausted from dodging so much. Asuna used Cura to heal the team. The light from Kirito and Asuna's wings started to flicker, which brought their attention. "Oh, no. Not now." Kirito moaned, seeing his wings.
"What?" Sora asked.
"Our flight limit is almost up." Asuna told him, "If the lights die from our wings, then we won't be able to fly anymore."
"Then lets get rid of him before your wings expire!" Sora told the team as Jafar said an incantation, and suddenly, a barrage of lightning bolts and fireballs started attacking the group. They darted around all the attacks, getting in closer to Jafar. Kirito and Asuna aimed for his head while Sora aimed for his torso once more. The fireballs and lightning bolts kept going all around them, but they were doing just as well avoiding them. Sora finally made his mark on Jafar, hurting him. He then twirled him around by his tail, and he became dizzy for a third time. Kirito and Asuna finished their combo of attacks onto him, then moved aside for Sora, who leapt into action and started smacking Jafar furiously, ending with an Explosion finisher.
The trio backed off to see Jafar body glow bright red as he struggled to hang on. "No…" he cried, "How can I BE defeated again, by a pack of filthy street rats?"
"Then let this be a lesson to you." Kirito stated.
"Don't mess with street rats!" Sora told him.
"Nor ALO players." Asuna added. With that, the trio flew back to the palace again as they heard Jafar's anguish cried as a ball of light surrounded him, with sparks of lightning coming out of it. Finally, he and the ball of energy glowed brightly, and they both disappeared in a burst of sparkles. Jafar was finished…for good.
The trio landed next to Aladdin, Goofy and Donald just as the lights finally died from Kirito and Asuna's wings. "Guess we won't be flying anytime soon." Kirito stated as he and Asuna put their wings away.
The team looked on the ground to see the black lamp that encased Jafar before. A black hole opened up underneath it, and the lamp disappeared into it before it closed. It left behind three magic orbs for the trio of Keybladers. "Those are Fire Elements." Yui explained, "They will upgrade your Fira to Firaga now."
"A third level to our magic?" questioned Asuna, "Well, if it improves our powers, then I'm not complaining." The three took the orbs, gaining their power.
Suddenly, Genie appeared behind them out of a puff of smoke. "You went mano a mano with Jafar, and you didn't invite me, Al?" Genie asked them woefully.
"Sorry, Genie." apologized Aladdin, "Things happened kinda fast."
"And I had some new moves to show off, too…" Genie moaned, turning his back on them.
"But, Genie, we still need your help!" Donald told him, drawing Genie's attention.
"Yeah, who's gonna fix Agrabah?" Kirito asked, "I know you're a pro at that kind of stuff."
"Oh, yeah!" Genie cheered, punching the air, "One super-duper spruced-up Agrabah comin' right up!" he disappeared to reappear behind them, "You won't even recognize the place when I'm through with it!"
"Just like it was, please." Aladdin asked.
"Really?" moaned Genie, "Same old, same old?" The group nodded in response. "All right." Genie sighed, and with a wave of his hands, he casted his magic all across Agrabah, fixing it up back to the way it was before. Kirito was totally impressed as to how well Genie's magic did the job. "Et voilà!" presented Genie, who disappeared from view, "Next time let me put in a few swimming pools, 'kay?"
After Genie's magic died down, a Keyblade keychain fell from the sky, and Sora caught it. It was a gold chain, with a golden lamp on the end of it. "That's the 'Wishing Lamp' keyblade." Yui explained, analyzing the Keyblade, "It is an all around Keyblade that grants the user more munny drops from enemies."
"Keep it, Sora." Kirito told him, "You finished off Jafar, so you should have it."
"Thanks." Sora replied, "I think I'll use this as my main Keyblade, and my Guardian Soul for my Valor form." He swapped Keyblades, and the Wishing Lamp Keyblade had an Agrabah design, mixed with a Genie lamp feel as well.
The team walked through the streets of Agrabah until they found Iago sitting at one of the stalls and Jasmine coming up to the group. Everything around them looked like it was normal again, just how the Genie said it would. Aladdin stretched his arms up from exhaustion, then dropped them and sighed. "I guess Agrabah's all right now." Sora stated to Aladdin.
"Yeah! Thanks, guys." Aladdin thanked them.
The team turned to Iago's position. "And you make sure you behave yourself, got it?" Kirito told him.
"I most definitely got it!" Iago replied, "No more lookin' out for #1. I'm reformed." he flew up into the air to them as he continued, "I wanna be a good friend, like Genie, but I can't do anything to help you. What kind of a friend is that?"
"Oh, no, it's not like that, Iago." Yui told him, "Friends don't have to 'do' stuff."
"As long as you have fun hanging out together, that's all that matters." Sora ended.
"So…what do you guys do for fun?" Aladdin asked the group.
"We do this!" Donald and Goofy replied, displaying funny faces.
"Uh…that's not quite what I meant." Aladdin replied hesitantly.
"We just do whatever we want." Asuna answered, "Whatever fits our fancy, we just do it. Whether it is going on adventures, or displaying funny faces." She looked to Donald and Goofy's faces, and she couldn't help but giggle a bit.
Iago started to feel a bit sore. He hadn't fully recovered from the attack he got from Jafar. "Ow, my beak!" he moaned, placing a wing on his beak for a short second.
"Gawrsh, Iago. I hope ya didn't hurt yourself." said Goofy as he and Yui came in close.
"Well 'cough' at least I can still fly." he moaned as he flew away, with Goofy and Yui in pursuit, making sure he didn't drop to the ground.
"Just take it easy, Iago. Don't push yourself." Yui told him.
The others noticed that the two weren't looking where they were going, and were heading straight towards a stall. "Look out!" Donald cried to them. They turned to the group too late. Goofy broke down the stall, and a piece of wood knocked Yui down on top of him. Everyone else shielded their eyes from the tragedy.
"Ooh! Was that my cue? Am I on?" Genie's voice rang out from the sky, "C'mon, Al, lemme build a freeway or something!"
"Uh, everything's fine." Aladdin tried to reassure Genie, "Don't panic… Genie!"
"But I can't hold it any longer!" Genie cried, and he started shooting through the sky, whooping at the top of his voice, with magic lights shooting all over Agrabah and sparkles raining down below. Goofy and Yui got up and joined the group again. Everyone watched at the display Genie was showing in the air. It was like a mid-day fireworks display, only way better. "Sora! Asuna! Kirito! And all ya guys! You guys are too much!" Genie said to them, and Kirito was glad that he didn't give him a nickname, "If you're ever in the mood for some more cosmic razzle dazzle, gimme a shout, okay?"
"You got it!" Donald replied.
"Consider it done!" Yui stated.
"Let's make sure we have some headache medication if he comes around." Kirito whispered to Asuna and Sora, who giggled in response.
"Well, you've done it again, Sora." Aladdin told the others, "And I'm glad I got to meet you too, Kirito, Asuna and Yui."
"It was fun meeting you too." Kirito replied, and the two shook hands with each other.
"Don't forget about us, okay?" Asuna told him.
"Just as long as all of you do the same." Aladdin replied.
"I won't." Sora replied.
"And Sora…about that friend of yours, the one you're looking for…" Aladdin started, and Kirito guessed that he was talking about Riku, "You'll find him. Trust me." Sora looked sort of worried about his friend, but with Aladdin's hands on his shoulders, he smiled and nodded in response.
"Should we head off, then?" Asuna asked Sora.
"Yeah…lets get moving." Sora replied. He waved to Aladdin and Jasmine, and activated the transporter from the Gummi Ship. They teleported away from Agrabah and back to their ship.
"Whoo, that was fun, but tiring." Kirito stated, getting back to his seat again.
"I agree." Asuna added, "That Jafar was one tough guy. Still, it was kinda fun to be flying in the air like that. I hope we do it again."
"Yeah, I want to fly like you guys someday." Sora told the two.
"You will." Kirito responded, thinking that it will probably happen somewhere in this crazy dimension.
Suddenly, there was something ringing in the Gummi Ship. "Sounds like someone's callin' us." Goofy guessed, looking to a blinking light at the control panel.
"I got it." Yui replied, and she pressed the button. The screen above them flickered, and Leafa's face appeared on the monitor. Based on her expression, this was no a pleasant call.
"Sugu." Kirito stated, "You doing ok?"
"Not a good time right now!" Leafa told him, and Kirito noticed the distress in her voice, "This is bad. There's chaos here in Hollow Bastion, and you guys are the only ones able to fix it!" The team looked to each other. What kind of trouble was brewing at Hollow Bastion now?