A Serendipitous Key of Hope
Disclaimer: My imaginary lawyers tell me I do not own products owned by Disney, Masahi Kishimoto, anything else from Shonen Jump, or Square Enix.
Omake
Nagato steps outside of the temple, lost. "This should be a mistake… I'm strong enough to hold it in check."
"Indeed." The red haired Keyblader looks behind him seeing Master Xehanort. "You are fine the way you are; the darkness is nothing to be feared."
"Master?"
"And yet, it's frustrating how Eraqus refutes its power," he tells him, the old man stepping towards the younger wielder. "He constantly seeks to destroy darkness, yet it cannot. Only channeled. The sooner you understand that, the better off you'll be."
Nagato takes his words into heart, feeling a new sense of hope if this master believes in him. Though as he thanks him, the clocktower bell within the temple rings. He rushes inside to see the news.
There, Nagato finds Konan with his master, the latter speaking to a magic mirror. He asks her, "What happened?"
"I don't know." She looks around with worry. "Why isn't Yahiko here?"
"Wasn't he here before?" Before he could get an answer, Eraqus comes before them. They erect at attention.
"That was my old friend Yen Sid," he tells them. "As you know he is Master no more, and yet he still keeps a look out over the tides of light and darkness. He stands at the council guiding the road Keybladers must walk. All the more reason to be concern, for he warns that the Princesses of Heart are in danger. This time, not just the darkness, but ugly creatures of negativity known as the Unversed.
"As wielders of the Keyblade, you are tasked with striking down these beings who disturb the balance; I tried to pass this news onto Xehanort, only to reach failure. I feel there might be a connection."
"Master Xehanort is gone?" Nagato becomes worried. 'But, I just spoke with him.'
"I have unlocked the Lanes Between the worlds. Use them in your mission; eliminate the Unversed, and find Master Xehanort. The darkness will surround these lanes, but your armor will protect you and grant supplemental strength. Lastly, remember that order is to be kept; let no one know the existence of other worlds, and try your hardest not to meddle unless necessary. Now go."
"Yes Master!" The two say in unison.
"Nagato, think of this as a second chance; an opportunity to change my mind." New found hope enters Nagato hearing that.
"Master?"
"You must know, I care for you like my own son. And I want to see you succeed, but I can't when you're so obsessed with power. Do not be afraid to lose; never forget."
"Thank you Master! I swear never to fail you again!" Nagato says, before taking off. As he does, he briefly hears something that doesn't involve him.
"Konan, a moment..."
End Omake…
The XXV Keyhole: Country in the Sands
"Wow..." Kenshin nods his head in astonishment. "I can't believe all that happened…"
"Yeah, it's pretty hard to take in," says Naruto with a sigh.
After Kenshin came into being, Naruto, Donald and Goofy took the time to tell him the truth of what's been happening. Slowly, the x cheek samurai had to take in slowly the truth, realizing he's stranded from his home far away from his friends. Now he's trapped on this ship, as a stone to his understanding, with no knowledge of fixing this. "How can all this be solved-gozaru?"
"Well," Goofy begins, "we've been sealing the Keyholes to worlds to protect other worlds from already falling, but um… The others that have been taken over..."
"We're not sure..." Donald adds.
"We'll confront Maleficent," says Naruto, thinking of an idea. "She caused all this, so she may know how to reverse it."
"Did she?" Kenshin asks.
"I dunno..." is his quick response, which does not convince any of them. "But if anyone would know, she would."
"I see..." Kenshin's body begins glowing. "Well, it seems my time's up for now. If you need me, I'll be ready to help-gozaru."
"See ya Kenshin!" Kenshin disappears, turning back into the stone. Naruto takes hold of it and places it in his pocket with the other. 'Hmm… Maybe the other one Sakura gave me...'
"Incoming!" Donald takes hold of the controls maneuvering the ship, evading enemy fire. "They took their sweet time!"
"All hands on deck!" Goofy says before they all get ready to fight the Heartless ships.
Some time passes and they make their way to the next world. Donald checks the scanners and sees that there's a lot of sand covering the surface. Regardless, they enter into uncharted(to them)land. Naruto, Donald and Goofy come out and enter the world.
Naruto looks around. "So, where to go?"
"Don't ask me that," Donald replies annoyed. "We could have landed a little closer to a city!"
"Huh?" Goofy says, getting the others to focus on him. "What's that?"
He points ahead at a strange tower of sand just up ahead. It's too big to be a sand dune, but it's increasingly shrinking. "Looks like some quicksand," Donald states while looking upon it.
"Great. We gotta look out for that too," Naruto complains. As they near it, Heartless show up. These are the Bandits he faced in Suna. "On guard everyone!"
"Right!" Taking out their weapons, Naruto and the others fight off the invasion. In a manner akin to professionals, the swordsman easily bests against their blades while cutting them down. He turns his eyes over to Donald and Goofy seeing they're fairing better as usual.
Until Goofy falls over and they end up rolling down the sand dune into the quicksand. "Oh phewey..." mutters Donald realizing they're stuck.
"Donald, we're using Aero to-" He stops when he feels the sand shaking.
Beneath their feet, something large and blue shoots out, skating across the starlight sky like a meteor. Said cosmic thing lessens its speed, revealing itself as a big blue giant man with a goatie and golden bonds around his arms. In his arms he carries a boy with sand ridden hair and monkey with a phis on a carpet. "And with that, all is right with the world!"
"Can you please slow down?!" says the boy.
"I agree!" The big guy looks at his shoulder seeing Naruto with Donald and Goofy hanging on for dear life.
"Whoops! Picked up some flies on my windshield." He then makes for an oasis, swiftly landing on the green before transforming into a travel agent. "Thank you for flying Magic Carpet Airlines. Your bill will be available to you at the end of your voyage."
With that, everyone makes it to the ground safely. Naruto gets some water by the lake next to the other boy, who finally notices him. He asks, "Who the heck are you?"
"That's my line!" The two tense up, before the first guy calms himself.
"Nevermind. I'm just a little on edge; the last guy I trusted tried to kill me."
"That makes sense." Naruto nods to his two buddies who join him.
He sees them, and is rather surprised. "… Why is he a… You know what, forget it. I just saw a genie come out of a lamp."
"A what?"
"Leave the introductions to the professionals kid!" says the blue guy up around them. He makes quick movements and separations while saying, "I'm known throughout the world as the one, the only, the big macaroni; Genie of the Lamp!"
"Genie?" Donald repeats.
"Oh! So then you can make any wish right?" asks Goofy.
"Any three wishes to be exact, and that's it!" He makes three of himself. "Uno, dos, tres! No substitutions, extensions, or refunds!"
"Oh, I get it." Naruto nods thinking about it. "So you can only make three wishes, and they can't be replaced."
"Exactly. Our little laddie over here found the lamp and rubbed it, setting me free from my centuries slumber, and now the rules dictate he gets three wishes." He pops in front of the boy. "Like that wish to break him out of the Cave of Wonders."
This gets his attention. "Wish? I never made a wish."
"Oh, doth mine ears deceive me? What was that just now?"
"Oh that?" He smirks. "I said you couldn't do it, and all you did was prove me wrong. Really, you did that on your own."
Genie drops his jaw, literally off its bones, before reattaching it to his face. He then turns into a sheep. "Well I feel sheepish! Alright, fine, but no more freebies!"
Naruto grins. "I think I'm gonna like this guy. I'm Naruto!"
"Donald!"
"Goofy!"
"Nice to meet you guys; I'm Aladdin," he says with introductions, before his monkey climbs up his head. "Oh, and this is Abu."
"So, three wishes… Whatcha gonna do with them?" Naruto asks him.
"You think we can use them to restore the worlds?" Goofy questions.
"The what?"
"Wait, wouldn't that be muddling?" asks Naruto. "Not that that's not a bad idea, but you're usually the one who says it."
"It's meddling!"
"Hey hey, I don't know you guys so well. I won't really feel comfortable giving them away..." He then goes into deep thought. "Then again, I don't know where to start. What to wish for?" He looks around to Genie. "Genie, what about you?"
This surprises him. "Huh?"
"What would you wish for?" Aladdin is easily taken back by his attitude. He's clearly shocked. "What?"
"Nothing it's just… No one's ever asked that of me before..." His breathing suggests hyperventilation. Genie prepares to speak, before stopping. "Forget it."
"What? Go on," says Naruto.
After a pregnant pause, he says, "Freedom."
Everyone looks at him in surprise. Goofy turns to the lamp Aladdin holds. "You're a prisoner?"
"It comes with the gig," Genie begins, growing humongous while juggling the stars. "PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER!" He then shrinks down into the lamp. "Itty bitty living space!"
"Wow… That's terrible," says Aladdin.
"I know… It's just like Kurama..." Naruto mutters to himself. "So you've been like this all your life..."
Genie surfaces. "But oh, to be free… Not having to go-" He pops up. "Whaddya need?!" He repeats this two more times. Each one more over the top and hilarious as the last. He then turns serious. "To be my own master; that would be such a thing more wonderful than all the treasure and all the magic in all the world!" This is stopped with him slapping his face. "But what am I talking about? There's no way that's ever happening..."
"Why not? You've got phenomenal cosmic power," Naruto says to him.
Aladdin walks over to the now human sized genie. "I get it; you can only free yourself if someone else wishes it."
"Pretty much." Genie twirls a mini planet in his hand, before dispersing it. "My power is at its best only when I'm making wishes, so no matter what I'm always at the mercy of my master. So I bet you can tell how many times that comes up."
"Why don't I do it?" He's not buying it. "No, really! Once I make my first two wishes, I can use my third to set you free."
He's filled with hope. "You would do that for me?"
"Think of it as a thanks for the freebie." Al then holds his hand out.
Genie shakes, claiming to himself, "What have I got to lose? Let's do it!"
Naruto looks over at Donald. "What a cool guy."
"So, what are we sitting around for? Don't we have to deal with the Heartless?"
"The what?" Genie looks over at the duck.
"Plus there's the Keyhole!" Goofy adds.
"Keyhole?" Genie moves over to them. "That's a familiar name."
"You know about it?"
"Let's see… It's only been a couple centuries… Eh, it'll come to me."
"Before we do anything, let's go to sleep." Aladdin lays back to go asleep.
"Yeah, I guess that's a good idea." Naruto sits against a tree. "As long as the Keyblade isn't around the Heartless won't attack."
"Night." Donald and Goofy hit the hay as well, consuming sleep.
"Next stop, Agrabah."
Elsewhere...
Within the sands of the Arabian city, a sinister figure lurks near a shadow in the blue encrusted night. "And the Keyhole?"
"The Heartless are searching for it as we speak," replies the first figure, holding a golden scepter shaped like a cobra. His royal attire befits his tone of voice. "We're certain to find it."
"Which means that just leaves-"
"Argh!" From above, a red feathered parrot flies down onto his shoulder. "Jafar, I've searched all over for Jasmine! But she's disappeared, like magic!"
"Drat!" Jafar is less than pleased. "I told you to keep an eye on her Iago! You brainless, molting dolt!"
"I tried! But she's fast! It's like she's onto me or something!"
"You said you had this under control." The shadow is calm and collected, but Jafar could feel the tone of disappointment. "Maybe I should step in-"
"I'll have you know that no one knows more of Agrabah than I do! I can handle one princess; which reminds me of the question of why." Jafar turns his entire body to face the person. "Why worry about Jasmine? With or without her we can flood this world with darkness."
"But we cannot open the Door to Darkness without all Seven Princesses of Hearts; if she's the last one we're looking for, we need to capture her before she is sucked into darkness."
"So we don't know if that girl with Hook is one or not?"
"She might be. That's why I'm ordering you to get Jasmine." With those words to him, Jafar summons Heartless to move. "Be wary of the darkness in your heart; they prey on the careless. We wouldn't want to lose you like the others."
With that, the figure makes its exit. Jafar's face drops from a smile to a scowl. "Where is the princess really?"
His parrot drops the whole routine and says, "In her room, crying about that guy again!"
"Good." He then lowly growls. "If ONLY I had gotta that LAMP! Even if the Keybearer shows up and defeats her, we're still subordinates!"
Even Iago gripes. "I KNOW! Listening to that chump and his chump daughter was bad enough; now we got THIS broad telling us what to do! The whole thing pisses me off! We might as well go with Plan B!"
"Even if we did, Maleficent still has power over us. All we can do is hope the Heartless find the lamp in that buried cave. Then we will use the power of the lamp and the seven hearts to rule the universe!" The two then maniacally laugh as they make their exit from the scene.
…
That morning, in the city of Agrabah, a grand parade storms through. Accompanied by an elephant, a prince comes in stealing everyone's attention. An amazing song joins the parade fronted by Genie, all the way to the palace. Said prince sits on the elephant adjusting his clothes. 'So, this is what it's like to be rich. I like it!'
"Can't believe he used his first wish on this," says a wiseman wearing white clothes and a duck symbol on his shirt.
"I can't believe these clothes are so cool to be in!" says the leader of the guards, a goofy looking fellow expertly flipping his swords with ease. "That sun is nothing!"
"Guys, stay in character!" speaks the person leading the elephant in.
As they enter into the royal palace, the sultan watches with baited breath at the entertaining display. However, Jafar stands beside him, unimpressed and rather annoyed. 'That prince looks a little familiar...' "And just who are you?" he asks, soon as the music dies down.
"Yes, yes, I would like to indeed know!" The sultan moves in over to the descending prince.
"I am known far and wide as Prince Ali Ababwa," he responds, bowing to the sultan.
"I've never heard of you," says Jafar condescendingly.
"What, didn't you hear the song?"
"Not much of a music lover, Prince Abooboo."
"Ababwa."
"Whatever." Jafar steps aside as the sultan further examines the boy. 'The last thing we need is another fool trying to steal the princess' heart. You just got here, and you've already overstayed your welcome Prince Abooboo.'
Keiichi: This ends this chapter. Unlike most of the other arcs, this one will be a three parter.
Claire: And expect the other stone he has to react as well.
Yusei: Don't spoil it!
Julia: See you next time.