A Serendipitous Key of Hope
Disclaimer: My imaginary lawyers tell me I do not own products owned by Disney, Masahi Kishimoto, anything from Shonen Jump, or Square Enix.
- Omakey -
Out in the world, by a blazing sunset, a man watches as the night falls into a dark blue prison. "This world, so big, yet so small." He looks through his black hood to see several superpowered warriors moving through the dusk.
He carries a cadaver of a white sheet over to an isolated area, where no one would find him. The moonlight peers out from the clouds, slowly making its way to him. "There, you see? An empty world, like a prison. With so many hearts seeking freedom, you may feel right at home." He then lays the bodied sheet on a table.
The moonlight shines upon the sheet, revealing an unconscious individual. His hollow, dead eyes slowly close from heavy eyelids.
Hey, where am I?
"Hello?" To the boy, he sees light. He awakens in a world of solemn darkness, sinking into a sea before breaking free. He opens his eyes, still lifeless, until landing on a solid white platform.
I'm a brand-new heart.
The boy looks around. "But this is… Why are you in my heart?"
A light brought me. I saw it shining in the distance, and it brought me here.
"Yeah, that was my light." He doesn't understand why he can only hear his own voice. The words just appear in his head. Still, nothing can help him now; these are thoughts he thinks over looking at the platform that is his Dive to the Heart, and a third of it broken off. "But, my heart is fractured. And now, the little I have left is slipping away."
Then you should join your heart with mine.
Before he could respond, the broken piece of his heart slowly regenerates, making one whole circle. The dive shines.
Now our hearts have touched.
"Why… Why would you help me?"
Because, you looked like you could used some saving.
These words touch the boy in an endearing way.
I'll share my light with you, so that way nothing will slip away again. And one day… you'll be strong enough to win back what already did.
"Right, thanks."
It's time to wake up now. Whoever you are.
"It's… It's Yahiko. Let's, open the door." His dive releases feathers to show its growth, revealing Yahiko asleep on his platform wielding a Keyblade back handed.
In reality, the man in black walks away. Before stopping when he senses something amiss. A Keyblade appears in the suddenly raised arm of Yahiko, which glows with unprecedented brightness. Energy collects at the type before shooting up, clearing away the dark clouds. Yahiko's eyes open to see the stars of light above him.
The man in the black coat smiles with anticipation, as if not expecting this to happen. Yet, so happen that it did. "I don't know how you did it, but everything worked out in the end."
- End Omakey -
Kenshin: Hmm… So this is Yahiko's origin with his heart merging with someone else's.
Yusei: Is it Naruto's heart?
Julia: You'll see. Let's begin the chapter.
The XXVII Keyhole: The End of The Thousand Nights
Naruto slashes the pots away from him, holding Al up with one arm. "I'm not going down that easily!" The moment he says that, the pot spiders gather together into one single centipede monster. The head with its electrifying antennae snarls. "… It's never easy, is it?"
The Pot Centipede Heartless groans as it crawls forward, whipping its antennae. Naruto blocks using the Keyblade, as the electricity courses through and shocks him. He steps back in pain, feeling his nerves going numb. The Heartless crawls forward to eat him, but a Firaga blast strikes its head.
"Naruto!" Goofy and Donald come in just in time to save Naruto, crowding around him and Aladdin.
"Be careful. This Heartless can use electricity to stun us," says Naruto as he prepares himself, cloaking his sword in ice. He then strikes the head with Blizzard Strike before switching out with Goofy to block its fangs.
Naruto lays a slowly recovering Aladdin while heading back into the fight. "Strike Raid!"
"Thunder!" Donald and Naruto's attacks hit, but the head remains undeterred. It worms in and slams Donald into a wall.
"Donald!" The poor duck falls down unconscious. "You jerk!"
The Pot Centipede turns around, having its tail strike Naruto and send him back. He rolls over trying to recover from the paralysis, as Goofy holds back its head. "Naruto!"
"Get down!" Al jumps in and kicks one of the pots connecting it together, which hits the ground and shatters. Disconnected, the centipede hits the ground, giving Goofy time to help up Donald.
Aladdin then watches as more pot spiders crawl in, causing more screams all around from the civilians. The pots connect together with the main bodies, trying to reattach. "Naruto, can you still fight?"
The Keyblade wielder holds himself shaking. "Yeah. I'll just shake it off with Cure." He raises his sword and casts Cura on himself, before turning his eyes to the centipede. "Thanks back there. Now I know how to destroy this thing!"
He and Al go over to Donald and Goofy, as the Pot Centipede returns even larger than before. "Here's the plan; forget the heads! Go after the pots connecting it; it can't move without them."
"Good idea!" The others agree before splitting up.
Naruto shoots the head with Fira, before running off to lure it in. Al grabs a sword from the ruins of a shop the Heartless destroyed and slashes one of the pots, causing it to shatter. Goofy forcefully bashes the pots near the bottom half, allowing Donald time to move in. He squawks before forming ice around his scepter, bashing the pots.
With all the pots gone, the head and bottom fall. Naruto grins before forming his special aura, turning into Valor Drive. He summons an extra Keyblade, using the Keychain from Halloweentown. This turns his sword into a dark gray one with the teeth being a bat symbol and the chain a pumpkin head. He swings both swords and jumps in, bashing both halves before slicing through them.
The blue heart rises from the head, gliding high up. With that, all the other jars explode. Yet, overhead the clouds remain dark and disturbing. Naruto casts Cura on himself and the others as they all stand. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, thanks," Goofy says with the utmost gratitude. He looks back to Donald, who groans from his earlier pain.
Naruto goes over to Aladdin, who remains sullen of all. "Al?"
"This is all my fault. If only I had released Genie beforehand..." Aladdin slaps his forehead, angry at himself for his mistake. "I really am just as bad as those rich snobs I stand up to. I suck..."
As soon as he finishes, Naruto drops down to one knee. Donald and Goofy come in just as he says, "I'm an orphan too." This grasps the attention of his animal buddies. "My dad died sealing a demon fox inside of me, and my mother went with him. And for twelve years everyone who knew about the fox has hated and ignored me.
"But, I didn't let that bother me! What matters is the now, and now I'm using the Keyblade to make other people happy, because no one should have to suffer the way I did." Naruto then looks over to see Carpet, and as the flying rug comes to them he boards it. "Let's go save Jasmine, together, and you'll have all the time in the world to break free."
"But why? Why help me, after all the problems I've caused?"
"Because that's what friends do, they forgive eachother!" Naruto holds out a hand to him, a hand Al takes. "Let's show that rich jerk not to mess with street rats!"
"Yeah!" Together the two board Carpet, and all five of them take off into the skies.
Back with Jafar, Genie brings him over to a sink hole in the desert, before using his magic on it. The sand rises up, and takes the form of a tiger head. "Ah, so it was in the Cave of Wonders afterall. Should have went in instead of sending that Aladdin boy."
"What?" Jasmine looks up.
"I sent that street rat in to seek out the Genie's lamp, and he kept it with him to make wishes." He then laughs as Genie flies them inside. With the cave intact, they continue flying until reaching an opening.
There, Genie reluctantly snaps his fingers, summoning a wall. The Keyhole opens up, revealed to Jafar. The psychotic sorcerer laughs victoriously. "Ah, I love it when a plan comes together."
"It's not over yet," says a voice behind him. Turning around Jafar and Genie see a figure coming out from the darkness. Slowly emerging from the black void is a slender and visually appealing woman dressed in black, with a covering over her head that has twin black horns protruding out behind her. She also wields a scepter with a green orb. "Misfortune always shines upon the careless."
"Ah, Maleficent. How did you come upon this place?" Jafar asks, slightly surprised with her appearance.
"A little friend of mine told me you ran into the boy, so I tailed you," she says with a chuckle. "Of course, this is just a projection created to visit you."
Meanwhile, Naruto, Aladdin, Donald and Goofy fly on carpet over the desert, where they spot in the darkness the Cave of Wonders. "What's that?" Goofy asks.
"It's the Cave of Wonders," says Al looking down upon the tiger cave. "But, it was supposed to be destroyed when Abu took that ruby."
"The what?" Donald looks down at the ashamed monkey.
"Maybe Genie did that," Goofy states, to which they nod.
"Let's go then," Naruto orders, before they head into the cave. The quartet come before the tiger cave, where a horde of Heartless pop up to stop them.
"Just fly past them!" shouts Aladdin as Carpet zips by the Heartless with ease. From there, they finally enter into the cavernous innards of the cave.
Flying by the millions of gold coins below them, Donald looks on with unprecedented desire. This out of nowhere greed causes Goofy to watch the duck man. "Donald, you okay?"
"Huh?! Of course!" he quickly retorts.
"What is this place anyway?" Naruto asks looking around. Even he's amazed by the treasure.
"As far as I know, this was where I found the lamp," Aladdin explains. "An old man sprung me from the dungeon so I'd go into the cave for the lamp. But then Abu grabbed a ruby and the talking tiger head set everything on fire for touching anything but the lamp. Then he trapped me in here trying to kill me. Luckily Abu stole the lamp back, and the rest you already know."
"But um how did Jafar get the lamp? And how did he know what to do with it?" asks Goofy curiously.
"We'll find out shortly," says Naruto as they continue further into the cave.
After time passes by, Carpet comes to an extremely wide opening filled with three platforms and the Keyhole far in the back. There, Jafar converses with Maleficent. "It's him! And Jasmine!"
"But, who's that with him?" Naruto mutters seeing the witch.
"So, you knew all along didn't you?"
"You're not the only one in this organization who uses their heads. I knew from the beginning what you were up to," she remarks. "Many of the others were too scared of the darkness to dive deeper into it, and that weakness cost them. It's always the smart ones you need to look out for."
"Is that why you didn't bother helping them?"
"I didn't think someone with an all powerful genie would NEED help. You can handle the boy on your own." She then turns around. "Speaking of which, you can come out now!"
Naruto and the others dismount Carpet. Al then shouts, "Let Jasmine go! You got the lamp, so you don't need her!"
"Wrong again, street rat!" Al bites down in anger being called that. "We need this woman. As it turns out, Maleficent was right; she's one of the Seven needed to open the door to Kingdom Hearts."
This takes the three world hoppers by surprise. Even Naruto hasn't heard that name before. "Kingdom Hearts?"
"Of course, you don't need to know anything more." She steps backwards into the darkness. "Finish the job."
"Of course." Jafar casts a spell on the lamp, causing it to float in the air. "Instead of wasting my third wish on you lot, I'll crush you with my own sorcery!"
"Genie, you gotta stop him!" Aladdin says to his blue friend.
"I'm sorry Al; you don't got the lamp anymore. I work with Senior Psychopath now."
Jafar makes the first move, firing a beam from his scepter at the four. They split up to avoid it, with Naruto going straight for the vizier. Summoning the Keyblade he swings, with Jafar blocking using his scepter. Naruto then goes on the offensive attacking the enemy. "So, this is the power of one trained to use the Keyblade… I can see how you were able to fell Ursula and Oogie so easily."
"You haven't seen me at my best yet; Raging Storm!" Naruto summons three flame twisters to strike Jafar. He dispels them with ease. "Triple Blizzaga!"
As Naruto continues to unleash his more powerful spells, his Wisdom form takes hold and increases his strength. However, he and Jafar seem on par with one another. 'Just a little more.'
Jafar notices something strange, and turns around to see the others heading for the Lamp. "NO!" He sees Iago fly in and grab the lamp. "Yes! Good work for once!"
"The hell does that mean?!"
"Get back here!" Donald shouts before he hits the bird with Thunder. Fried, Iago hits the dirt as the lamp rolls about.
Naruto slides in towards Jafar to strike him, but the vizier summons a twister of sand to entrap him. He then fires a spell at Donald and Goofy, trapping them in an hourglass of sand. "Looks like your time is up!"
Having lost their weapons outside of the hourglass, the two attempt to break out as sand pours on them. Abu crawls over to the lamp to grab it. "Don't toy with me!"
"ABU!" Al watches in horror as his best friend is turned into one of those wind up toys. Naruto meanwhile uses a fire spell to blow away the sand, but it returns around him.
As Carpet moves in to grab the lamp, Jafar casts a spell on him too, saying, "Things are unraveling fast now boy," accompanied by inane laughter.
With the fight going on, Jasmine watches from the platform near the Keyhole. She then turns around hearing footsteps approaching her, before her mind goes blank at the sight of red.
Jafar then sees Aladdin going after the lamp this time. Swords are summoned from the skies to encircle the lamp, trapping Al's arm underneath two. "Get the point?!" He then reclaims the lamp, as Naruto uses an ice spell to freeze over the sand. With this he finally breaks free, and slides over to Aladdin to break him free.
"Don't get cocky Jafar! I'm fully ready to take you out!" Naruto tells him before shooting energy beams at Jafar.
He deflects them before saying, "I'm just getting warmed up," and spewing fire around the swords to trap them in.
"NO MORE PUNS!" Naruto screams before using Aero to block the fire upward.
"Quit making jokes and fight us properly you cowardly snake!" At that, the flames merge with Naruto's wind to become a snake tail. "Uh oh."
"A snake am I?!" Jafar appears in the flames merged to become an enlarged, black cobra. The snake hisses before slamming its tail to send them flying. Naruto and Al fall to the ground in pain from the force of Jafar's tail.
As the blonde recovers, Jafar's eyes stare deep into his. This intense sensation paralyzes his body, causing Naruto to freeze in place. "Naruto? Naruto, what's wrong?!"
Eye beams shoot out from Jafar at the Keyblade, causing it to float precariously in the air; the paralysis also takes away his Wisdom form. Al jumps forward to slice into Jafar's scales, but gets knocked aside by his eye beams once more. The cobra cackles, saying, "You little fools! You cannot defeat me, the most powerful being in the world! Without the Keyblade, without the Genie, you two are worthless!"
The serpent coils around the two. Naruto looks up at Keyblade still trapped in Jafar's spell, and both Donald and Goofy incapacitated. This is the first time in forever he's felt this powerless. He's at the point of giving up.
Al looks down at Genie in the corner as Jafar states, "There is no one who can defeat me! You're all dead!"
"What about the Genie?" The snake looks down at Al. He glares at senior psychopath with a scowl. "You said it right; I AM worthless without the genie! But so are you."
"WHAT?!" Jafar increases his binding. "Choose your words carefully!"
"It's true; You still have one wish left right, but what happens when it's gone?" Jafar takes a minute to stop and think. "That Maleficent woman is stronger than you right? That's why you needed the Genie! He gave you your power, and the moment you use up your last wish someone else can wish it away!"
Naruto looks over at Al; that's indeed a great idea, but why is he saying it? He's just giving Jafar ideas! Even Genie is flabbergasted. "Al, what are you doing? I know things are bleak, but that doesn't mean it can't get worse; don't get me involved."
"As long as he's around, you'll always be second best!" Seeing the look of understanding in the serpent's eyes, Al knows his work is done.
"He's right; his power does exceed my own! And Maleficent is still stronger." His eyebrows lower when he realizes a solution. "BUT NOT FOR LONG."
Jafar slithers over to Genie, who becomes nervous. "Now, now, let's not entertain the delusions of the beaten kid. He's a little punch drunk; one too many hits from the snake-"
"SLAVE, I MAKE MY THIRD WISH! I WISH FOR YOU TO MAKE ME AN ALL POWERFUL GENIE!" Naruto shuts his eyes realizing what this means.
Genie sighs in defeat, before taking aim. With the greatest of hesitations, he fires, granting Jafar's wish. Empowered by his wish, the black cobra turns into a red, yellow eyed Adonis of a genie. He rises in size, laughing as he feels the reality rewriting powers he now has.
Naruto and Al fall out from Jafar's control, allowing the Keybearer to make his way for his Keyblade. Forming balls of wind, he jumps high up to grab his sword, dispelling Jafar's enchantment. He then shouts, "What's the big idea?!"
But without a second thought, he looks down to see something forming at the end of Jafar's tail. "Oh. Why didn't I think of that?!"
"When you're weak, you gotta improvise."
"Yeah, gotta remember that sometimes." He then watches as Aladdin heads over to complete the plan.
"THE UNIVERSE IS MINE TO COMMAND! TO CONTROL!"
"Not so fast Jafar! Aren't you forgetting something?!" The sneering djinn looks down. "You wanna be a genie, you got it!" Golden shackles chain onto the newborn genie. "And everything that comes with it!"
He then holds up a black lamp connected to Jafar. "NO! NOOOOO!" He slips further into the lamp drawn in by its command over him. "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!"
"PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER!" Al watches as Jafar shrinks, before being sealed inside the lamp. "Itty bitty living space."
"Well said Naruto," says Al with a grin.
"Oh Al! You little devil you," Genie says with a grin.
With Jafar sealed, the effects of his magic have begun to deteriorate. The hourglass containing Donald and Goofy shatters, Carpet ravels up together, and Abu becomes a real monkey. The dark clouds forged from Genie being under Jafar go away as well.
Though, as they celebrate their victory, Naruto looks back to see something that caught his eye. Up above where they left Jasmine, he sees she's missing. "Jasmine!"
"Jasmine?" Al looks now, and becomes devastated. "JASMINE!"
Not far from their location, a hand touches one of the rubies. This causes the cave to react and shake. "Ah crapbaskets, we gotta go!"
"Naruto, the Keyhole!" Goofy reminds him, before he goes over to it. Raising the Keyblade, he takes aim and fires a beam. The beam hits the Keyhole and closes it, accompanied by a locking sound. With that over with, Naruto and the others board Carpet. "Come on Al!"
"I can't! Jasmine's still here!"
"If she's not here, then someone must have taken her," says Naruto before he pulls him on board. "Maleficent must have come back and kidnapped her, because we were so focused on Jafar. Which means, she's gone.
"If we stay here we won't be getting out!" Carpet then takes off, soaring through the skies. Al guides Carpet out and about across the crumbling cave and its many lava tidal waves. As a boulder comes down upon them, Naruto slices it using his Keyblade and Donald would use Fira.
After many turns, Carpet finally gets everyone out, including Genie with Donald holding his lamp. The tiger head drops down, closing the gate to the false treasures permanently.
The Following Morning…
"So, Jasmine is gone?" Al asks as he sits in his hideout with despair. The others look down in defeat.
"Yeah, sorry Aladdin," says Naruto.
"Then, what are you waiting for? You gotta go after her!" Al says with a new appointed nod.
"Eh? Wait, I was pretty sure you'd want to come with us."
Al drops his head. "I'd love to go after you and help Jasmine, but those Heartless things are still here aren't they? Someone needs to protect this place while you guys are gone."
"Huh..." Naruto nods before going to Al and patting his shoulder. "Al, I promise we'll save Jasmine."
"Hey Al, don't worry! You still got one wish left!" Genie says, patting his other shoulder. "Just give it a spell and Jasmine's right beside you!"
"Genie, what about your freedom?" He looks up to the djinn.
"Meh, it's only an eternity of solitude. You won't find a woman like her in a thousand years," says Genie, as if resigning to his fate. "Believe me, I've checked."
Al keeps his head down, contemplating his choices. "Genie, I wish for your freedom!"
"And one princess special delivery coming right up-" Genie freezes. "What?"
The lamp unleashes a stream at Genie, entangling his tail. It swirls around him like a hurricane, before exploding into nothing. His tail becomes legs and the bonds around his wrists disappear. The lamp then drops, now nothing but a useless trinket. Genie picks up the lamp examining his situation. "I'm… I'm free… I'm free!"
"Genie, a deal's a deal. I promised to set you free, and as a friend I owe it to you." Al then smiles weakly. "But, if it's okay with you, I'd like it if you could help Naruto, Donald and Goofy with rescuing Jasmine."
"Sorry Al, but I'm done taking orders." Genie turns his back to everyone. For a brief moment, hurt is felt. "However, a favor is totally different. We'll handle this."
Naruto nods, before something appears in his hand. Holding his hand up he sees a keychain. "Another deed done to save the world. Alright guys, let's go save the princesses."
"Right!" Donald and Goofy raise their fists up high.
Elsewhere…
Sasuke lays Jasmine on the deck. Heartless gather around and carry her off. "I hope you're happy."
"Tremendously," says Maleficent as she looks down at Sasuke with pride. "Well done, my boy. We have all seven finally."
"Hmm..." Hades looks down with a sigh. "You know, that smarmy vizier could have had 'em, if someone'd stuck around to give em a hand."
"Hey, I did my part alright?" Sasuke tells him. "It's not like Maleficent couldn't have helped either."
"Unlike the boy and his friends, there's nothing connecting us together. Jafar was too steeped in his own greed for power; he was beyond saving," says the sorceress. "One should be careful when letting the darkness in their heart burn too fiercely." She then eyes the god.
"Whoa, hey, I'm as cool as can be!" he retorts.
"Here's the plan." Maleficent turns over to Sasuke. "You know what to do when he comes right? And he will."
"Of course. We're heading straight for that world right now." The sorceress and Hades vanish, both of them being projections. "How's the course?"
"Don't give me orders! This is my ship!" shouts Captain Hook as he waves his left hand, it being replaced with a hook. "If we run into them, I'll let you know!"
"Good." Sasuke looks out at the darkness of space surrounding them.
"It'd be great if that fool's ship doesn't show up."
Elsewhere, the white Gummi ship housing Naruto, Donald and Goofy takes off. They remain at the helm watching and waiting for more Heartless ships. As they do, they notice something coming their way. Naruto checks the monitor. "What's that?"
"It looks like a ship… And not one of the ships made for space," says Donald.
"Looks like a pirate ship," says Goofy. "It's coming in!"
"What's a pirate ship doing in space?!" Naruto shouts. The ship makes impact.
Kei: And with that, we end the Agrabah Arc. Next time we start getting into the nit and gritty of the Kingdom Hearts universe.
Claire: Next up is the Wonderland Arc, and afterwards is finally Hollow Bastion.
Yusei: And by the way, we thank everyone for liking what we've done with the Disney worlds. We had to use Genie's lines from the movie, because we miss Robin so much.
Kei: He really knew how to bring life to characters, no matter what Rotten Tomatoes say about his movies.