"Okay, I'm pretty sure I've seen and heard about the likes of these guys before. I can't remember where exactly." Genie said, stroking his chin.
"We can't just wait around Genie, they look dangerous. We need a plan." Jasmine scolded under her breath.
"I know, I know. But I don't see why they would...waitaminute." Genie's expression changed to one that looked like a lightbulb went off in his head (not counting the actual lightbulb that flickered over him, which he turned off promptly). "I think I get it. These guys are like the biggest wrecking crew this side of the desert."
"Meaning?" Jasmine asked.
"Meaning they're responsible for all the recent damages in Agrabah. And they've been making money off of it too. No wonder they kidnapped Al." Genie said, folding his arms and scowling. "Let's see if I can remember them by name: Garan's the one with the green eyes, Ajan's the one with the yellow, and Faran is the one with the red. I don't know the other one, but he looks scary."
"You can call me Versat. It will be my pleasure to aid in your demise." Versat hissed, as his eyes glowed purple.
"Eh, the demise thing is getting old to me. So what's new?" Iago said, but Abu nudged him quiet with his elbow.
"Your friend Aladdin was cutting into our business structure. So we decided to take care of him, personally." Faran called out.
"Where is he?" Jasmine demanded.
"Might be full of poison for all we know." Garan cackled, his green eyes burning bright in the nearby flames of the treasure room.
"Poison?" Abu and Iago exclaimed at the same time.
That was enough to set Carpet into motion. He flew up in a flurry to Garan, who tried to grab the rug as he flew around in a series of sweeps. But Carpet was able to wrap him up entirely, and made the serpent fall off the treasure mound. Garan groaned as he'd hit a large treasure lump.
"I think we should go by Rug-man's example. Grab something, split up and take no prisoners." Genie transformed into an Army general, briefly gave a trumpeting signal, then rushed off to battle Ajan.
Versat leapt toward Jasmine, and Jasmine found herself backed into a corner quickly.
"A pleasure meeting you, dear princess." Versat grinned, slowly stepping toward her. "I suppose you could make this easier by surrendering now, so I won't have to harm you."
Jasmine narrowed her eyes, grabbing a nearby torch with a wide flame and thrust it in front of her. "If you think I'm just going to stand back without fighting, you have another thought coming."
Iago and Abu tried to distract Faran, flying over and around him while he frantically tried to swipe at the two. Iago flew past a golden pot, knocking it down, conveniently dropping the pot on Faran's head, but unfortunately trapping Abu inside too. Screeches, hisses, and several pulls later, Faran managed to pull the pot off his head, but had several scratches in his leathery skin from where Abu had defended himself. Not to mention patches of fur he'd spat out of his mouth.
Abu scurried a fair distance away, wiping the sweat from his brow, but screeched when he saw his frayed tail, which at some point had run through Faran's fangs.
"Good goin', monkey. Now that snake's really gonna be mad, especially since you flossed his teeth with your tail." Iago grumbled. Faran recovered, hissing angrily.
The two of them raced away as Faran pursued them.
Genie and Ajan went at each other, but no matter how much magic Genie tried to outsmart him with, Ajan seemed ready to counter it. So Genie decided to take a more humored approach. Transforming into a lady snake form and planting a big wet one on the side of Ajan's skin completely caught the snake off-guard, allowing Genie time enough to strap a rocket to the U-serpent's back.
"Toodle-oo, darling!" Genie said, waving a handkerchief as the rocket launched. Ajan hissed as he flew through the air in a series of zig-zags out of the area.
Genie transformed back to normal and looked around. "Let's see, two snakes down, and two more to go..." Genie looked over to where Jasmine fended off Versat with the torch in her hands, but as she stepped closer to a void in the path, he realized she wasn't looking too well on the defense department. Apparently, she noticed and her determined expression started to falter.
"Hang on, Jasmine!" he said, rushing on speedy legs to help her. Unfortunately, he ran straight into the path that Faran went to pursue Iago and essentially ended up a flattened pancake on the ground.
Versat struck out with his claws, alternating rhythms from where Jasmine fended him off with the burning flame. Jasmine managed to push the flame into Versat's side, which made him hiss in pain from the burn. Versat knocked the torch from her hands, sending it spiraling over the ledge behind her, down into the void.
Where the torch fell, Jasmine saw that it'd hit into something, snuffing out the flame. She guessed there was water in the pit, by the look of it. A long way down.
"Looks-s like you're out of options-s, princess." Versat hissed, though she'd managed to injure him with the way he held his side with one hand.
Jasmine's eyes widened at the U-serpent grabbed her with his free hand, holding her by the wrist over the ledge. She tried to struggle against him, but Versat was strong.
"Let go of me!"
"Since you ask s-so courteously, it's my pleasure," Versat said.
"No!" Jasmine yelled, as the U-serpent prepared to throw her from the ledge.
But his hand wouldn't unclench. Jasmine dangled in his grasp, safe from falling. If he'd thrown with any further force, Versat would've fallen with her into the pit. He hissed, annoyed.
"Seems there's s-still some resistance in the body I possess-s. If I could rid of the human essence, I wouldn't have these annoying interruptions-s."
"Human?" Jasmine mouthed, but saw Genie had recouped and was behind Versat. Genie gave her a thumbs up, made a large slingshot appear, and barreled himself into the U-serpent. That sent all three of them into the pit, but Carpet swooped in to catch Jasmine and Genie.
"Genie, NO!" Versat yelled, before plummeting down into the pit and landing in the dark waters below.
Genie and Jasmine looked over the edge of Carpet as Versat disappeared into the waters below.
"Really strange he'd call me on a first name basis, especially since I just met him." Genie said.
"That wasn't the only weird thing, but at least he's gone. Thanks Genie." Jasmine said, sighing in relief.
"Hey, you were doing some fine fighting yourself, there, Princess." Genie said with a wink. "Now let's help that wascally monkey and parrot."
By the time Jasmine and Genie regrouped with Carpet, so had the U-serpents, minus Versat. Ajan and Garan held a captive Iago and Abu in their grasp. Abu screeched as he tried to climb out of Garan's grasp, but as the U-serpent hissed, his teeth bared, Abu shrank back, grinning sheepishly.
"Hey, look, I can actually make it worth your while if you let us go," Iago said, but Faran hissed.
"S-silence. We certainly have uses-s for you both."
"Why do I get the feeling I don't wanna know what that is?" Iago said.
"Let them go!" Jasmine called. Iago grinned.
"Man, I've never been so glad to see you guys," Iago said as he saw Genie, Jasmine and Carpet. "As you can see, we're kinda in a predicament here! Even if you guys managed to ditch the other snake guy."
Garan grinned. "So I've s-seen. But I suppose you may find it interesting that Versat is in the very same place as your Aladdin. I would search the watery depths of the Cave of Wonders-s unless you want Versat to find him first."
"Uh, Versat might be out of the running for a little while, because that was a really, really long drop. That's kinda a common trend for bad guys now that I think about it." Genie said, wincing.
Garan laughed. "Just as well, but lucky for you both, Versat isn't that easily defeated, much like us-s. Especially with his particular...condition for the moment." That made all of the U-serpents laugh heartily.
Jasmine and Genie looked between each other, confused. Abu and Iago looked at each other in the same way, though both of them gulped.
"For now, I think we'll take our leave with our new subjects-s." Garan pulled a vial from his dark robe, dropped it on the sands, and disappeared with the other U-serpents, and Abu and Iago in a puff of sandy mist.
"Well, I hate to break it to you kids like this, but we're down a prince, a noisy parrot and a monkey. Not exactly gonna be easy to regroup. And I'm not too sure going down this deep dark place is gonna be as easy as it looks." Genie said as he looked down into the dark pit where Versat had fallen.
"Should we split up?" Jasmine suggested. "We have to find Abu and Iago too before the U-Serpents have the chance to do whatever they were planning."
"Good call, which just leaves the question of what those slippery fiends were up to." Genie looked at Carpet. "You wouldn't happen to have any ideas, would you, Rugman?"
Carpet shook his knob ends.
"I thought not, but at least we know Al's somewhere down there. And Versat too, unfortunately. If he's like the other U-Serpents said he is, he's not gonna be too happy with us the next time we tangle with him, considering we gave him the old heave-ho off the cliff."
"But he's not indestructible Genie. We can beat them. We just need a plan." Jasmine said. "But something bothers me about all this."
"Like besides this dark and scary place? You're not the only one," Genie said, transforming into an oversized kid biting his fingernails.
"No, it was more about what Versat and the other U-Serpents were saying. Versat mentioned something about human limitations, like he was using someone else's body. And he didn't drop me off the cliff when he said he would. He hesitated...no, he wouldn't let me go. And Garan said the same thing about Versat having a 'condition.'"
"My guess is that Versat's not an original member of the U-serpents. I figured someone human had to be in that shell. Definitely didn't become a member by choice."
"Which means the person's still fighting Versat's entity. Two beings in the same body."
"Makes sense too, considering how weird it was Versat knew...oh no." Genie's eyes went wide, and Jasmine mirrored the fear in his expression.
"Wait, you don't think Versat was..." she cried.
"Aladdin!" They shouted.