"Alright, Mirage, I'm only going to say this once," Aladdin pointed an accusing finger down at the Evil Incarnate. "Release the Sultan and Princess Jasmine!"
"The princess…?" A slow, wicked grin spread across Mirage's furred face. "Why, I'm sorry… I just don't know what you're talking about."
"Stop playing games, Mirage!" Aladdin shook his fist at the villain. "I know you've got her, and you won't get away with this."
"Hmmm…" Mirage crossed her arms in a relaxed manner, in no way intimidated by this peasant playing hero. The sorceress' eyes darkened deviously. "I don't know where she is... So you'll have to take that up with my partner!"
Partner? Bewildered, Aladdin made a face at the cat-woman, but his confusion was short-lived.
There was a sudden explosion in the center of the throne room. Aladdin jolted to witness a cloud of scarlet smoke swelling like an indoor storm cloud. A booming voice addressed him, menacingly dark and familiar.
"Salaam and great suffering be upon you… Aladdin."
The smoke began to clear, and from it stepped the former vizier turned sorcerer, in all his sinister glory. An ever-supportive Mirage applauded, thrilled by her companion's grand dramatic entrance.
"Jafar . . . ?!" Aladdin stared ahead, gobsmacked and instilled with absolute terror at the sight of his greatest enemy. He should be dead. "H-How?"
A smile of immoral gratification twisted Jafar's face. "Did you truly think I would rest in peace, knowing you still live and breathe?"
"Where's Jasmine?" Aladdin croaked, working to recover his bravery.
"You want her, Aladdin?" Jafar asked mockingly, sending a smirk to Mirage as her cue.
"Then you must go through us first!" Mirage finished with no shortage of euphoric, savage glee.
Aladdin gripped onto Carpet tightly, his mind racing. He didn't know how he could possibly handle two insanely powerful villains at once. Genie, where are you… The young man then frowned in dismay at the terrified guards. They'll chase relentlessly after a guy who stole a loaf of bread, but they'll cower in fear when their Sultan is captured? Seriously?
"Guys, come on, snap out of it! Come to your senses and fight for your Sultan and your honor! Keep Mirage busy…"
Aladdin turned and glared at the former vizier. "I'll take care of Jafar."
Mm, fine by me, Jafar thought and grinned darkly, readying his grip on his staff. This was the moment he'd been waiting for!
"We can't!" one of the men shouted in a quivering voice.
"There is a literal pool of boiling lava!" Another guard added.
"Huh?" Aladdin swooped down on the magic carpet, raising a thick eyebrow. "I don't see any lava." He overheard Mirage hiss in consternation.
It clicked for Aladdin then. "Oh… I can't see it because it's not real!" The boy sent an encouraging glance to each and every one of the soldiers. "It's not real!", he repeated louder. "It's only one of Mirage's… mirages! She's just tricked your minds into thinking you see it!"
"No! Don't listen to him, you fools!" Mirage erupted with fury. "He will lead you to your deaths!"
But after all this time, the guards had come to trust Aladdin, the thief they once pursued. And so, hesitantly, one of the guards approached the chasm, and lifted a foot over the edge. Gulping, he pressed it down, praying he wouldn't topple into the abyss and burn a fiery death…
…and underfoot he felt only the marble floor.
"Yes!" Aladdin cheered as the guards regained their courage. "Now, get her!"
Mirage roared with fury and let the illusion disappear, and faced the charging soldiers, readying herself for battle.
"Will you be alright?" Jafar called to Mirage, offering his assistance.
"I'll be fine! Just make him pay," Mirage hissed in reply. But she couldn't resist taking at least one swipe at her hated nemesis. So she did, sending shockwaves of glowing green energy towards the boy, before she had to engage with the onslaught of guards.
Mirage's magic sliced through the magic carpet, cutting it into several pieces and causing a startled Aladdin to tumble to the floor.
"Oof…!" Aladdin groaned and coughed, and stumbled back to his feet. With sorrow, he gazed upon the strips of rug that littered the floor around him. Oh no… Carpet…
He couldn't stay sad for long, because Jafar's insane laugher made him alert once more. Aladdin watched as Jafar's staff glowed, the snake eyes burning with energy… pointed straight at him.
"You're finished." Jafar sneered, his eyes glittering with malice.
"Genie, I could really use your help right about now!" Aladdin shouted, but the scepter had already blasted a beam of magic his way…
A split second away from doom, a huge mirror materialized just in time between Aladdin and the beam. The beam hit, and reflected back at Jafar.
Jafar yelped and jumped out of the way. The fiery magic singed his cloak, yet thankfully missed him. But he fell hard against the palace floor. His lip stung. He tasted blood.
"Quick thinking, Genie!" Aladdin called to his friend.
"Thanks, Al! Sorry I took so long - I was stuck in 1955. But I got the DeLorean up to 88, and I'm back, baby!"
What in Allah's name is he-
Jafar glowered at the annoying blue-skinned being, and then at the genie's mirror, watching Aladdin leap behind it to use as a shield.
"Wanna try that again, old man?" Aladdin taunted Jafar.
"Hiding behind your genie again, are you?" Jafar fired back in reply. "You sniveling coward!"
"It's called friendship. You should try it sometime!"
Jafar sneered and picked himself off the ground. He watched his own reflection in the mirror stand up with him, but distorted by… a crack.
Yes… his magic could still shatter the mirror, and crush the boy hiding behind it. He just had to be wary of the ricochets.
He could see Mirage had taken out the palace guards, all of them unconscious or perhaps even dead. The sorceress turned to witness the showdown that was happening between Jafar and Aladdin, and she eyed the mirror curiously.
Jafar screamed at her in a tone that was an inharmonious blend of commanding and encouraging. "What are you waiting for? Blast him! NOW!"
Aladdin's eyes widened with shock as he noticed Mirage about to attack from his side. From the corner of his eye, he could see Jafar's scepter beginning to glow, charging another blast.
Thinking fast, Aladdin turned the mirror, angling it so that it would reflect both Mirage and Jafar's attacks. Red fought against green as their magic collided with incredible force. Aladdin strained to hold the mirror in place.
They were stuck, the three of them. If Jafar stopped firing, Mirage's magic would hit him. If Mirage stopped, the same would happen to her. And if Aladdin couldn't stay in place with that mirror… he'd be obliterated.
Jafar wrestled with the options, his heart racing. But he grinned darkly as he watched a shard of the mirror drop and shatter on the palace floor.
"Hold it there! We're destroying it!" Jafar yelled to Mirage.
"We have him!" Mirage yelled back triumphantly. "Vengeance is ours!"
Nowhere to run, Aladdin. Jafar thought wickedly, smiling ear-to-ear. Mirage and I will celebrate our victory atop your grave!
Nothing could compare to the pure joy he felt right then, as he shared an excited glance with Mirage. And nothing could compare to the horror he'd feel a moment later, when he saw something leap onto Mirage's back.
"Get her, Abu!"
"No!" Jafar roared.
Mirage let out an agonized yowl as the monkey sunk his teeth into her arm. Her magic faltered. She tried in vain to shake the creature off and recover her senses, but Abu bit her again, as hard as he possibly could.
Mirage screeched and flailed, forgetting her target in her pain and confusion. Jafar's magic hit her instantaneously. Abu scrambled away to safety.
Jafar was given no time to act, as he was forced to watch Mirage spasm, fall to the ground, then disappear.
"Mirage? NOOOOOO!"
Time froze. Jafar's ears were ringing, as his eyes irrationally sought out the woman he knew was no longer there. His heart tore itself apart with grief. Where had she gone? Had she been taken somewhere? Or was she vanquished? Dead? Was that possible?
Jafar felt his blood boiling with unimaginable rage, unlike any he'd experienced before. Gone was his calculating mind as he snapped his vision back to the street-rat that had caused all of this. He didn't care anymore about giving the boy a slow, torturous end. Now he just wanted him dead.
Without wasting a second, Jafar sent out a series of lethal magic projectiles without focus or reason, firing endlessly and blindly in the general direction of Aladdin.
"She'd better be alive, street-rat!"
"Hey, it was your beam!" Aladdin retorted with a shrug and a smirk between dodges.
"Sounds like he might actually care about her…" The Genie mused, rubbing his massive chin with finger and thumb. "I'm sorry, Jafar… but I'm afraid that makes you a furry. Don't worry, nothing to be ashamed of - there's no wrong way to fantasize!"
"What?" Jafar had no idea what the hell that idiotic genie was going on about, and he was sure no one else did either. How could they possibly tolerate his presence?
No matter, he thought as he stared ahead at Aladdin, his breathing ragged and his eyes crazed with pure, unabashed hatred. It was time to unveil the grandest scene of the battle. If only Mirage were here to see it…
"An eye for an eye, Aladdin. Now watch as I take away the life of the one you love!"
Aladdin froze at that, his heart stopping in fear.
"Ohhh, so you love her?" Genie gasped.
Jafar ignored that comment, and at last conjured up Jasmine. She was dangling, being levitated high in the air, still tied up at the ankles and wrists and in perfect view of Aladdin and his friends.
"Jasmine!" Aladdin cried out as he met Jasmine's frightened, pleading eyes. "Release her!"
Genie nudged Jafar with his elbow, trying to distract his attention from the princess. "Okay big guy, when's the wedding? Ohmygosh— can I be your best man?"
"Genie..! This is serious!"
Trust me, Al.
Jafar felt another bubble of rage coming up, but he pushed it down. Nothing was going to take away from the satisfaction of killing Aladdin's beloved and causing him the same grief he felt.
His eyes gleamed with malice as he raised his staff and aimed it at the terrified princess floating above. He grinned as the ruby eyes of the serpent began to glow…
"Say your goodbyes, Princess Ja–"
He was interrupted by the horrible sound of off-key singing, courtesy of the genie, taunting the sorcerer to the best of his ability.
"Jafar and Mi-rage, sit-ting in a tree! They're as e-vil as can be!"
"Aaaargh!" Enraged by the mockery and unable to stand any more, Jafar whipped around and fired the blast intended for Jasmine at the genie instead.
Genie then transformed, morphing himself into an anthropomorphic panda with… pants? As the magic projectile rushed towards him, Panda Genie reached out and grabbed it, forming it into a sphere of energy in his paws. And then he looked straight at Jafar, and said…
"Wrong studio, but…
…Skadoosh!"
Jafar narrowed his eyes. More utter nonsense the Genie was spouting off. But his moment of confusion would be his undoing, as Genie hurtled the concentrated ball of magic right back at Jafar.
It struck him square in the chest, the force of it sending him flying. He hit the wall, then the floor. All the breath had been knocked out of his lungs. Jafar wheezed as he sat up, clutching his aching side as he blinked the red away from his vision.
You'd be surprised what you can live through.
"Get the staff!" He heard the princess shout. "He's nothing without it!"
No! Now enough recovered from his daze, Jafar flexed his fingers, and realized he was no longer holding it.
Panicked, Jafar hissed through gritted teeth, eyes scanning for the staff. There, off to his side! If he hurried, he could make it…
Jafar descended upon it like a feral animal, scrambling and panting in his haste to retrieve the precious source of his power and his life. But the youthful Aladdin dashed all the way across the throne room and easily reached the staff first, snatching it away. The boy wasn't even winded from their battle. Unbelievable!
"That is mine!" Jafar wailed.
"No, Jafar," Aladdin stood tall with the staff in hand. "This staff is going back into hiding where it belongs, where it can't hurt anyone ever again. And so are you. Genie, take him away!"
Jafar's hands balled into fists, and he screamed a terrible cry of anguish and protest.
"NOOOOO-"
But Jafar vanished mid- evil outburst, snapped away by Genie, who then promptly swooped up to retrieve Jasmine and brought her down to safety. The Sultan was then freed from his sarcophagus prison, and Rajah from his cage, and the magic carpet was pieced back together.
When all was right as it should be, Aladdin and Jasmine embraced as all of their friends gathered around to rejoice. The forces of evil had been defeated, and the city was saved once again!
Just another Tuesday in Agrabah for them.