Next chapter. Let's go!

Sora: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else… Uh, that's it, I guess."

Yeah, we couldn't think of a joke, sorry.

!

Chapter 106: Challenge and Treasure

The inside of the cave was extraordinary. Sora was slightly reminded of the Court of Miracles.

It was as if some great civilization long past had attempted to build their own city in the massive cavern underneath the island. Ancient structures were all around, perfectly preserved for the most part. The only sign of damage was the rubble by the entrance they had come through.

"Incredible." Bariss breathed.

"How old do you think this stuff is?" Sora asked.

"About twenty-five hundred years, maybe somewhere in that general area." Nehrut guessed.

"How do you know that?" Aladdin asked, surprised.

"Bookworm friend... huge library... way too much pointless information." He visibly shuddered.

"C'mon." Sora walked as quietly as he could in the direction the thieves appeared to have gone. They inched along, not touching anything, and avoiding large puddles that would probably have made noise if stepped in.

"Shouldn't we have run into Heartless or something by now?" Nehrut asked. "Not that I'm complaining, but it seems a little convenient."

"Traps usually do." Bariss said. "Never let your guard down."

"Oh, that's really reassuring." Iago grumbled.

It only took moments to find the Forty Thieves. They were all assembled in an area that resembled something of a city square. Huge pillars stretched from the ground to the rocky ceiling above. Elaborately carved statues lined the area.

The Forty Thieves were all assembled around an empty wooden table sitting in the center of the cavern. Klaxam and Zexion were sitting on a flight of stairs nearby, enjoying the show.

"We could have had all the loot at the wedding." Sa'luk was raving. "But we followed the King's plan! And how this is what we have to show for our trouble in Agrabah."

He slammed his fist down onto the table, actually breaking it in two. "NOTHING!"

The big man stomped over to the King of Thieves, who had pulled down his hood. "Your time has come to a close, Cassim."

Aladdin practically fell over when he finally saw Cassim's face. It was the exact same one that the oracle had shown him.

"Your dad is the..." Sora began.

Before he got any further, Cassim replied to Sa'luk's threat, and they listened. His voice revealed no trace of fear when he said, "If you're talking about spilling my blood, well I just don't see that happening."

"Then let me open your eyes!" Sa'luk raised his claws to strike.

"Don't do anything stupid-" Nehrut began.

But Aladdin was already in motion, leaping from their hiding place, and sprinting across the room to the large man whose back was to him. He crashed through the thieves before they were aware that he was there, and leapt onto Sa'luk's back, bringing him to the ground before he brought the claws down onto his father's head.

The remaining thieves gaped in surprise for a moment, while Aladdin said, "Run! I've got him! I'm Aladdin, you're my father!"

But it only took a few seconds for the heavily-muscled Sa'luk to throw the scrawny young man off of him. He advanced toward him.

"Hero time." Sora said. He, Nehrut, and Bariss rushed from their hiding place, leaving Abu, Iago, and Carpet under cover, and closing the distance between them and the thieves in seconds. Sora dove in between Aladdin and Sa'luk, blocking the golden blades with Oblivion. Nehrut and Bariss flanked him. The big man snarled at him.

"STOP!" Cassim suddenly shouted. All eyes turned to him.

His expression was almost disbelieving as he looked at the dagger resting in his palm. Apparently, it had fallen from Aladdin's belt during his attack. "The boy is my son."

Sa'luk backed away, but Klaxam and Zexion had joined the group now, so Sora, Nehrut, and Bariss didn't lower their weapons. The two Nobodies had curious looks on their faces. Sora had expected something like triumph, or smugness. Instead, they looked more thoughtful, as if they were curious as to how things would play out now.

Cassim held the dagger up. "I gave this dagger to my wife years ago. I told her to give it to our newborn son, Aladdin."

Aladdin got to his feet. He looked like he was trying to process several conflicting emotions at once. Ignoring the thieves' surprised whispers, he blankly stated, "You are the King of Thieves?"

He shrugged, as if this wasn't anything very important. "Like it or not boy, we are blood." He tossed the sheathed dagger to him, and he caught it. Slowly, Cassim walked past Sora, who didn't let his guard down. But, he didn't try to attack him, and instead, placed his hands on his son's shoulders.

He looked him up and down for a moment, his eyes filled with emotion. "Look at you. I never thought I would see you again... Has it been so long?"

Aladdin began to smile, but Sa'luk spoke up again. "Blood or mud, the boy is an intruder. And so are his little friends. We have rules about intruders."

Wonderfully timed, a pair of thieves stepped forward. One was holding the squirming pair of Abu and Iago, and the other gripped Carpet in both hands, despite its best efforts to escape. "They've found our secret lair." Sa'luk continued. "They've seen too much. They must all die."

While most of the thieves agreed with raucous applause, it was clear that Iago wasn't too happy about the news, and tried to appeal to the King of Theves. "Die! He's your son! I'm his friend! Cast a vote for mercy here!"

"Yes, Cassim." Sa'luk taunted. "Mercy would be so like you. Soft and weak."

The silence hung in the air for a few seconds, but Sora heard someone mutter very quietly, "Maybe Sa'luk should be king..."

"Kill them." Cassim said with a shrug.

This was instantly greeted with cheering from the thieves. Sora's grip on the Keyblade tightened as Sa'luk raised his claws...

"Or..."

All eyes were once again drawn to Cassim, who appeared to be thinking very hard about something. "Yes, the boy could... Yes, and his friends –nah."

"The boy could what?"

"Nothing. Probably a bad idea."

"Let's hear it!"

"Well, it seems to me that... Oh, never mind."

"What?" Sa'luk finally asked.

Sora noticed the grin that Cassim was doing a good job of hiding. "My boy could represent them, and take the Challenge."

This was greeted by even more enthusiasm than the prospect of an execution. The thieves were smiling, and laughing excitedly.

"That's that!" Cassim announced. "My son will face the Challenge, and the fate of the others will depend on his success."

"And I shall be the one to test him." Sa'luk offered, smirking.

"You're on." Aladdin said, glaring into his eyes.

Klaxam and Zexion were silent throughout the whole affair. Sora looked closely at them, wondering why they were making absolutely no effort to capture the Keybearer they needed.

!

The Forty Thieves 'escorted' them to the top of the island. Cleverly concealed from sight to anybody from the ground by strategically placed boulders, was an arena-like area. It was just a large, flat, torch-lit place on the island, clearly intended for something like the Challenge.

The thieves were all clustered around the arena, talking eagerly among themselves, and placing bets on who would come out the winner in the fight between Aladdin and Sa'luk. From what Sora was hearing, the odds were steeped heavily against his friend.

He, Nehrut, and Bariss were standing by Zexion and Klaxam, who still hadn't said a word to them, but seemed not to want them to escape. Iago and Abu were in a small cage nearby, and Carpet was being sat on by a particularly heavy-looking man.

Sora finally decided to say something to the Brotherhood's second-in-command. "What are you planning?"

"Can't a Nobody simply enjoy a fight to the death?" He replied casually.

"No, he can't." Sora said, deadpan.

Klaxam chuckled. "Fair point. You're wondering why I haven't tried to apprehend you yet, aren't you? Well, you're not the only prize I'm after, Keyblade Master."

The Nobody turned to Nehrut, smiling. "Go ahead, try to read my mind. Try to see what I want."

"So you do have another motive." Nehrut said. He reflexively adjusted his body into something resembling a fighting stance, and moved slightly to block Bariss from his sight.

"Well, isn't that obvious?" Zexion said. He looked between Nehrut and Bariss for a moment, and smirked. "Love won't protect her, you know."

That brought a blush to both their faces, as well as expressions of anger. But before they could do anything else, they noticed Aladdin and Cassim walk to the arena. Sa'luk came after them.

"What's going on, Dad?" Sora heard Aladdin mutter.

If Cassim was hurt by the way his son spoke, he didn't let it on. "Oh, the Challenge is simple enough. Only one man survives." The two looked at Sa'luk, all six-foot-something of him, snarling down at the young man.

Cassim handed his son his dagger. "But you're my son. You'll be that man. Knock him dead, kid." As he backed out of the arena to stand by Sora, he added, "Seriously."

He raised his voice to address the thieves. "Aladdin verses Sa'luk. The winner is part of our ranks, and decides the fate of these prisoners here."

Sora gulped, slightly nervous. One of the thieves stepped into the arena, and raised a scimitar high into the air. When he brought it down (leaving a scratch on the ground) the fight was on.

Sa'luk moved first, charging at his opponent with a roar. He was faster than he appeared, and nearly took Aladdin's head off with his first strike. Fortunately, Aladdin was quick enough to dodge it, and deliver a quick jab into his stomach.

While this should have at least hurt a normal man, it barely even slowed down Sa'luk. He delivered a punch to Aladdin's stomach with his empty hand that knocked him off his feet. He moved in to finish the fight quickly.

Aladdin's leg shot out, tripping Sa'luk. He fell onto his back, as Aladdin got back to his feet. Before he could do anything, however, the thief was back on his feet, and very angry. He lunged forward, swiping thrice as he approached him. The young man leapt away from the onslaught, narrowly avoiding the glinting claws as they came close to cutting across vital organs.

"He's your son. Why are you making him do this?" Sora asked Cassim. The older man was watching the battle, and he noted that he looked both nervous, and slightly hopeful.

Cassim shot him an irritated sidelong glance. Very quietly, he said "He has a chance at survival this way."

Sa'luk struck toward Aladdin again, and missed by a hair's breadth. "Oh yeah." Nehrut muttered, deadpan. "You're father of the year."

Aladdin unsheathed his dagger, and waited for Sa'luk to make a mistake. He just needed one narrow window of opportunity, and found it. His opponent had become frustrated, and put too much of his weight into an attack that missed.

The dagger flashed, creating a narrow gash in Sa'luk's weapon arm. He grunted briefly from the pain, and drove his elbow into Aladdin's chest, knocking the air from him, and shoving him close to the edge of the arena.

He looked behind him, seeing nothing but a huge drop into the ocean below. By now, all the thieves were cheering, save for one. Cassim finally looked afraid, as did Sora, Nehrut, and Bariss. The latter three were getting ready to leap to his rescue if he went over the edge.

Using his dagger, he blocked another of Sa'luk's claw strikes. However, the pure force behind it pressed him back to the very edge. His heel hovered over the precipice, just one inch from certain doom.

One final punch, and Aladdin plunged over the side toward the water.

The thieves' cheering was deafening, and Sora immediately rushed forward to help. Klaxam barred his way, his staff in hand. Cassim ran past him.

"He's still there!" One of the thieves exclaimed.

"Say again?"

Sora darted around Klaxam (who wasn't trying to block him any longer) and shouldered his way through the thieves to get a view of the side of the rock. Cassim, Nehrut, and Bariss were behind him.

"Smart guy." Roxas said, admiringly.

It seemed that Aladdin had plunged his dagger into the rock face as he fell, slowing his descent, and allowing him to gain a foothold on a narrow rim of rock on the side of the island.

Sa'luk snarled, and leapt down himself. He used his golden claws in similar fashion to Aladdin, and slid down the rock toward him.

"Can he do that?" Bariss asked Cassim.

"Anything goes in the Challenge." Cassim said.

Sa'luk touched down on the narrow rock outcropping that Aladdin was standing on. He smirked, and advanced slowly toward the young man, claw raised for the kill.

Sora fully expected his friend to die, but once again, he underestimated the street rat's ingenuity. His dagger was still lodged into the rock over his head. He jumped up to it, and grabbed it with both hands. He kicked his feet forward, catching Sa'luk in the stomach before he realized what he was doing.

Sa'luk screamed as he fell, until he hit the water with a loud splash.

Things remained like that for a moment, until one of the thieves finally lowered a rope down for Aladdin to climb up. He wrenched the dagger free, and took it.

Moments later, he was back at the arena. Sora, Nehrut, and Bariss got to his side. The eyes of the Forty Thieves were on them. Cassim stood in their midst, arms crossed, and expression unreadable.

"You killed Sa'luk. The code of the Forty Thieves is very clear on this point..."

There was complete and absolute silence for exactly one suspenseful second.

Then, he smiled. "You're in."

The thieves cheered. But not a soul noticed the two Nobodies looked at each other with smiles on their faces. "You know what to do." Klaxam said.

Zexion nodded, and disappeared.

!

It took nearly two hours for things to calm down at the den of the Forty Thieves. Zexion and Klaxam had disappeared in the time since then, and Sora was careful to keep an eye out for them.

Cassim had pulled the off-worlders, Aladdin, Abu, and Iago away from the thieves. Carpet was somewhere else, doing whatever it was that magic carpets did during their down time.

The seven of them were in a cavern that formed a sort of passageway. In the dim, flickering light provided by Cassim's torch, Sora could see the warped, water-polished rock structures lining the walls. They were walking through something of a stream, where water had gotten trapped in the cavern during high tide.

They often found themselves tripping over rocks despite the torch's light. Sora found himself missing Kairi, and not just because her Light would have been better to guide them along the tunnel.

"You have it bad, dude." Roxas said. "It's been less than twelve hours, and you're missing her like crazy."

Well, at least you never have to be separated from Namine. Can you tell her to tell Kairi that everything is going fine?

"No prob."

"I find my son, and lose my enemy." Cassim was saying from ahead of them all. "You've done your old man proud, Aladdin."

"I was just trying to stay alive." Aladdin spat.

Cassim let out a short laugh. "If you didn't fight, you would have been killed, along with your friends. So says the code of the Forty Thieves."

"Does this code by any chance have any rules that don't end in horrible death?" Sora asked.

"It's a strict code." Cassim said, shrugging.

"Oh, well as long as you're consistent." Nehrut said, deadpan.

They had arrived at the end of the tunnel. The stream was gone, and ahead of them was a stone wall with odd symbols on it. Cassim walked directly to it. "But there is one thing that I added. We never hurt the innocent."

"Uh, for future reference," Iago said, "I'm as innocent as the day I was hatched."

Abu chittered something that sounded suspiciously like, 'Oh brother.' And Bariss added, "That would have sounded much more convincing if you hadn't been drooling over the treasure at the wedding."

Cassim chuckled, and removed the golden crest from his cape. Now that Sora had a better look at it, he recognized it as the same one that was on Aladdin's dagger. He touched it to a small gap in the stone wall, and it slid aside.

They all stepped into a small chamber that looked like it might have once belonged to someone of importance. Several ancient, impressive ornaments were strewn about the room. These included what appeared to be a globe made of gold, and a shining wooden wardrobe.

Cassim lit some extra torches in the room with his own. "Listen, my young friends, there is a treasure. The ultimate treasure... compared to this, a pharoh's tomb is a pauper's grave, a sultan's fortune is nothing but lunch munny!"

"And I am this close to it." He hissed, holding his index finger and thumb a centimeter apart for emphasis.

"That's tantalizingly close." Iago observed, eyes gleaming.

Cassim was rummaging through the wardrobe. "But, it is on an island that is never in the same place twice. The Vanishing Isle."

"What is this 'ultimate treasure?'" Aladdin asked bitterly. He had been this way toward Cassim since his fight with Sa'luk had ended.

"The big one, boy." He unfurled the large piece of cloth he had found in the wardrobe. Sora instantly recognized the symbol from the dagger, of the golden hand. "The Hand of Midas."

Sora had a feeling he knew where this was going. He had heard his mother tell the story plenty of times: The myth of the king who had loved his wealth so much that he wished that everything he touched be turned to gold. Unfortunately for him, this also included his food and drink, and his daughter.

Apparently Aladdin knew the story as well. "It's just a myth."

"It's not a myth, boy!" Cassim barked. He pulled aside a curtain on the far wall of the chamber, revealing an underwater cavern far below them. "It was once right here. Look, there's your proof!"

Sora, Nehrut, and Bariss had all seen crazy things in their lives, but they were still surprised at what they saw by the light of Cassim's torch. There was a ship beneath the calm water, one about half the size of the Black Pearl and with the head of a ram at the stem.

It was made completely of shining, glimmering gold.

"From stern to stem, every piece of rigging, every peg and board, all of it! Solid gold!"

"Adopt me, Daddy-O!" Iago exclaimed, his greedy eyes fixed intently on the ship.

"Touched by the Hand of Midas." Cassim said.

"And sunk by it." Aladdin muttered, turning away, seemingly unimpressed by the amazing treasure below them.

"Oh, you don't understand." Cassim retorted. "You don't know what it's like to have nothing. To stare up at the palace and know you deserve more!" He tossed his torch into the water. "To be called 'street rat.'"

"Where do you think you left him?" Sora shot out.

This apparently deflated Cassim's anger a bit. He sighed, and walked over to Aladdin. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "I knew what I wanted for my family: The best. I couldn't go and come back empty-handed."

He walked over to the golden globe. "But, the weeks turned to months, and the months turned to years." Now he looked as if he was going to cry. "I came back to Agrabah one night, but I couldn't find my wife, or my son. I thought my family was lost forever... At that moment, I would have traded anything to get your mother back."

The bitter note in Aladdin's voice had disappeared. "We never wanted gold. We wanted you." He walked up to him. "I wanted a father. I still do." A spark entered his eyes. "Come to my wedding. This time, you have an invitation."

"Aladdin, I just don't know."

"Dad, we're not going back to Agrabah until morning. At least think about it?"

He left the room, and Abu followed him. Sora, Nehrut, and Bariss, however, remained behind.

"Now that you've answered his questions, maybe you'll answer ours." Sora said.

"What could I tell you that would be of any value?" Cassim asked, not quite understanding.

"The Brotherhood of the Dark. Why did you ally yourself with them?"

He shrugged. "Those two men offered their resources to us, in exchange for our own services."

"Why would they want the Forty Thieves?" Nehrut wondered. "It's not like they'd be particularly dangerous to us."

"Excuse me?" Cassim quirked an eyebrow.

"No offense, but with the exception of a few, most of them are just thugs. They're more of a danger to civilians, not warriors."

"Did they want the oracle for themselves, do you think?" Bariss asked.

"Whatever the case, Cassim," Sora said, "You should break off whatever bargain you've got with them. None of them can be trusted, and they'll turn on you in a second."

"Well, they seem to have forsaken us already." Cassim said, with a shrug. "Normally, that Klaxam man would be here."

"Just make sure you don't turn your back on them." Sora warned, and walked away with Nehrut and Bariss.

"What do you think?" Bariss asked, once they were out of earshot, and making their way back down the cavern. Far ahead of them, they could see Aladdin holding a hushed conversation with Abu.

"He's a hard guy to read." Nehrut answered. "But he seemed to be telling the truth."

"I still say we keep an eye on him."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

!

Unbeknownst to those in the caves, a heated battle was raging in the ocean just outside, between one man, and two fully grown bull sharks.

This large, muscular man drove his claw-like weapon into the base of the first one's neck, ending its life. As the other one rushed toward him from behind, all predatory drive, the man snarled.

Three seconds later, it was over. The shark's immobile form lay sprawled out on the beach.

Sa'luk stepped out of the ocean, panting but uninjured. Two people stood on the beach by the shark, applauding sardonically.

Klaxam and Zexion walked up to Sa'luk, hands extended to shake.

!

Dum, Dum, Duuuuuuummmm…

Sa'luk's going to have the EPA all over him for that. Anyway, hope you guys liked this!

Please review!