Dream lighting: Here is the next part! Yeah, i'm gonna do that one as well.

The Game part 2

"What makes you think we'll play?" Al challenged and the wizards exchanged smirks.

"Ah, well it would be a shame to see a bustling metropolis like Agrabah reduced to a cinder." Oopo threatened as if it were nothing.

"A dreadful shame." Ding added and Jaz looked at us.

"Do you think they would really do it?" She asked looking horrified and Al gulped.

"I think we're still in the Game."

"Either we play or get fried." I added and Al nodded with a sigh.

"It seems so." He murmured and tucked an arm around Jasmine. Iago suddenly flew up towards the wizards.

"Isn't this excessive power for a wizard?" Iago asked hovering near them.

"We're excessive wizards." Ding answered.

"Look, with your powers and my talent for riding on coattails we could rule the world!" Iago shouted and I pulled him back down with a scowl.

"Would you cut that out?" I hissed and he grinned sheepishly at me.

"Been there." Ding said in a bored voice.

"Done that." Oopo added.

"It was fun for the first century or three."

"But it became such a humdrum routine. Absolute power? Invincible to opposition? Ha, no thrills." I jumped when Ding appeared behind us and ended up backing to Genie. He steadied me and gave me a light pat.

"Ah, but when we first recruited our first players and started the Game…Ooh, what fun!" Ding murmured.

"Century after century of competitive play!"

"Sadly, the players never seemed to last long enough to enjoy it."

"Well," Iago started and he glared at Genie with all his might. "I'm glad a certain big blue jerk dragged us into this!"

"Sounds like loser talk to me!" Genie snapped and I looked up at him with a frown.

"Genie!" Al reprimanded. "It doesn't matter if you win or lose!"

"It's how you play the Game!" Ding came over to us.

"Now, let's play." Oopo said with a twisted grin. Then she made us disappear. We reappeared falling from the sky and I landed on Al as we hit the ground. Al groaned and looked up at me with a slight roll of his eyes.

"Oops?" I said, not unlike I had about a year ago and he grinned remembering that too. Giving a small laugh he pushed me lightly off him and we got a good look at our surroundings. It a desolate looking place and boy was it hot. All around were rocks and dry rocky plains. As we looked around we spotted Genie, Jaz, Iago, Abu and Carpet.

"Jasmine!" Al went over and helped her up. I followed him and then we all looked for the wizards. We didn't have to look long for they appeared not far from us.

"Tie breaker time!" Ding announced and Oopo came over to Al.

"Psst, Player. Take a deep breath. Air's mighty thin up there." Al and I both looked up at the tall mountain and grimaced.

"All the way up?" Al gulped and both of the wizards nodded. Al sighed then. "Let's get this over with." He turned to Carpet and Iago then. "You two are the fastest." Carpet saluted and Iago looked very uncomfortable.

"Eh, not necessarily!" Carpet didn't give him a chance to complain and get away, so he grabbed him and they took off. Suddenly they slammed into something invisible and landed on the ground.

"Ooh did we mention the new rule?" Ding said with a hint of amusement. Oopo grinned.

"Rule One: No flying up the mountain." They looked over at Genie then and he popped back into his normal self, from whatever he had turned into, with a sheepish grin.

"Only climbing is allowed." Ding said patting a very disgruntled Abu. The little monkey was glaring at the wizard with all his might. "And we all know that monkeys are climbing fools." Abu didn't take that too kindly and swatted at Ding's hand before running and climbing up onto Genie's shoulder.

"For breaking the rules, it's the penalty box for you two." Oopo said pointing a finger at Iago and Carpet. Instantly they were in a small cage and both tried to get out but they were stuck. "Well, we're not getting any younger." She continued as if nothing happened. "Shall we begin?"

"Climbing only, eh?" Genie said rubbing his chin and I looked up at him. "So that's the way they want it." He seemed to have an idea of some sort and I just shrugged not really knowing what that was about. Suddenly he made a basket appear beside me and I jumped back as I saw that Genie was wearing a snake charming outfit. I hate snakes! He saw me eyeing the basket and winked, before playing a soft tune on the flute he had in his hands. A rope slowly rose out of the basket and I relaxed. The rope went up towards the top of the mountain and then it tied itself around the top. Genie stopped playing and changed into a rock climbing outfit. He started up the mountain and was a little ways up when Oopo spotted him.

"Rule number 7B: No trick ropes." She made the very peak of the mountain break off and both it and the rope fell down towards him.

"Whooooa!" He hollered and got smacked with the giant rock slamming him into the ground.

"Genie!" I yelped and Al and Jasmine and I all ran over to him. He stood up slowly then the rock still on his head.

"Er, no trick ropes." Genie muttered and then the rock fell apart crumbling around him.

"Are you okay?" I asked and he gave me a small smile.

"I'm fine." He groaned and I smiled at him.

"Are we clear on the rules?" Oopo asked and I glared at her.

"As we'll ever be." I muttered and Genie patted me.

"Be careful, Jasmine." Al said and Jaz smiled at him.

"Don't worry." Then she looked at me. "You be very careful, Alaric."

"I can do it, Jaz. No worries." She smiled at me and Al rolled his eyes playfully. The wizards made us line up side by side then and Ding started the count.

"On your marks, get set…."

"Ding, lives for this." Oopo told us with a small laugh.

"Go!" Ding hollered and we all ran towards the mountain to start climbing. Since Al, Abu and I were already good at climbing we got ahead of Jasmine, while Genie pretty much walked up the mountain. He got caught however, on a rock that jutted from the side of the by the seat of his pants. He ended up hanging by his suspenders and I paused near him.

"Do you need help?"

"Nope, doing just fine. Keep going and win the game!" he said waving a hand at me and I started back up with a frown. This competitive thing was getting on my nerves. Suddenly Abu grabbed a wrong rock and ended up toppling down.

"Abu!" I tried to grab him, but my fingers barely grazed him and I knew that if I moved more, I would fall too. I looked down to see him hit Jaz and then she too fell, unable to get a good grip on the rocks. She and Abu fell more until she was able to barely grasp a jutted rock ledge.

"Aladdin!" She screamed her feet dangling in the air. I gave Al a scared look and he gritted his teeth.

"Stay right there, Alaric." Al said and he went sliding down to help her. I knew that I had to keep going though, because the Game was still going on. So, I reached up but found that my foot was stuck in some of the rocks. Glaring at the rocks I tugged on my foot it stuck tight.

"Genie?" I called but I couldn't see him anywhere. I gave a yelp as Al suddenly appeared where he had been minutes before.

"Nooo!" he shouted looking down and then he met my gaze.

"Al?"

"They won't let me help her!"

"I can, Al I'm on her team, but er…I'm stuck." Al looked down at my foot and then at Jaz. "Go ahead and try again, I'll get out."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, go ahead." Al was about to head back down when Genie called Ding's name.

"Oh, Ding!" He called again and the tiny wizard appeared.

"You called player Genie?"

"Maybe you never thought about it, but if we lose them that would leave the teams um more lopsided." Genie stated and Ding hummed in thought.

"Interesting point." "But we'd have a big advantage!" Genie added and Ding made his final decision.

"Which would be wrong." Ding said and then Jaz couldn't hold on any longer and she let go of the rocks with a scream. Al tried to get down the mountain again only to be stopped by an invisible shield.

"Noo!" he hollered and then Ding finally kicked in and saved them.

"Thanks Genie!" Al called and Genie gave us a thumbs up.

"Boy, get on with it. Our teams got this point cinched." Oopo appeared near Al and he glared at her.

"Forget it!" he said folding his arms across his chest. Oopo got mad then.

"Ding!" She yelled irritably.

"Yes, dear sister?" Ding sounded appearing beside her.

"Our players have lost their competitive edge."

"Maybe yours have lost their edge." Ding retorted. "But my jinni would do anything to win." Genie frowned a little now and I think it finally sunk in that maybe he had been wrong about being competitive.

"I didn't think 'anything' included putting my friends on the endangered species list!" He snarled and the two wizards looked furious.

"Ah, it always happens." Oopo started glaring at Genie. "Players lose their will to win."

"Sad really…for the Players…" Ding said sinisterly and I exchanged looks with Al.

"That doesn't sound good." I said and he shook his head in agreement. Suddenly the two began to cackle and the air filled with magic purple smoke.

When we reappeared again, we were all at the bottom of two medium volcanoes. Immediately I noticed that two small animals were missing.

"Where's Abu and Iago?" I asked and everyone else noticed they were gone too. Oopo and Ding appeared then both wearing identical smirks and pointed up at the tops of the volcanoes. Sure enough, there was Iago in a cage dangling above the lava filled volcano and Abu was in a similar situation on the other volcano. Abu screeched at us from his cage, terror on his little face and Iago screamed at us then.

"You heard the monkey, GET US OUT OF HERE!"

"Don't worry Iago we'll save you and Abu!" I called up to him and then glared at the two cackling wizards.

"Let's play." Oopo said sinisterly and suddenly the lava began to bubble up under the animals.

"Hello?" Iago called down to us. "I'll go back to the icecap now. Hello?" I looked at Al and he grimaced. This wasn't looking good.

"Now, we'll see some friendly competition." Ding stated and Jaz glared at him.

"There is nothing friendly about this. What are you doing to them?" She demanded and they both made two objects appear.

"The team that plugs the volcano first, frees their teammate." Oopo said and I gasped.

"So that means that…" I looked at Al and he was glaring at the wizards.

"So what you're saying is that no matter who wins someone dies." Al snapped and they nodded.

"Where's the incentive in that?" Genie said angrily and Ding arched an eyebrow.

"The incentive is that somebody doesn't."

"Now shall we begin?" Oopo asked and without giving us another choice she shouted quickly: "One, Two, Three, Go!" Al looked at each of us and we all knew what we had to do. There wasn't any other choice we had to try and tie. Carpet scooped up the plug and he and Al took off. Genie grabbed the other and Jaz and I ran after him.

I winced as I got towards the small volcano side and looked down at my ankle. It was bruised a little from where it had been in the rocks and it hurt a little whenever I stepped on it. jaz turned to me when I hissed through my teeth again.

"Alaric, are you alright?" she asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I tried to climb up after Genie and gritted my teeth as the pain in my ankle worsened.

"No, you're not." She pulled me from where I was about to step and made me sit down. "I don't think you need to be climbing. You'll hurt your ankle more."

"But Jaz-"

"What's going on?" Genie asked and he leaned down next to me.

"It's nothing."

"Alaric's hurt his ankle. I don't think he needs to put more pressure on it." Jasmine interrupted me and I scowled.

"She's right, Rick, you don't want to make it worse." Genie said proving his point when I gritted my teeth when he probed the bruising. "Don't worry, Jaz and I handle it."

"I can do it, it's just a bruise."

"Are you going to argue with a princess?" Jasmine challenged, her eyes shimmering with amusement as she put her hands on her hips. I frowned at her for pulling the 'I'm a princess and you have to do what I say' card and grumbled.

"Fine." I muttered, crossing my arms. Genie sighed and knelt next to me.

"Look, kid. I'm sorry about all this. I really am."

"I know."

"We're gonna go home soon. So just hang in there." I nodded and he stood up.

"Be right back." he said and he and Jaz took off up the side of the volcano. I looked over to see that Al and Carept were on their way up too and just as they got halfway, Carpet was hit by some of the spitting lava. He dropped the plug and it rolled back down the volcano to land a little ways from Oopo. She glared at it before looking up at them crossly.

"Let's keep our eye on the prize, shall we?" She snapped, wagging a finger at them. Al frowned at her and then turned to check Carpet. I looked to see how Genie was getting along and saw the volcano begin to crack. Large fissures were made down the sides and one separated Genie and Jaz from each other. Jasmine said something to Genie and he tossed the plug at her. She caught it and waited for Genie to do something. I watched with curiosity as he turned into a thermometer and got into the lava. Instantly he turned red and busted at the top. But the most bizarre thing was when he opened his chest and shot ice out across the fissure. Jasmine was able to cross with fissure thanks to the bridge of ice and she ran up the hill.

"Yep, kind of nice having a jinni on the team." Ding said slyly and I looked to see them watching the Game. Oopo looked at Ding crossly before answering with a light laugh.

"My team will do just fine without magic." She said then turned to glare at Al and Carpet. "If they want to save the bird!" She yelled at them and Iago looked panicked.

"You do want to save the bird don't ya, Al?" Iago cried out to him and I looked at him sympathetically.

"We're trying, Iago!" Al called to him as he lugged up the plug. Poor Carpet had a hole in him from the hot lava but he gave Al a thumbs up when Al turned to him. I looked at Jaz to see that she was close to ending the Game. But just as she was about to plug the volcano, it sprouted up lava and she fell backwards. Meanwhile Al, was having problems trying to stay upright, juggling the plug with a hand. But the lava did it again, knocking Al backwards this time.

I thought he was going to land in the lava, but luckily Carpet steadied him and he landed on the plug, riding it down the lava trail.

"Whatever happens," Iago started and I could barely hear him at first. "I just want you guys to know…I BLAME YOU!" He yelled loudly and I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. However the whole thing looked really grim. Abu's cage was slowly sinking into the lava and Iago was practically hopping about from the hot metal. Al and Carpet were stuck on a rock in the middle of the lava river and Jaz and Genie were in a similar spot.

"If this were the downhill volcano slope, you'd have it all wrapped up." Oopo snapped at Al. "But as it stands you lost."

"Aw, Oopo, your team is in about the same shape as mine." Oopo shook her head in disappointment as Ding clicked his tongue. "Sad."

"Like you could do any better!" Genie shouted at them, finally having enough.

"But of course we could." Ding scoffed.

"If we wanted too." Oopo added.

"Prove it." Genie said folding his arms triumphantly. He winked at me and I grinned knowing what he was doing.

"An interesting idea." Oopo rubbed her chin and Ding nodded.

"It's just never been done." Ding agreed. I faked a gasp.

"You've never played your own Game? Such a shame." I said smoothly and they looked down at me. "A pity really."

"Is it maybe because…you can't?" Genie added and now they glared at him.

"Rubbish."

"We can so."

"Can't!" Genie and I shouted at the same time.

"Can!" Oopo and Ding said to us.

"Yeah, right." Genie scoffed. Oopo and Ding exchanged looks and next thing we knew they had plugged the volcanoes themselves and were flying down with Iago and Abu. The cages disappeared and the animals hit the ground.

"Death, my canny foe!" Iago shouted from the ground and I rolled my eyes. "I've cheated you again!" He shook a fist at the sky and Abu looked at him like he was crazy.

"Are you done?" I asked and he sat up with a shrug.

"Eh, yeah." He said and flew over to me as Abu ran to jump in my lap.

"So," Genie came walking towards the wizards then, a smug look on his face. "I guess we choose up new sides?" Iago opened his mouth.

"Wha-" I closed his beak quickly, after a wink from Genie and Iago grumbled in my lap.

"Sounds good to me, Genie." Al came up to Genie. "Right, Alaric?" I grinned at Al.

"Of course."

"But let's get one thing straight. No more wizard participation in Game itself." Genie grinned at the befuddled wizards.

"If you want to be a spectator, that's fine. But we play the Game." Jasmine said and I flashed her a smile.

"But we're the all powerful wizards!" Oopo hollered.

"And we make the rules." Ding added. "And the new rule is: Nobody plays but us." I sniggered quietly and Iago relaxed figuring out what was going on.

"Well, if you insist." Al said and then Genie beamed.

"Take this thing and use it well." He made a giant concrete pedestal appear and made a television upon it.

"What is it?" Oopo asked running a hand along it.

"I call it, the Video Game. It is made so that no one over the age of thirteen will ever finish." Genie held up two controllers and gave them to the wizards.

"I think they like it." I said and Iago rolled his eyes.

"Good. Can we go now?" I looked at Genie and he nodded.

"But first, let's see who can zap us back to Agrabah the fastest. On your mark, get set, go!" Genie hollered quickly and next thing we knew we were back in the palace gardens.

"Hey, it worked." Genie said with a grin and Carpet patted himself. The hole was gone.

"My ankles all better!" I announced and Genie grinned.

"I don't think, I'll ever play a game again." Jaz murmured and Al nodded.

"Me neither."

"I'm with you guys." Genie agreed and he came up behind us. "You don't need to win to be a winner."

"That's it, Genie." I said and he tossed an arm around me.

"True wisdom from one who has never won anything." Iago retorted and I swatted at him.

"At least he doesn't cheat!" Iago scowled.

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

Alaric and Iago continued to bicker back and forth as they went towards the palace. Abu ran after them chattered wildly and Aladdin and Jasmine shook their heads at all of them. As they went towards the palace, Aladdin took one last look at Genie and Carpet and sighed.

"I guess something's never change." He said and Jasmine looked up at him.

"Why do you say that?" he nodded behind them.

"That's why." Jasmine giggled as Carpet and Genie started pushing each other.

"I guess not." She agreed and then they kissed before heading inside to the still bickering duo.

Please, review! I'm not sure which episode I'll do next, but I will start on it soon!~~PWT