The Sapphire Sorceress
Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.
Act 63: A Day in Agrabah
"Oh, and Sora, about that friend of yours- the one you're looking for… you'll find him. Trust me."
Agrabah: Bazaar ( Kairi's POV )
"Agrabah! We made it!" Indeed, and I can see why Sora me we might need to get some water after embarking in this world, the heat alone made me wish all of the water we had been floating on in Port Royal. It is...so hot...so dry...and so bright here...
"Gawrsh, I wonder how Aladdin 'n' Jasmine are doin'?
"Hey, maybe's Riku with them!"
"Yeah, and the king!"
"I wish things could be that easy." Moving alongside my friends we began to explore the place while Sora and Donald playful bantered with each other while heading towards this strange partly-destroyed area when Goofy called back to us.
"It's Iago!" Getting my weapon ready, the image of a red, floating bird came into my sight however he didn't sound like he wanted to even fight us.
"Wait! You got me all wrong!"
"Says the parrot who helped that horrid wizard kidnap Jasmine in the first place!"
"No! I mean, that was the old me! I turned over a new feather! I'm legit! No more scams. Promise!"
"Bet that's your new scam." I had to agree if this bird was a schemer like his master, then we couldn't trust him for a second. Donald just wanted us to leave the bird while I did want to learn more about this parrot's intention with us.
"I was stuck inside that lamp with Jafar. Remember? Well, I finally escaped. But then some things happened..."
"So. Free as a bird, huh?"
"Gawrsh, fellas. He looks pretty sad." Is he really feeling guilt over what happened with Aladdin and Jasmine? Not only did he apologize to us, but he wanted us to go tell them about turning over a new leaf or...feather in this case.
"Watch out!" Iago warned us about the heartless creeping up from behind with their small blades ready to attack us. That must show he is at least willing to do something to help us, so we must return to favor by taking out these heartless. Sora, however, suggested instead of striking by ourselves we should try out fighting as a team instead, and work together to wipe out these guys in short fashion. I agreed with Sora's idea, so I held out my hands allowing Sora to spin in the air while Donald and Goofy twirled around the heartless.
As for myself, I rammed some of the heartless into a wall to make it difficult to strike back with their swords. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were keeping the others occupied, but I saw shadows come out of the ground to make things more complicated.
"Where are they all coming from?" I figured either they were looking for something or these heartless were after someone in particular. Before we could figure out that part the pathway had been cleared suddenly when a bunch of stuff fell down near the enemy heartless to find shelter in an empty little building giving us a break.
"Aw, we'd've been goners if Iago hadn't helped us. Ain't that right fellas?"
"I guess we owe you one." I still wasn't 100% sure what this bird's intention could be with us.
"You still have to win over Jasmine and Aladdin by yourself. Be on your best behavior, got it?" I knew we would need to keep a close eye on this bird when we visit them at this palace according to Iago, which meant we had to rely on him to get there. During our trip there while Sora was looting some of the treasure chests lying around I decided to learn more about this guy and his master. I mean the idea of a parrot or what I assume is a talking parrot speaking like a normal person is hard to fathom.
"Let's just say that I used to be a lot quieter than I am now," A more mundane version of this parrot was also difficult to imagine. "Then, I came across good old Jafar one day. He decided to give me a job opportunity for a down on his luck talking animal, his offer was to become his flying spy in the sky! Of course, the stuff with the black witch: Maleficent." That would explain why he began to target the princess of this world later.
"After that business with Jasmine and getting sucked up into the lamp I've been considering my career path while in that tiny old space with that genie that was my master." That does sound like a lot of stuff to go through and I certainly didn't want to end up trapped inside of a lamp.
"After getting out of that place I knew that it was time for a change, and if that means becoming a hero like you kids maybe that kind of lifestyle isn't so bad!"
"Well, you should feel good about trying to do something good with yourself for once." I hoped that he wasn't merely saying that to get on our good side, but we finally arrived at the palace gate to find Jasmine outside of the place.
"Sora! Donald! Goofy! Kairi?!" She was surprised to find me here with the rest of my friends here while I gave a bow to her majesty along with the rest of my pals out of respect.
"I never had the chance to thank you for before. You helped Aladdin defeat that awful Jafar and saved Agrabah."
"All in a day's work. But uhh...it looks like the heartless are up to no good again. Is there any way we can help you out?"
"I think we're all right for now. Well, except for Aladdin. He...hasn't been himself lately."
Donald believed this was because of the heartless, but I figured it might be due to some unrelated matter like Jasmine suggested by her concerned expression.
"Usually, he's the same cheerful Aladdin. But...sometimes he just seems sad. He leaves the palace and goes off by himself all the time. I've asked him about it but he says nothing's wrong. He's gone again today. What if he doesn't come back this time?" I knew she was beginning to get more worried, so I told her to simply breathe and calm down.
"Hey! Maybe he's got a secret girlfriend! I know! I'll go find out who she is!" Damn it, Iago! You just had to poke your beak in this business where it doesn't belong. Naturally, Jasmine was furious to find the bird floating in her face while making such horrible claims about Aladdin while demanding we catch the bird that was now flapping around us. Before Sora could explain Jasmine ran off leaving us with Iago while I couldn't help but clap with sarcasm.
"Well done, Iago. Nice way to show that you're on the side of good!" Rolling my eyes Goofy suggested that we go find Aladdin by heading into town, and after wondering around we did find a small little monkey running away past us along with Aladdin! Huh? That seemed much easier than I was expecting...then I realized he was running away from us!
"Guessing he usually doesn't run and say hello like this, Sora?"
"Yeah, he would at least be more upfront about stuff like this. Something is definitely going on here..." After finding Aladdin in a small corner with his friend we wanted to know what is going on with him.
"Hey guys, sorry about earlier. I was kinda in a hurry."
"What happened?"
"You know Apu. He couldn't keep his paws off that lamp."
"Lamp? Don't tell me that genie got out?" Aladdin looked at me with confusion, since we never met before this moment but he said that he didn't notice and red giant floating around the place implying Jafar was still in the lamp.
"I guess you can't be THAT down in the dumps, huh."
"Who said I was?"
"Princess Jasmine. She's worried 'cause you're always in town."
"Got a new girlfriend?"
"Donald!" He didn't need to stir the pot like Iago when we didn't know for sure that is what's going on here. Aladdin said that wasn't the case, but he did feel like he was hiding something from Jasmine.
"See, Genie and Carpet took off to see the world. It's what Genie always wanted, so I wished him the best and all, but..."
"You miss him."
"Man, things must be REALLY quiet with Genie gone."
"A calm period isn't a bad thing. To know that you can live in peace; that must be why you find this place kinda boring, right?" I figured Aladdin wants to have another big adventure with my friend.
"That's why I come here. The action - the people. There's always something goin' on. I mean, c'mon! I met you guys here today, right? This place is full of surprises." Looking back I'd almost forgotten about Iago, his whole reason for coming with us involved trying to make up for his past actions however he seemed to be laying on the ground away from us. That must be the reason this parrot was trembling in fear likely not wanting Aladdin to just turn him away or try to catch him like Jasmine.
"It was THE lamp!" What lamp? When I turned back I didn't see any kind of person or lamp behind us, yet Iago claimed THAT lamp was the one he just saw.
"C'mon. There're a million just like it."
"Hey!" I was locked up in that thing FOR MONTHS! There's no way I'd mistake it!" Well, if this peddler did have that lamp and if Jafar could be freed that would mean bad things for everyone here. Finding a certain kind of peddler in these alleys wouldn't be a simple task, and with these sword-wielding heartless around it wouldn't be safe without our weapons at the ready to attack the Heartless that were coming our way.
"You guys handle the guys with the weapons, and I'll be providing moral support from the air where it is safe." Thanks for the "help" with these guys Iago. Huffing, my task went to wiping out the heartless trying to hit us with their blades. I realized that when there were only a few of these guys it was much easier to deal with compared to that mob of heartless from when we arrived in this world. With the last of these guys out of the way, the shop along with this certain peddler was in our sight and hopeful the lamp was here as well.
"Afford? Why should we have to pay you for something that doesn't belong to you?"
"I'm afraid you are mistaken, girl. This lamp is in my possession, and that means if you want it from me you will need to buy it no exceptions." This guy was just trying to make a fortune off us like this world isn't on the line by keeping that all-powerful genie stuck inside of that lamp.
"Kairi it will be okay. I'm sure we can cough up the munny..."
Groaning, the four of us walked over to Aladdin after hearing about this treasure brought up by the peddler that we could possibly use to get ownership of the lamp. I knew this seemed rather dangerous so much that even Aladdin agreed with me about this. While Donald suggested we go to the palace for those treasures from that place Aladdin didn't want to go back there out of concern for both Jasmine and the Sultan.
"Hey, I know...What about the treasure in the Cave of Wonders?" That place where Jafar became a genie? Something told me this wasn't good but I knew we didn't have any other way to convince the peddler to hand over that lamp. Following the bird, to this cave, I asked the former criminal about what he's been up to with Jasmine since the last Sora's heard from him.
"Not much really, but I've been thinking lately about what I've been up to lately by hanging around the palace. A lot of people think I should just consider starting over making a life with a more honest lifestyle instead of living on the streets. The thing is...I've been living like this for most of my life until now, and I can't just stop doing what has become like instinct to me."
Just like with good old Jack, the life of being a crook isn't easy to get out. That being said I knew Jasmine would want Aladdin to stop having to run around the place like this and dealing with the more shady characters like the peddler or the other criminals in Agrabah. That relationship, however, would need to be improved on without us getting involved, but I was certainly pulling for them...
Running past some of the unpopulated areas we encountered some of those large heartless with that spot in their backs where they could only be truly hurt aka some of my most hated heartless to deal with in battle. Running past this guy's arms I tried to stab him in the back to end this in a single blow until I felt a blow on my arm coming from one of the sword users.
"Kairi! Don't worry I've got this guy!" Aladdin stepped in to block this other heartless with his small dagger weapon despite not exactly have the weapon capable of defeating or destroying a heartless. He's putting himself on the line just to help us...
'Alright! Focus on this big guy!' Directing my sword into the back of this huge heartless making it explode before it could hurt Aladdin while Sora took out any of the remaining heartless. Once the way was clear, the doorway outside revealed some palm trees along with a huge desert area in front of us.
"You've gotta be kidding me? We have to walk all of the ways to this cave, and through this huge empty land of sand..." Looking at Sora and Aladdin's face I knew that is exactly what we will be doing to get to the Cave of Wonders.
Agrabah: Cave of Wonders
'Was that...no it couldn't be who I thought it was...' For a split second I thought I saw a person entering the cave in front of us, but I figured it might be the fact I've been walking through a hot desert with the blazing heat of the sun on my skin that made me see a figure instead. On the next level these white floating heartless above our heads were using some kind of light magic against us much like with my own set of magical abilities.
"Wanna double-team these guys, Sora?" Aladdin seemed to really get along with my friend as they combined their efforts against these soldier heartless trying to hit us. Goofy asked me to jump onto his shield to allow me a chance to slam down my keyblade through some of these enemies like a falling item from the sky, but then Donald would also provide some help by blasting the magic-using heartless with fire spells to protect me during this attack.
"Alright, now we can enter the cave without any more problems." Still, if the heartless were running around chances are we might have to fight more inside of this place that looked much bigger on the inside than when we saw the huge tiger head with the mouth that we walked through on the outside. Finding the treasure in this cave would be far more difficult than I imagined if this was the size of such a treasure trove of valuables.
"Don't worry I've been here before and with Iago's help, we should be able to find something to give back to that peddler...Just being here is making me miss being with Genie."
"Why don't you try to find him, Aladdin? I'm sure he wouldn't mind hanging out with you even if he's gotten freedom from granting wishes."
"I wish it were that simple, Sora." Aladdin sighed as we continued our descent into this underground cavern. "He could be in any world, place, or universe right now, so the chances of running into him are very slim. Even if we did I really doubt he would want to waste his time hanging out with someone like me. He's probably met all sorts of more interesting people than a common street rat..."
I thought Aladdin was kinda selling himself a little short on that. If Genie wanted to help him out in saving Jasmine and stopping Jafar, then he must like being around a "common criminal" like Aladdin. I knew that it was certainly possible for them to find each other again no matter how far away Genie might be from this world. Once we dealt with some tiny heartless that looked like burnt pieces of coal we came into a certain room where the water floating upwards inside of down.
The statue in the middle of this strange room looked like it should be holding something in it, and when we turned back there was a floating jewel hovering in the air that looks too easy to grab.
"Nobody grab that it could be-"
"Apu?!"
Oh, for the love of...
Sure enough, the jewel was a booby trap that caused the whole place around us to shift and change revealing several angry looking statues that were trying to hit us with ice spells.
"Apu wants to go to the statue with that jewel!"
Then, we have to protect it from the statues that were trying to crush us to death. With Sora by my side, we began to push back the tidal waves coming to wash Apu with the jewel that he was holding onto for dear life along with ours. Watching the monkey finally stick the jewel inside we could see the angry stone figures get replaced by the water meaning we've stopped the trap, and then the huge statue in front of us vanished into thin air revealing a hidden path that headed deeper into this cave.
The next room was nearly impossible to see in with nothing in sight besides darkness; even so, I could tell there was something important in this place likely below this platform. After accepting this task we suddenly felt the floor below us disappear with some spider-looking heartless moving around us on the next platform. These cube-shaped creatures weren't that hard to take down, but it seemed that we had several more rounds of this ahead of us with the next floor containing those coal-looking heartless.
"Just how long is this hole we're heading down?!"
"I wish I knew for sure, Kairi. Even I've never been through this part of the cave before now." Guessing he also never head to deal with giant heartless that tried burning you alive by spitting fire in your face. Distracting the big one by hitting him with magic allowing Sora to move behind him for the finishing blow with his keyblade getting down to the final platform of this trial clearing out the last of the heartless to reveal a huge doorway likely leading to the treasure room.
"This...is the treasure room?!" I mean I knew it would be full of something shiny, but not even the land of pirates had a place like this with gold littering the floor creating huge piles of golden yellow like this. A long carpet that led us further into this room that seemed to be literally dripping with gold but we had to be looking for a certain kind of treasure that would appeal to the peddler.
"There. That one should do it." Looking at the golden idol with colored jewels my own selfish nature was simply wanting to keep it for myself...
"Oh boy, it's perfect. That guy's gonna like this."
"We gotta keep Jafar bottled up, or he's gonna destroy Agrabah!" Nodding, I suddenly felt my attention get drawn to a monkey holding a shiny red jewel and like Donald, my obsession of keeping it for myself was overcome my reasonable mind.
'This place is starting to make us want to take things which don't belong to us.' Could this be what many call the sin of greed? Wait! Why is this room suddenly becoming darker like someone flipped off the light switch? Oh, I'm sorry for acting like this!
"Why does this always happen?!" The white heartless at least could get my mind off trying to loot this cave for unneeded gold and valuables with some fireballs! I knew we had to make this short, and so I began to rely on several blasts from both fire and light spells while Sora went into his red form to duel-wield keyblades against these larger heartless with Goofy and Donald protecting Apu and Aladdin from the other heartless. Whatever happened here I knew that it had to be due to that person I saw come here before us.
'These heartless must have come from Pete.'
With these minor issues gone with our combined efforts, the rest of the trip back was actually pretty uneventful but then I saw a figure standing afar from us while we had been walking through the desert.
"Kairi? What's wrong?" Ignoring Sora I only got a glimpse of a black figure looking at us in this sandy air surrounding us, and when I blinked the figure was gone from my view.
"Nothing. Just my imagination running wild again." My lie was meant to calm Sora down since we needed to focus on getting that lamp back from the peddler...so where is this guy?
"Stop your whining and hand it over!"
"Ohh no! I'm trading it for treasure. This lamp is going to bring me riches!"
Going back outside of the shop we saw the peddler getting chased by Pete confirming my earlier suspicion. If that servant of Maleficent unleashed an all-powerful genie we would certainly be in trouble!
"Lamphog!"
"Go away!"
Great, so now we have a chase between two greedy men over a dangerous lamp with Pete grabbing the lamp and holding it over the peddler's head.
"Heh heh, I win!" I gasped in fear until my eyes saw Iago suddenly grab the lamp out of Pete's hand.
"Nice one, Iago!"
"Way to go!"
"Don't drop it!"
Well, he did drop it when he landed into a wall as Pete got it back after that whole strange sequence of events.
"Just wait till Jafar's free! He's gonna make one beauty of a heartless!" Before we could act, a sudden rumble around the palace stopped us in our tracks.
"I'm HOME!" Genie?!
"Al! It's been eons! Al, you princely little muffin, you!" Did he just hug Pete?! Okay, I'm reconsidering the stuff that I would consider the strangest stuff I've seen during my journey and I was turned into a lion in another world...
"Genie!" He finally realized that he was making a grand entrance for Pete instead of his pal while Pete decided to go with "Plan B" meaning two powerful heartless that we had to fight. Both of them looked to use fire and ice elements with their staffs, but to my surprise, Sora was capable of picking up the fire heartless to swing him around without having burned hands.
"Kairi! You have to handle the cold guy while I handle the flame head." Sora activated his blue form to begin firing off several blasts on his chosen target while I focused on the weakness this heartless had with using the element of ice.
"There ya go, Kairi!"
"Go get em, Sora!" With the support of my friend's nothing could stand in our way as we dodged these guys who tried bouncing around the palace square and spraying us with fire and ice attacks. Then, I had an idea of using them against each other by telling Sora to make them hit each other with their own spells. He nodded and fire off some blasts to attract the fire user's attention. I made the ice user send out an ice blast while the fire heartless tried hitting Sora however we got out of the way while they hit each other with their attacks like I had planned.
"Amazing teamwork you two!"
"Thanks, Aladdin!"
It didn't take much longer to handle these guys even with the split up into smaller heartless that tried running away from us destroying the both of them freeing the captive heart inside with Pete once more swearing his revenge against us.
"I promise - you won't regret givin' me another chance. Honest!"
"Uhh, Princess Jasmine? You sure you want that pigeon in the coop?"
"Oh, I think Iago's shown that he means well."
"Aw, sure. You're probably right."
"And how much trouble can one noisy bird cause?" A lot, but I'm sure he's learned his lesson about messing with the good guys. With the heartless gone all we need to do is seal up the lamp from other peddlers, evil villains, and unwilling victims trying to get their hands on the power of wishes. Only I don't see the lamp!"
"Sora! Where did the lamp go?!"
"What do you mean? I saw it on the ground just a few moments ago!"
"You mean it WAS on the ground until I picked it up..."
No. It can't be her...but that voice could only belong to one person. A black-cloaked figured suddenly came in front of us with the black lamp in his or rather her grasp.
"Who is this mysterious character? Oh, please tell me this is one of your friends, Al!"
"Trust me, Genie. I don't have any clue who this person could be..."
"Identity yourself at once, and why are you after the lamp?" A snicker came from the figure while it merely pointed at me and Sora in amusement. If this nobody was trailing us from the Cave of Wonders knowing why we went there, such a fear of it unleashing Jafar from the lamp might be coming true after all!
"Poor manners, your highness! If you are royalty, then the proper course of action would be to politely introduce one's self. I've hoped you enjoy your day in Agrabah, keybearers." That tone sounded rather sarcastic like she wanted us to suffer more punishment at the hands of the heartless.
"By the way, Aladdin? How is you dad doing these days?"
"My father? How do you know about him?!"
"Well, I could tell you but why don't you find him and ask that yourself? He is kind of a thief much like yourself..."
"Why don't you stop messing with us and give up the lamp before we beat it out of your hands?!"
"Such brave words from a naive boy like yourself!" She just screwing with our hearts at this point, and I knew she would keep toying around with that lamp or even release Jafar just to spite us. Foolishly running at her my keyblade missed her completely while she easily dodged it while flinging me into a wall with that all too familiar gravity magic she could employ.
"I should have guessed it would be you, Aqua..."
"That isn't my name..." She is truly acting like my enemy now, so whatever happened with Roxas and Xion must have crushed her optimism. Sora didn't hesitate in fighting her with his keyblade however she proved to be more experienced by easily grabbing his arm with her free hand to fling him downward with such force that is nearly made a hole in the ground.
"That's enough! Genie, can't you stop her?"
"Sorry, Al. You aren't my master remember..."
"I guess it is up to me!" Iago? The parrot was putting himself on the line to grab the lamp from her hand, and she casually froze the bird while in mid-flight with a flick of her wrist.
"Well, I tried..." Iago got knocked away with ease making me fear how much more powerful Aqua's become since our last encounter with how easy she could utilize magic. Aladdin and Genie looked ready to jump into the fray, but I demanded they stand back considering how little I knew about Aqua's power currently.
"Why...did you show up? Just to overpower me once more?" I tried pointing my keyblade at her, yet she easily knocked it out of my hand with a blast...from her own keyblade?
'Axel was right about that weapon now being in her possession...'
"Why do you have a keyblade like us? That weapon can't be used by evil - ahhh!" Sora! The heel of her boot came down on his back while she pointed her weapon right over his head in a threatening gesture.
"No one move and I will give you back what you are looking for..." She demanded Jasmine come over to retrieve the lamp from her possession, which confused me even more than earlier.
"Why...don't you just use Jafar to grant your wishes?" It was a bizarre question and almost foolish one to ask, but I also wondered why Aqua is willing to return that lamp into the custody of Princess Jasmine so easily.
"There is no way that genie can give to me what I desire more than anything else...a heart." Of course, the existence or rather non-existence of nobodies without their hearts is something they're trying to fix for themselves.
"Why are you trying to hurt us then? If you really just want a heart I'm sure an all-powerful genie could help you in some kinda way..."
"You would offer your enemy that? Sora, you and that other warrior of the keyblade still have much to learn." She blocked Sora's attack to easily knock him forward with her foot forcing me to catch him. Goofy and Donald tried assisting us, but she cast some kind of barrier around herself to deflect Donald's magic.
"Tell me Sora can you remember me yet? Are those memories that were mixed up by that "witch" returning into your head? Is Xion the one holding back all of those days you've forgotten?" I knew Sora was struggling to get up with my help let alone recall the things Aqua was talking about right now.
"Xion...Roxas?"
"That's it...Release the memories that are engraved deep within your heart!"
"Na-Nami...ne? Namine?"
"Yes, the people who are tied to your current self, the ones who shaped and distorted everything about you. Not that you even bothered to remember. No surprise, seeing as you also couldn't remember their NAMES. Talk about heartless! I can't believe you!" How dare she take advantage of my friend like that! I refused to let her laugh at Sora's misfortune, so I charged at her with my keyblade and even if I get knocked down I would make sure that she gets one hit in return!
"Kairi!" I managed to land a blow on her own lifeless-looking keyblade that seemed rather fake in design, but if it could block my own keyblade it had to be real in some way. When I got a glimpse of her face underneath this cloak she had a grin implying some amount of joy was being felt by her.
"You liar! Nobodies can express emotions!" Before I could get in a real hit she increased the gravity on my body and knocked me back with a swipe of her weapon.
"Hmph. You've certainly improved for a hero...like your friend the heartless hero. Still, the bad guys are trying to make things worse for you all between good old Pete, the black witch, and other sorts of jerks in the universe."
"You're also a bad guy aren't you? To think I once believed what you said about you guys having no way to feel or express your emotions..."
"Ever heard of acting? Getting mad simply because you've begun to understand the truth? You two really are just babies."
"Getting all your material from Larxene?!" Getting back up to my feet I saw her finally remove the hood covering her head to show off that blue hair, and then I could see her face wasn't smirking anymore.
"You don't know anything about her unlike Sora, and even then he can't remember anything about her or me. No matter what we tell him the memories will only come back when he decides to remember likely because of Xion." That may be true but why are you trying to hurt us if you aren't like the other nobodies. As I saw Aqua return the lamp to Jasmine with no trick up her sleeves I was more puzzled than ever.
"T-thank you umm Aqua?" She glared at the princess while she took back the black lamp while hesitating about this.
"Like I told her that ISN'T my name...Auxaq. I am Auxaq of Organization XIII. The one who will be the winner of our little race, Sora, and Kairi. Ta-ta!" With a shimmer of darkness, the nobody left us without causing any more trouble. Whatever her intentions were by showing up I knew we still had a long journey ahead if nobodies like Aqu- no Auxaq are out there to get in our way. We would need to become much stronger if we are to save the universe from the darkness...
[ The first encounter with Aqua and Kairi after the Days arc is complete. I kinda wanted Aqua to act somewhat like Marluxia and Larxene in order to help Sora begin to recall what happened in Castle Oblivion along with showing off more of her "villainous" attitude. Of course, the fact she handed over the lamp with no scheme or ruse is rather puzzling isn't it? Next time Kairi and Sora save Christmas but will they face off against their newest foe in Auxaq in that world as well? ]