Quick note here: Some of the concepts in these chapters are from the Aladdin animated series that was on some time ago, which took a lot of research on my part. That includes the sand shark that has been mentioned as well as one of the villains that will show up and Eden, the female genie that I have made Jordan's mother due to lack of any other proof. Another villain is also the son of a villain from the same Aladdin animated series.
Unlike the boat ride they took in Wonderland, which had been interrupted by an attack from a Skeleshark this boat ride went off without a problem. They spent their time talking together, Aziz telling them tales of Agrabah and even Jordan joined in the conversation. Mal and Ben had been cuddled up together for the majority of that journey, while Audrey had sat behind Jay with his hands rubbing her shoulders on and off.
Unsurprisingly they found a retinue of palace guards waiting for their arrival as at least in Agrabah Aziz was a prince rather he wanted to admit it or not. Also waiting for them was his mother Queen Jasmine. She embraced her son when they got out. "It's so good to see you again." She said.
"Nice to see you to mom." Aziz said with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Oh, these are my friends. Mal, Ben, Evie, Audrey, Jay, Carlos, Jane, Lonnie and Ally." He indicated the two new boys who he wasn't quite sure he was ready to call friends yet. "This is Will and Gregory." He looked to Jasmine. "And of course you know Jordan."
"So good to see you again." Jasmine said to Jordan, who did give an impression of a respectful vow. She looked to the others. "It's nice to meet you all, and it's nice to see you again King Ben." She said with a smile. If she recognized signs the former vizier in Jay, she didn't acknowledge it. "Welcome to Agrabah."
"Thank you Queen Jasmine." Ben and Audrey said diplomatically.
"We're happy to be here." Mal said. All four of the isle kids felt a bit nervous. Of course most everyone knew who they were and it was hard for them not to wonder how they would be judged upon being met.
"The daughter of Maleficent." Jasmine said as she looked at her more closely. "Your facial features do look so much like hers." She smiled. "But your eyes don't reflect that." She patted her arm gently.
Jay tensed a little as Jasmine looked at him. "Hmm, it's kind of funny actually. I don't see too much of Jafar in your features. You must take after your mother." She noted softly. "That might be a good thing in some ways." She gave him a warm smile though, it was obvious from getting off the boat that Jay and Aziz had become good friends. It actually reminded her about the one time rivalry she had had with one of their former enemies named Sedira.
They started toward a vehicle that had been waiting for them. Jasmine smiled when he saw Aziz's hand brush against Ally's lightly. She was sure that they were not dating yet but was willing to bet it would only be a matter of time.
"Are mom and dad at the palace?" Jordan asked Jasmine. Unofficially Jasmine was her aunt and Aladdin her uncle, by virtue if not blood. Likewise Aziz was Genie's nephew as well as Eden's.
"Your dad is, he's with Aladdin right now." Jasmine answered the genie girl. "Your mother is off with on an errand with Dhandi."
"Who is that?" Evie asked.
"Dhandi is Eden's, well I guess the term would technically be master." Jasmine answered. "She was an orphan who lived in Agrabah and she had wished to be with Eden forever as that was all she had. It stopped them from being together for a while until she came of age and I employed her at the palace."
"I hope we haven't come at a bad time." Jane said to her.
Jasmine thought a moment. "Actually, your arrivals here may be very fortuitous." She revealed. "We haven't had so much unique help in ages. But I'll let Aladdin make that decision."
They rode back to the palace, including through the streets of Agrabah. The variety of foods had of course caught up with modern times and some of the outdoor stands and stores had changed with the times as well but the basic city had stayed the same, up to and including the palace.
Jasmine had the guards take the teen's duffels up to their rooms, Aziz promising that he could guide them all up there once they were ready to call it a night. With that Jasmine lead the team to the throne room.
They saw in the center of the large palace a table set up with several of the advisors talking, at the head of the table was Aziz's father and the sultan of Agrabah, Aladdin. He had risen to become Sultan after the unfortunate but thankfully natural death of Jasmine's father. To his side was Jordan's father Genie. The team intended to wait for the meeting to end but were noticed.
"Aziz!" Aladdin said and got up, coming over and hugging his son. "So glad to see you again. Sorry we couldn't make it to parent night at the school." He patted his back softly.
"No problem dad, you avoided a bullet. You guys probably heard what happened." Aziz said as he separated from his father.
"Jordan." Genie said as he popped up beside his daughter. He formed two light blue arms and hands in addition to his own and hugged her with all four of them. "From your mother and me, she wished she could be here, and probably would have too if we'd known."
Jordan laughed a little. "It's okay dad. Glad you at least were here." She said.
Aziz introduced the rest of his friends and the two guys. Like Jasmine Aladdin didn't display any signs of resentment or anything toward Jay or the other isle kids. He shook hands with all of the, even his nemesis' son. He then sent a guard to retrieve the items that had been uncovered.
"Jasmine was telling us that something else was going on that maybe we could help with." Mal said to him.
"We wouldn't want to drag you into another problem." Aladdin said. "Word is you have enough problems to worry about."
"It'd be our pleasure to help, Sultan." Audrey said with a small bow.
"She's right, your majesty." Ben agreed.
"We're not sure it's a problem per se." Genie told them as he started to usher Jordan, Ally, Aziz and Jane to the table. Some of the guards seemed resentful to have teenagers involved in it, either not realizing they were power rangers or not caring. "But there have been sightings of Mamluks in the areas near Agrabah."
"I assume you know what those are." One of the guards said as he looked at the four isle kids. He clearly was not as understanding and forgiving as his Sultan and Queen.
"That's enough." Aziz snapped at him.
"And for the record," Mal said with an icy voice, instinctively wrapping an arm around Ben's and wishing Belle were with them. "We don't know what they are; contrary to some beliefs in this world not all evil things are linked to the other."
"The minions of the Jafar wannabe are seen around the city's edges and then Jafar Junior shows up and we're expected to believe that this is a coincidence." The guard demanded. Jay was caught somewhere between anger and even a bit of hurt, while Audrey placed a hand comfortingly on his arm and Aziz stood up to try to defend his friend.
But it was Jasmine who snapped at the guard, "That is enough!" and as his attention diverted to them Aladdin now said with deadly calm, "You are excused." The guard got up and left, seeming somewhere between contrite and pissed off.
"Thanks dude." Jay said to Aziz, more grateful than he could have imagined as he stroked Audrey's arm. He looked to his parents. "And thank you guys as well." He was starting to get an idea of why Mal felt so drawn to Adam and especially Belle as well as why Evie seemed to be so drawn to Snow White. It was the kind of confidence from the presence of familial figures that was hard to get from his own father.
"Anytime man." Aziz promised as the two fist bumped.
"You're an honored guest here." Jasmine said to him. "You all are."
"And we expect them to be treated as such." Aladdin made sure to emphasize.
A moment of strangely comfortable silence followed before Mal decided to bring things back into more important territory. "So these Mamluk things?" She asked. "What do they have to do with this? Who do they work for?"
"They used to work for an old adversary of mine named Mozenwrath, who took over a kingdom in the Black Sands." Aladdin explained. "But when we defeated him and got rid of his magic glove we thought that was the end of them."
"Yep, took that evil magic glove and sent it right to the sun." Genie added with pride as he turned himself into a baseball player, took a guard's hat and tossed it out the balcony and to who knew where. "It was glorious."
Will frowned a bit. "Maybe it never made it to the sun." He suggested.
"Paradias." Ben surmised.
"The Mamluk's used to be mindless creatures that were pretty easy to fight or outwit." Jasmine said to them. "But since their return rumor has it that they've become vicious and cunning creatures. Many of the guards who have gone out looking for them have come back hurt badly."
"If they come back at all." Another guard added simply.
"Any chance someone else got control of these things?" Carlos asked.
"We're not sure." Aladdin admitted. "Anything is possible I suppose."
"Do we need to travel to this Black Sands place?" Jane asked.
"The best place to start might be to see what these Mamluk's have become and if these things intelligence have gone up with their fighting abilities." Mal said. "We'll have to wait until nightfall, which should be…" She started and looked at Aladdin.
"About five hours from now." He answered.
"Does anyone know any spells that speed up time?" Carlos asked.
"Do you know how dangerous and unpredictable that is?" Genie asked him back.
"Nope." Carlos answered. "But someone else might want to be told that." He pointed to the balcony and they all looked to see that it was getting very dark outside right now.
"That can't be good." Evie noted.
At that point another guard came in, looking utterly terrified. "There's this horrid monster just outside the gates of Agrabah, and he has an army of Mamluk's with him." He reported.
Genie floated over to Evie. "Mind if I borrow this?" He asked as he took Evie's magic mirror and attached it to a high end entertainment system. He played with a remote control a moment before it the mirror projected its image on the screen. The blue faced zombie like creatures that were identified as Mamluk's were indeed there and in the center was a large mummified creature. If it had hands it was abundantly wrapped in bandages and only had the left eye exposed.
"That thing is creepy." Jasmine said.
"And ugly." Aladdin added.
"I take it your impressed then." Said a silky feminine voice. They turned to see a humanoid female feline standing there, covered in red fabrics. "That would be a Decay, and it's looking forward to meeting you."
"M-Mirage." Genie stuttered just a bit. Given her power and cruelty it was one of the few things that even he feared. He tried to step in front of Jordan to protect her.
Jane realized that this feline fatale was one of those villains that must have slipped by the attempt to wrangle up those who needed to be banished to the Island of the Lost.
Mirage laughed. "I see you went out and got yourself a daughter." She noted with laughter. "Will it hurt more for her to see you die or for you to see her die?"
"No one is dying today Mirage." Aladdin vowed.
"Except maybe you." Jay stated.
They saw Decay take a step into the city of Agrabah and the area around it grew darker as if the place around it was starting to become lifeless as well. Genie would have made a Silent Hill reference if he thought anyone else would have even comprehended it.
"What do you supposed that does to people?" Doug wondered.
"We don't want to know." Mal was certain of it. "We have to stop that thing before we find out."
"And what do you think you kids are going to do about that?" Mirage asked mockingly.
Mal didn't know this feline menace but she was already getting fed up with her attitude. She looked to Audrey, Jay, Lonnie, Carlos and Evie. "Come on, we have to go intercept that Decay thing and stop it." She looked to Jordan, Ally, Aziz and Jane. "Test these Mamluk's out and see what they're capable of it." Then she looked to Will and Gregory in addition to Ben, which surprised the two boys. "Stay here and get ready to help the guards and the sultan repel anything that gets by us. Or deal with this catty freak if she gets out of line."
Aladdin and Jasmine exchanged impressed looks. "She's very good." Aladdin said to her and Jasmine nodded in agreement.
"Be careful Mal." Ben said. Will said the same thing to Lonnie.
Mal gave Mirage a smirk and then looked to her friends. "Let's get to work." She declared. Jane took out the magic wand while the rest of them took out their iPhones. As Jane invoked her magic to transform into the white ranger the rest of them input their numbers and transformed.
"Power Rangers." Mirage hissed. She had been told of them of course, but these were not the heroes she had expected to show up in Agrabah to help out.
Ben formed his sword and shield and turned to face Mirage, fully ready to fight Mirage if need be. He noticed Will and even Aladdin take up a scimitar and get ready to fight, regardless of what the situation was. Doug and Jasmine were surrounded by guards and Gregory was with them. Genie looked ready to lend a hand to whoever needed it.
The rangers made their way out with their blasters drawn. The people were smart enough to avoid getting in their way as they made their way to the center of the chaos. When arriving they blasted at the nearest Mamluk's, most of who dodged, and Decay who didn't seem to care about the attack.
Gold, Silver, Crystal and White rangers veered off to meet the Mamluk's in the town while the rest of the rangers tried to surround Decay.
Aziz moved in quickly with his spiral spear to try to take down one of the zombie like minions but he raised his own scimitar and deflected the attack as another moved in and slashed the silver ranger hard.
Jordan used her lamp cannon to try to shoot at them but most of them dodged it rather accurately for the more or less walking dead.
Ally took out her crystal cards and unleashed them on the approaching Mamluk's. While most of them were able to scratch the monsters they didn't really do enough collective damage to stop them.
Jane tried to cast a spell on one of the Mamluk's only to discover one small problem. "They're immune to my magic." She revealed. "Which means they're not going to be all that worried about Mal's magic either."
"Less I would wager." Ally said as she tried to attack a Mamluk with a couple of her held cards only to realize that the creature was able to block it. "Mal might not be evil but her magic is rooted in darkness while yours is rooted in light."
"Looks like your friends are off to a horrible start." Mirage noted with amusement. "Your heroes may very well be zeroes after all. But then again what does one expect when their powers are rooted with a wizard like Zordon?"
"You have no idea what you're talking about Mirage." Ben said. "They'll beat those monsters of yours."
"How did you get control of Mamluk's anyway?" Aladdin asked their old nemesis.
"I don't think she did Al." Genie said to his old friend. "I think she's only playing the front man, woman, freaky cat dame, for the one who's controlling them."
"Clever deduction." Mirage allowed. "But it gets you and yours nowhere."
"You really are a very annoying creature." Will noted. "Can't we just shut her up now?"
"Are you that bored boy?" Mirage asked amused. "Let me give you a hand." She snapped her fingers and three large fiery cats appeared in front of her. "Teach them a lesson in manners."
One leapt at Aladdin and he moved to dodge under it. As he did so he took off the hat the sultan wears and made sure to catch it's face inside the hat's interior. It struggled to remove the hat and the sultan gave a mock sigh. "I lose so many good hats that way." He mused sarcastically.
One leapt at Will and he dodged out of the way. The fire cat tried to slash at him and he riposted with his sword, causing the feline creature to hiss in protest. It still didn't look good for him though.
Ben quickly combined his sword and shield to transform into the Auradon Knight. Just as the fire feline tried to strike at him the young king deflected the attack with his shield and then unleashed a stream of energy from his sword at the creature, who managed to dodge the attack.
"Now these things are a fire hazard." Genie noted. He looked to Jasmine. "Hold that thought your majesty." He said even though she hadn't been about to say anything. Then in a puff of smoke he was no longer at the Queen's side. Instead another poof resulted in several genie's clad in a fireman's garb and a siren going on as one of them brought out a hose and sprayed foam at the fire cats, also getting the Aladdin, Ben and Will in the process.
The three cats started to get up but then the fire fighter genie's disappeared to be scooped up in a net and then they all disappeared in another puff of smoke. "And that takes care of the stray kitties." He said with pride as he brushed his hands together.
Mirage growled in annoyance but now she had Ben, Will and Aladdin ready to strike against her if she made a move.
"Do you think that effect is dangerous to us?" Audrey asked a bit worriedly.
"That's a good question." Carlos agreed.
"I don't know." Mal said. "So let's try to keep this thing at a distance." She unleashed a stream of energy from the dragon's eye portion of her staff, causing it to take a step backwards. The problem was the effect did not dissipate.
"I have a horrible feeling that the only way to get rid of this thing is to kill it." Carlos said.
Audrey drew her elemental bow and summoned a hail of fire arrows to try to strike down the mummified monster. It forced the thing back again but despite the red ranger's hopes it did not set the thing on fire or cause it extensive damage.
Decay seemed to look around at the ranger's before it raised its massive bandaged covered hands up. The bandages streamed out and in crisscross patterns, striking all of the ranger's hard, and forcing them backwards.
"We can't let that thing make its way back into Agrabah." Lonnie said. "We can't let it decay the city."
Decay started forward again and this time more bandages lashed out and struck, thick as a whip, against and around the rangers. Carlos, Lonnie and Jay started to use their edged weapons to cut through the approaching bandages.
"Alright then." Aziz said with determination. "Let' see what these ugly freaks think about this." With that he combined his hands together and imagined shooting out a silver falcon straight at them. Sure enough it happened, he released his animal spirit and it cut right through several of the Mamluk's.
"That's a great idea." Jane said as she did the same thing, only taking out a few less because of the fact that her spirit was the dove, not exactly known for its violence.
"I wonder how it will work for me." Ally mused and then mimicked Aziz's actions. It was like a stampede as it seemed the deer spirit ran several of them down as it tried to 'escape'.
The six rangers saw what their friends were doing and they looked at each other, hoping that their animal spirits would do the same to Decay. They all combined their animal spirits and unleashed them upon Decay. It took a few steps back but otherwise seemed unaffected.
"Well that figures." Audrey said. "He couldn't go down as easily as the others do."
"Do we have a plan B?" Carlos asked.
"Maybe." Mal answered and looked to Evie. "Notice that he only damages Agrabah and all around it. He clearly wasn't doing anything to the desert beforehand."
"We have to get him away from Agrabah then." Evie replied. She was still not sure for a moment why her chosen sister and leader had looked at her but then it donned on her. "I get it. Let's get this thing to attack again."
"That shouldn't be a problem." Lonnie noted. It was already getting ready to unleash one of its bandage whip like attacks. This time the blue ranger made sure to be at the forefront of the attack. When it struck she reflected it back with her original attack, something that she missed in a nostalgic way.
It was strong enough to not only blow Decay past Agrabah's gates but also knock out a few Mamluk's along the way. The ranger team followed him out into the desert.
"Alright, they got that Decay monster out of Agrabah." Genie stated and then several of them started to applause.
"Strange that it's effect isn't so pronounced in the desert." Jasmine commented softly. "I wonder why that is?"
"Maybe there isn't enough life in the desert to make it worthwhile." Doug speculated though he thought that was a stretch in itself since there was plenty of life buried in the sand as well. "Or despite all appearances it's a control kind of thing, though I don't know why the monster would be so worried about losing ability in the desert."
"Not only that, but the Mamluk's weren't affected by it, but the sands, the stands and even the buildings are." Jasmine added with a frown. "It's true that wood decays and stone turns to dust over time, but so do people after being gone a while. What are we missing?"
In a move that was shocking coming from the slow moving Decay to suddenly have it move with lightning speed and slam its bandaged engulfed hands hard into each of the rangers, making them fall back hard.
"Is everyone okay?" Evie asked her team mates. It wasn't just the direct attack she was concerned about. It was the possible effect that he might have had on them as he did to the places he was around in Agrabah.
"I feel okay." Lonnie answered. "Maybe our powers do protect us."
"Glad to hear that one." Jay said and moved in on Decay and slashed the mummified creature hard. It fell back and the black ranger moved in again. This time Decay blocked him and tried to beat him down. He jumped past it but he fell to the ground hand and gasped in pain.
"Jay!" Audrey gasped and started toward him.
"Audrey, hang on." Ally said to the brunette princess. "We have to get him out without getting trapped ourselves."
Jane and Carlos dashed in quickly, rolled under Decay and pulled him out. The pain seemed to subside. "How long did that take?" Jay asked the two smartest rangers of their team.
"About two minutes." Jane answered. "Our powers don't make us immune to its effect, it just delays the reaction."
"So how do we fight this thing if we can't get close to it?" Jay asked. "None of us have enough impact alone to defeat this thing, and it was strong enough to resist our animal spirits."
"All I know is we have to find away." Carlos replied.
Mal moved in with her dragon's eye staff and smashed it into Decay's chest, receiving pretty solid thump in the blow despite the fact it looked like a mummified creature. Then it returned the favor, using both of its overwrapped bandaged hands to hit Mal hard into the air. Then it did something they hadn't seen yet; the single eye glowed an eerie yellow and blasted her in midair, sending her flying at a very fast pace toward one of the walls around Agrabah.
It made Evie wish she wasn't so good with science at that moment because she knew the instant her chosen sister's body hit the wall, even her powers wouldn't stop the impact from breaking most every bone in her body and likely killing her…