Chapter 49

Sirocco the Wind Demon

It was not long before the first Shadows crept through the space between the bars. They crawled toward the unarmed heroes. One of them prepared to pounce on Sora, but Sora grabbed its left shoulder with his left hand and the right side of its head with his right hand. He brought both hands toward each other, pulling the body and head in opposite directions with them. There was a popping sound and the Shadow dissipated into smoke.

"Remember, everyone. We may not have our weapons, but we do have our strength and fighting skills, and some of us have our magic!" Mickey said. To demonstrate, he shot a Pearl spell at one of the Shadows, vanquishing it.

Donald nodded and shot Blizzard at another Shadow. Riku destroyed another with a Dark Fire spell and Kairi took another out with a Thunder spell. Turning to the imprisoned Genie, she came up with an idea. She held her hand out toward him and concentrated on what she was trying to do.

When the Shadows were gone, the Bandits slipped between the bars, with much difficulty. One of them swung its sword at Sora, but he ducked under it and kicked the Heartless in the chest. Mickey jumped over another attacker and, grabbing it by the head as he came back down, pulled it down with him. Goofy punched another several times in the gut until it fell down, then Donald jumped up and down on top of it over and over.

Aladdin nimbly dodged the attacks of another Bandit and grabbed it by the wrist. He wrestled with the Heartless until he managed to steal its scimitar. "And we have their weapons!" he told the others. Remembering that the swords vanish with the Heartless when they are slain, Aladdin simply kicked the Heartless whose sword he stole and then chopped off the head of a Heartless behind him. He swung the sword at one of the bars, but it only made a small dent and dulled the blade where it met. Giving up on that plan, Aladdin sliced down to the forehead of the Bandit from whom he had stolen the scimitar. As he suspected, the sword vanished as soon as the Heartless had been destroyed.

Soon, all of the Bandits had been eliminated. The Fat Bandits looked around at each other, not sure what to do. One of them inhaled, resolving to burn them to a crisp with flame breath, but Donald destroyed it with Blizzaga. One of the others spat a fireball at Riku, but he simply pulled up a wall and let the fireball bounce back at it, sending it flying. This convinced them to go for a direct approach, in close range. One of them charged right at them, but forgot about the cage and stopped when it hit them, though this caused the metal to rattle. Two more grabbed onto the bars and tried to rip them apart, but this seemed to be counterproductive.

At this point, Sora noticed Kairi and wondered what she was doing. He followed her gaze and saw the giant bottle floating ten feet in the air, suspended in a transparent sphere. Genie seemed to be looking around in confusion.

"Prepare to shield yourselves, guys," Kairi warned. Everyone saw what she was doing and realized what was about to happen, so they were prepared when she shouted "Gravira!"

The g-forces pressed down on the bottle, breaking the Zero Gravity spell, and pushing it right to the ground. The magic users barely had time to cast Reflega when the bottle shattered into a thousand pieces on the ground. The glass shards scattered outward, slicing through the Heartless and leaving only two left.

Genie grew to giant size, letting out a booming laugh. "Nice move, kid! Now, let me take care of these guys for you," he said. He leaned over the cage and looked down at the now-terrified Fat Bandits. "You know, I was considering whether to sign you up for Weight Watchers or The Biggest Loser, but I think I'll just do this." He extended to enormous index fingers and poked down on the Heartless, squashing them flat. When he lifted his fingers, there was nothing left.

With the enemy out of the way, Genie transformed himself into a crane and latched a hook onto the top of the cage. Then, cranking his arm like a winch, he raised the cage up, freeing the party.

Sora summoned his Keyblade back to him, and Riku, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi conjured their weapons as well. "Thanks, Genie," Aladdin said. He went to pick up his scimitar.

"No problemo, Al. Just glad to be of help," Genie replied modestly.

"We need to get back to Agrabah," Jasmine reminded everyone.

"She's right," Riku said. "Let's get out of here!" All in agreement, they ran for the door, Sora and Riku in the lead.

Hearing a sort of ragged breathing from up ahead, Riku shot Sora a cautious glance and readied his Keyblade. Sora nodded and did the same. As they passed through the doorway, two scimitar blades swung around towards them at neck level. The Keyblade wielders blocked the attacks with their Keyblades and pushed hard enough to knock the swords out of their wielders' hands.

Or, that was what would have happened if said wielders' wrist tendons were stronger than their grip. What actually happened was that the Mamluks' hands broke off and fell to the ground, the fingers still wrapped around the sword handles. Sora and Riku turned to face their would-be-ambushers and delivered swift retaliation. Sora sliced across the stomach region, then swept his enemy's legs out from beneath it, causing both halves of the undead warrior to tumble to the ground. Riku slashed vertically, bifurcating the Mamluk cleanly.

When the others got outside, they took a quick look at the enemies that had been placed as a contingency in the instance that they did manage to escape from the cage. Kairi looked queasy, but she recovered. Abu stuck his tongue out in disgust.

"Alright, guys. Not a moment to lose!" Aladdin said. Genie nodded and retook his rocket car form. Everyone climbed in and buckled up.

Iago, secured next to Riku, pointed at his beak. Riku grinned sheepishly. "Oh, right. I forgot about that. He performed his earlier gesture, but instead turned his hand clockwise.

"Hello? Ah, I missed the sound of my voice," Iago said. Abu rolled his eyes.

"So, anyone know how to stop a Heartless-ified wind demon?" Sora asked right before Genie took off.

They drew near the city of Agrabah as the sun was coming up. Despite the solar illumination, they could not see the city, as it was wrapped in an enormous sandstorm. The dust clouds were tinged with a dark aura, giving them a decent idea as to what was causing the storm.

"We can't just fly right into the storm. We won't be able to see a thing," Kairi said.

"Even if we do get to them, we're still not going to be able to survive the storm while fighting them," Donald added.

Everyone gauged their options, thinking of how they were going to get into the eye and stop Mozenrath and Loki. Mickey pointed a finger into the air and smiled. "Genie, take us above the cloud. Make sure we're directly above the very middle," he told the rocket car.

"Got it!" Genie replied. The front end of the rocket car bent upward as he flew over the edge of the cloud and stopped right above the dead center.

"What's the plan?" Goofy asked.

"We're gonna drop down as fast as possible with as much force as possible, ah-ha!" Mickey answered.

The others looked at each other in confusion, then Sora, Riku and Donald smiled knowingly.

"What?" Aladdin asked, confused.

Sora demonstrated by grabbing a date and dropping it. The others nodded in understanding.

"Keep your seatbelts secured," Riku advised. Everyone made sure of that.

Mickey, Sora, Riku, Donald, and Kairi summoned their weapons. The middle three shouted "Graviga!" at the same time, though Mickey shouted "Graviza!" and Kairi shouted "Gravira!" An enormous hemisphere of purple energy materialized over them and pushed down on them. The rocket car dropped out of the sky, hitting what would normally be terminal velocity within seconds. Before anyone realized, they had hit the ground with tremendous force, though a quick cushioning transformation and spell by Genie made sure that nobody inside felt it.

On the outside, however…

The sandstorm had dispersed. The buildings and stalls were all heavily covered with sand, but it was not blowing all over the place, obscuring vision and clogging breath. The rocket car sat in a crater in the middle of the road, which had become so wide that some stalls collapsed into it. There were some giant piles of sand where buildings used to be.

Looking around, the party saw Sirocco splayed on its side, disoriented. Further back, they saw Loki's boots sticking out of the sand, the rest of him completely buried. In the other direction, Mozenrath had crashed into a watermelon stall, and was covered in sand and fruit guts.

Mozenrath stood up with some difficulty. Xerxes rose up into the air, floating upside-down, clearly disoriented. The sorcerer glared at the party, his face contorted in anger. After a moment, he relaxed and started laughing. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I guess I can just destroy you all here and now," he said.

Genie teleported in front of him, now dressed in knight's armor and wielding an oversized broadsword. "Prepare to defend thyself, knave!" he shouted.

Mozenrath chuckled. "Consider me prepared. Sirocco!" The Heartless jackal jumped to its feet and whirled itself around Genie, causing the armor and sword to dissolve. Genie stumbled, dizzied, and fell down. "You have to do better than that!" the sorcerer boasted. Xerxes laughed.

"How about this?" Jasmine retorted. She ran straight at him and swung a pair of knives his way. Mozenrath backed away and Xerxes wrapped himself around her wrist and pulled her arm back. Kairi swatted the eel in the face with her Keyblade, forcing him to slacken his grip. Jasmine shook herself free and Abu lunged at Xerxes, grabbing him and holding him to the ground. Mozenrath shot a spell that blasted Jasmine back, but Aladdin used this as an opening to tackle the sorcerer to the ground.

Sirocco snarled at the people attacking its master, but it found its view obstructed by a pair of Keyblades crossed together. It looked at Sora and Mickey with vicious eyes and bared teeth.

"Heel, boy!" Sora said in a flat tone. "You're not going anywhere!"

Riku shot a series of Dark Fire blasts as the Heartless' rear end. Sirocco turned around and threw itself at him, but Goofy charged in at the right instant and slugged it in the side with his shield. Donald shot a Blizzara spell at it, but it dodged and spun around him. Donald cast Aero, creating a wind shield, then unleashed a massive lightning blast above him. The electricity burst in a condensed field and sparked in all directions. The wind demon was launched out if its spin and thrown to Sora and Mickey, who started hitting it.

"Sirocco! Get up! Destroy them!" Mozenrath commanded. Sirocco shot to its feet and lashed out at its attackers, knocking them back. It homed in on Sora and pinned him down. It tried to bite down on him, but Sora pushed him back by holding his Keyblade in its teeth. Goofy knocked it off of Sora. The Heartless spun around him, but Goofy countered with a tornado attack in the opposite direction. Mickey helped by swinging his Keyblade below the shield, knowing that the jackal was so fast that it would run straight into the weapon at least once. Sirocco flipped out of its run, but landed on its feet right in front of Donald. Donald tried to get a spell off but the jackal snapped at him, biting a few feathers off and scaring him away.

Riku helped Sora to his feet. Sora cast Cura on himself. "Thanks. Any ideas?" Sora asked his friend.

"I'm thinking I might practice a new trick with the powers of darkness," Riku replied. He ran off before Sora could ask what he meant.

Meanwhile, Mozenrath threw Aladdin off of him and knocked him back with a magic blast. Kairi ran to attack, but he summoned a Fat Bandit for her to run into. She stumbled back on the rebound and fell down in the sand. The Fat Bandit ignited its fist and punched at the ground. She rolled out of the way but the shockwave still hit her. Genie transformed into a sling and caught the Fat Bandit. He spun himself around before throwing the Heartless at Mozenrath. The sorcerer nonchalantly blasted the Fat Bandit into oblivion. Jasmine slashed at him, cutting into his robe, and kicked his leg to throw him off balance.

"Sirocco! Kill the mouse!" the sorcerer ordered while picking himself up off the ground and hitting Jasmine with a magic blast over his shoulder.

Aladdin swung his scimitar, but Mozenrath caught the blade with his gloved hand. However, Aladdin kept pushing against him, causing sparks to shoot out as Mozenrath tried to push back. Iago fluttered in front of the sorcerer's face. "Attack this, destroy that, kill this! And people say I have a big mouth!" he said. This distracted Mozenrath, allowing Aladdin to force him down.

Sirocco turned and lunged at Mickey, who jumped out of the way. The jackal swiped at him, cutting a gash in his leg. It took another bite, but Mickey parried it with his Keyblade.

"Sirocco! Back down!" Mozenrath's voice called. Surprised but loyal, Sirocco stopped attacking and backed away. Mickey followed the sound of the voice, wondering what had happened, and he saw something he was not quite expecting.

Riku glared at the jackal and barked another order. "Sirocco, lie down," he commanded, Mozenrath's voice coming out of his mouth. Sirocco did as it was told.

"What? That wasn't my order. Nobody commands my minion but me! Sirocco! Destroy them!" the real Mozenrath shouted, struggling to stand up. However, Genie tied a two-ton weight to the hem of his glove, meaning he could not do much. Sirocco turned to its master in confusion. Why was he giving him conflicting orders?

"Sirocco! Lie down!" Riku ordered.

"Sirocco! Crush them!" Mozenrath countered, trying to shout louder than Riku.

"Sirocco! Roll over!"

"Sirocco! Turn them to dust!"

Sirocco looked back and forth, unsure what to do. It was in this extended moment of indecision that it felt a stabbing pain in its back. It collapsed to the ground, a wing-shaped blade sticking out of its back. Purple-colored flames rose from its body.

Sora, Mickey and Goofy ran in, attacking the jackal from all sides. Donald cast Firaga and Blizzaga spells. Sirocco tried to spin around and defend itself, but it could not move its body due to the fact that Riku held Way to the Dawn firm and had used fire magic to turn the sand beneath both of them into glass. It stretched its neck out and bit down on Sora's leg, but that was its last move before Mickey delivered the final blow to the Heartless' head. Sirocco dissipated into black smoke, its crystal heart being carried off in the wind before vanishing in a swirl of sparkles.

Mozenrath's face twisted in anger. "No!" he shouted, struggling against Aladdin and Jasmine's efforts to hold him down. His job became more difficult as they were joined by Razoul and two other guards.

Iago flew up to Riku. "That's a neat trick, pal," he commended, genuinely impressed. "How'd you do it?"

"I distorted my voice with some dark magic," Riku explained. "I met someone who cast an illusion to look and sound like someone else. And I did switch between my own voice and another's when I was trapped in a different form."

"Not bad," Iago said. Sora and Mickey nodded in agreement.

Everyone turned their attention back to the other group, which was still working to restrain Mozenrath. Xerxes tried to get in and help his master, but Kairi wrangled him and threw him over to Genie, who tied a leash around his neck and hooked a leash up to it.

"Now, let's do something about that Mozenrath!" Genie said. He pointed his finger and shot a beam of light at the sorcerer. Mozenrath's hands, including the entire length of the magic glove, were encased in heavy iron manacles that were bound together. With the extra weight and the inability to use his magic, Mozenrath stopped struggling. Aladdin and Jasmine stepped back and allowed the guards to restrain him.

Sora, Riku, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy approached the group. "This might be an even better opportunity than we hoped," Sora said to his friends.

"Okay, Mozenrath. We have a few questions for you," Mickey said assertively.

However, before anything further could be said, Mozenrath vanished in a green light. The manacles fell to the ground. A sphere of green light followed a green line until it disappeared into a green crystal shard.

Everyone gasped when they saw Loki holding a fresh shard of the Crystal of Ix, which now had a miniaturized Mozenrath trapped within. Donald looked back at where he thought Loki had been buried for the entire battle, but only saw a sand mound with no feet sticking out.

"Well, he did say that there was more where that came from," Loki quipped. He pointed the Crystal and a laser shot out and hit Xerxes. The eel was pulled in and sealed with his master.

The party as well as the guards raised their weapons. Genie shapeshifted until he was dressed like a pro wrestler. Even Abu cracked his knuckles.

Loki shrugged. "Sorry. Maybe another time." He gave a two-fingered salute before a dark shroud wrapped around him, teleporting him away.

Sora rolled his eyes and gave his friends a look that said Can you believe this?

Aladdin and Jasmine turned to the others. "Thank you for helping us protect Agrabah once again," Jasmine said, giving them a bow. The guards bowed in turn, though Razoul was half a second more hesitant.

Aladdin looked around. "Now that we've got a moment to breathe, I think we should start cleaning up," he suggested.

Mickey nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." The group broke up into groups of three and split up to get to work.