Agrabah. City of mystery and enchantment. Or at least it was known as such in the past. Now, it was a shadow of its former self. The streets, once bustling with people, were now vacant. Empty. Devoid of life. The only one wandering its streets was the tall, skinny form of the turban wearing, black and red robed comrade of Maleficent.
The Grand Vizier, Jafar.
""My days of humiliation as vizier are over. Now I, Jafar, am the ruler of Agrabah." he mused to himself victoriously. He couldn't believe he hadn't learned about these other worlds, or the power of the darkness sooner. But now, thanks to his new friends in shadowed places, he finally was able to take control of Agrabah from that fool of a Sultan.
"Have you captured all who would stand in our way, Jafar?" as if on cue, the voice of the leader of the council he was apart of emerged from one of the alleyways. There was Maleficent, with that menacing looking crow of hers on her shoulder. A bird he almost wished he could trade his own for. "Of course, Maleficent." Jafar answered with a proud, sinister grin on his face. "I have everything under control. The former Sultan has been locked away in the dungeons along with the Captain Razoul and the royal guards who dared defy me. And the Heartless have ensured that the people will take refuge in their homes and not interfere, lest they be consumed."
Jafar's report pleased Maleficent, though there was one outstanding factor that they needed to more than just ensuring their control of this arid world. "And the Keyhole?" she inquired, getting straight to the point. "The Heartless are searching for it now." Jafar answered reassuringly. With no one to get in their way, it was certain to be theirs before long. "I'm certain we'll find it soon enough. That just leaves-"
"RAAK! RAAK!" A rather silly squawk rang out above them, as a chubby red parrot with blue tail feathers, green wingtips, and a big orange beak flapped down and landed upon Jaffar's shoulder, speaking with a rather gratingly nasal voice. "Jaffar! I've looked everywhere for Jasmine. She's disappeared like magic!" Jaffar sneered with frustration at his parrot, Iago's, report. The Princess eluded him yet again. "The girl is more trouble than she's worth." he said, displeasure evident in his voice. Maleficent wasn't pleased with the parrot's report either as she stepped away from the two. "You said you had things under control." she said chidingly. "The city is old, my friend. Agrabah is full of holes for rats to hide in." Jaffar answered, not taking kindly to the way Maleficent was speaking to him.
What Jaffar didn't notice was a little head popping up from behind a market stall. It was the head of a little brown furred monkey wearing a vest and a small hat. He appeared to be listening intently to the conversation of the two villainous figures, before he was suddenly yanked back behind the stall by another hidden figure.
"See to it that you find her. That she fulfills her designated role is of the utmost necessity." Maleficent said, reminding Jaffar of their plan. "Yes, yes, thy will be done." Jaffar said flippantly. Though that certainly begged the question. "But why worry about Princess Jasmine? With or without her, surely this world will be ours when we find the Keyhole." Since the Keyhole was their target, that should surely be the only victory they need, instead of a problematic princess. Maleficent however, reminded him of a most crucial part of their plan. "We need all seven princesses of heart to open the final door. Any fewer is useless." This 'final door' had Jaffar intrigued. Whatever was behind it must have been something of great power. "Well, if the princess is that important, we'll find her." Jaffar affirmed, looking behind himself as four, turban clad, scimitar wielding heartless materialized. "Find Jasmine, and bring her to me at once."
The Heartless raised their weapons high and scattered throughout the city at their master's command. As they fulfilled his will, Jafar departed to see to his own concerns "Don't steep yourself in darkness too long. The Heartless consume the careless," Maleficent warned him. Despite how much use she and her comrades made use of it, she was not unaware of the risks that came with relying on it too much. And Jafar seemed to be one of the more competent members of their little group.
Jafar stopped in place and chuckled, looking behind himself at Maleficent with a sly grin. His answer seemed cordial and appreciative, but anyone perceptive enough could hear the sarcasm laced within, "Your concern is touching but hardly necessary." then continued walking. Maleficent watched him apathetically before walking off another way. If he didn't heed her warnings, then whatever happened to him due to his carelessness would be his own fault.
The monkey peaked his head up again and beside him, a woman was doing the same. She had a tan complexion and black hair kept back in a spine length ponytail style with two light blue bands, matching the headband at the top of her head, which was fitted with a dark blue gem. The rest of her attire matched her headpieces, consisting of a blue tube top with straps over her shoulders. It exposed the midriff of her slightly curved figure and the bottom leggings of her pants were tucked in her pointed shoes. "I think they're gone now," she whispered before smiling to the Monkey. "Thank you for helping me earlier, Abu."
Smiling back at her, the light purple vest and fez wearing monkey rubbed the back of his head and waved her words off like he was glad to be of assistance. The young woman looked around the empty city with her brown eyes and frowned. "Still...I can't believe Jafar has taken over Agrabah," she said worriedly. He stole control of the city from her father in the course of a single day. But the most troubling thing was the fact that someone very dear to her was missing throughout this madness. "What about Aladdin?" she asked Abu who lowered and shook his head sadly. It seemed he didn't know where his friend was. Jasmine's worry continued to grow as she looked up at the clear blue sky. "I hope he's alright..."
Meanwhile at the main gates of the Agrabah, Sora, Ruby, Donald, Goofy, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha looked around with expressions of equal confusion and concern. "Where is everybody?" Jaune wondered aloud. Having seen this city from orbit, they expected a bustling metropolis, or at least some kind of activity. Yet here they were, in a city that seemed downright devoid of life.
"Gawrsh, ya think maybe they're on vacation?" Goofy's little theory earned a facepalm from Weiss and a glare from Donald. The marketplace alone was like a ghost town. Not a single soul to be found apart from each other. A vacation was likely less-than the last thing that the people were on. "Something's wrong...And I get the feeling we're not alone." Blake said, her bright yellow eyes scanning back and forth. After everything they'd been through so far, she knew better than to let her guard down when everything was quiet. "I think you're right, Blake..." Ruby agreed, her silver eyes scanning the area uneasily.
"HELLOOOO!" Yang called out, making everyone cringe and wince with shocked worry. "Yang, be quiet!" Weiss hissed, slapping a hand over the blonde's mouth. But it was too late. Before they knew it, the group was suddenly set upon by a batch of scimitar wielding, turban clad Heartless. Their eyes peered through the small openings of their turbans, focused upon the interlopers as they brandished their weapons, flanked by several Shadows. "Look out!" Pyrrha exclaimed, dashing forward, intercepting one of the scimitars with her shield. Goofy quickly sprung to action, using his own shield to stop another one. "We're not even here for thirty seconds, and we get jumped because of you, Yang!" Weiss complains, readying her weapon. Yang however was far from apologetic going from the smirk on her face as she pounded her fists together. "This is just the kinda welcome wagon I can get behind!" she cheered before charging forward and pummeling a shadow into dust. Well, at least one of the group was having fun. Of course, at the expense of the more serious members of the party like Donald and Weiss who simply sighed at her hot-headed attitude. But bemoaning lack of subtlety could wait. Now was the time to fight.
These Heartless, with their bladed weapons, almost seemed to be dancing about when weaving with their footwork, left and right. In fact, the one near Donald jumped and spun in place, swinging its sword at the front and it made the spellcasting duck worried. He dipped his head down at the last second, avoiding the blade from hitting him then ran around it to smack across its head. Being dazed like that gave Sora a perfect moment to strike and let Ruby follow up by cleaving right through it.
Weiss was surrounded by three of them, but with the aid of one of her glyphs, she launched herself into the air, looking at them from an upside down angle and launching volleys of ice at them with the aid of the ice dust loaded in Myrtenaster. Upon impact, they froze and then shattered, leaving her to land gracefully and smile proudly at her victory.
Every time Jaune swung, the Heartless he was fighting avoided his strike. It was getting him irritated as he groaned, "Hold still!" before hearing a whirring sound coming towards him. "Whoa!" He barely managed to raise his shield in time to block the spinning sword coming at him. When peeking over the top of it, the farthest of them was seen without a sword but held their hands out in an unusual way. A glow came from them as something was materializing. A new sword just like it's old one!
From above it, Yang let out a battle cry and punched right through its head, causing it to dissolve. "Come on, Jaune. Keep an eye on your surroundings." she said to him in a playful tone before running to pummel the Heartless closest to her.
So far, they seemed to be winning, but as Sora came near one of the stalls, he ended up jumping in shock at the sight of four long, thin, eerily colored limbs that looked eerily like insect legs poking out one of the big red pots. And to make matters worse, there was more than one. Worse still, they were crawling towards him in a most unsettling manner, causing him to instinctively swing at it. Upon impact, the pot shattered and turned to dark smoke as he saw a heart float into the air from it. "Huh? These things are... Heartless?
"Obviously!" Weiss exclaimed, skewering one of the turban clad Bandits. And sure enough, another heart burst out from its body as it evaporated. One Heartless attempted to get the drop on Pyrrha, but with a little aid of her semblance, she easily managed to maneuver the scimitar enough to sidestep it completely, and slice the Heartless in the face, felling it as well. Blake engaged in a locking of blades with the last remaining Bandit, breaking out of it and cutting down the Heartless with relative ease. And last but not least, the final Shadow received a sniper bullet to the head, courtesy of Crescent Rose, evaporating into dark mist afterwards.
With a sigh of relief, Sora wiped his brow. Both from exertion and the heat. He was used to a lot of sun and warm sands on his island, but this place seemed to take both of those up a notch. "Is everyone okay?" he called out to the group, getting an affirmative call from Ruby's whole team, Jaune, Pyrrha, Donald, and Goofy. Of course, Jaune seemed to be working up even more of a sweat than Sora. "Phew. Is this place hot, or what?" he complained. Such was what happens when you wear a hoodie in a desert. "In case you didn't realize Jaune, much of this world seems to be a desert. Of course it's going to be hot!" Weiss said, hoping that wasn't another one of his clumsy come-ons that he continuously threw her way. "Maybe these Heartless are the reason that there aren't any people around..." Blake said morosely. "Oh no...you don't think..." Ruby didn't have the heart to finish that thought. If the Heartless truly had their way with the people of this city...Everyone else went silent, contemplating the grim possibility. "...Come on, guys. We still have a chance to stop them. We just have to find the Keyhole, seal it before the Heartless find it, and we can fix things." Sora said, trying to bring everyone's optimism up. "Sora's right. We gotta stop the Heartless before they hurt more people." Goofy said in firm agreement.
The Heartless however seemed to be more than willing to engage in such brutality regardless of interference. Further in the marketplace, Abu and the woman he was with ran through the streets as fast as they possibly could. She panted while sprinting from one building corner to another after scanning the area for danger. Right as she came down the central most part of Agrabah, a Heartless emerged in front of her. It was as big as a Large Body and similar but with an orange vest, pointed shoes, and a turban with sphere's around the temples. She gasped, slowly backing away as it menacingly stomped towards her and Abu shivered in her arms.
The rotund Heartless began to reach for the pair, making both of them cower as their would-be captors leered over them. When suddenly... "WEEEEEEEEEEEE!" SLAM. As if from out of nowhere, a figure surrounded by pink sparks of electricity suddenly sailed down from above, followed by a giant hammer slamming into the fat Heartless's head, leaving it dazed and dizzy from the strike. The woman and Abu perked up with surprise at the unexpected intervention as suddenly, another figure gracefully lept down behind the Heartless, stabbing it in the back with a pair of tonfa-like blades. The Heartless lurched and burst from the unexpected attack.
As Sora, Ruby, Donald, Goofy, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha made their way further through the streets of Agrabah, the sound of the commotion further in city reached their ears. And almost immediately, they jumped with surprise. "What was that?!" Sora exclaimed. "Another Heartless?!" Goofy asked with worry. "Bring it on!" Donald proclaimed, rearing to go if it was.
However, the huntsman and huntresses of their group didn't look nearly so worried, but more...surprised. "Wait a second...Did anyone else recognize that voice?" Ruby asked, earning a practically synchronized nod from her teammates. Pyrrha and Jaune in particular were surprised by the voice, recognizing it immediately. "Jaune...I think that was..." "Yeah...It was! Come on, guys!" Jaune finished for Pyrrha, taking off immediately. "Hey! Jaune, wait up!" Ruby exclaimed, running after the two Team JNPR members, soon followed by the rest of her team. "Don't just run off on your own, you dunces! These Heartless could be anywhere!"...with an understandable complaint from Weiss. "H-Hey! Wait for us!" Sora exclaimed, dashing after theme. "Come on, Donald! We gotta hurry!" Goofy exclaimed, gesturing for the duck to follow as he ran along with Sora. "WAK! Stop running off!" Donald exclaimed indignantly as he finally decided to run after the impulsive teenagers. Hopefully whoever it was Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, and the rest of Ruby's friends recognized was friend and not foe.