"Hey, stay still!' "You first!" The flight back to the Cave of Wonders was...not off to a pleasant start as already, on top of the even more cramped carpet, Donald and Sora already began arguing. This time with Donald being forced to sit atop Sora to help make room for Aladdin. "Whoa, careful fellas!" Goofy exclaimed as he was dangling off the left side of Carpet. "Yeah, there was already not much room on one carpet for the rest of us!" Jaune agreed dangling off the opposite side. The poor enchanted rug certainly wasn't doing much better either as it struggled to keep going with everybody on top of it.
"Oh!" Weiss suddenly exclaimed in realization before shaking her head. "I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner. Blake. Transform your Gambol Shroud and give the rope end to me. I have an idea."
Though unsure what her comrade was planning, Blake did as requested and made sure to hold the other end. As she grasped it, Weiss suddenly jumped off the carpet, causing her teammates and friends to blanch with shock. "Weiss!?" Ruby, Blake, and Yang cried out, REALLY unsure of what she was doing. As she held the rope of Gambol Shroud, Weiss gave a wave of her hand and created a glyph, using it as a floating platform while moving right behind them with additional guidance from Blake's weapon
Weiss looked proud before looking up to the others and two more glyphs emerging beside her. "There we go. That should free up some space so that we can keep up with-"
Within an instant, a whirl of rose petals flashed in front of her, cutting off her proud explanation. And right in front of her was Ruby, smiling with the cheer of an excited puppy as their eyes met. Immediately her pride was replaced with a deadpan lack of amusement as she looked blankly ahead and muttered, "I instantly regret this decision."
Ren and Nora wasted no time leaping to the leftmost glyph while Jaune, with some very much needed aid from Pyrrha, jumped the other. Yang shifted beside Blake to help her keep Weiss on course, earning a wry smirk from the faunus girl which the sunny blonde returned.
Goofy let out a sigh of relief as he pulled himself up onto the carpet along with Donald and Sora, who were relieved to not be playing piggy-back with one another anymore. Aladdin paid little heed to the mild silliness going on around him as he was more focused on finding the Cave of Wonders and stopping Jafar. 'Hold on, Jasmine. We're coming.'
It was night as Aladdin landed them at a dune. Carpet looked tired and Weiss turned her semblance off, everyone landing easily on the ground, with the exception of Jaune falling face first into the sand then being helped up and dusted off by Pyrrha.
As everyone came to a stop, the first thing that the group noticed was the faint familiarity of the place they had arrived in. "Wait a second. This is where we found Aladdin in he quicksand." Blake said, looking about the place. "Does that mean that-" "Look!" Pyrrha interrupted Ren, pointing toward the far end of the clearing. The teams all looked where she pointed, jut in time to bear witness to the sand shifting unnaturally. Not only that, but the earth beneath their feet was shaking. As if something massive was rising from that billowing bunch of sand. Everyone brandished their weapons, ready for any Heartless, or heavens forbid, Grimm that might be emerging. Everyone except Aladdin, much to the concern and confusion of everyone else. But they were surprised when it didn't seem to be either. For rising from the sands was a giant, dark tiger head with glowing white eyes, an earing around one of its ears, and a gaping mouth of sharp teeth and a bright, orange or golden glow within its maw. "This is it. The entrance to the Cave of Wonders." Aladdin said.
As he took a step forward, the bright white eyes of the tiger head suddenly turned to a dark misty lace of purple and black. The tiger head gave a furious roar, making Aladdin jump back out with shocked confusion. Abu screeched out loudly, a noise that was vaguely interpretable as him saying "Aladdin! Aladdin!" as suddenly, two bright balls of energy flew out from the eyes of the tiger head and converged upon him. "Aladdin, look out!" Ruby called out. And thankfully, Aladdin's street dashing and roof jumping days came in handy, giving him the reflexes necessary to get away from it. "Uh, Aladdin, did something like this happen the last time you found the Cave of Wonders?" Goofy asked, raising his shield. "No, it didn't! The cave just asked who I was and let me inside!" Aladdin responded, drawing his scimitar. "Nevermind that! We've got a bigger problem!" Donald exclaimed as Heartless materialized around them.
Bandits emerged from the sand or in front of them and relentlessly attacked them. Everyone shot at the enemies or came in close to fight them within melee range. Air Soldiers were emerging as well, being as much of a nuisance as their ground based allies, if not more so. "Agh! There's no end to them!" Donald said in anger when he shot one Heartless down, only to have another take its place every time he used a spell. If this kept up, he'd be out of magic and everyone else would be out of bullets.
"What do we do?" Nora said before smashing another Bandit right over its head, turning it to black smoke as the heart it took floated away and vanished after.
Jaune kept his shield up at the side then pierced into the chest of the Bandit near him and disposing of it. Over the gunfire, swords slicing and other battle shouts, he looked to the tiger head again. The glowing eyes from it came towards Yang and she barely avoided it before Jaune said, "It's eyes! We need to do something about those flames!"
"How are we supposed to reach those?" Sora said, blocking a Bandit who spun towards him with his sword like a saw then retaliated with a fire spell at its back.
"Give me cover!" Pyrrha said as she knelt and turned Miló into rifle form. Jaune stayed at one side of Pyrrha as Goofy remained at the other, both keeping any Heartless who came near them at bay. Ren was behind her and shooting those who were far and using the sickles when they were too close. Even with the noise, Pyrrha stayed focused and took careful aim at one of the eyes. Once she had a clear shot, she took it. One bullet after the other she kept firing until the flames went out.
"Nice work, Pyrrha!" Jaune said before cutting an Air Soldier in half.
"Hey. What's it doing?" Goofy said as the tiger head shook itself wildly.
His question was answered as the tiger's maw suddenly shot open, expunging several Bandit Heartless! "What the heck!? That thing just spat out Heartless!" Yang exclaimed, kicking the first one that came at her in the turban. The rest of the group were busy dodging the tiger head's attacks, as well as the new Heartless that came onto the field. "Wait a second..." Sora muttered, looking closely at their main target. His gaze shifted toward the strange mist that was filling its eyes. "It's the Heartless! Jafar must have done something to make the Cave of Wonders like this!" Sora exclaimed. "Rngh! I should've known he'd do something like this!" Aladdin grunted, clashing with a bandit's blade. "So what do we do to stop it!?" Ruby exclaimed, firing at the tiger head, only for her bullets to do nothing to it.
It was then that Sora got an idea. "Hey Weiss. You can make people stand on your glyphs in midair, right?" he asked the Schnee heiress as she skewered a bandit. "Yes, why?" she asked, torn between wondering what he was getting at and focusing on the fight. "I've got an idea. Form one for me when I jump, okay?" he said, suddenly taking off in a run toward the raging cave's head. "Wha-Hey!" Weiss called out as Sora charged toward the tiger head. "Sora, what are you doing?!" Donald exclaimed as the young Keyblade wielder rushed forward. "Now!" he yelled to Weiss, who quickly swiped her hand, forming a Glyph under where Sora's jump was going to land, allowing him to springboard off of the glyph and land atop the tiger head. Now that she realized what he was planning, Weiss let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear, you and Ruby really are birds of a feather. So reckless and immature." she muttered with a shake of her head, before parrying and riposting a Heartless that tried to get the drop on her.
Sora hacked away with force behind each swing, making the flames in the tiger heads eye snuffed out a little more every time. Nora saw several Bandits near in one spot and turned her Magnhild into the grenade launcher form, smiling in devious delight before firing a single round of ammo at them. It was all she needed to destroy them all in one burst then went on to help the rest of her team. Blake finished off a Bandit but from her side came a Fat Bandit with its upper half reeled back and the belly expanding. She was wide eyed when seeing flames come out its mouth. It looked like Blake had the full blast of it and where she stood was now a scorching set of sand.
A gunshot from behind it made the Fat Bandit wobble forward before turning right around, seeing Blake with her Gambol Shroud in gun mode. Before it could hobble towards her as it started to, the large Heartless was encased almost entirely within ice, a trail of it leading from there to Weiss. The Fat Bandit struggled for a moment before Ruby used Crescent Rose to cut right through it and destroy it. Every time an Air Soldier flew towards Sora or a Bandit trying spinning its way through the air to get to him, they were shot down by Ruby, Pyhrra, Ren or Donald while Yang, Goofy, Jaune and Nora handled the enemies on the ground.
Sora was almost finished destroying the dark flames until the tiger head violently shook again, causing Sora to stumble and . Blake saw he was about to fall and used the kusarigama mode of Gambol Shroud to hook into the side of the tiger head then pull herself up. Sora almost fell back until feeling a hand push him back on his feet. He smiled as he saw Blake and nodded appreciation before he resumed his assault on the flame. And after a final hard swing of his Keyblade, it finally went out. And with that, the Heartless miraculously stopped pouring in, and the tiger head finally stopped attacking them "Yes! We did it!" Ruby cheered as Sora and Blake hopped down off the tiger head.
"It's not over yet though." Aladdin's words warning confused the group as they all turned to face him. "What do you mean? We beat it, so let's get inside and stop Jafar!" Sora exclaimed, only for Aladdin to shake his head. "It's not over yet, Sora. This next part, you'll have to do yourself just like I did." he said firmly. Abu trembled under Aladdin's vest, remembering the last time they were here. Sora however looked confused as could be. As did Donald and Goofy. "Himself?" Goofy repeated, rubbing his chin. "Well that's just great. Sora could barely hold the Keyblade when we found him. This ought to be good." Donald said derisively, drawing an indignant, "Hey!" from the boy in question. "Fine! If I've gotta do it by myself, then I will! Just you watch!" Sora said, marching off toward the entrance to the cave of wonders.
Blake sighed and turned to Donald with a frown. "Why do you antagonize him so much? Hasn't he's proven himself dependable by now?" she asked him seriously. Donald simply crossed his arms and shook his head. "He's still got a long way to go." His comment drew more than a few irritated looks from Team JNPR and Team RWBY. "What?" he asked. "That's a little harsh, don't you think?" he said with visible disapproval.
Turning away from the obstinate duck, Ruby ran after the annoyed Sora who was muttering, "I'll show you, Donald..." Sora muttered, hoisting himself up on the lip of the cave as Ruby caught up with him. He looked into its mouth, staring with surprise as he suddenly saw...a staircase form down the tiger head's esophagus. "Hey, Sora wait!" Ruby called as the Keyblade Master took a step forward...only to be blown back by a sudden, powerful gust of wind. Everyone snapped to attention with shocked expressions as suddenly, the tiger head came to life again. But instead of attacking, it suddenly...spoke in a deep, booming, echoing voice.
"WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?!"
Shaken up almost as much as the ground the tiger head from which the tiger head rose, Sora pushed himself to his feet with the help of Ruby. Both of them looking at the immense being with eyes as wide as dinner plates. Everyone else was uncertain whether to rush into action or not, but Aladdin held his hand out, as if assuring them that it was okay. "Uh... It is I, Sora." the boy answered with Ruby standing tentatively at his side. "Um...a-and I...Ruby?" Ruby answered uncertainly.
The tiger head narrowed its eyes, staring at the pair with a scrutinizing gaze. As if it was searching for something within them. "KNOW THIS. ONLY ONE MAY ENTER HERE. ONE WHOSE WORTH LIES FAR WITHIN." The the rest of the group looked at each other, wondering what the Cave was talking about...before noticing its eyes fixing firmly upon Aladdin. "THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH."
Sora looked back at Aladdin with uncertainty. The others were still speechless and wondering if this meant it was impossible for any of them to enter the Cave. Then how did Jafar manage to do so? They received their answer when the tiger head spoke again. "HOWEVER, YOU AND YOUR ALLIES HAVE RELEASED ME FROM THE SPELL WHICH CORRUPTED MY MIND AND ACTIONS. YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELF WORTHY, KEYBLADE MASTER. THUS, ALL MAY PROCEED. BUT TOUCH NONE OF THE FORBIDDEN TREASURE LEST YOU NEVER AGAIN SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY!"
With the Cave's final word, its mouth unleashed another gust of wind, nearly sending the two youths flying back. With its warning given, the tiger head opened its mouth again and formed the stairs for them to walk on. The display had shaken everyone to a degree, apart from Aladdin, who began marching forward. "Come on." Sora and Ruby looked back at Aladdin as he marched into the cave's mouth, before turning to their friends with a shared nod. "Hold on! We're not actually going inside that clearly dangerous place, are we?! It was spewing Heartless at us when we were outside! Who knows what will happen INside?!" Weiss said, immediately protesting
"He gave us permission though." Sora said when looking back at her with a shrug. His nonchalant answer made Weiss utterly gobsmacked at how little the boy was questioning this. "Out of all the crazy ideas you could have had, this is the most reckless of them all!" the white haired woman said with the same tone. "The most reckless one so far." Yang corrected cheekily as she began her approach to the cave with Blake right behind. Seeing her teammates walk on, Weiss blanched with disbelief. "Wha-...Are you all serious right now!?"
"Weiss, we need to stop Jafar and save Jasmine. As long as we don't touch that forbidden treasure like the Cave said, we'll be fine." Ruby reassured her. "She's right, Weiss." Pyrrha said walking up along with a clearly anxious Jaune. "I'm sure everything will turn out alright. Right Jaune?" she said with an encouraging smile. "U-Uhh, yeah. I'm sure too." he said with a shaky nod and smile, earning him a pat on the back from Pyrrha. "Well glad one of em is more optimistic than the other." Nora muttered with a smirk toward Ren who simply shook his head and ushered Nora along with a gentle push.
Donald and Goofy were definitely the most nervous of the bunch. They looked to each other before Sora suddenly called out to them, "Hey Donald! Goofy! Come on! You're not scared, are you!?" Sora called, his spikey hair silhouetted in front of the illuminated uvula of the Cave's throat. Donald snapped up indignantly at Sora's accusation. "Scared!? I'm not scared! Come on, Goofy! Let's go!" he said indignantly, stomping through the sand toward the Cave's mouth. "W-Wait for me!" Goofy called out, running after the duck wizard and his friends.
And thus, with everyone together and their nerves steeled, the twelve companions delved into depths of the Cave of Wonders, to stop Jafar, rescue Jasmine, find the Keyhole, and seal it before the Heartless got to it.