Chapter 46
The Sultan of Agrabah
Aladdin led the party into the walled courtyard in front of the palace. As they approached the large door leading into the palace, their way was blocked by the muscular guard that they had seen earlier.
"Hold it!" the guard shouted, glaring down at Aladdin. He gave the others a suspicious look, but he mostly kept his eyes on Aladdin, giving the party the impression that they had a long-standing rivalry.
"What are you doing, street rat, bringing outsiders into the palace?" the guard questioned. Riku gave a contemplative nod, silently admitting that he had a valid point.
"Hey, Razoul. Don't worry. These are Sora, Donald and Goofy, and their friends," Aladdin explained. Mickey raised an eyebrow, doubting that his argument would be a viable enough excuse to let them in.
Razoul gave Sora a distrustful glance. "This runt is the so-called warrior who helped liberate Agrabah from the monsters?" he asked skeptically.
Sora rolled his eyes. "He and Jasmine aren't much older than me," he complained. To prove Aladdin's claims before an argument escalated, he summoned his Keyblade, held it up above his head for a few seconds, then dismissed it. "Listen, could you tell Jasmine that we're here? I'm sure she would be glad to see us."
Razoul's expression remained unchanged for a moment longer, then he started to turn around. "Very well. But stay right here!" he ordered. Sora, Donald and Goofy gave a salute. Razoul turned around and walked over to the doors. He pulled one open, stepped through, and promptly closed it behind him. As soon as the door was closed, Sora, Donald and Goofy brought their hands back down and stood at ease, and Riku and Kairi laughed at their gesture. Sora turned to them and shrugged playfully.
"So, you and that Razoul guy know each other?" Goofy asked Aladdin.
"For most of my life, I had to steal to survive. The last few years, the guards started catching up, and it usually ended up being Razoul taking charge, since he is captain of the guard and all," Aladdin explained. "But he never really caught up. I guess he doesn't really like it when a street rat half his size makes a fool out of him."
"Understandable," Riku said. "And I guess you becoming the hometown hero only exacerbated your rivalry with the guy who looked down on you for so long."
"And you're engaged to the princess, which means he can't touch you, period!" Sora added, chuckling at the twist of fate.
They waited for several minutes longer before they saw the door open once again. Razoul marched out, working to keep an expression of either contempt or embarrassment, or possibly both, from crossing his face.
"My apologies. Right this way," he said. He turned around and led the party into the palace.
The guests marveled at the ornate architecture and designs of the palace's interior. Aladdin smiled when he noticed their amazement. "Pretty cool, right?" he asked. The others could only nod. Razoul scowled ahead of them.
A few minutes later, they approached a set of large double doors. A guard stood on either side. Razoul nodded to them and they each pulled a door open. As the doors were opened, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy got to see inside the throne room. The carpet on the floor extended into the room all the way up to a gold-colored throne.
Seated upon the throne was a fat old man with a large white beard. He wore a cream-colored robe, a cream-colored turban with a red gem and large blue feather inset, an ochre-colored sash slung over his neck, an ochre-and-blue striped belt, and brown shoes. Sora guessed that he must have been the Sultan. Next to him stood an attractive young woman wearing a light blue bedlah outfit with long poofy bustle pants and a midriff-baring top that had straps wrapping around her upper arms, leaving her shoulders bare, as well as a blue headband with a sapphire set into a gold frame, golden earrings, a gold necklace, and gold slippers. Her long black hair that extended down to her legs was tied into a low ponytail with a blue ribbon.
Razoul led the group into the throne room. As they drew nearer to the throne, the guests noticed a Bengal tiger sitting next to the woman.
The party stopped in front of the throne. Razoul dropped to one knee and bowed. Mickey, Donald and Goofy followed, as did Riku and Kairi.
"Hey, there," Sora waved casually. The others looked at him in disbelief, with Razoul's face even being stricken with horror. The tiger growled quietly at him. However, the Sultan, the woman and Aladdin simply chuckled.
"Calm down, Rajah. They're friends," the woman assured the tiger. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, it's so good to see you!" She noticed Riku and gasped. "You—"
"He's cool now!" Sora said rapidly, waving his hands in front of him, recalling how the Beast had reacted. "Don't worry, Jasmine. He's not with Maleficent and the Heartless anymore," he assured her, this time speaking at a normal rate.
Princess Jasmine traded a glance with her father, and they chuckled. The Sultan gestured for them to stand up.
Sora gestured to his friends while still facing Jasmine and her father. "These are Riku and Kairi," he introduced. Kairi gave a smile and a wave. "And this is Mickey Mouse, king of Disney Castle."
Razoul gasped in embarrassment. "Forgive me. I did not realize you were visiting royalty," he stammered. He bowed nervously, but Mickey waved his hand up, gesturing for him to remain standing.
"Well, I must say it is an honor to have you all in our company," the Sultan greeted. "And I am sure that Razoul can understand that the heroes who liberated Agrabah from Jafar and defended us from the Heartless are all welcome here. Isn't that right, Razoul?" He glanced at the guard mischievously. Razoul grinned nervously and nodded. "Now, what matter brings you here?"
Mickey stepped forward. "Your Highness, over the last few days, we have been traversing the lands to oppose an assortment of evildoers led by Maleficent," he began.
At this point, Jasmine, who had been pondering Sora's earlier choice of words, had a question. "But I thought Maleficent was dead," she interjected.
"Right. She's alive again, somehow," Sora answered. "Months ago, in fact. Remember Pete? That big fat cat guy? He's been helping her out through it all." Jasmine mouthed "Oh", understanding.
"You see, this band of villains is using the Heartless to cause trouble, and they are looking for a lot of ancient artifacts across all the words so they can access a dangerous power," Mickey continued.
Jasmine and Razoul gasped. Aladdin raised his eyebrow in amazement. Even Rajah adopted a surprised expression. The Sultan looked from side to side nervously. They remained silent as they processed the information.
Abu shivered and looked around fearfully. Sensing something as he looked to the right, he scampered off and slipped through a door into the hallway.
If anyone were near the window, they would have heard a sound like metal scratching on stone. The sound persisted for several minutes, gradually growing closer. Finally, a spider-like leg threw itself over the window ledge and grabbed on. Several seconds later, another leg managed to throw itself over. It soon managed to pull itself up and inside. A red pot with four spider-like legs landed on the floor in the palace hallway. The lid turned around from side to side while on the lip of the pot, and it settled on ninety degrees to the left. It scurried down the hall. It heard footsteps coming from down the hall and ran over to a row of pots. It retracted its legs and landed at the end of the line, appearing like any other pot. A guard passed by, not noticing anything strange happening. A minute passed until the pot was certain that the way was clear. It popped its claws back out and resumed its trek down the hall. It resumed the process of hiding and waiting whenever a guard drew near.
The third time, the guard thought something was amiss. He opened the pot on the end of the row and peered inside. He saw nothing, though he did notice that it was unexpectedly dark within. Suddenly, he felt something grab him by the neck and pulled him down. His entire body fell into the pot, which trembled with energy. The Pot Spider continued its journey.
It passed by an open door, then doubled back and looked inside. The room was filled entirely with pots. It tapped the tips of its spider legs in excitement. Its lid flipped up and dark smoke bubbled from the opening. Blobs of darkness shot out and entered each of the pots. When a pot was filled with darkness, it rattled with the power. A moment after the last of the pots was empowered, a set of four spider legs sprouted from one of the pots. The original Pot Spider gestured with its legs, as if communicating with its newly-made brethren, then turned around and exited the room.
"Whoa, slow down, monkey! Run that by me again," Iago said to Abu. Abu had found the macaw and screeched about what he had sensed, then dragged him by the wing down the hall. But now that he had gained his bearings, Iago had planted his feet and would not go any further until the monkey explained himself.
After hearing Abu screech more, Iago considered what he was hearing. "So, you felt something creepy and you need my help to check it out?" he parroted. Abu nodded. Iago shrugged. "Listen, pal. I'd be glad to help, but you can't be so rough like that. Just stop and ask nicely, all right?" Abu nodded. "Great! Now, let's see what's making you so antsy."
They crept down the hall for a few minutes, but stopped and hid behind a column when they heard a guard walking by. They peered around the column, waiting for the guard to leave. Instead, the guard stopped and turned his gaze to a row of pots. He walked over to the pot on the end and lifted the lid to investigate. Abu and Iago saw the guard getting pulled into the pot, sucked in completely even though he was too large to fit inside. The lid fell back into place. The animals gasped in horror.
When the pot stopped rattling, the lid lifted up a few inches. Black fingers poked out from inside, then arms and a head with large antennae rose out, the lid sitting unevenly on the head. The Neoshadow climbed out of the pot and landed on the floor. It gingerly put the lid back on the pot, then marched down the hall in Abu and Iago's direction.
Rather than recognize the benefit of stealth and discretion in the face of a human-sized Heartless, Abu and Iago screamed in terror and fled in the way they had come.
"So, you were hoping to find clues about the artifacts by traveling to other lands?" The Sultan asked after Mickey had explained their quest and how they had no idea how to find the items.
"Actually, we came here thinking that Genie could tell us something," Sora answered. "Considering how long he's been around and how many times he's seen the world develop, we were sure he would at least have heard something."
"Well, how about we ask him?" Aladdin suggested. "He's napping right now, but I can wake him up for you."
"I didn't know that Genies needed sleep," Goofy commented.
"Well, remember, he did spend hundreds of years at a time waiting for someone to rub his lamp, so yeah, I guess he would use some of that time to sleep," Aladdin replied. "I'll get him now."
Before he could do anything, however, everyone heard monkey screeches and parrot screams and turned to see Abu running and Iago flying in, both in a panic. Abu ran up to Aladdin, who caught him up in his arms. The monkey chattered as he tried to explain what was going on. Iago was somehow less clear, stammering "Hear… Hear…. Pot… eating guy…" Sora, Riku and Kairi traded befuddled glances.
All became mostly clear a few seconds later, when dozens of Pot Spiders poured out of the hallway and surrounded everyone. A few Neoshadows joined the Pot Spiders, and everybody found themselves surrounded by Heartless.
A Corridor of Darkness opened in front of the center group of Heartless, and Loki stepped out, this time wearing a gold helmet with large curled horns on top.
"Greetings, royals of Agrabah. I am Loki, of Asgard, and I must say it has been a long time since I overthrew a kingdom," the trickster god boasted.