Agrabah. As beautiful as it is grand. A shining jewel of the Arabian sands, it stood tall amidst the blistering dunes of the Seven Deserts. It was a city where many people lived peaceful lives as they often interacted with each other, advertised their wares in the markets, and even watched performers entertain. Even though they would, on occasion, have to deal with the likes of thieves, Agrabah was truly a prosperous kingdom with the royal palace as the crown jewel.
At least… it used to be. But not anymore. Now the streets were quiet and empty. The laughter of children and the calls of merchants were nowhere to be heard. Disaster had recently struck the city, and now Agrabah felt practically abandoned, devoid of life.
All except for three people. One who was from this world, and two who were not. Maleficent, Professor Calamitous, and their ally with the twisted beard. The trio walked through the city's main street, passing the empty stalls and untouched cases of fruit. Unbothered by the heat, they were busy with their own matters to discuss. Well, somewhat, as Calamitous was busy trying to keep his bald head from taking in so much of the sun's light.
"And the Keyhole?" Maleficent asked as they paused in their stroll when the professor took shelter from the sun.
"The Heartless are searching for it now. I'm certain we'll find it soon enough," the man holding the snake staff answered.
"Hopefully sooner rather than later." Calamitous said, using what he believed was his sixth handkerchief on his forehead. "After all, Neutron and his colleagues are most assuredly on their way to this world next. We were at least given time to solidify your hold on Agrabah with that… uhm.. That… starts with a t…"
"Tournament." The dark fairy stated.
"Yes, tournament! Thank you, dearest Maleficent." the old scientist expressed his gratitude, letting her roll her eyes with a smile while the man in black and red robes rolled his eyes with annoyance. "With that tournament in Hades' world catching their notice, any chance of rebellion in this world has been suppressed. By the way, you're welcome, Jafar."
The taller man, Jafar, sneered at this. He was a tall, bony man dressed in extravagant clothing, carrying his gold scepter with the top sculpted into the shape of a cobra's head with rubies for eyes. Jafar wore black robes that reached the ground overtop a red garment with bell sleeves. Underneath this second garment, he wore a black shirt with very close-fitting sleeves that reached his wrists. The shoulders of his outer robe were pointed and connected to a long, billowing black cape with a blood red interior. His shoes were brown and the tips curled inward. A red sash was tied around his waist to keep his robes closed. He also wore a cream-colored garment around his neck to protect himself further from the heat. Most notable of all features besides his twisted, black goatee and faint mustache was a distinctive black headdress, a type of mitre, with a thin, yellow pattern wrapping around the middle, a ruby set in the front, and a bright red feather placed just above it.
Still, he bowed his head and replied, "You have my… sincerest gratitude, Calamitous. You and your Syndicate. But even so, that just leaves…"
The three then heard a squawk in the air, followed by a tired grunt. Calamitous looked up as he saw a peculiar red parrot flutter down and perch on Jafar's shoulder. A parrot, perhaps a pudgy red Iory, with most of its plumage being red, except for the tips of the first four feathers on each wing which were blue and his tail, which was bluish-purple. The bird's sclera were yellow and the eyes were surrounded by a white, featherless area. It also had a large, yellow-orange beak and orange talons. The talons had three toes arranged in such a way that it had two in the front and one in the back. It had a thick black "unibrow" and three thin feathers sprouting out of the top of its head. The parrot's eyes were also set facing forward. Yet strangely enough, it also had straight, white teeth in its beak like a human and its tongue was rather human-like too.
Truly, not like any bird Calamitous had seen before.
"Jafar!" It, or rather he, even spoke like a normal human… somewhat. His voice was raspy and scratchy, a natural screaming tone, "I've looked everywhere for Jasmine. There ain't a single trace of her! Not in the palace and not even around in Agrabah! She's disappeared like magic!"
"Calm yourself, Iago." Jafar told his bird, scoffing at the idea. "There is no way for her to have escaped our reach. The girl is simply more trouble than she's worth."
Still, that did not exactly please his leader.
"You said you had things under control." She told him. "And yet you still have trouble looking for one girl?"
"Agrabah is full of holes for rats to hide in." He told her. "But why worry about Princess Jasmine? With her or without her, surely this world will be ours when we find the Keyhole. One girl seems hardly crucial to our plans."
"It is not who she is that's vital, but what she is," Jimmy's arch nemesis adjusted his goggles as he explained. "We need all seven, quote-unquote, 'princesses of heart' to open the final door. Any fewer and any chances of taking over your universe will prove impossible. Thus, we need to find this Jasmine as soon as… well… possible."
Both Jafar and Maleficent gave the short man raised brows in response, albeit for two different reasons. The one with the twisted beard wondered just how this man who only recently joined their alliance had come to learn such information. The dark fairy, on the other hand, was slightly impressed. At least one of them was quicker on the uptake.
"Well," Jafar spoke, hiding his envious curiosity, "if the princess is that important, we'll find her."
Jafar turned to the space behind them and ordered, "Find Jasmine and bring her to me at once."
Four dark portals appeared, and from them appeared Heartless that fit the surroundings of the world around them. All of them boasted a bright white turban and matching face mask, a purple vest trimmed in gold, purple pants with plum and silver trim held in place with a salmon-colored sash, blue curled-toe shoes, and a plum and silver choker, and a set of armbands. They wore lots of gold and silver rings and bracelets, perhaps showing off the spoils they have plundered. Their large gold-hilted swords resembled classic scimitars. Truly a staple of the Arabian Bandit.
Iago then flew off of Jafar's shoulder and said to the Heartless, "Alright, you dark and creepy bozos! You heard the man! We ain't restin' until we find the princess! Now follow me! We've got a whole city to ransack!"
As Iago flew off ahead, the Heartless followed suit with their swords clashing and swinging audibly. Jafar soon began walking ahead as well, knowing just what he was going to do next. However, his departure did not leave with silence.
"Don't steep yourself in darkness too long." Maleficent reminded him. "The Heartless consume the careless."
Jafar simply chuckled in reply without even turning, though the two could just hear the smirk coming from his smarmy voice.
"Your concern is touching, but hardly necessary." He said. "Fret not. Our fair princess will be in our clutches in no time at all."
He then walked on ahead, leaving the pair of allies behind. Maleficent didn't seem too surprised by Jafar's ego, almost expecting that he would fail. However, Calamitous watched this with stern thought. He already had to remind Hades of the importance of working together for their mutual goals. Yet it also appeared Jafar had to get the same idea.
"Hm… leaving Jafar to his own devices may work against us." Finbarr said to Maleficent. "I believe it best that we send one of our agents to assist him. At least that way, we can have assurance his head will be kept… um… uh…"
"Straight."
"Yes! Straight! Thank you very much, dearest. Anyhow, I believe I know just the one…"
As Maleficent and Calamitous walked off in another direction to discuss his plan, they did not realize that they were being watched by someone hiding behind one of the stalls. Someone who was trying not to be caught by those monsters, much less Jafar. A girl of the utmost beauty and a jewel of the desert. Someone who dearly hoped for a hero to save this fair city…
A hero who had saved her, too.
—-
The moment our heroes landed in the first world they came to upon exiting from the warp hole, the first thing they were hit by was the intense heat coming down at them, and the sand blowing in the wind from under their feet right from all angles. Desert surrounded the group everywhere, and the sun shone brightly in the sky, only adding to the high temperature that was causing them to sweat. Poor Spongebob was taking the brunt of it. He was starting to feel like he was visiting Sandy's treedome for the first time yet again.
"Hah... Hah... Hey... Jimmy?" The sea sponge panted as he waved at his face with one of his large gloves. "I think... this place is... wearing off that sealant… Can you spare some more...?"
"Got you covered..." Jimmy wiped some sweat from his brow as he took out his moisture sealant and sprayed Spongebob with it, helping him keep hydrated. Goddard provided him with a bottle of water and Jimmy got to drinking it. After that, he told the others, "Would have been nice if the ship had us land in the city."
"Sorry, Jimmy," Gadget apologized, trying to keep Sora's hair dry around her while attempting to not slip on his sweaty scalp. "But whenever we get to a new world, the ship doesn't have a direct disembarking function, so we can't control where we end up appearing."
"Remind me to work on that once our business in this world is over..." The boy genius replied, quietly thanking his dog when he provided an umbrella to provide shade... only for it to end up being blown away in the wind.
Goddard whined, but his creator and owner petted him on the head. Meanwhile, the others were doing their best to deal with the heat. Timmy's new glove came in handy to make ice and snow cones for the others to bite into and cool down. Unfortunately, the heat and sandy wind made it hard to enjoy them without using either their clothes to protect the ice from the tiny grains while also ensuring they felt each degree all around them. Goofy used his shield to give himself some shade but had to struggle to not have it fly off his hands when the wind truly kicked up.
"Place, hot." Tarzan somewhat tolerated the heat, being used to humid temperatures in the jungle. "Need shelter."
"Yeah, I'd love a place to just cool off right now..." Selphie sighed. "Please tell me that we're at least close to civilization."
"Well, there's good news and bad news..." Wanda went to say carefully.
"The good news is we can get there if we just go straight!" Cosmo just went into it.
"And what's the bad news?" Timmy asked.
"Look over there," the green fairy spoke up.
Everyone looked ahead to the end of the sands. Indeed, a city stood in the distance. But it was also far away. Probably miles in fact. On foot, no doubt it would take all day to get there!
"...Great." Donald deadpanned as he looked at the long distance they would have to walk... but then realized something and looked towards the ghost boy, "Hey, Danny! You can fly and you have super strength. Why don't you just fly us over there?"
"Donald, we went over this back in Traverse Town. Just because I got super powers, it doesn't mean I can use them however I want." Danny explained. "I still haven't gotten the hang of using elasticity, so it's not like I can just take everybody there at once. Besides, like I said before, it would have to take multiple trips. Out in the sun. In a desert world. You see where this is going?"
"Hmph." Desiree's voice spoke with sarcasm from the ring on Sora's finger. "To think the 'great' ghost boy could be felled by mere exhaustion under the desert sun. Truly a marvel."
"Oh, that's right!" Sora recalled, starting to rub the ruby. "You're from a desert land yourself, aren't you, Desiree?"
Green smoke once again emerged from the ruby, forming the attractive, ghostly genie. At first, she looked quite smug as her arms were crossed under her chest and her only visible eye was closed. However, she frowned when she saw the chain still binding her to her accidental master. A reminder of her circumstances. Either way, she answered his query with a measure of pride.
"Indeed I have." She explained, remembering her days among the living. "It is quite the tale, full of hopes and dreams doomed to tragedy..."
"Hey, maybe you can tell us all about it on the way there." Goofy said, politely cutting her off as he walked ahead. "We better get there before it gets dark, after all."
Goofy, once again somehow being the one to make sense, convinced the group with that logic and so began walking along as well. Desiree grunted at being cut off, but even so, that didn't deter her from beginning to tell her story.
"Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place," she said as they moved through the sands, "Where the caravan camels roam~.
Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face,"
"That's barbaric!" Jiminy Cricket exclaimed, shocked to hear that.
"And a little bit stereotypical." Timmy's fairy godmother commented.
"But hey, it's home~." Desiree shrugged.
The walk took another hour, and the group was passing by a couple of canyons and mountains. More than a few times, they had to keep themselves hydrated through water or melted ice from their youngest members' supplies. But it became clear Goddard was running low on water bottles, and Jimmy's moisture sealant was starting to run out. Then they had to rely on using ice magic in order to keep cool, but considering Sora and Donald's magic reserves, on top of Timmy's uses for his Ice Glove, they had to work sparingly. As they continued moving through the winds, the sun was setting behind them.
"When the wind's from the east," She continued, "And the sun's from the west,
And the sand in the glass is right...
"Come on down," The ghostly genie flew next to Sora, "Stop on by,
Hop a carpet and fly
To another Arabian Night~"
Eventually, and thankfully enough for the group, they climbed over one last dune before finally managing to reach their destination. Not a mirage in sight. Just a glorious, bustling Arabian desert kingdom standing tall and prosperous amidst the cruel climate surrounding it. Our heroes marveled at its splendor. So many buildings of stone and clay bunched together by the entry wall, with stores and stalls also bundled on the streets with vases and pots on the ground. And beyond them, surrounded by a high wall, was a marvelous palace mostly white in color. There were multiple towers of varying sizes with golden domed roofs.
"Arabian Niiiiights, like Arabian Daaaaays~" Desiree swung out her arm over the city as everyone started rushing towards it, "More often than not,
Are hotter than hot,
In a lot of good waaaaays~"
Everyone marveled at the sights around them as they finally entered the city. By then, night had finally overtaken the land.
"Arabian Niiiiights, 'neath Arabian mooooons~" The ghostly genie sang as the group finally made it into what they considered the town square, "A fool off his guard,
Could fall and fall hard,
Out there on the duuuuunes~"
Once she finished, she heard clapping, and looked down to see Sora, Goofy, Spongebob, and even Selphie applauding with smiles. Never mind the look Danny was giving them for that.
"That was a lovely song there, Desiree." Sora told her. "You have a great voice, too."
His 'personal genie' blinked, not exactly expecting him to compliment her about... well, anything. She cleared her throat, looking away with her visible eye closed and crossed arms.
"At least someone appreciates my talents." She replied.
"No, he's just way too nice to say that explained absolutely nothing about that story you said you would tell." Danny snarked, hardly as impressed.
"Oh please. You're just jealous that I can sing." The ghost genie snarked back.
"Uh, guys?" Spongebob looked around. "Is it just me or is this place a little on the empty side?"
They looked around the entrance plaza, and indeed the place seemed bereft of people. Not a single peep could even be heard in the air. There were a few stands with watermelons and other food here and there under colored cloth covers to keep them from overheating in the sun. Yet no one appeared to be handling them. Even the stands that were built into the walls and buildings didn't seem to have people within. It was all disturbingly quiet.
"It does seem quiet around here…" Timmy wondered. "Shouldn't a place like this be full of people, like Thebes or Amity Park?"
"Maybe they're all asleep." Goofy figured. "We did just get here at night, after all."
"A reasonable deduction as usual, Goofy," Jimmy Neutron commended the knight-captain, "but even then, you would think the stands would be empty so no one could steal their wares at night. No, something is off. Everyone, be on your guard."
At Jimmy's word, the Warriors of Light looked around for any sign of trouble. Still, all appeared quiet. Aside from a door leading inside a building, not to mention a box or two that could be used to get themselves to higher levels, there didn't appear to be much outside of a few treasure chests for them to grab and a couple pots. Simple red lidded pots in fact, with two pink lines, one thin and straight and one thick and zig-zagging, running around the largest part of the pot. They couldn't be too careful, though.
At the same time, Desiree hadn't returned to the ruby in the ring, instead taking in the sights around her. The plaza seemed familiar to her, but it was just that. A plaza. There was more about this world than simply making her think of her life before. But what? Perhaps if she flew higher, she would get a better look….
"Hm… nothing ambushing us… maybe this place is just deserted?" Selphie figured.
"...Please tell me that pun was unintentional." Danny pointedly looked at her when she said that.
"Well it is intentional now." She giggled at his expression. The ghost boy only groaned.
"Maybe there are some people out and about further in?" Jiminy guessed.
"Yeah, a little exploration would be a good place to start." Sora took a few steps forward…
And just then, the Heartless appeared, making him stumble back before summoning his Keyblade! Everyone else got ready to fight as the new Heartless wearing turbans charged forth with their scimitars. They were joined by a few Shadows, strengthening their numbers. These new Heartless were skilled with their blades, actually slashing them downward with enough force to charge towards our heroes like a spinning buzzsaw, on top of rhythmically spinning while slashing at them.
"By jove, those are Bandits!" The accented voice in Sora's head exclaimed. "Just as tenacious as their namesake but also more dangerous! Watch out for their swordplay, for they are experts at their craft! They can even appear from beneath the desert sands to take you by surprise. However, like with the gentlemanly sport of fencing, should you manage to effectively parry their blows, you should have an opening to exploit!"
The Keybearer blinked, not expecting that bit of information. Still, he decided to put it to the test and went after the nearest sword-wieldingHeartless. Said Bandit took notice of Sora's approach and got ready to swing its scimitar at the boy. However, the Keybearer timed it just right and actually stunned the Bandit for a moment. This gave him enough time to strike him thrice with the Ecto-Exterminator and destroy it with ease. At the very least they now had a new way of dealing with this sort of foe.
After managing to wipe out the Heartless that appeared, the Warriors of Light grouped back together on top of getting the treasure chests they could find in the plaza. Jimmy didn't like the fact that they consisted of more 'primitive medicine' as usual. He decided that the next chance they got, when they were back in his lab, he was going to run a few experiments on them to figure out what went into them.
"Of course Heartless would be here, too." Donald grumbled, annoyed. "Why wouldn't they be?"
"And if the Heartless are here… we can guess what happened to the people to make it so quiet." Wanda figured it out solemnly.
"Yeah, there's no denying it. The Syndicate has to be involved with this too, just like with Wonderland and Deep Jungle." Jimmy agreed with Timmy's female godparent. "But what could they want here…?"
It was then that they heard the sound of a door slightly creaking. They looked to see it leading into one of the buildings opening outward, and then a man poked his head out cautiously. When the man's eyes looked to see the group, and seeing that they didn't appear to be monsters, he had a grin on his face before heading outside completely and revealing himself. He was a very short, slender, bald man with tan skin, a thin black goatee, and a rectangular mustache with a triangular gap at his philtrum. His clothing was quite simple, consisting of a sky blue robe that reached the floor, a red sash tied around his waist, and brown sandals. The most noticeable aspect of the man's outfit was his ridiculously large white turban, which was twice as big around as his own head.
"Ah, salaam and good evening to you, worthy friends!" the man greeted them. He then gestured to them and beckoned, "Please, please, come closer!"
At that, Spongebob went up to the man, followed by the others. However, while they did stop ahead of him… Spongebob got so close to the point that his nose poked against the man's own.
"Like this?" the fry cook asked.
"Ah, uh, too close," the man told him, "a little too close."
"Oh, sorry."
With that, the sea sponge sheepishly backed up towards his friends. This allowed the man to dust his robes off before regaining his smile.
"There," the man said. "Welcome to Agrabah, city of mystery, of enchantment…"
Suddenly, he pulled out a makeshift stand from his robes and set it up right next to himself. The stand was filled with all sorts of vases, pots, and other peculiar knick-knacks. He then got up right in the stand as he put up a cloth with the word 'sale' stylized upon it.
"And the finest merchandise this side of the River Jordan, on sale today! Come on down." The man, clearly a peddler, chuckled.
"Uh, that's neat and all," the average kid no one understood tried to say, "but we just need to–"
"Look at this, yes," but the peddler continued his little sale by showing off one of his items. "Combination hookah and coffee maker, also makes julienne fries!"
"Oh, julienne fries!" Spongebob was amazed by that little detail as the peddler demonstrated. "That sounds like a very useful thing to have!"
"Exactly, my yellow friend!" The man could see he could easily make money off the light-hearted fellow. Then he began tapping the doo-dad on his stand, adding, "And the best part? It will not break! It will not–"
But then the top popped off with a spring, cutting him off mid-sentence.
"...Um… It broke." Tarzan stated the obvious.
"...That it did." The peddler then threw it away. But hardly unwilling to let a sale go, he then found another item to hawk. "Oh, look at this, I have never seen one of these intact before…"
"...Isn't that just a shoe box?" Sora blinked at the sight of it.
Indeed. It was a small, white box with a lid to match. It was an unremarkable box that looked right at home in a shoe store. Strange to see it in a world that clearly appeared like it was in ancient Arabia. And it was being sold as a special item?
"Oh, it's no ordinary box!" The peddler said. "This is the famous Dead Sea Tupperware. Listen."
He then slightly opened the lid on the box and then blew a raspberry before closing the lid.
"Ah, still good." he chuckled again.
"Yeesh. And I thought I knew how to sell a scam. Even that green rabbit's subtle." The smart voice in Sora's head commented.
"I dunno, that Dead Sea Tupper… thingy looks fun!" The dopey voice commented after.
"O-kay." The ghost boy finally decided they had enough. "That's all VERY interesting, but we're not here for shopping. We're just here to find out what's going on here with all the Heartless."
"Oh, so you're here to solve our crisis, then?" The peddler put the box away. "Well, thank Allah you are! When those… Heartless, you said? When they started terrorizing the city, none of us were able to live in peace, much less go outside and sell our wares! If it was you earlier causing all that bustle with those things, then perhaps you can help us with our other problems. After all, you even got a giant, green woman to assist you, no? At this point, we'll take what we can get!"
Desiree scoffed, crossing her arms under her ample chest before looking away.
"But I digress." He said. "You want to know what happened to Agrabah, yes?"
"That we do." Jimmy nodded. "Perhaps you can start with when the Heartless started appearing?"
"It all started one unsuspecting afternoon." the peddler explained. "The day before, Prince Achmed, another suitor for our princess, came to Agrabah, only to later leave in a huff after being rejected like all the others… with his underpants exposed by the princess' tiger pet."
"A tiger pet?!" Timmy repeated in shock and awe.
"Gotta hand it to her, that's the best way to get rid of obnoxious fans," Danny half-quipped in just as much awe as Timmy.
Continuing, the peddler's voice grew lower, "The next day, everything seemed to go as usual… but then, from out of the shadows, those monsters started terrorizing everyone, ransacking everything they came across! From the lowest street rat to even the highest merchants, it was becoming so much even the royal guard was having trouble trying to keep order. Then people started disappearing, and more of those monsters took their place. Now everyone fears just coming outside, for risk of being set upon by them, or even worse…"
"So this was pretty recent, then," Selphie assessed, trying to get the timing of the incident down.
"Did you see anyone suspicious in all that time?" Donald asked the peddler.
"Well, I'd like to say no…" the merchant considered something carefully in his memory, "but then again, on that day, while I was minding my own business and selling my quality wares to the good people of Agrabah, the royal vizier did not seem bothered by the monsters appearing as everyone else."
"What's a royal vizier?" Timmy asked in confusion.
"The most trusted advisor to the sultan." Desiree explained. "It seems there's your suspect."
A royal vizier who was not worried about the Heartless causing trouble for his sultan's people. Indeed, that was definitely prime material for a suspect. But was he working with the Syndicate? Or perhaps he was an ally to this Maleficent character? Either way, they would have to be wary of such a figure.
"Can't get more cliché than the evil advisor." The ghost boy shrugged. "Looks like we better start looking for this guy and knock his block off to save this city."
"Ah, no offense, my friends," the peddler interjected at that, "but Agrabah is a large city. Even with your numbers, those new to Agrabah would most assuredly get lost in its labyrinthine layout! Fortunately for you, I have just the thing!"
"It's not a rug, is it?" Timmy asked while the peddler started looking through his shelves.
"No, but if you want one, I assure you the price is right!" The peddler looked up at that.
"No need," the buck-toothed boy quickly replied with a deadpan.
"I dunno, Timmy," Cosmo, still in Star Flinger form, told his godkid, "the goldfish bowl could use a new rug. Just think how nice it'd look at the entrance of our little castle."
"Cosmo, the rugs this guy would sell would never fit in our bowl." Wanda told him. "Besides, all the water would get dirty later on."
"It would make the place look better, though!" Her husband rebutted.
"Ah, here we are!"
The peddler then took out a few parchments of paper and placed them before the Warriors of Light on the stand's counter. Jimmy took one of them and unrolled it to see what was inside. It appeared to be a decently drawn map of Agrabah. It covered the gates to the royal palace down to even the seedy area of the thieves' quarters and the bazaar practically in between both. Aside from the text clearly being written in Arabic, the map at least made it easy to tell their current location.
"Now these maps are especially useful for any tourist looking to get anywhere in Agrabah without getting lost." the peddler said. "I could part with some of these… for a decent price of Dinar. Of course, I also accept Shekels, Sultani, Tarì, Drachmas or any currency made from gold or silver. Perhaps 54 Dinar ought to do it for a map and a spare?"
"Uh, Jimmy?" Spongebob turned to the boy genius in confusion. "Do we really have to make this guy 54 dinner meals? I don't have anything that could help us with that."
"Not 'dinner', Spongebob. Dinar." Jimmy explained to him. "The Jordanian Dinar is one of the currencies used in Arabia."
"And how much of that is converted into munny?" Sora asked.
"Seeing as we fought those Heartless earlier," his friend from the islands checked on their funds, "we're up to 221 munny. Guess the con of fighting in the Phil Cup was that we didn't make a single munny to our name there."
"Yeah, not to mention we were busy with the drama that happened at the tail-end of the tournament." Gadget concurred. "Poor Galatea…"
Tarzan then asked, "Would munny be good for pay?"
"Probably." Danny replied to the jungle man. "Of course, we'd have to get the right amount so we don't underpay or overpay…"
Just then, the group heard something loud land on a wooden surface. Something with metallic clinks. The group turned to look at the stand to see Desiree floating near the peddler, having just conjured a large sack that landed right in front of the man. The man was currently looking through the bag and was shocked and amazed to see it filled with Dinar! The ghostly genie, all the while, just rolled her eyes, expecting this sort of reaction.
"Will this cover your price?" She asked.
"Oh, yes! Most certainly yes!" The peddler was more than happy with the amount, immediately throwing the maps for the Warriors of Light to catch. "Take all the maps you need! The stand is now closed. But come back, and you're all getting discounts for your generosity~!"
And indeed, just as quick as he brought it out, the stand was gone in his cloak and he rushed back into the building he was hiding out in, dragging the bag of Dinar with him.
"...Sora…" Danny spoke to Sora slowly, "You didn't wish for Desiree to pay off the guy, did you? You remember the last time you had her grant a big wish, right?"
"What? No!" The Keybearer shook his head. "I was busy with you guys. I think… she did that herself."
At that, both boys looked towards the ghost genie, surprise marking both their faces but for different reasons. Danny was stunned to see her actually do something without being prompted to by anyone wishing for it, which in itself was a cause for concern. Could she perhaps actually be more powerful by being Sora's personal genie? Sora, all the while, was surprised to see Desiree, who tried tempting him into making a big wish so she could get a power boost, doing something to help them along without needing to be asked to. It was… pleasant to see.
"What are those looks for?" Desiree noticed their stares and rebutted. "I simply did not desire to get into another situation where you people couldn't put together a single brain cell to calculate the money you needed. I just took initiative with the peddler's greed and acted accordingly. It wasn't like I needed a wish to do that."
"...Not sure that's how it works with you." Danny commented, suspicious.
"Still, thanks, Desiree." Sora told her with a smile. "We really appreciate you thinking ahead."
She was ready to retort, especially towards her enemy's comment, but she fell silent. Once more, Desiree couldn't help but feel a warmth in her chest from Sora's words. As of late, she found that she was unable to react as she normally would when it came to the one who put her into this situation in the first place. Did he cast a spell on her or something? No, the boy was too naive to pick up such magic. Just what was he doing to her?
"Hmph. Think nothing of it." Desiree hid her expression from them. "Let's just move on."
In agreement, the group then moved forward through the darkened streets of Agrabah. From the plaza, they continued moving forward until they would eventually make it into the main street. There, they saw more empty stalls and unattended products such as carpets or even colorful plates, not to mention a few treasure chests that appeared out of reach for those who could not fly. But for Desiree, all of this seemed to nag at the back of her mind. This reminded her so much of her life among the living.
But was it out of nostalgia… or did she know this place for other reasons? Either way, she could not help but fly up to stare upon the grand palace beyond the city. She remembered those days when she was the favored dancer of the kind sultan. How he offered her a kingdom of her own. How she was exiled by the sultan's jealous wife. Though she also remembered her promised kingdom having roofs that were purple with darker shaded stripes, rather than gold.
"This place… could it be…?" She thought, wanting to look closer.
But then she felt her arm being held back, stopping her movements. She looked to see the chain once again holding her back, reminding her of her current situation. She grumbled, taking one last look at the palace before floating back down. Back on the ground, the group was busy keeping an eye out for Heartless, especially since it appeared they had already taken out a group of them while she was busy. Out of all of them, Sora and Danny seemed to be the only ones who noticed her.
Sora had the decency to show concern in his voice, asking, "Hey Desiree, is something wrong? You look disappointed about something."
"...It's not your concern."
She didn't bother to say anything more and thus dispersed into smoke to reenter the ring before he could say anything else. Her master was left with a disappointed look on his face. However, Danny gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Relax, Sora." The ghost superhero told him. "If there's anything I know about Desiree, and I unfortunately know a lot, it's probably nothing that'll interest anybody here. She'll deal with it."
"I guess…" The islander replied. But all the same, while he understood Danny and Desiree had their own issues with each other, he didn't think this was worth dismissing.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Neutron was busy looking at one of the maps they had alongside the others.
"Okay, we're on the main street," the boy genius said as Goddard used a gloved hand to point it out, "which currently leaves us with three directions nearby. To the left is just an alleyway, but if we took a right and headed north that would take us to the bazaar. And north is simply the way to the palace gates."
"Maybe we should see if the people in charge can give us a better idea on what the Heartless're doin' here?" Goofy figured.
"Good luck with that." Donald noted the path ahead was blocked by a blockade of wooden boards and two more of those red pots. "Looks like someone went to the trouble of blocking the way to the palace. Probably to keep the Heartless away."
"Looks like the way to the bazaar is blocked, too." Jiminy Cricket noticed the way to the bazaar was blocked by two crates and a barrel stacked on top of each other. "For some reason, there's a way inside one of the buildings by climbing up a pole. Odd way to enter home, I admit…"
"Not it." Timmy clearly was against climbing the pole. "P.E. is still not my strong suit."
"Neither is it mine, Timmy," Jimmy told the average kid, "but someone will have to check it out while another group will check if the alley probably has anything of value."
"Aw, does this mean we have to split up again?" Spongebob sighed. "It's so much more fun adventuring as a whole group."
"Afraid so, Spongebob." Danny told the sea sponge. "Okay, how about this? There's nine of us–"
"Ahem." Five voices cleared their throats. Plus a bark.
"Nine of us plus four smaller friends, a dog-bot and one enemy-turned-tagalong," the ghost boy corrected himself, "so there will be at least one more person in one group. Timmy, since you don't want to check out the house, you'll be with the group checking out the alley."
"I'll check out the alley too." Sora volunteered. "Maybe there's something there that can open up some of the paths here in the city."
"And we're going with him." Donald of course moved over near Sora with Goofy in tow.
"Can't forget me!" Selphie too moved over towards her friend. "Can't be too careful, or he would get lost even with a map."
"Hah-hah. Very funny." The Keybearer rolled his eyes while his animal companions snickered.
"Okay, so that leaves me, Jimmy, Spongebob, and Tarzan to check out the house." the ghost boy clapped his hands together. "Alright, we'll just meet back here after we finish checking these places out. Depending on what we find, we'll figure out where to look next."
"Right." Everyone else nodded.
So with that, the two groups split up to commence their search. However, as they went in their different directions, none appeared aware that something was watching, hidden in the very walls. A mismatched gaze on one of them in particular…
Inside the house, Danny, Spongebob, Jimmy, and Tarzan all shimmied up the pole before eventually finding they had to carefully climb up a ladder and up some stairs before finally making it to the top of the building. Goddard had an easier time thanks to his propeller ears. The four found themselves in a hovel. Not exactly the best place for someone to live in, but it was clear somebody made it a home. Or tried to, at least.
The interior was filled with ragged pillows, carpets and broken wood used as furniture, curtains and doors. There were also some broken pots here and there, along with a pulley that appeared to move a makeshift bed for some small creature, along with a treasure chest sitting idle. They noted the steps (and another treasure chest just sitting on them) leading up to a large curtain, where the right end was covered by an old, ripped rug with a couple of pillows, making them a makeshift bed as well. There were even a few boarded up windows. All in all, it appeared…
"Wow, and here I thought cheap apartments looked like dumps." Danny remarked after taking it all in.
"Hey now, no need to be so mean to whoever lives here, Danny!" Spongebob scolded the ghost boy before walking over towards the curtain, "I mean, it may not look like much…" He pulled the curtain and smiled as he finished, "But it's got a great view!"
Indeed. For all the hovel was hardly impressive to the modern eye, they could not ignore the fact that this place had the best view of all the city. As far as the palace, they could see every other part of the city below. Not to mention a magnificent view of the stars above them. It was truly beautiful.
"This place… remind Tarzan of treehouse." Tarzan couldn't help but be nostalgic. "Great view of jungle just like this."
"Now if only everything else here was a little more livable." Jimmy said, looking about the place. "Sadly, it doesn't look like we'll find much here. But we could make use of these chests. We'll bring them with us and– what the…?"
It was then that something caught their attention at the other side of the hovel. An old drawer just up against the wall, but that was not it. No, what really took their eyes was what was trapped under the drawer. A majestic carpet. Not just any carpet, a carpet moving on its own!
"Woah!" Spongebob exclaimed. "I don't believe it! Guys, we just discovered a magic carpet!"
"..." Jimmy wanted so desperately hard to figure out an explanation for this phenomenon. However, seeing as they were in an Arabian world and noting the pattern of worlds based on fairy tales and books of fiction, the boy genius could only assume that this was yet another world running on that nature. Meaning this place had to be set somewhere in One Thousand and One Nights. Thus, he could only facepalm and mutter, "Steady now, Jimmy. Just compare it to the ride in Retroland."
"What do you think got a magic carpet stuck here of all places?" The ghostly superhero wondered as the four moved towards the drawer.
"Carpet need help." Tarzan said, grabbing the drawer and pulling it. "Here."
Free from being stuck, the carpet got to fly a bit before landing on two of its tassels like feet to 'look' at the group. It was an ornate Persian carpet with gold lining and tassels that it used as "hands" and "feet". A second gold rectangle split its designs into two sections. The outer section's background was han blue in color and covered in gold and navy blue disk-like patterns. Each corner sported a vaguely catfish shaped design with a gold outline and red center. The inner section's background was also han blue with a swirling, amethyst-colored pattern surrounding a gold and red pattern in the center that vaguely resembled a flower. The corners of this section each bore a gold tiger with white eyes, black nostrils, and a red mouth. At both widths of the inner border was a red flame pattern with a thin gold outline.
It 'nodded' at them all before flying out the window, just before gesturing for them to follow it.
"Well. That happened." Danny blinked. "So now what?"
"I think the carpet wants us to go somewhere with it." The fry cook assumed. "It probably has something to do with it being stuck just now. We should try and help!"
"Not so fast, Spongebob," Jimmy told him, "we'll still need to update the others about this. For now, let's get back to the main street."
Earlier, in the alley, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Timmy (with Cosmo and Wanda) and Selphie were walking down the alley, minding their business as all seemed dead quiet. No Heartless appeared to ambush them yet. The alley in itself didn't appear that impressive. It was practically a dead end with boxes stacked atop each other, not to mention yet another red pot just nearby and a bunch of crates, barrels and pots stacked together with woven baskets filled with produce inside them. The buildings to their sides looked to be short enough for them to climb upon, but aside from that, nothing that special.
"This place is a bust." The court mage grumbled.
"Well, it was still nice we looked here anyway, right?" the knight-captain said to make his friend feel better. Not that it did much.
"Would've been nicer if there was something useful." The ten-year old of the group remarked. "Like maybe someone who was hiding from the Heartless like the peddler earlier."
"I'm not seeing many spots around here to hide, though…" Selphie said. "I mean, this alley looks surprisingly open."
"Oh well," Sora shrugged, "even if no one's here, maybe we can still– huh?"
Sora stopped, noticing something in the corner. A bunch of crates positioned just peculiarly enough to look normal, but also just off enough to catch the Keybearer's attention. There appeared to be someone hiding behind them, but he couldn't figure it out. His friends, perplexed by him stopping, looked the same way.
"Who's there?" A female voice asked, softly and cautiously. "Hello?"
"Uh, hi? Just some very confused people over here." Timmy replied with a blink. "Who are you?"
"You're… not with those monsters?" The female voice asked next.
"Nope. Not a bit of darkness on our person." Sora's friend from the islands assured her. "It's okay. You can talk to us."
After hesitating just for a bit, whoever was hiding behind the crates began to gently push them out of her way. Once she did, she revealed herself, and boy were they stunned by what they were seeing. The hiding figure was a slender young Arabian woman of average height and incredible beauty, not to mention an hourglass figure emphasized by an outfit resembling that of a harem girl. She had olive skin, high cheekbones, plump red lips, deep brown eyes, an aquiline nose and straight, lush jet black hair reaching her thighs. She wore a sky blue bedlah top that revealed her midriff and navel with sewn-in off-the-shoulder straps, matching salwar pants with a light-blue V-shaped waistline and golden, curled shoes. Her hairstyle resembled a cobra and was worn in a ponytail in two sections with matching teal bands and ending in a small swirl with this outfit. She wore a turquoise headband which was centered with a sapphire with a gold frame adorned into it. She also donned two large gold earrings completely covering her ears and a matching necklace.
"Wow…" Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Timmy all stood, stunned in awe of this girl's beauty.
"Hey boys, keep your eyes up." Selphie deadpanned.
"That means you too, Cosmo." Wanda told her husband.
"What? I wasn't looking! I was just, uh… admiring how bouncy she looked!" Cosmo tried to deny. "...Wait, that actually sounds worse. My bad."
Desiree, in her ring, couldn't help but stare at this new girl. Something about her was familiar… and it also made her upset for some reason, how Sora seemed to be stunned by this girl.
"Uh, h-hi there." Sora greeted, trying to keep a cool head on his shoulders, like he tried with Jane. "I'm Sora. This is Donald, Goofy, Timmy Turner, and Selphie. Our friends are currently exploring more of the city. What's your name?"
"I'm Jasmine." The girl answered, a little comforted by them introducing themselves. "I take it this is your first time in Agrabah?"
"Yep. Could be better though." Timmy said, then he amended by adding, "Uh, no offense."
"No, I understand." She shook her head, not offended. "With things as they are now, Agrabah is not the best place to visit."
"Understatement of the century." Donald commented.
"So, what happened to make Agrabah like this?" Selphie asked.
"That's… quite a long story." Jasmine cleared her throat. "You see, my father is the sultan of Agrabah. He is a good man and a good ruler."
"Uh… So that makes you a princess." The knight-captain figured the obvious. "Now what got you hiding all the way here instead of the palace?"
"That's just it. He has been deposed by Jafar, who now controls the city." She explained.
"Jafar?" Goofy echoed.
"That's a pretty evil name." Timmy remarked. "Let me guess, he happens to be the royal vizier?"
"You've heard about him then." Jasmine nodded. "Yes. He gained evil powers and seized Agrabah. He's desperately looking for something–something he calls the 'Keyhole'."
That shocked the group. A villain was actively looking for this world's Keyhole with the Heartless? Did he not realize what that was going to lead to? Or perhaps he was just another insane world-conquering villain. Timmy wouldn't be surprised about that.
"After learning about that, and with him imprisoning my father and the guards, I had to run away in order to stay out of his grasp." she continued. "Jafar caught me trying to escape, but he helped me."
"'He'? Who's 'he'?" Sora asked. "Who helped you?"
"Someone very special to me…"
At that, Selphie, Gadget, and even Desiree seemed to let go of a breath they didn't know they were holding. That was a relief. For a moment there, they thought they had to deal with another woman who would get into Sora.
"For a while, he took me across the city to find a safe place from the monsters. We were even hiding nearby, but he left a while ago to take care of something that would help us all and has yet to return…" the princess looked concerned. "Oh, I hope Aladdin's all right."
"Aladdin? Where might I find this street rat?"
Taken off guard by the new, slithery voice pitching in, the group looked up to the building right behind Jasmine, only to see a sinister figure in black and red holding a snake staff smirking down upon them. Not to mention a parrot on his shoulder also smirking at them with his beak.
"Thought you could escape so easily, eh?" Iago cackled. "Not today, princess!"
"Jafar!" Jasmine gasped.
"That's Jafar?" Selphie looked at the man and shivered. "Ugh… everything about him just feels so sleazy…"
"Jasmine," Jafar spoke to the princess with false gentility, "allow me to find you more suitable company, my dear princess. These little rats won't do, you see."
"Hey, who are you calling a rat?!" Gadget took personal offense to that remark.
"If the slipper fits!" The parrot taunted the mouse.
"Jasmine, run!" Sora told her. "We'll hold this guy off!"
"But what about you?" The princess asked with concern.
"Don't worry," Timmy waved it off, readying the Star Flinger, "we take down dime-a-dozen bad guys like him all the time! You just find somewhere else to hide!"
"O-Okay…" And with that, Jasmine rushed off from the alley, calling, "Be careful!"
With Jasmine gone, the group readied their weapons as well for the confrontation. Of course, Jafar didn't seem all that impressed with the shield, the stave, or the whip. However, he did take notice of the Ecto-Exterminator in Sora's hand and the Star-Flinger in Timmy's grasp.
The parrot groaned at this, remarking, "They just never make it easy, do they?"
"Ah," Jafar recognized it, "the boy who holds the key, along with his little friends from across the universe and the next. So you're the ones who have been giving us trouble. Calamitous was correct about you making your way here, it seems."
"You know Calamitous?" The buck-toothed child asked. "Then that means you're part of the Syndicate!"
The vizier scoffed at the notion.
"Please. His lot came to us." He corrected them. "But that's neither here nor there. I'd destroy you street rats right here and now, but I've got more important business to attend to with our fair princess. In the meantime, here is some company more suited to your station."
And then, at the vizier's sides, four Bandits emerged from the shadows before jumping down to challenge the group! Jafar turned to leave while his parrot flew along with him, but the parrot did give them a parting sneer as they went.
"See you never, chumps!" Iago guffawed.
"Ugh, something about that voice irks me…" Timmy groaned.
"Familiarly nasally, isn't it?" Cosmo remarked.
The group had no time to reply further as they were busy dealing with the four Bandits set upon them. Sora still took to that accented voice's advice and kept trying to counter the Bandits' swords to keep them off guard and himself on the attack. Selphie kept lashing at them with her Morning Star while Goofy defended against the scimitars with his shield. Donald and Timmy simply had an easier time pelting them with spells and stars from a distance. However, they soon found they weren't just dealing with Bandits.
Indeed, a couple Shadows appeared next to swarm them. Fortunately, the group managed to deal with the Shadows easily. But the real surprise came when four spider-like clawed legs, colored a greenish-black, burst from the pots' midsections at the thicker line, enabling the pots in the area to charge forward and retaliate!
"Great Nelson's trousers, Pot Spiders too!" The accented voice exclaimed. "Though they may wander aimlessly, they will attempt to run you down with charges! And if that isn't enough, these deceptive arachnids can jump into the air and dive down with a kick before self-destructing! Fortunately, much like with the Bandits' swords, a good parry will knock them off balance and ready for a good smashing! Not that I endorse destruction of fine pottery from such a rich culture like this world's, but when Heartless are involved, sacrifices of fine craftsmanship may be necessary."
Bit of an odd description, but Sora could work with it. Lucky him, the pots weren't that hard to break apart, but their legs were the most worrying thing about them. Not only were they sharp, the voice was more on point when they did the jump attacks. Good thing it took a block to knock his arachnid foes onto their… lids? After all the Pot Spiders were destroyed, there was quite a bit of money to pick up. Not to mention a mega-potion in the treasure chest close by.
"Well, this visit just got more intense." Timmy said. "First Clayton, now we have this Jafar guy working with the Syndicate too!"
"From how it sounds," Selphie looked to the younger boy, "your bad guys have been busy since coming to this universe. But what did he mean by 'us'?"
"Maybe Jafar and Clayton aren't the only bad guys the Sin-dee-kit have met up with?" Goofy wondered. "Seein' all those ghost guys workin' with them while we were in Amity Park, along with that coachman feller, they could very well have more people across other worlds here too!"
"Jimmy's definitely gonna need to hear about this." Donald said. "We should meet up with them back in the main street, and hopefully find Jasmine again to keep her safe from that Jafar."
"Yeah, we clearly have no time to lose." Sora nodded in agreement. "Let's go!"
With a new duty in mind, Sora's group started rushing back the way they came. Now that they had a grasp on the situation Agrabah was facing, it was clear that they needed to strike back at Jafar and take down the Syndicate's hold on the city, just as they had for Amity Park. Hopefully Jimmy and the others had potential leads on just how they could go about doing that. After all, if they didn't, then it would be more than Jasmine's life at risk. It would be all of this world…
—-
Tidus had been trying to be as observant as he could when trying to figure out a way to break out of his cell. Often he would be brought in by that yellow-skinned woman to be interrogated about some guy in a mask. Not like he knew. But when he kept that up, he often got punished for it. The attempts to break him always failed. If there's one thing he got from his father, it was having thick skin. That was as far as he knew of the man, anyway.
Of course, his cellmates weren't exactly of much help.
"They're just going to keep hurting you if you don't give them what they want, man." Chester told him. "Seriously, you don't need to prove you're cool to us after putting the popular kids down."
"I'm not doing this to look cool." Tidus rebutted the braced-kid. "I'm looking for ways to break out of here. You know you guys could try doing that too."
"Are you insane?" AJ was incredulous at that idea. "We're only ten years old! What can we even do against all those things out there?"
"A whole lot more if you guys actually thought about it." He told them. "So what if you guys are scared? Any place is bound to be better than being stuck in this stupid dungeon. And I'm willing to fight for it. Why aren't you?"
"Again, only ten!"
Tidus couldn't help but groan. Their age was their go-to excuse for not trying to free themselves. Honestly, was he the only one in any hurry to get out? Was everyone else just content to bemoan their positions? It was rather annoying to listen to.
But still, he had very little to work off. As far as he could tell, the few people handling their imprisonment were some evil babysitter, some foreign lady, and he heard some raspy bullish guy earlier too. Whenever the former two came down, it was often to drag him out for interrogations. But it wasn't like they had any keys to lift off their person. They knew full well he'd be looking for it.
"...Francis is an idiot."
Tidus, and everyone else in their cells, was surprised to hear Trixie speak up.
"He's been held back for a couple years and he's the local bully. You can already tell he's hardly the smartest person around." She continued. "Whenever he comes down, he's always got the keys dangling from the seat of his pants."
The islander blinked. That was… incredibly useful information.
"Huh. Duly noted." Tidus responded. "And you have any idea when he'll come down next."
"He'll probably be coming down to get his kicks with one of the nerds down here." She answered. "If you figure out a way to get the keys off him without him noticing, then I'll believe you're onto something with this jailbreak idea."
At that, the boy couldn't help but smirk at the popular girl.
"Lady, it's a promise." He swore.
If only to rub it in her doubting face later. But hey, progress was progress.
—-
Hey there! Hope everyone had a good Father's Day a while back. Anyhow, here's the first chapter of the Agrabah arc, ready to go! It's honestly been a long time coming since we're finally getting to the real meat of the KH plot at this point. I'm also hoping to expand a bit more on Desiree and Sora through this arc too for obvious reasons.
Now the next chapter will cover the middle part of Agrabah's plot as well as introduce some new stuff to come, so be ready for it! In the meantime, you'll just have to wait after a couple one shots and another chapter of Defier of Destiny.
Remember, patience is a virtue.
Also, shameless plug again, but this story has a TV Tropes page! Whenever you can, feel free to add more to it (especially since quite a few spots honestly look rather empty).
Thanks again to Akito the Boxer for beta-reading this chapter and to The Lord of Pages for… well, some stuff that's been foreshadowed. See you next time!