Our heroes made their way through the desert, following the flying carpet as it led them. By then, the day had begun changing to nightfall as while Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin got to ride upon the carpet with Jiminy, Gadget, and Abu along for the ride, Spongebob, Selphie, Timmy, and Tarzan were riding on horses being steered by the palace guards. Danny and Jimmy were busy flying and riding on Goddard, respectively. The guards had the horses moving as fast as they could to keep up with the flying carpet, but it was clear to everyone that time was not on their side. The one thing not bringing their collective mood down to depressing levels were three furry things serving somewhat as a pleasant distraction…
"The adorableness… it's overwhelming!" Sora was again laughing as three dalmatian puppies were licking at his face and being adorable in his arms.
"And that makes 60 puppies left to find!" Spongebob smiled. "It's a good thing we got those chests from just outside the gates before we got on these land horses!"
"Not to mention this peculiar gummi block as well," Jimmy said as he flew up near the carpet on Goddard, inspecting the block in his hand. "Strange how it's literally just a block with a butterfly net attachment."
"That would be an Osmose-G, Jimmy," Gadget explained. "Perhaps later once we upgrade our ship, we can attach it so we can obtain more blocks that would be out of our reach."
"Whatever it is, keep it away from us!" Cosmo, still acting as Timmy's star-flinger, sounded scared. "Butterfly nets are the worst!"
"...Captain," Fazal looked to his leader in confusion, "do you have any idea what they're talking about?"
"Not in the slightest, and pay their nonsense no heed," Razoul told his chubby subordinate. "We have more important matters to attend to, remember?"
Looking up towards the carpet, he called to Aladdin, "Street rat, are you sure that flying rug knows where it's going?"
"Been there before, Razoul." The peasant boy rolled his eyes at the guard captain's tone. "Shouldn't be long now…"
"Hey wait… I recognize those rocks!" Timmy noticed the formation ahead. "Isn't that where we found you, Aladdin?"
"That's the spot!" He confirmed with Abu doing the same by nodding. "If Jafar's anywhere, it's gotta be there!"
That was all everyone else needed to hear, and, after Jimmy used the Spotted Deck to warp the puppies home, they picked up their pace to head towards where the Warriors of Light had first met Aladdin. Once they made it there, the four jumped off of the carpet, Jimmy got off of Goddard, Danny landed on his feet, and the others got off the steeds. They walked forward, looking for any sign of Jafar and the princess… yet the area just appeared empty. Not even a rumble in the sand signaling an ambush from Bandits. All was quiet….
"Doesn't look like anything's here." Danny stated. "You sure it was here that your cave was, Al?"
"There's no doubt about it, this is the place." Aladdin took a few steps forward. "And out of all the places I know of, Jafar has to be here, too."
"You better show proof of that, street rat," Razoul stomped over towards Aladdin and grabbed him by his vest, "because if you led us all on some wild good chase–!"
"Um…" Goofy spoke up, feeling something off. "Anyone else feel the ground shaking?"
Indeed, the ground began to shake beneath their feet, and then, right up against the rocky walls, something began to emerge from the sands! Something grand. The growing intensity of the quaking nearly brought them all falling onto their behinds as they could only gaze up in awe with the sands blowing past them. Lightning cracked in the night sky even with no cloud in sight. And then, the rising object took form.
"Uh… nice kitty?" Cosmo waved meekly.
Sora heard the amused British voice in his head correct the godparent despite not being heard, "Actually, a fine replica of the panthera tigris of the middle-eastern variety. Fascinating specimen this big fella is. Now I wonder if such other constructs exist to study."
Composed entirely of sand which possessed a dark blue due to the moonlight, the sand construct resembled the head of a gigantic tiger with pierced ears and an open maw full of sharp teeth that could swallow a man and their horse whole in a single bite. If one looked carefully enough, they could see a staircase leading deep into the dimly lit throat.
"By Allah… it truly exists!" Hakim couldn't believe his eyes.
"The Cave of Wonders…" Fazal breathed.
"Well, the title certainly matches the appearance." Wanda remarked. "So how do we get inside?"
"We just go into its mouth." The street rat answered before scratching the back of his head. "Hopefully he isn't still mad about what happened earlier, Abu."
At being addressed with a knowing glare, Abu held his tiny hat and looked sheepish.
"Go into its mouth?" Donald was apprehensive about the idea. "With those teeth? That's begging to get eaten!"
"I'm not sure we have any other way of getting inside, Donald." Jiminy Cricket pointed out. "We really do have to go into the belly of the beast, it seems."
"Wait," Selphie noticed something else off, "are its eyes supposed to do that?"
Everyone looked up to the tiger head cave's eyes. While they could barely see a hint of bright light, they emanated a familiar dark purple mist. Add that to the tiger's growls and snarls toward them, it didn't take long for them to realize something was wrong.
"No…" Aladdin gulped. "No, they're not."
"Of course, fighting a giant tiger made of sand was the one thing missing from my superhero bucket list," Danny quipped with half-lidded eyes.
The head then began shaking itself about, and the group could hear the sound of energy building up from it. Suddenly, beams of light came shooting towards them from the Cave of Wonders' eyes! Everyone dodged out of the way, and thankfully the beams hit the sand and dissipated. However, more beams shot out and continued chasing after the heroes and guards, forcing them to stay on their toes. Continuing their evasive tactics by jumping, side-stepping and even rolling to avoid the beams, the heroes were forced to scatter…
"Hey, how about playing fair?!" Timmy snapped, trying and failing to get a clear shot.
Right as he said that, as if infuriated by the taunt, the tiger head stopped shaking its head and spat out a Bandit and a Fat Bandit from its mouth!
"...oh, Timmy, you and I need to talk about Murphy's Law," Jimmy sighed.
"Wak! Heartless?!" Donald exclaimed, immediately casting Blizzard to do damage against the Fat Bandit. "How did it eat some of those?!"
"I don't think it did!" Sora got an idea. "Jafar must have used darkness to possess this thing! We gotta break his hold!"
"And I'm betting dollars to donuts it's the weird mist thingy!" Selphie added.
"So just keep knocking at those eyes until it stops?" Danny figured, firing a ghost ray to destroy the Bandit. "That sounds easy enough."
"How get up head?" Tarzan asked.
Using his Tornado Blaster to finish off the Fat Bandit and save the guards, Jimmy took a good look at the Cave of Wonders. At first, it appeared that they had no easy way save for flying to get up to its eyes. However, then he noticed the way its neck looked from the back of its head. It seemed to be a pseudo-mane to further its appearance, but thanks to their size, perhaps…
"Brain Blast!" Jimmy came up with something. "The mane around its neck! We can use that to get up onto the cave's head and start hitting the eyes from there!"
"Good thinking, Jimmy! As usual for the resident boy genius!" Spongebob laughed. "Now let's go set this thing free from Jarf's control!"
"Jafar." Danny corrected, eyes half-lidded.
"Yeah, Jiraffe."
Knowing where their target was, the Warriors of Light tried charging towards the tiger head to dispel the darkness. However, that was easier said than done. The cave fired more lasers from its eyes to throw them off balance. It was fortunate for Sora that he figured out how to deflect lasers by holding up his Keyblade in front of himself for defense. Extra fortunate for him and the others that the Cave actually dove its mouth into the sand, as if to devour something. This allowed him and the others to manage to get onto the guardian's nose and start whaling upon the dark energy for quite a few good hits.
Suddenly, the tiger head then brought its face back out of the sand and let out a massive breath of hot sand, hacking out more Heartless from its maw and putting the royal guards under threat! Not only that, but the Bandit types were now being joined by Air Soldiers! Seeing that they couldn't focus entirely on the tiger head, Sora, Danny, Spongebob, Aladdin, and Tarzan focused on attacking the darkness covering its eyes while the others gave cover to the guards. The Air Soldiers were peculiar in how they differed from the regular Soldiers. Kitted out for aerial battle in an modified aviator cap that covered the upper half of the face and boasting a pair of shiny-rimmed goggles; the propeller on the top of the cap assisted them in hovering in battle, though its bat-like wings seemed to do most of the flying work. The Air Soldiers also wore thick black pants with an inverted brown Heartless-symbol silhouette at the knees and bulky brown boots with blue and gold toes. They fought with black elbow-length gloves featuring metal bands at the top and sharp red claws that allowed for painful attacks.
Rather odd that our heroes didn't really notice those details up until now, but perhaps that was the thing about the adrenaline of battle. Can't focus on everything at once.
"Stand your ground, men!" Razoul rallied his two subordinates as they clashed swords with the Bandits. "These monsters won't take us without a fight!"
"But they're certainly making it a hard fight, captain!" Hakim commented as he barely ducked to avoid a kick from an Air Soldier.
"Don't worry, we got your back!" Jimmy assured them as he fired the offending Heartless with a blast of wind, destroying it with ease. To the ones still on the tiger head, he called, "Guys, make sure you have a good footing while you take down the darkness! It's likely that it will try knocking you off!"
"Uh," Spongebob gulped as he tried getting a trip on the cave's nose, which proved difficult seeing as it was still sand, "I think it's already trying that, Jimmy!"
Indeed, while the five were busy hitting at the eyes, and evading the lasers that shot out from them, the tiger head swung about, trying to fling them off. Tarzan and Aladdin managed to get a good handle by grasping on the eyes while Danny simply flew in the air to hover. However, Sora and Spongebob had more of a hard time trying to keep on with the Keybearer having to expend magic and use Sonic Blade just to keep attacking one of the eyes. Spongebob was just grasping as hard as he could while his arms comically stretched and swung him around. His screams were quite evident from that.
Fortunately for them, Tarzan and Aladdin had managed to do enough damage to its right eye, dispelling the darkness and forcing the tiger head to roar. The movement comically sent Spongebob up into the air with his arms snapping back to their normal length. He screamed until he reached a point.
"By the way, you're fantastic for reading this far." Spongebob told… someone.
And then he resumed screaming as he fell back down. Poor Spongebob managed to land back on the tiger head, but got stuck in its sandy form, his bottom half protruding from it. Tarzan couldn't help but sigh in exasperation at this before jumping over to the fry cook and pulling him out by the leg. Shaking the sand out of his holes, the sea sponge gave a sheepish chuckle and a thumb up to the ape man, grateful for the assist. But the cave was still moving and attacking, not to mention spitting out more Heartless for their allies to deal with! They had to hurry!
Everyone within range resumed attacking the other eye, doing all that they could to dispel the darkness overtaking it. The lasers only continued to multiply, causing more chaos as more Bandits covered the sands. Selphie was doing well with hitting Air Soldiers down from a distance with her Morning Star while joined by Timmy's stars, Jimmy's wind, and Donald's spells. But with only Goofy providing defense, helping give Razoul and his men cover was easier said than done. Worse yet, they were getting surrounded…
But then, one mighty strike of lightning came down, dispelling the darkness from the eye at last. In fact, the very moment it happened, all the remaining Heartless suddenly vanished with it. The Cave of Wonders began to shake and rustle less though it barely managed to throw the five off of its head. The group, the guards coming up behind, could only stare up at the cave as it looked down at them in turn, a guttural growl escaping its maw.
It spoke in a mightily deep voice, "WHO RELEASES ME FROM MY POSSESSION?"
"Uh… It… It was us." Jimmy gulped, somewhat nervous in the literal face of the tiger head. "We are travelers seeking to rescue the princess of Agrabah. We have heard she was taken here."
"KNOW THIS, ONLY ONE MAY ENTER HERE." The Cave decreed. "THE ONE WHOSE WORTH LIES FAR WITHIN. THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH."
"Then you will allow me to go inside again?" Aladdin cautiously asked.
It growled as its eyes narrowed at the street rat in recognition.
"YOU HAVE BROKEN THE ONE RULE OF YOUR ENTRY, INFIDEL." The tiger head told him. "YOU HAD TOUCHED THE FORBIDDEN TREASURE AND HAD PROVEN YOURSELVES NO LESS AVARICIOUS THAN THOSE BEFORE. A NEW DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH HAS BEEN DECIDED."
"Hold up, new chosen ones can actually be picked if the first option doesn't go well?" Danny blinked. "Kinda takes being special out of being special, doesn't it?"
"I think it is the worthy kind of chosen, proving you're the right candidate," Jimmy guessed.
"Like taking a hero's title?" Timmy simplified.
"Still, kind of weird," Danny wouldn't budge.
"Come on, we don't have time!" Sora implored, pulling out the Keyblade. "The Heartless are so close to taking over Agrabah! We've got to–"
"WIELDER OF THE KEY TO THE COSMOS…" The tiger head's voice boomed, cutting Sora off and once again nearly blowing everyone down. Its mighty gaze was focused on the spiky-haired islander, actually leaning forward to look at him closely. "YOU COME FROM BEYOND THE STARS WITH OTHERS BEYOND THEM, ORDER DISREGARDED. WITH KEY IN HAND, YOUR PURPOSE IS CLEAR. CLEANSE THE DARKNESS FROM THIS WORLD, BAR THE HEARTLESS FROM ITS HEART. YOU, DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH, WARRIORS ALL, PROCEED. WITHIN THE LAMP CHAMBER, THE SORCERER LIES IN WAIT. END HIS REIGN OF DARKNESS OVER THE SEVEN SANDS, OR ALL SHALL BE NAUGHT BUT OBLIVION."
And with that, the guardian of the Cave of Wonders opened its mouth fully, with everyone else gazing inside to see the staircase leading below solidifying before them. Seeing that the tiger head didn't appear like it was going to close its maw right on top of them, they started heading down the long flight of stairs, heading deeper and deeper into the depths within. All the same, Sora took a good look at the Ecto-Exterminator he held in his hand. 'Key to the cosmos'? Was that another title for the Keyblade? It couldn't be that powerful, could it?
Eventually. they made it to the bottom, thankfully not falling off the sides, and came up to an entrance leading into a massive room. It was a large hall made of brick and stone, with some kind of device that occasionally had a giant stone sphere rolling along a path until falling into the caverns below. Nearby was a staircase between two large torches, yet for some reason it ended at one plate of stone. There was also a large pillar near the entrance at the end of the room with a notable treasure chest sitting there.
"Well, you were here before, street rat." Razoul bluntly spoke to his eternal rival. "Where do we go from here?"
"Far as I know, straight ahead… but I don't remember the Cave of Wonders looking like this last time I was here." Aladdin admitted as he looked around. "There was this large room full of all this treasure that just a handful would make me richer than the sultan!"
"Really~?" Donald sounded interested.
"Pretty sure the giant magic cave wouldn't want us touchin' anything like that, Donald." Goofy told his friend.
"It was also where Abu and I met Carpet." The peasant boy explained, gesturing to the flying carpet walking on its tassels like they were feet near them. "From there, we just went deeper into the caves until we found the lamp."
"Then something, which we will not go into heavy discussion about," Jimmy cut off what Timmy and Donald were going to snark about when he was talking, "had led to the layout of the Cave of Wonders changing its inside appearance to better ward off intruders. Intriguing, but now I'm going to assume it won't be as easy to enter this lamp chamber than you had before. And with the Heartless and the Syndicate involved, that's more than a guarantee."
"Quite the elaborate security system it has," Spongebob commented. "Then again, that Jojo guy seems as stubborn as Plankton."
"Jafar," Danny corrected, then pondered. "And… hopefully it is keeping him busy even with Genie in hand."
"Well, we're not gonna get anywhere just standing around." Selphie said. "Let's get moving and save both Genie and Desiree!"
"Genie's good enough," the halfa replied.
"Come on, that's not hero-talk," Sora remarked, leading the way.
And so, the group went deeper into the cave. Unsurprisingly, they dealt with Heartless along the way. Fortunately, the statue and sphere mechanism proved to be quite handy in tricking a few Bandits into being rolled over by the coming sphere, leaving the Fat Bandit as the only other enemy to deal with. With their combined might, they managed to defeat the large fire breather and clear the room. They then got to the treasure chests, thanks to Danny getting the one atop the pillar and bringing it down, before opening them. Inside one was a larger brand of Ether, another a belt, and the other…
"Guys! Cuteness attack!" Sora laughed as, once more, three more dalmatian puppies jumped out and licked his face.
"Alright! 57 puppies left!" Spongebob cheered. "We're really on a roll now!"
Cosmo then ended up laughing, having everyone look to Timmy's star flinger, and he said amidst his laughter, "Roll! Get it? Because of the large ball rolling nearby? Ahahaha!"
"Glad you can find humor in anything, dear." Wanda sighed.
After once again sending the puppies back home, with the guards still perplexed by the oddity of dogs being put in chests, they moved into the next room. A hall much larger than the previous room. There were a few more pillars here and there, yet another staircase much like in the last room, and stone faces that shot out water periodically. There was yet another large statue device that sent out a large stone ball that rolled along a set path, not to mention a large statue just sitting near a ledge and, for some reason, a staircase extending into the wall and making a turn behind it. But of course, the group had to deal with more Heartless… and the addition of Grunts and Doomsday Troopers!
"Gah! What are those things?!" Fazal shrieked at the sight of the Grunts. "Demons?!"
"No, Grunts." Jimmy answered. "Foot soldiers working with the Heartless, basically. Don't worry, they're basically the runt of the troops."
"Yeah, speaking of troops…" Danny remarked at the Doomsday Troopers, "we better take them out fast before they cause more trouble than they already have."
They fought in full agreement, making sure the royal guard was still out of harm's way while they were fighting as well. At least they could handle small mooks like the grunts and Shadows when they rose from the ground. But still, with the hall being twice as large as the entrance hall prior, there were still more enemies for our heroes to deal with. At the very least they managed to find an elixir in a chest on a platform from which those water-spouting faces were attached to, along with a chest containing a shard of mythril in a nearby alcove. Of course, the fighting did lead to one Fat Bandit being shoved into the statue standing near a ledge, causing it to fall down below. Hopefully that wouldn't be an issue for them later down the line, they thought.
Entering the next room, the heroes came into a large space about the size of the entrance hall, the boy genius estimated. The catch was that there was a gap in the path forward, and the platform to their left also had those same water-spouting statue faces threatening to push them off into the dark depths beneath them. As such, the only stable path was on the platform, so they took that route only to be surprised by Shadows, Pot Spiders, Bandits, a Fat Bandit, and more Grunts. Combining their numbers along with the rather small space to maneuver in and the barrels just standing around, they were bound to fall if they were not careful! Fortunately, well-used Thunder and Blizzard spells kept that from being too much of a worry.
After that, and getting yet more treasure chests with items such as an elixir and a mega-potion, they again moved forward through the cave until at long last they came into a room that made everyone's eyes widen and their mouths drop in awe. It was as tall as it was vast, and all around them were piles and piles of gold reaching towards the practically nonexistent ceiling. Everything sparkled and shined, as enticing and tempting as each individual piece of treasure could be. Chests filled with coins and rubies, giant monkey statues holding large gems ripe for the taking…. Now this was familiar to the street rat.
"This is the room I was talking about before." Aladdin told them all. Noticing Abu just about to rush towards one of the chests, he quickly grabbed him before he could jump off of his shoulder, admonishing his friend, "Oh no you don't! Remember what happened last time?"
The monkey moaned in disappointment.
"Let me guess," Timmy could see where this was going, "treasure's tempting, but the moment you touch it, everything goes wrong?"
"That's the point of this, yeah." the peasant answered. "Don't touch anything. We just gotta keep moving forward. The lamp chamber should be just up ahead…"
"Way blocked." Tarzan's voice made everyone freeze.
To their dismay, indeed the way to the lamp chamber was blocked. By what? Some kind of large stone pillar with ornate designs. At this, most of the group felt the urge to facepalm. Of course it wouldn't be so simple. Why would it not?
"Just wonderful." Razoul's sarcasm was obvious. "The princess is so close and yet just beyond our reach! How do you expect to solve THIS issue, street rat?"
"This wasn't here before!" Aladdin retorted, groaning in frustration as he beat his hands on it. "Jafar must've put it up so we couldn't get through!"
"Maybe we can just destroy it with enough force?" Sora figured, readying the Keyblade. "We all got some magic and gizmos on our side. Maybe that could help!"
"I don't know, Sora," Gadget shook her head, "that pillar doesn't look like it shows any sign of aging or weak points we can chip away at. I'm not even sure magic can do anything to it."
Jimmy, all the while, stroked his chin as he observed the pillar. At first glance, it appeared to just be immovable with no way of getting around it, but…
"Actually, fellows," he said, getting everyone's attention, "I think we're looking at this the wrong way."
"What do you mean, child?" the guard captain asked.
"We assume that this is what's blocking our way forward, that much is clear." The boy genius explained. "However, take a good look at the floor beneath it. Do you notice anything off with it?"
They momentarily wondered what he was talking about before looking back at the stone pillar. Hakim was the first to walk over towards it and look for anything off. He then looked to the floor, blinked, and knelt down. He squinted his eyes, and then he realized what was up. A very slight gap between the floor and where it was believed the pillar's bottom was.
"The child's right, captain!" Hakim exclaimed in surprise. "There's a hole this pillar is rising from!"
"Exactly!" Jimmy snapped his fingers. "Meaning that this isn't the whole pillar! If we get rid of its support down there, then we can easily open the way through here!"
"But in order to do that, we have to go back the way we came and look for a way down." Jiminy Cricket could tell where they had to go from there. "Perhaps one of those staircases from before should help lead the way?"
"Ugh! Backtracking!" Timmy groaned. "I hate it when we do that."
"We've got no choice in the matter, Timmy." The boy genius told his average counterpart. "If we're to stop Jafar as soon as possible, we'll have to make sure everything in our way is taken care of."
"Then you go and take care of that, then."
Razoul stood in front of the pillar, having Hakim and Fazal stand at attention to the sides of the doorway.
"We shall stand here and keep guard." Razoul told the Warriors of Light. "With those monsters swept from this room, it should now be safe to hold the line. We will wait for your return, and then we shall apprehend the vile betrayer at once. Make sure not to waste time, boy."
"I wasn't counting on it." Aladdin replied with a roll of the eyes. And to the others, he said, "Okay guys, we'll have to jump down into the lower chambers. There should mostly be water to dive down, and areas there are pretty small. We won't be dealing with the Heartless much while we're down there, hopefully."
"Um… would this require a lot of swimming…?" Spongebob gulped.
"Not that much, I think?" The street rat blinked. "Is that a problem?"
"Oh, don't worry." Sora assured him. "He'll be fine. I'll be helping him out."
The sea sponge, relieved to hear this, looked gratefully to the islander and said, "Oh thanks, Sora! I really appreciate this!"
"No time like the present to help you learn how to swim, right?" The Keybearer asked back with a grin.
"By the way, before we go…" Danny was suddenly holding a few chests in his arms, "how about we get to opening these? Doesn't look like the magic cave is doing anything so these might be good."
Aladdin and Abu looked around them… indeed, nothing happened. Good enough for them. Of course, they got another mythril shard, a Thundaga-G, a rather unique looking item that resembled a shield (which they vaguely recalled getting a similar item while in Wonderland), and…
"It's the puppy-pocalypse!" Sora called out as, yet again, three dalmatian puppies pounced upon him.
"Wow, we're on a roll! That makes 54 puppies left to find!" Spongebob counted amidst the Key-bearer's laughter.
"That or dogs just really like him." Selphie too was amused by the sight.
Goddard barked in agreement.
After again sending the puppies back home, the Warriors of Light went back the way they came to head down to the lower chambers. Of course, they had to make their way past even more Heartless, Grunts, and Doomsday Troopers, but they managed to make their way back into the large hall and made their way down the stairway and onto the slab. When they got on there, they momentarily wondered just how they were going to get down. But then the slab suddenly began descending downward into the darkness. Donald thankfully cast a light with a Fire spell to illuminate the room while Goddard's flashlight eyes also lit the area around them. Once the slab stopped, they carefully descended down more stairs until they found themselves on a small bit of land in a dark, cavernous area with water surrounding them.
There was also a treasure chest nearby, containing another Thundara-G block.
Looking around at the rather silent chamber they were in, they looked around and saw at least two other caves nearby, along with a waterfall leading into another chamber.
"This place is a real maze…" Wanda muttered.
"Am I the only one wondering why everything down here looks so blue?" Cosmo asked. "I figured it would be more black, like most caves."
"Actually, there's a scientific explanation for that, Cosmo." Jimmy was glad to impart knowledge. "The blue coloration in depths of caves is primarily caused by the scattering of sunlight and the absorption of other wavelengths by the surrounding rock and water. It's an interesting process. First, there's rayleigh scattering, which is–"
"Jimmy, there's no sunlight here." The captain of the royal knights of Disney Castle scratched his head. "Plus, it's night outside. How could there be sunlight to begin with?"
"Easily explained, too. Remember, we're in the depths of the Cave of Wonders right now." The boy genius didn't lose track. "The halls above us are still illuminated with torches, so we're more than likely getting light from above us acting as a substitute. Thus we have a source of light leading to the illumination of these chambers looking blue as they do."
"Verrrrry fascinating." The buck-toothed child was anything but fascinated. "Where do we start looking for that pillar we gotta wreck?"
"Well, we basically got three directions to choose from." Selphie observed. "Maybe we can split up into three groups and work from there?"
"One more for one group." Tarzan counted the number of heads there. "Who go with who?"
"I'm going with Sora!" Spongebob immediately declared.
"We're going with him too." Donald said, referring to himself and Goofy. "That makes four."
"With us tagging along, of course." Gadget reminded them, Jiminy nodding with her.
Jimmy figured that would be good, "Alright, then your group shall take the path down to the right and investigate. Danny, you, Selphie, and Tarzan will take the path to the left. Timmy, myself, and Aladdin along with Abu will go down into the room just beyond the waterfall. If there's anywhere that we can't continue past without each other's help, we'll regroup back here."
"Sounds good to me." Danny nodded.
"Ok, now let's get searching!"
And thus our heroes again split up into groups and went on their respective routes. Focusing on the happy-go-lucky sponge and the spiky-haired islander, Spongebob was admittedly quite nervous about swimming in water, nonsensical logic notwithstanding, but he was glad Sora was there to hold his hand as they swam along, just like he promised back in Traverse Town. Carefully as the boy assisted the fry cook, they swam down a small waterfall past the cave and into a small, dark chamber. Fortunately, there was a stone platform nearby with steps they could get onto, with steps leading back up to the higher areas of the cave, and nearby were a couple chests that looked to be just out of reach. Well, at least the one on some bridge-like stone platform was. Sora easily jumped to it and tapped it with the Keyblade, getting the item inside.
"A Cottage?" Sora sighed. "It's nice to have these on hand, but I hardly use these…"
"At least it'll make for somethin' you can sell at a shop." Goofy looked on the bright side.
"It doesn't look much like a cottage, I'll say." Spongebob scratched his head. "Potions, ethers, and elixirs, I can get, but 'cottage'?"
"It's basically a description of its purpose." The court mage explained. "Once you're in the clear, you use it and it instantly rejuvenates you and your friends."
"Kinda like staying in a comfy cottage!" Spongebob connected the dots soon after. "Oh, I get it now! That's neat! Boy, would Jimmy be interested in hearing about that!"
—-
Speaking of Jimmy, he, Aladdin, and Timmy (along with Goddard, Cosmo and Wanda) had taken that waterfall from the silent chamber to encounter a statue of a grinning monkey holding out a gem. Of course, Aladdin was too late to stop Abu from fondling it, but fortunately for them, nothing had happened, and it just sounded like something opened nearby. Not that they could really see it from where they were. In the end, they simply swam into the cave nearby and came into another part of the depths with platforms in each of its four corners, and a couple more chests. One the platforms with a chest had that block from before conveniently acting as an easy bridge to reach it easily.
Not that any of them could really open those chests without Sora's help.
"Would be nice if we had some kind of skeleton key for these chests." Timmy remarked before getting an idea. "Hey Jimmy! Maybe you can make something that can act as a Keyblade when we don't have Sora with us!"
"The thought has crossed my mind," Jimmy admitted, "but for that, I would need to research Sora's Keyblade extensively, plus I'm not sure I can adequately replicate the material it's made from due to it being from this universe and not our own. We're essentially stuck attempting to lug these around until Sora comes around to open them since they appear to be in tune with it."
"And I can't just wish for a magic key that unlocks anything right now either…" the average kid muttered under his breath.
"Ok, so, I'm definitely new to all this, but…" Aladdin spoke up, making the two remember they had someone else with them, "what are you guys even talking about? I mean, if Jasmine's being caught in the middle of this business with the Heartless and this Syndicate, I really should know about it, don't you think?"
At this, the boy genius sighed. He knew Aladdin had quite a few questions before, but he figured that the guy wouldn't bother asking. At least he'd prepare to answer all of them once business was taken care of. But no time like the present, apparently. Wouldn't be the first time.
"Ok, so I mentioned this earlier to Genie," the hero of Retroville began, "the Syndicate was once just made up of four of our own arch enemies, with my own leading them. Together they plan on conquering our homes along with everything else if they can help it. However, that's basically the short version. The long and possibly mind-bending version for you is that we're all from different worlds beyond Agrabah, if not an entire multiverse away in the case of myself, Goddard Timmy, Cosmo, Wanda, Danny, Desiree and Spongebob."
As expected, Aladdin looked confused by what he talked about. Abu apparently thought he was being discreet by making a swirling motion of a finger near his head and letting his pupils roll.
"Basically, you can just take it as there are other worlds out there and Jafar has teamed up with villains from those worlds." Wanda decided to help Jimmy out on this one, poofing with her husband into their true forms. "We're working together with other heroes in order to stop them."
"Our luck with that… eh, you can say it's mixed." Cosmo shrugged. "We saved Danny and Tarzan's worlds, not to mention Wonderland… but Olympus Coliseum is a work in progress and we didn't really succeed in saving Alice. Boy did that ever mess Sora up."
"Cosmo!" Wanda admonished her husband's lack of tact.
"What? I was being honest!" He defended himself. "Hopefully we'll have better luck with Jasmine."
"Wait, so Jasmine isn't the only one kidnapped?" Aladdin was shocked to hear that.
"That's how it appears. And for some connected purpose at that." Jimmy confirmed. "For what, I do not yet know. But either way, it required the Syndicate to kidnap Alice from her world, and since Jafar is working with the Syndicate, their scheme no doubt requires Jasmine as well. If I could just figure out their connection, I could have a better means of deducing their so-called 'ultimate plan' and their unknown device."
"Careful Jimmy," Timmy snarked, "you're losing him again."
Aladdin sheepishly chuckled at this, admitting, "Maybe a little, but I think I get what's important." Then with a serious expression on his face, he added, "Whatever's going on here isn't just affecting Agrabah, and Jasmine is caught up in it. We gotta stop Jafar and rescue Jasmine to start with before we figure anything else out, right?"
"Wow, he got that fast!" Cosmo remarked. "I hardly even get past the start of the exposition!"
"You don't get past a lot of things, dear." Wanda told him.
"Speaking of getting past," their godchild looked towards the monkey statue nearby, "why don't we get that out of the way? It looks like there's another route there."
Right on cue, Abu jumped over to the jewel and landed atop it. Of course, it gleamed and then the monkey jumped right back onto Aladdin's shoulder. The staircase sitting right next to the statue started moving, shifting toward over the ledge and then sinking down into the water, acting as steps towards that cave. With that taken care of, the group simply made their way along and went down that cave, eventually coming into a narrow space with a small river. Ahead was a platform with another chest to note down, and to their right a waterfall leading up to another small space with a wall and another monkey statue.
"Hey, you guys hear that?" Timmy asked as they swam up the waterfall.
"Hear what?" Aladdin asked.
"...That's neat!" Indeed, they could hear a familiar happy-go-lucky voice exclaim. "Boy, would Jimmy be interested in hearing about that!"
"Hear about what?" Jimmy asked in reply.
Then came a familiar gasp from the other side of the wall.
"Jimmy, is that you?" Spongebob's voice called. "Where are you? Oh no! You didn't turn into a ghost, did you?!"
"No, Spongebob, I'm fine. So are Goddard, Timmy, Cosmo, Wanda, Aladdin, and Abu here." The boy genius assured, with Goddard giving an affirming bark. "I think we just got into the same chamber as you now. There's a few chests here and the way we came, but we didn't find any pillars. Any luck on your side?"
"Nope, nothing here. Just a treasure chest barely out of our reach." Sora's voice replied.
"Then hopefully the others are having better luck than we are right now…" The street rat said as Abu once again hopped onto the jewel the monkey statue was holding, leading to the wall descending and opening the way into the rest of the chamber Spongebob's group was in.
"But hey, while we're all here," the buck-toothed child said, "let's get to bringing all these chests over here! Not doing it myself, 1-2-3-notit!"
"Notit!" Jimmy was quick on the draw.
"Notit!" Cosmo and Wanda joined in.
Goddard simply barked.
"...Why do I get the feeling I just got volunteered to do the heavy lifting?" sighed the thief.
—-
Danny, Selphie, and Tarzan swam their way into the other cavern, finding themselves in an admittedly dark area with very little illumination. Not only that, but it appeared that the only bit of land they could set food upon was a small stone platform with two treasure chests they would have to bring to Sora later to unlock. Nearby, there appeared to be a higher level, but at the same time it didn't appear to have anything of note there. Either way, it was hard to see in there.
"Didn't Jimmy say that there's no actual ceiling down here?" Selphie asked, trying to see amidst the darkness. "Why's it so dark?"
"Maybe ceiling here." Tarzan supposed. "Treasure room have floor. Maybe this room we need find."
"Probably… still need a bit of light in here, though." The ghostly superhero said. "Good thing I can get just that.
With that, he had his hands emit ghostly energy, lighting the room around them. It allowed them to have a better look at the room. Aside from the two treasure chests, there wasn't anything else of note… or was there? Danny noticed another, smaller platform just sitting nearby in the water. In the dark, it looked like there was something on it. But with the light from his ghost energy, the spectral superhero could see a very tall pillar extending up towards the ceiling.
A tall pillar…
"That's it!" Danny smiled. "Alright! Now let's cut a blockade down to size!"
And without further ado, Danny fired a ghost ray at the pillar, causing the stone to shatter apart. From there, the rest of the pillar that they had seen up in the treasure room had dropped onto the platform and took its place. Satisfied, the ghost boy cracked his knuckles while he, Selphie, and Tarzan all grinned at each other.
"Looks like we beat everyone else to saving the day this time." Selphie bemused. "Now let's head back and tell them the good news!"
"No time to lose." Tarzan agreed.
"With this taken care of, we can basically just have a quick trip back upstairs and knock Jafar's teeth in before rescuing Jasmine and Genie." Danny wasn't too worried as he picked up the treasure chests. Nothing Selphie and Tarzan's looks, he sighed and added, "...and rescue Desiree, I guess. C'mon, it's not like she's in too much trouble. She's probably getting along with that guy by now."
—-
Desiree was in fact not getting along with Jafar at all. In fact, she wasn't even having a great time period, still heavily bound and gagged. Try as she might, the chains were too strong for her to struggle out of, leaving her still at the mercy of her deranged and peculiarly two-dimensional master. Near her, she could see her blue counterpart being blue in more ways than one, sulking and doing nothing about his situation. It frustrated her. She was bound more than he was now, but she was still trying to resist! What was his excuse?!
Oh yeah, he was a different breed of genie utterly bound to his master's will… But still!
She observed her surroundings. A chamber deep within some 'Cave of Wonders' she overheard the vizier speak about with his grating parrot. She lied on a floor of stone building up into the center, as if to present something important, while the room itself was rimmed with sand. Attached to the rock walls were stone columns bearing lit torches and topped by monkey statues holding colorful gems, be it either one in both hands or one in each. There were also three stone platforms to the sides and the back of the chamber, though the side platforms had larger torches shaped like cobra heads. The platform at the back seemed to only just have another wall, yet something about it felt off all the same.
Nearby was the unconscious form of princess Jasmine, and again Desiree couldn't help but feel that something about her was familiar. But what? Of course, her thoughts were cut off when she heard that irritating squawking. Sure enough, that snake was busy talking with his bird.
"Well, this is just great!" Iago was complaining. "All that work to get the princess, and now we're all the way down here, far from the comforts of the palace, looking for a Keyhole that's not even here! I told ya goin' for that fairy's offer was a bad idea! But no, those Heartless got yer attention from the word 'go'! Now here we are with some weird living flat square that just won't shut up! Why, if it were up to me, I'd–"
Jafar cut him off mid-rant by shutting his beak with a firm grip. "Watch your temper, Iago." He told him. "Things are still going according to plan… unwanted guest notwithstanding."
"Bah! Bwah! Bwah! Bah! Baiyeh!" And there was Doodlebob just running about the room, swinging his arms around with Desiree's ring still present on one of them.
"...you're not exactly convincin' me or yourself here with that guy." Iago remarked.
"Then it's a good thing we at least have a more useful tool." Jafar took out the lamp from his cape and commanded the blue djinn, "My first wish, Genie! Show me the Keyhole!"
Genie groaned, looking back to Jafar with a narrowed glance. He just made a seemingly unimpressively swish of the hand… and then the wall in the back of the room suddenly broke apart! Desiree's eyes widened at what was revealed to be hidden within. Behind two magnificent columns, there was a unique indention made into a marble wall, most peculiarly in the shape of a keyhole inside other keyholes before her focus went onto an actual Keyhole. This was it. This world was now that much closer to falling to the Heartless…!
Jafar let out a malevolent cackle… which ended up cut off when the Genie suddenly looked like a fast food restaurant clerk with a pimply face and asked in a high-pitched, nerdy voice, "You want fries with that wish, sir?"
"Don't sully this occasion with your nonsensical attempts at humor, Genie!" Jafar commanded him, forcing the costume to disappear. "You shall speak only when spoken to, naught more!"
And just like that, Desiree ended up sympathizing more with Genie. They both had some very cruel masters at the moment. Speaking of which, she then saw that 'Doodlebob' atrocity go up to her and shout at her in its gibberish-filled language. By all accounts, she shouldn't even be able to grant its wishes. However, as it was the one wearing the ring, its commands, as unable to understand them as she was, were hers to obey. This was again evident to her as her hands began to glow.
Doodlebob smirked as something began to form in its hands through ghostly power. This thing took shape as something long in its arms. Something long and pointed with a sharp end. Could it have been a sword? No, it didn't have the proper handle? Perhaps a club? No…
It was… a pencil?
"Nyabababababyaha!" The thing did what she could only assume was laughter as it raised this large pencil above its crude, square head.
After that, Doodlebob began sketching something on the ground before sketching more soon after. Rising from the ground they were drawn upon, more freakish caricatures and monsters looking like living paper coated in lead and moving unnaturally. Once the creature made enough of its ilk, it began babbling at them, as if issuing commands to them. Afterward, those creatures started to depart from the chamber, leaving through the only exit Desiree could see. Doodlebob went back to laughing as it held that pencil like a mighty blade.
"...I have absolutely zero idea of what that was about." Iago said.
"You and me both." Jafar muttered.
"...Des… re…"
Again, that voice in her ears. No sign of whoever owned it anywhere.
…It didn't matter. She only hoped that Sora would come help her soon. And it honestly amazed her that she even had that thought in her head.
—-
"Ok, so going through all those items before we get back to the treasure room…" Jimmy had Goddard keep a short list on his chest-screen. "That 'cottage' healing item that's basically an expanded version of those 'tents' we usually just sell?"
"Check." Spongebob nodded.
"The Meteor-G for the Gummi Ship?"
"Check." Gadget nodded, holding the gummi block in question.
"The 'Protera Chain' that we'll stash with those other accessories we find?"
"Check." Selphie wore it for good measure.
"The torn page that has to be from Merlin's book yet somehow got misplaced here?"
"Check." Donald nodded as he held the page in his hand.
"Mythril for which we'll figure out a use later with the others?"
"Check." Timmy nodded.
"Thunder Ring that we'll be putting with the other accessories?"
"Check." Aladdin nodded while Abu had the ring, though he blinked and asked, "Why do you guys even have all this stuff and how do you manage to fit it anywhere?"
"Sora's pockets are useful despite their lack of fashionable decency." Jimmy bluntly replied.
"Hey!" the wielder of the Keyblade snapped.
The boy genius waved it off. "Anyway, Haste2-G?"
"Check." Jiminy got the gummi block in question.
"And finally, another three dalmatian puppies?"
"Che-he-he-he-heeeck!" Sora was yet again laughing as the dogs gave his face licks. All of the licks.
"Now we just have 51 puppies to go!" Spongebob counted. "We're nearly halfway there at this point!"
"Okay, so we got everything cleaned out here." The leader of the Warriors of Light nodded as everything was in order and he used his Spotted Deck to send the puppies home. "We don't have time to waste now. Thanks to Danny, the way to the lamp chamber and to rescuing Jasmine is clear. Let's get moving!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" The street rat was eager to move. "C'mon!"
With that, everyone rushed back up the stairs from the silent chamber and then back up into the long hall. From there it was a dash back to the treasure room, even as they had to fight yet more Bandits and Fat Bandits along the way, joined by Yellow Operas and Air Soldiers among others. But as they drew closer to the treasure room, they could hear the sounds of fighting. If it was more Heartless going up against Razoul and his men, they had to pick up their pace. Sure enough, once they got back to the treasure room, they indeed saw the guards fighting… but not against Heartless. Instead, they appeared to be strange creatures resembling slugs, cactus-like beings hopping around, and even bean-like creatures with smug faces in military gear.
"Woah, what the heck are those?" Danny asked, flabbergasted at the sight of them.
"Are they new Heartless?" Goofy wondered.
"No, they don't look much like Heartless." Timmy shook his head. "They don't even have the emblem. If anything they look weirder. Like they were badly drawn…"
"Badly drawn…?" Spongebob squinted his eyes. "Wait a minute…"
Now that he thought about it, those weird things didn't seem to belong, even in the sense of being in this world. With their peculiar way of movement and their flat forms… the colors drawn out of their lines… seeming wild with their movements…
…Just like…!
The fry cook gasped. "They're doodles! Just like Doodlebob!"
"How is that even possible?" Sora was shocked to hear that.
"That shouldn't be possible! There's no way they should exist unless they were drawn with a magic pencil! Patrick and I sent that back to the surface since its power was too much for anyone to handle!" Spongebob didn't notice the look Jimmy was giving him upon mentioning 'magic pencil'. Then he gasped again in realization. "Oh my gosh! He must've wished for Desiree to make him a magic pencil of his own!"
"Then we should take care of these Doodle Dudes before they cause more trouble!" Timmy advised.
"'Doodle Dudes'?" Jimmy at least looked towards Timmy at the peculiar name.
"I couldn't think of a better name, sue me, Mr. 'Universe Portal Machine'." The average kid snarked back.
"C'mon, let's help them out!" Selphie reminded them of the matter at hand.
Our heroes charged into the fray, joining Razoul, Hakim, and Fazal in fighting the rather aptly named 'Doodle Dudes'. They fought nothing like Grunts, Doomsday Troopers, or even Heartless. The slugs, the so-called 'Oopsie Doodles', were literally just slugs that moved around and attacked with single hits; they were the easier ones. The cactus-looking doodles with heads larger than their bodies, the 'Hoppy Doodle' mainly just hopped around and tried to crush everyone underfoot. The worst of the lot were of course the smirking doodles in teal-green military uniforms on their bodies, the 'Doodle Troopers'. While they too just bounced towards our heroes to crush them, they were much more durable foes.
The main threat behind these peculiar enemies was how numerous they were, much like Shadows and Grunts. Their rather limited moveset made them simple enemies otherwise. However, getting rid of them actually proved harder than dealing with others. After all, these Doodle Dudes didn't immediately dissipate or explode after being beaten. They just ended up stunned before going active again. What could they do?
Then Sora got an idea.
"Water!" Sora raised his Keyblade and pointed it towards the Doodle Dudes.
And then a splash of water came from the Keyblade and got all over the doodles. Then they started melting into the ground until none of them remained but soggy pencil lead. With that, the fight was finally over.
"That was superb thinking, Sora!" Jimmy praised the islander. "If we're dealing with living drawings now, then clearly washing them away with water would be the most useful way we have of dealing with them."
"Honestly, I just threw a shot in the dark and figured a lesser-used spell may work for this." He admitted. "Plus, I figured since you had to wash away chalk with water, why wouldn't it do the same with these things?"
"At least we have something to handle those Doodle Dudes until we get a magic pencil or magic eraser of our own to combat Doodlebob's." Spongebob said. "But now things have gotten more serious. With all that power of creativity in his hands, who knows what else he'll create out of his twisted mind while we confront Jaffy!"
"Jafar." Timmy deadpanned.
"Yeah, Jerome."
"About time you lot had returned!" Razoul's voice was as gruff as ever even while he and his men approached the heroes. "The moment the pillar was lowered, we were about to head inside to apprehend the traitor before those creatures ambushed us! Jafar must no doubt be aware of our coming and is intent on holding us off. We must strike now while there's a lull in his forces!"
"Nothing's stopping us now." Aladdin nodded in agreement. "C'mon guys, let's rescue Jasmine and save Agrabah!"
"Yeah!" Everyone nodded.
"Charge!" Razoul of course led the assault before anyone else could give the go ahead, rushing through the passage with Hakim and Fazal behind him.
"...We should probably make sure they don't end up on the chopping block before we jump in." the ghost boy put out there.
"Yeah…" Everyone nodded.
—-
The date had gone beautifully.
Riku and Valerie's unexpected candlelit dinner went off without a hitch. Sure, it was just french fries as an appetizer and some fast food (not like they had high paying salaries), but still, the time they spent together was lovely. Talking about their interests, some of their own misadventures in their lives, and even sharing a few techniques when it came to fighting. Most of all, the two got to spend more time together afterward. Doing what, you may ask?
Oh, just capturing a few stray ghosts, of course! Those ectopuses, ghostly octopi, had popped up in Amity Park from time to time, so it was usually up to Valerie to act as pest control for those things when she wasn't going after more high profile ghosts. An admittedly boring job, but it paid the bills at least. Yet with Riku by her side, it was actually a bit more fun. What more could she ask for?
Well, perhaps a longer date, but by then she had to get back home to her father. It was then Riku learned exactly where Valerie lived after what had happened to her because of the ghost boy. The city neighboring Amity Park, Elmerton. And it was…
"...wow." Riku couldn't help but stare at his surroundings as they went through. "This place is a dump. Uh, no offense."
"No, I agree. This place is a dump." Valerie replied. "'We're getting better' my left foot."
Calling it a dump was an understatement. The city of Elmerton was an industrial, polluted wasteland. Abandoned train carts, dreary, cloudy skies, boarded-up windows and doors, and streets practically lined with apartment complexes instead of actual houses. Even worse was that people resorted to having lines of laundry connecting those apartment complexes in place of actual washing machines in their homes. Riku was aghast that such a place could even exist out there in the universe.
So far, he could say that the only bright spot of this place would have to be the girl he was with.
"Welp, here we are." Valerie stopped in front of one such apartment complex. "461 Elm Street. Home sw… well, it's home."
"You live here?" Riku just stared at the place. A gray, blocky building that seemed close to being run down. "Surely you and your dad can make enough to live somewhere better–"
"Riku, he had no better work going for him than Axion Labs and he got demoted to being a security guard, and I have to take up a part-time job at the Nasty Burger and keep my ghost hunting occupation a secret from my dad, meaning neither of us can make the money we need to have a proper house." Valerie told him. "Unless by some miracle dad gets his old job back, we're stuck here."
The young man couldn't really say anything in response to that. How could he? He wanted to, though. There had to be some way for him to comfort her about this. He tried racking his brain, but…
"Sorry." Riku could only apologize. "I just… wish I could help you. Someone as experienced as you doesn't deserve to live in a place like this, Valerie."
"I'm thankful you feel that way, Riku." She told her partner. "But you don't need to worry. We're managing, at least. Besides, it's not that bad. Ghost hunting takes enough of my time to take my mind off of it. Then there's of course dating you, so that's a plus~"
At that, Riku regained his smile and blushed lightly.
"Same here, Valerie~" He replied. Then he cleared his throat, awkwardly scratching his cheek, "Actually, on that note… you think that sometime, when we're not busy with work, maybe…"
"That we could go out again?" She finished for him, a smile and light blush on her face too. "I wouldn't mind that either. There should be a baseball game coming up soon, so maybe we can catch that?"
"That would be great!" Riku nodded. "Should I pick you up for that?"
"Nah, I'll just call you with a place to meet up at." She answered. "Anyway, I better get home before dad gets worried. But before I do…"
She then walked up towards Riku and then gave him a kiss on the cheek, surprising him. With a giggle, she then turned around and went towards the front door of the apartment complex.
"See you soon, rookie~" She bid farewell before she entered.
Riku simply stood stunned, his hand gently on the cheek his partner kissed. This was it. His first kiss from a girl. And from a girl as pretty as Valerie. His smile grew and he then jumped, pumping his fist into the air with a cheer. He completely forgot that he was in a place as dreary as Elmerton for a moment before he began walking down the street with a pep in his step and a tune in his head. He hummed a bit as he went along before eventually he stopped near an alley and leaned against one of the buildings, not caring of the cloudy sky above him.
"For the first time in my life…" Riku mused to himself, "things are starting to go right."
"Enjoy your romantic rendezvous?"
And just like that, the moment was gone. Riku sighed, standing up straight as the dark fairy appeared before him in green and black flames. She was joined by that short scientist with the mustache. Privately, he cursed their timing. Couldn't they just let him enjoy the fact that he did well on a first date, had a second one set up, and had just gotten kissed by a girl?
You know, let him be a normal teenager?
"Not sure how that's any of your business." He told them, rather rudely. "What do you want?"
"Mind your tone, young man." Calamitous told him back. "It was due to Maleficent's hospitality that you have a roof over your head after the loss of your world."
"So I should just use this tone with you, then?" Riku raised his brow with a smirk.
"Enough." Maleficent raised her hand to dispel any conflict between her partner and her 'ward'. "Riku, there is an important duty that we need to ask of you to commit. You see, in Agrabah, Jafar has finally managed to collect the princess Jasmine."
"However, with things going as they are, we do not expect things to go smoothly for his… um… uh…" Professor Calamitous tried thinking of the right word.
"Operations?" Riku helped.
"Operations, yes!" The scientist was grateful for the word. "We do not expect things to go smoothly for his operations, in no small part thanks to Neutron and his allies… not the least of which, your former friends."
Riku's eyes narrowed and his fists clenched. His eyes even momentarily seemed to shift in color…
"We had sent in an aide from the Syndicate to help smooth things over," Calamitous continued, "but we feel that won't exactly be enough, given Jafar's… unfortunate ego. So, we need you to make sure the capture goes smoothly."
"Make sure no one gets in your way." The dark fairy told him. "Taking the princess should be an easy task for you."
"...And what's in it for me?" Riku asked, skeptical of why he should take this job.
"You do this for us, and we will grant you your wish."
That was certainly vague. Definitely something he would take a grain of salt, normally. However, thus far, Maleficent had been right about everything. Even about Sora, Selphie… and their new 'friends'. He really was the only one looking for Kairi, wasn't he? Not to mention they were working with the ghost boy who ruined Valerie's life…
Riku took a moment before replying, "Fine. Tell me what I gotta do."
—-
And thus, I finally finished chapter 23. Boy did quite a bit happen in the time I was writing this. Had to buy a new laptop since my old one is basically close to dying and I had to switch the important details from that computer to the new one, so that was a lot of e-mails to send to myself. On the fic side, just introduced a new enemy faction, albeit rather late into this world: the Doodle Dudes. You might remember them if you played a little game called Drawn to Life: Spongebob Squarepants Edition. Yes, it came out a bit after both games (2008 in fact) and even came out after KH2, but I think I can have a bit of leeway with it since this is a slightly different continuity than the normal shows thanks to the Nicktoons Unite games and DtL: SB Edition isn't canon to the original show either. Plus, it makes Doodlebob more of a threat as a result since he now has a magic pencil.
Not to mention Riku and Valerie's relationship developing just a bit more. We're now at the part where Riku's rising while Sora's busy with the adventure, so get ready for more of that as we go on.
Next time is the climactic final battle in Agrabah as our heroes go up against Jafar and Doodlebob in a bid to rescue Jasmine, Genie, and Desiree! But we'll get to that after two more one-shots and a chapter of Defier of Destiny. Be patient!
In the meantime, again with the shameless plug, but there's also a TV Tropes page for this fanfic! Feel free to check it out when you can!
Thanks again to Akito the Boxer for beta-reading this chapter. See you next time!
