As the light faded and their vision returned, Sora, Donald, and Goofy felt a waft of heat across their faces. The smooth white floor of Castle Oblivion was replaced by the roughness of an alleyway lined with sand. The equally smooth, white, opulent walls were replaced by buildings that looked to be a mixture of sandstone brick and hardened mud. Along the alleyways were an assortment of stalls and stands, giving the place the look of a market of sorts.

Though they couldn't help noticing that the streets were unnervingly deserted. Not a single soul was manning these stands and stalls, let alone shopping at them. A very disconcerting sight that was suddenly broken by Goofy noticing something at the far end of the street. "Look, Sora! Someone's in trouble!" Goofy announced as he pointed to the first people they'd seen in this seemingly deserted place.

The first was a tall, tan skinned, scimitar wielding, brown eyed, barefoot young man with patched, white baggy pants with a red sash, a head of messy black hair topped with a small maroon phez. And suffice it to say, he was the only one of the three figures standing together that looked like he belonged in this world.

The second was a young man with long black hair tied in a ponytail and a small streak of pink matching the color of his eyes. His attire was drastically different from the other man, toting a green tailcoat with an oriental aesthetic to it, outlined by gold lines, strips of black along the waist and chest, and pink cuffs at the end of the sleeves over the black undershirt he wore underneath. His white pants were far more pristine and equally slender as his brown shoe clad feet shifted along the sand with subtle grace. In his hands were two far more complex looking weapons than the scimitar of the other man, looking almost like bladed, mechanical tonfas with firearm barrels.

And the third figure was a fair skinned young lady with bright, ginger colored hair, and a look of downright ravenous glee in her teal eyes. Like the second fellow, her attire was quite out of place in this world, as she was clad in a short pink skirt with a matching pair of gloves, and white shoes with equally pink laces. Her upper attire consisted of a black, metal fastened corset with a black collar and belly area while her chest was adorned by a white shirt with a heart cutout at the top of her chest, and a pair of disconnected equally white sleeves upon her arms. In her hand was yet another bizarre weapon that looked to be a giant metal hammer with what looked to be pink grenade rounds inside the head.

And all three of them were surrounded by Heartless! "We have to do something!" Donald exclaimed.

Without any hesitation, the trio dove into action, weapons drawn, ready to fight. Immediately, Sora dove in with a sliding dash, slicing through the legs of several shadows in his path. "Mind if we help?" he asked their new acquaintances.

The darker skinned young man's eyes widened with surprise at the sudden intervention of the odd trio, but all things considered, he wasn't going to turn them away. "Thanks! I thought we were done for!" he said to them before cleaving another Heartless with his scimitar.

"Aww, I'm sure I could...*phew*...Take a few dozen more myself. Right Ren?" the young woman said, looking toward the other young man. Try as she might, she unable to mask the obvious weariness she was feeling. These three had clearly been fighting these Heartless for a long time.

"Nora, now is really not the time to try showing off." her compatriot, Ren, scolded gently as he was the first of the three of them to jump into action. They had no idea who these reinforcements were, but they weren't going to question it.

The Shadows were many but Sora, Donald, Goofy and the people they were helping managed to land strong, resounding hits on the simple Heartless, slaying them with ease. Even Donald was able to save his magic and smack an individual Shadow around with his staff like it was a cudgel til it burst. It was then that a new group of Heartless showed up that things became trickier. These new ones were about Sora's height and more humanoid shaped, boasting bright white turbans that covered their pitch black faces, purple vests trimmed in gold, purple pants with plum and silver trim held in place with a salmon-colored sashes, blue curled-toe shoes and plum and silver chokers with set of armbands. They also wore lots of gold and silver rings and bracelets upon their hands, the right of which held large gold-hilted scimitars. "They look like bandits." Goofy observed, peering over the top of his shield.

"Doesn't matter what they look like, Heartless are Heartless," Donald said before jumping in front to aim his staff at the nearest row of them. "Blizzard!" The icy spray of his spell struck a few of them dead on, giving Sora a moment to attack and cleave through two of them, while Goofy charged at the third one using his shield as a battering ram. Satisfied with his help, Donald nodded with a huff and proud smile. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one Bandit running towards him with their scimitar swinging. It was too close for him to react in time but thankfully the black-haired man crossed swords to keep him at bay. They seemed to be pushing each other back, sparks flying between their blades but the phez wearing young man powered through, parrying the Bandit's sword to impale his chest and destroy it.

The slender, pale skinned man expertly sidestepped one strike from a bandit, then another, almost as if he were dancing. As he looked between two bandits charging him from his left and right, he raised his bladed tonfas and intercepted their weapons, expertly parrying them

There were still more Bandits around and even Shadows started showing up again but Sora and his friends were taking care of them one by one. The clashing went on for several minutes though and everyone was starting to get tired. "They just keep coming!" Donald said in anger as the four fighters all stood back to back, now surrounded by their enemies.

There was no way they'd be able to take them all down like this. If they could remember all of their best abilities, maybe. But they were getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of Heartless that just kept pouring in. There was no way they'd be able to fight them all off like this. "I guess we'd better see if the legends are true." the phez wearing young man said as he reached behind himself, grasping ahold of what looked to be a brass oil lamp. As he grabbed it, he began rubbing it frantically as he called out, "Magic lamp! My first wish! Get rid of these Heartless!"

From the spout of the lamp, blue smoke wafted out and lifted up above the battleground into a great billowing blue cloud. Within that bright blue cloud, a big, equally blue, shirtless, barrel-chested man with three fingers (not counting his thumbs) on his hands and a red sash around his waist. Beneath the sash was a smoky looking tail rather than a pair of legs. The only other clothing he had were the golden bracelets and an earring on his right ear, which was pointed like his left one. A thin set of black hair went across his jawline with a strand of hair collected at the end of his jaw for a curled beard, similar to the strand of hair on top of his head.

As he emerged with a great shout, an equally great smile spread across his face full of what could only be described as irrepressible enthusiasm. "Stand back, kids! Genie of the lamp coming through! Ain't nothin' I can't make right as rain-well if we HAD rain in the desert." His joke was topped off by a great burst of bright colorful sparkles and lights flashing as suddenly he disappeared only to reappear with the same flare accompanied fanfare right above the beleaguered group. "But enough dry jokes! One Heartless disappearing act coming right up!" The next instant, Genie struck a dramatic pose with his left index finger pointed upward, flashing with that same bright pink flare. And to everyone's surprise, the Heartless were suddenly enveloped in that same magical light and disappeared, with only themselves in the street.

"Whoa...They're gone!" Nora exclaimed as she straightened herself out.

"Gawrsh!" Goofy's amazement in his words reflected the expression on his face as much as Sora, Donald, Ren and Nora.

Donald, however, wasn't exactly a fan of the seemingly dramatic last resort which could have saved them a LOT of time and life risking. "Why didn't you call him in the first place?" he asked with clear annoyance.

"It's not that simple," the young man said apologetically. "You see-"

Getting right between them, the big blue Genie wrapped an arm around Aladdin's shoulders and smiled while his free hand gestured about to emphasize his words. "I couldn't have said it better myself. But I will anyway!" He teleported in the same puff of blue smoke besides Donald, who squawked in surprise when seeing Genie hold up all three of his fingers. "I'm strictly limited to three wishes per master," he said before crossing his arms. "And IXNAY on the wishing for more wishes."

Much to everyone's further surprise and befuddlement, Genie's body suddenly transformed into a blue slot machine with one of his arms was the lever, which pulled on its own down and begun spinning the slots. "That's it!" he said as all three slots stopped in matching icons showing Genie's smiling face, each of them unanimously saying, "Three!" But instead of coins coming out the hole at the bottom of the slot machine, three miniature versions of the genies came out to make a human tower and all of them having legs while also wearing sombrero's and holding a number of fingers out while speaking the indicated numbers in Spanish. "Uno." "Dos." "Tres."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Ren, Nora, and Aladdin were all bewildered by the things happening as the Genie went on. The strangest part had to be the end of it where Genie appeared about Donald's height and having much wider eyes with equally big pupils. His body was black and white as he carried a cigar between his fingers and walked in front of all of them with a whole new voice and accent. "No substitutions, exchanges or refunds." To top the eccentricities off, a black and white puppet of a duck fell down to float with them at eye level, having the same kind of face as Genie did prior, including a cigar somehow held in its mouth alongside a sign with the word 'REFUNDS' on it.

Ren blinked rapidly at the erratic enthusiasm Genie displayed. It was almost as much as Nora, who was grinning wildly at their new blue acquaintance. "I like this guy." she said with a cheery laugh. The idea of TWO Noras made Ren shake his head wearily...though it was belied by the smile on his face as he looked at Nora.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all beheld the bizarre, hyperactive display with bemused yet also amused expressions on their faces. This Genie had quite a flare to say the least. One which...made them oddly relaxed with how familiar it was. But familiarity aside, Sora looked toward the wishful fellow who summoned Genie, and said, "So you've got two wishes left? Better use them carefully."

Their new companion was certainly aware of that, but there was another concern. "I've got to get back to the palace. But with all these Heartless..." There was no way he'd make it back on his own.

So Goofy suggested, "Hey, Sora. We're headed that way too, so why don't we go with Aladdin?"

Sora and Donald gave an affirmative nod, with the Keyblade Master saying, "Sounds like a plan."

Before anyone took a step, they all suddenly blinked in surprise. Aladdin? Yes… that was their new friend's name. But how did they know that? How did they know his name if they'd never met him until now?

The young man in question's eyes widened with surprise at Goofy's suggestion. Specifically how he used his name. "How come you know my name?" Aladdin asked, looking between Sora, Donald and Goofy, who looked just as confused.

"Umm...well..." Sora was at a loss for how to explain this. He wasn't even sure himself.

Both Ren and Nora turned to look at him as well, then at Aladdin as suddenly the scene too a turn for the...inexplicable. "You uhh...doing okay, Sora?" Nora asked...only to blink when suddenly she realized, "Wait...How do I know your name?" Nora wondered, now successfully confusing herself.

Quickly laying a hand on Nora's shoulder to make sure she didn't strain herself with...overthinking things, and more, he turned to look back at Sora with a more subtly confused expression. "For some reason...I know your name is Sora too...And you're Donald...and Goofy." he said, gradually turning to address the other two, who looked just as surprised and confused by this revelation.

"And...You're Ren and Nora, right?" Sora asked as he looked between both of the older, VERY out of place in this world, teenagers. Both of whom were just as confused to see that Sora, and apparently Donald and Goofy going by their exchanged looks of equally surprised recognition, knew the two of them as well.

Aladdin's brow furrowed as his gaze focused on Sora again. He wasn't sure why, but he too felt that odd sense of familiarity Ren and Nora seemed to be feeling. "Have we met before?" he asked, unable to place where he felt like he'd seen the spiky haired boy before.

Sora could only answer with an uncertain, "I don't think so." The confusion of all six people was palpable enough to cut with a knife. Something Genie displayed as he looked between the group with an anxious expression, and summoned up a kitchen knife and peeled...thin air out of the air. How did that work? Don't ask.

Thankfully Aladdin chose not to dwell on it, and simply shrugged. Better to have strange, inexplicably familiar help than no help at all. "Oh well. That'd be great. Thanks a lot." he said, turning on his heels to head toward the palace. Everyone else decided to follow his example and simply shelf the issue as they walked behind him. Or in Genie's case, floating in front.

Strange and colorful company, the lot of them. But refreshingly reassuring...despite the inexplicable familiarity.