Innocence and Evil: An Aladdin Adventure

Chapter 6

The magic carpet, piled with passengers, swooped over the dunes towards the Land of the Black Sand. Passing below, the yellow sand began to turn black. Aladdin had felt that, whether it was a trick of Mozenrath or Jafar really was back, it was important to get there as soon as possible. So they had woken Jasmine, who quickly dressed and after leaving a note for her father, flew away with them.

"Here we are. Again." Iago complained. "Do you realize how often we come here? We probably visit this clown more than we do our friends."

"As many times as it takes to keep Mozenrath at bay." Answered Aladdin. "We'll have to come in pretty high or genie and Carpet will set off the magic sensors."

"Sorry, Al," Genie apologized. "Sometimes I wish I weren't so magical."

"Don't apologize, Genie," Aladdin said with a smile.

"We're going to need your magic to defeat Mozenrath." Jasmine comforted.

"Have you kids forgotten about the bigger problem?" Iago exclaimed. "Jafar, remember?"

Carpet soared to a higher altitude and leveled off.

"Iago, I don't think Jafar is back. He couldn't be." Aladdin told him.

The Citadel came into view and they lowered to the only lit window. It was a large room with a tall, thin window that gave an idea view of the stars. Looking inside, Aladdin and the others saw a large gun-like machine with the barrel pointed towards the window they looked through and Mozenrath with his back towards them, working on it.

"See what I told you?" Aladdin whispered. "It's just Mozenrath."

Genie sighed. "Who would have thought we would reach the familiarity level where we refer to him as 'just Mozenrath'."

"Hey, why isn't he wearing his gauntlet?" Jasmine asked.

"He isn't?" asked Aladdin. Jasmine pointed down to Mozenrath who had crouched down to hammer in a bolt. He was using both hands to use the hammer and it was apparent from his skeletal right hand that he, indeed, did not have his gauntlet. "That's strange. Why do you suppose—"

Jasmine quieted him as another voice surfaced from inside the room.

"Do you really rely so much on magic that you are hopeless without it?" Jafar walked into view. "Move faster! I have waited too long for this already!" he demanded.

"It's Jafar!" Iago exclaimed loudly. Genie pinched his beak and pulled him down below the windowsill.

"Quiet, or the scary man will catch us."

"But that's impossible!" Aladdin said in a low voice. "I thought genies die when they're lamps are destroyed."

Genie rubbed the back of his neck. "Apparently he friend instead of died. I guess it doesn't kill genies." He slapped a big blue hand to his face. "Wow! If I was wrong about that, what else could I be missing? What color am I? I don't know anymore!"

Jasmine quickly covered Genie's mouth. Genie smiled sheepishly.

"So what's the plan?" she asked.

"I don't know yet," Aladdin replied. "I suppose it depends on their relationship."

"Like who's controlling who." Iago finished.

"Exactly."

Mozenrath was finishing on the machine. Building without his gauntlet was grueling. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. Jafar walked up behind him.

"Are you quite finished?" the genie asked.

Mozenrath got to his feet. "All but one part and I need my gauntlet for it."

Jafar frowned at him and aimed his hand at him threateningly. "Remember, boy." He warned.

"I'm not going anywhere." Mozenrath assured him cunningly.

Jafar pulled the gauntlet from his breast pocket and handed it to Mozenrath who slipped it on.

Mozenrath flexked his gloved hand and watched the gauntlet. He could feel its power course through him. "Finally," he muttered to himself.

Jafar turned away from him and clasped his hands behind his back, moving away to gaze at the large, glass container attached to the machine.

"Everything is perfectly in place." Jafar said. "Now for the power source." He placed his right hand on the glass. "How does one power such a weapon?"

Mozenrath hadn't taken his eyes off of the gauntlet. "I'll show you." He told him. Mozenrath whipped around, glove aglow; intending to imprison Jafar inside the glass and take back his kingdom. Jafar was ready, though. He spun as well and zapped him before he could. Jafar made Mozenrath disappear and then reappeared inside the glass container. This was bad. Jafar was going to use Mozenrath as his power source. But Mozenrath knew how much power his weapon required. He banged on the glass furiously.

"No!" he yelled.

Jafar laughed. "You fool! You thought you could trick me! Me! The most powerful being on earth!"

"Let me out, I command you!"

"Again with the commands!" Jafar crossed his arms, satisfied, against his chest.

Mozenrath hit the glass harder; he needed to get out.

Aladdin and the others watched, wide-eyed and listened intently.

Aladdin motioned everyone to listen. "Here's the plan. Stop Jafar and Mozenrath."

"But Aladdin, Mozenrath isn't doing anything!" Jasmine objected.

"Well, I'm not going to wait until he does." Aladdin replied, peering into the window again.

Jafar moved closer to the glass.

"You will power my machine and then I'll lock you up for the rest of your life in your own dungeon!" He laughed maniacally.

Mozenrath looked stunned. "But this machine was built to be powered by a genie." He protested. "It will kill me!"

Jafar touched the first lever. "Well then," he said with a sigh, "It was a pleasure doing business with you." He thrust it downward and the machine began to hum.

Mozenrath looked ghastly frightened. His outline began to glow blue and when he noticed, he hit the glass with his fists. "No!" he yelled in alarm.

"This is where we come in." Aladdin said. They swooped down in through the window, heroically.

Mozenrath, stunned, stopped banging for a moment. "Aladdin?" he asked, confused.

Jafar whirled around upon hearing them enter. "It can't be!" He hollered, shooting magic at them from his fingertips. Carpet easily dodged it.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own age?" Aladdin taunted.

Jafar growled in rage and shot at them again. As they swooped nearer Jafar, Aladdin leapt off the rug and tackled him to the ground, but he could not hold him for long because Jafar turned into sand and trailed quickly from under him. It slithered to the controls and materialized into Jafar again. Jafar grabbed the wheel that controlled position and turned it quickly towards Aladdin. He grinned wickedly.

"Goodbye, Aladdin." He said. He laughed maniacally and pulled the lever.

Mozenrath hollered and arched backwards from the pain, the blue outline of his sparking and touching the inside of the glass. A blue-green ray shot from the barrel and Aladdin just barely rolled out of the way in time. The ray hit a chair instead and turned it to crystal.

Jafar growled, aimed, and shot again but Aladdin managed to dodge. Every time he shot, he only crystallized small things lying around the room. Mozenrath was hunched over, panting heavily. Jafar glared at him. "I thought you said this thing could crystallize an entire kingdom, you snively little brat!" he snarled.

Despite the fatigue, Mozenrath's eyes still flashed. "On genie-power it does, you pathetic excuse for a cadaverous oaf!"

"And this is what vocabulary is for." Iago chimed in.

Jafar held down a second lever which produced a stead stream of the ray. He continually trained the nozzle on Aladdin as he ran, creating a line of crystallized objects. The ray soon died, however, and when it did, Jafar looked angrily to Mozenrath. Mozenrath, though, did not return the look for he was on his hands and knees, greedily sucking in air.

Aladdin used this short pause in action to run to Genie.

"Genie! I have an idea how to beat Jafar! But I need a distraction; a big one!"

Iago crawled out from underneath a crystallized chair. "I've got a better one! Fly back out that window and go to Greece!"

Genie smiled confidently. "Distraction is my middle name!" he transformed into a giant blue dragon and faced Jafar.

"Hey, Jafar!" Genie called. "Who's the most powerful being on earth again?" He blew a stream of fire into the air. Carpet flew around Jafar's head, taunting him in its own silent way.

The rest of the heroes ran out of the room and down the hall. Everyone followed Aladdin, but only he knew where they were headed; the dungeon.

"So, what is this plan of yours?" Jasmine asked.

"Jafar's a genie, right? With a master." Aladdin answered.

"Yes. So?" Jasmine prodded.

"I didn't see his master there, did you?"

"Knowing Jafar, he probably bumped him off." Iago stated.

"No, he couldn't have," Aladdin countered. "because genies can't kill."

Jasmine caught onto his idea. "So whoever his master is now, must be locked up somewhere in Mozenrath's palace!"

"Exactly," Aladdin said. "And if we can get him to finish up his wishes, Jafar will be trapped inside his lamp again."

They turned a corner and went down another hallway.

"Great plan!" Iago squawked. "I like it! Very safe! One wrinkle; how will we find his master?"

"Hey, you guys! Wait!" a frantic voice called form the bottom of a staircase concealed between two pillars.

"Wrinkle ironed out." Said Iago.

They stopped and hurried down the stairs. At the bottom it was a wooden door with metal bars in the window. Jasmine looked through the window and saw Abis-mal chained to the opposite wall.

"Abis-mal is still Jafar's master?" she asked.

Aladdin unlocked the door with the keys hanging beside it and yanked open the door. "Looks like it." He said as he entered.

Genie hit the wall, blown by a blast of magic. He resembled charcoal, smoldering and black.

"Is that all you got, Snakey?" he asked groggily. "What have you been doing lately? Obviously not practicing!"

"Why, you impudent slob, I'll roast you alive!" Jafar shot fire from his fingertips.

Genie popped up on his feet with armor. The fire hit the armor and seemed to have no effect.

"Ha-ha!" Genie laughed. 'try to get through that!" His armor heated up until it was red. "Ah! Hot metal! Hot metal!" he exclaimed. A fire extinguisher poofed into existence beside him, he took it and sprayed himself all over with it.

Jafar laughed triumphantly and shot more fire at him.

Using his lock pick, Abu worked at freeing Abis-mal.

"So let me get this straight," Abis-mal began. "you came to free me so I can run into the room with Jafar and that creepy kid with the bone hand and then you want me to wish my last wish?"

"Yes." Aladdin answered.

"That's the idea." Jasmine added.

Abis-mal's chubby mouth turned down at the corners. "Why should I help you, Aladdin? You, who foiled my plans time and time again, destroying every hope and dream I ever had." He sniffled.

"We're not the ones who locked you up." Aladdin replied.

"Yeah, good point." Abis-mal agreed. "And I really haven't gotten any good wishes out of that rotten genie yet. I have been thinking up a doozy of a wish."

The shackles were unlocked and Abis-mal rubbed his wrists. Xerxes became excited.

"Xerxes come too! Xerxes hate being stuck to the wall!" he hollered, struggling.

"No way!" Aladdin told him.

Jasmine looked at him compassionately. "But Aladdin—"

Aladdin cut her off. "Jasmine, we have who we came for. Now let's go back to the observatory before Jafar makes French fries out of Genie."

Jasmine frowned, turned on her heel and stomped off out of the room and out of sight.

"What's wrong with your girlfriend?" Abis-mal asked.

"I don't know," Aladdin answered, though he had a hunch. "Come on."

Abis-mal followed him with Abu and Iago out of the cell.

Genie fell to the floor, a black and smoking mass.

"Wow, I think I went sunbathing too long," he coughed.

Jafar upturned his hand and a ball of blue fire ignited. "Lights out, genie!" he laughed maniacally until he was thrown off balance when something furry flew up through his pant leg and into his sleeve. Abu popped his head out of his collar and scurried back down through his pant leg, this time holding the lamp! "The lamp!"

He shot at Abu, who just barely dodged it. He shot again and Abu screeched. The monkey tripped over the edge of a rug and the lamp sailed out of his grip and slid across the floor. Jafar began to laugh, but stopped dead upon seeing his master.

"What?" he demanded incredulously.

Abis-mal took the lamp in his hands with an authoritative smile. "I wish…" everyone watched intently. "I had…" Jafar coiled his arm, preparing to shoot. "A full heade of luscious hair!"

Jafar pulled at the sides of his turban in dismay.

"You imbecile!" he bellowed. "You dare waste your final wish on that? A wish that should have been my freedom?"

Abis-mal crossed his arms confidently, glad to finally be the master of his genie. "I'm waiting…"

Jafar grabbed his own wrist to stop himself, but he couldn't do it. He zapped Abis-mal's head and thick, healthy black hair grew instantly. As soon as he did so, the lamp began pulling him. He grabbed hold of the nearest lever on the machine to stop himself from returning to the lamp, but it was no use. The lever dropped and he was pulled back inside the lamp. The machine's hum grew louder and louder.

"What is happening?" asked Jasmine.

Mozenrath was terrified. "He moved the lever to an incredibly high scale! It will crystallize my entire palace!"

"That's a good thing," Iago said. "Why should we care?"

Jasmine flashed an angry glare at the bird. "Iago!"

"Because I don't have enough power in me to crystallize a palace! It will—Ahh!!" Mozenrath was cut short when his outline exploded into sparks of electricity. His outline became a blinding blue that nearly filled the glass bulb. He arched backwards in pain.

Aladdin was motionless.

Jasmine looked dumbfounded. "Aladdin, what are you doing?"

"Maybe Iago's right." Was all he replied.

"What?!" Jasmine exploded.

"Al!" Genie exclaimed. "Do you know how painful it is to be a battery? Terrible! Especially since he'll go dead forever!"

Aladdin said, thoughtfully. "I know it sounds sadistic, but think about it! Mozenrath and his fortress will be gone. Think of how much he's hurt us, Jasmine." He turned to Genie. "Especially you! We didn't really expect him to stay alive forever, did we? Didn't you ever thing that, eventually, we would conquer him for good?"

Jasmine laid a hand on Aladdin's shoulder. "But this is not the right way," she said softly. "He did nothing wrong and if we go around killing off our foes just because they are our foes, then we are no better than Mozenrath."

Aladdin looked down for a moment. "You're right." he agreed. "All of you. Except you, Iago."

Iago flinched. "What? Why the isolation?"

"We need to move fast!" Aladdin said. "Jasmine, take Abis-mal and the others to a safer place. I'll stay behind with Genie and get Mozenrath out."

Jasmine grabbed Aladdin's arm just as he was about to turn away. "We're not going anywhere." Abu and Carpet nodded in agreement.

"Well I am!" exclaimed Abis-mal. He dropped the lamp and ran out the door. "Sianara!"

Iago flew to Jasmine's shoulder. "I figure I'd better stick around too. Moral support."

"Hurry up, will you!" Mozenrath managed to snarl.

Aladdin and genie ran to the glass.

"Do you think you can break it?" Aladdin asked.

"Think?" Genie asked, turning into a missile. "I know I can! Stand back, Al!" Aladdin stepped back and Genie launched straight through the center of the container, coming out the other side with Mozenrath unconscious in his arms.

The weapon began to make threatening noises that everyone understood.

"It's gonna blow!" Aladdin exclaimed, running towards the door. "Everyone, get out of here!"

The machine began to expand and everyone ran for the door. They made it out just before the weapon exploded. Once all was quiet, they went back in; the entire room from floor to ceiling had been turned to blue-green crystal. Genie laid Mozenrath gently on the lfoor and knelt there.

"Will he be alright?" Aladdin asked.

Genie poofed himself into doctor gear and a stretched appeared beneath Mozenrath. He put his stethoscope in his ears and pressed the end of it to Mozenrath's chest.

"What do you know, he does have a heart." Genie commented. "Breathe in…" there was hardly any movement in his chest. "And breathe out…"

Genie lifted Mozenrath's eyelids and shone a light into his eyes. At first, they were unresponsive, but then his pupils focused on the light and he grunted, holding his left hand up to shield his eyes from the light. Genie made his doctor's equipment disappear.

Mozenrath looked around. "Aladdin?" he asked weakly. He struggled to a sitting position and pressed his gauntlet to his head. "Ugh…my head…"

"Yeah," Genie held his head as well. "Me too. That glass packs a punch."

Mozenrath furrowed his brow. "…you came to my rescue?"

"Why are you so surprised?" inquired Aladdin. "You asked us to come."

"Well, yes. But I didn't actually expect you." He replied. "…Why did you anyway? Oh! Stupid question. Agrabah."

"We came because of Agrabah but we saved you because it's right."

Genie placed his hands on his hips heroically. "Saving the innocent from danger wherever we go! It's our calling."

Mozenrath wobbly stood. "But I'm not innocent!"

"You were this time." Aladdin pointed out.

Mozenrath walked carefully to a lower window and leaned on it beforehis legs gave way again. He stared out at the night.

"Mozenrath," Jasmine said calmly, "we saved your life in hopes that, one day, you might use it for good."

"That will never happen, Princess." He replied quietly as he looked down at his gauntlet. "All the same," he spoke up, "I am relieved to be out of that Jafar's clutches."

Genie snapped his fingers. 'Hey, that reminds me…" he picked up Jafar's now crystallized lamp. He tied it to a giant arrow and shot the arrow out of the large window with an even larger bow. Jafar's yells of protest vibrated in the air as he sailed to the ends of the earth.

Mozenrath watched it until it had gone out of sight. When it had, he suddenly commanded them to leave.

Aladdin stood indignantly. "We just saved your life and your kingdom. Don't we even get a thank you?"

Mozenrath turned to face them. "I am letting you go free. How much more of a thank you do you want?" he turned back to the window.

Jasmine laid a hand on Aladdin's forearm. "Come on, Aladdin. That's all he can manage." Aladdin sighed and followed her out.

"Who knows?" Iago squawked making the tail of their group. "Maybe next time you'll get a hug from the kid."

"I wouldn't count on that!" Mozenrath hollered, though they had already gone out of earshot.

Mozenrath sighed and watched the dawn approaching over the black sand dunes, letting his active, questioning mind wander. A little out of breath, Xerxes flew in the room.

"Aladdin and friends at main gate! Still time to trap them!" he exclaimed.

"Let them go, Xerxes." Mozenrath commanded in a low voice.

"What?!"

"Let them go." He watched their figures come into sight. "They deserve a safe ride home this morning."

Xerxes was thoroughly confused, but he trusted his master. So he shrugged it off and settled down onto Mozenrath's shoulder. Mozenrath thoughtfully stroked the eel's head as they both watched the silhouette of a genie and two people on a magic carpet flying into the sunrise.

The End