Aladdin And The Lord Of The Black Sands

(A/N: The idea ingrained itself in my mind. When I was young I liked this show. My favorite villain was Mozenrath. His and Aladdin's rivalry made the episodes for me. I can't say much without ruining the story except for enjoy. And trivia, apparently the merchant in the first Aladdin movie and the last one was originally going to be revealed as Genie. If that's true it answers my questions on why he was there. Saleen is only a cameo in this story. Based on the rumor that for the third movie Mozenrath was planned to be the villain, not Saluk.)

They Live

The remainder of the Forty Thieves struggled to stay afloat as their ship sank deep into the depths of the sea, now solid gold. "We will never get out," the Asian one mourned aloud, though his fear and despair were hidden by the anger and annoyance he forced into his tone. The fat one floated by on his back crying. The Asian watched him pass then swam alongside him. He climbed aboard this buoyant convenience as soon as he could.

"We should have stayed loyal to Cassim!" the triplets lamented.

The snake charmer, looking helpless, saw his instrument floating by. His eyes lit up and he grinned evilly. He seized the instrument and was about to play when the swordsman said, "How do you expect that to work without your basket?" The snake charmer frowned and let the instrument down. He looked about for his basket but saw nothing. He couldn't keep this up much longer. He knew that of all of them he was physically the weakest. The swordsman smirked then took from behind his back, the charmer's basket! He chuckled saying, "I managed to grab the first buoyant thing I could. Look what it was lucky enough to be."

The charmer's face lit up, but then fell. "That's nice, but I need something to float on. My legs are no longer strong enough to keep me above water without the aid of my hands. I've been in the water too long."

Just then the fat one floated by laughing at something the Asian had said. The two were bitterly smiling. The Asian had taken pity on his friend and told him a funny story to lighten the situation. "Good one," the fat one said.

"Hmm, problem solved," the charmer added. He placed the instrument in his mouth. The swordsman caught on. The two began swimming to the fat one. The triplets watched curiously.

"What are they planning?" one asked, the first.

"I'm not sure," the middle one replied.

"They must have some plan. Just wait," the third finished.

The charmer and swordsman suddenly climbed on top of the fat one making both he and the Asian cry out. The Asian fell into the water but then clambered back on, scowling. The swordsman, sitting cross legged facing the feet of the fat one, placed the basket on the stomach. The charmer, facing the head and sitting cross-legged too, gladly sighed in relief, happy to be out of the water then began to play, summoning the rope. He rode it to the top. Happily the swordsman followed. The triplets had swum over and grabbed the rope also. The Asian and fat one looked at each other in surprise. The Asian shrugged then followed. The fat one let the basket into the water to float then grabbed the rope, relieved. The group allowed the waves to carry them towards some nearby shore. Hopefully, Agrabah.

Meanwhile, the ship steadily sank into the depths of the sea with Midas' hand still aboard. "Why hadn't the sea turned to gold you ask?" said the merchant as his face appeared. Letting the scene return he answered, "Well, the sea gods sensed the threat to their domain and prevented the hand from working its magic. Not even a genie can defy the immortals."

Soon the ship reached the bottom of the ocean. The disturbance it caused awakened a beautiful young creature, an elemental, from her slumber against a rock. Annoyed she let her hand come away from her resting face and looked over. "What is it now?" she wondered aloud. She looked at her sleeping octopus guardian and sharply ordered, "Armand, wake up!" The octopus jolted awake then looked sulkily at her like a child just awakened from a good dream. "We have a disturbance."

The octopus' gaze hardened. He growled then began forward, following his mistress. "A golden ship?" Saleen asked. "Now how did that get here?" Armand shrugged in confusion. "Hmm…" she mused as she swam around the object of curiosity.

She had only gone a little ways across the deck when she caught sight of it and gasped, hands covering her mouth. "Impossible!" she exclaimed as she swooped down and lifted it up. "The hand of Midas!" she exclaimed in shock. She then held it close to her chest and let out a wicked laugh. She lifted it high to admire it then asked, "Now, who do you suppose put it here?" Armand 'scowled.' She chuckled then continued, "Aladdin, my thoughts exactly. Well, no use letting it go to waste." She laughed again. With that she used her powers to hurl it from the sea and far onto land.

Somewhere in the desert a man was walking and muttering angrily to himself. Abis-Mal was remembering all the times Aladdin had foiled his plans. How had he failed so many times? "Stupid Aladdin with his stupid genie, and his stupid monkey, and his stupid bird, and the princess, and that annoying carpet! He's foiled me for the last time!" Abis-Mal growled as he punched his fist into his hand. Just then he heard something falling and looked up only to gasp and accidentally catch it, juggling it a moment before finally getting a firm grasp on the wood.

On seeing what it was he gasped. Forgetting the gold it was made of, which was rare for him, he cried, "The hand of Midas!" He knew its powers. What self-respecting thief didn't? Immediately he sobered. He ponderously stroked his chin thinking aloud, "This thing is so powerful it's not even funny." His eyes brightened. His scheming evil look returned. He rubbed his hands together, respectively considering he still held the hand, then continued speaking to the sands saying, "I could use this power to become the richest man alive! I could turn anything I want into gold! Anything! People, buildings, cats…" he gasped as he realized greedily, "sand!"

He chuckled his greedy excited chuckled then knelt down to touch the sand with the hand, but just before he did, he froze. "Aladdin… I could use this hands power to destroy Aladdin and his friends! Then I can take over Agrabah with Aladdin and company all mere decorations in my palace and out of the picture! Agrabah will be mine!"

Unbeknownst to him, from elsewhere, watching through a magic mirror like image he'd conjured up, the spy said, "My sentiments exactly."

"Huh, Mozenrath want desert to be gold?" the eel like thing asked.

"Hush Xerxes, not the desert. I want Agrabah to be mine, and Aladdin to be kaput!" Mozenrath shot, seizing the eel by the respective neck. "But our little fat friend, this, Abis-Mal, wants to be the one to destroy Aladdin and take over Agrabah instead of me. That's supposed to be my goal. Well, we can't have that, can we?"

"No way," Xerxes replied with an evil expression followed by his laugh.

Mozenrath laughed along. "Fetch boy," he ordered Xerxes. Xerxes hastily started off, chuckling. "Aladdin will finally fall, and I will at last be able to become, all powerful!" Mozenrath cried out. He began to laugh.