Chapter Twenty-Three: Realm Zone – 1992
The Sultan was so thrilled by Jafar’s new “bride” that he canceled any plans he had for arranging a meeting for a suitor with Jasmine (Ciciley) and dedicated the rest of the day to celebrating and getting to know Dawn. The woman who Ciciley personally knew as Joanie Navarro was sharing dinner with her, Jafar, and the Sultan, sitting on the floor around a table decorated with the finest Arabian tableware. Ciciley was in no mood to eat anything in front of her; she was squarely focused on Dawn, trying to figure out what had become of her mother. Was it an effect of the unusual mishap that occurred with Bunsen’s machine – similar to what happened with her?
“Jasmine, is there anything wrong, my dear?” The Sultan questioned.
Ciciley snapped out of her focus and looked to the Sultan, appearing slightly off-course. “I-I’m sorry?”
“You haven’t touched your dinner since we’ve sat down.”
Ciciley looked down upon the meal – a piece of roasted pork with a few chopped vegetables – made with the greatest delicacy she had ever seen (only the best for royalty). She smiled and picked up her fork, poking into one of the vegetables. “I’m fine, Father. I was just…admiring Jafar’s new bride.”
Jafar grinned with wicked satisfaction. “Yes, she is rather wond…”
He stopped as soon as he turned to Dawn and noticed what everyone else suddenly noticed along with him:
Dawn brushing her hair with her fork. It was the most peculiar thing Jafar and the Sultan had ever seen; Ciciley, on the other hand, had seen it done before by Ariel in
The Little Mermaid. Not only was Joanie taking on an entirely different persona, but she was mimicking actions done by another Disney character. Ciciley could not help but to be a little amused, yet she maintained caution to stay focused on whatever was happening.
After giving her hair a good brush with the fork, Dawn cleaned the strands of red hair off of it and used the utensil to eat her dinner next. Jafar was bemused and disgusted by the bizarre action. Clearing his throat and trying to regain constitution, he continued, “Yes, she is rather…wonderful.”
Ciciley figured it was time to finally get to the bottom of the mystery. She asked Dawn, “So…how long have you and Jafar known each other?”
“We are soul mates, Princess Jasmine.” Dawn remarked. “From our perspective, Jafar and I have known each other for centuries. You might call it…reincarnation.”
Her words sounded incredibly symbolic to Ciciley, as if Joanie somewhat knew what had happened to her. Ciciley hoped that she did, or her solution to this problem would be met with much difficulty. “Well, I’m certainly
happy for you two.” Her words were forced with mocked delight; she had to sell the moment long enough to throw Jafar and the Sultan off. As far as Ciciley was concerned, no other characters within that realm had anything to do with the matter.
“So when shall the wedding be, Jafar? I-I mean, that is to say, should I prepare a ceremony for the people of Agrabah to attend?” Sultan suggested, sounding very giddy and nervous all at once.
“There is no need, Your Majesty.” Jafar rejected. “Dawn and I shall hold a private ceremony in your throne room…tomorrow!”
Ciciley was taking a sip from her cup at the moment the sudden proclamation was made, and she choked on the red liquid, coughing loudly before everyone. Greatly concerned, the Sultan looked to her and asked, “Jasmine, are you all right?”
Gasping for air, Ciciley answered in a low voice, “Fine…Father.”
A loud boom sounded from outside the palace, and everyone turned to the nearby window to see dark clouds emerging from the horizon, lightning streaking out from them. “Oh, dear,” the Sultan uttered, “there is quite a storm on the approach.”
Dawn’s bright blue eyes focused hard on the stormy clouds as she quietly added, “And someone’s coming with it.”
“What was that, my bride?” Jafar curiously asked.
She looked away from the window and to Jafar with zero emotion showing on her face. “Nothing, my love. Nothing at all.” Even Jafar was slightly struck cold from the emotionless stare she was giving him. For a brief moment, he began to have doubts about this young woman he found in the desert, brought to the palace with him, and committed to showing her the dark arts of sorcery. Once a girl who had no memory of herself, she was suddenly finding a personality all on her own.
Ciciley observed the exchange between Jafar and Dawn; she knew something was up, especially from the weird statement that Dawn muttered.
Who was coming with the storm?
~~~~~~~~~~
The fierce storm loomed over the desert regions outside of Agrabah. Intense winds blew through the area, kicking up large portions of sand. Lightning streaked across the sky, emitting brief flashes of light over the dim atmosphere. Any close observers would see that it was no regular storm; it was more intense. Certain bolts of lightning were close to the ground, striking bits of sand.
Finally, one giant bolt of lightning hit one particular dune, creating an eruption of sand. However, sand was not the only thing that erupted from the impact; human and Muppet bodies soared as well. Kermit, Scooter, Gonzo, Fozzie, Robin, Bobo, and Bean arrived at the scene with Joie and Jasmine, all of them wearing hooded Arabian cloaks. One other was added to the fray as well, and that was Sean, wearing his own cloak. Everyone was scattered not very far from each other over the sandy plain.
Joie was the first one to get to her feet, but it was quite a chore in doing so. She felt dizzy and her vision was slightly hazy. Once things started to come in focus, Joie looked across the plain to see Sean get to his own feet; a huge smile suddenly grew on her face upon seeing him. “Bro!” she exclaimed, running directly to him. Taking him by total surprise, she tackled him back to the sand and practically squeezed the life out of him. “I oughta
kill you for makin’ Gina and me worry so bad about you!”
Sean fought to get air back into his lungs. “You’re…doing…a good job…of that…
already!”
Joie let go of him and looked into his eyes; unfortunately, that was when the smile faded from her face and a heavy frown emerged. “You
ain’t my lil’ bro!”
“Really…what gave it away?” Sean asked, albeit with a hint of sarcasm.
“You have brown eyes;
he has one blue and one green.” Joie gazed upon Sean with confusion and slight interest. “Who
are you, man?”
“My name’s Sean…or, to you, ‘Sean of Earth Prime’.”
“Yeah, I’ll stick wit just ‘Sean,’ thank you.”
As the two of them got to their feet, Sean shook his head in disbelief and uttered, “Man! How many of you are there?”
“Huh?” Joie exclaimed.
Before Sean had a chance to explain, he and Joie heard the others moaning as they sat up. The first person Sean noticed in the group was Ciciley (Jasmine). He ran to her as she got up and asked, “Sis! Cici! Are you okay?”
“Cici?” She said, looking up at him. “My name is Jasmine. But I am okay, just…a bit stunned.”
Sean stared at her, looking completely baffled, until Joie cleared things up for him. “Uh, yeah. She’s been flipped by this radiation or somethin’ from that lil’ lemon-headed dude’s machine. She thinks she’s Princess Jasmine.”
“Oh, boy.” Sean lowered and shook his head in distraught. “The same thing happened to my mother, who is the reason I’m here right now.”
“You mean Joanie thinks she’s a Disney character, too?” Robin inquired, listening in on the exchange from a couple of feet away while being checked upon by his uncle.
Sean nodded. “At least she did before being sent here. According to Brandy, she’s lost at least seventy-eight of her brainwaves, which can only mean she has partial amnesia.”
“Who’s Brandy?” Bean asked.
“Yeah, and what does ‘amnesia’ mean?” Bobo added.
Seeing the two Muppet characters, Sean reacted in great displeasure. “What’re
you two doing here? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to even be in this place?”
“Well…Pepe
did try to tell us that.” Bean sheepishly said.
“And you didn’t listen to him?”
Bobo and Bean responded to that question with bizarre expressions, which led Sean to rethink whom he was talking about.
“Oh, yeah. Right.”
“Well, we’re all here anyway,” Scooter indicated, “so we might as well just stick together as much as we can.” He then stared up to the stormy skies and added, “We’ll definitely need to, if we’re gonna escape this horrible storm.”
The others looked upward as well, seeing the storm that appeared somewhat unnatural. Sean looked back down to ground level and saw the endless miles of dunes surrounding them. “There’s no way we’ll be able to find Agrabah in the middle of all this.”
“I’ve traveled these deserts with my father in our royal caravan many times in the past.” Jasmine revealed. “I know
exactly how to get us there. Follow me.”
The group did as the princess requested and followed her lead. As they had done so, Joie grinned and muttered, “Glad we brought her along after all.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
With Jasmine leading the entire way, the group arrived in Agrabah a lot sooner than anticipated. Upon their arrival, Sean urged the Muppets to cover their faces with the cloth from their cloaks to avoid unwanted attention from Agrabah residents. However, as they walked down one of the many streets within the enchanted city, hardly many citizens filled it. All of the residents were taking shelter from the approaching storm, which was the strongest one they had ever seen. Some of the residents, who were considered to be part of a lower class (known as “street rats”), were not able to take proper shelter; instead, they hid in the nearest secluded alley, bundling together to stay warm.
Jasmine looked on at the families – many of them large in size – forced to be on the street during the fierce storm; she felt like crying at the dismal sight of them. “This is horrible. These people shouldn’t have to be outdoors in this.”
“Those poor children.” Bean observed along with the princess. “Pepe was right, Bobo. This isn’t cute. This isn’t cute at all.”
“We can’t turn back now.” Kermit stated, pointing to the Sultan’s palace, which towered over all of Agrabah at the edge of the city. “Joanie’s got to be in there.”
A large boom sounded from the sky, alarming the group.
“Well, let’s move, before this storm gets any worse than it already is!” Sean suggested, urging the group to move down the street much quicker than before.
The group rushed down the street, passing through several residents rushing to their homes to hide from the storm. When they finally approached the massive double doors of the palace, they were met by the lawful hands of three palace guards – two standing at opposite ends of it and one at the center. The center one was the tallest and most muscular, speaking with a tone of authority while addressing the group. “Halt! No one is allowed in the palace without permission – especially no
street rats!”
Jasmine stepped forward and addressed the tough guard. “Captain, you
will let us inside.”
The captain guard laughed. “By whose order?”
“By order of
me…Princess Jasmine!”
The guards instantly busted out in laughter, pointing to Jasmine, whose persona did not appear to show through the form of Ciciley. Joie, seeing no point in trying to convince the guards of the truth, decided to take matters into her own hands. Moving faster than the naked eye, she charged at the captain of the guards and pinned his body against one of the doors. With fierceness in her voice, Joie demanded while face-to-face with the captain guard, “Let us in or I’ll bust you to pieces, dude!”
Before she knew it, Joie heard the sound of swords being unsheathed from left and right. Looking both ways, she noticed that the other two guards were pointing Arabian swords at her head. The captain guard arrogantly laughed, pushing Joie away from him and drawing out his own sword. “You’ll regret threatening me, street rat!”
Scooter shook his head with a groan, telling Joie, “You
had to go with the ‘direct approach,’ didn’t you?”
“Hey, it don’t work wit err-body, okay?” Joie remarked.
Before the guards could take action on the group, two small, red objects flew in from above and hit the two regular guards upon their heads. Another one soon appeared and struck the captain square in the face, splattering its contents all over his eyes and blinding him in the process. Taking advantage of the distraction, the group ran from the guards, moving
away from the palace, much to the chagrin of Robin. “Wait! What about Joanie?”
“Right now, I’d be much more concerned about
us, Robin!” Kermit exclaimed.
Not before long, a young, barefoot street urchin wearing a purple vest, white pants, and a small red fez appeared from the corner of a nearby alleyway just as the group approached. With him was a small and slender brown monkey wearing a red vest and hat with red at the top and purple at the bottom, observing the scene along with his human friend. Once the group was within earshot, the young man exclaimed, “Hey! Over here!” They stopped in their tracks and noticed him beckoning for them to follow. “This way!”
The group followed the young street urchin into the alleyway, which was dim enough to seclude themselves from the pursuing guards. As soon as they saw them pass by and continue down the street, unaware of their location in the alley, they knew for sure they were in the clear. Fozzie sighed in relief and showed his gratitude for the young man’s kindness. “Wow. Thanks, pal. You did us a
huge favor back there.”
“Yeah, you really saved our skins
and the hairs on them.” Gonzo added.
“I speak for all trillion of mine.” Bobo uttered.
The street urchin chuckled at the silliness in the gratitude that was shown to him. “No problem. I outran those guys this morning. You’d think the Sultan would hire better help these days.” He then extended his hand to Sean and said, “Name’s Aladdin. And this is Abu.” He gestured to the monkey on his shoulder, who screeched a happy greeting.
Sean, who was already familiar with the street urchin at the moment he saw him, shook his hand before gesturing to himself and the others. “I’m Sean and these are my friends Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter, Bobo, Bean, Robin, and Joie.”
Aladdin waved hello to the group, but he centered his focus on one particular person within it – Jasmine. However, it was not the Jasmine who Aladdin was supposed to have met, but rather an avatar of sorts. Approaching her, he said with an enchanting whisper, “And who is this?”
Jasmine smiled at the way he was staring into her/Ciciley’s eyes. “My name is Jas…”
“Ciciley!” Sean exclaimed, stepping right in between the two, his tall frame blocking Jasmine from Aladdin’s sight. “She is my sister…and she’s a little crazy.” He circled his finger around his ear for emphasis.
Listening to Sean, Jasmine grinned, clearly seeing how he was trying to stick her with an identity that was not her own. Of course, after the mishap with the palace guards, she knew it was probably for the best. Still, Jasmine was quite enthralled with the young street urchin who they just met. Aladdin’s bravery was unlike any the Princess of Agrabah had seen before.
“Well, it’s great to have met you all. You seem like decent people. That’s why Abu and I helped get you out of that jam with the apples we threw.” Aladdin stated, sharing a high-five with his monkey friend. “Why
did all of you try to get into the palace anyway?”
Sean knew that he could not reveal too much to Aladdin, so he made up the best lie he could think up. “Well, uh…we’re not from around here. We figured it wouldn’t hurt asking for…directions?”
The others shook their heads in disgust – it was the worst lie anyone could ever make up.
“You’ve gotta be a total idiot to buy that one.” Scooter whispered to Kermit, and the frog nodded heavily in agreement.
“Well, that makes sense to me.” Aladdin remarked, surprising everyone – including Sean himself. “But you really shouldn’t be out in the middle of this crazy storm. Abu and I have a place not very far from here. You all can take shelter there.” Abu screeched his displeasure with Aladdin’s offer, but Aladdin simply ignored all of it.
Sean masked gratefulness, doing his best to politely refuse Aladdin’s offer. “Oh, well, I don’t think…”
“We would
love to.” Jasmine stepped around Sean, making herself visible to Aladdin as she accepted the offer on behalf of everyone. She shot a dirty look at Sean, who did not seem very pleased.
“Great! This will be a lot of fun!” Aladdin said with a smile.
“Yeah,” Sean muttered, faking enthusiasm. “It’ll be a real blast.”
END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
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