Joker and Shantae ran along the Lost Prologue until they reached a portal of some kind, almost like an open door. It seemed like something out of science-fiction: a doorway to another dimension. Crossing over, they found themselves in some old ruins. Stepping outside revealed the duo was in a sandy location with palm trees and shrubs scattered all around. Various pools of water with more ruins and stone buildings were additionally in the landscape. In the distance the sun was setting. This was a place Shantae fondly called the "Sand Oasis". Appropriately named.
Joker didn't wait a second. Firing up, he bolted into the blazing heat, running across the surface of a pool of water. "First, let's find the king's palace!"
"Yes, let's hurry," Shahra reiterated.
Running across the water's surface kept him cool, but, even that wouldn't compensate for the water he'd lose in this heat. Reaching down with both hands, he was able to channel water up his arms and into his mouth while on the run by using a weak form of hydrokinesis taught to him by his teacher of the Yang style of Ta'i Chi Ch'uan back in his world. He would have to stay intensely hydrated throughout his stay here. Having drank as much as he could, Sonic continued to run towards the shore. Reaching solid ground, he bolted for a small trail leading through some foliage. Arriving at another body of water, he jumped and landed on a block of stone in the lake's center. While he glanced around for another route, two spears fired at his backside.
The speedster felt a buzzing in the back of his skull, right about where his hair is. Joker was highly keen to danger, aided by some kind of "sixth sense" which would alert him of incoming threats or surprise attacks.
Whoops! The wild card back-flipped over the two javelins, which impaled the rock where he once stood. Gazing in the direction of the attacks, he spotted two small humanoid monsters on a ledge ahead. Each looked similar to a cheap cloth ghost for Halloween but decorated with royal colors and Arabic text. The larger of the two even breathed fire.
"Erazor's henchmen!" Shantae pointed.
"Not to worry." Joker crouched and leaped towards the ledge. He then froze in midair as he began to somehow shoot himself at the smaller of the two djinns. Striking it with a kick, the fiend dissipated into Arabic text.
Well, that explains what happened to the words of this world...
Bouncing up from the impact, Joker jumped and bolted for the bigger henchman in a repeated blur. Although the evil spirit tried moving out of the way, Joker's attack followed the djinn's path, effectively destroying it.
Landing on the ledge, Joker looked down at Shantae, who was again surprised. "It's a sequential, enemy or object-seeking, aerial to land attack," he explained. "I call it an 'All-Out Attack' for simplicity's sake."
Joker jumped off the ledge to a higher stone platform. After running along it for a few minutes, he came across a small village in the Oasis.
"Just ahead is the king's palace," Shahra informed him.
Joker looked in the distance. "There it is! I see it!" He picked up the pace as the duo rushed for the palace gates.
Sonic and Shahra had been wandering about the palace for minutes calling for the sultan. The palace was empty like a ghost town. The silence was giving the speedster the creeps. Finally, after arriving in a large area with several large, clay water jars, Sonic stopped walking.
"Where is he...?" he asked. "Are we too late?"
—CRASH—
A jar toppled over and shattered.
Sonic whipped around.
Clay jars didn't fall by themselves.
He saw the reason: a six foot, eight inch, man who's attire is lavish to coincide with his kingly façade. His face is tanned with gold facial hair and bright sea blue eyes. The colors consist mostly of cream, gold, white, and bright sea blue. The outfit's appearance consists of a large cream cloth-materialized crown worn on his backside and pointed upwards leaving a hole behind the king's head, cream undergarments, and a matching top, with a white cape flowing down with a bright sea blue interior, just below his calves. The outfit is finished with gray-silver short boots.
An angry look came over Joker's face. "Who goes there?!"
The person then tried to reason with Joker. "Wait, young man! I am Shahryar, king of this land!"
Joker began to walk threateningly in his direction. "How am I supposed to know your not Erazor in disguise?"
Shantae flew in front of Shahryar. "Joker, wait! You're making a mistake! This is him. This is King Shahryar!"
Joker was shocked. "Wait, what? Really?!"
Shahryar was none the happier about being threatened and accused. "Guards! Seize this man at once!"
An awkward silence passed.
Shahra finally spoke. "Where are your men, Your Highness?"
"Oh, that's right," Shahryar remembered. "Let me explain... When the evil spirits came out of nowhere, everyone turned and ran. And I was stuck having to hide in that jar..."
—WHOOSH!—
Joker watched in shock as a featherless, bird-like creature snatched Shahryar off the ground and into the air, carrying him through the palace gates and out of sight. A pteranodon?! I thought those things were extinct!
Shahryar screamed as he was carried off. "Nooooooo!! Young one! Help meeeeeee!!"
The aerokinetic took a closer look at the living fossil. On its back was the Erazor Djinn who scoffed at the trickster's failed attempts to protect the sultan.
Oh, great. That explains a pterosaur in the palace kidnapping the king... Joker faced the doorway and crossed his arms. "Well, well. Guess it's time for a little action."
Where could they have gone? They can't have just disappeared into thin air... Joker and his genie companion had been running around the oasis for over thirty minutes and still no sign of the king. The Trickster stopped by a pool of water to hydrate himself again. When finished, he stood up and glanced to his left.
A young girl about eighteen years of age with a man was cornered against a building by two of Erazor's minions.
Joker quickly jumped for the fiends and smashed them into Arabic text, prompting the kid to let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank you! I thought I was done for!" the girl said gratefully. She is a blonde haired, tan skinned, brown eyed young woman wearing a color splashed outfit consisting of a blue and pink midriff baring huge bosom-holding bustier whose cups resembled Easter eggs, a royal purple hood and turquoise scarf wrapped around her head, a pair of white capris, and wood-brown boots. She had just finished feeding her giant sherbet colored avian friend. She was just removing the mud-brown handling glove from her left hand.
Joker stared at her for a few seconds. "Who are you?"
The lady did not understand. "Me? My name is Sky..."
Joker pointed a finger in the man's direction. "Wait! I know about you! Your Ali Baba Lupin the charter member of the infamous 40 Thieves."
Ali Baba revealed himself to Joker as he smiled.
"That's right. And by your skills... You're a Lupin from the future."
Shantae floated down and spoke to Ali Baba and Sky. "I'm very sorry. He seems to have mistaken you for someone else."
Sky smiled. "Oh, it's okay. I'm still very grateful that you saved us. I might not look strong, but I've still got some tricks up my sleeve. If you ever need our help in return it would be the least we could do to repay you."
"Thank you," Shahra replied as Joker got ready to search again. "If something comes up, we'll be sure to call you."
About an hour had gone by and still no sign of the sultan. Joker stopped by a whirlpool of sand to rest. Dehydrated and exhausted from the heat, he sat down on a rock.
Shantae glanced at him with concern.
"I'm fine," he explained. "I just need water."
Shantae created a flask of water and handed it to her master who was suffering from the glare of the sun. As Joker guzzled the cool liquid down, he asked her if there was a place that wasn't so dry and scorching. Her response was that there was a jungle about a mile to the east where ancient creatures thrived.
Joker finished draining the last of the fluid from the container. "Let's head there next. Shahryar might have been taken there."
The ground began to shake as the Trickster got to his feet. Off to the left, the whirlpool of sand began to sift and swirl.
"Joker, look!" Shahra pointed.
With one final rumble, a giant purple beast burst out of the dunes. It looked like a mutated scorpion with two tails, no pincers, and a set of huge eyes running up the tails and one on its back. One additional eye was inside the arachnid's massive, sharp-toothed jaws.
"Whoa! I take it that's not something you see every day, huh?" Joker stated.
"That must be a monster summoned forth by the Erazor Djinn."
"Shantae, can't you do something about it with your magic?"
Shantae's face saddened. "I'm sorry, Joker. My magic is no match for that of the Erazor Djinn..."
"Okay. Guess I'll have to deal with it the old-fashioned way. And hey, don't look so glum, Shahra. I'll have you smiling by the end of this. And that's not me ordering you as your master. That's a promise from a friend... From me to you." The Wild Card held out his red gloved pinky finger.
Shantae did the same and their fingers locked. "Yes... Alright..."
Joker began to stretch as Shahra sat down on a rock. "Okay! Let's do it!"
Shantae continued to stare at her finger. "A promise..." She looked on from the distance as Joker leaped into the fray to face the monster.
The Sand Scorpion leaped out of its hiding place and onto a dirt road, running up the trail with Joker in hot pursuit.
Okayyy, based on my experiences with villains, I'm guessing to smash the eyes as they are the only visible weak points.
The trickster jumped and sequentially hit the eyes all along the beast's left tail.
Raising its other stinger, the scorpion attempted to stop the blue streak's attacks.
Joker quickly stepped to the left, dodging the blow and smashing the rest of the eyes on its backside with his All-Out Attack.
The violet arachnid turned around, revealing its enormous toothy jaw. Trying to eat its enemy alive, the beast opened its mouth and lunged for the black blur.
Joker stopped on a dime and kick-launched into the scorpion's mouth, effectively destroying the final eye.
The monster let out a screech of pain and fell to the ground, dead, slowly dissipating into Arabic text.
Joker stared at his fallen adversary. "Sorry but you were in my way."
As the final bits of black characters faded from the spot, a large yellow ring like the ones binding an old-fashioned book came into view. The ring had some kind of thick, white Middle-Eastern-themed etching on it.
Shantae floated beside her master. "There it is, Joker!"
The Trickster stared at the strange yellow band. "So, that's..."
"This must be one of the seven World Rings the Erazor Djinn spoke of." Shantae reached for it. Her hand passed through the object as if it was a hologram. "What...? I... I can't pick it up..."
Joker cautiously reached for it himself. He was successful in grabbing it, but the very second he did so, it gave him a powerful jolt of yellow electricity. "Ow! What the—?"
Shantae quoted a segment from the book as the electrocution stopped, "'When darkness descends upon the Arabian Nights, the legendary black clothed Trickster from another world shall come.'"
Joker felt unusually happy after hearing Shahra call him a legend. "Me? Legendary? You've got to be kidding. You're going to make me blush!"
Shahra continued to quote the passage. "'When the seven the seven rings that control the worlds are gathered, the portal between the worlds shall open... But the life of the collector of the rings shall be offered up in sacrifice as the key for that control.' That is what is written in the newest chapter of the Arabian Nights."
Joker couldn't believe his ears. "Say what?! I'm supposed to be a sacrifice?!"
"That I cannot say for sure, but I do believe these rings hold the key to unlocking some sort of mystery and that we need to collect them to get to the bottom of the mystery."
The phantom thief pressed a finger to the flame in his chest. "Well, considering I still have this arrow in me to deal with, I guess I'm in a pinch either way, right?"
Shantae lowered her head. "I'm sorry. It's my fault all of this is happening to..."
Her apology was interrupted by her master's laughter. "Hey, don't worry about it. Besides, don't you know how fast I am?" The black trickster took off running towards the jungle once more. "Time may fly, but I'm even faster!"
Joker continued to speed on toward the jungle, still holding the Yellow World Ring. Lifting the band up, he asked Shantae how they would be able to hang onto all seven since he brought no backpack or satchel.
The benign genie snapped her fingers.
The ring on Sonic's hand and the yellow band both glowed brightly. As the light faded, the speedster noticed the World Ring was gone. "What the—?! Oh, man! I've lost it!"
"Calm down. It is safely stored inside my own ring for protection. When you need any of the World Rings, just rub mine and they will appear again," Shantae explained.
"Oh, good. No worries, then."
Ten minutes later, the duo finally reached a tunnel hewn into a massive rock face. Passing through the stone cavern led them to their destination. Joker, based on the pteranodon he had seen earlier, guessed that the "ancient creatures" Shahra spoke of earlier were dinosaurs and that this was a "Dinosaur Jungle". Stepping out of the tunnel and into broad daylight, Joker took a deep breath of fresh air from the forest. The smell of leaves and trees reminded him of the island on which he was born. All the sunshine, clear skies, beautiful scenery, and—
—RUMBLE—
—earthquakes?
The ground shaking snapped the aerokinetic out of his daydream. Looking down, he noticed he was on a trail and that a plume of dust was coming from the distance. As it got closer, he noticed three large animals, each bigger than a rhino, were charging straight for him.
"Uh, Shantae, w-what are those?" he asked nervously, backing away slowly.
"They're Triceratops... and they're very angry. Get out of the way! Fast!"
Joker bolted down the trail, leaves slapping him in the face left and right. Glancing behind him, he noticed that the three-horned behemoths were closing in fast. "Wh-what did I do?!"
Shantae didn't even have answers. "I don't know. Just run!" She pointed to a wooden walkway in the distance. "If you can make it across the bridge down the path, you should be safe!"
The Trickster increased his acceleration and made a beeline for a log bridge one hundred meters ahead. A massive waterfall was flowing beside it cascading underneath.
Joker reached the bridge and slowed his pace down, almost coming to a full stop. Whew! Okaaayyy, that was an experience...
A near-fatal mistake.
He looked up just in time to see a huge log tumble over the waterfall straight for his location.
"Wha—?! NOOOOOOO!" Joker yelled as the trunk smashed the bridge under his feet, sending him sailing over the falls.
"Come on, aquakinesis! Work with me, here!" The black trickster tried frantically to create strong wirlpool that would slow his fall.
If I get out of here in one piece, I'm going to go back to my Shifu for training!
Helpless, Joker looked for anything available to slow his fall or even catch it. He spotted the tree trunk sailing down the current of the waterfall. The falls were almost like a waterslide at an amusement park, only much steeper. Seeing his only chance at some form of safety, he straightened his body like a javelin and aimed for the cascading tree trunk, skydiving. Almost there! Just a little further...
The log sailed out of his range as the falls took a detour to the right.
NO!
As he fell, Joker looked down to the base of the mountain. Sharp stone spikes extended from the ground up. He was capable of surviving a high fall, possibly even atmospheric re-entry, but not from impaling.
The black trickster started to panic. "Oh-man-oh-man-oh-man!"
Frantically reaching into his pocket, the aerokinetic pulled out a small mechanical device and strapped it to his wrist. Pressing a trigger extending from the machine with his middle and ring fingers, the trickster shot out a stream of an artificial adhesive that became solid and tacky when exposed to air. The substance constantly emitted a bright blue glow regardless of form, fluid or solid. It was like the entire cord was made up of a solid form of light. The end of the tacky cable latched on to the log and Joker tugged on it with all the strength he had. Sailing in the direction of the falls, he managed to pull himself onto the floating tree trunk and the closest thing to safety.
Breathing heavily from the shock, Joker held on tightly, still frozen in fear. "I never. Want to do that. Again... That was way too close..."
Shantae couldn't help but laugh. She had never seen him get that scared before. "Um, Jackie, can't you swim?"
The trickster replied with a still-shaky voice. "I can, but not when I'm falling down to water..."
"Oh. I see."
When the log reached the base of the falls, it followed a small river leading to a large lake. At the lake's shore was a large tunnel made of stone. Joker hopped off the log and went inside. The cave had a few cracks in the ceiling and walls letting some light in.
The back of his skull vibrated as a faint growl was heard. The Wild Card was instantly put on edge.
"Uh, my hair is starting to tingle again..."
—CHOMP!—
A massive pair of jaws belonging to a tyrannosaur broke the rock wall ahead of him. The beast had apparently smelled fresh meat and heard the noise made by his footsteps.
"Whoa! What's the old saying? Out of the frying pan—" Joker said, hiding from his attacker's mouth.
"—and into the fire," Shantae continued. "That about sums it up."
Well, it's now or never! Joker waited a few more seconds and made a run for it. Escaping the dinosaur's gaping maw and the rocky tunnel, he saw a tall hill in the middle of a green, grassy plain. No carnivores or angry herbivores were in sight, so he viewed it as a safe haven. Firing up his aura again, he bolted for the mound.
Maybe I'll get a better view from the top.
The two had been gazing over the landscape from the grassy peak for several minutes, hoping to spot a clue of some kind. But the clue wouldn't come from the land.
In the skies above, the screech of a pterosaur was heard.
Sonic looked up.
King Shahryar was in the winged reptile's beak.
"Please! Frizzy man!" Shahryar yelled from above. "Save me!"
Joker simply crossed his arms.
Shantae looked on helplessly as the pteranodon opened its beak and dropped the king. Shahryar screamed as he fell down past the hill's line of sight.
The genie closed her eyes. She didn't want to see this.
The screaming abruptly stopped.
She opened her eyes again.
Joker, at the last split-second, had managed to snag the edge of the sultan's coat with the toe of his pointed shoe, breaking the king's fall, still crossing his arms and looking at the sky, slyly.
Shahra breathed a sigh of relief.
Shahryar clambered up onto solid ground and kissed joker's boots multiple times, grateful. "How can I ever thanks you? Treasure? Or perhaps a woman of great beauty!"
A sarcastic tone escaped Joker's mouth. "Okay! That's enough!"
Shantae spoke to the king. "Your Highness, where did that spirit go?"
"Just as I feared," Shahryar pointed across another large lake. "He's gone ahead to that castle. And it seems more minions are being assembled."
Joker looked in the direction of the king's finger. "Castle?"
Shantae explained. "There's a giant fortress just ahead. It's a relic from an ancient kingdom."
The Phantom Thief and his genie companion were making their way around the lake when a large green ring was spotted in the grass.
Joker threw on the brakes and walked up to it. "Hey, look at that."
"It's another one of the seven World Rings," Shantae confirmed.
As her master picked it up, he was electrocuted again, this time with green energy. "Yeow! This power...!"
The jolting stopped as quickly as it had started.
Shantae noted his mention of power. "This must be what has driven the spirits mad. I think... It is only recently that they have been behaving this way."
Filled with hatred for the evil spirits and their creator, the black trickster spoke up, staring at the ring in his hands. "Well, I think I've had just about enough of this..." His expression changed to a softer one as he looked at Shantae. "Speaking of which, as Genie of the Ring, could I ask you for a favor?"
The genie bowed with a smile. "Oh, Master, your wish is my command."
Joker pressed a finger to the Arrow of Flame. "Do you think you could take this judgment thing out of my chest for me?"
Shantae's face faded into sadness and disappointment once again. "I am sorry..."
"Hey, no worries. Cheer up!"
Shantae's visage now bore confusion. "Hm?"
Joker smiled, giving her a thumb up. "Don't sweat it! After all, no adventure is fun if it's too easy, right? Although, it would have been nice if your magic did work in any case. Okay, then, let's keep going."
Shantae agreed and the duo set off again toward the ancient fortress.
A giant metal fortress was what appeared to stand in front of the black phantom thief. Opening the massive iron doors, the trickster stepped inside, finding himself in a large, long, alabaster stone hallway. Joker instinctively took the left route. After a few seconds of running another spirit was spotted. This one had an unusual appearance: mechanical in nature, almost like a crude, giant, primitive robot. The minion was at least twice his height.
"Whoa! Who's the big guy?" Joker asked.
"It's a Golem Djinn. I've never seen one get that big before," Shantae stated, equally surprised at the spirit's height.
The two managed to sneak their way past the robotic guard using iron barrels of oil as cover. Running deeper into the palace let them to another tunnel-like area with metal wire grid for the flooring. A river of molten lava was flowing directly underneath the speedster.
"This isn't just some old fortress," Joker muttered. "The whole place is a giant furnace! Talk about an 'Evil Foundry'..."
Shantae agreed. "That would be an appropriate name for this place..."
"If there were water in this place, you wouldn't have to worry about getting a Turkish bath here."
Joker started to run through the fiery corridor. Sweat was forming profusely on his forehead and arms.
Shantae was discomforted by the intense heat. This place made the oasis feel like a windy mountain peak. "The air is so hot in here," she moaned.
Her master teased her briefly. "You're not going to evaporate, are you, Shantae?"
"Ha-ha. Very funny."
The two laughed and proceeded down the hallway. Another minute or so of running and the duo wound up in the heart of the fortress, their only pathway being a strip of iron walkway leading to a massive, tube-shaped, enclosed metal room. The floor of the giant container was completely covered and filled almost to the circular, iron balcony with molten lava and magma. A deep, deadly lake of flames in the heart of the Evil Foundry.
Joker felt the ground shake again as he moved toward the furnace. Sensing something wrong, he bolted for the room's entrance. Bursting in, he found his adversary hovering above the lake of fire casting spells.
"It's him!" he pointed. "What's he doing here?!"
Shantae was none the calmer. "He's calling more spirits!"
"Spirits?!"
Erazor Djinn began chanting, calling forth his latest force of destruction. "Ifalas zaras I e zaraq! Ifalas zaras I e zaraq! Come forth from the fiery depths of Jahannam, ye condemned by Iblis! Iz Afrit!"
The ground violently shook once more as an enormous, mechanical monster of iron and flame burst out of the fires of the Foundry, letting out a menacing growl.
Joker jumped back. "What is that thing?!"
Shantae flew back in fear. "It's a djinn that controls fire! It's called an Ifrit!"
Erazor turned around to face them. "I have already carved up half of the pages that make up this world..."
Shantae glared at him angrily. "Then why would you need to call forth a creature like that?!"
Erazor simply laughed. "I've decided to let Ifrit Golem burn whatever pages remain in the book." The evil djinn cast his vision on the red-sneakered speedster. "You! Street rat! Have you gathered the seven rings yet?"
Joker's own anger with his enemy was fueled even further by the insult. "And enough of that street rat stuff! Seriously! I'm a trickster! TRICK-STER!"
Erazor was none the more convinced. "All you filthy vermin are worthless, just the same. At any rate, you'd better hurry it up." He pointed at the thief's chest.
Joker looked down. The flame embedded in his torso shrunk down to half of its original size. "Damn!"
The evil djinn summoned his violet portal again, disappearing as he spoke. "With only half of the flame left, only half of your life force remains..."
The black streak extended an arm in the genie's direction. "Wait!"
He didn't have time to move.
The Ifrit was now in front of him, towering over the balcony as it let out another threatening growl.
"Hey, you! GET OUT OF OUR WAY!" Joker yelled, executing several attacks, bashing the monster all over its metal body.
The attacks didn't even phase it.
"What the—?! That didn't work?!"
"It's no use, Joker!" Shantae shouted. "Your life is tied to the flame! You cannot fight fire with fire!"
"Oh, yeah? Just watch me!" the trickster replied as he started to backpedal.
Joker bumped into the iron wall as the Ifrit cornered them both. He turned around.
The iron doors of the giant furnace started to close. Erazor intended the furnace to be their graves.
Shantae began to panic. "We're trapped like—"
Joker cut her off, punctuating his words with annoyance. "Don't! Say it!" He'd had enough of being called a "street rat" for one day.
The black blur looked up as the Ifrit raised an enormous iron hand out of the lake of fire. "This does not look good!"
I would use time magic, but how? Let's hope this works! Joker rubbed the ring on his finger as the metal monster reached for him in an attempt to grab him. "Shantae lend me your power!"
Out of time and out of options, Joker shouted a command as the massive iron fingers closed in on him. "Time Break!"
In a pulse of light, colors turned greyscale as time itself slowed to a near stop. The Ifrit was frozen and was moving at a decelerated rate.
Seizing the chance, Joker bolted for the exit, glancing at the robotic monster one last time. "Sorry, but we've got to run! Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get the chance to play again real soon!" he mocked.
As the time flow snapped back to normal, the blue streak burst out of the Evil Foundry and back across the Dinosaur Jungle's lake.
"Where are we going?" Shantae asked.
"We need some ideas on how to beat this guy," her master replied. "Remember that favor Ali Baba and Sky said they'd return?"
"Yes."
"I think it's time we took him up on his offer. So, in answer to your question, that's where we're headed: back to the Sand Oasis!"
Joker and Shantae ran into Ali Baba and Sky sooner than they expected, hanging around the outskirts of the town. The black streak explained the situation with the Ifrit and how dire the situation was; to the extent that he even had to slow time down to get away.
"...then we escaped back here," he finished.
Ali Baba thought over the predicament for a brief moment. "Let's see... My friend Sinbad might be able to share some of his worldly knowledge with you."
"So... where is he?"
"Well, according to rumor, he was fighting some pirates with his pirate collegue, Risky Boots when he was taken away by the Rukh."
"The Rukh...?"
"It's a giant bird—well, not really a bird. It's more like a living fossil."
That can't be anything like the pterosaur I saw earlier today, can it? Ah, never mind! Sonic shrugged. "Okay, so where is this, er... bird-thing?"
Ali Baba pointed to the clouds. "I believe the Rukh flocks somewhere out in the skies to the west."
The speedster glanced in that direction. "The skies, huh? Okay." Rubbing the ring on his finger, he summoned his companion once more. "Hey, Shantae!"
Shantae floated next to him, bowing again. "Oh, Master, what is thy wish?"
"We need that magic carpet of yours. We've got ourselves a Rukh to track down!"
Sky then hopped on her huge avian friend.
"I'll lead the way, Jack." Sky stated.
Hopping on the floating rug and huge bird, Joker, Shantae and Sky took to the skies as Ali Baba waved to them from the Oasis.
A skyward sprint, huh? Joker pondered. This ought to be interesting!