Rae Bennett is a normal teen girl. Kind of. She doesn't have many friends because she keeps to herself. She's usually found at the skate park, or in her dad's garage working on small mechanical stuff.
She doesn't try to pick fights with people, but...
RAE WAS FALLING. She may have been falling, but the landing was graceful. She looked around, to see four random people standing around her. A girl with red hair. An overweight guy with glasses. A short black guy with a huge backpack on his back. And then the tallest of them all, a bald guy with rock-hard muscles.
"If I'm guessing correctly, you're Rae?" The bald man looked over at her.
"Yeah? Who the hell are you?" Rae questioned.
"It's Spencer. I think we're in the video game. You chose Victoria Reinsheild. Look at your jacket. Your last name is on it." 'Spencer' said.
She looked down to see a bomber jacket around her body, with the word 'Reinsheild' patched onto the front of it, along with other patches on the arms. Black and white camouflage pants were secured to her waist by a black belt, and on her feet were black army boots.
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"Military Personnel. Holy shit." Rae muttered.
"Which means that Fridge is Moose Finbar. Martha is Ruby Roundhouse. And Bethany is Professor Shelly, which I'm guessing is short for Sheldon." Spencer said.
"What? What do you mean?" Bethany asked, and then walked over to the river. "Oh my God. I'm an overweight, middle-aged man."
"I have a tattoo. My mom always said she'd kill me if I ever got a tattoo." Martha freaked out.
Rae looked down at her arm and rolled her sleeve up. "I have one too." She added. "Well, more than one." She referred to the multiple tattoos littered around her body.
"Me too." Spencer twisted his arm. "Sometimes."
"Wait. Where's my phone?" Bethany panicked, patting her body down.
"Why am I wearing this outfit in a jungle? Tiny little shorts and a leather halter top." Martha looked at her body. "I mean, what is this?"
"I look like a living garden gnome. Where is my phone?" Bethany looked around.
"We are in different people's bodies. We don't have our personal belongings." Rae explained.
"It doesn't seem like the most pressing concern at this moment," Spencer argued.
"Oh, you don't think this would be a good moment to make a phone call or text somebody or change your status to stuck in a freaking video game?!" Bethany yelled.
"All I'm saying is, I don't have my Claritin. Okay? And I'm allergic to almost everything." Spencer defended.
"Oh no, you got allergies spencer? I don't have the top two feet of my body!" Fridge exclaimed, making hand movements above him.
"Maybe we're all in a coma." Bethany guessed.
"Together? We're all in a coma together? That doesn't even make any sense!" Rae looked over at her.
"It's the only explanation. That old game machine must've electrocuted all of us and now we're-" Bethany was cut off by a hippocampus chimping down on her.
"Bethany!" Rae exclaimed, putting her hand over her mouth.
"You better get in there and save her." Fridge pushed Spencer towards the water.
"I'm not going in there! You go in there!" Spencer argued back.
"I'm not going anywhere. I got a backpack on. You don't get in the water with a backpack. Everybody knows that." Fridge explained.
A chime rang through the air, and Bethany fell from the sky.
"Bethany! Are you okay?" Rae ran over to her, helping her up.
"That was so intense. I got eaten by a rhino, and I fell like a thousand feet from the sky." She answered.
"Yeah, that's what it looked like." Martha sighed.
"That was a hippo. There omnivorous. They're as fast as a horse over short distances and they have the bite force of 8100 Newton's." Fridge spoke. "How do I know this?"
"You're an expert in zoology," Rae remembered.
"I'm still an old fat guy, right?" Bethany questioned.
"Afraid so," Spencer answered.
"Why is everybody okay with this? I mean, she fell out of the sky." Fridge pointed things out.
"Guys, we gotta go. Bethany, get up." Rae helped Bethany up, and the group of five ran away from the dangerous hippos in the water.
"DR. BRAVESTONE! Welcome to Jumanji! Don't just stand there, in you go." A person, Nigel, spoke to the group.
Martha and Spencer jumped in the front seat with the driver, while Fridge, Bethany, and Rae were in the back.
"Dr. Bravestone. Famed archaeologist and international explorer. Known across the seven continents for your courageous exploits." Nigel announced.
"Is there a seat belt?" Spencer asked.
"I can't tell you what an honor it is to finally meet you and I'm not embarrassed to say you're even more dashing in person." Nigel smiled.
"Who are you?" Martha questioned.
"Nigel Billingsly at your service. Ruby Roundhouse, killer of men. Welcome to Jumanji." Nigel announced again. "As you know, Jumanji is in grave danger. We're counting on the five of you to lift the curse."
"Curse? What curse?" Rae questioned.
" Corporal Victoria Reinsheild. The former partner of Russel Van Pelt. Welcome to Jumanji." Nigel spoke.
"Excuse me. Have you seen my phone?" Bethany questioned.
"Professor Sheldon Oberon. Welcome to Jumanji. Nigel Billingsly at your service. I've been so anxious for your arrival." Nigel spoke once again.
"What with this guy?" Bethany asked, sitting back in her seat.
"I think he's an NPC," Rae muttered loud enough for the group to hear.
"A what? English, please." Bethany looked at Rae.
"A non-player character. He's part of the game." Spencer started to explain.
"So if we ask him anything, he only responds in the responses that he was programmed with." Rae continued.
"Got it. It's all clear now." Fridge rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Franklin Mouse Finbar. Welcome to Jumanji." Nigel welcomed him.
"It's moose. Not mouse." Fridge tried to correct Nigel.
"No good sir. I'm quite sure it's mouse." Nigel spoke.
"Mouse?"
"A nickname was given for your diminutive and adorable manner. I knew you'd be here. Dr. Bravestone doesn't go anywhere without his trusty sidekick." Nigel explained.
"Sidekick? Fridge questioned.
"Ever since Dr. Bravestone rescued you from the clutches of a warlord in the jungles of Peru, you've never left his side," Nigel explained.
"Right..."
"Can we go back to the cursed thing?" Spencer questioned.
"It's all documented in the letter I sent you. Perhaps you should read it aloud."
