TOGETHER STRONG | JUMANJI • ALEX VREEKE | ON HOLD

Four

"I DON'T HAVE A LETTER..." Spencer started, but then a letter appeared in his hand.

"Dr. Bravestone, I am writing to you regarding the desperate situation in Jumanji. We need your help at once." Then everyone was shown a cutscene.

"What the hell is happening?" Fridge questioned.

"I think it's a cut scene," Spencer explained. "A lot of games have them. It's like a little movie to tell you the back story."

"My name is Nigel Billingsly; Jumanji field guide. I was hired by your former partner, now nemesis, Professor Russel Van Pelt to lead a fateful expedition. You see, Professor Van Pelt had come in search of the fabled Jaguar Shrine resting place of the sacred jewel of Jumanji." Nigel started. "As you know better than anyone, the jewel was his great obsession. And after years of research, he believed that he had discovered its whereabouts."

"Could it be? Have I finally found it?" Van Pelt approached the atone jaguar statue.

"Van Pelt told me that he wanted to find the jewel to document it in his writings," Nigel explained.

"It's real!" Van Pelt had climbed the statue to find the green jewel.

"What I did not know was that he intended to take the jewel for himself."

"I found it! I found it!" He exclaimed after he pulled the jewel from the eye of the jaguar. Once he did that, the sky became darker, and thunder and lightning appeared.

"Legend tells that the Jaguar watches over Jumanji and anyone who dares to blind him will be consumed by a dark power." As Nigel explained, venomous snakes started to turn on Van Pelt's crew. "Van Pelt assumed dominion over all of Jumanji's creatures, possessing them, controlling them. And a terrible curse befell this once-placid land." An eagle landed on Van Pelt's forearm. "I begged him to put it back, but once he had it in his grasp he could never let it go."

Van Pelt was shown holding the jewel close to his face, having the green aura bounce off of his face.

"So I waited till they slept that night, and I made my move," Nigel said, as the cutscene showed him grabbing the jewel from Van Pelt's hands, and running away with it.

"Bring me that jewel!" Van Pelt ordered, sending his goons after Nigel. "And slaughter anyone who tries to stop you."

"Right, then. Here you go..." Nigel shoved the jewel into Spencer's hands. "With the invaluable help of your associates, you must use your complementary skills to return the jewel to the jaguar's eye and lift the curse. And I'm sure you want to get started right away."

"Actually, I think..." Spencer tried.

"Good luck! The fate of Jumanji is in your hands. And remember, the goal for you will recite in verse. Return the jewel and lift the curse. If you wish to leave the game, you must save Jumanji and call out its name." Nigel spoke, and all the doors flew open. "Good luck! The fate of Jumanji is in your hands..."

"He's saying the same thing over again." Fridge said, and everyone started to climb out.

"I'll recite in verse. Return the jewel and lift the curse. If you wish to leave the game, you must save Jumanji and call out its name.

"It's okay, you can handle this. In real life, people love you. You can hook up with anyone you want." Bethany breathed as she reassured herself.

"Is that what you tell yourself when you're scared?" Martha questioned, looking at Bethany weird.

"Can you not judge me for two seconds? I split up with Noah, I turn into a guy, and I cannot find my phone. I am allowed to be upset." Bethany complained.

"Dr. Bravestone. Here is a map of Jumanji. You must go to the bazaar and find the missing piece." Nigel handed Spencer a folded-up map.

"The bazaar."

"Missing piece of what?"

"Cheerio!" Nigel called out after driving away.

"You can't give us a ride to the statue?" Fridge and the gang watched as Nigel drove off.

"And remember, if you wish to leave the game, you must save Jumanji, and call out its name," Nigel called out once more before disappearing down the dirt path.

"You want to put this in there?" Spencer asked Fridge, referring to the jewel.

"No."

"Come on, you're the only one with a backpack, Fridge," Spencer said, making Fridge roll his eyes, before grabbing the jewel, and stuffing it in his oversized backpack along with other items that may be needed later.

"So now what? We have a map. So we have to go find the bazaar?" Rae questioned.

"I guess if we return the jewel to the jaguar statue, and, and then we get to go home. No problem." Martha put two and two together.

"Why can't we just leave, stop the game, without doing all this stuff?" Bethany complained, putting her hands on her hips.

"We have to finish the game. I think, I think we have to save Jumanji." Spencer spoke, making Bethany stare at him.

"Damn, that is a man right there," Bethany smirked.

"Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. There are so many diseases out here. It's hot." Spencer muttered, staring over the mountain they were standing on, looking over the land.

"OK, THIS IS WHAT I'M GOOD AT. Playing video games. It's what I do. It's literally the main thing that I do. Play a game like this, there'll be levels." Spencer muttered, leading the group of five in a direction that they didn't know if it was right or wrong. "In order to finish the game, you gotta complete all the levels. Levels are gonna get harder as we go along. We complete the levels..."

"Spencer, do you even know where we're going?" Rae asked, finally calling Spencer out of his mind.

"Kind of."

"Kind of? Oh, that's good then. We're in good hands." Fridge groaned, and we all spread out in the grass.

"Okay, the missing piece, I'm guessing..." Spencer started.

"Oh my god, that must be what we're looking for, the missing piece of the map," Martha exclaimed.

"But the problem is, there's nothing here." Spencer skimmed the blank piece of paper.

"What do you mean? It's a map, just like he said." Bethany looked over his shoulder, seeing a fully colored map of where they were standing. "It's a map of Jumanji."

"Cartography." Rae realized.

"What's that?" Bethany asked as everyone turned towards Rae.

"The study of maps. It was one of Professor Oberon's skills." Rae explained.

"That's right!" Spencer agreed with her.

"Oh, so you can't see this, but I can?" Bethany questioned, grabbing the map from Spencer's hands.

"With the characters we chose, we should all have different skills," Rae explained.