AN – So I was invited to join the Warehouse 13 artifact wiki as a contributor and while looking through everything I found that Jumanji and Zathura board games were considered artifacts so I wondered what would happen if someone, probably Pete, decided to play the game so here we are now. I'd love it if you could read and review. I own nothing but my characters and please support the official release.
One pleasantly peaceful evening at Leena's Leena was making some cookies for Artie who was a bit frustrated with things going on lately, some artifact had been acting up, so she wanted to give him a treat. Sitting in the front room Myka was reading a book as Pete and Jake came nosily down the stairs. Rolling her eyes behind the book she didn't pay attention at what Pete placed on the coffee table at first, at least until Claudia came in as well.
"Pete, how many times have I told you not to take artifacts out of the warehouse without asking me?" came the slightly upset voice of Jake Torres, one of the agents who were there before Pete and Myka. The only reason that the newer two had been hired had been because Jake and his partner Agent Jennifer Lockhart had recently been incapacitated by an artifact called the Mayan Calendar. Thought both were still considered agents they had new roles within the warehouse. Jake would determine and class new and old artifacts and see if they could be used in field, Jennifer dealt with the correct storage of the new artifacts that came in.
"Come on Jake what could be the worse that can happen? It's just a board game." Pete said with a bit of a whine in his voice. This caught Myka's interest as she put down the book to see Jake on the couch and Pete and Claudia looking over a board game. Reaching out and picking up the cover she saw with some amusement that it was called Zathura.
"Zathura a space adventure?" she asked as Jake looked up at her.
"Yeah and it's an artifact and one I haven't gotten to seeing the ill effects of."
"I want to play too," Claudia said reaching out and flicking up one of the piece which Pete did as well.
"No," Jake said trying to press down Claudia's piece only to have a third rocket come up. Myka set the top aside and leaned forward to help causing the final rocket to come up. Pete smiled and before Jake could react again reached out and turned the key whispering blast off under his breath. Suddenly the numbers on the side started to spin causing them all to sit back. "Look you've activated it," Jake said with a defeated sigh as the numbers went from ten, down to one and the hole house shook. After a few minutes the shaking stopped and a car popped out for Claudia as her rocket moved ahead two space. Before she could read it there was a crash and cry from the kitchen. Taking the card with her Claudia followed the others into the kitchen to see what happened. Leena was just standing there looking outside the window.
"What's wrong?" Myka asked as Leena swallowed and pointed forward.
"Guys, we're not in Univille anymore." Everyone looked out while Myka blanched and Pete almost fainted. Outside the window instead of any of the cars, trees, road, anything there was the vast darkness of space punctuated with several stars and even a comet or two flying off through the air.
A few minutes later all of them were gathered around the game as Leena read the instructions to herself.
"From what I can tell the only way to get home is to win the game," she said once she was done.
"Like that Robin Williams movie," Pete said as Claudia nodded.
"That one kept you on earth though, Claudia didn't you get a card?"
"Oh yeah," she said turning it over, "Robot has mechanical failure and attacks the ship: Defend or move back five spaces? What robot?" she asked as there was another loud crash from the kitchen only Leena was right there next to Myka. "If you're in here then what was?" Claudia asked as a metal claw smashed through the hall wall heading straight at Claudia who would have been struck if Pete didn't pull her down. The claw continued on its path smashing into one of Leena's cabinets that had some stones on it she used for cleansing.
"Exterminate," came the robotic voice as the claw retracted.
"I'll go back!" Claudia shouted as her rocket ship moved back to start. With that done she, Pete and Jake went into the kitchen to see a large robot sitting there deactivated. It stood six feet tall with tank treads instead of feet that rolled in a flat triangle shape. A round metal body, two arms with powerful looking claws on them and a head with a now blank screen on it.
"So the effect of the artifact is the game is real and unless we complete it other crazy things like that will happen," Jake said coming back then looking at Pete.
"Thirty two spaces, shouldn't be too hard right?" Swallowing hard Pete got a five as his ship moved on and another card came out. Looking at the others he nodded and withdrew the card. "Cosmic Dust Storm: attempt to navigate." Before he even finished the bay windows flew open and Myka had to dart to the side as the bookshelves fell sideways to make sure that they could see out the large windows. Then the floor opened revealing a steering wheel, some switches and buttons and a different chair. Claudia pointed out to the deep space. Looking up they were able to see a few asteroids hit, and crack but not shatter. However there was a loud crash upstairs which caused Leena and Jake to run towards the stairs.
"Get on there and navigate us Pete," Jake called back and as he and Leena went upstairs Pete jumped into the chair.
"So awesome," Pete said under his breath as Myka smacked him.
"Concentrate," she said as Pete nodded and took controls trying to avoid the space rocks along with actually blasting some of the larger ones out of the sky.
"Pete be careful," called down Jake, "One of the rocks smashed through your room and is sitting on your bed. Be aware of the size of the bed and breakfast."
"Aw man, I hope it didn't smash through my one of a kind poster of Frank Robinson as a rookie," he muttered firing at but missing another asteroid.
"There goes some sort of poster," called down Jake again. Pete looked like he was going to punch something when he felt Myka's hand on his shoulder.
"Remember in the movie Jumanji? Everything reset itself in the end, so this might be the same. Plus look the storm is done, you did it." Myka explained and just as she said it Pete saw the storm was over. Getting up he shakily walked back over to the couch and sat down. Myka came and sat down next to him taking his hand in hers and squeezing it as the others came back down.
"I did a test on the asteroid, according to my readings it's real." Claudia said sitting down.
"Of course," Jake said.
"But if it's real why could we still breath in Pete's room. We didn't have space suits on and there were holes in the wall. We should have at least been pulled out into space."
"No matter what feels real this is still a board game and if we could get sucked out then who would be left to play?" Myka asked looking down at the board. "Jake it's your turn." Nodding the Agent went and pulled up the love seat as Claudia sat down next to him. Leena was in the corner now, watching the foursome play the game. Pushing the button they all watched as the numbers spun landing on six, putting him in the lead for now, then the card popped out. Turning it over he read it to himself before the entire house shook violently and he jumped into the control seat. A blaring alarm started to sound causing the others to cover their ears, Leena moved closer to the others wanting to be closer to the others instead of away from the board.
"What's happening?" Claudia cried out.
"Compact Solar System Ahead: Attempt to Navigate!" Jake called back and they all looked out seeing a new solar system was right there. There was a sun, and a planet with rings that were both normal like Saturn but then again there were rings going up and down as well. Suddenly the sun got brighter and brighter as Jake forced the house to get as far away as they could. Myka gasped as the sun imploded, the black hole that was created started pulling the rings into it. Jake saw it too and looked at the council that had come up for anything that could help them. Looking up he saw the planet was half gone and he knew once it was pulled in the next thing that would be affected by the gravity's pull was them. Down he saw a button labeled 'hyper drive' and shouted for everyone to hold on as he slammed his fist onto it and suddenly the stars streaked around them and everyone was thrown back into the couch and wall as Jake went back in the seat. The sight of everything soaring pass them was unnerving and Jake's hand reached out a bit further jabbing at the button again so the house came to a stop. Everyone fell to the ground but was just happy it was over.
"Pete next time you want to play a game, stick to Candyland." Claudia said straightening the board.
"Not the warehouse Candyland though, that was my rookie mistake right Leena?" Jake said and Leena nodded.
"Took us three days to clean up after Gloppy tried to turn the Food Aisle into Molasses Swamp." That earned a laugh all around as Myka went to the board and pressed the button getting a two. The card that came out was actually gold. Pulling it out she turned it over and read.
"You are promoted to Fleet Admiral: Move to the head of the fleet," she said looking up at the others. There was a click and a hiss as some steam escaped the wall. Myka rose and walked over to the wall and placed her hand on it. Even though there wasn't a dumbwaiter or anything there the wall came up and a tray slid out with something on it. Picking it up she came back over to show it to the others. Jake actually chucked at it.
"That's an Admiral pin, guess the game wanted you to feel like you really are head of the fleet." Myka returned the smiled and pinned it onto her shirt because why not. Easing up a little, seeing that not all the cards were bad Claudia pressed the button and moved up three spaces from the start before another card came out, white like the others.
"Cosmic Rays Penetrate: Defend or Damage House," she muttered as the room started to heat up. Everyone stood up as a bright light came through the bay windows. There was a loud crack as the hyper drive button broke and fell off the counsel. Removing his jacket Jake tossed it into the corner, but he was the only one who wasn't wearing casual clothes. Aside from the button though nothing else happened as Pete pressed the button as well. Getting a four he picked up the card hoping that everything would be over sooner than later as the came was becoming less and less fun.
"Heat in house attracts Zorgon Fleet: defend or damage house. What's a Zorgon?" Pete asked looking at Jake who just shrugged his shoulders not knowing what it was either.
"Guys?" Leena asked sounding more scared, "What's that?" A shadow passed the bay windows, but it wasn't a shadow. Something came between their light source and the house, it was a long shape looking like a tear drop with the tips on both sides. After another moment passed a second ship passed. "Are they circling us?" Leena asked as Pete and Jake went to windows around the house.
"Yeah there's one out here," Jake called from the bathroom, pulling himself up to see out the small window. With that Myka rose, and picked up Pete's card re-reading it as Pete called out from upstairs that he counted five of them. Her eyes went wide.
"We need to cool the house down, turn off all the lights!" she screamed out rushing around the room turning off the lights. Claudia went to the hall as Leena turned off the lights in the kitchen. Rushing pass the robot that lay still she opened the basement door and quickly closed it, thankfully there was nothing so that meant no water heater. Going to the thermostat she pushed it all the way down however thanks to Claudia's turn the house was still a bit warm. The five of them went to stay in the middle but Claudia noted that together might have body heat. "Jake maybe if you go next you'll get a storm or even a black hole which will scare these Zorgons away." Jake nodded, reached over and pressed the button, peeking at the board he smiled seeing that he had gotten a six, that much closer to the end. Then he read the card, and once again there was a blinding flash of light. It was both good and bad as the card read, "Solar Flare causes all gyroscopes to Malfunction: Everyone moves back two spaces." It was bad as they all went back two space but good as the flare was now hotter than they were and the fleet started towards it.
"Sorry guys," Jake said.
"Don't worry about it, at least you got rid of whatever those things were." Pete said reassuring him. Jake thanked him before looking at Myka who nodded and pressed the button as well, getting another high number of five stopping on the same spot as Jake was. Taking the card she started to read as everyone heard something starting up in the kitchen.
"Robot moves to strike and attacks ship: Defend or move back five spaces," she said looking alarmed. "Do we have anything to defeat it or should I just move back?" Claudia rose and readied her Tesla turning the power to max. The robot moved into the entry way and they saw a tracking beam searching the room for Myka as she was the one who received the card. Firing the blast of electricity worked as the robot went crashing back into the sink and into the cabinet below, one of the pipes had burst shooting water into the air. Sighing she set the gun on the floor.
"It's out of juice," she said as the others nodded. Settling back down around the board since it was her turn. Jake went over to the robot to make sure it was down for the count. Pressing the button Claudia hoped for something high since she was in last place but only got a two. "Astronaut helps navigate past Zorgon fleet: Moves ahead two spaces." Everyone held their breath but nothing happened as her piece moved ahead two more spaces. "Maybe because we already lost the Zorgons we don't need help from..." That's as far as she got as there was a knock at the front door. Jake slowly moved to it and slowly pulled it open as a man in a full spacesuit came in a few feet. Jake closed the door as the man removed the helmet and set it down, he was a few inches shorter than Jake with messy brown hair and dark brown eyes.
"Whoever got that card thank you," he said with an accent that Jake couldn't place.
"That was me," Claudia said as the man smiled.
"And a beautiful one at that."
"Wait, you know that this is a game?" Jake asked.
"Oh yes, I've been waiting for the next person to free me so I can possibly get something to eat and drink, maybe use the bathroom." Leena jumped at that heading into the kitchen to make what she could, it helped ease her to have something to do. "My name is Atticus Davis, whenever someone plays the game I get to become real. Until then I'm in a sort of in a cyro-sleep of sorts. I basically become a guide of sorts," he continued thanking Leena who brought out a tray of glasses of lemonade which Atticus took thanking her. Myka and Pete also took one but Jake shook his head as well. Setting it down on an end table taking one herself. As Claudia flirted with Atticus Jake pressed the button getting a six and a card. Looking into the kitchen Atticus clicked his tongue. "Looks like you broke the robot something good," he said.
"Can we get rid of it?" Claudia asked as Pete hurried over with his own Tesla gun cranking it to max as the robot started to rise again but he blasted it back down.
"Sorry, card says malfunctions and attacks again." Pete said. Claudia nodded as Atticus took the odd gun from him.
"This little thing took care of the robot?"
"Yeah, it fired a super charged bolt of electricity."
"No offense," Jake called out pressing the button again, "But we want to finish this game as soon as possible and get home again."
"Makes sense, as long as I could get more of this stuff and relax a bit I don't mind if you want to," Atticus said a little to eager to Jake's ears but he shrugged it off and pressed the button only getting a one this time. Suddenly the entire house started to spin as they were hurled around the room. After a few moments it stopped spinning and everyone rose up. Myka looked like she was going to be sick but Pete was rubbing her back.
"Hit time warp, go back three spaces," Jake explained apologizing to Myka who just nodded and sipped her drink.
"That's okay Jake, at least we didn't run into anymore Zorgons." At that Atticus looked worried.
"You ran into the Zorgons already?" he asked as Myka nodded.
"Yeah but we turned down everything that had heat, then a solar flare occurred and they went after that heat source. What are they?"
"That's lucky, they are lizard like carnivorous aliens who like the heat, their favorite food is human bones and they like the flesh to get to the bones." Myka paled again but instead she pressed the button hoping for a big number and relieved when she got it, seven. Better luck was she got the go ahead two more spaces.
"I got another astronaut card, is there another one coming?" Myka asked but Atticus just shook his head. Nodding she called Claudia back over. As she did Atticus went to the front door and peeked outside trying to see if there was another ship out there and there might have been something in the distance but he couldn't tell. While he was doing this Claudia pressed the button and got a five moving into second place. Taking the card she heard a hiss and hurried over to where Myka got her pin, hoping for something like it however she got a piece of paper saying she flunked out of space academy. Checking her card she saw that it was what was on the card except the card told her to go back two spaces. If this was just a board game and they were back home she would have made a scene about it but really she was just fine it wasn't another attack.
"It looks like Myka is over halfway done with the game, let's hope she keeps getting big numbers," he said pressing the button as a ten came up, "Awesome me too now." Picking up the card he swallowed hard after reading it, looking up to explain he saw through the window that they were coming up upon a large, green planet but that wasn't the worrisome part. The others had slowly risen and walked to the window, except for Atticus who looked scared as well but was backing up. Before them was a massive space station and docked at the station was two tear dropped Zorgon ships with three more just sitting there. "Oh shit," Jake muttered dropping the card which fell to the ground face up. The card read, "Travel into Zorgon Territory: Defend or Damage House."
Artifacts used
Zathura Board Game – Acts as if the game was real
