Prologue

Ming

The year - 2004. I was bored. As usual.

Being stuck in the sewers did wonders for slowly numbing the brain with boredom. I had to do something. Something other than ninja training.

Digging through some of our old stuff, I found a video game card that I hadn't seen before.

"Jumanji?" I read aloud.

I shrugged and put it into the old GameBoy. No harm in playing some old school game, was there?

I peered at the character names. Some were cheesy, like Mouse Finbar. Some were just stupid, like Smolder Bravestone.

"Let's see... Pilot, zoologist, adventurer, curvy genius? No thank you!" I read through them, stopping at Ruby Roundhouse.

"Killer of men... Sounds good!" I selected the avatar.

The screen showed a collection of animals, and the words "Welcome to Jumanji." I started humming "Welcome To The Jungle" by Guns n' Roses. It seemed like an appropriate time.

Everything seemed normal. Until it wasn't.

The GameBoy started sparking and beeping. My initial reaction to anything sparking when it shouldn't be was unplugging it, and then calling for Donnie.

But... When I unplugged it, neither the TV nor the game turned off.

I looked down at my hands, which had wispy ghost-like pieces moving toward the GameBoy. I realized my hands were slowly dissipating.

I screamed as the rest of me continued dissipating into the game.