Hello! Hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Chapter Five - Getting into Character

"It's okay, everything's gonna be fine. In real life you're hot and you can hook up with anyone you like," Bethany was mumbling to herself.

"Is that what you tell yourself when you're upset?" asked Martha.

"Oh my God can you not judge me for like two seconds?! I split up with Noah, I turned into a guy, and now I can't find my phone - I'm allowed to be upset okay!"

They were trudging through the tall grass, already hot, sweaty, and frustrated.

"Ugh, can't we just leave? Like why do we have to do all this other stuff?" Bethany complained.

"Nigel said if we want to leave the game we have to save it," Spencer reminded.

"Yeah, he didn't say we could just leave at any time," added Sawyer.

"The game sets the rules, we've got to play by those rules. I think we have to save Jumanji," Spencer declared, and continued on.

"It's okay, it's all going to be okay," Bethany went back to trying to calm herself. "We, we just have to save Jumanji-"

"Just?!" cried Fridge.

Spencer continued to lead. He seemed to be talking to himself to cope with his nervousness. "We're trapped in a video game. I play video games. It's literally the main thing I do... A game like this, there's going to be levels. In order to finish the game you have to complete all the levels. The levels are going to get harder as we go along-"

"Spencer do you actually know where we're going?" demanded Fridge.

"Kinda..."

"Kinda? Oh, oh that's good then. We're in good hands... We're doomed!"

Spencer looked down at the map Nigel had given them. A corner was missing. "The missing piece, I'm guessing?"

"That must be what we're looking for at the bazaar," Martha gasped. "The missing piece of the map."

"The problem is, there's nothing here." He flipped the map over, but it was blank. "How are we supposed to get to the bazaar?"

"You weren't even following the map?!" cried Fridge.

"I can't there's nothing here!"

"What do you mean there's nothing here?" Bethany asked. "It's a map just like he said. A map of Jumanji."

"Cartography!" Martha cried.

"Uh, what's that?" asked Bethany, now appeared worried.

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

"Oh, so you can't read this but I can?" Bethany took the map.

"That's right. The characters we chose, we all have special skills," said Spencer. "So there must be a way to access our skills-" He gasped when, all of a sudden, a bright green box listing strengths and weaknesses appeared before him:

Dr. Smolder Bravestone

Legendary Archaeologist and Explorer

Strengths: Fearless, climbing, speed, boomerang, smoldering intensity

"Smoldering intensity?" he read. As soon as he said this he turned and stared off into the distance. There was silence.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Fridge, snapping him from the trance.

"Uh, what just happened?"

"Uh, you just smoldered..." Bethany grinned.

Spencer went back to the list:

Weakness: none

"None?" He nodded, impressed.

"How did you get that list?" Martha asked.

"Oh, uh, I think I just pressed my - enormous left pec."

"Yeah, like here. Here, let me show you-" Fridge reached out towards her chest.

Slap! She smacked his hand away. "Get the hell away from me!"

He appeared startled. "At least press it in front of us so we know what to do."

Martha turned away and tried pressing her own chest. A bright red box appeared when she did:

Ruby Roundhouse

Killer of Men

Strenghts: Karate, T'ai Chi, Aikido, dancing fighting

Weakness: Venom

"Dance fighting? Is that even a thing?" she asked.

"Seriously?" The others turned to look at Bethany who had a yellow box displaying her skills:

Professor Sheldon 'Shelly' Oberon

Curvy Genius

Strengths: Cartography, archaeology, and paleontology.

Weakness: Endurance

"Pale-ee-on-tol-" She tried to sound it out, but gave up. "What does that even mean?"

"Um, study of fossils, I think. That's pretty cool," Martha told her.

"Says the gorgeous karate bad-ass to the old fossil guy with no endurance."

Sawyer tried next. Her box was blue.

Dawn Dars

Excellent Mechanic, Companion to Seaplane

Strengths: mechanics, engine and plane fixing, speed

Weaknesses: heights, glasses, alcohol

No wonder her glasses were so annoying.

Last was Fridge. His skills were listed in a bright pink box:

Franklin 'Mouse' Finbar

Dr. Bravestone's Loyal Sidekick

"Oh, they couldn't have told me the sidekick thing before," mumbled Fridge.

Strengths: Zoology, weapons valet

Weaknesses: Speed, strength, cake

"I hate this game!" he declared. "Everybody else got all the good stuff!"

"Weakness: cake?" read Martha. Sawyer held back a laugh.

"Yes, cake is my weakness. Along with speed and strength. How is strength my weakness?! And speed? Why would I need to be fast when I'm being chased through the jungle by a giant killer zebra or some shit in this dumbass hat?!"

"Well, you're also a good weapons valet," Martha tried.

"What's that?" he demanded

"Well I think it means you carry my weapons in your backpack and give them to me when and if I need them," Spencer told him. This didn't seem to help, and Fridge only looked even more upset.

He looked as though he was about to snap back when Bethany suddenly cried, "you guys! It's changing! The map its changing!" The others rushed over to see; words and pictures were appearing, as though being drawn by an invisible hand. "See, it didn't say this before and now it does-" Bethany pointed. From the Deep and The Mighty Roar.

"'From the Deep...'" Spencer thought for a moment. "The hippo, it came from the deep. "You know, the one-"

"Yes, the thing that did the thing," Bethany cut him off. "Moving on."

"So if 'From the Deep' is the first level, then 'The Mighty Roar' must be the second. Which way Bethany?"

"Um-" She inspected the map. "This way, it looks like."

"Okay, lead the way-" He smoldered again. "Let's do this."

"Why do you keep doing that?" demanded Fridge.

Spencer snapped out of it. "I-I don't know, but it wasn't me, like with the talking, you know, how sometimes, words will just come out of our mouths without us meaning to talk. It's like that."

"Weird," mumbled Sawyer. "This game is sure full of surprises."

"Sure is," he agreed. "Now let's get going, it's starting to get dark."

Hello, hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for reading! :) And thank you for all the comments! :) I love seeing your reactions!