Jumanji's Creed Welcome to the jungle
Season 2
Episode 15: Breaking Stuff to Look Tough
29 June year unknown
Diadems fortress camp
Jumanji valley
Sunrise
All night all Spike was restless. She snuck through camp unseen, Spyder had informed the men that she was on an extended leave to try and think things over and not to be desturbed for as long as possible by any of the men. The end result of such a task of course was unique to say in the last. The men were also thankfully informed by Spyder not to worry if Miao sudden wandered from camp as Spike was teaching her something and was also not to be intterupted by anyone at the time.
So as Miao showed up to where Spike was hiding out not far from the fortress camp while finishing a truly massive turkey leg, Spike spoke up "Ready ?"
"Yup, whats the plan ?" Miao asked, for a six year old in a womans body, Spike was rather shocked at times at how mature Miao could act. She had no real training in combat, and Spike figuerd that moment was the perfect time to teach her some new tricks
"There is a city we're going to travel to called Markarth, it is infested and run by vampires, we're going to destroy those vampires. With the cheat codes that Spyder gave us, you are immune to their bite and attacks easily. Consider this as part of your combat training." Spike explained to Miao, the girl looked at her confiused a moment, then her sword, a really wicked looking thing was somehow suddenly in her hand. "These blades are designed to take down the living and the dead. You're ghoing to have to go into these places infested with vampires and destroy them. Dont worry, I will be there with you to help you out,. I need someone who can interact with stuff we come across"
Being that they were in Jumanji it made only a little bit of sense to Miao to do such a thing, but the girl nodded. Even though for twenty six years she had been tyreated badly by both Spike and Talak, she trusted both women even more with her life. Miao then nodded "Alright, with you teaching me I think I can do this. Where do we go from here ?" Miao then was more focused it seemed on the task at hand rather then on the next source of caffiene.
Spike smiled thinly and opened a portal "We are going to get to Markarth via fast travel. Come on" Spike took Miao by the hand and dragged the woman into the portal which vanished from the woods around the fortress camp into somewhere.
Markarth
A few moments later
Upon arriving at Markarth had some odd things happen, for one, not many were present outside, it was as if everyone was scared to exit into the light. Spike knew only a fair bit about Markarth howerver. Looking around it was Miao that spoke up first., "It looks like that hologame back home"
Spike nodded, "The mere thought that there are three cities from that game in Jumanji made me wonder if this place has such a far reaching effect. This place is a ghost town" Spike stepped from the door with Miao in tow into the main marketplace area and the two took in the place carefully, stone structures, a whitewater type river rushing from above and cutting the city pretty much into two halves
Miao went to one of the market stalls and noticed it was empty, devoid of not just people to man it, but stuff to sell. "Nothing is here, this place looks like props ?"
Spike smirked, she spotted an inn. "Lets try there." Sdhe pointed at the place, Miao nodded and went to the door, pushing it open easily she and Spike entered the place calmly, it was packed with people. Spikes vision shifted slightly as did Miaos own. Only out of the whole bunch of folks, two stood out in blood red outline. Stepping up next to Miao Spike said softly. "You see them ?"
"Yeah, two men in the back, red outlines, couldf be men or could be a man and woman, no way to tell from here." Miao mused
"Order a drink, I wont be long, if a fight happens, have fun, but try not to kill anyone we see in blue." Spike said Miao nodded and stepped deeper into the inn, going to the bar, the keeper saw her, Miao nodded and pointed at a nearby empty table. The keeper nodded and Miao sat down as Spike ghosted off to see what was up in the place.
As Spike wandered within hearing distance she sat down among a group of tavern eaters , the place kinda reminded her of that one place the guy tried to take her headband from. But at that moment she was more focused on the two men conversing over drinks at a low table. "You hjeard the news as well as I did, the bossman wants more campments made. We gotta deliver this stuff to the men so they can begin work." Said the first man.
"You know as well as I do, the bossman wanted more information on a woman called Spike, where she was staying, who she was staying with, what she looked like now, things like that. The bossman was insistant on it too." Said the second man
"I dont like it" Said the first man
"You dont like what ?" asked the second man
"For all we know this is a wild guar chase and there's nothing we can do about it to keep it from happening" said the first. "For all we know, Spike is the bossman"
"Not poissible, the bossman has a clear disdain for the woman, however if what was said is true, shes cursed now, so there's no way she can be the bossman" said the second man as he took a drink of his beer
"And this city ?" Asked the first
"What about it ?" replied the second
"Why is it so empty ? Why is everyone always inside ?" It was clear the two men were thralls as they were both human. "The bosses may have put out a strict order of times for the market to be open I know, but to have everyone packed indoors at all daylight hours..."
The second man took a long chug of his ale and exhaled, it tasted great, he then drunkenly slumped forwards in his chair, it was the opening Spike needed. Taking up a butter knife she threw it, dinging the man dead on, knocking him out on the table. The other man was drunk at the time and briefly startled but also slumped soundlessly to the tabletop as a fist connected solidly. Spike went through their pockets carefully. They had orders.
She read one.
"As expected,
You are to kill Spike Ravenloft at your earliest convience, someone wants this poor soul dead and we have already been paid. Failure is not an option.
-M"
Spike snickered, going back to Miao she showed her the orders. "Apparently some guy named M wants to kill me. The two men knew I was cursed, there are vampires in this city, ask around but be subtle, last thing we want is a vampire to know we're here." Spike said. Of course she had to say that because seconds later a vampire walked in and spotted Miao sitting by herself, and sensed Spike next to her. "Speak of the devil." Spike grumbled. She had no weapon so she had to make do.
She was half in Jumanji and half out of Jumanji, that meant she had the means to do things others could only dream of. Holding out her hand she called forth a sword. The Vampire reacted however and used a summoning spell. Spike ignored the summoned creature and went for the vampire bitch.
Miao ducked as a cup sailed in her direction, it smashed on the wall, spraying its innards all over the wall surface as Spike simply tor into the vampire. Using a table Spike ducked and wove around the vampire, two more thralls arrived. What was this the daily fight ? The general innocents started cheering on the unseen fighter. Seemingly cheering for the floating sword.
With out being able to see who or what held the sword. The vampire used a detect life spell and Spike lit up like a christmas tree in a ghostly form. Snarling then at her loss of invisiblty Spike focused strictly on the vampire and forced the woman back towards the oven. Onlookers dove out of their path as they fought.
Spike flipped a table onto its side as the vampire swung wide, missing Spike and nearly killing an innocent. Spike and the vampire caught weapons and danced in the middle of the tavern for a brief moment before Miao got in on the act and nearly gutted both Spike and the vampire when she simply reached up and punched the vampire in the back at the small of the back. Smashing her fist thhrough and ripping out her stomach.
The vampire sank to ash as ther thralls went crazy and attacked Miao, now unable to see Spike with their masters spell worn off with the death of their master ,Spike beheaded one, and then stabbed the sword into a nother as Miao then fought fist to fist with the last thrall, easily wearing the man down before up and ripping out his throat. Spike cheered and clapped. "Way to go Miao, fight fight fight. You're learning well" Spike then went over the pile of ash from the vampire and found more orders. "What have we here." Spike mused.
"Taeilos,
As promised the reward for full conversion of Markarth will be at our normal location inside the tavern, two men will have it waiting for you. Do not fail me.
M"
Miao smirked as she read it. "Looks like this M guy is trying to convert the whole city into vampire thralls" She said, Spike simply nodded. "What now ?"
"Now we take the fight to the palace, the only way to ensure that the spell over these residents is broken is to kill the seat of power. Come on." Spike headed from the inn, Miao right behind her. The two went up the hill within the gorge city and passed many houses and went up many flights of stairs quietly. Climbing to the top they found two guards standing watch, a brief look at the two they were blue in color. Miao was allowed inside. Spike easily got in after her.
Once inside the two women took a careful look around. "Up there" Spike pointed, a vampire or two stood at a black throne, a third vampire sat upon it, they were doing some form of ritual. Spike formed a bow in her hands and spoke softly to Miao. "I will take the two standing, I want you to pounce the third one as a cat, ready ?" Miao nodded. Spike took aim, then tracked between the two vampires for timing before shooting one.
The arrow was a perfect shot, Spike nocked the next arrow and fired it, straight and true, the third vampire started to stand but got nearly to his feet with Miao slammed into him like a truck. The Bengal tiger in the Jumanji world was a strong creature. And that made Miao even stronger and much more brutal ten minutes later and the vampiresd were all dead, their spell broken over the city.
Spike and Miao then explored the rest of the palace, killing furthewr thralls, fully cleansing the place carefully. Spike then spotted someone she didnt like at all and Miao growled something when she saw the man too. "Spike, do you know that guy ?" She recognised Robert from the picture Spike had formed.
"Bobby" Spike hissed unseen. "Chase him!" Miao nodded and the begnal bolted at Robert, the man saw her and turned tail and ran up a flight of stairs, slamming a metal door closed behind him. But he left some information behind, he was terying to find Spike, but was in Markarth ? Why was Robert Oxford, Matthew's shitfaced brother, in Markarth ? Were the last two working with the vampires ? Spike went to where Robert was running gfrom, a room within the palace nicely decorated. There was all sorts of stuff on the desks, and bed. Spike went through it all. Snarling as she did so
She found a letter and read it, it was from Matthew, warning Bobby that Spike was in Jumanji, and that she called the place the five of them were in as Jumanji, like the movies and board game.
Miao ambled back and swiftly transformed into human form. "What is it ?"
"That man you chased away, his name is Bobby, his brother informed him that I was here, and that I killed Travis, their older brother and pisspoor shot and self proclaimed wizard" Spike went through the rest of the information on the desk and on the bed. It seemed that Bobby wasnt planning on staying too long if that. But it didnt matter to Spike. She set fire to the room and let it burn itself out. "Come on, we still have two other cities to visit, and the next one, a place called Riften is actually not far away, we can walk there or stay the rest of the day here." Spike said
"I think if we walk there would be easier for both of us, come on" Miao said, the two women left the palace and headed through the now quite active and a live city of Markarth, or as Spike called it in the hologame, Markark. The two women headed for the main gate of the city before heading out into the countryside along the mountain road.
The two women moved down the road, it got more and more wooded and the two practised sword fighting as they walked along. Miao was getting better at being a swordswoman, her brutal and deadly weapons, combined with her natural strength made for many good things, and mostly silly things. Spike wasnt exactly one to teach, but she couldnt help but feel a spark of pride for how well Miao was learning. It was possible however that while they were headed for Riften something was heading for them.
Seeing the strange creature flying towards them, a hippogriff, Miao screamed and dove into a thick string of woods as Spike formed a bow in her hand, "Oy, I'll bring it down, you chop it up!" She called to Miao, the woman nodded and Spike fired, nailing the hippogriff dead on with an arrow to the face.
The hippogriff screeched and slammed into the ground, digging a small trnech before stopping and blindly flailing about for Spike, the thing that stunt its eye as Miao dashed from her hiding place, twin swords a whirlwind of motion, easily chopping into the hippogriff. The woman wanted to get back at the creatures for being eaten and thus didnt spare the strength when it came to chopping one up. When it was finaklly dead did Miao step from it as Spike neared her, her bow gone. "Well, that's that. Looks like we're not the only ones going up this mountain to Riften"
"Riften, like the town in the hologame ?" Miao asked, Spike nodded, Confused then at that point Miao asked simply. "What the hell is this game that we're in ? Fiurst we're shooting up cvlubs, getting eaten by hippogrifss, killing people inside a city hall type place, and now hunting vampires, this has to be the most insane game I've been in" Miao said as she was at her wits end.
"Would you rather we go back to camp ?" Spike asked, Miao thought a minute and started cutting the dead hioppogriff further to take along. She nodded.
"I am ready to go back to camp" Miao said, Spike nodded and activated a portal. The two went back to camp, they had been gone all day.
Diadems fortress camp
A few moments later
Late evening
The sun was setting as Miao stepped out of the portal, Spike right behind Miao went and dropped most of the meat off at the table for the cooking fire as Mark spotted them. Stepping over to his cousin he saw how she was acting, sorting meat like a butcher would. "I take it the training went well ?" Mark asked
"It did, Miao is getting good at it. Even took down a hippogriff" Sprike replied.
"It was either that or get eaten again" Miao spoke up.
"And the vampires ?" Mark asked
"Dead" Miao answered as Spike nodded
"There was one of my new toys there, but he got away, something tells me we havent seen the last of him for some time at this point." Spike mused, Bobby had gotten away, but there was still Matthew at large too, and now Bobby was somewhere else as well. "Miao figured it safer to come back here before venturing out again, the Hippogriffs are more active at night and morning then anything I've noticed lately" Spike had a point.
"Though it was a good venture, going to another city with you was fun, even though it felt so much like the hologame" Miao said
"We're in the hologame at this point, this world is strange when it comes to logic and otherwise" Spike said, she had a point there too for one Jumanji had technology, to the point of having nightvlubs in one city, and a basic video game take on a middle ages or even dakr ages tavern in another, Spike actually knew in her herart what she'd find for Riften however in how the place looked and the soldiers acted.
"I dont understand it though, Markarth was a city built into a mountain gorge, and yet, nobody was outside until we killed those three vampires that ran the place" Miao said
"So you cleaned out one city, and still have two more ?" Mark asked they both nodded. "And you look a wreck. Get some rest." Mark said seeing the now quite haggard look on his cousins appearance. He turned to Spike, the woman crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. "One city down, two more to go, and yet still no closer to finding your true target." He said
"Yes, and even with my new toys, still no closer. But one city is empty." Spike replied with a smug grin, she was happy, she had forced Bobby onto the run, and he never saw her, only saw Miao chasing him. "Infact the guy most likely thinks that Miao, in her tiger form, is me. Matthew and Travis saw me with my wings, and the bitch only saw me as a ghost. Bobby hasnt seen me yet, but the other woman, bobbys wife, also saw me, and my wings."
"So whats your plan now ?" Mark then asked, breaking Spike from her memory of who saw what. He had a good question. Diamond stepped into view then.
"I have an idea, Diamond, you up for some hunting ?" Spike asked seeing the woman come closer to the fire, Diamond looked to her confused. "Miao and I just returned from cleaning house in Markarth. The next city to visit is a place called Riften. I want you to go with me. The last city, Mark and I will go to, we're both good at sneaking but I havent really seen you in combat yet." Spike explained, Diamond thought a moment then nodded
"Yeah, I'm up for some hunting, if we go now we can get a hotel room there in town most likely for the two of us then move onto the hunt the next morning. Or would you rather we wait until morning to go ?" Diamond said simply, it made a good idea for sure.
Spike thought a moment the nodded. "We go now, get a room at the hotel in the city. Then go on the hunt in the morning when the vampires are asleep, its perfect!" Spike said, she looked to Diamond, "Are you ready ?" Diamond nodded as Spike activated a portal for fast travel and the two disappeared rapidly.
As the portal faded Spyder stepped into Marks field of view. "Where are they going ?" The demoness asked.
"A place called Riften, to deal with the vampires there, Spike and Miao already cleaned out Markarth and freed its people from the vampires, so now they're heading to Riften to do the same there." Mark explained
"Riften is the second of three cities we were able to scout out before having to come back here, we couldnt explore Solitude due to what was there and preventing us from going" Spyder said
"Riften then will be the least of their worries, from what I know of my sister, she is a dangerous enemy when it a fight." Mark said, Diamond had two swords, no ranged weaponery to be had either. Instead she had a twin sword skill second to none. Infact mark had never seen such skill in his life before, at least, not until Kalda revealed some memories of fights he had witnessed with Diamond involved in them.
"You trust both women greatly it seems" Spyder mused
"Yes" Mark replied
"Your sister, and the winged woman, one is related to you by blood, the other, not so much." Spyder said
"At one point, Spike was my enemy, but now, shes my friend." iAnd while here in Jumanji but I will never admit it, my boss/i Mark said the last part he thought, he would never admit it, even to the demoness who saved his life.
"But something tells me that Spike is more than your friend and sister in law" Spyder said, her words caught Mark off guard slightly as he jerked his gaze to the demoness. "Spike is a skilled woman, she is used to leading troops of men, not small groups like us. We tend here to look to her for advice or confirmation on things, and she doesnt like it. But somehow she takes charge here rather well."
"What about Diadem ? Will she listen to Spike ?" Mark asked
"Only in dire need, she never told me about her first few days here in Jumanji by herself. She had to fend for herself among most things, but otherwise" Spyder went quite, she had to search Arcadia for a year before finding the Gate into Jumanji directly. "Things changed over time I guess. When I finally caught up with her, she had most if not all of this fortress built, all on her own skill to do so" Spyder waved her hand to indicate the fortress. Diadem had a million plus years to figure out how to make it all work properly.
"Honestly, I was not expecting a fortress for a campsite, this place can withstand a siege if need be" Mark mused. He was mostly right, not many knew exactly the plan though concerning the realm of Jumanji, it had its own way of doing things on many lefvels in fact.
However, to answer Mark, Spyder had no words, she hadnt really the chance to go through a siege, nor did she want to. The two went thoughtfully quiet then as Mark started cooking some hippogriff meat