A jeep pulls to a stop abruptly. The driver honks the horn. "Ah! Lost Revenge's crew Welcome to Neverland!" He greets Uma and the doors to the jeep burst open. "Don't just stand there, in you go." He waved his hand for her to get in the car. The crew shared a look with the others not sure if this man was a friend or foe.
Harry made his way to the backseat, I refused to get in. "Girl, get in here." He pulls me on his lap. Gil and Ruby quickly gets in. The jeep doors shut and the driver speeds off into the jungle.
"Uma daughter of Ursula and captain of the Lost revenge, known across the kingdoms for your recent exploits." He looks at Me.
"Oh shit," I hissed as they went over a bump. Harry had to wrap his arms around my waist to stop me from hitting the Jeep's roof. "Now, I know one of the disadvantages of being skinny, you're easy to throw around."
"Is there a seat belt?" Gil looks around for it.
"I can't tell you what an honor it is to finally meet you. I'm not embarrassed to say you're more beautiful in person." The driver ignored Gil's question to flirt with me.
"Um, thanks." I said, not sure how to take the compliment.
"Who are you?" Ruby leans forward to ask him.
"Where are you taking us?" I leaned back into Harry, not feeling safe because this man was never looking where he was driving.
"Nigel Billingsly at your service, Ruby Rider, killer of men, welcome to Neverland. I've been so anxious about your arrival. As you know Neverland is in grave danger." He sort of answers our questions.
"Danger?" Gil looks at the driver who was once again looking at Harry .
"What danger?" I repeated the question.
"Ever since the Hook rebellion was defeated Peter Pan stepped down as leader leaving his eldest daughter Piper to rule Neverland." He explains the back story.
"Can we go back to the Danger?" Harry said in the high pitch tone meaning that he was freaking out.
"It's all documented in the letter I sent you. Perhaps you should read it aloud." The driver looked confused at my cluelessness.
"I don't have a let..." I stopped talking when an envelope magically appears in my hand.
"Whoa," Ruby let out as my watched with wide eyes.
"Right, uh… Captain Uma, I am writing to you regarding the desperate situation…" I started to read the letter. "…Neverland's on danger. We need your help at once." Nigel's voice mixed with Mine . A light took over my eyes and it was like I was somewhere else. Physically, I could feel that I was still in the jeep, but visually I wasn't. I was in a different part of the forest as dirt bikes sped past me. Men were cutting down plants to make way for a big cargo truck. They went by like I wasn't there.
"Whoa... guys?" Ruby cried out. It let me know that I wasn't the only one getting a vision.
"What the hell is going on?" Harry squeezes me like I was a teddy bear.
"It's some kind of magic allowing us to see a flashback." Ruby explained. I don't know how she was calm about this.
"My name is Nigel Billingsly, Neverland's field guide. I was hired by your former partner, now nemesis, Professor Van Pelt to lead a fateful expedition. You see, Professor Van Pelt had come in search of the fabled Jaguar Shrine, the resting place of the sacred jewel of Neverland. 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." He began to tell the story.
"Could it be? Have I finally found it?" A man stares up at a mountain that had a jaguar's head carved in it.
"Van Pelt told me that he wanted to find the jewel in order to document it in his writings." He explains why he helped him as we watch the man climb up the mountain.
"It's real!" The man moves the vines to reveal a gem that was the jaguar's eye.
"What I did not know was that he intended to take the jewel for himself," Nigel said as Van used a pickaxe to dig out the gem.
The gem gave off green waves of light that made the man holding it close his eyes. "I found it. I found it!" The man screams out as the sky turns gray and lightning strikes down.
"Legend tells that the Jaguar watches over Jumanji and anyone who dares to blind him will be consumed by a dark power. Van Pelt assumed dominion over all of Neverland's creatures, possessing them, controlling them. And a terrible curse befell this once-placid land." Nigel continues to narrate the story. Van was on the ground. He opened his eyes to reveal that one of them was cloudy now. Rats ran to his feet as a vulture landed on his arm.
"I begged him to put it back, but once he had it in his grasp, he could never let it go. So I waited till they slept that night, and I made my move." I watch as Nigel stole the gem from Van as he slept. He had to run when the vulture alerted the camp.
"Bring me that jewel! And slaughter anyone who tries to stop you!" Van yells to his men after firing a few rounds from his gun.
I blink my eyes, getting used to my vision of the present coming back to me.
"Right then, here you go. 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. I'm sure you'll want to get started right away." Nigel hands the gem over to me.
"Good luck! The fate of Neverland is in your hands." Nigel said, making the Jeep's doors open. I gasp along with everyone else, shaking my head. I did not want to get out of this jeep. "And remember the goal for you, I'll recite in verse: Return the jewel and lift the curse. Good luck! The fate of Neverland is in your hands. And remember..." The man began to repeat himself. Ruby looks between Nigel and the gem as she gets out of the car.
"He's saying the same thing over." Harry gave my hips a squeeze. I got out of the jeep with him following after me. Gil got out as Nigel kept repeating himself.
"Here's a map of Neverland. You must go to Tortuga and find the missing piece." Nigel hands Harry a map.
"Dreamlight?" Harry took the map.
"Missing piece of what?" Ruby tried to ask him.
"Cheerio!" Nigel yells as he starts the jeep back up.
"You can't give us a ride to the statue?" Gil throws his hands in the air.
"Good luck" Nigel yells out the window as he drives off.
"So what? We have a map. So now we're supposed to go and find...?" He trails off as he tries to remember where we had to go.
"Tortuga, I guess?" Harry shrugs.
" Or Dreamlight as it's now named" Ruby mentioned.
"So we return the jewel to the Jaguar statue, and then we go home. No problem." I made it sound easy. But we knew it was going to be more complicated than that.
"Where is the damn map?" Ruby asks.
"Okay, the missing piece, I'm guessing." Harry opens up the map, to reveal that a piece was ripped off.
"That must be what we're looking for, the missing piece of the map." Gil points it out.
"The problem is there's nothing here." Harryturned the map around to see if he was looking at the wrong side. I went to see what he was going about.
"I'm killing Nigel if I see him again." I
Harry glares at the blank paper.
"What do you mean there's nothing there? It's a map, just like he said. It's a map of Neverland." Ruby points at the paper.
"Ruby," I said in realization as she stares at me .
"What" She asks.
"I knew your special skills were worth keeping you around." I took the map from Harry and gave it to Ruby
"Oh, so you can't see this, but I can?" She asked.
"We must all have certain skills. So there's got to be a way to access our..." Harry pats himself down, looking for a list or something. He pushes down on his chest making a green box pop up in the sky.
"Oh! Wow." We look up at the box floating in the air.
"What'd you just do?" Ruby stares, not liking the unfamiliar.
"Strengths: fearless, climbing, speed, boomerang, smoldering intensity." Harry read off his list. He said the last one confused and then made an intense face as he stared off into the distance.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ruby broke him from his trance.
"What just happened?" He looked at us confused.
"Um, you just smoldered," Ruby informs.
While he still looked confused he read off the rest of his list, "Weakness: none?"
"How did you get the list to pop up?" I ask him.
"Well, I think I just pressed my enormous left pec." He pushes it again making the list disappear.
"It's like the boob area. Let me show you." Harry reaches over to touch my chest.
"Paws off" To spite him I turn my back to him and push on my left breast, making a black box pop up with white writing. "My strengths are magic, stamina, and speed. My weakness is Mal. " Im haunted by fucking Mal ." I glare at my stats.
"I'll do mine next," Ruby said.
"Wait, I'll get you away from the perverted gaze." I jump in front of her to block her from the male's eyes.
"Thanks." She mutters. The game chimes and a red box pop up replacing mine. "Strengths: karate, t'ai chi, aikido. Dance fighting? Dance fighting? Is that even a thing? Weakness: venom." She looked around to see if anyone knew what dance fighting was. I saw it in a Bob's Burger episode once, but I had no idea if it was real or not.
The game chimed again, we looked over to see Gil made hid yellow box pop up. His strengths were zoology and weapon valet. His weakness was cake.
"Weakness: Cake." I and Harry read it in disbelief.
"You guys. The map, it's changing." Ruby stares down at the paper.
"What's it say?" Harry moves to look down at the map, even though it would appear blank to him.
"Okay, well, there's not a lot of information. But a minute ago, it didn't say this and now it does. It says, The Mighty Roar." She points down at the map.
" That sounds interesting" I mutter.