The Team finds out their new mission.
At Nora's Diner in Brantford, New Hampshire, a group of teenagers known only as 'The Team' were enjoying a meal together.
The four of them were unlikely friends brought together by the most extraordinary of circumstances. Spencer Gilpin, Martha Kaply, Fridge Johnson and Bethany Walker were all very different students at Brantford High School, where they had been sent to detention a week before Christmas. There, they found a magical video game called JUMANJI, which sucked them all in to a parallel universe the moment they started playing.
Shy, insecure nerd Spencer became a man-mountain named Dr Smolder Bravestone. Antisocial bookworm Martha turned into a karate bad*ss appropriately dubbed Ruby Roundhouse. Fridge, a big, buff athlete was outraged to be shrunk into encyclopaedic pack mule 'Mouse' Finbar. Lastly, queen bee Bethany got a taste of what it was like to live as the opposite gender for a day.
That was over a year ago, and the four youths had become inseparable ever since. After nearly being killed by snakes, hippos, rhinoceri and virtually every other jungle hazard one could think of, the problems of everyday life seemed minuscule by comparison. This Christmas, they had arranged a long-anticipated reunion at the restaurant once owned by Spencer's grandfather, Eddie.
What no one had counted on was Spencer's nostalgia for the strength of Bravestone. A few hours earlier, the young man had done the unthinkable and jumped right back into the perilous jungle world of Jumanji. His friends got wind of his misadventure and followed him into the jaws of death, barely making it back alive. But make it back alive they all did, and Spencer vowed that he had truly learned his lesson this time.
"One thing," he told the others solemnly. "Can we all agree? Let's never go back there."
"We already agreed on that!" answered Fridge incredulously, while the two girls laughed in agreement.
Spencer broke into a laugh himself, and warmly embraced his girlfriend, Martha. With friends like these, he wondered how he could have ever considered returning to the deadly jungle world to feel good about himself. He was home at last, home and with the people he loved.
Suddenly, a lone squawk was heard outside the diner. Seconds later, the noise was followed by a low rumble, which grew greater and greater in intensity with every passing moment.
As the rumbling grew strong enough to send tremors throughout the restaurant, the Team rushed outside to investigate. To their horror, they saw an endless stampede of desert ostriches hurtle past them at top speed.
The friends looked at one another in stupefaction. There was only one place where ostriches of this particular breed could be found – the dangerous jungle world of Jumanji. Somehow, someone back at Spencer's house must be tampering with the console.
"Let's go!" said Bethany at last. Together, the four teens made a dash for her parked car, hoping to make it back to Spencer's before it was too late. Once they were all inside the vehicle, Bethany started the engine and floored the accelerator.
Driving down the streets of Brantford, the Team was horrified by what they saw. Everywhere they looked, wild animals were appearing and running amuck through the town. In the driver's seat, Bethany did her utmost to avoid hitting any of them and to make it to the Gilpins' house in one piece.
Their luck ran out about two miles away from their destination. A giraffe suddenly appeared in front of them, forcing Bethany to swerve and hit a nearby lamppost. While no one was hurt, the impact had damaged the vehicle's engine so that it could no longer be driven.
The four friends groaned. It seemed that they would need to complete the rest of their journey on foot. Just then, a large brown jeep pulled up beside them and sounded its horn.
"Good day, intrepid adventurers!" said a familiar voice. "Welcome to JUMANJI!"
The Team had never been so happy to hear that voice. Nigel Billingsley, their favourite NPC had shown up in the nick of time to give them all a lift. Without wasting a moment, the four teenagers got out of Bethany's car and into his rugged jungle vehicle.
"A year has gone by in Jumanji since your last adventure!" proclaimed Nigel cheerily, causing the Team to roll their eyes. From their perspective, they had seen the eternally-exuberant jungle guide just four hours earlier, and would have been content never to have met him again. Still, time worked in a funny way inside Jumanji, as their friend Alex Vreeke had once told them.
"Unfortunately, evil never sleeps in this enchanted land, and a new threat has emerged," Nigel continued dramatically. "Evil sorceress Manjeet the Macabre has escaped from her magical prison and is intent on conquering your reality."
As he spoke, the world around them changed into a cutscene. The friends saw Manjeet, a dark-skinned, brown-cloaked mage rise in the midst of a mighty whirlwind, laughing maniacally to herself. An army of vicious flying monkeys stood ready to carry out her every command. Below them was the familiar Jaguar Shrine the friends remembered from their first mission in Jumanji.
"She is on a mission to collect the three sacred jewels of Jumanji," explained Nigel. "Like Van Pelt before her, she stole the Jaguar's Eye from its resting place and set out to locate the remaining two jewels. One of them is the Falcon Jewel which Dr Bravestone audaciously recovered from Jurgen the Brutal – it remains in the care of the Village Elder at the Avian Province."
"We already know that," said Martha, a little impatiently. "What and where is the third jewel?"
"The third jewel is the Monkey's Egg, the sacred treasure of the Albino Apes," Nigel replied. "When they heard of Manjeet's plans, the Wise Ape Monks of the Forbidden Temple summoned me to their hidden sanctuary."
In the cutscene, the teens witnessed a group of robed, sapient albino gorillas solemnly hand over a purple gem to Nigel for safekeeping.
"The Monks charged me to keep their jewel as far away from Manjeet as possible," Nigel continued. "Which is why I'm entrusting it to the care of Dr Smolder Bravestone. It is up to you to contact Dr Bravestone and his brilliant associates, and enlist their help to stop Manjeet."
"But where do we find them?" asked Martha quizzically. She realised for the first time just how much she'd come to think of Ruby Roundhouse as her personal alter ego, to the extent that she felt odd speaking of their familiar Jumanji avatars in the third person.
"Have no fear!" answered Nigel in his characteristically unflappable fashion. They had arrived at Spencer's house by now, and Nigel floored the brakes to bring the vehicle to a screeching halt. While his passengers groaned and tried to reorient themselves to their surroundings, the NPC stepped confidently out of the jeep and pulled a medium-sized briefcase out of its trunk.
"This briefcase contains the key to your mission," he explained as he handed it over to them. "You must rally all of Dr Bravestone's confederates if you hope to defeat Manjeet and save your world from her hands. Remember," he said, as he launched into a rhyme:
"Your quest will take you around the world,
Full of danger for boy or girl;
The only way to win the game
Is to survive JUMANJI and call out its name."
Fridge rolled his eyes upon hearing this; these Jumanji poems were becoming tiresome. Bethany, however, paid close attention to every word, knowing full well that it might prove to be important later.
Nigel then brought out a small round object wrapped in silk and gave it to Spencer. Uncovering it, the young man found the Monkey's Egg they were to deliver to Bravestone. As Nigel got back in his jeep and drove away, Spencer opened the briefcase they'd been given and found six bronze medallions inside. The medallions were nestled within some green-grey foam, with cut-out spaces for four more.
Pulling them out, Spencer noticed that each medallion was embossed with a particular image: a martial artist, a mortarboard, a compass, a coiled rope and pickaxes, an aeroplane and a lockpick. There were no other pictures or words to be found on them.
"What do you think these are?" he asked the others as he gave them each a medallion to inspect.
Martha deduced the truth immediately. "They're our avatars, Spencer!" she exclaimed. "I think we're supposed to put these on to turn into them."
"Of course!" said Spencer, feeling foolish for not figuring it out right away.
"Problem is, there are no names written on these things," remarked Fridge. "I think we're supposed to work out which is which based on the images alone."
"You're right, Fridge," answered Spencer. "Jumanji loves to throw curveballs at us whenever it gets the chance. Let's see…" he said, thinking for a moment. "I think the compass is supposed to be Bravestone."
"Really?" asked Bethany. "I thought that was more my thing."
"I believe the one with the hat is yours, Bethany," answered Fridge. "The one with the rope and pickaxes is definitely mine."
"Then the plane must be Seaplane and the lockpick is Ming," finished Martha. "Which means that the karate dude is mine."
"Exactly!" said Spencer, pleased at how quickly they'd sorted it out. A new question suddenly arose in his mind. "Shall we put these on now, or later?"
As if in reply, a large Jumanji tree burst out of the ground nearby and began spreading its branches and roots throughout Spencer's neighbourhood. The four teens looked at each other and nodded. It was better to put on the three-lived, superpowered bodies of their avatars before things got even more dangerous.
One by one, the friends donned their medallions and transformed into their old Jumanji selves in a flash of green light. Unlike their last two adventures, Jumanji had come into their world, and there was no use trying to hide from it. After all, they were the only people on the planet with the knowledge of what was going on and the means to stop it.
Together, the Team strode bravely into the Gilpins' residence.
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