Alex Vreeke arrives at the Gilpins' house.

Fridge was stunned. Unexpectedly, their old Jumanji friend Alex had shown up at Spencer's front door, soaking wet and with his little daughter Bethany in tow.

"What the h*ll did you guys do to the game?!" cried Alex as he barged into the house, more upset than any of the four teens had ever seen him. "Which one of you idiots activated it?!"

Bethany Walker rushed over to meet him. "Oh my God, Alex!" she said anxiously. "What happened? Are you all right?"

"You're d*mned right that I am, Bethany," he snarled, much to her shock. Alex had never behaved this way towards her before; what on earth was going on?

"Alex," said Spencer gently, "it's good to see you. Please calm down and tell us what the matter is."

Alex collapsed onto the living room sofa and broke down in tears. "They're dead!" he yelled in anguish. "My wife and son – they're both dead! JUMANJI KILLED THEM!"

The Team was blindsided by the news. All around them, the forces of the jungle were slowly engulfing the real world. They knew that they'd have to leave the Gilpins' house and seek shelter elsewhere very soon, but even they failed to see this tragedy coming.

Silently, Bethany Walker took her young namesake by the hand and led her to another part of the house. She didn't want the innocent child to witness her father's meltdown. As she left the living room, Fridge's eyes met hers and he gave her an understanding nod.

"Our house was hit by a monsoon," Alex explained sadly, "and all of a sudden, an enormous crocodile leapt out of the water and swallowed my wife Alice whole! I tried to save my son, Andy from its grasp, but the currents just tore him out of my hands and washed him away! All I could do was grab on to my darling Bethany, get in the car and drive like the devil all the way here." With that, he broke down crying again.

Martha sat down on the couch beside him and gently wrapped one arm around his shoulder. "Alex," she said, as he continued to weep bitterly for his lost family, "I'm so sorry to hear about Alice and Andy. None of you deserved this. But we can't lose hope! You know better than anyone that there's a way to fix this."

Hearing this, Alex's sobs subsided a little. He turned to look at his red-headed friend with bloodshot eyes. "You mean by finishing the game."

"Yes," said Martha, with grim determination in her voice. "It's the least we can do for them. If we beat the game, the world will be saved. Time will be reversed to before the game started…"

"… and Andy and Alice will be brought back to life," he finished. Clarity was a great comfort to him, and at least now he had a mission to spur him on.

Slowly, he picked himself back up and wiped away his tears. "Alright," he told Spencer at last. "What do we need to do? And… where's Bethany?"

"They're in the kitchen having a snack," Fridge told him. "Your little girl must be hungry after all that sh*t."

"Thanks," said Alex gratefully. He was a little ashamed of his outburst now, seeing how his friends truly cared for him. For the first time, he saw clearly that the reactivation of Jumanji was an accident, and that it was wrong for him to blame any of them for his wife and son's deaths. "Do we know what our next move should be?"

"Perhaps we should check the map?" suggested Martha. "There was always a map for us to follow."

"Fridge," said Spencer, "do you have a map in your backpack?"

"I'll bet I do," answered Fridge, turning to Mouse Finbar's magic backpack. Within seconds, he had found what they were looking for.

"Here you go," he said, handing the map over to Spencer. "Now we just need Bethany to read it, and we're good to go."

"Did someone call me?" asked Bethany Walker, as she reemerged from the kitchen. Fridge laughed. "Yes, B," he replied, "we have another map for you to look at."

Bethany took the map from him, and her eyes widened as she realised what it contained. "This map is different from the others!" she exclaimed. "There's a large green circle in the centre with some words written on it."

"What does it say?" asked Spencer curiously.

"Hang on for a moment," she said, "it's coming into focus. It says:

Not in May, and not in June,
But 'twixt December and February;
Though these months bring the monsoon,
Your next stop is the river of January."

"What the h*ll does that mean?" asked Jake in confusion.

"Rio de Janeiro," answered Fridge simply. "We need to head to Rio de Janeiro."

"How did you figure that out?" asked Alex in amazement.

"One of his skills is linguistics," Martha explained. "I'll bet Rio de Janeiro means 'River of January'."

"Exactly," said Fridge proudly. "It's Portuguese, just like 'Salvador Dias'."

"So we need to find a way to get to Brazil somehow," remarked Spencer, furrowing his brow in deep thought.

Alex's eyes lit up. "I think I can help," he told the others with a wry smile. Turning to Fridge, he said, "If you have a certain uniform in your bag, Fridge, I believe I may be of service to you."


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