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Sixteen: The Last Level is Always the Hardest

There it was, the jaguar statue. Night had fallen, and now it stood looming, a dark shadow in the distance. Thunder rumbled in the distance, followed closely by strikes of lightning.

"The final level," Spencer declared. "The last level is always the hardest."

Putting Fridge's plan into action, the five split up to lure away 'the defenders', real, alive jaguars protecting the statue, and trying to avoid the men on motorcycles who had arrived in pursuit of them.

The plan went relatively smoothly - that was, until they reached the base of the statue.

Spencer, Martha, and Alex looked in horror at the sight ahead of them: Van Pelt had caught Bethany and was now holding his silver gun to her head, a pack of jaguars surrounding them.

"Beth!" cried Martha. "Oh no-"

"Let her go," Spencer tried.

"The jewel, now," Van Pelt demanded. "Or your friend dies." They just stared back at him. Bethany felt the cold press of his gun against the side of her head.

"Bethany, no!" cried Alex. "Take me instead!" He gestured to himself.

There was a moment of tense silence that was broken moments later by the sound of a crash, followed by a wail. This was followed by more crashing and cries. The group turned to look back at where the motorcycle men had surrounded them, but one by one, they were all being taken down by some seemingly invisible force-

Martha and Spencer exchanged a glance. It's her, her gaze said. He nodded, a smile appearing on his face.

Now, despite having a gun pressed firmly to her head, Bethany smiled too. "Oh boy, you have a storm coming!" she told Van Pelt. "Your ex-girlfriend is here, and she's pissed! And trust me, there's nothing worse than a pissed off ex-girlfriend!"

And she was right. With the next crack of thunder and flash of lightning, the group saw her silhouette from where she stood above them on a little cliff side, leg up on a rock, just like when they had first met her. She had changed her appearance some, now with a leather jacket over her tank top and not her blue shirt, and also different pants and boots, and a helmet over her head hiding her face, having disguised herself as one of the mercenaries.

Vera removed her long riding gloves and then whipped off her helmet, her yellow hair now down and flowing around her face. She grinned at Van Pelt. "Hey Love," she mocked.

Van Pelt just responded by pressing the gun more firmly to Bethany's head, as though his ex-girlfriend and work partner hadn't just shown up meaning business. "Five..." He began to countdown. Nothing. "Four..." Still nothing. "Three..."

"Spencer!" hissed Martha.

"I can't give you the jewel," Spencer said.

"Spencer!" cried Alex this time.

"Two!"

"Because I don't have it!"

As if on cue, there was a rustling nearby. Moments later, Fridge burst through the trees, riding on the back of an elephant and holding the jewel up in the air almost tauntingly. "ZOOLOGY BITCH!"

Seeing as her captor was momentarily stunned by Fridge's dramatic entrance - they all were - Bethany seized this as her moment. "Douchebag! You suck!" She stomped on Van Pelt's foot, followed by driving her elbow into his chest. He let go of her but recovered quickly and promptly backhanded her across the face. Then he took the chance to set his jaguars loose on Fridge and the elephant, causing Fridge to let go of the jewel and it to go flying up onto a nearby cliff.

Now Van Pelt raised his gun on Bethany again, finger on the trigger-

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Alex dove forward, taking out Van Pelt before he could shoot her.

Spencer, Martha, and Vera all leaped into action while Alex fought Van Pelt.

"Wait, elephant!" cried Martha in realization.

"Begin the climb," Spencer finished.

"You guys go, I got this." With that, Martha charged towards a group of men - time to put her dance fighting skills to good use.

Spencer turned to Vera and smiled. "You came back."

She nodded. "I figured, I've been at this too long to give up now, real or not."

"Vera, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"But it's real to me," she finished with a smile. "What did you lot get up to while I was gone?"

"Uh, well, we learned that Alex has actually been stuck here for twenty years, Martha flirted with some guys to distract them while we snuck into the transportation shed, and she totally kicked their asses at dance fighting. We stole a helicopter, which I was hanging out of, got chased by rhinos, almost lost the jewel - almost - and Bethany saved Alex's life."

She looked a mix of shocked and impressed. "Hmm, you were busy."

Their path was blocked by jaguars.

"How did you get past the jaguars last time?" he asked.

"We didn't. They weren't here. He's controlling them."

They both noticed a flicker of green up on the nearby cliff - the jewel.

"Here, you go, I'll hold them off," Spencer said, speaking of the cats. She nodded and took off running - no time to lose!

The cliff was small so she didn't have to climb up very far. However, what met her at the top of it almost made her fall - it was a pit full of little snakes.

Of course, it just had to be. And of course, the jewel was sitting at the centre, surrounded by them, almost as though they were guarding it.

But she had no choice. So, taking a deep breath and mustering up all the courage she could, she gingerly took a step forward. The snakes didn't move, just watched her. She could feel the press of their gazes.

She tried to maintain a wide stance to balance herself better - she narrowly avoided stepping on a snake. Finally, she reached it. She scooped it up. "Gotcha."

Suddenly, in eerie unison, all the snakes stretched their heads up and with one great hiss, all turned at once to look behind her. She looked too - there stood Van Pelt.

"I'll take that." He reached his hand out expectantly. She didn't move. "Game over, Vera."

She gave a firm shake of her head and clutched the jewel close. "Not yet."

Once again he commanded the snakes, and now all their heads turned on her - he knew how terrified she was of them. Searching around desperately for an escape, she quickly lost her footing and began to stumble.

"Vera, wait - stop!" But his warning came too late. Stumbling back, she accidentally stomped on one of the snakes. This in turn made it angry and with a vicious hiss, it rose up and dug its fangs into her leg. Pain struck her expression and a sharp gasp escaped her lips. She grew rigid.

"I-I hate s-snakes," she managed to choke out after a stunned moment, before the others, including Van Pelt, watched in horror as she, now weak, stumbled off the edge of the cliff.

"Oh my God!"

"Vera!"

The jewel fell from her hands, plunging into a rushing river below, lost. Just when it looked like she might crash to the ground, the vulture swooped in and took the collar of her jacket in its talons, swooping down and landing, gently laying her on the grass.

The others scrambled over to her, but Van Pelt beat them to it. He dropped to his knees by her side.

Pain creased Vera's face. She writhed a little as the venom spread and her face and neck were already shiny with sweat, her body's desperate attempt at ridding itself of the deadly venom, but all in vain.

"Vera you're hurt, lie still," Van Pelt instructed, his voice surprisingly gentle.

"R-Russell?" she breathed. "W-where are you? I c-can hear you, but I-I can't s-see you..." She blinked, again and again.

"I'm right here." He took her hand in both of his gloved ones.

"Oh, there you are..." Although it was obvious she still couldn't see him. "W-where are we?"

"VERA!" Now the other five arrived, stopping dead when they saw Van Pelt.

"Bravestone?" She recognized his voice. "You're here too? Did we come to an understanding? I'm glad..."

The venom was making her confused. Even her words were becoming slurred. And she was already sickeningly pale, the venom doing its damage fast.

"We- we're in Jumanji," Van Pelt answered.

She seemed to almost perk up at this. "Jumanji?" She chuckled. "We made it..."

"Yes, we did."

"After all this time... Did we find it, the jewel?"

"Y-yes..."

She breathed a heavy sigh, one that sounded like disbelief. "I knew we could do it..."

"Vera-"

One last heavy breath left her lips before she became quiet and her body went limp.

As though reflecting the now somber mood, thunder rumbled distantly.

The five others kept their distance, but all looked at their fallen friend with sadness.

There wasn't long to mourn though. Furious now, Van Pelt spun around, rising to his feet and pointed his gun at the group. "This is all your fault!" he accused.

"Our fault?!" demanded Bethany. "You're the asshole who stole the damn jewel!"

Just as he was about to fire, there was a rumbling and everything shook.

Moments later, all was still again. Just as abruptly, all was quiet.

Duh duh duh! Cliffhanger! ;) Haha! It's been a bit of a stressful week - lots of assignments due, and on top of it all I had computer troubles and had to take it in to get it fixed. But, it's all fixed now, so I can continue writing ;) The end is near I'm afraid, but there's still a few chapters left! Thanks so much for reading and as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as well as the little twists I added! :)