Jumanji: The Last Warrior

+ One +

"Jumanji?" she repeated what seemed to flow so easily from his tongue, but it tasted strange and unfamiliar on her own. Tree roots jutting from the ground and bumps had made the ride in the Jeep inconsistent, so much so that her heart was knocking at her rib cage and her hands felt for something, anything to grab onto.

"Yes, and it is in great danger," She opened her mouth to ask yet another question, but he cut her off before she could utter a single syllable, "All of us are counting on you and the others to lift the curse,"

"C-Curse?" She stammered almost staggering back each time at the sound of her new voice, the thick Castilian dialect catching her by surprise each time she opened her mouth. "What curse?"

"I thought you would've been aware of this, Ms. McDonough," he begins, keeping his eyes on the dirt road before him. Her mind was vacant at the mention of this, a blank canvas that was being painted with confusion. "I was hired by Dr. Bravestone's former partner, now nemesis, Mr. Russell Van Pelt, to lead a fateful expedition. You see, Mr. Van Pelt had come to Jumanji in search of the fabled Jaguar Shrine, woven in tales of myth and legend. It is the resting place of the sacred Jewel of Jumanji...and as he would know better than anyone, this jewel was his greatest obsession, years of research finally led him to where he thought the jewel was." It shocked her that a man would spend years, failing and trying to find something that may not have existed in the first place. Alexia could just picture a man's back hunched over a dimly lit table, reading countless documents and records of the jewel, following tracks of it blindly. She would've blown her brains out from pure insanity.

"He had told me that he wanted the jewel to document it in his writings," She never took her gaze off of the side of his face as he continues, "After he was successful in his conquest, I found out that his intentions were not as he described, that he wanted the eye of the Jaguar for himself," She scoffed at this. It was typical human avarice.

"Legend supposedly says that the Jaguar watches over Jumanji, and whoever blinds it will be overcome with an oblivious darkness. This happened to be true, and Van Pelt assumed dominion over all of Jumanji's creatures, possessing and controlling them." For the animals to be at his every beck and call must be exhausting. "Thus, a curse fell upon this once placid land...and I had tried, had practically sunk to my knees and begged him to put it back, but my pleas had fallen upon deaf ears. Once the gem was in his grasp, he utterly refused to let it go...so, I decided to steal the jewel from him." Her eyes widened at this unexpected plot twist. "This drove him mad, sending the animals to scout for the jewel and kill anyone who had got in the way," he paused for a moment before applying the brakes, a high-pitched, painful screech following in its wake. "Right then, I think you should get going then," he says, an ear-to-ear grin tugging at his lips.

"But what about the je-"

"Its whereabouts are unknown at the moment," he put a hand up in the air, halting her voice. "Van Pelt is willing to eliminate anything that stands in his way, even a charming lady such as yourself," He gives her a nod before a whoosh sounded through the air, and she was no longer in the Jeep. Alexia stood on the jungle floor, completely dumbfounded as to how he did that. "Now, go to the bazaar, for that is where you will find the missing piece,"

"Bu-But Mr-"

"Remember, the goal for you, and I'll recite it in verse...you must use your complementary skills to return the jewel to the Jaguar's eye and lift the curse. If you wish to leave the game," In which, her burning desire was to do just that, "you must save Jumanji and call out its name." her raised eyebrow was the only response to his ramblings.