"We're here to help you."
"Oh..."
When Spencer, Martha, Bethany, and Fridge get stuck in a video game as adventuring avatars, they have to venture through the jungle and join forces with a well-accomplished archaeologist to end a curse and save the...
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The bazaar was one of the most notable points of the game. It was colourful and bright and busy. And interesting. There was so much to look at.
Vera led them all the way through the intricate market, a combination of inside and outside booths and tents, and to the other end, the very edge of it.
"Alright, you lot stand watch," she ordered them.
"Where are you going?" In response, the doctor shoved aside an empty, abandoned cart and lifted the colourful rug beneath it that they were standing around. Beneath it was a wooden hatch which she also lifted, revealing a dark hole. She lowered herself down into it - it mustn't have been very deep - and took out her knife. Now the others stood around the hole, peering down into it, watching her. Taking her knife she went to cut one of the stones inlaid in the wall, but stopped abruptly, obviously noticing something.
"Bloody hell-" She removed the stone, without having to carve it out - she had refilled the dirt around it to hold it in place and make it look untouched and undisturbed, but it had definitely been carved out since her last being there.
She cursed. The hiding place in the space behind the rock was empty, no jewel. She cursed again, returning the rock messily to its place and hauling herself up out of the hole, kicking the hatch closed in anger.
"It's gone," she promtly declared.
The others stared back at her. "Wait, wh- what do you mean gone?" cried Fridge.
"I mean gone! No longer where I put it!" She tried not to panic. If Van Pelt got a hold of it again... He was smart, maybe he had figured it out... No, she didn't want to jump to conclusions...
"There's no possible way anyone could know-" She cut herself off, the realization dawning on her, hard like a slap in the face. Of course, how could she have been so stupid? "Seaplane," she growled. The others didn't have a chance to ask her what she meant before she stormed off, back into the heart of the market.
They soon reached the centre of the busy space. "Rations! Get your rations!" An older man called, waving a loaf in the air.
"Oh my God does anyone have any money I'm like literally starving!" Bethany pushed past the others and to the food booth.
"Guys, I think it's telling us to keep our health up," said Spencer. Then he grew all intense. "We need to eat-"
"Okay will you stop doing that," said Fridge, breaking the smoldering trace.
Spencer sighed. "I told you I can't help it! Now we need to eat, but we also need to be discrete-"
"Oh no, now you're rhyming too," mumbled Fridge.
"Oh my God this is so good! I haven't had bread since I was like nine!" Bethany gushed.
"Seriously?" questioned Martha.
"Yeah. How do you think I got these abs?"
"Give me some of that-" Fridge snatched some of the loaf from Bethany's hands, taking a rather large bite, savoring it. Then his face fell. "Uh, what is this?" he asked the seller.
"That's my famous pound cake," the man replied.
"Cake? Ooo, I'll try some then. I'm known for my incurable sweet tooth." Vera took a piece for herself, almost not noticing the sudden tension that had risen amongst her companions.
"Cake?" cried Martha. "Isn't that one of your weaknesses?"
Now Fridge tried not to panic. "Bethany I thought you said this was bread-"
Bethany smiled sheepishly. "I guess it's been so long I forgot what it tastes like..."
"HOW DO YOU FORGET-" Fridge cut himself off. "Uh, i-is something happening to me?"
When his friends assured him that nothing unusual was happening to him, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Okay, okay we're fine. It probably just meant that I love cake so much I just couldn't resist it!" he tried to reassure himself. "It's all good-"
BANG! He was barely finished before he was swallowed up by a rather large explosion that shook the whole bazaar.
"Oh my God! Fridge!" wailed Bethany, staring at the now empty spot where he had just moments before been standing.
There was the sound of chimes overhead, followed by a scream, and seconds later Fridge reappeared, falling and smashing down into a pile of crates.
"OW! WHAT THE HELL?!"
"Bloody hell," mumbled Vera. "This curse is really messing with us." The others didn't respond to this, only exchanged a knowing glance. With another glance at the explosive cake, she promptly discarded her own piece.
Spencer went to go help Fridge to his feet. "Like I said, it's important to be discrete."
"Yeah but you also said eat!" countered Fridge.
"Rations! Get your rations!" called the man, waving the deadly loaves in the air, completely un-phased by what had just happened.
"You can shut your ass up!" Fridge snapped at him, making him go away.
"Dr. Bravestone!" An excited young boy came over to them then. It seemed that everyone had moved along with what they were doing before, as if the explosion and man falling from the sky only to come crashing down and cause a scene had never happened. "Thank goodness you're here! Jumanji needs you!"
"Uh, thanks. Good to be here," Spencer responded with much less enthusiasm.
"Ask him about the missing piece." Martha nudged Bethany.
"Oh right! Uh, hi, I'm Bethany - I mean Dr. Shelly... Something. I'm a - a map doctor, and we're trying to find the missing piece." She looked to the boy expectantly.
The boy only stared back blankly, blinking a few times, before turning back to Spencer, the same excitement as before returning to his face. "Dr. Bravestone! Thank goodness you're here! Jumanji needs you!"
"Uh, rude," remarked Bethany.
"Excuse me, do you think you might be able to help us?" Vera tried. She took the map and held it up. "We're looking for the missing piece of this map."
"We're looking for the missing piece," Spencer tried.
The boy glanced around them cautiously before nodding for them to follow him.
"Oh, now he gets it."
They followed, no one noticing the vulture perched above them, watching intently. When they disappeared into a tent, the bird took flight. His master would be pleased to know the location of Dr. Bailey and the jewel thieves.
(Sort of a cliffhanger ending! Hope you all enjoyed, thanks so much for reading (and the 900+ reads! :D) And I've decided to break up the next few chapters and make them shorter, just cause I felt that they worked better that way, so just thought I'd let you know! Until next time!)
(And I started my 'Jurassic World' story, so if you're interested, please check it out! :))
