Aru was walking forward, glancing back at the group from time to time. She momentarily saw Rudy being given a stern talking to by the one and only Aiden Acharya. Of course, she didn't take to mind, thinking it was just another one of their little arguments.
She thought about what Rudy said about not being able to take back what she said. She wished she could. She didn't hate Boo. She knew for sure that it wasn't his fault that her mom died. She just wasn't in the right headspace at the moment. As they walked, a weary traveler on a camel caught her eye.
She stopped in her tracks and turned to the group who looked at her with a mixture of fear and curiosity. She narrowed her eyes and was about to say something sarcastic, but she pushed it down. No one needed to hear her opinion at that point in time.
Rudy raised an eyebrow, "Something wrong, Shah?"
She shrugged, "We need camels. They're the best method of transportation if we're ever going to get out of the desert."
Everyone sighed collectively and Mini asked, "What do we do now then?"
Aru looked around, "We need to split up, but stay in groups at all times. This place is sketchy. Thieves everywhere, so you always need to keep an eye out."
Suddenly, whirring was heard through the streets of the Oasis. The gang looked around, trying to place the sound to anything it might have been coming from. Mini's eyes widened when she realized it was a biker. An ordinary one, yes, but she was still terrified.
Everyone looked at her, and before she could say anything, the biker sped past her, grabbing her backpack in the process. Mini squealed before stepping back into the group, making no move to get her backpack back. Rudy face-palmed, "I guess I know where a few of us have to go now."
Aru nodded, "I'll split us up. Aiden and Rudy will go get Mini's backpack. Mini and I will get the camels. The rest of you, stock up on any essentials we might need for the rest of the game."
Everyone nodded to her, and sped off in different directions. Aiden and Rudy ran to catch up to the biker so now, Aru was left with a very frightened Mini. That was never good, in any situation.
She sighed and massaged her temples, "There should be a camel shop we can get some camels from. You have any money?"
Mini stomped her foot, recovering from her frightened shock, "You think I have money? Even after my backpack was stolen? MY BACKPACK?!"
Aru snickered, "Fine then." She cracked her knuckles menacingly, smiling. Her eyes glinted under her hood, "Time to do it the old fashioned way."
Mini narrowed her eyes and gasped at the revelation, "You don't mean, we're going to-"
Aru nodded, still smiling, "Steal, Mini. We're gonna steal some camels."
----
Aiden and Rudy were still behind the biker, who had now slung Mini's backpack over his shoulder. They saw the biker go through an alleyway, and disappear. Rudy sprinted over to the alley in hopes of finding the biker in a dead end. He got one of his wishes. The alley was a dead alright, but there was no biker in sight - only a passageway. It was a passageway that was too small for a motorcycle to go through, so how did he vanish like that?
Aiden caught up to Rudy, catching his breath in the process. Rudy was about to walk through the passage when Aiden grabbed his wrist and stopped him, "We weren't done talking back there."
Rudy rolled his eyes, "I get it. You like her. She's yours. End of story."
Aiden narrowed his eyes, "That's the gist of it, but imma lecture you until that crucial piece of info melds itself into your head to the point where you can make a song out of it."
Rudy raised an eyebrow, "That didn't make any sense." He snorted, "And they say I'm the idiot of the family."
Aiden scowled, "Look, I'm all for you being buddy-buddy with my girlfriend, but nothing more. Got it?"
Rudy smirked at his cousin, "Au contraire, cousin dear. Last time I checked, you and Aru were taking a break. Besides, I don't like her like that. I have someone else in mind, thank you very much. Now, can we go through the scary tunnel?"
Aiden stared at Rudy for a few seconds before nodding at him, a stoic expression plastered on his face. Secretly, Aiden was jumping for joy at the fact that Rudy didn't like Aru in any other way. Thank the gods for that.
He followed Rudy into the tunnel. The temperature dropped several degrees and the boys took deep breaths of the cool, crisp air. Rudy smiled and looked at Aiden, "Feels like the Museum, doesn't it? Ms. Shah always kept it cold."
Aiden nodded, lost in memories, "Vaguely smells like that too."
Rudy grinned and kept walking, running his fingers on the intricate wall patterns of the tunnel, simultaneously listening for Aiden's footsteps behind him. Suddenly, those footsteps ceased, and he looked back at his cousin. Aiden had his head quirked to the side, as if listening for something. Aiden stared off into space as he mumbled, "Do you hear that?"
Rudy furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head to hear. That's when he realized that Aiden was right. Running water. He heard it. And it was close. He grabbed Aiden's wrist and shook his cousin back into reality. The two of them walked through the corridor, following the sound of the water.
Soon, the corridor opened up into a cool room that smelled like the Universal Studios water rides. There was crispness in the air that felt artificial, but you could still get sucked into the magic aspect of it. The boys felt a little dizzy for a moment before letting their eyes focus on the scene in front of them.
The torches that lined the walls of the room lit up, one by one, like they would in an Indiana Jones movie. Running water surrounded a giant platform which held an equally giant tree. Aiden and Rudy stared at the, now fully lit, room. Ivy grew on the walls and the tree looked like it was placed in the middle of a booby-trap.
Aiden looked down at the water. Shallow. They could just walk across to the tree, but why did he want to go to the tree in the first place? Rudy yelled out his name, "Aiden!"
Aiden walked over to Rudy, who was in turn, reading an engraved plate in front of the tree. He said it out loud, "Jumanji Berry. Emergencies only. Huh?"
Rudy pointed to the tree, and sure enough, just barely peeking out of the immense amount of leaves was a fruit, small and plump. It looked delicious to say the least. Aiden found himself drawn to it, and didn't know he was walking towards it until Rudy pulled him back from the water.
Rudy raised an eyebrow, "I have a feeling..."
"We'll need that fruit." Aiden said, completing the sentence.
Rudy nodded, "So...what do we do then?"
Aiden looked back at the fruit, "We get it."
He smirked at Rudy, who just blinked at him and pointed at himself. He shook his head vigorously, "No. No. No. No. I don't do parkour. You know that. You're the one with the skateboard. You're the one who has karate classes, you do it."
"You're the one with the fit body," Aiden deadpanned.
Rudy face-palmed, "This is the only time I will ever regret looking pretty."
Aiden snickered, "Then move your butt Pretty Boy. That fruit isn't going to get itself."
Rudy smacked his cousin upside the head before taking a deep breath and assessing his surroundings. He definitely didn't want to get wet, so the water was out of the question. The only way he could even get onto the platform the tree was standing on, was if he used the torches to launch himself onto it.
He shivered and narrowed his eyes on one of the torches. Cracking his knuckles, he leaped to the side, using a foot to launch himself off a wall and grabbing the torch step before he fell into the water. Aiden clapped and yelled, "That's it, cuz! Now all you have to do is the monkey bar technique to get yourself to the branch closest to the wall! Grab that, and fall safely onto the platform!"
Rudy screeched like a pterodactyl, which wasn't the manliest sound, "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THE MONKEY BAR TECHNIQUE?!"
Before Aiden could answer, Rudy figured out what his cousin meant, "YOU KNOW WHAT?! I GOT IT!"
Rudy swung his legs and launched from torch to torch like a very tall, less muscular, monkey. Once he got to the last torch, he could barely grip the nearest branch. He managed to reach over with one hand and successfully curl his fingers over it. Using the wall once more, Rudy used his legs to push himself off as he let go of the torch and tightly grabbed the branch, breathing heavily.
The platform, aka solid ground, was right under him, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he let go of the branch and fell to the floor. He panted and hugged the sweet, sweet earth before getting up and eyeing the Jumanji Berry.
He stomped over to it and shook his finger at it angrily, "You almost killed me, you know?!"
Aiden heard his cousin speak to the fruit and asked, "Hey cuz? You good, bro?"
Rudy face-palmed for the millionth time that day, "You have to stop reading memes. You're killing me."
Aiden just shrugged and watched Rudy easily pull the fruit off the tree. Rudy half-smirked and threw the Jumanji Berry in the air, trying to be macho. Long story short, it landed on his head and rolled into the water. Rudy groaned and muttered a curse before diving into the water.
Of course, the water being shallow, Rudy had to avoid banging his head on the floor. He grabbed the berry and kept it under his arms. He swam back up to the surface, and spit out the water before glaring at a laughing Aiden. He scowled, "Seriously! How am I the dumb one?!'"
Aiden held out his hand for his cousin to take, and Rudy considered pulling said boy into the water with him, but thought better of it. He took his hand and climbed out of the water. Suddenly, he felt a warm feeling come from his shoulder and go down his arm. What he didn't know was that Aiden had the same sensation.
Abruptly, the boys were blasted backwards. Luckily for Rudy, he didn't land in the water. He was pretty far away from it actually. Wait...if he was near the walls, then where was Aiden? As if the gods heard him, Aiden was drenched in water and climbed out of the water.
Rudy screeched again. Aiden was Scimitar Blade again. But that wasn't possible. Aiden's eyes widened before he threw his head back and laughed at his cousin's expression - a mix between utter confusion and hatred that was directed toward the witch water.
Aiden ran a hand through his hair, "Looks like we're back to normal."
Rudy scowled and glared at him, "Speak for yourself. I don't remember my character ever being a person who raises plants for a living." Rudy glanced behind his cousin, "Hey, what's that?"
Aiden followed Rudy's eyesight and saw a green glow emanating from "witch" water. They both walked over to it and cautiously peered into it, curiosity overtaking them. A scene was playing. It was Boo and Sheela. Sheela was running away from...a snake Boo? His eyes were bright yellow and his hair had green tips.
"Doesn't that look like me, Aiden? Well, not me but Viper Lazybones?" Rudy asked, curiously glancing at Aiden.
Aiden nodded, not removing his eyes from the water, "It does actually. But... how?"
Rudy shrugged, signaling that he didn't know. They watched the rest. Boo, in all of his... snake glory? Anyway, he sprinted after her, cornering her in an alleyway. Sheela dodged his bite, and he bit into a tile.
"Aiden... Somehow, I feel like this isn't fake. Like somehow, Boo became Viper and is now trying to eat Sheela for lunch. Wh-what's happening over there?" Rudy said, whimpering slightly.
Aiden stared, looking quite... lost. "I know what you mean. I think it's real too. And to be honest, I really don't know. We shouldn't have left them there alone."
Soon, Boo was laying on the floor of the alley, unbreathing and unnaturally pale. Sheela was next to him, holding back sobs of sorrow. The scene faded at that. Rudy almost puked. He was sure that Boo was dead.
Aiden was traumatized. "That isn't- It can't be- THAT CAN'T BE REAL! But I feel like it is. Rudy, WHAT HAPPENED!? IS HE REALLY-"
Rudy shook his head at his cousin, unwilling to speak after what had just gone down. Even after all that, he refused to believe that actually happened - though he knew deep down that it had. He just needed to be convinced that it was real. If it was, how would they tell everyone? How would they take it? How would Aru take it?