THE JUNGLE.
The first thing [Name] felt is her heart somehow dropping to her stomach. The wind is so loud and is harshly slapping her across her face, with her mouth open as a scream echoed out in the open.
She's falling.
Oh God, she's falling down, and fast.
"Help!"
She thought she's dead--slammed across the ground like a pancake. But within a heartbeat, her feet is planted firmly on the ground, and the ground almost broke at the sheer impact. For some reason, she didn't sway nor fall on her ass, and instead she landed in an almost crouched position with her legs bent and her hands held out in front of her in steadying manner.
Panting heavily, her eyes slowly roamed the new environment, the unfamiliarity and heat clinging unto her skin and core like a snake. There was so much green, so much insects and strange noises she does not even want to know what.
"What...the...fu--"
"Ahh!" A familiar scream echoed just above her, and [Name] watched confused as something akin to the size of an ant started getting bigger from across the sky.
Is that...?
"EL!" She screamed along with the falling girl as El fell on a large leaf, bouncing off into the ground with her hands shielding her face.
"El!" She stumbled towards the fallen and panting girl, who remained unmoving on the ground. The ground was somewhat wet, and there were things crawling along the ground that she definitely did not want anywhere near her.
"[Name]...?" El's raspy voice reached her ears, and [Name] released a light and shocked laugh as she helped the girl up.
"Oh my God...I thought you were dead!" The two chorused, before pulling each other into a relieved embrace. The two immediately pulled away though as they heard two pairs of screams and screeching coming from the sky. El and [Name] watched as the tiny forms of Will and Dustin started getting bigger, until Dustin got caught in a branch whilst Will continued falling in front of them.
"Mother of God!"
"Will!"
"Dustin!"
The two headed towards Will, who is loudly panting as he tried to slap away the little branches that clung on his clothes and hair. They could hear him gagging as he frantically cleaned himself off of insects and dirt.
When El figured that he's fine, she glanced up at Dustin, who is still hanging and frantically screeching, "help me!" His body is swaying side to side as he flailed his arms around, causing the branch he's hanging from to creak, with pieces of it snapping in half.
"I'll catch you!" El shouted, putting her arms up with a smile, but Dustin screamed louder.
"Absolutely not!"
[Name] meanwhile is helping Will pick off the leaves and sticks stuck in his clothes and hair. Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets upon seeing Will's different clothing, "what the--"
With all the ruckus, the four didn't notice Mike and Lucas screaming as they too realized they're falling. The only difference is that they managed to grab ahold of each other mid-air, and are still struggling to grasp each other's arm so they won't fly off.
By mere coincidence, Dustin fell the same time that Lucas and Mike did, and somehow also in the same manner. Dustin fell on El, who released a grunt while Mike fell on Lucas, who screamed in pain.
"Get off!" El screamed as she pushed Dustin off, who then started to pay his thanks to whoever he's mumbling about whilst bowing. El groaned in pain as she stretched her muscles, and only then did she notice Mike and Lucas pushing away from each other, gagging.
"For such a lanky piece of of shit, you are goddamm heavy!" Lucas pushed Mike off who started screaming for El. The two ran to each other, embracing as they panted both in exhaustion and relief.
[Name] and Will were just watching the whole time, amused and sort of pitying the rest. They gave each a glance, and [Name] helped the boy stand up as he then started to dust himself.
"I thought I lost you..." Mike whispered to El who hugged him tighter.
"I thought I'd lose myself too at how heavy Dustin was!" El angrily looked at the said boy, who is sitting on the ground, relishing in the safety of land. His eyes snapped open at her statement, annoyed.
"Wha--? Don't blame me when you said you'd catch me!" He pointed at himself, before angrily standing up. Before El retorts back, Dustin screams and throws what was once in his face, thinking it was some sort of insect, "there's something on my face!" He continuously screams, but when he noticed he couldn't see, he started screaming and panicking about something else entirely.
Mike walked over to him and picked up the glasses he threw on the floor.
"I can't see! Help! Help!"
"It's prescription glasses, you nimrod!" He angrily pushes the item in Dustin's palm, who finally stops screaming his head off.
"Oh, oh, my glasses..."
[Name] then frowns, "correct me if I'm wrong, but...I'm pretty sure Dustin didn't have glasses from earlier..." she trails off, eyes glancing at everyone as they too started to realize, their heads turning to Dustin who now has silver rimmed glasses sitting atop his nose.
"You look extra geeky." Will states as Dustin looks at him with his mouth agape.
"Not only does that offend the crap out of me, but it also reminded me of the fact that this shit said curvy cartographer--and yet, look at me!" Dustin shouted as he gestured at his body, "is this game fucking with me or what?!"
"You're not even big, what are you shouting about?" El retorts.
Lucas then made a noise, and everyone's attention turned to him as he looked as though he's scratching himself, "what am I wearing?! Ahh! What's that on my back?! What's that on my back?!" He tried to push off the object that's settled on his back, and Will released a funny laugh that [Name] gave him a reprimanding look for.
"Lucas, calm down, it's just a backpack." She gently calmed the panicking boy down, while his friends are stifling laughter.
"What's that on my back?! What's that on my back?!" Dustin wheezed as he mocked the now fuming Lucas, who in turn started mocking him back.
"There's something on my face! There's something on my face!"
"Okay, that's enough, both of you! Let's all just calm down, okay?! Inhale and exhale with me. Inhale, exhale..." El started to breathe in and out, to which everyone followed.
But then El stopped chanting and pointed at Will, "Wait a moment, Will, were you wearing those clothes earlier?!"
By then, everyone started pointing at one another, taking note of the different articles of clothing adorning their body. El looked the most excited, twirling around as she laughs at her black coat. [Name] meanwhile is grumbling in annoyance.
"Who wears this in a jungle?! I mean, like--see?!" She slaps a hand on her exposed thigh, missing the mosquito which flew away. She scratched the said leg, glaring at a laughing Dustin, who immediately shut up.
"I'd give you my shirt but..." Will glanced down at his one layered button-up shirt, and everyone could see the top part of his chest because of the undone buttons. Will slowly and awkwardly buttoned up the three buttons, shy. [Name] and Lucas cleared their throats while El released quiet laughter.
"It's fine, Will, but thank you," [Name] smiled reassuringly at him as he flushed, nodding. She returned her gaze back at everyone, face solemn, "I think it's about time we address the elephant in the room..." Looking around them, [Name] continued, "where the hell are we?"
Cue everyone panicking again, all spitting theories back and forth as they argued because apparently the other is so stupid it's almost unbelievable.
"What the fuck do you mean we're in the Amazon?!"
"I don't know! Why won't you think so?!"
"Guys, I think we're in the game!" Will piped up, which everyone ignored as they continued arguing. El and [Name] are telling the three to quit it, and Dustin is now spouting about aliens and Area 51.
"Wait, Will, that sounds about right!" [Name] looked back to him with wide eyes, before shouting, "guys, we're inside the game!"
"What?!" Everyone chorused. And El pulled a hand to her mouth, realization hitting her like a truck. Mike and Lucas has their mouths agape while Dustin continued talking about alternate universes.
"That's right...I mean, we did get sucked inside the DVD. There's no other way to explain it!" Mike rambled, and everyone agreed.
"But how are we gonna get out?" El asked, worried. Hopper is probably worried sick. She did say she'll be home by 7pm--obviously accompanied by Mike.
"Oh no, it's not just gonna be my parents--Max is going to kill me! I was supposed to call her twenty minutes ago!"
"Speak for yourself! Will's mom is gonna put out missing papers by midnight! And my mom's gonna be all over the place!" Dustin cried out, rubbing his face as he groaned.
"Okay, okay! Let's calm down! We can't think clearly when we're panicking," Will spoke up, walking in the middle of the group, "if we're in the game, obviously, we have to play."
"Okay, but we don't even know how to play this." [Name] states while she holds a hand out to gesture towards the area. She then hugs her body, the tight fabric of her maroon short sleeved shirt making her uncomfortable.
Dustin suddenly screams again, and this time El complains, "you're gonma burst my eardrums, Dustin!"
"My mom's gonna kill me! I have a tattoo!" He brought his wrist up, but the rest didn't see anything, to which Lucas said out loud for everyone.
"There's nothing there."
But El also gasps, "oh no! Me too! I'm so dead." She stomps her feet in anger, face scrunched as she tried to wipe the thing off her wrist, but somehow, it disappears when she turns it to the side. She frowns.
"...I guess I have a tattoo sometimes..."
Suddenly, heavy footsteps started to shake the ground, and everyone huddled together in fear as Dustin shakily asks what it was. El clung to Mike, who held her closer while Lucas tried to squeeze himself inbetween the two pair--thinking they'll protect him. [Name] and Will were next to each other, the latter pulling a hand up to shield her as they waited for whatever it was. Everyone was holding their breaths.
A scream rips out of everyone's mouth when a huge mammal came out from the large leaves, dripping wet. A roar left it's huge mouth, and everyone is now clinging to each other, watching as the large mammal stomped its foot. The ground shook from the force, and Dustin slipped because of it and the muddy land.
Their eyes widened as Dustin slipped straight to the mammal's open mouth, chomping Dustin whole before swimming away on the nearest body of water. It all happened so fast that they froze for a moment. There was only silence after that, before they all screamed again.
"DUSTIN!"
"Is he dead?!" Mike screamed and El slapped him while shouting a 'what the hell do you think?!'
El and Lucas started crying as Will stood frozen with his mouth open, astounded and in shock. That did not just happen...did it?
A loud technical ding came from the sky, and everyone stopped moving when they hear Dustin's terrified scream. [Name] almost doubled over at what she saw and is now seeing. How is that possible?! Dustin was eaten whole by a hippo! There was no way of surviving that!
Dustin fell face first on the ground, the impact causing pain to erupt in his face. Sitting up, he groaned as everyone started running to him.
"I'm alive!"
"How are you alive?!" Lucas screamed as he pulled the boy up, shocked as he shook Dustin. El is crying while also laughing in disbelief, while Mike sat on the ground, mouth open as he watched Dustin--who was eaten alive, now well and screaming his head off like a chicken again.
Will shakily brought Dustin's glasses to him, gulping as he spoke lowly, "holy crap...you just fell from the sky after getting eaten!"
"Yeah! I got eaten a fuckin' rhino!" Dustin shouts, patting himself to check if he's really alive. Lucas then gave him a dubious look.
"That," he breathlessly started, "was a freaking hippopotamus! They're as fast as a horse over short distances and they have the bite force of 8100 newtons," he rambled and everyone gave him a surprised look, which he mirrored, "how the hell do I know this?!"
"Y--you're a zoologist!" [Name] shouts as she stumbles towards them, "that's what your character's description was!"
"Holy shit, that's fuckin' cool!" Mike laughs in disbelief.
"Are we just gonna ignore the fact he fell from the sky after being eaten by a hippo?!" El angrily states as she points at an amazed Dustin, who's watching his wrist while turning it from side to side.
"Guys, my tattoo lost one line!"
Everyone checked theirs, but they all still have three lines. Suddenly, it all clicked in Will's head.
"It's our lives." He states flatly, face still trying to register the information. [Name] scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, before her mouth turns into an 'o', realization finally reaching her. The rest also soaked the new information in and Mike soon spoke up.
"Three lives. We have three lives, which is why Dustin," he points to the boy mentioned, "only has two lines now...holy jabebooz, that is so cool."
"Wait, what?!" Dustin shouts.
》
A/N: Their attires are the same as the film's, but Reader's cropped tank top is a full on shirt, the sleeves are just short.