A tribute to my favourite character in Jumanji WTTJ: Seaplane McDonough. I still haven't gotten over how cool his Nick-name is.

16-year-old Alex Vreeke was awoken in the middle of the night by a green flash in his bedroom. He could have sworn that he heard drum beats coming from that box on his cabinet labelled 'Jumanji'.

He opened the box to find it empty save for a single video game cartridge. That was odd. He knew that there had been a board game there when he opened the box that afternoon.

Curiously, he plugged the cartridge into his console to see what it was about. After a brief opening message about wanting to leave one's world behind, a character select menu appeared on the screen.

Alex saw that there were five different playable characters to choose from. After thinking for a moment, he decided to select the one at the top of the screen: Jefferson "Seaplane" McDonough, pilot and rascal. That sounded cool and looked like it would suit him well.

"Welcome to Jumanji!" chirped the game's narrator. Alex pressed start, and immediately drum beats began to play loudly in his room. A green light on his console shone brightly, and slowly, bit by bit, Alex felt that he was being sucked into the game.

"What's happening?!" he cried, as he suddenly felt he was falling, crashing through branches and leaves. Then as soon as it had started, it was over.

Alex found himself in the midst of a thick jungle. Looking at himself, he realised that his outfit had changed into that of a pilot adventurer. He also saw that the name tag on his new leather jacket read "Seaplane". As he ran to the river to catch a glimpse of his reflection, he realised he was in another man's body - that of Seaplane McDonough.

He saw a hippo emerging from the water, and began running in the opposite direction. He had not run far before a man pulled up in front of him in a Jeep. The vehicle's door opened, and the driver introduced himself as Nigel Billingsley.

Alex got in, and Nigel began explaining the backstory of Jumanji to him. Nigel informed him that he, Seaplane, was here to assist "Dr. Bravestone and his associates" in their quest, and that he must be ready to help them when they arrived.

At the end of their ride, Nigel gave Alex the Jaguar's Eye and wished him Godspeed. He handed him a map of Jumanji, told him to go to the bazaar and gave him instructions on how to finish the game.

As Nigel drove away, Alex found himself on a vast open plain. Opening the map, he saw that it was blank. For a moment, he wondered if it was a glitch in the game, but he soon recalled that there was a cartographer in the game's character select menu. Alex cursed. He suspected that only the cartographer had the ability to read the map, which meant that he was lost.

He barely had time to appreciate the gorgeous scenery around him before the ominous Jumanji drums sounded again, and he had to flee from mercenaries on motorcycles. Fortunately, he was able to lose them by running into the jungle and jumping into a waterfall.

After emerging from the waterfall, Alex decided to move towards higher ground. As a trained pilot, he was able to navigate using the sun and the stars; but without a map, he spent several days wandering around the island before he finally found the bazaar.

At the bazaar, an NPC with the appearance of a young boy led him into a small rotunda, wherein was a basket containing his next clue. As soon as Alex entered the rotunda, the Jumanji drums sounded for the third time.

Opening the basket, Alex was freaked to see a snake emerge from it. He ran screaming out of the rotunda, knocking over the basket in the process, and ended up taking refuge atop one of the bazaar tables.

A nearby incense vendor explained to Alex that the snake was a black mamba, one of the deadliest creatures in existence. He also told him it was safe to go back into the rotunda - the snake was gone. Tentatively, Alex ventured back inside. He found his clue lying on the floor: a small elephant token wrapped with a note which read, 'When you see me, begin the climb.'

Unfortunately, he had been found by Van Pelt's patrolling pet vulture, and Van Pelt soon arrived at the bazaar with his minions. Seeing them, Alex turned tail and ran. He managed to delay his pursuers a little bit by overturning tables and causing a ruckus as he fled. Suddenly, Alex spotted a manhole in the ground, removed its covering and climbed down into it.

Unfortunately, the minions had seen him, and they followed him down into the sewer. Alex hid in the darkness, praying that they would leave. Suddenly, he heard loud, bloodcurdling screams coming from elsewhere in the maze of tunnels.

A minion passed by Alex's hiding place, and Alex quickly knocked him out, stealing his weapons and supplies. Moving on, Alex saw two dead mercenaries pinned to the end of a corridor by spears. After plundering them too, he took care to avoid the flying spears. Later, he found another corridor littered by the sliced-up bodies of more dead henchmen. After a few seconds of observation, Alex deduced that sharp blades would spring out of the walls along the white bricks on the floor, and he navigated through the trap with ease.

After passing by the blades, Alex encountered a watery pit of crocodiles. He fed a minion's corpse to the crocodiles, and found a wooden plank long enough to cross the pit with. Alex supposed that the video game always provided a way to solve its puzzles. Pressing on ahead, he found a door which opened to the jungle.

Trekking through the jungle, Alex was distracted by birdsong. Looking up, he saw an abandoned treehouse, which was now inhabited by birds. He thought it was a curiosity, but decided to move on.

He eventually saw a large shed in the distance, and supposed that was his next stop. Upon a closer look, he realised it was being guarded by two NPCs. Alex decided to wait until nightfall before sneaking towards the shed.

Under the cover of darkness, Alex crept past the guards and killed them with a single shot from his stolen pistol. With the guards taken care of, he broke into the shed.

Inside, Alex saw that the shed was filled with various vehicles, including motorcycles, cars, a bus, a plane and a helicopter. As it was dark outside, he chose to take a hot air balloon, hoping that the fire would provide him some light with which to see. He dragged it out of the shed and lit it up.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind came, and the balloon caught fire. Panicking, Alex tried to turn the leaking gas supply off, but it was too late. The hot air balloon exploded in a brilliant conflagration.

To Alex's surprise, he respawned at daybreak, not too far away from the shed. Examining his wrist tattoo, he saw that it now consisted of only two bars where there once were three, and realised that he had two lives left with which to finish the game. He decided that he must make the canyon crossing in the daytime, and choose another vehicle with which to do so.

Alex tried to advance towards the shed, but the guards spotted him and began firing at him. He took off running and barely escaped with his life. He realised that he had no choice but to wait for the guards to leave.

In the meantime, Alex decided to return to the treehouse. He cleaned the place up and made himself comfortable there. He noticed Alan Parrish's name carved into a plank, and guessed that he must be the treehouse's builder.

Feeling hot and sweaty, Alex went to take a bath in a nearby river. While bathing, he accidentally tapped his left pec and summoned his orange character stats menu. He learned that his strengths were piloting and margarita-making, while his weaknesses were women and mosquitos.

Horrified, Alex quickly returned to the bazaar in order to buy some citronella candles for the treehouse. In a stroke of good fortune, the incense vendor allowed him to have them for free. Encouraged, Alex decided to celebrate, and purchased some groceries, a blender and an electric generator from the nearby stalls. Back at the treehouse, he made himself his first margarita and commended himself for his skill.

Three weeks later, Alex saw that the guards had finally left. Seizing his opportunity, he snuck into the shed and narrowed down his transportation choices to a plane and a helicopter. Because his name was Seaplane, he decided to go with the plane.

He took off successfully and flew away over the canyon in broad daylight, feeling optimistic. Suddenly, the Jumanji drums sounded again, and a couple of fighter jets piloted by orangutans appeared behind him.

Desperately, Alex tried to manoeuvre his aircraft, but the merciless orangutans shot his starboard wing off. He screamed as he spiralled out of control and crashed, the mocking hoots of the orangutans ringing in his ears.

Alex respawned near the shed once more. He saw that he had just one life bar left, and he was overcome by dread. For the first time, he realised just how immensely difficult the game really was, and he knew that he could not afford to make another fatal mistake.

In fear, Alex hurried back to the safety of his treehouse. Once there, he made himself a margarita to help him calm down.

While drinking, he took the Jaguar's Eye out of his pocket and looked at it. He remembered the other four characters mentioned by Nigel and the character select screen - Bravestone, Finbar, Oberon and Roundhouse. He wondered if he would feel better if he had been playing this game with friends, instead of by himself.

Alex suddenly understood that unless he could somehow complete the game by himself, he was stuck there forever, and the jewel would never be returned to its destination. With just one life remaining, it would take a miracle for him to be able to do it now.

He thought back to the night he started playing, and wished that someone had warned him about this game. He began to miss his home and his parents, and suddenly realised that he might never see them again.

At the thought of all this, Alex burst into tears. He was all alone, trapped in a strange land with no hope of rescue and no realistic chance of getting out alive. In his despair, he vainly tried to drown his sorrows in his margaritas.

Months passed by, and Alex resigned himself to his fate in Jumanji. One day, he woke up and went about his daily errands as usual. He opened the locked chest where he kept the Jaguar's Eye and his weapons, and took out his guns to go hunting.

After an hour, he returned with a small deer. However, when he went to return his weapons to the chest, he was shocked to see that the Jaguar's Eye had disappeared. For a brief moment, he panicked and wondered if some animal or even Van Pelt had stolen it.

He heard bikers roaring through the jungle below him, and hid himself so as not to be seen by them. He overheard their shouts, and was able to make out the words "Bravestone!" and "Find them!"

Alex thought about it for a moment, hope rising within him. Bravestone? Find them? Could more players possibly have joined the game? If so, the game must have sent the gem back to Nigel so that he could give it to them…

Excitedly, Alex rearmed himself and descended from his treehouse. If there were indeed new players in the game, he was sure he would run into them at the bazaar.

Alex donned a bandana mask and snuck back to the bazaar. When he arrived, he heard a commotion, and peeked around the corner to see what was going on.

He was amazed to see a strong hulking man punching Van Pelt's minions sky-high. Alex wondered if this man was a player, and how many others there were with him.

Suddenly, Van Pelt himself arrived at the bazaar and the fight came to an abrupt halt. From his vantage point, Alex was able to identify the new players for the first time because they were all standing together in a group: The hulk, a short black man with a backpack, a really fly redhead in a crop top and shorts, and a fat bearded man in a pith helmet.

No way! thought Alex. Could that really be all of them?

Yeah! he realised a moment later. It was totally the remaining quartet from the character select screen! Somehow, they had all joined him in the game at last.

The four newcomers were standing there in fear, unsure of what to do. Alex heard Van Pelt address the hulk as Dr. Bravestone, and he suddenly realised why Nigel always spoke of Bravestone as if he were the main character - because he was.

"We just want to go home," Dr. Bravestone said, in an uncharacteristically timid tone for a man his size. Van Pelt's minions cocked their guns to fire, and Alex realised he needed to act now.

Alex took out a smoke grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it into the midst of his newfound companions. His solitary existence in the game was over.

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