Jungle speed (TAG SFW)

 Another old fiction, this time one that needs some updating. This one was quite fun and still absolutely love it

Jungle speed

“I'm not playing that stupid game with you!” John groaned, rolling over pulling the covers over his head.

“But it's family game night, John and it is Virgil's turn to pick!” Gordon pleaded from John's bedroom door.

“I just come down from space, the last thing I want to do is run around like a moron and have all of you try to flatten me!”

Scott also stood in the doorway, arms folded. “That's because you're in space too much and not getting enough exercise and fresh air. Now, don't be a lazy lump and join us.” Scott usually had sympathy for his brother but not tonight. They haven't had a decent bonding moment together in months with all the rescues and all of them were in need of something fun to keep them from falling apart under the weight of the workload. A distraction was called for. Scott liked the idea that Gordon proposed of a family game night years ago when they were kids and had decided to reinstate it. Unfortunately it meant games that were already lying around the house because no one had the chance to get off the island for personal time to buy anything new.

Scott loved it purely as it was a chance to make his brothers feel good about themselves and also a chance for him to spend time with his closest aged sibling, time he sorely missed once they both went to study and had jobs before their father sprang International Rescue on them all. He remembered even though John used to have the littlie's following him around everywhere, they still did the usually brotherly things like blow up the neighbour’s cat with a bottle rocket – it was an accident – kept secrets from their dad about Scott's brief period of rebellion and smoking and John's love of space tattoos. It was also the only time Scott got to let his guard down and be a real brother and not some over protective worry wart.

“Go away.”

“I'll call Virgil in here and he'll drag you out of bed. I'm sure Kayo who's standing in the hall with us would love to see you in your PJ's.” Scott threatened.

“Alright, give me five minutes.”

“Ok, but if your not with us by them I have given you advanced warning that an attack from Virgil is imminent.”

“Are you sure he's going to join us?” Kayo asked Scott as she followed both him and Gordon down the hallway.

“Oh he will,” Smiled Scott. “'Cause he knows Virgil can drag him all the way down the stairs without any effort.”

“Won't that hurt?” Kayo looked slightly mortified. She thought game nights were supposed to be fun. For John it seemed like mild torture and they all enjoyed it at his expense.

“Not as much as Virgil pinning you to the floor in a game of 'Jungle speed'.” Gordon added his two cents. “I don't really blame him, last time me and Virgil managed to shatter his collar bone and the time before that Alan tripped him over so he twisted his knee the wrong way...” Gordon fell silent when Scott raised and eyebrow.

“Let's just say it's a really rough game.” Scott said hurriedly.

“Rough isn't the word Scotty, you're either fast or your squashed into the nearest wall.”

“Do I really want to play this game?” Kayo started to sound worried.

“Grandma plays it. I've never seen anyone take a totem off her yet, see she digs her knees and elbows into places that...” he grinned as he realised he was telling her too much information.

“Don't worry Kayo, the first rounds pretty safe. If you want to keep playing when it starts getting chaotic your welcome too.” Scott grinned.

“Just don't expect anyone to go easy on you because you're a girl.” Gordon added, getting a jab in the ribs from Scott. Scott shook his head at the disbelief that his younger brother didn't come with a mute button or at least a pause feature that allowed you to mute his mouth before he came out with trash talk. He was glad that despite the fact Gordon wasn't alone in the chatter box department, at least Alan knew what opinions to keep to himself. Gordon had absolutely no idea.

“Oh I'll be bringing it. There's no way I’d let you beat me.”

Gordon's idiotic grin returned. “That's the spirit!”

Scott tried not to laugh. He had been on the receiving end of one of Kayo's punches before and it had not been a pleasant experience. Ok at the time she missed hitting the punching bag because she was mad but the power behind it left Scott with a black eye for two weeks.

They made their way into the little space where the coffee table sat and Virgil and Alan were busy setting up for the first round, both on their knees at the table as being on a chair would give anyone an advantage.

“Is he coming down?” Alan asked hopefully. Alan liked when John played with them, it meant at least one person was going to challenge him to a test of speed and not muscle, something Alan sorely lacked. He had grown to be as skinny and lithe as John had but was far more agile than his sibling. He was also heavier too and was able to hold even Scott himself down on the floor when they had played the game long enough that alliances had been formed and it became a battle between brains and brawn.

“Should be. Give him a few minutes to get dressed.”

“How about I just go up and grab him? Would be much faster.” Virgil had a devious grin on his face.

“Won't be necessary.” John bounded down the stairs, pausing to adjust his hooded jumper.

“Why are you wearing that for? You're going to be running around, won't you get hot in that?” Gordon asked, frowning.

“I'm putting as much padding between me and you guys as possible if we're going to go ahead with this charade.” John said, sitting down on the floor next to Alan. “You guys leave bruises that last for months.”

“That's because your a weakling, Johnny.” Gordon teased as he sat beside Virgil.

“Never used to be.” John said as Alan gave him a high five for choosing him to sit with. “You lot all out grew me.”

“Don't say that John, otherwise they'll outgrow me!” Scott chuckled sitting himself between John and Virgil. He picked that spot because it prevented Virgil swinging John around into the table if both of them had to make a run for it. Virgil had a tendency to grab you if you were too close to try and slow you down and Scott preferd no one leave this game night with a cracked skull. Something going wrong was always inevitable, they were all dangerously competitive when push came to shove and it wouldn't take long before it got really silly.

“Besides,” Gordon teased, “I'd love to have your height John, I hate being a short arse.”

John let himself show a hint of a smile. He may not have got the muscles but he certainly had the height on any of them if he had to hold anything out of reach. Being almost seven feet tall did have the odd perk in games like this but not very often. It just meant there was more of you to squish into the floorboards. Scott knew that feeling all too well, being the next in the height department. It was amazing the amount of extra bruises you ended up with when you had more surface area to jab an elbow into.

Kayo seemed pretty impressed. She rarely had been with them when they were all together talking trash to each other. It was interesting to say the least and might have been the first time she ever saw Scott become excited about something and John smiling like a person like Alan always told her they did. It was nice to see traits in them that the other's clearly outwardly displayed all the time. She took her place between Alan and Gordon, getting an evil smile from Gordon and an uneasy one from Alan. To her it seemed like John wasn't the only one weary of this game they were about to play. Alan had broke out the bandages already and had strapped his arms up to his elbows as if he was expecting something to get sprained.

“Alright, first round rules, Totem is in the middle of the table, whoever flips the same cards as each other must compete to grab for it.” Virgil still held his grin from before as he shuffled the cards. “If you grab the totem you give all your cards to the losing player or players in your pile. We keep going until someone runs completely out of the cards in their hand." he dealt out the cards till everyone had a large pile in their hands.

“Hey why isn't Brain's playing this?” Kayo asked quickly before they started.

“He's flown Grandma out to get dinner. Besides, this isn't his type of game.” Scott replied.

“That's right, he just doesn't get into it.” Gordon nodded.

“They mean he doesn't get competitive enough.” John elaborated.

“And you do, John?”

“You have no idea.” John's eyes narrowed as he glanced at Gordon. “You're going down, Gordon.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Yep.”

“Bring it on, Johnny boy!” he teased, getting a wince from his older brother. He knew how much John hated being called Johnny but at least it wasn't as bad as calling his proper name. Gordon wasn't stupid enough to get his brother that mad. John may not be strong but he could give a good pounding when he was emotionally let off the chain.

“I thought you said you hated this game?”

“I do, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy parts of it either.” John's smile grew a little wider.

“Alright! Let's get started!” Virgil clapped his hands together.

“BRING IT ON!” Alan and Gordon both yelled excitedly.

The first round went rather well lasting a full hour, because Kayo proved she was faster than any of them in grabbing the totem from the centre of the table and clearing her whole deck first. A few times, she just missed out on having her fingers smothered to it because of over enthusiastic thumping of everyone trying to grab it at once. Gordon rubbed every tiny little victory he got in with a ridiculous dance and Scott started laughing really hard when John threw a fist pump in the air when he managed to out grab Virgil and shouted at the top of his lungs. Alan had a few quick calls, one against both John and Kayo led to them both grabbing him and ruffling his hair as hard as they could. Virgil out gunned Scott and pretended he had a pistol, shot at Scott who pretend to be die with all the dramatic sounds included and Scott had even had to occasionally give John a light shove when his brother had failed to register that they both had a match with each other.

By the end of the first round they were all laughing so hard everything in their lives didn't seem to matter except the here and now, all together having fun. The long days, the close calls, the near death experiences... all just seemed to be put on a shelf.

“Alright, time for round two!” Scott stood up as Virgil collected the cards to reshuffle them. “From this point on, all future rounds will be to these rules but with one variation. The totem can be placed anywhere in this room by the person who manages to grab it. I have it on a very special authority that Max had waxed the floors before Brains and Grandma left so prepare yourselves for some slippery fun.”

John's expression changed very quickly from happy to deadpan. “You have got to be joking?”

Scott shook his head. “Not a joke. I suggest if you don't want to slide everywhere to take your socks off. This is going to get ugly.” he handed Kayo the totem piece. “You do the honours since you won the last round.”

Kayo looked around the room, which was pretty empty but had plenty of room to place the game piece anywhere she liked where two or three people could make a dash for it and wrestle each other till someone cried uncle.

She placed it on the floor in an area that was pretty open. She wasn't too sure where else she could put it, so she shrugged, plonked it down and sat back down on the floor and picked up her pile that Virgil had sorted out, unaware of the potential chaos the rest of this game held.

A few cards down and the first double showed up. Gordon was fast off the floor and John swore, trying to untangle his legs out from under him. Both ignored the few stairs lead that out of the centre of the room's lowered sitting area, Gordon jumping on a chair to get out and John clearing the gap in one leap upward onto the wooden floor, both in a mad dash to grab the totem first. Gordon still had his socks on and slid along the floor and John made a dive for it, both landing on top of each other, scrabbling for the game piece that Gordon's foot knocked out of reach. The other's were all cheering their brothers on, Virgil and Alan clearly having a bias to one or the other and Scott just calling out to urge them both on. In the end Gordon grabbed it with John sitting on top of him and shouted, “BOOYA!” at the top of his lungs.

Kayo blinked. She had never seen anything like it before. If it wasn't happening in front of her eyes, there was no way she'd believe anyone who tried to tell her John was as bad as Gordon at this game.

John helped Gordon up onto his feet and Gordon picked the next location for the totem, up on a shelf at the edge of the room. When he came back to sit down he gave Virgil a high five and poked his tongue out at both Alan and John. Scott gave Kayo a quick glance and a devious smile. It was if he knew they'd automatically fall into an alliance with someone the second the game started to get interesting. Sometimes, Scott was a mastermind in getting his brother's to think everything they did was their own idea and Kayo was seeing it first hand.

And other few cards, new set of doubles, this time her and John.

“Ah hell!.” John struggled to get up again, this time hot on her heels. He was quite quick, grabbing her around the waist and swinging her out the way while he reached up and grabbed the totem. He placed her back on the floor and she noticed that he was smiling a lot more than when he had got up with Gordon, as if he was relived he didn't have to be so rough with someone. Before she headed to sit back down, he whispered in her ear.

“Watch out for Virgil and Gordon when you get them. I'm not sure if they'll get really rough with you at first but give them a few turns and they won't care as long as your flat on the floor.”

“You're joking.” Kayo whispered back flatly.

John shook his head. “Alan and Scott are heavier than you are and they get thrown around like rag dolls. Please be careful.” he went off to put the totem near a book shelf on the floor before coming back to sit down.

The next one was Virgil and Alan and Kayo got to see how hard they really played. Alan was faster off the mark and was able to clear the platform level in the same way John could with a little more effort involved, Virgil threw himself up the small stairs and when they got nearer to the totem Virgil rugby tackled Alan to the floor with a loud thud, both of them over shooting the totem and bowling into the shelf itself. Books rained down hitting Virgil on the back and Alan stretched his arm out as far as he could as he was underneath his brother's weight, but wasn't able to reach. Vigil grabbed it with ease and helped his brother up off the ground.

As Alan headed back she noticed he was rolling his shoulder, the part of him that had hit the bookshelf at full force.

“I see what you mean John.”

“It's only just started.” John gave Alan a tag back on his hand as he sat back down and gently felt his younger brother's shoulder socket. “You're ok Alan.”

“Thanks. Felt like I got hit by a raging bull.”

“You wanted to know what being hit by a truck was like?”

“Exactly like that?”

“Pretty much with the exception of being dragged along tarmac.” John shuddered. An experience he never wanted to repeat and one where Alan flinched every time he thought about it. She wasn't entirely sure what had happened, having to fly home the day they found out about John's little accident but she knew when she had come back to the Island, International Rescue was in full swing and Alan was obsessively protective of his older sibling.

“Don't be so dramatic.” Gordon waved the comments of rough housing off like water off a ducks back.

“Just wait until it's your turn, Gords.” Alan mumbled.

Another pair flipped up, this time it was Scott and Gordon. Gordon grabbed at his brother who was next to him and pulled him down, clinging onto him forcing Scott to drag his extra weight around until he freed himself, only to be re-tackled and beaten to the totem. On his way back to his seat he was readjusting his jeans, as Gordon had managed to pull on them so hard the belt buckle broke. Gordon was doing a bit of a victory dance before he decided on the next spot to put the totem.

More card flips and another pair. Both John and Scott struggled to get up, one due to his long legs, the other due to his pants trying to fall down and make a dash for the totem. Scott tripped and flung his arms out to grab anything to stop himself from falling, unfortunately it happened to be the hood of John's jumper and they both collapsed in a heap on the floor, the totem rolling beneath the piano. There was a great amount of laughter at the two older brother's expense, even more when they both got underneath the huge grand piano and were trying to shove each other out the way. John's arm flung out from under with the totem and then there was a loud thump as his head connected with the bottom of the piano as he tried to roll out from under it. This got a round of laughter from Gordon and Virgil and even Kayo couldn't hide her smile. It was moments like these that reminded her that the two eldest of her adoptive family were human and also had the clumsy case of the stupids every now and then. Scott helped his brother out from under the instrument and gave him a hug and pat on the back as his younger brother rubbed his head. Scott was grinning like an idiot however and laughed when he spoke.

“Don't go knocking yourself out of the game so early ok John?” he ruffled John's strawberry blonde hair since his brother was still bent over and he was able to reach. “It doesn't count it you take yourself out of the game.”

“Doesn't it? Ah well better luck next time, hey Scott?” he grabbed his older brother around the waist and lifted him off the ground for a few seconds before having to put him down. It was a little reminder that John wasn't going to easy on him next time and that he was still strong enough to keep playing.

Alan got the next two lots, The first against Kayo and it was pretty much a race of who was the fastest, Alan clearly didn't want to have to tackle anyone to the ground if he could out run them. The second was against Gordon who sandwiched him against the wall that hung their portraits to prevent his younger sibling from getting anywhere near the game piece.

After about three hours, it was clear who was winning the game. Gordon and Virgil had been pretty good at keeping the steals from them to a minimum, although Kayo had managed to out run them to avoid being crushed alive when she was up against either of them, and Scott had managed to take a few but they were almost unstoppable, both being able to throw their weight around. John and Alan on the other hand had the most difficulty against them so had tried focusing on their other match ups, however in John's case his energy levels were a lot lower than Alan so he ended up with more cards than anyone else, which had the unfortunate side affect of him being stuck having to get up almost every second or third turn. Scott cheered when he started to play a bit more clever, kicking the totem under chairs and once under the bar fridge so he and Virgil had to move it to be able to claim victory, however it still didn't seem to get him any further ahead.

Gordon was down to his last few cards and if John could grab the totem, Gordon will no longer be able to win the game, giving the win conditions more towards Kayo or Scott's favour.

The cards were down, John was up before Gordon had realised there was a double, his head already in 'gloating over everyone' mode as he had a habit of celebrating things prematurely. Gordon was just as quick, grabbing John's hood and pulling him backward so John skittered the totem under their dad's desk with his right hand before he hit the floor, both brothers sliding into it, Gordon slamming John's back against the hardwood. Stuff on the desk jumped in the impact and things fell but that didn't stop Gordon getting to his feet and running around the other side to grab the game piece.

“VICTORY IS MINE!” he started to do a stupid little dance, something he had been preparing in his head the moment he discovered he was going to win the game. “WHO'S THE BEST!” he paused mid – strut when he saw the looks on the other's faces. Scott was already heading over and Alan was scrambling up and over the sofa but not to congratulate him on the win. Gordon walked around the front of the desk and John was clutching his head, surrounded by shattered glass. There was a heavy 60's inspired radio on the floor their father had sitting on the desk that had a glass viewer for the dial, something that harked back to his own grandfather, the only thing Jeff really treasured, just as much as his missing wife and five sons. Surely something that hard would have made a big smashing sound as it hit the floor?

It had hit John squarely in the head, the glass dial hitting him right on the temple, the old fragile glass shattering on impact with his face.

“Don't get any closer Gordon,” John snapped. “Unless you want your socks full of glass.” he mumbled and he got up on all fours carefully so not to put his hands in the shattered pieces himself. “I really hate this game.”

“And yet you get into it as much as we do.” Gordon snorted.

“ I told you there are SOME parts I still enjoy it. It's when you take it too far I really hate this game – OW!” he hissed to try and stem the curse words that were sitting on his lips. “Great Granddad’s radio is completely busted now.”

“You've got a huge gash to your head and you're worried about a stupid radio?”

“That's older than Parker's damn Rolls Royce, it's beyond a regular antique!” John paused. “I think I'm done bonding now, can I sit out the next game please?”

Alan had slipped on some shoes, came to John's aid and helped him up the floor, carefully picking his way around the glass as John was still in bare feet. Scott had gone into the kitchen and had come back with a bag of frozen peas and once Alan was happy that John didn't have glass in his forehead, gave him the bag to apply to his face. Blood could be dealt with later, they were just relived that he didn't loose an eye.

Scott grabbed a broom and handed it to Gordon while he picked up the radio and inspected it. “Hopefully Brains can repair it, it doesn't look like it takes a specialised glass or anything.” he placed it again on their dad's desk. So much for having John join in the rest of the game night.

“So that's it then, no more games?” Kayo sounded a little disappointed.

“Pfft heck no.” Virgil stuck out his tongue. “There's plenty more, We just wanted to see John make an idiot of himself.” he grinned.

“Well you succeeded there alright.” John lay down on the couch, his head resting on Alan's lap.

“Indeed we did, although it does make the next game slightly more fun.”

“Oh? And what ones that?” Alan asked, deeply suspicious.

“We were going to play 'Survive: Escape from Atlantis.'”

“That's not fair! Why couldn't we have played that first?” John turned his head and glared at Virgil who was still grinning.

“Because you always win. At least with 'Jungle Speed' we are all on a level playing field.”

“Ugnh.” John groaned. There was always some excuse in relation to him being a smart arse too intelligence to play their games. “We could have played ' Cosmic encounter' or 'Space Cadets' if you were that worried I was going to be too devious and cunning to play anything.”

“Well I would have suggested 'Pandemic' and assigned you the role of the terrorist, but I haven't seen the box for that since the last time we played it.”

“Don't look at me, I didn't put it away last.” Gordon stopped sweeping up for a few seconds to take in the accusing stares. “That was Scott's job.”

“Yeah uh about that... last time you were a tad too diabolical for that game, so I buried it in my room.” Scott scratched the back of his head. “Sorry but there are times where you can be far too evil. You have no idea what it's like to have all your younger siblings be far more intelligent than you are.”

“Oh I dunno Scott... I bet I can imagine it.” John smirked. This made Scott's smile return as it was coming from someone who was letting one of the youngest members of the family fuss over him because he was too exhausted to argue. “I wonder, can I put the games away tonight? I promise nothing BAD will happen to precious 'Jungle Speed'.” he said the last bit in a way that was dripping with sarcasm and intent along the lines of 'I'm going to throw it into the ocean the first chance I get.'

“You can tell your both related I assure you.” Kayo chuckled. “You may look nothing like each other but boy you two sound alike from time to time, its pretty uncanny.”

“I see your point. It's rather hard to find something we are all pretty even at to make it a fair game.” Scott took into account both John's and Kayo's comments.

“Scott?”

“Yes John?”

“Your epiphany is making my head hurt, start another game already.”