FicWad

A wind surrounded them and they started spinning wildly. Colours blurred past them in confusion. Suddenly they were hurled forward into a new world. They stumbled and fell over each other.

Immediately Cal stood up and walked away from the group. He doubled over puking.

“I don’t do well with motion,” he told the group, green in the face.

“I can see that,” Joe said cringing.

The group looked around at the new scenery. Not much seemed different from earth. Blue sky, white clouds, green grass. Roan red dirt could be seen through the grass and grey and white rocks scattered the scenery. One thing that seemed strange was that it didn’t feel like there was any weather. Yes, there were clouds, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything. The sun was out but the temperature was lukewarm and was hardly noticed.

“Whoa, I’m no longer where I used to be,” Lara stated.

Alex looked at a spot on a nearby hill and blinked. He thought he had seen a rock disappear. “My eyes must be wonky from the travel here,” he reasoned to himself.

Joe looked down at his POD and noticed that a new, blue button had appeared. Joe pushed it without hesitation.

Silver ribbons shot out of the POD and wrapped around Joe’s body. When the ribbons fell away his clothes were replaced with a new, more modern outfit. It included black slacks with a black belt and silver belt buckle. A black muscle shirt with a silver stripe stretching diagonally across his chest topped it all off. A silver backpack appeared on his back and his cowboy hat was gone.

“My hat! Where’s my hat?!” he exclaimed. Quickly he looked around for it. He took off his backpack and opened it. His hat was sitting inside. He took it out and put it on with a sigh. It blended into the outfit well.

Alex stared at him for a second before he gave a slight chuckle. “You look like an outlaw.”

“I think he looks handsome. It’s much better than the rags he usually wears,” Lara said defending Joe.

“Oooh. I think someone has a crush,” Alex teased.

“Do you want to be beaten up?” Lara threatened.

Alex raised an eyebrow before looking down at his own P.O.D. He noticed that the same button had appeared on his device too. He reluctantly pressed the button and instantly the silver ribbons surrounded him just as they had with Joe. They wrapped around him and created another modern look.

He looked down at himself. He was wearing a baby blue jump suit with a turned up collar. There was a silver stripe diagonally across the suit like Joe’s and the legs fanned out at the bottom. He looked very sleek with the material tight to his toned body.

This time it was Lara’s turn to laugh. “You look like you’re from the seventies.”

“Shut up,” Alex scowled through gritted teeth. “Why don’t you try? You’ll probably look just as stupid.”

Lara pressed the button and again the silver ribbons came out wrapping themselves around her. Joe and Alex looked at her with their mouths open. She was wearing a tight belly shirt with one arm long and the other three quarter length with leather pants and a silver belt with the buckle off to the side. There was a silver stripe the same as Alex and Joe’s across the shirt. The whole outfit was navy blue and looked like it was made for her.

“I feel ridiculous,” she said, blushing as she looked down at herself. It wasn’t her normal choice of outfit; t-shirt and jeans.

“You don’t look ridiculous at all,” Joe said in awe.

“Why does she get cool clothes when I have to wear this stupid jumpsuit?” Alex complained.

Right then Cal walked up beside them with the green tinge still in his face. “Whoa! Nice outfits. Where’d you get them?” Cal asked.

“Look at your POD. There’s a new button,” Joe replied pointing out the blue button to Cal.

Cal looked at his wrist and said, “And so there is.” He pushed the button and once more silver ribbons shot out and wrapped themselves around him. When they were done he was wearing army green khakis with a matching baggy t-shirt which also had the silver stripe across it.

“Why does he get normal clothes?” Alex whined.

“Stop complaining. Is that all you ever do?” Lara snapped at Alex.

“I wonder what these outfits are for,” Cal thought out loud.

“Why don’t we ask that hologram thingy?” Lara suggested.

“You can call me Jerry,” a voice stated.

Cal, Alex and Lara turned around to see Joe, who had already brought up the hologram. The three of them looked at Joe, amazed at how fast he had reacted.

“Good reflexes,” he explained shrugging.

Cal shook his head then addressed Jerry. “Why are we wearing these outfits?” he asked.

“You will have to blend in,” he answered as if it was a stupid question.

“Blend in to what?” Alex asked as he looked at his surroundings. “There’s nothing and no one around to blend into.”

“You’ll have to walk there of course. We couldn’t have you appear in the middle of a place with people around. They’d think they had gone crazy seeing you appear out of thin air,” Jerry explained.

“Right,” Alex replied.

Joe pushed the button again and Jerry disappeared into the POD.

“So, where do we go?” Cal asked.

Joe looked up at the sky then looked down. Pointing north he said, “That way.”

“You found that out just by looking at the sky? And I thought I was the smart one,” Cal said amazed. He looked up at the sky then muttered, “Creepy.”

“No, I figured it out by looking at my POD,” Joe explained looking pointedly at the device on his wrist.

Cal looked down at his POD and saw a flashing arrow pointing north on the screen. “Oh,” he said, feeling a bit stupid.