Ignition - Chapter 1

Bonnie stretched her body back, slightly shuffling the position in her chair. How long she had been there she could not say, however, she could sense her body beginning to strain from the lack of movement. What started off as working diligently on a project for a friend, had quickly turned into a long discussion with another. She acknowledged that her attention span had never been that of what it should be, but she didn't let it bother her. At least, not for now.

A small notification popped up on her screen, clicking on it, she found it to be a message from her close friend Jarrad. Reading the short parcel of information, he had informed her that he was momentarily leaving his computer for reasons unexplained. She frowned, struggling to think of what would entice him away from the terminal he so loved to relax at.

She peered up at the list of usernames, each representing an entity of whom she shared a unique bond. There weren't many on the list, and almost none displaying their status to be currently online. One of these individuals, Daniel, was currently featuring a symbol representing his presence, yet desire to be left undisturbed. She briefly pondered why he was even on the chat forum if he wished to be left at ease. Shrugging off her thoughts, she received yet another notification from Jarrad, proclaiming his return from whence he came.

After she inquired after his previous whereabouts, Jarrad stated that he had been feeding his domesticated canines and allowing them free range across the back of his premises. Her eyebrows furrowed at the concept of owning tamed animals that needed so much attention. Indeed, he had also left a fair amount of prose on the subject of where their mutual friend Daniel was, as if reading her thoughts. Jarrad suggested that Daniel may, in fact, have been playing games all day and didn't log off, instead opting to set his status option to "do not disturb."

Knowing he was probably correct in his assumptions, Bonnie tried to think of what to talk about next. The day had been dull, with little happening that could be deemed significant to both parties. She scowled inwardly at herself, knowing she had more pressing matters to attend to than talking to her companion. Alas, she couldn't bring herself to pursue them. Exclaiming this to her friend, her fingers glided across the keyboard, determined to communicate to him her lack of motivation.

Jarrad pursued the conversation between himself and Bonnie, he too trying to push the discussion further. Alas, he had no ideas and sat there, staring at the screen that occupied much of his attention. He thought to suggest actions of a 'less than wholesome' nature, but some believe that to be all that occupies his mind. As true as it could be, Jarrad didn't like the thought of all of his friends leaving him for such a reason. For that reason, he decided it better just to ask about his friend's more pressing matters.

Bonnie sighed heavily at her friends query, guilt starting to riddle her mind. Her slightly hyperactive persona quickly began to die down as she hunched over in worry. She promised her friend that she would do this work, not bum around and talk to others about her insufficiencies to complete it. She gave Jarrad a quick response, stating that the matter was complicated and nothing he should fuss over.

Jarrad looked around, his interest in what little there was to talk about dwindling. He closed his eyes and leaned back a bit, considering what was to happen next. Were they to talk, perhaps, about the next series of transformers coming out? He didn't follow transformers, so his knowledge on the subject skipped his mind.

His mind felt jumbled, as if his mind were at its limit. A slight twang of pain shot through his head, indicating the start of a headache. He opened his eyes, feeling a bit sore. What he saw amazed him. He sat not on his bed, but a metal rock of sorts, and it seemed as if the room were destroyed, the ground and all creatures replaced with metallic replicas. He looked at a nearby metal animal. Seeming docile, it's body warped and groaned as it shifted it's weight with each slow step.

Considering his current predicament, he looked at the computer, then back. The creature was huddling away from him. He put his hand to his chin, considering how he got there. His laptop screen wobbled slightly from his movement. Observing the screen, and his knowledge of what happens when something like this occurs, he stood up next to his bed. Preparing himself, he took a deep breath. He plunged his hand deep into the screen. As he had predicted, his hand came through Bonnie's screen, sending ripples through it. His hand offered.

"Grab on."

Staring at the hand coming out of her screen with an incredulous look that would make others die of laughter, she recognised the limb to be that of the man she had been talking to for the past few hours. After hearing his prompt to join him wherever he currently resided, she hesitantly wrapped her fingers around his, letting herself be pulled through the screen. Amazement overcame her as she starred at her new surroundings. Lost for words Bonnie turned to Jarrad, hey face portraying a vast array of emotions including curiosity, fear and shock. After standing silent for perhaps a whole minute, she finally found enough of her voice to speak.

"Where the fuck are we..."

Jarrad looked around. He saw the reddened sky, along with the metallic landscape. Everything had become metal. No. That wasn't it. Everything WAS metal. The grass, the creatures, the plants. Everything surrounding the two was in no way organic. He noticed the animals again, remembering now what they are.

Artifacts.

"I think… Maybe we're on… Another plane of existence?" Jarrad offered.

Right as Jarrad's words were processed, Bonnie felt her legs suddenly struggle to keep her upright. She clutched her head and knelt down, as if suddenly suffering from a horrendous migraine. "No." She managed to blurt out, her voice laced with denial. Although Jarrad wasn't a huge fan of sci-fi shows, she was, and the whole concept of actually being in another world was starting to drain away her sanity. Her eyes became blurry, as if the air was instantly filled with a thick mist. Abruptly feeling sick, her body betrayed her mind as she began to wretch up the contents of her stomach, finding it to have a strange metal tang. She lost her senses completely as she was suddenly swamped with an energy that seemed to be radiating from everything around her.

Jarrad looked over, seeing Bonnie in pain. He rushed over to her.
"Bon, you okay?" he asked. His own headache returned, flinching in pain angrily. Jarrad tried to help his friend up, only to back away slightly as her eyes began to give of a white glow. Jarrad's eyes widened as the metal ground beneath Bonnie's hands began to contort, as shaping itself into something new. Watching from the sidelines, he observed the metal twist and turn until it looked to be a small metallic animal. Just as it looked to awaken, Bonnie's body trembled and she crumpled to the ground, causing her strange creation to fall into fragments and leaving her with nothing but of a moan of displeasure. Jarrad took quick strides to Bonnie and proceeded to return her to the comfort of the one bed he travelled there on. He passed her arm over his head, bringing it down around his shoulder, trying to get her to stand.
He marched her to the bed, where he helped her back onto it.

"Hey, if you're still there, give me a sign."

He sat on the bed, waiting.

Starting to recover from her peculiar bout of vertigo, Bonnie could feel her mind begin to clear. She turned her head to their surroundings once more, trying to make out if there was anything that wasn't metal. Needless to say, there wasn't. However, she found everything to be different somehow, like it was more alive than the barren wasteland that had previously stood before her. Her head spun around once more to face her friend, slightly startling him in the process.

"How did you get here, why are you here, how are we getting back, and why am I here too?"

Refusing to cease her onslaught of questions, Jarrad frowned. He grabbed her shoulders and proceeded to shake them, lulling her out of her relentless interrogation.

Jarrad looked over the scenery again. "I do know how I got here, but as for getting back…" His face turned glum. "We might have no way of getting back." His face brightened again "But I know that, knowing our luck, we'll probably have to do some crazy quest." Jarrad's calm demeanour slowly passed on to Bonnie. Her shoulders sagged a bit, relaxing.

Jarrad's face became stern again. "Truth be told, I've gone between worlds before. This place is nothing like you've ever seen, right? We must have gotten here... somehow... because of me." The last part he mumbled, escaping the ears of his friend. He waved his arm over the landscape, displaying it to Bonnie.

Following his arm, Bonnie surveyed the landscape. It was indeed, nothing like how the world she was very much used to. She considered asking Jarrad on what authority he could claim that they were on another plane of existence, but was already acutely aware that this cyberformed place, wherever it was, was nothing like home.

"Soooo..." Bonnie started, not quite knowing what to say. She inwardly felt quite embarrassed. When she had taken Jarrad's hand, she'd not been wearing what she would deem as 'outside attire'. Clothed in a baggy shirt, shorts and harbouring a helm of tangled hair, she also had no shoes, her feet tingling at the feeling of the cool metal under her.

Jarrad returned her stare, himself clothed in little more than a simple shirt and track pants.

"So indeed..." He returned. Silence was what met him.

"Where do we go? We could try just wandering around, if you want." Jarrad took a few steps about, noticing that the metal grass bent like grass back home. "Better than cuts," he thought to himself.

Bonnie scanned the area, searching for any kind of landmark that could be used as a heading. The metal gleam of everything played with her eyes, sending lights and reflections every which way. Squinting, she saw what seemed to be some kind of construction in the distance.

"Jarrad, do you see that?" She asked, pointing in the direction of her interest. "I can't tell if it's a building or just more landscape."

"Hmm..." Jarrad squinted, trying to see what was being pointed at. "That... I don't know." He admitted. "But I guess it's all we have to go on. Shall we?" Jarrad proposed, offering his hand.

Bonnie looked at his outstretched arm and let out a warm smile. "Looks like you were right about having a crazy quest, this will be quite an adventure." She chuckled, taking his hand and starting their journey, her previous worries about her work and their new location completely forgotten.