The two siblings materialised around ten feet in the air, above a grassy field. Luckily the lush grass and a gentle slope reduced the intensity of the impact somewhat.
The force of landing did cause their hands to slip apart. They both rolled in an uncontrolled fashion down the small hill before coming to a stop at the bottom.
Jon was the first to slowly sit up. He groaned as he tapped the side of his head. "I'm supposed to be clever now," he said out loud. "Why haven't I learned not to dimension hop from first floors." He rubbed his hip to ease the pain. It had been a hard lesson he'd still be unable to learn. "I was kind of forced into this time though," he said as he twisted his head back to look at Zoe who was yet to move. "You okay Zoe?"
Zoe slowly shifted into a sitting position and let out a grunt cause by her own aching body. She spat out a blade of grass that had lodged itself in her mouth. There was more stuck in her now dishevelled black hair. "What is going on?" she asked at groggily before reality kicked in and she became her normal irascible self. "And where the hell are we?" She looked around as much as she could in her sitting position.
"Well I'm no expert," Jon said as he slowly got to his feet, "but I'd say, in a field."
"Can't stop being a wise ass, can you?" Zoe asked as she stood up herself. She brushed the grass off her mostly black clothing.
"We are still in the same physical location." He looked upwards towards their arrival point. "More or less. It is just a different dimension."
As sceptical as Zoe was, she was struggling to deny the evidence of her own eyes. "What does that actual mean?"
"Most of the time,it is just variations on our world, many of the dimensions Karyn and I have travelled to have met that criteria..., to some degree. Sometimes though, the multiverse likes to throw a curved ball and we end up down the lower end of the probability curve."
Zoe was staring at him. "I know you are a geek but why the fuck are you talking like such a turbo-nerd?"
Jon scrunched his face up. "Without going into detail, let's us just say than to be able to fully comprehend the technicalities of the DTH including its philosphy of interdimensional travel, I've had my intelligence significantly upgraded."
Zoe sighed, "Being able to spout big long strings of bullshit doesn't mean your smarter. I'm not even sure I believe we've even travelled to a 'different dimension'," she said, making air quotes and using a dramatic voice.
"If you aren't convinced, I'd like to hear your theories."
"I don't know," Zoe shrugged, "maybe you drugged me and dragged me out here." She looked around again. "Wherever here is."
"And suspended your body in mid-air along with my own until the exact instant the drugs wore off?"
"You wanted a theory."
"Mine sounds about ten times more plausible and..." Jon's speech drifted off as he caught sight off something. "I was right. We are in the same location." He went marching off towards his target.
"Where are you going?" Zoe asked before running after him.
About a minute later Jon reached his destination. "There you go, what about this?"
"It's a tree," Zoe said as she looked up the trunk towards the branches. "So what?"
"Don't you recognise it?"
"It's an oak tree."
"Not just any oak tree. It is the one from the park." There was a small park near their home and it was home to a solitary large tree.
"You sure?"
"I must have seen it hundreds of times." He looked it over himself. "It does look quite a bit smaller though. I wonder if there is some sort of temporal component to this hop." He rubbed his chin as he thought about it.
"Look, all that nerd talk might impress someone else but not me. I swear if you don't start talking normally, I'm going to smack you."
"We are in some version of the past, okay?" Jon said, growing frustrated with Zoe himself.
"Okay!" Zoe said mocking his tone.
"Hold this," he said handing her the DTH. He jumped up and grabbed a low tree limb. Straining he pulled himself up on to it. He slowly ascended the tree.
Zoe watched him climb. "You should spend less time on the computer and more time in the gym. It wouldn't be such an effort."
Jon shook his head and continued climbing.
"What are you doing anyway?"
"Recon," he told her as he looked off into the distance. He could already see some farm buildings and a track that ran along the side of the field.
Zoe examined the DTH in her hands. "Nintendo are going to sue your ass," she said sarcastically as she took in the aesthetics.
"I didn't design it," he said. He was puffing and his already aching muscles were struggling to get much higher up the tree.
"And you actually trusted me, the evil little sister with it?"
"I don't think you're evil."
"That's new for you."
Jon decided to take a breather. "I've experienced quite a lot in the last few days, exploring other dimensions. I've met several different Zoes and it has altered my opinion of you, in a good way."
"Oh," Zoe's cheeks turned red with embarrassment, "I guess that is kind of cool. That you trust me now."
"Besides it's indestructible and only works for me, so I didn't really have much to worry about."
Zoe frowned, "Great way to spoil the moment, dork!"
