𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯.

𝘐𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘰, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘞𝘢𝘳.

𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘶𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳; 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴.

𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺.

 Joey scrunched up his nose. He hated reading, but while he waited for his friends, he had nothing to do. He couldn't use his just-finished time machine until they all arrived.

Besides, that's what his time machine is for; fixing the world. He'd enter the time and it would take them there.

It was a small cylinder, but when he twisted it, he hoped, it would take him to his desired time, and he could stop humans from activating their weapons.

Joey tossed the machine from one hand to the other, bored. They were all running late. 

Holly burst in. "Sorry! I was packing food and water!" She exclaimed.

Joey shrugged. "It's fine." He couldn't think of anything else to say.

Holly's sleek black hair was in her usual tight bun. The Asian girl was the youngest in their "club." She was only ten years old. Her eyes were a very light brown.

Their normal meeting place was an abandoned, broken-down warehouse next to a large lake. A huge tree hovered over it.

Holly hugged him. "What if they try to kill us?" She whispered, "Or..."

"Don't worry Holly, we'll be fine." Joey said, "I'll protect you, I promise."

Roxy walked in and Andy staggered in after her. Roxy rolled her eyes then smiled.

"We ready? I've got some food and water, but that's about it. Oh! I brought chess." Roxy pulled back her red hair in a ponytail. Joey listened to her heavy Canadian accent. 

"I've got six bottles! Two champagne, three wine, and two beer!" Andy slurred.

Joey sighed. It was rare when his friend wasn't drunk. There wasn't much they could do. They'd already tried getting him to stop.

"I have to leave Choco behind," Joey said sadly. Choco was his little brown Shih Tzu. It would be too dangerous for him to come, so he had hired a dogsitter the day before.

Roxy patted him on the shoulder. "Are we ready?" She asked.

"Let's stay for a little bit longer, watch the sunset one last time. This warehouse may not be here when we get back."

She nodded. "Let's go outside, everyone!" She called. Holly jumped down from the rusty table in the corner. 

"Randy, you're eyes are super red! Were you up all day?" Andy laughed.

Joey sighed again. He took a quick look at the mirror on the wall. Same bright hazel eyes, long messy brown hair, and lean body. He suddenly felt insecure about his weight and height. Roxy and Andy were all muscle, and only Holly was skinnier and shorter than him.

"No, Andy, I wasn't. Please, call me Joey." 

"Why?"

"We've been over this a hundred times."

"We have?"

"You wouldn't remember. Let's just go watch the sunset." 

Joey walked out the door, and to his relief, Andy followed him.

"You boys weren't making out, were you?" Roxy asked. Holly giggled.

"Haha, you're hilarious." Joey rolled his eyes as Andy made kissy faces at him.

Joey turned to Roxy. "How many bottles does he have?" He asked.

Roxy shrugged. "Four, maybe? Five? Not six or seven, like he said."

Joey laughed. "Say goodbye to the Loser Club." 

Roxy snorted. "At least we're losers together, one last time."

"We're still losers," Holly said, "Now we'll be losers with families." Her face darkened.

Joey got up and gave her a hug. Roxy stared.

"I wish I would have done more to find them. But they didn't want me, so I don't want them. You guys are my family now." Roxy said.

Joey smiled sadly. "Same. But I do want to see my grandpa again." 

Andy groaned. "Boring! Let's throw ourselves a goodbye party!" He jumped up and downed one of his bottles. "Man that beer is good!"

They all laughed as the Mexican boy smashed his bottle against the giant tree. He smiled at them, then sat down.

The sunset was awful to look at. It was too bright, but the sky turned into a blood red, which made it look like something out of a monster movie. 

"Maybe, once we save the world and all that good stuff, we'll have a decent sunset to watch." Joey quipped. 

Roxy nodded. Joey beamed at her. 

The sun sunk below the horizon. Holly shielded her eyes, Andy turned away, and Roxy and Joey squinted. 

The sky faded to black. Andy got up and stretched.

"What are we waiting for? Sunset's over. Let's go!" Roxy jumped up and ran into the shed.

Andy scrambled to catch up.

Holly carefully walked back. 

Joey took a long, deep breath. He got up, dusted himself off, then followed them.

"How does it work?" Roxy asked, jabbing at it. Joey snatched it away.

"Don't break it!" Joey laughed. "Ready?"

"Yes!" Roxy and Holly exclaimed.

"Huh?" Andy asked.

Joey took another deep breath. "Okay then!"

"Who's going first?"

"I will!" Roxy volunteered, rubbing her hands together. "This'll be exciting!"

"I'll go next," Andy said.

"I'll go after," Holly said shyly. 

"You don't have to, Holly." Joey crouched down to her and whispered. 

"I want to," she whispered back. "I won't be alone."

Joey nodded. He stood back up. "Roxy, Andy, Holly, then me."

He took his final long breath. "Okay, here we go."

He twisted the capsule. It shook so hard, he had to let go. It fell onto the floor, then twisted up.

A long, sky-blue portal with yellow swirls opened up. Joey was filled with excitement.

"2048." He called. He stepped aside and bowed. Roxy rolled her eyes but bowed back.

"After you, my fair lady." Joey teased.

"Shut. Up." Roxy snarled. She ran and jumped in while saying, "See ya on the other side!"

Andy sort of tripped and fell in, and Holly was as careful as she could be, which was so slow Joey almost pushed her in.

Joey had never been more excited. He jumped in.

"Guys, that was awesome!" Joey shouted as he jumped up. 

However, his friends were concerned with something else.

A boy and a girl were staring at them.