I sighed, leering out the bus window as we rolled off the highway to the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, CT.

It didn't make sense. We were going with our World History class, and I don't think PT Barnum is that important in our society!

Anyways, the trip, which should have only taken ten minutes, has so far cost us an hour. God, why couldn't I be in Andrew D's class? At least they got to go to the movies! That would have been a heck of a lot better!

I'm sitting next to my friend, Jeremy Marcone, who is listening to his iPod, so even if I did talk to him, he'd pretend I was invisible.

That's what I have been lately. Invisible. My best friends (Kaz, Andrew, Brianna, Emily) have been ignoring me for about two months now.

A squirell ran past the bus, and we screeched to a stop. "Sorry! Animal crossing point!" the driver called.

Why'd we have to have a Mrs. Jane Goodall wannabe as our driver??? Why not a Mr. T wannabe?

Yeah, a Mr. T wannabe would be a whole lot better than stopping every three minutes for a 'poor, defensless animal', when it'll be killed eventually anyways!

The bus bounced into the parking lot, finally. I stood up and struggled past Jeremy to the front of the bus, so I could be in clear view of Mrs. Lancaster, along with Shannon Carter, whom everyone BUT me have been calling simply Carter for the past five years.

Then again, they call her 'Shilliam', too. Wonder what that's all about...

The chaperone (Mrs. Lancaster) got out first.

Then we filed out swiftly.

"Partnerships shall be announced in the museum itself. You all have five minutes to stretch out. Go" she informed, yelling the last command.

I sighed, and did a few push-ups with Jeremy Marcone, Ryan Mulligan, and Kazuya Tstumi. The order of people whom did them the best was:

1) Ryan Mulligan

2) Me

3) Jeremy Marcone

4) Kazuya Tstumi

We stood with a jolt of enthusiasm when Mrs. Lancaster told us we would go in now.

The class of 19 people filed in silently. "As you can tell, someone will be paired with me. They will be the luckiest ones of all. The partner ships are on this piece of paper. You may all now come up and look at it!" she called out.

I squeezed my way up. The names on the second row were:

William Scofield and Kazuya Tstumi

God, I was with Kaz. He was almost as slow as Mrs. Lancaster.

I sighed as Kaz led me down an aisle of the museum. He told me about some of the new items he had gotten on RuneScape.

He paused in front of a golden statue of a golden dove. "Squirell Boy, check this out!"

I sighed. "My Pittbull could make an even better statue out of this...."

A small silver plaque under the statue read:

This monument is in the honor of

Mrs Tamya Olufowobi

fourt grade teacher of

Mr PT Barnum.

Mrs. Olufowobi died tragically in a car crash on

June 15, 1990

in Danbury, Connecticut.

May she rest in peace.

I rolled my eyes. That was about the corniest thing I ever read. I leaned against the left wing of the gargantuan bird.

I stumbled back, following the monument as it slid backwards. Kaz gaped.

A stair case appeared beneath my feet. I trippeed and landed on my butt on the second step.

I got up and Kaz followed me down. A light turned on once we were securely out of view of other visitors of the museum.

I spun slowly, taking in what I saw: a secret processing plant.

The processing plant was humming with electricity. Metal hands moved copper pieces around. Some objects that looked like flying saucers passed around the conveyers as well, with four metal, bendable rods being welded to them.

I snuck a glance at Kaz, to see he wasn't behind me. He was backed against the corner, two giant things that looked like crabs in front of him. I grabbed a sword from the shelf to my left and unsheathed it.

The 'shing' it made, made the Krabes turn to me. I gulped, but kept the sword held above my head. I ran at them, and swiped at one, severing it's legs. There was a very small sizzling noise, and it disappeared.

I didn't realize the other one was readying a laser. It fired, and I ducked out of the way just in time. I slashed it's underbelly. It disappeared, too.

Kaz glared at me. "We have to go back to Stratford. Now."

I shook my head. "We can't. We're here for another hour or two."

Kaz paused. "Do you know of any factories that are abandoned here?" he asked.

I thought a moment, then nodded. "Of course. I played in one all the time. There was a big computer that I would play video games on, and a bg holographic projector, too." I recalled.

Kaz kept his gaze firmly on me. "Then let's go there."

I hesitated. "But, won't the others worry about us?" I asked.

Kaz shook his head confidently. "They won't even know we left." he assured.

I felt Kaz's stare as I sheathed the sword in my hands. I was about to replace it on the shelf when he said, "Don't. I might need to be rescued again!" he joked, flinging his hand across his forehead.

I couldn't help but snigger. Kaz was a work of art.

Kaz started up the staurs, but I stopped him. "Kaz, there's an entrance to the sewers over here. It'll help us get out a little more inconspicuiously." I informed.

Kaz grinned. He lept off the staircase, took three steps, and pulled the manhole cover off. He gestured for me to follow him. "C'mon."

I followed, and scurried down the ladder. There was no means of transportation, so we would have to run.

Run we did. To the end of the passageway. We bustled up the ladder, and came out in front of two factories. I glanced up.

Dewery Lane.

I pointed to the one on the left, then started to it. Kaz's steady footsteps followed me.

We entered the factory swiftly, and came to an elevator. We stepped in and I hit the down button. The doors closeed in front of us, and the elevator car lurched downwards.

I glanced around. The elevator had deposited us in a room with a huge computer ste-up.

I jogged over to it, placed the headset on my ear, and tyed a code onto the screen.

Kaz was dumbfound.

When I first discovered this computer, I had spoken to a boy in France whom I called Einstein. I didn't ask how he waas linked to this computer, but he recognized Kaz when he saw the Japanese boy standing behind me.

Kaz? William?

Kaz glared at me, his eyes boring into the back of my head. "Yeah, Jeremie. Are they in yet?"

Yep. Are you sending William, too?

I was confused. Then I remembered seeing a room with pillars. I nodded an answer. "He's going to try..." I started.

Okay. I'll let the others know, then.

Kaz blinked a few times. "Are my side of the border there?" he asked, into the headset, which he had snatched off my ear.

Kaz, we're waiting for Squirell Boy!

I gaped at the headset. "Andrew?"

Kaz sighed. "Just go downstairs andenter a scanner." he ordered.

I hesitated, then scurried down the ladder across the room.

I ended up in the scanner room, which was the same.

"Kaz, I left the sword up with you!" I called, entering the scanner in the middle.

Kaz replied by saying Scanner, William.

The doors in front of me closed with a small screech.

Transfer, William.

I was carefully lifted off my feet. I squeezed my eyes shut.

Virtualization.

~*~*~

I opened my eyes to see I was on the ground in a mountainous area I recognized as the mountain sector of the game I played when I was alone here. Some others were loafing around.

I recognized Brianna, Emily, and Yumi, but not the boy with the cat tail, the girl with pink hair, or the boy in a Samurai outfit.

I glanced at myself. A furry gray hairball was protruding from my rear. I wore also a gray suit almost identical to cat-boy's.

My hands were covered in padded gray gloves. A small compartment was fastened to each, and I couldn't tell what they were for, because they wouldn't come off.

Andrew gave me a soft, friendly noogie. "See, you really are a Squirell Boy!" he joked.

Brianna and Emily rolled their eyes and started off down the path. I stood up and started to follow them. I could tell everyone else was coming after us.

Be careful, about a dozen Kankrelats are moving in from ahead.

I recognized the voice as Jeremie. We all stood in a defensive position as we heard a faint scratchy/scuttly noise. The pink haired girl and Emily stood behind the five of us, the fighters.

Return to the past, now!

I was somehow in Avco, sitting around a computer as large as the one I grew up playing on in Bridgeport. Kaz, Emily, Brianna, Yumi, and Andrew D. were all there, too.

We were around teh monitor, the headset on the keyboard. On the small screen were cat-boy, Ulrich, and Jeremie. The pink haired girl was talking to cat-boy on the side.

I realized that it had been real: the adventures, the fighting, the comedy.

As much as I tried, I couldn't convince myself that it had all been a dream.

That's because it wasn't.

It was reality.

And, all my friends were in it with me. All, but one. Shannon.

{Why'd Shannon have to ne left out?} I thought, scratching my head.

I tried to understand what everyone was blabbering on about, but couldn't.

~*~*~

There were three things I was sure of:

1) We, the six of us, had a humongous secret to keep

2) Under no circumstance could we tell anyone unless we all agreed to it

3) This was just teh beginning of an amazing adventure

A/N

This is the end of teh introductory series. The next series is called Hollidays. Keep a good look out for it!