A/N: Here it is, The Time Warp Divide! This took me a while to finish, but I hope it's worth it.

Chapter 1

"… then I said goodbye to Phoebus and Richard and The Book warped me home."

Sam and Fred started back at Joe in silence.

"Talk about an adventure!" Fred whistled. "And you actually saved someone using your lame magic tricks!"

"When you first told me that you warped to a place where magic was used, I would've thought you were making things up. But then you showed us this!" Sam finished leafing through the language pamphlet Richard gave Joe and handed it back to him. Joe tossed it to Fred who placed it next to Joe's nightstand.

"Wow, this has got to be worth a lot of money!" Fred took a small sculpture off the shelf above Joe's desk and inspected the gilded figurine. "What was the place you warped to again?"

"Ryn." Joe said. "Please be careful with those, I only have so many trinkets left."

"Don't worry; I'll be careful with them!" Fred waved his hand dismissively before going up to the shelf again. "Besides, how long was it since you last warped there again?"

"Two weeks ago; while you were in football camp and Sam was busy on some scholarship thing…" Joe took the figurine away from Fred and placed back into its respective spot.

While Fred and Sam were busy examining his celebration trinkets and checking out his new outfit from Ryn, Joe looked out the window, lost in his thoughts. Two weeks, it had been two weeks after he warped to Ryn, two weeks since he last saw…

"I don't know why I'm thinking about her all of a sudden…" he thought. "She's probably all better now from her injuries and having a great type staying at Phoebus's villa. She has a place to call home now…"

Nevertheless, even after Joe warped back home, he still thought about Femi. She seemed like an interesting person; she spent her life forced to wander from one place to another because she didn't feel like she belonged. How Femi became a slave to the sludge creature was a compulsive tale Joe was curious to hear about. Joe felt he shouldn't have left so quickly, there was still so much to talk about with her. Besides she was pretty cute too…

"I bet he had the time of his life at Ryn!" Fred got on the bed wearing Joe's fighting outfit, it looked less baggy on him. "The sights, the great tasting food, parties thrown in your honor, presents worth lots of money… checking out cute exotic girls…" He waggled his eyebrows on the last sentence.

Joe rolled his eyes and hopped Sam and Fred wouldn't see the slight pink blush rising in his cheeks. "Yeah, I'd admit there were a lot of great things to do and see at Ryn, but I also got into a lot of trouble there like any other warp. There are plants that can kill you, corrupt police forces, jailed; I had The Book taken away from me and I nearly lost my soul inside some place by a psychotic blind girl who could kill me with sharp fingernails and electricity."

"Like I said," Fred turned back to Sam and they smiled in unison. "He had the time of his life…"

"And I hope it never happens again." Joe stood up and looked out the window, a grave expression on his face.

The two stopped smiling. "Why not?"

"When The Book was stolen from me, I thought it had to be another one of Mad Jack's goons. But it wasn't…" Joe took The Book out of its safe. "There are other people out there in the space-time continuum who know about The Book and they won't hesitate to steal it from me!"

"What about Sludge Man? You defeated him…"

"I did, but I hardly remember the fight." Joe rubbed his eyes. "The point is that he knew about The Book, and that's what I'm worried about most. The world already has to deal with Mad Jack; we don't need another one in our lives. I don't want to fight another battle where the fate of space and time is in my hands!"

The room stood still, as if what Joe said left a chilling foreshadowing for the future to come. Fred was the first to break the silence by throwing his heavy arm over Joe's shoulders as a sign of companionship.

"Joe, I know what the future holds for you, for all of us and the space-time continuum may seem like a lot to take in… but Sam and I got your back and we'll be there with you every step of the way! Remember that!"

Joe sighed heavily and felt a calming wave wash over him. He didn't think talking about Ryn would resurrect such strong emotions about the future to come. Like it or not, he knew he was simply stressing himself and he needed to relax. He shot his best friends a small, reassuring smile.

"Thanks guys, really!"

"I don't mean to interrupt this moment," said Sam. "But I'm a little hungry and if we want to finish this English paper, we'll need to stock up on fuel."

"How about we order some takeout?" Fred asked.

"I second that. I'll go and place our order…" Joe walked out of the room, leaving The Book behind.

As soon as Joe left, Fred rushed to the safe and took The Book out. Sam bolted upright from his seat and yanked it out of Fred's hands.

"Are you nuts?" He harshly whispered at him. "He told you he doesn't want anything else to happen!"

"The fact that Joe got treasure in this place means something Sam… besides," He took The Book away from Sam's hands. "Aren't you the least bit curious?"

"Well, um…" Sam started before Fred cut him off.

"See? You want to look too!"

"Fine!" Sam gave in. "But we're only peeking, and we have to put it back in its box before Joe comes into the room."

"Deal!" Fred and Sam shook hands.

They opened The Book and flipped through several pages before seeing a page titled Exo-Warp. Under the title was a long list of names and places they have never heard of before. If a finger hovered over a word, it would glow a faint green, but otherwise remain inactive.

"Exo-Warp…" Sam's eyes skimmed through the names.

His eyes widen with surprise. "Fred, I think this is the page! These words are the names of places or lands that don't exist on earth; they must be the magical lands Joe accidentally warped himself to!"

"Great, we know what Exo-Warp is for!" They high fived each other.

"Now let's search for that place Joe was talking about…" Fred leaned in and started to search for 'Ryn" under the list. "Geez, how many 'A' places are there?"

Joe walked into the room carrying a variety of different takeout menus. "Guys, how about we order a – hey, what are you doing with The Book?" The menus dropped out of his hands and scattered all over the floor.

"We were just looking at the Exo-Warp page in The Book!" Fred blurted out.

"Exo-Warp?" What's that?" Joe asked, and then he got upset again. "Either way, put it back in its box!"

"Just wait a minute and I'll show you what it's all about," Sam held The Book with one hand in front of Joe and used the index finger of his free hand to demonstrate. "See? This is a list of places labeled as magical lands. When a finger hovers over a certain place, it glows green. Did you fool around with The Book before warping?"

"Not really."

"Hey, what would happen if you press on a name?" Fred absentmindedly pushed a word in The Book. Horrified, Joe and Sam watched as the word began to spell itself out in gold letters.

A – Z – T – L – A – N

"Sam, you wouldn't happen to know what that means, right?" Joe said in a quivering voice.

Sam shook his head 'NO' as he saw the green mist practically explode from The Book.

"I told you not to touch anything!" Was the last thing Joe said before the green mist warped them away.

In a flash, they were gone.

A/N: That concludes chapter 1. Please review and follow for more!

Thanks for reading! :)