Wow, this story is really bustling, huh? X) I'm having tons of fun writing this, and I can tell it's going to be great fun.

Anyway, I tried to give this chapter sort of a suspenceful feel to it, but I've never been really good at writing suspence, so I hope I did at least a notable job here. I know when I was writing this chapter, I was at the edge of my seat writing it, and I hated to have to put it down for any reason. That's why when I lost half of this when my computer froze and I had to shut it down manually I was ticked off. I had to start this over from scratch, but luckily my brain is more reliable than my computer (most of the time). ;)

Anyway, please review! Oh, and thanks to BowlerHatGuy, NobleBrokenBeauty, bean15, The Brunette Bookworm, infinity on high, and Ami Tsunami for reviewing!

Chapter One: Wilbur and Lewis Meet John Smith

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The next thing Wilbur knew, he was being shook awake by a very familiar voice as they tried to arouse him. Whatever he was laying on was hard, and Wilbur wondered vaguely when his bed had gotten so stiff as he slowly became conscious again.

"Wilbur! Wilbur, wake up!" The voice said. "Come on, Wil, wake up!"

Wilbur's eyes shot open and he quickly sat up. His eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness and he looked next to him at the owner of the voice. He recognized the bifocaled, spiky-haired face of his best friend immediately.

"Lewis?" He asked, blinking to make sure he wasn't dreaming and his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. "How'd you get here?" He looked around. He was no longer in his spacious room at ten o'clock at night, studying for his history test. He and Lewis were in some sort of alleyway, the cobblestones wet under them. Buildings towered above them, but he could tell they weren't the familiar buildings of Todayland by any means. He and Lewis both were dressed in clothes they both knew were from around the seventeenth century, and Wilbur knew they weren't in the future anymore with sudden realization. "And where is here?!"

Lewis shrugged. "I don't know." He answered. "I just woke up, too. The last thing I remembered was going to bed and I woke up here."

"How'd we get here?" Wilbur asked, rubbing his head. Lewis shook his head.

"Again, your guess is as good as mine."

Wilbur stood to his feet and dusted himself off. "Well, what do you think we should do?" He asked.

Lewis was about to open his mouth to answer when loud yelling from the other end of the alleyway stopped him. Two young boys about their age came tearing around the corner, running as if their very lives depended on it. While Wilbur and Lewis couldn't get a clear view of their faces, they could see that one had black hair, like Wilbur, and the other had blonde hair, like Lewis. As they neared the future father-son duo, the one with blonde hair dropped something on the ground next to them, then disappeared around the corner. Wilbur bent down and picked up whatever it was they had dropped, but before he had any time to examine it, a tall man with long brown hair pulled back into a tail came running down the alley from the way the mysterious boys had come. He stopped and bent over, hands on his knees, panting for air, his face red from not only running, but also with pure fury. He looked up and his gaze fell on Lewis and Wilbur not far away. His smoky green eyes narrowed and he straightened up. He stormed towards the two, and Wilbur gulped.

"Uh oh." He muttered. "Lewis, run!"

Just as he and Lewis turned to run the other way, the man reached out and grabbed them both by their shirt collars.

"Stop right there, you little thieves!" He said, his voice clipped with a British-like accent. "Yer not goin' anywhere!"

"What?!" Wilbur demanded, struggling to free himself from the man's grip. "We didn't steal anything! Let us go!"

"Thieves and liars!" The man growled. "If there's two things I can't stand it's a liar an' a thief." He reached out and grabbed whatever it was the mysterious duo had dropped and waved it in front of Wilbur and Lewis, revealing it to be a small coin purse. "And it seems to me that the two of you are both."

"Please, sir, we didn't steal anything!" Lewis said.

"Yeah." Wilbur agreed. "We're not even from around here. We're – "

"Shut yer yaps, both of ya!" The man barked harshly, interrupting the boys. "Dirty little heathens like you deserve to be locked up in the Tower and never heard from again!" He began to drag the two towards the end of the alleyway the opposite of the way he had come. "Maybe twenty lashes apiece will teach you a good lesson."

Wilbur saw Lewis's eyes go wide with terror as the man dragged them out of the alleyway into the bustling streets. Men, women and children scurried past them as they were led through the crowd towards a small, clear square near a wall. A pair of stocks were set up there, and a leather whip hung on a peg on the wall. The man pushed Wilbur and Lewis towards it.

"Turn around, both of ya." The man said. "Put yer hands on the wall an' don't you try anything. You so much as make a peep an' I'll add ten more."

Just as the man reached out to take the whip from the peg, a hand clamped down on his wrist, stopping him.

"Put the whip down and let the boys go, Turner."

The boys, startled, looked at the owner of the hand and voice that had just come to their rescue. Their eyes widened and Wilbur's jaw dropped when they recognized the man as the one and only John Smith.

Turner's eyes narrowed as he let go of the whip and slowly lowered his hand to his side. "What do you think you're doing, Smith?" He demanded of John, who had taken a step back and had his arms crossed over his chest.

"I think that should be my question to you." Smith answered. "What do you think you're doing, going around whipping two boys who've done nothing wrong?"

"Those two stole from me." Turner growled. "I'm going to show them what happens to little heathens who steal an' get caught."

Smith shook his head. "Then I'm afraid you've caught the wrong heathens." He said.

"How do you know?" Turner snapped. "These two stole my money and I chased them to an alleyway where they thought they'd lost me and stopped. If I hadn't caught them, they might have gone an' robbed somebody else!"

"I saw the boys you're looking for run from the alley a few minutes before you dragged these two out." Said Smith, shaking his head. "You've caught two boys who were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Turner mumbled something under his breath as he glared at Smith, then at Wilbur and Lewis. "I don't care what you saw, these two are thieves an' liars, and they're goin' to learn their lesson, one way or another!"

"And what of the boys' parents?" Smith said. "Even a thief wouldn't be brave enough to lie to his own parents, especially when they're as young as they are." He nodded towards the boys. "If it turns out that you whipped two innocent boys, or even two guilty ones without a witness to prove it, their parents might demand a fee, especially if one of the cuts gets infected. Did you ever think of that, Turner?"

Turner continued to glare at him for a minute before sighing deeply and taking a step back. He shot a glare at the boys, who gulped.

"You may have gotten away with it this time, you little liars, but if I catch you stealing from me, or anyone else for that matter, I'll whip you so hard you won't be able to walk." He said. He turned towards Smith. "An' next time, no one will get in my way."

With that, Turner stormed past Smith, disappearing into the crowd.

As soon as he was gone, Wilbur and Lewis both sighed with relief.

"Phew, that was close!" Wilbur said, shooting a grin at Lewis.

"I'll say!" Lewis agreed. He looked back at Smith. "Thanks for helping us."

Smith nodded, then smiled. "It was no trouble." He said. "Turner's always blaming someone for something, even when it's something they didn't do."

"Man, I bet that dude has a ton of enemies!" Wilbur said. Smith laughed.

"You're right about that." He said. "I didn't catch your names. My name's John Smith."

"We know who you are. I'm Lewis Robinson." Lewis said, sticking out his hand.

"Wilbur Robinson." Wilbur said, following the same gesture. Smith shook both of their hands.

"Are you brothers?" He asked, noting the same last name. Lewis and Wilbur exchanged a glance.

"Yeah, we're brothers." Wilbur said after a second's hesitation.

"Where are your parents?" John asked. Again, Lewis and Wilbur exchanged an unsure glance.

"We, uh, don't have any." Lewis said. He knew oh-too-well what it was like to be an orphan, and he was thankful he had loving parents in the future. He only hoped they weren't too worried about him….

John looked surprised. "You're orphans?" He asked. Lewis and Wilbur nodded.

"I don't have any family, either." John said. "I guess that's why I'm an explorer. I've never really belonged anywhere."

The boys nodded, unsure of what to say.

"So where are you going next?" Lewis asked, knowing very well what John's next adventure would be.

"The New World." John answered. "I'm leaving tomorrow at noon on the Susan Constant." His blue eyes narrowed as he studied Wilbur and Lewis. "Why don't you two come along?"

"What, us?!" Wilbur said. John nodded.

"Why not? It'd be the adventure of a lifetime. A new land to discover and explore, gold to dig for and find, savages to fight. It'll be history in the making."

"Yeah, no kidding." Wilbur muttered under his breath, and Lewis elbowed him in the ribs, shutting him up.

"So what do you say?" John asked.

"I don't know." Lewis said. "We're kinda…young don't you think?"

"Aw, c'mon, Lewis!" Wilbur said. "Why not? It's not like we have anything else to do! Besides, if we stick around here, we're likely to run into that Turner guy again sooner or later." He lowered his voice to where Lewis was the only one who could hear him. "Besides, we don't know how we got here, and maybe we can figure out a way to get home on the way there."

Lewis thought about this for a minute, then sighed.

"Alright, fine." He said. "John, we're in."

"Yes!" Wilbur said, pumping a fist, which caused John to give him a rather odd look before he grinned.

"Great." He said. "You could stay with me, if you like."

Wilbur and Lewis looked once again at each other, then grinned.

"That would be great. Thanks, John." Lewis said.

"My pleasure." John said. The motioned for the two boys to follow him and Wilbur looked at Lewis.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" He asked. "Let's go."

Lewis grinned back and nodded, and followed John through the busy streets of seventeenth century London, England.

Hm, I really hope John, Lewis, and Wilbur are in character here. While I'm sure Wil and Lew are, I've always had problems writing John, and I could never figure out why until just recently. I think it's because he's an adult, something I'm not (though I am half way to 30) and Lewis and Wilbur are teenagers, so I guess they're easier to write because I'm a teen, not an adult, though I do feel older than fifteen sometimes! XD

Please review!

-Robin