Light surrounded Cory as he flew through time. A blue wormhole formed around him while he flew through the years past. Visions of this past were presented as vague outlines painted on the walls. He saw many things. The rise of Hitler from the dead, the bus driver kidnapping him, him meeting Xerath for the first time, the twin towers falling, the rise of Hitler from the art school, Abraham Lincoln making a speech, the rise of the south, and finally the signing of the declaration of independence.
After seeing this last vision, the light turned to an intensity that would blind any mortal, but Cory was ultra powerful and it didn't harm him in the slightest. Cory landed in a very different DC. It was like he was in another dimension! There were no cars and barely were any buildings. Many trees littered the small settlement that was the United States capital. Cory was amazed, was this even DC?
He stumbled as he stood up, exhausted by the short trip through time and not used to the uneven ground. He picked himself up once more and began walking slowly toward a house nearby. He could make out a couple of people near the house and began conversing with them.
"Hey, could you tell me where the capital is?" Cory asked.
"Ain't you a real bushell bubby, nothing much capital here though, captain queernob," the man wearing a farmers clothes said.
"Where is the capital then, mister?"
"Back in the ol' kingdom, lad"
"Oh, ok," Cory said, not understanding. So he decided to start walking north, hoping to find something. He ran through many fields with people working, but still didn't find the capital building. It needed to be close, and he should be able to easily see it due to its scale. Heck, he probably should be able to see the Washington monument from here, but he couldn't.
This confused Cory, where were all the famous landmarks? Where was the capital? Where was the white house? Now he just wanted to go home. Cory sat down on a log and a nearby man began to yell at him. Cory ignored the man, causing him to run up to Cory and pull out a wig and put it on, revealing himself as the man, the legend, the all inclusive master of all things: Mr. John Locke! It turns out, he didn't die in 1702 and was still alive in 1776, but under a different name: John Hancock. He faked his own death so he could live out his life as a different person.
"Get off my wood, kid. I need to get to Philadelphia and I cannot leave until this tree is gone."
"Sorry mr. What's in Philadelphia?" Cory asked, getting off the log.
Locke used his gorilla strength to pick up the log with one hand, "There is a revolutionary meeting there. Say, are you a patriot?"
Cory nodded exhaustively, "I believe in the united states!"
"What is the united states? I mean are you patriotic to the 13 colonies and not to King George III?"
"Um, I don't know what you mean…"
Locke rolled his eyes and got on his horse drawn carriage, "Whatever, I need to get to the meeting so good luck with life."
"Wait! I need to find the capital building!"
"What do you mean, child? There is no capital we are only a colony of England, do you not know anything?"
Cory's mind shattered, there was no United States. This was prehistoric times to him. He felt so alone without the soft reassurance of the red white and blue flag. As the tears began to fall from his eyes, he saw through the salty water covering his face a welcome sight. A flag with red and white stripes and a blue area with a circle of stars in it. What was this mysterious symbol?
"What is that flag?!" Cory asked just as he was about to leave.
"Oh, that is the flag for the 13 colonies, what have you been living under a rock?"
"N-no I'm just um not here."
Locke looked at him like he was crazy.
"U-um can I come with you?"
"No, why would I bring someone like you along?"
"I have a sword and a bandana!" Cory said, pulling out his sword.
"Are you challenging me to a duel, young boy?" Locke said, jumping down with his own sword drawn, "alright, if you beat me I will take you with me."
"Um deal!" Cory said as he took a ready position.
"Hahaha, you think you can beat me with that position? I have never lost a duel, especially not to short children like yourself."
Cory swung his sword at Locke, but it was easily blocked by the man. Locke laughed and swung forward, using fencing tricks to stab forward. This angered Cory so he entered his seppuku form and sliced Locke's sword in half.
"Interesting, are you a witch?"
"N-no I'm Japanese," Cory said, lying.
"Oh, well I guess you can come with me to Philadelphia but I do not have any extra food so good luck with that."
"OK, that's fine."
Locke gave Cory a weird look and jumped onto his carriage, riding off with Cory to the mythical Philadelphia. Cory had only heard stories of that city. Stories of a city entirely filled with Italians. Cory had a prejudice against Italians, so this city was the stuff of his nightmares.
"Um mr, are there a lot of Italians in Philadelphia?"
"I certainly hope not, most people here hate Italians."
"Really?" Cory asked, suddenly liking this new world.
They continued onward for a few hours before Cory began complaining. It was a hot summer day in July, and in addition, he hadn't eaten anything in hours. He began to moan and complain loudly.
"What do you want, kid?" Locke asked, annoyed, "I write a book that is used by the top philosophers of all time, and my reward is listening to the bumbling shrieks of an adolescent male."
"I'm hungry and hot."
"Go get some food, then."
"I don't know how."
Locke once again rolled his eyes and pulled out his rifle out, motioning for Cory to follow him. They began to walk through the woods, searching for something. Cory was extremely confused, but didn't want to say anything. Suddenly, Locke held a finger to his mouth.
"What?" Cory said loudly, scaring away a nearby deer.
Locke sighed, annoyed, and ran away after the deer. Eventually, they returned to the carriage and cooked the deer. They sat around a campfire, Locke looking extremely dead inside.
"So what is the conference in Philadelphia about?"
"We are discussing our next action to overtake England in this war."
"What war?"
"I am almost certain you are braindead or from a remote village in another continent. We are fighting England to become free from their tyranny and taxes."
"Oh! OK."
They began to eat as the campfire sizzled next to them, the sun was now nearly set.
"How much further to Philadelphia?"
"A couple days."
"DAYS? It took me only one day to make it from DC to California."
"Those two places must be only miles apart, young Cory. Although, I have never heard of either of them."
This blew Cory's mind, this man who was immensely smart didn't even know about DC! Maybe Cory was actually smarter than him, Cory could be a philosopher if he wanted to. He smiled to himself at the idea.
"Well anyway, we will need to pass through Baltimore first in order to reach Philadelphia, watch out for smallpox."
"Can do!" Cory said, not knowing what smallpox was.
When morning arrived, they continued onward toward the beacon that was Philadelphia. Cory was confused as to why they couldn't just drive there, but he assumed this was some sort of spiritual journey. Soon enough, they were in Baltimore. The streets were filled with sick people, and not sick in the head like modern day DC, they were physically sick.
"Keep yourself within the carriage and don't let them touch you, smallpox is extremely contagious. I am explaining this to you because you seem to be uneducated on basic facts."
"Can I help them?"
"No, there is nothing you can do for these people, just ignore them."
"But they seem nice and I want to help them."
"Kid, you cannot help them, just forget it."
"I'm going to help them."
"No, if you help them I'm leaving you behind."
"I'm going to go help them."
"For the last time, you can't help them, they are sick and you will only get sick by trying to help them so just forget about it and let us move on!"
"But-"
"No, you imbecile. So far I have dealt with your disgustingly stupid brain, but now you have gone too far. These people have a terminal condition with no cure as of yet, your plan is to go out there and help them, knowing full well that the disease is contagious and that you will also die. Why?"
"Because I want to help them."
"Hang me."
"I'll be right back."
"I'm not letting you back in this carriage and you aren't leaving it either," he said as he quickly tied the boy up.
Cory began to scream as they left the town, fully realising that these people will never be helped by Cory. In reality, Cory had no plan. He didn't even remember his skull amulet that he got from Montezuma, which cured all diseases and nullified all poison, if he even knew that it did that.
They continued onward for a few more days, Locke on the verge of strangling Cory many times on the trail. Eventually they reached their destination: Philadelphia. Cory was happy to see the absence of Italians in the city. He breathed a sigh of relief, he wouldn't have to kill anyone. They arrived at a large building.
"Well, it was fun but now I need to go inside."
"B-but John Hancock, I want to join you!"
"You won't be allowed in there, you are far too annoying."
"Oh please, I need to go into the capitol building!"
"What? This is no capitol, it is just a meeting building we are calling independence hall."
"Please I need to go in!"
"Will you stop talking?"
"Yes."
Locke rolled his eyes and motioned for him to walk in. Inside, many people were sitting in chairs surrounding a table with Thomas Jefferson sitting behind it and George Washington standing behind it. Cory recognized them instantly, running up and bowing down to George Washington.
"Hancock, who is this boy?" Washington asked
John Hancock shrugged.
"Please stop bowing, child."
"But you're my hero, George!"
"Don't bow to your hero, try to become them."
Cory's mind blew. The universe around him froze as his mind achieved another level of consciousness. In reality he fainted. The rest of the people there ignored him, going on with their meeting.
As Cory awoke, they were discussing the document Jefferson had wrote.
"Hm, 'a declaration of the independence of the thirteen colonies'?" Jefferson asked.
"No, we cannot call them colonies, they are ordinances!" James Madison yelled, getting angry at the incompetence of Jefferson.
"Calm down James, he was only speaking out ideas, and an ordinance is not a piece of land," George Washington said.
"I KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO CALL IT!" Cory yelled.
Everyone rolled their eyes.
"What is it?" Washington asked.
"The United States of America!"
Silence fell over the room, it was the perfect name. How could these brilliant men be outdone by a young boy such as this, a stupid one at that.
"It… it is perfect…" Jefferson said as he wrote it down, not even calling a vote.
Cory smiled broadly at the convention, showing his perfect white teeth.
"Well… let us sign it then…" Washington said, still surprised.
One by one each of the men walked up and signed the document, each according to their state. When Cory walked up, he didn't see anywhere that DC would be, so he signed his signature as a single dot, since he couldn't write. He put it right under the name Arthur Middleton. That dot can still be seen on the constitution today. The convention took the document to be brought to King George III.
"Well, it turns out you were not useless after all, I misjudged you. What will you do now, child?" Locke asked.
"Hm, well I think I will stick around here, see what happens."
"Good idea, there is a lot you can learn from these men."
"I know, I will soon be a master at life."
"OK, well I need to go now, I will see you some other time, I assume. Regards."
"Yeah, bye."
Cory watched him walk off. At first he thought this new world would be torture to him, but now he was having second thoughts. Now, looking up at the independence hall and the skyline of colonial Philadelphia, Cory knew this would be one great adventure.