He was outside, in the sun. He couldn't tell what was happening, though. The brightness left everything in minute silhouettes. All he could really make out was the shape of a female head.

"W-whats going on?" He asked, not sure exactly where he was.

"Oh, Colin. Colin, Colin, Colin..." the girl said in a squeaky voice. "You'll know eventually..."

"What's tha-"

"WAKE UP!" The girl shouted in a shrill tone that felt to him as if his eardrums were snapping. Soon, it was all a blur...

...

Colin sat up with a start in his bed. He had slept on air mattresses before, but that was only because he was staying over at his friends houses. That was pretty irrelevant at that point, though. And it certainly didn't help him that the basement was the creepiest room in the house, either.

He had went to bed slightly hoping that everything that had happened was a dream, and that he would wake up in his normal bed with Mama and Chica in the other room. But as his eyes darted across the dark room, he soon realized that this was no dream.

He got up and began to pace around the room, using a flashlight that he had found at the foot of the steps as a guide. Thoughts zoomed through his mind as though they were at a race track.

He had never been too far away from Mama, but now he we felt like he was all alone in the world. Or his world, or whatever this world was...

Pretty soon, he found himself tired out from walking on the concrete floor. He laid down on the bed, closed his eyes, and was soon back to sleep.

Morning...

The next morning, he got up, walked upstairs, and was greeted by mass chaos in the kitchen in the form of a...dust cloud?

"Hmmm... not something you see in San Diego..."

He wondered what all the siblings could possibly be arguing so...LOUDLY about, until he heard Lana scream over the crowd.

"The last pancake is MINE!"

"No! It's MINE!"

Pretty soon, Lynn Sr came stomping downstairs in a night robe., obviously not pleased with being woken up so early.

"QUIET!" he yelled.

Almost immediately, the arguing ceased. The kids all looked up at the source of the voice, save Colin.

"What in the name of God is going on down here?!"

Lola was the first one to speak up.

"Lori made us all pancakes for breakfast, and now there's only one left! And I should be the one to get it, because I WAS HERE FIRST!" she yelled as the argument resumed.

Once again, Lynn Sr managed to quiet his kids down, then resumed talking.

"Have ALL of you had at least one pancake?"

The sisters and brother all nodded their heads.

"Well, I know at least ONE person who hasn't."

He hten turned to face Colin, who had been picking at his fingernail the whole time.

"Would YOU like the last pancake, Colin?"

He looked up at Lynn Sr, who now had his full attention.

"Me?"

Now, Colin didn't usually eat breakfast. Most of his time in the morning was spent getting the store opened in time for rush hour. But, as it turned out, interdimensional travel makes one hungry. Everything that had happened the day before had practically STARVED him.

"Yes, sir, I would like that very much."

"Well, alright then. Girls, Lincoln, get him a plate and a fork. I'm going back to bed."

With that, he walked back upstairs to sleep.

After a couple of minutes, Colin sat down and ate the best breakfast he ever had. When he did eat breakfast at home, it was mostly microwaved waffles with a slab of butter on top. But of course, today was not in the slightest a normal day for Colin.

After eating the pancake, he walked into the living room, where Luna, Luan, and Leni were all sitting at the couch. Not really knowing what to do, he sat down on the floor in front of the couch.

"Uh, dude?" Luna said to him, "you DO know you're allowed to sit on the furniture, right?"

Realizing he was allowed to do anything a normal person would, he got up and sheepishly sat down.

After an uncomfortable silence for the next 5 minutes, he finally turned and asked Leni a question.

"So, Leni, who exactly IS everybody in this house?"

"Ummm, wait! Don't tell me!" Leni said, straining to come up with an answer. "Just hold on! I can do this!"

Luan quickly jumped in with an answer.

"Well, you've definetely seen Mom and Dad. There's Lori, who's the bossy one, Leni, the clueless one, Luna, the musical one, Me, the funny one, Lynn, the athletic one, Lincoln, the only boy, Lola and Lana, who are the twins, Lisa, the smart one, and then there's finally Lily."

Colin, counting all 10 siblings on his hands, asked, "Geez, how do you survive with 9 peopl-"

"You forgot me."

"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot about Lucy! the dark one! Hey, are you feeling alright?" Luan asked to Colin, who was currently trying to recover from the mini heart attack he just had. He replied a couple seconds later.

"Yeah, I'm OK...But I couldn't imagine living in a house this big. I'd personally prefer to live in a smaller home," He said, thinking about Mama and Chica again.

It was around that time that Luna picked hup the remote and turned on the TV. She flipped through channels until she came to the morning news. Unfortunately, she didn't expect Colins reaction to be so...well...

"AHHHHH! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!"

"What? Why?" Leni asked as the boy jumped up and ran to behind the couch.

"JUST DO IT!"

"Ok, ok, I'm turning it off. Geez, dude, you must not have had good memories with TVs..."

"Yeah..." he murmered. These people didn't need to know the circumstances of why he was there...and they definitely wouldn't be any help getting him back.

He suddenly remembered what Lincoln had told him the other night. Lisa! He had to go tell her his problem!

"Hey, uh, I know this may sound weird, but where can I find Lisa?" He asked to everybody in the room.

Luna, confused, was the first to ask.

"Uh, why do you need her?"

"I, uhh, well, have to discuss with her my latest scientific research," he lied, which just made the sisters more confused.

"LISA! THE HOMELESS DUDE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!" Luna suddenly yelled to the top of the stairs. Pretty soon, the young girl that Colin saw with the chemicals last night came down the stairs, looking more annoyed than useful.

"Whatever this is about, I expect it to be good," she told Colin. "I was in the middle of working on my latest thesis, and I have no time to lose."

"Yeah, uh, I think the thesis can wait. You're gonna want to hear what I have to say."

"Oh, really? Well, try me. I'm sure you can't say anything that would leave me awestruck."

"Hmph. We'll see..."

Lisas Room...

As he told his problem to the girl, her expression changed from curiosity, to confused, to startled, to pure, well, awestruck.

"Incredible!" She stated. "A portal to a different dimension, you say? And you say that this all happened right outside our house?"

"Believe me, I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried. I need to get back to my dimension, and Lincoln said to talk to you about it."

"Of course he did," she sighed. "Like I expected him to help you deal with opening interdimensional portals. Amatures..."

"So, uh, can you be any help here, or not?"

"Hmmm...I actually may be able to give you some assistance here..."

"Really?! You have something?" He said, the excitement brewing in him.

"As a matter of fact, yes!" She stated with certainty as she began digging through her closet.

"I've been working on my latest invention lately, which is conveniently able to, you guessed it, open portals to other universes. It's still not functionable, but if you give me a couple minutes, I might be able to get it up and running."

"Take all the time to need! I just want to get home as quick as I can!"

"Very well. Wait right here for a minute."

With those words, Lisa dove into the closet to get her portal machine. As soon as she was gone, he made his way downstairs again, where the sisters were still in the living room, unaware of what had just happened.

"Hey, has anyone seen my sunglasses?"

"They're right on your head, Leni."

"Oh! I always forget to check there!"

"Sadness. Regret. The feeling of a soul dropping into the abyss of life."

"Hey, why did the turkey cross the rosd? Because it was the chickens day off! Ha ha ha, get it? Hey, what are you smiling about?"

Colin, quickly realizing the huge smile on his face, simply said, "I have a feeling that I won't be staying here for much longer, amigo."

In reality, he was thrilled that he might be able to see Mama and Chica again, and hopefully write this whole thing off as a distant memory. Honestly, these people were starting to make him a little uncomfortable, and he couldn't wait to get away from all of them and get back on the normal train of things.

Soon, they heard Lisa walking to the steps.

"You all set, Lisa?"

"Yes!" she said as she walked down the stairs, a large, bulky object in her arms. "Now, to just run over a few things down there and we should be all set for-"

CRASH!

"Oh my God, Lisa!"

The sisters yelled as they ran over to the stairs. When they got there, they saw her sitting down and rubbing the side of her head

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said, standing up. "Just tripped over my foot..."

Her voice trailed off as she looked at the spot her experiment layed.

"What happened?!" Colin said as the rest of the family came down to help Lisa. He then noticed the experiment, and his heart immediately sunk.

While the fall might not have broken anything in Lisas body, you couldn't exactly say the same for the machine. Pieces of it lay all around the base of the stairs. The bulk of it, which looked like some sort of old video game system, lay at the base of the door.

"My interdimensional jumping device..."

"My way home..."

"Geez, talk about a fall from glory!" Luan interjected in an attempt to lighten the mood, but it was met with nothing but cold stares.

Colin crouched down, making himself level with Lisa. Quietly, he asked her the question, a stone cold demeanor on his tone.

"Do you think you could fix it?"

She sighed, looking at the broken heap of metal. She could sadly see the reality of the situation.

"No. All of the key exponents to the parts are shattered. I'll have to rebuild it from the start."

"And, uh, how long will that take you, chica?"

Slowly, she answered.

"Well, considering all the time that I spent upon this machine, plus reobtaining all of the rare parts to replace, and the sheer cost of it all, my best estimate is...about 12 to 14 months."

Colin was speechless. 12 whole months? That was an entire year! Lisa was trying to calmly break the news to him that he was stuck in this world for an entire year?! What about the store?! His friends?! Mama and Chica?! He expected just a few minutes ago that he was leaving this hour, now he had to wait an entire calendar year?!

Colin, who was trying his hardest to not let emotions show, stood up, and holding back tears, walked down to the basement.