The ground lifted below us. A hole was forming on the ceiling above us. We rose as if with hyperspeed from Star Wars or something. Higher, higher, higher. Maybe up and out like Willy Wonka. Who knows. It was like a speeding elevator without walls or a ceiling. We tried to keep our balance by staying on our feet. It was dark above us. Then a hole quickly formed above us, a hole of light. This must the outside world telling us "Welcome to 2018! I hope you like it here". We started to see the colors above us, blue skies, yellow sun, and white clouds. The rising floor rose higher & faster making us bounce in the air. The metal floor disappeared and became replaced with some grass to blend in with the rest of the terrain. We landed back on the green grassy ground. When we looked around the place we sat on, we realized we were on top of a short grassy hill. On the left of the hill was a road or a highway. The highway lead to what was right in front of us. A little suburban town. A little town we've never seen before or heard of before. It's white watertower stood tall and revealed the town's name in blue bold writing. Since it was summer, it could be anywhere in the US. It's not too hot so it can't be California or Florida. It's not too cold so it can't be Alaska or Antartica. So what state was this town in?

"I think it's safe to ask questions", Mikey suggested.

"Yeah and if anyone asks, it's because we're not from this place and our parents raise us differently than the rest of society", Rosa explained.

"Sounds smart", Zach replied.

"Well let's go check this place out!", Chase annouced.

"Wait!", I shouted. "How will these people react to our powers?".

"We'll just see how dis goes and go with eet", Harold spoke.

"Ok, go with the flow I like it", Rhonda replied.

"Can we go there now?", Mimzy asked impatiently.

"Yes we can", I replied.

We all ran down the hill in a human jogging speed. Staying on the grass we kept on jogging around the town. We've passed the watertower, a car place, a grocery store, and a couple of restaurants. We stopped to see there were three restaurants together in one building. We looked from right to left. Subway, Wonton's, and McDonalds! They still have Mickey D's in the future! A person walked out of McDonald's, a woman carrying her purse and a bag filled with some fast food. Us coders decided to ask her what state we're in.

"Excuse me, ma'am!", Mikey called out to the lady.

The lady looked at the eight of us in shock.

"Wut state are we een? Because we were unaware when we arrived here", Harold explained.

The lady responded "You're in Minnesota of course".

"Ohhh", us coders replied in unison.

"Thanks", Mimzy called out as the lady left to her car.

Speaking of cars, the cars in the future look NOTHING like us 80's people expected.

Where are the rocket boosters or levitation systems? Where's the neon colors that really glow in the dark? Were the scientists lazy in this time?

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed about the cars, but I'm sure there's wonders of the future that will fascinate me. At least we know we're in a little town in Minnesota, USA.

"Are you new here?", a little african american boy asked. "I never seen any of you before."

"Yes we are!", Zach exclaimed.

"Cool, what's your names?", the boy questioned.

Here we go everybody, do you remember our code names? Just in case you don't here it is:

Zachary James = Elijah H

Mimzy Addams = Evie W

Chase Spencer = Preston H

Michael Bean = Cylus H

Me = Elle H

Rhonda Jennings = Piper O

Harold Jackson = Jack Hattoncup

Rosa Campbell = Natalie M

We all introduced ourselves in our code names and the boy looked impressed.

"Do you mind if I take a picture?", the little boy asked.

"Not at all. Snap away, brotha", Rhonda replied.

Out of his pocket he pulled out a...
He pulled out a...

What the heck is that? , we all thought.

It looked like no camera we've ever seen. It was more tinier, portable, rectangular, thin. Even Rosa who's from the 2000s had no idea what that thing was. It was about the size and shape of a playing card and as thick as a button or something. On the top left corner of the round-cornered rectangle was a little...circle shaped window?

"Smile!", the boy said as he tapped the back side of his futuristic device. Surprisingly it had no flash...me likey. To be honest I HATE flash photography, well actually literally every bright light bothers my eyes. Just like certain sounds to me are like nails on a chalkboard. It's...kinda personal.
Anyways, so after what I assumed is our picture taken the boy chuckled.

"Thanks!", the boy called out as he ran off towards a bicycle.

"Hey wait! Little dude!", Chase called out.

The boy didn't seem to hear him because he rode off on his bike towards a neighborhood across a road.

"What was that device you had in your!?-Dammit", Harold shouted.

"It is strange. I've never seen cameras like that. If that even is a camera", Rosa commented.

"Uh, ya think?", me and the other six coders spoke in unison.

"Such a shame we didn't see any flying cars by now", Mimzy muttered disappointed.

"I know. But there's still yet things to know that even we haven't tried to predict. For example that...device that boy had", I explained.

"Yeah, I'm sure there's bright sides to this. Maybe the video games have better consoles", Chase added.

"Yeah, and I bet this decade's fashion is interesting", Rhonda also added.

"That's the spirit! Let's keep exploring!", Mimzy announced.

We kept on walking on as less road and more grass as we could. Now we pasted two banks, then we turned to the right and saw a tennis court.
I played tennis for several years but I'm starting to loose interest. Don't get me wrong, tennis is fun, but...let's just say...I'm tired of winning most of the time. Call me crazy go ahead.
Anyways, I need to stop going off topic on times like this.
The tennis court was next to some other tennis courts which were next to a school. From left to right there was the Intermediate, the High School, and the Elementary.
Passing by the Intermediate school, I see two people. They looked about my age. Maybe they're students.
One was a girl who had her brown hair in two braids. She wore a dress that looked like it came out of an anime or something. She also wore long black boots. Next to her was another girl who was shorter and a little plump. She wore dark clothes and shoes, jeans, and glasses. She had her dark brown hair in a kind of bun that had some hair sticking out free from the ponytail's hold.
Since they seemed like kind peers, we decided to go by them.

"Hi", Mimzy spoke to the two girls.

They turned around in shock of seeing the eight of us.

"You're the new people, right?", the girl with two braids asked.

"Yep", Rosa replied.

"Well I'm Anna, it's nice to meet you", the anime-dressed girl friendly spoke.

"And I'm Katana, like the weapon", the other girl introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you", I spoke nervously.

"Where did you girls get those funky clothes?", Rhonda asked pointing at their outfits.

"This?", Katana looks at herself. "It's nothing much. Your outfits on the other hand are amazing!".

"But if you want to know, we got them out of town. In the big city next door to our town", Anna replied.

"In a big city? Thanks!", Chase replied with a thumbs up.

"OMG!", Katana exclaimed as she looked down. "You are so cute!", she pointed down at Zach.

"Me? Gee, thanks!", Zach replied.

"So are you!", Anna pointed to Mikey.

"Thanks, ma'am", he spoke with an adorable smile.

"I think you guys are gonna love it here", Anna smiled.

"Are any of you gonna be in school?", Katana spoke quickly and eagerly.

"Maybe, we'll see", Mimzy responded with a grin.

"If you are, that would be awesome! We could add some more friends to Anna's group!", Katana explained.

"Ok, we'll see what we can do", Rosa declared.

"And don't worry, I'm also their friend, just to let ya know", Harold spoke.

"Interesting. Well, it's very nice to meet you all", Anna smiled.

"We gotta head to our houses so, BYE!", Katana called out as both girls walked away.

We all said our goodbyes to Anna and Katana.

"They seem nice", I spoke satisfied.

"Yeah, and now we know where the nearest clothes store is!", Rhonda exclaimed, "Let's blow this taco stand and head on over to the big city!".

"Alright. I suppose we should discover what's in style these days", Harold shrugged.

"Yeah, let's go!", Rosa announced.

I'm honestly one of those girls who doesn't care about fashion and what's in or whatever. But I guess if the crowd wants to go clothes shopping, I'll go with them.

"So where's the big city?", Zach questioned.

"I'm sensing that-a way", Rhonda spun around and stopped to point at a direction.

"How do you know?", Mikey asked.

Rhonda replied, "When it comes to rocks and minerals, I can sense it. When there's minerals there's diamonds. When there's diamonds there's jewelry. And when there's jewelry...there's a mall. Also, I can see into the future".

"Brilliant! Now how do we get there? Can any of you fly?", Harold asked everyone.

Me, Zach, Chase, Mikey, Harold, and Rosa rose their hands up. Rhonda and Mimzy both had one eyebrow up.

"Because I know fo' a fact dat all coders can fly. Those who say they can't haven't been taught yet", Harold explained.

"Well. Time for a flying lesson", I replied.

I held onto Rhonda's hand and Harold held onto Mimzy's hand.

"Ok, on four, we leap into da air and fly", Harold demanded.

"One, two, three, four!", Chase shouted as if starting a rock and roll song.

We all leaped into the air and floated above the little Minnesotan town. Mimzy and Rhonda were shocked.

"See? You guys can fly. All it takes is a leap of faith", Mikey encouraged.

We all then flew towards the direction Rhonda was pointing at. I still held onto her hand and Harold still held onto Mimzy's hand. We all zoomed to the destination as fast as we could.

When we made it, we landed right at the entrance of the mall. "Crossroads" it read high above the doors.

Inside the mall, it was filled with people chatting, shopping, walking everywhere. Rhonda then found a clothes store she found interesting and ran inside. We all followed her footsteps.

"Check this out, fellas!", Rhonda exclaimed. "These might be perfect disguises!".

"You're right", Rosa agreed.

We all looked around for some clothes. 2018's fashion trends looked...alright I guess. But I couldn't stand the floral patterns. There was something from 2018 that I could find that I like to wear. A blue sweatshirt with green pants and purple sneakers, maybe.

"Uh, friends?", Harold called out. "Does anybody have any money?".

We all checked any possible pockets we had. Jacket pockets, pants pockets, even in our shoes.

Nothing.

"Well, there's nothing bad with just looking around. Maybe we could bring money next time", I suggested.

Everyone agreed even Rhonda who was looking forward to this.

A couple of minutes later, we flew back onto the hill next to the little town. We were hoping it would take us back down to the CTTC but nothing happened. Probably another voice-activated contraption.

"It was fun but we should go back to our old times", I spoke.

The grass below us opened and the metal floor was revealed again.

Nailed it!

The metal floor underneath our feet lowered us down, down, underground. It was fun while it lasted really and we know we can always come back up there whenever we wanted. The hole above us then closed itself up making it dark around us.

We'll come back. We promise.