Portal Skip

"We have to get back! Quick! Or else we'll be stuck here until another one comes!" The two boys were huffing as they ran through the subway station, dodging people left and right. It was clear they were in quite a hurry, but where exactly they were going wasn't quite so clear. "Gaylen, come on! We're going to miss it, and this is the last one for the next week! I am not going to miss it because of you!" The dark-haired boy glanced only briefly over his shoulder at his friend behind him.
"Just calm down, Anik!" The white-haired teen behind him answered. "Besides, you're the one who wanted to stop for hot dogs at that cart! If we hadn't stopped-"
"If we hadn't stopped, you wouldn't have been chased down the street by that dog!" Anik cried. "This is on both of us, so don't go pointing fingers!" As Gaylen opened his mouth to respond, he crashed straight into a young girl carrying a half-painted canvas, and both of them went tumbling to the ground.
"Gaylen!" Anik gasped, skidding to a halt. He wouldn't leave his friend behind, not just to catch their escape. Gaylen didn't answer him, instead staring straight into hazel eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses.
"I'm so sorry!" Anik exclaimed, helping Gaylen off of the girl and offering a hand to help her up. The girl sighed and accepted the offered hand, getting to her feet and picking up her canvas.
"You guys are in a big rush," She remarked, looking back and forth between them. Anik nodded, smiling.
"Well, yeah, we don't want to be late getting home." He replied. "Mama will be sad if we're late, right, Gaylen?" Gaylen shrugged.
"Of course she will." The albino agreed. "So, we've got to go. Sorry for bumping into you like that." He grabbed Anik's arm. "Now come on!" With that, he took off running, pulling Anik behind him.
"Bye!" Anik waved cheerfully to the girl as they left her, while Gaylen simply rolled his eyes and kept running. The two ducked around a dark corner and gasped.
"No!" Gaylen yelped. "Anik! It's closing!"
"Hurry!" Anik cried. They ran as fast as they could, dashing for the closing portal in the shadowed corner at the back of the subway station, but the moment they reached it, it vanished, leaving them to crash into a brick wall.
"We missed it!" Gaylen mourned, pounding his fist on the wall, his long pointed ears pressed back in frustration. "Anik, we missed it! Now we're stuck!"
"So..we won't see what good our efforts were..until next week.." Anik sighed. He looked at Gaylen and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Just stay calm, okay? We'll get back, we just have to wait and find a place to stay for now..Come on." He tugged on Gaylen's hand, pulling him back out of the shadows and back among the crowd.
"Okay, one of you, explain everything!" Gaylen and Anik stepped back, startled as the same girl from before stared at them, pushing her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose.
"I- uh.." Anik was lost for words and turned to Gaylen, who sighed.
"How much did you see?" Gaylen asked her, staring at her seriously. She sighed, her hands on her hips as she stared straight back at him.
"First of all, I don't even know what you are, because I've never seen anything like you anywhere." She jabbed her finger against Gaylen's chest as she spoke, and was startled when he bared fangs at her in response. "Okay, explain! I saw you two running towards some light, something about 'it's closing', and then you just hit a wall. And why were you guys in a dark corner anyway?" Gaylen hissed softly under his breath before he pinned the girl against the wall.
"You can't tell anyone about what you've seen or what I'm about to tell you, understand?" He growled. "If you do, the entire future of this planet four-hundred years from now will be at stake."
"Gaylen.." Anik stared, worried, at his friend, but he didn't try to pull him off, not yet. Only if Gaylen really threatened the girl, would Anik get involved and pull him back.
"Fine, just explain!" The girl replied, staring into Gaylen's crimson eyes.
"Anik and I are called Portal Hops." Gaylen explained. "We were specially trained as such, four-hundred years in the future, and our mission is to fix what the world has become, a dark and dirty dictatorship. We jump through portals across the dimensions of time to do so, preventing disasters and wartime losses that will lead to the world's downfall. Do you understand me so far?"
"You're expecting me to believe this?" The girl stared at him, but seeing the look on his face, she sighed. "Fine, so you guys are Portal Whatevers from the future and the world has fallen under a dictatorship. Got it. And just the two of you are supposed to fix it?"
"No, there are other Portal Hops around the globe." Anik replied. "We're based only in North America, but other than that, yeah. It's just the two of us covering this entire country."
"North America's a continent, genius." The girl shook her head. "And would you let go of me?" She pulled free of Gaylen's grip and stared at the two. Gaylen shook his head.
"It's not a continent anymore." He sighed. "Four-hundred years from now. It will be known as the Republic of Northern America, and will be one country."
"You're kidding me.." The girl replied. "That's a load of bull, or my name's not Rebecca Gayle."
"Then your name isn't Rebecca Gayle.." Anik told her, his expression apologetic. The girl, Rebecca, stared at him.
"Prove it's a country and not a continent." She quipped. Gaylen sighed and looked at Anik.
"Map." He said simply. Anik reached into the satchel that rested at his waist, from the strap over his shoulder and pulled out a large piece of paper. Gaylen took it and unfolded it, showing it to Rebecca.
"There you go." He remarked. "Printed year 2381, a map of the world according to that time. As of the year 2379, continents have become countries, and all has been claimed under the dictatorship. For us, this map is about forty years old."
"For you," Anik added, "It hasn't even been drawn yet."
"Well, slap me in the face and call me Mary Jane.." Rebecca murmured. "It's legit.." Gaylen folded up the map again, nodding. Anik looked at her, smiling.
"Now, if you don't mind, Miss Rebecca, we have one favor to ask you.."