Summary: After a freak storm, Ponyboy gets sent to the future with no way back to his time. With the help of a boy that he runs into along the way, they have to figure out how to get back. But does he want to return to his own time in the end?

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. I also never experienced tornadoes before, so I am sorry if this is a bit inaccurate. Actually, it's very exaggerated. I wanted to base it off of the Wizard of Oz.

PLEASE READ THE ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE CHAPTER WHEN YOU GET THERE.

o-o-o

The day that Ponyboy's life changed, the sky had turned green. Looking back at it, he wouldn't have been able to tell you what exactly happened or how it did in that matter. But one thing was for sure. Somehow, the massive tornado that had occurred that day had something to do with it.

By no means, was Ponyboy Curtis a stranger to tornadoes. In fact, he could call himself an expert in dealing with them with how much experience he had. That was why he wasn't surprised when Tulsa was hit with a tornado. They were frequent in Oklahoma. But, even if he was used to them, this one was different. It was so different that he was not prepared for it at all.

Perhaps Ponyboy should have readied himself for it or even expected it to appear. He was given many warnings beforehand like the wind becoming absolutely still. Even the green skies were an obvious given. However, he guessed that he wasn't in the right mindset that day. He hardly felt like he was in his own body. Ponyboy had only fully processed the warning signs when alarms started to blare, reverberating throughout Tulsa's streets. The alarms sent chills down his spine as he nearly jumped out of his skin. If there was one thing that he could never get used to when there were tornadoes, it was the eerie alarm that skyrocketed his anxiety tenfold.

"A tornado?" he lowly muttered to himself, snapping his head towards the window. He blinked heavily, mouth becoming slightly ajar. He had felt off all day. Was this the reason for it?

Slowly, the young greaser approached the window, even though he knew that he wasn't supposed to be near glass in case it shattered on him. He looked around, trying to see if he was able to see the tornado form from his house. However, all he saw were the desolate streets. Not one person was outside.

"What are you doing?!" Darry's voice suddenly shrilled behind him. A hand grabbed his shoulder, violently yanking him backward. Darry's icy eyes glared down on him, causing him to gulp. "What were you thinking?! Did you knock your head or something to be that stupid?! You know better not to stand in front of a window during a tornado!"

There Darry went again. Even though he was hollering at him to keep him safe, he should have been gentler. Ponyboy shook his head, squeezing his eyes tightly together. He really wasn't feeling right that day, keeping his head trapped in the clouds way more than usual.

"Sorry," Ponyboy apologized. "I wasn't thinking."

"No, of course, you weren't. You never think. What you did was stupid. Even though you get all of these great grades in school, you didn't have enough sense to think that standing in front of glass during a tornado was a dumb idea," Darry continued with a red face. He harshly pressed his finger against Ponyboy's forehead, pushing his head back.

Ponyboy clenched his jaw, feeling his irritation bubble up. He hated how paranoid Darry got during these situations. "Look, I said that I was sorry!"

Darry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure… Now get to the middle of the house. We're going to wait this tornado out."

"The middle of the house wouldn't save us if the tornado went straight through it."

"You better hope that it doesn't. Now, get going."

Darry walked away, heading towards the middle of the house, which wasn't far because of how small it was. Their house wouldn't stand a chance if the tornado went down their street. He huffed, about to follow Darry and to join Soda who was already waiting for them, but something compelled him to look outside again.

He peered out the window, seeing that the wind had picked up. It strongly howled, practically blowing the trees sideways. Random trash and rubble rolled across the ground as if the wind was playing a fast and endless bowling match.

Ponyboy wondered if Johnny was okay. He hoped that he had found shelter and was safe. This storm was going to be a nasty one. He also hoped that everybody else in the gang was going to be okay as well, of course. It was hard not to worry about them. The idea of not knowing about their condition until after the storm ends freaked him out quite a bit.

Suddenly, a flash of movement on the road caught his attention. A dog sped down it, running with the grain of the wind. Ponyboy, at first, didn't think much about it besides worrying about its safety a bit. But that was when he saw a large sign from a Waffle House fly after the dog. He watched in horror as it fell onto it, and, through the alarms and the howling winds, he distinctively heard the heart-dropping sound of it yelping out in pain. The dog struggled under the object, clawing at the asphalt in an attempt to free itself. It yowled, panicking as the winds became stronger.

Christ, Ponyboy couldn't just stand there and stare at it. He had to do something, or else its injury or death was going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

Without thinking too much more into it, Ponyboy ran towards the front door. He ripped it open, shielding his face as a blast of wind hit him. Golly, the wind was more powerful than he had thought. He licked his lips that were already becoming dry as he pushed himself outside.

He had to do it. He needed to save that dog!

"Ponyboy?" he heard Soda ask, confusion plastered onto his face. "Why did you open the door?"

But Ponyboy didn't have the chance to answer him before Darry bellowed out, "What are you doing? Close the door and get back inside!"

"I can't leave that dog!" he argued.

"The dog will be fine, so shut the door!"

"Ponyboy, I know that you want to save it, but going out there will put you in danger," Soda tried to reason.

Pony's head snapped back over to the dog, stomach flipping. He chewed on his bottom lip, shaking his head. He couldn't leave the dog's safety up to chance.

"I can't," he stated. "It needs help!"

"I swear," Darry started, "if you even try to—"

"I'll be only outside for a minute! I'll be fine!"

Before any of them could argue him, Ponyboy sprinted towards the dog. He ignored the screams that came out of both of their mouths, which were almost drowned out by the wind. The wind was so strong and intense, almost powerful enough to lift Ponyboy off of the ground. He probably would have if he was angled differently. His eyes watered as particulate matter flew into them, making it difficult to safely navigate himself. The exposure painfully reminded him that he was not invincible and that he was only a fragile human being that was trying to play hero. And heroes always were the ones who died or got injured.

While he was rushing towards the dog he started to think twice about his decision. Did he make a mistake when he went out to save it? Was this act of heroism going to be the death of him? However, when he heard the dog whimpering again, he knew that he had made the right decision. Ponyboy had to save that dog no matter what.

Eventually, he made it to the dog, who finally noticed his presence. It snapped its head towards him, lips curling upwards to bare its jagged teeth. It started to bark at him, growling defensively. Instantly, Ponyboy rose both of his hands up, slowing down his movement to show the dog that he meant it no harm. He should have been scared by the reaction. However, he knew that the dog was hurt and scared.

It continued to growl at him, but when he placed his hands on the sign and started to lift it up with all of his strength, it quieted down and resumed its whimpering. Ponyboy grunted, planting his feet on the ground in a stable position. His fingers dug into the sign as his muscles trembled. It was heavy—way heavier than what he thought it was going to be. He wished that Darry and Soda were helping him out. However, the longer that he was outside, the more his adrenaline raised. Fueled by newfound strength, the sign finally started to move. It was only a few inches, but it was enough.

The dog crawled out, limping. Ponyboy let the sign drop back down, letting out a sigh of relief. He turned to the dog who was staring back at him, but it only lasted a second. All of a sudden, it loud out a terrified whimper, stuffing its tail between its legs. The dog backed away from him before hopping away as quickly as it could.

Confused, Ponyboy heavily blinked. He wondered what it was so scared about. But he shrugged it off, knowing that he had to get back inside. He had stayed outside for too long and he had the solace that the dog was safe. Ponyboy turned around, about to head back inside, when he realized what the dog was so scared about. As soon as he saw it, his mouth dropped, and his eyes practically boggled out of his head. There in front of him was the tornado. It wasn't the largest that he had seen, but it was still humongous. Ponyboy didn't know how far it was from him, that was how big it was. But it was close enough to see rubble swirling around it. Even he felt like he was about to be picked up at any moment.

The green sky was covered in thick, intimidating clouds that started to shoot out lightning. The lightning struck the tornado with thunder following soon after, shaking him out of his daze.

He had to get back inside.

"Run!" he heard one of his brothers scream but he couldn't tell who it was. It was so loud outside that he couldn't even hear his own breath.

He started to run towards the house without another thought. His feet felt heavy as if he were running through water. The wind kept pushing him away from the house, creating a wall that he couldn't get past.

The tornado was getting closer and it soon became clear that he, despite it being so close, wasn't going to make it back inside the house. His breath shuttered, internally cursing. He looked at his brothers who were trying to make their way over to him, but something told Ponyboy that they weren't going to make it. They were only putting themselves in danger.

"Get back inside!" Ponyboy screamed, not knowing if they heard him or not. He looked around for something to hold onto, seeing that there was a streetlight just within his reach. He stretched out his arms, looping them around the pole before he pulled himself closer into a tight hug. He could already feel his body being lifted up, but he held on for dear life.

But it didn't matter anyway, it seemed. The sign that had nearly crushed the dog was lifted off the ground. It spun around in the air for a bit before it suddenly flew towards him. He didn't have enough time to fully process what was happening before it struck. He didn't even have enough time to feel any emotions (besides his preexisting fear) or to process the lightning that struck the sign. But one moment, he was watching the sign fly closer to him and the next the next thing that he knew, a rush of pain spread throughout his body before everything went black. The last thing that Ponyboy thought about before he completely slipped into unconsciousness was at least he was able to leave the world while he was unconscious.

"Ponyboy!" Soda screamed when he saw the sign fly towards his younger brother. They tried to rush over to where Ponyboy was, hoping that they would be able to make it there in time. However, before they could even take another step towards him, lightning struck down. The static caused their hairs to stand on their ends, blinking heavily at the sudden flash of light. But, when they opened their eyes again, everything was absolutely still. There was not a single cloud in the blue sky, no powerful winds, nor was there a tornado. It was as if it had vanished in thin air—like there was never one to begin with. The only hint that they had was rubble and objects that were littered on the ground.

But, much to their devastation, the storm wasn't the only thing that had vanished. Just like the storm, their brother, Ponyboy Curtis, was gone.

o-o-o

Ponyboy woke up with a raging headache and a body that felt like it had been hit by a train. Groaning, he sat up, clutching his head. His eyes fluttered open, blinking away the fuzziness that layered over his vision.

Golly, what happened? Why was he hurting so much?

After he felt ready enough, Ponyboy looked around to find himself in an alleyway, much to his confusion. He knew for a fact that he wasn't in an alleyway before. He didn't hang around them too often. Darry said to stay clear of them because of how much drug dealing and crimes that went around in them. Ponyboy wasn't sure if that was completely true, but he followed his instructions well enough. He sometimes went through them with Dally and Johnny though.

He racked his brain, rubbing at his pounding temples. Something happened before this, but what?

That's when he remembered the past events.

The tornado. There was a large tornado and he had been outside before he was hit by something. His eyes widened as he patted his body down. He cursed internally, gasping out in short, quick breaths. Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Or, at the very least, extremely injured? But besides the headache and aching body, he was fine. How…? He shook his head. Was it possible that the tornado was something that he imagined? If that was true, then that was one vivid daydream.

Christ… he survived…

Ponyboy wondered how long he had been out. It looked to be around midday. The tornado had hit during the evening. That would mean that he had been out for almost a full day. He cursed under his breath. The gang was probably worried about him. They probably thought that he was dead. He had to get back home.

He stood up, stretching his stiff muscles. After that, he walked down the alleyway to see where he was, hoping that he wasn't too far away from home. But, when he stepped out onto the street, his breath left him. What the…

Pony shook his head, rubbing at his eyes to make sure that they weren't playing tricks on him. But when he looked again, everything that he saw stayed the same.

Man, he must have either hit his head hard or somehow flew to another city altogether.

It was just a normal street, don't get him wrong. He probably wouldn't have thought much about it if there weren't people or cars on it. The cars were sleek, and they had different bodies than the ones that he knew. They didn't have as much personality and individuality as the Soc cars that he had seen. Most of them looked pretty similar to each other—hardly distinguishable if it weren't for their brands' logo. They looked nice though. Ponyboy just hadn't seen cars like them before, which was strange. He hung around the DX Station enough to see many different kinds of cars. Even the newer ones. None of them looked like these cars.

The people, on the other hand, looked different when it came down to styles as well. While it was pretty easy to see the distinctions between the different social classes before, it was hard now. Their clothes seemed like an individualistic choice rather than a way to fit in with a group. His ears turned red when he saw some of the types of clothes that were being worn. Although some females were wearing comfortable clothes like sweats and a sweatshirt (some were even wearing jeans with large holes in them, for whatever reason), others were wearing short skirts or pants that hardly went over their bottoms. Some females were even wearing what seemed like half of a shirt, leaving part of their stomach exposed. And even though some of it was pretty revealing, everybody seemed confident in their outfits. Nobody ogled at their clothes or their exposed bodies as if the clothing styles had been normalized. Even the males had their own individualistic styles that complimented them. Fortunately, it wasn't as revealing as it was with the clothes that the females wore.

There was no way that his eyes were telling him the truth. It was all too strange. However, deep down, he knew that what he was seeing was true.

What was going on?

Ponyboy took a deep breath, rubbing at his eyes again. First things first. He needed to find out where he was so he could get back home. Looking around, Ponyboy spotted a guy who was leaning against the wall. He was looking down at something in his hand. He walked over to him, hoping that he would be able to get some answers.

"Excuse me?" Ponyboy asked, but he received no answer from the boy. So, he tried again with a short wave. "Excuse me?"

Finally, the boy looked up, giving him a once over, before he pulled something out from one of his ears.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Ponyboy pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth. Man, how was he going to phrase his question without seeming weird? After a long second of thinking about it, he just went for it. Chances were, he was never going to see this guy again. "Can you tell me where I am?"

The guy looked down the street at a sign before turning back to him. "South Lewis Avenue?"

Ponyboy recognized that street. The movie theater was on that street. But this couldn't have been the same because of how different it looked. Ponyboy shook his head. "No, I meant the city."

The boy gave him a strange look, which Ponyboy didn't blame him for. "You don't know what city you're in?"

"No."

There was a long pause before the guy started to laugh. His face brightened in realization as he looked around in search of something, but Ponyboy didn't know what it was. "Okay, where's the camera?"

"The camera?" It was Ponyboy's turn to give him a strange look.

"Yeah, you're doing a social experiment, aren't you? Or maybe it's a prank! Like, 'See what people do when they see someone dressed like they're from Grease'. What are you going to do next? Ask for the date and pretend that you're from the past?"

Ponyboy blinked heavily, eyebrows scrunching together. Grease? What was that? He was a greaser if that was what he meant…

"I'm a greaser," Ponyboy slowly clarified.

"So, you are playing a Grease role! I knew it!" The guy smiled, composing himself. "Okay, I'll play along with your prank. You're in Tulsa."

What? Ponyboy looked around at the unrecognizable shops. This wasn't Tulsa. He knew the city like the back of his hand. "No, I'm not. This isn't Tulsa."

Again, the other male gave him a strange look, clearly caught off guard. He slowed down his sentence. "Yes, it is. You're in Tulsa, Oklahoma."

Suddenly, there was a sickening feeling in Ponyboy's stomach. This wasn't right. This couldn't have been Tulsa. There was no way. But when he looked more at his surroundings, he started to recognize small details like the similar framings of the stores. Although, the names were different. It was all there, but it seemed like a lot of time had passed since that last time he was there.

What was happening? He thought back to the male's previous assumptions about him. It was something about him being from the past. But that was impossible, right? A question popped up in his head, but he didn't want to ask it in fear that he was going to be told something that he didn't want to hear.

"What day is it?" Ponyboy swallowed out, hands clammy. "The full date, I mean."

The male started to answer him, but all Ponyboy could hear was static. He wasn't sure what he said, but one thing stood out. "—of the year 2020."

Instantly, Ponyboy felt dizzy. His head swam as he tried to process everything. 2020? Was he pulling his leg? No, he wouldn't lie about that. He was telling the truth. But it didn't make sense. Nothing did. Time travel wasn't real. What was going on? There were so many questions that he couldn't answer. But, somehow, one thing was for sure: he wasn't in his Tulsa anymore.

o-o-o

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! PLEASE READ EVERYTHING:

Hello! Welcome to my new story! I have some very important topics for you to read about before the next chapter comes out. First (1): how to help me create humorous content. Second (2): the time period that this story will take place in. Third (3): the creation of the love interest for Ponyboy.

(1): Most of this story will be based around Ponyboy discovering new things, reacting to them, and adjusting his character to the new time. There is so much out there, and I would so love it if you pitched in ideas on what he should react to. For example: phones and trends. Just review/comment/PM me your ideas and I will try my best to incorporate as many as I can into the chapters while still following the main storyline. I may not do all of them and I will try my best to provide credit to you as well. I will also try my best to blend everything in without making it seem super awkward.

(2): 2020 is a bitch. This story will be taken place in modern times and thus will be timestamped in 2020. However, so much stuff is going on in the news this year. Even though there are a lot of topics that should be discussed, I will not be adding any of them. I want this to be a light, happy story. So, my fic will be about 2020 without the major events.

(3): I have a dilemma. I am having a hard time with creating the potential love interest for Ponyboy. I don't really want to repeat the same character as Archer (from Wrong Place at the Wrong Time). But I also want to be able to give the character a personality that's not super generic and boring. With the help of others, I have already created him. However, I want to know what all of you think I should do. I will adjust my character if there are ideas that I adore. The most important subject would be his personality. I will list the categories you can talk about below. So, please go through them and review/comment/PM me your choices. Also, it is important to understand that the relationship between the two characters will not be the main focus of the story like it was in Wrong Place at the Wrong Time.

The categories: race, personality, flaws, clothing style/aesthetic (this will affect how Ponyboy dresses), and hairstyle.

Thank you!