It was a beautiful night in the middle of September. A family of four: a mother, a father, their son, and their pet Pomeranian were camping in a cabin in the middle of a forest near Monterrey.

 The Rock family was having a splendid night in the outdoors, Rick Jr. was stargazing, Yoby the pom was licking the little boy’s feet, Rick Sr. was finishing eating a slice of cake -his second serving so far-, while Anna was drawing the unfolding scenery on a canvas, immortalizing the moment forever.

 “I wonder just how many stars are there?” Rick Jr. said while raising his right hand towards the vast sky, “there are sooooo many,” he extended his index finger and did what every kid would have done with such an amazing landscape of galactic beauty in front of him: Start counting stars. “There’s one… and two... three.”

 “There are too many stars to count, Rick, I wouldn’t even bother!” A child-like voice whispered to Rick’s ears, “Shhh!,” Responded Rick, “I promised mom, remember? No S.elfs!” Said Rick imitating his mother’s voice.

 The little boy had just turned seven and this camping trip was a present his parents had been planning for quite a while. They were pretty busy but somehow managed to find time for the trip.

 “Ey, mom, dad!,” yelled Rick Jr. the birthday boy, “Let’s roast some marshmallows!”

 “You want some marshmallows sweetie?” said Anna, Rick’s mom, while gently petting his head.

 “Great! I’m starving for some marshmallows,” Rick Sr. said in excitement while stuffing himself with the last part of the slice of cake he was eating, “Ok, time for some marshmallows!” Rick Sr. Said while opening a bag full of pink and white marshmallows.

 Some minutes later everything was set for the roasting. Rick Sr. had put a couple of pieces of wood in a big roaster near their cabin and lit it, the fire was now set.

 In typical marshmallow roasting spirit, everyone in the Rock family had put a couple of marshmallows in wood sticks.

 Rick Jr. had two sticks, one for him and one for Yoby. He had put his marshmallows in a pink-white-pink pattern as he preferred the pink ones, while Yoby’s were only white, as those were Yoby’s favorites, at least according to Rick Jr.

 Yoby as most dogs would have done was barking and jumping and dancing and drooling, “Gimme, gimme, gimme!” were the only thoughts in Yoby’s head.

 “Just wait a little bit more, Yoby, your white marshmallows need a bit more time..”

 “I’m pretty sure Yoby doesn’t care about the color of the marshmallows, son..,” Rick Sr. said smiling while embracing Anna.

 “He does, dad! But, that doesn’t matter..” Rick turned his head, glancing at his dad. Both Rick’s eyes met, and immediately Rick Sr. Knew what his son wanted.

 “Ok, ok! It’s your birthday so I guess having a seventeenth S.elf battle in the lapse of three hours is fine!”

 Rick Jr’s face glowed up with happiness as soon as he heard that, and quickly gave Yoby its marshmallow stick, “Thanks, dad! Don’t worry I won’t ask again because I’m pretty sure I’m gonna beat you in this one!”

 “Hahaha, you wish! I won’t go easy on you, Rick!”

 Anna wasn’t too happy with his kid’s obsession with S.elf battles, [“Like father like son”,] she thought.

It was already getting late so she started cleaning and picked up Yoby and went inside the cabin. “You come with me, Yoby, you’ll help me clean, right?”

 Yoby just stared at the marshmallow bag, [I wanted some pink marshmallows! But well, I guess if my human needs help then I must help her], thought Yoby while being carried by her master.

 Meanwhile, the S.elf battle between Rick Jr. and Rick Sr. was about to start. The participants made a gesture that activated the S.elf network connection, along with the body movement unique to each person a verbal command was also needed to operate your S.elf and Rick Jr. shouted his, full of excitement as he was confident his dad would finally have his comeuppance, “Let’s Rock, Chumina!” as soon as those words were spoken the owner of the child-like voice who had recommended Rick Jr. to stop counting appeared, it was Chumina, Rick’s main S.elf.

 “So we are really gonna fight… Again… For the seventeenth time?” Chumina asked Rick as if mocking him, “Well as they say, “Seventeenth time's a charm”.”

 Chumina was a colorful character. A characteristic little tooth showing through its huge smile was the trademark that had made him a favorite of kids throughout the world.

 The shape of his hair was also known worldwide, the most remarkable aspect of it being the two bulks of hair in the upper left and right extremes of its head, very reminiscent of pomeranian ears, which was the main reason Rick had picked Chumina as his S.elf as it reminded him of Yoby.

 Its attire was a huge cloak that covered most of its tiny body, except for his fluffy tail which could be seen from behind, it also wore a long furry scarf and its huge metallic-like boots.

 The color of every part of Chumina’s wardrobe as well as its skin and hair color were all customized to every player’s choice, in the case of Rick’s its hair was the same as Yoby’s fur color, tortilla brown, and its cloak was of a strong blue-green color since Rick Jr. thought it looked like a nice mix of colors.   

 “So you are still trying to beat me with my own main, huh?” Rick Sr. Scratched his head, “You sure are stubborn, son... Let’s do this, Chumina!”

 Another Chumina had been summoned, this one had a red cloak and blonde hair, and different eyes, like the ones a dog would have, this was a customized look Rick Sr. had given it.

 “Still want more, huh?,” the red-cloaked Chumina asked, “Yep, he promised this would be the last time of the night, let’s hope he keeps his promise… This time.”

 A huge digital field surrounded the players and suddenly the natural setting had changed, this was the result of the S.elf network, it was merely a change seen and felt by those connected to this particular S.elf battle, the stage was changing, first a huge volcano full of lava, then a bridge in the middle of a huge war, followed by a strange-looking laboratory full of failed experiments. The S.elf game aspect of the S.elf network had been active for almost four decades at this point, and surprisingly it was still strong, receiving updates every month at the very least, so there was a plethora of stages as well as S.elfs to choose from all of them with different characteristics and even some hazards.  

 “Choose whichever you want son, I’d tell you to choose one stage that gave you an advantage over me, but since we are still using the same S.elf, there’s not really a stage that would give you the-”

 “I don’t need any advantages! I’m gonna beat you fair and square!” Rick Jr. replied swiftly without letting his dad finish what he was trying to say.

 A stage was quickly chosen by Rick, <Icy Icy Mountain>. As the name suggested this stage was your typical Ice-themed stage, with slippery ice paths and different weather changes that make battling in this stage different from most.

 “I have been practicing in this stage just to beat you, dad! You are gonna slip in the ice, haha!”

 “Hahaha, we’ll see about that, let’s make this just a quick one stock match, I am kinda sleepy son, driving all the way here was tiring.”

 “Sure, just don’t cry when you lose!”

 “Hahaha! Me? Lose? I will defeat you without getting hit a single time!” Boosted Rick Sr. with confidence.

 Both Chuminas started running towards each other and then launched the same attack *Aero Blast*, a powerful and quick beam made of strong wind. It was as if both attacks had been released at the same time and yet the one that connected was the one launched by the older Rick’s Chumina.

Rick Jr. & Chumina:

HP: 85%

SP: 340%

 “Whaaaat!? Why did yours hit while mine missed!?”

 “Guess you just need to get better, son!” In less than a split second Rick Sr. and his Chumina were preparing to continue their winning streak, “Y’know what to do next!”

 “I-It’s coming for you!! Quick! More *Aero Blasts*!” Rick Jr. screamed.

 Chumina complied, using a barrage of *Aero Blasts* one after the other. Rick Jr. didn’t want to lose yet again, he planned to somehow continue this battle mid-range where he was a bit better, “If we allow dad and his Chumina to get close to us we are done for, they are just too good in close combat!”

 “Oh Rick, Rick, Rick.. Let’s just end this already, Chumina..” Rapidly and precisely the red-cloaked Chumina approached its opponent, dodging all of its ranged attacks, and finally got to a short distance of the other Chumina.

 “A-Aero Blast!” Rick quickly ordered, “No way it will dodge it at this distance.” Rick Jr. would soon eat his own words as dodge he did, and then proceeded to land some blows.

 

Rick Jr. & Chumina:

HP: 18%

SP: 55%

 

 After the string of attacks Rick Sr. announced what would be the last command in the battle “*Aero Blast*”, both Chuminas were extremely close, escaping was impossible so this beam of wind hit an already weakened Chumina with a critical hit.

Rick Jr. & Chumina:

HP: 0%

SP: 55%

 “Well son, it was a good fi-” Rick Sr. Was about to brag to his son about a perfect win -as he usually did- when he noticed something.

WINNER: Rick Sr. & Chumina:

HP: 70%

SP: 440%

 [S-Seventy percent!? W-When did I get hit?!] Rick Sr. was surprised as he saw no explanation, [Unless.. Rick, did you..], “I got hit! How did it happen?! Was it a glitch?! Or did you attack at the last second, son?!”

 “Yes, I attacked when you got super close, but in the end, it didn’t even matter... I lost!” Rick Jr. said with an angry tone.

 Rick Sr. caressed his son, “You have definitively improved, Rick! You really surprised me!”

 “You really think so?!” Rick Jr. was full of happiness.

 “Yes, you sure did! But now, let’s go back, remember you promised this would be the last battle, ok?”

 “Yes, dad... But before we go I wanted to ask you a question” Rick turned his head to the sky, “Do you know how many stars there are in the sky? I tried to count but I ran out of numbers!”

 “You ran out of numbers?! I find that hard to believe, son!”

 “Well, I just got a little tired after a while.. The stars.. There were just too many!”

 “There are… Umm…” Rick Sr. Was hesitant, but at the same time he didn’t want to look uncool, of course, he had no idea of how many stars there were in the sky, but he had to say something, anything, “So, I don’t know how many stars there are in the sky, but I do know this cool fact!” Rick Sr. took his son in his arms and put him in his back giving him a piggyback, “Look at the sky son, every star you are looking at right now, it’s not really there anymore.”

 “What do you mean it’s not really there anymore, dad?”

 “They are reflections of the past, umm… They are like save states in the S.elf Network… In a sense… Kinda.” Rick Sr. didn’t really know how to explain the concept of the speed of light.

 “You just got confused, right dad?”

 “Haha, you got me!”

 Son and father kept silent for a couple of seconds, in awe of the beautiful spectacle they were beholding.

 Rick Jr. broke the silence, “Dad, you always leave and… When you go out I don’t have anyone to play S.elf with! Mom doesn’t even want to let me play online S.elf battles and… I dunno, I just don’t like when you go… And that’s almost always!”

 “Well son, I… I just have to go to work, and I can’t work from home hahaha.” Rick Sr. took something out of his shirt, a pendant he was wearing, “But you showed me today just how much you have improved, so I think I’m gonna give you this, also as a gift for your seven birthday, and compensation for your seventeenth lost today!”

 “Very funny!” Said Rick Jr. after lightly knocking his dad’s head, after that he accepted his dad’s gift, “What’s this thing, dad? It looks like a necklace or something?”

 The gift was a chain with a pendant shaped like a combination between the sun and the moon, it was kind of weird, “I… I had seen you wear this for a long time dad, are you sure you wanna give it to me?”

 “Yeah, it’s not only a pendant, with it you can actually S.elf battle with me whenever you want, kinda…”

 Rick Jr. was already tired and finally fulfilled his promise of not S.elf battling any more, “Ok dad, let’s go sleep, it’s getting late and I’m sleepy!”

 “Okie dokie, son, let’s go!”