1 Prologue: The promised battle below those stars. [Part 1]

It was a hot summer night in the middle of July. 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, the 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.