"Becca, darling! Make sure to get my good side!" Beni said merrily. He posed in front of Tony the truck, the Rice twins' 1995 silver Toyota Tacoma, popping his hips to the side and pouting cutely. November winds buffeted him, making the dyed silver streak in his hair jump and dance like a living thing.
Rich's twin sister Becca, for her part, was fiddling with their new digital camera, all the better to take MySpace pictures with. Considering where he was from, Rich knew a decent amount about taking pictures that looked good for social media, and Beni had expressed jealousy at how flattering his MySpace photo albums were. Thus, Becca pulled girlfriend duty, being forced to snap picture after picture of Beni in different poses, settings, and outfits, after a crash course in photography from her brother, of course. Why, young Benito had all the makings of a future influencer. Rich predicted he'd be Instagram famous in a few years, once that became a thing, anyway.
"Wow, young Tio is gorgeous," Oscar said in appreciation. Rich's "son" stood at his side, dressed warmly against the autumn chill. "These 2000s clothes are so nostalgic."
"Watch it," Julie said softly, tapping Oscar on the shoulder in warning. "No future talk till we're alone, dear."
God, his girlfriend sounded every inch the doting mother. Since they'd met Oscar, she'd been so gentle and loving with him, treating him as if she'd raised him for years. Just like that. When Rich questioned her about it alone, she explained she'd always wanted a son to spoil. There weren't any boys in her family since her parents got divorced.
"Tio" too? So Becca and Beni got married? Maybe it was the 2020s in him, but Becca marrying her first boyfriend seemed a little unlikely. Then he had to remind himself where he was. Marrying your high school sweetheart was a common occurrence in this time and place. They'd have to be long-distance when Becca went to the Naval Academy, but if anything, that made it more likely. Not a lot of boys went to Annapolis in this world.
"Okay, sorry Mo-, I mean, Julie," Oscar said awkwardly.
In answer, Julie put her arm around him. "It's okay, cousin, living together is a big adjustment for all of us."
Julie's mom, surprisingly, hadn't asked too many questions about a boy moving in. Their house was huge and had plenty of spare bedrooms, but shouldn't she know if she had a distant nephew tucked away somewhere? Something wasn't adding up, and Rich wasn't sure he wanted to find out what it was.
"Okay, we're heading out!" Julie had to raise her voice over the increasingly deafening wind.
"Have fun at your video game tournament," Beni said, smoothing his wild hair and taking the camera from Becca. He opened the camera and started flicking through pictures absentmindedly. "We've got a celebration dinner tonight with my family, both for the football team making it to the semi-finals, and for our one-month anniversary!"
"I hope they like me." Becca took off her glasses and tried to clean them, but they seemed to stay perpetually foggy.
Smooth as silk, Beni sidled up next to Becca and rubbed his body on her like a cat. Anything else she tried to say drowned in a mire of stuttering. "You'll do fine, mi corazon," Beni purred seductively. "The fact that you're half Mexican will really help with my parents accepting you. I made sure to show them a picture of you with your dad and cousin, Yesenia. Wait till you try my dad's cooking. It's even better than Rich's!"
Becca looked skeptical at that. Thanks, twin! And meeting the family already? Maybe they were getting married, or at least getting serious. Come to think of it, Becca was taking the truck out a lot. Since he had Future Chopper, it wasn't much of an issue. Well, no point in speculating. They needed to get on the road soon.
Rich, Julie, and Oscar waved goodbye and packed into his girlfriend's BMW.
"Meeting the high school version of my family is crazy," Oscar said, sounding like he'd been waiting to say that for hours.
"What's Becca do in the future?" Rich couldn't resist asking.
"Career Navy," Oscar said, sparing them one last glance as they drove away, and Julie took them towards the highway. "Last I heard, she was about to be the skipper of her own boat."
"She's an O-5 already?" Rich was shocked. That wasn't easy at all. Officer promotion boards over a certain level were brutal, from what he could remember.
"Yeah, there was some drama when she wasn't selected the first time, but she made it the next time she was up for promotion. Hadassah, that's my big sister, is a five and dive, though. She's getting out after her service commitment. Rachel is still in school."
"Hadassah, Rachel, and Oscar," Julie repeated as she took the exit onto the highway. They locked eyes briefly. "Our children's names," she said reverently.
"Yep!" Oscar popped the "p" in the word. "Cincinnati is a pretty great place to grow up, by the way. I loved my childhood."
"I'll remember," Julie said seriously. "So Rich, why are we driving all the way to Denton? You said something about video games and I didn't catch the rest."
"You know my karate sensei? Well, her husband is a professional street fighter player. I know, a boy gamer, crazy right? She asked me if I wanted to come and cheer him on. I thought you two might be interested."
"It's our first family trip!" Oscar said enthusiastically. "This is like an archeology field trip, pre-livestreaming esports. I wonder what it'll be like."
"I have no idea what you just said." In that moment, Julie reminded Rich of nothing so much as an out-of-touch boomer dad.
"In the future, everything is on the internet, Mom. Heck, getting used to not being on my phone all the time has been a huge adjustment. I still reach for it sometimes, then I realize it doesn't have any apps."
"I don't know if that's good or bad," Julie said, changing lanes. "But if you two want to go, I couldn't be happier. You're the two most important men in my life," she said lovingly. Her absolute sincerity really touched Rich. If he were to start a family with anyone, it'd be her.
***
The Competitor's Point of View
"So this thing will even the odds?" she asked the red woman.
Losing to a boy would be humiliating, especially on such a big stage. Hundreds of people would be there to watch the Street Fighter 2 championships on the big screen. She'd lost to Taras Glass before. His timing and distance management with Chun-Lu were legendary, but those were just little local affairs. At tournaments like that, dozens of TVs were lined up, with nobody really watching the other girls' matches. Only that big buff wife of his loomed behind, making her nervous.
It was so unfair. Tamira Ward was black and a nerd, the worst of both worlds. She was too nerdy for the black kids, and too black for the nerdy kids. Fighting games were all she had! So why oh why did a Ukrainian mail-order groom have to be even better?
The red woman handed her the projector. "I can guarantee a positive outcome." She smiled a wolfish smile, literally. Her teeth were sharp and glinted like an anime character.
"I hope so, lady. I hope so."
***
The tournament venue was a converted high school gymnasium, complete with stands out as if it were a basketball game, though only arranged on one side. On the arena floor, a great jungle of wires spread like creeping vines, connecting to numerous small televisions propped up on fold-out tables and a single projector screen hung up on the opposite wall. Making out anything but the big screen from the stands was all but impossible. A banner, reading "North Texas Fighting Game Championships," flew proudly above one of the basketball hoops.
"Richard-chan, you made it." Alice-sensei greeted them as they walked in. She handed Julie, Oscar, and himself lanyards with identification stating they were with one of the contestants. Out of her karate gi, Alice-sensei stood out even more. At a height of 6'7", she towered over even his girlfriend Julie and "son", Oscar. Speaking of which, she examined Oscar with a discerning eye. "And who is the young master accompanying you?"
"Oscar Cohen." He held out his hand for her to shake. "I'm a relative of Julie's." How close a relative, he didn't specify.
Alice took it and looked from him to Julie, and back to Rich. "You look alike," she said meaningfully, pointedly not specifying precisely who he looked like, Rich noticed. Yeah, the fact that Oscar very obviously had his facial bone structure was becoming harder to unsee the more time they spent together. Somebody who could read another fighter's slightest movements would be hard to bullshit, but thankfully, she didn't press.
"And this is my Taras," Alice continued, putting an arm around a much shorter, skinny young man.
"Charmed," he said emotionlessly. Taras carelessly brushed a lock of his curly brown hair out of his eye, showing a wedding ring with a huge diamond on his left finger. There was something elegant in the way he moved, dainty, precise, but also obviously calculated.
Marking your territory, are you? Well, this guy had never seen men as tall as Rich and Oscar before, he guessed. Taras didn't wear fancy clothes, but somehow it seemed like he didn't need to. Even in sweat pants and a hoodie, he gave off a classy, mature vibe, the "grown ass man" energy of a reverse world native.
"The less popular games like Dead or Alive and Queen of Fighters will go first, my love," Taras said in a vaguely Eastern European accent that reminded Rich a bit of Reka. "We have time to get something to eat before the Street Fighter 2 tournament begins."
Alice leaned down and kissed him on the top of his head. "You're sure it won't slow you down?" she asked.
Taras laughed musically. "Has it ever?"
Alice laughed along with him. "Touche, my lovely man." She returned her attention to Rich's group. "The concession stands are open. They're selling hot dogs and pizza by the slice, among other things. I would be happy to treat you all."
Julie held up a hand. "I can pay for my family," she said firmly. The fact that Julie very obviously meant him when she said "family" made something warm bloom in Richard's chest.
Alice-sensei narrowed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. "As you will, young mistress."
After a bite to eat, the three of them wandered the halls of the empty high school for a bit to kill time. Taras wouldn't be fighting for another thirty minutes, according to the schedule pamphlet in his hand.
"Wow, a real Ukrainian mail-order groom," Julie said once they were well away from Alice and Taras.
"Is that a thing?" Oscar asked curiously.
"Yeah, sometimes," Julie said as they walked by a trophy case. "You usually don't think of somebody like Alice Glass, though. The kind of girl that has to import a husband from overseas is usually, well, kind of a loser."
Alice-sensei definitely wasn't a loser, but she was, well, kind of a weirdo. She called him "Richard-chan" like he was some anime character! That was definitely not normal!
Julie was all in on the family dynamic at this point, walking with Oscar between them and fixing any unlucky woman caught checking him out with a death glare.
"Easy, Mom," Oscar half-whispered, half-laughed. "None of these video game nerds are my type anyway."
"Oh?" Julie raised an eyebrow. "And just who is my son's type?"
"Athletes," he answered easily. "I'm taller than most girls. It's cool, but it kind of narrows my options. Either I need somebody big enough to look like a match for me, or somebody confident enough not to care."
Julie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Goddess, things are moving fast. I find out I have a son one week, and the next I have to start worrying about women sniffing around."
Rich and Oscar laughed at her discomfort, but part of him realized the overprotective streak was one hundred percent real. Julie would absolutely crash out over Oscar. He could tell.
When it was time for the Street Fighter tournament to begin, they went back and chose seats with a good view of the big screen. The stands were barely half full, so they could sit pretty much wherever they wanted. It didn't escape Rich's notice that Julie insisted on Oscar being between them, guarded by a parent on both sides.
Preliminary matches took place on the small TVs, and they could barely make out what was going on from this distance. Still, when Taras Glass was announced as the winner of his first match, they all stood up and cheered.
Once only the sweet sixteen remained, every match took place on the big screen, one at a time. The announcer on the school gym's speakers treated every bout like a professional wrestling match.
"Blanka with the comeback! Ouch! That's got to hurt!"
Blanka, the green mutant, or whatever she was, wore a purple bikini top. Yep, you read that right. In the reverse world Street Fighter, every character was genderbent. They mostly had the same names, though.
"And now, our Chun-Li king, Taras Glass, will fight again!" the announcer bellowed to loud cheers. Taras was the only male in the whole tournament and had a pretty extensive fan base in Rich's estimation, or maybe the crowd just liked pretty boys.
The crowd lost it when E.Honda did that move with all the palm strikes, and Taras effortlessly blocked every one as he controlled Chun-Li. He just kept winning, making it look easy. That was, until the semi-finals.
"A rematch from last year's finals! Here comes Tamira Ward, known for her mastery with Guile at mid-range. Can she finally crack Taras Glass' invincible defense? Many have tried, but all have failed! It's a battle for the ages!"
The black girl, Tamira, was wearing a Dragon Ball shirt, because of course she was. Before the match started, she hooked up something to the projector. The announcer said the device would record the match so it could be posted on the internet later. That was a big advancement in 2005.
Like every other bout, it was best two out of three. Watching Guile with boobs fight flat-chested Chun-Li was a novel experience. Rich didn't know a lot about fighting games, but it was still pretty exciting. There was a lot of dancing around, just barely in and out of range, probing each other before committing. More than once, Rich observed matches ending very fast after one competitor made a small mistake. That held here. Taras caught Tamira out of position and BAM! Taras nailed her with a spinning bird kick that rapidly drained fem Guile's health before chaining it into a short combo to finish her off.
Tamira almost threw her joystick in rage. When round two began, something seemed off. Neither character would respond to the inputs of the players.
"Time out!" the announcer said. "We've got a latency issue. Once it's fixed, we'll restart the round. We thank you all for your patience."
A member of the staff approached the projector, but before she could do anything, the characters leaped off the screen and into real life! Guile and Chun-Li proceeded to start rampaging on the arena floor, knocking over monitors and throwing off members of security who attempted to restrain them. They weren't alone!
Genderbent versions of Ryu and Ken came next through the screen, joining Guile and Chun-Li. Rich immediately recognized the danger. If that projector wasn't shut down right away, they'd be overwhelmed with the whole roster!
"Listen, I've got to get out of here!" he told Julie and Oscar.
"Me too!" Oscar agreed. Rich didn't really understand why, but there was no time.
"Okay, come on, you two!" Julie had a hand on each of them and was trying to lead them out, but the exits were crowded by a stampede of panicked spectators. They weren't getting anywhere fast. Rich had no choice but to raise his ring:
"From a future dark
To a post not set,
Stinger hasn't won just yet,
With Pureheart Power, a noble mission,
Come forth! Future Hero! Henshin!"
Future Hero extricated himself from a slack-jawed Julie's grasp and made great use of the "flashbang" effect of his transformation by taking a running leap out of the stands and heading straight for the projector.
"Future Chop!" He destroyed it in one move, cutting off any reinforcements from the video game world. Of course, that drew the attention of the ones who made it over.
"Sonic boom!" Fem Guile launched her attack while Rich took stock of the situation. He only barely dodged. The energy of it tore a nasty gash in the wall behind him. He did not want to get hit by something like that.
Then the melee began, four versus one. Ryu and Ken used a karate style similar to his own. They rapidly exchanged punches and kicks and blocks, driving Rich toward a corner. Once he was trapped, they launched their ranged attacks.
"Hadoken!" A blue fireball flew right at him. Tapping into the power of the Endram Armor, Future Hero jumped clean over it, eyes peeled for a follow-up attack.
Guile looked like she was about to launch another sonic boom, but-
"Kiiiiya!" Alice-sensei leveled her with a devastating roundhouse kick that echoed off the gym's walls like a thunderclap. Rich had never seen her full power before! Guile disintegrated into little pixels, evening the odds a bit. All they had to worry about now were Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li.
"You've got to lure them away, Future Hero. The civilians are in danger," Alice-sensei reminded him of his duty.
"Osu! Alice-sensei!" Rich sounded off smartly like he was back in karate class.
The big woman smirked at him. "You are well-trained, Future Hero," she complimented.
"I had a good teacher, Alice-sensei!" With that, Rich jumped up and down, waving and shouting and trying to make himself conspicuous. Alice-sensei was strong, but she didn't have the supernatural durability of the Endram Armor. He needed to relocate the fight somewhere safer.
Thankfully, there was a nearby quarry he could run to. Alice focused on protecting the civilians, but she needn't have bothered. Typically, monsters would always follow him once they had his scent. He could lead them anywhere.
"Stop running!" Ken shouted.
Future Hero picked a rocky outcropping to make his stand and turned, planting his feet on the high ground. He made a "come hither" gesture with his left hand, and the three street fighters attacked him all at once.
Ryu and Ken were actually pretty predictable, fighting in a style he was used to. Chun-Li was the problem, jumping high and kicking him once or twice before jumping back, waiting for openings created by his exchanges with the two karate women.
Soon, he realized he was getting overwhelmed. When Rich tried to pull out his sword, Future Edge, it was kicked out of his hand. He didn't bother with Future Blaster, since it would be the same issue. The three street fighters seemed to get smarter, working together to keep him from focusing on just one of them.
Sure would be nice if Alice-sensei was here, he thought.
Then a green demon appeared! But not Blanka! No! This one looked like a Second Rider!
With a green suit and a demon mask, not too different from the Endram Armor, Rich was worried at first that this new person wasn't on his side, like an evil clone or something. He needn't have. Without a word, Green Rider (name pending) dived into the fray, taking some of the pressure off of Rich.
Green Rider was strong! Using a karate style similar to his, they fought back to back, making Ryu and Ken give up ground while Chun-Li didn't dare intervene.
"Future Punch!" Rich saw an opening, and he took it. Ken's head exploded in a starburst of digital pixels, and he faded out of existence. Now two versus two, they had the advantage.
Rich fought Ryu.
Green Rider fought Chun-Li.
The conclusion was all but predetermined.
"Future Kick!" With one strong blow, Rich banished Ryu back to the big arcade in the sky while Green Rider nearly decapitated Chun-Li with a roundhouse kick.
Who could Green Rider be? he wondered.
But his backup vanished just as soon as the fight ended. Drat! He was hoping to have a conversation and find out more. Hopefully, Future Chopper could find his way back to Julie and Oscar.