"My mom wasn't supposed to be here?!" Jace exclaimed.
Wes rubbed his chin. "Maybe 'supposed to be' implies that fate has to be locked in, exactly the same as it was before… My guess is Luce was originally planning on coming to the park today, but was too upset about her missing shoe… Or maybe she just didn't have a good walking pair without those sneakers? I know she still went during its first week, but obviously we changed things so she's here on opening day now."
"Stop standing there thinking about it and do something!"
"Do something?" Wes laughed. "What do you want me to do, chase her out of the park? Look, bud, you're still here. I don't think we've screwed up enough to remove you from existence just yet. She and my younger self will probably barely interact."
"But by the time you do screw up and I disappear, you wouldn't even know it because I never existed and you'd have no memory of me. So start doing better!"
"I'm sure your mom being here won't change that much. She would prioritize what rides to go on differently than Wessy. She'll avoid him as much as we will. Let her say she went on opening day. She deserves that."
Jace shook his head and turned his eyes back to the entrance, hoping to avoid catching his mom's eye. He took a breath and reminded himself to try and have fun.
At exactly nine in the morning, King Arcade opened its gates for the first time with the fanfare of a brief, but colorful and loud fireworks show. For thirty seconds, little rockets fired off from the top of the ticket booth roof, and exploded into bright bursts of orange, red, and yellow light against the morning sky, delighting the guests.
"This is the only time the park had fireworks," Wes said. "Takes me back…"
Air horns went off as the gates opened and the line began to move. Whereas Jace used to be somewhere around the ten millionth visitor when he first went at age five, now he would be among the first few thousand. Wes would consider that some big cool accomplishment, but it wasn't like he could tell anyone. The only semi-interesting thing he was looking forward to was seeing rides that were no longer around in the present.
He looked at the ticket prices as his uncle bought them at the booth. They were cheaper, but not overly so compared to their modern cost. An adult ticket was $25, and one for kids came in at $15. The separate water park, which wasn't open yet, was five bucks cheaper, or could be part of a both-parks package for a five-dollar premium.
Once the younger guests got through the gates, many of them took off in random directions, hoping to be the first to ride any of the attractions. Wes and Jace had both been on all of them multiple times, so they were more eager in taking in the sight of the park on its opening day, and what it looked like fresh out of the box.
King Arcade had decent enough rides, but for the most part, outside of a hodgepodge of generic, copyright-free video game-inspired architecture, its paths and greenery were little more than swerving concrete walkways and grass; it wasn't a magical, fantastical play land out of a child's imagination like Disney World; it didn't have the money for such perfection. Instead, every available resource was put into its main attractions and its ability to have a concession stand on every corner.
As they passed by the first ride on the main thoroughfare, the neon-lit Mega Drop tower, Wes spotted the radical, shades-wearing rodent mascot waving to kids running past and pointed him out. "There's Tude the Squirrel, their attempt at the whole 'animal with an attitude' character like Sonic, or Jazz Jackrabbit. Or Bubsy. Ugh."
The year-round haunted castle attraction, which was navigated by mine carts for some reason, went by next and was luring in only a few kids. Another Niegh the Knight was about, trying his best to dare more guests to venture inside.
Wes continued, "Ghosts and Freaks. I never really liked haunted house rides. They upgraded it a little over the years, but still, I didn't go on that unless I was visiting in October. I never got what 'freaks' had to do with a spooky castle, either."
The park's 'Main Street' was up next, with a fountain in the middle of the central plaza where five out of the park's seven restaurants and gift stores were located.
"What ride are we going on?" Jace asked as the plaza filled up around them and cheery staff greeted the pioneers. "Do you even have a plan?"
"Yeah, I have a plan. We're going to check out everything first. I want to go around the park and soak it in. I didn't come here on opening day last time I visited. And I know what my kid self is gonna try first. So, I want to see if anything interesting is going on elsewhere that I missed. Remember that perspective thing I talked about?"
"It's probably just too early for you to go on any rides, old dude…"
Wes suppressed a laugh and patted his nephew on the head.
They kept south first, to the non-ride attractions: Space Warp, the big dome that had a laser light show in the early evening; Game Joust, which let two players compete on a projection screen to an audience and was the only place in the park with console games instead of arcade cabinets; Video Land, a straight up media store with overpriced goods; and the Boardwalk, with carnival games that, just maybe, would award players with a plush toy. The venues were expectedly empty, as guests focused on rides first.
"Do you really think we're okay with my mom being here?" Jace wondered once they headed to the north side of the park, which was tailored for younger kids.
"I was only around for about a day after I came back, before bringing you on this second trip," Wes explained out loud, there still being very few guests in the area. "So, I didn't really get to investigate all of the local changes I might've caused. But I'm starting to think that the way time works, because of the environment and major events and the people around you, maybe the universe kind of 'squeezes' you back on a correct course, if you're not the one doing the time traveling? I mean, maybe there are a few moments that you can alter enough to start a butterfly effect, but… You know what that is, right?"
"The butterfly effect? Yeah, I know about that. It's in a kid's book at the library."
"Point is, who knows yet? It's possible we did screw up, but no changes happen until we go back, so when we do, maybe one of us will just disappear without warning."
Jace looked up at him with another worried expression.
"Hey, relax, you're at King Arcade on opening day! We just gotta check on some things and people in town before we leave, and make sure everything looks good. You know, still heading in the right direction. Younger me still gettin' it done, staying cool."
"Uh-huh. I guess so."
They entered the northern division, first passing by the Bumper Bros. bumper car rink, which was filling up and almost ready for its inaugural rally. Nearby it was the carousel, which played what would in 2020 be called bit tune music. It had few horses—most of the animals were creatures like dragons and giant rats. Beyond an assortment of simple, non-motorized playthings like a fort and jungle gym meant for tykes taking a break from the more intense experiences, was Mascot Meet Up, where families could stop and chat or take pictures with their favorite costumed characters. The park's trio of ninjas, which always traveled together and were dressed in bright blue, purple, and red, was busy posing with an overjoyed boy on the small wooden stage.
"The Bushido Trio?" Jace wondered. "Their colors are different."
"Yeah, they don't get swapped out for yellow, green, and pink until 2000 or so. Also, they're called The Three Ninjas right now, because a couple movies of the same name are still in recent memory. They changed it later to avoid being sued. Even though 'bushido' doesn't make sense, because that's the samurai code."
"I always thought ninjas were cool. I like video games that have them."
Flower Power was the next ride to come up, which was little more than spinning teacups with flower prints on them. The attendant was still waiting for its first riders.
"What is this?" Jace asked. "Where's Mirror Maze?"
"This is the black sheep spot. Remember how before Mirror Maze, there was Monster Lab? That weird make-your-own monster with big foam parts thing? Yeah… this attraction has changed—will change like, twelve times. They just can't seem to get something here that's popular, or liked. And now you can see where it all started."
"What do flowery teacups even have to do with video games?"
Wes shrugged. Past the easy-going mixer ride, the Swirl Twirl, was Jace's favorite attraction of the area: VirtuaVenture, an indoor simulated ride that lasted four minutes and was experienced in a futuristic giant ten-seat car. The audience was miniaturized and sent through a made-up game console, and then into the game itself, which had multiple vibrant 3D worlds. It was fast and nonsensical and headache inducing, but Jace loved it.
"Wanna hear a fun fact?" Wes asked, looking at the entrance's poster featuring the car's 'driver,' the cyber-teen Wizard Rocker, daring guests to have an adventure.
"You'll tell me anyway."
"Yep. Before this ride gets updated in ten years, this version of it—with the really simple, early CGI—was produced by the same studio that made that ReBoot show."
"I haven't gotten to that one yet."
"Jace! Ah, man… You have so much homework you still gotta do."
The eastern side of the park was the busiest, and rightfully so, as it was known for its locally renowned and most popular attractions. It was here where the impressive Red Demon roller coaster loomed over everything, as the more traditional and peaceable Ferris wheel faced off with it nearby on the other side of the walkway. A little further north was the entrance to the waterpark, where a few disheartened, misinformed kids already in their swimsuits were currently being denied entrance by a security guard.
"AquaZone is through there," Wes said. "Yes, just like the Lego series you saw in Target. Park had a tendency to rip off names, unintentionally or otherwise… But it won't open until, like, next spring. Always thought that was lame. It is summer."
Past the flagship rides was perhaps the entire place's most notable and hyped venue: Galaxy Hub Arcade, a spaceport-themed metallic structure, two stories high, with a rocket blasting off on its top. It was the lone building in the park that actually did have some impressive architecture, as the owner had made an investment to make it the second largest arcade in California. It was swarming with kids, many of which had come on opening day only to experience its splendor, saving the rides for another visit.
"It hasn't changed a bit…" Jace observed.
"Nope, only the games within have. Makes the mall arcade look like a 7-Eleven. Oh, man. I remember it having some rare cabinets I literally never saw anywhere else."
The robot mantis, Insectus, was meandering around at the grand entrance, being oddly friendly and waving to kids who seemed to keep their distance from him. On trained instinct, Jace cupped his hands and booed loudly at the character—who only reacted by turning to him and doing a gesture that said, "What's your problem, kid?"
"Uh, so…" Wes interjected, "Insectus isn't seen as a bad guy yet. He doesn't become the park heel until a little later, when the director realized no one liked him, but used that fact to enhance his character. You're just shaming a guy trying to be nice."
"Oh. That's weird. So, um, are we actually going to start riding stuff now?"
"Definitely." Wes eyed the long line for the Red Demon. "But… there's a wait."
A forty-minute one in fact, but that was expected for the legendary roller coaster. After walking by the height check sign that sent many saddened kids looking for another ride, and that Jace himself just barely passed, they settled into the zigzagging line of guests hoping to be on the ride's tenth or so run of the day. As the sun crawled towards its apex, Wes slapped on his shades and paid for an ice-cold slushie drink from a mobile vendor. With the heat rising, the park's vast network of misters came on all at once.
"Oh, man," Wes exclaimed. "King Arcade, sprayers running… if only we had the smell of chlorine wafting in from next door, we'd have the definition of summer!"
Jace noticed the boy next to him, about his age, who was looking up at the coaster above in fright as his excited dad gripped his shoulder.
"Hey…" Jace spoke up, without actually thinking about starting a conversation with the boy first. "Um, it's not so bad. It only looks scary."
"How do you know?" the kid replied. "Almost no one's been on this thing yet! It's probably gonna kill a whole lot of people when it goes flying off!"
"No it won't. I mean, it won't even fly off at all. I've been on it a hundred times!" Jace said, instantly realizing that the fact he was a time traveler had slipped his mind.
"What are you talking about?" The boy glared at him. "This place just opened!"
"Um, uh… I was one of the kids that got to test out the rides first!"
"Really?" The boy's eyes widened. "How did you get picked to do that?"
"'Cause I own the park," Wes stated. "My nephew got to be first on everything."
"Wow…" the gullible kid murmured, and left speechless, went back to looking at the Red Demon as forty pairs of dangling legs rushed past on the track above.
"You sure make up some big lies, Uncle Wes…" Jace told him.
"Me? Nah. Little white ones. Besides, most kids don't remember much or think critically usually." He saw his nephew's stare. "Oh, but you do! You're an exception!"
Jace rolled his eyes, and Wes proceeded to cite park fun facts and some of his favorite memories as they moved up in line, inch by inch.
When they finally arrived at the boarding station, they slid right into the two center seats in their row of four, smiled giddily, and greeted what was to them an old friend. Instead of clenching their butts in trepidation like the other riders, they were more fascinated in how new the inverted car felt, smelled, and looked.
The "life vests," as Jace always called them, came down and snapped in firmly. With a jolt, they and thirty-eight others were sent down a bright red roller coaster nearly as long as the park, dwarfing all the other rides with its long swerving stretches of track, two loops, and one epic sixty-foot drop. It provided the most intense three minutes in Royal Valley, and at its peak just before the plummet, with the city all around them, Wes and Jace briefly forgot the year. Everything felt just like another 2020 summer weekend.
After coming off the ride frazzled, in a good way, the two felt energized and carefree. As other guests wasted time looking at their maps to get their bearings and wandered about, the uncle and nephew ran around familiar landscape, cutting through the crowds and hitting up their favorite large mechanical joy-machines.
Whether it was Jace tending to his still-vast reserves of anger by smashing into other kids' bumper cars while Wes cheered him on, or walking through the Boardwalk and watching others fail at the carnival games, or barely avoiding getting splashed by kid vomit on the Mega Drop, or hanging out with Wizard Rocker and going on his colorful, low-poly, textureless CGI cyber tour—twice—the travelers had themselves a time worthy of a minute-long montage with pop music playing in the background.
Ghosts and Freaks was a particularly fun experience, and they laughed through much of it, as the skeletons, ghouls, and monsters that popped out scared everyone else onboard their train, none of which had experienced the ride before. The various spots along the track where the "hero knight" character was shown losing another life in a comical way, from getting burned to crushed, still amused their shared sardonic side.
After three hours of rides and with the need for lunch rising, Wes decided to cap off the first part of the day with a try at Game Joust. The line of participants was pretty short, outnumbered by those who only wanted to watch, so he didn't have to wait long. The setup had a single game available a day, and its very first one was Super Bomberman 2.
His competitor was a middle-aged dad, his young teenage daughter cheering him on from the audience. He clearly wasn't a big gamer and was only trying to have fun at the park, but Wes didn't take it easy on him, because he never did that for anyone. It didn't take long for him to destroy the other bomber with a few well-placed bombs, get congratulated by the ref, and have his name added to the board listing the day's winners. It was reward enough, and he didn't gloat as the man returned to his disappointed kid.
• •
With the sun high in the sky and temps nearing a hundred degrees, the two enjoyed their food from Burger Zapper under an outdoor umbrella. Many other guests had gotten the same idea to have a lunch break, and the plaza was now packed.
"Did you want to try Game Joust before we leave?" Wes asked between bites.
Jace quickly shook his head and replied, "No way. You know I don't like being the center of attention… Besides, I'm not good enough at all these old games."
"You will be. Give it time."
"You were pretty good, though. I don't usually get to see you at your best at video games. I mean, we play sometimes when you come over, but you aren't really…"
"As into them? Yeah, I dunno, it's not that modern games are that bad or anything, but I feel like I've seen all of them. They don't excite or surprise that much. It's mostly just playing old ones that gets me pumped again. Ah, but Wessy has plenty of good years of gaming left. They didn't start wearing on me until after college."
Jace sipped his overpriced soda—he had worked up a rare craving for one—and asked, "But you seem to always like coming here, even back in the present."
"Theme parks hit my nostalgia nerve. I can't help but let them work their magic and take me out of the world for a day. Know what really made me, I guess, romanticize these places? It's weird, but aside from it being one of my favorite movies, Jurassic Park put the whole idea of what a park could be in my mind. Sure, the dinos are cool, but I think what always stood out was the design of the park, the set dressing—they made me wish the place was real, that I could visit. But King Arcade isn't a bad substitute."
"Uh, but, the dinosaurs got out and ate people and they had to leave the park."
"Yeah—and the park never opened in the first place. Or, not for another twenty-two years at least. But damn if I didn't have my share of dreams where I went to it."
"Did the t-rex ever get you in these dreams?"
"No way! I always hid somewhere in the visitor's center or got away in my jeep that could go a hundred miles an hour. I even had a velociraptor as a pet once."
After finishing his burger, Jace watched Wes suddenly feel something, take out a small device, and then asked him, "What is that thing?"
He pocketed it and answered, "A pager. I'll tell you all about them later. So, you ready to hit the big arcade? If my timing's right… I got something to show you."
• •
After returning to the Galaxy Hub, instead of going straight inside the bustling arcade, Wes had Jace wait near one of the sunglasses stalls and went over to use the payphone sitting under the building's metal exterior. He was only almost out of earshot, so it was possible to pick up a few sentences of his conversation when the nearby area was quiet enough. Whoever Wes was talking to, he looked happy about it.
"What are you doing working on a Saturday?" Jace overheard, though he wasn't particularly interested in whatever contacts his uncle had made.
He leaned up against the lamppost near the vendor, under the shade of one of the park's trees, and looked around at more 90s kids in their 90s clothes. After having spent nearly a week in the time period, he felt like he was starting to blend in better.
"Of course they're looking good. That's the formula at work. Just wait until the markets are open again…" Wes said before he turned around and became inaudible.
Jace got bored of looking at families and began to take in the building's structure, to try and spot any changes from its present-day appearance. Then he suddenly noticed a figure that stood out in the crowd. It was leaning against one of the pillars of the main entrance's canopy, with arms crossed. Shadows hid details, but at first glance, it looked like one of the park ninjas—only it was a more serious and intricate costume, and unlike the Katana Club or whatever they called themselves currently, this ninja was in all black.
Its face was in complete darkness under a hood, until it seemed to sense that Jace was staring, and looked straight back. The crowds around the ninja barely acknowledged it, likely assuming that it was just another mascot, but with Jace, it seemed to have some sort of established connection. Enough sunlight reflected off of its large curving goggles to make them noticeable, and behind them may have been a pair of eyes that knew him.
Jace's reflexes took over, and he responded just as he always did when he felt that he had made eye contact with a stranger—by looking away, this time up at the sky. He quickly fought back against instinct so he could study the strange character some more, but the ninja had performed a disappearing act in the span of two seconds.
He glanced around and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things but was certain that they weren't playing tricks. Wes then finished his call and rejoined him.
"Did you see… that ninja?" Jace asked. "He wasn't like the other ones…"
"You saw one of the ninjas? Uh. Maybe we'll see him inside. Let's check it out."
Perturbed by the sighting, he followed Wes into the hub, filled with three people for every arcade cabinet. The starry carpet was pristine and a fresh smell lingered in the air, filled with the sounds of techno music and a hundred games. Above the neon light fixtures was the second floor, where more games waited to be discovered. Most cabinets were brand new, while others were older legacy units, including a few pinball machines.
"Wow, so this is what the hub looked like back in… uh, now," Jace observed. "I remember some of these games, but I guess most got replaced by 2020."
"Yep," Wes sighed. "I know a few guys who have some of these in their garages. The hub was mythical when it opened. Made quite a buzz in state news."
"How long are we sticking around?" Jace asked and eyed the little manned booth where guests could inquire about where to find a certain game, or do something special with their guest pass. "We can still redeem our tickets for ten tokens, right?"
"Huh?" Wes replied, his mind elsewhere as he focused on looking around. "Uh, yeah, you can, but… priorities, Jace. I'm trying to find something. Come on."
He stayed with him as they navigated the giant arcade, unsure of what Wes was attempting to locate. As they swerved by loud, sugar-addled children and their headache-afflicted parents, they stopped for a moment to watch the two characters often regarded as the "stars" of the park walk by, waving to anyone who noticed them and wishing others who were currently playing a game a quick "good luck."
"There they are—Tony and Apple," Wes said. "In their first costume renditions. The classic variation. Man… They take me back. I couldn't get them out of my mind as a kid, you know? They just embodied the adventure and imagination in video games."
"Yeah, but aren't they just kind of rip-offs of Mario and Princess Peach?"
"I'd say more of a very close inspiration. I mean, Tony is basically a Brooklyn steampunk mechanic, and he has overalls, sure, but also a toolbelt full of wrenches—and no mustache. And his girlfriend Apple, she's either a punk or Goth girl depending on her design, and to be fair… Peach was still known as Princess Toadstool right now, so her name was pure coincidence. Anyway, you've seen all the mascots."
"But what about all the rest?"
"Nope. Bella Butterfly, Cyborg Cop, Hunter the Dog, Mr. Meteor, Shawn the Wonder Gamer, and PolyJester are added over the years. This is all we got at the start.
"But none of them really hold a candle to Tony and Apple. Their personalities, ever-expanding backstories, the merch, the designs of their clockwork clothing… The creators really got close to something great. Too bad they didn't want to go bigger with 'em, but hey, the park owners didn't want to get sued by Nintendo."
"Are they what you were looking for?"
"Nah. There's something I'm trying to show you before we run out of time…"
"Does it have something to do with your younger self?" Jace asked, tugged at his uncle's shirt, and pointed over at Wessy, chilling on a couch in the hub's central lounge.
"Hm? Oh, there I am. Okay…" He got in position behind a Killer Instinct cabinet with Jace, where they could stay out of sight. "Arthur should be here any second."
On cue, Wessy's friend appeared. They high-fived, Arthur cleaned his glasses, and then the noise of the arcade briefly quieted to the point where they could be heard.
"Where's your mom?" Arthur wondered.
Wessy gestured over to an old Ms. Pacman machine, where she was in the zone, locked into an intense session of a game she had played often when she was younger.
"Where is it? Did you find it yet?" Wessy asked.
"Yeah! Ash is holding a spot for us. But the Atari lady might take it back to their headquarters any second! We should hurry. There's no way I'm missing this chance!"
"Okay, Arty, be cool and lead the way. Mom? I'll be, uh… somewhere else."
"Mm?" she murmured, her eyes solidly on the screen. "All right. Be good."
"Who's Ash?" Jace questioned. "And what's this Atari thing?"
"I'll explain when we get there. Come on, we gotta follow them."
Keeping their distance again, the two tagged along and watched as Wessy and Arthur found a seemingly hidden little corner of the arcade where a group of kids and teenagers where gathered around a solid black, light-gun based cabinet that lacked any of its decals and art, aside from the small "Property of Atari" white text on its side. A very official-looking woman with a clipboard was nearby, taking notes as two players gamed.
"Arty, Wes!" a girl who looked very similar to Arthur called them over.
After looking at her glasses that were identical to Arthur's, her pigtail-puffballs of hair, and her grin that looked unable to form a frown, Jace asked again, "Who is she?"
Wes hesitated, but replied, "Arty's twin sister… And that is the Area 51 game."
"You never told me Arthur had a twin sister. Twins are so cool!" Jace exclaimed.
"Well…" Wes was still acting a little peculiar and aloof. "We didn't hang out all the often. We were… mostly just school chums. I'll tell you about her some other time."
"Aw, did you have a crush on her or something when you were my age?"
"W-what? Why would you think that?"
"She is kind of cute, I guess. And, uh… I don't usually compliment girls."
"Keep your eyes on what's important right now. You see that unmarked arcade cabinet? That's a not-quite-finished, currently-in-market-testing copy of Area 51. It's a little slice of delicious full-motion-video cheese with a side of violence. Game's a classic. The present-day Hub still has one, and I've seen them in the wild in other places, too."
"I think I know the one. It's where your teammates come on the screen and you can shoot them, and it's always yelling at you to reload, right? What's special about it?"
"It's not every day that a kid gets to participate in a market test! The game won't be out for a few more months, and it's on display here for one day. Wasn't announced anywhere, either; very hush-hush. Fitting, considering its namesake. We only knew about it because Arthur's dad worked at the park back then. One of the electricians, I think."
"Where's that kid, um… Colin? Wasn't he your best friend?"
"He was sick on opening day. Yeah, that sucked… But keep watching."
The two teenage boys playing got shot up by a big group of aliens, and after they died and a countdown appeared, the Atari rep said, "Okay, that was your fifth continue. Please fill out these comment cards, and thank you for participating." After she gave them the cards and some pencils, she looked around and asked, "Who's next?"
"My brother and his friend!" Ash shouted as loud as her mousy voice allowed.
"You have been waiting for a while, so I suppose you can have a turn…"
"Hold it!" a teenage girl suddenly called out from behind.
Everyone in the crowd turned around and watched her approach, a young lady around the age of sixteen with a short haircut dressed in black tights, purple denim mini shorts, and a pink vest. She had one hand on her hips and chewed gum with an attitude.
"Whoa, it's Vanni Patile," one of the tweens commented among other murmurs.
"The challenger approaches," Wes whispered, his hands clasped in anticipation.
"I want to have a go at it," Vanni demanded.
"Hey, we were here first!" Ash protested.
"Yes, you have to wait your turn, like everyone else," the rep added.
Vanni crossed her arms, popped a bubble, and looked down at Wessy.
"Actually…" he spoke up, "it's okay. She can go first. I don't mind watching."
"But, Wes, I thought you were really looking forward to this…" Arthur replied.
"We can learn from her mistakes," Wes assured his friend, loud enough so that Vanni and everyone else could hear. "And then we can humiliate her."
"You and your grudges…" Arthur said with a sigh.
"All right, if they're okay with it, you can go ahead," the Atari lady told Vanni. "You only get five continues. The game is a bit challenging, and I can't really give you any tips… Oh, and we're testing the cooperative mode, so you'll need a partner."
"No problem," Vanni replied, went to the cabinet, and removed the first player's red gun to examine it as if it were a real firearm. "He'll be here in a second."
"I don't get it," Jace whispered. "Who is she?"
"Did you happen to notice, back at the mall arcade, that a lot of the high scores had 'VAN' on them? Yeah. That's her. Ever since I was eight, I would always try my hardest to knock down her hard work with my good old 'W-E-S'. First time we met in person there a few years back, it was like we already knew each other. She's been my gaming rival ever since. Although… she was almost always better than me."
"What's with her? She's dressed like a punk, she chews gum, she dyes her hair… She's like some big stereotype of a 90s gamer chick from a movie or something."
"Stereotypes come from somewhere, right? Actually, I got to know her a little bit before she moved away… She's a much more interesting person than you'd think."
"Hurry up, Gavin!" Vanni shouted into the crowd.
As the boy from the mall arcade rushed onto the scene, Wes shoved Jace's head down so only his eyes and hair were visible and exclaimed, "Crap! I knew I recognized that kid when I paid him to be your buddy for an hour. We can't let him see us. He might be all like 'hey I know you guys!' and come over here and screw it all up."
"So… what is he? Her second-player slave?"
"Kind of. I think he's like her stepbrother? I didn't see him around much."
"You got us in, huh?" Gavin said and picked up the blue gun. "Sweet."
"Let's get this over with," Vanni said. "We don't want to keep others waiting."
She stuck her gum to her bracelet as the rep started the game for them, and stood back with subdued curiosity, compared to most of the onlookers' stunned awe. Even Jace, who considered himself a pretty good gamer for an eleven-year-old, couldn't think of the words to say once the Patile siblings started blowing up aliens.
Both handled their light guns like professionals with real weapons, and their reaction speeds were so quick that they moved like fluid, guiding their sights from enemy to enemy as if they could predict where each of them would appear.
Having never played it before, they weren't perfect—and the game was proving to be as challenging as the rep had warned, so they did lose lives on occasion, typically after running out of room-clearing grenades and getting overwhelmed. But they never once shot any of their video-captured human squad mates as they traveled deeper into the secretive military base's lower hangars to clear it of invading alien scum.
"Wow, she's really good…" Jace observed quietly, as the crowd went from silent observers to being completely absorbed by the gaming conquest happening in front of them and were now shouting and reacting to every close call. "This is like a livestream of somebody rocking a video game, and with all the chatting from the watchers."
"Uh, sure, Jace. There was a time when people actually did things in real life."
"But the way those two handle the guns… Do they use real ones or something?"
"Nah. Both are just experts at arcade games. Vanni especially. She was a prodigy. Racers, shooters, platformers, you name it, she has a high score. I visited her house once as a kid, before she moved. Her family had shelves of console games. I have no idea how an entire family like that came to be, but I swear, whatever it was, it happened to hers."
"But she must have other talents than just video games."
"She played in a band, I think. I'm not entirely sure. I never got to know her all that personally. Our lives mostly just mixed a little in the good old arcade, and then we parted ways. You'll probably meet a lot of people that are like that in your life."
The rock soundtrack got dramatic as they hit the final level—which, according to the crowd comments, no one had reached yet. Amid cheers and bated breath, they blew up the UFO end boss on their last possible life before the rep would have cut them off.
"Whoa, she actually beat it!" a kid screamed at the top of their lungs.
Vanni let out a sigh of relief, planted her gun back into the holster, got her gum back, and turned to face the Atari employee, who had something of a look of surprise.
"That was fun," Vanni told her. "Can't wait to see the final version."
"Y-yes… If you would please fill out a card," she said and handed her a couple.
"I'm guessing you didn't expect anyone to win. It was up there, though."
After Gavin and Vanni slapped a victory high-five, he began to rush back out and said, "I'm gonna see if I can ride everything a second time. See ya."
"W-wait, sir!" the rep called to him. "Please… the comment card!"
"Van', can you just dupe yours? It was awesome, lady, don't change a thing!"
Once he disappeared, Vanni grabbed the pen that the rep was holding and began to fill out the cards, using the side of the arcade cabinet as a surface.
"Ahem. Well, I suppose it's your turn now," the rep said to Wessy and Arthur. "And don't feel bad if you don't beat it as well… That was honestly… unexpected."
"You don't know about Royal Valley kids," Arthur told her as he and his friend stepped up to the game and removed the still-sweaty guns. "We don't joke around."
"Yeah, video games are in our blood," Wessy added.
"Good lu-uck, Wessy," Vanni said snarkily from the machine's side, putting extra emphasis on the pet name the time travelers were already using to identify him.
"Yeah, yeah. I don't need it." He then spoke to Arthur, "You ready, buddy?"
"You know it! This will be the cherry on top of an already legendary day."
"Watch this, Jacey-boy…" Wes told him as he began to get very excited from seeing his younger self and his video game partner kick alien ass.
Both of them being ten, Wessy and Arty didn't quite have the same motor skills as those they were challenging. But they sprayed the screen in a frantic, drunken-mastery sort of way, covering for each other's mistakes and working more as a team than Vanni and Gavin, who both kind of did their own thing very well. Aside from being very quick with reloads by shooting off the screen at a blinding pace, they had also taken in some of the enemy spawn patterns despite only having seen them once, just minutes prior.
And after they cleared the first few stages on one continue, Jace knew they'd win.
"You're actually going to beat their score, huh?" he asked. "So… this is another one of those moments you're really proud of."
"This goes beyond pride," Wes said with a wide grin. "This was beauty."
"Yeah, but doesn't the machine go back to the company? It's not like your name gets to hang around the arcade for all time or something."
"Pfft. This moment, everything leading to it and happens after, transcends petty things like high scores and the three letters you get to put by them. Jace! This is what—"
"Mom's here," Jace suddenly said with a very flat inflection.
"Huh? What are you talking…" Wes looked over and saw Lucy, her excited mom tugging her along. "Oh no. Oh crap… Please, don't… Just don't…"
"Look, Lucy, there's your brother, playing a game without you!" her mom said incredulously. "Wes, you two haven't done anything together all day!"
"Are you kidding me?" Wessy called back, only taking his eyes off the screen for a split second. "Give me a break! We're almost on the final level!"
"All the more reason to give Lucy a try! This is your last chance to share a moment together on opening day. Go on, Luce." She prodded her. "Wes, have your little friend take a break, and let your sister whack some of those baddies too."
"But this is a violent game!" Wessy tried once more in desperation.
"Oh, nonsense. You're just making excuses now."
"Mom, it's fine…" Lucy tried to argue. "I don't really want to…"
But her wishes were also ignored, and Lucy ended up being pushed through the crowd by a parent who had no consideration for what was really important in life.
As the last level loaded, Lucy and Wessy both looked at the parent in a final attempt to scrub the Kodak moment, but it was no use. Lucy's mom simply waved back.
"Sorry, Arty…" Lucy sighed and opened her palm expectantly.
"Don't…" Wessy begged him. "Just… act selfish or something. We're so close!"
"Uh…" he muttered, and then after hesitating, handed the gun over with a shrug. "I—I'm sorry, man. I don't want to face your crazy stepmom's wrath again."
"I'll try my best," Lucy muttered. "You must want to get a good score, right?"
The devil parent of the moment took out a disposable camera and called out to them, "Turn around and smile for the camera, kids!"
Wessy turned to shout back, "I can't pause arcade—" the flash went off as aliens killed them and a game over screen appeared "—games! This is import… Crud!"
He flipped around and shot the dialogue box to continue, as the atmosphere shifted drastically and the once captive audience began to fire out chortles. Even the underpaid Atari employee had to stifle a few giggles amid the scene that was making her day. Vanni, still watching from the side, looked particularly amused.
"This isn't happening…" Adult Wes groaned. "This isn't right at all…"
Wessy tried his hardest to rescue the situation, attempting to make up for the sudden decrease in combined skill as Arthur cheered him on nearby. To her credit, Lucy was able to handle the gun decently enough, and could usually hit an alien after two shots missed first. Wes tried to give her trial-by-fire advice as they slogged through the final challenge, but without any prior experience with the game and totally not prepared to play it beforehand, Lucy simply couldn't make up the difference quite enough.
Yet, by the time two continues had gone by and the UFO boss appeared, she had gotten into it enough to want to win, and though he didn't notice, she had acquired something she typically lacked: emotion. She almost looked like she was having fun.
And on their last life, they blew up the final enemy and beat the game together.
"We did it!" Lucy exclaimed with a faint gasp.
"Yeah! All three of us!" Arthur replied, surprised at the result.
A hush fell over the crowd as the victory screen tallied the final score. Vanni, Adult Wes, Jace, and the rep all leaned in with bated breath.
"Damn, I beat you by five hundred points!" Vanni whooped. She then added with a peace sign before leaving, "Looks like I'm queen of the arcade, bitches! See ya."
"Augh! Lucy!" Wes smacked his forehead in anger. "I wanted to beat her!"
"O-oh…" Lucy said as the rep took her gun and held out the cards. "Sorry…"
"It was really close, man…" Arthur tried to console Wessy. "We still won!"
"Yay!" Lucy's mom called out as her daughter returned to her, still pleased with herself despite her brother's initial reaction. "Mommy's little alien-killer!"
"Hey, Wessy," Ash said, her arms crossed. "You better not be mad at Lucy. She tried really hard just now. If you scared her, you gotta apologize!"
"Yeah, yeah…" he grumbled and grudgingly snatched the waiting comment card.
"I guess you lost," Jace said, before realizing that Wes had already left. "Hey!" He spotted him walking away and gave chase. "You can't just leave me here!"
• •
"I did it again," Wes repeated for the fifth time. "I actually did it again…"
They were on their third Ferris wheel climb, and all of their fun had drained out a while ago. As they reached the peak and again saw the sun setting over Royal Valley, Wes transitioned to another stage of commiseration. He took the steps of grief in a wild, disorderly way. It was hard to tell which part he was experiencing at any given time.
"Just… how? How does a shoe… And at that exact spot, at that exact time, Lucy comes over? I mean, it's her mom's fault, but still… Why is the universe against me?"
"Maybe it's yelling at you to stop dicking around."
"Language, Jace." Wes leaned back in the plastic seat and looked skyward. "But, yeah, I gotta get better at this… Plan around the repercussions. But how am I supposed to predict random crap like that?!" He pounded at the side of the carriage. "Seriously, because Lucy gets a complete set of footwear, I lose one of my accomplishments?"
"How about you just stop messing with your kid-self completely? That should solve the problem." Jace said with a yawn. "Anyway… how did it go originally?"
"Arty and me won. Duh."
"Yeah, but then what happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"After you guys won, what was that like?"
"Um. The crowd broke into applause and cheered. Or… maybe they just clapped for a few seconds, I think. Vanni looked really sad—no, wait, she was angry. Furious. Uh, hold on… Actually, maybe she just huffed a little and left. I think the Atari lady gave me a prize. No… Um, yeah, it was just the comment card. And then me and Arty beat our high score a few months later when the game came out for real and stayed in the hub."
"So," Jace shrugged, "nothing of value was lost."
"Material permanence barely matters!" Wes argued. "It was the feeling of victory, one-upping a fellow gaming ace, of briefly holding a world record! That's gone now!"
"But you still remember it happening. So… it still kind of happened? Besides," Jace had noticed someone walking below, "Wessy still looks happy."
The ground coming close, Wes looked and saw himself leaving the park with his mom, a fresh King Arcade t-shirt on his back and one of its signature crown-shaped golden balloons tied to his wrist. The loss didn't look like it bothered him at all.
After they stepped off the wheel, the park's speakers announced that it would be closing in fifteen minutes, at seven. The guests, many of which had been there all day, began to funnel through the exits. Most of the kids, like Jace, appeared to be exhausted.
"You want to eat at the 50s Diner down the road for dinner, get some cheap breaded chicken and a shake or something?" Wes asked. "That's where I always ate with either of my parents after I spent a day with them here."
"I guess. I dunno. I'm tired. Bed sounds nice…"
"You can't go to bed yet, kiddo! We still gotta watch some SNICK when we get back to the hotel. That's how you ended a Saturday when you were a kid."
"You've told me all about that so many times, man."
"Maybe it'll at least help me get my mind off of seeing that disaster unfold…" Wes murmured, scratched himself, yawned, and rubbed his sore legs as families began to close in and slow down their effort to leave. "Anyway, I got Monday to plan for, and…"
Wes stopped talking the moment he noticed Jace looking at him, his expression saying nothing. He was hoping that he'd be able to keep his mouth shut until a better moment for explanation had arrived, maybe sometime the next morning. His nephew didn't really react though, so maybe he still had time to come up with a proper opener.
Just outside the gate and into the parking lot, however, Wes watched as Jace slowed down, clenched his little fists, and suddenly flipped around with an angry scowl.
"I knew you were up to something!" He exclaimed. "You're always scheming up some big, stupid plan. And just when I was starting to like hanging out with you."
"You're still allowed to like hanging out. I got more great things planned!"
"You kidnapped me, dude! You said we were going home tomorrow!"
"We'll get back the same time we left. Think of it as free summer!"
"How long?" Jace demanded as they got into the car and he crossed his arms.
"I'm still thinking about that! There's more things to show you."
"Oh, yay, more stupid 90s junk and seeing your kidself failing at stuff."
"That… kind of hurts, buddy. I thought I was okay at being, ya know, your time-traveling tour guide of '95," he said with a weak attempt at a humorous hand gesture.
Sulking, Jace replied with, "Just take us to the restaurant."
Wes opened his car door and responded weakly, "It's Saturday. Try to enjoy it."
• •
While watching Jace pick at the rest of his fried chicken dinner and taking sips from his melted chocolate shake, Wes tapped his fingers lightly on their booth's table, and thought of how to best go about bringing the truth to the kid that night.
Just as being in this decade filled Wes with a nostalgia rush, the 50s diner did the same for his dad—his comparatively younger mom, not so much. It was another place that would close in the years ahead. He could dwell on that and send more useless trivia into Jace's head, but even he had enough parental acumen to know now wasn't the time.
"I thought you didn't like lying to me…" Jace grumbled once his food was gone.
"I don't like it, buddy! But keeping something from people is different."
"No, it's not. You big lying jerk."
"Come on, you've had fun so far, right? What's wrong with a little more of it?"
"I was ready to go home tomorrow and get back to my modern video games and my modern shows that are a lot better than all your stupid 1995 crap."
"Sheesh, Jace… You have me worried that we're going to lose all the emotional progress we made over the past few days. You were starting to ease up and chill out."
"I'm eleven. I'm not a little kid you can just boss around anymore."
Wes had to give that a good, hearty laugh and told him, "Hate to break this to you, but you're going to get bossed around by adults until you're at least eighteen."
Just to add further insult, the elderly waitress came by with a plastic bag of four crayons and placed them gently down near Jace's empty plate.
"If you wanted to color your place mat, young man," she said in a throaty voice.
Jace looked down to see his opportunity to color a skateboard-riding dinosaur, let out a scoff, crossed his arms again, and asked scornfully, "How long?"
"W-well, you know, I'm still figuring that out. I have this list of stuff we can—"
"How. Long?"
Wes hesitated and grinned nervously before squeaking out, "A year…?"
As he stared at his uncle, the only sounds that escaped Jace were a faint sniffle, followed by a tongue click. Wes had never seen him so livid before—and it was the scary, silent kind of anger, where thoughts of homicide were possibly being conceived.
Just as Wes was finally about to respond, Jace beat him to it with a sharp, "Hotel."
"Y-yeah, okay. Don't, um, don't kill me, okay? You'd be stuck in the past…"
• •
Wes tried to lighten the mood as they watched SNICK on their separate beds, now feeling miles apart. Jace kept his arms crossed as he stonewalled his uncle's every attempt to make the pair pals again, and he wanted no part in what little trivia he had on The Secret World of Alex Mack, about a teenage girl who acquires psychic powers. He didn't laugh along to the jokes and other humor in All That and The Ren & Stimpy Show. And he didn't act scared during Are You Afraid of The Dark?'s spooky story of the week.
Finally, ten minutes before Saturday night Nick ended and long after Wes had given up trying to get a word out of him, Jace spoke with a self-assuring, ominous grin on his face. "I've been thinking about it, and I just realized. I don't have to go along with your insane plan." He turned to his uncle. "Yeah. You can't force me to stay."
"Um, yeah, about that…"
"I don't have to be stuck in the past for a year. I don't have to not see Mom—my grown-up mom—for a year. I can just… go. Without you."
"Jace, I'd love to stage a daring apartment raid and make a run for the time portal door with you as a shotgun-wielding maniac tries to blast us, but… there's no point."
"Why? Doesn't that crazy couple ever leave the place? Can't we break in?"
"Okay." Wes put the TV on mute and sat up on the side of his bed for serious talk time. "When I was here last, after about a month, I started keeping eyes on the place. They are both out of the apartment… sometimes. On Sundays. So, after four months, when I started thinking about my exit strategy should the time ever come that I was ready to go home, I eventually did break into the apartment, and, well…"
"And?"
"No time portal. The door was… just a door."
"No time portal?! We're stuck here forever?!"
"Do I look sixty to you? I mean, I freaked out too at first, so I started going around town trying to figure out how the portal was there in the first place. As I said before, all I know was that it popped up when the park's main power first turned on."
"How'd you get back? Can we do whatever you did to make it work tomorrow?"
"I didn't do anything, kiddo… That couple gets evicted next March. I rented out the apartment after that so I could keep tabs on the door. Even kept detailed notes."
"Detailed notes, about if the time portal was open again…"
"Um. Yes. Okay, maybe not detailed, but notes. I checked every day, multiple times a day. I almost considered trying to sneak in and restart King Arcade. But then, the morning after I saw Independence Day… I stuck my hand through the door. The portal was back. I didn't care about staying a little longer to make it a full year. I didn't want to risk not getting another chance. I made a few preparations and left almost right away."
"What if it's still open right now? Maybe we can go back before then."
Wes gave that some honest thought, and after a minute replied, "I'll try to think up a way to keep an eye on the door, like remotely or something, and go back to looking into how the portal connects to the park. If… you really want to go home that much."
"Good. Do it first thing tomorrow."
"Okay. Fine. I will. But, Jace, just so you know, I didn't think that coming here for a year would've been all bad for you. You could see it as a really long summer vacation. And when you come back from it, you being a late bloomer will be taken care of, and you'll go into sixth grade as tall as the other boys. Probably. And, hey, if you ever write a thesis in college about this decade, you're guaranteed an 'A'!"
Jace, his arms still tightly crossed, shook his head in disbelief.
"I get that you're angry right now and have a lot of things to think about, but I didn't want to end our Saturday like this… I was going to tell you all this in the morning. Because, w-well… I kind of got us an apartment that we're moving into tomorrow."
"Great. Awesome," Jace said sarcastically. "I guess we're staying here forever."
"Not forever. At the most, until next May. And if you really don't like it…Yeah, I'll be proactive about finding out how we got here, and how we can go back. I am curious about it myself, and this being my third real time in '95, I don't have as much need to relive my youth and all that. Focus! I'll have more focus on the how.
"And in the meantime, we can keep having fun here. I know you're pissed off, but there's nothing wrong with brushing all of that aside when the chance for good times and laughs pops up, is there? Sure, you want to go home, I get that. Message received. We're on the same wavelength. Totally. But… we're still in an awesome year."
"Uncle Wes?"
"Yeah, buddy, ol' pal? My favorite nephew?"
Jace took out his earbuds, plugged them in, turned away, and replied, "Shut up."