The Retro Years(Adopted from Bootieos16)

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The other end of the portal came into view, and Player walked towards it, finding himself in an all too familiar setting.

"Oh, wow...! It's all coming back to me!"

He looked out the square window to his right and saw the yellow and pale blue sky of the evening, the sun not hanging very far over the horizon as it continued to dip slowly downwards...His favorite time of day.

"I gotta pinch myself just to make sure this isn't a dream..."

He did just that, nipping at his side with his thumb and forefinger. But everything was still just the same.

"Nope. This is real..." he whispered to himself.

He took a deep breath in to savor the familiar scent of his home, and immediately, his nostrils caught the warm aroma of cinnamon coming from somewhere below.

"Cinnamon...my mom's homemade snickerdoodles?"

He fondly recalled how his mother used to bake a batch to cheer him up whenever he came home after injurning himself or being bullied, which earned her an affectionate hug and a smile in return...Those really were the days.

His eyes then fell upon a small cage sitting on his old desk, and he noticed a little brown hamster sleeping on some hay in the back left corner.

"Is...is that my...G-gerald?"

He remembered when his treasured pet hamster "ran away" when he was twelve, never to be seen again. Both he and Dum had been heartbroken when they found out, even going as far as to put up missing posters for him all over their street, but with no luck.

He felt his visor grow misty...He was tempted to open up Gerald's cage and hold him one last time, but he knew the consequences that might entail.

"No...I can't...Not when I have work to do."

...That was when the quiet sound of sobbing caught his attention.

He turned around and looked down at the small, cherry red figure curled up on the floor, his back facing that of the time traveler...The familiar-looking red beanie on his head told him exactly who he was looking at.

That...that's ME, he realized, his visor growing wide.

He looked up at the TV screen to see just what his younger self was upset about...He didn't win against the Luigi with the tag "Dr. Egg" while playing as the iconic red Mario, and henoticed the number of losses beside his name read '300', compared to his 0 wins.

"Poor guy..." he rasped to himself. "Looks like I got pretty worked up here."

He knew what he was about to do, so he discreetly pressed the record button on the device Wizard had given him before stepping closer to his younger self.

"It's not FAIR!" the younger version of Player lamented, tossing his controller onto the floor as tears flowed down his plump red cheeks. "Why does life HATE ME so much! Why can't I ever WIN ANYTHING...!?"

The older version of the two knelt down beside him, coming into the younger's field of view from the corner of his visor.

"Lettin' off the steam, huh?"

The smaller red bean suddenly turned to face him, and he shrieked.

"AH! Stranger! Who are you! Wh-what are you doing in my room!?!"

"Hey, hey, relax. I-I just wanna-"

"Answer me right now or I'm gonna get my mom and dad, and they're gonna-!"

"Our mom and dad," the older of the two corrected him lightly. "I, uh...I know this is gonna come off as pretty weird, but...I'm not a stranger."

"But I don't know you...!"