Old Man Alex’s cave was almost exactly the same as Alex’s bedroom back home. Except instead of furniture, most everything was carved out of moon rock. In the spot where Alex’s bed should’ve been was a flat stone with a small boulder pillow.

Directly across from that, where Alex’s desk would be, Old Man Alex had a squared-off rock desk and chair. And where Alex had his bedroom closet, Old Man Alex had carved a closet-size hole in the rock wall. It was cluttered with a bunch of junk, so you could hardly go in it, just like Alex’s.

“This is so weird,” Alex said.

“You’re telling me!” Old Man Alex blurted. “I’ve never had a houseguest before.”

“No, I mean you’ve made this place just like my bedroom.”

The older Alex looked around his cluttered home. “Really? It kind of reminds me of my old bedroom—at least, I think it does. I can’t really remember.”

Alex’s older self didn’t seem very grown-up, especially for a guy who was 110 years old. By the looks of him and the way he spoke, Alex guessed he’d been alone in this cave for a long, long time. And by the size of his belly, Alex had a good guess who’d eaten all those SuperCheezyFranksOnnaStick.

“Hey—” Alex pulled the sticks out of his pocket. “I found these outside. They couldn’t possibly be—”

“SuperCheezyFranksOnnaStick!” Old Man Alex exclaimed. He ran over to a small, shiny metal machine. It looked totally out of place amid all the rock-carved stuff in the cave. Engraved on the side of the slick, futuristic contraption was a logo:

SUPERCHEEZYFRANKONNASTICKERATOR 3000

“You want one? I can make tons!”

“No way!” Alex exclaimed.

“Oh. Okay. I thought maybe you were hungry, is all. You didn’t have to yell at me.”

“No, I didn’t mean ‘No way, I don’t want one!’ I meant, ‘No way! A machine that makes SuperCheezyFranksOnnaStick!’ Hook me up, old-guy-me! And don’t skimp on the double-goopy SuperCheeze!”

Old Man Alex grinned as he excitedly slammed a button on the machine. The shiny box began to hum, and Alex smelled the deliciously familiar aroma of hot dog meat, goopy SuperCheeze, fresh-baked bread, and lightly toasted stick.

Ding! A fresh, hot SuperCheezyFrankOnnaStick popped out of the top, dripping with bright orange liquid cheese. Alex grabbed it and sunk his teeth in.

“Oh, yeah…” He grinned. “That’s the stuff.”

Old Man Alex beamed at his happy, younger self. His eyes lit up as he thought of something else.

“Ooh! Check this out—you’re gonna love this!”

He excitedly bounced over to a rock wall. In a carved-out compartment was a sleek black console and a row of black goggle-like sunglasses.

A chunk of hot dog fell out of Alex’s gaping mouth. “Whoa. My bedroom never had that.”

Old Man Alex tossed him a pair of black goggles, which conked him on the head. The old man picked them up for his guest and put on a pair himself.

As soon as Alex slipped on his black goggles, the cave disappeared. Or rather, it transformed. Alex was completely engulfed in a perfectly realistic three-dimensional holographic battlefield. The sky was fiery red, with volcanoes in the distance. There were rivers of lava running through deep cracks in the black rock beneath his feet. Off in the distance was a jungle-like oasis. Beyond it, he could see a vast, dark ocean.

It all looked so real that Alex had to lift the glasses to make sure he was still actually standing in a messy little cave. He looked over at Old Man Alex, standing in the middle of the cave, wearing the goggles. Alex slipped his back on and slipped back into this incredible world.

“You ready?”

The voice belonged to Old Man Alex, but in this virtual world, he stood eight feet tall in full robotic body armor.

His battle suit was metallic blue and silver, fully loaded with built-in rocket launchers, blasters, and various other weaponry Alex couldn’t wait to see in action.

“You look awesome!” Alex said.

“Thanks. So do you.”

KA-CHUNGK! Old Man Alex’s heavy silver boot took a thundering step forward. He spread his massive, silver chest plate so that Alex could see his reflection in it. His suit of armor looked like a mega-robot version of his El Solo Libre costume: his chest plate was his N.E.D. suit—silver with a tighty-whitey metallic band below his waist. He had a shimmering gold cape flowing down his back, which fluttered around his heavy plated boots.

Alex looked from his metallic exoskeleton to the incredible world around him. “What is all this?!”

“This—is the greatest video game in the history of video games! AlienSlayer43: Virtual Vengeance! You can modify your avatar however you want—I just had it scan and modify what you were already wearing. Hope that’s okay.”

“Okay?! It’s awesome! Let’s do this!”

Old Man Alex grinned, then touched a button on his silver neck plate. WZZZZT! Metallic blue and silver sections unfolded from his collar and assembled themselves around his head into a battle helmet. Alex smiled—it had the same blue and silver pattern as the Mexican wrestling mask his Uncle Davey brought him back from Guadalupe.

Old Man Alex’s voice echoed inside his helmet. “Okay. Prepare yourself for Level One.” He crouched into a ninja fighting position. A dozen or so weapons snapped and clicked all over his body—locked, loaded, and ready to fire at his command.

WZZZZZT! Alex did the same. His Mexican wrestling helmet clicked together, sealing itself around his head. He crouched into a ready position beside his older self. The two virtual warriors looked out at the vast horizon, where an army of dragonlike alien invaders came soaring over the volcanoes, speeding directly toward them in a menacing attack formation.

“Oh, man…” Alex giggled inside his helmet as he prepared for battle. “I’m so glad I found myself!”