Heart pounding, feet slipping, I attempted to reach the top of the cliff one more time. Instead, the rock that held all my weight on it shifted ever so slightly, and it gave way. As I plummeted to my utter doom, I thought of my family, all the way down on Earth...

I jolted out of the simulator. Glancing around, I gasped for the air artificially produced in the spacecraft. Do you know what the hardest thing ever is? Life in space. You get minimal food, there are bullies everywhere you look, and the whole thing is based on points. Points you get for being good. Points deducted for being bad. Points, points, points. Points are your life here at the Intergalactic School for Intelligent Students, or ISIS for short. Geez, this sounds nice. Plus, on top of that, you can’t see your family! No friends at all! What a great deal! But, there is a bright side. If you are the first person ever to survive the Ultimate Simulator, or the USim, you become a Commander. This is the highest rank you could be, starting from the Newbies. Then comes the Rookies, the Amateurs, the Veterans, and the Chiefs. I, at 9 years old, am the youngest Chief ever in history. That’s probably why there’s such a big target on my back. I’m leading the school in points right now, with a grand total of 949. I practically owned everything there possibly was, and the USim costs 1,000 points. If I had reached the top of the cliff, I would’ve gotten enough points for my second try. Which was awesome, because I met the final boss and failed to deliver the final blow on my first try.
“Good try, squirt! Are you trying to get the record for being the biggest moron in the school? Because I got a trophy wit’ your name on it!” Danny was the other Chief in ISIS, but he was the meaner of the two of us. I claimed the Ragdoll army, while he took the Griffin army. The Griffins were hard and tough, but they weren’t the smartest grape in the bunch. We took advantage of it, though. Our team was small, fast, and really strategic. Any small kid was like that, which meant that we beat them in every game.
“Nah. I thought they had reserved the spot for you. Guess you finally got accepted.” Comebacks came naturally to me, which is why I am in a lot of fights. But I cooly walked away, knowing that I had won a minor battle. Back at my bunk, Ashton came around the corner and almost gave me a heart attack. At 5’2”, he was one of the tallest kids in the Ragdoll army. Nice blue eyes, that mischievous smile that made teachers put him in the front row, and the chestnut brown hair that had “The Flow.” I, on the other hand, was scrawny, with blonde hair and green eyes, standing roughly at 4’9”.
“So, did you meet your goal?” Ashton had a soft spot for me. I wasn’t sure if that was good, though.
“No. I only need 51 more points. I almost reached the top, but I slipped and fell.” All of the sudden, I got a notification on my smartwatch that 50 points had been transferred to my account. “Thank you so much, dude!!” Ashton winked and walked away. Man. He is still on my side. I should go easy on him in training. I glanced to my right into the vast, vacuum-like void of space. The spacecraft was about 5,000 square feet big, with bunks for the kids, the simulator room, the cafeteria, the training room, and the lounges. In all, it was a nice complex. Black, bright blue and gold stripes covered the outside. There were satellites all over the place for communication with the government. I sighed, and went to the Sim room. There was an point floating around the entrance to the area. It had no owner, so I claimed it and reached my goal of 1,000 points. Then I saw a flash as Danny whirled around to punch me. It was a trap, and I was the victim. All of the sudden, a whizzing fist came and hit Danny square on the head. Trey, the brawns of the group, was standing there, breathing heavily.
“Go,” he said in a rough voice. It was only one word, but I took off sprinting toward the USim. I climbed in, put on the headset, and laid down in the coffin of doom…
I woke up in an awesome place. There was so much food, and everyone seemed friendly. This was my first challenge: To get through Happytown. I stayed on the path, shuddering when anyone offered me a slice of steaming turkey or apple pie. Finally, I made my way across. I glanced at the watch and it said I had 2 more challenges to go. I stepped through the glowing purple portal in front of me and was transported to a new area. It was a cave that smelled like rotten fish. I heard a raspy voice around me say:
“Welcome to my cave. I hope you have enjoyed it. Now, riddle me this: What goes up but never comes down?” I smiled, because he’d asked me the same riddle my last time here and it was one of my favorites.
“Hmm… Is it your age?” The troll smiled, his teeth pointy and sharp, and let me through to the portal that would lead me to the final challenge.
I glanced around the humongous area. There stood the final boss, Ragnarok, in the opposite corner. He was brown as a toad, warts included. His snake-like tongue hissed and spit at me, while his purple eyes tried to put me in a trance.
“Ah, so the challenger has returned. I see you’ve learned your lesson. Let us have a rematch. Let the best man win!” He, an old foolish AI, charged at me with his electro-sword. I pulled out the Demagnetizer, shot his sword, and pulled out the most powerful weapon in the game: The ISIS Nuke. This baby had the power of 999 kilotons of TNT in it, and I wasn’t going to have mercy. I put on my protective suit and chucked it as hard as I could, hitting him square in the chest…
I blacked out. Plain and simple. The force of the explosion was enough to send me luckily through the portal, unconsciously floating through space and time, until I woke up and climbed out of the USim. Everyone was there. Crowds were screaming my name. One lucky fan, enthusiastic and cheerful, grabbed my hand to shake it.  All around me there were people swarming the podium I was on. Even General Lee was there, and he never showed his face in public. I was awarded the highest medal you could possibly obtain, and also I received my Commander badge, sparkling words on flawless brass. I thought of my family, all the way back down on Earth, and smiled as tears wept down my face.