1-Up

Introduction

               Shanghai, China. One of the world’s biggest manufacturers of various goods. With over 700 factories in the city, the place is a hub for producing goods. Having cheap labor and low restrictions, it's no wonder why many companies want to set up camp here. However, in one certain video game factory, chaos is currently unfolding.

               “Zhang Wei, report to the director’s office. I repeat, Zhang Wei, report to the director’s office.” The intercom’s announcement jolted Zhang out of his coding trance, and his mind started racing. When called to the director’s office, two things could happen. People are either fired or promoted. Zhang started sweating profusely. He was a good worker, working hard to try and support his two kids and wife. However, he wasn’t expecting a promotion, so this announcement really had him shook up. He shakily stood up and headed to the elevator, trying to stay calm. Zhang got in, pressed the 11th-floor button, and headed up. He started to feel optimistic. Zhang was the one who had fixed the code on the last set of Super Sonic Bros, and he was almost done wrapping up the issues on the new console, the PX 460. Yes, he was going to get promoted. How could the company fire such an asset like him?

               BEEP! The elevator stopped, and Zhang got ready to see the director. “Keep cool,” he told himself, “don’t act weird.” He was buzzed in by the secretary and saw the director waiting for him. “Sit down, Wei.”, the director ordered. Zhang was used to this treatment. All the bosses always treated lower-level workers like dirt. His hopefulness was still going strong. “You’re fired. Your wife’s sickness is too much for us to support, and we can find someone to do your job for less. In fact, we already have. You have 15 minutes to clean out your desk. Goodbye.”

               Zhang felt like he had been shot. For all his dedication, for all his 10 years of working here, this is what he would receive. In numbing silence, he walked to the elevator and headed back to his floor. His mind was frozen. All he felt at that moment was rage and depression. He felt so upset, as though he couldn’t do anything anymore. Zhang got off the elevator and went to his workstation. Sitting down, he opened his company’s reporting program. He had a plan, one that would make someone suffer the sheer pain and numbness he felt at this moment. Zhang used the program to ready the PX 460 for launch, using the debugging code he had written. He then took one specific PX 460 he had with him and hooked it up to his computer. Zhang was about to do something terrible, but the grief of what had just happened to him had made him focused on just one thing: revenge. He loaded his code into that PX 460, while adding just one file to it, called the Experiment. This file would be automatically opened when the PX 460 was started up for the first time.

               After doing that, he went over to the stack of packaged consoles resting right beside a four-story drop. He took one console out of its box and placed that malicious PX 460 inside of it. With that, he repackaged the box and left it to be. Zhang felt spent; his rage had left him, but bitter hopelessness remained. It was too much for him to bear. He climbed on to the railing, and stood there, hoping to find some bliss and peace after the turmoil he had gone through. With one swift leap, he took his own life.

Chapter 1

               Greg couldn’t wait! He had finally finished his first year of middle school, and his dad had promised him a new gaming console as a present. He checked his watch frantically again. Two minutes until he was set to arrive. He paced his bedroom in excitement. The new PX 460 was supposed to be incredibly smooth, and his friend Jim told him that it was the best console on the market. Ding-Dong! Greg heard the bell and was like a dog running for a tennis ball. His dad opened the front door. “Hi Greg!”, he said. Greg responded with a quick “Hi, thanks for the console, bye”, grabbed the console, and ran to his room to set it up.

               He plugged it into his TV and watched the loading screen start up. He absolutely could not wait to play something. The pack he got contained Smash Bros 4 and Wii Sports 11. He saw the screen charge up, and he activated his controller. This was going to be awesome!

               Suddenly, something strange happened. Instead of asking him to sign in, the console asked him if we wanted to play a game. Even weirder, there was no “no” button. He reluctantly clicked the ok option.

               The console started whirring, and Greg began to relax when suddenly he felt the ground leave him. He saw a blinding white light in front of him, and his stomach started whirling. “Help!”, he yelled, “Dad! Mom! Anyone!” He heard a faint, cackling laugh, then found himself in another world.

Chapter 2

               Greg felt his feet hit solid ground, and his eyes slowly adjusted to the new world around him. It looked real, but there was something off about it, like it was unpolished. He looked around him and saw a glowing ball of orange light behind him. He approached it warily, and jumped back as it opened what looked like…eyes?

               The orange ball then spoke, in a booming, ethereal voice. “Hello, Greg. You have disturbed my peace. For that, you shall be PUNISHED.”

               “Please, please it was an accident. I didn’t mean to.”, Greg sobbed on the floor. He was helpless, and he felt extremely fearful. He was just trying to play some video games, and now he was in this mess.

               “This punishment is non-negotiable. There shall be three trials in which you shall be tested. If you pass, you shall be rewarded with treasures beyond your wildest dreams. However, if you fail, you shall never return to the real world.”

               “The first trial will be a test of the mind. The second will be a test of strength. The final one will be a test of skill, and how you can handle yourself. Your first trial starts NOW!”

               The orange ball disappeared, and Greg jumped to his feet. He had heard something about a trial of the mind and was waiting for it to start. Suddenly, his surroundings disappeared. He was in what looked like a futuristic war room, surrounded by battle plans. In the middle of the room, a large LED table sat, with what looked like Star Wars ships on it. About 100 white ships were attacking what looked like 500 black ships, who were defending a planet.

               Suddenly, a voice called out. “Greetings, Officer Greg. We need to invade the terrorist planet Kymdal, to stop any future attacks. Unfortunately, they have 500 fighter ships defending against our 100 fighter ships. We have a few advantages over them. In single combat, one of our ships can kill four of theirs before dying. Also, we have 3 bombers that can take out 20 of their ships if they group up. Each bomber has 2 shots. They will all group up if attracted by a shot. How do you play this fight?”

               Greg thought long and hard about this problem. He had never been too good at logic puzzles and was confused about how to solve this. Maybe full on attacking them would work? No, but then they would kill us. He realized he needed to organize his troops Then, he had a spark of an idea. If he put 10 of his fighter jets in a group, they could take out 40 of the enemy’s ships before getting destroyed. Since the other enemy’s ships would group up to try and take out the fighter ships. Six bomber shots could take out 120 of the enemy ships before being shot down, which would leave 340 enemy ships, and 90 of your fighter ships. Then, the ships will fight it out, and after the fighting, there would be 0 enemy ships left, and 5 of your fighter ships left. These could invade the planet and complete the mission.

               Greg confidently inputted the plans into the screen. He placed 10 fighter jets in a group and placed the bombers behind the group of fighters. He then selected the rest of the fighter jets to spread around the bombers, defending them and destroying, the enemy.

                Greg had his thumb over the CONFIRM button. Should he do this? The stakes of this mission were as high as they could be. If he messed up on this, made even one tiny mistake, he would never be allowed to return to his family, his friends, his world. He started thinking about his plan and checking it over.

                Suddenly, a countdown timer started going. The orange ball had never said anything about a timer! There were 10 seconds left. Greg frantically started checking his work. He rushed to quickly align the ships perfectly and place the bombers at the right angle. The blaring alarm read 3. Greg rushed over to the button and pressed it. Suddenly, the screen went dark. Had he failed?

               The LED suddenly turned green and read “Mission Passed!”. Greg yelled in happiness and felt waves of relief pouring off him. He heard the robotic voice call out again. “Congratulations, Officer Greg. You have successfully completed the mission. Please exit the simulation, and you will be transported to level 2.” He made his way to the exit, skipping all the way.

Chapter 3

               As he exited the high-tech simulation room, Greg was feeling quite confident. He had just thought his way out of the first challenge and felt like nothing could stop him. However, that confident feeling didn’t last long, as when he pushed past the door, he found himself looking at an apocalyptic wasteland.

               It had a reddish-brown vibe to it, with dead, crooked trees scattered around the place. Skeletons littered the dusty ground, and the sun burnt Greg’s back. It looked straight out of a zombie movie. Greg looked down at his arms and found a fully automatic rifle in his hands. “Why would I need this?”, he thought to himself. He had never fired a gun before, excepting video games, and found it uncomfortable in his hands.

               Suddenly, he heard a sound from behind him. Turning around quickly, he found himself looking at the orange ball again. The ball cleared its throat. “Good job, Greg. You succeeded in the first trial. However, this one will be a much different trial. It will be a test of skill, not of the mind. Good luck.” The ball proceeded to disappear, and Greg was left as confused as he was before the cryptic message. What did that mean?

               He heard a whirring noise coming from inside a cave. Now, what was that? He edged closer to look when he saw a drone coming out of the cave. He approached it cautiously and was about to try and touch it when it started firing bullets at him! He ran out of the way, after taking a couple shots, until he had some cover. He took the rifle and shot at the drone, feeling some gratification after taking it down. He looked at his AR and found that it was now covered with information. He had taken 3 shots from the drone, which meant he had 97 health left. He also had 1 kill and had a 25 percent shot accuracy. He was trying to figure out what all that meant when he heard a voice call out, “Wave 2 incoming!”

               He looked around and saw 5 drones coming at him, each one menacingly firing bullets. Ducking behind a tree, he reloaded his AR. Time to do this. Easily, he took down each robot, one after another, while only taking a bit of damage. He started to feel confident about this.

               After ten more waves of drones, Greg was on 10 health, barely alive. He heard the voice of the orange ball coming from the sky. “You have defeated my drones, and completed all the waves, but now you will have to fight the boss.”

               Greg felt nervous. Those little drones were annoying enough, and now he would have to deal with a boss. He camped behind a tree, waiting for it to come. Suddenly, he saw it. It was as massive as a car, with five guns attached to it. Greg gulped in fear. “Oh crap…” he thought to himself. He quickly peeked around the tree and fired five shots into its chassis.  The robot responded by sending a grenade his way. Greg quickly dodged out of the way and fired 10 more shots at it. However, while running away, he got hit by the robot’s turret. He looked down at his AR and found out that he was now on 1 health. He ran and shot 20 shots at the robot. It looked almost destroyed. Greg pushed for a couple last shots. He was about to kill it when he found himself shot at. He tried to dodge, but one caught him on the back. He fell to the ground, and everything went black.

Chapter 4

1 month later...

               Emptiness. The unbreakable prison that chains me down in this simulation. The horrible emptiness filling my mind, my body, my soul. Nothing can make me feel anything, nothing can affect me. I used to be 11-year-old Greg Lloyd, a young boy, full of joy and energy. Funny what a month in isolation can do to you.

               I used to weep. For the first week, I would cry at night, thinking of my mom, my dad, my friends. The cold numbness swept over me like a wave eventually, though. It made me a human on the outside, but not on the inside. On the inside, I am a cold, hard shell.

2 months later…

               I have finally felt something. But, oh, it was torture. For about a week now, I have been able to see my parents. They grieve for me, and it is horrible to watch them thinking I committed suicide. They blame themselves, often wondering what they could have done to help me.

               It tears me up, me watching them without being able to comfort them. They got a divorce, because of ME. Just because I failed on the level, means my parents live in unhappiness.

               My friends have forgotten me. They hardly ever talk about me and don’t feel sad about me anymore. If this keeps up, the only people who will remember me will be my mom and dad. I can’t handle this fact. That I’m to be forgotten by everyone, to only be remembered by two people in the world. I feel…depressed.

1 year later...

               Nothing can help me. Sorrow and suffering keep on hitting me from all sides, like a barrage of arrows. Why does this simulation keep me in this state? WHY? What have I ever done to deserve this? Peace. What is so unachievable in this simulation, is my greatest dream. I wish I could just fall asleep, and never wake up. Why live in this cruel world? I have no point in life, no direction. I’ve given up, I’m tired of this, I’m hopeless. Let me just die.