The theme song started. This time it was a loud heavy metal song. The lyrics screamed out in a guttural voice.

Nate walked into view with his hands over his ears. Over the music, he screamed, “Hey Google, volume down.”

A second later the music and screaming quieted down significantly.

“That’s better,” Nate took his hands from his ears. He pulled out a 3ds and started playing a game.

After a few minutes, he looked up. He could feel the reader staring at him. “What? I don’t exist merely for your entertainment. I have a life of my own, and right now I want to play a video game.” He looked back down.

The theme song ended, and Nate walked off with a wave. “See you next time.”

A book fell from the sky and landed on the ground. It opened to a blank page. A quill appeared and started writing.

Rule 12 - Classes are mandatory for contestants under 18.

A bird flew off with the book.

The scene changed to Nate sleeping.

“Hi-ya. Hi-ya! Hi-ya!!” Each word was followed by a dull thud. The yelling was coming from the common area outside Nate’s door and was getting progressively louder.

The noise should have woken Nate up, but he continued to sleep, snoring through it. A powerful wave of frustration hit Nate but had no effect.

Suddenly there was a very loud thump on Nate’s door. “Sorry,” Dave called through the door.

This time it woke Nate up.

“Nope, not happening. Come back in a few hours.” Nate turned over.

Against his will, Nate got out of bed. “I said no,” Nate turned around and got back into bed.

Nate suddenly had to go pee.

“That’s not fair, and you know it,” he shouted before throwing on some clothes and running upstairs to relieve himself.

When Nate came back downstairs he saw what the yelling had been about.

Dave was in the living room. He was topless, dripping with sweat, and wearing simple white shorts. He had moved the couch out of the way and had set up a practice dummy. Now and then a punch would make it go flying for a few feet. That must have been the thump on the door.

Nate noticed that the kitchen garbage can had been knocked over. “Did you knock over the garbage?” Nate put the can upright and inspected the mess.

“No, I accidentally hit your door, but it hasn’t been near the kitchen,” Dave responded piece by piece, between punches.

Odd. Nate thought to himself. This looks like raccoons got into it. He closely studied the mess and was able to make out raccoon prints in the garbage.

That’s it. I finally have proof. Nate nearly jumped for joy. But then reality set in. They would tell him that he was seeing things and accuse him of picking on Stan again. With a sigh, he finished cleaning up the mess.

“Practicing?” Nate walked over to watch Dave. They were the only two people around.

“No, I’m making waffles.” Dave paused to look over at Nate. “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated. I haven’t won a fight against Matt and it’s starting to get to me. I would do anything to win just once.”

“Really,” Nate stroked his chin. “Anything? I might have a cheat code that will help you.”

“I’m in,” Dave didn’t hesitate. “I’m willing to cheat if I can win. I just want to see how it feels to win.”

“Ok. How do we input the code.” Nate started pacing the room. Dave went back to his practice. Finally, Nate stopped and snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it!” Dave looked over at Nate.

“Wait until I’m done, then copy what I do.” Nate waited for Dave to come over.

Nate lifted both arms straight up and pointed in the air. “Up!” he yelled.

He stood normally again for a second then repeated what he had just done. Another second standing normally before he pointed at the ground and yelled “Down!” He repeated Down a second time. Then he pointed left, right, left, and right. Each point was articulated by the matching yell.

He paused for a moment to think before curling one leg and one arm to look like a clumsy letter B. He yelled out “B!” Raising his arms to a point above his head he yelled “A!”

Nate looked over at Dave and winked before shouting “Start!”

“That’s it,” Nate shrugged. “Let’s see if it works.”

Dave went through the series, making the appropriate body movements. Up up down down left right left right b a start.

As Dave said “Start,” he lifted both heads above his head, wrists together and hands wide open.

A flash of pure white light burst down through the ceiling and a glowing ball formed between his palms the size of a bowling ball. A deep voice rumbled “God mode activated.”

The light and glowing ball vanished, leaving behind a large hole in the ceiling.

Nate walked over and looked up. He could see the sky, the hole had gone through several floors above his.

Dave went in search of a ladder. His fists were clenched and he kept looking from one to the other in wonder.

Nate emptied the box of paper they had got and cut the cardboard to fit over the hole. He heard someone moving around in Stacey’s room and he quietly knocked on the door.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” Stacy called out. Nate shrugged and sat down on the couch to wait.

Stacy came out just as Dave walked back in with a ladder.

“What’s up?” She asked, then noticed the hole in the ceiling.

“What happened here?” She looked up through the hole and whistled. “I can see the sky.”

“It’s a long story,” Nate started, wondering how to explain.

“I used a cheat code,” Dave was smiling as he set up the ladder and grabbed the cardboard.

“Great, what will it do?” Stacy went off to get some tape.

“I’m finally going to beat Matt.”

“Do you think it will help?” The voice came from a cupboard where Stacy’s head had disappeared.

She emerged shortly after holding a roll of tape and tossed it to Dave.

“Thanks,” Dave caught the tape and climbed up the ladder. “Absolutely. I can feel the power. It’s astounding.”

Dave finished putting up the cardboard and came down the ladder.

“It’s about time you win,” Stacy helped Dave clean up.

Dave took the ladder and left to go put it back.

“So, what’s up?” Stacy asked after Dave had left.

“What do you mean?” Nate started making coffee.

“You knocked on my door, remember? Or was that Dave?”

“Oh, that. I heard you moving around and figured you were awake. I was going to ask where the tape was,” Nate gave an embarrassed shrug.

“Gotcha,” Stacy took out two mugs and handed them to Nate.

“Yeah. You came out and got it without me needing to ask.”

The rest of their roommates started to emerge from their rooms.

By the time Dave got back, everybody was sitting at the table with a mug of their favourite drink.

Luke was in the kitchen and the smell of bacon hung over the room.

Nate decided to try asking about the raccoons again.

“Hey, the garbage can was knocked over when I woke up today.”

“Oh, yeah. That happens a lot. We think it’s a ghost.” Alice took a sip of her drink.

“I have asked the cards, and we are indeed living with a spirit,” Alvin held up a deck of tarot cards to prove his point.

“You know, I think I saw animal prints,” Nate gently broached the subject.

Stan held up a sign

No

Ghost

“Sorry Nate looks like you’re outvoted,” Matt said with a chuckle.

“Hey Matt, want to have a quick match before breakfast? Dave looked over at Nate with a grin.

Nate sighed at the change in subject, but he hadn’t expected anything else. He returned Dave’s grin. After all, he was excited about seeing this play out.

“Ok, but don’t take too long to lose, I’m hungry today.” Matt gulped down the rest of his drink and got up from the table.

“You’re always hungry,” Stacy laughed.

The two of them moved the practice dummy out of the way and started throwing punches. This was the first time Nate had paid much attention to them. It looked like Dave could hold his own against Matt in a fair fight. He was blocking and dodging like a pro.

“Why hasn’t Dave ever won against Matt?” Nate looked around the table.

“He doesn’t have any special abilities,” Jaz sipped at her mug. “Matt has dozens of them, and the more he levels up the stronger he gets.”

“Then why try?” Nate couldn’t believe it.

“It’s just practice. It doesn’t matter if he wins or loses, he still learns something from it.” Jaz put her mug down and turned to watch the fight.

Dave was getting warmed up and went in for the kill.

He took a few steps back then a few more.

“Flying Dragon Kick” He yelled and ran towards Matt. He jumped forward, with his foot aimed at Matt’s chest.

Dave’s foot was glowing with the same brilliant white light as earlier. It hurt to look at, but it was impossible to look away.

Matt didn’t have time to react, and the last thing Nate saw was fear in his eyes before Dave’s foot connected and sent Matt flying. He flew straight through the wall, and the wall behind that, until he broke free of the ship and splashed down in the ocean.

Everybody cheered.

Nate looked above Dave’s head. There was a word floating in the air.

Calculating

Underneath the word a 0 appeared, and the letters XP. It flickered to a 1, then back to 0. This went on for a few seconds. It finally settled on 01. A decimal point appeared between them, and a few more zeroes appeared in front of the one.

Dave could feel something strange and looked up to watch the numbers too. The rest of the room was quiet, watching this strange event.

More zeroes popped in and the number stretched out longer and longer.

The world Calculating vanished, and a string of zeroes was added to the number. It got so long that it crashed through the wall next to the hole Matt had made and vanished into the distance. A few seconds later the number faded from view as well.

“I guess I should have expected that,” Dave broke the silence with a laugh.

The rest of them joined in the laughter.

Stan held up a sign

Congratulations!

They all gathered around Dave and Hoisted him up on their shoulders, chanting his name.

They carried him to the table and placed him in a chair.

Luke went to the kitchen to get a plate of food for Dave, then came back out.

The rest of the group got their food, and soon everybody except Matt was happily eating breakfast.

“Remember today is our first day of class.” Luke paused, the fork halfway to his mouth. “From 8 until 2, with a lunch break at 12.”

“Frozen tartlets!” Nate swore. “I forget to check my schedule.”

“It’s history today,” Stacy said with a frown.

“I love history,” Jaz pipped up.

“What kind of history class is it?” Nate had almost finished his breakfast.

“It’s wonderful. Sometimes we learn about authors or books from the past. We even learned about the Library of Alexandria.” There was a sparkle in Jaz’s eyes as she talked about her favourite subject.

“I’m sorry I missed that last one.” Nate had a faraway look in his eyes.

“Ha, nerds.” Alvin had finished his breakfast and was holding a swinging pendulum over his open palm.

“Ignore him,” Alice was taking her dishes to the kitchen. “He does well in class but complains the entire time. Since you can get disqualified for failing a class, you need to be a nerd here to survive.”

“Sad but true,” Alvin put away the pendulum.

The conversation died out as everyone cleared off the table and got ready for class.

They left as a group, and when they got to the classroom Matt was already waiting inside.

“How is that even possible?” Nate demanded.

“Helicopter,” Matt smoothed out his shirt. “I even had time to grab breakfast in the cafeteria.”

Nate noticed that several students were wearing earbuds, and they were all holding sticks that looked identical.

“Universal translators,” Stacy told Nate when he pointed them out to her.

“We have students from around the world and not nearly enough staff for all the languages.”

Nate nodded in response. He didn’t know technology had progressed that far yet, but it was a great idea. He was suddenly glad that the writer was English, he would hate to have to learn a new language.

They all found seats together and waited for class to start.

Goldpen walked into the room, and everyone went silent. He walked to the front of the room, put his bag on the table and put in a set of translator earbuds of his own. He turned to face the class.

“I know you are all anxious about the results of the contest. Today will only be a half-day, you are not required to come back after lunch.”

Goldpen held up a hand as the room erupted in cheers.

“Today may also be our last official history class,” Goldpen waited until the students quieted down. “Due to the number of people leaving, all classes will be re-evaluated, and several may be cut or merged with another.”

“Let’s stop wasting time. Today’s topic is Frankenstein, and Mary Shelley the mother of sci-fi.”

Nate pulled out his laptop and started to take notes. He was quite enjoying the lecture and Goldpen went through the how and why of Frankenstein’s success, and examples of how it had influenced fiction in such a profound way.

Before he knew it, a bell rang in the room and they were dismissed for lunch.

“I wish you all the best of luck,” Goldpen waved them off as he took off out the door.

The rest of the students were rooted in their seats, phones already at the ready.

“Have the results been posted yet?” Nate took out his phone and tried to find where they were hiding.

“Not yet,” Stacy came over and showed Nate where to look for them on the app.

The page loaded and a simple message was displayed on the screen.

Results will be posted soon

Nobody dared move, or speak.

The screen changed, and the fate of the one thousand contestants who lost was set in stone.