Reach For the Top

[Mr. Cuddles]

The year is 30XX and many things have changed in the world, there have been many breakthroughs in cures for diseases such as some cancers, aids, diabetes, and various other kinds. Of course with the top pharmaceutical company, it makes it a challenge for most people be to get these cures, but there have been some workarounds. The rich sit comfortable with access to just about everything, the middle class are doing just fine, but the lower class are scraping by hoping to make ends meet. There are different districts within World City, and it earned its name for having so many represented cultures within it, but what the media portrays is what most of the citizens in the lower class view as lies. Many live in horrible conditions within one of the districts, they get harassed by the police, and even jailed for whatever reason. There is a lot of crime in the Scum district, a name not many like but was appointed such by the council, to them it was a joke as the name is actually Votis District, named after a man named Herald Votis who wanted to make lives better for those in poverty. That was what he wanted, nothing more than a good life and he died a martyr, murdered by the very people who were supposed to uphold the law and protect and serve just because they feared his truth.


The sound of alarm was buzzing, then a voice sounded out "Ira? Ira?" the young man groaned and stirred on his cot, he tried to ignore the sound and the robot's voice "Ira! You need to wake up!" he emitted an audible groan as he went to roll over and fell out of his cot. "What?" the young man fussed as he looked over at his clock, it took him a minute to realize what time it was. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" the robot was small and rolled on a singular ball which allowed it full 360 movements. "I assumed your alarm would wake you" it stated in a matter of fact voice. Ira sat on the floor and rubbed his head then his face trying to wake up, he pushed himself up and went straight to his shower. Where he lived wasn't really much, he was actually living in an old garage that was modified into a one-room apartment. It had what he needed, a single bed (cot) a worn couch with springs poking out, a small table with a chair, an old bar table he used as his kitchen counter, and three hoses coming out of the wall for water. One of those hoses he modified to work as a shower which he used with a showerhead. Ira was handy in what he could build and make, so when he was looking for a place he bought the garage since the person was selling it for cheap.

Once showered he walked out with just a towel around his waist over to his 'kitchen' area to prepare himself some breakfast, he did have a small fridge which he kept some food in, but most of the time he was eating out since he didn't really acquire a stove yet. Something he was debating on and searching the dump for when he had the chance. The problem with living in the Votis district was not having access to most of the latest technology, whatever was in a dump was what they could get their hands on. Some could barter and trade, but most of the time they were stuck with what they had around them. Ira wasn't going to let it stop him from ever making advancements. With his brains, he had been working on building the best fighter robot he could with what he had, he would attend some of the underground fights in hopes that he could make it to the top. Battling robots was a good way to make money and to be known, people from the lower, middle and upper classes all participated. The problem was that those in the upper class had access to the nicest and latest tech they could use. There were the professionals, but there were also those who did underground illegally to earn money, and this was done by using illegal parts.

Ira had a rough childhood growing up, his family was always poor and he was an only child, but it was still hard on his parents and he wanted nothing more than to make things better for them. When he was younger they didn't want him doing the robot battles as they found it to be a money sink, but he tried proving to them that he could do it and get far. Of course, his father was angry with him and didn't him wasting his time on it, and wanted him to go out and find a better way to make money. Without their support, he had no choice but to leave home, and that is what he did. "Rocky, do you think I could win this fight?" there was a scheduled fight that night, and he had all day to prepare and it meant he had to practice with his robot and make sure that it was able to function with the new parts installed. Buying things off of the black market was scary, cause there was no telling if the parts were going to be trash or explode". The robot rolled over to him, it had an LED face which showed different reaction emoticons to situations, and it had a smiley face "I think you will do great". Ira poured himself some milk and made some toast "I hope you're right".
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By now Ira was fully dressed, the battle bot was off to the over side of the garage hoisted up by chains to keep it steady, it looked like a wolf-dog by how he had built it and he named her 'Jade' after a dog he had when he was a child, she was equipped with an arsenal of weapons, and could even transform into a mini tank for higher defense if her shields were to go down. She was a lot of work, and after losing his dog, he wanted to somehow restore her by how he remembered her. Ira spent a lot of time soldering, polishing, repainting, and everything he could to make her look great, but he knew she would get banged up a bit, but he wanted to win this fight. "Okay girl, I think you're ready" he stood back and smiled as Rocky rolled over and made a ¬_¬ face "Why didn't you make me a battle bot?" Ira blinked "...Cause that was never your purpose..." Rocky then frowned T_T "I see, then my purpose is..." "Don't start that crap again..." Ira groaned and walked away leaving the robot to look at Jade and then it rolled after Ira.