Jun. 15, 2097, Chicago, Illinois
Matt and his grandma were eating dinner, ever since Matt’s parents got in the crash he had lived with his grandma. It had been about six years since his parents had passed. Before they had gone he didn’t know his grandma very well, now she was one of his most favorite people on the planet. Suddenly a loud knock banged three times on the door. Grandma started to get up, “No, grandma let me.” Matt said. He got up and walked towards the door. Matt opened it to see a man in a fancy suit with a large briefcase in his hand. The man didn’t say a word he just walked right past Matt, into the house. “Hey! Who do you think you are!” shouted Matt. “Let’s just say that your dear beloved grandma here hasn’t paid her taxes in the last 30 years and I am here to collect all of her stuff if she doesn’t get the money to pay her back taxes in the next 14 days. You owe the IRS about $500,000.” the man said. He quickly opened his brief case, handed grandma a paper, and hurriedly walked out the door slamming it behind him.
Grandma slowly read over the paper, when she had finished she started to sob. “They’re taking everything!” she said, “The house, the car, and everything else I’ve ever owned!”, “Grandma don’t worry we will find the money.” Matt said trying to calm her down, “How?” she yelled, “We need to get $500,000 in 14 days. It is impossible!” It was impossible… but Matt had a plan.
Matt looked around to make sure no one was listening or watching, then he started to discuss his plan with grandma. “No!” she shouted, “There is no way I am letting you do this, you will get arrested or killed! I already lost your father and everything else that I own, I can’t lose you too.” Matt slowly brushed back his wavy brown hair with his hand, “Grandma,” he said, “I am going to do everything that I can to get your stuff back, even if it means that I will spend the rest of my life in jail. I want you to live the rest of your days as a happy woman, and I am willing to die to make sure that happens.” grandma just smiled. “Well you better get to work,” she said, “you only have 14 days.”
Jun. 16, 2097
Matt headed down Main Street for a couple of blocks, then turned left onto 75th east. He looked around for a couple seconds as he walked, and then he saw it. Right there, sitting under West Bridge was about 200 people walking around exchanging items for money and other items. The Black Market.
Matt needed something very rare and most likely very expensive. He would be very lucky if he found one, if he didn’t… grandma would lose everything. Matt walked towards a man selling robots in the corner of the market. “Hi I need to buy a,” Matt hesitated, “a HIRSS.” The man seemed shocked, after a couple of seconds he said in a gruff voice, “follow me.” Matt followed him through a hidden door under his carpet. Once Matt passed through he couldn’t believe his eyes, hundreds no thousands of robots. They were everywhere, wall to wall, ceiling to floor! Then Matt saw it, a HIRSS. A Highly Illegal Robotic Super Suit. “How much do you want for it?” Matt asked, “10,000.” the man said. “I can only do 9.” said Matt. Matt had recently withdrawn all of his college savings from his bank account so he could help grandma. “I’ll only go as low as 9,500!”, “How about 9,000 and I will throw in this legit spider-man wallet?” tried Matt, “Lemme’ see the wallet.” the man said. Matt pulled it out of his pocket, the man stared at it for a second. “You got yourself a deal.” he said snatching the wallet out of Matt’s hand. The wallet was empty, all of Matt’s cash was in his pocket and he still wasn’t old enough for a driver’s license. Matt then handed the man the money, the man started to smile the second that the money hit his hands. The man walked away and a thought came to Matt the moment he left. How was he suppose to get this thing home.
Matt decided that he wouldn’t go home, he would go straight to the Skywars entry desk while wearing the suit. Matt pressed the on button on the suit and it instantly came to life. “Hello Matt, my name is ST3VE.” said the robot. “What does that stand for?” asked Matt, “Nothing, it is just an awesome name.” Matt just stared at ST3VE for a second, then asked. “Could you open up?”, “Sure.” said ST3VE. The backside of ST3VE opened up and Matt climbed inside. ST3VE closed and Matt started walking towards the entry desk for Skywars. With ST3VE on Matt’s abilities were advanced, he felt like he could get into a fight with superman and kick his butt!
Matt thought back to when he was little as he walked, his teachers in school had always taught him how HIRSSs were made by the government to be police officers. Only 300 were made, one night when they were all stolen the government decreed that they were highly illegal and that anyone caught with one would be sentenced to a life time in jail! After that they went out of production.
As Matt walked down the street some people gave him weird looks, but most just didn’t care. To them he just looked like an average everyday robot taking a stroll. Matt hoped that the police officers guarding the Skywars entry desk wouldn’t recognize that he was wearing a HIRSS. As Matt walked him and ST3VE talked, the suit of armour was highly soundproof when it wanted to be so no one else could hear them. Matt talked to ST3VE and ST3VE talked to Matt. As they conversed Matt started to like ST3VE. ST3VE didn’t have emotions so he just stayed the same.
Matt could now see the entry booth, he was almost there. He was about to win Skywars and make a bunch of money. Suddenly a boy came flying at Matt and tried to push him to the ground. Matt found that with ST3VE his reflexes were much faster and it felt like he had all the time in the world to dodge the attack. Once the boy missed he didn’t try again. “Fair enough,” he said, “follow me.” Matt decided that he would. He was in no hurry and if the boy was leading him into a trap, Matt could easily escape it with ST3VE. The boy led him into a dark and private alleyway. “Sorry about that,” he said, “my name is Josh. I am here to save you.” Matt raised his right eyebrow looking confused. “If you would’ve gotten any closer to those police officers, they would have taken you out in a second and had you packing off to jail! What do you even want to do with a HIRSS anyways?” Matt told him how he needed to win Skywars so he could get money to save all of his grandma’s stuff. “Well if you are going to do that you will need a distraction.” said Josh. “Would you be willing to help me?” asked Matt, “I got nothing better to do.” said Josh. Josh, Matt, and ST3VE used their combined intellect to come up with a plan. ST3VE was the smartest one and did the most planning.
Matt and ST3VE walked closer and closer towards the front desk. The police officers saw them and started to approach them. Suddenly the first floor of the building right next to them exploded into a blue fire! Josh had done his job, the police officers were no longer interested in Matt. They rushed inside the building trying to help. They didn’t have much time before they realized that the fire was only an illusion coming from a projector. Matt quickly jogged to the entry desk and grabbed his Skywars Participant Card. Matt dashed towards the transporter to teleport him to the arena at top speed. With ST3VE he was going over 30 miles an hour! The police had exited the building with Josh in handcuffs. “You little trickster.” one said. Matt hopped into the transported. He saw one of the police officers remove a gun from his holster, he pointed it right at Josh! Matt looked away, he heard a loud bang! Then the teleportation commenced.
“Nooooooooooooooo!” Matt screamed at the top of his lungs as he realized that he was now in the Skywars arena, floating miles up in the sky. He felt so alone now, he had completely forgotten that ST3VE was with him until ST3VE said, “You ready to do this?” Matt knew that he had to stop crying and get to work if he wanted to save grandma. “Yeah,” he replied, “It’s game time!”
A loud speaker bellowed over the arena. “Hello and welcome to Skywars. Skywars is a simple game really. Participants construct robots and enter them in a fight to the death on and arena miles up in the sky. There are 12 participants per game. Each robot starts out on their own small island. These 12 smaller island surround 1 bigger island. Robots must build bridges to other islands and attempt to knock other robots off the edge. The last robot standing wins the round. The winner will get a prize of $100,000 plus an extra 100,000 for every robot he/she knocked out of the game. Good luck.”
Matt just sat there for a second. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” ST3VE asked, “If we fall from this height we will surely both perish!”, “It will be fine ST3VE,” Matt assured him, “How far can you jump?”, “I can jump about 28 feet.” replied ST3VE. The closest island to Matt was about 30 feet away.”We can make it.” he said calmly, but on the inside he was freaking out. He started charging towards the edge of his island, then he jumped as far as he could once as he got close to the edge. He sailed over the gap of sky between his island and the next, then something bad happened. He started to fall, he barely caught the edge of the next island. To his surprise, the robot on that island didn’t seem to notice. Matt quietly approached him… then picked him up and chucked him off the edge. “200,000 down, 300,000 to go.” Matt said, “Remember that is only if we win.” said ST3VE, “Oh trust me, we will.” said Matt. Matt and ST3VE proceeded in the same fashion for another 2 islands being successful while fighting the other 2 robots off the edge. Matt was getting ready to go for the next island when he noticed that the large robot on it was staring right at him. “Come at me!” he loudly bellowed. Matt charged towards the edge of his island once more and jumped at the perfect time. He soared towards the island, when he was about 3 feet away when the large robot launched a rocket at him and sent him flying backwards and away from the arena. Matt was falling, he was as good as dead.
“ST3VE what do we do?” Matt shouted, “I could eject you with a parachute and you will be safe.” replied ST3VE. “No!” Matt yelled, “I can’t lose you too, I can’t lose you like I lost my parents, and Josh. I’ve lost to many people in my life and I’m sick of it. Is there any other way we can get back up onto the arena?” ST3VE didn’t reply for a second, then he said, “I know how much you need that money Matt. This is for your own good.” Matt was launched from ST3VE, at this rate the launch would barely be enough to get him back up to the arena.
“No!” Matt screamed in terror. Matt thought he was alone, then he was surprised to hear ST3VE’s voice! “Hello Matt, I am not gone. I put an earpiece on your ear so you can still hear me. My physical armour will be gone soon, but I will never leave you. Matt felt comforted and ready to take on the other contestants. When Matt landed back on the arena he was on the same island as the big robot that had taken him out before. He wasn’t sure how he would take him out without the help of ST3VE’s enhanced abilities. Matt waited till the large robot was close to the edge of the island. Then he charged at his legs and and gave his hardest kick right at the robot’s foot. The robot lost his balance and fell of the edge. Matt’s plan had worked, “Cheater.” said the robot as he fell.
Matt looked around and saw that there was only one other robot in the arena. It was a massive 10 foot tall robot on the middle island, there was no way that Matt could beat that robot in a fight. “Have any ideas ST3VE?” asked Matt, “Look up.” said ST3VE. There was a large glass ball floating in the air above the middle island. “That is the gravity sphere that keeps this thing floating, if anything touches it the entire arena will fall!” said ST3VE, “Wait for the robot to start building a bridge towards you, he looks like he has too much confidence in himself.”, “Wait ST3VE, how can you see him?” asked Matt, “Well the arena has several cameras filming the game, of course the channel that it gets played on is never watched. No one cares about this game. I hacked into the footage and I am watching right now. Anyways back to what I was saying, he lookes like he is overconfident in himself. So he once his bridge is close enough to your island, he will attempt to jump from his bridge to your island. While he is in the air the gravity sphere needs to be hit by something so the arena will fall. If you are holding on to something you will technically stay on the arena. Once he has been off the arena for 1 minute he will be eliminated. He will fall with the arena but he will be a couple feet above it because he was higher up. After that one minute you will get transported out of the arena, the transportation will take about 3 seconds to happen. It takes 1 minute and 5 second for the arena to fall from here to the ground. If anything is off by more than 2 seconds, you die.”
Matt looked over to see that the robot had started to build a bridge. He picked up a piece of scrap wood that he found on the ground. “Okay I did an analysis of your overall strength while you were in me, I will guide your arm to hit the gravity sphere.” said ST3VE, ST3VE slowly but surely guided Matt’s arm until it was in the perfect position to hit the gravity sphere. The robot was very close to Matt’s island now, the robot was now close enough to jump. It crouched down, “Now Matt!” yelled ST3VE. Matt threw the piece of wood with all of his might. The robot jumped, the wood looked like it was going to hit. Then the wood missed. Matt was about to die.
“Ha ha ha.” Matt heard ST3VE say, he was confused. ST3VE’s voice was no longer coming from his earpiece, it was coming from the large robot standing in front of him. “You fool.” the robot said, “I can’t believe that you actually thought I was on your side, and that I was just some mere HIRSS’s AI!”, “Well what are you then?” Matt asked, “I am a very powerful being, I can switch consciousness from robot to robot. I plan to take over this earth and take out all of you annoying humans. I have to say, I have never put this much work into taking out 1 mere child. Now my work will pay off.” ST3VE said.
ST3VE started to charge at Matt, Matt cursed under his breath and did the only thing he could think of… he ducked. The large robot tripped on him and fell off the island, he was running quite fast though so he kicked Matt off with him! The robot fell off maybe 2 seconds before Matt did, Matt had won. Once the 1 minute ran out for the robot Matt would get teleported with 2 seconds to spare! The large robot stared right at Matt, “I will find you, and trust me… I will kill you.” Then the robot went limp and Matt knew that ST3VE had switched consciousness to a different robot.
Matt knew that all he had to do know was fall. Then he realized that he was falling from 5,000 feet in the air and he started to freak out. After about a minute of panicking he finally got teleported. He was only about 30 feet off the ground when he got teleported. When he got back to the Skywars headquarters he was awarded his $600,000. The people at the front desk looked a little confused when they saw that a human had just beat 5 robots. He had the money to save grandma’s stuff and an extra 100,000. College was looking good for him.
Matt saved all of his grandma’s stuff and his life went back to his normal awesome life. He didn’t sleep well from that day on, he was afraid ST3VE would come for him.
Dec. 23, 2097
Matt was watching TV when the screen went black. He heard a loud voice emanate from it. “I am coming, get ready.”

THE END