Silver rang against silver, followed by a thud as a bullet buried itself in the trunk of a nearby tree. The red borg scanned the trees for its assailant, keeping its blade at the ready. It held in its hands a silver katana, Japanese characters inscribed at the base of the blade. It now lept above the tree tops, spying the blue gun borg in a clearing some hundred yards ahead. The enemy fired again, but its bullet was dodged midair. The red borg dropped onto a thick tree branch and, after slashing a few branches out of its way, jumped forward and up.

The blue borg slowly backed closer to the edge of the clearing, gun sweeping the treeline as it awaitted the reappearance of its foe. Suddenly the borg swooped down, descending from just above the trees, sword at the ready. The blue borg whipped its gun up, but it was too late; a gash appeared on its right shoulder, leaking oil, as another bullet flew up into the sky. The red borg spun left, making its blade a silver arc as the horizontal strike flowed into a diagonal cleave, cutting from the base of its neck towards its waist, rewarded by a fountain of black oil. It collapsed, and there was a sudden explosion of noise as the spectator in the colliseum stands cheered for the victor. An announcer yelled out the victory.

"And there you have it! Takashi has now won completely unharmed for the seventh time in a row! Amazing!"

The trees flickered and dissappeared as the holograms and forcefields that created the tangible illusion of the forest were switched off. Short boxlike robots scurried onto the gridded stadium floor to clean the oil and retrieve ammo. The red borg controlled by Takashi stepped onto a service elevator and switched off as it descended to maintenance.

Deep underground, a thin man of medium stature awaoke from a transe - like state and removed two electrodes from his temples. Rising from the chair, he entered into a glass cylinder, which shut behind him. After identifying his destination, the transporter sent him off.

The mainteneance level was a mess of activity as damages to his borg were repared and repainted.

"How are we on photon?" Takashi inquired.

One of the maintenance crew came over to report.

"Photon levels aren't bad, but you might want to consider getting some more soon. You didn't lose much oil, but the pumps are getting old and the viewport needs to be recalibrated. Just minor things here and there."

"'Kay, good."

He stepped back into the transporter and sent himself up to the main level, where he was swarmed by reporters and a crowd of fans.

"Mister Takashi! This is the seventh battle in a row now that you've gone virtually unscathed! How do you do it, and how do you feel as you approach class B?"

"You've just got to stay on your toes, anticipate. As for the competition, I'm looking forward to a challenge."

More inquiries flew but he brushed them aside. As he headed for the exit, he thought back to when this had all started...

In the year 2174, war was again beginning. The Enemy had been gathering and creating technology for a long time and had developed a smart chemical weapon that rendered infantry useless. Furthermore, they had discovered an alloy that effectively resisted the Government's weaponry. Things were looking grim until a new substance, photon, was discovered. In its solid state it was useless, but when an electrical current was put through it it had strange properties. It seemed to mess with the molecular speed of iron (and hence, steel), titanium, and aluminum; as soon as it was removed, however, the metals returned to normal. Additionally, it was attracted to and had no effect on silver. Thus, by exposing enemy ship's hulls to this photon, they were weakened and could be damaged.

The Enemy's weapons, however, still posed a problem. In responce, the first borg was created. It was unstable at best and hard to control all its fuctions, but it still cut the death rate incredibly. Eventually it was fused with the current modern technology, implanting a chip in the soldier's upper spine that could recieve and block certain nerve signals, as well as create them, so that control of the borgs became much easier. These borgs were then mass produced, and when the war ended suddenly by the Enemy's mysterious dissappearance, nobody reallt knew what to do with them.

Until people like Takashi got their hands on them.

Soon colliseums like the one he was now leaving sprang up in major cities as battles between borgs became ever more popular. People could buy a borg if they had a good enough history and were at least twenty five. They could then equip their borgs according to their own personal fighting style and preferences. Armor crafted from mainly steel and a portion of silver were commonplace amongst gun borgs and berserkers; there was a set amount of silver allowed in every square inch of the defensive items, however, preventing an unfair match by one being invulnerable. Soon it became an official and international event, dubbed the IRBF, the Interplanetary Robotic Battling Federation. After all, the Martian colonies could participate as well. When battling, borgs were allowed as many weapons as they could carry at once. Excluding these weapons and armor, they were not allowed anything such as boosters, barriers, or repare kits. Holograms and forcefields created illusions of various objects, such as trees and rocks, on the field. The borgs themselves had been altered to have "veins" containing oil; after a certain amount of oil was lost, the duel would end. These battles were held on only a few countries on earth; those who had either developed the technology on their own or were trusted enough to be given it. This was because although there was peace, opposing sides in Africa and the Middle East created tension that could snap if either side were to gain an edge. But now, as countries raced to sieze Martian soil, much attention in the Government was diverted away from the mother planet. Mars seemed to be the key to solving a number of problems, including overpopulation and hunger; especially since Martian oil was discovered to make very efficient and cheap fuel. So now, with war temporarily banished and the solution to a number of domestic problems looming on the horizon, things were looking up. With the lack of war, unstable countries recieved more money and were able to set up their own prosperous economy, after which they didn't need to guided any longer. This resulted in having even more extra funds to use on scientific and medical programs, resulting in cures that would have spelled certain death mere decades ago as well as many significant inventions. Amongst these were the forcefield and an effective and safe short - range teleportational device. The forcefield became essential in Martian developement, keeping in air and keeping out meteors. By creating a perimeter with the field, sand could be quickly cleared and buildings created. Individual communities were connected by wide roads sheltered by their own forcefields. When a city was built, a colliseum follwed soon after houses and government buildings. IRBF championships were not usually earthbound, as most colliseums were built before battling was very popular.

All this time Takashi had been driving, and he now pulled into a tall housing complex, much like the apartments almost two hundred years ago. He stopped over the large storage elevator and disengaged the four forcefields suspending it a foot above the ground. As he walked into the lobby, the elevator descended into storage, where it would remain until he returned for it. He crossed the lobby and took the transporter to the eighty-second floor. A few doors down, he entered his room and, after activating the lights, stepped out onto the balcony.

On the horizon, the sun was sinking behind and army of glass and steel skyscrapers, which reflected the dazzling light. Cars seemed to fly back and forth as they passed over translucent bridges. Large flat screens hovered here and there, displaying various ads and changing periodically. As the first stars appeared in the sky, he was sure of one thing.

He lived in the city, but he belonged in the arena.