Wrong Time, Wrong Place

Hotel

His gaze seemed distant as the boat travelled across the ocean.

'This really feels weird, how am I supposed to know what to do about Stratosfear...'

"Is there something wrong sir? You seem troubled there"

"Oh I'm fine, I was just thinking"

"Is it about the Mayor? You were his best friend, aren't you?"

"Erm... Yeah" He lied.

"I'm sure things will be alright with you two, the Mayor isn't just someone who holds grudges"

"I know, I was just simply thinking about back then"

"Alright, if you say so. We've arrived at the isles"

"Oh- I haven't noticed, thank you"

"Do you plan to come back after visiting the isles?"

He nodded. The man looks at him with acknowledgment.

"There's nothing much to do for me today, so I'll stay here and wait"

"It's kind hot out here, are you sure?"

"I can always visit the hotel to cool off, you may go now"

Nick nodded and ran off, hopping through the islands. He finds a few stars through the islands and underwater using the forcefield, eventually reaching a building site near the hotel.

"I'll leave the hotel last- I see a star up here"

Carefully, he climbed his way through the metal beams. Avoiding anything that would knock him into the waters. He leans against a vertical beam and looks around.

"This is getting... A little scary, but I'm so close up there"

He shakes his head and continued climbing. Upon reaching the moving cranes, he almost loses balance, resorting to holding onto the thing he is standing on.

"Agh-! Stars, I thought I was going to fall, I don't want to reach for the waters again! I don't even have the forcefield..."

He stares at the incoming moving part above him and took a leap of faith, landing and holding on to it and slowly crawled his way to the star. He stood up once reaching the safe part, taking the star.

"Now how am I supposed to go down- I really have to jump for this, am I?"

Sighing he carefully makes his way down, making precise jumps and hoping to not fall. He reaches land and falls onto the sand, feeling tired. He lay there in silence for a long while, but then he heard a voice nearby.

"Ugh, I can't believe I didn't bring sunscreen!"

Curios, he got up and went over to where the voice came from. He locked eyes with the person.

"Hey, can you help me out here?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Can you get me some sunscreen from the hotel? I'll give you something in return"

"Sure, but what will you give me?"

"A shiny star"

"I- does one person from every location I went to for some reason just hold a star now"

"Got a problem about me having this star? Okay I won't give you i-"

"No! Sorry for being rude, I'll get your sunscreen. I didn't mean for it to come out bluntly like that"

"Hm, alright. But better get it soon"

"Yeah yeah, I'm on it"

He wanders into the hotel and looks for sunscreen, he spots it somewhere high but doesn't seem accessible until he spotted an elevator but was stopped by a staff member.

"Sorry, the elevator is only for people that are staying in this hotel"

"Oh, it's alright"

"I'm really sorry about this, I'd let you in here if it weren't for what happened"

"Wh-"

"don't worry about it"

"If you say so"

He quickly turned around and wandered further in the hotel, eventually he spotted a way to get up. He gets the sunscreen and notices a star hidden up there and takes it.

"Two in one grab, two stars for me th-"

He trips and falls off of where he was, luckily it wasn't really high but it still hurt. The hotel staff run over to him as he lay there in pain.

"Sir! Are you okay?"

"I'm- fine, I wasn't looking where I was going, ouch"

They grab him by the arm and gently help him stand. He was escorted to a medic nearby to check on him.

"There doesn't seem to be any wounds or bruises, so you'll be good to go- why in the stars would you be up there"

"Mason Maynot, he asked me to gather stars and unlock the gates around town, I was looking for stars here but I may had not been being careful"

"Then be careful next time! Why is the Mayor asking you to do this?"

"An entity named Stratosfear knocked off the stars last night and scattered it around maytown, I don't think he has any good intentions with the stars so I'll be taking it from him and save Maytown"

"Why are you the one doing this? Isn't this dangerous?"

"No one's going to do it, and I can't bare to see an empty night sky while Stratosfear wrecks havoc in the background. It's for Mason and the town that I should be the Star Saviour and protect everything I know and love from them"

"You might die out there- are you sure?"

"It's either I lose everything I have without trying, or lose my life trying to protect everything. I'll take the latter, because they all matter to me, I can't sit there and do nothing. If I die, then I can't say I didn't try"

The medic nodded slowly and let him go, Nick went back out of the hotel, walking towards the lady and handed her the sunscreen.

"Took you long enough"

"Sorry I fell off somewhere high while getting this, can I have the star now?"

"I- are you okay? That shouldn't be an okay thing"

"Oh yeah I'm fine, no bruises or wounds"

"If you say so" she handed him the star, he nods and waves at her. He runs back to the boat.

"I'm back, I'm ready to go back"

"Alright, we're going to Maytown"

The boat goes off and they travel back to Maytown.