Wrong Time, Wrong Place

Canyon

The Saviour gazed over the canyons filled with machinery, buildings, and bully bots. He carefully walk over wires and spinning beams that lay on the path, one wrong step and he falls into the canyons. Not too far away stood the robot that Arrolin mentioned to the Saviour, Mino was thedir name.

"Uh, hello?"

"All data systems online. User interface restored. All the canyon's stars required for rebooting designated challenge course."

"Alright?"

He walks around the place, finding stars through the dangerous paths. He finds himself in the middle of electrical walls, flickering in a pattern.

"Well I see why this is just terrible- probably worser than the saws"

He carefully got around the walls, reaching over to other places with stars, he finds himself in an area with a marble powerup. He blankly stared at the marble.

"What's with these worlds with having stars accessible through the marble powerup?! Why can't I just move along the path without it?"

He looks at the path with a unhappy gaze in his eyes, sighing. The Saviour activated the powerup and rolled along the path, nothing the particle obstacles, he carefully moved along, making sure he doesn't mess up. He picks up the pace but then noticed that things got faster from there, screaming as he tried to move as best as he could over ramps, almost crashing at the end of the track when the marble disappeared, sending him roughly to the ground.

"Please tell me the next world doesn't have anymore marble powerup stars... I hate this thing so much"

He shook his head and took a teleporter back to the beginning, walking away from the marble path. He jumped over spinning beams and ran from bully bots that try to knock him off balance. He finds himself in a new area, there was a dash pepper nearby and he takes it.

"Another dash pepper? I'll take it over those stupid marbles" He eats the pepper and dashed off, hopping through gaps and onto solar panels, almost missing a jump but held on the edge, climbing up quickly and continuing to run. He eventually reaches the end, taking the star and returning to get the rest of the stars. It took a while before he returned to Mino, who gazed at them for a moment and then spoke.

"Client has collected sufficient amount of stars. Is the client ready for the challenge course?"

"... Yes."

"Probability of client's success: 66.7%. Loading challenge course."

He was teleported into the challenge course, he looks at the marble powerup near him and started breathing heavily.

"You got to be kidding me... The challenge course too?!"

He had no choice but to activate the marble and rolled along the path, hating every moment he had in the marble. He reaches the end of the course, Mino standing with their symbol right next to them.

"Challenge course completed. System has recognized client as 'New Star Savior'"

"Mino- can I ask a question?"

"What is the client's question?"

"Can I take a moment to observe the- those little bots, what are they called?"

"The "bots" Star Saviour refers to are called bully bots."

"Can I observe them before I leave?"

"Permission granted, teleporting client"

Mino teleported the Saviour to where they are in full view of the dash pepper part, where the bully bots wandered around, seemingly hitting each other playfully. The Saviour looked over in awe, observing them in their most natural habitat. One of the bully bots accidentally went off balance at the edge, sliding down and falling into the depths below.

"Oh no! The bully bot fell!"

"The bully bot will be okay, they respawn or teleport back if they ever fall off"

"So they're like, indestructible?"

"A bully bot will only be fully decommissioned if you destroyed it's physical form, preventing them from functioning or respawning"

"So that means there were bully bots that had gotten destroyed before?"

"Precisely. But do not feel sad, it is a part of their... Artificial nature"

"What of they get endangered? How does a bully bot even work?"

"That information hasn't been discovered. Shallare thinks of them as quite the anomaly, being both organic and robotic in form. It is speculated that someone built them, but due to their more organic parts, no one is sure of their origins. They are highly adaptable in different environments, even adapting a subspecies that can live in the waters like fish do."

"Well that explains why I keep seeing them around, including Frosted Snowland despite how cold it is there"

"Is the client satisfied with their observation?"

"Yes. You can now take me back to the entrance"

"Teleporting client . . ."

Mino took the Saviour back to the entrance, watching as he leaves the world, Ulipse still seemed to remain standing near the same spot. She seemed deeply lost in thought.

"You alright there?"

"Oh, you're done with Mino's world? How did it go?"

"I hate marbles"

"sounds awful"

"But I got to look at the bully bots! But then one fell into the depths of the canyons"

"Oh, they'll be alright then. Not much a problem for those storage little bots"

"How do I get down there? It looks really low, I could hurt myself in trying to fall down there"

"Ixol probably didn't install another teleporter if that's the case, here I'll teleport you down there"

Ulipse reaches her hand to the Saviour in which he takes, teleporting the two of them near the entrance of the final world.

"Good luck out there. You may not like it there, perhaps worser than... My world"

"It's okay, I understand you didn't really like how persistent I was earlier- let's forget about it okay?"

"Okay. But still, I wish you luck Saviour"

The Saviour only smiled at Ulipse and walked into the entrance, entering Distortion Paradise.