𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚕𝚎𝚢 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 [𝙽𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛 𝚡 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚕𝚎𝚢]

3

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THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END

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The most recent black reset screen had lasted a couple of minutes long. At least 10, if not 20. This was quite odd, as it usually took 10 to 20 seconds to replace the story to be as it should. Even stranger, the moment before Stanley's eyes opened, a red text covered his vision.

[UPDATE COMPLETE] it read.

Stanley had planned to bring it up with The Narrator via the whiteboards, but Stanley couldn't do that.

Why?

Because The Player was back. It was a god-awful feeling that Stanley had all but forgotten about during the hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of resets the two had done alone (with all that time Stanley spent trying to cheer up The Narrator).

The Player didn't get very far back into the story before something odd caught everybody off guard.

A door that read "New Content"

The door led to a presentational tour/ride that reminded Stanley far too much of that ending with that massive crushing machine that killed him far too many times.

After that, there had been some mediocre features.

It seemed that The Player got fed up with how boring the update appeared to be. After seeing the jump circle, and having it get to 0, The Player's control over Stanley lifted.

And The Narrator took notice

"Oh look Stanley, the developers made such an awful update that The Player who chose to play it left. How miserable. Let's just go over to that other elevator." The Narrator lamented.

"Stanley, I have to say: Initial impressions of this game are not positive. It's just elevators and jumping! Is this what passes for 'exciting new content'? If this is content then I could just read you the dictionary! That's 20 hours of new content right there!" It continued, Stanley happy to hear the passion in its voice again, though it was clearly an unhappy passion.

He'll take what he can get.

It continued to rave about the insignificant content, before the elevator stopped, opening into a new room.

And there was nothing but a sign, telling the two that they'd seen everything.

"That's it?! Oh, you've got to be kidding me! You see, Stanley? This is what happens when greedy video game developers with no respect for their fanbase rush a cheap expansion to market for no reason other than to make an easy dollar!"

There was a pause, and the sounds of some scrolling and clicking, it let out a grumble before continuing:

"And don't get me started on the level of craftsmanship that's gone into it. In fact, I'm looking right now at the game's achievements and it's hard to believe one of them actually says "Test achievement please ignore!" What quality assurance department signed off on this?"

Stanley listened to The Narrator speak as it decided to reset the game and have the two go back to their standard fun (and it called him its friend! Stanley! The Narrator! Him! They're friends!).

The black screen which sometimes represented prison, sometimes, death, but always a new beginning, appeared.

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THE END IS NEVER THE END IS NEVER THE END

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And Stanley was back in his office.