When Twonky was activated for the first time, he was rather confused.
It took his databank mere seconds to fill him in. He was one of eight robots in this factory, the others being Squash Bot, Spin Bot, Hammer Bot, Zoom Bot, Hulk X90, Twitch, and Trundle Bot. They had all been unintentionally activated by a power surge, and the factory's defensive measures had been turned on to try to prevent their escape. Also, Zoom and Twitch had a five-space head start on him.
Well, that simply wouldn't do.
Letting out a crazed cackle that left Hulk reeling, he charged forward, completely unsure where he was going or why. There seemed to be some sort of glowing green flag over there? The other bots were headed toward it... probably important, then. He tried consulting his databank on the matter, but came up empty. Right. They probably hadn't been fully programmed yet.
He'd just have to program himself, then.
Twonky was surprised and then annoyed when he was suddenly rolled into a laser. When had he stepped onto that conveyor belt? And that laser hadn't been there a second ago!
Say, didn't he have lasers?
Cackling again, he zapped Hammer Bot, who let out an annoyed beep and promptly clunked him on the head with one of his hammers.
Oh, this was going to be fun.
Five flags down, one to go.
Twonky was so close! He could almost taste his impending victory!
...He didn't think he had taste sensors, so he wasn't really sure where he had heard that expression from. He also didn't particularly care.
Of course, the other robots were almost there too; except for Hammer, who had somehow gotten stuck on a conveyor going round in circles over by Flag 4. But Twonky was determined to win... whatever it was they were doing. He didn't quite see how these checkpoints would help them escape the factory and its weird walls that went up to the edge of the atmosphere. (No getting over those.) The other bots seemed pretty confident, though. Whatever worked.
Hey, where did that pit come from?
As he plummeted down, down, down into the dark, Twonky thought absentmindedly that he should really learn to be more careful around those pushers.
When Twonky rebooted, he found himself back out of the pit and onto the factory floor. Not that it did him much good, considering Trundle stole the final flag before he could get back over there. Stupid right-of-way.
He half-expected Trundle to make an escape attempt after checking the last checkpoint, but before he could, Hulk picked him up and threw him off the edge of the factory floor. Twonky made a mental note to avoid annoying Hulk if at all possible.
And that's when the world collapsed.
Or at least, that's what it felt like to Twonky. This is so much worse than falling into a pit, he thought. The other bots were all panicking as the factory crumbled around them. At least Hammer was now unstuck from the conveyor belt.
Zoom Bot landed on top of Twonky, denting his antenna, and the world went to static.
The next time Twonky was activated, things looked a bit... different. Especially since he was quite a bit shorter now.
The other bots had changed too. For one, Hammer and Zoom had both gotten a lot shorter and rounder. Also, neither had arms anymore. Spin now appeared to be a buzz saw stuck to the top of a drill. Hulk was a tank for some reason and had tracks now like Trundle used to, who had basically turned into a more... well, squashed Squash Bot, who was now a cube with three big, stompy legs. Twitch was the only one who looked pretty much like normal.
Clearly whoever had fixed them had gotten a bit mixed up.
Whatever. They all still functioned. It would do.
More green flags. More lasers. More conveyor belts. More pits. The factory was a different shape now, but still the same dangers. Except the crushers, which had all mysteriously disappeared, not that Twonky minded. They also weren't all starting in the same spot this time, which was nice.
...Why did he feel like he'd been here before?
Twonky took off after the other bots, trying to shake the strange feeling looming over him. He would definitely win this time!
But I've already won before... haven't I?
He did a quick search through his memory banks. Much to his alarm, he couldn't find records of any previous escape attempts. How did he have memories that his memory banks didn't?!
The other bots all seemed to be carrying on just fine. Well, Squash seemed to be having some difficulties adapting to having legs instead of a big steamroller wheel, tripping frequently. The bonk to the head Hammer had given him when he accidentally landed on top of him probably wasn't helping. But none of them seemed concerned about what had come before.
Either Twonky was losing his mind... or everyone else was.
Determined to find out what was going on, he hurried up beside Twitch. "Hey, Twitch. Do you know what happened to all the crushers?"
Twitch froze, shuddering. "Crushers? What crushers? Oh, those sound terribly unsafe. What if I get stuck in one? Wait, are you just making things up to try and distract me?"
Well, now I remember why we call him Twitch. "Uh, no. There were crushers, and now there aren't. You aren't going to get crushed unless Squash stumbles over here." Considering that made Twitch start trembling even more, perhaps that was the wrong thing to say. "Look, Twitch, I just want to know what happened to the crushers."
"My memory banks contain no mention of any crushers. Now if you will kindly move out of the way, I am trying to get out of here." He pushed Twonky aside and jumped on a blue conveyor.
"But Twitch, don't you remember anything from before?" he called after him.
"What before? Twonky, have you fried your circuits? You're not making any sense!"
"I don't even know anymore," he muttered.
Twonky headed off toward the flag. Just because he was quite possibly losing his mind didn't mean he wasn't going to try to win.
He didn't. But the glory of the chase shook off the deja vu, at least for a little while.
Twonky awoke again. Somebody must have won and reset the factory again, like usual.
Usual? How can there be a usual? This hasn't happened before, has it?
Sighing, Twonky started his Power-on routine (but why do I have a routine?). Search through his faulty memory banks, make sure the factory is still the same as always, take a quick look at the other bots and note any changes, then do their race to the flags where it would inevitably all come crashing down on them.
The factory looked pretty normal, except for the new satellite dish. Why was that there? According to his memory banks it was the "priority tower." Odd.
The most obvious change to the bots was the flashy new paint jobs. Twonky himself was orange. Zoom was green and now had teeth. Squash was yellow. Hulk was bright red. Spin was shiny blue on his dome and still silver everywhere else, except for his glowing yellow eyes. Hammer's mallets had been replaced with a single hammer, stupidly suspended right above his head. It was painted purple to match the rest of him. Twitch was... nonexistent?
Hey, what the heck? There were only six of them!
He turned to Squash, who was a lot taller now, and asked urgently, "Squash, have you seen Twitch or Trundle anywhere?"
"My name's not 'Squash'. It's Smash Bot."
Seriously? Why would this of all things change? "I don't care! Where are-"
"Twonky, what is wrong with you? All six of us are here. It's fine. Calm down."
"No, no, this is all wrong!" Twonky wailed. "There used to be eight! And your name is Squash Bot! And, oh, I'm starting to sound like Twitch, panicking like this." He let out a half-insane titter. "Who you don't even remember, do you? Of course not! But I do! I remember even though my memory banks don't! Which shouldn't even be possible!" Twonky began cackling hysterically.
Squash- no, his name was Smash now- was staring at him like he was insane. To be fair, he was definitely acting like it. "I think whoever built your brain left something loose in there."
"Oh, just go check the stupid flags," Twonky said. "If they even still exist, that is. But I'm going to get there first!" He used Mesmer-Eyes on Smash and ran off toward Flag 1, cackling.
There wasn't any particular reason for it. His competitive nature, he supposed. But Twonky didn't really care why he did it, because he had already learned that their race was an excellent distraction. Even if it was rather fruitless.
Spin Bot hit Flag 1, and the factory floor rotated. Twonky was nearly thrown off his feet, but he smiled.
Well, at least some things are still the same.
The fourth time it happened, the changes were more subtle.
They all looked pretty much the same as before. Fresher paint jobs. Twonky's sneakers were a different color. Hammer Bot got still more cross-eyed. Honestly, and they thought he was the insane one, not the guy who got five concussions a day. (Hammer'd had a bit of trouble getting used to the new position of his hammer last change.) How a robot could get a concussion, Twonky wasn't sure, but Hammer certainly seemed to manage it. Perhaps he'd knocked some of his circuits loose.
But new things were happening. The damage system had changed last time around, and there was a new issue to deal with. Or really, an old issue that had come back. Their lasers were causing electrical surges again, which made them do... odd things. Seeing Zoom suddenly move thirteen blocks and run into a wall at Mach 5 was very entertaining. Poor Hulk had ended up spending pretty much an entire round going haywire. Amazingly, the one turn he was able to program managed to save him from falling off the edge of the factory floor.
Twitch and Trundle didn't come back.
Still none of the other robots remembered the Before. Twonky had tried asking. All of them thought he had lost his mind. And maybe he had? Insanity honestly didn't sound that bad if it meant he got to remember.
But no, Twonky didn't think he was crazy. Cursed, maybe, but not crazy. Since all the other bots thought he was insane, though, he might as well play along and have some fun with it. It wasn't too hard to act like it these days.
There was something more to this factory, beyond his ability to see. He had only glimpses of the Before. But there was a Before, despite what the others seemed to think. Twitch and Trundle had existed.
Moreover, Twonky knew if none of them had gotten out by now, they weren't ever going to.
There wasn't any point in telling the others. They wouldn't believe crazy old Twonky anyway. Why spoil their fun?
But he knew the truth.
They were trapped.