A New Kind of Friend (Inscryption/Playtime With Percy)

A New Kind of Friend

"Oi, boss? I'm thinkin' you might want to see this."

"AH-"

The scrybe of technology whipped around to face the Dredger, annoyance clearly visible on its screen. "What did I tell you about interrupting my work?!" P03 exclaimed."Besides. Don't you have work of your own that you're supposed to be doing?"

"Yeah, yeah....but I'm insistin' that this is worth it! Just come an' see." Said the worker. After taking a moment to process the situation, P03 figured that this would hardly take any time at all, and thus followed the Dredger though the factory.

As they went, a small sliver of curiosity poked out from all of the bot's annoyance. What had their worker found? It must be at least worthwhile if they wanted to personally show it to their boss, after all.

P03 didn't pay any mind to the Inspector nor the Melter as he went through their rooms. What felt like an eternity later did he finally arrive at the Dredger's station, his optical sensors detecting a small white object, motionlessly resting on the shore.Moving ahead of P03, the Dredger grabbed the little white object before holding it up for their boss to see.

"Strange little thing, innit?"The scrybe of technology did not look pleased, to say the least."This? You brought me down here for a little piece of scrap?"

The Dredger was somewhat taken aback by P03's response, even though it was completely in character.

"Doncha' at least want to look at it? It's no ordinary piece of scrap."P03 shot a glare at his worker, before snatching the object from their grasp."If it will keep you from disturbing me further, then yes. Yes I will.""Good to hear it, bo-"

Without even letting the Dredger finish, P03 was already leaving the room. There were bots to scan, cards to make, and a transcendence to plan! He had no time for things like this. A part of him wanted to just throw the scrap ball as far as he could, yet by the time he made it back to his table, it was still firmly held in his claw.

"...Whatever..."He put the scrap down, and finally got a good look at it. To his surprise, it wasn't a useless piece of scrap at all. Instead, it was a smooth white object with two rounded protrusions attached its top. A small square screen was located above three minuscule buttons. The entire thing was still wet from its swim in the ocean.

"Hm...maybe this isn't so useless after all." P03 said to no one in particular. This was a robot! A small one, but a bot none the less! But was it still functional? P03 just HAD to find out.Upon closer inspection, it didn't have a visible on switch. P03 decided to press all of its buttons yet received no response. By now he was hovering back and fourth, thinking.
"It doesn't appear to be TOO waterlogged..."
"...perhaps it just needs a new power source?"

Of course! Its battery must be shot. An easy fix for the scrybe of technology. Silently cursing itself for not thinking about that first, P03 pushed the table's tablet to the side before searching for a toolbox.

After taking the outer casing off of the little white robot, P03 had to improvise as none of the batteries he had would fit the fist-sized machine. He had to plug it into one of his Botopia accessories (a little metal slab intended to electrically charge cards) before it finally turned on.

"GET BACK HE-""...re?" The little device shouted, before growing quiet. A simple face was now being displayed on the device's pale green screen."Oh! Haha. My battery must've died. How embarrassing!"

P03 knew this other robot for three seconds and was already getting annoyed by their overly-chipper tone."You're not from here, are you?" The scrybe asked in an unamused tone. In response, the tiny machine looked around to the best of its abilities.

"Nope! Not at all. You're a real pal for waking me up!" They chimed."It was quite simple. No need to thank me." P03 responded, a smug grin appearing on his face."I'm sure you can be a-""Oh! Where are my manners?" The device interrupted. "I didn't even introduce myself! I'm a Pal Percy, but you can call me Pal. Now what's YOUR name, friend?"

The scrybe's smile quickly faded."...I am P03, and we are not friends.""Not with that attitude we're not!" Said Pal, spinning his face around without a care in the world."I'm gonna be honest with you: the last guy I was with was such a jerk! He left me to rot when all I wanted was to be his friend! Can you believe that?"

Pal's words brought some memories back to P03. From when he was betrayed by his fellow scrybe and added to his deck like he was nothing. They were only there for a moment, but it was enough to cause the bot to shudder.

Once the moment had passed, P03 was quickly back to his old self.
"Wow. VERY unfortunate." P03's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Pal didn't seem to notice.

"Say, Pal. Perhaps you'd like an upgrade? You're probably quite damaged from your little swim."P03 started fiddling with his particle scanner's control unit. He fully intended to inscribe the Dredger's find, and couldn't wait for his "new friend" to finally be quiet.

"Ooo! What sort of upgrade are we taking about?" Asked Pal in an exited tone."I've been DYING to move around again."A smile slowly creeped onto the scrybe of Technology's screen as he went to unplug Pal. However, the little robot was firmly plugged in. Huh?

He continued to pull, not even noticing the wires above him starting to twitch and writhe."H-Hey! What are you doing, friend? I need a power source!""You won't NEED a power source once you're another card in my deck!" P03 snapped, ticked off by this point. Why must things go wrong when he was this close?

"Card? Deck? Yeaaaah, I don't think so, 'friend.'"The fear in Pal's voice was quickly replaced with something much more sinister."And I'm starting to think that you're not going to be a good friend. But maybe we can still...hang out?"

One of the wires abruptly swung downwards, wrapping itself around the hovering robot like a snake grappling its prey."H-HEY!" P03 shouted."LET GO!!"

Pal began to laugh uncontrollably as more wires restrained the poor scrybe. P03 could hardly hear them over the buzzing of his system reporting error after error.The robot eventually went limp.

"Heh...get some rest, buddy." Pal whispered."You're gonna need it when I'm done with you."

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"Wh..."

As P03's optical sensors finally adjusted to their surroundings, he was glad to see the familiar sight of his factory. What happened, again? Did his own battery run out?As the bot tried to get up, the scrybe realized that something was very wrong. Why were his hovering systems offline? Come to think of it, he couldn't sense his arm, either. What was going on?

"Wakey wakey!~" Chimed an all-too-familiar voice. Except it sounded...clearer.A dark-grey shape faded into view, its metal glinting under the fluorescent lights. A faint blue glow could be seen emanating from its lower half as it hovered along. It was a mirror image of the scrybe of technology aside from one small detail: their screen was glowing a pale green, and a simple smiling face was being displayed.

"Whh...what did you..." Said P03, his voice lagging. Everything felt like it was his first time turning on, and it felt awful.Pal, now in complete control of P03's old body, smirked at the little tamagotchi-like device."What did you take me for? An idiot?
I just want a friend! Is that too hard to ask foWOAH-"

They stopped their little rant as soon as their new thrusters momentarily turned off."...whoops. I gotta get used to that..."After composing himself, Pal started right back up again.

"—what was I saying? Oh yeah! You're an awful friend, you know that right?"In response, P03, now residing in Pals old body, attempted to move to no avail."I DEMAND YOU FIX THIS AT ONCE!"

Clumsily moving his new arm, Pal managed to pick up P03 after a few tries before bringing him close to his screen."Nah. You don't realize how much you miss moving around until you can't do it, you know? I think I'll be using this body for a while!" He laughed. "Maybe that'll teach you not to lie to a friend."

P03 hated the feeling of helplessness that had washed over him. This is the second time the deranged toy reminded him of his time as a card, but with much worse circumstance this time.

"Who knows? Maybe someone will come along and play with you." Oh, right. Pal was still gloating."I swear, if I ever get back in my body you insufferable-"

THUNK.

Pal had abruptly let go, allowing P03 to land on the table with a thud. Luckily, he was still facing upwards."Toodles, Pal-03! Enjoy the new you!"

And with that, Pal headed towards the exit, ignoring P03's shouts and threats. After all, there were bigger things to worry about at the moment.This was a whole new place, with all sorts of friends to be made!
As the hovering machine took its first metaphorical steps outside the factory, Pal couldn't wait to get started.