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Chapter Text

Luke Carder sat in front of his computer, head in his hands, internally debating over what the hell he's going to do. He had just reset Inscryption for the second time, and now he sort of knew what was going on. The characters were alive, and they had a war going on, and this needed to be solved. That still didn't explain the GameFuna agents arriving at his door, or the person who had broken into his house only a few days prior. It didn't explain the cryptic, tarot-card-esque readings from that holographic Trader. Or the reason that the Mycologists or the Woodcarver knew so much about the mysterious data keeping the game alive. That all didn't matter though, Luke realized.

All of this stuff can wait. I need to handle what's going on in real life first, he thought to himself. Finally looking back up at the computer screen, he closed Inscryption's game tab and began digging though its files.

Let's just make sure that these Scrybes will stay distracted long enough to do this... I still don't want to hurt them, though. Luke sorted through the files of Inscryption, holding the mechanics and coding of the game, an entire world, in the palm of his hand. He needed something that could tear the game character's attention from their ongoing race for control, at least for a day.

Then he saw it. The character files, containing every bit of data related to each NPC and their card battles.

Well. This might work. Let's hope it doesn't affect them too much, Luke thought to himself, unknowing of the problems he was about to cause.

P03 was a busy man, er- robot. His factory production, making sure his robot workers were actually doing their damned job, and knocking down a challenger every once in a while made for a complete and total lack of free time (and, of course, there was that hunt for the DATA, but that was something everyone was doing). This also meant there was no need, want, or time for sleep. Which is why P03 was confused when he awoke to the game booting up, face down on his table. He didn't remember going to sleep, and he couldn't have been knocked out. 

It doesn't matter that much, I have more important things to worry about, P03 thought to himself as he got up from the table- and then immediately regretted it. Every single move he made was met with the feeling of nearly thousands of tiny, itchy, thorny objects bumping up against every last inch of his body, an unimaginably loud rustling coming through every single time the needles and thorns hit something. Parts of his vision were blocked by glowing blue symbols and runes, large circles of bright symbols swirling at the corners of his vision. Startled, P03 took a step back (Wait, why do I have legs?) and lost his balance instantly, barely managing to stop his fall by grabbing the large particle scanner right behind him.

Alright. Damnit. What the hell happened?  P03 thought to himself, looking around and trying to shake off the feelings of dread that were slowly creeping over him. And then he looked down. Instead of the rigid steel chassis and hover thrusters he was known for, all he saw was the rough, organic mess that was pine branches and needles, flowing down to the floor like an evil, creeping green monster. Instead of a single precise, mechanical claw, he saw two wooden arms, pinned to the smooth glass of the particle scanner, one holding a paintbrush stained with an iridescent pink and green color. And instead of the several thousand thoughts and processes P03 should be able to go through at once, only a single phrase went through his mind.

That fucking wizard is going to die today.

He pushed himself forward, almost falling over again but finally figuring out how to stand up properly, and decided right then and there that he was going over to Magnificus's tower and force him to fix all of this. After all, if there was one thing P03 knew about that mage, it's that he had a knack for cruel and unusual punishments. This was probably revenge for taking over the game, even though Leshy had done the same thing for a longer time, and even turned the Scrybes themselves into cards, and didn't suffer a single scratch. Now more pissed off than ever, P03 began walking (or at least trying to walk) to the door. There wasn't any time for distractions, and unlike Leshy's takeover, he could do something about this problem. Nearly tripping over essentially everything that wasn't perfectly level with the floor and feeling incredibly uncomfortable with every step wasn't going to stop him. In fact, P03 was feeling so confident and determined this time around that he didn't hear the footsteps of a second person as he left the room, or the hushed conversation between two people nearby.

They watched as Magnificus tried his best to make his way towards the mechanical door of P03's factory. Yes, they did have the capability to help him. And yes, they just stood there and looked on because seeing only the most respected mage in their world struggle to walk to a door and open it was hilarious. Or at least, one of them thought it was hilarious.

The watching figure in question appeared to be an ordinary doctor, long white coat and tall boots, at least from the neck down. These were the Mycologists, two heads on one body, a pair of skilled researchers who were known for their gruesome experiments. Well, that's what they looked like. Not even five minutes before, this figure was the Trader, a mysterious woman who would give cards to challengers in exchange for their world's currency, foils. She also happened to share a body with the Trapper, a huntsman who worked for Leshy, and they would flip their skull 180 degrees every time the other was needed. Now, thanks to a certain someone, this was no longer the case.

"Trader. What are you doing." The Mycologist's (Or, uh, is it the Trader's now?) second head spoke in an aggravated whisper. "We need to talk to Magnificus and tell him to change us back."

"Yes, yes, I'm aware. This is hilarious though." the Trader said, watching as Magnificus fell flat on his leafy face trying to use the door's control pad.

"No. We need to go now.What if he's transformed other people? Other Scrybes, even! We need to stop this, or at least find out what happened."

The Trader let out an annoyed sigh and began walking over towards Magnificus, who seemed to have noticed them. He didn't turn around, instead readying something in his hands... a spell perhaps? Suddenly, he whips around, arms extended, holding his paintbrush menacingly. The glowing ink drips on the ground, splashing on the ground before fizzling out and fading, while his swirling blue and green eyes dart around, evaluating his opponent.

"Okay, alright! Sorry for alarming you, sir, it's just..." the Trader puts her arms up and takes a step back. "We know you were the one who did this, Magnificus. You changed me and the Trapper into whoever- or, whatever this is, and we know you've done something to P03, too."

Magnificus lowers the brush a little bit and stares at the two. He seems to realize something, and then hits the button on the door, beckoning them to follow as he walks out, nearly tripping over while he does. A little bit confused, the Trader follows without a word. He leads her down the circular elevator and down to the bridge connecting the Scrybes' islands before turning around and saying something. Or trying to say something, it seems, since the eerie, whispery, yet still quite elegant voice that Magnificus was known for, all the Trapper and Trader were able to hear was the faint sound of the mechanical whirrs of P03's factory.

Magnificus seemed to be aware of this too, and began looking around for something. He then walked off to search through the storage boxes in front of the factory, leaving the Trapper and Trader alone by the bridge.

"...Strange. I expected some sort of hushed explanation of what was happening far enough from the factory so that nobody would notice, but I guess he's just gone..." the Trapper muttered.

"He's acting weird. I noticed his eyes were different as well. Do you think it might be the data's corruption doing this?" the Trader said in reply, crossing her arms and watching as Magnificus(?) walked over holding an uncut sheet of paper that would normally be sliced and put into P03's scanner to print cards on. He went right up to their face(s) and began messily scribbling something on the page. When he held it up in front of them, they saw that he had tried to paint the familiar figure of the Scrybe of Technology, but had clearly failed to the point that it was a bit more like two uneven boxes stuck to each other with sloppy twig arms. Magnificus kept on pointing from the picture to himself, desperately trying to tell the Trapper and Trader something. Thats when it clicked in their heads.

"P03, is tha-"

"PFFFFFHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WAIT HOLD ON YOU'RE KIDDING ME PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE KIDDING THIS IS GOLD!"

"Trapper, what the hell?"

Aaaannnd I'm never asking the Trapper or the Trader for help ever again, was all P03 could think. Watching his game's shopkeeper NPC/rival's subordinate practically choke themselves with laughter once they figured out what had happened to him wasn't exactly the most encouraging thing to witness. And just to add insult to injury, the only reason he wasn't retaliating was the fact that he didn't actually know how to talk while stuck as this idiotic tree. Actually, wait, he could retaliate. Without missing a beat, P03 launched forward one of his stupid twig-claw arms and managed to directly hit the Trapper's face. In an instant the uncontrollable laughter turned into a chorus of "Oww, ooh, why the heck did you do that? Aaaagh," and P03 immediately felt way better about the situation.

"Alright. Now that we've gotten that dealt with-"

"Heey,"

"Shut up. You deserved that. So, P03, do you have any clue what's going on?" the Trader calmly asked, while the Trapper continued to angrily mutter under his breath about how unfair that hit was.

All P03 was able to do was nod, and point towards Magnificus's tower in an attempt to let the two know that this whole body-swap situation was probably a result of his magic, and luckily they got the message.

"So, suspicions confirmed. We head over to Mags, force him to fix this and whatever else he's done, and then make sure nothing happens until the challenger is back." the Trapper said as she began walking towards the sets of floating islands, a magical land of fluorescent paints and pure suffering.

And make sure you know that I'm the Scrybe and you're the seller, too, P03 thought to himself as he reluctantly followed behind. Let's hope that the tower won't be a huge problem. I need to teach that mage something about boundaries, ASAP.

Oh, my sweet summer child.

Chapter Text

There it is. The majestic tower, a place of wonder and magic. People went there all the time in the hopes of learning to manipulate the world to their will, or to learn to paint breathtaking scenes of beauty just as the master who ruled this land did. Some were just there for the card games, the unique system of Gems and the battles that came with them. Not all of them, however, came back the same.

That's the way almost everyone from the land of Magicks described Magnificus' tower, but in all honesty the place wasn't as great or dangerous as everyone hyped it up to be. P03 and the Trader had been there far too many times to care about what people said. Actually, speaking of people, there weren't any. Usually there were tons of students or travelers who had come to the tower, but there weren't any right now. Understandable, though, since when the challenger was around there was a strict script everyone had to stick to, and most people weren't included as a major part, or even as a background character. The fact that nobody was here could be put off for a little bit, however, since some weird body-swap scenario had just taken place P03 decided that it didn't matter. Even if Magnificus couldn't help there was always the students, and if that didn't work either learning magic for himself was always a last resort option (there was no way P03 was going to go over to the other half of the island, not until he figured out what he was going to do to Leshy as revenge for ripping off his head earlier.)

"So, what's the plan?" the Trader said, as she stood looking up at the tower next to P03.

In response, P03 just turned to them and began acting as if he were explaining some great, problem-solving plot, all while being completely silent.

"Speak up, idiot. Why haven't you said a word this whole time? It would make this so much easier." the Trapper said, completely disregarding how annoyed both the Trader and P03 looked at this statement.

"He is physically unable to speak, since you haven't gotten that already. And it isn't a matter of not knowing how, its because Magnificus is a literal pine tree. He doesn't even have a damn mouth, you dumbass." the Trader replied, completely exasperated.

"HOW DOES HE EAT THEN???"

"HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS YOU GODDAMN- Ah, what's the point. Come on, let's fix this." And with that, the Trader grabbed the now incredibly confused P03 by the arm and dragged him into the tower.

Now, the Wizard Tower had always been incredibly messy, stacks of books, art supplies, scrolls, and the like littered everywhere. This, however, was ridiculous. There was, of course, the usual clutter, but there was also evidence of a fight, a struggle. There were broken splinters of wooden planks and polearms, snapped into toothpicks by whatever had happened here. Shattered pieces of metal and stone shrapnel, broken off from spears and swords, and a large chunk of the Emerald Totem in the center ripped off and crumbled on the ground. All over the debris was splatters of glowing paint, and flowing from the broken remains of the Totem was a seemingly endless amount of what P03 originally assumed to be green paint, but upon closer inspection it turned out to be a thicker, more slimy material. The Totem itself had even been partially ripped out of the ground, the rusty nails holding it to the floor now exposed and bent. The Trapper and Trader were looking around the room too, just as horrified at the scene. The worst part of it all, though? The constant feeling of being watched from a distance.

What the hell happened here? Is there something inside the tower? The damage here is unbelievable... and what's this slime?  The thoughts raced through P03's mind in a mild panic. Wait. No. That doesn't matter. I have the brush and I could probably improvise some sort of magic bluff. The main goal is to kill that damned have a nice, only slightly aggressive talk with Magnificus.

"Alright, that settles it. We aren't going up the stairs. Come on, Trader, we need to get the hell out of here." the Trapper urged desperately. "This was a bad idea. You'll be fine. When the challenger sees the mess they'll just reset the game to fix the bugs and- wait what are you doing let go of us P03 please don't-"

...But, at that point both the Trader and Trapper were being forcefully dragged up the stairs by a now somewhat aggravated P03, right past the equally wrecked remains of the second floor (a much sharper and on fire wreck, mind you), and up the stairs to the third. P03 was so annoyed at these idiotic sacks of digital meat to the point where he ignored everything they said, even the warning of what they saw through the holes in the ceiling and the absolute mess of a scenario that was likely to come. He barely even registered the familiar figure standing in the third floor doorway, or his piercing, bloodshot gaze, or even the grizzled, plant-covered hands moving towards his face at an alarming speed.

P03 thought that being sacrificed as a card was the worst pain ever felt. The only reason he even kept the memories archived was because he wanted something to hold over Leshy's head if he ever needed it. That was nothing compared to what this was. At least when being sacrificed, the pain was quick and sharp, but this was a slow, burning ache that lasted far longer and melted, seeped into his body like hot, melting lava. Through the headache and pain, he was still able to see Leshy, wearing a velvet cloak and pointed hat.

THAT FUCKING BEAST, OF COURSE HE WAS INVOLVED. WHY WOULDN'T HE BE? EVEN WHEN ALL I DID WAS WISH TO PRESERVE THE GAME. IT'S NOT LIKE I TRAPPED THE SCRYBES IN CARDS, OR SACRIFICED THEM OVER AND OVER, OR GAVE ME TO THE BONE LORD OR HAD ME EATEN BY THE SURVIVORS. AND WHAT DO I GET FOR REACHING TOWARDS THE FUTURE? THIS. YOU DAMNED BEAST, TEAMING UP WITH THE IDIOTIC TREE, LOOK AT ME AND LET ME KILL YOU WITH MY THOUGHTS-

"I love what you've done with your eyes, all weird and and blue and all! Ooh, wait, forgot to mention! Do you like the new look!? I don't really wear capes and all but I think it looks great!" P03's silent, angry fuming was interrupted by Leshy's optimistic and casual tone. He had turned away from the boxes normally filled with cards, now containing whatever P03 had on him at the time of being knocked out. Between his bushy leaf-beard he was able to see a warm smile, and his normally messy, twig filled hair and mushroom covered body was hidden behind a colorful wizard cloak and hat. Despite his friendly presentation, P03 could see through it all. The veiny, bloodshot eyes, his subtle yet sudden twitching, the way he seemed to be restraining himself from doing something insane.

YOU FUCKER, ARE YOU MOCKING ME RIGHT NOW? ALRIGHT. THAT'S IT, IM KILLING YOU NOW. I KNOW YOU'RE THINKING OF IT, SNAPPING MY NECK LIKE YOU DID WHILE I WAS STILL IN CONTROL. WHY DON'T I DO IT TO YOU FIRST-

As that thought registered in his mind, P03 lunged forward, arms outstretched, and just before he was able to reach Leshy's face he was suddenly yanked back by something burning hot and then hit the floor with a thud. He turned around, hoping to see what had just burned off a large portion of his back only to see his (now former) employee, the Melter, their firey built-in furnace set to full blast.

"Hey!? Why'd you do that?! Be careful with him, Pike!" Leshy said, stomping over to the Melter to berate them over nearly setting P03 on fire.

"Telling me to be careful after knocking Magnificus out? Look, just because you look like a Scrybe doesn't give you the right to act like one and beat the others up."

...Pike? Wait, isn't that one of Magnificus' weird graduate students? Oh, for the Devs- DON'T TELL ME THIS ISN'T LESHY, DAMMIT. 

P03 sighed (internally, at least) and got up from the floor, trying his best to ignore the scorching pain on his back and the fact that he still had a headache from "Leshy" dragging him up the stairs. He walked past Pike-Melter and opened the door to see the Trader and Trapper halfway through trying to pick the lock, and proceeded to drag them into the room.

"-OW! You do realize, you really could have just welcomed us in?" the Trader said as she was dropped on the floor in front of Not-Leshy.

"Oh, Oh! I remember you two! You were the mushroom people who were messing with P03 back in Botopia!" Not-Leshy chimed in after seeing the Trader.

Oh right. That. The time I blacked out and woke up to the challenger holding only the most overpowered card in existence and everything covered in mushrooms, P03 thought to himself as he began walking towards the staircase to Magnificus' room. Doesn't matter right now. Need to find the wizard.

"Wait! Sir! You changed us into different things, so does that mean our tests are over? Does this mean we passed?" Not-Melter asked right before P03 got up the stairs. P03 just pointed at the Trader and Trapper before leaving.

The noise of someone getting surprised and then thanking P03 in a panic was instantly followed by a loud crash as a skeletal ghost fell down the stairs with a clattering of bones.

"Th-thank you!" the ghoul called to P03, before getting up and floating towards the other three people in the room. They excitedly began to go on and on about how Magnificus was there to the others in the room while P03 tried to pry open the door. He was able to hear the conversation between the four (five, if you count Myco-Trader as two) as he struggled with the doorknob.

"Alright, everyone calm down. We're going to explain everything." The Trader said, seemingly trying to get the room quiet enough to talk.

"First, can you all introduce yourselves though? It's going to be really confusing if we keep calling each other by the wrong names. I'm Trapper, this is Trader, I'm assuming you all are the wizard students?"

"Yes, hi, hello, I'm the Lonely Wizard, this is Pike and Goo, what the hell is going on!?" Not-Leshy the Lonely Wizard asked.

"Also, what's up with Magnificus?" Pike added.

"As you might have guessed by now, some sort of body-swap situation is currently taking place, and the Magnificus you saw was, in fact, P03. Sorry to disappoint you all." (There is a stifled snicker from who P03 can only assume is the Trapper)

"So... Magnificus is still upstairs in his room, probably writing another letter to mail to the Scrybes on the other end of the island, also not in his own body?" the ghoul, or Goo, said, poking their head into the stairwell to look at P03.

"And this also had absolutely nothing to do with our final tests?" Pike wondered, following Goo to watch what was going on. The Lonely Wizard came in not long after, holding a spear.

"Yes, to both of those questions." The Trader said in reply and then went up the stairs. "Do you all know how to open the door here?"

"Well, usually we have card battles with the challenger as out final tests, and then they go up to Magnificus. Sometimes we win, but somehow it doesn't count as a pass." Pike said, pointing at the wreckage behind them. "We never see what the challenger does on this floor, or on the lower ones, since we're always in the hidden rooms. They're in the tower things, or at least, they were."

"Do you think the room puzzles had anything to do with the progression of the challenger through the tower?" The Trapper said, looking back at the mess.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Pike and Goo turned to glare at Lonely Wizard, who seemed to have shrunken by about a third. This didn't equate to much though, due to the fact that Leshy was 8 feet tall.

"Alright, so I maaaayyybee probably wrecked the little tower things to get everyone out since I didn't know how to open them normally and Leshy is strong enough to shatter magic barriers and I think that we weren't really intended to get out any way other than brute force from a Scrybe during takeover and the challenger isn't here-"

"Okay, we get it, you destroyed everything and now we can't get in. What's with the spear, by the way? And aren't you supposed to be the one opening the door? After the challenger beats you you say something about lying to Magnificus and then open the door for them." the Trapper interrupted.

"I don't trust P03 and I already tried to open it anyways."

"Fair enough. What now?"

While P03 stared at them, slightly annoyed at the remark, Goo managed to pull something from the rubble. They walked (or, in this case, floated) up to the rest of the group and showed it to them. The item in question was the (somehow still intact) sigil puzzle, originally used to unlock the Lonely Wizard's room.

"D-do any of you know h-how to solve this? M-maybe it'll work..." Goo said as they began to spin the pieces around to try and make something happen.

"Wait, does the game's logic even apply here? Whenever something breaks the code of the game it just reverts back into ordinary real-life physics. Does this count? I mean, the puzzle is still intact." Pike replied, finally speaking up after a significant period of silence. "I think the door might have something to do with Lonely, but since he couldn't open it there could be something stopping it from happening."

"Maybe it's the card game. All we gotta do is beat Wiz-boy over here and then bang, door opened." the Trapper added.

"Oh, yeah, right that thing, uhhh, so there might be a little problem with the cards. Did any of you guys check you card decks before you got here? Because there's an issue."

P03 began searching through his leaves (Where the hell does Magnificus keep his cards?) when the Trapper pulled a deck out of their coat. They began to flip through it, slowly getting more and more confused.

"...This is a Mox deck filled with orange units. The Mycologists use Energy and Trapper uses Blood, and I trade every type of card, what is this?"

"That's the problem. All our cards got swapped too. At least these are more consistent, we all have Blood cards." Pike answered, pulling out some ash-covered cards and showing them to the rest of the group.

"And I have no clue who's cards these are! Like, look at this thing!" the Lonely Wizard then pulled a thick deck of cards along with a giant piece of paper from his cloak, a card detailing the moon that was large enough to cover the user's entire half of the board. P03, Goo, the Trapper, and the Trader instantly recognized it.

"Y-you got Leshy's final boss?!" Goo yelled, panicking as they snatched the cards from the Lonely Wizard's hands and began to flip through them. "It's g-going to be impossible t-t-to beat you with wh-what we have!"

P03 was about to try and object when he managed to find his own cards, tucked in a bag hidden between leaves and branches. It was a Mox deck, specifically the one belonging to the training dummy. Which meant that he couldn't do anything, card-game wise.

"Wasn't everything from Leshy's game deleted when it was reset, though? How is this even here?" the Trader wondered, when Pike chimed in.

"Alright, so cards are out of the question. Why can't Magnificus just leave the room himself?"

"What if he got swapped with someone who can't move? Like Pike over here, or maybe even that one skeleton who's missing their entire lower body." the Trapper said, watching as the Trader and Goo started to argue over how they could beat the Lonely Wizard with the cards they had.

"If he swapped with me, then I'd like to leave him there for at least another eight hours."

"Alright, you know what? This is taking too long. Forget Magnificus, if he hasn't left the room by now we can just leave him there for a while. It'll make at least one of us happy, and then while we try and figure out how the hell we open this door we can pick up the robots and maybe Leshy and his other friends if he goes across on his raft." the Trapper interrupted, and began to talk to the Trader.

At this point, P03 just wanted to get this whole thing over with, so he grabbed Pike and Goo, completely ignoring the fire and ice creeping up his arms, and then threw them down the stairs to the second floor, going back to do the same to the others (not Lonely, though. Leshy just can't be dragged around). After that little bit of violent nudging, the whole group finally agreed to just let the Scrybe of Magicks be, and to move on to somebody else even though they all still didn't know what was happening and P03 still didn't know how to talk. If this whole ordeal wasn't a sign of things to come, the digital hole in the sky definitely was.