Beepsumu continued. “T-there was… A-a fire! In… One of the rooms…”

Bonkakira stepped in, tripping over Beepsumu and Jingletooth in the process. “But it totally wasn’t her fault. Uh-uh. She had nothing to do with it. At all.”

Even Jingletooth spoke up. “It was ALL ME! I was ATTEMPTING to UPLOAD myself to the INTERNET!”

Smithy didn’t even blink at Jingletooth’s answer. “Ho! So you think you’re one of MY workers, are you? You think I don’t know about this one? You think I don’t know that SHE’S been causing these fires, and that SHE came back just to trash the place?!”

He gave Bowyetta another hard shake, this time knocking several things out of her hair, including another arrow. This one, however, had something to say about all this. “Yo, Santa Claus! Quit shakin’ our master around! She’s not-”

Before it could finish its sentence, Smithy slammed his hammer on the ground, crushing the poor creature under it. The girls could only stare in stunned silence, except for Bowyetta, who screamed at the sight. “This one’s defective, that’s what she is! And defective products get send BACK TO THE FACTORY!” Smithy then turned away to carry Bowyetta off further into the factory.

The Repairman flinched as the poor arrow was crushed. He, too, said nothing, but noticed he could finally move. Must’ve been the jolt.

As Smithy was shuttling Bowyetta off, the inkblot went up to the pancake of an arrow. He picked it up carefully, then shook it like a rug. Within a second, it popped back into a more proper arrow shape. It still looked battered, and it wasn’t exactly conscious, but at least it wasn’t flat. He carefully put it into his hammerspace, then picked up his dropped items and started heading towards Smithy.

“Um, sir,” he called out, “aren’t you forgetting something?”

He waved the paddleball from before above his head as he rushed towards the mechanical monstrosity. Hopefully, by some miracle, this would work…