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The sound of heavy, steady thudding filled Axel's town square, market stalls wobbled, the produce they held scattering to the ground as the floor shook beneath them. Wiz glanced up from the toxic root she'd been examining, wondering if she could make it into a potion to sell in her shop, and sighed. There she was again. Megumin. At least, the robot that used to be Megumin before she was transformed into a steel-plated machine. The poor former-girl was out on some menial, enforced errand again, a bulging sack clasped in her metallic hand as she stomped in the direction of the Adventurer's Guild, irritated stall-holders yelling at her as she passed. An irritant, that was how most people in town saw her since her unfortunate change from flesh and blood to metal and wiring. A hulking lump of steel that stamped regularly through town, causing minor tremors wherever she went without a hint of consideration for anyone else, pushing right past anyone in her path if they didn't leap out of her way. There had even been a few attempts to destroy her and rid the town of its mechanical nuisance, but, no matter how strong the adventurer that attacked her, no-one had yet managed to even dent her now-robotic form.

Wiz, however, pitied her. Even if the robot-girl did wrench the front door of her shop from its frame every time she was ordered to go there. Pitied her because she was ordered. She didn't choose to do anything she did. Her friends-cum-owners thought they'd kept it a secret (not wanting their transformed-party member to fall into the wrong hands and, more to the point, unwilling to lose their mechanical slave), that the girl-turned-automaton would do anything you told her as long as you said her name before issuing a command, but the lich-woman had worked it out. Completely by accident, admittedly, by screaming at her to put her underwear drawer back in her bedroom, but it still changed everything. Where everyone else just saw the former-girl as a metallic annoyance, a lump of moving metal which uncaringly kept everyone awake at night, hoovered up all the quests and the money that came with their completion and occassionally acted strangely perverted towards young women, Wiz knew that the robot had no choice. That there was probably a girl's mind still in there, likely screaming and crying internally as she was dragged from chore to chore by her own, unquestionably obediant, no-longer-human form. Wiz could only shudder, wondering how terrible it must be to be trapped, a prisoner in your own body like that, a body that obeyed not the once-human girl herself, but the command of others...

"Hey, wait up!" said the brown-haired girl, putting the root back down and rushing to catch up to the previously-Megumin machine as she passed. Of course, she didn't wait. She didn't even glance in the non-transformed girl's direction. She was fulfilling an order and nothing would distract her from that duty. The lich had to run, struggling to keep up with the girl-turned-robot's large stride as she spoke.

"Megumin," she said, puffing and panting beside the robot. "Come to my shop when you're finished with that. I've got something I want to show you."

The transformed-girl showed no sign that she'd heard her, continuing to stomp fixedly across the square without a hint of hesitation as the lich stopped, leaning forwards with her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She'd given the order, the mechanical-girl would obey, she had no doubt of that. She just had to get back to her shop and wait for her to arrive. She stood back up straight and began making her way home, a smile spreading across her face as she imagined how happy and grateful the no-longer-human girl would be when she arrived...

She wasn't waiting for long. The girl had only been in the shop for a few minutes, busying herself with rearranging a display, when an awful, splintering crack shot through the entire building. She turned around to see the robot-which-had-been-Megumin stomping through the now-empty doorway, trampling the remains of the door beneath her metal feet as she went.

"Oh yeah, I meant to leave that open..." said Wiz, with a sigh, before looking up at the female-shaped automaton standing perfectly still in front of her. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here, and I'm sure you will be, too! It must be horrible for you, being a robot. Living as a mechanical slave for some people that were supposed to be your friends... What's it like having no control over your own body?"

The robot-which-used-to-be-a-girl said nothing, simply staring silently ahead, rooted to the spot like a mechanical, girl-shaped tree.

"Oh, right," said Wiz. "Sorry, I guess finishing an order puts your body in some kind of standby mode, huh? Megumin, talk and move freely."

"OH, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" said the girl-turned-robot, rushing forward and hugging the girl who'd ordered her to be free.

"Please, you're crushing me!" gasped the woman in the machine's arms, her feet dangling in the air beneath her.

"HUH? OH! SORRY!" said the former-girl, dropping Wiz to the floor. "I JUST GOT EXCITED. I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO MOVE FREELY OR EVEN SPEAK FOR WEEKS! KAZUMA, AQUA AND DARKNESS NEVER LET ME CONTROL MYSELF, THEY JUST MAKE ME DO WEIRD AND BORING STUFF ALL DAY WITHOUT A BREAK, THEN LEAVE ME IN STANDBY WHEN THEY GO TO BED! I'M NOT SURE THEY EVEN REMEMBER THAT I USED TO BE A PERSON LIKE THEM..."

"Oh my," said Wiz, re-composing herself. "That sounds awful. How could anyone treat a friend like that?"

"BECAUSE I'M NOT THEIR FRIEND ANYMORE!" wailed Megumin, mechanically. "I'M JUST A THING NOW! AN ITEM THAT THEY USE TO MAKE THEIR OWN LIVES EASIER! I'M NO DIFFERENT TO THEM THAN A HEALING POTION, OR A WEAPON, OR SOME ARMOUR! I HATE BEING A ROBOT AND THEY DON'T EVEN LET ME TELL THEM THAT!"

"Aww, there, there," said Wiz, placing a reassuring hand on the now-robot girl's cold, metallic arm. "You poor girl. This transformation's been difficult for you, huh? But don't worry, I've got something that will make your life much better."

"NOTHING CAN MAKE THIS BETTER," said the girl-turned-robot, despairingly. "EVEN IF I COULD CONTROL MYSELF ALL THE TIME, I STILL CAN'T USE EXPLOSION MAGIC WITH THIS STUPID METAL BODY. WHAT'S THE POINT IN LIVING IF I CAN'T CAST EXPLOSIONS!? THE ONLY THING THAT CAN HELP ME IS TURNING BACK TO NORMAL, BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE..."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," that Wiz, grinning at her.

"WAIT, WHAT?" said the robot, staring at the member of her former-species with as much disbelief as her unchanging metallic face would allow. "IS... IS THAT WHY YOU ORDERED ME HERE? WHAT YOU WANT TO SHOW ME? A WAY TO TURN ME BACK!?"

"That's right," said Wiz. "I've felt so sorry for you, being stuck like that, so I've been researching a way to reverse your transformation. I think I finally cracked it!"

"YOU... THINK?" said Megumin, nervously.

"I mean, I'm completely sure I finally cracked it!" said Wiz, pulling something from the depths of her robe. "We just need to use this!"

"A BLANK PIECE OF PAPER?" said the robot-girl staring at the unblemished scroll the lich unfurled before her.

"Not just any blank paper," said Wiz. "A magically-charged scroll! Grab it and see what happens!"

"UM... OKAY..." said Megumin, hesitatingly taking the unwritten scroll from the lich. A scroll that began to bloom with pink light as soon as it touched her mechanical fingers, the sight of which made the former-girl scream. The last time she'd seen anything flare pink she'd been transformed into the machine she now was...

The pink light didn't transform anyone, though. It stayed entirely within the paper, shining palely, only just visible, as words appeared, writing themselves in glittering pink ink onto the scroll, the light fading when three complete words were printed on its surface.

"Perfect!" said Wiz, taking the paper back from the former-girl's robotic grasp. "It took me a long time to work out how to do this, but the paper was enchanted with a magic altering spell. When it came into contact with your magically-transformed body, it wrote a new version of the spell that did this to you!"

"WAIT..." said Megumin. "YOU MEAN...?"

"Yep," said Wiz, holding up the scroll triumphantly. "We changed the spell! If it permanently changed a girl into a robot before, now it should permanently transform a robot into a girl! All I have to do is say these words and you'll be back to normal!"

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?" said the transformed-girl. "I DON'T WANT TO BE STUCK LIKE THIS FOR ANOTHER SECOND! I WANT TO BE ME AGAIN! I WANT TO BLOW SOMETHING UP!"

"Alright, here we go!" said Wiz, clearing her throat and glancing at the three, sparkling words printed on the scroll, before focusing on the girl-turned-machine in front of her. "I erit machina!"

The second the words left her mouth, there was an explosion of bright-pink light, light that seemed to burst not from the steel-plated form of the girl-turned-robot as expected, but from the pale flesh of the girl that invoked the spell. It was impossible to be sure where it came from, though, because both the girl and former-girl were near-instantly blinded by the garishly-coloured flash...

And then, as quickly as it had appeared, it faded. Wiz was immediately dissapointed to see Megumin standing in front of her, not in her original, human body as she'd hoped, but still in the form of a huge robot. A much huger robot than she was a second ago, in fact. The transformed-girl hadn't been much more than a couple of feet taller than her, but now she towered above her, more than double her size. What had she done wrong? Had she changed the spell into one that made robots bigger, rather than one which turned them back into people? ...But, if enlarging machines was what the spell did, why wasn't Megumin the only thing that had grown? The shelves she stood beside seemed much larger than they did a second ago, as well... Wiz looked around in confusion, trying to ignore the slight whirring sound that accompanied every movement of her head. It wasn't just Megumin and the shelves that seemed bigger, it was everything. As if it wasn't Megumin who had grown, but herself who had shrunk...

What was going on? The altered spell was supposed to affect Megumin, not her! Why was she shorter? And why did she feel so strange? Why did her arms feel so thin and bent at odd places, and distressingly as if she'd sprouted a second pair of them? Why couldn't she feel her hands, but could feel something else sticking from the end of her seemingly-doubled forelimbs, curving out from all four of them and connecting them all together? Why couldn't she feel her legs, but could feel two pairs of round objects where each of her feet should have been, distanced from each other and wrapped over with something that felt strangely like rubber? Why did her body feel so squat and her head so cube-ish? Why couldn't she feel her neck when she turned her box-feeling head, which instead seemed bizarrely to be pivoting on something? Why did she feel so... plastic? None of this was right! Girls aren't made of plastic and that was what she was! A girl! Well, she was an undead lich, admittedly, but she was still a girl! ...Wasn't she?

"AUGH, I'M STILL A DUMB ROBOT!" wailed Megumin, above her. "IT DIDN'T WORK, WIZ! ...WIZ? WHERE DID SHE GO?"

What do you mean, where did I go? I'm right here! the girl-who-hoped-she-was-still-a-girl tried to say, but failed completely. The only sound she produced was a high-pitched, digital-sounding squeak. Taken by surprise, she tried again, but succeeded only in emitting a series of computerised beeps and whistles. She bleeped again in panic. What had happened to her? Why couldn't she talk!?

"HUH? WHAT WAS THAT?" said Megumin, looking down towards Wiz in bewilderment. "IS THAT ANOTHER ROBOT...? WHERE DID IT COME FROM?"

What are you talking about!? Wiz failed to say with a series of frantic beeps and bloops. I'm the only thing here! There is no other robot!

"OH MY GOSH, WIZ!" gasped Megumin, without any breath. "THAT THING'S YOU!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOURSELF?"

Wait, did you understand me? squeaked and bleeped Wiz. How? I'm just making... robot... noises... Augh! Megumin, what am I!? Don't tell me I'm-

"YOU ARE," said Megumin, as sadly as her electronic voice would allow. "IF THAT'S REALLY YOU, THEN YOU'VE TURNED INTO A ROBOT JUST LIKE ME. ...WELL, NOT EXACTLY LIKE ME. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF..."

Wiz tried to gulp to steady her nerves, but completely failed. Her mouth didn't even move, remaining exactly as it was, feeling like nothing more than a small, open hole in the middle of her face. She was... a robot? That's what Megumin had just said and she was certainly making robotic sounds, not to mention how strange every part of her body felt... As much as she didn't want to, she had to admit that all the signs pointed to her humanity having been replaced with non-human machinery... But she couldn't believe that! She was a person, not a load of wires and circuitry in a plastic casing! This was all just a crazy mistake, or something! It had to be! Determined to prove herself and Megumin wrong, she looked down at herself, desperately hoping to see a human's body and not a robot's...

It wasn't a human's body. The former-girl let out a shrill whistle that was supposed to be a scream at what she saw, a sound that was slightly too loud for her hardware to properly handle, coming out distorted and making her new speaker vibrate uncomfortably inside her no-longer-human head. What she saw when she looked at herself wasn't human skin covered in a purple robe, but plastic. Four spindly plastic protrusions had taken the place of her arms, ending not in hands but a single wide scoop, set with a pair of blunt hooks on its front. Her legs had vanished, each replaced by a couple of small wheels, hidden beneath a rubber track that both ran the length of her new body. Her body itself was now nothing more than a squat, plastic housing for her internal components, a fairly flat, rounded lower portion to fit her new wheels and a slightly hunched upper part to accomodate her scoop and the head that was nothing more than a rounded box with a screen on its front. She was nothing but a machine on wheels, not a single a hint of the curvaceous, feminine, human form she had so recently possessed remaining. She really had transformed into a robot!

The new robot stared at her unwanted scoop, watching, horrified as she lifted it as easily as she'd just been able to lift her arms, feeling her joints spin and her mechanisms whirr as she moved. This was terrible! She was supposed to have hands, not a scoop! Skin, not plastic! Legs, not rubber tracks! She was supposed to be a person, not a robot! Why had this happened to her!? The scroll had reacted to Megumin's transformed-body exactly as it was supposed to, so she was sure the spell would turn the other girl back, not turn herself into a robot, as well! They should have been standing there as a pair of human girls now, not as a couple of machines! The girl-turned-robot looked down at her newly-plastic form and bleeped in frustration. She was supposed to have been basking in Megumin's gratitude for freeing her from her robotic nightmare by now, not sharing in her inhuman horror!

"UM... WIZ...?" said the other robot, the freshly-transformed girl wishing she was still capable of shuddering as she realised she'd just thought of her as an "other robot". "ARE YOU OKAY?"

Of course I'm not okay! said the plastic former-girl with whistles and squeaks, waggling her new scoop in frustration. I'm a robot! Just a machine! I want to be a person, not... this!

"IT'S A SHOCK ISN'T IT?" said Megumin, looking down at the other former-girl with as much sympathy as an outwardly-emotionless device could manage.

How... how do you cope with it? beeped the new robot, staring imploringly up at her fellow transformed-girl. You've been a robot for a while now, haven't you? How did you adjust to being a machine?

"I DIDN'T," said Megumin, miserably. "I TOLD YOU, I HATE BEING A ROBOT. IT'S AWFUL! MY LIFE ISN'T MY OWN AND I CAN'T DO ANY OF THE STUFF I ENJOYED AS A PERSON! EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY I WISH I WAS ME AGAIN, BUT I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"

The new girl-turned-robot listened in horror, staring up at her now-fellow machine, then back at her own, now-plastic form. Is... that what it's going to be like for me? she whistled. I'm going to spend the rest of my life trapped in mechanical despair, just like you? Never adjusting or accepting being stuck as this... thing?

"MAYBE," said Megumin. "BUT IT MIGHT NOT BE AS BAD FOR YOU. I MEAN, LOOK AT YOU. YOU'RE MOVING AND SORT-OF TALKING AND YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANYONE TO TELL YOU YOU CAN. UNLESS I'M ORDERED TO BE FREE, I'M STUCK AS A CONSCIOUS METAL STATUE..."

The new robot blooped in surprise, waggling her scoop again. Her fellow transformation-victim had a point. She'd turned into a robot, but she was still in charge of her own body, unlike the other former-girl in front of her. That was something, right? ...Not much, though. She was still stuck as a wheeled-machine. In a body without arms that could presumably only talk to other robots. Even if she was still in charge of her own movement, what sort of life could she live like this? All she could imagine were endless days of trundling aimlessly around town, not even being able to say "good morning" to anyone she passed until she eventually broke down...

I can still move, but at least you still have arms and legs! bleeped the former-girl. And a proper voice! I'll never hold anything again! I'll never even be able to go anywhere with stairs! Your robot body is better than mine!

"I'D RATHER HAVE WHEELS THAN BE A HELPLESS SLAVE!" said Megumin. "YOU'RE LUCKY! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE MISERABLE!"

Lucky!? squeaked the new robot. I'm made of plastic! If you're hit by a ferocious attack it just bounces off you! I'd be smashed to pieces!

"AT LEAST YOU'RE NOT HUGE AND HEAVY!" said Megumin. "KNOWING YOU'RE ANNOYING EVERYONE JUST BY WALKING NEAR THEM!"

Well, beeped the recently-human girl. Well... Maybe we're both cursed. What's the point in arguing about who's fate is worse? We've both been turned into robots and neither of us happy about it. Let's just agree that we're both miserable.

"YEAH, YOU'RE RIGHT..." said Megumin, letting her metallic arms droop. "WHY DID YOU BECOME SUCH A DIFFERENT KIND OF ROBOT FROM ME, ANYWAY? IF IT'S THE SAME MAGIC, SHOULDN'T YOU BE A BIG, METAL MACHINE, AS WELL?"

Because the scroll changed the magic, remember? whistled the new robot, sadly. I assumed that meant it had turned the spell into a transformation-reversing one, but it must have just changed the target and type of robot they become. I... did this to myself...

"YEAH, THAT WAS PRETTY DUMB," agreed Megumin. "...BUT THANKS FOR TRYING TO HELP ME. SORRY YOU ENDED UP LIKE THAT."

Megumin... said the former-girl, looking up at her fellow former-girl with what would have been tears in her eye if her eye wasn't just some lights on a screen. It's okay. It's not your fault, it's mine. I'm sorry for giving you false hope...

"BUT, IF YOU CHANGED THE SPELL ENOUGH THAT YOU BECAME A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT KIND OF ROBOT..." said Megumin. "COULDN'T YOU JUST KEEP WORKING ON IT? IF YOU'VE ALREADY ALTERED IT THAT MUCH, IT SHOULDN'T TAKE MUCH MORE TO CREATE A REVERSAL SPELL."

Maybe it wouldn't... beeped the girl-turned-plastic-machine. But enchanting things and creating spells requires a lot of heavy hand use, not to mention speaking, and I can't do either of those things with this body. Besides, magic needs to flow through a living being to be activated, neither of us could make a spell work with these artificial bodies we're stuck in...

"SO IT'S STILL HOPELESS..." said Megumin, as sadly as her speaker could manage.

Unless we get a non-transformed person to help us, yes, whistled and squeaked the new robot, dejectedly. Without human assistance, we're stuck like this for the rest of our lives...

"There you are Megumin!" said a new, familiar voice, from the entrance of the shop. "Kazuma wasn't sending you to raid Wiz's panties again, was he? Come on, you need to scrub my... Huh? Is that... another robot? Is Wiz selling them now?"

Aqua stepped towards the transformed-girl, tilting her head as she stared at her newly-plastic form in curiosity. No, I'm not being sold by Wiz, I am Wiz! the girl-turned-machine tried to say with bleeps and whistles, frantically waving her scoop up and down. I turned myself into a robot by mistake! Please, Aqua, you have to help me!

"Um... a lively machine, isn't it?" said Aqua, rubbing the back of her head as she stared blankly at the transformed-girl in front of her. The girl-turned-robot beeped dejectedly and lowered her scoop to the floor. It was just as she'd feared, the still-human girl hadn't understood her. Only a fellow-robot like Megumin could make sense of what she said. What was she supposed to do if she couldn't even talk to people?

"SHE'S NOT JUST A MACHINE!" said Megumin. "SHE'S WIZ! SHE WAS TRYING TO TURN ME BACK AND ACCIDENTALLY TRANSFORMED HERSELF!"

"Huh?" said Aqua, staring in surprise back at the squat, wheeled device in front of her, only about half her height. "That's Wiz? No way! Is it really you in there?"

The recently-transformed girl nodded her now-plastic head, squeaking miserably. "Hah!" laughed Aqua. "So you tried to turn our robot back into a useless explosion fetishist and ended up turning yourself into that silly plastic thing, huh? Serves you right!"

"AQUA, PLEASE!" begged Megumin. "THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR! WE NEED A PERSON TO HELP TURN US BACK AND YOU CAN'T REALLY WANT TO LEAVE US BOTH TRAPPED AS-"

"Megumin, enter standby," interjected Aqua, irritably. In an instant, the original girl-turned-robot stopped talking, her metallic arms drooping limply to her sides as she stood as still and silent as a statue.

"There," said Aqua, turning her attention back to the other girl-turned-robot in front of her. "Now that that overgrown toy's stopped whining, let's see if you can be useful, as well... Wiz, go to the counter and back."

The former-girl wanted to tell her that she wasn't going to follow her orders, that she needed to stop this selfish cruelty and help her find a way to turn both Megumin and herself back to their normal, human selves. ...But she couldn't tell her those things, and not only because she could only produce mechanical sounds. Not when she couldn't even produce them anymore. As soon as the non-transformed girl had told her to move, she lost all control of her own, no-longer-human body, her plastic form spinning around of its own accord, her wheels turning without her say-so, pushing her tracks across the floor as she drove smoothly to the shop's counter, hating how horribly alien and inhuman it felt to be moving on wheels instead of feet. But that depressing reminder of her now-robotic existence wasn't as bad as her newfound lack of autonomy. She tried to resist it, to pull herself away from her ordered path, to screech at herself to stop, but could do nothing, her transformed-body was listening to Aqua, not herself. All the girl-turned-robot could do was watch, listening to the whirr of her own, unwanted wheels as she gently rolled towards the counter, before turning around and heading automatically back towards the girl who commanded her.

When she reached the non-transformed girl again, her unvoiced screams were suddenly vocalised again, beeps, whirrs and whistles tearing, distorted, out of her ever-open mouth-hole. Her newly-robotic body had been powerless to resist an order from a human being! She was just like Megumin! The girl-turned-robot looked up at the currently-inanimate form of her fellow transformed-girl and squeaked in horror. With a body that was hopelessly incapable of disobeying a command, was she doomed to become nothing but a mechanical slave herself? A simple tool to be used by still-human masters, just like the other former-girl? She looked up at Aqua and whistled at her desperately, trying to plead with her not to do that again, to help her escape this fate, rather than condemn her to an existence of forced servitude. ...But Aqua had no way of understanding her unintelligible protests, ignoring them as she looked down at her, a hand over chin with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Hmm," she said. "Telling her what to do worked the same as with Megumin, but it is kind of annoying that she regained control as soon as the task was over... Oh well. I'm sure we can find lots of use for her anyway. We'll just have to make sure we're careful with our orders so she doesn't get away..."

The formerly-lich robot bleeped in horror. Aqua was seeing her as just the machine she now was, not the person she had been, and was planning to treat her that way. Endless days of silently, automatically shuffling boxes and stuff hooked onto her new scoop, with even the luxury of autonomous movement taken away, stretched horribly before her. She didn't want that life! She needed to get away from this blue-haired monster! Desperately, she span her new wheels and drove herself forward as quickly as her internal motor would allow, heading for the empty doorframe at the front of the shop. She didn't know what she'd do. Didn't know where she'd go or how she'd live as a not-even-human-shaped robot, but she'd think of something! Somehow, some day, she'd find a way to restore her lost humanity! She had to believe that! If she wanted any hope, any chance at all to live the rest of her life as anything but the possession of a member of her former-species, she needed to escape this building and-

"Wiz, stop."

The transformed-girl ground to a halt immediately. At Aqua's word, just a couple of feet from the doorway, her moving parts ceased moving and she stopped, just as she'd been ordered to. The girl-turned-robot tried to scream, to spin her wheels again, but her plastic-shelled body would not comply. She was, temporarily at least, inanimate. Nothing but a robot-shaped lump of plastic and circuitry sat on the floor of what had so recently been her shop, not even able to vocalise a single beep, completely at the mercy of the girl whose simple command had rendered her helplessly inert.

"Good," said Aqua, stepping towards the former-girl with her arms folded over chest. "What, did you think you could run away? You're a robot now! You have to do whatever I say! Forget about who you were and accept what you are now, an object that will make my life even simpler! Aren't you happy that you'll be contributing to such a noble cause?"

Happy!? thought the new robot. I can't even move! What am I supposed to be happy about? Why are you doing this to me, Aqua!? There's nothing noble about it! I might have been transformed into one, but I'm not just a robot! ...But she was just a robot now. A robot which had been set to standby mode, unable to do anything as Aqua crouched down towards her and began examining her more closely, the formerly-human machine wanting to squeak in discomfort as the non-transformed girl placed a warm hand on her cold, plastic form.

"Huh, you seem pretty solidly built," said Aqua, flashing her a grin. "Definitely strong enough for the job I have in mind for you. Megumin, go and wash my dirty underwear. Wiz, carry me home. I can't wait to show everyone our new robot!"

Carry you home!? thought the transformed-girl, horrified. You can't mean- But she did. Aqua hoisted herself onto the former-girl's plastic back, wrapping her legs around her and gripping the side of her screen-fronted head with her hands, straddling her almost like a bicycle. The new machine wanted to shriek, to shake her unwanted passenger off as she felt the embrace of still-human girl's limbs and her soft, horribly-warm rear settling on top of her, her plastic form straining slightly beneath her weight, but she couldn't. She was powerless to resist as her own body started to move without her permission, trundling smoothly out of the shop and onto the street, Megumin marching obediantly ahead of them as she rolled on her unwanted rubber tracks into the outside world.

Aqua crushing down on top of her the entire time, acutely aware of all the passing strangers staring at her in confusion as she went, the robot-which-had-been-Wiz watched the other robot-which-had-been-a-girl stomp swiftly out of sight. She'd wondered how terrified, how uncomfortable, how awful Megumin must have felt all this time, trapped in a body she did not control, forced to fulfill the whims of others, and now she knew, because she was experiencing it herself. She was just a mechanical item now, too. The property of a girl too lazy to even walk across town and nothing more. A simple object, enveloped in her own private torment and despair as she was forced to convey her living cargo across town, unwillingly parading her new, robotic body for all to see, with nothing to look forward to but being issued her next command when she reached her unchosen destination... If she still had tearducts, the new robot would have been sobbing. Was there even any hope of getting away? Of escaping to live freely, even if she was still stuck as an inhuman machine...?

"Hmm, a little slow maybe, but it saves me walking!" said Aqua, with a giggle. "You're going to be such a help to me, robot! And remember, don't even think about escaping! After all, I'll just shut you behind a door when you're not being used. There's no way you'd be able to open it without hands! You're going to belong to me and the rest of my party forever!"

Commissioned by an anonymous commissioner. Hope you like it!

This is part of a series! Follow the links below to see the rest!

#1 www.deviantart.com/p1nkapple/a…

#2 You are here!

#3 www.deviantart.com/p1nkapple/a…

Description

The sound of heavy, steady thudding filled Axel's town square, market stalls wobbled, the produce they held scattering to the ground as the floor shook beneath them. Wiz glanced up from the toxic root she'd been examining, wondering if she could make it into a potion to sell in her shop, and sighed. There she was again. Megumin. At least, the robot that used to be Megumin before she was transformed into a steel-plated machine. The poor former-girl was out on some menial, enforced errand again, a bulging sack clasped in her metallic hand as she stomped in the direction of the Adventurer's Guild, irritated stall-holders yelling at her as she passed. An irritant, that was how most people in town saw her since her unfortunate change from flesh and blood to metal and wiring. A hulking lump of steel that stamped regularly through town, causing minor tremors wherever she went without a hint of consideration for anyone else, pushing right past anyone in her path if they didn't leap out of her way. There had even been a few attempts to destroy her and rid the town of its mechanical nuisance, but, no matter how strong the adventurer that attacked her, no-one had yet managed to even dent her now-robotic form.

Wiz, however, pitied her. Even if the robot-girl did wrench the front door of her shop from its frame every time she was ordered to go there. Pitied her because she was ordered. She didn't choose to do anything she did. Her friends-cum-owners thought they'd kept it a secret (not wanting their transformed-party member to fall into the wrong hands and, more to the point, unwilling to lose their mechanical slave), that the girl-turned-automaton would do anything you told her as long as you said her name before issuing a command, but the lich-woman had worked it out. Completely by accident, admittedly, by screaming at her to put her underwear drawer back in her bedroom, but it still changed everything. Where everyone else just saw the former-girl as a metallic annoyance, a lump of moving metal which uncaringly kept everyone awake at night, hoovered up all the quests and the money that came with their completion and occassionally acted strangely perverted towards young women, Wiz knew that the robot had no choice. That there was probably a girl's mind still in there, likely screaming and crying internally as she was dragged from chore to chore by her own, unquestionably obediant, no-longer-human form. Wiz could only shudder, wondering how terrible it must be to be trapped, a prisoner in your own body like that, a body that obeyed not the once-human girl herself, but the command of others...

"Hey, wait up!" said the brown-haired girl, putting the root back down and rushing to catch up to the previously-Megumin machine as she passed. Of course, she didn't wait. She didn't even glance in the non-transformed girl's direction. She was fulfilling an order and nothing would distract her from that duty. The lich had to run, struggling to keep up with the girl-turned-robot's large stride as she spoke.

"Megumin," she said, puffing and panting beside the robot. "Come to my shop when you're finished with that. I've got something I want to show you."

The transformed-girl showed no sign that she'd heard her, continuing to stomp fixedly across the square without a hint of hesitation as the lich stopped, leaning forwards with her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She'd given the order, the mechanical-girl would obey, she had no doubt of that. She just had to get back to her shop and wait for her to arrive. She stood back up straight and began making her way home, a smile spreading across her face as she imagined how happy and grateful the no-longer-human girl would be when she arrived...

She wasn't waiting for long. The girl had only been in the shop for a few minutes, busying herself with rearranging a display, when an awful, splintering crack shot through the entire building. She turned around to see the robot-which-had-been-Megumin stomping through the now-empty doorway, trampling the remains of the door beneath her metal feet as she went.

"Oh yeah, I meant to leave that open..." said Wiz, with a sigh, before looking up at the female-shaped automaton standing perfectly still in front of her. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here, and I'm sure you will be, too! It must be horrible for you, being a robot. Living as a mechanical slave for some people that were supposed to be your friends... What's it like having no control over your own body?"

The robot-which-used-to-be-a-girl said nothing, simply staring silently ahead, rooted to the spot like a mechanical, girl-shaped tree.

"Oh, right," said Wiz. "Sorry, I guess finishing an order puts your body in some kind of standby mode, huh? Megumin, talk and move freely."

"OH, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" said the girl-turned-robot, rushing forward and hugging the girl who'd ordered her to be free.

"Please, you're crushing me!" gasped the woman in the machine's arms, her feet dangling in the air beneath her.

"HUH? OH! SORRY!" said the former-girl, dropping Wiz to the floor. "I JUST GOT EXCITED. I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO MOVE FREELY OR EVEN SPEAK FOR WEEKS! KAZUMA, AQUA AND DARKNESS NEVER LET ME CONTROL MYSELF, THEY JUST MAKE ME DO WEIRD AND BORING STUFF ALL DAY WITHOUT A BREAK, THEN LEAVE ME IN STANDBY WHEN THEY GO TO BED! I'M NOT SURE THEY EVEN REMEMBER THAT I USED TO BE A PERSON LIKE THEM..."

"Oh my," said Wiz, re-composing herself. "That sounds awful. How could anyone treat a friend like that?"

"BECAUSE I'M NOT THEIR FRIEND ANYMORE!" wailed Megumin, mechanically. "I'M JUST A THING NOW! AN ITEM THAT THEY USE TO MAKE THEIR OWN LIVES EASIER! I'M NO DIFFERENT TO THEM THAN A HEALING POTION, OR A WEAPON, OR SOME ARMOUR! I HATE BEING A ROBOT AND THEY DON'T EVEN LET ME TELL THEM THAT!"

"Aww, there, there," said Wiz, placing a reassuring hand on the now-robot girl's cold, metallic arm. "You poor girl. This transformation's been difficult for you, huh? But don't worry, I've got something that will make your life much better."

"NOTHING CAN MAKE THIS BETTER," said the girl-turned-robot, despairingly. "EVEN IF I COULD CONTROL MYSELF ALL THE TIME, I STILL CAN'T USE EXPLOSION MAGIC WITH THIS STUPID METAL BODY. WHAT'S THE POINT IN LIVING IF I CAN'T CAST EXPLOSIONS!? THE ONLY THING THAT CAN HELP ME IS TURNING BACK TO NORMAL, BUT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE..."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," that Wiz, grinning at her.

"WAIT, WHAT?" said the robot, staring at the member of her former-species with as much disbelief as her unchanging metallic face would allow. "IS... IS THAT WHY YOU ORDERED ME HERE? WHAT YOU WANT TO SHOW ME? A WAY TO TURN ME BACK!?"

"That's right," said Wiz. "I've felt so sorry for you, being stuck like that, so I've been researching a way to reverse your transformation. I think I finally cracked it!"

"YOU... THINK?" said Megumin, nervously.

"I mean, I'm completely sure I finally cracked it!" said Wiz, pulling something from the depths of her robe. "We just need to use this!"

"A BLANK PIECE OF PAPER?" said the robot-girl staring at the unblemished scroll the lich unfurled before her.

"Not just any blank paper," said Wiz. "A magically-charged scroll! Grab it and see what happens!"

"UM... OKAY..." said Megumin, hesitatingly taking the unwritten scroll from the lich. A scroll that began to bloom with pink light as soon as it touched her mechanical fingers, the sight of which made the former-girl scream. The last time she'd seen anything flare pink she'd been transformed into the machine she now was...

The pink light didn't transform anyone, though. It stayed entirely within the paper, shining palely, only just visible, as words appeared, writing themselves in glittering pink ink onto the scroll, the light fading when three complete words were printed on its surface.

"Perfect!" said Wiz, taking the paper back from the former-girl's robotic grasp. "It took me a long time to work out how to do this, but the paper was enchanted with a magic altering spell. When it came into contact with your magically-transformed body, it wrote a new version of the spell that did this to you!"

"WAIT..." said Megumin. "YOU MEAN...?"

"Yep," said Wiz, holding up the scroll triumphantly. "We changed the spell! If it permanently changed a girl into a robot before, now it should permanently transform a robot into a girl! All I have to do is say these words and you'll be back to normal!"

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?" said the transformed-girl. "I DON'T WANT TO BE STUCK LIKE THIS FOR ANOTHER SECOND! I WANT TO BE ME AGAIN! I WANT TO BLOW SOMETHING UP!"

"Alright, here we go!" said Wiz, clearing her throat and glancing at the three, sparkling words printed on the scroll, before focusing on the girl-turned-machine in front of her. "I erit machina!"

The second the words left her mouth, there was an explosion of bright-pink light, light that seemed to burst not from the steel-plated form of the girl-turned-robot as expected, but from the pale flesh of the girl that invoked the spell. It was impossible to be sure where it came from, though, because both the girl and former-girl were near-instantly blinded by the garishly-coloured flash...

And then, as quickly as it had appeared, it faded. Wiz was immediately dissapointed to see Megumin standing in front of her, not in her original, human body as she'd hoped, but still in the form of a huge robot. A much huger robot than she was a second ago, in fact. The transformed-girl hadn't been much more than a couple of feet taller than her, but now she towered above her, more than double her size. What had she done wrong? Had she changed the spell into one that made robots bigger, rather than one which turned them back into people? ...But, if enlarging machines was what the spell did, why wasn't Megumin the only thing that had grown? The shelves she stood beside seemed much larger than they did a second ago, as well... Wiz looked around in confusion, trying to ignore the slight whirring sound that accompanied every movement of her head. It wasn't just Megumin and the shelves that seemed bigger, it was everything. As if it wasn't Megumin who had grown, but herself who had shrunk...

What was going on? The altered spell was supposed to affect Megumin, not her! Why was she shorter? And why did she feel so strange? Why did her arms feel so thin and bent at odd places, and distressingly as if she'd sprouted a second pair of them? Why couldn't she feel her hands, but could feel something else sticking from the end of her seemingly-doubled forelimbs, curving out from all four of them and connecting them all together? Why couldn't she feel her legs, but could feel two pairs of round objects where each of her feet should have been, distanced from each other and wrapped over with something that felt strangely like rubber? Why did her body feel so squat and her head so cube-ish? Why couldn't she feel her neck when she turned her box-feeling head, which instead seemed bizarrely to be pivoting on something? Why did she feel so... plastic? None of this was right! Girls aren't made of plastic and that was what she was! A girl! Well, she was an undead lich, admittedly, but she was still a girl! ...Wasn't she?

"AUGH, I'M STILL A DUMB ROBOT!" wailed Megumin, above her. "IT DIDN'T WORK, WIZ! ...WIZ? WHERE DID SHE GO?"

What do you mean, where did I go? I'm right here! the girl-who-hoped-she-was-still-a-girl tried to say, but failed completely. The only sound she produced was a high-pitched, digital-sounding squeak. Taken by surprise, she tried again, but succeeded only in emitting a series of computerised beeps and whistles. She bleeped again in panic. What had happened to her? Why couldn't she talk!?

"HUH? WHAT WAS THAT?" said Megumin, looking down towards Wiz in bewilderment. "IS THAT ANOTHER ROBOT...? WHERE DID IT COME FROM?"

What are you talking about!? Wiz failed to say with a series of frantic beeps and bloops. I'm the only thing here! There is no other robot!

"OH MY GOSH, WIZ!" gasped Megumin, without any breath. "THAT THING'S YOU!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOURSELF?"

Wait, did you understand me? squeaked and bleeped Wiz. How? I'm just making... robot... noises... Augh! Megumin, what am I!? Don't tell me I'm-

"YOU ARE," said Megumin, as sadly as her electronic voice would allow. "IF THAT'S REALLY YOU, THEN YOU'VE TURNED INTO A ROBOT JUST LIKE ME. ...WELL, NOT EXACTLY LIKE ME. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF..."

Wiz tried to gulp to steady her nerves, but completely failed. Her mouth didn't even move, remaining exactly as it was, feeling like nothing more than a small, open hole in the middle of her face. She was... a robot? That's what Megumin had just said and she was certainly making robotic sounds, not to mention how strange every part of her body felt... As much as she didn't want to, she had to admit that all the signs pointed to her humanity having been replaced with non-human machinery... But she couldn't believe that! She was a person, not a load of wires and circuitry in a plastic casing! This was all just a crazy mistake, or something! It had to be! Determined to prove herself and Megumin wrong, she looked down at herself, desperately hoping to see a human's body and not a robot's...

It wasn't a human's body. The former-girl let out a shrill whistle that was supposed to be a scream at what she saw, a sound that was slightly too loud for her hardware to properly handle, coming out distorted and making her new speaker vibrate uncomfortably inside her no-longer-human head. What she saw when she looked at herself wasn't human skin covered in a purple robe, but plastic. Four spindly plastic protrusions had taken the place of her arms, ending not in hands but a single wide scoop, set with a pair of blunt hooks on its front. Her legs had vanished, each replaced by a couple of small wheels, hidden beneath a rubber track that both ran the length of her new body. Her body itself was now nothing more than a squat, plastic housing for her internal components, a fairly flat, rounded lower portion to fit her new wheels and a slightly hunched upper part to accomodate her scoop and the head that was nothing more than a rounded box with a screen on its front. She was nothing but a machine on wheels, not a single a hint of the curvaceous, feminine, human form she had so recently possessed remaining. She really had transformed into a robot!

The new robot stared at her unwanted scoop, watching, horrified as she lifted it as easily as she'd just been able to lift her arms, feeling her joints spin and her mechanisms whirr as she moved. This was terrible! She was supposed to have hands, not a scoop! Skin, not plastic! Legs, not rubber tracks! She was supposed to be a person, not a robot! Why had this happened to her!? The scroll had reacted to Megumin's transformed-body exactly as it was supposed to, so she was sure the spell would turn the other girl back, not turn herself into a robot, as well! They should have been standing there as a pair of human girls now, not as a couple of machines! The girl-turned-robot looked down at her newly-plastic form and bleeped in frustration. She was supposed to have been basking in Megumin's gratitude for freeing her from her robotic nightmare by now, not sharing in her inhuman horror!

"UM... WIZ...?" said the other robot, the freshly-transformed girl wishing she was still capable of shuddering as she realised she'd just thought of her as an "other robot". "ARE YOU OKAY?"

Of course I'm not okay! said the plastic former-girl with whistles and squeaks, waggling her new scoop in frustration. I'm a robot! Just a machine! I want to be a person, not... this!

"IT'S A SHOCK ISN'T IT?" said Megumin, looking down at the other former-girl with as much sympathy as an outwardly-emotionless device could manage.

How... how do you cope with it? beeped the new robot, staring imploringly up at her fellow transformed-girl. You've been a robot for a while now, haven't you? How did you adjust to being a machine?

"I DIDN'T," said Megumin, miserably. "I TOLD YOU, I HATE BEING A ROBOT. IT'S AWFUL! MY LIFE ISN'T MY OWN AND I CAN'T DO ANY OF THE STUFF I ENJOYED AS A PERSON! EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY I WISH I WAS ME AGAIN, BUT I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"

The new girl-turned-robot listened in horror, staring up at her now-fellow machine, then back at her own, now-plastic form. Is... that what it's going to be like for me? she whistled. I'm going to spend the rest of my life trapped in mechanical despair, just like you? Never adjusting or accepting being stuck as this... thing?

"MAYBE," said Megumin. "BUT IT MIGHT NOT BE AS BAD FOR YOU. I MEAN, LOOK AT YOU. YOU'RE MOVING AND SORT-OF TALKING AND YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANYONE TO TELL YOU YOU CAN. UNLESS I'M ORDERED TO BE FREE, I'M STUCK AS A CONSCIOUS METAL STATUE..."

The new robot blooped in surprise, waggling her scoop again. Her fellow transformation-victim had a point. She'd turned into a robot, but she was still in charge of her own body, unlike the other former-girl in front of her. That was something, right? ...Not much, though. She was still stuck as a wheeled-machine. In a body without arms that could presumably only talk to other robots. Even if she was still in charge of her own movement, what sort of life could she live like this? All she could imagine were endless days of trundling aimlessly around town, not even being able to say "good morning" to anyone she passed until she eventually broke down...

I can still move, but at least you still have arms and legs! bleeped the former-girl. And a proper voice! I'll never hold anything again! I'll never even be able to go anywhere with stairs! Your robot body is better than mine!

"I'D RATHER HAVE WHEELS THAN BE A HELPLESS SLAVE!" said Megumin. "YOU'RE LUCKY! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE MISERABLE!"

Lucky!? squeaked the new robot. I'm made of plastic! If you're hit by a ferocious attack it just bounces off you! I'd be smashed to pieces!

"AT LEAST YOU'RE NOT HUGE AND HEAVY!" said Megumin. "KNOWING YOU'RE ANNOYING EVERYONE JUST BY WALKING NEAR THEM!"

Well, beeped the recently-human girl. Well... Maybe we're both cursed. What's the point in arguing about who's fate is worse? We've both been turned into robots and neither of us happy about it. Let's just agree that we're both miserable.

"YEAH, YOU'RE RIGHT..." said Megumin, letting her metallic arms droop. "WHY DID YOU BECOME SUCH A DIFFERENT KIND OF ROBOT FROM ME, ANYWAY? IF IT'S THE SAME MAGIC, SHOULDN'T YOU BE A BIG, METAL MACHINE, AS WELL?"

Because the scroll changed the magic, remember? whistled the new robot, sadly. I assumed that meant it had turned the spell into a transformation-reversing one, but it must have just changed the target and type of robot they become. I... did this to myself...

"YEAH, THAT WAS PRETTY DUMB," agreed Megumin. "...BUT THANKS FOR TRYING TO HELP ME. SORRY YOU ENDED UP LIKE THAT."

Megumin... said the former-girl, looking up at her fellow former-girl with what would have been tears in her eye if her eye wasn't just some lights on a screen. It's okay. It's not your fault, it's mine. I'm sorry for giving you false hope...

"BUT, IF YOU CHANGED THE SPELL ENOUGH THAT YOU BECAME A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT KIND OF ROBOT..." said Megumin. "COULDN'T YOU JUST KEEP WORKING ON IT? IF YOU'VE ALREADY ALTERED IT THAT MUCH, IT SHOULDN'T TAKE MUCH MORE TO CREATE A REVERSAL SPELL."

Maybe it wouldn't... beeped the girl-turned-plastic-machine. But enchanting things and creating spells requires a lot of heavy hand use, not to mention speaking, and I can't do either of those things with this body. Besides, magic needs to flow through a living being to be activated, neither of us could make a spell work with these artificial bodies we're stuck in...

"SO IT'S STILL HOPELESS..." said Megumin, as sadly as her speaker could manage.

Unless we get a non-transformed person to help us, yes, whistled and squeaked the new robot, dejectedly. Without human assistance, we're stuck like this for the rest of our lives...

"There you are Megumin!" said a new, familiar voice, from the entrance of the shop. "Kazuma wasn't sending you to raid Wiz's panties again, was he? Come on, you need to scrub my... Huh? Is that... another robot? Is Wiz selling them now?"

Aqua stepped towards the transformed-girl, tilting her head as she stared at her newly-plastic form in curiosity. No, I'm not being sold by Wiz, I am Wiz! the girl-turned-machine tried to say with bleeps and whistles, frantically waving her scoop up and down. I turned myself into a robot by mistake! Please, Aqua, you have to help me!

"Um... a lively machine, isn't it?" said Aqua, rubbing the back of her head as she stared blankly at the transformed-girl in front of her. The girl-turned-robot beeped dejectedly and lowered her scoop to the floor. It was just as she'd feared, the still-human girl hadn't understood her. Only a fellow-robot like Megumin could make sense of what she said. What was she supposed to do if she couldn't even talk to people?

"SHE'S NOT JUST A MACHINE!" said Megumin. "SHE'S WIZ! SHE WAS TRYING TO TURN ME BACK AND ACCIDENTALLY TRANSFORMED HERSELF!"

"Huh?" said Aqua, staring in surprise back at the squat, wheeled device in front of her, only about half her height. "That's Wiz? No way! Is it really you in there?"

The recently-transformed girl nodded her now-plastic head, squeaking miserably. "Hah!" laughed Aqua. "So you tried to turn our robot back into a useless explosion fetishist and ended up turning yourself into that silly plastic thing, huh? Serves you right!"

"AQUA, PLEASE!" begged Megumin. "THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR! WE NEED A PERSON TO HELP TURN US BACK AND YOU CAN'T REALLY WANT TO LEAVE US BOTH TRAPPED AS-"

"Megumin, enter standby," interjected Aqua, irritably. In an instant, the original girl-turned-robot stopped talking, her metallic arms drooping limply to her sides as she stood as still and silent as a statue.

"There," said Aqua, turning her attention back to the other girl-turned-robot in front of her. "Now that that overgrown toy's stopped whining, let's see if you can be useful, as well... Wiz, go to the counter and back."

The former-girl wanted to tell her that she wasn't going to follow her orders, that she needed to stop this selfish cruelty and help her find a way to turn both Megumin and herself back to their normal, human selves. ...But she couldn't tell her those things, and not only because she could only produce mechanical sounds. Not when she couldn't even produce them anymore. As soon as the non-transformed girl had told her to move, she lost all control of her own, no-longer-human body, her plastic form spinning around of its own accord, her wheels turning without her say-so, pushing her tracks across the floor as she drove smoothly to the shop's counter, hating how horribly alien and inhuman it felt to be moving on wheels instead of feet. But that depressing reminder of her now-robotic existence wasn't as bad as her newfound lack of autonomy. She tried to resist it, to pull herself away from her ordered path, to screech at herself to stop, but could do nothing, her transformed-body was listening to Aqua, not herself. All the girl-turned-robot could do was watch, listening to the whirr of her own, unwanted wheels as she gently rolled towards the counter, before turning around and heading automatically back towards the girl who commanded her.

When she reached the non-transformed girl again, her unvoiced screams were suddenly vocalised again, beeps, whirrs and whistles tearing, distorted, out of her ever-open mouth-hole. Her newly-robotic body had been powerless to resist an order from a human being! She was just like Megumin! The girl-turned-robot looked up at the currently-inanimate form of her fellow transformed-girl and squeaked in horror. With a body that was hopelessly incapable of disobeying a command, was she doomed to become nothing but a mechanical slave herself? A simple tool to be used by still-human masters, just like the other former-girl? She looked up at Aqua and whistled at her desperately, trying to plead with her not to do that again, to help her escape this fate, rather than condemn her to an existence of forced servitude. ...But Aqua had no way of understanding her unintelligible protests, ignoring them as she looked down at her, a hand over chin with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Hmm," she said. "Telling her what to do worked the same as with Megumin, but it is kind of annoying that she regained control as soon as the task was over... Oh well. I'm sure we can find lots of use for her anyway. We'll just have to make sure we're careful with our orders so she doesn't get away..."

The formerly-lich robot bleeped in horror. Aqua was seeing her as just the machine she now was, not the person she had been, and was planning to treat her that way. Endless days of silently, automatically shuffling boxes and stuff hooked onto her new scoop, with even the luxury of autonomous movement taken away, stretched horribly before her. She didn't want that life! She needed to get away from this blue-haired monster! Desperately, she span her new wheels and drove herself forward as quickly as her internal motor would allow, heading for the empty doorframe at the front of the shop. She didn't know what she'd do. Didn't know where she'd go or how she'd live as a not-even-human-shaped robot, but she'd think of something! Somehow, some day, she'd find a way to restore her lost humanity! She had to believe that! If she wanted any hope, any chance at all to live the rest of her life as anything but the possession of a member of her former-species, she needed to escape this building and-

"Wiz, stop."

The transformed-girl ground to a halt immediately. At Aqua's word, just a couple of feet from the doorway, her moving parts ceased moving and she stopped, just as she'd been ordered to. The girl-turned-robot tried to scream, to spin her wheels again, but her plastic-shelled body would not comply. She was, temporarily at least, inanimate. Nothing but a robot-shaped lump of plastic and circuitry sat on the floor of what had so recently been her shop, not even able to vocalise a single beep, completely at the mercy of the girl whose simple command had rendered her helplessly inert.

"Good," said Aqua, stepping towards the former-girl with her arms folded over chest. "What, did you think you could run away? You're a robot now! You have to do whatever I say! Forget about who you were and accept what you are now, an object that will make my life even simpler! Aren't you happy that you'll be contributing to such a noble cause?"

Happy!? thought the new robot. I can't even move! What am I supposed to be happy about? Why are you doing this to me, Aqua!? There's nothing noble about it! I might have been transformed into one, but I'm not just a robot! ...But she was just a robot now. A robot which had been set to standby mode, unable to do anything as Aqua crouched down towards her and began examining her more closely, the formerly-human machine wanting to squeak in discomfort as the non-transformed girl placed a warm hand on her cold, plastic form.

"Huh, you seem pretty solidly built," said Aqua, flashing her a grin. "Definitely strong enough for the job I have in mind for you. Megumin, go and wash my dirty underwear. Wiz, carry me home. I can't wait to show everyone our new robot!"

Carry you home!? thought the transformed-girl, horrified. You can't mean- But she did. Aqua hoisted herself onto the former-girl's plastic back, wrapping her legs around her and gripping the side of her screen-fronted head with her hands, straddling her almost like a bicycle. The new machine wanted to shriek, to shake her unwanted passenger off as she felt the embrace of still-human girl's limbs and her soft, horribly-warm rear settling on top of her, her plastic form straining slightly beneath her weight, but she couldn't. She was powerless to resist as her own body started to move without her permission, trundling smoothly out of the shop and onto the street, Megumin marching obediantly ahead of them as she rolled on her unwanted rubber tracks into the outside world.

Aqua crushing down on top of her the entire time, acutely aware of all the passing strangers staring at her in confusion as she went, the robot-which-had-been-Wiz watched the other robot-which-had-been-a-girl stomp swiftly out of sight. She'd wondered how terrified, how uncomfortable, how awful Megumin must have felt all this time, trapped in a body she did not control, forced to fulfill the whims of others, and now she knew, because she was experiencing it herself. She was just a mechanical item now, too. The property of a girl too lazy to even walk across town and nothing more. A simple object, enveloped in her own private torment and despair as she was forced to convey her living cargo across town, unwillingly parading her new, robotic body for all to see, with nothing to look forward to but being issued her next command when she reached her unchosen destination... If she still had tearducts, the new robot would have been sobbing. Was there even any hope of getting away? Of escaping to live freely, even if she was still stuck as an inhuman machine...?

"Hmm, a little slow maybe, but it saves me walking!" said Aqua, with a giggle. "You're going to be such a help to me, robot! And remember, don't even think about escaping! After all, I'll just shut you behind a door when you're not being used. There's no way you'd be able to open it without hands! You're going to belong to me and the rest of my party forever!"

Commissioned by an anonymous commissioner. Hope you like it!

This is part of a series! Follow the links below to see the rest!

#1 www.deviantart.com/p1nkapple/a…

#2 You are here!

#3 www.deviantart.com/p1nkapple/a…