26.2.1 bug for Gen 2 pencil on M4 Ipad

I just bought a brand new OEM Apple Gen2 pencil yesterday. I unboxed it and it connected to my M4 IPad without any issue and was at 60%. I applied the 26.2.1 update and now the pencil shows connected and 0%. I see many posts by those with similar issues. The pencil is not defective and the battery is not shot. There must be a bug in the new update. What can I do?