Brash Buster

Mack in Town, Part 3: Fight or Flight

(First written from October 16th, 2022 to November 25th, 2022)

  1. Mack in Town, Part 3: Fight or Flight
    1. Glossary
    2. Story
    3. Afterword

Glossary

This section details various relevant parts of the story. Underlined entries have links to pages that explain them in further detail (including events that take place after this story).

  • Airship: A flying battleship.
  • Air Stroller: A mysterious cyborg humanoid bird with a design based on the “Cosmotroller” enemies from the 1994 video game Live a Live, its name based on “Cosmo Stroller”, Cosmotroller’s name in an unofficial English translation of the game by Aeon Genesis.
  • Battlewing RGR: An original character based on the character “Wriggle Nightbug” from the Touhou Project series, and various robot designs from the “mech anime” genre of television series.
  • Dimension 2: A part of the world of Chaos Zone. While most stories take place in “Dimension 1”, “Mack in Town” starting from “Part 1” is an exception, taking place in Dimension 2. The differences between the two “dimensions” are not currently relevant.
  • E-Tank: An item from Mega Man 2, a video game for the NES released in 1988. Restores all of the user’s health.
  • Mack: A character from the 1996 video game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. A robot built by Smithy, who has long since defected from him, and is currently on a journey of self-discovery, hoping to find not just how to fight, but what cause to fight for. He’s decided that along the way, he wants to stop the Seekers of Strength, and he fights alongside YuugenMagan Visage. He also helps watch over Terumi, not expecting her to take action in a battle.
  • Mega Beedrill: A character based on a species from the Pokémon series, namely an empowered form they can take in the 2014 video games Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. The leader of the Seekers of Strength, Mega Beedrill has yet to be mentioned by name in the story. His control over the Seekers has been shown to aggressive and mean in “Part 2.5”.
  • Rottentest WT: An original character based on the characters “Wight” from the 1990 MSX version of the video game Madou Monogatari 1-2-3, and “Test Body” from the 1991 PC-98 version of the same game. A member of the Seekers of Strength, she was defeated (non-lethally) in “Part 2”.
  • Sectra Pilot: A mysterious creature based on the “Sectra Burt” enemies from the 2014 video game Kirby: Triple Deluxe.
  • The Seekers of Strength: A group of four characters (led by Mega Beedrill) who seem to want to conquer Dimension 2. By now, the three confirmed members are Willowarp and Rottentest, and an unseen “wind troop” who is revealed in this part to be Battlewing.
  • Terumi: A character from the Len’en Project series. After the earlier story “Hall of Mirrors” revealed that her corpse was under control of the character “Mitsumo”, “Part 2” revealed that Terumi’s corporeal ghost still exists among mortals; the deeper details of what happened to make Terumi what she’s become are unknown at this point in the story, but it’s implied that she is unable to return to her home. She is currently under the care of Mack and YuugenMagan Visage.
  • Willowarp JKLT: An original character heavily based on the character “Jack o’ Lantern” (or “Pyro Jack”) from the Megami Tensei series, and a member of the Seekers of Strength. He was fought and defeated (non-lethally) in “Part 1”.
  • YuugenMagan Visage: Also known as simply “Yuugen-V” or “Yuugen“. An original character directly based YuugenMagan from the 1997 video game Touhou Reiiden ~ The Highly Responsive to Prayers; she’s actually a fraction of said character (or at least, Dimension 2’s counterpart) who has long been separated from them. While she comes from Dimension 2, it was not the same part of Dimension 2 as the rest of the story, so there is much to Dimension 2 that she does not know. She has decided to accompany Mack on his journey, hoping to stop the Seekers of Strength. She also helps watch over Terumi, not expecting her to take action in a battle.

(The following parts of the glossary are temporary, and will be moved to Battlewing RGR’s page when it’s made)

  • Aura Swipe: An Ability used by Battlewing RGR. The user swipes with a claw of concentrated plasma. Can be charged to unleash a wave of energy that deals damage to non-shielded opponents, and removes most shields (but does not hurt the shielded opponent).
  • Butterfly Wheel: An Ability used by Battlewing RGR. Battlewing RGR summons a swarm of mechanical moths (she’d change the ability’s name if she could) that surround her in 8 directions, circling her rapidly.
  • Sting Chaser: An Ability used by Battlewing RGR. The user fires a homing missile with a sharp point like a stinger.

Story

(The story picks up the morning after “Part 2.5”, February 19th, 2022; the setting is an unknown part of the Air Continent, the area where the “Mack in Town” storyline has been unfolding since “Part 1”)

(The airship is eventually driven inside a hollow tree…)

(The story concludes in “Part 4“)

Afterword

After having Part 2 and Part 2.5 both hint at the idea of this story’s main villain (later revealed to be Mega Beedrill) neglecting and/or hurting their own henchmen, I decided to take that further with this part of the story, having Mack, Yuugen-V, and Terumi learn just how little control the Seekers of Strength actually have over their situation, causing them to sympathize with them more.

This was also the point in the story that I feel I struck the right balance of what I wanted out of Terumi; while Mack and Yuugen-V don’t expect her to be fully self-reliant after whatever happened in her past, she’s taking action when she herself feels she needs to, while not running headfirst into trouble in a way that could make her feel like more trouble than she’s worth.