Mack in Town, Part 4: Where is Thy Sting

(First written from December 3rd, 2022 to February 11th, 2023)

Mack in Town, Part 4: Where is Thy Sting

Glossary

This section details various relevant parts of the story. Underlined entries have links to pages that explain them in further detail.

Battlewing RGR: Also known as simply “Wing“. 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. A member of the Seekers of Strength, she has been the most open about her abuse at the hands of her leader Mega Beedrill, being misgendered as an “it” instead of “she”, and being neglected when she was defeated (non-lethally) at the end of “Part 3”. The aforementioned part ended with the implication that she’s preparing to fight back against Mega Beedrill, though her fellow Seekers don’t know this.
Beta Devil: A villain in The Chaos Zone, and an original creation of the writer “Beta Shadow”.
Brick Break: A move from Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, video games released in 2002. A karate chop that deals damage and can destroy various wall-shaped barriers.
“Catching”: Refers to how Pokémon trainers capture Pokémon in Poké Balls, similar to bug collecting.
Chillbuilder RJAS: Also known as simply “Builder“. An original character based on the Pokémon “Regice”. Regice are usually weak to several elemental attacks, such as of the types “Rock” and “Steel” (not elements from Mega Man RPG Prototype or Chaos Zone, but rather elements from the Pokémon video games); Chillbuilder is an exception.
“Default Fortnite dance”: Refers to a dance move that can be performed in the video game Fortnite, based on a dance a character does in “My Half-Acre”, a 2006 episode of the TV series Scrubs. The dance as it appears in Fortnite has become a common internet joke.
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. It is not until this part that the differences between the two “dimensions” become relevant.
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 decided that along the way, he wanted to stop the Seekers of Strength, though as he’s learned how much Mega Beedrill is the true governing force, he’s shifted his priorities to him. He also fights alongside YuugenMagan Visage, and helps watch over Terumi, not expecting Terumi to take action in a battle. His body has the shape of an imp-like creature riding a sword like a pogo stick, with the sword having eyes; the “imp” and “sword” are equally part of this body, but Willowarp doesn’t know this, confusing himself as he tries to explain Mack’s appearance.
Mega Beedrill: A character based on the Pokémon species “Beedrill”, 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. “Part 2.5” and “Part 3” reveal that he’s abusive to the Seekers, neglecting their concerns and even misgendering and (non-sexually) objectifying Battlewing. He also seems to have control over their existence, with Battlewing expecting herself to have been erased from existence by Mega Beedrill in “Part 3”. Before his identity is revealed in this part, his dialogue is instead signaled by a big black box with dark gray borders.
“The Page”: A previous Chaos Zone storyline (written by the user “ch4s3man”) involved the antagonist creating new characters from a book containing all the characters who existed in the world of Chaos Zone. While the book is mostly out of the hands of anyone else, the “page”/”paper” Mega Beedrill discusses late in this story comes from the book.
Poké Ball: An item used by Pokémon trainers in the Pokémon franchise.
Pokémon: The titular creatures from the Pokémon franchise. Most sentient creatures in Pokémon who aren’t humans are Pokémon. While most Pokémon games show the Pokémon being either wild animals or domesticated under the control of human “trainers”, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series takes place in a world entirely inhabited by sapient Pokémon.
Pokémon World: In the context used in flashbacks, this seems to refer to the world of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon video games.
Psychic/Psychopath: In the 1996 video game Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (which Mack is from), one character has the power to read minds; this power is inaccurately named “Psychopath”. This misleading description of mind-reading powers is referenced off-hand in this part of the story.
Rottentest WT: Also known as simply “Test“. 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”. Her leader, Mega Beedrill, assigned her minions who terrorized Terumi without telling her, much to her horror. Her body is made of a fungal mass, leading to Mack describing her as a “moldy gal” at one point. All of her dialogue is in italics, as a sign that her voice is perpetually raspy.
The Seekers of Strength: A group of four characters led by Mega Beedrill. While initially it seemed they all wanted to conquer Dimension 2, it’s become clear by this point in the story that they’re just acting under Mega Beedrill’s command. By now, the three confirmed members are Willowarp, Rottentest, and Battlewing.
“Spray Potion”: Refers to the “Potion” items used by Pokémon trainers in the Pokémon franchise.
Threepenny Finale: A powerful Flame/Experience-type finishing move used by Mack. He rises into the air, spinning rapidly to form the shape of a flaming drill, then slams down onto his opponent(s), dealing damage the whole way down and enormous damage on contact with the ground.
Willowarp JKLT: Also known as simply “Warp“. 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”, and faced abuse from Mega Beedrill for his failure in “Part 2.5”.
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 decided to accompany Mack on his journey, hoping to stop the Seekers of Strength, though as she’s learned how much Mega Beedrill is the true governing force, she’s shifted her priorities to him. 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 where “Part 3” left off, with Mack, YuugenMagan Visage, and Terumi entering the lair of the final Seeker of Strength; however, initially the perspective is not the trio, but the Seeker of Strength himself)

(Cut to a different room in the Frigid Depths, “Room M”, one of a series of rooms from A-Z)

(Cut back to Chillbuilder’s room – the “Boss Room”; dialogue from characters not in the room is indicated by the colors their dialogue is usually marked with – faded-brown/red for Mack, dark/light grayish blue for Yuugen-V, and gray for Terumi)

(Flashback to an unknown location)

(Cut back to the “Boss Room” in the present day)

(The voices are visualized similarly to the “Boss Room” image; the red/blue text is Willowarp JKLT, and the brown/faded-red is Rottentest WT)

(Flashback to a screenshot of a Chaos Zone event written by user Beta Shadow in June 2020)

(Present day, written by me; the sections in beige/lavender are Mega Beedrill’s dialogue when cutting to flashbacks)

(Another flashback to a 2020 Beta Shadow event; this one took place before the events of the previous flashback shown)

(Present day, written by me)

(The scene cuts ahead to a few moments later)

Afterword

With this part, I felt that with the growing emphasis on the who the Seekers of Strength were in the previous two parts (and the interlude of “Part 2.5”), it’d cement just how much I wanted to humanize them by having most of the journey to face the last Seeker, Chillbuilder, be portrayed from the perspective of Chillbuilder instead of the main “heroes”. It also gave me more time to flesh out how Willowarp and Rottentest felt about their troubles, and show an interesting emotional angle by having it clear that nobody knew Battlewing wasn’t erased by Mega Beedrill until the eleventh hour.

While I based the Seekers of Strength off of games where the team of villains had a leader who was fought in their own section of the story, I felt that with Chilbuilder’s story being on the shorter side, and the lack of incentive to fight him, it would keep things interesting to have the story segue directly into the reveal of Mega Beedrill (something accentuated by his looming abusive presence beforehand).

While I had decided what Mack’s ideals would become by the time I was writing “Part 3”, I still found it incredibly satisfying to have him finally realize his new ideals for himself as he defeated the villain, and besides not giving Chillbuilder enough time to shine, I’m incredibly satisfied with “Mack in Town”.