Techno Angel Mackenzie Season 3, Chapter 12

CHAPTER 44


A few Earth hours later, the Williams family returns to the mall with more stuff to share with their moonling friends.  Mackenzie, for some reason, has anger and pain written all over her face, with Sam and Sophie sharing a sympathetic expression toward her.  They want to comfort her, but know well enough to leave a furious person alone until they cool down enough to talk about it.
Just then, several moonlings show up and run over to the trio, eager to see what they’ve got as if it’s Christmas morning.  The Moonflower Queen quickly turns away to avoid scaring them before walking away slowly.
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Now in Moon Princess Gallery, the artistic angel is sitting down at her curator desk staring out into the walls covered with her artwork with a mixture of anger and regret on her face.  She’s about to doze off to sleep due to the stress having just wore her out – when a steaming cup of coffee appears before her, with its wonderful aroma snapping her out of it.
Mackenzie looks over to see Talia standing before her holding that coffee cup.  The Moonflower Queen smiles and takes it to drink the straight-up java juice down.  “Thank you,” she says while handing the now-empty cup to her Dragtronian friend.
“No problem.  Lousy day out there, I can tell by that scowl,” Talia replies in a calm, sympathetic tone.  “What happened out there, if it’s okay to ask?”
Mackenzie lets out a big puff of breath before replying, “I came across my old mentor – the one I told you about, remember?”
“Rebecca MacLaine?” the ninja cyber-dragon asks, with her angelic friend nodding affirmatively.  “Did she do anything to you or your family?” she adds in while cracking her knuckles.
“To Sam, but he was protecting me and Sophie from being harassed.  Beth said she was sorry for the way she treated me and the others back in my old workplace, and I forgave her for that.  I kindly told her that I couldn’t come back due to the scandals going down there – that, and I had enough of the bullying going down there.  She offered me a better job offer with the added promise that I would be treated better, but I politely turned it down due to already having this job,” Mackenzie explains meekly.
“Let me guess – she didn’t take it well?” Talia asks as she drinks her own coffee cup, with Angelic Luna nodding adamantly.
“She was about to beat me up, when Sam came in and took it all for me.  I was horrified by this and quickly got the three of us out using Sam’s communicator, driven by both fear and guilt.  I healed Sam good as new with my techno magic, but I still feel guilty for not standing up to Beth – and angry at her for beating up my soulmate,” the Moonflower Queen grumbles before pounding her fist on her desk so hard, it leaves a cracking impression on the surface.
“Can’t blame you there.  There are people – human and moonling alike – that tend to act kind and generous only as long as you do as they want, and when they don’t get their way . . . yeah.  You made the right choice in quitting, and look where it brought you,” Talia points out with an understanding nod.  “That, and Earthlings seem to no longer give a squat about genuine professional animation, seeing it only as ‘family-friendly drivel’.
“I know that all too well.  It explained Beth’s increasingly erratic attitude and the lack of creative freedom and resources regarding what we want to do animation-wise,” Mackenzie grimly agrees as a single tear runs down her cheek.  “It has something to do with ‘marquee value’.  You know what that means, do you?”
The Dragtronian nods and then gives her angelic friend another coffee-filled cup.  “Still, that doesn’t justify that kind of abuse and lack of freedom imposed upon you,” she insists while taking another sip of her java.
“True.  At least she doesn’t know about what’s going on or where I’m at now.  I feel safe and happy here,” Mackenzie says peacefully before sipping her own cup.
Just then, Sam shows up in the gallery and walks over to his beloved wife.  He can see she’s feeling better now and puts an assuring hand on her shoulder.  “Don’t feel bad after happened.  You could consider it karma for Miss MacLaine due to failing you,” he says softly, which gets Mackenzie’s attention.
The Moonflower Queen looks up at her true love with tears running down her cheeks and embraces him on the spot.  “This has nothing to do with you, Sam.  In a way, this is my fault too for leaving you and the others in your time of need,” she sobs softly.
“It’s all cool, Mackenzie.  You’re a good and talented person, and you’re just following your heart’s desire.  I wanted you to be happy and to fulfill your dreams.  I did the right choice in letting you go that time, thank goodness,” Sam smiles assuredly.
Mackenzie smiles amusedly and points out, “And yet here we are – not only together again, but married and with a daughter.  I guess the Lord had plans for us, no?”
“He DOES work in mysterious ways, they always say,” Emerald Knight replies with a wink.
The Moonflower Queen nods and then embraces her knightly husband once more.  Just then, Sophie shows up and looks in awe at the many paintings in the gallery.  “Oh my goodness, you did all of this, Mom?!” she cries out in wide-eyed awe.
“Huh?” Mackenzie asks in surprise as she and Sam look over to their angelic daughter.  “Yes, I did.  This is my gallery exhibition, after all.”
“Oh, wow . . . so beautiful they are . . .” Angelic Miracle says as she flies around in the gallery to get a closer look at each of the 96 galleries.  “Seems like it’s getting full.  What are you doing to do with these once you start painting again?”
“I’m taking a break right now, actually.  I’m still animating movies as we speak,” Mackenzie replies casually as she takes a look around to admire her own artwork.  “I’m content with all I’ve painted, for now.”
“Or you have no ideas for new ones?” Talia points out, with the Moonflower Queen nodding affirmatively.  “Well, you never know.  Sometimes that creative spark will ignite in your mind, prompting you to paint once more.  
“True,” Mackenzie agrees as she returns to her curator desk and gives her Dragtronian friend a soft embrace.  “Thanks for the talk, Talia,” she mumbles gratefully.
“That’s what friends are for, Mackenzie,” Talia herself replies with a thumbs-up.
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Inside the moonling mothership, the Williams family is visiting the home arcade to check for any new game consoles there.  Just then, Mackenzie notices a familiar-looking grey and black box with red littering on its lid and smiles excitedly.  Sam notices this and looks over to the same direction, seeing the new system as well in wide-eyed awe.
“No way . . . already?!” Emerald Knight exclaims excitedly as he and his family walks over to the NES, which is already hooked up to a black arcade cabinet.  “Time sure flies by, no?”
“In your world, yes,” Talia replies as she shows up at the scene with Twilight on her head.  “It’s been a while since you came in here.”
“Well, time has been thrown into a topsy-turvy due to the time differences, so I’ll just roll with it from now on,” Emerald Knight replies nervously while shrugging his shoulders.
“Everyone already had a go and loved it, and the games – especially that game where you shoot ducks before they fly away,” the Dragtronian says before whipping out a familiar-looking orange-and-grey gun and hands it to Mackenzie.
The Moonflower Queen looks at the new Zapper in her hands amusedly and then watches as Talia turns both the console and cabinet on, bringing up the Duck Hunt game screen.  With that, she aims the Zapper at the screen and waits for any ducks to show up.
Sure enough, a green-headed duck flies out from the grass and starts flying about randomly.  Mackenzie takes aim and fires away, causing the screen to blink and the duck registered as shot before falling down into where it came from.  
“Nice shot, Em,” Sam complements with a thumbs-up, although Mackenzie is still focused on the screen, having just shot another duck down.
“Uh, it’s best to be quiet until she’s done with this round, Dad,” Sophie whispers insistently.
“Sorry,” Emerald Knight replies as he continues watching his angelic wife doing a good job duck-hunting.  “Man, she’s good.”
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Ten moon minutes later, Mackenzie’s game is finally over what with having missed enough ducks for that dog to snicker in a trolling fashion.  The annoyed Moonflower Queen grumbles and starts firing rapidly at the annoying hound despite the shots not being registered.
“I understand your pain, ‘Em.  Mind if I take a crack?” Sam asks sympathetically, with Mackenzie handing the Zapper over without hesitation.
“I heard there’s an arcade version where you CAN shoot the dog in its bonus stages,” Twilight air-writes with her glowing antenna.
“REALLY?” the Williams family exclaims all at once.
“Really.  Let me alter this game a bit and you’ll see for yourself,” the LunarLady glitter-replies affirmatively as she then shoots out neon lightning at the NES in a non-lethal manner.  When she ceases it seconds later, the cabinet’s screen turns to static for a few seconds before changing to that of VS. Duck Hunt – the arcade version available on PlayChoice-10.
“Excellent, Twily.  Now then, let’s get to that bonus round you mentioned,” a confident Sam says as he aims the Zapper at the screen to commence his own 8-bit duck hunt.
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Two rounds later, the aforementioned bonus stage shows up, much to Emerald Knight’s smiling amusement.  It portrays an open grassy field with several ducks flying out of it and off the screen.  Sam starts blasting away at many ducks as he can – but when the same dog from the NES game shows up jumping from the grass as well, he redirects his aim and blasts the trolling critter back when he came from, his face singed black from the shot.
The bonus level ends there and then, with the grumpy dog – now holding crutches with his left leg in a cast – walking to the center of the screen and barks angrily as the words “Shoot the ducks!  Not me!” appearing above him.
With that, the gamers laugh their socks off at the cathartic scene, with Sam adding in, “It was worth it!” before resuming laughing like a mad scientist.