Techno Angel Mackenzie Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

After yet another quick handout of coffee and cheesecake to the ever-growing Earthling patron line like clockwork, Mackenzie heads back to Rock ‘n’ Rose to check on Tsuki – who, sure enough, has gotten on the platform and starts up a game session of their own.  A Dragtronian and a Piximouse immediately follow suit, with the latter looking slightly from the normal Piximouse, as she has raccoon ears, purple eyeliner resembling a raccoon mask, and her mouse tail has brown and black stripes.  The golden angel’s eyes grow wide in surprise as she starts pondering about this unusual sight.  Could it be . . .?
“Hey sis!  Long time no see!” a male voice calls out to Mackenzie, which interrupts her line of thought.  “Ah, hey there, Serena.  I knew you would come here too.”
Both Techno Angels look over to a man in their age range walking over and joining the new band up at bat.  He wears a bulky yet smooth black suit of armor that resembles Voltron – but with phoenix heads replacing the lions – with orange Tron-esque lines, a helmet with a ruby red visor and a phoenix feather as the comb, and ruby-embedded joints, and a long red knight cape.  As for the head revealing the first revealed Techno Knight’s face, he has spiky red hair, a fair complexion, and hazel brown eyes covered with the aforementioned visor.
Tsuki is surprised with wide eyes as she covers her mouth with her hands.  “DAVID?!  Is that you?!” she exclaims out loud, with David himself taking his helmet to reveal his face with a sparkling smile.
“Yours truly, eh?” the new Techno Knight replies pleasantly, as he gives Angelic Silver a romantic kiss on the lips, much to her blushing surprise.  He then looks over to Angelic Luna with a thumbs-up and assuring smile, with the golden angel herself responding with a nod and a smile.
“Ah, welcome to Night Flights Mall, Onyx Knight,” Elec-Love – now in her Ruby Illumina person again – greets politely as she flies over to the first Techno Knight on the scene.  “That’s your Techno Knight codename, by the way.”
“Ah, charming.  Uh, can we talk about this later considering the current situation?” Onyx Knight himself insists as he takes the reins of the drum set, twirling the drumsticks around in a showing-off manner.
“Yes, please.  I can sense the crowd’s growling impatience already,” the new Piximouse insists nervously as she takes up the lead guitar, while her Dragtronian partner grabs the bass guitar.
“All right, let’s do this people,” Angelic Silver agrees as she takes the keytar in her arms and brings the microphone stand over to her face.  “Get ready, y’all.”
With that, the song begins with the ethnic rock band begins rocking ‘n’ rolling away with everything they’ve got.  Tsuki plays and sings like a siren with her harmonic vocals and key-playing, which moves Mackenzie and the nearest patrons to tears – and blowing on napkins in unison.  As for David, he takes it real easy with the drum taps and the bass pedals since this is a slow, glowing 80’s love song they’re playing, with their moonling partners following suit with their strings in an equally slow, rhythmic fashion.
It isn’t long before the song ends, with the surrounding audience clapping their hands in loud applause.  The band bows their heads courteously before hopping off the platform to allow the next band-in-the-making to get on, just as Mackenzie and Talia fly over to give them a soft embrace.
“Congratulations, you four.  I am especially proud of you, Lightning, that you have mastered your bass guitar skills,” the lead Dragtronian says to her cyber-dragon brethren.
“Thank you, big sister, although I excel better on lead guitar,” the other Dragtronian replies as she then gives Onyx Knight a thumbs-up.  “I have to admit though, you are not bad either.”
“I’d like to see how you would do later on, uh, Lightning,” David himself agrees amusingly while returning the gesture.
“Just to let you know, Mackenzie, these four has met the requirements for perfect keys, vocals, and drums,” Talia informs Angelic Luna.
Mackenzie herself nods and then gives her fellow techno-ized Earthlings merit badges from her purse.  “Then again, you both are part of an actual rock band, so it should be expected.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t at my best, everyone.  I’m more of a drummer than a guitarist,” the new Piximouse mumbles sadly as she brings her head down in shame.
“It’s just a game, Lunamaria, don’t be so hard on himself,” Tsuki assures as she picks up the Piximouse hybrid and hugs her in a comforting manner.  “How about later, you show us your drumming mastery?”
Lunamaria herself smiles and then hugs the silver angel in return.  “All right,” she finally replies.
Just then, Serenity and Tristan – in Moonlight Mocha attire again – show up out of the blue and run over to the band.  “Oh, Lunamaria! You did a lovely job up there on your first time as guitarist,” the Piximouse barista exclaims happily – for some reason, in a motherly tone.
“Nah, I was C-grade up there.  On drums, I’m triple-A all the way,” Lunamaria mumbles annoyingly.
“We can’t all be perfect on the first go.  With more practice and encouragement, you’ll be ‘Triple-A’ on guitar too,” the Knightmask assures in a fatherly tone.
“Well, true, if I feel like doing it again.  Thanks anyway, Mom and Dad,” the moonling hybrid replies with an amused smile, as she jumps out of Tsuki’s arms and hugs her parents on the spot.
“I knew it,” Mackenzie smiles amusedly.  “Your raccoon attributes gave your parental heritage away.”  
“Huh?!  You’re their daughter?!” Tsuki exclaims in surprise.  “Then how come you’re an adult already?  Wait, are you a time-traveler from the future?”
“No,” Lunamaria smiles before clearing her throat.  “When moonlings perform sexual intercourse, they don’t give birth like you Earthlings do.  Since we’re part computer data, any fused reproductive data will automatically form in the mothership’s computers and materialize itself as an adult moonling with advanced intelligence to boot.  It’s like copying and then merging data files of the same type – but with altered information from each – into a new file on a regular computer, if you know what I mean,” she explains in a suave, professional tone.
“But you are more than just that, Luna,” Serenity assures as she and her Knightmask lover return their daughter’s embrace.  
“You are more than . . . what you just said,” Tristan adds in.
“I appreciate that.  Thank you,” the Piximouse hybrid replies in a heartfelt tone as tears run down her cheeks.  She notices this and blushes in embarrassment before wiping them off.  “Sorry.  Just got sand in my eyes, that’s all.”
“It’s all right, I get sand in my eyes a lot too,” Serenity assures with a giggle, much to her daughter’s eye-rolling annoyance.
*****
Shortly afterward, the group is at the buffet place having a big dinner while chatting.  “So you’re Mackenzie’s big brother, right?” Lunamaria asks, with the new Techno Knight nodding affirmatively.  “Strange . . . she didn’t tell us about you before.”
“Well, she doesn’t talk much – and considering the tragic circumstances, I don’t blame much.  I’ll condense it all in one quick explanation – the animation studio she worked at last month grew corrupt and oppressive toward its employees, Mackenzie among them.  After being fired three weeks ago, she ran away into hiding without telling us – obviously out of humiliation, yes?” David asks his angelic sister, who nods sadly in response.
“Yes, she told us recently about her mistreatment and social problems going down at that studio.  We witnessed her artistic mastery grew these past eighty moon years, and it’s obvious those Earthling creeps were jealous of her and her talents,” Lightning points out sympathetically.
“That, and animation in America is at an all-time low, especially on TV.  You saw such programs lately, have you?” Tsuki asks the moonlings, who all nod in agreement with cringing faces.  “Poor Mackenzie has to compromise her talents due to dwindling budgets and executives always towering over her.”
“Yeah, it’s a dang shame what you went through,” Lightning says to Mackenzie while putting a sympathetic arm around her shoulder.
“You’re wondering what we had to do with any of this?  Our band, Rozu Hologuramu were to provide the soundtrack for the project the aforementioned studio was working on, but seeing how Mackenzie and her former co-workers were treated with apathy and belittlement from the higher-ups, we bowed out without hesitation – but not without our reputation being ruined by those creeps, blaming the movie’s failure on us and posting false reviews such as calling our music ‘rubbish’ and an ‘abomination to the music industry’.  That was the last straw to us, and we swore never to work in the big-shot industry EVER again,” David explains further while clenching her fists in anger.
“Such corruption . . . then again, that’s ego and greed to you,” Lunamaria replies while shaking her head in disgust.  “So that explains why Mackenzie was in that apartment room quietly painting her time away?”
“Yes . . . I feared that people would call me a coward and a freak for backing out of such a disordered studio,” Angelic Luna replies sadly while looking away in shame.
“You’re not, ‘Em!  We totally understand how you felt, considering the craziness going down and out.  “Onyx Knight assures while hugging his angelic sister.  “You did the right thing.”
“Indeed.  You’re much better here anyway, Mackenzie,” Lunamaria agrees with a nod before clearing her throat.  “Here at Night Flights Mall, we allow artists to work and improve their talents without compromises and meddling.  I’m sure you saw the results of such a policy, yes.  The gallery, Moonlight Mocha, Rock ‘n’ Rose, and the animated movies so far . . . all Mackenzie’s doing, with some requested assistance from us, of course.  The only condition is that you don’t take your works to any other company/business,” she explains further, with Angelic Luna nodding affirmatively.
“Business reasons aside, we don’t want to incite a lot of unwanted attention,” Serenity points out concernedly, with Mackenzie nodding again in agreement.
“Uh . . . have any of you saw Sam around?  I – I hope he’s not upset for, you know,” Angelic Luna stutters nervously, fearing the worst.
“He wants to reconcile since he’s also sympathetic regarding your reasons for running away.  But regarding your question, no, I haven’t seen him here yet.  It was me, David, and Arizona who came, as far as I remember,” Tsuki points out.
“Well . . . if he’s able to come in here, then I’ll accept his offer of reconciliation.  He’s too much of a true friend – and lover – to let go,” Mackenzie mumbles while wiping the tears off her face.  “I – I have to go back to work.  Thanks for the dinner.”
With that, Angelic Luna flies off from the table and heads back to the arcade line-up for obvious reasons, leaving everyone at the table watching on with sympathetic expressions.
*****
A few moon days later, the angelic barista along with Trixie, Vesper, and Twilight are at the bench sipping away coffee cup after coffee cup during break time.  They all have weary expressions on their faces, on the verge of dozing off.  “How are you all doing right now?” Mackenzie mumbles weakly as coffee starts dripping from her mouth.
“Same as you . . . you . . . you . . .” Trixie replies meekly, trailing off like a broken record as her eyes go all swirly anime style.
“Sheesh . . . and I thought WE had a music obsession,” Vesper grumbles while crossing his arms.  “How about you four over there?”
On the other side of the bench, the full Symphonic Maiden band is sitting back in a weary, overworked, coffee-overloaded daze.  “We’re just going along the hard road of life, man,” Clover replies dreadfully while blowing several heart-shaped smoke puffs from a heart-shaped bong filled with candied vapor.  “But hey, as long as we’re all here together, I feel F-I-N-E . . .”
“Pass me some of that sweet strawberry smoke,” Celes insists in a soft, weak fashion while holding out her shaking, trembling hand.
The pink-haired Symphivoice immediately hands over the bong without looking over as her red-haired sister blows out more heart-shaped puffs to fill the air surrounding the bench.  “Ah, it really sets the mood, does it not?” the latter firefly asks lazily, with her Moonlight Mocha co-workers nodding weakly in response.
“So peaceful . . . so relaxing . . . I can barely hear the commotion going on around us . . .” Tsuyoshi mumbles peacefully as he finally closes his eyes, with everyone else following suit in a chain reaction.
Finally, the overworked baristas are sleeping away in dreamland with the pink candy mist surrounding them adding to the symbolism.  “Sam . . . I love you . . . I want . . . to see you . . . again . . .” Mackenzie mumbles sadly in her sleep.
Just then, Apollo and who appears to be another Techno Knight shows up at the scene and walks over to the slumbering Techno Angel.  “Wow, is this Mackenzie?” the young man asks in surprise upon seeing her.
The aforementioned young man has spiky brown hair, emerald green eyes, and a fair complexion with his face covered with a futuristic looking set of emerald headphones with dual antennae and a neon green visor.  For his Techno Knight setup, he wears a metallic silver jacket with a black and neon green tie-dyed shirt and an attached emerald green cape, gloved gauntlets with neon-lit buttons that resemble the Power Glove, black jeans with Pac-Man characters as knee and shin guards, and white raver boots with silver and neon green highlights.  Hmm, he looks more like a 80’s raver than a traditional knight, but it’s still cool nonetheless.
“Yes, those wings she has are part of the Techno Angel physiology I told you about.  She looks quite exhausted, but it’s to be expected considering how hard she and the others worked lately,” the blue computer star replies with a concerned look on his face.  “It’s time for them all to get some well-deserved rest.  I’ll let you know when they’re all awake so you can talk to Mackenzie, Samuel.”
“Poor ‘Em . . . she’s been through a lot lately, but at least things are getting better for her,” Sam himself says as he watches Apollo teleports the entire M.M. crew away from the bench just like that.
*****
A moon week later or so – it’s difficult when it comes to being in the moonling mothership – Mackenzie is sleeping peacefully in her studio room.  Just then, she wakes up and is surprised to find herself in here. The angelic barista surveys her surroundings for anything out of the ordinary to explain this – and sure enough, sees a note taped to the holo-screen of her animation station.  She walks over while wiping the sleep off her eyes and silently reads the following . . .
*****
Dear Mackenzie,
I’m truly happy that you’re alive and well ever since you run off from your old job three weeks ago.  I was heartbroken by the fact you left without telling us, but at the same time, I understood why.  I guess the animation industry has long since past its glorious prime, yes?  The reason I haven’t come to see you since the ‘moon day’ I came here is I assume you’re frightened to see me because of the above.  I assure you, I’m not angry – but I assume YOU were because of the circumstances surrounding the movie – which I gave you plenty of time and space to get over it.  Since the other R-H members have also come here, they’ve told me that you want us to get back together.  That’s entirely up to you, I won’t force or guilt you in any way.  I love you gal, and always will no matter your choice.
Sincerely,
Samuel
(aka Emerald Knight)
P.S. Yeah, about that codename – it was given to me by the owners of this mall once I came here.  If you decide to find me, don’t be surprised to see me in a different outfit than before – then again, it happened to too, right?
*****
After she’s finished reading, a stunned Angelic Luna looks over at the door with tears running down her face.  Could it be . . .?
*****
Upon walking out of her studio, Mackenzie – now in her regular Angelic Luna form – looks around the hallway she’s in . . . and sure enough, sees Sam himself – still in his Emerald Knight form - lying down on the floor with his head on a pillow.  She gasps in awe upon seeing her boyfriend and stumbles back a few steps.  So Sam HAS arrived at Night Flights Mall after all, much to Mackenzie’s tear-jerking joy.  
With that, Angelic Luna smiles mischievously and kneels down to her knighted love and gives him a soft, romantic kiss on the lips to wake him up Sleeping Beauty style.  The ‘magical’ kiss works, with Emerald Knight opening up his gorgeous gem-like eyes in surprise before looking up at his damsel in angelic gold.  From his point of view, she smiles down at him while her hair is sparkling with moondust as ‘Dream Weaver’ plays in his mind.  He immediately shakes off his love-struck daze and looks up in wide-eyed awe.
“Mackenzie?” Sam finally says in a professional-sounding British accent, with his angelic girlfriend nodding softly with tears welling up in her eyes.
With that, the reunited couple immediately embraces each other with silent tears running down their cheeks.  “I love you, Sam . . .” Angelic Luna mumbles between sobs.
“I love you too, Moon Princess,” Emerald Knight replies assuredly as he cradles his true love in a comforting manner.  “It’ll be all right now . . . ssshh . . .”
*****
Outside Night Flights Mall a few minutes later, the reunited techno couple is flying up to the rooftop together while holding arms.  Upon landing there, they sit down and watch the beautiful sky with the full moon shining bright, while snuggling up close with glowing purple and green hearts surrounding them.
“Things will get better for us, I promise you,” Sam assures while putting a sympathetic arm around his true love’s shoulders.
“I know.  And I promise you that I’m not afraid anymore to stand up for myself and my loved ones,” Mackenzie replies while returning the gesture.  “I’m so sorry for causing so much heartbreak.”
“It’s over already, we totally understand.  Now’s the time to have the past and move forward to the future,” Emerald Knight assures in a soft, insisting tone.  “It’s time for you to step out of the shadows and shine forth – like, well, the Moon.”
“Hmm . . .” Angelic Luna says before grinning mischievously.  “All right, I will . . . in a literal sense, too.”
With that, Mackenzie gets up and presses the crescent-moon shaped amethyst on the stomach – and suddenly engulfed in a radiant moon-white light with neon blue crescent moons and moon-white flower petals flying around like the rings of Saturn.  Once this transformation sequence is complete, the now-literal Moon Princess wears a tiara composed of moon-white flowers, a white Victorian dress with a silver waist belt and moon blue petal-esque ruffles, and vintage Victorian mid-calf boots.  Finally, her wings now resemble actual angel wings but with a neon blue glow.
Emerald Knight gasps in wide-eyed awe upon seeing his angelic love’s new form.  Angelic Luna looks down at him with a chuckle and finally says, “You always like to call me Moon Princess, so here you go . . . a lunar princess for a knight in raver armor.”
“Uh, I hardly look like a knight, ‘Em,” Sam points out while blushing in embarrassment.  
“It’ll do just fine, considering what decade we’re in,” Mackenzie chuckles as she helps her knightly boyfriend up and then starts dancing about on the rooftop in a gentle, elegant ballerina duet with the moon’s radiance acting as the spotlight.  A romantic, magical sight, don’t you agree?
“I heard that you’ve been quite the cupid here, what with all the romances you’ve formed/rekindled.  Well, now the cupid herself has found true love again, yes?” Emerald Knight asks with a wink.
Angelic Luna nods while blushing bashfully and then realizes something.  “Many of the people here have come to accept the moonlings.  But . . . what about the rest of the world when it comes time to expand?” she asks concernedly.
“Well, hmm . . .” Emerald Knight says as he ponders about a solution to such a potential dilemma.  “How about this being some kind of electronic attraction that you, me, and Rozu Hologuramu created and the moonlings being the mascots/animatronics who greet customers and play the interdimensional games with them?”
“You mean like from Chuck ‘n’ Cheese’s?” Mackenzie asks before smiling amusedly.  “It just might work.”
“Yes, it’s for the best right now.  Regardless, here’s to the shining future of Night Flights Mall . . .” Sam says as he sweeps his lunar princess right off her feet.  “And of us.”
The original Techno Angel smiles and then shoots out a burst of galactic moondust from her hands that shoots up to the sky and explodes into a dazzling fireworks display that fills the surrounding nightscape like a neon rave as the reunited couple shares one long, romantic, and passionate kiss.

END OF SEASON 1