Song Listened To :

I Make Sparks by Novo Amor (first half)

Sunlight by TheFatRat (last half)

*Chapter 12*

Berri messily tucked her choppy blue hair behind her ears, she did whatever she could to allow the men's conversation about her to soak into her head and soothe her worries. Turbo, Wren, Throttle and Theo warmly carried on with one another. The group lazily lounged in Turbo's bedroom, the one inside of his Orion City loft. Due to their game's outlet still being crowded by adoring fans, due to not being able to make the now long journey all the way to Litwak's retro room, inside his brand new, massive emporium of an arcade, the crew was left to lounge in older, familiar places. Although they could attempt to navigate the electrical wires and utilize their glitching powers to weave a strategic route of navigation, they decided against it and figured officially staying put, until Gideon's return, was the wisest choice. Berri gently paced Turbo's loved bedroom, a bright and sunny escape above Orion City's clouds, the four men that lazily chitchat, in hums of warm laughter and gentle conversing, peacefully splayed the foot of Turbo's made bed, the sitting area near his massive stretch of windows, it was all peaceful until Berri's phone, in her grey hoodie pouch, began to ring. Berri sharply furrowed her eyebrows, everyone firmly peered to her in hot curiosity, though as she pulled her phone out of her pouch, she gaped, froze and shot everyone in the room a wildly bewildered look as she held out her phone's screen, so to make the caller ID obvious.

"Uhh, someone wanna tell me why Uncle Gideon is calling me right now?" Berri stabbed in full confusion, though Turbo rocketed to a stiff, frazzled stand as he grappled the longer, messy hair on the side of his scalp.

"Holy shit, answer it!" Turbo barked in a weird show of grinning terror.

"Ask if Lash and them are okay," Throttle quickly snipped in quiet plea as Berri nodded and tucked her phone to her ear as she answered.

"Hello?" Berri cooed curiously, she knew not to use Gideon's name, she fervently remembered his instruction of conversing to not include names or locations.

"Hey," Gideon's warm, happy voice soothed, this had Berri's shoulders sagging as she gave the group a curious, girly little grin; all eyes were on her in unmitigated, bated shock.

"You, uh... Mean to call me?" Berri grinned and nervously giggled, Gideon cutely chuckled and tried to avoid windy feedback, he was clearly outside somewhere.

"Yeah! I just wanted to call you and not your mom, because, well..." Gideon trailed his sentence through a raspy, playfully annoyed sigh, one that had Berri understanding now just why Tessa wasn't called for this.

"Yeah, she'd start like scream-crying, she doesn't need any more stress, right now," Berri mumbled cutely as she relished in her uncle's voice, she lulled her eyes closed in patient listening and felt absolutely floored that she was the first one Gideon thought to call, "So, what's up? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's great, I figured you'd pass this info on to everyone, y'know, but I wanted to talk to someone who would keep their emotions leveled for now," Gideon grumbled sheepishly, to which Berri grinned and erupted into happier laughter; all four men kept their frozen gazes tight to Berri as Gideon lovingly carried on, "Also, we're about to me roomies, so I figured..."

Berri sucked in a gasp, stiffened, brightened, this caused all four men before her to equally do the same as their future Queen ebbed and flowed with all of these emotions.

"You found it," Berri whispered cutely, the group only mimed frantic arm gestures and breathy gapes of shock. Gideon heaved a long, exhausted though very playfully drawn out grumbly sigh.

"I wanted to ask if you and your swapmate want North facing windows in your new room," Gideon acted as if this was an annoying task, though Berri could practically hear him grinning; it wasn't until she could hear Kepa, Mara and Lash laughing in the background did Berri yank her phone away from her head and put Gideon on speaker. Everyone brightened the second Gideon's voice continued on for the whole room to hear, "I mean, really everyone... I got Tweedle-Dumb, here, to help gage just what he'd think his brothers would want, but I figured getting a good idea from you would be-"

"Whose Tweedle-Dee in that line-up?!" Nox suddenly cried, everyone erupted into laughter as Gideon's smiling now sounded a lot broader and excited, and with this notion, Gideon put his end on speaker, as well.

"I would probably say you, my guy," Gideon grumbled cutely, to which Lash now could be heard arguing Gideon; everyone was lost in happy laughter.

"Oh, I don't think any of us care the logistics, we're just all so relieved," Berri largely sighed, cupped her sternum and glossed her grateful gaze about the room.

"You guys... Are gunna die, we're immediately in love with this place," Gideon grumbled in excited knowing.

"We're gunna make a massive pool," Lash cried in excitement, Theo clapped his hands with a dorky grin.

"All into one big tree house," Kepa mused.

"Huge fire pit," Mara listed.

"Oh! Sky deck," Kepa hissed, though Lash furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Wait what's that?" Lash wondered, the group inside Turbo's bedroom hovered in bated wait.

"Like, for those of us with wings, we can fly around and then have a place to land," Kepa instructed, though just as she was about to carry on, Lash choked a hard laugh and firmly nudged Gideon's shoulder.

"User, I keep forgetting that you morphed into a dodo bird," Lash's notions had Turbo erupted into guffawing laughter, as if to dismiss Lash's statement, though it was still funny.

"Yeah, a dodo bird that can breathe fire," Gideon grunted in annoyance, everyone was all smiles; everyone, but Wren.

"Thanks for telling us," Berri cooed over the happy laughter, Gideon finally heaved a happy sigh, sounded to take his end off of speaker, and tucked the phone back to his head.

"Yeah, of course, you guys doing okay?" Gideon lovingly wondered.

"Yeah, we're alr-" Theo was swiftly interrupted.

"JUST PEACHY," Wren stabbed, though with said outburst, he immediately covered with a shaky chuckle and the fidgety act of readjusting his sit, in Turbo's lovely seating area near his bed and nightstand, "Uh, yeah... We're all anxious, I guess."

"... Anxious, eh?" Gideon muttered after the group remained silent for a few seconds. Gideon could be heard stepping out of the feedback of wind, his voice became clearer and his surrounding noises dimmed. He carried on stiffly though with an air of loving, grumbly assurance, "Looks like my next heart to heart scheduled will be with blondie."

"Yeah, we had a rather... Interesting conversation with my great uncle, once you guys left," Berri murmured sorrowfully, everyone glossed their eyes to Wren in tender understanding, though he furrowed his eyebrows and firmly looked off in the act of forcing back tears.

"It's alright, my guy, I can tell you're probably worried about the obvious misnomer currently MIA," Gideon's deep voice murmured for Wren's heart only, it was here did Wren crumple, despite all of his hard work of keeping it together. He sucked in a shaky breath through his nose and messily rubbed his jaw and cheek so to desperately keep from coming entirely undone. Gideon's tender words put up a greater fight against Wren's solid defense, "I'm worried too. We can worry together, okay? But you have to know that he is not forgotten... And he will be rescued. I'm sorry if Tweedle-Dumb made your little brother feel very unimportant, last night."

"I love that his nickname here is Tweedle-Dumb, let's keep that rolling," Nox stated above a gentle whisper, so to break the tension with delicacy.

"Will do, Tweedle-Dee," Gideon staggered through taunting laughter, to which the group roused into louder laughter with the banter. Although Wren took this opportunity to wipe his cheeks free of the tears that unfortunately escaped, Gideon returned his attention to Wren, "He and I had our own conversation last night and ironed out just why he was saying that rather insensitive stuff about your little brother. It wasn't personal, he was just projecting cause he was trying to hide the fact that he was worried about solely me, and how your little brother has hurt me."

"I understand," Wren croaked as he grimaced and now couldn't conceal; Throttle immediately stood and made his presence known to Wren's side. They held hands, the immediate show of care had everyone else now swiftly encompassing Wren.

"It's okay, it's all going to be okay," Gideon lovingly reassured as everyone so warmly murmured tender, confirming notions to Wren as Throttle pulled him into a hug, where he sat, to which warm rubs to his back and arms ensued, "I'll be back where you guys are tonight. Me and my swapmate are going to figure out waypoints, but I also need to speak to her father about something, so when I come back, you and I can talk privately as well. Would you like that?"

"Yeah, I would," Wren tearfully croaked as he sagged his forehead into Throttle's available shoulder.

"Done," Gideon assured, "B, I'm going to randomly show up, I'm not going to text anyone when I'm on my way. Can you just tell your mom and dad to be available in the dining hall around dinnertime?"

"Yeah, I will," Berri confirmed kindly, "We love you... Thank you, for everything."

"I love you guys, too," Gideon chimed happily as the group of five, in Turbo's bedroom, volleyed a hum of agreeing notions in return, "And, you're very welcome. I'm glad I can be of service, like this. You guys won't have a single little thing to worry about, I'm so serious. It's starting to feel too good to be true, but I've been pinching myself and I'm not dreaming, so... Should be good!"

"I'm so excited," Berri squealed quietly with a nod, to which Wren finally had calmed down and somehow managed to push an equally excited and humbled little smirk from his teary face, tears of which Throttle was helping him wipe away.

"Alright, we're gunna get to it, I'll be in the dining hall later, it'll just be me," Gideon reiterated, to which Berri nodded.

"Okay, love you, be safe," Berri called, and as everyone said their loving parting notions, Berri sighed, tossed her phone to Turbo's bed and now pressed into Wren's gravity. She crouched before the chair he was lowly sat at. He had his face slumped into his fist, his elbow planted on the chair's cushiony arm rest, his teary eyes side-eyed Berri in sorrowful, near-lip quivering dread. Berri sighed, shook her head, rested her hand on his available one and felt herself getting choked up, as well. She pressed on for him as everyone around them patiently watched, "Putting myself in your shoes... If all of this tragedy happened to Ace, I wouldn't be able to function."

"It's hard," Wren staggered through tears that got the best of him, once more. He croaked a gasp of a cry, squeezed his eyes shut and felt himself needing to unload, once and for all, to which Berri nodded in full understanding.

"I can't even imagine," Berri whimpered as tears slipped down her cheeks as well, "But what I can do is call the men and women in mine and my mother's and father's court to surround you while you're down."

Turbo smiled down to his hands, bobbed a nod and now felt the trickle-down effect of bittersweet emotion begin to drown the room silly. His teary eyes sharply caught with Theo's and then Throttle's, Nox purposefully stood and began to remove himself from their peripherals and such, though he stayed in the room.

"We will do the same for Callum," Berri confirmed with a nod, "I don't care if it means abandoning my court in Sugar Rush and migrating to Gideon's rule. I don't care if concerts get jeopardized or if the tabloids spread the nastiest rumors about us... I will drop everything to make sure me and mine are safe, and this includes you and yours."

"We'll get him back, we have a powerhouse of ability," Throttle croaked with a nod as he rubbed Wren's shoulder, "From all of us."

"Family first," Turbo murmured, he finally caught tearful gazes with Nox and eventually choked a nasally laugh, "Lookit all of us, we're ruined over this bullshit."

"It's just so much in one day," Theo firmly rubbed his forehead in exhausted dread.

"With Uncle Gideon's help, I promise we will get Callum back," Berri hummed to Wren, they gripped each other's hands as Wren now composed himself, though not out of feeling like he had to in order to keep his dignity; he looked mildly refreshed, though Berri knew officially unloaded onto Gideon was probably what was going to help him the most.

"Thank you," Wren meeped as he lulled his teary eyes closed and nodded.

"C'mon... Let's go tell my mom the good news, that'll cheer you up," Berri muttered as she gave Wren a knowing look, to which he lifted his eyebrows and dared to smile.

"Yeah, she's gunna start rearranging and cleaning and all that crap," Wren huffed a shaky, nasally laugh that everyone joined in on.

"Yeah, she deep cleans when she's anxious about something, we can expect palace grounds to be literally sterile after all this nonsense," Berri jeered, and as the group rose to lazy stands and stretches so to prepare to find Tessa on palace grounds, Berri hung close to Wren for his comfort, well aware support from all angles was not only wanted, but necessary.

Casted in universal beams of hot sunlight, Gideon squinted and sourced his team of four. Although this main island was vast and could be seen across with the naked eye, it still was colossal, it still bobbed like a buoy in an ocean of cosmic sky light, the gorgeous envelope of fluffy clouds that hugged this golden land fogged over the atrium, in the distance, as well as the massive, blissful, futuristic city crowned in the tan cliff tops about the Sundog's main send and receive station down to the internet. Swillah had made abundantly clear that the crew would be happy in the city, though Gideon knew otherwise. Well aware everyone here would treat them with kindness, fairness, Gideon did what he could to utilize the scary amount of intuition and foresight Kepa had gifted him. He considered Berri's crew, he considered their privacy, but beyond that, his eyes trailed this wild landing spot he had picked and thought of nothing more than his and his crew's future children. A place where they can run and be free, a place where the city was accessible though a wild off-grid life was what Gideon and crew knew was going to be beneficial in this crazy new season of their lives.

Sundog was a massive sky island that had cascading mountains that hugged the perimeter, making the gaping center a lovely, lush valley full of rolling hills, deep springs, jungle-like areas with crystal clear rivers that snaked through the lot of it. The city tucked up against the jagged, higher cliffside that the send and receive port was on, crowned with the prettiest, largest trees, such beasts that rivaled anything Gideon and crew knew to be true. They had picked an area so that the city, and the Sundog port, was magnificently within view, though it was because they were on an area that had a sloping hill that nearly kissed the sky. Not nearly the highest point of Sundog, Gideon was sure it was one of, and with this notion, he looked about their vast, grassy place atop the world, the cooler wind swept about the place and through their hair, his crew happily chattered with exciting notions of whats to come, all of it was everything that he could've ever dreamed of. In a scoot up to the four, so to insinuate that he had concluded his phone call with Berri, he dusted his hands off and was met with the smiling eyes of his crew as they stood on their raw, ready foundation. Gideon opened his mouth to begin delegating tasks for building their new home in the sky, though was met with Lash's well-concealed worry.

"Dude, I don't know, there's a ton of wilderness this far out," Lash muttered nervously, he rubbed the back of his head and looked down into the nearest cascade of hilly, tan, grass-covered boulders and land that spilled into the mouth of the edge of the Sundog's main valley. Their narrowing hilltop, that stretched higher and higher and nearly formed a miniature peak of a mountain top, was glowing with peace and serenity, though Lash still eyed the loose jungle a five minute hike down the hill and shot Gideon a wary look, "I mean, we have no clue what kind of wildlife is down there, we're so far away from the city-"

"On the Sundog," Gideon gently interrupted the runaway train of worry Lash was happily boarding, he halted his words in a huff and peered to Gideon in forlorn concern, "This is the safest place known to man. And, guess what, you'll never believe it..."

"What," Lash stabbed in annoyance, Gideon looked off and shrugged.

"I just so happen to be in charge," Gideon hummed, Lash rolled his eyes and looked off, to which the group about both men laughed with knowing. This eventually got a small smile out of Lash, "You're worried some creature is gunna come crawling out from the jungle to take you?"

"Yeah, actually! Glad you find this funny," Lash reanimated and gestured his arms out, though he even still couldn't contain a wide smile.

"So, where do we compromise from here, then, cause just fifteen minutes ago, we all were on the same page with building our mini-palace here," Gideon pointed down to the massive stretch of ascending hill they were on, "This is probably one of the highest points on the edge of the bowl of the Sundog... What will make you feel better, a wall?"

"A moat?" Kepa quipped, Mara giggled though Lash rolled his eyes once more.

"Oh, and with crocodiles," Kepa continued as she snapped her fingers, her and Mara caught eyes and pretended to be serious about this.

"Yeah, like... With piranhas and a sign that says 'Beware:Whiplash'," Mara couldn't get the words out without staggering hard laughter into the air and crumpling in on herself, to which Kepa swiftly joined.

"So, if you'll recall my notion earlier," Lash gestured his hands stiff to Gideon and gave him a serious, informative look, "You and I will get them beautiful rings and humbly get down on our knee and give them our children, and... This gives them license to do what?"

"Bully you boys for the rest of our lives, we got the memo loud and clear," Mara erupted into harder laughter, to which Kepa was now inconsolable; even through the teasing, Gideon was floored Kepa had another girl to have this much fun with.

"I say I'm in charge but we all know it's the women, hands down, rainbow coding or not," Gideon murmured to Lash, both men held eyes in tight, playful annoyance, to which Lash finally shook his head and waggled his hands at Mara so to playfully get her to stop all her laughter.

"Alright, alright, look, I'm stressed," Lash stabbed, Gideon sighed in smiling glee and knew he needed to find a compromise with Lash somewhere.

"Look... I have an idea," Gideon fingered his lip and looked to the rest of the hilltop they had left to traverse, an ascending hilltop that eventually evened out for a few acres. He rubbed his stubbly chin, eyed the ridge, took a few turns, looked up to the sky, back down to the jungle below and then finally knelt to the ground with one palm to the soft, bright green and yellow wintertime grass, "Why don't we just... Make our home on a floating island. That way nothing can get to us."

"... That's a good idea," Kepa bobbed a nod, her and Gideon caught eyes, "Like... Maybe have a traditional way to get off of the island, so we can explore this surrounding area, but have a teleport pad that leads us to the city somehow?"

"The world is our oyster, literally anything is possible, we're in a proverbial sandbox game and we're the creators," Gideon reminded with a rush of squeezed out excitement, such warmth and happiness that was palpable though still hadn't sunk in, just yet.

"Maybe have the island raise high into the sky at night, but then during the day, it lowers so we can come and go?" Mara quipped, though just as she finished her sentence, Gideon sucked in a huge breath, closed his eyes and worked his magic.

The ground shook, his terraforming skills urgently soaked his lower arms in a hit of powerful User coding that swarmed his skin, and with a crazy amount of ease Gideon could swear he would never fully get used to, he fluttered his eyes in focused amping and skillfully began to lift away the last stretch of a few acres, of this hilltop, into a structured, beastly hover into the sky. The four watched as this all took place, and though the ground shook, the trees swayed and the birds scattered in the mild upheaval, Gideon finally drew to a stand the second said colossal, crumbly island finally hovered in the sheer size of its underbelly, unearthed and on display. Tan dirt and rock crumpled loosely, though as Gideon sucked in a huge breath and eyed the sudden mass of floating rock they were due to now properly build on, he panted a little and peered to his friends as said huge, intimidating floating rock now shaded them from the sun, the belly of this massive chunk of earth hovered about fifteen feet from the tops of their heads and out before them. It now had the sheer, unbelievable ability to lift and sag up and down from the sky, depending on the time of day. Gideon bobbed a nod as everyone was frozen in excited stun.

"There, perfect compromise, thank you Mara," Gideon mumbled lovingly through his panting, he eyed Lash and cocked an eyebrow, "I told you the women were in charge."

"You can thank me later," Mara loudly whispered as she drew closer to Lash and planted a loving smooch to his cheek in a playfully obnoxious manner; although Lash rolled his eyes again for the millionth time, he tried not to smile about all of it.

"What if we had that outcropping as like... A front door of sorts?" Kepa pointed to the lowest hanging point of the belly of the island. Rocks and dirt continued to lightly crumble down from the unrest, though was due to finally settling once and for all. A gorgeous splay of vines and grass melted down the side of said beastly unearth of rock, Kepa pointed as everyone patiently assessed just what she was getting at, "Since that's maybe twenty to thirty feet deep of just dirt, rock and earth, why don't we make a spiral stair well up to the island's main land, that'd be the easiest way to access it all."

"What, like this?" Gideon hummed, he felt his veins wiggle with the sheer ease his coding had at manifesting, in this sunny realm.

He figured it had to do with the fact that they were so close to the internet's source power, even if it wasn't fully powered on. With his hands outstretched up towards the rock, he easily brought it all down to their now stark and sudden cliff side drop off and made it so stepping into the lowest point of the island's belly was possible. With ease, his coding eagerly carved out a pristine, beautiful hollow that surely spilled up into the island and to the grassy surface above. Although not decorated or finished with proper stairs, it still was the very first beginning structure for them to play with. Kepa nodded and put her hands on her hips.

"This is perfect, we can make a proper arched entrance right here, maybe some railings to hold onto just in case," Kepa pointed as the five pressed closer to the huge, hovering island, one that just barely lilted and bobbed in the gravity of this incredible act, "I don't know why a tree house keeps coming to mind..."

"Can we make a palace-like tree house?" Lash worried, Gideon sucked in a breath through his nose and gently gripped Lash's arm in a closed-eye scrunch of silent emphasis; Lash animated in gawking frustration, "What! Look, I'm sorry, I know we can literally do anything here, but it still hasn't set in, I just am overwhelmed, okay?"

"Why are you overwhelmed?" Gideon patiently wondered, he kept his hand to Lash's upper arm, both men caught eyes in the switch up, something Gideon made clear that their feelings came first before their work at hand.

"Besides the obvious?" Lash asked, Gideon was shocked to find no sense of sarcasm in his tone, so he politely nodded to encourage Lash to carry on, "I want to get this right. I want Berri and my brothers and Theo and Gunner and them to arrive and feel floored that this is their new home. I'm scared it's not going to be what everyone is happy with."

"How do we quell this? We can't keep calling them to get their input, and we can't bring them all here the conventional way, the Internet's port would shut down due to the public chaos that'd cause," Gideon murmured, he diligently eyed Kepa and was certain her intuition had the answer; with the way she took in a readied breath, Gideon felt thrilled that his instinct to rely on her was always right.

"It's something we can't think too hard on," Kepa mumbled as she fingered her lip in thought, she eyed Gideon in curious, bated wait and wrinkled her nose, "I have an idea, but y'guys gotta have an open mind about it."

"Sure," Gideon and Mara bobbed nods of agreeing, though Lash only curiously eyed her in nervous anticipation.

"This isn't a time to let our adult-selves just bicker and be anxious, we can't build this new home of ours on a foundation of worry, and clearly, we're all worried in one way or another," Kepa hummed, Lash bobbed a nod and looked down to their feet in defeat.

"Nothing's gunna crawl out from the jungle and get you while I'm breathing," Novus mumbled cutely as he nudged Lash with the wrist of his wing, this got a proper, humbled smile out of Lash.

"We need to get to the source of our creativity," Kepa's voice got quieter, her smile broadened, the twinkle in her eye had flashes of memories, from this morning, hitting Gideon's retinas. The adorable little kid-version of herself beaming into his face and asking if Gideon could come out to play, Gideon scoffed a knowing chuckle, looked down and bobbed a knowing nod as she continued on, "We need to let our inner children out to play, for this."

"Oh, like... I've never been a kid, so what, do I just pretend?" Lash murmured in disappointment, Kepa shook her head and gave him a curious smile.

"No, since powers here are heightened, since this grab at ability is unlimited," Kepa and Lash caught eyes, though he began to look more nervous, "We can, quite literally, let our inner children out to play."

"You're saying, we'd all be together, but as our child-selves?" Gideon pawed, Mara clapped her hands excitedly.

"Good idea! I have ideas but like... I think Kepa's right, a child's intuition and free creativity is unmatched, I remember how it was," Mara mused, Lash shyly rubbed the back of his head and eyed Novus.

"Guys, I'm the only one that has never legitimately been a child, the hell is that gunna look like for me?" Lash staggered in sorrowful worry.

Before he could continue to complain, Kepa grabbed his hand in her left, Mara's in her right, waited for Gideon and Novus to fill the gap, and with wild intuition and an ump of User power all around, Kepa and Gideon skillfully allowed his shared, lucid space to manifest into their reality. In the flicker of coding, in the hesitant reopen of their eyes, the group collectively gasped in rolls of childlike wonder as they all came face to face with each other's kid selves. Gideon's skin was void of tattoos or piercings, his tail and spines were gone, Kepa's pelt was that of her adolescent markings, the gap in Mara's teeth was a lot wider with the aid of a missing tooth to top it all off, they all peered to Lash who nervously stood with his littler hands tucked to his chest. An adorable child representation of who Lash would be as a kid, they all were about eight Arcade months old, equating to the mentality of kids on the cusp of being teenagers, including Novus.

"Yooo," Lash's much higher, pre-pubescent voice pierced the air in a raspy hiss of shock, though he slapped his hands over his mouth messily and bugged his cheery, lovely golden eyes, all of their features were doughy and more puppy-dog like, Novus bounced on his paws and flapped his much smaller wings with glee.

"Dude, it worked!" Gideon's equally as higher voice quipped as Kepa's and Mara's adorable, girly giggling carried on.

"Whoa, this is so weird," Mara grinned, they all got good looks at each other, though before too much time could pass, Gideon put his much bigger hands on his hips and looked up in boyish glee.

"Alright, guys, let's do this," Gideon stabbed excitedly.

"I'm in charge of the construction of the pool!" Lash's boyish voice called as he thrusted his arm upwards.

"I wanted to do that!" Mara whined in full, unconcealed childlike complain, Lash largely looked up in full annoyance.

"Guys the sky is the limit, let's build two pools for crying out loud," Gideon barked as he began to messily stomp over to the gaping entry way and spiral staircase into the underside and belly of their lovely new floating island.

"How are we gunna fit this all in a tree house?" Kepa cried with laughter, the five messily began to climb the unfinished stairwell up to the surface of the island, at least thirty feet up.

"Keep building upwards," Lash stabbed happily, their clumsy kid-hands pressed against the wider walls of the stairwell as they all nearly tripped over each other in a quick attempt to beat each other to the surface, with Novus clumsily following along.

"Can't forget the lighthouse, either," Gideon called back to the four, to which Kepa smiled and felt relief course her, the fact that even though they were all currently kids, the idea that they kept their adult selves and swapmates in mind was pivotal.

"This island is gunna have it all," Kepa stumbled with a cute, high-pitched giggle as the five finally came to the mouth of the stairwell and emerged into the surface of heavenly sky grass that flit in the crispest, cleanest air. It ruffled their hair, they peered out to the acres of a playground that was now all theirs for the taking, just wide open sky and grass, they all eyed each other in feverish, stunned knowing and understood that this was now their time to go nuts and get excited. Kepa scoffed a giggle and dusted her hands together, "Welp, I don't know about you guys, but I've been waiting my entire life for an opportunity like this."

"Let's try to keep our heads," Gideon happily chuckled, and as his fiery eyes scanned this magnificent land for all of the opportunity before them, he sucked in a readied breath and eagerly shared his and Kepa's rainbow coding with Lash, Mara and Novus. With a nod, the five looked on in amping preparedness to jolt into action as Gideon huffed a finalized notion, "Ready, set... Go!"