Reviews :

Snake557 : AWESOME question! No, the flyers on the lot are not like lions, in where the dominant male coming into a pride will kill a previous male's offspring. They have a very odd hierarchy, the flyers on the palace lot; it gets further explained as this portion of the plot expands! Thank you, friend!

chuckiboo : yes, indeed! Things definitely heat up, no pun intended. Conflict is my middle name LMAO! And yes, Ace DEFINITELY gets some solid experience, with Berri and Wren tight in tow. It'll be a lot of fun haha

Burgie : Yes, too true! I would be worried about Lickity leaving, as well. You'll find out!


A/N :

Hey guys! Really quickly, I just want to make a blanket statement about the 'aging' process, in arcade self-programmed gamers, just so the context of Wren's, Berri's and Theo's age is clear (which will further include Beaux and Mara once they're born)

So, in the Arcade, my AU idea, since Wrecking Limits, was a baby's expedited aging process that only is halted once a gamer reaches physical maturity. When a baby is born, in the Arcade, one month (more or less) is equivalent to one or more years in the human world. So, Wren was born a month BEFORE Berri and Theo. So while Wren is about two months old right now, in the story, he is the physical, mental and emotional maturity of a human 2-4 year old. Berri and Theo are still only a few weeks old in the Arcade, meaning they have the physical, mental and emotional maturity of a human child that is nearly 1 year old.

While this sort of aging process becomes more rapid over the duration of one year, once Berri is technically 12 months old, she will have reached her full status of physical, mental and emotional maturity of a human. Life experience gives any of these faux-codes more mental and emotional maturity, so when a faux-code turns exactly 1 (12 months) - they really would be a 20-25 year old human.

I REALLY hope that all made sense. If it doesn't make sense, please PM me with any questions you may have!

Thanks guys!

OH ALSO

I have a few sketches of the Sugar Rush palace down, and once I post the lot of it to deviantART, I'll let you guys know! It's a LOT to take in, the palace, cause it's MASSIVE, but I hope my drawings and a proper map of it will help it to make more sense! THANKS GUYS!


Song Listened To :

Together We Map The World by John Powell (HTTYD2 Soundtrack)


*Chapter 5*

"Ohh OH! Uh, y-you're... Trying to reach the highest shelf in the pantry," Orph urgently staggered in a rush of now rising adrenaline amongst the group, his face was turning red with such fervor; Gloyd angrily grit his teeth and began to flap his arms even harder, a very dire game of charades the large group was participating in, the whole group loudly howled with laughter, "You're FLYING!"

"This is painful to watch," Taffyta laughed as she covered her face and sagged into the large, swooping couch she was sunk deep into, amongst a few other relaxing bodies. She warmly tucked Wren into her upper body, though he eagerly sat up a bit and glued his excited attention to Gloyd's vigorous movements.

"Y-You uh, you... Are making a snow angel!" Orph firmly pointed and was now jumping out of his seat in dire urgency, which had Penny nearly crippled with laughter.

Gloyd flagged his hands to his chest and now angrily put his flat palms atop his head, to give an example of large ears.

"Y-You're... RUDOLPH!" Orph's voice crackled in a high pitched squeal, the group was entirely lost in laughter, excluding Gloyd.

"You're TERRIBLE at this game!" Penny wheezed to her fiancé as she wiped tears from her eyes.

After a long, tiring game day, the excitingly busy Saturday to end the week, a large gathering had found themselves in the palace lot's recreational hall. A large, single roomed building with a massive arch of a lovely beamed, cascading ceiling, said recreational hall was about a five minute walk from the main core of the palace. Tucked into the very edge of the flyer's enclosure, it boasted an incredible terrace, lush greenery that was currently shroud in puffy billows of snow, alongside a typically cool and refreshing swimming pool, though covered for the winter. Off to the reaches of the recreational hall's lot sat a sprawling jacuzzi, which could easily be seen from the span of the building's endless walled window, billowing out a lovely splay of steam to Sugar Rush's cold, shivering evening night.

Zed, Rancis, Ralph, Taffyta, Candlehead, Gloyd, Swizzle, Orph, Penny, Emery and Nox all excitedly hung in the living quarters of the hall. They partook in drinks and party games, every Saturday night's typical routine, and with the other Sugar Rush racers coming and going as they pleased, the recreational hall's luxurious, warm and inviting aura seemed to be the place to be on a loud and excitable Saturday night. In the span of the massive room, although everything was connected, the stretch from the hall's incredible kitchen from the living quarters was far enough away to be out of earshot of normal conversing. Sat in a cozy bubble of gentle, soft conversation sat Tessa and Oliver, each holding the other's baby, alongside Koko's gentle presence. The hall was warmly lit, decorated appropriately for winter, and although Christmas had past, Tessa continued to refuse to take down the incredibly gorgeous, tall Christmas tree that hung in the gape of the bay window, at least until it stopped snowing.

Dressed down for the night, cozy and warm in the depths of Sugar Rush's winter, Tessa sat hunched over the hall's glossy white counters, though tucked safe in her larger hands and rested on her lower arms, atop said counter, was her adorable little nephew, Theo. At about two weeks older than Berri, he was a lot bigger, loosely due to the fact he was blessed with the entirety of Ralph's and Olivers big boned genes. Much like Oliver, Theo was given a proper set of wrecking hands, something everyone was certain would not skip a generation, and although he was a proper born wrecker, Emery's colorful Dead Zed genes soaked right into the top of his head, much like Berri. Although Theo's hair was not nearly as vivid or bright as Emery's emerald colored hair, Theo's dark hair was a more muted version of it, as opposed to the incredible gaze of his piercing, emerald green eyes, he peered up to his aunt with an adorable, bewildered expression of looking and learning, he cooed sharp baby noises of inquiry as Tessa easily got away with quietly and obnoxiously baby-talking him into oblivion.

"You are positively the cutest," Tessa eased quietly, she wrinkled her nose and pushed firm kisses into her nephew's little belly, and much to her delight, it rumbled a cute giggle from Theo's figure. Tessa beamed and gently jostled him, and in a small dive for more kisses to his cheeks and face, the cuteness continued.

"He knows it, too," Oliver grumbled with a wide, closed-mouth grin. Him and Tessa stood adjacent to each other at the kitchen island, in the same exact posture, with each others' baby. Although he, too, had been doting on Berri, whom of which he cradled safely in his own much larger hands, he peered to Tessa in delightful inquiry and felt whole at the cute sight, "He threw a fit the other day... Totally got out of it just by giggling."

"You caved?" Tessa muttered as she cocked an eyebrow and gave her little brother a teasing smirk, Oliver sagged his shoulders and looked off.

"Maybe," He grumbled.

"Big softy," Koko teased to her big brother as she leaned closer to Tessa, so to also dote on her nephew, Theo.

In the midst of their gentle chatter, the group in the living room began to go wild with shouts and calls, which also included Wren squealing Orph's name at the top of his lungs. Tessa beamed an excited, wide smile as the three heirs, at the kitchen island, dropped their small conversation and honed their gazes to the commotion. With such, Gloyd was now angrily and wildly flapping his arms, amidst trying his very hardest not to laugh, and with the sheer amount of dumb remarks Orph was haphazardly shouting at Gloyd, the rest of the crew was now calling out very blatant hints to Orph, for everyone else had guessed just who Gloyd was trying to imitate.

"Big, fluffy, scaling thing!" Taffyta yelled with a hard laugh as she sat up a little more and situated Wren in her lap.

"Dragon! Dragon!" Wren loudly giggled.

"With how hard this is for you, I can guarantee you're not getting LUCKY tonight," Swizzle largely winked at Orph, hoping he got the innocent segue inside his innuendo, though Orph furrowed his eyebrows in a hard gape and pointed to Gloyd in bewilderment.

"LICKITY?!" Orph shrieked, Gloyd firmly sat down at the gorgeous, wide bench of the fireplace and shoved his face into his hands in whole entire irritation; the whole group continued to howl with excited, happy laughter as both began to loudly bicker.

"Even Wren understood who Gloyd was!" Penny practically couldn't even sit up from how hard she was laughing.

Tessa's wide, eager smile was so suddenly sagged into a sharp prickle of remembrance. In the gentle slope of her demeanor, she inhaled a slow, silent and annoyed breath, and as her eyes finally sagged back down to the adorable little baby wrecker in her arms, she exhaled said long, hot sigh through her nose. The reminder of Lickity, and her hot topic at hand, had her heart gently sinking in an abyss of confusion, the dilemma of taking Lickity to Dead Zed in a bout of freedom, or keeping her safely tucked away in Sugar Rush, a proverbial act of imprisoning her. Tessa got lost in Theo's adorable, incredibly emerald green eyes and could feel the gentle stares of her concerned siblings finally sag to Tessa's being in a warm, palpable string of apologetic understanding.

"You're holding one of the cutest babies on this entire lot and you're FROWNING?" Vanellope suddenly chimed as she had previously rounded the corner, a wide, lovely, long hallway that lead to a bathroom, a few bedrooms and a smaller, different wing of the recreational hall.

"She was reminded of Lickity," Koko pressed warmly, to her mother. Oliver and Koko both peered to Vanellope in a silent string of near plea, as if they were simply conveying that both of them, together, had tried absolutely everything to get Tessa out of her funk, to no prevail.

"It's fine," Tessa mumbled with a forced, weak smile. She shook her head and softly began to mumble cute coos down to Theo, once more.

"Have you decided if you're taking Lickity with you guys, or not, yet?" Vanellope eased as softly as she could, though she knew that somehow she had to get to the bottom of this ordeal. Vanellope crossed her arms, leaned her hip into the island's counter, where she was stood across from her three children. She cocked an eyebrow and wasn't surprised that Tessa wasn't giving her a response, though Oliver's and Koko's dewy, nervously innocent expressions sagged to their mothers in a further slope of plea; Vanellope inhaled a sharp breath and gently furrowed her brow, "... Is it really that dire of a decision that you can't even MAKE said decision?"

"I don't know, mom," Tessa blurt in gentle annoyance, and as she finally inhaled a deep breath and stood up straight, she carefully brought Theo's front up to her chest and shoulder and tenderly cradled the back of his fragile head in her strong, wrecking hand. Tessa shook her head and softly began to jostle Theo up and down a little, once she realized his coos of rising urgency held impending twinges of sleepy fussiness, deep in the depths of his little lungs, "Zed and I could so easily just use Dead Zed's code room's powers to get about our honeymoon spot... It'd definitely be easier with Lickity, but..."

"So bring her, it's no big deal," Vanellope shrugged, though Koko grit her teeth at her mother, as if she knew better which of Tessa's buttons not to push.

"Mom, she'd ditch us for a code swap," Tessa insensitively spat, though the second Vanellope's eyebrow cocked in a rise of dominant sass, Tessa knew that her Queenly status was only just a hierarchy title, and not something she could even remotely hold over her own mother and predecessor to Sugar Rush's reign.

"Wow, that... Sounds strangely familiar," Vanellope's cute voice lilted in entire, sarcastic charm as she fingered her lip and coyly looked up; Oliver largely rolled his eyes, lulled his head back and slowly brought Berri up to his chest.

"Alright, Bear, I don't want you learning how to be as sassy as these ladies, okay, we're going to go elsewhere now," Oliver muttered in cheeky cuteness down to his niece, though Koko choked a noise and began to urgently flail her fingers a little.

"Nooo it's my turn to hold her," Koko urged in gentle sweetness, to which Oliver bowed to her requests.

"Mom," Tessa eased in a strange dollop of sad warmth, she knew she had matured past the point of blatantly and loudly arguing her mother, she knew Vanellope was smart and quick, had more knowledge and wisdom than her cute and sassy demeanor lead on. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in a slope of continued defeat and sagged her shoulders as Vanellope waggled her finger and eyed her first born with a smile.

"Be sensitive towards your best friend... She's an animal, at her core," Vanellope stated, "Let her do what she's gotta do..."

"But... What if she doesn't come back?" Tessa worried, she knew she was beginning to sound like a broken record, though for some reason she felt as if she was believing the words the more she said them, even though she knew, deep down, they weren't true.

"Doesn't come back?" Vanellope hissed as she shook her head; Oliver gently handed little Berri over to Koko in the background of Vanellope's and Tessa's conversation, "How could she not come back, Tessa, she LOVES you."

"She could never just forget about us, Tess," Koko eased warmly, she lovingly cradled Berri in her arms and tidied the bright blue hair atop her little head, "She has a son, a grandbaby on the way, her entire family here, and not to mention... This whole palace?"

"There's no better place to be, Tess," Oliver grumbled as he crossed his arms and leaned his upper body lazily onto the kitchen island's counter, due to having a break from holding a baby, "You, yourself, should know that first hand. You created this palace..."

Tessa sighed, sagged her shoulders and knew she was being controlling. She lulled her eyes closed, cuddled Theo's little furnace of a body tighter to her chest and buried her nose into the top of his little shoulder. He squirmed just barely, though snuggled into Tessa's loving embrace, nonetheless.

"Tessa, tell me what it was like when you discovered that Ace was about to fly the coop and go off and find his own footing, in this world," Vanellope cued, she gently pointed to Tessa and shrugged, "What was it like when he and Libby started to become interested in each other? Were you scared that Ace was just going to ditch and forget about you guys?"

"Well, no, cause... Ace and Libby were childhood best friends," Tessa shrugged, she shook her head as Oliver blurt a small, knowing laugh, "We could hardly wait for Ace and Libby to FINALLY get together, it was torture watching the two tip toe around each other."

"Bad example," Koko teasingly muttered to her mother, Vanellope fingered her lip in pondering thought.

"What abouuuut... When Berri grows up and leaves the nest?" Vanellope shrugged as she gestured to adorable little Berri, saddled gently in Koko's arms; Tessa cocked an eyebrow and nervously eyed her second born, "I'm sure Zed will likely have a much harder time with it, but... What are you going to do then? You can't stifle her wants and needs just because you feel insecure that she won't come back."

"Well, mom, how did you handle the situation when Tessa became interested in Zed?" Koko cued, and although Vanellope looked as if she was about to defend herself and rush to hers and Ralph's aid of being rather hands off, with the situation, Tessa bobbed a nod and peered her mature eyes to her mother's.

"She let me go," Tessa eased warmly, she sighed once more and tidied Theo's dark green hair, "They didn't really like Zed... But they never forbid me from doing what I wanted to do."

"That's exactly how you should treat this situation," Vanellope gestured, "Sure, we were scared for you... We didn't know Zed well enough, and we were certain that you were going to fall head over heels and get lost in the jungle with your newfound blue-haired bad guy, but... You didn't."

"I mean, I did, but it was because Turbo and Lash had a hayday on EVERYTHING," Tessa blurt a small laugh, which cued Oliver and Koko into wider smiles.

"You still came back, you fought for that crown," Vanellope shrugged and cutely looked up in thought, "And now, said blue-haired bad guy is Sugar Rush's King... Good things happen if you just stop holding the world with your fist."

"Maybe she'll bring back a really cool OTHER bat dragon," Koko excitedly peered to Tessa, though more for the sake of cheering her up, "Maybe they'll have babies? I mean, C'mon... Lickity's your best friend. She's not just going to ditch you forever."

"And Tess, if she does," Oliver grit his teeth as the group fell nervously silent and honed their eyes tight to Oliver, "Then she maybe wasn't as wonderful of a friend as you thought..."

"Lickity wouldn't do that," Tessa blindly defended, though with such, Vanellope, Oliver and Koko were all smiles.

"SEE?" All three chimed at once, which had Tessa sheepishly shrinking into herself.

"Take her, Tess... She may run off, but she will always come back to you," Vanellope lovingly encouraged, and with such, Tessa finally bobbed a soft nod of agreeing and eased Theo away from her shoulder a little, so she could get a good look at him.

"You guys are heading out tomorrow, right?" Koko wondered as she softened her tone, fully noticing that Berri was drifting off to sleep, in her arms.

"Yeah, we'll be leaving..." Tessa furrowed her brow and stopped her train of thought the second her phone, in her sweat pant's pocket, began to softly vibrate. She gently angled herself closer to Oliver and gestured down to her leg, "I don't know who's calling me, but can you get it?"

"Sure," Oliver pressed as he dug his larger finger into Tessa's pocket, smoothly slid her phone out and peered down to the screen. He huffed a surprised chuckle and showed Tessa the screen, "Oh, it's Turbo. Want me to answer it?"

"Yes please," Tessa urged as Oliver's large thumb accepted the call and put it on speaker. Tessa cleared her throat and spoke down to her beautiful, slim phone, of which Oliver kindly held out to her due to Tessa's arms being preoccupied with Theo, "Hey T, you're on speaker."

"...O-Oh, hello," Turbo's raspy, masculine voice warmly eased through the phone; Koko and Vanellope loudly giggled.

"It's just Oliver, Koko and Vanellope," Koko assured, to which Turbo huffed a bashful choke of a chuckle.

"No worries, hi all," He eased, "You wanted me to call you before I headed to the palace, your majesty."

"Oh, yeah, are you on your way now?" Tessa pressed, though Vanellope furrowed her eyebrows in whole confusion.

"Yes ma'am," Turbo politely volleyed, "Am I to meet you in the code room?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you there, I might have some stragglers," Tessa cutely warned, due to the extremely curious look on Vanellope's face.

"No issue," Turbo stated, though Tessa could tell he was silently begging for not a lot of company to tag along.

"I'll see you in five," Tessa assured, and with Turbo's quip of agreeing, Oliver waited until they were finished to end the call. Tessa smiled in a soft show of longing delight, "Aww, he is so polite."

"It's almost painful," Koko blurt a chuckle and rolled her eyes, "Nox could definitely take a page outta Turbo's book."

"Nox is just playful," Oliver kindly defended, to which him and Koko began to playfully bicker.

"I can't believe Turbo's leaving his perch," Vanellope blurt, though just as Tessa softly began to hand Theo back to Oliver, she warmly began to receive the now dozing Berri from her sister, Koko; Vanellope pressed on, "I'm assuming Turbo gets the heavy task of acting-King?"

"Mom, he's Sugar Rush's Knight. He doesn't need to be acting-anything when he has his own specific Knightly duties," Tessa retort lovingly as she began to peel from the kitchen island and to the recreational hall's teleportation pad; Vanellope was tight in tow.

"Duties," Vanellope snipped with a snort of a giggle, Tessa largely rolled her eyes before she peered back to Oliver and Koko.

"We'll be right back, I'm just going to be assigning a few things to Turbo before Zed and I leave, tomorrow," Tessa called, to which Oliver and Koko promised to remain in their spots and await her return.

"Assignments," Vanellope teased with a smile, she lulled from the balls of her feet to her heels in a playful manner, atop the glowing teleport pad that her and Tessa had finally stepped onto, and in a single bout of rushing pixels, all three girls were zipped straight to the heart of the code room. Vanellope cocked an eyebrow and peered up to her new surroundings, Sugar Rush's massive web of a silver code room that hung in a dimmed, nighttime sleep mode, "And what of said little blue-haired assignment fast asleep in your arms?"

"Don't remind me," Tessa grumbled as both women stepped off of the teleportation pad and into the dim, warm and inviting heart of Sugar Rush's code room.

Above the three was the massive glass dome, Sugar Rush's incredible starry sky smiled down upon it's previous and current ruler, and as Vanellope crossed her arms and looked about, she felt a sweep of pride. Such a gorgeous, welcoming sight, the web of Tessa's code room was tidy and beautiful, all laced in her's and Zed's glowing silver coding, primed and ready for absolutely anything. Vanellope finally dragged her gaze to Tessa and eased a wider, more loving smile, she was well aware Tessa had an important task at hand; delegating all of her important rules to Turbo and Rancis, Sugar Rush's sworn protectors. Vanellope was well aware Rancis likely already got his own run down, though with the gentle twinge of nervousness, in Tessa's eyes, it was clear that Tessa was secretly agitated to hand over the entire slew of Sugar Rush's power to one of the only people involved in Sugar Rush's previous demise.

"So, little Blue goes to an inexperienced User-dad to be, and the entirety of the code room goes to the guy wanting to desperately unbubble the OTHER one guy that nearly ruined it for all of us," Vanellope cued as she crossed her arms, she bobbed a nod and nonchalantly shrugged, "Seems like it could work."

"Ace and Libby have Oliver, Emery, Taffyta, Rancis, you AND dad for support, with Berri, while we're gone... They need the experience before the twins are born," Tessa lulled her eyes closed in whole annoyance and wondered if there was ever going to be an instant where she maybe didn't have to justify her actions to her own mother, "Turbo has had important aspects, of the code room, for a whole entire month now and everything's been fine... Can you please have a LITTLE faith in my decisions, please, mom?"

Vanellope frowned and now felt as if she was mildly stepping a toe out of line, and with such, she knew to shape up; with the worries building in Tessa's head, Vanellope knew she shouldn't fuel the fire.

"I'm sorry, Tess... I don't have to be in on this conversation, if you don't want me to," Vanellope politely cued, to which Tessa softened and easily responded to.

"I-It's fine, mom, I just... I'm trying my best," Tessa sighed, "I can easily hand the code room to you and dad, but... You guys have game days, and... I'm trying to give Turbo a bit more responsibility. I'm hoping it gets him out of his shell, a little more."

"I don't think anything, at this point, can pull that hermit out of his shell," Vanellope staggered a laugh and shook her head, "That guy is as secluded and solitary as they come."

"He definitely prefers to be alone," Tessa shook her head and heaved a hard sigh, and as they eased deeper into the code room, they came upon Tessa's sprawling workstation. A massive white desk, lightly cluttered with a few papers, a few dimmed and screensavered-holograms that hovered, a beautiful work lamp and a few Sugar Rush knick-knacks, alongside it all, Berri's baby sling lazily hung over the back of Tessa's work chair. She began to tighten it over her body, whilst Vanellope held onto Berri, and once Tessa was situated, she carefully sagged Berri into the sling so she could be hands free. She tidied her hair and glanced over to the dimmed teleport pad, to see if Turbo was potentially on his way, "I guess Zed said that he's not even looking to leave his loft, like... At all..."

"Like, physically? Ever?" Vanellope prod in gentle confusion, "Certainly he'll be hanging out in the palace, to be with the code room, while you and Zed are away, right?"

"That's the deal," Tessa bugged her eyes and shrugged, "I can't wait to hear how that goes... With how much he doesn't want to be around other people."

"... Like he won't even leave to go into the city and grab a bite to eat?" Vanellope hissed in whole surprise, "I understand not wanting to socialize, but... THAT level of 'not leaving'?"

"Mom, you know well enough that the code room can supply you with anything you want, at any time of the day," Tessa closed her eyes and shook her head in further exhaustion, "He's all set, in that sixty-four floor high behemoth of a tower. That's all he ever wanted, was to be left alone."

"I don't know, dude... For someone who previously had a swap mate, and loved her with all of his heart," Vanellope rubbed her chin in contemplation, though she sneakily smiled at the teleport pad as if finally began to glow in activation, it eagerly anticipated to receive Turbo's teleported code, "I'm certain this seclusion is just a cry for help."

"Why don't you ask him, then, mom," Tessa dully muttered as they watched Turbo's hot red coding finally zip above the pad in readiness.

"Brilliant, ask the game-ending legend why he is the way he is," Vanellope sassed through the grit of her teeth.