Reviews :

Jay Sketchin : Bawww, I'm glad you like him already! He's a big mellow boi. Him and Royal DEFINITELY 'hit it off' x_x

Burgie : Ehhh, I won't spoil anything, but they've never really been huge supporters, obviously. And yes, Boss and Royal unfortunately do not play nice for the first while.

chuckiboo : Wow. I was wholly taken aback by what you said, I am forever floored when my readers remember very small details all the way back to Wrecking Limits, kudos to you my friend! You're definitely right, Minty was a bit of a brat about it all, (and yes, you're right about Swizzle - she eventually confides in Ace about it all) and although she's come around a little, she still is a bit weird about the whole concept.

Snake557 : This is true, I try not to take away their entire animalistic behaviors. Thank you friend!


Song Listened To :

Beasts of Steel by Joris de Man (end of the chapter)


A/N : Hey guys, so sorry for the delay. I'm in the process of reversing my sleep and work schedule. Cory got a much better job, but it's a very early morning job, so I changed my schedule around so him and I aren't on opposite sleep/work schedules (been there, done that... It sucks.) It's been a really difficult process trying to reverse the past 15 years of going to sleep at 4am every day. Cause now I'll be waking up at 4am every day xD It's just exhausting and at the end of the day, I can't bounce back enough to poop out a chapter. But, like everything, it'll take a little bit of time to fall into a new routine and I'll be up and running shortly. Thanks for understanding!


*Chapter 12*

"Oh, hi, uh... Can I get two large pizzas with..." Ace trailed off, his voice only politely wavered as the sounds of busied workers could be heard on the other end of the line, the only thing now distracting his thought process being Nox's arms urgently flailing, an unmitigated show of potentially changing his mind on what kind of pizza he wanted. Ace tilted the microphone end of his phone away from his mouth, narrowed his eyes at his best friend and carried in on a sharp whisper of only teasing frustration, "Nox, this is the fourth time you've changed your mind, you freak, I'm about to order you anchovies, is that what you want?"

"Damn," Turbo choked, he eyed Ace with a widening smile, somehow thrilled there was another man on the lot that was willing to properly brother Nox. Turbo crossed his arms, relaxed and tried to gloss his eyes away from the endearing situation before him, messily slumped at Tessa's and Zed's kitchen island.

"Hello?" The innocent, seemingly bored pizza employee's voice could be heard, just barely, on Ace's phone.

"Yes, I'm still here, I'm sorry... We'd like two large pizzas, one meat lovers and the other... Mushrooms," Ace wrinkled his nose and eyed Nox, who beamed, eagerly held a thumbs up and nodded with fervor. Libby raised her eyebrows in prickled delight and cast her tender voice in Nox's direction.

"Can I have a slice, Nox?" Libby tenderly wondered, a dainty smile of loving goodness, she carefully cradled Berri in her motherly arms.

"Of course," Nox eased politely, Ace began to slowly mosey away from the kitchen island to continue the transaction over the phone.

"Yeah, my name's Ace," Ace stated as he began to gently distance himself from the ever growing conversation at the kitchen island, he cocked an eyebrow and carefully held his father's bank card in his larger hands. A hefty, thick slate of a card, made of solid metal and coat in a glorious display of silvers and blacks in a simple marbled design. Zed's full name was etched into this prestigious card in hot blue, and it was with this did a nervous lump gather in Ace's throat, the raw fact that he was simply talking to an unsuspecting civilian down in Orion City, "I-I'll be using my dad's card, though."

"No problem, what's the name on the card that will be used upon delivery?" The kind employee eased, and with such, Ace staggered a breath of a silent chuckle.

"Uh, Zedian Kalivar," Ace lilted in boyish question; the neverending silence on the other line had Ace certain that now every employee in this pizza shop was going to vie for the task of delivery.

"Zedian... K-Kalivar, the new King of Sugar Rush?" The employee finally staggered in a raised, concerned tone of bewilderment.

"That'd... Be correct," Ace stumbled through a laugh and rubbed the back of his head, "Y'know, I didn't really think this order through and forgot that one of your coworkers is going to have to deliver to Sugar Rush's palace, but... I-I mean I can tip ahead of time, or I can come down to the city to pick it up-"

"No, no, User, no," the employee now lilted from the dregs of their typical exhaustion, from a work day, to that of their best customer service voice, "W-We'll deliver no problem, it's on us, really, we'd be honored."

"Please let me pay," Ace blurt with a laugh of rising concern, he grit his teeth and glared down at his father's bank card, one of which Zed had so kindly left for the kids to do exactly as Ace was doing; order food and have a small bit of fun while the King and Queen were away.

"We insist, it's our pleasure, we'll have two deliverers on their way shortly," The boyish employee rushed to Ace's aid, something of which Ace was now having a hard time navigating, "We'll be there in fifteen minutes sharp."

"... O-Okay, well, thank you," Ace eased in gentle defeat, and as he slowly pulled his phone away from his ear, he ended the call on the larger touch screen, wrinkled his face in mild discomfort and turned heel to rejoin the bickering group at the island.

"So help me User, if you say you like pineapples on your pizza, then I'm going to have to second Ace's statement and label you an ultra-freak-Frappuccino," Turbo rushed, the rasp in his voice was sharply prominent in his playful, teasing tone.

"Well FINE! I hope I'm at least a Venti, then... With extra whipped cream," Nox boasted as he shook his head and playfully glared at his big brother down the bridge of his nose; Turbo sagged his face into his hands in entire defeat.

"What's wrong, puba?" Libby eased to Ace through a giggle, she quite enjoyed watching Turbo interact with Nox in this way, as it was something she had never been able to witness until now.

"Uh, well... I really didn't think any of that through. I told them the name on the bank card I'd be using, I couldn't give anymore information past 'Zedian Kalivar' without them begging to not charge me for my order," Ace rushed in confused, delighted dismay. He rubbed his temples and gently eyed Turbo for guidance, "I-I don't know how I feel being treated like... Like..."

"...Royalty?" Turbo cocked an eyebrow, his tone was that of dull annoyance, though it was clear his allegiance to the royal family would never waver.

"The pizzas were FREE?!" Nox barked in annoyance, Berri blurt a gentle squeal upon hearing the volume of voices get louder and louder, "Why didn't you order like four more! Cinnamon bread! Anything!"

"Because! I'm not that kind of person, Nox, that inventory is their livelihood, and they're just giving away two pizzas for free," Ace shrugged and looked off, "I guess it's not that big of a deal, just... Feels odd. I was never treated like this growing up."

"Just tip them really well," Turbo shrugged, he reached into his back pocket, of his jeans, and lazily lofted a crumpled wad of cash onto the kitchen island. Ace cocked an eyebrow and peered to Turbo in a show of kind uncertainty, Turbo kindly eased his timid eyes across the gazes of Nox, Libby and Ace, "On me."

"...This is fifty dollars," Ace murmured in a show of rising surprise as his large fingers thumbed through the messy cash, he smiled to Turbo and side-eyed him in a teasing show of discovery.

"I'm not running that city for free, my friend," Turbo mumbled in a deep, raspy, reverberating echo of cunning charm, the glow of his eye nearly twinkled with sly knowing, something that made a lump gather in Ace's throat, a show of prickled surprise.

"Tessa and Zed must treat you well if you just have fifty dollars in your back pocket for chump change," Nox cheekily pointed out, to which Turbo crossed his arms and smiled, though the gentle vow of silence he now sank into was a humble display of a now cut-off game of 'don't ask don't tell'.

"Guys," Rancis's voice croaked from the living room, although he had been previously snoozing through a late morning nap, the group began to become louder upon noticing Rancis quietly wake up and run through a few game duties via Zed's much larger digital pad. Everyone sharply peered to Rancis, who had his neck wretched to peer to the group at the kitchen island, from the billowy grey couch. He nervously waved the digital pad, which showed a fifty-square mile radius of the castle, including a majority of Orion City, as well as Sugar Rush's entrance, "Top dogs are back... Hope someone's warned 'ol Roy-boy, because Lickity is being tailed by another dragon."

The whole room fell silent in a stiff, frozen gape of realization. Although they had somewhat prepared for this, to see it unfold into reality was what took every single person in the room aback. Certain that nothing could take any of their minds off of the impending pizza to come, Ace firmly pushed across the room, came to the backside of the couch and was offered the digital pad from Rancis. In a firm swipe, Ace cued to Tessa's and Zed's waypoints; both properly aboard Lickity, the silhouette of an 'unknown' being eagerly tailing Lickity had Ace's pupils tightening in anxiety. In a quicker swipe, he urgently zoomed to the palace grounds, his large fingers cued to highlight strictly the flyers on the lot. Balba and Marble were tucked away in a secluded area of their enclosure, likely napping the late morning away, though Ace grit his teeth in a further spike of anxiety as he noticed Royal's waypoints nearly dead center the Sugar Rush palace lot; likely sunbathing.

"Royal's out in the field... The second Lickity crosses those palace walls, Royal's going to know," Ace urged, he peered to the group at the island and glanced down to his uncle in fear.

"What should we do?" Nox wondred in uneducated worry, Libby tilted her head up and gestured to the digital pad in Ace's hand, as easily as she could whilst holding Berri.

"Well, if I were you, I'd hurry and code whatever being, that is following Lickity, to the game," Turbo rushed, Libby urgently nodded, "If Royal's going to go ham on this fella, it'd be best if it weren't permanent..."

"Good thinking," Ace stated quietly and sharply, his hands began to go to work; Rancis finally groaned an exhausted noise and stood in a stiff, sleepy fashion. He groaned a noise amidst his firm stretch and finally slumped to join the rest of the now panicking group.

"One of us should go down and warn Royal, quick," Rancis quipped gently as he rubbed his eye, and although he was just slowly coming out of sleepiness, it was clear the prickled sense of urgency now coat the room in a cloak of concern.

"On it," Ace's curt tone snipped, and in a gentle thrust of the digital pad to the kitchen island, he hurriedly moved across his parent's home, raced down the long corridor to their teleportation pad of a front door, yanked his thick coat off of the hanger and shoved it onto his body as fast as he could; without any time present for anyone to loft questions his way, his incredible golden coding evaporated with the cue of the teleportation pad.

"So, Berri and I will be here to enjoy the fireworks," Libby stated in a dull tone, and although she was teasing, it still held underlying speckles of nervousness; Turbo nodded, in agreeing to her statement and eyed Rancis in concern.

"What precautions should we take?" Turbo quietly questioned to his partner, in this mess.

"This could go one of two ways," Rancis's deep, tired voice grumbled as he thumbed through the still powered-on digital pad, he cocked an eyebrow and noticed the tidy layout Ace had left on the screen. A proper reading of Lickity's mate, breed, descriptions and adjectives alike, Rancis waggled the pad and showed Turbo his findings, "Either this beast knows to keep his head down and lets Roy-boy hold his 'territory', or..."

"... The palace lot turns into a volcano," Nox muttered into his hands, he lazily sagged his palms and fingers down his cheeks in a messy array of impending exhaustion, "Maybe we should warn Orion City..."

"This is unlike anything I've ever dealt with, Tee," Rancis eased to Turbo as he shook his head and shrugged, "Everyone here isn't outside their own game, so we're really at no risk... Only pressing issue is the contingency of this fight, potential clean up, and the stability of Royal's pack after this all goes down. Who knows what their dynamic will look like, after everything is said and done."

"Royal's lazy Sunday just took a turn for the worse," Nox stated through the grit of his teeth as everyone peered out Tessa's and Zed's bay window; Ace could be seen, far off across the lot, glitch-hopping to Royal's lazily sprawled figure in the snowy grass, everyone eagerly stood to watch the show from the safety of the King and Queen's loft.

"Royal," Ace huffed loudly as he came out of his educated glitch-hopping. His golden user coding easily took to the snowy field like wildfire, golden honeycombs grappled any ounce of ground coding it could get its grip on. Ace heavily panted as he neared Royal and continued on through intakes of sharp, cold winter air, "Royal, Lickity's back."

"For User's sake, it's about time," Royal's sprawled, lazily body finally tensed in the slow action of moving from his unhinged, belly-up position to back on all fours. He garbled a noise, shook the snow off of his massive body like a dog and perked his ears in excitement as he finally bounced on all fours a little and peered to Ace in a cute, boyish manner, "I've been dying to go back to Honeydew Ridge, already."

Ace continued to softly pant, and although he inhaled a deep breath to continue on to Royal and explain just what was going on, the second both boys locked eyes, Royal froze in a gentle downslope of impending dread. Royal's perked wings and ears very slowly began to sag to that of a droop of defense, his tail gently uncurled from that thick, friendly bundle of white, cream and golden scales, and as Royal's cute and delightfully child-like demeanor began to sink to something Ace had never seen before, Ace bit his lip and began to tenderly back step the second Royal's hypnotizing eyes lost that cute boyish charm, a slippery slope to that of riled, pure, animalistic instinct. Just as Ace was certain Royal was simply going to be lost in this battle of impending dominance, and he was well on his way to stepping out of harms way, Royal flattened his ears, tilted his head up and called to Ace in a now sharp, stern and fatherly show of arms.

"Where is he?" Royal barked meanly as his pupils began to shrink, and with his words, Ace only had seconds to open his mouth before a strict loft of a gliding beast could be seen on the far end of the lot, hovering tight about the palace's perimeter; Lickity knew she was bringing home a ticking time bomb of a situation, and was wise to not cross over the border of Royal's territory.

"Royal," Ace demanded gently as Royal's attention sharply darted to his mother's whereabouts; much to everyone's ironically delighted and terrified surprise, Lickity was loosely and non-threateningly being tailed by a much larger male of her breed, one of which Ace was certain Royal was having a very hard time comprehending.

Before Ace could get anything else out, Royal bared his fangs a little as a deep, core-shaking grumble of a reverberating growl emanated from Royal's large rib cage. Ace was well aware there was no stopping whatever show was about to go down, and it was in his best interest now to just seek shelter. Ace grit his teeth in apologetic sorrow, turned his back on his brother and began to glitch-hop to the safety of the recreation hall, just across the field. In a few seconds, Ace was safely inside the warmth of the hall, which had gathered the attention of Taffyta, Penny, Wren, Snowanna, Swizzle, Koko and Emery. In a panting mess of nervousness, Ace began to explain to everyone the predicament, and implored them to temporarily stay indoors, and with the prerequisites laid out for everyone, they gathered to the rec-hall's massive bay windows in preparation for a show.

After about five minutes of Lickity and Boss nervously circling the outer ring of the palace's lot, Royal stood dead center, the very pin-point of his domain, his strong legs and paws were firm in the snow. As a show of arms, his massive white wings were sprawled to display size, his once cute curl of a tail was now unraveled to it's full potential, and what a lot of the lot's residences were unaware of, Royal had a secretive set of tail fins he hardly ever put on display; in this instance, they were fully popped open, gold and black flags of whole agitation, it was entirely clear Royal was prepared to fight. With ears perked high and fangs bared, as a further show of dominance, his growling urgently began to become more aggressive the second Lickity and Boss finally braved the territory and crossed the perimeter. To Royal, this was a challenge, a threat, a fight for his own space, and although he wasn't aware that Boss wouldn't simply come in and take over, he knew he couldn't chance letting his guard down.

In an educated separation for good, Lickity nervously lofted in the direction of the recreation hall and soared just on past the roof top, straight for Tessa's and Zed's tower amidst the enclosure, leaving Boss to now face Royal on his own. As Boss tenderly lofted to the snow below, he finally landed in a trot of a gallop and was now about thirty feet from Royal's positioning. Boss inhaled a deep breath, peered a soft gaze in Royal's direction and assessed Royal for everything he was. Boss, being a much older male, wasn't entirely intimidated by Royal, though with the millions of warning signs Royal was sending, this definitely made Boss think twice about making a wrong move. Boss, knowing full well this wasn't his territory and he was for sure arriving slightly unannounced, he knew to let Royal have higher ground. In a show of respect and submission, Boss flattened his large bat ears, though sharply was aware not to take his eyes off of a potential foe; vivid blue eyes that honed tight into Royal's soul, something that irritated Royal, certainly.

Royal continued to loudly snarl a very unwelcoming display towards Boss, though as Royal sized Boss up, it was clear that both boys were about the same size in both height and length. Royal just barely sagged his demeanor the second Boss's ears went flat, and as Royal's first mistake, he began to close in on Boss to further assess this strange new male, one of which could talk, unbeknownst to Royal. Although Royal finally sealed away his fangs, he continued to growl from the depths of his throat, a guttural display of threat and warning, Royal's educated footwork eased through the snow as his slithering body slowly closed in on Boss, so to further assess. As Royal ever so slowly got within fifteen feet of Boss, he resisted the urge to continue snarling and finally began to sniffle the air. Boss almost nervously eyed Royal down, an unwavering stature of entire dominance, wisdom and experience far beyond Royal's years, Royal was well aware he was in over his head, though he knew full well he'd do anything to show an outsider just who was in charge.

Boss remained frozen, ears now tightly kept to the back of his skull, the urge to let loose his own set of snarls and growls brimmed at the back of his fiery throat. He remained planted, firm paws into the few inches of snow. Boss's incredible dew claws peeked out of his dark matte fur and body, against the pop of incredible white snow, the cerulean flash of color coat his throat and underside in a potential threat display, as if to warn Royal that he wasn't simply up against a silly old timer, but rather a foe who had endured every single trail of wild life thrown to him, unlike Royal. As much as Boss wanted to lash out at Royal and make known that he wasn't going anywhere, he felt that weird relief of reasoning coat him. Boss knew Royal was just scared and unsure, though as Royal began to every so slowly circle him, Boss sneakily bared his massive fangs and finally let loose a gentle grumble of a growl to Royal, to express to Royal that he was getting uncomfortably close, even if it was just innocent sniffles, at this point.

Royal perked his ears high in a jolt of the challenge, though with the sudden switch up, Boss bared his fangs even harder and let loose a becoming snarl of a growl. In the rile of potentially getting too close, Boss finally tensed his ears, from his submissive state, and dared to take a small snip at Royal, alongside a bark of a growl, as if to urgently exclaim to Royal that he was entirely too close, too soon, for comfort, a mistake an uneducated youngster, like Royal, would make. With the sudden snip at Royal's spiky jaw line, Royal ducked in a reflex and felt every single last burning circuit of Lickity's molten, angry agility come flying to the surface of his scales, and in a sudden, swift action of educated footwork Royal was entirely unsure of it's origin, Royal lunged with his hind legs, locked the scruff of Boss's neck in his powerful jaws, grappled his chameleon paws and claws to Boss's back and upper body and, in one clean swipe, Royal easily knocked Boss right off of his feet and straight onto his back and side with a hard jolt of a thud to the ground.

Both boys loudly roared and snarled amidst the struggle, though Royal very easily overpowered Boss, something Boss struggled against. Snow, unearthed dirt and grass easily splayed about the air in a show of flurried aggression, a wild splay of wings, tails and limbs, though once Royal had Boss pinned in the shock of it all, blood dripped down Royal's snarling fangs, which now hovered tight over Boss's head and face. Boss struggled to peer Royal in the face, though it was clear he was entirely floored that said youngster was able to take Boss down in one single swipe, like such, and with this new, raw information, Boss knew never to underestimate Royal ever again. With white wings sprawled high and wide in a flagged show of victory, Royal continued to angrily snarl down to Boss, Royal's chest scales were splayed with the pops of reds and oranges Orion's hide was covered in, a show of entire dominant aggression. Through his snarls, Royal leaned down a little and angrily muttered to Boss, through the grit of his teeth.

"You're on my turf, buddy," Royal sharply snipped, the clip of his fangs clacking together made the small dribbles of blood dot Boss's cheek, "Don't forget it."

Boss panted in the sag of uncertainty, the wind wholly knocked out of him, he was certain battling against Royal was going to be cake, though he very viciously was reminded just whose bloodline Royal came from; the ever quick and agile Lickity Split, with Orion's incredible weight and power to boot. Just before Boss were to open his mouth and respond to Royal, to hopefully somehow ease the tension, Boss wildly flinched as Royal suddenly ripped away from the situation. The downflap of his powerful wings sent snow and debris scattered about Boss, and the second the air had settled, Boss gently sat up in a small struggle and watched as Royal's lightning-fast flight carried him across the castle lot, off the perimeter and completely out of sight. Boss finally felt the weight of the small fight come to him in the form of a now dwindling adrenaline rush, and as a little bit of his blood scattered and dot the surrounding, crystal white snow, he hoped that the worst of it all was now behind him.