Reviews :
Burgie : CLEARLY a Nox and Ace duo-decision lol!
chuckiboo : Thanks for pointing that out. I have a very mild case of dyslexia, and that word has always been my kryptonite. I know the difference between the two, but it's JUST subtle enough that when I edit my chapters, I don't notice it. It will 100% happen again in the future, I can guarantee, so I hope that's something y'all can just bear through xD Sorry about that. And yes, Ace is not the most confident of dudes, probably the most humble on the lot.
Jay Sketchin : BAW. Yeet, both boyos eventually love each other. Just takes some time and a lot of talking and understanding, from each other's perspectives, to finally feel accepted. Similar to how Lickity finally came around to Orph, though I promise it won't take an entire story and a half for that to happen haha.
Snake557 : I think you may have missed the point :P Ace and them were just fine ordering pizza, it was the second the shop employees learned that they were delivering to royalty did Ace begin to feel uncomfortable with the special treatment. They're definitely not above ordering or eating pizza, it was the fact that 'commoners' were freaking out and wanting to bend at Ace's every whim that had him uncomfortable, and felt undeserving. Hope this helps! :)
Song Listened To :
Meteor Bursts by Tomas Skyldeberg
*Chapter 13*
In nervous, lightly fumbling steps, Boss navigated the slick, sprawling white tiles that entered Sugar Rush's massive code room. The late morning sun shone its glorious rays through the glass dome, each code box was set ablaze with the incredible gleams of silvers and gold lights the electricity of the code room was made up of. Tightly keeping to Zed's six, Boss lowered his head in a climb of uncertainty and peered his incredible blue eyes to the sight above and around him, the comforting hum of Tessa's code room set the whole group at ease. Followed by Boss was Lickity, Ace, Nox, Penny, Turbo and Tessa, who excitedly snuggled Berri into her motherly arms. Boss inhaled a shaky breath, flattened his ears in nervousness and glanced his eyes behind himself, to his mate; Lickity caught eyes with him and shot him an apologetic smile, as if to potentially feel bad for the way her son treated Boss on the first go. Boss readjusted his gaze to the code room around him, eager to be reset of the nasty gash on the scruff of his fluffy, dark-furred neck and scruff.
"So, we now know that Royal is definitely a force to be reckoned with," Zed mumbled in knowing delight as the group came to the center of the code room, Zed held his hand out and upwards to cue the game's main code room orb.
"I knew he always had it in him," Ace rubbed his face in agitation, everyone's tender footsteps drummed to a stop as Boss hovered tight to Zed's vicinity.
Tessa eagerly peered down to Berri's face in whole delight, she quietly cooed down to her child, though in the act of tender silence between the group, Tessa slowly dragged her gaze to Boss. He looked as if he was stifling a great amount of terror. His fluffy mane was extended in a show of potential fear, the vivid blue on his underside was nearly sparkling due to the intensity, and his tail was held rigid in a hover above the cool code room tiles. Tessa frowned and felt her heart sag, she knew he was suddenly being introduced to an entire lot of people, not to mention an entire established pack of dragons and lykatas alike, Tessa was well aware this was likely much for him. In a slow saunter, so not to startle anyone, Tessa eased into Boss's vicinity and lovingly put her free hand out.
"You look scared, bud, is everything okay?" Tessa wondered quietly, to which Boss gratefully bowed his head to Tessa's touch and allowed her larger fingers to soak into his lovely, dark fur; he lulled his eyes closed and relaxed under Tessa's pats, "Let's get you cleaned up quick, and then we can slowly introduce you to everyone, maybe show you around a little."
"Yes ma'am," Boss's very deep, gentlemanly voice hovered above a whisper; said notion had everyone's eyes lit up in delight, the fact that Boss finally spoke words for them to hear.
Zed smiled in delight as the code room's orb finally hovered tight to Zed's vicinity, and as he opened a few options, Ace uncrossed his arms for a moment and gestured to his dad.
"I coded him to the game as you guys were on your way to the palace, dad," Ace quickly instructed, to which Libby, Turbo and Nox nodded in agreeing, "We, um... Were worried Royal would put up more of a fight, and we didn't want Lickity's mate to be deleted."
"Good thinking," Zed encouraged with a nod, he rubbed his chin in contemplation and eyed Ace's handiwork. He bobbed a nod, sifted through a few options and smiled to his first born, "Good work, son. Clean transfer... Alright, buddy, you ready?" He shifted his attention to Boss, who perked his ears in gentle curiosity and inhaled a shaky breath.
"Ready," Boss encouraged, and as everyone took a few steps back, so to give Boss a wide berth during his regeneration process, Zed finally cued the game to reset Boss's coding; in a flash, Boss was properly reset, a clean and gorgeous regal. He sprawled his wings in delicacy and heaved a sigh of relief, alongside a smile that was finally warming him up from his cool, blue shyness, "Much better... Thank you."
"I always knew Royal had a good set of teeth on him, but man, he took a chomp outta you good," Tessa muttered as she gently volleyed her gaze to Ace, who shrugged and shook his head in hard annoyance.
"I tried warning him," Ace mumbled, to which Lickity now felt the need to chime in.
"Is there something going on here that I don't know about?" Lickity suddenly barked, and although her tone was strictly warm and playful, everyone shot their nervous attention to her anyhow.
"Well, we figured, with you being in Dead Zed during mating season..." Ace shrugged and gave his aunt a nervous smile, to which Libby lovingly rested her palm to the fold of Lickity's wing for assurance, "We figured, and quite frankly hoped, you'd be coming home with a mate... Which, you did."
"We warned Royal, we knew it'd likely be difficult for him," Libby eased to Lickity as she soaked into her vicinity a little more, for further comfort; she was glad to see Lickity relax a little.
"I hope he comes back, soon," Lickity pressed in nervousness, "It's not like Royal to leave the lot without telling us when he'll be back."
"It... Looks like he's headed to Honeydew Ridge," Zed stammered his words as he opened the game's way-finder, and pinpointed Royal's location, he gave Lickity a soft look of knowing and shrugged, "Maybe he wants you to follow him."
"It's all Royal's been talking about, since you three left," Ace included, Libby nodded to Lickity and smiled, "Maybe you SHOULD follow him, aunt Lickity... Just you. He's been wanting to go to Honeydew Ridge with you so badly."
"What about Boss?" Lickity pressed softly, and it was with this did everyone peer to Lickity in confusion, as to just who 'Boss' was, though once it all clicked, they beamed knowing smiles in Boss's direction, who began to shyly sag at the added attention, "Uh, by the way... Guys, this is Boss, Boss, this is, well... Only a fifth of everyone, but you get the point."
"Oh, User, don't tell Royal your name, he'll freak out on you again," Nox staggered in a chuckle, to which everyone, including Boss, began to warm up and feel comfortable in this sticky situation. Nox puffed his chest and pretended to imitate Boss, for a moment, "My name is Boss and I'm THE boss and I'M moving in! Deal with it!"
"Oh come on," Boss finally showed a genuine smile, one of full fangs, though the way it made his shy eyes light up had everyone's hearts and demeanors doing a giddy, contagious dance of pure joy.
"I mean, you DID name yourself," Lickity blurt, everyone laughed and began to throw teasing notions towards Boss with wide smiles; he gaped and began to show confidence in hs posture, this new set of attitude and personality his talking abilities now flooded his coding with.
"Oh, that's not fair, I was inquiring about Zed being Dead Zed's final boss and you guys just so happened to ask me my name right in the middle of me saying the word 'boss'," Boss rushed in a wheeze of a chuckle, shy eyes and sagged demeanor now thawing from nervousness to a flower in bloom, a beautiful creature of huge, bumbling cuteness, raw strength so greatly masked by his warm, teddy bear self.
"Likely story," Ace choked teasingly, as everyone laughed, he flagged his hand downward to prove to Boss that he was strictly just teasing.
"Alright, Boss, so now you get to meet the little bundle of Blue that Tessa wouldn't stop talking about," Zed eaed as he gestured to Tessa, who was holding their adorbale little newborn, Berri.
"Berri," Boss remembered with a nod as he sagged his ears and softened, Tessa eased into his vicinity and allowed Boss a closer look, as well as giving Berri the opportunity as well. Berri beamed a wide smile and waggled her little hands in excitement, having typically a hearty laugh whenever Lickity was within her line of sight, "She's so smiley."
"Yeah, she thinks Lickity's the funniest thing she's ever laid eyes on, so don't be surprised if she laughs at you, as well," Tessa rushed in a mutter of playful annoyance, to which Boss's eyes lit up with glee.
"Can't wait," Boss chuckled, him and Berri shared a small moment together before Zed broadened the spectrum.
"Alright, Boss, this is my first born son, Ace," Zed gestured to Ace with care; Ace gently waved his hand and put his hands on his hips as Libby drew near.
"Blue hair," Boss bobbed a nod as he eyed back and forth between Zed, Berri and Ace; everyone loudly laughed with the insinuation, "Blue must be a very dominant trait, around here."
"My wrecking gene overrides a lot, as well," Tessa mumbled as she gently jostled around Berri's slightly larger-than-normal hands; Ace waggled his fingers as well.
"Next to Ace is Libby, Ace's girlfriend and swap mate," Zed sighed in a whole bout of delightful remembrance, "They will make me a grandfather shortly."
"Great news," Boss encouraged with another confident smile as Libby and Ace nodded, with Zed's words.
"This is Penny, Tessa's younger cousin, but... They technically consider each other sisters," Zed kindly gestured to Penny, who was easily swallowed into a headlock via Tessa's free arm; Penny choked a laugh and sagged into Tessa's forceful hug.
"Nice to meet you," Penny staggered with a girly giggle, to which Boss smiled and nodded in a gentle gesture of the larger hand on his wing.
"Then we have Nox, Ace's best friend," Zed now became nervous to introduce the two Turbotime boys that were present, especially Turbo.
"Nox, cool name," Boss encouraged, to which Nox put his hands on his hips and bobbed a nod.
"Short for Nitro, though I doubt that's as cool," Nox teased, Ace playfully shook his head and mouthed 'it's stupid', to which Nox firmly shoved Ace's arm; both boys began to quietly banter with each other, both a laughing mess.
"And, then we have Turbo, Nox's older brother," Zed grit his teeth and gave Turbo a nervous look; having never really introduced anyone to the infamous Turbo, Zed felt his insides clenched and wondered just how this was going to play out.
"Turbo?" Boss pressed as he perked his ears and stood a little taller, "Another cool name, got anymore siblings with cool names?"
Turbo froze in the recoil of confusion; the sheer fact that Boss had literally no clue who Turbo was, it was in this roll of surprise did everyone eagerly catch on to Turbo's demeanor of delightful confusion and volley knowing chuckles of elatedness towards Turbo. Turbo inhaled a confident breath and felt something come to him, the essence of enjoying the fact that his old life wasn't even in the know, he was slowly being forgotten as the destroyer of worlds. He felt his veins do a weird dance, the sheer delight of hopefully starting over, even though it may be small and may only be within one dragon creature that previously couldn't talk, he knew it was a start.
"Yeah, I have an older brother named Throttle, and... Well, a younger brother named Whiplash, but, he's kind of missing in action, as of late," Turbo skirted the details, he knew Boss would eventually be filled in.
"You've never heard the name Turbo before?" Penny only innocently questioned, in hopes of solidifying Turbo's feelings.
"No, not at all, it's awesome," Boss naively and confidently encouraged, to which Turbo bobbed a nod and peered about the group with a furrowed look of now rising confidence.
"Feels good, man," Turbo blurt a chuckle, to which everyone melted into the same existence, the same playing field.
"Alright, why don't we show you the palace, and the grounds?" Tessa pressed, hoping that the conversation would simply stop there, for the sake of Turbo's current cloud-nine experience; Boss eagerly nodded and felt at peace with their standing, "I know you already sort of got a good look, from circling the lot outside for so long, but it'll be good to properly show you around, huh?"
"Sounds great," Boss's deep voice lilted in excitement, and once everyone began to file out of the code room, Turbo hung back and waited for Zed to properly seal the code room's orb away, for safety; Zed eyed Turbo in a rise of cheek.
"Baby steps, my friend," Zed's voice grumbled to Turbo as Turbo ran his hand through his dusty grey hair and heaved the hardest, longest sigh.
"Wow, that was probably one of the weirdest things to happen to me," Turbo nearly choked a laugh, he peered to Zed with such zest, such excitement to finally begin moving forward, "I mean... If Boss doesn't have a single clue who I am, certainly there are other gamers out there that don't know me, right?"
"Well yeah, newer games that are just plugged in, games that weren't plugged in during the whole TurboTime-Sugar Rush fiasco, it's all simply hear-say and lore, for all they know," Zed shrugged, he gave Turbo's back a loving, firm pat as both men began to saunter out of the code room together, "For all they know, it's just a massive rumor. The only way you'll be able to put those rumors to rest is by being present, my friend..."
"I'm trying, it's... Difficult, but I am trying," Turbo pressed, he sagged his shoulders and was glad to be under Zed's fatherly care, something Turbo had never experienced, "Rancis and I didn't have any issues while you were gone. She's as clean as a whistle."
"I noticed, you boys did some tidying," Zed chuckle as he squeezed Turbo a little before finally releasing their already loose, walking side-hug, "Much appreciated. I'll make sure to teleport those tools over to you, to have. You're still on about building yourself a new bike, right?"
"... Have? I-I thought you were just going to let me borrow your tools," Turbo staggered with gentle humility, Zed shook his head and furrowed his brow.
"It'll take a little bit to duplicate them, but c'mon. You help take care of Sugar Rush day in and day out, it's the least I can do," Zed's deep voice eased over Turbo with care, "Your money should be in your account, as well."
"Thanks man, means a lot," Turbo eased, and as both boys melted out of the code room, a few dozen feet behind the rest of the group, Turbo felt his heart begin to soar.
The sheer fact that everything was very slowly falling into a place where he'd like was something he could swear would never come. Although he wanted to jump face first into this feeling, he knew he needed to tread lightly. How easy it would be to saunter into Orion City and hope for the best, he was well aware he probably still wouldn't receive a warm welcome. Although that stark fact still angrily hovered over him, he was at least glad the handful of individuals, inside the palace walls, were always here for him. With the glimmer of hope on the horizon, and a new year right in his grasp, he finally felt little bits of that stronghold, around his heart, begin to want to soften into moldable clay.
"Alright, who ordered pizza and didn't tell anyone?!" Snowanna suddenly bellowed from the corridor that lead to the kitchen, it was clear there was potentially a commotion going on at the front door.
Ace grit his teeth in a sudden pang of remembrance, to which Libby and Nox suddenly blurt out in hard laughter; Tessa side-eyed her first born with a widening smile and shook her head.
"You gunna go show some love to a few of our Orion City residents, son? Prince of Sugar Rush?" Tessa pressed in a knowing fashion as she cocked an eyebrow.
"... I knew I should've just sucked it up and baked a pizza myself," Ace mumbled in defeated regret.
"Nooo, nothing is better than Hungry Howie's, c'mon. I'll go with yah," Nox pressed as both boys began to excitedly march towards the corridor that lead to the kitchen, which eventually lead to the Great Hall and the palace's front gates.
"Oh, good idea, maybe you'll scare them off," Ace only teased, to which Nox waggled his finger.
"Now you're gettin' it," Nox's obnoxious voice echoed as they vanished.
