Reviews :

Jay Sketchin : Aww, that's so sweet. I definitely don't feel that same feelings in my situation, but with my marriage, I've gained the lot of Cory's little brothers, so THAT'S been a ton of fun. I'm living out my saga as we speak. It's REALLY weird.

Snake557 : Oh I TOTALLY relate. I try not to live too much under a rock, but yeah, I agree. Having anxiety like that REALLY will mess with you. I understand! And thank you, friend! I appreciate it :)

CHICKENM4N : LMAO Yeah I definitely didn't put all of that into perspective. That's so funny. Only difference, Ace is Jesus that has nearly no idea how to use said Jesus powers hahaha.


Song Listened To :

Don't Talk About Love by G.R.L


*Chapter 32*

"Hey, turd, castle meeting in five, code room," Zed instructed with a knowing smirk towards his daughter; Berri's head flew up from her gentle concentration in her phone, she sat at the palace's main kitchen's island, dressed in a comfortable Sugar Rush hoodie and ripped, skinny jeans, her eyes honed tight to Zed's in whole confusion.

"Dad?" Berri pressed with a lilt of disbelief, he blurt a chuckle, head for the fridge and waited for Snowanna and Jubileena to pass by, alongside their noisy chatter.

"You heard me," Zed stated kindly, he yanked an energy drink from the fridge, popped the can's top and took a swig before he gestured the can to her, as if to insinuate that she was following along, "You always wanted in on those meetings, right?"

"Well, yeah but... I assumed that I'd have to be well over the age of one, and neck deep in Academy work before that was ever my reality," Berri staggered in confusion, though her heart began to race the second she saw Vanellope, Ralph, Taffyta and Rancis slowly begin to mosey in the direction of the code room, they loudly laughed and chit-chat with one another.

"Your mother and I figured it'd do you good to shadow us, this time around," Zed shrugged, he began to head in the direction that Ralph, Vanellope, Taffyta and Rancis began to mosey in, and with a gentle head tilt, he gave his daughter a cute show of an inquiry, "Y'comin'?"

"Y-Yeah!" Berri staggered in whole delight as she jolted to get her legs workings. She quickly eased off of the bar stool she was on, crossed the loose crowd of lazy Sugar Rush racers and palace residents alike, and as she sagged her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, she felt her heart jolt in remembrance; she knew full well that castle meetings involved the tight knit circle of hierarchy, including Sugar Rush's Knights. She successfully kept up with her father's powerful stride, and in tenderness, she elbowed his lower arm and kept tight to his gravity, "Dad, who uh... Exactly is going to be in this meeting?"

"Well, sometimes Oliver, Ace, Libby and Koko show up, sometimes not," Zed stated through a huff as the four previous heads of Sugar Rush were farther down the shorter corridor that lead to the code room, as well as the donut-shaped hallways to each racer's respective home, "It's obviously Ralph, Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis, Turbo, annnnd... Mrs. Queen Bee."

"S-So, uh... What exactly are we going to be discussing this time, then?" Berri wondered in bright eyed, bushy-tailed excitement. She successfully linked arms with her father, something he cued to, and in gentlemanly fashion, he lovingly held the top of her hand with his free one and chauffeured her to the code room doors. She eagerly carried on as Zed eyed her in cheeky suspicion, "A-Anything exciting?"

"Well... Just a few things regarding the wifi router," Zed bobbed a nod, he looked on in already exhausted nervousness, "Some heavy stuff, regarding that, but... Shouldn't be way too detrimental. Just pay close attention to your mother. You are her shadow, after all."

"Dad, as much as I am future Queen, you and I both know mom is not going to be giving up that crown ANY time soon," Berri muttered, as if to express that all the note taking and shadowing would likely be all in vain, eventually.

"It's still good to know what you're doing, Bear," Zed grumbled with a kind smile, "User forbid your mother and I have to step away, for whatever reason, however long... You'd be acting Queen. While you were growing up, that title fell to Rancis and Turbo."

"How'd they fair?" Berri pressed, and as they gently entered the gaping, code room doors, she felt herself shrink as realization of this all finally hit her; she was attending a castle meeting, something she begged to do for months.

"Well," Zed bobbed a nod and continued to lead Berri across the glossy tiles of Tessa's glorious code room, "They're two people you'd want to pay attention to, as well... Not to mention your old man."

"Got it down pat, dad," Berri encouraged softly, to which he gave her a loving, wrinkle of a smile; they softly sank into the tender conversing that was abundant at the game's center, the code room's middle.

"Berri, you're joining us today?" Taffyta chimed in tender excitement as Berri and Zed approached Taffyta, Rancis, Ralph and Vanellope's loose circle at said center.

"Guess so," Berri eased in girly excitement, she shrugged her shoulders and met eyes with her father, he peered to her through narrowed eyes of pride and love.

"Figured, since your highness turns one this coming Thursday," Zed inquired as he gently nudged Berri's arm, which was still tightly linked with his; she bashfully looked off and hid a smile, to which all the adults in the room began to coo and groan at just where all the time went.

"Alright guys, everyone here?" Tessa gently inquired, her silver coding materialized on the code room's teleport pad. She wore a clean pair of grey skinny jeans, no shoes and a cute white t-shirt. Her messy auburn hair was down and in delicate waves all down her back and shoulders, her typical style. She easily glossed her eyes over everyone in the group and furrowed her brow in tender inquiry, "Sans Turbo?"

"He's coming, he just messaged me," Rancis bobbed a nod and gently waved his unlocked phone about.

"Bear," Tessa chimed in motherly delight as her and Zed softly unhanded each other. Tessa warmly eased her larger hand to Berri's shoulder and bobbed a gentle nod, "First castle meeting... You excited?"

"I am," Berri nodded, her cute, girly disposition was a nice, refreshing quality of any natural born wrecker. She nervously tucked her blue hair behind her ears and was grateful that everyone began to quietly chit chat amongst each other; she leaned closer to her mother and gave her a nervous look of inquiry, "Mom, I-I... I don't have to talk, or anything, do I?"

"Not unless you feel lead," Tessa shrugged, "Most of this is just formalities, checking in... I do have a bit of a hot topic to discuss, but for the most part, it eventually just turns into all of us hanging out."

"Even with Turbo?" Berri so quietly wondered, though Tessa squinted and looked off with a shrug.

"Well, he's usually first to leave... We're all used to it, and no one takes offense... You know how much of a hermit he is," Tessa gave Berri a blank, uninterested look of kind understanding for Turbo's position in life, and in society. She shrugged and gave Berri her full attention, whilst they waited for said TurboTime hermit, "Any progress with your Turbo-related questions being answered, by the way?"

"Hardly," Berri scoffed in annoyance, she looked towards the teleportation pad, where Turbo would arrive, in rising nervousness, "Y-You think, if I pulled him aside after the meeting, he'd chat with me?"

"Hard to say, love," Tessa shook her head and gave Berri and apologetic smile, "He gives Zed and I his full, undivided attention because, well... We're his boss. Although you're royalty, and he's due to giving you the highest respect, whose to say how much of himself he'd be willing to give. The dude has a very limited supply of energy for socializing. You may be better off just texting him."

"But even then he's vague, you said yourself that it's impossible to get anything out of him via messages," Berri complained quietly, she continued to eye the teleportation pad across the way, as if she was worried she'd be caught talking about him once he materialized.

"I don't know what to tell you, babe," Tessa huffed a small giggle and shook her head, "If it means that much to you, your father and I can arrange something, and we can mediate... Orrr, you can just go knocking on his door. Break down that spiky koopa shell of his."

"Yeah right, he'd have me trespassed," Berri furrowed her brow and held a negative air, she figured, at this point, it was probably a lost cause, and pursuing this further would likely get her on Turbo's bad side.

"Give him more credit than that, Turbo is a wonderful person... He's just painfully shy," Tessa nudged Berri's arm and tenderly began to peel from her daughter's presence, the sound of the teleportation pad coming to life had Berri's heart jolting in hot, searing anxiousness, "Everyone has at least ONE wall erected around their heart... In Turbo's case, it's, like, twelve. If you persist, in a respectful manner, surely he'll come around."

Berri held her breath and avoided replying to her mother; her eyes nervously shot to the teleportation pad, and as it came alive with a delicate mess of red hot honeycomb coding, Turbo's posture and mainframe was eagerly written out in angry licks of circuitry that snaked the open air. Once fully realized, Turbo huffed a small breath of apology, stepped off the teleportation pad and began to make his way to the group that waited in gentle, meandering chit-chat. Berri nearly sank into herself and glossed her eyes about this mysterious being's disposition; dressed in black biker jeans, a comfortable looking black and grey t-shirt with a small hole in the left collar, he looked as if he maybe was previously working out and threw on some jeans to at least somewhat look presentable.

"Sorry I'm late," Turbo huffed, his deep, masculine voice was weathered. He long blinked in irritation, towards himself, that golden glow of his eyes only vanishing when his lids were closed, "I lost track of time..."

"Very unlike you," Zed stated tenderly, though as Turbo's eyes glossed the group, Berri could see him nearly stumble over his own footwork, altogether, the second his creepy gaze landed straight on Sugar Rush's princess. Zed's voice carried on, ultimately breezing past the hiccup in Turbo's destination, "Everything alright?"

"You're the most punctual guy I know," Rancis blurt with a laugh as Turbo gently sagged into the circle, and much to Berri's anxiety-ridden dismay, he stood right next to her, in the circle.

"Don't remind me," Turbo grumbled, it was clear his nearly disinterested front was actually taken well by everyone, due to their smiles and gently laughs at his remarks, as if this shy, quiet and mildly grumpy individual was somehow beloved for everything he was, and everything he wasn't. Berri sagged tighter to Zed's side, and having being loosely sandwiched right between Turbo and her own father, she wondered if Zed would notice if she eased tighter into the King's more positive and bubbly demeanor. Although Berri was doing a good job at not getting caught staring in awfully-concealed terror, Turbo hesitantly gave Berri full eye contact and bobbed a nod, "Your highness... Glad to see you here."

"Th-thanks," Berri eased, she tried to hide the tremble in her voice, the absolute stab of the void of his square pupils continued to haunt her, and it was with this that she was certain that even an eternal amount of time spent with Turbo may never erase the fear she had of his creepy eye contact, even if it was deep down and more healed over the course of her childhood. Berri tried her hardest to be brave, though she finally peeled her scared eyes from his and looked down to her hands, "D-Dad's idea."

"Can you believe it's already been a year since all that nonsense?" Vanellope chimed in a lilt of knowing, everyone groaned and blurt grateful chuckles, as if to be relieved that Sugar Rush's demise was no longer a blip on the radar.

"I was gunna say," Turbo eased, and it was with this did Berri feel surprise hit her skin, the second his figure just barely shook a warm chuckle and a shy smile, to boot; she furrowed her brow in tender contemplation and now was worried that she would spend the entirety of this meeting trying to discover if Turbo had more emotions to show, more weak spots she could hone in on and use to her advantage of hopefully getting answers out of Turbo, as selflessly non-invasive as she could muster.

"Alright guys, let's get started," Tessa cued to the group, her voice was slightly raised, so to reach everyone and assert authority over the group; everyone immediately fell silent and honed their gazes to their queen, stationed in the middle of the loose circle. She held a holographic display of a checklist, messy notes, a map of Sugar Rush's entrance and Orion City as a whole. She glossed the group and, much to Berri's surprise, she diligently cued to Turbo, "Alright, friend from across the sky... How's that perch of yours holding up? Everything going well? The year's been kind to you, no?"

"Yes, ma'am, my share of the code room is a powerhouse," Turbo bobbed a nod, Berri eagerly kept her eyes on him in her peripheral; she was grateful he stood a few inches out before her so she could easily stare and not get caught, "The city is thriving... Has its good and bad parts, as any big city."

"Haven't been discovered, have you?" Taffyta wondered as she wrinkled her nose and peered to Turbo, ultimately dancing around sensitive information Berri wasn't aware of, yet.

"No, but funny story," Turbo sagged his strong, masculine hands into his jean pockets, raised his eyebrows in exhaustion and looked down to the ground in near-smiling cheek, "The resident's home on the closest floor down from me, so... The sixtieth floor, caught fire."

"What?" Zed blurt with a nervous laugh, as did everyone, Berri glossed her eyes about the group and was eating up every single second of anyone's interactions with Sugar Rush's main shy guy.

"Yeah, that was... An interesting night, to say the least," Turbo chuckled, "The code room warned me, and, well... I reversed the damage and contained the fire down to nothing... I sent their residence a master notification and made clear that if they screw around anymore, they'd be out."

"Don't mess with Orion Tower," Tessa blurt a small laugh, Turbo shrugged and gave her a look of mild cheek.

"Not my first run in with them," Turbo's voice lilted with a sigh as he peered to Tessa, "It's fun playing landlord and also being able to remain anonymous."

Berri furrowed her eyebrows and now wondered just what lengths Turbo would go to for this painfully shy and hermit lifestyle, she knew it was easy to just slink away and avoid social interactions, though she was starting to feel a weird amount of detest for this mysterious being she was uncomfortably stationed next to. She looked off in a glower of rising annoyance, as if now this act was becoming a bit much. She wondered why her mother and father never wrangled it in, and allowed him to live in this weird lifestyle of is. It was with this did her burning questions only multiply, though the desire to now seek out said answers was beginning to dwindle due to conflicting irritation. She tried not to wrinkle her nose and shoot Turbo an annoyed side-eye, she patiently awaited more information to come out of his figure.

"What was the cause of the fire?" Rancis prod in boyish cheek, it was with this did Berri seem even further confused that everyone was on board with Turbo's strict lifestyle.

"Bonfire on the carpet," Turbo's now smug look of smiling irritation grew, he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, "I'm tired of renting to these rich kids and having the tower trashed due to drunken house parties. I've learned a lot over the year... I get wanting to have fun, but for User's sake."

"Sounds like you have a handle on it, nonetheless?" Tessa pressed, to which Turbo finally sighed and showed proper signs of sealing himself up.

"Your majesty," Turbo's polite voice drummed in methodical sweetness, a deep rasp of routine, Berri felt her mind do all sorts of backflips, as if she now couldn't even put her finger on just what she liked and disliked about this strange individual.

"I have a bit of news, before we carry on, but uncle Rancis, I know you had something you wanted to say?" Tessa pressed as she gently swiped at some of her notes, she gestured her larger hand in Rancis's direction and finally gave him her full eye contact.

"Yeah, I wanted to actually warn you guys," Rancis pressed nervously, he softly invited himself into the circle, alongside his niece, and was thrilled to see her step aside so he could say his peace. He pulled up the map of Sugar Rush's entrance, that Tessa had readied for him, and as he began to zoom in to the high definition display of Sugar Rush's rainbow road entrance, he eased tighter to the foliage and the dirt just at the end of said wide, swooping road, "So, the other night, I was making my rounds, and I discovered these really weird footprints at the base of Sugar Rush's entrance... You guys see?"

"What... What kind of creature made those footprints?" Ralph worried in tenderness as everyone softly squinted and leaned in, to get a good look at the strange looking footprints that Sugar Rush's grid had successfully captured, forever sealed in the time lock of the game's data base.

"I'm not sure, I've scoured Sugar Rush's database, creature index, as well as from Dead Zed, Hero's Duty AND Fix-It Felix Jr.," Rancis listed, he caught eyes with Zed and briefly nodded, as if to silently insunuate to the group that Zed was in on this nonsense, "Nothing matches."

"It looks like something you'd probably have to take to Surge," Vanellope pressed in a lilt of nervousness, though she hooked her hazel eyes to Turbo's now silent demeanor, "I don't know, does this look like anything you've ever seen, Turbo? Given just how long you've been in this Arcade."

Berri felt purpose come back to her skin, she wondered now if she could potentially get answers out of him strictly over the course of this meeting. As all eyes fell back to Turbo, Berri held her breath and was absolutely glued to the topic at hand.

"It's hard because, it looks familiar, but... I don't think I have enough information, or memory, to really grab on to one particular clue and go from there," Turbo shook his head, tenderly stepped out and further examined the footprints with Rancis, Tessa still quietly hovered behind the two, "I've seen a lot of crap, in my day. I think Vanellope's right, this looks like something for Surge."

"Are we in danger, here?" Taffyta tenderly worried, and as Rancis and Turbo slunk back to their respective spots in the circle, Tessa took the center, once more and shrugged in apprehensive debate.

"Are we ever NOT in some shred of danger?" Tessa eased as delicately as she could, she shook her head and peered about her core group, "We're the safest we've been in years, I'm sure we're just fine in Sugar Rush, but... This leads me to my next point. We seemingly have a bit of trouble in terrorist town."

"So thankful for the internet," Zed muttered with a smile, as if to show delight towards said game, though Tessa shook her head and gently sighed.

"Although the wifi router has seemingly been here and there, vanishing and popping up in stations everywhere about the Arcade, it seems to have leaked some things into Litwak's... I'm not sure what Mr. Litwak is on about, moving the router so much, but..." Tessa drifted off, peered to her notes aimlessly, as if to look straight through them, and shrugged, "Zed and I had a meeting with a few other game-heads, as well as a few officials from the station's Academies, and, it seems as if the internet is leaking something invisible into the Arcade."

"Invisible?" Taffyta prod in a rise of disbelief, "If we can't see it, how do we know about it, then?"

"... It's taking the lives of faux-codes, and faux-codes only," Tessa stated in a lilt of dread as she eyed the group, the only self programmed gamers, in this meeting, were Berri and the Queen herself, both of which softly caught eyes in a rise of terror, "It's a higher and faster death rate than that of opposed-code swapping, statistics show... Something we easily know how to accomplish."

"Which, the Academies are slowly coming around to the idea of, on a positive note," Zed tenderly interjected; knowing full well Tessa ran these meetings, as King, he knew he had the floor just as much as she did.

"You think they'd let you teach a course on it, or something?" Rancis questioned kindly to his niece, to which she shrugged and gave him a look of hope.

"Would definitely be cool... Tomorrow's my first day back in well over two years, so we'll see how things pan out," Tessa stated, the brimming excitement of rushing Academy's doors, once more, was all she ever dreamed of, "Faux-codes are dropping like flies, with witnesses stating that their friend or brother or sister, or whoever, is just there beside them, and the next second, they're deleted. Without a trace."

"Outside their own game, or?" Vanellope worried as everyone stole nervous glances to each other.

"Outside their home game, yes. The majority of these attacks are actually happening at EZ Living," Tessa instructed nervously, "With just how many beach-goers are there, from all of Arcade's games, it's an easy target. Thousands of gamers are there every single day."

"Sooo, staying away from EZ Living, dutifully noted," Taffyta mumbled in dismay as she crossed her arms, "Wait... Is it ANY gamer? Or just self-programmed gamers?"

"It's just self-programmed gamers, but..." Tessa sighed and looked down to her larger wrecking hands, the gorgeous wedding ring that glistened in the code room lighting, "It could happen to anyone, I'm sure. I'd dare to say Sugar Rush is on a lockdown... No one is safe outside of their own programmed games."

"I ain't leaving, don't have to tell me twice," Rancis choked in dismay, though him and Turbo caught eyes in boyish knowing as the both of them chuckled in understanding, "Being deleted is absolutely no joke, I'm not going through THAT again."

"Right there with you," Turbo grumbled as he crossed his arms and bobbed a nod to Rancis across the way; it was at this point did Berri totally lose track of just how many questions she wanted to ask Turbo.

"I have a meeting with Game Central Academy Council tomorrow, after school," Tessa stated in a lilt of dread, "I really have no clue what's going on, but we need to protect our self-programmed gamers."

Zed smiled in knowing and, although Berri was quiet for this entire time, he obviously hooked his arm about her shoulders and yanked her into a loving, fatherly hug. She blurt a quiet laugh and stumbled into Zed's strong embrace.

"We've worked hard to raise this next generation of babies, our legacy and our family," Tessa nodded and held firm eye contact with her peers and subjects, everyone respectfully and kindly agreed, "No one is to loiter outside of either Sugar Rush, Dead Zed, Fix-It Felix Jr., or Hero's Duty."

"Aww man, this excludes Tapper's, doesn't it," Berri muttered into Zed's arm, and although she thought she had only said that for her father to hear, the entire group burst out in laughter, sans Turbo.

"Poor girl can't even celebrate her first birthday properly," Zed cooed in knowing as he now began to obnoxiously sway her; she finally grunted a laugh and freed herself from her father's stronghold, she fixed her hair in a fluster of poofed agitation.

"There are ways of getting Tapper's root beer outside of his game," Turbo's deep voice grumbled, as if to be irritated, though he curled a cute, sly grin of dark mystery and caught his golden eyes with Berri; she raised her eyebrows in prickling fear, that she was desperate to reign in, though she blurt a chuckle and was forever grateful he at least lofted her a friendly smile.

"I'd appreciate that," Berri encouraged, to which he looked down to his feet and raised his eyebrows.

"Take it from someone who doesn't set foot outside of Sugar Rush, at all costs," Turbo eased as the group began to murmur continuous concerns about the issue at hand, and although Turbo was still a formidable wall, Berri was beginning to potentially see the sun rise over the top of said wall, any shred of warmth she could get her pixels on, "Where there's a will, there's a way."

"Text Turbo for alcohol, got it," Berri waggled her finger, to which Turbo nearly stiffened at said idea and scoffed a chuckle, as if to mildly dread and anticipate her notions.

"Alright guys... Just lay low until I can get some more details from the Council tomorrow," Tessa assured, to which everyone nodded in affirmation, though with this she beamed an excited smile and lofted her gaze to Berri, "...I get to go back to Academy!"

"With me!" Berri stated in a rise of excitement, the group began to loosely chit-chat into a further drum of the meeting's completion.

"Yeah, babe. Me, your aunt Koko, uncle Oliver, Tammy, Emery and Penny will all be able to show you, Wren and Theo the ropes," Tessa blurt a small laugh and held her forehead, "User, that's weird."

"That's going to be wild," Taffyta blurt as she eased more into Tessa's bubble.

Berri stood on her tip toes and lit up, though just as she was about to interject with her own excited notions, she felt the presence next to her so silently leave a cold gap of absence. Berri whirled around in stunned surprise and felt her heart drop with the image of Turbo steadily making his way back to the teleportation pad. She raised her eyebrows in a jolt of surprise and felt everything in her just scream to insert herself in the situation, get two steps ahead of Turbo and sort this mess out, once and for all. In a lightning quick jolt of a glitch-hop, she managed to bounce a few steps out and to the side of Turbo, causing him to flinch and urgently halt his footwork, just half a dozen feet from the beckoning teleportation pad.

"Turbo, hey, sorry, I... I had a question for you," Berri started, though she realized she startled Turbo by the way he had taken a few steps back; she grimaced and gestured her hands in a lilt of now trembling apprehension, "I-I... I'm sorry for the other night, I'm... I'm not going to barrel into you, again."

"It's all good," Turbo stated in reserve, although he had previously seemed to be barely opening up, Berri was frustrated to find that each sentence, each spacial interaction was just a brand new start, right at square one. She immediately felt annoyed at this notion, though was glad Turbo at least gave her respectful eye contact, no matter how creepy. He bobbed a nod and gave her a small hint of a smile, "Not the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

"I-I... I guess I was wondering if there would be a good time we can maybe sit down and talk?" Berri pressed, she tried not to be way too forward, though she knew she needed to assert herself in order to get him to cooperate, "I have a few questions about, well... What we were briefly texting about the other day, and I just want some straight answers."

"Your highness," Turbo agreed with a nod, and with said encouragement, Berri's eyes and smile lit up.

"Great, thank you," Berri pressed, her smile growing wider by the second, "I guess... Well... When would be good for you, then?"

"Name a time and place, your highness," Turbo's voice lilted into a depth of warmth Berri was certain was likely difficult for him to convey, "I'll be there."

Berri felt a frozen, as if any single shred of friendliness that Turbo had to offer was something sacred and brand new. Any chance she could at least somehow feel as if she was talking to a normal person, she relished in. Getting too lost in the feeling of desperately wanting normality, she staggered on a small 'thank you' and took too much time in giving a proper reply. As if Turbo had a strict countdown, he kindly peeled from her gravity and escaped to the teleportation pad. In a whisk of hot, red honeycomb coding, Turbo's figure vanished into thin air. Berri bit her bottom lip and, although she wasn't wholly successful at getting him to entirely open up, she was at least thrilled that the ball was now in her court.