Reviews :

Snake557 : It's what they do best xD

chuckiboo : It's no issue! Yeah Berri definitely is the key to getting him to finally open up. It's a process, but goes smoother than anyone would think, really!

Burgie : Aw I'm glad! :D YAY! It is a lot of fun, huh.


Song Listened To :

Lullaby (English version) by GOT7


*Chapter 40*

With the scuff of boots down Throttle's snowy stoop, Beaux, Mara and Berri fell into step with each other. Sugar Rush's noon sun shone down on the lot, and although the day was still pretty chilly, the beam of the sun's hot rays began to just barely melt some of the snow on the palace lot. The blue, dying grass showed up in tender patches of desperation, though everyone knew the first day of snow typically marked an official three months of snow straight, melting spots or not. With a light hearted introductory course that Throttle introduced to the three, they left his home after a few hours. Due to Berri only being included for her near three week suspension, she left Throttle's house without the same papers, books and binders that Beaux and Mara left with. Nonetheless, she was grateful to be included in on Throttle's teachings.

"We still down for tonight, aunt Berri?" Beaux's voice, although still cute and boyish, held at a deep octave lower than the girls, a crackling depth of still blooming maturity. Having now a solid amount of height over both Berri and Mara, he looked as if he was shaping up to be Ace's almost identical twin; only difference being his vivid white hair, in which he had gotten from his mother. His sweet hazel eyes peered to his aunt in dewy cuteness, "Karaoke, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, totally," Berri encouraged with a tender amount of excited enthusiasm, she gently eyed Mara in continued sweetness, "Em, y'comin' too?"

"Yeah, I'll watch," Mara stated in tenderness.

Beaux and Mara, being three months younger than Berri, had the maturity of individuals who were about fifteen to sixteen years old. Mara, as opposed to Beaux, was a small, dainty little thing. With wavy, shoulder length pastel blue hair, a girly, sophisticated aesthetic, she was almost too painfully quiet for her own good. With the same wrecking features as nearly every wrecker on the lot, she rarely ever showed it. Tucked away in an adorable, creamy peach colored scarf, a gorgeous white winter coat, a skirt that came to the middle of her thighs and girly stockings to match, she was the epitome of fragility, an almost untouched presence about her. Inside the family, Berri almost always bickered with her, due to their opposing natures. As much as Berri was certain the two would bond over clothes and makeup, Mara never let anyone get close enough to find out if said compatibility would even figure itself out; Berri, much to her dismay, had to just accept that Mara held everyone at arms length, annoying measures she'd go to remain untouched.

"Won't sing tho, huh?" Berri prod, Mara pursed her lips and bashfully looked off in a sting of nervous agitation.

"I'll do all the singing," Beaux barked with a laugh, he nudged Mara's shoulder; she grunted a noise of tender annoyance, though Beaux was one of the only people on the planet that was successful in getting a genuine smile out of her.

"Yeah, I gotta go into town for a few things," Berri sighed, the air fogged, she gently lofted her gaze to Chester, who kept tight in tow at her right hand, "I'll be gone for the majority of the afternoon, but let's plan to reconvene, in my studio, after dinner time. Yeah?"

"Yeah, just text me," Beaux encouraged with a loving smile and a firm nod, the three began to part ways, with Beaux and Mara headed to the main hub of the palace, and Berri headed to Chester's stable, "I think my mom wanted to join, as well."

"The more the merrier!" Berri encouraged with a firm nod, and with their sweet, quick goodbyes, they officially parted ways. Berri heaved a hot sigh to the atmosphere, cocked an eyebrow and felt her heart do a backflip, her and Chester confidently marched onwards, to his stable, "Y'think Turbo will be mad that I show up with you?"

Chester huffed a long breath and bobbed a nod, Berri blurt a laugh and shook her head.

"Ho, man," Berri sighed wistfully, she lulled her eyes closed as she continued on, "What else can I do to make him uncomfortable? Clearly it's a trend..."

Chester breathed another short breath and now hovered his blind, trembling eyes to her figure. He wrinkled her a grimace of a toothy smile, as if to wonder if she should potentially take it easy, though due to the conversation Throttle previously had, with her and Wren, Chester looked off and gave off a demeanor as if to insinuate that he was certain any form of interaction, with anyone, was going to be fresh, new, and uncomfortable for Turbo.

"...Y'think he'd come to karaoke with us?" Berri's cute voice wondered into the winter air, which only had Chester choking a breath of playful detest.

Although Berri was sure she could just use Turbo's teleportation pad, like she had the night prior, she relished in the feeling of having the day off, having the whole lot of the game to herself. She was excited to potentially get out into the city, with Chester as her noble steed, he was successful at weaving in and out of the busy city traffic with grace. Strapped with her professional riding gear, flight goggles and saddle alike, she was thrilled her little exterior swapping trick, with Chester, was enough for him to not only get around smoothly, but also be able to successfully obey traffic laws and lane lines. Berri knew all sorts of vehicles, creatures and machinery had utilized the roads, so long as traffic kept moving, she was in the clear. Chester's confident paws mapped the city's asphalt, the gorgeous sprawl of all sorts of colorful buildings and sweet sky scrapers alike, a perfect mixture of Sugar Rush's candy theme with the futuristic kiss of Orion City's melting pot of a civilization, a day in this massive city was never boring.

Although Berri was glad to get out and about, to have a small outing by herself, she made sure to take Chester on the fastest route to Orion tower, Turbo's sky scraper of a home. She furrowed her brows as they were patiently stopped at a red light, and as she sat up a little bit, she peered off and to her right in distracted excitement. Upon seeing said familiar, infamous green logo hanging confidently over the crowded sidewalks, peeked through a dozen other shop's logos, she sat up straighter on Chester's spine, sagged her shoulders in inner dialog defeat and caved to detouring to her favorite coffee shop. Berri bit her lip in now rising excitement and was thrilled the light finally turned green. In her confident exterior swap with Chester, she was successful in steering Chester through the intersection and to one of the parallel parking spots just outside of said coffee shop. Although there was a location closer to the palace, her, Wren and Theo often frequented this particular one due to the larger selection of seating and quicker, friendly service.

In tender confusion, Chester eased into the spot, tilted his ears back to Berri and barely looked over his shoulder, dainty apprehension coat his scales and fur. In a soft swipe, Berri dismounted, she eased off of Chester's side, tucked her goggles on the crown of her forehead, inhaled a deep breath and beamed a small smile to the massive span of glass windows, of said coffee shop. With a bob of a nod, she finally peered back to Chester's inquisitive, and almost nervous gaze. She lovingly placed her hand on Chester's snout and knew, full well, that leaving Chester in the center of the city, outside, with the bustling and chaotic city noises, was something that made him very nervous. Although they had come a very long way, he still flattened his ears, lowered his head and gave her a nervous look of clinginess.

"It's okay, bud, I'm just going to run in and run out," Berri encouraged as she held his cheeks, she pushed a few loving smooches into the bridge of Chester's dark orange snout, the short fur was like velvet. She nuzzled him a little and softly pat his chest, "You gunna be okay?"

Chester perked his ears in almost hesitant confidence, having had to run this routine before, he at least knew what to expect, and knew that Berri wouldn't simply abandon him, blind and alone in the city. She lovingly pet his chest and remained still, so to give Chester a little bit more comfort, though in the drag of her eyes, a certain, glistening white tower sat hot in her peripheral, just behind Chester's head. Berri cocked an eyebrow and peered directly to Orion Tower, likely a dozen city blocks off, she peered to the very top of it and felt a cute, scheming idea come to her. She furrowed her eyebrows and felt a surge of confidence come to her. She knew, full well, that Turbo was a creature of habit, a person that absolutely avoided spontaneous cues at all cost, she wondered if Throttle's words rung true. If somehow she was going to be the one to spearhead the notion of Turbo coming out of his shell. Although she previously had her reserves, she stared down the tower and relished in all the life about her, the rush of the fun city vibe, she knew no one should be missing out on it. Not even Turbo.

"I'll hang here with you for a second, bud," Berri cued as she inhaled a shaky breath and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She cocked an eyebrow, thumbed to her contacts and smiled in nervous, devious delight, "I got a call to make."

Chester furrowed his brow in tender confusion, sat on his hindquarters and allowed Berri to cheekily lean her back against Chester's tall, broad side, against the span of his tucked wing. Berri half-crossed her arms, confidently sagged her thumb into the little phone icon, next to Turbo's contact name, and, with a jolt of now trembling anxiety, she knew she just needed to continue diving in, head first. She held her phone's receiver to her ear, and as it began to ring, she bit her lip in a further rush of girly nervousness and stared her reflection down in the coffee shop's massive windows, the sidewalks were bustling with all sorts of gamers, a melting pot of Arcade goodness. She cocked an eyebrow and felt her heart jolt in floored surprise, the sweet sound of Turbo actually picking up her call.

"...Your highness?" Turbo pressed in a lilt of nervous inquisition.

"So, let's pretend you're in line at Sugarbucks, and the barista at the counter goes..." Berri changed the lilt in her voice to a bit of a high pitch and carried on, "'What can I make for you today?' ... What do you order?"

Turbo was silent on the other end, though Berri furrowed her brows in solid disbelief as the sound of, what she could swear was, a stifled chuckle on the other end of the line.

"I-I've never been to Sugarbucks," Turbo staggered, almost desperate not to reveal that he wanted to laugh.

"That's a bold-face lie," Berri stabbed with a wide smile, she shook her head and furrowed her brow, "I very specifically have a childhood memory of my dad holding two orders of Sugarbucks, and he turned to me and said 'I'm taking this to Turbo, listen to your mother and go take a shower.'"

"Your highness," Turbo now failed at making clear that he was stifling laughter; Berri almost was mad that she couldn't be there to see Turbo smiling, strictly for the fact that she was certain he didn't have the facial muscles for it.

"You're holding up the line," Berri staggered in playful irritation, though after a few moments of contemplative silence, on Turbo's end, he finally grumbled a deep, reverberating noise from the back of his throat, as if he wanted to be irritated, though somehow couldn't even pretend he was.

"I get an Americano," Turbo eased in defeat, "...Black."

"You are so boring," Berri blurt, she deepened her voice and now full-on imitated Turbo as she carried on, she sarcastically bobbed her head for emphasis, "My name is Turbo Black. I want a black Americano. BLACK. Don't you dare put anything sweet in it. I know it's called Sugarbucks, and we're in Sugar Rush, but if you reach for the sugar, I will delete you."

Turbo blurt a hard chuckle, something Berri was certain wasn't real, though her smile only widened with the sound of him so desperately trying to stifle it, pull the phone away, anything. She gestured her hand and eased him a cute giggle as she returned her voice to normality.

"Y'gotta add a little sweetness to your life, there, Mr. Black, c'mon, get something fun! Y'wanna hear my complicated order?" Berri rushed in a girly squeeze, to which she didn't let Turbo reply, "I get an obnoxious venti iced coffee with three pumps of white mocha, one blonde shot, almond milk, and those cute little red and white sprinkles, what are they called...? Holiday sprinkles!"

"Would it make you feel better if I got an Americano with cream?" Turbo's deep voice muttered, and although his tone sounded entirely unenthused, Berri could practically hear him beaming ear to ear.

"Not really," Berri remained stubborn, he heaved a sigh and was unsuccessful in stifling another chuckle.

"Okay, you can add sugar to it," Turbo's smiling tone held true.

"Don't make me order you a pumpkin spice latte," Berri muttered, she practically felt her heart jolt straight out of her chest in whole success, the sound of Turbo's gentle laughter was now something she was certain was going to be the thing she would forever strive for.

"Fine then, surprise me," Turbo stated in kind defeat.

"Oh, that's not wise, don't give me that kind of power," Berri mumbled, she bugged her eyes and beamed a cheeky smile, though Turbo groaned a noise of annoyance, she was floored with just how much he had already come out of his shell, though she was certain it was strictly because they were in a phone call, and not face to face; something he massively struggled with.

"Where are you, anyways?" Turbo's voice lilted in a gentle depth of nervous playfulness, though Berri cocked an eyebrow and peered up to the infamous green logo, high above her head.

"Oh, y'know, I'm just... At the library," Berri shook her head and gestured her hand, "I'm at Sugarbucks! What the heck kinda question is that? I'm not just asking for your order for no reason, dude. Loudly going on about Americanos and crap."

"I-I meant which one," Turbo now loudly staggered gentle laughter.

"Oh, the one on Monroe," Berri chimed in soft conclusion, she gently hoisted herself off of Chester's side, gave Chester one final pat, and began to head towards the front doors of Sugarbucks, "Y'said you'd be home all day... Everyday. Painfully stuck in the clouds."

"My little cloud nine, your highness," Turbo grumbled, she could still hear that beaming smile of his.

"I'll be at the tower in ten, sound good?" Berri chimed in girly cuteness, she swung the heavy glass door open and soaked into the easy, cool atmosphere of the bustling coffee shop.

"I'll be here," Turbo chimed in mild, still smiling annoyance.

"Ohhh, where else?" Berri volleyed in a greater deal of cheeky annoyance.

In the gentle drum of a short exchange of 'goodbye's', Berri sagged her phone into her back pocket, heaved a sigh of success, held her head high and proudly marched to the area of the cafe where she could order. Much to her delight, she was floored that the crew here wasn't just strictly excited to see her because she was Sugar Rush's princess; this crew knew her by name, by order, and genuinely enjoyed her presence, every time she showed up.

"Berri!" Stated the barista at the front registers; he was a cute little guy, a green-skinned candy creature with long antennas atop his head and short, pointy ears on the sides of his skull. He struggled with a few heavy things of powdered sugar, and although he looked like he was previously on a mission to taking said packs to their backroom, he lofted them to the counter behind him, eased to the register and perked his ears and antennas in whole excitement, "Been awhile!"

"Hey, Bug, I know, I started at Game Central Academy!" Berri chimed, she leaned her arm on the higher ledge, one that jut out into the cafe a little, it safely stationed the cafe's three noisy espresso machines.

"How's that going?" Bug prod, his tender brown eyes held tight to Berri's in loving delight, though Berri grit her teeth and muttered her response.

"I got suspended," Berri staggered, though she flinched as Bug blurt out in soft laughter and dusted his hands on his green apron.

"Ho, man, Bear... How'd that happen?" Bug pressed through the stagger of laughter, though Berri rolled her eyes in smiling, scheming delight and waved him off.

"Bah, it's not important, I go back after New Year's... It's whatever," Berri sighed in tender, cute conclusion.

"Y'gettin' your usual?" Bug prod in soft kindness, he eagerly clicked the cap of his marker, grappled for a large cup, made for iced drinks, and began to eagerly scribble the drink code of Berri's drink onto the cup.

"Yes, sir," Berri prod, though she cheekily looked off and felt her heart begin to pound in nervous reveal, she watched as Bug wrote Berri's name at the top of her cup, "I also am going to be ordering something for my friend."

"A friend of Berri's is a friend of mine," Bug chimed as he pointed, he moved to set Berri's cup onto the bar, so that the employee making the drinks could begin preparing her delicious, icy beverage, "What're they having?"

"He'll get an Americano, with cream and sugar," Berri rattled off; she knew, full well, she could likely surprise Turbo with an obnoxious drink, though she figured giving him at least the base of his staple drink was wise, for now.

"Standard, but still delicious," Bug confirmed with a nod, he held the cup to his being as he finished off the drink code, though he hovered the marker at the top of the cup and peered his cute eyes to Berri's in anticipated wait, "What's his name?"

Berri held her breath and felt her pupils practically tighten; she knew this was it, this was a second rush of now bewildered stares, nervous questions, she could so easily let panic ensue, though she dared to utter his name.

"Turbo," Berri pressed in forced confidence, though just as Bug pressed the marker to the top of the cup, he flattened his ears in a spike of apprehension, cocked an eyebrow and peered to Berri in nervous question.

"Turbo? Y-You mean like..." Bug staggered a soft laugh and shrugged, he assumed she simply meant another being so coincidentally named Turbo, "You must mean like... Someone that isn't THE Turbo, right? Not like... 'Go Turbo' ahhh everyone run!"

Berri huffed a soft laugh, looked off, bit her lip and strangely relaxed in Bug's rapidly rising anxiety-ridden aura.

"No, I definitely mean THE Turbo," Berri bobbed a nod and held her eyes tight to Bug's, though she shook her head and lovingly smiled, "Everyone thinks he's dead, but... He's been safely running the whole of Orion City for the entirety of this city's lifetime."

Bug furrowed his brow in a drown of fear and sagged the cup, he shook his head and looked as if he wanted to also remain confident that Berri wasn't absolutely nuts. He narrowed his gaze and leaned in a little.

"Y-You... You're not just playing?" Bug prod in a slope of soft seriousness, Berri giggled and shook her head in blushing surprise.

"No, I'm not kidding, I'm on my way to his house right now," Berri blurt harder laughter, as if she, too, was in entire disbelief that this was her reality, as well, "He's owned up to the mistakes he's made... He actually helped save Sugar Rush, and helped my mom and dad put it all back together. He's been here all along."

"H-He's not like... Mean? Evil?" Bug prod, Berri was glad that he at least seemed open to this idea, "I mean, you hear the name Turbo, and it's like... Nightmares, y'know?"

"I know," Berri levelled with him, she smiled and shrugged, "I'm just recently getting to know him, actually. He's a really great guy. PAINFULLY shy, doesn't ever leave Orion Tower... It's annoying."

"I guess I'll have to see it to believe it, your highness," Bug now flattened his ears and gave Berri a playful, wrinkled-nose smirk, "But, for now, we got one Americano with cream and sugar, for Mr. Turbo."

"That'll do it," Berri bobbed a nod and began to scour for her wallet; she was grateful the crew here understood her urgent plight to pay full price for her order.

"...No, but really, would he ever come into our shop?" Bug worried in tender quietness, he looked as if underneath all that apprehension was a bout of curious excitement.

"Maybe one day," Berri encouraged as she handed Bug the full amount of cash, his clawed hands tenderly received it, "It'll be a huge milestone, for him, so... I guess, when it does happen, tell everyone not to panic. He's absolutely harmless... Just terrified to be out in public."

"Can't say I blame him," Bug chuckled as his register popped open, he gently handed Berri her change, "Guess I'll spread the word... Be cool to actually meet that guy, in person. Holy User, I can't believe he still exists."

"He loves to pretend that he doesn't," Berri rolled her eyes, she was grateful Bug had taken this so well, it was something that made her confident to push this adventure of hers forward, "He'll come out of his shell eventually, if I have any say in it."

"Hopefully we're your guys' first stop, then," Bug encouraged, and although Berri was certain that it'd likely be elsewhere, previously, she furrowed her brows and wondered if the safety of this crew's friendship would actually be a good ice breaker, anyhow.

"I'll make sure of it," Berri sweetly affirmed.