Reviews :

CHICKENM4N : You guys will have to seee~ I'm surprised you guys actually get Selka vibes from Gunner xD But it's all good!

Jay Sketchin : Aww that's so funny. Thank you friend!

Nikki Firesong : Thank you! Unfortunately, I don't really delve into the lives of the characters that are WAY sideline characters, like Otto. I doubt I ever will, that's not where my heart is, for my writing. But I appreciate you showing interest. And yes, Turbo's had a rather easy time of garnering Zed's approval! But he doesn't have it all in the bag, just yet - Berri has her own set of challenges for Turbo to overcome.

Snake557 : Aww, true.

Burgie : And it is one EXPLOSIVE chapter, let me tell you xD


*Chapter 66*

"Berri, you don't have to say it, anymore," Theo mumbled in the beginning stings of mild irritation. In the gentle sag of his bare, wrecking hands to his cheeks, he shook his head and lulled his eyes closed as him, Berri and Wren slowly sauntered into Sugar Rush's glorious, rainbow road entrance. The land was covered in a fresh layer of delicious snow, the cool breeze only made the three push closer to the secretive teleportation hub that hugged the entrance's wall, "I KNOW you want to go into EZ Living... Pretty sure everyone in this game would kill us, if we went into ANY game that we weren't programmed for, without proper deletion protection."

"What did Turbo have to say about it?" Wren eased gently, he eyed his cousin and knew she was antsy, the look of loving plea in Gunner's eyes, before they part ways, was even hard for Wren to say no to. As the three slumped onto the teleportation pad, Berri rolled her eyes and shoved her hands into her cute jacket's side pockets.

"He said that we can all get together, tonight, in his code room, to see what we could do and potentially test out prototypes," Berri mumbled in annoyance, Theo eyed her.

"There, there's our answer," Theo retort with a now becoming-sassy smile, "Maybe you can go into EZ Living, with Gunner, tomorrow."

"I'd be going alone?" Berri suddenly stabbed in whole confusion as she bugged her eyes and shot her gaze tight to Theo's

"Well, no, but... I mean, the way he was asking us to come along, into EZ Living today, after school let out," Theo raised his eyebrows in gentle, unadulterated surprise and blew an exasperated breath through the puff of his cheeks; Wren gently began to tab at the silver holographic screen that dimly appeared, waypoints and a whole slew of palace teleportation pads unveiled in a list of readiness, "He was asking all of us, but the look in his eye was begging YOU and YOU alone to succumb to his pleas."

"I so wish I would've gone," Berri aimlessly looked off in mild regret and shook her head, though before they could get anything else out, the three were whisked away to the teleportation pad securely planted before their tower's front door, on the palace lot.

"You would've run the risk of literally everyone, on this lot, grounding you into an entire oblivion," Wren blurt a gentle chuckle, the air on the palace grounds was a bit less chaotic.

"Only if they found out," Berri muttered darkly, though it was here did Wren and Theo freeze in a certain slump of unknowing, as if they now were entirely stumped on just what to say or do, though before Wren could now apprehensively turn and unlock their tower's massive, round front door, the scamper and thunder of familiar, bumbling paws was suddenly heard plowing through the crunchy, lovely snow that had settled.

With hard pants and breaths that eagerly fogged the crisp, winter air, Chester rounded about the bend of their tower, about fifteen feet out into the field, and perked his ears high in excited listening. The fact that he could so much as hear Berri's, Wren's and Theo's voices was enough to have him tearing from whatever end of their part of the palace lot, straight to their lovely, covered foyer. Although everyone was obviously excited to see Chester, they froze in further excitement the second Chester began to let out hard, raspy whimpers of excited urgency, as if he so badly wanted to bark like a big puppy dog. Berri's dark, scheming eyes immediately lit up in whole surprise, for this instance, and as she tried to push her troubles to the wayside, she physically did the same to Wren and Theo and pushed out into the snow.

"Chester, your voice is becoming so confident and strong!" Berri urgently encouraged as Chester firmly sniffled at her hands, which were extended, and with a few laps to her opened palms and a jolt of excited laps to her cheek and jaw, in which she loudly giggled and flinched from, Chester suddenly huffed a cute noise and began to dart away from her.

She wrinkled her nose and wiped her cheek free of Chester's saliva, which began to grow extremely cold and wet on her skin, due to the winter air, though through her relieved smile, and eyes that softly watched just to where Chester was running off to, she felt her heart sag in sorrow and grow warmth with remembrance, all in one bittersweet hang of confusion. She eased her hands to her chest and shivered, her eyes caught with Turbo's and Throttle's figure, on Throttle's lovely wrap-around porch, just a few hundred feet from Berri's tower. The two men were talking, inaudible to Wren, Theo and Berri from this distance. Chester's bumbling, lithe figure easily tore through the foot of snow and straight for Turbo's still figure, he swarmed Turbo and Throttle with a hyper-extended jolt and lunge of love and excitement, to which both boys easily laughed and gave Chester a few loving pats and rubs on his broad chest, snout and face.

As Chester huffed a whine of a noise and tossed his blind gaze across the stretch of snow, to Berri's tower, both Turbo's and Throttle's glowing gazes followed suit, and caught tight to the three that had finally come home from Academy. Without words to Berri, who had begun trudging across the snowy field to meet up with Throttle and Turbo, Wren and Theo began to quietly chat with each other as they trailed about twenty feet behind Berri. They were thankful she was out of ear shot, though they allowed her walking pace to continue on in a faster speed than theirs, so to buy Wren and Theo time. Their whispers carried on through fogged, nervous confusion that had suddenly began to seep into the group, a pinpoint of stress that Berri was likely beginning to dip her toes into, no matter how deep she assumed said pool of stress would eventually become.

"Berri's acting weird," Theo muttered quietly, both men assessed the back of Berri's head, her beautiful, long blue hair flickered in the cold, Sugar Rush winter wind, "I-I know she wouldn't just... Waltz into EZ Living without deletion protection, right? What are even the odds of BEING deleted? Is it still a thing that's happening?"

"I don't know," Wren mumbled, he cocked an eyebrow and shrugged, "Gunner seemed to immediately respect our decision, but... The only reason us three reached the decision of not going into EZ Living today, was only because, well..."

"Both of us chimed in and suggested it wouldn't be a good idea," Theo mumbled, they were now about half way to Throttle's lovely abode, warm exterior colors easily matched with the twinkling glow of interior lights and a gentle stream of smoke from his chimney, insinuating he had a fire going inside.

"... Berri's not that stupid and naive, is she?" Wren grit his teeth, and although this would typically be a teasing notion full of chuckles and eye rolls, Wren's serious demeanor had Theo easily following suit, the detrimental air of the topic at hand had both boys taking off their proverbial pinwheel hats.

"We've... We've never seen her around a major crush, of hers, before," Theo shrugged and gave Wren a nervous look, "I know Gunner wouldn't take advantage of her, well... 'Newness', but, I'm positive all he'd have to do is ask twice and she'd easily let him whisk her away to EZ Living."

"Now... Whose to say she'd even get deleted?" Wren played devil's advocate, he shrugged and shot his gloriously handsome blue eyes tight to Theo's equally as piercing emerald eyes, both boys were silent in contemplation before Theo heaved a hard sigh.

"But, whose then to say that she WOULDN'T?" Theo urged nervously, "I know she wants to learn more about Gunner and be alone with him, and PLAY for him and hopefully get on the same page as him... They're FAST friends and it's clear they're dying to just hang out with each other, but... At what cost? She's got to know her worth, here, in Sugar Rush. The whole palace would be up in arms if she went traipsing into EZ Living without deletion protection. She's Sugar Rush's future, for crying out loud."

"...Should we warn Tessa and Zed?" Wren wondered gently, although Wren simply didn't view this as telling on Berri, due to Tessa being his older cousin, he reeled for a second and wondered if that'd put him and Berri's trust on the rocks, "I-I just... Wouldn't want to give Berri any reason to think I was working against her, but... I just don't want her falling into a trap and then, she's just gone for good..."

"You'd then regret not telling Aunt Tessa and Uncle Zed," Theo shrugged, "You'd be stuck with the fact that you could've told someone and helped prevent this. I, personally, think we should at least have a chat with Berri."

"If all else fails, then," Wren trailed off as they now grew within twenty feet of Throttle's lovely front porch, as well as the beings that hovered under it's warmth.

"Then we can maybe tell Turbo... Involve Aunt Tessa and Uncle Zed," Theo shrugged nervously, and as him and Wren caught eyes in the last, silent dregs of their conversation, they knew that it wasn't concluded, that they both were still buzzing with questions.

"Hey," Berri so warmly eased in Turbo's direction. Although the three had worn normal school clothes to Academy, upon coming back into Sugar Rush's frigid air, they had donned proper boots and jackets. Berri's snowy footsteps gently splayed Throttle's porch with a light powder, and although Berri had previously battled with her own emotions in her last hour class, somehow being in Turbo's presence eradicated every last notion. It were as if he would win the battle of the both of them staying cooped up in his loft, forever, simply by requesting it of her whilst looking her in the eye. Any other avenue of communication had Berri in grips with her senses, though the second Turbo's golden eye contact was lofted her way, she felt her knees go weak. With this notion, she inwardly scolded herself as she made her silent predicament worse by going in for a hug, "Hopefully Chester wasn't too much of a handful today?"

"Not at all," Turbo's warm, raspy familiar voice so lovingly coat the top of her shoulder as she draped her arms about his neck and shoulders. The two squeezed for a tight hug, though they made sure not to prolong it. As Berri slowly eased out of the ravel of Turbo's strong arms, about her upper back, she kindly lofted Throttle a welcoming smile of a greeting and hovered close to Turbo's gravity, "He's pushing for more vocalizing, did you notice?"

"I did," Berri's eyes lit up, though as Wren and Theo slowly made their way onto Throttle's porch, and out of the way of the tender snowfall, Berri furrowed her brow and noticed Throttle visibly stiffen, as if he was now delightfully uncomfortable. Berri continued on and only briefly just disregarded this notion, "Y-You think we can just teach him how to talk, from here?"

"Well, I'm thinking he's probably going to make any normal sound a typical lykata would make," Turbo pressed, the air fogged before him, and although he took a few steps away, so to allow more room for Wren and Theo to join the conversation, Throttle strangely took the same steps with him. Berri now furrowed her brows in cued attention and, so to secretively try and make it so Throttle didn't stick out like a sore thumb, she tenderly followed their movement and kept close to Turbo as he nonchalantly continued on, "Once he has barking and howling down, and the like... I'm wondering if we maybe have to code his voice box, from there. Certainly makes the process a little easier."

"I'm so excited," Berri cheesed with a giddy smile as she scrunched her shoulders, Turbo gave her a loving smile, a small nod and continued on.

"I am too... I figured I'd give this week a try, get him to bark and howl, and all that jazz, and then I'll meet up with Tessa and Zed and see what to do, from there," Turbo patiently explained; Chester knew, full well, that they were talking about him, so to further ham it up, he flopped into the snow and began to thrash around on his back out of excitement. His wings sprawled, snow splayed up into the air out of pure chaos, he panted in whole hyperness as his tongue flopped about. Everyone burst into laughter as Turbo's warm, smiling eyes soaked to Berri, Wren and Theo in anticipated wait, "How was Academy, today?"

"Berri's first day back," Throttle chimed, though stiffly; Berri lofted her gaze to him, and although his skin was nearly sheet white, like usual, his cheeks held a very strange tint of a nervous shade of red.

"It was so good," Berri eased, she tried not to hold her attention to Throttle in whole confusion, "I was so worried that everyone, in my last hour class, was going to crucify me for simply knowing Turbo, but... They were so supportive, and had so many questions about Turbo. It was really fun."

"Ah yeah?" Turbo's face lit up, as if he wanted to be nervous, though somehow this positive attention received was now something he was beginning to crave, "Wh-what did you say about me?"

"Ah, it's... I just said you were really nice, and all that good stuff," Berri now was the one to crown a very vivid, bashful blush across her face. Although she simply didn't want Turbo to believe that she thought it was unimportant, she gave him a cute smile and shrugged, as if to now express she was too shy to repeat all the nice things she said, "Just... Take my word for it."

"Ooh, la-la," Wren slowly cooed, his voice crackled to a depth of seduction, though he flinched in a beaming grin as Berri sharpened, grit her teeth and gave Wren a playful death glare.

"Well, thank you," Turbo huffed a chuckle and gave Wren an equally as playfully annoyed and irritated look. He sighed and gave Throttle his full eye contact, though it was here that Berri was floored to see Turbo flinch, give a double-take on Throttle, and also now clearly understand that Throttle looked a little uncomfortable, "Y-You guys, uh... Have anything planned for the rest of the day?"

"Well, Wren and I have a shit ton of homework, I doubt Berri has any, on her first day," Theo grumbled, he gestured his hand to Berri and shrugged, as if to wonder if she potentially did, or not.

"I don't," Berri stated with a sheepish smile and a shrug, she gave Turbo a cute smile and fiddled her fingers together in contemplation, "You still down for testing out that deletion protection tonight?"

"Of course, you guys want to meet at my place, at a certain time?" Turbo wondered, to which Theo and Wren caught eyes in nodding, smiling nonchalance.

"Sure, that'd be great," Wren chimed, though oblivious to Throttle's stiffness, he gestured his hand towards Throttle and confidently pressed on, "You want to come too? The more the merrier."

It was here did Throttle raise his eyebrows in pin-prickled, half-heartedly concealed terror. Everyone peered to him in a sweep of cute, tender confusion, and as he huffed a stagger of a breath and uttered an equally as faltering few words of jump-starting a sentence, Turbo now firmly furrowed his eyebrows and peered to his older brother in hot confusion.

"O-Oh, I'd... I'd love that, that'd be fun," Throttle managed to squeak out, he eased a nervous smile, bobbed a nod and now looked down to his gangly long legs and feet, the top of his head nearly gave off steam due to his now visible shyness.

Turbo cocked an eyebrow and held his golden eyes tight to his brother. He knew, full well, that Throttle was not a stammering, nervous type. Although he was quiet, stoic and reserved, said stand-offish front was never shown in the form of a bashful, faltering, staggering mess, like such. Turbo crossed his arms and knew not to simply mention it here and now, due to further traumatizing his brother, though he had to wonder if somehow their little roles were reversed. Not nights ago was Throttle the one easily handing Turbo very valuable romantic advice, it was only until Turbo finally lofted his golden gaze to Wren's vicinity did he fully understand just what this could now be about. He sagged a little in realization, smiled and knew that it was now his turn to offer Throttle some valuable advice, simply about how to even approach a conversation with a potential crush without crumpling like a house of cards. Turbo choked a small laugh, shook his head and caught eyes with Berri, he was floored to see that she had caught on; she was the sharpest of them all.

"Alright, I can make us something good to eat, or maybe I can prepare some hot chocolate before we get to work," Turbo shrugged, he lofted his eyes to Wren, Theo and then to Berri, "Say, let's meet at my loft at around, seven-ish?"

"Sounds great," Wren chimed with a boyish smile.

"I-I'll be there," Throttle nervously staggered, though he was the first to make his way towards his front door, so to escape this situation, one of which he was only making worse for himself, "I-I... I have some laundry to fold, I'll see you guys later."

"See ya," Turbo eased nonchalantly, though he turned back around and gave Berri a knowing look; just as Wren and Theo were about to make their way to Throttle's open teleport pad, so they didn't have to cross the cold, Sugar Rush palace field once more, to get to their tower, Turbo gave Berri a kind smile and shrugged, "Y'wanna come hang with me, until then?"

"I'd love that," Berri eased; she knew being in Turbo's loft, high away from her responsibilities, an escape from her reality on the ground, was the only place she wanted to be. As if her two worlds were now becoming so much more separated and convoluted than prior, she shoved away any blaring warning noises, in her head, and wondered if she ignored them long enough, maybe they'd go away; a notion she was more than willing to test out.