Reviews :

Jay Sketchin : I'm dying laughing. Dude Turbo the most, tho. His would be deep fried lmao

Burgie : T'is true! :)

Snake557 : Yeah, I love that the Arcade looks all cheery and sweet on the outside, but there's a lot of dark things that take place.


Song Listened To :

Silver Comforts Jim by James Newton Howard


*GORE WARNING*

The first THREE paragraphs of this chapter contains detailed scenes of what Berri went through, on the train. It's not nearly as graphic as the chapter it was previously in, but I still go into detail. Just a fair warning! Just the first three paragraphs, and then it's safe from there. Thanks guys!


*Chapter 74*

In a loose circle all full of tense shoulders, stern eyes, wavering hearts that held frozen before the code room's medium sized screen, Tessa, Zed, Rancis, Turbo and Surge held their terrified eyes to the horrifying show that was due to unfold, right before them. Surge nervously gestured out to the screen and mumbled something to Zed, likely about how she shouldn't have been traveling alone at this hour, something that certainly everyone had crammed into all of the youngling's heads, though the second Berri suddenly jolted to a stand, in the train cart, everyone froze and silenced their chattering small talk, about the situation at hand. Turbo sagged to the back of the group and held his terrified eyes to the screen, as if he could hardly keep watching, though somehow he couldn't take his eyes away from it. A literal train wreck that he was due to witnessing. The second Berri started trying to calm herself down, in her reflection, did everyone's terrified gazes begin to spot just what was forming behind Berri.

A massive, all black creature that stood hunched, it's spiny back and gangly limbs shifted, as if it were ready to pounce, though the instant that Berri launched off in a zip of electric coding, the security camera's footage blipped in electrical confusion, merely distorting the image to white noise for a moment. The second the creature hit the back wall of the train, the screen angrily went black, alongside a mass of nervous, silver pixels, though once it came back to correction, the creature, as well as Berri, were now dancing about an entirely decimated train cab, made obvious from the high angle of the security camera. Tessa huffed a noise of terror and covered her mouth, amidst a plea of entire dread, and as everyone else held frozen in horrified composure, Turbo began to feel his chest cavity rise and fall at a faster capacity, the very sound of Berri's cries, her grunts, the scream of pain the second her foot sagged to the jagged metal of the train's torn apart seats, Turbo shook his head and clenched his teeth, as if he simply couldn't handle all of this.

In the mess of Berri's coding diving face first into the train cab's ceiling light, the video cut out, due to the cab losing its main source of electricity. After a few moments, the camera's backup power cued for it to roll, and what was displayed was now a much darker train cab, further torn to shreds, a hearty splay of angry sparks now spilling into the back end of the train, and Berri's final bound into the wall opposite the train door. Almost too fast to even see what was going on, the five watched in horror as Berri bounded to the train's door, forced it open with her coding, and successfully dove out of the way, just in time for the massive creature to dive face first into the stationary wall next to the train. Everyone very visibly sagged into themselves in a sharp flinch the second the sound of the horrific bone crunching noise was apparent, and although it was dark on the video, it was clear Berri got an entire face and mouth full of the explosion of the creature's blood and bodily fluid. The second Berri started vomiting was the second that Tessa scoffed a noise of despair and covered her face in its entirety.

Turbo panted through his nose and silently began to freak out, an entirety of a million different emotions coursed through him, and as everyone watched Berri successfully bubble the creature's slowly-deleted arm, his soul wasn't prepared for the heart-breaking scene to unfold next. Through the dim, now quite cab, Berri's cries very slowly turned into trembling singing, she sat hunkered down, her arms tight about her knees, and as she outwardly, and very clumsily, began to sing her's and Turbo's song, Turbo raised his eyebrows in a sharp pinprickle of surprise and now was well aware this was where he drew the line. Turbo scoffed a choke of a noise, grappled the sides of his head and urgently began to storm off, to the edge of his code room, near his teleportation pad.

Although Tessa, Zed, Rancis and Surge urgently peered to Turbo, and took note of his departure, they eagerly peered back at the screen in time to see the cab roll into the station, as well as Berri immediately fleeing the scene via glitch-hopping. As the screen remained still on the train's now empty, frozen cart, Zed heaved a shaky breath, cocked an eyebrow and urgently caught eyes with Rancis in a sting of unadulterated surprise. Rancis held tight with Zed, as well, as if to very clearly insinuate that he had absolutely no clue how to swallow that whole video, as he was certain no one else did, either. Rancis heaved a hard, shaky sigh, shook his head, nervously peered to Tessa and Surge and finally cocked an eyebrow of gentle sassiness.

"Well... NOW I'm awake," Rancis grunted, though Tessa finally came up for air and peered up to the screen, which still hovered on the bloodied, decimated train cab.

"Holy shit," Tessa huffed shakily, she peered up to Zed in a swipe of terror, though before anyone could get anything else out, Surge huffed a small chuckle and shook his head.

"You can say that again," Surge smiled, he shook his head and peered up to Tessa and Zed, "I'm glad she's home safe... I'm positive she won't be leaving the game, anytime soon, after an event like that."

"She won't want to," Zed staggered in humility, he peered down to Surge and pressed on, "A-at least now we know what we're up against."

"It's not much to just reprogram a new train cab... I just wanted to come over here and let you guys know exactly what happened," Surge started out, though before he could carry on, everyone cued to the frustrated noise Turbo suddenly emit, a quiet, raspy, and nasally noise of whole despair, out to the other end of his code room.

Tessa, Zed, Rancis and Surge urgently peered to him in their whole, undivided attention. Turbo stood at the south end of his lovely code room, he had his back turned to the group, his forehead pressed to the glass, as well as his fist. His shoulders were scrunched in a tremble of emotion, and although everyone had an incredibly hard time watching said footage, Tessa, Zed and Rancis now nervously glanced to each other and had to wonder if it was a new level of difficulty for Turbo. Zed exhaled a long sigh and collected himself; he peered back to the screen with a sweep of pride, of terror, of anger, of relief, he knew the only thing that trumped all emotions was the sheer gratitude that Berri came home safely, and all those glitching lessons weren't all for not. Zed finally sagged his shoulders and, with the level head attitude he gingerly laid on the group, he was glad everyone followed suit, excluding Turbo, who was now too far gone. Zed gently gave Surge a knowing look and shook his head.

"We, uh... We clearly have a lot to discuss," Zed instructed, he tenderly looked to Turbo and felt his heart swell with all sorts of emotions, though it was here did Surge quickly catch on to Zed's insinuation.

"...Right. Well, I have a copy of that tape, so you can keep this one, for your records. Consider letting the whole of Arcade know just what happened," Surge encouraged as he gently began to stroll back to the teleportation pad, though he kindly peered back to Zed and Tessa, for assurance, "Just say the word, and I'll give the tape to the news... The faster we spread the word, the faster we can find a solution."

Tessa and Zed nervously peered to each other for guidance, and although the both of them wanted to very quickly agree with Surge's words, they held their tongues and knew they needed to digest all of this, first and foremost. Zed gently lofted Surge a knowing smile, pulled up the commands to allow Surge to head out of Sugar Rush, and bobbed a nod of affirmation.

"I'll be in touch with you later today... We're going to regroup, here, and we can move forward from there," Zed assured, and with Surge's kind reciprocation of said plan, he was gently whisked away to Sugar Rush's entrance, simply so he could fix the train and prepare for a new game day.

Although the code room was now silent and still, Turbo could now be heard shakily muttering things to himself. He shook his head and kept his whole posture frustratingly glued to the glass of his protective code room, and although everyone was hurting over this issue, Zed sagged his shoulders and lofted a knowing look in Tessa's and Rancis's direction. They easily lofted it right back to him, and in unison, all three of them carefully began to press over to Turbo's figure, across the way, with Zed at the lead. Upon the crawl to reaching Turbo, Tessa and Rancis hung back about ten feet from Turbo's back whilst Zed pressed on, to get a more intimate look into Turbo's heart, something that was now failing to stay within the seams of the confined barrier he had successfully put up, for so many years. As Zed quietly approached, it was clear, here, that Turbo was doing absolutely everything he could to keep it together, though tears streamed his cheeks as his forehead messily slumped into his forearm, which was firmly pressed into the glass.

"Turbo," Zed's loving voice eased, and as Zed so warmly placed a fatherly hand to Turbo's upper arm, Turbo finally, and apprehensively, peeled from his hunched position, he bravely revealed his face, which was drenched in tears.

Zed hovered tight to Turbo's gravity, and in the sag of whole realization that came crawling over everyone in the room, Zed allowed all walls to come down, all past judgement and all past troubles to officially fall to the wayside, for good. Although Turbo was entirely distraught, the golden, gleaming glow of his eyes never wavered, here. Zed narrowed his gaze in curiosity and was now certain this was due to overflow of positive emotion, being felt. A tug towards Zed's very own little princess, the urge to protect and defend Berri was now becoming Turbo's first and foremost duty in its entirety, something Zed was eternally grateful for. Zed just barely snuck a small smile into Turbo's eyes, as if to very silently convey that he knew exactly what was up, here, a quiet way of potentially knocking on a closed door and turning the handle, as if to very politely ask Turbo if he could be let inside. Turbo's grey cheeks were sapped with tears, old and new. His chest trembled with the onslaught of more overflow, he grimaced and bashfully looked off through the pain and passion that was coursing through him, though as he opened his mouth to talk, he choked a small cry and gestured his hands in defeat.

"Sh-She sang our song," Turbo's crackling voice broke and staggered amidst more tears, tears that he now allowed to fall freely, he knew he was so far gone with emotion that the whole world was due to knowing just exactly how he felt about Berri. Turbo grimaced a tight scrunch of his shut eyes, shook his head and grappled the hair on the sides of his head, "She s-sang our song... To comfort herself..."

"'Your song'?" Zed repeated patiently and kindly, he could practically feel Tessa and Rancis standing by, nearly beaming.

"I-I wrote a song for Berri, a-and... when I played it for her, she sang along with the sheet music," Turbo staggered, he choked a small noise and now urgently began to wipe his jaws free of tears via his dark, tight shirt, "I-I had no clue she could sing, like that, I just... Was playing it for her and..."

Zed froze as Turbo's daring, golden eyes scanned the floor in aimless searching, as if the pot was now overflowing and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He finally peered his humble, teary gaze into Zed's patient, loving and fatherly eyes, Turbo's crackling voice urgently pressed on in eternal, humble patience.

"A-And... I fell in love with her," Turbo sweetly admitted, he grimaced a small cry and, through his narrowed gaze, he urgently peered to Zed, as if to somehow beg him not to wipe him off the face of Arcade, due to this confession, "I-I'm in love with your daughter, sir. I can't stay quiet about it... Th-that was... Easily the hardest thing I ever had to sit and watch. I already have the vision of her bloodied body on the floor of my teleport pad, outside my front door, th-that was... My User, that was..."

"Double time, for you," Zed stated through a humble sigh and a small nod, his caring hand remained on the back of Turbo's upper arm as he tenderly continued, "You basically relived the event, watching that... Sure, you weren't there, but... It's safe to say you were in the aftermath of it, not even minutes after the fact... Right?"

"Sir," Turbo patiently agreed with a nod, and as the room fell quiet, outside of Turbo's excessive sniffling, Zed cocked an eyebrow and finally lofted a loving, knowing smile in Rancis's and Tessa's direction.

Although exhausted and haunted from the imagery they had just watched, somehow Turbo's lovely confession warmed everyone back from the dead. The sheer look of dewy gratitude amidst Tessa's face, the sweet smile Rancis crowned with his eyes aimlessly down to his own feet, Zed finally returned his gaze to Turbo and felt whole. He had an inkling this would eventually sneak up on everyone, though with the raw fact that Turbo's feelings were now out in the open, Zed felt somehow relieved. Zed peered Turbo down as Turbo's bashful, terrified eyes held aimless at both of their feet, his breathing finally began to slow down, the mighty expansion of his broad chest, he exuded every single last ounce of power and willingness this Arcade had to offer, a renewed flame that was alive and well in him, and somehow, the fact that it was all due to his feelings for Berri, made Zed's eyes sting with impending tears he successfully kept at bay.

"You're a great man, Turbo," Zed declared warmly and softly, finally Turbo's eyes hooked tight to Zed's in a gentle show of humble surprise. Zed bobbed a nod and tilted his head down a gentle peer of further depth that conveyed stronger emotion, Zed finally heaved a sigh of relief and bobbed Turbo a small nod, "You'd make an even greater partner for Berri... Just... Rest assured, that..."

Zed gently slowed his roll and lofted his gaze to Tessa and Rancis for affirmation, and the second their eyes lit up in a tender bout of sweet clarity, amidst two gentle nods of confirmation from the both of them, Zed returned his smile to Turbo and pat the back of his upper arm, once more.

"... We're all rooting for you," Zed insinuated kindly, as if he didn't want to come right out and say the things everyone truly wanted to say, fully understanding that Berri's free will played a massive role, though whatever the outcome, he wanted to make absolutely clear to Turbo that he had the crew's entire support in attempting to win over Berri's heart.

Turbo exhaled a trembling breath and felt an entire world of weight lift off of his shoulders. He knew this was only the beginning, and ultimately telling Berri his true feelings was the end goal. He scrunched his eyes tight in a sweep of dread and excitement and was well aware that said chore would likely be eons off. Turbo shook his head, softly gazed out to the dregs of Orion City, the opposite direction of the palace, and allowed the glow of his golden eyes to glint against the glass as his stare melted into the gorgeous, snowy mountains off in the distance. Although he now felt extremely vulnerable with the raw fact that Sugar Rush's King, Queen and first Knight all knew of his romantic feelings towards their precious princess, he also felt a warm embrace of solace; the transparency Zed held true to, in this situation, made his jumbled feelings easier to navigate, as if he had support, from all angles, that this was a good path to take. Although the group stood silent for a few moments, to soak in just everything that had taken place, Rancis finally crossed his arms and cutely gave Turbo a knowing side-eye.

"...Lookit you. You used to be so hard, so cold," Rancis's still sleepy voice croaked, to which Tessa and Zed eagerly peered to Rancis; having sort of known Turbo, in and out of being tied in with all of Whiplash's drama through the years, they knew Rancis had all sorts of memories and information on Turbo that they didn't, "It's really nice to see you grow so soft and warm, towards someone, for once. It's a different angle for you... Stark and certainly different, but... I like it. You should show it more often."

Turbo nervously lofted his bashful, golden gaze to Rancis and tried to remain still and stoic, though with just how wide open his heart was, in this raw instance, he now knew, for sure, he was fooling no one. He sighed through his nose, bobbed a nod of clarity and looked down to his feet as Rancis tenderly pressed on.

"Wren tells me, all the time, that you're literally all Berri talks about," Rancis choked a small laugh, to which Tessa bobbed an agreeing nod alongside a widening, cute smile, "Her feet seem to be wandering, but... She's a smart girl. She knows where she's needed the most. Don't stop chasing that flame, just because it seems daunting. I can see the dread in your eyes."

"It's a lot of dread, nervousness," Turbo agreed; he knew if there was anyone on this lot that could read any soul, like an open book, it was Rancis. Turbo heaved a shaky breath and only glanced to Tessa and Zed, "It's... Hard to have confidence, after the thirty years I've endured."

"I've seen you around her," Zed tenderly interjected with a small nod, he gave Turbo a reassuring smile and a near-sassy side-eye to boot, "You come almost entirely out of your shell, the second she's around. You have nothing to worry about, you just... Gotta be real. With both her and yourself."

"Real," Turbo repeated in tender confusion, to which Tessa nodded and decided she should give a female perspective, to this.

"What Zed's trying to say, is... Your next step is to just tell her how you feel," Tessa gestured to her upper chest and lovingly smiled up into Turbo's eyes, "Don't dawdle... That girl is faster than lightning. If you sit on these feelings, you don't want that chance to escape you... Now that she clearly is running off to go see what Gunner is up to."

"Th-that's why I've sort of... Slammed on the brakes," Turbo staggered sorrowfully, "I don't want to interfere with what she has going on. I don't want to cause confusion... I-If she wants to chase after someone else, then-"

"Then what, you'll just be HERE?" Rancis barked as he put his hands on his hips, "You'll just sit and wait and not do anything? You just told us that you're in love with her... I know for a FACT that this Gunner dude is nowhere near the intensity of actually being IN LOVE with Berri, like you say you are. Y'gunna go to the literal ends of Arcade for her heart?"

"I-I would... I guess I'm just... I'm just trying to be patient, I'm trying to bide my time," Turbo worried, and although it was sound advice, he felt Throttle's loving words begin to want to slip through his fingers.

"I see where you're coming from... Slow and steady wins the race," Tessa assured warmly, to which Turbo raised his eyebrows to and now gripped onto Tessa's word like a lifeline, "But... There's only so much slowing down, that can be done, before it turns into putting it in park and not moving forward..."

"Or even reversing," Zed eased nervously.

"Who cares if there's another guy involved, steal her back," Rancis blurt, clearly more blatant about this process, though he was well aware Turbo needed the gentle kick in the pants, "You can't win the girl if you just sit still and hope someday she'll come to you. You have to do things out of your comfort zone, you have to meet her where she's at, sometimes. You have to prove that you can keep one step ahead of her, whilst also maybe taking a step back and allowing yourself to be illusive, from time to time."

"Happy medium," Zed lulled his eyes closed and inhaled an exhausted breath, as if to insinuate that courting a woman was on par with rocket science; he jolted and blurt a small laugh the second Tessa gently swat at his muscular front.

"Thank you, guys, I'll... Keep it all in mind," Turbo stated through a nervous sigh as he bashfully peered to all three of his peers, to which Zed warmly pat his shoulder, once more.

"Slow and steady wins the race, but... No one's telling you not to speed around a few corners, from time to time," Tessa shrugged with a small, mischievous smile.

Turbo's broad chest inhaled a revived breath, and as purpose came back to his skin, in the show of a gentle few long-blinks of understanding, he finally gave Tessa a sweet, grateful and equally as mischievous smile, "I'll keep that in mind."