Reviews :

Jay Sketchin : Like Mario bros, but TurboTime hahaha.

Nikki Firesong : Yeah, he delves into it a bit more, later into the story. It's just a weird sweep of PTSD, something really only Lash would understand. It's expanded on for sure! I appreciate your reviews, and your attention to detail. It's really encouraging! :D

Romanticsapp : LOL! Any day now. The only reason I just allow myself to be the Slow Burn Queen is because I upload every other day. If I only uploaded once a week, or month, or blue moon, I wouldn't torment you guys like that. I allow myself to own it because of how frequent I upload. It'll come! User knows when, cause even I only have a rough outline of the timeline, currently, but it's upon us soon, here! Don't worry :) Thank you so much for catching up like that! I'm sure it was difficult, but I REALLY appreciate it! Welcome back, friend.


Song Listened To :

Circles by Post Malone


*Chapter 110*

The afternoon had come and gone, Wren, Theo and Berri did their lazy amount of after Academy work inside Sugar Rush before moseying on over to EZ Living. Coming up to Gunner's glorious, well lit mansion, all lined with pristine foliage, gorgeous splays of fountains, high-pillared architecture, Berri almost cocked an eyebrow at his massive front door in a gentle sting of annoyance. Wren and Theo were a chattering mess, though Berri was quiet. Although Gunner's driver had nervously eyed Berri from the driver seat, through the rear view mirror, he kept his polite, curious wonderings to himself. It was apparent that Berri had a lot on her mind, though everyone figured they'd better leave her to it. Berri sighed a soft noise through her nose and peered down to the lovely, compact creation in her hands. Safely secured in its own little device was the deleter protection Turbo had successfully produced for Berri and her band, for their impending concerts, a device so powerful, it could protect up to three square miles of land from deleter attacks.

"Y'comin'?" Theo prod to Berri in a tender chime of boyish nonchalance, though as Berri shot her eyes to the opposite end of the car they were in, she felt her heart sink with the way Theo was looking at her, almost into her soul.

She was well aware both Wren and Theo were sharp, though there was something incredibly special about her's and Theo's relationship. Although Berri and Theo were cousins, she felt a special sibling bond with him, the same exact dynamic that Tessa and Oliver had. An apparent duo passed down through their own children, Berri felt her throat tighten with the way Theo peered to her in such understanding, though still almost held a stern, knowing air about himself. As if he was very well aware Berri had some sort of nagging issue on her brain and he was likely due to worming his way into her heart, so to sort through the issue and hopefully give a proper amount of answers. She stiffened and jolted into action, typically she had a sense of urgency about her, though somehow, her whole entire world was becoming engulfed with the idea of her new, shiny side-guy; Turbo. Although he was simply there first, before Gunner, she somehow felt as if this was still something entirely brand new to her. She slid out of the car with a huff, eyed Theo in apology and could feel his vivid green eyes nearly burn a hole through her forehead.

"Bear," Theo mumbled in mild annoyance, as if to beg her to cut the act, though with one quick movement, kissed by EZ Living's lovely, afternoon sun, she tenderly gripped Theo's bare, lower arm, much larger than hers.

Theo raised his eyes in tenderness as Berri secretly flood her silver circuits straight into his lovely, olive green coding, though with such mixture, Berri welcomed herself into Theo's gentle, bumbling thought stream and began to flood him with a quick quip of communication. What once was a tender greenery of easiness now flood Theo's and Berri's hand and arm with an amped show of metallic, green busyness. Theo hooked his nervous eyes into Berri's as she silently communicated to him via nothing but the coding under their skin, she was well aware Wren likely wasn't to be trusted with such tender information.

"I'm really struggling with something right now, and I'm desperate to tell someone," Berri's raw, tender voice flit through Theo's brain as the two continued to slowly move in actions of normalcy, like closing the car door, adjusting bags over their shoulders, Berri continued on as her hand remained gripped to Theo's, "I feel as if you're probably the only person I can trust with what's going on, but I just need you to promise me right here, right now, that you will not tell a soul the information I'll eventually give to you."

"You can trust me, Bear, I want to help. You've been mopey all day," Theo's deep, comforting voice volleyed into the back of Berri's skull, he eased that familiar, adorable gap-toothed smile, one only Ralph could've given, and with such a gentle splay of brotherly comfort, Berri felt tender, releasing relief come crawling under her skin. Theo warmly pressed on, "I'm assuming it has to do with Gunner..."

"He's half the issue, yeah," Berri muttered, though with said tender reveal, she slid her hand away from Theo's arm, thus halting their warm, familiar exterior swap that thankfully went unnoticed by Wren and now Gunner, who happily came out of his house to greet his band members.

"Guys," Gunner eased in boyish excitement as he strolled up, he wore a lazy pair of grey sweats and a white t-shirt, "Good news. We booked four new shows, all around Game Central!"

"What?" Wren pressed in whole excitement, he clutched his chest and peered back to Theo and Berri, who finally joined Wren and Gunner outside Gunner's incredible, outdoor foyer, all laced with a lovely amount of the greenest foliage Arcade had to boast, "Y-You mean like... We're going on TOUR?"

"We're going on tour!" Gunner geeked with the hugest smile, though somehow, this information was enough to rock Berri all the way out of her dark corner and right into the very palpable, white-hot gravitational pull of searing joy that Gunner seemed to be radiating at all times; she beamed the widest she had in days and stood on her tip toes in whole excitement as Gunner pressed on in shaky excitement, "I-I just got the word from Bedgy, she's pushing to get our shows in a few games in End of Line, as WELL as the new station that just opened up near the front of Litwak's."

"Arcadia station?" Theo eased in bewildered disbelief, him and Berri caught eyes in a whirlwind of shock, "Y-You're kidding, right? All the greatest, most popular games get put there, th-that's the DREAM."

"I-I've never even BEEN there," Wren staggered, Gunner eased his hands to his chest, bugged his eyes with a wide smile and shook his head.

"I haven't either! The entire station is a see-through surge protector, brand new... Getting a train there requires a bought ticket," Gunner staggered, everyone continued to bug out in a joyous union of whole excitement, "I-It's insanity, just hope that Bedgy works her magic, cause once we get the word... It's tour life, guys!"

"Wait, w-we'll... Like, we'll be on the road?" Berri staggered in a tender, slow-rolled of warm confusion, as if this sounded like the best and worst idea in one go, "Wh-what do we do about Academy? Or... I don't know-"

"SCREW Academy, you kidding?" Wren ogled to Berri in raw disbelief, Berri huffed a shaky giggle and shrugged; she was well aware Academy wasn't the thing she was worried about, though Theo eyed her in tender, confused inquiry, "This is Arcadia we're talking about. Brand new, shiny, shimmering, sunny INCREDIBLE ARCADIA STATION. You were listening, weren't you?"

"W-We'll have to just squeeze in a gap year, we... Semester there, Bee," Gunner gave her a warm smile, and with such warmth, Berri wondered if Gunner had potentially breezed past their little fight from the days prior.

"A gap year turns into a gap LIFE," Theo staggered a laugh and shook his head, "Ask my aunt Tessa."

"Th-the Queen?" Gunner prod in soft nervousness, and although Theo nodded in confidence, Berri rolled her eyes and gestured her hand.

"That was when Sugar Rush was in trouble and mom escaped to Dead Zed to have Ace," Berri rambled in a mono-tone, she shook her head and lulled her eyes closed, "There was a forcefield over Game Central Station. She didn't have a choice."

"It still was longer than a year," Theo shrugged, though Wren rolled his eyes.

"Gap year and a half, it doesn't matter," Wren rushed in boyish annoyance as he flagged his hand, though Gunner shook his head in discombobulated confusion and donned a dorky, adorable grin towards his band mates, "This is awesome... This is AWESOME."

"This means we have to absolutely murder our show, this weekend, here in EZ Living," Gunner pointed, he eyed Wren, Theo and Berri in apprehensive excitement, "If we can get people hyped about THIS show, they'll want to follow us to our other shows. Y'know?"

"L-Let's not use the word 'murder' and 'show' in the same sentence," Berri muttered through her teeth, she gave Gunner a knowing look and shook her head as Wren and Theo blurt into nervous laughter, "I'd like to come out of this whole touring business with all our fans still in tact, please..."

"Speaking of which," Gunner gestured nervously, he had a cute look in his eye, a smile that looked as if he maybe didn't deserve the incredible device he could see being protected in Berri's hands, and with the impending conversation of Turbo's awesome creation, Theo felt his intuition tell him that maybe him and Wren should go inside without Berri and Gunner, for the time being, "Y-You have the... Well..."

"We're gunna go bother Bedgy, guys, meet you in there," Theo pressed, although the four were band mates, their dynamic was very quickly morphing into a single family unit, and welcoming themselves into Gunner's house had become easier and easier.

"We'll be there soon," Gunner called over his shoulder, and as Gunner's driver began to take the SUV to the side of the building, where the line of Gunner's incredible eight-car garage hung in poised wait, Gunner put his hands on his hips, looked up to EZ Living's beautiful, sunset-orange sky and sighed with every last ounce of his expanded rib cage, "Welllllp... Looks like we had our first fight."

"... Sucked," Berri stabbed tenderly, she looked down to the device Turbo had created; although he had aid with Sugar Rush's code room, the circular device, with the gentle glowing red coding inside, was immaculately made, crafted to near perfection, Turbo's very patient and able hand was very apparent in his work. Berri smiled down to it, shook her head and eyed Gunner in sneaky annoyance, "Who woulda thunk... The big bad Turbo Black would put his blood, sweat and tears into a device that will keep us safe and sound on our touring. Wow."

"I get it," Gunner mumbled in gentle apology, he gave Berri a soft look of humility and nodded once, "I... I shouldn't have gotten so weird about it. It's just... A lot to take in. I still can't even really believe you guys just have that guy loose in your game. A-and he's at your dad's right hand? Seems like an oxymoron."

"Well, believe it," Berri shrugged, she felt the vicious, overwhelming urge to protect Turbo at all costs, and although her heart pounded in her chest, she felt a very strange mixture of confusion soak over her. The urge to protect Turbo, no matter what, though without looking suspicious; the urge to beg to stay put, for the sake of being close to Turbo, without seeming sneaky, she was well aware she had gotten herself into a sticky situation she now had to fester in, "He... He made sure this thing protects up to three square miles... I doubt we'll be in arenas that will max out that amount of distance, but, I guess if it does, I know who to call..."

"Can you potentially give me his number? I'd like to thank him myself," Gunner pressed nonchalantly, though it was here did Berri feel her pupils tighten; the weird idea that her now two love interests would speak to each other had her stomach clenching into an oblivion. To avoid seeming even an ounce of suspicious, she nervously began to pull out her phone as Gunner pressed on, "I doubt I'll ever get to see that guy in person, to thank him myself... We got a busy few weeks ahead of us, but I didn't want to play telephone with a proper thank you, y'know?"

"Understandable," Berri pressed in a dull tone, though her heart began to pound in terror as she unlocked her phone and brought up Turbo's contact information. She bit her lip in whole anxiety and, as she copied his number and pasted it into Gunner's chat box, she clenched her teeth in further fear as she actually pressed send, something she wondered was smart, or not, "H-He's pretty busy, so if you don't get a reply, don't be offended."

"Thanks, Bear," Gunner sagged, though as he pulled out his phone to save Turbo's number, Berri was grateful that he segued into a different topic and reserved texting Turbo for another time, "I... I just wanted to let you know that I cancelled seeing Sama, the other day."

"Y-You did?" Berri staggered in warm relief as she peered up to Gunner's sorrowful, humble brown eyes.

"I did," Gunner sighed, he pulled up their conversation and tenderly allowed Berri to read it, "It... Was really shitty of me to even agree to seeing her. She's... She's a part of my past, and I'm positive she didn't have anything really constructive to tell me. I'm sure she just wanted to rehash old problems."

"Wow, well... That's nice of you, Gun," Berri stated softly as she eagerly read his and Sama's messages; without fail, she was impressed to find Gunner almost repeatedly telling her that he wasn't going to be joining her, simply because he had to look forward, he had something new with Berri. She smiled and peered her revived eye contact to Gunner's in soft surprise, her heart fluttered in soft newness and was floored that Gunner had pulled through, in this instance, "Wow, that... I'm impressed. What did she even want to tell you?"

"I have no clue," Gunner shrugged, he seemed apathetic to it all as he donned a humble, though mildly annoyed smile at it all, "I knew you wouldn't do something like that to me, so... I cancelled. I care about you. You're my priority, and I hope I didn't upset you."

Berri long-blinked in now whole entire, searing regret and felt her heart further sink into the pits of shame she was certain she belonged in. A darkened, hardened feeling of reviling she began to very daringly enjoy, as if dancing in the flames was now her only choice. She figured she was a terrible liar, up until this weird instance, and although Turbo had promised her that she could have her cake and eat it too, she reeled in surprise, the whole fact that this genuinely wasn't as hard or as dirty as she maybe thought it was. She felt a peace between both worlds, though she knew it was all fleeting. She sagged her shoulders and was well aware she'd have to let one of these boys down eventually, and as her eyes nervously peered up into Gunner's honey-brown eyes, her coding very secretly whispered the name of said individual who would eagerly win out, by a land slide, no matter how much of a grumpy, creepy-eyed recluse he was.

"I appreciate that," Berri tried to remain cool, she gave Gunner a loving smile as he tenderly raveled her into a hug, his longer arms easily encompassed her to his lean, warm body. Berri sagged into him firmly, though the two wobbled a little; she grunted and gave him a look of apology, having been used to Turbo's much broader, masculine figure, she sheepishly felt her face get hot in embarrassment of the weird switch up, "S-Sorry... I hope that I didn't weird you out, being alone with Turbo. We just worked in his code room, he... Doesn't like to leave his little tower, there."

"I'm just glad I have his number, now," Gunner shrugged, and although he wasn't being serious in his statement, Berri still felt her heart begin to throb in terror the second Gunner donned a daring smile, "If he tries anything, I can just chew him out... Not... That I ever thought I'd have the balls to say that statement, but, I'd do anything to keep you safe."

"He's the last person on this whole entire planet that would hurt me, or put me in harms way," Berri argued, her voice was coat in girly sass as she gingerly waved about the deleter device.

"... The last? What about me?" Gunner playfully protested, and although Berri heaved a soft laugh and the two were all smiles, she shrugged, shook her head and dared to allow her playful tone lace over her dead-serious words.

"No, it'd be Turbo," Berri smoothly concluded, and though said seriousness went over Gunner's head, she eased into his hug and stared off into space with a look of mild, concealed terror; she prayed Gunner would potentially forget to text Turbo, a weird downward spiral of regret that finally began to blacken the bottoms of her feet.