A/N :
Thank you guys SO MUCH for all the congrats and the love given, on account of my new marriage. It's such an awesome feeling, like wow. I thought Cory and I had a solid thing goin' and marriage only duplicated that feeling, tenfold. I'm just so fortunate... It's insane how magnified that feeling is. I appreciate the well wishes! Thanks guys :D
Song Listened To :
Completing the Circle ft. Rachel Mellis by Gareth Coker - Ori and the Blind Forest OST
*Chapter 120*
In the trembling shakes of hot breath through her nose, Berri peered her terrified, curious gaze tight to the incredible beast before her. As her heart raced, she long blinked in a stupor of rising, suspended disbelief, as if she was somehow becoming slowly convinced that this nightmarish creature was somehow a vivid, nasty part of a bad dream she was currently held in. Although the pangs of fear plagued her, she somehow felt compelled to step forward, her lightly shaking hand held outwards in warm curiosity, as if to hope that this creature took note of her soft attempts at physical communication, like somehow it could understand the same loving, body language commands that any other normal creature would. Nonetheless, she shakily persisted.
This creature was a little smaller than Chester, though still exuded power. This deleter somehow looked friendly, the vertical pupils and golden eyes it had looked soft and curious, and as Berri dared to step closer, she could see the large nostril holes, on the end of it's long, narrow, horse-like head flare in soft, sniffling curiosity. It was a jet-black nightmare creature with a gorgeous splay of golden and cream markings mixed into it's matte black pelt, far different from the deleter Berri encountered on the train. As Berri grew within a few feet of it, she noticed deeper, more clearer details on this beautiful beast. It had long, gargoyle-like ears that gingerly peeled from it's skull, and like satellite dishes, they gently aimed at Berri to garner more information. Said creature slowly blinked and gave off an easy, tender vibe of solace, a strange aura to be radiating from such a creepy creature. Berri swallowed hard and felt the hairs on her arms begin to prickle in concern, as if the potential for touching this creature was not wise, though somehow she pressed on, knowing she had the deleter protection buried into her coding.
With a sharp, silent inhale through her nose and a hold of prepared deletion, Berri gingerly sagged her fingers to the snout of said creature. Much to her surprise, this deleter had soft, velvety, almost porcelain like skin. As the thumbprint ridges on her fingers eased over the whole of its snout, she could feel the faint grooves of hexagonal plates on the deleter's skin, as if to promise Berri that this creature was certainly capable of sinister, dark motives, though somehow, it had fallen out of routine. Berri felt her heart soar with a spike of curiosity, the whole idea now that she wasn't being deleted by touching this creature, she wondered now just where the origin of this stray was, the backstory to it's being, she shook her head amidst a surprise chuckle and was now determined to figure it out.
Whisked away to a painterly world of thought, a fleeting, cloud-filled daydream of warm wind and magical beasts, Berri eased her eyes shut and almost felt the daring idea of exterior swapping with this deleter come to the forefront of her mind. She warmly soaked her larger hand to the jaw of this beast and was surprised to feel the deleter nuzzle into her touch and shift on its' feet, so to ease deeper into her caring presence. A weird, persisting thought of belonging continued to soak deeper into the darker corners of Berri's heart, as if the dark side of her sky blue planet was itching to show her just what other kinds of realities were out there, what else this incredible Arcade had to offer, though just as she was about to become brave and exterior swap with the incredible beast before her, she was wildly jarred out of her thoughts the second her phone, in her back pocket, began to obnoxiously ring.
Berri flinched in a back-step of warning and firmly peered up into the deleter's eyes, as if she had a split second where she could've sworn the deleter was the one making such noises, though as it popped its' eyes open and urgently peered back to her, in the same rile of warm curiosity, Berri firmly grappled her phone and shakily answered the call; it was Gunner, and though she now wondered if she should high-tail it out of here, she hesitantly answered Gunner's call and began to stumble away from the warm interaction she just had with such a killer creature.
"H-Hey," Berri staggered in an down-stroke of desperately trying to yank herself back to the planet.
"Berri, where are you?" Gunner stabbed in a rise of terrified authority, "You can't just run off, like that, security is FREAKING out, right now, where the hell are you?"
"I-I..." Berri stumbled towards the door, and as her fingertips pressed to the large metal bar of the heavy door she had previous erupted from, she tossed her blue gaze over her shoulder, the flick of her vivid blue hair eased in a flurry of soft wait, and as her gaze glossed to the incredibly misunderstood creature across the gap, it sagged it's cute ears and drooped in mild disappointment, as if it were previously excited to be getting some positive attention from a stranger. Berri frowned and halted her footwork, and in such, she remained in the tight, stuffy breezeway with the deleter. She huffed a breath and tried to continue on with confidence, "I... I'm in the stairwell, I'm... If I tell you what's going on, you're never going to believe me."
"Which stairwell?" Gunner pushed in still concerned irritation, though as he said this, Berri flinched as the echoing sound of a heavy metal door could be heard flying open a few flights below her.
"I-I'm... I'm on OUR floor, but, wait," Berri staggered as she jolted to get to the railing of the catwalk her and the deleter were on, and as she peered down the insane seventeen-floor drop of a squared, spiral stairwell, she was thrilled she could see Gunner peering over and upwards, in her direction. Berri quickly hung up the call, flagged her arm and urged him to remain calm, "I-If you come up the stairs, do so cautiously, okay?"
"What's going on?" Gunner urged nervously, though as he removed himself from the gap, Berri could hear his footsteps, as well as Wren's and Throttle's, which included murmurs of their concerned, deep voices.
"You're not going to believe me, but... We're not in danger, so just..." Berri desperately tried to get words out as she tucked her hair behind her ears, she lofted her soft gaze to the deleter and eased a tender smile, "Don't panic."
"I'm not making any promises," Gunner muttered in whole entire irritation, graciously laced with raw concern, though as he rounded the last flight of stairs that lead straight to Berri, him, Wren and Throttle halted in their tracks and peered up the dozen or so steps, which lead straight to their impending doom. Gunner gently held his arm and hand out, to stop Wren and Throttle from continuing up the stairs, and with a choke of a silent breath, he began to shake the words out of his rib cage, "B-Berri... G-Get... Back..."
"No, we're not in danger, I-I know that doesn't make any sense, but..." Berri gestured to Gunner in soft plea and began to press closer to the deleter, a return of her presence that had the deleter's body posture rising in a positive, excited notion, "This one isn't dangerous. I was just petting it's snout, it's... It's not going to hurt us."
"Berri Schweetz Kalivar," Gunner demanded as he began to climb the steps with great caution, though as he watched Berri return her gentle grasp to the snout of the deleter, Gunner slowed his roll and glanced back to Wren and Throttle in whole entire disbelief, to which they bugged their eyes, shrugged and shook their heads in a camaraderie of terrified concern, "H-How... How is this possible, right now?"
"I have no clue, but... This one is different," Berri urged in a nod as she peered her concerned, urgent gaze straight into Gunner's soul, as if to beg for understanding, "I can't really explain it, but... This one LOOKS different, acts different..."
"This one looks different than the one you encountered on the train, Bear?" Wren asked in hot question as the three finally pressed up the stairs and joined Berri, and the deleter, on the final landing, big enough for everyone.
"Yes, this one... This one has a kinder gaze, its' markings are gold instead of red," Berri shrugged and shook her head, and as the three hovered about half a dozen feet from Berri and the deleter, they looked on in whole awe, as if to be entirely beside themselves. Berri gave the three boys an easy smile and somehow hovered closer to the deleter as it closed its eyes and lowered its head in soft calm "I... I was just about to exterior swap with it. I figured it'd give us answers."
"Berri," Gunner warned nervously, it was clear that in times of stress or danger, Gunner was the one to strongly caution against doing anything risky, whatsoever, though Throttle gingerly rested his pale white hand to Gunner's lower arm and allowed his wise eyes to kindly soak to Gunner's nervous, boyish gaze.
"Berri's right," Throttle's deep voice calmed, Gunner's eyes sagged to Throttle's confident square pupils, though after a moment, Throttle kindly gave Berri a bob of a nod and an encouraging smile, "Berri has a glitcher's intuition... She's the Queen's daughter. Certainly she knows what she's doing, here."
Berri and Wren raised their eyebrows in subtle sweetness, and as everyone finally peered their eyes to Berri, she softly inhaled a shaky breath as the never-ending, echo chamber of a stairwell went dead silent. Berri furrowed her eyebrows and softly averted her attention to the incredible, misunderstood creature before her, and as if to somehow plea for Berri to work her electric magic and see inside this creature's mind, it re-opened its eyes and hovered in patient wait. Berri softly shook her head in debate, and as this creatures hot breath splayed her sternum and chest, Berri confidently soaked her hand up the side of the deleter's face and stroked her thumb just under its eye. She contemplated her choice for a few more moments before she finally inhaled a shaky breath and knew she had to take the plunge in this once in a lifetime chance. In the lull of their closed eyes, Berri tenderly flared her silver coding and allowed her inner self to get lost inside this creature's wildly different exterior coding.
Upon sagging into the deleter's circuits, she instantly came into a swathe of information about said creature. Upon first discovering that this particular creature was female, Berri was also stunned to find that this creature was not simply a virus nor a deleter, but a strange breed of an anti-malware protector from the internet. Behind closed eyes, Berri furrowed her eyebrows in a sting of entire, bittersweet sorrow and gingerly continued to pet the side and gentle dip of the protector's face, and with a great push of courage and circuit doors that flew open, Berri bravely allowed herself to be nosey inside the protector's coding. As she wormed her way through fresh memory files, she flinched, behind her closed eyes, and came to a jumbled swathe of memories that began to play out before her. As her palm froze on the protector's soft, matte skin, she felt her heart begin to race at the raw images being displayed before her.
In a fuzzy show of a memory, she could see hundreds of these protectors, all clad in angry red markings she was used to seeing, though in the strange blur of darkness, the bumbling show of the herd somehow being corralled somewhere, this particular protector began to wander from the pack, as if to potentially play dumb in a much wiser great escape she had been likely planning. Although successful in getting away from the pack, Berri firmly flinched and was suddenly hit with jarring images and memory clips of fuzziness, a single individual stood towering in darkness, as if to scold this one particular protector for disobeying, and with such, she was robbed of a somehow integral piece of her coding by force, a vicious grunt, slice and grappling motion made by said tall, darkened silhouette of a man, someone unknown by Berri. In said firm yank, this protector's memories blipped in such a way that seemed to skip hours, days even. The next few jolts of memories were of a well-lit area inside Dance Dance, seemingly where said protector had now somehow been banished to, a lifetime of just aimless, purposeless wandering. In the sag out of the exterior swap, Berri pried her eyes open and ceased all coded activity with her newfound friend, a friend that simply had a number for a name, '18'.
"Holy sugar on toast," Berri hissed in a gentle huff of a nervous giggle as she finally took a small step back from the protector, whom of which she got to know decently well within those few moments of sacred telepathy.
"What happened?" Wren wondered in soft, shaking nervousness as Berri drew her eyes to him, as if the whole ordeal was bonkers.
"These creatures aren't deleters," Berri eased in a swathe of now mature knowledge, somehow it humbled her, she shook her head and looked to the ground as her shaky voice pressed on, "Th-they're anti-malware protectors..."
"Are you sure?" Throttle questioned in a rise of almost joyous concern, as if this was maybe wonderful news.
"I'm positive... This one is simply named 'eighteen'," Berri glossed her curious gaze to the incredible creature before her, and as she slid her hand back to the long snout of said creature, Berri furrowed her brow in contemplation and shook her head, "She... She tried to escape the lot of her kind... Someone is behind this operation, there... There were hundreds of these creatures being rallied by one guy."
"Great," Wren grunted as he tossed his hands up in lazy, haphazard irritation, "Super excited to tell Zed and Tess about all this, I mean really."
"And Turbo," Throttle muttered as he cocked an eyebrow and glossed his attention to Gunner, who stood in frozen disbelief.
"Well, did you see what the guy looked like?" Wren wondered, the five hovered tight to each other in whispering nervousness.
"No, just... A tall, dark silhouette. The game they were in was dark, a vast wasteland, there were hundreds of these protectors, but... All of them had those red markings, unlike the gold ones that Eighteen, here, has," Berri instructed as her pointer finger gingerly mapped out the gorgeous splays of golden marking all along Eighteen's jugular, "The man ripped something from Eighteen's being, like a nasty slicing motion..."
"... Is anything missing from this protector that was present on the one that attacked you on the train?" Throttle wondered as the three urgently began to assess Eighteen's being, though Berri furrowed her brow and looked off in now soft defeat.
"I... I was too busy trying to avoid it, I didn't get a good look at it, then," Berri huffed as she aimlessly peered to Eighteen's large, black, clawed paws, in which she gingerly shifted on. Berri nibbled on the end of her finger in hot thought and shook her head as she pressed on, "The only way I'd be able to tell is... If I looked back on the footage that mom and dad have."
"In the meantime," Gunner staggered in nervousness as they all peered to Berri's new, strange companion, "What do we, uh... Do with your new friend, here?"
Berri raised her eyebrows and peered to Eighteen in a soft dollop of delightful concern; she hovered in patient, silent wait, as if to somehow pray that Berri and crew would just adopt her into the family already, and although Berri was entirely certain that was to be an extremely tall order, Berri very quickly thought of just how useful it'd be to have one of these creatures, alive and well, something to bring back home, something for her mother and father to use in the attempt to solve this wild, weird mystery. Berri shrugged, beamed, eased her hand back to Eighteen's snout and gave all three boys a look of cute, smiling defeat.
"Find a place for her to sleep, what else?" Berri choked, to which Wren blurt a hard laugh.
"Uhhh NO, there's NO way I'm letting a deleter sleep in the same room as me," Gunner firmly argued n a spike of terror, to which Berri sagged.
"Protector," Throttle gently corrected.
"C'mon, I just got a whole entire reading on her, she's entirely harmless," Berri pleaded warmly, she shook her head and began to pat her pockets to see if she had her materializer on her, "I-I... I can put her inside my materializer, or something?"
"You can put living things inside your materializer?" Wren staggered in hot surprise, though Throttle grit his teeth and almost shook his head.
"Uhh, it's not wise," Throttle began to warn, though Berri took said soft warning and immediately dropped the idea, so to hopefully get her way.
"C'mon, Gun, we ALL have the protection in our coding, we have the beacon that Turbo coded for us," Berri rushed, though Gunner firmly looked off and shook his head in now caving frustration. Berri eased a gentle giggle and cupped Eighteen's chin, and with such, Eighteen meeped a small, curious noise of cuteness, "C'mon, Gun, she's harmless... Look at that cute face."
"I'm surprised you're saying all of this, Bear," Wren mumbled with a smile, though Berri shrugged and shook her head.
"It's not so scary once you reach an understanding," Berri softened, though Throttle shot Wren a knowing smile and bobbed a nod.
"A lot can be said through a few minutes of exterior swapping, babe," Throttle pressed, though Wren largely rolled his eyes and gestured outward.
"I wouldn't know!" Wren argued, though Gunner heaved a shaky sigh and gave Berri a nervous look of contemplation.
"I-I guess... It can stay in the hall, or something," Gunner staggered.
"I just don't want her to run off," Berri cooed in sorrow as she now lovingly and firmly stroked up Eighteen's snout, she lulled her eyes closed and sagged in Berri's comforting warmth, simply as if she was dealing with Chester or another one of the flyers back home.
"Berri has a point," Throttle instructed gently, and as Wren and Gunner nervously peered to Throttle's wise aura, he gave Berri a knowing smile and shook his head in disbelief, "This is pure gold we'd be bringing back to the figureheads of Sugar Rush... Live evidence."
