Reviews :

Nikki Firesong : Thank you soooo much! You'll definitely find out :D Dunno how soon it'll be, but it will come lol.

Snake557 : Animals do not count! You'll learn about this later, there's a certain intelligence level that the malware protection seeks out, to delete.


Song Listened To :

Trajectory Burn by Adam Young


*Chapter 128*

"Hey, Gun," Berri eased in a low, tired voice. She raised her eyebrows in concern the second she heard Chester huff a noise of mild distaste, from across her dim bedroom.

"Hey, babe, you doin' okay?" Gunner's concerned voice eased over the phone, it was clear he was briskly walking some place. Berri heaved an exhausted sigh and shleped her piled school work onto her messy desk, she shook her head and went to answer Gunner's tender question, though he pressed on with a small chuckle, "You haven't responded to me all day long. Is everything alright?"

"It's been... Chaos over here," Berri muttered in whole irritation, she shook her head and sagged her face into her palm, and though she remained on the phone with Gunner, she put him on speaker phone and allowed her sleepy eyes to peer out to the darkening Sugar Rush sky, the stillness of the clear, dark minty blue the evening was settling into, she drowned her eyes in the misty trees of the flyer's old enclosure, "I mean... Not today, but yesterday was... Good User."

"What happened?" Gunner huffed, though he muttered a polite notion to a potential passerbyer he clearly eased around.

"You remember me telling you about Turbo's brother? How like... My mom won the game back from him right before I was born, saved Sugar Rush, all that drama?" Berri mumbled as she rubbed her eye.

"Yeah, Whiplash...? Right? I only ever really learned about Turbo at Academy, his brothers aren't mentioned very much," Gunner huffed with a small chuckle, the breeze in his speaker made clear that he was outside somewhere.

"Yeah, so... Lash was in code room purgatory, until... Last night," Berri grit her teeth and recalled everything that had taken place the night prior, though she had no clue he was then unbubbled, this morning, for such an important conversation, "It was... Explosive. He started bad-mouthing my mom and, well..."

"Yikes, babe," Gunner huffed with a small chuckle, he seemed as if he was hurrying, though before Berri could finally inquire about what he was up to, he perked up and calmed his voice, "You, uh, wanna go out for ice cream or something? To talk about it? I'm at the palace gates, by the way."

Berri raised her eyebrows in prickled surprise and quickly shot her eyes to her nearby clock. She furrowed her eyebrows in stunned surprise and felt the veins in her legs begin to tingle, the dilemma to maybe just invite Gunner inside and not go anywhere, or to jump up and attempt to get entirely ready in five minutes for a nice escape from the palace, she heaved a shaky breath and shrugged, and though she was tenderly going to deny the idea of leaving her house, Gunner rushed to her aid.

"Just throw on some nice jeans or whatever," Gunner chuckled, "Typically it wouldn't matter, but there will likely be paparazzi."

"Did you drive here?" Berri choked as she quickly was a smiling, stumbling mess over to her bathroom. Chester grunted her a noise of displeasure, though somehow, the prospect of sinking into fun pictures with fans, the superficial notions of being wrapped in Gunner's arms for crowds to see, the delicious tease of ice cream right on the horizon, she was glad Gunner was here to be her literal escape from everything haunting her, currently.

"Yeah, but I walked to the palace gates, I don't know... Your dad didn't seem to thrilled the last time I drove up to the gates, so," Gunner mumbled nervously, and though he kindly greet the few guards that likely were at the first gates of the palace, they knew exactly who he was and allowed him to loiter until Berri was ready to leave palace gates.

"Yeah, dad... Would probably prefer if you used the garage drive," Berri muttered with a small laugh, "He doesn't like tire markings on the palace's main entrance way, like that... Sorry, I must've failed to warn you."

"It's all good, I'm... Positive I'm on that guy's shit list, anyways," Gunner mumbled in soft sorrow.

"You're not wrong," Chester muttered with a great struggle, though a quick deliverance of clarity that Berri was able to catch; she gaped and shot Chester a wildly surprised, irritated look of whole displeasure.

"Chester B. Kalivar," Berri hissed in irritation, though low enough for Gunner to miss; Chester shot her a cheeky glower and finally turned his nose up at Berri, crossed paws and all.

"I'll be down here, babe, it's all good," Gunner huffed nervously, he began to lazily pace the well lit entrance area in unhurried expectation, he shook his head and looked off to Sugar Rush's gleaming moonlight, "Maybe one day that guy'll like me."

"H-He's just protective of me, don't beat yourself up about it," Berri staggered with a small chuckle as she pressed deeper into her bathroom and closet, though she could still hear Chester muttering things to himself, to test his new, still sloppy speaking ability.

"I will if you won't," Chester struggled, a mumbling, messy spill of desperately trying to get consonants and vowels to line up properly.

"I-I'll be down in five minutes," Berri urged loudly, so to drown out Chester's mutterings, though once she finally hung up with Gunner, she threw her head back and urgently called out to her ceiling, "CHESTER you will RUE the day Turbo taught you to talk!"

"Don't hate," Chester's unfamiliar, deep voice snipped clearly, something Berri rolled her eyes at, little cues and sneak-peaks as to just what words and phrases were maybe said around Turbo more so than others, she began to feel as if she was slowly becoming ganged up on.

Although Archived Chao's fanbase wasn't nearly as prominent was it would be inside of EZ Living or any other place where they've had tours or concerts, paparazzi still managed to sneakily follow Gunner all the way from his home game. Sat cozily inside one of Sugar Rush's ice cream shops, aptly named Gold Laced, both Berri and Gunner had done a decent amount of loving on their fans until Gunner's few security guards finally cut the crowd and allowed for Berri and Gunner to now enjoy some privacy, a small, dimmer corner of the luxurious, delicious-smelling bakery and ice cream shop in a more ritzier part of Orion City. Stationed just outside of Orion City's largest lake, they had a lovely view of the water, as well as the warm, twinkling boat lights on the horizon. Berri heaved a satisfied sigh and peered down to her half-eaten bowl of vanilla ice cream, drenched in decadent fudge and layered with warm, gooey brownie bits. The golden spoon sagged into the ice cream as she picked at it, off and on. The pristine white walls were so delicately laced with a gorgeous golden trim, the smaller ice cream shop now had to skillfully keep Archived Chaos' fans hovered outside so to keep business flowing.

"So, tell me more about this, erm... Explosive evening, then," Gunner started with a small chuckle; he wore a comfortable yellow hoodie, one of his favorites, properly plastered with a big, faded EZ Living logo right on the chest. His black hair was lightly messy, he happily chomped away at his wafflecone successfully stuffed to the brim with chocolate ice cream, alongside rainbow sprinkles.

"There's not much to tell," Berri cooed in defeat, she shook her head and lulled her eyes closed, and although a few fans loitered about the front of the shop, everyone was respectful enough to stay away from Berri's and Gunner's window, so they could simply enjoy their time together. Berri looked down into her bowl of ice cream and bashfully shook her head, she knew to skillfully leave out the details of her's and Turbo's messy affairs, "Lash was... Unbubbled, and then... I don't know, he got upset that he had been bubbled for so long, and started ragging on my mom, so, I... Punched him."

"Whoa, wait, WHAT?" Gunner choked with his mouth full; Berri blurt a soft laugh and watched as Gunner struggled to chew, swallow and collect himself, "Y-You... You actually punched him?"

"Made grandpa proud, for sure," Berri mumbled in dismay, towards herself, though she shrugged and heaved a long sigh, "I just... Have yet to really control my wrecking anger, and... All that fun stuff."

"W-wrecking anger?" Gunner staggered in warm concern, his honey-brown eyes hooked tight to Berri's eyes, he furrowed his brow in sweet sorrow and shook his head, "Th-that's new, is that something you've always had?"

"I mean, yeah, I'm related to Wreck-It Ralph, it's literally in my code," Berri mumbled, and although she wasn't upset at this notion, she still looked somber over the idea of it maybe impeding her judgement, for tough situations, such as the night prior. Berri felt an unusual, gentle wave of silence coming from Gunner, and although the notion of breezing past potential weaknesses, under her skin, was a normal thing to bookmark, she felt Gunner's eyes hone to her in expected wait, like a hot poker of entire concern. She raised her eyebrows in ginger surprise and gave Gunner a sheepish frown of uncertainty. She finally shrugged and looked about Gunner's face for a shred of potential camaraderie, "I-I mean...It's something I'm learning to curb, I just got extremely pissed because he like... Called my mom a bitch and all that fun stuff."

"O-Oh, wow, I mean... I guess I thought you meant you got irritated and threw hands cause he had a differing opinion," Gunner staggered with a small laugh and a shrug, and it was here did Berri furrow her eyebrows and begin to feel the potential for alienation coming on, "I was like, well geez, I'm... I'm scared to get into deeper, heavier fights with you for fear of it turning physical."

"N-No, I'm not like some sort of monster, you know me well enough, Gun," Berri gently protested as she softly shook her head, she eyed Gunner in cheeky, mildly irritated concern, "He's the man that literally robbed us of our home, and then upon being put in a time out for a long while, he had the audacity to just call my mom all kinds of terrible names."

"I see, I understand," Gunner cooed gently, though Berri could tell he was simply staggering a pacifying type of demeanor, so to get off of the fragile topic he could potentially show ignorance for, "Well, hopefully he's BACK in his purgatory hole where he, uh, maybe belongs?"

"Yeah, we bubbled him up," Berri mumbled as she shook her head, she lulled her eyes closed, "We only unbubbled him because we figured he'd have information about the malware protection... We snooped through Eighteen's memory files."

"Surely you guys got some information, then?" Gunner tread lightly, he continued to munch on his delicious treat whilst Berri aimlessly began to play with her food, a tell-tale sign of an entire loss of appetite.

"I... Would assume so, I stormed out before anything could be told to me," Berri side-stepped in nervousness, she shook her head and looked down, "I'm positive my mom and dad got a solid amount of info out of him, and I'll be filled in later."

"Well... All's well that ends well, then, I guess?" Gunner stated in genuine worry he tried to mask with a soft, serene smile of confidence, Berri gingerly glanced him a defeated smile.

"Of course," Berri meeped as she gingerly looked off and out the large, bay window they sat at.

Although the group of her's and Gunner's fans had begun to dissipate, a few still hung around in patient wait. Although a view of the street, sidewalk and lake-side board walk could easily be seen out the window her and Gunner were stationed at, she shifted in her seat and glossed her eyes in the direction of a seemingly bobbing, flickering few speckles of golden light that caught her attention. In nonchalance, Berri tossed her gaze over her right shoulder a little, certain that said golden lights were simply one of the smaller boat light's, coming to port, though in the staggering, quick glance she had, she felt her blood run cold at the sight plainly pressing down the sidewalk.

Dressed in warm, darker garb, Berri raised her eyebrows in unadulterated surprise and watched as none-other than Turbo, himself, press out of the overhang of delightful shops they were nestled into. He had a brown package tucked under his sleeved arm, his golden eyes glossed the place in tender nonchalance, the determined look in his eye looked casual yet full of purpose. He furrowed his eyebrows and rummaged his back pocket for a second before pulling out his keys and, in Berri's whole surprise, he clicked the remote, on his keys, and began to firmly step out to the long splay of parallel parked cars outside of the shops they were tucked into. Berri held her breath and did everything to attempt to collect her now confused, rushing thoughts. She furrowed her eyebrows in a ping of tender surprise, grief, confusion, bewilderment, it wasn't until she saw another similar man nervously tailing Turbo did she feel her heart drop in entire dread; none other than Lash, cautiously tight on Turbo's heels, he looked worried to even be alive.

Berri huffed a silent stagger of a noise and watched as Turbo and Lash casually sauntered towards a gorgeous vehicle, and with the press of Turbo's keys, the futuristic blip of orange running lights gently quipped in a flicker of a cuing noise, to state that the vehicle was unlocked. Berri was delighted that Gunner busied himself with the rest of his ice cream, because in the seconds she watched as Turbo and Lash causally sunk into the incredibly sleek, luxurious dark grey sports car, that clearly Turbo owned, Berri was certain her facial expression was that of spotting a ghost. Berri froze in hot confusion as the doors to Turbo's gorgeous coupe, to which she had never seen before, lifted open in gull-wing fashion on both sides. With Turbo confidently sagging into the driver's seat, he cranked the engine, a deeper, purr of an engine that rumbled Berri's core and easily reverberated off of the glass of the ice cream shop they were in. Said rumble of an engine got Gunner's attention, and much to Berri's relief, Turbo's door had sagged shut just as Gunner curiously peered outside.

"User, look at that," Gunner huffed in boyish excitement, "Holy shit, I... I don't think I've ever seen a Lumos up close, like this."

"L-lumos?" Berri staggered in concealed, terrified confusion as she shook her head, and as the headlights gently eased to a glow, Turbo gently revved the gas and, in a soft turn, he melted out into traffic and was gone.

"Really gorgeous sports car, I mean... That thing is so fast, it's hardly street legal," Gunner gushed with boyish delight, "They're stupid expensive, and... To have one, you have to take all these courses and sort of prove that you can handle such a vehicle, that you won't go tearing down the street, with that thing, but like... How could you resist? It's the fastest street-legal car in Arcade."

"Really?" Berri chimed in now drowning confusion as she watched Turbo's gorgeous, incredibly luxurious sports car practically hover away, simply gliding it's way so low to the asphalt.

"Yeah," Gunner huffed as he sat back and shook his head, "I always feel like a million bucks with my car, but then I'm reminded that THAT thing exists..."

"Huh," Berri huffed with a girly show of now irritated, smiling attitude, and as she watched Turbo's tail lights vanish into the distance, she furrowed her brow in scheming, unadulterated confusion; stun over the fact that Turbo owned such an incredible beast and she had no idea, as well as the raw fact that Lash was simply out and about, wandering the world without a single care.

Berri bit her lip and felt defeated by literally every single notion about her, the itching motion to now get home and call Turbo as soon as possible was thwarted with the notion that maybe she didn't know Turbo as well as she thought. The idea of it all made her feel extraordinarily conflicted, as if she was defeated and victorious, all in one fell swoop.