Reviews :

Snake557 : Yeah lash is still learning to play nice lol

Burgie : You're not wrong!


*Chapter 136*

As both Lash and Turbo urgently peered to the far end of the island, Berri's fragile sheet music lay in suspended wait. Although both boys suddenly jolted to reach her sheet music first, Turbo halted his footwork in a fit of remembrance and returned to his sink to dry off his hands in nervousness. In the process of tearing his positioning from one end of the island to the other, Lash managed to knock over a bar stool and skid to the grey tiles underneath him. Like a cat simply clawing at a laser pointer, Lash's hands immediately tore through the sheet music, his golden eyes popped in a brilliant glow of surprise as he peered down at his hands, and with a hard sag of entire irritation over the sheer fact that his hands materialized through the sheet music, ultimately leaving it untouched, he glowered Turbo down and watched as Turbo tediously dried his hands and patiently made his way over to the sheet music. Lash grunted a noise of whole entire disinterest and crossed his arms.

"This sucks," Lash barked as Turbo cautiously approached Berri's still untouched sheet music, though Lash thrashed his hands against said sheet music and flailed, unabated; the gentle pieces of paper didn't even so much as waver from the air of his movement, "I can't touch anything, I can't open doors... You have to shut the bathroom door behind me and flush for me, you have to feed me, and NOW... I can't even spy into the readings of the girl you want for yourself?"

"Yeah, this isn't for you, so chill out," Turbo muttered in irritation, though as he gently picked up Berri's sheet music and held the folded, still concealed work before him, he furrowed his eyebrows and felt a strange sensation come over him.

Much like potentially reading one of Berri's diary entries, he felt guilt course his system as he hovered. He could see Lash's golden eyes, in his peripheral, dart back and forth in baited, curious wait, as if he was in full support of Turbo nosing through Berri's sheet music, though Turbo hovered in frozen wait, he battled his own thoughts in a fit of suspended silence. Lash grunted a noise and urgently gestured his hand, as if to tell Turbo to get on with it, though Turbo grit his teeth, lulled his eyes shut and inhaled a deep, long breath through his nose. As if maybe giving himself just a shred of allowance, here, he held his breath and felt as if maybe just seeing the song title would tide him over, though as he so carefully peeled just the upper part of the fold away, the blatant title of 'Here and Now', her infamous song for Turbo's heart only, Turbo urgently covered the sheet music back up and shook his head; he knew he had all the information he needed, here, in order to understand that this was entirely private, entirely off limits.

"Oh COME ON!" Lash firmly argued, though Turbo shook his head and gently stuck the sheet music into his back jean's pocket, a safe slip of security that poked out the back of his pants. Lash urgently clawed his hands right through it, causing his skin to confusedly sprawl with his own red honeycombs. Lash grunted an annoyed sigh with defeat and peered Turbo down, "You REALLY don't want to see her sheet music? At least let me look!"

"It's not fair to Berri, dude," Turbo gently defended, "I'll give it back to her later. It's not our sheet music to nose into, I'm sure it's personal and... I've already pushed my luck with that woman. I'm not about to break her trust."

"What makes you think you've even earned it?" Lash pushed with certainty as he crossed his arms and shrugged, "It's better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. What do you owe her, anyways?"

Turbo furrowed his brow and eased both of his clean hands to his kitchen island's glossy swathe of a counter. He heaved a lot, raspy sigh through his nose, lulled his eyes closed in defeat and felt his heart beat in his chest. He was well aware this fragile sheet music was a song just for Turbo, and though he wanted to read the lyrics of her heart so badly, he reserved the urge to go diving into the secret desires of her heart, knowing full well she belonged to another man. Feeling his heart sink even further in a swath eof confusion and regret, Turbo shook his head and peered to his little brother, who now hovered in tender, though tired concern. The look on his face eased a mixture of understanding and impatience, a weird, ironic dollop of both worlds. Lash shrugged and shook his head in egging confusion, to which Turbo equally shrugged and shook his head back.

"I owe her a lot more than I think you'd begin to understand," Turbo's deep voice gently concluded, he cocked an eyebrow and gave Lash a stern look, "She and her mother singlehandedly saved Sugar Rush from you ultimately losing your mind and running away with the code room... Look around, Lash... I'm inside this loft, I have this fabulous job, I'm able to TALK to you right now because of Berri... Because she exists..."

Lash sighed through his nose and looked down and to his side in annoyed defeat. He gently tapped his thigh in aimless thought, bit his lip and looked across Turbo's cozy, spacious and inviting loft. All the things Turbo had been blessed with were strictly due to Berri saving Tessa's life, as unborn coding, and rescuing Sugar Rush's code room from Lash's crazy, yet good intentions. Lash felt defeat fall over him, and although he desperately wanted to argue Turbo's points and press the issue further, his golden eyes gently hooked with Turbo's in a wary show of understanding that finally crawled into his heart. He softened, and although both boys spent a great deal of time with each other, this was the first time Turbo ever felt comfortable sharing the depths of his heart with such a disagreeing soul, someone who previously despised the idea of swapping or anything that said romantic aspects could harbor.

"I love her, Lash," Turbo pressed gently, "You can't... Just go asking her about Gunner right in front of me, you can't just... Blatantly TELL her that she's the one I want to swap codes with, the one I want to BE with, the one... The one I can see myself marrying."

"Whoa, dude, THE Turbo? Taking a wife?" Lash suddenly felt his teasing tendencies rush back to him in the form of a beaming, cheeky smile. He shook his head as Turbo heaved a gentle sigh and looked off in whole, bashful defeat, "Change of heart, much?"

"Yeah, dude," Turbo eased in a desperate tone of bittersweet sorrow, to which Lash slowly softened his antics, once more, in the form of sagged shoulders and a gentler gaze of understanding, "I can see you're following suit, dude. You used to hate the entire hierarchy of Sugar Rush... But, look at you. You were yakking it up with Sugar Rush's princess like you were well on your way to wanting to be her friend."

"She's not so terrible," Lash muttered in gentle irritation as he looked off and poutingly crossed his arms.

"She's to be respected, no matter what," Turbo pressed as he gently pulled Berri's sheet music from his back pocket and jostled it about just barely, for emphasis, "You've played the role of a big brother, for all these years... Protecting me from the Arcade, but... I'm happy to take that role back, from you. I hope I can step up and be that good example of a big brother, to you. I still obviously have a lot to learn, but, Berri's taught me a lot."

"Like what?" Lash almost sneered, he didn't dare fully reveal his tenderhearted tendencies, even to someone he knew like the back of his hand.

"Like... Maybe the Arcade isn't such a terrible place, after all," Turbo muttered in gentle conclusion, though he shook his head in defeat and shut his eyes tight, "Although I still don't dare leave... I will one day. I have no choice."

"Why not?" Lash pressed nervously.

"It's probably one of the only ways that incredible woman will commit to me," Turbo huffed a nervous chuckle and peered to Lash with a small smile of dreaded understanding, "But, she's worth the risk. I don't think I'd ever be saying those words had it not been for her."

"Hey, you'll clearly do anything for sex," Lash put his hands up and shrugged, to which Turbo blurt an annoyed laugh and shook his head in whole dismay.

"That's not the only thing I'm after, but... I guess that may have a little something to do with it," Turbo admitted warmly, though he looked into Lash's eyes and narrowed his gaze in warm understanding, "It's a waiting game. Since Zed allowed me to give you access to a limited-use phone, why don't you do what you can to get to know her. Then come back to me and tell me you're brave enough to go nosing through her personal things."

"No, no, I'm not brave enough to do ANYTHING around that woman, she has a very mean right hook," Lash rushed through the grit of his teeth as he rubbed the left side of his jaw in eye-bugged surprise; Turbo laughed with a nod of agreeing as Lash nervously continued on with a cheeky smile, "Guess you wouldn't have to worry about her defending herself, if ever in danger."

"She's a firecracker of ability," Turbo sighed with a nod and a warm smile down to the concealed sheet music in his careful hands, "I don't doubt her for a second."


"Why am I so nervous," Wren hissed in entire agitation, he hugged his upper arms in a grapple of stiff nervousness and peered down the long, gloriously arched-ceiling wing of the main palace's core, the never-ending span of a hall that harbored half of the racer's homes, the left wing that hugged one half of the dome of the code room. Both Wren and Throttle began to stroll in a procrastinating mosey of nervousness as they ultimately made their way to Rancis and Taffyta's home, securely tucked away near the massive back doors that lead to the palace's main courtyard. Wren furrowed his eyebrows and peered up to Throttle in soft nervousness, "W-we're still keeping our new powers a secret, though, right?"

"Yeah, that I don't think we should tell anyone about if we're going to at least have some fun with it," Throttle nearly whispered, he shrugged and gave Wren a confident smile; he hardly seemed bothered, though Wren was well aware that once both boys were in Rancis's presence, they'd both be melted into a puddle of anxiety. Throttle shrugged his masculine shoulders and gave Wren a sweet look of encouragement, "C'mon, stop being so nervous. Your dad is really nice, and we get along. You really think he'd be opposed to this? He knows about us, right?"

"I-I mean, not blatantly, I've never like come out and told either of my parents that we were officially dating," Wren said softly, the glowing, pristine, white hall they moseyed down had walls that grappled on to every single syllable that was uttered; they slowly passed other racer's front doors, little nooks of foyers that were gorgeously lit and customized to fit the characteristics of each individual. Wren admired each door as they passed, though with each one that came and gone, they grew closer to Taffyta's and Rancis's lovely abode, "I think word just got around and they... Respected it. If they had a problem with us, I'm sure they would've said something by now. I've had many a family dinner, with the lot of them. Orph and Penny included."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Throttle pressed in whole confidence, though Wren cocked an eyebrow and gave Throttle a nervous look of near-smiling dread, though Throttle furrowed his black brow at him and gingerly shrugged, "Seriously, why are you so nervous? It's making ME nervous."

"We've swapped codes and now have swapped roles," Wren muttered in irritation, "Now you're the most confident person on the planet and I'm the hugest worry wart. GREAT."

"Seriously, it's going to be FINE," Throttle assured confidently, though Wren shot him a look of further dread.

"You understand what this means, right?" Wren wondered meekly, Throttle shrugged as the two finally slowed, Taffyta's and Rancis's lovely, large, round front door could be seen two dozen feet off, now.

"What?" Throttle wondered curiously, he frowned as the two slowed to a halt, though Wren cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head in the direction of his mother's and father's closed, inviting front door.

"We swapped codes... You understand my dad is going to have the 'taffy tree ring' talk with you," Wren muttered, though Throttle finally raised his eyebrows in curious surprise and looked over his shoulder, to Wren's parent's front door.

"... T-Taffy trees?" Throttle staggered in a now bleeding show of anxiety that was currently buried underneath all of Wren's confident, sunny coding.

"Orph had to do it for Penny," Wren muttered, he almost looked scared for Throttle, "Not only that, but ON the awkward, probably-to-soon topic of marriage... I'm sure my dad was likely wanting the Fluggerbutter name to pass on, through me."

"O-Oh you mean like..." Throttle now carried on in a full swathe of terror, he swallowed hard and shook his head as his nervous eyes peered hard into Wren's, "I-If I... A-Ask you to marry me? In the future?"

"If a husband is something you want, in the future," Wren largely shrugged and looked off, and although the two stumbled into this conversation with dry feet, both boys peered to each other in a sea of terror that began to swarm with little flits of warm love, "I wouldn't complain. I'm just warning you for what MIGHT come up."

"I-I didn't even consider that being a topic," Throttle staggered, and although not opposed, Wren's confident coding easily eked right out of his pores and evaporated in the form of Throttle now taking a few steps away from their destination, "M-Maybe we should... Rethink-"

"For User's sakes, we're already here, I already told mom and dad we were coming," Wren hissed quickly in frustration as he held his hand out, and without contact, he gently yanked Throttle forward in the bumbling act of their shared, brand new telikenises powers. Throttle choked a nervous chuckle and tried to straighten out his hair as the two finally began to ease just steps from Taffyta's and Rancis's quiet home. Wren inhaled a shaky breath and, although he hovered for a second and caught eyes with Throttle for assurance, he gingerly knocked on the large door with forced confidence and huffed Throttle a cheeky whisper of a conclusion, "Welp. It was nice knowin' yah."


A/N : Hey all, I have something to discuss.

For this story, I really thought doing something different would be beneficial, but truth be told, it's made me feel distant from not only you guys, but my story. And it's really bumming me out.

For the first 50 chapters, I decided to put a single chapter into comic form, and while it was a lot of fun, it was extremely time consuming and only made me feel extremely familiar with one chapter only.

The sketchdumps helped me with continuity, and helped me connect with you guys, and although I STARTED the next comic, for chapters 50-100, I've decided to not carry it through.

Instead, to make it up to you guys, I'll be opening my sketchdump requests. From chapter 1-100, you guys can request ANYTHING. When chapter 150 comes around, I'll reopen the requests for chapter 100-150, and we'll carry on with that routine. I may even start doing every 25 chapters, just to keep things fresh. It's never failed me in the past, and I'm open to admitting I was wrong in thinking this whole chapter-comic nonsense would help me flourish. If anything, it's made me feel farther from the story and from you guys.

So, please forgive me. I give full permission to attack me with sketchdump requests, any and all.

Also, I've decided, moving forward, that whoever is my hundredth reviewer, for each hundred that I get, will receive their sketchdump request as a full-blown digital painting. I'm 4 reviews away from 500 reviews, so whoever hits that 500 review WINS!

aannnnnd GO.