Reviews :

Snake557 : Haha true. And, there is no voting system this time around. It's a sketchdump request, so you can ask whatever you'd like.

BanannaSammich : I've added your requests! Thanks so much!

faolan1230 : It's all good, no worries :) I'm lad you're enjoying everything so far!

Nikki Firesong : Than you so much! YAY I know I'm so glad I can finally write for them. I've added all your requests to my list! Thank you again :D

marinetanker97 : I have a few pics of Gunner coming in the sketch dump :D I never really focused on him, huh. Whoops lol. Also, I finished your painting request! I posted it to my Instagram, username Vyntastic :)

Burgie : That's SO sweet! And yes, your request has been added! :D


Song Listened To :

In Great Strides by Joris De Man The Flight


*Chapter 151*

Turbo inhaled a shaky breath and, although he was entirely thrilled to have a temporary distraction of flyers to lead him to the West Wing of the castle, he was thrilled the loud, busy conversation of the flyers began to drift away in the way of cute distractions all six beasts fell into. He eventually veered his way on towards Tessa's and Zed's tower, hidden deep in the flyer's old shroud of trees, and as his boots pressed through the thicket of jungle canopies and lovely flora galore, the breeze whisked through his dusty hair in the act of pressing closer to Zed's and Tessa's little tower, a little faster. Although he played down said silly little meeting, to Berri, he began to feel his veins wiggle in fear at just how detrimental said meeting genuinely was. As Turbo eased into the small, outdoor nook of a teleportation pad, one that acted like a doorbell for Tessa's and Zed's front door of a foyer nearly seven stories above his very head, he began to feel nauseous.

Before his boots came in contact with the teleport pad, he cocked an eyebrow and peered over his shoulder in mild contemplation; it wasn't too late to turn back, now. Although suspended in mild contemplation, he gently shook his head and basically forced himself onto the teleportation pad. Within seconds, his ancient coding was sucked up into the power of the King's home, a palpable electric sting that physically reminded Turbo just who was in charge, though the second he unboggled his eyes and was greet with Zed's sweet, still disposition, Turbo sagged his shoulders with a widening smile.

"Hey, man," Zed smiled as he gave Turbo's shoulder a friendly pat, which then morphed into a brotherly grip of a handshake and brief side-hug.

"Hey, thanks for... Meeting with me," Turbo breathed kindly, though Zed immediately cued to the shy nervousness in Turbo's demeanor, the show of a dim look in his eye, Turbo inhaled a shaky breath as the two gently moseyed down the King and Queen's lovely foyer. Turbo looked cleanly dressed, smelled good, seemed intent on sneakily impressing either someone or someones. Although Zed gently eyed Turbo in curiosity, Turbo tenderly pressed on, "Sorry it's sort of short notice, but... This is important."

"Clearly, Ace just messaged me and told me him and Libby were coming, too," Zed wondered gently, and as him and Turbo eased into the sag of a few, wide steps into their lovely work den, all splayed with gorgeous floor to ceiling windows, Turbo's eyes glossed the area and caught with the Queen's figure, across the way.

"Ralph and Rancis, too," Turbo pressed with a shaky inhale, to which Zed furrowed his eyebrows in mild confusion, not as if Zed didn't want said guys at the meeting, but more so just why they were coming.

"... This meeting have anything to do with a certain blue babe?" Tessa inquired lightly, her intelligent eyes tightly hooked to Turbo's as both men neared, enough to nearly stop Turbo in his tracks.

"Yeah," Turbo eased as humbly as he could, he bobbed a nod and assessed just what Tessa was up to; although before a hefty display of code room, holographic menus and splays of work, she began to diligently sort and put everything away, so to focus her attention on the meeting at hand.

Tessa raised her eyebrows, pursed a knowing smile and looked down to just what she was doing. The coy look of cute contemplation in Tessa's eyes, snippets of Berri's own fragile, cheeky demeanor shone through beautifully in both of her parents, something that always easily had Turbo's knees buckled with humility. Turbo gently sagged his hands into his jean's front pockets and tried to remain as nonchalant and cool as he could, though before he could open his mouth and pretend to be as such, more presences made themselves known in Zed's and Tessa's lovely foyer, from across the way and up the few splays of steps. Ace and Ralph loudly bickered in a cute, boyish show of banter. With the Arcade day Sunday in full force, everyone was looking forward to a day of rest, even inside of this meeting that Turbo called.

"Hey, guys," Ace chimed happily as him, Ralph and Libby strolled in.

"Hey, Bub," Tessa smiled to her first born as she finally was able to put her work away and greet her approaching family; as everyone said their hello's and gave their warm, light hugs of greetings, Turbo held his breath and felt his stomach clench into an oblivion, especially with Libby's presence.

"This one wants to have another wrecking competition," Ralph barked in annoyance as he gestured to Ace, though as Libby strolled up, she crossed her arms and tilted her head up, as if to gesture to her own self.

"Why, so I can win again?" Libby pressed with a wide, confident smile, he adorable accent coat the air in goodness, and with such notions, Turbo raised his eyebrows in prickled surprise and felt his memories rush him, old and new.

Ace, a gentleman at his very core, kindly gave his wife a sweet smile, looked down in a bow of defeat and bobbed a nod to her, as if to prove that she could easily out-wreck every single wrecker on the lot, though strictly for the cute notion and excluding her incredible, shared User powers. Turbo watched the two carefully, he was very swiftly and painfully reminded that Libby was a glitcher, wrecker and a User due to such an amazing swap; all things Turbo could very easily gain amidst a swap with Berri, except User powers. He held his breath and peered to Libby in raw curiosity; once a being that had Turbo's careful time warping powers, and nothing more, he felt a strange sting of uncertainty cloak him. How easily he'd be indoctrinated into the fold, though proving himself worthy to such a powerful, tight-knit group had him feeling like an alien on a far away planet.

"Dude, you look like you're about to crap your own pants," Rancis suddenly muttered to Turbo's left; having snuck in, Turbo flinched in surprise and inhaled a shaky breath, alongside a chuckle.

"I-I am," Turbo beamed a bashful smile and watched as everyone continued to chatter, though it came to a gentle lull as Zed kindly diverted the group's attention to Turbo.

"Well, you called this meeting, my guy," Zed stated with easiness, a sag of warmth he put over the place, and as everyone gathered in a loose, standing circle, everyone honed their intelligent eyes tight to Turbo in readiness and smiled in warm, gooey anticipation. Zed crossed his arms as everyone got comfortable, where they were stood, he gestured out towards Turbo and showed an insane amount of respect to give Turbo the floor underneath his own roof, "What's going on?"

"How's the city?" Ralph wondered softly, everyone's patient dispositions proved to Turbo that they were fresh and ready for whatever information he was due to giving them, though with all eyes on him, he felt the glow leave his eyes immediately.

Having worked with Turbo for a length of time now, Tessa cued to the mood ring switch and was glad to catch eyes with Turbo. She softened her expression, tilted her head down in the form of a single nod of assurance and very gently gestured her hand to her own chest cavity, cueing Turbo to pay attention to her, for a moment. Tessa finally lifted her head a little and very visibly inhaled a soft, silent breath. With the expansion of her rib cage, Turbo shakily followed suit and allowed Tessa's motherly care to soak his fragile being. With such an inhale, the glow just barely came back to Turbo's eyes; he bashfully glossed the group and wondered just what kind of realm he had to be in to put himself in this detrimental of a position. Simply wanting to surround himself with the people Berri cared about the most and make sure they were all on the same page as him, he began to mildly panic and wonder if maybe this was all either too soon or unnecessary. With the fumbling press forward, he figured there was no other way to find out other than to just simply state what was on his heart and find out.

"I-I'm sorry I'm... Really nervous," Turbo's voice crackled, he cleared his throat, looked down and raised his eyebrows in prickled terror.

"Is everything okay?" Rancis pressed warily, he dart his eyes to Zed in rising concern, and while Turbo wasn't looking, Zed gently gestured his hand downward and gave Rancis a small nod, as if to assure Rancis that he had potentially predicted the topic of this meeting, and it was nothing to be concerned over.

"Everything's..." Turbo started softly, he raised his eyebrows in a sudden rush of tender easiness and sagged his shoulders. As his love for Berri hit him head on, he huffed a shaky breath, shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows amidst a nervous, bashful smile and sprawled his face, "... Great. Everything's great."

"Phew," Ralph huffed as he blew a raspberry, "Dude, you freaked me out."

"Yeah, man, I'm over here panicking," Ace blurt a small laugh, to which everyone softened and was all smiles.

"Why is everything so great?" Zed pressed knowingly as he crossed his arms and tilted his head up, "Tell us."

Turbo exhaled a trembling breath, looked down to everyone's feet in contemplation of his next move and felt his heart beat clear out of his chest. Although the words came rushing to him in flits of confused babbling, pieces of a puzzle he knew he had to somehow get out, he staggered to desperately fit the jigsaw together to be cohesive. He bit his lip and so easily did what he could to collect his scared, rushing thoughts, though it all blew away with the wind the second he looked about the group. He caught eyes with everyone, Ace, Zed, Tessa, Libby, Ralph and Rancis; all incredibly important people, not only to Berri, but to Sugar Rush. Turbo felt the sudden weight of his and Berri's brand new relationship, and although he wanted to respect Berri's wish for it all to be a secret, he knew he had to have good standing with the people above him in order for all of this to go smoothly, and as planned.

"I-I'm... Not sure if Berri told you guys, or not, but... Berri dumped Gunner," Turbo started, to which the air in the group began to shift in a gentle tilt of final understanding; Rancis easily cut the tension by knifing his hand in a quick sloping motion.

"... SWOOP," Rancis blurt in a hiss, to which everyone easily blurt out into understanding laughter; Turbo beamed a wide, bashful smile down to his feet and felt the confident glow come back to his eyes, and with Rancis's notion, Turbo barely bobbed a nod of agreeing.

"I hung out with Berri last night, and, well," Turbo knew he likely shouldn't hang on to this information any longer, especially on this note, he twiddled his fingers in nervousness and finally caught eyes with Zed and Tessa, as well as the gentle glances to everyone else. He pressed on with confidence, though he fumbled on his words in a spike of well-concealed terror, "She... She confessed her love to me."

Everyone froze in prickled, palpable, positive surprise with raised eyerbows and stolen glances. Turbo blurt a shaky, bashful chuckle and looked down to his feet in further contemplation of his next words.

"Now, I usually... Am a slow moving creature when it comes to huge decisions, especially due to how tumultuous my past was BECAUSE of fast, not thought-through decisions," Turbo rushed nervously, he gestured his hands a little and caught eyes with Zed, the most important person in this room. He heaved a shaky breath and allowed Zed's vivid blue, haunting gaze of whole authority to pierce Turbo's soul clean through, "But... I made a fast decision. One I have been thinking about and wanting for forever now."

"You swapped codes with my baby sister, didn't you," Ace stated in stern seriousness, as if he was somehow pleased and irritated about this notion, all in one go, though Turbo huffed a shaky breath and put his hands up.

"N-No, no, not at all," Turbo rushed in a now avalanche of terror that began to splay over his poor soul, and before Turbo could press on, Zed gently held his hand to Ace's broad, muscular shoulder and jostled him a little; everyone blurt into easy laughter as Ace sagged his demeanor and laid off the protective big brother, guard dog role.

"Easy, man," Zed choked a small laugh, "Even if she did, said baby sister is a whole adult and can make big decisions, like that."

"Sorry," Ace mumbled in gentle defeat, he gave Turbo an apologetic look.

"No, I... I asked her to be my girlfriend," Turbo continued, though he hovered on the notion for a second and was well aware said idea was coming, eventually, though he cocked an eyebrow and, although his eyes glossed about the room, he caught with Zed and felt as brave as he ever would, in this raw moment, "But... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about asking her to be something more than just that."

Like he assumed, everyone raised their eyebrows in prickled, cute surprise and donned elated, bewildered smiles of positivity. With gentle murmurs of surprise, stolen glances about the group, Turbo shakily carried on.

"I know it's... WAY too soon, we're literally only in day two of this ridiculously fragile situation, but," Turbo shook his head and peered about the group with raw, whole humility, "I wanted to get the approval of everyone here, important to Sugar Rush. Important to Berri... So that I can focus on bettering myself. On making mine and Berri's relationship strong."

"... It's already really strong, is it not?" Libby wondered cutely, after a few beats of silence between the group, and although Turbo assumed Libby, of all people, wouldn't have a loud opinion, he reeled in tender surprise and was very quickly wondered just why he maybe thought that. With the kind of past him and Libby had, he was almost glad Libby took a tender step into the circle and pressed closer to Turbo, "I see how you two are, around each other. You two are the best of friends. She obviously wanted YOU over a hunk of a rockstar... That's a lotta love, there, Bo."

Turbo bobbed a small nod and eagerly hooked his attention to Libby, who continued to press closer. Someone who previously knew Turbo better than anyone, he suddenly felt this rush of a craving to get Libby's whole approval, first and foremost. With Libby's tender, fragile demeanor, the fiery look of sass and strength in her blue eyes, she smiled into Turbo's trembling disposition and, within reaching him, she finally grappled his left hand in her right one and squeezed.

"This is extremely noble of you, to come before the men higher than you, like this," Libby started as she turned to face Zed, Rancis, Ace and Ralph, all eagerly watching this meeting unfold. She gently smiled into Turbo's eyes, once more, and cupped his hand in both of hers, as if to wish a healthy amount of love and good energy into his shaky soul, as if she knew he needed this boost, "Turbo, we may have had a rocky relationship, and we may have had our struggles and skeletons, but... Even with the thirty years of distance and growth, even back then, you treated me like the rarest gem on the face of this green Earth, let alone Arcade."

Turbo sagged his shoulders in gentle relief and heaved a shaky breath as he allowed his hand to be encompassed by Libby's small ones, laden with all the love in the world, she hovered near him like a guardian angel, here to help him through this scary meeting and to guide him with all the tender loving care in the world.

"I know for a fact you will treat Sugar Rush's blue princess with a world of love and care, I know it," Libby bobbed a certain nod, though she gently averted her gaze to Zed's, as if to assure him further, "I know I don't really talk about mine and Turbo's past relationship much, because, well... He's my ex-boyfriend, and it wasn't ever relevant, but..."

"It sort of is, now, as weird as that sounds," Ace mumbled with a small smile and a bob of a nod, "You used to be in Berri's shoes, to some form of an extent."

"Circumstances are different, but you do have a wealth of knowledge, here," Zed crossed his arms and eyed his surrogate daughter. He gave Turbo a cheeky smile, shrugged and finally peered his curious, prodding eyes tight to Libby's, "Since Turbo has now subjected himself for us to pass judgement on whether he'd make a good fit for Sugar Rush's hierarchy, I think I speak for everyone, here, when I say your opinion, on the matter, is likely the most important."

"Agreed," Ralph bobbed a nod, to which Rancis and Tessa caught eyes in a string of silent approval; Turbo raised his eyebrows in prickled nervousness and swallowed hard.

"For User's sake, please go easy," Turbo whispered to Libby, though playfully loud enough for everyone to hear; with success, the group gently eased into understanding laughter, and as Libby beamed Turbo a sweet smile, she shook her head and lulled her eyes closed.

"Dad, I... I unfortunately can't give you my opinion," Libby's delicate tone pressed, she peered back to Zed in bittersweet understanding, "If I were to give you an opinion based on mine and Turbo's relationship, from thirty years ago, well... I don't think you'd like it."

"Great, love this for me," Turbo mumbled, he inhaled a shaky sigh and caught eyes with everyone, he eked an air of continued playfulness, hoping it'd ease the tension, "Welp. It's been great guys. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"Stop it," Tessa blurt a laugh and gestured her hand for Libby to carry on.

"... But, if I were to give you my opinion of Turbo now, well," Libby beamed a kind smile glanced to Turbo, shrugged and gestured out to everyone else, "You guys already know. He's kind, patient, understanding..."

"Handsome," Rancis piped in a girly tone as he cupped his hands together; everyone easily began to rise in a fit of laughter, though Zed sighed with a wide smile and crossed his arms.

"Turbo, you know full well that all of us have been patiently waiting for you and Berri to figure this whole thing out," Zed chuckled, "You've already asked my permission to court the princess, and you have my answer."

"In which I'm grateful, but... This time feels different," Turbo pressed as sweetly as he could, though before he could press on, Ralph cleared his throat and gave Turbo a knowing look.

"You're in need of a ring, aren't you," Ralph's deep, gentle voice concluded; everyone fell silent and peered to Turbo in a roll of clarity.

"... I am," Turbo declared gently, to which everyone continued to sag into smiles of cute knowing, "I know it's so soon, and... I'm... Not planning on proposing to her anytime soon, but I just want that security. I want everyone here to know my intentions. I... I can't let her get away, again, it was pure torture."

"I don't know how you survived, honestly," Ace mumbled with a cute smile, to which Libby gave Turbo's hand one final squeeze and glanced back to her own husband.

"Marriage is fun, and for you, it'd come with a whole new title," Libby instructed gently as he innocently peered into Turbo's eyes, "You wouldn't be a Knight anymore. You'd be a Prince."

"You all suck," Rancis choked in a mutter, to which everyone burst into understanding laughter towards Sugar Rush's first, noble Knight; Ralph beamed him a brotherly smile and yanked him into a side hug amidst his massive wrecking arm.

"This is really soon, and really fresh," Zed started sweetly in a lilt of caution, "You know that poor girl is going to want you to go to her concerts... She's going to want to see Arcade with you. You have a WORLD of comfort zones to step out of before that Queen, in her own right, will allow you to put a ring on her finger."

"Yes, sir," Turbo huffed with a tremble in the back of his throat; the idea of leaving Sugar Rush terrified him, though the fact that there were now witnesses to attest that he was up for it had his head swimming.

"You both have done a very fair amount of growing up, without each other," Zed warmly concluded with a small nod, "I think now is a great time to do another solid fair amount of growing WITH each other. Wherever that may be."

"You will survive, I PROMISE," Libby firmly encouraged with a hard giggle as she gave Turbo's hand one last jostle, and with such, Turbo blurt shaky laugh and bobbed a nod.

"So, you want to join the ranks, you want to dive into the wonderful world of Sugar Rush because, clearly, the women are irresistible," Ralph muttered in gentle irritation, he shot his son-in-law a dull look of pure playfulness, to which Zed crowned the widest, cheekiest smile whilst yanking Tessa into a loving, firm side hug. Everyone blurt out into laughter, to which Turbo shakily joined, though he flinched in rising fear as Ralph dared to break from his end of the circle and honed in tight to Turbo's demeanor, which trembled but held fast to his stance, "As Sugar Rush's very first King, excluding King Candy's tirade of pink-walled nonsense..."

"Salmon," Turbo muttered through his teeth, a huff of a breath that ended with a small chuckle, something he heard for years, from his younger brother.

"You will have to go through me, if you want to put a ring on Sugar Rush's princess's finger," Ralph listed diligently as he came within feet of Turbo, put his hands on his hips and gave Turbo a kind smile, though it held an air of challenge, "And, per tradition, that ring has to be earned from the one candy cane tree that started this nonsense."

"Cross-stripe," Zed hissed with a smile as he gently jostled Tessa's left hand about a little, easily showing her beautiful wedding and engagement ring, the swirls of creams, reds, oranges and teals all clad together gorgeously.

"When are you going to propose?" Rancis wondered as he crossed his arms and peered to Turbo in kind expectancy, though Turbo felt all the air in his chest cavity vacate, he could swear his vision was about to fish-eye.

"I-I... I haven't thought on it, yet," Turbo staggered nervously, "I just wanted to gain approval so that I can begin planning, but... I-I want to court Berri for a little while before, well... Wow..."

"Yeah, that's a lot to swallow, you said today is day TWO?" Ace blurt as he tilted his head in cute curiosity, to which Turbo now sank his shaking hands into his jeans.

"Dayyyy two," Turbo eased shakily with a nervous smile, though he flinched as Ralph gently rested his larger hand on Turbo's shoulder and steadied his world, once and for all.

"Noble of you, to rally us around," Ralph's caring voice pressed with a small smile, though he still held an authoritative air and continued on, "Methinks you, Zed and I should have a proper chat sometime soon, 'round the ol' cross-striped tree. Get to the root of this all."

"No pun intended," Turbo cheesed, hoping to cut the tension; he was glad it at least got dorky smiles out of Zed, Libby and Ace.

"Gotta shake you up and put you in the hot seat," Ralph teased as he jostled Turbo's shoulder, and although everyone in the group laughed and had a kind, good air about themselves, Turbo grit his teeth and was well aware there was a lot of truth and honest intentions in Ralph's playful statement.

"No matter what... It'll be great to have you a part of the family," Tessa chimed cutely, she finally unglued herself from Zed's loving grip and came into Turbo's bubble. Turbo raised his eyebrows and gently peered down into the Queen's eyes. Although a little bit shorter than Berri, her hazel eyes still held the same intensity of charm and fire that Berri's did. Tessa gently gripped Turbo's upper arm, in a loving squeeze, and shook her head in mild impatience, "It's about time that poor girl had a heart to heart with you, once and for all. She's been on about you for... Well..."

"User, since before she turned one, you remember that evening she bumped into Turbo, when we were all playing hide and seek in the palace? Like... LITERALLY bumped into him?" Zed choked as he gestured to Turbo and caught eyes with Tessa.

"Oh yeah, I heard all about that," Rancis choked a small laugh and crossed his arms, everyone began to cutely chime in their thoughts.

"W-wait, you did?" Turbo bashfully wondered as he looked about the group in prickled embarrassment.

"Hooo yeah," Zed grumbled, he shook his head and laughed, "Poor girl wouldn't quit talking about you. Pretty sure she just showed up to your door, unannounced finally."

"I demand answers!" Tessa stomped her foot quietly and blurt a giggle, to which Turbo huffed a soft, airy laugh, looked down to his feet and gently pulled out his car keys; the small guitar pick he had cutely fashioned as a key chain, he furrowed his eyebrows in warm nostalgia and felt his heart swell in adoring anticipation.

"Here and now," Turbo eased quietly, and although the group hovered in the sweetness, Turbo inhaled a deep breath and gently peered into Ralph's eyes with warm confidence, "Just name a time and place to grill the crap out of me. I'll do whatever it takes to have that incredible woman by my side."

"Good man," Ralph grumbled with a smile as he gestured a finger in Turbo's direction, the group was alive with the hot topic, "How's next Sunday?"

"... N-Next week?" Turbo tried not to look too deflated, though he held his breath and was well aware Ralph knew just what he was doing, here; playing with his food before he devoured.

"Yeah, gives you a week to... Prepare," Ralph shrugged with a cheeky smile, to which Rancis and Zed bugged their eyes and subtly peered to each other, both knowing just how protective Ralph was of the women in his brood.

"Yes, sir," Turbo's voice audibly shook; somehow he glanced to Zed for a shred of help, and though Zed gave him a meek smile, he was well aware both men would likely be prepared with hard questions for Turbo's dusty, fragile old soul.