Reviews :

Nikki Firesong : Aww that's so sweet! He'll make a good hubby for sure. And, you're absolutely right! All valid points. Thank you so much! :D

faolan1230 : LMAO Gunner's not brave enough to be to loud about his frustrations, he knows full well his whole crew is Berri-centered and he's losing control of it quick.

Snake557 : Yes, it's getting there. There are about 3 climaxes, in this story - 1st one is right around the bend!


Song Listened To :

Tie Me Down ft. Elley Duhé (Blanke remix)


*Chapter 163*

"I can do this, I can do this," Turbo muttered to himself under his breath, his voice just barely trembled, he could feel his core remain tight and tense in a ball of now hours of gathered anxiety and stress.

In due diligence, he gently peered to his phone's clock and took note that he was about five minutes early for such an important meeting awaiting his special arrival. Through the falter of air that shook out of his lungs, Turbo lulled his eyes closed in mild dread and finally looked down to himself, to assess. Wearing a tidy pair of faded black jeans, the least tattered pair he owned, and a nice button down shirt, he straightened out the fabric and finally sagged his finger into his clean, trimmed and groomed hair. He knew he didn't need to physically impress the men in Berri's life, awaiting his arrival, awaiting to put his wits to the test, though he figured it wouldn't hurt to at least look more put together than usual. In the still silence he had in his own foyer, the dim room about him warmly and silently assured him that he'd be okay. With bravery he attempted to force, he eased his feet onto his foyer's illuminated teleport pad, brought up the holographic cues and nervously hovered his finger over the button clearly labelled for Sugar Rush's main code room. With the blip of information, his hot, red honeycombs were whisked away and immediately blipped to the code room's wonderful, irresistible glow.

"There he is," Zed chimed with a wide smile, and as Turbo peeled his eyes opened and looked about his new surroundings, he held his breath and took note of the faces a dozen or so feet from him; in the sag of a switch up, Turbo immediately took note that everyone was present. Ralph, Ace, Zed, Rancis and Oliver who understood his importance in this meeting, as well.

"Lookin' sharp, my man," Rancis grumbled as Turbo gently stepped off the pad and joined the loose group.

"New hair cut?" Ace cutely smiled and gave Turbo a teasing side eye as both men lazily shook hands and pat each other's arms, in a brotherly fashion.

"Maybe," Turbo muttered with a bashful smile, his dewy, golden eyes nervously looked to each man in the group, a hover of a strong hold, and it was in this raw instance of a gathering did Turbo feel every single wiggle of fear vanish; every being about him radiated positivity, and what used to be a teasing notion of previous caution, as if this meeting could get explosive, Turbo was well aware that was now all a brotherly facade.

"You look good, how you feeling?" Ralph grunted as he gently straightened out his shirt; everyone looked equally as dressed, a casual toss of a more thought out splay of outfits, than typically sported from day to day.

"Great," Turbo huffed through a long sigh as he bobbed a nod, and though he stood proud, he began to sink into himself and now wondered if he possibly shouldn't get too comfortable.

"Yeah? How come?" Ralph wondered tightly, his smile was curious and authoritative, something that immediately cued Turbo into understanding that he shouldn't congratulate himself too quickly, here.

"Dad," Oliver grunted with a wide, irritated smile, something Ace cued to, as well.

"What?" Ralph's face sloped to genuine, annoyed concern as he gestured out to Turbo, "I'm curious!"

"I guess, because..." Turbo exhaled a shaky breath and now felt every single pair of eyes hit him in tight inquisition. Zed gently crossed his arms as he stood opposite Turbo, from the lazy, loose circle all six men had formed with each other, in the center of the King's glowing, gorgeous code room.

Turbo raised his eyebrows in poised readiness and felt every single last letter of his notes leave his brain. Although something he was terrified would happen, he sagged his shoulders and lulled his eyes closed as his heart finally spoke courage into his thought stream. He eased a warm smile and finally looked about to all the men that hovered tight to him, hung close on his every single word. Ralph and Zed peered to him in gentle authority, an aura Rancis mildly radiated as well, though Ace and Oliver peered their sweet, dewy eyes tight to Turbo in an overflow of positive warmth; every single gaze of eye contact held a different twinge of emotion, a well rounded group of individuals that Turbo suddenly felt glued to. It was in this instance did Turbo finally feel proper putting himself in the future position as King, it was here did he feel as if he could entirely see himself with that crown, once and for all, and with the rush of joy, he heaved a small chuckle and hovered for a single moment longer.

"Because... Berri has such an incredible support system, here," Turbo eased in soft humility as he gestured out to the group, "There are a lot of people in the Arcade that can only really rely on one or two people, but Berri? Not only does she have her entire future Kingdom, but... This ring of men here, this formidable stronghold, I mean... She's probably the luckiest girl on Earth."

"... I didn't even think about it, that way," Rancis muttered in immediate defeat as he shot his gaze tight to Zed's, as if to assure Zed that he came into this meeting hot with hard questions and a fatherly display, though Turbo was due to thwarting all of it.

"Me neither," Oliver mumbled with a sweet smile, him and Ace caught glances.

"We're all so important to her, each individual in such strong, different ways," Turbo warmly pressed as he eased his hand to the broad of his chest. He huffed a nervous chuckle and looked down to his feet as he rode out the dregs of his courage, "I'm sorry, I just... You guys can throw your fireballs at me and... Nail me to the ground and assure me that you'll beat me to a pulp if I ever THINK about breaking her heart, but... I'm just so grateful she has all of you guys, all of us, to protect her and make her feel safe."

"User dammit," Ralph grunted as he gestured up and outwards, towards Turbo; the whole group erupted into laughter, excluding Turbo, who flinched in raw surprise and raised his eyebrows in prickled, frozen, boyish cuteness, "You're making this difficult!"

"Yeah, we were all prepared to put you in the hot seat," Zed cutely mumbled down to his feet, shook his head, crossed his arms and inhaled a deep, refreshed breath. He gave Turbo his warm, loving eye contact, narrowed his gaze and shook his head in the switch up, "But, I think... You're very well aware you'd be in deep shit if you were to hurt Berri. You knew that from the day Sugar Rush was saved, the day we handed you our trust."

"I don't think anything we'd have to say to you would even be news," Oliver spout a soft laugh, shrugged and caught eyes with Rancis, who bobbed an annoyed nod.

"You can still put me in the hot seat, if you want," Turbo suggested nervously, he shrugged and breathed a soft chuckle as Rancis urgently bobbed another nod and shot Zed a wide, boyish grin, something Zed guffawed at and waved him off.

"I'm not going to put him in the hot seat, Ranc," Zed choked a laugh, to which Rancis rolled his eyes and peered to Turbo in a playful show of whole entire begrudged annoyance, "YOU can later, if you want, okay? You can take him out back and beat him up and watch as he hands you your ass in return, okay?"

"Don't underestimate me," Turbo muttered teasingly towards Rancis, to which Rancis gave him a brotherly shove; both guys quietly bickered in a show of pure tease, for a moment, before settling.

"I'll make you a deal," Zed chimed cutely with a shrug, though he raised his finger and softly glanced about the group of men before stabbing his dominant eye contact tight to Turbo's, "We'll let you pick the bark off Ralph's and Vanellope's cross-striped tree if you can correctly answer this ONE question."

"Yes, sir," Turbo bobbed a nervous nod and now felt his stomach clench in becoming dread; everyone fell silent and peered to Zed in hard curiosity, a stark switch up of tight camaraderie all the men had, before Turbo, their eyes now honed to Zed as if they were being treated to this question for the first time, as well.

"So, we all know that Ralph and Vanellope will always be the game's top predecessors, as will Libby, in a way," Zed shrugged, the group began to softly dissipate in a spread of a few tender back steps as Zed very slowly part the circle in careful footwork towards Turbo. Zed gently tucked his arms behind his back, side-eyed Turbo in rising cheekiness and pressed closer across the gap, "You have Ace and Oliver as your fellow princes, Rancis will happily go back to being the ONLY Knight in shining armor..."

"Damn straight," Rancis chuffed in playful irritation as he crossed his arms; the group lightly laughed as Turbo finally halted a few feet before Turbo and stared him down in authoritative, smiling sternness.

"Y'got all pieces on the board with names, y'got knights and pawns and king-side castles galore," Zed's deep voice silenced the code room, Turbo raised his eyebrows in prickled fear as Zed inhaled a deep breath and narrowed his gaze in silent, scheming death, "Who is your Queen?"

"Berri," Turbo pressed in a knee-jerk reaction, something of which he firmly held his breath for.

Ralph threw his arm up in continued irritation, whirled around and began to stomp away in defeat, something everyone flinched in surprise to, though in the roll of only playful, teasing irritation, everyone began to laugh at Ralph's expense.

"You had to have given him the answer," Ralph grunted loudly as he began to open a few code room indexes, all holographic menus he was very well versed in, "You might as well give him this whole damned tree while we're at it!"

"Good answer," Zed mumbled in smiling, conclusory delight towards Turbo, "Tessa may be THE Queen, we're both in charge of this nonsense, but..."

"Wife takes precedence," Ace chimed with a nod and a warm smile.

"Happy wife, happy life," Oliver added, to which Rancis looked up in hot, playful irritation and lulled his head back.

"They'll be quick to remind you, too," Rancis grunted, and it was here did Turbo very quickly remember that every guy, in this supportive group, was happily married.

"For User's sakes," Turbo huffed a shaky laugh, rubbed the back of his head and watched as Ralph continued to fumble with a few options his nose was buried in, though the group slowly began to move closer to Ralph's positioning in the code room, "It was all down to one, single word... Had you have said whose THE Queen, as opposed to MY Queen..."

"Hopefully my men will help me in defending the true Queen, but... We all have our own women to hold upon on a pedestal, in their own right," Zed affirmed warmly as he gently took Turbo literally and figuratively under his wing, a gentle toss of his strong arm lazily over the tops of Turbo's shoulder had the two strolling to Ralph's positioning in unison.

"Does this feel different, Turbo?" Oliver wondered gently, though just as he asked said warm question, everyone largely flinched as Ralph finally got the coding to do what he wanted.

In a sudden zip of coding, Ralph was successful in bringing his and Vanellope's gorgeous sprawl of an infamous tree into the code room. Although just barely kissing the highest reach of the code room's dome, said incredible sprawl of colorful, cross-striped branches just cozily fit inside the glass. Ralph put his hands on his hips as everyone eagerly and quietly gawked upwards at the incredible girth and span of the colorful beast, truly an incredible work of art to behold. With the code boxes gently twinkling underneath the span of said incredible speckles of color, Turbo sagged his shoulders and peered up to his own shred of destiny, so lovingly intertwined with every soul he shared this space with. A majestic sight, a true, entire honor, Turbo shook his head, lulled his eyes in a slow, long blink of unmitigated disbelief and allowed his thoughts to slow to true, still realization. He inhaled a slow breath and steadied his eagerness, he warmly answered Oliver's question with calm, stoic confidence.

"World's difference," Turbo's deep voice concluded, he furrowed his eyebrows in a bittersweet sting of love and shook his head, "I didn't like being in charge all by my lonesome... I didn't enjoy the fact that it was a robbed crown."

"This time, it's earned," Zed affirmed as everyone peered upwards with delight, the tree glowed with all of Sugar Rush's pride and success, though Zed gently tilted his head upwards, towards the tree, and gave Turbo a wrinkled smile of sweet, conclusory delight, "See a branch y'like?"

Turbo huffed a shaky breath as everyone hovered near and eagerly peered up. Although each of these men had their pick at just which branch would perfectly represent their own beauty, their own Queen, Turbo held his breath and felt his golden eyes gloss every single gorgeous branch in a gentle sting of rising dread. Although gorgeous in swirls of equal amounts of creams, reds, oranges, teals and peachy goodness as far as the eye could see, Turbo furrowed his brow in a further sag of defeat and felt as if none of these branches represented his own blue beauty. He held his breath and softly looked off in hot contemplation, though as the group noted his prolonged silence and averted their attention to Sugar Rush's impending new prince, they softened and began to grow prickled with worry.

"What's wrong?" Ace prod warmly, though as Turbo's eyes glossed the thick, incredible trunk of a tree, hefty swirls of oranges, reds and whites, Turbo held his breath and realized something detrimental.

Although the silence, from Turbo, was deafening, his golden eyes eagerly trained to Ralph's in a rise of sweeping realization, and in the few steps he took to get to Ralph, who stood proudly at the trunk of his beloved tree, Turbo rested his hand on his chest and humbly stood before Ralph in tender question.

"I have an idea," Turbo pressed in soft caution, he shook his head and remained still, "Can I show you?"

Ralph hung quiet for a second and peered hard into Turbo's eyes. Although handing over a solid amount of the code room was safely guarded by Tessa's and Zed's buffer, Ralph stood by his strong, yet trembling, beloved tree and felt as if this beast was solely his responsibility. A strong, noble man that had finally begun to come into his own, Turbo's glowing eyes hooked into Ralph's in whole honesty, whole humility, as if to quietly assure Ralph that this fragile hand-over was a safe and secure one. Although Ralph looked up to his beautiful, massive tree, he heaved a hard, raspy sigh, warmly pat the massive trunk with his large, wrecking hand, and lulled his eyes closed in conclusory defeat. He bobbed Turbo a nod of gentle agreeing and finally took a few steps away, so Turbo could follow through with his own plan, stuck tightly in his head.

"She's all yours," Ralph concluded in a total show of release, and with their string of appreciative, sweet eye contact, Turbo bobbed a nod of assurance and carefully took the holographic display and control panel Ralph was previously hovered near.

Turbo inhaled a deep breath, peered hard into the controls and was well aware this whole thing was easy as pie, though he could feel his hands tremble at just how detrimental this all was. As he exhaled a long, deep breath and prod through a few code room options, as well as the infrastructure of Ralph's incredible cross-striped tree, Turbo narrowed his gaze in uncertain hopefulness and confidently pressed a single button with a shove. All at once, the code room's incredible flooring flickered into an invisible display of added light, and though the group flinched in terrified surprise and looked down in further shock, the group froze in unmitigated surprise as to just what Turbo had uncovered. With a wide beam of a smile that crowned Turbo's face, the whole group eagerly cooed loud notions of unadulterated bewilderment for what lay below the cross-striped tree typically visible pop of warm colors. In a winding, twisting display of gorgeous, thick, near-chaotic roots was the incredible, kaleidoscope of colors. With oranges and reds that dripped below the soil to meet rich teals and cerulean blues, alongside creamy, peachy whites that kissed to eventual soft greys, it all came together with the infamous, teal cross-stripe that very confidently swirled about the roots in a rich, rosey gold, a jackpot of color Turbo was banking on.

"Holy User in the sky," Oliver huffed through a shaky chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm right here," Ace muttered in a knee-jerk reaction, though everyone was all smiles.

Turbo inhaled a shaky breath through his nose, broadened his chest in a show of whole power, his demeanor exuded potential, something to which everyone finally dragged their eyes to in a roll of continued, unmitigated surprise. Turbo humbly eased everyone a wide smile of cute, prickled delight, knowing full well he had entirely found what he was looking for, and as the group began to mutter cute notions of success to each other and ease laughter for Turbo's insane success, Turbo held his head high and felt the code room eagerly hang tight to his command.

"I'd like the bark of the roots, for Berri's ring," Turbo proclaimed with confidence, he bobbed a single nod and held frozen in cute wait, "May I?"

"Take your pick, son," Zed gestured downwards with an incredulous laugh, he shook his head and desperately tried to wrap his mind around this nonsense, how sharp witted and quick Turbo was to think of something so hidden and out of sight, though with Zed's word, Turbo inhaled another readied breath and began to quickly lower the flooring of the code room so that the tree's roots were fully exposed to the room.

Once to the very bottom of the roots, everyone nervously looked up and could now see the entire height of the incredible beast of a tree. Nearly tripling in height, the trees roots splayed in a gorgeous gradient of lighter colors near the top, down to the richer, cooler colors to the tips of the roots. Once eye level with the very last tip of the longest root, Turbo held his eyes tight to the beautiful, darker bark. Charcoal greys swirled with the lovely bright blues and the single swirl of peachy, vibrant gold, Turbo shook his head and wondered if this was even all real. As his hand carefully reached for the very first root of this incredible tree, this priceless gift Ralph had graciously shared with every man under Sugar Rush's hierarchy, Turbo held his breath as he wrapped his strong hand about the root. With a careful break, he was successful in snatching half a foot of bark for his own, impending project, and with his spoils, he took a few steps back, silently thanked the tree for its sacrifice and did what he could to return the code room to normality. In the whisk of shrinking the code room back down to size and securely placing the tree back to where it belongs on palace grounds, the code room once again shone with code boxes and nothing more; the group was silent in still, unmitigated bewilderment.

"... Well THAT'S new," Rancis choked a laugh, shook his head and eyed Ralph in a cute manner, "Just be thankful YOUR tree doesn't have taffies, you ALL would be screwed."

"Yeah, I worry about Throttle, frankly," Oliver muttered, though as Turbo pressed closer to the collected group of men, he was thrilled to feel Ralph's demeanor soften to goo, as opposed to his mildly walled off disposition up until now.

"That was quick thinking," Ralph admitted with a humbled smile, he bobbed a nod and gently gestured to the gorgeous bark in Turbo's hand, still apart of the same tree, though the color was so starkly and beautifully different, "There's... There's literally no other piece you could've picked that could've been better, for you and Berri as a unit."

"Yeah, that was really smart," Ace encouraged as he crossed his larger arms and bobbed an affirming nod.

"She's going to die," Rancis assured with a nod, "Those colors are AWESOME."

"It suits you two," Zed's deep voice concluded as he held his hand to Turbo's shoulder, he peered hard into Turbo's eyes, jostled a wide smile out of him and breathed a heavy chuckle of warm relief, "Welcome aboard, dude."

"Y'ever think you'd be a husband one day?" Ace pressed cheekily as everyone gathered a little tighter about Zed and Turbo.

"Mr. and Mrs. Black," Oliver cheesed, he beamed a wide grin as he firmly pat Turbo's upper back.

"Feels good," Turbo concluded with a shaky sigh and a humble smile about his peers, he finally peered down to the gorgeous bark and bobbed a confident nod, "I can't wait to give her this ring..."

"How're you going to propose? Have you decided?" Rancis questioned as everyone cutely hovered about Turbo in quiet anticipation, though Turbo furrowed his brow in nervous contemplation and nodded.

"Yeah, I've decided," Turbo mumbled, he sneakily peered to everyone in nervous cheek, "Won't be easy..."

"... You're going to propose once you leave the game, aren't you," Zed mumbled with a knowing smile, to which everyone lit up; Turbo nodded and kept his eyes trained to the gorgeous bark still in his hand.

"I don't have a clue when, but... It'll be soon," Turbo affirmed nervously, "I can't wait like this, any longer, I... I just need to man up and do it."

"Yeah, man," Zed encouraged with a small laugh as everyone eagerly volleyed similar, uplifting notions his way, "That'll knock her off her feet. Ball's in your court now, dude."

"Shoot your shot," Ralph mumbled with a side-eye and a sneaky curl of a smile, and though Turbo nervously looked about the group and was well aware the work was now his, from here on out, he still felt relieved that everyone here had his back, no matter what.

"Now, go call Wren, the poor boy would've killed to be here, doing this," Rancis choked with a hard nod as he began to wave his hand in Turbo's direction, and with the encouragement of the group, Turbo staggered a few notions of entire gratitude and began to nervously back step towards the code room's teleportation pad. Turbo's wide, excited smile was warm and new, revived and glowing, he eagerly pulled out his phone and thumbed a few options, and in no time, he had his phone tucked to his ear as he urgently began to call Wren. In the whisk of his red coding, he teleported away, once and for all, leaving the group quietly to themselves. Rancis heaved a long, conclusory sigh and patiently eyed Zed in a mild settle of concerned sternness, "... We never prod him for Lash's sake, Zed."

"Yeah, that was my doing," Zed stated with a nod as he smiled at the softly dimming, empty teleportation pad. He inhaled a deep, satisfied breath, faced the men before him and hooked confident eye contact with each one, "Before tonight, I felt as if Lash was Turbo's responsibility, but I've been really thinking on Wren's words..."

Everyone softly held silent and patiently waited for Zed's continuing, wise statements, although their eyes still held with impending questions they were previously going to ask Turbo, they now laid them at Zed's feet and wondered just where he'd steer them, next.

"We can't isolate Lash, we can't treat him lesser... He did some REALLY messed up things, but there is no sense in continuing to treat him like a monster," Zed concluded as he sighed and briefly looked down to his feet in contemplation, "That's a conversation we have to have with Lash, personally. Maybe include Turbo, but we need to give Lash the decency. Tessa spared him, all that time ago. She started this trend, and..."

"... We need to finish it," Ace affirmed warmly with a nod, he eagerly peered into his father's eyes with diligent, loyal fervor and smiled, "I don't think this is a matter of trusting Turbo, or not. It's clear where his allegiance very firmly lies."

"Thanks, man," Rancis mumbled to Zed with a sneaky smile, to which Zed furrowed his brow and peered to Rancis in soft humility.

"For what?" Zed questioned, Rancis shrugged and glanced to Ralph in softness.

"You honor me by honoring my son's word," Rancis pressed seriously, he bobbed Zed a nod and looked down in warm humility, "Thank you."

"No need," Zed affirmed gently, he pat Rancis's upper back firmly as the two hovered in a brotherly air of agreeing, though Ralph finally inhaled a deep breath and bobbed a nod.

"Alright, all in favor of getting right to the source of this worry, and just talking to Lash himself, hands in," Ralph grunted in playful annoyance, though as he laid his massive hand face down, in the center of the group, Ace, Oliver and Rancis firmly sagged their hands to the top of Ralph's hand, which easily encompassed theirs in size. Ralph raised his eyebrows and peered to Zed in confidence, a wall that finally had come down, the show of putting his whole trust in Zed's decision making, he gave Zed a cheeky smile and tilted his head down towards the pile of hands awaiting his, "Well? King's rule, c'mon man, you're the deciding factor."

Zed firmly sagged his hand to the top of the pile and breathed a small chuckle of relief; although a joyous night that was first to set sail ablaze with fire-filled sails, Zed was thrilled it simmered to a rather ceremonial gathering, a welcoming of new blood, of new family, something the infamous cross-striped tree now eagerly boasted in full fulfillment of its accomplished mission, previously unbeknownst to everyone. Sugar Rush's code room proudly glowed under hard decision making, new branches being grown from the royalty it so meticulously cared for, the shining opportunities that Sugar Rush's future King had set in place, for himself, Zed was certain these next few weeks wouldn't dare have a single dull moment.