Reviews :

faolan1230 : Aww thank you! Yeah this tree is getting a lot of distance with these guys, huh LOL


Song Listened To :

Feel Good ft. Daya by Griffin Illenium

How Do You Sleep? by Sam Smith


*Chapter 164*

Buried in work for the day, a busy Monday morning, Zed hovered in his and Tessa's lovely, sunny, pearly white kitchen. An open-aired, breezy day added with opened window and the lovely sound of chirping birds on the palace's gorgeous, green lot that seemingly beveled on forever. Zed inhaled a deep, refreshed breath and relished in the smell of Tessa's breakfast cooking on the stove. Having just woken up an hour or so ago, him and Tessa were still lounged in cozy, lazy pj's, their bed head a mess. Although the two hadn't spoken much in the dregs of still waking up, the air in the room was palpable with easy love, a seamless day of calm before Tessa went off to Academy and Zed diligently handled matters inside Sugar Rush with Turbo and Rancis. Just before the thoughts could quietly flit through his mind, Zed flinched in surprise the second his phone began to cutely tinker a familiar ring.

"... I thought you kept your phone on the 'do not disturb' mode this early, bub," Tessa's half awake, groggy voice pressed in softness, though she furrowed her eyebrows and turned to peer to Zed at their glossy kitchen island, where he comfortably sat buried in his busy work.

"It rings for certain people no matter what time it is," Zed relayed quietly, his deep voice crackled in morning sleepiness, though he raised his eyebrows in a prickle of rising fear and gave Tessa a becoming-awake look of billowing concern, "... It's Berri."

"THIS early?" Tessa pressed in the beginning tone of cute, annoyed curiosity, though both parents quickly peered to each other in hot, knowing concern and dropped what they were doing as Zed picked up his phone.

"Hey, babe," Zed pressed deeply, he tried to sound collected and un-anticipatory , though he lulled his eyes closed, scrunched his face and simply awaited terrible news, somehow.

"Hi, papa," Berri's cute voice daintily pressed in a soft lilt of unassuming sweetness, though Zed nervously reopened his eyes and peered to Tessa in a draw of halted confusion.

"Heyyy," Zed cooed, he huffed a nervous chuckle and tried to not be so on edge whilst his precious daughter and extended family was away, "What's going on? You... Never call this early, is everything okay?"

"I'm fine, dad, I just... Miss you," Berri mumbled, Zed lulled his eyes closed in relief and tenderly waved Tessa off to silently assure to her that Berri was just fine. Tessa exhaled a shaky breath, nodded and returned to her sizzling, delicious smelling breakfast food on the stove, "It's... Only been a few days but this trip feels different, I just really miss Sugar Rush."

"Well, you've been gone a lot lately, it's probably just catching up to you," Zed assured sweetly, he rubbed his eye in grogginess he now had to also shake on top of the spike of anxiety brought upon him. He gently lowered his work, a few dimly glowing holographic displays before him, everything minimized in easiness as he put Berri first, "I'm sure Castle Run is cool though, huh? Your mother and I had a meeting there, with their hierarchy, a few weeks back. Pretty cool game, yeah?"

"It's beautiful, dad, since all of our shows are within fifty miles of their castle, they're letting us stay within the castle walls for the duration of our tour," Berri chimed in calm excitement, "It's weird being in another castle, though, this one's so... Medieval and old. I miss mom's designs. So modern and open and airy."

"Well, it's good to get out there and see what the Arcade is made of, love," Zed mumbled as he settled his mind, once and for all, and was glad to have the gentle distraction. He fiddled with the stylus laying on top of his digital pad, an aimless act of keeping his free hand busy as his eyes idly gazed to the beautiful, white marble counters he sat at, "Soak it all in. I'm thrilled you'll be safe there. How's Teddy, Tee and Wren holding up?"

"Great, they gave us four a suite, inside the castle, that overlooks their city, high above everything," Berri chimed cutely, "Not... Nearly as grand as Orion City, but it's still really beautiful. Lots of really green, rolling hills. Pretty mystical and magical. There's this layer of fog every morning, it's pretty cool."

"It's gorgeous, isn't it," Zed cooed lazily with a widening smile, every second he had of his precious daughter's voice he relished in, "You, uh... You and Gunner doing alright?"

"Yeah, he's staying in a different section of the castle closer to Bedgy's room," Berri mumbled with an annoyed giggle, "He's... Behaving. We're cool, we just try and keep things light hearted."

"Yeah, cause I'll come beat his ass," Zed just barely muttered under his breath, though he flinched in surprise the second Tessa softly whirled her attention over her shoulder and grit her teeth through a shush she sent him, alongside an incredulous giggle; Zed grinned in sheepish, scheming delight and shot Tessa a face of pure test, Tessa's playful glower persisted, so he stuck his tongue out at her in their childish banter.

"Dad," Berri huffed in annoyance, "What have you guys been up to, then? Any palace meetings?"

Zed felt his pupils tighten in a draw of immediately understanding just what this call was about, and with such, he immediately stiffened his defenses. He raised his eyebrows in poised delight and peered to the back of Tessa's head; both women, in his life, were incredibly sharp, they were born with an innate sense of sniffing out people's crap, how nearly impossible it was to sneak absolutely anything past them, Zed began to feel the pressure cave in on him, all at once. He cleared his throat to buy himself time and raised his eyebrows in nervous dewiness. He knew he had to remain one step ahead of Berri, one of the sharpest, wittiest girls in this whole Arcade.

"Oh yeah, we had one last night," Zed mumbled nonchalantly, "Just the usual, y'know. We miss having you there."

"Just a plain 'ol meeting?" Berri cooed cutely, Zed felt his airways tighten in a draw of impending terror, "I asked Turbo the same thing and he, well... Usually is far more descriptive with what happens in the meetings I miss."

"Oh, odd," Zed chirped in unassuming delight, "We just continued on with the notions of Wren joining Turbo and Rancis for their typical Knightly duties, y'know. Ralph also mentioned maybe considering broadening the city limits closer to Sugar Sun island. Now that it's warming up, and the city is expanding, it'd be cool to include the ocean and the island off to the North, y'know?"

"Sugar Sun," Berri cooed in bittersweet remembrance, "User, I LOVED that place, I'm glad you reminded me. That's a really good idea. Surely Turbo was all over that, huh?"

"Yeah, we didn't touch on it much, but it'll be bound to come up," Zed assured; it was here did Tessa nervously peer to Zed over her bare shoulder, she grit her teeth and was well aware Zed was now slipping into boiling water, "Listen, bub, I gotta continue wrapping up these morning routines, here, and send your mom off to Academy. Just call me whenever you can, do you have a show tonight?"

"No, none tonight, we have one tomorrow night," Berri sighed, almost in defeat, she cutely perked up and eased her lovely voice in a lilt of happiness, "Tell mom I say hi. I love you guys."

"We love you, Blue, be safe," Zed assured with a nod.

"Bye, dad," Berri concluded warmly.

"Bye," Zed stated with all the easiness in the world, though he cocked an eyebrow, ended the call, stabbed his now terrified blue eyes to Tessa's now full eye contact and heaved a shaky sigh, "Damn, the girl is a whole Arcade station and I don't know how many game miles away and she... She's STILL able to sense when there's a shift in dynamics."

"Don't you dare look at me," Tessa muttered as she brought her hot cup of frothy, creamy coffee to her mouth and took a slow swig.

"She knows something's up," Zed huffed shakily as he pulled up his and Turbo's messages, "I'd better... At least warn Turbo so we're on the same page."

"So you boys can continue to unspool the same exact lies and hopefully get Berri off of your scents?" Tessa muttered in irritation, "Look, the best way to get her off of your guy's butts is to drop it altogether. Stop trying to dance around her with lies. It doesn't work... I know, first hand."

"What?" Zed muttered in defeated sorrow as he peered to Tessa in a twinge of cute discovery, Tessa shrugged her cute, bare shoulders, she wore lazy grey sweats and a faded orange tank top; amidst her messy spill of gorgeous, wavy auburn hair, her freckled, peachy skin glistened in Sugar Rush's glinted morning sunlight.

"The more you guys try to cover your tracks and pretend that Turbo DOESN'T have something up his sleeve, the more she's going to go full-blood hound and sniff out the surprise. You want it to remain a surprise, then drop it," Tessa bobbed a nod, "Forget it exists. Berri's the Queen of discovering lies or tales, I wouldn't take the chance of it, I'm serious."

"Yes ma'am," Zed mumbled in irritation as he eyed Tessa in cute, smiling, scheming delight; he was well aware, here, that Tessa was now speaking from her own experiences. He had to wonder how many birthday or Christmas surprises were ruined due to Zed trying too hard to obviously hide it.


In a string of mild irritation, Berri continued to daintily strum away at her own adorable tune on her acoustic guitar. Although she kept it close and claimed it as her very own, she plucked at the loved strings and sneakily adored that Turbo had let her borrow it, as a way of being close whilst they were so far from each other. The rustic, smokey grey wood of the acoustic guitar faintly held the smell of his cinnamon pipe tobacco, she used the little pick that he had gifted her, the necklace set from Chester's gorgeous scales all engraved with their infamous saying. She soaked into her own little world of secretive Turbo-laced items and did everything she could to drown out Gunner's voice. Theo, Wren, Throttle, Bedgy and Gunner all lazily hung out in one of Castle Run's gorgeous gathering rooms. Crowned with arched, wooden ceilings all kissed with old stone and a roaring fire at the edge of their lovely sprawl of a lazy seating area, the group was ready to relax for the evening and mentally prepare for their first Castle Run show the night to follow.

Berri sat secluded in her sweats and a tank, her fingers delicately plucked at a few chords for her's and Turbo's lovely song. Although previously a surprise to him, it was spoiled due to misunderstanding and the two agreed to learn it together. Berri promised she would practice her parts whilst she was gone, though as the group before them loudly bantered and chattered in a rouse of laughter-filled halls, Berri understood that secluding herself in a noisy group probably wasn't wise. Though, she knew running off would only draw attention to herself, she did everything she could to just focus on herself and not bring too much attention to the idea of conversing with Gunner anymore than she had to. She drowned in the quiet little melody she just barely mumbled in sing-song to herself, she fumbled on a few chords and bit her lip as she strained to peer down to her phone; Turbo had kindly digitized her sheet music to make life a little bit easier for the two.

"Right Berri?" Gunner loudly pressed with a hard laugh, though as he firmly peered over to her, he rolled his eyes, lazily stood and gestured to her with gust, "C'mon, babe, put that guitar down and come hang with us, what're you doing over here, anyways?"

"I'm just fooling around," Berri mumbled in a rise of thorniness, something that had quickly developed with their break up, and although they were civil with each other, anytime he requested something of her was immediately met with firm resistance. She shook her head and tried to show full reserve and prayed he'd get the hint, yet he didn't.

"Well, then, it can wait," Gunner smiled warmly, he tried to seem light hearted, though it was absolutely apparent there was an underlying tone of mild desperation. Any attempt he made to seem nonchalant and carefree, hard work to do anything to regain her curious, bashful eye contact, Berri could tell he was coming to the end of his rope every time his advances and attempts went blissfully unnoticed. He pressed closer to her and warmly gripped her hand, to which she grunted a noise of quiet annoyance and was clumsily brought to a stand, "We were just about to discuss the plan for tomorrow. I actually wanted to show you a few things I was thinking of doing, on stage."

"Maybe try, I don't know, interacting with the people in the front row?" Wren uttered in a teasing, authoritative tone as he cocked an eyebrow and gave Gunner a cheeky grin, "Those peeps pay too good of money to go home having not at least received a hand touch or grab."

"Remember when Berri tried?" Theo mumbled with a sweet smile, to which Berri gaped and shook her head amidst sitting down next to Throttle on the massive sprawl of a cozy couch.

"Yeah! Cause Gunner WON'T!" Berri choked a hard laugh and urgently gestured towards Gunner; the group was all smiles, though Berri could feel the tension between the two rise.

"I-I just don't want to get sick," Gunner mumbled as he shook his head and sheepishly peered to Bedgy; she rolled her eyes and looked up in mild, smiling annoyance.

"You're not going to get sick," Bedgy eased as the group quietly laughed at Gunner's words.

"It makes them really happy, Gun, c'mon, you should at least try it one time," Berri pleaded with a warm smile, it took everything inside her to at least show some semblance of normality. Marinating in said silicone feeling for a little too long, she perked up and gestured to her guitar as she grappled the neck of it and waggled her free hand to the group, "Oh, oh! I actually accidentally cued my glitching powers, the other day, while I was playing, and I did this REALLY cool thing I actually wanted to try out on stage-"

"No, Bear, that's stuff we have to run by the production team," Gunner snapped, though as everyone nervously peered to him in pinpricked concern, he heaved a shaky chuckle and tried to reign in the fact that his fuse was nearly gone, "I-I mean... Th-they have a certain thing going, with the lights and sound. We don't want to throw them off."

"Or throw them out," Theo just barely muttered in Wren's direction, under his breath; both boys stifled laughter.

"Oh, forgive me, your majesty," Berri quipped in a venture to prove that her fuse was far shorter than Gunner's, she gently stood and felt purpose flood her veins, "User forbid I maybe mouth a few words on stage, too, hmm?"

"Guys, guys, c'mon," Bedgy warned; she was well aware things were tense, though she frilled her grey feathers in agitation and mild nervousness at the raw fact that maybe all of these kids weren't on the same page like she previously thought.

"Oh, that'd win 'em," Gunner prod as he crossed his arms, though before he could open his mouth and thwart Berri's upward presence, she allowed her glitching powers to lightly flood the place with silver light, and in a skillful act of practiced power, she urgently strummed a few confident chords on Turbo's perfectly tuned, loved guitar, causing the strings to vibrate and eagerly come alive with her silver coding, as well; the sound that emanated, due to this, was nothing short of unadulterated, electric magic that everyone went wide-eyed at.

"Holy shit, that was AWESOME!" Wren encouraged, though Berri beamed at him and could tell his excitement was entirely genuine and not just there to stroke Berri's ego in front of Gunner.

"Ho yeah, we gotta incorporate that, somewhere in the shows," Theo bobbed a nod and gently opened his palms so that his lovely olive green coding sprawled his skin, "Think it'd work on my drum set?"

"Yeah, and then I can work my magic hands free," Wren waggled his eyebrows and gently wiggled his fingers about in equal fervor, though Gunner clumsily grappled the neck of Berri's guitar and now lost all marbles in this game.

"Where did you get this ratty old thing?" Gunner chimed in venomous delight, he cocked an eyebrow at Berri and shook his head in desperation to change the topic, "Surely it's not something you hand picked. It looks old as shit."

"It's Turbo's, and he entrusted me with it, so hands off," Berri snipped as she gently took a step away and got clear of Gunner's hand, though he crossed his arms and peered to Berri down the bridge of his nose in scheming delight, his once lovely, honey golden eyes now speckled sticky with taunt.

"Oh, oh, right, TURBO," Gunner choked a small laugh and glossed his eyes in Wren's, Throttle's and Theo's direction, somehow expecting them to look equally as incredulous, though their demeanor's flat lined as the idea of their future King was now dangling and ready to be plucked at like it was all a joke. Gunner heaved a shaky breath and apprehensively scanned the now quiet group, "You're... You're REALLY gunna stick with the idea that you're dating that... That... Game ending SNAKE?"

"That's my little brother you're talking about," Throttle's deep voice suddenly pressed in a sharp, quick tone of whole authority, something that had Wren, Bedgy and Theo flinching in hot surprise with equally as glued, bewildered eye contact in his direction.

"Easy, guys, c'mon," Wren garbled as he gently held Throttle's upper arm, though he furrowed his eyebrows and shot Gunner a look of mild irritation.

"It's fine if you don't believe me, Gunner, I don't care anymore," Berri muttered as she began to storm off and out of the room, and though Gunner began to show all sorts of signs of nervousness, reeling, desperate back tracking, he still chased Berri's figure with a mean look of distaste.

"I'm sorry, Berri, it's just IMPOSSIBLE to believe," Gunner stabbed, "Kind of childish of you to make up the fact that you're dating Turbo. Isn't that guy like... Your dad's helper? Pretty sure your dad would have his head. Isn't that like... Conflict of interest?"

"Hooo boy," Wren huffed softly as he sagged and held his hand to his face in defeat.

"Just call him, it's true!" Theo urged loudly, though everyone began to jolt into action as Berri turned to continue stepping away, guitar in hand.

"You guys do whatever you want, I'm going to bed, leave me alone," Berri stabbed in rising anger as her bare feet slapped out of the larger gathering room and out of sight.

"Wait, wait! It's ringing," Wren hurried as he raised his arm and hoped this would bring Berri back, though as everyone hovered and awaited for Turbo to answer the call, Wren bit his lip and put in on speaker; as silent and frozen as could be, Gunner held his nervous eyes tight to Wren's outstretched phone, though much to Wren's whole dismay, Turbo's answering machine cutely mumbled the group a quick notion.

"Hey, it's Turbo, everyone panic," Turbo's deep, methodical voice so sweetly grumbled with the trail of an annoyed chuckle, though the second the sharp, annoying beep of the beginning of said voicemail began, Wren inhaled a raspy breath and felt his crazed eyes peer down to his illuminated phone.

"THE ONE TIME YOU DON'T ANSWER YOUR PHONE!" Wren urgently shouted into the receiver before hanging up the call; Theo was lost in hard laughter, something Throttle eventually succumbed to with a wide, annoyed smile.

"Typical," Gunner hissed with an annoyed smile, "I'm sorry, guys. I keep telling Berri... I'll see it when I believe it. It's been a whole week and still nothing. Throttle comes to these tours, why can't Turbo, then?"

"He has work to do in Sugar Rush... I set my two students up with work to do while I'm gone," Throttle instrumentally volleyed, a skill of being an Academy teacher for so long.

"SURELY Zed could cut him some slack," Gunner retorted, though Throttle's calm disposition continued to lay over Gunner in wise, seasoned arguing skills.

"Well, Turbo is now in line to be Sugar Rush's next King. He takes this very seriously, and as much as he'd love to be here to put you in your place, he has bigger fish to fry, at the moment," Throttle's smooth voice continued to lay Gunner in his grave. Throttle inhaled a deep breath, stood and cheekily gave Gunner an annoyed smile, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't want to be in the same room as someone who has the guts to trash one of the greatest guys I know, to his own big brother."

"I'm... Sorry, Throttle, I just..." Gunner looked remorseful, though Throttle kindly lulled his eyes closed, shrugged, tucked his arms behind his back and was thrilled Wren and Theo softly stood, so to join Throttle's idea in leaving.

"Besides. The term snake is a very, well... Broad statement," Throttle snottily looked off, and though he wasn't nearly as intimidating as Turbo, himself, he did a very good job rising to the occasion and mildly getting in Gunner's face, "Next time, try something with a little bit more gust, perhaps a viper? King cobra? Now THOSE are game enders."

"Tee," Gunner pressed in a soft sink of understood guilt, he shook his head and opened his mouth to huff words of apology, though Throttle softly turned to leave, which had Theo and Wren slowly trailing in apprehension.

"Might I suggest remaining on Berri's good side by maybe not shitting on the important people in her life?" Throttle sweetly rested his final notion over Gunner's quivering soul, and with a kind smile, the group slowly left to join Berri upstairs; Gunner sagged his shoulders and was left with Bedgy, who peered to him in silent, begrudging disappointment.

With a hard thrust, Berri flung open her bedroom door, grit her teeth in a rile of boiling, wrecking rage, and with as much force as she could without ruining the beautiful room she had been gifted, she sharply slammed the door with a loud, reverberating bang. Berri panted through her nose, softly set down Turbo's guitar and now paced her beautiful bedroom with rage that could easily plow crop circles into the wood below. With her jaw clenched into an oblivion, as well as her fists, she shook her head, lulled her eyes closed in a tight squeeze and finally grappled her bag. Knowing said disguise device was only hers for a rainy day, only for emergencies, she ripped through her smaller, slouchy every day bag, poured out a few oddities and necessities in said bag before she finally reached the depth of it. As her fingers graced the glossy, heavy metal of said hexagonal device, she inhaled a trembling breath and finally pulled it out for the first time since Turbo gave it to her, all those weeks ago.

Berri held her breath and glossed her fingers over the beautiful etchings, the engraving of the clean words 'here and now' professionally carved into the on switch, she sagged her shoulders, slumped to a sit on her beautiful, billowy bed and ran through just what she wanted, in this instance. She furrowed her eyebrows and felt hatred for absolutely everyone, in this moment. How badly she just wanted to escape and be with no one she knew, not even Turbo, she long blinked in soft contemplation and peered to Turbo's guitar carefully rested against her tall, beautiful dark wooden dresser, all clad with a few of her sundries and hair accessories. She felt her heart begin to pound, how desperate she was to get in front of a crowd and sing, to get the stress out of her system, to freely sing to a group and not be shushed or shot dirty looks, she bit her lip in further contemplation and began to thumb through the browser on her phone. Quick to scour the web for places that would potentially hold an open mic, she narrowed down her search inside Sugar Rush. Desperate to at least be in her point of origin, her sweet and safe spot, she thumbed through a few bars and clubs that all had open availability for open mics.

In the lull of contemplation, Berri sagged her phone to her lap, peered back down to the disguise device in her other hand and finally to the beautiful guitar that lay in anxious, forbidden wait, desperate for her to act either now or never, she shut her eyes tight and wrinkled her nose in the hover of coming to the brink. With a hot spout of a scoff in entire defeat, she urgently came to a stand, rushed to her bedroom door, locked it with purpose and quickly began to change into street clothes. She sunk into a pair of her favorite black skinny jeans, all torn up the knees and thighs, alongside her favorite black body suit that her jeans went over. A thin, black strappy piece that she typically paired with a jacket on stage, she shook her head and allowed herself to be reckless in this raw act of defiance, and promised she'd go in nothing more than what she was wearing. With haste, she began to quickly pack a few essential things into her materializer, which included her light cycle, Turbo's guitar, her phone and some money.

With a firm swig of the water on her nightstand, she quickly flipped off the light of her bedroom and eased into her bathroom. She shut and locked the door behind her, sagged her full materializer into her back pocket, eased to the double sinked counter of her bathroom and stood before herself in the mirror. Berri huffed a shaky breath, tilted her head up and peered hard into her own eyes, in her reflection. She shook her head angrily, at herself, and muttered herself a few notions of pleading, as if to hopefully convince herself not to chicken out, here. She nervously bounced on her feet and took note of her beautiful, straightened, glossy blue hair that cascaded down her bare arms and shoulders, which kissed and curved down the round of her chest and hovered even with the tops of her thighs, she inhaled a shaky breath and looked down to the sneaky talisman in her hand, just begging to be used. She scrunched her face in terrified anticipation as to just what could come out the other end of this disguise-fest, though she figured she'd better act fast and find out now. With a firm jolt of a press and eyes shut tight, she choked a silent inhale of surprise as a jolt of familiar electricity quickly coursed her silver coding with purpose, like a caged, wild animal awaiting this moment of freedom.