Reviews :

Nikki Firesong : Ahh thank you SO MUCH! I know, it's so surreal seeing this story hit 200. Only 3 of my stories have, and although RO got pretty close to 300, who knows what OOTB has in store. I know without a shred of a doubt that RO will for sure reach 250+ chapters, but who knows if it'll surpass RO. Would be cool! Either way, thank you so much for sticking with me, for everyone that has. It's really been awesome to gain all this support, for sure. Thank you for the compliment on my babes, too! As for Lash, you guys have already met the person that he ends up gaining a liking in. He/she actually becomes a bit more of a prominent character within the next 10 chapters or so ;) I'm sure I've already spoiled it somewhere, but they end up being a bit more involved. I'm pretty excited about it actually! :D Stay tuned, and thank you again!


*Chapter 201*

"Turbo, your phone's ringing," Theo yelled across the stretch of grass; he cupped his larger hands over his mouth and broadened his chest as his voice spiked to a louder decibel, "TURBO."

"YEAH?" Turbo called across the sunny gape as he whirled around, though he squinted through the sunshine and took note that Theo was holding up Turbo's phone and pointing to it; Turbo's deep voice could be heard ushering an irritated groan at the fact that he was now a rather popular guy for phone calls.

"Who is it?" Wren muttered cutely; him, Theo, Throttle and Tatum were comfortably sat in the shade of Throttle's outdoor patio, a large sprawl of a deck that was cozily sat with a nice seating area and a mess of flower boxes that Throttle currently tended to in cute, quiet doting.

"Uhh, I don't know, just a plain number, location... EZ Living," Theo furrowed his brow and peered down to Turbo's lock screen as the call rolled to voicemail; his lock screen was an updated picture of Berri, she wore one of Turbo's canary yellow shirts, her lovely, fluffy blue hair was draped in her face, her toothy smile was wide and opened amidst said adorable candid photo of her, something Theo softened to in lovely cuteness, "I'm... I'm so glad they finally swapped and are officially back together."

"Yeah, these past few weeks have been rough," Wren mumbled, to which Tatum softly glanced to both boys.

"How long have they been interested in each other, now?" Tatum cutely wondered, though Turbo's voice bellowed from across the stretch with a loud laugh of cute apprehension.

"INCOMING!" Turbo shouted, though with the whizz of sudden orange and blue, the thunder of Chester's powerful paws suddenly rocketed past Throttle's abode with a huge wave of gusting air; said tornado of wind caused Throttle to suddenly scrunch deeper into his patio, his plants eagerly bustled with the sharp push of wind.

"Guh, since Berri turned one last December, seriously," Theo muttered after the chaos died down, though everyone sweetly watched as Turbo eagerly cued his fresh coding and glitch-hopped at lightning speed in the direction Berri and Chester had vanished in. Theo tossed Wren and Tatum a sunny smile and allowed his emerald eyes to hook tight to his calm, lazing company, "I guess... Berri bumped into Turbo inside the palace's garage, once upon a time, and... She accidentally exterior swapped with him."

"Wow, she probably got like... All sorts of a glimpse into his soul, then," Tatum giggled, she tucked her knees to her chest and looked off, and though she was cutely aware that Theo had said glitching abilities, as well, she eased her chin to her knees and tried to seem nonchalant in this conversation, "Surely a cause for pursuit, hmm?"

"She pursued until she got every last ounce of his coding, that's for sure," Wren muttered with a hard chuckle as his thumbs tapped away at a message he was conjuring, likely to Bedgy. Wren bobbed a nod and grinned as everyone, including Throttle, burst into cute laughter, though as they sighed in evened out delight, Wren furrowed his brows and continued typing said message, "That call might've been someone from our team... Turbo remembers we have that meeting tonight, in EZ Living, right? With Bedgy?"

"He's probably doing what he can to distract himself, until then," Throttle mumbled, he took off his gardening gloves and wiped his forehead as his slender figure sagged into the shade. He heaved a hard breath and began to clean one of his smaller tools on the cleaner side of his soil covered apron, "This will be, after all, the first time he's left Sugar Rush since Arcadia. I'm positive it won't be easy."

"He promised, though," Theo eased with a shrug, to which Throttle raised his eyebrows in apprehensive delight, inhaled a deep breath and bobbed a nod.

"Yeah, and he's clearly a man of his word... We just need to support him, now more than ever," Throttle eased lovingly, "He'll surely leave again, we just now have to be the ones to show him that we will carry his worry."

"Y'coming to the meeting, babe?" Wren wondered softly up to his boyfriend, in which Throttle divert his loving attention down to Wren and smiled in sincerity.

"Of course," Throttle chimed, and as he glossed the group, his eyes softly landed to Tatum; her maroon colored eyes so gently dart away in a sag of concealed contemplation, she furrowed her eyebrows and watched as Turbo, Berri and Chester now began to so slowly mosey with each other in the direction of Throttle's abode, from near the edge of the palace's walls where they had come from. Throttle eyed Tatum in cute delight, glanced to Theo's dispositon and now understood here that, even though Theo and Tatum weren't an item, the group could definitely feel their cute, delightful tension. Throttle cleared his throat and held his hand at his side, to which Wren took the opportunity to slip his hand into Throttle's in lazy love, "Tatum, you, uh... You interested in joining us, too?"

Theo raised his eyebrows in cute, bashful delight, glanced up to Throttle and then finally dug his curious, emerald stare into Tatum's. She raised her cute, faded pink eyebrows in reserved girliness, shrugged her shoulders and shyly tucked her lovely hair behind her ears.

"O-Oh! Uh... Y-You guys think that'd be okay?" Tatum wondered in now smiling excitement, "I won't come if it's not really, like... Appropriate. Y'know the last thing I'd want would be to run into Gunner."

"Psh," Theo sneered, he narrowed his mean gaze and looked off, he ushered Tatum a sweet reply without thinking, "Let him run into you, he'll be catching these hands if he so much as looks at you wrong."

Wren raised his eyebrows in sweet prickle of delight, glanced at Throttle and finally gave Tatum a warm, knowing smile of certain understanding.

"... Thanks, Ted," Tatum mumbled in dwindling confidence, though her broadening, bashful smile and the cute sag of her shoulders proved to everyone that her heart was likely blossoming with inner secrets of sweet, fragile desire.

"You're more than welcome to come, I think... I think it'd be cool," Wren shrugged and looked up to Throttle for his opinion, "I mean, Gunner gets booted and we throw Turbo and Tatum into the mix... Two beings who have been wronged here, in one drastic way or another. Y'know?"

"Kind of like a hodgepodge of misfits," Throttle mumbled cutely, he bobbed a nod and glued his pixel-cubed gaze to Tatum's lovely maroon colored eyes, "I say you should come. You'll probably be snapped by paparazzi and what have you, but, you're no stranger to that nonsense."

"Yeah, that'd be fun, I'd love to go," Tatum perked in sweet conclusion, she bobbed a nod and gave everyone a soft smile, though Wren eased a sneaky look in Theo's direction.

"Poor Teddy would be a fifth wheel if you didn't, anyways, so," Wren chirped, although teasing, his disposition held a great deal of warmth towards Theo; he raised his eyebrows and now stabbed his shy, emerald eyes tight to Wren's, "Would be good, all around."

"... Dude, I've been the fifth wheel this ENTIRE time," Theo barked in smiling agitation, to which Wren flagged his hand towards Tatum now blushing, shy eyes that looked down to her lap in reserved sweetness.

"Well, now you don't have to! Tatum very kindly offered her company," Wren barked, and though Throttle was due to broadening the topic and easing everyone off of Theo and Tatum's shivering little demeanors, Turbo's bare feet began to press up the stone stoop of Throttle's steps to his porch.

"Who called?" Turbo wondered through the soft panting his powerful chest supplied, he was in the end stages of officially catching his breath; he lifted the ends of his light grey shirt a little and wiped his forehead free of sweat, revealing his lightly sculpted core. Theo flagged his hand in a gesture of already stewing irritation, towards Wren, and lazily began to hand Turbo his phone.

"I'm not sure, some... Random number," Theo mumbled, he rubbed his face in mild agitation, and though he glossed his eyes in a sweep towards Tatum's direction, he double-took on her face and was delightfully plucked to find that she had held her unwavering, sweet eye contact to his, held in soft curiosity, as if she had questions to politely ask him in private.

"Weird," Turbo huffed as he took his phone, dropped his shirt and cued to a voicemail that was left. He raised his phone to his ear and looked off to where Berri and Chester were; cozily tucked underneath a nearby tree, Berri hovered with Chester near a hefty garden hose and held it up so Chester could drink to his heart's content. Her loving hand pet up and down Chester's lovely red mane, his wings and ears sagged with relief as his messy dog tongue did everything to suck up the water that splayed into the green grass. Turbo's kind eyes lovingly watched the scene, though he furrowed his brow as said voicemail carried on in tender nonchalance. Everyone fell silent so Turbo could properly concentrate, though they all lazily peered up to him in warm confusion as Turbo grinned an annoyed smirk and pulled his phone away from his ear, "What the hell. That was the weirdest voicemail I've ever gotten."

"Who was it?" Wren prod, he grunted a stretch and prepared to get to a stand as Throttle began to tidy his tools, across his patio.

"Someone from one of EZ Living's news outlets," Turbo beamed a wide grin, he choked a hard laugh and was almost too lost in his laughter, "Sh-she kept saying she wanted to have updates on mine and Berri's wedding dates so that they could be present."

"... You literally JUST asked her to marry you," Throttle stabbed with a chuckle, everyone easily sagged to Turbo's cute, contagious laughter.

"She also said she's in close contact with 'Zedian Kelver'," Turbo put up air quotes, to which Tatum gestured her hand up to Turbo and bobbed him an understanding nod.

"I remember getting calls like that when Gunner and I were dating," Tatum smiled, somehow the past world of hurt she had endured was something she wasn't so sore over, any longer. Having been now so far removed from this lifestyle, she spoke about it all as if it were a far off, distant memory. Turbo smiled and honed his eyes tight to her as she continued on, "We had been dating for over a year or so, and they kept saying that they'd seen Gunner coming and going from jewelry shops, and they wanted to be present whenever he proposed."

"What kind of news outlets are these?" Wren shrieked, Turbo huffed a shaky laugh and firmly shook his head, though his eyes glossed the grass as he noticed Berri and Chester making their way to the group under Throttle's lovely patio.

"More like drama outlets," Turbo mumbled, and though his loving gaze fixated to Berri's figure, he felt his heart begin to throb in a rise of nervousness as Wren carried on in a different direction from said conversation.

"Bo, Tatum's going to come with us to that meeting with Bedgy tonight, in EZ Living," Wren stated kindly, and though Turbo bobbed a nod and gave Tatum a smile, he felt his fresh coding swirl with something new, something he had a knee-jerk reaction to immediately stuff.

"Oh, awesome," Turbo's deep voice eased sweetly to her, though in the act of trying to now stuff emotion that easily bubbled to the surface, he shut his eyes tight, shook his head, cleared his throat and finally reopened his boggled, softly muted gaze.

"...Y'okay?" Throttle wondered cutely, he furrowed his eyebrows and stopped his tinkering tidying, he froze and firmly peered to his little brother in delicate concern as Turbo flagged his hand.

"Oh, I'm fine," Turbo staggered, he reopened his eyes and now firmly fixated on Berri's figure that was closing in, he swallowed hard and felt his brain urgently begin to remind him of his and Berri's new pact. The notion of starting over, the fresh start they had both doubled down on, all inclusive with emotions and felt moods that unearthed from Turbo's dusty coding now wiped clean.

"Bo," Throttle's deep, crackly, loving voice so warmly glossed in Turbo's direction, and as said kiss of grouped camaraderie hit Turbo's skin, Turbo raised his eyebrows in soft inquiry and finally tossed his eyes to his big brother's; although not swathed in an angry amount of color, the bridge of Turbo's nose still splayed in the softest touch of turquoise more melted with the gentlest touches of a more sea foam green. Throttle furrowed his eyebrows in curious surprise as everyone hooked tight to Turbo's disposition, "Y-You... You're clearly feeling something, here."

"Yeah, I guess... I am," Turbo huffed shyly, he rubbed the back of his head and, although he avoided eye contact with the group about him, he looked down to his bare feet and heaved a shaky sigh, "I'm... Sorry, I'll be fine, just leave me to my devices."

"... Turbo," Throttle's authoritative, loving warmth finally sagged into Turbo's presence as Berri's riding boots began to carefully press up the stone steps. Turbo slowed his roll and sagged his shoulders with oncoming defeat, Throttle narrowed his cheeky, white-glowing gaze and shook his head, "You remember what happened the last time me and your little brothers just... Left you to your own devices."

"For User's sake, Chester just drank literally all the water inside Sugar Rush," Berri choked a giggle as she stepped into the shade, she wore her sleek, thinner riding gear over a pair of skinny jeans and a tight grey t-shirt, her beautiful blue hair was in a long, poofy pony tail, though as Chester's lazy figure began to scout for a comfortable, shady place to sit and lounge, Berri lifted her riding goggles and peered in Turbo's direction. Though in the gape of beginning to press more cheeky notions his way, she halted her notions, froze and took note of the change in his eye color, "Hey, what's... What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Turquoise," Tatum mumbled cutely through the grit of her teeth, she gave Berri a knowing look and eased a soft, apprehensive chuckle as Berri slowly pressed closer to Turbo.

"What going on, babe, what are you feeling, here?" Berri pressed in cautious softness, and although the whole group held their attention tight to Turbo in a hot draw of curiosity, she was floored to find Turbo ease his nervous eyes tight to Berri's in a show of scared vulnerability; he heaved a shaky breath and, although stayed silent, Berri narrowed her gaze and shook her head, "Got a new color, here, bub... So... Hot turquoise meant ENTIRE terror, and this softer mute of almost, what... Mint? What does this mean?"

"We mentioned the meeting in EZ Living," Wren eased carefully, he shrugged and gave Berri an uncertain look of searching, to which Berri softened and bobbed a nod, she eased her hand to Turbo's lower arm in a grip of love.

"You're wary, maybe a little scared?" Berri soothed, to which Turbo shyly peered his beautiful, colorful eyes to Berri's shoulder, and then glossed past her, to the gorgeous green field out before them. He tightened his lips in a sag of dread and heaved a shaky sigh out of his nose as Throttle also hovered close. Berri grinned and lovingly rubbed up and down Turbo's arm, the sweep of pride that came over her, the raw fact that he diligently resisted the urge to stuff his true feelings, here, Turbo finally bobbed an apprehensive nod and allowed his eyes to lull closed in defeat, "You're scared to leave the game again?"

"Ma'am," Turbo huffed quietly, he reopened his eyes in shy reveal and, although his trembling orbs glossed Berri's in a desperate search for comfort and assurance, everyone about the group slowly stood and began to lovingly give their attention to Turbo's needy aura.

"Your nervousness is valid, but..." Berri started softly, she looked about the supportive group he was stood in the middle of and broadened her sweet smile, "You're with an AWESOME crew that would go to war for you, bub. The meeting will be at Bedgy's house, we'll be safe, everything will be great."

"You've done this once before," Throttle warmly eased, Turbo sagged his shoulders a little and now bravely allowed his lovely colored eyes to apprehensively scan the group about him.

"That was so different, Chester roughed me up and it was all so... Quick and..." Turbo softly fumbled his words, he long-blinked in tender caution, to which Tatum bobbed him an understanding nod.

"Yeah, you didn't have ALL day to think about it, you just ACTED," Tatum cooed knowingly, Turbo nodded.

"Hey, bottom line, I'm really proud of you for sticking to your word," Berri stated in loving confidence as she gripped Turbo's lower arm, they locked eyes in a loving, fragile show of their blossoming relationship, something everyone eagerly cued to in a warm tug of gravity. Berri smiled into Turbo's caring eyes and just barely shook her head, "You seem nervous to be showing extra emotion, here, but you're doing great. And look what it got you..."

"A WHOLE lotta love," Theo mumbled with a cute smile to which everyone softly cooed fragile, caring notions towards Turbo's thawing demeanor.

"A squeaky wheel gets oil, my guy," Throttle wisely concluded with a nod as he gently wrapped his arm about Wren's shoulder in a tug of a side-hug.

"There's this AWESOME burger place we've been dying to take you, in EZ Living, Bo," Wren piped with a boyish smile of renewed energy, Turbo's fragile, nervous eyes hooked tight to Wren's in soft, curious though still wary delight, "My god, it's SO good, I'm serious."

"Oh, Bubba's?" Theo wondered in gooey delight, he sagged with the melt of equal, feverous desire, "Dude, it's so good. Ugh I'm starving."

"I LOVED Bubba's, I haven't been in eons," Tatum bobbed an eager nod, to which Throttle smiled into Turbo's eyes.

"Looks like we're BOTH in for a treat, cause I've never been either," Throttle mumbled, everyone perked up in excited delight as Turbo finally crowned a little, shy smile of potential to come out of his shell, here.

"We'll go to the train station, hop on the train to End of Line, we'll visit with Bedgy for said meeting, and then before we come home, we'll hit up Bubba's," Berri bobbed a nod, "We'll have security, we'll have each other... It'll be great, okay?"

"We take care of each other," Wren stated confidently as he pat Theo's broad chest, everyone bobbed nods of eager delight as Turbo's lovely eyes began to so gently sag back to that lovely golden glow.

"Some of us need a little EXTRA care, but that's okay," Theo mumbled as if he was the particular being that needed said extra care, from time to time; Tatum and Berri cooed him sweet, giggling notions of assurance as he grinned and gave Turbo a knowing smile.

"Thank you," Turbo stated in easy tenderness as he bobbed a nod. He inhaled a deep breath and knew he had to continue to face his fears, beyond this point. Having been securely tucked into Sugar Rush's safety for the weekend, he knew the time would come that the group would press out into the world, once more, and he'd be tight in tow. He lovingly held his hand to Berri's lower back and in the eventual tug of a side hug they sank into, he eased the group a nervous, loving smile and hovered in everyone's warmth, "I would be nowhere without you guys."