Reviews :

chuckiboo : You're not wrong! Ace may be a big bumbling cutie, but he would for sure go to war for his little sister. Thank you for all your support :D

Lyssdoodle : Thank you! I appreciate your encouragement :)


Song Listened To :

Tongue Tied by Grouplove


*Chapter 225*

"Please tell me we get a private beach," Wren grunted, he bent down to pick up a small pile of clothes on Berri's glossy floor. All packed and ready to head out, Mara comfortably sat in the middle of Berri's big, billowy bed. Berri began shaking out a shirt she was due to packing in her materializer, though she shot Wren a cheeky look as he pressed on, "Is this a private resort, or... Public?"

"Private, why, so you can sunbathe nude?" Berri retort with a hard giggle, Mara covered her mouth and shot her bewildered, incredulous eyes tight to Wren's in almost girly annoyance. Berri flicked her hair over her shoulder and vanished into her bathroom, "At least warn us so we can, y'know..."

"LEAVE?" Mara blurt with a hard laugh, one she desperately tried to reserve; Berri quickly understood that Mara had very easily fell into the rhythm of little sisterhood, with Berri. Anywhere Berri went, Mara puppy-dogged behind. Anything Berri said, Mara became more and more unreserved. Berri could easily see Mara shelling up once she was in the big group, that was their getaway group, though she hoped that by the end of the vacation, she'd have come entirely out of her comfort zones.

"I'm not THAT ugly, am I?" Wren firmly argued, everyone fell into laughter with each other as Berri rustled about in her bathroom, her voice carried.

"No, just... Certainly you and Throttle will have a private balcony, right?" Berri narrowed her gaze and gently dug through her shallow bathroom drawer, she bit her tongue in cute contemplation and figured that if she forgot anything, Turbo would have access to the code room.

"I think so, Turbo was telling me that the resort consists of like... Eight private houses, all in a huge, sandy alcove," Wren bugged his eyes as Mara's whole demeanor lit up.

"Ooo, do we each get our own house?" Mara wondered in childlike wonder, she cutely smiled, though she gently rubbed her jaw and chin to cover said grinning excitement.

"No, I think like... Each couple gets their own little house," Berri stated as she came out of the bathroom, she looked about her room and shrugged a little, as if to silently tell Wren and Mara that she was ready to go, "Like, me and Turbo, Wren and Throttle, Nox and Koko, Theo and Tatum, and... Well, yeah, I guess Lash gets his own, and Mara would get her own."

"Where's Chester staying?" Wren wondered as Berri began to lazily saunter to her teleport pad, in her bedroom, as if to insinuate the furthered notion of leaving, though she eagerly eyed her room for any last minute items to snatch.

"Probably with either me and Turbo, or potentially with Mara, for safety, since she'll be by herself," Berri nonchalantly stated, though she raised her eyebrows in prickled retracting and was reminded that Mara was rather wary of all of the flyers. She peered back to her niece and halted her footwork, "Unless... You maybe wouldn't want Chester with you? It's up to you, I think Turbo just wanted to make sure you had a guard dog, since you'll be all alone at night."

"Oh, that's... Really thoughtful, actually," Mara stated gently, she shrugged and bobbed an easy nod, "I guess I wouldn't mind Chester's company. It IS a strange place I've never been, I... Do get a little nervous by myself, in the dark."

"Says the full-blown User," Wren muttered, though Mara shot him a cheeky little smile and narrowed her gaze.

"It's a good front, huh? Playing innocent," Mara stated in sharp sweetness, Wren visibly flinched.

"... Shit, yeah, fooled me," Wren huffed nervously, Mara grinned in girly cuteness and tucked her pale hair behind her ear as she looked down to her lap, though Wren furrowed his brow and lazily gestured to Mara as his gaze shot to Berri's, "Okay, we need to be taking notes, from this one."

"I'm pretty persuasive," Mara clipped with a shrug and a soft giggle, to which Berri bugged her eyes and easily smiled in camaraderie.

"The youngest usually are," Berri agreed gently, she waggled her finger at both beings in her presence, each one being the youngest in their immediate family units, "No one knows that better than us three."

"We should get Nox's take," Wren muttered as Mara finally lifted off the bed, everyone head to the teleport pad once and for all.

"We'll have two weeks in indullllge," Berri cooed with excitement as all three beings eased to the teleport pad.

"Where is everyone else? They all waiting on us?" Wren wondered dryly as Berri's pad lit up, she gently cued to Turbo's foyer's teleport pad.

"Yeah, everyone's at Turbo's... I guess we're leaving from there, too," Berri stated in soft confusion, she shrugged and easily zipped the three off to the teleport pad in Turbo's lovely, dim foyer.

"Wait, what? He's not just gunna teleport us there? How else would we ALL get there?" Wren wondered in louder curiosity, to which Mara, Wren and Berri all gently stepped off of Turbo's teleport pad and to his front door, which was gaping and wide open.

"Wren, the guy has cars for days, is that really a question?" Berri mumbled, to which Wren grew sharper in playful agitation; all three beings eased into Turbo's home, though Mara bashfully looked about and began to now urgently recluse back into her walled off exterior, something Berri was mildly disappointed over.

"I mean, YEAH, it's still a question," Wren barked with a hearty laugh as everyone assessed the place; Koko and Tatum were comfortably perched at Turbo's kitchen island, cutely chit-chatting whilst Theo politely listened, though down Turbo's corridor, loud laughter and shouting could be heard from Nox, Lash and Throttle, within Lash's bedroom. Turbo was stood still in the middle of his living room, his face was buried in his phone, the look of pure, squinted concentration was apparent, and although Sugar Rush's lovely sunshine splashed the place in lovely, irresistible goodness, it was clear everyone was extremely excited for this much-needed sunny getaway. Turbo raised his eyebrows in soft surprise, to insinuate he was listening to Wren, though he remained still with his eyes in the remote aspects of the code room, on his phone. Wren sauntered down the few steps, into his living room, leaving Berri and Mara at the island, "I hear talk of DRIVING to Sugar Sun?"

"Yeah, we're driving," Turbo nonchalantly answered, he finally looked up and smiled into Wren's boisterous, handsome blue eyes. Turbo firmly eased his strong hand to Wren's left shoulder and gave him a squeeze, as if to give him a warm hello, having not seen him since the meeting inside Zed's home, the day prior.

"... Bo, there's TEN of us, excluding Chester," Wren muttered, Turbo kept his strong hand gripped to Wren's shoulder as they remained in tight proximity, though Turbo still held his opened phone up to his chest, in his other hand.

"Observant," Turbo politely quipped, cheeky sarcasm so lovingly laced in sweetness; Wren long-blinked in annoyance.

"Okay, lemme try this again... How are YOU going to fit TEN of us, and a HUGE oversized puppy dog into one singular vehicle?" Wren argued gently, Turbo gave him an incredulous smile.

"So, we can take more than one car, and we're going to teleport Chester to us once we get there," Turbo explained in slow motion, a mocking lilt of cuteness as if he were talking to a child; Wren easily played along in brotherly fashion.

"Why are we driving when we can just teleport?" Wren hissed in grinning irritation, to which Turbo eased into Wren's now contagious chuckling and squeezed his shoulder.

"Because then what's the fun in that?" Turbo sharply whispered in return, he shook his head and gently leaned his face a little closer to Wren's, "Lighten up."

"Okay, better question, who's driving?" Wren waggled his eyebrows, to which Turbo gave Wren a hopeful look and gave his shoulder one last squeeze.

"It's a surprise," Turbo chirped cutely, Wren sagged his shoulders in hot irritation as Turbo unhanded him, "Alright, guys we should head out. I have a few things to run through with everyone, if you don't mind."

"Sure, what's going on?" Berri chimed cutely as she sat in a cute, lazy side hug with her aunt Koko, though as Wren and Turbo joined the crew at the island, Lash, Nox and Throttle urgently burst out of Lash's bedroom.

"Turbo, just ignore them, IGNORE THEM," Lash urgently barked as all three boys came clamoring out of the corridor with a show of boisterous, playful excitement; the air in Turbo's loft was beyond sunny, palpable with joy, easily the thing everyone in this room had been craving since day one.

"Whiplash wants to bring his own pillow," Nox sneered cutely, Throttle rubbed his face in irritation.

"WHY does it matter to anyone! I'm the only one sleeping on it!" Lash firmly argued as he gestured out to the group about him, all lazily stationed at Turbo's massive, dark, glossy kitchen island.

"We're going to a RESORT," Nox wildly gestured his hands and grinned, he dart his eyes about the group in a cute manner of curiosity, easily catching his eyes with Mara and Berri, "The pillows there will be better!"

"But then what if he..." Throttle largely pouted and leaned closer to Lash for emphasis, all while adding a few fake sniffles, "Misses his... Pillow."

"Look, it's familiar, I don't want to go through the rigor-moral of going to sleep TONIGHT, having it suck, and then asking Turbo to just give me my STUPID pillow via code room," Lash urgently rattled off, and through all of this, everyone easily slumped into cute laughter, except the one voice that gently laid reason over the chaos.

"It's a security thing," Mara tenderly quipped, intelligent eyes tightly hooked to Lash's figure; although she knew she was on vacation to relax, she was entirely floored to be secretly in charge of the one rogue baddy of the group. She did everything and anything to allow her intuition to dig in deep, to really let her claws sink in tight and grapple to any single ounce of energy this wild card had to give the air about him. Lash sharply furrowed his eyebrows and immediately sourced Mara's voice, they caught eyes, though Mara was unwavering. Lash sniffled, rubbed his nose, desperately tried to come off nonchalant and shrugged as his bashful, golden eyes looked about in a sulky manner.

"Sure, maybe," Lash muttered, to which Turbo rolled his eyes and pat Lash's shoulder.

"Bring your pillow, you get your own place anyhow, you can bring the whole bed, for all I care," Turbo mumbled, to which Lash sharply raised his eyebrows and gave Turbo a wide, incredulous grin of cute delight; everyone loudly began to argue Lash's slew of confused reasoning.

"BRING the pillow ONLY for User's sakes Turbo you're just giving him ammunition!" Nox cried, he grappled his longer, straight, charcoal grey hair and shut his eyes tight in whole dread as the group was alive with laughter.

"Bring the whole LOFT!" Koko yelled above the noise, laughter swelled once more.

"ALRIGHT, I'm dispersing TWO keys to TWO drivers of my choice," Turbo suddenly flagged both of his hands, of which were holding two different sets of keys; the jostling and tinkling of said keys immediately drew sharp attention of the group, like puppies to a ball about to be thrown. Turbo inhaled a deep breath, once the room fell silent, and easily shot the people about him a cute, snarky grin, "... Kay, I now know how to shut everyone up."

"What cars are we taking?" Theo wondered in soft excitement, to which Turbo lulled his eyes closed and smiled a little.

"I'll be driving my Lumos-"

"SHOTGUN," Nox sharply blurt, Lash threw his arms down in whole entire annoyance and easily gave Nox a wildly irritated gape of frustration.

"Turbo," Lash barked as he urgently gestured to Nox, "C'mon, that's not even fair, I wanted to go with you!"

"You LIVE with the guy! Let one of us have a turn," Throttle barked, everyone softly erupted into laughter.

"He called it," Turbo eased in innocent confusion, Nox hissed a celebratory noise and pumped his fist, to which Lash sharply glowered Nox down; although playful, it still had a competitive edge. Turbo gently jostled one pair of keys and gently landed his handsome eyes tight to his beautiful blue beauty. In a gentle lean, he delicately handed the keys, in his right hand, to Berri, "Your Highness."

"Aww, really?" Berri's eyes cutely lit up in soft, surprised delight as her and Turbo held eyes.

"That's only because she gives you good-"

"THAT'S my niece, let's not and say we diiiid," Koko urgently flagged her hand out to Wren, who easily jolted mid-sentence and blurt a confused laugh.

"That notion will fly out the window, spending these two weeks with THIS group, trust me," Tatum mumbled gently to Koko as both girls sat close, "I know more about these freaks of nature than I even know about myself."

"Ohhh great," Koko sarcastically chimed as she readjusted her sitting position.

"And, the third driver is..." Turbo jostled his last pair of keys, and although he could see nearly everyone's eyes light up, he gingerly began to hand said keys to the one person who looked certain that he wouldn't be picked, "The oldest fart out of all of us."

"... Me?" Throttle pressed in genuine surprise as he softly took the keys from Turbo.

"He's going to go fourteen miles an hour in the HOV lane on the wrong side of the road in reverse, are you SHITTING me," Lash grunted quietly to Turbo, to which Turbo finally wrangled Lash into a loving side hug to hopefully shut him up. Lash muttered something under his breath, rolled his eyes and sagged into Turbo's side hug; although not wanting to outwardly make it clear, it was obvious Lash cutely melted in defeat.

"I'm honored," Throttle eased cutely, to which he raised his eyebrows and gave Wren a warm smile.

"Alright, so decide who wants to go in whichever car, I'm going to check a few things, in my share of the code room and call Zed, before we head out," Turbo instructed gently as he began to trail away, he held his phone to his ear, as if to insinuate he was calling Zed.

"How long is the drive?" Lash wondered nervously.

"I love road trips," Mara so softly admitted to Berri as she bashfully linked arms with her aunt, they both caught eyes in a whirl of tenderness, and it was in this action that Mara was making it clear that she'd like to drive with Berri.

"Me too," Berri warmly nodded with an eager smile.

"It's... About an hour and a half drive from Orion City to the island," Koko delightfully chimed as she read from the information off of her phone, she raised her finger, "We'll be able to go over the big bridge!"

"A bridge? Over open water?" Lash muttered nervously, everyone easily laughed.

"You'll be fine," Throttle mumbled cutely, to which Lash shot him an irritated look of brotherly annoyance.

"I'm driving with Berri," Lash grunted as he took a few steps closer to Berri, they softly caught eyes in a whirl of understanding as Lash lazily gestured to Nox and Throttle, "I don't want to be trapped in a car with two boastful jerks and a slow poke."

"I'm engaged to one of those boastful jerks," Berri muttered dryly.

"Hi, sitting right here," Koko chimed cutely, to remind Lash that she was very tightly in cahoots with Nox.

"Ahem," Wren grunted as he crossed his arms and looked off; Mara stifled the sweetest giggle and tucked her face into Berri's upper arm out of shyness.

"We'll have fun, Lash, don't worry," Berri inhaled a shaky breath as she grinned and did what she could to not burst out laughing. She lovingly rested her hand to Lash's upper arm and felt the little sister-like being, glued to her right arm, sink tighter into her gravity, "Maybe we can convince Wren to join us. Mara will be riding with us, too, have... You two even met yet? I'm sorry."

"Briefly," Mara so quietly eased, to which Lash softly hooked his curious eyes to Mara's icy orbs.

"I think... The wreck-fest," Lash mumbled, disinterested, "Not a proper introduction, but... Yeah."

"Well... Lash, Mara," Berri gestured to Mara with a cute smile, she then sagged her hand to Lash's upper arm, once more, "Mara, Lash."

"Which blue haired person are you related to?" Lash wondered, a cheeky smile sprawled his face, though he flinched in soft confusion once Mara's hand eased out for a polite handshake, something that was lost on Lash's socially inept self.

"... All of them," Mara huffed a sharp, almost mean giggle but was thrilled to feel Lash sink his hand into hers for a soft handshake, something he almost warily adhered to.

"Yeah, what kind of a question is that?" Berri and Mara swelled with further giggling as Lash grunted and rubbed his forehead in agitation.

"There's really only four of us with blue hair," Mara pressed, Berri was surprised at how talkative she was becoming with a stranger, and so quickly.

"Well, I guess be grateful that you don't look like me or mine," Lash muttered, he grinned; one that easily mocked Turbo's, though his canines weren't as prominent.

"Lash is Nox's older brother, Turbo's younger," Berri gently explained to Mara as the two stood in a loose circle, now; the group about them began to bicker further about who drove with who.

"I'm the lame middle child no one cares about," Lash pressed as he rolled his eyes and looked off, though somehow he held on to a satisfied smile, as if to prove that he was thrilled to have all his brothers back.

"At least you're not a twin," Mara retort with a gentle smile, her eyes filled with sarcastic dread as Lash urgently peered to Mara in hot confusion.

"... There are TWO of you?" Lash choked, Berri rolled her eyes and rubbed her forehead.

"I mean... He's got a different set up than I do, but, yeah!" Mara huffed in dainty, adorable sarcasm, meanness that was almost welcomed, though much to her surprise, Lash blurt a laugh and embraced her sharpness, something she nearly flinched at.

"Ho, blue hair equals fiesty, I like it. I'm noting that just in case you and Turbo create a blue-haired grey-skinned hybrid of sorts," Lash chuffed as he gently nudged Berri's lower arm.

"I'll keep you posted," Berri muttered with an annoyed smile, though with Lash's quick welcome of Mara's typical show of snotty remarks and stand-offish demeanor, Mara immediately felt thwarted.

She huffed a silent breath, crossed her arms and was very well aware making friends wasn't her strong suit, though somehow, she furrowed her eyebrows and contemplated just what this new angle was showing her. As weird and counterproductive as it seemed, she eyed Lash in soft curiosity and wondered if it was just a heavy filter, and she had weeded out the entirety of the population that just didn't jive with her, as if she was certain there'd be no one left who didn't oppose her personality like oil to water. Mara looked off as Berri and Lash continued to bicker, though she was tightly tuned in. She knew she had a lot of work to do, to improve her sharp meanness, to ease up on being so cold, though somehow, the way Lash showed nearly no offense to her words had her wanting to speak to him more, to wonder just where his limit was. She finally sagged her eyes to his being in a softer show of a lesson in looking and was silently thrilled he decided to join her and Berri on their road trip. She knew that outside of her family, she was determined to make at least one friend, even if it was Sugar Rush's previous nightmare of a bad guy.