Reviews :
faolan1230 : Hahaha thank you! Aww yeah that would be a cute picture huh
Snake557 : Yes! It can be for anyone, anywhere! I'm doing it on Instagram. I'm not on DA much anymore, their new version update really discouraged me from uploading anymore. I put so much effort into making my page look nice, and now it's just boring and weird. I will always love DA, I should probably post some of my recent stuff there just so my page isn't so dead...
Lyssdoodle : Aww I'm so glad! and thank you! School is going SO great! :)
Song Listened To :
Kwolok's Hollow
A Keepsake from the Past
The Darkness Lifted, all by Gareth Coker
*Chapter 235*
Although Berri could swear her pulse was about to come climbing out of her throat, her and Gunner took easy strides together and cautiously approached the back patio. With glowing eyes that held tight to Gunner's disposition, figures that seemingly held fast to Gunner's figure like they were on a system of pulleys, Berri knew, full well, she would have to be the rock in this situation. She was well aware she could easily pull all five boys safely from this debacle, and even further was aware of the fact that Turbo would behave himself, though she cocked an eyebrow and glanced to a certain Turbotime boy that she was entirely unsure of. With Nox quietly hung tight to Turbo's left and Throttle's still, patient disposition hovering behind the three, waiting in the wings, Lash was the one that looked as if he was due to having steam come out of his nose. Berri clenched her jaw and felt nervousness squeeze into her system, though as her's and Gunner's footsteps scuffed to the dozen foot gap between both parties, on the sunny, empty back patio, Berri sucked in a nervous breath, gently held her hand to Gunner's upper arm and lofted him a knowing little smile, all whilst her lovely voice broadened to the group about her.
"Alright, boys, we're... We're going to attempt to play nice, here," Berri instructed, more so as a mild, motherly threat as opposed to a fun, cute idea. Berri firmly peered into Nox's, Lash's, Turbo's and Throttle's vividly glowing, at-attention eyes, she shook her head and raised her eyebrows with soft authority all five boys knew not to challenge, "Gunner has very diligently agreed to allow Turbo to do the code block reversal. I-I would do it, but... I'm just worried I might get something wrong, and it's detrimental, I just don't want to be in the crosshairs of something this fragile and important."
"I'd greatly appreciate any and all help," Gunner stated in a low tone of pure submission, he nervously eyed all four boys on the patio, and before Berri could now potentially segue into the notion that Lash, Nox and Throttle to potentially leave the three to their devices, Berri felt her pupils tighten as Lash's chest expanded a readied breath, his wide, easy, sassy smile proved to her that he already had ammunition in the arsenal.
"I'm sure you would, now that you're coding relies on the coding masters you once were in cahoots with," Lash meanly delivered with a wide grin of delight, though before Berri could further exert herself and cut nasty conversing at the quick, Gunner sharply furrowed his eyebrows and eagle-eyed his now becoming-mean gaze tight to Lash's disposition.
"I hadn't had previous knowledge that this was an issue," Gunner stabbed meanly, in which the group of men were now alive with electric tension and clenched fists, "It's also none of your business what goes on with my coding..."
"It IS my business, this is my future sister in-law we're talking about," Lash rushed to deliver, Berri grit her teeth and now took note that Lash's eyes were glowing a bit more of a vibrant yellow, something she could tell was well on its way to becoming orange, or worse, red.
"What?" Gunner scoffed in an annoyed guffaw of disbelief, to which Turbo raised his eyebrows and peered to the back of Lash's head, as if to be surprised that the news of his and Berri's betrothal was coming out so soon, so suddenly, something to surely rub dirt into Gunner's gaping wounds.
"Poor guy doesn't know, Lash," Nox muttered with a sneaky smile.
"Know WHAT," Gunner snapped through his teeth as tensions rose.
"Something that's ALSO not just anyone's business, guys," Turbo chuckled, though he narrowed his eyes in mean delight and peered into Gunner's confused gaze.
"How can it NOT be now Gunner's business, you're about to mesh your coding with his, he's bound to find out," Throttle mumbled, at the back of the group.
"What-...?" Gunner huffed shakily, he raised his eyebrows in hot surprise and stabbed his almost offended gaze to Berri's, "Y-You... SWAPPED with him?!"
"Uhh," Berri hummed as she grit her teeth and scratched her forehead, she desperately searched for words to somehow calm the entire group, though everyone was now becoming riled at a much faster rate than she thought possible.
"YEAH, what, you REALLY thought you had another chance with Berri after everything you did?" Lash barked with an incredulous laugh, and though Berri was thrilled that Lash went to bat for her, she grit her teeth and now was desperate for this to stop.
"Why, you upset that Turbo beat you to it?" Gunner meanly delivered as he inhaled a readied breath and dared to take one step closer to Lash's disposition, though much to Berri's whole dismay, she went rigidly frozen at the raw sight before her; every single Turbotime guy immediately eagle-eyed their now vivid, blood-orange gazes tight to Gunner's square on the grid, a swathe of unified teamwork Berri felt steamrolled by.
"What'd you say?" Lash barked as now all four men began to firmly close in on Gunner's positioning.
"Yeah, say it again," Turbo meanly goad with a smile, all four pairs of eyes had narrowing slits of pupils, riled energy that was almost too hard to even watch, Berri shoved her hands to the sides of her head and opened her mouth to stop everything from exploding, though Nox's voice overrode her faltered notions.
"I don't think he's got the balls," Nox's deep voice crackled into a depth of cheeky, daring meanness, and though Throttle stayed out of the conversation, he, too, began to collectively group with his brother's in their short warpath to Gunner's position on the grid.
"Swapping would be an all or nothing for me, my guy," Lash bravely admitted, not being one to even discuss such ideas, he shook his head and beamed, "I wouldn't pussy out of a swap and land me in this predicament in the first place."
"So you're a virgin? How adorable," Gunner spat with a mean grin, to which Lash now firmly grit his teeth, clenched his fist and looked due to throwing a punch; Berri finally felt her wrecking anger come flooding her veins with purpose.
"ENOUGH!" Berri's high, firm voice suddenly hollered, and with said reset over the group, all five men sagged in the deliverance of rattled nearby windows, the angry orange glow, from all four Turbotime guys, immediately dimmed to that of a muted orange as they held their gaze tight to their princess. Berri firmly glowered each man down before she shook her head and firmly pointed to the common room's interior, "Nox, Whiplash, Throttle, GOODBYE. I wanted this to be constructive but now it doesn't concern you."
"Bear, he-" Lash muttered.
"BYE," Berri blurt as she bugged her eyes and firmly pointed, in which Nox, Lash and Throttle sagged their shoulders in hot defeat and did whatever they could to peel themselves from the heated situation, unfortunately leaving Turbo to fend for himself; longing looks of frustrated irritation were lofted Turbo's way, as if to prove to Turbo that they would stay and fight if they had the choice. Seething, Nox, Lash and Throttle finally left, closing the gape of the sliding glass door behind them. Berri inhaled a firm breath and glanced back and forth between Turbo and Gunner; she was well aware she would have an easier time mediating two heated souls, as opposed to five, "Alright... Now that we're all PISSED."
"I came over here as cool as a cucumber," Gunner complained as he gestured out to Turbo, who knew well enough to take a few steps back, for everyone's sakes.
"Yeah, Lash is..." Berri shook her head and inhaled a shaky breath, though Turbo cocked an eyebrow and gave Berri a look of hot uncertainty.
"Your brother and cares deeply for you?" Turbo finished, to which Berri bobbed a nod and rubbed her forehead.
"He has good intentions, he's just... Not socially well-versed, I'm sorry that happened," Berri mumbled, she gently gestured out to Turbo and almost pleadingly peered to him, "Turbo, Gunner has very kindly given up control over this situation and would be grateful for your expertise, here. Are you comfortable with at least getting to a point where we all can be civil and conduct this reversal without anymore meanness? From EITHER of you two?"
Turbo inhaled a deep breath through his nose and dragged his golden eyes tight to Gunner's, though the color behind it still held tight promise of orange irritation. Turbo finally eased his now defeated gaze off and to the side, alongside a gentle bob of a nod.
"Yeah, I... I can get there," Turbo muttered, though he cocked an eyebrow and delivered Gunner another look of challenge, "I have a few questions I'd like answered."
"I do as well," Gunner pressed in frustrated confidence, and though both boys looked as if they were stuck in frustration, Berri was grateful their auras had sagged out of frustration and could easily be soothed by simply answering each other's questions.
"Alright, then, let's... Go somewhere private where we can talk and get your code block reversed," Berri sighed, already exhausted, she peered to Turbo and almost desperately gave him a look, as if to beg him to keep it together, knowing full well this was really difficult for everyone; Turbo finally bobbed her a soft nod of compliance, loving assurance that he'd bend over backwards for his Queen, he exhaled a shaky breath and pulled out his phone.
"Zed gave me permission to use my code room for this, so I'll go ahead and teleport us there," Turbo gently explained, in which Gunner swallowed and looked about in hot confusion.
"Where's that?" Gunner wondered softly, Turbo lofted his gaze across the ocean and dared to take a few non-threatening steps closer to Gunner, though with such, Berri could see Gunner tense in readiness.
"A hundred and fifty miles from here, my tower is in Orion City," Turbo explained with a nod as he pulled up a holographic mapped display of Orion City's gorgeous sprawl.
"Why'd you guys bring me here first?" Gunner innocently wondered, to which Berri rubbed her forehead in irritation.
"It was my mistake to think that everyone here would get along, and we could conduct the reversal HERE," Berri barked in irritation, she lofted her gaze tight to the glass doors and quickly took note of the three pairs of glowing eyes hung tight to the glass. She almost blurt a laugh at the sweet yet irritating sight, "It was my oversight, I should've known Lash wouldn't behave..."
"C'mon," Turbo quipped gently, and though he bravely took a few steps closer to Gunner's much thinner figure, Gunner sagged in nervousness and took a wary step back, causing Turbo to halt dead in his tracks. Turbo firmly gestured his hands to his own chest and now angrily furrowed his eyebrows, "C'mon, man I'm not gunna hit you or anything, believe it or not, I AM here to help."
"Sorry, I'm sorry," Gunner stabbed as Berri gingerly rested her hand to Gunner's upper arm, as if to assure him that Turbo's words rang true, "The last time you were this close to me, you, well..."
"Yeah, well that was last time," Turbo muttered in frustration as he cued the coding of the grid underneath all three beings before him, "This time is different."
Before Gunner could reply, Turbo successfully whisked all three souls to Turbo's lovely code room. With the flicker of coding, Gunner's boggled eyes finally looked about the dimmer, lovely, sunny setting. With Sugar Rush's palace on the horizon, tight behind the setting sun, Gunner squinted and got a soft, innocent look about Turbo's glorious, white-tiled, glass bubble of a code room. Gunner raised his eyebrows in soft impress and bobbed a nod.
"Yeah, your eyes aren't red," Gunner trailed from Turbo's previous statement, he shot Turbo an almost mean, cheeky little side-eye, "I didn't realize your eyes were naturally gold. I thought they were just always... Creepy snake eyes."
"Just gold," Turbo's deep, raspy voice quipped, Berri could tell Turbo absolutely did not want to converse any further with Gunner than necessary, though she could practically taste the questions on the edges of Turbo's lips.
"So, answer me this," Gunner started, he looked as if he was on his way to relaxing in Turbo's presence, though he still looked stiff and irritated; knowing Lash had definitely set that tone, Berri was desperate for Turbo to lay a much calmer, kinder tone in preparation for this tricky and sensitive task at hand. Turbo nodded once, as if to instruct Gunner he was listening, in which Gunner bravely pressed on, "That day of our show, in Arcadia... Was that a setup? Did you come to the arena hoping to find me and shake me about like that to get rid of me?"
"No, you were the last person on my mind, if I'm being frank, and... Sorry to say, dude, but you got rid of yourself," Turbo mumbled, he softly eyed Berri, his demeanor reeked of him so desperately trying to hold on to politeness, for Berri's sake. She subtly bobbed him a nod of affirmation, as if to sweetly and quietly assure him that he was doing a great job of keeping his composure, "I came... To win Berri back. We had been dating for a month prior to that and she, well... Sort of dumped me because I refused to leave Sugar Rush."
"Heartbreaker," Gunner muttered in her direction, though as him and Berri caught eyes, Gunner gave her a sweet smile of understanding, in which Berri softened a little and felt relieved that at least small hints of jokes were coming back to the surface.
"I had absolutely no clue he was going to show up," Berri explained tenderly, she shrugged and glanced to Turbo's eyes before revisiting Gunner's understanding, honey-brown gaze, "I didn't expect him to... I basically broke it off and gave him a huge ultimatum. It had been weeks since I talked with him, that fateful day in Arcadia."
"Don't blame me for your decision to bail out," Turbo warned, his voice trickled to a depth of brewing caution, as if to tell Gunner to tread lightly, no matter what. Both men caught eyes, Gunner's wavering gaze held an eternity's worth more uncertainty, "I innocently stopped by to prove to Berri that she was worth likely the hugest task I've ever had to confront... I didn't stop by to rattle you."
"We chose to argue at the worst time possible, Gun," Berri reminded, to which Gunner firmly furrowed his eyebrows and looked down in sorrowful regret.
"What sucks is... I don't even remember what we were arguing about," Gunner mumbled with a touch of a raspy lilt of confusion, though he flinched the second he could see both Turbo and Berri dart incredulous grins to one another.
"She was practicing her own music and it peeved you," Turbo firmly rattled, Berri didn't miss a beat behind him.
"I was wearing something revealing and you didn't like that," Berri listed, Turbo held out his hand and continued on with their rapid-fire list.
"She was no longer your girlfriend and you still felt the need to control all aspects of her life," Turbo lilted as he bobbed an annoyed nod and looked off, as if to successfully happen upon further bullet points, though Gunner sharply furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head in flustered disarray.
"I don't know how that warrants you threatening to erase my existence," Gunner pressed with a wide grin, clearly forgetting the main, driving point home; Turbo's voice growled to a low depth of rising frustration.
"You laid hands on my Queen," Turbo's firm tone reverberated from his powerful chest, and just as Berri could see Turbo's eyes gently dip to that of a frustrated orange, Berri grit her teeth and flagged her hand.
"Okay, okay, boys, c'mon," Berri urged, she lovingly eased closer to Turbo and held his lower arm, he stabbed his becoming-vertical pupils tight to Berri's, and although they were still wide enough to express prickled annoyance, it still was a creepy sight, "Turbo, it's... It's over, it's done, Gunner's not defending that fact."
"N-No, I... Look, I'm sorry I did that, I just..." Gunner heaved a shaky breath and rubbed the back of his head, and as Turbo and Berri eased their softer gazes to him, they froze in suspended concern as Gunner's nervous eyes aimlessly looked about the glossy tiles underneath the three. He inhaled a shaky breath and looked as if he was desperately trying to keep himself composed, "I was so frustrated with myself. I kept failing the women that were important to me, and even worse, we finished out the tour whilst you were happily traipsing into the arms of another man. It's no excuse to have grabbed you, like that, that's not what I'm getting at, but..."
"You weren't in your right mind," Berri mumbled knowingly, she bobbed a nod as her and Turbo caught eyes, once more; he finally softened to a normal golden glow, once more, "Which... You still technically aren't. Code blocking can do a nasty amount of damage. Turbo witnessed it, first hand."
"You code blocked, too?" Gunner innocently asked; it was blatantly obvious, by now, that Gunner was doing everything in his power to keep the peace within Turbo's presence, Turbo being a much bigger, older and wiser individual than him.
"No, no, User, no," Turbo bugged his eyes through a scoff of disbelief, "It was Theo, he... Wow, he hardly could last eight hours with this condition."
"Theo? When was this?" Gunner innocently asked, to which Turbo and Berri sharply raised their eyebrows in just what topic Turbo had haphazardly stumbled into. Both Turbo and Berri firmly stabbed their shocked eyes tight to one another, as if to express to the other that they both had absolutely no idea how to break the news, to Gunner, that Theo and Tatum now were a swapped pair. Gunner noticed Berri grit her teeth and subtly shake her head with a shrug, as if to silently express to Turbo that she had no idea how to remedy this word vomit. Gunner firmly gestured his hand, amidst their long gap of silence, and blurt a chuckle, "Alright, before you two break into a game of CHARADES, what is going on with Theo?"
"It's... Not news you'll enjoy hearing," Turbo's deep voice muttered, and for once in this entire debacle, he began to feel apologetic for Gunner's whole situation. He grit his teeth and peered into Gunner's eyes, a man-to-man show of mild regret, he shook his head and narrowed his gaze in warm suspicion, "Y'think you can brace yourself and handle it?"
"I'll do my best," Gunner prepped with a nervous nod, and as Berri and Turbo caught eyes, once more, Turbo exhaled a long breath and allowed his eyes to defeatedly glance about Gunner's collar and chest.
"Theo and Tatum are involved, Theo code blocked because he wasn't ready to officially swap with Tatum," Turbo pressed as gently as he could, both Berri and Turbo could see Gunner's spine stiffen with shock, "We... We reversed Tatum's code block, yesterday. As of last night, they're officially a swapped pair."
Gunner huffed a shaky breath, bobbed a nod and marinated in Turbo's words for a moment, though he finally grit his teeth in rising frustration and took a few firm steps away from the two. In an aimless scuff of moseying footsteps, he finally stopped about a dozen feet away and held his hand to his forehead with his back turned to Berri and Turbo. Berri gently held her hands to the side of her head and urgently held eyes with Turbo's. Much to her surprise, his golden gaze muted with sincere dread and defeat. Turbo frowned and shrugged a little, as if to express to Berri that he delivered said news as delicately as he could. In a gentle bout of reassurance, Berri warmly rubbed Turbo's lower arm, gave him a nod and bravely began to close her's and Gunner's gap. Turbo patiently followed, though in a much slower, apprehensive fashion of curious onlooking.
"Gun, I'm... I'm really sorry," Berri mumbled, to which she flinched in surprise the second Gunner choked a noise of disregard, he firmly rubbed his eyes with the fingers of his right hand and grinned in false denial.
"No, it's... It's fine, Bear, really," Gunner chirped, his voice crackled to a depth of adamant proof that he was choked up. Berri eased to his side and gently held his left arm, and as they caught gazes, Berri felt her heart break at just how defeated and exhausted Gunner looked. He desperately tried not to crumple in front of Turbo, someone of which Gunner was well aware was likely en route to judging him. Nonetheless, he tried to carry on, though more tears billowed in his glassy, honey-brown eyes, "It's... To be expected, neither you nor Sama are my girlfriends, any longer. You two are way too beautiful to stay single and in one spot, for long. I'm... Not surprised you two... Found your permanent, other half."
Turbo exhaled a shaky sigh through his nose and now looked down in the sting of regret for even mentioning anything. He long-blinked in sadness and was well aware that he, too, was in Gunner's shoes previously, in one way or another. Having to watch Berri traipse in and out of all of Litwak's fabulous games, whisked away into the arms of another man, and although Turbo was well aware that he won, in the end, he grimaced and knew Gunner had to definitely be hurting, here. Turbo finally softened, and with the final sag of feeling angry and hateful towards Gunner, Turbo bravely allowed his bare feet to approach the two, once more. As his voice broadened to the two, he was grateful Gunner hesitantly turned to face him and Berri, once more.
"Gunner, this is going to sound really cliche and stupid, but... You WILL find your other half," Turbo eased gently, Gunner's surprised, teary eyes hooked to Turbo's in mild disbelief, and as Turbo neared, he gave Berri a heartfelt little smile into her eyes before he continued, "It may not be Tatum, it may not be Berri, but... I need you to hear me, you're going to feel like a changed person once your code block is reversed."
"You can start anew," Berri urged in a hiss of gentle excitement, to which Gunner bobbed a nod and tried not to roll his eyes.
"I was hoping starting anew would be to try and win you over, if I'm being entirely honest with you," Gunner mumbled, he rubbed his jawline free of tears and looked down in defeat, "I'm not bitter, or anything, I just... Thought I still had a chance before you endured a permanent code swap."
Berri frowned and knew Gunner wasn't saying any of this to make her feel guilty, though she still felt the sting. She inhaled a deep, shaky breath and looked down to her twiddling fingers, though with this, Gunner did as well; he raised his eyebrows in hot surprise upon noticing the glorious, beautiful engagement ring on her left ring finger.
"... For User's sake, the code swap wasn't permanent enough for you, dude?" Gunner stabbed as he pointed to the ring on Berri's finger, though he gave Turbo a swathe of teary, smiling eye contact; although his tone and expression held a very heavy amount of sarcastic sass, Turbo allowed delight to hit his skin first, he fervently resisted the urge to meanly get in Gunner's face.
"I couldn't let her get away, again," Turbo huffed a chuckle and shook his head, to which Gunner bobbed a nod of understanding and rubbed his face in mild agitation.
"I understand," Gunner mumbled with a sorrowful smile, and a chuckle to boot, to which Berri felt relieved that no new frustration and anger came out of said discovery, "I wish things played out differently, and... One day, I'll be entirely happy for you guys. Right now, this sucks."
"We understand, I'm positive this isn't easy to endure, Gun," Berri mumbled, she shook her head and frowned, "It's not like you've lost me entirely, Gunner. Sure, it's... Not going to be easy, and won't be immediate, but I believe we will always be friends. You've gotten me, Theo and Wren so much further than we would have on our own. We owe you a lot, Gunner... Truly..."
"Thanks," Gunner mumbled in warm defeat, he nodded and heaved a shaky breath, "I guess my new start is legitimately a new start."
"You don't want to have a new start with an old lover, Gunner, I mean, really," Berri methodically stated with care, she shook her head and smiled in warmth, "You get to truly start anew. It'll be great, Gunner."
"And, WITH said new start, do not soil it with code blocking," Turbo warned with a glowering side-eye to Gunner's eyes, to which Gunner sagged in all of Turbo's impending wisdom, "It may not have affected you as poorly as it immediately ruined Theo, but... The damage is still definitely there."
"What exactly happens?" Gunner wondered tenderly, "I don't... Feel any different."
"Well, of course you don't, it hasn't affected you as largely as it would if, say, your coding was more accessible, like the glitches you've been in cahoots with," Turbo chuckled as he gestured to Berri and referenced Theo, "Due to not expelling any coding, amidst a halted code swap, all that coding, that was desperately trying to leave, comes back into your mainframe and overwrites healthy, new code that was supposed to take its' place."
"It's like... Putting a dirty shirt back on," Berri grimaced, she gestured her hands a little, "You have a ton of freshly cleaned shirts to wear, but you keep putting on a dirty one. Eventually you feel gross, yeah? Instead of 'getting rid' of the shirt, or cleaning it for analogies' sake, you keep donning it."
"Eventually no one wants to interact with you, you reek," Turbo blurt a gentle laugh, he was successful in getting smiles out of Gunner and Berri, "You grow cranky cause you can tell you smell, people avoid you, you're frustrated as to why, blah blah blah... Your coding is basically an organism in of itself. It needs refreshing, it needs to be 'cleaned'. Code blocking jams up that cleaning cycle and, uhg, it's just a nightmare."
"I mean, from the sounds of it, Theo was on the brink of going legitimately crazy," Berri mumbled, Turbo feverishly nodded.
"I've... NEVER seen him that angry before, over something that shouldn't spark anger," Turbo stated, "He was about to go out of his mind."
"I feel as if I'm on that slippery slope," Gunner stated regretfully.
"Hence the yelling and grabbing over something as silly as sheet music, the name calling, the rash decisions to abandon your HUGEST show yet," Turbo bugged his eyes and shook his head, he carried on through a laugh inside the grit of his grimacing grin, "Trust me, dude! That was NOT a show I was originally planning on filling in for!"
"Y-Yeah, sixteen thousand fans," Gunner blurt a defeated chuckle and shyly looked down to his feet, though he gave Turbo a look of soft promise and bobbed a warm nod in his direction, "I... I never thanked you for doing that. For... Being there for Berri, like I couldn't. You saved the entire show. You both did."
Turbo held his breath and felt his skin prickle in weird delight. As much as he wanted to remain grumpy towards Gunner, he could see underneath the years of hurt, the years of confusion and the years of coded turmoil, a bright and sunny individual who just wanted to be loved and understood. Turbo exhaled a long, hot sigh through his nose and caught eyes with Berri in a full swathe of official defeat, as with a small nod as acknowledgement to Gunner's gratitude, Turbo lovingly peered into Berri's eyes and could see the sheer amount of care she had for someone she once truly and deeply cared for, someone she wanted to see succeed, someone she greatly looked up to. Turbo knew he'd be doing his and Berri's relationship a massive disservice by continuing to officially shut Gunner out, and with such a gentle turn of events, Turbo gave Berri a knowing look. He bobbed her a nod of understanding and was grateful to have her curious, undivided attention.
"As much as this reversal is for you, Gunner, you're about to be treated to a masterclass," Turbo stated in warmth, he turned to walk to the center of his code room and softly gestured for Gunner and Berri to follow; like puppies, they quickly followed suit as Turbo's deep voice continued on, "Although Berri is a natural-born glitch, coming from the likes of coding masters before her, and has thus given ME said glitching and coding powers... I have been doing my fair share of studying for the past thirty years. Today, Berri is my student, with you, Gunner, as my witness."
"Berri as a coding student?" Gunner eased in cute disbelief, he shook his head and gave Berri a loving smile, "Can't be..."
"He's not wrong, Gun, I don't know how to do a reversal, so... Turbo gets to play acting-professor, today," Berri chimed with a smile of gentle defeat, and as the two neared, Turbo's careful, powerful hands cued up the multitudinous displays of rose gold code room displays, the sunny, glass code room about him sparkled underneath Sugar Rush's power, in all aspects. Gunner's footsteps scuffed in soft disbelief as the two looked about the gorgeous, swirling code boxes and code room displays that phased through them and eagerly bowed to Turbo's command. Berri crossed her arms and happily watched Turbo do his thing, with a great deal of pride, "You'd be in good hands, with me, but... With Turbo, you'll be well on your way in no time."
"I wouldn't say I could do the job better than you, babe," Turbo mumbled sweetly, his golden eyes hooked to his chore, and as he hit a few options, he finally peered to Gunner and eased a curious smile, "Alright... Are you ready?"
"F-For... The..." Gunner huffed a shaky breath, gestured his hands in confusion and dart his attention between Berri and Turbo, "Reversal? NOW?"
"Well, yeah, but I was more asking if you were ready to go through the motions," Turbo wondered gently, he approached Gunner and Berri with a single splay of code room indexes and options, "All you need is the reversal, but Berri needs the code room lesson. I just wanted to make sure you were prepared, cause although I'm doing this for your benefit, Berri also benefits in a much different, technical way."
"Oh, yeah... Do and say whatcha gotta do and say," Gunner stated in a chirp of gentle defeat, he gestured his hands to Berri and bobbed a nod of soft agreeing, "Do you... Need me to do anything at all?"
"Yeah, but I'll give instructions," Turbo started, though he grit his teeth and remembered a pivotal point of all of this. He immediately took note of Gunner's apparel and nervously glanced into Berri's eyes before stabbing his unsure gaze to Gunner's, "This... Task requires me putting my hands on two certain spots on your body. I just... Need your consent for that."
"A-As long as it's not in the act of beating me up," Gunner blurt a shaky laugh and shook his head, he shyly peered to Berri before returning his becoming-nervous eyes to Turbo's, "Wh-which two points?"
"There's a point on your hip bone, and one in the middle of your back," Turbo stated patiently, doing everything he could not to make this weirder or harder than it had to be, "It... Might actually be beneficial if you took your hoodie off. Would you be okay with that?"
"Yeah, all that's fine," Gunner mumbled in a bashful way, he easily took off his red zip up and laid it on the clean tiles behind him. He inhaled a deep, shaky breath and peered to Turbo in a raw show of vulnerable nervousness, "Alright, I'm... I'm ready."
"Okay... So, Berri, first thing's first, if you're going to perform a code reversal, you'll need to make sure the being is coded to the game," Turbo instructed as he cutely came alongside Berri, so to share his code room menus. He pointed to just where she needed to go in Sugar Rush's massive inner workings, "This is just in case the person has a game over... They'll regenerate here, and you can keep working."
"Game over?" Gunner stabbed nervously, to which Turbo lulled his eyes closed and firmly shook his head.
"It's rare, but better safe than sorry," Turbo expressed with great care, and as Turbo went through the motions, the tile underneath Gunner's bare feet suddenly sparked hot white in a grip of his yellow coding. Gunner choked a soft noise and looked down in surprise as Sugar Rush's inner coding eagerly flit about his very being, securing his name to the game. Turbo bobbed a nod and whisked away the indexes in front of him, knowing the rest of the legwork was to be done on Gunner's stressor marks, "So, you and I know how to cue our core coding, our stressor marks, but the majority of the Arcade has no clue about these important points. You're going to always assume your 'reversie' doesn't know how to cue core coding... Do you, Gunner?"
"N-No, I have no idea what that even is," Gunner mumbled nervously, to which Turbo bobbed a nod and neared Gunner's left side.
"How do you access it on someone else?" Berri wondered, to which Turbo gently allowed his fingertips to come alive with his and Berri's lovely coding.
"You access it through the core coding's on-switch, the base of it all," Turbo's lovely eyes peered to Gunner and down to his chest, and with a slow arrival of his coded fingers to Gunner's broad chest, he prepared Gunner in the slowness of said impending exterior swap, "The heart..."
Turbo gingerly laid his first two, live-wired fingers just over Gunner's heart and was immediately successful in cueing every single one of Gunner's stressor marks in a rapid-fire glow of dim uncertainty. Gunner huffed a choke of a breath and flinched in hot, nervous surprise, though as Turbo eased his hand off of him, he peered his golden gaze back to his bride and nodded, as if to affirm that Berri was following along. She returned the nod in soft surprise and noted how the bigger, circular stressor marks lay exactly where they should on Gunner's skin, a confident glow of his hot yellow coding. Gunner nervously looked down to his chest and lifted his shirt a little, having now seen the stressors on his hip bones glow underneath his shirt.
"That was easy," Berri chuckled as she crossed her arms, to which Turbo nodded, though he honed his eyes to Gunner and patiently volleyed him a hushed notion.
"Y'okay for me to go on?" Turbo warmly asked, to which Gunner inhaled a shaky breath and nodded, the stressor marks on his temples, forehead and jugular so gently surged with his heart rate.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Gunner mumbled.
"The two points you're going to hone in on, Berri, are one of the hip stressors, and the one on the center of the back," Turbo patiently explained, his careful finger pointed to each on Gunner's figure, "The reason being, the hip stressors are a grounding mechanism, they keep your legs either still or in motion. It adhere's to drive, whether it be sexual or survival. Do you remember what the stressor on your back represents?"
"Trust. Fight or flight," Berri chirped with a confident nod, to which Turbo smiled and nodded with her.
"Beautiful," Turbo affirmed, "As the person conducting the reversal, you HAVE to make sure your own coded cup is full. You're literally pouring energy into the other being. You cannot pour from an empty cup."
"Exactly why I'm glad you're doing this, I'd be too nervous," Berri mumbled through the grit of her teeth, though it was here did Gunner grow more and more grateful that Turbo was conducting this act, someone who seemed leagues more confident in this realm; Berri hugged her arms across her chest and eagerly continued to listen as Turbo's careful instructions reigned.
"You're going to be giving your patient hard-resets. Inside each reset, it's your goal to flood their coding with every ounce of energy you have to share," Turbo gestured his hands from his broad chest straight to Gunner's, as well as about his arms, "Since his coding has gaps, due to the code block and overwritten binary, it's your coding's job to piece it all back together amidst the reset. Because a hard reset won't solve the problem... You have to fill in the blanks whilst Gunner's coding is coming back into being, that way, with each reset, it has more pieces to hold on to. Does this make sense?"
"Yeah," Berri confidently affirmed with a nod, to which Turbo inhaled a deep breath and peered his now undivided attention to Gunner.
"Alright, I'm... I'm going to start the process, you ready?" Turbo wondered gently, to which Gunner now exhaled a shaky breath and nervously nodded, "I'm going to giving you breathing instructions and nothing more... Follow it for a smoother process, and if you start to get dizzy, tell me before it's too late."
"... What happens if it's too late?" Gunner worried, Turbo blurt a chuckle and shrugged.
"You'd faint, surely," Turbo laughed cutely, Gunner sagged with relief. He nervously felt a wiggle of apprehension fall over him as he realized he'd now have to put his hands on Gunner, and although this wasn't a strange thing he had to do with Theo, he was well aware that Gunner was nearly a perfect stranger. Thankful Gunner's hip stressor wasn't too deeply hidden in the brim of his jeans, he was able to access it with ease. With a snake of his hand up the back of Gunner's shirt, he raised his eyebrows in softness and wondered if he should exterior swap with him first, just so there were no rapid-fire surprises, "Awkward question that I probably already know the answer to, but... Have you endured an exterior swap before?"
Gunner held his breath and felt Turbo's warm hands now ease into the positions they were supposed to be, though Gunner bugged his eyes a little and peered to Berri in soft desperation; Berri grit her teeth and gave Gunner an equally a shy, smiling look of sheepish delight, to which Turbo rolled his eyes and breathed an annoyed chuckle down onto Gunner's shoulder.
"Yes or no question, I don't need the details," Turbo muttered, he side-eyed Berri in cute, boyish annoyance as Gunner sighed and looked off in smirking defeat.
"Yes," Gunner meeped, to which Turbo did what he could not to hold on to the notion of him and Berri previously exterior swapping with each other.
"Alright, deep breath," Turbo instructed, and as Gunner's chest expanded, Turbo slowly flood Gunner's mainframe with his and Berri's shared coding.
Gunner flinched in the spark of surprise and felt his yellow coding swirl about in a jolt of confused delight. The ease of years and years of wisdom coat Gunner's frantic soul like a warm blanket, and though Gunner did whatever he could not to feel blindsided by it, he felt tears sting his eyes the second he could feel the energetic, familiar warmth of Berri's once silver coding, as well, so intricately laced into Turbo's forever. Gunner heaved a shaky breath and peered to Berri with new eyes, an immediate understanding of just why she was so pulled to be with Arcade's wisest old owl, the tiers of information Turbo's coding provided, in just one single exterior swap, had Gunner's head spinning. Turbo mellowed his own coding, did what he could to not nose around and peeled open his eyes. Much to Berri's whole surprise, Turbo's eyes began to dip from their usual gold to that of a brighter, paler yellow, well on their way to silver. Berri knew this was either due to the heightened experience of it all, the fact that he now had his surface coding meshed with her ex-boyfriend, alongside the heightened show of testosterone, she bit her lip and was well aware this was an extremely rare predicament to be in.
"Firewalls down, core coding reset, code blocking reversal for Gunner Elias Ko, finalized audible command only, on my word," Turbo diligently instructed to his code room, and with a bevel of understanding, the tiles underneath everyone's feet began to gently glow with heightened, fervent understanding that this task was incredibly important.
"Audible command on, core coding reset and code blocking reversal, firewalls paused. Your word, your highness," the code room's automated voice assured, Gunner nervously allowed his eyes to dart up and about as he remained inside of Turbo's coded care, his close presence, the weird wiggle of camaraderie he suddenly felt with the guy he had grown to loathe.
"Alright, Gunner, take a big, deep breath for me, and don't exhale until I tell you," Turbo quietly instructed, and with such, both men took in a deep breath, though Turbo's was cut short with a gentle quip of a command to his code room, "Reset."
"Commencing reset," the code room adamantly assured, though with such a blip of blatantly missing coding that now did what it could to come back to the grid, Turbo felt the sheer, dragging amount of lag. In the desperation to unboggle his brain, Turbo urgently sent a gentle wave of his own energy to Gunner's, but very quickly realized a hard truth; Gunner's coding was in desperate need of attention, like a silent killer, Turbo's coding flood what felt to be a near-vacant husk of a coded being. In the scarce return of Turbo's coding, Turbo pushed his fingers a bit more firmly, into Gunner's stressor marks, and steadied himself, "Exhale."
"I'm dizzy," Gunner's voice meeped in nervousness, and it was here did Turbo firmly understand that this was very quickly turning into way more than his coding could handle alone, the sheer drag and heaviness of the gaps in Gunner's coding, Turbo was shocked Gunner was still at least a functioning being. Hooking on to Gunner's immediate concern of dizziness, Turbo knew he didn't have anymore of himself to give, and in a last-resort choke of a plea, Turbo raised his eyebrows and stabbed his vivid, silver eyes tight to Berri's.
"Bear, need your help," Turbo adamantly instructed, and though Berri looked nervous at this switch up, she stepped forward and cued her coding in shocked preparation. Turbo grit his teeth and did everything he could to keep Gunner's coding stable, so that he was no longer dizzy, though he desperately awaited Berri's rush of coding, "Other hip stressor, heart stressor, quick."
Without a second thought, Berri did everything she could to soak her left hand to Gunner's right hip stressor, and her right hand to the stressor over his heart. With a huge wave of relief, the sheer amount of helping with Berri's added coding, all three beings physically sagged with the release of heaviness, to which Berri nervously peered up into Gunner's eyes. The sheer amount of nervous gratitude that glossed his honey-brown gaze was beyond palpable, so much so that Berri felt her eyes well with tears. In the silent string of all three beings now included in an adamant show of selfless, coded love, Berri did whatever she could to give Turbo the proper boost he needed to carry out this mission. Turbo shot Berri a look of whole entire thanks before he glossed his eyes to the side of Gunner's face and huffed him a quiet notion.
"Better?" Turbo wondered, Gunner eagerly nodded.
"Much, thank you," Gunner eased under his breath, he lulled his eyes closed as Turbo quickly continued on with no time to waste.
"Alright, breathe in, huge breath," Turbo firmly instructed, though he sharply caught eyes with Berri and allowed for wordless communication, between the two. His coding proverbially took her hand in his and quietly instructed for her to follow his lead amidst the switch up, and with a small nod from Berri, Turbo grit his teeth and braced himself as he called out to the code room, "Reset."
The code room eagerly flickered with the backlash, a much scarier, heavier sense of doom hung over the three, and with the sheer amount of energy both now Turbo and Berri were lofting Gunner's way, Berri quickly understood why Turbo begged for Berri to step in, so quickly. Berri felt the sag of her coding leave and immediately return, upon giving Gunner a clean slate. After a moment of allowing the pixels to settle, Turbo quietly instructed for Gunner to take yet another deep breath amidst the code room reset, and upon finalizing the gloss of fresh coding over Gunner's now shivering, new set of shiny yellow coding, Turbo quietly instructed him to exhale, one last time. Amidst the sag of all three being's shoulders, the gentle and ever so slow removal of both Berri's and Turbo's hands, they both took a small step out of Gunner's tight proximity and held their curious eyes to him in baited way. Gunner long-blinked in unadulterated surprise, held his forehead and began to shake.
"H-Holy shit," Gunner's voice trembled, he shook his head and now looked down to his hands, as if he was sure he was inside of a brand new body. He urgently peered to Berri and Turbo in a slew of boyish confusion, "D-do I... Do I look the same?"
"I mean, in theory, yeah," Turbo shrugged, though he shook his head and gave Gunner an incredulous smile, "You look like you've gotten a decade's worth of beauty rest, though, wow."
"Yeah, it's weird how drained you previously looked, I didn't even notice," Berri hissed in surprise, though her hands trembled from having to dive in to said scary predicament, she peered up to Turbo and silently awaited his approval, in which he wasted no time whatsoever.
"I-I feel... Wow, I almost was worried that wouldn't do much to change how I felt, but..." Gunner blurt a shaky chuckle, and though he did whatever he could to hold back tears, he grit his teeth and covered his forehead and eyes with his hand. He choked a nervous breath of a cry and desperately contained himself, and although Berri was the first one to eagerly rush Gunner's being and rub his upper arm in sweet tenderness, Turbo exhaled a long sigh through his nose, set his pride further aside, and lovingly gripped the top of Gunner's left shoulder. Gunner wiped his eyes and shook his head in disbelief, "I-I owe you guys my life... I feel as if I finally have MYSELF back."
"Mission accomplished," Turbo mumbled through a warm chuckle as him and Berri caught eyes in a string of diligent, relieved softness, "Thanks for stepping in like that, Berri... I wouldn't have been able to do that without your help."
"It was terrifying," Berri blurt a shaky giggle as Gunner finally eased a chuckle and revealed his face, after wiping his eyes, "But... I'm glad it worked."
Gunner's disposition glowed, he looked healthier and happier than prior, and though Berri was well aware that the rest of this journey would be Gunner further finding his own stability, she sagged in Turbo's and Gunner's presences and was relieved her and Turbo could put their troubles aside, to really help Gunner to the best of their ability with no judgement passed. In the prolonged meandering, the easy chit-chat the three finally fell into, the profuse amount of gratitude Gunner continued to give both Berri and Turbo, they easily agreed to allow Gunner to message either of them lest he have a coding problem or question. Although Turbo was nervous to be quick to allowing Gunner into their own fold of family, he respectfully agreed to grabbing a cup of coffee with Gunner on a selected date so to further expound on how to properly be further introduced into the music world, a task Gunner was adamant to give back to Turbo as a way of thanking him for giving him his own coding back, fresh and clean.
Although the sun had gone down on Sugar Sun Island, the night was still young. Turbo was well aware him and Berri were now exhausted due to their coding escapades with Gunner, though in the warmth and easiness of the common room's air, laughter and conversation filled Turbo's heart to the brim with love. Revival that he was eternally grateful for, his eyes peered down into his phone as he wrote Zed a long text thanking him for being able to use the code room. Quietly, he filled Zed in on everything that took place, sprinkled it with mild agitation over the fact that he had to personally deal with Berri's ex-boyfriend, though cutely presented to Zed the notion that him and Gunner likely were on their way to becoming fast friends, due to their impending coffee date. As him and Zed went back and forth, he could hear Wren call Turbo's name across the stretch, the group outside, in the pool and back patio area, was loud and riled with laughter.
"Bo," Wren called again as he trot over, he ruffled his wet splay of white hair and gave Turbo a kind smile of curiosity, "C'mon! We're gunna play chicken, Berri needs you. She refuses to be anyone else's partner."
"Sorry, I'm coming, I was just filling Zed in on everything that happened earlier," Turbo mumbled cutely, he scratched his bare chest; everyone was dressed in their swim suits, ready for a full night of swimming and drinking amidst their lovely, luxurious pool area, which had a front row seat to the gorgeous moon setting on the ocean far beyond them.
"I hope you fill me in, too, that HAD to have been awkward," Wren eased, he approached the island's counter and shivered due to the common room's air conditioning kicking on in a blow over Wren's damp body.
"It was and it wasn't... As odd as that sounds," Turbo stated through a wistful sigh and a nod, though he cocked an eyebrow and jostled his phone about in cute delight. Thankful there was no one around, he eased Wren a sweet smile and hooked eyes with him, "Alright, right hand man... I'm going to need you to help me with something."
"I'm yours," Wren assured with a nod, "What do you need?"
"First, I need you to keep this secret, from Berri, no matter what..." Turbo pressed as his voice eased to that of a hushed tone above a whisper, "It's taken me days of sneakily doing this, without Berri knowing, but... I've finished Chester's eyesight coding, with Tessa's help."
"... WHAT!" Wren silently hissed as his eyes went wide, "No one knows? Y-You... You guys really accomplished it?"
"Yeah, it's all done, Chester just needs to be reset to the grid and he's got his eyesight," Turbo whispered with an excited nod, "I was planning on telling Berri tomorrow morning, but I'll need your's and Tessa's help to get all of the dragons here. I want Royal and Balba to be the first thing Chester sees."
"Oooo and THEN you should have Chester try and guess which one of the girls is Berri," Wren bobbed a nod, to which Turbo grinned in equally as excited delight. Wren rubbed his hands together in whole eagerness and beamed ear to ear, "Oh this is going to be so good. I'll do whatever I can to help."
"Tessa's going to get all the dragons together tomorrow morning, probably around ten, you can just message her and meet up with her then," Turbo explained gently, "I'm going to cook Berri breakfast and, well... I'll think of some way to break the exciting news to her."
"She's going to freak out," Wren shook his head slowly, "Tomorrow's gunna be AWESOME."
"It's our secret," Turbo assured with a nod, to which Wren diligently nodded in agreeing, as well. Turbo gave Wren one last little smile of cheeky conclusion as he narrowed his gaze, "She'll never see it comin."
