Reviews :

chuckiboo : Unfortunately, this go around, they do not bump into Mr. Litwak - though, Mr. Litwak DOES play a very vital role in their endeavor, and they interact with him in another way, other than face-to-face :) You'll see why!


Song Listened To :

Never Or Right Now by Eflf

Dance by DNCE

Turning Page by Sleeping At Last


*Chapter 248*

With eyes shut, Berri grimaced in tight, nervous anticipation, though as the only sound present flood her ears with the ringing of their raw success, heavy panting was the only thing abundant. As a rush of sensation hit her veins, the feeling of blood under her skin and nothing more, Berri allowed the squeeze of her arms, about Lash's rib cage, to loosen amidst the heaving of their continued panting. In a squeeze of a daring look at the world, once and for all, Berri peaked open one eye and tried to let her eyes soak in their much darker surroundings. Although dim, Berri's eyes stabbed down the barrel of the incredibly massive, gorgeous, intricate laser heavily stationed at one end of their dark, musty room. With the sudden whir of a computer that seemingly began to boot up, to their left, Berri remained glued to Lash's figure, all three still desperate to catch her breath. Before Berri could finally attempt to unglue herself from Lash's figure, Lash swallowed hard and huffed the two a notion of nearly mouthed silent.

"Don't speak," Lash just barely whispered amidst their quiet panting, and in pure curiosity, Berri slid her cheek to Lash's chest and sagged her ear to his heart; pounding harder and faster than the heaviest efforts of Theo's bass drum, Berri flinched in shock as her and Wren firmly caught stares in their dim setting. Berri raised her eyebrows in unadulterated surprise at just what was staring back at her. An incredibly handsome creature Wren was, a chiseled jaw, gorgeous, straight blonde hair, piercing, alluring blue eyes, Berri did everything she could to contain her excitement as they both beamed cheeky, cute, knowing smiles tight into each other's eyes. Berri flinched as Lash finally began to lower his arms from their rigid, straight positioning above his head, he tenderly ushered the two a whispering notion amidst their still heavy, quiet breathing, "We need to see if we're alone before we celebrate..."

"It might be way too late, I'm about ready to piss myself, here," Wren whispered as he gently removed himself from Lash and looked down at his hands, though as him and Berri stood to correction, all three urgently peered to each other in hot shock.

Lash lowered Zed's light disc even more and, although eager to assess the two before him, he quickly looked about the office space they were in and was thrilled that there was continued silence. With a push, Lash's confident, heavy footsteps pressed to the door of said dim office space and was hit with a small beam of California sunshine. With golden eyes that cautiously peered out the crack of the door, he finally pushed it open a little bit further and was thrilled to feel Berri's and Wren's presence tight on his heels. Although grateful the camaraderie, Lash tenderly pressed his hand back into Berri's upper hip, instructing her and Wren to stay put whilst he scouted out. Diligent with the quiet request, Berri froze and kept her eyes tight to Lash as his beautiful new figure hit the splay of sunlight coming in from outside Litwak's. Like a splash of dark caramel, his skin practically glowed with the warmth of the summertime California sunshine, a chorus of easy goodness paired with the strike of vivid, golden brown eyes, his attentive gaze dart about the show of their physical home in a great amount of caution, though Berri couldn't help but beam the widest, proudest smile.

Lash gently extended his arm a little, to confirm to Berri and Wren to stay put, though Berri nearly flinched in the continuous rile of surprise the second Lash glanced his attention to Berri, dead on. With goosebumps that plagued Berri's skin, she immediately took note that, much like her and Wren, Lash's eyes were normal and showed a glossy amount of sclera, though the punch of gold he usually sported, inside their circuited world, was still present. As Lash turned to peer deeper into the Arcade about them, the splay of sunshine that hit his darker brown skin easily showed the raise of the black hair on his arms in the presence of aggressive goosebumps. Knowing it certainly wasn't cold in the building, she was well aware Lash was concealing a very massive out-of-body experience, just now. She grinned and dared to huff a shaky giggle, and with such, Lash finally beamed a cute, nervous smile of disbelief and tossed his gaze back to where he had left Berri and Wren.

"Coast clear?" Wren stated just above a whisper, though the two largely flinched the second Lash inhale a tight, readied breath and broadened the press of his raspy, masculine voice.

"Hello?" Lash called out to the whole, quiet Arcade, and through the gentle, tinkering noises of the plethora of game cabinets, he tilted his head and very eagerly listened to any signs of life; after about a solid ten seconds, he took a few braver steps out and glossed his golden eyes about the Arcade's still, warm glow, "Anyone there?"

"I-I know you said we should move fast, but..." Wren started gently as he carefully wormed past Berri's figure and stepped out into the shallow hallway Lash was stationed at the mouth of. Lash grinned in riled disbelief and allowed his wall of apprehension to fall upon realizing the three were alone. Wren shook his head and grinned as Berri finally stepped out into the sunshine, all three beings were visibly shook and rocked in total surprise. Wren heaved a trembling little laugh as Berri tenderly slipped her much littler hand into his, "I-I... I can't believe we made it."

"We fuckin' made it," Lash hissed with a narrow of his gaze in total disbelief, he grappled his shorter, much darker brown hair and blurt an incredulous cough of a laugh, he bent over a little and finally stood, so to gloss his eyes across the gorgeous, sunny arcade before coming back to Wren's and Berri's lines of sight, "Holy shit... WE MADE IT!"

"We aren't in Kansas anymore," Berri choked a hard giggle and allowed her eyes to gloss the place in continuous disbelief, though Wren gently gestured to Berri and, with great tenderness, he took her very long braid in her hair and brought it out in front of her, so she could see the color of it.

"Okay, so... The laser took ALL the saturation from your hair and gave it RIGHT to Lash's skin," Wren's deep voice chuckled as Berri's nearly translucently grey eyes peered down to her once vivid, cerulean blue hair; it was nearly a matte, dark grey with a kiss of a royal blue, almost the same tint as Turbo's skin. She raised her eyebrows in total shock and peered tight to Lash. Wren and Lash erupted into laughter as Lash peered down to his arms and hands in cute curiosity, Wren continued through their firm laughter, "And what did I get?"

"Your cut looks pinker," Berri chimed with a cute smile as she leaned closer to Wren's figure and stood on tip toes, so to properly see the healed gash on his eyebrow, "Usually it's like... A much paler white."

"You look great, you look like you," Lash shrugged, he cutely sagged his hands into his dark pants' pockets, "Your hair looks a touch darker, but... Looks like you had a clean transfer of normality. Berri and I got a toss around."

"This is Ace's hair color," Berri stated in a swing of surprise as she jostled her braid about. Lash and Wren eagerly hooked their hyperrealistic, handsome eye contact tight to hers and smiled, "That makes a world of sense, actually... Ace was conceived HERE. My dad's hair was probably a very similar color."

"So, you're saying, if Ace was conceived in the Arcade, he'd probably have your's and Zed's cerulean hair color?" Wren wondered gently, to which Lash scoffed a shaky noise of disbelief and held his hand to his chest.

"Okay, I-I know I already was gifted this moment after Mara and I swapped, but... You guys..." Lash trailed, and without moving, he eased a cheeky little grin of whole shock and dart his eyes between Berri's and Wren's, "We're... Users..."

"We made it," Berri hissed as she pressed her hands to the sides of her head, though all three beings erupted in hard, excited laughter and began to bounce on their feet in an overflow of joy they couldn't contain anymore, "Holy shit, you guys, WE MADE IT!"

"I can't even BELIEVE it," Wren urged with a shaky laugh as all three beings glommed into a messy group hug full of wails of excitement, grappling squeezes of their arms, bounces on their feet, smiles and shaky laughs of pure shock, the three easily sagged in and out of a few messy twirls of a massive hug before clumsily coming unglued from each other. Though they sagged away, Wren grappled Berri's right arm, alongside Lash's left arm and was glad to see Berri and Lash complete the circle on their end. They tightly huddled with each other as Wren's cute, boyish disposition hissed the two an excited whisper, "Which game do we play first?"

"Do we have time for that?" Berri cheekily whispered in return, she quickly understood that she'd likely have to be the motherly voice of reason, amidst both rambunctious boys, here.

"Oh, Hero's Duty, hands down," Lash garbled loudly with a firm nod as him and Wren suddenly ripped away from their little huddle and began to rocket into the Arcade like children without a single care in the entire world.

"It costs money!" Wren urged in annoyance, though Berri urgently rushed to keep up with both boys.

In the firm steps out into the Arcade, both boys began to happily scour for Hero's Duty's cabinet, and with the whirl of this hyperrealistic situation, Berri huffed a shaky little giggle and looked about in pure disbelief. The rows and rows of games she normally had in inside view of, now out in plain sight, she shook her head and did everything she could to take in Litwak's as a whole. Although a humble, older little arcade, it still sprawled a great deal against the kiss of colorful carpet and higher ceilings. The beam of sunlight flood the front area of Litwak's, alongside a much larger prize counter and separate office area, Berri did everything she could to take it in. Grateful that quarter alerts were really the only thing that brought the attention of the gamers inside the cabinets, she confidently pressed through the rows of cabinets and was shocked at just how quick she was able to bounce from game to game, cabinet to cabinet. What would be long train rides, huge treks down massive stations, was simply a few steps in between the great, beautiful games she had come to know and love. In the twinkle of sunlight, Berri raised her eyebrows and could see the side of Sugar Rush's pink, double-seated cabinet, though just as she was about to hurry over to it, she flinched in surprise and heard a crash from behind the prize counter. In a whirl, she realized Wren and Lash had diverted their path to Hero's Duty and now seemingly began to nose about the prize counter for something specific.

"What are you boys doing?" Berri shrieked with a hard giggle as she approached the glass prize counter.

A cabinet full of all sorts of fun prizes that would be traded in the currency of tickets, Wren stood over Lash with his hands on his hips as Lash grunted and dug through a massive filing cabinet tucked behind the work area of the prize cabinet. Although California's sunshine beat down into the front entrance area of Litwak's, Lash's little corner was dim. Berri was still reeling over the fact that his golden eyes didn't emit light like they normally would. Lash grunted a hard noise and suddenly yanked out a big, leather pouch that jingled with the suspect of coins, and with such, Lash froze and obnoxiously waggled his eyebrows at Wren, alongside a toothy, dork smile.

"Jackpot," Lash whispered, though Wren rubbed his hands together in excitement as Lash pushed to the glass of the counter top that Berri stood on the other side of, where customers would stand.

"What's that?" Berri wondered as the gentle thud of the pouch eased onto the thick glass, though as Lash firmly opened the pouch and peered in, he closed it again and gave Wren and Berri a wide, excited little smile.

"...Alright, guys, what's the ONE thing our world doesn't have, in terms of currency?" Lash chimed, Wren crossed his arms and, although he knew just what Lash had in said pouch, she still remained quiet and let Lash continue on, "The ONE thing our world relies on, but never has access to..."

"Coins?" Berri wondered, though as the word left her mouth her eyes lit up as Lash tenderly pulled out a quarter; he raised his eyebrows in grinning delight as sunlight hit the quarter with a twinkle.

"Behold," Lash hissed as Wren and Berri leaned in closer with ogling, childlike wonder, "Twenty five cents USD... Worth one fourth a dollar, The stuff of American arcades... The quarter, ladies and gentleman."

"Whoa, THIS is a quarter?" Berri wondered with sparkling eyes, she reached into the pouch and grabbed her own. She held it up for inspection and huffed a shaky, elated giggle, "Why do we only get boring bills? I wish we had these shiny coins."

"Would put a whole new meaning to the quarter alert," Wren grumbled with a smile as he, too, reached for a quarter to hold. He raised his eyebrows in scheming delight and side-eyed Lash, "What-say we, uh... Bring back some souvenirs?"

"Oh, believe you-me, I'm bringing back more than just quarters," Lash mumbled as he tucked a few quarters into his pocket and got a good look about Litwak's.

"Why did I think they'd be malleable?" Berri furrowed her brow and gently tapped the hard quarter against the glass.

"Yeah, they DON'T budge," Wren mumbled as he put the quarter in between his teeth and tried to bend it, though Berri huffed a noise of urgency and flagged her hand at him.

"EW, don't put that in your mouth, Wren, you know how many hands have touched that thing? You'll get sick!" Berri stabbed, to which Wren gave her a wildly bemused look of grinning disbelief.

"... From MONEY?" Wren wondered loudly, to which Lash bobbed Wren a nod, bugged his eyes and pat Wren's shoulder.

"Yeah, Earth has crazy amounts of illnesses," Lash assured, to which Wren's demeanor sagged in nervousness, "A lot of which don't have a cure, so, uh... Maybe don't put everything you see in your mouth. I know that may be hard for you."

"... The hell's that supposed to mean!" Wren shrieked as Berri covered her face and blurt a hard laugh, to which Lash perked up and took note of the much larger cabinet about thirty feet behind Berri, "Was that a euphemism for something?"

"It was," Lash chimed cutely with a nod, he grappled the leather pouch of quarters and began to make his way around the other side of the counter, so to be present inside the arcade again, alongside Berri.

"Well at least I get some," Wren barked, though he furrowed his eyebrows in a punch of surprise and, although still on Lash's tail, he grunted an irritated noise and flagged his arms towards Lash, "Dammit, we can't tease you anymore about that."

"Trust me, I've thought about that," Berri mumbled cutely as Lash and Wren rounded the counter, joined Berri's side and pushed beyond her. She turned heel, to follow both boys, and heaved a sarcastically wistful sigh, "The end of an era."

"Yeah, thank God, I can finally relate to you assholes," Lash muttered cutely, though as he began to make an adamant path towards a certain, much larger cabinet and gaming structure, he tossed Wren a cheeky look and waggled his eyebrows in an continuous show of excited, playful surprise, "Alright, so... What-say we have one round of dance-dance?"

"What happened to Hero's Duty?" Berri grunted as she flung her arm out, she tossed her eyes in the direction of Hero's Duty's massive, intimidating cabinet, and though she still could see Sugar Rush's hot pink cabinet in her peripheral, she raised her eyebrows in surprise and noticed Lash scuff his footsteps to a meandering halt and delivered Berri a sassy smile.

"What's wrong, Queen of the stage, you scared of a little dance-off?" Lash's deep voice mumbled, and though it was previously a very bone-chilling thing to catch eyes with Lash, Berri stabbed her shocked gaze tight to Lash's unfamiliar gaze and felt one thing - although a warm, loving and friendly being through the shedding of eons of his tough exterior, Berri could still felt that nervous tingle up her spine as her eyes caught with Lash's still-haunting, alive, golden gaze. Determined to not show a single shred of wavering fear, Berri grinned and shook her head.

"I'll dance you right out the door, dude," Berri stabbed with a wide, girly grin, though Wren rubbed his hands together again and urgently peered down dance-dance's massive cabinet, a two-person dance pad and railings, all adorned with huge lights and speakers, he huffed a chuckle and widened his grin.

"I can't believe I'm going to have a front row seat to this shit-show," Wren staggered through laughter, though Berri rolled her eyes and did whatever she could not to grin.

"It's on," Lash grunted, and though the three were in the clear, in terms of not being caught by anyone, Lash raised an eyebrow and knew he needed to still be on the lookout. Concerned about not doing a whole sweep of Litwak's, Lash's golden eyes dart to the darker corridor in which they emerged, and took note that there was another room deeper in the darkness; said room had a dim light on. Lash grit his teeth, and as tenderly as he could convey seriousness, he carefully sagged the pouch of quarters into Berri's hands and eased the two a serious notion of revisited stillness, "Hang on, guys, I... I just want to do one more sweep of the place, just to make sure we're alone... W-we can have a few minutes of fun, but then we gotta get to business."

"Okay," Berri mumbled as her and Wren grew serious in a tight-lipped show of solid understanding that this wasn't some flippant vacation they could get lost in, however easy that'd be.

"There's another room back there, I just want to make sure we're officially alone," Lash mumbled as he began to step away. He tossed Wren and Berri a look of happy, hopeful eye contact and smiled, "I'll be right back, just... Sit tight, stay low."

"Aye, captain," Wren chirped gently as Lash finally wormed through the mazing rows of cabinets that seemingly had an ebb and flow of a proper pattern on the arcade floor.

Lash tucked his hands into his jacket's side pockets and smiled as he passed every single game cabinet he had only really ever had verbal knowledge of. The stroll past every single little thing the arcade was made of, the bricks of huge surge protectors that wormed behind certain games assured to Lash that those massive, insanely beautiful game stations he, and millions of others, had traversed, the humungous differential he was currently experiencing had his head spinning. He scoffed a silent chuckle of disbelief as he passed what he assumed to be West Arcade station, how tiny it looked on the outside, how confusing the scale of the dimension he was currently in was, he shook his head and pressed closer to the dimmer corridor him, Berri and Wren had popped out of not five minutes ago. With a push, he cautiously eased into the dimmer setting and took note of the gaping office door to his right, a space in which held the proper mechanics, computers, laser and Tron, the room the three had just come from, though a little further down, to his left, was a gape of another office space, seemingly.

With a great amount of silent apprehension, Lash hovered up to the door like a ghost. With his head tilted down and his piercing, golden eyes hooked tight to the gape of the office space, he soaked in everything about this smaller, new space. With a dewy show of gentle innocence, the easy gloss of his eyes around the dimmer office space, Lash tenderly pushed into this room and soaked in the sight of a humble work desk, outfitted with a very nice computer, a desk lamp that was left on, filing cabinets and messy bunches of papers and photos all over the workspace, walls and bulletin boards, Lash scoffed a small noise and very quickly gathered that Mr. Litwak was likely a man of discovery, constantly attempting new things, due to the crazy amount of incredible technology he harbored in his innocent little Arcade. In the gentle turn Lash took to leave Litwak's dim work space, he furrowed his eyebrows as something in the far corner caught his eye. With the toss of his eyes to catch a quick glimpse of it before he vanished out the door, Lash urgently halted to an aggressive stop, dropped his arms and, with the sag of raw, rushing disbelief, Lash held his breath and felt his skin prickle.

Tucked securely into the far corner of Litwak's was a humble cabinet, gorgeous whites and creams that had aged and faded, logos that hit Lash's retinas like a punch to the gut, Lash clutched his chest and snapped his jaw shut in the angry crawl of shivering goosebumps that now careened down his spine. Lash firmly breathed through his nose, longblinked in hot disbelief, shook his head in further, unglued solidarity and finally shut his eyes tight in a clench of a squeeze. Upon reopening his eyes, he landed his gaze on the one cabinet he thought he'd lost forever, sat proudly in the dim glow of Litwak's office, a home he had come to terms with losing for good. Although powered down and likely gathered with dust, sat confidently in Lash's raw, unmoving presence was none other than Turbotime, the one thing he'd move mountains to gain back, now happily and nostalgically in his presence, as if to usher him a whisper of a hello, a reminder that this seed planted was now due to bearing fruit right before his very eyes, the promise that all of his hard work and suffering was to be adamantly rewarded, once and for all.