A/N: Alright, you guys, it's that time again - sketchdump requests! I'm going to be posting one massive sketchdump, to my deviantART, of drawing requests you have, of any scene of Defying Code thusfar. If you have a scene you'd like to see drawn, PLEASE let me know either by reviewing, or noting me through deviantART. Once it's posted, I'll let you guys know and you can go check it out.

I know I tried to do a sketchdump very early on in this story, but the handful of doodles I had gotten done got wiped, cause my old computer puked... So, now that we have 53 chapters to pick and choose from, have at it! Let me know in the reviews, guys! Thank you! :D

*Chapter 53*

Tessa, Oliver, Penny and Zane slowly climbed the small, though arched hilltop near their spot on the beach. It was crowned with long, summer grass; EZ Living's spring rains made it's tropical foliage boast the true beauty of the game. Lickity suddenly exhaled a hard, loud snort of a sneeze as she shook her head and a few flowers fluttered wildly in the air; everyone in the group jolted with curious laughter as they looked back at their bumbling, dragon companion.

"I think you were right," Penny giggled softly as Lickity slowly trotted to keep up, "Shes going to sleep very well tonight."

"Which is good," Zane grumbled with a loving smile towards Lickity, nonetheless, "She kept waking me up last night. I think she was restless."

"She does that to me sometimes," Tessa agreed as the five ventured to the top of the hill, "Usually to go to the bathroom, though. She'll keep me up as long as she can if it will afford her a belly rub."

"She's just a big lug, really," Penny smiled as their footsteps fell into rhythm, "Though, the way she was acting towards Selka, that one time... Sheesh..."

"Wait, what?" Zane wrinkled his nose and gave Penny a curious smile, as if maybe she was mistaking someone.

Tessa furrowed her eyebrows lightly and pushed past the three. Zane averted his quick attention to her and watched her casually push on, towards the nearing cliff. The three, including Lickity, slowly moseyed to a curious drone of a walk, as if they were nervous to keep up with Tessa's brooding steps. Zane eagerly peered his attention to Penny and Oliver, though they gave him almost apologetic smiles.

"...What happened?" Zane wondered with softer, though deeper curiosity. The rolling wind, on the sloping cliff they were on, blew their hair and clothes about, in such a way, as if to envelope Penny, Zane and Oliver in their own little world. Tessa pushed on, though the three finally noticed once she neared the edge of the cliff, a good two dozen or so feet away.

"It was the day your loft was vandalized," Penny said softly as she averted her knowing gaze from the swaying green grass to Zane's nervous stare, "She knew it was Selka, and his gang."

"Lickity went after him?" Zane wondered as he glanced at Tessa, from afar; her long, auburn hair flickered with the wind as she gazed over EZ Living's vast ocean.

"Tessa went after him," Penny corrected softly, "Lickity was merely a snarling dog on a chain."

"What exactly happened?" Zane wondered, he felt his heart pulse at a nervous rate.

"She wrecked the snot out of him," Oliver chuffed as he gazed down at the ground, curiously, "Woulda made dad proud, for sure."

"She ended his life three times, down a back alley in your town," Penny cocked an eyebrow.

"She did that... For me?" Zane slumped his shoulders and threw his gaze towards Tessa; he curiously kept his eyes glued to the back of her head in a fit of sudden knowing.

"For you," Penny quipped with a calm, loving smile as she side eyed Zane.

Zane let his gaze practically meld into Tessa's pretty figure, from afar. EZ Living's sun was finally attempting to make it's decent over the crystal, ocean waters. The sky still boasted a hot blue, though the horizon hung onto an eager, painterly sunset. The sky was littered with massive, thunderheads, though they were far in the distance, as if to suggest a storm was brewing tonight. Zane felt his lips curl into a curious smile as he finally braved his feelings and let his eyes remain glued to Tessa's curvy body, her bare back was lightly strapped with her red bikini and her baggy surf shorts draped her legs. She seemed content, staring out to the vast nothingness, though Zane knew she had a lot buzzing around in her head, and most of it was because of him.

"Boy, do I feel like a jerk," Zane said through a hard breath as the three slowly began to push on, "That was also the day I-I... I pushed her away."

"Well," Oliver hissed through a sigh and shot Zane a smile, "At least it's in the past, y'know? I still say keep an eye out for Selka."

"At this point, it might be in the reverse order, Ol," Penny muttered through grit teeth as she shot Zane a knowing look; he assured a nod and furrowed his eyebrows deeply, though the four gently approached Tessa. As tenderly as he could, he let his warm hand softly slide to the middle of her back, on her bare skin; any chance he dared to feel the softness to her metaphorical, hard shell was blinding, sweet, delirious news to his brain.

"You gunna chicken out?" Zane joked with a smile as he leaned over lightly and tried to catch eyes with her. She finally pierced his eyes with her golden, hazel eyes and looked as if she had snapped back to Arcade. She largely wrinkled her nose and beamed.

"Yeah, right," Tessa laughed gently as Lickity bellowed a nervous, though excited noise and peered over the cliff; the four joined her in anxiousness.

"Oh, it's not so bad," Oliver waved his large hand as he expectantly gazed at his peers. The cliff side hugged a deep pit of a pool at the bottom that eventually stemmed out into the ocean. The water below was crystal clear, the white sands at the very bottom of the makeshift pool easily housed a few beds of short seaweed.

"That's a lot farther of a drop than I expected!" Penny worried, though her excited smile never faltered.

"Alright, you guys ready?" Zane beamed a curious smile as he peered to each of his friends; Lickity exhaled a hard noise and bent her lower half to the ground, though she stuck her rear in the air a little, as if to get on her mark.

"No," Penny squealed lightly as the five were frozen stiff in anticipation.

"Three, two, one!" Zane yelled, though just as soon as everyone tensed, he quickly jolted and grabbed Tessa's arm, to stop her from jumping.

With loud, excited yells, Penny, Oliver and Lickity all took a few running steps and lunged off the cliff. After a few seconds, the sound of loud splashes could be heard, as well as Lickity flapping about and throwing a delighted fit. Tessa exhaled a startled noise and, in the whirl of being stopped, she eagerly peered at Zane in dewy curiosity. He largely grappled for her hands and pulled her closer to him. She giggled in confusion, though as if EZ Living sought out to encourage Zane's tender act, the wind quickly picked up around the two. Tessa's hair lightly flicked around her body as the two gazed at each other, the dream like whirl of chaos sat the two in a deafening bubble of almost needy understanding. Tessa's smile never faltered, though without thinking, she slid her hands lightly to the tops of Zane's shoulders. Though there was a decent amount of distance between the two, she still couldn't help but feel as if these tempting little acts of romance were proverbial teases; a nagging want with a hot, dull prod that begged her to think about the inevitable.

"I can't believe they fell for that," Zane chuckled lightly as the wind licked their hair about, their dream like bubble held true to a reality they were certain was only their imagination.

"I almost did," Tessa giggled softly, though she furrowed her eyebrows and just barely shook her head, as if to question his joking notion.

"I was just told what you did to Selka, the day my loft was vandalized," Zane said softly above the breeze; Tessa lightly let her facial expression slope to soft knowing.

She finally braved her girly emotions and looked down to Zane's bare chest and shoulders. He was lightly sculpted, with a gentle bit of a trail of soft, black hair that trickled down his center; Tessa could feel her heart dip with the reminder that his hair wasn't naturally black. She angrily shook her thoughts away and re-glued her attention to Zane's eyes.

"I thought I told you, in The Flip Side, what I did?" Tessa wondered softly.

"You might have," Zane said through an apologetic sigh, "My mind was just too jumbled to remember... Thank you... You risked your life, doing that, y'know."

"I wasn't worried about my life," Tessa gave him a curious smirk, "I knew I'd be just fine. Lickity was a massive threat, as well... I knew I had to beat it into his thick skull, somehow, that he was messing with the wrong girl."

"Is that why him and his group were ganging up on you, yesterday?" Zane wondered with a frown; Tessa nodded and found it hard to believe that those events were merely yesterday.

"Yep," Tessa scoffed, though the two flinched once Lickity suddenly shot past the cliff they were on with her massive, sharp wingspan.

She grumbled a curious noise and banked a u-turn; she finally landed and trot up to the two. Tessa and Zane lightly let go of each other, though with the annoyed twinkle in Lickity's eye, they knew what she was up to. They yelled nervous noises of protest as Lickity lightly opened her wingspan and stiffened her neck. She flattened her ears to her head and, like a massive, shaggy dog, she violently shook all the water her fur and feathers were harboring, which practically doused Zane and Tessa. The two yelled and laughed as they held their hands out in defense of themselves. Lickity grumbled a loud noise and suddenly shot a hard chuff out of her bat like nostrils. She bared her fangs and finally got her bearings again, though she looked rather smug.

"Lickity, not fair!" Tessa laughed, though Zane grabbed her arm and tugged her lightly.

"C'mon," Zane urged as the two apprehensively took a few daring steps towards the edge of the cliff and finally took the plunge.

"Oh, they're in for it," Penny giggled as her and Oliver stumbled towards the small, sandy shore; they were drenched.

"I'd be disappointed if Lickity didn't toss them over the cliff, herself," Oliver beamed, though he looked up just in time to see the large splash from Tessa and Zane. He wrinkled his nose and nodded once, "Had to have been something!"

"That was so fun," Penny hissed as she nudged Oliver, though he gently nudged her back and ruffled his large hand over his wet, jet black hair.

"I don't know if I have the energy to climb that hill, again," Oliver laughed as his smile widened; his sister and Zane slowly stumbled out of the sloshing water and onto the shore.

"Lickity's mean," Tessa urged playfully as she grabbed her drenched hair and wrung it out over the front of her body, though Penny largely rolled her eyes.

"You tricked us! That's not fair!" Penny laughed as Tessa and Zane finally, though clumsily, approached. Lickity gently glided down the cliffside and landed ankle deep in the water, her large wings created a few gusts of wind before she finally tucked them to her body again.

"What a rush," Zane hissed as he took a step backwards and looked straight up the cliffside they all had just jumped down.

It was lined with bright green tropical plants of all sorts, as the lazy, sloping cliffside was shadowed by the sun, and kept a few red rock coves a secret from the rest of EZ Living. As if the lapping waves had worn gaping holes through the mountain side, the coves were littered with shallow tide pools and sandy sprawls of mini beaches. Large arches of the gorgeous, tan-red rock looked loved by the ocean's strong tide. Just through a few of the arches of the coves, Tammy and Emery could be seen in the distance underneath their large, orange, beach umbrella. Zane finally came back to Arcade and peered at his group of friends. He raised his eyebrows and felt his heart sink into a calm disposition, as if the only place he'd ever want to exist was right here, with the people who accepted him. He lightly beamed a gentle smile and assessed each and every single person before him.

He knew his and Penny's relationship had kindled from a light friendship to something deeper, a trust they had instilled in another, and Zane was forever grateful for her keeping him in check, when it came to his actions towards Tessa. Underneath her shy, polite Fluggerbutter demeanor, she was fierce and bold, something he was certain she got from none other than Taffyta. Oliver was slowly becoming a brotherly figure in his life, something of which he desired most. Somewhere, deep down, the feeling of family hung onto the back of his mind, as if lost memories awaited somewhere for him to find one day, the tug of finding a place to finally belong hung true in the depths of his aching heart. He aways hoped, somehow, he'd gain a guy friend that treated him like family. He had no doubts Oliver would fill that position, over time. He finally peered to Tessa and felt his heart dip in curious delight; he wasn't sure if it was the fire in her eyes or the strength of her heart that drew him in like a moth to a flame. He felt his heart pang in a nervous twinge of wonder. He knew User-made gamers and self-programmed gamers never ran in the same circles, let alone fell in love. He wondered just how their little ember would grow, though he so hoped the aspect of the lingering cliche of their 'forbidden love' wouldn't chase her away from him. He knew his world was brighter with her in it, and he wasn't about to let it go; no matter the costs.

"Zane lost his faux-hawk," Oliver chuckled as he pointed; Zane nervously touched the top of his head, though he realized that his hair was just flattened to his head.

"Scared me," Zane hissed with an annoyed smile, Tessa nudged him and curiously peered at him. The sight of him without his signature hairstyle was foreign.

"That was so fun," Penny chimed as Tessa lulled her arm over her shoulder. Penny beamed and easily hugged her around the back of her waist.

"Seriously," Zane beamed happily as his eyes scanned the high cove walls and ceilings.

"Think Dead Zed has any spots, like this?" Oliver wondered curiously, "Surely we could get away with more, there."

"You could get away with anything you want," Zane eased nonchalantly as his eyes continued to scan the curious structure of the place. Penny and Tessa nervously glanced at each other before they largely peered at Zane as he continued, "It's not like I'd kick you out, or anything."

"...What?" Oliver heaved a hard chuckle as he shook his head, "What do you mean? You don't have that power, only Zed does."

"... Welp, looks like I'm already terrible at planning my reveal," Zane said through a hard sigh as he slumped his shoulders and gave Tessa and Penny a dull stare. They reciprocated with apologetic smiles and gentle, understanding notions.

"What do you mean?" Oliver furrowed his eyebrows and gestured towards Zane in a mildly annoyed manner. Zane slumped his shoulders and gave Oliver a humbled look with his eyebrows raised.

"Ol, I'm Zed," He eased, though Oliver wrinkled his nose and shook his head lightly, with a bemused smile.

"Yeah, and I'm Queen of the User-world," Oliver barked, which immediately had Tessa and Penny in stitches.

"I'm telling you the truth," Zane laughed softly lulled his arms to his sides and lightly side eyed Oliver.

"You're not the last to know, if that makes you feel better," Tessa uttered to him, though he shot the three an annoyed smile.

"Prove it," Oliver dared as he crossed his arms and peered at Zane down his nose. Without moving, Zane lightly darted his attention to Tessa.

"What do you want from me!" Tessa cried with a hard, annoyed laugh.

"Tess," Zane beamed as he glanced at Oliver, "The only way to prove it is my hair."

"So what do you want me to do about it?" Tessa and Penny continued to giggle, though Zane playfully rolled his eyes and gestured to himself.

"Remember what I said?" Zane grumbled through an amused smile, "I set limitations on my code, when I'm Zane... The only way I can get back to being Zed is if I do it myself, in my code room, or if you glitch and wig out my code."

"Alright, joke's over, real funny," Oliver lulled in an annoyed tone as he waved his hand around.

"Well, I don't know how to glitch on my own," Tessa's playful demeanor slowly sunk as she gazed down at her hands, though her eyes tenderly gripped onto Zane's. He raised his eyebrows lightly and gestured her to come closer.

"Of course you do," Zane eased tenderly to her, she lightly followed suit and neared him. He held out his arm for her and gestured for her to grip her hand around his wrist, "Just think about what you need to do. Your code is an extension of yourself. It's underneath your skin, inside your body. It's at your center... All you have to do is let it grow and expand. Once it's beyond your circuits, your body will do the rest. Just focus on the task at hand."

"Alright," Tessa eased softly as she peered down at her slightly larger hand, that was gripped around Zane's wrist.

She furrowed her eyebrows in hard concentration and could feel a billowing urge from her core begin to blob about in a delightful, almost agitated way. Before she could worry if she was doing it wrong, she suddenly felt a heightened sense of electricity come over her as she focused all of her energy on the palm of her hand, that was gripping Zane's wrist. She largely flinched as her hot purple code came alive with Zane's deep blue coding, like wildfire to his skin, though in the midst of the code befuddlement, their code zipped about in an electric shock of nervous, unedited confusion. An electric silver dance of unfamiliar code that almost tried it's hardest to keep, almost in a fit of aggressive passion, though the two yanked their hands away from each other, out of instinct, and in the whirl of the delightful chaos, they stared hard into each other's eyes, as if they had just briefly got a glimpse into each other's souls. She almost totally forgot what her motive was; to glitch his code back to how he was programmed.

"User almighty, you were telling the truth!" Oliver hissed in a hard breath of surprise as he shoved his hands to the side of his head and took a few steps away from Zed, "Y-You're... You're Zed!"

"Why would I joke about this?" Zed laughed softly as he merely glanced at Oliver, though his heart raced at the speed of light as he tried his hardest to keep his gaze to Tessa's, as if they were suddenly billowing with a billion questions. He could see Penny's wide, curious smile in his peripheral, which made his heart race even faster.

"I don't know, but this is so cool!" Oliver grappled Zed's arm and lightly shook it, which shook Zed free of his electrifying thoughts, "You know all the good spots in your game, yeah?"

"For cliff diving?" Zed finally let his blue eyes grip onto Oliver's in mild, amused confusion, though Oliver flinched.

"Well, yeah," Oliver shrugged, "But into water... I wouldn't want to go diving off of a cliff that didn't have clear water at the bottom! Are you crazy?"

"Yeah," Zed breathed through a chuckled, though him and Tessa firmly caught eyes in a heightened fit of dewy, bashful curiosity, "...Call me nuts."