Song Listened To -
Inner Sanctum by James Newton Howard
Spiller - The Borrow Arrietty
*Chapter 73*
After a long week of academy, family gatherings, and daily visits to Dead Zed, the beckoning weekend finally made its arrival. With her usualSaturday routines, she woke with Sugar Rush's glorious sun. As her parents, aunts and uncles all prepared for a usual, busy, weekend racing day, Tessa quietly slipped out of the castle with her flying companion. As easily as she could, her and Lickity took to Sugar Rush's quiet, yet still deliciously smelling morning air.
Within minutes, she rushed through her game's wires, in and out of Game Central Station, and into her second home; Dead Zed's morning environment was similar to Sugar Rush's in many ways, though it held onto the night's humid air, which was on the cusp of being too warm to need a jacket. Zed's game was quiet, and Tessa was certain she'd likely catch Zed asleep in his loft. She knew it'd be a lazy morning; something she had nothing against. She was eager to get to Zed. Somehow every crawling moment with him seemed to make their growing tension give the two an unbearable delight. She smiled and took a deep inhale of her second home's air. Her lungs filled to full capacity as Lickity's long, bat wings slowly flapped. They zipped past the tops of the jungle's gorgeous, swaying canopy trees. The game eked of gentle mystery, the sunrise on the horizon painted the sky a warm, kind mix of morning purples, blues and yellows.
Just as Tessa was about to relax and enjoy the sight of the puffy, morning clouds they were about to sail into, something down below caught Tessa's eye. She flinched and lightly gripped the handles on Lickity's saddle, though she felt her heart suddenly stop as she noticed the ground roll, as if on a coiled system, a revolving belt the land was latched to. She exhaled a noise of question and pat Lickity's neck, as if to inquire if she could see the change to the land that was suddenly taking place. Lickity's ear lightly ticked to tune her attention to her owner, though she garbled a small noise of assurance, as if to give comfort to Tessa, as if she knew exactly where she was; the sky was her home. Tessa let her shoulders slump slightly as she watched the jungle mysteriously shape shift and roll into a completely different location, as if the game was just one massive rubrics cube.
Trees rustled in a chaotic way, from far below, though the game acted as if nothing was disturbed at all. Tessa wrinkled her nose and, what was once Zed's loft in the distance was now flat terrain. Once the land settled, Tessa eagerly got a good look around, as did Lickity. Tessa turned around and raised her eyebrows; far off in the distance, a pale outline of Dead Zed's entrance's peak could be seen. Just as Tessa opened her mouth and gripped the handles of Lickity's saddle, Lickity lightly tucked her left wing close to her and banked right. With much grace, she turned around and set course for the direction of Dead Zed's entrance, as well as Zed's loft. Tessa heaved a soft sigh and could feel Lickity kick it into high gear, as if these little detours were merely an annoyance, if anything. She largely flapped a few times and picked up her speed; it was clear she was excited to get to Zed's loft to relax for the day.
After a few minutes of quick flying, Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and hunkered close to Lickity, as she continued to gain speeds in the sky. Tessa lightly laid close to Lickity's spine and ran her hand along the back of Lickity's neck, as if to inquire why she was suddenly in such a bigger hurry than prior. She felt her heart drop as she glanced over her shoulder; she peered behind the two and was relieved to see that nothing was following them, though she was certain that was the vibe her dragon was giving off. She fell into rhythm with Lickity's motion; she felt unsettled, as did Lickity, though she continued to feel confused, as if Lickity possibly knew something she didn't.
"What's up, Lickity, you're freaking me out," Tessa muttered softly to her, Lickity's ear lightly twitched to hone in on Tessa's voice.
With a gentle, nervous grumble, it was clear Lickity was itching to get away from the area they were in, whenever they were. Tessa gripped her eyes to the still far away, pale outline of a mountain on Dead Zed's horizon. She heaved a soft sigh and pat Lickity's wing, as if to assure her Lickity could take it from here. As if switching drivers, Tessa gently gripped Lickity's saddle for assurance and let Lickity do whatever she needed to feel comfortable; Tessa jolted as her dragon easily continued to do anything and everything to cut the sky in half. Tessa solidified herself to Lickity and was prepared for the race to Zed's loft; she furrowed her eyebrows hard and embraced the viciously ripping wind that pushed into them.
As if the universe was easily out to get them, Tessa suddenly felt her heart dip in a squeeze of electric fear; as if on a blur of a cue, four or five thick, quick ropes suddenly whirred into their line of sight. With no time to evade, Lickity exhaled a loud noise of grief and, like vices to bare skin, tight lassos suddenly gripped around Lickity's neck, front leg, and left wing. Within the blink of an eye, Lickity was suddenly dragged from the skies, with much ease. Tessa hollered a noise of scared confusion and gripped Lickity as tightly as she could. Through the loud, ripping chaos of pushing through mangles of jungle branches, Lickity's body finally found the ground. With a hard bang and a long skid on a massive concrete plain, the two finally settled.
Tessa quickly sat up and held her hand to her forehead. She immediately looked around for the perpetrator and felt a sear of adrenaline suddenly course through her veins; a protective rage she knew well, like nothing could stand in her way of defending her loved ones. Without any questions asked, she quickly jumped off of Lickity and whirled around a few times; not a soul could be seen, though the tight, angry lassos remained taught and gripped to Lickity. They each vanished into a different point of the jungle, though the two were planted in the center of a concrete clearing, with intricate, beautiful displays of artwork and writing all along it, as if it were maybe a gathering point, or an arena of sorts. Tessa's heart raced as she panted in pure fear, though her skin pricked as Lickity suddenly exhaled a hard few heaves of coughs, as if the landing to her chest had done some sort of temporary damage. Tessa immediately whirled around and rushed to Lickity's aid.
"Lickity, you okay?" Tessa worried in a hiss of a loud whisper as she pushed close to Lickity.
Lickity pushed herself up on her feet and gave Tessa a look of distressed nervousness. Tessa harshly furrowed her eyebrows and, as quick as lightning, she rushed to Lickity's neck and grabbed the tight lasso that was near strangling her. With all of her wrecking force, she tugged hard on it and, with a few angry grunts, she finally was able to snap the rope, with the help of her searing glitching powers. Lickity exhaled a hard grunt of a noise as he rope fell away from it's clutch on her wind pipe. Lickity loudly hacked a deep, rumbling cough and flapped her head a little, as if to shake the confusion. Tessa immediately rushed to the lassos tied to Lickity's left front leg and wing and was quick to release her from her prison. Tessa easily pushed on Lickity's side, to help her get to her feet, and rushed to attempt to get to the skies.
"C'mon, Lickity, we gotta get out of here, let's go," Tessa said softly as Lickity easily bowed to let Tessa aboard.
"I know racing's in your code, but I have lassos for days," barked a figure that emerged into the gentle clearing; Tessa whirled around in fear and clenched her fists, "You wanna fly away, we'll just keep dragging you down."
"Leave us alone," Tessa stated firmly as she stood in front of her lightly injured friend. She held her arms out and behind her, to protect Lickity further, "We're just flying through. We mean no harm."
"That's what every rider says," said the figure that finally came closer, "Whoever is brave enough to tame a dragon has a fighter's spirit."
He stopped about a dozen feet away and put his hands on his hips. The clearing all around him shone through Dead Zed's glorious morning sun; hazy green and grey jungle trees lined the area. This stranger was about Oliver's height, though his figure was slender and fit. He sported a pair of tattered cargo shorts, dirty bare feet and a proper Dead Zed shirt, though torn in certain spots. As unkept as he looked, he still seemed cleanly; his dark blue eyes held a good dose of intelligence. Tessa quickly assessed him and felt her heart sink in a dip of confusion. As her clouded thoughts cleared, she finally noticed the dark, greyish blue color of his hair. It was long, though it was tightly tucked back into a messy, small bun on the back of his head; it was clear his hair was near being dreads. She slumped her shoulders lightly and felt a wave of confusion come over herself.
"Who are you?" Tessa pressed, she could feel Lickity's still demeanor behind her practically beg Tessa to take to the skies.
"The better question is, why is Sugar Rush's princess hanging around Dead Zed, with one of my brother's stolen dragons?" He asked with a familiar, cheeky smile.
"Stolen? I didn't steal Lickity," Tessa argued, Lickity exhaled a small, tired grumble.
"Don't let Orph see this," another voice suddenly burst their bubble; he stepped into the clearing to Tessa's and Lickity's right, "He'll have a hay-day."
"Look, we just were passing through, can we please leave?" Tessa argued, she began to feel as if there were possible more eyes on them than they could count.
"Quarter alerts are in a half an hour, Finn," said the new stranger, he slowly strolled up to the dark blue-haired foe.
Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and assessed the new soul added to the confusion. A little shorter than Finn, he was built a bit stronger. They each sported a similar outfit, though he looked a bit more youthful, in his face. Tessa felt the gears in her brain whir at the speed of light; the sheer fact that this new individual had hair such a vibrant hue of light blue, it was almost white. She raised her eyebrows in gentle surprise and caught eyes with Finn.
"You're Finn," Tessa breathed, though she kept Lickity's safety her first priority, "... You guys are Dead Zed's racers?"
"Yeah, with quarter alerts coming," reminded the other boy, his bright blue eyes hooked to Finn in a string of mild annoyance, "You guys can't hang out here and drag down unsuspecting creatures before game day."
"Orph was wanting more dragons, I didn't realize this one had a rider," Finn's gentle eyes fixed to Tessa's, "I also didn't realize this used to BE one of Orph's dragons."
"Really?" Said the other racer, he crossed his arms lightly and, much to Tessa's dismay, he looked over Lickity and cocked an eyebrow, as if to size Lickity up, "Is this the one that got away?"
"Clearly," Finn grumbled as he gestured to Tessa, "To answer your question, yes... We are two of Dead Zed's racers. I'm Finn, this is Jax."
"Great, now that we've all enjoyed this stupid tea party, I've got somewhere I've got to be," Tessa glowered, she remained solid before Lickity, "One more drag down to the Earth and I'll be certain Zed and I eat lunch with your delete buttons on display."
Tessa glared at Finn, though it was obvious their goofy, light moods immediately swapped to gentle, though somber concern. Finn furrowed his eyebrows and crossed his arms lightly, though Jax shot him a nervous, yet hopeful sort of look.
"... You know Zed?" Finn asked softly; Tessa largely rolled her eyes.
"He's only my boyfriend," Tessa argued, though Lickity garbled a noise of curiosity as, suddenly, the bushes from behind Jax and Finn rustled a bit.
"You brought down Orph's old dragon and a future sister in law?!" Hollered another guy that quickly burst into the clearing, someone of whom was clearly eavesdropping; Finn flinched and looked over his shoulder, though he quickly beamed a wide smile back at Tessa.
"Two-for," Jax laughed as he crossed his arms; two other boys quickly pushed into the conversation.
"A-are you all racers?" Tessa wondered with a smile that wanted to surface, though she tried her hardest to remain stoic; with the nervous vibe Lickity was still giving off, she remained tuned to her wave-length. She knew Lickity's intuition was a lot sharper. The four boys bumbled into a small, loose huddle before Tessa and Lickity, as if they were easily young brothers of Tessa's, long-lost.
"Yes," Finn stated gently, "First on the roster is Tej."
"Nice to meet you," Tej lightly waved, his deep and tender voice coated his whole existence gentlemanly; he looked extraordinarily shy, more so than what Tessa was used to with Zed.
His shy, light emerald eyes held to hers in bashful, curious delight. He was the shortest, though he held true to Finn's gangly figure. His hair, which was a very close color to Candlehead's hair, was short and in a similar style to Zed's, though his faux-hawk wasn't as prominent; just messy. He gently waved and looked down to the ground.
"Next is Jax," Finn stated, Jax gently nodded in a mildly confused regard. Finn motioned his hand in hard annoyance, "User knows where Orph is."
"Middle child, always running away," Jax muttered with a small, annoyed smirk; Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in mild confusion as a sweep of hard realization slowly was crawling over her.
"Fourth is Duke," Finn gestured to the fourth body that made himself present.
"Hey," Duke eased as he pushed his hands into his pockets. He looked similar to Jax, though he was a little taller. Strongly built with short, messy hair that was such a dark shade of blue, it was almost black. He gave Tessa a small smile, though it was clear all four boys were on edge on just who they let into their comfort bubble.
"I'm fifth on the roster," Finn motioned to himself, though the air of the group lightly dipped to that of confused sorrow, "Last is... Well, Zed..."
"You know where he is?" Tej braved, he gave Tessa a look of mild hurt. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in gentle confusion and felt as if she suddenly held the key to the universe.
"Yeah, I-I... I was just on my way to his home, but the jungle shape-shifted on me," Tessa lightly explained.
"Douche-bag lands a princess but can't even come find his own brothers and give an apology?" Duke muttered in an annoyed tone, he side-eyed Finn, who was clearly the oldest of the small group of boys.
"Brothers?" Tessa hissed softly in growing surprise.
"Guess he's never mentioned us, before," Finn chuckled, as did the other three boys. Finn hooked his dark eyes to Tessa, though his smile was just as kind and welcoming as Zed's, "I'll be the first to make this family reunion awkward. We're Zed's younger brothers."