Song listened to - Jungle Bae by Skrillex
*Chapter 74*
"... Zed has five younger brothers?" Tessa wondered in growing confusion, though Lickity grumbled a small noise, as if she was suddenly expressing to Tessa that the mere fact that she can't talk is what was aiding to all this confusion, "You five are the other racers of Dead Zed?"
"Orph isn't here, but yes," Duke gently shrugged.
"Guess we're not important enough to talk about," Jax dared as he furrowed his eyebrows and gave Tessa a glare that was meant for Zed.
"Surely he knows we still exist," Finn argued gently.
"Of course, he knows you guys are around but..." Tessa lightly trailed off and shrugged a little, "He's never said anything about having family. He always led on that he had no family ...He thinks you guys hate him because he's programmed to be unbeatable."
"Wow," Jax exhaled a hard sigh, all three of his brothers burst out into a hard fit of delighted laughter.
"Screws loose," Duke whirled his finger around; Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in a swipe of ever-growing annoyance.
"He's probably just wiped us out of his memory, altogether," Jax chuckled as he crossed his arms; Finn furrowed his eyebrows and kept his curious state to Tessa.
"... He really hasn't ever mentioned having younger brothers? How long have you guys been together?" Finn wondered lightly.
"I've known Zed for about a year, we've been a couple for maybe four months, now," Tessa eased, though she remained on edge, alongside Lickity's behavior, which was still firmly planted.
"I'm surprised that jerk has friends," Finn stated, in a way that wasn't wholly meant to be a jab at his character, his honest eyes gripped Tessa's in hurt confusion.
"Surely he's the farthest thing from romantic," Jax laughed as he lightly elbowed Duke, "Can you imagine Zeddy-boy having a girlfriend?"
"Far from the truth," Tessa argued gently, "We're really happy together... He's currently going through a coding issue, it might be messing with his memory."
Tessa fixed her eyes to Finn, as did all three of his younger brothers. The two gazed into each other's souls, and for once, Tessa felt as if she had finally stumped these sharp boys. She put her hands on her hips and exhaled a hard, annoyed sigh. She felt it spooky how similar Finn's stare was to Zed's. She held her ground, nonetheless, and made sure Lickity was safe behind her.
"I knew something was up," Finn eased, "Something up with his brain coding, isn't there."
"It's not harmful... And I'm able to get rid of it. It's just taking so long, because the random coding is so fine," Tessa lightly explained.
"Radex," Duke eased to Finn, in a sorrowful tone; Tessa raised her eyebrows in hard surprise and felt her heart jolt as Finn lightly nodded, as if they had information beyond Tessa.
She eased a step away from Lickity, though as if the universe was trying to make it clear to Tessa, to not leave her dragon, the bushes to Tessa's back left rustled.
"Oh, how sweet... The forbidden love of a faux-code and a user-made gamer," Orph suddenly chimed in sickly sweet delight; it was clear he was the rambunctious rebel of the group.
He sauntered into everyone's presence, though Tessa felt a strange knot form in her stomach with the sheer, emotional pain Lickity was emitting. He was about Zed's build and height, though the two inch long mo-hawk atop his head was a solid silver glow of a white. He smiled Tessa a daring smile, one of which mocked Zed's to a T, though it seemed as if Orph had no problem expressing this side of him, unlike Zed. Tessa raised her eyebrows in hard surprise and felt as if every single nerve ending in her coding was screaming to protect Lickity; she knew, in this raw moment, she was now face to face with Lickity's old, abusive owner.
"Didn't get deleted, didja?" Orph chuckled as he gestured his hands, though Tessa felt her heart dip with the fact that he was armed with a long, sharp, black whip, "Gunna find a way to get the unbeatable code outta him, and keep it as a souvenir?"
"Orph, lay off," Finn rolled his eyes.
"Have you discovered that the drapes, do indeed, match the carpet?" Orph motioned to his hair, though Tessa knew he was insinuating his notion towards Zed; Tessa harshly furrowed her eyebrows and kept her strict pose in front of Lickity.
"Is Zed the first of you boys to interact with a woman?" Tessa dared; Orph raised his eyebrows in hard surprise and looked back to his four brothers. They each lightly gaped and exhaled laughs and knowing notions. Orph motioned to Tessa, though he gave her a cheeky smile.
"Zed certainly snagged a sharp one," Orph laughed, "Surely you've got him tied around your finger."
"Look, I've really got to get going," Tessa stated in hard annoyance as she tucked her hair behind her ear, "This has been great and all, but we've got to go."
"Ohh," Orph said in sarcastic sorrow, "How can you fly away... Without your dragon?"
Tessa opened her mouth to defend Lickity, though with a sharp, aggressive whistle, Orph gestured his hand slightly. Tessa flinched as Lickity suddenly followed his order, though it was much to her dismay. Her ears laid flat to her head, as if the sharp whistle hurt her ears. Tessa whirled around and gazed at Lickity in surprise as she slowly began to back step away from Tessa. She quickly glared back at Orph and felt a sear of electric confusion swipe over her.
"What are you doing?" Tessa coldly urged, "Leave her alone! She's mine! She's not yours anymore!"
"She's always been mine... She was never yours to begin with," Orph dared as Lickity finally separated herself from Tessa, albeit with much dismay, "Thank you kindly for returning her to me."
"You can't have her back!" Tessa hollered as she clenched her fists.
"Orph," Finn dared in hard annoyance, he noticed Tessa's fists begin to faintly glow with her wrecking, angry purple circuitry.
"Oh, I can't?" Orph wondered with sly cheekiness, he gave Tessa a wide smile and a sassy side-eye, "Surely you can, if she'll obey YOUR orders, above mine."
"Lickity, c'mon! You know where you got those scars," Tessa urged to Lickity; she didn't want to be forceful, though she was certain tough love was going to be needed here.
Much to Tessa's surprise, Lickity fixed her pleading, scared eyes to Tessa's and very lightly began to go against Orph's orders. Tessa gently motioned for Lickity to come closer, though as if out of the blue, Orph largely swung his hand and let the whip fly. With a hard flinch, Lickity was harshly whipped over the snout. She immediately sunk into herself and tucked her wings tight to her body. She exhaled a soft bark of anguish as her bat-like snout was left with a clean slit that began to bleed. Tessa raised her eyebrows and horrified surprise and suddenly shoved on Orph's shoulder.
"You forget I can wreck the shit out of you?" Tessa hollered to Orph, as if she herself was suddenly sat with another little brother as well, "You're asking me to pummel you into the ground, now if you know what's good for you, you'll lay off!"
"Wreck away, girly, I'm in my own game!" Orph dared, though Tessa pushed farther into his bubble and gestured her arms out.
"So am I! I'm coded for your grid," Tessa yelled in his face, though she largely remove herself from him and made her way to Lickity, "C'mon Lickity, we're leaving."
"Likely story," Orph chuckled as he let his whip fly again, this time it snapped the air in between Tessa and Lickity. The two largely flinched and stepped a handful of feet away from each other, "C'mon you stubborn beast. I know you got away once, but I'm not letting it happen again!"
Tessa opened her mouth to protest, though Orph chirped yet another aggressive, high pitched whistle yet again. Lickity largely bowed in request and began to nervously step away from Tessa, though it were as if it were the hardest thing she ever had to do. Tessa felt her skin grow cold and, the farther Lickity got from her, the harder her wrecking force bubbled. She harshly furrowed her eyebrows and flinched as Orph sent a few more cracks into Lickity's snout. Lickity exhaled a hard chirp of a cry, and with each snap of Orph's weapon, Tessa finally inhaled a hard breath and jolted into action. She finally pounced towards him in a barreling fit of overflowing, wrecking rage. In the midst of the nonsense, Orph's four other brothers quickly scrambled to clear the area.
Tessa kept her eyes glued to the back of Orph's head, though as if suddenly knocked off of the planet's edge, the back lash of Orph's whip came crashing back to Tessa at lightning speed. Like a knife to butter, the whip largely slapped Tessa down the face and onto her collar. Tessa largely flinched and took a few nervous, confused steps backwards. She shook her head and felt a cold spill of fear roll of her, the shock of it all made her skin grow hot. She finally looked up to Orph and Lickity; Orph largely turned around, and in a fit of nervous knowing, he gave Tessa an almost apologetic look. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in the sharp pain that crawled over her, though she knew she had immediately won this battle; she could easily see Lickity's whole existence tense with the sheer fact that her true owner was injured at the expense of her previous, abusive owner. Like a light switch that was turned on, Lickity's whole entire existence quickly tensed into ballistic rage.
Tessa kept her eyes glued to Lickity and, as quickly as her feet could let her, she jolted to the right and ran a good dozen feet or so away. In the midst of attempting to get away, the ground, and surrounding jungle trees, shook with a reverberating, core shaking roll of energy that emitted from Tessa's dragon. She stumbled a little and whirled around just in time to catch the show. She raised her eyebrows in hard surprise as Lickity's once sad and scared demeanor swapped to that of hard, cold, animal aggression.
With fangs bared and wings sprawled, Lickity exhaled a hard roar and, like nothing Tessa has ever seen, she dove for Orph, like a predator that was taking a final strike. Orph exhaled a hard, scared noise of confusion, as if he had never had to deal with the business end of this dragon. He stumbled to get away and tripped over his own feet in attempt to clear Lickity's rage. Tessa nervously slapped her hands to the side of her head, as if she were prepared to cover her eyes, like seeing Lickity's darkest side was too much to handle. Orph clumsily let his whip fly a handful of times, each laying a new wound to Lickity's face, though with teeth still bared, she continued to charge towards Orph, with no hesitation existing in her angry coding; every single wing, sail and feather on her body was taut and sprawled in aggression.
Lickity exhaled a hard, angry roar and, with one simple intake of cool, jungle air, she let her insides heat to an unforgivable degree. As if she had been waiting for this moment her whole life, she coughed a sudden, hard exhale of molten fire; a burst of instant death. Tessa covered her mouth in hard surprise as Orph's blue pixels, as well as scorches of his body, were suddenly blown to bits across the arena, merely sand to a hard wind. Lickity exhaled a hard chuff of dominance, dark smoke pushed through her mouth, snout and teeth, she aggressively kept her hard march forward and patiently waited for Orph to regenerate. Her strong clawed paws firmly stanced forward, step by step; she made it clear just who owned the jungle. Once Orph was back to the grid, Lickity roared another burst of molten anger straight into his existence. It covered his whole being as blue pixels, yet again, blew outwards and disappeared with the billowing black smoke.
Tessa felt a cold chill of fear go over her spine, though she knew it was clear just who Lickity belonged to, at this stand point. She quickly ran out to the clearing and dared to push into Lickity's unforgiving, aggressive presence. She waved her hand lightly, she knew this blood bath was quickly going to become a pointless flame-thrower that would soon set the whole jungle on fire. She nervously neared and noticed Lickity's bloodied face; she was the raw image of hatred. Tessa felt her heart sink in pure sorrow, though she easily pushed on Lickity's neck and stroked the top of her head firmly.
"Lickity, c'mon, game-over, enough!" Tessa urged; much to her surprise, Lickity easily gave her a hard look of grief, though almost of appreciation as well.
Tessa nervously peered out to Orph and, with a regenerative swipe, he stood up straight and shook his head in hard confusion. He eagerly peered at Tessa and Lickity, though he flinched once Lickity stood up straighter and barked a hard growl, as if to conclude just who she belonged to. She tucked her wing tight around Tessa, in solid protection, and pushed her into the side of her chest and neck. Tessa easily sunk into Lickity's care and gave Orph a knowing smirk. She gently pat Lickity's side and rubbed it, as if to applaud and approve of her actions.
"Like stated," Tessa chuckled through Lickity's hard, shaking snarling, "She's mine... And vice versa."
"You got scorched, Orph!" Jax laughed.
"First for everything, you idiot!" Finn hollered; all four boys roared with laughter.
"C'mon, girl," Tessa urged to Lickity as she quickly climbed onto her back.
With one last hard, angry growl down to Orph, as if to drill it into his head, Lickity quickly swiped her large wings downward and darted away. With quick agility, Lickity immediately burst through the canopy's dangling branches and leaves and finally tore into open sky. Tessa exhaled a hard, nervous groan as the two set their sights on their destination, like prior. She could feel Lickity's whole behavior switch from carefree, to purely distressed. She knew she should let Lickity take the driver's seat from here. As if the results of what had just happened finally hit her skin, Tessa let angry tears streak her face over and over.
She breathed a hard, cough of a noise of anguish and immediately leaned down. She pushed her bloodied face into the back of Lickity's neck and gripped her hands into her soft fur. She softly hugged her dragon and squeezed with all of her might. She let hot tears continue to fall down her cheeks and onto Lickity's scales and fur. She shook her head and held on tight to her best friend, she largely flapped and got the two out of the area as fast as she possibly could. She could swear she could still feel Lickity's body shake with nervous rage; her whole body was tense with aggression she didn't like revealing.
Lickity kept her eyes trained to Zed's loft, as if it were her saving grace. She continued to flap with all her might and knew that whatever speed she reached was a-okay with Tessa. She laid her ears flat and kept her distressed sight forward, the taste and smell of blood coated her snout and mouth; revisiting the past made her fly faster than before. With Tessa's strong, warm grip around Lickity's neck, she continued to sail onward, in hopes of hunkering away in Zed's loft for the rest of the day. With no hesitation, she trained her shaking wings to the wind and carried her rightful owner towards the sunrise.