A/N: Hey guys! As some of you know, I had a birthday this past Tuesday ( I'm 24 now! I still feel like a little babby in the world lmao.) But, I allowed my best friend Michaela to uh... Lob off the hair on the left side of my head xD I have pictures on my Instagram, and we mock the scene where Penny cuts off half of Tessa's hair (hasn't been uploaded to FF yet, so uhh... spoilers? I know I already said this on deviantART but uhh yeah.) But yes, go look! Cause I'm in love. And I love the look older, grumpy people give me. Like I'm a heathen or something lol.

My username, for Instagram, is Vyntresser

Song Listened to - Zehnaseeb - Hassee Toh Phasee ( I'm actually a huge sucker for Bollywood music xD )

*Chapter 81*

Penny and Oliver softly conversed with each other; they hung near the main lobby of Academy and patiently waited for Tessa to come out of her coming last hour class. They waited with eager demeanors, in hopes of her class ending well. Penny lightly held her books to her chest and peered down the hallway that Tessa had gone down not an hour prior. She felt a curious smile sprawl her face as Tessa finally came into view, though she was paired with another gamer, one of which she had never seen before. Penny's eager smile only widened, though she gave Tessa a curious glance as she neared.

"Tess, how'd your class go?" Penny wondered casually as she lightly glanced at Otto, who hung a foot or so back, in growing shyness.

"A lot better than I expected," Tessa chuckled as she looked back at Otto, "I want you guys to meet Otto... She knows Zed!"

"Well," Otto scoffed as her ears flattened, she looked down to the ground with a curious smirk, "I really knew him as Zane."

"No kidding?" Penny wondered curiously, "I'm Penny, I'm Tessa's cousin."

"And this is my younger brother, Oliver," Tessa gestured kindly towards Oliver; the three shook hands as a final, proper greeting.

"Sugar Rush's brood really does stick together, huh," Otto chuckled as she put her hands on her hips and gave the three a curious, kind, toothy smile.

"I think it's just been instilled in us, since we were little," Penny glanced at Tessa, "Always stick together."

"I wish I had that kind of upbringing," Otto cocked an eyebrow, "I don't know where half my siblings laid off to."

"Pretty sure mom and dad would kill us, if we ever separated," Oliver crossed his arms; the three girls laughed softly at his notion, though Tessa gently gestured to Otto.

"Yeah, I guess Zed took AP Circuit Structure, and was friends with Otto," Tessa chuckled as she gestured towards Otto.

"It's true," Otto's ears perked, "We all were so sad once we learned he left Academy... I always wondered why he left, but, now I guess I know why."

"Wait, why DID he leave?" Penny prod as she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'm assuming he likely got caught pretending to be a faux-code," Otto lightly shrugged, though she kept her large clawed fingers and palms on her hips.

"I guess Zed will tell us, once and for all," Oliver eased as he lightly gestured to the looming, double doored entrance of Academy, "C'mon. He's probably out there, waiting for us, with Lickity."

"Who's Lickity?" Otto wondered, though just as the four started to carry on, Tessa felt her heart drop with nervousness.

"Oh, she's my dragon, but I gotta warn yah," Tessa lightly gave Otto an apologetic look, "She sort of had a run in, with her old, abusive owner, the other day, so she's not taking too kindly to strangers, at the moment... If you just approach her slowly, she should be fine."

"And we're all here, so I'm sure she'll be welcoming," Penny assured, though Otto let her ears flatten in impending fear.

"If you say so," Otto muttered nervously as the four pushed out of Academy and into the station.

Tessa beamed a small smile, though she immediately felt her heart begin to race in light nervousness as she finally spot Zed and Lickity down the station. She inhaled softly and kept a few steps ahead of Otto, Penny and Oliver; the three continued to lightly chat and get to know one another, though Tessa only lightly joined in here and there. She knew Lickity was wildfire, as of late, so she did her best to cater to her fragile companion first and foremost. As they came within a dozen feet of Zed and Lickity, Tessa lightly gestured to Otto and laughed a small laugh.

"I brought you a friend!" Tessa chimed happily as Zed gestured his arms and hands in stunned surprise; Tessa was thrilled to see a wide smile sprawl his face.

"Otto, no way!" Zed laughed as the four gently neared Zed and Lickity, though Tessa was quiet about making a bee-line straight for Lickity.

"Thought you could get rid o'me!" Otto quipped as the two gently shook hands, though they pulled into each other for a friendly hug.

"Oh c'mon, I didn't leave Academy on my own accordance," Zed chuckled as the two pulled apart.

"So YOU'RE the infamous blue haired jerk," Otto put her hands on her hips and flicked her tail to the side, lightly; Penny and Oliver quickly joined their bubble of excitement, "I would have never guessed! They gotcha for impersonating a faux-code?"

"Yeah, the second they installed that special scanning device, over the front doors of Academy, I knew I was screwed," Zed said through a sigh as he ruffled his hair lightly.

"You didn't want to leave Academy?" Penny wondered gently, though she nervously glanced over to Lickity and Tessa.

"No, not at all," Zed frowned as he glanced at Otto, "I had a few good friends there, like Otto. I loved AP Circuit Structure."

"How did you manage to get into a fifth year class?" Oliver wondered as he furrowed his eyebrows, "Seems you and Tessa are cheating the system."

"They saw my scores, in my coding classes, and bumped me up," Zed shrugged, though Otto side-eyed him.

"Now I know, it's not because you had ultra-smarts in coding... You're the core of your own game!" She laughed and shook her head.

"So, you and Tessa have the same class together, now?" Zed wondered eagerly, though everyone tensed in tight nervousness as Lickity's deep, careful snarling came into hearing.

Everyone apprehensively turned their attention to Lickity and Tessa; she thankfully had her fangs hidden, though she kept her eyes glued to Otto like her life depended on it. She growled in the back of her throat and flattened her ears, as if to express she was the guard dog of this situation. After a long night's rest, she seemed to be doing better, though close interactions with strangers still had her on edge. Tessa lightly stroked the side of Lickity's cheek and shot Otto an apologetic smile.

"Sh-she sort of is still getting used to the idea of strangers," Tessa eased as she waved her hand, "She won't hurt you, I promise."

"Wow, she is beautiful," Otto said softly; as tenderly as she could, she lightly got to her knee and got a little under eye-level with Lickity. She lightly held her paw out and gestured her fingers, in a kind, inquiring kind of way, "I won't hurt you, girl, I promise."

"It's okay, Lickity... This is Otto," Tessa lovingly pet Lickity's forehead; she was surprised to hear her snarling only lightly subside, though she remained frigid and tense.

"She seems to be doing better than the other day, at EZ Living," Penny encouraged lightly, though Otto dared to scoot a little closer to Tessa's dangerous dragon.

"Believe it or not, I used to have a pet very similar to Lickity, from my game," Otto said softly, with a twinge of sadness in her voice.

"Oh yeah?" Tessa wondered, though her loving hands continued to pet Lickity for reassurance.

"Yeah... He passed away last year," Otto's ears laid flat on her head out of sadness, "Seeing your dragon reminds me of good times."

Lickity finally stopped snarling and, as if she tried to avoid it, she let her snout lightly wrinkle into a few curious sniffles. She clumsily took a step forward and eased towards Otto, and although her eyes remained trained to Otto's every move, she still budged into her presence with the bumbling curiosity she had always had, deep down. Otto beamed a happy smile and eased a few encouraging words to Lickity, though before too much time had passed, Lickity allowed Otto to kindly rub her snout. Lickity's ears finally removed themselves from the hostile positioning she had them in and everyone in the group relaxed.

"See, that wasn't so hard," Otto chuckled as Tessa lightly rubbed the back of Lickity's neck.

"Shoulda met her last week... She would've been bouncing all over you, begging you for attention," Tessa rolled her eyes and caught stares with Zed; they smiled at each other in a knowing way.

"So... She had a run-in with her old, abusive owner?" Otto worried as she continued to lovingly pet Lickity's snout; she seemed to ease into Otto's presence.

"Yeah," Tessa crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows, "Sort of a dark day, for us... She's been recovering ever since."

"It happened about two days ago, so she's bouncing back, but..." Zed trailed off and lightly rubbed the back of his head, "It'll probably take some time. Good thing is, she seems to like you!"

"Thank User for that," Otto scoffed with a kind smile into Lickity's eyes.

Tessa crossed her arms lightly and carefully assessed Otto and Lickity; she seemed to warm up to the new presence quickly and was floored the two got along. She knew Lickity would bounce back, to her full potential eventually, though these baby-steps were likely a must for now on. She knew Lickity's soft, sore spot, for the events that took place, would eventually harden and make her stronger than prior, though it took everything in Tessa to not baby the scales right off of her; all she wanted was to hunker Lickity away and never let any harm come to her ever again. She inwardly rolled her eyes and wondered just how much her feelings would double, if and when she ever had children. She scoffed a small noise and brushed her busied thoughts away, though she easily cued into Oliver's and Zed's conversation.

"Olly, I found some awesome spots for cliff-diving, in Dead Zed," Zed said to Oliver as he nudged his lower arm; Oliver's eyes bulged in excitement.

"Well, what are we doing still in Game Central Station?" Oliver argued.

"Took yah long enough!" Penny beamed in excitement.

"I had to find the perfect spot close enough to my loft," Zed chuckled and shook his head as Otto carefully stood. He gently pierced his eyes to Otto's and gave her a kind smile, "We're uh... All going to go hang in my game for awhile, you wanna come with?"

"Sure, why not? I don't have anywhere to be," Otto lightly shrugged as her ears perked with excitement; everyone beamed knowing smiles and nodded softly.

"Yes! More cliff-diving!" Oliver gestured his fist in the air, out of excitement and beamed a snark smile at Tessa, "And this time, you can't chicken out!"

"Oh, c'mon, I didn't chicken out," Tessa argued, she lazily waved her hand towards her boyfriend, "It was Zed's idea to hold me back, that last time."

"If anyone is going to chicken out, it's going to be me!" Otto laughed, though everyone peered their curious attention to her.

"You scared of heights?" Zed wondered as he put his hand on his hip, though he flinched once Otto finally stood, from Lickity's eye level, and gestured her arm outward.

"Do you even SEE ME?" Otto beamed a fang filled smile and largely gestured to herself, "I'm a CAT!"

"Oh, come off of it, it's just a little water!" Zed teased as he rolled his eyes.

"I'll get in, but jumping from a cliff?" Otto shook her head and shot Tessa an annoyed smirk, she wagged her thumb back towards Zed, "You go on dare-devil dates with this guy or something? I woulda been Audi 500 so fast."

"Well, I'm not a cat, sooo..." Tessa trailed off with a gentle shrug, which cued Zed, Penny and Oliver into excitable laughter.

"Well, aren't you lucky," Otto mumbled, though her kind smile never faltered; she flattened some fur on her upper arm, "Maintaining all this fur is a pain in the tail."

"C'mon, it's not so bad," Zed gestured towards his outlet, "The spot I picked is next to heavenly, just wait and see."

Surrounded by an oasis of towering jungle trees, Tessa stood knee deep in Dead Zed's crystal clear waters, the white sand underneath was cold though loose and soft. Tessa wiggled her toes a few times before she threw her gaze out to her surroundings, after having a few moments of alone time, inside her own head. As if to be shroud in a safe haven of shade and jungle trees, the small beach, in which the six had gathered, was large enough to feel luxurious, though small enough to feel intimately personal. Tessa lightly crossed her arms and let her eyes get lost on the far off horizon, the sprawling ocean a few miles away from Zed's loft. The afternoon sun still hung high in the sky; high enough to see Oliver's shadow cast across the jungle leaves, as he jumped off a high cliff to the beach's left. She was thankful for the deep waters, in that area.

She lightly peered towards the shore and noticed Penny idly chatting with Otto, though their new addition nervously wormed her way into the water, one inch at a time, seemingly; though Otto didn't totally enjoy water, she didn't throw a fit about it. Tessa scoffed a small laugh and, through kind, squinted eyes, she shook her head at the endearing situation. She finally let her eyes slide to her boyfriend. Zed and Lickity hung near each other, he eagerly pointed downwards into the water, and was thankful to bait Lickity's attention; she largely splashed at the fish that went by, though Zed's eager, sorrowful laughter led to suggest that Lickity was a poor fisher. Tessa beamed an annoyed smile and finally figured it was time to pry herself from her alone thoughts and reconvene with her friends.

"So, what do you hate most about it, then? Just that it's sort of cold, maybe?" Penny wondered to Otto, softly; she shot Penny a sorrowful look.

"I wish I DID totally enjoy it," Otto complained as she flattened her ears, "The hard part is keeping up with grooming, after getting all wet. I could be busy for hours, after swimming."

"So, just air dry," Tessa chimed as she strolled up, she kept her arms crossed across her body; she wore her red bikini and board shorts. Her crazy hair was down and draped her front and back.

"You don't want to see me, air-dried," Otto said through an annoyed chuckle as she pointed her finger, "I turn into one big massive fuzz-ball."

"I know you probably won't believe me when I say, but I actually can somehow relate," Tessa said in a dull tone as she picked at her long, crazy, auburn hair. She laughed and let her wet hair slap back to the skin on the front side of her body, "I have enough length of hair as you do amounts of fur."

"Your hair DOES do some weird things," Zed teased as him and Lickity joined into their bubble, from half a dozen feet away, "Though, it's funnier right after you've woken up."

Tessa felt her face get hot as she eagerly gave Zed an annoyed, bashful look, though she shut her eyes tight and scrunched her shoulders as Penny suddenly droned on a noise of inquisition; Tessa pried her eyes from her skull and peered to Penny in dire annoyance.

"You know what she looks like, right after she's woken up, Zed?" Penny chimed as she largely side-eyed him with a daring, wide smirk.

"I-I... I wasn't trying to insinuate-" Zed bashfully choked as he was cut off.

"I thought you said you and Zed hadn't swapped codes yet?" Otto wondered innocently, though she beamed Tessa a cheeky smile.

"You minus well just pants me, while you're at it," Tessa barked as she largely gestured to her board shorts, which had Zed in crippling, stifled laughter.

"Are we embarrassing you?" Penny wondered sarcastically with a kind giggle, though she knew they should let up the gentle teasing soon, or else.

"No, not at all," Tessa scoffed as she sarcastically scrunched her face and waved her hand, "Excuse me while I go throw up in that there bush."

"Hey, at least I didn't start it, this time!" Penny laughed as she defensively crossed her arms.

"Yes you did!" Otto said through a quiet giggle; Penny furrowed her eyebrows and playfully gaped, in defense.

"Y'take a nap with your girlfriend once, and the whole Arcade caves in on itself!" Zed urged in a playfully annoyed tone, though as if on a cue, Lickity bellowed a kind grumble and suddenly pounced for a school of fish that were getting away. Within doing so, her floppy tail caught the backs of Zed's ankles and easily brought him down to the water, behind him, with a hard splash.

"Yeah, Lickity! Show 'em what for!" Penny urged as everyone easily crumpled into laughter.

Tessa beamed a wide smile and quickly made her way over to Zed, to help him to his feet. Once she was before him, she lightly bent over and held out her hand for him. He choked a startled noise and shook his head free of water; his blue hair easily drooped over his scalp in a messy way, though he beamed a cheeky, embarrassed smile up to Tessa as he gratefully slipped his hand into hers. She gently pulled him up to a standing and remained close to him, though they continued to catch eyes in a string of bashful knowing; as if this impending topic has slowly pushed beyond painfully embarrassing, and was now something they could somehow be hopeful to look forward to.

"We should keep tally with how many times we're teased about this," Tessa eased, she knew they had to break the ice somehow; she was thrilled to see Zed beam a bashful smile into her eyes and ruffle his hair free of excess water.

"Or start a bet, or something," Zed grumbled, though his loving smile into Tessa's eyes never faltered, "We could be filthy rich by the time we finally share silver coding."

Tessa felt her mouth curl into a bashful smile that so badly wanted to beam into a full-fledged grin. She looked down, to avoid showing too much enthusiasm for Zed's notion, though she lightly shoved a few fingers into the pockets of her board shorts.

"You guys would have silver coding?" Otto wondered, though she nervously peered to Penny, who quietly had whispered a sharp notion to her. Otto flattened her ears and exhaled a hiss of a giggle, "I'm not teasing them! I'm genuinely curious!"

"Yes, it'd be silver," Zed eased with a smile, though he could begin to feel his heart throb with nervous delight. He was thrilled to see Tessa remain solid next to him, "Only reason we know that, is because... Well... We both can glitch."

"Oh that's right," Otto lightly wagged her finger as she dared to take a step deeper in the water, so to get closer to the two, "Vanellope is a game glitch, so she must have passed her abilities to you."

"That's right," Tessa smiled, though she bashfully crossed her arms and tried to remain calm during this sensitive topic.

"So... How come you can glitch, Zed? Just something you were programmed with?" Otto wondered, "I thought, being programmed to be a game glitch was extraordinarily rare?"

"Yeah, well," Zed nervously rubbed the back of his head, "I-I think I gained it through the left overs of a coding illness I once had. I'm able to glitch, similar to Tessa's ability. Th-that's how I know our... Our shared coding color would be silver."

"Because you've seen it?" Otto smiled a cheeky smile, through a kind side-eye.

"Yep," Zed eased as he nervously tucked his hands into the pockets of his board shorts; he only lightly gave Tessa a bashful glance in his peripheral.

"So, show me!" Otto gestured, which cued Tessa's and Zed's nervous attention to be glued to her in stunned, bashful knowing.

"Sh-Show you?" Zed worried with an apprehensive smile.

"Yeah, you can see it through an exterior swap, can't you?" Otto wondered kindly, the air about herself led to suggest she wasn't kidding.

"There's such a thing as an exterior swap?" Zed wondered as he furrowed his eyebrows; him and Tessa caught eyes, this time with more confidence.

"Well, only for game-glitches, I'm assuming," Otto shrugged, "We learned about this at the beginning of this semester. Game glitches can flare up the coding of other gamers, though since you BOTH can glitch, you have the potential to hold onto a temporary code swap."

"We have to still be touching, though, right?" Tessa wondered as she gestured to Zed and back to herself, "Or else our codes will go back to normal... Th-thats how it usually works, between us, anyways."

"We won't know sitting here just talking about it!" Otto laughed softly as she shook her head, "Try it!"

Tessa looked down to her hands in mild curiosity, though she eagerly peered up into Zed's eyes, as if maybe he had answers, though she felt her stomach delightfully dip with the vulnerable, curiously coy look of snark that he held onto. He scoffed a small, bashful laugh and squinted his eyes gently, as if to peer into Tessa's eyes a little deeper, as if looking harder would find him answers. He knew, though, that she was just as clueless as he. She raised her eyebrows in readied surprise and just barely shrugged, she knew the two had an audience the night that Lickity had her night terror, they combined exterior coding to help aid on Lickity's behalf, though she knew that was for a dire circumstance. She felt her heart begin to throb now that they had an eagerly onlooking audience, one filled with teasing jabs and witty remarks for days.