*Chapter 82*
Tessa felt a wave of nervousness come over her as Zed just barely gestured his open palms towards her. She wrinkled her nose lightly and gave him an incredulous look, as if to wonder if this was a smart idea. He slumped his shoulders and playfully rolled his eyes with a kind smile, as if to suggest that everything would be alright. She gave him a mild look of distress, though she let her palms come alive with her mysterious, purple coding, as did he with his dark blue coding. As they neared each other, Tessa could feel every single hair on her body stand on end, as if it knew exactly what was about to take place, like it couldn't get enough of this act. She furrowed her eyebrows and felt her face heat up; she had to wonder just how her coding would act within the actual act of a legitimate code swap, she almost felt worried to look forward to that firework display.
"Maybe you can, somehow, temporarily transfer your powers to each other!" Otto suggested.
"Are there classes where you can learn more about glitching?" Penny wondered as she crossed her arms, though the two girls kept their curious attention on what was on display before them.
"Unfortunately, no," Otto frowned as she merely glanced at Penny, "Only AP Circuit Structure touches the topic, briefly. I wish that chapter was longer, cause it's extremely fascinating."
"Well, it looks like we're about to get a master class, first hand," Penny giggled as Zed and Tessa let their palms lightly touch.
Tessa jolted as Zed's coding easily swarmed her, like prior, as if it had gotten used to the notion and knew exactly what weak points to flood first. Tessa inhaled a sharp gasp and flinched lightly, though she was surprised to see Zed remain solid. She furrowed her eyebrows in growing, bashful confusion; the fact that he had gotten used to their initial, first contact spark had her slightly worried. She knew the act of the actual code swap was more detrimental for the life of the self-programmed gamer, though she had to wonder if she would buckle at the knees long before they even reached that point. She began to feel flustered as butterflies lined the inside of her stomach, in a teasing, silver-coded manifesting sort of way.
She suddenly felt a wave of clarity as Zed gently held her hands in his live wired ones, as if he had slowly began to transfer comforting thoughts to her, only ones that she could feel and sense. She raised her eyebrows in gentle surprise and held her gaze to Zed's in curious, bashful delight. He took a gentle step closer to her and let their palms, wrists and lower arms riddle with their mysterious, beautifully crafted silver coding; swirls of iridescent, dangerous delight coated their existence. Tessa nervously eyed Zed and almost opened her mouth to ask a daring question, though her nervous, butterfly filled stomach halted any nauseous notions that were about to come forth.
"You really think this'll work?" Zed wondered, though Tessa immediately felt duped; she knew he could practically feed into her brain activity, with their codes lightly meshed like such. She felt her face get hot as he gave her a look, as if to express delight with that fact.
"Only one way to find out," Tessa said softly as she gripped his hands once and for all.
She felt a nervous twinge come over herself as she began to pull her hands away, though she focused all of her energy on their temporarily shared coding. She furrowed her eyebrows and nearly begged for his delicious coding to remain housed in hers, though just as her fingertips left his, she was surprised to see their coded connection keep. Tessa raised her eyebrows in hard surprise and brought the backs of her fingertips closer to her face, to further inspect the result of their hard work.
"It worked!" Penny gawked nervously, her and Otto quickly shot each other surprised, dumbfounded looks.
"I-I didn't think it would actually pan out, so flawlessly," Otto chucked as she crossed her arms.
"How long do you think it lasts?" Zed wondered in an excited tone, as he too, peered down to his palms in curious delight. He finally caught eyes with Tessa and gave her a look of sly snark.
"Long enough for you to realize you have wrecking powers, now," Tessa chuckled as she crossed her arms and tilted her head up; she cocked an eyebrow and gave Zed a knowing look, though he peered back at her in dumbfounded surprise.
"You think it works like that?" Zed asked nervously as he peered about the silver circuits that sprawled Tessa's arms and wrists.
"Dude, this is so cool," Otto scoffed as the two eagerly watched the show.
"Go try and wreck something, see for yourself!" Penny waved her hand lightly, off towards a few trees along the beach.
Zed gave Tessa a curious look, as if to potentially ask her permission in this venture. Tessa beamed a wide smile and gestured off towards the small trees Penny had just mentioned, as if to wonder just what he was waiting for. With that, Zed wrinkled his nose in growing curiosity and began to quickly trudge out of the water the four were stood in; Penny, Tessa and Otto quickly followed him. Once they were on the shore, Zed came upon a small area of jungle trees and palm trees that were still young and short, they were about as tall as each of the four gamers, and hung onto their vulnerable looking trunks and sapling branches. Zed furrowed his eyebrows in growing curiosity, though before he could question anything that had happened, he lightly reeled back and sent his fist straight into a small tree that was before him. Much to everyone's surprise, the wrecking force, that Tessa had temporarily given him access to, nearly pummeled the tree into non-existence. Everyone gaped in surprise as Zed lightly recoiled his arm and hand back, nervously.
"User, it works!" Penny shrieked with excitement.
"How is this possible?" Otto chuckled as she beamed in Tessa's direction.
"I don't know, but does this mean I'm unbeatable now?" Tessa wondered with growing snark, though Penny rolled her eyes.
"Oh, User, don't get HER near a race course," Penny giggled as the three girls finally drew their attention to the back of Zed's head, "Whatdoyah think, Zed?"
Tessa beamed a bashful smile and awaited his kind eyes to return to the three girls, though he remained solid with his back to the three, he looked as if he was in minor pain, the way his shoulders remained scrunched. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and dared to take a step closer to him.
"Zed, y'okay?" Tessa kindly, yet softly, wondered.
Zed furrowed his eyebrows in a massive sweep of confusion that came over him. He suddenly felt as if the wrecking force, he had just unleashed into his system, was now his ultimate downfall. He felt the gears in his brain slowly turn again, from so many years of gathering cobwebs. He felt his heart begin to race in a needy, frustrated sort of way. He shook his head lightly, as if to potentially shake his angry feelings, though he couldn't help but see every single tree, within a twenty foot radius, as something he wanted to purely obliterate. He inhaled a shaky breath through his nose and desperately tried to ease his boiling blood back to it's luke warm, honey sweet state, though he knew somehow it was way too late; the three voices behind him slowly began to drone out of his existence, as the only thing he wanted to do was to just destroy. He furrowed his eyebrows deep into his eyes, and with a sharp inhale, he clenched his fists and began to swing away with his incredible, new-found power.
Tessa jolted in surprise as Zed suddenly began to wreck every single little, though still sturdy, tree in the vicinity. She gave him a hard glare in growing surprise and felt as if she was suddenly sat in the twilight zone. She threw her arm out and called his name, though she had to wonder if given her new power, he was somehow channeling pent up energy he didn't know how to get out, until now. Tessa began to feel a wave of fear come over her; she knew Zed had never had a proper lesson on wrecking, let alone how to quell it's dangerous side-effects, if let off of it's leash. She knew she'd have to intervene somehow, though she knew Zed likely needed this. She slumped her shoulders as he easily destroyed tree after tree, snapping bark and chaotic spewing of leaves were abundant. As if snapping tiny toothpicks, the thick branches crumpled at his will.
"What's going on?" Oliver suddenly worried as he rushed up, though he gave Zed a surprised look and gawked.
"Tessa gave Zed her wrecking power through their temporary, exterior code swap," Otto pointed, she gave Oliver a bemused, though nervous look as her ears flattened.
"Why would you do that?" Oliver hollered to Tessa, she largely flinched, "You KNOW he has to be eased into something like this!"
"I didn't know it'd end this poorly!" Tessa shouted back as she gestured her arm towards Zed, who continued to have a hay-day.
"Well get'im! If you let him carry on, he'll break every bone in his hands and wrists!" Oliver loudly worried, though Tessa curiously peered off towards Zed.
Tessa exhaled a hard puff through her nose and immediately began to march towards Zed. She felt a wave of confusion come over her as she carefully got within a ten foot radius of a live wire she wasn't sure she even knew anymore. She felt her heart pulse in a needy, apprehensive fear as she gently held up her hands. She lightly called Zed's name, though she knew it was futile. She tried to call his name louder, though he continued on in a fit of dangerous, enraged, pent up emotion that somehow had been secretly brimming over the edge.
Zed felt as if he was on auto-pilot, as if somehow, now that he started this riot, there was no turning back. He began to feel the hot, sticky sensation of blood coat his knuckles, though he pressed on, as if it was his life long duty. The simple taste of Tessa's delicious, sugary code, though the dangerous, teasing wrecking power she harbored made him drown in a sickly sweet vat of delightful anguish, as if his life was one big catch 22. He exhaled a hard, angry grunt as he pummeled yet another tree, though he began to feel a twinge of nervousness come over him as he finally realized he was running out of trees to destroy. He knew, somehow, he'd have to slow down, though with his unbeatable ability, coupled with the power to destroy, he felt completely unstoppable.
"Zed!" Tessa hollered angrily as she finally came within a few feet of him, she knew he was likely in his own world full of angry mutterings and hateful swinging.
Tessa finally felt as if she could get into rhythm with Zed's angry swipes. She easily bobbed and weaved around each of his sudden whirl arounds, though she looked for the perfect opportunity to bring him to his knees, once and for all. With live-wired hands, she finally grappled for his lower right arm and let their codes come back into contact. As easily as she could, she sent a hard, angry glitch across his entire being, as if to finally express that enough was enough. Within this, his hot, angry blue coding finally jolted up his arm and reset itself back to normal. As if he was merely a marionette with his strings cut, his limbs went limp and he finally struggled to gain his composure. He eagerly peered to Tessa in pure confusion, as if he had just come out of a mild fit of a code-possessed fit. He choked a startled noise and finally looked Tessa square in the face.
Tessa gripped his upper arm and held him still; she furrowed her eyebrows and gave him a stern look, though she felt her heart immediately crumple at the raw sight before her. With beads of sweat easily dripping from the crown of his head, his blue hair mat his forehead and scalp in a mess of sea-water and the work-out he had just brought upon himself. He heavily panted through his dry, raspy throat. Tessa felt hard chills go down her spine as his heavily dialed pupils latched onto hers, as if he has just been given manna from heaven, come to find it was merely a trick. To Tessa's surprise, tears soaked his cheeks. He panted hard, his bare chest rose and fell in the disarray of the chaos he had just put himself through. Tessa opened her mouth to speak to him, though he clumsily beat her to it.
"How could they do this to me?" Zed begged as more tears spilled down his cheeks; Tessa flinched in confusion and wrinkled her nose, as if to question his notion.
"Zed, what are you talking about?" Tessa worried, she kept her strong grip on his upper arm.
"My brothers, how could they... Just... Reject me, like this," Zed urged through his crumpling voice. He sniffled a hard intake as his demeanor finally came back to Arcade.
"Is that what this is all about?" Tessa wondered as she furrowed her eyebrows and looked deeper into his eyes, she was relieved to see him gain clarity again, though he continued to heave raspy gasps of air.
"I-I never realized how truly hurt I was, by them pushing me away," Zed scoffed as he finally ran his hand through his hair, though he winced and yanked his hand away as he left a slight mess of blood in the bangs of his hair and skin of his forehead; his knuckles were raw and bloodied.
"User, that was some show," Oliver grumbled as the three slowly moseyed up, though Zed shot them nervous looks, which cued them to tread lightly.
"Yeah, and if I didn't intervene, you'd likely have lost your hands," Tessa said in a dull tone that led to suggest she was annoyed with him.
"I-I don't know what came over me," Zed scoffed as he nervously looked to the backs of his shaking hands, "I don't know how you handle it, on the daily, but... I admire your self control."
"It's usually hard to stop, once you've started," Oliver grumbled as he crossed his arms; Penny and Otto peered to him curiously, though Zed felt his face get hot as to just what he was insinuating, "Something tells me, her wrecking force isn't what could potentially be your ultimate downfall, here."
"Oliver, knock it off," Tessa growled as she gave her brother a hard glare.
"I didn't realize how much I had harbored, until I was given an outlet," Zed sighed nervously, though his hands continued to shake.
"Being a wrecker means having all your frustrations in check, all your angers splayed out before you... Sure, anger sometimes flares wrecking, but you can't let it be the driving force," Tessa gestured to the field of trees Zed had destroyed, "Or else, it can be pretty devastating."
"Just... Everything that has been bothering me all came back to me, full force," Zed uttered, his voice cracked as he shook his head and nervously peered to the ground; his strong chest continued to heave as he caught his breath.
"That's why you don't pull stupid stunts like this," Oliver bellowed to Tessa. She largely glared up at him, "You KNOW Zed has had a hard past, in which he can't even remember at the moment. You KNOW giving him wrecking abilities, without ironing out the wrinkles first, would do this."
"I didn't realize it'd be so intense, Oliver!" Tessa urged, she began to raise her voice, "Stop trying to school me on wrecking, I know what I'm doing, here."
"Clearly, you don't," Oliver furrowed his eyebrows and sent a death glare straight into Tessa's eyes, one of which that made Tessa feel cold, "I'm tired of wondering if you're stupid enough to take the plunge, here. You want to give your wrecking powers to someone who can hardly handle it? FINE. You want to put yourself right up against being deleted? Be my guest..."
"Oliver, this isn't fair," Tessa barked as Oliver began to take a few steps away.
"I'll tell you what's not fair," Oliver hollered as he pointed a strong, angry finger to Tessa, "Having to sit back and wonder just when EITHER of you will be stupid enough to do the pants off dance off, and I'll lose my favorite big sister, and none of us have any say in the subject matter!"
"It's really none of your business!" Tessa shouted as she felt her blood begin to boil.
"Then, just forget it," Oliver bellowed, "I know you're probably not going to come back home, tonight, so... Enjoy your stupid slumber party."
"Olly, come on," Penny finally argued as she crossed her arms, though much to everyone's dismay, Oliver eagerly stormed away and left the five in stunned silence.
Lickity was the first to break the peace with a confused, kind grumble. To everyone's subtle surprise, she nuzzled her snout into the back of Otto's hand. Otto's ears perked in curious delight, though she smiled and softly relaxed as she began to carefully pet the top of Lickity's head, as if to assure she was still an ally.
Tessa exhaled a hard breath and watched Oliver storm away. She finally took an angry step or two in his direction, though she jolted once a firm hand suddenly brought her back, by her upper, inner arm.
"Let him go," Zed sternly assured, though he had a gentle, knowing air about himself.
"And what, let him spew nonsense to the whole kingdom about me?" Tessa barked to Zed, though he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and, before he could get words out, Penny beat him to it.
"Oliver wouldn't do that," Penny reassured as she glanced in the direction he vanished into, "He's going to go home, stew, have a good nights sleep, and you guys will hash it out tomorrow."
"I mean, he has valid points, but..." Otto lightly shrugged and looked to the side, "Maybe I don't have room to talk, but maybe he could have come across a bit gentler. Seems a bit of a touchy subject to be having a shout match over."
"Oliver just recently learned how to properly wreck," Tessa uttered in an annoyed tone, "He's the one that's been bottling emotions, his whole life... If there's anyone here who shouldn't be talking, it's him."