*Chapter 96*

"Alright, girl, y'know what to do," Tessa urged to Lickity. She slowly kept her sturdy pace next to her owner as her eyes slid to meet Tessa's in kind knowing.

Lickity exhaled a small noise, as if to understand just what Tessa was saying. Her ears lay relaxed on her head as her powerful clawed paws clacked onto Game Central Station's tiles.

"Just... Wait by the outlet for Zed to come get you," Tessa eased softly through a hard sigh as the two slowly moseyed out into Game Central Station's beautiful atmosphere.

A handful of user-made gamers hung around their outlets and around the station, to get ready for the approaching game-day. Tessa tucked a few of her fingers into her tattered, Sugar Rush cargo pants and slowed to a nervous stop. Lickity gently stopped next to her and gave her an inquisitive look, as if her curious hair-cut was still something Lickity needed to get used to. She perked her left ear, which was closest to Tessa, in her direction, in hopes of catching any quiet notions she just so happened to mutter to herself. Tessa frowned and lulled her orange, sling bag tighter over her shoulder and mint colored t-shirt. she furrowed her eyebrows, in final, nervous contemplation and was thrilled to gain eye contact with Lickity. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Tessa finally wondered if she could potentially try having an intelligent conversation with her best friend.

"Am I overreacting?" Tessa wondered quietly to Lickity; much to her surprise, Lickity's forehead lightly wrinkled, as if she were to raise her eyebrows. Lickity's ears lay flat, and Tessa was floored to see Lickity's strong chest expand slowly and let out a huff of a kind, sympathetic sigh. Her ears lightly drooped to the back of her neck, like usual. Tessa glued her attention to Lickity in pure curiosity, though she pressed on; the need for moral support overrode the bizarre feeling of this situation, "I-I... I just wish... He would just go to prom with me. Is that too much to ask?"

Tessa eagerly glued her whole attention to Lickity, and as if she were merely sat in a dream, Lickity's eyes kindly slid from the station and straight into Tessa's soul. Lickity flattened her ears, a little harder, and with a simple gesture, she just barely shook her larger head, as if to reply to her question with a quiet, shy 'no'. Tessa raised her eyebrows in surprise and froze; she pierced her curious gaze harder into Lickity's eyes and lightly gaped, as if she wanted to say a million different things, that came rushing to her mind, though only one thing could leave her wild train of thoughts.

"...C-Can you understand me?" Tessa beamed a wide, incredulous smile as she barely tilted her head and took a step closer to Lickity, as if their unfolding, little secret was to remain just that.

Lickity exhaled a soft breath and, as if it were painful to keep it secret any longer, Lickity just barely nodded her head. Tessa gaped lightly and took a hard few, curious steps back and away from Lickity.

"Whoa, hold up," Tessa chuckled as she crossed her arms, though in a fit of not knowing exactly how to react to this, she unfolded her arms and gestured her hands towards Lickity, "... Can you talk?"

Lickity suddenly slumped her existence and gave Tessa a stare of hard knowing, though she grumbled a noise of annoyance and bared her teeth a little, as if to give Tessa an obvious 'no' answer. Tessa finally beamed a smile and looked around, though she drew closer to Lickity and held her furry chin in her larger hands.

"You're telling me, this whole time, you could understand me, and you never made it obvious?" Tessa said quietly, though in a happy tone, down to her companion, in which she began to feel closer and closer to with each second that went by.

Tessa flinched as Lickity garbled a loud noise of happy annoyance, though she softly bounced on her paws and sprawled her wings just barely, as if to give Tessa more reassurance than she thought she'd need to give, in this situation, as if she'd been having to repeat herself. Tessa laughed and lovingly shoved on Lickity's snout.

"Get out of here!" Tessa laughed with a wide smile, though Lickity bared her fangs, in a smiling sort of way, and bashfully looked down to the ground, all while tucking her wings closer to her body, once and for all, "So, you think Zed's acting like an idiot, too, right?"

Lickity lost her kind, fang-filled smile and slowly straightened her posture to dull annoyance. She steadily inhaled a powerful breath before she largely exhaled it and blew her hot, gross dragon breath straight into Tessa's face, which caused her long hair, on the right side of herself, to flicker about with the sudden hot draft. Tessa coughed and choked, as she waved her hand around in dismay, though she finally wrinkled her nose and peered back to Lickity in disgusted annoyance.

"User, almighty, I can't possibly be the only one that thinks you need a mint," Tessa grumbled, though as if on cue, with sass Lickity learned straight from Tessa, she sauntered her large, scaly body past Tessa and grumbled a kind, annoyed noise. Tessa gaped and quickly skipped to keep up with her newfound conversing companion.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry, I know, I'm an idiot too," Tessa urged as she quickly caught up to Lickity and walked side by side, "But come on... It's an important dance. Before you came along, he danced with me at the Academy Ball. What makes this one so different? Does he not like me anymore?"

Lickity suddenly shot Tessa a bewildered look of incredulous surprise and perked her ears, as if to express to Tessa that her worries were delusional. Lickity garbled a soft noise, similar to that of an annoyed, choke of a laugh. She chuffed a breath through her snout and continued to saunter forward, with her toothy, annoyed grin. Tessa peered at her and could swear she had entered another realm.

"Lickityyy," Tessa complained, which caused Lickity to slow to a stop and lightly peer Tessa in the face with beyond intelligent, brilliant green eyes. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and heaved a soft, confused sigh as she looked around, through glassy eyes, "I-I just... I wish I could figure out why he's become so distant. Why wouldn't he tell me prom is being hosted in Dead Zed? Why wouldn't he ask me to it?"

Lickity gave Tessa her full, undivided, unconditional attention and peered at Tessa through kind, yet sorrowful eyes. As soon as the tears began to billow more, in Tessa's eyes, Lickity looked down and grumbled a small noise, as if to express to Tessa she need not to worry. Tessa slumped her shoulders, though she couldn't help but let a small smile sprawl her face as Lickity bowed her head farther and tucked her snout into Tessa's center, like usual. Tessa finally heaved a soft sigh and stroked the top of Lickity's head.

"... Guess I'll talk to him after Academy, then," Tessa said through a sigh, "This stubbornness is really getting me nowhere, huh."

Lickity peeked open her eyes and gave Tessa a dull stare, as if to firmly agree with Tessa's words.

"Alright, I get it," Tessa groaned as she playfully shoved on Lickity's snout, which caused her dragon to bellow a high pitched noise of delight. Tessa pushed away from Lickity and began to head in the direction of Academy, though Lickity bounded to keep her stride next to her rider. Tessa chuckled and nudged her larger hand to Lickity's cheek, a kind notion of love and to show appreciation towards her new found level of friendship with her, "Somehow, your wordless pep-talks are really helpful."

Lickity squinted her eyes and gave Tessa a look of pure cheek, the right amount of adorable sass she knew how to convey well. Tessa beamed a renewed smile and immediately felt better, though she pushed closer to Zed's outlet, where she would leave Lickity to her own devices, to find Zed and be with him for the day. Her and Lickity pressed on, in a knowing, kind silence, though Tessa was suddenly popped from her growing thoughts.

"Hey, wrecker," Selka chimed to Tessa. He gave her a confused look as she shot her curiously annoyed attention to him, though her and Lickity continued onward, through Game Central Station.

"Sup," Tessa said in a dull, uninterested tone, she often wondered what neutral ground felt like, with someone who has caused so much grief in her past. Her and Lickity pressed down the station, towards Dead Zed's outlet as well as Academy.

"Hey, hey, whoa," Selka motioned his hand as he finally slung his bag over his shoulder, he had been messily rummaging through it prior, "What... Did you get a hair cut?"

"Nothing gets past you," Tessa wagged her finger with a sly smile, her and Lickity trot forward, though it turned into idle moseying as Selka took a step or two, to attempt to possibly join them.

He largely kept his distance, however, once Lickity lowered her head, flattened her ears and let a soft, rumble of a growl coat their existence. He raised his eyebrows in nervous surprise and glanced at Tessa's dragon, which hung a few feet behind her. Tessa finally stopped her march and crossed her arms, Lickity remained close as Selka finally stepped before them.

"You didn't look like this yesterday, what's the occasion?" Selka wondered with a curious smile, though Tessa knew to keep her guard up.

"Oh, y'know, it just so happened to be coincidence that I 'up my game' a few days before prom," Tessa said in a dull tone.

"Did you cut it yourself?" Selka wondered as he curiously eyed her sharp new look.

Tessa cocked an eyebrow and, as if on cue, she shot a side-eyed glance to Lickity, who easily gave her the same, annoyed look. Tessa scoffed a small chuckle and shook her head as her and Lickity shared a whole mess of different annoyed emotions of camaraderie. She wagged her thumb towards Lickity and peered back at Selka with a dumbfounded look.

"No, actually, I gave Lickity some scissors and, y'know..." Tessa elbowed Lickity's shoulder softly, before she began to push past Selka, "I trust Lickity with my hairstyle!"

"You're hilarious... Why are you headed to Academy so early?" Selka beamed an annoyed smirk and back-stepped to follow her. Tessa lightly waved to Lickity; her dragon remained still, to meet Zed for the day. Tessa shot Selka a daring smile.

"See you after Academy, girl," Tessa called to Lickity, though she eyed Selka, "I have my reasons... I wouldn't follow me, if I were you."

Selka opened his mouth to question why, though he quickly peered back at Lickity, who was solid in her stance. She gave Selka a death glare, as if to practically beg him to get any closer to Tessa. She finally lowered her head a little and bared her teeth, just barely, as her infamous, rumble of a throaty snarl shook from her chest cavity. He raised his eyebrows in dewy surprise and halted his footwork, though he flinched once Tessa let out a soft, victorious giggle.

"That is, unless, you'd like to be scorched to the grid of Game Central Station," Tessa called over her shoulder.

With a nervous, humbled heart and careful footsteps, Zed stepped out into Game Central Station and welcomed the sunlight that beamed through. He idly glanced over to Sugar Rush, though he was surprised to see Lickity a dozen or so feet before his outlet. Her ears were laid flat, and Zed could hear the faint humming of her annoyed growling through her closed mouth, tight lipped expression. Zed quickly followed her line of sight and noticed Selka hanging a little bit away, he aimlessly rummaged through his bag, though his curious eye contact on Lickity led to suggest he was very aware of Lickity's presence; why he wasn't giving her a wider birth was the exact reason Zed felt his heart dip in gentle protectiveness towards Tessa's dragon. Much to Zed's surprise, he noticed Selka take out a cookie from his bag, his eyes looked almost hopeful in goading Lickity into hopefully gaining a neutral ground, through food.

"I dare you to approach Lickity, with that cookie," Zed called, the distanced triangle between him and Lickity, and him and Selka, was near the same. Selka suddenly shot a confused look over to Zed as the master of the game crossed his arms and beamed Selka an excited, knowing smile.

"I just want to get her to stop growling at me," Selka argued as he slapped his arm to his side, "I can't go any closer to Academy without her growling getting louder."

"Why?" Zed wondered curiously, Selka gestured his arm in annoyance.

"Oh gee, I don't know, your forbidden lover is in there?" Selka barked sterly, though Zed furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"She is?" Zed worried as he suddenly peeled his eyes to Sugar Rush in a dip of sorrowful confusion. His heart jumped as he suddenly noticed Penny, Oliver and Tammy slowly strolling over, without Tessa. Zed quickly averted his gaze back to Selka and gave him a hard, annoyed glare.

"Yeah, she left her dragon here to meet you, and threatened me not to follow her, or else her dragon would attack me... It was clear she was joking, but I don't think her dragon understands the humor of it all," Selka argued, as if this run around, between all of them, was becoming tiring, "I can't help that I have first hour with her, and that all of you assholes hate me."

"C'mere, girl," Zed said tenderly to Lickity as he stepped over to her. She instantly relaxed, though her eyes gave Zed a whole slew of worried notions, for Tessa's safety. He lovingly ran his hand all down the top of her head and the back of her neck; Tammy, Penny and Oliver slowly pushed into Zed's and Lickity's bubble as Zed gave Selka a neutral nod of the head, "You're good. Just go. She won't hurt you."

Before Selka turned heel, he gave the group a look of mild hurt and confusion, though with a twinge of curious wonder. He slowly turned and began to nervously head towards Academy. Once he was out of the area, Lickity finally relaxed her muscles.

"What was that all about?" Penny wondered with a confused giggle as she crossed her arms, Oliver furrowed his eyebrows harshly and let his angry glare chase after Selka.

"Boy, I'm glad you were out here and not me," Oliver grumbled, "I would've gotten to him before Lickity could even think about it."

"I guess Tessa had set Lickity on a future sic, on Selka, if he were to approach her," Zed shrugged, "I... I guess she went to Academy early, this morning."

"Yeah, she left before any of us even saw her," Penny said in a dull, annoyed tone.

"Still pissed at me, huh," Zed grumbled as he gave Penny an annoyed, tired stare; Penny cocked an eyebrow and gave him a playful smirk.

"So much so, she chopped her hair off," Penny blurted, though Zed gave her a surprised, incredulous look of disbelief and shook his head, as if he heard wrong.

"Whoa, she WHAT?" Zed choked, Oliver heaved a hard laugh.

"Not ALL of it," Oliver chortled into the back of his large fist, though Tammy gave her two cousins a confused look as well.

"We're still talking about Tessa, right?" Tammy argued, though Penny joined in on Oliver's contagious laughter.

"Yes! I think she looks awesome," Penny beamed as she crossed her arms and gave Zed a smug look.

"How short is it?" Zed worried in utter confusion, "That does not sound like something Tessa would randomly do."

"It's... It's pretty short!" Penny lightly shrugged and gave Zed a dainty, apologetic, albeit exited smile, "Though she still has all the length, in some areas."

"... You're actually terrifying me," Zed grumbled as his scared eyes fixated to Penny's in a look of horrified dread.

"Don't be so scared, it's not what you're thinking," Oliver waved his hand, though he lovingly pat Lickity's side as he began to peel from the four, "I'll meet you guys in there."

"I can't wait to see this," Tammy beamed as she lightly waved Oliver off, "Too bad lover boy has to wait until after Academy to see Tessa."

"Oh, I'll be seeing her during," Zed suddenly muttered, as if he was previously excited, though now he was growing to be anxious; Penny shot him a confused look.

"You're going to come onto Academy grounds?" Penny worried, though Zed lightly glanced at Lickity.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm going to ask Tessa to prom," Zed smiled in a bashful way, though not without giving Penny a curious, light, side-eye, "I thought I told you, I'm doing it on Academy grounds."

"You're doing it today?" Penny beamed an excited smile and held her fists to just under her chin in girly glee.

"Yep," Zed chirped, "I'm going to surprise her. I was going to save it, for tomorrow, but... I'm pretty sure, if I wait any longer, she will never speak to me again."

"You know she's just butthurt because she loves you, right?" Tammy mumbled as she crossed her arms and gave Zed a knowing smile; Zed heaved a raspy sigh and lightly looked into Lickity's eyes, who held the same amount of intuition as the other two girls before him.

"I know," Zed huffed with a smile, "I'll set things right. Everything will turn out."

"You've got three days, until Prom," Tammy chuckled as her and Penny began to lightly peel away from Zed and Lickity, as Academy's warning bell rang, "Think that'll be enough time?"

"I'll knock her socks off," Zed stated confidently, "I don't need three days. I'll need one lunch hour."

"I'm so excited," Penny squealed as she waved Zed off.

"See you inside, dude," Tammy said in a confused tone, with an equally confused smile, though the four parted ways, for only a short stretch of time.

A/N: Alright, y'guys, I have good news, and bad news. (though, for some of you, this will strictly be good news) - The GOOD news is, I am 3/4ths of the way finished with writing, you guessed it, Tessa's and Zed's first swap scene! (and it is strictly an explosion of UNF.) The BAD(good) news is, it is a doozy - and it spans over the course of a whopping three entire chapters.

SO.

I wanted to turn to you guys, and see how you would appreciate this sensitive scene to be uploaded. Would you guys prefer it to be uploaded all THREE chapters at once? Or one every day? I know some of you would prefer one way, and some another, so I just wanted to see what the majority of you guys would enjoy. With this, the rating for my story will change as well. A WHOLE mess of stuff happens, in these three chapters, and each one could be considered a bit of 'cliffies', if you will, so IDK what you guys prefer. I thought about uploading one a day, so three days in a row you guys would get a new chapter, but... Just let me know what you guys think!

This scene is so so SO special to me. So much so, that I have been painstakingly tending to these three chapters for the last week now. I usually can poop out 3 chapters in one day alone. This whole scene is incredibly special and important to the story, and you guys will obviously find out why/partially know why.

Also, fair warning, it isn't for another 30 or so chapters, so uh... Sit tight and watch, cause the climax is upon us!

Thanks again, you guys. YOU'RE THE BEST.