A/N: Hey guys! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas (alongside any other holiday celebrated this month!) I got a few really nice, thoughtful presents. I may show what I got, on my Instagram. If anyone is interested in keeping up with me and my personal life, check it out, my username is Vyntastic :)

I'm also coming up on chapter 150, which marks the SECOND sketchdump I will be doing. I also found REALLY old sketches, from the very beginning of the story, that I might throw in there as well. They got lost with my computer transfer, and that's why the first sketchdump was never uploaded. But I will be adding to the sketchdump for the 3/4th's mark of Defying Code.

If any of you are curious, I upload drawings to my deviantART regularly of my characters. If any of you have questions on what anyone looks like or etc., check me out on deviantART as Vyntresser

ONE last thing - I have one or two people in particular who will personal message me, from time to time, and ask me to clarify a BUNCH of things, and are concerned that the story is moving too quickly... I'm not sure if there are more of you out there that are confused? But if so, let me know, and I'll make a big PSA explaining just exactly what's going on, in certain scenes or etc. I don't want anyone to be confused! Thanks guys! :D

Song listened to : Color Sky(album is named the same thing) by Ben Prunty

*Chapter 142*

Tessa felt her skin raise with goosebumps, the familiar sound of Sugar Rush starting up, the Konami logo she knew from just about anywhere. She quickly scoot to the front of the cabinet and let her attention slip away from Zed, he continued to fumble with the back of the cabinet. Tessa raised her eyebrows and held her breath in baited wait, she so hoped the game would transition smoothly and revert back to the upgraded sophistication it was the day prior. She felt a massive wash of accomplishment come over her as suddenly Sugar Rush's catchy song began to lightly chime. Images and game-play demos began to flash on the screen, and, to Tessa's huge relief, she was graced with the very upgraded beings she so desperately missed. Tessa scoffed a loud, incredulous whoop of a laugh and lunged to the controls, though she fumbled her hands on the steering wheel and chair, and hung over the screen lightly.

"It worked, Zed it worked!" Tessa hissed to him with a toothy, child like smile. Her eyes twinkled with amazement; she immediately couldn't wait any longer to get back home.

"It worked?" Zed grunted quietly as he finally got another panel closed, he moved around to stand next to Tessa. Once he got a good glimpse of just what Tessa was ogling over, he beamed and shoved his hands into his pockets. His shoulders slumped with relief as he let his eyes lull close, "Oh thank User..."

"Thank User, thank God, thank anyone else, we did it!" Tessa quietly chirped as she gripped Zed's lower arm and gently shook him a bit, though she finally shoved herself into his chest and slapped her arms around his neck, "Thank you... Thank you!"

"Aw, Tess," Zed chuckled bashfully as he welcomed her into a tight embrace. He nuzzled his face into her shoulder and heaved a long sigh of relief, "You know I'm just doing what's right... I caused this mess. I fixed this mess."

"My uncle Felix will be proud," Tessa giggled as she pulled out of Zed's arms. She gently glanced about and noticed the Fix It Felix Jr. cabinet a little bit aways, though it also ran through a few game-play demos. She bit her bottom lip and wondered if they would ever gain contact with any of her family members, that weren't simply repeat game demos. She jolted a little as Zed quietly began to move closer to his own game cabinet, which was a few games away from Sugar Rush, "What else do we have to do? Give Dead Zed a good flush?"

"Yep..." Zed heaved a hard sigh as he came upon his own cabinet.

His game was a bit more futuristic, strapped with flashier lights and modern graphics. Zed's five brothers were the main focal point of the cabinet's outer artwork, though Tessa couldn't help but notice that Zed's figure, on the side of the cabinet, looked ominous and mean. Tessa furrowed her eyebrows and, just as she was about to take a step closer to Zed, she froze and studied his figure. He looked down-trot, wholly consumed by a sad soul, a bad guy so desperate to show goodness. Tessa felt her heart ache, the pure fact that her father struggled with the same false image every single day. Tessa frowned and ogled the beautiful artwork on the side of the cabinet. Tej, Jax, Orph, Duke and Finn all looked happy go lucky, excited to race, thrilled to be alive, though she scrunched her face in growing anguish as her eyes scanned up to the top of the cabinet. Zed's ominous silhouette hung near their infamous Dead Zed logo. The dead last boss. The cliched bad guy that held the princess captive. Tessa finally averted her gaze to the back of Zed's head and couldn't help but let an ironic smile come over her.

"Tess... Do you mind finding the room with Tron in it?" Zed quietly asked as he averted his sharp gaze to hers, ultimately snapping the two out of a fragile moment that was potentially too shivering and sacred to touch, "I'm... I'm going to tinker with my brain coding here and get Radex out of Dead Zed for good. I just want to make sure we have a right escape route once I'm done."

"Sure," Tessa assured as she quietly stepped away, though she looked back over her shoulder and furrowed her eyebrows in growing confusion. Zed slowly pulled out his materializer and began scooting his own game cabinet aside, to begin his hard work.

Tessa knew she had to hurry, though she couldn't help but stroll, a mosey through time. She peered about at all the familiar games she knew were in existence, she knew exactly how to get to, had studied their humble beginnings at Academy. She felt wonder gloss her eyes, her fingertips just barely graced the outsides of the very cabinets she was certain she'd never get to see, up close and personal. How small everything felt, how vulnerable she wondered everyone must feel right now, though her heart finally sang; her homeland was safe and rebuilt. She knew she could literally just fall to her knees and thank anyone, anything, for the safety of her kingdom, though she knew she'd do the ultimate amount of groveling once she stepped back into her castle.

She warily glanced over her shoulder, yet again, and caught sight of Zed from across the still, quiet arcade. He was bent over, tinkering with something on the back of his game cabinet. Before Tessa could let her quivering heart tell her to halt and go back, she peered down the hallway in which they had arrived. She knew there was more than one room down said hallway, one of which being the room in which Tron resided; not to mention, their way back home. Tessa bit her bottom lip and peered down the still, dusty, poorly lit hallway. Her eyes narrowed, she sneakily assessed the situation and immediately spot Mr. Litwak's office. An ominous shadow crossed the hallway wall, just outside his gaping office door. He paced his small abode, as if to feel completely uneasy. Even being in the same exact standpoint as the very man that cared and loved for their cabinets, she still felt extraordinarily small in his palpable presence. Just so much as being in the same dimensional plane as him gave her hard chills.

She bit her bottom lip and glanced at another room that was much closer to her, than Mr. Litwak's office. The door was hung open slightly, though no light was on. With a shaking heart, and wary, silent footsteps, Tessa pushed into said room and looked about. The room was familiar, what they had emerged from just yesterday. The same warm, grey walls. Tron's powered on cabinet hung near the opposite wall. A small table was next to it, as well as a few filing cabinets; it were merely as if this room held a massive amount of importance, though Mr. Litwak daintily placed common pieces of furniture and cluttered items about so to make it seem as if it weren't out of the ordinary. As if it were merely a storage room, a catch-all of sorts. Tessa heaved a shaky sigh and began to approach Tron's old, though timeless cabinet.

The logos were in decent condition, though the buttons and knobs, where the gameplay took place, were nearly worn clean of it's factory coloring. Plastic rubbed white in certain places and beautiful artwork smudged into oblivion; Tessa felt honored to even be in such a loved cabinet's presence. She wrinkled her nose and watched the extremely outdated video game sequence play, with the pixelated tune that kindly chimed, loud and clear. She let her mesmerized gaze sink into the electric, hot blue glow of the game's screen. She knew she had to be the luckiest being alive. She so desperately wanted to go home and spoil every single Arcade secret to her world, though somehow, she knew she was honored to be living up such a fantastic trip. Any words slipped, of this magical journey, she knew would immediately spoil the lore and legend. She shook her head, wrinkled her nose, and silently swore, to the game before her, that she wouldn't tell a soul about the events her and Zed were luckily presented with.

"Good, you found it," Zed whispered, though he largely flinched as Tessa whirled around in stunned surprise; he raised his hands in defense.

"You scared me," Tessa mumbled through a sigh as she moved her bangs out of her eyes, in a clumsy fashion. She nervously watched as Zed silently shut the door behind himself, he held the handle taut so the latch wouldn't make any noise.

"Alright, well... I really have no clue how this thing works," Zed uttered, mostly to himself as he scratched the back of his head and peered to the ominous looking telescope-like laser device at the end of the room.

"Do we maybe need to find an on switch or something?" Tessa quietly wondered as she tenderly slipped Zed's light-disc out of the backpack she held. Just as she handed him the disc, and he held it to receive it from her, the laser suddenly buzzed a noise of an inquiry, as if it had turned on all by itself. The two froze and stared down the barrel, as if to maybe avoid being seen by not moving at all.

"Guess not," Zed whispered through clenched teeth. He furrowed his eyebrows hard and, with a scared glance to Tessa's equally as fearful gaze, the two remained frozen.

"He said you have to hold the disc just right," Tessa quietly stated, though she braved first movement and began to find her way almost directly behind Zed. She nervously peered over the top of his shoulder as he took the disc from her, once and for all, and anxiously peered down to it, as if it potentially had answers for him.

"Or else this trip will be all for not..." Zed trailed off and stared down the laser, as if to almost challenge it to attempt to take their lives, after they have come so far, though he knew they were the farthest thing from invincible in this world.

"Y-you think that thing... Could really kill us if you angle the disc wrong?" Tessa worried quietly, as if to be cautious of it's feelings, like it could somehow understand them and sense their fear.

"I don't want to find out," Zed mumbled as he began to bring the disc at his eye level, which was straight where the laser was as well, a half a dozen feet from the two, "Hold onto me... I have no idea how easy the transfer back will be."

Tessa nodded once and, without having to be told twice, she gently latched her hands to the tops and back of Zed's shoulders. She squinted her eyes and patiently watched as Zed's near trembling hands held the laser perfectly lined with the laser, as if to hope that was somehow what Mr. Litwak meant by 'holding it to the right degree'. He figured he had done the same exact thing with the portal on the transfer to the human world, it must work the same way to get back to Tron. Just as he was about to drop the disc and question if it were even about it work, the laser suddenly barked a higher whirring of an electric noise and, with searing, blinding light, the laser came to life with that familiar blue light they craved, their bodies were desperate for that overflow of coursing electricity they knew so well.

Tessa flinched and, as if to attempt to remind herself to remain calm, she pushed closer to Zed's back and shut her eyes tight. The air around them sparked with a pop of a firework, electricity that knew exactly who to welcome home. As if submerged into a vat of high voltage water, Tessa choked in a sharp breath and was beyond floored to feel her familiar serial numbers, coding and circuitry flood her human veins and claim her body once more. She shivered a hard roll of purple pixels all over her skin and was beyond floored to open her eyes to Tron's gloomy surroundings. She slumped her shoulders, took in Tron's cold air and slapped her larger, wrecking hands to the side of her head.

"User we're home, oh my USER WE DID IT!" Tessa barked in hard excitement as she bounced away from Zed; he beamed a wide smile and whirled around, though Tessa wrinkled him a curious smile and was beyond floored with the fact that she nearly forgot what his Arcade-self looked like.

"It worked!" Zed encouraged with a wide smile as he waved around his light disc. The two largely embraced in overflowing excitement and relief, though they were sharply and quietly interrupted.

"Congratulations," Came a deep, agitated voice.

Tessa and Zed quickly whirled around and tensed into scared action. Tessa felt her skin grow a dreadful cold as the two were graced with the presence of, what looked to be, a protector of Tron. He wore a solid black Tron suit, appropriately lit with Tron's beautiful, hot blue lit display of circuitry. He was tall and slender. The visor, on his helmet, quickly slid open to reveal piercing blue eyes hidden behind silver hair.

"We were just leaving," Zed urged sternly as he showed his light-cycle baton, as if to somehow beg to said stranger that they were simply here to do their business and get out, with no harm to the game or the Arcade.

"No one simply leaves the Arcade and comes back in hopes of 'living to tell the tale'," The stranger darkly uttered, "Anyone who has ever had the smarts to escape, discover the answers to the Arcade universe, and attempt to come back and be seen as heroes, has had their journey end right here... By me."

"And just who ARE you, anyways?" Tessa suddenly dared, as if she was so close to tasting Sugar Rush's sky once more; she wasn't about to let anyone stand in her way.

"What does it matter to a pile of dead pixels?" He scoffed, though he kept a stoic air, "It's too bad one of you three will have no final words."