Song Listened To : Home We'll Go (Take My Hand) by Steve Aoki & Walk Of The Earth - Neon Future II
If you guys really want to get into this chapter, I suggest listening to the song written above - I well up whenever I listen to this song xD Definitely will get you in the mood, for this chapter.
ALSO I just wanted to make it clear, Fanfiction is being a BUTT again and won't let me reply to reviews, or even show that I have any. There were a handful of you that reviewed for my last chapter, and since I ALWAYS reply to reviews, this is frustrating to me xD (Also, IDK if you guys know but if you review under an 'anonymous' account, where you don't have a username or etc., I can't reply to them whatsoever. So if you've been reviewing on a 'guest' reviewing system, and I'm not replying to you, that's why. There are a handful of you that review every single chapter, and are under a guest account, and it makes me so sad that I can't reply to you D: You're not being ignored I promise!) - I can GET your reviews, but if you also want to paste your review into a personal message, if you have a question or etc. go ahead and do that so I can properly respond. This also goes to AwesomeStoriesMayOccur - your review got cut off, in my email inbox for some reason, and I couldn't read the rest of it, so go ahead and personal message me, and I can reply back to you :D
Thanks guys! Hold on tight, we're not through with the drama!
*Chapter 145*
With a burning heart and a tight grip to the handles, Tessa rocketed down the train's wirings, away from End Of Line station. She knew taking the train would likely be easier, but with just how fast her heart yearned for Sugar Rush's sweet air, she knew she didn't want to waste any time. She leaned deep into Zed's bike, and with much enthusiasm, and a careful eye for oncoming trains, she sped as fast as the powerful machine could allow. She could almost taste her home's atmosphere, she couldn't wait to jump aboard Lickity and fly into the endless mint blue sky.
Before she could drive herself into the ground with excitement, she came upon Game Central Station's train dock and, as gracefully as she could, she unraveled the bike and hopped the railings that led down to the tracks she just flew down. She largely skid out of the train dock area and into her home station. She slumped her shoulders and peered up to the gloriously arched ceilings, the warm glow of the sun that filled her heart with joy. She inhaled a deep breath of her familiar station, let it out with fluttering eyes and quickly scanned the station for Sugar Rush. As soon as she spot it, she quickly unraveled the light cycle, once more, and rocketed towards her home.
She could feel the anticipation rise higher and higher as she largely drifted into her outlet, which caused a loud noise of a scene; the whole station knew the Queen had arrived. She thrusted her larger palm on the accelerator of the bike and jolted straight into Sugar Rush's wires. She nearly felt tears approach her dry eyes, she tilted and weaved the bike through the familiar wiring. Her heart raced faster and faster, with the methodical, growling pulsing of Zed's powerful bike. She bit her lip and just barely sat up on the bike as the wires broadened to the massive, dining entrance that she came upon. She could hardly believe her eyes as to just who was sitting perched at the edge of Sugar Rush's gaping entrance, peering out to the land.
"LICKITY!" Tessa hollered with all the joy in the world. She slammed on the brakes, parked the bike and quickly dismounted.
Lickity largely looked over her shoulder, ears perked atop her head, her sagged demeanor immediately stiffened. As if something out of a dream, she blinked her large eyes in hard confusion before reality came back to her. Lickity barked a noise of surprise, a pleading call to her best friend. She immediately whirled around on her bumbling feet, sprawled her wings and began to bound over to Tessa, her eyes looked beyond floored to see her rider.
"Lickity, girl," Tessa urged shakily, though her face easily began to crumple to that of delightful anguish.
Tessa gently covered her face and began to cry, though she continued to step closer to Lickity. The ground underneath the two continued to thud as Lickity eagerly filled their space, no questions asked. Tessa finally removed her hands from her teary face and took in the sight of her best friend, her sister despite species difference. Lickity bowed her head, flattened her ears and gave Tessa a look of the utmost sincerity. She began to whimper a bit, as if it were okay to approach the Queen after their fight, from the day prior. Tessa opened her arms as Lickity quickly came within five feet of her, and before any questions could come flying out of Tessa's mouth, she slapped her arms tight around Lickity's neck. She was floored to feel Lickity bow her head farther and wrap her wings tight around Tessa's back, as well as one of her larger paws.
"I'm home," Tessa heaved a hard whisper into Lickity's neck and gripped her as tight as she could, "I'm home..."
Lickity whimpered a high pitched noise, as if it could possibly sum up just how much Tessa was missed. She squeezed Tessa to her larger body, as tightly as she could. She sniffed at Tessa's shoulder and hair as she largely nuzzled her, as if to make totally certain this wasn't just a dream. After a few moments, the two gently pulled away from each other. Tessa held Lickity's cheeks in her larger hands and gave her the widest smile.
"I can't even begin to tell you how much I missed you, girl," Tessa uttered through her tears as she shook her head, though she began to giggle as Lickity warmly lapped at her cheeks a few times.
Lickity garbled a comforting noise, as if to reassure her that no time, no distance could possibly break their bond. Tessa wrinkled her nose, and usually would playfully push Lickity away at this time, though she continued to let her lick her tears away, like the biggest puppy dog. Tessa finally giggled and held Lickity's cheeks; a kinder cue to get her to let up.
"Zed's in trouble, girly," Tessa eased softly, though Lickity perked one ear, just barely, and backed her head away, so to see Tessa better. She tilted her head in nervous curiosity and kept her eyes glued to Tessa's as she continued, "Somehow he... Accidentally deleted himself. I need to grab his code, from Sugar Rush, really quick."
Lickity uttered a soft noise of caution and looked down and to the side, as if she had some form of news she didn't know quite how to reveal, though she flinched as Tessa began to move past and around her. Lickity breathed a louder noise of question, which chased after Tessa, and stiffened her spine in anxiousness.
"We can leave the bike here, cause we'll be right back," Tessa waved to Zed's bike, which was a dozen or so feet away. She looked over her shoulder to Lickity, in floored eagerness and beamed, "C'mon, let's fly! User knows I need it."
Lickity faltered and turned around to face Tessa, and the entrance, though she uttered a more urgent noise, this time, and gestured towards the game. Tessa wrinkled her nose and finally faced Sugar Rush head on.
"How's mom and dad, and everyone?" Tessa urged with an excited smile as she came eye to eye with her glorious game.
Everything had been upgraded to perfection; she knew her and Zed had been successful, though just as she were about to step into the game, she was largely slapped back, with a bit of a jolt of code. Tessa coughed a noise, wobbled backwards and rubbed her forehead. She gave the entrance an incredulous frown and, before she could question anything, she reached her hand out quickly and bumped her larger knuckles into what looked to be a force field over the entire entrance of the game. Tessa raised her eyebrows in cold, scared surprise and firmly pushed both her palms to the force field. She uttered a scared noise of question and began to lightly slap her hands to the buzzing confusion of a set back.
"Wait wait wait, what's happening, here?!" Tessa urged loudly, though she whirled around and gave Lickity a scared look of question.
Lickity flattened her ears, bowed her head in sadness and kept her sharp gaze to Tessa's. Her wings sagged, so the wrists of her hands, on her wings, rested on Sugar Rush's glorious rainbow road. Tessa felt her heart drop in further impending fear. She whirled around and, with clenched fists, and only half of her force, she began to pound on the force field. It began to hum and buzz in a chaotic, authoritative way.
"What did we do wrong? How many MORE steps did we miss?" Tessa barked loudly to the game, and even though she couldn't get in, temporarily, she smiled at the sight of her beautiful, majestic castle in the distance; it was flawless. She gawked for a moment before she suddenly could see Rancis working his way up the rainbow road. She perked up, pointed and rested her other hand on the force field, "Oh good, here comes Uncle Rancis. He probably knows what's going on."
Lickity garbled a confused noise and made herself comfortable to Tessa's back left. She sat on her hindquarters as the two patiently waited for Rancis to finally approach. Tessa beamed her uncle an excited smile and gestured up towards the entrance in mild annoyance.
"Uncle, it worked! Can you get my mom and have her get rid of the force field over the entrance? I can't get in," Tessa urged as Rancis slowly moseyed up. Much to Tessa's relief, he was upgraded back to normality. He sagged his hands into his dark grey jean pockets and looked down to his shoes, as if to prepare himself for heavy news of some sort. Tessa immediately caught on to his sorrowful demeanor and kept her eyes glued to him, "What's wrong, is everyone okay? Please tell me everyone is okay."
"Oh yeah, everyone is fine," Rancis said sincerely, though he nervously looked to the side and scrunched his shoulders.
"What is it, then? Where's mom?" Tessa urged nervously, albeit quietly.
"She's back at the castle," Rancis eased, his voice was soft and tender, as if he was simply sent to retrieve Tessa; she could've sworn she'd see a larger welcome home.
"Can... Can you go get her, or something?" Tessa uttered softly, her eyes glued to Rancis's healthy, solid figure in a fit of growing terror, "I can't get into the game... I need to retrieve Zed's source code."
"What? Why?" Rancis wondered with a concerned frown as his dark blue eyes finally glued to Tessa's.
"He accidentally deleted himself, in the process of trying to get Radex totally out of the game," Tessa calmly explained, though she peered over Rancis's shoulder in pure curiosity, "Just... Tell mom I'm here and to bring down the force field. I don't have a lot of time."
"I..." Rancis trailed off, looked down to his feet in dreaded anguish and inhaled a deep breath. He finally huffed it out of his tired rib cage and let his sorrowful eyes dig into Tessa's, "I can't do that..."
"What?" Tessa breathed in a stupor, "Why not..."
"Your parents, as well as every other head in the castle, have come to an agreement," Rancis said through a sigh, his sad gaze continued to melt into Tessa's, "We think maybe you should take some time to... Well... Think about this mess."
"Think about it?!" Tessa hollered, which caused Rancis to flinch, "Uncle Rancis, I've done nothing BUT think about it ever since yesterday, I've been scrambling all across Arcade and beyond to set things right! Why won't you let me in?!"
"It's ultimately not my decision, Tess," Rancis eased quietly, in hopes of breaking the news to her as gently as he could, "We just think-"
"Uncle Rancis, you have to let me in, I need to get Zed's source code! H-he technically doesn't exist right now!" Tessa rushed in terror, she gestured behind her lightly before she gave her scared gaze to her uncle, "Y-you have to let me in, you guys can't do this to me!"
"You can come back after you think about the consequences of your actions," Rancis eased tenderly as he began to look as if he was about to step away, though he gave Tessa one last longing, nervous look of sorrow, "Being Queen means no funny business... What you did could've ended us entirely."
"Being Queen also means cleaning up after yourself!" Tessa shouted, she began to shake, "This is the thanks I get for all that I've been through? All the hard work I did to put Sugar Rush back to normality?!"
"I'm sorry, Tess," Rancis eased tenderly, his glassy eyes peered to hers with the utmost sadness, "We'll all be together again, one day, I'm sure of it."
"Uncle Rancis, you can't leave me here! I-I have no where to go, I have no one!" Tessa yelled as tears welled in her eyes, she largely pounded on the force field, "Don't do this to me!"
"Dead Zed is your new home, for now," Rancis stated softly, "Don't come to us... We'll come find you and Lickity when we're ready to have you back at the castle."
"Wait-WAIT, uncle Rancis, please wait!" Tessa begged through her tears, she urgently peered about the force field and inhaled a few shaky, uneven breaths of panic, "No, don't go, u-uncle Rancis, don't go!"
Tessa uttered a few cries of panic and squinted as she watched her uncle turn his back slowly, and stiffly walk away, as if it were simply the hardest thing he's ever had to do. She shook her head and let the silence fill the blanks in between, though before too much time passed, she clenched her teeth and felt rage over come her. She exhaled a hard cry and, what she was born to do, she began largely pounding on the force field with every single last ounce of her wrecking power. The game trembled underneath her power, the force field only complained louder as Tessa let her fists come alive with her searing purple coding. She exhaled a hard, loud cry to her forbidden land below and shook her head through her scrunched facial expression of dire anguish.
"Come back!" Tessa sharply bellowed through her innocent cries, though her eyes scanned the land in growing terror, the fact that it sat in collected wait, as if it were simply confused as to why she wasn't allowed home, either.
Tessa suddenly felt cold, every circuit underneath her skin begged for someone, something. She glued her terrified gaze to her kingdom and wondered if this was ultimately what was going to be the end of her. She knew she'd take death by code swap over living in alienation any day. She exhaled a choke of a breath, as if to wonder if this was all actually happening. As if she had ultimately harbored every single last byte of strength the Arcade could possibly bless her, she felt it immediately dwindle with the hard fact that she was suddenly shunned by every single person she thought she knew so well, every single being that breathed life into her. Tears melted down her tired cheeks, she felt her skin prickle with goosebumps; the feeling of pure loneliness began to drape over her, like a cloth to hide a dead body. Her knees only lightly buckled, her hands dribbled down the force field, which only had an ounce of give.
"I have no one, Rancis," Tessa lightly called through nasally desperation.
She sharply inhaled and shook her head, her breathing became uneven and panicked. She knew all too well she had Lickity, and she would never leave her side, though she also knew she had suddenly lost everyone and everything that meant something to her. Lickity whimpered a soft noise, as if to kindly and subtly remind Tessa that she was here. She gently nuzzled her snout into the side of Tessa's arm.
"After all I did for you," Tessa growled as she clenched her fists a little harder and finally averted her angry attention back to the force field. She inhaled a deep, raspy breath and let her dagger-like gaze pierce into the back of her uncle's figure, who didn't dare look back, "You ALL would be down the code drain if it weren't for Zed and I! Y'hear me?!"
Lickity sagged her entire demeanor and took one small step out of Tessa's wrecking bubble. She flattened her ears and, though her heart began to grow cold and angry towards the very people that would put Tessa through such pain, she knew deep down that Tessa's heart was now a desolate wasteland, and the road to recovery would likely be long. Lickity's eyes nervously scanned the beautiful, flawless Sugar Rush sky, as if to express sorrow over the fact that she had hardly gotten to know the game, before it was so quickly ripped away.
A/N: I drew fanart for this scene, y'guys - titled 'Timed Out'. I drew it last June, so it's sort of far back in my gallery, but not too far back. Username Vyntresser