A/N: YAY reviews for FF are working again :D We're 4 chapters away from sketchdump requests, so be thinking about what scenes you guys want to see drawn!
Song Listened To : Home We'll Go (Take My Hand) by Steve Aoki & Walk Off The Earth - Neon Future II
*Chapter 146*
After a few minutes of mindless pounding, on every surface her wrecking fists could likely get their pixels on, Tessa finally let up and heaved hard breaths through the exhaustion. She stood and eagerly peered out to her homeland, her castle was gorgeous, pieced back together in all of it's upgraded glory. It practically begged her to come home, code room and all. She shook her head in growing defeat and began to feel angrier. She glared down the castle, and everything surrounding. She furrowed her eyebrows hard into her tired face and tilted her head down, though she kept her challenging glare to her land.
"Fine!" Tessa shouted, her hands shook, "FINE! I don't need you guys, anyways! I'll start my OWN game!"
Lickity politely got up the courage to garble a noise, as if to inquire that said notion was impossible.
"Oh, shut up, it could work," Tessa argued as she whirled her attention to Lickity, "C'mon, Lickity, we don't need them..."
Lickity uttered a sad sound and perked her ears as Tessa finally began to peel herself from the entrance of Sugar Rush.
"They'll be sorry," Tessa growled, "Without me, whose going to be next in line for the game? Certainly not Oliver! He can't even get properly dressed in the morning! C'mon, Lickity, let's blow this popsicle stand."
Lickity argued a notion, showed her teeth a little and shook her head in an annoyed incredulous way, though she flinched once Tessa whirled back around and sorrowfully peered out to Sugar Rush, once more.
"Oh, who am I kidding," Tessa huffed as tears streamed her cheeks, she shook her head and wiped them away with the back of her hand. She inhaled a sharp sniffle and finally peered to Lickity, who was stood in confusion as just where she wanted her to go. Tessa remained solid, as if coldness wanted so badly to creep over her, though she knew somehow she wouldn't wholly allow it, no matter how badly she sort of wanted. After a moment or two, she furrowed her eyebrows, squinted and assessed Lickity in a small bout of clarity she finally gained, though she averted her whole attention to something spotted on the underside of Lickity's belly. Tessa sniffled sharply, bent over and cocked an eyebrow, "Lickity, whatcha got, there?"
Lickity uttered a noise of question as Tessa pushed closer to her, though in the small act of Tessa bending over and checking to see if Lickity was okay, she was immediately slapped back as Tessa reeled her body up and away. She largely gasped, pointed and covered her mouth in surprise, which caused Lickity to freeze in confusion.
"Lickity!" Tessa urged, though she dared to let a laugh of shock escape her figure, "Lickity, you have a loading bar!?"
Lickity perked her ears, ducked her head down to assess her stomach, lifted her paw and grumbled a high pitch noise of excitement. She bared her teeth, in stunned, sudden happiness, and gave Tessa a look of floored delight, though she immediately flinched once Tessa choked an incredulous laugh.
"Who in Arcade did you hit it off with, then? How the hell-" Tessa stopped dead in her tracks and kept her shocked gaze glued to Lickity, though it easily sunk to a suspicious side eye, "Oh my User, Lickity, I swear... If you poop out a chameleon hybrid of some sort!"
Lickity nodded, as if she didn't understand what Tessa was insinuating, though she remained in her hyper, excited state, with her ears perked atop her head.
"You swapped with ORION?" Tessa bellowed with a wide, annoyed, though exhausted smile, "You mean to tell me you got big, mean 'ol Orion to actually swap with you?!"
Lickity bounced once, on her front feet, sprawled her wings, and gave Tessa a look of cheek, as if she were excited to somehow spill all the details; a simple pillow talk the girls were due for, though Tessa playfully swat at her.
"Oh my User, Lickity, the game goes to shit and you find the nearest idiot!" Tessa laughed as she nudged Lickity's snout, though she rolled her eyes and nervously looked away, "I guess I'm not really one to talk."
Tessa finally heaved a soft sigh and put her hands on her hips, though just as she was about to continue, Lickity suddenly let her snout wrinkle over and over, she loudly sniffled the air and pushed closer to Tessa's center. Tessa jolted and gave Lickity a confused frown, though Lickity began to lightly grapple for the ends of Tessa's shirt with her teeth. Tessa beamed and lightly pushed on Lickity's snout.
"Knock it off, Lickity, we gotta... We gotta figure out what to do," Tessa finished through a hiss of a nasally sigh, though she wobbled as Lickity began to become more persistent. Tessa scoffed a laugh and steadied herself, "Lickity...! What are you doing?"
Lickity grumbled in annoyance and finally swiped her paw at Tessa's shirt. She lifted it, to reveal her lower stomach and largely sniffled at her skin, which caused Tessa to reflex, as if she were being tickled. Lickity perked her ears, bounced away in a hop and garbled an excited noise, as if she had received good news. Tessa laughed and shook her head in confusion.
"What is your deal?" Tessa dared to half-smile in confusion, though she gently gripped the ends of her shirt.
Just as she was about to lift it, she suddenly felt her heart stop in cold knowing. She raised her eyebrows in hard surprise and froze. She held her breath and, as if to peel a band-aid off of a fresh wound, she lifted her shirt and felt her skin get hot with raised, anxious goosebumps. Sat, perfectly placed, and perfectly timed, was Tessa's very own loading bar. Tessa gasped a hard noise and slapped her shirt back over her stomach, her hands tightly kept her shirt down, as if to keep something sealed inside. Tessa's eyes bulged as she gave Lickity a look of scared delight, though Lickity gave it back to her tenfold. Both girls froze, though the tension in their bubble was enough to shatter glass.
"Lickity," Tessa hissed, "I-I... I have a loading bar?"
Lickity excitedly barked a noise of glee, as if she was simply Tessa's sister receiving this wonderful news that she were to be an aunt. Tessa giggled in a confused way and softly lifted her shirt once more, though she assessed the loading bar a little closer. It glowed a confident purple, though the words above the blank loading bar read 'paused'. Tessa wrinkled her nose and softly glanced at Lickity with a wash of humility and confused excitement.
"Paused?" Tessa urged quietly, though her eyes scanned the ground, "Zed and I haven't officially swapped codes... The only way for it to go from 'paused' to 'loading' would be... To swap codes with Zed..."
Lickity lightly let her demeanor relax, though she gave Tessa a look of mild confusion. She shook her head, as if to question, and uttered a small curious noise. She took a step closer to Tessa, as if she could see that Tessa was likely on the verge of needing more comfort.
"I can't swap codes with Zed because... He technically doesn't exist," Tessa eased to herself as she sadly let her eyes gloss to Lickity's glorious, green orbs. Tessa slumped her shoulders, "I can't get Zed's code because, I'm not allowed in Sugar Rush..."
Lickity let her ears lay flat in realization that fell over them, though she gently peered back to Sugar Rush for a few moments. The silence between them was still and gentle, as if to finally be draped with a conclusion. Tessa softly held her lower stomach and, as if she didn't think it were even possible, she felt her priorities largely shift from being Queen of Sugar Rush, to being Queen of her first born's life. She felt her heart pound with all sorts of emotions, as if she wasn't certain which one to feel first. She bit her lip in contemplation and let her mind race.
"M-Maybe Dead Zed has his code somewhere, like old save files," Tessa snapped her finger and peered to Lickity with enthusiasm, "Maybe if we poke around the code room...!"
Lickity's ears twitched with Tessa's sharp voice, though Tessa gently peered into Lickity's eyes with her growing findings.
"A place with old save files, where time has stopped," Tessa hissed to herself, as if she was stumbling upon this realization. Her eyes idly scanned the ground as she continued on, "The Flip Side...! The Flip Side has every single bit of the game preserved! We have to get Zed to The Flip Side!"
Lickity nodded eagerly and agreed, though she immediately softened with Tessa's brooding footwork that began to lightly step away.
"How do we get him there, though? We can't possibly just grab him and take off, he thinks he's Zane," Tessa complained.
She peered out to Sugar Rush and felt a wave of realization continue to come over her. She slumped her shoulders and, though she knew she suddenly had family ripped away from her, she felt her heart begin to want to sing, once more. She knew Dead Zed harbored five eagerly waiting boys that so badly wanted their biggest brother back. Tears pooled in Tessa's eyes as she lifted her shirt, once more, and let her thumb softly rub over her new, vulnerable loading bar. She scoffed a small laugh as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I still have family," Tessa urged quietly as Lickity softly nuzzled her snout into her hand, "I have you, and... User, we're going to be aunties!"
With a kind grumble of excitement, Lickity flattened her ears and gave Tessa a small sneer of a look, as if to suggest that every single bad situation had a silver lining, somehow.
"I'm going to need help, from people that know Zed best," Tessa eased quietly, she nervously eyed Lickity, as if she were about to drop sensitive news, "I'm going to need to go find Zed's brothers."
All at once, Lickity stiffened her demeanor, flattened her ears and knew exactly where this was going. Her pupils shrank a little, as if to insinuate fear and agitation. She grumbled a hard noise of protest.
"Come ON, Lickity, I don't really have a choice here!" Tessa argued, both girls grew tense, though Lickity largely turned heel to begin pacing, a brooding act to show frustration. Tessa rolled her eyes, "I know you and Orph don't get along, but there are four other boys that will probably love you! This is our only option!"
Lickity growled a noise and gave Tessa a look as if to stubbornly express she wasn't having any of it; Tessa threw out her arm.
"Lickity, those boys are the only family we have left," Tessa urged as her voice wavered, "Th-they have no clue that they are ALL about to be uncles! We HAVE to find them, they'll know how to get Zed to The Flip Side."
Lickity garbled a few grunts of frustration and flapped her head about, as if to free herself of water, though Tessa knew she was just acting out. She bared her teeth, growled and gave Tessa a look as if to express 'not in a million years'.
"Fine, Lickity, FINE," Tessa yelled as she waved her hand down and began to march towards Zed's parked light cycle, "I'm going to go find them... Besides you, they're the only ones who can help me through this mess. I'll be in Dead Zed, Lickity. You know where to find me."
Tessa turned heel and clenched her fist. Her heart throbbed in a needy, scared anxiousness, as if it was uncertain of what to do with everything laid on top of it. She heaved a hard puff and, yet again, knew she had to shove her feelings to the back burner in order to get through this mess. She huffed a soft sigh and, as badly as she wanted to look back and assess Lickity's mood and to see her glorious game for the last time, she shook her head, shut her eyes tight and firmly kept pace. She grabbed the handles of Zed's bike, mounted it, and largely sped off.
Tears streamed her cheeks as she sped through her home's wires. She grit her teeth in growing agony and, as much as it pained her, she knew she'd be back, in an attempt to seek out her father, uncle Felix and even her family from Hero's Duty. She knew now she ultimately needed to find Zed, not just for his life, but for the life of their unborn child. Her heart jolted, she knew it'd take quite a bit of time to let realization sink in; as well as how it was all of this was possible.
Just as Tessa was about to rocket into the small dock area of the inside of her outlet, she suddenly heard a loud, echoing roar. Tessa sat up in hard surprise and immediately slammed on the brakes. Zed's bike's tires screeched loudly, which reverberated all over her outlet's walls, though she jumped in surprise as Lickity suddenly tore around the front of Tessa, skid to a hard stop and slammed her strong paw to the front housing of the light-cycle. Her wings were lightly sprawled, her body and tail were stiff with action. Lickity panted softly and let her eyes scan the beautiful front of the bike, the blue glow illuminated her face. Tessa largely sat up as the bike came to a hard stop and put her hand on her forehead in surprise.
"Lickity!" Tessa exhaled, as if to ask if she was coming along and had potentially changed her mind.
Lickity cocked an eyebrow muscle and exhaled what seemed to be a faltered sigh, as if she was contemplating potentially even saying something. Her ears lightly raised as her body relaxed a little, though her glorious, intelligent eyes finally dug into Tessa's.
"I'm going with you."