A/N: Hey guys, thanks for your patience. I'm trying to keep on my 'every other day' uploading routine. I'm currently paused right in the middle of a sex scene, you guys are actually coming up on xD How I can get stuck in said scene is beyond me, but nothing really has been going according to plan this year, so I'm just sort of forgetting all the rules I guess.

Things on my end are getting better - I got promoted at work! I will be cleaning Mayo's brand new OR rooms, which includes a pay-raise, so that's pretty nifty. I am anal about details and cleaning and etc., so I'm actually pretty excited. That and BLOOD LOL.

I actually get really queasy at the sight of blood (if it's coming out of someone's body) but if it's just on the ground or there's no wounds to be seen or etc. then I'm like lol yay all the cleaning.

Fun fact about Tina, I am extremely EXTREMELY clean! and OCD! xD So uh, I guess they probably saw that in me and were like uhhh, wow, put this chick in the OR's cause what is happening.

I'm in a really weird mood right now.

Take the ICEE.

Song Listened To : Me The Machine by Imogen Heap

*Chapter 154*

After a few long, lost stretches of frozen time, Lickity cut through the still atmosphere and, once Zed's peak was closer into view, Tessa's eyes nervously scanned the raw, glorious mountain side; Zed's massive, luxurious cliff side loft was nowhere to be found. Tessa squinted and nervously hugged her body closer to Zed's, who hunkered down and prepared the two for landing. Once Lickity spot something with her hawkeye gaze, her and Zed came to a silent agreement that she would steer the rest of the way down. With perked ears of pure curiosity, she banked once around something that seemingly glowed in the raw, early morning sky. It looked to be a shining beacon of a golden sphere, about the size of a softball.

"Why does it look delicious?" Lickity complained as her large paws graced the soft, moist jungle soil and the three came to a final stop.

"If you eat the orb, we're all done for," Zed stated dully as he slid off of Lickity's side, though he eagerly out reached his hands to help Tessa to the ground.

"Then maybe I will rule all of Dead Zed!" Lickity cackled in a playful, menacing tone as she flattened her ears and hunkered down. She softened once a laugh shook from Tessa's tired figure.

"It IS beautiful," Tessa eased quietly as she began to slowly saunter up to the humming, vibrantly glowing orb. It looked otherworldly, though Tessa felt her heart swell with a bittersweet lick of raw, fresh nostalgia, with the way it reminded her of the orb in her mother's Loft. Tessa hissed a breath of an inquiry, as if to potentially let a giggle escape her figure, "It's... It's your code room."

"Meet The Orb," Zed introduced kindly as he gestured to it; all three of them approached the confidently glowing orb, which hung at Tessa's eye level.

Tessa ogled it in growing confusion, as if a moth to a flame, she felt she couldn't look away. She let her teeth show through an eager smile as she dared to open her palm for the orb. She largely flinched, however, once it chimed a core-shaking hum of excitement. She beamed and lightly glanced at Zed for confirmation, though he easily gestured his hand a little harder towards it, as if to encourage her to press on. Tessa finally pushed a little closer and, with one blip of her fingerprint on the raw, precious game coding, it lightly flickered and opened a larger, holographic sphere that sprawled about them, like the webbing of her very own code room in Sugar Rush. Through a few noises of surprise, from her and Lickity, the two stole girly glances at each other. She finally peered up to the indexes, code orbs and strings of the game's circuited DNA. The dark, starry sky, which was kissed with the sunrise, created a beautiful, stark difference.

"It's just like Sugar Rush," Tessa whispered as she peered back to the orb, who had kindly let her into it's world. It glowed a brilliant gold, and though Zed's web of coding was a lot more advanced, Tessa somehow felt as if she knew this code room personally. She knew she was coded for the game, but she couldn't help but feel as if it had kindly welcomed her and Lickity into it's tight-knit family of two; it and Zed.

"Except instead of boxes," Lickity trailed off kindly as she relaxed on her hindquarters, though she flinched once a nearby orb bobbed into her wing.

"Y'got spheres," Zed chuckled as he put his hands on his bare hips. He wore a pair of comfortable, grey cotton shorts; something Zane had dressed him in.

"Alright, this should be a quick switch over, yeah?" Tessa urged quietly as she softly looked about to each orb, in growing curiosity, "We just need to find your code orb."

"Should be somewhere," Zed urged curiously, as if to be bewildered with the fact that it hadn't made itself known by now, "huh..."

"... Don't tell me The Flip Side doesn't have it," Tessa muttered through despair that hung true.

"It should," Zed complained softly as he gestured his hand a little. A few orbs bobbed and weaved about in an organized chaos, though a few quickly made their presence known before Zed. He lightly tapped a glowing, golden orb before him, though with a flick of his finger, he tapped open two more orbs that hung nearby in poised wait, "I'll just have to run a search for it, then I guess..."

Zed quickly typed his name into the orb's data, though Tessa wrinkled her nose and curiously glance between the text box and Zed's sharp gaze, which was fixed on what he was doing.

"Uh... Takes you that long to type your three-lettered name?" Tessa giggled, Lickity scoffed a noise as well.

"Oh, uh..." Zed sheepishly stammered, he lazily gestured to the orb as he hit 'send'. He rubbed the back of his head, and just as he was about to continue on, an orb, from far across the web, floated into his line of sight, as if to suggest the lightning-speed search came up dry. Zed flinched and softly let the orb hover above his palms, "... This is your code orb."

"Mine?" Tessa worried, though the two held nervous eye contact. Zed flinched once Tessa snapped her fingers and let a knowing smile melt into Zed's existence, "Right! Your source coding is in my coding."

"But then... Where's Zed's ACTUAL code orb?" Lickity worried; the three fell into a dreaded silence.

Tessa's eyes nervously dragged to Zed's in growing realization. His chest rose and fell through staggered intakes of air he wasn't sure he knew how to grasp for. His eyes messily glossed down Tessa's body, to where her loading bar hung under her shirt. He finally let his sharp gaze pierce hers with an overflow of worry.

"I must've deleted it entirely," Zed muttered sadly. Both girls froze.

"For... For good?" Tessa worried as she looked about the orbs that hung about, like specks of enchanted stardust.

"It's not here," Zed's voice began to dip into a higher pitch of panic as he moved his hands about and manually searched each orb.

"Zed, let's keep our heads," Tessa worried as she noticed his hands begin to lightly shake.

"So, since you deleted your very coding, the game gave you Zane's identity?" Lickity softly inquired, her and Tessa flinched a few times as gentle, golden orbs bobbed past them.

"Must've," Zed worried, his wide-eyed gaze pierced each orb that bobbled into his presence, "Since time is frozen, here in The Flip Side, I'm still essentially remembered... But only through the small amount of my source coding in Tessa's code orb, and because the data is frozen in time."

"So, what're you waiting for?" Lickity cackled and shook her head, "Just drag your coding out of hers and paste it into the game!"

Zed quickly averted his sharp gaze to Lickity's intelligent stare and, after a moment, he snapped his finger and pointed at her in an enthusiastic way.

"I'm glad you can talk," Zed muttered with a growing smile of cheek.

"Yeah, all my grumbling and groaning wouldn't get across very clearly, would it," Lickity showed her teeth in a wide, snarky smile and rolled her eyes.

Zed immediately shooed the cluster of excess orbs out of his way and eagerly gestured for Tessa's orb to come closer. With a few taps, he tabbed into Tessa's orb and panned through a few options. Once he spot his rare snippet of source coding, he bit his bottom lip, pushed his firm finger into it, and attempted to drag it out of Tessa's orb. He smiled, opened his mouth to talk, and was quickly interrupted by the slap-back of his coding that zipped straight to where it belonged, inside Tessa's coding. He largely flinched, glared it down, and attempted to drag it out of the glowing orb once more. Once it slapped back, for a second time, he furrowed his eyebrows and gave Tessa a largely confused look.

"Cool," He barked sarcastically, which had Tessa grinning in confusion.

"You... Can't drag it out?" Lickity worried, though Tessa smiled down to the ground and, as the information hit her brain, goosebumps plagued her skin in a mixture of excited fear.

"I just realized..." Tessa heaved, "Since Zed gave me his source coding when his coding was a permanent part of the game, it was an easy transfer... A simple swipe..."

"But now...?" Lickity prod, Zed honed his nervous attention to Tessa, though she slid her gaze to Zed's nervous stare.

"Y'can't just copy-paste it... It's source coding," Tessa explained, her tone was low and knowing, "If there's no source..."

Lickity softened her demeanor and looked about to the floating orbs about, though before Tessa could finish, she let a knowing, toothy grin sprawl her face.

"There's only one way I can give your very coding back to you," Tessa uttered, her nervous eyes held glued to Zed's, though she couldn't figure out if he had caught onto her scheming plan yet.

"Code swap," Zed's voice was dark and deep. His eyes idly scanned the ground for a minute, in bashfulness, though they quickly hooked back to Tessa's line of sight.

"But... You can't leave The Flip Side, you'll go back to being Zane, and you'll forget who we are," Lickity urged nervously, her attention darted in between Tessa and Zed.

Tessa felt her skin grow cold with realization, she gave Zed a worried look of naive sadness, though she couldn't help but let a curve of a smile come over her. Zed's disposition was still and stoic, as if one wrong move would make him forget everything. With slowly slumped shoulders, a long, drawn out sigh through his nose and strong arms that lazily crossed, he peered down to the ground in contemplation.

"We've got a major toss-up, here," Zed started deeply, his intelligent gaze hooked into the uneven, beautiful grassy soil underfoot.

"Alright, I'll go, I get the hint!" Lickity urged, though Tessa laughed and bashfully swat her hand at her to insinuate knocking it off.

"The only way I'll pull my pants down in the middle of wilderness is if I'm nowhere near home and I have to sh-"

"This is quickly becoming awkward," Tessa blurted as she interrupted Zed, her and Lickity easily crumpled into laughter.

"In all seriousness," Zed couldn't hide a hard chuckle, "We have a big dilemma here... We cant leave The Flip Side without sharing codes."

"W-we have to... We have to swap before we can leave?" Tessa worried, her heart began to race in nervousness.

"Either... We swap properly, without a hitch, and get the baby's bar to read loading, or..." Zed trailed off nervously, his eyes darted back and forth between Tessa's and Lickity's, who looked on in growing fear, "We go back out there, I forget who I am, and... My own child remains a paused bar for the rest of time..."

Tessa frowned and, with a gentle swipe, she lifted her shirt and peered down at her small, purple bar, which was blank and hanging in the balance. She furrowed her brow and, just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, she felt Zed's sneaky, warm presence push into hers. She barely flinched as his strong hands lovingly held her hips, and through parted eyes, he nudged his forehead to the top of her head. His brilliant blue hair smushed into her messy auburn bangs. Through an uneven, scared sigh, his eyes fluttered closed as Tessa accepted his loving presence. The two hung with each other in nervous silence; Lickity sadly looked on before, she too, hung her head lightly and looked down to her clawed paws.

"I can't lose the both of you," Tessa's voice wavered quietly, "If... If we don't swap now, I won't just lose this baby, forever... But I'll lose you, as well."

"We have to try," Zed urged softly as he finally opened his eyes and let his idle gaze scan Tessa's freckle-kissed cheeks and nose, "At least we got some form of practice."

"If it weren't for that, we wouldn't be in this mess," Tessa uttered as tears finally slipped down her cheeks. She took a small step away, so to gain eye contact with Zed.

"It's my fault... I didn't think it was a different process, for humans and gamers, to get pregnant," Zed stated honestly as he held his palm to his bare chest.

"This baby is here for a reason," Lickity finally chimed in, she softly pushed into their comfortable bubble amidst the beautiful, dimly glowing orbs that hung around in wait, "Y'guys can't go back and change this... But from the looks of you two, I'd venture a guess that you wouldn't want to."

Zed bashfully let his teeth show through a genuine smile. He eased his arm around the back of Tessa's waist and pulled her closer into his chest. Tessa glowed, a honey-warmth she wasn't sure she could obtain. She pushed her hand to Zed's chest and leaned into his comfort, the two shared a small, knowing chuckle as they glanced at each other, as if to insinuate they were already smitten with their new bundle of coding.

"Y'guys will figure it out," Lickity eyed the two, "You've always managed to come out of the nonsense, somehow... I just have one question."

Tessa softly hugged her arms around Zed's center, rested her head in the nook of his neck, and kept her curious gaze to Lickity. Zed lugged his arms around Tessa's strong shoulders and held her solid, though he, too, kept his attention to Lickity.

"If y'guys ARE going to swap," Lickity looked around in a stupor, "Just WHERE are you going to do it? And where can I go to avoid hearing any of it?"

"Watch this," Zed's quiet voice chimed as he unraveled his arm from Tessa's hip and gestured for the main orb, of his code room, to come forth.

Tessa and Lickity took a generous step back as Zed opened the orb's menu and options. The three sat in patient silence, the only sound that could be heard was the warm, mysterious hiss of the jungle trees below them, the early cries of exotic, morning song birds. Tessa inhaled a deep breath and finally let herself be still in all of The Flip Side's frozen glory. She relished in the fact that everything outside of their rip in time was halted. Time to think, time to breathe. She dared to begin to lull her eyes closed and let nature softly envelope her worries, seal them away temporarily, though before she could allow her retinas to gain a blur, she was suddenly jolted alert in hard surprise as walls, flooring, furniture and a roof suddenly boomed about them, essentially jolting her and Lickity in total shock. Tessa covered her head and flinched in a protective way, though just as everything went silent, she peered about and noticed Lickity was also hunkered under her wings in a protective manner. The only person still proudly standing was Zed.

"Your... Your bedroom," Tessa blurted in an incredulous way as she looked about Zed's familiar, comfortable space.

"Alright, I'm out," Lickity barked as she suddenly began to shove her larger body past the two; four paws that bumbled towards the door, "How do I avoid hearing the headboard hit the wall over and over? Can I go for a quick flight around the game and forget about your guys' detrimental coitus?"

"Lickity," Tessa complained with a wide, bashful grin. Zed slumped his shoulders as he tenderly held the hovering, glowing orb about his center. He gave Tessa a look of cheek and, though he looked as if he wanted to play along, he nervously eyed Lickity.

"Well... We might need you close by if, uh..." Zed trailed off, his eyes sadly caught with the ground for a moment, "If... Anything goes wrong."

"... Y-You mean, if you accidentally delete Tessa?" Lickity wondered sadly, though just as she was about to sag with the growing realization, she stiffened and side-eyed Zed with further impending cheek, "What, I'd barge into the room t'your naked ass. There'd be nothing either one of us could do."

"Well, what about the other way around?" Tessa gestured, though she could feel her face heat up, "Wh-what if my coding does something awful to his? I know my coding isn't powerful enough to fully delete him, but..."

"Either way, y'guys better keep clothing on or something, cause User forbid I'm needed...!" Lickity bobbed her head with a sarcastic smile and flattened her ears, as well as her wings.

"It's just as well," Zed said through a raspy sigh as he finally let go of the glowing orb. It kindly collected all the other orbs, that hung about the room, and began to slowly bob away, to find it's proper place in the actual code room, which was opposite Zed's kitchen. Zed idly watched it leave the room as he continued, "We finally get to code swap and we need a talking, pregnant dragon in the mix to spot us."

"If you think I'm staying in the room, y'got another thing coming," Lickity urged loudly as she outstretched her neck upwards, perked her ears, and gave the ground an incredulous, furrowed look through bulged eyes, "It's bad enough that I probably have the best hearing out of anyone in this whole entire Arcade. I can hear the bugs on the ground, outside... Down the cliff. I'm a BAT. If y'think for one second I won't be able to hear-"

"Alright, Lickity alright!" Tessa blurted in an embarrassed way as she gestured her hand, "We'll keep our mouths shut, just... Bear with us! There's not much we can do to help any of this."

"I'm going to go on a flight around the mountain," Lickity continued in a snarky, matter-of-fact tone as she glanced between the two, though she dared to hold onto charming kindness, as if she knew teasing the two was likely just the beginning, "I guess I'll... Check back in a little bit."

"If you hear anything then just assume we're both still alive and kicking," Zed muttered as he bashfully rubbed the back of his head; he suddenly felt as if Tessa's eye contact was too intimidating to achieve in this moment.

"Kicking," Lickity scoffed as she finally marched towards Zed's glorious, double bedroom door, "Stay safe, guys... Good luck getting in the mood!"

Through her tight lip expression, Tessa froze, tensed her shoulders and finally watched Lickity's large body gracefully saunter out of the room. Her long tail bobbed about a bit and, once every last bit of her was out of the hallway, she finally sagged her arms a little and gained enough confidence to give Zed some form of eye contact. She gently assessed him; he was gazing in her general direction, though they were frozen, as if suddenly having to get things going, for the greater good, was going to be impossible. With how much weighing on them, Tessa cocked an eyebrow and wondered just what kind of sorcery Zed would have to achieve to get both of them in the mood for their final swap. She nearly began to grin with the challenge set upon the two; she almost was glad Lickity was leaving the building. Once the two finally gained eye contact, Tessa almost felt it strange with how much she suddenly wanted to argue with him. As if he had to court her all over again, from the very beginning. She knew she'd have to cooperate, for the sake of their unborn coding, the sake of Zed's deleted coding, and the sake of keeping her own coding in tact. She bit her bottom lip and, once they finally achieved warm eye contact, she knew somehow, someone was done for.