Part X: Back to Basics


        Neflite was nowhere to be found.
        He wasn’t in the office, or the lab, or the dungeon, or anywhere else Felin, Syia and Jelex could think to look. So they shrugged, and went back to work as usual. Maybe he was taking a vacation. He did that too rarely.
        Syia was supervising a group of girls in the Torture Room with the new plant, named a Venus tickle trap. It wasn’t named for Sailor Venus, but rather for the plant native to Earth that entrapped insects. Though the plants had little in common at all, the name had stuck. Right now it was tormenting four girls.
        (Author’s Note: I got bored and sort of just described a pic. I took a few creative liberties with it, though. Anyway, that’s where this scene comes from.) All of them were wearing only underwear. The Venus trap, the popular short name for it, always stripped its victims immediately. The first girl had red-brown hair, wearing a red hairband, a necklace with a small diamond on it, stud earrings and white underwear. A vine had looped around both her wrists and kept them pulled up. The tormenting vines ended in a rough brown material that was perfect for tickling. They were similar to tufts of coarse hair. Two vines were at her armpits. They vibrated quickly, brushing across the girl’s hairless hollows many times per second. This alone caused her to kick and scream with laughter. An additional pair brushed across her sides, also a very ticklish spot for her. Her sides quaked as the merciless torment dragged on. The very reason that this room was isolated was that the laughter was deafening, at least before the victims’ throats were too parched to laugh out loud. This girl shrieked with the inhuman torment.
        The second girl had long, dark brown hair. She was wearing a set of red, silky underwear. Syia wondered if the plant was aware of this. Nevertheless, it tortured her plenty. The second girl’s wrists were bound at the back of her head by a single vine. At first glance, her suffering seemed less intense than that of the other girls’. Two vines extended from overhead and starting at her armpits slowly descended down her sides. What increased the threshold of the tickle torture was the fact that the vines came in two-second intervals, so that there was a constant parade down her sides. This girl’s sides ached from the torment of constant laughter, and the plant was holding her a bit off the ground, so her legs flailed around indiscriminately.
        The third girl had short brown hair, of a lighter tone than the second girl’s. She was wearing blue underwear. The plant held her in an odd position. The Venus trap held her wrists and ankles stretched out and slightly above her body, so that her stomach was facing the floor. Her armpits and feet were being tickled, of course, but the main focus of her torment was her stomach. This girl was highly ticklish on her stomach, and she was being held over a carpet of vines. The plant was sadistic here. The armpit and foot tickling was causing her to struggle. Her struggles made her sway. When she swayed, her tender stomach brushed against the cruelly positioned vines. This in turn tickled more, which made her struggle more, which tickled more…
        The final girl had black hair and wore a black pair of panties to go with it. The vine that held her arms had them at the small of her back. Another vine tied her ankles together, and with the other vine was holding her off the ground. A pair of vines rubbed across the vulnerable area just below her toes, sheer tickling torture beyond what this particular girl had ever known. Her own shaking and struggles increased her torment, as it did with the others.
        Syia was pleased. It was the kind of cruel, merciless tickle torture that she loved. She could barely hear herself think for the screaming laughter, but that was okay. The girls cried out to her for mercy, something that she cherished. Hearing the pleas for mercy was invigorating.
        Felin was watching on the lab TV. She grinned ruefully, hoping that time wouldn’t dull her edge. Things that burned hot burned out fast.
Yet, she had to admit that she also loved to bask in the desperate pleas for mercy. It was somewhat annoying because many girls quickly learned that begging for mercy only made their torment worse, and often didn’t plead. But that produced its own satisfaction, the satisfaction of breaking open the stubborn ones who though that they could keep themselves under control. Sailor Mars was always very fun in that regard. She was so unbelievably ticklish, yet she clung stubbornly to the notion that she wouldn’t laugh her head off.
        “She really gets off on this stuff, doesn’t she?” Jelex asked.
        “Yeah. Are you ready?” Felin asked.
        “Couldn’t be readier,” Jelex grinned.

        Jelex was able to disguise herself as a human. Felin, unfortunately, was not, but she was able to blend in well with backgrounds that were white. They headed to the school, where Felin hid in the upper tiers of the gymnasium while Jelex entered.
        They had done their homework, Megan had joked, on registering her to go to school. Her name in here was Peggy Etilfen, a completely random name supplied by Megan. She was due in today, her first day of school, and she was nervous but ready. She’d spent the past week reviewing school procedures and etiquette with Megan.
        She met with the principal, was given her schedule and homeroom assignment, and sent on her way. Along the way quite a few boys stared after her. Megan had warned her about this. Her alter ego was similar to her real figure; short, with long golden blond hair in a braid, and a shapely form. She had been unable to shake her habit of walking with a somewhat seductive sway, but it mattered little. Megan had told her how to deal with the gawkers. Before she got to class, she heard a whistle, and spitted the grinning culprit with an evil gaze. Jelex had checked; girls were permitted to throw such gazes at offending boys. The grin melted off of his face, replaced by a look of fear. Jelex gave a small, half-evil grin and walked on. That had actually been very satisfying.
        “Whoa. Did you see that?” one of the boys said dreamily.
        “Y-yeah, but her eyes are like daggers!” gulped the one who’d been pinned to the wall.

        “Today we have a new transfer student. Class, meet Peggy Etilfen.”
        Scattered applause greeted Jelex. Jelex bowed.
        “Peggy, your seat is back there. You’re next to Serena, the one who’s asleep,” she added, in a louder tone. Jelex nodded.
        “Today, class…” Jelex tuned out the lecture.
        Serena was not quite asleep; she’d seen Jelex’s entrance. She was staring out the window and daydreaming.
        Get ready, Sailor Moon, Jelex thought to herself. She pressed the button on the remote control she had hidden in her pack.
        The results were instant. Serena jolted, a look of fear crossed her face, followed immediately by an attempt to hold down laughter.
        Not again! Serena pleaded uselessly. This was worse than before, though. It felt like feathers all over! It was awful, and a lot more than Serena could take without laughing. Serena’s efforts to stem the tide were even more hopeless than usual. She was dancing a merry jig under her desk as her legs flailed wildly.
        Miss Horuna stopped. She sighed. “Oh, Serena, not again. Just leave now.”
        Serena bolted out the door, laughing hysterically. Jelex checked her watch, which was actually a meter for how much energy collected. Pretty good, for a start. She hid her grin and pretended to pay attention.

        “Does that kind of thing happen often?” Jelex asked another girl at lunchtime.
        “What, you mean Serena?” The girl giggled. “Yeah, actually it does.”
        “But why?” asked Jelex.
        “We don’t know. She’s strange,” the girl shrugged and returned to eating.

        The opportunity Jelex had been waiting for happened later that day. She had a free period, a study hall, and she’d asked for a pass to the bathroom and not come out. No one noticed.
        Serena walked into the bathroom, did her business and was about to leave when Jelex walked out of her stall, no longer in disguise, and tapped Serena on the shoulder.
        “Yeah?” she asked as she turned her head. Jelex wished she’d had a camera. The look on Serena’s face made her burst out laughing.
        “AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! What the…!” Serena backed up against the wall, panting like a crazed animal. “What the hell’s your problem?” Serena snarled savagely.
        Still laughing, Jelex answered. “Why am I here, you mean? I’m here to tickle you, what else?”
        “But…but…” Serena began, flustered. “What are you doing in my school?”
        “To be honest, I wanted to see your face,” Jelex chuckled. Serena’s face darkened. “Anyway…” Jelex contemplated a feather rod with interest.
        “Damn you! Why won’t you just leave me alone?” Serena growled, and a stray thought crossed her mind. Jelex was too busy being ‘evil’ to notice her, and she poked Jelex in the sides. The results were instant.
        Jelex, not having been really looking at her, whooped in complete surprise, giggled, threw the feather rod aside and clapped her arms to her sides. It only took her a second to recover, and she leaned forward to glare at Serena. “Hey! You’re not allowed to do that!”
        Serena leaned forward and returned the glare, so close that their noses were almost touching. “Aw, whatsamatter, is the big tough villain ticklish?”
        Jelex moved even closer. “So what?” She began to tickle Serena’s belly.
        Serena danced away, and when Jelex moved to follow, dug her hands into Jelex’s sides! “Heyehehehhe hey! Stop that!” she yelled, irritated at this turn of events.
        “Make me!” Serena giggled, then instantly regretted it as two hands suddenly tickled her armpits. Squealing, she clapped her hands over her sides, and Jelex moved in.
        The bathroom door opened, shocking Jelex into running away for a moment, and leaving a giggling Serena on the floor of the bathroom. She gave a murderous glare to the girl who walked in and stalked out.
       

        Felin stretched out languidly on the maintenance walkway that ran around the upper part of the gym. The ceiling was high, so there was no real worry about being spotted. She spent her day watching foolish girls flaunt their ticklish bodies. It had been all she could do not to go down there and take advantage of it.
        On cue, the bell rang and the next class filed into the gymnasium. This one should be Jelex’s class.
        Jelex was thoroughly prepared. She had procured a gym uniform and changed quickly, as she meant to be the first one out of the locker room. Sweeping her gaze over the catwalk, she gave Felin a thumbs-up and a nod. Felin nodded back. So, the new invention was a success. Syia would be glad to hear it.
        When Jelex was informed that she was required to run four laps around the room, she spitted the gym teacher with a gaze that was already becoming legend. He seemed to physically wilt under her stare. Unable to meet her eyes, he had insisted that she still run. Jelex refused, and he’d been unable to make her, or anyone else, comply. Felin remembered that she had a stare like that, too, in her bag of tricks. Lately, though, there had been no reason to use it. Besides, Felin admitted, her stare was somewhat more…inviting, to put it in polite terms.
        “Hey, where’d you learn that trick, Peggy?” one of the girls asked as they lined up to play volleyball.
        “Yeah! Teach me that look so I can use it on my boyfriend!” another giggled.
        Jelex smiled. “It’s a secret.”
        “Aww, please!” a chorus of voices asked.
        Jelex relented with a grin. She was easygoing by nature, after all. “Well, first, you…”
        Giggling like, well, schoolgirls, they hung on to her every word.
        Apparently the demonstration was lost on the boys. “Hey Peggy!” one of them shouted, probably on a dare. “Nice legs!” Sniggers and chortles came from the crowd.
        “You’ve got a problem?” Jelex asked softly. This guy was a macho type, and refused to fold so easily. He walked up to her and stabbed a finger at her.
        “I gave you a compliment,” he snarled. “There’s no need to get all huffy over it.”
        Felin was nervous. She silently prayed for Jelex to keep her cool. If she lost her temper and did something stupid, well… Felin had had no idea that school could be such a potentially violent place.
        “All right, break it up,” the teacher stepped between them. “If you’ve got differences, settle them on the volleyball court.”
        Jelex settled her differences, all right. She obviously had no idea what to do, but when on the first volley the ball had been spiked in her face, she learned quickly. Every play after that, whenever the ball came to her, it was a violent spike, one which made the ball bounce high in the air. Jelex was very athletic.
        All Felin could hope was that Jelex remembered her actual mission here. This particular class had been chosen because gym was last period.
        In the locker room, Jelex loitered until there was only one girl left. She was changing into her skirt. Jelex assumed her real form and leaned against the row of lockers until she noticed.
        “Who the… what are you?” she squeaked. Jelex answered by creating a quartet of hands to restrain her. She was not quite dressed, having been in the process of putting her skirt back on. Jelex slipped her shirt over her head.
        “Now, tell me,” Jelex said with her voice full of menace, “are you ticklish?”
        “Ticklish? Yes, I… wait! Oh no!” she cried as realization struck her. “Oh please don’t tickle!” She began to cry. She had heard of the tiliking that tickle tortured girls on the street, and deeply feared being tickled.

        The wall between the locker rooms was made of wood framework with sheets of plywood, mainly because the locker rooms had been a last-second decision on the part of the building planners. Every year, the board intended to replace it with stone because they often found holes in the wood paneling made with corkscrews stolen from shop class. (Author’s Note: If your school is in any way similar to mine, you know that they’ll NEVER get around to it.) Corkscrews similar to the one held by the boy with whom Jelex had crossed swords earlier.
        “Heh heh. If she looks that good in clothes, wait till we see her without!” he sniggered.
        The group of five boys chuckled agreement. “Just a little more… perfect!” the boy cried, throwing aside the tool and peering into the hole. “Aaaaaagh!” He flung himself away from the hole.
        “What?” asked one of the others. “What’d you see?” He peeked in to see Jelex scrubbing the poor girl’s stomach with feathers.
        “It’s a monster!” he screamed. Out of morbid curiosity, though, he kept his eye to the wall. The others clustered around him. The corkscrew went back to work, busily hewing out peepholes as the boys watched in rapt fascination.
        Jelex didn’t hear. She was too focused on making the girl laugh her mind away. Huge tears welled up in her eyes and spilled out. She had hands at her armpits with feather rods, hands at her stomach with feathers and others with nothing, and hands gently squeezing the girl’s thighs. Jelex used her real hands to trace patterns on the girl’s ribs.
        “HAA AHAHA HAHHAAHA AHAHA OH PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHZE STAAAAAAAAP! PLEASE DON’T TICKLE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! HEEHEEHEHEE AHAHAAHAAAA AAAHAHAA HAHAH EHEHEEHE HEEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEE!” She cried out as Jelex tormented her soft body.
        Jelex twirled a fingernail in her bellybutton. “Ah, I’d forgotten how much fun this is! That’s it, laugh your energy away…” For the first time in a while, Jelex was wearing her crystal bracelet. She crawled her fingers up and down the girl’s sides, adding to the already unspeakable torment. The girl tried to kick, to run, to do anything but she was helpless! The hands crawling on her body sapped her strength and she was unable to do anything but plead.
        “AHAHAAHAHA PLEEEEHEHEHEHEHZE STOP! OH PLEEEEEEEZE NO MORE! AHAH HAHAHAHHAAAA AHAHAH HAAA AAAAHAHAH! I’LL DIE! PLEASE STAHAHAHAHAHAHP!”
        “Oh, you won’t die,” Jelex chided her. “You’ll just go unconscious from tickling. Trust me, I’ve done this before.”
        “Pleeeeeze… hahahahah ahahaa… staaaaaap…” she croaked as her throat went parched and dry from twenty minutes of horrible tickle torture. Her once loud screams of laughter died down to feeble giggles.
        “Sweet dreams,” Jelex laughed evilly as the girl slipped away. Quickly she glanced around, assumed the form of Peggy Etilfen and left.

        “How about that new girl?” Lita asked as they walked to the temple.
        “I heard her stare is like a kick in the face,” Amy added.
        “She’s not Einstein, but she’s not dumb either. But,” Lita added wryly, “I nearly slipped on all the drool in the halls today. She would have a crowd following her if it wasn’t for that gaze. The guys call her the Queen of the Evil Eye.”
        “Is she really that nasty?” Serena asked.
        “She’s actually not mean at all,” Amy said. “But she doesn’t like the guys commenting on her. That’s when she unleashes the look. Otherwise, she’s really quite nice.”
        “Oh,” Serena replied.
        “Did you hear about the new vice principal?” Lita asked next.
        “No, I was…”
        “Sleeping!” Lita and Amy put in together. They laughed. “His name is Mr. Stanton. He’s supposed to be cool,” Lita continued. “I heard that he’s really good at finding out who’s lying and who’s not. He settled three arguments today, and he was right every time. The person who he picked out confessed to lying in each case.”
“Guys, I hate to rain on the parade but I have bad news,” Serena said. “Uh… Jelex was in the bathroom today.”
        “WHAT? No way! You’re joking!” Lita cried.
        “Really, Serena?” Amy asked. “That’s amazing. They’re getting bolder.”
        “Did she do anything?” Lita asked.
        “Actually, no, besides scare the living daylights out of me. Oh, that’s why!” Serena said as it came to her. She snapped her fingers. “A stupid new Negaverse invention. It-“
        “We know,” Lita and Amy broke simultaneously with nods. Serena twitched a face.
        “So how come you guys were all right?”
        “I wasn’t,” Lita said dryly. “But I was in study hall that period, and I guess people thought that I really had to go to the bathroom.”
        “I nearly peed myself,” Amy admitted with a blush.
        They were silent for a second, then burst out laughing.

        “So how was your first day of school?” Megan asked, trying but failing to hide her amusement.
        “Men are such a pain!” Jelex grumbled. “How can you put up with them?”
        Megan laughed. “You’ll have to find your own way.”
        “That’s not a problem,” Jelex said, waving that statement away. She smiled, a carnivorous smile that showed teeth. “I’m already known as Queen of the Evil Eye over there. Also I figured out how to play – what was it? Bollyball?”
        “Volleyball,” Megan corrected.
        “Yeah, whatever. I hit the ball in some guy’s face a lot.”
        “Hmm.” Megan stroked the head of a tiliking sitting near her. “Oh yes – what homework do you have?”
        Jelex’s face darkened again. “Blah! They expect me to work after I leave?”
        “You’d better get it done. You can’t keep a low profile if they peg you as a troublemaker.”
        Jelex left to find her stuff, grumbling all the while. She would be staying here for a bit, until the mission was finished. It made for a shorter walk. Megan turned to Molly. She’d taken the liberty of collaring Molly and tying the leash to an eyebolt set in the chair. The chain just happened to reach into the center of where the tiliking congregated, and the chain would reach no further than ten feet beyond the chair. Megan tugged on the leash, and Molly reluctantly crawled over. She wore a skimpy two-piece silver bikini. The tiliking wouldn’t tease her while Megan was there, not unless they had instructions, but she was fair game when Megan left.
        “So what do you think?” Megan asked. “Do you think that Sailor Moon will recognize the enemy right under her nose?”
        “You’re cruel!” Molly burst out. She still had spirit. Excellent…
        “So?” Megan asked. She glanced at the tiliking that was now resting in her lap. The thing was flicking its tongue lightly over Megan’s midriff. That meant that the tiliking wanted something. Since they couldn’t speak, they resorted to gestures and body language to communicate their wants. They couldn’t plead their case with words, so what better way to persuade her than to tickle her? It was a game they played, to see how long Megan could last before she gave into the requests of the tiliking. The tiliking won every time, of course, but it was fun. Right now, she knew, the tiliking were eyeing Molly hungrily. Molly recoiled in fear. She’d seen this happen before.
        “Oh, no! Please don’t turn them loose on me!” Molly pleaded. Megan ignored her and began to speak to the tiliking as one might to a playful puppy.
        “You want her?” Megan asked. The tiliking, by way of response, began to lick harder. It gave a mischievous grin. Megan giggled. “Heehee! You know that tickles don’t you? You’re too good at this, and I’m too ticklish!” Megan stretched her arms overhead. “Haahaahaa! See if you can beat me! Come on, do your worst!”
        Megan enjoyed being tickled, as Felin had confirmed a while before. She and the tiliking did this all the time. The tiliking took up the challenge and licked under Megan’s arms.
        “Aahahahah! Not yet! You can do better than that! Heeheeheehehehe!” The tiliking responded with a low noise between a whistle and a grunt. A half-dozen more tiliking crawled onto the chair.
        “Oho! Is that the way it’s going to be? Ahahahaha haaaa hahahaha aaaahahaha AAHAHA AHAHA HAHAHAA OKAY! Okay! You win!” Megan gasped as the tiliking quickly “overpowered” her. She laughed. “Okay, go ahead! You can have fun with her.”
        Molly screamed and ran the whole ten feet of slack she had. The tiliking surrounded her, tongues flicking in anticipation. They’d done this before and had it perfected to an art. One pinned her to the ground, spread-eagling her. The tiliking around her slowly extended their tongues, working their way ever closer to her exposed flesh…
        There were so many tongues that they covered almost all the available space. The slightly roughened feel of the tongues that gave them their uncanny tickling ability had tormented Molly so many times that all she did was cry. The rough tongues began to slide over her. At her armpits, and just above them, no less than six tongues. One at her neck, just for fun. A dozen lined her sides, sliding over the ticklish skin, while a quartet explored every ridge and bump of her ribs. Another pair were circling around her navel, rising and falling as her stomach quaked with tickle torture.
        Several more were at her thighs, and they ran all the way down her legs, most coiled around the part they were tickling. At Molly’s feet, another half-dozen congregated three to a foot. Here was the real torment. The tiliking licked her toes and the gaps between them, causing shudders and shrieks. Molly’s sides always hurt because of laughter; that was the intensity of the tilikings’ torture. Each toe was its own treat, to be licked clean carefully before moving on to the next one. Molly had nearly gone berserk the first time the tiliking had discovered this other and much more satisfying weakness. Megan had once tormented Molly with a piece of tickly yarn for five hours, pulling it through the gaps in her toes and seeing how loud she could make Molly laugh. Jelex had thought it great sport and had kept at it for another four hours. Nevertheless, a concentrated attack on this area usually caused Molly to go unconscious. So the tiliking struck a perfect balance between tickling and keeping her aware.
        “Oh, God, you’re at this again?” Jelex asked good-naturedly.
        Megan shrugged, though she wore a grin. “They overpowered me,” she protested laughingly. “The tiliking tortured me into letting them do it.”
        “I’ll torture you into making them stop!” Jelex retaliated.
        Megan threw up her hands in mock surrender. “Oh no! Woe is me, a poor victim of tickling torment everywhere I turn!”
        Their laughs contrasted with Molly’s, the easy laugh of amusement and the desperate, discordant laugh of tickling torture. “Seriously, if I’m gonna get this stuff done I need some quiet.”
        “Oh, very well. Hey! Go for the toes!” Megan commanded.
        Molly’s laughter, which had been dying down, rose again to a cacophony of pleading and screaming. Molly’s vision blacked out as she lost her tenuous grip on oxygen and quietly closed her eyes.
        “Ah, much better,” Jelex sighed. “Now. ‘Prove this statement,’” she read off of a sheet. “What statement? Oh, this thing. One minus tan squared over one plus tan squared equals one over cos squared plus sin squared… what the hell is this junk? How do I prove that? It’s just a bunch of letters and numbers!” (Author’s Note: I HATE proofs.)
        “That’s sine, cosine and tangent,” Megan corrected lazily.
        “Whatever. I’ll just fill in some more letters and numbers… I hope no one looks at this too closely.”

        “Are you sure this thing is going to work?” Felin asked dubiously. She examined the upgraded Dream Inducer. Now, instead of giving nightmares to Sailor Moon, it would let Syia enter her dreams and take control of them directly. In Felin’s opinion, though, it was a little farfetched. “Besides, it’s only her dreams. It’s not like they’re real or anything. Why are you putting so much effort into this?”
        “Ah, but they will seem real,” Syia answered, rubbing her hands in delight. “Furthermore, complete control of the dream will allow me to conjure up unimaginable tortures. For nothing else but entertainment value, this will be worth it. I intend to work on it further so that you can also use this device. When you experience this firsthand, you will know its value.”
        Felin considered. Psychological warfare… it was how they’d broken Megan. That argument swayed her decision. “Okay, go for it. In fact, this sounds like a real winner!” Evil anticipation crept into her voice. In fact, now that she thought about it, if someone sent her horrible nightmares each night, she’d be shaken. So it did seem like a viable idea.
        Syia returned the expression and placed her hands on the raised orb of the new Dream Controller.

        Serena was walking down the street in her dream. She wasn’t alone, but the other people were insubstantial, as if they knew their purpose was to be window dressing. Then a police car pulled up next to her on the curb, sirens blaring and lights flashing.
        The window rolled down and an officer wearing sunglasses examined a small picture in his hand. “Are you Serena?” he asked roughly.
        “Yes,” Serena asked a trifle nervous.
        “Come with me,” he said, lowering the picture.
        “Why?” Serena queried. Something did not feel right.
        The officer’s face darkened. “Don’t make this difficult. You’re already under arrest. Don’t make me add resisting arrest to your crimes.”
        “Arrest?” Serena blurted out. “What did I do?”
        “Don’t give me any crap,” he said. “Get in the back seat or I’ll knock you out and throw you in.”
        Serena, by now very confused, got in the back seat of the police cruiser. The buildings blurred by, and they were in front of the courthouse.
        “Out,” the officer commanded. “Hands in the air.” Serena extended her arms over her head, and the officer handcuffed her. He did a quick pat-down search.
        Serena giggled. “Hey, that tickles. Be careful.”
        The policeman straightened with a dry half-grin. “Confessing to the crime? Wait until we get inside.”
        Confess to what crime? Serena wondered again. She walked into the court with her hands cuffed in front of her.
        “All rise for the honorable Judge Syia.” The police officer had disappeared, and she sat at a bench by herself. She tried to stand, but her feet were chained to the floor.
        Syia grinned. She looked so lost and vulnerable. This was going to be very satisfying. “Are you mocking the court?” Syia demanded, glaring at Serena.
        “N-n-no,” she squeaked in a small voice.
        Build up on one hand, and take down with the other. “Very well. I’ll overlook it this time.” She banged a gavel. “This is the People v. Sailor Moon. Court is now in session.” Serena did not react at all to being called Sailor Moon. She was really off balance.
        Across the aisle, a man stood up, resembling Neflite in a business suit. “Your Honor,” he began, “I will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Serena is guilty of the crime of being too ticklish.”
        “What!” Serena yelled. “That’s not a crime!”
        “Silence!” Syia screamed. “One more interruption and I will hold you in contempt of court!”
        “Anyway, Your Honor,” Neflite continued, “I present exhibit A.”
        Suddenly Serena was in a pair of stocks, with her bare white feet sticking out tantalizingly. A pair of feathers appeared and began to swirl over her soles.
        “Ahaaa ahahaha hahahahaha hey! Sta-sta-staaaaap! Heheheeeheeheh ahehehe heehehehe ahahaaaah!” Serena’s shrieks earned her no compassion.
        “I think that’s enough,” said Syia. “I pronounce the defendant guilty of being too ticklish. For sentencing, you will wear a tickle torture suit for one month.”
        Two burly men grabbed Serena’s arms and dragged her away. She was roughly shoved into a pink bodysuit. Serena was pushed into a thickly padded room and the door slammed.
        The suit began to vibrate, slowly at first and building to increasing levels of torture. Serena screeched and looked frantically for zippers or buttons. There were none… it was as if the suit was part of her skin. The torture was unbearable. All over her creamy skin, she felt a maddening touch, a touch that drove her wild with laughter. Serena was flinging herself into the walls, rolling on the floor and pounding on the door with a frantic and panicked energy as the suit continued its ceaseless torment. On and on, with the sound of her own laughter the only companion she had. For the rest of eternity, she’d suffer this ungodly torment. Serena tried to scratch herself or cause some injury, because surely this was a horrible nightmare from which she could awaken. Yes, it was a nightmare, but Serena couldn’t awaken.
        Finally, though, even Syia’s formidable psychic power couldn’t hold Serena’s increasingly panicked mind in the fog of sleep. Serena awoke with a horrible scream, and found herself wrapped in the blanket. As if she were tearing off a repulsive thing, she threw the covers off of herself, and in her unreasoning state, stripped off her pajamas as well. She sat there, panting, for she knew not how long.
        Luna was at a loss. She didn’t know what to say, and correctly assumed that Serena might attack her in this state. Finally, exhausted from her struggles, she fell asleep wearing not a stitch of clothing.

        Syia was grinning ear to ear.
        “I assume it went well?” Felin asked eagerly.
        “Oh, you should have seen her! She was so frightened and lost, and oh! What devilish torment!” Syia was practically drooling, Felin noted.
        “If it’s really that good, I hope I can see sometime,” she said.
        “I intend to work on that right away. With enough of these, I…” Felin tuned out the rest. Still, even with Syia’s tendency to exaggerate these things seemed like a good deal.

        Serena was even later than usual in getting up. The nightmares had cost her a peaceful sleep, and she was almost late even as she just left her house. She had a mere five minutes to make it to school…
        Serena decided to take a shortcut through a construction site, even though it was highly forbidden, not to mention dangerous. She slowed down somewhat, overawed by the constricting quiet that contrasted with the rest of the city. For some reason Serena became very nervous. All of the sudden a thought shot through her mind, a thought that nearly petrified her.
        Tiliking!
        There was no one here… Construction crews wouldn’t come on duty until later today. Suddenly every stray noise became a dry hissing or skittering claws. Serena walked through on wobbly legs. The fence was so far away… Finally Serena made it, and sighed with relief. That was when something coiled around her leg!
        With a scream that could have been heard for miles around she turned to hit the tiliking with her books. Only her blow landed on empty space; there was no tiliking. An old strip of plastic had blown into her leg. Nearly fainting with relief, Serena climbed over the fence. She’d never go this way again.

        Serena was fifteen minutes late, which was not exactly passable, but it was a common enough occurrence that nobody took it for anything out of the ordinary. What were out of the ordinary were the feathers in her clothes again. Serena fought as hard as she could, but she was just way too ticklish. Miss Horuna had had enough, apparently.
        “Serena, go to the Vice Principal’s office. Maybe he can get you to stop these constant disruptions.”
        Serena hated going to the principal, even though it was just the vice-principal. He was supposed to be understanding, though. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

        Neflite stood looking out the window of his office. He’d needed a vacation, without telling anyone where he was so he could just relax. Neflite had also planned his next move. The Tickling Dungeon II was under construction at the abandoned airport where he’d ambushed the Scouts before. In a sense, this whole thing had started there. The greenhouse had been an experiment, and a hastily thrown together one. The game show had been his first effort engineered specifically for tickle torture.
        He had approved of the actions taken by his subordinates while he’d been gone. Infiltrating the school would be helpful for his next move, and the tiliking in the street were bringing in energy at an astounding rate. Syia’s Dream Controller was somewhat esoteric, but it worked. Felin and Jelex had managed the operation well, and now it was time to set his goals higher. They were none other than the complete and utter destruction of the Sailor Scouts, by tickling of course. In a sense, he’d bound his entire well being to this odd human characteristic.
        Neflite’s reverie was interrupted by a female voice. “Yes?” he asked, somewhat crossly.
        “Serena Tsukino is here to see you. She’s been reported for multiple disruptions of class.”
        Neflite smiled. Perfect. It had only been a matter of time before she was kicked down to his office, with the daily torment of the feathers. It was show time. He sat in his chair, with the back facing the door. “Send her in.”
        Serena walked in nervously. She sat in the chair opposite him. “Serena, was it? I’ve heard that you’ve been disrupting class a lot. Care to tell me why?”
        “It’s not my fault!” was the first thing out of her mouth.
        “Really? Why is that?”
        “Well, it’s um…”
        “Go on, tell me the truth.” Neflite could sense if she wasn’t.
        “Every time, it’s been that someone’s… well, uh…”
        “Someone else?” Neflite queried.
        “Yeah. They’re…tickling me,” she rushed out.
        “Hmm. Yes, I can imagine that being a problem for you. A young girl like yourself must be ticklish.”
        “Well, yeah,” Serena said with a little laugh. “A lot of people tease me about it.” Maybe this guy was cool, Serena thought.
        “I see. I have a question. Exactly how ticklish are you? If that’s the problem here, we might as well begin to solve it.”
        This had taken a completely different turn than Serena had expected. Still, she didn’t sense anything wrong. “Umm… really ticklish?”
        Neflite chuckled. “What say we find out?”
        “Well, umm, I’d appreciate if you didn’t, because, well, I’ve had some bad experiences,” Serena said, her nervousness coming back.
        “Oh. Bad experiences? Like the time you were captured by the Negaverse and tickle tortured in front of a huge audience?”
        “Hey, what! How-“ Serena was just a little too slow. Metal restraints clamped down on her wrists and ankles.
        Neflite spun his chair around. “Hello, Sailor Moon. Surprised to see me?”
        “Actually, no. I ran into your flunky the other day,” Serena spat.
        “Felin?”
        “No, Jelex.”
        “I was in the gym, Neflite,” was the bemused answer to Neflite’s unspoken question. She’d been hiding in a corner closet. Felin smiled and her eyes glinted. “This room is soundproofed. You’re totally helpless. The door is locked. Guess what that equals?”
        Despair exploded in Serena. My God, am I safe anywhere?
        Felin rummaged in the closet and dragged out some stocks. Serena’s feet took their proper position, at least as far as Felin was concerned; they lay completely at her mercy. She’d never gotten to actually tickle Sailor Moon, so this would be fun.
        Felin removed her shoes, then slid the sock off in such a fashion that the sock leaving Serena’s foot tickled. Just one foot, for now. Felin teased her sole with a single finger. “Cootchy cootchy coo! Is Sewena tickwish?” Felin mocked in the baby language she’d troubled herself to learn.
        “Heeeheeeheeehee! No! Stay away from my feeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Aaahahaaaaa!” Serena laughed, already broken. She really wanted to be angry with Felin for patronizing her, but the tickling overrode any competing emotions.
        Felin moved to playing “this little piggy” with Serena’s toes. Each movement was punctuated by Felin’s lick on her toe. Serena was going wild; Felin was an expert.
        “AaaAAaAhahahaha! Ahahaaaaaa! No! Not my toes pleeeeeeeeeeze! Don’t tickle meeeeeeee! Pleheheheheheheheeheeeeeze!” Serena begged.
        “My, my, my. Ms. Moon is very ticklish!” Felin grinned as the other sock came off.
        Felin wiggled her fingers between all of Serena’s toes. ”AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAAH OH PLEEHEHEHEHEHHEEEEEEEZE! NO MORE! HHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHAA HEHEEHEEAHAHA! OH GOD STAAAAAAAAAAP!” Serena hated to be tickled, and the fact that she was pleading for mercy aggravated her, as much as she could be aggravated under the current circumstances.
        Felin quickly changed tack and raked her nails over Serena’s white soles. Just as Raye liked to do… “AAAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA OH PLEEEEHEHEHEEHZE! NOOO! AHAAHAHAHAHAA AAAAHAAHAHA HAAHAHAHA AAAAAAHAAAHA AHAHAHAHAA AHAHAHAAH!”
        Suddenly Felin stopped. “We’d love to keep you here all day, but someone will notice if you’re not there. So you’ll catch a break this time. Just know that we’ll tickle torture you whenever we want.”
        Neflite spoke up. “By the way, I can arrange another episode of ‘Tickling Torture’ if you try to say anything. Maybe this time in front of your whole school. Just keep that in mind. Keep your mouth shut and I won’t have to do that.” Neflite scribbled on a pad of paper. “Oh yes… here is your pass back to class. Have fun.”
        Serena stormed out.
       
        “Hey, Serena!” Lita greeted her at lunch. “I hear you got sent to Mr. Stanton,” she said, taking a bite of tuna sandwich.
        “Really, Serena!” Amy was grinning too. “You should know better.”
        The absolute menace in Serena’s eyes stopped them cold. “Neflite is the vice principal,” she said, her voice tight. “And Felin and Jelex are here too.”
        “Ouch,” said Lita.
        Amy examined Serena’s face. “No one heard you?” The rest of the question went unasked.
        “They soundproofed the room and they have stocks,” Serena said sourly.
        “That punishment will certainly keep me out of trouble,” Lita said thoughtfully. “I bet that if they announced that tickle torture was the punishment for misbehaving, people would think twice before breaking the rules.”
        “You’re not funny!” Serena yelled.
        Amy giggled. “Lighten up, Serena. Did you expect us to turn paranoid schizophrenic on you?”
        “Skitsa-what?” Serena and Lita asked.

        As it happened, Amy, Lita and Serena had the same gym class as Jelex. Today they were going to be doing some gymnastics stuff, like swinging from rings and vaulting horse and stuff like that.
        The rings platform was set up, because the rings were suspended from the ceiling and they didn’t reach anywhere near the floor. So a large cushion was set up underneath, and the two pairs of rings swung overhead.
        Serena was legendary for botching this and other gym events. She didn’t like the fact that there was a betting pool to see how she would mess up, but it was something that she couldn’t change. Today, she lost her nerve once on the rings and was swinging high off the ground.
        “Serena, just let go!” Lita called from the floor.
        “I can’t!” Serena shouted. “I-I’m scared!”
        “Oh, Serena! There’s a pad to fall on!”
        “No! No no no no no!” Serena dug in her heels.
        “Serena, you have to at least come down so other people can go,” the gym teacher tried next. The efforts were in vain.
        “How can we get her down this time?” Amy asked. Behind them, a girl was collecting the winnings from the betting pool.
        “Should we throw shoes again?” someone asked.
        “Nah, last time she got a black eye,” Lita replied.
        “I have an idea,” Jelex said.
        “What’s your plan?” Amy asked. Jelex told them, and grins broke out on the students’ faces. Lita turned back to Serena displaying an impish grin.
        Serena wasn’t stupid. “Hey! Don’t even think about trying to force me off! Peggy!” Serena yelled as Jelex climbed up. “I’m warning you! I can kick!”
        Jelex took the second set of rings and swung out. She waited until she had settled about three feet away from Serena. “Now look, you get one more chance to drop yourself. Otherwise…” Jelex transferred the rings so that she had one free hand. “I’ll tickle you off!”
        “No! No! No! Stay away from me! Fiend!” Serena kicked and flailed with all her might. The crowd was laughing at the spectacle above the floor. Jelex swung past her and with an impressive agility latched on to Serena’s waist with her legs. “Get off! I’ll fall if you don’t get off!”
        “Well, that’s the point, isn’t it?” Jelex laughed. She now had two free hands. Jelex took great delight in slowly sliding her hands up Serena’s shirtsleeves.
        “No! Please! Don’t tickle! Aahaahahaaha!” Serena twisted in midair, trying to evade or throw Jelex off, but for all Jelex’s skillful torment, Serena’s grip on the rings was viselike and she refused to let go. The class was laughing again. Jelex slid her hands down further. She toyed with Serena’s ribs and brushed her nails on Serena’s sides. “AAAAAHAHAH Aahahaha AAHAHAHA ahahahaha! Staaaaaaaaaaap!” Serena begged.
        “Sheesh, you’re stubborn. All you have to do is let go.” Jelex wore a sadistic smile. She stopped the upper body tickling and went for the kill. Jelex hung upside down, within striking range of her feet. They were already in socks and made easy targets.
        “Noooooo! Get away from my feheheeheheeeeet!” Serena kicked her feet, catching Jelex in the nose, but she laughed gamely and continued. In a burst of inspiration, Jelex used her long braid to hold Serena’s ankles together. With her targets now helpless before her, Jelex cruelly explored the ticklish sides and soles of Serena’s feet. Finally Serena gave up and they plummeted to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Somehow Jelex managed to untangle her hair before they hit. Bouncing on the pad, they were greeted by cheers and applause.
        Serena grumbled and stomped away. “What did I do? I didn’t mean to upset her,” Jelex protested to Lita.
        Lita laughed. “Don’t worry. She just hates tickling because she’s too ticklish. She has nothing against you personally. Give her time to cool down.”

        Jelex would have giggled to herself while waiting in the locker room, but she found it too out of character for herself. She had tickled Sailor Moon in plain sight of everybody, and not one of them protested! It was excellent. Jelex noted that the last victim was out the door first. As fate would have it this time, Amy was delayed getting back inside and was just getting undressed when everyone else was leaving. Jelex assumed her real form.
        Amy was standing in just her underclothes. Jelex walked into her aisle and said cordially, “Hello, Sailor Mercury.” The series of reactions was quite comic. Her first reaction was to squeak and cover herself. Her second was to gape in disbelief, and her third was to turn and run. She never got to follow through on the third. Jelex’s hands caught and presented her to Jelex for tickling.
        “So Serena was right,” Amy gasped. “You are in the building.”
        Jelex grinned. “That’s right. You happened to be the unlucky victim today. Just so you know, I also saw Sailor Moon get tickled today. I’ll have to track that Peggy girl down. I like her style.” Amy filled in what she thought Jelex meant: that Jelex wanted to tickle her too. Jelex hoped that she’d come to that conclusion and that, Jelex reflected, was a classic case of hiding behind the obvious.
        Jelex walked alongside Amy and grinned. She didn’t make any more hands. She wanted this one to last forever. Jelex began by tracing down her sides with a fingernail. Amy giggled sweetly. “Ohohohh please not again! Please don’t hheeeheeeaaha tickle me!”
        “Why not?” Jelex asked, pretending to be confused. “But your skin is so lovely. Especially here…” Jelex traced over a rib. She scratched lightly on that rib and Amy giggled again. “I think that these lovely feet need attention. They’re crying out, ‘Please tickle us, Jelex!’ I’d hate to disappoint them.” There was a bench running the length of the aisle down the center, and Jelex laid Amy down. She then sat by Amy’s feet. Amy couldn’t raise her head very far, and thus couldn’t see what Jelex was doing. Then she felt something very soft weave a torturous path up her sole.
        “Aahaahaha! Oh no! Ahahaha ahaahaaaaha!” Amy was laughing harder now. Her feet were a very weak point of hers. The feather continued its slow trek over her foot. It was torture, a kind of torture she’d allowed herself to forget. The feather abruptly stopped between her toes, but another one took its place on her sole. Jelex stroked it lovingly over her bare white feet. Amy flinched as she felt the down feather slowly brush over her soles, work around to her sides and brush at the base of her toes. Tears formed in Amy’s eyes and pooled there, until they overflowed and rivulets ran down Amy’s cheeks. She was totally helpless, and Jelex’s grin was stretching wider as she saw Amy suffer the tickling torment. It was sheer torture, she thought again, a torture that had no end in sight. Sometimes it amazed Amy how she could go off on these philosophical tangents while she was busy laughing herself to death. Amy tried to get up – there were only four hands, weren’t there? – but the hands were somehow strong enough to keep her pinned solidly to the bench.
        Jelex held up a small pink object for her to see. “Isn’t technology wonderful? Syia made these up. They’re guaranteed to drive you wild.” Amy felt something, presumably the object, settle in the gap between her big toe and second toe. There was a click, and the thing started to vibrate! It tickled like crazy and Amy was laughing again, this time with a more panicked edge than before. If that wasn’t bad enough, Jelex had enough for every space! Amy was screaming with laughter when Jelex finished. And this was only her feet! Amy didn’t want to think about the further torments Jelex could visit upon her. Her back slammed into the bench over and over. Jelex hoped that the bench wouldn’t break.
        Jelex grinned pulled out a feather rod. “You know, I love this part.” Jelex “cleaned” Amy’s ribs with the rod as if it were a feather duster. Amy had truly forgotten the last time it had been this bad. Dimly she recalled that it would have been with Vena in the old subway station. Jelex tickled Amy however it pleased her for the next ten minutes. The constant laughter caused by the tickle clips parched Amy’s throat and her laughter became weak. Jelex smiled. “I don’t think so. Every time you Scouts pull this trick. When you think we’re satisfied, you pretend that you’re out of breath. There are still laughs to be pulled from you, Sailor Mercury. Laughs and energy.” The rod idly traced its way from her armpit to her stomach.
“No… no… no…” she cried as loud as her dry throat would let her.
        Jelex created all the hands she was capable of. They swarmed Amy like a horde of tickle locusts.
        With the hands all over her body Amy lost her perception. Her vision flashed and became dark. Darker, darker, like she was falling into a hole.
        When Amy came to, the sun was setting. It was all she could do to muster the energy to get dressed and go home.
       
        Lita was sly, all right. She hadn’t forgotten about her turn in the endurance sessions, and had been thankful that other events had preoccupied everyone. She had no intention of reminding them. Lita stole off quickly when Serena wasn’t watching, then slowed down to a more leisurely pace once she was far enough away.
        Lita decided to take the scenic route. She was feeling light as a feather today. Lita knew that her path was taking her near the abandoned airport where she’d gotten her first taste of tickling torment, but there was no one there now, was there? Just to be safe, Lita decided to walk around the airport and not through it. There was no point in reviving old ghosts.
        Lita’s footsteps crunched through the overgrown foliage that grew around the fence. Suddenly it occurred to her that there was someone else following her. Someone with the intent of sneaking up on her, because their steps stopped when hers did.
        “Serena? I know you’re there, come out!” Lita called. No response came from the tangle of plant growth. “Serena?” Lita grinned when the footsteps resumed, coming towards her. She’d outsmarted Serena. Lita watched her tramp through the bushes with a superior grin. Why was Serena smiling? Lita asked herself. Answer: It wasn’t Serena!
        Syia strode through the brush. The girl’s look of utter consternation was pleasing. Syia reached out with her mind and locked Lita’s muscles.
        Lita was frantic. Why couldn’t she move? She stood helplessly and watched Syia approach. Syia smiled. “Look what we have here. A little schoolgirl wandering all by herself. Don’t you know that it’s dangerous to walk by yourself?”
        Lita snarled. “Don’t patronize me, creep. What do you want?”
        Syia traced her eyes over Lita. “Ooh, how violent you are. I’m scared.” Syia pretended to tremble. “But even tough girls have weaknesses.” That set off the warning light in Lita’s head. “Yes, you have a weakness. A delightful weakness.” Lita’s arms rose slowly over her head. Lita’s face betrayed her emotions. “How do I know? Simple. Just now, you looked afraid because I raised your arms. What did that do?” Syia’s eyes glinted evilly. She loved toying with her victims. “Oh, it must be because you are exposed. Is that it? Are you worried because you can’t protect yourself? Is it –“
        “Shut up!” Lita hissed nervously.
        Syia grinned at the outburst. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. What are you so worried about?”
        Lita would have beaten the other to a pulp if she could. This little speech was making her feel worse every second.
        “I think you know what I’m after,” Syia laughed. She slowly slipped Lita’s dress over her head. Lita quivered in fear. This was it, she was totally open…
        With a quick laugh, Syia turned away. “Gotcha. You thought I was going to tickle torture you, right? Well, I am. But not out here. We have a few surprises for you inside…”

        Every girl for herself, Mina was thinking. At this point, it was. The Scouts couldn’t go around the city in broad daylight blasting tiliking, now could they? Worse, if the tiliking caught one of them, it could be…embarrassing. All reports on the TV said that tiliking came from alleys and dark places. Mina admitted to herself that it was not exactly a good idea to be walking around at sunset. There were enough shadows here in the park to create a lot of darkness, and Mina couldn’t make out objects in the darkness very well yet. So she hurried along, glancing furtively around.
        Twilight is a difficult time to see, especially the border between light and shadow. So Mina really did not have a chance of spotting the lurking tiliking. But the tiliking could see her. It stalked silently in the shadows, waiting for an opportune moment to strike.
        A gust of wind blew through the park, causing trees to moan. The noise covered the tiliking’s advance, and it pounced on Mina.
        Mina nearly screamed. But there were reports that screaming encouraged tiliking, so she kept her mouth shut. She hated these things, so unsanitary and disgusting, slobbering all over the place. The tiliking’s hot breath blew in her face, smelling rather unpleasant. But the tongue mesmerized her. It slid down the neck of her shirt, a gruesome feeling that, she knew, was soon replaced by god-awful tickling.
        So it was in this case. Mina’s underarms were ticklish enough to attract the notice of the tiliking. That’s were the tongue went. The tongue’s tip played teasingly with Mina’s smooth, hairless armpits. Drat her silky skin! It tickled like crazy! Mina clamped her mouth like a vise. No laughs or pleading would escape her lips.
        Suddenly she heard high-pitched jabbering. “Yes! There is girl. She fell into our trap, and the tiliking has her!”
        “Oh! A ticklish girl, yes? Look at her! So ticklish that I nearly weep with joy. She will entertain us many nights, yes?”
        “Heehee! Look, already she is trying to not laugh. When we tickle, she will go boom! Laughs and laughs and laughs we will have from this one, yes?”
        Mina groaned internally. Tickle imps… Yes, there went her shoes, and socks… this was going to be real bad.
        The tickle imps’ tiny fingers probed deep into her most ticklish crevices. Mina flushed a bright shade of red. Don’t laugh don’t laugh don’t laugh…
        “Heeeheheheeh ahahahaahaha oh no pleeeeeeeeze! Not thahahahaahahaahat no! Get away from mehehehehhheheeeeeeeeeee! Staaaaaaaaaaaap!” Mina didn’t realize what had happened until too late.
        The tiliking considered her thoughtfully. Then it turned itself, and the imps changed places so that they were torturing her armpits. They were no less skilled than the tiliking, and that tongue on her toes was unbearable!
        “HAAAAHAAHAHAAAA AAAAAAHA HEEEEHEHEHEE EEEHEEHEHEHAAAAAAAAH AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! NOOOOOO PLEEHEHEHEHHEHEHEEEEZE STAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!” Mina’s laughter came like shrieks of gale-force wind. Then it got worse.
        Mina was trapped and there was no way out. No one to save her, no Negaverse toady to supervise (they usually kept their victims alive), she would laugh her breath, and ultimately her life, away.
        With such a motivation to spur her on, Mina hit upon a tactic to try. It would certainly not fool the henchmen of the Negaverse, but these primal creatures were another matter… Over a period of about five minutes Mina forced her laughs to die down like she was losing consciousness, and then she closed her eyes and hung limply.
“Hahaha. Silly girl, she thinks she can fool us. Hey! You not asleep yet,” a tickle imp accused. “You still conscious. We fix that, yes?” Mina didn’t respond. She felt the tickle imp walk up to her face and spray something. A flat smell wafted into her nostrils.
Sleeping gas… oh well… I’d fall asleep an…y…w…a…y…