Part XIII: The Shower of Feathers

          Neflite was playing video games in his office, content with his current situation. It had seemed so long ago that he had been fighting for his life, trying to keep Zoycite at arm’s length while devising a plan to satisfy the Queen. Perhaps it had just been a stroke of luck that he’d decided to follow that girl, and that her friends had ganged up on her. Whatever the reason, he hadn’t heard from Beryl in a while. Which was good; Beryl usually did not summon a person to tell them how good a job they were doing. If he hadn’t been contacted, then he was doing a good job.

          Absorbed in his game, he did not notice the entry of his least favorite person and one of his most favorite people at the same time. Neither Felin nor Zoycite thought it necessary to bring Neflite into this mini-duel. Felin’s eyes narrowed, and Zoycite produced her most contemptuous sneer. Zoycite raised her nose, with an air of condescension meant to annoy Felin. Zoycite lost her composure when Felin brought her tail up to eye level and wiggled it. She took a sharp step back.

          Neflite looked up. “What? Hey! How’d you two get in here?”

          “Through the door, stupid,” Zoycite sniffed. “The Queen wants to see you.” Without any further taunting or barbs Zoycite left.

          Neflite smiled. Zoycite had once delighted in playing messenger, bringing to him the Queen’s summons. But this time it seemed that she was less than happy being a courier. “What’s up, Felin?”

          “Nothing important; it can wait.” Felin shrugged and left.

          Neflite was at a loss. Well, nothing to do but go see the Queen.

          Neflite knelt smoothly in front of Beryl’s throne. “You wished to see me, Your Highness?”

          “Yes, Neflite. I wished to speak about your collection of energy. You have sent a great deal back to the Negaforce, and for that, I commend you. However, it appears that you were… too efficient. We have more energy than we know what to do with… or rather, knew what to do with.”

          “If I may ask, what have you used this excess energy for?” Neflite had never heard of “excess” energy, but if the Queen said so…

          “We have found that by converting human energy into a form that we can utilize, it is possible to enhance the strength of our minions. The first batch is ready, and the general consensus around here is that it should go to your group.”

          “Enhanced…power?” Neflite was shocked. It sounded like a dream come true. “I humbly accept, Your Majesty.”

          “Excellent. I expect further success from you.” Queen Beryl smiled. “I also want a report on how well these devices function. I have been warned that the methods used to fill those orbs were extremely inefficient, and therefore a lack of transferable power resulted. Tell me how much power you feel from those orbs, Neflite.”

          “It shall be done.” Neflite took the sack full of orbs and disappeared.

          Neflite returned to his house with five small orbs in a sack. The orbs were a shiny black color, emanating dark energy. Neflite was still in a state of shock. Enhance his power? Wait a minute… there were five orbs. He could power up himself, Felin, Jelex and Syia and still have one orb left over. What to do with the last one?

          Neflite held the orb, and it glowed a deep purple, and he felt power flow into him. Then it was over, with absolutely no fanfare or dramatics whatsoever. The orb became a dull black. Hmm… It wasn’t really all that much of a difference. He’d have to report that to Beryl, as she’d requested. Nevertheless, he called for Felin.

          “Felin, there’s been a surprise development,” Neflite said as he tossed an orb to Felin.

          “What’s this do? A new invention?” Felin asked, turning it over and examining it. She tossed it to herself.

          “This is a new power enhancement orb. It will increase your power somewhat. Not a great deal, but it is better than nothing.”

          “I see.” Felin’s orb became black as she took in the power. “Well, it is something. Thank you, Master Neflite.”

          “One more thing, Felin. I have five orbs here. Two have been used, yours and mine. There’s two more for Jelex and Syia, but what do we do with the last one?”

          “I don’t… Leave it to me,” Felin reversed herself suddenly. “I just got a great idea. I’ll get back to you on it. If you don’t mind, I’ll take the other orbs to Jelex and Syia.”

          “Go ahead.” Neflite had returned to his game, waiting eagerly for his “nuclear missile” to finish constructing. He wondered if such things were real, and decided to ask Megan next chance he got. Aside from that, there were other interesting devices the humans had made to compensate for their lack of power. Generally, they all seemed to shoot some kind of projectile that exploded. Neflite understood this; few things were as satisfying as a large explosion.

          Felin was about to activate the portal generator, but decided to see if her new power let her create a portal. She had helped design the generator, so she knew the process involved.

          It took five minutes, but Felin was able to make a shimmering portal just large enough to accommodate her. This was a great accomplishment for Felin. She stepped into the tiliking warren to see Megan and Jelex at loggerheads once again.

          Lately these two had been having tickle competitions among themselves, such as who could take the most torture without laughing or who could make the other laugh the fastest. They obviously had a great deal of fun, and they usually finished the event by making Molly or Mina laugh their heads off, sometimes both of them. Right now both of them had their arms extended over their heads and were laughing hysterically. A pair of tiliking for each of them licked at their armpits. Felin guessed that the objective was to keep your hands in the air.

          Megan was at a disadvantage, being generally more ticklish under her arms than Jelex, but she always laughed off a proposal to even things up. She greeted Felin through an avalanche of giggles. “H-h-hi Felin! Heeheehee w-what brings you h-h-heeheehee-here?”

          “I’ve got a gift,” Felin replied. “And here’s a free sampler.” Felin rubbed her tail along Jelex’s tummy, causing her to jump and squeak.

          “No f-fair! I’ll g-g-get you, just wait until I – ahahaaaahaa - f-finish this!” Jelex writhed, trying to escape the tail, but she kept her arms up all the same.

          Felin grinned, slowly encircling Jelex’s waist. Finally Jelex could stand it no more and tried to pry the tail off. Megan dropped her arms, and the four tiliking stopped, hissing in delight. Jelex grabbed Felin’s wrists with her disembodied hands and raised them in the air, but she was too busy laughing to follow up. Megan solved this problem by stepping behind Felin and running her fingernails up and down Felin’s sides. Felin squeezed her eyes shut and giggled, helpless under Megan’s nails. She transmitted her tickle torture to Jelex by having her tail begin to wrap further up her body and begin to vibrate.

          “C-come on! I-I said I have presents! P-please let me go!” cried Felin, who was very ticklish herself.

          “What do you think?” Megan asked, continuing to slide her nails over Felin’s sides. Jelex did not answer, and Megan grinned and said, “Okay, I’ll let you go. Let’s just say you’ve piqued my curiosity. But if these gifts aren’t satisfactory…” Megan concluded in a mock threat.

          Jelex removed her hands, and Felin, still holding the bag, dropped her arms with a sigh. “Ah, much better.” She unwrapped her tail, and Jelex regained her composure, though grinning mischievously. “Here. Jelex, I have a power enhancement orb. This will increase your power a bit. Take it.” Felin handed one to Jelex, who also drained the orb of its energy. “Now. As for you, Megan, we’ve reached an impasse. We have one extra orb of power, and we don’t know what to do with it. I was thinking of giving it to you or Michelle.”

          “Hmm…” Megan considered. “Give it to Michelle,” she said generously. “I have all the power I need; I can command the tiliking. Michelle has nothing special.”

          “All right. I’ll let you two know how this goes, okay? See you later.” Felin created a portal to Tickling Dungeon II.

          “Let’s start over,” said Megan. “I bet you an hour’s tickle time, for me, that I win.”

          “You’re on!” said Jelex.

          Syia had taken an interest in security lately. Now her aircraft hangar was not so much heavily guarded as moderately fortified. That vent which Raye had sneaked through twice was guarded with a devious trap of Devil’s Ivy. Also, to prevent the Scouts from sneaking up through the heavy undergrowth, a Venus tickle trap had been planted, with Michelle’s help.

          Michelle had broken much quicker than Felin had anticipated. She had been tormented for a much longer period of time than Megan had. Consequently, there was little left for Syia to break and Michelle had taken to shuffling around dull-eyed, having lost her spirit long ago. She was shaped like potter’s clay under Syia’s influence, and Michelle, as Megan had before her, had risen anew as a minion of the Negaverse.

          Syia had decided to make Michelle cunning and mischievous in her tickling. The side effects had pleasantly surprised her. Michelle teased the captives, spending ten minutes telling her victim how badly she would be tickled, and when she finally began the girls tended to be so nervous they broke out into screams of laughter immediately. Megan’s new oil-feathers helped a lot, too. Michelle liked feathers a great deal.

          Another one of Michelle’s shenanigans had come as a complete surprise to Syia. Syia tended to remember her own dreams quite clearly as a result of her psychic power. So when one night she had dreamed that a shadowy wraith had been tormenting her with feathers, she found it somewhat odd. Usually she did not have such dreams, and furthermore, it had seemed real, that she could actually feel the soft brush of the feathers on her white skin. She remembered giggling and laughing too, asking the wraith to stop. Later she found out that Michelle had been tickling her in her sleep, to see if she was ticklish or not. Syia had been mock appalled at Michelle’s hearing her giggle helplessly and plead for mercy. In retaliation, Syia had jokingly forced Michelle to beg for forgiveness as Syia performed her torturous toe licking. Syia had required Michelle to repeat “I humbly beg for mercy, O mighty Syia,” five times without laughing. Needless to say Michelle did not fare well, having very ticklish feet. Each time she lost her words in a storm of laughter, the count started over again. What Syia hadn’t said and had hidden behind a malicious grin was that Michelle probably could never have resisted long enough, due to certain…modifications that had been made.

          So now Syia and Michelle tormented the captives and each other, and Syia realized why Jelex chose to remain with Megan at the warren. It was a great deal of fun. Unlike Megan, Michelle had decided to chuck her tickle torture suit as soon as Syia let her, choosing as an outfit a short green schoolgirl-type skirt that Syia had to admit only Michelle, with her long legs, could have brought off. She wore a tight-fitting sleeveless shirt, and wore high boots, though not with heels. Michelle had confessed that her balance was not that great and she tended to fall wearing heels. Michelle did not know it, but during the time she had been breaking, Syia had implanted a subtle subconscious command in her brain. Michelle was always to dress in a manner that left her ticklish spots open. In addition, Syia was able to weaken the resolve that allowed the victims to hold back their laughter. But Syia noted this was not due to increased ticklishness, just an inability to resist laughing. Michelle was quick to giggle and always vulnerable, a combination that satisfied Syia greatly.

Felin found the pair of them frightening the officer Syia had captured out of her wits as Michelle rested the tip of a feather on her sole. They both turned at Felin’s entrance. “Hey, Felin, what’s up?” Michelle grinned. She was always grinning, Felin noted, as if she was going to run off and pull a prank that very second.

          “I come bearing gifts,” Felin said with a dramatic flourish. She produced the last two purple orbs. “Take one, Syia. It increases your power slightly.”

          “Okay.” Syia took the orb, examined it, and smiled as she felt the power rush into her. “Great. I do feel stronger already.”

          “As for you, Michelle… we have one orb left over. We did not know what to use it for, so we decided to let you have it and see what happens. Do you accept?” Felin asked.

          Michelle stared, speechless, her victim forgotten. Syia knew that she wished for an ability of some kind, and while not quite pouting, noted that even Megan had the ability to control tiliking. Here was an opportunity of a lifetime. “Yes,” Michelle said quietly, taking the orb gently, as if it might break. She held it, felt its cool energy seep through the crystal of the orb. It pulsed, a dark purple, and Michelle felt a wave of cold sweep through her arms and down her body. She shuddered, nearly dropping the orb.

          “Anything?” Felin asked eagerly. Felin had observed that the orb reacted differently when transferring power to a human.

          “I felt something, but… I don’t know if it was anything.” Michelle seemed plaintive, as if trying to search herself for a power that might not exist.

          “I do.” Syia grinned confidently. Both Michelle and Felin turned.

          “How can you be sure?” Felin asked.

          Syia pointed. “Look there.” Just behind Michelle, the feather that she’d dropped was now floating in midair. Michelle turned, and gasped in surprise.

          “Wow! Am I doing that?” she asked in wonder. She smiled a warm, happy smile that Felin had seen on Megan when she had just accomplished something. Then Felin grinned inwardly as the smile bent itself into a wicked grin. She turned, and swept her arm at Syia. The feather darted for her and began to brush on her exposed stomach.

          Syia jumped, knocking her glasses askew. “H-hey! Don’t do that! Heeheehee!” Syia tried to grab for the feather, but it darted out of her grasp each time. Michelle turned, summoned two more feathers and sent these to her armpits. With her concentration thus broken, Michelle walked behind her and rested her head on the shorter woman’s shoulder, then began to dig into Syia’s stomach, making Syia howl with laughter.

          Felin grinned. It was a good day today. Why not have a reunion party? Felin began to plan out a day of torturous tickling fun. It would be just like old times. Only now it would be better than the old times. “Hey! Michelle! Lighten up for a second. I’ve got a good idea.”

          Michelle looked up from fending off Syia’s flapping arms and halted her feathers. Syia straightened and adjusted her glasses. “I think that we should all come together and have a party. We could go out to the city, grab a couple of girls, have fun and maybe find the Sailor Scouts!”

          “Yeah! Sounds like fun!” Michelle cried eagerly.

          “I’m in. Wait a sec while I close up shop.” Syia quickly hurried around, making sure all of her captives were secure, then joined Felin and Michelle.

          “Next we’re going to go see Jelex and Megan. If you two think that you do crazy things, wait until you see these two.”

          Megan was bound to a slanted metal table, with Jelex leaning over her when Felin, Syia and Michelle arrived. “Hey! How’d it go?” Jelex asked, while leaving her hands to attack Megan, who screamed and bucked.

          “Excellent! Michelle can control feathers now, like Aven used to. It’s a hoot,” Felin said. Syia concurred.

          “She’s a tricky one. Watch your back around her, or she’ll sneak up on you and tickle you in your sleep!” Michelle giggled at Syia’s mock anger.

          “So what’s up?” Jelex asked.

          “We’re planning to spend a day on the town,” Michelle said. “Interested in coming along?”

          “You bet! When do we leave?”

          “Now,” Syia said. “Unless you’d rather have some more fun.” Syia indicated the giggling Megan. She reached out and ran her fingers of thought along Megan’s ribs. This sent her into hysterics again.

          “No! P-please have mercy!” Megan giggled. Jelex untied her.

          “Come on, it’s fun time.”

          Serena skipped happily along, enjoying her vacation from school. A whole two months with no Neflite! It was enough to make her dance down the street singing, which she’d inadvertently done much to Raye’s embarrassment.

          “Meatball Head!” Raye yelled. “Can’t you act normally?”

          “Nope!” Serena giggled. Amy giggled as well.

          “Oh, let her be, Raye. She’s having fun!”

          “I need my ‘I’m not with her’ sign,” Lita commented. Serena stopped skipping and looked at Lita with puppy-dog eyes.

          “Oh, Lita, you hurt her feelings,” Amy said. “You should apologize.”

          “I’m sorry, Serena,” Lita said, extending a hand. When Serena came forward to shake it, Lita ducked by and tickled her ribs. “But not sorry for this!”

          “Eeeeeek! Lita! That’s not faiiiiiiiiiiiiiir!” Serena cried, trying to evade Lita’s fingers.

          “Nobody said it was fair,” Raye said, advancing with that familiar glint in her eye.

          “Yipe!” Serena managed to break free and hide behind Amy. Lita and Raye split up, but were distracted by a call from down the street.

          “Hey Serena!” Peggy Etilfen called. “Serena! You’ve gotta see this! Oh, hi, Lita, Amy, Raye. Look, Serena!” Peggy cried again, shoving a flyer at Serena.

          Serena, tickle attack forgotten, looked at the ad. “All candy discounted? Ten to fifty percent off? All right!” Serena cried, jumping into the air. “Lead me to it!”

          “Wait, Serena!” Lita halted her. “Do you really think that you should be pigging out on candy?”

          But Serena was already gone, running down the street with Peggy.

          “Discounted candy sounds good to me,” Amy said thoughtfully. “Hey! Wait up, guys!” Amy took off after Serena and Peggy.

          “Looks like we missed the boat,” Lita said regretfully. “Come on, we’ve gotta catch up!”

          Jelex could run much faster than Serena. She deliberately pulled ahead. “Hurry up, slowpoke!” she teased. “I’ll have eaten all the candy before you even get there!” Now that she thought about it, candy did sound good. Jelex liked chocolate. She decided to have some; the plan never said that she couldn’t.

          Jelex arrived at the candy shop, which was on the edge of a wooded area. The others should be hiding there, and seeing her arrive, they should begin the plan. It took five minutes for all of the Scouts to arrive. Then they entered the candy store.

          There was a sale going on – Jelex hadn’t made that up. Each of them purchased candy, and went outside to munch happily. Jelex, Amy, Raye and Lita only bought a few things, but Serena left with a whole bag full of goodies.

          “She’ll eat the whole thing, too,” Raye commented to Jelex. She turned and began to tease Serena with piggy noises, which earned her an empty carton in the face.

          About time… now. Yes, she could barely see the top of their new creation over the treetops. The Feather Flower was the best thing they’d made yet. It was a combination of Felin’s genius, Syia’s power and Michelle’s feather control. Now just to lure the Scouts in… She began to walk into the woods.

          “Hey! Where are you going?” Amy asked.

          “I saw something,” Jelex replied. “I want to go see what it was.”

          “It could be dangerous,” Serena said. Jelex laughed.

          “What, will the bogeyman get me?” She disappeared into the trees.

          “Suddenly I have a bad feeling,” Raye said. “I think the Negaverse has a new plan.”

          “Then we’ve got to save Peggy!” Serena stood up, candy forgotten.

          “Serena, we don’t know that anything is in there,” Lita reasoned. “It could have just been her imagination –“ A scream cut her off. “Never mind what I said.”

          “It is! I can detect a huge new creature back there, but I don’t know what it is!” Amy said, after the group had transformed.

          “Caution, then,” Raye warned. “Be absolutely silent.”

          “I don’t see anything,” Serena said a few minutes later as they walked into a clearing.

          Amy frowned. “The thing I saw is gone. It no longer registers.”

          Raye considered. “So why would the Negaverse want us back here?”

          “A trap?” Lita asked.

          “Of course,” Megan replied. “And you’re caught.”

          Suddenly the Scouts were surrounded as Michelle, Syia, Felin, Jelex and Megan came out of the trees.

          “Well, everyone’s here,” Serena snarled. “Did you really have to lure that poor girl back here, just to get at us?”

          “Of course,” Felin replied. They were all committed to keeping Jelex’s alter ego a secret. “Peggy is very ticklish. The plan was for you, but we couldn’t pass up a chance like that.”

          “Where is your creature?” Amy asked.

          Michelle nodded. “You’re right on top of it.” Thick white tentacles burst out of the ground, trapping each Scout.

          “Oh, and for fun…” Syia opened a new portal near a tentacle, and it reached in and dragged Mina out, dressed in sailor uniform.

          “So now we have all of you,” Jelex sniggered. “My, whatever can we do with all of you? There has to be something,” she said in mock wonder.

          Raye cursed. “Cut out the sappy acting! Get on with this!”

          Each of them was hanging in a bad position. Raye’s wrists were bound over her head by a thinner tentacle, and a thicker one held her in the air. It was coiled around her stomach, and the end rested on her neck. A thick tentacle was also wrapped around Mina’s midriff, and a thinner one held her wrists together, pulling them down so that Mina was horizontal. Only a single tentacle held Amy, but it was thick enough to cover her whole waist. She flailed, having the most freedom of movement out of all the Scouts. A thick tentacle wrapped around one of Lita’s legs, and turned her over so that she was hanging upside down. Her hands fell limply toward the ground, and her one free foot swayed. Serena was pinned to the ground by a thicker tentacle. A thinner tentacle held one of her ankles fast, but her other foot was free. But so far there was no tickling apparatus. When the stem of the plant pushed out of the ground, that changed.

          The stem was actually a giant feather. The thick tentacles clustered around the base, and many much thinner tentacles grew from the center. These lay limply on the ground. At the end of each one was a feather.

          “Oh, what are these for?” Syia asked innocently.

          Serena growled darkly, and the assembled crew of bad guys laughed.

          “There must be something that we can have fun with,” Felin said sweetly.

          At this time the plant began to move again. The tentacles shuddered, and thin vines snaked out to each Scout’s feet. They disappeared into Amy and Serena’s high boots, unstrapped Mina’s shoes, tugged off Raye’s high heels and unlaced Lita’s mini-boots. Each precious foot covering was delicately deposited on the ground.

          Then the torture began.

          The plant, knowing that not all of the limbs it held were restrained, had a unique method of ensuring that its targets did not escape. The vines with feathers on the ends moved now, and those that went after free feet coiled around the ankle first. Thus they could follow the movement with ease.

          Raye saw the feathers twining around her feet. She kicked furiously, and the vines retreated, leaving Raye with the feeling that she’d won a small victory. But it was an illusion; when Raye rested, the feathers came after her again. Eventually, Raye would be too tired to kick, and her feet would be helpless. Unfortunately, the plant was not going to wait that long. Raye counted at least seven feathers coming at her. Two of these went up to her armpits, the rest disappeared into her shirt. Raye giggled from the outset, having no way to resist so many different points of attack. She twisted furiously, teeth clenched in frustration. The fact that giggles were pushing out of her throat marred the image and turned her face into a comical contortion. The laughing sapped enough of her concentration that she forgot to kick her feet when the feathers came.

          Raye burst out laughing when four extra feathers brushed over her arches. Once she had let go and laughed, it seemed to become worse. The feathers picked up in speed, brushing all over her body. Raye jerked convulsively while her head whipped to and fro, pasting her sweaty hair to her face.

          Lita’s sides were completely open to attack, and attack the Feather Flower did. No less than six feathers slid up and down her sides, reaching under her shirt to tickle her skin directly. Some of these feathers were huge, and as they brushed up and down her ribs they covered her whole upper body. Lita laughed constantly and tried to fight off the feathers with her hands, which were still free. But the underarm tickling of the last two feathers sapped her strength enough to preclude movement. So Lita was unable to defend herself, and the Flower had more in store for her.

          Her one leg was entwined in a tentacle, leaving her foot a tempting target. A feather ran its soft sides against the smooth skin of her long foot, running up and down her arch, swirling at her toes and sawing between them. Her other, free foot, could not escape the touch of tickling either. A vine simply coiled about her leg and tickled her arches. Kick and swing her leg as she might, she could not dislodge the feather from its position. The torturously soft touch of feathers swept over Lita’s body in a wave, in endless cycles whose only purpose was to force laughs out of her mouth.

          Mina’s feet hung limply below her; she did not have the presence of mind to move her legs. Feathery vines had plunged down the neck of her shirt and into her sleeves, and now she could feel the bristly vines rubbing on her soft skin as well as the feathers’ light touch over her abdomen. For Mina it was not so much the feathers that were the problem as it was the tentacles they were attached to. Her sweat-streaked body was being tortured mercilessly by the plant as it twined the vines further down her body. Eventually Mina was completely ensnared in a quartet of vines that ran in a spiral from her head to her feet. At her feet, the four feathers engaged in tormenting her smooth, silky feet. Mina shrieked with laughter, trying to free her wrists instead of trying to extricate herself from the trap. The plant, mindful of the need for equality, sent four more vines around Mina’s body, this set working from her feet upwards, to terminate at her armpits and tummy. The slithering motion of the thin tentacles was visible as they pressed against Mina’s shirt.

          Amy was having a terrible time. Her one massive tentacle lifted her over the feather-like stem of the plant, and began to lower her to the flower at the base. The flower opened, and Amy saw that it was the point from which all the other tentacles came. But what else was in there made her freeze in fear. Thousands of tiny, immature tentacles slithered and twisted over each other in a frightening display. As if suddenly commanded by a higher power (the plant), all of the tentacles waited motionlessly as Amy was lowered into the pit of impending doom. Her tentacle let go, and she fell with a shriek into the vine pit, where the flower closed over her.

          In the darkness of the bulb, Amy could only feel the uncountable tentacles on her body. They were everywhere, covering her body in pulsing, skittering threadlike vines from head to toe. Though she was unrestrained, as Amy was tickled into oblivion she became paralyzed from the constant laughter and nervous stimulation. All she could do was wait for the sweetness of unconsciousness. Now Amy understood why Serena hated blindfolds. She felt detached, floating in space with nothing but her tormentors accompanying her.

          As was to be expected, Serena was helpless with laughter. Her body was wracked by spasms as the feathers cruelly traced over Serena’s extra-sensitive feet.  The Feather Flower did not divert any effort from her most ticklish place, and it was constant and unforgiving torture for Serena. She was fairly sure that the Negaverse had something more horrible than this planned, because usually they liked to tease her about her vulnerable arches as they danced feathers over them. Nevertheless, the flower was no less an expert in this area. But the Negaverse stooges wouldn’t be content with letting a plant take all their fun.

          So when the vines retracted after about ten minutes it was no surprise to Serena. The thicker tentacles of the plant reached out to fully restrain each of them, as was the norm in these situations. Except for Amy; a large tentacle reached into the flower bulb and hauled her unconscious form out.

          “Go…on,” Serena panted. “Have your…f-f-fun now…”

          Michelle grinned horribly. “We will have a lot of fun. We’ve been planning this for a little bit.” Michelle, along with Syia, Felin, Jelex and Megan had come up with a brilliant scheme to carry out.

          The flower brought Raye and Serena closer together, though neither attached any importance to this. Then the tentacle holding Raye’s wrists let go, allowing her movement again. “What gives?” she asked suspiciously. “There’s got to be a string.”

          “There is,” Syia giggled. “Tickle Sailor Moon for us.”

          “No! Please don’t, Raye!” Serena cried. She wouldn’t put it past her to do something like this. Already her feet were being positioned within Raye’s reach.

          Jelex walked over to Raye and whispered, “Tickle her... Those wonderful feet are within your reach, so helpless and vulnerable. Tickle her…” Jelex repeated as she lightly brushed her nails on Raye’s sides.

          Raye, unable to last very long after such protracted torment, screamed, “No! Pl-pleeheheeeeeeeeze! I’ll do it!” Jelex withdrew, and Raye examined Serena’s feet with detached interest. She liked doing this anyway; why hesitate? With her own wicked grin Raye extended a lone finger and began to slide it between Serena’s toes. Then, with slow and deliberate motions, rubbed her finger against the oh-so-soft fleshy gap between Serena’s digits.

          “Oh pleeheheheeeeeze Raye! Don’t d-dahahaaha ahahahahaaahaha ahahaahaha oh staaaaahahaaaaaap!” Serena begged. Megan giggled in delight. She turned to Felin, who nodded and made a portal which she and Megan vanished through. They returned shortly, with four tiliking, just as Raye unleashed all her fingers in a wiggling attack on Serena’s toes.

          “All right, stop now,” Syia commanded. Serena glared angrily at Raye, who glared back.

          “We’re going to play a game now,” said Felin. Mina groaned. She’d had her fill of “games” at the tiliking warrens. “Whoever holds out longest is the winner.” One tiliking each for Mina, Serena, Raye and Lita, each poised to lick at their most vulnerable areas. “Okay… go!”

          Serena never stood a chance. When the tiliking tongue lapped at her soles, the roughened feel of the tongue drove her crazy and she burst out into hysterics. The tiliking heaved a satisfied sigh and continued.

          That left Mina, Raye and Lita. None of them were in good condition after their protracted torture, so the duration they could hold out had been cut drastically. Lita, who was never good at suppressing reactions but who had a strong will, was next to fall. Her tiliking also licked at her feet, but at Syia’s instructions relayed through Megan it licked at the base of her toes. Lita knew just how much tongues could tickle her toes and whipped her tear-stained face about for just a few seconds before she, too, succumbed to laughter.

          Mina was not quite as ticklish in any particular spot as the others, but she was more ticklish generally. This gave her the advantage when only one spot was being concentrated upon. The tiliking licked her underarms hungrily, trying to draw out as much energy as possible to feed upon. Raye, on the other hand, was less ticklish in any general spot but was much more ticklish on her sides, feet and upper body. The tiliking that slid its tongue over her sides noticed how susceptible the skin was to a tickle attack. The tongue glided over Raye’s sides, leaving a sheen of saliva that worsened her predicament. After only thirty seconds, she collapsed, degenerating into the hysterical laughter of Lita and Mina.

          All of the tiliking stopped and withdrew. “You won, Mina,” Jelex said. “You get to choose who is tickled next. You may choose yourself, if you wish.”

          Mina looked at the pleading, imploring looks on the faces of her friends. She couldn’t condemn any one of them to such torment. “I’ll go next,” she sighed.

          “All right,” Jelex said. “Who wants her?” she asked, turning to her group.

          “So noble,” Michelle commented sarcastically. “Let me at her.”

          “I can’t just leave my pet unattended, now can I?” Megan giggled.

          Jelex cracked a smile. “Okay, go for it.”

          Mina was moved off to the side for Michelle and Megan’s amusement. Jelex addressed the other three. “Right. Serena, we’re feeling generous, so we’ll let you have revenge on nasty old Raye now.” The tentacle released Serena’s wrists, and Raye’s waist moved to within range.

          Serena laughed nastily and dug her nails into Raye’s sides. Raye did not have enough energy to jump, but she still laughed quite loudly.

          “Oh p-p-pleeheheheheeeeeze Serena! I-I’m sorreeheeeheeeeeheeee! Staaaaaap! I’ll never tickle you again, just stahahaahaahaaaaaap!” Raye cried.

          “Never again?” Serena asked.

          “Oh-oh haahahahahaahah ahahahahaha never! Let me gooooooooooo!”

          “Nah, you lie to me too much.” Serena grinned evilly and dragged her nails over Raye’s stomach.

          Meanwhile Syia and Felin were attempting to “persuade” Lita into joining the assault. “If you don’t tickle one of them,” Syia threatened with a soft voice, “I’ll treat you to the most unbearable toe licking you’ve ever experienced.”

          “No! You can’t turn me!” Lita cried with more bravado than sense.

          Felin smiled. She’d figured out a good way to put her whiskers and facial fur to good use. Pulling Lita’s shirt up, she began to blow raspberries on her stomach. Lita shrieked in ticklish agony but still refused to bend.

          “Stop, Felin,” Syia asked. “I want this to be unbearable. Would you give me a hand?”

          “Sure.” Felin moved down to Lita’s waiting feet and cradled one in her hands.

          With slow, methodical precision Syia stuck her tongue between Lita’s toes, positioned it correctly and ran it with agonizing slowness back and forth. Felin did the same thing on the other foot.

          Lita had never known such horrible torture. She really needed to pee, and if this continued she’d wet herself. Peeing in Syia and Felin’s faces would be satisfying, but Lita figured she couldn’t coordinate that well in her current condition. But she squeezed her legs as much as possible. Felin noticed.

          “My, it seems that someone needs to use the little girls’ room,” she mocked. Syia laughed. Neither of them stopped.

          Raye was spared by Jelex’s “mercy”, and she and Serena were given a break while Mina and Lita were finished up. Jelex gave them both a quick drink and straightened their clothes. “Can’t look like a mess, now can we?” she sniggered.

          Mina’s tormentors were human, but it didn’t translate into any relief. All of Megan’s tiliking followed her over to Mina, much to Mina’s dismay.

          “Did you have to bring them?” she asked exasperatedly.

          “Oh yes,” Megan answered. She reached into Mina’s shirt and began to squeeze her sides lightly. The tiliking slid their tongues past her and up into Mina’s armpits.

          Michelle was running two oil-slicked feathers on Mina’s feet. She used smaller feathers, so that she could move them more quickly. Mina’s feet wiggled as she tried in vain to evade their soft touch. Michelle retaliated by leaving the feathers moving by themselves and producing a larger feather, which sawed between Mina’s toes.

          Mina felt weak and exhausted. She absolutely hated tickle torture, and having experienced it more or less constantly over the past few days had left her feeling drained.

          “Hey! You two! We’re moving on!” Jelex yelled with a grin. “Get over here!”

          “Oh, of course, O Mighty Jelex,” Michelle joked.

          Jelex, pretending to be offended, placed her hands on her hips and said, “Mockery? How dare you insult me like that! Loyal retainers, seize her!” Jelex cried, outstretched arm pointing at Michelle.

          Nobody moved. “Oh, fine,” Jelex pouted. “Come on. We’re starting the next game.”

          “This next one is a lot of fun!” Syia gushed. “The one who stays conscious longest is the winner!”

          “Winner of what?” Serena quipped.

          “The mystery grand prize,” Felin said.

          “Some prize,” Mina said.

          “Anyway,” Jelex continued, “we’re all going to gang up on each of you. It will be a most delicious torment. Megan and I, we will be tickling your underarms and upper body. Felin will get the pleasure of tormenting your delightful stomachs. Syia will, in case you haven’t guessed, be licking your toes. She does love that. And, finally, Michelle will have her feathers. Besides that, we can all tickle multiple areas at once. So it would be safe to say that we’re tickling you everywhere. And like I said, the one who stays awake the longest wins.”

          “Who first?” Michelle asked, eyeing each Scout with a grin.

          “Well, Sailor Moon is the most ticklish,” Megan said.

          “Lita’s toes are wonderful to lick,” Syia put in.

          Felin purred. “Mars’ sides are so tender.”

          “Mina’s ticklish everywhere,” Jelex concluded. “So there are your choices. Let’s do as the humans do and vote.”

          “Vote?” Syia asked with a small grin. “You’ve been on Earth for too long.”

          Jelex raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a better way to decide?”

          “Not really. I vote that we tickle Lita first.” Michelle agreed, Jelex and Felin wanted Sailor Moon, and Megan chose Mina.

          “Hmm. It seems to be a tie.” Felin frowned, thinking. “Maybe… how about we compromise and finish Raye first?”

          “Sounds fair,” Syia agreed. So did everyone else. “Okay, Ms. Mars, you heard the verdict. You’re first. Remember, the object is to stay conscious as long as possible.”

          “Don’t patronize me!” Raye snapped. Michelle laughed.

          “My, how unpleasant. It takes less effort to smile than frown, you know.”  Michelle, with a small smile, placed the tip of her feather on Raye’s sole. She began to lightly stroke it, up from her heel to the base of her toes, swirling it at the ball of her foot and descending again. Slowly at first, then picking up speed.

          A tiny smile etched itself onto Raye’s face. The others watched in delight as the smile widened, the cross expression on her face softening as she fought the giggling that swelled inside her. The smile stretched across her face and stayed there. Michelle did not push her farther.

          Syia, sharing a grin with Michelle, delicately cradled Raye’s foot and lightly flicked her tongue over the skin at the base of her toes. She also began her direct nerve tickling, slightly stimulating the nerve that carried the tickling sensation, and increasing the intensity slowly.

          Raye’s smile broke into a grin, and her eyes shut in an effort to keep silent. Raye knew that the Negaverse was toying with her, but she’d never willingly submit to their whims. The grin widened, and little snickers and snorts began to escape.

          Jelex slid her hands under Raye’s shirt and began to tickle her hairless underarms. She danced her hands down her sides, causing Raye to jump and gasp. Raye was visibly shaking now as she tried to force her laughter down. Small giggles worked their way free, and when Jelex concentrated on her sides, her face turned red. The giggling was coming faster now, the spurts longer and with less time in between.

          Felin laughed, pulled Raye’s shirt up and blew a big raspberry. Raye was surprised, and her iron grip vanished.

          “AAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAA AAHAHA AHAHAHAA AHAAHA STA-STA- STAHAHAHA AAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!” Raye couldn’t quite form the words to beg. Now the Negaverse attacked with a vengeance, moving faster, ticking harder, covering more area. Megan took a large paintbrush and stroked it over Raye’s ribs. Felin’s small fingers dug into her sides and belly with undisguised delight. Syia’s tongue forced its way between her toes, torturously pumping in and out, tormenting the ticklish flesh. Michelle did the same with her feather, sawing back and forth with multiple feathers at the same time.

          Jelex multiplied her hands, and they pawed at her upper body. Michelle’s feathers danced further up her legs, and she felt like thousands of little bugs had gotten under her skin and were skittering up and down, tickling her. Felin’s tail wrapped about her stomach and began to vibrate.

          Raye was shrieking with nonstop laughter, thrashing continuously in a vain attempt to extricate herself from her restraints. It was no use; the various tickling implements followed her everywhere, no matter how fast she squirmed. It was a nightmare, a tickling nightmare.

          Jelex laughed. “Ah ha ha! This is so much fun!” She smeared some of her red jelly on Raye’s chest, adding to her already unspeakable torment.

          Raye felt dizzy and flushed. The world was spinning around her and sliding out of focus. She felt an iron band slowly closing over her chest as the tickling robbed her of the ability to breathe. Still, every last molecule of oxygen she inhaled was expelled immediately to keep pace with the unrelenting laughter. She couldn’t take it anymore!

          Raye screamed, a final burst of tortured laughter, arching her back as every muscle in her body tensed, then she went limp.

          “Time!” Megan called. Felin fished out a stopwatch.

          “Seven minutes, twenty-eight seconds,” was the reply.

          Syia giggled. “I expected better from her. Oh well. Who shall we torture next?” There was silence for a second. Then Syia frowned, along with the rest of her group.

          Megan broke the silence. “We need something to make this more interesting.”

          “But what?” Felin asked. “I haven’t had any good ideas for a little while, unfortunately.”

          “Neither have I,” Syia admitted.

          “Huh.” Michelle pondered the situation. “Well, let’s give our friends a break while we discuss our plans.”

          “Okay.” Jelex and the others nodded approval.

Serena, Mina and Lita’s wrists and ankles were freed, replaced by a single tentacle that held them by the waist. It was a luxury to be able to stretch and rest for a bit. Meanwhile their nemeses were conferring over beneath a tree.

“The problem, as I see it, is that the girls are exhausted after too much torture. After a while, it becomes boring because they’re too weak to laugh loudly and too drained to resist,” Felin said.

“I agree. We also use the same methods over and over again. We need to come up with fresh new tortures,” Megan agreed.

“Granted, these plants are great, but they’re better for mass processing. When we have girls freshly captured, it’s better to have a more personal session first. It’s also a great deal more fun,” Syia put in.

“But we can’t make worn-out girls back into fresh ones,” Michelle objected. “Can we?”

“I don’t know,” Felin said thoughtfully as a glimmer of an idea began to form in her mind. “We haven’t tried. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

“I think we also need to make more use of all these devices we invent,” Jelex interjected. “We have great plans, turn them out and then leave them to gather dust.”

“Okay. It seems we have a plan of action. I’ll go back to the development lab and work on a refreshment tablet. Megan, you and Jelex raid the storage and pull out all the stuff we made before. Syia, you and Michelle try to come up with new methods. Let’s go back to Tickling Dungeon I. We can discuss this stuff in detail.” Felin opened a portal back to her lab, and chatting with the others, disappeared inside. The portal closed behind her.

None of the Scouts had said a word during the impromptu conference. They breathed a sigh of relief now that the Negaverse was gone. The Feather Flower released them, and with a groan it disappeared into the soil.

“Okay, that was weird,” Serena said. “At least they’re gone. Come on, help me wake up Raye and Amy.”

With a bit of shaking, both stricken Scouts came to their senses.

“Serena…? What happened?” Raye asked in wonder.

“The Negaverse left,” Serena replied.

“They were really deep into this stuff about how they were going to improve their tickle methods,” Lita added.

“Blah,” Raye replied.

First on the agenda was the improvement of methodology. They had drawn straws, and it was Syia who lay on the table, bound hand and foot. Her white tennis shoes had been removed, exposing her pale white feet. Syia wiggled her toes and grinned.

“Never thought that I’d be in this position,” she joked.

“Better get used to it,” Michelle replied absently.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Syia asked in good humor.

“Nothing,” Felin replied. “Let’s get started.” As Felin began her dissertation, she idly traced over Syia’s stomach. Syia giggled, but Felin wasn’t paying attention to her; it seemed that she was making a point.

“You see,” Felin was saying, “we usually rely on these light touches. Dragging of nails, feathers, brushes, so forth. But, in more fleshy areas, such as the stomach here, we can use another method.” Felin stopped her tracing and began to squeeze Syia’s skin around her stomach. Syia burst into laughter. “Here, squeezing seems to work better, mainly because on a human there is more flesh. The same is true on the legs.” Felin lightly compressed Syia’s thigh, causing her to laugh harder.

“That’s nice, but I already knew that,” Jelex objected.

“True. But, utilizing Aven’s machinery designs that she left behind, I was able to reprogram the robot hands she liked. Now they don’t attempt to mimic our touch. They were never good at that. Instead, they only have two ‘fingers’ and a ‘thumb’. This is very efficient.” Felin hit a button on the console next to the table. A half-dozen of the new hands came out and began to grab at Syia’s body. Syia screamed in laughter and tried desperately to wrench away.

“Okay, that’s a new invention, but how is that a new method?” Megan queried.

“Like this. Most of us tend to go after our victim everywhere, or barring that, concentrates on one particular spot. But, if you continually change spots, no one place becomes used to the tickling, and thus the torture lasts longer. So, you, Jelex, Syia, Michelle, and Megan, as well as myself, need to recondition our way of approaching our work.

“Now, there’s some other stuff I wanted to show you…”

It turned out to be a very instructive day in Tickling 101.