The drop was endless.

          Serena felt herself falling through a void, though to be honest she wasn’t even sure if she was falling. There was no reference, just a wall of blackness. She probably felt that she was falling because there was nothing under her feet.

          She wasn’t alone; all around her she saw her fellow Sailor Scouts, interspersed with the tickle stooges. They were bickering in the endless tunnel of darkness.

          “Great job, airhead,” Jelex congratulated Mina sarcastically. “Now where are we?”

          “Shut up,” Mina said crossly. “This is your fault for dragging us into this dream. It’s not like you don’t torment us enough while we’re awake.”

          “Maybe if you were a little more competent you wouldn’t be tormented so much,” Felin sneered back.

          “Sure. And you’re the epitome of stoicism when the feather comes around? Or, shall I say, the brush?” Serena put in.

          Megan raised an eyebrow. “Wow, that was an impressive phrase. Has your IQ doubled to 2 now?”

          “Better stupid than a traitor, spineless whore,” Lita snapped back. Nobody had a ready comeback, so everyone lapsed into moody silence.

          Serena felt an odd sensation after a couple of minutes. There was a breeze blowing up from below, and her sense of balance told her that she was falling for real now. Serena looked down, and if she tried real hard she imagined that a dark brown smudge was visible below.

          “We’re entering the dimension,” Syia said.

          “Please buckle your seatbelts and put your trays in the upright position. Please turn off all… What?” Mina asked as everyone gave her a dirty look.

          With a gentle descent belying the supposedly momentous drop the group touched down. It was like a cave, with jagged spires of rock pointing up along the cave walls. The rock was a reddish-brown color, with a passageway hewn into the stone. There was a cave that loomed before them. An eerie flickering firelight seemed to emanate from the walls. Serena swallowed. It seemed like Hell.

          “Nice place,” Jelex muttered. “Nothing like Neolithic caves to make me feel right at home.”

          “Wonderful,” Raye commented. “Now how do we get out?”

          “Ask the blonde, she got us here,” Michelle said.

          “Don’t even try to pin the blame on me,” Mina countered.

          “Oh, then some magical pixies from the enchanted forest sent us here,” Megan mocked. “Of course this is your fault!”

          “Shhh!” Felin hissed. “Listen!” A faint rustling came echoing down the tunnel. A steady beat like a flying bird, it came closer and closer.

          “Hide!” Serena said.

          “Where?” Amy asked. “There’s nowhere to go. We’ll have to fight.”

          Each one of them got ready to do battle. They waited for a few tense minutes as the sound got louder until it seemed that it was all around them. Finally a shadow appeared around a corner far ahead. Closer and closer…

          A creature with blue skin and no hair popped around the corner. It had a demonic face and sharp, pointed teeth. It wore a brown tunic that looked years old. Two huge feathery wings sprouted from the back of the creature. Its eyesight was sharp, apparently: it spotted them as it came around the corner. “What’s this?” it hissed, drawing out its ”s” sounds.

          Lita stepped up. “Jupiter… Thunder… Crash!”

          Nothing happened. “No way!” Lita cried. She tried again with the same result.

          “Hee hee, silly creatures, there is a strong barrier over this entrance. No one should be able to enter.” It considered them for a moment. While odd and evil looking, it did not seem to have any malicious intent. “Yet there you stand, breaking a barrier that our strongest sages have not been able to destroy after thousands of years of effort. What is the source of your power?”

          Serena shrugged. “The moon and all the planets.”

          Felin answered, “The Negaforce.”

          The creature walked closer. Its feet were like eagle talons, but its hands, like its body, were human, though with long nails. “Ah, how odd. Yes, how odd indeed. From what we know your dimensions are at war. What is your story?”

          Amy blinked. “You know of our dimensions?”

          “Yes, we have made great advancement into researching dimensions. But because of that barrier we cannot actually enter those dimensions, though we know them to be there.” The creature walked closer, its talons clacking on the stone. “You, with the odd hair, which moon do you speak of?”

          “Earth’s moon.” Serena felt a bit more relaxed.

          “If you come from the moon, you must be Sailor Moon.”

          “How did you know my name?” Serena gasped.

          “I know all of your names.”

          “He’s a very powerful psychic!” Syia warned suddenly. “He can reach into your mind. He doesn’t know any of this, he’s just reading your memories!”

          The creature bared its teeth. “It would have been easier if you’d just allowed yourselves to be deceived. Now we will have to resort to… other means.” It smiled. “Flesh tastes so fine.” The creature charged with lightning speed.

          Crack!

          Jelex’s boot heel went straight through the creature’s mouth and out the back. The creature staggered back wounded but not dead. “Want some more?” Jelex challenged.

          The creature hissed, stared… and laughed. “Oh, yes. That’s what the nature of your war was. I had forgotten. Oh, yes, we are skilled in torture. That’s right. You will all submit to our will.”

          Serena shrank back. God, could she not escape tickling anywhere?

          “I have studied all of the major pain vessels in your bodies,” the creature cackled. It let out a resounding shriek. “Humans have no tolerance for pain.” The demon slumped against the wall. Serena sighed in relief. She had nearly forgotten that most people used the word “torture” dealing with pain. But then, painful torture wasn’t much fun either and was probably worse. She’d sooner stick with tickle torture.

          An answering shriek echoed back. “We have to go!” Felin said. “That was a warning call. Others will be here!”

          “Where do we go?” Megan asked.

          “Forward!” Raye said. “We have to find a side passage to lose them in!” They sprinted forward, frantically searching for another tunnel. The sounds and noises grew louder as they came closer. In the distance they could now see the tunnel continuing on a straight path with no deviations.

          Without warning the rock under Raye’s feet crumbled and she fell. Amy went with her, and Michelle, Felin and Syia couldn’t stop in time. Lita managed to screech to a halt.

          “Now where?” Serena asked, panicking.

          “This way!”

          They turned. A tiny flying creature was beckoning to them from a neatly hidden fissure in the rock. Megan, Jelex, Mina, Lita and Serena glanced at one another and quickly squeezed into the passage. It was dark and narrow, at times so narrow that they had to inch along sideways. But finally they came to the end, and though it was now completely dark the thing had no problem navigating. “There’s a ladder here for those of you that cannot fly,” it said in its high-pitched fairylike voice. “Climb to the top and open the hatch. You’ll be safe outside.” Megan, the first in line, grabbed the ladder and began her ascent.

          It was not very far, and Megan opened the trapdoor, allowing light to flood in. Being able to see, the rest of them were able to climb out quickly. They were in a forest, in the middle of some kind of village. Everywhere there were little fairies fluttering about, though it didn’t seem that they were doing anything.

          “Magical pixies from the enchanted forest?” Serena asked with a grin. Megan grunted. In front of them was a large stone statue, of a beautiful woman dressed in loose robes playing a harp. Large wings sprouted from her back, giving her the look of an angel. The word “Naydin” was inscribed on the base.

          “I am glad I have saved you from the demons,” the fairy said. “My name is Glycinia. I am a forest fairy. Those from whom you were running away are also fairies, but they have lived in the caves so long that their appearance is distorted. Their minds have also been warped, which is why they feed off of torturing others.”

          Mina looked anguished. “They have some of our friends!”

          Glycinia smiled. “Do not worry. Though the fiends will torment them, they will not allow them to come to permanent harm. It is sad, really. They would leave all their victims alive to torture eternally if we did not save them.”

          “You can save them?” Jelex asked. “How? They’re several times your size!”

          Glycinia giggled. “They are stupid. Only their sages and psychics have any intelligence. The others are mindless, doing only what they’re told.” She turned. “But you are weary. Come, have something to eat. Then rest, and we will help your friends.”

 

          Raye led the ragged procession down the endless tunnels. They were all tied to a stone bar, which two demons carried. They delighted in telling their captives how they would be tormented until they lost their minds. Raye and Syia were meanwhile bickering, while Amy and Felin conversed quietly. Michelle kept silent and looked around.

          An eerie sound echoed up from below. They had entered an enormous cavern, with dwellings built into the stone ramp that spiraled down to the floor. The floor was like an enormous arena, with tiny figures moving about. Some seemed to be captives, others more of the blue-skinned demons. The ramp they went down was very broad, and they passed numerous others on the way down who smiled diabolically at the prisoners.

           As Felin was led down the broad spiraling stone ramp, she noticed that in the broad arena smoothed out at the center of the pit were girls. Dozens of laughing, giggling girls. One in particular caught her eye, as she saw white wings flare out from her back every so often.

          The brown-haired girl was strapped ankles and wrists to an X-frame that was slightly tilted. What struck Felin as odd was that although she was stripped to her underwear, the blue-skinned demons were not clustered about her as she'd expected.

          What Felin did notice was that of the dozen or so demons in her general vicinity, every last one of them was holding something... Squinting, she could barely make out what seemed to be replicas of feet...

          Suddenly Felin realized all too well what was going on. The demons were all watching their angel, snickering, as they ran wicked nails on the soles of the feet replicas, which were paired with the hysterical laughs of the poor angelic creature on the frame.

This meant that even the minor defense of scrunching her toes against a tickling fingernail was denied to her. It was as if she had twelve totally helpless feet waiting to be tickled. And what Felin saw next made her shiver.

          One of the demons, apparently needing to go elsewhere for a bit, snugged the foot into a nearby device and flipped a switch. A fluffy white feather sprouted from a slit in the floor near where the foot was laid, and began to stroke up and down the foot, paying special attention to the toes.

          Felin then noticed that he hadn't needed to go anywhere. Instead, he walked behind the X-frame and started to run his long, wicked nails up her sides, tickling the girl's fair, smooth skin. This renewed touch at an obviously ticklish spot made her arch her back and scream with laughter, reddened face giving way to dribbling tears.

Some of the other demons, seeing this reaction, put their foot replicas in similar automated tickling devices, and sought out replicas of her torso, scritching their fingers all over her...

          The poor angel's wings kept flaring and retracting as if to free herself from the frame, but it was no good. The last Felin saw before she was herded into a stone chamber by her demon guards was a long fingernail entering her bellybutton...

At the base of the ramp was a large dwelling with seemingly great importance. Two sentries guarded the door. The two jailers marched them inside, where they moved their bonds to large pillars set in the floor. Each one’s arms were bound over their head, and the slack was pulled up tight. The two demons left, leaving them in a room lit by flickering light. Raye still hadn’t figured out where the light was coming from.

          Syia began to loosen her ropes with psychic waves. Then a loud smack echoed around the room, and Syia slumped, dazed.

          “I would not try that again,” a demon hissed. This one seemed older and wore somewhat cleaner robes. There were five of them that stepped out of the shadows. “Your power is nothing next to ours. You will soon learn that escape lengthens torture sessions. Take that as your only warning.”

          “What do you want with us?” Amy asked.

          A different demon answered. “We need your energy.”

          Raye nudged Felin. “Isn’t that your line?”

          The demon continued, apparently not having heard or not caring. “You have seen the barriers that seal us within the caves. We need much energy to get out. We have found that drawing energy from the creatures that inhabit this world is possible, and we at first tortured them to the brink of death, to gather their energy of despair and pain and fear.”

          A third demon took up the story. “But we were not getting enough energy. It occurred to our leaders about a thousand years ago that the humans and fairies’ positive energies are much more powerful than the negative ones. Joy… love… hope… courage… these were the energies that we needed to tap.”

          “However, there was a problem. There was no efficient way to gather the power of these energies. Only three hundred years ago were we able to begin gathering the positive energy of laughter and merriment,” the fourth demon informed them.

          “And here we go again,” Michelle muttered.

          The final demon stared at Michelle. “We do indeed find it fitting that you, who have also discovered this method of energy extraction, should wind up in our clutches. We have studied your methods, though, and you have missed the fundamental point.”

          “When did you study our methods?” Felin asked, slightly confused.

          “He read them from your mind,” Syia replied.

          “Correct. You assumed that it was the stimulation of the nerves to produce laughter that emitted energy. The energy comes from the laughter itself.”

          “I don’t believe I didn’t see that!” Felin muttered to herself. “Of course! No wonder the Devil’s Ivy and Tickle Treants never produced as much energy as the conventional methods. They knocked the victims out too fast!”

          “Right,” Syia said. “And those that tried to hold in the laughter inhibited our collection. The Sailor brats were on to something after all. I just thought that Ms. Mars hated the crack in her tough image.”

          “I do hate it for that reason! I never knew that not laughing saved energy!” Raye groused.

          “Enough,” said the center demon in line, apparently the most senior. “You will all be evaluated for classification purposes. Also, since we know that you had more companions, you will be put through an interrogation cycle as well.” The doors banged open and two different demons walked in. “These two are skilled in finding exactly where you are most ticklish,” the demon cackled. “And our methods are like nothing you’ve ever seen. Prepare for a nightmare…”

 

          Meanwhile…

          Serena, Megan, Lita, Mina and Jelex were sleeping soundly. They had eaten and fallen asleep soon afterwards.

          Glycinia went to the leader of the forest fairies, Lethies.

          “Did you add the sleeping potion?” Lethies asked.

          Glycinia giggled sweetly. “Of course. The humans will be asleep for ten hours, but the red one only four. She was not easy to drug.”

          Lethies waved her staff dismissively. On the end of the staff were bunches of feathers, enchanted with magic to tickle a victim ten to twenty times better than normal. “It is of no consequence. Just be sure to use enchanted bonds on them. They do have powers of a sort, and we can’t risk letting them get away.”

          Glycinia nodded, but then asked a more serious question. “Lethies… at this current rate, we will not be able to sustain the barriers with the creatures we can rescue from the caves. Will we have to…”

          Lethies nodded. “Yes. Soon, perhaps very soon, we will need to tickle our own. We must not let those demons out. They would sap the world of energy and drive millions to the brink of insanity. Their methods are cruel. Furthermore, our energy is stronger than most creatures’. We can get more energy from a few fairies than dozens of humans.”

          Glycinia swallowed. “But our kind is deathly ticklish, every one. Can we really subject our own to such a thing?”

          Lethies sighed. “We need to. At first, we will take only volunteers. If the supply is adequate, we will not need to draft fairies.” Lethies faced the wall. “Glycinia… I need your help. We need a proper estimate on how much energy a fairy can produce.”

          Glycinia stood numb. “You want me to… submit myself to your tickling?” Glycinia sighed. “Very well. By Naydin’s name, I shall do it.”

          Lethies nodded. “Thank you. Take our five friends and secure them in the public square beneath Naydin’s statue. Tomorrow noon, their ticklish agony will begin.”

 

          Glycinia gathered some fairies and dragged the unconscious girls into the square. Each one was tied to a wooden board, with their hands over their heads and their feet bound together. The boards were similar to racks in that the ropes could be stretched, but this was only to make the boards adaptable to creatures of any length. When their work was done, the fairies surveyed their work.

          “Oh, hee hee hee, look at this one,” a fairy giggled pointing at Serena. “The most ticklish feet I have seen in a long while.”

          “Here, too,” another said, playing with Lita’s toes. Her half-boot had been unlaced and set on the ground only after considerable effort. Lita giggled in her sleep. “Cootchy cootchy coo! Her toes are so fun!” The fairy slid her wings under Lita’s toes. Lita snorted and giggled.

          “Stop,” Glycinia said. “If she wakes up, Lethies will be unhappy. She may sentence you to take her place tomorrow.” Properly cowed, the fairy stopped. She heaved the boot back onto Lita’s foot and laced it.

          “But this is too much fun!” Another was lying on Jelex’s stomach and flitting her wings. Jelex smiled and stirred. She was trying to pull away, but her bonds kept her in place. The grin grew wider and Jelex started giggling, too.

          What Glycinia did not know was that the drug had even less effect than she had predicted. Jelex had been naturally sleeping for a little while now, and the outside stimulus woke her. “What the… hey! Off! Get off! Get me out! How dare you, you mangy little… what? Why can’t I get out? What have you done to me?” Jelex yelled.

          As one the fairies jumped nervously. Jelex was continuing to yell obscenities and curses as she struggled at her bonds. The other girls, still in a state of drugged slumber, did not awaken, but nearly every other fairy came to see what the commotion was. So did Lethies.

          “Who has awakened her?” Lethies asked quietly. The fairy in question hung her head and flew forward. “You know the penalty for disobeying instructions is tickle torture. Do you understand why you are to be punished?”

          “Yes.” The fairy seemed exhausted.

          “Will anyone speak for her or stand for her?” Lethies swept her gaze over the assembly, settled on Glycinia… Glycinia realized what Lethies wanted to do. She needed justification before she could announce her plan.

          “I will stand in her place for punishment.” A murmur ran through the crowd, and Lethies nodded.

          “Very well. You will be punished at noon tomorrow, before these five.”

          “Now just a minute!” Jelex yelled again. “What am I being punished for? I haven’t done anything!”

          “I’ll explain tomorrow.” Lethies turned, and the crowd left.

 

          Raye hung limp, covered in sweat, and tried to block out the screams of laughter coming from Syia.

          They’d been moved to a testing area, first placed in stocks and now bound to platforms. While the foot tickling had been bad enough, the current session was much worse. The wings on the demons’ backs had a more sinister purpose than flying: they were the primary weapons of the diabolical tormentors. Raye had been surprised to see the wings bend so that they could brush under her toes and along her soles. She shuddered at the memory. It had seemed as if her very soul was wracked with laughter.

           The inspectors were sadistic, playing cruel games. One of them had been “What is your name?” This was inevitably followed by “I don’t think that your name is Ameheheeeheeee. Try again without laughing this time.” Or “Whosoever laughs first shall be tickled for a length of time being at least twice the length of a normal session.” Then they had run their snakelike tongues – Raye shuddered again - under and between Syia’s toes. Their long nails, too, were unbearable. Mina had laughed herself breathless as twenty fingernails ran slowly down her upper body.

          The inspectors had noted with glee Felin’s dislike of brushes. One of them had taken a coarse brush and said, “You need to look proper for the Elders. I shall brush your fur.” Running the brush against the grain of Felin’s fur, he had drawn shrieks and bucking the likes of which Raye had only seen from Serena. Then, “No, you’re doing it wrong. Like this.” The other then proceeded to repeat the process. Felin was apparently very ticklish everywhere when that method was used.

          The demons had become enamored of Raye and Syia’s soft bellies. Their nails dug into the flesh as they held contests to see whom could make their victim laugh more. Raye’s very sensitive sides were duly noted, and Raye realized with a grimace that they were writing all this down. Then, a very disgusting development had taken place. A bug was set loose on Syia’s stomach, and its feet were composed of soft bristles. The bug looked like a centipede, but it clearly knew its purpose and idly walked around Syia’s bellybutton. Syia writhed in disgust as she screamed in laughter.

          Michelle had not been moved from the stocks. Raye had noticed that, along with a lot of other things, the demons enjoyed the high boots Amy and Michelle wore. Raye had seen Michelle fidget nervously as her boots slid down inch by agonizing inch. The inspectors in fact had been tickling her underarms and whenever she laughed her boots came down another fraction.  The inspectors had had such fun playing with her feet that they left her there. Their wings had brushed upon her soles while their tongues licked daintily at her toes. Michelle had gone beet red before they gave her a rest.

          Currently, the demons were running their soft, maddening, torturous feathers under Syia’s legs and arms. Raye had not realized that Syia was also very ticklish behind her knees. Her pants had been ripped away, with only a bare portion left to cover her backside. That was also tickled, but these demons didn’t have too much interest in that.

          “Where do you like being tickled?” one of the demons asked. “Let’s see, shall we?” Raye often forgot that the creatures could reach into her mind. “Of course! Just under your toes.”

          “Tickling time!” another teased exploiting Amy’s ribs. Their nails were very good at tracing along the girls’ bared ribs. Amy’s sweet laugh had astounded the demons at first: they had discussed it like a piece of fine music. They had agreed to make a note that keeping the torture a little lighter in order to hear the feminine laugh was desirable. Amy had always been so nice and caring to everyone; it seemed unfair that this should be happening. In fact, Raye groused, the only ones that should be left here were the Negaverse tickle stooges. If only they could find the others…

 

          The others were in no shape to help Raye at the moment. With the effects of the drug, Serena, Lita, Mina and Megan had slept until dawn. Serena had moaned fretfully when she’d found herself tied to a board. Lita had cursed and spit at the fairies, earning a nod of approval from Jelex. She at least had spirit. Serena… well, Jelex admitted to herself, if she was as ticklish as Sailor Moon she probably couldn’t have helped being a bit put off by tickle torture. Memories of wiggling fingers between her toes brought a smile to Jelex’s face. It was a good thing, she reflected, that she had no toes.

          Mina had sighed, resigned to her fate. She seemed to bear up under the stress better than the rest. She’d been a captive for an extended period of time at the tiliking warrens. Serena, Jelex thought, was too ticklish to bear up well, Amy too girlish and cute to keep ticklers away, Lita too fun to break, Raye too concerned with her image and too ticklish to cover her reaction. Mina seemed comfortable with being ticklish, though not to say she enjoyed it. Her one major weakness was tiliking, as it was plain to see that she hated the things.

          Megan, Jelex was annoyed to see, didn’t seem to mind a great deal. Her black bodysuit would enhance the tickling sensations she felt, but since Megan enjoyed this Jelex felt that it wouldn’t bother her too much. It must be nice to enjoy this torture to a degree, Jelex thought sourly. Megan’s footwear was something Jelex had never paid much attention to. It was because Megan’s feet were not very ticklish… or were they? In one of those annoying moments of realization Jelex remembered that they’d taken her word for it, back when she was still a captive… and likely to say anything that would ease her torment. Jelex now wondered what was under those black boots of hers. In a way, the black struck Jelex as incongruous. Megan looked the least evil out of all of them, so she needed to dress the part.

          The last of the party to be punished, the fairy Glycinia was restless and nervous. It seemed that she’d never been tickle tortured before, though she’d explained to Jelex that their deity, Naydin, encouraged tickling. Generally tickling was a form of play and affection among the fairies. All of the fairies were very, very ticklish, she’d explained, so tying a fairy down to tickle her was a legitimate punishment. The demons underground also worshiped a goddess of tickling, Verox, though the difference was the blueskins (as they called them) tortured mindlessly in an effort to break free of their prison. They knew that the barrier only kept their kind out. Humans and fairies were free to wander in, which was where their energy came from. The demons had learned how to dig traps and cast illusions to make the cave seem enticing.

          As the appointed hour drew nearer Jelex watched the tickling tools arrive. The usual, all-purpose feathers, brushes and skin lotion were in evidence, but a few esoteric tools were in the mix as well. There were things that looked like skeletal hands covered in a fuzzy material. Jelex wondered what they were for… until she saw a fairy hold the tool up to Lita’s foot and make some adjustments. The “fingers” would fit nicely between her toes. Lita noticed this as well.

          As some fairies tied Serena’s toes with pieces of string, Jelex noticed that Serena was trying very hard not to giggle. The strings were made of the same fuzzy stuff that was on the hand things. Upon seeing this, two fairies flew off and came back with a length of string tied to two sticks, creating in effect something like a two-man saw. Serena was still fighting the urge to giggle from the soft feel of the string tying her toes together.

          There was a flexible blue tube with a crank on one end and what seemed like many tiny feathers coming out the bottom of the hollow tube. When the handle was turned the belt moved the feathers. It seemed like a good idea, and Jelex made a mental note to copy the design if she ever got out of here.

          Jars of a viscous liquid sat off to the side. None of them needed to be told what was inside. Though, oddly, Jelex did not see brushes for application. Maybe they’ll just upend the jars over us…?

          Small corkscrews were scattered over a tray. A coarse material was affixed to the screw, rather like a brush. Felin would hate those… I need to get one.

          Finally all the preparations were completed. The fairies gathered in the square to witness the coming spectacle.

          “Gather all, in the name of Naydin, and witness the public tickling today,” a fairy called out, in an apparent ritual. Lethies came forward.

          “Everyone… As you know, we use the energy we collect for the purpose of keeping the blueskins sealed within their cave. But we have reached a turning point. It is no longer possible to keep the barriers strong against their assaults by taking the energy of others. We must soon gather tickling energy from our own kind.” Gasps and murmurs swept through the crowd. Lethies spread her wings and silence fell. “I know this is a shock. But I am going to demonstrate the necessity and usefulness of this tactic.” Lethies held up two crystal orbs. “This orb shall gather Glycinia’s energy. The other will gather the humans’ energy – “

          “Hey!” Jelex objected. The crowd responded with angry murmurs. “I’m not a human!”

          “ – and I will show you how much more energy we will get from tickling fairies,” Lethies went on as if nothing had been said. She set the one orb by Glycinia. A fairy came over with a cup of liquid, and Glycinia drank it with great trepidation, some of the liquid sloshing over the sides. For an eternal moment nothing happened, then Glycinia began to laugh. She laughed faster and faster, a rapid high-pitched “Heeheeheeheeeheeheeheehee!” Lethies knelt and ran the feathers on her staff over Glycinia’s small feet. Others joined her, their tiny probing fingers reaching over the fairy’s body. Faster and faster the laughter came. Jelex realized now why the fairies gave off more energy – if laughter was the key, as Glycinia had said before, this rapid laughter would produce more energy than a human’s loud laughter. It had more to do with physiological differences than anything else.

          Jelex was amazed at how fast each laugh came. They were all individual laughs, too, just so close on the heels of one another they seemed one constant laugh. Glycinia had tears pouring down her face. The reactions to tickling were more acute in fairies, apparently. She was giggling so fast that she couldn’t possibly have been able to breathe, yet she was still able to fit pleas somewhere in her laughter. Her skin had been pulled taut, and from what Jelex could see it only worsened her plight.

          Belatedly Jelex realized that the tickling was still coming through the clothing the fairy wore. If they could tickle that well through clothes, what would happen on Jelex’s bare skin…? Before Jelex could ponder that further Glycinia slumped and stopped laughing. Approving noises came from the crowd as the energy orb was held up.

          “Now, humans, it’s your turn…”

 

          “…Surrender your energy easily and it’ll go easier on you.”

          Raye shook her head.

          “Very well,” the torturer cackled with undisguised glee. “You obviously have no idea what’s in store for you.”

          Raye glanced over at Syia, bound spread-eagled on the table next to her. Syia made an expression that was half grimace and half smile.

          “Quite a lot, actually,” the torturer said. Raye squeaked. Amy, too, kept forgetting that her thoughts were not her own private property. Raye was nervous, Amy could see, but the knowledge that she could resist and deny her tormentors their goal gave her courage enough to face her torment. Not that it would help.

          Amy had managed to modify her visor so that it could scan for ticklishness. She ought to have done it a while ago but kept putting it off. It didn’t help much here, though. The blue skinned demons were unequivocally not ticklish.

          Amy did know that a great deal of psychic energy was flying about in this cavern. A great many, though not all, of the demons seemed to be psychic to one degree or another. What they did with that psychic energy, well, Amy would just as soon not know that.

          This session began like the last one. The wings slid under Raye’s shirt and began to vibrate. They moved at an amazingly fast rate for a controlled muscle action. Whatever the physiological nuances, it was clear that they drove Raye crazy. Her eyes rolled back and she exploded into laughter. The wings were so long as to be able to rub under her arms and brush along her sides and ribs as well.

          After about ten minutes Raye was exhausted again. Amy was sure that the demons were able to provoke a much deeper reaction than just superficial tickling. It seemed to reach down into her very being when the feathers ran their cruel tips under her toes. Cackling, the demon stepped back and examined his remaining subjects.

          Each torturer was given a group of five victims that he tortured regularly. This allowed them to gain a better understanding of each subject’s weaknesses. The demon smiled and advanced on Amy. Amy shut her eyes and curled her toes, her only means of defense, and ones that would not last long. When her toes curled, it was a simple matter to force a tongue in there and shake it. Invariably her toes straightened.

          “Open your eyes, sweetheart,” the demon laughed sarcastically. He often used endearing terms when addressing his captives. Amy did open her eyes. What she saw confused her. A model foot was in the demon’s hand, and a wide grin on his face. “You have such ticklish feet,” the demon said. “It is a pity that you only have two of them. That, however, is something that can be remedied.” How was having only two feet a problem? Amy wondered. And, furthermore, how could he “remedy” that?

          The answer came, undesired and sudden. The demon stroked his fingernail on the model foot. Amy felt that touch on her foot as well. She gasped in surprise. The demon laughed. “These models are tuned to your brain waves by a psychic link,” he said. “And, as you may have noticed, you felt my tickling, but –“ the demon slammed the foot into the wall.

          Raye and Michelle gasped. Felin flinched. Only Syia remained calm.

          “I didn’t feel a thing,” Amy said quickly, to reassure the others.

          “Oh… God!” Michelle cried in horror as the full implications hit her. Now, instead of just two demons torturing her soles, there could be four, or twenty, or a hundred…

          “Yes, you catch on quickly, don’t you? You have copies of your feet as well, don’t you worry. In fact,” he went on, “soon there will be a full-size model for each of you. These are usually placed out in public so that anyone who wishes to join in tormenting captives can do so.” He cackled. “But that’s later. Right now, Amy, we’re going to have some fun.” The demon carefully pried the toes of the model apart. Amy squirmed. It was unsettling to see her foot being tickled from this point of view. The demon placed the foot over a point in the floor where there were parallel slits and a foot pedal. The demon carefully lined the spaces with the slits and set the foot down. Then he began to work the pedal.

          Feathers began to come out of the gaps. They rose and fell with the pedal’s motion. Amy laughed mindlessly. Grinning, the demon locked the pedal into motion and approached her. Amy could still feel the feathers rising and falling through the gaps. With a quick move, her boots were whisked off. The toes on her left foot were squeezing together, trying to pinch out the offending touch. The demon did not make any move to tickle her real feet: rather, he took out another model. “Now, what shall I do with this one?” He stroked his nails on it while he tried to decide. He was oblivious to poor Amy’s laughter. “Oh. I have the perfect idea,” he said, cackling to himself. Amy’s foot he put aside, and he went into a side room and came back with an odd apparatus.

          The device had a conveyor belt with paintbrushes on it. There was a bar running along the top of the conveyor and another along the bottom. It stood two feet off the floor when it was set up. The demon grinned at Amy and stopped the feathers on the one model. Amy sighed in relief. That hadn’t been too bad, as far as tickle torture sessions went.

          The demon took the foot, secured it over the paintbrush conveyor, and did the same a bit further down the bar. Amy realized what it was; it could tickle many victims’ feet at once or push one or two to the brink of insanity. He was going to string a bunch of her feet there and start it! There were eight feet in the top row.

          “You know what this does.” He smiled evilly. “Torture time.” The switch was flicked on with an innocuous click. Amy felt a parade of paintbrushes going down her soles, restarting her laughter and escalating it to ever-higher volumes. For his own amusement, the torturer demon unlocked Amy’s feet and chuckled at the wild kicks that resulted when her feet were freed. After a bit, he grabbed her ankles and held them in the air. Then his wings stroked over her backside, and Amy squealed and managed to rip out of his grip.

          The demon wasn’t angry, not in the least. He proceeded to tie Amy’s ankles together, a process that took a few minutes. After he was done, he hung her feet from the ceiling and teased her behind again. This time there was no escape, and the demon grinned as Amy writhed and sobbed from the inescapable torture.

 

          Jelex clamped her mouth shut, refusing to drink at all. Well, Megan thought, I wouldn’t drink something if I didn’t know what it was. A fairy pinched her nose, and another stroked tiny feathers on her feet. Jelex tried to fight the laughter, but the mocking laughter of the fairies wore at her defenses and the liquid was poured in. The fairies stopped, and waited.

          Jelex began to giggle of her own accord. It didn’t sound like a normal giggle, but a giggle from a captive who’d just been brought into the dungeon and was experiencing their first torment. The giggle of one whom was pleading for mercy but did not comprehend what was going to happen to her. This was reinforced when fairies ran tiny feathers on Jelex’s firm stomach. “Oh no! Please!” Jelex giggled. “Don’t tickle me! I’m too ticklish! Please! Heeheeeheheheee!” The fairies began to swarm on her. Jelex continued her pitiful begging, much to the fairies’ amusement.

          Being extremely ticklish themselves, Megan figured that they would know exactly where to tickle and how. She was right: the fairies plucked feathers and left them wiggling of their own accord, stuck in Jelex’s jell-like skin. The weird blue tube things were stuck to her underarms and the cranks turned. There must be feathers or brushes in there, Megan thought. Jelex’s torment continued for a while, but Megan paid no attention. She’d seen it before. After about half an hour, Jelex’s skin began to turn a pale red, a sign of her exhaustion. The fairies left her be.

          “Now, you, Megan,” Lethies said. “Oh my. You seem to be very ticklish. Remove her shoes,” Lethies commanded.

          “Hey, I’m giving you fair warning. My feet aren’t ticklish,” Megan said.

          “Really?” Lethies said in a tone indicating disbelief. She flew over to Megan’s bared sole, stroked her feathers under her toes, a grin on her face as she watched Megan… a grin that degenerated into confusion when Megan didn’t laugh.

          “I told you,” Megan said. “Why doesn’t anyone ever believe me when I say that?”

          “Honesty in your position is hard to come by,” Lethies answered. “But that is all right. We can fix this deficiency.” The crowd cheered.

          “What do you mean, fix it?” Megan was perplexed. A pair of fairies went into Lethies’ hut and came back with a golden feather. This Lethies placed in her staff, pointing out the top.

          “Ancient spirits of the forest, Naydin’s wishes we must fulfill… Help us now to solve our plight…” Lethies chanted. “Lend to us your might, so that we may forestall the night… Ticklish energy we now need, make this girl ticklish on her feet!” The gold feather began to glow, and Lethies ran it once over both Megan’s feet. They began to glow blue for a second, then faded to normal. “Now, Megan, let’s see how not ticklish your feet are.” Sure enough, when the feathers brushed under her toes Megan’s face contorted in an effort to remain silent. Lethies waved the two fairies holding the cup of liquid up to Megan. Megan, seeing no way out, drank the liquid. It tasted like cough syrup.

          It seemed as if the liquid rushed out into her body, where it became a bunch of tiny fingers probing under her skin. Megan giggled helplessly. “Heeheeehee! Please! Oh ahahah ahaheheheheheeh don’t tickle me! Not feathers!” she protested helplessly as Lethies resumed stroking feathers over her now-ticklish feet. “Oh eheehehehaaa haaahaaheeheh oh no! Not my tummy please not my tummy!” What is wrong with me? Megan raged. I sound like a little girl!

          The fairies knew the exact spots to tickle her with their tiny fingers, the exact spots where her skin was the most sensitive. They clustered at her underarms, using those blue tubes, which did indeed have feathers inside, brushing at her skin in an endless procession. The hand things covered in fuzz wiggled between her toes. Whatever that stuff was it tickled like nothing else. Through it all Megan begged pitifully, framing her pleas with girlish giggling and then roars of laughter.

          Megan finally realized that whatever was in that liquid, it had muddled her mind’s speech processes, because whenever she tried to say something it came out differently. It also seemed to prompt giggles, and that would have the effect of providing more energy. The fairies were clearly experts at this kind of thing, and Megan had an inclination that they hadn’t seen anything yet. Plants, maybe, for Mina and Lita? This was a forest, after all. Definitely feathers for Serena. She cowered at the mere sight of a feather, and the first touch sent her into hysterics. But, Megan thought, as she began to slip, better to be in fear of hysterics than be in hysterics…

 

          Round and round the pointer goes…

          Where it stops, he does know, Syia thought glumly. Syia knew that the demon had been nudging the pointer to get preferred setups. Right now they were “playing” a variation of a human game that Michelle informed her was called “Twister”. What relevance they shared was unknown, but the fact was that the game this demon had made was just as hard on its players as anything she’d ever created.

          The pointer stopped again on “feet”, again on Syia, and again on 8, meaning 8 model feet being tortured. It was easier to do it that way, given that all of them now had their ankles hung from the ceiling and their upper bodies strapped to a table, allowing the demon quick access to their buttocks, which he’d developed an affinity for. At least the inspectors weren’t so perverted. At least her shirt was still on, thank goodness.

          “That can change,” the demon informed her. He’d just finished affixing eight white feet to the conveyor device, now carrying feathers, and flipped it on. It was god-awful, as it had been the previous billion times. Syia was screaming with laughter, her throat raw from many such screams, but it made no difference: when her laughter died, a certain liquid was poured down her throat, healing the torn skin. And, worse, every time she drank the liquid, she noticed that her manner began to slip into that of the shy schoolgirl, the façade she had carefully constructed to ease a target’s suspicions. After all, nothing seemed less threatening than a shy girl wearing big glasses, obviously innocent to the ways of the world yet wearing something just a touch provocative, did…

          And now it was coming to haunt her. The outfit designed to allow Syia to melt away a man’s suspicions had clearly attracted the notice of the demon, and the shy giggles were second only to Amy’s, which were true shy giggles. Her feet were small and white, very smooth and very ticklish. At least that kept the demon from teasing her just-as-ticklish upper body…

          “Just as ticklish, you say? Well, I think that we’ll have to find out.” Syia gasped. It was so easy to forget that thinking something was just as good as saying it out loud. “Yes, you have just enough flesh so that squeezing your shapely form is viable.” Syia groaned. “These tables also have certain attachments to cover that possibility,” the demon informed her. He flipped a switch at the foot of Syia’s table, idly stroking her thighs as he did so. Syia had come to hate that light, teasing touch that inevitably drifted downward. It tickled so incredibly bad.

          A blast from the past was ready to torment Syia: the hands that sprouted from the table’s edges and surface reminded her of Aven’s Torture Table. From what Syia remembered that design was very effective, as robot hands probed the victim’s body, squeezing and tickling the upper body quite effectively. Feathers and brushes were still better than hands for the tickling of feet, however. The hands began to explore her body, one going straight for her navel and teasing her, while others dug their fingers into her soft sides. Others pawed at her ribs and squeezed her breasts lightly. Some reached under her arms and tickled the sensitive cavities there, which were smooth; Syia did not grow hair there. Worse, some others were squeezing her cheeks as well… and that torment soon outstripped everything. More hands twined around her feet, coming from the ceiling, and began to brush things that were remarkably similar to feather rods behind her knees, pulled straight and vulnerable.

          Syia screamed so pitifully in laughter that the others winced. Syia felt that she was losing her mind from the torment. Rational thought was slipping away, but that was good, wasn’t it? The demon couldn’t find anything else to torture her with if she couldn’t think properly. Then again…

 

          Serena was indeed going to be tormented by feathers, a whole freaking lot of them, too.

          “Well,” Lethies had said, “you are deliciously ticklish. Such nice, creamy skin, so soft and sensitive… I bet that you can’t stand feathers.” Serena tried to keep her face straight, but failed. Mina remembered that time all the way back when, in the hangar when it was still abandoned. Serena had collapsed into pleading and crying at the mere sight of feathers, and while she’d gotten a little better at that, it didn’t change the fact that she was still extremely vulnerable. Mina also recalled the time when Neflite and Megan had trapped her in the vice-principal’s office. Megan had reduced her to a howling mess with only two feathers.

          “For such sensitive people as yourself, we have a few special methods…” Lethies chuckled darkly. She’d chanted another spell, and caused a plant to begin growing in the ground at the foot of Serena’s board. Then she waved forward the fairies with the liquid, and Serena drank, resigned. She, too, felt the rush of tiny torturing fingers spread through her body. Serena was frantic; since she couldn’t buck or strain at her bonds very much, it built into a panicked energy that eventually was released as laughter.

          “HEAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA! SSTOPPPP!  Please! P-please d-don’t! AHAHAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAA PLEASE!” Serena begged, sounding like a child. She was being tickled too badly to wonder why she sounded so childish.

          The plant Lethies had grown was similar to the Venus trap, except that a feather like end sprouted from each vine. Serena whimpered and her face contorted in fearful anticipation. The feathers lazily went to wherever they felt like tickling her and began to rub themselves into her skin.

          Poor Serena was straining frantically at her bonds, but the plant didn’t notice and the fairies merely laughed at her torment. The fairies filled in wherever there was room, clustering at her feet and underarms. They clearly wanted a free shot at her skin underneath, though…

          Lethies said, “You must remember that we are torturing you through your clothing. Say we were to remove that barrier…” The plant had two extra vines of a normal type, and they tore at Serena’s shirt with an animal ferocity. Serena’s shirt lay in tatters, and with minor cheers the fairies redoubled their efforts.

          “OH NO PLEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEEEEZE! DON’T DON’T STAAAAAAAP! DON’T TICKLE PLEHEEEEEZE! I BEG YOUUUUUUUUU! NO MORE! PLEHEEEEEEEEEZE NO MORE!” Serena shrieked. She was going red all over, a sign that most knew to mean she was losing air. No one particularly cared.

          Delighted by her vulnerability, the fairies kept at it long after Serena was gasping pleas through parched lips.

         

          Michelle pitied Felin.

          Felin was no longer restrained, but that freedom had come at a terrible price. Felin’s mannequin had been the first completed, and Michelle noticed that it looked exactly like Felin, down to the six whiskers that sprouted from her face. Felin had been surprised to see that; she’d been expecting duplication of feet or something.

          “Oh no, my sweet,” the torturer laughed nastily. “Your love for brushes compelled me to finish your body faster than usual. But I’m feeling unusually generous today, as well. I’m going to release you from your bonds.”

          “What’s the catch?” Felin snarled. There was always a catch with these things, and it was never pleasant.

          The demon tied the doll’s wrists above its head and hung it from the ceiling. “This is the Nightmare Chamber. Some think it more amusing to put the actual victim in here,” he said as he assembled the various controls and torture devices. “But I think it’s funny when the victim can see themselves being tickled crazy. You, my dear kitten, so love brushes, especially when they slowly crawl up your sides, smoothing out your nice spotted fur to perfection. Now you can see it happening.” The torturer turned to face Felin. The device behind him was nothing more than a gaggle of robot hands, but there were a lot of the robot hands. Felin’s dummy was in the middle of them. With an evil snigger the demon placed a brush in each hand. Some got paintbrushes, some got art brushes, some got hairbrushes, some got scrubbing brushes. Felin quailed at the sight.

          “Now, you can be free,” the demon laughed. He hit a button and freed Felin from her restraints. Felin came up like lightning and wrapped her hands around the demon’s throat. He merely laughed.

          Michelle saw that her grip was loosening and her body was starting to shake. The brushes had started to torment her duplicate, and the sensation in all its horror was transferred to Felin. She tried to keep her grip but was soon giggling and her hands fell away. The demon grabbed her wrists and with sheer brute strength held her still.

          “Come on…  you can break my grip,” he said reasonably. From nowhere he produced a hairbrush. “Oh, my.” He tsked. The brush ran over Felin’s stomach, and up to her neck. From there he swirled down into her armpits. Felin kicked at his chest, but the torturer was solidly built and didn’t budge. “Such violence! I think we’ll need to initiate therapy.” He put the brush down and grabbed Felin’s ankles. From there his feathery wings traced lightly over Felin’s body.

          But that wasn’t where the bulk of her torment was coming from. The (sadistic? Michelle wondered) hands were scrubbing away at Felin’s model. It must have required a lot of strength to keep her still, Michelle reflected. She was arching her back and squirming wildly. With a laugh the demon let her go, and Felin was soon racing around the room, screaming and thrashing.

          “S-STOPPPPP! NO PLEASEEEEE! NO MORE! AHAHAAAAAAAAHAHHAAAAHAHAH TURN IT OFF! NOOOOOOOOO! NOT THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!” A pair of paintbrushes had begun to stroke her sides. “PLEEEEEEEEZEEEEEEEEEEE! NO BRUSHES! I BEG YOU STAHAHAHAAAAAAAP!” Felin was dashing about, and she crashed into a wall, causing her to fall down. She curled up and rolled, still laughing madly; her tail was whipping about.

          “Well, this was a fun day,” the demon said. “I’ll see you all tomorrow, and you –“ he pointed at Michelle “ – are going to get it badly.” He left the room with a final laugh, leaving the device on.

          Syia closed her eyes. Michelle heard a click, and Felin gave an exhausted moan. “Oh… heheeeaaa…heheaaa…”

          Syia frowned. “Can you get us out, Felin?”

          Felin grabbed a table for support. “Yes… just let me catch my breath…” She untied the ropes holding Amy’s ankles and unlocked the wrist restraints. They both worked to untie everyone else.

          “All right… we need a plan,” Syia said. They were all wobbly and stiff but otherwise unharmed.

          “I think I can help there,” Amy said. “I’ve made a map of the surrounding caves. There’s an exit to the surface not far from here. The problem is getting out of this grotto. If we can slip out, I can get us to the surface.”

          They edged out of the door and crept outside. There were few demons outside. It must be the beginning of the sleep cycle. That made their job much easier…

 

          Lethies called a stop to the day’s tortures. Lita and Mina were yet to be tickled, so the group remained outside on their boards for the night. To ensure that no one escaped, the feather plant stayed on sentry duty. The plant must be sentient, Jelex realized, because it playfully teased Lita’s toes with feathers. Whenever she giggled two more vines at her armpits came closer. There were also two vines twining around her legs. Needless to say, Lita would not be sleeping well that night.

          Jelex sighed. This wasn’t any fun at all. It would be so much better to be at home, tickling that wonderful find Jessica and teasing Megan and Michelle. Jelex wondered how Jessica was going to be affected by this. How did time flow between these dimensions, anyway?

 

          “Uh oh,” Felin said. “I think we’ve been spotted. That demon keeps looking over here.”

          “Um…” Syia said, floundering.

          Michelle laid down in the alley between the buildings they were currently in. “Tickle me.”

          “Huh?” Raye asked, confused.

          “Go on, tickle me! Tickle me crazy! Just do it!” Michelle urged.

          “I understand!” Amy said. “Quick, let’s go!”

          Syia held Michelle’s wrists and Amy held her ankles. Felin and Raye began to tickle Michelle. “Heahaaah! You can do better! Come on – torture me!”

          “If you say so…” Raye bent down to nibble on Michelle’s toes.

          “Y-yes! Thaahaahah that’s it! Hehehahahaahahaha make me scream with laughter! Aaaahaaahaaahaaahaaa!" Michelle gasped. Felin traced her nails over Michelle’s ribs. Michelle quaked in laughter. Strangely, Raye noticed, she wasn’t trying to pull away at all. Instead, she was opening her toes so as to give Raye a better shot. Well, if she wanted it…

          A demon poked his head into the alley. “What’s going on?” he asked sternly.

          Amy looked up. “This little slime sold us out today, so we’re getting revenge.”

          The demon chuckled darkly. “Ha ha, excellent. Go on.” With that, he continued on his patrol.

          “Good call,” Syia said as they released Michelle after a minute. That scenario was not uncommon, where prisoners fought among themselves to curry the demons’ favor.

          “You enjoyed that too much,” Michelle said with a grin. “Let’s go,” she said, pulling her boots back on. Using the same tactic, only switching Amy for Michelle once, they made it to the top of the grotto. Amy activated her scanner and led the way, finding the fissure in the rock that led to the escape ladder.

          “Got it,” Amy whispered as she pushed the trapdoor open. It was night outside, in some kind of village. She took a quick look around and saw Jelex, Megan, Serena, Lita and Mina tied to their racks. A plant was lightly tickling Lita, and she was giggling softly. Amy crawled, low to the ground, and shook Jelex’s shoulder. “Psst, Jelex, wake up,” she hissed.

          “Wha-? Oh, hey, Mercury. You guys get out?” Amy nodded and untied Jelex. “Ahh, much better. Not often do I get to be restrained. That was a new experience.”

          Raye had come up behind Amy. “Two questions. One, how do we kill the plant, and two, how do we get home?”

          Syia whispered in her ear. “I’ve been here long enough, so I think I can get us back home.”

          “What’s that got to do with it?” Michelle asked.

          “I need to know a dimension’s characteristics before I can open a portal from it. Usually we go from the Negaverse to Earth because they’re the only dimensions we know. I can get us from here to Earth.”

          Jelex woke Megan up and untied her. “Good. I’m sick of this place.”

          The plant noticed Megan’s awakening. As Jelex had suspected, it was sentient, and therefore decided to play a game with Megan. If she made noise, it would wake up the fairies, who would punish her. Megan would need to keep from laughing in order to escape. The plant lashed its vine around her ankles and stroked the feathery vines on her feet.

          “Don’t laugh!” Amy hissed. “Keep cool until we free everyone.” This they did twice as fast now.

          “What’s wrong?” Felin asked. “You’re not ticklish on your feet, are you?”

          “Long story,” Jelex said. Megan’s face was twisted, a huge grin on her face and eyes shut tightly as she tried to quell her laughter.

          “Hee… Heehahaa… aahaaah heheeee…” Megan giggled quietly. The plant plunged vines down the neck of her shirt to tickle her armpits. “Heeheahaaha… ahahahahh heheeheheaa… p-please hurry! Ahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa! Hehehehahaah heehehahahah hehhaahah stooooooooooop!” Megan burst.

          Jelex nearly ripped Mina out of her rack. “We’re done! Syia, let’s move!” Lights began to come on and doors opened as fairies awoke to see what the noise was about.

          Syia frowned and shut her eyes. A small purple hole formed in the air… then dissipated at the plant tickled her legs.

          “Mars Fire Ignite!” Raye scorched the plant. “Hurry! We have no time!” Fairies were starting to attack her. They got under her clothes and tickled her sides, causing Raye to jump and squeal while slapping at herself.

          The fairies began to flood the area. Two held up Syia’s shirt so that six more could tickle her belly. “Keep the white one!” a fairy howled. “She’s trying to make a gate!” Syia fell to her knees, laughing but still trying to widen the portal. Serena slapped them away, then fell victim herself as they reached under her arms.

          Jelex was fighting with the feather plant. Her boots were both gone and the plant tickled her jelly feet. The vines reached all over her body, tickling her into submission. Fairies had taken advantage of Megan’s bound feet and were teasing her toes. Jelex began to thrash, tossing blobs of jelly about.

          One of these hit a fairy, covering it. The thing shrieked in laughter, catching the group’s attention. “We have to fight back!” Michelle yelled.

          “How?” Mina said through gritted teeth. “They’re everywhere!” The fairies had infested Mina thoroughly.

          “It’s open!” Amy yelled. “The portal’s open!” Syia was first through, followed by Serena. Amy jumped in, scattering fairies. Raye fired again at the plant, immolating it this time and causing its vines to go limp. Jelex and Megan extricated themselves and followed closely behind Raye. Mina stumbled near the hole and tumbled into the portal. Felin grabbed Michelle with her tail and dragged her in. Lita bulled through the assembly and the portal closed behind her.

         

          Both groups returned to their respective beach houses. Though neither said anything, a brief truce would finish the week. No time had passed, which meant that Jessica hadn’t even noticed their absence. But, oddly, the Negaverse looked at Jessica and decided as one, “Not right now. Maybe later.”