Part IX: Aven’s Folly

          It was business as usual in the Tickling Dungeon. Neflite had seen a trial of Aven’s new tiliking, and they were spectacular. Along with a set of schematics, she had on her computer a new proposal for their use. If they were all fitted with special collars, and set free to roam the city, they could transmit all of their takings to the dungeon. Neflite had seen to it that the policy was implemented as soon as possible. That meant tomorrow.

          It was even better. A new character was about to enter his play, another that had excelled in the Human Tickling course. Her name was Syia. She looked, at first glance, extremely shy. She wore large glasses over her eyes. Her skin was white, and very soft. Her brown hair hung down around her shoulders and fell to the small of her back. She wore a tight gray T-shirt that, Neflite noticed, didn’t quite cover her middle. She seemed vaguely uncomfortable in it, and Neflite thought that a shy person wouldn’t wear a shirt like that when her breasts were… rather generous. Her pants were an off-white color that almost blended perfectly with her skin. Completing her image were the white sneakers. It seemed as if she’d dressed from a black and white movie. The way she held her hands in an anxious way at her middle made Neflite wonder if she was too nervous for this kind of thing at first. Her eyes had been cast at the ground, and she spoke hesitantly, and had she been human Neflite would have expected her to be blushing. She seemed so innocent…

          When he’d first seen her smile upon seeing the dungeon, though, Neflite knew he had made a good choice. Her smile was pure evil and anticipation. Her voice had changed, to a deeper, sultry tone similar to Felin’s. Her crossed arms no longer seemed to be clutching herself. Behind her glasses, Syia’s eyes had glinted. Along with her cruel, small smile, her eyes seemed to be judging each victim in turn. Even the light glinted off her glasses in a malicious way. Neflite realized that the shyness was a façade, to lure enemies into a false sense of security.

          What tickling power she had Neflite hadn’t actually seen, but it was somewhat different than what he’d come to expect. Syia had no tickling powers per se, but her psionic powers were formidable. She’d been able to hold seven humans completely still, where she could easily attack all vulnerable points. Right now she was working on tickling with thought waves, but that hadn’t quite worked out yet. It was somewhat irrelevant, seeing as she was to be assigned to research under Felin. Neflite took her to Felin now.

          “Felin, I’d like you to meet our newest member, Syia.” Felin looked up, and Neflite could only assume that she’d seen Syia’s smile. Felin mirrored it.

          “Already I can see you’re going to fit in great,” she said. Her voice was dripping with anticipation.

          Syia grinned wider. “When can I start? I can’t wait to begin tormenting these humans… Hahahaha!”

          Neflite edged out of the room. They were both really strange, Jelex and Aven too, now that he thought about it. That reminded him, and he went to the control center to get a report from Aven.

          “Aven, come in, please come in. I need a report on your status. Aven? Hey!”

          “Umm, we’re sorry, but this number has been disconnected,” a giggling voice answered him.

          “What the hell!” Neflite shouted. “Who is this?”

          “Please hang up and try again,” another voice answered him. He could hear barely suppressed laughter in the background.

          “Damn it! Aven! This isn’t funny!”

          “Aven is unable to come to the phone. May I take a message?” This voice could barely speak for laughing. There was more laughter in the background.

          Neflite began to shout again, but noise coming from the speaker stopped him. He listened.

          “Heehee! Good one, Sailor Mars!”

          “Your turn, Mercury!”

          “But…

          “Oh, don’t be a stick-in-the-mud. This is even better than prank calls!”

          Neflite calmed down. Okay, if they wanted to play games… “Oh, thank you. Please tell Aven I called, Sailor Mercury!”

          The silence from the other end told him he’d guessed right.

          “I told you this was a bad idea!” someone said.

          “Oh shut up! This was your idea too!” was the indignant reply.

          “Okay, okay. Just calm down.” The voice grew louder as the person turned to the microphone. “Well, Neflite, it seems we’ve sunk your plans this time. You should probably prepare to never see Aven again.” A click came, followed by static.

          Neflite ground his teeth. Sailor Scouts! So much for Aven’s boasting. He needed to get over there pronto. He stormed into Felin’s office.

          “Felin! Syia! We’re going on a trip, now! Follow me!” They did so without question.

          Amy shrugged as she flicked off the radio. “Oh well. They would have noticed in any case.”

          “Now to get down to business…” Lita chuckled. Aven was bound and gagged to the metal table. She was wearing a pair of shorts from the dresser, a tank top and a pair of socks.

          “Yep,” Serena said, setting a can of the tickle oil on the table. “Remember when you did this to me?” Serena asked with an evil smile. She tugged off Aven’s sock. Raye did the same with the other sock. Aven’s feet, dark blue but otherwise the same as human feet, awaited torture. Lita and Mina planned to use their nails to tickle her stomach. Amy had small paintbrushes for the armpits. A nervous sweat broke out on Aven’s face.

          With calm, methodical strokes the torture began. Serena and Raye dipped their brushes in the oil and began to apply it. Aven’s face contorted and she arched her back. Slamming back down, she began to whip her head back and forth, all the while screaming pleas that were stifled by the gag. Lita and Mina had “races” with their nails across her stomach, where of course the objective was to finish last. Thus a parade of nails slowly crept across her midriff. Amy used quick, light strokes to produce a maddening armpit tickle torture.

          “Beg for mercy and we might stop,” Mina teased coldly.

          Aven mumbled something through her laughter.

          “She said to kick it up,” Mina laughed. “Let’s not disappoint her!”

          Aven shook her head and made desperate noises. Noises which were ignored, for the most part.

          “Here you go, all done here,” Raye grinned as she passed the bucket of oil to Lita and Mina. She and Serena continued with feathers.

          Aven was hysterical. She was very ticklish, and could never imagine being subjected to the tickle torture she put others through. She had never known such helplessness before. Her available options were to lie there and be tickled, or to thrash and be tickled. Her wings were tied together under the table, useless. The Scouts employed the diabolical devices of tickle torture she had stored in here. She could feel herself slipping away.

          Tickling dominated Aven’s universe now. She was only aware of the tickling, the awful, ceaseless tickling. The Scouts seemed everywhere at once, the light touch of the feathers on her feet, the torture of the oil-covered brushes on her stomach, the gentle but precise touch at her armpits. Eventually all thoughts of trying to escape left her; she had become completely submissive from tickle torture.

          Aven became aware of a voice. “Run, you worthless scum. Get out.” Without thought she was up and stumbling toward the exit, only vaguely aware that the tickling had ceased.

          “One more thing…” Aven turned to see Serena holding a shining disc in her right hand. With a whimper Aven ran for the door.

          Serena’s tiara shattered Aven’s ambitions, her world, and her body.

          Neflite had bothered to triangulate in on Aven’s transmissions and knew where her base was. “Okay, everyone out,” he called as he slammed the door closed.

          “So what are we looking for?” asked Syia.

          “Sailor Scouts,” replied Neflite.

          “So Aven’s vaunted torture house was a bust,” Felin muttered disgustedly.

          “Hmm… right now there are six beings on the fifth floor,” Syia reported.

          “How can you tell? Oh, never mind, right.” Neflite quickly answered his own question.

          “No, wait a minute… now there’s only five. Someone’s dead.”

          Damn! “Too late,” Neflite muttered.

          Syia started. “What’s up?” asked Felin.

          “They know we’re here!” she shouted.

          “How?” Felin asked in disbelief.

          Syia shook her head. “One of them was able to sense my probe. She presumably told the others.”

          “So one of the Scouts is psychic?” Neflite began.

          “No,” Syia answered. “Almost psychic.”

          “What, what?” Neflite frowned. “You lost me. How can you be ‘almost’ psychic?”

          “Well,” Syia replied, “I am fully psychic. I can manipulate the environment with my mind. Normal humans are slightly psychic. It’s what they call ‘intuition’, or feelings that they can’t explain. Some humans, like our Scout up there, are almost psychic. Their intuition is more sensitive and they can sense psychic manipulations like mine. They basically have psychic abilities that give them information, but none to directly interact with their surroundings.”

          “Oh.” Neflite took a moment to digest all that. Learn something new every day…

          “The Negaverse is out there!” Raye warned.

          “Huh? Well, if you say so…” Serena shrugged.

          “So now what?” Mina asked.

          “I think Aven would have an exit for herself… yes! Back here.” Amy led them to the elevator in the back. The ride to the bottom was smooth and quiet. They filed out a side door and crept around silently to the front. Neflite, Felin and someone else were standing there, looking up at the fifth floor. The new person spun around and shouted.

          “Over there!”

          “Huh?” asked Lita. “How’d she see us?”

          “Never mind, run!” Raye screamed. They bolted around the back at top speed.

          “Aren’t we going to chase them?” asked Syia.

          Neflite shook his head. “No. They won this round, and there’s no point in compounding Aven’s error. But while we’re out here, we might as well see what we can find. Let’s go hunting!”

          We must be a sight, Serena reflected, five exhausted, sweaty girls in ripped and torn clothing. The girls just sat around the temple for ten minutes, panting.

          “Okay…” Serena put in when she’d caught her breath. “Who’s up for sleeping forever?” A round of weak chuckles resounded.

          “Actually, why don’t you guys stay over here for the night?” Raye suggested.

          “I don’t see why not,” Mina grinned. “How about we… hmm?” Mina looked significantly in Serena’s direction.

          “Aha ha ha,” Serena laughed sarcastically.

          Amy leapt in quickly. “Why don’t we each take an hour to go home, shower and find new clothes, and we'll meet back here?”

          “Excellent idea,” Serena said, scooting out the door.

          Serena knew she was being cocky, but it didn’t dampen her good mood. Finally, at long last, they’d beaten the Negaverse at its own game. That was cause enough for celebration. She stepped outside, humming to herself.

          “Well? See, I told you it would be all right,” Luna said from her shoulder.

          “You were right, Luna,” Serena smiled. “We did win. We are the Sailor Scouts, and no evil will stop us, not even tickle torture… okay, maybe it’ll stop us, but we can overcome it!” Serena added with a laugh.

          “I’ll say.” Luna dove off Serena’s shoulder, turned around and jumped up her shirt.

          “Hey! You rascal! Get out! No! No tickling, Luna! Seriously! St-st-stop! Luna! Hahahahahah!” Serena giggled good-naturedly. Luna popped out and resumed her place on Serena’s shoulder.

          To change the subject, Luna looked in Serena’s bag. “What, do you plan to move in? How could you need such a large bag?”

          “I need my stuff,” Serena said vaguely.

          “Stuff?” The way she said it made Luna suspicious. She dived in.

          “Hey!”

          Luna popped out again, with a mock-stern look on her face. “Stuff, huh?” She’d seen the ropes and feathers and brushes hidden under the clothing.

          Serena grinned. “I believe in being prepared.”

          When Serena arrived, she found everyone else there. When she saw how they were arranged, she nearly burst out laughing.

          “Geez, you guys are paranoid!” she laughed. Every single one of them was sitting with their legs drawn up and their arms wrapped around themselves.

          “Maybe we’re just taking precautions,” Raye said with a grin.

          “Aw, heck! I’m not scared!” Serena slung her duffel aside and stretched out.

          “Are you sure you want to do that?” Lita asked with a sly grin. Amy was giggling.

          Serena still felt cocky. “Ha ha! Sailor Moon will never be intimidated!”

          Mina quickly moved like she was going after Serena. Serena pulled up with an “Eek!” and sat like the others were. Everyone laughed.

          With a confident grin Serena stretched her legs out again. “Good one, but I refuse to let you scare me!”

          Raye then stretched out on the ground and began to crawl, low to the ground, toward Serena. “Shh!” she said in a stage whisper. Serena watched her in amusement.

          When Raye was about a foot away from Serena, she levered herself up and said, “Guess what I am!” She flicked her tongue rapidly through the air.

          Serena frowned. “A snake?”

          “No, dummy!” Raye laughed. “A tiliking!” She leapt onto Serena.

          “Hey!” Serena laughed. Raye was baring her teeth and growling. Serena was pinned to the floor but she didn’t care.

          “Hey! Free shots!” Raye called to the others.

          “Wait a second! No fair!” Serena protested, giggling. Her socks flew through the air.

          “Now,” Lita said, in a dark, menacing voice, “tell us where you hid the microfilm.”

          Serena was giggling too hard to answer.

          “Not talking? Well, we have ways of making you cooperate…” Lita teased Serena’s sole with a lone fingernail.

          “Heheheeheeehee! Not the feet! Wahhaaaaaahhahaha!” Serena protested uselessly. Raye grinned at her.

          “Tell ussssssss,” she said in a raspy voice. “Tell usssssss where it isssssssss.”

          “Oh no!” Serena laughed. “Oh, please, someone help me!”

          “I am Sailor Mercury!” Amy proclaimed from the back of the room. “In the name of Mercury, I shall tickle you!” She tackled Lita and they rolled on the floor.

          They looked ridiculous. Amy and Lita were trying to tickle one another while keeping the other’s hands away. It dissolved into a tangle of flying hands and feet.

          “We sssssstill have you, Ssssssailor Moon!” Raye bared her teeth.

          Serena squirmed and giggled while Mina tormented her extra-ticklish feet.

          Meanwhile Lita’s superior strength had allowed her to roll Amy in a bedsheet. Her bare feet stuck out one end and her head the other. Lita carried her over to Serena and laid Amy down next to her.

          “Ha ha ha. We have you now, Sailor Scouts!” Lita resumed her dark voice. “Look at your cute little tootsies. I bet we can have lots of fun with these.” Lita wore a diabolical grin.

          Raye remained on Serena to keep her pinned to the floor. Mina adjusted herself so she could reach Amy’s feet.

          “Oh no please! Please please ahaha hahaha hahaha ahah heheehe eheee hehe ahahahaha hahaha!” Amy’s sweet giggling sounded.

          Raye was watching the proceedings with interest and paying no attention to Serena. Serena took advantage of her momentary lapse and threw her off. Quickly she straddled Raye and attacked her sides with fingernails.

          “Ha ha! Never forget about Sailor Moon!” Serena cried in triumph. Raye was kicking her feet and squirming as hard as she could. She was starting to squirm out of her pajama pants. Serena raked her nails over Raye’s sides.

          Mina was wiggling her fingers between Amy’s toes, drawing forth a fresh burst of laughter.

          “Noooo! Please don’t do that! Ahaha hahahahah! Oh please not that! Pleeheheheeheheheeee!” Amy begged.

          Lita was standing up and watching the torture with a mock-cruel smile. She raised her arms. “Suffer the eternal torment of - eeek!” Lita was cut off as Mina reached her hands into Lita’s sleeves. Lita tried to close her arms but Mina was already well entrenched. They began a comical dance as Lita tried to escape and Mina followed right behind her.

          With some struggling Amy managed to unroll herself from the bedsheet. She joined Serena in attacking Raye. They sat back-to-back on her legs, Amy tickling her feet while Serena concentrated on her middle.

          After a while, attack and counterattack, revenge and vengeance, tickle and tickle back, they became exhausted and fell asleep where they lay.

          Several days passed. Serena was quite fed up with her recurring nightmares, but she couldn’t do anything about it, and they weren’t real torture anyway. So about a week later, Serena was dozing in class when a brief snippet caught her attention.

          “…been attacking people in alleys and other places,” Miss Horuna was saying.

          “What are?” someone asked.

          “Well, recently a lot of people have been found unconscious, without a mark on them. Police have been mystified, but recently we got a photograph of whomever, or whatever is doing it. We are supposed to warn you and keep you updated, because whatever it is can attack anywhere. So pay attention, this is for your own good.”

          Serena perked up. What was going on?

          Miss Horuna dimmed the lights and put up an overhead transparency. To Serena’s great shock, a picture of a tiliking was projected onto the screen. She gasped involuntarily. That was okay, though, because a lot of other people did the same.

          “Yuck!” someone cried.

          The tiliking was looking right at the camera, mouth open and slobbery tongue hanging limply out to the side.

          “These things like to hide in dark places, like the proverbial bogeyman. However, they are quite real. We do have one piece of good fortune; these creatures, whatever they are, tend to be rather sexist. All victims so far have been women.”

          A sigh of relief came from half the class.

          “Don’t worry, though. Despite what it looks like, this thing doesn’t actually hurt you.”

          “You sure?” asked a girl. “Look at those teeth! I bet it could eat you right up!”

          Miss Horuna chuckled, somewhat sarcastically. “Maybe. But, this thing is very odd. What it does, so far as we’ve been able to determine, is tickle girls.”

          A collective “What?” exploded from the class, followed by several moments of stunned silence.

          “So… this thing is going to tickle me?” one girl that Serena knew to be quite ticklish asked hesitantly.

          “Yes. Now, if one does attack you, the advice so far is to let it be, and it won’t hurt you. You can recover from tickling, but not from a chewed-up body. Everyone got that?” As one, the class nodded. “Okay.” The bell rang. “Dismissed.”

          The tiliking was the topic of conversation all over the school.

          “Did you see that thing?” one girl asked worriedly.

          “They were cool!” one guy was saying to another.

          “I’d like to have one of those,” another sniggered with a sneering glance over at a huddled group of girls.

          “Geez,” Lita said. “I mean, they are the Negaverse and all, but this is a bit much.”

          “Agreed,” said Amy. “Neflite must be really confident. Usually they don’t like to reveal much of anything.”

          “But it does make sense. If they could gather all the energy from the tiliking, they could get it a lot faster than bringing each person back to their base individually,” Serena pointed out.

          “True,” Amy conceded.

          Neflite had procured a television, which was constantly on the news channel. He enjoyed seeing the humans terrified of one of his creations. Well, not actually his, but the point was the same.

          Syia had proved to be just what was needed. Aven had been good at development and all, but she had begun to stagnate. Neflite wished, not for the first time, that Neva hadn’t been annihilated. She had a flair for dramatic and evil creations. So did Syia, apparently.

          Ever since Neva had invented the SPAT, they had been regarded as the Holy Writ, never to be tampered with. In three days Syia had improved their operation considerably. Instead of a few tendrils that latched on, the vine’s end resembled a flat hand. This covered a lot more surface area than the original had, with just the same intensity per square inch. Felin estimated that it was 76% more effective than the original. They were also stronger and less likely to break than the original. It had been slightly comic, though, when she had presented it.

Michelle had been chained to the rafters in a test room, wearing underwear. Two of the new SPAT had extended for her underarms.

“So how is it different?” Neflite had asked.

“Watch,” said Jelex. The vines, with their floppy hand-appendages, had twined around her arms and latched on to her armpits.

For nine deafening seconds the room had been a cacophony of noise. Michelle’s legs were unrestrained and they kicked wildly, nearly hitting Neflite. The screams of laughter had emptied her lungs in a second and she laughed gaspingly, though no less hard than before. When she had gone limp, it was a blessing for all concerned.

“Nine seconds,” said Felin. “A new record.”

“Excellent work, Syia! Err… what are these called?” Neflite inquired.

“Called? Um…” Syia answered in the tone of someone tripped up by an unexpected question, reverting back to her shyness for a second. For several seconds she stared at the ceiling. “Uh, I don’t know…”

Jelex laughed. So did everyone else. “Just call it…oh… the Advanced Specific Placement Attacking Tentacle,” she suggested.

“The ASPAT?” Felin laughed. “Sure, why not?”

The next invention was, Neflite admitted, long overdue. They had been concentrating on fancy inventions and ignoring the base principles of tickling. To this end Syia and Felin had developed the feather rod. Neflite had first noticed them when Jelex had chased Megan around, holding a pair of them. They easily slipped into ticklish spots and could be used easier because they were stiffer than feathers. It was like a brush and feather combined, Megan explained, after Jelex had teased her for long enough. Megan had in turn used them on Michelle, who affirmed by laughter the effectiveness of the tool. Even better, the robot hands could easily be programmed to use it, and Syia noted a base increase of 11% on energy collection. They were also easier to make than the tentacle-vacuum Felin had developed before.

Jelex was actually the source of the next idea. Noting that the Tickle Treants were among the best devices, and that the Devil’s Ivy was the best, she suggested combining the best qualities of each. Felin agreed, and she designed a new plant, one that grew from one to three hundred vines! Like the treants, it was sentient. It had vines similar, though not exactly like, those of the Devil’s Ivy. No matter how hard she tried, Felin couldn’t get the vines to stick. So instead she added a third quality; the tilikings’ feeding off of energy. The result was spectacular. The plant had a large leaf on the front, colored bright oranges and yellows flecked with black. The leaf was attached to three large ball-shaped objects that made up the bulk of the plant. There was a hole in back of each ball, from where the vines came. Amazingly, the thing could move, albeit slowly. It rested on a tangle of growth that could let it skitter forward like an insect’s legs. Since the vines had a reach of over five hundred feet, though, moving was often unnecessary. The thing could receive simple instructions, and carry them out somewhat competently. Syia found out, though, that telling it to stop created problems. She had been running tests all morning, and no humans had been given to the plant. Naturally, it was hungry, and since Syia was the only being nearby, it had grabbed her. Megan had found her an hour later, asleep on the floor with no clothing at all. Syia had merely laughed, though, and pointed out that it was a truly evil tickler. The plant had been given its own room, a room hewed out of stone with a door leading in.

Sadistically, Jelex and Felin had gone around the room and set up video cameras, and a large TV in the development lab. Neflite had walked in to find every tickle imp clustered around the TV, enraptured as the plant tormented five girls. A legend in the upper left corner said Torture Room – LIVE. (Author’s Note: The plant and this scenario come from a picture.) Neflite had demanded it taken out, because nothing was getting done. The resulting outcry was so great that he compromised and let it broadcast, but only during break time. This TV watching had prompted a comical scene.

Relaxing upstairs in his house for a while, Neflite was surprised to hear a van pull into his driveway. Watching from the window, he saw a male technician in an orange jumpsuit examine the odd device on the side of his house - Neflite had never bothered to figure out what it was - and take some notes. Then he came up and knocked on the door.

“Ah, excuse me, sir. Did you just move in?” he asked.

“Yes,” Neflite lied.

“I thought so. Your mailing address hasn’t gone through yet, so we were having difficulty contacting you. Anyway, I came to give you the electricity bill. Please pay by the 15^th of next month.” With a bow and a smile he got in his truck and left. Neflite had been too confused to say anything during that time.

“What’s a bill?” he muttered to himself. “Megan!”

It took Neflite ten minutes to track down Megan. When he handed her the bill, she burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, somewhat miffed.

When Megan had regained control of herself, she said, “You guys are running that TV and the video cameras off of the wall sockets like I showed you, right?”

“Yeah, so?” Neflite still didn’t have a clue.

Megan grinned. “Those things run off of electricity. Electricity isn’t free; you have to pay a monthly charge for it.”

Neflite got it then. “So he wants money?”

“Yep,” Megan confirmed.

“How much?” Megan motioned to the number written on the bill. Neflite walked off, muttering to himself.

“It is now the tenth day since the appearance of the strange red beings,” the news anchor reported. “Police have confirmed that there are many of the beings, perhaps as many as fifty.

“Since the creature does not attack men, all-male search and destroy teams have been deployed to hunt these creatures. So far, though, their unnatural speed and agility have kept them out of the hands of the authorities.

“Citizens are advised to stay indoors after dark, and to travel in groups or by car whenever possible.

“Several biologists have been employed to try and determine the origin of the species from the police photographs that have been taken of the fleeing creatures. One anomaly is that they are all wearing collars of some kind.” The picture changed from the anchor to a photo of a tiliking. “These collars are of an unknown manufacture, but they all seem to be studded with crystals. Their purpose is unknown. Police believe that they can identify the source of the beings if the obtain a collar.

“In other news…”

What a mess, Lita thought glumly. She, Mina and Serena were standing on the sidewalk watching the latest report.

“What a mess,” Mina said. “How are we supposed to hunt down fifty tiliking?”

“I don’t think we can,” Serena replied. “Besides, the news is right. Really, we should let the guys go after these things.”

“But they’re not getting even one,” Mina objected.

“But what can we do?” Lita countered. “We certainly can’t fight them.”

“We have to destroy the source, but that’s going to be difficult.” Serena grunted agreement. Mina went on. “Remember last time we all went, and what happened when Raye went alone? They’re nearly impregnable.”

Serena quieted. Something did not seem right…

Twenty tiliking burst from nowhere. In an instant the street dissolved into a flood of screaming people. Some of the men had the presence of mind to let women go first, but mostly everyone ran. Not nearly fast enough; the tiliking caught girls and dragged them away, something they’d never done before. Through the mess, Serena caught a flicker of blue. Another, and another. Serena gasped.

“Tickle imps!” she whispered to Mina and Lita.

“Yeah, I know!” Serena turned to see Lita dancing frantically while slapping at her shirt.

A cold fog blew in suddenly. Serena sighed in relief.

“This way!” Amy called. The street was mostly empty now, and Serena ran towards the voice. She couldn’t see Lita and Mina, but assumed that they, too, were running. Suddenly Serena ran slapbang into someone.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” she apologized quickly.

“No problem,” said a familiar voice. “Can I help you up?”

“Oh, thank you,” Serena said gratefully. She felt hands on her wrists, pulling her upright. “Thanks. Hey, you can let go now.” Serena frowned as the hands stayed on her wrists. Who was on the other end? The fog wasn’t that thick… these hands had no arms!

Serena was yanked a foot off the ground. A figure strode through the mist: Jelex.

“How nice to see you, Ms. Moon.” Jelex grinned.

“What in God’s name are you doing?” Serena shouted.

“This? We’re collecting energy; what does it look like?”

“In broad daylight? That’s unlike you.”

“True,” Jelex conceded, “but we have so much energy right now that we can afford to launch frontal assaults.”

“Serena?” Lita’s voice floated from the mist. “Where are you?”

Jelex placed a hand over Serena’s mouth. “Right here,” she said, making no attempt to disguise her voice.

“What? Who’s that?” Mina asked.

“Guess!” Jelex took a pair of feather rods and slipped them in under Serena’s sleeves.

“Aaahaaha aha ahaahaha ahaaha aha hey! W-what is thahaahaht? Noooooo! Ahaha hehahheheheehahahahah!”

“The Negaverse!” Amy cried.

“You catch on quick,” Jelex said dryly. “Now listen up! If you let the tiliking leave this time, Ms. Moon - you called her Serena? – Serena gets off easy. If not…” A fresh burst of laughter emitted from the fog.

Mina opened her mouth, then shut it. “What do we do?” she whispered instead.

Amy shrugged heavily. “We have to let them go.”

“All right, you win,” Lita called.

A chuckle sounded from Jelex. “I knew you’d see it my way.” A thud and “Oof!” were heard. “Ta-ta…”

“Did she just say ‘ta-ta’?” Mina shook her head. The fog was beginning to clear. Serena stood and brushed herself off.

“That was really weird,” Lita said.

“I agree,” Amy replied quietly.

“Did you get it done?” asked Jelex.

“Yeah, I finished. What were you doing?” Syia asked.

“You wanted a diversion,” Jelex replied smugly.

They laughed. “Well, this is going to be fun. It certainly took us long enough to find all the Scouts’ houses.”

“It’ll be worth it,” Jelex assured her.

“Whose idea was this, anyway? It’s my kind of idea,” she added with a glint in her eye.

“Actually, it was Megan’s,” Jelex replied.

“The human?” Syia was surprised. “I didn’t think she possessed that kind of mind. I’ll have to re-evaluate her…”  

Megan was actually not in the Dungeon at that time. After Aven had died, Neflite had followed through on the suggestion that had been on her computer and converted her secret base into a tiliking warren. Megan had helped set that up, and for some reason that not even Syia could explain they became attached to Megan. They would follow her like faithful puppies, sigh contentedly when she petted them, and listen to everything she said. To that end Neflite had placed Megan in charge of the warren.

The tiliking came back here to sleep and reported in every week to get any new orders than Megan. They learned very quickly; Neflite had assumed that they were instinctive beasts with no sense of purpose. Also in the building was a small dungeon for any girls the tiliking happened to bring back. They were under orders to do so if they could knock their victim out before the humans with guns arrived.

Megan had converted the foyer to a ‘court’ of sorts, with a large padded chair in front of the flat stage. Tiliking that were not sleeping usually stayed there, close to her. Megan had been practicing her “sinister” look. She looked that way now, at the victim in front of her. Leaning back, with a small smile on her face, legs crossed, petting the head of a tiliking. This girl was an old friend of hers, and of greater significance, of Sailor Moon.

Molly was bound to a table that was slanted towards the floor, so that her bare feet stuck out about a foot off the floor.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t my old chum Molly,” Megan chuckled lowly.

“Do I know you?” she asked uncertainly.

“You might say so.”

Molly squinted, trying to remember. It came to her after about a minute. “Megan! Is that it? Is it really you, Megan?”

“Oh yes, it is me.” Megan smiled and gave a significant glance at the tiliking she was petting.

“Are you the one behind these things? Why are you doing this?”

“I’m just the regional department head,” she said with a laugh. “My bosses are the masterminds of this scheme. And it goes beyond this. This is only the tip of the iceberg.”

“Why?” Molly asked again.

Megan grinned. “I’ll ask the questions here. Speaking of questions, are you… ticklish, Molly?” Megan already knew the answer to that; she’d scanned Molly beforehand. Still, she wanted to see what Molly said.

“Uh-uh,” Molly shook her head. Megan had to give her credit; she had barely twitched before answering. It was a moot point, though.

“Well, let’s do this just for fun, shall we?” Megan snapped her fingers. Two tiliking strode out of the mass to sit down by Molly’s feet. Their tongues snaked out and began to play over her feet. Molly was not very good at holding back her laughter.

“Aaahaha haha oh please doooon’t! Not my feeehehehet!  Oh noooo! Aahahaa ahahaha haaahahaaha ahaha AahahahAHAHahaha!” Molly squirmed and shook as the tongues ran over her soles.

Megan let it continue for about five minutes, then called the tiliking off. She strode over to Molly. “Did you enjoy that?”

“Oh no… please don’t tickle me any more!”

Megan punched a button on her bracer. It had been modified to give her a feather rod and an ASPAT. She had a feather rod now. Using her scissors, she cut away most of Molly’s clothing. Molly squirmed in her vulnerability.

Megan grinned. “I am going to find your most ticklish spot,” she declared. “Unless you’d like to tell me now…?” Without waiting for an answer she began. The rod was wonderful; she scrubbed under Molly’s arms dexterously.

Unexpectedly, Molly screamed and began to plead. “Ohnhohoh Oh no please please please not there! Oh pleeeeeeease…! AAHAHAHA HAHAHA HAHA AHAHA AHAHAHA AHAHA AHHA HEEHE EHEEHE AHAH EHEEHEHE HEEHE EHEHE AHAHAAH AHA EHEHEHE!” Megan was taken aback; she’d expected a much longer search and was a little disappointed. Oh well; she motioned for a few tiliking and sat back in her “throne”. 

Megan was pleased. The tiliking did a great job, tickling Molly unconscious after a torment of 45 minutes. She told them to replace Molly in her cell. Just then a call came from the mansion.

“Megan, this is Neflite. Report.”

Megan walked over to her radio bank. “Megan here. Everything’s running smoothly. We have at present four girls here.”

“We?” Neflite asked.

“The tiliking and I,” Megan chuckled.

“Ha ha. Well, I’m just making sure everything is OK. We should start calling you Queen of the Tiliking. See you.”

Megan grinned. She liked that. Queen of the Tiliking…