Wii
TMF Master
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A familiar caravan was making its way down a hill during the cold morning. Jackle the Lilty was, of course, guiding the papaopamus toward their guided destination to the next town. The many fights they came across had left them a bit less stocked up on supplies somehow. Inside, Isla was reading a book on Clavat weaponry while Lily was rummaging in her secret sack. Being a Selkie, Lily had a knack for stealing some gold from the random monsters they came across in the adventure. Her race had a bad reputation for being common thieves, but it was something she had to live with throughout her life.
It seemed like days before the group finally saw the sight of a giant white mansion. They stopped at Alexander before coming, so their equipment was as good as gold. Jackle bought a new spear, Blok bought himself a spiritual hammer, Isla managed to get a discount on her new sword since the blacksmith knew her father well, and Lily used the gold she stole to buy herself a tougher racket, though she tied a cheap knife at the end of it so that her weapon didn’t feel completely useless like when fighting the giant Malboro in the Mushroom Forest. Blok looked at his map to check their location. “According to this,” he started, “the mansion in front of us is called Moschet Manor.” The outside made the mansion seem huge, as the pillars were nearly as tall as a large hill. “Woah,” Jackle said in amazement, “looks like someone’s a heavy spender.” The group readied their weapons as Isla went to knock on the front door, but to her shock, the door slowly opened on its own before she even placed her knuckles on it.
The inside was just as fancy as the outside. There was a wide-open field with gargoyle-like statues at the two front edges. Against the walls were four doors on each side, then a large, two-sided door at the other side. There was no ceiling to the mansion, as sunlight poured through the opening. “Wow,” Lily started, “the inside is just as fancy as the outside.” The chalice sitting on the top of Blok’s head and the other in the hands of Lily both started to glow a light blue. “There’s a myrrh tree nearby.” He said. “Ok everybody,” said Jackle with excitement, “lets start searching! Me and Lily will search left, Blok and Isla will look right.” Finally, Lily thought, something different for once. The two groups, both carrying their own chalice with them, went inside one of the doors in their respected direction.
“Ok, so tell me again why we’re the new chefs?” said a familiar goblin to the other. The two goblins, known as Mio and Joyl, were hired by the Gigas Lord and his wife Maggie to be their new chefs, as some of the tonberry chefs took off today for a special occasion. The Gigas said it had to do with some Wii game of a brawl or something, but he wasn’t too detailed. “I’d rather not talk about it,” said Joyl, “just throw those carrots into the pot already.” Both he and Mio were wearing chef aprons and hats to match the look of the kitchen. Joyl already felt ridiculous with this getup, but it seemed Mio was enjoying himself over cooking food. Just then, he heard a door open and close behind him. He looks back and sees a rather large snake-like woman looking about. “Oh geez, here comes the lamia,” said Joyl. “What?!” exclaimed Mio with fright, “But the soup isn’t ready! It still needs ten more minutes!” “Oh hello there, my dear chefs.” said the large lamia, “I need to ask a favor from you.” “If you’re wondering when the soup is ready, just ask Wonder Chef here.” said Joyl pointing at his friend, who was still so busy cooking the stew. The lamia chuckled at this. “No, no, not that. I was wondering if you’ve heard anything…. strange in the past few minutes.” the snake-woman asked. “Er, no, not really. Why?” Joyl asked. “NOOO, MY BEEF STEW IS BURNING!” exclaimed Mio as the two continued. “Well,” she started, “there seems to be some ‘intruders’ lurking around. Why don’t you two take a break and search the place, just for me?” “Hm, I don’t know….” questioned Joyl. “Oh, c’mon, you know you want to.” said the lamia as her eyes suddenly started to glow an eerie purple glow. “Well, maybe we-“ Joyl started as his eyes also turned that color as he looked back into her eyes. The lamia had just used hypnosis to force the goblin to obey her. “Come on, Mio, we need to search the place.” the hypnotized Joyl said to the other goblin. “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE STEW?!?!” Mio said in fright. Just then, two tonberries rushed in front of him and started to finish up. Joyl, still hypnotized, grabbed Mio’s arm and dragged him out of the kitchen. The lamia giggled with delight. “Now we’ll see who’s been trying to disturb tonight with my big Gigas honey-bunny.”
Blok and Isla looked around at their surroundings. It seemed like they were in some kind of library with books that, strangely, were normal-sized books you’d see in any other library, yet, the chair near the fireplace was so big that the bottom half matched Blok’s height. “Everything in this mansion is so big!” Isla said, “It’s a wonder how anyone can live in such a place.” “Someone must have too much time and money on their hands.” Blok said as they continued looking around. Hm, he thought, maybe these books can give us some answers. He put down the chalice beside him and picked out a random book. “101 Ways Of Tickle Torture” was the cover of the book he picked out. He placed it back in and picked out another. “Are You Ticklish? A Quick Guidebook On How To Tell” was this book’s title. “Strange…” he said as he picked out one more book. “Tickling For Dummies” was the title. “All these books are useless!” said Blok, “Nothing tells us anything about this place except that the owner has a thing for tickling people.” “Huh?” Isla heard the word ‘tickling’, which made her focus on what Blok was saying. “All these books in this library focus on only one thing: tickling. Look at this for example.” Blok said as he handed Isla a book off the shelf. The title said ‘A Tickle Story’. “Every single book in here has the word ‘tickle’ in it, and all the books focus on females getting this sort of treatment,” said a curious Blok as he slammed the book he was reading closed in frustration. “Well,” started Isla, “what if the owner likes to see girls getting tickled?” Blok looked back at her. “Hm, that IS a possibility,” he said, “but why would one person have so many books about tickling girls? It doesn’t make sense.”
Just then, Isla started to yawn. For some reason, she was starting to feel tired and sleepy. “Ugh, are..you….getting………sleepy..” She fell down to the ground as Blok looked on in shock. “ISLA!” he yelled as he felt himself suddenly get shocked before he could even move. Someone or something paralyzed him and he was unable to move. Suddenly, he saw something he couldn’t believe. A giant snake-woman slithered inside the library. “Well, well, looks like a couple of children decided to pay us a visit,” the woman said. Blok recognized the snake creature to be a lamia, a half snake, half woman creature that can use nerve-changing magic. That would explain as to why he was unable to move and Isla suddenly fast asleep. “My, my, aren’t you two so cute!” the lamia said with glee. Blok suddenly felt himself free to move again as the paralysis spell wore off and picked up his spell hammer. “Now, now, no need to be rough, my little feathery friend.” The lamia said as her eyes started glowing purple again, like she did with Joyl. Blok did his best not to look into its eyes, but he felt himself unable to resist her hypnosis. His own magic was no match against the might of hers and soon, he felt himself unable to control his own movements. Although he still had control of everything above his neck, he had no control of his other bodily parts. “Now, why don’t you be a sweetheart, pick up your little bucket thing, and take this girl to my chambers.” the lamia commanded. Blok, unable to control his bodily movements, felt himself picking up the chalice and placing it on his head. He then lifted Isla off the ground and slowly walked toward the door to his left. “I..can’t move...my own arms……I…gotta….fight..back!” he said to himself as the door swung open, revealing Lily floating above the ground with chains wrapped around her hands behind her back. Her feet were secured together by some kind of green cloud swirling around the top of her ankles. Blok noticed that Lily was also asleep, as he could hear the sound of her snoring. Beside her was Jackle, standing there with his eyes glowing purple. “No, Jackle! You too?” he said as he felt himself securing Isla’s hands the same way Lily was tied. When he was finished, his body walked beside Jackle as Isla’s sleeping body was raised into the air beside her partner. “Go figure we’d be the ones hypnotized, huh?” whispered Jackle, “You have an idea on how to break this spell?” “N-not yet,” Blok said, struggling to move his arms to reach his hammer the lamia made him put away.
“Uuuuhh, wha-what happened?” said Lily, as she was the first one to wake up. She noticed immediately that she was somewhere different. “Huh?” As she tried to move her hands, she felt her arms restrained and also with the added fact that she can’t move her legs. She noticed some kind of green-swirling clouds were holding her feet in place. She looked around and saw that Isla was in the same position. “Oh! Oh dear God, not again!” said Lily as she started to panic. “Lily…” Isla said, waking up from her slumber, “do you have to be so loud? I was just having the most wonderful dream….” This is the point that Isla noticed what was going on. “h-HEY! What’s going on here?!” she said in a very ticked off mood. They heard a chuckle as the big lamia slithered back inside of the pink room. “Ah, so nice of you to join us, dearies,” the mythical creature spoke, “you can call me Maggie. My Gigas honey-bunny went out and hasn’t been back for a few days now. He’s the one that usually brings my victims to me so that I can live.” Just then, Blok finally understood what she meant. “…so that you could tickle them, I suppose?” he suddenly said, “Because that’s the only way you can continue living, through innocent female laughter! That would explain why your library is full of tickle torture books!” The lamia chuckled at his statement. “I’m surprised you caught on so quickly, my humble slave.” the wicked serpent smiled. “We’re not your slaves, damn it!” Jackle said in anger, “Now LET US GO OR I’LL TEAR OFF YOUR SCALES!” The lamia once again laughed. “You silly turnip head,” said Maggie, “my hypnosis spell will keep you under my control for as long as I want. You won’t be going anywhere or doing anything unless I say to.” “TURNIP HEAD?!” yelled Jackle. He didn’t appreciate someone making a rude remark about his race’s bodily features, especially his odd-shaped head. “THAT’S IT, I’M GONNA RIP YOU TO SHREDS, YOU SCALEY WITCH!” Jackle struggled to move his body with all of his might, but his efforts to do so proved unsuccessful. Maggie giggled at his futile efforts. “Oh, you are just so funny, little guy,” Maggie said with glee, “Now then, onto the main course…”
Back at the main entrance, a flying blue-painted creature with a lighter red ball antenna that was carrying another chalice floated inside as a young boy with a white and black cap walked inside alongside it. “Mog, are you sure you saw them come inside here?” the boy asked, “This is the Gigas Lord’s mansion, after all. They shouldn’t even be here because it’s so dangerous.” “I’m afraid so, kupo!” replied Mog as they looked around the place. Matt had also equipped himself with better equipment since his last appearance. He managed to snag a free shield from the Alexander caravan that passed him the other day, along with buying a new sword from the blacksmith down in Alexander itself. Matt looked around the place, being careful of where he stepped as he suddenly saw a faint glowing coming from the top left door. “I wonder what’s going on in there, kupo.” Mog said. “We’ll check there last, just to be on the safe side. Lets scavenge the place and see if they’re not in the other rooms first.” And with that, Matt headed to the right side with Mog floating at his side as he opened the door.
Back inside Maggie’s quarters, Maggie had already started to remove both girls’ footwear. Lily could feel her sandals being flipped off as Isla could feel her shoes slipping off. Isla’s socked feet started to feel the cool air in the room. It’s been a while since she ever took them off. “HEY! LEAVE US ALONE!” Lily said in protest, but her voice fell on deaf ears as Maggie looked at her with a smile. Maggie lifted her hand to Lily’s left foot. “Now then, shall we begin?” Maggie asked as she scratched her index finger up and down Lily’s sole. Lily made a wide grin, but refused to giggle at the sensitive feeling. Isla, meanwhile, is also smiling at the lamia’s light scratching of her socks. Suddenly, the lamia then scribbled her fingers all over the two girls’ soles. Not expecting an action so suddenly, the two girls instantly busted into laughter, especially Lily, who like most of her race, never wore socks in her entire life. “BWAHAHAHAHAOHDEHEHEHEHEARGODHAHAHAHAMAKEHEHEHEHER STAHAHAHAHAPHAHAHAHA!” Lily was screaming at the top of her lungs, since her feet were pretty sensitive. Isla, on the other hand, was also doing her fair share of helpless laughter. “HEHEHEHAHAHAHANOOAHAHAHAHALEHEHEHEVEHERALOHOHOHOH AHAHAHANEHEHEHEHAHAHATIEHEHEHECKLEMEHEHEHEHEHE!” Maggie chuckled at the poor Clavat. “As you wish.” As if obeying her statement, Maggie stopped tickling Lily right away and focused on Isla as she started scribbling her sharp fingers up and down all over Isla’s socked feet. Isla was practically in tears as the lamia continued its torturous methods. “OHNOHOHOHOAHAHAHAHAHANOOAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAPLEHEHEHES EHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHA”
“Errugh,” Jackle grunted as he continued his attempt to break the lamia’s spell. “Don’t bother,” Blok said to his friend, “the creature’s spell is too strong for us to break free from. Even my magic is no match.” “So what are we supposed to do?!” Jackle replied. “I…really don’t know..”
“Ugh, we checked nearly every room in this mansion and no sign of anyone.” Matt said as he and Mog exited the top left room. “Are you sure they came in here?” “Kupo, sure am.” Mog said as he did a flip out the door. Suddenly, the two of them heard some noises coming from the room next to the main hallway door. They both looked over and saw that the door was little ways open. The two peaked inside and saw the situation unfolding before them. Maggie had stopped her assault on Isla and started to focus now on Lily, who was practically going insane since the lamia had now started to use her snake-like tongue on her soles. “EEEWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHADEHEHEHEARGODSTOHOHOAHAHAHAPAH AHAHAHA!” Where have we seen this before?” said Matt to himself quietly. “Should we help them?” Mog whispered to his pal. “Well,” he said, “that lamia is gonna be tough to take down head on if it can use magic. We’ll just make sure it doesn’t have breathing room to do any of the sort.”
“GOODGODSOMEBODYEHEHEHEHESTOHOHAHAHAPTHISTHEHEHEHE ING” Lily said as Maggie continued to lick her soles up and down. She was really going to town with that snake tongue of hers. After a while, a while being five minutes of tongue tickling, she eventually stopped and looked over to the other helpless girl. “Now then, my precious beauty,” the lamia said looking at Isla, “lets see how your soles taste.” The giant lamia started to reach for Isla’s socks when suddenly, she felt a cold spike strike her hand. “GAH! What the-“ Maggie looked over and saw a boy and a mog were standing at the door battle ready. Mog had casted Blizzard onto the lamia’s hand before she managed to touch Isla’s left sock. “Sorry, but we’re gonna have to cut your sleepover short.” Matt said as Maggie growled at him. “MATT!” Isla yelled with glee. “Lets make this quick, Mog. On three!” “WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT!” Maggie yelled as it suddenly slithered rather quickly toward the duo. “THREE!”
At once, the two casted a Blizzard spell. Matt, having managed to obtain two Blizzard orbs, casted Blizzara, while Mog casted Blizzard being painted blue, which caused the two to combine their magic to cast Blizzaga. A rather giant crystallized snowflake surrounded the lamia as it suddenly busted in her face, which, inevitably, froze her body in place. The lamia had ice shards sticking where she was racing towards him. Blok and Jackle were finally able to move as they were able to feel their limbs again. The two jumped up onto the bed, which was rather pretty tall for a normal bed, and met with the two girls while Lily was trying to dry her feet off. “That was THE most DISGUSTING thing I have ever felt! EVER!” Lily said with anger. She was pretty ticked that something that slimy had touched her body.
It didn’t take long for the group to have order restored and soon Blok led the group out. “Alright…,” said Lily still a bit shaky from what happened, “lets just get the myrrh and go already. Isla, lets…..Isla?” To her surprise, her clavat friend never came out. Neither did their hero for that matter. “Don’t worry Lily, they’ll catch up.” Blok reassured, “lets just go and get the myrrh. We’ll meet back up with them later.”
“Hey um, you all right up there?” asked Matt in a curious way. As he climbed up, he suddenly felt himself pulled up onto the bed. “Whoa!” he said as he felt himself plop onto the top of the bed. He looked up only to see Isla smiling happily at him. “What was that for?” he asked yet again in a curious tone. “Well,” she started, “I wanted to ask you a favor if you could.” “A favor?” Matt asked, “Well, what’s that?” Isla looked away from him, embarrassed as to what he might think of what she would say. “Would you….would you..um….ti-I mean uh, rub my feet for a minute? I’m not sure I can walk with them just yet after what happened.” Matt could only raise his eyebrow at what she just said to him, but nonetheless it wasn’t like him to deny a lady’s request no matter how awkward it was.
“Well, if you want me to…then I guess I can’t deny. It wouldn’t be like me to deny a girl’s request.” Matt sat down as Isla then placed her feet in his lap. Her feet were still bare, since she didn’t bother to put back on her socks or anything, but she didn’t care. “He’s actually gonna do this?” the female clavat thought to herself as Matt started to give her feet a little rubbing, “Maybe he does like me back…” As Matt continued to rub her small feet, he tried to start up a friendly conversation.
“It must’ve been pretty bad, being tortured by that huge lamia huh?”
“Oh, you have no idea…it was complete torture for my friend and I! We had no idea she had to live through feminine laughter.”
“Well consider yourself lucky that this one’s the only one that thrives for just laughter from what I’ve seen. I’m pretty sure others like it eat actual meat instead of teasing its prey.”
“So um…when did you start your caravan run?”
“About two years ago. My village isn’t pretty big and I was the only child in it to go on this thing. All the other kids and their parents moved out of the town and into other villages because of the size of it.”
“Aw, that’s terrible…”
“Tell me about it. But ever since I went on this journey for myyrh, I’ve met so many new people and new friends. It’s almost as if this whole world is one giant town!”
“I know what you me-EEHEHEHEHEE!”
“Huh?” Matt then realized that his rubbing accidentally tickled her. “Oh, sorry! I-I didn’t mean to do that!” Isla only giggled. “It’s alright. Actually, d-do you think you could keep doing that?” “Well, if you want me to..” As if on cue, Matt then started lightly tickling his new friend’s small feet. All she did was just sit there and laugh cutely, not even trying to pull her feet back. It seemed that unlike Lily, Isla actually enjoyed this little moment. She even hugged herself trying to make sure she didn’t bat his hands away. However, this cute moment wouldn’t last very long.
“Kupo, Matt lets go!” Mog peeked his head in the door with that strange closed face of his. “Ok ok, I’m comin Mog!” Isla retracted her feet as Matt jumped off the bed. He then went to the other side and caught Isla as she dropped down from the other side. She then placed her socks and shoes back on that were removed by the lamia. As she did, she suddenly remembered that the thing was only frozen, not killed.
“WAIT, what about the big lamia?!” Isla asked in a sort of a panic. “Calm down,” Matt reassured, “Mog and I casted Blizzaga on the thing. She’s not defrosting anytime soon.” Isla got up as she finished putting on her footwear and went over to Matt with a smile. “I appreciate what you did for me…thanks.” She suddenly gave Matt a quick kiss on his cheek and walked toward where her group was waiting. “Oooo, I think she likes you Matt kupo~!” Mog then suddenly blurted out. Matt then looked over at his small mog partner flapping its tiny wings. “Nah, I think she’s just being nice.” “You consider a kiss just being nice?” The mog received no answer as he saw Matt heading for the tree to meet up with everyone. “Wait for me, kupo!”
“Geez Isla, took you long enough!” Jackle said in a little bit of an angry tone. “Well excuse me for being a bit late ok?” she said in reply. It didn’t take long for Matt to come up behind her. “And there’s Mr. Hero,” Jackle started suddenly, “Ya know, I had everything under control until you showed up.” “Alright, that’s enough,” Blok then said to break up the fumes, “Besides, the mail mog is here.” A small mog carrying a tiny backpack soon arrived with a letter in its mouth. Twas the only way a mog like itself could carry anything with the lack of arms. It gave each person, including Matt, a letter addressed from whoever it could be. No sooner did it arrive, the mail mog soon made its departure with a cute “Farewell!”. Lily got a letter from her parents, with a bit of gil stored inside of it. “I hope this helps. Love, Mom and Dad.” she read on the letter. “Aw, well thanks mom and dad!” Blok was sent a magic caster’s spellbook from his brother. “This’ll surely help with my magic casting!” Isla got a few seeds in her letter, her parents being farmers and all. Jackle received a new helmet, though his dad said it was only for show and not for battling. “Oh wow, this is too cool!” Jackle said in excitement. The helmet was in the shape of a dragonhead, and Jackle soon learned why it was only for show. As it turns out, it’s really hard to see when only the dragon eyes are left open. Because of his limited sight, he wound up running into the wall causing everyone to burst into laughter.
Soon, Blok got the myrrh inside of the chalice and Matt did the same for his. At last, the group finally had a full chalice of myrrh. They could now go home and rest for a while before they had to return to their journey. “Finally, now we can go back home for a while.” Lily said. As they were packing their bags, Isla went up to Matt as he was packing up his caravan as well. “Um, Matt…did…did you want to come with us to our village to celebrate?” Young Matt was taken back by the offer, but….”Well, sure. I guess I can take one night’s break.” Isla was cheerful to know this and gave him a hug. The only real thing he could do was accept her hug. “Maybe all this is how her village says thanks,” he thought to himself.
“And there she goes again.” Lily remarked watching her friend from inside of the caravan. “Oh give her a break, Lily,” Blok said, “you’d act the same way if you met someone you thought was special. I’m sure you’re parents acted the same way didn’t they?” Lily turned her eyes to him with a bit of a serious tone. She didn’t look directly at him, but Blok knew she was serious. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” she thought to herself as she looked on at her friend before speaking up again, “Whenever we stop by anywhere, they’re always interested in seeing what Isla, Jackle, or you want. Everyone always avoids me…and only because of my tribe’s bad reputation…” Blok could only sigh at this. It was kind of true. Not many people talked or even looked at Lily, mainly because she was a Selkie and they all feared they might have their valuables stolen because of striking a conversation or even bumping into her by accident. Sure she did steal, but never from townsfolk. Only from the wild monsters and goblins did she ever steal from, but yet no one except her friends understood that. Isla was the only true friend she had in this group because, unlike other people she encountered in her life, Isla accepted her as a friend and didn’t pay the slightest attention to what she was. “Look,” Blok started, “I know it’s hard for you, but I’m sure you’ll find someone who thinks you’re something special.” Lily’s response wasn’t what Blok had in mind. “I’ll find that hard to believe…”
Pretty soon, everyone packed up their things inside of their respected caravans and shoved off back to their village. Lily was leaning against the wall of the caravan as she watched the land moving outside the window. “Maybe Blok was right…” she thought, “maybe…maybe there is someone out there…somewhere…”
Matt’s caravan was following close behind them while he and his Mog were in a little discussion about what Isla did to him back at the mansion. “I’m serious, she likes you Matt!” Mog said again. “C’mon now Mog. We don’t know that,” Matt replied, “For all we know, that could’ve been the way her village says thank you.” “I don’t think letting you tickle her and then getting a kiss afterward is considered a thank you, kupo.” Matt sighed, “Well, the only real way to know is to ask the next time we stop. But for now, lets just enjoy the celebration.” Matt’s caravan continued to follow the group’s caravan toward their hometown and into the sunset. “Is it that late already?”
“Listen, I don’t know what came over me I swear!” Joyl tried to explain as he pulled off another thorn from his friend’s back. “OW! You sure acted like you did. You let my stew get overcooked!” Mio said in a rather aggressive tone. “As I said already, I’m sorry for that. Geez.” Joyl then pulled the final thorn off from Mio, who was glad that the pain would wear off soon. “The next time I see a lamia, warn me about the spells they can do.” Joyl said in disgust. “Well, look at the bright side,” Mio said, “at least nothing bad is gonna happen to us now.” “Hey, there’s some more goblins!” a small Lilty with a spear shouted as he was soon joined by more Lilties. The caravan from Marr’s Pass apparently had found the two goblins and are looking for extra equipment for their journey. “Oh, give me a break….” was the last thing Joyl said as he and his partner were last seen fleeing from the Marr's Pass caravan crew.
Writer's Comments:
As of today, this is still the longest story I ever typed. It was a great way to end the first year with the crew, as it put in elements that most were familiar with already. This chapter cemented the love interest between Matt and Isla, but I think the second season will have Lily developing her own crush in the near future.
It seemed like days before the group finally saw the sight of a giant white mansion. They stopped at Alexander before coming, so their equipment was as good as gold. Jackle bought a new spear, Blok bought himself a spiritual hammer, Isla managed to get a discount on her new sword since the blacksmith knew her father well, and Lily used the gold she stole to buy herself a tougher racket, though she tied a cheap knife at the end of it so that her weapon didn’t feel completely useless like when fighting the giant Malboro in the Mushroom Forest. Blok looked at his map to check their location. “According to this,” he started, “the mansion in front of us is called Moschet Manor.” The outside made the mansion seem huge, as the pillars were nearly as tall as a large hill. “Woah,” Jackle said in amazement, “looks like someone’s a heavy spender.” The group readied their weapons as Isla went to knock on the front door, but to her shock, the door slowly opened on its own before she even placed her knuckles on it.
The inside was just as fancy as the outside. There was a wide-open field with gargoyle-like statues at the two front edges. Against the walls were four doors on each side, then a large, two-sided door at the other side. There was no ceiling to the mansion, as sunlight poured through the opening. “Wow,” Lily started, “the inside is just as fancy as the outside.” The chalice sitting on the top of Blok’s head and the other in the hands of Lily both started to glow a light blue. “There’s a myrrh tree nearby.” He said. “Ok everybody,” said Jackle with excitement, “lets start searching! Me and Lily will search left, Blok and Isla will look right.” Finally, Lily thought, something different for once. The two groups, both carrying their own chalice with them, went inside one of the doors in their respected direction.
“Ok, so tell me again why we’re the new chefs?” said a familiar goblin to the other. The two goblins, known as Mio and Joyl, were hired by the Gigas Lord and his wife Maggie to be their new chefs, as some of the tonberry chefs took off today for a special occasion. The Gigas said it had to do with some Wii game of a brawl or something, but he wasn’t too detailed. “I’d rather not talk about it,” said Joyl, “just throw those carrots into the pot already.” Both he and Mio were wearing chef aprons and hats to match the look of the kitchen. Joyl already felt ridiculous with this getup, but it seemed Mio was enjoying himself over cooking food. Just then, he heard a door open and close behind him. He looks back and sees a rather large snake-like woman looking about. “Oh geez, here comes the lamia,” said Joyl. “What?!” exclaimed Mio with fright, “But the soup isn’t ready! It still needs ten more minutes!” “Oh hello there, my dear chefs.” said the large lamia, “I need to ask a favor from you.” “If you’re wondering when the soup is ready, just ask Wonder Chef here.” said Joyl pointing at his friend, who was still so busy cooking the stew. The lamia chuckled at this. “No, no, not that. I was wondering if you’ve heard anything…. strange in the past few minutes.” the snake-woman asked. “Er, no, not really. Why?” Joyl asked. “NOOO, MY BEEF STEW IS BURNING!” exclaimed Mio as the two continued. “Well,” she started, “there seems to be some ‘intruders’ lurking around. Why don’t you two take a break and search the place, just for me?” “Hm, I don’t know….” questioned Joyl. “Oh, c’mon, you know you want to.” said the lamia as her eyes suddenly started to glow an eerie purple glow. “Well, maybe we-“ Joyl started as his eyes also turned that color as he looked back into her eyes. The lamia had just used hypnosis to force the goblin to obey her. “Come on, Mio, we need to search the place.” the hypnotized Joyl said to the other goblin. “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE STEW?!?!” Mio said in fright. Just then, two tonberries rushed in front of him and started to finish up. Joyl, still hypnotized, grabbed Mio’s arm and dragged him out of the kitchen. The lamia giggled with delight. “Now we’ll see who’s been trying to disturb tonight with my big Gigas honey-bunny.”
Blok and Isla looked around at their surroundings. It seemed like they were in some kind of library with books that, strangely, were normal-sized books you’d see in any other library, yet, the chair near the fireplace was so big that the bottom half matched Blok’s height. “Everything in this mansion is so big!” Isla said, “It’s a wonder how anyone can live in such a place.” “Someone must have too much time and money on their hands.” Blok said as they continued looking around. Hm, he thought, maybe these books can give us some answers. He put down the chalice beside him and picked out a random book. “101 Ways Of Tickle Torture” was the cover of the book he picked out. He placed it back in and picked out another. “Are You Ticklish? A Quick Guidebook On How To Tell” was this book’s title. “Strange…” he said as he picked out one more book. “Tickling For Dummies” was the title. “All these books are useless!” said Blok, “Nothing tells us anything about this place except that the owner has a thing for tickling people.” “Huh?” Isla heard the word ‘tickling’, which made her focus on what Blok was saying. “All these books in this library focus on only one thing: tickling. Look at this for example.” Blok said as he handed Isla a book off the shelf. The title said ‘A Tickle Story’. “Every single book in here has the word ‘tickle’ in it, and all the books focus on females getting this sort of treatment,” said a curious Blok as he slammed the book he was reading closed in frustration. “Well,” started Isla, “what if the owner likes to see girls getting tickled?” Blok looked back at her. “Hm, that IS a possibility,” he said, “but why would one person have so many books about tickling girls? It doesn’t make sense.”
Just then, Isla started to yawn. For some reason, she was starting to feel tired and sleepy. “Ugh, are..you….getting………sleepy..” She fell down to the ground as Blok looked on in shock. “ISLA!” he yelled as he felt himself suddenly get shocked before he could even move. Someone or something paralyzed him and he was unable to move. Suddenly, he saw something he couldn’t believe. A giant snake-woman slithered inside the library. “Well, well, looks like a couple of children decided to pay us a visit,” the woman said. Blok recognized the snake creature to be a lamia, a half snake, half woman creature that can use nerve-changing magic. That would explain as to why he was unable to move and Isla suddenly fast asleep. “My, my, aren’t you two so cute!” the lamia said with glee. Blok suddenly felt himself free to move again as the paralysis spell wore off and picked up his spell hammer. “Now, now, no need to be rough, my little feathery friend.” The lamia said as her eyes started glowing purple again, like she did with Joyl. Blok did his best not to look into its eyes, but he felt himself unable to resist her hypnosis. His own magic was no match against the might of hers and soon, he felt himself unable to control his own movements. Although he still had control of everything above his neck, he had no control of his other bodily parts. “Now, why don’t you be a sweetheart, pick up your little bucket thing, and take this girl to my chambers.” the lamia commanded. Blok, unable to control his bodily movements, felt himself picking up the chalice and placing it on his head. He then lifted Isla off the ground and slowly walked toward the door to his left. “I..can’t move...my own arms……I…gotta….fight..back!” he said to himself as the door swung open, revealing Lily floating above the ground with chains wrapped around her hands behind her back. Her feet were secured together by some kind of green cloud swirling around the top of her ankles. Blok noticed that Lily was also asleep, as he could hear the sound of her snoring. Beside her was Jackle, standing there with his eyes glowing purple. “No, Jackle! You too?” he said as he felt himself securing Isla’s hands the same way Lily was tied. When he was finished, his body walked beside Jackle as Isla’s sleeping body was raised into the air beside her partner. “Go figure we’d be the ones hypnotized, huh?” whispered Jackle, “You have an idea on how to break this spell?” “N-not yet,” Blok said, struggling to move his arms to reach his hammer the lamia made him put away.
“Uuuuhh, wha-what happened?” said Lily, as she was the first one to wake up. She noticed immediately that she was somewhere different. “Huh?” As she tried to move her hands, she felt her arms restrained and also with the added fact that she can’t move her legs. She noticed some kind of green-swirling clouds were holding her feet in place. She looked around and saw that Isla was in the same position. “Oh! Oh dear God, not again!” said Lily as she started to panic. “Lily…” Isla said, waking up from her slumber, “do you have to be so loud? I was just having the most wonderful dream….” This is the point that Isla noticed what was going on. “h-HEY! What’s going on here?!” she said in a very ticked off mood. They heard a chuckle as the big lamia slithered back inside of the pink room. “Ah, so nice of you to join us, dearies,” the mythical creature spoke, “you can call me Maggie. My Gigas honey-bunny went out and hasn’t been back for a few days now. He’s the one that usually brings my victims to me so that I can live.” Just then, Blok finally understood what she meant. “…so that you could tickle them, I suppose?” he suddenly said, “Because that’s the only way you can continue living, through innocent female laughter! That would explain why your library is full of tickle torture books!” The lamia chuckled at his statement. “I’m surprised you caught on so quickly, my humble slave.” the wicked serpent smiled. “We’re not your slaves, damn it!” Jackle said in anger, “Now LET US GO OR I’LL TEAR OFF YOUR SCALES!” The lamia once again laughed. “You silly turnip head,” said Maggie, “my hypnosis spell will keep you under my control for as long as I want. You won’t be going anywhere or doing anything unless I say to.” “TURNIP HEAD?!” yelled Jackle. He didn’t appreciate someone making a rude remark about his race’s bodily features, especially his odd-shaped head. “THAT’S IT, I’M GONNA RIP YOU TO SHREDS, YOU SCALEY WITCH!” Jackle struggled to move his body with all of his might, but his efforts to do so proved unsuccessful. Maggie giggled at his futile efforts. “Oh, you are just so funny, little guy,” Maggie said with glee, “Now then, onto the main course…”
Back at the main entrance, a flying blue-painted creature with a lighter red ball antenna that was carrying another chalice floated inside as a young boy with a white and black cap walked inside alongside it. “Mog, are you sure you saw them come inside here?” the boy asked, “This is the Gigas Lord’s mansion, after all. They shouldn’t even be here because it’s so dangerous.” “I’m afraid so, kupo!” replied Mog as they looked around the place. Matt had also equipped himself with better equipment since his last appearance. He managed to snag a free shield from the Alexander caravan that passed him the other day, along with buying a new sword from the blacksmith down in Alexander itself. Matt looked around the place, being careful of where he stepped as he suddenly saw a faint glowing coming from the top left door. “I wonder what’s going on in there, kupo.” Mog said. “We’ll check there last, just to be on the safe side. Lets scavenge the place and see if they’re not in the other rooms first.” And with that, Matt headed to the right side with Mog floating at his side as he opened the door.
Back inside Maggie’s quarters, Maggie had already started to remove both girls’ footwear. Lily could feel her sandals being flipped off as Isla could feel her shoes slipping off. Isla’s socked feet started to feel the cool air in the room. It’s been a while since she ever took them off. “HEY! LEAVE US ALONE!” Lily said in protest, but her voice fell on deaf ears as Maggie looked at her with a smile. Maggie lifted her hand to Lily’s left foot. “Now then, shall we begin?” Maggie asked as she scratched her index finger up and down Lily’s sole. Lily made a wide grin, but refused to giggle at the sensitive feeling. Isla, meanwhile, is also smiling at the lamia’s light scratching of her socks. Suddenly, the lamia then scribbled her fingers all over the two girls’ soles. Not expecting an action so suddenly, the two girls instantly busted into laughter, especially Lily, who like most of her race, never wore socks in her entire life. “BWAHAHAHAHAOHDEHEHEHEHEARGODHAHAHAHAMAKEHEHEHEHER STAHAHAHAHAPHAHAHAHA!” Lily was screaming at the top of her lungs, since her feet were pretty sensitive. Isla, on the other hand, was also doing her fair share of helpless laughter. “HEHEHEHAHAHAHANOOAHAHAHAHALEHEHEHEVEHERALOHOHOHOH AHAHAHANEHEHEHEHAHAHATIEHEHEHECKLEMEHEHEHEHEHE!” Maggie chuckled at the poor Clavat. “As you wish.” As if obeying her statement, Maggie stopped tickling Lily right away and focused on Isla as she started scribbling her sharp fingers up and down all over Isla’s socked feet. Isla was practically in tears as the lamia continued its torturous methods. “OHNOHOHOHOAHAHAHAHAHANOOAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAPLEHEHEHES EHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHA”
“Errugh,” Jackle grunted as he continued his attempt to break the lamia’s spell. “Don’t bother,” Blok said to his friend, “the creature’s spell is too strong for us to break free from. Even my magic is no match.” “So what are we supposed to do?!” Jackle replied. “I…really don’t know..”
“Ugh, we checked nearly every room in this mansion and no sign of anyone.” Matt said as he and Mog exited the top left room. “Are you sure they came in here?” “Kupo, sure am.” Mog said as he did a flip out the door. Suddenly, the two of them heard some noises coming from the room next to the main hallway door. They both looked over and saw that the door was little ways open. The two peaked inside and saw the situation unfolding before them. Maggie had stopped her assault on Isla and started to focus now on Lily, who was practically going insane since the lamia had now started to use her snake-like tongue on her soles. “EEEWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHADEHEHEHEARGODSTOHOHOAHAHAHAPAH AHAHAHA!” Where have we seen this before?” said Matt to himself quietly. “Should we help them?” Mog whispered to his pal. “Well,” he said, “that lamia is gonna be tough to take down head on if it can use magic. We’ll just make sure it doesn’t have breathing room to do any of the sort.”
“GOODGODSOMEBODYEHEHEHEHESTOHOHAHAHAPTHISTHEHEHEHE ING” Lily said as Maggie continued to lick her soles up and down. She was really going to town with that snake tongue of hers. After a while, a while being five minutes of tongue tickling, she eventually stopped and looked over to the other helpless girl. “Now then, my precious beauty,” the lamia said looking at Isla, “lets see how your soles taste.” The giant lamia started to reach for Isla’s socks when suddenly, she felt a cold spike strike her hand. “GAH! What the-“ Maggie looked over and saw a boy and a mog were standing at the door battle ready. Mog had casted Blizzard onto the lamia’s hand before she managed to touch Isla’s left sock. “Sorry, but we’re gonna have to cut your sleepover short.” Matt said as Maggie growled at him. “MATT!” Isla yelled with glee. “Lets make this quick, Mog. On three!” “WHY YOU LITTLE BRAT!” Maggie yelled as it suddenly slithered rather quickly toward the duo. “THREE!”
At once, the two casted a Blizzard spell. Matt, having managed to obtain two Blizzard orbs, casted Blizzara, while Mog casted Blizzard being painted blue, which caused the two to combine their magic to cast Blizzaga. A rather giant crystallized snowflake surrounded the lamia as it suddenly busted in her face, which, inevitably, froze her body in place. The lamia had ice shards sticking where she was racing towards him. Blok and Jackle were finally able to move as they were able to feel their limbs again. The two jumped up onto the bed, which was rather pretty tall for a normal bed, and met with the two girls while Lily was trying to dry her feet off. “That was THE most DISGUSTING thing I have ever felt! EVER!” Lily said with anger. She was pretty ticked that something that slimy had touched her body.
It didn’t take long for the group to have order restored and soon Blok led the group out. “Alright…,” said Lily still a bit shaky from what happened, “lets just get the myrrh and go already. Isla, lets…..Isla?” To her surprise, her clavat friend never came out. Neither did their hero for that matter. “Don’t worry Lily, they’ll catch up.” Blok reassured, “lets just go and get the myrrh. We’ll meet back up with them later.”
“Hey um, you all right up there?” asked Matt in a curious way. As he climbed up, he suddenly felt himself pulled up onto the bed. “Whoa!” he said as he felt himself plop onto the top of the bed. He looked up only to see Isla smiling happily at him. “What was that for?” he asked yet again in a curious tone. “Well,” she started, “I wanted to ask you a favor if you could.” “A favor?” Matt asked, “Well, what’s that?” Isla looked away from him, embarrassed as to what he might think of what she would say. “Would you….would you..um….ti-I mean uh, rub my feet for a minute? I’m not sure I can walk with them just yet after what happened.” Matt could only raise his eyebrow at what she just said to him, but nonetheless it wasn’t like him to deny a lady’s request no matter how awkward it was.
“Well, if you want me to…then I guess I can’t deny. It wouldn’t be like me to deny a girl’s request.” Matt sat down as Isla then placed her feet in his lap. Her feet were still bare, since she didn’t bother to put back on her socks or anything, but she didn’t care. “He’s actually gonna do this?” the female clavat thought to herself as Matt started to give her feet a little rubbing, “Maybe he does like me back…” As Matt continued to rub her small feet, he tried to start up a friendly conversation.
“It must’ve been pretty bad, being tortured by that huge lamia huh?”
“Oh, you have no idea…it was complete torture for my friend and I! We had no idea she had to live through feminine laughter.”
“Well consider yourself lucky that this one’s the only one that thrives for just laughter from what I’ve seen. I’m pretty sure others like it eat actual meat instead of teasing its prey.”
“So um…when did you start your caravan run?”
“About two years ago. My village isn’t pretty big and I was the only child in it to go on this thing. All the other kids and their parents moved out of the town and into other villages because of the size of it.”
“Aw, that’s terrible…”
“Tell me about it. But ever since I went on this journey for myyrh, I’ve met so many new people and new friends. It’s almost as if this whole world is one giant town!”
“I know what you me-EEHEHEHEHEE!”
“Huh?” Matt then realized that his rubbing accidentally tickled her. “Oh, sorry! I-I didn’t mean to do that!” Isla only giggled. “It’s alright. Actually, d-do you think you could keep doing that?” “Well, if you want me to..” As if on cue, Matt then started lightly tickling his new friend’s small feet. All she did was just sit there and laugh cutely, not even trying to pull her feet back. It seemed that unlike Lily, Isla actually enjoyed this little moment. She even hugged herself trying to make sure she didn’t bat his hands away. However, this cute moment wouldn’t last very long.
“Kupo, Matt lets go!” Mog peeked his head in the door with that strange closed face of his. “Ok ok, I’m comin Mog!” Isla retracted her feet as Matt jumped off the bed. He then went to the other side and caught Isla as she dropped down from the other side. She then placed her socks and shoes back on that were removed by the lamia. As she did, she suddenly remembered that the thing was only frozen, not killed.
“WAIT, what about the big lamia?!” Isla asked in a sort of a panic. “Calm down,” Matt reassured, “Mog and I casted Blizzaga on the thing. She’s not defrosting anytime soon.” Isla got up as she finished putting on her footwear and went over to Matt with a smile. “I appreciate what you did for me…thanks.” She suddenly gave Matt a quick kiss on his cheek and walked toward where her group was waiting. “Oooo, I think she likes you Matt kupo~!” Mog then suddenly blurted out. Matt then looked over at his small mog partner flapping its tiny wings. “Nah, I think she’s just being nice.” “You consider a kiss just being nice?” The mog received no answer as he saw Matt heading for the tree to meet up with everyone. “Wait for me, kupo!”
“Geez Isla, took you long enough!” Jackle said in a little bit of an angry tone. “Well excuse me for being a bit late ok?” she said in reply. It didn’t take long for Matt to come up behind her. “And there’s Mr. Hero,” Jackle started suddenly, “Ya know, I had everything under control until you showed up.” “Alright, that’s enough,” Blok then said to break up the fumes, “Besides, the mail mog is here.” A small mog carrying a tiny backpack soon arrived with a letter in its mouth. Twas the only way a mog like itself could carry anything with the lack of arms. It gave each person, including Matt, a letter addressed from whoever it could be. No sooner did it arrive, the mail mog soon made its departure with a cute “Farewell!”. Lily got a letter from her parents, with a bit of gil stored inside of it. “I hope this helps. Love, Mom and Dad.” she read on the letter. “Aw, well thanks mom and dad!” Blok was sent a magic caster’s spellbook from his brother. “This’ll surely help with my magic casting!” Isla got a few seeds in her letter, her parents being farmers and all. Jackle received a new helmet, though his dad said it was only for show and not for battling. “Oh wow, this is too cool!” Jackle said in excitement. The helmet was in the shape of a dragonhead, and Jackle soon learned why it was only for show. As it turns out, it’s really hard to see when only the dragon eyes are left open. Because of his limited sight, he wound up running into the wall causing everyone to burst into laughter.
Soon, Blok got the myrrh inside of the chalice and Matt did the same for his. At last, the group finally had a full chalice of myrrh. They could now go home and rest for a while before they had to return to their journey. “Finally, now we can go back home for a while.” Lily said. As they were packing their bags, Isla went up to Matt as he was packing up his caravan as well. “Um, Matt…did…did you want to come with us to our village to celebrate?” Young Matt was taken back by the offer, but….”Well, sure. I guess I can take one night’s break.” Isla was cheerful to know this and gave him a hug. The only real thing he could do was accept her hug. “Maybe all this is how her village says thanks,” he thought to himself.
“And there she goes again.” Lily remarked watching her friend from inside of the caravan. “Oh give her a break, Lily,” Blok said, “you’d act the same way if you met someone you thought was special. I’m sure you’re parents acted the same way didn’t they?” Lily turned her eyes to him with a bit of a serious tone. She didn’t look directly at him, but Blok knew she was serious. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” she thought to herself as she looked on at her friend before speaking up again, “Whenever we stop by anywhere, they’re always interested in seeing what Isla, Jackle, or you want. Everyone always avoids me…and only because of my tribe’s bad reputation…” Blok could only sigh at this. It was kind of true. Not many people talked or even looked at Lily, mainly because she was a Selkie and they all feared they might have their valuables stolen because of striking a conversation or even bumping into her by accident. Sure she did steal, but never from townsfolk. Only from the wild monsters and goblins did she ever steal from, but yet no one except her friends understood that. Isla was the only true friend she had in this group because, unlike other people she encountered in her life, Isla accepted her as a friend and didn’t pay the slightest attention to what she was. “Look,” Blok started, “I know it’s hard for you, but I’m sure you’ll find someone who thinks you’re something special.” Lily’s response wasn’t what Blok had in mind. “I’ll find that hard to believe…”
Pretty soon, everyone packed up their things inside of their respected caravans and shoved off back to their village. Lily was leaning against the wall of the caravan as she watched the land moving outside the window. “Maybe Blok was right…” she thought, “maybe…maybe there is someone out there…somewhere…”
Matt’s caravan was following close behind them while he and his Mog were in a little discussion about what Isla did to him back at the mansion. “I’m serious, she likes you Matt!” Mog said again. “C’mon now Mog. We don’t know that,” Matt replied, “For all we know, that could’ve been the way her village says thank you.” “I don’t think letting you tickle her and then getting a kiss afterward is considered a thank you, kupo.” Matt sighed, “Well, the only real way to know is to ask the next time we stop. But for now, lets just enjoy the celebration.” Matt’s caravan continued to follow the group’s caravan toward their hometown and into the sunset. “Is it that late already?”
“Listen, I don’t know what came over me I swear!” Joyl tried to explain as he pulled off another thorn from his friend’s back. “OW! You sure acted like you did. You let my stew get overcooked!” Mio said in a rather aggressive tone. “As I said already, I’m sorry for that. Geez.” Joyl then pulled the final thorn off from Mio, who was glad that the pain would wear off soon. “The next time I see a lamia, warn me about the spells they can do.” Joyl said in disgust. “Well, look at the bright side,” Mio said, “at least nothing bad is gonna happen to us now.” “Hey, there’s some more goblins!” a small Lilty with a spear shouted as he was soon joined by more Lilties. The caravan from Marr’s Pass apparently had found the two goblins and are looking for extra equipment for their journey. “Oh, give me a break….” was the last thing Joyl said as he and his partner were last seen fleeing from the Marr's Pass caravan crew.
Writer's Comments:
As of today, this is still the longest story I ever typed. It was a great way to end the first year with the crew, as it put in elements that most were familiar with already. This chapter cemented the love interest between Matt and Isla, but I think the second season will have Lily developing her own crush in the near future.
