Ruby's Ticklish Predicament Written By: Mana Araxis Commissioned By: Malleus It was a temperate day in a small town, nestled in a valley surrounded by grassy, rolling hills. Our story begins with Ruby, an eleven-year-old Flareon cub. Due to the warming weather in the valley, Ruby was dressed in a dark blue mini skirt and a sky blue tank top. As she took her time exiting the building and walking down towards the main road, various other schoolmates of hers bounded out chaotically. Some Pokemon cubs meeting up with their parents to be picked up and some groups of boys horseplaying with each other. Ruby did her best to get away from the crowds, namely the Pancham Brothers. Their antics easily annoyed Ruby. It was bad enough that class finals were today. Even though she was one of the tops of her class, the mental strain on focusing on her tests still took their toll. The young Flareon was just glad it was the weekend now. All that was in her mind now was focusing on the next RPG video game to play or Anime to watch over the weekend. Ruby had time to contemplate as she normally walked a mile from the school to her home. She enjoyed walking home though as most of the time, including today, she was alone, so she thought. She liked being kept to herself with her thoughts without the interruption from others. Standing behind a large tree in the park was an Obstagoon. For some time now he spied on Ruby every day after she got out of school. The black and white-furred raccoon Pokemon would finally put his plan in effect. The Flareon cub passed the tree where the Obstagoon was hiding and in a swift motion, the Obstagoon sneaked up behind Ruby, bracing her torso with his left arm and covered her muzzle with a rag he soaked prior with a dubious chemical. "Mmmf...mmmf!" Ruby screamed, her cries quickly muffled by the Obstagoon. "I finally got you my pretty." the Obstagoon said contentedly, his hanging tongue almost coming to a drool. The chemical took its effect almost immediately on Ruby and she passed out, collapsing onto the ground. Her captor picked her up and carried the cub to his vehicle for the next step in his plan. ****** "Where am I?" Ruby asked herself groggily. The chemical she inhaled appeared to be wearing off. As she came to, she looked at her surroundings. "Ugh...my arms." the Flareon wriggled, now noticing her wrists were tied together behind her back on the concrete floor. She began to panic, also taking note that her ankles were locked in a wooden stockade. The device was a large square wooden panel, wedged between cinder blocks for support. Her captor must have been responsible for this she thought to herself. Not just that, but she was no longer wearing any shoes, leaving her barefoot paws exposed. Her clothes were replaced with what appeared to be a medieval-styled princess dress. The dress consisted of a white blouse, covered with a gold diamond patterned red vest and a matching yellow skirt. "You there! Stop resisting!" boomed a deep, echoing voice. Ruby froze when suddenly various stage lights flashed on, focusing on her. The rest of her surroundings became clearer with the lights on. Wherever she was, it must have been a theatre of sorts. The current set looked like a typical castle town, with various to scale set pieces of buildings and props. The young Flareon became even more frightened and turned her head to the left where the voice originated. It was none other than her captor, dressed as an Inquisitor of the portrayed era. Complete with a red velvet robe and a steel mask, molded after what appeared to be a Hyena. "Let me go!" Ruby plead. "No! You must confess for your crimes." her captor replied in a commanding tone. The Obstagoon approached her from a computer workstation and filming cameras. Ruby struggled to escape once more despite it being futile. The masked captor drew a Wingull's feather from his pocket and stopped his approach at the stockade. Gripping the Flareon's right ankle, he started to caress up and down her foot paw. "Ha ha...s-stop it!" Ruby plead again, giggling from having her foot paw feathered. "Not until you confess for stealing from your employer!" her captor commanded once more. He continued to toy with her paws, slowly getting more aggressive. "S-stop. Haha...I don't haha ha...know what you mean!" Ruby yelled out in confusion in between her giggles. Ruby clenched her foot paws in a desperate attempt to obstruct the Obstagoon. The stockade panel blocked her view of what was going on which just made her panic more. "Tsk tsk. You're being a bad little girl" her captor said in a condescending tone. "Confess or I'll continue much worse than this." "F-fine." Ruby complied finally. She had a feeling this was some kind of role-playing. None the less if she was going to have any chance of escaping or at the least have her captor stop his torturing of her feet, she needed to play along. "I confess! I stole a jar of candy after work!" the cub confessed with the best reason an eleven-year-old could. "Candy!? You stole candy!?" boomed the Obstagoon. "That warrants the most severe punishment!" "But you said if I confessed, you wouldn't continue." "I never gave you my promise." The Obstagoon gripped her ankles together with his free hand claw and began to vigorously feather her foot paws. Going up and down each one to across them horizontally. Ruby began to wriggle harder this time, her body seizing up and down. "Hahaha! Stop it! Stop it!" Ruby cried in between her uncontrollable laughter. The Obstagoon was enjoying this display very much and could only think about how many views and likes he would get on this filmed Livestream. He continued for what seemed like forever until Ruby passed out from shock and lack of oxygen. "Tsk. A shame you couldn't last much longer." the Obstagoon said shaking his head. He turned around, removing his mask as he headed back to his workstation. He used this time to review, edit and post the film to his website. In the local Livestream chat, he asked what should be done with his little girl next. Ruby's future was uncertain and what would happen to her next was equally uncertain.