literature

Breaking the Shinx

Deviation Actions

Lechensko's avatar
By
Published:
24.6K Views

Literature Text

Waz muttered and twitched his nose. The rattata had waited in the shade of the field’s lone tree for over an hour. Chaz never arrived on time. A gentle breeze and the smell of grass colluded to lull him in to a nap. His heavy eyelids closed only long enough for his friend to sneak up on him.

The shinx had waited low in the tall grass ever since Waz arrived. He was simply waiting for the right time to strike. As soon as he saw Waz drift off to sleep, Chaz pounced. Waz yelped and they tumbled down the grassy hill together. He landed on his back with a thud; Chaz sat on top of him and smiled triumphantly.

“Gotcha!” said Chaz.

Waz blinked in confusion and then rolled his eyes. “Oh geez. Why is everything a competition with you?”

“You’re just mad that I got the jump on you again.”

Waz grumbled and turned his eyes away. Chaz wasn’t about to let the pouty pokemon get away without playing along. He raised his paws up and cast an impish grin.

“If you won’t admit it, I’ll just have to…tickle it out of you!” said Chaz.

Waz squeaked and shook his head. “No, wait, not that! No tickling!”

Chaz ignored him. He plunged his paws down and pressed them against his sides. They wiggled through the purple and cream fur to tease the soft, pale skin underneath. Waz immediately lost his composure. He became a wailing, thrashing mess under Chaz’s tickle attack.

“Bwahaha! Stop that, okay, I give! You got me!”

Chaz let up and rested his paws on his hips. “Can’t take a little tickling, huh?”

Waz smirked. “Let’s see how you like it!” He suddenly shoved Chaz off him and darted his claws towards his middle. The sharp, beige claws rustled through the blue fur of Chaz’s midsection and scratched at the flesh below.

“Yeah! Take that! And that! Tickle tickle…tickle?” Waz’s eyebrow rose.

Chaz stared at Waz through half-lidded eyes. Waz prodded him a couple more times and frowned.

“You’re not ticklish?”

Chaz shook his head. “Nope. Not one bit. I never have been.”

Waz crossed his forelegs and twitched his nose. “Come on, everybody is at least a little ticklish. Somewhere. I bet I can find out where.”

“Hah! I’m telling you, I’m not ticklish anywhere. You can’t make me laugh, man.”

“I can’t, huh? That sounds like a challenge to me. Everybody has a weakness.”

Chaz smirked. He wasn’t worried in the slightest. He’d often attacked his friends with tickles, but their attempts at retaliation never drew as much as a giggle from him. The brash shinx was always up for a contest, though. He reached out and flicked Waz’s nose.

“A challenge, sure. Tell you what; I’ll let you tickle me anywhere you want. And if you can actually make me laugh, then you can tickle me however long you want. But if you can’t, then you’re going to get the tickling of your life.”

Waz knitted his eyebrows. The threat of further tickling wasn’t appealing. Then again, he knew that Chaz would just tickle him more anyway if he didn’t accept. He was confident that he could get his friend to laugh. It only required finding a weak spot. He narrowed his eyes at Chaz and smiled.

“Alright. You’re on. I’ll find out where you’re ticklish at. Then it’s payback for all the times you got me.”

Chaz rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Bring it on, Waz.”

Waz wriggled his claws in front of him. “You’ve met your match this time.”

He decided to take a systematic approach. Starting from the top, he would work his way down until he found a tender area. The ears were first. Chaz had large, round ears, like most of his kind. They were covered in thin, blue fuzz. A golden star pattern branded the center of each ear. Waz had heard of some pokemon having surprisingly sensitive ears, even if they weren’t common tickle targets. It was worth a shot.

Waz sat close behind Chaz. He reached his forelegs up and touched the tips of claws down on the blue discs. The skin on them was thin and hot, a product of how much blood flowed through them. It was easy for his claws to push through the fuzz; it was light and fluffy. He began by dragging his claws around the outer rims of the ears. The sparse fuzz felt velvety against his paws as they brushed through it. When the dragging had no effect, he started pulling his fingers in quick scratching movements. Chaz merely flicked his ears and sighed.

“Really? My ears? Nobody is ticklish on their ears, except maybe Audino.”

Waz chuffed. Undeterred, he slid his claws to the yellow marks at the centers of his ears. It was possible they were more sensitive there than along the edges. He traced them over the stars and followed the bright fur. His nails dipped inside the holes of Chaz’s ears to carefully tease. Even the hot flesh inside them turned out to not be ticklish; the shinx wiggled his ears and grumbled.

“Cut it out. That’s just annoying, like when a bug gets in your ear.”

Waz withdrew his paws and scratched behind his own ear. “Okay, so maybe you’re not ticklish there. But I have plenty of space left to check!”

“Uh huh,” replied Chaz.

“Well, what about…here!?”

Six claws darted forth and danced atop the back of Chaz’s neck. It wore a collar of black fur, thicker than what was on his ears. The fur of his neck was also coarser; it lay flat against him instead of standing up in a fuzzy layer. Waz worked his claws up against the grain to poke through the coat of fur and get at the skin beneath. He clutched his claws towards his palms over and over, almost like a neck rub. But his grin faded when Chaz remained still.

The shinx rolled his shoulders. “Are you trying to give me a massage? Because that certainly doesn’t tickle.”

He deliberately sounded as bored as possible. Waz’s lips tightened. There had to be a way to get some reaction from him. It was too soon to give up. The skin of his neck was thick; claws may not have been strong enough. Fortunately, Waz had another set of tools to work with. He leaned forward, opened his mouth, and gently pressed his big front teeth against the neck. The gnawing and nibbling of the teeth surprised Chaz. Although it made him squeak from shock, it didn’t tickle. He quickly returned to his calm state and looked over his shoulder at Waz. The rodent pokemon, mouth cupped around his friend’s neck, frowned in disappointment.

“You’re supposed to be tickling me, not trying to eat me,” said Chaz.

Waz pulled his mouth off him and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth to get the stray strands of fur off. “Hey, I thought it might work. Some pokemon go crazy when they get their neck nibbled.”

Chaz crossed his forelegs over his chest and shook his head. “Not me. I don’t particularly enjoy being drooled on.”

The rattata got to his legs and crawled in front of Chaz. His friend’s resilience began to worry him. They’d agreed on high stakes, after all. But he was certain the next spot would be the one. Ears and necks weren’t known for being ticklish; he’d tested them mostly out of curiosity. The next area he would attack was one he himself was horrendously ticklish at. It was time for his buddy to experience the same ticklishness he’d put Waz through so many times.

“No more playing around. Forelegs up over your head,” said Waz.

Chaz shot him a smug smile. He knew exactly what he planned to do. His forelegs stretched up and he held them as high as he could, which left his upper body vulnerable. “Go ahead, Waz. Really, though, you should just throw in the towel now. You won’t win.”

“We’ll see about that.”

He grinned devilishly as he reached out his claws. They landed in the curves of Chaz’s foreleg pits to flick and scratch the taut skin. It was almost bare in them; the blue fuzz which covered them was even thinner than on his ears, akin to the wispy covering of a peach. Waz couldn’t remember all the times Chaz had reduced him to tears by tickling him on the same spots. Now it was a chance to see his friend fall to pieces. His wiggling claws sunk into the hot, slightly damp skin and scratched at it. He was careful not to be rough; the lightest touch was the most effective when tickling the pits of forelegs.

Again, Chaz sighed and rolled his eyes in the most sarcastic way possible. “Are you almost done? My forelegs are getting tired.”

Waz’s eyebrows nervously wiggled. He refused to believe that he wasn’t ticklish there. Desperate, he tried a different technique. Instead of randomly scratching with all of his claws, he poked a single nail against each underarm and traced them in circles around the edges. As they dragged along, they spiraled closer towards the fleshy center, and then slid back across the skin to the outer edge. He glanced between Chaz’s eyes and his underarms a couple times to watch for any sort of reaction. Chaz simply stared at him, lips still, with a bored look in his eyes.

“Oh, come on! That isn’t fair. This is one of my most ticklish spots! How can it not even get a giggle out of you?” asked Waz.

Chaz, amused at his flustered friend, faked a yawn. “I guess I’m just way tougher than you, that’s all.”

The arrogance only egged Waz on. He would figure out a way to make Chaz laugh. In a last attempt to get a rise from him, he dove forward and stuffed his snout under one of Chaz’s forelegs to lap at his pit. His tongue slid between his muzzle and Chaz’s underarm, back and forth. The powerful pink appendage easily matted down the fuzz there and slipped over the moist skin; it was no use. The shinx arched an eyebrow and idly wagged his tail behind him.

“If your claws didn’t work, do you really think this will?”

Waz snorted and sat for a moment, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe it. They were among his most ticklish spots, but Chaz didn’t so much as chuckle. He cocked his head.

“This isn’t fair at all. How can you not be ticklish there? Everybody is ticklish there.”

Chaz finally let his forelegs down. “Everybody but me, I guess. Just give up. You’re wasting your time. Go ahead and let me tickle you more.” He snickered and winked.

The rattata gulped and jabbed a claw out. “No way, I’m not done yet! Different people are ticklish in different places. Just because it didn’t work under your forelegs, it doesn’t mean you’re immune. I’ll find your spot. You’ll see.”

“Right. Because you’ve had so much success so far.”

Waz growled and snapped his teeth. “Forelegs back up.”

Chaz muttered and slowly raised his front legs back above his head. Waz sat in front of him and reached out to grope his ribcage. Many pokemon were helplessly ticklish on their ribs, so he figured it was good place to try next. Shinxes were on the small side; their rib bones were fittingly slender. Luckily, the dexterous claws of a rattata were perfect for fondling the delicate areas.

He sunk claws into the muscles between his ribs and gently jostled them. When his friend remained as stoic as ever, he changed his approach. He pressed one claw tip at the front of his ribs, used his other two to grasp at the sides of the ribcage, and then wiggled them in a clutching movement. Such a technique always drove Waz nuts. His face drooped in dismay when Chaz didn’t make a peep. The shinx looked down at Waz’s claws, unimpressed.

“You said you were going to make me laugh. All you’re doing is pulling my fur out.”

Waz squeaked and twitched his nose, furious. A deep breath calmed him down. Chaz was trying to frustrate him so he’d give up. There was plenty of skin left. He’d make him weak in the knees yet.    

“We’re not finished here. You said I could try every spot I wanted. Now lie down on your back.”

Chaz smiled and shook his head. “I can’t get it through that thick head you have. I’m not ticklish.” Still, he complied and lowered himself to the grass. A promise was a promise.

Waz loomed over him and rubbed his paws together. The devious smile returned to his face. His friend was at his mercy and he would crack him, no matter how long it took.

“I bet it’s this underbelly of yours, isn’t it? It’s soft enough.”

The shinx chuckled and gave him a mocking smile. “Oh yeah, sure. You’ll drive me crazy if you tickle me there.”

“You won’t be laughing at me soon. Well, I mean, you will. But it’ll be because I’m tickling you…you know what I mean.”

His claws lunged forward and dimpled into Chaz’s belly. It wasn’t chubby; there was little fat on the athletic pokemon. Instead, there was only a thin layer of softness stretched over tight stomach muscles. The flat surface was perfect for tickling. Waz’s claws easily glided across it and jiggled his abdominal muscles. His fur was light but even on his underbelly in a consistent coat. Waz ruffled his nails through it with little trouble. The more he scribbled at Chaz’s belly, the more his face tightened into a look of concentration and annoyance. His friend simply laid there and stared up at him.

“Satisfied now? That doesn’t tickle at all.”

The rattata rested his paws on his haunches and grumbled. He looked his friend over; that smug boredom made it hard for him to keep his composure. There was one more technique he knew of for stomach tickles. It was worth a shot, as he’d seen some pokemon wrecked by it. He leaned over Chaz and rested one palm on his chest and one on his waist to keep his balance. Then he wrapped his lips in a ring in the center of Chaz’s belly, at the dividing line between the blue fur of his torso and the black fur of his lower body. He drew a deep breath and blew the biggest raspberry he could.

A sound of drool spattering against skin was enough to make Chaz’s cheeks tinge darkly under his facial fur. But it wasn’t enough to make him laugh. Irritated, he leaned up and pushed Waz’s muzzle off just as he was about to blow again.

“Really? I’m not a baby, dude. Sheesh.”

Waz murmured and sheepishly rubbed his arm. “Hey, that really works on some people. You can’t blame me for trying.”

Chaz stretched his arms up and rolled his neck. He then smirked at his friend. “Alright, I think you’ve tried just about everything. Are you ready for the worst tickling you’ve ever had?”

The angry huff Waz responded with told him it wasn’t over. Waz snapped his teeth.

“Hold out your forepaws.”

“C’mon, man. It was fun to tease you at first, but it’s getting old.”

“Hold them out!”

Chaz let out a melodramatic sigh and extended his forepaws, pads up. Waz clutched one by the ankle and skittered his nails against the palm. The bottom of the blue forepaw was almost nude. Only the thinnest tufts of blue fuzz covered it. The palm was warm and fleshy; Waz’s nails made the pale skin beneath the fuzz brighten. His scratches became more frantic when they failed to coax a reaction. He switched to the other forepaw. Some were more ticklish on their right or left paw than on the other. But it again failed to bring laughter.

Waz muttered under his breath. Losing the bet suddenly felt like a real possibility. His heartbeat quickened in his frustration, while Chaz’s was as calm as ever. The idea struck him that the paw needed a softer touch. Some pokemon responded better to gentle, fluffy touches than forceful scraping. He reached down and plucked the longest blade of grass in reach. As it slid and flicked along Chaz’s palm, it did make his skin itch. But the strongest reaction it managed was to make his toes wiggle.

“That just tingles, Waz. It won’t make me laugh.”

“Oh yeah? Tingling is a start…what if I do this?”

He spread Chaz’s toes apart and slid the blade of grass up and down to tease the tender skin between them. Again, it earned him no more than wiggling toes. He flicked the blade of grass away, rubbed the bridge of his muzzle, and sighed. Chaz smiled and playfully batted Waz’s side with his tail.

“Told ya. Not ticklish. And you’re running out of places to look.”

Waz lifted his head back up. He glared at Chaz through narrow eyes. The supremely smug shinx wouldn’t win. But as much as he hated to admit it, Chaz was right. He was short on ideas. Most of the obvious tickles spots were duds. He’d have to get creative. Dropping to his claws, he crawled around him in a circle several times. Chaz turned to watch him, confused.

“What’re you doing?”

“Finding a soft spot.”

Waz finally sat up and nestled against Chaz’s back. A ticklish back was a long shot. But he’d once seen a ponyta who couldn’t be ridden because its lower back was very sensitive. He figured that if Chaz was hiding a ticklish spot, it could be a similarly obscure location. He lined up his claw tips along Chaz’s shoulders and pulled them down in a long, slow drag.

His shoulders arched and the fur on his back stood up when the sharp nails scraped through it. The long scratch failed to do much else. Waz furrowed his eyebrows, sunk his claws back onto Chaz’s shoulders, and tried again. Nothing. There was even less of a response than the first time, since he knew what to expect. When his claws reached Chaz’s hindquarters, he decided to drag the other way; going against the grain of their fur made some pokemon freak out. But not Chaz. He sat there, slouched forward, eyes glazed over in boredom. Waz growled and pulled on his own whiskers in anger.

“Agh! There has to be somewhere!”

Chaz smiled. It was so easy to frustrate Waz. The rattata melted when tickled, which made it all the more infuriating that Chaz was impervious. His triumphant grin grew as Waz lapsed into desperation.

It became clear that Chaz’s back wouldn’t work. Waz moved on toward his hips. His own hips were quite ticklish when squeezed; he’d give Chaz the same treatment. Clutching either side of his hips, he groped them tightly. The tips of his claws pushed against the muscles of Chaz’s pelvis; the shinx remained still. His cheeks blushed at the low fondling, but Waz didn’t notice. He was too focused on forcing out some laughs.

His little paws squeezed at the hipbones, claws scraping through the slight fur. Chaz squirmed, but didn’t crack a smile. He shook his head and whipped Waz’s cheek with his tail.

“Come on, man. Get away from there.”

Waz ignored him. The squeezing didn’t work; he resorted to scratching once more. He trailed clawtips around the circle of his waist, to no effect. Chaz, annoyed, finally batted his paw away.

“It’s not working, Waz. You’re just stalling for time.”

He squeaked and rubbed his hand. “Fine, fine. But I’m not done with you yet!”

Chaz rolled his neck back and moaned. “Ugh, come on! You tried everything already.”

Waz’s eyes darted around. He had to find another spot to try. Losing the bet wasn’t an option; he knew how brutal of a tickler Chaz could be. The search only yielded a most unorthodox spot: the tail. All shinxes had black tails tipped by a gold star. Waz had no idea whether they could even be ticklish, but he looked at the appendage as his last hope. If there was any possibility of ticklishness there, he would find it. He grasped the rim of the tail under the star and stretched it out to get good access to its entire length. Chaz craned his neck over his shoulder and blinked.

“Um…you know that tails aren’t ticklish, right?”

“Has anyone ever tickled you there?”

“No.”

“Then you don’t know that for sure!”

Chaz rolled his eyes and went back to staring in front of him across the grass. He crossed his forelegs over his chest while he waited for Waz to fail again. There wasn’t much girth for Waz to use his nails on. Instead, he leaned forward, took the tail between his front teeth, and nibbled along it like an ear of corn. Chaz winced and grumbled; it didn’t tickle, but Waz’s teeth were sharp enough to make him uncomfortable. Waz ignored the noises and concentrated on gnawing the long appendage. He moved from the center to the base of the star, and then traveled all the way to the other side where the base of Chaz’s tail met his back. No matter where he chewed, the most it got out of him were annoyed grunts.

“Not so rough! You’re going to chew right through it.”

Waz huffed. If the length of the tail wasn’t ticklish, that left only the star-shaped tip. He bent Chaz’s tail up to his mouth and took one of the points of the stars between his lips. Gentle suckling did nothing; quick nibbles only made it twitch. But he tried every one of the star’s points, even after it became clear that the entire thing was no more ticklish than the rest of his tail. Finally, defeated, Waz spat it from his mouth and let it flop against the grass.

“Aww, man…”

The shinx turned to face him and winked. “Was that finally enough for you? Are you ready to admit I’m not ticklish?”

Waz looked up at his eyes. For a moment, the rodent considered giving in. But his friend’s cocky grin was too much to bear; he had to knock him down a peg. Few options remained for him to try. He would try them anyway. If he lost, he could at least say that he tried everything.

“Stand up on all fours,” said Waz.

Chaz cocked an eyebrow but did as he was told. He stood up on his paws and wagged his tail high in the air. Waz sneaked around to the side and pressed his belly flat against the grass. He then reached out and delivered a flurry of scratches behind the knees of Chaz’s hind legs. The spot behind the joint was almost bare of fur and very warm. He was sure that the tender skin there would be incredibly sensitive, as it rarely came into contact with anything. The points of his nails sunk against skin and gave agile flicks; his claws pressed at the spots and jiggled the massaged the flesh. Chaz stood still. He never imagined anybody would be ticklish behind their knees. It turned out he wasn’t; Waz’s attention to them drew even less reaction than when he’d chewed on his tail.

“It’s not working,” said Chaz.

“Just give me a second! I’ll make it work!” said Waz.

He picked another blade of grass and dusted the backs of his knees with it, switching back and forth between the two. The fur was thin enough on them that he knew Chaz felt it. Chaz laughed, but it was a laugh born of condescension, not ticklishness.

“You’re just making my skin itch again. Knock it off.”

The feathering from the grass continued for several moments until Waz let it glide to the ground. Chaz sat back on his hindquarters, narrowed his eyes at Waz, and smirked.

“Okay, that’s enough. You tried everywhere. Now I’m going to tickle you silly.”

“W-wait! There’s still one spot I didn’t get to yet.”

“Huh? Where? You covered every inch of me, dude.”

“Your paws.”

Chaz held out his forepaws and looked at them. “You already tickled these. Don’t tell me you want to try all the spots again. You’re just being a poor sport.”

“No, your hind paws.”

He crossed his forelegs over his chest and frowned. “If my forepaws aren’t ticklish, why do you think my hind paws are?”

“Well, have you ever been tickled there?”

“No. But I’m sure they aren’t any different.”

“Let me try. This will be the last spot, I promise. If you aren’t ticklish there, I’ll give up and you can tickle me as much as you want.”

Chaz sighed and his shoulders slumped. “Okay, okay. Go ahead. Let’s get this over with.”

He sat on his rump to give Waz easy access to his hind paws. They were different from his forepaws; they were covered in black fuzz and a naked paw pad dotted each in the center between the toes and the heel. Waz clutched an ankle and tugged it up in the air, which caused Chaz to fall on his back. The rat pokemon teasingly hovered his claws over the paw. It was his last chance.

“Prepare for a real tickling, Chaz!”

Chaz merely rested his cheek on a forepaw and flicked his ears. “Sure, Waz. If you say so.”

Waz knew he couldn’t go after it willy-nilly. Each region of the paw needed attention if he hoped to find a weak spot. He cupped the little paw in his hands and tipped it forward. He top would be first. A coat of delicately soft, velvety fur covered it. His paws were firm along the tops, but the skin under the fuzz was smooth and soft.

His claws touched down at the base of his leg where it attached to his paw. They scratched and slid through the fuzz; his skin dimpled under their touch and plumped back up as they scraped past. Chaz sat, his cheek cupped in the palm of his forepaw and elbow propped against the ground, watching. Waz occasionally glanced between his face and his hind paw, looking for any reaction. But his nonchalant expression remained.

“What’d I tell you? Not ticklish,” said Chaz. He teasingly wiggled his three toes at his friend. “You’re the one with ticklish paws.”

Waz paid him no attention. He’d tickled the top mostly just to be thorough; even pokemon with very ticklish paws weren’t usually sensitive on the tops. There was plenty of space left to explore. Those wiggling toes caught his eye. He flashed a wide smile back at him.

“Hmm, a real tough guy, huh? I bet you have ticklish toes like a little baby.”

Chaz scoffed and spread the digits. “Yeah, right. Go ahead and see for yourself.”

Waz licked his bucked front teeth. “You’ll regret being such a showoff. Just you wait and see.” Under the threat, he remained nervous. He was already thinking of excuses to get out of being tickled in case he failed to make him laugh.

He laced the claws of one hand through Chaz’s toes to keep them spread apart. Then he began to dance his nails against the flat bottoms of them. There was little fuzz, almost none. They were round-tipped and pudgy, like the ones most of his kind had. His skin was smooth on his toes, but still firm. Waz’s nails beat against the flats and bounced off, delivering a flurry of quick scratches.

For a moment, nothing happened. But then his toes squirmed against Waz’s grasp. They clenched his fingers which kept them spread apart. Chaz didn’t know what he felt; the clacking of Waz’s claw tips against the flats of his toes made his chest flutter. He blinked as the strange sensation spread from his chest up to his throat. His breaths were cut short and a squeak burst from his lips before he could stop it. He tried to hide it by clutching a forepaw over his mouth, but Waz’s ears immediately perked up.

“What was that?” asked Waz.

Chaz cleared his throat. “N-nothing.”

Waz’s lips slowly curled up. “Oh really? So it didn’t tickle, huh?”

“Pfft, not at all! Hardly felt it.”

“I guess you won’t mind if I continue, then.”

He slipped his claws out from between the toes and curled them over the digits. Bending them back, he left them taut. The stretched skin beneath his toes was wide open for tickling. Chaz bit his lip; he refused to believe he was ticklish. But the sensation he had felt was new to him. His bravado faltered and he tried to curl his toes down. It was no use, as Waz held them back in place.

The rodent’s claws pricked at the butter-soft skin under his toes. It was one of the softer areas of his hind paws because it so rarely touched the ground. More often, his paw rested on its center pad and the flats of his toes, which left the flesh under and between them plush. Swipes from Waz’s nails forced that airy feeling back into his chest; he had to steady his breath to keep from squeaking again. Even that wasn’t enough to keep the corners of his lips from spreading up ever so slightly. Waz’s keen eyes caught it.

“That isn’t a…smile, I see? A shinx wouldn’t happen to have ticklish toes, would he?”

Chaz was almost afraid to speak for fear his breath would rush out from him. He cleared his throat and shook his head. “No way! I-I’m just smiling because you’re about to lose our bet.”

The excuse didn’t fool Waz. He recognized the wobbly smile which formed on Chaz’s face. He flashed his fangs in a grin and laced his claws back between Chaz’s toes.

“Let’s see about that.”

He dipped a nail from his free claw between two of Chaz’s toes and wiggled it. The skin was bare and slightly moist, hot against his claw. It was so tender that his nail easily sunk against it and glided along.

“Gnnk!” Chaz again cleared his throat before any further exclamations escaped.

Waz scraped that one nail back and forth, in and out of the gap. Chaz tightened his lips together and looked off in the distance, pretending he was fine. When Waz moved to the other gap, he managed to fight back a squeal. The shinx realized that his hind paws were indeed different than his forepaws. But he figured that his toes must be the worst spot, since they were so soft. If he could hold out until Waz moved on, he’d be okay.

The rat pokemon wormed his claws into both of Chaz’s toe gaps and wriggled them against the smooth surface. Chaz’s elbow slipped against the ground from the shock, but he succeeded in remaining silent. The reaction gave Waz new hope.

Waz felt differently than his friend. He thought that if the toes were a bit ticklish, then other spots on his paw must be even worse. His claws slipped out from between Chaz’s toes; he decided to move on. The shinx breathed a sigh of relief.

“I told you my hind paws would be the same as my front ones. Not ticklish!”

“Right, right. Let me just try here…”

He cupped Chaz’s heel in his palm. The edges of his paw, right along the line where the fuzz of the top gave way to the almost-bare bottom, were his next targets. Like the toes, those spots rarely touched the ground. They may have been just as sensitive. He pressed his nails against the edge of his paw and traced them along that dividing line.

Instead of more tingly sensations, Chaz felt nothing. His muscles relaxed; he wasn’t ticklish there. A confident grin returned to his face. The lack of ticklishness there convinced him he was right. Clucking his tongue, he stared up at the sky.

“My, my. What a boring day it’s been. All afternoon and you couldn’t get a chuckle out of me.”

Waz’s brows furrowed. He could have sworn Chaz had been reacting when he tickled his toes. Again, he resorted to a different technique to get some laughs out. He raised the paw to his muzzle, clasped the toes and ankle, and gnawed along the paw’s edge. The careful scraping of his teeth was no more successful; Chaz simply watched him with a smug smirk on his face.

“Why do you keep chewing on me? If it didn’t work the first time, it won’t work now.”

He slipped the paw out of his mouth and twitched his whiskers. Returning to the toes was a possibility. He’d forced the strongest reaction thus far by tickling them. But he instead decided to try the rest of his paw. There was still a chance he would get lucky and strike a jackpot.

Still holding the ankle firm, he looked over the paw. The heel tempted him. It was a spot often overlooked. He skittered the tips of his nails at its very bottom. Chaz’s arrogant expression melted away. A feeling of butterflies in his stomach returned. His eyes widened when it came back stronger than before. Waz’s claws barely touched him and it was strong enough to send blasts of air into his throat. He had to cup a paw over his mouth to stop them from rushing out. They weren’t just squeaks this time; they were real giggles. Chaz’s eyebrows wavered as he looked at Waz, who wore a devilish smile.

“I heard that,” said Waz.

“H-h-heard what?” asked Chaz.

His claw slid from the bottom to the curved mound of Chaz’s heel. The little hill was firm, but the skin was still pliable enough for Waz’s nails to dimple against it. He touched them to it and gave quick scratches. His hand moved up and down while his nails flicked the skin, going from the edge of his ankle up to the area below his paw pad. The effect was clear and immediate; Chaz couldn’t cover it up. His lips spread into a massive, crooked smile and giggles sputtered out from between them.

“Is that laughter I hear? Could it be that my buddy has ticklish little paws after all?”

Chaz didn’t speak. He feared that if he did, the dam would burst and he wouldn’t hold back the laughter. As it was, giggles already escaped now and then. He simply held both his paws over his mouth and shook his head.

“Oh, come now.  I think you do!” said Waz.

Waz had spent enough time at the heel. It was time to move toward the center pad. Chaz obviously had a harder time maintaining his composure as Waz approached it. Teasing his smug friend was too much fun; he wanted to savor it. Before moving right to the naked pad, he decided to tease the area around it.

“Coochie coochie coo…”

The paw twisted in his grip and the toes instinctively curled. He gripped the ankle and poked a nail right at the border of the black paw pad, careful not to touch it yet. The shinx’s face contorted when the claw tip traced around the outside of the pad in a wide circle. That region which surrounded the pad was blanketed in fine, black fuzz. It was luxuriously soft against Waz’s finger as the digit trailed through it. The skin underneath quivered at the touch. Cracks started to show in Chaz’s defense; squeals and laughs slipped out of his lips with less time between them.

“Heeah…mmph…aheha…gnnk.”

It was Waz’ turn to be smug. He smirked at Chaz and waggled his eyebrows.

“The tough guy isn’t ticklish here? This doesn’t tickle at all? Flick, flick, flick.”

Each time he said “flick”, he emphasized it by scraping his nail across the skin. Chaz trembled and squirmed against the grass. He knew he was about to laugh; ticklishness finally meant something to him. Waz’s decision to experiment with the rest of the paw paid off. And he had a feeling that the pad in the middle would be the best of all.

It was too enticing to resist any longer. He wanted to make Chaz laugh helplessly, just as the shinx had done to him so many times. He squeezed his ankle and menacingly clicked his nails together in front of the paw pad. Chaz shook his head.

“Don’t!”

“Why not? Afraid you’ll lose our little bet?”

A challenge to his pride was the one thing which made Chaz throw aside his better judgment. He panted for breath and glared at his friend. His toes splayed out as though he invited more tickles.

“I’m not afraid of anything, especially not a few tickles! Bring it on!”

He regretted those words as quickly as they left his mouth. Waz prodded a claw tip dead center against the pad. The shock which shot through Chaz’s nerves made his body jerk. His eyes widened as Waz began to scratch the pad.

The round, dark area was entirely devoid of fur. If not for Chaz’s reaction, Waz would have worried it wasn’t ticklish; the lump of skin was firm and leathery. But it still had a squishiness which allowed his claw to indent into it. Against his claw, it felt taut and smooth. It was easy enough for his nails to glide over its surface, which was all he cared about.

Likewise, Chaz never expected it to be so sensitive. Only a few brief moments of resistance passed before he erupted. It was music to Waz’s twitching ears. Hysterical laughter and wails of mirth poured across the field.

“Bingo! Looks like you’re ticklish, after all! I win!”

“Bwahahaha! St-stahap, it’s too much!”

Waz had no intention of stopping. Rather, he had just begun. He jabbed his nail at the middle of the pad repeatedly; a squeal burst out of Chaz each time. The shinx tried to crawl away from him, but Waz wrapped his arm around Chaz’s ankle and squeezed it to hold it in place.

“Noho, let me go!”

“Not a chance. We had a deal!”

The rat pokemon snickered and delivered a flurry of scratches to the pad; his nails bounced off it only to return again and again. He dimpled a single nail tip against the outermost edge of the pad and swiped it along in half-circles. Each drag of the claw brought fresh peals of laughter. The nail then began to glide in complete circles around the pad. He pulled his claw in a spiral from the edge of the pad to the center and then back out.

Chaz lost it. He collapsed onto his back and clutched his sides. All those times he’d tickled Waz came back to haunt him; the rat wouldn’t let up on his paw pad. He pounded his forepaws against the ground, thrashed in Waz’s grip, and cried out in laughter.

None of Chaz’s reactions deterred Waz. They made him tickle even harder. It was too much fun to break him; he almost understood why Chaz liked to tickle him so much. His claws relentlessly wiggled at the pad, sliding over its thick surface. The scratches grew lightning-quick, attacking his skin with a constant barrage of nerve-tingling pokes.

The shinx’s laughter became more and more frantic. His gasps for breath grew more desperate. When his body suddenly slumped and he fell silent, Waz had to look over his shoulder to see what had happened. He smiled at the sight. There lay Chaz, passed out, with a wobbly smile and glazed eyes stuck on his face. Waz dropped his ankle and chuckled.

“Aww. I wasn’t done!”
Waz tries very hard to make his Shinx friend laugh here. But will he succeed?

This is a story commission from Embargobox over at FA. He does amazing stories, if you're interested in one, I'd higly recommend him!
© 2016 - 2024 Lechensko
Comments24
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
TheNameIsDarks's avatar

those tummy tickles would of cracked me