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With a series of grunts and whimpers, the boy tried to pull back – but his socks kept slipping on the smooth floor. The two men snickered. “Ooh, is somebody ticklish?” the shorter man teased.

As Danny was lowered into the machine, arms over his head, hearing the snap of the glowing cuffs, he shut his eyes tight, chanting in a whisper to himself, “Wake up! Wake up! Please wake up!”

Clay leaned down by the boy’s head. “This isn’t a dream!” he said. Danny opened his eyes, brows convexly arching, lids drooping. The man laughed.

As Eli finished cuffing the boy’s ankles, there was a sudden poof behind them. The men turned their heads to see Timmy poised, snarling. The fairies hovered just above him, with equal glowers. “Let him GO!” the smaller boy commanded.

“YOU GUYS!” Danny exclaimed happily.

Eli glanced down the gauntlets, then back at the trio. He then charged them. Timmy leapt away while Wanda and Cosmo raised their wands, but the man quickly wrapped his fists around them, ripping them out of their hands. The duo gasped. Eli let the sticks drop and flattened the pink and green-haired ones against the wall.

“Leave them ALONE!” the older boy snapped.

Timmy gasped, and darted toward the wands, but was tossed aside by a kick from Clay, who picked them up, turning them over with a raised brow. He shoved them into his pocket, walking over to the other man, and pulled out a frying pan from his other pocket, with which he struck the two in turn.

Timmy groaned as he picked himself up. He raced over to Clay, sinking his teeth into the man’s leg. Clay yelled, looking down and whacking the smaller boy to the floor.

Eli laughed. “Better than a flyswatter!”

Clay twirled the pan by its handle on his finger, catching it, and shoving it back in his pocket. He grabbed Timmy by the scruff of his neck, looking around, and walking toward a storage room, opening the door and tossing him in. Eli followed him and threw the other two in as well, dusting off the gloves before pulling them off as Clay slammed the door.

“’Toon items...” the taller man mused as both headed back toward Danny, “amazing things…and speaking of items...”

Eli crouched down, grabbing the toes of Danny’s socks and yanking them off, slipping them onto his hands. Pressing his fingers together opposite his thumbs, the man proceeded to speak in falsetto as he animated the crude puppets.

“Hello!”
“Hi, how are you?”
“I’m a little sad…”
“Oh, why are you sad?”
“I’m looking for a thing called the ‘Toons’ Pearl – but I can’t find it!”
“That sounds like a cool thing to me! But I don’t know where it is!”

The man loomed over Danny. “Do youuu know where it is?” The boy leaned away from the man’s hand.

“Eli, WHAT are you doing?” Clay asked. The shorter man looked up, blinked; then stood up, folding his arms.

“Nothing,” he said plainly.

Clay shook his head with a snort. Walking around to the foot of the machine, he gazed down at Danny. “Now…we don’t have to go through ANY of this if you just tell us where that pearl is…” he leaned down, “so, you gonna tell us?”

The boy stifled a whimper as he looked back and forth at the inner walls of the machine. He tried going intangible only to find that the energy glowing in the cuffs completely blocked his powers from the start. He gave his limbs a frantic tug.

“Lord…my name is Kogane, and this is Princess Farla…”
“Hello, I hope you think well of me…”
“Oh, thank you, Lord!”
“Danny, we are honored to share the sky with you!”
“…gosh, I have to say, we really admire you, Danny…it’s always been a dream of ours to meet you!”
“Excellently played, my friend! Excellent!”
“It was a wonderfully fun challenge this year, thanks to you!”
“Welcome to the planet Cartun, Danny…or should I say: welcome BACK. You were born here; you are a cartun…”

Kogane…and Farla…and Toshio…Bluegrass…every’toon…

Ignoring the cool air on his bare feet, Danny stared up at the taller man with a snort. “No!”

“Okay, then…” Clay said with a rising intonation, walking back toward the head of the machine, “I guess this won’t go to waste after all…” Danny watched him, then winced, laying his head to one side. He heard the click of the switch.

White-gloved hands on shiny black cords slithered out of the holes, slowly approaching the boy all at the same time; armpits, ribs, belly, feet, even face and neck, knees, toes; every inch of tickleable skin. Their fingers began wiggling on contact.

Danny’s lips curled into a helpless grin, giggling loudly before laughing even louder. His head began to toss and he squirmed as much as the cuffs would allow. “AAHAHAHAA! AHAHAHAHAEEHEEHEHE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” OH GOD THIS TICKLES! “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA NOT THERE!” he shrieked as one of the hands prodded a finger in his navel. “AHAAHAHAHAHAHA EEEHEE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Ooh, somebody is very VERY ticklish!” Eli cooed, mimicking the words with his right hand.

Clay aimed a slap in the shorter man’s direction. “Will you TAKE those off already!?”

Eli frowned, shoulders raised. “Okay, okay, jeez…” he mumbled, pulling them off in turn and tossing them together onto the floor.

Clay casually checked his watch. Walking over to the machine, he flicked off the switch. The hands swiftly withdrew, leaving Danny breathing noisily. The tall man smiled. “And that was just ONE minute,” he explained. The boy’s eyes squinted in a cringe.

“Yeah,” Eli added, “imagine how five’ll be…” Danny’s eyes squinted keener.

“Or ten,” Clay added. The boy’s eyes squeezed shut.

“Or fifteen!” Danny opened his eyes.

“Or twenty!” His eyes widened.

“Or THIRTY!” Eli said with a snicker. The boy’s eyes grew even wider.

“Or FOURTY.”
“Or FIFTY!”
“Or an HOUR.”
“Or TWO HOURS!”

Danny’s eyes reached a record circumference. One of them twitched. With a groaning whine he quickly cut short, he laid his head back, eyes shut tight once again.

Clay gave a monosyllabic chuckle. With a sigh, he began, “So…where’s that pearl?”

Danny lowered his head, opening his eyes, blinking. I should just give them the pearl and go home… he turned his head, lying on his right cheek, No, no I can’t! Every’toon is depending on me…he lay on his left cheek, ...but they’re gonna tickle me! He turned his head again. …no, I HAVE to PROTECT every’toon…Toss. …but they’re gonna TICKLE me! Turn. …I’m their Lord and Last Gatebearer and not to mention a superhero, I can’t just give up! Toss. …but they’re gonna TICKLE ME! Turn.

“He’s thinking…” Eli noted.

“Yeah, he’s thinking and he’s not talking,” Clay grumbled, “All right, time’s up!”

“WAIT!” Danny begged; raising his head as the taller man flipped the switch.

“AAAHAHAHAHAA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” The hands swarmed the boy again, some with all digits scribbling independently while others in synchronized rakes and tweaks, still more using only one. “EEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!”

After another five minutes, Clay switched the machine off, staring the boy down. “Tell us where that pearl is!”

Danny winced, with a grunt, turning away. The man let out a sigh that verged on a growl. He turned the X1030430 back on; then headed for the door.

Eli took a few steps after him. “Hey, wait!” he called out over Danny’s howling laughter, “Where’re you going?”

Clay turned his head. “I’ve got to make a phone call and there’s no reception way down here.”

“I’ll come with you.”
“No, you’ve gotta stay with him.”

Eli glanced back briefly. “What for? The thing’s on autopilot.”

“I don’t know, in case it blows a fuse or something. I’ll be right back.”

Clay pushed through the door and began ascending the stairs. He jogged up both flights with relative ease, finally seeing bars at the top of the first basement steps. Flipping open the cellphone, he dialed a number and put it to his ear.

Gates picked it up halfway through the second ring. “Hello?”

“Bill, this is Clay,”
“Oh, good. How’re you doing?”
“Uh, well, not so good. Hey, look…when you said this thing’d have him ‘squealing’, you did mean TALKING, right?”
“Of course I meant talking, what di –”
“Well, he’s done a lot of real squealing but he hasn’t said a WORD yet!”
“Well, how long have you been at him?”
“About six minutes, probably more like sixteen about now…”
“Well, Jesus, Clay, keep going! Trust me, everyone and everything crumbles sometime, whether it’s a price or a breaking point…”
“Yes, sir.”

Tucking the phone away, the man headed back down the stairs. He walked back in the room to a screeching Danny and Eli, perched at the head of the machine. The other man turned his head. “Oh, there you are! Call go all right?”

“Fine, yeah – how long’s it been?”

Eli checked his watch. “Whoa, thirteen minutes,” he observed, rising and flipping off the switch. The boy’s last few giggles segued into a whine.

Clay resumed his stern stance at the foot of the machine. “The pearl, where is it?”

Danny glared up at him. “I…don’t know…”

Clay giggled himself. “Back to the old ‘don’t know’, huh? Then let’s see about ‘jogging’ that memory, as they say…” He crouched beside the machine’s switch. Above it, he now noticed a small dial. It was currently pointing to a tiny picture of a glove. He didn’t immediately recognize what the one next to it was, but beyond that was a feather, and then all three bunched together. With a brow raised, he grasped the knob and turned it once, making a soft click.

The boy had caught his breath by now, and raised his head, straining to look up at the tall man. “What are you doing?” he asked, an edge in his voice.

“Trying something,” Clay replied with a smirk. He flipped the switch as he rose.

Danny twitched at the sound, and looked down. Instead of the hands, at the ends of the cords were a wide range of brushes: paintbrushes, small whirring brushes, scrub brushes, and more. The boy gasped at the change of array but was easily launched back into a laughing fit.

“AAHAHA AHAHAHAA AHAAHA!” Danny writhed anew at the onslaught of bristles. OH GOD WHAT THE HELL!? “AAAAAHAAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAA!” STOP TICKLING MEEEE! “NOOOO HAHAHAHA!”

Clay kept a sharp eye on his watch, grasping the switch between forefinger and thumb and clicking it off precisely at fifteen minutes. He rose, standing over the boy from the right. As he panted, the taller man spoke calmly “The pearl?” with a light backward sweep of his hand, “Please…”

Danny groaned, trying to ignore the blood pounding in his temples. “It’s…” he began.

Clay clasped his hands together, gasping through a wide-eyed smile. “Ooh, now we’re getting somewhere!” he said gleefully.

“Well, you did say the magic word,” Eli piped up. Clay shot him an eyeroll.

“This little box is starting to work its magic, anyway,” the taller man said, giving it a pat. He returned his gaze to Danny.

The boy suddenly grunted and shook his head vigorously. Looking up with furrowed brows “Dammnit, I’m not telling you!”

Clay flinched. “Ooh, SO close!” He smirked as he knelt beside the dial again, turning it. He daintily clutched the switch again. “We’re almost there; let’s see how far this’ll get us, now!” Click.

Danny grunted, slowly glancing down. He heard the cords snaking toward him, and saw flashes of white in the holes. The boy’s brows swept into convexes, jaw dropping as the things finally emerged, hovering around him for the briefest of moments.

No…no, not FEATHERS!