“Did you have fun?” My mom asked. Curfew isn’t really a thing in our small town every festival even for an 8-year-old.

“Yeah” I yawned.

After eating my breakfast and brushing my teeth, I went upstairs to my bedroom. I had spent the whole night with my best friend Dalton playing a fest game where we forced a tall muscular man drop a balloon ball containing lots of prizes. The best prize was tying and tickling the man in various positions for the whole night. Dalton played a very crucial role in winning the game last night. If he wasn’t with me, we won’t be able to make the man dropped the ball and tickled him helpless. Tonight, I will go back to the game stall alone because Dalton will be at his sister’s birthday party. I wanted to devise some strategies to win the game without Dalton’s help but I just realized how desperate for sleep my body was. I looked at my phone. It’s 7:10 am. I set the alarm at 5:00 pm. I lied on my bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

I woke up when the alarm set off. I took a shower and then left home at 5:30 pm. While I was walking on my way to the next village where the game stall was, my mind was busy recalling how we managed to win the game last night and planning how to win the game by myself. I occasionally stopped walking as I made some mental notes. What normally takes 15 minutes of walk stretched to 30 minutes. I finally arrived at the stall at 6:00pm. I was the only kid there. It wasn’t really surprising because the stall was isolated. It was unusually distant from the other game stalls and mostly covered by a line of old trees that made it barely visible. On top of it, there was a sign board “MAKE HIM DROP THE BALL”.

“Ready to win the game again tonight?” The old man in charge greeted me. He was sitting on a small table in front of the stall.

“Of course” I responded.

As I entered, a tall bearded muscular man who I already knew by the name Gage stood up in a platform and lifted a big balloon ball overhead just like the previous night. This time, the color of the balloon is yellow. He looked very much like Hercules the Avenger in a 1965 movie that for some reason I came across in Youtube.

“You think you’re gonna win this game without your friend huh? You’re not going to make it this time boy” Gage said friskily.

“Right” I responded sarcastically as I proceeded to the table beside the platform. I reviewed the rules of the game posted on a bulletin board in the wall behind the table.

MAKE HIM DROP THE BALL

On the table, are different toys you can possibly use to make him drop the ball.

No other tools besides what is provided on the table is allowed

Punching, kicking, or any other form of physical harm is not allowed

The prizes are inside the balloon ball

Don’t shoot or touch the balloon

TIME LIMIT: 2 HOURS

As I examined the tools on the table, I noticed some of the toys were different from the ones Dalton and I used the previous night. The new toys were two orbeez guns (one has yellow markings while the other has green), a large bucket containing several thousands of tiny orbeez crystal water balls, one big rubber band machine gun, and to my delight, the same kinds of colored feathers attached to 2-foot-long sticks. I wanted to win the game fast so I can tie and tickle Gage the whole night. I looked at the clock in the stall. It's 6:05pm. I have until 8:05pm to make the muscular man drop the ball. Overwhelm with excitement to win the game early, I did not give much attention to the toy guns. I picked up the feathered sticks right away. I already knew these were the most effective tools to tickle Gage and I also learned from the previous night two of the weakest parts of his body.

I picked two sticks with small purple semiplume feathers attached to their tips and aimed at Gage’s exposed armpits. Before the feathers could even touch his underarms, he rested the ball on his left shoulder supported by his left arm and grabbed the sticks one after the other using his free right hand and with an effortless grip, he snapped the two sticks at once.

“I told you, you can’t win this time lad! C’mon pick some more feathers so can smash them one by one” Gage grinned looking cocky than ever. Annoyed, I picked another two sticks with contour feathers and just as I was about to strike them together at his armpits, he rested the ball on his right shoulder supported by his right arm and grabbed them with his left hand and with a single grip, he smashed them into halves as if they were chocolate wafer sticks. I kept on picking pair of sticks with different kinds of feathers only to have them snapped into two until only a pair of sticks with white downy feathers were left. I was starting to lose my confidence. Just an hour ago, I was sure to win the game but it seemed not as easy as I anticipated.

“Looks like you’re going home early. I’m not dropping this ball. I won’t let those fucking feathers touch my pits!” Gage laughed.

This time, I was genuinely mad both by Gage’s cockiness and my inability to make him drop the ball. I started to wish Dalton was with me. Just thinking of losing the game and not being able to punish the cocky giant makes me wanna cry. Holding back my tears, I tried my best to concentrate thinking of a way to win until I finally got an idea.

“Not until I exhaust you” I realized that Gage is too fast that making feather strokes on his armpits was quite difficult. My plan was to tire him first by using the toy guns I ignored earlier. I remembered from the previous night how a few hits on his weak spots by the rubber band pistols wore him out. Once exhausted, that’s the time I’ll strike his armpits using the sticks with white downy feathers at their tips. I looked at the time on the stall’s clock. It’s 6:40pm.

I picked one of the orbeez gun pistols and started shooting Gage’s right nipple. He twisted his torso a little to avoid the small crystal water balls hitting one of his weak spots. It’s the same sort of dodge that he did last time. But I already knew how to counter this defense. My plan was to trick him to dodge one shot but not having enough time to avoid the next shot. I picked another orbeez gun pistol. With now a toy gun on each hand, I can now test the efficacy of my strategy. I aimed the green orbeez gun on my left hand at his right nipple and just as he twist his torso to avoid the soft water ball, I quickly shot his left nipple with the yellow orbeez gun on my right hand.

“Ohoho!” Gage flinched after the small water ball hit him squarely in the left nipple.

I then aimed the yellow gun at his left nipple and the moment he dodge the shot, his right nipple got hit by the green gun.

“Ohow!”

My technique worked. Gage gave short giggles every time I hit the mark. In the first few hits, he manage to hold the ball over his head with ease. But there were several thousands of orbeez balls in the bucket and he has to endure hits from at least half of them.

“Kshhhh!”

“Hihihi”

“Hehey!”

“Ahaha”

“Ohoho Shit!”

“Fahahauck!”

“Stahahaop”

“Ohoho”

After half an hour of getting constantly hit in the nipples, Gage was starting to sweat which was a good sign. He’s losing energy. I then started shooting his armpits. I used the same strategy tricking Gage to dodge the first shot but having no time to avoid the second hitting him on the other armpit. That’s the time he started laughing and I noticed that his hold on the ball was becoming unstable. Just ten minutes after shooting him on the armpits, Gage effort to dodge the orbeez balls was becoming less and less so that the last 1000 of them easily hit their mark. Gage was now sweating profusely and started resting the ball behind his muscular neck as his hold becomes weaker. I look at the clock in the stall. It’s exactly 8:00pm. I only have 5 minutes left.

I then picked the rubber band machine gun. Unlike the previous night, there were no extra rubber bands to use other than the ones already loaded to the toy gun. There were hundreds of them though. Taking advantage to the already tired muscleman, I made a quick burst on his nipples and armpits. The gun was incredibly accurate. All the rubber bands hit their targets.

“Hihihahahahahahaha” Gage was laughing hysterically as the prickly rubber bands found his weak spots. Now breathing heavily, he was almost on a kneeling position by then desperately keeping the ball from falling on the ground.

I wasted no time and quickly grabbed the pair of sticks with downy feathers attached to their tips and stroke the feathers on Gage’s exposed armpits. Worn out by more than an hour assaults on his nipples and armpits, the brawny man didn’t even bother dodging the feathers and went on to drop the ball with a shriek of hysterical laughter. I won!

I burst the balloon ball with the sharp edge of one of the feathered sticks Gage broke into two. Just like the previous night, the prizes where inside the ball. Chocolates, candies, yoyos, glow in the dark watches, beyblades and a festival card with pictures of Gage tied in different positions. I placed the prizes inside my backpack.

Gage was lying on the platform spread-eagle breathing heavily. Still a little mad by his cockiness earlier, I didn’t give him much time to recover. I also wanted to tickle him while he was still sweating because I was planning to start tickling his upper body with my fingers before using the different tickle tools. I learned from the previous night experience that it was easiest to tickle him with my fingers when he was sweating because it made his skin slippery and when I decided to move from one ticklish spot to another, I just have to slide my fingers instead of breaking contact with his body.

I went straight to the stall’s basement and with a groan, Gage stood up and followed me downstairs still panting. What was cool about Gage was despite being cocky, he was surprisingly submissive. I was determined to torment him more than we did the previous night.

I went to the already familiar tickle chair and motion Gage to sit. I decided to begin with the spread eagle position. After locking his huge feet in the wooden stocks, I held his heavy muscular left arm and strapped his wrist with the bondage attached to a hook in a pole on the left side of the chair. I did the same with his right arm. After finishing the bondage, I made a look at his position. It was as perfect as before. His elbows were slightly above his ear level. I asked Gage to test the bondage and with all his strength, he pulled his arms against the bonds. He flexed, squirmed and pulled in an effort to get loose. The restraint held. The bondage wasn’t really tense but the maximum spare space for him to lower his arms was only 1 inch. He’s totally vulnerable and was not going anywhere until I decided to let him go. I looked at the clock in the basement. It’s 8:07pm.

As planned earlier, I decided to tickle him with my fingers first. I gently tickled his belly button with my index fingers. Gage winced for about 10 seconds before giving off a laughter.

“Hahahahaha” His laughter as I tickled his belly button wasn’t as hysterical as when I tickled his armpits with the soft feathers but nevertheless amusing. I don’t know exactly how to describe it but regardless of whether he is laughing hysterically or moderately or even when he was just giggling, he still looked and sounded funny. The sound of his laughter was deep and loud but never shrill.

After about 10 minutes of tickling his belly button, I slid my index finger to his sweaty abdomen. I ran my index finger in the spaces between the rock hard abs.

“Hahahaha! Ahihihahaha!” Gage began to laugh harder as I discover another weak spot. My other index finger later joined the fun.

After 10 minutes, I began tickling his sides with my fingers. It made him laugh but not as much as when I tickled his abs. After 5 minutes, I slid my fingers to his hairy chest. That’s when the level of reaction he had when I tickled his abs resumed. I tickled his chest in an inward motion until I finally reached the vulnerable nipples. That’s when Gage’s tickle insanity went to an even higher level.

“Hahahaha not the nipphohohohohols! Stohahahahap! Plehehehease! Hihihihahahaha” Gage finally started begging.

“You want me to tickle your armpits instead?” I playfully asked Gage as I stopped the tickling temporarily.

“No please not my armpits! Anywhere but the armpits!” Gage pleaded as I devilishly positioned each of my hands close to his exposed armpits which were damped with sweat.

“But you said “not the nipples” so I’ll tickle these armpits instead” My fingers are now barely a centimetre from the thick tufts of hair.

“Ron don’t! Just tickle my nipples. You can tickle my nipples!” Gage cried out sharply.

“If you say so” I resumed tickling his nipples and Gage laugh hysterically again but this time never dared to beg.

I made different motions as I tickled his nipples. I started clockwise, then counter clockwise, up and down, zigzag and occasionally tweaking them. I kept on tickling his nipples for half an hour before I decided to launch a surprised attack on his exposed armpits.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA! STOOOOP HAHAHAHA! STOOOOP STAAHAHAHAHAHAP! NOHAHAHAHAT THEHEHEHE AHAHAHARMPIHIHIHITS! I’M BEHEHEHEGING YOUHOHOHAHAHAHA” Gage really went nuts when I proceeded to his weakest spots. I focused my attention on his armpits for an hour. I also varied the intensity of the tickling from hard strokes to moderate and then to light strokes.

Gage’s reaction significantly went to a much lower level when I really dug my fingers hard on his armpits.

“Stay thahahahat waaay! That’s okahahahahay! Just tickle mehehehe like thahahat! Just that hahahaha!” It still made him laugh moderately though. It’s his weakest spot after all. But every time I shifted to lighter strokes, he could barely make a word out especially when I only ran my fingers to his bushy armpit hair without touching his skin.

After an hour, I temporarily stopped tickling Gage. I finally decided to use the different tools to tickle him. I examined the tickle toys on the small table in the basement. There were watercolor brushes of different sizes and shapes, 2 hairbrushes, an electric toothbrush, a sonic toothbrush and to my disappointment, I didn’t see the different types of feathers that my best friend and I used to tickle Gage the previous night. I was about to be in a melancholy when I noticed something shining through the basement light. Something metallic green in color attached to a thin alloy metal rod. I looked closely and realized that it’s a tiny feather. At the other end, there is a small blue colored paper strip that has a label “HUMMINGBIRD FEATHER”. I had a feeling of relief and to my delight, the small white can containing the oil that makes a feather sweat-proof is on the table. I moved the small table closer to the chair where Gage is tied spread eagle. The defeated muscle giant had not fully recovered from the tickle-torture I gave just a while ago.

“No don’t use those tools on me Ron! I’m begging you! You can tickle my armpits with your hands the whole night if you want! Just don’t use the tools! Don’t use them! Please don’t! I know I annoyed you a while ago, I was just kidding.” Gage pleaded through his heavy breaths. I did not respond at all. No amount of begging will ever stop me from using the tools.

I took a small notebook and a pen from my backpack. I will be noting which tools worked best on particular spots on his body. I then picked a small water color brush and began stroking it on his belly button. That’s when I finally heard a very satisfactory reaction from Gage when he gets tickled in the navel. I tested all the watercolor brushes and the other tickle tools on his navel and rated each one at a range of 1-10. I tested them for one minute or more for me not to be deceived by Gage holding his laughter or faking a laughter. I then proceeded to test the different tools on his abs, sides, nipples, armpits, back, neck, and even his arms and shoulders. I also tested all the tools on his thighs, calves and feet. It was some kind of break for me as a tickler but a hellish torture for Gage. While I was testing the tools, he in an endless begging between his laughter. I really took time to test them because I want to concentrate using the best tickle tool on a specific part of his body. The rating of the tickle toys took about an hour to finish. Below the rates, I wrote a conclusion.

BEST TOOLS FOR:

1. Belly Button - Watercolor round brush

2. Abs - Watercolor script liner brush

3. Sides - Watercolor dagger brush

4. Upper back - sonic toothbrush

5. Lower back - electric toothbrush

6. Nipples - Hummingbird feather

7. Armpits - Hummingbird feather

8. Shoulders - electric toothbrush

9. Arms - Hummingbird feather

10. Neck - Watercolor dagger brush

11. Thighs - fingers

12. Knees - electric toothbrush

13. Calves - sonic toothbrush

14. Soles - hairbrush

15. Arches - scratchers

16. Heels - hairbrush

17. Toes - sonic toothbrush

18. Spaces in between toes - electric toothbrush

The lengthy testing was all worth it because I can now concentrate on a particular tool that worked best on a specific part of Gage’s body. This will also ensure that tonight’s tickle-torture will be much worse than the previous night. I checked the clock. it was 11:30pm.

I then looked at Gage. He was sweating profusely as if someone was pouring a bottle of oil on him. I could see sweats dropping from the hair of his armpits every second. I genuinely felt pity on him and forgave him of his cockiness earlier. He was still a nice guy after all. I untied him and gave him a break. Gage was sitting motionless with his eyes close breathing heavily. After 30 minutes, he stood up and asked permission to go upstairs to drink some water. Shortly after, he came back ready for another tickle session.

I motioned him to sit on the chair once again and proceeded to tie him with his hands behind his head and locked his feet in the wooden stock. As I recalled from the previous night, this was Dalton’s least favorite position of Gage when he was tickling his upper body because the ticklee’s movements were not as restricted as the other tickle positions. It sometimes enabled Gage to use his elbows or muscular arms to knock the tickle toys Dalton used on his torso. But I already knew the best strategy to tickle Gage’s upper body in this position.

I decided to tickle his feet first. After rubbing some oil from the small can, I picked up the scratchers and began tickling his arches for 10 minutes.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” Gage’s reaction was intense and he was laughing nonstop without making out any coherent word. In the first two minutes of the tickling alone, his body already glisten in sweat.

I then started tickling his soles and heels simultaneously with the hairbrush for another 10 minutes. He gave similar reaction.

I then tickled his toes using the sonic brush. After 10 minutes, I moved the sonic brush to his calves and raked it to his hairy legs for 15 minutes. I also tickled his thighs with my fingers. Finally, I picked the electric toothbrush and tickled the spaces in between his toes occasionally moving to his knees for 15 minutes. As I was tickling his feet and legs, Gage kept on twitching his upper body and bit his shoulders and arms in his desperate attempt to ease the unbearable discomfort while laughing continuously. He looked funny. Let me rephrase that. He looked VERY VERY funny! Dalton’s least favorite tickle position of Gage became my favorite. While my hands were busy using the tools on his feet, my eyes were looking at his reaction.

After tickling Gage’s feet for about an hour, I decided to tickle his upper body again. As I said earlier, after learning from Dalton’s mistake the previous night, I have a new strategy to tickle Gage’s torso in this position. Instead of facing him during the tickling, I stayed behind him and positioned myself much lower than the level of his arms and his elbows. My position made it very difficult for him to see where I will strike and it will also be impossible for him to knock the tools that I will be using on his upper body. I picked the sonic and electric toothbrush and began tickling his back. My right hand holding the sonic brush focused on his upper back while my left hand holding the electric toothbrush focused on his lower back and without warning moved both toothbrushes to his armpits. Gage lowered one arm after another and bend his torso forward and sideward to minimize the vulnerability of his armpits to the tickle tools. But every time he did that, I quickly moved the toothbrushes to his back and his shoulders. Once his armpits are within range, I moved the sonic and electric toothbrush to his armpits again. This hit and move tactic went on for an hour until Gage was too tired to resist. That’s the time I focused the toothbrushes on his armpits. The exhausted herculean wasn’t even dodging the torturous toothbrushes anymore for the next hour and a half but his loud hysterical laughter never subsided despite his exhaustion. When I finally decided to stop and give Gage another break, there was a problem. I realized the sonic and electric toothbrush got stuck in his armpits. They got entangled in the bushy hairs. I tried to disentangle them but it was very difficult. Gage stopped laughing an hour later when both toothbrushes ran out of battery. But I cannot just let them stay on his armpits because that will be difficult for me to tickle his armpits with the other tools. I decided to just pull them off.

“Sorry Gage but I have to take them off” I pulled both the sonic and the electric toothbrushes hard.

“(Krik! Krik!)”

“Ah! Ouch!”

A good amount of black hair where plucked. Nevertheless, it didn’t seemed to be a significant loss as I looked at Gage’s armpits, they looked bushy as ever as if not a single hair was plucked. I checked the time. It’s 2:30 am. I untied Gage and gave him a 30 minute break.

After the break, I tied Gage in the chair with his hands above head. I picked two watercolor brushes. As cruel as I was, I used them at the same time. I wriggled the round brush at Gage’s belly button while stroking the dagger brush on his neck. He almost instantly broke into sweat amid his hysterical laughter. This went on for 10 minutes. I replaced the round brush with the script liner brush and started tickling the spaces in between his abs while moving the dagger brush from his neck to his right side. This went on for another 10 minutes. I then picked the thin metal rod with a tiny hummingbird feather attached its tip. I started tickling his nipples and his armpits. Gage tried to squeeze his arms in a desperate attempt to protect his pits but it was futile. He can only lower his arms to an much as 1 inch. Even minimizing his armpits exposure was impossible.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHIHIHIHOHOHOHOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHIHIHIHIHOHOHOHAHAHAHA! The tiny feather drove Gage the craziest.

After 40 minutes, I finally decided to stop and untie Gage. I checked the time. It’s 4:00 am.

I didn’t give Gage time rest and I proceeded tying him at the inclined table right away promising that I will only be tickling him with my fingers in which he agreed. I tickled his feet, legs and thighs for 30 minutes and his upper body for another 30 minutes. Generally, tickling Gage with my fingers only made him laugh moderately except when I went to his nipples and armpits with lighter strokes. Although the finger tickling was still a torment for Gage, it was a breath of fresh air in comparison to the feathers and watercolor brushes. At the end of the tickle session, he wasn’t as worn out as when I tickled him with the tickle toys. At exactly 5:00 am, I stopped and asked him to lie at the flat table so I can tie him. I promised again to tickle him with my fingers only. This time, I lied of course. This was the last tickle session and I wanted to give him the worst tickle torture I could ever give in the remaining hour. I picked up the metal rod with the hummingbird feather and the different watercolor brushes.

“Hey! You said you will only tickle me with your fingers!” Gage protested as I climbed to the bed on his left side. The bed was wide enough to fit Gage and still has plenty of spaces for me to sit.

“I lied” I said calmly as I place the tickle toys on the table inches away from his body.

“You cheeky little devil! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Gage immediately burst into laughter as I began stroking the watercolor script liner brush to his hairy chiseled abs while probing his belly button with the round brush. In the first 30 minutes I used all the different watercolor brushes moving from one part of his upper body to another. In the last 30 minutes, I concentrated on his armpits with the hummingbird feather and a watercolor fan brush.

At exactly 6:00 in the morning, the whole night tickle torment was finally over. Even after I untied Gage, he just lay on the table breathing heavily with his eyes closed. His face and his whole body was covered in sweat. I played with his herculean beard and mustache for a several minutes before bidding goodbye.

“I hope to tickle you again in next year’s festival Gage” I said cheekily to the muscleman who was now sound asleep.

I already started missing my favorite fest game as I walked my way back home. I wished time will run fast so I can tickle Gage or a new muscleman in the next year’s festival. When I was halfway towards my house, my phone beeped. It’s a message from my best friend Dalton.

“How was the fest game? Did you win?”

“Of course! I tickle-tortured Gage worse than we did the previous night. Too bad for you weren’t with me to enjoy the fun” I replied

“Too bad for me? Not really! LOL!” Dalton replied with a picture of a huge blond muscular man in his late twenties lying on a large bed with his arms tied to the bars of the headboard. The man looks strangely familiar. But of course. It’s no other than Dalton’s dad who also happened to be my dad’s best buddy. Before I could asked him how he managed to tie his dad, my friend sent another message.

“It was almost midnight when dad and I arrived home from my sister’s birthday party held at mom’s house.” Dalton’s parents are actually divorced and no longer living together but they remained as good friends. The birthday celebrant was actually Dalton’s younger half-sister being the daughter of his mom and her second husband.

“I challenged my dad to play an old card game and whoever loses gets tied and tickled. With a stacked deck, of course I won!” Dalton continued.

“How did he agree to play with you and how did you managed to cheat without him even noticing?” I asked my friend curiously.

“He got drunk from the birthday party. LOL!” Dalton replied with lots of laughing emojis.

I almost forgot how Dalton’s dad have an almost identical personality with my dad. They tend to get naive and cocky when they are under the influence of alcohol.

“Looks like we do not have to wait for next year’s festival to have another tickle fun.” I responded with lots of devil emojis. Dalton replied with evil grinning emojis. I felt our fiendish minds telepathically united as we already identified our next victims.