literature

The Ancient Power Of Laughter

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Literature Text

     In hot humid air, 2 exploratious pokemon push their way through the thick brush of a vast jungle. We see a razor sharp clam shell slice effortlessly through a dense patch of vines and bush, revealing a female dewott, and her younger cousin; a male pancham. Both are wearing moderately sized backpacks, containing supplies for survival such as camp gear and food. The pancham follows his older cousin across the severed vines on the ground. There were more up ahead.

     "Stupid vines, Ugh!" Exclaims the annoyed dewott as she cuts down the second set of vines with an appealing "Shwink!" noise to go with the action.  The pancham is heard snickering behind her, suppressing amused giggles. 

     "Something funny to you, Adam?" The dewott spits in response, looking behind herself at the boy.

     "Something bothering you, Shelly?" scoffs the pancham, maintaining a smug grin as he found his older cousin's irritation to be entertaining.

     "Oh shut up." she sighs, as both pokemon continued on their path, leaves and loose dirt crunching and shuffling beneath their feet. "That temple should have been somewhere around here, according to the map..." The dewott explains, reaching behind herself and pulling out a paper map of the jungle from a pocket on the right side of her backpack. It crinkles in her hands as she opens it, and examines the detailed map of the jungle. "It's right up ahead, come on." She puts the map away and continues forward, Adam following close behind.

     "Hey, I think I see it!" Adam shouts, pointing up ahead at a large ancient-looking temple, nearly 250 feet high and in the shape of a pyramid . It seems to be made mostly of stone, with moss and overgrowth nearly engulfing it. The whole thing visibly radiated age; the stones were cracked and weathered, some of the vines wrapped around various parts of it were dead, there were no signs of any sort of movement nearby for thousands of years. It goes without saying that this isn't the best place for a summer home.

     "Finally! Alright Adam, it's about time we see what all the chatter about this place was for!" Shelly announced with an anxious grin, rushing to the entrance of the temple with Adam following close behind. As they reach the temple, they slow their pace to a cautious walk, knowing that temples like these often contain booby traps. Once they enter, Shelly plucks a torch off of the wall on her left and strikes it against the stone floor, igniting it.

     "One of these days you're gonna pull a torch off the wall and put us both through a trap door, I just know it." Adam quips to bug her.

     "Hey, if I was a fire type we wouldn't need torches. Actually, now that I think about it, we should find a charmeleon or something to go along with us sometime." she adds.

     "No!" Adam exclaims in protest. "The last time we let a fire type come with us he nearly turned our tent into an ash pile!"

     "It was just a thought, sheesh!" Shelly muttered. They reach the end of the dark hallway, only to find that it was a dead end. But instead of turning back, Shelly simply elbows the wall to her right with a grunt, pushing in a stone brick as she does so. The wall blocking their path slides to the left. "Amateurs..." She remarks, not impressed.

     They walk into the room ahead. It was mostly empty, with the exception being a few dusty clay pots scattered along the edges of the room. The walls were no different from the rest of the temple; cold, damp, and unappealing. On the other side of the room was a metal gate, which would appear to open somehow if the chain hanging from the wall next to it was pulled. Adam and Shelly start to wander the room, checking inside the pots for anything of value.

     "Nothing in here... Nothing in here... Lots of dust in here... sigh They're all empty." Shelly grumbles in disappointment.

     "Dang it..." Adam turns his head to peer through the metal gate to find that something around the next corner was faintly glowing red. His eyes widen at the sight of it. "Woah..! Hey Shelly, come look at this!"

     "What is it?" Shelly runs over to where Adam was standing. He points through the gate at the dim red light reflecting off the wall. Shelly's eyes widen a little like Adam's did. "Woah, what is that?" She gawked, staring at the mysterious light.

     "How am I supposed to know? Come on, lets go find out!" Adam pipes anxiously.

     Shelly pulls on the chain next to the gate and it opens. Both of them run through the doorway, eager to see what they find. They round the corner, then suddenly stop in amazement, as they find themselves in an enormous room, roughly the size of a large mansion, carved marble pillars all throughout, sunbeams emerge from holes and cracks near the ceiling. They gaze around in awe at its impressive size, soon noticing that, in the center of the room on a granite pedestal, rested a large, flawlessly round-cut ruby. Shelly's astonishment turned into glee as she shook Adam by the shoulders with a wide grin on her face. "THAT'S THE BIGGEST RUBY WE'VE EVER SEEN IN OUR LIVES, ADAM! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS WOULD SELL FOR?!" she shouted.

     "Ah-Ah-HeyQuitShakingMe!" Adam spouted. Shelly lets go of him and turns to the gorgeous gemstone once more. Adam takes a small moment to regain his composure. "Well lets go get it! I'll look around the room for traps, you examine the pedestal for pressure plates." With that, Adam began walking around, looking on walls and pillars for anything that looks out of place. Meanwhile, Shelly carefully approaches the ruby, making sure to remain alert. She is soon within grabbing distance of the gem, eyeballing it with widened eyes. She musters up the will to call out to Adam.

     "Found anything?" She hollers to her younger cousin.

     "Nothing!" Adam echoes across the gigantic margin of space that this room contained.    

     "Good." Shelly chimes, grinning. She waits for Adam to return to where she was standing before doing anything else. After Adam came back, Shelly slowly starts to reach for the beautiful ruby with both arms. Time seemed to slow as her hands felt as if they were forcing their way through the air, a single second was stretched into what felt like an hour. No other expedition had been this successful, no other temple or dungeon or ancient ruin had contained anything like this. If they were lucky they'd find a handful of gold coins or some historical artifact that was so weathered and eroded it could barely be made out. This was a grand prize she had in front of her, right within reach. It almost seemed too good to be true, that something like this wasn't protected in any sort of deceitful way. No trap doors, no tripwires, not even a spike falling from the ceiling. Mere inches away from it, however, she hesitates.

     Adam looks up at her in confusion. "What's wrong?"

     "...I... feel tingly all the sudden, I don't know why..."

     Adam was more confused. "Tingly? You mean you're nervous?"

     "No, like... My body feels weird..."

     "...Huh?" Adam was totally perplexed, but soon felt the same tingly sensation as Shelly. "-Wait, now I feel it too! Did we get hit with a dart or something?" he looked around himself.

     "I don't know." She suddenly pulls her arms back to herself.  The sudden jerk causes her to drop the torch, it lands next to her, but didn't go out. "-Woah huh?? Why did my arms move back!?" she exclaims, confused as to why her arms acted on their own.

     Before Adam could respond, he found himself in a similar situation, as he involuntarily sits on the ground. "H-Hey! What's going on? I can't move!" he shouted.

     Shelly suddenly turned to Adam, as his arms lifted themselves above his head. "Is the gem making us do this!?" she cried.

     "Yeah, I think it i-HIHIHIS! Hehey!" Adam squeals, as Shelly suddenly drags her index finger up Adam's right side. His limbs visibly flinch slightly as his side tenses up, but he was unable to move out of his exposed position.

     "Sorry! I can't control myself! But... I had no idea you were this ticklish, Adam!" she couldn't help but smirk a little.

     "Oh shut up-EEHEHEHEHE!" Adam once again squee's with laughter, as Shelly traces her not-so-dull finger back down his side. She repeats this motion several times, chuckling a little, momentarily distracting herself from the situation at hand. Once attention had returned to what's going on however, she puts focus on attempting to regain control.

     "Nggg! Come on already! Mmf!" She continues the involuntary tickles, now aiming at his belly with her fingers spidering all over it.

     "YEHEhehehehe! Q-Quihit ihihihihit!! Hahahahaha!" His high pitched giggles echo faintly throughout the room, his face turning red.

     "I can't! My body won't listen to me!" No matter how hard she tried to fight the gem's influence, it proved to be a hopeless effort. Her fingers maintained their ticklish agenda on Adam's upper body, digging into his ribs, scribbling around his sides, and gliding over his belly with a laughter-inducing grace comparable to an ice skating performance during a broadcast of Saturday Night Live. All the while Adam is blending squeals and howls in his uncontrollable fit of encouraging giggles, adding in the occasional squeak for flair. "This has to stop!" she thought to herself, but before she could focus enough to try and think of a way out, her body suddenly shifts closer to Adam's feetpaws. "Ah!"

     Meanwhile, Adam uses this moment to catch any breath he could get his lungs on. "GAAAASP! Ugh... C-Can we... go home now..? please..?" he drawls, still stuck sitting on the ground with his arms over his head. 

     Shelly ignores his question. "Come on, Adam! Haven't you read anything about curses that control people's bodies!? You spend so much flippin' time in the study I figure you would!" She kneels in front of Adam's paws.

     Adam takes a deep breath. "Yeah, but it's hard to think when I can't move and SOMEBODY KEEPS TICKLING ME!" he snaps at Shelly.

     "Hey! Don't yell at me like this is all MY fault! I can't control myself either!" 

     "Yeah well it was your idea to-" He cut himself off, feeling his toes lift themselves.

     "...What? Why the sudden pause?"

     The realization was now hitting Adam that his paws were about to be targeted. He begins to panic a little. "ah, Ah! AH! NOT THE PAWS! NOT MY PAWS! WHY MY PAWS! AHH!"

     Shelly's fingers begin to approach. "Well, think quickly! What do you know about them??"

     "THEY'RE TICKLISH!" He squeaks.

     "Not your paws, idiot! The curse!"

     "Uh, Uhh..!" It takes him a second to focus enough to form thoughts. "F-From what I've read, these kind of curses feed off o-OAHAHA!" He's cut off again when Shelly's sharp fingers make contact with his surprisingly soft soles. At the moment, they stayed in place, not moving around his paws or anything. His toes visibly twitch, as if desperately wanting to curl. This, however, wasn't an option for the poor pancham.

     "What? Feed off of what!? Come on, Adam!"

     "S-SHUT UP!! They feed off of the victim's own willp-PFFFNMMMMMHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHA!!" Shelly had begun to drag her fingers around his paws.    

     "Ugh! Stupid... Gem! Nrgggg!" She tries with all her might to stop herself from torturing Adam, struggling to keep her hands still. But alas, all it manages to do is speed up the process. Her hands scribble mercilessly across and around Adam's paws, etching her fingers into his paw pads and under his toes. The little panda could only squeal helplessly as his body refused to move even an inch. The maddening sensation of having one's paws remain still during such an onslaught on the soles was simply driving Adam into hysterics! The lack of control mixed with the humiliating feeling of being tickled was just too much for him to handle.

     "AAHEHAHAHAHAHA!! S-STOHOHOP TRYHYHYIN T-T-TO RESIHIHIHIHIST!! YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Adam cried at Shelly.

     "Wh-Huh? What are you saying?? You want me to stop resisting!?" Shelly thought that Adam had gone insane with such a request! Stop resisting? Why on earth would he want her to stop resisting? Well luckily for both of them, the uncontrollable tickling slowed to a slight teasing of the toes with her fingers, allowing Adam to speak clearly.

      "Pant... Pant... Stop... Huff... Resisting..!" he chokes back snickers.

     "Why? What else is there to do?" Shelly chided.

     "Th... The curse feeds off of willpower! The more you try to fight it, the stronger it gets! You have to just let it happen for awhile and dry it out!" He explained.

     "...Really? Well, why the heck haven't YOU been letting it happen? Shouldn't you be free by now if you have?"

     "I would LOVE to meet the pokemon who can successfully stay completely still when their most ticklish spot is being clawed at like you've been doing!"

     Shelly sighed. "Fair point... So I just... Let myself be controlled until I can move on my own again?"

     "Pretty much. That should starve the gem's curse after about a minute, and it'll hopefully give you enough time to get outta here!"

     "What about you?? Wouldn't you still be stuck here?"

     "I'll be able to free myself once you've stopped tickling me. Just wait outside the temple and I'll be there in a little while!"

     "Alright then. -Ah!" Her arms suddenly lunge forward, once again attacking Adam's sides and ribs. Same as before.

     Adam squeaks. "EEKyehahahaha!! R-Rehemember! Lehet it hahahapenhehehehehe!"

     Shelly would nod, but she wasn't able to at the moment. She followed Adam's instructions, no longer attempting to fight the gem's influence and just letting herself be at its mercy. It wasn't long before Shelly started to notice a slight return of control, as her arms gradually lowered a tiny amount, as if slowly losing the strength to stay up. "Hey, I think it's working!" she chimed.

     "Gohohohood fohor youhuhuhuhu! Hehahahahaha!" Adam continued to giggle.

     Scribble after squeeze after poke after claw, all over Adam's body. There wasn't any use trying to stop it, they both knew that this would go on for as long as the gem could keep it happening. It was ironic, really. The only way to escape was to not try to escape. However, after 5 minutes of continued obedience, 5 minutes of giving in, 5 minutes of absolute submission! Shelly seemed to trip forwards, as if balance was momentarily lost as she was leaning forwards on her feet, and she catches herself, standing straight up.

     "-Woah!" She looks at herself, almost in disbelief. "H... Hey! I can control myself again! It worked!" She cheered. 

     Adam stays sitting, panting a little. "awesome... Now hurry up and get out of here! Before it takes hold of you again!" he warns.
    
     Shelly could already feel a tingly sensation creeping up on her once more. She nods, picks up the torch laying next to her, and sprints out of the room without hesitation. It felt so relieving to finally have control over her actions again, but she couldn't afford to stop and enjoy this feeling at the moment. Right now, all she could think about is getting out of that temple as fast as possible. Around the first corner; she recognized that tingly sensation coursing all over her body again. Through the empty-potted room; her mind felt a slight disconnection with her actions that was gradually increasing. Past the poorly hidden doorway; she could see daylight at the end of the tunnel. She feared at any moment her body would lose control once more and force her back into the room with the gem, she ran even faster. She was at full sprint, focused entirely on maintaining control. She was not about to lose command over her own arms and legs a second time, and with that determination she soon she reaches the exit and enters into the jungle once more. She bends over in exhaustion, and the tingles fade away. She hasn't ran that fast since the "Johto Incident," but that's an entire story on its own. She looks back at the temple, starting to regain her breath, and couldn't help but worry about Adam. The kid's annoying, sure, but they've been on countless adventures before, and though not every one of them was quite as exploratious as this one, they all meant something to her. Not to mention the fact that they're cousins! Each and every second that ticked by felt like an hour. She feared that Adam wouldn't be able to escape before the gem took over again... What if he wasn't able to escape at all for some reason? Would it be a good idea to run back in and get him? Shelly continued to worry herself in circles, she didn't want to wait anymore. She was just about ready to go back in and get him, when suddenly she sees Adam sprinting out of the temple and collapsing onto the ground, gasping for air.

     "GAAASP! Jeez, that's... pant... the second time I've gasped for air today... pant... whoof..." he manages to sputter out.

     Shelly smiles, breathing a sigh of relief. "Well thank Arceus you made it out of there..."

     "Heh... Yeah." Adam regains his breath and stands up, brushing himself off. "Feels good to be able to move again. Sucks that we weren't able to find anything worthwhile though..." He crosses his arms with a look of disappointment, aimed at nothing in particular.

     "Yeah well we've come out of dungeons and whatnot empty handed before, it was bound to happen again eventually." She gained a look of disappointment as well.

     Adam suddenly looks like he was thinking about something, and stands there quietly, looking at the ground. He seemed slightly irritated.

     "...What? What's wrong?" Shelly asked.

     "...If you so much as lay a finger on me with the intent of making me laugh I will take those shells of yours and throw them down a hole, got me?!" Adam threatens.

     "Woah okay jeez I won't! Yikes!" She shouted

     "Good." Adam turns away just a little.

     "...So do you want to go home now?" Shelly asks.

     Adam pauses. "...Yeah." And off they go.

The End.

GRAB THE CAMERA! GATHER THE ORCHESTRA! ROLL IN THE SPOTLIGHTS, IT'S FINALLY OUT! THE STORY THAT'S BEEN STORED AWAY FOR ALMOST A YEAR IS OUT AT LAST! :happybounce: 

I can't tell you how excited I am to release this, there were times when I thought it'd never come out. But motivation found its way back to my possession, and I was able to use it to complete this story once and for all! I hope you all enjoy! Have a lovely day!
© 2016 - 2024 PawsieWiggles
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ButtonRush's avatar

I love it, but I really wish there were more body control and dancing.