JULY 2020 REWARD (+Story!) (Patreon)

"GUDAGUDA Gorgon's Generous Giggles"

With a groaning noise like an awakening chthonic horror, the Bewitching Black Serpent, the original Rider, struggled against the bindings that contained her, preventing her from exacting her savage vengeance upon this world. And just as well, too, for she was of great and terrible power, her furious retribution as inescapable as it was inevitable.

Which was why, at least according to the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, what she and the Sakura Saber were about to do to her was going to be so, so worth it.

“Why did I agree to this?” Medusa grumbled. “If you had told me that you were going to chain me to the wall of this inexplicable dungeon cell, I would’ve reconsidered.”

The pink-haired girl by her side gave her the most adorable baby-eye she could manage. “Awww, please? For us? You’re helping us settle a debate, and you’re not going to say no to that, right?”

“Okita-san, don’t be ridiculous, she agreed to do everything we specified!” her dark-haired companion responded, rolling her blood-red eyes in exasperation. “Look, she even has a happy smile on her face already!”

“All I did was say yes, and I didn’t think it would involve, well, this!” Medusa tried to pull her arms free from the shackles bolting her to the nigh-indestructible stone wall behind her as a demonstration, and completely failing to actually do so. She felt a slight relief that at least her blindfold hadn’t been thrown in – perhaps the dark-haired girl now eyeing her freshly de-booted feet was not such a monster after all despite her claims to the contrary.

But Oda Nobunaga was not going to let her purple-haired Rider friend miss out on this. It was going to be a show to go down in history, and Medusa was going to have a front-row seat!

“I suppose I did word it in such a way that you wouldn’t have questioned it until after we got you in this thing,” Nobu chuckled. “Though of course I’ve always been kinda sneaky that way, so it can’t be helped!”

“Is that why you’re a four-star, to deceive the players into believing you’re easier to obtain?” Okita Souji asked, raising an eyebrow. “You do know you were a welfare back in the first Gudaguda event, right? They’re four-stars by default.”

“Don’t remind me!” Nobu snapped. “But that’s beside the point. What I bought in our purple-haired friend for is to settle this ridiculous debate we’ve been having for four hours now!”

Medusa gulped, her eyes widening as she connected the dots within a split second. “And that debate is…?”

“Simple,” Nobu replied, giving her a sly look and wiggling her fingers teasingly. “Which one of us is the better tickler?”

“NooooOOO…!”

“This was the only way to resolve it.” Okita poked at the big toe of Medusa’s right foot, making her flinch. “Alright, Nobu-san, you take one foot and I take the other. Anything goes – any implements or techniques we can think of. But rest assured, this will be Okita-san’s great victory once I get her to cry for mercy!”

Naturally, she coughed a second later, a trickle of blood coming from her mouth. Nobu passed her a tissue to wipe the blood off without missing a beat.

“You’re on,” the Demon King replied with the most evil grin on her face.

Medusa’s heart sank. This would take a while…

“Alright, let us begin,” said Okita, placing the nail of her index finger against the exact center of Medusa’s plush right sole. “We’ll start slow, but ramp it up as we go along. The first of us to get Rider to say the safeword will be the victor!”

“Safeword?!” Medusa began to panic. “I don’t recall there being a safe—“

“You’ll have to find out for yourself~“ replied Nobu. She didn’t even wait for a response before she started dragging a single fingernail down Medusa’s left arch.

“Hey! I didn’t give us the go-ahead! That’s cheating!” With an indignant pout, Okita started to trace her fingernail in a circle around Medusa’s other sole. Both of these sensations were already enough for the hapless Rider to start giggling, chewing her bottom lip to try and stifle the flurry of giggles.

“It can’t be helped, Okita-san,” Nobu replied. “Nobody said we’d have to start at the same time, right?”

Medusa had to agree that there wasn’t such a specification, but she couldn’t say a thing, not while trying to hold in the laughter. The feeling of the girls’ nails tracing the creases and folds and ridges of her naked soles sent signals like bolts of tantalizing lightning running up her legs and through her spine. She squeezed her eyes shut, but she knew that wouldn’t be of much use against the escalating torment.

“Well, in that case…” Okita smirked in anticipation, and then, right before Nobu’s eyes, she started wiggling four fingers instead of just the one upon the foot she had chosen. That was all it took for the gorgon to finally crack.

“PFFFFHAHAHAHAHA! NONONONO STOHOHOP! ENOHOHOUGH! HEHEHEHE GO BACK TO JUST THE ONE FINGER, PLEHEHEHEEEEASE!”

“Nice try, but none of those are safewords.” Nobunaga also dug all five of her nails into Medusa’s soles. “You’re going down, Serpent Woman!”

“NOHOHOHO FAHAHAHAIR!!”

Medusa tugged at her restraints more intensely now, shaking her head and knocking her knees together as ten long nails continued their titillating dance along her delicate, sensitive feet, moving up to the bases of her decently long toes and then down towards the heels before she could grab at them. She wanted to pull her feet away so badly, but the GudaGuda girls had thought ahead in that respect, which meant that they had used two metal arches bolted to the pedestal she was seated upon (with a pillow under her tuchus, thankfully) to secure her ankles where they couldn’t escape. All she could do was wiggle her feet around and try to dissuade them.

“Oh, can’t have that now, can’t we?” Nobu managed to catch Medusa’s toes with her free hand, and then began pulling them back so her arches were taut and vulnerable. As soon as her victim saw this, her eyes went wide.

“No no no NO NO—“ But it was too late, for a second later she felt Nobu’s fingers digging into her stretched, helpless sole, scratching oh-so-lightly at where the arch met the heel. Medusa shrieked and squealed, shutting her eyes again and trying to yank herself free. “EEEEE! EEHEHEHEEE!!”

“Do you really have to go so intense so quickly, Nobu-san?” asked Okita, also tugging back the toes on Medusa’s other foot in an imitation of her companion, at the same time wiggling two fingers upon the center of that respective arch. “It should be obvious that a slow buildup would be much more effective in the long-term.”

“Oh, don’t be a coward! You know you have to be quick and methodical in order to truly break them!” Nobunaga continued moving her fingers with increasing speed, exploring the smooth heel and the ball of the captive foot, even briefly scritching at the base of the laughing gorgon’s big toe. “I’m going to find aaaaaall of Rider’s tickle spots, and once I break her, then I will surely be the winner. An SSR five-star tickler!”

“TH-THAT’S NOT HOW IT WOHOHORKS!” Medusa cried out in hysterical indignation. “YOU’RE A WELFAHAHAHARE, NOT OBTAINABLE FROM THE GACHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Oh, so that’s how you’re gonna play it?” Nobu gave the Rider a fearsome look and a smile that was all teeth. “That is an insult I won’t take sitting down. You asked for it!”

Before Medusa could respond, she let out a SHRIEK as Nobu raked all five nails along her stretched sole, up and down and all around like and angry cat mauling a scratching post. Souji, still having a slightly exasperated look on her face, did the same with the other foot.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA I’M SORRY I’M SORRYYYY! I SHOULDN’T HAVE SAHAHAID THAHAHAT!” Medusa howled.

“Too late to apologize, you ticklish sneaky snake!” Nobu replied with an evil cackle. “It can’t be helped!”

“You made your bed, Medusa, now lie in it,” added Okita with an apologetic smile, continuing to scritch and poke at the center of that ticklish arch and the stem of the gorgon’s big toe.

All Medusa could do was watch and laugh, now shaking more frantically against her bindings. She tugged and yanked at her bound wrists, but there was no way she could escape the feeling of her captors’ nails scribbling all over both feet at once.

The fact that the stone they were attached to was beginning to show tiny cracks coming from where the bolts were did not register with any of them. Yet.

----------

It was another five minutes of this methodical, maddening torment before the two of them stopped for the moment, letting Medusa catch her breath for about that long. Gasping and panting, she gave the other girls a pleading look. “H-have you settled that debate yet?”

Okita shook her head. “Oh no, I’m not going to let Nobu-san win! Let’s move on to Phase Two!”

“TH-THERE’S A PHASE TWO?!” Medusa screamed in stark terror, a helpless smile already on her face as, once again, her long, plush soles began to tingle uncomfortably.

“Oh, yeah. We didn’t bring the big guns all the way here just to let them gather dust and cobwebs. Get ready! Okita-san’s great victory is on the way!”

“No you don’t, I’m the one who’s already winning!” Nobu snapped, reaching somewhere below Medusa’s bound feet for a moment before holding up several lengths of cord — and a horsehair scrubbing brush. “I’m the better tickler, and that is inevitable!”

“Nooo…” Medusa whimpered, visibly deflating. “No no no noooo, pleeease! Leave my feet alone…!”

“You agreed to this, Rider-san,” Okita replied, taking out some string and a brush of her own. “So suck it up. It’ll be over before you know it, anyway, and this time, I’ll win!”

“Not on my watch!” Nobu was already in the process of tying each of the long toes of Medusa’s left foot to the metal arch securing her ankle. “Your Weak Constitution is just because of your sickness! It has no right to be as good as it is in the game!”

“You’ve always been one of the best Sabers I know,” Medusa added. “And I’m sure you’ll perform even better in battle now that Scáthach-Skaði has been released—“

“In the North American server,” said Okita, tying the last knot binding her prisoner’s right foot. “She was already out for a few years in Japan. And as much as you flatter me, it’s not the same as proof that I’m the best!” She held up the brush, sending a chill down Medusa’s spine.  “Ready?”

“I’m not…” Medusa’s reply was a terrified whimper.

Purposely ignoring her mortal panic, Nobu and Souji took up the brushes, and placed them so that the very tips pf the wiry bristles were making contact with both taut, helpless soles. “Ready?” they said simultaneously. “GO!!”

The brushes began their work slowly and carefully, the girls dragging them along the middle of each tender sole. This was more than enough to make poor Medusa scream at the top of her lungs, her laughter too strong to be held in for longer than a second.

“WAHAHAHAHAHAHA! C-CAHAHAN’T YOU GO BAHAHAHACK TO THE FINGHEHEHERS? THIS IS WOHOHOHORSE!!”

“No way, this is too fun!” Nobu replied, now moving the brush upward so it was scrubbing the ball of the trapped foot, pressing the bristles deeper and moving them faster.

“You haven’t said any safe words yet, though,” said Okita. “If you want us to stop, then try and figure it out~“

“HAHAHAH-HONNOJI?” Medusa shrieked loudly. “MEHEHEJI?! SHINSEGUMIIIII! ANYTHING, PLEASE MAKE IT STAHAHAHAP!”

“All waaaay off the mark,” Nobu replied as she and Okita now moved the brushes all the way up to the undersides of Medusa’s toes, the sensation making her voice go up another octave. “I’m not telling, and you won’t get any hints out of me!”

“This won’t stand,” Okita said suddenly. “Tine to bring out the big leagues. Shnsegumi Triple Tickle Torture Technique!”

Before Medusa could ask what she’d meant, Okita leaned her head in towards her trapped right foot, moving the brush down to tickle the arch once more.

“NO! NONONOAIEEEE—!” Medusa screamed with laughter more intensely and at a higher pitch than she would have thought possible. Not only was Okita brushing more fervently than ever, but she was also now licking and suckling at her tightly bound toes, and wiggling her nails into that sweet spot where the arch met the heel.

“Oh, this won’t stand!” replied Nobu. “Oda Bakufu Ticklish Toe Terminator!”

“YOU’RE JUST MAKING THOSE UHUHUP! AHAHAHAHAEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEE!”

Now Medusa’s poor feet were being assaulted by brushes, tongues, and fingers all at once. She was now yanking at her shackles harder than ever, desperately trying to get free, but it was so hard to concentrate with those tongues and bristles and nails wreaking havoc on every inch of sensitive sole skin! In fairness, though, the hapless gorgon was making a very good effort… because unbeknownst to all of them, the wall behind her was beginning to crack more and more…

“AHAHAHALRIGHT I GIVE UP!” Medusa yelled finally. “JUST TELL ME THE SAFE WORD! I’LL TELL IT TO YOU A HUNDRED TIMES IF YOU’LL JUST STOHOHAHAHAP!”

The girls didn’t let up on the scrubbing and nail raking, but they did look up from their licking to give Medusa some very confused looks. Even through her tears and the locks of hair which had fallen over her face, though, Medusa could clearly spot that look on both of their faces, especially the way they exchanged nervous glances.

And that was when it occurred to her:

There was no safe word.

In the midst of the sea of ticklish torment that had overwhelmed her mind, a boiling hot fury burned suddenly. Gorgon the Avenger would be proud, but that was not relevant right now. What certainly was, however, was the looks of panic the GudaGuda girls shared upon hearing the next two words to come from the Rider’s mouth.

“MONSTROUS STRENGTH!”

The shackles binding Medusa’s limbs were ripped free from their posts with one swift movement and four simultaneous cracking noises of shattering stone. The cords binding her toes were snapped apart as she stood up, glaring down at them with a gaze that paralyzed them with more than mere terror.

“All of that preparation, all of that effort to get me to agree with all this… AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN THINK OF A SAFE WORD?!” Medusa snarled. “What is WRONG with you two?!”

Both girls found that they couldn’t even twitch a single muscle in their bodies (obviously except for the vital processes like breathing and such), only able to move their eyes and mouths. Nobu’s eyes were wide with fear as she found herself helplessly gazing down at the angry gorgon.

“I-It was her fault! She was the one who asked if we could do it—”

“Me? You were the one who wanted to tie up Rider-san like that!” Okita replied in indignant outrage. “Now look what you’ve done, you’ve made her mad!”

“So what?” Nobunaga let out a “harrumph” in a bid to express utter contempt, but the trembling in her voice made her true feelings clear. “It’s not like she’s gonna kill us just because we tied her up and tickled her to near insanity… right? RIGHT?!”

In spite of the anger she’d felt a second ago, Medusa felt her gaze soften (though her Mystic Eyes of Petrification certainly didn’t). As much as she didn’t like having to endure the antics of her two companions, she did find them amusing on occasion, even if she did pity the two at the same time. Still… This was a slight that was not going to go unpunished. Not if she could help it.

“Oh, no. I’m not going to kill two of the closest friends I have. As a matter of fact…” She stroked her cheek, a pondering eye and a sinister grin on her face as her eyes fell upon another corner of the chamber. “I have a better idea in mind…”

----------

“NGAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU SNAHAHAHAHAHAKE! THE NOBUNAGA CLAN WILL GET YOU FOR THIHIHIS!” Oda shrieked, struggling in vain to break free from the chains binding her arms to her sides, her ankles pinned by the iron stocks bolted to the dungeon floor. All of her toes were secured to the stocks by the same kind of cord she had used to tie back Medusa’s toes earlier, and unlike the Rider, she was not even remotely strong enough to break them free and protect her hyper-sensitive arches from the raking and prodding action of Medusa’s nails, her left hand switching from one foot to the other and back in rapid succession.

“RIDER-SAHAHAN, NOOOOOHOHOHO! MY TOES ARE MY WORST SPOHOHOHOTS!!! GET HER INSTEHEHEAD!” By her friend’s side, Souji squirmed and screamed, her own feet stocked as well, with two thin metal bars holding back the pads of her toes, allowing Medusa’s fingers to dance along the stems and bases and even the spaces between.

“I’m already getting both of you at once, isn’t that enough?” Medusa teased. “I was wondering myself if Nobu-san was more ticklish than Souji, or vice versa, but it seems the results are inconclusive.”

“TH-THAHAHAT’S JUST AN EXCUSE!” Nobu yelled, tears pouring down her cheeks.

“Maybe, but you’re one to talk, since all you wanted was to tickle me out of my mind. Let’s continue for another hour, and then we’ll call it even. How’s that sound?”

“NOHOHOHO FAHAHAHAAAIIIIRR!!” Okita wailed.

“MERCY, PLEASE, MERRRCEEEEEHEHEHEEE!” Nobunaga added. “WHYYYYY?!”

But no mercy came from Medusa’s tickling fingers, her furious retribution as inescapable as it was inevitable. Her victims writhed and shrieked in response to the teasing scratches and pokes of the Bewitching Black Serpent’s deadly-sharp nails gliding along across their baby-soft soles, powerless against the bindings that contained them.

And with an inquiry like that, there could be only one response.

“Well, it can’t be helped!”

**********

The following is included in this reward:

• High-resolution artwork
• An additional version lacking the Patreon watermark and with a different signature
• A version with dialogue, also without the watermark
• A TIFF file version with all layers

-Skaea