Toadette's Story: Book 1

Chapter 4 - Gambler's Paradise

“WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG!?”

The girl stormed off while I was sliding my feet back into my flats. Jeez, was she in that much of a hurry to leave? When I finally caught up to her, something occurred to me.

“You’re not gonna put your shoes on?”

“Why? It’s not the first time I’ve gone out barefoot.”

Hearing that sent a chill up my spine. But forget about the bare feet. The kid’s exposed body disturbed me more than her getting a rock stuck in her foot.

“Can you change the swimsuit into something more… presentable?”

She rolled her eyes. “We’re not going out that long.”

While walking through the castle, the girl left a dirt trail behind. Whoever’s job was to clean the floor, I felt terrible for them. Rich kids could get away with anything.

“You never told me where we’re even going,” I mentioned.

“Playroom.”

That place was constructed by a devil hellbent on sucking out your coins. No rational person would go there. How did this kid even know about it?

“Why the Playroom— OW!”

This little brat kicked me right in the shin. “Wait until we’re out the castle.”

Once we left the castle grounds, the girl wiped her forehead. Then, she fell to the sidewalk below her, sticking a finger up. Something told me she needed an inhaler with all this huffing and puffing.

But in due time, she got up, taking one last look at the castle. “I always lose coins, huh? Well, I’m about to win me a bunch of them, and Mother’s not getting a single one.”

“Because wealthy people totally need more money.”

“I barely got money from Mother in the first place. And if she’s gonna limit my coins, I wanna earn some on my own.”

“Heh, good luck with that,” I chuckled. “They have a jumping game and a hammer game. And I know a little girl like you can’t earn more than a single coin without some strength.”

More importantly, she wouldn’t have a lot of time to play these games anyway. Up in the sky, the clouds were getting into position to block the sun. Grey clouds only meant one thing. Rain. And I wasn’t looking forward to getting my clothes ruined by some nasty rainwater.

The girl kept trying to scratch her sandy toes on my leg. For a royal, she sure didn’t understand cleanliness.

“You must’ve gone ages ago. Have you never seen the Tickle Attack game?”

I paused. “Tickle a-what now?”

“It’s been there for two years now. One person gets tied to a chair, and that chair’s bolted to a giant machine. The second person tickles the victim’s feet like a monster, and the laughter fills the meter. The more the meter rises…”

She did a backwards somersault. Kind of. That face-first landing looked like it hurt.

“The more money we make!” She wiped herself off, laughing. “You and me, Miss…”

“Toadette,” I corrected. “And what’s the deal with this? I’m supposed to be tickling you?”

The girl went motionless for a bit before shrugging. “Sure. My feet are pretty ticklish, so it shouldn’t stress you out too badly.”

Oh, if I were reaping some of the benefits from this, I’d tickle her to death.

As we got closer to the pipe that led to the Playroom, Her Highness’s daughter mentioned that we could earn a maximum of 950 coins. Half of 950 is 300, right? That’s a higher amount of cash than I’d have had in months! Ooh, I could start buying myself some new make-up or better-quality food.

“The time limit is 60 seconds,” the girl said as she climbed atop the green pipe. “Hope you can handle it.”

I dove in after her, cruising along the suction of the warp pipe. Dang, these things always sucked. Nothing scared me more than temporarily getting stuck in a tube as the suction pulled against my face. Luckily, this time, I plopped right on the other side. Mmm… The scent of cinnamon sent me down a nostalgia motorway. The hours I’d spent in this place were limitless. Its fuzzy orange and brown walls, years later, made me smile.

“Well, lookie here.”

That high, sing-songy voice was all too recognisable.

Minh T.!

With me playing babysitter today, she was the last person I wanted to see. And… Oh my gosh, even with her flip-flops on, her wiggling toes were still making me green in the face. How can someone get so much dirt encrusted onto their toes and under their nails if half their time is spent indoors?

I swatted her foot away from my face. “Didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Neither did I, Miss I-Swear-I-Won’t-Gamble-All-My-Coins-Away-Ever-Again.”

Four years later, she still wouldn’t let that incident slide. It wasn’t like it was her money I spent. Just a bit of her money.

“Well, get your facts straight because I’m not the one betting my coins today.”

“Is that true?”

My reply? Pointing to the yellow-haired midget that stood on her toes to talk to the Toad behind the counter. Minh T.’s head creaked towards the girl, then back to my smug face. Confused didn’t describe just how clueless she was.

“Toadette, did you make Her Highness into a kid again?”

“I’m about to blow your mind, but that’s her daughter.”

“WHAT!?” Her sharp yell forced the lights to flicker, and the voice travelled through the room for twelve seconds.

I pinched her arm. “Don’t make it big news. I’m just as lost as you are, but I gotta watch her, okay?”

Minh T. put her feet up on the waiting bench, yawning and nodding. One thing I could say about her: she was a hard worker. Sometimes I’d be scared she’d work herself to death. My attempts to get her to rest a bit more had been in vain, but as of recent, I’d seen her taking more time off to heal her body.

“Wait a minute,” I snapped. “What are you doing here?”

“Just came from the Li’l Oink Farm. Managed to snag me a Super Mushroom snack. Then I saw it was about to shower out there, and well, I’m gonna hide in here.”

“What if it doesn’t stop pouring?”

She sighed. “I can sleep here. No biggie.”

The little girl ran up to tap my shoulder. “The Tickle Attack pipes are on their way, Miss Toadette.”

“TICKLE ATTACK!?”

As if she snorted the largest batch of S’crow Dust, Minh T. rocketed out her seat and shook me back and forth. “Let me play! I wanna play!”

“Sorry,” I pushed her off me, “two people only.”

“Actually, ma’am, it supports THREE players. One in the chair. One on the right foot. One on the left foot. She can play.”

I glared at the Toad at the counter. I was looking forward to having at least 300 coins, not splitting it even further. Or 450 or whatever half of 950 was!

“It’s fine, Miss Toadette.” As she skipped to one of the blue pipes, the brat declared, “I’ll take 50% of our prize, and you and your girlfriend can take 25% each.”

What a rip-off! But a few hundred coins at max was better than nothing. And I refused to let Minh T. take half of those winnings. I went to the massive pipe only to be hit in the face by the kid.

“You go to the pipe next to this one. The one I’m on is for the chair.”

I followed those instructions, hoisting myself into the second pipe.

Oof. Did I land… in a chair? My legs were propped up on some kind of table. And as I checked my right, a Toad was tying me up with belts. Wait. What the hell was going on?

Minh T. dropped flat before me, with the girl already rubbing her hands.

My energy was at an all-time high. “You little demon! You told me YOU were being tickled!”

“I did consider that,” she smirked. “But it’d be way funnier to see you tickled, Miss Toadette.”

If I weren’t her proto-nanny right now, I’d have clawed her hair out.

“But don’t worry. My fingers are masters at wiggling.”

These heavy belts didn’t break one bit. No matter how hard I struggled, even lunging out, they restrained me to this giant contraption. Suddenly, my feet felt a breeze. In addition, the tops of my toes were now barely visible. My shoes!

Oh no…

As if things weren’t going downhill already, this was the reddest I’d ever seen Minh T. in a while. Her jaw dropped, and without haste, she got on her knees, giggling like a psycho.

“Question. We allowed to use our tongues in this game?”

The Toad nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

She probably had an orgasm right there on the spot. “Sorry, Toadette,” she licked her lips. “I’ve waited years for this. I ain’t holdin’ anything back.”

EW! She scrunched her nose against my toes and took a huge whiff. Gross, gross! She moaned out some Spanish gibberish before taking another sniff.

“So the rumours about you having naturally smelly feet were true after all!”

Her horniness was interrupted by the room’s lights reaching a high brightness. Then came a whirring sound. From the ceiling, half of a block encased itself right behind my feet.

My legs were prisoners, too!?

“We start in ten seconds!”