A story by guestsurprise and myself. Enjoy!

Sasha, Rachel, and Ben all sat down together. All of them were eager to just do nothing since they had just gotten finished with a lot of work for the day. They were visiting the others in the realm, but they were feeling somewhat crabby and overworked.

"We just need some downtime," Ben said, now relaxing. They were resting in Jovi's lab because he said he had something to show them. He had to go to Earth and they decided to wait for him.

"Yeah, I just want to relax and do nothing," Rachel said.

"Me too," Sasha said.

"Are you all alright? You seem to not be having the best day," Jocu said, now entering with Kumi. Both of them could sense their agitation and exhaustion.

"We just need time out for a while, that's all," Ben said, now leaning back.

"Well, Kumi and I are going to grab some berries from the yard. How about you all come and join us?" Jocu said.

"Maybe in a minute Jocu…I don't feel like doing much," Rachel said.

"Me either," Sasha said.

"Yeah, we'll catch up later," Ben said, now yawning lazily.

Both nodded and decided to walk outside. Once they were out there, Jocu turned to Kumi and shook his head.

"I do not think they need to be inside for long; their spirits are low and they are feeling upset," Jocu said.

"I agree your highness, but how can we help?" she asked, now polishing her wand with her beautiful dress.

"Hmmmm…I have the feeling anything can happen. Let's keep our eyes open; the answer will become clear," he winked. She smiled back at him and the two began to pick berries.

In the meantime, Ben had begun to get thirsty. He glanced over and saw his water bottle that he brought, but as he reached for it he knocked over a vile of red liquid!

"BEN!" Sasha said in horror.

"BEN! LOOK OUT!" Rachel screamed in horror, now both sisters running over to his aid as the entire room filled with smoke.

"JOCU!" Ben yelled, now coughing hard on the smoke. Jocu, hearing his cry, ran inside the castle at lightning speed. Kumi ran behind him.

"Ben! Sasha! Rachel! What's going on?!" Jocu said, now thundering inside. But once he came in, he stopped cold and his eyes widened. "What…in the realm…"

"Jocu?! Your Highness, what…..happened…." Kumi paused, now seeing what he was staring at. For there before them were three tickle beasts! Sasha, Rachel, and Ben had been transformed into tickle beasts! Jocu breathed deep and then blew to clear the air. Once the smoke cleared from around them, the three saw their reflection in a nearby mirror!

"NO! WHAT HAPPENED TO US?!" Ben screeched, now running over and staring at himself. "GUYS WE'RE MONSTERS!"

"No! We're Tickle beasts!" Sasha screamed.

Indeed they were. Ben was now a tickle beast with green fur, white zig-zag stripes and four tails. Sasha had pink fur with purple heart shapes and two tails. And Rachel, she had white fur with red swirly patterns and six tails.

"We can't stay like this! Jocu! Kumi! You have to help us!" Rachel pleaded.

"Kumi! Do something! Cast a spell or something to make this go away!" Ben demanded.

"What do you think, my prince?" Kumi asked, now looking at Jocu. She wasn't so sure about changing them back so soon.

"I think that this is the perfect opportunity to teach them how to lighten up and to walk in a tickle beasts' paws," Jocu smirked.

"WHAT?!" Ben said in horror. "You can't trap us like this! This is crazy! Change us back!"

"Ben, relax. This isn't a punishment. This is to help you all calm down and to learn about how it is to live among us," Jocu said gently. Ben opened his mouth to protest, but Jocu scratched Ben under the chin, causing Ben to stop. His tails started to wag as he enjoyed the chin scratching.

"But-" Sasha said, but she giggled as Kumi scratched her behind the ears.

"Relax, my dear. It won't be so bad; it will be fun," Kumi smiled warmly. Sasha purred softly.

"Really?" Rachel asked hopefully.

"I promise," Kumi smiled, now kissing the top of their heads. "Now come!"

"Yes, your first lesson will be to help us track Nitians," Jocu chuckled.

"What?! Track Nitians?!" Ben said, now seeing Jocu get on all fours in front of him.

"You have a strong sense of smell as a tickle beast. Your species helped us in the past to always track Nitians. You all could track them a little faster than we could. Just put your nose in the air," Jocu said, now leading them all outside.

Once they all went outside, Ben let out a sigh and did as he was told. Once he did, he got a terrible scent of eggs and garbage.

"Man, that smells awful," Ben said, now holding his nose with his paws.

"Smells like rubbish or garbage?" Jocu smirked, now eyeing Ben.

"Yeah, like rotten eggs," Ben gagged, making Jocu and Kumi laugh.

"Yeah, we can smell it too. It smells horrible," Rachel said.

"Like old eggs and socks," Sasha said, trying not to vomit.

"Then you all have tracked the Nitians. Come! Lead us to them! If they are this close they are going to try and give children nightmares!" Kumi said.

"Then we won't let them," Ben said seriously. "This way!"

And with that, he bounded off and the others followed him. Ben now knew that he had to help stop these horrible creatures. Now that he could smell them, he wanted to give them the biggest bite ever! After all, they were responsible for making children cry from nightmares!

"There!" Ben roared, now pushing into the clear! As they all pushed into the clear, they saw two Nitians trying to mix a potion to create more nightmares.

"WHAT?! LAUHINIANS?!" One of them screeched.

"And tickle beasts?! How are those still around?! I thought we destroyed them all!" A Nitian said.

"You monsters….one day we will resolve what you've done with the tickle beasts and you will pay for it," Jocu roared.

"Monsters!" Kumi said, now making her eyes glow and she raised her hands. "I think a toasted Nitian sounds wonderful right now!

"You stay away from us!" The other Nitian hissed, now getting into a defensive stance.

"At least we gave a few kids in that mansion a good scare," another Nitian smirked.

"THAT DOES IT!" Sasha said, now pouncing and biting the living daylights out of one of them. Kumi and Jocu laughed as Ben and Rachel began biting them as well and making the Nitians run off in pure horror.

"That will teach them," Rachel huffed.

"I must say you all make marvelous tickle beasts," Jocu laughed, now tickling behind Ben's ears.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Ben said, now almost enjoying it.

"Come now, this is a sensitive and good spot for most tickle beasts," Jocu soothed out.

"Jocu! AHAHA! STAHAHAP that tickles!" Ben laughed.

"Well, I won't tickle you now because we still have a lot to do together, but I make no promises for later. Come you all," Jocu smiled, now leading them back to the castle.

However, instead of going to the castle to be returned to normal, Jocu, Vivo, and Kumi were in the courtyard while Ben and the girls were sitting before them, still tickle beasts! Jocu went to the picnic table where there was a basket of some kind sitting on it. Jocu reached into the basket.

"So, how are you going to change us back?" asked Rachel.

Jocu waved a finger. "Patience, my dear. You kids need to unwind from all your hard work. So..." He took out what looked like a cat toy. It was a really long feather wand! Jocu shook the toy in front of Rachel's face. Normally, Rachel would question this, but she didn't. Her eyes grew big and she found herself unable to control herself. She started batting and swatting the toy as Jocu laughed.

"That's it, girl! Come on!" Jocu cooed. Rachel pounced and scurried around like a happy kitty cat.

"Rachel!" Sasha was just about to help her sister until she was caught off guard when Kumi held onto Sasha and started rubbing her tummy. With her newfound beast instincts, Sasha melted in Kumi's arms and laid down on her back. Kumi kept rubbing and scratching Sasha's furry stomach.

"Ah, someone likes a good belly rub." Kumi mused. "Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl?"

Sasha panted happily as her leg shook. She was loving this! It didn't tickle, it felt great! No wonder Scruffy liked getting his belly rubbed.

Ben couldn't believe this! Rachel and Sasha were acting like house pets! Ben had to stop this! But his nose picked up the most wonderful smell. He snapped his head toward Vivo. The tickle monster was holding up what looked like a doggie biscuit. Ben started to drool.

Vivo waved the treat. Ben's eyes followed the yummy treat. "I think someone wants a treat." Vivo said teasingly.

Ben crouched down, wagging his tails. He panted as drool oozed down his chin.

"Sit." Vivo ordered.

Ben sat down instantly.

"Roll over."

Ben rolled over and over.

Vivo offered his hand. "Shake."

Ben shook Vivo's hand.

"Good boy!" Vivo gave Ben the treat. Vivo took out another one and Ben was ready to do more tricks.

Meanwhile, Sasha was still enjoying her rubs and pets from Kumi. The Tickle Enchantress grinned as she scratched Sasha under the chin. "Oh, does that feel good, my little Sasha?" She stroked her head as well.

Sasha couldn't speak. Her mind was in sweet bliss.

Rachel purred contently as Jocu scratched her belly. "I think our friends are feeling much more relaxed."

"Yeah," said Kumi, petting Sasha's tails.

"They sure are." Vivo added as he scratched Ben behind the ears. "But we have to change them back so they can relax as humans."

"True." said Kumi. "Well, let's get to it."

In the Tickle Dungeon, Kumi finally finished the formula to cure their human friends turned tickle beasts. It was a glowing green liquid in a glass. She poured the cure into three dog dishes then Ben, Rachel, and Sasha drank out of their respective bowls. Each of them became engulfed in puffs of green smoke. The smoke cleared and they were back to their human selves!

"Finally!" Ben stood up.

Rachel sighed, beyond relieved.

"Man, am I glad to be back!" said Sasha.

"Not so fast!" said Kumi. "We need to do a thorough check." Kumi went to Sasha and looked behind her. "No tails." She looked at Sasha's arm. "No fur." She held Sasha's head and scratched her under the chin. Sasha squeaked at the touch of those fuzzy fingers and broke out in giggles.

Kumi smiled as Sasha laughed. "Ticklish under the chin. Now, let's check the belly!"

"Nooooooo!" Sasha whimpered. Kumi pinned Sasha to the floor and used her extra arms to lift the human's shirt up. "Hmm..." Kumi softy rubbed and scratched the surface of Sasha's belly.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KUMI! STOP HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sasha laughed. "I'M STILL TICKLISH THERE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Ben and Rachel roared with laughter when Vivo and Jocu checked their bellies as well. "Yep. I think they're back to normal." said Jocu as Rachel was in stitches.

"Uh-huh." Vivo said.

They stopped tickling the humans. But they were too tired to move. "I never thought being a tickle beast took so much out of you..." said Rachel.

"I don't want to get up." Ben groaned. He and Rachel heard snoring. They looked over and saw Sasha was already asleep. Jocu picked up Rachel and Vivo picked up Ben.

"Let's get you kids to bed so you can get some real rest." said Jocu.

Rachel smiled as she cuddled into his furry chest. "That'd be nice. Don't forget Sasha." She heard Kumi giggle.

"Don't have to." Kumi pointed to Sasha. Scruffy had come in and sniffed Sasha carefully. Then he grabbed her by her pant leg and gently dragged her to his giant doggie bed. Everyone watched as Scruffy curled up in his bed with Sasha nestled with him. The Tickle beast purred, making the sleepy Sasha open her eyes. She ran her fingers through the soft, snuggly fur.

"Scruffy..." Sasha closed her eyes, smiling as she nuzzled into the fur. "So warm and cuddly..."

Kumi came over with a cozy blanket and covered up Sasha. With a good blanket and comfy beast to sleep on, Sasha quickly fell back to sleep. Scruffy closed his eyes and fell asleep too.

Jocu and Vivo carried their tired friends up the stairs. Kumi stayed behind to watch over Sasha. She knew she was in good hands with Scruffy, but she couldn't help but watch Sasha sleeping so soundly. It warmed her heart.

Kumi sat on her feathery couch, quietly reading a spell book when Adulato came in. He knew Sasha was asleep, so he came in as silent as a mouse. He sat down with Kumi and gave her a kiss.

"I heard you had a fun day." Adulato whispered in Kumi's ear, making his girlfriend smile.

"Yes," Kumi chuckled. "I always look forward to so much fun when our friends come over to play. But I'm also happy when our own family will be a part of it all." She held Adulato's hand, admiring the engagement ring she wore that was given by Adulato.

The two tickle monsters held each other, looking forward to their future together.