Ben was right in the middle of a nap when he heard sobbing from the other room.
"Wonder who that is?" He said, now getting up and walking out into the hallway. He heard sobs coming from one of the nearby rooms. He walked up to it gently and knocked on the door.
"C-come in." The voice said. Ben gently walked in and saw Salwa looking sad and irritated.
"Hey, what's wrong hon?" Ben whispered.
"I'm ok…I just had a nightmare," She said quickly wiping her tears.
"Salwa, it's ok." Ben grinned gently, now crawling over to her and hugging her.
"I-I'm ok Ben!"
"Sure you are. But you need help keeping those nightmares away." Ben said, now holding her in a more protective hug.
Little did he know, in another realm the nightmare king laughed in glee.
"Wonderful! Now just a few more nightmares and I will make that little human cry even harder!" The evil king laughed.
"I should have known it was you…" A deep voice growled. The evil king turned and saw Prince Jocu walk in and give him a malicious looking grin.
"Well…Prince Jocu…"
"Don't Prince Jocu me...you leave that young human alone or you will answer to me." Jocu said, now standing eye to eye with the nightmare king.
"You don't scare me Prince Jocu! Only your father is strong enough to GAH!"
At that moment, Jocu had him by the neck.
"Listen. No human under my charge will be subject to your nightmares. Now I will only ask this once…leave her be." Jocu said, his eyes glowing and the malicious looking grin growing wider. When Jocu smiled like that it meant very bad news!
The nightmare king hissed and then disappeared. Smiling confidently, Jocu disappeared and teleported to Ben's room. Ben had slowly fallen asleep, but Salwa was scared to go back to sleep because of her nightmares.
"Trouble sleeping?" A voice asked. Salwa jumped and saw the tickle prince grinning at her. Salwa screamed, but noticed her voice wasn't loud at all! In horror, she saw fire sparkles gently rubbing off of the Prince's fingers. He used his magic to deaden her screams
"Now I can't have you scream and wake up everyone," the prince chuckled.
"L-Leave me alone!" She begged.
"Salwa easy I..woah," He said, his red skin now suddenly turning a bluish color and back to red again. "Well, it appears I will be King before I know it." When a prince turned bluish, that was a sign of maturity and that he was ready to be the Tickle King. However, Prince Jocu was still red so he was not quite ready just yet.
"Don't hurt me!" Salwa said in horror, now running in fear but he caught her and pinned her down under him.
"Salwa, come now…" He cooed, now gently bending down and nuzzling her neck. "I am Prince Jocu and I will not harm you. I just defended you from an outside threat."
"Outside threat?!"
"Now now easy….easy…" He chuckled, now gently digging his strong red fingers into the base of her wings.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAH STHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHP!"
"Tickle tickle…my what a ticklish one you are." The prince laughed, now gently using his nail to scratch under her ears, making her laugh in pure mirth.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HEHEHEHEHEHEHEELP!"
"Don't panic my dear…it's alright. Let me take those fears away," The Tickle Prince chuckled, now using two arms to tickle Salwa's sides and two hands to tickle behind her shoulder blades.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA QUIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHT!"
"Cootchie Cootchie Coo little one…tickle tickle tickle," He laughed, now letting his tails run up and down her arms and gently tickle her nose.
"NO! H-HEY! AH! AH! AHCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She sneezed.
"Your nose is ticklish little one," He chuckled, now gently tickling her feet with one of his tails.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA PRIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHHNCE JOCU STAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHP!"
Finally, he let her go and gave her some space to breathe.
"Salwa…you alright?" He asked, now laying down beside her on his side and rubbing her back.
"Th-Thanks, but who are you?!"
"I'm Prince Jocu, the tickle monster Prince. But you may call me the Tickle Monster," He laughed.
"T-Tickle monster?!"
"That's right and I am happy I could help you. You're one of the ones I placed under my charge and my job is to protect and help you when you need me," Prince Jocu grinned.
"But I didn't know tickle monsters existed!"
"Well now you do, now come here," He grinned, now pouncing at her and gently nipping her neck, making her laugh in glee.
"I knew you'd help her Jocu," Ben chuckled from the bed.
"BEHEHEHEHEHEEHEHEHEHEHN HEHEHEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHELP!"
"Nope, I'm letting him at ya this time just like he got me."
"And who's to say you're not next Ben?" Jocu grinned with a devious smirk.
"Oh shoot!" Ben said in shock as one of the Prince's arms stretched and grabbed his ankle. "Gah! Jocu let me go!"
"Nope! It appears the mission this week still overworked you now come here," Jocu laughed, now easily pulling Ben over and tickling him after letting Salwa have a breather.
"Y-You're pretty cool Jocu," Salwa giggled, now gently grabbing one of his tails and wiggling her nails on it.
"OH! You little troublemaker!" The Prince laughed, now pulling her back in the midst and tickling her with Ben again. Truth be told, Salwa really liked this new guardian and his tickles too!
guestsurprise: Hope you all liked the second chapter!
newbienovelistRD: I loved it! I just love that tickle monster! ^^