Chapter 4

In a Ball Room, around studying the instruments in front of him, Techno-Tune paused when hearing a distant scream. He decided to shrug it off.

"I got to get my helmet adjusted," Techno-Tune replied, his hand tapping on the side. "I am hearing things."

"Are you now?" Came a deep voice.

Hearing that, Techno-Tune turned around abruptly with his electric violin ready.

"All right, whose there?!" The tech teen shouted. "Don't make me use this!"

"A violin? What are you going to do? Sing me to sleep?" The deep voice asked a bit mockingly.

"Why don't you come out so I can show you?" Techno-Tune remarked, having his bow near his violin to strum when ready.

"Well, if you're so eager for a showdown, then allow me to show you my instrument," the voice said, as round disks flew around the young man, hovering in mid air.

"Huh...Cute," Techno-Tune said, strumming his violin that created an energy soundwave to make the discs back off. "That all you got?"

"Oh, you like to play dirty, hmm?" The voice asked as a futuristic blue robot came into view. "Alright, let's play, amateur."

Techno-Tune's visor eyes were wide in amazement, nearly dropping his bow. "Duuude...That is a slick robot design! Way better than that Red Tornado chump," he admitted, only to register that last part. "Hey! Who are you calling an amateur? That's the best you got?"

"Alright, then...Fiddler," the alien said, getting more discs ready to use.

That got the Dj-Violinist's attention, and not in a good way. "Oh, you did not just call me that old-school hack's name! That tears it! Cool robot or not, you are so going down!"

Techno-Tune strummed his violin again for more attacks.

To the young man's shock, the robot moved fast and dodged to attack. "Not very impressive, Fiddler," the alien said, sounding smug.

"Stop. Calling. Me. FIDDLER!" Techno-Tune yelled, dodging the flying discs while buying some time when seeing his wrist bands trying to sync his opponent. "Huh...Are you a cyborg or a completely different android?"

"Far more than either," the robot said smugly.

Although confused by that response, Techno-Tune noticed that he can sync up the robot under his command from his wristband. Just as he was about to push the button, something black and green splattered there and started growing all over his suit.

"Hey! What is this gunk?!" Techno-Tune exclaimed, shaking it off yet it kept itself glued to his suit. "Green isn't even my main color!"

"That 'gunk' is going to tune up your guitar, buddy," the robot said, smirking.

Techno-Tune was beginning to freak out when his suit plus body was having a mind of its own.

"No! It's using my tech against me!" Techno-Tune yelled.

"Of course, I am," came a new voice as part of the gunk seemed to form a 'face'. "That's my specialty."

"GAH! What in Pied Piper's flute are you?!" Techno-Tune asked, freaking out. "Some kind of living digital parasite virus!?"

The room went quiet before an evil snicker came from the strange substance. "Oh, you did not just call me a parasite," it said, sounding very offended before a few arms came out of the substance.

"Shouldn't have call him that, Fiddler," the robot taunted as he crossed his arms. "Now you're in for it."

Techno-Tune felt too scared from what this blob was planning. So much that being called Fiddler didn't bother him at the moment.

"Whatever you're going to do to me, I'm not saying anything until you give back my missing friends!" Techno-Tune yelled, trying to break out of gunk that held him captive.

"I'm afraid we've only seen you, so we don't have your missing friends," the blob said. "As for what I'm about to do, who said anything about you talking?"

The robot chuckled. "I think you'll find yourself too busy laughing to talk in a moment," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Techno-Tune exclaimed, definitely not calming down at all from that comment. "Please, tell me you're not going to pull a Joker Venom injection on me!"

The glob paused briefly, but didn't let the boy go. "Don't even know what that is, but no," he said.

"Yeah, no," the robot said. "Nothing like that."

"I don't believe you!" Techno-Tune shouted, his voice terrified yet irritated while looking away. "That's just how you want me to think, don't you?! Letting my guard down and try to poison me! Or something nastier!"

"Nothing nasty about a friendly tickle torture," the blob said.

Techno-Tune paused his little terror fest when hearing that comment, before looking at his captors in confusion. "...I'm sorry. I think my helmet malfunctioned in hearing properly. Because it sounded like you were going to tickle me."

"You heard right," the robot said. "I promise your helmet isn't malfunctioning."

"What?" Techno-Tune asked, still very lost. "But why? You clearly have me immobilized where you could literally eat me or electrocute me or whatever...yet you decide to do a less harmful tactic on me instead? Who are you strange creatures?"

The blob chuckled. "Something you've no doubt never seen before," he said.

"Just cause we got you immobilized that doesn't mean we're heartless," the robot said. "We can clearly see you're just a kid. We don't harm kids."

"And we certainly don't eat them either," the blob said.

"Plus, though harmless, tickling is very effective," the robot replied before coming closer. "So, let's see if we can find your tickle spot."

The young DJ Techno teen tensed while lightly short squealing in concern.

"Oh? Are you ticklish, kiddo?" The blob asked, wiggling his fingers at the teen.

The robot reached forward and began tickling the boy's stomach to see if it was ticklish.

Techno-Tune was caught off guard where he giggled shortly before holding it in. He felt his body shiver and wanted to move it away from those wiggling fingers yet remained still as a statue.

"He's trying to hold it in," the blob said, reaching up and tickling the boy's neck.

"Cut it out!" Techno-Tune yelled, small laughter in his voice.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle!" The robot said teasingly, as he sped up his fingers on the boy's stomach.

"Heheheheheehahahahahahaha," Techno-Tune's giggles grew a little more. "Seriously, stahahahahahahap! Hahahahahahahaha, this is embarrassing!"

"There's nothing embarrassing about being ticklish," the blob said, chuckling.

"Come on, kiddo," the robot said, now tickling the boy's sides and ribs. "Let that laughter out."

Techno-Tune felt like he was going to burst. A struggled squeal was heard yet the boy was getting close to his resistance limit.

"Almost there," the blob singsonged, now wiggling his fingers into the boy's shoulder underarms.

The boy couldn't hold it in anymore after that. His laughter finally came out.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MAKE IT STAHAHAHAP!" Techno-Tune begged through his laughter. "I HAHAHAHATE BEING TICKLED!"

"Then you're going to hate this," the robot said, making a disc fly off his arm and land on Techno-Tune's stomach and the disc vibrated like crazy into the ticklish spot.

"EEEEEEEEEEEAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Techno-Tune screamed in laughter; wanting to move so badly but couldn't. "H-HELP! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I'LL DIE LAUGHING!"

"Oh, relax," the blob said, tickling the boy's neck again. "We can see you're just fine."

"Plus we'll make sure we won't go overboard on the tickling, so don't worry," the robot said.

Techno-Tune didn't feel at ease at all. Despite laughing, he's still afraid of what was going to happen after...if there was an after. The last time he laughed so much like this nearly took his life. Techno-Tune was worried about it happening again. He only wished/hoped one of his friends would show up to rescue him from this ticklish nightmare.

The blob noticed that the boy's laughter seemed to be less happy and more sounding like he might be in pain. "Echo, hold up a moment," he said. "Something's wrong."

The robot moved the disc away from the boy's stomach and the blob let him go, making Techno-Tune fall over, but both caught him, holding him in a firm, yet gentle, hug. "Whoa, easy, kiddo," the robot said, placing some discs on the young man's back and making them vibrate gently like how a massage chair would work.

Techno-Tune was slowly calming down while catching his breath. For a moment, he could have sworn one of his captors say the name of one of his missing friends.

"E...Echo?" He managed to say tiredly. "Where is he?"

"I'm right here, kiddo," the robot said soothingly, thinking the boy was referring to him. "We got you."

"Huh? No...You're not Echo..." Techno-Tune replied drowsy, his head nodding from feeling tired. "Is he invisible again?"

"Oh, he must mean someone else named Echo," the blob said in realization.

Ultimate Echo Echo picked up the boy. "We'll help you find your friends later," he promised. "For now, I think it's time for a ticklish little fiddler to get some shut eye."

"Not...Fiddler...," Techno-Tune responded softly, before drifting off to sleep.

"Let's get him to the guest room," the blob, Upgrade, suggested.

"Maybe he'll feel less threatened when he wakes up," Ultimate Echo Echo said with a nod.

While two of the boys were taken care of, there was still one left who was causing some major fear levels for not just himself but his captor, too.

Uh-oh. Looks like Big Chill and Hatter might need some help.

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GoldGuardian2418