This is a commissioned story for I hope you enjoy!

“Be careful where you put the flowers Squirt, we don’t want you getting cut on the glass.” Lucia instructed the young Pichu as he tried to set them on the pedestal next to her seat. She had just recently purchased them in an outing with the Pichu. It had been a steal in all honesty, highly considering the disdain this city showed the pokemorphs in the first place. It was a measly four silver coins for the yellow lilacs and a small purple lily thrown into the mix. Squirt wasn’t sure how to feel about the flowers, he didn’t know if he found them pretty or not. However, anything for Lucia, so setting them up had been a simple task.
“That’s perfect, now sit down and I’ll get those cookies.” Lucia stood up, twitching her tail behind her as she headed to the kitchen. The Pachirisu pulled two oven gloves onto her fingers to open the oven doors safely. Squirt had been waiting forever for these cookies, she didn’t want to keep the boy waiting any longer. She hadn’t felt like this since she and her son lived together. He was long gone by now, Lucia took out the tray off cookies and set them on the stove before taking the oven gloves off.
She lived in a small shack in one of the slums of the city. Squirt was a simple orphan who had helped her with a bucket of water she had been struggling with. After all Pokemorphs were second hand citizens, this place was crawling with anthro police officers to make sure they kept in check. Her shack wasn’t in the best shape, paint chipping off the walls and holes here and there. It was home however, and she would rather die than leave the home that she and her husband had lived in for the longest time. Lucia may have been old, but she was not one to give up so easily.
Waiting for the cookies to cool down, she would go to the cupboard to look for a plate. The pantry was filled with rusted old things, only one or two nice cups sat in there. She was lucky if she could afford anything she liked, after all with her husband gone a good source of income was difficult to come by in her age. Taking out a plate, she would place the cookies there one by one.
Taking a small plate of the cookies to Squirt she smiled and sat down on the couch next to him. “Thanks Lucia.” He said with a smile on his face before he started to nibble on the treat. Lucia nodded her head to him shifting closer to him as she playfully pushed his shoulder. “Don’t eat too many otherwise you’ll get a stomach ache.” As stoic and responsible Squirt was he had to hide his wider smile as he ate his cookie. Though, a noise made Lucia’s ears twitch. Eyes narrowing as her attention turned towards the door.
It nearly sounded as if some officers were stirring up trouble. A full set of footsteps maybe at least ten of them, why would they send a whole squad to a place like this? Suddenly a booming voice came out, a dog yelling out clear before Lucia covered her eyes as her door came tumbling down. Angry enough that a piece of her property had been damaged she found herself standing in front of Squirt glaring at the ten men. “What do you think you’re doing here? Rudely kicking down my door!” She yelled at them. It was clear that they were not here to play games.
The first dog stepped forward, he was the only anthro who wasn’t armed towering well over her height. “Lucia and Squirt, the two of you are under arrest. You will immediately be placed into Inquistor Tobias’ Custody.” Lucia didn’t have much time to argue as both she and Squirt were handcuffed. She struggled against the handcuffs, Squirt growled at the men trying to bite a few as they were dragged outside and placed onto the horse cart.
“It’ll be okay Squirt, this mess will be sorted out.” Lucia mused as the Pichu blinked looking up at her. For a moment he debated opening his mouth, but he then shut it and became unexpressive. She looked forward as they started the long journey to wherever they were going. Giving a small huff, and poking out her chest to tell herself to stay confident.
The town looked as beautiful as it always did as they passed through. A few other pokemorphs would even throw them some glances as Lucia simply kept her head straight. Squirt looked at everyone as many would hide their faces trying to avoid getting caught up in the situation. How could anyone expect anything to get any better when they were just making things worse. They treated pokemorphs horribly, which resulted in the such high crime rate in the first place.
The monk like wolf made Lucia tense up slightly as he looked at her. The prisoners pushing them forward Squirt stayed silent. Looking at the wolf and was not affected. The creature was bigger than even the officers that had brought them here. He had to be at least eight feet tall! Without a word he grabbed the two of them, gently, around the waist and took them inside. No matter how much the two of them struggled as he took them downstairs the two pokemorphs had a sinking feeling in their throats.
Lucia looked up at the wolf for a moment as they were led down the castle hall. It was dark at the moment seeing as the moon was well enough into the sky. “Excuse me sir, but where are you taking us?” she attempted to ask the huge animal. However, he only looked at her before pressing her back gently enough to make her turn down the next hallway. It seemed like he wouldn’t be talking any time soon. Making her frown for a moment as she looked ahead of them again.
The creature took them to the top of some stairs, they looked to be a ways downwards. The old stone steps getting colder as they started down. Lucia was half worried that Squirt’s little paws were going to freeze underneath these circumstances. Even with her small piece of clothing on, she could feel the chill starting to creep in on them. The place was only lit dimly with torches against the walls. After entering the lower room, they were walked down a hall to some cells.
The wolf threw them into the dungeon cells, quickly locking them up. The two of them pressed up against each other without another word. The cold cell sticking to their fur as Lucia hugged Squirt tightly and protectively. It was going to be a long night, but she had promised herself that she was going to protect Squirt. He didn’t have any part in this no matter what it was, no child should after all.
After some time in the dark Lucia would let out a breath, “I’m sorry for this Squirt.” she said quietly. She had dragged the boy into this mess. Sure enough she still wanted to know what this was all about. Being arrested was not a fun experience. If she didn’t know any better she would begin to assume that her fate was sealed with her husband. Wouldn’t it be ironic if she died as he had.
“Nothing to be sorry for Lucia, you said it yourself we’ll be fine.” Squirt would try to flash a smile as Lucia. With how things were going, he wanted to protect her no matter what. Despite the small amount of time they spent together, it was almost as if she was his mother. Squirt really didn’t have anyone in his life. The day he went to help Lucia probably changed him forever, thought he was unsure as to how long Lucia would be letting him stay that was for certain.
Lucia shaked her head at him, but he was right. At the moment they needed to think positive. Her tail twitched slightly as she looked at the outsides of the cell. There was a single guard with some keys and they had no hope of reaching them. The elder pressed up against the back wall and slid down as Squirt came to join her. To at least provide a bit of comfort so that the two of them weren’t so cold.
“I’ll stay by you, I won’t let you out of my sight.” Lucia would whisper to the small Pichu. She felt him starting to fall asleep as his little ears twitched. It put a smile on her face for that moment, it brought her back to the good old days. She couldn’t be bitter about the past though, she had to look towards the future. She believed she had a very bright one after all. As long as they all got out of this situation alright.
Squirt and Lucia hadn’t gotten much sleep that night, her eyes mildly opening when the cell door had made a noise. There seemed to be a man talking to the wolf from before, he was a weasel wearing a flaming coat and some glasses that she couldn’t really see through. Squirt poked at Lucia quietly. “Lucia, are you okay?” he whispered with concern. She nodded her head as the man smiled at them and opened the cell.
The giant wolf from before handcuffed the two of them. Making Lucia let out a small noise as he did startling him slightly. However, the weasel told the wolf to bring them to the room so he did as he was told. Carefully trying to herd them yet again to a different place. Lucia looking up at him as they headed further down into the dungeon yet another set of stairs that they had to go down.
Down the corridor was surrounded by thick red stone, either from paint or blood of past enemies of course. Squirt’s ears moved to every slightest noise as he stuck close to Lucia in order to protect her. Lucia was not ready for whatever was in store for them. With her anxiety running high she now just wished that they could both get home safe and sound.
At the bottom was a chamber, the four of them stepping inside to another world. The place was lit up by many torches. In each and every corner was a different device. One the walls it was littered with weapon and other things she could only guess what they did. She had to realize one thing, this, was a Torture room.
“Welcome you two, to your new home for the time being. My name is Tobias, this is my assistant Morgan. Lucia, I hate to be a bearer of bad news but it seems your son Marcus is leading a criminal gang. So therefore as his mother you should be involved.” Lucia’s jaw dropped mildly to Tobias. She struggled a bit against the handcuffs.
Tobias was not a cruel man he didn’t think, all he wanted was the information out of her. Justice had to be served and this was the way of the world. It wasn’t as if he actually enjoyed the torturing just for this job. Taking down criminals, and wiping them off the street meant less trouble for everyone. For a moment the weasel tilted his head at Lucia since her jaw dropped.
“This is ridiculous, how could you accuse me of such a thing. Just because my son is doing something he’s not supposed to doesn’t mean I would be involved.” She stopped for a moment looking off to the side. “Besides, I haven’t spoken with him for five years, I certainly wouldn’t approve of whatever my son is doing, but even if I did know where he was I wouldn’t tell the likes of you.” Her tail fluffed up in irritation. As Tobias calmly looked at her up and down, she was mildly unsettled by this. The weasel gave a calm sigh before he snapped his fingers.
“Let’s take a tour then.” Morgan stepped up behind the two Pokemorphs. Squirt frowning as he went to open his mouth but Lucia slapped him with her tail to keep him quiet. He looked at her for a moment annoyed, but he complied and they started to follow Tobias through the Torture chamber. They stopped in the middle of the room where he started to circle one hand on his chin.
Morgan would help lead the two around the room. At first Tobias took them in a circle. Perhaps to just show-case them all. Lucia was a bit too scared to take an actual look at them. Squirt was in plain awe. Never in her life had she been faced with a situation like this. Somehow it just felt a little too surreal. What was her son thinking?! Did he even think at all? If he had gotten into a big enough mess for this, she wondered what else could possibly be in store.
“There’s always this.” He wondered out loud pointing to a contraption that looked like they would be strapped from the hands and feet and then stretched to unimaginable lengths. “Maybe if I dislocate your limbs by stretching them.” Lucia made an obvious look of fear as she tried to conceal it. Still standing up shuffled her small robe to get a better grip on herself. Her heart felt as if it was going to jump out of her chest. Her tiny little arms and legs couldn’t possibly handle being stretched. They could very much well just be ripped apart.
This place might as well had a heart attack label over it. Her eyes scanning everything, even if they would come to center around Tobias. Squirt seemed to be doing the same while keeping a straight face. Hating Tobias by the second, he only hoped that Lucia would not be harmed. She was such a kind lady it was almost impossible to think that any of this was her fault in the first place.
Tobias wandered over then to a table, running his hand across it. There was some thumbscrews there as he looked over at the two of them. “I can dearly promise that this could crush your thumbs.” Squirt just silently watched Tobias give an explanation of how these things worked. Not trying to show any emotions even if his blood was running cold. The thought of his little thumbs being crushed irked him. Morgan looked dissatisfied to the ground, trying to avoid eye contact with Tobias and even the machines.
The weasel went over to a chair that almost looked like it had teeth. The bottom was completely covered in sharp spines where someone should sit. She wasn’t even sitting on it and it made Lucia’s hind quarters scream that she shouldn’t go anywhere near that device. Her eyes went to scan over Squirt every now and then just to make sure that he was okay. The sooner she got him out of here, the better she would feel about everything.
Of course she did feel a little bit angry towards the government for this. Even if it was her son’s mistake that was just that. He was angry at the world for doing them a disservice. Throwing them into slums, forcing them to be nothing but second class citizens. They couldn’t be harmed physically by other anthros, but they still acted as if they should be going their bidding. It had caused recent uproars, and many Pokemorphs had taken to the art of crime to deal with their problems.
If they had only taken the time to give Pokemorphs fully what they deserved things would surely have been a lot better. Better education, maybe even houses. They could be smarter, better at working and most certainly probably wouldn’t cause the trouble that they had. Though, many probably were just thankful that they weren’t slaves. They might as well be ones though, with how they were forced to live in such horrible conditions.
Lucia’s paws scraped against the wood floor of the dungeon as Tobias finally moved over to another torture device. He would go on explaining what each one did. Whip the two of them until they screamed out the answers. Perhaps even brand them, and that didn’t sit right with her at all. Yet at this point she tried to remain calm and strong. The old woman lifting up her back and giving a huff out of her nose.
When he finally finished, Lucia took up the moment to speak her mind. “None of this is going to help you. I told you I don’t even know where he is.” She defiantly told him. Tobias seemed even more upset as she said this. He didn’t believe her, she had to know something. It just wouldn’t make sense if she didn’t. Even if he couldn’t get his exact location, maybe if she had seen him. Maybe the last place he had been before he left home. Anything that would give them a clue to bring down this gang causing trouble for the higher ups.
Squirt switched his gaze from Lucia to Tobias. He really wished he could electrocute the man, but alas that was a simple fairy tale. He wasn’t even strong enough to let out small balls of electricity like some of the stronger electric types could. The pichu kept quiet, stepping closer to Lucia. What were they going to do to them, the one thing that had scared him the most had to be the stretcher.
Finally Lucia grunted, and let out a small breath of air. Looking very seriously at Tobias. “Fine, if you have to torture me torture me. Your threats will mean nothing since you won’t be getting any information. However, Squirt is but a boy, you couldn’t possibly hurt such a small animal like he is. He’s too young to be involved in any of this stuff anyway.” Her voice would crack slightly with the plea. Hoping that it would deter Tobias even slightly. If he let Squirt go, he could run away and live his life. She didn’t mind taking the fall for him.
Squirt looked at Lucia with surprise, moving his paws in the cuffs nearly to argue with the old lady. Was she nuts? He could handle himself, and he wasn’t going to go abandoning her and leaving the Pachirisu to die. Not especially in a place such as this run by those stupid anthros.
Tobias would shake his head at Lucia, completely ignoring her request. “I don’t make threats my dear, I promise you that.” The word promise was dragged out on his tongue. He would mess with his glasses slightly, adjusting them against his face. “An accomplice is an accomplice. You shouldn’t have brought him into the mess if you didn’t want him involved.” Lucia watched him cautiously as he walked across the room. It felt like hours even if it had only been a few minutes or more.
“I will treat the two of you the same, and since you can’t comply with my promises we’ll be doing something more exciting.” Lucia tensed as Morgan began to herd them over to a wooden stock. With two sections in it, perfect for her and Squirt. The wolf shoved them into the devices. Their feet were placed into the holes, sat on a stool and hands still cuffed in the back. Lucia grimaced at Tobias after she had been placed into the stockade.
The pokemorph leaned forward and glared at him. “I am not a criminal, this is not the way to treat us.” She was extremely annoyed by all of this. How dare he disrespect her, and even poor Squirt. She was trying her best to get them out of this situation and even out of this place alive. Her tail flicking behind her she started to struggle even more against her bindings. “You have to release me right now!” she demanded of him but Tobias simply shook his head. “Then at least tell me what you plan on doing.” she scoffed.
Tobias would lift up a finger, smiling as if he had just gotten a brilliant idea. “I know the exact thing you need. Perfect for stubborn folks like yourself.” Both of the pokemorphs still had their eyes locked on the weasel as he went over a long table. Lucia couldn’t quite see what was on the table just yet. Stretching didn’t get far enough to move her head over his shoulders. Soon it became apparent as he turned around with two long devices in his hands.
It appeared that he had taken two long orange feathers. Lucia couldn’t believe this at first, who possibly could think that feathers was going to do anything to them. What was he going to do, stick it down their throats. Or even worse maybe he was going to write on them. She hated to not take it seriously, but her mind was in so many places at the moment that she didn’t want to end up losing it.
Tobia came to Lucia first, she tried to get her feet out of the stockade but before she could the edges of one of the feathers to the soles of her feet. Lucia tried to hold back a laugh, the familiar sensation of what seemed to be a chuckle coming onto her throat. It lumped up and she furiously fought back. Her toes twisting and turning to the simple bristle of the edge of the orange feather. After some time though she was unable to hold it. Letting out a small snicker it felt nearly like a loud release.
Lucia’s feet continued to twitch to Tobias, a smile would then creep on his face. Exactly according to plan, she wouldn’t be able to resist forever after all. The Pachirisu started to rub her wrists together hoping to break the bonds. Her chest was heaving and she wasn’t sure if she could handle what he was going by simply tickling her. As Tobias continued on his little adventure she opened her mouth and let out a loud laugh.
Tobias would continue to mess with her feet, and all that she could think about was how her son had caused this mess. It had been thirty years ago when her husband got hanged for accused crimes. It had all been downhill from there, her son had become less and less apparent at home. He was distant and eventually she couldn’t take anymore of it. The young Pachirisu had left and without another word at that. He hadn’t even sent a letter, and she had spent most of her time at that point in her own shack.
She was wishing now that she could go home, with Squirt as well. They could bake cookies and buy more things. Perhaps he would grow up to even make a difference in the world. Her eyes tearing up would center towards the Pichu he looked nearly petrified for a single moment. His ears twitching, and his feet moving because he knew what was coming. Her voice was only getting more and more hoarse as it was. Who would have thought this could affect her in such a way anyway.
After some time it seemed Tobias slowly inched the other feather towards Squirts sole’s. The boy tried to keep on his stoic face, glaring at Tobias but it wasn’t of much use. The feeling of the tiny soft feather made him explode out in a series of giggles. Rather than a manly force, it was a tiny girlish like giggle. Lucia tensed up with her arms as she heard Squirt start to giggle. He couldn’t even stand one second with the feathers on his paw pads.
Lucia started to look around the room, perhaps for something that could make the situation better on their end. He would torture the both of them still. Sometimes gathering both feathers to her feet at the same time. The same to Squirt, Lucia was starting to feel like she was losing her voice. Unable to get the breath she needed between gasps and breaks when he was working on Squirt.
A sudden thought built up in her, as he came to tickle her one more she moved her toes to pinch the orange feather within it. Much to her displeasure, Tobias would simply pull it out again and continue what he was doing. Her breath and voice becoming hoarse, it felt like someone had taken some sandpaper to the edges of her vocal chords.
Squirt tried to scrunch up his toes as much as possible, to make it difficult to reach his sensitive pads. As tightly as he could, but each time they came in contact with his foot they would release again and make him laugh. Lucia’s attention and thoughts were broken when Tobias started to speak about something else. Her mind was thinking about going blank, but to pay attention to him might be key.
“I wonder what would happen if I brought the goats down.” He started as he tickled her toes. “My hands are getting tired, I could splash salt water on your paws and they would do the work for me.” No, that couldn’t be possible, Squirt would not survive that. Lucia tried to struggle immensely, but she had reached her breaking point with trying to take breaths.
She tried not to imagine those goats, as Tobias would spread that salt water on their toes. Just thinking about those tongue moving across her feet made her squirm even more. As Squirt would keep giggling, until the poor thing was all out of breath, it was a terrible feeling. At that final moment she found herself throwing her head back. “Fine!”
Tobias would perk in interest for a moment, taking his hands and the feathers away from their feet stepping back to the table. Finally able to take a breath, she would try to recover from what had just happened before she spoke and he gave her time. “I’ll try to get a hold of my son, if I can then I could locate him for you.” She explained in between gasps. Tobias stopped, and crossed his hands tail flicking behind his robe. He would contemplate this for a moment, before answering her.
“Alright, fine.” Tobias would set the instruments down on the table. He turned around to the two of them and Morgan would come closer. “On one condition, I’ll keep Squirt as collateral. He will not go free, until you have given me the information I need.” Lucia would look back at Squirt then. He would simply nod his head, he knew that he would be okay. Lucia wouldn’t just leave him here anyway. Shutting her eyes tightly, she sighed and nodded towards him. Hoping that she would not live to regret this.

To be continued....