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20,000... — Description
TK's head rolled and her eyes flickered open at the sound of a trio of tiny, piping voices. Her ears twitched and strained to pick out what they were saying, even as her mind struggled to turn the noises into something intelligible. That last problem was not due to their incoherence...but her own. A large part of which was in turn due to the throbbing in her posterior, which had long-since grown in urgency to drown out the throbbing in the back of her skull. Of course, even the pulsing in her backside was muted, hours ago rendered numb with shock under the relentless assault of the monstrous mice. Even the indomitable tigress had passed out somewhere along the way, though she'd held on for as long as she could, refusing to let them see her weaken before them. But...the world was back now, along with everything that entailed. And then there were the voices...to which TK struggled to listen, her ears cocking and pivoting to better catch the sounds which were coming from only a short distance in front of her.

"So what will we do with the boy?" one twittering, high-pitched voice asked, sounding genuinely uncertain.

"The same thing!" another voice blurted; TK hazily recognized it as the leader of this wicked trio, "He kicked me!"

"But..." returned the first voice, sounding somewhat confused again, if a little less so, "He's a guy..."

"I don't care!" the leader shrilled again, irate. "He kicked me!"

As if that settled the matter, the voices fell silent, and all TK could hear for a few moments was the sound of her own ragged breathing, the pounding of her heart, the working of the mice...and two more sets of soft, somewhat-less-than-even breathing, whose source the pain-dazed young tigress tried to force her eyes to focus on. Which was no small feat, to be sure.

But when she did, the heroic young tiger-lass felt her heart leap into her throat. There, laying on the floor before her, were an unconscious catgirl and catboy...which she immediately recognized as being twins. She'd never seen them before, but that wasn't the point at all. That the girl had already been ruthlessly tied, and that the mice were beginning to work on the girl's brother, was. The two were barely more than young adults. The thought of either of them being forced to endure what these villainous mice had in store for them clenched a fist of ice around TK's heart. The question of just how these two young cat-folk had stumbled into this mess barely even registered to her mind. They were here, and the mice were around them...and that was all TK needed to know.

"Hmmf!" TK growled, and when the mice ignored her, she let loose, a little louder, "HNNGHF!" That got their attention, or at least that of their leader, and the green-and-red-vested monster crept over, as his companions continued to bind the young man.

"Well, well," he chirped, sounding positively malignant. "Was wondering when you'd wake up again. You missed the last oh...two-thousand or so, there! Still, I was pretty darned surprised you held on that long. You're one tough kitty, aren't ya?" He looked back over his shoulder toward the malicious trio's unconscious captives. "Wonder if they'll hold up so well?"

A fresh lance of anger and concern speared TK's heart, as he fears were confirmed. "Lmmf thmmngh alunnh!" she demanded, huffing through her nose with angry breaths, glaring down in fury at her - at their - diminutive chief captor.

He tittered evilly then, and asked, "You want me to leave them alone?" He continued, even as she nodded, apparently not really caring whether she replied. "But...I've got ten thousand lined up for each of them. You wouldn't want to rob my friends and I of our fun, would you? Of our revenge?"

TK didn't hesitate for one second, the 'words' pushing past the gag before she even really thought about them. "Lmmf thmmnh allngh...undh dnngh itth tmmh mnhhh infstddh!" She couldn't let these innocent youths, who had done nothing more than venture into the wrong place at the wrong time, go through that nightmare. It wasn't fatal, but it wasn't the least bit pleasant, either...and it was bluntly humiliating. No, TK would bear it in their place, if these...creatures...would allow it.

"That's twenty-thousand more...you understand that, don't you?" The little thing's lips curved upward in a malicious smile that made TK's stomach clench even moreso than the looming threat itself.

TK looked from the mouse-master, to the unconscious twins, and then back again. She managed an angry growl and a nod, the glitter in her narrowed, semi-glazed eyes saying, 'Do your worst.'

The mouse-leader laughed again, and said, "You know... If I didn't know any better - and after the way you were carrying on there toward the end, I do know better - I'd say you were almost enjoying this." TK growled at him, her eyes squinting down to slits filled with green fire, setting off another tirade of reedy laughter, this time from all three of the miniature monstrosities.

"Finish tying the kids up and put 'em over in the corner," the leader of the mice said, hefting his paddle and settling it over his shoulder once more. "And then get back over here. My arms are getting a little tired...and we've got such a long way to go on this brave little tiger here... So, each of you can have a turn. Ten thousand apiece." He looked over one furry shoulder and then back into TK's eyes. "Sure hope those kids appreciate what you're doing for them." He smiled a smile which said that he cared nothing of the sort. She only hoped that he would keep to their bargain.

And then, he leaned on his paddle and simply stared up at the hopelessly-bound tigress, while he waited for the other two mice to complete their work on the twins. TK stared back at the mouse, trying to keep her eyes on the little beast's beady eyes, rather than the paddle. Which was proving harder than she thought. Then, as her heartbeat quickened and her throat grew tight, the mice deposited their new prisoners in place, and turned to approach the helpless, courageous young heroine. And TK couldn't help but swallow hard against the lump which rose into her throat...

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Well, here we are at the 20k celebratory pic...and only 5000 hits late, yet! Going to have to do a little better with that in the future. But thanks deeply to you all, for making it possible. Means the world to me that so many people (new and old friends alike) are stopping by and enjoying things around here. Hope it goes on for a long, long while to come. I certainly don't plan on goin' anywhere, so long as I can help it.

Obviously (well, perhaps "obviously"...), this is a sequel piece to "10,000" [link] . This one's not normally a cross-over that could take place (TK, and Cody and Bryn, don't "exist" in the same "setting"), but... Maybe this house and its Mice exist simultaneously in multiple dimensions, maybe this is the result of some mad reality-altering experiment conducted by Doctor Sadarus, maybe it's a holographic simulation being run by these mice to take out some of their pent-up frustrations for all of cat-kinds' abuses upon their people...or maybe it just made for a pic I though you'd all enjoy. So...don't expect to see this trio of heroines and hero together again soon or often...but there's always the 30k pic. And now, if the poor cat folks can just get free, the odds will be even...

(Oh, and I realize the next customary milestone is supposed to be 50,000...not 30. But the pic idea I have for it - related again to the number, in this case 3 - I'm too excited about not to do. And I'll be PLENTY grateful if we get there, so...I'll be happy to celebrate it. Hope nobody minds. )

So, once again, thanks everyone. Glad you're having fun around here, and that these little stories can maybe bring you some enjoyment now and again. That, more than anything else, is what makes this all worthwhile to me. Be well.

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EDIT: After consulting with a very trusted and insightful friend, decided to add a little something to the upper right corner of the pic to help make it feel less "empty" (an impression I ALSO held prior to putting the picture up, but originally chalked up to typical "artistic insecurity". Looks like sometimes I should go with my own first instinct. Of course, NOW I'm left wondering if the piece isn't too crowded... ). Anyhow, we now get to see the bag from which the Mice are pulling all their wonderful toys and entrapments for our poor heroines and hero...

And since I was going back and doing THAT, decided to have the blue-vested mouse (the club-master) doing something more interesting with the rope he's about to loop around Bryn's ankles, as compared to the original picture.