Warning: This story features bondage.
Context: This is a short story written for Day 15 of Kinktober 2025 using the prompt words Retro and Breathplay.
Lightning cracked outside, briefly illuminating the inside of the abandoned amusement arcade. There were rows and rows of arcade machines, covered by dusty transparent tarps, untouched for years.
Snap!
The latch of a window broke as it was forced open. A person clambered inside, then reached behind them and helped a second person through. He found a set of switches on the wall and flipped the lot of them. The large room came to life, the retro game machines all activating and filling the space with chiptune melodies and vibrant neon lights.
“See Nina? Told you we could get this place up and running again.”
“I didn’t say we couldn’t Max, I said we shouldn’t. This is technically trespassing.”
Max and I were soaked to the bone thanks to the raging thunderstorm we’d just come in from. We hadn’t seen each other for years, only back in town for our high-school reunion. We’d decided to slip out early and go off on our own little nostalgic adventure.
We’d spent countless afternoons of our childhood together in this arcade, spending every last penny of our allowances on the games. Max’s attention was caught by one machine in particular in the back corner.
“Yesss it’s still here. Remember this one Nina?”
“Of course I remember it. We played this game more than any other.”
The screen flashed the title in bright blocky letters: TOWER HERO
“Oh cool, no-one ever managed to beat our high scores. And would you look at that. Who’s that there still on top~?”
[1. NIN – 147,400]
[2. MAX – 125,300]
[3. ASS – 98,100]
Max grumbled. “Yeah yeah. So what if I never beat you back then? Bet I’d crush your score now.”
“Oh yeah? Want to put your money where your mouth is? One quarter to be precise. After my go, obviously.”
“Why do you get the first go? I got us in here.”
We both lunged for the joystick, grabbing it at the same time, our hands overlapping.
CRACKKKK!
The overcast sky lit up and thunder roared so loudly I almost jumped. A bright blue spark of electricity zipped down a cable in the wall, running into the back of the Tower Hero cabinet. The whole machine was coated with crackling blue sparks. They spread up the joystick, over our joined hands, all over our bodies.
“What th-?”
bing!
[Stage 1]
I blinked the sparks out of my eyes. My surroundings were no longer the arcade. I was inside a colossal cylindrical structure, one that looked awfully familiar.
It was the Tower Hero tower!
The flat 16-bit brickwork background was now a curved wall surrounding everything. Hundreds of mounted torches lit the expansive space. The platforms, usually flat horizontal lines, were circular disks hovering in mid-air. Swinging axes, flying bats, falling rocks, arrow launchers. No longer pixels on a screen but all-too-real three-dimensional objects.
I was near the very top, standing on a smaller platform attached to the ceiling by a tall thin pole. Everything else was below me. There was no floor at the very bottom, just a dark emptiness. The largest lowest platform had someone standing on it.
“Max? Is that you?”
“Nina? Yeah it’s me. I don’t want to alarm you, but I think-”
“I know. We’re in the game.”
Max was wearing a blue tunic, green trousers, white gloves, and wielded a glowing longsword.
“You’re the player character! You’re Jump Boy.”
“Seems I am. And you’re Princess Apricot. You ok up there?”
I was wearing a pink full-length dress, a tight fit that hugged close around my waist, long white gloves, and pink high-heels. The dress showed a lot of cleavage, a detail that the usual low-pixel count didn’t do justice. The more troubling part of my role was that my hands were tied together behind the pole. I twisted my wrists to test it, but couldn’t budge the rope.
“I’m better at the game! Why do I have to be the damsel in distress and you get to be the hero?”
“Well, I guess because I’m a guy, and you’re a gir-”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence! Would you just get up here and save me already?”
“Ok ok. Let’s see...”
Max crouched down then jumped. He soared up from his platform, far higher than should normally be possible. He glided through the air laterally, floating down to the second lowest platform.
“This is incredible. Hup! Whoo! This is so much fun~”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself so much while I’m tied up and can’t do anything!!!” stomp
“Ah sorry. I’m coming.”
A purple bat swooped down in an arc towards Max. He swung his sword through it, cleaving it apart into fizzling wisps of smoke. He continued ascending, timing his jumps and swings to dodge and neutralise traps and enemies. It did look like a lot of fun. Which made my helplessness so much more frustrating!
“Below you Max! Be careful!”
“Huh?”
Max glanced down mid-jump, and at that very moment, a small boulder struck his head from above.
“Gahhh!!”
I watched speechlessly as he fell short of his aimed-for platform, plummeting into the emptiness below.
bing!
The whole tower briefly went dark, then lit back up. The crumbled platforms were back. The vanquished creatures were back. The traps were reset. Max was back on the base platform. In fact, only one thing in the whole tower showed any change: me.
The bottom half of my dress was now missing. It ended at a ragged tear at my waist, with light-orange panties on show below it. My feet were now rope-bound to the bottom of the pole.
“AAHH! What happened to my dress?”
“That’s how they represent the player’s lives remember? Princess Apricot’s captivity gets worse after each death.”
“Gahh I forgot about that part!”
“I sure didn’t...” Max blushed lightly at the fond memory.
“Just... be careful. Please?”
Max nodded with determination and resumed his tower ascent. It was so stressful knowing I’d be the one to suffer if he made any misstep, but I couldn’t assist at all.
He made great progress at least, the long-forgotten game knowledge slowly resurfacing. Until an arrow struck his knee, making him briefly lose mobility and tumble to a lower platform.
In a blink my dress was torn away even further, now a scrap ending barely reaching below my chest, with the sleeves mostly gone. My arms were pulled together even further behind the pole, with a new rope around my elbows. Why did that have to be added? It wouldn’t even be visible in the game!
“Maaax! Get me out of here!”
Did the ropes have to be so tight? I took a deep breath and resisted the temptation to keep complaining. The least I could do to be supportive. Soon he reached the third last platform, dodged another boulder, reached the platform below me, jumped up with hand extended...
A gaseous black and purple essence spawned under my feet. It rose rapidly as a whirling vortex, surrounding my body, reaching above my head in a second. I didn’t have time to even shout before it snapped inwards, becoming a skintight dark-purple layer fully covering and squeezing in on my body.
“MMMMPH!”
Right as Max landed on the platform and reached out for my wriggling form, I vanished. Sinister laughter filled the tower.
[Sorry hero! Your princess is in another tower!]
bing!
[Stage 2]
A new setting sprang into being. Another enormous cylinder, this one made of slime-stained grey blocks. The bottomless void was replaced with a gigantic slowly-rising whirlpool. The new obstacles were trident-wielding merfolk, jets of shoving water blasting from the walls, and piranhas leaping up from below.
Max was back at the bottom. I was back at the top. My previous arrangement of ropes remained. My dress had partially reformed to reach my hips again, one life regained as a reward for one stage completed. I was now suspended from the ceiling by a chain around my waist, dangling over a cylindrical tank filled with water. I remembered what was coming.
“Please hurry!”
"I'm comi-?!?"
Max took a single step, then his eyed widened with shock as he kept moving, sailing right off the platforms edge, splashing into the torrential water beneath it.
bing!
Max was back on the starting platform. My dress was reduced to nearly nothing once again. Another life lost.
“You forgot that the Stage 2 platforms are slippy didn’t you?”
“I forgot about the slippy platforms, yes.”
With greater readiness, he navigated his way up. Unfortunately for me, every 15 seconds...
“AAAHH!” PPLSSHHH!!
I was dropped and fully submerged in the water tank, struggling against the ropes and chain underwater. 15 seconds later the chain retracted and pulled me back up, utterly drenched. The dress remnants and underwear clung to my wet glimmering skin, the ropes feeling even tighter.
Another fall. The last of my dress vanished, leaving me in just the orange-yellow underwear, heels, gloves, and even more ropes.
While I was squirming underwater for the fifth time, Max’s blurred shape reached the tank.
CRASSSSSHHH!
His swing shattered it into a thousand pieces. But as he reached out for me...
“MMMMHH!”
The smoke enshrouded me again, compressing against my wet skin and despawning me.
[Sorry hero! Your princess is in another tower!]
bing!
[Stage 3]
The final tower. No torches upon the black-stone walls this time. The light source was a huge pool of churning bubbling lava at the bottom. Columns of lava spurted up, fireballs hopped from platform to platform, teleporting demons swung claws, and hovering sea-mines exploded a second after nearing them. I was again hanging from a chain, now being swung like a pendulum.
“We’re nearly there. Just hang on a bit longer! ... Pun not intended!”
“Ugh...”
Despite the increased danger of the final challenge and the many years since he’d last seen it, Max progressed smoothly, balancing speed and caution. Nonetheless he took a few hits on the way up, and therefore so did I.
By the time he was near the top, my underwear was half shredded, my arms and legs had a dozen new coils of rope, and I was heavily gagged by a large cloth stuffing and a tight over-the-mouth cloth gag. From memory there was only one life left. A blindfold and then I’d be whisked away to fate unknown while the player was treated to a [Game Over].
I watched with breath held as he weaved between fire and demon, making that last large leap towards me. The swirling dark vortex formed around me again, but slower this time. He sword arced through it, and the evil substance burst into shards of light.
The tower around us crumbled. A solid cloud formed under Jump Boy Max’s feet. My suspension chain vanished, letting me fall right into his waiting arms.
“Oof! Got you!”
“Mmmph...”
I remained bound and gagged, to my chagrin. The cloud rose through a hole in the ceiling, up and out into a brilliant blue sky background with the sun beaming.
“Well Princess Nina, guess we’re going back. You know um... this is normally the part where the hero kisses the princess...”
“Mmh?”
I blushed deeply. As if I wasn’t already embarrassed enough being nearly-naked, all tied up, and cradled in my friend’s arms. But before I could even consider an answer, I was distracted by a floating message in the sky behind him.
[1 Credit remaining. Start a new game?]
[Yes] [No]
“Of course only if you say yes...”
[Yes]
The moment he said “Yes”, the option blinked to confirm the selection. Max noticed the horrified expression on my face and turned to see what I was staring at.
“Oh... I probably shouldn’t have said that. Sorry Nina. I guess we’re playing another round.”
“MMMPH?!”
Everything went dark.
bing!
[Stage 1]