DiapOut: Chapter 26

“And we’re back again! For those just tuning in, welcome to DiapOut! The wettest, messiest, and blushiest show on television!” announced Cassi, riling the audience up as the show was ushered into Round Three, “I’m your host CassiRole and behind me, these eight contestants are ready to battle it out in the third and final face-off round between their two teams.” 

Thunder applause returned to the studio set as the crowd went wild over how exciting the game was getting. The contestants, on the other hand, did not share their onlookers’ enthusiasm. With the conflict between Mia and Misa on the Wetters' side, and Rupert being shoved on stage for the Messers despite not being 100% mentally or physically, the atmosphere between their feuding tribes was as tense as it could get. 

Waiting for her cue to continue, Cassi relished in the palpable ambiance that the two teams were creating. That’s why these two teams were selected, after all; to stoke as much animosity both inside and outside of their respective groups as possible. And if the fallout from the first two rounds was anything to go off of, the drama was only going to be more personal from here. “After two intense rounds, less than six points stand between the Wetters and Messer, meaning this is still anyone’s game!” she said, stoking the flames of anticipation in the audience while simultaneously stoking the flames of war between the two teams, “However, before we jump into Round Three, we’re going to play a little warm up mini-game to get things started. Iris Nannies! Activate!” 

Suddenly, a pair of Iris bots came rolling onto the stage, each of them holding what looked to be four small whiteboards with dry-erase markers clipped onto them. Handing the slates out one at a time, the contestants of each team looked around at each other in confusion. All except for Ayaya, who had gained insider knowledge of Cassi’s bonus from Jackson. 

“Contestants, I’m going to ask you a series of questions. For each question, you’ll answer with the name of one of your fellow teammates. Whoever’s name appears the most once you reveal your answers will receive either a perk or a punishment going into Round Three. Does everyone understand the rules?” stated Cassi clearly and concisely so as not to confuse either her audience or the players. Since this was a last-minute idea of hers, she didn’t have too much time to languish over the language she used in her explanation. Thankfully, she appeared to do a good enough job as all eight constants nodded along with her, “Excellent! Then let’s begin! Question one: If any of your team members were to collect all $500,000 of the grand prize, who would spend their money the worst?” 

Immediately, all eight players began marking down their answers on their individual marker boards, making sure to keep their slates hidden from prying eyes. For most of the players, it didn’t take them long to single out someone on their team. Mia, on the other hand, was finding it quite difficult to answer in an unbiased manner. In the back of her mind, she knew that Lelaya was the easy answer, but her anger toward Misa made her want to write her name down out of spite. Deciding not to make a bad situation worse, she decided not to target Misa if she could help it and instead wrote Lelaya’s name down. She then looked up to see everyone staring at her as everyone else had already marked their answers, “S-Sorry, I’m ready.” 

“Contestants! Display your answers!” said Cassi with vigor, prompting all eight boards to flip simultaneously. Immediately after the reveal, both the audience, Cassi, and the Messers team started cackling as all four of their boards had Cade’s name written in bold letters, “It seems that the Messers are in agreement that Cade would be the worst person to give that much money to, including Cade himself.” 

Standing proudly holding a board with his own name and an arrow pointed upward, Cade's face flushed as he instantly became the center of attention. “Hey, there’s a reason Rupert handles club finances and not me,” he said, rubbing his hand on his neck bashfully. 

Fighting through the pain in his gut, Rupert placed a hand on Cade’s shoulder chuckling hardily. “Shall I tell them about the time you blew our rent money on weed and a new Xbox? Great times,” he said cheekily, causing Cade to playfully push off of him. 

While the Messers were in high spirits over their unified answer, the same could not be said for the Wetters. “Unless my eyes deceive me, I see one vote for Mia, one for Ayaya, and two for Lelaya. That means a winner is you, Lelaya.” 

“Yay! I win,” cheered Lelaya, paying no mind to the fact that half of her team just called her irresponsible with money. 

With matching whiteboards in their hands, Mia and Ayaya turned to each other and nodded. “She’d blow it all on diapers and baby stuff in less than a week,” said Mia, feeling as though she had to justify her thought process or else appear mean-spirited. 

“Yep, I thought the same damn thing,” said Ayaya, sharing what appeared to be a rare moment of comradery with Mia. In reality, she was fully aware of what the questions were going to be, as well as what prizes and punishment came with each question, allowing her to steer the way her team’s votes went from an omnipotent point of view. 

Misa on the other hand refused to make eye contact with the rest of her team as she stared toward the audience with Mia’s name written in large, capital letters on her marker board. Unlike Mia, she didn’t care if her answer was inaccurate. All she had to hear was that whoever gets the most votes might earn themselves a punishment to know that she’d be writing Mia’s name down for anything even remotely negative. 

“Cade, Lelaya, since your teammates think so little of you, the two are going to be your team captains for Round Three. I’ll be sure to explain your roles more once we get into the rules,” said Cassi, her reveal causing a chorus of groans to echo out from both teams, “Moving on to question two! If you had to choose only one person on your team to represent all four of you for the remainder of the game, who would you pick?” 

As soon as Cassi finished speaking, Misa quickly flipped her board around before making a big show of erasing Mia’s name. Noticing this, Mia could only roll her eyes at the childish behavior Misa was continuing to demonstrate. It was clear as day that they wouldn’t be picking on each other. 

GUUUUUUUUUURRRRRGGLE!! 

Over on the Messer side, anxiety was beginning to rise within all four players as Rupert’s stomach let out another ominous grumble. “You doing good, Rupert?” whispered Zeke, his eyes leaving his whiteboard as he observed Rupert nearly doubling over from the pings in his gut. 

“He’s doing fine. The longer you take, the longer he has to stand here,” said Kyoko with her eyes locked on her slate, preventing Rupert from answering for himself. 

“Looks like everyone’s wrapping up! Players, show us your boards!” said Cassi, Deciding not to let anyone take as long as Mia did on the first question.  

Once again, the players flipped their boards toward the audience. Though, unlike the first question, the answers were far less dramatic. “For the Messers, everyone voted for Kyoko except Kyoko, and for the Wetters, everyone voted for Ayaya except Ayaya. Makes things pretty straightforward. 

“Aww, you guys are so sweet!” said Ayaya in a tone that screamed fake sincerity. Before meeting up with her team in the studio, Ayaya had been plotting for well over an hour on how she could get her team to pick her for this question. Funny enough, by the time her teammates arrived on set, her efforts had been wholly unnecessary as the level of infighting going on more than ensured her victory. 

Kyoko’s near-unanimous vote was equally unsurprising. No one on her team came close to her athleticism or tenacity. “There’s no one I’d rather put my fate in the hands of,” said Zeke, doing his best to bury his personal anxieties over Kyoko’s recent decision-making. 

“Kyoko and Ayaya, your team trusts the two of you to watch over them and to have their backs. This is why each of you will be given a special advantage in Round Three which you can choose to use anytime on either yourself or on a teammate,” said Cassi, slyly winking at Kyoko as she spoke. As much as she couldn’t get enough of the way Kyoko seemed to melt over her gesture, she knew she had to keep the show rolling, “Alright contestants. This is the final question. Which member of your team is in big need of an attitude adjustment?” 

Shooting each other withering glances from across their team’s mat, Mia and Misa knew exactly who they would be writing down. With their votes locked in, all eyes fell upon Lelaya and Ayaya, both of whom were well aware of the potentially friendship-ending decision they now had to make. 

While far less aggressive, the Wetters were having just as hard of a time singling out someone as needing an attitude adjustment. Or at least, most of them were. For Zeke, it was less a question of who needed to check their behavior and more a question of if he should risk pissing Kyoko off. Though if not her, then who? Picking Rupert was off the table and he wasn’t going to pick himself. Cade was an alternative but if anything, his attitude had only gotten better throughout DiapOut’s duration. Knowing he needed to make his decision quickly before he gave Cassi another reason to pick on him, he took a deep breath and made his choice. 

“For the last time, players, reveal your answers,” said Cassi, the room going completely quiet as the contestants turned their boards over. Several gasps soon emerged from the crowd. “Woah! That’s definitely a surprise. Kyoko has earned votes from two of her teammates who had just said they’d willingly put their DiapOut life in Kyoko’s hands.” 

Sure enough, Zeke’s vote, along with Cade's, had locked in Kyoko as the winner, with her and Rupert’s votes being split between Cade and Zeke. “W-What the heck, you guys?” said Kyoko, trying to laugh off being voted on for such an unflattering question. Unfortunately, her laughter was not shared as both Zeke and Cade turned their eyes toward the floor, causing her weak smile to falter. 

“Sorry, Kyoko. I guess your team sees you as a genuine leader but not so much as a genuine person,” said Cassi, rubbing in the Kyoko vote extra hard before turning to the Messers, “As for you lot, I see we’re having trouble coming to a consensus.” 

Looking around at each other’s boards, Mia and Misa each managed to pull one team member to their side with Mia and Ayaya putting their votes toward Misa, while Misa and Lelaya tossed their votes at Mia. “Since your team appears unable to decide who is more in need of a change in attitude, you both will be punished with Kyoko. Girls, please follow me,” said Cassi, stepping down from her raised platform and leading the three “winners” across the studio space, with the other five contestants trailing close behind. 

Arriving at the far corner of the studio, Mia, Misa, and Kyoko were greeted by a large, plush chair with metal cuffs jutting out from the armrests. Across from the chair sat a giant flat-screen monitor and the entire area was surrounded by cameras on all sides. “Now then, we only have one chair so Mia, Misa, you two are going to have to be good girls and share. You too, Kyoko,” said Cassi, her grade school taunts encouraging the audience to giggle at Mia and Misa’s ongoing feud. 

“Oh, will you stop jerking us around and just cut to the chase already?” said Misa, letting her annoyance get the better of her. Under normal circumstances, she prided herself on her ability to keep her feelings close to her chest. However, thanks to her conflict with Mia, her ability to contain her true emotions was falling apart fast. 

Not one to be slighted, Cassi stepped toward Misa with a smug expression on her face. “Sounds to me like someone is excited to get to her punishment,” she said, narrowing her gaze as Misa challenged her for dominance using only eye contact, “If you’re so eager, why do you have a seat? That way, you can show Mia and Kyoko how it's done.” 

Folding her arms, Misa was not one to be intimidated. She didn’t know what that chair was supposed to do to her but she’d be damned if she was going to balk at Cassi’s obvious goading. “Bring it on, CassiRole,” she said, matching Cassi’s fake smile. 

TO BE CONTINUED…