DiapOut: Chapter 33

Clutching the dice block intensely, Misa had never been so stricken with fear in her life, unaware that this was merely another aspect of her regressed mental state induced via hypnosis. After what that hypnosis bit did to her, how could she not be? She soon began to shuffle back and forth as the anxiety of being put on the spot somehow made her feel ten times as small. “Just get it over with,” she told herself, shutting her eyes tight and launching the die forward in a very clumsy manner.

“Two 3’s in a row! How about that?! That means Misa is the first person to land on a yellow square!” shouted CassiRole, prompting Misa to open her eyes and see three little dots looking up at her. She smiled as stared down at the block, wondering if the dots had names and if they did, what kinds of names would they have? These three had to be best friends, of course, otherwise, why would they all hang out together on the same side?

“Misa?”

Hearing the sound of her own name, Misa looked up at Cassi and the audience, her face flushing intensely as she realized how distracted she suddenly became. Even now, she couldn’t quite recall what she had just been thinking about. As the audience giggled at her adorable confusion, she stepped backward, bumping into Mia.

“Hey, you okay?” asked Mia, placing a concerned hand on Misa’s shoulder from behind. While not a complete hug, the embrace was tender enough to spark a sense of calm in MIsa’s soul. She leaned back, forcing Mia to support more of her friend's weight, on top of the extra weight that had recently been added to her diaper, “Gah! Oh, geez!”

Rushing to Mia’s aid out of a desire not to blow ten potential points, Ayaya took Misa off of Mia’s hands and began snapping her fingers on each side of Misa’s eyes. “Hi there, you remember me, right?” she said condescendingly, something Misa did not pick up on as she dorkily shook her head yes. Sighing, she took a side glance at the audience, remembering that she needed to look as good as possible to keep the audience on her side, “Here, why don’t you let Big Sis Ayaya help you to the stage,” she said calmly and sweetly as she guided a very relaxed Misa by the hand over to where Cassi was waiting. This earned her some bonus brownie points with the audience, who couldn’t get over how cute Misa and Ayaya were acting toward each other.

“Big Shis Ayaya…hehe…das fun to say. Ish like…Ayayayayayayayayayaya-” said Misa before her words were physically stopped by Ayaya, who placed three fingers under her chin and firmly pushed her mouth closed. The action alone made her chuckle, as did the audience, who seemed incredibly happy for her.

“W-Wow, that hypnosis really did a number on you. Mia and Kyoko were way more coherent,” said Cassi, using the line that Jackson had fed her earlier in case there was a noticeable difference. Though, not even Jackson could’ve predicted just how spacey Misa would be. She could only hope that Mia and Kyoko would take the hint and actually act a bit more than faking a lisp next time their turns came up. Shaking off the minor speed bump, she placed an arm around Misa, leaving Ayaya to awkwardly wander back to the game board without so much as a brief acknowledgment, “Now, I just know you’re going to love this. As the first person to land on a yellow square, that means you get to be the first to participate in a DiapOff Challenge!”

“D-DiapOff?” stuttered Misa, who wasn’t sure if she should be happy or fearful of this development. DiapOff did sound like she might get to take her diaper off. Though, knowing how this show worked, the odds of her getting that lucky were not high.

Before Misa could finish collecting her thoughts, Cassi began nudging her forward back toward the board game where the other contestants were gathered. “Alright Misa, take a gander at your competition. You get to choose one person from the enemy team to play for points in a head-to-head matchup!” she said, amping up the crowd at the thought of seeing two players duke it out, “Now, when it comes to DiapOff challenges, your player pool is limited to who is available, which means Kyoko can’t play because she’s stuck with the Potty Monster until her next turn. However, anyone else is fair game, regardless of when their turn comes.”

Glancing between the three boys she had to pick from, it was hard to say which one seemed like the weakest link. Not able to remember any of their names, she first considered picking the big guy, which is who Ayaya wanted Mia to pick. However, he also scared her a little bit with how imposing his height was in comparison to her smaller stature. That left her with two choices and between them, only one looked exhausted from having just played in a different challenge. “I picks dat guy,” she said, pointing a finger directly at Zeke.

Hugging his arms closely to his body, this was the last thing Zeke wanted to hear. He was hoping to take advantage of the four turns ahead of him to recover physically. Sadly, it looked like he would be thrown into yet another game; one that could prove to be equally as strenuous as the last one if not more so. Standing up straight, he shook his aching appendages and put on a brave face, “Alright, gotta make up for last time I guess, right?”

“That’s the spirit!” shouted Cassi before guiding both Zeke and Misa back to her platform. Rotating on their marker to view the big wheel spin on the suspended monitor, both contestants were silently hoping that whatever challenge lay ahead of them wouldn’t be too extreme.

Jousting Juniors.

Clapping her hands together, Cassi hopped up and down on her toes. “Yay! This one’s a classic!” she said, diving into the game’s nitty-gritty details as she led Misa and Zeke to an area on the board that looked reminiscent of a boxing ring, only the square arena had an inflatable floor with two padded pedestals. Additionally, the whole arena was colored red and white with four candy canes posted up in each of the four corners.

“So, this is…just inflatable jousting?” asked Zeke, gripping the top rope and leaning over to get a better look at the battleground.

Shaking her head, Cassi raised her right hand and snapped her fingers, cuing another Iris bot to roll out onto the set, this time carrying two long sticks with what looked to be two massive diapers wrapped around each end. “Often a birthday party favorite, we’ve taken the simple game of inflatable jousting and elevated it to meet our DiapOut standards. The winner earns their team 15 points!” she said, earning a pair of grimaces from the two contestants at her side, “Don’t worry, you two. I made sure to fill those diapers up personally. You both should be honored.” She grabbed Zeke’s cheek and gave it a playful pinch.

Wrinkling their noses as they picked up their respective jousting lances, Zeke and Misa made brief eye contact with each other, both of them feeling sorry for vastly different reasons. From Misa’s perspective, it was on her that Zeke even had to participate in this challenge since she was the one who picked him. And on Zeke’s side, the guilt was already starting to get to him over the prospect of having to swing a big stick at a deeply hypnotized girl who was almost a full foot shorter than him. “Best of luck,” he said, grabbing the rope and holding it open for Misa to step through.

“Fankies…chus toos,” said Misa, blushing through her brief response as she stepped into the ring. Unfortunately, the unstable ground combined with the dizzying sensation that the hypnosis had left her with caused her to flop to the floor, face-planting directly into one of the dirty diapers she was carrying with her. The reaction from the audience varied, with some vocally cringing for her while others chose to chuckle at her unending humiliation.

Jumping into the ring, Zeke was quick to help Misa back to her feet. “You okay?” he asked, waiting for confirmation from Misa before releasing her arms and picking the lance up for her, “Here, you’re gonna need this.”

Accepting the lance, the growing Little side that was slowly taking over Misa’s conscious mind was quite touched that her opponent was being so kind to her; far kinder than her team had been. “W-Whys chus bein so nice to me?” she asked, clutching the diaper-tipped lance to her chest for comfort.

“I mean…it’s just a game, isn’t it? I’m not gonna be intentionally mean to you just because we’re against each other,” said Zeke, sharing a smile with his adversary.

“Hey, diaper brains! We’ve got a schedule to keep to!” shouted Keelee, utilizing her bullhorn powers to snap Zeke and Misa back to attention. Thankfully, she didn’t have to halt production to get the show rolling again as the pair of flustered players leaped into action, scurrying to their pedestals.

Meanwhile, Cassi took the time to step into the ring, having slipped on a black and white striped referee vest when everyone’s focus was on Misa and Zeke. “Okay, looks like our two players are ready to duke it out! First person to knock their opponent off earns the points for their team, as well as this cool-looking title belt, which they get to wear until the end of the game,” she said, holding up a bulky belt with the words, “Diaper-Weight Champion,” carved into a gold plate on the front.

Stepping in between the reluctant fighters, Cassi held up her hand, signaling both that the game was about to kick off. “Now, I want a dirty game, you two. You got it?” she said cheekily, soaking in the amused snickers that came from the crowd behind her. Glancing over at Keelee, she waited for the thumbs up to kick things off, “Ready…set…DiapOut!”

Holding up their respective lances, neither Zeke nor Misa were feeling any desperation to make the first move; each believing their odds would be better if they played defensively. “Focus…focus…focus…” Misa repeated over and over again in her head as she stared at Zeke with unblinking eyes. The last thing she needed was to forget what she was doing in such a pivotal moment, something that proved quite difficult thanks to the colorful and noisy environment she found herself in. Worried that the hypnosis eating away at her maturity would cause her to lose on a long enough timeline, she decided to take the first swing, aiming for Zeke’s head right out the gate.

Parrying his opponent’s lance away from his body, Zeke dug his heels as he arched back and jabbed at the now vulnerable Misa, smashing the lance’s mushy diaper into the one around Misa’s waist. He pulled back as the hit he landed on Misa was enough to unbalance her, deciding against a second strike as it seemed she wasn’t going to recover anyway.

Waving her arms frantically, Misa could feel her ankle starting to give as it began to roll off the edge. In a last-ditch effort to win, she swung her lance at Zeke again, this time releasing it from her hands entirely. The large motion was enough to finish the job, sending her tumbling off her podium.

However, at the exact same moment, Misa’s lance collided with Zeke, the weight of which was more than enough to force Zeke to stumble backward. He waved his arms hoping to keep a handle on his balance but sadly, it was no use as the momentum of his movement caused him to step back off of the platform.

The display that both Misa and Zeke put on was quite pitiful to watch. Though, considering one was battling mental regression while the other was still physically exhausted, it was honestly a shock the match didn’t end sooner. All at once, the cheering and applause that had filled the studio fell silent with no one quite sure what to make of the unorthodox fight they’d just witnessed. As the dust settled, a number of questions were on everyone’s mind; the most important of which was simply, “Who won?”