DiapOut: Chapter 6
“Hiya kiddos! Welcome back to DiapOut!”
The live-studio audience launched into another round of thunderous applause as the cameras circled around the charismatic host. Standing in front of the large set that had been built for the first round, CassiRole could feel her real-life worries melting away. She was always more comfortable on stage than anywhere else in the world. “Now that we’ve gotten to know our competitors, it’s time to get Round One underway!” she shouted, garnering another rapturous round of clapping.
As Cassi finished her opening statement, the light on top of the camera she was facing went dark as the feed switched to the wide shot that overlooked the entire obstacle course. Watching from a TV stationed next to her close-up camera, she continued her introductory speech for Round One, “This game is called The Change-Off! One at a time, contestants must complete their section of the obstacle course, securing items needed to complete a diaper change along the way.”
Cutting from the wide shot to a panning close-up of the first part of the obstacle course, Cassi moved into explaining how each section of the course worked. “To start, contestant number one must leap off of the tall platform into the extra-large, extra-dirty diaper down below to find a bobby pin hidden within the ooey-gooey muck! Talk about finding a needle in a haystack!” The camera zoomed in on the center of the two-story tall diaper that contained a pool of brown mush in its center. The audience reacted accordingly, showing the stage with ‘eew’s’. The camera cut back to Cassi briefly, “Don’t worry, it’s chocolate pudding in there…at least that’s what my producers told me.”
Laughter ensued following Cassi’s quip as the camera cut back to the panning close-up of the obstacle course, allowing the host to continue her explanation, “From there, they will hand off the bobby pin to the second contestant, who must make their way down the muddy slide, finding a second bobby pin along the way and hopefully giving that muddy booty a nice wipe down.” The camera got in close, displaying the butt-shaped slide and the small river of chocolate pudding that ran down its center.
“Once both bobby pins are recovered, it’s onto the third stage of the course, where contestants must race up the lotion-covered staircase and retrieve the cloth diaper hanging overhead,” said Cassi as the shot shifted to the white, lotion-covered stairs and the cloth diaper hung up at the top, “They will then hand the bobby pins and cloth diaper off to the fourth and final contestant for the last stage of the course.”
Panning over to the final leg of the obstacle course, the camera had found little to focus on besides the two large sandboxes filled with pure white powder. “In this stage, the last contestant will need to dig through the baby powder to find a baby doll that is buried inside,” said Cassi, watching as the camera arrived at its final destination: two changing tables with a finish line banner hanging overhead, “With all four items acquired, the final contestant will then diaper their baby doll. The first team to race through the obstacle course and get their baby diapered will win 25 points for their team. Teams will also collect 10 points for every section of the course they complete.”
Finishing her explanation of the game, the crowd heaped more cheers and claps upon their darling host, getting fired up in anticipation of the start of Round One. “Okay, Messers and Wetters, are you ready to kick things off?!” yelled Cassi, causing the camera to cut to the start of the obstacle course, where Mia and Cade were standing on the platform looking down at their respective dirty diapers. Each of them had a pair of glasses on and Mia had her hair tied up in a bun to keep it from getting in front of her face.
Bouncing up and down on her feet from the anxiety of waiting to start, Mia took a heavy breath, exhaling harshly as she stared down at the messy landing pad below.
Noticing his competition wasn’t looking too hot, Cade leaned over to Mia and asked, “You afraid of heights, cuz you're looking a little flushed.”
Caught off-guard by the sudden compassion for her opponent, Mia broke away from her nervous head space to respond, “U-Um, no, not really. I think it’s just performance anxiety. I don’t wanna embarrass myself by causing my team to lose.” Her body began to relax as she rambled on, as did her breathing.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine. We’re in the first leg of the race anyway. I doubt either of us do so badly that we put our team permanently behind,” said Cade, offering his fist out toward Mia, “But hey, don’t think that me telling you that means I’ll go easy on you.”
Flashing Cade a small, slightly more confident smile, Mia bumped fists with her opponent, steeling her nerves as she rotated back to face the dirty diaper. Unlike when she was the center of all humiliation at Lelaya’s New Year’s party, it was comforting to remember that no matter what embarrassing stunts she did, someone else was next to her doing the same thing.
“Awww, looks like our contestants are having a touching moment of comradery. Don’t worry, once the games get going, niceties will fly out the window!” said Cassi as she commented on the video feed of Mia and Cade fist-bumping. Getting the signal from her director, she knew it was time to countdown the start of Round One.
“Competitors! On your marks…”
Leaning forward, Mia and Cade prepared to take their leaps of faith.
“Get set…”
The audience went completely silent, waiting with bated breath to cheer on two well-matched teams.
“Go!”
Holding in a big lungful of air, Mia and Cade instantly jump off of their platforms, taking a short fall down into their own personal pudding puddles below. Given how deep the pudding was, both of them wound up fully submerged for a few seconds before popping up to the sounds of a hooting and hollering audience. Neither of them was able to avoid getting pudding in their mouths, sputtering for air as the creamy treat fell from their lips. And their mouths weren’t the only things filling with pudding, as large swaths of chocolate slop made its way into their over-bloated diapers.
Having trouble finding her bearings after resurfacing, Mia gingerly tried to stand up, resulting in her taking a hard tumble back into the waist-deep pudding thanks to her pudding-filled padding weighing her back down. As if wading through globs of yummy, brown dessert wasn’t enough, the ground beneath their feet was a crinkly diaper and a padded mat, causing the floor to be incredibly uneven. After a couple more attempts to rise to her feet, she gave up on stabilizing herself and began to feel around the pool of pudding for the hidden bobby pin.
Unlike a normal bobby pin, the one that Mia and Cade were looking for was exaggeratedly large, making it at least a little bit easier to find on paper. In reality, the size of the bobby pin mattered very little when considering how thick the pudding was. Even for Cade, who had a fairly athletic build in spite of his lazy, pot-smoking persona, the soupiness of the pudding was too much for him to brute strength his way through the first obstacle.
“The clock is ticking you two! Who will be the first to find their item?!” shouted Cassi, keeping the audience engaged and up to date with her commentary.
Clapping enthusiastically as she stood beside Mia’s diaper, Misa was doing her best to encourage her bestie, “C’mon Mia! You’re already covered in pudding! Get digging girl!”
While Misa had the best intentions with what she was saying, Mia was doing everything in her power to block out both Misa and the observing crowd. Swimming toward the edge of the enlarged diaper, she began to feel around the edges of the pudding pool, gaining the stability she’d been sorely missing. She sunk down into the pudding until only the top half of her head was peeking over the surface as she felt around with her hands. Bubbles of chocolate burst around her submerged lips, not that she cared given that she was already covered head to toe.
Lightbulb!
Acting hastily, Mia reached down to her feet and began pulling off the yellow pair of running shoes that the show had given them as part of their wardrobe. She quickly tossed the pudding-filled shoes outside of the playing area and proceeded to feel around the bottom of the pool with her bare toes. Within seconds, her strategy produced dividends as she felt something hard and plastic scrape across the crinkly padding. She curled her toes around the object and lifted her leg high, revealing to the audience her instant success.
“She’s got it! The Baby New Year is the first to find her bobby pin! Looks like the Wetters are going to be the first to reach the second stage of the competition!” yelled Cassi, causing the crowd to explode into uproarious applause. The only ones not celebrating Mia’s moment of triumph were the three Messers waiting for their turns to play, especially Kyoko, who wore a dark, disapproving scowl as she watched Cade flail around on screen.
Placing the bobby pin in her mouth, Mia scaled the side of the diaper until the loose edge folded over due to her weight. After what felt like an eternity, she finally managed to escape from the giant diaper’s clutches. “Here!” she screamed, grabbing the bobby pin from her mouth and holding it high for Misa to take, which she happily grabbed before making a break for the slide.
“Cade, what are you doing?! We’re falling behind!” said Rupert, peering over the side of the diaper in hopes of helping his business partner.
Wiping the pudding off of his goggles in frustration as best as he could, Cade decided that enough was enough. Taking a deep breath, he fully went under, sinking to the bottom of the chocolate bog and spreading all of his limbs out in an attempt to cover as much space as possible. Fortunately, unlike water, the pudding allowed his body to sink to the bottom easily.
After an extended stay under the surface, Cade finally popped back up with the bobby pin held tightly within his fist. “I got it!” he screamed behind a waterfall of pudding cascading down from his head. With no time to lose, he chucked the bobby pin over the side of the diaper, forcing Rupert to chase it down before he could move on. Relieved that his turn was finally over, Cade sank back into the pudding swamp, completely exhausted.
“And now the Messers are on the move! Will they be able to catch up or has falling behind early already sealed their fate?!”
TO BE CONTINUED…