DiapOut: Chapter 41
“Less than a minute remains! Ooh! This is going to be a nailbiter!” exclaimed CassiRole, who was as on the edge of her seat as the rest of her audience. Truthfully, she thought Mia had zero chance of completing the obstacle course with Misa attached to her hip. Her assessment couldn’t have been more wrong, though, as the girls were now only twelve slippery steps away from a massive 50-point haul.
SPLAT!
Planting their feet at the base of the lotion-covered staircase, Mia and Misa moved in unison as they waddled with their pudding-drenched Buddies Diaper sagging heavily in their arms. And despite how desperate Mia was to rest her aching limbs, her proximity to the finish line was enough motivation to keep her firmly upright. “Okay, Misa, we probably only have one shot at this,” said Mia, squatting low with her legs spread two feet apart and gazing ahead at the staircase to strategize her approach. Immediately, she knew the skinny width of each step would be their largest hurdle. “We’re gonna have to skip the first step to mount the staircase, then we can left-right-left the rest of the way up. Are you ready?”
“Yeah…I’m weady,” responded Misa, mimicking Mia’s stance as she prepared to advance. After being forced to hypermess a diaper and being hypnotized to the point where she couldn’t spell her own name, so much of what happened today didn’t feel real in retrospect. However, none of that would matter so long as she could tuck herself into bed tonight $500,000 richer.
Locking eyes with Misa, it was time to get their final push underway. “My left and your right together on 3. 1…2…3!” she shouted, raising her left leg and stretching it toward the second step; a simple movement but one that required complete faith that her partner would mirror to avoid an embarrassing faceplant. Unsurprisingly, their landing was anything but smooth, wobbling back and forth like a bowl full of jello as their feet slapped down on the greased-up staircase. It took them several seconds to regain even a small semblance of balance, eating away at the minuscule amount of time they had.
“Only 30 seconds! You two had better get those butts in gear!” said Cassi from the sidelines in hopes of motivating the girls to speed up.
Thankfully, Mia had already taken into account the time loss that their first step would have. Now that they were in position, nothing was stopping them from reaching the top. “We’re not stopping the rest of the way so brace yourself,” she said, informing Misa that things were about to get much more strenuous. Receiving a shaky nod of affirmation, she sucked in a big, lungful of air before leaping into action.
“Left!” Mia yelled, choosing to recite which leg Misa needed to move instead of her own. The last thing she needed was for Misa to get mixed up because she was calling out her own movements. Taking a full beat to settle her lower foot into place, she quickly shifted her weight in preparation for another step. “Right!”
Pudding dribbled down each of Mia and Misa’s legs as they ascended the stairs one step at a time, leaving a trail of runny chocolate in their wake. Exhausted beyond belief and clutching to their soupy, oversized diaper to the point that the whites of their knuckles were on prominent display, the girls had every reason to drop to their knees and give up. In the end, it was Misa’s desire not to let Mia down and vice versa that propelled them upward in the face of their grueling circumstances.
“Holy Toledo! They’re doing it!” cheered Lelaya, excitedly bouncing up and down while clinging to Ayaya’s arm. “You see? I knew exactly what I was doing pairing them up.”
Unable to pick her jaw up off the floor, Ayaya had been skeptical of Mia and Misa’s ability to climb out of the pudding pit at the start of the race, making their sudden resurgence all the more awe-inspiring. “LET’S GO, WETTERS! FINISH STRONG!” she abruptly screamed, allowing herself to get caught up in the moment.
“Left! Right! Left!” said Mia, steadily picking up the pace as she and Misa got into a rhythm. Before they knew it, they had cleared the halfway point with just under 15 seconds on the clock. “Almost there! Right! Left! Right!” Maneuvering within three steps from the top of the stairs, she could practically taste victory. The anticipation of winning had her legs moving like a machine as she flat-out ignored her burning thigh muscles.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Misa, who was struggling to keep up with Mia’s tempo increase. Attempting to move her left foot up to the second-to-last step, her haggard body failed to raise her leg high enough. The result was instantaneous as she lost her footing and tumbled to the ground.
“GAH! M-Misa!” cried out Mia, leaning all of her weight in the opposite direction of Misa’s flop to prevent herself from falling over. The conjoined diaper around her waist suddenly became an anchor, giving her no choice but to stand as still as possible while Misa recovered.
“10…9…8…”
With only ten seconds left, the audience proceeded to countdown alongside the dwindling timer, adding pressure to Mia’s troubling situation. “You gotta stand up, Misa! We’re so close!” she said, feeling the friction beneath her feet give way until her toes were hovering off the edge of the step.
“I-I can’d!” replied a very panicked Misa, who was stuck hanging off Mia’s hip with her chest glued to the staircase. Having no means of gaining traction, there was little she could do but lay in place to stop herself from falling further.
“...7…6…5…”
Glancing back and forth between the finish line and the staircase behind her, Misa knew the only way she could restabilize was to return to the bottom. Given only a fraction of a second to decide what to do, there was no time for debate. What happened to her didn’t matter so long as Mia made it to the top. “Bwace youwsewf!” she shouted, smacking her fudge and lotion-coated hands down on the tapes of her half of the two-person diaper and ripping them off.
“WOAH!” clamored Mia, nearly falling herself as the Buddies Diaper unceremoniously lost one of its buddies. Thankfully, Misa’s detachment slingshotted Mia in the correct direction, allowing her to solidify her stance as her feet slid fully onto the steps.
“...4…3…2…”
Without a second to spare, Mia stomped her foot down on the final step and dove for the finish line. Her feet were sent sprawling into the air as her upper body collided with the platform at the top of the stairs; a tremendous feat that left her mere inches from completing her trial. Had the timer gone off then, her and Misa’s valiant efforts would’ve been for nothing. Mercifully, it was the CrissBaby Buddies Diaper of all things that came to her rescue, providing her with just enough traction to leap up and roll the rest of her body forward. Lying on her back with the tattered Buddies Diaper draped around her, a jubilant but fatigued smile overtook her expression as she caught sight of the lone second remaining on the time. She had done it.
BLAST!
Much like they had at the end of the first round, confetti cannons popped off over the obstacle course as the audience showered Mia and Misa with their loudest applause yet. “That was incredible! What a powerhouse performance!” said Cassi, her voice competing with the wealth of clapping and screaming echoing around her as she spoke into the microphone. “Mia’s HUGE risk has paid off in spades. She and Misa may have lost 10 points for ripping off their Buddies Diaper but that’s a small price to pay for a humongous 50-point swing! Well done, Wetters!”
“Hehehehe! YESYESYES!” giggled Misa, waving her arms and kicking her legs widely as she stared up at Mia from the flat of her back. Resting within a pool of creamy lotion at the bottom of the padded staircase with a bloated, pudding-filled diaper fastened to her pelvis, she didn’t even want to think about sitting up. If they wanted her to be present for her turn, they could carry her for all she cared.
Likewise, Mia wasn’t certain she could will herself to get up if she wanted to. Never in her life had she craved the warmth and comfort of her bed so much, having been put through one physically arduous activity after the next. Sadly, her bed would have to wait a bit longer. They may have had the lead but the game was nowhere near finished. That said, she was going to savor her monumental victory for as long as she could.
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“Thank Goddess I didn’t let you talk me into 10 to 1 odds,” quipped Keelee, who had wandered backstage during Mia’s challenge to watch on the monitors with Jackson. Reaching into her back pocket for her wallet, she reluctantly pulled out $20 and tossed it onto Jackson's command console; a bet was a bet, after all. “Also, what is up with these girls and ripping each other’s diapers off on that staircase? Like, seriously.”
For Jackson, the cash prize he received was nothing compared to the footage he and his team managed to capture. “I don’t know and I don’t care. What I do know is that we are now on easy street from here until the end of Round 3,” he said, relieved by the 45-point buffer that the Wetters now had. So much for needing to rig the game. Mia had garnered such an insurmountable lead for her team that the rest of the Round felt like a formality at this point. “From this point forward, we’re going to prioritize high rolls and quick challenges. The Final Round is just around the corner. Let’s end this thing on a high note.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Wetters: 201.1 points Messers: 156.7 (+/-10) points