DiapOut: Chapter 44
“Yooooo! I don bewieve it! We fweakin’ won!” Cade cheered, jumping in place while clinging to Zeke’s arm. Not even his foggy mental state could dampen his enthusiasm over witnessing his team’s unlikely victory unfold. The only thing to give him any pause was the fact that his teammate wasn’t celebrating alongside him. “Eawth ta Zeke! Why awen’t chus bouncin’?” He waved a hand in front of Zeke’s eyes, giggling childishly.
Despite the jubilant atmosphere that both the audience and his teammates were stirring up, Zeke remained in place, his expression static as he watched Kyoko prancing around CassiRole’s stage in a skimpy cheerleading outfit. Given the monumental achievement that this was for him and his friends, he should’ve been in high spirits, especially since it would be by his hand that the Messers would cross the finish line. And yet, as he stood in place weighting Cade’s commemoration down like a rusty anchor, the only thing he felt was bitterness. “Sorry…j-just in shock…” he lied, tightening his grip on the fringe of his Betsy Wetsy dress.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
“When I say PUNISH, you say MENT! Punish!”
“MENT!”
“Punish!”
“MENT!”
“Let’s give this brat a punish-MENT!” shouted Kyoko, no longer having any difficulty getting into the cheerleader mindset as she ended her cheer in unison with the crowd. Sadly, as eager as she was to collect her cash prize, she wasn’t about to risk losing points on her Play-It or Pass-It Challenge, pushing her to keep cheering through the remainder of Lelaya’s punishment and Zeke’s final roll.
Technically, there was no reason for Lelaya to accept her punishment considering what a lost cause it was. However, just because her team was set to lose didn’t mean she was going to skip out on her share of ABDL fun. “Don’t be afraid to squeeze me in extra tight!” said the bunny-eared diaper-lover, giggling as a team of PAs stuffed her into a second bassinet. She waved to her cellmate, Rupert, before happily opening her mouth to accept her paci-gag.
“DoNt Be AfRaId To SqUeEzE mE eXtRa TiGhT! Yeah, I’ll squeeze your throat extra tight,” scoffed Ayaya, glaring at her buffoon of a teammate from the last space on the board before the finish line. After suffering through three rounds of diaper humiliation, to lose so unceremoniously was a bitter pill to swallow. If it weren’t for the ace she had tucked up her sleeve regarding Jackson and a certain soon-to-be-vacant hosting gig, she would’ve already stormed the stage to ensure Lelaya got the punishment she actually deserved. “Between this and making you two wear that two-person diaper, it’s like Lelaya wanted us to lose. Well, that and Mia’s dumb choice to weigh down her own diaper. Fantastic work, by the way.”
“Yeah, like you did any better,” responded Mia, rebuffing Ayaya’s assertion that she and Lelaya were the only ones to blame. “You didn’t contribute a single point during Round 3 AND you skipped your second turn before you even knew what the challenge was. If anyone caused us to lose, it’s you.”
Restraining herself with the knowledge that the cameras were watching, Ayaya wasn’t about to risk harming her image by getting physical with a teammate, even if she desperately wanted to. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” she said, nixing the idea in the back of her mind of having Mia return to DiapOut as a special guest once she was in charge.
Meanwhile, having received a thumbs up from Keelee that Lelaya was properly bound, Cassi sought to close out Round 3 as quickly as possible. “Alright, kiddos. I know this is a bit of a formality but let’s keep that energy up as we welcome Zeke–or should I say Betsy Wetsy–back on stage!” she announced, proctoring another bombastic round of applause from her studio audience.
For his efforts, Zeke’s stoic expression was quickly flipped into a glowing smile as he approached the raised platform waving with both hands like a politician. “Glad you all missed me so much,” he said, encouraging the crowd to pummel him with even more praise.
“Gosh, Zeke. Quite the growing fanbase you have there. Are you excited for life after DiapOut? I bet you won’t be able to walk down the street without being recognized once this episode airs,” said Cassi, leaving Zeke to either rise to the occasion as a micro-celebrity or become crushed by the vast amount of public humiliation that would soon be lobbed his way.
Encompassed by the sensational, yet isolating warmth that came from being the center of attention, Zeke shamelessly twisted his hips toward the camera while reaching back to pat his fat diaper butt. “To be recognized as a diaper-loving sissy by millions of people…what’s not to be excited about?” he said, accepting the dice block from Cassi with a piercing grin.
“You got this, Zeke!” said Kyoko from the sidelines, momentarily forgetting the pain she inadvertently inflicted upon her team member in favor of feeding into the exhilaration of winning.
Ignoring Kyoko’s comments, Zeke kept his focus locked on his gracious host. “So, am I good to roll?” he said, forcing an even wider smile.
“Aww! Such a good sissy for asking! Yes, you may,” said Cassi, delicately patting Zeke’s wig-clad noggin so as not to ruin his perfect curls.
Releasing his grip on the dice, Zeke didn’t have to look at the result of his roll to know what would happen. Confetti shot off from a set of cannons organized around the castle set, showering the studio with a glittery barrage of color. Succeeding in spite of the fact that production had been actively working against them since the beginning, the Messers were now locked in to play for cash in the final round.
FINAL SCORE
Wetters: 221.1 points
Messers: 231.7 points
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CLATTER!
Unshackled from the confines of her straight jacket, Lelaya stretched her arms out for the first time since the beginning of Round 3. “Woo! Sweet freedom!” she clamored, scratching her nose with both hands.
Recovering the discarded straight jacket from the floor, Keelee looked as though she had aged several years in only a handful of minutes. “Contestants, do NOT leave the studio floor. It won’t take long for us to set up for the final round’s preamble, so I want all eight of you to stand by for now,” said Keelee, remaining as professional as ever in the face of Round 3’s chaotic ending.
Unfortunately, the authority Keelee held over the Wetters was quickly waning. “Excuse me, why do we hafta stick awoun? We awweady losted, and I wansa shower,” said Misa, hoping to put as much distance between herself and the DiapOut studio as possible. Moreover, the scent of chocolate emanating from the dried pudding that coated her body was starting to become nauseating.
“Because Cassi needs to thank you for appearing on the show. It’s customary for any game show, so suck it up and stop being a sore loser. Any other questions?” said Keelee sharply, staring down each contestant while practically daring someone to say something. “No? Good. Then zip it and sit tight.”
Turning her back on the eight idiots she was in charge of, Keelee didn’t have time to deal with the barrage of stupid questions they usually had for her. “Jackson…Jackson, are you there? The crew is itching to get set up for the final round. Where are you?” she whispered into her headset, covering her mouth to prevent any crew members from overhearing. The last thing she needed on top of everything else was to start a panic over their MIA director. “I swear to Goddess, if you make me finish this show alone, I going to–”
BZZZ-BZZZ! BZZZ-BZZZ!
Keelee suddenly halted in place as the phone in her pocket began to vibrate. It wasn’t her personal cell phone, which was tucked away in her employee locker. Instead, it was one of two emergency phones given to her and Jackson by the show’s lead producer. She gulped as she answered the phone. “...Hello?....I’m so sorry, Miss Caretaker, there wasn’t anything we could…Yes…Wait, you’re coming here? I promise you, there’s no need for–”
CLICK!
Turning pale as a ghost, Keelee now fully understood why Jackson was hiding. There was only one reason for a producer to bother trudging from their penthouse apartment in the heart of LA all the way to Studio City at such a late hour, and that was to fire someone personally. Considering what a clusterfuck the production had been, it wasn’t a stretch to imagine the manager of said production ending up the odd man out. “Jackon, get your cowardly ass out here now,” she said demandingly, preparing herself to march backstage and drag Jackson out by his ear.
“Keelee, hey!” said Cassi, strolling over to her production manager in a lavish princess gown with an open front designed to show off her diaper. “I wanted to talk to you about–”
“Cassi…not now,” said Keelee, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. “Jackson’s missing, the show’s gone up in flames, and now we’re facing a massive loss in sponsorship revenue all because Baby New Year didn’t make the final round. So please, can you not be a diva for just five fucking minutes?” She knew it wasn’t smart to go off on Cassi like this but it did feel damn good to say.
Raising her eyebrows, Cassi was almost impressed to hear someone finally bark back at her without storming off the set. That said, she had worked too hard pulling strings behind the scenes not to see her grand scheme through to completion. “Okay, fine. Have it your way. And here I was trying to offer a solution to all your problems. I guess never mind,” she said, feigning indifference as she turned her back on Keelee and pretended to walk away.
“Wait…” said Keelee begrudgingly, “...I know I’m going to regret asking but what exactly did you have in mind?” A desolate glaze overtook her corneas as Cassi smugly turned to face her.
Unlike Jackson and Keelee, who had overestimated their ability to manipulate the show, Cassi knew better than to put all her eggs in one unpredictable basket. This is why she spent the majority of her time on and off set poking and prodding her players, gathering as much information from each contestant as possible while simultaneously pitting them against each other at every opportunity. Now, it was time to put those efforts to the ultimate test. “And here I thought you’d never ask,” she said, a prideful smirk unfurling across her face.
TO BE CONTINUED…