Long Story #17: The Most Dangerous Gameshow (P1)

Long Story #17: The Most Dangerous Gameshow (A commissioned story!) (Content Tags: Messy diapers, wet diapers, pants accidents, age regression, brain-drain, humiliation, some diaper sniffing, some diaper sharing, kind of long) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was America's next biggest game show; it had the highest ratings of a quiz bowl in decades, but that was because it was the only game show that had real consequences for failing to answer a question correctly. The losers, and usually even the winner, came out of the game having lost something of significant value. The grand prize was so alluring that people didn't care what they were being asked to sacrifice, at least until they were there on the stage, and then it was too late. Lawsuits had been filed, but the extensive release waivers kept lawfare impotent; people tried to quit in the middle of the game, but the punishment for that was sometimes quite severe. In a country that had been so desensitized to the plight of others in the name of entertainment and had become so anti-intellectual in nature, there was no greater thrill than watching some brainiac getting what was coming to him. Conspiracy theories had even popped up online that the game show was bankrolled by a conservative think-tank that weighed the benefits of denigrating intelligence even further among the populace. Every show saw someone winning a big prize, but the cost was high, and not just for the losers. The winner rarely walked out with their prize money with their mind and body fully intact; there was also always an 'ultimate' loser that was picked by the winner to take the highest penalty. The losers received consolation prizes, but nothing they would technically have wanted before the game began. Certainly nothing for the crowd to be envious of. Today had four contestants: Richter, seventeen years old and an IQ recorded at 150. Timothy, thirteen years old and an IQ recorded at 139. Jaime, ten years old and an IQ recorded at 163. And finally, Miles, who was sixteen years old and had an IQ recorded at 161. To be on the game show, you had to be a qualified 'boy genius', due to the nature of how the show worked. There had to be a proper balance of youth and intellect, since age and IQ were the things wagered on every question. They were like reservoirs to pull from, in order to 'pay' for a wrong answer. One had to balance which they used, as different questions had different quantities necessary for the 'buy-in'. If you lost on this show, then you were either likely going to become a toddler or a retard, and either way you would be in much need of those 'consolation' prizes. The lights were on, the cameras were rolling, and the studio audience was pumped. It was time for the game to begin, and out came the host, who had actually been the show's first 'winner'. What appeared to be a preschooler in a spiffy onesie, bowtie, and blatant diaper bulge, was the once much older genius: Paxton! Paxton had been the first winner and arguably the one who got off the best of winners since then. He'd never wagered intellect, only his age and continence, which was seen as a pretty bold strategy; some people had tried to rip-off the gambit since then, but none had been successful; the age-cost on later questions was simply too high to only use years instead of IQ points. Paxton was also stuck the way he was, since he'd never touched his IQ pool; one of the last questions he'd failed had locked his age in place as a penalty, so now he was an eternal tyke without any pottytraining to speak of. However, he was also very wealthy and now very famous. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Time for another rousing game of 'Age and Wisdom'! I'm your host, Paxton Bridges, and tonight we'll be seeing who'll be winning ten million dollars, and who'll be winning a one way ticket to d-diapers!" The host stammered at the end, jutting his rump out as a toot helplessly jettisoned a small log into his Huggies. The audience cheered and laughed, well-used to the antics of the host and the contestants. By the end of the show, there were almost always multiple contestants in diapers, and they were loading their britches pretty frequently; once a contestant was diapered, they even attached a small microphone to the back of the diaper, to amplify the shame of the befouling. America loved dumb, gross humor and they loved watching people get destroyed on live television. There was a reason this was the highest rated show in the country. "Now, we have another group of boy geniuses tonight; not geniuses for long though, eh? Let's take a look at their betting pools!" Each contestant stood behind a podium, with a metallic headband and their stats displayed on the front of the podium in real time. The stats showed IQ score, age in months, their name, and their current game score. "Now, as you all know, the rules are as follows: you will get a chance to look at the board and pick a topic and a difficulty level, then you'll have to decide how you want to pay for the question. If you get the question right, then you get the points, if you get it wrong, then you lose whatever you were betting. If your 'months' reach twenty-four, then you can no longer use them to bet with; if your IQ reaches under forty, then well, you won't really be capable of continuing either. Some questions have extra options for betting, which you'll soon see." The four boys nodded along at the explanation, though it was really only for the sake of new viewers. Nobody went on the show without already having an extensive knowledge of the rules and risks involved. "Very good! If you answer a question correctly, then you can answer another one or choose to pass. If you answer incorrectly, then anyone else can buzz in to answer, while only betting half the original cost." Of course, nobody would buzz in unless they knew the answer, unless they were really desperate, but this game did bring out the strangest things in people. One would think that the halfway point of the show would be where things were pretty much over; once people began to lose their intellect, then they could only slide further down, right? Well, in a twist, the question blocks on the board got replaced with easier questions as the game went on. There had been a couple of games where all the contestants were dimwits, but they were still able to score and determine a winner. Otherwise, the game would become pretty lopsided, if only one genius remained among the contestants. There were also occasional 'alternate' challenges that would pop up, which weren't usually formatted as a question, but as something physical. More often than not, those were simply sources of public humiliation. "We'll start from the left today, with Richter. Go ahead and choose your category!" The teen stroked his chin and pointed after some thought, "I'll go with 'Marine Biology' for fifty points." The tot of a host nodded and the screen pulled up the betting cost: ten IQ points or twelve months of age. Richter selected age to wager. "Alright, the question is: which jellyfish is capable of immortality through reversing their own aging cycle?" "Easy one, Pax. That would be 'Turritopsis dohrnii', otherwise known as the immortal jellyfish. Moon Jellies also typically have such a feature." "Well, let's see if you're about to be reversing through your youth like one, or if you just got on the board..." Paxton pointed a hand toward the screen, and after a brief pause for drama, a big smiley face appeared on it and fifty points went to Richter. "Looks like you are correct!" The teen smirked, "And I'll go again. I'll pick 'Egyptian Mythology' for another fifty points. I'll wager another twelve months." "The god Atem created twins from his body; what was their names?" "Shu and Tufnut." The screen didn't give him a happy face this time, instead giving him a sad one, with a sound effect that could only be thought of as a penalty. "Oh, so sorry! Looks like that question was a 'Tufnut' to crack, huh? At a wager of six months, one of your competitors now gets the chance to answer!" Almost immediately, the buzzer went off, with Timothy's hand being the culprit. "Tefnut, Pax! The twins were Shu and Tefnut!" Fifty points got added to Timothy's score, while Richter's headband glowed in activation. Losing a year and going back to sixteen, it was almost impossible to tell from appearance, but Richter was acutely aware of it. "And that actually signals the formal start of your team, Timothy. Go ahead and pick a category." The thirteen year old stroked his chin with a smile, "I like to go big, Pax. I'll take 'Animation' for three hundred points." It was a big gamble, but it had the chance to pay off in a big way. Getting that many points early on would make Timothy a juggernaut on the field. The wager was high though: 36 months of age, or 20 IQ points. Like the contestant before him, he selected age, which was a pretty common tactic. People would usually bet all they could stomach from their age, and then they'd use IQ. Age, in most cases, would come back eventually, but IQ wouldn't. Being stupider also lowered your chance of victory by a vast margin, so one had to be careful about how much they were willing to burn. "In the 1988 cartoon, Fantastic Max, which was created by Hanna-Barbera, what was the titular character's catchphrase?" Color drained from the young teen's face as he realized that he'd never even heard of such a show. He'd been born in 2011, how could he possibly know of that obscure of a cartoon from decades prior? With the timer going, he had to at least make a guess: "That's 'Fantastic'?" Another sad face for that answer. "Ooh, so sorry! That is incorrect. Would anyone like to steal? The wager will be eighteen months." Richter and Miles looked as confused as Timothy had been, so their hands stayed planted firmly on their podium. It was Jaime, the youngest of the contestants, who emphatically hit the buzzer, while his other arm stayed wrapped around a plush. "Dirty Diapers!" The little boy excitedly chirped. "That is correct! Fantastic Max, about a baby genius, was always loaded with the catch phrase: Dirty Diapers! Points go to Jaime." The reversal of age was a lot more noticeable with Timothy than it had been with Richter; going from thirteen to ten in mere moments, he literally shrank behind his podium, with baby fat returning to his cheeks. Meanwhile, Jaime's score now eclipsed his fellow contestants by a huge margin. "Alright, Jaime. Its your turn, go ahead and pick what you'd like." "I'll take 'Religious Iconography and Occult Symbols' for two hundred. I'll wager ten IQ points on it." "Alright! For this question, you'll have to draw your answer on the tablet provided on your podium. Question is: what does the 'Sigil of Lilith' look like?" It took the lad a minute, but soon the sound of victory came as his doodle was broadcasted in real-time on the big screen. That was another hundred points for the boy, and in a show of force, he refused the offer to take another question. "That leaves our last turn of round one, with Miles choosing a question! Go ahead, Miles." The black-haired teen looked unsettled by the massive lead that Jaime had just gotten, and while proving himself well-versed in the esoteric. He would have to pick something big too, something that put him ahead of the little brat. His eyes scanned the options on the board and he settled on a big ticket. "I'll take...'Classic Literature' for five hundred." There were some gasps in the audience at that; three hundred had already been seen as far too risky for this early in the game, and five-hundred had a chance to deal an utterly crippling blow. His wager options came up, and they were grim: 120 months or 40 IQ points. Taking Jaime's lead, and perhaps acting a little overzealous, he opted to put his intellect on the line. In all honesty, it was a tough choice: become six again or become only 'above average' in intelligence. "Big spender! Big spender! Well, let's hope you get it! The question is: what is the name of the Sartre work about three sinners stuck in hell?" Confidently, and almost immediately, Miles smirked and blurted out: "Hell is Other People!" If he'd thought more about it, then he might have remembered that he was actually thinking of the famed line from said story and not the title itself. The screen threw up a frowning face and the headband around Miles began to hum to life. He let out a groan and his eye twitched as forty IQ points were eradicated from his skull, taking him all the way down to 121. "Ooh, so sorry, that is incorrect! Though speaking of 'hell', that must have stung like it! Would anyone else like to answer? Wager will only be half." The host offered. Richter hit his buzzer, "It was Troubled Sleep!" Another frowning face. Another penalty dealt. Another gasp from the audience. "That is also incorrect! Would anyone else like to try? Going once... Going twice... The answer we were looking for was 'No Exit'. That'll end our first round, with Jaime leading by an impressive amount! Let's move onto round two, where things will get kicked up a notch!" It was rare for a contestant to have this much of a lead already, and while demoralizing, there were still several rounds to go before the end of the game. With Jaime as far ahead as he was though, it pressured the other contestants to take more risks to catch up. "Now, back to you Richter. You only have fifty points right now, compared to Jaime's five-hundred. What question would you like to take?" Richter took trigonometry for two-hundred and managed to get it correct; for his follow-up, he took 'Newtonian Physics' for a hundred, wagering fifteen IQ points and he messed up. It was Miles that took the question and got it right. Next up was Timothy again, and his strategy seemed to be to pick off some of the easier questions. He took one after another for fifty points a pop, getting three correct in a row, before messing up on the fourth and losing his wager of ten IQ points. Richter buzzed in to steal on that one. Jaime once again took a high value question and got it right, scoring another three-hundred points and politely refusing a follow-up question. When Miles came back up to bat, he took one look at Jaime's immense score and the pittance his own score was at, and he got desperate again. He chose to wager age this time, five years of it, to attempt to get three-hundred off a question. He failed, again, and was swiftly reduced to being a preteen again. His height, his muscles, the tambor in his voice, all washed away in a matter of moments. His score remained at a humiliating hundred, while Timmy stole the question and got it right, ballooning his score Round three was where things got dangerous. It was a lightning round, where each contestant was expected to answer five questions each, quickly in a row, and without being able to choose the category of the question or the wager they were making. It was considered to be the big shake-up round before the commercial break, to really alter the landscape of the game. Each player would have two IQ wagers, two age wagers, and one 'special' wager that they wouldn't know about until the end of their turn. If they got a question wrong, then there was no stealing from other players. Just five questions each, with only about twelve seconds to answer each one: one minute for each player. It was the first round where Jaime finally suffered a penalty, and a pretty bad one too. Though none of the players got out unscathed. Richter gained two hundred points, but he also lost one year of age and forty-five IQ points. Timmy gained only a hundred points, and he saw devastating losses of two more years of age and fifty-five IQ points. Jaime gained four-hundred points and nearly got a perfect score for the round, but he fumbled the last question and got hit with the penalty of the 'special' wager. His pottytraining was taken from him. His IQ was still untouched, but now the little boy would no longer be able to control his bladder or bowels. He pissed his pants almost immediately after his control was taken from him. Then there was Miles, who had some lucky gains in the realm of three-hundred points, but who also lost another twenty-five IQ points This had indeed been an explosive round for the players. Ironically, Miles, who had the lowest score and had suffered some of the worst penalties in the first two rounds, was now the second-smartest and the only one who was getting to keep his underpants. (Continued in Part 2)