Tale #108: Make the Call

Tale #108: Make the Call (A sequel to 'Bad at Puzzles') (Content Tags: Messy diaper, brain drain, wet diaper, diaper change, humiliation, fantasy setting, ongoing plotline) "This isn't...Ideal." That was a calm way to put it. Much more calm than what was honestly warranted in this unlikely scenario. It was a response better suited for finding out that your teammate had sprained his ankle, not for discovering that your teammate had been reduced to a drooling imbecile. "That smell... You're telling me he...?" "Yeah, he pooped in his pants. More than once, I think. He's more stinky now than he was a few minutes ago." "Poopie! Poopie!" The moron giggled, before suddenly twisting his face and letting loose a bubbling fart. Chill sighed and pushed his glasses up. "Wonderful, just wonderful. One of our best and brightest, and he's soiling himself like an incompetent invalid." Sparky shrugged meekly, "At least he doesn't seem bummed about it. Sounds pretty happy to have poo in his pants, or erm, his diaper, I guess." That much was true, not that it really helped the situation much. Diver having a big stupid grin on his face wasn't going to solve the problem of his duties going unfulfilled. Their missions would suffer, and so would their reputation, if this didn't get fixed promptly. "We'll just treat it like a sick day for him. We don't have any assignments queued for today, so it isn't a problem *yet*. I don't want any news of this leaving the Troupe though, got it? The last thing we need is a blow to our standing." Both Penumbra and Sparky nodded in agreement, while all eyes drifted back to the mushbrain in contention. He was in the middle of picking his nose, mouth hung open with slobber cascading down his chin, and with not an ounce of wit left in his eyes. He didn't seem at all perturbed by the loss of intelligence or the huge diaper stuffed under his pants, and even less so by the bulging, smoldering pile he'd made in the back of it. "...The other last thing we need right now is a *blowout*, so one of you go get him cleaned up, okay?" The co-captain ordered, wincing at the encroaching odor. "Eww, no way! That's gonna be so gross!" Sparky whined, pinching his nose and sticking out his tongue. "What can we even change him into? His underwear turned into that diaper, it isn't like we have more lying around! Except for Puddles, I suppose, but those are a lot smaller..." Penumbra added. This was surely a dilemma, but not as big of an obstacle as it was being made out to be. Chill stroked his chin, "Either make the diapers bigger or make him smaller. Go find either Talcum or Magnum; we can afford to let one or two people from another Troupe know, but no more than that." Magnum, from Troupe Nine, was a 'macro manipulator'. He could increase the size of objects for a time, which would be perfect to use on some of Puddles' diapers to get him fitted for Diver. Talcum, from Troupe Eight, was an 'age manipulator', but his chronokinesis was only able to take his target backwards or back to normal, not forward. With his power, they could make Diver the same size as Puddles for now. This would be a tough decision to make, but they didn't have a very long time to deliberate, not with the farts they were hearing from the diapered dunce. He would need a new one *soon*, which meant they needed to call someone *now*. Elsewhere in their guild hall, a different padded boy was toddling about. Puddles, so aptly named, was still searching for his older sister, while his leaky diaper had made a soggy sight out of his shorts. His mind was a little distracted from his primary mission; hearing about what had happened to Diver, and how he was a 'dumb poo-baby' now, had gotten him wondering about what that meant for his own standing in the team hierarchy. His powers, when they were agreeable, were some of the best on the team. Water, or fluid in general, was an absolutely busted power to be skilled with; if he had a better sense of control, then he would have been ripe for promotion. It was already impressive for someone so young to be in Troupe Seven, even if they couldn't keep a handle on their bladder. Finally, and fortunately, he could smell smoke nearby, and where there was smoke, there was fire. His older sister was getting some practice in at the target range, and the burning remains of her targets had billowed their smog into the adjacent hall. As it currently was, Ember was the strongest member of their team. While Chill was the superior strategist, it was Ember who quite literally had the most firepower. She manipulated combustion, which didn't just encompass the power of flame, but also of explosions. If she'd been less impulsive and more thoughtful in her actions, then there was nary a doubt that she could have already been promoted herself. It was her own hot head that was holding her back. "Ember! Ember! Hey--" The little boy began to squeak to get her attention, before being brushed to the side by someone trying to get by. "Outta the way, piss-pants. I need to talk to the captain about something more important than your diaper change." Came the haughty voice of an older boy. Geo, the stocky preteen with a mastery over minerals, nearly barreled right over the indignant tyke. He was an abrasive lad, and an arrogant one too; similarly to Ember, his strength wasn't in his mind, but in his unrelenting force. He went ahead of the stumbling Puddles and took his place in getting Ember's attention. "Captain, I think that its time I get to rank up. I crushed it in the last mission, like, *literally* crushed the target. I think I deserve better than rank seven by now, I mean, what does Gale even do?" Each troupe had an internal ranking system that better illustrated both the power structure and the importance of each member. Rank one and two were Ember and Chill, the co-captains, and Diver and Zone came right after that. Puddles himself was at the very bottom, being rank ten. The ranking was handled by the captains of the group, but it was a delicate matter, as for one person to move up, another had to move down. The red-haired girl sighed and stopped lobbing fireballs down the range. "Me and Chill both have to agree, and I usually defer to him on that egghead crap." The dynamic between the two captains had a great balance to it; they both appreciated and valued the skills of the other, which meant they typically respected the decisions made on areas where the other was more qualified. Mission planning and guild pencil-pushing were things that Ember gladly let Chill take care of, while team training, discipline, and battle intelligence were the domains of Ember. Rank within the Troupe was something that she would happily abdicate to him, especially since she was aware that she was shortsighted on which qualities she should evaluate. "He has it out for me! Besides, which is stronger? A rock or the wind? Seems pretty obvious to me." The boy grumbled. "Yeah, tough guy? What about erosion?" She raised an eyebrow, launching a cannonball right through his meathead argument. "...Speaking of erosion, go ahead and buzz off. My baby brother is waiting for me." "You're blowing me off to go change a pissy diaper?!" "Better to blow you off, than to blow you up, don't you think? Now get out of here. If you want to improve your rank, then go find Chill and ask him what you need to do." Geo's exit was swift, but not without swears being muttered angrily under his breath. Puddles waited until the older boy's back was turned, before sticking out his tongue at him. Then, remembering why he'd come this way in the first place, likely because of how badly his thighs were chafing in these wet shorts, he turned his eyes meekly toward his sister. "Umm...Ember...?" "Yeah, I got eyes; I know why you're here, squirt. Let's go take care of it." He wasn't proud to have to come and ask about it, but he still wasn't effective enough at diapering himself to take care of it on his own. Cleaning up was simple enough, but getting the diaper on and taping it right, that was where the problem landed for him. His sister wasn't pleased about it, but she could at least understand why he still needed the diapers and why he needed help changing them. On occasion, she had passed the buck on such a task to another teammate; such was a perk of being the captain, but Puddles was hardly comfortable with that, so it wasn't often that she called upon someone else. If Pull-Ups were more absorbent, then this wouldn't be an issue at all, but her baby brother was a heavy wetter. "You could have gone to Vita. She's basically a nurse." Ember sighed, taking the boy by the hand and walking him back down the hall he'd come from. "...I don't like asking other people." The boy quietly replied. "Yeah, I know. I'm not always around though. Besides, in another year, I'll be aging out of Troupe Seven, so you'll either need to have control of your powers or get comfortable with someone else helping you." Ember was seventeen now, and the limitations of age would soon be no more for her. It was likely that she'd move right up to Troupe Four or Five, skipping right over Six, due to her extensive experience and sheer skill. It remained to be seen who would share the captain's chair with Chill, once Ember was gone. Heck, Chill wasn't much younger than Ember, so his time would be limited too. As it was, it seemed most likely that Zone and Diver would become the new leaders; that was assuming that Diver's current issue could be fixed... Ten minutes later and Puddles was on his back, soaked shorts crumpled on the floor, and leaky diaper on full display. It was a position he was quite familiar with, seeing as he was in it multiple times a day. His sister got a fresh one out and came over to untape him. "So, umm, have you heard?" He couldn't help himself. Puddles knew he had promised Zone that he wouldn't say anything, but it was just too juicy of a secret to keep to himself! "About what?" "About Diver. He's in diapers too." Ember rolled her eyes with the assumption that her little brother was playing a joke or recounting some infantile rumor that Sparky lied about. "Oh? Smartest kid on our crew has to wear them just like you? I don't think his powers have the same whiplash that yours do." The boy shuddered as he felt the cold of the baby wipe going against him, "It's true! Zone told me that Diver is all dumb now, like a baby!" "Zone's also a pompous pric-- look, I'm just saying that he's not the most trustworthy guy." She shook her head. As much as she could respect his talent, she couldn't respect his personality. "He said that Sparky broke Diver's...umm... brain-thingy!" The right term unsurprisingly didn't come to him. "Look, Puddles, you can't go around believing everything--" The girl was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door opening, just as she'd begun to tape her little brother up. Coming in was Penumbra and Sparky, both who looked a little surprised by what they were intruding upon. "O-oh, sorry! We didn't think you'd be in here." The girl apologized, looking embarrassed for the little boy on the bed, whose privacy they has trampled over. "I just finished up, you're fine. Why are you here anyway?" Ember asked as she balled up the soggy diaper to throw in the trash. "Well...Uh...That's kind of a long story..." Penumbra pensively poked her fingers together. Sparky had no such sense of shame or decorum; he jutter his little finger out at the diaper in Ember's hand. "We need one of those!" Puddles sat up, blushing that his new diaper wasn't covered. He looked confused by the request, as did his sister. "Um, I *peed* in that." "Whatever, if you want it so bad, then you can throw it away." She underhand tossed it at Sparky, who caught it by reflex and immediately dropped it. "Eww! Not a pee-pee one! Like, a new one! A clean one." The hyperactive boy clarified. "You still haven't said *why* you need one of my brother's diapers. You turning into some sort of weirdo?" Penumbra and Sparky looked at each other, as if to quietly deliberate on how much information they should divulge. While Sparky was typically a big blabbermouth, it was different in the circumstance where he was culpable for a misdeed. Penumbra was more concerned that Ember's fury could make things even more complicated than they already were, but there wasn't really any turning back now. "...Well? I'm waiting." "We need them for...Diver." Penumbra finally admitted. "His brain turned to poo!" Sparky immaturely added, emboldened by his partner's candor. The whole story would come out as the four trekked back to the main hall. From Sparky acting recklessly, to the present state that Diver was now in because of such buffoonery. This was a matter where words didn't do enough to describe things though, and that much would become apparent when they all arrived at the room where they'd sequestered the boy. At some point, he'd managed to get his own pants off, so Diver sat on the floor with the thick garment on full display. Emphasis on the 'full' part. Besides the lumpy bulging, the formerly white diaper had begun to stain brown in large, nasty splotches. "Oh my gosh! He really is a poopy baby!" Puddles was first to exclaim, the disbelief dripping from his words. Diver was typically so confident and cool, so to see him drooling on himself in a stupor was an absurd sight. Ember put her fingers to her temples and sighed. "I can't believe how badly you screwed things up, Sparky. You went and turned our number three into a retard that only knows about number two." The mentally mutilated moron didn't seem to take the slur personally, nor did he really seem to understand what everyone was saying either. His wit was rather infantile, with his neurons all firing improperly from the reformation of the puzzle that Sparky had tried to solve. He couldn't even count to three in his current state, or fully recognize his name for that matter. "It was an accident! And I tried to fix it!" "Yeah, we can all see how good of a job you did with that. Well, you know what? You're on diaper duty until he's back to normal." The boy blanched, especially since Diver took that moment to let a low, sloppy fart out. A squishing sound swiftly followed and the back of his diaper expanded another inch in the back. "O-oh, eww! I can't do that! Changing diapers is more of a girl thing anyways, right?" "Is that your way of telling me you want to wear a skirt while you do it? I think the least you can do is help to clean up your mess, or should I add more punishments on top of that?" Sparky got quiet and nodded meekly, "N-no, ma'am. I'll change him..." Puddles got closer and nudged the mushy backside of the diaper with his foot, "Eww, super squishy! He pooped a whole lot!" The boy giggled. "C-cut it out! That's just going to make it harder to change him!" Sparky whined. It was abundantly clear that the boys in the room weren't going to be of much help here, so Ember turned her attention to Penumbra. "I'll go find Zone. I know you said he was 'working on it', but I need an ETA or something." Penumbra nodded, "Okay. Well, Chill told us to either call Talcum or Magnum, to help with the diaper situation. We don't have any in his size to change him into, so we're either going to shrink him or make one of your brother's diapers bigger." "Tch...Probably the best idea, I suppose. Going out and finding something in his size would take a while, and he *really* needs a change ASAP." The captain pinched her nose, glad that her brother was past *that* stage at least. "Which should we choose though? Who should we call?" Ember turned to leave, "I'll let you decide on that. Just make sure that the person you call can keep a secret; if you need to sweeten the pot, then let them know I'll put in a recommendation for either one to be promoted to our Troupe." Penumbra nodded and looked back at the pitiful scene behind her. Who should she call? It was time to deliberate.