Chapter 4 part 1: New Old Friends
I was quiet through most of my rediapering, but a question did keep coming up. “Do I have to go?”
“Yes”, I’d be told, while he selected a new diaper and unfolded it.
“But, do I really have to go?” I’d try again.
“Yes”, he would tell me again, lifting my legs and sliding the new diaper under me.
“Like, do I have to, though?”
“Yes,” he’d tell me again, dusting me in a cloud of powder that tickled my nose and folding the diaper up and taping it shut.
“Do I really really have to?”
“Yes sweetie.” He never raised his voice, or sounded annoyed. He remained remarkably patient. Maybe more patient than I deserved. But I really honestly didn’t wanna go to daycare! Still, he answered every question with the same sincerity and patience as if the prior ones didn’t really exist. And as he could tell I was growing more and more anxious, he sat me up and tried to hug me!
I wiggled away, of course, so he just settled for a pat on the head. I wasn’t quite so far gone as to be soothed by a simple hug with someone who was still effectively a stranger! Even if they were a constant I could keep around to help defend my sanity.
“Arms up,” he commands me with a gentle tap to my chest and a nudge at my arms. I find myself complying before I’m even aware my arms are moving, lifting up for Auran just as instructed. And then my vision is completely obscured as green fabric is pulled down over me! I grunt and wiggle for a little bit before my head finally pops free and I feel him settling the armpits of the shirt under my own armpits so it doesn’t bunch up uncomfortably.
I had never really thought about the little details of life like that before, but he’s making them his whole job. To make sure I’m a comfortable, happy toddler. I just wish it wasn’t working. It was really hard to find anything wrong with what he does. I bet the daycare’s going to change that outlook real fast, though. He said the point of this place is to embarrass me? So they are trying to break me down through the way they treat me. And he’s right that I really can’t figure out a way to fight back. I hope those other two as sane as I am have some advice, or things could get bad fast.
“Why the shirt?” I ask to cut through my own moping.
He’s starting to pick me up again, too, and of course he still holds me in a cradle. “It’s your group. The color and theme of the shirt tells us which group you belong to, for coordinated activities between multiple groups.”
“Oh. Is this one because I’m…new?” Or not potty trained, or being treated like a baby.
“No no, silly, nothing like that. The age differences here aren’t big enough for us to group you by ability. Once you’re ready for pre school, you start to go to one. We have buses that pick up here just for that, for those of you who haven’t graduated by that point.”
“Oh…” That was a depressing outlook on my possible future. I could spend multiple years here just because I’m hard to rehabilitate? Not that I need to be, but they clearly have some kind of standard for what a “successful student” is. What if I never meet it?
“Don’t worry so much.” He boops me on the nose, startling me and making my cheeks light up all over again as I shrink back into his arms some more. “Most kids graduate once they’re about 7 to 9 years old. Well beyond schooling age. It’s all very normal, and you’re already making great progress by behaving so well for us. I’m pretty sure I broke my grownup’s arm when I first got here.”
Oh, that makes me feel a little better. Not totally, because it does mean I’m gonna be here a long time, but at least that doesn’t mean I’m already a failure or something. Wait, when he was here? “You went through this too?”
“Yes, actually. It’s what gave me the idea to start working here! I’m not giving you any hints about how old I am, but we didn’t always have the machine to regress bad Pokemon. We used to have to use magic, and the magic can be very heavy on the side effects. Namely, without them explaining it to me through my therapy here, I never would have known what I even did to deserve to be here. My memories were a total wreck, and they still are. It’s all fragmented. All I know is, I wasn’t a baby, I was very angry, and I wanted to get out of here. Even without the ability to use any moves, I punched my dad so hard that he says his arm is still sore sometimes. I feel kinda bad about it, actually. But you haven’t even tried to bite me yet, little Firestorm~ I suppose it’s a little unfair, since I could easily stop you, but even making the attempt loses you points here.”
He…doesn’t remember his original life? Wow. I guess things could’ve been so much worse for me. Were they so dedicated to therapy through regression here that they even risked erasing so-called “bad Pokemon” forever by shattering their memories? I really am lucky that they invented that machine, no matter how much it wronged me. If they were gonna beat me and drag me back here anyway, I’m glad they left the old me mostly intact. If a bit spotty about the details of my fall.
Psychotic though the premise of this place was, nothing really prepared me for what I saw next. We had arrived at the daycare, which took a bit longer than reaching anywhere else here so it definitely was physically far away. But the daycare itself was huge. Easily the size of a school gymnasium, maybe a bit bigger. It might’ve even been built like one, since it has a vaulted ceiling and lights hanging from it. I tried not to think about how adorable and babyish it was that all the lights were shaped like stars, moons, and planets, and emitted a soft glow as opposed to harsh, painful light. There was enough of them, and of windows along the entire back half of the building and the ceiling, that this place was plenty bright.
It was sectioned off by little half walls everywhere. I can’t really count all of the individual sections, so there were a lot of them. Definitely more than five- I think that’s my counting limit right now. But the sections were about the size of an ordinary kindergarten classroom. I winced at the comparison, but at least it was an accurate one. Each area also had a color associated with it, but was further divided by plastic decorations on parts of the half walls nearest their baby gated entrances. And you can only fit so many kindergarten classrooms in a building that’s basically its own convention center. I’d have to estimate maybe 20 of them.
What confused me though as Auran brought me towards a green section was that the decorations didn’t totally match up what I expected. There’s a plastic flower, which must match my shirt. But there’s also a little Pidgey figurine, a plastic fish toy, and a plastic guitar. Four items, and only one of them matched my shirt.
The walls were all green, denoting this as a green area, but the inside had a colorful play mat with rows of squiggly shapes that took up the whole space opposite the entrance with a desk on its corner and a grumpy looking Pangoro sitting behind it. There were a couple other adults here, but I found it hard to focus on them. Instead, I was looking at the kids who were sitting at a bunch of collapsable tables, so low to the ground as to not need chairs, painting with their paws on the surfaces. Over half the class was engaged in this activity, but some had set up little group areas to be alone with their friends. They used pillows and beanbags for this, and all sat in a circle so they could see each other and whatever they were doing in the middle.
I didn’t see anyone I recognized at first, but soon I heard a familiar voice! “Well howdy! Glad to see y’all made it.” It was the Kangaskhan.
“Yup. Right on time. Toto give you trouble in the tub again?”
“You don’t know the half of it. Little guy’s obsessed with swimmin’. It’s all I can do just to get him clean and presentable before we run out of time. Getting him out of th’ tub always pushes us into overtime… Dunno how anyone else with water types manage. Imagine if I had multiple kids. We gotta work on that schedule of theirs so the little ones can have more bathtime fun without cutting into our activities.”
“I hear that. This one here was just a precious angel the whole time. He was so behaved, I even gave him a gold star on his report card!”
“Wowee. First day and already a gold star? You must be after baby of the year at that rate!”
Baby of the year? Surely that’s not a real prize. But I was growing more uncomfortable about this conversation by the second, so I started to squirm. Signaling to Auran I wanted down seemed to work, as he approached the baby gate and set me on the other side of it. For a moment, I actually felt a little scared… He was separating from me in a public space! But I quickly shook that off. That was ridiculous.
I looked around and saw some building toys not being used, but there were so many kids around. And none of them acted like adults like me! I definitely didn’t wanna play with babies, and I definitely definitely didn’t want to be caught playing baby toys in front of babies! So I just went to the far right corner, opposite the desk, and took up a pillow to sit by myself. Surely they wouldn’t have an issue with that, right?
It took a bit of doing to weave through the crowd and also not get accidentally painted on by some baby with grabby paws, but I managed to make the journey past the toy cubbies and over to the pillow stack. Prize in hand, I made way for the corner and triumphantly sat my pillow down in it before climbing on top and sitting! …And then frowning as I realized the bean bags actually looked way comfier.
I sat there moping about it, not wanting to look like I made a mistake so I definitely didn’t get back up again to go swap them out, but that’s when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was that Totodile from before! He had a green shirt on with a band of gradeschool Pokemon playing colorful instruments. And this is my actual first time seeing his diaper, too…
It was green too, which kinda contrasted a little bit with his aqua scales, but made his green eyes actually stand out more to me. There were also fishies swimming all over it. Er, I mean fish… It looked very aquatic. He must love the water a lot. Isn’t that what miss Kangaskhan said about him?
“Hi. I’m Toto, wanna be frienz?” While I wouldn’t call his lisp babyish, it did put me off at first. It sounds more like a nerd’s lisp on account of braces than anything. And watching him speak, I think it might be his tongue. It looks all uncoordinated and uncomfortable around all those little sharp teeth. Like it didn’t really know where it wanted to move or rest and just got in its own way all the time. I’m sure he’s not in danger of biting himself, since his baby teeth were made for his baby mouth and all, but it was weirdly cute how it affected his speech.
Despite thinking maybe he’s not too much of a baby, I’m reminded about his absolutely blissed out and relaxed state in his momma’s pouch this morning. How he just sucked down that bottle like nothing else mattered in the whole world. And how the first thing he just said to me is about being friends.
So I scowl. “I’m Koda. And, sorry, but I don’t think we have much in common.”
“Shure we do! We’re boff reptilesh, an’ we’re boff cute!”
“But I’m not… Okay, what do you do for fun?”
“Well almosht anythin’! They have all kindsh of fun toysh an’ shtuffsh here!”
“None of that sounds fun to me right now.”
“Uhhhh… Okay! I can go get mama to give me her tablet an’ we can watch Youtubesh until re-shessh!!”
Before I could respond, he was waddling off. Y’know, he did look kinda cute, with his diapered butt wiggling all about as he tried to run on his stubby, chubby little legs. His species took a lot of growing before they could move so naturally on land like mine could. He’s younger than all that.
It didn’t take him too long to come back. Maybe his mom kept the tablet in her pouch. Was he using it this morning before he poked his head out? Regardless, on the way back he grabbed a beanbag and dragged it over for us. I promptly took up the rear spot, of course, not going to be sitting in the lap of a baby! So he had to sit in my lap, which was much less degrading.
The tablet was in some kind of full protector, covered in smudges and paw prints and with all of the sides protected by some kind of dark blue rubber or silicone. The corners were splayed out and larger, so that big and clumsy baby paws could hold it easier, but I have no doubts it’s been dropped a lot. He pushes in this tab on top, probably where one of the tablet’s buttons sat underneath, and the screen lit up. He taps on it, and then clumsily draws some kind of shape with his paw splayed out flat on the screen. It accepts that, or maybe it was actually reacting to his face and the gesture did nothing, but his profile appeared on the screen. It read “Totodile” under a picture of his smiling face, showing all his teeth.
Toto… “Hey, uh. Do you not…have a name?”
Suddenly this excitable ball of scales became an entirely different ‘mon, deflating some as he stared at the home page glumly. “No…”
Well that was super sad sounding and depressing. “Oh. How long have you been here?” I wonder if that might help me figure out if he’s like me or not. As well as what might be waiting for me in my future.
“Month. I think…” Hm, that wasn’t super conclusive. Maybe if he at least understands this next question, it might tell me something.
“Do you remember who you were before?”
“Uh-huh,” came his glum reply. And then he jumped up a little, sitting up straighter in my lap! “But I’m not like that anymore! I’m good now. Mama shaysh sho.”
So he is like me. And it only took a month to reduce him to… Well I don’t want him to be sad anymore! I don’t really know why, but I like this kid. He reminds me so much of… “Hey. Hey… It’s okay! I’ll be your friend, okay? You don’t need to be sad.”
“Really?” That perked him up.
Smiling, and not really thinking about repercussions yet, I add on “Yea. Hey, maybe we can talk with your mom about setting up a playdate? We could get some alone time. Get to know each other better.” I have to admit, he wasn’t all bad. He kinda acted like a baby, but there didn’t seem to be anything especially wrong with his head. Maybe he could still help me get out of here. Or at least keep me company as I descend to babydom, which does seem unfortunately likely at this point.
“Oh, that’ll be a ton of fun!”
He was cute, his energy made me feel better, and he already wanted to be my friend without me even doing anything. Yea, I made the right choice. We can be friends. I just might not be able to talk about escape or other mature things around him. I wonder how often they do playdates and visits here? Do the “adults” use it as a way so they can get together with their friends like regular adults do? Probably. I think ours are already friends, so this might work. And then I can get his backstory in a less public setting, and see how…whole he is.
“Wha d’ya wanna watchk?” So it’s not just the letter S he has trouble with. I think it must be his tongue having difficulty with his teeth, because I heard a bunch of trapped drool and air get forced between them when he tried to pronounce “watch”.
Maybe I could help him practice with that so he gets better at it. Would make talking to him easier. “I dunno, lemme look.”
My heart sinks again as I tap the play button icon on the app panel and it opens up Youtube Kids. That, I expected. Of course we don’t have access to regular mature content. What I did not expect is the memory that I still can’t read. This whole page was nonsense to me! But then how did I read his name? Is it because I heard him say it before I saw it? Or is there some other secret to the missing knowledge that I don’t know yet?
“I, um…” There were so many out of context pictures and squiggly lines all over the place that I just couldn’t understand. What was I going to do? Maybe I should be honest… Could he help me learn how to read? “I don’t… I can’t read the video titles.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I can’t either.” Does he usually avoid Ts? Because those sounded kinda super loud. Louder than some of his other Ts. “I can read my name, an’ I can read shome Poke namesh, but not much. Think it’sh Pokemonsh that wash important ta me.”
Important, huh? So I can thank Finn. There could be a few other names I can still read, then. Maybe I can use that to learn reading faster. That’d help me escape, for sure. It didn’t yet occur to me that there were no signs in this facility. Everyone already knew where everything was.
“Here. Lemme pick one.” And so he does, and an episode of Poke Ranch comes on. It’s this preschool show about Pokemon that live with their human friends on a ranch, and all the activities and shenanigans they get up to. That was fine, I guess…
We watched several of those videos, each kinda blurring into the next for me. Their plots were so simple and predictable, I just couldn’t pay attention. Especially as a pain appeared in my belly. It’s lower than last time, just a little, and feels…different. I remember peeing twice since my bath. Once a tiny bit on the way here, probably from nerves, and the second time during these videos. That one was a lot more. But this pain? It’s different. Why would it be different? Was I hurt? Did my waffle go down wrong?
Apparently Toto had picked up on my squirming, and decided to comment on it. “D’ya gotta go?” he questions me, turning his head so he can see my face.
“Go where?”
His eyes widen like he knows some kind of secret I don’t! I start panicking a little. What could he be talking about that’s so important?! He’s definitely making a big deal out of it, getting out of the bean bag and helping me stand up, too. He puts down the tablet and grabs both my paws, just gently holding them. It helped a little. “Okay, this is gonna be scary.” He’s not lisping anywhere near as bad, and he’s speaking slower. Purposely. Any doubt I had that he was like me is definitely gone now. He’s specifically articulating his words even though it’s hard, so he makes sure I understand him.
“It’s your first time. You’re gonna have an accident…” He eyes the front of my diaper, which made me fidget a little. Why did he need to check me? I already had my accidents. Which is a private matter he shouldn’t be checking in the first place! That was between me and my diaper!
“Why hasn’t it happened yet? I didn’t have much warning all the other times.” Unknowingly, I had already bent my legs a little. Something was going on, and my body seemed to know what to do about it. So why’s he so upset?
“I think you gotta go…number 2.” And suddenly it all clicked. Why my tummy hurt. Why this took longer. Why my tail was lifting itself and I was crouching a little lower, leaning forward with my butt out slightly.
I quickly averted my eyes back to the gate, hoping to find Auran standing there. He wasn't where I expected him to be. I needed him though! He had to come get me and take me to the potty before!- Pbrrrt
My butt sounded off like a trumpet signaling the approach of the troops. It was too late, and my legs weren’t moving. Why not? Didn’t they know I wanted to run away, not just stand here and poop myself?!
I could feel it coming, and had no idea how to begin stopping it, as a mass started to press out into my diaper from under my tail. It wasn’t exactly very solid, proving beyond a doubt that I was absolutely a baby now. So it didn’t fight my diaper seat very long before immediately spreading out in all directions, into every crevice it could find. I cringed as my seat quickly filled up with what seemed to me like warm mud. It stopped at my tail and only circled around it a little, but in the other direction it was easily pushing towards the front of my diaper and stretching out the leg guards.
And just like that, it stopped, and I felt control returning to my lower body. But I didn’t dare move from this position, like anything I did would disturb my diaper. It felt horrible, it ruined every single image I had of myself all at once, and I wanted it gone immediately! Before I even knew what I was doing, tears formed in my eyes, and I only gave a few sniffles before I just started wailing.
I screamed at myself to stop, but I just couldn’t. I was beyond upset. I was inconsolable. My world was over now and I was in heck. And my crying only made me cry more! Because not only did I just begin filling my pants like a baby before I fully even realized I needed to poop, but now I’m crying my lungs out like a baby, too!
And then I stopped. I felt something squeeze my paws, bringing my attention back home. In the span of a few seconds, I settled down to simple loud whining and whimpering intermixed with occasional sniffles. My lip was quivering up a storm and I had to look through blurry tears at what had squeezed me. It was Finn! He was coming to save me from myself and bring me back to earth.
He squeezes my paws again, and then pulls me into an embrace. My diaper squished and contorted, but didn’t swing or move much outside of following my own movements to the best of its ability. I could feel it spreading more at this action, but it was hard to care. I was being loved again, and so I reached out and embraced Finn right back!
Now I wasn’t making noise anymore, and just transitioned into quiet sobbing as I closed my eyes and leaned against him. The whole world could disappear right now and I wouldn’t even notice it. Relief was washing through me, too, which made it easier to calm down. I definitely felt better.
We stayed like that for a little bit, in each other’s embrace, but eventually Finn got me to shuffle over to the beanbag chair and sit down on it with him. This time we were next to each other, instead of using lap space. It did mean sitting down on my diaper, but the heat helped relax me while I didn’t think too hard about how mushy and gross it felt.
“You’ll be okay. We all go through that our first time. Just calm down. Find something happy to think about.” I could tell it was getting hard for him to keep forcing his enunciation like that, so I reached for the tablet and pointed at the play button while trying not to think about how my blubbering sounded while I was asking for cartoons.
He obliged and put them on for me, and I could just relax while the mind numbing show just played without my input. I was still sobbing quietly, just a little, but at least I wasn’t making a scene anymore.
As I would later find out, apparently the teacher had noticed. How could he not? One of the babies just stood up and started crying. In an open air environment like this with so many different smells mixing about, he may not be able to smell me right away. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what one of the un-potty trained babies just did. When I consoled myself, though, he held off for a bit, just letting me have my moment with Toto. It’s not like I was in much danger of a rash; that was a lot harder to achieve with reptiles. Though not impossible.
