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Damsel in Distress: A Pink and Blue Diaperfur Adventure Tale in Seven Episodes

Part One

This is a mature story (sort of). The point is, please be 18+ in your non-regressed state to read! It also involves, in case you couldn't tell from the title or the icon, furs in diapers, sissies, and ageplay. It's also a silly adventure/romance story involving characters in these situations rather than a conventional straight-out regression or sissification story. Don't like, don't read. This story continues the events of [Newbie](%5C) and [Operation Baby Blue](%5C) but can be read out of order.

This is Part One. Because the story is long, I will post Parts Two and Three in the next few days, if you'd rather read a bit at a time. The whole thing will be up Friday. So if you would rather just read it at once, you can wait for the weekend. Click the "by folder" tab on your upper right to see all the related stories at once.

_Recap: _ For months and months the blue faction of boyish AB/DL furs struggled as their heroic outlaw leader, the black Lab Roger and his unturnable lupine sidekick, Rian, lost new recruits to the rival pink faction of AB/DL sissies, led by Roger's next-door neighbor and sister, the leopard Empress of sissies Calliope.

But today, there is new hope. Following a daring recruitment operation, the Baby Blue boys are five hideouts strong and growing.

Then one day the boys receive a distress call from a surprising source-the sissy princess fox Serafina, who has slipped behind enemy lines carrying the plans for her mistress' new sissy academy. She is willing to trade them if the boys can liberate her from a most unpleasant form of punishment. Rescuing Serafina-if they can trust her-will require Roger and Rian to put their best new agents in play for the boys' biggest mission yet.

Part One: Episodes 1-3.

Episode 1. You're My Only Hope!

Episode 2. Mission Control: The Secret Circle Assembles!

Episode 3. Plots and Counterplots!

Episode 1. You're My Only Hope!

Late summer was already turning to fall. The sissy princess fox, Serafina, sat with her sandals off and her emerald green skirt pulled up to her waist, dangling her footpaws off the small rock she sat on in the middle of a chilly, rushing forest stream. She preferred pink, but her green dress was excursion-wear, light and too tight-fitting to catch on branches, plus it had pockets. Bony as she was, she wore two disposable diapers under a pair of plastic pants, so sitting on the rock was not uncomfortable for her. And this far out in the woods, she was hardly worried about being seen.

She sighed gloomily as the shadows of the trees around her grew longer and traced the lettering on her plastic pants idly with one finger, thinking of what, for the moment, couldn't be. The front of her plastic pants read, in cursive script "Fox. Wrong side up." She smiled at them wistfully. They were one of her favorite naughty pairs, and the only pair of plastic pants she owned where she could always tell for sure which side was supposed to face forward.

She was about to get up and leave when the breeze carried a familiar scent to her nose. "You came! You really came!" she barked excitedly, holding her skirt up high with both paws as she splashed down into the shallow water, running to meet the hooded figure approaching down the center of the stream.

The Labrador was wearing a pale blue hoodie, had rolled his jeans up to his knees, and was carrying his sneakers, their laces tied together, in one paw. "Well, I still have my doubts," Roger said as he peeled his hood back with his free paw, "but we have known each other for a long time, and when you mentioned this place, I figured something was up." He waved the paw with his sneakers in it as he neared. "Do you see how I'm coming down the middle of the stream so even my own boys wouldn't be able to track me? Pretty cool, huh? Like a ninja! By the way, do you like the logo?" He tugged at his hoodie, which had the letters "BB" over what at first appeared to be a simple outline of an X, but on close inspection proved to be two crossed safety pins, embossed on its breast.

Serafina let her skirt drop, no longer caring whether the end of it trailed in the water, as she threw her paws around the lab, giving him a tight squeeze, and stifled a giggle as she remarked, "You are such a dork. That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. So yes, it's entirely appropriate for you."

Roger put his sneakers on to the boulder in the center of the stream, and hopped up on to it, taking a seat, patting for Serafina to get back up and sit next to him. She did so; here, even if either of them were being followed, eavesdropping would be impossible. "I didn't tell Dex or even Rian about your message," Roger said. "They wouldn't have let me come alone-but if they saw it anyway, they might have assumed it was a trap and shadowed me. And even if you're being honest, I can't risk that someone tailed you anyway and might track me back to find a hideout. There are, after all, major doings in the land."

The sissyfox frowned and bit her lip. "Then, you already know?"

Roger smiled. "That Callie is the one who bought the abandoned charter school? Hard to miss; she's been avoiding me like a full diaper pail since the news broke that it was sold. Won't even answer her phone. Besides, she's been talking about starting one for years, although I didn't think she'd ever really pull it off."

Serafina nodded and took a deep breath, reaching into her pocket and removing a crumpled piece of paper, which she handed to Roger. "A proof of the first newspaper ad. It runs tomorrow." Discover your destiny. Take control of your desires. Get in touch with your feminine side, it read_. Sensitivity training and more under the watchful eye of highly skilled instructors. Empress Calliope's Academy for Special Boys. Both private and group classes offered. All inquiries are answered, but admission is highly selective._

Roger shrugged and splashed the water with one foot. "A school for sissies. I'm not threatened by this. Callie has been floundering since the party misfire. She never did understand that boys can play just fine a little . . . dirty," he said with a smirk. "If anything we might have come out of it even better. Baby Blue is five hideouts strong and growing. I say, she's desperate to recover lost ground."

The fox shook her head and fidgeted anxiously. "I wish it were only that, Rog, but, Callie is . . . I don't know how to describe it . . . different, lately. Something is really bothering her. She's usually so good at reading furs' limits and stopping just short of them. Lately she's so distant and it's like she doesn't care . . ." She looked around shiftily and pricked her ears. Her vulpine senses could detect no movement in the surrounding trees, so, taking a deep breath, she pulled down the front of her plastic pants, then, her fingers trembling, carefully untaped and folded down the front of her diapers one at a time. The light sparkled off her indestructible plastic chastity tube.

"Well," said Roger, taking a breath, "this explains why you aren't your usual perky self. So this is what you want help with? But it's not the first time . . ."

Serafina cut him off, shaking her head energetically. "Roger . . . I've been in this thing for almost a month. Callie won't give me the key. She doesn't even want to talk to me about it."

Her ears drooped as she looked up at him pathetically and waved one of her arms in a frustrated gesture. "I am a fox, for heaven's sake! I just . . . I don't know what else to say. I can't trust anyone there. They'll rat me out if I ask. I need Baby Blue's help to get the key. I know your boys can do it."

She sighed, and carefully folded up and re-taped her diapers, then pulled her plastic pants back up from her knees, as she added, "I have real intel that would make it worth your while. The school layout and the . . ." She gulped. "Full opening schedule."

Roger stood up on the boulder at once, bit his lip, and looked down at her out of the corner of his eye. "Nuh-uh," he said in disbelief. "You're going to hand me everything BB needs to sabotage Callie's opening right here? That's too easy. Smells fishier than a day-old diaper. You probably just put that thing on yourself this morning. I'm out of here."

He reached for his sneakers, but as he picked them up, Serafina assumed a kneeling position, and reached up for his waist, grabbing at his belt, in a last desperate attempt. "Help, me, Roger!" she blurted out. "You're my only hope!"

The lab's ears pricked and he looked back down at her consideringly. "Star Wars out of you?" he remarked thoughtfully. "No way. Even when . . ."

Seeing she was making headway, the sissyfox broke in and finished his sentence, looking up at him imploringly as she swept along. "Even when I was a boy I made fun of those movies. Even when we used to play paintball right here and you would pretend to be Han Solo. When I blasted you so bad you fell in this stream and we only had one wearable shirt and one pair of pants between us, and we argued about who would get which, I said, 'Where's the force now?' when I was taking your clothes off, before . . ." "Han Solo doesn't even use-," Roger muttered, but she pressed on, anxiously, without hearing him, "before I kissed you and grabbed you and . . ." She put her arms around his waist and hugged him. "Oh, Rog," she sobbed out, "You were my best friend and I was so confused. I'm sorry it had to be you. I just got carried away. I'm sorry that I ran away when you tried to talk about it and I'm sorry I ran to Callie and I'm sorry I never came back and I'm sorry that. . . ."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" said the lab, dropping his sneakers with a thud in order to cut the sissyfox off with a tight hug and pat her on the back as much as he could. "I didn't think we were going to get into ancient history! You were experimenting; and do you think I would have wanted my friend throwing herself on furs she doesn't know and can't trust? No how. Besides . . ." he scratched her head and her ears reassuringly. "Callie said you were the fastest she trained ever to advance to princess. It's where you blossomed. Who am I to stand in the way of what's meant to be?"

The sissyfox snuffled and looked up at him with tears running down both her cheeks.

"Whoa, Serry." Rog shook his head sadly. "You really have been in that thing for more than three weeks, haven't you? We'll take the mission. It might be a hard sell with the boys, but I'll bring them around."

Serafina released her trembling grip on the Labrador to reach into her pockets and extract the other papers. She handed them to him and he partially unfolded them to take a cursory glance, nodding and then stuffing them into his own pockets. "Any ideas?" he asked.

The fox shook her head. "My best guess is it's on her at all times. I've looked everywhere else . . . believe me!"

Roger nodded and chewed on his lip, already formulating a dangerous plan. "The opening," he mused aloud. "That's when we'll strike. My best chance to sell this to the boys is as a sabotage mission. Plus, Callie will be busiest and easiest for me to catch off guard if she does have it on her. Especially if we create a distraction to tie up all the bothersome ones." He looked at Serafina meaningfully. "Usually that would include you. And in case it is hidden there will be plenty of time to search the whole apartment while Callie is at the school. Rian can do that; besides me he knows it best." Serafina fidgeted and blushed at the mention of the wolf cub's name, but Roger, absorbed in his strategizing, continued without noticing. "You just hold tight until then. Be in touch if you can, but keep a low profile and look after yourself first. If you get any hint that Callie knows about this meeting, we abort and figure something else out."

"Rog," Serafina tugged on his paw. "I know I already gave you the plans, but there's something else I need to tell you if you're really going to do this for me. And if you say no, afterwards, I understand. You can still walk away with them and I'll fend for myself. It's about Rian."

"Oh, please." Roger laughed gently and spontaneously as he leapt into the water with a splash and, taking up his sneakers, turned to leave. "Dogs are nearsighted, not blind. Didn't I say like two minutes ago who am I to stand in the way of what's meant to be? Anyway, Rian's my best man. If I were a girl, I'd be sweet on him too."

"Roger, one last last thing," the sissyfox said with uncharacteristic earnestness, and he glanced back over his shoulder, tilting his head with one ear pricked and one flopped down. She tugged at her skirt uncomfortably. "Don't expect me to say this, ever again, you big, housebreaking-impaired goofball . . . but no matter what happens, Rog," she gulped, "you really are-and always have been-a hero."

The Labrador broke into a broad grin as he raised his hood with his free paw and offered his parting words: "I know."

Next time: Mission Control: The Secret Circle Assembles! Roger's call to arms activates Baby Blue's best agents.

Episode 2: Mission Control: The Secret Circle Assembles!

"Ladies and gentlefurs, this is unbelievable!" the marsupial emcee shouted excitedly, jumping up and down as he did. "The coon kit who can't be hit is holding his own outside of his weight class again!"

As he was somersaulting backwards Dex the raccoon noticed a familiar figure pushing his way to the front of the crowd toward the ring out of the corner of his eye, with a distressed look on his face, waving his arms anxiously.

"Yo, Rian!" the raccoon, clad in a yellow martial arts gi and his face and muzzle streaked with war paint, called out casually as he landed softly on his toes and wrapped both his scrawny arms around the swinging forearm of the brawny tiger whose blow he had just leapt over. Shifting most of the weight normally on his heels forward into his upper body, he held the frantic feline's arm locked in place. "Give me like ten minutes!"

"Dodge this, squirt!" The tiger, enraged by being ignored, shouted, his eyes glaring, as his right foot sprung up between Dex's legs and connected with the coon's crotch . . . only to produce a muffled whump, the impact of his kick absorbed by many layers of ridiculously thick cloth padding. "Huh?" the big cat voiced in puzzled disbelief.

The raccoon smiled up at him, and remarked calmly, "That wasn't nice." Instead of doubling over in pain as expected, Dex caught the tiger's leg between his thighs, squeezing them tight, and brought all his weight back down on to his heels, using his grip on the unbalanced tiger's arm to flip the feline backward and sideways, releasing his leg, then his forearm, and dropping to one knee as he sent the larger fur reeling.

The raccoon rose and turned to face the anxious young wolf at the front of the crowd as the dazed tiger tumbled outside the ring and fell on to his knees. "Another upset victory for Dex!" The kangaroo emcee shouted, waving his arm decisively. "Let's hear a cheer for the warrior with no weak spot!"

"Actually," the coon corrected himself, shrugging nonchalantly to the trench coat-wearing wolf cub and brushing himself off as the crowd burst into cheers, "now is good."

**********************

The rabbit's beady eyes darted back and forth from one display screen to another, his whiskers twitching and his large feet tapping the floor in a staccato rhythm. He typed speedily, accessing all three of the flat-screen monitors through a single keyboard and switching between them by whapping at a function key whenever necessary.

"Gotcha, Ace," he said into the microphone on his headset as he zoomed in on a Google Earth satellite image and hit several keys to superimpose blinking red lines and blue dots on the map. "I'm lookin' at ya now. Bear one o'clock from your current heading and ditch the canoe when you hit the sand. Then, north half-a-mile into the woods. Outpost 3 is in the cavern you'll see on your left; there's a changing station for your boys there. Show your squad leader badge, and tell them Twitchy sent you." The bunny whacked at another function key to change the channel.

He cast a quick glance backward and down to see what was happening underneath the scoreboard-style sign above the front door to Hideout #4 that proudly displayed a blinking clock: "BB Tech is always on call: No bathroom breaks in - 5 1/2 - hours!"

From the floor came a loud elastic twang as a miniature soapbox racer launched from a slingshot-like device and zoomed across the room. The car's front axle snapped on impact as it collided with the test barrier, a padded archery target backed by a small brick wall. Its tiny rodent driver tumbled out of the wreck unharmed and scampered directly to his nearby red toolbox, which he hoisted on his back and carried short distances with both paws even though it was several times his own weight. He returned to the wreck with toolbox in tow and, setting it down, scratched his head as he sniffed along the length of the broken axle, feeling the joints between pieces with his whiskers.

"Squeak!" reported the overall-clad mouse decisively as he pulled out a wrench and a screwdriver and busily set about removing the defective parts.

"Kyle, I can't get Commander Rian," Twitchy said into his headset as he turned back to the monitors. "But Squeak is 95 percent there; go ahead and enter. The derby is a go."

The trap door in the center of the hideout floor flipped open, setting off the jangling bells connected to it by a rope and pulley.

"Squeak!!" said the little mouse as he dropped his tools with a clatter and sprang into a straight-backed salute.

Twitchy removed his headset and leapt up from his chair, adjusting the safety goggles that were permanently settled askew on his forehead as he turned to face the visitor.

"Rrrr...rrrr..... Rian!" he said, also saluting, his foot thumping against the floor anxiously. "Your soapbox model is almost ready, Commander . . . "

The bunny trailed off in astonishment as a stockier figure than he was used to seeing hoisted himself up through the trap door and sat right at its edge calmly, letting his footpaws dangle down he looked up at them and around the entire room approvingly. Twitchy had last seen their visitor in person at his and Squeak's initiation.

"Captain!" he said with a gasp. "This is an honor, sir!"

"Squeak!" said the mouse.

"Hello, Twitchy. Hello, Squeak," Roger said with a smile, patting the mouse on the head. "So this is the new Hideout #4. Rian said I had to see for myself what you two have done with the place, and he was right. He recommended you very highly for this." Roger reached into the pockets of his hoodie. Twitchy trembled in anticipation as Roger held out two small gold badges; they bore the letters BB embossed over two crossed safety pins. "Welcome to the Secret Circle."

"I. . . I don't know what to say," the rabbit's foot thumped and his whiskers twitched frantically as he grabbed the badge. "Except, thank you, sir."

"Squeak!" said the mouse, puffed up as he displayed his pinned to his overalls.

"Don't thank me yet, boys," Roger warned, "because now that you have these, it's time for your first Secret Circle summons. Follow me. And . . . brace yourselves. It might be . . . a little different than you expect."

****************************

The five-foot-five, twenty something wolf cub Rian, seated at Roger's elbow, fidgeted with the new fedora intended to complement his trench coat.

"It's not the hat. I just don't think hardboiled is the right look for you, that's all I'm saying," said Dex, who sat with his elbows elevated above the table and both the palms of his forepaws and the soles of his footpaws pressed flat against each other. "You have a whole cute thing going on and I don't think you should fight with it."

"Fighting with cute," Rian shook his head. "You're one to talk."

Twitchy sat far in the back of the room, his eyes darting around anxiously and a pencil poised above his open notebook. "Umm . . . I agree with Lieutenant Dex about the new outfit, Commander. From an engineering point of view, it's impractical. You have to take the whole coat off to get changed," said the bunny, tapping his foot against the floor of the top-secret conference room nervously. "Anyway, if you ask me I preferred the leather jacket."

"Squeak!" said the mouse, who was seated, with his legs crossed, on the table.

The wolf stuck his tongue out. "You know what I think?" he said. "I think you're all jealous because I'm the only one who can go outside without pants. I'm going for a new record you know. Do you know how many diapers I have on this time?" He held up all the digits on one paw proudly. "And I mean diapers. None of that absorbency pad liner stuff."

Twitchy and Dex both bit their lips and looked down humbly. They were starting to think Rian could move freely in any number of diapers. They had both changed BB's second-in-command out of quadruple layers with stuffers more than once, and even a cloth purist like Dex couldn't help but feel jealous and inadequately padded compared to Rian, who seemed never to leave home wearing fewer than three disposables.

"Speaking of outfits," the wolf cub asked teasingly, pressing his advantage, "Dex, what color belt do you have in kenpo karate? Wait, let me see if I remember. I bet it's . . . yellow?" he asked with a snicker.

"No," the coon sighed resignedly. "It's not yellow," then added through gritted teeth, "I'm more advanced than that."

"Oh," said Rian with feigned innocence, "well what color is it then? I bet the new Circle members want to know."

"Kenpo is a martial art based on multiplying small, hard-to-predict variations of basic mixed martial arts moves. So I know about a thousand moves," Dex explained seriously, then turned sideways and muttered an inaudible conclusion.

Rian kicked his leg.

"It's a brown belt," Dex said, raising his voice reluctantly. The confession provoked an involuntary spate of giggling from everyone at the table, except for Twitchy, who guffawed loudly in surprise and then cleared his throat officiously, regretting it at once.

"Hey, smart guy," the coon rounded on him, "speaking of accessories aren't those . . ." he pointed at Twitchy's goggles and made a tilting motion with his hand, "supposed to be like, over your eyes? I've never once seen you pull them down."

"Oh, these things?" Twitchy laughed and touched a forepaw to his safety goggles. "I forget that they're there. Naw, they're only for dangerous stuff."

Rian's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Come to think of it you kept them up the whole time you and Squeak were building the dodge ball catapult. Isn't that dangerous?"

Twitchy shook his head. "Nah, not what they're for," he remarked.

Rian bit his lip and started to ask something else. "Well, how about when . . .?"

"Ahem," Roger cleared his throat, stood up and patted the wolf cub on the head. "I'd like to conclude the weekly discussion of Rian's latest outfit. I think we've established that my sidekick is a master of disguise. And of pants-avoidance. You'll find something that sticks eventually, little buddy. I'd like to redirect discussion to the proposed sabotage mission. You all know our rules. The Circle acts together, or we don't act."

"Yeah." Dex bit his lip reticently. "Don't misunderstand me, I agree we have to do something to send a message. But as warped as a sissy school is, I have issues with the source of this intel. I'm not willing to run a strike team off it. My vote is no."

Rian stood up. "I back Roger. I'd like to add that, for a girl, Serafina is all right. I think it's because she used to be on the blue team, a long time ago. I'd go so far as to say, I don't think she even carries cooties . . ." he fidgeted, shifting his weight from one foot to another and looking around the table nervously. "Because, umm, I've had contact-close contact-with her a couple times." He counted on his fingers. "Yes, twice. And she was grea-I mean, I haven't gotten them." He held out his arms as though to say, See. "So there," he concluded, and sat down.

"I'm sorry, Captain," said Twitchy, "but I share Lieutenant Dex's concerns. You say this fox-" he looked down at his notebook and read the name-"Ser-a-fina-gave you multiple proofs of her sincerity. But I don't understand her motive in collaborating with us. And I don't understand why we need to pull so many boys off other things to deal with a bunch of sissies."

"Squeak!" remarked the mouse.

Roger opened his laptop and connected it to the overhead projector in the center of the table. "I'd hoped I would be able to protect all of you from the unpleasant reality for longer, but I guess there are things you have to know. You have to understand more about our enemy." The Labrador booted up his computer and began clicking through folders. "And about why it is that Baby Blue exists."

Everyone leaned forward and pricked their ears.

"My personal belief is that regression is about freedom, physical and imaginative, for-all kinds of play. You all know that. We're all blue for different reasons. Like sports," Roger looked at Dex, "Computers," he looked at Twitchy, "Adventure books," he looked at Rian, "Bob the Builder," he looked at Squeak.

"Being blue is about running free. It's about doing what you want. But my sister feels differently about regression. She feels it's about submission, and surrender, in fancier words, structured forms of power exchange. Now, we've all been spanked of course. It's part of initiation. But sissies as a rule, and as part of their gender conditioning, are subject to more . . . extreme . . . forms of discipline than my boys."

Dex tilted his head. "You mean, like bondage, right?" he asked. "I've seen pictures."

Roger nodded slowly. "Yes-in a manner of speaking. Because of events for which I am, in part, responsible, Serafina has been wearing a tube for the better part of a month."

The raccoon shrugged. "Not my concern if she wants to go swimming so bad. Maybe she wants to wash away her sissiness."

"This," said Roger, as he found the photo and the image suddenly loomed large on the display board in front of them, "is a tube."

Rian covered his eyes with both paws. Dex gulped. Twitchy asked, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, "What is the purpose of that device?"

Roger took a deep breath and looked down at his shoes for a moment, then resumed his speech. "This device, which I expect to be in regular use as a disciplinary tool at Empress Calliope's Academy for Special Boys, is designed for the sole and exclusive purpose of making it absolutely impossible to paw off, in or out of your diapers."

"Squeak!" said the mouse, who fell flat on his back with his arms spread out.

Dex doubled over and made a gagging sound. Twitchy squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his pencil so hard against his notebook the point of it snapped. Rian, however, peeked out from between his paws to stare at the screen mournfully and whispered, low enough that only Roger, standing next to him, could hear, "Serry. . ."

The wolf cub cast off his trench coat and stood up on his chair, revealing the black tee-shirt that came down to about his belly button and his newest pair of blue plastic pants, which had knights on charging horses printed on them. They could not, of course, entirely contain his diapers, and white plastic poked out through their leg gathers as well as above the wolf's waistband.

"I invoke my authority as a founding member to declare a state of emergency," the wolf cub said, pounding on the table. "And now I call for an immediate vote on redirecting all available BB resources to a no-holds barred, A-rank rescue mission. Dex?"

The raccoon looked up with a steely glint in his eyes. "Just get me and my strike team inside that place so we can bust it up."

Twitchy opened his eyes and stopped his foot from thumping. "I request field duty. If these are the stakes, I want to take a stand. I don't want to hide behind a monitor and a radio linkup this time."

"What?" The raccoon was taken aback. "No offense, Twitch, but I can't cover someone with no combat experience. We need you too much in the sky."

"I approve," Roger cut in. "In fact, it's why he's here."

The raccoon shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I can't believe this. My team is a well-oiled machine . . ."

"Exactly," said Roger, switching off his laptop. "A machine my sister and her playmates have already seen in action. You're still in charge of the raid, Dex, but I want Twitchy to consult on tactics and Squeak to review all equipment. Let's keep the ballerinas on their toes."

Roger leaned over to his wolf cub sidekick and, with Rian still standing on the chair, they engaged in a quick, whispered conference, paws flying about excitedly, before turning back to the others, communicating in about thirty seconds what would have taken any other two furs at least several minutes. "Break it down for them," Roger said.

"Right," the wolf cub said decisively, suddenly assuming a mature demeanor and picking up the folder of papers in front of his seat at the table. "Rog and I have one goal: to recover the key that will release Serafina. This is a three-pronged mission. You boys cause trouble at the academy to keep everyone else occupied; Roger makes a beeline for the Empress; and I raid her apartment solo to search for the key. Everything needs to happen at once, so timing is crucial."

"Rog, Dex, Twitchy, and me will each carry a short-wave radio. We'll each radio part of a signal phrase when we're in position. Then we all move at the same time if-and only if-the complete signal phrase has been radioed. Do as much damage as you like, but remember your primary objective is to keep everyone tied up until you hear from Rog or me that we've acquired the target. Then, phased withdrawal."

"Fortunately, this schedule and layout let us know who'll be where when so we can deploy accordingly. Twitch had a second question about why we need so many boys. This is why." He pulled out four battle-game style trading card mock-ups he had made and laid them one by one on the overhead projector. Each of them displayed a large character picture, as well as a range of various invented statistics and remarks. "Dresses or not, consider all of these sissies boss levels. If you encounter any of them, follow the appropriate protocol, and send a signal-We want to keep tabs on their locations."

"This is Princess Serafina," he displayed a blow-up of the first card, smiling at the image of the silk-clad fox wistfully. "But she's on our side this time. If you encounter her in a group, do your best to leave her out of the fight, or fake a fight with her if you have to. If you encounter her alone-the protocol is: Extraction."

Dex played with his fingers and nodded occasionally. Twitchy's eyes darted up and down from the projector display to his notebook as he whipped out another pencil and scribbled everything on the cards furiously. How does Commander Rian switch from little to big just like that, no matter what goofy thing he's wearing? Twitchy thought as he listened to the diapered wolf cub, his recruiter and his hero. Someday maybe I'll be that cool.

Rian flipped the cards to show a hulking Newfoundland wearing a milkmaid's bonnet and a floral apron. "Princess Cassandra, a.k.a. Cassie, the Newfoundland. Empress Calliope has one heck of a lapdog; this is her quietest and longest-standing confidante. Her loyalty to the pink faction and to her mistress is unshakable. The only good news here is, she's slow. So the protocol is: Pile-up. I estimate four boys to hold her in place; six to take her down."

Next was a shorter-and-slighter than average panda curtsying in a tutu with an icily superior grin. "Lady Lin Lin. Don't be fooled by her big round eyes; this undersized sissy panda is as smart as a whip, and about as cuddly. The protocol is: Long-Range Engagement. Keep her at a distance. She's new to the scene, but we all know she's trouble. Preliminary intel suggests she's spent every waking moment in extracurricular activities of one kind or another since the age of seven, so be ready for anything and proceed carefully."

"Finally, this," he flipped the final card to display the imperial leopardess in a stately gown and tiara, "is Empress Calliope."

There was a moment of silence and Twitchy raised his paw in the air. Dex snorted at him derisively. "Umm," Rian looked around the room and then pointed at the rabbit. "Twitchy?"

"Why are the stats blank?" the rabbit asked, lowering his paw.

"Because putting any stats on that card might give one of you the idea that it is somehow possible for you to win," said Roger, stepping back into the briefing. "I handle my sister. Period."

"If what Serafina says is true and Callie is no longer fooling around, then you all need to know: My sister is not in the same league as any of these others. If somehow you do encounter her one on one," the lab stared at each of them in turn, including Rian, to make sure the message sank in, "the protocol is: Run. And call for help. In that order."

"Got it," said Dex and Twitchy simultaneously, the raccoon standing up as the rabbit flipped his notebook shut. "Jinx. Double jinx," they both said at the same time, then, "Ohhhh. . ." with drooping ears as their jinxes deflected.

Roger smiled and clapped them both on the shoulder. "The team spirit's already taking. You'll be like Rian and me in no time. Let's split up, Rescue Team and Combat Team. We'll regroup at 24 hours before the opening to review each other's strategies and rendezvous at T minus 60 for a final breakdown and equipment distribution. In the meantime, let's get all of Baby Blue ready to do one of the things boys know how to do best."

He cast a glance at Rian, who nodded firmly and concluded Roger's thought for him. "Rescue a princess!"

Next time: Plots and Counterplots! The boys are gearing up for a no-holds barred raid and rescue mission! But is everything as it appears?

Episode 3: Plots and Counterplots!

"Callie? Is your new office all set up? Why are the lights off?" Serafina asked as she fumbled for the switch in the large, suite-like room, clutching a tin beneath her arm. "I made a big batch of cinnamon scones for our first tea party in the new building; I thought it would be a nice thing for the interviewees."

A lamp clicked on in the middle of the room; its soft light illuminated the leopard empress, who was sitting straight-backed behind a Victorian writing desk wearing a semi-formal gown and tapping an oriental fan against her claws.

"The lights are off because I'm in mourning," Calliope remarked sadly. "That's how much it pains me, when a good girl goes so far astray."

Serafina found the light switch and clicked it on. With a gasp, she saw that there was a lady-in-waiting on either side of her eying her suspiciously: Cassie, the huge Newfoundland incongruously wearing a daisy-pattern dress and a bonnet, and Lin Lin, the diminutive panda, wearing an Asian schoolgirl's uniform that couldn't entirely conceal her diaper.

"Okay," Serafina confessed. "So I bought the scones. Cut me some slack, it's been a crazy few days."

"I told you she would take them if you left them lying around!" Lin Lin exclaimed, pointing at Serafina as though there were some ambiguity who she could be talking about, and hopping up and down. "Oh! I just knew you could not trust her, I knew it, I knew it! That fox does not deserve to be an instructor in our school! She is entirely too fox-like even for a fox." The panda dropped to the ground and sniffed at Serafina's shoes, then at the hem of her skirt, trying to determine where she had been. "Hey!" the fox batted off the panda's insistent paws as they tried to reach into her pockets. "What's going on here?"

"What's going on here, Serafina," Calliope explained, "has to do with this."

Calliope extracted a cord holding several keys from within her gown and held up a long plastic one between her eyes. The fox dropped her tin to the floor with a clatter and leapt forward, paws outstretched Cassie the Newfoundland easily caught the scruff of her neck in a single paw, and held her dangling off the ground, waving about furiously. "That's my key! Give it to me! This has gone well beyond acceptable discipline, Callie!"

"Empress Calliope," the leopardess corrected her as she stood up stiffly. "And I am not in the habit of asking misbehaving sissies to decide upon their own punishments. Two days ago I left the academy opening schedule and layouts on the coffee table in my apartment and my computer running, inadvertently." She unsnapped her fan and fanned herself gently. "Or so you believed."

"But that fox printed copies!" broke in Lin Lin, waving a large paw at Serafina's nose accusingly. "There were twenty sheets of paper in the printer that morning, and only fifteen when her majesty returned home that afternoon!"

"What?!" Serafina blinked, suddenly furious, and Cassie had to grab her waist with another giant paw. "That's insane! How would you know that, you crazy midget bear, unless you set me up! This is. . . This is not like you, Callie. You're strict, but you're not mean. This new girl is a bad influence, and it's time someone said something. I don't like the way she does things. She's too competitive! Sure, we don't run wild like the boys, but we're still about having fun here, aren't we? Cassie!" She elbowed the Newfoundland repeatedly and futilely, producing only soft thumping noises; her struggles caused her own sparkly tiara to fall off her head and land softly on the floor. "Cassie, you know I'm right! Stand up to someone for once!"

"Lin Lin is a bad influence?" Calliope asked skeptically, petting the panda on the head as the bear smiled at Serafina archly. "Did Lin Lin nearly ruin our most important party by fooling around with my brother's sidekick? No. But Lin Lin did prove herself by helping to correct your mistake. Was Lin Lin willing to trade my plans-for a school I have dreamed of for years-for her own right to paw off in her diapers?"

Calliope spoke with disgust; she clicked her fan shut and tapped Serafina's nose with it sternly. "Lin Lin was generous enough to suggest a simple way you could prove your trustworthiness and earn your freedom back. I only went along because I couldn't imagine she was right in suggesting you would take the bait and steal the plans. But Serafina . . ." The leopardess returned the cord of keys to her bosom as the fox gritted her teeth in frustration. "You failed us. Again. And you aren't even apologizing."

"You set me up to fail!" the sissyfox screeched. "What's wrong with all of you? I am a fox! You don't tube a fox for more than three weeks and expect her to act rationally! Callie!" She wailed despairingly. "Why are you listening to that panda instead of me? Don't look away from me! Cassie, put me down! That bear will be after you next, just watch! Don't you come crying to me for help then, you giant doormat!"

Calliope looked down at the floor gloomily and waved her fan. "I've heard enough of this venom. We do need to test Level 3. Put her in there for now."

Although her grip didn't loosen, Serafina could feel Cassie's hesitation. "Level . . .3? Are you . . . sure, your majesty?" the quiet Newfoundland asked.

"Of course I'm sure. And don't change her diapers until she's good and locked in," Calliope said sadly, opening the door and wrinkling her nose as she stepped past Cassie and Serafina into the hallway. "I don't like it either, but she's given me no choice. There are many things that have to happen in the next day, that make me sad. Being a good mother sometimes means playing the villain."

"But everything does have to end, sooner or later. It's the only way a new era can begin. We can let her free tomorrow, as soon as it's all over. In time, Serafina, you'll understand it was for your own good. This is all I can do for you: no one outside this room will know about this latest betrayal, because it won't matter in twenty-four hours. The other girls will still consider you a princess. Come with me, Lin Lin."

As soon as . . . what's all over? Serafina wondered as Cassie dragged her down the hallway in the opposite direction. Belatedly she realized; if the floor plan and schedule she had taken had been left around as a test, they couldn't be the real ones. "Oh no!" she gasped. "Roger! Rian!"

As Calliope vanished down the opposite end of the corridor Serafina suddenly saw the diminutive panda, who had lagged behind to see the sissyfox dragged off, looming in her field of vision and waving her paw accusingly after her. "Oh I knew it, I knew it!" Lin Lin shouted out. "You are thinking about your dozens of fox-loving boyfriends like a fox! Well after tomorrow you will not be able to betray us to your boyfriends on the blue team again! Because there will not be a blue team any more!"

"No!" Serafina whined as she vanished from view.

"And when the Empress sees that my brilliant plan has humiliated those meddling morons into giving up for good," said the panda to no one in particular, picking up Serafina's fallen tiara from the floor where it lay and settling it on her own head, "I will not be Lady Lin Lin any longer, but Princess Lin Lin. I am sorry, fox, but you played your part perfectly, for in order for me to move up more rapidly, it is necessary for someone else to move down."

**************

"Ohhhhh," the battered and bruised bunny staggered up through the trap door and slumped onto his desk in Hideout #4 in despair.

He threw the tactical packet he had made onto the ground. "Dex was right, Squeak. I should just shut up and stay out of the way. It was a dumb idea to think I should ever leave my comfort zone. I should stick to background support; it's what I do best. Two days of one humiliating simulation after another. If only our mission was to knock over a whole row of hurdles and fall on our noses repeatedly, I'd be doing just fine."

"Squeak?" said the mouse quizzically, dropping the foam ball blaster he had been tinkering with and scrambling over to his hideout partner.

"No," said the bunny, with tears in his eyes. "They didn't even read it. I just got snickers and comments like 'I didn't know there'd be homework.' I never played a sport, I don't know how to talk to the boys on his team."

The mouse scampered over to the discarded folder and flipped it open, spreading the papers out around his work area on the floor.

"After all," the bunny continued his self-pitying soliloquy. "What's the bravest thing I've ever done anyway? Take something apart before its warranty was up? I'll never be as confident as Rian or as cool as Dex. I don't belong in the Circle."

"Squeak!" said the mouse insistently, stamping his tiny foot.

Twitchy looked down at his rodent friend. "You really think I've come a long way, Squeak? Well, I guess I'm more confident than I used to be."

"Squeak!" added the mouse, nodding. "Squeak!"

"I guess you're right," Twitchy mused. "I never fit in anywhere else, anyway. I do owe them my best."

The bunny reflected back for a moment, and remembered himself, wearing overalls to conceal his bulky padding, with the mouse in his pocket, frozen in place outside the doorstep of the apartment hosting the age players' party, his heart and his foot thumping in rhythm.

Coming all the way across the city, he had been terrified, convinced everyone around him could hear the faint crinkling of his diapers even in the bustle of the crowd. He couldn't believe he'd actually come across town for this. It was all just a bad idea. And he'd dragged Squeak, hidden in his pocket, into it, too. Who knew how crazy those furs inside really were? He was on the verge of turning tail and dashing out of there, and forgetting he had ever thought about it, when he heard the gentle voice of someone coming up the stairwell behind him say, 'You're about to run away, huh?' and froze as a wolf cub's paw rested on his shoulder. 'That would make me sad. I mean, here you are wearing blue and everything.'

'Are you . . . Ryan?' the bunny had asked, trembling as he looked back over his shoulder at the lupine carrying a grocery bag full of party supplies under his arm. 'Almost! Rian,' the shrimpy wolf cheerfully corrected him. 'Just come on in for fifteen minutes. No hard feelings if you leave after that. It will get easier. I promise!' With a gulp, Twitchy had said, 'Okay, I guess . . . I'll try anything once.' Rian's eyes had twinkled and he burst into what Twitchy found a surprisingly big grin.

Twitchy remembered lying on a fleece blanket with a rocking-horse pattern on the cold, dank floor of the cavern outpost, shivering furiously, on the night of his initiation. He wore nothing except two diapers and the safety goggles on his forehead-an exception Rian had granted him to the BB initiation rules. Two plastic bags with leg holes cut in them had been slipped on and taped securely to the edges of his diapers to magnify the crinkling he made with every move and normally tried to muffle. He had been wearing those all day, clothed or no.

At that moment the rest of the circle of Baby Blue boys, all fully clothed except for him, hung back as Rian, his sponsor, leaned over to look down on him, rubbing the front of the nervous bunny's diapers with one footpaw in a slow, circular motion. The wolf cub, wearing an open leather jacket over a pair of baggy jeans, urged gently, 'It's okay, Twitch. Go ahead and say it. You'll never be comfortable with yourself until you do.'

'I . . .' the rabbit's eyes darted about furiously and he hugged himself tight as he anticipated derisive giggles. 'I like my . . . diapers," he whimpered, shivering.

Rian shook his head. 'And I like ice cream,' the wolf cub explained patiently. 'But I don't eat it every day.' Removing his foot and dropping to his knees in front of the bunny, he rested his cold paw on the shivering rabbit's tummy. His paw slid down under Twitchy's waistband. 'But you, you do wear your diapers every day, don't you, Twitch, and every night, too. Or, at least-you want to, from now on? You sure do, I bet.'

The rabbit had only nodded, whimpering and shivering as Rian's cold paw entered the warm area in the front of his diaper and began stroking gently. The bunny gulped, keenly aware of the other boys, only about half of whom he had known at the time, watching him with varying degrees of interest. He blushed fiercely as he felt his entire body become warmer. 'I . . . I . . . I . . . looove . . .' he bit his tongue and shook his head, whimpering, as the pressure in his crotch mounted.

'Everyone here is a friend,' Rian whispered, suddenly beginning to squeeze, very softly at first. 'You can tell your big brother and his friends the truth. We understand. We do. So tell us. Tell your big brother the truth, ya l'il bunny baby.'

'I . . . lo. . . love my . . . diapers!' Twitchy had shouted tearfully as he spasmed and felt himself release into them in front of all the other BB boys, and all over Rian's gently ministering paw. The wolf cub leaned down over him and licked his nose.

'F-f-fankoo, Commander Rian,' the rabbit added in a feeble, babyish whisper as he did, looking up at his hero with wide eyes, as he added, 'sir.' He squirmed and grabbed the wolf cub's free paw tightly in both of his. 'You're the bestest sponsor ever. I . . . I allays wanna call you Commander from now on . . . sir.'

Twitchy chewed on his lip and another half-forgotten moment, this one from the past two days, bubbled to the top of his mind, one nearly knocked out of his head in the flurries of foam projectiles and flying sports equipment. Dex had pulled the dazed rabbit aside for a short timeout after another brutal dodge ball session and sat with him seiza-style on the grass holding the packet Twitchy had distributed that morning.

'Listen, Twitch,' the coon had said. 'Don't take anything the boys say personally. Jocks communicate differently, that's all. What you need to understand is that not everyone is as smart as you. And that's okay. We're all good at different things. My boys can't process things like this as fast as you can.' He waved the packet at him. 'Or they'll do it wrong. Just watch me for a bit. They don't need to know the why behind every order. They just need to know that you do. A team leader just needs to act. You don't need to explain to them you know what you're doing. Just show them, and if you do, well-they'll know.'

"Squeak!" said the mouse excitedly, snapping Twitchy out of his reveries and back to the present. He looked back at the rodent, who was pointing at two of the spread-out papers.

"Yeah," Twitchy nodded, "I pulled the ventilation plan for the building. Thank you, City Zoning. It was a dumb idea, though. We already have a map, and it's not as though Dex's smallest boy could fit through those."

"Squeak!" said the mouse, shaking his head, and sliding the two papers, the ventilation plan and the layout Serafina had leaked, under each other, then apart again.

"Hold on. I think I see what you mean," Twitchy turned to his monitors and pulled up the original files on two separate screens, then keying quickly, rotated them. The two images slid over each other and appeared superimposed in the center monitor. Squeak crawled up the rabbit's pant leg and hopped on to the desk, pointing at a corner of the image. Twitchy leaned toward it and his foot slowly began tapping as he zoomed in.

"You're right, Squeak!" he exclaimed. "Why would anyone ventilate a storage closet? That doesn't make any sense."

The bunny's foot began thumping the floor faster and his mind raced.

"Squeak?" said the mouse, picking up his headset.

Twitchy shook his head. "No, we move out tomorrow morning, and we only have one chance to strike during the opening. I don't want to wake up the boys maybe for nothing and confuse everyone. Dex's plan should still work. But, just in case. . . ."

He patted the rodent on the head as he reassembled his own tactical packets and his pages of notes from Rian's briefing.

"I want to check this out and I want to look at everything again-Rian's battle cards, the maps, everything, and just see if there's anything else we could throw into play that might help. Break out the juice boxes and start the bathroom break counter, Squeak. Hideout #4 is running all night."

To be continued . . .

Next time: The Empress Strikes Back! The ultimate showdown between pink and blue begins. Complete with heroes, villains, and Rian in a sailor suit!

Hope you're having fun! Comments on the first part welcome, here or to [[email protected]](%5C)