24/7!: A Pink and Blue Diaperfur Adventure, Part 4 (Conclusion)
#5 of Pink and Blue Season 2
24/7! A Pink and Blue Diaperfur Adventure
Conclusion! (Part Four of Four)
kitncub
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Note: This story continues directly from [24/7!: Part One](%5C), [24/7!: Part Two](%5C), and [24/7!: Part Three](%5C) and is the conclusion for those reading the story in parts! This story is now complete, so if you want to read it in one sitting, head straight for [Part One](%5C) !
Here is the usual disclaimer:
General Note: This is an 18+ story. So please be 18+, o gentle reader, or else return to studying very, very hard. It involves furs in diapers, who are not cubs (chronologically), and furs in dresses, who are not girls (biologically). It is an adventure/romance story with these elements rather than a straight regression/sissification piece, so it has an involved plot and stuff. It is part of the Pink and Blue diaperfur series, and may be hard to follow if you have not read any of the other stories. Yadda yadda, et cetera et cetera. Don't sue me for not saying any of these things, and don't sue me for anything else, either, because it would make me sad.
This time: As Rian's celebration of his first 24 hours in diapers winds down, Serafina makes a fateful decision, and Roger's mysterious mission comes to a head.
All stories in the Pink and Blue series can be viewed in the list above or by clicking on View "By Folder" on your upper right.
Season Two Opening: Character Recap!
The Baby Blue Boys
Roger. The leader. This playful black Lab is founder of the team and daddy to the Baby Blue boys, and many of them look to him for guidance and emotional support. He has many good traits but one thing he's not is organized . . . usually. He's been hosting Rian's 24/7 party in his apartment, but for most of the preceding day he was running all over town on a mysterious mission! Likes: His boys. Water balloons. Squirt guns. Comic books. _Dislikes:_Girls. Telling furs what to do.
Rian. The fun one. Roger's sidekick, Baby Blue's co-founder and second-in-command, best friend to Dex, occasional big brother to Twitchy, and boyfriend to the sissy princess fox Serafina, with whom he is deeply in love. As Roger's partner-in-crime the wolf has come into his own as a natural extrovert who is generous to a fault. The other boys are sure lucky they have Rian to lean on. His 24/7 party, secretly also a surprise party for his best friend, Dex, is winding down. Likes: Serafina. Diapers. Accessories. _Dislikes:_Schoolwork. Contests.
Dex. The serious one. A sensitive raccoon martial artist and the team's third-in-command and combat leader, Dex is in diapers not by choice but in the aftermath of a traumatic tournament injury, a secret known to only a few of the boys. Roger and Rian coaxed the once apathetic coon back out of his shell. Now he's dating Twitchy after coming to terms with his regressive tendencies during a mission to rescue the bunny. If only he could do something to pay back the furs who gave him a new lease on life. Rian's 24/7 party doubled as a surprise party for Dex. The wolf's belated birthday gift to him was to relieve him of the need to keep his 24/7 diaper use secret by portraying them both as willing full-timers and telling the team that Dex was the role model for his own decision. Likes: Sports. Being outdoors. Feeling useful._Dislikes:_Frills. Meat (he's a vegetarian). Bullies.
Twitchy. The smart one. The nervous, goggle-wearing bunny makes up BB's tech team at Hideout #4 together with his partner, the pocket-sized mouse and gadget engineer Squeak. The bunny is dating Dex after the raccoon stunned the team-and Twitchy-by coming through for him on a daring solo rescue mission. Twitch can fix anything broken . . . maybe. He tried to talk to Rian in advance of the party about Dex. Likes: LEGOs. Computers. Magic tricks. _Dislikes:_Lin Lin. Being talked down to. Having to explain things more than once.
Ace and Jax. The couple. Ex-Boy Scouts Ace, a tough trailblazing lynx, and Jax, a soulful tracking hound, double as members of Dex's special forces team and the leaders of Baby Blue's wilderness patrols, which keep the woods around the boys' hideouts safe and diaper-friendly. Ace spent much of Rian's party engrossed in a political argument, and Jax spent much of it listening to a half-regressed Dex ramble.
The Girls
Serafina. The naughty one. Once a member of Roger's boy's team, the red fox defected to the pink team long ago after an abortive tryst with Roger and has since become a feminized sissy who thinks of herself as a vixen first. Today, to show solidarity, she's going 24/7 as a girl on the same day her boyfriend, Rian, goes 24/7 with his diapers. Unlike some of her pink teammates, though, Serry is a sissy because she likes guys . . . a bit too much to be one herself. She just got a lead role in a local Shakespeare festival production, and she and the director, Marty, bonded when he discovered and accepted her crossdressing. They are meeting privately after everyone else has wrapped up rehearsal... Likes: Boys in tight diapers. Flowers. Ribbons. Romances. Play-acting. Dislikes: Repression. Overly serious furs. Jealousy.
Princess Cassandra , a sissy Newfoundland, is the brawn of the pink faction and Calliope's most trusted aide-de-camp. Home economics instructor at Empress Calliope's feminizing Academy for Special Boys.
Lady Lin Lin , an undersized but overachieving panda, is physical education instructor and a feared disciplinarian at the Academy for Special Boys. Left in charge during spring break, she helped Dex rescue Twitchy and came to trust the coon-then denied afterward that she had. Dex went along with her cover story.
And "Action!" . . .
Into the Morning!
2:00 a.m. Backstage. Marty's dressing room.
Marty stood leaning on his elbows against the back of a chair in front of the fox, with his belt undone, and his pants unsnapped, but not yet unzipped.
"Or I can take the sunglasses off," the beaver said to the trembling sissy fox, on her knees on the floor, "if that makes it easier. I mean, Serry," he said gently, "how many takes do you need? We're both all grown-up, we're on the same page: This sort of thing is just about fun, right?"
"Who sent you roses, Marty?" Serafina asked, digging her forepaws into the floor and looking past the beaver up to the red roses on his dressing room table.
"What?" Marty blinked, looking over his shoulder and blushing. "Oh! My mother did. She sends them at the start of every production. Why, did you think - look, I'm not married." He waved a paw and laughed. "Not civilly or anything. Really. Woody's only my creative partner."
"That's not what I was thinking." Serafina bit her lip and loosened her grip on the floorboards. "I was just thinking that . . . I've always liked white ones. I'm sure I never told him that. But somehow he-" She broke off, took a deep breath and stood up slowly, grabbing her dress with her paws, "I'm sorry, again," she said. "I got carried away. You're an unusually nice guy. I'm not married either. But I am taken."
"You?" Marty blinked. "Really?"
"Well don't sound so surprised," she snapped indignantly, releasing her skirt at once.
"No, no," the beaver grimaced and fumbled with his beret, "I didn't mean it to sound like that. It's just . . . given how you were talking and . . . everything, I just, I didn't think you worked that way."
The sissy fox gulped. "I never have before," she said, still surprised at herself. "I just . . . decided." She looked at him uncertainly. "Is that how acting will be when I've rehearsed something enough? All of a sudden it just doesn't feel like pretend any more?"
"Well if that ever happens," the beaver said doubtfully, snapping his pants up and fastening his belt, "I'm a better director than I thought." He took off his sunglasses and put them back in his shirt pocket, turning to face the mirror. "Tell him congratulations." He shrugged. "Or her. Whatever works for you."
Serafina opened her muzzle, closed it, and taking a deep breath, walked to the dressing room door without saying anything.
"Serry?" She turned back to see the beaver looking over his shoulder with a good-natured grin, and a pencil gripped in his paw.
"I hope we'll see you tomorrow," he said. "I already drew you and Garrick in on all the stage plans."
*******************
2:30 a.m. Roger's apartment, post-party.
In the living room and kitchen, those boys who hadn't already left were sprawled across the newspaper-covered floor, or the couch, dozing contentedly, each of their diapers filled with oatmeal-at least. Roger was in the kitchen with Kyle and Twitchy, washing dishes. Every so often, a boy woke up, and crawled or stumbled around for a bit, usually because he needed to go, and couldn't release in his sleep. He would crawl around in a circle until he wet his already puffy diaper, trickling onto the newspapers spread over the floor, and then flop back over, cuddling up to his nearest teammate and sucking on his paw as often as not.
Dex, who wasn't asleep, stepped gingerly over the collapsed malamute, whose rear was puffy with more than oatmeal and who kept fidgeting in his loaded diaper in his sleep.
The raccoon made his way to the bedroom, where he peeked through the half-open door. "I just wanted to say good night. And thanks one more time . . ." he began in a whisper, but cut off and smiled softly at what he saw.
Rian lay lengthwise across the head of Roger's queen-sized mattress, which he was just short enough to do if he kept his knees bent. The diaper bag he had come with was on the floor next to the bed, and its side compartment open. A lamp on the night table cast a small pool of light over the wolf's head and shoulders. He was wearing only his polo shirt and diapers, silently reading a battered blue children's book with a worn image of a knight on a charger on its cover.
Dex reached up and pulled the door almost shut, then leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. "I was right after all. I knew you'd carry that around with you your first day," the raccoon said to himself. "See? Everyfur thinks I'm happy because of the silly party stuff. But it's because I saw the real you again today. The one I've known since you brought me a root beer float and we all shared secrets during that first sleepover, right here in this apartment. Our first Circle meeting." Dex yawned contentedly. "Don't worry, Rian. I'll make sure you two have some time alone together."
*******************
3:00 a.m.
"Hi, Serry," said Roger softly, yawning, as he unlatched and opened the door. He tilted his head to look at the fox, still wearing her loose-fitting green dress and chest padding, curiously, "Is everything okay?"
The fox avoided the question. "Rog. I hope I didn't . . ."
Roger shook his head, "Nah, a few of us are still awake for a bit." He grinned at her. "Someone has to take out some of the garbage tonight, or it will really stink in here come morning."
Then he took her by the paw, and led her in, saying, as he pushed the door shut behind her, "The little guy's on my bed. He's still up. I think we'll all be sleeping in tomorrow."
" This is a special group, isn't it?" he remarked, scanning the room. "Even by our standards. So many stories here. Some really complicated," he looked down at Dex, who had eventually fallen asleep leaning against the doorframe and slid down on his rear, his head resting sideways on his crossed arms. "And some," the dog added, pointing into the bedroom, and letting go of her, "really simple."
Serry started for the door as Roger padded off, but first she paused, smiled, and reached down to the raccoon, patting his head. "Hello again, Dex," she whispered. "And thank you for the nudge. You have nothing to worry about."
Inside the bedroom, Rian was looking at the inside cover of his book, smiling, his paw resting on an inscription that read, For my little hero.
"Did you see how happy everyone was today? Like I said, my diapers can do anything," he was saying to himself dreamily. "I knew ever since they helped me remember you, in my dreams at night . . ." The wolf took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut-"Mom. I wish you could meet her. I know you would understand about us." He bit his lip. "Well, okay," he qualified himself, "not everything. And not at first. I know that. But eventually. You understood about me before anyone, I think."
Rian looked up from his reverie with a start as the door opened and the fox stepped inside. "Serry?" he blinked. "Did I just fall asleep? I thought you were busy until next weekend."
The sissy fox hopped up on to the foot of the bed, on all fours, and smiled at him gently. "I am. I just needed to see you for five minutes, to make sure your first day went okay- even just to peek in if you were sleeping. But I'm glad you're not. I'm a bit . . . pent up. Your friend fell asleep standing guard outside," she said, jerking her muzzle toward the door. "He really cares about you."
Rian looked past her, through the open door. "Dex," he smiled and said to his girlfriend absently, "I wish you two would talk sometime. I think you'd really like each other. I know you think he's uptight but-he always looks out for me. Just like a real brother." Through the door, Rian saw Roger moving around, checking the other boys. All of them his friends. No, the wolf corrected himself. More than his friends. More than his team. His pack. His family.
Serry tilted her head and crawled toward Rian, nuzzling at the sodden front of his diaper. "Did everything go okay?" she said. "You look a little sad."
The wolf closed his book and set it face down on the nightstand. "What do I have to be sad about?" he asked, grinning goofily. "I just wish we could all stay just like this, forever." He shivered, momentarily cold, as the sissy fox undid the tapes of his diapers, and folding the front down, nuzzled his package gently.
Serry paused and rested her muzzle on the exposed gray fur of his stomach, looking up at him. "There might be one thing worth changing," she suggested. "We're going 24/7 together. Why don't we go 24/7, on each other? I mean, go steady?"
Rian looked confused. "Go steady? How do you mean? We do both have . . . " He took a deep breath and looked out the door, at the shadowy forms of Dex and the others. "Jobs. A lot of those boys only . . . only ever came into their own because of me. They're my whole world. Besides Rog, and you. Aaand your students need your help, too." He furrowed his brow, remembering the fumbling blow job he'd received at the academy. "Like really," he added.
"Of course," she said, giggling, "The team stuff goes without saying. I know who you are. You know who I am. But I don't want to . . . want anyone besides you any more. If that makes any sense. It's one thing I've never tried. Being owned. Being someone's..."
Rian cut her off and rested a paw lightly on the top of her head. "Don't you dare say anything mean about yourself," he said in gentle warning. "That's maybe the only thing I'll never, ever let you do. You're my princess. And my sweetheart. And I've been yours since I laid eyes on you. Just like Callie's tea leaves said. The only reason I haven't sworn to it is because I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He bit his lip nervously. "And I don't know if I'll be enough. I mean, you _are_a fox."
The fox grinned, and her tail swished as she traced a circle through the exposed fur of his stomach with her paw. "Oh wuffie," she said, stroking the length of his cock with one paw. "I'll help you be. Let's make this a day about commitment. So the only thing left that needs to be changed around here, is you." She looked down at his yiffer as it stiffened under her fingers. "But let's make sure you've done everything you need to first. If you're always going to be wearing two or three diapers, I would like each set to last for more than ten minutes." She scooted backward on the bed and resumed nosing at Rian's crotch. "I can guess at one of your party activities, Mr. Helping Paws. Well, your turn comes last. Let's make sure you're good and dry before we change you."
"It's official," the wolf said, leaning back into the pillows as she started licking the length of his shaft, slowly and gently, and he began to feel warm all over, "My life is perfect. What a wonderful decision this has already been." His eyes gleamed as he reached for Serry's paws, and he stole a last glance over her, out into the room where all the boys were, before closing his eyes, and concluded, "For everyone."
*******************
3:30 a.m.
"There you are! Of all places. Jeez. Come on, Dex," Twitchy, his pants back on, and Dex's hanging over his left arm, wrapped his right arm around the slumbering raccoon's waist. Lifting his boyfriend from his post outside the bedroom door, he hoisted the coon's left arm over his shoulder, holding his paw to keep him in place. "Let's get you out of here. I really don't want you to spend all night like that and wake up to see them doing who knows what. And I don't want you to start talking either."
The bunny looked over his shoulder nervously into the bedroom, which still emitted sounds of giggling and thumping, then stumbled with his heavy cargo over the newspaper-ed and debris-strewn party zone to the front door. He breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he got the coon into the hallway, relaxing as he pushed the door shut behind them.
"Oh, how could Rian pull a stunt like that without talking to me? And in front of half the team. He just can't take a hint, can he? I tried to tell him. I came as close as I could. You were doing so much better lately, hon. I really thought you'd shook it. But we lost ground tonight, didn't we, Dex?" the rabbit said to the exhausted coon, who moaned in his sleep as his wet nose rubbed against the bunny's large, floppy ear.
"I'm ready," Dex muttered into Twitchy's shoulder. "Please just lemme do summin for you. Lemme try. 'M good enough, now."
Twitchy shook his head as he trudged down the corridor toward the stairway. "Look at this mess I've waded into. I think Squeak is even mad at me," the bunny remonstrated with his sleeping traveling companion. "All because I'm trying to help you! He left with Kyle. But it doesn't matter. I haven't forgotten everything you went through to rescue me, Dex. And I'll free you, too." His eyes narrowed and his whiskers twitched. "I didn't think it would come to this so soon. But we'll have to step things up. I swear, if I weren't still so nervous about . . . Well, I have no choice but to move just as soon as I can. Because I lo-. . ." He hesitated. "Because I care about you. A lot. Whenever we're together I feel like . . ." He frowned. Like what? "Well music may not swell exactly but large amounts of caring are definitely involved. We'll break you of this. We will. Give me a few more days. Then I won't have to pull any punches. I have everything figured out so you two can still be friends and everything will be just how it should be. After all, someone has to do this for you, right?"
He sighed. "And who else has a shot besides me? I do feel terrible about lying to you. But it's for your own good!"
"I love you too," the raccoon unconsciously whimpered into Twitchy's ear, his nose quivering and his voice thick with sleep, "Rian."
"Okay, maybe terrible," said the bunny, gritting his teeth, "is an overstatement."
*******************
3:45 a.m. Ace's apartment.
"Do you think anyone noticed that we were the first to slip out?" Ace asked as he stretched a condom out over his right paw and looked down at the prone puppy, his fellow wilderness team leader, facing away from him.
Jax was wearing nothing, at the moment, except his khaki shirt and Boy Scout sash, and was laying face down and bottom up, propped on his elbows, on Ace's bed, sucking on two of his own fingers. "Nuh," he said around them. "We are mathters of stelf." The hound's tail wagged once.
The lynx rubbed the condom with his left paw, trying to gauge how lubricated it was. He frowned and opened the drawer of his nightstand, reaching for a bottle inside.
As he did, he idly remarked, "Hey, I'm going to chalk it up to you being distracted that I'm the one who noticed something like this. But did it bother you a little that Dex and Twitchy, who are allegedly dating, not only didn't come together, but spent next to nil time with each other during that whole party?"
Jax withdrew his fingers from his mouth slowly. Ace turned around with the lube in paw to see the dog sitting up, his rear end resting above his heels and his forepaws gripping his knees.
"Yes," Jax said in a steely tone. "It did."
His large brown eyes glimmered with concern and fixed on a bare spot on the opposite wall.
Ace moaned. "Well," he opened hopefully, "it makes me feel that much luckier that you and I can do so much together. And we can add to that list tonight, puppy . . . "
"Not puppy now," the tracking hound said firmly. "I'm thinking."
The lynx sighed and dropped the bottle of lube and the condom back into his drawer, looking down at the erection poking through his pants. Oh no, he chided himself, he couldn't have kept his mouth shut until afterwards. Jax would spend the next 24 hours complaining about how insensitive he was if he pushed now.
"About Dex and Twitch? Oh, it's probably nothing. Even if it wasn't, what would we do about it anyway?" the cat asked, collapsing on to his side on the bed with a soft thump.
"What we do," the scout dog proposed, his gaze slowly beginning to move back down toward his partner. "Recon."
*******************
9:15 a.m. Empress Calliope's Academy for Special Boys.
"Cassie! Where's the boss lady?" the petite panda clad in a purple sweater demanded as she stepped inside the home economics classroom.
The sissy Newfoundland, who wore a frilly blue and white shepherdess' dress and matching blue bonnet, looked up from her needlepoint and gazed at Lin Lin sadly.
Princess Cassandra was second-in-command of Empress Calliope's Academy for Special Boys, headquarters of the pink faction devoted to maximizing the spread of sissification among the city's age-players, and that meant she was currently the highest-ranking team member on the premises.
"Hello, Lin Lin," the dog said placidly. "Her majesty is working on something important."
The panda narrowed her eyes. "I asked where she was, not what she was doing," she snapped. "Because I'm seeing her no matter what. What's with all the unexplained adjustments to the Open House schedule? It's only a week away and all the plans are being changed around! Why am I suddenly on the perimeter? I can't run building security from there."
The Newfoundland smiled gently. "Oh, the mistress didn't make those changes," Cassandra said to the panda, returning to her knitting. "She's far too busy to worry about something like that. I did. I'll be running security during the Open House. After all, it will be our biggest recruiting event yet. And Baby Blue is probably going to attack us during it."
"Of course they're going to attack us during it," Lin Lin exclaimed, exasperated. "They'd better! That was the whole idea of running supplies through their territory! To provoke them. That's why I need to be there. I already have a plan."
The huge dog made a dainty cross-stitch. "It won't work," she said.
Lin Lin blinked. "Who showed it to you anyway?" she asked defensively.
Cassie bit off a long piece of thread. "Oh I don't know anything about it," she said. "But it won't work." She smiled at the panda.
Lin Lin glared at her. "I've been tangling with their strike team in the woods for weeks. Everybody on it. No fur over here knows what the raccoon and the bunny will bring better than I do. And this time once I get those two . . ."
The Newfoundland just shook her head. "It won't be them," she said calmly. "Oh, they'll probably be there. But we have to be prepared for worse. This time, the main attack may be run by a less linear thinker. In that case, a plan will only get in the way."
The panda stared at her dumbfounded. "What," she said, shaking her head, "the wolf?"
"Let's hope for that," Cassie remarked, and displayed her finished needlepoint, an elaborate bed of flowers, proudly.
Then she set it down on her desk and frowned, resting her chin on her palms. "But we may have made a mistake by provoking the boys again so soon after breaking the rules and screening one of them. Two days ago Serafina heard from an old teammate of hers. From before she switched sides. He was contacted after a long silence." The Newfoundland hesitated. "And he received a message. It apparently followed a script agreed on when he left the team. Our best guess is it included some kind of . . . distress signal. We couldn't exactly make sense of it. But it's safe to assume others are being contacted too, for something."
"A secret network?" the panda said, wrinkling her face up. "You're joking, right? Am I supposed to be taking this seriously?"
The dog just shrugged. "Serious or not, Roger has been doing this for a while. He's kept, and still keeps, the confidences of many furs who have drifted into and out of our scene. You must not assume his resources are limited to his present ground team if he's decided there's a genuine state of emergency."
"Are you telling me that I'm supposed to be scared of the Commander in Crinkles?" she asked skeptically. "I don't even know what he does over there."
Cassie smiled. "Oh, what leaders do. Whatever the rest of them won't."
Lin Lin scowled at her. "How helpfully specific. Well you know him. What kind of attack might he run?"
The Newfoundland opened the knitting basket on her desk and looked inside it. "I have no idea," she said placidly. "So I'm trying not to think too hard about it."
"Now I feel better," the panda remarked, rolling her eyes. "I'm appealing to the headmistress about this. You are not sufficiently prepared to run security in my place. So you have no good reason for putting me on the sidelines."
"Yes I do, Lin Lin," the dog said with genuine concern, as she selected a skein of yarn and put it on her desk. "I'm worried about you. You don't always make it easy-but I like you. And I don't know if you're ready for what's coming."
The Newfoundland looked past Lin Lin to the door as an early student, a bear, skipped in in a ballerina's outfit and curtsied, blushing. "Are we doing crochet today?" the bear asked eagerly, clenching her paws together in front of her tutu.
The Newfoundland looked at the clock, then at the new arrival appraisingly. "In fifteen minutes," she said calmly.
"Awww," the bear whined as she plopped down behind a desk, "I don't know if I can wait that long." The bear began doodling hearts with arrows pierced through them on her desk and sighing dreamily. Then she dropped her pencil and plucked at an imaginary flower. "He loves me," she recited to herself, "he loves me not, he loves me . . ."
"What's with Muffy?" Lin Lin asked, lowering her voice. "I just caught her with a toy truck Friday."
The Newfoundland smiled. "Then it worked," she said nodding.
"What worked?" The panda shook her head. "I renamed her months ago and it only helped for a week or two."
"Her re-screening," Cassie said seriously. "We've had too many problems with relapses and false negatives since the Baby Blue boys started spreading rumors about the test that was done on Rian. That kind of preparation just confuses boys who are already struggling to accept themselves and their destiny. Some hard cases need a firmer paw, to be dug out of such very deeply rooted denial-and to admit to themselves what they really want."
Lin Lin looked doubtful. "Muffy?" she asked, turning to the bear. "What did you do this weekend?"
"Lady Lin Lin!" the bear said, sitting up perkily and giggling, as though she had just noticed the panda. "I spent every minute thinking about my boyfriend." The bear smiled dreamily. "He's so incredible. And this morning he said I'm finally almost good enough for him." Then she looked back at her empty paw and began plucking at the air again, sounding worried. "So I hope it says he loves me."
Lin Lin frowned.
Cassie tilted her head. "There may still be some issues to iron out. Nothing we can't fix. Are you all right, Lin Lin?"
The panda whirled and stared up at her. "What you just said about me is insulting. Worried about me? I'm worried that your Zen master non-approach to this supposed attack that I supposedly can't stop is to let the academy be razed to the ground to make way for the boys' latest hideout."
Cassandra took out two long knitting needles and clicked them against each other, poking the yarn with them.
"Don't be worried," the Newfoundland explained without raising her voice. "If all else fails, there is a weakness at the core of the current boys' team, that we will tap at the right time. And don't be angry. You must just remind yourself, Lin Lin, even if it does feel like you're, what did you say, on the sidelines: We only know about that weakness," the Newfoundland said, smiling down at the undersized panda reassuringly, "because of you."
Lin Lin snorted and shook her head. "Great," she muttered. "More nonsense."
"Relax. The open house is still a week away. Besides-destiny is on our side," Cassie said levelly, pointing both her needles at Muffy. "For the moment, though, Lin Lin, we have a new pattern to start today. You can stay and watch if you like."
The dog clicked her needles together and added in an unchanged tone as her other students began to file in, "I'm excited about this one."
*******************
10:45 a.m.
Serafina steeled herself and entered the auditorium, only to find it empty. Well, almost empty.
"Hi, Serry," said the beaver, standing up from a seat in the second row and chewing on a pencil. "I thought you'd probably run a little late."
Serafina looked around nervously. "Where is everyone?" she asked.
"Oh, they're on stage already," the beaver said, taking her by the paw and leading her out the door, and down the hallway. "We're breaking it in today!"
"But . . ." she stumbled after him, confused. "The stage was empty."
Marty looked back over his shoulder and grinned like a cub in a candy store. "Now why did everyone think," he said mischievously, "that we were going to have all our shows in the rain space?"
The beaver opened the back door of the building and led the fox through it into an enclosed yard as Serafina's eyes readjusted to the sun.
The taciturn white opossum who usually followed Marty around stood in the center of a large, elevated artificial island of foam boulders and carefully sculpted levels of synthetic grass and flowers, which rose to a small hill in the center. The opossum leaned against a tree on one paw and surveyed his handiwork proudly. With his other, Woody pulled a lever behind a row of shrubs, and one ring just inside the perimeter of the simulated world began turning silently-a conveyor belt, looping up over the hill in the middle of the island.
"And this," Marty said, beaming as he pointed up to it, "is how we'll handle all the running around and switching back and forth during the duel scene."
"Hi, Serry!" shouted the tabby cat in Renaissance costume, running around on the conveyor belt and waving at them gleefully before he hopped off the stage. "What did I tell you? Marty's ideas always sound so dumb that they can't possibly work. But somehow," he tipped his feathered hat to both of them as he approached, "they just do! It's like he never grew up enough to know any better."
Serafina released the beaver's paw and stared at him. "Well, here goes. You aren't going to say anything to Garrick or Woody once we've told them?" she whispered to him nervously. "About last night?"
"What?" the beaver answered, sounding startled, then waved a paw dismissively without looking away from the stage. "Nah. It was my mistake. Besides, this is city theater. There are too few of us left to get worked up about every little misunderstanding or hold stupid grudges. The most important thing here is the team."
Serry bit her lip and snuffled. "You know, Marty," she said. "You really do remind me of someone."
The director looked over his shoulder at her curiously. "You keep saying that," he remarked, shaking his head. "Is it supposed to make me feel better?"
"It should," she said, smiling at him softly. "He's a hero."
*******************
12:00 p.m.
Rian, Twitchy, Squeak, and Dex-all still showing the signs of last night's revelry-sat around the top-secret conference table with their gold crossed safety-pin badges pinned above their breasts. It was a meeting of the Secret Circle-the highest echelon of Baby Blue's command. Only one fur was missing.
Twitchy opened a laptop and connected it to a projector in the center of the conference table. Dex wore his yellow karate outfit.
"Hey!" Rian remarked as he looked over at the raccoon's streaked face. "The war paint is back! Are you going for best two out of three with the panda?"
"Huh?" Dex said absently.
Rian fidgeted. "Lin Lin? You know, she beat you when you sparred at the academy," he said, prodding, "but you took her prisoner after an hour-long fight in the woods over spring break, when you took it into the trees? Crouching Coon, Hidden Panda? The ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny? Twitch told everyone about it."
"Oh," Dex rolled his eyes. "Right."
They were interrupted by Roger's arrival. The Labrador swung the door open, plopped down in his chair at the head of the table, and propped his feet up on it, regarding his highest-ranking boys curiously. "Well this is a switch!" he said. "I'm not used to being the one summoned to these meetings! What's up?"
Dex stood up first. "Rian and I have compared notes and we have a situation. There's big trouble coming at the academy."
"Trouble at the academy?" Roger asked.
Dex nodded. "For weeks now, the girls have been rearming-stocking up on chastity devices, in dangerous quantities. My teams have intercepted several shipments in the woods." He sat down and gestured to Rian.
The wolf stood up and straightened the green army colonel's cap on his head. "And when I was inside the academy recently, subbing for Serry," Rian explained, "you already know that I copied out invitations for their next Open House. I got the date and time. It's coming up soon, and the list was huge." The cubby wolf held his paws as far apart as he could, and bit his tongue. "Pages and pages long." He leaned from side to side to indicate that he would stretch his arms wider if he could.
"So, they're recruiting a lot more sissies?" Roger asked, nodding. "That's the trouble?"
"No," said Dex, who stood back up as Rian sat down. "Twitchy, show us figure one."
The rabbit pressed a key and images of two chastity devices appeared on the display screen at the front of the room.
"We've analyzed some samples of the new merchandise we intercepted in the woods," Dex explained. "They're considerably harder to get out of than the old tubes, but that wasn't the weird thing. These ones . . . are all being ordered with multiple sets of keys. Which seems counterproductive, right? So I talked to Rian about it."
Rian stood up beside Dex and crossed his arms. "Figure two," he said, and Twitchy hit another key. A screenshot displaying search results from a profile site appeared. "I recognized some of the names on that invitation list!" Rian asserted, nodding seriously. "So after what Dex said I did some research. The names I recognized weren't the names of cubs." His eyes narrowed. "They're the names of their boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, and caretakers. And I didn't think much of it at the time but there were rumors going around the school about a new discipline room. Level 5. Whatever it was, if you went there, other furs were being invited into it, too. To watch." He winced. "Some of the girls even whispered about new furs who had just shown up going straight there with whoever brought them-instead of being brought privately to Callie's apartment. They said it was something for the weird ones."
Twitchy tapped his foot against the floor and rose as well, synthesizing for his teammates. "To sum up," the rabbit proceeded, "we've concluded that the girls aren't just targeting cubs directly any more. They're going right over our heads. Selling their services to people who want to find sissy partners, or to . . ." the bunny shuddered, "modify the ones they already have, shove them into girlhood, maybe to keep them in line better."
Rian bit his lip and concluded the analysis. "Your sister says that her sissy screening is just a test. But if she puts someone under with that kind of a partner there watching and pushing, it practically takes the boy's free will out of the equation," the wolf said with concern. "Why, she's making regression just like any other form of sexual submission."
All the members of the threesome sat down and crossed their arms worriedly.
"Oh," Roger said after a moment of silence, and his tail, slowly, began wagging as he took his feet off the table. "You meant _that_trouble at the academy."
Dex blinked. Twitchy's foot stopped in mid-tap above the floor. Rian tilted his head and looked up at his mentor anxiously.
"I was worried something like this would start to creep in when Serry took a leave of absence after the captivity incident," Roger said decisively. "She's usually the voice of moderation over there. Outreach to caretakers. Mother knows best," he remarked distastefully, making a face. "This is Cassie's influence, since she's started doing more and more of the administration. I'm sure of it. Not that she'd ever take credit for having an idea of her own."
Dex cleared his throat and stood up. "Before we do anything, Rog," the raccoon warned. "I'm not done with the tactical analysis. Those boxes were run through our territory in such quantity we were bound to snatch some of them. Then Rian was accidentally on purpose handed Serry's mission orders so he would see those invitations. That can't be a coincidence. I know how their tac team leader thinks. I've tangled with Lin Lin enough now. They want us to attack during the Open House. Either it's a sissification trap for our team, or more likely, given what happened last time," he eyed Rian, "there's someone they want to snatch during our attack. To make the centerpiece of their presentation."
Rian looked up at Dex, surprised.
Roger whistled. "Someone's leveled up since the last time we did this," he observed approvingly.
Dex blushed. "Maybe I've been hanging out with smarter furs." He smiled at Twitchy. The rabbit beamed and gave him two thumbs up. "Fursonally," the raccoon concluded, crossing his arms. "I'm worried about Jax. Everyone knows he's sensitive, and now the secret is out about his bird watching hobby. So I drew up a different plan of..."
Roger look at the raccoon thoughtfully and then interrupted him, raising a paw. "We'll keep it as a Plan B," he said. "Their regular tac team leader might not be who we're up against. I have to be ready for someone less . . . flappable. In that case . . . it's safer not to go anywhere near that place on Open House day. The element of surprise alone won't get us very far. We need an entirely different kind of plan."
Rian fidgeted and turned the bill of his army hat to face backwards. "But, Rog," he whined, "you can't be thinking of deploying that so soon! It's not ready!"
The dog nodded and looked concerned. "Well, it's getting there," he addressed his sidekick directly. "The supplies are almost all here. The drops are secure. I just inspected all of them myself. And I bumped up the release schedule yesterday morning, too," he eyed the wolf critically and added, "just in case Serry had heard anything about all this. Now I gave you that piece of silk Callie wanted for your little love mission in exchange for something. How much of her list could you copy?"
Rian reached into his pocket, and withdrew the pen-sized digital camera he had borrowed from Twitchy. "Oh," he said proudly, holding it up, "the whole thing. Mission accomplished! But that's still not enough. I don't have any ideas either!"
Roger bit his lip and looked down at the floor gravely. "I know," he said. "But don't feel bad. It was my responsibility."
Dex and Twitchy had been staring at each other in bewilderment for the last couple minutes. Finally the raccoon gestured with his paws in frustration and snapped, "What are you two talking about?"
"You see," Roger said, taking a deep breath, "I was supposed to come up with a suitably cool name for our new counteroffensive before I presented it to the team." His shoulders slumped down and his tail stopped wagging as he admitted sadly, "But I've been too busy."
The raccoon and the rabbit both slapped their palms to their foreheads and squeezed their eyes shut simultaneously. "Squeak!" remarked the mouse on the conference table, pulling his knees close to his stomach, burying his head in between them, and rolling his eyes.
"Well," Roger said with resignation and eyed the camera Rian was holding, "I guess we do have Callie's entire recruiting list. That seems pretty good. We should probably do something with it."
Then he reached to his belt and withdrew a squirt gun, with an extended nozzle and an additional water cartridge clipped into it. "You know I looked everywhere for one like this," he bragged as he pointed it at Dex. "Continuous fire! Once you undo the safety. And then I almost lost it."
A moment of confused silence ensued.
"Ummm," Twitchy said uncertainly, his foot beginning to tap again, "that's really cool, Captain, but I thought you were about to tell us something about your nameless plan."
"Right!" Roger said. "I was! Sorry, sis, but you've put the pawing rights, not to mention free will, of too many boys on the line this time. Now I have no choice but to make compromises I don't want to."
His eyes glinted and he took the camera from his sidekick and slid it across the table to Twitchy. "We'll crash this party before it ever starts. Twitchy-draw up a roster and start assigning boys to groups of pink team prospects," he ordered. "Operation 'Rian-and-I-didn't-really-go-to-Euro Disney-over-spring-break' begins . . ."
The Labrador clicked open the safety on his squirt gun experimentally and grinned as his tail resumed wagging. "Now!"
The End!
Next Story: Open House! Roger's pre-emptive strike begins! (If I owe you a cameo, you can look forward to it in this story.) Meanwhile, Twitchy is running an off-the-books undercover mission of his own-but he's not the only one!
( If you made it this far, thanks for riding with me, especially if you've read all these stories! I hope you've been enjoying the trip! Comments and the like are welcome and appreciated, whether back on the submission page , via [private message](%5C) or, at [[email protected]](%5C) )