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  "description": "This story can be read out of order but continues the events of others in the: [url=http://tinyurl.com/2flfdwh]Pink and Blue Diaperfur Adventures Series : collected at http://tinyurl.com/2flfdwh[/url]\n\nThis is a mature story so please be 18+ to read. It involves furs in diapers, ageplay, crossdressing, and boys on boys, among other things.\n\nThe one where things got serious! Dex, Baby Blue's regression-prone raccoon warrior, grapples with his past and recruits an unlikely ally when his friend Twitchy vanishes on a routine mission. Why do the clues dead end in a circus fairground? And what does Dex think he's doing recruiting help from the boys' worst enemy — the pink team's crack agent Lin Lin?",
  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>This story can be read out of order but continues the events of others in the: <a href=\"http://tinyurl.com/2flfdwh\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pink and Blue Diaperfur Adventures Series : collected at http://tinyurl.com/2flfdwh</a><br /><br />This is a mature story so please be 18+ to read. It involves furs in diapers, ageplay, crossdressing, and boys on boys, among other things.<br /><br />The one where things got serious! Dex, Baby Blue&#039;s regression-prone raccoon warrior, grapples with his past and recruits an unlikely ally when his friend Twitchy vanishes on a routine mission. Why do the clues dead end in a circus fairground? And what does Dex think he&#039;s doing recruiting help from the boys&#039; worst enemy &mdash; the pink team&#039;s crack agent Lin Lin?</span>",
  "writing": "[b]The Star Attractions\n\nA Pink & Blue Diaperfur Adventure in Nine Episodes[/b]\n\nThe next Pink and Blue story!\n\nThis story can be read out of order but continues the events of others in the:\n\n[url=http://tinyurl.com/2flfdwh]Pink and Blue Diaperfur Adventures Series : collected at http://tinyurl.com/2flfdwh[/url]\n\nHere is the usual long list of deadly side effects: This is a mature story so please be 18+ to read. It involves furs in diapers, ageplay, crossdressing, and boys on boys, among other things.\n\nIt is an adventure and romance story involving these elements, rather than a straight-out fetish regression/sissification piece, and thus has a lot of plot and character story in addition to the fetish elements.\n\n[i]And one special warning: [/i]This story revolves around Dex the raccoon, probably the most serious character in the Pink and Blue series because he does not use diapers or regress voluntarily. Thus, although it is still generally a silly conceptual story, it will have some darker parts than the others. Back to lighter stuff next time.\n\nDon't like any of that, don’t say I didn’t warn you!\n\n[i]Plot recap[/i]: The heroic faction of boyish Baby Blue AB/DL furs defends the city’s age playing scene from complete domination by the pink forces of sissification now headquartered at Empress Calliope’s Academy for Special Boys. It’s a non-stop battle until . . . Spring break! The severely shortpawed blue and pink teams have called a break-long truce, and, with all the regular leaders on vacation, Dex the regression-prone raccoon is temporarily in charge of Baby Blue.\n\nSo when his friends Twitchy and Squeak go missing on a field mission, leaving only a mysterious distress call in the middle of a circus fairground, Dex seeks help rescuing his friends from an unlikely source—the crack pink team agent and scheming panda girl Lin Lin. But she’s their worst enemy! What is Dex thinking? And why is he so moody lately? Is the boys’ team’s tree-hugging tough guy losing his grip?\n\n[i]\fCharacter list:\n[/i]\n[b]Baby Blue Boys:\n[/b]\n[b]Dex[/b], a sensitive raccoon martial artist, is Baby Blue’s third-in-command and combat specialist. Currently the highest-ranking member of Baby Blue in town, Dex is one of the few BB boys who does not wear diapers voluntarily. Dex regresses, psychologically, to a kit whenever he loses a fight, for reasons not fully understood even by him. Something has been off about him ever since a major battle at the sissy academy, when he led his boys straight into a pink team trap set by the panda girl Lin Lin and suffered an embarrassing defeat. Is he just licking his wounds? Or is he upset about something else?\n\nThe nervous, goggle-wearing bunny [b]Twitchy[/b] ordinarily makes up Baby Blue’s tech and behind-the-scenes support team at Hideout #4 together with his partner, the pocket-sized mouse and gadget engineer [b]Squeak[/b]. They saved the boys’ team during the battle at the academy after Dex was KO’ed, earning his respect and confidence. Both are missing in action.\n\nEx-Boy Scouts [b]Ace[/b], a tough trailblazing lynx, and [b]Jax[/b], a soulful tracking hound, double as members of Dex’s special forces strike team and leaders in their own right of Baby Blue’s wilderness patrol squads. Their recon missions and patrols to the boys’ changing and supply stations keep the boys’ hideouts safe and the woods in Baby Blue territory clean and diaper-friendly. Also a couple—a secret they have succeeded in keeping from no one except themselves.\n\n[b]Kyle the Dalmatian[/b] is a low-ranking member of Baby Blue who has yet to find his real place on the team.\n\n[b]Roger[/b], a black Labrador, and [b]Rian[/b], his true blue wolf cub sidekick, are the regular leaders of Baby Blue, but are currently out of the country for spring break. Roger, Dex’s daddy, found the coon apathetic and working in a coffee shop sometime after his tournament loss, and gradually brought the depressed Dex out of his shell. Rian, Dex’s best friend and sometime big brother, began dating the sissy princess fox Serafina after rescuing her from a chastity punishment during the boys’ raid on the academy.\n\n[b]Empress Calliope’s Academy for Special Boys (Pink Faction):\n[/b]\nEmpress Calliope, Princess Cassandra, and Princess Serafina are the regular leaders of the pink faction, but are out of town during spring break on a spa trip. Serafina recently began dating the boys’ team’s second-in-command Rian.\n\n[b]Lady Lin Lin[/b], an undersized but overachieving and hypercompetitive panda, set a trap to capture and sissify the entire boys’ team in an attempt to steal Serafina’s Princess crown—and nearly succeeded. She captured Dex’s strike team in the school gym but was outwitted by Twitchy and Squeak. Physical education instructor and feared disciplinarian at Empress Calliope’s Academy for Special Boys, she is the highest-ranking pink team member still in town. It rankles that she is still outranked by Serafina, whom she has always considered too friendly to the enemy Baby Blue boys.\n\nAnd now . . .\n\n[b]Contents\n[/b]\nPrologue: Pinch Hitter\n\nEpisode 1. Overlook\n\nEpisode 2. Flying Solo\n\nEpisode 3. Triple L\n\nEpisode 4. A Walk in the Woods\n\nEpisode 5. Showtime!\n\nEpisode 6. Friends Like These\n\nEpisode 7. Into the Fire\n\nEpisode 8. Anger Management!\n\nEpisode 9. Secret Santa\n\n[i]Prologue: Pinch Hitter\n[/i]\n“Roger that, Ace,” Kyle the Dalmatian lifted his paws from the keyboard and leaned in so close to the center of the three monitors in Hideout #4 that the tip of his nose brushed against its flat screen as he spoke to the recon squad leader through his headset.\n\n“I’m looking at you now. Yup, that blue dot is definitely you. I would recognize it anywhere. Just go . . .” He bit his lip and slid his wheeled chair back about a foot away from the screen, holding one arm above his head and the other up and at an angle to his right as he tried to visualize a clock, leaning sideways bit by bit. “Two o’clock . . . Three o’clock . . . Three thirtyish kind of . . . from your current heading to the meadow. Then south . . .” He leaned pressed his nose against the monitor for a second, squinting at the satellite surface image, and then pulled it away, leaving a large wet smudge. “Yeah, south, for a quarter of a mile, and at the fork take the path on the right,” he spun around 180 degrees in the chair and looked back and forth between his still-outstretched arms, correcting himself quickly, “I mean left! My right! Your left! Because you’re going south! And usually north is in front of me! But it won’t be in front of you! Go left!”\n\nHaving spun to face the entrance, Kyle could see the electric sign above the door that read, “BB Tech is always on call! No bathroom breaks in — 00 — hours,” with the “00” blinking at him repeatedly, and accusingly. He would fix that sign just as soon as the support calls stopped. And right after he changed his increasingly soggy X-Plus diaper, luckily reinforced with an extra absorbency liner.\n\nHe was wearing only that and a pale blue tee-shirt. His pants hung on a hook on the door. He had realized sometime yesterday that working solo here didn’t give him time to keep pulling them on and off before and after every change, so today he had just pulled them off and hung them up as soon as he came through the door. It made changes more efficient. A change . . . that sounded good. He glanced longingly at the outpost-style rubber mat and rudimentary wipe, powder, and diaper supply setup on the floor not more than six feet away from him that he had been trying to get to for at least an hour now.\n\n“And in another quarter of a mile, go behind the waterfall! There’s a changing station for your boys there!” He concluded into the headset triumphantly. Phew! “Sorry, this isn’t as easy as he makes it look—err, sound.”\n\n“Three thirty meadow, south a quarter, fork left a quarter come to a waterfall,” Ace summarized briskly, as much for Kyle’s benefit as his own. Then there was a long pause of about thirty seconds on the other end of the line, but Kyle knew the call was still on because he heard twigs snapping, leaves crunching, and considerable grumbling in the background before the lynx asked, in an icily calm tone, “Are you sure? I have a couple messes here and we’ve near used up our backpack supplies going in circles.”\n\n“Yes,” Kyle answered firmly.\n\nThen, after about ten seconds of palpable silence, he added, blushing, “Like ninety percent this time.”\n\nThe Dalmatian could hear increased commotion as the cat on the other end moved and started to lead his group forward. He could also hear Ace take a deep breath, as though calming himself down and counting to ten, before he resumed speaking. “Okay, into the hills so I’ll cut out in a minute. One last question from my boys before I do.”\n\n“Fire away, Ace,” the Dalmatian said, pivoting back to face the monitors and sliding the chair forward to rest his forepaws above the keyboard.\n\nIt was the third time so far that day that Kyle heard the fur on the other end ask, in as patient a tone as he could manage, “How’s the mission to find Twitchy going?”\n\n[b]\fEpisode 1. Overlook\n[/b]\n[i]Two years earlier. Near the site of the U. S. Mixed Martial Arts Association National tournament. Juniors.\n[/i]\nThe raccoon on the hospital bed breathed slowly and steadily, the corner of his lips turning up in a faint smile as his blurry vision cleared with each blink and his gaze settled on the familiar badger seated in the visitors’ chair. “Hi, coach,” he said, his voice still thick with sleep. “I didn’t hear you come in.” He looked around the sterile white room; he felt cold in his hospital gown. “Is my uniform somewhere? I don’t know where they put stuff like that, but I’ll need to get dressed before we head back.”\n\nThe badger leaned forward, visibly relieved, and patted the raccoon’s head. “Dex,” he said anxiously. “Thank heaven. The doctor told me you’d be okay, but it’s good to see you awake. Your parents and I have been coming in shifts. No no,” when Dex pressed his forepaws down on the bed in an effort to sit up, the badger leaned forward and gently pushed the raccoon back down on to the mattress, “don’t try to move. You still have lots of painkillers in you, I think.”\n\n“You sound like mom,” Dex answered, relaxing slightly. “Maybe tomorrow then?”\n\n“Dex—” the badger fidgeted, hesitantly, frowning as he looked down at the still groggy raccoon, and shook his head. “I talked to the association folks and he was disqualified, so your ranking is a bit up in the air, but still — umm, you know you can’t compete for a while, right? I’m sorry.”\n\n“I know. Don’t worry!” The raccoon only laughed, which caused him to cough a bit, wince and clap a paw onto his ribs, and smiled up at his sensei reassuringly. “Hey, I wasn’t hit on the head, coach. I just want to see the rest of it.”\n\nThe badger frowned and stared at his shoes for a long moment before looking back up. “You’ve been here for two days, Dex. The tournament is over.”\n\n“Oh,” the coon said as he slumped back down into his pillow. “Who won?”\n\n“In your division, Wen Chu,” the badger answered matter-of-factly. “He took the polecat from Indiana who came in third last year.”\n\nDex stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression. “Chu is good,” he said vacantly. “I would have liked to see that.”\n\n**************\n\nThe coon’s eyes snapped open; a fur with less sensitive ears would never have heard, much less been woken up by, the muffled crunch of leaves under careful paw approaching. It was his partner; no other fur Dex knew moved so deliberately in the woods.\n\nThe raccoon had been dozing fitfully, sitting up against a tree in his karate outfit, his right paw still resting loosely on the paintball gun holstered on his waist and a cowboy hat slanted down over his eyes. The truth is he was glad to be woken up. He had been having another bad dream. The sparse forest was half-illuminated by a waxing moon. Still, being a raccoon, Dex usually didn’t need more than a split second for his eyes to adjust to the dark and identify the approaching figure. He stood up and tilted his cowboy hat back. “Jax,” he acknowledged the approaching Plott hound. “Contact?”\n\n“Mixed bag, Dex,” the black-and-brown mottled hound dog greeted his coon superior with a silent salute and straightened the badge-covered Boy Scout sash that he always wore over his other clothes when on missions, gesturing for Dex to follow him to the edge of the overlook where they had settled at sunset.\n\nThe two furs looked down at the sprawling, illuminated campsite, where enormous tents stood side-by-side with rows of concession stands, hastily assembled carnival attractions, and a large, creaky white Ferris wheel, stopped for the night. Five tractor-trailer trucks were parked nearby. From this high up Dex could see the glint of several campfires throughout the fair grounds. “It’s a mess of smells. I thought I’d be able to move more freely after hours but turns out nighttime is party time for half the crew; I had to be even more careful not to be spotted.”\n\nDex bit his lip. “Did you pick up Twitch, though?”\n\nJax nodded. “All over the place. And I spent a lot of time on the perimeter; he hasn’t left. I’m sure of it. The fresher smells are all inside.”\n\nDex drew the paintball gun, firing two pellets over Jax’s shoulder to mark the tree behind him, at the top of the path down the hill, with a large yellow splatter. He had been doing that whenever Jax reported back with a confirmation of Twitchy’s trail, so any of the boys would be able to retrace it easily. As he reholstered the gun, he asked, “Well, why hasn’t he made contact yet? And where is he in there?” The coon gestured vaguely. “That place is huge.”\n\nThe Plott hound shook his head. “It’s a circus, Dex. Literally. Odor mess like you wouldn’t believe. And I’m an air scenter. He’s in that fairground. That’s what I can tell you. You want a ground trail through all that you find me a bloodhound for Wilderness 1.”\n\nDex nodded thoughtfully, surveying the sprawling campsite. “We’re working on it. Till then you’re the best nose Baby Blue’s got.”\n\nJax wrinkled his face as he looked at the cloth poking out over the waist of Dex’s pants. “And believe me on this team it’s a mixed blessing,” the dog replied pointedly, then he reached into his pockets, pulling out a miniature tape deck. “I did find an auditory that I want a second ear to confirm on.”\n\nDex blinked. “You carry a tape recorder? Why?”\n\n“It’s to record bird calls,” Jax fidgeted, and looked down at his footpaws bashfully. “Don’t tell Ace. He says birding only exists so girls can have a wilderness sport.” Then he added petulantly, “Because fishing is soooo exciting. . .”\n\n“So much foreplay. I wish you two would just pitch a tent somewhere secluded and get it over with.” Dex rolled his eyes and waved his paw. “Play your stupid thing.”\n\n“This was looping on the PA outside that pavilion there right up until the circus closed for the night,” the dog explained, pointing, and then clicked on his tape recorder. A tinny, recorded voice announced, with what sounded like a drum roll in the background, “Ladies and gentlefurs, *tap tap tap* step right in to see the one *thump* the only *thump* master of mysteries, *thump* impresario of illusions, *tap tap tap* Alphonse the Amazing. Every hour on the hour. Ladies and gentlefurs . . .” The hound clicked the tape recorder off and looked at Dex meaningfully. “Did you hear it?”\n\nDex narrowed his eyes. “There’s a drum roll or something in the background. I guess it’s supposed to sound climactic.” He clapped his paws—lightly, tap tap tap—heavily, clap clap clap—lightly, tap tap tap—and shook his head. “He sure has a bad sense of rhythm, though, whoever it is.”\n\n“No he doesn’t.” Jax shook his head and tugged on his Boy Scout sash, pointing to a badge with two crossed signal flags on it. “You just clapped SOS in Morse code.”\n\n[i]Next time: Dex has a lead on his missing friend! But is the coon losing control of his team—and himself? What’s been eating him, anyway?\n[/i]\n[b]\fEpisode 2. Flying Solo \n[/b]\n“Why did he have a tape recorder?” the lynx on the other end of the two-way radio asked suspiciously.\n\nDex and Jax sat in a clearing in the middle of the woods, where the bright noontime sun shone down on them. After a fitful morning’s rest, they had backtracked to the nearest site where they had clear reception.\n\nDex had been skeptical when the two ex-Boy Scouts had started running so many seemingly pointless recon missions, but between Ace and Jax the boys now had not only trails, but also a radio map that covered most of the wooded area within a days’ walk of any of their hideouts, so they knew good and bad signal zones. Patrolling boys made an effort to pass through good ones periodically and check in with Hideout #4 so even remote patrols could remain in contact. Earlier that morning Dex had passed a message through Kyle requesting that Ace move in range for an emergency radio conference, and a returned message had confirmed a time.\n\n“That’s not important,” Dex answered curtly, pulling down the brim of his cowboy hat to keep the sun out of his eyes, and fidgeting with the sheriff badge pinned to his yellow karate outfit.\n\nHe had pinned it next to the gold badge with the letters “BB” over a pair of crossed safety pins that identified him as a member of the Secret Circle, the highest echelon of the diaper-loving boys’ fraternity Baby Blue, dedicated to the celebration and propagation of all forms of boyish behavior and to an ongoing war against the dangerous forces of sissification that had claimed so many of the city’s helpless age players—the pink forces now headquartered in Empress Calliope’s Academy for Special Boys.\n\n“Let’s recap what is important. One, our changing supply chain has been disrupted. Two, Twitchy and Squeak, that’s our whole tech team, went missing on a routine mission to check on all the caches and diaper drop locations and figure out why stuff was disappearing. Three, according to Jax, they’re in the middle of a circus ground, throughout which someone is broadcasting a coded distress signal,” Dex continued, counting the facts on his fingers. “Our course of action is clear. I’m pulling all available boys for a search and rescue mission. We all go in there as circus guests, break off into cells of two or three, and we do a top-to-bottom search of the place. Another cell will always be a bark away if anyone needs help.”\n\nThere was a long pause. Jax shook his head anxiously. “I’m not on board, Dex,” Ace answered over the radio.\n\n“What do you mean you’re not on board?” the flustered raccoon asked poutily, flicking his paw at Jax to indicate his annoyance. “It’s spring break. Roger and Rian are out of the country and Twitch and Squeak are missing. Don’t make me pull rank. I’m the only Circle member in play. But anyway Baby Blue tactical missions are my responsibility.”\n\n“And hideout defense is mine,” Ace answered. “Roger and Rian aren’t the only ones away for spring break. We’re down to one boy in most of the hideouts, a skeleton patrol crew, and we have a pinch-hitter on comm who’s in way over his head. I’m not comfortable leaving the hideouts unmanned. That’s just asking for the academy girls to swoop in. What will the prospects think if we come back to find all our bases redecorated? Or walk into another sissification trap for the whole team? We’d never have another recruit again! Might as well paint the whole town pink.”\n\n“For the last time, Ace,” Dex paused to stick his tongue out at the radio before continuing his answer, “the sissy academy is as shortpawed during break as we are. That’s why we called a break-long truce. I was there myself, I saw Roger and the Headmistress, and Rian and Cassandra, shake on it.”\n\nJax shook his head more urgently, holding up his thumb and his index finger in the shape of an L and thrusting it backwards and forwards into Dex’s face.\n\n“Truce shmuce,” Ace shot back over the radio. “Not all the pink team leaders are on vacation and I don’t trust any pawshake as long as she’s in play. I’d bet you my last box of wipes she’s somehow behind this whole thing, and is just waiting for us to send everyone in there and leave our bases defenseless. Well maybe you don’t get tired of it, Dex, but I’m not going to be made a fool of again. And I bet Jax will say the same thing, just with more crying. Give me a plan B.”\n\n“Give us a minute, Ace.” Dex cut out and crossed his arms, gesturing to Jax. “Can you believe this? Do you think he would talk that way to Rian?”\n\nWhen Jax just looked down at the grass Dex sighed gloomily. “It’s you too, huh? Ever since I led everyone into the girls’ trap in that gym . . .”\n\n“No, Dex,” Jax looked back up and, leaning forward, put his paws on the thighs of the raccoon, who was sitting seiza-style. “None of that was your fault. It’s just—how have you been feeling since the break started? Is something bothering you? Are you okay? Do you really feel up to calling the shots on a rescue mission? Ace and I can run this one if you want to take a breather. Really. Practice for your black belt test. Do some schoolwork. Take it easy.”\n\nThe raccoon blinked, taken aback. “What do you mean am I okay? Take a breather? What are you saying, Jax?”\n\nJax took a deep breath. “It’s just—you’re the last fur I’d expect to take the sissy team at their word! We other field boys count on you to stick up for us in those Circle meetings. Especially now that Rian is—” the dog screwed up his face in a distasteful expression as he uttered the next word, “dating—one of them. I know you’re upset about it, too. And your black belt exam is coming up. Now Roger and Rian are on vacation, and Twitchy has gone missing, those are the only three furs you let take care of you, when you—” Dex glared at him, but Jax said it anyway, “when you regress to a little kit. That by itself would be a lot on any diaper boy’s plate. You’ve hardly slept the whole time we’ve been tracking Twitch, and every time you do you have—accidents—” The hound tapped his nose. “You’d need more than chlorophyll to hide it from me. Plus you’ve been wearing that stupid hat the whole time, which is like something Rian would wear—not you.”\n\n“Rian gave me this hat,” the raccoon answered defensively, tilting it down over his eyes and biting his lip. “He said it might soften up my look. He should know; he has like a kajillion outfits.”\n\n“That’s just it, Dex,” Jax sighed. “You used to make fun of Rian’s outfits. Your look was fine. And suddenly you’re insecure about it. Sunglasses last week. Cowboy hat this week. You know, Ace and I didn’t switch to wearing cloth at home because of Rian. We did it because we looked up to you. War paint and everything.”\n\nDex fidgeted uncomfortably and chewed on three of his fingers for a moment. Then he snatched up the radio and pressed the button. “All right, Ace,” he said calmly. “Here’s your plan B. Let’s test the truce. And let’s test me, since those are the two things everyone around here seems to be unsure about.”\n\n“I can use it to take the biggest threat to the boys’ team into that fairground with me. If she has nothing to do with this, I have a gut feeling she wouldn’t pass up a chance to rescue Twitchy just to show him up and prove she’s smarter than he is. At least, I can sell it to her that way. And if that worked for real the two of us are as good as a team of ten boys. If she is behind it, well—she won’t pass up the chance to get me alone. But I’ll be ready, and I’ll take her captive. It’s too risky to involve anyone else, so I’ll run it solo. “\n\n“Either way, she’ll be out of play within 48 hours, and you’ll get a signal from me. Then you should be comfortable following the paintball trail and moving the whole team in after us. If you hear nothing in that time, well you run whatever skimpy rescue team you want. Personally, I’m not willing to pull punches when it comes to Twitch’s safety.”\n\nHe handed the radio to Jax and stood up, starting to make his way back down the hill in the direction of the nearest hideout. The radio crackled. “Did he just say what I think he said?” a stunned Ace asked. “I know Dex is charming when he wants to be but does he really think—?”\n\n“Oh, you idiot,” Jax cut him off, answering into the radio as he smacked his forehead. “Now see what you’ve started. Why are you always so insensitive? You had to go and make him mad.”\n\n“Don’t be silly,” the cat answered. “Dex pouts and glares but he never really gets mad. Say,” he asked, “why did you have a tape recorder?”\n\n******************\n\n“To answer your anticipated question,” the petite panda, wearing a purple leotard, addressed the five dress-wearing diaperfurs who stood alone in the middle of the large gym, watching her apprehensively as she folded her paws behind her back and paced back and forth, “you’re here during spring break because you five are in borderline territory, and I am less lenient, or as I prefer to say, more devoted, than your other instructors.”\n\nShe rounded on one of them sharply and suddenly. “Alexandra,” she glared up into the eyes of a taller, quivering bear. “ Playing with a Game Boy during home ec. Are you serious about feminization, Alexandra?”\n\nThe bear shook. “Y-y-yes, Lady Lin Lin,” she squeaked out, then added, “ma’am. I . . . I am a baby . . . girl bear.” She looked down at the floor. “My daddy brought me here and he maded me take the test and he says so. He says it’s real ‘portant for me to do what my teachers here say. To make myselfs ready for him, before he’ll go inside ‘a me.”\n\n“Sports are one thing. A girl’s body is as important—no, more important—to her than a boy’s, but videogames,” Lin Lin shook her head. “There’s no excuse to be made there. \n\n“And Alexandra—” she gripped the bear’s muzzle and stared up into her eyes, “Really? A sissy name that allows you to still go by your boys’ name, huh? Do you really think, just because we’ve let it slide up until now, that anyone teaching here is fooled by that old trick? I’m starting to think you’re a blue spy. But you’re a little too dumb even for that. Your posture’s terrible too. Stand up straight.”\n\nThe bear stiffened as Lin Lin released her muzzle and continued speaking. “I’ll be contacting your caretaker to discuss remedial measures he can apply at home and to suggest alternative names. In your case I’ll be recommending something like Muffy or Mimi or Tam Tam that you won’t be able to pull a boys’ name out of. You,” she said firmly, slapping the bear’s wrist as she started to open her muzzle in protest, “have no say in the matter and will learn your new name when you see it printed on a collar or engraved on a keepsake locket. Until then you don’t have one, and you’ll answer to ‘girl’, ‘sissy bear,’ or anything reasonably similar.” There was chortling from some of the other girls.\n\nLin Lin resumed pacing and readdressed herself to the group. “And the rest of you have no right to snicker! A whole list of nasty offenses. Weakness of will. Pawing without permission—a little sissy student always needs permission. Even if you need to ask somefur in the hall at random, that’s better than . . . indulging . . . on your own. If we weren’t so short on tubes. . .” She pursed her lips thoughtfully and wheeled on a golden retriever, who had looked visibly relieved when she mentioned the lack of chastity devices.\n\n“Oh, don’t worry, Kitty!” she snapped at the dog, renamed on ‘his’ enrollment with deliberate irony. “Here’s what we’ll do for you instead. Since I have better—and less depressing—things to do than watch your pitiful imitation of girlhood all day, for the rest of break, you’ll need the permission of your fellow remedial classmates each time you want to paw.”\n\nShe smirked. “All four of them. I’m guessing they’ll each want to be satisfactorily relieved first. Maybe in a couple different ways. So I hope you’re prepared to deliver—at a minimum—four orgasms for each one you get to have from now on. You’ll be wearing a little punch card on your collar just so you can’t lie to anyone about how close you are to your next treat. And we’ll run a buddy system so at no time will you be sleeping, changing, or going into the restroom alone. Don’t even think about it.”\n\nHer eyes narrowed as the dog sunk to her knees dejectedly under Lin Lin’s stern gaze and wet her diaper in fear. “Because I won’t be as nice about this offense the next time. And your teammates will be able to reduce their own punishments if they do catch you sneaking off like that. If you do, girls—just send pics to my cell phone. Sissy bear here will be your bathroom and bedroom buddy first.”\n\n“Moving on, one of you,” this time the panda lifted a dodge ball from the supply bin along the gym wall and the girls all cringed, “said that girls are weaker than boys. Maybe more submissive sometimes, but weaker? Girls can take pain that boys can’t imagine. Whether it means having a cub or, for one of you posers, having a bigger fur . . . maybe two bigger furs . . . inside you.”\n\n“You have to get used to taking a little bit of pain . . . Brianna!” she whirled and threw the ball, hard, at a slight fox attempting to hide behind two others in the back, who fell flat on the ground and burst loudly into tears as the ball rolled over her and off across the floor. Lin Lin shook her head. “Falling on the floor and crying like a baby. That definitely makes me think your boyhood will never be washed out. A girl takes everything in stride. On the other paw, I know a boy who every time he loses a fight . . .”\n\n“Yo, triple L!”\n\nThe panda quivered suddenly and pivoted as the dodge ball whizzed back at her from the opposite side of the gym, raising both her paws and catching it with a loud smack; it had been thrown hard enough that the front of her paws stung.\n\n“Look at that! You’ve still got it!” called the raccoon, still wearing his yellow martial arts gi, with the cowboy hat hanging on a cord around his neck, and waving cheerily as he approached.\n\nHe made his way past the surprised girls and sat down on the lower tier of the bleachers, settling in comfortably and assuming the pose of an interested spectator as he flashed the panda a wide smile. “And it sounds like you miss me.”\n\n[i]Next time: Triple L: Dex may need to put on more than a smile to convince the boys’ biggest enemy to help him out! What’s with the nickname? And—what’s up inside that circus?\n[/i]\n[b]Episode 3. Triple L\n[/b]\nLin Lin glared at her visitors with all the ferocity that a petite girly panda could muster. “What did you call me?” she asked.\n\n“Triple L,” Dex explained brightly. “It’s short for Lady Lin Lin. Get it? It’s a nickname! An affectionate one, of course. It is still Lady, and not Princess, right?”\n\nLin Lin ignored the question and, without removing her eyes from Dex, thrust the dodge ball across the gym and into the opposite wall with a loud bang. “Why are you here?”\n\nDex grinned. “Worried you’d be lonely. There’s a rumor going around that the Headmistress and Cassandra are treating Serafina on a deluxe spa trip to smooth over any lingering hard feelings. Drag that your invitation was lost in the mail. Thought it might make you feel better to pick on a boy for a little while. Pink and blue are supposed to help each other out during the truce, after all. And you and I are the highest-ranking team leaders still stuck in town. So we can commiserate about being ditched. Say, your English is getting better all the time.”\n\n“It was always better than your Chinese,” the panda said frostily.\n\n“But I don’t speak—” Dex laughed jovially, “Oh, I get it.”\n\nShe rolled her eyes. “Girls,” she said to the confused and still trembling sissy trainees, the edge of her lip beginning to turn up in a wicked smile. “This is a special treat. Meet the star athelete—though hardly, as you may have gathered, the sharpest mind—of Baby Blue. Since he appears to want something from me, maybe he’ll humor all of you with a demonstration of his talents. One that will prove my point.”\n\nDex leaned forward and tilted his head, his tail flicking. “Sounds like fun. If I do it will you do something for me?”\n\n“Oh yes,” Lin Lin smiled. “Reasonable assistance is a condition of the truce. On the off chance, of course, that you pass.”\n\n“This gym is only part of my classroom.” The panda pointed to the back door. “You heard what I said about endurance and taking things in stride. A real sissy needs to do that with poise and a certain—naturalness of demeanor. All my girls have to run an obstacle course out back in under five minutes that requires a wide range of movement and considerable maneuverability in various positions—jumping on a trampoline, climbing, crawling through tunnels, hopping, skipping, spinning, diving, you name it.”\n\n“And they have to do it cheerily smiling the whole time, with a nice curtsy at the end. It proves to me they’re truly comfortable as girls. Of course,” she turned to the girls for backup, as their curiosity mounted, “since Dex here is a star—not to mention a died-in-the-wool, gum-chewing, plays-in-the-dirt boy—I’m certain he could easily run the course in less than our current record time.” As she spoke, she padded over to the locker room and eyed Dex’s body from head to toe appraisingly.\n\nDex squinted and bit his lip. This would be easier to pull off than he thought. The panda really was too pumped up on girl power if she thought he couldn’t do that. “I feel like I’m missing something, but why not? Besides the curtsying and twirling stuff, that doesn’t sound so bad.”\n\n“Excellent!” Lin Lin pushed open the door to the girls’ locker room with a wide grin and reached inside to pull out a rack of adult-sized frilly and babyish dresses. She rested her paw on a purple one with ruffles, ribbons around the middle that looked like corset ties, and a hoop skirt—a dress that looked not only remarkably babyish, but also remarkably constrictive. “Of course,” she said archly, as she took it off the rack, “there needs to be a fair basis of comparison.”\n\nDex gritted his teeth. “Twitch,” he muttered, “let’s both hope you’re in less trouble now than you’re going to be in when I find you.”\n\n**********\n\nScience officer’s log. Stardate: Nine Eleventy Billion. Point Three. I write this to accept sole responsibility for the failure of our away mission, and in what may be my last act as a commissioned Starfleet officer, to recommend a commendation for Lieutenant Squeak. It is thanks to him that we solved the mystery of our vanishing supplies. Right after he reported back to me with photographic evidence of our suspicions, I, on the other paw, did what a commanding officer should never do. I violated the Prime Directive, by openly criticizing the primitive religion of this pre-warp planet—which resulted in our capture before we were able to relay our findings to Deep Space 4. At present . . .\n\n“Hi, Twitchy,” said Alphonse the gloomy weasel in his habitually depressed tone as he stepped into the trailer and tossed a bag of diapers and a box of wipes through the bars of the large animal cage that held the bunny. “That should keep you for a while.”\n\nThe bag landed with a soft thud next to the white, denim-clad rabbit with a pair of safety goggles settled askew on his forehead, who was scribbling the log entry in his notebook by the light of a flashlight held in his opposite paw. His right foot was handcuffed to one of the bars at the far end of the cage. The rabbit dropped the flashlight and jerked to look up at his visitor, his whiskers twitching angrily as the melancholy weasel, who wore a magician’s hat and a long black cape with gold stars on it, over a cheap imitation of a semiformal outfit, turned and started to trudge away.\n\n“Hey wait!” Twitchy shouted. “We had a deal! I fixed your sound system and made your loudspeaker so it can keep looping the same announcement. But I told you nothing else on that list gets done until I see my partner! Are you all new at this villain thing anyway? You’re supposed to ask me to do one big thing for you so we can argue about it. Not a whole long list of petty things that would take like five weeks. That’s not bargaining, it’s just slave labor.”\n\n“Alphonse!” said a booming voice. “What are you doing back here again, you failure?! You’re not done yet! Jack sprained his ankle so I need you on the evening shows tonight too! You’re in the big top as a substitute clown in 10 minutes! Try to look happy out there!”\n\nThe weasel slumped dejectedly and addressed Twitchy over his shoulder, “Welcome,” the mustelid magician said gloomily to the rabbit before he exited the trailer, “to the circus, Twitchy.”\n\n“As for you,” the large, brawny white tiger cracked at the light switch with his whip, flicking on a row of light bulbs screwed into the trailer’s ceiling. He spoke in an assertive, resounding announcer’s voice that echoed off its metal walls. “Your pet mouse is fine. It does seem like neither one of you will try to run off without the other. So I think I’ll keep you apart so you can work off the debt a little more efficiently. And that bag is being added to your tab.”\n\nTwitchy raised his head defiantly even though he was on his stomach with one foot chained behind him and one of his long, white ears flopped down over his eyes, and waved his flashlight at the ringmaster threateningly. “Squeak’s not my pet! He’s my friend! And those diapers were never yours to begin with! You’ve been stealing them from our supply stations in the woods. But you crossed the wrong rabbit this time. I know what you’re up to here. You’re not really keeping me to pay back that money. It’s because you saw the pictures Squeak took when I dropped my camera and you were scared.”\n\n“That whole tent is full of stuff—the rubber and latex costumes, the leather stuff, the nursery supplies, the leashes and collars and riding equipment. I bet none of it’s yours. Half those boxes still had packing labels on them! I don’t know if you’re using it or selling it, but I bet you snatch stuff like that wherever you find it and count on the furs you take it from being too scared or embarrassed to report it! Is that right? Why else wouldn’t you give me my camera and my walkie talkie back?”\n\nTwitchy pointed his flashlight directly up into the ringmaster’s face and blinked it on and off at him like he was firing a weapon, but the lights in the trailer were too bright for the flashes to bother the tiger. “Well you’re in for it now! My friends and I aren’t embarrassed about our diapers and we want them back. Just you wait until Dex and the other boys get here! Then you’ll be sorry you didn’t play nice with me.”\n\n The tiger tipped his black ringmaster’s top hat to Twitchy with one paw and replaced his whip in the holster on his black leather belt. “An engineer and a detective. I was afraid you might start jumping to crazy conclusions like that. Quite an imagination. I guess spy isn’t on your resume, though, or you’d know how to keep a lower profile.” The tiger shook his head. “I had to refund every ticket after the commotion you caused at that magic show. So many upset parents. I really hate complainers. People are so cheap, they’ll take any excuse to get their money back. And now we have to fix half of Alphonse’s stuff. It’s just like when you can’t pay the bill in a restaurant, young man; you get put in the kitchen to help wash the dishes. It will take more than a loudspeaker to cover the cost of all those tickets. Besides, you’re such a smart little rabbit. I thought you would jump at the chance to help that clown college reject build a better show.”\n\nTwitchy gritted his teeth and flicked his whiskers as he recalled the fiasco with chagrin. ‘Oh, come on! Someone must feel brave today! Yes! You in the back who just stood up! You’re our audience volunteer!’ Alphonse boomed from the stage as the spotlight settled on the rabbit.\n\n‘What?!’ Twitchy looked around in a panic; he had hopped up because his partner, the pocket-sized mouse Squeak, had just reported back and run up his pant leg, replacing the rabbit’s pen-sized digital camera in his pocket. ‘No, that’s not—’ Twitchy hung his head. It might call less attention to them if he just played along. It couldn’t take more than five minutes.\n\nThe weasel hesitated a moment before he boomed out cheerily, ‘Well, you look a bit big for the circus, but it takes all kinds! Who knows, maybe we’ll actually have a halfway decent show for a change—heh, I’m just kidding, folks! Come on up on stage, young man! Show these kits they have nothing to be afraid of and maybe some will raise their paws for the next trick. There, there you go,’ he patted the rabbit on the back as Twitchy bit his lip and made his way past the giggling cubs in the audience up onto the stage. ‘So why did you come here today . . .’\n\n‘Twitchy,’ the rabbit said, shaking his paw. ‘Well you might not believe this, Mr. Alphonse,’ he fidgeted with the goggles on his forehead, starting to relax and even to feel a little excited (smart as he was, Twitchy was still just as enthusiastic an age player as his Baby Blue brothers, after all), ‘but I wanted to be a magician when I was a cub. I used to love magic shows. It’s what first got me interested in engineering. I used to watch them again and again, until I had figured out how everything works! So when I saw there was one here I thought, why not pop in back for one performance and . . . ’\n\nAlphonse smiled and cut him off. ‘You can’t figure out magic, Twitchy!’ The weasel turned to the audience and waved his wand theatrically, twirling his cape. ‘You just have to believe!’\n\nHe wouldn’t have felt it ordinarily, but the rabbit’s large ears could hear a slight crinkle as the weasel’s free paw, using his cape as a cover, brushed against the rabbit’s pocket.\n\n‘Sure you can!’ Twitchy said brightly, starting to get carried away and rocking on his heels. His tail began wiggling, and he was heedless of the mouse in his pants tugging on his waistband anxiously. ‘Why, no wonder all these kids look bored if you keep telling them that! Figuring it out is the fun part! Like I bet just now, when everyone was distracted on one side by you waving your wand and on the other by you reaching over to my pocket behind your cape, and thought you put something in there, you were really doing something somewhere else on stage like . . .’\n\nThe rabbit reached into his pocket and pulled out a long white handkerchief, that seemed to keep coming, and stumbled backward as the panicking weasel tried to hush him. His large foot caught on one of the cords running across the stage, and the rabbit tumbled backward, knocking over the covered black table in the center, along with an upturned top hat on it. He fell flat on his back as a trap door that had been directly beneath the covered table sprang open and a flurry of doves flew out of it, and the top hat rolled off the table along the front of the stage, revealing to the audience that the top of it swung open on a hinge.\n\nTwitchy, beet red, looked up at the horrified magician, who was frantically collecting or covering all the things, including, unbeknownst to either at the time, Twitchy’s digital camera and his walkie talkie, that had been dropped on stage, while he tried to stamp the compartments that had sprung open closed with his feet.\n\n‘Or . . .’ Twitchy finished, abashed and still sprawled on the stage, as half the cubs in the audience began jeering and the other half burst into tears, ‘this could just be a really bad magic show.’\n\n**********\n\nDex hastened through the waist-high hedge maze, walking as briskly as he could with the small steps his tightly laced outfit permitted and with both paws on his skirt to keep it from snagging on any brambles. He kept an increasingly pained smile on his face, as Lin Lin and her previously glum students watched him with growing enjoyment.\n\nThen he skipped through ten hopscotch courses, bypassing only the marked square on each one, and found he had to let go of the skirt, letting it blow in the air, and hold out both his arms to keep his balance being on only one paw for so long. Then he made the final hop, up onto a trampoline from which, after several bounces, he had to leap through a wooden hoop suspended on a pole six feet above the ground; an easy jump for him to make with assistance but he winced when he leapt through as he heard the hoop of his skirt click against the side of the hoop.\n\nOh no! I hope my dress is okay, he thought, I hope none of the ruffles got caught or torn! What if one did and the girls notice? I’ll look like a fool. They’ll all laugh at me. I might even fail. Oh, it better still look just as frilly as . . . Is this what girls always feel like? Even though he was only thinking of his chances to pass the challenge and rescue Twitchy, his stomach churned in revulsion that the words crossed his mind. \n\nHe landed triumphantly on his toes directly on an X pointed on the ground, and looked down as he curtsied, both to conceal the fact that his jaw was clenched and to make sure the dress was unscathed. Oh thank goodness, not a snag. It still looks just like new. As pretty as ever, he thought with relief as he smoothed the skirt out, then shuddered involuntarily at his own train of thought. “Thank you,” he said as sweetly as he could manage before he righted himself, “Lady Lin Lin.”\n\nHis heard jerked up as he heard a loud snap and he saw the panda holding a digital camera. She had caught him just at the moment he was fussing with his skirt during the curtsy.\n\n“That’s going straight on our class webpage,” she said with a wide grin. “I’m going to treasure it for a very long time.”\n\nDex let his phony smile fall away, resumed his natural posture, and looked at his watch. “Two minutes,” he said stonily, “and thirty seconds.”\n\n“Two minutes and forty-five seconds,” Lin Lin corrected him as she pressed the stop button on her own. “I heard that tap and it’s a fifteen second penalty.” She paused and looked at the ground, kicking up a clod of dirt as she admitted with a sigh. “But it’s still a record.”\n\nShe resumed her snide tone quickly, though. “Congratulations, Dex. You’re a natural. I’m even willing to let you keep your dress as a souvenir—since you seem so attached to it. Maybe your cubby wolf friend would like you better in it. That does seem to be . . . his thing.” The girls behind her tittered and whispered to each other, this time with her tacit encouragement. The raccoon had already unlaced the five corset straps and let out a long breath as he expanded to his regular bulk. He pulled it off over his head. “Now it’s my turn. Start packing,” he said coolly as he threw the girly outfit in a crumpled mass at Lin Lin’s feet, standing there in his undershirt and his thickly layered cloth diapers as he walked over to the side of the course and retrieved his karate outfit.\n\n“We have roughly a day’s walk ahead of us and it’s already past three. I can’t waste any more time here. I think Twitchy is in real trouble. I’ll explain more on the way.” He glared at her. “And be nice. I won’t talk mean about you.”\n\n“The bunny? All right. . . A deal is a deal, I’ll go. This lot behind me is fairly hopeless anyway. Two or three days more or less won’t make a difference.” Lin Lin tilted her head and looked at the suddenly serious raccoon with mild curiosity, shaking her head as he got dressed. “What would you even know about me to talk mean about, Dexie? That I suffered one humiliating defeat in that gym, and that I don’t like the fact one of my superiors is dating one of yours?”\n\n“There, see, it should be a piece of cake to make civil conversation,” Dex said with a grin as his head popped out of his karate uniform and he thrust his arms out of its sleeves. “We already have so much in common.”\n\n[i]Next time: The first joint pink and blue mission—is a go! Dex and Lin Lin are about to hit the road—the circus—and the big time!\n[/i]\n[b]\fEpisode 4. A Walk in the Woods\n[/b]\n[i]Two years earlier.[/i]\n\nDex let his footpaws dangle in the brook as he stared down into its running water. To his left, a pair of crutches leaned against a tree. “I understand, Dad,” he calmly answered the larger raccoon standing behind him, whose paw was resting on his shoulder. “After all, the scholarship depended on me being able to compete at a — certain level from the beginning. It’s not your fault.”\n\nHe reached one paw to his shoulder and squeezed his father’s forepaw supportively, without looking up. “Don’t you and Mom worry about it. City College will be fine.”\n\n*************************\n\nLin Lin, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she crawled out of her sleeping bag, made her way to the outskirts of their open-air campsite and watched the raccoon incredulously.\n\nDawn had just broken, and Dex was crouched by the edge of the stream, wearing his cowboy hat and the top of his karate gi but with his bottom half uncovered, humming to himself softly and rubbing his used cloth diaper vigorously against a small wooden washing board and a large chunk of aromatic herbal soap against both of them. His bulky, opened backpack lay nearby, and a small pawbrush with rough, rigid bristles lay about six inches away from him.\n\nThe coon’s ears flicked as she approached. “Sorry if I woke you, Triple L,” he said without looking up. “Had trouble sleeping. We don’t need to move out yet. If you want to go back to bed we can pick up the paintball trail in an hour or so.”\n\n“Well I’m up now.” The panda yawned and blinked incredulously, shaking her head. “We might as well get going when you’re done with . . . that. I just know I’m going to regret asking this, but what is it exactly that you’re doing?”\n\n“Paying my debt to the planet,” Dex said seriously, and he continued scrubbing and humming.\n\nThe panda pulled on a light pink Hello Kitty sweater over the tee shirt she had slept in and retrieved her pink Velcro jogging sneakers. “I suppose that’s also why you wouldn’t take any of the spaghetti-and-meatball rations from the academy?”\n\nDex still didn’t look up. “I don’t eat meat,” he said with mild impatience. “Yes, same reason. Its environmental impact.” He resumed humming and tried to ignore her.\n\nLin Lin squinted at him as she sat down on a stump to put her sneakers on. “You are even weirder than I thought. Trust me, that’s really saying something.”\n\nShe looked up at the dawn sun longingly and shook her head, thinking about the cadets she had let loose back at the academy. If only she could take them 24/7, she could make real girls out of them. There was only so much she could do with a class period here and there, and she was saddled with furs who thought the extent of being a sissy was putting on a dress for their boyfriends one night every few weeks.\n\nThat’s not why she had been so excited about the pink age players’ group, when she found it, or why she had been the very first to beg Calliope for a teaching position at the school. Sure, she knew there would be a lot of part-timers at the academy. But being transgendered was hard to admit, and she felt she had to be strict to keep the frivolous ones at bay long enough so that the few really serious ones might actually have a chance to step forward and voice what they wanted. If she could find just one or two in her time there, if she could help one fur make a real journey, it would be worth it. She could help someone transition with the kind of support that she . . . that usually couldn’t be had. And in an environment where they could be made to feel, for as long as they were in her class at least, like a star, like the one fur who was doing everything right, instead of, well — an outcast.\n\n“How did this happen?” the still sleepy panda complained aloud. “I should be second in command at that place. I work harder than anyone else there. Instead they’re all on a spa trip and I’m stuck in the woods with Mr. Seven Years Old in Tibet.”\n\nDex chuckled involuntarily. “Seven Years Old in Tibet. I kind of like that,” he shot her a glance over his shoulder before he switched from using the washboard to scrubbing at spots on his cloth diaper with the laundry brush. “Some of your better work, Triple L.”\n\nShe yawned. “If you’re really that dead set against wearing disposables, can’t you break role and go without any,” she asked him, “just for this trip?”\n\nDex shook his head as he continued scrubbing. “Think you’ve got them confused with the cowboy hat. These aren’t a costume for me, Triple L,” he said matter-of-factly. \n\n“But don’t worry. It’s only little dribbles lately. As long as I’m not—” He glanced at her—“you know—out of commission—the only serious stuff is nocturnal. So if I’m out here I just sleep near the water. This is Baby Blue territory. We know where most of the streams are in these woods. If I can’t find one, I can leave it in the pail at one of our changing stations and a patrol will pick it up. We’ve made our woods totally diaper-safe.” He frowned. “At least, we thought we had, until our hidden supplies started disappearing. Now the whole system might be in jeopardy.”\n\n“But anyway, worst case scenario for me, there are odor-sealing bags in here,” he kicked his backpack with one foot as he kept diligently scrubbing.\n\n“Oh.” The panda seemed genuinely at a loss for a moment. “That all sounds . . . like a hassle. I’m . . . sorry you don’t have a choice about it,” she said, coolly but not unkindly.\n\nDex shook his head. “Just explained because you asked. Not because I want your sympathy. We all have our stories.” \n\nThe coon stood up and began wringing out his diaper over the stream. “’I’ll never assume any fur with our interests has had an easy path to us,’” he recited. “It’s Roger’s First Rule.” He unrolled and shook out the diaper, then rolled it up in the opposite direction, beginning to wring it out again. “And part of the Baby Blue oath,” he added proudly.\n\nHe finished and folded it up, sticking it in one compartment of his backpack as he took out another one, laid it over the outer layers already spread on the forest floor, powdered the new diaper generously, and then laid down on the triple stack and re-diapered himself on the forest floor. He had only washed the inner of his three diapers; it would be too time-consuming, and hardly necessary given the extent of his last accident, to wash all three, although the middle one would certainly end up showing some stains. Lin Lin pretended not to be watching. Dex pinned up the corners and leg gathers of his layered diapers very carefully, a process that took several minutes, then slipped a pair of red plastic pants on over them.\n\n“Goes for you too,” he offered when she remained awkwardly silent, as he retrieved the bottom of his karate uniform from the rock where it lay and pulled it on. “You’re obviously a bright, multitalented Asian boy—or girl—I mean you’re a panda, and really small, for a panda, no offense, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you changed, so I guess I never looked too closely into it. Pink is pink to me anyway. I don’t mean to be too stereotypical, but you probably carry a lot of family expectations, I guess.”\n\n“I hardly use them. It’s more of a comfort thing. And I’m a girl, thank you,” Lin Lin snapped as the raccoon stood up and began repacking his backpack.\n\nThen, biting her lip as she watched Dex struggle to zip his elaborate supply kit closed, added, more gently, “Well . . . now I am.”\n\nDex let out a long, low whistle as he hoisted the backpack over his shoulders and picked up a walking stick he had left tilted against a nearby tree.\n\n“What’s that supposed to—?” Lin Lin started to ask defensively.\n\nDex cut off the panda by tussling her head and ears with one paw as he walked past her. “Here I thought all this stuff about being better than your academy teammates was just talk,” he said without looking back at her. “But no wonder. You really don’t do anything halfway, do you, Triple L? Trail continues up this way,” he pressed on without a pause, pointing with his free paw. “Get your stuff together, let’s not linger.”\n\nThe panda stood up unsteadily and stared down at her Velcro sneakers, silent for a long, surprised minute while the raccoon made his way up the incline. “Thanks. . .” she whispered to her shoes, when she was reasonably sure he was out of earshot, slowly raising her eyes to look up after him, “. . . Dex.”\n\nThe raccoon didn’t hear her. Nor did they talk much, the rest of the way. Lin Lin was quiet and chewed on her lip for the rest of the walk as though she were rethinking something. Dex feigned absorption in following the trail. But in reality the raccoon was also lost, deep in thought, as his interrupted dream continued to play itself out.\n\n**********\n\n[i]Two years earlier.[/i]\n\n“There’s my favorite patient,” the otter smiled and gestured for Dex to take a seat as he buzzed somebody.\n\n“Hello, Doc,” Dex said with a grin as he laid his crutches down on the examining table. “I guess I’m about done with these. So I’ll trade them for some X-rays and we’ll call it even.”\n\nThe otter nodded gently. “Yes, but while you’re here, Dex—Ah, there you are,” he looked up as the door opened and motioned for the white-coated doe to step inside. “Dr. Whitley, this is the fine young kit I was telling you about.”\n\n“Hi Dex,” the soft-spoken doe offered a welcoming smile, shaking the raccoon’s paw gently. “Have a seat. It’s a genuine pleasure to meet you.”\n\nDex lowered himself into a chair, carefully to make sure his tail slipped through the opening between the back and the seat, and looked from the otter to the doe inquisitively.\n\n“Dex,” the physician said good-humoredly as he stood up, “Doctor Whitley is a different type of doctor than I am. I thought it might be good for you two to talk privately just for a bit while I work up those X-rays. Don’t worry about talking about me, either, if you feel like it. I know I’m not perfect! My wife never fails to remind me.”\n\nThe doe spoke gently as the door closed softly behind the otter, leaving her alone with the raccoon. “That’s right, Dex. Anything you say to me is confidential. Even from your parents. I’m a psychiatrist here at the hospital. But you’re a smart young man, and I’m sure you already figured that out.”\n\n“Well this is embarrassing,” Dex fidgeted and looked down at the floor, then up at the doe. “I know he means well, but I’m sorry he wasted your time.”\n\nThe doe shook her head. “It’s never a waste of my time to talk to people, Dex. Especially not to nice young furs like yourself. It’s what I do.”\n\nDex swung his foot in a circle and stared at it absently. “I don’t understand why he called you, though. I haven’t driven into a tree or smashed a window or anything. I sleep fine. There are the . . .” he tugged at the waist of his pants uncomfortably before he continued, “complications sometimes. But I’m sure they won’t last too much longer anyway. I’ve been counting them, you know, and there were fewer accidents this week, and fewer last week than the week before. I really think that will all stop soon. I have a good feeling about it. Mostly, I just don’t think about what happened. It did and it’s done. It really doesn’t bother me.”\n\n“That’s right,” she said calmly. “No one has heard you curse or raise your voice even once since the tournament, at least that’s what your parents and your coach told Dr. Ramsey. You spend a lot of time concentrating, Dex? Developing focus? Cultivating—what is the right term—mental discipline?”\n\nDex nodded. “That’s basic martial arts training. Don’t let your emotions interfere.”\n\nDr. Whitley touched the raccoon’s paw gently, “I wish more of my patients had your problem, Dex.”\n\nThe coon blinked. “What problem? I already told you; I’m fine. I mean here,” he tapped his head with his paw. “There’s just no point to dwelling on it.”\n\nDr. Whitley smiled. “You aren’t trained to ignore pain are you, not past a certain extent? Pain is a signal from your body. Not feeling it at all, or short-circuiting it, that would be dangerous. And a lot different than gauging how bad it is and deciding to fight through it; I’m sure you can tell that difference, when you’re training. Other negative emotions can be the same way. I don’t mean that you should act on them rashly or that you’d be justified in running out into the street and doing whatever you wanted. Not at all.”\n\n“But they’re also,” she moved one paw in a circle, “signals. That something is wrong, sometimes that you might need to step back a little, course correct. Or that something that happened is not something you would have done, or would have allowed to happen. It takes time, but working through those responses, it’s important to making us better people. They can even become sources of strength, of motivation. They help us figure out the things that define our character.”\n\nDex stared at her blankly and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Dr. Whitley, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”\n\nThe doe brushed his forepaw again. “For now, Dex,” she said softly, “no fur would blame you if you were angry. I have to say it’s a little strange that you’re not. And if you’re suppressing a mess of negative feelings about what happened,” she caught the raccoon’s eyes with her own large, limpid brown ones, which glimmered at him compassionately, “I’m just worried about where they’ll all go.”\n\n[i]Next time: Dex and Lin Lin hit the big top—and the big time!\n[/i]\n[b]Episode 5. Showtime![/b]\n\nIt was a warm spring afternoon and the fairground was bustling with cubs and kits of all ages. Lin Lin had to keep looking down to wend her way between them as she made her way back from the concession stands holding a large stick of pink cotton candy in one paw and a bag of popcorn in the other.\n\nDex was leaning on the back of the ticket booth with his cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes to keep out the glare of the sun, surveying the surrounding crowd suspiciously. The cubs had left most of their supplies in a hidden cache outside the fairground while they took a first look around, but Dex still wore his paintball gun, although now the holster was hidden between his karate outfit and his undershirt.\n\n“Well?” he asked as she handed him the popcorn.\n\nThe panda shook her head. “Worst magic show I’ve ever seen. And shortest—I think they’re having equipment problems. Backstage looked about how I’d expect. The signal may be broadcasting from there, but as far as I can tell the bunny’s not in that tent. How about you?”\n\nDex took the red and white-striped paper bag from her and started munching on the popcorn. “No better. If anyone manning the game booths remembers seeing Twitchy, they won’t admit to it. I said at the ticket booth I lost something valuable here yesterday and had to talk to management, but they just gave me a phone number.” He bit his lip poutily. “There were pretty rude too.”\n\nLin Lin paused with a large tuft of cotton candy stuck to her lips and stared at him for a moment before she brushed it off with a paw and shoved it into her mouth, letting it dissolve for about thirty seconds. Then she frowned. “You asked to talk to management?” she asked in disbelief. “And you told them something that close to the truth?”\n\nDex furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “That’s what I said I would do. You would take a first look at the magic show tent, and I would start down the booths and try to get an audience with someone who actually runs the place and isn’t a day worker.”\n\n“I didn’t think you would just ask for one!” she snapped. Even though Dex was holding the bag of popcorn with both forepaws, Lin Lin thrust her stick of cotton candy into his face. “Hold this.”\n\nDex wrapped one arm around the popcorn bag and gripped the cotton candy, perplexed, trailing behind Lin Lin as she picked her way through the crowd to the end of the row of game booths and eyed the nearest ones appraisingly, tilting her head as she examined both the games and their announcers.\n\n“What are we doing?” Dex asked impatiently.\n\nShe wagged her paw at him. “You,” she whispered sternly, “are getting a much-needed lesson out of the pink mission playbook. Just hang back and tap your footpaw now and then. Look impatient and like you’re not really sure what’s going on.”\n\nShe broke away from him and approached a booth where a wolf was rubbing his paws eagerly as another disappointed child departed without a prize.\n\nDex rolled his eyes. “That won’t take much acting,” he muttered. He munched on his popcorn as best he could with the cotton candy stick occupying one of his paws.\n\n“Step right up!” the wolf shouted. Unlike some of the other attendants, who were wearing tee shirts and jeans, he was wearing a brightly colored visor and an apron with a name tag that identified him as fairground personnel, as well as an ear piece that he fiddled with now and again. The ceiling and walls of his small carnival booth were hung with stuffed animals of various shapes and sizes but of uniformly poor quality, and a few cheap plastic toys.\n\nBehind him, a machine with rows of small, slowly moving targets and a blinking scoreboard played cheery, recorded accordion music. Beside it on the wall was plastered a faded poster that offered a nonsensical scale for converting points to tickets that he had probably never consulted more than the first two lines of. “That’s right, folks, play for plushies, play for tickets! Win a toy or see any show! Five shots for five dollars! Ten shots for—”\n\n“Ni hao!” the undersized panda said, smiling brightly, as she hopped up in front of him, waving a twenty-dollar bill. “And greetings, sir! My name is Lin Lin, and as you can see,” she smiled up at the wolf, who watched the bill as she waved it around, “I am a very innocent and most feminine little panda.”\n\n“Also as you can see, being a panda,” she went on, keeping her large, twinkling round eyes fixed on him, “I am very cute—and I also speak Mandarin. It is my original language.”\n\n“I am here with my big brother from my host family,” she gestured at Dex with her free paw, “and this is all the money that he gave to me to spend however I wanted. I think that it is a lot but I am still getting used to American money. He has been helping me but I told him I wanted to play this game all by myself. Is that large teddy bear—” she gestured up at a huge, suspended plushie holding a heart-shaped box of chocolates, “one of your prizes?” She looked around confidentially and whispered up to the carnival worker. “Because I named him already.”\n\nThe wolf chuckled. “Why, hello there, Lin Lin,” he said with a grin. “Why don’t you take one throw on the house?”\n\nShe giggled and tugged at the neck of her pink Hello Kitty sweater as she hoisted one of the bean bags and eyed the targets appraisingly, biting her lip. Dex, who could only hear snippets of the conversation, blinked in surprise as her first limp throw thudded onto the base of the machine between two of the targets. Hadn’t he seen her take down a row of boys with dodge balls in minutes?\n\n“Maybe you can give me some pointers?” Lin Lin asked the carnival worker, looking embarrassed, and he nodded and took her arm in his, demonstrating a light, gentle, underpaw throw, that knocked one of the small slowly moving targets over and rang a bell, adding a “10” to the scoreboard above the booth before the target popped up again.\n\nDex looked at his watch and tapped his footpaw. This was going nowhere and he was thinking about walking over there to see what was going on. He saw the carnival barker look from him to Lin Lin and back again and bite his lip thoughtfully.\n\n“I’ll tell you what, Lin Lin,” the wolf said quickly with a glint in his eye. “We’re running a special for little ladies. For $20—I can let you throw until you miss. Just keep them real careful and steady, like I showed you, and I’m sure you’ll win something.”\n\n“Wow! Really!” the panda exclaimed excitedly, pressing the bill into his forepaw. “You are a super nice fur, mister wolf. I just hope it doesn’t run out too too fast. After all . . . ” \n\nAs the wolf pocketed her money, she picked up one of the beanbag projectiles and weighed it carefully in her paw, then whirled to hurl it with uncommon speed at the machine, which set off a clanging triple ring and lit the scoreboard up to 50 as it knocked over three targets in a row and, rebounding off the wall, hit a fourth one from behind. “I do throw like a girl.”\n\nThe wolf opened his muzzle, but before he could say anything Lin Lin hoisted another bean bag and let it zip, then another, then another, and Dex stood rooted to his spot, feeding his popcorn into his mouth more rapidly as she built momentum.\n\nAfter almost twenty minutes, the machine set off a cacophony of bells that caused even its usual attendant to cover his ears and turn to his prize chart in flustered confusion as the scoreboard began flashing jubilantly. The panda blew on her throwing paw and tilted her head to look back over her shoulder at the carnival barker.\n\n“How many tickets can I get now?” she asked innocently.\n\nThe wolf slowly removed his paws from his ears.\n\n“Hang on,” he said through gritted teeth, glaring down at her as he turned back from the faded chart and turned a knob on his earpiece.\n\n“I’ll get my boss.”\n\n********************\n\n“Let me guess, Alphonse,” the ringmaster said without looking up from the ledger on his desk; he recognized the weasel’s quivering, uncertain pawstep. “It’s an encore of your ‘Let’s free the rabbit’ routine. Let me warn you: that one’s not a crowd pleaser.”\n\nThe weasel, having just changed back into his magician’s costume for the next show, and with the clown makeup freshly washed off his face, dropped his rubber nose on the tiger’s desk. “I . . . I . . . . I just think you’re asking for trouble, Tony,” the mustelid stammered out. “What if Twitchy is right and these Dex boys or whatever they’re called are looking for him? He doesn’t seem like a bad kid. And it really doesn’t look good, having him locked in a cage like that.”\n\nThe white tiger looked up from his desk out of the sides of his eyes skeptically. “Please. There’s obviously some kind of AB nursery or something around here that’s paranoid about being found out if they’re hiding their stuff in the woods, but a rescue team from a secret organization of diaper kids? That’s the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard. Anyway what would they do, piddle on our legs?”\n\nThe tiger waved a large paw. “Enough about the bunny. He’s just a weird college kid on spring break. Maybe even delusional. Come to think of it, he’s probably on drugs. I bet that’s why he kept tapping his feet like mad the whole time he was fixing your sound system—withdrawal. Why, we’re practically doing him a favor by making him go cold turkey during his vacation! It might just save his life!” Tony paused to scratch his head and look back down at the ledger. “Why . . . maybe I can write off the cost of feeding him as a charitable contribution.”\n\nThe weasel blew air out of the side of his mouth disapprovingly and started to protest, but Tony picked up his top hat, settled it on his head, and stood up, assuming an even grander tone.\n\n“And don’t you think of telling more furs than already know about this, Alphonse. It’s totally unnecessary. Listen to me because I will only explain all this to you one more time: If he’s not home with his parents now, they won’t miss him until break’s over, and he can help improve some of your lousy tricks. He couldn’t possibly make your show any worse. We ship across state lines when spring break ends around here anyway. We’ll dump him right before we do.”\n\n“Then, if he files a complaint about all that stuff he found—which I doubt he will really do, not once we hand him back a wiped camera—it certainly won’t be anything the feds would bother with. I can’t have that bunny blowing the whistle while we’re actually in town. He just might be able to drag some bored local cop over here. And for the moment,” he stared at the weasel pointedly, “since I’m saddled with talentless, disaster-prone hacks like you, fencing whatever fetish gear we can pinch is the only thing keeping this show in the black. The only good thing about having so many freaks on this crew has been that I know exactly what kind of stuff to look for, where to send you bumblers, and how to retail it.”\n\nHe leaned toward Alphonse and rested his elbows on his table, fixing the weasel’s gaze with his as he added, “And I know what cowards your type are, Alphonse, so I know the thefts won’t be reported. Finding so many crates of diapers in the woods just may make this stop profitable.”\n\nAlphonse crossed his arms. “It still makes me uncomfortable. I want you to know for the record, Tony, I . . . I came this close to calling the police or busting him out of there myself. I even started to dial. I swear, if it wasn’t for our deal . . .”\n\nThe tiger banged a large fist down on his desk, raising his voice and beginning a low growl. “But we did have a deal, Alphonse. I loaned you the money to start a hypnotism show and all you managed to generate for us was a bunch of embarrassing pictures. We’re running a family-friendly circus here! So you owe me . . . big time . . . and until you’ve finally paid it off, I’ll hang on to those photos just to make sure you can’t set up shop anywhere else. Calling me before you gave back that kid’s stuff is about the only useful thing you’ve ever done.”\n\nA tear trickled down the weasel’s cheek. “Tony, why can’t you—?”\n\nTony stepped out from behind his desk and approached the cowering weasel, looking down at the smaller fur, who was disappearing into his cape. “We live in a capitalist society, in case you missed that memo. The rules are simple: you want me to be nicer, make me money. If you can’t do that, find me a fur who can. All this circus needs is to have—finally—one act that is actually good. Until then—”\n\nHe lifted Alphonse by his suspenders with both paws and, unceremoniously, tossed the weasel out his door.\n\nThe dazed magician sat outside the trailer on his rear for several minutes, until he felt a familiar paw on his shoulder.\n\n“Hey, Alphonse,” he heard the wolf whisper in his ear. “Looks like you need some cheering up. Come with me real quick!”\n\n******************\n\nDex and Lin Lin both gazed around the empty sideshow tent apprehensively. The raccoon shook his head. “We shouldn’t have followed that wolf back here. I don’t think he’s really coming back with the ringmaster. Let’s get out of here.”\n\nThe panda started to say something when a bright spotlight flicked on. Both the kits dropped their snack food onto the dirt floor and raised their paws to cover their momentarily blinded eyes as a loud crack echoed throughout the deserted arena.\n\nThe approaching jaguar cracked his whip again as he drew closer. “So,” he said slowly. “You yuppie kids think it’s funny to hussle us poor circus folk while you’re out spending mom and dad’s money, huh? Get your vacation jollies that way? Well, this will teach you not to do it again.”\n\nHe didn’t intend to hit Dex with the next flick of his whip, which was aimed a good six inches or so to the coon’s right, but his mouth fell open in astonishment as the raccoon leapt and, landing lightly on his left forepaw, propelled himself up into a cartwheel off to his left, his cowboy hat falling off his head and onto the dirt.\n\n“Hey, I was just . . .” the bemused jaguar started to say, but as soon as he landed Dex had already drawn his paintball gun with his right paw and discharged three yellow pellets that splattered across the jaguar’s shirt and got in his eyes, sending him reeling backwards blindly as his whip fell out of his paw.\n\n“Oww! Jack!! Help!” the big cat shouted as he flailed around, and a strong-man bear with rippling muscles waiting in the entrance at the other side of the arena pushed out a giant balance globe, as hard as he could, toward Dex’s back.\n\nThe raccoon’s ears flicked and he started to turn but he heard Lin Lin shout, “Eyes in front, Dex! I’ve got your back!” as she leapt up onto the ball.\n\nLanding in the center of the ball, she extended her arms and pedaled her feet frantically. She stopped its motion and, teetering on it, began steering it back in his direction. Six years of gymnastics lessons hadn’t been for nothing, she thought smugly.\n\n“Dave!” the strong-bear shouted as he dove out of her way. “Help!”\n\nAnother whip, aimed more seriously this time, knocked Dex’s paintball gun out of his paw with a clatter, but as soon as it hit the ground the coon dropped onto both his forepaws and, using them and his tail to steer, spun rapidly, his footpaws striking first left, then right, into the arm, then the chest of his attacker, sending the second bear down onto his rump and his whip flying backward out of his paw.\n\n“Tom!” the bear shouted as he hit the ground and stumbled back up onto his feet and backward away from Dex, just as the coon flipped himself back up onto his own heels. “Help!”\n\nA third bear leapt from the bleechers into the ring. All three of them converged on Dex, who crouched and readied himself, with one paw outstretched, his eyes flickering from one to the other—but Lin Lin, who had clambered off the ball up onto the acrobatic tower near the edge of the arena when the balance globe rolled to a halt against it, shouted, “Dex! Jump!” as she swung down above them on a trapeze, gripping it tightly as she could. Dex leapt up and grabbed her ankles, then as the two cubs swung backward, away from the confused bears, the coon let go and used the force of the trapeze’s propulsion to spin in the air and redirect his landing.\n\nHe hit the ground unsteadily, but, thanks to his ability to correct his balance in the air with his tail, still on his footpaws. He landed behind the giant acrobatic ball, and, with a powerful kick and punch timed simultaneously, sent it hurtling toward the three now-terrified bears, who began shouting in confusion and running in frantic circles to get out of its—and one another’s—way.\n\nThe wolf in the bleechers and the weasel standing next to him, who had entered from the spectator’s entrance as the fight began, watched in such open-mouthed surprise that neither realized the wolf had dropped his soda and it was spilling all over the clown shoes Alphonse was still wearing.\n\n“Who are those kids?” the lupine whispered in disbelief, shaking his head.\n\nThe depressed weasel’s eyes narrowed to slits and, for the first time in many years, the corners of his mouth approached his ears in a wide, toothy grin. Then he dashed by the bemused wolf and into the nearest lighting control booth, yanking one of the levers.\n\nDex assumed a defensive posture, warily, in the center of the arena, and the trapeze swung to a halt, leaving Lin Lin hanging about ten feet over the ground directly above him. “Listen, everyone! We didn’t come here to cause trouble!” the raccoon shouted. “We’re looking for a friend! Now, if we can just talk for two minutes . . .”\n\nBut Alphonse had released a heavily weighted, entangling animal capture net over the center of the stadium that was falling toward the two furs. “Kids!” the weasel shouted from the control booth. “Just stay there! Calm down! Everyone, stand back! We don’t want to hurt you! Don’t hurt them! Everyone just stand still for a minute!”\n\nLin Lin looked up in a panic as she heard him shout and saw the weighted net falling. Her grip on the trapeze finally slipped when the net hit her, and Dex looked up in turn to see her plummeting, fast, toward him.\n\nThis was bad. He reached for the walkie talkie under his karate uniform and pressed a button—he had to signal Ace and Jax. Who knew if he could get a signal in here, but he had to try—he’d be in no condition to help Twitchy if . . . \n\nThe panda thudded into him and the walkie talkie he had just grasped skidded out of his paw as he hit the dirt floor on his back and let out a painful cough, the net falling over them both.\n\nThe coon felt like—this had happened before—his vision blacked out for a minute. He heard a crack; no, he felt a crack. Was it one of his ribs? He opened his muzzle to say something and he could taste his own warm, salty blood; he wasn’t down — he punched — once, then twice — and felt his footpaws swept out from under him and a weight ram him hard, between his legs. He was in the air, then it hit again, his lower abdomen this time, and he heard shouting.\n\nHe had a sinking feeling, even as he fell, that something terrible had only just started. He knew this one wouldn’t be five minutes of pain. Those he could fight through. As soon as he had felt the first crack he knew something was unfolding that could go on for months or years and that he was helpless to do anything about it. Helpless. He had never felt so helpless since . . . Something misfired in his brain. His thoughts were already fragmenting. What scared him more than anything was . . . He had to do something to switch himself off. He had to send his mind somewhere else because  . . . — no, all that wasn’t this time.\n\nThat was another time. None of it had happened just now.\n\nOr rather, none of it had happened yet.\n\nHe only felt weak because — because he was small. Dex the raccoon pounded the ground with his fists and burst into tears. He let out a loud wail, kicking his footpaws against the net, which only caused him and Lin Lin to become more entangled. Infantile sobs wracked his body.\n\nHis whole diaper area felt warm as his bladder relaxed completely — and why shouldn’t it? He couldn’t be expected to control that all the time, not yet. Accidents were not embarrassing and were perfectly natural, at his age. He had to do something for someone, though — Twitchy. One of the furs who took care of him.\n\nNone of his caretakers, he realized glumly, were anywhere nearby. His daddy, Roger, was far, far away. He bet that his big brother, Rian, even if he had been there, would rather have been spending time with a girl than with a whiny kit who couldn’t possibly be cool enough for him any more if he kept sneaking off to see her.\n\nSometimes he came by just to ask Dex to say they had been doing or would be doing something together that night, so the other boys would bug him less about seeing Serafina so much. And Dex always said yes, for his big brother, and Rian would give him a quick, grateful hug and a lick on the nose before he disappeared; that would bring a flush to the coon’s cheeks. Then more often than not Dex would opt to spend the night alone, so he wouldn’t accidentally throw off Rian’s alibi, either at the dojo practicing, or at home, pawing in his diaper and thinking fond, happy thoughts about the wolf who had introduced him to it, and about his first-ever day of cub play, with Rian and Roger, and if he felt bad about it told himself he should be glad he could still do something special to help his first big brother out. But all the while it felt like Rian was actually around less and less.\n\nThat only left Twitchy. And no fur knew where Twitchy was. Little Dex was alone. No one was coming here to help him. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!” he let out in a loud, piercing cry, trying to reach the walkie talkie, which had slid outside the net, with one paw, as Lin Lin rolled off of him.\n\nThe panda shook him briskly, looking frantically around the stadium. “Dex!” she said anxiously, and boxed his ears. “Come back! Snap out of it! Oh . . .” The battered strong men, as surprised by Alphonse’s intervention as the cubs were, slowly stopped milling around and stared at the trapped pair curiously, as though unsure whether to approach or run away.\n\nThe weasel was waving his forepaws above his head as though signaling everyone to calm down. Then he was running for the nearest stairway down into the arena, his cape billowing out behind him and his top hat held on his head with one paw.\n\nLin Lin recognized him from the magic show tent where Dex had reported the distress signal and instantly concluded that he had had something to do with Twitchy’s disappearance, after all. The weasel’s demeanor had entirely changed since the show as though he had thrown off a disguise. In that case, however clumsy he might have looked earlier, there was no way she wanted to talk to him while she was at his mercy.\n\nThe panda let go of Dex and yanked something out of her pocket, going to work on the nearest strand of the net, sawing as quickly as she could. It snapped! She would just be able to squeeze herself out through the small, resulting expanded square. She tugged on Dex’s karate uniform, but the oversized, tangled-up coon kit remained rooted to the floor, squirming away from her, trying to reach something he had dropped that she couldn’t see.\n\nLin Lin shook her head. “I’m sorry, Dex,” she whispered quickly, and dropped her tool as she eyed the weasel and the strong bears, who were cautiously reassembling and approaching the center of the stadium. “We’re out of time. If you can hear me,” she gave the heedless, crying coon one last shake, “do not trust that magician! Somehow, he’s tangled up with the bunny vanishing and everything wrong about this place! I’m sure of it.”\n\nThen in a blur of black, white, and pink, the petite bear popped out of the small hole she had cut in the net and sprinted at full speed toward one of the unobstructed exits, grabbing Dex’s cowboy hat from the dirt floor where it had fallen on her way.\n\n“Hey wait!” Alphonse shouted after her, but she was gone in a blink. “Tom, Dave, Jack!” he shouted, “Go after that panda! Bring her back here! Get her to talk to me! Tell her I just want to talk! Tell her . . . I can help her find her friend!”\n\nThe still perplexed bears stumbled out of the tent after Lin Lin. For his own part, the weasel walked into the middle of the ring as soon as he had finished shouting and, adjusting his top hat on his head, turned his attention to the raccoon. “Did that girl call you . . . Dex?” he asked carefully.\n\nDex, whose crying abated as his tiny-feeling paw reached the edge of his walkie talkie, tilted his head and looked up sideways at the weasel. He flicked his tail against the ground at the mention of his name. That guy was wearing goofy clothes. His shoes were way too big for him. And there were gold stars on his black cape. That was silly. Dex smiled at him.\n\nThe jaguar, who had finally rinsed the sting of the paint out of his eyes, retrieved his whip and clapped his paw on the weasel’s shoulder. “What a save,” the big cat, his yellow-spattered leather outfit looking like it would need quite a dry cleaning, congratulated Alphonse. “Ha! Now that was real magic! To think Tony says you’re not good for anything. I think this kid’s learned his lesson all right. But this has gone far enough. Let’s cut him loose and call it a—”\n\n“No! Not yet,” the weasel shook his head firmly and flicked the big cat’s paw off his shoulder.\n\nThe jaguar shrugged and turned his attention away from Alphonse. He bent over to retrieve the discarded tool Lin Lin had used to cut through the net and make her getaway, and shook his head as he looked at it with curiosity—it was a metal nail file, with a pink, Hello Kitty-patterned plastic handle.\n\nDex continued to watch the funny bigger furs curiously. When Alphonse produced a quarter from behind his ear and began moving it in a slow circle, Dex opened his mouth and let out a small gasp. The coon’s eyes followed the shiny object, and, keeping his right paw on the edge of his walkie talkie, he reached up with his left to trace its path in the air. He giggled and a little drool dribbled out of the side of his muzzle. There was another kind of dribble through the legs of his plastic pants and his diapers started to leak. The stomach of his karate uniform and under shirt warmed up as he continued to pee without making any effort to stop himself, regardless of the leakage.\n\n“Is that your radio, Dex?” the ex-hypnotist and bumbling magician asked as he sat down cross-legged on the ground in front of the ensnared, rapidly regressing raccoon.\n\nAlphonse picked up the walkie talkie and Dex pawed after it futilely and whined. “I’ve seen one just like it before,” the weasel continued, setting it down in his lap. Dex stared at the device anxiously.\n\nNow that his gaze was fixed there, Alphonse lowered the quarter in front of the walkie talkie and reversed the direction of its slow, circular motion. “Everything is going to be okay, Dex,” he said softly. “I understand better than you think. Just relax.”\n\nEven as a kit, the coon looked hopelessly confused, but Alphonse continued, “Dex, could you be . . . Twitchy’s friend? Are you trying to call Twitchy?”\n\nYes! the coon thought. That was it! That was what he needed to do. Find Twitchy! And fast too—because he needed a change, and that situation was only going to get worse. Could this nice man help him do it?\n\n“Twith,” he said happily, his tail flicking against the dirt again. “Bwo!”\n\n“You can still help Twitchy, Dex,” the weasel said gently. “I can help you help Twitchy. We can help Twitchy together.” He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing as he watched the motion of Dex’s paws and the flicking of his tail settle into a rhythm.\n\nThe coon was openly drooling now, and it would never have even occurred to him to raise a paw to his muzzle to wipe it off.\n\nHe felt the glaze of happiness settle over him as his darker thoughts began to fade. He was still going to find his missing big brother. This man was talking about Twitchy like he was okay. And nearby.\n\n“Bwo!” he said, nodding slowly. “Twith!”\n\n“Are you . . . in a safe place, Dex?” Alphonse said, gathering steam, as he switched to moving the uncommonly shiny quarter back and forth in a line, and watched Dex’s eyes follow it. “Did you have to . . . make one? I saw you jump there. I told you, I understand better than you think. I can imagine, how that works . . . I bet something bad happened to you, huh?”\n\n“Thafe,” the coon flicked his tail again and his face relaxed into a smile. This man did understand. He just had to keep telling him what he wanted. “Twith. Bwo.”\n\nThe weasel reached out with his free forepaw as he kept moving the quarter and patted the coon’s head gently. Dex’s ears collapsed as he relaxed even further. His bowel control had vanished now; and although no fur in the ring would notice it right away, he felt a small, warm squishiness beneath the base of his tail. He didn’t mind it. It’s not like it didn’t happen to a kit like him every day, anyway. It would be years before he would grow out of that.\n\n“Everyone is going to be safe,” the mustelid reassured him. “Dex is safe. Twitchy is safe. Your panda friend is safe. You’ll see her again soon. Everyone is going to be okay, Dex. We’re all your friends.”\n\n“Fwens?” the baby coon asked, drowsily. Were these furs his friends? Come to think of it, was the panda his friend? He didn’t know. He didn’t think so . . . But they were all bigger than him. So they had to know more about how those things worked than he did.\n\n“Friends,” Alphonse nodded as he started moving the shiny quarter up and down. “Friends help each other. Like you and Twitchy. And . . . like you and me. That’s how things work when life is fair. I just need you to do one favor for me, Dex,” he tilted his head sideways and looked into Dex’s dull eyes, watching them follow the path of the sparkling coin.\n\nDex, his walkie talkie forgotten, gurgled happily and reached out for the fascinatingly shiny circle with both paws.\n\nEveryone was his friend! He didn’t have to worry one bit. This mission was going to be a success after all. “Faiw!” he said happily, and clapped his outstretched forepaws.\n\n“Fair. One little favor,” the weasel continued soothingly, “you and I will work a little magic and make everyone happy. You and your panda friend will be famous. I’ll be free. Twitchy will be safe. You’ll be the hero who made all those things happen.”\n\n“Hewo?” Dex said heavily. But he was so little! He hoped he was up to it.\n\nHis eyes were starting to shut. He hadn’t been sleeping much lately, because he’d had bad dreams and none of the bigger furs he could crawl into bed with when that happened had been around, but right now he felt like he would sleep really good.\n\n“And everyone will be so happy, Dex, because of you, that you’ll be rewarded with what you really want, too. You’ll finally, finally, be able to stay in your safe place, where nothing in the world can hurt you,” Alphonse patted the raccoon’s head, and, leaning toward the dozing cub lowered his voice to a whisper as he concluded gently:\n\n“Forever.”\n\n[i]Next time: Friends Like These: Oh no! Dex is down!! At least Lin Lin got away. And she’s his friend now . . . . Right?\n[/i]\n[b]\fEpisode 6. Friends Like These\n[/b]\n[i]Two years earlier. The U. S. Mixed Martial Arts Association National Tournament. Juniors. Break.\n[/i]\nDex leapt and spun from the padded mat in the training room, landing a kick square in middle of the punching bag while he was in the air and two light punches where its face would have been as he landed on his toes. He continued drilling, altering the sequence periodically, as he listened to his coach.\n\n“This won’t be like the first two fights, Dex,” the badger said, studying a clipboard seriously. “Your usual approach—dodging until you’ve assessed what areas a fur usually moves to guard—won’t work. Aim higher, he’s taller than that.”\n\n“Got it,” said Dex, spinning and tilting his upper body down, with one forepaw briefly touching the floor, to land a fast, jabbing kick from the right near the top of the punching bag.\n\n“J. D. is a cheetah. And based on his matches so far, he goes for a quick kill instead of saving up his speed. At least in the first round, he’ll be too fast for you to dodge. You’ll have to switch your strategy; conserve your energy and take a hit to land a hit. Ideally, you’ll want to take a hit to land two. So let’s see more combos.”\n\n“Got it,” Dex repeated, switching his rhythm to land, as near as he could, a punch and kick simultaneously, then hop back and duplicate the timing swinging from the other side.\n\n“The bad news is, Dex, he’ll probably expect that approach from you. This is a tough match for both of you. You’ve both been fighting slower opponents up until now.”\n\n“This time he has more speed, but he’ll know you have a bit more versatility, being a climbing-type. So figure he’ll be hitting harder than usual and trying to KO you before his speed starts to run out and you can get a fix on his defenses.”\n\n“You are one of the best kits our school has sent here in years. But the first round of this match,” his coach looked up from his clipboard and eyed Dex carefully, “is going to hurt.”\n\nDex somersaulted backward and landed on his forepaws, slowly adjusting his balance with his tail in order to bend over bit by bit and lower himself on to his toes. He looked up at his coach from between his legs and nodded.\n\n“Got it,” he said.\n\n***********\n\nThe sun was setting.\n\nPartly concealed by the dusk, the black-and-white bear tugged the hood of her purple windbreaker down lower over her face, most of which was covered with a soft, silk pink shawl as a wrap. She paused and flattened herself against the wall of the trailer, quickly looking both left and right to make sure she wasn’t being followed.\n\nShe also wore a backpack covered with glitter whose straps jostled occasionally as she raced between tents following the tip of the raccoon’s ever-receding tail. The door of the trailer he had vanished into remained ajar, with a welcoming light spilling out of it. Cautiously, she approached, one pawstep at a time, and stuck her head in.\n\n“Dex!” she whispered loudly. “Thank goodness, you’re back, but what in blazes were you doing in that show? And why did you lead me back here? I know you saw me in the audience. I was going to take your hat back to one of your bases as proof you were in trouble. But then I heard your name in all the announcements. Is this where they have the bunny? Or your missing stuff maybe?”\n\nWhen there was no answer, she inched her way inside the trailer, and quietly pulled the door halfway shut behind her. Dex had wandered from the small entrance area into the kitchen on the left. Biting her lip, she approached the door gingerly.\n\nThe raccoon was standing at the opposite end of the room in front of an open refrigerator with his back to her, humming to himself softly.\n\n“Hello, Lin Lin,” he said, without looking over his shoulder at her, his tail and ears twitching, sounding depressed as he added, “You came back.”\n\n“Did you make some kind of a deal with these people?” she whispered more loudly, increasingly agitated. “Sure, we’ll release your friend, just do three shows for us? That is the sort of stupid thing you boys would agree to and then be surprised when the bad guys reneged on it, right? Well, we’re breaking it first! Come on, I have everything we need to bust him out in here.” She tugged on the shoulder straps of her backpack. She smiled softly. “Hey,” she continued, more encouragingly, “and you should try walking a tightrope in a dress. Now that would be hard.”\n\nDex didn’t respond to her. Instead he sunk down into a cross-legged sit and stared up at the open refrigerator wide-eyed as though overwhelmed by its contents. With a jolt Lin Lin saw that it was stocked entirely with baby formula of various flavors, apple sauces, and oversized baby bottles filled with various colors of milk, from regular white to strawberry to chocolate to buttermilk.\n\nHis paw found its way toward his muzzle as he sobbed out, “Dunno wha’ I want!” and began sucking it, sobbing silently, vexed at having to make an impossible choice all by himself.\n\nThe panda wheeled on her heels and dashed for the exit, but it had already been pushed shut by the large paw of the brawny Siberian tiger, wearing a top hat, a red waistcoat, and black riding pants, who had been waiting in the room at the other end of the trailer. He smiled down at her.\n\nThe weasel at his shoulder, now wearing only a pressed white shirt and khaki pants, had already scurried past both of them over to Dex on the floor, and was lifting him up gently, as though he weighed no more than a teddy bear, rocking him as he said, “There there, little guy. I’m sorry you had to pretend to be big for so long this time. You did great. You really did. Look! You brought your panda friend back! Now you can be together again. And soon Twitchy is gonna be with you too.”\n\n“Twith!” Dex wailed at the mention of the bunny’s name and burst openly into tears, pounding his tiny-feeling, exhausted fists futilely in the air over the shoulders of the weasel holding him. He had been running obstacles all day to get to his big brother. How much longer could it take? How much farther away could he be?\n\n“I know, I know,” the weasel whispered to the oversized baby coon, patting him on the back of his karate outfit. “Soon. Soon. We’re almost done. Hush.”\n\n“So,” the petite panda said through gritted teeth, ignoring the weasel and glaring fiercely up into the tiger’s eyes even though he was about five times her size, “you’re the management. Well I better walk out of here with what I came for or you can expect to be reading a strongly worded letter from me. In jail.”\n\nTony, the ringmaster, tipped his hat to Lin Lin. “Lin Lin, is it?” he gestured into the opposite end of the trailer, now lit, where two easy chairs and an adult-sized high chair were placed around a small coffee table with a television.\n\nOn a small endtable in the corner of the trailer, a glass jar with tiny airholes drilled in the lid was held in place with six or seven giant elastic bands hooked under the rim of the tabletop from various angles. They ensured the jar couldn’t be knocked over and rolled off the table.\n\n“Squeak!” said the overall-wearing mouse inside, hopping up on to his legs when he saw the panda and waving his paws hopefully. He had fallen into a depressed funk after trying to get Dex’s attention for hours, and seeing the coon do nothing except gurgle and giggle at him.\n\n“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Tony continued, seemingly heedless of the other creatures in the trailer. “Please, don’t worry. Just . . . have a seat. I’m certain we’ll be able to reach a satisfactory arrangement. And there’s a perfectly rational explanation for everything.”\n\nThe panda made her way apprehensively into the small living room, plopped her backpack in front of one of the chairs and sat down in it, defiantly putting her feet up on the table. Alphonse, carrying the crying raccoon, made his way to the edge of the room and set the kit down in the adult-sized wooden high chair, which Lin Lin could see had restraints for all four of his limbs. A teddy bear, his arms held wide open in an embrace and with “A B C” on his chest, was carved on the panel against which Dex’s back rested.\n\n“Ahem,” Tony cleared his throat and cast a somewhat uneasy gaze at the weasel. “Let me reassure you first that this is not my trailer. Certain members of our crew have . . . odd habits. That, apparently, many furs around these parts share.”\n\n“Now, I can imagine what you might be thinking, young lady. But there’s nothing untoward about any of this. Dex here is a — and I rarely say this— very talented young performer. He performed three times today, as I imagine you know. The kids love him. At the third show, some of the older girls threw roses—in my circus! People came back! They paid more than once to see the same act! Some sat through all three!” Tony adjusted his top hat and grinned widely, looking as astonished as if he had just learned that Santa Claus was real. Clearly the tiger was describing something that had never happened before in his memory.\n\nHe pressed on with mounting excitement as though announcing in the ring.\n\n“It’s the weirdest stuff I’ve ever seen. You saw what he did the last time! He walked a tightrope with only a squirt gun to defend himself while the clowns were throwing balls at him, broke script and jumped off of it halfway through, caught himself on the trapeze, swung and let himself go to slide right through the hoop of fire he had been supposed to pole vault through from the ground, and blocked every pie the clowns could throw at him with his forepaws, sent them all straight back and knocked them down, one by one!” The tiger made a batting motion with his own paws in imitation.\n\n“And right after each show he’s ready to go again! He never gets tired. It’s like he’s on a mission. I’ve never seen anything like it. Alphonse says it’s just a matter of helping him focus his natural abilities by reminding him that he’s going out there to help your bunny friend. And it’s true! Alas, that clumsy rabbit caused some damage to our equipment and almost brought a permanent end to poor Alphonse’s magic show. He’s been repairing the damage to work off his tab like a responsible young rabbit. But now Dex has signed a short-term contract with us in order to pay back Twitchy’s debt himself and live out some of his . . . more harmless fantasies. You see, I know,” the ringmaster jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Alphonse, “about your type. You’re Dex’s friend, so I’m sure you won’t begrudge the kit his . . . happiness.”\n\n“After that, well, we’ll take it from there. It’s all perfectly legal. Alphonse, who is, familiar with the terms of performer agreements, not to mention sympathetic to your friend, brought the young man to me and is acting as his agent. There is still a lot on your bunny friend’s balance sheet. But, I don’t think we would have a problem letting him and his pet mouse loose right now, and even letting all three of you fraternize freely, if we could change one little thing.”\n\nThe tiger smiled as charmingly as he could and rested his elbows on his knees, putting his eyes at Lin Lin’s level. “I hear Dex’s act is twice as good with a partner, and that you are quite talented yourself. Now if you hang out with these two boys, I don’t know if you have any . . . preferences we could help accommodate, too. We have quite an impressive collection of equipment, and offer a welcoming environment that people like . . . well, like Dex here, won’t find in many situations. We can just try things out, you and Dex and us, for the rest of the break season first, then take it from there. The pay’s really not bad, compared to what you might get waitressing or cashiering, and it will look a lot more interesting on your resume. We just need you to sign a contract. Plus,” he gestured toward Dex, “maybe you can have what you really want . . .”\n\nAlphonse strapped in Dex’s legs, and produced a shiny quarter from behind his ear. The coon seemed to calm down, his wailing in the background finally abating, as the weasel rolled it between his fingers and across the back of his palm in front of Dex’s muzzle.\n\n“Panna!” Dex said as he swallowed one of his last sobs, pointing at Lin Lin as though he had just noticed her. He clapped his paws and smiled, reaching out and leaning as far as he could from the high chair to grab at her nearest foot, his tail flicking back and forth. “Fwenn!”\n\nLin Lin yanked her foot away from the raccoon and turned her suddenly icy gaze on the overgrown kit, who wilted into his high chair, his ears drooping sadly and his previously twitching tail hanging down limply in a straight line.\n\n“You miscalculated,” she snapped as her eyes swiveled back to Tony. All the appearance of softness and concern she had entered the trailer with seemed to melt away in an instant and her eyes resumed the steely gaze they usually shot at her misbehaving academy students.\n\n“Neither of those quitters is my friend. I’m not really here for them at all. In fact,” she produced a business card from the pocket of her windbreaker and tossed it on the table, “you might say the boys and I belong to rival organizations.”\n\nThe tiger took the card and eyed it curiously. “Academy for Special Boys?” he asked with raised eyebrows. “Special how?”\n\n“You don’t want to know,” Lin Lin answered him briskly. “But I’ll tell you what we can use there. All the stuff you’ve been stealing from the boys, and from who knows where else. I’ve known about their changing supply problems for a while. It’s the real reason I’ve kept a skeleton crew at the school 24/7 all break instead of letting everyone go—to make sure whoever was moving in on the boys’ territory didn’t start pinching from us, too. I only agreed to tag along with the coon in the first place because I knew if he found his bosom bunny they would lead me right to the stolen goods. I’ll show you what’s in my bag if you don’t believe me.”\n\nShe bent over and unzipped her backpack, slowly producing from the top, Dex’s cowboy hat, which she tossed aside on to the floor, then, carefully, one item at a time, the stack of supplies it had been covering—two pairs of handcuffs, two pairs of pink bondage paw mitts, two pink ball gags, two thin coils of rope just long enough to tie together somefur’s paws, and a string of empty, folded up sacks attached to a sturdier coiled rope, a setup that would allow her to haul several furs’ loads worth of stuff in a single trip.\n\n“Squeak!” gasped the captive mouse, who was watching intently, and pressed his paws vainly against the wall of the jar, which only wobbled a bit, but remained held tightly in place by the large elastics.\n\nThen, pointing at Lin Lin, and then at Dex, shaking his head, and holding his tiny paws crossed over each other as though to remind her that someone was being held in captivity, he chided her accusingly. “Squeak!! Squeak! Squeak!”\n\nTony stared at Lin Lin’s array of supplies in confusion. “Well,” he said skeptically, “it doesn’t look like equipment for a prison break. I’ll give you that.”\n\n“Of course it doesn’t,” the panda snapped. “It’s what I left with from the academy when Dexie came by begging for my help. Your ring-tailed wonder over there,” she jerked her head toward the regressed raccoon, “is so gullible he didn’t even watch me pack. I’ve been planning to double-cross those two idiots from the beginning.”\n\n“As far as I’m concerned the only difference between them making fools of themselves here or at home is that here they can get paid to do it. But since you’ve saved me the trouble of taking the ambiguously aged duo out of play, let me repeat—I expect to leave here with every bit of their stuff. Or the next announcement you’ll be making is that it’s pizza lunch day for cell block D.”\n\nBaby Dex’s face fell flat on to the feeding platform of his high chair and he resumed sobbing, silently this time. Not everyone was his friend! Alphonse said the panda would help him get to his big brother faster and everyone would be happy when she came. But she sounded mad and it didn’t look like she was going to help him. One of them had been lying to him. Maybe both of them.\n\nWhy was everything so confusing without his real caretakers around? He couldn’t even use the potty himself. That thing looked hard enough to figure out! How was he supposed to do anything harder if big furs didn’t tell him the truth about things and keep their promises?\n\nA trickle ran out his leg gathers, down the bottom of his pant leg and steadily dripped onto the floor. Alphonse hastened into the kitchen to get the distraught baby a bottle.\n\nTony, on the other paw, laughed deeply and slapped his knee, shaking his head.\n\n“Sweetheart,” the Siberian tiger said with a grin, “I really hope we get to keep you. You might almost make those other two worth the trouble. Fine. I’m willing to trade their supplies for your performances with Dex.”\n\n“I’d rather not. For practically two days I’ve been pretending to be buddies with the karate kit,” she flicked her paw at Dex. “And it’s about all I can take. How about,” the panda proposed, leaning forward and resting her chin on her elbows, “we just play for them?”\n\nTony laughed and his eyes flashed. “Poker,” he said decisively. “Sure, why not? I’m a sporting tiger. If you lose, you’ll perform for us until the end of break with the flying raccoon. If you win, you’ll leave with whatever you can carry. I’ll even let you borrow a pushcart. Alphonse—”\n\nTony moved to motion Alphonse for something but Lin Lin unzipped the small front compartment of her backpack as she snapped, “We’ll use my deck,” and produced one.\n\nThe tiger tipped his hat to her and flashed a toothy, predatory smile, letting his gentlemanly veneer fall away. “As you wish. I just hope you’re a better loser than your friend over there.” He jerked his head in Dex’s direction.\n\n“Wouldn’t know,” the panda shot back coolly as she began shuffling. “I don’t have enough experience.”\n\n[i]Next time: Into the Fire: Oh no! It looks like Lin Lin has sold Dex down regression river. With Twitchy in lockdown and no fur left to save him, kit Dex is alone with his memories.[/i]\n\n[b]\fEpisode 7. Into the Fire[/b]\n\nTwitchy’s head snapped up from the ground as the row of light bulbs in the top of the tractor trailer switched on. His foot was still handcuffed to far edge of the large animal cage where he had been being held for days. They had already brought him dinner. At this hour the only fur who came would probably be. . . “Alphonse,” he called out cautiously. “Is that you? Come on . . .” he whimpered. “Take a stand. Help me.”\n\n“Good news, kid,” announced the jaguar who stepped up into the trailer, wearing black leather pants and a sleeveless leather top that covered most of his upper body except for his brawny chest. A ring of keys jangled on his belt. “We brought your friend.”\n\n“Squeak!” Twitch cried, smiling. “Finally!”\n\n“Nope,” the jaguar shook his head as he hoisted up a petite prisoner in a purple windbreaker, her forepaws tied behind her back and locked in pink bondage mitts and her footpaws tied together and to her knees. “Your panda friend.”\n\n“My who?” the rabbit blurted in a mix of disbelief and terror at the sight of his most erstwhile—and dangerous—pink team rival.\n\nThe big cat carried Lin Lin, squirming helplessly and sputtering with a ball gag shoved in her mouth, over to the bars and dumped her on the floor as he shuffled through the keys, looking for the one that matched the padlock on Twitchy’s cage.\n\nHe patted her on the head. “She’s tricky all right. But I’m on to her; I emptied her pockets and tied her up good this time. No way she has any tricks left. Fair to warn you, though, in case she tries to pull anything: She already tried to sell you out for gear. I don’t think she cares if you rot in there. So until we figure out better accommodations—Lin Lin here will be your bunkmate.”\n\n“Now I’m sure,” the rabbit moaned. “They’re trying to kill me.”\n\n*************\n\nTony the ringmaster opened the door of Alphonse’s trailer and stuck his head in. “Are you two almost ready for the big top? I sent the shift workers away early, and everyone full-time is in there already. This is the only time in your life, Alphonse, I’m likely to pay for a crew party, so don’t miss any of it. We had a record take today thanks to that guy. And I want to make sure everyone is in a good mood when I explain who our new surprise star is and why we have to handle him—well—delicately.”\n\nHe fidgeted and tugged at his belt, adding after a moment, “Good work finding Dex. And getting him to work for free. If you can keep him touring with us for this season that should cover the ten grand you still owe. Leave the panda to me. She’ll come around; I speak her language.”\n\n“There there, Dexie,” Alphonse was busy soothing the pouting kit, patting his head, as he waved a spoonful of baby food in front of his face. All four of Dex’s limbs were fastened in leather restraints attached to the high chair and he wore a white and blue-trimmed bib with the word “CUBBY” spelled out in a cheerful print of wooden letter blocks with a rocking horse emblazoned beneath it.\n\n“Unca is alweddy doing extra laundry for you. I don’t know why the ‘sposables bother you so much, l’il guy, but if our hewo thinks cloth is comfier on his little bottom, that’s what he can have. He is on a hard hard mishy-wission after all.” The weasel added with a grimace. “And I don’t want to get kicked in the face changing you again. Now we’re all out of the sweet potatoes and the peas you like so much, and Unca can’t run to the grocery store this late. No, he can’t. Be a good cubby.”\n\nBaby Dex bit his lip shut tight and shook his head energetically. The weasel moved the spoon back and forth. “Come on, spaghetti and meatballs,” the mustelid offered enticingly. “Who doesn’t like dat? It’s on an airplane!” He moved the spoon in a wobbly circular motion around Dex’s ears. “Best meal you’ll get on one too!” The kit continued to pout and regarded the feeding spoon suspiciously out of the corner of his eyes.\n\nThe ringmaster shook his head. “Performers. There’s not one of you who isn’t a prima donna, is there?”\n\n**********************************\n\n“I’m not listening to you!” Twitchy protested insistently without raising his head from the floor.\n\nThe bound and gagged panda, lying on her side, sputtered again and thumped her tied-up feet thumped against the floor of the trailer, three times in rapid succession. The rabbit’s ears flicked around.\n\n“Wait a minute,” he tilted his head up slowly and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Have you been banging . . . in Morse code?” He looked around left and right furtively.\n\nThe jaguar was on guard, but right outside the trailer. In actuality, although Twitchy couldn’t have known it, he was not inclined to take his guard duty very seriously at the moment. He was rather upset about missing the cast party, and trying to take his mind off it by drinking from a bottle in a paper bag and conjuring various leather-based fantasies, his paw occasionally straying into his pants. Nor had he been entirely happy to find out about the captive rabbit after Alphonse and the ringmaster took him and the others involved in the sideshow tent fight into their confidence. The whole thing made him uncomfortable. It was one thing to clean out the larders of all the leather bars and dungeons he visited in the towns they passed through. None of those tops would ever report their missing stuff, he knew, and a gay bar would have some luck getting the police to investigate anything. But this thing with the bunny went beyond scene play and petty theft. Still, he had accidentally gotten involved too deep to back out and Tony had promised to make it worth his while.\n\nTwitchy leaned as close to Lin Lin as he could. “What are you up to? Are you with the boys somehow? Did they get my signal?”\n\nShe shook her head in frustration and glared up at him out of the side of her eyes. He blushed. “Oh, right,” he reached up as she scooted closer and unfastened the ball gag.\n\nShe spat it out and wrenched her face into a disgusted expression for a moment. Then the panda whispered, “I’ll explain while you work. I can take the guard. There are three hairpins in my right sock. Is that enough for you to get out of those cuffs and open this cage?”\n\nThe rabbit’s tail wiggled and his face lit up as he playfully whispered, “What are the other two for?”\n\n**********************************\n\nDex stared vacantly at the floor as Alphonse, who had given up trying to feed him for the moment, talked with Tony outside. He was so small, and this place was so confusing and strange, he was in shutdown from sensory overload half the time. But he giggled involuntarily and opened his muzzle when he saw something familiar on the ground amid the sea of giant, garish objects and pawed at it—or rather he tried to, but his paws had been restrained.\n\nIt was a hat that had been left on the floor when they took the panda away after their card game. That hat reminded him of someone. It was a clue! That one of his big brothers was nearby!\n\nThen kit Dex was sad. It reminded him of someone who wasn’t coming. Someone who hadn’t come for him after the battle in the academy, either.\n\nHe dimly remembered a bigger version of himself staring at the cowboy hat on his desk as he sat in the swivel chair in his apartment with one paw thrust into the soggy, no-longer warm front of his soft cloth diaper, stroking himself slowly. This was taking forever. Time to stop pulling his punches! He bit his tongue and thrust his other paw in, too, leaning back against the chair, and slowly spinning around in it.\n\nAs he spun to a halt, he found himself facing the hat on his desk again, and as he stared at it, the previously taut front of his diaper sagged.\n\nCome on, he thought. At least he hadn’t forgotten, but what a lazy birthday present. And Rian was the only one in Baby Blue besides Roger who even knew his birthday. It was close to the tournament date so he didn’t like to make a big deal of it. He clearly threw that hat in at the last minute when he was shopping for himself. He might have even bought it for himself initially and pulled it off his shelf that morning. He’d been spending a lot on Serafina, Dex knew.\n\nNo, he told himself, closing his eyes and resuming his stroking. My big brother gave me that hat so it’s still special. I’m just glad that he thought about me. Besides, he’s my big brother. He knows about what’s cool better than a kit like me. He kept working in his diaper. He wasn’t good at pawing like Rian. He smiled thinking about that. There was some progress down there! Dex leaned back in the chair. The wolf always knew how to make him feel good. Covering for a few of his dates was the least he could do. They had a secret. He had lift off! Yeah. They still had a special bond.\n\nIt’s only because of Rian that he liked the diapers he had to wear at all. And had any idea how to play in them. In this way and—other ways. He felt a dribble of precum on his fingers. Yeah, that was good. He’d do anything for his big brother. Dex put his footpaws up on his desk and leaned back further in his chair as he became increasingly excited and pumped more rapidly with both his paws.\n\nThe chair creaked as Dex rocked back and forth slightly. Yes, Rian also pawed with the others. But Dex would have let him do—he would have let the wolf take him. Under his tail. It would have hurt, but he totally would have. Why not? He could handle it. He was tough. If he thought that’s what Rian really wanted. If he’d known he was so anxious to do more than paw each other. He’d take his big brother in his muzzle too. He would have. He totally would have. Why not? Is that what Rian liked? Would it make him feel the way he made Dex feel when he masturbated the raccoon? Or did things get a lot better than that and Dex just didn’t know? He had never done anything besides paw and cuddle with anyone, but it was no secret, now, what Rian had been doing with his pink team girlfriend. He didn’t have to go across enemy lines for that, did he? Surely Rian didn’t. Everyone cared about him.\n\nDex cared about him.\n\nThat did it. Dex shuddered and sighed in relief as he spurted a warm, thick, sticky mess over his own paws. As he recovered, his right one, still sticky, maneuvered around his thigh into the rear of his diaper and poked into his tail hole experimentally with one, then two fingers. They didn’t poke very far.\n\nYeah right, he thought as his breathing slowed down and he returned, gradually to reality. Like Rian would fit in there. Like anyfur would. I could have at least tried to get myself ready. I could start right now. He is still my big brother. But . . . how would I do that?\n\nThe raccoon was crestfallen as he came back to himself in another few minutes, the afterglow fading more rapidly than it usually did. He stared glumly at the cowboy hat and, without thinking, let his left paw, also still moist with the residue of his little burst, stray to his muzzle. He sucked on it gingerly and curiously for a moment, then gagged and yanked it away from his tongue by a violent reflex. Okay, so even taking Rian in his muzzle would have required actual work. It wasn’t something he could just roll over and do. The girls only made it look easy, he guessed. The girls . . . Rian’s whole face lit up whenever he told Dex where he was going with Serafina. Dex shook his head.\n\n‘It’s already too late anyway,’ he scolded himself as he collapsed back into the chair and, kicking his feet against his desk, rolled backwards in it across his tiny, one-room apartment, colliding with his bed and flopping over onto it. ‘Why didn’t,’ he moaned, ‘I ever just say something to him?’\n\nA tear rolled down the eye of the little kit strapped in his high chair in the trailer. Rian definitely wasn’t going to be spending an entire weekend with a fully regressed Dex again any time soon. Even after break. There was only Twitchy. The super smart one of his two big brothers. Not only did he know how to use the potty, he even knew how that frightening, noisy machine worked. Kit Dex had watched in amazement when he opened one up and fixed a problem with it during his stay with the bunny and Squeak. Well, not only Twitchy. He was away right now, but there was still his biggest caretaker, too. His daddy. Maybe he would come, eventually . . .\n\n‘Look at that,’ the Labrador on the couch said, clapping his paws softly, ‘he’s dressed! And all by himself, too. I’m glad you could make it over for a belated b-day celebration before we took off. There’s something I want to talk to you about before we go. My present will take—a little explaining. I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately, Dex.’\n\nThe coon blushed as he entered the room shyly in a pale blue footed sleeper, staring at the floor and moving one of his foot paws in a slow circle. ‘If anyfur asks,’ he said, quietly, ‘Rian is with me at a double feature. He’s really—’\n\nRoger cut him off and patted beside him on the couch. ‘I have a pretty good idea where Rian is. You’re always welcome in my apartment, you know, Dex, if you need somewhere—private—to hang out.’\n\nThe coon’s thumb strayed up to his muzzle and Roger beckoned to him again. ‘Now, I know you don’t like to go out anywhere once you get going. Don’t worry, there’s actually food in the fridge that hasn’t expired. And I have enough Disney movies to last the night.’\n\nThe coon made his way carefully to the couch, and hoisted himself up onto it with both paws, sliding over to lean his head against the dog’s chest and look up at his muzzle from underneath. ‘It’s funner to stay in. I’m sorry I’m not exciting like Rian,’ he said apologetically. ‘I’m just not a champ at this like he is.’\n\n‘Dex,’ Roger stroked his head and put one arm around him. ‘You keep bringing up Rian at shorter and shorter intervals.’ The dog took a deep breath and Dex felt Roger’s chest rise and fall as he pressed against it. ‘It’s probably my fault. I do spend the most time with him. He’s the most like me. And probably the one who’ll take this gig over when—well, whenever. Let’s face it, neither of us is about to jet off to Stockholm to pick up a Nobel Prize for anything.’\n\nDex grabbed one of Roger’s paws with both of his and whimpered. ‘Don’t talk like that. We all depend on you two. All of us.’\n\nRoger scratched Dex’s head behind his ears. ‘It’s time you heard it, buster. You in particular! Because if you don’t end up doing something a little more important than me and Rian I’m going to be kind of . . . .’ Roger paused for a long time before concluding anticlimactically, ‘Disappointed.’\n\nThen the lab smiled and assumed a more playful tone, his tail slowly wagging. “Hey. Do you want to know a secret?’ The coon didn’t answer, only hugging him and snuggling against him closer, but Roger continued anyway. ‘If I ever have to explain what Baby Blue was really about, if anyone does ever ask me what I’ve actually done with my life, besides enjoy myself and fight with my sister,’ the Labrador, still looking across the room, tussled the coon’s ears with one paw and stroked the tip of his tail with the other. ‘You’re the boy I’ll mention first. Do you know why?’\n\nDex nodded and licked at the underside of Roger’s muzzle. ‘Uh huh. Cuz you helped me remember that I’m a leader. Cuz in spite of,’ he tugged at his diaper through his pajamas, ‘everything—I’m still really strong.’ He made gentle punching motions against Roger’s arm with his paws.\n\nRoger traced a circle around the top of the coon’s head with the tip of his cold, wet nose, causing him to giggle. ‘That’s not the most important thing about you, Dex,’ he added quietly.\n\n‘In all the incarnations of this club, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a mission leader who’s as mindful of his teammates all the time as you are. You’re a leader,’ Roger tilted his head upside down to look into the coon’s face with a smile, ‘because in spite of,’ he patted the coon’s padded bottom gently, ‘everything—you’re still really kind.’\n\nKit Dex quivered, locked into his high chair, and more silent tears ran down his face. He squeezed his eyes shut. He felt like he was closer than he had been in years to something that frightened him. He was all alone. As long as he was with bigger furs in this state, he could hug it away. It floated in front of his eyes like a marble. A clear marble that was transparent except for a bright red spot at its center, a little red screen with a scene playing on it inside. He touched the marble, gingerly, with his nose.\n\n[i]Two years earlier. The U.S. Mixed Martial Arts Association National Tournament. Juniors. Third series of matches. Dex versus J. D.\n[/i]\nDex breathed deeply and slowly as he watched the cheetah coming toward him in a yellow, red and black-spotted blur. He would hit from the left—no, the right, it was a feint! One of his fists rammed into Dex’s side. Dex winced and coughed reflexively as his heels slid an inch backward.\n\nBut the coon caught the cat’s other arm by the wrist and spun, sending the lean predator stumbling backwards and into the ropes as Dex leapt toward him. The cheetah, wearing a red uniform as opposed to Dex’s yellow one, widened his eyes for a moment and turned as though to get out of the way, gripping the ropes with one paw—Dex kept coming—but instead of moving to the side J. D. jabbed his elbow up and into the coon’s chest. Dex saw it moving a split second before impact; he braced himself and calculated quickly; he could take the jab and land two punches on J. D. Maybe it would be enough to get him on his knees. He moved to hit—and the cheetah used the paw holding the ropes to push all his weight up against Dex and into his elbow; the raccoon’s eyes widened as something hard slammed into him and the cat re-entered his adrenaline-driven sprint mode. Dex heard—or felt—something crack.\n\nWas it one of his ribs? He opened his muzzle to say something and he could taste his own warm, salty blood; he wasn’t down — he punched — once, then twice, he wasn’t sure if he hit J. D. or just grazed him — and felt his footpaws swept out from under him and a weight ram him hard, between his legs, more than once. He was in the air, then it hit again, his lower abdomen, and again, and again—the cheetah was so fast that at full speed his blows already carried far greater force than a normal fur’s would. Dex heard shouting. It wasn’t the level of pain he expected, even from full-on hits from a predator. He had a feeling something terrible was starting.\n\nDex thudded on to the ground on his back and slid backwards a good foot or so. He opened his mouth to say something, but he wheezed and blood dribbled out of the side of his muzzle. He couldn’t hear a thing anyone was saying. His ears popped and his head swam. He hadn’t felt so weak or confused since he was a kit. Everything was red. The whole world was painted in it.\n\nFrom the ground he could see his coach and the referee and a third fur, who must have been J. D.’s coach, restraining the cheetah. The cat, slowly stopped moving and the adrenaline that fueled his bursts of speed began to wear off. Suddenly he looked panicked, seeing Dex flat on the ground, as though he had not quite realized, while moving at full speed, how far the pummeling had gone. His eyes were darting from the raccoon to the audience to his coach in concern. Dex’s coach was shouting and the referee was also speaking, calmly, but no less sternly.\n\nThe cheetah hesitated for a long moment then rolled up one of his sleeves, followed by the other; something shiny, weighted, and metallic—a thick plate covered with small, dull knobs—was strapped to each of his elbows.\n\nThe referee waved his arm angrily, gestured toward Dex, and continued speaking, and the cheetah, looking increasingly cowed and glancing nervously at where the coon lay, shrugged and raised one foot to take off one of his heavily cushioned socks, revealing a brass knuckle-like device fitted around his toes. He pointed at his other foot and nodded, indicating it would be the same. The cheetah looked genuinely worried and shook his head apologetically.\n\nDex’s coach was coming over to him. Everyone in the ring gasped. Dex was up on his knees, his face knotted with pain as he tried to get to his feet. The badger was waving his paws to indicate he shouldn’t and talking, but Dex couldn’t hear him. He couldn’t hear anything.\n\nSomething misfired in the coon’s brain. His thoughts were already fragmenting. Everything was silent. Everything was red. He was fighting his way to his feet, his eyes locked on the spotted cat. Dex wasn’t down! He should be—his whole body felt battered—but somehow he wasn’t.\n\nAnd what scared him more than anything, he realized with a start, was that if he did stand up, no effort of will was going to stop him from trying to kill that kid.\n\nHe had to do something to switch himself off. He was raising one paw as though to shove his approaching coach out of the way. He would have hurt anyone who got in his way at that moment if he had the strength to—his coach, his parents, his friends, it didn’t matter. He had to send his mind somewhere else. Somewhere safe from that kind of anger. Whenever it got close. Before he hurt anybody around him. Before he hurt his friends.\n\nDex fell back down on to his knees, and then backward on his back on to the floor of the tournament ring. And started to cry.\n\nLike he had been crying just now. Like a kit.\n\nHis eyes were still squeezed shut. Bit by bit, they opened, and he surveyed the room around him out of their corners. Dimly, he became conscious of the restraints on the high chair.\n\n“I know, Dexie,” the weasel said, patting his back as he returned and picked up the feeding spoon. “It’s okay. I’m sorry your panda friend had to go away. She just got upset. Dat’s all. It happens to the best of us. But we’ll take care of you. We’re all your friends. It’s okay for you to feel small and weak. That’s what you have a safe place for,” the magician patted his head. “To go to when you feel that way. To protect yourself.”\n\nDex gradually began to breathe more steadily. For two years, he had thought that too. Every one of his friends assumed it. But being alone, as a kit, and under, for so long, had shaken another part of his memory loose. He hadn’t started switching off to protect himself after all. He did it to protect the furs he cared about. But now, one of them was in trouble—and for real, not in a play battle with the girls.\n\nHis stomach growled. His nose wrinkled at the odor of the open container of spaghetti-and-meatball flavored baby food in front of him. He had been a vegetarian since middle school, and the thought of eating meat had long since become repulsive to him.\n\n“Now there,” the weasel continued, “everyone is waiting for you in the big top not far from here. Tony and all your new friends. We all want to help you get Twitchy free faster. I’m going to ask Tony there. I think we should bring you to visit the bunny after the party. It’s only fair.”\n\n“You see,” he patted the coon’s head, “how much your unca cares? And really does want to help both of you? But first, you just need to have some supper to stop your tummy from being all rumbly. That’s why you keep crying, isn’t it?” The weasel flicked at his ears. “Cuz you’re a hungry little guy. And you do need your strength! Now come on,” he picked up the feeding spoon and renewed his efforts. “It won’t be much of a party if you cry the whole time.”\n\nDex, his eyes still narrowed to slits, opened his muzzle without protest. Somewhat surprised, Alphonse stuck in the feeding spoon. Dex gulped and swallowed, with visible reluctance. ‘I’ll plant a tree when I get back home,’ he thought to himself. ‘I swear.’\n\n“Now,” Alphonse said gleefully, “there’s a good boy! I know it’s not your favorite, I know, but it will make you big and strong,” and wiped off Dex’s muzzle with the bib tied around his neck.\n\nDex swallowed the next spoonful too.\n\n“Squeak!” marveled the mouse in the opposite corner of the small trailer’s living room, who had arisen from his funk and begun paying attention to the scene. His paws and nose were now pressed against the surface of his glass prison.\n\nIn the entire time he had been in Baby Blue, Squeak had never seen Dex, as real kit or play kit, eat meat, not even when he stayed with Twitchy and Squeak during his last extended regression. It was a well-known organization rule not to force it, or disposable diapers, on him. But he was eating it now. Was he sending Squeak a signal? “Squeak?” the mouse followed up questioningly.\n\nOut of the edge of his narrowed eyes Dex, gulping down another spoonful of the distasteful puree, made contact with Squeak’s beady ones and, so slightly as to be imperceptible to the fussing mustelid feeding him, nodded.\n\n[i]Next time: Anger Management!: Dex throws a tantrum.[/i]\n\n[b]\fEpisode 8. Anger Management![/b]\n\n“You meant to say isn’t it cute that I know kung fu and ballet,” Lin Lin corrected the intoxicated, and now dazed jaguar as she strapped the ball gag around his head. Twitchy finished tying his arms behind his back and to the bars of the cage the two kids had just locked him in.\n\nThe two cubs hopped outside the trailer and blinked as they took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the dark. Twitchy’s large, sensitive ears flicked. “Did you hear that?” He looked at the woods suspiciously. “Over the crickets chirping. It wasn’t an owl. Why are there songbirds out at this hour?”\n\n“Who cares?” Lin Lin answered him curtly, assuming an in-charge tone. “Let’s move. We’ll get Dex and your mouse, and then you’ll take us to the supply cache so we can grab as much of your stuff as we can before we split.”\n\nShe turned to make her way away from the parked tractor trailers—only to hear a loud clink and feel herself suddenly jerked backward by her wrist, toward the denim-clad, floppy-eared white rabbit.\n\n“You idiot!” She turned her head to see him fastening on his own left wrist the other cuff of the handcuffs that had just clicked around her right one. “How am I supposed to fight handcuffed to you? What are you doing?”\n\nTwitchy’s whiskers moved skeptically. “You’re lucky I need you to show me where Dex is or I would just have left you in that cage.” He glared at her.\n\n“Tell me again,” he said seriously, his foot starting to tap, “your story about how Dex was captured in the sideshow tent and you conveniently escaped. Only this time, try the true version.”\n\nThe panda groaned. “We don’t have time for this! Is it that hard for you to believe I want to help him?”\n\n“Yes,” Twitchy answered without hesitating.\n\n“All right,” she stared down at her Velcro jogging shoes as she spoke, letting out a long, reluctant breath. “You’re right. You got me. I did come on this mission intending to ditch the black belt in arresting development and make off with your missing supplies as soon as we found them. I never took that head case seriously.”\n\n“But, the truth is,” she bit her lip, shifting her weight from one leg to the other uncertainly and paused for a long minute. “The truth is . . . that Dex and I already fought. In the woods not far from here. I was sure you were the only Blue boy I had to worry about. Your teammate, though, has . . . more moves than I realized. He caught me off guard.”\n\nTwitchy clapped his forepaws together, with the accidental effect of jerking the unsteady panda off balance and closer to him. She flashed him an annoyed glance, which he ignored.\n\n“I knew it!” he exclaimed. “Dex took you prisoner. Ha!” His cottonball tail wiggled proudly. “That’s my little brother! No wonder he got captured with you slowing him down. So you hightailed it out of there, but no, you couldn’t leave empty-pawed, not Miss ‘I can do anything better than you.’ After all, you have to do something impressive while your teammates are gone to make up for your defeat at the academy, right? So you thought you’d find me and give the ‘let’s team up’ trick one more try.”\n\nHe adjusted the goggles on his forehead with his uncuffed paw and puffed himself up. “Well, it looks like Dex is a little too strong, and I’m a little too smart! I won’t be showing you where the supplies are. All that matters is that we get out of here with Dex. I bet you feel foolish for misjudging the two of us now.”\n\nThe undersized panda glared at him and narrowed her eyes.\n\n“I’m starting to,” she snapped.\n\n*************************\n\nDex swallowed nearly the last spoonful of the spaghetti-and-meatball puree and the spoon began to slide out of his muzzle. Suddenly, he bit down, hard.\n\n“Hey!” Alphonse tugged gently. “Leggo. Leggo, l’il guy.” Dex shook his head mightily, yanking the feeding spoon out of the weasel’s grip.\n\n“Umm. . .” the puzzled mustelid paused. “Heh. Okay. I guess you do like it after all. See, it wasn’t that . . .”\n\nBefore he could finish the restrained raccoon flicked his head with all his force and sent the metal feeding spoon whirling across the room, where it collided with a loud twang with one of the thick elastics holding Squeak’s jar prison in place and rebounded from it into another cord, knocking the second band loose from where it was fastened under the table with a loud snap. The mouse, who was pushing on the edge of the jar with all his tiny might, squeaked excitedly as it fell over on to its side and rolled toward the edge of the table. With the jar sideways and the elastics no longer stretched taut over the lid, he could unscrew it.\n\nAlphonse’s eyes flickered a moment too late across the room to see what was happening. He began to move in that direction, but Dex, even though he was still strapped in, leaned forward to one side and then back down again to bring one leg of the high chair down, hard on the weasel’s footpaw. He yelped and scrambled backwards toward the trailer door, fumbling in a panic with the lock. Squeak darted down the table leg and across the floor with the speed of a mouse in full scamper and climbed up the leg of the high chair, struggling for a moment to unsnap the restraint on Dex’s left leg.\n\nThe weasel opened the door and stepped outside. “Help!” he shouted waving his arms frantically. “Tony! Tom! Dave! Jack! Anybody! The kit’s up! Code 2! Code 2! Get in here fast! Hold him down while I fix it!”\n\nSqueak made it up on to the left arm of the high chair and freed Dex’s left paw. The raccoon stretched it out in front of his face and grinned as the two strong bears from the sideshow tent dashed in. Both unleashed the whips from their belts and cracked them at him threateningly, but Dex whirled the right side of his body toward them, swinging the high chair into the path of the whips. Their coils wrapped around its frame.\n\nSqueak, who had scampered down Dex’s right pant leg, freed the coon’s right leg at the same time that Dex unstrapped his own right paw. With the bears’ whips tangled up in the high chair, and them trying to tug them free, Dex hurled its entire wooden frame at them. \n\nThey fell to the floor with a crash as he jumped over the whole mess and past them, through the open trailer door, Squeak riding along under his karate uniform.\n\nAlphonse was running toward the big top as fast as he could waving his arms and shouting. Every crew member except the two bears and the jaguar conscripted for guard duty was already there. The bleechers had been removed for this one night and replaced with a buffet on one side, a small open bar on the other, and several tables for the crew to sit once they were finished mingling. A small platform stage stood at the far end of the pavilion; that was where Tony and Alphonse planned to speak and introduce Dex.\n\nThe weasel narrowly beat Dex into the big top, but none of the confused and milling acrobats and clowns around the buffet table near the entrance knew what he was shouting about. His panicked eyes darted around the crowd of the forty or fifty circus workers in various states of undress until he located Tony. The ringmaster, looking very pleased with himself at the opposite end of the tent near the stage, was shaking paws with the head clown and patting him on the back.\n\nThe green-aproned wolf who ran the row of game booths intercepted Alphonse and began asking him what was the matter just as Dex somersaulted over both of them and landed in the middle of the buffet table and started running down it, kicking over the food left and right.\n\nThe confused clowns began shouting at him and everyfur ran toward the buffet table in the center of the empty tent. With the entire crew all headed to one place, Dex leapt over the smaller crowd to his left and made for the perimeter of the tent, kicking anyone who tried to stop him to his right and karate-chopping furiously and seemingly at the air on his left as he raced around it toward the ringmaster—but he was taking the long way.\n\nSqueak, as an engineer, peeking out of Dex’s pant leg, saw what the raccoon was up to, and had scampered out of his karate uniform and slipped out the perimeter of the tent. \n\nWorking as quickly as he could, he ran around uprooting tent stakes as speedily as a pocket-sized mouse could manage.\n\nAlphonse came up to the ringmaster’s side and fumbled in his pockets for anything that might help. He produced a shiny quarter and a silver pocket watch, glancing between them quickly. He looked up to get a fix on Dex and his eyes widened. “Oh no,” he whispered. He was the first crew member to realize what Dex had been chopping at.\n\nBehind Dex, the tent began to give way. He had been chopping through its wooden support poles at any joints he could hit on them as he ran and fending off anyone who tried to grab him with his opposite arm and leg. His left paw bristled with splinters.\n\nTony opened his muzzle and reached for the whip on his belt, his eyes widening with fright as he began shouting. “Jack! Alphonse! Everybody! The kid’s gone nuts! I knew this would happen sooner or later if I kept hiring you freaks! Stop him! Jack!” he turned to the strong bear near him and shoved him toward the side Dex was approaching from, backing away himself.\n\n“Come on! You coward!” he shouted at the stumbling bear. “You fought this kid when he had help! Get out there! What’s different now?”\n\nThe bear swung his paws around in confusion, but Dex somersaulted over him as three quarters or so of the under-supported tent behind him slowly gave way and creakily collapsed inward, sending the entire crew scrambling toward the falling exit in confusion, some overturning tables to make their way out faster and only adding to the chaos. The coon caught one of the remaining, high-up tent support beams with his right paw and used it to redirect himself in the air. He landed on the much-larger tiger’s shoulders and wrapped his legs around the big cat’s arms, squeezing as hard as he could to pin them to his body as Tony hopped around trying to shake him loose. \n\n“Our contract is cancelled,” Dex said with a low growl into the ringmaster’s ear, “Every deal you make is rotten. Everything about this place is rigged.”\n\n“I run a circus!” the tiger, struggling against the grip of Dex’s legs, protested in flustered disbelief. “That’s just the way it works!”\n\n“Then someone should have warned you,” Dex explained calmly as he yanked the ringmaster’s top hat down over his eyes with both paws.\n\n“Cheating makes me angry.”\n\n***********************\n\nTwitchy and Lin Lin raced as fast as they could handcuffed together in the direction of the crash. As they did, the rabbit heard a birdcall right behind him and stopped in his tracks as he felt a light touch on his shoulder.\n\nHe froze and jerked around in astonishment, sending Lin Lin stumbling toward him again. Her eyes stared daggers up at him. Just her luck, the way this mission had been going, to end it handcuffed to the most nervous fur she had ever met.\n\n“Twitch!” whispered the black-and-brown mottled dog who stepped out of the shadows, tipping his park ranger’s hat. He wore his Boy Scout sash above a khaki uniform, and a long, cylindrical bamboo whistle hung around his neck on a string. He wrinkled his nose. “And not a moment too soon. The front of that diaper must be about to burst. We’ll get you changed right after we pull out.”\n\n“Jax!” the bunny exclaimed, hopping up and down on his large feet, then gesturing to the jostled panda. “Don’t worry! She got away from Dex, but I recaptured her. She won’t get the drop on me!”\n\nLin Lin rolled her eyes and snorted.\n\n“Where’s Dex?” the dog asked anxiously.\n\n“That’s what we’re trying to figure out. But our best guess is,” Twitchy said, as both the handcuffed furs pointed in the direction of the loud crash they had just heard and shouted in unison, “That way!”\n\nThe Plott hound wagged his tail and raised his whistle to his lips, indicating with his paw the rabbit should hold on for one second. “I’ll pass it down the chain.”\n\nHe blew the whistle carefully, mimicking the call of a blue jay.\n\n*********************\n\n“Now, Dex,” the weasel magician, laying on his back, crawled backward into the last standing corner of the big top tent, looking up at the approaching raccoon who had left Tony wheezing on his knees behind him. “I’m your friend,” he fumbled with his silver pocket watch unobtrusively in one paw, trying to flash the light off of it into Dex’s eyes as inconspicuously as he could. “I understand you. I’m not like the others. Don’t you at least want to hear—my side of all this?”\n\n“No,” Dex said icily. “Where’s Twitchy? And where’s Triple L?”\n\n“In the second tractor trailer in the east parking lot, in an animal cage. There’s one guard and one of the bunny’s feet is handcuffed to a bar at the far end. The guard should have the keys to the cage and the cuffs. We’ve been feeding him and I’ve been slipping him . . . supplies, don’t worry,” the weasel said quickly. “The panda should be in there too. We only have one empty cage right now.”\n\nAlphonse reached into his pocket with his free hand and tossed Dex a key, which the coon snatched out of the air. “Dex—the stuff your friend had when we took him is in the only drawer that locks in the desk in my trailer. In return, Dex—” the weasel looked around the collapsed tent anxiously.\n\nHalf the crew was tangled in canvass, trying to crawl over each other, to escape from the ruins. Only ten of them, tops, knew the full extent of what had been going on, although rumors had been flying since Dex’s first appearance. No one, however, who did manage to crawl free, was particularly inclined to interfere with the raccoon at the moment, or do anything other than slink off, lay low, or run into the shadows.\n\nAlphonse eyed the ringmaster as Tony sank backward on to the ground, staring at the ruins of his big top in near-apoplectic shock. “In return,” Alphonse whispered to Dex quickly, “somewhere Tony has pictures of me. I’m going to run to his office. If you could check his trailer for those too while you’re there— Better yet, you could tell him you just need one more thing . . .”\n\nDex stared stonily at the weasel. “Stand up to him yourself.”\n\n“Dex,” Alphonse pleaded. “Please. I’ve been . . . stuck in this place.  I . . . I tried to convince Tony to let your friend go.”\n\nThe raccoon kicked the pocket watch out of Alphonse’s paw. “Should have tried harder,” he said over his shoulder as he stepped over the quivering magician and kicked a hole in the small section of the tent’s wall that was still standing. “I know you can be more persuasive.”\n\n[i]Next time: Secret Santa: As the dust settles on the battlefield, Dex gets—and gives—a few final surprises to set things right.[/i]\n\n[b]\fEpisode 9. Secret Santa[/b]\n\nDex stepped out of the collapsed tent and found himself surrounded. Not by the circus crew—in fact, those who had crawled out were either running off in a panic, with weapons trained on them as they did, or standing around the collapsed tent with their hands fearfully raised behind their heads.\n\nNo, Dex was surrounded by a small ring of uniformed boys ranged in between the tents a couple yards back from the falling big top’s perimeter, paintball guns, high-pressure water cannons, bow and suction-cup arrows, and Nerf weapons cocked and at the ready.\n\n“Dex!” Twitchy shouted, hopping up and down and waving from behind them, shaking a by now very agitated and dizzy Lin Lin around. “It’s so good to see you! Don’t worry,” he added holding up his left arm to display the handcuff. “I recaptured her! And did you find . . . ”\n\n“Squeak!” exclaimed the mouse still working on pulling up supports. He dropped the stake he had just uprooted and raced around the perimeter of the tent toward his usual, jubilant bunny partner.\n\nThe raccoon relaxed into a smile, visibly relieved. “Twitch! You’re okay! What is all this?” He jerked his head at the circle of boys.\n\nThe rabbit fidgeted. “We’re—umm—” the bunny shrugged, gesturing at the mostly collapsed tent behind the raccoon, and concluded uncertainly, “here to rescue you?”\n\nDex flicked his paw at the bunny in a mock salute. “Ditto,” he said.\n\nHe scanned the rescue crew quickly. “Jax!” he added gratefully, sighting the hound dog. “This is almost everyone.”\n\n“It’s everyone plus. Every paw who stayed on for break, plus any fur we could get who was taking it easy but lives in town,” the dog corrected. “We’re just the first wave. The rest of them are on the perimeter. We started not long after you hit the road, but it took a full day to pull the team together. Kyle is still at Hideout #4 trying to reach anyone else in driving distance. By the time we moved out, we couldn’t get you on the radio. And we couldn’t travel as fast on the trail as you and the panda did.”\n\nHe jumped and waved both his paws in the air as a beam of light shined in their direction and fell across Dex and him, adding, “That’s the others. I signalled them to move in a couple minutes ago.”\n\nThe raccoon frowned for a moment. “But you don’t have a walkie talkie. And that means the hideouts are—”\n\nThe Plott hound shook his head and pointed over the raccoon’s shoulder eagerly, wagging his tail and blushing in anticipation. “I didn’t order this op, Dex. I was as surprised as you.”\n\nDex turned to see a second string of boys approaching behind a tall, heavyset, tough-looking lynx in a British explorer’s tan safari outfit, complete with a safari hat.\n\nAce’s eyes scanned the terrain warily. There was a long silver whistle on a cord around his neck, a canteen dangled from his shoulder strap, and a paintball gun hung on his belt. \n\nOne paw was carrying a small shaded lantern, and the other was behind his back resting on a throwing net in his open backpack that could entangle three or four average-sized furs if he cast it correctly.\n\n“Some of the boys were concerned about leaving all our bases undefended to come after you, yeah,” Ace completed Dex’s thought with an apologetic shrug. “Especially with the panda’s whereabouts unknown. I had to remind them that decisions about hideout defense are up to me.”\n\nHe paused awkwardly, then added, “We’re running the strike radio silent. We lost two radio contacts—” he released his net and shook his thumb at Dex, then at Twitchy—“in this fairground already. So Jax suggested we try something different.”\n\nAce tugged at the bird whistle around his neck and seemed uncharacteristically bashful for a moment.\n\n“Well,” Dex took a deep breath, and moved to hug the lynx, but retreated when the tough cat backed away uncomfortably. “Since every fur is here—I’d hate for you to have wasted a trip. If our hideouts can keep for a little longer—I have an idea.”\n\nAce looked down at his footpaws and saluted. “It’s your call,” he said to the raccoon. “Sir.”\n\n*****************************\n\n“Hee! I’m a pony!” said one of the boys at their campsite in the woods, bending over and settling a riding saddle on his back, prancing experimentally and eyeing the bridle and rein that had lain alongside it. Another two were looking at enema equipment and exchanging confused shrugs, trying to figure out what it was for.\n\nAce was looking through a collection of leather chaps on one of the hand-drawn supply wagons they had borrowed from the circus parking lot with more than idle curiosity. Jax, standing next to him, was frowning and shaking his head emphatically.\n\nThere were fifteen boys all told and six overloaded carts’ worth of stuff. It would be a slow trip back to Hideout #4, where they would coordinate what Dex had ordered as Operation Secret Santa.\n\nDex and Twitchy were conferring around a small campfire, with Dex’s cowboy hat, recovered from Alphonse’s trailer, on the ground between them. The rabbit was sitting cross-legged and the raccoon was lying on his legs and elbows. The other boys rifled through the boxes that had been opened, alternately amazed and horrified by what they found—from dildoes and vibrators of various sizes to spiky collars, chains, stainless steel dog bowls, padded animal beds and chew toys, to bondage gear and adult-sized baby outfits for both genders of varying degrees of embarrassment.\n\nNot to mention, of course, a diverse collection of variously colored, variously layered diapers of designer quality, and changing supplies that ranged from the routine in bulk quantities—wipes and powder—to the more exotic, like concentrated castor oil and leather spanking paddles that said “BAD” on them on one paw, and jars of hand-made lavender baby oil on the other.\n\nLin Lin had been handcuffed to one of the carts. “I still think—” she started to say.\n\n“For the last time,” Twitchy snapped. “The academy is not getting a cut. And neither are we. We’re only keeping what we can tell is Baby Blue’s. Everything else goes back to the rightful owners, just as soon as we can find them, and if not, to thrift stores or to the LGBT community centers around here and at the colleges. Those were Dex’s orders.” He shook his head. “Jeez!” he added in exasperation. “You’re supposed to be a prisoner!”\n\nShe shrugged and kicked at the dirt. “Fine. Run your organization into the ground. It’s none of my concern. Not like any furs are really expecting to get this stuff back. They’d still be just as grateful if you kept a small finder’s fee. If only to cover your own expenses.”\n\nTwitchy rolled his eyes and turned back to Dex. He fiddled with his pen-sized digital camera. Dex was looking by firelight through a ledger from a safe that Tony had—under duress—given him the key to. His left paw and wrist were still wrapped in gauze with a makeshift splint that Jax had rigged up after picking out as many of the splinters as he could. (The scout dog had a First Aid badge, of course.)\n\n“I’ve never seen this much gear in one place. And I can’t believe the prices they were getting for some of this junk. I’d like to call this in,” the coon said, shaking his head. “But if the owners were too embarrassed to report it themselves, I think we should be considerate of their privacy. I just hope Tony and company learned their lesson. I think I can probably match partial addresses to maybe a third of the stuff out of the notes in here. That’s a start anyway. And then we start looking through phonebooks and online. It’s good the boxes were numbered and dated. Not so good that Tony started pulling the packing labels off after he caught you snooping around, Twitch. How does it look?”\n\nTwitchy wiggled his tail and tapped his foot as he shook the pen-sized camera. “Erasing pictures by pressing the delete key a bunch of times.” He chortled as though someone had offered him a ride to school on a horse and buggy. “Squeak got all the labels on the boxes that had them. As soon as I can plug this into a laptop I should be able to recover most, if not all, of the photos.”\n\nHe looked at the ledger. “Squeak and I can take the ledger and Tony’s papers too, Dex. You’ve already lost enough practice time for your black belt test.”\n\nDex looked up at the rabbit out of the top of his eyes for a moment. “Twitch,” he said, lowering his voice. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something. I haven’t told anyone, but I took myself off the black belt test list for this go-round.”\n\nThe rabbit’s ears flicked and he looked up from his camera as the raccoon set the ledger down and reached over to his backpack, tugging on the strap so that it fell flat in front of him. “Come on, Dex,” Twitchy protested. “I thought just to stop the brown belt jokes—” he started to say.\n\nDex unzipped the front compartment and shook his head, taking a deep breath as he withdrew a folder of papers. “Roger gave me this before he left town. I’ve been carrying it around all break thinking about what to do with it. It’s a packet of student-athlete scholarship applications. With letters from the dojo and my high school coach attached. And . . . transfer applications. I don’t want to tell the whole group if nothing is going to happen.”\n\n“You know it’s kind of a fluke that I’m at City College. I almost went to—” The raccoon chewed on his lip and motioned with his bandaged paw dismissively. “Well, it doesn’t matter. The point is, my athletics are good enough—again. I’ve been thinking about you—and well,” he traced a circle in the dirt with his uninjured paw. “I know you’re always on call and have your own stuff to do— No, what I mean to say is, Don’t take this the wrong way, but you were bad when you started combat training.” He blinked, remembering the rabbit falling over—into a stream—when he threw a ball at him in a game of catch. “Really bad. But everyfur said you were amazing during the ambush in the gym. It’s still—a bit of a blur to me. Sorry. So, just by your example, of, if you can do that, then I . . . . No, it’s just— well, look, the short version is, you know I’m a psych major. Statistics isn’t going so great.”\n\nTwitchy blinked and smiled, tussling Dex’s head with the front of one of his large feet. “About the gym: I had a good tutor. And so do you. Of course. You don’t need to write me a speech about it. But, Dex, that means—”\n\nHe bit his lip and looked at the coon worriedly. “I don’t know how many are in that packet, but that means at a minimum, not being in the same school as Rian any more. Maybe even—”\n\nThe raccoon nodded. “I know. Well,” he blushed. “Yours is on the list. That wouldn’t be bad.”\n\nThe rabbit grinned. “What are you doing in statistics? I mean, you can do normal curves and stuff, right?”\n\n“Umm,” Dex’s uninjured paw strayed up to his muzzle and three of his fingers found their way inside. “I can dwaw one if dat’s what you mean.”\n\nTwitchy eyed him suspiciously. “Are strange things going to happen to you whenever your homework seems impossible?”\n\n“Would that,” Dex asked, sucking on his fingers, “bother you?”\n\nThe rabbit tussled Dex’s head with his foot again. The coon looked up at him from the ground and his tail flicked against it.\n\nTwitchy’s cheeks flushed red as he admitted, “Not really.”\n\nMaybe they would end up at the same school, who knew? Dex mused as Twitchy’s foot rubbed his head. That felt kind of good. The raccoon leaned his head into it and purred softly without thinking. There was nothing wrong with that, right, he told himself? Sure, sometimes Dex was older than the rabbit and outranked him, but sometimes Twitchy was his super smart big brother. And now he’d have to find a way to thank Twitch for his help.\n\nHe found his mind idly and curiously wandering over some of the fetish gear he’d been looking through against the entries in the ledger—in this case, leashes and collars of various kinds—he wondered, unprompted, as he sucked on his fingers, if his smart big brother liked pets. He bet he did. He probably wanted to have more company than just Squeak, but not the kind who would distract him from what he was doing on his computer. Dex could keep him company that way sometimes. He totally could. Maybe as a kitten. He had a feeling Twitch wouldn’t like a lot of barking. He would want to play in ways that didn’t take him away from his computer. Well, kittens did like . . . drinking milk a whole lot, he mused, biting his lip and listening to the rabbit crinkle as he shifted his weight back and forth fiddling with the camera. He could . . . probably manage that. For his big brother. And he probably liked foot massages. Dex could probably manage one of those. No, he totally could. He totally could do both those things. It was just a matter of practice. Three or four times. He would have it right after that. He totally would. He wondered what else Twitch might like. What else he might want to do.\n\nWell, he didn’t need to wonder, did he?, he reminded himself. He only had to ask him.\n\n*****************************\n\nLin Lin awoke with a start sometime after midnight to see Dex crouching in front of her with his finger held to his lips as her handcuffs clicked loose. The fire had died out, and everyone else was fast asleep. He motioned for her to step behind the supply wagon, and she followed curiously.\n\n“More trouble sleeping?” the panda whispered as she blinked the bleariness out of her own eyes.\n\nThe coon shook his head. “No. I got up for you.” He jerked his head over his shoulder at the sleeping boys. “I’m following your lead, you know. I don’t know what that performance you gave Twitchy was about.”\n\nHer eyes narrowed. “What performance? Everything I told him was true. I really did intend to make off with your stuff, Dexie. Period, the end. We both know I left you in the sideshow tent when I should have . . . when a friend would have stayed. The bunny’s story is closer to the truth than whatever you’re thinking. Your boys all have the right idea. It was your stupid plan to invite me along on this mission.” She wagged her paw at him sternly. “You never should have trusted me. You’re way too soft for your own good. And if someone doesn’t correct it now, it will catch up with you eventually.”\n\nThe raccoon shrugged. “Have it your way.” He reached into the pocket of his undershirt and handed her a small box. “I found these cards when I took Twitchy’s stuff back from the weasel’s trailer. The box says ‘For Li’ on it. I thought you might know him.”\n\nShe snatched it hastily and gulped. “I did,” she answered.\n\nDex added softly, “Well, he cheats. There are six aces and five kings in that deck. And I have a hunch the cards are marked in a way devised by someone smarter than me.”\n\n“Then apparently,” she answered, “he doesn’t cheat very well.”\n\n“I’m sure he does fine,” the coon replied, “when he’s trying to win. I don’t forget everything that happens during—episodes—you know. It’s a lot of chunks. Bits and pieces. You losing a poker game, for instance. You could have just won and made off with the supplies if you wanted. At least tried to. Instead you saw I was useless and set out to get tossed in with Twitch. Something that was more likely to happen if you made it look like you hated us.”\n\nLin Lin kicked at the dirt. “Assuming you’re right for a moment, Dex, I wouldn’t have trusted that tiger to keep his word if I had beat him. The same thing would have happened either way.”\n\n“But why bother making sure you lose, unless you’re really that concerned about us?” The coon shook his head. “You’re going to do this the hard way, aren’t you?”\n\n“I never do anything the easy way,” Lin Lin answered. “It would ruin my reputation.”\n\nDex reached into the supply cart and gently tossed her one bag of diapers, then another, then a third. “Then we’d better make this look good. I’ll say I woke up when I heard noises in the supply cart but by the time I got over there you’d already escaped with some of our diapers. Can you do me a favor though, while you’re stealing stuff?”\n\nHe picked up something he had left on the ground for the night outside the ring of sleeping bags and tossed his cowboy hat to her. “Can you please take this stupid cowboy hat so that I don’t have to tell Rian what I think of it? I’m more of an Indian, anyway.”\n\n“If you do one back for me, Dex,” Lin Lin replied as she collected the things. “Get yourself and the bunny home in one piece. If you can manage to hold yourself together for that long. It will be a lot more satisfying kicking both your tails if neither of you has a debilitating handicap next time.”\n\n“Will do, Triple L,” he answered.\n\n“I meant two favors,” she said over her shoulder. “Because you’re also going to stop calling me that.”\n\n“Sorry,” he whispered as she started to leave, “I meant to say Double L,” and added, uncertain whether or not the vanishing panda could hear, “Princess.”\n\n***********************\n\n“Mission . . . accomplished! You’ll never guess what we’ve really been . . .” Rian burst through the trap door in the bottom of Hideout #4 as the bell jangled and concluded disappointedly, “up to,” kicking his footpaw in the air as he met no response and surveyed the room. His discouragement was quickly overtaken by a mounting sense of horror.\n\n“I can’t believe this! I would never have left if I knew things would get this bad!” The shrimpy, twenty-something wolf, wearing a shiny white and black-visored airplane pilot’s hat, exclaimed to the open trap door behind him, waving his paws over it energetically in warning. “Cover your eyes! Better yet, don’t come up! It’s too terrible!”\n\nHe darted around the room and continued to examine the damage, but his caution was too late. Roger poked his head through the trap door and, setting a paw down on either side, hoisted himself up to sit at its edge. “What’s up?” the Labrador asked.\n\nThe three computer monitors in the hideout were each running a mail merge program, noisily printing pages of letters as text flickered illegibly across the screens.\n\nKyle the Dalmatian was collapsed on his back on the hideout changing mat with his used diaper still half-open, snoring loudly, with a trail of discarded instruction manuals in his wake that led from the desk to his current position on the floor, and a basic orienteering handbook suspended, open, on his nose. Dex and Twitchy were also sprawled across the floor next to him, a statistics textbook and a series of worksheets strewn around them, and Squeak was asleep on Twitchy’s shoulder. Dex was sucking his thumb and Twitchy’s forepaw rested on his head. Ace and Jax were there, too, lying across each other with a deck of half face up and half face down ornithology flash cards and Jax’s dog-eared and highlighted copy of Birds of America open in front of them.\n\nOne of the other boys, a malamute, had fallen asleep over an open French dictionary and grammar textbook and a notebook filled with marked-up drafts of letters in French to the owners of several boxes of stuff Dex and Twitchy had traced to Quebec. Just in case, they would be sending bilingual versions of those—it was Dex’s suggestion.\n\nRian spun around, held his arms wide to encompass the whole scene, and delivered his analysis.\n\n“It looks like everyone’s been doing schoolwork the whole time!” the horrified wolf exclaimed to his mentor, throwing his paws up in the air in agitation.\n\n“I swear, Rog,” the wolf cub shook his head despairingly. “These boys are hopeless without us!”\n\n***********************\n\nBack in her bed at the academy, Lin Lin breathed heavily, staring at the ceiling, one paw resting on her chest, the other quivering around a bottle of lubricant. The cowboy hat lay on the pillow alongside her head.\n\nIt was the second time she had had an orgasm that night. The first one wasn’t the first orgasm she had pawing to thoughts of the smart but emotionally oblivious, diapered bunny. They were getting less intense, to be honest. But he still served the purpose well enough.\n\nThe second, though, which had wracked her whole body and from which she was still recovering, was the first she had ever had thinking about Dex. Who hadn’t, she kept reminding herself, actually beat her, or saved her. So why couldn’t she throw away the cruddy hat she’d put on her nightstand as soon as she came back?\n\nAlready, her paw was straying into her diaper a third time.\n\nWhy not finish this? One good flush could get both those boys out of her system for good. Yes—this would be the last time. And she would do it efficiently. There was no harm in fantasizing was there? So she let her mind wander freely for a minute.\n\nYou didn’t always have to choose, did you? You could get vanilla and chocolate ice cream on one cone, right? That’s what it would be like. They were friends, after all. Brothers, in a weird way. They certainly seemed close. They both needed their diapers changed. They both needed their bottoms wiped. Those were things she could do for both of them. But most of all they both needed discipline.\n\nThe bunny would take a bit more work than she had thought. Okay—a lot more work than she’d thought. But she had a hunch she could overpower him completely, in the end. Put whatever toppings on him she wanted. Dress him however she wanted. Gag him if she wanted. Tie a bow between his ears. He was not academy material—that was out as a possibility —emotionally oblivious. Could never handle pink team politics, or sense what a boy wanted him to do the way a real sissy could. But he would still make a cute baby toy for her girls. In a onesie, instead of those baggy denim outfits he always wore. With his footpaws and forepaws locked together so he couldn’t help but crawl around. Regression was the way to go there. Much spanking—paddles definitely required. He needed a lot of help really regressing, she had a hunch, unlike . . . Dex.\n\nShe clutched the cowboy hat closer to her with her free left arm. Dex she hadn’t thought much of at first. But now she was sure he would last longer. She wouldn’t have to work as hard. He would get himself ready for her, tease her a little when she changed him. Maybe she’d humor him and beg once or twice. He was a sensitive little guy—who didn’t look that bad in a dress. Or in a high chair. He would always want to please people, ultimately, so there was no harm in permitting him a little more freedom than the rabbit. No need for corporal punishment. A little castor oil now and then could probably keep him in line.\n\nWho knew? Maybe she could still make him an academy student. He just might be sissy material after all; he was empathetic enough. It might just be a matter of convincing him one of his blue friends wanted to see him in a dress. Yes—that just might work. She could do a lot with him. There was definitely latent potential there. He just needed to relax and explore a little. She saw how those boys looked at the stuff they liberated from the circus. There were rooms in the academy they weren’t ready to walk into just yet.\n\nVanilla and chocolate wasn’t a bad comparison. That’s probably what Dex and Twitchy would taste like. She moaned as her paw, slick with lubricant, kept working its way in and out. Except, of course, that she couldn’t taste both of them at once. They’d have to take turns there. She could make a man out of Twitchy—or try to—that might be hopeless—and the raccoon could mount her. He was used to boys. Rumors swirled at the academy about what exactly happened during those Baby Blue initiations out in the woods. Mounting might be easier for him. And he was a sweet guy—she hadn’t expected that. He would be careful enough. She would let them play with each other, too, of course. She wasn’t that mean. They were brothers, after all. Sort of. And she could be maternal. They could be her little boys. It would be an odd household . . .\n\nOh, she shuddered, as she felt her whole body tremble and bursts of white behind her eyes momentarily clouded her vision. What am I thinking?\n\nThen, after a moment of staring up at the ceiling quaking and breathing heavily, she thought, ‘Is it really that crazy? I can set a very different sort of trap for those two the next time. They still have no idea what I can really do. Or what they really want.’\n\n‘Besides, that fox is only screwing one boy from the blue team. I could do better than that.’\n\nThen again, she thought, biting her lips, maybe in the coon’s case she didn’t need the castor oil. Or the high chair.\n\nMaybe Dex was even a boy—the first boy—who would just—spend time with her—without an elaborate scenario, and a tricky game plan, and special equipment, and a punishment scene.\n\nShe felt her paw reaching into her diaper again, already, and stopped it.\n\nNo, she corrected herself quickly. Now that was thinking crazy.\n\n[b]The End.[/b]\n\nIf you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the ride! All comments are welcome, here or to [url=mailto:kitncub@yahoo.com]kitncub@yahoo.com[/url]  \n\n[i]Next time: Serafina's Big Day! As fighting between the Blue and Pink teams reaches a fever pitch, Rian goes to extraordinary lengths to make sure a big day for his Princess is perfect and worry-free — and finds himself working for Roger’s mysterious sister when he intercepts Serry’s mission orders! Meanwhile, Dex and Twitchy experiment (and not with a chemistry set).[/i]\n\n",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'><strong>The Star Attractions<br /><br />A Pink &amp; Blue Diaperfur Adventure in Nine Episodes</strong><br /><br />The next Pink and Blue story!<br /><br />This story can be read out of order but continues the events of others in the:<br /><br /><a href=\"http://tinyurl.com/2flfdwh\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pink and Blue Diaperfur Adventures Series : collected at http://tinyurl.com/2flfdwh</a><br /><br />Here is the usual long list of deadly side effects: This is a mature story so please be 18+ to read. It involves furs in diapers, ageplay, crossdressing, and boys on boys, among other things.<br /><br />It is an adventure and romance story involving these elements, rather than a straight-out fetish regression/sissification piece, and thus has a lot of plot and character story in addition to the fetish elements.<br /><br /><em>And one special warning: </em>This story revolves around Dex the raccoon, probably the most serious character in the Pink and Blue series because he does not use diapers or regress voluntarily. Thus, although it is still generally a silly conceptual story, it will have some darker parts than the others. Back to lighter stuff next time.<br /><br />Don&#039;t like any of that, don&rsquo;t say I didn&rsquo;t warn you!<br /><br /><em>Plot recap</em>: The heroic faction of boyish Baby Blue AB/DL furs defends the city&rsquo;s age playing scene from complete domination by the pink forces of sissification now headquartered at Empress Calliope&rsquo;s Academy for Special Boys. It&rsquo;s a non-stop battle until . . . Spring break! The severely shortpawed blue and pink teams have called a break-long truce, and, with all the regular leaders on vacation, Dex the regression-prone raccoon is temporarily in charge of Baby Blue.<br /><br />So when his friends Twitchy and Squeak go missing on a field mission, leaving only a mysterious distress call in the middle of a circus fairground, Dex seeks help rescuing his friends from an unlikely source&mdash;the crack pink team agent and scheming panda girl Lin Lin. But she&rsquo;s their worst enemy! What is Dex thinking? And why is he so moody lately? Is the boys&rsquo; team&rsquo;s tree-hugging tough guy losing his grip?<br /><br /><em>\fCharacter list:<br /></em><br /><strong>Baby Blue Boys:<br /></strong><br /><strong>Dex</strong>, a sensitive raccoon martial artist, is Baby Blue&rsquo;s third-in-command and combat specialist. Currently the highest-ranking member of Baby Blue in town, Dex is one of the few BB boys who does not wear diapers voluntarily. Dex regresses, psychologically, to a kit whenever he loses a fight, for reasons not fully understood even by him. Something has been off about him ever since a major battle at the sissy academy, when he led his boys straight into a pink team trap set by the panda girl Lin Lin and suffered an embarrassing defeat. Is he just licking his wounds? Or is he upset about something else?<br /><br />The nervous, goggle-wearing bunny <strong>Twitchy</strong> ordinarily makes up Baby Blue&rsquo;s tech and behind-the-scenes support team at Hideout #4 together with his partner, the pocket-sized mouse and gadget engineer <strong>Squeak</strong>. They saved the boys&rsquo; team during the battle at the academy after Dex was KO&rsquo;ed, earning his respect and confidence. Both are missing in action.<br /><br />Ex-Boy Scouts <strong>Ace</strong>, a tough trailblazing lynx, and <strong>Jax</strong>, a soulful tracking hound, double as members of Dex&rsquo;s special forces strike team and leaders in their own right of Baby Blue&rsquo;s wilderness patrol squads. Their recon missions and patrols to the boys&rsquo; changing and supply stations keep the boys&rsquo; hideouts safe and the woods in Baby Blue territory clean and diaper-friendly. Also a couple&mdash;a secret they have succeeded in keeping from no one except themselves.<br /><br /><strong>Kyle the Dalmatian</strong> is a low-ranking member of Baby Blue who has yet to find his real place on the team.<br /><br /><strong>Roger</strong>, a black Labrador, and <strong>Rian</strong>, his true blue wolf cub sidekick, are the regular leaders of Baby Blue, but are currently out of the country for spring break. Roger, Dex&rsquo;s daddy, found the coon apathetic and working in a coffee shop sometime after his tournament loss, and gradually brought the depressed Dex out of his shell. Rian, Dex&rsquo;s best friend and sometime big brother, began dating the sissy princess fox Serafina after rescuing her from a chastity punishment during the boys&rsquo; raid on the academy.<br /><br /><strong>Empress Calliope&rsquo;s Academy for Special Boys (Pink Faction):<br /></strong><br />Empress Calliope, Princess Cassandra, and Princess Serafina are the regular leaders of the pink faction, but are out of town during spring break on a spa trip. Serafina recently began dating the boys&rsquo; team&rsquo;s second-in-command Rian.<br /><br /><strong>Lady Lin Lin</strong>, an undersized but overachieving and hypercompetitive panda, set a trap to capture and sissify the entire boys&rsquo; team in an attempt to steal Serafina&rsquo;s Princess crown&mdash;and nearly succeeded. She captured Dex&rsquo;s strike team in the school gym but was outwitted by Twitchy and Squeak. Physical education instructor and feared disciplinarian at Empress Calliope&rsquo;s Academy for Special Boys, she is the highest-ranking pink team member still in town. It rankles that she is still outranked by Serafina, whom she has always considered too friendly to the enemy Baby Blue boys.<br /><br />And now . . .<br /><br /><strong>Contents<br /></strong><br />Prologue: Pinch Hitter<br /><br />Episode 1. Overlook<br /><br />Episode 2. Flying Solo<br /><br />Episode 3. Triple L<br /><br />Episode 4. A Walk in the Woods<br /><br />Episode 5. Showtime!<br /><br />Episode 6. Friends Like These<br /><br />Episode 7. Into the Fire<br /><br />Episode 8. Anger Management!<br /><br />Episode 9. Secret Santa<br /><br /><em>Prologue: Pinch Hitter<br /></em><br />&ldquo;Roger that, Ace,&rdquo; Kyle the Dalmatian lifted his paws from the keyboard and leaned in so close to the center of the three monitors in Hideout #4 that the tip of his nose brushed against its flat screen as he spoke to the recon squad leader through his headset.<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking at you now. Yup, that blue dot is definitely you. I would recognize it anywhere. Just go . . .&rdquo; He bit his lip and slid his wheeled chair back about a foot away from the screen, holding one arm above his head and the other up and at an angle to his right as he tried to visualize a clock, leaning sideways bit by bit. &ldquo;Two o&rsquo;clock . . . Three o&rsquo;clock . . . Three thirtyish kind of . . . from your current heading to the meadow. Then south . . .&rdquo; He leaned pressed his nose against the monitor for a second, squinting at the satellite surface image, and then pulled it away, leaving a large wet smudge. &ldquo;Yeah, south, for a quarter of a mile, and at the fork take the path on the right,&rdquo; he spun around 180 degrees in the chair and looked back and forth between his still-outstretched arms, correcting himself quickly, &ldquo;I mean left! My right! Your left! Because you&rsquo;re going south! And usually north is in front of me! But it won&rsquo;t be in front of you! Go left!&rdquo;<br /><br />Having spun to face the entrance, Kyle could see the electric sign above the door that read, &ldquo;BB Tech is always on call! No bathroom breaks in &mdash; 00 &mdash; hours,&rdquo; with the &ldquo;00&rdquo; blinking at him repeatedly, and accusingly. He would fix that sign just as soon as the support calls stopped. And right after he changed his increasingly soggy X-Plus diaper, luckily reinforced with an extra absorbency liner.<br /><br />He was wearing only that and a pale blue tee-shirt. His pants hung on a hook on the door. He had realized sometime yesterday that working solo here didn&rsquo;t give him time to keep pulling them on and off before and after every change, so today he had just pulled them off and hung them up as soon as he came through the door. It made changes more efficient. A change . . . that sounded good. He glanced longingly at the outpost-style rubber mat and rudimentary wipe, powder, and diaper supply setup on the floor not more than six feet away from him that he had been trying to get to for at least an hour now.<br /><br />&ldquo;And in another quarter of a mile, go behind the waterfall! There&rsquo;s a changing station for your boys there!&rdquo; He concluded into the headset triumphantly. Phew! &ldquo;Sorry, this isn&rsquo;t as easy as he makes it look&mdash;err, sound.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Three thirty meadow, south a quarter, fork left a quarter come to a waterfall,&rdquo; Ace summarized briskly, as much for Kyle&rsquo;s benefit as his own. Then there was a long pause of about thirty seconds on the other end of the line, but Kyle knew the call was still on because he heard twigs snapping, leaves crunching, and considerable grumbling in the background before the lynx asked, in an icily calm tone, &ldquo;Are you sure? I have a couple messes here and we&rsquo;ve near used up our backpack supplies going in circles.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; Kyle answered firmly.<br /><br />Then, after about ten seconds of palpable silence, he added, blushing, &ldquo;Like ninety percent this time.&rdquo;<br /><br />The Dalmatian could hear increased commotion as the cat on the other end moved and started to lead his group forward. He could also hear Ace take a deep breath, as though calming himself down and counting to ten, before he resumed speaking. &ldquo;Okay, into the hills so I&rsquo;ll cut out in a minute. One last question from my boys before I do.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Fire away, Ace,&rdquo; the Dalmatian said, pivoting back to face the monitors and sliding the chair forward to rest his forepaws above the keyboard.<br /><br />It was the third time so far that day that Kyle heard the fur on the other end ask, in as patient a tone as he could manage, &ldquo;How&rsquo;s the mission to find Twitchy going?&rdquo;<br /><br /><strong>\fEpisode 1. Overlook<br /></strong><br /><em>Two years earlier. Near the site of the U. S. Mixed Martial Arts Association National tournament. Juniors.<br /></em><br />The raccoon on the hospital bed breathed slowly and steadily, the corner of his lips turning up in a faint smile as his blurry vision cleared with each blink and his gaze settled on the familiar badger seated in the visitors&rsquo; chair. &ldquo;Hi, coach,&rdquo; he said, his voice still thick with sleep. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t hear you come in.&rdquo; He looked around the sterile white room; he felt cold in his hospital gown. &ldquo;Is my uniform somewhere? I don&rsquo;t know where they put stuff like that, but I&rsquo;ll need to get dressed before we head back.&rdquo;<br /><br />The badger leaned forward, visibly relieved, and patted the raccoon&rsquo;s head. &ldquo;Dex,&rdquo; he said anxiously. &ldquo;Thank heaven. The doctor told me you&rsquo;d be okay, but it&rsquo;s good to see you awake. Your parents and I have been coming in shifts. No no,&rdquo; when Dex pressed his forepaws down on the bed in an effort to sit up, the badger leaned forward and gently pushed the raccoon back down on to the mattress, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t try to move. You still have lots of painkillers in you, I think.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You sound like mom,&rdquo; Dex answered, relaxing slightly. &ldquo;Maybe tomorrow then?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Dex&mdash;&rdquo; the badger fidgeted, hesitantly, frowning as he looked down at the still groggy raccoon, and shook his head. &ldquo;I talked to the association folks and he was disqualified, so your ranking is a bit up in the air, but still &mdash; umm, you know you can&rsquo;t compete for a while, right? I&rsquo;m sorry.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I know. Don&rsquo;t worry!&rdquo; The raccoon only laughed, which caused him to cough a bit, wince and clap a paw onto his ribs, and smiled up at his sensei reassuringly. &ldquo;Hey, I wasn&rsquo;t hit on the head, coach. I just want to see the rest of it.&rdquo;<br /><br />The badger frowned and stared at his shoes for a long moment before looking back up. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been here for two days, Dex. The tournament is over.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; the coon said as he slumped back down into his pillow. &ldquo;Who won?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;In your division, Wen Chu,&rdquo; the badger answered matter-of-factly. &ldquo;He took the polecat from Indiana who came in third last year.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression. &ldquo;Chu is good,&rdquo; he said vacantly. &ldquo;I would have liked to see that.&rdquo;<br /><br />**************<br /><br />The coon&rsquo;s eyes snapped open; a fur with less sensitive ears would never have heard, much less been woken up by, the muffled crunch of leaves under careful paw approaching. It was his partner; no other fur Dex knew moved so deliberately in the woods.<br /><br />The raccoon had been dozing fitfully, sitting up against a tree in his karate outfit, his right paw still resting loosely on the paintball gun holstered on his waist and a cowboy hat slanted down over his eyes. The truth is he was glad to be woken up. He had been having another bad dream. The sparse forest was half-illuminated by a waxing moon. Still, being a raccoon, Dex usually didn&rsquo;t need more than a split second for his eyes to adjust to the dark and identify the approaching figure. He stood up and tilted his cowboy hat back. &ldquo;Jax,&rdquo; he acknowledged the approaching Plott hound. &ldquo;Contact?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Mixed bag, Dex,&rdquo; the black-and-brown mottled hound dog greeted his coon superior with a silent salute and straightened the badge-covered Boy Scout sash that he always wore over his other clothes when on missions, gesturing for Dex to follow him to the edge of the overlook where they had settled at sunset.<br /><br />The two furs looked down at the sprawling, illuminated campsite, where enormous tents stood side-by-side with rows of concession stands, hastily assembled carnival attractions, and a large, creaky white Ferris wheel, stopped for the night. Five tractor-trailer trucks were parked nearby. From this high up Dex could see the glint of several campfires throughout the fair grounds. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a mess of smells. I thought I&rsquo;d be able to move more freely after hours but turns out nighttime is party time for half the crew; I had to be even more careful not to be spotted.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex bit his lip. &ldquo;Did you pick up Twitch, though?&rdquo;<br /><br />Jax nodded. &ldquo;All over the place. And I spent a lot of time on the perimeter; he hasn&rsquo;t left. I&rsquo;m sure of it. The fresher smells are all inside.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex drew the paintball gun, firing two pellets over Jax&rsquo;s shoulder to mark the tree behind him, at the top of the path down the hill, with a large yellow splatter. He had been doing that whenever Jax reported back with a confirmation of Twitchy&rsquo;s trail, so any of the boys would be able to retrace it easily. As he reholstered the gun, he asked, &ldquo;Well, why hasn&rsquo;t he made contact yet? And where is he in there?&rdquo; The coon gestured vaguely. &ldquo;That place is huge.&rdquo;<br /><br />The Plott hound shook his head. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a circus, Dex. Literally. Odor mess like you wouldn&rsquo;t believe. And I&rsquo;m an air scenter. He&rsquo;s in that fairground. That&rsquo;s what I can tell you. You want a ground trail through all that you find me a bloodhound for Wilderness 1.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex nodded thoughtfully, surveying the sprawling campsite. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re working on it. Till then you&rsquo;re the best nose Baby Blue&rsquo;s got.&rdquo;<br /><br />Jax wrinkled his face as he looked at the cloth poking out over the waist of Dex&rsquo;s pants. &ldquo;And believe me on this team it&rsquo;s a mixed blessing,&rdquo; the dog replied pointedly, then he reached into his pockets, pulling out a miniature tape deck. &ldquo;I did find an auditory that I want a second ear to confirm on.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex blinked. &ldquo;You carry a tape recorder? Why?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s to record bird calls,&rdquo; Jax fidgeted, and looked down at his footpaws bashfully. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t tell Ace. He says birding only exists so girls can have a wilderness sport.&rdquo; Then he added petulantly, &ldquo;Because fishing is soooo exciting. . .&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;So much foreplay. I wish you two would just pitch a tent somewhere secluded and get it over with.&rdquo; Dex rolled his eyes and waved his paw. &ldquo;Play your stupid thing.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;This was looping on the PA outside that pavilion there right up until the circus closed for the night,&rdquo; the dog explained, pointing, and then clicked on his tape recorder. A tinny, recorded voice announced, with what sounded like a drum roll in the background, &ldquo;Ladies and gentlefurs, *tap tap tap* step right in to see the one *thump* the only *thump* master of mysteries, *thump* impresario of illusions, *tap tap tap* Alphonse the Amazing. Every hour on the hour. Ladies and gentlefurs . . .&rdquo; The hound clicked the tape recorder off and looked at Dex meaningfully. &ldquo;Did you hear it?&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex narrowed his eyes. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a drum roll or something in the background. I guess it&rsquo;s supposed to sound climactic.&rdquo; He clapped his paws&mdash;lightly, tap tap tap&mdash;heavily, clap clap clap&mdash;lightly, tap tap tap&mdash;and shook his head. &ldquo;He sure has a bad sense of rhythm, though, whoever it is.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;No he doesn&rsquo;t.&rdquo; Jax shook his head and tugged on his Boy Scout sash, pointing to a badge with two crossed signal flags on it. &ldquo;You just clapped SOS in Morse code.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Next time: Dex has a lead on his missing friend! But is the coon losing control of his team&mdash;and himself? What&rsquo;s been eating him, anyway?<br /></em><br /><strong>\fEpisode 2. Flying Solo <br /></strong><br />&ldquo;Why did he have a tape recorder?&rdquo; the lynx on the other end of the two-way radio asked suspiciously.<br /><br />Dex and Jax sat in a clearing in the middle of the woods, where the bright noontime sun shone down on them. After a fitful morning&rsquo;s rest, they had backtracked to the nearest site where they had clear reception.<br /><br />Dex had been skeptical when the two ex-Boy Scouts had started running so many seemingly pointless recon missions, but between Ace and Jax the boys now had not only trails, but also a radio map that covered most of the wooded area within a days&rsquo; walk of any of their hideouts, so they knew good and bad signal zones. Patrolling boys made an effort to pass through good ones periodically and check in with Hideout #4 so even remote patrols could remain in contact. Earlier that morning Dex had passed a message through Kyle requesting that Ace move in range for an emergency radio conference, and a returned message had confirmed a time.<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not important,&rdquo; Dex answered curtly, pulling down the brim of his cowboy hat to keep the sun out of his eyes, and fidgeting with the sheriff badge pinned to his yellow karate outfit.<br /><br />He had pinned it next to the gold badge with the letters &ldquo;BB&rdquo; over a pair of crossed safety pins that identified him as a member of the Secret Circle, the highest echelon of the diaper-loving boys&rsquo; fraternity Baby Blue, dedicated to the celebration and propagation of all forms of boyish behavior and to an ongoing war against the dangerous forces of sissification that had claimed so many of the city&rsquo;s helpless age players&mdash;the pink forces now headquartered in Empress Calliope&rsquo;s Academy for Special Boys.<br /><br />&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s recap what is important. One, our changing supply chain has been disrupted. Two, Twitchy and Squeak, that&rsquo;s our whole tech team, went missing on a routine mission to check on all the caches and diaper drop locations and figure out why stuff was disappearing. Three, according to Jax, they&rsquo;re in the middle of a circus ground, throughout which someone is broadcasting a coded distress signal,&rdquo; Dex continued, counting the facts on his fingers. &ldquo;Our course of action is clear. I&rsquo;m pulling all available boys for a search and rescue mission. We all go in there as circus guests, break off into cells of two or three, and we do a top-to-bottom search of the place. Another cell will always be a bark away if anyone needs help.&rdquo;<br /><br />There was a long pause. Jax shook his head anxiously. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not on board, Dex,&rdquo; Ace answered over the radio.<br /><br />&ldquo;What do you mean you&rsquo;re not on board?&rdquo; the flustered raccoon asked poutily, flicking his paw at Jax to indicate his annoyance. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s spring break. Roger and Rian are out of the country and Twitch and Squeak are missing. Don&rsquo;t make me pull rank. I&rsquo;m the only Circle member in play. But anyway Baby Blue tactical missions are my responsibility.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;And hideout defense is mine,&rdquo; Ace answered. &ldquo;Roger and Rian aren&rsquo;t the only ones away for spring break. We&rsquo;re down to one boy in most of the hideouts, a skeleton patrol crew, and we have a pinch-hitter on comm who&rsquo;s in way over his head. I&rsquo;m not comfortable leaving the hideouts unmanned. That&rsquo;s just asking for the academy girls to swoop in. What will the prospects think if we come back to find all our bases redecorated? Or walk into another sissification trap for the whole team? We&rsquo;d never have another recruit again! Might as well paint the whole town pink.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;For the last time, Ace,&rdquo; Dex paused to stick his tongue out at the radio before continuing his answer, &ldquo;the sissy academy is as shortpawed during break as we are. That&rsquo;s why we called a break-long truce. I was there myself, I saw Roger and the Headmistress, and Rian and Cassandra, shake on it.&rdquo;<br /><br />Jax shook his head more urgently, holding up his thumb and his index finger in the shape of an L and thrusting it backwards and forwards into Dex&rsquo;s face.<br /><br />&ldquo;Truce shmuce,&rdquo; Ace shot back over the radio. &ldquo;Not all the pink team leaders are on vacation and I don&rsquo;t trust any pawshake as long as she&rsquo;s in play. I&rsquo;d bet you my last box of wipes she&rsquo;s somehow behind this whole thing, and is just waiting for us to send everyone in there and leave our bases defenseless. Well maybe you don&rsquo;t get tired of it, Dex, but I&rsquo;m not going to be made a fool of again. And I bet Jax will say the same thing, just with more crying. Give me a plan B.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Give us a minute, Ace.&rdquo; Dex cut out and crossed his arms, gesturing to Jax. &ldquo;Can you believe this? Do you think he would talk that way to Rian?&rdquo;<br /><br />When Jax just looked down at the grass Dex sighed gloomily. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s you too, huh? Ever since I led everyone into the girls&rsquo; trap in that gym . . .&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;No, Dex,&rdquo; Jax looked back up and, leaning forward, put his paws on the thighs of the raccoon, who was sitting seiza-style. &ldquo;None of that was your fault. It&rsquo;s just&mdash;how have you been feeling since the break started? Is something bothering you? Are you okay? Do you really feel up to calling the shots on a rescue mission? Ace and I can run this one if you want to take a breather. Really. Practice for your black belt test. Do some schoolwork. Take it easy.&rdquo;<br /><br />The raccoon blinked, taken aback. &ldquo;What do you mean am I okay? Take a breather? What are you saying, Jax?&rdquo;<br /><br />Jax took a deep breath. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just&mdash;you&rsquo;re the last fur I&rsquo;d expect to take the sissy team at their word! We other field boys count on you to stick up for us in those Circle meetings. Especially now that Rian is&mdash;&rdquo; the dog screwed up his face in a distasteful expression as he uttered the next word, &ldquo;dating&mdash;one of them. I know you&rsquo;re upset about it, too. And your black belt exam is coming up. Now Roger and Rian are on vacation, and Twitchy has gone missing, those are the only three furs you let take care of you, when you&mdash;&rdquo; Dex glared at him, but Jax said it anyway, &ldquo;when you regress to a little kit. That by itself would be a lot on any diaper boy&rsquo;s plate. You&rsquo;ve hardly slept the whole time we&rsquo;ve been tracking Twitch, and every time you do you have&mdash;accidents&mdash;&rdquo; The hound tapped his nose. &ldquo;You&rsquo;d need more than chlorophyll to hide it from me. Plus you&rsquo;ve been wearing that stupid hat the whole time, which is like something Rian would wear&mdash;not you.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Rian gave me this hat,&rdquo; the raccoon answered defensively, tilting it down over his eyes and biting his lip. &ldquo;He said it might soften up my look. He should know; he has like a kajillion outfits.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just it, Dex,&rdquo; Jax sighed. &ldquo;You used to make fun of Rian&rsquo;s outfits. Your look was fine. And suddenly you&rsquo;re insecure about it. Sunglasses last week. Cowboy hat this week. You know, Ace and I didn&rsquo;t switch to wearing cloth at home because of Rian. We did it because we looked up to you. War paint and everything.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex fidgeted uncomfortably and chewed on three of his fingers for a moment. Then he snatched up the radio and pressed the button. &ldquo;All right, Ace,&rdquo; he said calmly. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s your plan B. Let&rsquo;s test the truce. And let&rsquo;s test me, since those are the two things everyone around here seems to be unsure about.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I can use it to take the biggest threat to the boys&rsquo; team into that fairground with me. If she has nothing to do with this, I have a gut feeling she wouldn&rsquo;t pass up a chance to rescue Twitchy just to show him up and prove she&rsquo;s smarter than he is. At least, I can sell it to her that way. And if that worked for real the two of us are as good as a team of ten boys. If she is behind it, well&mdash;she won&rsquo;t pass up the chance to get me alone. But I&rsquo;ll be ready, and I&rsquo;ll take her captive. It&rsquo;s too risky to involve anyone else, so I&rsquo;ll run it solo. &ldquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Either way, she&rsquo;ll be out of play within 48 hours, and you&rsquo;ll get a signal from me. Then you should be comfortable following the paintball trail and moving the whole team in after us. If you hear nothing in that time, well you run whatever skimpy rescue team you want. Personally, I&rsquo;m not willing to pull punches when it comes to Twitch&rsquo;s safety.&rdquo;<br /><br />He handed the radio to Jax and stood up, starting to make his way back down the hill in the direction of the nearest hideout. The radio crackled. &ldquo;Did he just say what I think he said?&rdquo; a stunned Ace asked. &ldquo;I know Dex is charming when he wants to be but does he really think&mdash;?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh, you idiot,&rdquo; Jax cut him off, answering into the radio as he smacked his forehead. &ldquo;Now see what you&rsquo;ve started. Why are you always so insensitive? You had to go and make him mad.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be silly,&rdquo; the cat answered. &ldquo;Dex pouts and glares but he never really gets mad. Say,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;why did you have a tape recorder?&rdquo;<br /><br />******************<br /><br />&ldquo;To answer your anticipated question,&rdquo; the petite panda, wearing a purple leotard, addressed the five dress-wearing diaperfurs who stood alone in the middle of the large gym, watching her apprehensively as she folded her paws behind her back and paced back and forth, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re here during spring break because you five are in borderline territory, and I am less lenient, or as I prefer to say, more devoted, than your other instructors.&rdquo;<br /><br />She rounded on one of them sharply and suddenly. &ldquo;Alexandra,&rdquo; she glared up into the eyes of a taller, quivering bear. &ldquo; Playing with a Game Boy during home ec. Are you serious about feminization, Alexandra?&rdquo;<br /><br />The bear shook. &ldquo;Y-y-yes, Lady Lin Lin,&rdquo; she squeaked out, then added, &ldquo;ma&rsquo;am. I . . . I am a baby . . . girl bear.&rdquo; She looked down at the floor. &ldquo;My daddy brought me here and he maded me take the test and he says so. He says it&rsquo;s real &lsquo;portant for me to do what my teachers here say. To make myselfs ready for him, before he&rsquo;ll go inside &lsquo;a me.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Sports are one thing. A girl&rsquo;s body is as important&mdash;no, more important&mdash;to her than a boy&rsquo;s, but videogames,&rdquo; Lin Lin shook her head. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no excuse to be made there. <br /><br />&ldquo;And Alexandra&mdash;&rdquo; she gripped the bear&rsquo;s muzzle and stared up into her eyes, &ldquo;Really? A sissy name that allows you to still go by your boys&rsquo; name, huh? Do you really think, just because we&rsquo;ve let it slide up until now, that anyone teaching here is fooled by that old trick? I&rsquo;m starting to think you&rsquo;re a blue spy. But you&rsquo;re a little too dumb even for that. Your posture&rsquo;s terrible too. Stand up straight.&rdquo;<br /><br />The bear stiffened as Lin Lin released her muzzle and continued speaking. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be contacting your caretaker to discuss remedial measures he can apply at home and to suggest alternative names. In your case I&rsquo;ll be recommending something like Muffy or Mimi or Tam Tam that you won&rsquo;t be able to pull a boys&rsquo; name out of. You,&rdquo; she said firmly, slapping the bear&rsquo;s wrist as she started to open her muzzle in protest, &ldquo;have no say in the matter and will learn your new name when you see it printed on a collar or engraved on a keepsake locket. Until then you don&rsquo;t have one, and you&rsquo;ll answer to &lsquo;girl&rsquo;, &lsquo;sissy bear,&rsquo; or anything reasonably similar.&rdquo; There was chortling from some of the other girls.<br /><br />Lin Lin resumed pacing and readdressed herself to the group. &ldquo;And the rest of you have no right to snicker! A whole list of nasty offenses. Weakness of will. Pawing without permission&mdash;a little sissy student always needs permission. Even if you need to ask somefur in the hall at random, that&rsquo;s better than . . . indulging . . . on your own. If we weren&rsquo;t so short on tubes. . .&rdquo; She pursed her lips thoughtfully and wheeled on a golden retriever, who had looked visibly relieved when she mentioned the lack of chastity devices.<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t worry, Kitty!&rdquo; she snapped at the dog, renamed on &lsquo;his&rsquo; enrollment with deliberate irony. &ldquo;Here&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ll do for you instead. Since I have better&mdash;and less depressing&mdash;things to do than watch your pitiful imitation of girlhood all day, for the rest of break, you&rsquo;ll need the permission of your fellow remedial classmates each time you want to paw.&rdquo;<br /><br />She smirked. &ldquo;All four of them. I&rsquo;m guessing they&rsquo;ll each want to be satisfactorily relieved first. Maybe in a couple different ways. So I hope you&rsquo;re prepared to deliver&mdash;at a minimum&mdash;four orgasms for each one you get to have from now on. You&rsquo;ll be wearing a little punch card on your collar just so you can&rsquo;t lie to anyone about how close you are to your next treat. And we&rsquo;ll run a buddy system so at no time will you be sleeping, changing, or going into the restroom alone. Don&rsquo;t even think about it.&rdquo;<br /><br />Her eyes narrowed as the dog sunk to her knees dejectedly under Lin Lin&rsquo;s stern gaze and wet her diaper in fear. &ldquo;Because I won&rsquo;t be as nice about this offense the next time. And your teammates will be able to reduce their own punishments if they do catch you sneaking off like that. If you do, girls&mdash;just send pics to my cell phone. Sissy bear here will be your bathroom and bedroom buddy first.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Moving on, one of you,&rdquo; this time the panda lifted a dodge ball from the supply bin along the gym wall and the girls all cringed, &ldquo;said that girls are weaker than boys. Maybe more submissive sometimes, but weaker? Girls can take pain that boys can&rsquo;t imagine. Whether it means having a cub or, for one of you posers, having a bigger fur . . . maybe two bigger furs . . . inside you.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You have to get used to taking a little bit of pain . . . Brianna!&rdquo; she whirled and threw the ball, hard, at a slight fox attempting to hide behind two others in the back, who fell flat on the ground and burst loudly into tears as the ball rolled over her and off across the floor. Lin Lin shook her head. &ldquo;Falling on the floor and crying like a baby. That definitely makes me think your boyhood will never be washed out. A girl takes everything in stride. On the other paw, I know a boy who every time he loses a fight . . .&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Yo, triple L!&rdquo;<br /><br />The panda quivered suddenly and pivoted as the dodge ball whizzed back at her from the opposite side of the gym, raising both her paws and catching it with a loud smack; it had been thrown hard enough that the front of her paws stung.<br /><br />&ldquo;Look at that! You&rsquo;ve still got it!&rdquo; called the raccoon, still wearing his yellow martial arts gi, with the cowboy hat hanging on a cord around his neck, and waving cheerily as he approached.<br /><br />He made his way past the surprised girls and sat down on the lower tier of the bleachers, settling in comfortably and assuming the pose of an interested spectator as he flashed the panda a wide smile. &ldquo;And it sounds like you miss me.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Next time: Triple L: Dex may need to put on more than a smile to convince the boys&rsquo; biggest enemy to help him out! What&rsquo;s with the nickname? And&mdash;what&rsquo;s up inside that circus?<br /></em><br /><strong>Episode 3. Triple L<br /></strong><br />Lin Lin glared at her visitors with all the ferocity that a petite girly panda could muster. &ldquo;What did you call me?&rdquo; she asked.<br /><br />&ldquo;Triple L,&rdquo; Dex explained brightly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s short for Lady Lin Lin. Get it? It&rsquo;s a nickname! An affectionate one, of course. It is still Lady, and not Princess, right?&rdquo;<br /><br />Lin Lin ignored the question and, without removing her eyes from Dex, thrust the dodge ball across the gym and into the opposite wall with a loud bang. &ldquo;Why are you here?&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex grinned. &ldquo;Worried you&rsquo;d be lonely. There&rsquo;s a rumor going around that the Headmistress and Cassandra are treating Serafina on a deluxe spa trip to smooth over any lingering hard feelings. Drag that your invitation was lost in the mail. Thought it might make you feel better to pick on a boy for a little while. Pink and blue are supposed to help each other out during the truce, after all. And you and I are the highest-ranking team leaders still stuck in town. So we can commiserate about being ditched. Say, your English is getting better all the time.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;It was always better than your Chinese,&rdquo; the panda said frostily.<br /><br />&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t speak&mdash;&rdquo; Dex laughed jovially, &ldquo;Oh, I get it.&rdquo;<br /><br />She rolled her eyes. &ldquo;Girls,&rdquo; she said to the confused and still trembling sissy trainees, the edge of her lip beginning to turn up in a wicked smile. &ldquo;This is a special treat. Meet the star athelete&mdash;though hardly, as you may have gathered, the sharpest mind&mdash;of Baby Blue. Since he appears to want something from me, maybe he&rsquo;ll humor all of you with a demonstration of his talents. One that will prove my point.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex leaned forward and tilted his head, his tail flicking. &ldquo;Sounds like fun. If I do it will you do something for me?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh yes,&rdquo; Lin Lin smiled. &ldquo;Reasonable assistance is a condition of the truce. On the off chance, of course, that you pass.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;This gym is only part of my classroom.&rdquo; The panda pointed to the back door. &ldquo;You heard what I said about endurance and taking things in stride. A real sissy needs to do that with poise and a certain&mdash;naturalness of demeanor. All my girls have to run an obstacle course out back in under five minutes that requires a wide range of movement and considerable maneuverability in various positions&mdash;jumping on a trampoline, climbing, crawling through tunnels, hopping, skipping, spinning, diving, you name it.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;And they have to do it cheerily smiling the whole time, with a nice curtsy at the end. It proves to me they&rsquo;re truly comfortable as girls. Of course,&rdquo; she turned to the girls for backup, as their curiosity mounted, &ldquo;since Dex here is a star&mdash;not to mention a died-in-the-wool, gum-chewing, plays-in-the-dirt boy&mdash;I&rsquo;m certain he could easily run the course in less than our current record time.&rdquo; As she spoke, she padded over to the locker room and eyed Dex&rsquo;s body from head to toe appraisingly.<br /><br />Dex squinted and bit his lip. This would be easier to pull off than he thought. The panda really was too pumped up on girl power if she thought he couldn&rsquo;t do that. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m missing something, but why not? Besides the curtsying and twirling stuff, that doesn&rsquo;t sound so bad.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Excellent!&rdquo; Lin Lin pushed open the door to the girls&rsquo; locker room with a wide grin and reached inside to pull out a rack of adult-sized frilly and babyish dresses. She rested her paw on a purple one with ruffles, ribbons around the middle that looked like corset ties, and a hoop skirt&mdash;a dress that looked not only remarkably babyish, but also remarkably constrictive. &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; she said archly, as she took it off the rack, &ldquo;there needs to be a fair basis of comparison.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex gritted his teeth. &ldquo;Twitch,&rdquo; he muttered, &ldquo;let&rsquo;s both hope you&rsquo;re in less trouble now than you&rsquo;re going to be in when I find you.&rdquo;<br /><br />**********<br /><br />Science officer&rsquo;s log. Stardate: Nine Eleventy Billion. Point Three. I write this to accept sole responsibility for the failure of our away mission, and in what may be my last act as a commissioned Starfleet officer, to recommend a commendation for Lieutenant Squeak. It is thanks to him that we solved the mystery of our vanishing supplies. Right after he reported back to me with photographic evidence of our suspicions, I, on the other paw, did what a commanding officer should never do. I violated the Prime Directive, by openly criticizing the primitive religion of this pre-warp planet&mdash;which resulted in our capture before we were able to relay our findings to Deep Space 4. At present . . .<br /><br />&ldquo;Hi, Twitchy,&rdquo; said Alphonse the gloomy weasel in his habitually depressed tone as he stepped into the trailer and tossed a bag of diapers and a box of wipes through the bars of the large animal cage that held the bunny. &ldquo;That should keep you for a while.&rdquo;<br /><br />The bag landed with a soft thud next to the white, denim-clad rabbit with a pair of safety goggles settled askew on his forehead, who was scribbling the log entry in his notebook by the light of a flashlight held in his opposite paw. His right foot was handcuffed to one of the bars at the far end of the cage. The rabbit dropped the flashlight and jerked to look up at his visitor, his whiskers twitching angrily as the melancholy weasel, who wore a magician&rsquo;s hat and a long black cape with gold stars on it, over a cheap imitation of a semiformal outfit, turned and started to trudge away.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hey wait!&rdquo; Twitchy shouted. &ldquo;We had a deal! I fixed your sound system and made your loudspeaker so it can keep looping the same announcement. But I told you nothing else on that list gets done until I see my partner! Are you all new at this villain thing anyway? You&rsquo;re supposed to ask me to do one big thing for you so we can argue about it. Not a whole long list of petty things that would take like five weeks. That&rsquo;s not bargaining, it&rsquo;s just slave labor.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Alphonse!&rdquo; said a booming voice. &ldquo;What are you doing back here again, you failure?! You&rsquo;re not done yet! Jack sprained his ankle so I need you on the evening shows tonight too! You&rsquo;re in the big top as a substitute clown in 10 minutes! Try to look happy out there!&rdquo;<br /><br />The weasel slumped dejectedly and addressed Twitchy over his shoulder, &ldquo;Welcome,&rdquo; the mustelid magician said gloomily to the rabbit before he exited the trailer, &ldquo;to the circus, Twitchy.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;As for you,&rdquo; the large, brawny white tiger cracked at the light switch with his whip, flicking on a row of light bulbs screwed into the trailer&rsquo;s ceiling. He spoke in an assertive, resounding announcer&rsquo;s voice that echoed off its metal walls. &ldquo;Your pet mouse is fine. It does seem like neither one of you will try to run off without the other. So I think I&rsquo;ll keep you apart so you can work off the debt a little more efficiently. And that bag is being added to your tab.&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy raised his head defiantly even though he was on his stomach with one foot chained behind him and one of his long, white ears flopped down over his eyes, and waved his flashlight at the ringmaster threateningly. &ldquo;Squeak&rsquo;s not my pet! He&rsquo;s my friend! And those diapers were never yours to begin with! You&rsquo;ve been stealing them from our supply stations in the woods. But you crossed the wrong rabbit this time. I know what you&rsquo;re up to here. You&rsquo;re not really keeping me to pay back that money. It&rsquo;s because you saw the pictures Squeak took when I dropped my camera and you were scared.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;That whole tent is full of stuff&mdash;the rubber and latex costumes, the leather stuff, the nursery supplies, the leashes and collars and riding equipment. I bet none of it&rsquo;s yours. Half those boxes still had packing labels on them! I don&rsquo;t know if you&rsquo;re using it or selling it, but I bet you snatch stuff like that wherever you find it and count on the furs you take it from being too scared or embarrassed to report it! Is that right? Why else wouldn&rsquo;t you give me my camera and my walkie talkie back?&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy pointed his flashlight directly up into the ringmaster&rsquo;s face and blinked it on and off at him like he was firing a weapon, but the lights in the trailer were too bright for the flashes to bother the tiger. &ldquo;Well you&rsquo;re in for it now! My friends and I aren&rsquo;t embarrassed about our diapers and we want them back. Just you wait until Dex and the other boys get here! Then you&rsquo;ll be sorry you didn&rsquo;t play nice with me.&rdquo;<br /><br />&nbsp;The tiger tipped his black ringmaster&rsquo;s top hat to Twitchy with one paw and replaced his whip in the holster on his black leather belt. &ldquo;An engineer and a detective. I was afraid you might start jumping to crazy conclusions like that. Quite an imagination. I guess spy isn&rsquo;t on your resume, though, or you&rsquo;d know how to keep a lower profile.&rdquo; The tiger shook his head. &ldquo;I had to refund every ticket after the commotion you caused at that magic show. So many upset parents. I really hate complainers. People are so cheap, they&rsquo;ll take any excuse to get their money back. And now we have to fix half of Alphonse&rsquo;s stuff. It&rsquo;s just like when you can&rsquo;t pay the bill in a restaurant, young man; you get put in the kitchen to help wash the dishes. It will take more than a loudspeaker to cover the cost of all those tickets. Besides, you&rsquo;re such a smart little rabbit. I thought you would jump at the chance to help that clown college reject build a better show.&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy gritted his teeth and flicked his whiskers as he recalled the fiasco with chagrin. &lsquo;Oh, come on! Someone must feel brave today! Yes! You in the back who just stood up! You&rsquo;re our audience volunteer!&rsquo; Alphonse boomed from the stage as the spotlight settled on the rabbit.<br /><br />&lsquo;What?!&rsquo; Twitchy looked around in a panic; he had hopped up because his partner, the pocket-sized mouse Squeak, had just reported back and run up his pant leg, replacing the rabbit&rsquo;s pen-sized digital camera in his pocket. &lsquo;No, that&rsquo;s not&mdash;&rsquo; Twitchy hung his head. It might call less attention to them if he just played along. It couldn&rsquo;t take more than five minutes.<br /><br />The weasel hesitated a moment before he boomed out cheerily, &lsquo;Well, you look a bit big for the circus, but it takes all kinds! Who knows, maybe we&rsquo;ll actually have a halfway decent show for a change&mdash;heh, I&rsquo;m just kidding, folks! Come on up on stage, young man! Show these kits they have nothing to be afraid of and maybe some will raise their paws for the next trick. There, there you go,&rsquo; he patted the rabbit on the back as Twitchy bit his lip and made his way past the giggling cubs in the audience up onto the stage. &lsquo;So why did you come here today . . .&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;Twitchy,&rsquo; the rabbit said, shaking his paw. &lsquo;Well you might not believe this, Mr. Alphonse,&rsquo; he fidgeted with the goggles on his forehead, starting to relax and even to feel a little excited (smart as he was, Twitchy was still just as enthusiastic an age player as his Baby Blue brothers, after all), &lsquo;but I wanted to be a magician when I was a cub. I used to love magic shows. It&rsquo;s what first got me interested in engineering. I used to watch them again and again, until I had figured out how everything works! So when I saw there was one here I thought, why not pop in back for one performance and . . . &rsquo;<br /><br />Alphonse smiled and cut him off. &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t figure out magic, Twitchy!&rsquo; The weasel turned to the audience and waved his wand theatrically, twirling his cape. &lsquo;You just have to believe!&rsquo;<br /><br />He wouldn&rsquo;t have felt it ordinarily, but the rabbit&rsquo;s large ears could hear a slight crinkle as the weasel&rsquo;s free paw, using his cape as a cover, brushed against the rabbit&rsquo;s pocket.<br /><br />&lsquo;Sure you can!&rsquo; Twitchy said brightly, starting to get carried away and rocking on his heels. His tail began wiggling, and he was heedless of the mouse in his pants tugging on his waistband anxiously. &lsquo;Why, no wonder all these kids look bored if you keep telling them that! Figuring it out is the fun part! Like I bet just now, when everyone was distracted on one side by you waving your wand and on the other by you reaching over to my pocket behind your cape, and thought you put something in there, you were really doing something somewhere else on stage like . . .&rsquo;<br /><br />The rabbit reached into his pocket and pulled out a long white handkerchief, that seemed to keep coming, and stumbled backward as the panicking weasel tried to hush him. His large foot caught on one of the cords running across the stage, and the rabbit tumbled backward, knocking over the covered black table in the center, along with an upturned top hat on it. He fell flat on his back as a trap door that had been directly beneath the covered table sprang open and a flurry of doves flew out of it, and the top hat rolled off the table along the front of the stage, revealing to the audience that the top of it swung open on a hinge.<br /><br />Twitchy, beet red, looked up at the horrified magician, who was frantically collecting or covering all the things, including, unbeknownst to either at the time, Twitchy&rsquo;s digital camera and his walkie talkie, that had been dropped on stage, while he tried to stamp the compartments that had sprung open closed with his feet.<br /><br />&lsquo;Or . . .&rsquo; Twitchy finished, abashed and still sprawled on the stage, as half the cubs in the audience began jeering and the other half burst into tears, &lsquo;this could just be a really bad magic show.&rsquo;<br /><br />**********<br /><br />Dex hastened through the waist-high hedge maze, walking as briskly as he could with the small steps his tightly laced outfit permitted and with both paws on his skirt to keep it from snagging on any brambles. He kept an increasingly pained smile on his face, as Lin Lin and her previously glum students watched him with growing enjoyment.<br /><br />Then he skipped through ten hopscotch courses, bypassing only the marked square on each one, and found he had to let go of the skirt, letting it blow in the air, and hold out both his arms to keep his balance being on only one paw for so long. Then he made the final hop, up onto a trampoline from which, after several bounces, he had to leap through a wooden hoop suspended on a pole six feet above the ground; an easy jump for him to make with assistance but he winced when he leapt through as he heard the hoop of his skirt click against the side of the hoop.<br /><br />Oh no! I hope my dress is okay, he thought, I hope none of the ruffles got caught or torn! What if one did and the girls notice? I&rsquo;ll look like a fool. They&rsquo;ll all laugh at me. I might even fail. Oh, it better still look just as frilly as . . . Is this what girls always feel like? Even though he was only thinking of his chances to pass the challenge and rescue Twitchy, his stomach churned in revulsion that the words crossed his mind. <br /><br />He landed triumphantly on his toes directly on an X pointed on the ground, and looked down as he curtsied, both to conceal the fact that his jaw was clenched and to make sure the dress was unscathed. Oh thank goodness, not a snag. It still looks just like new. As pretty as ever, he thought with relief as he smoothed the skirt out, then shuddered involuntarily at his own train of thought. &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; he said as sweetly as he could manage before he righted himself, &ldquo;Lady Lin Lin.&rdquo;<br /><br />His heard jerked up as he heard a loud snap and he saw the panda holding a digital camera. She had caught him just at the moment he was fussing with his skirt during the curtsy.<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s going straight on our class webpage,&rdquo; she said with a wide grin. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to treasure it for a very long time.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex let his phony smile fall away, resumed his natural posture, and looked at his watch. &ldquo;Two minutes,&rdquo; he said stonily, &ldquo;and thirty seconds.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Two minutes and forty-five seconds,&rdquo; Lin Lin corrected him as she pressed the stop button on her own. &ldquo;I heard that tap and it&rsquo;s a fifteen second penalty.&rdquo; She paused and looked at the ground, kicking up a clod of dirt as she admitted with a sigh. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s still a record.&rdquo;<br /><br />She resumed her snide tone quickly, though. &ldquo;Congratulations, Dex. You&rsquo;re a natural. I&rsquo;m even willing to let you keep your dress as a souvenir&mdash;since you seem so attached to it. Maybe your cubby wolf friend would like you better in it. That does seem to be . . . his thing.&rdquo; The girls behind her tittered and whispered to each other, this time with her tacit encouragement. The raccoon had already unlaced the five corset straps and let out a long breath as he expanded to his regular bulk. He pulled it off over his head. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s my turn. Start packing,&rdquo; he said coolly as he threw the girly outfit in a crumpled mass at Lin Lin&rsquo;s feet, standing there in his undershirt and his thickly layered cloth diapers as he walked over to the side of the course and retrieved his karate outfit.<br /><br />&ldquo;We have roughly a day&rsquo;s walk ahead of us and it&rsquo;s already past three. I can&rsquo;t waste any more time here. I think Twitchy is in real trouble. I&rsquo;ll explain more on the way.&rdquo; He glared at her. &ldquo;And be nice. I won&rsquo;t talk mean about you.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;The bunny? All right. . . A deal is a deal, I&rsquo;ll go. This lot behind me is fairly hopeless anyway. Two or three days more or less won&rsquo;t make a difference.&rdquo; Lin Lin tilted her head and looked at the suddenly serious raccoon with mild curiosity, shaking her head as he got dressed. &ldquo;What would you even know about me to talk mean about, Dexie? That I suffered one humiliating defeat in that gym, and that I don&rsquo;t like the fact one of my superiors is dating one of yours?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;There, see, it should be a piece of cake to make civil conversation,&rdquo; Dex said with a grin as his head popped out of his karate uniform and he thrust his arms out of its sleeves. &ldquo;We already have so much in common.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Next time: The first joint pink and blue mission&mdash;is a go! Dex and Lin Lin are about to hit the road&mdash;the circus&mdash;and the big time!<br /></em><br /><strong>\fEpisode 4. A Walk in the Woods<br /></strong><br /><em>Two years earlier.</em><br /><br />Dex let his footpaws dangle in the brook as he stared down into its running water. To his left, a pair of crutches leaned against a tree. &ldquo;I understand, Dad,&rdquo; he calmly answered the larger raccoon standing behind him, whose paw was resting on his shoulder. &ldquo;After all, the scholarship depended on me being able to compete at a &mdash; certain level from the beginning. It&rsquo;s not your fault.&rdquo;<br /><br />He reached one paw to his shoulder and squeezed his father&rsquo;s forepaw supportively, without looking up. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you and Mom worry about it. City College will be fine.&rdquo;<br /><br />*************************<br /><br />Lin Lin, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she crawled out of her sleeping bag, made her way to the outskirts of their open-air campsite and watched the raccoon incredulously.<br /><br />Dawn had just broken, and Dex was crouched by the edge of the stream, wearing his cowboy hat and the top of his karate gi but with his bottom half uncovered, humming to himself softly and rubbing his used cloth diaper vigorously against a small wooden washing board and a large chunk of aromatic herbal soap against both of them. His bulky, opened backpack lay nearby, and a small pawbrush with rough, rigid bristles lay about six inches away from him.<br /><br />The coon&rsquo;s ears flicked as she approached. &ldquo;Sorry if I woke you, Triple L,&rdquo; he said without looking up. &ldquo;Had trouble sleeping. We don&rsquo;t need to move out yet. If you want to go back to bed we can pick up the paintball trail in an hour or so.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Well I&rsquo;m up now.&rdquo; The panda yawned and blinked incredulously, shaking her head. &ldquo;We might as well get going when you&rsquo;re done with . . . that. I just know I&rsquo;m going to regret asking this, but what is it exactly that you&rsquo;re doing?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Paying my debt to the planet,&rdquo; Dex said seriously, and he continued scrubbing and humming.<br /><br />The panda pulled on a light pink Hello Kitty sweater over the tee shirt she had slept in and retrieved her pink Velcro jogging sneakers. &ldquo;I suppose that&rsquo;s also why you wouldn&rsquo;t take any of the spaghetti-and-meatball rations from the academy?&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex still didn&rsquo;t look up. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t eat meat,&rdquo; he said with mild impatience. &ldquo;Yes, same reason. Its environmental impact.&rdquo; He resumed humming and tried to ignore her.<br /><br />Lin Lin squinted at him as she sat down on a stump to put her sneakers on. &ldquo;You are even weirder than I thought. Trust me, that&rsquo;s really saying something.&rdquo;<br /><br />She looked up at the dawn sun longingly and shook her head, thinking about the cadets she had let loose back at the academy. If only she could take them 24/7, she could make real girls out of them. There was only so much she could do with a class period here and there, and she was saddled with furs who thought the extent of being a sissy was putting on a dress for their boyfriends one night every few weeks.<br /><br />That&rsquo;s not why she had been so excited about the pink age players&rsquo; group, when she found it, or why she had been the very first to beg Calliope for a teaching position at the school. Sure, she knew there would be a lot of part-timers at the academy. But being transgendered was hard to admit, and she felt she had to be strict to keep the frivolous ones at bay long enough so that the few really serious ones might actually have a chance to step forward and voice what they wanted. If she could find just one or two in her time there, if she could help one fur make a real journey, it would be worth it. She could help someone transition with the kind of support that she . . . that usually couldn&rsquo;t be had. And in an environment where they could be made to feel, for as long as they were in her class at least, like a star, like the one fur who was doing everything right, instead of, well &mdash; an outcast.<br /><br />&ldquo;How did this happen?&rdquo; the still sleepy panda complained aloud. &ldquo;I should be second in command at that place. I work harder than anyone else there. Instead they&rsquo;re all on a spa trip and I&rsquo;m stuck in the woods with Mr. Seven Years Old in Tibet.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex chuckled involuntarily. &ldquo;Seven Years Old in Tibet. I kind of like that,&rdquo; he shot her a glance over his shoulder before he switched from using the washboard to scrubbing at spots on his cloth diaper with the laundry brush. &ldquo;Some of your better work, Triple L.&rdquo;<br /><br />She yawned. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re really that dead set against wearing disposables, can&rsquo;t you break role and go without any,&rdquo; she asked him, &ldquo;just for this trip?&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex shook his head as he continued scrubbing. &ldquo;Think you&rsquo;ve got them confused with the cowboy hat. These aren&rsquo;t a costume for me, Triple L,&rdquo; he said matter-of-factly. <br /><br />&ldquo;But don&rsquo;t worry. It&rsquo;s only little dribbles lately. As long as I&rsquo;m not&mdash;&rdquo; He glanced at her&mdash;&ldquo;you know&mdash;out of commission&mdash;the only serious stuff is nocturnal. So if I&rsquo;m out here I just sleep near the water. This is Baby Blue territory. We know where most of the streams are in these woods. If I can&rsquo;t find one, I can leave it in the pail at one of our changing stations and a patrol will pick it up. We&rsquo;ve made our woods totally diaper-safe.&rdquo; He frowned. &ldquo;At least, we thought we had, until our hidden supplies started disappearing. Now the whole system might be in jeopardy.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;But anyway, worst case scenario for me, there are odor-sealing bags in here,&rdquo; he kicked his backpack with one foot as he kept diligently scrubbing.<br /><br />&ldquo;Oh.&rdquo; The panda seemed genuinely at a loss for a moment. &ldquo;That all sounds . . . like a hassle. I&rsquo;m . . . sorry you don&rsquo;t have a choice about it,&rdquo; she said, coolly but not unkindly.<br /><br />Dex shook his head. &ldquo;Just explained because you asked. Not because I want your sympathy. We all have our stories.&rdquo; <br /><br />The coon stood up and began wringing out his diaper over the stream. &ldquo;&rsquo;I&rsquo;ll never assume any fur with our interests has had an easy path to us,&rsquo;&rdquo; he recited. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s Roger&rsquo;s First Rule.&rdquo; He unrolled and shook out the diaper, then rolled it up in the opposite direction, beginning to wring it out again. &ldquo;And part of the Baby Blue oath,&rdquo; he added proudly.<br /><br />He finished and folded it up, sticking it in one compartment of his backpack as he took out another one, laid it over the outer layers already spread on the forest floor, powdered the new diaper generously, and then laid down on the triple stack and re-diapered himself on the forest floor. He had only washed the inner of his three diapers; it would be too time-consuming, and hardly necessary given the extent of his last accident, to wash all three, although the middle one would certainly end up showing some stains. Lin Lin pretended not to be watching. Dex pinned up the corners and leg gathers of his layered diapers very carefully, a process that took several minutes, then slipped a pair of red plastic pants on over them.<br /><br />&ldquo;Goes for you too,&rdquo; he offered when she remained awkwardly silent, as he retrieved the bottom of his karate uniform from the rock where it lay and pulled it on. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re obviously a bright, multitalented Asian boy&mdash;or girl&mdash;I mean you&rsquo;re a panda, and really small, for a panda, no offense, and I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ve ever seen you changed, so I guess I never looked too closely into it. Pink is pink to me anyway. I don&rsquo;t mean to be too stereotypical, but you probably carry a lot of family expectations, I guess.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I hardly use them. It&rsquo;s more of a comfort thing. And I&rsquo;m a girl, thank you,&rdquo; Lin Lin snapped as the raccoon stood up and began repacking his backpack.<br /><br />Then, biting her lip as she watched Dex struggle to zip his elaborate supply kit closed, added, more gently, &ldquo;Well . . . now I am.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex let out a long, low whistle as he hoisted the backpack over his shoulders and picked up a walking stick he had left tilted against a nearby tree.<br /><br />&ldquo;What&rsquo;s that supposed to&mdash;?&rdquo; Lin Lin started to ask defensively.<br /><br />Dex cut off the panda by tussling her head and ears with one paw as he walked past her. &ldquo;Here I thought all this stuff about being better than your academy teammates was just talk,&rdquo; he said without looking back at her. &ldquo;But no wonder. You really don&rsquo;t do anything halfway, do you, Triple L? Trail continues up this way,&rdquo; he pressed on without a pause, pointing with his free paw. &ldquo;Get your stuff together, let&rsquo;s not linger.&rdquo;<br /><br />The panda stood up unsteadily and stared down at her Velcro sneakers, silent for a long, surprised minute while the raccoon made his way up the incline. &ldquo;Thanks. . .&rdquo; she whispered to her shoes, when she was reasonably sure he was out of earshot, slowly raising her eyes to look up after him, &ldquo;. . . Dex.&rdquo;<br /><br />The raccoon didn&rsquo;t hear her. Nor did they talk much, the rest of the way. Lin Lin was quiet and chewed on her lip for the rest of the walk as though she were rethinking something. Dex feigned absorption in following the trail. But in reality the raccoon was also lost, deep in thought, as his interrupted dream continued to play itself out.<br /><br />**********<br /><br /><em>Two years earlier.</em><br /><br />&ldquo;There&rsquo;s my favorite patient,&rdquo; the otter smiled and gestured for Dex to take a seat as he buzzed somebody.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hello, Doc,&rdquo; Dex said with a grin as he laid his crutches down on the examining table. &ldquo;I guess I&rsquo;m about done with these. So I&rsquo;ll trade them for some X-rays and we&rsquo;ll call it even.&rdquo;<br /><br />The otter nodded gently. &ldquo;Yes, but while you&rsquo;re here, Dex&mdash;Ah, there you are,&rdquo; he looked up as the door opened and motioned for the white-coated doe to step inside. &ldquo;Dr. Whitley, this is the fine young kit I was telling you about.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Hi Dex,&rdquo; the soft-spoken doe offered a welcoming smile, shaking the raccoon&rsquo;s paw gently. &ldquo;Have a seat. It&rsquo;s a genuine pleasure to meet you.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex lowered himself into a chair, carefully to make sure his tail slipped through the opening between the back and the seat, and looked from the otter to the doe inquisitively.<br /><br />&ldquo;Dex,&rdquo; the physician said good-humoredly as he stood up, &ldquo;Doctor Whitley is a different type of doctor than I am. I thought it might be good for you two to talk privately just for a bit while I work up those X-rays. Don&rsquo;t worry about talking about me, either, if you feel like it. I know I&rsquo;m not perfect! My wife never fails to remind me.&rdquo;<br /><br />The doe spoke gently as the door closed softly behind the otter, leaving her alone with the raccoon. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s right, Dex. Anything you say to me is confidential. Even from your parents. I&rsquo;m a psychiatrist here at the hospital. But you&rsquo;re a smart young man, and I&rsquo;m sure you already figured that out.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Well this is embarrassing,&rdquo; Dex fidgeted and looked down at the floor, then up at the doe. &ldquo;I know he means well, but I&rsquo;m sorry he wasted your time.&rdquo;<br /><br />The doe shook her head. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s never a waste of my time to talk to people, Dex. Especially not to nice young furs like yourself. It&rsquo;s what I do.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex swung his foot in a circle and stared at it absently. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand why he called you, though. I haven&rsquo;t driven into a tree or smashed a window or anything. I sleep fine. There are the . . .&rdquo; he tugged at the waist of his pants uncomfortably before he continued, &ldquo;complications sometimes. But I&rsquo;m sure they won&rsquo;t last too much longer anyway. I&rsquo;ve been counting them, you know, and there were fewer accidents this week, and fewer last week than the week before. I really think that will all stop soon. I have a good feeling about it. Mostly, I just don&rsquo;t think about what happened. It did and it&rsquo;s done. It really doesn&rsquo;t bother me.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s right,&rdquo; she said calmly. &ldquo;No one has heard you curse or raise your voice even once since the tournament, at least that&rsquo;s what your parents and your coach told Dr. Ramsey. You spend a lot of time concentrating, Dex? Developing focus? Cultivating&mdash;what is the right term&mdash;mental discipline?&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex nodded. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s basic martial arts training. Don&rsquo;t let your emotions interfere.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dr. Whitley touched the raccoon&rsquo;s paw gently, &ldquo;I wish more of my patients had your problem, Dex.&rdquo;<br /><br />The coon blinked. &ldquo;What problem? I already told you; I&rsquo;m fine. I mean here,&rdquo; he tapped his head with his paw. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s just no point to dwelling on it.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dr. Whitley smiled. &ldquo;You aren&rsquo;t trained to ignore pain are you, not past a certain extent? Pain is a signal from your body. Not feeling it at all, or short-circuiting it, that would be dangerous. And a lot different than gauging how bad it is and deciding to fight through it; I&rsquo;m sure you can tell that difference, when you&rsquo;re training. Other negative emotions can be the same way. I don&rsquo;t mean that you should act on them rashly or that you&rsquo;d be justified in running out into the street and doing whatever you wanted. Not at all.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;But they&rsquo;re also,&rdquo; she moved one paw in a circle, &ldquo;signals. That something is wrong, sometimes that you might need to step back a little, course correct. Or that something that happened is not something you would have done, or would have allowed to happen. It takes time, but working through those responses, it&rsquo;s important to making us better people. They can even become sources of strength, of motivation. They help us figure out the things that define our character.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex stared at her blankly and shook his head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, Dr. Whitley, but I have no idea what you&rsquo;re talking about.&rdquo;<br /><br />The doe brushed his forepaw again. &ldquo;For now, Dex,&rdquo; she said softly, &ldquo;no fur would blame you if you were angry. I have to say it&rsquo;s a little strange that you&rsquo;re not. And if you&rsquo;re suppressing a mess of negative feelings about what happened,&rdquo; she caught the raccoon&rsquo;s eyes with her own large, limpid brown ones, which glimmered at him compassionately, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just worried about where they&rsquo;ll all go.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Next time: Dex and Lin Lin hit the big top&mdash;and the big time!<br /></em><br /><strong>Episode 5. Showtime!</strong><br /><br />It was a warm spring afternoon and the fairground was bustling with cubs and kits of all ages. Lin Lin had to keep looking down to wend her way between them as she made her way back from the concession stands holding a large stick of pink cotton candy in one paw and a bag of popcorn in the other.<br /><br />Dex was leaning on the back of the ticket booth with his cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes to keep out the glare of the sun, surveying the surrounding crowd suspiciously. The cubs had left most of their supplies in a hidden cache outside the fairground while they took a first look around, but Dex still wore his paintball gun, although now the holster was hidden between his karate outfit and his undershirt.<br /><br />&ldquo;Well?&rdquo; he asked as she handed him the popcorn.<br /><br />The panda shook her head. &ldquo;Worst magic show I&rsquo;ve ever seen. And shortest&mdash;I think they&rsquo;re having equipment problems. Backstage looked about how I&rsquo;d expect. The signal may be broadcasting from there, but as far as I can tell the bunny&rsquo;s not in that tent. How about you?&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex took the red and white-striped paper bag from her and started munching on the popcorn. &ldquo;No better. If anyone manning the game booths remembers seeing Twitchy, they won&rsquo;t admit to it. I said at the ticket booth I lost something valuable here yesterday and had to talk to management, but they just gave me a phone number.&rdquo; He bit his lip poutily. &ldquo;There were pretty rude too.&rdquo;<br /><br />Lin Lin paused with a large tuft of cotton candy stuck to her lips and stared at him for a moment before she brushed it off with a paw and shoved it into her mouth, letting it dissolve for about thirty seconds. Then she frowned. &ldquo;You asked to talk to management?&rdquo; she asked in disbelief. &ldquo;And you told them something that close to the truth?&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I said I would do. You would take a first look at the magic show tent, and I would start down the booths and try to get an audience with someone who actually runs the place and isn&rsquo;t a day worker.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think you would just ask for one!&rdquo; she snapped. Even though Dex was holding the bag of popcorn with both forepaws, Lin Lin thrust her stick of cotton candy into his face. &ldquo;Hold this.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex wrapped one arm around the popcorn bag and gripped the cotton candy, perplexed, trailing behind Lin Lin as she picked her way through the crowd to the end of the row of game booths and eyed the nearest ones appraisingly, tilting her head as she examined both the games and their announcers.<br /><br />&ldquo;What are we doing?&rdquo; Dex asked impatiently.<br /><br />She wagged her paw at him. &ldquo;You,&rdquo; she whispered sternly, &ldquo;are getting a much-needed lesson out of the pink mission playbook. Just hang back and tap your footpaw now and then. Look impatient and like you&rsquo;re not really sure what&rsquo;s going on.&rdquo;<br /><br />She broke away from him and approached a booth where a wolf was rubbing his paws eagerly as another disappointed child departed without a prize.<br /><br />Dex rolled his eyes. &ldquo;That won&rsquo;t take much acting,&rdquo; he muttered. He munched on his popcorn as best he could with the cotton candy stick occupying one of his paws.<br /><br />&ldquo;Step right up!&rdquo; the wolf shouted. Unlike some of the other attendants, who were wearing tee shirts and jeans, he was wearing a brightly colored visor and an apron with a name tag that identified him as fairground personnel, as well as an ear piece that he fiddled with now and again. The ceiling and walls of his small carnival booth were hung with stuffed animals of various shapes and sizes but of uniformly poor quality, and a few cheap plastic toys.<br /><br />Behind him, a machine with rows of small, slowly moving targets and a blinking scoreboard played cheery, recorded accordion music. Beside it on the wall was plastered a faded poster that offered a nonsensical scale for converting points to tickets that he had probably never consulted more than the first two lines of. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s right, folks, play for plushies, play for tickets! Win a toy or see any show! Five shots for five dollars! Ten shots for&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Ni hao!&rdquo; the undersized panda said, smiling brightly, as she hopped up in front of him, waving a twenty-dollar bill. &ldquo;And greetings, sir! My name is Lin Lin, and as you can see,&rdquo; she smiled up at the wolf, who watched the bill as she waved it around, &ldquo;I am a very innocent and most feminine little panda.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Also as you can see, being a panda,&rdquo; she went on, keeping her large, twinkling round eyes fixed on him, &ldquo;I am very cute&mdash;and I also speak Mandarin. It is my original language.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I am here with my big brother from my host family,&rdquo; she gestured at Dex with her free paw, &ldquo;and this is all the money that he gave to me to spend however I wanted. I think that it is a lot but I am still getting used to American money. He has been helping me but I told him I wanted to play this game all by myself. Is that large teddy bear&mdash;&rdquo; she gestured up at a huge, suspended plushie holding a heart-shaped box of chocolates, &ldquo;one of your prizes?&rdquo; She looked around confidentially and whispered up to the carnival worker. &ldquo;Because I named him already.&rdquo;<br /><br />The wolf chuckled. &ldquo;Why, hello there, Lin Lin,&rdquo; he said with a grin. &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you take one throw on the house?&rdquo;<br /><br />She giggled and tugged at the neck of her pink Hello Kitty sweater as she hoisted one of the bean bags and eyed the targets appraisingly, biting her lip. Dex, who could only hear snippets of the conversation, blinked in surprise as her first limp throw thudded onto the base of the machine between two of the targets. Hadn&rsquo;t he seen her take down a row of boys with dodge balls in minutes?<br /><br />&ldquo;Maybe you can give me some pointers?&rdquo; Lin Lin asked the carnival worker, looking embarrassed, and he nodded and took her arm in his, demonstrating a light, gentle, underpaw throw, that knocked one of the small slowly moving targets over and rang a bell, adding a &ldquo;10&rdquo; to the scoreboard above the booth before the target popped up again.<br /><br />Dex looked at his watch and tapped his footpaw. This was going nowhere and he was thinking about walking over there to see what was going on. He saw the carnival barker look from him to Lin Lin and back again and bite his lip thoughtfully.<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what, Lin Lin,&rdquo; the wolf said quickly with a glint in his eye. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re running a special for little ladies. For $20&mdash;I can let you throw until you miss. Just keep them real careful and steady, like I showed you, and I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ll win something.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Wow! Really!&rdquo; the panda exclaimed excitedly, pressing the bill into his forepaw. &ldquo;You are a super nice fur, mister wolf. I just hope it doesn&rsquo;t run out too too fast. After all . . . &rdquo; <br /><br />As the wolf pocketed her money, she picked up one of the beanbag projectiles and weighed it carefully in her paw, then whirled to hurl it with uncommon speed at the machine, which set off a clanging triple ring and lit the scoreboard up to 50 as it knocked over three targets in a row and, rebounding off the wall, hit a fourth one from behind. &ldquo;I do throw like a girl.&rdquo;<br /><br />The wolf opened his muzzle, but before he could say anything Lin Lin hoisted another bean bag and let it zip, then another, then another, and Dex stood rooted to his spot, feeding his popcorn into his mouth more rapidly as she built momentum.<br /><br />After almost twenty minutes, the machine set off a cacophony of bells that caused even its usual attendant to cover his ears and turn to his prize chart in flustered confusion as the scoreboard began flashing jubilantly. The panda blew on her throwing paw and tilted her head to look back over her shoulder at the carnival barker.<br /><br />&ldquo;How many tickets can I get now?&rdquo; she asked innocently.<br /><br />The wolf slowly removed his paws from his ears.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hang on,&rdquo; he said through gritted teeth, glaring down at her as he turned back from the faded chart and turned a knob on his earpiece.<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll get my boss.&rdquo;<br /><br />********************<br /><br />&ldquo;Let me guess, Alphonse,&rdquo; the ringmaster said without looking up from the ledger on his desk; he recognized the weasel&rsquo;s quivering, uncertain pawstep. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an encore of your &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s free the rabbit&rsquo; routine. Let me warn you: that one&rsquo;s not a crowd pleaser.&rdquo;<br /><br />The weasel, having just changed back into his magician&rsquo;s costume for the next show, and with the clown makeup freshly washed off his face, dropped his rubber nose on the tiger&rsquo;s desk. &ldquo;I . . . I . . . . I just think you&rsquo;re asking for trouble, Tony,&rdquo; the mustelid stammered out. &ldquo;What if Twitchy is right and these Dex boys or whatever they&rsquo;re called are looking for him? He doesn&rsquo;t seem like a bad kid. And it really doesn&rsquo;t look good, having him locked in a cage like that.&rdquo;<br /><br />The white tiger looked up from his desk out of the sides of his eyes skeptically. &ldquo;Please. There&rsquo;s obviously some kind of AB nursery or something around here that&rsquo;s paranoid about being found out if they&rsquo;re hiding their stuff in the woods, but a rescue team from a secret organization of diaper kids? That&rsquo;s the most ridiculous story I&rsquo;ve ever heard. Anyway what would they do, piddle on our legs?&rdquo;<br /><br />The tiger waved a large paw. &ldquo;Enough about the bunny. He&rsquo;s just a weird college kid on spring break. Maybe even delusional. Come to think of it, he&rsquo;s probably on drugs. I bet that&rsquo;s why he kept tapping his feet like mad the whole time he was fixing your sound system&mdash;withdrawal. Why, we&rsquo;re practically doing him a favor by making him go cold turkey during his vacation! It might just save his life!&rdquo; Tony paused to scratch his head and look back down at the ledger. &ldquo;Why . . . maybe I can write off the cost of feeding him as a charitable contribution.&rdquo;<br /><br />The weasel blew air out of the side of his mouth disapprovingly and started to protest, but Tony picked up his top hat, settled it on his head, and stood up, assuming an even grander tone.<br /><br />&ldquo;And don&rsquo;t you think of telling more furs than already know about this, Alphonse. It&rsquo;s totally unnecessary. Listen to me because I will only explain all this to you one more time: If he&rsquo;s not home with his parents now, they won&rsquo;t miss him until break&rsquo;s over, and he can help improve some of your lousy tricks. He couldn&rsquo;t possibly make your show any worse. We ship across state lines when spring break ends around here anyway. We&rsquo;ll dump him right before we do.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Then, if he files a complaint about all that stuff he found&mdash;which I doubt he will really do, not once we hand him back a wiped camera&mdash;it certainly won&rsquo;t be anything the feds would bother with. I can&rsquo;t have that bunny blowing the whistle while we&rsquo;re actually in town. He just might be able to drag some bored local cop over here. And for the moment,&rdquo; he stared at the weasel pointedly, &ldquo;since I&rsquo;m saddled with talentless, disaster-prone hacks like you, fencing whatever fetish gear we can pinch is the only thing keeping this show in the black. The only good thing about having so many freaks on this crew has been that I know exactly what kind of stuff to look for, where to send you bumblers, and how to retail it.&rdquo;<br /><br />He leaned toward Alphonse and rested his elbows on his table, fixing the weasel&rsquo;s gaze with his as he added, &ldquo;And I know what cowards your type are, Alphonse, so I know the thefts won&rsquo;t be reported. Finding so many crates of diapers in the woods just may make this stop profitable.&rdquo;<br /><br />Alphonse crossed his arms. &ldquo;It still makes me uncomfortable. I want you to know for the record, Tony, I . . . I came this close to calling the police or busting him out of there myself. I even started to dial. I swear, if it wasn&rsquo;t for our deal . . .&rdquo;<br /><br />The tiger banged a large fist down on his desk, raising his voice and beginning a low growl. &ldquo;But we did have a deal, Alphonse. I loaned you the money to start a hypnotism show and all you managed to generate for us was a bunch of embarrassing pictures. We&rsquo;re running a family-friendly circus here! So you owe me . . . big time . . . and until you&rsquo;ve finally paid it off, I&rsquo;ll hang on to those photos just to make sure you can&rsquo;t set up shop anywhere else. Calling me before you gave back that kid&rsquo;s stuff is about the only useful thing you&rsquo;ve ever done.&rdquo;<br /><br />A tear trickled down the weasel&rsquo;s cheek. &ldquo;Tony, why can&rsquo;t you&mdash;?&rdquo;<br /><br />Tony stepped out from behind his desk and approached the cowering weasel, looking down at the smaller fur, who was disappearing into his cape. &ldquo;We live in a capitalist society, in case you missed that memo. The rules are simple: you want me to be nicer, make me money. If you can&rsquo;t do that, find me a fur who can. All this circus needs is to have&mdash;finally&mdash;one act that is actually good. Until then&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />He lifted Alphonse by his suspenders with both paws and, unceremoniously, tossed the weasel out his door.<br /><br />The dazed magician sat outside the trailer on his rear for several minutes, until he felt a familiar paw on his shoulder.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hey, Alphonse,&rdquo; he heard the wolf whisper in his ear. &ldquo;Looks like you need some cheering up. Come with me real quick!&rdquo;<br /><br />******************<br /><br />Dex and Lin Lin both gazed around the empty sideshow tent apprehensively. The raccoon shook his head. &ldquo;We shouldn&rsquo;t have followed that wolf back here. I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s really coming back with the ringmaster. Let&rsquo;s get out of here.&rdquo;<br /><br />The panda started to say something when a bright spotlight flicked on. Both the kits dropped their snack food onto the dirt floor and raised their paws to cover their momentarily blinded eyes as a loud crack echoed throughout the deserted arena.<br /><br />The approaching jaguar cracked his whip again as he drew closer. &ldquo;So,&rdquo; he said slowly. &ldquo;You yuppie kids think it&rsquo;s funny to hussle us poor circus folk while you&rsquo;re out spending mom and dad&rsquo;s money, huh? Get your vacation jollies that way? Well, this will teach you not to do it again.&rdquo;<br /><br />He didn&rsquo;t intend to hit Dex with the next flick of his whip, which was aimed a good six inches or so to the coon&rsquo;s right, but his mouth fell open in astonishment as the raccoon leapt and, landing lightly on his left forepaw, propelled himself up into a cartwheel off to his left, his cowboy hat falling off his head and onto the dirt.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hey, I was just . . .&rdquo; the bemused jaguar started to say, but as soon as he landed Dex had already drawn his paintball gun with his right paw and discharged three yellow pellets that splattered across the jaguar&rsquo;s shirt and got in his eyes, sending him reeling backwards blindly as his whip fell out of his paw.<br /><br />&ldquo;Oww! Jack!! Help!&rdquo; the big cat shouted as he flailed around, and a strong-man bear with rippling muscles waiting in the entrance at the other side of the arena pushed out a giant balance globe, as hard as he could, toward Dex&rsquo;s back.<br /><br />The raccoon&rsquo;s ears flicked and he started to turn but he heard Lin Lin shout, &ldquo;Eyes in front, Dex! I&rsquo;ve got your back!&rdquo; as she leapt up onto the ball.<br /><br />Landing in the center of the ball, she extended her arms and pedaled her feet frantically. She stopped its motion and, teetering on it, began steering it back in his direction. Six years of gymnastics lessons hadn&rsquo;t been for nothing, she thought smugly.<br /><br />&ldquo;Dave!&rdquo; the strong-bear shouted as he dove out of her way. &ldquo;Help!&rdquo;<br /><br />Another whip, aimed more seriously this time, knocked Dex&rsquo;s paintball gun out of his paw with a clatter, but as soon as it hit the ground the coon dropped onto both his forepaws and, using them and his tail to steer, spun rapidly, his footpaws striking first left, then right, into the arm, then the chest of his attacker, sending the second bear down onto his rump and his whip flying backward out of his paw.<br /><br />&ldquo;Tom!&rdquo; the bear shouted as he hit the ground and stumbled back up onto his feet and backward away from Dex, just as the coon flipped himself back up onto his own heels. &ldquo;Help!&rdquo;<br /><br />A third bear leapt from the bleechers into the ring. All three of them converged on Dex, who crouched and readied himself, with one paw outstretched, his eyes flickering from one to the other&mdash;but Lin Lin, who had clambered off the ball up onto the acrobatic tower near the edge of the arena when the balance globe rolled to a halt against it, shouted, &ldquo;Dex! Jump!&rdquo; as she swung down above them on a trapeze, gripping it tightly as she could. Dex leapt up and grabbed her ankles, then as the two cubs swung backward, away from the confused bears, the coon let go and used the force of the trapeze&rsquo;s propulsion to spin in the air and redirect his landing.<br /><br />He hit the ground unsteadily, but, thanks to his ability to correct his balance in the air with his tail, still on his footpaws. He landed behind the giant acrobatic ball, and, with a powerful kick and punch timed simultaneously, sent it hurtling toward the three now-terrified bears, who began shouting in confusion and running in frantic circles to get out of its&mdash;and one another&rsquo;s&mdash;way.<br /><br />The wolf in the bleechers and the weasel standing next to him, who had entered from the spectator&rsquo;s entrance as the fight began, watched in such open-mouthed surprise that neither realized the wolf had dropped his soda and it was spilling all over the clown shoes Alphonse was still wearing.<br /><br />&ldquo;Who are those kids?&rdquo; the lupine whispered in disbelief, shaking his head.<br /><br />The depressed weasel&rsquo;s eyes narrowed to slits and, for the first time in many years, the corners of his mouth approached his ears in a wide, toothy grin. Then he dashed by the bemused wolf and into the nearest lighting control booth, yanking one of the levers.<br /><br />Dex assumed a defensive posture, warily, in the center of the arena, and the trapeze swung to a halt, leaving Lin Lin hanging about ten feet over the ground directly above him. &ldquo;Listen, everyone! We didn&rsquo;t come here to cause trouble!&rdquo; the raccoon shouted. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking for a friend! Now, if we can just talk for two minutes . . .&rdquo;<br /><br />But Alphonse had released a heavily weighted, entangling animal capture net over the center of the stadium that was falling toward the two furs. &ldquo;Kids!&rdquo; the weasel shouted from the control booth. &ldquo;Just stay there! Calm down! Everyone, stand back! We don&rsquo;t want to hurt you! Don&rsquo;t hurt them! Everyone just stand still for a minute!&rdquo;<br /><br />Lin Lin looked up in a panic as she heard him shout and saw the weighted net falling. Her grip on the trapeze finally slipped when the net hit her, and Dex looked up in turn to see her plummeting, fast, toward him.<br /><br />This was bad. He reached for the walkie talkie under his karate uniform and pressed a button&mdash;he had to signal Ace and Jax. Who knew if he could get a signal in here, but he had to try&mdash;he&rsquo;d be in no condition to help Twitchy if . . . <br /><br />The panda thudded into him and the walkie talkie he had just grasped skidded out of his paw as he hit the dirt floor on his back and let out a painful cough, the net falling over them both.<br /><br />The coon felt like&mdash;this had happened before&mdash;his vision blacked out for a minute. He heard a crack; no, he felt a crack. Was it one of his ribs? He opened his muzzle to say something and he could taste his own warm, salty blood; he wasn&rsquo;t down &mdash; he punched &mdash; once, then twice &mdash; and felt his footpaws swept out from under him and a weight ram him hard, between his legs. He was in the air, then it hit again, his lower abdomen this time, and he heard shouting.<br /><br />He had a sinking feeling, even as he fell, that something terrible had only just started. He knew this one wouldn&rsquo;t be five minutes of pain. Those he could fight through. As soon as he had felt the first crack he knew something was unfolding that could go on for months or years and that he was helpless to do anything about it. Helpless. He had never felt so helpless since . . . Something misfired in his brain. His thoughts were already fragmenting. What scared him more than anything was . . . He had to do something to switch himself off. He had to send his mind somewhere else because&nbsp;&nbsp;. . . &mdash; no, all that wasn&rsquo;t this time.<br /><br />That was another time. None of it had happened just now.<br /><br />Or rather, none of it had happened yet.<br /><br />He only felt weak because &mdash; because he was small. Dex the raccoon pounded the ground with his fists and burst into tears. He let out a loud wail, kicking his footpaws against the net, which only caused him and Lin Lin to become more entangled. Infantile sobs wracked his body.<br /><br />His whole diaper area felt warm as his bladder relaxed completely &mdash; and why shouldn&rsquo;t it? He couldn&rsquo;t be expected to control that all the time, not yet. Accidents were not embarrassing and were perfectly natural, at his age. He had to do something for someone, though &mdash; Twitchy. One of the furs who took care of him.<br /><br />None of his caretakers, he realized glumly, were anywhere nearby. His daddy, Roger, was far, far away. He bet that his big brother, Rian, even if he had been there, would rather have been spending time with a girl than with a whiny kit who couldn&rsquo;t possibly be cool enough for him any more if he kept sneaking off to see her.<br /><br />Sometimes he came by just to ask Dex to say they had been doing or would be doing something together that night, so the other boys would bug him less about seeing Serafina so much. And Dex always said yes, for his big brother, and Rian would give him a quick, grateful hug and a lick on the nose before he disappeared; that would bring a flush to the coon&rsquo;s cheeks. Then more often than not Dex would opt to spend the night alone, so he wouldn&rsquo;t accidentally throw off Rian&rsquo;s alibi, either at the dojo practicing, or at home, pawing in his diaper and thinking fond, happy thoughts about the wolf who had introduced him to it, and about his first-ever day of cub play, with Rian and Roger, and if he felt bad about it told himself he should be glad he could still do something special to help his first big brother out. But all the while it felt like Rian was actually around less and less.<br /><br />That only left Twitchy. And no fur knew where Twitchy was. Little Dex was alone. No one was coming here to help him. &ldquo;Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!&rdquo; he let out in a loud, piercing cry, trying to reach the walkie talkie, which had slid outside the net, with one paw, as Lin Lin rolled off of him.<br /><br />The panda shook him briskly, looking frantically around the stadium. &ldquo;Dex!&rdquo; she said anxiously, and boxed his ears. &ldquo;Come back! Snap out of it! Oh . . .&rdquo; The battered strong men, as surprised by Alphonse&rsquo;s intervention as the cubs were, slowly stopped milling around and stared at the trapped pair curiously, as though unsure whether to approach or run away.<br /><br />The weasel was waving his forepaws above his head as though signaling everyone to calm down. Then he was running for the nearest stairway down into the arena, his cape billowing out behind him and his top hat held on his head with one paw.<br /><br />Lin Lin recognized him from the magic show tent where Dex had reported the distress signal and instantly concluded that he had had something to do with Twitchy&rsquo;s disappearance, after all. The weasel&rsquo;s demeanor had entirely changed since the show as though he had thrown off a disguise. In that case, however clumsy he might have looked earlier, there was no way she wanted to talk to him while she was at his mercy.<br /><br />The panda let go of Dex and yanked something out of her pocket, going to work on the nearest strand of the net, sawing as quickly as she could. It snapped! She would just be able to squeeze herself out through the small, resulting expanded square. She tugged on Dex&rsquo;s karate uniform, but the oversized, tangled-up coon kit remained rooted to the floor, squirming away from her, trying to reach something he had dropped that she couldn&rsquo;t see.<br /><br />Lin Lin shook her head. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, Dex,&rdquo; she whispered quickly, and dropped her tool as she eyed the weasel and the strong bears, who were cautiously reassembling and approaching the center of the stadium. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re out of time. If you can hear me,&rdquo; she gave the heedless, crying coon one last shake, &ldquo;do not trust that magician! Somehow, he&rsquo;s tangled up with the bunny vanishing and everything wrong about this place! I&rsquo;m sure of it.&rdquo;<br /><br />Then in a blur of black, white, and pink, the petite bear popped out of the small hole she had cut in the net and sprinted at full speed toward one of the unobstructed exits, grabbing Dex&rsquo;s cowboy hat from the dirt floor where it had fallen on her way.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hey wait!&rdquo; Alphonse shouted after her, but she was gone in a blink. &ldquo;Tom, Dave, Jack!&rdquo; he shouted, &ldquo;Go after that panda! Bring her back here! Get her to talk to me! Tell her I just want to talk! Tell her . . . I can help her find her friend!&rdquo;<br /><br />The still perplexed bears stumbled out of the tent after Lin Lin. For his own part, the weasel walked into the middle of the ring as soon as he had finished shouting and, adjusting his top hat on his head, turned his attention to the raccoon. &ldquo;Did that girl call you . . . Dex?&rdquo; he asked carefully.<br /><br />Dex, whose crying abated as his tiny-feeling paw reached the edge of his walkie talkie, tilted his head and looked up sideways at the weasel. He flicked his tail against the ground at the mention of his name. That guy was wearing goofy clothes. His shoes were way too big for him. And there were gold stars on his black cape. That was silly. Dex smiled at him.<br /><br />The jaguar, who had finally rinsed the sting of the paint out of his eyes, retrieved his whip and clapped his paw on the weasel&rsquo;s shoulder. &ldquo;What a save,&rdquo; the big cat, his yellow-spattered leather outfit looking like it would need quite a dry cleaning, congratulated Alphonse. &ldquo;Ha! Now that was real magic! To think Tony says you&rsquo;re not good for anything. I think this kid&rsquo;s learned his lesson all right. But this has gone far enough. Let&rsquo;s cut him loose and call it a&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;No! Not yet,&rdquo; the weasel shook his head firmly and flicked the big cat&rsquo;s paw off his shoulder.<br /><br />The jaguar shrugged and turned his attention away from Alphonse. He bent over to retrieve the discarded tool Lin Lin had used to cut through the net and make her getaway, and shook his head as he looked at it with curiosity&mdash;it was a metal nail file, with a pink, Hello Kitty-patterned plastic handle.<br /><br />Dex continued to watch the funny bigger furs curiously. When Alphonse produced a quarter from behind his ear and began moving it in a slow circle, Dex opened his mouth and let out a small gasp. The coon&rsquo;s eyes followed the shiny object, and, keeping his right paw on the edge of his walkie talkie, he reached up with his left to trace its path in the air. He giggled and a little drool dribbled out of the side of his muzzle. There was another kind of dribble through the legs of his plastic pants and his diapers started to leak. The stomach of his karate uniform and under shirt warmed up as he continued to pee without making any effort to stop himself, regardless of the leakage.<br /><br />&ldquo;Is that your radio, Dex?&rdquo; the ex-hypnotist and bumbling magician asked as he sat down cross-legged on the ground in front of the ensnared, rapidly regressing raccoon.<br /><br />Alphonse picked up the walkie talkie and Dex pawed after it futilely and whined. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen one just like it before,&rdquo; the weasel continued, setting it down in his lap. Dex stared at the device anxiously.<br /><br />Now that his gaze was fixed there, Alphonse lowered the quarter in front of the walkie talkie and reversed the direction of its slow, circular motion. &ldquo;Everything is going to be okay, Dex,&rdquo; he said softly. &ldquo;I understand better than you think. Just relax.&rdquo;<br /><br />Even as a kit, the coon looked hopelessly confused, but Alphonse continued, &ldquo;Dex, could you be . . . Twitchy&rsquo;s friend? Are you trying to call Twitchy?&rdquo;<br /><br />Yes! the coon thought. That was it! That was what he needed to do. Find Twitchy! And fast too&mdash;because he needed a change, and that situation was only going to get worse. Could this nice man help him do it?<br /><br />&ldquo;Twith,&rdquo; he said happily, his tail flicking against the dirt again. &ldquo;Bwo!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You can still help Twitchy, Dex,&rdquo; the weasel said gently. &ldquo;I can help you help Twitchy. We can help Twitchy together.&rdquo; He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing as he watched the motion of Dex&rsquo;s paws and the flicking of his tail settle into a rhythm.<br /><br />The coon was openly drooling now, and it would never have even occurred to him to raise a paw to his muzzle to wipe it off.<br /><br />He felt the glaze of happiness settle over him as his darker thoughts began to fade. He was still going to find his missing big brother. This man was talking about Twitchy like he was okay. And nearby.<br /><br />&ldquo;Bwo!&rdquo; he said, nodding slowly. &ldquo;Twith!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Are you . . . in a safe place, Dex?&rdquo; Alphonse said, gathering steam, as he switched to moving the uncommonly shiny quarter back and forth in a line, and watched Dex&rsquo;s eyes follow it. &ldquo;Did you have to . . . make one? I saw you jump there. I told you, I understand better than you think. I can imagine, how that works . . . I bet something bad happened to you, huh?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Thafe,&rdquo; the coon flicked his tail again and his face relaxed into a smile. This man did understand. He just had to keep telling him what he wanted. &ldquo;Twith. Bwo.&rdquo;<br /><br />The weasel reached out with his free forepaw as he kept moving the quarter and patted the coon&rsquo;s head gently. Dex&rsquo;s ears collapsed as he relaxed even further. His bowel control had vanished now; and although no fur in the ring would notice it right away, he felt a small, warm squishiness beneath the base of his tail. He didn&rsquo;t mind it. It&rsquo;s not like it didn&rsquo;t happen to a kit like him every day, anyway. It would be years before he would grow out of that.<br /><br />&ldquo;Everyone is going to be safe,&rdquo; the mustelid reassured him. &ldquo;Dex is safe. Twitchy is safe. Your panda friend is safe. You&rsquo;ll see her again soon. Everyone is going to be okay, Dex. We&rsquo;re all your friends.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Fwens?&rdquo; the baby coon asked, drowsily. Were these furs his friends? Come to think of it, was the panda his friend? He didn&rsquo;t know. He didn&rsquo;t think so . . . But they were all bigger than him. So they had to know more about how those things worked than he did.<br /><br />&ldquo;Friends,&rdquo; Alphonse nodded as he started moving the shiny quarter up and down. &ldquo;Friends help each other. Like you and Twitchy. And . . . like you and me. That&rsquo;s how things work when life is fair. I just need you to do one favor for me, Dex,&rdquo; he tilted his head sideways and looked into Dex&rsquo;s dull eyes, watching them follow the path of the sparkling coin.<br /><br />Dex, his walkie talkie forgotten, gurgled happily and reached out for the fascinatingly shiny circle with both paws.<br /><br />Everyone was his friend! He didn&rsquo;t have to worry one bit. This mission was going to be a success after all. &ldquo;Faiw!&rdquo; he said happily, and clapped his outstretched forepaws.<br /><br />&ldquo;Fair. One little favor,&rdquo; the weasel continued soothingly, &ldquo;you and I will work a little magic and make everyone happy. You and your panda friend will be famous. I&rsquo;ll be free. Twitchy will be safe. You&rsquo;ll be the hero who made all those things happen.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Hewo?&rdquo; Dex said heavily. But he was so little! He hoped he was up to it.<br /><br />His eyes were starting to shut. He hadn&rsquo;t been sleeping much lately, because he&rsquo;d had bad dreams and none of the bigger furs he could crawl into bed with when that happened had been around, but right now he felt like he would sleep really good.<br /><br />&ldquo;And everyone will be so happy, Dex, because of you, that you&rsquo;ll be rewarded with what you really want, too. You&rsquo;ll finally, finally, be able to stay in your safe place, where nothing in the world can hurt you,&rdquo; Alphonse patted the raccoon&rsquo;s head, and, leaning toward the dozing cub lowered his voice to a whisper as he concluded gently:<br /><br />&ldquo;Forever.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Next time: Friends Like These: Oh no! Dex is down!! At least Lin Lin got away. And she&rsquo;s his friend now . . . . Right?<br /></em><br /><strong>\fEpisode 6. Friends Like These<br /></strong><br /><em>Two years earlier. The U. S. Mixed Martial Arts Association National Tournament. Juniors. Break.<br /></em><br />Dex leapt and spun from the padded mat in the training room, landing a kick square in middle of the punching bag while he was in the air and two light punches where its face would have been as he landed on his toes. He continued drilling, altering the sequence periodically, as he listened to his coach.<br /><br />&ldquo;This won&rsquo;t be like the first two fights, Dex,&rdquo; the badger said, studying a clipboard seriously. &ldquo;Your usual approach&mdash;dodging until you&rsquo;ve assessed what areas a fur usually moves to guard&mdash;won&rsquo;t work. Aim higher, he&rsquo;s taller than that.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Got it,&rdquo; said Dex, spinning and tilting his upper body down, with one forepaw briefly touching the floor, to land a fast, jabbing kick from the right near the top of the punching bag.<br /><br />&ldquo;J. D. is a cheetah. And based on his matches so far, he goes for a quick kill instead of saving up his speed. At least in the first round, he&rsquo;ll be too fast for you to dodge. You&rsquo;ll have to switch your strategy; conserve your energy and take a hit to land a hit. Ideally, you&rsquo;ll want to take a hit to land two. So let&rsquo;s see more combos.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Got it,&rdquo; Dex repeated, switching his rhythm to land, as near as he could, a punch and kick simultaneously, then hop back and duplicate the timing swinging from the other side.<br /><br />&ldquo;The bad news is, Dex, he&rsquo;ll probably expect that approach from you. This is a tough match for both of you. You&rsquo;ve both been fighting slower opponents up until now.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;This time he has more speed, but he&rsquo;ll know you have a bit more versatility, being a climbing-type. So figure he&rsquo;ll be hitting harder than usual and trying to KO you before his speed starts to run out and you can get a fix on his defenses.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You are one of the best kits our school has sent here in years. But the first round of this match,&rdquo; his coach looked up from his clipboard and eyed Dex carefully, &ldquo;is going to hurt.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex somersaulted backward and landed on his forepaws, slowly adjusting his balance with his tail in order to bend over bit by bit and lower himself on to his toes. He looked up at his coach from between his legs and nodded.<br /><br />&ldquo;Got it,&rdquo; he said.<br /><br />***********<br /><br />The sun was setting.<br /><br />Partly concealed by the dusk, the black-and-white bear tugged the hood of her purple windbreaker down lower over her face, most of which was covered with a soft, silk pink shawl as a wrap. She paused and flattened herself against the wall of the trailer, quickly looking both left and right to make sure she wasn&rsquo;t being followed.<br /><br />She also wore a backpack covered with glitter whose straps jostled occasionally as she raced between tents following the tip of the raccoon&rsquo;s ever-receding tail. The door of the trailer he had vanished into remained ajar, with a welcoming light spilling out of it. Cautiously, she approached, one pawstep at a time, and stuck her head in.<br /><br />&ldquo;Dex!&rdquo; she whispered loudly. &ldquo;Thank goodness, you&rsquo;re back, but what in blazes were you doing in that show? And why did you lead me back here? I know you saw me in the audience. I was going to take your hat back to one of your bases as proof you were in trouble. But then I heard your name in all the announcements. Is this where they have the bunny? Or your missing stuff maybe?&rdquo;<br /><br />When there was no answer, she inched her way inside the trailer, and quietly pulled the door halfway shut behind her. Dex had wandered from the small entrance area into the kitchen on the left. Biting her lip, she approached the door gingerly.<br /><br />The raccoon was standing at the opposite end of the room in front of an open refrigerator with his back to her, humming to himself softly.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hello, Lin Lin,&rdquo; he said, without looking over his shoulder at her, his tail and ears twitching, sounding depressed as he added, &ldquo;You came back.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Did you make some kind of a deal with these people?&rdquo; she whispered more loudly, increasingly agitated. &ldquo;Sure, we&rsquo;ll release your friend, just do three shows for us? That is the sort of stupid thing you boys would agree to and then be surprised when the bad guys reneged on it, right? Well, we&rsquo;re breaking it first! Come on, I have everything we need to bust him out in here.&rdquo; She tugged on the shoulder straps of her backpack. She smiled softly. &ldquo;Hey,&rdquo; she continued, more encouragingly, &ldquo;and you should try walking a tightrope in a dress. Now that would be hard.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex didn&rsquo;t respond to her. Instead he sunk down into a cross-legged sit and stared up at the open refrigerator wide-eyed as though overwhelmed by its contents. With a jolt Lin Lin saw that it was stocked entirely with baby formula of various flavors, apple sauces, and oversized baby bottles filled with various colors of milk, from regular white to strawberry to chocolate to buttermilk.<br /><br />His paw found its way toward his muzzle as he sobbed out, &ldquo;Dunno wha&rsquo; I want!&rdquo; and began sucking it, sobbing silently, vexed at having to make an impossible choice all by himself.<br /><br />The panda wheeled on her heels and dashed for the exit, but it had already been pushed shut by the large paw of the brawny Siberian tiger, wearing a top hat, a red waistcoat, and black riding pants, who had been waiting in the room at the other end of the trailer. He smiled down at her.<br /><br />The weasel at his shoulder, now wearing only a pressed white shirt and khaki pants, had already scurried past both of them over to Dex on the floor, and was lifting him up gently, as though he weighed no more than a teddy bear, rocking him as he said, &ldquo;There there, little guy. I&rsquo;m sorry you had to pretend to be big for so long this time. You did great. You really did. Look! You brought your panda friend back! Now you can be together again. And soon Twitchy is gonna be with you too.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Twith!&rdquo; Dex wailed at the mention of the bunny&rsquo;s name and burst openly into tears, pounding his tiny-feeling, exhausted fists futilely in the air over the shoulders of the weasel holding him. He had been running obstacles all day to get to his big brother. How much longer could it take? How much farther away could he be?<br /><br />&ldquo;I know, I know,&rdquo; the weasel whispered to the oversized baby coon, patting him on the back of his karate outfit. &ldquo;Soon. Soon. We&rsquo;re almost done. Hush.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;So,&rdquo; the petite panda said through gritted teeth, ignoring the weasel and glaring fiercely up into the tiger&rsquo;s eyes even though he was about five times her size, &ldquo;you&rsquo;re the management. Well I better walk out of here with what I came for or you can expect to be reading a strongly worded letter from me. In jail.&rdquo;<br /><br />Tony, the ringmaster, tipped his hat to Lin Lin. &ldquo;Lin Lin, is it?&rdquo; he gestured into the opposite end of the trailer, now lit, where two easy chairs and an adult-sized high chair were placed around a small coffee table with a television.<br /><br />On a small endtable in the corner of the trailer, a glass jar with tiny airholes drilled in the lid was held in place with six or seven giant elastic bands hooked under the rim of the tabletop from various angles. They ensured the jar couldn&rsquo;t be knocked over and rolled off the table.<br /><br />&ldquo;Squeak!&rdquo; said the overall-wearing mouse inside, hopping up on to his legs when he saw the panda and waving his paws hopefully. He had fallen into a depressed funk after trying to get Dex&rsquo;s attention for hours, and seeing the coon do nothing except gurgle and giggle at him.<br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pleasure to meet you,&rdquo; Tony continued, seemingly heedless of the other creatures in the trailer. &ldquo;Please, don&rsquo;t worry. Just . . . have a seat. I&rsquo;m certain we&rsquo;ll be able to reach a satisfactory arrangement. And there&rsquo;s a perfectly rational explanation for everything.&rdquo;<br /><br />The panda made her way apprehensively into the small living room, plopped her backpack in front of one of the chairs and sat down in it, defiantly putting her feet up on the table. Alphonse, carrying the crying raccoon, made his way to the edge of the room and set the kit down in the adult-sized wooden high chair, which Lin Lin could see had restraints for all four of his limbs. A teddy bear, his arms held wide open in an embrace and with &ldquo;A B C&rdquo; on his chest, was carved on the panel against which Dex&rsquo;s back rested.<br /><br />&ldquo;Ahem,&rdquo; Tony cleared his throat and cast a somewhat uneasy gaze at the weasel. &ldquo;Let me reassure you first that this is not my trailer. Certain members of our crew have . . . odd habits. That, apparently, many furs around these parts share.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Now, I can imagine what you might be thinking, young lady. But there&rsquo;s nothing untoward about any of this. Dex here is a &mdash; and I rarely say this&mdash; very talented young performer. He performed three times today, as I imagine you know. The kids love him. At the third show, some of the older girls threw roses&mdash;in my circus! People came back! They paid more than once to see the same act! Some sat through all three!&rdquo; Tony adjusted his top hat and grinned widely, looking as astonished as if he had just learned that Santa Claus was real. Clearly the tiger was describing something that had never happened before in his memory.<br /><br />He pressed on with mounting excitement as though announcing in the ring.<br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the weirdest stuff I&rsquo;ve ever seen. You saw what he did the last time! He walked a tightrope with only a squirt gun to defend himself while the clowns were throwing balls at him, broke script and jumped off of it halfway through, caught himself on the trapeze, swung and let himself go to slide right through the hoop of fire he had been supposed to pole vault through from the ground, and blocked every pie the clowns could throw at him with his forepaws, sent them all straight back and knocked them down, one by one!&rdquo; The tiger made a batting motion with his own paws in imitation.<br /><br />&ldquo;And right after each show he&rsquo;s ready to go again! He never gets tired. It&rsquo;s like he&rsquo;s on a mission. I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like it. Alphonse says it&rsquo;s just a matter of helping him focus his natural abilities by reminding him that he&rsquo;s going out there to help your bunny friend. And it&rsquo;s true! Alas, that clumsy rabbit caused some damage to our equipment and almost brought a permanent end to poor Alphonse&rsquo;s magic show. He&rsquo;s been repairing the damage to work off his tab like a responsible young rabbit. But now Dex has signed a short-term contract with us in order to pay back Twitchy&rsquo;s debt himself and live out some of his . . . more harmless fantasies. You see, I know,&rdquo; the ringmaster jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Alphonse, &ldquo;about your type. You&rsquo;re Dex&rsquo;s friend, so I&rsquo;m sure you won&rsquo;t begrudge the kit his . . . happiness.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;After that, well, we&rsquo;ll take it from there. It&rsquo;s all perfectly legal. Alphonse, who is, familiar with the terms of performer agreements, not to mention sympathetic to your friend, brought the young man to me and is acting as his agent. There is still a lot on your bunny friend&rsquo;s balance sheet. But, I don&rsquo;t think we would have a problem letting him and his pet mouse loose right now, and even letting all three of you fraternize freely, if we could change one little thing.&rdquo;<br /><br />The tiger smiled as charmingly as he could and rested his elbows on his knees, putting his eyes at Lin Lin&rsquo;s level. &ldquo;I hear Dex&rsquo;s act is twice as good with a partner, and that you are quite talented yourself. Now if you hang out with these two boys, I don&rsquo;t know if you have any . . . preferences we could help accommodate, too. We have quite an impressive collection of equipment, and offer a welcoming environment that people like . . . well, like Dex here, won&rsquo;t find in many situations. We can just try things out, you and Dex and us, for the rest of the break season first, then take it from there. The pay&rsquo;s really not bad, compared to what you might get waitressing or cashiering, and it will look a lot more interesting on your resume. We just need you to sign a contract. Plus,&rdquo; he gestured toward Dex, &ldquo;maybe you can have what you really want . . .&rdquo;<br /><br />Alphonse strapped in Dex&rsquo;s legs, and produced a shiny quarter from behind his ear. The coon seemed to calm down, his wailing in the background finally abating, as the weasel rolled it between his fingers and across the back of his palm in front of Dex&rsquo;s muzzle.<br /><br />&ldquo;Panna!&rdquo; Dex said as he swallowed one of his last sobs, pointing at Lin Lin as though he had just noticed her. He clapped his paws and smiled, reaching out and leaning as far as he could from the high chair to grab at her nearest foot, his tail flicking back and forth. &ldquo;Fwenn!&rdquo;<br /><br />Lin Lin yanked her foot away from the raccoon and turned her suddenly icy gaze on the overgrown kit, who wilted into his high chair, his ears drooping sadly and his previously twitching tail hanging down limply in a straight line.<br /><br />&ldquo;You miscalculated,&rdquo; she snapped as her eyes swiveled back to Tony. All the appearance of softness and concern she had entered the trailer with seemed to melt away in an instant and her eyes resumed the steely gaze they usually shot at her misbehaving academy students.<br /><br />&ldquo;Neither of those quitters is my friend. I&rsquo;m not really here for them at all. In fact,&rdquo; she produced a business card from the pocket of her windbreaker and tossed it on the table, &ldquo;you might say the boys and I belong to rival organizations.&rdquo;<br /><br />The tiger took the card and eyed it curiously. &ldquo;Academy for Special Boys?&rdquo; he asked with raised eyebrows. &ldquo;Special how?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want to know,&rdquo; Lin Lin answered him briskly. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ll tell you what we can use there. All the stuff you&rsquo;ve been stealing from the boys, and from who knows where else. I&rsquo;ve known about their changing supply problems for a while. It&rsquo;s the real reason I&rsquo;ve kept a skeleton crew at the school 24/7 all break instead of letting everyone go&mdash;to make sure whoever was moving in on the boys&rsquo; territory didn&rsquo;t start pinching from us, too. I only agreed to tag along with the coon in the first place because I knew if he found his bosom bunny they would lead me right to the stolen goods. I&rsquo;ll show you what&rsquo;s in my bag if you don&rsquo;t believe me.&rdquo;<br /><br />She bent over and unzipped her backpack, slowly producing from the top, Dex&rsquo;s cowboy hat, which she tossed aside on to the floor, then, carefully, one item at a time, the stack of supplies it had been covering&mdash;two pairs of handcuffs, two pairs of pink bondage paw mitts, two pink ball gags, two thin coils of rope just long enough to tie together somefur&rsquo;s paws, and a string of empty, folded up sacks attached to a sturdier coiled rope, a setup that would allow her to haul several furs&rsquo; loads worth of stuff in a single trip.<br /><br />&ldquo;Squeak!&rdquo; gasped the captive mouse, who was watching intently, and pressed his paws vainly against the wall of the jar, which only wobbled a bit, but remained held tightly in place by the large elastics.<br /><br />Then, pointing at Lin Lin, and then at Dex, shaking his head, and holding his tiny paws crossed over each other as though to remind her that someone was being held in captivity, he chided her accusingly. &ldquo;Squeak!! Squeak! Squeak!&rdquo;<br /><br />Tony stared at Lin Lin&rsquo;s array of supplies in confusion. &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said skeptically, &ldquo;it doesn&rsquo;t look like equipment for a prison break. I&rsquo;ll give you that.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Of course it doesn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; the panda snapped. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what I left with from the academy when Dexie came by begging for my help. Your ring-tailed wonder over there,&rdquo; she jerked her head toward the regressed raccoon, &ldquo;is so gullible he didn&rsquo;t even watch me pack. I&rsquo;ve been planning to double-cross those two idiots from the beginning.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;As far as I&rsquo;m concerned the only difference between them making fools of themselves here or at home is that here they can get paid to do it. But since you&rsquo;ve saved me the trouble of taking the ambiguously aged duo out of play, let me repeat&mdash;I expect to leave here with every bit of their stuff. Or the next announcement you&rsquo;ll be making is that it&rsquo;s pizza lunch day for cell block D.&rdquo;<br /><br />Baby Dex&rsquo;s face fell flat on to the feeding platform of his high chair and he resumed sobbing, silently this time. Not everyone was his friend! Alphonse said the panda would help him get to his big brother faster and everyone would be happy when she came. But she sounded mad and it didn&rsquo;t look like she was going to help him. One of them had been lying to him. Maybe both of them.<br /><br />Why was everything so confusing without his real caretakers around? He couldn&rsquo;t even use the potty himself. That thing looked hard enough to figure out! How was he supposed to do anything harder if big furs didn&rsquo;t tell him the truth about things and keep their promises?<br /><br />A trickle ran out his leg gathers, down the bottom of his pant leg and steadily dripped onto the floor. Alphonse hastened into the kitchen to get the distraught baby a bottle.<br /><br />Tony, on the other paw, laughed deeply and slapped his knee, shaking his head.<br /><br />&ldquo;Sweetheart,&rdquo; the Siberian tiger said with a grin, &ldquo;I really hope we get to keep you. You might almost make those other two worth the trouble. Fine. I&rsquo;m willing to trade their supplies for your performances with Dex.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;d rather not. For practically two days I&rsquo;ve been pretending to be buddies with the karate kit,&rdquo; she flicked her paw at Dex. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s about all I can take. How about,&rdquo; the panda proposed, leaning forward and resting her chin on her elbows, &ldquo;we just play for them?&rdquo;<br /><br />Tony laughed and his eyes flashed. &ldquo;Poker,&rdquo; he said decisively. &ldquo;Sure, why not? I&rsquo;m a sporting tiger. If you lose, you&rsquo;ll perform for us until the end of break with the flying raccoon. If you win, you&rsquo;ll leave with whatever you can carry. I&rsquo;ll even let you borrow a pushcart. Alphonse&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />Tony moved to motion Alphonse for something but Lin Lin unzipped the small front compartment of her backpack as she snapped, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll use my deck,&rdquo; and produced one.<br /><br />The tiger tipped his hat to her and flashed a toothy, predatory smile, letting his gentlemanly veneer fall away. &ldquo;As you wish. I just hope you&rsquo;re a better loser than your friend over there.&rdquo; He jerked his head in Dex&rsquo;s direction.<br /><br />&ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; the panda shot back coolly as she began shuffling. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have enough experience.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Next time: Into the Fire: Oh no! It looks like Lin Lin has sold Dex down regression river. With Twitchy in lockdown and no fur left to save him, kit Dex is alone with his memories.</em><br /><br /><strong>\fEpisode 7. Into the Fire</strong><br /><br />Twitchy&rsquo;s head snapped up from the ground as the row of light bulbs in the top of the tractor trailer switched on. His foot was still handcuffed to far edge of the large animal cage where he had been being held for days. They had already brought him dinner. At this hour the only fur who came would probably be. . . &ldquo;Alphonse,&rdquo; he called out cautiously. &ldquo;Is that you? Come on . . .&rdquo; he whimpered. &ldquo;Take a stand. Help me.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Good news, kid,&rdquo; announced the jaguar who stepped up into the trailer, wearing black leather pants and a sleeveless leather top that covered most of his upper body except for his brawny chest. A ring of keys jangled on his belt. &ldquo;We brought your friend.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Squeak!&rdquo; Twitch cried, smiling. &ldquo;Finally!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Nope,&rdquo; the jaguar shook his head as he hoisted up a petite prisoner in a purple windbreaker, her forepaws tied behind her back and locked in pink bondage mitts and her footpaws tied together and to her knees. &ldquo;Your panda friend.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;My who?&rdquo; the rabbit blurted in a mix of disbelief and terror at the sight of his most erstwhile&mdash;and dangerous&mdash;pink team rival.<br /><br />The big cat carried Lin Lin, squirming helplessly and sputtering with a ball gag shoved in her mouth, over to the bars and dumped her on the floor as he shuffled through the keys, looking for the one that matched the padlock on Twitchy&rsquo;s cage.<br /><br />He patted her on the head. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s tricky all right. But I&rsquo;m on to her; I emptied her pockets and tied her up good this time. No way she has any tricks left. Fair to warn you, though, in case she tries to pull anything: She already tried to sell you out for gear. I don&rsquo;t think she cares if you rot in there. So until we figure out better accommodations&mdash;Lin Lin here will be your bunkmate.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Now I&rsquo;m sure,&rdquo; the rabbit moaned. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re trying to kill me.&rdquo;<br /><br />*************<br /><br />Tony the ringmaster opened the door of Alphonse&rsquo;s trailer and stuck his head in. &ldquo;Are you two almost ready for the big top? I sent the shift workers away early, and everyone full-time is in there already. This is the only time in your life, Alphonse, I&rsquo;m likely to pay for a crew party, so don&rsquo;t miss any of it. We had a record take today thanks to that guy. And I want to make sure everyone is in a good mood when I explain who our new surprise star is and why we have to handle him&mdash;well&mdash;delicately.&rdquo;<br /><br />He fidgeted and tugged at his belt, adding after a moment, &ldquo;Good work finding Dex. And getting him to work for free. If you can keep him touring with us for this season that should cover the ten grand you still owe. Leave the panda to me. She&rsquo;ll come around; I speak her language.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;There there, Dexie,&rdquo; Alphonse was busy soothing the pouting kit, patting his head, as he waved a spoonful of baby food in front of his face. All four of Dex&rsquo;s limbs were fastened in leather restraints attached to the high chair and he wore a white and blue-trimmed bib with the word &ldquo;CUBBY&rdquo; spelled out in a cheerful print of wooden letter blocks with a rocking horse emblazoned beneath it.<br /><br />&ldquo;Unca is alweddy doing extra laundry for you. I don&rsquo;t know why the &lsquo;sposables bother you so much, l&rsquo;il guy, but if our hewo thinks cloth is comfier on his little bottom, that&rsquo;s what he can have. He is on a hard hard mishy-wission after all.&rdquo; The weasel added with a grimace. &ldquo;And I don&rsquo;t want to get kicked in the face changing you again. Now we&rsquo;re all out of the sweet potatoes and the peas you like so much, and Unca can&rsquo;t run to the grocery store this late. No, he can&rsquo;t. Be a good cubby.&rdquo;<br /><br />Baby Dex bit his lip shut tight and shook his head energetically. The weasel moved the spoon back and forth. &ldquo;Come on, spaghetti and meatballs,&rdquo; the mustelid offered enticingly. &ldquo;Who doesn&rsquo;t like dat? It&rsquo;s on an airplane!&rdquo; He moved the spoon in a wobbly circular motion around Dex&rsquo;s ears. &ldquo;Best meal you&rsquo;ll get on one too!&rdquo; The kit continued to pout and regarded the feeding spoon suspiciously out of the corner of his eyes.<br /><br />The ringmaster shook his head. &ldquo;Performers. There&rsquo;s not one of you who isn&rsquo;t a prima donna, is there?&rdquo;<br /><br />**********************************<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not listening to you!&rdquo; Twitchy protested insistently without raising his head from the floor.<br /><br />The bound and gagged panda, lying on her side, sputtered again and thumped her tied-up feet thumped against the floor of the trailer, three times in rapid succession. The rabbit&rsquo;s ears flicked around.<br /><br />&ldquo;Wait a minute,&rdquo; he tilted his head up slowly and lowered his voice to a whisper. &ldquo;Have you been banging . . . in Morse code?&rdquo; He looked around left and right furtively.<br /><br />The jaguar was on guard, but right outside the trailer. In actuality, although Twitchy couldn&rsquo;t have known it, he was not inclined to take his guard duty very seriously at the moment. He was rather upset about missing the cast party, and trying to take his mind off it by drinking from a bottle in a paper bag and conjuring various leather-based fantasies, his paw occasionally straying into his pants. Nor had he been entirely happy to find out about the captive rabbit after Alphonse and the ringmaster took him and the others involved in the sideshow tent fight into their confidence. The whole thing made him uncomfortable. It was one thing to clean out the larders of all the leather bars and dungeons he visited in the towns they passed through. None of those tops would ever report their missing stuff, he knew, and a gay bar would have some luck getting the police to investigate anything. But this thing with the bunny went beyond scene play and petty theft. Still, he had accidentally gotten involved too deep to back out and Tony had promised to make it worth his while.<br /><br />Twitchy leaned as close to Lin Lin as he could. &ldquo;What are you up to? Are you with the boys somehow? Did they get my signal?&rdquo;<br /><br />She shook her head in frustration and glared up at him out of the side of her eyes. He blushed. &ldquo;Oh, right,&rdquo; he reached up as she scooted closer and unfastened the ball gag.<br /><br />She spat it out and wrenched her face into a disgusted expression for a moment. Then the panda whispered, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll explain while you work. I can take the guard. There are three hairpins in my right sock. Is that enough for you to get out of those cuffs and open this cage?&rdquo;<br /><br />The rabbit&rsquo;s tail wiggled and his face lit up as he playfully whispered, &ldquo;What are the other two for?&rdquo;<br /><br />**********************************<br /><br />Dex stared vacantly at the floor as Alphonse, who had given up trying to feed him for the moment, talked with Tony outside. He was so small, and this place was so confusing and strange, he was in shutdown from sensory overload half the time. But he giggled involuntarily and opened his muzzle when he saw something familiar on the ground amid the sea of giant, garish objects and pawed at it&mdash;or rather he tried to, but his paws had been restrained.<br /><br />It was a hat that had been left on the floor when they took the panda away after their card game. That hat reminded him of someone. It was a clue! That one of his big brothers was nearby!<br /><br />Then kit Dex was sad. It reminded him of someone who wasn&rsquo;t coming. Someone who hadn&rsquo;t come for him after the battle in the academy, either.<br /><br />He dimly remembered a bigger version of himself staring at the cowboy hat on his desk as he sat in the swivel chair in his apartment with one paw thrust into the soggy, no-longer warm front of his soft cloth diaper, stroking himself slowly. This was taking forever. Time to stop pulling his punches! He bit his tongue and thrust his other paw in, too, leaning back against the chair, and slowly spinning around in it.<br /><br />As he spun to a halt, he found himself facing the hat on his desk again, and as he stared at it, the previously taut front of his diaper sagged.<br /><br />Come on, he thought. At least he hadn&rsquo;t forgotten, but what a lazy birthday present. And Rian was the only one in Baby Blue besides Roger who even knew his birthday. It was close to the tournament date so he didn&rsquo;t like to make a big deal of it. He clearly threw that hat in at the last minute when he was shopping for himself. He might have even bought it for himself initially and pulled it off his shelf that morning. He&rsquo;d been spending a lot on Serafina, Dex knew.<br /><br />No, he told himself, closing his eyes and resuming his stroking. My big brother gave me that hat so it&rsquo;s still special. I&rsquo;m just glad that he thought about me. Besides, he&rsquo;s my big brother. He knows about what&rsquo;s cool better than a kit like me. He kept working in his diaper. He wasn&rsquo;t good at pawing like Rian. He smiled thinking about that. There was some progress down there! Dex leaned back in the chair. The wolf always knew how to make him feel good. Covering for a few of his dates was the least he could do. They had a secret. He had lift off! Yeah. They still had a special bond.<br /><br />It&rsquo;s only because of Rian that he liked the diapers he had to wear at all. And had any idea how to play in them. In this way and&mdash;other ways. He felt a dribble of precum on his fingers. Yeah, that was good. He&rsquo;d do anything for his big brother. Dex put his footpaws up on his desk and leaned back further in his chair as he became increasingly excited and pumped more rapidly with both his paws.<br /><br />The chair creaked as Dex rocked back and forth slightly. Yes, Rian also pawed with the others. But Dex would have let him do&mdash;he would have let the wolf take him. Under his tail. It would have hurt, but he totally would have. Why not? He could handle it. He was tough. If he thought that&rsquo;s what Rian really wanted. If he&rsquo;d known he was so anxious to do more than paw each other. He&rsquo;d take his big brother in his muzzle too. He would have. He totally would have. Why not? Is that what Rian liked? Would it make him feel the way he made Dex feel when he masturbated the raccoon? Or did things get a lot better than that and Dex just didn&rsquo;t know? He had never done anything besides paw and cuddle with anyone, but it was no secret, now, what Rian had been doing with his pink team girlfriend. He didn&rsquo;t have to go across enemy lines for that, did he? Surely Rian didn&rsquo;t. Everyone cared about him.<br /><br />Dex cared about him.<br /><br />That did it. Dex shuddered and sighed in relief as he spurted a warm, thick, sticky mess over his own paws. As he recovered, his right one, still sticky, maneuvered around his thigh into the rear of his diaper and poked into his tail hole experimentally with one, then two fingers. They didn&rsquo;t poke very far.<br /><br />Yeah right, he thought as his breathing slowed down and he returned, gradually to reality. Like Rian would fit in there. Like anyfur would. I could have at least tried to get myself ready. I could start right now. He is still my big brother. But . . . how would I do that?<br /><br />The raccoon was crestfallen as he came back to himself in another few minutes, the afterglow fading more rapidly than it usually did. He stared glumly at the cowboy hat and, without thinking, let his left paw, also still moist with the residue of his little burst, stray to his muzzle. He sucked on it gingerly and curiously for a moment, then gagged and yanked it away from his tongue by a violent reflex. Okay, so even taking Rian in his muzzle would have required actual work. It wasn&rsquo;t something he could just roll over and do. The girls only made it look easy, he guessed. The girls . . . Rian&rsquo;s whole face lit up whenever he told Dex where he was going with Serafina. Dex shook his head.<br /><br />&lsquo;It&rsquo;s already too late anyway,&rsquo; he scolded himself as he collapsed back into the chair and, kicking his feet against his desk, rolled backwards in it across his tiny, one-room apartment, colliding with his bed and flopping over onto it. &lsquo;Why didn&rsquo;t,&rsquo; he moaned, &lsquo;I ever just say something to him?&rsquo;<br /><br />A tear rolled down the eye of the little kit strapped in his high chair in the trailer. Rian definitely wasn&rsquo;t going to be spending an entire weekend with a fully regressed Dex again any time soon. Even after break. There was only Twitchy. The super smart one of his two big brothers. Not only did he know how to use the potty, he even knew how that frightening, noisy machine worked. Kit Dex had watched in amazement when he opened one up and fixed a problem with it during his stay with the bunny and Squeak. Well, not only Twitchy. He was away right now, but there was still his biggest caretaker, too. His daddy. Maybe he would come, eventually . . .<br /><br />&lsquo;Look at that,&rsquo; the Labrador on the couch said, clapping his paws softly, &lsquo;he&rsquo;s dressed! And all by himself, too. I&rsquo;m glad you could make it over for a belated b-day celebration before we took off. There&rsquo;s something I want to talk to you about before we go. My present will take&mdash;a little explaining. I&rsquo;ve been thinking a lot about you lately, Dex.&rsquo;<br /><br />The coon blushed as he entered the room shyly in a pale blue footed sleeper, staring at the floor and moving one of his foot paws in a slow circle. &lsquo;If anyfur asks,&rsquo; he said, quietly, &lsquo;Rian is with me at a double feature. He&rsquo;s really&mdash;&rsquo;<br /><br />Roger cut him off and patted beside him on the couch. &lsquo;I have a pretty good idea where Rian is. You&rsquo;re always welcome in my apartment, you know, Dex, if you need somewhere&mdash;private&mdash;to hang out.&rsquo;<br /><br />The coon&rsquo;s thumb strayed up to his muzzle and Roger beckoned to him again. &lsquo;Now, I know you don&rsquo;t like to go out anywhere once you get going. Don&rsquo;t worry, there&rsquo;s actually food in the fridge that hasn&rsquo;t expired. And I have enough Disney movies to last the night.&rsquo;<br /><br />The coon made his way carefully to the couch, and hoisted himself up onto it with both paws, sliding over to lean his head against the dog&rsquo;s chest and look up at his muzzle from underneath. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s funner to stay in. I&rsquo;m sorry I&rsquo;m not exciting like Rian,&rsquo; he said apologetically. &lsquo;I&rsquo;m just not a champ at this like he is.&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;Dex,&rsquo; Roger stroked his head and put one arm around him. &lsquo;You keep bringing up Rian at shorter and shorter intervals.&rsquo; The dog took a deep breath and Dex felt Roger&rsquo;s chest rise and fall as he pressed against it. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s probably my fault. I do spend the most time with him. He&rsquo;s the most like me. And probably the one who&rsquo;ll take this gig over when&mdash;well, whenever. Let&rsquo;s face it, neither of us is about to jet off to Stockholm to pick up a Nobel Prize for anything.&rsquo;<br /><br />Dex grabbed one of Roger&rsquo;s paws with both of his and whimpered. &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t talk like that. We all depend on you two. All of us.&rsquo;<br /><br />Roger scratched Dex&rsquo;s head behind his ears. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s time you heard it, buster. You in particular! Because if you don&rsquo;t end up doing something a little more important than me and Rian I&rsquo;m going to be kind of . . . .&rsquo; Roger paused for a long time before concluding anticlimactically, &lsquo;Disappointed.&rsquo;<br /><br />Then the lab smiled and assumed a more playful tone, his tail slowly wagging. &ldquo;Hey. Do you want to know a secret?&rsquo; The coon didn&rsquo;t answer, only hugging him and snuggling against him closer, but Roger continued anyway. &lsquo;If I ever have to explain what Baby Blue was really about, if anyone does ever ask me what I&rsquo;ve actually done with my life, besides enjoy myself and fight with my sister,&rsquo; the Labrador, still looking across the room, tussled the coon&rsquo;s ears with one paw and stroked the tip of his tail with the other. &lsquo;You&rsquo;re the boy I&rsquo;ll mention first. Do you know why?&rsquo;<br /><br />Dex nodded and licked at the underside of Roger&rsquo;s muzzle. &lsquo;Uh huh. Cuz you helped me remember that I&rsquo;m a leader. Cuz in spite of,&rsquo; he tugged at his diaper through his pajamas, &lsquo;everything&mdash;I&rsquo;m still really strong.&rsquo; He made gentle punching motions against Roger&rsquo;s arm with his paws.<br /><br />Roger traced a circle around the top of the coon&rsquo;s head with the tip of his cold, wet nose, causing him to giggle. &lsquo;That&rsquo;s not the most important thing about you, Dex,&rsquo; he added quietly.<br /><br />&lsquo;In all the incarnations of this club, I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;ve ever seen a mission leader who&rsquo;s as mindful of his teammates all the time as you are. You&rsquo;re a leader,&rsquo; Roger tilted his head upside down to look into the coon&rsquo;s face with a smile, &lsquo;because in spite of,&rsquo; he patted the coon&rsquo;s padded bottom gently, &lsquo;everything&mdash;you&rsquo;re still really kind.&rsquo;<br /><br />Kit Dex quivered, locked into his high chair, and more silent tears ran down his face. He squeezed his eyes shut. He felt like he was closer than he had been in years to something that frightened him. He was all alone. As long as he was with bigger furs in this state, he could hug it away. It floated in front of his eyes like a marble. A clear marble that was transparent except for a bright red spot at its center, a little red screen with a scene playing on it inside. He touched the marble, gingerly, with his nose.<br /><br /><em>Two years earlier. The U.S. Mixed Martial Arts Association National Tournament. Juniors. Third series of matches. Dex versus J. D.<br /></em><br />Dex breathed deeply and slowly as he watched the cheetah coming toward him in a yellow, red and black-spotted blur. He would hit from the left&mdash;no, the right, it was a feint! One of his fists rammed into Dex&rsquo;s side. Dex winced and coughed reflexively as his heels slid an inch backward.<br /><br />But the coon caught the cat&rsquo;s other arm by the wrist and spun, sending the lean predator stumbling backwards and into the ropes as Dex leapt toward him. The cheetah, wearing a red uniform as opposed to Dex&rsquo;s yellow one, widened his eyes for a moment and turned as though to get out of the way, gripping the ropes with one paw&mdash;Dex kept coming&mdash;but instead of moving to the side J. D. jabbed his elbow up and into the coon&rsquo;s chest. Dex saw it moving a split second before impact; he braced himself and calculated quickly; he could take the jab and land two punches on J. D. Maybe it would be enough to get him on his knees. He moved to hit&mdash;and the cheetah used the paw holding the ropes to push all his weight up against Dex and into his elbow; the raccoon&rsquo;s eyes widened as something hard slammed into him and the cat re-entered his adrenaline-driven sprint mode. Dex heard&mdash;or felt&mdash;something crack.<br /><br />Was it one of his ribs? He opened his muzzle to say something and he could taste his own warm, salty blood; he wasn&rsquo;t down &mdash; he punched &mdash; once, then twice, he wasn&rsquo;t sure if he hit J. D. or just grazed him &mdash; and felt his footpaws swept out from under him and a weight ram him hard, between his legs, more than once. He was in the air, then it hit again, his lower abdomen, and again, and again&mdash;the cheetah was so fast that at full speed his blows already carried far greater force than a normal fur&rsquo;s would. Dex heard shouting. It wasn&rsquo;t the level of pain he expected, even from full-on hits from a predator. He had a feeling something terrible was starting.<br /><br />Dex thudded on to the ground on his back and slid backwards a good foot or so. He opened his mouth to say something, but he wheezed and blood dribbled out of the side of his muzzle. He couldn&rsquo;t hear a thing anyone was saying. His ears popped and his head swam. He hadn&rsquo;t felt so weak or confused since he was a kit. Everything was red. The whole world was painted in it.<br /><br />From the ground he could see his coach and the referee and a third fur, who must have been J. D.&rsquo;s coach, restraining the cheetah. The cat, slowly stopped moving and the adrenaline that fueled his bursts of speed began to wear off. Suddenly he looked panicked, seeing Dex flat on the ground, as though he had not quite realized, while moving at full speed, how far the pummeling had gone. His eyes were darting from the raccoon to the audience to his coach in concern. Dex&rsquo;s coach was shouting and the referee was also speaking, calmly, but no less sternly.<br /><br />The cheetah hesitated for a long moment then rolled up one of his sleeves, followed by the other; something shiny, weighted, and metallic&mdash;a thick plate covered with small, dull knobs&mdash;was strapped to each of his elbows.<br /><br />The referee waved his arm angrily, gestured toward Dex, and continued speaking, and the cheetah, looking increasingly cowed and glancing nervously at where the coon lay, shrugged and raised one foot to take off one of his heavily cushioned socks, revealing a brass knuckle-like device fitted around his toes. He pointed at his other foot and nodded, indicating it would be the same. The cheetah looked genuinely worried and shook his head apologetically.<br /><br />Dex&rsquo;s coach was coming over to him. Everyone in the ring gasped. Dex was up on his knees, his face knotted with pain as he tried to get to his feet. The badger was waving his paws to indicate he shouldn&rsquo;t and talking, but Dex couldn&rsquo;t hear him. He couldn&rsquo;t hear anything.<br /><br />Something misfired in the coon&rsquo;s brain. His thoughts were already fragmenting. Everything was silent. Everything was red. He was fighting his way to his feet, his eyes locked on the spotted cat. Dex wasn&rsquo;t down! He should be&mdash;his whole body felt battered&mdash;but somehow he wasn&rsquo;t.<br /><br />And what scared him more than anything, he realized with a start, was that if he did stand up, no effort of will was going to stop him from trying to kill that kid.<br /><br />He had to do something to switch himself off. He was raising one paw as though to shove his approaching coach out of the way. He would have hurt anyone who got in his way at that moment if he had the strength to&mdash;his coach, his parents, his friends, it didn&rsquo;t matter. He had to send his mind somewhere else. Somewhere safe from that kind of anger. Whenever it got close. Before he hurt anybody around him. Before he hurt his friends.<br /><br />Dex fell back down on to his knees, and then backward on his back on to the floor of the tournament ring. And started to cry.<br /><br />Like he had been crying just now. Like a kit.<br /><br />His eyes were still squeezed shut. Bit by bit, they opened, and he surveyed the room around him out of their corners. Dimly, he became conscious of the restraints on the high chair.<br /><br />&ldquo;I know, Dexie,&rdquo; the weasel said, patting his back as he returned and picked up the feeding spoon. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s okay. I&rsquo;m sorry your panda friend had to go away. She just got upset. Dat&rsquo;s all. It happens to the best of us. But we&rsquo;ll take care of you. We&rsquo;re all your friends. It&rsquo;s okay for you to feel small and weak. That&rsquo;s what you have a safe place for,&rdquo; the magician patted his head. &ldquo;To go to when you feel that way. To protect yourself.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex gradually began to breathe more steadily. For two years, he had thought that too. Every one of his friends assumed it. But being alone, as a kit, and under, for so long, had shaken another part of his memory loose. He hadn&rsquo;t started switching off to protect himself after all. He did it to protect the furs he cared about. But now, one of them was in trouble&mdash;and for real, not in a play battle with the girls.<br /><br />His stomach growled. His nose wrinkled at the odor of the open container of spaghetti-and-meatball flavored baby food in front of him. He had been a vegetarian since middle school, and the thought of eating meat had long since become repulsive to him.<br /><br />&ldquo;Now there,&rdquo; the weasel continued, &ldquo;everyone is waiting for you in the big top not far from here. Tony and all your new friends. We all want to help you get Twitchy free faster. I&rsquo;m going to ask Tony there. I think we should bring you to visit the bunny after the party. It&rsquo;s only fair.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You see,&rdquo; he patted the coon&rsquo;s head, &ldquo;how much your unca cares? And really does want to help both of you? But first, you just need to have some supper to stop your tummy from being all rumbly. That&rsquo;s why you keep crying, isn&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; The weasel flicked at his ears. &ldquo;Cuz you&rsquo;re a hungry little guy. And you do need your strength! Now come on,&rdquo; he picked up the feeding spoon and renewed his efforts. &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be much of a party if you cry the whole time.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex, his eyes still narrowed to slits, opened his muzzle without protest. Somewhat surprised, Alphonse stuck in the feeding spoon. Dex gulped and swallowed, with visible reluctance. &lsquo;I&rsquo;ll plant a tree when I get back home,&rsquo; he thought to himself. &lsquo;I swear.&rsquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; Alphonse said gleefully, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s a good boy! I know it&rsquo;s not your favorite, I know, but it will make you big and strong,&rdquo; and wiped off Dex&rsquo;s muzzle with the bib tied around his neck.<br /><br />Dex swallowed the next spoonful too.<br /><br />&ldquo;Squeak!&rdquo; marveled the mouse in the opposite corner of the small trailer&rsquo;s living room, who had arisen from his funk and begun paying attention to the scene. His paws and nose were now pressed against the surface of his glass prison.<br /><br />In the entire time he had been in Baby Blue, Squeak had never seen Dex, as real kit or play kit, eat meat, not even when he stayed with Twitchy and Squeak during his last extended regression. It was a well-known organization rule not to force it, or disposable diapers, on him. But he was eating it now. Was he sending Squeak a signal? &ldquo;Squeak?&rdquo; the mouse followed up questioningly.<br /><br />Out of the edge of his narrowed eyes Dex, gulping down another spoonful of the distasteful puree, made contact with Squeak&rsquo;s beady ones and, so slightly as to be imperceptible to the fussing mustelid feeding him, nodded.<br /><br /><em>Next time: Anger Management!: Dex throws a tantrum.</em><br /><br /><strong>\fEpisode 8. Anger Management!</strong><br /><br />&ldquo;You meant to say isn&rsquo;t it cute that I know kung fu and ballet,&rdquo; Lin Lin corrected the intoxicated, and now dazed jaguar as she strapped the ball gag around his head. Twitchy finished tying his arms behind his back and to the bars of the cage the two kids had just locked him in.<br /><br />The two cubs hopped outside the trailer and blinked as they took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the dark. Twitchy&rsquo;s large, sensitive ears flicked. &ldquo;Did you hear that?&rdquo; He looked at the woods suspiciously. &ldquo;Over the crickets chirping. It wasn&rsquo;t an owl. Why are there songbirds out at this hour?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Who cares?&rdquo; Lin Lin answered him curtly, assuming an in-charge tone. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s move. We&rsquo;ll get Dex and your mouse, and then you&rsquo;ll take us to the supply cache so we can grab as much of your stuff as we can before we split.&rdquo;<br /><br />She turned to make her way away from the parked tractor trailers&mdash;only to hear a loud clink and feel herself suddenly jerked backward by her wrist, toward the denim-clad, floppy-eared white rabbit.<br /><br />&ldquo;You idiot!&rdquo; She turned her head to see him fastening on his own left wrist the other cuff of the handcuffs that had just clicked around her right one. &ldquo;How am I supposed to fight handcuffed to you? What are you doing?&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy&rsquo;s whiskers moved skeptically. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re lucky I need you to show me where Dex is or I would just have left you in that cage.&rdquo; He glared at her.<br /><br />&ldquo;Tell me again,&rdquo; he said seriously, his foot starting to tap, &ldquo;your story about how Dex was captured in the sideshow tent and you conveniently escaped. Only this time, try the true version.&rdquo;<br /><br />The panda groaned. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have time for this! Is it that hard for you to believe I want to help him?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; Twitchy answered without hesitating.<br /><br />&ldquo;All right,&rdquo; she stared down at her Velcro jogging shoes as she spoke, letting out a long, reluctant breath. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re right. You got me. I did come on this mission intending to ditch the black belt in arresting development and make off with your missing supplies as soon as we found them. I never took that head case seriously.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;But, the truth is,&rdquo; she bit her lip, shifting her weight from one leg to the other uncertainly and paused for a long minute. &ldquo;The truth is . . . that Dex and I already fought. In the woods not far from here. I was sure you were the only Blue boy I had to worry about. Your teammate, though, has . . . more moves than I realized. He caught me off guard.&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy clapped his forepaws together, with the accidental effect of jerking the unsteady panda off balance and closer to him. She flashed him an annoyed glance, which he ignored.<br /><br />&ldquo;I knew it!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Dex took you prisoner. Ha!&rdquo; His cottonball tail wiggled proudly. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my little brother! No wonder he got captured with you slowing him down. So you hightailed it out of there, but no, you couldn&rsquo;t leave empty-pawed, not Miss &lsquo;I can do anything better than you.&rsquo; After all, you have to do something impressive while your teammates are gone to make up for your defeat at the academy, right? So you thought you&rsquo;d find me and give the &lsquo;let&rsquo;s team up&rsquo; trick one more try.&rdquo;<br /><br />He adjusted the goggles on his forehead with his uncuffed paw and puffed himself up. &ldquo;Well, it looks like Dex is a little too strong, and I&rsquo;m a little too smart! I won&rsquo;t be showing you where the supplies are. All that matters is that we get out of here with Dex. I bet you feel foolish for misjudging the two of us now.&rdquo;<br /><br />The undersized panda glared at him and narrowed her eyes.<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to,&rdquo; she snapped.<br /><br />*************************<br /><br />Dex swallowed nearly the last spoonful of the spaghetti-and-meatball puree and the spoon began to slide out of his muzzle. Suddenly, he bit down, hard.<br /><br />&ldquo;Hey!&rdquo; Alphonse tugged gently. &ldquo;Leggo. Leggo, l&rsquo;il guy.&rdquo; Dex shook his head mightily, yanking the feeding spoon out of the weasel&rsquo;s grip.<br /><br />&ldquo;Umm. . .&rdquo; the puzzled mustelid paused. &ldquo;Heh. Okay. I guess you do like it after all. See, it wasn&rsquo;t that . . .&rdquo;<br /><br />Before he could finish the restrained raccoon flicked his head with all his force and sent the metal feeding spoon whirling across the room, where it collided with a loud twang with one of the thick elastics holding Squeak&rsquo;s jar prison in place and rebounded from it into another cord, knocking the second band loose from where it was fastened under the table with a loud snap. The mouse, who was pushing on the edge of the jar with all his tiny might, squeaked excitedly as it fell over on to its side and rolled toward the edge of the table. With the jar sideways and the elastics no longer stretched taut over the lid, he could unscrew it.<br /><br />Alphonse&rsquo;s eyes flickered a moment too late across the room to see what was happening. He began to move in that direction, but Dex, even though he was still strapped in, leaned forward to one side and then back down again to bring one leg of the high chair down, hard on the weasel&rsquo;s footpaw. He yelped and scrambled backwards toward the trailer door, fumbling in a panic with the lock. Squeak darted down the table leg and across the floor with the speed of a mouse in full scamper and climbed up the leg of the high chair, struggling for a moment to unsnap the restraint on Dex&rsquo;s left leg.<br /><br />The weasel opened the door and stepped outside. &ldquo;Help!&rdquo; he shouted waving his arms frantically. &ldquo;Tony! Tom! Dave! Jack! Anybody! The kit&rsquo;s up! Code 2! Code 2! Get in here fast! Hold him down while I fix it!&rdquo;<br /><br />Squeak made it up on to the left arm of the high chair and freed Dex&rsquo;s left paw. The raccoon stretched it out in front of his face and grinned as the two strong bears from the sideshow tent dashed in. Both unleashed the whips from their belts and cracked them at him threateningly, but Dex whirled the right side of his body toward them, swinging the high chair into the path of the whips. Their coils wrapped around its frame.<br /><br />Squeak, who had scampered down Dex&rsquo;s right pant leg, freed the coon&rsquo;s right leg at the same time that Dex unstrapped his own right paw. With the bears&rsquo; whips tangled up in the high chair, and them trying to tug them free, Dex hurled its entire wooden frame at them. <br /><br />They fell to the floor with a crash as he jumped over the whole mess and past them, through the open trailer door, Squeak riding along under his karate uniform.<br /><br />Alphonse was running toward the big top as fast as he could waving his arms and shouting. Every crew member except the two bears and the jaguar conscripted for guard duty was already there. The bleechers had been removed for this one night and replaced with a buffet on one side, a small open bar on the other, and several tables for the crew to sit once they were finished mingling. A small platform stage stood at the far end of the pavilion; that was where Tony and Alphonse planned to speak and introduce Dex.<br /><br />The weasel narrowly beat Dex into the big top, but none of the confused and milling acrobats and clowns around the buffet table near the entrance knew what he was shouting about. His panicked eyes darted around the crowd of the forty or fifty circus workers in various states of undress until he located Tony. The ringmaster, looking very pleased with himself at the opposite end of the tent near the stage, was shaking paws with the head clown and patting him on the back.<br /><br />The green-aproned wolf who ran the row of game booths intercepted Alphonse and began asking him what was the matter just as Dex somersaulted over both of them and landed in the middle of the buffet table and started running down it, kicking over the food left and right.<br /><br />The confused clowns began shouting at him and everyfur ran toward the buffet table in the center of the empty tent. With the entire crew all headed to one place, Dex leapt over the smaller crowd to his left and made for the perimeter of the tent, kicking anyone who tried to stop him to his right and karate-chopping furiously and seemingly at the air on his left as he raced around it toward the ringmaster&mdash;but he was taking the long way.<br /><br />Squeak, as an engineer, peeking out of Dex&rsquo;s pant leg, saw what the raccoon was up to, and had scampered out of his karate uniform and slipped out the perimeter of the tent. <br /><br />Working as quickly as he could, he ran around uprooting tent stakes as speedily as a pocket-sized mouse could manage.<br /><br />Alphonse came up to the ringmaster&rsquo;s side and fumbled in his pockets for anything that might help. He produced a shiny quarter and a silver pocket watch, glancing between them quickly. He looked up to get a fix on Dex and his eyes widened. &ldquo;Oh no,&rdquo; he whispered. He was the first crew member to realize what Dex had been chopping at.<br /><br />Behind Dex, the tent began to give way. He had been chopping through its wooden support poles at any joints he could hit on them as he ran and fending off anyone who tried to grab him with his opposite arm and leg. His left paw bristled with splinters.<br /><br />Tony opened his muzzle and reached for the whip on his belt, his eyes widening with fright as he began shouting. &ldquo;Jack! Alphonse! Everybody! The kid&rsquo;s gone nuts! I knew this would happen sooner or later if I kept hiring you freaks! Stop him! Jack!&rdquo; he turned to the strong bear near him and shoved him toward the side Dex was approaching from, backing away himself.<br /><br />&ldquo;Come on! You coward!&rdquo; he shouted at the stumbling bear. &ldquo;You fought this kid when he had help! Get out there! What&rsquo;s different now?&rdquo;<br /><br />The bear swung his paws around in confusion, but Dex somersaulted over him as three quarters or so of the under-supported tent behind him slowly gave way and creakily collapsed inward, sending the entire crew scrambling toward the falling exit in confusion, some overturning tables to make their way out faster and only adding to the chaos. The coon caught one of the remaining, high-up tent support beams with his right paw and used it to redirect himself in the air. He landed on the much-larger tiger&rsquo;s shoulders and wrapped his legs around the big cat&rsquo;s arms, squeezing as hard as he could to pin them to his body as Tony hopped around trying to shake him loose. <br /><br />&ldquo;Our contract is cancelled,&rdquo; Dex said with a low growl into the ringmaster&rsquo;s ear, &ldquo;Every deal you make is rotten. Everything about this place is rigged.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I run a circus!&rdquo; the tiger, struggling against the grip of Dex&rsquo;s legs, protested in flustered disbelief. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s just the way it works!&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Then someone should have warned you,&rdquo; Dex explained calmly as he yanked the ringmaster&rsquo;s top hat down over his eyes with both paws.<br /><br />&ldquo;Cheating makes me angry.&rdquo;<br /><br />***********************<br /><br />Twitchy and Lin Lin raced as fast as they could handcuffed together in the direction of the crash. As they did, the rabbit heard a birdcall right behind him and stopped in his tracks as he felt a light touch on his shoulder.<br /><br />He froze and jerked around in astonishment, sending Lin Lin stumbling toward him again. Her eyes stared daggers up at him. Just her luck, the way this mission had been going, to end it handcuffed to the most nervous fur she had ever met.<br /><br />&ldquo;Twitch!&rdquo; whispered the black-and-brown mottled dog who stepped out of the shadows, tipping his park ranger&rsquo;s hat. He wore his Boy Scout sash above a khaki uniform, and a long, cylindrical bamboo whistle hung around his neck on a string. He wrinkled his nose. &ldquo;And not a moment too soon. The front of that diaper must be about to burst. We&rsquo;ll get you changed right after we pull out.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Jax!&rdquo; the bunny exclaimed, hopping up and down on his large feet, then gesturing to the jostled panda. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t worry! She got away from Dex, but I recaptured her. She won&rsquo;t get the drop on me!&rdquo;<br /><br />Lin Lin rolled her eyes and snorted.<br /><br />&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Dex?&rdquo; the dog asked anxiously.<br /><br />&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re trying to figure out. But our best guess is,&rdquo; Twitchy said, as both the handcuffed furs pointed in the direction of the loud crash they had just heard and shouted in unison, &ldquo;That way!&rdquo;<br /><br />The Plott hound wagged his tail and raised his whistle to his lips, indicating with his paw the rabbit should hold on for one second. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll pass it down the chain.&rdquo;<br /><br />He blew the whistle carefully, mimicking the call of a blue jay.<br /><br />*********************<br /><br />&ldquo;Now, Dex,&rdquo; the weasel magician, laying on his back, crawled backward into the last standing corner of the big top tent, looking up at the approaching raccoon who had left Tony wheezing on his knees behind him. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m your friend,&rdquo; he fumbled with his silver pocket watch unobtrusively in one paw, trying to flash the light off of it into Dex&rsquo;s eyes as inconspicuously as he could. &ldquo;I understand you. I&rsquo;m not like the others. Don&rsquo;t you at least want to hear&mdash;my side of all this?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;No,&rdquo; Dex said icily. &ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Twitchy? And where&rsquo;s Triple L?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;In the second tractor trailer in the east parking lot, in an animal cage. There&rsquo;s one guard and one of the bunny&rsquo;s feet is handcuffed to a bar at the far end. The guard should have the keys to the cage and the cuffs. We&rsquo;ve been feeding him and I&rsquo;ve been slipping him . . . supplies, don&rsquo;t worry,&rdquo; the weasel said quickly. &ldquo;The panda should be in there too. We only have one empty cage right now.&rdquo;<br /><br />Alphonse reached into his pocket with his free hand and tossed Dex a key, which the coon snatched out of the air. &ldquo;Dex&mdash;the stuff your friend had when we took him is in the only drawer that locks in the desk in my trailer. In return, Dex&mdash;&rdquo; the weasel looked around the collapsed tent anxiously.<br /><br />Half the crew was tangled in canvass, trying to crawl over each other, to escape from the ruins. Only ten of them, tops, knew the full extent of what had been going on, although rumors had been flying since Dex&rsquo;s first appearance. No one, however, who did manage to crawl free, was particularly inclined to interfere with the raccoon at the moment, or do anything other than slink off, lay low, or run into the shadows.<br /><br />Alphonse eyed the ringmaster as Tony sank backward on to the ground, staring at the ruins of his big top in near-apoplectic shock. &ldquo;In return,&rdquo; Alphonse whispered to Dex quickly, &ldquo;somewhere Tony has pictures of me. I&rsquo;m going to run to his office. If you could check his trailer for those too while you&rsquo;re there&mdash; Better yet, you could tell him you just need one more thing . . .&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex stared stonily at the weasel. &ldquo;Stand up to him yourself.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Dex,&rdquo; Alphonse pleaded. &ldquo;Please. I&rsquo;ve been . . . stuck in this place.&nbsp;&nbsp;I . . . I tried to convince Tony to let your friend go.&rdquo;<br /><br />The raccoon kicked the pocket watch out of Alphonse&rsquo;s paw. &ldquo;Should have tried harder,&rdquo; he said over his shoulder as he stepped over the quivering magician and kicked a hole in the small section of the tent&rsquo;s wall that was still standing. &ldquo;I know you can be more persuasive.&rdquo;<br /><br /><em>Next time: Secret Santa: As the dust settles on the battlefield, Dex gets&mdash;and gives&mdash;a few final surprises to set things right.</em><br /><br /><strong>\fEpisode 9. Secret Santa</strong><br /><br />Dex stepped out of the collapsed tent and found himself surrounded. Not by the circus crew&mdash;in fact, those who had crawled out were either running off in a panic, with weapons trained on them as they did, or standing around the collapsed tent with their hands fearfully raised behind their heads.<br /><br />No, Dex was surrounded by a small ring of uniformed boys ranged in between the tents a couple yards back from the falling big top&rsquo;s perimeter, paintball guns, high-pressure water cannons, bow and suction-cup arrows, and Nerf weapons cocked and at the ready.<br /><br />&ldquo;Dex!&rdquo; Twitchy shouted, hopping up and down and waving from behind them, shaking a by now very agitated and dizzy Lin Lin around. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s so good to see you! Don&rsquo;t worry,&rdquo; he added holding up his left arm to display the handcuff. &ldquo;I recaptured her! And did you find . . . &rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Squeak!&rdquo; exclaimed the mouse still working on pulling up supports. He dropped the stake he had just uprooted and raced around the perimeter of the tent toward his usual, jubilant bunny partner.<br /><br />The raccoon relaxed into a smile, visibly relieved. &ldquo;Twitch! You&rsquo;re okay! What is all this?&rdquo; He jerked his head at the circle of boys.<br /><br />The rabbit fidgeted. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re&mdash;umm&mdash;&rdquo; the bunny shrugged, gesturing at the mostly collapsed tent behind the raccoon, and concluded uncertainly, &ldquo;here to rescue you?&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex flicked his paw at the bunny in a mock salute. &ldquo;Ditto,&rdquo; he said.<br /><br />He scanned the rescue crew quickly. &ldquo;Jax!&rdquo; he added gratefully, sighting the hound dog. &ldquo;This is almost everyone.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;It&rsquo;s everyone plus. Every paw who stayed on for break, plus any fur we could get who was taking it easy but lives in town,&rdquo; the dog corrected. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just the first wave. The rest of them are on the perimeter. We started not long after you hit the road, but it took a full day to pull the team together. Kyle is still at Hideout #4 trying to reach anyone else in driving distance. By the time we moved out, we couldn&rsquo;t get you on the radio. And we couldn&rsquo;t travel as fast on the trail as you and the panda did.&rdquo;<br /><br />He jumped and waved both his paws in the air as a beam of light shined in their direction and fell across Dex and him, adding, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the others. I signalled them to move in a couple minutes ago.&rdquo;<br /><br />The raccoon frowned for a moment. &ldquo;But you don&rsquo;t have a walkie talkie. And that means the hideouts are&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />The Plott hound shook his head and pointed over the raccoon&rsquo;s shoulder eagerly, wagging his tail and blushing in anticipation. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t order this op, Dex. I was as surprised as you.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex turned to see a second string of boys approaching behind a tall, heavyset, tough-looking lynx in a British explorer&rsquo;s tan safari outfit, complete with a safari hat.<br /><br />Ace&rsquo;s eyes scanned the terrain warily. There was a long silver whistle on a cord around his neck, a canteen dangled from his shoulder strap, and a paintball gun hung on his belt. <br /><br />One paw was carrying a small shaded lantern, and the other was behind his back resting on a throwing net in his open backpack that could entangle three or four average-sized furs if he cast it correctly.<br /><br />&ldquo;Some of the boys were concerned about leaving all our bases undefended to come after you, yeah,&rdquo; Ace completed Dex&rsquo;s thought with an apologetic shrug. &ldquo;Especially with the panda&rsquo;s whereabouts unknown. I had to remind them that decisions about hideout defense are up to me.&rdquo;<br /><br />He paused awkwardly, then added, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re running the strike radio silent. We lost two radio contacts&mdash;&rdquo; he released his net and shook his thumb at Dex, then at Twitchy&mdash;&ldquo;in this fairground already. So Jax suggested we try something different.&rdquo;<br /><br />Ace tugged at the bird whistle around his neck and seemed uncharacteristically bashful for a moment.<br /><br />&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; Dex took a deep breath, and moved to hug the lynx, but retreated when the tough cat backed away uncomfortably. &ldquo;Since every fur is here&mdash;I&rsquo;d hate for you to have wasted a trip. If our hideouts can keep for a little longer&mdash;I have an idea.&rdquo;<br /><br />Ace looked down at his footpaws and saluted. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s your call,&rdquo; he said to the raccoon. &ldquo;Sir.&rdquo;<br /><br />*****************************<br /><br />&ldquo;Hee! I&rsquo;m a pony!&rdquo; said one of the boys at their campsite in the woods, bending over and settling a riding saddle on his back, prancing experimentally and eyeing the bridle and rein that had lain alongside it. Another two were looking at enema equipment and exchanging confused shrugs, trying to figure out what it was for.<br /><br />Ace was looking through a collection of leather chaps on one of the hand-drawn supply wagons they had borrowed from the circus parking lot with more than idle curiosity. Jax, standing next to him, was frowning and shaking his head emphatically.<br /><br />There were fifteen boys all told and six overloaded carts&rsquo; worth of stuff. It would be a slow trip back to Hideout #4, where they would coordinate what Dex had ordered as Operation Secret Santa.<br /><br />Dex and Twitchy were conferring around a small campfire, with Dex&rsquo;s cowboy hat, recovered from Alphonse&rsquo;s trailer, on the ground between them. The rabbit was sitting cross-legged and the raccoon was lying on his legs and elbows. The other boys rifled through the boxes that had been opened, alternately amazed and horrified by what they found&mdash;from dildoes and vibrators of various sizes to spiky collars, chains, stainless steel dog bowls, padded animal beds and chew toys, to bondage gear and adult-sized baby outfits for both genders of varying degrees of embarrassment.<br /><br />Not to mention, of course, a diverse collection of variously colored, variously layered diapers of designer quality, and changing supplies that ranged from the routine in bulk quantities&mdash;wipes and powder&mdash;to the more exotic, like concentrated castor oil and leather spanking paddles that said &ldquo;BAD&rdquo; on them on one paw, and jars of hand-made lavender baby oil on the other.<br /><br />Lin Lin had been handcuffed to one of the carts. &ldquo;I still think&mdash;&rdquo; she started to say.<br /><br />&ldquo;For the last time,&rdquo; Twitchy snapped. &ldquo;The academy is not getting a cut. And neither are we. We&rsquo;re only keeping what we can tell is Baby Blue&rsquo;s. Everything else goes back to the rightful owners, just as soon as we can find them, and if not, to thrift stores or to the LGBT community centers around here and at the colleges. Those were Dex&rsquo;s orders.&rdquo; He shook his head. &ldquo;Jeez!&rdquo; he added in exasperation. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re supposed to be a prisoner!&rdquo;<br /><br />She shrugged and kicked at the dirt. &ldquo;Fine. Run your organization into the ground. It&rsquo;s none of my concern. Not like any furs are really expecting to get this stuff back. They&rsquo;d still be just as grateful if you kept a small finder&rsquo;s fee. If only to cover your own expenses.&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy rolled his eyes and turned back to Dex. He fiddled with his pen-sized digital camera. Dex was looking by firelight through a ledger from a safe that Tony had&mdash;under duress&mdash;given him the key to. His left paw and wrist were still wrapped in gauze with a makeshift splint that Jax had rigged up after picking out as many of the splinters as he could. (The scout dog had a First Aid badge, of course.)<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen this much gear in one place. And I can&rsquo;t believe the prices they were getting for some of this junk. I&rsquo;d like to call this in,&rdquo; the coon said, shaking his head. &ldquo;But if the owners were too embarrassed to report it themselves, I think we should be considerate of their privacy. I just hope Tony and company learned their lesson. I think I can probably match partial addresses to maybe a third of the stuff out of the notes in here. That&rsquo;s a start anyway. And then we start looking through phonebooks and online. It&rsquo;s good the boxes were numbered and dated. Not so good that Tony started pulling the packing labels off after he caught you snooping around, Twitch. How does it look?&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy wiggled his tail and tapped his foot as he shook the pen-sized camera. &ldquo;Erasing pictures by pressing the delete key a bunch of times.&rdquo; He chortled as though someone had offered him a ride to school on a horse and buggy. &ldquo;Squeak got all the labels on the boxes that had them. As soon as I can plug this into a laptop I should be able to recover most, if not all, of the photos.&rdquo;<br /><br />He looked at the ledger. &ldquo;Squeak and I can take the ledger and Tony&rsquo;s papers too, Dex. You&rsquo;ve already lost enough practice time for your black belt test.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex looked up at the rabbit out of the top of his eyes for a moment. &ldquo;Twitch,&rdquo; he said, lowering his voice. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been meaning to ask you something. I haven&rsquo;t told anyone, but I took myself off the black belt test list for this go-round.&rdquo;<br /><br />The rabbit&rsquo;s ears flicked and he looked up from his camera as the raccoon set the ledger down and reached over to his backpack, tugging on the strap so that it fell flat in front of him. &ldquo;Come on, Dex,&rdquo; Twitchy protested. &ldquo;I thought just to stop the brown belt jokes&mdash;&rdquo; he started to say.<br /><br />Dex unzipped the front compartment and shook his head, taking a deep breath as he withdrew a folder of papers. &ldquo;Roger gave me this before he left town. I&rsquo;ve been carrying it around all break thinking about what to do with it. It&rsquo;s a packet of student-athlete scholarship applications. With letters from the dojo and my high school coach attached. And . . . transfer applications. I don&rsquo;t want to tell the whole group if nothing is going to happen.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;You know it&rsquo;s kind of a fluke that I&rsquo;m at City College. I almost went to&mdash;&rdquo; The raccoon chewed on his lip and motioned with his bandaged paw dismissively. &ldquo;Well, it doesn&rsquo;t matter. The point is, my athletics are good enough&mdash;again. I&rsquo;ve been thinking about you&mdash;and well,&rdquo; he traced a circle in the dirt with his uninjured paw. &ldquo;I know you&rsquo;re always on call and have your own stuff to do&mdash; No, what I mean to say is, Don&rsquo;t take this the wrong way, but you were bad when you started combat training.&rdquo; He blinked, remembering the rabbit falling over&mdash;into a stream&mdash;when he threw a ball at him in a game of catch. &ldquo;Really bad. But everyfur said you were amazing during the ambush in the gym. It&rsquo;s still&mdash;a bit of a blur to me. Sorry. So, just by your example, of, if you can do that, then I . . . . No, it&rsquo;s just&mdash; well, look, the short version is, you know I&rsquo;m a psych major. Statistics isn&rsquo;t going so great.&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy blinked and smiled, tussling Dex&rsquo;s head with the front of one of his large feet. &ldquo;About the gym: I had a good tutor. And so do you. Of course. You don&rsquo;t need to write me a speech about it. But, Dex, that means&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />He bit his lip and looked at the coon worriedly. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how many are in that packet, but that means at a minimum, not being in the same school as Rian any more. Maybe even&mdash;&rdquo;<br /><br />The raccoon nodded. &ldquo;I know. Well,&rdquo; he blushed. &ldquo;Yours is on the list. That wouldn&rsquo;t be bad.&rdquo;<br /><br />The rabbit grinned. &ldquo;What are you doing in statistics? I mean, you can do normal curves and stuff, right?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Umm,&rdquo; Dex&rsquo;s uninjured paw strayed up to his muzzle and three of his fingers found their way inside. &ldquo;I can dwaw one if dat&rsquo;s what you mean.&rdquo;<br /><br />Twitchy eyed him suspiciously. &ldquo;Are strange things going to happen to you whenever your homework seems impossible?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Would that,&rdquo; Dex asked, sucking on his fingers, &ldquo;bother you?&rdquo;<br /><br />The rabbit tussled Dex&rsquo;s head with his foot again. The coon looked up at him from the ground and his tail flicked against it.<br /><br />Twitchy&rsquo;s cheeks flushed red as he admitted, &ldquo;Not really.&rdquo;<br /><br />Maybe they would end up at the same school, who knew? Dex mused as Twitchy&rsquo;s foot rubbed his head. That felt kind of good. The raccoon leaned his head into it and purred softly without thinking. There was nothing wrong with that, right, he told himself? Sure, sometimes Dex was older than the rabbit and outranked him, but sometimes Twitchy was his super smart big brother. And now he&rsquo;d have to find a way to thank Twitch for his help.<br /><br />He found his mind idly and curiously wandering over some of the fetish gear he&rsquo;d been looking through against the entries in the ledger&mdash;in this case, leashes and collars of various kinds&mdash;he wondered, unprompted, as he sucked on his fingers, if his smart big brother liked pets. He bet he did. He probably wanted to have more company than just Squeak, but not the kind who would distract him from what he was doing on his computer. Dex could keep him company that way sometimes. He totally could. Maybe as a kitten. He had a feeling Twitch wouldn&rsquo;t like a lot of barking. He would want to play in ways that didn&rsquo;t take him away from his computer. Well, kittens did like . . . drinking milk a whole lot, he mused, biting his lip and listening to the rabbit crinkle as he shifted his weight back and forth fiddling with the camera. He could . . . probably manage that. For his big brother. And he probably liked foot massages. Dex could probably manage one of those. No, he totally could. He totally could do both those things. It was just a matter of practice. Three or four times. He would have it right after that. He totally would. He wondered what else Twitch might like. What else he might want to do.<br /><br />Well, he didn&rsquo;t need to wonder, did he?, he reminded himself. He only had to ask him.<br /><br />*****************************<br /><br />Lin Lin awoke with a start sometime after midnight to see Dex crouching in front of her with his finger held to his lips as her handcuffs clicked loose. The fire had died out, and everyone else was fast asleep. He motioned for her to step behind the supply wagon, and she followed curiously.<br /><br />&ldquo;More trouble sleeping?&rdquo; the panda whispered as she blinked the bleariness out of her own eyes.<br /><br />The coon shook his head. &ldquo;No. I got up for you.&rdquo; He jerked his head over his shoulder at the sleeping boys. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m following your lead, you know. I don&rsquo;t know what that performance you gave Twitchy was about.&rdquo;<br /><br />Her eyes narrowed. &ldquo;What performance? Everything I told him was true. I really did intend to make off with your stuff, Dexie. Period, the end. We both know I left you in the sideshow tent when I should have . . . when a friend would have stayed. The bunny&rsquo;s story is closer to the truth than whatever you&rsquo;re thinking. Your boys all have the right idea. It was your stupid plan to invite me along on this mission.&rdquo; She wagged her paw at him sternly. &ldquo;You never should have trusted me. You&rsquo;re way too soft for your own good. And if someone doesn&rsquo;t correct it now, it will catch up with you eventually.&rdquo;<br /><br />The raccoon shrugged. &ldquo;Have it your way.&rdquo; He reached into the pocket of his undershirt and handed her a small box. &ldquo;I found these cards when I took Twitchy&rsquo;s stuff back from the weasel&rsquo;s trailer. The box says &lsquo;For Li&rsquo; on it. I thought you might know him.&rdquo;<br /><br />She snatched it hastily and gulped. &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; she answered.<br /><br />Dex added softly, &ldquo;Well, he cheats. There are six aces and five kings in that deck. And I have a hunch the cards are marked in a way devised by someone smarter than me.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Then apparently,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;he doesn&rsquo;t cheat very well.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure he does fine,&rdquo; the coon replied, &ldquo;when he&rsquo;s trying to win. I don&rsquo;t forget everything that happens during&mdash;episodes&mdash;you know. It&rsquo;s a lot of chunks. Bits and pieces. You losing a poker game, for instance. You could have just won and made off with the supplies if you wanted. At least tried to. Instead you saw I was useless and set out to get tossed in with Twitch. Something that was more likely to happen if you made it look like you hated us.&rdquo;<br /><br />Lin Lin kicked at the dirt. &ldquo;Assuming you&rsquo;re right for a moment, Dex, I wouldn&rsquo;t have trusted that tiger to keep his word if I had beat him. The same thing would have happened either way.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;But why bother making sure you lose, unless you&rsquo;re really that concerned about us?&rdquo; The coon shook his head. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to do this the hard way, aren&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;I never do anything the easy way,&rdquo; Lin Lin answered. &ldquo;It would ruin my reputation.&rdquo;<br /><br />Dex reached into the supply cart and gently tossed her one bag of diapers, then another, then a third. &ldquo;Then we&rsquo;d better make this look good. I&rsquo;ll say I woke up when I heard noises in the supply cart but by the time I got over there you&rsquo;d already escaped with some of our diapers. Can you do me a favor though, while you&rsquo;re stealing stuff?&rdquo;<br /><br />He picked up something he had left on the ground for the night outside the ring of sleeping bags and tossed his cowboy hat to her. &ldquo;Can you please take this stupid cowboy hat so that I don&rsquo;t have to tell Rian what I think of it? I&rsquo;m more of an Indian, anyway.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;If you do one back for me, Dex,&rdquo; Lin Lin replied as she collected the things. &ldquo;Get yourself and the bunny home in one piece. If you can manage to hold yourself together for that long. It will be a lot more satisfying kicking both your tails if neither of you has a debilitating handicap next time.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Will do, Triple L,&rdquo; he answered.<br /><br />&ldquo;I meant two favors,&rdquo; she said over her shoulder. &ldquo;Because you&rsquo;re also going to stop calling me that.&rdquo;<br /><br />&ldquo;Sorry,&rdquo; he whispered as she started to leave, &ldquo;I meant to say Double L,&rdquo; and added, uncertain whether or not the vanishing panda could hear, &ldquo;Princess.&rdquo;<br /><br />***********************<br /><br />&ldquo;Mission . . . accomplished! You&rsquo;ll never guess what we&rsquo;ve really been . . .&rdquo; Rian burst through the trap door in the bottom of Hideout #4 as the bell jangled and concluded disappointedly, &ldquo;up to,&rdquo; kicking his footpaw in the air as he met no response and surveyed the room. His discouragement was quickly overtaken by a mounting sense of horror.<br /><br />&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t believe this! I would never have left if I knew things would get this bad!&rdquo; The shrimpy, twenty-something wolf, wearing a shiny white and black-visored airplane pilot&rsquo;s hat, exclaimed to the open trap door behind him, waving his paws over it energetically in warning. &ldquo;Cover your eyes! Better yet, don&rsquo;t come up! It&rsquo;s too terrible!&rdquo;<br /><br />He darted around the room and continued to examine the damage, but his caution was too late. Roger poked his head through the trap door and, setting a paw down on either side, hoisted himself up to sit at its edge. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s up?&rdquo; the Labrador asked.<br /><br />The three computer monitors in the hideout were each running a mail merge program, noisily printing pages of letters as text flickered illegibly across the screens.<br /><br />Kyle the Dalmatian was collapsed on his back on the hideout changing mat with his used diaper still half-open, snoring loudly, with a trail of discarded instruction manuals in his wake that led from the desk to his current position on the floor, and a basic orienteering handbook suspended, open, on his nose. Dex and Twitchy were also sprawled across the floor next to him, a statistics textbook and a series of worksheets strewn around them, and Squeak was asleep on Twitchy&rsquo;s shoulder. Dex was sucking his thumb and Twitchy&rsquo;s forepaw rested on his head. Ace and Jax were there, too, lying across each other with a deck of half face up and half face down ornithology flash cards and Jax&rsquo;s dog-eared and highlighted copy of Birds of America open in front of them.<br /><br />One of the other boys, a malamute, had fallen asleep over an open French dictionary and grammar textbook and a notebook filled with marked-up drafts of letters in French to the owners of several boxes of stuff Dex and Twitchy had traced to Quebec. Just in case, they would be sending bilingual versions of those&mdash;it was Dex&rsquo;s suggestion.<br /><br />Rian spun around, held his arms wide to encompass the whole scene, and delivered his analysis.<br /><br />&ldquo;It looks like everyone&rsquo;s been doing schoolwork the whole time!&rdquo; the horrified wolf exclaimed to his mentor, throwing his paws up in the air in agitation.<br /><br />&ldquo;I swear, Rog,&rdquo; the wolf cub shook his head despairingly. &ldquo;These boys are hopeless without us!&rdquo;<br /><br />***********************<br /><br />Back in her bed at the academy, Lin Lin breathed heavily, staring at the ceiling, one paw resting on her chest, the other quivering around a bottle of lubricant. The cowboy hat lay on the pillow alongside her head.<br /><br />It was the second time she had had an orgasm that night. The first one wasn&rsquo;t the first orgasm she had pawing to thoughts of the smart but emotionally oblivious, diapered bunny. They were getting less intense, to be honest. But he still served the purpose well enough.<br /><br />The second, though, which had wracked her whole body and from which she was still recovering, was the first she had ever had thinking about Dex. Who hadn&rsquo;t, she kept reminding herself, actually beat her, or saved her. So why couldn&rsquo;t she throw away the cruddy hat she&rsquo;d put on her nightstand as soon as she came back?<br /><br />Already, her paw was straying into her diaper a third time.<br /><br />Why not finish this? One good flush could get both those boys out of her system for good. Yes&mdash;this would be the last time. And she would do it efficiently. There was no harm in fantasizing was there? So she let her mind wander freely for a minute.<br /><br />You didn&rsquo;t always have to choose, did you? You could get vanilla and chocolate ice cream on one cone, right? That&rsquo;s what it would be like. They were friends, after all. Brothers, in a weird way. They certainly seemed close. They both needed their diapers changed. They both needed their bottoms wiped. Those were things she could do for both of them. But most of all they both needed discipline.<br /><br />The bunny would take a bit more work than she had thought. Okay&mdash;a lot more work than she&rsquo;d thought. But she had a hunch she could overpower him completely, in the end. Put whatever toppings on him she wanted. Dress him however she wanted. Gag him if she wanted. Tie a bow between his ears. He was not academy material&mdash;that was out as a possibility &mdash;emotionally oblivious. Could never handle pink team politics, or sense what a boy wanted him to do the way a real sissy could. But he would still make a cute baby toy for her girls. In a onesie, instead of those baggy denim outfits he always wore. With his footpaws and forepaws locked together so he couldn&rsquo;t help but crawl around. Regression was the way to go there. Much spanking&mdash;paddles definitely required. He needed a lot of help really regressing, she had a hunch, unlike . . . Dex.<br /><br />She clutched the cowboy hat closer to her with her free left arm. Dex she hadn&rsquo;t thought much of at first. But now she was sure he would last longer. She wouldn&rsquo;t have to work as hard. He would get himself ready for her, tease her a little when she changed him. Maybe she&rsquo;d humor him and beg once or twice. He was a sensitive little guy&mdash;who didn&rsquo;t look that bad in a dress. Or in a high chair. He would always want to please people, ultimately, so there was no harm in permitting him a little more freedom than the rabbit. No need for corporal punishment. A little castor oil now and then could probably keep him in line.<br /><br />Who knew? Maybe she could still make him an academy student. He just might be sissy material after all; he was empathetic enough. It might just be a matter of convincing him one of his blue friends wanted to see him in a dress. Yes&mdash;that just might work. She could do a lot with him. There was definitely latent potential there. He just needed to relax and explore a little. She saw how those boys looked at the stuff they liberated from the circus. There were rooms in the academy they weren&rsquo;t ready to walk into just yet.<br /><br />Vanilla and chocolate wasn&rsquo;t a bad comparison. That&rsquo;s probably what Dex and Twitchy would taste like. She moaned as her paw, slick with lubricant, kept working its way in and out. Except, of course, that she couldn&rsquo;t taste both of them at once. They&rsquo;d have to take turns there. She could make a man out of Twitchy&mdash;or try to&mdash;that might be hopeless&mdash;and the raccoon could mount her. He was used to boys. Rumors swirled at the academy about what exactly happened during those Baby Blue initiations out in the woods. Mounting might be easier for him. And he was a sweet guy&mdash;she hadn&rsquo;t expected that. He would be careful enough. She would let them play with each other, too, of course. She wasn&rsquo;t that mean. They were brothers, after all. Sort of. And she could be maternal. They could be her little boys. It would be an odd household . . .<br /><br />Oh, she shuddered, as she felt her whole body tremble and bursts of white behind her eyes momentarily clouded her vision. What am I thinking?<br /><br />Then, after a moment of staring up at the ceiling quaking and breathing heavily, she thought, &lsquo;Is it really that crazy? I can set a very different sort of trap for those two the next time. They still have no idea what I can really do. Or what they really want.&rsquo;<br /><br />&lsquo;Besides, that fox is only screwing one boy from the blue team. I could do better than that.&rsquo;<br /><br />Then again, she thought, biting her lips, maybe in the coon&rsquo;s case she didn&rsquo;t need the castor oil. Or the high chair.<br /><br />Maybe Dex was even a boy&mdash;the first boy&mdash;who would just&mdash;spend time with her&mdash;without an elaborate scenario, and a tricky game plan, and special equipment, and a punishment scene.<br /><br />She felt her paw reaching into her diaper again, already, and stopped it.<br /><br />No, she corrected herself quickly. Now that was thinking crazy.<br /><br /><strong>The End.</strong><br /><br />If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the ride! All comments are welcome, here or to <a href=\"mailto:kitncub@yahoo.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">kitncub@yahoo.com</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br /><em>Next time: Serafina&#039;s Big Day! As fighting between the Blue and Pink teams reaches a fever pitch, Rian goes to extraordinary lengths to make sure a big day for his Princess is perfect and worry-free &mdash; and finds himself working for Roger&rsquo;s mysterious sister when he intercepts Serry&rsquo;s mission orders! Meanwhile, Dex and Twitchy experiment (and not with a chemistry set).</em><br /><br /></span>",
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