Hey there everybody! Here's the story I promised I'd get up and posted today for you! =D

I've been working on this one and intending to finish it for YEARS now (mostly working on it, then forgetting it for years, then trying to work on it again ^,^; ) so it feels GOOD to have it done...

But first thing first, this pic here was made by my good friend  asuraludu and if you like it follow the link below to the original =3

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12702455/

With that said this a story staring my little pancham boy Joey, a link to his ref sheet (so you can properly picture precious padded panda~) is below this sentence =3

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/20771503/

Now then...

It's Joey's first day at his new school, the PCA! Will the freshmen panda's diaper situation doom him to being mercilessly and cruelly bullied like at his old school? Or will his mysterious, toddler like teddiursa tour guide open up a world of possibility to the pancham that Joey never dreamed existed? Read to find out more! =D

With that said I hope you enjoy, please fav & comment if you do, and have a great day! =D


Characters owned by me
Art made by Asuraludu
Pokémon owned by neither of us

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PCA - Bearing it All
Part 1



Struggling in the dark abyss a little pancham ran blindly, flailing as he fought back trying to escape from the blood red fanged faces and long, glistening claws that surrounded him, screaming at him, tearing and ripping at his small form… as Joey sat bolt upright in his bed with a gasp, his chest heaving as the small teen clutched his blanket tightly. His heart was still hammering in his chest from that nightmare as Joey panted, trying to calm down. Finally in desperation the little panda resorted to popping the leaf green pacifier, lying on the bed where he’d dropped it when he’d woken, back into his mouth and nursing on it. Which slowly stopped the painful pounding of his heart in his chest and brought his breathing back to normal… unfortunately calming down meant Joey was aware enough to feel the squish under him.

Not even bothering to remove his covers and look Joey shut his eyes tight and sucked his pacifier harder. It’d been a little over a year since the incident that’d reduced him back to being diaper dependent but it was still a shameful reality to have to face every morning…. even when he didn’t have nightmares about how it all had happened. Not having any other options Joey pulled his covers off to face the state of his babyish undies… which definitely needed a change. He was spared having to waddle to his sister’s room or call for help as Kelsey pushed the door to his room open. The pangoro’s impressive, muscular frame filled the doorway as her intimidating face sported a look of concern. “Nightmares again?” she asked in a gentle tone, easily able to tell that he baby brother was badly rattled.

Joey just nodded silently, still nursing his pacifier, as Kelsey walked over to him and gently scooped her baby brother up out of the bed. Her huge hands, which Joey knew from experience were skilled at beating up people, were gentle as Kelsey cradled him and stepped around the cardboard boxes they had yet to unpack from the move in to carry the pancham over to the makeshift changing table in the corner. They hadn’t had the money to buy a proper one for the apartment so they’d opted to just put a changing mat on a small but sturdy table with the changing supplies on a nearby shelf. Luckily Joey wasn’t much bigger than some over-sized toddlers so it worked out okay. Looking away as he was laid on the mat, his pajama bottoms were tugged off, and he felt Kelsey untape his diaper as the now routinely sensation of him being changed started Joey tried to think of other things… if only so he wouldn’t have to mentally endure the embarrassment of it all or look down and see the numerous scars on his midsection.

Instead Joey focused on looking around at his new room… even if it was hard for the little panda to think of this place as “his” room. Since they were still moving in most of his stuff was still boxed up, leaving the room bare, empty, yet still somehow crowded. Even if his room back home hadn’t been fancy or lavish Joey found himself missing it… the old, heavy set wooden furniture that’d been in his family since his mom had been a kid, the worn rugs, and especially his old training dummy. Like most of Joey’s other things it’d been Kelsey’s till she’d passed it down to him. The pancham had spent so long patching up all the tears and damage Kelsey had done to it over the years (it’d felt like he’d done more work fixing it then training on it) that not having it dangling in the corner was like missing an old friend. As it stood some cheap, garage sale furniture was set up to serve as his bed, bedside table, and dresser… it just didn’t feel like home to Joey, but this was far from the most drastic change the pancham had gone through. At least the photo on his bedside table, showing Kelsey’s old “Friends” was there to try and lift his spirits. Turning his gaze from the picture the pancham noticed the light just starting to peek through the curtains, meaning it had to be really early.

This was going to be his first day at his new school in a new city, so being up early was fine. Especially since his new school was the famous Pokemon Combat Academy… a big, fancy private academy… that was about as far as you could get from the school he went to growing up in his home city. He could still remember when he’d been a little kid and one of Kelsey’s rivals had sat him down and explaining the difference between public and private schools to him when he’d asked why their school looked nicer than his… and the number of unpleasant revelations about his family’s status that had revealed (and Kelsey punching said rival hard than usual for it). Joey shuddered softly as his thoughts drifted to his old school, the incident and the torture he’d endured there after the incident still painfully fresh in his mind. He… he just needed to keep anyone, other than the nurse and teachers, from finding out he was diapered is all and he’d be fine. He kept telling himself that as Kelsey finished cleaning him up and easily tugged his pajama top off.

"There, go get a shower and I'll put you into a fresh diaper when you're done." Kelsey said, lifting her nude baby bro off the changing table and setting him down. This wasn’t Kelsey’s first time seeing him nude or having to change his diaper, since she was 8 years older than him and took care of the pancham when he’d been a baby, this wasn’t TOO embarrassing for Joey. “Then we’ll have breakfast,” the pangoro continued, pulling Joey’s pacifier out and setting it on his bedside table “How does bamboo shoots salad sound?” she asked as Joey nodded approval before toddling to the apartments single bathroom. As stupid as it was the pancham couldn’t help but feel kind of proud with how well he was walking now… especially since he had to relearn from scratch in physical therapy. If you couldn’t see his scars you’d hardly realize how damaged his lower body had been the pancham thought as he climbed into the apartment shower and struggled to reach the shower knobs. Now if only relearning potty training was as easy to relearn… but with what that stab had done to him that ship had sailed…

The depressing thoughts drifting through Joey’s head went away quickly as his fumbling finally managed to turn the shower on… at a temperature more suited for an ice type. Letting out a squeal of surprise he fumbled with the knob again to change it to hot, any other concerns forgotten for the moment. Several minutes later Joey emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel and still shivering from the blast of chilly water. He was clean and way more awake then he’d been before… though he wasn’t too happy with this method of rousing himself. “Kelsey?” he called, despite the huge pangoro was easy to spot in the barely furnished setting. She was in her kitchen with the back turned to Joey. “I’m ready.” the pancham called, toddling over towards his sister as she didn’t turn around "Alright, I'll be there in a moment when I'm done with this." she called back, apparently focused on fixing breakfast “So go wait in your room, okay?”

Nodding and toddling to his room Joey let the towel fall to the floor once he got there. The pancham shivered a little at the feel of the cool air on his freshly washed fur… and his exposed scars since his fur had yet to grow over them. Joey tried to ignore this though and focus on more important things, even as he absentmindedly traced the larger scars on his lower tummy with his paw, like what he would need for his first day of class, who would be showing him around, and most importantly what he was going to wear. The last one being a far trickier question then it used to be for the pancham. Sighing as he opened the drawer Joey began to sort through the neatly folded clothing inside. He always liked to keep his clothing as neat and orderly as possible… it felt like it helped reduce wear and tear on it despite probably not doing anything meaningful. Pausing briefly to run his fingers over the carefully sewn patches on one of his old shirts Joey could distinctly remember all the sewing and mending work he’d done over the years. Since his family couldn’t afford new clothes outside of buying from thrift stores Joey had done all he could to try and make the clothes he had last… which didn’t amount to much now since most of them couldn’t fit over the bulging baby undies he had to wear. Joey bit his lip, trying not to let the waste of all his effort upset him, as he continued sorting through his clothes.

He was looking for an outfit that was decently mature looking, suitable for making a good first impression, and most importantly baggy enough to hide his diapers… he knew he had at least a FEW outfits that fit the bill, he just had to remember where he’d put them. The pancham suddenly stopped short as his search revealed something he’d forgotten about. Gently lifting the folded up child’s formal suit set Joey could remember Kelsey’s Delphox rival buying it for him when she’d found out he didn’t have any formal clothing… all so he and Kelsey (Joey still remembered his big sister being torn over which was worse for her… accepting charity from a rival or having to wearing dressy clothes) could attend the fire fox’s wedding. It’d only been two years ago but it seemed almost like yesterday to Joey… especially with how awkward he’d felt being there since he was so unused to wearing a suit. In fact he was certain he’d never worn it since then, which made him feel a bit guilty since it’d been a gift. Carefully unfolding the pants Joey held them up to see if they’d work for his needs…

And sighed as there was no way he could even begin to fit in them, even before taking his diapers into account. Between the damage done to him and the months in the hospital bed the relatively toned body he’d had back then had been reduced to toddler baby fat, making wearing them impossible. Folding the pants back up he put them with the rest of the suit before pausing a moment to sigh again since this meant he was wasting a gift someone had given him. Pushing the guilt to the back of his mind Joey tried to continue his search for something to wear and opened the next dresser drawer to see if his wearable clothes were there. He didn’t get a chance to look though as Kelsey’s huge, intimidating paws gently wrapped around his middle and hoisted the nude panda up… vague memories of nearly identical circumstances from his toddler days gave Joey a strange sense of déjà vu as Kelsey gently rotated him around to face her.

“Reminds me of back when you were little and couldn’t keep your pants on~” she said affectionately, an amused smile on her face as Joey blushed since this helped give a bit more clarity to the memories “Can’t remember how many times I had to chase your bare butt down and put a diaper back on you…” Kelsey continued with a chuckle as it finally dawned on Joey that, bent over the dresser drawer like he’d been, he had to have been mooning Kelsey when she’d come in. “Not that I mind doing that now.” The pangoro added, laying her blushing brother tummy down on the changing table and getting to work. Blushing with shame at that comment Joey looked away as Kelsey heavily powdered his bottom. He knew his big sister was trying to reassure him but, like many things outside her limited and mostly violence focused skillset, she just wasn’t very good at it. The change continued in silence as Kelsey rubbed lotion and rash cream into Joey’s bottom before rolling her baby brother over and slipping a diaper under him.

“Er…” The awkward silence and the fact her attempt to cheer Joey up failed finally dawned on the pangoro as she fastened the tapes “Joey…” she said softly, at a loss for what else to say, as she scooped her baby brother up and threaded his puff of a tail through the elastic hole in the diaper… holding him this way letting her see the torn nub that was left of his little fur cape “Things… things are gonna be better here, okay?” Kelsey finally said, nuzzling Joey gently. He was silent for a moment more before timidly looking to her and asking “… you sure sis?” which earned him an affectionately aggressive smile as Kelsey nuzzled his head a little rougher. “What? Don’t trust your big sis~?” she chided, smiling more as this finally got a small giggle out of Joey as he nuzzled back. “That’s more like it, now lets go eat breakfast. Then we’ll get you a leaf for the day~” the pangoro said happily as she carried the smaller panda back into the main apartment.

Joey only slightly blushed at being carried around by Kelsey since this wasn’t really anything new… he could always count on his sis to be strong and help support him. With everything changing and so out of control he was happy that at least stayed the same. He nodded in agreement to her suggestions before nuzzling into her. His tummy was just starting to growl so breakfast sound good… and with his pacifier taken away he was starting to feel a little anxious without something in his mouth. Some panchams and pangoro could fall into bad depressions if you took their leaves or twigs away… Joey wasn’t that bad but he still felt better with his leaf (or pacifier in a pinch) than without. His big sis didn’t have this problem though and neither did his mom or grandpa… it was kinda embarrassing. Though it paled in comparison to needing diapers again…

Diapers which crinkled as he was sat down on the books acting as a booster seat so he could sit at the table. His diapers were thick enough to make-up for the hard seat so it worked… at least till they could properly afford something better. Joey found himself smiling as Kelsey set a bow of bamboo shoot salad in front of him “Big meal for your big day, right?” she asked, smiling a little as Joey nodded eagerly since this happened to be one of his favorite meals. Maybe today would go good… the pancham couldn’t help but feel a little optimistic as he waited for Kelsey to sit down before he tucked into his food. Maybe he’d be lucky for once and there’d be no embarrassment or bullies or “Oh!” Kelsey snapped her fingers, getting Joey’s attention. “I forgot to pack some diapers and changing supplies for you to take along! Gonna have to do that after breakfast.” She said, looking relieved she’d remembered before it was too late… as Joey just slunk down in his chair, shoveling food in his mouth to hide his blush of shame.

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

After breakfast and getting his leaf Joey eventually settled on a simple t shirt and pants (since the school didn’t have uniforms) that he knew were loose enough to hide his diaper, and were relatively unpatched and worn compared to his other clothes, as his outfit for the day. Even if he did have trouble checking how he looked in the mirror to confirm the fit. It was hard to bear with the sad eyed toddler staring back at him from the polished glass. It just confirmed what checking the pants size had said… how much of his muscles had turned to baby fat that he couldn’t seem to work off. No matter how he tried to build his former muscles back up. With effort Joey managed to put those depressing thoughts aside, since Kelsey had finished packing his… baby bag. Fortunately it looked like a simple gym bag so nobody would be able to tell what was inside. With all that done it was off to his first day at his new high school, though with Kelsey holding his hand as they walked it felt a bit more like his first day of kindergarten all over again…

She did let him go on his own (reluctantly of course) once they reached the school gates so he could at least pretend to be a normal teen. Even without Kelsey’s help Joey managed to, with a great deal of difficulty, find his way to the school office. As maze like as the campus was it was absolutely luxurious compared to Joey’s old, crowded, and dingy school… and it was early enough there weren’t many other students around. Which was really good since big, noisy crowds gave the pancham bad flashbacks to what happened… though he was getting better at least so he was pretty sure he’d be okay. When he’d gotten to the office Joey had found he was one of three new students, all freshmen, there for a tour on their first day… apparently they had the same tour guide cause he could “Relate” to them or something, but the office lady hadn’t been specific and Joey was far too nervous to even try to question her about it. Instead the pancham had decided to turn his attention to the two other new students in the office with him…

Timidly settling onto the bench, his backpack at his side and his gym bag clutched tightly in front of him with one paw, Joey leaned forward to look further down the bench at the other students… and once again was shocked by how short they were, probably even shorter than he was if only by a few inches. They also had the same chubby, babyish build… which didn’t really make sense to Joey since he’d only gotten that after the accident and it didn’t seem like something a 14 year old should naturally have. The first thought that crossed his mind was that maybe they skipped some grades… which struck Joey as unlikely till he remembered an incident at his old school where one of the new students who’d joined after his accident had assumed the exact same thing about Joey and guessed the panda should be back in grade school. Chewing nervously on his leaf and letting the slightly bitter flavor help clear his head Joey tried to focus on the present instead of the past. Taking a deep breath he turned his attention back to the others and tried to ignore their heights and childish looks to focus on their other traits to see if he could learn anything about them. He’d gotten used to people watching back when he was littler and sat on the sidelines of Kelsey’s back alley fights… this’d be the same, just without the violence. And maybe this way he could work up the nerve to actually say hi to them…

The one sitting closest to him was a stunky boy… who was probably the reason there was such a strong baby powder smell in the air since Joey knew for a fact Kelsey hadn’t put that much powder on him. It was probably a cheap attempt to mask a bad smell with a strong one… a certain skuntank thug and his noxious cologne back home coming to Joey’s mind immediately. Beyond just being babyish looking the poison type was full on chubby complete with rounded, rosy baby cheeks… which made the boy’s mini-pompadour hairstyle look all the odder on him. Joey recognized the navy blue outfit snuggly fitted on the stunky’s frame, complete with what looked like an unnecessarily long coat with a popped collar, as being a bit like the uniforms for one of the prep schools back home making him briefly wonder if the poison type used to go to a school like that… but the pancham quickly dismissed that thought. Kelsey’s gang had fought gangs from prep-schools enough he had a pretty good idea (or at least he hoped he did) how kids from those kind of schools acted and the fidgeting, nervous looking skunk was far removed from the smug, overly cocky kids he’d seen before. The best the boy seemed to manage was puffing his chest out and sitting up as high as he could… but Joey knew how to recognize false bravado by now. The stunky’s attempt at a tough guy expression never reached his eyes and watching closely Joey could see his lip quiver slightly… if the panda had to guess the guy was just as nervous as he was, which had to be pretty bad considering the secret Joey was sitting on (quite literally).

The other student was down at the other end of the bench and Joey had to crane his head forward to look around the stunky and see her (though the stunky seemed to be too wrapped up in his nerves to notice). It was a shiny gastly girl whose proportions, past being chubby and childish, made her look a bit like a tubby kindergartner… which wasn’t helped by the outfit she was wearing. The best comparison Joey could think of was it looked like something he’d seen old dolls in an antique store window wearing… puffy and out of date to the point the pancham found himself wondering if the girl had maybe died back in another time period and become a ghost in the present. Combined with the big bow somehow tied to the blue transparent stuff (Joey didn’t have a clue what it was since gas shouldn’t be able to hold a bow up like that) around her head like it was hair and the outfit made her look like grandma dressed her for the first day of kindergarten. The look of childish innocence didn’t quite reach all the way to her expression or posture though as she positively exuded arrogance (something Joey had seen quite a lot of). Sitting casually with her hands folded in front of her and her head held high, a smug smile on her chubby cheeks, Joey could tell she considered herself completely above this… but whether “This” was the school or sitting on the bench with him and the stunky Joey couldn’t say. He had a feeling it was the latter one though when she noticed him looking at her and gave a positively patronizing smile, like the kind used when someone notices a toddler staring at them, before paying Joey no further mind. Joey had known girls like this among Kelsey’s rivals before and even managed to make friends with them (Elizabeth the Delphox being one of them)… but something told him that wasn’t going to be the case here.

As it stood neither of them seemed interested in talking and Joey didn’t quite have the confidence to try and actually start up a conversation… so there was nothing to do but sit back wait for the tour guide to show up. Hugging his gym bag (along with the diapers and changing supplies it contained) closer the pancham wondered if he’d have a chance to discreetly drop this off at the nurses office during the tour… or would there be too many offices around the school for him to do that? It was a big campus focused on battling after all so they’d need more than one nurse’s office. As he wondered this his thoughts drifted to who their tour guide might be… and how the heck he could relate to them like the lady had said. All Joey hoped is that the guide wasn’t a zangoose or a sneasel or a weavile or… well… anything with long claws. He still shuddered whenever he saw mon with long claws like that. Though if this campus was as diverse as people said it was that might be a problem… but so long as their tour guide didn’t have them Joey could deal with whatever students with claws he met (by staying far, far away from them) so he’d be fine…

“Um… are you Joey, Christina, and Tobias?”

“I-I’m Joey!” the pancham squeaked, nearly jumping off the bench in surprise… which would have been bad since his legs weren’t fully recovered and that might have made them give out. He heard a similar squeak from the stunky at the end of the bench, who was probably Tobias, but no sound from Christina who, by process of elimination, had to be the gastly girl. The pancham glanced over and noticed the ghost type was looking in front of them and, judging by her expression, struggling not to laugh. He assumed she was looking at their tour guide… but her gaze was turned downwards to a degree that made no sense. Their tour guide couldn’t possibly be THAT short. Joey finally looked to see who’d spoken up, expecting to see a normal sized teen, and found himself adjusting his gaze to be in line with Christina’s as it finally dawned on him how young and childish the voice had sounded. Joey wasn’t one to judge since he’d been told more than once that he sounded like a 6 year old at times but there was difference between sounding like one and… well… the toddler standing in front of them.

The teddiursa boy standing in front of them and holding a sheet of paper, apparently where he’d gotten their names from, would have looked more at home sitting on the floor of a kindergarten and scribbling on the paper in crayon than standing in a high school office. The round chubby cheeks, big innocent looking eyes, childish cowlick right on top of his head, his whole “large head, chubby body” proportions, and his childish outfit of shorts and a t shirt (though Joey likely didn’t have a right to judge there) all made it impossible for the pancham to believe the teddiursa wasn’t age 6 or younger… and just as impossible to believe that this little kid was somehow supposed to be their guide to the campus of one of the most illustrious battling schools in the world. Due to being short and currently suffering from cruel fate giving him a baby body Joey was inclined to give the stunky and gastly the benefit of the doubt and assume they actually were students… but trying to think the same for the teddy bear in front of them was a bridge too far for him. Joey found himself trying to think of some logical, reasonable explanation for the kindergarten-to-first-grade age kid standing in front of him… and he could feel his eyes start to cross from the strain of this endeavor…

Before he could give himself a migraine another pre-pubescent sounding voice, this one coming from the stunky, suddenly spoke up and stuttered “Uh… a-are you a student?” snapping Joey out of his thoughts… and proving to be the gastly’s breaking point. Joey could only stare in shock and amazement as Christy proceeded to fall THROUGH the bench (which was slightly creepy in Joey’s opinion). Despite her fancy dress flying up to reveal she was wearing those old fashioned, puffy, pants-like undies (Joey remember a moment later that they were called bloomers, something he’d learned from one of the members of Kelsey’s gang) underneath as she fell Christina just cackled and giggled, apparently not caring in the slightest. Out of the corner of his eye Joey could see Tobias scoot to the other end of the bench, as far away from the giggling ghost as he could… as the pancham followed the stunky’s lead. He’d seen a few people go laughing mad before… but usually not until they’d been punched in the head a couple times so he had no clue what the ghost was going to do next. At least the teddiursa looked as disturbed by the display as they were as the young boy fidgeted nervously.

“Y-yeah…” the teddiursa squeaked out, clearing his throat and pulling himself up to his full, unimpressive height “Er… my names Petie… and despite how I look I’m a freshman too…” the normal type explained… as he, to Joey’s surprise, managed to give all three of the new students a surprisingly teen like gaze that just screamed “no laughing, you aren’t much better off than me in the looks department,” as the pancham flinched a little under the look. “I’m supposed to give all of you a tour of the campus and-” Petie continued, before being sharply cut off as Christina righted herself (passing through the bench again in the process, which was still creepy) and suddenly put a finger to the teddiursa’s mouth in a patronizing ‘hush’ motion. “That’s REALLY cute and all that you think you’re big enough to give a tour…” the gastly said letting Joey hear her chirpy, sweet, and youthful voice… that was positively dripping with a patronizing grown-up-to-little-kid tone “But I think I’d be better off taking the tour on my own~ Ta-ta little teddy~” On that note Christina didn’t even bother to wait for the teddiursa to respond as she floated up into the air, tapping her foot on the normal types head like a stepping stone as she went, and floated out the door laughing (an impish sounding giggle this time as opposed to the cackling from before) as she went before vanishing into the hallway before anyone could stop her.

Still not sure what the heck he’d just witnessed Joey turned his gaze back to the teddiursa, worried how a little kid would react to something like that. He wasn’t surprised to see Petie’s cheeks were bright red and that his face was screwed up… no, what surprised the pancham was Petie’s expression. He’d expected the teary eyed look of an upset kindergartner, maybe with a trembling lip or something. Instead he saw an almost uncomfortably familiar rainbow of emotions in Petie’s expression… humiliation, disgust, unbridled but useless rage… a bit like how he imagined his expression since the accident whenever somebody treated him like a little kid or like he was mentally handicapped. Between this and the glare from earlier Joey was just about willing to revise his disbelief on Petie being a student… despite how horrible the idea of a teenager having to look like the teddiursa was for the pancham to even consider. Also he wasn’t sure if it was sympathy or pity (and well aware how badly both of those could hurt) but Joey found himself trying to think of some way to comfort the smaller boy after that humiliating scene… only for the red to slowly leave Petie’s cheeks as the teddiursa let out a deep, resigned sigh and muttered “… why are all the ghost types I know weird…” just barely loud enough for Joey to hear.

To the pancham’s utter shock Petie somehow managed to compose himself and pull himself back up to look at the two “Well… she’s gone, do either of you have a problem with me showing you around?” he asked, only the slight sound of exasperation in his voice giving away that he’d been upset a few moment ago. There was moment of silence until the tubby poison type on the other end of the bench spoke up “Um…” which made both bear cubs turn their attention to the stunky as Tobias raised his hand a little in response to the question. “M-my cousin…” the stunky stuttered, earlier attempts at trying to be tough gone as he visibly squirmed under their gazes “H-he said he’d show me around… um…” Tobias said while finally climbing off the bench… revealing that the stunky was actually a little shorter than him to Joey’s surprise .Trying to puff out his chest out and fold his arms to look tougher, which in Joey’s opinion made him look even more childish, Toby’s posing attempt was ruined as the stunky squeaked out “H-He’ll be here in a minute, s-so don’t worry about me!” in an adorable, childish tone more fitting a grade schooler.

Of course, by that point neither of the cubs were still paying attention to the skunk... or at least not the smaller skunk. No, Joey and Petie were busy looking at the tall, portly skuntank guy who’d entered the office and silently walked up to Tobias from behind before just standing behind the smaller poison type. Joey had met skuntank’s before in the days of Kelsey’s gang fights but this guy was a marked difference from the leaner, scruffier looking thugs he’d watched his big sister punch around. Despite the prominent stomach he was carrying around the pancham could tell from experience that the poison type was well muscled and strongly built… though the sleeveless punk rock outfit (complete with a spikey, shoulder length hairdo visible under his tail tip) the guy was wearing made that fairly obvious. Watching him loom over Tobias, the stunky still puffing his chest out and stuttering oblivious to what was behind him, almost menacingly Joey found himself briefly worried he was about to see someone get bullied… till he remembered what Tobias had said earlier and saw the visibly amused smirk on the larger skunk’s face. “Give it a rest Stinker, your playmates aren’t buying the act.” The guy said, his voice appropriately deep for his size, as Joey could see Tobias’s cheeks, which were already rosy, flush a brighter shade of pink as the stunky just deflated in embarrassment with an audible whoosh of air.

“H-hi cuz…” the stunky squeaked out weakly “P-please don’t call me Stinker in front of people…” his request trailing off into a whimper as Tobias finally turned around to look up at the larger skunk. Who just gave an amused chuckle before he replied with “Heh, yeah, no.” and proceeded to heft Tobias up, with a squeak from the smaller mon, and tuck him under his arm like a package. “You’re the kid who’s supposed to be giving the tour, right?” the skuntank said as he walked over Petie, Joey watching and remembering similar cases of Kelsey carrying him around, the teddy weakly nodding in response “Like Tubby Toby here said I’m his cousin, so I’ll give him a tour if you don’t mind…” the big mon continued, poking the stunky’s chubby cheek for emphasis at the nickname comment before going silent. Meanwhile Joey had no clue what to do here as he found himself looking from “Tubby Toby’s” helplessly embarrassed look (which somehow managed to get even redder at the cheek poking) as he dangled in his cousin’s grasp, to the confused look on Petie’s face (which probably matched his own), before finally looking to the skuntank who had an expression like he was thinking hard on something. Suddenly the large poison type snapped his fingers with his free hand “You’re on that team aren’t ya? Preschool or whatever it was called… the ones that fought that circus team?” he asked, pointing down to Petie as the teddiursa went red and shifted nervously on his feet.

“Er… P… Pre-K actually and yeah…” the normal type muttered, Joey only barely following what was being said since he vaguely remembered about their being a team system in the school. “Yeah, knew it was somethin like that.” The skuntank said, slight accent coming though as he nodded and chuckled… a grin on his face Joey had seen several times before in the back alleys when the brawlers started to really enjoy the violence “Nice fight for the last match, fun and brutal. Anyway best of luck showing the other kid around. See ya. Come on Stinker.” With that the guy turned on his heels and walked away, the bear cubs watched the skuntanks fluffy tail and large posterior alongside Toby’s rounded butt (which was surprisingly round as Joey noticed, but didn’t bother to think any further on) and dangling legs, visible thanks to his tail being pinned to his back with how his cousin was holding him, go out the door and vanish down the hall… Toby’s protest of “Don’t call me thaaaaat!” reaching them even as the two were out of sight. “Um… er… so…” Petie stuttered, turning to look at the pancham as Joey realized he was the last one left “Er… Joey, right?” the teddiursa stuttered as he smiled to the fighting type. “Yeah…” Joey shifted nervously as he toddled over to the teddiursa, finding that despite his first impression of the normal type Petie was probably only half a foot shorter than he was. “Nice to meet you Joey.” Petie said, a nervous but genuine (as far as Joey could tell) smile on his face as he offered a paw to the pancham “I… I hope you don’t have a problem with me giving you a tour…” Staring at the paw for a moment and doing his best to banish the earlier thoughts of Petie being a little kid from his mind Joey finally took it and gave as strong a handshake as he could manage… like Kelsey had taught him.

“Nice to meet Petie, and no, I’m fine with you giving me a tour,” Joey said feeling a bit more confident since despite how unusual Petie looked, out of all the possible tour guide he could have gotten, the small teddiursa seemed to be the least scary, the least likely to comment on his looks, and maybe somebody Joey could relate to and be friends with. Either way as long as he didn’t notice Joey’s diaper the pancham was completely fine with this tour guide arrangement. “Um… where should we start?” Joey asked, picking his gym (diaper) bag off the bench when the handshake broke as he looked back to Petie. “How about we find your locker first?” the smaller bear offered, waddling towards the hallway… no, no, walking. Joey immediately threw the idea he saw a slight waddle in Petie’s step out as his imagination and worries about being found out getting the better of him. It even looked like the teddy had a rounded bottom like he’d thought the stunky had… so it had to be his imagination. It just had to…

“S-sure, Locker sounds good…” the pancham stuttered, fishing his class list out since it had his locker number on it. “T-then maybe you can show me where my classrooms are…” he added, looking at the incomprehensible list of numbers on his sheet as he waddled (unfortunately he KNEW his waddling wasn’t his imagination) after Petie. “Okay…” Petie held his paw out for the list and, after Joey handed it over, looked through it “Huh… lots of the same classes I have today…” the teddiursa mumbled before looking up “And I know exactly where you locker is too. It’s really hidden away but that’ll be perfect since I need to talk to you about something.” The comment struck Joey as really odd since he had no idea what a relative stranger could have that he’d need to talk with him about… but the pancham figured it had to be related to the tour so he just nodded, glad Petie knew where his locker was.

“Follow me then, oh! I’ll show you some of the gyms, classrooms, and nurse’s offices on the way too,” his guide said as Joey followed Petie into the hall, trying to focus enough to pay attention to the tour instead of on how loud the crinkling of his baby undies seemed to sound. It was way louder than it’d ever sound before and it was like he was hearing it even when he wasn’t taking a step as the two walked along. Taking deep breaths and chewing his leaf a little Joey tried to get his nerves under control… the last thing he needed was a another full blown panic attack with hallucinations. He just needed to keep calm and ignore this… it had to be how scared he was this school would end up being like his last one and nothing else. If he pretended nothing was wrong he’d be fine… “Hey, you okay?”

Petie speaking up jarred Joey from his internal pep-talk as the pancham’s head shot up. “I-I’m fine! Really! Uh… uh…” Scrambling for something to say to change the topic the first, and only, thing that came to Joey’s mind was the conversation between Petie and the Skuntank from earlier. “Y-you’re part of a team you said?” Joey knew teams were a thing the PCA did… but that was about all he knew. He’d kinda tuned out for the rest since being part of a team meant working closely with other students… he’d been pretty sure he wouldn’t find anyone willing and even if he did there was too big a chance they’d notice his diapers to risk it. “Yeah, I’m a member of Team Pre-K… don’t ask about the name, PLEASE.” The teddiursa said, still leading Joey through the halls “We’re a freshmen team, all kinda short and… um… well…” Petie scratched the back of his head a little “I’ll sum it up, I’m NOT the shortest or most childish looking kid on the team… get the idea?”

Joey stopped dead in his tracks at that statement, in shock at the idea since he’d been assuming students like Petie were (like him) a rare exception. To think there were enough for a team… enough for… “Er… h-how many people to a team again?” the pancham stuttered, realizing he’d forgotten the number. That or he’d never been paying attention when it was told to him the first time, he wasn’t sure. “Four main members and two alternatives in case one of the main members is sick or if the team wants to switch out for a match.” The teddy said helpfully “I’m… one of Pre-K’s alternative… they don’t need me much.” Petie’s tone was a touch sad as Joey bit his lip a little. He didn’t quite know enough to be sure but it sounded like Petie and the other alternative was the team’s bench warmer… which sucked. He knew it for a fact since the fighting elective shuffled him to the bench for a bit before deciding to kick him out after the accident.

“But they’re my friend so I guess that okay…” Petie continued with a shrug, getting Joey’s attention back on the teddiursa “Anyway these are some of the special training gyms, wanna take a look? They’re kinda neat… long as you’re not in them…” That comment was weird enough Joey couldn’t resist the temptation so he nodded and toddled over to the first of the heavy looking doors Petie indicated… and opened it just as the teddiursa tried to say something. Considering he got a facefull of snow and cold wind Joey guessed Petie had been trying to warn him but he was too focused on shoving the door back shut again to listen. “That was the ice gym,” Petie said as Joey shook his head to dislodge the snow and frost before shivering from the chill “you kinda learn quick to stand back when you open these door if you don’t plan on going in.” the teddiursa added, brushing a little snow off Joey’s shoulder “They have them for most of the types so people can practice their moves… or if they’re dumb try and build up resistance to these kinda stuff.”

“Who would do that?” Joey asked, finally noticing the big ICE label on the door he’d opened that had somehow escaped his attention before. There were similar labels on the other doors as well. If he hadn’t just gotten his face frozen he’d probably be more amazed since he’d never seen gyms like these before, but that didn’t make the idea of actually training in them any more appealing to him. “… my big sister for one…” Petie mumbled, his face slightly pink as he looked away from Joey. The pancham blinked at the statement, turning the idea over in his head for a bit longer before sighing as he came to a realization. “Yeah, my big sister would have probably done it to…” Joey admitted… before realizing what Petie had said as the pancham’s face face lit up. “Soooooo… um… er… w-what’s your big sister like? If I may ask…” Joey stuttered, hoping he’d accidentally stumbled on a conversation topic they could have that DIDN’T involve him, why he’d come to the PCA, or any other details he didn’t wanna discuss “I… I can tell you about mine some if you want…”

Fortunately it looked like Joey had bet on the right ponyta as Petie’s face lit up “Sure, I don’t mind.” The teddy said briskly as the two resumed walking “And it’s big sisters… my oldest sister is away at college and my other big sister is here at the PCA… er… well… technically she’s my big STEP-Sister but you get the idea.” Petie looked to Joey to make sure he was following, both the conversation and their walk, as the pancham nodded listening intently. “Rose is a kangaskhan, you’ll probably meet her in your first week here,” Petie continued, his expression almost unreadable to Joey since it looked to be a mix of exasperation, pride, embarrassment, and numerous other things “she’s kinda hard to miss… being about as subtle as a rampaging, tie-dyed tauros and all…” that mental image made Joey stop in place and tilt his head a little, letting Petie walk on ahead and again making the pancham notice the rounded bottom and the slight waddle…

“Er… my big sis doesn’t do subtlety too well either…” Joey said as he scrambled to catch up with Petie, shaking his head to get those thoughts out of his mind and to ignore his own waddling. “Kelsey prefers problems you can punch till they resolve themselves…” the pancham continued, remembering how one of Kelsey’s friends/rivals had described his big sister before. That got a chuckle from the teddiursa “Sounds really familiar, Rose is kinda punch happy too…” Petie said before quickly clearing his throat “S-she’s not stupid, she’s just really straightforward is all! She’s a great big sis.” His tone was a mix of pride and defensiveness as Joey found himself nodding and taking the same tone “Y-yeah! Kelsey’s the same! She’s the best big sis! She took care of me ever since I was little and… um…” the pancham fidgeted, realizing he’d almost blabbed his family’s… less than ideal state. Petie seemed unphased by it though as he gave Joey a sympathetic look.

“… your parents not around much when you were little?”

“… yeah…”

“My birth dad abandoned my family when I was born, so you’re not alone there… okay?”

“…………..”

“… wanna tell me more about Kelsey?”

“Yes please.”

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

Fortunately the conversation had stayed on the topic of their sisters and away from stuff relating to Joey or his family situation as the teddiursa continued to lead the pancham through the halls. The way he described her Petie’s big step-sister Rose sounded kinda similar to Kelsey, but a lot more bubbly and friendly like some of the girls from his big sister’s old gang… Joey actually found himself looking forward to meeting the kangaskhan if Petie’s description was accurate. And his oldest sister Sarah sounded nice too, if not quite as vibrant and quirky as Rose… but being a genius instead of a battler like Petie said she was cool too. Joey also appreciated how Petie happily listened to his stories about Kelsey, her old gang, and her friends/rivals… since beyond his actual big sister a lot of them acted as surrogate big sisters (and the occasional big brother) to the pancham when he was younger, and even now. In fact if they hadn’t been willing to donate the money they had his family could have never covered Joey’s medical bills…

But he didn’t mention THAT part since he wanted to keep conversation cheerful and happy… this was actually the most optimistic Joey had felt in a long while. By the time Petie had shown him a few classrooms and they’d finally arrived at his locker Joey found himself genuinely smiling as he fiddled with the combination lock on the door. It was, like Petie said, really out of the way but at the moment that didn’t bother Joey that much… it was just nice to be able to open HIS locker without bottles of baby powder or piles of baby supplies somebody shoved in it as a prank raining down on him. They’d also talked about Joey’s class list on the way over… it looked like the pancham didn’t have any non-battling focused class till after lunch, so he took to opportunity to stow his schoolbooks in his locker along with his backpack. He’d come and get them later when he needed them, which just left him holding his baby… er… his GYM bag. Joey wasn’t quite sure what he should do with it… judging by what Petie had said there were lots of nurse’s offices around (which made sense for a battling school)… was he supposed to drop it off at one of them? Or should he just carry it around since it did also have his workout clothing along with his changing supplies…

It was about this time Joey notice Petie seemed to have vanished… which triggered immediate panic in the little fighting type. Biting down on his leaf and hugging his gym bag close Joey instinctively backed up against the wall… and jumped nearly a foot when his butt bumped his open locker door shut with a clatter. He might need his changing supplies soon than he’d thought after that. “Hey, I’m over here.” Joey’s head immediately snapped to the direction of the reedy, prepubescent sounding voice and the pancham breathed a deep sigh of relief as he saw Petie’s head peeking out of an open door. “Come on, I need to talk to you about something. Remember?” the teddiursa said before vanishing back into whatever room the door led to… as Joey vaguely recalled Petie having mentioned that before. Still clutching his gym bag the pancham waddled over to the door Petie had vanished into… and was surprised to find it was a bathroom. At this point he had NO idea what his guide had in mind but he didn’t have any idea what to do without someone to show him around… so despite his confusion Joey pushed the door open and timidly stepped inside.

He found Petie waiting for him in the middle of the tiled room… Joey’s still frazzled mental state turning the rows of toilets and urinals into reminders of how he wasn’t enough of a “Big Boy” to use them anymore. Petie clearing his throat took Joey’s focus away from that though “I… need to talk to you bout something…” the teddiursa said once more, shifting awkwardly and make it obvious he wasn’t sure how to handle whatever he wanted to say. “I’m… I’m doing these tours for some extra points on my grades and you kinda aren’t the first…” he continued, the long awkward pausing starting to make Joey join Petie in fidgeting nervously “A… and I kinda noticed something about the kids they ask me to give tours to… something they sorta had in common… er… that I had in common with them too…” the teddiursa said, waving his paws while talking as if hoping hand motions would help make the jumbled mess he was stuttering out make sense.

It wasn’t doing much more than making Joey’s confusion worse though as the pancham had NO clue what to make of what Petie was babbling. “Y-you see… um… there’s lots, w-well not lots b-but still more than you’d think!” the babbling continued as Joe started to shift nervously “Teens like us h-here I mean, o-ones that look like babies and… w-well… not babies exactly, b-but still that look like they’re little. Little kids, t-toddlers, b-ba-babies…” all words that made Joey wince as a bad feeling starting to build up in his gut, and since he couldn’t really tell when he needed to go anymore it meant something else as worst case scenarios started to play through the pancham’s head. “I-I mean, we’re n-not babies but… s-some of u-us have p-problems… kinda like babies, w-we need some baby s-stuff i-is all, a-and w-we need to go t-to the nurse c-cause of it…” Petie seemed to be babbling himself in circles around some kind of point without getting anywhere close to it… but Joey didn’t notice at all.

No, instead the pancham was too busy feeling the sensation in his gut turn into fast growing terror at what he was almost absolutely sure Petie was talking about. What he was almost certain the teddiursa knew. The horrible, crinkly, infantile secret Joey was keeping. Images from his old school of his locker being so stuffed with diapers and baby supplies that the rained down on him in an avalanche when he opened them, walking into his classroom to find him desk replaced with a highchair as his classmates snickered, being teased, bullied and excluded… all these flashed through Joey’s mind as his lips quivered and he felt his eyes tear up, the little fighting type standing, petrified in fear, as he waited for Petie to come out and say it. To point out how Joey was a big baby in diapers. To laugh and jeer at him. Joey watched the teddiursa finally stop talking as a look of realization crossed his face, this would be when it happened Joey told himself. His time at the PCA, over before it started… instead of saying anything more though Joey stared in silence as Petie… unbuckled and tugged down his own pants revealing thick, cushy looking, pastel blue padding and plastic underneath.

Joey’s world just STOPPED… time, motion, color, sanity… it all slowed down before freezing in place as the pancham found himself reeling from mental and emotional whiplash. All reason and sanity Joey had rebelled against what he was seeing, what he had to be hallucinating, even as some small voice in the back of his head thumped its fist into the palm of its hand and said “Ah! That’s why his bottom looked puffy and rounded” as if this made perfect sense. It was a trick, it was a lie, he was hallucinating, he’d gone nuts, he was dreaming, hundreds of attempts to justify denying what was before him streaked through Joey’s mind in contrast to how the rest of the frozen world… but none of them came close to being convincing as Joey’s reeling, roller-coaster ride of shock came to a screeching halt thanks to Petie speaking up and making the world return to its normal pace.

“Poke em if you don’t think they’re real diapers, just hurry up and say something already. This bathrooms out of the way but I don’t want anybody to walk in and see I’m in baby undies any more than you would.”

The slight hiss of urgency in the statement somehow made this seem so much more believable to Joey as he could relate too well to the horror at the idea of being caught with his diaper’s exposed. The pancham considered telling Petie to pull his pants back up… but between the terror ride and big shocking finale he’d just mentally been on and the emotionally numb plateau he’d just reached Joey found himself instead unbuckling and dropping his own pants. Exposing his diapers to the Teddiursa, who just looked mildly confused as to why Joey did that. To be fair Joey didn’t know either… it’d just felt like the right thing to do even if all logic and reason was screaming at him that he was an idiot. Petie had revealed his big secret to Joey, so Joey did the same… it was only right. Maybe this was what Kelsey meant when she said you don’t need to think to know what you need to do at times… but since this didn’t involve violence the pancham was fairly sure his big sister’s advice didn’t apply. Either way this left the two bears standing there, pants around their ankles and baby undies exposed for all the world to see… if anyone walked into the bathroom anyway.

“Um… why… why don’t we both pull our pants up, okay?” Petie managed to say, obviously still baffled as to why Joey had dropped his pants. The pancham just nodded timidly, the cold air on his legs having helped to bring him out of his stunned state and back to feeling awkward and embarrassed. The bathroom was silent save for a few soft noises as both bears tugged their pants back up over their thick padding and refastened them… before standing awkwardly and trying not to look at each other. Or at least Joey ASSUMED Petie was trying not to look at him, since he was avoiding looking at the teddiursa due to how awkward things were he didn’t know for sure. “So…” his guide’s voice reached Joey’s ears once more “I’m in diapers due to some genes I inherited from my good for nothing grandpa. Always had trouble getting to the potty since I turned 8 or so I can feel when I need to go… er… most of the time, but can’t make it before I have an accident…” there was a moment of silence as Joey digested this tidbit of information. The way Petie said that… has the teddiursa been stuck in diapers since grade school? Or did he just never get potty trained? Neither of them sounded good to the pancham. He’d only been back in diapers for under a year and he’d been bullied so bad he’d been consider a… way out… how bad did Petie have it growing up?

“So… how come you need baby undies?” the question snapped Joey out his introspection and deep feeling of sympathy and pity towards what might be a bear cub who had it even rougher than he did… before the pancham visibly flinched at Petie’s next question “Does it have something to do with those scars on your legs?” Thoughts raced through Joey’s head once more… should he try and avoid the question till Petie gave up on it? Try and change the subject? Lie about what happened and hope the teddiursa believes him? But as quickly as these thoughts came they left since lying to Petie or avoiding telling him about what happened, especially after the teddiursa had shared his own story, seemed wrong… that and Joey had never been able to lie well to his friends. Kelsey and her friends always caught him the moment he tried to fib any. But… he wasn’t ready to tell the full story. Just thinking about what’d happened in detail made Joey break out in a cold sweat and feel like his knees were going to give out underneath him from shaking so bad. So he took a deep, calming breath and answered Petie.

“I… I was in a bad a-accident at my old school a little while back, h-hurt me really bad… n-need diapers now and had to relearn to walk…”

It wasn’t a whole lie since it was technically true… but Joey wasn’t sure if it was a half-truth, a white lie, or a lie of omission if he remember the term he’d read before correctly. Either way the face Petie was making looked like he didn’t full believe him… but… “Okay, so you’re just back in diapers then?” the question was innocent, but the tone and the change in Petie’s expression was incredibly sympathetic, maybe even pitying. Since Joey had been feeling those same emotions towards the smaller bear not a minute earlier this reversal felt... kinda weird. The pancham wasn’t sure he liked it, but he didn’t get to think any further on the subject since after he’d nodded in response what Petie said next shook the world as Joey understood it to its core. “That sucks, I’ve had time to get used to these stupid things…” Petie said, still looking sympathetic “but yeah, can see that… there some other freshmen who ended up back in baby undies for the same reasons. Bad accidents happened to them and now they have accidents…”

Whether that was a bad attempt at a cynical joke or a cynical attempt at a bad joke Joey wasn’t sure… and he didn’t really care as he was more for concerned with the rest of what’d been said. “… there’s other students in diapers like us?” he blurted out, restraint gone in his shock. “Yeah, there’s a pumpkaboo girl and a growlithe guy who ended up in diapers cause of accidents like what happened to you…” Petie explained as he nodded “There’s also a girl who’s in diapers cause her ability messes with her control and another who’s in them cause she was abused when she was little…” the teddiursa continued as each word shattered Joey’s perspective on the world more and more. After what’d happened to him he’d though he’d been the only teen in the world to have to go through this… the idea that there were others, multiple others, who were going through the same thing and were all at the school he was now attending… Joey felt as if the rules and order that structured his world was crumbling down like cheap grade school theater backdrop and props. His legs felt weaker than ever, like they were buckling under him, as the world seemed to be spinning around the little pancham with only the teddiursa in front of him not being swept away in the tilt-a-whirl…

“Heck, the last two freshmen I gave tours to needed diapers too… I’m even willing to bet you candy-“ that expression stood out as being weird to Joey for a moment, till he remember teddiursas were supposedly very big on sweets “that the skunky guy was just as diapered as we are, though his probably might have been thicker… he definitely had more baby powder on him either way.” Petie finished rubbing his nose for emphasis as Joey found himself nodding along, his earlier observations about Toby (that’d been the guys name, right?) coming back to him full force now. “Dunno about the ghost girl though… whatever was wrong with her…” Petie continued, Joey too busy trying not to fall over to even try to get a word in edge-wise “but that’s not what’s important right now.” Petie took a deep breath and pulled himself up to full height, as unimpressive as that was Joey noted, before giving the pancham a look that reminded him a little of how Kelsey looked when she said something important to her friends and gang-members. With a sudden motion Petie jerked a soft and chubby looking paw and placed it on his chest “I’m trying to hide my diapers from the rest of the students here cause I used to be bullied-“ the teddiursa paused, his dramatic posed going soft as he shuddered a little (which told Joey more than he wanted to know) before he managed to pull himself back up “like I’m guessing you were back at your old school, but right now, here at the PCA? You’re not alone, I’m here to help you if you need it and be your friend if you want. So you’re not alone. Okay?”

The rational, intelligent part of Joey wanted to comment on how Petie's speech sounded like he'd cribbed (no pun intended) from some cartoons or something... but the fragile, emotional part of the pancham had Joey tearing up. Despite hanging out with his big sister's friends and rivals since as long as he could remember Joey had never really had much in the way of friends... well... ever. Most other kids his age avoided him, probably because of Kelsey (though Joey would sooner blame himself than his big sister) so Joey had taken comfort in spending time with older kids. Some of Kelsey's rivals and friends had little siblings as well but aside from occasional invitations to birthday parties and stuff Joey never got to hang out with them much. So the idea of having a "Friend" seem like a far off fantasy to him... as out of touch with reality and in-touch with make-believe as a tiny, child-like teddiursa who shares his problem and wants to help. It was a fairy tale… it had to be… with all the pain Joey had had to endure so far this just couldn't be real… but… but...

The pancham's weak legs gave out from under him as he collapsed on his butt with a soft paff noise and crinkles. Petie was saying something, probably concerned about Joey falling down, but the words didn't reach Joey over the sound of his own sobbing. The tears flowed freely as only biting down on his lip, losing his leaf in the process, kept Joey from making a worse racket than he was. The pancham didn't wanna risk believing this was real for fear it would be a lie… but he so badly wanted it to be real it hurt. All he'd been feeling since the accident was fear, despair, and hopelessness… even coming to the PCA had just left him feeling scared. Now? He was even more scared cause he had hope and it HURT… it hurt so badly cause now he was scared he'd lose it again or it be fake or… or…

A gentle, warm feeling stopped Joey's toy train of thought right on it's plastic tracks as he looked down and found Petie almost sitting in his lap, the smaller bear's arms wrapped around the crying pancham in the tightest hug he could manage. It was awkward, unexpected, and… nice? Nice in a weird way, kinda like when you were little and could imagine your favorite stuffed animal could hug back… or something? The sniffling pancham's mind was too frazzled at this point to make and coherent comparisons. But the warm of the hug as Petie nuzzled into him to try and stop Joey's tears was more than enough to prove that this… all of this… was somehow real. Like with dropping his pants earlier Joey wasn't quite sure why he did what he did next… but as he threw his arms around the little normal type and hugged him close, crying softly into Petie's fur, all he knew is this somehow felt right. As much as hope hurt, as he was scared the clock would strike twelve and all this would go away, Joey somehow felt better than he'd felt in a long time.

A small part of him wondered what this made Petie, since "Fairy Godmother" didn't work, but he was too focused on hugging the teddiursa and crying to spare it anymore thought.


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