A fan story set in 's Mamagarde setting. Stella Silk, an astronomer and showwoman really wants to go on a research trip, and Luca, her Mamagarde, offers to cover for her, using the Skill Swap move to borrow her presentation skills.

It goes wrong, in a predictably ABDL style.

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Stella Silk was pretty proud of how her life had turned out, usually. At 25, she was the proud owner and operator of Stella Silk's Science Play Place and Planetarium, which combined her skill at showmanship with her interest of all things celestial and helped educate curious Littles about the stars. It was a lot of responsibility, especially for a Little, but she thrived in it, and managed her own business well.

Except for today. Stella slumped morosely over the baby walker she was sitting in, knocking a stack of papers askew. There was nothing she could do; she'd crunched numbers, made projections, and even contemplated skipping naptime for the extra hour of work, but it wouldn't make a real difference. She had double-booked herself, and now she had to choose between the dependability and integrity she had built her business and scientific career on, and seeing something really cool that she really really wanted to see. As she halfheartedly spun the colorful abacus attached to her walker, she felt a set of hands grab her from behind.

"Something seems to stink in here," Luca said. Her partner, dear friend, and professional Poke-mommy lifted her out of her walker and cradled her. The Mamagarde was a bit different from others, her body made up of twisting blue-and-red designs and a helmet making her whole design not dissimilar to the nigh-mythical Deoxys. It was an uncanny coincidence, if not a direct cause, but it only added to Stella's fascination with the stars. "Now, what could be troubling my baby?" Luca smiled as she tickled Stella's stomach.

She giggled at the contact, cuddling up against her Mamagarde. "It's nothing, really."

Luca hefted her up a little, getting her into a sitting position and patting her diapered behind. "It doesn't seem like nothing. It seems like a very big something, in fact."

"No, it's just..." She folded her arms, huffing a little as she squirmed in Luca's arms. "You know about the Staryu migration?"

The Mamagarde nodded, grabbing a stuffed Staryu from a cubby nearby. For a designated space for business and paperwork, the planetarium's office certainly seemed more like a spaceship-themed preschool than an actual office. Luca found it more pleasant than the alternatives she'd seen in her travels, but she imagined certain Carina natives wouldn't give a second thought to filling out paperwork in a room with foam puzzle-piece flooring and stuffed animals in assigned cubbies. "I've heard tales. Hundreds to thousands of the sea creatures climbing up to the beach to beam messages to the stars. They're predictable, but they don't happen often." She started walking to the opposite side of the room from the office-walker, tucking the Staryu plush in her Little's arms. "I think there was a flyer for something about it a week back?"

"Yeah!" Stella's eyes lit up. "It's going to be so cool, and if I leave soon and travel to Star Crunch Beach, I could make it there in time to document the whole thing! Professor Sapling and a whole bunch of her interns are even going to be there, but if I do..."

"Oh, sweetie," Luca muttered. "You have a party booked next week, don't you?"

She nodded. The 'Science Play Place' part of her planetarium wasn't just in the name. Part of running her planetarium in the Carina region meant encouraging scientific interest in the locals, with educational activities, hands-on experiments, and all kinds of classes and presentations. As a result, there were some Carinans who could point out constellations better than they could count to ten, and while Stella was often very proud of her work, it wasn't often one of her week-long learning camps got in the way of something really cool that she was really curious about and really, really, really wanted to go see.

"How about we settle down and think on it, then?" Luca set Stella down on the changing table built into the wall of her office, and Stella looked around in confusion. When had they gotten all the way over here? and why? Luca chuckled in her deep, resonant voice. "Yeah, when I said 'something stinks,' I was being literal." She pat Stella's diapered behind, and her diapered "trainer" finally paid enough attention to the squishy feeling on her backside to realize how messy she was.

Stella took it in metaphorical stride, of course. Heavy thinking tended to involve heavy stinking, and it wasn't like it was an unusual occurrence for the Carinan to need a change before she realized it. Still, she clutched the Staryu plush close as she was laid down. "But what can I do? I dug through the scheduling and did all the projections I could. Even if I were to suddenly catch a flying type to carry me there and not sleep at all for the entire trip, I'd get a few minutes of Staryu-gazing before I'd have to immediately come back. And you know how much I need those naps."

Luca nodded seriously. "A week without naps. Couldn't even imagine the terror you'd inflict on the world." She was joking, of course, but only barely; she was not letting her baby wreck herself like that. She untaped the padding and started wiping the woman down. "So, with that off the table, what do you think you should do?"
Stella sighed. "I guess I just... have to accept I can't be in two places at once." She cuddled the Staryu plush tightly. "Even if I'm going to be sad I missed out. I made a promise, and I have to stick to it." Sometimes, she just had to put on her adulting pants.

A diaper was slid under her behind and powder applied liberally to both.

...well, metaphorically, at least.

"Hang on," Luca said, taping the diaper shut. "You don't need to be in two places at once. Just have someone to substitute for you. I'm sure the brats are going to love a guest speaker also teaching them about science."

She hugged the plush tighter. "Maybe. But who else is going to know enough about space to do that? They'd need to be ready to present all this cool stuff about space in two days."

Luca raised an eyebrow. "You know I'm more familiar with astronomy than you are, on personal experience. Plus, I know just as much as you do about operating this planetarium."

"Oh." Stella looked to the side. "I kinda... thought you'd come with me."

She placed a hand on her charge's head as she finished changing the woman. "Stella, I love you very much, and you will always be my baby." She played with the girl's hair, earning a giggle. "But it is also perfectly fine if you go enjoy doing things without me. I'm sure you, Sapling, and all the other brats and their 'Gardes are going to have so much fun, you won't even realize you miss me."

Stella paused as she bounced the idea in her head for a bit. "You're right, but... well, you have to be engaging. The whole showmanship thing is part of what I do, being approachable and exciting, have clear communication, that kind of stuff. You tend to treat clear communication and excitement as an obstacle, instead of a tool."

Luca gave the woman a flat, unimpressed stare before setting her back on her feet.

"Like that, yeah."

She sighed. "Fair enough, I'm not big on talking to brats." She raised a finger to shush her trainer. "And I'm aware calling them 'brats' doesn't help. You have a gift for making science engaging for them, and that's not something I can learn conventionally in so little time." She put her hand on Stella's head. "But you haven't thought of something."

She looked up to Luca curiously, and the Mamagarde continued. "I can use Skill Switch. Since you won't be using it, I can just borrow your communication skills, and you can borrow my Pressure Ability, which... won't do anything for you, but it means you can go on your Staryugazing trip."

"Are you sure that's how that works?"

"Which one of us is the Pokémon?" Luca huffed and crossed her arms, looking down on the woman. "I've had this move for quite a while, and I know how to use it properly."

Stella looked skeptical. "Including the time with the Stunky and Her?"

"You," she snapped indignantly, "were not there for that. Doesn't count." Luca didn't want to open that discussion up, especially when it was about her lifelong nemesis. "Do you want to do your fancy trip or not?"

The astronomer gave the Mamagarde her most serious expression. "You know where the emergency backups are?"

She sighed. "Yes, the Frazzie tapes are with the spare TV in the electronics closet. All else fails, I'll get the brats watching that for the rest of the night."

Stella nodded. "If anyone can cover for me, then, it's you."

"Glad to achieve such vaunted heights. Now, get your padded backside to the playroom; you've done enough work until your trip."

Stella looked around before snatching up the Staryu plush she'd dropped. "Can I—"

"Of course you can bring the Staryu."



"It's a backpack too?!" Stella opened and closed the hidden pocket with stars in her eyes, watching the mix of traveling and changing supplies seem to disappear in the plush Pokémon.

"Of course it is." Luca zipped the backpack up with finality.

"Whoa!" The astronomer squeezed the plush tight. "That's so cool!"

The Mamagarde looked bemusedly at her charge. The two of them had stopped just outside a Kangas-Cab spot, where they would meet up with some Mamagardes working with Sapling lab. "You really thought I was going to send you off with nothing but a plush fish?"

She chuckled a bit. "I've been on longer trips with less."

"And that was before I started looking out for you."

"It's an echinoderm, by the way."

Luca blinked at Stella.

"it is," the astronomer muttered. " 's not a fish."

"Of course," Luca sighed. "Now, don't overwork yourself. Stick with the group, and keep your eye on your Sittergarde so she can do the same."

Stella sighed sarcastically. "Fine, I'll enjoy myself without frying my brain or catching hypothermia."

The Mamagarde nodded seriously. "Good. You know who your Sittergarde is?"

She rolled her eyes and pointed. "Right there, Birdy. She's a flying type, and I gave her a tour of the planetarium last month, so she's already changed me and everything."

"Good. The refresher course is going to be easy, then." She gave Stella's diaper a squeeze, revealing a soggy squish. "Now, soggy star, give your Mamagarde a hug."

"Luca..." Stella whined, but fell into the hug anyways. For her, Luca gave the best hugs, stopping just short of picking her up in the all-encompassing embrace. "You're forgetting something," she reminded her as she snuggled into her Mama's arms.

"Not at all," Luca whispered to her. "Just wanted a hug before all my excuses to keep you here ran out." There was a subtle, tingling pulse of energy as Skill Swap activated. The two straightened out before giving each-other one last, quick squeeze, then turning to go.

Luca watched as her Stella ran into the arms of a familiar Flying-type Mamagarde, who gently tossed the excited Carinan in the air before carrying her to a diaper station. She worried about her Stella, but knew her charge would be in good hands.

As she walked back up to the planetarium in the mountains, however, a strange sensation began trickling down her leg. She looked down to see what was happening.

Oh.

Oh no.

After a brief moment of panic over her growing predicament, she began running up the mountain, hoping Stella's protection will fit her.