Daniel couldn’t decide if the teacher that stood before the amassed collection of girls was intimidating or ridiculous.

On one hand, she stood with confidence and swagger, exuding a sense of superiority that spread over the class. On the other, she projected that superiority over a sea of witches in pointed hats who were explicitly there to learn–it wasn’t very impressive that Catherline Glinse was better than them.

Of course, mucking up the equation was the fact that Catherine Glinse might be plotting to destroy the whole school, or at least do something horrible there. Daniel hadn’t ruled her out as the primary suspect, not when she had too many fingers pointed in her direction.

For now, though, he just needed to keep up with the class. If he flunked out, he wouldn’t be able to accuse anyone of anything.

“How many of you know how to play Voxavin?” Catherine Glinse demanded, casting out a stern look that verged on being a glare.

Realizing he was one of only a tiny handful of students not raising their hands, Daniel moved to correct that, lifting his arm in a white lie. Sure, he didn’t know the exact rules, but he could fake it, and he didn’t want to show his ignorance.

Behind him, he heard giggles. Glancing over his shoulder, he flushed, seeing a familiar face leering at him. The bully from the library stood with some girls Daniel didn’t recognize–her coven–and she wore a sickening smirk. She waved with her fingers at him, pointing down at the hem of his skirt.

Daniel’s blush deepened as he got the message–when he raised his hand, it lifted his skirt and exposed the bottom of his drooping, damp diaper. Deliberately turning to ignore the bully, he tugged down at the hem of his skirt, hiding his embarrassment as best he could.

(What did Glinse just ask?) he thought, trying to catch up with her speech. (It was…right. Who knew how to play?)

“Wrong,” their coach snapped, continuing her tirade–if she’d noticed the light giggling disruption, she didn’t react. “Maybe you know the rules, but you don’t know how to play. Voxavin is not something you can learn by watching, and it’s not something you can learn by play-acting as children. It is, fundamentally, the most potent expression of teamwork you will ever experience.”

(If she was going to call everyone wrong, why ask?) Daniel thought, his embarrassment dying as he found a source of condescension within himself. Unable to help himself, he whispered, “Was she like this last year, too?”

“Word for word,” Asami confirmed.

Rolling his eyes, Daniel returned his focus to the lecture.

“Today we’ll be going over the fundamentals of the game, but know this–a quick, lone wand and a few fast spells will not win you the day. No individual is more powerful than a team.” Nodding sagely, Catherine extended her hand up to the sky, a long, slender wand clutched in it. “So, as we cover this, remember that these are only the basics, the mechanics, and that the Voxavin Duel is only a small piece of your team’s greater strategy.”

Her speech continued, but Daniel’s focus was broken once again as he heard a pointed whisper behind him, loud enough that it was most likely meant for his ears. “Did he piss himself again?”

“Maybe he just didn’t notice he needed a diaper change,” another girl whispered back, though at that point, ‘whispered’ was barely appropriate to describe the brazen conversation going on, and the conversation between two girls spread to the rest of the bully’s coven.

“He wet himself? I didn’t see.”

“Let’s see if he’ll raise his hand again…”

Daniel shot his best withering glare over his shoulder, but that only produced more laughter.

“And that’s why–” Catherine Glinse cut herself off mid-speech, finally rounding her focus on the gaggle of giggling girls near the back. “Is there something I’ve missed, ladies?”

The giggles fell silent, and the bully’s coven stood quietly at attention. Daniel returned his focus to the speech, trying to keep his cool.

“That’s better,” Glinse said, her jaw set. “As I was saying, we need to cover the fundamentals of voxavin dueling. For this, I will need a volunteer.”

(Volunteer, or target?) Daniel thought, glancing around. As he’d suspected, nobody wanted to go up and become the subject of Catherine’s object lesson.

As he watched, looking out to see what naive fool might raise their hand, he felt a sudden burst of wind. His skirt flipped up, exposing his diaper, and the witch’s hat on his head flew into the air like it’d been pulled with a string.

Blushing, Daniel tried to jump at the hat and push down his skirt at the same time, to middling effect–he only concealed a couple inches his sagging diaper, and failed completely to grab the hat, which blew to the side and landed by one of the red barrels in the courtyard a moment later. A burst of giggles erupted behind him, but the true purpose of the prank became clear a second later when Glinse’s gaze fell on him.

Daniel froze, arm extended energetically towards the sky, his mistake dawning on him.

“Mister Aster,” she announced, so that the rest of the auditorium’s eyes fell on him, still clutching his bunched up skirt, drawing attention to the sodden, yellowed diaper beneath. “So kind of you to volunteer.”

More giggles burst behind Daniel, and he shot a glare over his shoulder at the bully. The girls of her coven had begun whispering again–proper whispering, that he couldn’t hear–but the bully herself just leered at him, triumphant and gloating over her perfectly executed prank.

As he glowered, she mouthed, ‘Have fun,’ nodding slightly towards Glinse. Daniel had already suspected that ‘volunteering’ was just another word for ‘being targeted by the teacher for humiliation’, and the bully’s smirk just confirmed it.

Straightening his skirt, Daniel stalked over to where his hat had fluttered to the ground, snatched it up, then made his way to the front of the assembly, ignoring the snickers and amused smiles that now seemed to radiate from every single girl in the hall, at least according to his peripheral vision and imagination.

“The most basic part of Voxavin is the duel,” Glinse explained, carrying on as though she hadn’t noticed the hazing ritual going on in her gymnasium. “It is a test of fine control, accuracy, and power. Some of you may believe that you can win purely through skill alone–this is not true, but skill can influence your success immeasurably.”

Daniel stepped up in front of Glinse, and she looked down on him. She was taller than Daniel by half a foot–one of the tallest people in the room, in fact–and looked down on him without pity.

He cleared his throat. Even if he’d been put up to this, he wouldn’t act petty in front of a crowd. “What do I do?”

“I assume you know how to raise a barrier ward?” she inquired. “It’s a rather elemental part of the entrance exams.”

Daniel flushed, recalling his rather pathetic performance in the exams, but nodded. He could, even if it wouldn’t be particularly efficient.

“Good.” Pointing, Catherine directed him to a space about ten feet away. Now that he was at the front, Daniel could see that the space had been marked out on the ground in a long, wide strip, almost like the lanes used in fencing. Both ends had one of the red-marked barrels, and Catherine was pointing him towards one end. “Stand there.”

Obeying, Daniel walked to where he’d been instructed and turned to face Catherine, acutely aware of the hundreds of eyes watching him, waiting for him to make a mistake worthy of mockery.

Smirking, Catherine walked to the other end of the lane and stepped back into a power stance, legs sinking low. Twirling her slender wand between her fingers, she said, “Begin.”

Lightning fast, she launched power towards him. Daniel had an image in his mind of what duels looked like: Warlocks blasting power at one another, fire and ice and evocations of pure energy, whipped back and forth with the speed and power of a tempest. Despite the environment, he half expected a ball of explosive force to launch from the coach’s wand into his shield.

Instead, a barrel behind her burst open, and from within, a tidal wave of viscous blue goop flew into the air. Following Glinse’s command, the paint-like sludge whipped towards Daniel’s shield, shaping into a trio of orbs the size of beach balls mid-flight.

Daniel yelped in surprise, but it was too late. All three spheres curved around his barrier, slamming into him from either side, and heavy, sticky sludge pasted into him, coating his arms and uniform.

“Hey, what the–” he began, losing his balance. The sludge had moved like water while in the air, but wherever it touched him, it thickened like a glue trap. His arms were pinned to his side, and as he struggled to move them free, he spun and stumbled from the sudden topheavy weight around his torso, falling onto the ground away from the watching crowd.

Naturally, he stuck where he landed, trapped on his back like a beetle, only able to squirm and flail his legs and shout.

Daniel groaned as he heard laughter from the watching witches. By kicking his legs, he’d given the entire student body an upskirt view of his diaper. The humiliation of being used as a training dummy by Glinse was already enough to make him blush, but as he wriggled and tried to roll to at least turn his body away and hide his wet padding, he burned with humiliation and anger.

“And that,” Catherine Glinse announced, turning to face the class. “Is how you defeat an opponent in Voxavin. Mana flows like water when you use evocation upon it, but when you strike your target it will stick, limiting their mobility. When your opponent is unable to move or cast spells, they are marked as out, and your team scores one point in that round.”

With a flick of her wand, the ‘Mana’ goo turned liquid again, rushing off Daniel and freeing him to move again. Sitting up, he flicked his hands, trying to get the excess slurry off himself–it didn’t stick to his clothes, leaving behind no stains or marks, but it still clung to his skin in droplets, and he felt rivulets of it run down his back.

“Remember, however, that you do not need to fully eliminate an opponent in order to gain advantage. For example, if you are facing a duelist and don’t have enough Mana to both eliminate their ability to cast spells and to move, you can go for a disabling strike. Daniel, if you would please stand.”

Knowing what was coming, he got to his feet, but even before he was fully upright, he felt off-balance. His diaper felt heavier, weighed down and waterlogged, and he wobbled, thighs spread and legs splayed–

(Oh, you’re kidding me,) Daniel realized, revelation striking him. The dispersed Mana hadn’t just poured off him, it’d poured down him, and though it didn’t stick to his skin, it was still liquid.

Distracted by the new weight drooping around his waist, he almost forgot what was coming, and his attempt to throw out a shield came far too late. He failed–of course–and could do nothing to prevent another goopy assault, this time splashing against his feet, trapping his legs in a permanent spread.

“Can you move?” she asked.

“No,” Daniel said, looking down. His arms were free this time–fortunately–but he couldn’t raise his feet. “Obviously.”

“Precisely,” Glinse said, facing the students again. “However, you are still able to cast spells–to the extent that you’re capable, at least.”

More laughter rang out at her quip, and Daniel’s face felt feverish with shame.

Glinse continued, oblivious or uncaring of how her comments were reflecting on Daniel. “In certain circumstances, it would be best to simply flee, leaving you unable to participate in the match until the end of the round.”

With another flick of her wand, his feet were freed, but he hadn’t expected her to release him so quickly. Weighed down and surprised, Daniel fell, landing with a loud squelch like a sponge being thrown against a brick wall.

More laughter.

This wasn’t a gym class, it was a slapstick comedy show, with Daniel as the unwitting victim.

Turning to the student body once again, Catherine Glinse announced, “I need a second volunteer for this next–”

“Me! Pick me!”

Surprised at the ease of reply, Glinse pointed to the girl whose hand was stuck straight up in the air, bouncing to get her attention. “Alright, you. What’s your name?”

“I’m Jen.”

(Oh, you’re kidding me.)

Daniel pursed his lips as he watched her come up to the front, releasing a barely contained sigh. Already he was the subject of far too much attention and now she was going to, again, just make things worse.

“Alright, Daniel and Jen, face off against one another.”

Daniel noticed an absence. Glinse hadn’t asked Jen if she knew how to raise a barrier ward. Unlike himself, Jen was assumed to be competent.

“If you would, please–one of you raise a barrier, while the other attempts to strike you with Mana, as I demonstrated.”

(Interesting,) he thought. (She’ll demonstrate how to attack on an unsuspecting student, but she won’t show off how to defend. Is she afraid of being hit?)

More to the point, though, he wouldn’t let Glinse–or the bully, or Jen, or anyone–beat him.

The coach had brought Daniel up so that he could be made into a display. Glinse had to know how he’d scored on the entrance exams, and that he’d not be able to do much more than splat Jen’s ward with a bit of paint. His fine control was just too poor, and if he tried to win the duel, he’d just demonstrate his incompetence.

However, she’d forgotten something: Daniel’s fine control might have been lacking, but he had power. Now that he had time, and wasn’t off guard or surprised against a much more experienced opponent, he could raise a shield with enough strength to block a speeding locomotive.

This was his shot to win, to show he was competent, to cancel out the humiliations that’d come before.

Raising his wand, Daniel concentrated as best he could, thinking of the shield he could raise. His balance was wobbly, and he was distracted by the weight of his mana-swollen diaper pressed against his thighs, but he didn’t need to move to cast a spell. Taking a long, deep breath, he called up his power. Unlike the test, this didn’t have to be a precise, efficient amount of force, so he could make the shield as strong as he wanted, and–

And Jen already had a barrier conjured, a quick construct of radiating energy that shimmered in the air like heat off a campfire. She’d beaten him to the punch, and now he’d have to take the offensive.

She’d set him up, just like Glinse.

(Eh tu, Jen?)

Already, he had an image in his head of how this was going to go: He’d attempt to levitate a ball and fail, or he’d fling it pathetically and it would bounce off Jen’s shield, or he’d otherwise prove himself incompetent. Even if he could focus well enough to make a discreet ball of Mana float in the air, he knew already that he’d never be able to aim it around a shield.

Turning, he glanced back at one of the large barrels behind him, full of colored goo. The Mana in this one was tinted green–apparently there was some kind of color coding system–but it otherwise seemed to be the same as the blue sludge he’d been hit with.

“Any day now, Mister Aster,” Glinse said, tapping her wand on her wrist.

“My goal is to immobilize my opponent, right?” he asked, looking back at Glinse.

“Right,” she explained. “Or, to try.”

“Okay.” He thought for a moment longer, staring at the barrels of mana.

(I don’t need fine control, just power) Daniel thought, grinning slightly as he made his plan to win the simplistic duel. (Let’s see if they’re expecting this.)

Turning, he faced Jen at her end of the dueling lane. She held her shield up with a determined look and a slow spiral of her wand. She was uncharacteristically silent–perhaps struggling to concentrate on the spell, perhaps just having nothing to say to him.

Growing determined, Daniel whipped out his wand, focused, and lanced all the power he could out and past his opponent. Energy surged into the far barrel, directly behind Jen, and paint-like Mana splashed out of it as though he’d dropped Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke. Immediately, his matched opponent was taken out, hit with goop that congealed into an inescapable ooze on contact.

“Yeah!” Daniel cheered, pumping his fist at the success of his ploy.

The attack was poorly aimed, and a horrible waste of both strength and Mana, but none of that mattered. The barrel was only a couple feet behind Jen, and the goop splattered out with such force that even with most of it spraying aimlessly into the air, she was still splattered heavily from the back. Heavy, sticky sludge knocked her to the ground, and excess Mana also sloshed out into the front row of watching girls, the seats off to the side…and onto Catherine Glinse.

Jen had mostly been hit from the back, but the collateral damage of Daniel’s reckless depth charge had splattered her from the front, spraying her down with blue goo from head to toe while the students watched on in near-total silence.

It took the coach three tries to get enough movement in her wrist to dispel the Mana, rendering it all to liquid that fell off both her and Jen in sheets.

As it dribbled off her face, Daniel could see that beneath the blue, her face had turned completely purple with rage.

(Oh.) He swallowed, realizing that he’d made a mistake. (Oh no.)

...

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