Lopunny is a smart schoolgirl.

Mid terms come and go, and under Mommy’s strict study schedule I naturally crush them all. I couldn’t help but giggle to myself during the tests at how easy the questions were. I had been worried that college would be harder than high school, but it was a breeze so long as I payed attention. Miraculously, adding a petticoat to my skirts seems to have managed to hide my new daily diaper routine… or no one is bothering to look, or they know and no one is bothering to tell me… I’m going to stop thinking about it.

I walk into Professor’s cosplay studio to show her my grades proudly. But I stop, stunned at the horror before me. The Lopunny mask is on Mommy’s desk, torn to pieces. All of its internal components are strewn across the desk in an orderly yet distressing manner. My grades slip from my hand to the floor, forgotten.

The demon in Mommy’s chair that looks just like her turns to me. “Oh, hey baby. I’ve got a great idea for the mask, but it’s not ready yet. Can you come back in a bit? I need to focus on this.” I numbly nod, and walk out and close the door behind me.

I escape to my room and snuggle my little Lopunny, the anxiety that I might never again be her big sister eating away at me. I try to calm down though. I understand, logically, that Mommy has probably done this before. Like when she added the gag controls. But I didn’t see that and so wasn’t worried. What if she can’t put it back together? How can she take it apart like that? I would keep it sealed up for safe keeping and only disassemble it the minimum needed to clean it. That is not what I saw on that desk. That was a horror show of wires, Lopunny’s brains splayed across the desk. It’s okay, Mommy knows what she’s doing.

It’s fortunate that I have no homework, because instead of studying like I’m supposed to I remain on my bed, anxiously cuddling all of my friends and organizing them in increasingly more complex systems. First just Pokédex numbers, then primary type and Pokédex number, then I subdivide them by secondary type, a move that separates many final evolutions from their earlier forms. It breaks my heart to do it, but the part of me seeking comfort in organization cannot be denied. Charizard is separated from his little brothers who can’t follow him to the fire/flying group. Most of the starter Pokémon family lines are devastated from the **** break up. But in my pain, I have become a greater monster than the demon who broke Lopunny’s head.

I lose track of time, and don’t realize that Mommy must have done the same as we both work on our projects, with both chore time and play time passing without being noted. It’s only as my stomach begins to get a little noisy that I realize the time. Leaving my room, I realize Mommy is still in her studio. I timidly knock, not daring to barge in like before in fear of seeing greater terrors. After a moment Mommy opens the door. “Oh my goodness I’m sorry I forgot about dinner! I’ll order some pizza for us.” She grabs her phone and makes the call, confident she knows what I want without asking, which of course she does. I carefully avoid looking inside at her desk.

Once she’s done, she takes me by the hand. “I have something I want to show you!” She pulls me inside as my heart begins to beat faster and faster, my fight or flight response getting ready to run from whatever Frankenstein style monstrosity she has made from the Lopunny head. But at the end of the day she is Mommy, so I meekly get ready to bear witness to her creation. She shows me… a weird helmet. I’m not sure it’s supposed to be Lopunny at all, and I consider the possibility that Mommy destroyed my Lopunny suit to make this mecha head looking thing. Other anime is fine, but not at the cost of Lopunny!

“I still need to make the cover for it and the ears need to be attached, but outside of the speakers for your sounds, we don’t really need the ears. And since you can’t see yourself anyways, I figure getting to wear it like this will get you excited for Halloween!” Halloween? Oh, right. Fall mid-terms, so Halloween is almost here. But more importantly, this is supposed to be Lopunny? Just, without some parts? I guess that makes it better… and more disturbing. How is that supposed to end up looking like Lopunny?

“…okay Mommy. I’ll, I’ll wait in my room for pizza…” I start backing away slowly.

“Hold up my precious baby. Don’t you want to see what it’s like to wear it? I’ve had to brush up on some new skills and call in multiple favors from friends to make this happen. Trust me, this will be worth it.” Mommy looks so eager to show me her creation. I sigh, knowing I have to stick my head in that… thing.

“Okay Mommy, I’ll try it.” She eagerly pushes me into her chair and lifts up her mech head with wires still hanging out. There doesn’t look like there are any holes for my eyes to see through, and as she lifts it up to put it on me the darkness of the helmet and the predictable gag filling my mouth make my breathing increase. I feel like I’m beginning to hyperventilate as no light appears, even as the helmet is strapped firmly in place. I grip the chairs arm rests tightly, trying not to panic. Strangely this helmet has a section pressed firmly around my upper face, like goggles.

Mommy must be flipping a switch, or a button or something, as I hear electronics hum to life. A fan kicks in, probably the same one she harvested from the old non-terrifying Lopunny head. Suddenly a large portion of my view lights up into the dark light of light pixels trying to be the absence of light. Then letters appear before me, ‘Video Pass Through Mode’. The letters disappear and Mommy’s face appears in front of me. It’s clear and crisp, and really makes it clear how much I couldn’t see before in the old helmet. I push the happy Lopunny button, but no sound comes out… oh right, the ears that have the speakers aren’t on.

“Can you see me baby?” Her hand waves in front of my face… or in front of the camera I guess. I hold up my hand with a thumbs up, scared to move my head around too much. This new helmet seems lighter than my old one, but the weight is more in front, probably because of the VR screens. “Oh good. Now this will take some getting used to, but once it’s done you should be able to see and move around well enough to go to school on Halloween in this! You’ll have the best costume on campus!”

Whoa whoa now, I don’t know about this. “And check this out! Since it’s all video, I can put filters on. Give me a second.” Mommy looks past me to her computer and uses its mouse. Suddenly the image flickers into a simplified image, with hard lines. It’s a little like looking at a cartoon world, but parts flicker as the imaging software can’t decide if something should be one simple color or another, if a line should be here or there. Over all it looks nice, a simpler world. But that bit of flickering is kind of annoying. Then she uses the mouse again and suddenly the world is black and white. It’s very neat and this effect holds up better. I try the happy sound again… I really need to remember that doesn’t work right now.

“I’m working on making it so you can change the filters with your gag control, but for right now your eyes are under my control.” She chuckles at the villain voice she used to say the last part of her sentence. I smile around my gag. I have to admit this is pretty cool. The helmet keeps my head cool with a fan, but basically lets me interact with the world as though it were a video game. Everything just looks a tiny bit fake, even knowing it’s real. I still don’t know about wearing this to campus though. Halloween or not this is a lot.

“Okay baby, I’m glad I got to show it to you, but now I need to take it off and get the ears and outer layer ready. Otherwise it won’t look right at all. Besides, the pizza won’t take too long to be here. So let’s get ready.” Mommy helps me get the helmet off, and I do feel a lot better seeing what it can do. Sure it’s partly disassembled mech head look is… unappealing, but if she can make it look like the old Lopunny head then it will be worth it. I chuckle a bit. “What are you laughing at?” Mommy smiles at me.

“The helmet feels like it should be for a Master Chief helmet, or Metroid, or… any sci-fi armor. But you’re using it for Lopunny. It just seems funny.” She seems happy with my explanation.

“Well, I figure if I make the skin and ears detachable, I can probably use this helmet for other costumes as well. Who knows, maybe I can turn you into a sexy Gardevoir too.” My brain short circuits at the idea. I could be all the sexy Pokémon. Okay, the list is pretty short after Lopunny and Gardevoir, and even their sexiness is more conceptual than it is the actual in game design. A lot of rule 34 online gives both Pokémon bodies that they don’t have in game, neither one actually having any bust at all. But they still have an undeniable feminine feel to them, Gardevoir has a built in skirt and Lopunny is a bunny girl with thighs.

Anyways, there are more important things to worry about right now. “You weren’t serious about going to school in it, were you?”

Mommy laughs. “You made it through the convention in it, and everyone was looking at you then. I think you might enjoy going to school with a mask on. Who knows, after Halloween you might wish you could wear it every day.” I highly doubted that, I don’t like the idea of everyone looking at me. But, on Halloween I might be able to get away with it.

“Okay Mommy, I’ll try it on Halloween.” Mommy smiles and rubs my cheek, as I worry about what I just agreed to. Halloween is next Thursday. Classes are still on, but Friday is off. So it’s a whole school day of Halloween, followed by everyone partying in the afternoon and into the weekend.

And I have agreed to be a Lopunny at school. Does she plan on removing the gag? Oh well, Mommy gets what she wants. My stomach roils at the thought of my impending exposure as Lopunny.

Fortunately, the doorbell rings. Maybe pizza will settle my stomach.