The taste of her power
By: Mia

	Standing up and wiping the sweat from his brow, the chipmunk smiled a bit looking at his backyard while standing atop his large deck. He had spent the last few hours sprucing things up in preparation for the night that was to come; It was the harvest festival after all and he had invited quite a few neighbors to join in the festivities with him. Being a lonely ghost hunter.. er.. ‘esteemed bachelor’ that he was, he surely desired the company. 

	The spooky yet lucrative month he had had prior found him capturing a particularly odd ghost from a manor in the forest. If he wasn’t careful, it would have turned him into nothing more than a babbling baby! Shaking his head, the chipmunk grinned a bit, knowing that at the very least he was safe from that type of fate. That creature was currently locked in a sealed container in his basement inside an ingenious device of his own making~ An intricate puzzle box left inconspicuously sitting on his mantle. 

	Looking out onto the tables covered in food already prepared and set, he nodded. It was completely laid out with chairs and copious amounts of highchairs, maybe too many though.. he couldn’t be sure! He had heard there was a new family with a multitude of small children, ironically enough, moving into the house he had just exorcized. As a sign of good faith, he made sure to invite the new squirrel family over, wanting to make sure there weren’t any residual effects.

Sighing gently to himself, he sat back in one of the plastic patio chairs and leaned back, though the moment was broken as he felt a sudden chill run up his spine. 

Jumping up and rushing into his living room, he gasped a bit seeing his container floating slightly as a blue energy seemed to seep out of it. Swearing to himself he lurched forward, leaping for the small toy-like cube, his eyes opening wide as it seemed to float above his reach at the last second, causing him to miss it and slam face-first into the wall. 

Rubbing his smashed face, he grumbled feeling a sharp pain in his mouth; he had bitten down on his tongue with his large teeth, causing a throbbing pain. Glaring at the object as it flew outside, he gave chase, running after it. 

	“Thun of a bith… I knew I thould’ve contained it better.”

	Blushing at the sound of his voice thanks to his throbbing tongue, the young man used his anger to launch himself up and out the door, seeing the object floating back towards the woods with a ghostly laugh accompanying it. 

“Oh nu oo don’t!”

Bending his legs, the small mammal made a dash for the deck, leaping to the railing and using all his might to push himself off it towards the device, feeling his hands close around it, grabbing the top off a tree to try and break his fall. Gripping the thin trunk, he sighed as fortune seemed to smile upon him. The trunk was flexible enough to bend down its full length coming to a stop on the ground, allowing him to stand tall proudly holding his prize up as it glistened in the mid-afternoon sunlight. Tilting his head a bit as he felt a tap on his shoulder, he looked back as he saw the form of the ghost he had most recently captured. Nonah Mae floated down, a gentle smile on her face looking down and then back up to him.

Grant tilted his head, looking down, to see the top of the tree just under his and Nonah’s feet and as the ghostly woman stepped off the tree and gripped the box, she plucked it from his grasp, giving him a pat on the head before the tree SNAPPED launching the poor boy into the air

“AAAAHHHHHHHHHH”

Feeling the winds from his impromptu launch, the chipmunk watched as he passed over his neighborhood, quite a few people converging on his house. His guests were going to arrive soon, though as the poor little guy flew further and further, he waited for the inevitable splat into the ground. As he flew however, he soon found himself falling through quite a few clotheslines and as he passed through multiple lines of drying clothes, the momentum slowed just enough to show the cruel fate he found himself entwined in, his clothes getting snagged on safety pins and hanging nicely as he continued to fall. 

He found himself stuffed into something soft, like a t-shirt almost, the clothesline it was on stretching as he struggled to get out of this shirt. Meanwhile down on the ground below, a few kids were playing a game of water balloons, though in this side of town not all kids could afford the good stuff. With this oddly sad truth, one kid held the warm, waterlogged, filled diaper up and ready to strike. As he went to throw it however, he felt only weightless air in his hand. Looking around a bit, he shrugged and dove out of the way of another balloon, grabbing for the rest of his pack.

As he felt the momentum shift, he was launched back to where he came, Grant looking forward through his tear-stained eyes. The ground got closer and closer, watching the people, his friends and neighbors already at his party, he heard rising music, feeling the tops of trees lick at his feet and sending him into a tumble. The trees broke his momentum slowly as he found himself facing the blue sky bouncing a few times before his crash landing… onto something soft and hearing a distinct crinkle, hmm..? 

Not only was it soft and padded, he seemed to be squished between multiple bodies. Above him he heard giggling and laughing as a conversation continued, the boy wiggling in his new predicament, his legs flailing as they were grabbed by another.

“....Yeah I know, I don’t know where our host is but he’s awfully late. I am glad I found you here though, it's so hard being the new mom in town with so many little ones. So many diapers to change like you wouldn’t believe… like this little super soaker right here, you are absolutely swimming in this little one!”

Opening his eyes, he looked up into the green eyes of a squirrel standing above him. Watching her unfurl a thick diaper, reaching down and untaping his current one, the young man blushing brightly seeing the soaked thing on his hips underneath the powder blue onesie emblazoned with acorns and the playful words “My Mommy is NUTS!” on the front. 

“Wait a second… you’re not one of my…”

The mother looked down sternly, seeing the chipmunk laid between the actual babies getting their diapers changed. That is before he looked above her, seeing the shimmering form of Nonah grinning widely at him as she slipped inside the young mother. Seeing her shudder, the lioness beside her looked down as the squirrel opened her eyes up, now shimmering with a faint glow.

“You’re not one of my super soakers normally, little dearie but Mommy is here now… and is going to be forever and ever~”

Feeling himself covered in powder, Grant tried to speak up, whining as his swollen tongue only let incoherent babble escape. Feeling the onesie snapped over the fresh squirrel diaper just as the other babies were also changed into, they were each scooped up into a different mothers arms. He soon found himself strapped into a large highchair, cursing himself for getting the different sizes now that he found himself strapped in.

He couldn’t do much as he felt the squirrel’s paw close on his cheeks, causing his mouth to open only to be presented with a large spoonful of mushed up foods from the tables, the other babies happily munching away. He felt the warm goop slide from his engorged mouth, the other mothers cooing at the messy eaters. As the slop slid down his throat, he knew was well and truly stuck; only the most powerful ghosts could possess others and those possessions could last a long time if not checked!

Smirking at him the mother squirrel continued with the bowl of mashed vegetables, he heard the small voice inside his head feeling the warm taste enter his mouth.

“Oh you poor little baby boy! Mama Nonah is gonna make sure you are taken care of for many, many years!”

The party would soon commence, a few hours of laughing and fun from the others all while Grant watched from the nearby playpen, babbling as his tongue continued to hurt every time he tried to fight or defend himself.

After everything was said and done, the party came to a close and the neighbors left the home, all until it was just the squirrel mom loading her kids into the large pram in the shape of a tree. Grimacing and folding his arms, Grant was nestled in the middle of all the babies, a bottle hanging out of his mouth, watching the trees move as they took a stroll through the forest. 

It was going to be a very long few months trying to get that ghost out of the poor woman… if he would even have the chance to do so...