Captain Clockwork’s grin widened as he heard Carl’s hesitant whisper, a devious gleam in his mechanical eyes. “Make him a little boy, like Alex,” Carl had said, his voice barely audible. The words hung in the air, a final sentence for Luke.
But Captain Clockwork had no intention of simply making Luke a child. Oh no—he had something far more humiliating in mind.
“You heard him, Luke,” Clockwork taunted, raising his hand toward the fallen warrior. “But I think ‘little boy’ is too generous. Let’s go even further. Why not turn you into a helpless baby? After all, a mighty warrior reduced to diapers and bottles is much more entertaining, don’t you think?”
Luke’s heart pounded in his chest. Panic surged through him as the glow of Captain Clockwork’s magic began to envelop him, swirling like a golden mist. He struggled to his feet, trying to fight off the overwhelming force pulling at him, shrinking him.
“N-no!” Luke cried, his voice trembling. “You can’t—don’t do this! I’m not—please, don’t turn me into a baby!” He tried to sound defiant, but his voice cracked with desperation.
Captain Clockwork chuckled darkly, his metallic voice dripping with mockery. “Oh, but I can, little one. I’m going to reduce you to a squirming, drooling infant. The Cyber Space Warriors… reduced to nothing more than children and an old man. How fitting!”
The magic began to pull at Luke’s body, tugging him down into himself. His armor flickered, then shattered into fragments of light, leaving him in his normal form—just a teenage boy for now. But that didn’t last. Luke gasped as he felt his body begin to shrink, his limbs growing smaller, his hands and feet softening. His muscles, once taut and strong, began to fade, leaving him feeling weak, vulnerable.
“Please! Stop!” Luke’s voice cracked again, higher-pitched now as he continued to shrink. He could feel his clothes becoming loose around him, his power watch slipping from his wrist and clattering to the floor. His legs wobbled as they became shorter, thinner, unable to support him much longer. “You don’t have to do this! Captain Clockwork, stop! I’ll do anything!”
But Captain Clockwork wasn’t listening—he was relishing in Luke’s fear, watching with gleeful satisfaction. “Look at you, Luke,” he mocked. “So helpless, so pathetic. Just a little boy, begging for mercy. Where’s all that bravado now? Oh, that’s right, it’s slipping away… just like your years.”
Luke’s knees gave way as his legs grew too weak to hold him up, and he collapsed onto the cold floor, his body continuing to regress. His voice, once filled with protest, became a series of confused, childish whimpers as his thoughts scattered, his mind regressing along with his body.
“No… no…” Luke whimpered, his hands trembling as they grew chubby, his fingers tiny and stubby. His once sharp, focused mind was clouding over, memories slipping through his grasp like sand through his fingers. He tried to hold onto who he was—the warrior, the protector—but it was slipping away faster than he could fight it.
“Aw, look at the little warrior,” Captain Clockwork sneered, circling Luke like a predator toying with its prey. “Or should I say, the little baby? What’s wrong, Luke? Can’t stand up anymore? Oh wait, I don’t think you can even crawl soon.”
Luke felt his body growing even smaller now. His clothes—once a perfect fit for his teenage form—were now a loose, oversized heap around his shrinking frame. His vision blurred as his eyes became wide, innocent. His teeth retreated back into his gums, leaving his mouth soft and gummy. His cheeks puffed out into chubby little baby cheeks, and his head seemed too big for his tiny, regressing body. He opened his mouth to protest again, but only a small, incoherent babble came out.
“Gah… gah…” Luke tried to form words, but his vocal cords couldn’t comply. His mind was foggy, barely able to understand what was happening anymore. He was no longer a warrior. He was no longer even a boy. He was… helpless.
Captain Clockwork crouched down, leaning close to Luke as he cooed mockingly. “Oh, look at you. Just a little baby now, aren’t you? Drooling, babbling… Do you even know who you are anymore? No? Well, that’s too bad. I think we’ll need to get you some diapers soon, won’t we?”
Tears welled up in Luke’s wide, baby-blue eyes as he sat helplessly on the gym floor, his tiny hands clenching and unclenching in confusion. His legs were too weak to support him, his mind too far gone to remember what he had been just minutes ago. He blinked up at Captain Clockwork, his babyish babble the only sound he could manage.
“Bwuh… guh…” Luke tried to reach out with his chubby arms, but even that was a struggle now. His entire existence had been reduced to this—helplessness, confusion, and infantile vulnerability.
Carl, still standing nearby, watched the scene unfold, his mind fogged by the spell. Somewhere deep inside, he knew this wasn’t right, that something was terribly wrong. But under the haze of Captain Clockwork’s magic, he couldn’t bring himself to act.
Captain Clockwork stood, towering over the infant Luke. “There we have it,” he said, satisfied. “The once mighty Cyber Space Warriors… now nothing more than a feeble old man, a little boy, and a pathetic tiny baby.” He laughed coldly. “You never stood a chance.”
With that, Captain Clockwork vanished, leaving Carl standing alone in the gym, holding little Alex’s hand as he stared down at the baby that had once been his teammate.
Luke’s tiny chest rose and fell with soft, helpless cries, his little fists waving in the air as he tried to make sense of the world around him. The battle was over, and Captain Clockwork had won.