The sun was setting over the city, casting an orange glow over the rooftops. Carl, Luke, and Alex sat in their usual spot, the rooftop of an old, abandoned building that served as their unofficial headquarters. They were unwinding after another intense battle with Lord Skullface’s minions. Carl, as usual, was cracking jokes.
“Did you see the look on that mutant’s face when Alex drop-kicked him into the portal?” Carl laughed, tossing a crumpled-up fast-food wrapper into a nearby trash can. “Priceless! Like he couldn’t believe his luck!”
Alex smirked, wiping sweat off his brow. “Yeah, well, he should’ve thought about that before trying to vaporize half the city.”
Luke, always the practical one, chimed in. “We shouldn’t get too comfortable. Lord Skullface always has something worse up his sleeve.”
The mention of Lord Skullface cast a brief shadow over their lighthearted conversation. The dark sorcerer from another dimension had been relentless, sending wave after wave of monsters to test the Cyber Space Warriors. And though the team had always come out on top, there was a nagging feeling in the back of their minds—that something bigger was coming.
“Well, whatever he’s got planned next, we’ll be ready for it,” Carl said confidently, kicking back and adjusting his power watch. But, as he leaned back, something strange happened. A tingling sensation swept through him, starting at his wrist and traveling up his arm, then down his body. He shuddered, but not in a way that alarmed him—at least, not yet.
“Hey, you guys feel that?” Carl asked, sitting up abruptly.
Luke and Alex looked at him, puzzled.
“Feel what?” Luke asked, raising an eyebrow.
Carl shook his head, trying to shake off the strange feeling. “I dunno. Maybe it’s nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing.
That night, after the team had split up and Carl was back in his room, the sensation returned, this time stronger. His mind felt fuzzy, and a peculiar thought began to surface—underwear. It wasn’t just a passing thought, though. No, it lingered, growing stronger with each minute. He found himself thinking about his own underwear, about the styles and types other guys wore. His curiosity ballooned until it felt like an obsession.
"What the heck is wrong with me?" Carl muttered, running a hand through his hair. He tried to focus on his tech projects, usually a surefire way to clear his mind, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the strange, unwelcome fascination.
By the next morning, it had only gotten worse.
Carl stood in front of his dresser, pulling out a drawer full of socks and underwear. He held up a pair of boxer briefs, staring at them intently. His heart raced in a way that made him feel uncomfortable. He tossed them aside quickly, trying to shake off the weird feeling. But even as he grabbed a fresh shirt from the closet, his eyes drifted to the pile of underwear again.
What is going on with me?
The day continued like that. At school, Carl caught himself eyeing his classmates more than usual—not out of interest in them, but in what they might be wearing under their clothes. It was distracting, and it was starting to freak him out.
“Hey, Carl!” Alex’s voice jolted him from his daze.
“Huh? Oh, hey,” Carl replied, trying to act normal.
“You okay, man? You seem a little off today,” Alex said, his brow furrowing in concern.
Carl forced a laugh. “Nah, just tired. Late night working on some new tech. You know me, always got something cooking.”
But even as he said it, his thoughts were elsewhere. His mind was racing with an idea—a new device, one that could somehow turn ordinary guys--guys like Alex--into underwear. He didn’t know how or why this idea had popped into his head, but it felt urgent, like a puzzle he needed to solve.
That’s insane, he thought. Why would I even want to make something like that?
Little did Carl know, far beyond their dimension, Lord Skullface sat on his throne of bones, watching through a scrying mirror with a sinister grin. The spell he had cast—the Spell of Undergarment Obsession—was working perfectly.
“That brainiac Blue Warrior thinks he's so smart. But my spell will reduce him to an obsessed weirdo. Let’s see how long the Blue Cyber Space Warrior can resist the compulsion,” Lord Skullface muttered, his skeletal fingers tapping against the armrest. “Soon, he won’t be able to think of anything else but men's underwear. And when the time is right, he will fall… and the others will follow.”
Back on Earth, Carl was in the middle of a math problem when the thought hit him again: I should collect more underwear. I should take some from Alex and Luke's lockers. The urge was becoming too much to bear, and Carl clenched his fists, struggling to keep his mind on track.
But he knew, deep down, that something was very wrong.