Leah felt strangely empowered towards potty training under Mrs. Montague. Once she got over the embarrassment of having frequent accidents, she accepted it was just a factor in her life now unless she did something to fix it. Not only that, but she was in an environment where she wouldn't be judged, and in fact be praised for doing something as simple as knowing when she has to go. As such, Leah found herself focusing exclusively on making it to the toilet. The first day she refused to move anymore than 10 feet from the training potty, and was smart to do so; there were times where she had only a gurgle to warn her, and made it to the potty just in time. Besides half-wetting herself, Leah finished the day without an accident. Mrs. Montague was incredibly proud of her, making Leah feel warm and fuzzy inside; sure, it was for not shitting herself, but it made Leah feel like she was truly accomplishing something.
The next few days followed similarly, with Leah sticking close to the training potty. Lizzy found this both funny and a little frustrating, since Leah wouldn't play with her away from the smelly corner of the room. Not that Leah really wanted to deal with that; Lizzy was still a toddler, and 'playing' with her wasn't what she'd call fun. Still, Leah felt a little bad, and decided to indulge the girl only after Leah was confident her body was empty.
Playing with Lizzy was not what Leah expected. Leah was expecting playing with dolls, or a tea party, but instead she got a stream of conscious space opera with Leprechauns fighting evil birds. Or people were turning into Leprechauns? Leah had a hard time following the logic as Lizzy puppeted around little toy figures in a complex social web Leah couldn't even begin to fathom. Leah threw her own into the mix, taking what looks to be a ragged looking baby doll and introducing her as the true bird master, controlling the birds with evil whistling. Lizzy loved it, and Leah found herself somewhat invested in the sprawling narrative that was non-sensical to anyone other than Lizzy. When Mrs. Montague announced lunch was ready, Leah realized how lost in the plot she had gotten. She took the chance to go to the potty again, relieved she didn't have another accident as she emptied her bladder.
As it happened, Lizzy also needed to go, using the adult toilet, but still needing help since she had difficulty going by herself. After lunch, a loose fart made Leah break for the potty again. It was a false alarm, only couple of toots, but it made Leah feel good for making the call anyways. Lizzy, of course, wanted to go right into playing again, but Leah was hesitant---they'd just eaten, and Leah wasn't leaving anything to chance. Luckily, Lizzy agreed to play with her near the training potty, more interesting in continuing than disliking the stench.
The entire time, Leah didn't allow herself to get invested, focusing on her body's signals. Given Leah's stomach was still upset, the signals were mixed and forced concentration---it was a miserable experience. Lizzy got frustrated a few times when Leah kept getting things wrong, only half-paying attention to what was happening.
That was until Lizzy's eye's widened, and she jumped to her feet.
"Aunty, I need to go poopy!" She shouted, running off to the bathroom. Thinking she might as well follow the tot's example, Leah was surprised to find she too needed to poop, instantly filling the bowl with poop the moment she sat down and pushed. As far as she was concerned, there was no warning, at least not with her stomach so messed up. Lizzy, however, doesn't have that disadvantage.
An idea started to spring in Leah's head. Waiting by the potty with an upset stomach was miserable, and Lizzy was clearly not happy either. That, and playing with Lizzy was much less enjoyable when Leah's too focused on her body (for Lizzy, of course; not for Leah). If Lizzy and Leah have a similar diet, though, it's possible their potty needs are somewhat synchronized. In other words, if Lizzy needs to go, then Leah probably does too.
Leah decided to put this theory into practice, playing with Lizzy in her preferred spot when she gets back. Leah kept her attention between both her body and playing, but got invested a few minutes in. When Lizzy suddenly stops and calls out her need to pee, Leah bolts for the training potty and finds she pees easily despite not feeling the need (why an upset stomach affects her bladder, though, does not cross her mind). Leah finds this to be proof of her theory. Now, instead of sitting miserably by the infantile toilet, she can use Lizzy to gauge her need. That, and she can focus more on playing with Lizzy (for Lizzy's sake, of course).
For the rest of the week, this was a winning strategy. Whenever Lizzy needed to go, Leah would go, and expertly avoided any chance at having an accident. After three days, Leah beamed with pride as she moved back into panties. Sure, she was still wetting the bed (every night, actually), but Mrs. Montague didn't need to know that. Besides, bedwetting is far from an unfamiliar problem for Leah.
Leah's confidence grew, spending focus on her body's needs and more on playing with Lizzy. Slowly but surely, Leah started to understand her world. Each toy had a name, a history, and relationships; as Leah learned, she let her own imagination flow, adding new developments and drama with the other tot. It got to a point where Leah was actually sad to leave (for Lizzy's sake).
It finally came to a head on the second to last day, when Leah arrived a little earlier. She instantly moved to the playroom to find Lizzy, but found it empty.
"Oh Hailey, are you looking for Lizzy?" Mrs. Montague asked, getting a shy nod from Leah, "She's still sleeping. You can play in the playroom on your own while I go wake her up, okay?"
Leah feels disappointment, but nods; it's unreasonable to expect her to be up at all times, after all. So Leah walks into the room alone. She immediately picked up some of the toys, and laid on her stomach as she started moving them around and voicing interactions. She continued for the next several minutes, so heavily invested she didn't notice a harsh gurgle going through her stomach. She didn't even pause as a loud, nasty fart exited her ass; she had long since stopped noticing farts as warnings, given most of the times they were false alarms from her upset tummy. What Leah didn't know was, through Mrs. Montague's own efforts, the prunes were officially cleansed from her body; she no longer had a volatile tummy. Leah continued to fart, not even trying (or being able) to hold them back. If Leah was still cautious, she would notice that the gas was a clear sign that a poopy was on the way. However, in her confidence, she was convinced she was fine; if Lizzy was asleep, and clearly not needing to poop, then Leah didn't need to either.
It was only after 5 straight minutes of farting non-stop that Leah started to get suspicious.
"Man, I am really gassy this morning." She said with annoyance, not liking that her ass is distracting her from playing with Lizzy's toys (for...Lizzy's sake?). However, a particularly short, violent wet fart exited with a squishy end; Leah's eyes widen as she realized she just sharted. She bolted to her feet, trying to remove her pants while racing to the potty across the room, but tripped on some of the toys and hit the ground faces first. She groaned in pain, and then in effort as cramps wracked through her body and forced a nice big bowel movement into her once pristine panties. Leah fills with panic, wondering where she went wrong as she pushed herself up on all fours, unfortunately putting her in a position helpless to stop the next wave. It was over as quickly as it started, leaving the back of Leah's shorts and panties bulging in the back.
Leah was completely baffled, having no clue how she went from no accidents to a massive poopy accident in less than a day. How did this happen? Didn't she successfully potty train? As if through cosmic will, Mrs. Montague walks in with Lizzy in her arms just to see a very poopy Leah on the ground in tears.
"Oh, Hailey! Poor girl. You were doing so good!" The woman said sympathetically, letting Lizzy onto the ground. Leah had no words, somehow feeling more humiliated now than she did pooping diapers on the first day---at least then it was expected.
Lizzy walked over, and patted her on the back. "It's otay. Doe cwy!" The gesture actually comforted Leah, allowing her to keep her emotions in check. Mrs. Montague picked her up and took her to the changing table. For a horrifying second, Leah thought all her progress was for naught upon her return to diapers, but to her extreme relief the woman gave her another pair of panties.
"What happened Hailey?"
Leah fumbled with her thoughts. Okay, so she had a bit of a messy accident. She got a little too reliant on Lizzy to keep herself clean, and so she lapsed just a bit on her own. This was good! She didn't lose progress, just a stumble. That, and Leah still blamed the prunes for her problems.
"Pwunes." She said behind her thumb that she only just realized she was sucking. Mrs. Montague sighed as she took the thumb out and replaced it with a pacifier.
"Oh no, did Rita feed you more prunes? The food I've been feeding you should've clean you out."
Leah blinked, then paled. She wasn't dealing with an upset stomach anymore? Rita did not in fact feed her more prunes (Mrs. Montague gave her one hell of an earful for that), so that means Leah didn't have anything explosive, just a regular poop. Another moment of dread filled her, quickly offset by further rationalizing. Well, she's a teenager with a unique physiology, maybe it wasn't cleared out. Afterall, last time she ate prunes, the effects lasted more than a week, and that was from only a portion of what Rita fed her.
The explanation was good enough for the woman, though, as she let Leah off with her panties, convinced it was just a one-off. Leah, for her part, swore to not let that happen again. Of course, now that Lizzy was there, it wouldn't. If Leah could get through the day using Lizzy to avoid further accidents, she could then focus on fixing her heavy dependency on the tot. She just needed one day, no problem. She went the week without an accident, one day shouldn't even be a concern. With that thought, Leah went head first into playing with Lizzy again, taking the initiative.
Unfortunately for Leah, she found her foolproof plan had a severe flaw: Lizzy wasn't actually synchronized. At the beginning of the day when Lizzy needed to go, Leah found she already emptied herself and was unable. Leah was a little worried by that, but figured it made sense given her earlier accident. Leah got reinvested in playing with Lizzy, sure they were matched up again. In the midst of a superpowered pie fight using playdoh, Leah realized too late that her bladder was about to burst, and only made it a few steps before she completely flooded her pants. It made quite the mess, as she trailed urine across the floor, ripping her soaked pants off only to trinkle a little into the potty. Her dread grew greater as Mrs. Montague put her back in pull-ups after cleaning her up.
"That was two accidents, and drenched the floor. Sorry Hailey, but I need to put you back into some protection."
Leah wanted to cry, feeling like everything she worked for crumbling before her, but steeled herself once more. She still got to the training potty, she just needs to focus a little more and she's good.
That was the last time she made it to the potty, however. No matter how hard she tried, or focused, that accident sent her on a spiraling downward crash. Even after convincing Lizzy to play by the training potty again, Leah didn't make it a single time, flooding the pull-up and ruining her extra pair of pants that she never thought she'd need.
At the end of the day, Mrs. Montague had to diaper Leah once more. Leah couldn't even fight it, knowing there was no denying her need for them. How was this happening? How does she feel less potty trained than before? Leah went back to Rita's that day with a stiff upper lip and watery eyes, gaining unneeded comfort from her aunt.
The next day, Leah walked into the house diapered once more, and with a severely damaged ego. Lizzy greeted her, asking her to play once more; Leah smiled at that; at least she still has her playtime with her friend.
The two wasted no time in pulling out the toys and creating the sprawling narrative. By this point, Leah knew this world almost as well as Lizzy, and the two had an absolute blast playing off of each other---Leah doesn't think she's had this much fun in years.
During the play, a little fart left Leah as she leaned forward to grab a toy from her sitting play, paying it no mind until Lizzy giggled.
"Uh oh, Hailey! You's goin poopy again!" The girl laughed, and Leah's eyes bulged as she reached around to grab a hefty load in her diaper. She had no idea. In fact, it was only after she grunted and farted again that she realized she was in the middle of an accident.
"Hailey, why didn't you go potty?" Lizzy lectured in a faux serious voice. Leah was still in shock as she felt her still expanding diaper.
"I was...having fun playing with you." She finally responded. Lizzy giggled again as she walked over to Leah and patted her on the head.
"Hailey, you needs to stop pwaying to go potty! Such a baby!" And then walked off to get Mrs. Montague.
Leah sat there in shock, not even bothered by the fact that she was sitting in a dirty diaper. A toddler just lectured her about being a baby, cause she's more potty trained. Leah...was no longer potty trained. If she was, she is no longer. This isn't just a handful of accidents, or the results of an upset stomach, she's actually, legitimately incontinent. Even when she attempted to potty train, it just got worse. All because she...wanted to play? Leah realized that after a certain point, she wasn't indulging Lizzy...Lizzy was indulging her; Leah was more invested in playing now than the actual toddler. Even when aware of this...Leah still was. She still wanted to play with toys. Leah dressed like a toddler, looked like a toddler, sucked a pacifier like a toddler, and was apparently even less potty trained than a toddler. With a sickening realization, Leah realized she might never become potty trained again, that this set her off the path for good. Leah...was a toddler. No, she was even more infantile than a toddler.
She looked across the room towards the training potty she didn't even attempt to use, something that she's too 'young' for now. Sitting in a dirty diaper, waiting for a change, Leah has the time to fully absorb everything that's happened to her thus far: