The World's Breath (MeTheMe & GeneticMess)

[MeTheMe]

The pixie's body was a six inch little thing going down his throat, making a small bulge and disappearing into his chest, as she fell into his belly, thrashing about angrily! "COUGH ME UP GET ME OUT RIGHT NOW!" She was yelling, and screaming, but still barely audibly through his flesh.

Skai landed next to him with a thud. "Ouch... whoa, you ate her! I guess she kind of deserved it for what she did... kind of rough though." She stood up, the branches and vines seemed no longer under her control, returning to their normal state. "So... do we still go to the light even though we beat her?" It was closer, and there was nothing else to really follow at the moment.

[GeneticMess]

"Just give me one good reason, and I'll think about it." He idly ran a finger in circles around her thrashing form... it kinda tickled. But he quickly looked back to Skai. "I meant to just scare her straight, but that fall caught me off guard, and I choked on her. I might be able to spit her back up, if need be."

Avery looked around them... not really sure where to go. "I... guess? We're pretty lost, though. Who knows which direction that snake went in, we could be miles away from camp or the road."

[MeTheMe]

"I mean... she tried to kill us at least twice, so I'm not gonna be real upset if you don't, but... be careful if you let her out, she is still kind of dangerous." Skai grimaced at the little struggles, before looking back at the light, and heading that way with Avery. "Yeah... hopefully without that pixie magic bothering us it will be easier to find out way back to the road, or at least the town."

The pixie was still thrashing and fighting, fists and feet punching and kicking and struggling and making vain attempts to break out! "BECAUSE... umm..." She suddenly couldn't think of a good reason for him to let her out, her magic was too hard to use in the belly, and she'd tried to kill them pretty hard.

[GeneticMess]

"... Nothing? Nothing at all?" Avery sounded a little disappointed... he wanted to let the little pixie redeem herself, his cute monster girl affliction showing through, but she wasn't. She could be their little fairy companion! Even though she did, and still might try to kill them.

"... Okay, I don't WANT to just kill you and move on... this is supposed to be the part where you turn over a new leaf, help us out of the woods, we all continue on dragon-slaying adventures and become great friends..." He muttered to himself. It was like he was begging her to give him a reason to let her out, for better or (most likely) worse.

[MeTheMe]

"... man you really worked this all out in your head, didn't you? Tee hee! How I'd act, what would happen, the happy ending, it's adorable, really. I'll tell you what, head towards the light you were headed to, and if you survive, I'll see what I can do about turning that new leaf..." The pixie stopped struggling so much, waiting now...

Skai looked a little uneasy about that. "What's ahead of us then..." She was cut off as they entered a more open, circular area, a clearing of sorts, that still had a few sparse trees in it. The way they came shut, though, with thorns and vines, thick brush and trees moving to trap them in the clearing. From behind one of the large trees, using many long, thick vines to move, came a woman, with a massive pitcher plant for a lower body. 'The Forest's Hunger' came up on his screen, naming the boss, and an odd cover of Welcome to the Jungle was her boss theme, as she opened up her pitcher plant part, and large balls of poison were launched at them!

[GeneticMess]

... She'd think about it. That contented Avery at least a bit. He vehemently believed there was a good person somewhere inside of her, and he was going to try and pry it out one way or another. As long as he didn't digest her first. He followed the light into the clearing, and-... oh no. This was a trap, wasn't it? One of her traps. But how could she use her magic in there and not use it to get herself out? Simple. It wasn't her magic that trapped them in here.

A large, pitcher plant woman was their aggressor. She was pretty cute, but also pretty scary. Her intentions were clear as day, and as much as he wouldn't mind complying to them, he wanted to keep Skai safe, and this pixie wasn't his ally yet, so if he digested, so did she, and he wouldn't be able to find her again. More was at stake here than he initially realized, so he held his hand up, opening his mouth to deliver some one-liner... before being shut the hell up by a glob of poison splashing in his face and some in his mouth. A decent chunk he'd accidentally swallowed, and now he quivered as he felt incredibly sick. Losing his lunch now would mean losing his potential companion...

[MeTheMe]

The poison smacked into Avery, but Skai had taken flight away from the zone where the globs were landing, and was now circling around on the outer most part of the clearing, her blade drawn. He'd feel kind of sick, and a little 'Poisoned' text would show up next to his health bar. It wasn't ticking down his health though, instead, he'd continue to just feel bad, and while he could still move and fight, he'd do it all at almost half the speed he did before.

The plant woman smiled, as her vines grabbed tree after tree, pulling and moving herself closer to her prey, Avery. Poisoned as he was she saw him as the easier of the prey, and was going to make a quick meal of him before turning back to Skai! Her vines moved towards him, intent on grabbing and holding him if he didn't do something!

While being digested would end the pixie as well, he still had a good amount of Bottled Promises to revive NPCs, and Determination for himself.

[GeneticMess]

Of course, he didn't quite realize that he could revive non-companion NPCs. Maybe he'd just forgotten that tidbit from the tutorials, but right now, he was concerned with keeping himself and the pixie safe! Avery started running... and his stomach suddenly lurched and trembled, while making a pained noise. No sudden movements, he learned, having to swallow as the pixie was briefly pushed towards the top of his stomach.

Unfortunately, staying slow like this made him easy prey. Avery tried to scramble away, but his poisoned status kept him at a much slower speed. He either needed a cure, a diversion... or for Skai to hold on to the pixie while he got eaten. Whatever was most convenient. He still fought back, though, holding up his hand and trying to muster some wind magic to push the plant woman away.

[MeTheMe]

The pixie felt his stomach churn and lurch a little as his sick condition made him want to throw up. "Careful!" She shouted up to him, and tried to stay still for a moment. The vines began to bind, and hold onto his limbs, the wind spell slowing them down, but there were so many of them! He was being pulled towards the pitcher plant part of her body now, the large leaf at the top opening up to show where he was going!

Skai flew around the arena, and homed in on where the other two were fighting, flying in and slicing her way through the vines! The plant woman screeched, dropping Avery, before turning her vines to Skai! She was wrapped up in the thick flora soon herself, being dragged towards that mouth!

[GeneticMess]

He couldn't move! Avery had been grabbed and binded by his wrists and ankles, vainly trying to pull away... before Skai swooped in and sliced him free! He scuttled away, turning to thank her, but now she was caught! He gasped, and then started seeing a bit of red. "D-don't touch her, you overgrown squash!" Avery yelled, flustered from his cute, puppy love defensiveness and his nauseous, upset stomach.

Angrily, he cast the toughest wind spell he could muster at the vines holding Skai down, and with the mana he had left, began casting it at The Forest's Hunger's other vines.

[MeTheMe]

The wind magic managed to loosen and push away the vines holding Skai, allowing her to escape and take back to the sky, flying away from the pitcher plant to get her bearing again... and perhaps prepare another fly by attack. The second cast pushed back the plant woman, who scowled at him as her vines took her away from him for a moment.

Her pitcher plant opened again, and this time it's projectiles were a thick, gooey substance that came out in globs, deep grey with a consistency of glue, and had some of it's effects! It'd stick him or Skai to the ground if they got hit now!

[GeneticMess]

He was on a roll now! Still poisoned, and stuck moving slowly, but the ball was still rolling, as long as it didn't slam into a wall. Avery was running a bit low on mana, and wasn't sure if he could cast another spell of that caliber so easily, so he decided to try and retreat for the moment. Get out of range before she could launch another attack. He actually predicted that, and got almost entirely out of her range.

The grey glob hit his left foot, but only his left foot. After a couple tugs, he realized this wasn't going to work, and hurriedly squirmed out of his shoe and left it there as he awkwardly hobbled backwards and away, to the "walls" of the arena.

[MeTheMe]

As he squirmed out of his shoe, she moved towards him, vines whipping angrily and as he got out and hobbled away vines ravaged the area he had just been in, cracking like whips in the air. She turned to him, roaring angrily, as she moved towards his fleeing body, vines reaching out and looking ready to grasp and bind him again!

Skai's talons found his shoulders though, and she nabbed him, picking him up, speeding the two of them along through the air now! "I can't hold another person for long, where do you need to be?" She shouted over the wind whipping past her.

[GeneticMess]

The monstrous woman was furious, and the whip-like cracks made Avery flinch just thinking about how they would feel. Luckily Skai pulled him out of the way of her roaring rampage, just barely. His heart was beating fast, his breath was heavy, mostly from the panic of it all.

"I've got an idea. Put me on one side of her, and position yourself on the other. We'll take turns attacking her from behind while the other is busy distracting her!" He came up with a plan on the fly and explained it just as quickly, knowing it wouldn't be long before he landed again.

[MeTheMe]

Skai nodded, wings flapping and soaring, until she slowed down a little, and placed him near the plant woman, who turned to the two as Skai returned to the air, soaring over the top of pitcher plant. Vines reached upwards towards her and tried to grasp her, but found nothing but air as Skai managed to avoid the attacks, get over her, and get on the other side of her.

The pitcher plant woman looked... confused and mad for a moment as her vines couldn't seem to find Skai, caught looking up and confused, leaving her large plant body wide open for Avery!

[GeneticMess]

The plant woman seemed fixated on Skai as she took off, almost not even noticing him as he was placed right beside her. She was distracted, looking up and away from him. The harpy was like a fly bothering her, and she could focus on nothing else.

Avery drew the cutlass and got a bit closer to the monster woman. Not intending to kill, just cripple, he steadied the blade before stabbing and quickly pulling out. Hopefully the poison affecting his speed wouldn't cripple the weapon's damage output.

[MeTheMe]

The poison seemed to leave Avery with most of his strength, his speed and reaction times were the things that suffered the most, and the stab was just as strong as he wanted it to be. The plant woman screamed as she was stabbed, and all the vines that were in the air missing Skai, came crashing down at Avery! After landing heavily on and around him, they'd begin to wrap and bind him quickly, and pull him towards that pitcher plant mouth again!

Skai landed deftly on the other side of the boss, looking back to see Avery was in trouble! She wanted to run over and cut him free, but... this was his plan. She pulled her blade, and moved towards the boss's back...

[GeneticMess]

With almost murderous force, Avery was slammed with vines, feeling his whole body quiver from the bone-shaking impact. He whimpered a little and tried to scuttle away. Not to save himself, but to buy time for Skai to attack. He had to muster all his strength to-!

...Whoops.

He must've dug his feet into a weak patch of dirt, because it crumbled below him and caused him to lose any ground he had. His feet were already in the pitcher's mouth. Unable to see where Skai was panicked him a little... maybe it was time for a plan B.

"H-hey, listen! Yoo-hoo, down here!" Avery tried to grab the pitcher's attention. "You can eat me, but please stop attacking us! If you do, we can get you as much food as you want! How does eating a dragon sound?" Maybe bosses had some kind of pacifism immunity, but it was worth a shot.

[MeTheMe]

The pitcher plant woman smiled, a wide toothy smile with sharp little teeth, like a fly catcher plant. She leaned in, and put a hand through his hair as her thick, strong vines pulled him deeper into the pitcher plant that was her lower body. Inside of it was simultaneously slick and sticky, sliding into the wide open stomach like part was easy, and trying to move or get out would be difficult and slow. All the while he was going in, she said nothing though, just shoving him into her 'belly', the plant walls were soft and warm to the touch, and took very little damage from weapons.

Just then she tensed, and roared, as Skai's blade hit her back! She writhed in pain as the blow took so much damage on her, and she turned to face the harpy, blade left sticking out of her back! "Uh-oh... fuck!" She took off to the skies again!

[GeneticMess]

... And no response. Either his boss immunity theory was right, the monster was having none of it, or it was more primal than he thought and just didn't understand. Whatever the reason, he was still being eaten by the pitcher. It was surprisingly comfier the deeper he was pulled, the stickiness of the walls a bit uncomfortable but not that bad. He almost resigned to his fate, nuzzling the hand in his hair.

But then Skai jolted him back into the action as she attacked, and the monster turned. The problem was, Avery was arm deep inside of their target's gut. He was in no position to counter attack. Maybe he could distract her with something. He rubbed the walls of the pitcher and looked through his inventory for anything that could distract her, since weapons weren't on the table right now.