Spice of Life: Under the Moonlight
 
“Man, what a day.” Rune groaned, staggering into the underground den before collapsing against the dirt floor, “I thought we were going to be out looking for the Rainbow Lense forever. You'd think by the tenth floor he'd be ready to give up.”
 
“It was good to see the canyon again though. I'm glad the tribe is still well,” Volt replied, following after the Umbreon and making his way past him and over to the corner of the den. He brushed the two piles of leaves to one side and replaced them with a set of sleeping bags, “I'm glad that Leaf provided us with these too, we should sleep a lot better tonight.”
 
“My paws are killing me.” Rune groaned before rolling onto his back in order to look at the Manectric upside down, his eyes landing on the sleeping bags. “I don't really need that human stuff. I used to sleep wherever I wanted. I didn't even have a den in the canyon.”
 
“I know. You were quite elusive, the tribe told stories about the mysterious shiny Umbreon.” Volt noted as he patted down the corners of the sleeping bag, “I recall the general assumption was that whoever ate you would have eternal life. I hunted you once or twice to give you to the Prince, but to no avail.”
 
“Oh... sorry that didn't work out for you, Volt.” Rune blinked, unsure of how to respond to his newfound fame, “But hey, so long as you eat me with a Reviver Seed, you could always eat me now. I wouldn't mind.”
 
“I'm still coming to terms with the idea that prey would give itself willingly, moreso that I would do so myself.” Volt admitted as he made his way back to the Umbreon. He rested next to him and reached down, rubbing at the Umbreon's paws gently to make them stop aching, “The idea of allowing myself to be devoured by another pokemon... it's a thrill I haven't experienced before meeting the team, yet I find myself looking forward to it.”
 
“Mh.” Rune tensed up and held his breath as he felt the paws against his own. He slowly breathed out and rested on his back once more, looking up at the Manectric, “It's kind of an acquired taste.” the Umbreon said, snickering a little at his pun.
 
“I still haven't had my initiation yet. Malus seems to think Cyn was just teasing us with the idea to keep us in check,” the canine chuckled as he looked down at the Umbreon, continuing to knead over his pawpads, “You're very tense, Rune. Is there something wrong?”
 
“I don't get this close to another pokemon often, particularly one who planned to eat my alive to become immortal in the past,” Rune replied with a blush, avoiding eye-contact with the larger dog as his rings began to glow bashfully.
 
“I had no plans to eat you myself, I wasn't worthy of such a gift.” Volt insisted, moving his attention to the other paw as he left the other twitching in the afterglow of his affection, “I would have served you to the Prince by moonlight, on a silver platter, surrounded by roses spelling out 'Yours Forever'. Your rings would have lit up our faces better than any candelight, allowing us to look into eachother's eyes as he consumed you.”
 
“Wow.” Rune replied, his ears folding back. He couldn't deny that the scene Volt had painted in his mind was romantic, and yet he also didn't like the idea of resigning to being Luxio pudge just so the Manectric could woo him. He smiled nervously, “Heh, well. Thank Arceus it didn't come to that, right?”
 
Volt stared off into the distance, continuing to rub the Umbreon's paws as he played the scene in his head over and over. Finally he snapped back to reality, turning his attention to his shiny friend, “Ah, yes. Of course. Now that we're allies, I would never dream of sending you to such a fate... even for the Prince.”
 
Rune breathed out a sigh of relief and visibily relaxed as he heard the words, though as his mind was cleared of one problem it was reminded of the next. His stomach started to growl loudly, “O-oh, right. I didn't hunt earlier.”
 
“The night is still young, my friend. I'll watch the den and await your return.” Volt replied with a smile and a graceful nod. He made his way towards the back of the den, staring down one of the tunnels that lead deeper into it, “Perhaps I'll explore for a bit, see what else I can find down here.”
 
“You do that, and let me know if you find any loot, alright? I imagine the team are going to want a cut of the profits of any expedition,” Rune grinned back at him before ducking into the hole at the front of the den and climbing up the tunnel to the forest above.
 
* * *
 
The forest was different at night. Some pokemon would have found the darkness threatening, but the Umbreon had always felt at home in the shadows. Not in a 'sneaky' way, of course, he just liked wandering around after dark, his rings would always light up the area around him in a soft blue, at least until he was somewhere he could see the moon.
 
His eyes drifted up to the trees above, their branches reached out to block the sky from him. He hadn't found any pokemon yet, none that he could hunt anyway. He considered the idea of paying a late-night visit to Doc Leaf's tree clinic, but decided to make it his 'Plan B'.
 
He made his way out of the forest and into the fields, his eyes turning to the moon as he finally saw it, surrounded by the stars of the night sky. For a moment the Umbreon just sat there and took it all in. The stars weren't as clear as they had been back in the canyon. The lamps in the streets of Clearspring created a mist in the sky around it, blocking out stars overhead.
 
Adjusting to life outside the canyon was a slow process. Every day he had woken up and everything had changed, leaving chances for new adventures and new places to explore. But the forest was the same, every day he woke up and climbed out of the same hole to the same sights... Clearspring would always be in the same place.
 
“It's not a bad thing, though.” Rune told himself out loud as he took a step towards the little pokemon town, “It's safer here. I don't have to worry about half the stuff I did living in the Mystery Dungeon,” he grinned, “and best of all, no stupid warp traps.”
 
'Tssh!' Rune turned as he heard the noise behind him, only to see the shadow of a predator racing towards him on all fours. The Umbreon leaped to the left in an attempt to avoid him, only to find the nimble feline turning and pinning him to the grass, one paw held firmly on his face as he purred in delight.
 
“Well, well, well. If it isn't our resident bre.” The familiar voice snickered, rolling his paw against the Umbreon's cheek as he moved around to face him, his red gemstone reflecting the moonlight into Rune's eyes, “How're you doing, Rune? Out for a midnight stroll?”
 
“Hunting, actually.” Rune replied, squirming under the paw as he tried to push it off of him, though of course the cat was far too heavy for that, “I guess you're doing the same, huh Malus?”
 
“Yeah, I don't want my predatory skills to get rusty. Cyn offered me a bellyful of Spice, but what's the point if I'm not catching the meal for myself?” The Persian replied as he looked down at the Umbreon, his fangs glistening as he grinned, “Which brings us to now... with you being successfully hunted by me.”
 
“So I have been,” Rune concurred, squirming under the paw as it slipped down to pin his chest instead, allowing him to look into Malus' peircing red eyes. He could see the reflection of his forehead ring in them, shining brighter than ever as his natural defenses kicked in, “You know what happens when pokemon eat me, right?”
 
“Eh, I'm sure I'll be able to get back to the inn before your sweat kicks in, then I'll get to enjoy it while you squirm around like the tasty snack you are.” Malus purred, leaning down and sliding his warm feline tongue over the Umbreon's face. He brought his head back up and licked his lips, “Mmm, shiny~” he taunted, his tail swishing behind him as he cast a shadow over the Umbreon, “I'm going to kind of miss having you around, kid. You really brightened the place up. But the food chain is what it is, who am I to argue with it?”
 
“Well, so long as you have a Reviver seed you won't be missing me for long,” Rune replied with a little grin, his tail twitching against the grass as he pushed against the Persian's paw with his own, managing to get a little room before it came back down on his chest and pinned him again.
 
“Yeah, I don't give Reviver seeds to hunted pokemon,” Malus replied matter-of-factly, shrugging as he looked down at the Umbreon, “It just seems like a waste, y'know? You wouldn't give a Reviver seed to a sandwich, so why give one to a pokemon on the same level as one?”
 
“S-so you're just going to eat me? No Reviver seed or anything?” Rune gasped, his attempts at escpaing becoming much more forceful as he heard Malus' words, “Y-you can't do that, I'm part of the team!”
 
“Sounds to me like you're too weak to be on it, if you can't even protect yourself from a predator I doubt you'd do much in a real fight.” Malus snickered at the Umbreon's squirming as he leaned down, his mouth opened wide as it dripped drool over Rune's face, allowing him to see the dark passage at the back of his maw as it was lit up by his glowing rings, “I'll tell Cyn you just went back to life as a wild pokemon, she'll believe that in a second.”
 
“W-wait! Before you eat me, I just need to know one thing!” Rune shouted, getting the Persian's attention. He whimpered and looked away from the mouth, his paws at his chest as he looked up into Malus' eyes once again, “So, if you hunt a pokemon in the wild, you can eat them without a Reviver seed, no matter what the circumstances, right?”
 
“Yep. Thems the rules, Snackbreon~!” Malus grinned sadistically, opening his mouth once again and bringing it down over the Umbreon's head. He drooled and lapped over it, purring away at the flavour... though as he opened his eyes he found he hadn't been tasting the Umbreon's head, he had only been eating the tip of his muzzle, and it was still expanding.
 
He gagged and pulled himself off it, widening his eyes in panic as he looked down at his meal. Rune was glowing brightly, and constantly growing beneath him. He staggered back, only to find one of the Umbreon's paws slamming down on his back and pinning him to the black fluffy belly beneath him. He squirmed against it as the glow faded away, and he found himself looking up into a pair of giant eyes.
 
“Hey.” Rune grinned down at him, his voice rumbling through the confused Persian as he wiggled his paw against him. “You okay there, Snacksian?”
 
“Mine was better.” Malus growled, pushing back against the pawpads but finding himself unable to move the Umbreon's paw off of him, “What the heck just happened? I thought you were bite-sized!”
 “There's this move called Moonlight. Usually it's supposed to restore your energy and sometimes some of your wounds,” Rune grinned down at the cat, his berry-scented breath washing over Malus' face with every word, “Of course, if you know how to use it right, you can use the lunar energy to make yourself bigger... bigger than any puny wannabe predator, anyway.”
 
“Who're you calling a wannabe? I've eaten more pokemon than you could even imagine!” Malus yowled back at the giant Umbreon, squirming under his paw as he felt it grip around his tail and gently lift him up by it, leaving him dangling in the air, “Dude, let me go!”
 
“Sorry Malus, it's like you said, if you hunt a pokemon in the wild, you get to eat them.” Rune grinned up at the Persian, licking his lips as he brought his paw over his mouth, leaving the frightened cat staring down into it, his throat lit up by the moonlight, “No Reviver seed necessary. 'Thems the rules'~”
 
“Wh-what? No! That's-!” Malus stuttered as he watched the large tongue move closer to him, slurping over his face in a teasing echo of how he had treated the Umbreon moments ago. He had been doomed by his own words, Cyn probably wouldn't even care that he was gone, “H-hey, Rune, buddy. I was just joking around before. I mean, it's not like I'd eat my best friend, right?”
 
“Sorry Malus, I'm not buying that,” Rune smirked up at the Persian, turning him so his gemstone caught the moonlight and reflected it into his mouth, “I know that I'm just prey to you, all pokemon are... well, until they become predators, anyway. Besides, I wouldn't want to upset the food chain by letting such a tasty morsel go~”
 
Before Malus could say anything in his defense the Umbreon released his grip on the cat's tail, leaving him plunging down into the dark abyss of his mouth. The Persian only managed half a yell before Rune closed his mouth, moving the cat around inside his maw with his tongue as he licked him over. “Mmm. You taste like junk food, Malus.”
 
“I don't taste like anything because I'm not prey!” Malus snapped back at Rune, only to have his words garbled as the Umbreon's tongue slapped over his face before pinning him to the roof his mouth as it wiggled over his chest and belly, “Q-quit playing around and spit me out, Rune!”
 
“Mmh hmmph!” Rune replied in a muffled voice. He murred lowly and tilted his head back, taking a few strong gulps to pull the cat into his pulsing, hungry throat. Despite the Persian's squirming he couldn't overpower the dark-type's heavy tongue, and soon he found himself disappearing entirely.
 
“Nonononono!” Malus yowled in frenzied panic as he squirmed, trying to stop his descent by pressing his paws to the fleshy walls either side of him. Rune just continued to murr away at his meal, pressing a single paw to the squirming bulge and guiding it down his neck before taking a final gulp to drag the cat into his demise.
 
“R-rune, stop!” Malus' muffled cry of protest came as he disappeared behind the Umbreon's ribcage, only to be tossed into his stomach seconds later. He spluttered and pushed at the stomach walls, “Let me out, It reeks in here!”
 
“At least you're not sharing it with anything, I skipped lunch because of all your crap on the mission. Ten floors without a snack break can do a lot to a pokemon.” Rune replied with a little belch before kneading his stomach with his paws, unable to even find the Persian at his size, “Man, you were less filling than an apple. I'm still kind of hungry.”
 
“Maybe if you weren't gigantic I'd be more filling, asshole.” Malus snapped, kicking at the stomach wall with a growl as he ran about it, reaching up towards the entry in an attempt to pry it back open, “Seriously, you could fit the whole team in here.”
 
“I might someday,” Rune grinned, licking his lips at the thought of 'team meeting' in his gut. As he listened to it growl he found himself shrinking, having used up the lunar energy he had gathered. He looked down at his stomach as it grew tighter around the pokemon inside it, what had once been an unnoticable bump in his midsection was now a growling, gurgling and well-defined bulge of the Persian inside of him.
 
“Wh-what the heck happened? I can barely move!” Malus growled, his kicking and punching at the stomach wall now felt more like he was pawing it gently since he no longer had the room to manuevre. He snapped at his tail as he found the tip flicking at his nose, it was caught between his legs and unable to be moved elsewhere due to the tightness of the stomach,“Nnngh, it's so tight in here.”
 
“Sorry Malus, I ran out of lunar energy. Had to go back to being my normal size,” Rune replied before rolling onto his side with a groan, his stomach extended far beyond his paws, he doubted he'd even be able to stand up, “I guess I'm sleeping under the starts tonight.. nngh, would you settle down in there?”
 
“Not until you eat a Reviver seed. Cyn's going to be pissed when she finds out you ate me!” Malus snapped back at him, letting out another muffled yowl as Rune rolled his eyes and patted him down condescendingly, “A-and stop rubbing me!”
 
“Oh, you don't like that?” Rune grinned down at the bulge before rubbing it with both his forepaws as his back legs and tail curled around his squirming gut, “Oh Malus, you were such a big meal for my tiny prey belly. I just hope my stomach acids are strong enough to digest a big bad predator like you in my little prey tummy~”
 
“Sc-screw you!” Malus mewled nervously, his struggles becoming more violent as Rune taunted him. The Umbreon snickered to himself and licked down at his gut, his rings glowing in delight as he ran his paws over the Persian's featured through his stomach.
 
“That was quite an impressive display, Rune.”
 
Rune turned in surprise as he heard the voice behind him, he could hear the pawsteps as they crossed over the grass, crunching the leaves that had fallen from the forest trees and been carried on the wind. His eyes widened in fear as he felt the paw come down on the side of his gut, only to rub it gently. He looked over his shoulder as much as he could and saw the smiling Leafeon looking down at him, “O-oh, Doc. Hey.”
 
“I've never seen an Umbreon use Moonlight like that before, I had no idea it was so powerful.” Leaf explained as he moved around the bloated Umbreon to speak with him face to face, “I must admit, I'm curious as to whether Synthesis would allow me to achieve a similar effect, the moves are very similar.”
 
“I bet it would,” Rune grinned at the Leafeon before groaning as he felt his stomach beginning to hurt, “Nngh, Malus is kind of giving me a stomach ache. Do you have anything for that, Leaf? Or just something to aid digestion, he's kind of annoying.”
 
“You've probably just over-eaten, Typh often has similar complaints after binge eating. I'd recommend sleeping it off,” Leaf replied before poking at the Umbreon's stomach curiously with his paw, “Though I wouldn't recommend resting out here, a lot of pokemon prowl the woods at night. If they found a stuffed, shiny Umbreon laying around, I doubt many would pass up the opportunity.”
 
“O-oh, right... hey, could you give me a lift back to your place? I can't really move,” Rune said, trying to get up but finding his bulging stomach touching the ground long before his paws did. The Leafeon chuckled and brought his vines out from the leaves around his paws, curling them around the Umbreon gently before lifting him up.
 
“I'll bring you back to the clinic on one condition,” Doc Leaf replied as he began to walk back towards the forest. He looked up at the Umbreon with a gentle smile, “You have to eat a Reviver seed when we get there. I know Malus may not be the friendliest of pokemon, but he's still a member of the team.”
 
“He wasn't going to eat one when he planned to eat me,” Rune huffed, crossing his forepaws over his chest as he gave his stomach a little kick, resulting in a muffled whimper coming from inside of it, “I say we just let nature take its course. He deserves it.”
 
“You don't really want to be like him, do you?” Leaf asked, looking up at the Umbreon in his vines, “Just because he planned to do something to you, it doesn't make it right to do it to him. I assure you, I'd have stepped in to stop him if he had consumed you.”
 
“W-wait, you were there?” Rune asked, looking down at the doctor as he shuffled to get comfortable in the vines, “So why didn't you do anything? He was going to eat me alive.”
 
“I, um...” the Leafeon replied with a little blush, “Well, it's best to approach predators when they're full, less chance of them just eating you instead.”
 
“More like you just wanted to see one pokemon eat another.” Rune grinned down at him, swishing his tail a little, “You perv.”
 
“W-well, that's...” Leaf chuckled nervously as they reached the clinic. He pushed the door open and backed himself into it before bringing the Umbreon in after him. The Leafeon rested him gently on the pile of cushions in the corner of the clinic before closing the door, “If it makes any difference, I'm glad it was you who ate him and not the other way around.”
 
“Me too.” Rune replied, popping a Reviver seed into his mouth and rolling onto his side with a contented sigh, listening to the Persian as he gurgled inside him, his struggles dying down as he settled in for the night, “And besides, now he's had his initation. I'm a member of the team, after all~”
 The Leafeon chuckled a little and nodded as he made his way over to the Umbreon. He blushed and reached a paw out towards the stomach, “May I?”
 
“Go nuts.” Rune replied with a yawn, closing his eyes as the doctor rubbed a paw over the bulge that Malus had made in his stomach. He didn't mind fulfilling the Leafeon's fantasies, so long as If he were going to be the bulge, there was a Reviver seed. He let out a final belch before drifting off to sleep to the sounds of his stomach churning, and the feeling of Doc Leaf's paws rubbing it.