[b][u]Eaten By... Pepper LaFlare[/u][/b]
 
The smell of ale hit you the moment you opened the door, leaving your head spinning from the fumes alone. You held your breath, covering your nose as you squinted around the crowded candlelit hall. Finally, you saw the bar at the far side of the tavern; now all you had to do was squeeze through the fifteen-foot crowd of lowlifes that seemed to inhabit this town.
 
Pokemon shouted to each other as they passed, each trying to be heard over the conversation next to them, resulting in the tavern simply getting perpetually louder. Pokemon drank and ate, played games with cards and threw knives at targets on the walls. You squeezed past a Raichu leaning against one such wall, his coat opening to reveal pockets bulging with Reviser Seeds and Oren Berries as he gave you a ‘Let’s make a deal’ grin. Avoiding his gaze, you continued onwards, ducking under a Charizard belching out a flame, causing those around him to cheer and hold up their tankards. You just hoped you would escape before the inevitable brawl began.
 
You finally reached the bar and held up your hand to get the bartender's attention, but he was far too busy talking with one of his regular customers to notice you. Letting out a sigh of frustration, you turned to scour the room for an empty table to wait out the storm outside, preferably undisturbed by the thugs that were taking shelter alongside you.
 
That was when you saw her. The Flareon seemed out of place among the rabble, and yet entirely at home in their company. She wore a dark brown fedora on her head and a satchel that hung off to her side, the bottom half of a crossbow sticking out. As your gaze trailed down her form you saw something that caused you to make a double-take; her stomach bulged out, clearly occupied by a Pokemon far larger than she was. She smirked, running her paw over the bulge in her midsection.
 
The bartender waved to get your attention, but now the tables had turned and you were the one ignoring him. You stalked across the tavern towards the Flareon, only to see notice the two males standing near her, their eyes fixed on a stopwatch. Finally you could hear their voices over the tumult of the tavern, "Three... two... one..."
 
“OOooururrraaaaahhhhpp!” The crowd surrounding the small Pokemon backed away to avoid the jet of flames erupting from the Flareon’s jaws. Her paws pressed on her stomach, adding pressure to it to force more of the stale air out of her, though to your surprise the longer she belched the smaller her gut became. Finally the expulsion came to an end, the last wisp of flame parting from her lips as she sat back, breathing out a sigh of relief as she patted her stomach, “Nope, another loser. Guess you boys have to pay up… or see if you can double your money by going in yourself~”
 
The men uttered some disdainful words towards the fat of the Flareon’s gut as they took out their coin, which the Flareon collected in her hat with a grin. You waited for the two to leave before making your way over, trying to catch her attention as she poured the coins into her bag. “A fool and their money, am I right?” she grinned as you approached.
 
You gave some sounds of agreement, though she clearly couldn’t hear you over the tavern, let alone her drunken stupor. She snickered as though you had just told her a joke, leaning back on the table and spreading her hind legs to allow her paunchy gut to sag between them, “If you came for the fire show, you just missed it. Won’t be able to do that again unless someone else can take me on.”
 
Against your better judgement, you asked what she meant.
 
“They have a minute to escape my belly,” the Flareon explained casually, as though it were no stranger than any other bet, “And if they don’t, I get to keep the cash…” she slapped her gut with her paw, causing it to jiggle under her thick fur, “...and them, until they revive. No refunds though, I win my money fair and square,” she grinned as she adjusted her hat. “...Usually.”
 
You had so many questions that you didn’t know where to start. How did she eat Pokemon so much larger than her? How can she digest them so quickly? How did she barely gain any weight despite her hefty meals?
 
With each question, she giggled and used a single paw to boop your nose, “Circus freak~” she chimed. The fact that such a strange Flareon was in a circus act didn’t surprise you in the slightest… what made you wonder more was how a circus performer ended up in a dingy tavern. But perhaps she was here for the same reason you were; to escape the storm and her problems.
 
“So, are we doing this or not?” the Flareon asked as she sat back once again, her body stretched to allow you to see the paunch you were about to challenge, “I think I can handle you if you want to put some money up. Double if you win,” her tail flicked as she stuck her tongue out teasingly, “Gurgles if you lose~”
 
You felt around in your pocket until you found the two things you were looking for: your coin pouch, and your Reviver Seed. There was no reason to throw your life away for a bet, after all. She had clearly been doing this a lot tonight, and she was swaying from the five empty mugs dotted about the table… if you were right, this was about the easiest time to play her game and have a chance at winning.
 
You handed over your coins and, once the Flareon counted them out, she put them on the table in order to focus on you. Suddenly she leaped onto four paws, balancing on the barstool as she puffed out her chest. “We’ve got another one, folks! A new challenger to the stomach of Pepper LaFlare!” she announced loudly, waving in order to draw as much attention to herself as possible. “Anyone who wants to bet, come over! I’ll be starting soon!”
 
Suddenly you felt like the entire tavern was watching; for a moment, you wondered if you were about to be pinned down while the Flareon ran off with your coin. The curious Pokemon quickly became a crowd for Pepper, who drank in the attention like it was ale. Soon you saw two piles of coin forming on the table, one betting for your success, the other against… to your dismay the one against your escape was much higher than the one for it.
 
“Okay, okay, that’s enough betting. Time for the main course.” the Flareon grinned down at you, her tongue running over her muzzle in an over-enthusiastic display of hunger. You politely request that your devourment be done somewhere more… private, but the Flareon seemed eager to give her audience a good show. She leapt up with far more grace than you expected for such a portly Pokemon and, after performing a flip in the air, plummeted jaws-first towards you.
 
You barely had time to yell as the Flareon’s slimy maw engulfed your head, the stench of alcohol and smoke filling your nose and leaving you gagging. You tried to pull her off, but the added weight of the previous meals quickly left you losing your balance and falling onto your rear. The force of you landing caused both a jerking motion, and Pepper to take a gulp she clearly wasn’t prepared for. She followed it up with a second, far more assured gulp as she righted herself on the tavern floor, her paws held tightly against you as she took control of the situation once more.
 
You couldn’t believe how quickly the Flareon was packing you away. Despite her small appearance, her throat seemed endless, holding you tight before dragging and releasing you, only to seamlessly move onto the next part of your body and continue the process. Soon she had your shoulders in her jaws, her paws pinning your arms to your sides as she tilted her head back, forcing her way past your chest with very little effort.
 
The fleshy passage around your head finally loosened as you arrived at your destination: the furnace that was the Flareon’s stomach. The sweltering heat left you sweating on entry, and the stench of alcohol made you feel as though you drank everything that the circus performer did. You could feel her paw kneading your head, the muffled cheers and shouts of the crowd, encouraging her or telling you to start fighting back. But the agreed goal had been to escape her stomach after arriving in it, not before.
 
Pepper had no plans of slowing as she reached your midsection. Her jaws stretched to accept your stomach as she tilted her head back, leaving it as nothing more than another bulge in her throat. Her tongue slurped over you, tasting every inch of your body as she murred in delight, though you couldn’t tell whether the delight was aimed at her victory, or your flavour. That would remain a mystery until you heard a muffled ‘Sho goood~ Gllrk~!’ from the Flareon’s full mouth, earning some laughter from the crowd.
 
You felt her jaws digging possessively into your backside, though the Flareon stopped for a moment to roll onto her back, allowing gravity to aid her in introducing you to her increasingly hot gut. Another hefty gulp dragged you deeper still, the tight confines of her throat tightening around your lower body as you tried to keep yourself upright in the stomach.
 
Your feet soon entered her maw, and she slurped over their soles to welcome them into their new home. She seemed to linger, teasingly sucking each of your toes in order to delay the final gulp for as long as possible and then, with a mischievous ‘Hmm~’ she closed her jaws around your toes. A clack of her teeth, an almost silent ‘Glrrrk’, and you were nothing more than a bulge in her midsection.
 
“Mmmhh, tasty little- URrrrrp!” the Flareon belched suddenly, causing the stomach to constrict around you like an airtight sack. She took a deep breath, giving you some room to move as she licked her lips, wiping the slobber off her muzzle with her forepaw. “Hey, quit moving around in there. We haven’t started the timer yet.”
 
You did your best to settle down, though the constant rubbing from the paw outside certainly didn’t help. You could hear her snickering all around you, the gentle glorps and gurgles of her stomach as the fleshy walls rubbed against you, exploring its mistress’ latest conquest. The world turned upside down as the Flareon got to her feet, on the move again as she clambered her way back up into her seat. Once she arrived she gave herself a moment to catch her breath before murring in satisfaction. “Okay, go nuts, champ. You’ve got one minute before you’re Flareon flab.”
 
It had only just occurred to you that you hadn’t planned exactly how you would escape. You knew that you needed to upset her stomach, and preferably find the way you came in. The rapidly increasing heat wasn’t helping your decision making, and soon you were pressing against the walls, kicking your feet and shaking yourself as much as you could. You could hear her yawning in response, performing as an unimpressed predator for her crowd as she prodded at the bulges your hands and feet were making in her midsection.
 
After about fifteen seconds of squirming she gave you a vague scale of your progress; a tiny belch and a quiet groan of discomfort. “Mmmhh… so full…” she grumbled, her paws nursing her gut in a vague attempt at quelling your attempt at escaping. Not quite what you had hoped for, but you knew you still had time to win her game. The fumes of the alcohol began clouding your mind, and the heat was exhausting as you continued to press your hands around the stomach walls.
 
Eventually, you found something: your hand slipped into a sphincter. You forced your other hand into it, and as the Flareon let out another belch it seemed to loosen, allowing you to begin to slip back up her throat. “Ooof, oh ho, what have we here~? Is that progress I feel?” the Flareon teased you with a wiggle of her body, “Mmm, that’s a bulge alright, looks like we might actually have a winner this time!”
 
The words spurred you on… the Flareon let her guard down! You pressed upwards, forcing your head back into the bottom of her throat. You could hear her heartbeat increasing as you neared its source, the tightness of her neck as your hand reached it. Then her tongue, the back of her teeth, the cool air of the outside world!
 
Gllrk. All your progress was undone in a single gulp from the Fire-type, and you were quickly inched back down where you belonged. Each push you made to climb back up was met with another swallow, until finally you were deposited into the humid stomach. She chuckled, licking the back of her paw before rubbing it vigorously against her gut, “Nnnope~ Maybe you ought to try the other way? Still got… huh, never mind. 10… 9… 8…”
 
It had already been a minute! The stomach tightened around you as you returned, locking you inside it as it began to rock you back and forth. The pressure seemed so much firmer than before, forcing you to curl up with your head between your legs.
 
“7… 6… 5..!”
 
The crowd was chanting along now. You fought against the gut as much as you could, but it only seemed to be getting tighter and hotter by the second. The heat gradually rose, and somewhere beneath you you could hear a bubbling, groaning noise that quickly filled your ears.
 
“4… 3… 2…”
 
You began to drift in an out of consciousness as your senses were overpowered by the stomach. Your sight was lost to the dark pit of the Flareon’s gut, your hearing to the growling around you. All you could smell was ale and digesting prey, and all you could feel was the tight embrace of the walls, and Pepper’s paws pressing down firmly against the stomach to limit your space even further.
 
“...1!”
 
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuurrraaaaaaahhhhppp!”
 
A jet of flame erupted from the Flareon’s jaws, leaving several in the crowd ducking as she held her gut, hugging your form as it rapidly began to digest beneath her. She seemed pleased with her second taste of you for the evening, but of course she treated all her victories with similar enjoyment. You shrank until you were barely noticeable under her thick fur, other than perhaps another inch of fat to the Flareon’s jiggling belly. The belch ended, and you bounced into your new place as flab on the Flareon’s gut.
 
“Hey, you were closer than any prey I’ve had so far. Thanks though, that was a lot of fun!” Pepper snickered to the inch of fat she had decided you now inhabited. The crowd dispersed as the Flareon kneaded her newly fattened belly, pausing only to chug the ale someone had bought her as thanks for the show. As she sat there pondering whether you would meet again someday she was approached by another stranger, who asked many questions. They asked who she was, what she had just done, how she had managed to digest you so quickly and how she could stomach a prey of your size so swiftly. With a grin, she finished her drink and belched out a wisp of flame.
 
“Because I’m Pepper LaFlare.”