“Alright recruits, sit down and shut up!” A hefty bipedal Alligator said to the four people standing before him. “The name’s Cook, but you’ll refer to me as Sir until your training is done.” He eyed up his new prospects and saw potential in only two ways, meals and good preds. He paced back and forth, staring at each of the przospects, seeing if they had what it took to survive.
 
 
“Now,” he said, turning and facing the group. “You’ve all agreed to the classes, and you’re all stuck here with me until you all turn into meals or you are passable as a predator. As this is the first class, let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves. Seems fitting for a joke like the four of you. Otter, you start.”
 
 
The toned otter flinched a bit when he was called. Brown bits of hair stood up on the back of his neck as he got himself ready to talk. The words began to shake as he started to speak, but quickly were changed to a more confident tone. “My… My names Levi.” He said, standing up from his chair, “My family comes from a long line of predators, but both my Mother and Father did not partake in the lineage. I, have come to restart it. Make it better than ever.”
 
 
“Bold words, maybe you’ll have to teach those parents of yours a lesson, huh Otter?” The crocodile said, laughing at his own joke, but scowling whenever he didn’t get similar responses. “Eh, everybody’s a critic, Weasel, your turn!”
 
 
A short, timid weasel stood up from his chair. His voice quiet, he barely could be heard by any of the members. “I.. uh, want to learn to be a pred. As you… you can see… I need to gain some weight and get stronger or I’ll end up on the wrong side of this heh…” As he started to sit down he shot back up, “Oh.. and I.. my name is Adrian if you wanted to know.”
 
 
Cook put a hand to his face, or as best as he could to his elongated alligator jaw. All he did was point to the next person in the circle, a panther who was just as slim and scrawny as the prior, but booming with confidence.
 
 
The panther stood up, his black fur shining in the fluorescent light that hung above them all. “The names Hayes. I didn’t care much for being here, but having people in my gut is better than being in someone else's. Blame Levi for bringing me here.” Hayes sat back down and waited for the next person to talk, all while his otter friend’s cheeks started to show a bit of red through the fur.
 
 
Without waiting for Cook to call on him, a grey wolf with some extra weight on him stood up and stretched, making it known that he is the biggest of all of the people there, even Cook himself. “I’m Devin, I’m just here to get my certificate and to go on to better things. I’ll try not to eat any of you if I don’t have a reason to do so.” And just as quickly as he stood up, he sat back down lounged about.
 
 
“Well, that was a fun introduction to all of you.” Cook said, standing up and heading to the front of the room. “About half of you seem to be on the right track and the other two I’m surprised haven’t already ended up in someone’s digestive tract by now. Well, I’ve already gotten your money and I’m already sick of you so, I’m gonna end class early today. Homework for this week is to… hmm.” Cook pondered for a second and went to his desk, opening a drawer and pulling a skull out, most likely one of his former meals. “Your homework for this week is to not end up like one of these guys. Bonus points if you make someone else end up like this though. Class Dismissed!”
 
 
As all the guys started to pack up, Levi and Hayes started to go out the door together. “Damn it man…” Levi said, his back arched as he was walking. “I knew Cook was talking about me and that weasel when he said that there was two people he didn’t think could be preds. Maybe, I really am not cut out for this, if I’m talked about in the first cla-”
 
 
“Stop, it.” Hayes said, interrupting his friend mid-wallow. “If Cook thinks you aren’t set up for this, then you have to prove it to him that you are actually worth being in the class. Simple concept huh? How do you prove yourself in a predator class?”
 
 
“I don’t know, be a better predator?”
 
 
The panther rolled his eyes at the obviousness, “No Levi, more specifically what do you have to do and how do you do it?”
 
 
Levi’s eyes lit up, “The weasel!” He said, moving back to the classroom before Hayes could either confirm or deny the new approach. Adrian seemed to have a lot to pack up and if Levi got lucky, he would be able to catch him coming out the door. As he jogged back, he saw the door of the building open up and light pour out from it. In the darkness he knew that it was Adrian, so he increased his efforts to get back.
 
 
Just as the door closed, the weasel was greeted by an enthusiastic otter with a wide smile. “Adrian was it?” he asked, not looking for an answer. “The group was headed back to my place for a movie, I know you probably have work in the morning but you’re always welcome to come over and stay the night.”
 
 
The weasel didn’t know how to respond to such a question, only stammering and trying to avoid the subject. “I.. uh… umm don’t know if I can g-”
 
 
The otter interrupted him and grabbed him by the hand, “Nonsense! Let's head over now!” Levi had to basically drag his new “friend” the first few blocks, but by the time they were getting to Levi’s apartment, he was moving along at a much faster pace. The otter turned the key into the lock and opened the door to his pristine apartment, getting the weasel in and locking the door behind him. Adrian knew it would take a miracle at this point to get out alive.
 
 
  Avoiding pleasantries, Levi went over to his fridge and grabbed two beers, twisting the cap off of one and handing the other to Adrian. The weasel didn’t usually drink, but knew it would be his best chance of survival if he started to now. So, grabbed the top of the bottle and turned his hand, but nothing budget. The weak arms of the weasel couldn’t uncap the bottle, but not for a lack of trying. With all his might he twisted, not able to get any leverage at all. Levi noticed the struggling and moved over, grabbing the bottle from his hand and uncapping it with ease.
 
 
  “Th- thank you…” Adrian said as he took a small sip of the beer.
 
 
  Levi plopped back down on his own seat, reclining back a bit as he took a swig. “Don’t mention it.” The otter and weasel sat in silence for a few moments, the grip on each of their bottles getting tighter as the time progressed. Adrian felt his heart race and beat faster, not knowing what his fate might be while Levi sat there, contemplating on what he should do.
 
 
  Not being able to handle it anymore, Adrian spoke up. “So, umm. You said you were having people over, but it’s just me…”
 
 
  Levi looked at his ever-emptying beer bottle and shrugged his shoulders, finishing it off and placing it to the table to his right. “Strange isn’t it? Maybe Cook was right.” he said
 
 
  “Cook?”
 
 
  “About saying that both of us were more likely to end up eaten then be real preds huh?”
 
 
  The comment took Adrian off guard and he started to stir in his seat, “Ye-yea. It wasn’t nice but that is what the class is for right? To get better?”
 
 
  “Yep… And I know just how to do it.”
 
 
  “H-How?”
 
 
  Levi didn’t respond to the weasel this time, only standing up and heading near the small, defenseless weasel.
 
 
  “Wh-wh-what are you doing?” Adrian asked, his eyes getting wider.
 
 
  Proving Cook wrong. Levi thought to himself as he grabbed the arms of the weasel and lifted him up.
 
 
  “D-don’t do this!” Adrian yelled out, seeing the mouth of the otter open, dripping with saliva. The weasel felt the arms guide his head near the maw, the back of the throat looking like a never-ending abyss. The warm breath flowing over his head and making the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.
 
 
  Before he could plea any more, Levi’s mouth wrapped itself around the front of the prey’s head. The tip of Adrian’s pointed muzzle touching the back of Levi’s throat, only taking a single swallow to silence any words coming from inside. With his head fully in, the otter grabbed the rest of his meal’s body and raised it up to the sky, letting his legs flail in the air as he sunk deeper and deeper down Levi’s throat. Another gulp and it sent the shoulders down with the rest of the body.
 
 
  Adrian felt his body slip again, the muscles of the throat around him tensing up and pushing him downwards. The front of his face was greeted with a new sight, his new home and final resting place. The acids of the stomach started to rise as they anticipated the new meal that they were going to process. All the weasel could do was close his eyes.
 
 
  The taste was unlike anything Levi has had before, the fur going over his tongue, the taste of their sweat, and even the struggles made all of the effort worth it. He didn’t know why he never partook before, but he knew he would have too again.
 
 
  Down to his prey’s legs, the otter swallowed one last time and let them slip in. The final struggles as Adrian went down his throat were delightful, almost as delightful as his first full breath after his throat was cleared.
 
 
The prey slipped down and made a nice stomach bulge as he got situated to the new conditions, Levi letting out a loud burp and squeezing the weasel in even more. The otter’s thin figure only allowed more of an outline to see his food transform into pudge as the night went on. Sadly, it didn’t allow for much struggling or pleading, something Levi thought would’ve been nice to feel.
 
 
Soon after, Levi started to feel sleepy from his endeavor and turned towards his bed. Instantly it felt like it was hundreds of miles away, and the time it took to get there would be impossible. His vision zoomed out and his head swayed. Levi wasn’t even in a state to realize what was wrong, as he passed out on the floor seconds later.
 
 
  Adrian felt a loud crash as his captor fell to the ground. His cramped body now soaked in the juices and enzymes that permeated around in the otter’s stomach. His wet fur started to tingle as more time went on, but he only felt less and the small amount of air he had began to deplete. Before anything started to hurt, Adrian passed out.
 
 
  The next morning Levi woke up with a killer headache, remembering only the moments to what had happened last night, not the tricks on his vision. Still, without that knowledge, it freaked him out. Standing up, he noticed his stomach rounded out and became mostly smooth again. He felt a rumble from deep inside and his throat started to expand. He started to cough exactly when his panther friend had a hairball, but whatever was escaping was much larger, and much more painful.
 
 
  Grabbing on to his own neck he guided the hard object upwards through his throat, coughing out the medium sized skull of his first meal and letting it crash against the hardwood floor of his apartment. A feeling of pride washed over the otter as he took the bleached skull from the floor and took it too his room, forgetting any of the panic that he had earlier. Levi was happy with the path he chose.