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Craig had settled at the base of a tree to rest during one of his many travels. The badger didn't even realize he had drifted off until a shadow cast across his closed eyes roused him. The chubby male shifted in place and opened his eyes to take in what had cast the shadow.

The shade was one of a pair of shadows, similarly cast by a pair of rotund figures nearing the base of the tree he was laying against.

The one whose shadow roused Craig was another badger, but significantly taller, close to twice as tall, in fact. He was extremely round, soft and chubby with most of his mass on his belly and hips, his chest just having enough definition to show that he was soft all over without sagging. His most padded parts were all coated in black fur, all the way down his belly and what Craig could see of his thighs and lower legs from the front. Unlike the traveler's own more traditional badger coat, however, his shoulders and upper arms were grey, along with some fluff around his plump throat. The top half of his face was black as well, giving him his badger markings. A fluffy tuft of black fur draped forward from between his ears to his brow, giving the appearance of a short fringe.

Down below, his navel was seated in the lower third of his gut, appearing deep from the lack of light reflecting off his healthy coat. Significantly, however, a set of five markings were printed all around his belly. The faces of fox, stoat, otter, blue jay and a lynx were replicated in cartoony splotches of color, neutral in expression from a lack of detail.

The second figure was just as large and round as the first, built in much the same way. He was a koala, mostly grey and white furred. At least, above the waist. Meeting his white chest and belly-fur was a black pouch, very unusual for a male marsupial, which rested just above where Craig assumed his own navel would be. The black fur ran to either side as far around as the resting badger could see from that angle, though the glimpses of his hips and legs told him it was likely they were as grey as his arms and the top half of his head. His ovular nose was dark as well, set at the point the white and grey met on his mug. Similar to the larger badger, he too had a tuft of fur imitating a hairstyle, his fluff in white instead. Another similarity was the grouping of markings on his black fur, but only three: those of a wolf, a mole, and a mouse, resting on the cozy under-hang of his pouched paunch.

Craig sat up, stifling a yawn. "Oh, hello there." He stretched his arms, attempting to look attentive as he fought off the drowsiness of his impromptu nap.

"Afternoon." The larger badger replied, smiling. "My companion and I like to walk around this area of the forest often..."

As if continuing the thought, the koala spoke up, smiling as well. "We tend to greet everyone we pass along the way."

The smaller badger stood up, hooking his bag onto his shoulder. "That's very kind of you. I've not been around here much, you probably know..." He trailed off as his mind woke up enough to put together what the markings on their bellies were. These two were definitely predators.

"I'm sure a little badgerling like yourself is bright enough to know what my companion means by 'greet', eh?" The male with the most markings chuckled playfully.

Craig took a moment to gather his thoughts, a blush rising in the white stripes on his face at the playful tease. He swallowed, before taking a step closer, holding out a paw in an attempt at diplomacy. "I'm Craig. It's nice to meet you both."

The larger badger nodded politely. "Well met, Craig. I'm Kent."

The koala mirrored the polite gesture, both with a bob of his head and an extended paw. "Hello Craig. I'm Kent."

At that, the smaller badger froze. He had been following along perfectly fine until the koala gave the same name as the badger. His brow furrowed unconsciously as his eyes settled into the middle distance between the two larger males.

The first of the two Kents chuckled. "You know, people can have the same name." He winked, then set his hands on top of his belly with a smug smile. "But, you might see the resemblance between my handsome face and my companion's own."

Craig paused and looked between one Kent and the other. Though their facial markings were different, there was something about the eyes and their soft cheeks... He nodded, still confused.

"Usually Kent and I are... well. Kent. But one of us." The badger continued. "A hybrid badger-koala. But, we are known to, so to say, fall apart."

The koala cleared his throat. "Please, you're confusing him further." He turned his attention back to Craig. "It's a completely random side-effect of reformation."

As pieces fell into place further, Craig looked from the koala's face to the markings on his belly, then to the markings on the bigger badger's own. He found it hard to believe that such clearly prolific predators needed to be reformed often.

"After we're devoured as one Kent, we sometimes come back as two." The pouched Kent continued. "We stay that way until we get back together. We do get a bit more ravenous when we're split, I think." The koala smiled warmly, turning his head towards his companion. "Now that I'm thinking of it, a little badger face would look perfect on my pouch, don't you think, Kent?"

"Craig here is far better suited to adorn my belly." The other Kent replied, patting over a blank area of his stomach near his navel. "Either on it, or in it."

The koala huffed, turning his attention fully on his counterpart. "Last three people we ran across you've just taken for yourself." He planted his fists on his broad, grey hips. "I let you on the first because I was ahead of you, and the second was fair letting you get one ahead, but you just went for that lynx."

"Oh, come now," The large badger dismissed the accusation with a wave of his paw. "Cats look better as pudge than pouch-filler. It's just a fact."

"Wait." Craig raised a paw, drawing both of their attention. He blushed. He felt quite a bit smaller as both larger males gazed down on him. "I thought you were the same person? Why the disagreement?"

The koala sighed. "Yes, but we can be of two minds about things as much as one person in one body can." He pivoted to better face the smaller badger. "And in our case we often butt heads just because we are so similar. If you weren't here we'd probably be trying to eat each other."

The smaller badger nodded, letting his paw fall down to wrap around the strap of his side-bag.

"It's how we usually become one Kent again." The other Kent explained. "And yes, I think such a succulent morsel has both of us craving..." He took a step towards Craig with a lick of his lips.

The koala took a step as well, but stomped his foot enough to be felt beneath both badgers' feet. "There you go again..."

Craig stared on as the two rotund fellows began to argue again. He cleared his throat. "Why don't you just fuse and eat me as one Kent?" The smaller badger froze as he realized what he just said, the white markings on his face practically going pink up to his ears.

The two Kents stopped talking, gazing at the smaller male for a long moment, before both shaking their heads.

"Nah, we'd rather settle which belly you go on." The larger badger nodded firmly.

The koala nodded as well. Then they were at it again.

Glad that his embarrassment was at least short-lived and unremarked upon, the smaller badger swallowed and looked around. The heavy bushes on either side of his little nap spot made most routes to leave impractical. He would make far too much noise trying to get through the bramble or scramble up the trunk a bit to shimmy around, drawing their attention immediately.

It wasn't that he was afraid of being eaten, or that he didn't want to be eaten by either of the handsome predators. It was just... if they were going to argue he'd rather they caught him later. They likely would, considering this was their hunting grounds and all. But Craig would be doing something other than just listening to them bicker in the meantime, maybe get to see more of the forest.

That was when Craig noticed that the pair of predators' marked bellies were stood far enough apart that he could just move between them. With the foliage around him, slipping past while their eyes were locked on one another would be the quietest option, considering the height difference. Just to be safe, he could get down onto his knees, since there was only soft moss there, no dried leaves.

Staying silent, the smaller badger slipped down to a kneeling position and began to shuffle forward, biting his lip and focusing on breathing steadily. He crossed the distance between the trunk and the gap easily enough, but now that he was getting close to their bellies, each wobbling as they gesticulated and spoke aloud... He had to be focused, ready to duck down at a moment's notice to avoid being brushed against.

He was crossing the midway point, when he heard another set of voices, quieter, coming from his left, from the badger's midsection.

Craig turned his head slightly, realizing that the voices sounded like they were coming from that deep pit of a navel, leaning a bit closer.

A particularly large gesture sent the belly grazing along the side of Craig's face.

The tiny badger squeaked in surprise, freezing.

...the argument had gone silent.

Craig slowly looked up to see both of the predators looking down at him. He opened his mouth, trying to think of what to say.

The badger and the koala summarily brought their bellies together, pinning their prospective prey in place.

"Sly little thing. Should have known, since it's a badger trait." The Kent to his left chuckled.

"You know, you really shouldn't slip away. Not when you're being discussed." The Kent to Craig's right admonished lightly.

"I've got it." The larger badger stepped away, releasing the smaller male to slump to the ground, but staying close enough to bring the bump back together if need be. "We ask Craig who he wants to go with."

The koala looked surprised at this offer, then smiled. "A wonderful idea." He turned his attention to the prey in question, warmly addressing him. "Which of us would you like to adorn, my dear?"

Craig blushed deeply as he stood back up. He thought he'd gotten past his embarrassment, but a belly bump like that just flustered him all over again. Then being asked by two predators who he wanted to be eaten by..?

That moment, he remembered why he'd gotten distracted. He turned towards the larger badger. "Oh! I heard some voices coming from your navel. Could I get a closer look?"

"Oh, of course." The Kent in question plapped his hands onto either side of his gut and hefted it lightly, getting the deep navel to just about the smaller badger's snout level and lining it up. "Get a nice deep look."

Behind Craig, the marsupial squinted slightly, watching his counterpart's movements carefully.

The smaller badger leaned in closer, ears perked to listen for the voices again. The broad mark-dotted gut filled more and more of his range of vision as he gazed into the darkness at its center. He really couldn't see much past the rim of the navel, even after his snout had crossed that line.

Then the larger male released his gut, bending forward and grasping onto Craig's hips in one fluid gesture. He pulled inward as he lifted his prey from the forest floor, a low croon echoing through his belly-flesh.

Craig gasped, blushing deeply as the slick, soft flesh within the navel dragged along his body, getting tighter around his face until his shoulders had slipped inside. A little after that the snug passage started to open back up. When his own plump belly got stuck in that tight spot, he opened his eyes to discover a relatively well-lit space. It was far deeper going ahead of him than from the front of the bigger Badger to his spine as measured from outside. The wrinkly inner navel flesh was creased and folded as if able to stretch to engulf more. In fact, five faces were peeking out from between mattress-sized folds of the dark skin.

The badger quickly recognized them as the five whose faces adorned the predator's belly. The blue jay and the fox appeared to be asleep, but the other three were casually chatting with each other. The voices were those Craig had heard before, but now he could tell what they were saying. He cleared his throat. "Uh, hi."

The trio turned their heads to face towards the newcomer in the entrance to the warm, cozy space. "Oh, hello." The otter smiled broadly.

The stoat fidgeted, as if trying to pull an arm free to wave it at Craig, but gave up. "Welcome to the Belly Burrow."

"Belly Burrow?" Craig tilted his head.

"Oh, that's what Kent calls it." The otter replied.

The lynx perked with a soft trill. "Oh, he does? That's cozy."

"Uh..." The badger smiled awkwardly. "How did you all get to be in here?"

The feline chuckled. "For me it was the same way you are!"

The otter rested his chin on the arch of the fold between himself and the newcomer. "Oh, I got eaten by the original Kent. When they split up, I ended up in here."

"What, really?" The stoat perked.

"So, they... uh... the Kents, I mean..." Craig ventured awkwardly, still wrapping his mind around the nature of the pair. "...Got eaten with you in... uh... him?"

The lutra nodded. "Oh yeah, I was in his predscape, casually hanging around with him..." He gestured with a tilt of his head to the sleeping fox in the nearby roll. "Then we blacked out and woke up snug in here. Mister Fox said that he was in here before they fused, even."

The badger perked. "Oh, so if they were to fuse now, you all and those three on the koala's pouch would all end up in Kent's predscape... wait, is this... kind of a predscape?"

"Hell if I know, it's my first time hearing the word." The Lynx stuck his tongue out playfully.

The stoat smiled. "I'd be happy to help you get settled in your own crease over here by me if I could... you know, move more than my head."

Craig laughed, blushing. "Oh... I imagine that would be quite helpful."

The fox started awake with a grunt, looking around. "Oh? Oh, a new person. Hello."

The badger was about to reply when he felt a large paw close around his feet. He was yanked backwards, flesh closing in on him as he was brought back through the tightest point in a firm tug.

Craig thought he heard the fox talk again: "Oh, they're at it again."

With a pop, the badger was dangling upside down, blinking at how bright the outside world seemed. He caught his side-bag as it threatened to just slip off him with his arms no longer pinned to his sides, dangling by its strap in his hand as he took in the two larger males.

"I'm not going to fall for 'Just letting him have a look' again," The koala was saying sternly. "That's how you got the stoat."

The larger badger scoffed, opening his mouth to deny it. He couldn't make it to his first word before laughing. "Well maybe I was trying to slip him away for myself..." He admitted with a big grin across his face.

"That's right, you were." The other Kent was far less amused. "His markings were starting to appear on your belly and his hips weren't even past your fur!"

"You know, I've never seen a hammerspace navel before. That's a neat trick, having it be connected to the predscape..." Craig smiled bashfully, trying to defuse the argument. "Kinda. I think that's what it was. Is it?"

"Kent likes to keep prey very close. Hard to get closer than immobilized in his navel." The koala nodded, then used his free paw to help Craig turn upright. "In fact..." He drew the now less inverted badger into a hug with his back against the white fur of the larger male's chest. "I'll keep you close and comfy myself."

Before the little badger could react, he felt his feet slip under the lip of the pouch, then the formerly hugging hands were pushing down on his shoulders. Craig's chubby body was easily slipped between the two fuzzy surfaces, descending rapidly.

He extended his arms forward to catch himself by his armpits with a bashful squeak. In the moment this bought him he found himself looking down over the lumps his body was making in the black fur of the outside of the koala's pouch. Craig's eyes widened as a pair of white stripes appeared framing a pair of matching colored circles, along with a roundish triangle of a nose... his face.

In his distraction, the Kent holding him was able to lift his arms and tuck him the rest of the way in with a firm but soft shove.

"You just wanted your turn first!" The larger badger accused, moments after the smaller had sunken out of sight.

Through the soft, stretchy pelt pinning him to the soft belly behind him, Craig could hear the two Kents starting to argue once more. He could tell the two's voices apart by which came from behind and above him fairly well, louder and slightly vibrating his body.

Craig felt one of the koala's big, warm hands cup over the top of his head and give him another press down. "Well, like I said, you got the last three..." The koala was saying. His voice trailed off and grew fainter as the badger was pressed deeper, deeper still. The tightness grew less intense as he felt himself sliding down of his own weight, around the underhang of the belly. At the same time, he realized he was sliding far too much to merely have traversed the circumference of the male's nearly circular gut.

No more voices from outside came to him as he slipped out into a cozily lit fold framed by black and white fur on either side. Craig looked around. Nearby was a trio of critters casually lounging as if the pouch side of the enclosure was a trio of hammocks for them.

The largest of the three, a chubby wolf, gave a wave as the badger started to scoot over. "Hey there."

Craig blushed, noting that, like the markings on the outside, the other two were a mole and a mouse. "Hi... Sorry, I'm just a bit disoriented. Got tugged out of badger navel before stuffed away in here."

The mouse laughed squeakily. "Oh, they always are fighting over who gets what..."

The mole nods. "If it weren't so constant it would be like an old vaudeville show."

Nodding and rolling over to settle in like the other three had, mimicking their posture, the badger tilted his head back to look up the way he came. "Can't hear them from this deep, though..."

"Oh yeah... I tried to measure the actual internal depth once, but Kent took away my measuring tape." The mouse replied. "He said it was uncomfortable."

The wolf started laughing at that. "If it was the metal kind, I can see why!"

Blushing with embarrassment the mouse waved a paw. "Anyway, it can take a while to climb back up to the lip. Once you get comfy, though, that distance makes it easy to just let him keep you in here. You don't get hungry or thirsty when one of the Kents has you."

"Oh yeah... the furs in the badger's navel looked downright immobile..." Craig replied, pondering. "Makes sense that they wouldn't have to take care of themselves to be kept like that..."

The mole leaned forward to peek over the wolf's midsection over at Craig. "Maybe you should try to climb out before you get too settled?"

The badger tilted his head. "Huh? Why?"

Chuckling to one another, the three pouch denizens turned their attention back to the newcomer. "Well," The wolf began. "Escape attempts from one Kent usually prompt the other Kent to attempt a re-merger."

"It's some of the best entertainment we get in here." The mouse nodded. "But.... We'd rather just kind of hang here. Too comfy."

"We'd be safe either way." The mole confirmed.

"Because you'd end up in the predscape?" Craig ventured.

"Yeah! Guess the navel critters got you up to speed on how the Kents work, huh?" The mouse smiled.

Craig nodded, pondering the suggestion... Well, he still had some fidgety energy in him, not yet settled into swaying with the koala's movements under his tummy. He rolled back over to be facing the outer pouch and carefully grasped handfuls of the soft, lush fur there. They made good hand-holds for the chubby male to make his ascent.

The grips for his feet, though, were hard at first. The stretchy flesh just deformed and left his toes slipping away, claws made for digging getting no purchase. Craig had to settle for going all upper body for a bit, panting softly with the effort. As the pouch grew tighter around him the higher he got, the pressure from the belly behind him gave him a bit more traction and he was able to switch to four paw drive.

Shortly after he got to the point where he was practically climbing vertically, a familiar hand positioned itself in front of his next reach for a hand-hold.

Craig perked and grasped onto the koala's fingers, finding himself being pulled upward faster. He blinked as once again the light of outside a Kent was too intense for a few moments. When his vision cleared, he saw the larger badger looming closeby, arms crossed with a pensive expression.

"We Kents just can't seem to agree on who gets you, Craig." The badger half of the duo stated plainly. "Only one thing for it, now."

The koala lifted Craig fully out of his pouch with a sigh. "Sorry, going to have to set you aside for now..."

Craig held on as he dangled free entirely, before his feet met the mossy forest floor.

The other large hand of his most recent predator passed him his side-bag. He hadn't even noticed it fall off when he was stuffed in the pouch! "Here you go... now Kent and I need to really talk this out..."

The small badger put it back on, looking up from his own body in time to see that the bigger badger had opened his mouth and was lunging at the distracted koala.

Without looking, the pouched male reached back and up to catch the corner of his counterpart's mouth, thumb tugging at his cheek. Only then did he turn to face the larger badger. "Why do you always do that when you know I'll stop you?"

Craig swallowed... this seemed less like 'talking it out' and more like a proper row was about to start.

"Now..." The koala gripped tightly on the inner cheek of his other half, his other hand grasping under the badger's arm. Seemingly effortlessly, he hefted the other Kent, practiced moves slotting the marginally larger male's kicking feet into the lip of his pouch. "Let's get this over with..."

The badger's hips had met the entrance to his counterpart's pouch when his grasping arms got what they were going for. Forgoing a grab or a strike, he curled his claws along the fur under the koala's arms, tickling him.

Kent the koala gasped and shuddered. "H-hey!" His grip loosened from the involuntary muscle contractions that the tickling sent through his body.

Using this to his advantage, the other Kent clasped his hands down on the koala's shoulders, pulling. First, he got his legs free of the pouch. Then his weight carried him to rest his feet on the ground while dragging his counterpart's upper body down. This put the badger in the perfect position to shove the marsupial's head into his gaping navel.

Not taking any chances, the larger badger reached forward to grasp onto his quarry's wide hips with both hands, stuffing him into his own belly. The navel itself was stretching easily over the torso and belly nearly as large as that Kent's own. With a firm shove, the koala's rump sank into the broad belly button, leaving just his legs outside.

"Wow..." Craig couldn't keep quiet after seeing that. "How did you get him in like that so easily?"

"Well..." The badger let go of his counterpart's thighs as he turned his attention to the smaller male.

The second that the claws left his body, the koala's legs kicked forward, hooking his ankles around the badger's knees for leverage. With a sudden popping sound, the other Kent yanked himself free, landing hard enough on the ground that the bushes shook.

He stood up and faced Craig, giving him a bow.

That made the smaller badger wonder just how much of this 'fight' was merely showmanship.

"The critters in his belly burrow were wondering if you'd like to come visit some more, Craig." The koala smiled playfully.

"Well... they do seem nice. Given the chance..." Craig started, then gasped.

Kent the badger had done his move again, but this time the koala didn't counter. Lunging his spread jaws down over his counterpart's head and shoulders nearly to the top of the curve of his broad belly in a single fluid motion, he grasped on once more with both hands.

The koala's arms were pinned to his sides, but one hand curled into a thumbs up directed for Craig to see.

Seemingly unaware of the nonverbal cue, the larger badger greedily stuffed the marsupial into his jaws, throat stretching out massively to accommodate another body of his own grand proportions.

Craig stared, blushing deeply as the already big badger belly swelled and grew rapidly. When the larger male swallowed down the koala's clawed feet, his whole gut sagged down with the impact of such a large meal, bouncing before resting on the forest floor.

In the empty spot that the badger had indicated earlier, a new shape faded into view, glowing brightly. After a moment, the smaller male realized it was the koala's face amidst the light show.

"Why does his mark glow like that?" He asked bluntly.

Patting his gut on either side with his paws, the big badger chuckled at the candor. "Well, we're both Kent, remember?" He grunted and clenched his stomach as his paws dug in, hefting his belly off the ground. "When we're in the same place... won't be long before we're whole again..."

Craig blushed softly as the stomach was already making greedy gurgling sounds.

Kent the badger grinned down at the smaller badger. "Can't have you waiting all day to see the original, can we?" His belly started to churn louder, the glow starting to bleed outward from the koala mark across his black fur. "I hope I get to see you again, soon... I mean, me the badger... Me, Kent, will see you very soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, the glow surged out and wrapped around his entire body, obscuring his form in all but outline to the smaller male.

Craig squinted, trying to see what was happening amidst the bright light. He could just barely tell that the stomach had shrunk... the ears up on top of the head grew larger... his stance settled wider...

Then, the glow faded, revealing... well... Kent.

The hybrid had very much the same body type as both of his constituent parts, to be certain, if a bit heftier. His face was a combination of badger markings on a koala structure, though his ears weren't as large as the pure koala's had been. Between them rested the white tuft of fur that the koala had sported, contrasting the black tuft of fur at the top of his chest that extended up onto the plump dewlap that circled his throat. The grey fur that both halves had covered most of his body beneath his shoulders all the way down to the lip of his black pouch. His paws were each 'socked' in more black fur, the 'hems' extending all the way to his armpits on the underside of his arms. He also had more pronounced claws on his feet than his hands, like both species were known for.

Dotted around his belly were the eight face markings of the furs that Craig had met inside either Kent's belly folds. The five from within the navel were arranged along the grey fur atop the broad belly while the three that had been nestled into the pouch were arranged on its black fur. Unlike those from the belly burrow, the pouched furs' markings had turned monochromatic, outlines and features mostly just white on the black fur. Between the gained weight and the way that the smaller badger had learned these things operate, he presumed that all those people had been properly absorbed during the merging process.

Kent stretched his arms up over his head with a groan, as if he'd just woken up. The badger-koala's dewlap squished up around his plump cheeks as he placed one paw on the other arm's elbow and leaned to one side with a hefty wobble of his midsection. He perked as he spotted the smaller male gawking at him, then returned to a neutral standing position, letting his hands rest on the top half of his belly. "Oh, Hi there, Craig." He raised one paw, waving it welcomingly. "I'm Kent. Glad to finally meet you."