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Even the most seasoned adventurers were liable to get themselves into trouble from time to time, but for someone just starting out, even the most innocuous threat had to be treated as something perilous.

Huttser was so determined to make his way that he was utterly throwing caution to the wind, and in the instance of his first dungeon crawl, fortune truly did favor the bold.

"A flickering broadsword this early on?" he spoke, as if saying the words out loud would shake his sense of disbelief. "A little extra lightning damage is gonna make the rest of this dungeon a cakewalk!"

He hadn't collected too many treasures just yet, and what he was able to earn, he was holding onto desperately, anticipating that he'd need to collect a small arsenal before he was ready to face the creature waiting at the end of the shadowy depths. The ruins of a castle that had been sieged by a massive dragon made for a haunting journey, and at the very bottom of the old prisoner's dungeon was supposed to be a treasure worth more than anything he'd ever heard of.

His mind was already concocting a creature, and the demon of his fantasies was so large that it could scarcely move around in the final chamber that he'd imagined. Multiple arms, each one wielding a double-bladed axe would create a potent attack and nearly impenetrable defense, and even if he were to impregnate that, he was sure the beast would have such a thick hide that no blade would be able to slice it; the lightning damage would truly come in handy.

"The map is a little scorched, but there's definitely one more chamber down here," Huttser murmured. He looked down toward the end of a long staircase, moving with delicate precision toward a landing: the railings on either side of him had long since crumbled, turning even the simple act of walking down the steps into a heart-stopping thrill.

Caution guided him to the landing and left him with just enough time to take a full, soothing breath. His skin tingled and copper filled his mouth as he struggled to collect himself, and in the face of a large, oak door, he wondered just how terrible the creature on the other side would be.

The coyote pressed his shield against the iron braces of the door and tested it: there were no traps waiting for him, and even more shocking than that was how easily the door swung open when he gave it a gentle push.

For all the effort it took to reach the final area of the dungeon, he was using almost none to reach the innermost sanctum of the rumored treasure.

Green eyes peered into the soft, unsettling darkness of the final chamber. The only torches inside were burning on very low reserves of oil, creating a delicate, orange glow within the crumble stones and ruined bars of iron.

It would have been a final veneer of comfort, but in that fiery light, Huttser saw the long, casting shadow of a creature with tall, sharp horns and a pointed muzzle. He couldn't glean the size of it just from the silhouette on the wall, but the shape was so draconic that a mere shift of the figure forced his heart to skip a beat.

Is it possible that the dragon who first stormed this castle made it his new trove? Huttser thought, clenching the handle of the newfound broadsword in his paw. Am I really facing off against such a legendary creature for my first major boss?

The coyote gave only the briefest of pauses to check his stats: he had almost nothing useful to heal himself with, but for crawling a dungeon at such a low level, he was doing remarkably well in regard to his health meter and magic power.

If I just throw everything I have at it, maybe...maybe I've really got a chance!

Proper strategy was out the window in an instant, and in the next, Huttser rushed through the massive, worn oak door and raised his sword, ready to strike down at whatever vital point was available.

"Do you really think I wouldn't see that coming?"

A dragon was already a deadly adversary, but one with the intelligence to speak so eloquently would have the added danger of being able to plan its strikes, rather than acting on blind, feral rage.

Huttser trembled as he drew closer, ignoring the desperate plea of his legs to move in the other direction. He gulped down what nerves he could, but the lump in his throat made breathing a quiet, raspy struggle the entire way.

It took longer than he expected to track down the source of the shadow; no dragon would be fearful enough of a smaller creature to hide themselves in such a way, and in their pride, they were wont to stand out in the open, wings spread and legs sprawled over a heaping hoard of treasure.

By this final boss, there was no visible pile of treasure to be had, and no wings with which it could take flight. Fear turned to complete disbelief as Huttser continued his approach, seeing how much taller he was than the beast that was left in charge of the dungeon.

It wasn't a dragon at all: it was a kobold.

"If you saw it coming, why didn't you try to stop me?" Huttser asked. The coyote was so disarmed by the smaller creature that he lowered his blade in a moment of foolish arrogance.

Looking over his shoulder with a mischievous glint in his eye, the kobold spun up from his haunches and lunged out at the adventurer...only to have his strike easily parried and deflected.

"Like all would-be heroes, the moment you set your gaze on me, you discount me as an opponent," he explained. Bracing his claws and grinning, he reared up for another strike, but as he swiped down, it was easily blocked by Huttser's shield. "But I'll have you know that Shiriko, guardian of the Northwind Castle Ruins, has never once been bested in hand to hand combat!"

Spry and aggressive, the kobold swiped once more, but he couldn't penetrate the faithful steel of Huttser's shield. He deflected each attempt rather easily, but he rarely tried to counter, and when he did, he swung slowly, as if he were in a trance.

What started as an obvious battle between the two was slowly turning into a dance of claws and blades, but it quickly became clear that Huttser was throwing the fight.

"Finally! Away with that wretched thing!" Shiriko pushed the shield aside, leaving Huttser vulnerable to an attack...but the coyote refused to try and block it with his sword.

In such a short time, he'd already become enamored with the notably smaller creature, and though he easily could have stood his ground, he allowed Shiriko to push him around, until he was standing near the ledge where the kobold was sitting before.

The ruins came to an end near the side of a long, deep chasm: neither one of them would survive a fall into such a treacherous cavern, but Shiriko was too proud to let his opponent die in such a way, and Huttser had no intention of falling.

He simply gave the illusion that he was losing the fight, as his sword was knocked away. The small strikes were reducing his health and magic power in chunks, but he didn't express any pain as he was knocked back to the ledge by a spinning kick.

Skidding to a stop at th edge, he looked up and, much to the kobold's confusion, he smiled when the ravenous beast pounced atop of him. Their eyes met for a moment, and where Huttser couldn't have looked happier to be where he was, Shiriko couldn't understand what the adventurer was after.

"You put up a pretty good fight...er...at least, I think you did?" he admitted his confusion, feeling that Huttser fell too easily. "But I haven't had any proper food in ages, and I'm gettin' tired of eating bugs and spider webs to stay alive...I'm sure you understand."

His enchanted weapon was knocked aside, and his shield was too far away to brace for an attack; Huttser was trapped beneath the kobold by his own devices, by it was all the illusion of a victory for Shiriko...he had no idea that the coyote threw the fight so willingly.

He also wasn't going to complain about a cheap, easy meal.

"W-wait, no! Show mercy!" Huttser pleaded, but he was already being coiled up in the length of the kobold's prehensile tail. "You wouldn't want to eat me! Coyotes are notoriously gamey!"

"Compared to bugs and bricks, nothing is gamey," Shiriko pointed out. His tail had impressive strength, binding Huttser with some legitimacy, but even more incredible than that was the way that the kobold's lower jaw unhinged, welcoming the coyote into his maw headfirst.

Even then, Huttser could have struggled...but he went in easily, squirming only when long, dripping strands of saliva made their way into his leather armor. The already dark atmosphere of the ruins was lost behind him as the powerful muscles of Shiriko's throat kept pushing him further down, past the far reaches of his gullet and right into a stomach that he couldn't begin to imagine fitting in.

Somehow, despite being larger than the creature he came upon, he was sitting right in the middle of Shiriko's belly, still able to squirm and wriggle around...but he could manage nothing more than that, trapped as completely as he was.

"I suppose you might learn something about underestimating your opponent based on their size," Shiriko said, knowing that Huttser would still hear him from within. "You know...if you weren't about to be digested."

The last bits of Huttser's health bar were fading away rapidly, thanks to the rolling acid of the kobold's stomach: the legends about their ability to digest anything they consumed were coming true before his eyes, as his leather armor began stripping away from his body...but oddly enough, the acid didn't seem to do anything to his flesh or fur.

Surviving the onslaught of pressure and churning took every last bit of the coyote's magic power, as well, and soon, he wasn't just trapped, but completely helpless.

That a comforting touch came from outside the stomach was startling, but sure enough, Shiriko was rubbing his own tummy, enjoying the swelling of his belly and the internal warmth that came with having an entire creature within him.

"Don't worry, little coyote...I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon."

That time, when Shiriko closed his muzzle, darkness encompassed Huttser and left him clamoring nervously. He rolled and splashed around as he was teased from the outside by a pair of happy palms, and where the kobold was relaxing on the edge with a comfortable smile on his face, the coyote was scrambling to find a way out...but he'd never find one before the 'Game Over' screen loaded.

**

Huttser didn't know where the last checkpoint was, and as he respawned in the ruins, he started to curse...but that was before he realized that he was just on the other side of the boss door in the Northwind Castle Ruins.

"Must have been so ensnared by the excitement of a boss that I didn't even realize what I found an autosave point," Huttser murmured. He already knew what was on the other side of the door, and he didn't want to give any advantages to the kobold, especially when he knew Shiriko was waiting for him.

Despite their previous encounter, Shiriko didn't seem to have any inkling that Huttser was making another approach. The coyote stayed in the shadows the best that he could, using the darkness of his brown overcoat to his advantage...but no matter how close he came, Shiriko didn't budge from his spot on the ledge.

The muddied pattern of Shiriko's two-toned scales were just visible in the torch light of the room, but more than that, Huttser could see something a little disturbing about him: the rotund nature of his distended belly was still there, containing the original Huttser, having been eaten only minutes before.

"Well, he should be pretty easy to take down this time, then," Huttser muttered under his breath. "Bet he can barely move in that state...just stay focused, and you'll take him down in no time!"

Dashing forth with his blade lifted, Huttser approached from a slightly different angle, just to be sure that Shiriko wouldn't remember the exact direction he came from before.

He tried for a downward slice, but just as he started moving his arm, he heard a quiet rumble from the kobold, followed by a low, satisfied uuurrp.

"Do you really think...that I wouldn't see that coming?"

Being so stuffed, his breathing was already a bit labored...but that didn't remove any part of the threat from Shiriko, who had already proven himself to be lethal if given the time to act. He looked over his shoulder again with the same teasing glint in his muted blues, but this time, there was a new plumpness to his cheeks, giving him an even cuter and more disarming appearance.

Huttser skidded to a stop, huffed, and had to bite back against his lewder instincts to keep from dropping his sword and throwing himself at the kobold. "If you saw it coming, why didn't you try to stop me?"

"Didn't really feel like moving," Shiriko admitted. His dialogue was changing a bit, but his intent to guard the ruins remained the same; his strategy was the thing that changed the most, as he knew he wouldn't be so agile with such a full belly. "But I'm sure that I can still take on a low-level adventurer like yourself, especially if you're gonna give me a second chance!"

Sighing heavily and trying not to appear as flustered as he really was, Huttser put on his best brave face and readied his sword again, but Shiriko knocked it away with relative ease, assisted by the new weight in his limbs. His body was growing quite rapidly with a full meal, and seeing the coyote reduced to only a shield for his defense, he assumed he'd already won the battle.

Another slow, heavy swipe threw Huttser's shield down into the seemingly bottomless chasm, and once more, the coyote was trying not to grin as thicker digits wrapped around his body and crushed his armor. He was held just still enough for Shiriko to face the defeated warrior, and with a quick slurp of his lips, he opened wide and coated the new Huttser with a thin film of drool.

Shiriko was growing throughout the process, so much that the coyote was almost able to fit on the beast's tongue like it was a bed. It was comforting enough to rest on the warm, flexible muscle, but he was only granted that delight for a moment or two before the kobold tilted his head back and swallowed hard, pulling Huttser down into his rapidly expanding gullet.

"Sheesh...you went down even easier than the last guy!" Shiriko pointed out, pretending that he didn't know they were the same person. "At least he tried to fight back against me; feels like you just walked in here because you knew I was looking for a little dessert!"

Huttser's health and magic meters were depleted in seconds. He fell down from the throat and splashed into a puddle at the bottom, but the presence of another body inside of the kobold caused it to grow once more, even faster than it had before.

Hugging himself and adding new pressure to his stomach, Shiriko kept his arms in close and rubbed his belly; the silly, drunken smirk on his face told the story of just how much he was enjoying the repeated attempts of the would-be hero.

As panicked as the coyote probably should have been, he was swimming around in the little bit of space that he had, hoping that it would drain his health meter to zero a little bit faster if he did...

**

Respawning yet again, Huttser looked at his sword and shield, and then at the door once more.

With a shrug, he tossed his enchanted blade and sturdy shield aside at the door and ran right through it, forgoing stealth completely.

"You think you're so big and bad, kobold? I know you're in there!" he declared, knowing exactly what to expect from the encounter. "I challenge you to a proper duel: no weapons of any kind...just two beasts and the tools they were born with!"

At this point, Huttser was just trying to get the monster to eat him, and that was a better word for the kobold than ever before: repeated attempts left Shiriko swollen to such a size that he almost looked like the proper dragon he was trying to imitate, though most of that weight was in his heavily stretched torso. His stomach was a massive bulge in the middle of thick and hefty limbs, but atop all of that was the grinning expression of a kobold that already knew it had won the fight.

Reaching back with surprising speed, he grasped Huttser easily in his palm and held the smaller coyote as if he were little more than a toy for his own amusement.

"Looks like I win the duel," Shiriko murmured, staring the coyote down and gazing into his eyes with orbs that were nearly the size of his head. "Can you guess what happens to the loser, Hutts?"

Fangs came into view just as Huttser was tossed past them, and for only a moment did he have the chance to appreciate their jagged, terrifying majesty. He fell right past them and only bounced on the very back of Shiriko's tongue before he plummeted through a wide, open throat.

Falling into the stomach acid below was like diving into the deep end of a pool, but this time, his meters didn't budge; it was only then that Huttser realized what a terrible mistake he'd made.

"Finally all out of continues, Hutts?" Shiriko asked, as he picked up the discarded sword from the doorway. At his size, it was little more than a toothpick to him...and he treated it just the same, using the tip to pick some schmutz out of a gap in his fangs. "A real shame, that...guess you'll be in there for a while."

Flicking the enchanted sword into the chasm and patting the massive, rotund flesh of his stomach, Shiriko made himself comfortable on the ledge, spreading out into a space that was rapidly becoming too small for him. As he settled in, the empty chamber with filled with the slow, lazy slosh of a meal being tossed around in the juices in his stomach, but it all came to settle with a heavy gurgle...and a final, satisfied groan from the stuffed kobold.

Inside, Huttser felt the weight of roaming digits against the inside of Shiriko's stomach lining. All told, there was a strange sense of comfort about the entire experience, and the finality of it all as he saw the final "Game Over" flash in front of his eyes before the darkness fully took him; the crushing weight of Shiriko's paw on his own pliable flesh was the _perfect_send off.