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POCKET CITY - RPS

.30-06

I yawned as pale, Thursday morning sunlight filtered by thick hedges shone through the drainage holes in the wall of the sidewalk tunnels beneath the Viridian District to dispel the morning fog. The interior of the cab was roomy but humid, likely a result of the driver, a heavyset, sweaty Lombre a little shorter than me. From the moment I told him my destination he had been yammering over the Hoennese trumpets playing on the radio, going on and on about how people of different sizes shouldn't mix, an ironic point of view for him to have considering his nameplate said he had been working in Viridian for almost a decade.

"... and they're fucking snakes, the lot of 'em. My cousin I told yous about, who done lived in Cinnabar for the better part of a decade? He said he saw dozens of us get maimed or murdered, dozens, and the city didn't do an Arcdamn thing to stop it. I'm sure you knows as wells as I do that..." I simply nodded my head as the Lombre taxi driver made his way down the tunnel, his leaf pad knocking against the dice hanging from the mirror, their chaotic swaying emphasizing his rant.

I scooted closer to the backseat window of the cab and tried to piece together a view of the businesses of the Viridian District through the drainage windows in the side of the sidewalk tunnel, when we suddenly turned and exited onto a covered smallroad. The light made me wink for a moment as the cab drove beneath the hedges, pulling around to the back of a gargantuan building with tan bricking and a navy blue roof. The Geant Petit, the intersize cafe where I seemed to spend all of my free time. I sighed and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, aching for my morning dose of caffeine.

"... and that Raticate fuck tells us on the TV that micro safety is everybody's concern. That if we's just keep an eye on our fellow smalls, we's can stay safe and live happy lives in Pocket City. Well I says that's just a load of bullshit! You know, just the other day I..." I simply nodded my head and tuned out his third anecdote about Lucario demons or something like that. I'd heard it all before, when I told my friends and family that I planned to move away from my sheltered little hometown, Verdant Turfs. I had known since I was a little Electrike that macros could be dangerous if you let yourself stray into the wrong place at the wrong time, but Pocket City was one of the safest-rated multisize communities in the entire region. In the three months I had lived here, I had not had a single bad encounter with a macro, though I had admittedly only interacted with two or three individuals.

The cab rolled to a halt at the end of the smallroad, not daring to leave the relative safety of the hedgerow above. I turned my attention back to the driver, "...telling you, they're all bloodthirsty dullards with no regard for the lesser size. No micro with any amount of brains in his head would ever consider being friends with a filthy gigas." He turned to face me and I could smell sweet tobacco and pungent herbs on his breath. "I hope that you are not here to mingle with them."

I climbed out, saying nothing. He sighed, "Your fare will be 1,173, my thick-furred friend." I paid him and he drove off, leaving me standing alone on the exit of the sidewalk tunnel. I looked towards my destination, the Geant Petit, my eyes scanning its creamy tan bricking, huge windows filled with confectioneries of all kinds, navy blue metal roof as it pinged and tapped with the sound of the faltering morning rain, and the customers currently leaving, two girls, a goth Zangoose and divaesque Smeargle, that stood a few dozen feet taller than my ten-story apartment building.

Despite the gloomy weather, the morning sun had defogged the ground, and I was able to see the path ahead of me all the way around the parking lot. I zipped up my black Togidas windbreaker and stepped out from under the hedges. The smallroad was a concrete path, covered by arched glass fixed in place by steel supports. It wound around the parking lot of the cafe to the side, where it was directly attached to the building. I passed by several wrought iron benches, dozens of auto-tended plants, and a few exit doors that would have given me a more direct route to the shop; I didn't trust my feet to get me to the entrance before I got soaked by the morning rain. Besides, smallroads existed for a reason, after all. No sense in being ran over or made into paste on someone's shoe because they weren't paying attention.

A minute or two of walking later and I arrived at the door, the bright, red-painted wood contrasting cheerily with the two, giant, creamy-tan bricks on either side of it, each one as tall as myself. I opened it, and heard a ding somewhere far above me. I walked into the entrance hallway, passing another tempting portal to the open store floor on my left and towards an escalator around the right-hand corner straight ahead.

As I approached the escalator a Lycanroc man sitting on the bench to the side cast a furtive glance at me. I nodded a greeting and he simply sipped his coffee and directed his eyes back to his paper. I assumed he just wanted to enjoy the privacy afforded by this micro-only area and turned away to proceed up the escalator to The Shelf, the micro area of the cafe. The escalator doubled back on itself twice and as I turned to step onto the final stretch, my stomach complained and my head began to buzz silently with anticipation of my morning coffee. As it rose to the top of the converted countertop that served as a sectioned area for people of my size, I was uplifted by the scent of roasting coffee beans.

As the escalator finally stopped, I looked briefly around The Shelf as I stepped off. It was covered with the same arched glass as the smallroad from the sidewalk tunnels, though the arch here was roughly twice the height of the one outside, rising to about 25 feet above my head at its peak. The entire enclosure extended for about the length of a football stadium before the arched glass domed out and sloped down behind a micro-sized coffee bar. Along all sides of the enclosed part of The Shelf, there were sets of Kalosian doors that led to an open air balcony, complete with handrails that had billboard-sized signs warning macros that this was a strict safe zone. There were a few dozen tables set up under the glass, about half of them taken up by various patrons of my size, and along the outer balcony there were fewer, less populated tables, staggered to allow easy passage if the balcony got crowded.

I stretched as I peered out of the confines of the arched glass, looking both ways before spotting my table. At it were the first three friends I had made since I had moved to Pocket City. Leaned back in his chair and smirking as he spoke was an overweight Persian with slicked back hair who wore a washed out Def Liepard tee and some black jeans, Philip. Phil was in his sophomore year at the Cerulean Community College and was in my computer science class. We met while working on a group project and he had invited me to a game night with some other IT majors. That was where I had met the other micro sitting at the table, a Growlithe wearing an Alola shirt and cutoff shorts, Jacob. Jack was in his senior year at Saffron High, and was a late bloomer, being shorter than most of my class had been at his age. He grew up in the Alola region and always dressed like it was summer, always claiming with a grin that he was "culturally enriching" us by wearing floral shirts and sandals in the middle of winter. Behind them loomed Abigail, the macro Arcanine barista who wore a teasing emerald tanktop instead of her usual work uniform. Her head took up the entirety of the vista from inside the portal, and I stepped out with a twinge of vertigo as her huge muzzle parted in a cute yet admittedly intimidating yawn. The three of us micros had been meeting up here every Thursday since I moved here, and apparently Phil and Jack had been coming here for coffee and Abi for a lot longer.

As I approached, Phil was the first to notice me and he cracked a wicked grin. "Dominic! Good of you to finally show up, buddy!" he said, his voice throaty and deep, but soft

"Phil, Jack, Abi, good morning," I returned, smiling at all of them in turn as I approached. I kicked the metal guardrail to discharge my static from pulling off my windbreaker before sitting down. A loud crackle snapped through the air and Philip jumped, eliciting a laugh from the two fire-types present.

Philip sighed, "I'll never get used to having an electric-type around."

Jacob chuckled, "It only took you one summer to realize you gotta keep the windows open when I come over."

"Jack, you're a living radiator, that's different than hearing thunder every time I pass the silverware."

I laughed and ran my hands through my mane, causing a bit of static crackle, much to Phil's chagrin. I asked, "So what were you all talking about before I got here?" I picked up my hazelnut coffee that they had already ordered for me and took a sip, sighing with satisfaction.

Jack spoke up, a hint of mischief in his gravelly, high-pitched voice, "Phil was just talking about how *mysterious* Abigail is."

Abi beamed, inadvertently showing her massive, glistening, white teeth. Her canines were longer than my forearm and most of her teeth were bigger than my hand. I smiled to myself, thinking about how wrong the cab driver had been as nobody flinched; all three of us knew she could be trusted.

"Seriously!" Phil exclaimed, "In all the time we've known each other, I've never met her outside of the Geant Petit."

Abi sounded perplexed, her voice peppy and silky, "Really? In the year we've known each other we've never made plans to hang out or go do something?"

"I've only ever seen you once in passing at the Celadon Supermarket, waaay across the indoor park," Jack added.

I nodded, "Come to think of it, I've only known you for a few months but I've never seen you outside of this building."

"I think you guys might be right," she said, "I've hung out with all kinds of micro friends outside of work but I can't remember ever meeting up with any of you."

Jack smiled as he asked, "Well, what are your plans for this weekend?"

"I already made plans to go shopping at the Cinnabar Plaza with my sister and Toby tomorrow, and it's probably not a good idea to bring you guys." She was right, Cinnabar was a macro-only district and had no accommodations for micros; if we got separated somehow it'd be extremely dangerous. I recalled what the taxi driver had said about his cousin and shook my head. She tapped her chin, "Though I have today off because next week I have to start planning the Fall Festival."

I remarked, "I was wondering why you were dressed so casually. This is actually the first time I've seen you out of uniform, Abi."

She smiled and stepped back from the balcony, striking a comical pose, her hands on her hips as she dramatically cocked them to the side, "Well, what do you think of my sense of style?"

We looked over her outfit, a loose-fitting, emerald green, racerback tanktop over a burgeoning black sportsbra, a pair of trim, acid-washed capris that just barely hugged her legs and had fashionable cuts at the knees, and black socks with white running shoes, worn and dirtied from daily use. Around her waist was tied a vivid orange hoodie that seemed to match her fiery coat of fur. A small drawstring bag hung from her left shoulder, colored a bright, blazing red and emblazoned with the Firestone Flames logo. I looked back to her face and saw her emerald eyes framed by her cream-colored mane that was pulled back into a ponytail. Despite our vast difference in size, I had to admit that Abi was gorgeous.

"You look great, Abi!" Phil said. I nodded in agreement.

"I'll say it again, I love your bag!" Jack pointed and smiled.

Abi grinned again, unwrapping her hoodie from her waist to show that it shared the logo, "I love the Flames; I was born and raised in Firestone, actually."

"I'd love to visit some day," Jack replied, "The Flames are my favorite football team."

Abigail clasped her hands together, "Hey, you know, we should all go visit it sometime!"

"I dunno," Phil sat forward and drained what was left of his coffee cup. "Firestone's not exactly micro-friendly like Pocket City is."

Jacob rolled his eyes and interjected, "I'm sure there's friendly macros there, especially if it's Abi's hometown." He laughed good-naturedly, "Besides, she looks capable of keeping us safe!"

Abi laughed too as she slipped her hoodie on, then leaned on The Shelf again, "We definitely need to spend some more time together either way."

I spoke up, "Well, you said the weekend doesn't work for you, but I don't have any plans this afternoon. What are you doing today, Abi?"

Phil and Jack voiced their agreement and she tapped her fingers to her muzzle and her eyes shifted to the ceiling, apparently reviewing her schedule in her head. I was excited as I thought of finally getting out of the house. The only time I had ever done anything outside of meeting up at the Geant Petit for coffee or at the Pewter Public Library for games a few times a month was when Jack and I visited Philip's house in the Cerulean Suburbs for a summer solstice celebration. Philip was a total lightweight and drank himself stupid before dark, leaving me and Jack to play video games while he passed out on the sofa.

Abigail spoke, "I was actually gonna go on a hike through Bell Mountain Park before stopping here, but the rain made me think twice. Now that it's mostly stopped we can go, if you guys are interested in tagging along." We three micros cheered our affirmative and she smiled and clapped her hands, "Then it's settled!"

We finished our drinks and paid the Mightyena micro behind the counter, who waved goodbye as we walked back out to the balcony. Abi lowered her hand to the table and we gingerly clambered onto her palm, sitting spread out on her black palm pad. Her cream-colored fur was plush and tickled static sparks from my own as she slowly raised us to neck height and my stomach dropped as I dipped low in her hand from the motion. The vertigo returned as her warm expression filled my vision, but I quickly righted myself; this wasn't my first rodeo.

She closed her fist gently around us and then pulled the hood of her hoodie back before she gently dropped us inside. My compatriots were not so used to being handled by a macro, so the sudden loss of purchase had them reeling for all of the two seconds it took for us to settle into the bottom of her hood. Again, I was not so green, and as my stomach adjusted and she pulled the hood open a bit to give us some room, I laughed at their reaction. They chuckled back, punching my shoulder.

Abi's shoulder blades pushed against our pocket, and we could almost feel the movement of her arms through the fabric as a result. I looked up and saw her cream-colored mane pulled into the usual chaotic ponytail, seeming to shoot off in every direction as soon as it was no longer bound by the elastic band that held it out of her face. I could hear her talking to Toby over the counter, their voices muffled by the cotton acoustics of Abi's hood, and thought I heard him say something about taking micros from safe-zones, but then they laughed and she turned to leave, and the jarring sensation of a macro walk-cycle once again overrode my attention. I made myself comfortable and began idle chitchat with Phil and Jack as we heard the door bell ding and Abi walked out into the sun.

"Have you guys ever been to Bell Mountain Park?" I asked.

Jacob shook his head, "My sister did when she came through for college a year before I moved here. It's fucking huge, apparently!"

I smirked, "Jack, man, I grew up in the country, I doubt it'll hold a candle to that. How big could a park be anyways?"

Jack's eyes bugged out, "Dude, you have no idea though! My sister said she felt like a bug. She said her friend got lost there once and it took him three days to get out!"

Phil scoffed and smiled, "Tourists."

"Whaaat?" Jack whined.

"You guys okay back there?" Abi inquired a few minutes later. Through the portal of the hood, I could see that we were at the train station, and she was standing on the platform, waiting for the tram.

We affirmed our comfort and she stepped up the stairs into the tram, taking care not to shake us about too much. I watched the lights on the ceiling pass overhead as Abi found an open seat and sat down, leaning forward so as not to crush us against it. The ride to Bell Mountain was relatively quiet aside from some mild conversation on macro-micro politics until Phil brought up the upcoming Fall Community Festival, where micros and macros are given a space to share and were encouraged to interact with each other and develop positive rapport.

I remarked, "I missed the Spring Community Festival by a month when I moved here, what's it like?"

Abi, with her head turned towards the window so her voice was directed more towards us, replied, "It's a weekend-long event that's open around the clock from noon on the last Friday of March to noon the next Monday. The fall festival is the same, but it's in October instead. The Viridian Plaza is lit up with all kinds of stalls and attractions for the whole thing and a lot of the time the festivities extend well into the next week."

Jack nodded, smiling ear to ear, "It's an unspoken cultural duty for anyone that lives in Pocket City to go to either the Fall or Spring Festival every year."

I replied, "It sounds like it's it's own holiday."

Phil laughed, "The Fall Festival is my favorite time of the year, only beating out the Spring Community Festival because my allergies flare up in Spring and the humidity fluffs my fur really badly." We all laughed with him.

Abigail added, "It's worth it to go to both; I usually try to avoid theming the festivals around Easter and Halloween but they usually wind up absorbing the holidays anyways. They're definitely worthwhile experiences nonetheless; more than just a simple holiday celebration."

Jack sighed, his eyes focused on the past with a half smile, "This year's Spring Festival had a Lopunny dance troupe that dressed up real sexy and handed out sweets all week. And at night, they traded places with a bunch of Chimecho ladies that seemed to practically float off the ground as they danced under the fireworks."

Abigail nodded, "The Plaza looks so beautiful every year, and it's a huge source of pride for me that I can still get things to look as good as they did when Miss Kiki was the organizer."

I was curious, I had heard that name before, but couldn't remember where, "Miss Kiki?"

Abi answered as I felt the tram lurch to a stop, "My boss, the owner of the Geant Petit. She's not usually at the shop on Fridays or weekends, so you've probably never directly met her. The community festivals were her grandfather's idea, like, 150 years ago."

Abi stepped down the stairs off the tram and onto the concrete and my head began to spin as I looked out and saw ceiling of the tram cascade away from me, morphing into a beautiful, old fresco depicting a gorgeous misty landscape of gold grain fields and chartreuse trees. This must have been Goldenrod Station, in the Celadon District. All around us I could hear the indistinct chattering of the crowd as it morphed and shuffled about, filling tram cars coming and going, which we soon did ourselves. I felt the cool air of late September rush into the hood and saw that the murky clouds that had blotted out the sky this morning were beginning to break apart. We simply enjoyed the pleasant weather as Abigail walked towards Bell Mountain Park, which was only a few minutes from the station at her size.

I wasn't able to peek out of her hood beyond the small oval afforded to us due to the fabric being several times higher than I was tall, but as she walked I could see the hotels and businesses that towered high above us fade out as trees the likes of which I remembered from Verdant Turfs took their place. Massive green, gold, and ruby-colored oaks, elms, and birches, dwarfing even the macros that walked beneath them, rose high and wide overhead, soaking up the rays of the now fully emergent sun. I looked at Philip and Jacob, who were sitting mouths agape at the sheer size of the foliage as auburn leaves tumbled through the air around Abi, before she spoke up.

"Okay, I'm at the trailhead," she said, scooping us out of her hood. Her massive, peach-furred hand surprised us with its speed and dexterity, and we all subconsciously tried and failed to dodge it as it retrieved us. Abi giggled as she held us at face level.

We stared in awe for a moment at our surroundings. I was certainly more used to giant trees and wide vistas of nature, but this place seemed like something out of a storybook. Pristine forest stretched all around us, save for a small clearing that lead back to the paved rest stop we had come from, behind which I could see several small businesses blocking the path to the skyscrapers on the horizon. The trees all around us seemed aflame with reds, oranges, and yellows of every shade, the first of their leaves falling from the branches, a few evergreens adding splashes of cool color to the deep, warm landscape. Through a clearing to Abi's right, we could see a vast expanse of water and on the other side, what looked to be a literal mountain, even to the absolutely massive Abigail. I dared to peek over her pinky and saw a dead drop of nearly 100 feet to a dirt and gravel path that was being subsumed by overgrowth beneath her.

"Is everyone ready to begin?" she crooned, bringing her hand close to her face to inspect her passengers.

Jack hesitantly replied, staring across the lake, "...Is that Bell Mountain?"

Abigail giggled and shook her head, "Nope, *that's* Bell Mountain." She pointed her nose at an angle along the shore of the lake to our left, and we turned to see a huge mound, blued by distance, on the horizon. It stretched higher than the skyscrapers that poked above the trees to our right, and dwarfed the hills between it and us across the horizon.

"...How long is the trail?" I asked.

Abi hummed a low, thoughtful tone, looking at the burling gray clouds forming at the edge of the sky, "I think it's gonna rain again later today, so I'll be taking the shorter loop today. It's got a great view though, so don't worry." She gestured to a sign that had a map of the area and pointed to a blue path, "This hike usually takes me around three hours; two up, one down. It winds all the way around the lake here and crests at the top of that big hill over there," she gestured to the mountain across the lake before continuing, "Then it's a straight shot back down towards the rest area."

I tilted my head, "Couldn't you just take the straight path to get up to the view and then head back that way?"

"The shorter path has a bunch of small ledges that are a pain to climb after about a third of the way, so I prefer to go from this direction," Abi replied, "Besides when they put this hiking trail in, this was the way they intended for you to go."

"Well, I'm ready to begin," Phil stated. Jack and I agreed with a nod.

Abigail smiled and lowered us down to the ground, tilting her palm so we toppled onto the cool, damp dirt. We looked up at her, alarmed and confused until we saw her remove her hoodie, accidentally taking her shirt with it. We three micros exchanged lightning fast glances as we gawked dumbly at Abi's athletically-toned, cream-colored belly and her ample bosom, which attempted to escape her jet-black Togidas sportsbra. She smirked down at as we blushed while she adjusted her chest, and then tied the bright orange hoodie around her waist with the hood in front, dangling like a Kangaskhan pouch underneath her belly, before slipping her racerback back on. Abi gently plucked us from our stupor and placed us inside the now much less restrictive hood. We could see everything around us that was above Abi's waistline.

"Figured you guys would want to be able to see the pretty sights as we go!" Abigail chimed mischievously, "You didn't think I was gonna have you follow me on foot, did you?"

"You had me worried for a second there, Abi!" I said.

She stuck her tongue out at us and we laughed, mine made audibly more nervous by my knowledge as a country-born micro. I knew what kinds of things lurked in the woods and the last thing I wanted to think about was the possibility of running into a Scolipede or Galvantula. I had heard stories about giant bugs like those eating entire camping troupes of micros in one sitting. These reservations quickly faded however as Abi began her hike, and I relaxed as my trio of friends began speaking with each other, returning my mind to the conversation.

The sway of Abi's hips caused my stomach to turn, so I mainly listened and pitched in whenever it felt right to do so, preferring to lean into Abi's warmth and pass the time by watching the trees and clouds go by. I noticed after about an hour that Jack had become less vocal, and I glanced and saw him laying against the side of the hood looking straight up, but facing towards Abi rather than away. I looked up to see that her tank top had drooped forward a bit due to the incline and we could see straight up her shirt from our position. Her mammoth breasts, held back but not restrained by her black underwear, were bouncing ever so slightly as she walked uphill. My cyan fur betrayed a shade of purple.

Lucky bastard that Jacob was, with his orange fur to hide his blush, because Philip immediately gave me a swift kick and I looked to see him smiling with a knowing look on his face. He had been looking too. I grinned cheekily and shook my head, turning back to watch nature pass by, falling prey to the occasional glance as Abi trekked up the trail. Philip did the same but Jack never even noticed our exchange, the Growlithe boy was enraptured by the vast Arcanine architecture before him.

Conversation died out for a bit as we were all content to simply enjoy the hike as the three of us swayed in tune with the leafy crunch of Abi's footsteps. The nature in the park was gorgeous. I stared up at the sky as the clouds lazily drifted in from the edge, like tired dancers lining up for a rehearsal. Tree branches swathed in all manner of warm autumn shades and placid, sleepy greens swayed back and forth overhead, lacing across the sky like a canopy of forestial filigree. Birds darted here and there, flitting about amongst the trees, never stopping in our vision for long enough to be identified, but chirping and calling as they prepared for the coming storm. Between the birdsong and the wind rustling the crisp leaves overhead, a small, grumbling shifting could be heard from within Abi's body. This stirred our conversation again, and we began discussing food.

"Hungry, Abi?" Philip said.

"Nah, that's just the oatmeal packing its bags," Abi caught her breath as she trekked up the steepening hill, "It's getting evicted later today."

We all laughed, and I pondered aloud, "I wonder what macro berries taste like."

Abigail chuckled, "What makes you ask that?" she prodded.

"Well, when I eat oatmeal I always put rawstberries in mine, and I was wondering if macros do the same."

Abi replied, "I don't usually put berries in mine. Macro berries do exist, though!"

"I wonder how they grow them that big..." Jack said, furrowing his brow in thought.

Philip replied, "Actually, they're different species entirely. Take watmels for instance: macro watmels are wide and plain green with red flesh, and micro watmels are round and striped green with pink flesh," He smiled smugly as we looked impressed, "It was actually Silph Co. that developed the gene split that allowed us to cultivate intersize crops."

Abi hummed, "You think that might have something to do with why there's two sizes of people in the first place?"

Philip cleared his throat, "Now that I don't know."

Jacob piped up, "So you eat your oatmeal plain, Abi?"

She shook her head, "No, I put, like... spices and stuff in it."

Jack laughed, "Come on, Abi, we all know you secretly put micros in your oatmeal as a part of your hearty morning breakfast."

I laughed, "Jack, man, come on. Everybody knows Abi just skips the oatmeal and picks up a dozen micros from the Dunkin' Dunsparce on the way to work."

Philip chimed in, "The employees would know her on a first name basis but they can't keep any long-term staff because she keeps eating them!"

We all laughed again, and Abi looked down into the hood smiling toothily, "Best be careful, boys. If word gets out that I eat micros I'll have to eliminate the witnesses," before comically licking her chops.

Another macro came around a bend in the trail, a buff-looking Scrafty wearing camo and carrying a walking stick, and he gave Abigail a strange look upon hearing this. She smiled back and shrugged innocently, pointing to her hood in front of her. The Scrafty rolled his eyes, hiking past her as the clouds began to cover the sun. Abi picked up her pace a little bit, and the four of us resumed the silence, content to watch the scenery again.

While Jack blushed towards the sky, I laid back and focused on what was actually in it, watching the leaves tumble through the air. The leaves I had watched fall as a kid looked different from the leaves I was watching now, and my change in perspective only made my warped nostalgia feel even more surreal. It seemed as though I were moving through an asteroid field in some bright-blue space dimension, as they fell toward me and flitted around Abi as she walked. One of them drifted just past the entrance to her hood, casting a heavy shadow over the three of us for a split second before suddenly settling over Philip, snapping Jack from his stupor and making Phil jump and curse. I laughed with Abi as she grabbed the offending debris and dropped it behind her.

We micros began to chat amongst ourselves about the surrounding scenery as Abi's breathing got heavier during the final slope. With the slight angle we were now held at, we could see her approaching another turn in the path, moving to the side to pass a duo of teenaged macro girls. The girls in question, a Braixen with something purple dangling from her mouth and a Pikachu with dark energy behind her smile had been chatting before they suddenly hushed themselves and silently regarded Abigail as she passed them. The Braixen peered into Abi's hood and the Pikachu seemed to size her up as they walked past.

In the few seconds it took for the girls to pass Abigail, I locked eyes with the Braixen and saw her open her mouth just enough for me to identify the purple object dangling from it. It was a small Rattata girl, lying on her tongue, barely high-school aged, hyperventilating, and with an expression I couldn't read as it was one I had never seen before. Just as the Rattata girl looked out at us, the Braixen snapped her jaws shut and gulped hard, feeling the bulge slide down her throat with her fingertips. She winked at me and then was gone. I looked at Philip and Jacob with a horrified expression, but they were both too busy looking up Abigail's shirt to have noticed what had just happened. I looked up at Abigail, who had turned to watch them go around the bend, a steely firmness apparent in her furrowed brow. Had she seen?

Abi turned the corner and once out of the girls' sight she stepped off the trail through the treeline and started marching up a hill. She bent forward to maintain her balance, closing off the view of the sky with the view of her creamy, fluffy belly and Jacob elbowed me, his gaze still ogling our guide. I followed his eyes and then rolled mine before fixing my gaze as I saw that Abi's shirt was hanging low and her breasts swayed heavily with her labored breathing and rough steps up the hillside. As her breasts danced, I looked past them and through the collar of her tank top to see nothing but trees and dirt and silently wondered if Abi knew of some kind of special view or grotto to share with us. My thoughts were interrupted by the unmistakable growl of a hungry stomach, and I could feel my spine tingle with anxiety, spurred particularly by the thought of being followed by those two macro teens.

I was soon brought out of such grim thoughts as Abi stepped into a clearing overlooking the lake. She took a moment to stretch tall, and her shirt rode up to expose her cream-colored belly before she scooped the three of us out and set us on a large rock as she sat down beside us. The view was incredible. The lake seemed to go on for miles, the far edge blending into a mishmosh of warm colors, blanketed over the indistinct city skyline of Pocket City on the horizon. Surrounding the waters as they reached back towards us was an ocean of vivid reds and oranges, with yellows and yellow-greens interspersed amongst them and the very occasional viridian peak of an evergreen cusping above the rest. Overhead the clouds had finally reclaimed the sky and were darkening, preparing their full performance. Even Jack had taken his eyes from Abi and was gaping in awe at the sight before us, and the four of us simply drank in the view while the wind whispered through the trees surrounding us. The majesty of the moment was cut short by a torrid groan from Abi's stomach.

"Haha, sorry guys, I'm starving!" Abi rubbed her stomach with one hand and the back of her neck with the other, "When I decided not to hike I went for a jog instead and I haven't eaten anything but that oatmeal today."

Phil looked concerned as she took her bag off of her back and opened it, "You gonna be okay, Abi?"

Abi nodded, rooting through her backpack, "Yeah, I have protein bars and water in here somewhere. You guys want any?"

"Yes please."

"Mmhm."

"Hell yeah!"

Abi nodded and continued to dig through her bag. I looked at Jack, who turned away from the view and smiled at me. I smiled back and we both looked out over the view again. I didn't notice Phil was still looking back at Abi until he stood up and walked to the edge of the rock. I turned and went to stand beside him, and was about to ask him what was up before Abi walked over and sat a water bottle several times our height beside us before digging through her bag again, looking annoyed. She pulled her hand out and stuck her face inside, before letting out a muffled, "Fuck!" and dropping her bag on the grass below. Phil and I looked at each other, unsure of how to feel.

"I must have neglected to grab them because I never planned on coming out here today... shit!"

I had never seen Abigail upset before, and as she kicked her bag over to the rock we were standing on I was reminded by a little voice in the back of my head how small I was compared to her. Her movements were fast and strong; her bag traveled in a second what would have taken me ten or twenty to run. Jack joined us from behind as Phil and I exchanged concerned glances, before looking back towards the angry amazon Arcanine. She was redoing her ponytail, as it had come loose during the hike, and her belly growled again, demanding to be filled. She grimaced, frozen in place with her hair half-bunned.

Phil broke the silence, "You can make it back down the mountain, right? Like, are you gonna be okay?"

Abi huffed and shook her head, "I'm so hungry I've got a headache, Phil," her stomach groaned again, "If I don't get something in my belly before we get off the trail I'm going to be completely exhausted."

"I'm sure we can find some wild berries somewhere around here to give you some energy," I offered, "I grew up in the country so I might be able to help you identify any if you bring 'em to me."

Abi shook her head, "I've been through here dozens of times, the only reachable berries within a thirty minute hike are toxic."

Jack frowned, "Well, what are we gonna do then?" Abigail's belly answered his question, seemingly angry at being ignored.

Abi half-sighed-half-growled, tapping her foot as she looked around the clearing, apparently checking for something. Phil looked anxious, Jack looked concerned, and I felt my own stomach drop as realization set in. She stepped forward and knelt in front of the three of us on the edge of the rock. I felt a twinge of vertigo as she leaned in close and her face once again filled my view.

"I'm going to have to eat you."

Jack choked on a laugh and I chuckled dryly. Phil stayed silent. We all stared at her, frozen in place, and I began to sweat, my heart racing as I saw the hungry glint in Abigail's eyes. She gulped and I saw the monumental muscles of her throat flex and my memory flashed back to the Braixen. Suddenly the vastness of her body and sharpness of her fangs became much more apparent to me.

"Haha! Ha! You suure got us, Abi! Haha..." Jack said, unable to hide the nerves in his voice.

"I'm really sorry, guys," she looked down at us sympathetically as her belly growled, this one long and drawn out. Her brow furrowed in frustration and she sighed, "I haven't had to eat friends in a long time." Abi growled in anger, making Phil jump back, "Why did I have to be so fucking forgetful?!"

I spoke, my voice cracking, "Abi... you don't have to do this..." We all ducked as she reached behind us and grabbed the water bottle.

"I'm sorry Dom," she took a swig from the water bottle before setting it back down. Again, I watched her throat muscles clench, and I imagined the water slipping down her gullet, falling behind her collarbone, disappearing from sight. Her stomach gurgled softly for more and she said, "I can't do another hour of hiking on an empty stomach. It was a trial just getting up here."

Her expression betrayed no insincerity. The three of us looked at each other before looking back towards Abigail. I felt a sick mixture of dread and disbelief swimming through my gut, made worse by the location of said feeling reminding me of exactly why I was scared in the first place. Philip stared grimly up at her and was whispering under his breath as he clasped his hands together. Jack tensed, like he was going to make a run for it.

Abi sensed the tension, "Please don't run, you know I can catch you. Besides, being eaten by me is going to be better than being torn apart by nature." She looked at Philip, and Jack and I followed her gaze.

"S-she's right," he said, his voice deadpan, "Bell Mountain Park is crawling with giant bugs and other wildlife. We wouldn't last the weekend."

Jack scowled, tears forming in his eyes and Phil continued to mutter to himself.

"It's bittersweet but I do have one bit of good news."

The three of us looked up to Abigail, our minds filling with rapidly ripening, then rotting emotions.

"I should only have to eat two of you to fill me up enough to get down the hill."

Jacob snapped, "That's supposed to make us feel better?"

I interjected, "Jack m-"

"Don't you 'Jack, man' me! This is bullshit! She should be able to make it down the hill using the ledgy path with no issues and then we can hail a cab!"

Philip spoke up, "Yeah? And what the fuck do we do if she winds up collapsing from hunger?" We all cringed as Abi's stomach roared in agreement.

"Well if she can only eat two of us, I should go free because I've got a huge family waiting for me back on Hau'oli," said Jack.

Phil retorted, "I've known Abi the longest, she can't eat me, we have the deepest roots."

I kept my mouth shut, unable to find words to comfort myself or my friends and not wanting to argue in the face of death. I could feel my fur matting as I sweated nervously and my head grew light.

Abigail looked sad as she watched us bicker. She tried to clear her throat to get our attention but Phil and Jack were now shoving each other, fear crossing Phil's face and fury burning in Jack's. She huffed and put her hand between the two of them as I watched on, catatonic.

"I've got a totally fair way to decide who makes it out of this situation without visiting my stomach."

The three of us looked over to her, and she spoke simply.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors."

Jack scoffed, "You can't play Rock, Paper, Scissors with three people."

I spoke up again, "Actually, you can." I winced as Jack's angry glare burned into me, and continued, "Everyone throws a sign and if there's no winner, say, if everyone throws the same or all three signs come out, it's a draw. You play until everyone picks one of two signs; winners are safe for that round.

Abigail nodded calmly and Phil muttered that I was correct. Abi spoke, "That's how we decide this. It's fair, and I've judged plenty of rounds before."

I shuddered at those words, and Jack looked at us with determination, raising his hands. Phil seemed to swallow his fear and readied his hands with a grimace. I willed my dread-stiff arms to action and did the same.

"Close your eyes and throw your sign on 'shoot' in 'rock, paper, scissors, shoot,'" Abi sounded commanding as she sat up straight and leaned in, watching us intently. I could feel her damp breath wash over me as she salivated. My knees locked up.

"Don't open your eyes until 'shoot' and don't cheat."

The three of us closed our eyes, and Abi spoke again, "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot."

I opened my eyes and we had all thrown scissors. Phil was looking visibly sick and Jack's face was stone dead determined to beat us both.

"Draw. Go again."

We closed our eyes. "Rock, paper, scissor- Jack."

I didn't dare peek.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." Paper.

I opened my eyes. Phil had thrown scissors again, and Jack had thrown rock.

"Another draw. Go again." Abi sounded like an archon of fate above me, though her tone hadn't changed from melancholic sympathy. I felt like I was a plaything for a goddess, even if I was friends with her. I closed my eyes.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." Rock.

I hesitated to open my eyes, the tension was twisting my guts into knots. When I did finally look, I saw Phil and I had thrown rock and Jack was gone. Then I heard screaming and cursing above me and looked up to see the Growlithe boy gently pinched between Abi's thumb and fingers, steadily being carried towards her face. She looked at him with an unreadable expression, and sighed heavily. Her chest heaved as though she were preparing to take a shot of liquor, her eyes trained on him the whole time. She picked up her water bottle as he pounded his fists on her hands and tried desperately to twist himself free.

"Sorry Jack, you lost. Do you want me to end it quickly or swallow you whole?"

"Abi, please!" Jack's stony demeanor was broken, his face dripped tears and snot as he groveled, "We-we're cousins! Growlithe and Ar-Ar-Arcanine! Please don't eat me!" he sobbed. I sobbed. Phil sobbed.

"If you don't choose I'm going to choose for you."

Jack blathered gibberish as he flailed harder in her steadfast pinch, and I heard Phil puking beside me. I, however, couldn't tear my eyes away as Abi sighed again, this time sadly, and quickly placed Jack on her tongue, causing him to scream loud enough that his voice twisted and cracked for a split second before she closed him in her mouth. My vision clouded with tears as I watched her take a swig from the water bottle and saw her swish her mouthful before using those vast throat muscles again, the last sign of Jacob being a small bulge that disappeared from beneath her chin as soon as it had arrived. Her stomach roared.

Abi looked down at us and told us to get ready for the next round. I turned to Philip and hugged him. We both understood that whoever lost the next round would deliver one to Jack. When we separated, Abi began the phrase and we closed our eyes.

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." Paper.

I opened my eyes and saw Phil standing there, not looking at his closed fist, but meeting my eyes. We both silently wept, and I watched Abigail reach down and pick him up.

"Sorry, Phil. Am I swallowing you whole too?"

Philip sniffled, "I-I-I-I don't w-want to make Ja-ack's time in there a-any wors-s-se. S-swallow... me wh-whole."

Abi sighed again, her expression pained for a moment before she placed Philip on her tongue and blepped him in just like she did to Jack. She took a swig of her water and swished him around, then swallowed. His bulge in her throat seemed to crawl down her neck, and she gulped again, harder, pushing his past her collarbone and behind her breasts. When I saw him take the same drop that Jack did, and I doubled over, retching. She looked down at me, the tip of her tongue still sticking out of her muzzle a bit as she frowned. My fur stood on end, waving with electricity and I felt my clothes crawl across my body from the static field I was generating. She reached for me slowly, and I cowered in fear as her fingers approached.

I felt myself suddenly calm as all of my static released itself from my elbow with a snap, and looked up to see Abi's finger twitch as she pulled it back quickly, sucking on it for a second.

"You've got quite the shock, Dom."

=======++++=======

Inside the dark sac that was Abi's stomach, Jack screamed at the top of his lungs as Philip slid in through the sphincter above. He landed beside Jack, who was thrashing and screaming, and caught a few blows from Jack before he managed to get his arms around the younger micro. Jack sobbed as Philip hugged him, his voice cracking and full of fear as his legs began to itch.

The micros simply embraced each other as Abigail's stomach began to churn, splashing them with slimy, clear chyme. from all around them they could hear the noises of Abigail's body. Her heartbeat rang loud as her blood pumped throughout her body, and her guts groaned and gurgled below them as they sobbed and listened to the cacophony of doom that surrounded them.

=======++++=======

I panicked, "I-I'm sorry, Abi, I didn't mean to, i-it was an accide-"

"Shhhhhhhhhh..." she looked calmer than someone who had just eaten two long-term friends should, "I know."

Abigail reached for me again and I tensed up, but her fingers were gentle and experienced in the handling of micros. She palmed me, covering me with her other hand, and brought me to her face. I curled up into the fetal position and prayed to whatever would listen.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Dom. I don't like eating friends."

I opened my eyes and looked at her from between my arms. She had cupped her hands so that I was nestled, cradled in her palm. She kept her mouth closed as she cooed and shushed me. I watched her beaned thumb pad come forward and softly stroke my back. She was trying to comfort me. I didn't know how to feel about the fact that it was working.

"Are you okay to hang around here for a minute? I need to let my digestion kick in before I'll have enough energy to make the trek down the hill."

I simply shook. I had no response to that question. My fur began building static again as her silky finger fur brushed against me, and I felt tingly, guilty, angry, scared. I made no move to resist as Abi leaned against the rock we had rested on, tugging the collar of her shirt open and placing me on top of her burgeoning cleavage. She covered me with her shirt and tucked me slightly into her breasts, their supple weight pressing against me from all sides. It wasn't until I felt a strong, soft heat emanating from all around me that I realized I was shivering, freezing.

=======++++=======

Inside Abi's stomach, the two micros sobbed silently, shock starting to overtake them as they began to feel lightheaded. The chamber, which was already boiling hot, began to heat up, and Philip soon fainted, falling face-first into the thickening sludge of Abi's digestive juices. Jacob realized what she was doing, and cried as he sat against the wall of her stomach, weeping softly.

"I ca-can't believe this is happening," he said softly, "I wanna come home, big sister..."

Jack soon fainted as well, the heat from Abi overwhelming even his firey temperance. He sunk into her chyme as his and Philip's clothes dissolved. As her stomach tossed them about, they succumbed totally to her digestive processes, and their bodies began to break down into soupy chyme.

=======++++=======

I awoke abruptly to the shifting of a soft bed of fur below me. My mind was quickly flooded with the memories of my situation and I poked my head out of Abi's shirt to see that little time had passed since I dozed off. Abigail stood up, gathering her bag and hoodie. The cold autumn air nipped at my muzzle and I was tempted to sink into the soft embrace of Abi's cleavage, but I remained still, unsure of the survivability of the situation.

"I suppose you want to head home now? I can walk you there from the tram station if you want."

I didn't answer, just remained frozen. I wasn't sure what to do or to feel. On the one hand, she was my friend of almost a year now and I knew that I had never sensed any sort of malice from her before. I thought back to the Pikachu and Braixen girls we had passed, and the way my blood had curdled from that interaction. I didn't want to chance running into them. On the other hand, Abi had just swallowed my two oldest friends in Pocket City and seemingly held no reservations about swallowing me. Did I want this woman knowing where I lived? What if she came by for a snack on her way to work?!

"You don't have to answer yet, but I'm going to start hiking down the hill."

She removed me from her shirt and set me standing on the rock again, as she put her hoodie on. She picked up her bag and tossed it over her shoulder, then bent forward and gently picked my arms up. As I held them in place, she tied her drawstring on her hood around me underneath my arms and pulled it snug.

"Too tight?" she asked. I shook my head.

She tucked me into the collar of her hoodie and then drained the water bottle down her throat. I could hear her gulping as she did so, just above my head, and it left me feeling unsettled and disturbed, bringing tears to my eyes. She put the bottle into her bag and started walking through the trees again, back towards the trail, though not in the direction we had entered from.

We marched in silence through the trees and I hung from the collar of her hoodie, feeling the warm, dense fluff of her mane block out the chilly fall gust blowing against this side of the mountain. I thought to myself during this silence. About what I thought of Abigail and what I thought of how macros and micros worked in this world. We broke the treeline and Abi began walking down the trail and I watched the trees parallax against the lake as I thought back over the time I knew my friends and the time I had spent in Pocket City. I thought back to that cab driver from that morning, and I smiled to myself as I remembered his words.

"They're all bloodthirsty dullards with no regard for the lesser size. No micro with any amount of brains in his head would ever consider being friends with a filthy gigas."

I recalled when Abigail had walked Phil and I to our finals last year when a snowbank had runoff into the smallroads and no cab driver would take us to campus. I had just met her then. I recalled the spring rains, where I had gotten myself stranded deep in Vermilion Harbor while buying computer parts from an intersize couple before getting my bike trampled by a macro that didn't even notice me. Abigail had added an hour and a half to her normal jogging route to pick me up and deliver me to the Geant Petit despite the downpour. I remembered all the free coffees and all the good jokes and all the times she had just been an overall great friend to me and to Phil and to Jack. I lost myself in the good memories, reminiscing silently as it began to drizzle, tears rolling down my face.

It was Abigail who broke the silence. She spoke softly as she walked, "Do you hate me?" Her voice dripped with acceptance; she'd had to ask this before.

It took me a moment to get the words out, but they were true, "No, I don't hate you."

She sighed a sigh of relief. I went on.

"This is how this world works. We outnumber you 10,000 to one," I sighed, "This isn't even the first time I've almost been eaten."

"Seriously?"

"I grew up in a log cabin, borrowing from a quiet lesbian couple," I laughed, though it kind of hurt to remember, "Mina always had a temper when she drank. If my dad wasn't a borderline alcoholic it could have been me in a stomach when I was twelve."

"Oh my Arceus."

"Yeah," I said wistfully, "but no, I don't hate you. Despite today, I think you're a pretty good friend..." she started to speak before I added, "as long as your stomach remains full!"

Abi stifled a laugh and I laughed too, and then felt a tinge of guilt as I felt her gulp nervously against my back.

"I'm glad you don't hate me, Dominic," she sighed sadly again, and I saw her hand move to her belly, "I hope Phil and Jack don't hate me."

I sighed sadly as well, before changing the subject, "I guess I never asked you before, but what are your views on micros as a whole?"

Abi tapped her muzzle, apparently thinking, "I see them as people, just like anybody else, but it's really easy to depersonalize you guys..." Abi sounded wistful, "There's just so many of you and I never really payed any attention to you until I got into my last few years of high school."

I replied, frustrated, "That doesn't make any sense! We're either people or we're not people. Would you eat a macro friend if you needed food?"

Abi stopped, "Hmmmm... I guess I might call micros disposable people." She started walking again, "You're all people, with lives and everything else, but when it comes down to it, micros just don't mean that much to me."

I frowned, confused and more than a little angry, "So if I'm meaningless to you why have you put so much time and effort into being my friend? And Phil and Jack for that matter? Why are they suddenly meaningless when you're feeling a bit peckish?"

Abi sighed, "Dom, I still care about you guys. If there was any other way for me to have found food in a timely manner I would have tried it. You guys are my friends! You're just... disposable. But don't think for a minute that I wouldn't drop everything to help you! You. Are. My. Friend." Abi sounded as sincere as she could.

The rain steadily grew stronger. I rubbed my forehead. We walked in silence for a moment as I parsed my thoughts. I wasn't thrilled but I understood, "I think I get it... We're your friends, but if you need something to eat, or if you were to accidentally step on me, or sit on me, you wouldn't be too shook up about it. It's like losing a character in a game, you can always just make another one."

"Exactly," she replied, "I hope that doesn't sound too cruel, it's just how I was raised."

I heard a gurgle come from Abi's belly below, and morbid curiosity filled my head, "Abi, do you... like to... eat us?"

Abi licked her chops, "I like the flavor of most micros, yes." Before I could reply she added, "I did not enjoy eating Phil and Jack."

I nodded, though she couldn't see it, "How many... friends... have you eaten?"

Abi's reply was immediate, "Twenty-six."

My skin crawled at that number, but I continued speaking, "A-a-and how many micros total?" The conversation had long since stopped feeling real to me; this felt like standard friendly gossip at this point, like sharing a body-count. I guess that's what it was.

"I lost count about seven years ago when I was eighteen. By then I was over two-hundred, though I don't hunt like I did back then."

I didn't respond. I didn't know how to.

"Nowadays, I might pull some bystanders off the street on the way to work for breakfast if I'm too lazy to cook, or maybe as a snack during a jog, but I don't typically exceed ten inside of a week."

I had heard enough gossip for today. After a short silence I changed the subject, asking her plans for the fall festival and we continued to make small talk as the end of the trees approached and we walked out into a concrete clearing. I could feel my survival instincts waning and that cultural apathy returning. Macros eat micros, this was just a fact of life sometimes. I had always known this, ever since Mina had fed my father to Prisha, and I saw it happen more often than I realized. My feelings calmed over and I felt the cold numbness of day to day life in Pocket City return.

Abi stepped up onto the platform of the tram station and we waited in silence. As the tram took us back into the city, we watched the fields of tall grass and the forests morph back into the familiar wood-brick apartment facades of the Viridian District as the railway quietly cut through the area. We didn't speak to each other until the tram reached the station, and Abi stepped off the platform in the Indigo Station.

"You know, you never said if you wanted me to walk you home," Abi stated.

I replied, having finally found my answer "Oh, I live literally eight blocks south and then one block east of here."

As Abi began walking towards my apartment, I thought about my weekend plans, my mind falling back to Phil and Jack. We had planned to meet up at the Geant Petit and just waste Friday and Saturday together, but now those plans were busted. Abi stopped on my street and I pointed her towards my apartment building. She untied me and then set me down gently right outside my apartment.

I looked up at Abi and said, "Well, my weekend just got a whole lot emptier, though it's not like I had much planned," I put my hands in my pockets and kicked a sidewalk pebble into the road, "Mind if I tag along with you to Cinnabar? I've never been there before."

Abi smiled down at me and nodded, "I'd love to have you. I'll pick you up around noon?"

I smiled up at her.

"Come pick me up after lunch."