Impa landed into the thick liquid that filled Zelda’s stomach, she sunk several ‘feet’ before her descent slowed to a stop and she was able to right herself and kick her way to the surface. Her skin was starting to tingle. Her head breached the surface and she took a deep breath of the foul, very humid air only to be forced back into the stomach acids by her old friend. That bloody strawberry pulp! Gasping, she felt the thick acid slide down the wrong throat as she sunk several inches into the acid, her throat burned both with the acid and the sudden presence of liquid where it shouldn’t be.

Again, Impa forced herself to the surface internally swearing that if she ever got out of there, she would smash every strawberry she saw from then onwards. Her head burst through the surface and she began to violently cough, bringing up small droplets of Zelda’s stomach acid, snot running from her nose as she felt an involuntary shiver through her body. She wiped the gunky slime from her eyes and looked around.

Her vision was blurred and her eyes were stinging, the whites of her eyes burned red. Squinting she saw what looked like a piece of apple, though a severely chewed up one, more like mush than fruit. She kicked her legs and swam towards the fruit, gritting her teeth as she felt her arms start to sting.

She grabbed at the mushy lifeline, her arms sinking into it as she pulled herself atop it. Her legs sunk into the mush but thankfully she didn’t fall all the way through. She looked down at her arms, the bands that had protected her arms were gone and the sleeves of her robes were soaked, the cuffs were even frayed. She looked down at her legs and was relieved to see her shin guards were still there, though the emblem of her clan was a bit faded, unfortunately, her shoes were less…immaculate. Rotating her ankles, she saw that their soles had started to wear away, there was even a small hole in the right one.

She checked her hands, her skin looked paler than normal but there was no injury, and her nails were clean. She closed her eyes and felt for her mana. It was still fresh. It was healing her. She needed to be careful, the last thing she needed was to run out of steam in Zelda’s stomach.

She rubbed again at her eyes; the blur lessened but it was still like there was a fog in her eyes. With the haunting pale blue ethereal light, it was like she was in some nightmarish dream realm. Impa collected her hair in her hands and began to ring the gastric acid out of it, it made her fingers tingle and itch. She looked around, there were several chewed-up mushy collections of fruit and pulp floating like tiny islands. Steam bellowed off the surface of the strange liquid, it was partially clear but at the same time had dark spots and reflected the spectral light. The walls of her stomach were a mixture of pinky-red grotesque patterns with veins of bright light blue mana weaving between them. Like a gross yet beautiful crystal cavern with an internal swamp. That just happened to stink of vomit.

Impa actually caught herself thinking how she would like to explore a realm like this before forcing reminding herself that this wasn’t some expedition or adventure into a new realm. This was her best friend’s stomach. And she had to get out of there fast if she didn’t want to end up as a nutritional snack or patch of fat on her body waiting to be burned away.

Zelda stretched out in her chair, arms above her head as her toes curled as she angled her barefoot, feeling a rather pleasant tingling in her stomach. A rather low tickling sensation. Her nipples were actually starting to harden. The pleasant sensation of the tips of her nipples rubbing against the fabric of her bra as she stretched only served to heighten the pleasure, which also seemed to make the tickling sensation in her stomach more pronounced.

“Mmm, I should have fruit more often,” Zelda said with a pleasant sigh, she plucked another strawberry from the rapidly emptying bowel and placed it on her tongue, sucking it into her mouth. Zelda positioned the strawberry at the side of her mouth and began to slowly press into it with her teeth, enjoying the sensation and flavour as the juices were slowly forced out until finally it popped and she began to suck on the fruit. It wasn’t as good as the last strawberry but still, the sweetness was divine.

Tilting her head back she let the sweet nectar trickle along her tongue and down the back of her throat before sending the chewed up now dried-out fruit down to follow it.

Impa gripped the fruity mush. The gooey slimy substance squelched between her fingers, her fingertips pressing through the substance and against the palm of her hands. Zelda’s stomach acids had shifted from an almost tranquil cesspit to deadly rapids. Glittering waves rose from the surfaces, bouncing off the sides of Zelda’s stomach only to turn back towards the centre.

The islands of fruit mush flew from the surface and were consumed by the dark underside of the waves, others floated atop them.

Impa screamed as she felt the current suck her island towards the base of a rising wave. Her legs squeezed together, crushing a large chunk of pulp between her legs, it rose up between her thighs and began to seep over her legs, entombing them. Impa didn’t notice. She stared up, eyes wide with terror into the black underside of the wave, the curl of the wave eclipsing the ghostly glow of the princess’s mana.

The pulp in front of her was ripped away, separating into crumbs as it was sucked beneath the surface. The noxious stomach gasses filled Impa’s lungs as she began to hyperventilate, curling in on herself in a vain attempt to desperately hold on to her rapidly disintegrating island.

The pulp was slurped into the waves. Impa was engulfed in the overly warm liquid, her islands breaking apart beneath her. She felt bubbles begin to build beneath her before erupting into a flurry and shooting up around her. It was like being trapped in an underwater burning jacuzzi on full blast. She could feel the bubbles filling and then tearing through her hair. Her skin was starting to burn, her cheeks were stinging.

Impa kicked her legs. The current continued to pull her down, her kicks were futile. In the burning darkness, she felt herself being pulled further downwards. Pressure was beginning to build in her chest. She could hold her breath for a while but not forever. She needed to get above the surface.

She thrashed her arms and legs in desperation. She was sinking further and further. She was going to drown. She felt her arms and legs starting to burn, her face now felt like it was being held in an open flame. Tears seeped from her eyes only to be absorbed into the gastric ocean that threatened to consume her.

The pressure was building.

She was going to die.

Her movements slowed. Despair settling in.

She didn’t blame Zelda. She should never have climbed into the bowl. She should have taken her chances climbing to the floor and then her friend’s body. Or better yet she should never have messed around with magic like she had. Don’t try to fix what isn’t broken.

She opened her mouth to release her breath.

Acid flooded her mouth.

She shuddered at the rancid acidic taste of bile.

She could feel her tongue fizzing.

She was going to be digested.

She had become food.

Suddenly the current vanished.

Impa froze in place. The current was still there but it was much subtler, more like a pond than surging rapids approaching a waterfall. She began to kick her legs again and felt relief as she began to ascend, she kicked harder and thrust out her arms, swimming her way back towards the surface.

She forced her eyes open.

She needed to breach the surface before she drowned.

Immediately her eyes began to burn.

Her vision was blurred and shimmering. But she could just make it out. Out of the darkness of the depths, she could see the rippling mana glow above.

Her lungs felt like they were going to burst as she finally broke through the surface once again. Immediately she spat out the stomach acid, coughing violently as she treaded ‘water,’ tears streamed down her red cheeks, bloody grazes glowed with a much paler light blue than the mana illuminating the cavern around her and slowly the grazes closed.

Most of the mushy islands had vanished beneath the surface. Where once a dozen islands of mashed fruit of various sizes floated in Zelda’s stomach now only three remained. Impa kicked her way to the closest ‘land’ mass. It was hard to tell the colour in the harsh yet dim light of the mana, but it looked like a cube of apple. She flung her arm over the fruit and began to clamber herself atop it.

The fruit tipped with the sudden additional weight, threatening to flip over. Impa kicked against the fruit’s side and flung herself on top of it. The apple bobbed in place briefly submerging beneath the gastric acid but to Impa’s relief bobbed back to the surface.

Her relief turned into a burst of elation as she found her island bobbing its way towards one of the walls of the cavern before slowing to a stop as it tapped against Zelda’s stomach lining. Impa placed her hands against the wall, it was warm to the touch and beyond damp, she traces her fingers over the mana veins, shuddering as she felt a jolt of energy surge into her shocking her back.

The cube began to float away from the wall. Impa threw her arm over the side and submerged it in the ocean of acid and began to paddle her way back to the wall, gritting her teeth as she felt her arm start to sting again. Once she was close enough, she rapidly pulled her arm back from the acid and looked at it, holding it close to the mana veins. Her hand was covered in deep bloody gashes and her arm was decorated with more minor ones. The wounds began to dimly glow and the skin gradually repaired itself leaving no trace of the wound other than the thin pink liquid covering her arm.

She closed her hand into a fist only to immediately relax it, wincing in pain. It wasn’t as bad as before but it still stung. She raised her other hand, making a fist, using her tender hand to attempt to maintain her balance by holding onto the edge of the apple she punched the wall. Then again. And again. She punched the lining of Zelda’s stomach as hard as she could.

“Zelda! It’s me Impa!” she shouted or rather attempted to shout, her voice was hoarse, the acid having burned her vocal cords, each word she ‘shouted’ brought a fresh wave of pain to her throat but she needed to get out of here.

She continued to pound the gooey walls, unaware that as she did so all she was doing was granting her friend the pleasant ‘tickling’ sensation she was starting to enjoy.

Sweat dripped into her eyes. Her chest was heaving with exhaustive breaths. She threw a final punch with all her strength. Unfortunately, the swing had caused a shift in her weight, half her ‘island’ began to submerge, she stumbled and her fist struck one of the mana veins. Again the sensation of magical lightning shot through her and sent her flying back.

She splashed back into the acid.

With a twisted form of luck, however, she landed on her back this time. It hurt like hell but she didn’t submerge. She bounced off the surface of the acid and flopped back onto the surface.

Righting herself and again feeling the stinging sensation begin again except now even her torso was starting to hurt. Miniscule bubbles began to rise around her. She was starting to digest. She looked around, fear again gripping her heart. She had ended up back in the middle of Zelda’s stomach and none of the islands were exactly close.

She began to try to swim towards one of the islands, it looked like a section of grape, maybe its natural buoyancy was the reason it was still afloat. The sound of rushing water echoed into the cavern. Impa looked up, following the sound, she could just make out the blurry image of the opening from Zelda’s oesophagus, a dark waterfall suddenly began, and as it fell it turned from black to a weird light purple as it shimmered in the blue light.

Impa tried to swim out of the way but she was too slow and found herself showered again in the sticky sweetness of strawberry juice mixed with saliva. She wiped her eyes, teeth gritting as she internally cursed the scarlet fruit again. She opened her eyes, blinking away the remaining juice, just in time for her to be struck with something half as big as her and very soggy.

It pushed her back under the surface and she found herself slurping into the fruit, the force of the fall causing her back to sink into the pulp. She tried to pull away but once again she stood. She felt her chest starting to burn again. She was so surprised, it had happened so quickly, Impa didn’t have a chance to take a breath. If she couldn’t pull herself free, she was certainly going to drown.

No matter how hard she pulled just as before she was stuck.

The mushy pulp began to shift rotating as it bobbed in the acid until thankfully Impa breached the surface and she took a great lungful of the precious vomit-scented air. Never had she been so thankful for the smell of bile. She felt a strong pressure on her head but she was just thankful she could breathe again.

She rapidly blinked her eyes trying to banish the acid from her eyes. For a few seconds, she saw nothing but darkness until her mana healed her eyes and her sight returned. It was then she realized why she felt a growing pressure in her head, she was now adhered to the bloody pulp upside down and with each bob of the mass, she felt her head almost touching the acidic surface, her hair floating upon, she could hear the tell-tale sound of fizzing and she hoped it was the strawberry being broken down and not her hair. Steam began to rise from where her hair floated further obscuring Impa’s sight.

Zelda’s stomach began to gurgle again. The sound echoed around Impa, amplified by her size and the almost echo chamber structure of the organ. The sound made the stomach acids ripple kicking up small waves. Impa cried out as a wave crashed into her face. Her face began to burn and she couldn’t tell whether it was Zelda’s stomach juices or her own blood that dripped down…or up her cheeks.

Impa let out a resigned sigh, if she was lucky the strawberry will break up enough for her to escape and make her way to a ‘safer’ position. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be digested first. The sound of deep foreboding gurgles began to fill the air again. The gastric juices became to shift restlessly as if preparing for another attack on their sticky captive. Impa squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself, when something hot, wet and twice the size of her head splashed onto the underside of her head.

Impa cried out as she felt her burning skin crawl as another drop soon fell from the ceiling above, it was as if Zelda’s stomach was deliberately debating new ways to make her stay less enjoyable. Gritting her teeth again she began to spit, hoping to at least remove the acid from her lips and while it worked partially it also allowed traces to slip into her mouth, assaulting her tongue with the taste of vomit with a hint of strawberry and the burning sensation that was beginning to feel like second nature. She could already feel her mana healing the burns as the acid opened fresh wounds, a rapid cycle that wouldn’t end until the acid had burned itself away.

Her own stomach tightened, cramping with disgust as she fought to keep the substance inside her down. And had it not been for the fact she was upside down she may have succeeded, her face now bright pink with blood rush, her mouth was forced open as a tirade of bile gushed from her mouth. Her chest began to thrash as she began to violently cough causing her vomit to be interrupted and come out in erratic bursts, decorating her once beautiful face in deep brown thin liquid.

Her prison began to violently bob with each outburst, her back arching further into the fruit and causing its balance to shift as her chest heaved and a fresh wave escaped.

Her cheeks stung but it was almost nothing in comparison to the ocean of acid she had already swum through repeatedly. Her face was already going numb as if her mana was adapting it to the constant influx of irritation and pain inflicted on her.

Her head submerged and Impa felt her vomit force it's way out again. She was raised again with the momentum of the fruit’s buoyancy. She wretched but no more would come, only vile-tasting saliva and even that was thick and dry, signifying the tell-tale signs of dehydration. The fruit dipped again, the surface brushed over her breasts. She hadn’t even realized how weak her clothing had become until the final layers flaked away and she felt her nipples embraced by the acid.

She rose back crying out in pain. Her breasts streaming blood from where her nipples had once been, the area began to glow. Again she was submerged, this time up to her stomach. The motions repeated themselves and with each submersion, Impa felt herself sink deeper. Her crotch. Her thighs. Her knees. Her ankles. And then finally her feet were submerged.

She didn’t feel the fruit begin to rise this time, however. The pulpy remains of the strawberry had taken on too much acid. Its weight had increased and its structure was breaking up.

Impa was sinking. Leaving a trail of tiny bubbles behind her as her prison continued to dissolve, breaking apart like a rock falling through the atmosphere. She could feel her own body burning. Her flesh had been burned away ounce by ounce as she was being broken down by her friend’s stomach.

Her clothing went from drenched and ‘holey’ to shredded. The fabric rapidly melted as she descended further. Pieces of slimy almost plastic-like fabric drifted off her body, vanishing into the darkness around her to be burned away until finally not a stitch remained on her body. Forcing her to offer her clothing to the divine temple around her.

Her nudity didn’t even cross her mind. She couldn’t even feel the blood slipping out of her body as new holes formed. Her nipples had been replaced by widening holes, her fingers were breaking up, her smaller toes had already been consumed, and it was as if she was being swarmed by millions of minuscule piranhas.

Her lungs began to burn. She couldn’t tell if it was the lack of oxygen or if the acid had finally reached her lungs or both. Her body began to come free of the pulp as it separated and burned away, not nearly as complex a snack as she was. When she felt her harms drift in the acid as she sunk further Impa finally let herself open her eyes.

They drifted open without effort, not like previous times before when she forced them. She could feel the nerves in her eyes ignite with liquid fire but with it combined with the rest of the agony, it was barely noticeable. Her eyes drifted up, searching through the darkness before pausing when she spied the glimmering moonlight above. No. It was Zelda’s mana.

It had to be several miles to the surface. No, just dozens and dozens of inches. Zelda wasn’t a giant. She was tiny, she was minuscule. She was nutrition to this goddess.

Her feet, or what was left of them were slurped into a tight space and like a string of spaghetti she was sucked in. she was forcibly funnelled into a tight fleshy pipe.