“So, I hope this has been educational,” Dominic said with a smug smile, brandishing his Ultra Ball in Bella’s face. “I enjoy testing my strength against other trainers as much as the next individual, but it is out of respect for the institution of Pokémon battling that I chose to… tolerate your request. Suffice to say, you would be clearly outmatched.”

Bella’s eyebrows had been furrowed into a semi-permanent unibrow, her ire having grown over the course of Dominic’s several minute tirade. She had only started her Pokémon journey three weeks ago, and already she had blasted past the first three gyms of the Sinnoh region. It was a rare sunny day on the grassy plains and cliffs of Route 212, and feeling confident after her victory against Barefoot Fighting Genius Maylene, Bella was in a mood to test her assortment of Pokémon against the local trainers. She had spotted a young, well-dressed trainer in the tall grass, commanding a shiny mint green Grotle to continue thrashing a barely conscious Ralts into submission. It was a bit of a disturbing sight to Bella, but she gulped and stomached it. After all, he appeared to be a beginner like her; maybe she could teach him a bit more about having manners and respect for the environment around him (besides, currently he was the only other trainer here, so her options were limited).

So, Bella waved him over and inquired about having a Pokémon battle.

To say that the trainer’s guffawing response was humiliating to the poor Bella… was an understatement.

“You? Think you have a chance against me?! The Dominic Moriarty?! Don’t make me laugh; I am not interested in sharpening my Pokémon against inbreds like you commoners.”

Bella was incensed. “What, exactly, makes me so different from you?” She held her hand to her own forehead and black bangs mostly covered by a red cap, and she gauged that the two were roughly the same height. Dominic looked insulted Bella dare come close to touching him.

“You really don’t know who I am? Who my family is? Or how I came to possess some of the rarest, most powerful, well-bred Pokémon in all Sinnoh?”

And thus, his rant began. After the first few stanzas, Bella was already looking for a way out, but despite his dim view of peons like her Dominic seemed insistent on having Bella stay for the whole thing. Bella breathed out a frustrated sigh and said under her breath, “And here I thought raising Pokémon was about making them your friends, not some status symbols.”

“A fair point of view, for babies. Unlike you, I live in the real world. And I know that to get anywhere in life, you need to come from good stock, such as myself!” And with that, Dominic recalled his Grotle, having patiently waited by his side the duration of his speech. It looked bored.

Dominic began scanning the grass for his next target. Bella put a finger to her chin, and an idea came to her. “How about we test that theory?”

“Hm, what was that?”

Bella put her hands on her hips and glared accusingly at Dominic. “A match! All my Pokémon versus all of yours! If you’re really so good, you’ll win effortlessly. And besides, I’m sure I’m a more stimulating opponent than Starlies and Ralts.”

Dominic at first sneered at Bella, then his own face turned inquisitive. He seemed to give the challenge some thought. “I might, but a commoner like you whose coffers are so dry could never give me anything commensurate to the effort I would put forth in beating you.”

I think I’m gonna hurl, Bella thought. Nevertheless, she swallowed the urge. “Oh, I have plenty more to offer than cash. Hey, Dom, has a girl ever let you kiss her before?”

Dominic turned bright red. “That’s, I, well, not – I, ah, that’s hardly pertinent!”

Bella tapped her lip and tried to look as cutesy as possible. “Well, if you win, I’ll give you a big ol’ smooch! Promise! And if I win…” Dollar signs were already filling Bella’s vision.

Dominic thought on the challenge a bit more, then his lips curled into a smug smile. “Deal.”

“Make it official?” Bella said, pulling out her Pokedex. Dominic nodded. He was surprisingly agreeable when he wasn’t being a little twerp. The two sent one another’s trainer IDs to each other and confirmed the battle. Then they each retreated to opposite sides of the grassy field.

“This’ll be the easiest haul I ever make,” Bella said to herself, unclipping a ball from her belt and giving it an affectionate rub. “Nidoqueen! I choose you!”

Bella wound up her arm, having grown surprisingly tough and strong from the past year of throwing balls, rocks, sticks, and other household objects in preparation for the day she would finally be allowed to wield a Pokémon of her own. Though the precise way one throws a Pokeball has little effect on the performance of the Pokémon in question, it was Bella’s favorite way to roleplay the role of a trainer, and it definitely hyped her up.

The ball rolled off her fingers. It flurried outward in an arc, opening at the apex of its ascent. From within, the red data coalesced into the form of a massive, four-legged Pocket Monster. Her sky-blue partner Pokémon alighted on all-fours before letting out a growl, balancing atop its thick hind legs, muscular after their journey. Her tail, girthy and wide though it was, let out a crack like a whip, an intimidation tactic. Nidoqueen absentmindedly scratched at her chest, soft and fatty, but still nevertheless a solid source of protection, before she laid her eyes on Dominic at the far side of the field. Letting out a hot snort, she waited for the trainer to send out his first Pokémon.

Dominic gulped. The way the Nidoqueen eyed him was… uncomfortable. But he managed to grasp a ball from his satchel. Holding it in his fumbling fingers, he tried to trick himself into thinking he was confident. “Don’t worry, Staravia. This will be over quick!”

***

To his credit, the battle was over quite fast.

Dominic slumped to his knees, the dirt ruining his designer pants imported direct from Lumiose. “No! It can’t be! How could I lose to a peasant like you...?!”

Frankly, Bella was almost as shocked as he was. She hadn’t expected to lose, of course. But she hadn’t expected such a blowout either. Nidoqueen on her own managed to knock out all six of Dominic’s Pokémon – his Grotle, his Camerupt, Drifbloon, even his Absol, among others. Each fight took less than a minute. It was… sorta funny, if Bella was to be honest. Too bad nobody else was around to witness the kid get wrecked.

“You did fantastic, Nidoqueen!” Bella said, trotting up to her Pokémon and wrapping her arms only three-fourths the way around her shoulders and torso. Nidoqueen fell onto all fours, nuzzling up against Bella’s cheek with affection. The pair bonded in appreciating one another’s warmth.

Then, Bella let go. She turned to face Dominic, still stewing on the ground in his own misery. Pulling out her Pokedex, she took long, confident strides up toward him. “Now, about my victory fee… I usually take my winnings in s81;, though I am more than willing to accept Battle Points or Pokecoins if you have any.”

Dominic aimed his gaze at the ground. “This is… unfathomable. There can only be one explanation to explain such a humiliating loss.”

He pointed up to Bella. “You cheated! You will receive no such compensation.”

Bella was aghast. Flummoxed. Utterly incensed. “Excuse me? I cheated? I would never cheat! I wouldn’t even know how.”

“Uh huh! There is simply no other way around it! My Pokémon were top of the line, and that bloated oaf of a Nidoqueen cut through them like wheat in a field! What sorts of performance-enhancing Poffins do you have in that bag of yours? Did you sneak an X-Attack while I wasn’t looking?”

Bella stammered, shocked by this turn of events.

“No matter,” Dominic said, returning to his old self. “Once I tell my father of this, I will see to it you get what you deserve. My family has strong connections to the International Pokémon League Association, you know. How would you like it if Cynthia found out there was a cheater running amok in her region? You’ll never battle in this country again! I’ll make sure of that!”

Dominic slung his bag over his shoulder and began to stomp away.

“H-hey! Wait, you have to…”

A beeping noise from Bella’s Pokedex prevented her from leaping after Dominic just yet. She stopped and looked down at it.

Error! Error! Trainer has left before dispensation of reward. Permission to open special menu? Y/N

Bella raised a brow, and she tapped the Y button.

Unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of your opponent. Please select an option of how you would like to proceed.

·       Ignore (This battle will not be counted)

·        

·       Report unsportsmanlike trainer to Pokémon League Authorities

·        

·       Other

·        

Well, considering how high this kid’s connections apparently went, Bella doubted reporting him to the League Authorities would do her much good. She tapped the “Other” button.

Suddenly, the menu changed to the Dex App Store, housing hundreds of thousands of various apps hosted on the store that she could download to her Pokedex right now. She seemed to have been directed to various apps advertised as being made to resolve battle disputes, most of which involved negotiating or figuring out an alternative means of payment. But one app caught Bella’s eye: Micro-Solv.

Tired of people skipping out on their battles? With this handy application using the built-in Dittowear technology in your own Pokedex, you can ensure they can’t Run Away from their problems! NOT LEGAL IN UNOVA.

Bella whistled. Good thing they’re not in Unova, then. She downloaded it. A moment later, the Micro-Solv menu loaded.

Is the trainer you wish to subjugate [Dominic_Moriarty]? Y/N

Bella was getting nervous at that choice of language. She glanced behind her; her Nidoqueen was scratching its hind quarters on the grassy patch.

She glanced back ahead. Dominic was getting further away. “Hey!” Bella said. “You’re sure we can’t just talk this out?”

“I do not negotiate with plebians like yourself! You are a stain upon the Pokémon community, and I’d just as sooner put hot coals in my eyes than –”

Bella was now feeling a lot less concerned about what might happen if she used the app. She pressed the Y button.

ZZZAPP!!

The streak of lightning leapt from Bella’s Pokedex. It strung to a nearby tree, spurting out of a branch, daisy-chaining from bush to bush until the surge hit the Pokedex in Dominic’s back pocket. He was enveloped in a flash of light, screeched, then disappeared. His satchel and balls fell to the ground where he stood.

“Oh my gosh!” Bella shrieked, dashing over in the direction of his vanishing. Nidoqueen, noticing her master’s sudden distress, lumbered slowly in her wake. Every step it made caused the ground to noticeably rumble. Memories of her quick movements and laser reflexes had all but been forgotten; she now played the part of a large, lethargic animal with the frame to match. Bella’s Nidoqueen was not a fat Pokémon by any stretch of the word. In fact, what wasn’t muscle could be more accurately described as a protective layer of blubber, and even then only as much was needed to be advantageous in battle and in the wild. Yet, without a battle to fight, Nidoqueen saw no need to rush.

Bella herself could scarcely see the need to rush; it just felt like the right thing to do. She hadn’t even gotten to the point in the forest she thought she saw Dominic disappear when she heard a high-pitched whine of “OUCH!” come from right underneath her.

Suddenly, Bella stopped. She looked around but could see no sign of Dominic. His satchel was on the ground, a few paces away. Ultra Balls, used and unused, lolled out its open mouth.

Bella was just about to redouble her search when she heard, “Down here!”

Bella looked down.

There, she had inadvertently stepped on him. Dominic, brought down to the size of a doll. He was pinned beneath Bella’s sandal, and he was trying to move the massive limb off of him. He pushed and pushed, apparently ignorant or uncaring of the fact that the appendage he attempted to budge was practically the size of a car to him, and it was itself attached to the leg of a very athletic young girl who had quite literally been going on a cross-country trip by foot or by bike. That sandal, and Bella’s foot by extension, were not going to move unless Bella made them move.

“Doma… Dom… what’syername?” Bella asked, peering down at the fuming little miscreant beneath her shoe.

“Dominic! It’s Dominic! And get your stupid foot off me, this instant!” Dominic loosed myriad punches on Bella’s exposed toes. It didn’t hurt… but it did tickle a bit.

Bella simply stared down at his squirming form, only half exposed underneath her foot. She could feel she hadn’t hurt him too much, and she was making a point of not to step down too hard. She looked back at her Pokedex where it apparently registered a successful use of the app.

You are now free to negotiate the terms of your victory!

There was also a reverse button on there, but Bella wasn’t quite keen on using that yet.

Bella crouched down, squatting, bringing her face closer to Dominic’s shrunken form. “Oh, I’ll let you go, alright. And when I do? I want you to tell everyone you know that I beat you.”

Dominic practically did a spit take. “What?! Fat chance! I’ll never in a million years, ah, ah ow, ow, ow, owwww, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!”

Bella eased up the pressure, and Dominic caught his breath. “That didn’t sound very sincere.”

Dominic nodded frantically. “It’s sincere, it’s sincere!”

“Hmm…” Bella murmured thoughtfully.

At around that time, her steadfast Nidoqueen had just finished its lumbering journey to her side, on all fours still. Bella gave her a few nuzzles out of habit. Then, she moved her sandal off Dominic, who flopped on his side, sucking in as much air as he possible could. But it wasn’t over yet; Bella scooped him up immediately and held him before her squatting form.

“Hmmm… Nidoqueen? What do you think? Huh? Think I should let him go? Do you think he’s being sincere?”

Nidoqueen nosed Dominic’s chest, leaving his clothes drenched in a thin sheen of sweat. “Agh, get that thing away from me!”

“Hey!” Bella snapped. “My beloved Nidoqueen is not a thing! And, you’re not putting yourself in my good graces by acting so bitter.”

“I don’t c-care,” Dominic said, shivering under the intense gaze of the massive cyan Pokémon. “I-I will not be touched by… that!”

Bella shrugged. She had proved her point well enough. She was about to reverse the shrinking with her Pokedex when an evil thought came to her.

No, she thought. Of course not. That’d be murder.

…

But who would be committing the murder? A Pokémon can’t commit murder. And, since there’s nobody around…

It was true. They were completely alone, except for the birds and the Beedrills.

“Hey… Nidoqueen…”

Nidoqueen glanced with attention. Something in Bella’s voice demanded it.

She held out Dominic before Nidoqueen’s snout. “Taste him.”

“WHAT?! No, NO–”

Shhhhhlurrrrrp…!

Dominic was silenced, in utter awe and bafflement at what had just happened to him. Nidoqueen had just dragged her long, sopping tongue across his body, from his feet to the tips of his head. Pokémon drool had gotten in every orifice, and now his entire anterior side was coated in it. Thick droplets of spit were collecting into orbs, dripping down into a tiny patch of dark brown in the dirt before disappearing in the moist grassland.

“How does he taste?”

Nidoqueen grumbled, as though weighing the responses in her head. Then, she let out a slight chirp of assent. In human-speak: ‘not bad.’

“W-w-why did you do that?” Dominic chittered out, turning his head to look at Bella. “I-I-I I said I’d… I’ll give you… y-y-y-your money…” Bella, however, was no longer acknowledging him.

Bella spoke again to her Pokémon. “How do you feel about a nice after battle snack?”

Dominic was aghast. Petrified. Incoherent. He looked with dreadful pleading to the massive Pokémon, which gave a brief nod and a light moan. Why not?

Dominic felt something in him break at his fate suddenly being sealed by the decision of this brutish beast, as though he were nothing more than a Pokepuff. He was the Dominic Moriarty! The next Sinnoh League champion! Was this all his existence would amount to?

“Alright!” Bella said. “Open up wide!”

Dominic found his voice. More than that, he found the energy to fight. And so he thrashed. He thrashed in defiance, in anger, in abject fear. He thrashed in Bella’s grip. “No, NO! STOP THIS! STOP THIS AT ONCE! STOP THIS OR–”

“Or what?” Bella asked, coldly, casually.

At their sizes, Bella’s innocuous query was enough to overpower Dominic’s shrill screams. He looked at her casual, brilliant grin, and shrank somewhere in himself.

“I-I-I am…”

“What are you, exactly? Some fancy-pants rich boy who can buy all the Master Balls he wants with his daddy’s money?” Bella sneered, her pale green eyes boring holes into Dominic’s soul. “Don’t make me laugh.”

“T-t-that’s…”

“I will tell you what you are, what’syername,” Bella whispered, bringing her lips closer to Dominic’s tainted form. “You… are nothing.”

Dominic gulped.

“You’re a sad, sad little man. You had every resource in the world, and you lost to me. Me! Just how pathetic…!” Bella couldn’t stop herself from letting out a lovely giggle. “Can you even fathom that? Think… if you couldn’t beat a ‘pathetic commoner’ with a million bucks to your name… there is no way you can ever become anything in your life. Putting you out of your misery would be a mercy.”

Bella gestured to her Pokémon. “Now, the least you could do is help sate the hunger of the Pokémon who beat you. Throttled you. Owns you. Superior in every way. Isn’t that right, Nidoqueen?” Bella used her empty hand to scratch the underside of Nidoqueen’s throat, and for a moment Dominic felt horror at the brief idea that somehow the Nidoqueen understood her, and was agreeing. But he couldn’t tell if that was just the stress that was making his heart beat out of his chest.

“So, ready to finally be put to use?” Bella asked chirpily. Dominic was shaking too much to give an intelligible answer. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She turned to Nidoqueen. “Open wide!”

Dominic had a front row seat to the Nidoqueen opening her mouth, revealing a massive mouth-like grotto. The thick tongue pulsated, seeping what seemed to be gallons of saliva per second, all coming to rest in the basin that formed at the bottom of the mouth. Nidoqueen seemed to be quite curious and eager to sample Dominic’s flavor.

Dominic shook his head frantically, and he screamed. He screamed as Bella reached her hand forth, and jammed his body on Nidoqueen’s fat tongue, rubbing his face all along her taste buds. The smell for Dominic was an entirely different world of awful; her poison typing wasn’t just for show. Somehow the bitter flavor of the venomous Pokémon even seeped into her mouth organs, and though it was considered safe to handle the mouth of a docile Nidoqueen, it still reeked. But that wasn’t even a comparison to the saliva. It was enough to make what Dominic endured earlier feel like a summer drizzle; the droplets were coming in force, slamming into his face and completely encasing his head and limbs in their viscous, goopy semi-liquid consistency. Dominic couldn’t even move his limbs except by extreme effort, the spit leaving trails that inclined Dominic away from being able to maneuver in any meaningful way.

Nidoqueen closed her mouth on Bella’s wrist. Bella giggled, and she unhanded Dominic, allowing him to slide to rest on the floor of Nidoqueen’s mouth. She pulled her hand out, now coated in a coat of her Pokémon’s saliva. Nothing she hadn’t dealt with before. Dominic, on the other hand, was in a much worse state, even more so now that the lights had completely gone out. He was stuck in the damp, dank, dark pink cavern of Nidoqueen’s mouth, coughing and hacking as with each second more and more spit tried to enter his lungs.

Bella watched from the outside. Nidoqueen swished her full cheeks, clearly enjoying herself, despite her erstwhile apprehensions. Her cheeks bulged from left to right, and even through their barrier, Bella could hear the grim shrieks of Dominic. They were muffled, but they were there. They sounded like music to Bella’s ears.

“Alright, Nidoqueen. Go ahead and stop playing with your food.”

The Nidoqueen let out a deep, droning purr. The screams within her jowls crescendoed until –

Glorp!

The bulge was nearly lost in the folds of Nidoqueen’s thick neck, but Bella’s careful, hawklike glare could see the mess of a trainer travel helplessly through her throat, the esophagus inclining at a relaxed pace through the quadrupedal Pokémon.

From within, Dominic was having an utterly hellish experience. From out of the frying pan he had descended into the slippery, constrictive tunnel of Nidoqueen’s throat. It was like being stuffed down a narrow, rubbery balloon lined on all sides with slick, saliva-soaked muscles, pushing him further and further into an abyss from which he could never return. It reeked. The Pokémon’s heartbeat was utterly deafening. And he was alone.

Dominic was deposited into the compartment that was Nidoqueen’s stomach. He could tell both from the gradual cessation of his movement, and by the acrid stench of a thousand meals long since passed from these very bowels. Dominic, so small, fragile, and scared, had to keep his own eyes shut tight to avoid them getting stung by the plorping bubbles of stomach acid, already eating away at his button up Wooloo wool shirt, his authentic Arbok leather shoes, his Metagross cufflinks. Everything that gave him his dignity, everything that made him him… was nothing in the face of this peasant Pokémon’s stomach. All was being eaten away with efficiency, dissolving into the slurry of stomach acid. It wasn’t long before all his clothes went, leaving his soft boy body exposed to the rigors of digestion.

“HEEEEELP!! LET ME OUT!! PLEASE!!!”

***

Bella was seated on the forest floor, eyes half lidded. She was leaning up against her Nidoqueen’s plump belly like a pillow, comfortable in the embrace of her Pokémon. Their backs to a mighty oak tree, the pair had decided to take a breather for a moment, and Bella had very nearly fallen asleep until that scream managed to somehow penetrate through the layers of fat, skin, and scaley armor that made up her Nidoqueen’s lower belly. Bella had scooped up Dominic’s satchel and Pokémon, stashing them in the crevice between her sprawled-out legs.

Bella opened her eyes and squirmed in place, getting comfortable. She put her face up against the taut stomach of her Nidoqueen, letting the animal’s musky scent and warmth caress her. “Ah… still alive in there?”

Dominic was wading in the thick stomach acid. Terror had overcome him. “I WAS WRONG!  I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY! PLEASE, JUST LET ME OUT! I-I-I’LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING! MONEY, RICHES, ALL THE MASTER BALLS YOU WANT! JUST PLEASE LET ME–”

Bella’s response was all consuming for Dominic. Yet through all the layers of skin and muscle, encased in his final tomb, he simply couldn’t make out what it was she was saying. It sounded less like Bella was a trainer and more like Bella was reaching out to him from an alternate dimension.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” was what Bella said. And so, the cycle of misunderstanding continued, with Bella unable to hear Dominic, and Dominic unable to hear Bella.

Dominic broke down into sobs as his skin began to dissolve in the slurry.

“Oh…” Bella could just faintly catch the snippets of his tears. “Is the little baby having some crytime? How sad.”

“PLEASE!!” Dominic’s throat was rubbed raw by his shrieks.

“Hmmm… you make a compelling case,” Bella said. Then she relaxed once again against Nidoqueen’s plush stomach. “I think I’ll go ahead and sleep on it. I’ll let you know in the morning…”

Dominic wanted to scream again, but the inner machinations of the massive Nidoqueen’s body seemed impenetrable. The acid bath of her stomach was sapping more and more from him with each passing moment. His energy, his willpower, his calories. Dominic couldn’t even hyperventilate, as there simply wasn’t enough oxygen in this stomach environment to get the necessary air to do so. There was nothing he could do.

Nothing.

He was nothing.

In the face of this massive, monstrous Pokémon, and her equally massive trainer, he was just a speck. Just a blip, soon to be forgotten, except as a few added grams of flesh on the Pokémon’s stomach, or thick thighs, or one of her breasts, or heck, even her tail. That was all that would become of Dominic’s life, and the Moriarity dynasty. A morsal for a creature higher than himself.

It wasn’t enough to make Dominic content in his lot. But somehow, as tortured a fate as it felt, stewing on his fate, his destiny, his ultimate contribution to the universe… was enough to keep him sane just long enough to slip away. Into oblivion. And into the depths of this digestive death bed.

BRRAAAAAAAPPPP!!!

Nidoqueen let out an involuntary belch, one so loud it scared away a nearby flock of Starly. Bella too had been jolted awake from this, and when she saw that her beloved partner Pokémon hadn’t even stirred from the burp, she giggled and pet her under her chin once again.

“Yeah, you deserve all the snacks,” Bella said, half awake. “All the snacks in the world… I’ll find you some more… the next poor trainer we see… is Pokefood… only the best for you…”

I guess he really did end up getting a kiss from a girl after all… just not the one he was expecting~

And that was the last thing that ran through Bella’s mind before ultimately slipping into slumber.