Night Swim

It was a hot and clear summer night. Certainly nice enough to go for a swim, despite it being dark out. The moon reflected nicely on the surface of a local pool, a pool that was fenced off and locked. Such a waste for it to be closed at night, one might think! Particularly on a nice night like this. Fortunately, fences and locks can be easily avoided. Especially when the lock is a very old one that can be opened by simply reaching your paw through the gate and fiddling a little. No security on the premises either, so the pool was open for the taking.

The lone night pool-goer being a dark brown and tan coyote by the name of Hutts. He had wandered out seeking a nice time and this pool seemed just ideal for that. Even just being near the pool added a level of comforting mist to the air. Being in the pool area alone and at night was its own kind of thrill too. No lifeguard on duty, not a soul in or around the pool. Much to his amusement, there were still a few toys left around the pool area. An inflatable chair, a blue shark, and a handful of pool noodles.

Amusing himself with things he couldn't normally do, Hutts took a seat in the lifeguard's raised chair. It was quite comfortable up there, he discovered. The lifeguards here must have a nice time sitting up here all day, watching over the pool. He played with a noodle and used it to try and direct the toy shark and chair, but unfortunately they were rather bad listeners. He climbed down after a while of laughing by himself.

With a stretch, he looked around the area. There was still nobody out here. Looking back down at the pristine pool, Hutts figured another activity he couldn't normally do. He stripped off his clothes, threw them on a chair, and jumped straight into the pool. Water splashed everywhere, but it felt so good against all his fur. It was a little cooler than the summer air, but still warm in itself. The coyote relaxed happily in the night pool, swimming back and forth and all around.

After a while of swimming and playing with some of the toys hanging around, he decided to just relax some and enjoy the atmosphere. With some effort he climbed on top of the inflatable chair and laid back. The night was quite nice and so was relaxing nude in the pool. He even closed his eyes some, just letting himself feel the breeze and the slight drifting movements of his chair in the water.

Hutts opened his eyes with a start some time later. It couldn't have been that long, but he felt something touch his paw! He looked around, there was still nobody, fortunately. Then he looked down a little and noticed the shark pooltoy's snout was bumping into him. He breathed a sigh of relief, though it was a little odd. He said, "Weren't you on the other side of the pool? I wasn't really asleep I don't think..." The shark, of course, didn't respond.

He shrugged and went to kick away from the toy. As his hindpaw pushed through the water, he heard a rubbery scrunch and his paw caught something. The chair continued on unimpeded, floating away as the coyote suddenly found himself falling into the water. He quickly regained his balance and floated up, sputtering from the unexpected dive. Turning around, he suddenly found himself snout-to-snout with the toy shark. A bit annoyed now, he tried to push it away, but instead it remained where it was. His slight annoyance turned to slight fear as the pooltoy maintained an ominous presence. Then its eyes moved, looking right down at him.

The simple gesture froze him in the pool. Did he really just see that? It couldn't be, right? Hutts looked closely at the shark now. It was obviously made of rubbery plastic as one would expect. But it seemed pretty big, maybe even bigger than before. But other than that, it looked like a normal shark! Yet, its toothy grin seemed to be getting wider. The final proof it wasn't just his imagination was when, with a loud creaking, its fins bent and wrapped around him in a tight embrace. He yelped as wet plastic held him tight with the shark upright against his body. Squirming was fruitless despite the pooltoy feeling so slippery. Then, the shark fell backwards, bringing him with it.

The shark's head curled up in a way only a toy could to look at the coyote lying on its white middle. Hutts made eye contact yet again with the grinning toy and couldn't help but very nervously smile back at his captor. They were floating along the pool again, with the shark acting as the chair this time. It was still holding onto him tightly, but he was hoping the toy was just playing. "Uh, hey, sharky! Having fun?" It maintained its wide smile and seemingly nodded a little. "Oh, good! Well, could you... let me go? We can play without you holding me so tightly."

It tightened its hold on him in response, prompting an urk as he was pressed into the pooltoy's body. Its plastic 'skin' felt surprisingly thick now that he was being squeezed against it. "Ugh... Listen, I can't play with you all night! What do you want?" The shark's teeth parted to reveal a surprisingly defined maw. Hutts' eyes widened, but before he could respond, a big rubbery tongue popped out and licked up his face. All he could think of was how a minute ago he didn't even know the pooltoy was alive and now he was being tasted by it. Wait, tasted?

Hutts recovered from being slurped some by the shark, though his face remained wet with water (or something like it), and looked back up. Its tongue was licking its lips and it knew what it was preparing for. "Hey hey, wait, I'm a real person, you can't eat me!" Unfortunately for him, this didn't seem to be a concern for the shark. Its fins loosened up a little so that he wasn't being pressed into itself anymore. The shark creaked as its mouth opened wide, with razor-sharp looking teeth at each end. Then it chomped down on the coyote.

He had braced for impact, but the teeth bent harmlessly against his fur. He realized that made sense, since it was actually still a pooltoy. Wondering where this would go from here, he felt the shark's tongue moving under his body and realized he was inside the maw he just saw from outside. Things squeaked loudly inside the shark with every movement and there was a blue tint as he looked outside. Now he was starting to hope that somebody would show up and stop this. He tried to wriggle back out, but the shark's fins were still holding on tight. He could feel the shark's pointy, harmless teeth scrunching against his chest as it sort of chewed on him, as if he was the toy. Just as he sighed and relaxed a little, thinking he would just be stuck and toyed around in the shark's mouth, a squeaky gulp pulled him into a much tighter tube.

Hutts could barely squeeze out a whimper as tight plastic held his muzzle shut and his head was pulled deeper into the pooltoy. His surroundings constantly crinkled in his ears and he tried his best to fight off the shark with what was still outside. But despite being made of vinyl, he couldn't put up much of a fight at all. More and more of him slid inside as the shark started hungrily gulping down the coyote. The shark did let go at one point, giving him a hint of hope, but it was just to get a better position. It flipped his body, tossing him into the water as it straightened up its throat to more easily eat him. Hitting the pool water suddenly made him muffledly yelp in surprise, especially since it now felt so cool relative to the increasingly warm and stuffy insides of the shark.

The shark adjusted one more time, rotating again so its fin was facing up. Having finished adjusting, it scrunched its teeth a little more and continued swallowing down the coyote in its throat. The only slight comfort for Hutts was that his tail wasn't dragging in the water this way. His legs kicked and splashed the water, though it didn't do much at all to deter the pooltoy. As his predator started to reach his lower half, he found his head finally exiting the tight tube into a much more open chamber. The belly of the beast. He was forced to look down from positioning, though he was able to take a moment to admire the bottom of the pool as seen through the shark pooltoy's semi-transparent plastic 'skin'.

His focus was interrupted when the shark continued swallowing. He yelped and grew a blush as its squishy tongue made contact with and pressed on a certain sensitive area. He tried to wriggle away, but there was really no room to move. He wasn't sure if the shark knew what it was doing, but he definitely knew what he was feeling. For a moment, anyway, as the shark continued simply gulping down its meal. Hutts sighed in relief as the alarming pleasure ended, though re-realized where he was when he bumped into the other side of the stomach. He tried to resume kicking, but it was really too late now. Within moments, only his hindpaws could even feel the outside air. Then the shark's mouth closed and a last glulllp sent them to join the rest of him.

Inside the stomach, Hutts was quickly finding himself running out of space as more and more of him spilled into the chamber. His surroundings squeaked and creaked loudly as he tried to fit into the surroundings which were remarkably flexible, yet still restrictive. Eventually, he found himself being forced into a rather tight and curled position and at last most of the rubbery noises ceased. He could actually hear the sound of the shark swimming through the water, albeit muffled. It was hard to tell where it was going, if anywhere. Admittedly, he wasn't sure what was even going to happen at this point. Sure, a pooltoy had swallowed him whole and alive. That was a surprise in itself, but what could happen now that he was at its core? Would he just stay in here until someone else found him? He sure hoped not, that would be an embarrassing predicament to explain.

He pondered this while staring at the pool floor. He tried to wriggle out or break through the plastic encasing him, but it was surprisingly tough. Not to mention, it was so inflexible there was no way he could rotate all the way around to face the way he came in. He did manage to flip and face up, but that didn't really help his situation besides providing a blue-tinted view of the night sky. Finally, a strong smell hit him. An intensely rubbery one, as if some liquid plastic was around. Looking around, he couldn't see anything, so he flipped around again and came face-to-face with a liquid pooling at the bottom of the stomach.

Hutts gasped and instinctively pulled his face back, though it was only enough to be barely above the surface. Was that something... digestive? For a pooltoy? He could feel it on his paws, it felt like something thin yet irremovable. It made his paws squeak when he rubbed his fingers together. Before he could question it, the stomach rotated again. It fortunately placed him upright as the shark became upright, but now he could really see that his bottom half was submerged in something dark. A few bubbles rose up to the surface and he could feel himself tingling below the surface. "W-What are you doing to me?!" Hutts couldn't help but ask. His predator replied, wordless as ever, by placing a fin over its white belly.

The answer was more than enough and a part of himself felt like he already knew anyway. The digestive fluids pooling inside the pooltoy's stomach were surprisingly sticky together, making it very difficult for him to move around much. Anyone looking from outside would have seen the pooltoy's body bending outward from within, but the only one watching was the shark, seemingly admiring the struggles of its prey. After a while, the squeaking and scrunching of Hutts' efforts were starting to be drowned out by the bubbling of the coyote's own body.

Getting increasingly tired, he put his arms down, just for a moment. Unfortunately, that moment would be stretched indefinitely when he realized he had just sunk his paws into the sticky fluid eating away at him. The surface of it was bubbling vigorously at this point and he noticed he was sinking a little lower than before and filling up a little less of the pooltoy's stomach than before. He realized he was disintegrating, nothing more than food for a simple pooltoy. He almost wished it was a real predator. All he'd be used for now is what, more plastic?

He looked up, trying to see his predator's face one more time before it was too late. He easily found the shark above him, looking into its own belly. It had the same toothy grin that it had even when inanimate, though it was obviously watching the coyote digest. He woozily thought, At least it's a pretty cute pooltoy... The shark's fins started to massage its sides, churning more of the rubbery fluid around the coyote and intensifying the bubbling as well as making it reach higher on his body. Finally, as it started to lap at his face, Hutts submitted to the shark.

Over the course of the night, its stomach would keep eating at the meal in its belly. The irregular lumps on its plastic body would smooth out as more and more of him bubbled away, turning into more of the shark. At the same time, the shark pooltoy became ever plumper, ever thicker. If anyone at the pool was watching really closely, they might notice that the shark pooltoy seemed to grow every few nights, but it wasn't the sort of thing that was noticed. At least not by the day pool-goers; the rare night pool-goer often had an intimate understanding of the shark's size.

By dawn, Hutts was nothing more than extra material and an unnoticeable dark blob at the shark's core. It floated harmlessly and inanimately on the surface of the water, with its ever toothy grin. The bubbling of its stomach quieted down to a burbling and by the time others arrived, it would be silent and the last of the coyote truly gone. Of course, the pool staff arriving first would notice a pile of abandoned clothes. One sighed and shook his head. Some late-night hooligan, he's sure. Just in case, he picked them up and tossed them in the lost-and-found. Too bad no one ever came to get their clothes, though. He looked back out at the pool and muttered, "I swear, that toy shark keeps getting bigger..."