A Very Bad Plan

Vi had a HUGE problem. The problem being that she was banned from entering the library! Even though the bee was a hero to all of Bugaria, they STILL banned her. Completely unreasonably! She kicked one of the crystal lampposts, which annoyingly rocked only slightly. She let out a loud groan, pulling down on her antennae. She was attracting attention from the various bugs standing in the main hall of the Anthill Palace, but she didn't care. What she cared about was, "YOU STUPID NO-GOOD POWER-HUNGRY LIBRARIAN!! AAAAAUGH!"

Through the hall leading to the library was Brooke, currently. A permanently serious red ant, who even wore armor despite tending to the library. She made a rude gesture back at Vi. That made Vi's antennae stand on end, and then she readied her 'beemerang' to fight. Guards be damned, she was going to get--

"Ah, Vi!" Someone touched her hand, and she whipped around 180 degrees to face... Kabbu. Her teammate. The green beetle stood there with his arms out towards her, somewhat anxious by the look on his face. "Why don't we put down the beemerang and you tell me what's going on?"

"SHE--" Vi stopped what she was saying to growl, put her arms to her head, and then let go with a sigh. Even though she was still heated, Kabbu just had a calmer energy that he brought with him. He started to walk her away from the library entrance, and she restarted by saying, "Okay, so, you know that new section they added to the library?"

It took him a moment to think of what she was talking about. "...The forbidden literature section?"

"YES!" She shouted too loudly, earning a gesture to lower her volume from Kabbu. "They BANNED me from going back there!"

That struck Kabbu as genuinely strange. He put an arm to his chin and wondered aloud, "Why would they do such a thing? The library is supposed to be open to all bugs residing in the Ant Kingdom. ...Though come to think of it, that's not a very fitting name for a library section." He knew vaguely that it had any number of gathered books that were considered 'inappropriate' for display in the main area. After some pressure, the librarians (mainly Brooke) had finally agreed to stocking them, if only to keep them out of the public eye. They were still available for check-out despite that.

Vi stuttered as she responded, exasperated, "I-I don't know! My guess is that she has a personal vendetta against me for some reason!"

Kabbu stopped thinking about what the issue could be. He now looked at Vi with an expression that was somewhere between amusement at her plight and exhaustion at realizing she had brought it upon herself. "Brooke isn't that unreasonable. I imagine she might have a better reason than you're telling me..."

The bee's antennae stood on end again as she realized she'd been found out. Still, she continued defensively, "Maybe, but it's stupid!!"

"...So what is the reason?"

Dramatic sigh. "Okay, so, you know how you have to check out books to borrow them?"

"...Yes?? It's a common practice of many libraries..."

"WELL it's dumb! I was going to return them anyway!"

Now the pieces were falling into place. "Vi, you tried to steal... from a library?"

"I was going to return them!! I just didn't want what I was checking out getting written down for the Queen or whoever to see!"

"Ah." He supposed that one part was a valid concern, though he doubted Her Majesty would really take an interest in Vi's reading habits. "Well, I think the solution is simple! Why don't I check out those materials for you? I don't mind your reading habits being attributed to me, whatever they may be."

Vi seemed embarrassed as she immediately blurted out, "It's not what you think!!" She settled and continued, rubbing her arm. "Besides... I need to be able to browse. It's not like I know the names of the books." Gears attempted to turn in her head, but she noticed a distinct lack of a third. "Where's Leif? I thought he would be with you."

Leif being their other teammate, a magical blue moth. "Oh yes, he isn't because he caught wind of another food competition happening. Rather short notice, but I'm sure Leif's doing well. I don't know how he puts it away so swiftly..."

A spark lit up in Vi's mind and she grabbed Kabbu's shoulders. "Kabbu, that's it! I know what we can do!" With no idea where she was going with this, he let her continue. "I'll hide in YOUR belly and you can sneak me in!"

Kabbu's face went completely blank as he struggled to even process what she said. Then he jumped back in shock and shouted, "What?!"

This time Vi was the one to gesture for him to quiet down. Conspiratorially, she got close again and quietly said, "Come on Kabbu! Look at you, you're a big guy!" She tapped his middle to demonstrate, "I'm sure I could fit right on in there."

"E-Even if you're right, I won't! It's ridiculous and dangerous! And it would be trespassing!"

Vi frowned, but she wasn't ready to give up. "Kabbuuuu, please? It'll be quick! You just gulp me down, walk in, bring me back up just enough to see out of your mouth, and then you can check out and leave! Easy."

He crossed his arms and shook his head. "No, even so, it would be helping you trespass! I won't be party to a crime, no matter how minor."

Rather than rely on their past to reassure him, Vi decided it was time for her trump card. She grew a devious smile and said, "Well... would you help me with this little thing for... the limited edition plushie of the Yellow Bug Ranger?"

His eyes widened as his composure shook. "Y-You're bluffing."

Vi's own smile didn't waver. "Are you calling me a liar?"

He would never make such an accusation of his friends! Even if she was... blatantly trying to bribe him. He cracked. "Urk... Okay. How... How do you plan to do this?"

She giddily clapped and said, "You're the best, Kabbu! Let's do it right now, open up!"

Kabbu became a little panicked again and said, "Right n--?!"

"Yeah! You haven't eaten in a while, right?"

"That's not-- Let's at least get out of the open, first!" He looked around at all the various guards and other citizens that were within eyesight.

"Fine..." It took them about ten minutes to find somewhere private. Two to walk, eight to argue over ideas until it occurred to them that they have a perfectly good private house for their team. Once they were there, Vi's energy returned: "Okay now let's do it!!"

Kabbu sighed and reluctantly began to open his mouth. Too slow for Vi's liking, she reached forward and pried it open much wider, making Kabbu tear up. She immediately plunged in, arms and head first. A choking gulk was the sign it was working, pulling Vi down. He would never admit this to a soul, but he was thankful that she did at least have the faint, sweet taste of honey. Of course, there was still the difficulty of swallowing an entire bug whole. He couldn't imagine this would be possible if Vi weren't willing.

Vi found squeezing down his throat to be a harder task than she had imagined. Not to mention her imagination hadn't supplied the gross feelings around her: she was being squeezed so tight she thought she might explode, her fur was getting all matted, and it was just generally hot and wet and unpleasant. She wasn't really helping herself down at this point, that was entirely up to Kabbu's body. Her legs flailed around outside in an attempt to help her down, although really this just disoriented him a little.

Hnnngulllph was the sound of progress for Kabbu, out of breath. And he still had her abdomen and legs to go! He wasn't looking forward to squeezing both of those in. But he wouldn't give up, either! With refilled vigor, he put his hands on her sides and started feeding her in further. He could even feel her starting to fill his belly, an odd and disquieting feeling. Still: Hggulk. Glulp. Glp. Vi started complaining about something, but he couldn't focus on what she was saying. He had to finish, and so came one last GULPH.

Kabbu flopped down on the floor as Vi slowly settled into his gut, wriggling and shifting around. He panted, "I... I did it..."

From his newly widened belly came Vi's muffled voice, "Knew you could! WAY tighter of a squeeze than I thought it'd be though." While looser than his gullet, Kabbu's stomach was not much better. The fleshy walls held her tightly, hardly letting her move at all. At least she had managed to get upright, as far as she could tell. His stomach groaned around her uncomfortably. She realized they weren't moving, so she started to push her arms against the walls and said, "Hey, get up! I don't want to spend longer in here than I need to!"

Kabbu grunted and slowly worked himself to his feet as he said, "Nor do I want you to... Ugh, this feels so uncomfortable..." He looked down at his middle to see what the damage was. Surprisingly, Vi didn't make too bad of a dent. Perhaps in part thanks to his hard carapace, he simply looked very bloated, rather than holding an entire other bug. At least, unless Vi squirmed around too much. "S-Settle down there!" He said, clutching his belly. "I am up... I will head for the library shortly. But I can't promise I will be fast."

Indeed, his walk back to the library was a slow one. The path there felt longer than ever, and he felt like every bug he passed was staring at him. Meanwhile, Vi did her best to wait patiently, even if she was already regretting this plan. She should've asked Chubee to try this out, she'd probably be more comfortable. Not to mention, the way she was jostled with each and every step Kabbu took kept her in a constant state of wooziness.

After a break when he reached the castle entrance, Kabbu continued on to the library. He felt relieved on entering its pleasantly empty and quiet atmosphere, other than a noisy gurrrgle from his gut. He gave a short, awkward greeting to Brooke and Libren (the other, nicer librarian) at the front desk. From there, he made a line straight for that back section, one that was conveniently out of the front desk's view. With no one around, he whispered down to his gut, "Vi, are you there? We have finally arrived at your section..."

His belly stirred immediately, with a louder "FINALLY!" coming from it. He shushed his stomach, but nobody seemed to notice anything anyway. Vi continued in a more normal, muffled tone, "Alright, bring me up and let me take a look!"

"O-Okay, hold on..." With no experience in any of this, he made his best guess. He tried a heaving motion, and immediately he felt Vi's head re-enter his throat. It then swallowed her back down, much to each of their annoyances. "Sorry, let me try that again!" Kabbu once more made a somewhat quiet gagging sound, bringing Vi up. He resisted the strong urge to swallow again. It felt so much easier to swallow her down in comparison, despite the earlier difficulty.

Eventually, her head reached the top of Kabbu's throat, filling the back of his mouth. He opened it wide, her antennae immediately springing out as they found the space to expand. She loudly began, "AT LAST," and Kabbu quickly gestured a shush and mumbled around her. "Sorry. At last... I can get what I want! Heheheh." She gazed upon the rows of books, eagerly scanning for anything of interest. Kabbu could see now that it was quite an eclectic selection, anything from what appeared to be amateurish binding to salacious literature to works that sounded outright illegal!

"Can you turn a little bit? Thanks. ... There, um, How to Cheat at Games (And Not Get Caught)!" Since she couldn't actually point, it took him a moment to find the book and take it off the shelf. He was already alarmed at her reading habits, but tried not to judge before he knew why she wanted to read such a thing. "Okay, next... Regicide, Robbery, and Roaming: What NOT to Do Inside a Kingdom!" Surely she was not plotting anything nefarious... "Can I see that one? Divine Twist?" Kabbu took the book off the shelf to show her the cover; he saw it too. "W-Whoa" is all Vi managed. Kabbu tried to avert his gaze, knowing it was sacrilege. Unfortunately, Vi wanted to check out that one as well.

After many more minutes of this, Kabbu had acquired a veritable stack of books. Vi was in the middle of pointing out yet another when a gentle voice came from behind them: "Hey Kabbu! You need some help there?"

Kabbu swallowed immediately. There was no real thought put into the decision, it was automatic. Vi plummeted right back into his stomach, prompting a short urp before he turned around. "L-Libren! How nice to see you. May I help you with something...?"

The blue ant smiled as she always did and gestured towards the books in his hands. "I was going to ask you that, actually!"

Kabbu took a moment to realize she was talking about the books, not his potentially conspicuously large gut. "Oh, ha! Um... Yes, sure!" He offered half the stack to her, reducing each to a much more balanced height.

With his book load lessened, Libren could see now that something was different about Kabbu. The look on her face made him unnerved, and he was about to say something before she said, "You're looking heartier than usual! Eating well?"

He coughed but managed to follow with, "T-Thank you! I, uh... Leif has been feeding us well, you see. His cooking can be a bit stuffing!" He chuckled and patted his belly to try and sell it, though the whole thing earned him a sharp jab towards the back from Vi. "Urk..."

She just smiled politely and turned her eyes towards the selection in her hands. "Let's see here, you're getting... o-oh my!"

His eyes widened; he couldn't quite see what she was looking at, but he felt compelled to start blabbering an excuse. "I can explain, you see, I was just curious and--"

She flipped around a book to face him, The Secret Lives We Bury. It had a decently drawn cover depicting an ant standing next to a fresh, shallow grave. Other than that, Kabbu knew nothing about it. But Libren continued with newfound glee in her eyes, "You're a fan of this series too??"

Kabbu's words stopped dead in their tracks. He hadn't prepared for... whatever this was. "Um... No? I was... just intrigued by the cover and title..."

Libren eagerly said, "Oh, Kabbu, you have to check out the whole thing! You see, this is actually the fourth book in a series about this forbidden romance between an ant and a wasp, forever kept apart by the bugs and kingdoms around them!"

Vi crossed her arms in Kabbu's stomach, hearing that one. "Hmph, that sounds boring compared to the title..." she said aloud, too quietly to be heard by the two outside.

On the other hand, that piqued Kabbu's interest. "Oh, really! Interesting, I have never heard of such a series... Like Bugmeo and Bugliet?"

She laughed, "No, WAY better. You probably haven't heard about it because of the Wasp Kingdom being so hostile to ours, so it was removed from circulation! Not to mention the author is unknown, can you believe that?"

"Fascinating... You must tell me more!"

Vi was forced to listen to them go back and forth about this incredibly uninteresting topic. All she wanted at this point was to get out of his stomach, she didn't care if they got caught. So she began pushing the walls again, trying to make some obvious lumps.

Kabbu noticed immediately and was forced to interrupt himself. He subtly flexed his chest, tightening it all up and internally apologizing to Vi as he did. But he couldn't let them get caught now! He continued, "S-Sorry, something I ate disagrees with me... Anyway, I was going to say..."

Where the stomach was tight before, now it was downright suffocating. Vi found herself utterly unable to move, except for the slightest of wriggles. "K-Kabbu!" She groaned out, but it wasn't like she could muster up a shout. She was just stuck like this for however long until Kabbu saw fit to release her. This really was a terrible plan, she thought. Surely there was something better she could've come up with? Or just waited out the temporary ban... Or just checked out the books to begin with.

The worst part of the experience was when, some unknown time in, she began to feel extra liquid pooling around her lower body. She couldn't see what it was, but she knew very well what that meant. Kabbu's stomach let out a low grrrgl as if to confirm, and so Vi started to really squirm as much as she could manage. There was no way she was going to let herself be digested!

The feeling reached the edges of Kabbu's awareness, and he responded by simply tightening up a little more. He wished Vi would stop shifting so much, it would get them both in trouble! Of course, he knew he should be leaving, but he was caught. This loop of conversation had seized him; he felt it would be impolite if he broke away from this conversation prematurely, and yet he was too interested in it to want to leave very soon! Libren was catching him up on each book before the current one. It was gripping enough to hear her summarize it, he was sure it would be incredible to read.

Vi eventually just gave up on moving, in order to try and recoup her strength. Clearly she wasn't going anywhere. She had a while before things got too bad, surely? She wasn't sure how long she had actually been in there, come to think of it. The only help with the passage of time was the level of stomach juices around her, which eventually plateaued near her shoulders. "C-C'mon Kabbu, hurry up, it's so hot in here..." She felt uneasy, weakly trying to squirm some more as if he would suddenly notice anything amiss.

He did not. She realized this because he didn't even tighten up this time. Her movements were far too little, too weak, to be noticed by him. She let out a groan. "I feel... like a vat of honey..." That's when she really registered how far things had progressed. She suddenly became aware that she couldn't feel her abdomen. Everything felt thick around her, thicker than mere stomach juices. She wasn't... She started to slowly pound on the stomach walls. "Kabbu...!"

Coincidentally, he just happened to be nearing the natural end of his lengthy conversation with Libren. He said, "Well, I will absolutely have to check out the rest of the series! For today, these books are fine." She nodded and walked him to the front desk, where Brooke was.

Despite her usual demeanor, she seemed amused to see him and Libren walk up with so many books. "Well well, someone's quite the voracious reader today!"

The word voracious struck a chord of fear in his core. Kabbu nodded firmly as he put the books down in front of her. "Y-Yup! That's me!"

Brooke began the slow process of recording each and every book being checked out. As she did, something occurred to her that gave her pause. She looked at Kabbu, narrowing her eyes. "You wouldn't be picking these up for Vi, would you?"

His face blanked and he swallowed nervously.

After a moment, she relaxed and said, "Nah it's fine. It's nice to see people read, I just wish she wouldn't try to steal them! At least I don't have to deal with her." She returned to her duties, writing down the various scandalous titles Kabbu had 'selected'.

Kabbu laughed nervously, placing a hand on his belly as it made a glorp sound beneath him. "Yes, sorry about my teammate's behavior. She can be a bit... impulsive, from time to time. Rest assured, we will return these!"

Brooke nodded without looking up. "Make sure you do... or else you'll suffer my wrath."

When all was said and done, Kabbu was sent walking home with a stack of nearly a dozen books. He was glad it felt easier this time, somehow. He whispered aloud, hoping Vi would hear him, "Sorry for the wait, Vi! We will be home in just a moment, and I can finally free you from that gastric prison." She didn't respond, his guess being that she was tired or pouting. He still couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was watching him as he paraded through town with his tower of books and sloshing belly.

As soon as he got inside, Kabbu's arms gave out, dropping the tower of books onto the ground in a heap. "Darn it... Well, I will pick that up in a moment. I have more pressing matters to tend to! Vi, I hope you're ready to get out..." She still didn't respond, but that was okay. He could certainly do it on his own. Just like before, he did his best to regurgitate her. He heaved, then he could feel something coming back up his throat. And with it he let out: BUWOOOORUP.

Kabbu stood there in the room, very much alone. After several seconds of silence, he said, "V-Vi?" No one answered. His stomach let out a simple gurrrgle, substituting for a response. "N-No..." He pressed at his belly, hoping to still feel her presence inside. But there was nothing. It felt like sludge filled his gut instead of anything solid. "Oh gods..." was all he could manage to say further, not wanting to believe what had clearly happened. Not wanting to think about all the times he downplayed Vi's presence, thinking she was merely complaining, not being digested.

As he stood there in the house with a hand on his belly, contemplating things, he didn't notice the footsteps behind him. A simple, monotonous, "We're back," snapped him out of his trance.

He whipped around to face Leif, standing there in the doorway, regal and unfazed as ever. Leif's eyes shifted to the ground. "We see that you got a lot of books."

"U-Um, yes! Yes, that is... yes..."

He looked back at Kabbu now, sensing something was wrong. What was missing? "Where is Vi?" he asked.

Kabbu stared at him, frozen in fear. "I..."

"Kabbu. Where is Vi?"

Kabbu sat down on the edge of the bottom bunk bed, his middle jiggling as he did. "I... will tell you, but it is a long story..."

Leif politely obliged by sitting next to him as well. "We have time. ...We also see you have been indulging."

Kabbu became flustered. "I-I'll get to that! Okay, so first..."

And so, Kabbu retold the entire story from his perspective. Leif did not react very much, but there was a hint of amusement in his expression at times. By the end of it Kabbu was quite distressed, trying to accept that he was responsible for the demise of one of their own.

Leif stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We do not think this is your fault."

"W-What?"

He shrugged. "Vi hatched a reckless plan of her own accord. You could not have foreseen that you would be delayed, or that your metabolism would work so well."

"But I--"

"No, listen to us. While it is regrettable what happened to her, you won't honor her memory by moping around. You may as well use the energy she gave you for something productive."

Kabbu looked up at Leif, surprised to hear such blunt words, but maybe that was what he needed. He stood up, still unsteadily from his liquid extra weight. "Y-You're right. If our roles were reversed," Leif let out a snrk imagining that, "she would keep going! So I will too! I will read all of these books for her, and go on more missions, and... we'll collect more berries!"

Leif nodded. "That's the spirit. And your belly looks like it will be quite soft for our comfort in the future."

"What??" Kabbu said, incredulously.

"Never mind, we'll talk more later," Leif said with an amused look.

Vi didn't say anything at all, being completely incapable of it. The slurry she had become would eventually go on to stick around on Kabbu's body as fat, which he would never quite be able to rid himself of. Not that Leif minded the extra padding. And so, while Team Snakemouth would continue their journeys with one less member, in a way, they would always be together.