Choosing a direction, you swim, hoping you're not wrong. A few seconds later, your head surfaces, and you involuntarily gasp for air madly, filling your lungs with the acrid smell around you. It's unpleasant. It's breathable, but very unpleasant. It's better than not breathing and staying submerged in Noibat's gastric juices, though. "Come on, give me a break! Is this really how you treat a defenseless person?"
"Defenseless? I dunno. Being small doesn't mean you're defenseless, you know"
"What do you expect me to do at this size? I'm much smaller than you!"
"I dunno! Be smart, think of something? That's what I'd do if I was at your size! And not insult someone to their face, that wouldn't be bad either"
The more it mentioned your faux-pas, the more you regretted it. Maybe you wouldn't be in this situation if you had been more careful with your words. You swim to the wall, using a hand to stay there, to not drift back to the center of the stomach thanks to Noibat's movements. "Look, I'm sorry. I was desperate, I didn't know what to do. You have to believe me, I didn't mean harm!"
"Then you tried to fool me. Okay, that I didn't mind as much, it was funny to see you fumble, but you tried. It almost makes me want to see you make a fool of yourself some more. Too bad you're food now" it sounded indifferent to your fate, you couldn't find a trace of compassion in its voice. You swatted away a glob of chewed berry, it would be a problem if those stuckon you.
"I don't want to die, please help me! I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry!"
You beg, gasping for air, talking until you have to breathe again. You plead like you have never pleaded before. If you can get it to listen, to give you one chance, maybe you won't die or be digested. At this point you have nothing to lose. You beg for several minutes until, with a huff of exasperation, Noibat interrupts you."Okay, fine, just shut up! You really are no fun, not even as food!" You hoped that mean you would get out soon. It didn't happen. Instead of pressing him on, you waited, hoping it had changed its mind.
Time passed. The warm melange around you got warmer and higher, the contents of the stomach churned, trying to drag you with it. You held onto the wall with all your strength, barely managing to stay in one place. The juices around you had slowly started to make you feel strange, like ants were walking all over your skin. Thankfully, Noibat's acids seemed to be rather slow, but you didn't doubt they would be lethal if too much time passed.Your eyes adjusted to the darkness. You couldn't see well, but after spending some time inside Noibat's stomach, now you could see the wall right in front of you, the surface of the liquid surrounding you, the mushy islands of chewed berries littering the place. You didn't know how long it was before you heard from Noibat again.
"You there? Did you die?"
"No! Still alive!"
"Fine. You know what? I'm curious. Survival of the strongest and all that, you know that? So I thought I should give you a chance to stay alive. What do you think?"
If it meant not dying, you were willing to do anything. You nodded, even if Noibat couldn't see you.
"Yeah, I agree! What do I have to do?"
"Prove you deserve to survive a little longer...by escaping! It's that simple. You get out, you don't die. You fail, you die"
"Escape?" Did it mean from its stomach? From its body? From the cave outside? You really hoped it was just from its body, because in your current state, it would take a miracle to escape the entire cave. "Fine, I will!
"A fair warning, because I'm fair despite everything: even if you get out of me, that doesn't mean I'll leave you alone, okay? Just saying!"
So even if you did get out of it alive, it held the right to keep playing with you to its heart's content. That wasn't a fun thought, but it wasn't like you had a choice. Deciding not to waste your breath replying, you start scheming how to escape.
The least it depended on Noibat doing something, the better. You had to do this with your own hands. What to do, though?</div>
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