Goombella ran as fast as her stubby legs could carry her. Stupid stupid stupid! she berated herself while she fled. Taken in by that big yoshi’s book collection only to have him declare you his lunch when he got hungry! You should know better, Goombella! The pink goomba girl fled through the humid jungles of Yoshi’s Island, which up until a few minutes ago had been a pleasant getaway vacation for her! Usually one was perfectly fine visiting, but, as Goombella berated herself, she just had to seek out a book-loving yoshi. Just had to tell her long-time yoshi friend that she’d be okay on her own. Yoshies didn’t just lap up Goomba like candy anymore, right?

Now here she was, fleeing for her life through unknown territory, the not-so-subtle crashing of the hungry yoshi not far behind her. The goomba’s archaeology hat bobbled about her head, hair and scarf flapping about as she leapt over a dead tree and kept going. “Just… got… to get… to the shoreline!” she coached, panting and doing her best to keep up the pace. If she could get back among what were apparently more civilized yoshies she’d be okay!

But she wasn’t fast enough. Then again, few were faster than the whip of a yoshi’s tongue. A particularly large one sluiced through the jungle air and caught right around her ponytail. She squeaked and yiped when tugged backwards, tumbling to the stop at the feet of the very yoshi that had lazily given chase. This large orange yoshi wasn’t much for running, but had no trouble keeping up with her. Being a small goomba certainly had its disadvantages, one Goombella was regretting that very moment, staring up at a big, white, sagging stomach, and the hungry yoshi head above it peering down through large glasses… licking his lips.

“No!” Goombella cried, rolling to her feet and slowly backpedaling away with a quivering lip. “No Cliff! Don’t eat me!”

“Sorry,” Cliff replied with half a shoulder shrug. “It’s lunchtime, I’m hungry, and you look delicious.” Before Goombella could run or even utter a reply, the big fat yoshi’s mouth fell open and that big slobber-coated tongue snapped out, snagging the squealing goomba up in a series of coils covering her entire pink body up! Her pleads became muffled as yoshi drool coated her, and she was yanked off her feet, headfirst right into the wide-open mouth! Hat, hair, and head all disappeared when Cliff’s lips sealed around the widest part of Goombella, exposing her pink underside along her lower body and kicking feet. Her red scarf dripped in drool when the fat yoshi gummed around her soft chewy form, his tongue sliding around the shrieking head and unwinding. Goombella’s bottom half was exposed for a second or two more, before a quick toss of the head and chomp forward sealed her into yoshi jaws completely. “Mmrrrr…”

“Hllllp!” the goomba wailed within. Her whole form was bundled up into one fat cheek, bulging it out considerably, before she was shunted towards the center. Cliff murmured delightedly, his thick tail swaying to and fro in delight, and tummy groaning hungrily. Goombella’s final squeal cut off completely when Cliff proceeded to swallow her whole in one thick, squelching GLOURK! Yoshies with goomba bulges weren’t uncommon, but this squirming instance was one Cliff hadn’t had for some time. He “ahh”’d just as Goombella tumbled into the slimy pit of his stomach, forcing his belly outward just a bit more. Cliff smacked his lips and ran a paw over his grumbling tummy, commenting on just how sweet and tasty she was. Deep in the bowels, Goombella hollered and squealed. Knowing yoshies could lay their prey as eggs that was the first thing she asked for, over and over, tumbled this way and that, stomach fluids drenching her body. “No no noooo!” she ended up squealing after several minutes, obviously nothing but a meal for the chubby orange dino.

After some commotion (largely caused by Cliff walking back to his home), Goombella’s light on her hat flicked on, revealing the dripping innards of his gurgling stomach. Sticky stomach acids washed over nearly all of the goomba by this point, and the sight of other half-digested fruits and more all congealing against her was too much, making Goombella cry out in sheer terror! She lost sight of everything when she was tumbled about, eventually upside-down in a pool of stomach fluids, hat knocked from her head. Some minutes later, just as Cliff got back home, he mumbled to himself. In the next instant his jaws stretched open and he uttered out a strong belch, a slimy-coated archaeology hat clattering across the floor of his home, the light winking out. Cliff wiped his mouth and hummed to himself, feeling full and happy and having a nice new book to peruse.

Cliff elected to go out reading on the beach, sprawled out on his back on the hot cozy sand, leafing through the many pages and wondering about the many topics Goombella had enlightened him too. Deep in the bowels of his belly, Goombella was a twitching mess, half-conscious, with the yoshi stomach soon making her succumb to digestion, like so many of her kind had suffered before.

*	*	*

Dear Diary,
Had quite a smart cookie for lunch yesterday! Goombella was such a bright and sassy lil’ goomba, and she had the most interesting ideas! After gobbling her up I spent all day and night delving into the topics she brought up, and the book she’d brought along had all kinds of curious facts about all sorts of monsters and even (her words not mine) actual aliens! Wow!

Enough about the book stuff though. She tasted so sweet! Like a big pink lemonade ice cube, only softer and squishier. I really need to get back to some main lands sometime and have at more goomba there. I’d forgotten how delicious they were. More research awaits me, though, and I want to pace myself. Can’t gorge on goomba after having such a particularly fine-tasting one, after all, hehehe.