Sugar and Spice
By Lutro
“Ember, use Takedown!” Petunia exclaimed. The otter pokémon trainer knew it was a risky venture to use such an attack, but the torchic was already on her last leg. Her opponent’s salazzle was dominating the entire encounter up until this point, having worked through two other of Petunia’s pokémon in short order. The bright sunny afternoon at least precluded water types from having the advantage, but so far, the only pokémon her opponent needed was the hybrid poison-fire type. Petunia’s final pokémon was Ember, the torchic panting and sweating with disheveled feathers sticking out every which way. “I know you’ve taken a beating, but you can do it! Finish him off!”

Ember growled and planted her talons, eyes betraying a fierce sense of determination and loyalty. The lizard pokémon approached with a broad grin and swagger, prepping his own attack and not intimidated by the bird’s looks in the slightest. “That’s it, Saul, don’t let her mess with you! Finish her off with Venoshock!” Bryce, the salazzle’s trainer, retorted. That otter idly tugged on his trunks as he keenly observed the fight. Part of him felt it was almost cheating to use such a powerful pokémon around these parts, but Saul’s prowess was all part of the otter’s own training, so it was completely fair for him to use Saul! And at any point where he considered starting with another one of his pokémon, a niggling thought seemed to interrupt and suggest to stay with the salazzle. After all, why not lead with the strongest pokémon in one’s possession?

Saul slithered up to the weakened Ember, the torchic looking just as defiant as the salazzle as the two faced off in the middle of the battlefield. Ember crouched, lowered her head, and plowed forward, aiming straight for the salazzle’s middle. Saul’s eyes glimmered a moment as he swiftly dodged out of the way, letting the torchic eat dirt and injure herself in the space of a second. Just as Ember’s beak hit the ground, Saul unleashed a bubbling purple wave of energy, engrossing the field, and the torchic, in a poisonous blast. Ember cried out and was sent skittering across the ground. She eventually rolled to a stop, covered in dirt and grime and panting pitifully on the ground. Saul smirked and remained perched between the torchic and Petunia, the latter letting out a groan.

“Aw shoot,” she sighed in defeat. “Guess that’s that. Alright Ember, return.” Petunia clasped a pokéball in her paw and aimed it at her fallen pokémon. But before the return beam could emit, there was a sudden move from Saul! His tail cracked through the air and snapped against the otter’s wrist, ball tumbling to the ground. Petunia let out a gasp. “Hey, Bryce! Control that salazzle of yours!” Bryce, for his part, flinched as his own pokémon attacked the opposing trainer. He stepped forward and reached for a pokéball of his own.

“Alright Saul, you had your fun,” he started, gripping the ball and preparing to return the lizard pokémon. He stepped between the fallen torchic and his pokémon in an effort to cut off a potential cause for aggression. As he did, Saul turned and gave his trainer a look, flicking his tail and letting the trainer bask in his presence a moment. Petunia glanced from the salazzle to the otter and back, trying to figure out just what was going on between the two. The salazzle looked defiant but his trainer had no trouble controlling him during the fight, so this act of rebellion was just a fluke, right? Bryce’s eyes glazed over a moment before he shook his head and blinked several times.

“What’re you waiting for? Call him back!” Petunia demanded haughtily as she picked her own ball back up. Bryce shot her a grin before giving a friendly pet to the top of Saul’s head, who uttered a purr in response.

“Actually, I think that was a very tough battle for my salazzle here, taking down three pokémon and all. I think he deserves a special treat. And he looks pretty hungry if you ask me!” Bryce sidestepped, no longer blocking the torchic from the salazzle. “Go ahead, Saul. Enjoy your tenderized dinner!” Saul didn’t need to be told twice. Strands of drool began to dribble out the corners of the salazzle’s mouth as he coiled around the fallen torchic. Petunia let out a shocked gasp and sped forward, while Ember gazed up at the surrounding lizard blearily. What was it that Saul’s trainer just said?

Petunia tried to aim her ball at Ember and get between the salazzle and her pokémon. She just about reached the pair when she felt a firm tug on her tail. With a cry she was sent to the ground, smashing her chin against the dirt. “Ah ah ah,” Bryce echoed from behind her, foot firmly planted on the other otter’s tail. “It wouldn’t be very smart to come between Saul and his prey, lest you want to also want to end up being supper.”

Petunia growled and jerked at her stuck tail. “You monster, call him off!” she shouted, bringing her paws around to try and shove Bryce away. Her prone state left her vulnerable, however, giving Bryce plenty of opportunity to leap onto her back and pin her arms to the ground. Petunia struggled and tried to flail free. “Urgh, let me go! You… You could lose your trainer’s license at the very least for this! Not to mention what I’m gonna do to you if you feed my torchic to that thing of yours!”

“One more threat like that and I’ll feed you to him myself,” Bryce countered, putting more weight down on the flailing otter below him. Petunia glowered but fell quiet, internally trying to figure out where all this was coming from! When she met Bryce at the start of the battle he was jovial and friendly, not serious in the slightest. Now he was aggressive and threatening! Any thoughts of puzzling this out flew from her mind, though, as Saul let out a loud, hungry hiss, quelling all arguments. The otters could just make out the torchic and salazzle speaking to each other, hearing their respective cries in almost whispered tones. As usual, though, while the trainers were left to guess, the pokémon could understand each other quite plainly.

“My my, what a delectable looking birdie my master has bequeathed to me today,” Saul hissed, his tail flickering out of the corner of the torchic’s eye. Ember shivered as the large lizard pokémon drooled and stared hungrily down to her. She tried to kick with her talons, but could barely move them, let alone the rest of her form, due to the exhaustion of battle. “You put up a… No, actually, you put up a terrible fight. Barely an afterthought compared to those that came before you. As far as I’m concerned you were a victory lap, nothing more,” he chuckled. Ember snapped her beak threateningly, though the effect was diminished as she was laying on her back and unable to move her head or neck.

“Y-you can’t just go around eating pokémon that have masters!” she protested against the salazzle’s sibilant laughter. The words plainly fell on deaf ears, Saul laying down with his body completely surrounding the defeated torchic. “Now you let me go right now! I have to get back to my master! If you don’t I’ll… U-uh…”

“You’ll what? Are you going to stop me? You are not the first – and won’t be the last –  pokémon I dine on, little birdie. Trained or otherwise.” Ember quivered at the threat and tried to scuttle backwards, pushing her weak talons against the ground, only to have her head press against the lizard pokémon’s tail. Saul licked his lips. “I think it’s time to eat, little one. Any last words?” The salazzle let his mouth hang agape slightly, tongue lazing out of it and dribbling saliva down at Ember’s feet. She whimpered and made a loud cry for her trainer. 

“Master! Help me!” Saul didn’t bother looking behind him. His own master was firmly in his place, doing precisely what he had to do to let Saul enjoy his meal in peace. Indeed, while Petunia heard the desperate cry of her own pokémon, she could hardly move with the full weight of Bryce sitting on her back and pinning her arms down. The best she could manage was scrabbling against the dirt, leaving trails in her wake but ultimately accomplishing nothing. Ember was left to fend for herself, quivering under the gaze of the hungry salazzle. “Please… let me go! I-I’ll do anything for you… Anything! Just please, please don’t eat me!”

Saul sighed. “It always ends with that pathetic pleading. Oh well,” he hissed, glaring over Ember with a sinister smile. “Suppertime.” Saul’s tongue flitted out and in before his jaws spread wide open over the torchic. Ember’s gasp caught in her throat as she bore witness to the wide dripping cavern of the salazzle’s maw. The flitting tongue was swaying near the bottom jaw, while beads of saliva threatened to drip down on her. The sheen of more drool coating his gullet and throat made the pink flesh within shine under the afternoon sunlight, leaving Ember with a clear-as-day view where she was destined. Ember screeched and tried kicking up at the salazzle, only to be ignored entirely as Saul lunged his head downward! His strong jaws enveloped over the torchic’s entire head in one quick motion, a loud chomp squishing just around the bird’s chest and sealing half her body within Saul’s mouth.

“STOP!” Petunia cried as she witnessed drool slipping down Ember’s body, Saul’s mouth slurping and chewing noisily around the fire type’s form. “You let her go! You vile monster! The both of you!!” she cursed. Before she could utter something else, she felt a paw against the back of her head. In the next instant her snout was buried in dirt, Bryce slamming her head to the ground with a grunt. She saw stars momentarily, eyes woozy, eyelids drooping, before the severity of the situation brought her consciousness back into sharp relief. She felt Saul’s trainer holding her head firmly in place, Petunia only able to stare at her very own pokémon getting eaten alive.

Saul ignored the goings-on behind him, unfurling his body from around the torchic to straighten out, and swishing his tail along the dirt merrily. He hadn’t had such a spicy bird in quite some time! His tongue immediately wrapped up and around Ember’s head, leaving the torchic gagging against the tongue and squealing a muffled plea into it. The salazzle lifted his head some, half a torchic now dangling off the ground, talons motoring through the air in pure panic. Orange and yellow feathers littered the ground below Ember as she kicked, squirmed, and fought for her life. Saul continued to devour the torchic with ease, jerking his head up and chomping down to bring more of her into his jaws. Ember’s beak now tickled the back of his throat, wide eyes barely able to see the thick gullet eagerly awaiting with thick, twitchy pulses that scraped her face again and again.

The salazzle growled a guttural purr of delight and planted his fore legs against the ground. He lifted his head upward and jerked his head back again. In addition to more of Ember slipping inward, a powerful GLURP echoed around the field, Ember’s head sinking into the throat and bulging it out. Petunia whimpered, just able to make out a beak among the various lumps in the salazzle’s neck. “Ember… No…!” Saul turned his head to the whining otter, a smile edging on the corners of his mouth. Drool freely ran down his chin and dribbled onto the ground below. Petunia’s eyes widened as she was forced to watch the dangling backside of Ember fight, kick, and squirm, more feathers floating down to earth. “Please… spit her out… don’t eat her!” The salazzle just laughed a muffled laugh, Ember squirming more as hot stale breath buffeted her swallowed head. 

The salazzle casually slipped his tongue out past his lips, pressed against Ember’s belly to immerse it in her flavor. The tip of his tongue protruded further than Ember herself a moment, wiggling in the air to taunt Petunia, Saul’s eyes glittering humorously as he ate her pokémon before her eyes. The tongue tip suddenly slapped up against the torchic’s rear, sliding back and forth and eliciting a groan of pleasure from Saul. The torchic’s flavors were so tantalizing to his taste buds that he tossed his head up and back and took a couple additional swallows on the spot. Flailing talons kicked into overdrive as Ember was devoured bit by bit, her stomach and hips sliding between lizard lips and absolutely dripping in salazzle drool. Petunia let out a sob when most of her pokémon disappeared, only a portion of her protruding.

Bryce watched with a satisfied smirk, feeling prideful that his own pokémon not only defeated the other otter’s team, but was completely devouring one of them as well. His eyes met Saul’s a moment, and the salazzle winked. Bryce almost looked confused a second before his eyelids drooped, then snapped back to focus. “That’s it Saul. Eat her up. You’ve earned it.” That taunt made Petunia wail under him, leaving Bryce to again silence the otter by jamming her head down. “Quiet.” Saul nodded in approval, which made the male otter’s heart swell with pride even more.

The salazzle’s tail continued to gently sway as he ate Ember. The torchic’s kicking talons were slowing, all the effort of her post-battle struggles catching up to her. Even with her life hanging in the balance she could barely fight back at this point. What sealed her final chance away was the dexterous salazzle tongue, coiling around the kicking talons and binding them together in short order. With her hips buried in Saul’s mouth and talons tied together, all Ember could do was whine quietly and flex the individual claws of her talons meekly.

ULP, GLK, GULP! With the talons secured, Saul swallowed more and more of the fire type bird down. Petunia witnessed with wet, quivering eyes as the last of her torchic vanished from view, talons slipping between pursed lizard lips that sealed shut with a sqlrch. Saul’s tongue ran over the feathered backside of Ember again and again, even squishing it from one cheek to the other, leaving the otters a plain view of the last of the torchic being enjoyed. Thoroughly satisfied, Saul threw his head back theatrically and brought his tongue up against Ember, pressing hard. A muffled scream was heard as the salazzle swallowed the torchic completely whole with a thick, slimy GLRK! The noisy, squelching bulges that formed a vague torchic bulge sunk down Saul’s neck, down between his fore legs, and settled with a squish right at his belly. The stomach squashed against the ground and bulged out in several places, Ember squirming for her life in the dark wetness. Saul’s mouth hung open, slack and dripping with feather-laden drool. He loudly licked and smacked his lips of Ember’s taste, flecking saliva over towards both otters in the process, then punctuated his meal with a satisfied belch.

Petunia was beside herself with grief. She hardly noticed Bryce’s weight leaving her. Or her pockets and pouches rifled through as Bryce collected his rightful winnings for defeating her in battle. The triumphant otter strutted over to his salazzle and giving his head and belly some affectionate pets. “That’s a good salazzle,” he uttered with a smile, before turning to Petunia. She remained prone, a few feet away from trainer and pokémon, each staring her down. “I suggest you leave, now. Or else Saul here will get to have dessert.”

Petunia was about to utter a weak protest when Saul’s tail lashed forward. Her words melted into a breathless squeak as the tail slithered around her face, coiling around her muzzle and squeezing slightly before peeling off. The salazzle’s eyes met her own briefly, and he winked. The distraught otter couldn’t say a word following that, even with the tail no longer binding her maw shut. Operating solely on instinct, she slowly pushed herself up onto all fours and began crawling away, slowly. Only after a moment did she manage to get back up to her feet and stagger away, still in shock of what just transpired.

Saul flicked his tongue out, watching his meal’s master retreat. Luckily for her the salazzle was plenty satisfied with Ember. He sighed contently with the defeated torchic squirming about in his belly. Bryce looked down to his pokémon and grinned. “Did you have a good meal, Saul?” he cooed. Saul belched again, a clump of feathers splatting to the ground. He smiled serenely and innocently up at Bryce, silently releasing some additional pheromones into the air. He wasn’t going back into his pokéball. Not now. Not ever again. It was time he took control of his master on a more permanent basis. Licking his lips he heard Bryce say exactly what he wanted to hear. The otter’s eyes grew unfocused, and this time they stayed that way.

“I guess you can stay out of your pokéball for a while…” Bryce’s heart was full of pride at his master’s recent victory. He glanced down at Saul, from his smirking head down to his now-barely-squirming belly. Roiling noises of digestion sounded out from the bulgy stomach, clearly going to work on the recently-ingested pokémon. Bryce couldn’t help but continue to see the torchic slip down the throat on replay in his mind. The thick bulge slipping down the salazzle’s neck was very gratifying… “Why don’t… we go home now, master?”

The salazzle smiled and nodded. The pair turned and made for home, Saul freely walking side by side with his trainer. During the walk, he noticed the otter daydreaming, staring off into space. And near the salazzle’s head, he could clearly make out a bulge growing stiffer and larger in the otter’s trunks. The salazzle suppressed a snicker as a small burp, tongue flicking out and leaving a few more feathers behind. The spicy treat still tingled upon his lips, and he liked it. Glancing up to Bryce once more, he released more pheromones to sweeten up his next target.

Saul was going to have plenty of fun with his former master tonight.