Soft snores rolled out from Kion’s young maw, the rest of his head cradled in two soft, overly large pads that would one day grow into a pair of fine, kingly paws. His belly puffed in and then deflated slowly, cherubically, the mop of red hair on the lion’s head drifting lightly in the warm, Serengeti breeze.
That same breeze wafted out, picking up the molecules of his sleepy smell with it, and carried itself over towards the rustling bushes nearby. A spotted muzzle rose up to pull the scented air inside as it passed, the black nose twitching as it took in Kion’s delicious scent. And beneath that a white furred maw opened, a pink tongue curled out, and ran a long the row of sharp, white leopard teeth as two young, green eyes took in their prey.
This lion had robbed him of his zebra snack, and of the chance to gobble up that cute (if very smelly) honey badger. But Kion would pay for that today, pay for it a thousands times over.
Makucha leaned back on his hindlegs and squinted his eyes, calculating the right trajectory to capture this animal as only a leopard can. It would have to be done quickly. A pounce, a gulp and then another gulp before Kion could fully wake up, for once the lion was awake the dinner would turn into more of a struggle. Makucha wasn’t dim, Kion was definitely strong. But Makucha was smarter.
A low growl escaped from his lips and finally he leaped forward, his hind legs springing off the ground and both of his front paws splayed out, claws bared, towards the sleeping cub.
Glommmpppphhhh gluuuuulp
By the time Kion’s sleeping brain was rocked back into the world of consciousness he was already chest deep in the hungry, vengeful leopard. Waking up to find himself encased in hot leopard gullet instead of the cool ground of the African Serengeti, the warm stench of zebra and mole replaced by the hot stink of digested meats rising up from Makucha’s belly.
“wha-wha? Let go!!”
The strained cry was barely audible from the outside as Makucha lifted a paw to his bulging neck, feeling the now panicked wriggles of his meal inside, every inch of Kion’s upper body pulsing and pushing itself to the extreme to escape from this harsh, hot prison. How delicous....
And the taste wasn’t half either, the lion cub’s tawny fur carrying with it a lovely earthy sweetness. A rich, kingly flavour to Kion’s meat. Meat that would soon become a healthy, creamy layer of wonderful leopard fat. For there was no escape now, no matter how hard the stronger feline kicked his legs or pleaded with this, to him mysterious, predator.
The only response that Makucha gave was more well timed, healthy gulps to bring in more of this annoying, arrogant prince into his waiting body.
Soon all that remained of Kion was a red tipped tail swinging out into thin air, the heavy balls of his feet and the two thick cheeks of lion rump now bulging out from a leopard’s gullet, every inch of that form visible from the outside. The rest of him, including his blinking eyes full of tears and his twitching nose, now pushing up against the slop and acid forming in Makucha’s fattened belly.
slurrrrrppppp
Soon that too was brought in like a string of meaty, furry pasta, signed off with a wet slorp and one final swallow that sent the bottom half of Kion to curl up with the rest of its master. Makucha sighed, finally finished this predatory game of tug and war, emerging as the eventual winner. His prize was a delicious, nutritious lion cub to spend the next few hours working over and melting down into a warm layer of fat.
Kion’s punishment, to be that lion cub. Sloshing around inside of a hot, dark and tight leopard belly for what could very well be hours. Slowly being melted into a fine paste, all of his fur and meat and bones stripped away for little more than doing his job as a member of the lion guard.
“mmmmppphhhh!”
“oh shut u-URAPPPPPPPP”
The heavy cloud of gas rose up suddenly, helped along by Kion’s sloshing around inside, the heavy stink of an already digesting lion rising up.
“mmmmmm, pretty smelly” Makucha grinned, leaning his head forward and moving his forepaws behind the bulging belly “let’s see if we can do better, lion guard.”
Kion’s eyes widened, finally realising who the creature that had eaten him, doomed him, was.
But before he could respond, he felt the same flush of hot air flood past him and towards the leopard’s open maw.
BRRRRRUUUUUUUAAP
The roar of the belch echoed out through the pride-lands and made the trees shake and moles scurry towards their hidey holes, telling the entire land what Makucha had done. The stink of Kion’s melting body floating through the air and wafting the past same bush his fine scented sleepy smell had washed over only moments earlier. The green gas floating up into the air and dissipating, the acrid taste resting upon the leopard’s mouth and mixing with the already beefy, earthy taste of a defeated lion cub.
“ahhhh, that’s better.”
the belch had launched digestion into full capacity, Kion’s heavy stomach filled almost to the brim with acid, Kion balled up inside as a sobbing, melting piece of festering lion meat. Doomed to digest, defeated by one of his most unlikely enemies.
“Maybe after I'll finally get my paws on that.....Zebra, or maybe even the honey b-badger...”
Makucha was getting sleepy, and he barely even noticed the anguished cry of Kion at the thought that his life’s work and friends would be undone by this leopard. As if digesting wasn’t bad enough.
Although, Digestion was quite bad too.
“let me go!!” Kion screamed out, muffled by the acid and belly flesh.
“You’re never getting out, cub” The leopard grinned as he walked, belly sloshing around with the lion inside of it, every inch of Kion hurting. “No one will ever know what happened to you, you’re gonna become fat on my belly and that’s your legacy, better enjoy what time you have left.”
“Someone will come to get me!” came the defiant response, a soft kick hitting Makucha on the left corner of his stomach “Someone always comes....”
as if by fate, cruel fate, Makucha looked up and saw a grey hippo swaying closer and closer towards him, young and familiar.
Beshte. Makucha would have paled if he could.
“alright, just play it cool” he mumbled to himself, and sidled right by the hippo.”
“Catch something?” The hippo spat as he walked by, looking at the fat belly bulging out and sloshing around.
“someone” Makucha corrected and Beshte almost took a step forward “ah ah, circle of life. I got this little wriggler by myself, completely fairly, nothing you can do to stop me.”
of course has the hippo known who was in the belly that wouldn’t have mattered, he would tear Makucha apart to get to Kion. And the cub knew that.
“Beshte! It’s me, Kion” he screamed from inside, lifting his head above the acid line “help, help!!!!! he’s digesting me!!!”
Beshte looked down at the soft, inaudible bubbles of a poor prey and, not recognising them at all as the sloshing of his deer friend. “you’re sic-”
BURAPPPPP
Another belch obscured the rest of Beshte’s sentence and Kion’s heartfelt cries, turning them into smelly, sloshy burps that covered up any chance the hippo had of recognising his friend. “I’m full” Makucha corrected, and made to walk away, leaving Beshte to only glare at him. Pondering why that voice in the belly sounded familiar, but unable and unwilling to act on his hunch....
“See? No one’s coming to save you, i’m gonna cough up your bones and that’ll be that.”
no more argument came from Kion, the defeated lion slipping down into the acid, believing now that this was it and that no one would ever come to rescue him. All the while the leopard walked around, enjoying the increasingly watery slops and sloshes of his happily filled, rapidly digesting belly.
"Enjoy the afterlife, Lion guard."
----
Soft snores rolled out from Makucha’s furry muzzle, the rest of his head cradled in between two soft, overly large pads that would one day grow into a pair of fine, predatory paws. His incredibly fat belly puffed in and then deflated slowly, empty now of the lion’s meat. Kion’s bones sitting nearby in a picked, neatly arranged pile. Skull curled up in an eternally defeated, sad expression. Makucha’s finest prize, and one that he even dreamed of as he lay back, soft hiccups of meat fueled burps bouncing him in his sleep.
THUMP!
Makucha’s eyes opened immediately.
urrrrrrrr
The low growl of an adult lion drifted towards Makucha’s twitching ears. And he didn’t even have to turn around to know that behind him was a very angry Simba, and in front of him lay the pearly white bones of Simba’s only son.
“uh oh....”
“Makucha, White leopard...”
The soft but firm voice of Simba rolled out dryly to entangle the shaking, wide eyed creature under the king’s thick paws. Makucha gulped, was this it? Was he about to be eviscerated for devouring Simba’s only so? He felt sick imaging the claws on his fat belly digging in and breaking through the skin. Tearing him apart like the squirming prey creature he now was.
“I’ve been informed that you’ve been terrorising the Zebras again.”
Raising an eyebrow, Makucha stopped wriggling for a moment. “w-what? Terrorising the....”
Simba didn’t know what had happened. Makucha squirmed again and looked at the clean picked bones of Kion, all of the meat and fur that had once adorned those king remains now gone, stored as fat on Makucha’s belly. They were unrecognisable for sure, and perhaps Kion hadn’t even been missing for long enough for his disappearance to be suspicious.
“Terrorising the zebras” Simba growled now, baring his teeth as he leaned into breathe upon Makucha’s face, that hot stink of lion air circling him with it’s accusation. “Or so the lion guard says, I warned you very clearly about what would happen if you kept following that path.”
The lion’s claws clenched and Makucha knew exactly what he was implying. “You can’t eat me!” he cried out and tried to wriggle away, confused but quickly deducing that if Simba wasn’t here to avenge his son then he still had a chance to get out of this one alive.
“no wait, please don’t!”
The teeth bared, hot breath pulsed forward but Simba made no move yet.
“I'm sorry for annoying the zebra, I'm just hungry you know it’s h-hard to get good foo-”
he stopped and realised he was bringing attention to his fattened belly. “I m-mean, you know it’s just in my nature right? To eat other animals, you’re a predator as well!”
He shot out a few more pleading ,anguished attempts while wriggling and in time that heavy claw around his belly lifted up, and allowed him to crawl back to his feet.
“Of course I understand” Simba said thoughtfully as the leopard shook before him “Hunger does strange things to people, but I suppose that eating you won’t solve anything on my part. Perhaps, I should let you go provided you never set foot in the pride-lands ever again.”
Makucha was quick to respond. “Yes of course, oh gracious king! I swear i’ll never come back, you won’t see me ever again!”
Simba growled again and curled up his snout. “Then go Leopard, and never return.”
The creature was quick to head off, taking care not to look at the bones of Simba’s secondborn as he did. Grinning a little to himself once he got far enough away. “heh, pathetic lion, just as bad as his little son....oh you’ll never see me again Simba, not until i’m old enough to come back and eat you whole.”
Of course he was still close enough for Simba to hear everything, but the lion had already deduced what was going on. His son hadn’t returned and the leopard had been spotted near his favourite sleeping spot with a full, wriggling belly. The lion king wasn’t stupid, he knew his son was gone forever and the only thing on his mind now was revenge.
But revenge had to be savoured, just tearing Makucha apart like the murderer he was wouldn’t do, he needed to be tricked.
“Pathetic, stupid little lion, maybe next time i’ll gobble up the rest of the lion guard.”
Simba leaned down, focused his eyes upon the spotted rump, and opened his jaws wide.
“Then maybe i’ll eat little Kion’s sister, I bet she’s delicou-”
Something latched onto Makucha’s lower half and he suddenly felt wet and hot, the low growl of Simba echoing towards him.
Before he could turn around to see the angry, determined face of Simba attached to his hindfeet, he was pulled backwards to face his punishment.
**gulllppppp*
“h-hey, you said you’d let me go!”
As soon as the words came out Makucha realised how ridiculous they sounded. He’d eaten Simba’s son and now his own legs were deep in the lion’s maw, being licked over as the owner of that fearsome tongue scowled at him. Red hot anger pulsing now with accusation. Simba knew what Makucha had done. He’d always known.
Claws dug into stone, The snow leopard trying desperately to steady his descent into the belly, teeth pressing against his fattened belly still heavy with the creamy fat that Kion had contributed. “unnnfnff, let go!” he grumbled, his paws leaving indented claw marks in the ground “I didn’t mean to eat him, it was an accident I swear! He was just lying there all nice smelling and, and, I was hungry....”
But Simba was hungry too, and soon Makucha found himself chest deep in the lion with his belly sliding down and getting licked at thoroughly, the flavour of that fattened flesh coating Simba’s tongue. An unconscious purr echoing out as Makucha descended down and down. Soon little more than a frightened, spotted head poking out from between the jaws of Simba.
The last thing Makucha saw when he looked down was the glaring skull and bleached bones of his former rival and enemy. Kion had won in the end, even if it had resulted in his own slimy demise.
Uuuullllppp
The bulging sprout in Simba’s gullet descended as a kicking, wriggling ball of delicous young feline. Slipping into the hot, slimy tummy half filled with the remains of the zebra Simba had devoured earlier today. “Ahhhhh, That’s what you get Ma-
URRRRRPPPPP
the hot gas burst out low and mean, stinking already of digesting feline. That was to be expected, Simba mused, The snow leopard was still young and tender and so his meat would cause little concern for such a strong digestive system such as a lion’s.
And speaking of digestion....
Simba grimly stalked around the perimeter of the cave mouth as the struggles came to a peak within him. His belly half filled now with digestive acid and sticky, slimy juices eager for a chance to get to work pairing down the leopard’s delicous flesh. But while little of Makucha would remain once Simba his done his son would have been a different story. There was bound to waste, bones or fur left over from the leopard’s inferior digestive system....
And soon Simba found that he was right. For near him, right beside where Makucha had been lying and unnoticed by Simba the entire time, lay a small pile of white bones. Easily mistaken for a Zebra’s, but on closer inspection were unmistakably feline. The sharp ridges of cub teeth, the curvature of the leg bones and the thick bump of the muzzle, paired down and damaged but still Kion’s.
Simba bowed his head, and pushed a paw into his belly to massage Makucha, ensure that the digestive juices were working their magic.
“The circle of life gives, and it takes” he uttered softly with a smack of his lips “Farewell, Kion, and Farewell Makucha....”
---
By the time what was left of Makucha was ready to come back up Simba didn’t even awaken, too busy in his restful sleep that he merely opened his jaws and belched unconsciously. Out came the slick, slimy, half digested remains of the villainous snow leopard. The thick teeth sharp jutting out, his heavy skull dropping the ground and cracking slightly.
Simba wouldn’t bury the remains as he did Kion’s but merely left for them there for the vulture’s to peck at. The circle of life would continue.
