Tales of Jungle

Okay, since my normal stories aren't very popular, then in the predator bandwagon I shall jump.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Delilah! Over here!"

Hilary's tail crushed the wood used for a camp fire whose flames had no effect on her gigantic yellow scales. She reached down to the ground where several humans abandoned what remained of their camp site. Two were unfortunate to end in the naga's grasp. Despite their struggle, the giantess lifted just below her chin. She looked down at her catch, a man and a woman, before flicking her tongue around them. Hilary then opened her mouth and tossed the man inside with a flick of her thumb.

"Johnny!" The woman yelled.

The cavernous maw closed behind and the floor raised him against the ceiling. Hilary sucked the human like a candy for his flavor, eventually drooling from the corner of her lips. She then tilted her head back and swallowed the man whole and alive. His body bulged Hilary's neck forward with the lump moving downward to the stomach. Hilary let out a content sigh before turning to Delilah.

"How are you doing, Delilah?" She waved at her friend.

The bolas dridder launched a burst of sticky spider silk which pinned a man fleeing. Among the remains of the camp, three humans in total were glued to the ground thanks to Delilah. Her massive spider leg tore a tent in two, but luckily for the giantesses, the humans had already abandoned it. She lowered down to pick up her catch and wraps them in a cocoon of silk from the neck down. She then looked up at the green tailed naga.

"I'm doing fine."

"Oh! Oh! Let's play that game!" Hilary loosened her grip on her prey until only her index and thumb kept her down, then she pointed the sky with her palm and placed her other index behind the human. "Ready?"

Delilah gave Hilary a flat stare.

"Hilary, you know I hate-"

"Oh please. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase!" She grinned at Delilah.

Delilah rolled her eyes then opened her mouth while sticking her tongue out. Hilary shut her left eyes and stuck her tongue out to help angle her shot. She released her two fingers and flicked her finger in a split second, launching the woman through the air. Delilah scuttled forward a little and caught the human on her tongue where she immediately slipped to the back of the dridder's throat. Delilah snapped her mouth and eyes shut and swallowed immediately. Her neck bulged forward and the lump slid down to the stomach. Delilah looked to the ground and let the air travel down after that stunt before looking in the naga's azure eyes.

"Bullseye!" Hilary thrust her fist to the sky.

"Hilary, you know I hate that game, more so unwrapped food."

Hilary's eyes opened and her smile vanished.

"Wait, you don't?"

"No, I don't."

"That's strange. I could have sworn you loved it."

"I told you that last time we hunted together."

"Oh!" Hilary rubbed the back of her head while putting on an embarrassed smile, all while the sweat drop rolled down her head. "Oops! I guess I forgot. Heh heh heh..."

"Just like everything else..." Delilah muttered to herself.

"Anyways! We don't have time to talk!" Hilary turned around and waved at Delilah to follow while slithering deeper into the woods. "Come on! The humans are running away!"

Delilah took a deep breath through her nose which came back out as a long sigh before scuttling behind Hilary at her own pace.

***

Hilary slithered ahead of her dridder companion to The Tree. Her belly had expanded a little bit since she came back from the hunt and she continually rubbed her stomach to capture the sensation of kicks on her palm. She turned to Delilah while still heading forward.

"They were delicious, don't you think?"

Delilah brought the last of her cocoons to her mouth and pushed it to the back with her finger before swallowing. Once the lump had vanished at her collarbone, she pulled out her finger then looked at Hilary.

"Yeah, they were not bad, I guess." Hilary suddenly stopped in her track, to which Delilah followed her example. "What now?"

"Delilah," Hilary closed her eyes and flicked her tongue out all while the tip of her nose tingled. "Do you smell that?"

Delilah crossed her arms while her expression became even flatter.

"Smell what?"

"That smell... that texture... that flavor..." Hilary's reopened her eyes which were surrounded by sparkles. She bore a giant smile as she crossed her fingers to her chest. "It's jelly! My favorite!" Delilah stood as the naga bolted straight ahead while leaving a trail of dust clouds behind. "A blob is nearby!"

Delilah scuttled after Hilary at her own pace once the dust settled. Every animal jumped to the side to avoid Hilary's locomotive of a tail, each almost suffocating from the dust. She kept uttering 'jelly' over and over during the whole trek until her ears caught up to her stomach and forced her to come to a halt. Her pointy ears twitched a bit at the same time as her nose: there were shouts coming from around the corner and something smelled like smoke. She climbed up the nearest tree for optimal camouflage among the leaves then advanced from branch to branch toward the site. She poked her head out of the canopy then her eyes and jaw almost dropped. A massive pink slime creature lied before her very eyes. However, someone was battling it, and that someone was none other than Derrek, the male fire naga he met weeks ago. Derrek took a deep inspiration and let loose a breath of fire at the blob. It shook in pain then lunged at the fire naga, but jabbed his palm in the ground which summoned a pillar of fire which engulfed the blob. It then fell down motionless on the ground, now darkened and smoking.

"Wow..."

Hilary began moving down the tree at a pace so slow it made slug girls look like centaurs. Derrek turned to the tree following Hilary's words.

"Oh, Hilary!" The fire naga slithered to the tree before looking in Hilary's eyes. "I thought I sensed someone else nearby. I didn't expect we would run into each other again so soon."

The shine in Hilary's eyes became a bit brighter when they were set open on his eyes. She could very well gaze in them for hours, and that's probably what she wants right now.

"Someone else?"

"Is it dead yet?" A voice said from the trees.

A dridder came out from behind the trees. This was another rare male predator. His hair was black and about as long as Delilah's and his eyes were yellow. He had a strong physique, but it didn't stand out quite as much as Derrek's muscular, yet lean build. His spider body was covered with light brown fur punctuated with various black spots. However, the striking difference with this dridder was his frontal legs. His two most frontal legs were huge compared to the rest of his body. They were covered in very thick and hard fur with massive claws at the tip. The dridder looked at the roasted blob before quickly turning to Derrek.

"See? I told you these things were everywhere!" He then turned to the common female naga by Derrek with a face more similar to Delilah's. "Who are you?"

"Oh, Kane, this is Hilary. She's the girl I told you about weeks ago."

"Oh yeah, the air naga that thought she could prevent a tribe of dridders from passing by the camping site of her two supposed humans. Not thinking very straight."

Derrek frowned at Kane.

"Kane! She tried to protect her friends, show a bit more respect."

"Maybe, but if you weren't coincidentally there, she'd probably have been dead and it would have all been in vain."

"Kane!" He turned to Hilary "I'm sorry for Kane's atti-"

Much to Derrek's surprise, Hilary wasn't by his side anymore. It was only then he realized he heard the sound of strong respiration behind him and turned to see Hilary swallowing the scorched blob whole little by little. Her neck kept bulging as she kept ingested the creature while her two stomachs took expansion. Kane stared with flat brows at Hilary with the sweat drop rolling down his head.

"Great, another airhead."

Derrek let out a chuckle with the second sweat drop on his head.

"That's the Hilary I know."

"There you are Hilary." Delilah entered the scene and the first thing that struck her eyes was Hilary snacking on the blob. She rolled her eyes and turned to Derrek. "Hello Derrek."

Derrek turned to Delilah.

"Oh, hello Delilah. I haven't seen you in a while. How have you and Hilary been?"

"Can't complain as long as she's not near me." She didn't flinch at Derrek's chuckle and instead turned to Kane. The two's stare were like paper. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

Derrek slithered between the two dridders and turned to Kane first.

"Kane, this is Delilah, a friend of Hilary." He then turned to Delilah. "Delilah, this is Kane, a friend of mine."

"Hi."

"Hi."

The two eyed the features of their spider body and especially their unique features such as the dark stripes on Delilah and the frontal claws on Kane.

"So you're a burrowing dridder."

"So you're a bolas dridder."

The two kept staring each other without flinching or pronouncing a word. They eventually turned around and scuttled away.

"I'm going back to my tree."

"I'm making a new burrow elsewhere."

Derrek chuckled before slithering back to Hilary. She tilted her head all the way back to let the last of the blob slide down before giving the final gulp where a large bulge slid down her neck and formed a massive lump in her tail. Hilary's cheeks puffed for a second before she let loose a thunderous belch. She then curled up and embraced her posterior stomach while waving sheets of tears rolled down to her giant smile.

"This is the best jelly I ever ate in my life!"

"Glad you liked it." Derrek lowered a little and caressed the large inflation in his friend's tail. Hilary stopped her ocular gushers and her smile so her eyes could settle on him. Her face turned completely red. "You have quite an appetite. You must be quite healthy."

Hilary's eyes had a hard time turning to Derrek's eyes. "What...?"

Derrek set his eyes in Hilary's which darkened the red hue of her face.

"My masters always told me 'Eating well is a sign of good health."

"M-m-masters...?"

"Yes, my human monk masters."

Hilary jolted back and her face returned to deep peach tone.

"Your masters were humans?"

"More than that, they were also my parents until I was big enough to leave the nest."

Hilary stayed for more than five seconds without saying a word! A new record!

"Parents!? Your parents were humans!?!?"

"Yes. They taught me everything I know today. I was saddened when I had to leave and I hated it when predators ate other humans in front of me."

Hilary looked down at her stomach. There were humans inside. The same race that raised Derrek since infanthood. What was this pain that constricted her heart all of a sudden? It hurt; it was intolerable.

"Derrek... I-"

"But I don't anymore." Hilary looked up at Derrek with even wider eyes and ears ready to devour words. "I remembered my teaching. My masters told me to be in harmony with nature and its laws. It was hard at first, but I eventually learned to accept it. I still don't like it, but I now cope with it better."

"But I..." Hilary's eyes lowered to the ground, "...I eat humans. Does that mean you don't like me?"

"Of course I don't mean that, Hilary." Her eyes regained life and stared in Derrek's. "What I mean is that, I would love to stop others from eating humans, but I am just a lone naga up against the world. Even if I stop a human from being eaten today, probably a hundred would have been eaten somewhere else. I learned to accept that I can't change the way things are." He lowered and patted Hilary's swollen tail, bringing red across the bridge of her nose. "What I mean is that you shouldn't change who you are just because of me. I don't mind if you eat humans. I want you to be yourself."

The pain constricting Hilary's heart lifted and her eyes begged to gush forth while she bit her lower lip. She threw herself in his arms and buried her face in his chest as this new healing flame in her heart became too much for her to bear alone; she has to share it with someone. Derrek stroke her pink hair with surprising delicacy for someone as imposing as he is. Hilary lifted her head to Derrek's face and it appeared he too would love to spend says looking in her azure eyes, as both smiles gave desired to reach for each other.

"Thank you, Derrek. I was worried for a moment you wouldn't want to see me ever again."

"Think nothing of it, Hilary." The two let go of their embrace. "By the way, Hilary, where will you hibernate this winter?"

Hilary's eyes regained their typical wideness while her smile vanished.

"Winter?" She then took on an embarrassed smile while rubbing the back of her head. But no sweat drop. "Oh! That's right! Echo told me winter will come soon!" Then her eyes became even wider and she slapped both palms against her cheek. "Oh no! I completely forgot! I have to make reserves of fat to survive for three months!" She immediately headed away to parts unknown of the woods, which is really just circling the general area they are currently standing. "I have to find Delilah's cave too! How much time do I have left? I don't have much time left, do I? I gotta act fast! Think, Hilary! Think!! Where should I hunt? Where should I go!?"

"Hilary! Calm down!" Hilary screeched to a halt and blinked twice to Derrek. "I know a great place to hunt. Would you like to see?"

"Sure!"

Hilary grinned at Derrek and took Derrek's hand to better guide her. Red appeared on his cheeks for a split second.

***

"Are we there yet?"

Derrek turned to Hilary.

"Yes, almost. Can you already smell it?"

"Smell what?"

Hilary closed her eyes and let the tip of her nose do all the work. It tingled at a faster pace which brought a smile so large her fang poked out. She let go of Derrek's hand and accelerated the pace toward the large bushes surrounding a sunny glade. Derrek kept his own pace as Hilary poked her head out of the bush to stare at a small flower growing in the middle of the glade, surrounded by a halo of light. It had delicate hot pink petals and multiple yellow filaments of extreme lengths. A group of elves sat around the flower in circle. They slowly wobbled left and right with eyes semi-open and near drooling mouths. Same with the animals next to the elves. Hilary lied on her stomach with the exact same expression behind an elf woman.

"This flower... it's just so great... I see snakes with boobs..."

Hilary put her index in front of the elf, who doesn't even notice how stoned she is, and dragged her into her open mouth. She swallowed the girl whole and let out a sigh.

"This is great... best smell ever... and free food."

A few minutes later, Hilary's stomachs had become so bloated it's as if they have been inflated like balloons. Hilary turned over to her back with her arms spread as far as she could muster. She then let out a belch from the bottom of her guts, almost scoring a 5.0 on the Richter scale.

"Aaaah... this is the best day ever... I'm not moving from this spot. Not even if a dryad falls on me."

Derrek slithered up to Hilary then rubbed her tummy.

"How did you like it, Hilary?"

Hilary let out another belch as blushes stuck to her cheeks.

"It was... magnificent."

"Glad you liked it. This is my favorite spot to prepare for winter." He pointed the flower to Hilary. "This plant is called a Flaghara. It's a very rare flower that releases an irresistible smell to those who aren't accustomed to it."

Hilary let out yet another belch.

"Best smell ever..."

Derrek let out a chuckle.

"Can you move?"

You guessed it, another belch from Hilary.

"Nope... I'm..." belch time "too full to move."

"In that case."

Derrek wrapped his arm around Hilary's bag and then under her tail, then lifted her off the ground. Hilary yelped from this sudden moment and wrapped her hands around his nape before looking straight in Derrek's eyes with no more trace of plant intoxication. Her face turned into such a bright hue of red that it could serve as a lamp. She knew that, as an air naga, she was considerably lighter than most nagas around. She also knew that Derrek should be strong with his physique. But she had no idea he would be able to lift her and make it seem so trivial.

"D-D-D-Derrek?"

"I'll carry you to my cave."

***

Derrek put Hilary down after half an hour of slithering, whose face didn't lose its blush during the whole trip, and placed both hands over her mouth in front of the massive maw of the cave. Derrek took Hilary's hand to guide her with care around the cave. It was a network of tunnels carved in the rock through the course of nature. There were multiple dead ends; however one had boulders attached to massive branches by the mean of ropes. Some of these items were small, while others were large. Another one was a stump almost as tall as Derrek with multiple branches sticking out with no clear pattern. Derrek lead Hilary deeper in the cavern where a small waterfall in the rock created a spring made of pure water. Through the entire tour, Hilary's eyes could do nothing else but glimmer without a smile; she could not smile. She then looked at Derrek.

"Is that?"

Derrek nodded.

"Yes, this is where I live. I do like it, but I feel rather lonely at times." He turned to Hilary. "Even while I train, I'd love to have someone stay with me." He then lowered and put his arms on his shoulders. This time the blushes were concentrated on her cheeks only. "I'd like that you stay with me for winter."

"M-me?"

"Yes, you. I would love that a nice naga like you hibernates with me."

Hilary looked around before turning to Derrek again.

"Uhh, I don't know. I need to ask Delilah first."

Later this day, Delilah was reading another one of these strange collection of sheets humans, especially mages, carry around like their babies. She turned a page then closed the entire book before looking up at Hilary without changing her expression.

"What do you want, Hilary?"

"Um, Delilah, you know that winter is coming, right?"

"Yes, I know that."

"And you know that every winter since I met you, we sleep together in your cave, right?"

"Yes, I know that."

"Well, Derrek proposed me to spend winter with him in his cave."

"Okay. You want to know if I mind hibernating alone, am I right?"

"Yes. So, do you mind? Do you? Do you?"

"Not at all. I miss those days I would have peace."

Hilary's eyes and smile sparkled, and then she gave Delilah one big hug.

"Thank you so much!"

Delilah took a deep breath to let out a sigh.

"Don't mention it. Now let me read in peace."

Hilary let go of Delilah and giggled with her signature grin. She then turned around, slithered away for a few giant yards and then she put her index on her cheek while looking at the sky from the corner of her eyes.

"Wait? Where is Derrek's cave again?"

Delilah rolled her eyes before opening the page she just began to read.

Throughout the remaining weeks, Hilary headed to the spot with the Flaghara flower attracting food in company of Derrek. In the time the first flakes began to fall from the sky, Hilary and Derrek stuffed themselves to the brim in their final preparation. Eventually, Bulvon Woods was covered in a white, frosty carpet of snow. Hilary and Derrek had already begun sleeping with their reserves of fat expending at a slug girl's pace. Hilary brought her hands and quivered for a second before Derrek wrapped his hand around her body. A smile appeared on Hilary's face and did the same for Derrek. Their tails then coiled around each other before sleep completely overtook them and they would remain coiled for the next three months.