Hungry Ghost Boy

*Gruuuuuuuuooooooouuuuuuuooooo*

An eerie groaning noise echoed through the S.S. Anne's lower deck, causing a cold shiver to run up the spine of Jennifer, a waitress who found herself uncomfortably alone all of a sudden.

"Uh... H-Hello?"

*Uuuuuuuuuuroooooooooruuuuuoooor*

Jennifer heard another groan, and nervously looked down the corridor in hopes of finding the source of the odd noise. She was expecting to see a stray Pokemon that wandered out of it's trainer's cabin so it could do some exploring, but no: nothing. Even when she turned to look behind her, she was alone... at least, as far as she could tell.

'Heh, it's nothing. It's nothing, probably just the pipes...'

*UrrrrrrrrgRUOOOOOOOOOOooaaar*

She yelped and flinched, taking care to make sure she didn't drop the platter of food she was carrying in the process. That sound, whatever it was, came from directly behind her which was close enough for her to hear a quiet, yet distinctive sloshing among all the groaning. Having broken into a cold sweat, Jennifer slowly turned around, a heavy lump wedging itself in her throat as she did so... but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary down the corridor, save for a staff Machop in a sailor suit seated on a chair reading an upside down issue of PokeMen's Health. The lump in her throat dissipated, and the waitress sighed in relief as she used her free hand to wipe the sweat from her brow.

'Alright, good: so it WAS just a random Pokemon. Nothing out of the ordinary he-' "WHOA!"

The waitress turned back around, only to jump back and scream when she was met with the sight of an eerie young boy standing just a foot away from her, slouched over and breathing somewhat heavily.

'Oh my god, what the- who the- how did he even-'

About a million incomplete thoughts zoomed through the woman's mind, but she couldn't focus on even one of them due to the shock of being startled in such a way. But now that she was able to get a good look at the "noisemaker", she realized that she had nothing to fear since she recognized him as an honored guest from a far away region. Identifiable by his deathly pale skin, messy jet black hair, black and purple formal sportswear, and oddly cute mask that obscured his eyes and mouth with voidlike holes...

"Oh, y-you must be that Allister kid from Galar. The Gym Leader, right?!" Allister nodded politely, and the waitress sighed in relief. "Okay, good! For a second I thought some creepy ghoul was going to steal my soul or something!"

Bright violet eyes suddenly made themselves visible through the eyeholes of Allister's mask, and they shifted their gaze to the ground as he shyly held his hands behind his back. "S-Sorry, miss..."

"It's fine, just save the creepy demon kid routine for battles or whatever. I nearly had a heart attack, you know!"

Allister nodded meekly, and Jennifer couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. Here he was, acting like a bashful little sweetheart while she was just shaming and ripping into him. Hoping to pick his spirits up, she decided to switch to a more pleasant line of questioning.

"So, since you're wandering around out here, I take it that you need something?"

He nodded again and awkwardly pursed his fingers together. "Y-Yes, that's right..."

The waitress smiled and saluted, standing proudly in order to sell herself better as a consummate professional. "Alright then, little guy! Just tell me what you need and I'll go get it!"

"W-W-Well, I..."

*groooooooOOOOOOOOooooOOooOOOooowl*

Allister didn't need to finish his sentence, the monstrous, haunting growl from his stomach did that just fine. The boy flinched and pressed both hands against his belly as it roared away, and now that she knew what the odd sound from earlier was, Jennifer squealed with laughter and planted a hand over her mouth.

"Oh my gosh, just listen to that!"

"S-S-So sorry, miss. Really..." Allister meekly replied, only for his gut to rumble again. Jennifer laughed to herself and shook her head before walking over to the boy and patting him on the head.

"No need to apologize, you're just hungry! Really, REALLY hungry from the sound of things..."

"I'm q-quite famished, really," Allister replied, shyly rubbing a foot against the ground as he held his hands behind his back once again, "My belly's been rumbling all day and- Ah!"

Allister cried out as Jennifer lifted his shirt up, exposing his skinny pale midriff before taking a knee and planting an ear on it. She shushed him while she listened intently to the sounds of his stomach. And said stomach sounded absolutely furious: She could vaguely feel it wrathfully churning and undulating under Allister's skin while she could hear stomach acid sloshing and gurgling around before being punctuated by a sharp, painful-sounding gurgle. Allister flinched and whimpered pitifully, which put a frown on the waitress' face.

"Oh gosh, you're not kidding! That sounded like it seriously hurt!" Jennifer removed her head from Allister's midsection and stood up, then put her hand on his belly and started firmly, yet gently rubbing it in hopes of soothing the pain. "Man, you've gotta be starving... just when the heck did you last eat, anyway?"

"W-Well... Haven't eaten since yesterday, really." Allister admitted much to the waitress' horror, "O-Overslept and missed breakfast, then I meditated with my Ghost types through lunch..."

This was unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable. Someone going hungry on her watch? Jennifer was determined to prove to the world that service aboard the S.S. Anne was second to none, so a passenger missing their meals was something she could not, would not abide. The waitress glanced at the platter she was carrying, which had a piping-hot cherry pie underneath the cover. It was intended for a politician rolling in from the Orre region, but every second she stood there listening to the wailing of Allister's empty belly, it became harder to resist the urge to just buck protocol and feed the kid. Though on the other hand, she had a Nidorino and Nidorina waiting for her back home and if she lost her job due to making a wealthy passenger wait on his food, it would be a lot harder to care for them...

'And besides: jolly and happy as he looks in public, that Es Cade guy sounded real scary when I caught him hollering at someone over the phone last night. Might not want to test his patience...'

"Hey, Romeo!" Jennifer hollered as she snapped her fingers at the reclining Machop. He perked up, and tossed the magazine on the floor before springing out of his chair and saluting. "Alright buddy, I hate to do this to you on your break, but I need to get this little guy something to eat. Would you mind delivering this pie to Mr. Es Cade in cabin 2003 for me?"

The Machop nodded and grunted out a phrase that sounded vaguely like "Ma'am yes ma'am!"

"Good! Make it speedy, and I'll talk the captain into extending your break time!"

Jennifer handed off the platter to the Machop, and as he left for Es Cade's cabin Jennifer stretched out a hand to Allister. "Alright little guy, why don't I take you down to the kitchens? The chefs are preparing a ton of food as we speak, and they're a total bunch of softies! I bet I can talk them into sharing some grub with you!"

His stomach growling in anticipation, Allister grabbed Jennifer's hand and enthusiastically dragged the waitress down to the kitchen with him.

"Whoa! Ha ha, slow down there, kid!" Jennifer laughed as she sped up and kept pace with the ravenous boy. A few flights of stairs later and they made it down to the kitchen, and they didn't even have to approach the door for their noses to be overwhelmed with the rich, flavorful parade of aromas drifting through the lower decks.

*GRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOWL!*

Allister was practically paralyzed by the delicious scent, drooling through his mask's mouth hole like a madman as he hunched over and clutched his roaring beast of a gut. Convinced that his stomach was on the verge of digesting itself, Jennifer threw open the door and took a loud step onto the tile floor of the kitchen. All the chefs busy cutting, roasting, and mixing food all turned and stared at her in silence as Allister followed her into the kitchen.

"Alright guys, listen up! We've got a very special guest on board with us: a Gym Leader from the Galar region who hasn't eaten since he left port! And considering that it's fast approaching dinnertime, the poor guy is absolutely starving by now!"

Jennifer's statement was confirmed by Allister's belly rumbling loudly enough to be heard through the kitchen, with a Clefable helper cocking her head in worry. The boy could practically be seen blushing through his mask as he stared down at the ground and shyly stepped away.

"See, just listen to that! The kid's stomach sounds like a roaring Arcanine, for crying out loud! So please, would you guys be willing to spare him some food? If the captain takes issue with it I'll take all the blame, I swear!"

As Jennifer had promised, the chefs were an agreeable bunch: they briefly whispered among each other before all nodding in unison.

"Sure, why not? We've actually gotta ton'a extra Kingler legs over here," A stocky bald chef with tattooed biceps huffed as he grabbed a platter and showed it's contents to Allister. "Eat up, kid!"

While Allister drooled over the steaming, delicious smelling leg meat, a Squirtle with a white bandana wrapped around his little head waddled over and offered up a plate of syrupy pancakes while his trainer, an older chef with thick eyebrows and tanned skin grinned proudly. "While you're at it, help yourself to some flapjacks! They're an old family recipe of mine!"

"'Ey kiddo, I'll do ya one better," A similarly tanned woman with bleached blonde hair snorted as she and her Mankey partner carried two more platters, "Miltank steak and mashed potatoes, best dish on the ship, guaranteed!"

"While you're at it, how's about some Seafoam Sushi?!"

"The yakisoba's pretty good!"

"Same with the Goldeen Ramen!"

Mountains upon mountains of food were offered up to Allister, and the eerie boy just looked like he was about to have a heart attack from sheer happiness. His haunting violet eyes shape-shifted into a pair of hearts as he snatched the platter of Kingler legs and sat right down on the ground, and he cracked the shell open before tearing into the juicy white meat as if he were a feral Growlithe. And just like that, the crew of roughneck chefs set all their plates and platters of food around the boy as he feasted to his heart's content, a sight that seriously impressed Jessica. She hadn't seen competitive eaters tear into food with this kind of ferocity: Alister's movements were as speedy and chaotic as a whirlwind with him jamming Kingler meat and chunks of steak down his throat and gulping them down in the blink of an eye before washing them down with huge gulps of milkshake and berry juice. He'd empty out entire bowls of ramen just by tilting them to his mask's mouthhole and slurping, then would fold up individual pancakes before stuffing them into his mouth.And as he gorged himself on the delicious five star cuisine, Jennifer could hear him give little moans of ecstasy as he filled his starving stomach.

Well... admittedly, filled was an understatement, as he was absolutely stuffing himself to the gills. Jennifer was quick to realize that his stomach was rounding out considerably as it became packed with an increasingly ridiculous amount of food. His suspenders could be heard creaking as more and more strain was put onto them, only for them to eventually snap and give way altogether. Allister's belly was now a perfect sphere and made it look like he had stuffed a Voltorb down his shirt, and the comparison was driven further home when his shirt started riding up and showed a sliver of pale skin that quickly became much more than that as he continued with his feast. Before Jennifer knew it, Allister had emptied at least seven platters worth of food and demolished a good portion of the rest which seemed to be his breaking point. The boy flopped right onto his back, and at that point his gut had grown so large that it turned his already tight shirt into a crop top that bared his engorged sphere of a belly for all to see. It churned, rumbled, and gurgled ferociously as it went to work on his massive meal, and Allister was left panting and moaning on his back as the weight of all that food jammed inside of him had begun to set in.

"Oog... ha ha... w-w-well, that was d-*BRAAAAAAARP!*"

Allister slapped a hand over his mouth, absolutely mortified by the uncharacteristically powerful belch that came roaring out of his mouth. But that shame eroded when all the chefs and even the classier Jennifer erupted into bawdy, boorish laughter.

"Nice one, pal!" The bald chef cackled while the bleached blonde woman grinned proudly.

"Heh, and I thought my burps couldn't be beat..."

Realizing that he was in good company, the timid boy freely belched a second time, and sighed happily as he wrapped his hands around the circumference of his bloated ball of a belly.

"H-Ha ha... th-thank you all for the meal... it was truly delicious..."

"No problemo, buddy!" the elderly chef beamed, crossing his arms in satisfaction, "Always an honor to help a guy in need, you know?"

While the chefs stood proudly as they admired their handiwork, Jennifer took her seat next to Allister and giggled as she gently ran her hand in circles around his taut tummy. "Well Allister, looks to me like you've more than made up for both those missed meals. I take it you feel a lot better now, yeah?"

"I-Indeed..." Allister sighed wistfully, giggling as his stomach gurgled happily, "B-But... well, I think I might need some help getting back to my cabin..."

"Ha, I bet! Can't imagine how hard it's gotta be walking around while having to lug this thing around!" Jennifer teased as she patted Allister's distended gut. "Well, once you're ready I'll help you get back to your feet, and walk you back to your cabin."

"G-Give me a minute or two to prepare, okay?" Allister asked rubbing both hands up and down his vast waistline, "I-I would like some time to appreciate my newfound fullness..."

Jennifer giggled and nodded. "I understand. Just say the word when you're ready to go, alright?"

And so Jennifer stood up and let the young Gym Leader enjoy the satisfaction that came with polishing off an enormous meal, and as she waited she could feel a distinct warmth swell up in her chest. It was easy to take for granted given how just about anyone who attended the S.S. Anne's high society parties or booked a cabin for a voyage was rather well off, but the act of sharing food with someone in need just made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Her job was hardly a bad one, but this was the first time she could really say that she took pride in being a ship's waitress...