Ariel Vore

Fin swam as hard as he could, following his friend as she darted in and out between the formations of rock and coral that dotted the bottom of the sea floor, occasionally getting a glimpse of her emerald-green scales or her bright red hair before she disappeared once again. The young fish was exhausted from swimming for so long, but felt that he had to keep going for her sake. It was a great honor to be friends with the princess, his mother had told him, greater than any treasure or wonder that could be found on the sea floor. And he did enjoy her company; she was smart, kind, and often brought fun and excitement into his life. That was why he was following Princess Ariel now, further than he had ever gone from the safety of Atlantica, in search of some new surface-dweller wreck she had discovered.

Fin didn't understand Ariel's fascination for the world of the surface dwellers, as the stories his parents had told him- about how the surface-dwellers ate people, and how there wasn't any air to breathe- had soiled any idea of going there for himself. But the princess seemed to fantasize about it, even creating a shrine of surface-things she had found in a hidden grotto. When Ariel came to him this morning, excitedly gushing about her latest discovery, Fin couldn't help but get caught up in her excitement as well. And, he had to admit, there was something about exploring those wooden wrecks with her that he enjoyed.

"C'mon, Fin, it's right up ahead!" Fin snapped out of his thoughts as Ariel's voice called out to him. She was floating just ahead of him, illuminated by a ray of sunlight that broke through the deep, dark waters of the ocean. Her tail swished back and forth in excitement, causing her body to bob up and down as she waited for him to catch up, her hair floating around her head in a thick cloud that nearly obscured her face. At least, until she brushed it aside, revealing her smiling, angelic face. But if you asked Fin, Ariel was prettier than any old angel-fish. While some fish disliked the upper-halves of merpeople, Fin thought they were oddly nice. The way their limbs moved with their tail as they swam, their luxurious hair, their pale skin, their expressive faces... it helped that Ariel was gorgeous, even by the standards of the merpeople themselves.

And, well, it helped that her tail was thick in all the right places.

"Coming, Ariel!" Fin called out to her. Grinning, Ariel excitedly began to swim once more, Fin swimming hard after her. Eventually, as more and more distance was put between them, Fin began to swim faster than he had ever before, closing his eyes as he vaguely followed in Ariel's direction. Which is why he was surprised to bump into her tail just a few seconds later, as the young princess had stopped in her tracks. The sensation of her soft scales rubbing against his face sent a jolt of electricity through his body, shocking him out of his concentration. "S-sorry A-a-ariel!" Fin stammered in apology, embaressed, quickly darting away from her rear end. The princess didn't seem to notice, though, her eyes and attention turned downward; following her gaze, Fin let out a few bubbles in shock as he noticed the gigantic wreck below them.

The boat stretched far across the ocean floor, much bigger than even the few blue whales that Fin had occasionally seen near Atlantica. A massive hole in the wooden structure's side revealed its interior, of which there were multiple floors; surface-things of all shapes and size spilled out of the hole, but for every one that lay buried in the sand, glittering in the light, Fin knew that there were ten more waiting to be discovered in the depths of the sunken ship. The dark, gaping, forbidden depths of the sunken ship.

"Er, Ariel, m-maybe we shouldn't go inside?" Fin suggested. Ariel didn't reply, instead diving down towards the ship. Fin followed behind her, growing ever more nervous as they entered the dark atmosphere of the boat's interior, still at her side in spite of the fear he felt.

"Oh my gosh!" Ariel gasped, as she turned the corner into one of the ship's rooms.

Fin fidgeted nervously, darting behind Ariel's back. "W-what is it?"

"Fin, look at all this!" Ariel replied, her voice quivering with excitement. Fin reluctantly opened his eyes, which widened at the sight in front of him. The room was stocked full of treasure, which seemed to overflow from every corner. Glittering gold in a variety of shapes, shimmering gemstones in a multitude of hues, and pieces of exquisitely crafted jewelry, as well as a large amount of pearls, for some reason. Ariel reached into the pile, brushing aside the golden coins to unearth a gleaming silver thing. It had a handle with a base on one end and an open, concave part on the other. Ariel looked into it, like she did the long tube thing with glass in it that she had shown him on one of their visits to her grotto.

"Do you see anything?" Fin asked, his curiosity starting to outweigh his fear as time passed.

"No," Ariel replied, flipping the thing over to examine the bottom now, running her fingers over every inch of thing as she tried to figure out what the surface-dwellers used it for. "Hmmm... oh, I get it!" Gripping the thing by the handle, she dug it into the mound of gold, using it to scoop up some of the coins. "This must be for carrying all the gold!"

"Ohhh... yeah, that makes sense."

"And- oh! Look over here! And THIS! Oh, and that thing over there!"

Ariel and Fin explored the ship for several hours, with Ariel pointing out the things she knew about and excitedly experimenting with the things she didn't, with Fin gradually becoming more and more at ease with his surroundings. Ariel picked out a few of the more interesting items to carry back to her growing horde, stowing others away in the various nooks and crannies of the ship so she could come back for them later. She was wearing some of the jewelry; gold bangles, rings, necklaces and the like and carrying the silver tool she had discovered when the duo exited the ship with smiles on their faces. However, when they noticed the sun dipping down into the horizon, and their surroundings growing darker as night began to fall, their smiles disappeared.

"Oh, no," Ariel said, "daddy's going to be so mad at me..."

"What are we going to do?" Fin asked, his nervousness returning.

"It's not safe to be out at night, so I think we should stay here until morning," Ariel replied, turning back to the ship. Fin followed behind her as she entered the ships bunkroom. Picking one of the bunks that hadn't suffered too much damage, Ariel settled in on the water-logged, algae-covered mattress. Fin was about to pick a bed of his own, when Ariel spoke up. "You can sleep with me if you want, Fin. I don't mind."

Fin just about lost his kelp at that. "U-uh, are you sure Ariel?" She patted the mattress in reply, nodding; her slim body took up very little space, even with her tail. Fin swam over, settling down beside her, and was about to close his eyes when Ariel suddenly scooped him up. He watched, wondering what she was doing, as she pressed him against her warm belly, just below her seashell-clad breasts. Fin looked up at her in confusion, and was greeted with a gentle smile in return.

"Thank you for coming with me today, Fin," Ariel said, softly. Her hand began to stroke along his back and dorsal fin, sending a shiver down Fin's spine.

"Y-you're welcome, Ariel." Ariel beamed at him, continuing to stroke along his back. Her gentle, repeated touch, combined with the young fish's tiredness and the soft, comfortable flesh that he was resting on, quickly caused him to drift off to sleep.

---

Fin was awoken with a start by a long, drawn out growl coming from directly underneath him. He glanced downward, looking at Ariel's soft stomach as it let out another rumbly gurgle. Ariel lifted the hand that was pinning him to her stomach to rub at her eyes, and Fin swam up to her head as she got up. "Sorry, Fin, I must be hungry from skipping dinner. Did you see any kelp growing nearby when we swam here?" Fin shook his head in reply, and Ariel frowned. Early morning light was starting to filter in through the cracks of the sunken ship, but it was still somewhat dark out. "Well, let's see if we can't find something nearby, okay?"

The two swam out of the crack in the ship's hull, going their separate ways while still staying close enough to be in earshot of each other as they searched for something to eat. Fin eventually ducked under a rocky outcropping, and found a bed of seaweed for his troubles. Excited, he began to swim back towards his friend, keeping one eye on the rocky area where he made his discovery as he went, while the other kept a lookout for Ariel. Eventually he spotted her, and he shifted his fins to swim towards her head. "Ariel! Ariel, I've found something you can eat!" Fin's eyes darted between her and the area where he had found the kelp, but like before he was concentrating on moving and not on his destination. He felt a slight shift in the waters as Ariel turned around to look at him, but kept swimming, only looking forwards to see where he was going when he felt the water heat up minutely, and felt his underbelly touch against something soft and smooth. His surrounding had become dark, but through the little light that managed to sneak in behind him he could barely make out his surroundings; pink, twitching flesh framed his vision, glistening with mucous, as well as the pearly white teeth that could only belong to a merperson. It took him a second to realize what had happened, during which his body continued to propel him forward towards the dark abyss that lay at the back of the cave, his head brushing against the dangling flesh that hung above it; he had swam right into Ariel's open mouth.

Ariel stared down at the wriggling form below her nose, her crossed-eyes wide not only at this turn of events, but at the taste of her fishy friend named Fin, who had just lodged himself headfirst into her mouth after saying he had found something she could eat. 'He couldn't mean...?' she thought, as his tail wiggled, rubbing his tasty body against her tongue and causing his head to press into her gullet. Her eyes started to flutter, and her belly let out a hungry moan as she pressed her tongue against Fin's underbelly.

Fin expected Ariel to spit him out, but instead her tongue reared up, pressing him against her palette and sending him deeper inside of her hungry maw. "Ariel? What-" he was cut off as his head started to enter her gullet, the tight muscles of her throat cutting him off as Ariel tasted him further, licking up along his sides and fins as well as his stomach. His confusion turned to panic when he heard a low rumble come up from her throat; a low moan that signified that she enjoyed his taste. He started to thrash around as the mucous lining her throat got in his gills, making breathing difficult; his wild movements only working to inch him further towards Ariel's esophagus. Then he felt the already tight confines of Ariel's body close in around him, as the mermaid took her first swallow.

Ariel brought one hand up to her throat, as it stretched to fit Fin inside, tracing the bulge he made. 'He must really like it in there,' she thought to herself- interpreting his struggles as happy wiggles- an idea which made her giggle. She didn't have a clue why he wanted her to eat him, but after sampling his rich taste she was all too happy to oblige. Using her other hand, she held Fin's wiggling body steady, shoving him in a little further before taking another large gulp. Most of Fin's upper body was inside of her now, leaving only his flapping tail in the open waters.

Fin's struggles weakened as his gills became clogged with Ariel's mucous, leaving him barely able to breathe; his body was tightly compressed by Ariel's gullet, which rippled and kneaded his scaled-flesh as it worked him further inside itself. The interior of her throat was unbearably hot compared to the cool Atlantic waters he was used to, which combined with the lack of oxygen and the firm muscles that threatened to break his bones made him beg for escape. His hopes were shattered when Ariel took another swallow, fully engulfing his body in hers; he could feel her tasting his tail, swishing it around her mouth, before she took another huge gulp, bringing it to the entrance of her esophagus. One more swallow sealed his fate, sending him on a slow, steady path to the mermaid princess's stomach, the excited beat of her heart and the squishing sounds of her throat muscles dragging him downward to her waiting belly reverberating in the young guppy's skull.

Ariel traced Fin's descent to her belly with one finger, licking her lips to gather the remnants of his taste with a dreamy expression on her face. The bulge he made quickly disappeared past her collarbone, but she could still feel his faint twitches as he slipped past her breasts. She couldn't help but let out a moan as he stretched her throat, which became a pleased gasp when Fin's head started to press into her lower esophageal sphincter. She stroked her tummy as her friend began to spill out into it, his struggles renewing once his gills escaped the chocking grasp of her throat. "Oh, Fin... that was amazing! You're so tasty, I wish I could eat you again!" she complimented, earnestly; she still didn't understand why Fin had offered himself up to her, but she was glad he did.

"ARIEL! HELP ME!" Fin cried. The inside of the princess's belly had some water, but it was quickly disappearing, leaving only the tight embrace of her mucous-lined stomach, caustic stomach acid, and one very panicked fish. The slick walls rippled, churning its living contents hungrily as he tried to find an escape, a way for his voice to be heard. He could feel Ariel's hand through the walls of her belly, and he tried to flail against it, to maybe try and give her some indication that he was in distress.

"Woah!" Ariel exclaimed, feeling Fin's movements inside her. Once again, she interpreted his actions as approval, or at the very least not the struggles of a dying fish. Grinning, she patted her stomach appreciatively, unable to hear the last gasps of her former friend as lack oxygen caused him to slip into unconsciousness. Just before he did, though, he heard her last words to him; "Thanks for the meal..."

---

Ariel's father, King Triton, was understandably furious once she arrived back at the palace later that day, but his anger quickly turned to sympathy when Ariel explained that her friend, Fin, had been eaten by a shark while they were off playing, and that she had escaped the shark by hiding away. Even so, he had requested that his littlest daughter stay close to the castle for a while, to alleviate his own worries. Over the first few days Ariel spent inside, a gnawing hunger grew inside of her that no number of vegetarian delicacies could quench. Soon after, the castle's population of fish staff members began to noticeably decrease, while Ariel's shapely body noticeably increased in size.

Ariel darted stealthily in and out of the halls of her father's palace, stealthily following behind a plump looking fish that made her mouth water. She bit her lip as she felt the dying struggles of the fish already inside her stomach, their desperate flailing sending a shiver up her spine as they fruitlessly attacked the walls of her belly. Their random, chaotic movements were almost like a massage to her, and she ran her hand along her belly to mimic the feeling from outside. Her other hand went up to her mouth to suppress a giggle as their struggles reignited, strengthening the feeling; a part of her felt bad about eating so many of her father's subjects, but at the same time it was almost impossible not to. She had gotten a taste- not just the flavor of those she consumed, but their struggles as they slid down her throat and into her tummy, and even the excitement of hunting her prey, of cornering them or merely grabbing them as they swam about their lives before gulping them down- and now it was impossible not to indulge whenever she could.

And indulge she did; in particular, she had quite a good haul today, her abdomen positively stuffed with fish, giving her a small, barely noticeable gut- that, on occasion, would jiggle with the weight and movement of its catch. Truthfully, she wasn't even that hungry any more, but after seeing the fish she was tracking enter one of the less used wings of the palace she couldn't help herself; who knew when an opportunity like this would present itself again, after all? And besides, she was reminded as her belly gave out a low moan, she'd have more room soon enough, once her current occupants were softened up enough to pass into her intestine. It's possible that one or two of the smaller ones might even survive long enough to wiggle around in her guts, a treat she had enjoyed once or twice before.

Still, she couldn't think about that now, not while she was trying to catch her latest snack. Ariel swam in the shadows, a good distance behind the oblivious fish she was after now. Eventually, she saw her opportunity, and swam rapidly, easily catching up with her soon-to-be-meal with her powerful tail muscles (which, her new diet had done wonders towards strengthening). The fish turned it's head to look at her, and opened it's mouth in greeting, only for its words to die as Ariel opened her own mouth, her maw gaping wide enough that he could see a good distance down her throat. The fish was so shocked, in fact, that he could barely register what was happening until he was halfway down her gullet, Ariel's hands wrapped around his body as she greedily stuffed him inside of her humid jaws.

"H... HEL-" the fishes cry was cut off as Ariel clamped a hand around his head, squeezing his mouth tightly shut to keep even a whisper from escaping. She greedily swallowed, practically slurping the poor fish up like a strand of seaweed noodles. She had discovered quickly that the swimming motions fish made when trying to escape not only felt good tickling and rubbing her insides, but also served to make swallowing them easier. In just a few seconds she had swallowed almost all of the fishes' body, leaving only his head inside her mouth. She closed her lips with a smirk, her throat still bulging from the fishes' body, as she began to taste his head; the fish screamed incoherently, but the noise was audible only to her, and soon died down as the fish consumed what little oxygen was available inside her mouth, soon falling silent.

"Ariel?"

Ariel swallowed immediately after hearing the voice behind her, shivering as she felt the large fish descend into her waiting belly. Placing a hand on her stomach to mask any movements, she smiled brightly, turning around to face her father, King Triton. "Oh, hello daddy!" she said innocently, not a hint of guile in her voice.

"Ariel... I'm sorry, my daughter, I only sought to keep you safe from harm, but now I see that my worries have only caged you. I can't let my fears rule us both, so I've decided to let you explore as you once did. I only ask that you stay cautious, and avoid the dangers I've warned you about- for both our sakes."

"Oh, thank you daddy!" Ariel gasped, throwing her arms around her father, hugging him tightly. Triton chuckled, patting her on the back; for a moment, he swore he could hear someone talking nearby. But, he decided, it was probably just his imagination.

---

Gilligan heard the tell-tale gentle rapping of knuckles against the roof of his parent's house, and he quickly swam outside to greet his new friend. He had been surprised when Princess Ariel first spoke to him, surprised that someone as important as her could be interested in being friends with a guppy like him, but he had quickly struck up a friendship with the young princess. He quickly swam outside, only to bump headfirst into the pale expanse of Ariel's belly; a small, cute muffin top that had stayed despite the numerous games they had played. "Whoops," he laughed, "guess I should watch where I'm going, huh Ariel?"

Ariel smiled in response. "Say, Gilligan, you're not going to believe this, but I found this HUGE wreck not too far outside of Atlantica..." She pointed, off in the distance. Gilligan turned towards the direction she pointed, and was off like a bolt of lightning.

"Race you there!" he called out.

Ariel licked her lips, her gentle smile briefly replaced by a predatory grin before she chased after him.