# HNTBL 32: Swallow Your Pride

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

How Not To Become Lunch: 32 - Swallow Your Pride

Fiona strode down the hall with her tail swaying confidently and her head held high. Things had been looking up for her. At first, getting into the advanced pred class had made her a bit nervous. Excited, sure, but definitely a bit nervous. But in just the last few days she’d managed to meet all these new friends, and Arthur, and they’d all helped her feel… well, proud.

Of course, she’d definitely been proud of being put in that class, but this was different. The way they all talked, about her, about each other. She felt proud of her skill as a predator, proud of what her body could do, of what she could do with it- better than so many of the other preds in her grade. She felt almost untouchable. She’d always known she was pretty good, but never really that she was this good.

All these thoughts and more floated around her head as she made her way through the school to her next class: science. Sure, it wasn’t exactly her best subject, but no one could be perfect (except maybe Arthur).

“No! Let go!”

Her attention was drawn by a common sight: a pred trying to snag a meal before class. A rat boy had managed to grab hold of a human classmate on the way into their classroom. Right away Fiona could tell he was trying to make quick work of his brunch. Right by the classroom door with plenty of potential mages around to play hero, if he didn’t get his food down fast, he might not get it at all. He hoisted the human with one hand gripping at the shoulder and made to shove the meal down his muzzle.

“No you don’t!” the human yelled, reaching up and grabbing hold of a few whiskers. With an aggressive yank, the large hairs came loose.

“Ahhhh!” the rat boy cried out, dropping his botched brunch who hurriedly made for safety as the predator instinctively clasped both hands to his snout.

Fiona couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for her hungry classmate, bested and even injured by his own food. She neared him by the doorway, still rubbing his muzzle.

“You know, you should really choose your hunts a bit more carefully,” she advised. “If you didn’t rush it, you might have seen that coming. Next time you should make sure to restrain your prey.” She smiled at him encouragingly as she continued to walk past into the room.

Taking her seat, she let thoughts of her new friends- and Arthur- fill her head again as she waited for class to start. Unfortunately, her teacher arrived all too soon, taking the usual place at the front desk and beginning their daily lesson:

“Alright class, today we’ll be experimenting with various chemicals including zinc sulfide, hydrochloric…”

…

“Okay everyone, that’s all for today. Hope to see you all here same time tomorrow.”

Fiona rose from her seat. That had been… less than fun, but at least it was over now. And next up was her advanced predator class, that was something to look forward to. She felt the excitement rising inside as she headed for the door. She could hardly wait, and it showed in her swishing tail and fixed gaze. She wondered if she’d run into any of her friends in the hall before she made it to class. Arthur usually managed to run into her. Maybe this time Pyre and Mort would be with him, or maybe Che-

“Hey were-mut!” came the sharp words from behind her- very close behind her. Fiona turned around quickly and was met with the grey, furry form of a rat boy, who she quickly realized had his arm pulled back like he had something to throw. She hardly had time for her eyes to widen before he shot his arm forward, straight at her face, launching his projectile and covering her furry muzzle in… nothing?

“Wh- what?” he muttered in confusion, looking down at his hands, then back at her, then down at the ground searchingly. He hadn’t thrown anything, he’d been emptyhanded, so where-?

“Looking for this?” came a new voice, one Fiona recognized.

Now it was the rat’s turn to spin around startled. Fiona took a step to the side to see past him.

“Chelsie?” she asked with surprise.

The dark-furred neko stood tall and straight, her solid feline gaze trained on their rodent classmate as she idly tossed a small glass vial up and down in her single raised hand, without so much as glancing at it.

“Hey! Give that back!” the rat boy demanded, lunging at her to grab the vial from the air as she toyed with it.

She reached up and grabbed it back preemptively while at the same time stepping to one side, leaving one leg out just enough to send the boy stumbling to the ground.

“Hold this,” she instructed Fiona, handing the werewolf the mystery vial as she turned to face the other student already scrambling back to his feet. “I’d advise you to get a hold of yourself,” she said as he faced her again, but that only sparked a rage in his eyes.

“You ‘advanced’ snobs should keep your advice to yourself!” he spat, but rather than try and charge her again, he decided to whip his body around and lash at her with his ropy tail.

She stepped toward him and grabbed the appendage at the base, killing most of his momentum, leaving just enough force in his tail for it to swing harmlessly around her waist over to her other waiting hand, hovering in the perfect position to catch it.

He felt her furry mitts and looked back, surprised for a moment before anger retook control.

“No! Let go!” he yelled with indignant fury, starting to pull.

Chelsie dug in her heels, bracing the tail against her back with her weight to keep it in place, her hands holding firm… for just about a second, anyway, until she felt he was pulling hard enough. Then, all at once she let go, sending him stumbling once again- even more frantically this time- to the floor.

“Look at you,” she said flatly, “scrambling and squealing. Talking like your prey. You’re no predator, you’re an overgrown mouse.”

If nothing else had touched a nerve, that certainly did.

“I am not a mouse!” he screamed, throwing himself back at her straight from the floor. “I am a…” he launched his tightly balled fist at the neko’s face.

For a split second, Fiona managed to catch a glimpse of a tiny smirk across her shadowy face as a thought flashed through the feline’s mind:

Making a fist rather than using your claws, how very much like prey you are…

The smirk disappeared as quickly as it had come, as Chelsie parted her lips. It happened in the blink of an eye. She’d swallowed as he made contact, opening the gates to her gullet, while simultaneously reaching out to grab his advancing arm with both hands, slowing him just enough to prevent him from actually injuring her, but not so much as to prevent his arm from diving all the way down into her belly. And when the proverbial dust settled, her jaws were settling around his shoulder, with her hands gripping the side of his chest.

The rodent never bothered to finish his sentence. He stared into the neko’s eyes, suddenly now just inches from his. Stunned at the sight and the sensation, he was frozen and dumbstruck. Truthfully, he’d never felt more like a mouse. And now he was a mouse in the jaws of a cat.

“No…” he whimpered.

Taking advantage of his enthralled stare, Chelsie stretched her jaws nearly to their limit and shoved her maw over his muzzle, managing to take his entire head past her lips.

And then the struggles began. Fiona’s eyes darted to the rat’s free arm, but she found one of Chelsie’s clawed hands already wrapped around it- a move she’d made so smoothly and swiftly that the werewolf wasn’t even sure how or when she’d done it.

Fiona’s mouth parting with a bit of awe, she watched intently as the neko shoved her rodent meal into her own, devouring him in a series of subdued yet effective swallows, hoisting him into the air as her gullet claimed him: Shoulders. Chest. Belly. Waist. Thighs. Legs.

*gulp*

The former predator’s tail slipped through the cat’s lips unaided as the rest of his body slipped down into the neko’s growing belly. The bulge already squirmed and squealed, but the light-footed feline was undisturbed.

Reaching out, Chelsie calmly took the vial back from Fiona’s hands.

“If you’d have been more observant, you would have noticed how angry you made him after passing him in the hall,” she said bluntly. “You would have noticed him looking at you during class, not following the human’s instructions.” She gestured toward their teacher. “You may have even recognized the chemicals he was mixing to make this stink bomb.” She held up the vial for display, sealed tight to avoid the smell slipping loose and alerting the keen noses all around.

“I… I…” Fiona muttered. This was all happening way too fast; she could hardly believe it. That rat had plotted against her? She’d actually missed him sneaking up behind her? Chelsie had been in her class this whole time!? She didn’t know how to-

The stern-faced neko reached out a hand and placed it on the werewolf’s shoulder.

“Tell me you’ll do better,” she said.

“I… I’ll do better,” Fiona promised. In response, she saw what might have been a smile, though it was so small that she thought she might be imagining it.

“Good,” Chelsie said with a nod. “None of us want to see you end up like this one.”

*glllllorp*

Originally Published: 24-Jun-2021