Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As the portal leading to Gravity Falls closed, the demons collectively groaned.

"Well, we're stuck in the Nightmare Realm." said Keyhole. "Possibly for a pretty long time."

"Any ideas for what we could do now?" asked Teeth.

"I know." said Kryptos. "Maybe we could just try to continue the party here."

"Hmm. If nobody has any better ideas, I'll start setting up." said 8 Ball. He raised his hands, conjuring several tables on which sat decks of cards, board games, and other such things, though most humans would consider these games far stranger than anything they've ever seen. When all of the tables were set, the demons each took their seats and began playing.

Chapter Text

Keyhole took a seat in front of the table 8 Ball was setting up a board game.

8 Ball heaved a massive wooden chest onto the table and said "I think you'll really enjoy this one."

Keyhole eyed the wooden chest and asked "This wouldn't happen to be one of those unbelievably complicated board games, would it?"

"No, no, it's actually quite simple." said 8 Ball. He opened the chest and reached inside. "So the basic rules are that, there are three factions, each with a leader, an arch leader, a duke, a king, an emperor, a duchess, a countess, and two armies."

8 Ball pulled out several game pieces and placed them on the table.

"Okay." said Keyhole, following so far.

8 Ball said "Each of the two armies has forty foot soldiers, twenty hand soldiers, ten pikemen, five axemen, two and a half hammermen, and one and a quarter commanders. Only one of the two armies has catapults, and the other is the only one with cannons."

8 Ball set a whole armful of figures on the table.

"Uh, alright." said Keyhole.

8 Ball continued. "At the start of the game, every player rolls three and a half dice, each with a number of sides correlating to how close one is to the nearest glass of liquid that is at exactly one quarter capacity. The dice rolls determine what multiplier is used for how many victory points are awarded at the end of every turn, every round, and also every stage. Victory points determine the chance one has to win at the end of the game when the raffle is held. There are also defeat points, which lessen the chances, and stalemate points, which don't affect the chance at all."

8 Ball dropped two handfuls of dice and tokens on the table.

Keyhole said "Well, I'm not sure I-"

"But before you roll the dice, first you have to pick your class." said 8 Ball. "There are 25 classes total, as well as a hybrid class for every possible combination of two classes. You can also take levels in sub classes, which have abilities of their own but can't be selected as a main class. Each class has between 2 and 8 paths to take, but that's not until level 10."

8 Ball pulled out a very tall stack of paper sheets and dropped it on the table with a loud thud.

Keyhole opened his mouth to speak, but 8 Ball continued.

"Next, after assigning the classes, you'll need to begin making the farm. Now each player starts with five different crops..."

The rules explanation continued for what seemed like an eternity. Several tables had to be pushed together to make room for all the boards and game pieces.

"...but that rule only applies if only one of the players is temporarily partially deaf. That's about it for the rules. I told you it wouldn't take long. Now, we can start." said 8 Ball.

He looked all over the table before saying "Wait, never mind. We're missing one of the miniature trampolines."

Chapter Text

Hectorgon was at a chair by a bookshelf, reading a book. The book's cover had various screaming mouths on it, each shrieking nonstop at different volumes.

When he looked up from the book, he noticed that Xanthar was standing right in front of him.

"Oh, hello Xanthar." said Hectorgon. "Are you interested in reading?"

Xanthar didn't reply. Like a lot of the other henchmaniacs, he didn't really have any eyes. Unlike most of them, however, he also didn't have a mouth, or a face at all really.

"Uh, maybe I'll tell you about the book I'm reading now." said Hectorgon.

Xanthar didn't reply.

"I consider it a pretty good book so far. For the most part it's a rather funny story. I think the funniest part so far is when one of the humans gets their soul drained from doing the ritual. You know, a lot of classic humour that both older and younger readers might enjoy."

Xanthar stood motionless.

"But I guess maybe you'd be more interested in something of another genre, such as a tragedy." Hectorgon said before pointing to a book on the shelf. "That one there's a good one. The scene at the end where the demon gets sealed away is a real tear jerker."

Xanthar continued not moving.

"Or maybe you'd like to read a mystery book?" suggested Hectorgon, getting more uncomfortable.

Xanthar, one again, did not reply.

"Err, I just remembered I have to go think of an excuse." said Hectorgon before quickly floating away, dropping the book he was reading.

After Hectorgon left, Xanthar took a seat at the chair before picking up the book and beginning to read it.

Chapter Text

Kryptos was sitting at a table, working on a 28260277-piece jigsaw puzzle. As he was searching for one of the edge pieces, he saw a pinkish-purple speck of ash fall from above him and onto the table, burning a hole in it. He sighed, knowing from experience what this signified.

He turned around and was met with the grinning face of Pyronica. She wasn't especially large, but she still towered over Kryptos, though that may have been because he was quite small. Clenched between her grinning teeth was a gigantic, tremendously fat lavender-coloured stogie, the glowing tip being the source of the ash. The smoke from the cigar formed the shape of a happy face.

"Hey, Kryptos." she said happily. "Got a light?"

Kyrptos pointed at the ever-glowing cigar in Pyronica's mouth. "Uh, I think it's already lit."

Pyronica laughed before placing a hand on the general area where Kryptos' shoulder might be if he had one. "Fancy a game of poker?" she asked.

"I'm not sure." said Kryptos. "Whenever you play poker, or most other games for that matter, whenever anybody loses you tend to eat them."

"Only temporarily!" said Pyronica.

Kryptos sighed again and said "Alright, I guess I can give it a go."

Pyronica snapped her fingers as a cannon appeared behind her. She took a seat in the cannon and lit the fuse with her cigar before the cannon fired her through the air across the table. She did a mid-air somersault before landing on the other side of the table and taking a seat.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Kryptos.

"Not really!" said Pyronica cheerfully. She snapped her fingers again, causing a deck of cards and a few stacks of chips to appear on the table. As she dealt the cards, she said "So, let's decide the stakes for this game."

Pyronica thought for a moment, the smoke from her cigar forming a question mark.

"I got it!" she said. "If I win, I get to swallow you whole for the next seven centuries."

Kryptos cringed slightly. He had been in Pyronica's stomach on more than one occasion, as had pretty much everybody smaller than Pyronica, and he didn't consider it a very nice place to be.

Pyronica said "If you win, hmmmm..."

Pyronica continued thinking. "Would you get to swallow me whole? No, I don't think that would work. Would you get to turn me into ice? I'm not sure you can do that."

"Maybe you could run a hot lava bath for me?" suggested Kryptos.

"Hm, I suppose I could do that." said Pyronica. "Alright, let's start."

They played poker for a while. Over time,Kryptos noticed something odd about the smoke coming out of Pyronica's cigar. It seemed to form into shapes that signified her poker hand. Kryptos decided not to tell her as he payed close attention to the smoke throughout the game.

Over time, Kryptos won more and more poker hands as Pyronica lost more and more chips.

Eventually Kryptos won the final hand and Pyronica groaned. "Alright, I guess you won. How did you get to be so good at this game?"

Kryptos pointed to the colossal cigar in Pyronica's mouth. She noticed the smoke forming into shapes.

"Oh, right, that." she grinned, somewhat embarrassed. "I guess that is pretty clever.

Kryptos began to smile before he noticed the smoke from Pyronica's cigar was forming the shape of an evil grin.

Pyronica said "But it's also cheating, and that means you're disqualified, so down my gullet you go!"

Pyronica's tongue shot out of her mouth at record speed and latched onto Kryptos, pulling him into her mouth where she swallowed him whole.

Kyrptos landed in Pyronica's stomach with a thud.

Pyronica patted her stomach as she smirked proudly. "Get comfortable in there. It's gonna be a long seven centuries."

"Just great." muttered Kryptos "Could I at least have my jigsaw puzzle in here?"

"Sure." said Pyronica, who proceeded to swallow all of the jigsaw pieces, along with the entire table they were on.

"That's better." called Kryptos' voice from Pyronica's stomach.

Chapter Text

Teeth and Paci-Fire were sitting at a table, playing a game of checkers.

"So, just so we're clear." said Teeth. "The pieces move diagonally."

"Yes, Teeth." said Paci-Fire, somewhat impatient.

"And there are red pieces and black pieces." said Teeth.

"Yes, Teeth." said Paci-Fire. getting more impatient.

"And when you get into check, you have to enter the same colours as the machine says?" asked Teeth.

"Oh, for-we've been having to switch to simpler and simpler games because you won't pay attention to the rules." said Paci-Fire. "First you thought that biting off the head of one the opposing team's hammer-and-pikemen would earn you double points, then you thought a rook could 'body-slam' a rook if they had enough 'heel points', then you tried to do an overhand throw in Toss the Gungoblex, and now this! Is there any game that you think you'll be able to play?"

Teeth thought for a moment before saying "How about tic-tac-toe?"

"Fine." said Paci-Fire.

After they set up the game, Paci-Fire said "I'll go first." and drew an X in the center square.

Teeth looked at it and asked "What am I supposed to spell with that?"

Chapter Text

Pyronica was walking along, titanic cigar in her mouth and slight bulge in her belly.

"How's it going in there?" she asked her stomach.

"Pretty much the same as it usually is in here." called Kryptos' voice from her stomach. "The puzzle's going along well."

"What's it a puzzle of?" asked Pyronica.

"I think it's an apple, but it might also be a horse." said Kryptos.

Pyronica soon came across Xanthar, who appeared to be reading a book covered in screaming mouths.

"Hey, Xant." said Pyronica. "Fancy a game of baseball?" she asked, the smoke from her cigar forming the shape of a baseball

Xanthar stood motionless.

"Hmm. I guess you might not be sure how to play. Let me teach you." said Pyronica.

Pyronica waved her fingers and conjured a massive spiked club. She grasped its handle and held the top of the club up to the cigar in her mouth. The club quickly caught fire.

"The first and most basic rule of baseball is hitting things with the bat. Usually, but not always, spherical things. For example..."

Pyronica waved her hand and conjured a large baseball with a face.

"Oh, hey guys." said the baseball. "How's it-" Pyronica picked up the baseball and tossed it into the air.

The baseball said "Hey, what's going on?"

Pyronica grinned as she smacked the baseball with her fiery club, launching it into the distant void as it was screaming all the while. A bright twinkle appeared where it last vanished.

Pyronica grinned with pride before handing the flaming club over to Xanthar. "Seems simple, doesn't it?" she said.

Xanthar took the club and raised and lowered his head up and down to face the club, then Pyronica's rather spherical head.

With a mighty swing, Xanthar smacked Pyronica with the club, launching her far off into the distant void. Her yelling slowly faded away as she vanished with a big bright twinkle. Xanthar then dropped the club and wandered off.

Meanwhile, floating aimlessly in the void was Pyronica, who smiled and said "You know, as much as that hurt, I've got to admit he's a natural at this game."

Pyronica blew a smoke tesseract from her cigar before saying "He bats almost as good as I do."

"I know." said Kryptos' voice from her stomach. "Why do you think we stopped letting you pick other players to be the ball?"

Chapter Text

Hectorgon and 8 Ball set up a pool table. This wasn't the type of pool table you were probably familiar with. Rather than being rectangular, this table had 37 edges, 182 faces, and 97947 corners. There was also a set of pool balls in every colour in existence, along with a couple that had colours that didn't actually exist. There was also a cue ball, a cue cube, a cue pyramid, a cue rectangular prism, and a cue cylinder.

"So, who should break?" asked 8 Ball.

Hectorgon said "You should do it."

"Very well." said 8 Ball, who raised a pool cue and hit the cue cylinder, which rolled along and smacked into the grid of pool balls, sending them rolling all around the table. Now, in this version of pool, the time it takes for all the pool balls to come to a complete stop could take a few hours, so they had time to talk.

"So, you said you were trying to find a miniature trampoline?" asked Hectorgon.

"Yes, it's needed before I can start playing Kruppadoo with Keyhole." said 8 Ball.

"I thought you said it was called Tlanticee." said Hectorgon.

"It was earlier, but the name changes depending on how much sound is happening in a twenty-five hundred foot radius of the player who first sits down." said 8 Ball.

The pool balls were still rolling around, clacking off of one another. A couple fell into the corner pockets, but most of them were still rolling around with no stop in sight.

"Do you think Teeth brushes his teeth? Or brushes himself, I guess." said Hectorgon.

"I heard he just goes swimming in a tub of mouthwash every once in a while." said 8 Ball.

"That doesn't sound like an especially good idea." said Hectorgon.

"Well, most of us don't clean our teeth at all." said 8 Ball.

"Are our teeth the kind that require cleaning?" asked Hectorgon.

"You know, I've never been sure about that." said 8 Ball.

They checked on the pool table again. The pool balls didn't seem to be showing any signs of halting yet.

"So, how about that new... thing?" said 8 Ball, trying to make conversation without there being really anything to make conversation about.

"Yeah, that thing really is a thing." said Hectorgon.

"I heard some say that it wasn't a thing, but I disagree." said 8 ball.

"Good on you for standing up to them like that, declaring that it truly is a thing." said Hectorgon.

A few seconds of silence passed before 8 Ball said "Want to just go do something else and come back in a few hours to see if it's your turn yet?"

"Sounds good." said Hectorgon, and the two wandered off, the pool balls rolling to a complete stop shortly after they did so.

Chapter Text

Teeth was wandering through the surreal landscape of the Nightmare Realm when he came a cross a huge, elaborate pink cannon with pink flame decals, that were actually on fire. Teeth quickly recognized this cannon as belonging to Pyronica. As he hadn't seen Pyronica in a while, he decided this would be a good opportunity to mess with the cannon.

Teeth stood on top of the cannon's barrel and said "Hey, look at me, I'm a... war... fighter type! I man the cannon and I'm generally the type with a rocky exterior but a soft center!"

Teeth then got behind the cannon and said "Man the battleships, me arteries! Quiver me lumbers! Racket down the latches, you gingivitis cats!"

Teeth then got into the cannon's barrel and said "And for the grand finale, here's our dental cannonball, Teeh!"

Teeth made some pretend crowd noises, not realizing that the cannon's fuse was somehow flammable enough that he ignited just by stepping on it.

As the cannon's fuse burned down, Teeth noticed that it was lit just before the cannon fired with him inside.

BOOM!

The cannon fired in a massive explosion, spraying fireballs everywhere as Teeth was blasted into the vast void. He flew like a firey comet for quite a while before he bumped into something.

When he woke up, Teeth was in a weird chamber with squishy, glowing pink walls. It was rather cramped, and the temperature was insanely high.

A voice came from all around Teeth.

"Hey, Kryptos, did you see that? I caught that pink comet thing right in my mouth!" said the voice, which Teeth recognized as Pyronica's.

"No I didn't." said a voice from behind Teeth. "I don't have x-ray vision. Though it would be useful in a lot of situations."

Teeth turned around to see Kryptos sitting at a table that seemed too big to fit in the place they were in, but it did. There was a partially constructed jigsaw puzzle on the table.

Pyronica's voice came from all around again. "It tasted like enamel and gums, so I guess it was Teeth, right?"

"Uh, yes." said Teeth.

"How'd you get all the way out here?" asked Pyronica.

"I found a cannon, of sorts." said Teeth.

"Oh, that must be my cannon you're talking about." said Pyronica. "It takes a while to get the hang of it. I have many a millennium of experience using it in the circus. You'd be surprised how many times somebody can see a demon cannonball act before they get tired of it. If you ask me, the best things are things that can be used both as transportation and as tools of destruction!"

"Did you get out here by cannon to?" asked Teeth.

"Uh... yeah, sure!" said Pyronica.

"Not exactly." said Kryptos. "What actually happened is she-"

"Hey, no need to get bogged down by unnecessary details." said Pyronica. "So, anybody know anything we can do out in this void?"

"I guess you'll drift around and we'll wallow in your stomach until either you get bored or get eaten by some even bigger demon that may be somewhere out here."

"Both sound like good choices." said Pyronica.

"So," said Teeth, wandering over to the table. "What are you doing?"

"Putting together a 28260277 piece jigsaw puzzle." said Kryptos. "I'm currently have 156 pieces put together. At the rate I'm going, I should be finished just before the end of the seven centuries I'll be spending in this stomach."

"Will I have to be in here that long too?" asked Teeth.

"I don't see why not!" laughed Pyronica wickedly.

"I guess we could finish the puzzle faster if we worked together." said Kryptos. "And it would be nice to have some company other than Pyronica. Though I admit I would have preferred the company of somebody like 8 Ball."

"I'm not eating 8 Ball, he'd probably taste all grody." said Pyronica.

Teeth looked at the puzzle and said "So, have you started getting the edge pieces together first?"

"I considered that," said Kryptos. "But it's a little complicated when some pieces have one edges, some only have two edges on opposite sides, some edges pieces fit only in the middle, and some pieces need to be broken in half before they fit anywhere."

"Seems like it may take a while." said Teeth.

"It almost certainly will." said Kryptos.

"So, do you like jigsaw puzzles?" asked Teeth.

"Not sure." said Kryptos.

Chapter Text

Keyhole was walking along when he came across Paci-Fire playing with what looked like a demonic toy train.

"What do you have there?" asked Keyhole. "Some kind of toy train?"

"It is not a toy!" said Paci-Fire. "It's an infernal death train with wheels sharp and powerful enough to shred through countless mountains, an engine powered by the steam of a billion boiled oceans, a passenger car occupied by the most dangerous beings in all of existence, and a dining cart that serves three hundred layer lemon and blueberry cheesecake."

"So is that a toy version of that train?" asked Keyhole.

"It's a model, for your information." said Paci-Fire. "This train doesn't quite exist yet, but someday I plan to construct one so that I may begin an endless conquest."

"Didn't you say your last conquest was going to be endless, too?" said Keyhole.

"That's beside the point!" yelled Paci-Fire.

"I'm not sure lemon and blueberry would taste good together." said Keyhole.

"That's also beside the point!" yelled Paci-Fire.

Chapter Text

8 Ball and Xanthar were standing in the middle of a field. There was a pile of large rocks next to both of them.

"Alright," said 8 Ball. "I'm guessing from your complete silence when you saw me lifting a table that you want to do a contest of strength. Very well, then."

8 Ball grabbed one of the rocks and heaved it over his head. Xanthar grabbed one of the rocks and did the same.

8 Ball grabbed another rock and heaved it over his head along with the first one. Xanthar again did the same.

Eventually, they were both holding a stack of massive boulders over their heads.

"It seems we're evenly matched." said 8 Ball. But I have a trick up my sleeve."

With his hands full, 8 Ball wiggled his toes, conjuring a heavy looking metal ship next to him, which he lifted over his head. He wiggled his toes again, conjuring a heavy looking house, which he lifted over his head with some difficulty. Finally, he wiggled his toes again, conjuring a steel fortress which he barely managed to lift over his head.

"Beat that!" said 8 Ball.

Xanthar wandered off, soon returning carrying even more boulders.

8 Ball said "That may impressive, but it still doesn..." before he realized that Xanthar had set the boulder pile down. "What are you doing?"

Xanthar started picking up boulders from the pile and placing them into 8 Ball's hands. "Hey, stop that." he said. "I don't think I can lift any-"

8 Ball let go of all of the things he was carrying, causing them all to fall on top of him in a massive pile.

"Okay, maybe I should have picked a different contest." said 8 Ball's voice from underneath the huge pile.

Chapter Text

Pyronica was still floating in the vast void in the skies of the Nightmare Realm. Her humongous cigar didn't appear to have burned any shorter as it continued glowing brightly in her mouth, the smoke occasionally spelling messages as she drifted through the void.

She licked her lips before looking at her stomach and saying "Now Teeth, you tasted like enamel and gums. Kryptos, you tasted sort of like crystal and tarrot cards. Maybe a hint of tea leaves in there too."

"Ooh, you've eaten some of the others before, what did they taste like?" called Teeth's voice from Pyronica's stomach.

Pyronica thought to herself, the smoke from her cigar forming shapes of foods like pizzas, burgers, pies, and ice cream, among other foods.

"Well, Keyhole tastes like dusty doorknobs and keys. Hectorgon, he tastes like an old hat rack. The Lava Lamp one tastes like a volcano full of orange soda."

"Have you eaten all of those things you're comparing them to?" asked Kryptos' voice from Pyronica's stomach.

"Xanthar, he tastes like a loaf of bread infused with grape jelly." said Pyronica.

"You've eaten Xanthar before?" asked Teeth, somewhat confused.

"Yeah, once or twice. It was pretty difficult." said Pyronica.

"Huh." said Teeth. "I've only eaten a few people, and most of them were a whole lot smaller than me. Usually I like to bite things."

"I've noticed. said Kryptos. "That would explain all the bite marks on these puzzle pieces.

"Paci-Fire, he kinda tastes like a big hamburger that's been flame-broiled, boiled, and deep-fried all at the same time." said Pyronica, the smoke from her cigar forming the shapes of burgers. "That Amorphous Shape guy tastes like popsicle-flavoured glass. Or maybe a glass-flavoured popsicle."

"Has anybody ever eaten you?" asked Teeth.

"Yeah, I've been swallowed whole a couple times." said Pyronica. "But most of them aren't really talkative, so I'm not really sure what I would taste like."

"Maybe an exploding cigar filled with rainbow-coloured lava!" said Teeth. "I'll admit I don't know what cigars, lava, or rainbows taste like, so I'm just sorta guessing by looking at you."

"Aw thanks!" said Pyronica, blushing slightly as the smoke from her cigar formed a happy face.

Pyronica's grin grew even wider as the smoke from her cigar formed a heart. She said "Now Bill tasted probably the weirdest out of anything I've ever eaten. The taste changed every millisecond, pretty much. Though all in all, he tasted quite good."

"Wait, you've eaten Bill before?" asked Teeth, quite confused.

"Yeah, it happened every once in a while." said Kryptos.

"Yep!" giggled Pyronica, the smoke from her cigar forming another heart. "He probably didn't like to admit it, though. He usually got pretty mad whenever I did it, and he would usually blast me into the sky as soon as he got out of my stomach, but it was worth it. In fact, one time I swallowed him whole and wouldn't let him out for three whole months! I like to think he secretly enjoyed it, even though the second I let him out he turned me into a three week long living fireworks show. It kinda hurt, but I liked it."

"You have strange tastes." said Kryptos.

"And you guys have strange flavours!" laughed Pyronica as she continued drifting through the void.

Chapter Text

Hectorgon was floating in front of a large hatrack that had enough hooks for thousands of hats. On each of the hooks was a different hat, helmet, cap, or other piece of headwear.

Keyhole walked up to the hatrack and asked "What's that thing?"

"This is where I store all the hats I made." said Hectorgon.

Keyhole was silent.

"You know, the ones I make for various reasons?" said Hectorgon.

Keyhole was still silent.

"Keyhole, we've been friends for over twenty thousand years. Have you really never heard that I make hats?" said Hectorgon.

"Well, we're more group friends than personal friends." said Keyhole.

Hectorgon sighed and said "These hats, when worn, make you take on the appearance of somebody you're not. Useful for disguises and sneaking into places with no-one the wiser."

Hectorgon took a beret from the hatrack and said "Like this one I made recently. Wearing it will make you look like an artist, or maybe a French person, or maybe a girl scout. I can't quite remember."

He took another hat from the rack, this one a hat shaped like the top of a squid's head.

"This one will make you look like either a squid or a sklarmazoo. It's kinda hard to tell just by looking at it."

"What about your hat? What does that make you look like?" asked Keyhole.

"Nothing, it's just my regular hat." said Hectorgon.

"Hmm." said Keyhole, narrowing his eyes. "Alright, but I'm watching you."

He attempted to do a gesture where he pointed to his own eyes before pointing to Hectorgon's, but as Hectorgon had no visible eyes, that didn't really work.

Chapter Text

Pyronica was still floating through the empty void and had fallen asleep, Smokey Zs floating from the cigar in her mouth. After a while of drifting through the void, a voice from her stomach called "Hey, did you doze off?"

Pyroncia awoke before saying "Sorry, guess I kinda nod off when I think about eating too much."

"Well, can you try to stay awake?" said Kryptos' voice from Pyronica's stomach. "This void is a dangerous place."

"Relax!" said Pyronica. "I'm a super-powerful fire demon! What out here could possibly be any danger to me?"

Pyronica giggled before looking behind her, where she found a gargantuan worm-like demon with an incomprehensible amount of eyes and a mouth with a set of tongues where a set of teeth would be.

"Up, nevermind," said Pyronica, right before being swallowed whole.

In the massive worm's stomach, Pyronica landed with a splash before looking around. Her cigar provided some light as she saw numerous objects floating in the belly of the worm.

Pyronica giggled madly and said "So this is what getting swallowed is like. Seems like something I could get used to."

She patted her stomach and said "Kryptos, Teeth, good news! You're in two stomachs at once! I bet you're feeling pretty proud of yourselves right now."

"I'm ecstatic," said Kryptos flatly.

"It is a weird predicament," said Teeth.

Pyronica looked some more around the stomach and picked up an object that looked like a cross between a tuba, a radio, and a morning star. "Oooh, this looks neat," she said, swallowing the object whole.

There was a thunk in her stomach, followed by an "OW! Why'd you eat that?"

"Safe keeping," said Pyronica, who continued looking around. She found an object that looked like a cross between a candelabra, a cigarette holder, and a magic wand. She swallowed it whole as well. Yet another object looked like a cross between a toy horse, a unicycle, and a checkerboard. Once again, she swallowed it.

"How's the puzzle coming along?" asked Pyronica.

"We're about one thousandth of the way there," said Kryptos.

For the next few hours, Pyronica sat in the worm's stomach, playing with the various objects she found and occasionally swallowing them for safe keeping.

After a while, Kryptos said "So, can you think of a way to get out of here?"

"Hmm," said Pyronica. "Not sure. Maybe fire will help me think."

Pyronica snapped her fingers and spawned a large fireball that spawned in the middle of the stomach, completely lighting it up.

"Ah, that's better," said Pyronica, the smoke from her cigar forming shapes of campfires and torches.

Suddenly, the stomach began to rumble.

"Hmm, I guess he just doesn't like spicy food," said Pyronica with a giggle.

The worm gagged a bit before spitting Pyronica out like a comet back towards the ground.