FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Henry sighed as he got home. The zigzagoon had had a long day at work, and just wanted to slump down and listen to some rock while he made himself dinner.

Unlocking the mailbox near the elevator, he pulled out a bundle of stuff he was fairly sure was just junk mail, tucking it under his arm without looking. The Pokémon sighed, locking it up, before making his way down the hall to his door. It opened equally as easily into his apartment, a bit cluttered, but mostly because he couldn't get up the energy to clean more than making sure food waste was thrown out and he cleaned his dishes after how long his work day usually was. He closed his door behind him and set the mail on his kitchen counter, swaying his jagged-stripped tail as he got a pot out of a cabinet and set it in the sink to fill with water.

While Henry waited, he turned on the CD player in his sound system, and sighed happily at the first strums of distorted guitar. He got back to the sink to turn off the water just in time, and turned to set the pot on the range, turning on the gas burner. As he turned to fetch the salt, his eyes passed over the small pile of mail he'd set down. A familiar color scheme caught his eye.

Haltingly he reached out, brushing a bill off the envelope he'd recognized the colors on. The jagged black and white pattern with a purple stripe was unmistakable, matching the background of the cover of their latest album. Henry shuddered as he saw the return address was the same as the record label's. Flipping the envelope over, he swallowed. It couldn't be, could it? He'd entered that contest months ago. He never won anything. His claw slid through the seal on the envelope, tearing the adhered paper apart, and he dug his hand into the patterned sleeve.

As he pulled the letter out and flicked his wrist to unfold it, something flumped onto the mail pile, but he was too focused on the paper ahead of him to notice.

'Congratulations! You're the lucky winner of the hidden prize! Enclosed is the pass and lanyard for the 28th.' He paused reading there, and looked down. Resting on the mail pile was a purple laminated card that had his name, followed by "VIP Pass", and beneath it a date and a venue. Henry swallowed, picking it up, before tugging his phone out of his pocket and breathlessly checking.

There, on the tour schedule, was that arena, on that date.

Henry turned to look at his posters on the wall. The image of four Galarian faces looking back at him hungrily with the name in bubble text at their center.

"I... I'm gonna meet Grrgle." The zigzagoon panted breathlessly.

The sound system blared their music at him in reply, the heavy guitars wailing.

Henry breathlessly read the rest of the letter for details, caveats, making sure this was real, that this was everything he hoped. He hardly noticed the water boiling beside him as he re-read it for a second time.

The normal type perked, slipped the lanyard over his head, and then resumed making dinner, full of fidgety energy that he put to good use in preparing food for himself. He started to mouth along to the lyrics, then quietly sing along. By the time the pasta was done, he was singing full-voiced, pouring the pot out into a strainer.

Henry spun on a foot, putting the empty pot back on the range, before turning off the burner, belting out a wail. The Pokémon was knocked out of his reverie by a thudding of broomsticks on the other side of the floor. Blushing deeply, he resumed his cooking, finishing up the veggies and sausages he'd cut up from his refrigerator with a toss in their pan, before turning off that burner as well. He got himself a decent portion of both in a bowl and carried it over to a chair, along with the letter to just go over it again.

Grrgle's music continued to play on the sound system.

As the normal type ate, he listened to the music and looked over the letter, before all at once he froze in place.

He looked over at the only poster he had that was from a tour, even though it wasn't a tour he'd seen for himself. The four members of the band were posed with their instruments. The tallest, their front man Tarvis, a handsome and hefty obstagoon. Henry doubted he'd become a linoone any time soon, and he had no chance becoming an obstagoon if he stayed where he lived now. The Galarian linoone, Lanner. About the height of the rest of the band, but no slacker in the belly department himself. He was posed with his bass up against his chest so that his broad expanse of stomach was exposed. Kapo, the only one not from the 'goon line in the band. A morpeko in his hangry state, drumsticks held up high, prominent belly purple and on full display. They must have taken the picture quickly before letting him get some food to revert to his natural state. And lastly, Zaggy. A Galarian zigzagoon, tongue lolling nearly down to his gut as he held his guitar over his head, the dome of belly framed in his sleeveless jacket, always left open.

Across the four guts was written the name of that tour. "THIS COULD BE YOU"

It was a reference to the thing the normal zigzagoon had only heard about, and a lot of the lyrics of their songs teased. The band was known to eat fans straight out of the audience and churn them to Pokéfat while performing, or at least that was what Henry had heard. He'd never been to one of their shows before, or seen any footage, just the promotional materials, which all teased at the idea, but never confirmed it.

Henry swallowed. He was going to meet Grrgle. What if they decided to keep him? Who would eat him? Would he even last to the performance? He started reading over the letter again, his dinner forgotten. Everything was written vaguely, apart from where he was supposed to present his pass to be allowed backstage, when he was supposed to be there to do that, their policy on social media sharing... nothing relevant to his questions.

*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

The concert was on a Saturday, but that didn't stop Henry from taking the preceding Friday off, to make sure he'd be 100% when it came time for the concert. In the intervening weeks he'd fumbled between excitement and nervousness towards the event. He was still walking that line, but he was still intent on going. The chance of a lifetime, and he'd won it without even realizing it was on the list of prizes for that contest... not that anyone had. Secret prize...

Henry wore the lanyard openly on top of his Grrgle tee shirt as he stepped onto the trolley that headed from his neighborhood to the district of town the Arena was in. As he walked into the middle of the car to grasp a pole before the trolley started moving, he spotted a scrafty and a zorua chatting enthusiastically in one corner. The dark fox was wearing a black tee shirt that read in white jagged letters 'I GOT GRRGLE'D'.

The scrafty was wearing a Grrgle shirt that Henry had seen in the back area of a shop at the mall, amid all the band shirts. Could have been worse. Could have been the shirts they sold at the downtown department store.

The zorua tugged at the bottom of his shirt. "Yeah, they delivered it to my house since it wasn't like I could take it home the normal way."

"Luuuucky..." The scrafty whined, fidgeting. "Was it Zaggy? I'd die of jealousy if it was Zaggy..."

"Nah, got too close to Lanner when he came up to the front of the stage." The fox Pokémon grinned. "Barely had time to react before I was just sagging."

Henry leaned towards them, one hand on the pole to keep himself on his feet.

"Man, I wanna get the lick from Zaggy. Wanna come with me to the stage door and see if we can get that before the show is on?" The reptile in saggy pants and the store-bought shirt leaned against the back wall of the trolley car.

"Nah, man, you just wanna get a refund for your ticket and still get in!" The zorua pushed at his friend with a paw.

The doors onto the trolley opened at the next station, and so many Pokémon boarded that Henry couldn't eavesdrop on the two other fans any longer. He spent the rest of the ride to the stop by the Arena stewing in what he had overheard. Zaggy gives 'the lick'? What did that mean? Did 'sagging' mean he got eaten and he was sagging out Lanner's gut? Did that mean they let the fans back out?

The stop came, and Henry made his way out, walking with plenty of other Pokémon dressed in denims and band shirts, that he realized were all also heading to the concert. Of course they would be, getting off at the arena on the day of the event.

A timid looking umbreon was leaning against a sylveon who was in black leather, his ribbons dyed to have stripes and two patches of black eyeshadow that trailed well past his temples and down his cheeks in a severe pattern. The fairy type chuckled loudly, which was what drew Henry's attention to the pair.

"Yeah, you can still get eaten up in the nosebleed seats; it'll just probably be in the finale instead of throughout the show." The sylveon said loud enough for the zigzagoon to hear over the general chatter of the crowd they were travelling amidst. "That's what the tickets in the pit are for, and why they're the most scalped. Don't worry about anything. I'mma take care of my Bree."

The umbreon nuzzled into the fairy type softly, before the crowd's movement blocked the couple from Henry's view.

He swallowed nervously, and continued on. Most of the crowd went straight for the box office, but the zigzagoon turned and started around the side of the arena, until he reached a barrier.

A houndour in a security tee that clung tight to his chest stood in the way of the only gap. "No access except authorized individuals." He said with the rote practice of a tired Pokémon who has had to say it too many times already that day.

Henry fidgeted, and held out his lanyard, before digging out his wallet to get his ID out, smiling as best as he could in the situation.

The fire type looked over the two presented items, and then turned around, speaking into his walkie-talkie. The reply was too garbled for the zigzagoon to hear, but when the security 'mon turned back to Henry he had a smirk on his face. "They're sending a guy out to lead you backstage, hold tight. Didn't know Grrgle had snacks delivered."

The normal type let out a high pitched 'zig' at that, blushing and stammering.

The big canine laughed aloud. "Oh, that was worth it. It's fine kid. And put your ID away, you won't need it anymore today."

A machoke in a similarly tight security tee walked up. "You teasin' fans again, Doug?"

"It's so easy though, Mark!" Doug replied.

Mark sighed and gestured while pressing his co-worker out of the way with one muscular arm. "Right this way. Backstage passes are serious business, pup." He directed that last bit at the houndour at the end of his arm.

The fire type steamed a bit at the diminutive, but kept quiet.

The machoke waited for Henry to get past the both of them to let go of the other security guard and start walking along with the zigzagoon.

The normal type looked nervously up at the fighting type, but kept walking.

Mark kept quiet until they reached the actual entrance to the backstage area. He held the door open. "Alright, you wanna go straight down this corridor until you see the sign for the Green Room and follow that. That's where your meetup is."

Henry swallowed. "Okay...." The zigzagoon stepped through the door, and heard it close behind him. When he looked back, he could see the back of the machoke's head through the little window set in the door. He'd apparently re-taken his post guarding the door. Exhaling deeply, the normal type was left alone with his thoughts once again. He walked with little, apprehensive steps, but at an excited pace. His mind was still tangled up with itself, especially after all the chatter amongst other fans on his way here. But that was just a bit, right? They were hyping it up but it's all an act, he'd heard about metal groups that had wild live shows before.

He turned when an arrow pointed him down an intersecting hallway, and then, as he neared the only door at the end of that hall, he heard muffled voices. Henry got closer to the door, tufted ears perked up as far as he could get them. He could soon make out what the voices said.

A deep voice was chuckling, and then spoke in a distinct Galarian accent, "And that's when I said 'Corviknights might be the most reliable ride, but an obstagoon's way more fun to be carried by.' "

"We were there, Tarvis." A higher pitched but still fully masculine voice responded, with a similar accent.

"Guys, I just got word our VIP is on his way. Put that thing away, Kapo." A baritone voice interjected.

"You don't want me going Hangry on a VIP do you?" A high pitched voice squeaked back.

Henry swallowed. They sounded perfectly normal, like regular guys. That stuff was all an act, he knew it. He reached out and knocked on the door.

"I'll get it," The tenor announced. There was the sound of footsteps, followed by the door into the green room swinging inward, away from the brown-furred zigzagoon. The black and white fur and the star-like patterns around the eyes made it obvious this was his Galarian counterpart, and therefore Zaggy. The rocker's eyes darted right to the pass on the lanyard, then snapped back to Henry's eyes. Before the timid fan could react, the guitarist was scooping his arm around the VIP in question, guiding him into the room and letting the door close behind.

Feeling lightheaded, Henry just went along with it, even though the hold around his shoulders meant that one of his arms was pinned to the soft mass of the rocker's belly. He got a look around the room. Most of the space was taken up by a big sectional couch arranged in a loose L shape.

Between the two zigs and the couch was standing the brash obstagoon, Tarvis. More accurately he was looming. Because of the height difference, most of the band's eye level was with where the curve of his immense belly met his chest.

Henry, being a bit shorter, found his vision drawn right to the deep looking navel on full display, before he had to crane his head all the way back to meet the evolved front man's eyes.

Tarvis grinned. "Tracking your path back to the start? Might be better to follow it the right way around if you wanna get there without getting lost."

The smallest male in the room swallowed bashfully, as the other zig began guiding him around the singer. Into Henry's range of view came the bassist, Lanner.

The Galarian linoone looked just like he did in all the pictures, except instead of his intense, predatory glare, he was smiling warmly. "Hey. I'm Lanner. Don't mind Tarvis, he can't not tease a fan." He gestured beside him on the couch, offering a seat to their guest.

Henry nodded, blushing softly, doing his best not to seem too nervous. As he looked to the area Lanner offered, he realized that spot would be between the bassist and drummer. Said cushion on the couch was currently occupied by a large novelty candy dispenser. That must have been what Lanner was telling Kapo to put away.

Said morpeko had a bowl of trail mix in his lap, his cheek noticeably full. "Hey." He waved with the hand that wasn't buried in trail mix, which happened to be holding drumsticks.

Despite the linoone's offer, Zaggy was guiding Henry to the other leg of the sectional. He smoothly turned the fan around and sat down beside him, the position easy for the normal type to look at the others while the bigger zig kept an arm around his side.

Tarvis took that as his own cue to sit down and took a step over to the corner of the sectional, before flopping down hard, shaking the whole thing and nearly making Kapo spill his trail mix.

Lanner rolled his eyes a bit at the obstagoon's antics, but kept smiling. "So, Henry. Now that you're here, and we're acquainted..." He leaned forward, resting his arms on the top of his own belly like he was setting them onto a table. "Was there anything you wanted to know about us?"

"Do you really eat your fans?" Henry had blurted the words out before he realized what he was saying. His cheeks flared up in a bright blush and he immediately tried to sink back out of view, blessing Zaggy's gut for blocking the view.

But instead of any awkward silence or angry noises, Lanner just chuckled. "You can look me in the eye or you can hide behind Zaggy, doesn't change the fact that was adorable."

Zaggy was looking down at Henry, using his arm to tug the smaller zig back up into a proper seated position. "It's okay, kid. It's a fair question. If it makes you feel better you can give me a rub while we all chat..."

"Zaggy..." Lanner sighed.

Henry was still blushing, but he reached around with one arm to start stroking the offered belly, which ended up with him twisted in his seat to face the other zig as he rubbed. This position also put his face over the curve of the gut, and the rest of the band into full view. He didn't want to admit it, but the touch of the soft tum and the weight of the rocker's arm around his shoulders keeping him pressed against it were both oddly soothing to his anxious mind.

Noticing this, Lanner dropped his annoyance with his bandmate, eyes turned back to their fan. "Yeah. We eat fans. It's our thing on stage. We didn't get these bellies eating junk food. Except Kapo here."

"Oi." The morpeko grunted, before resuming munching on his trail mix.

The linoone continued. "We may act like hardcore preds on stage, but deep down, we know our fans love it, and we'd do nothing to hurt them. That's why we have redundant systems in place to make sure every fan is accounted for, and get reformed properly."

"Yeah, that's why the merch stands at our gigs only collect addresses; since there's a chance whatever someone buys would get churned with them." Kapo reached for the candy dispenser slowly, as if that meant he was being stealthy about it. "We ship off the merch after the concert, free shipping, and if they reformed, we include the 'I got Grggle'd' shirt."

Lanner lightly reached over, grasped the candy dispenser, and lifted it over the back of the couch without breaking eye contact. "Any fans we gurgled wake up on their beds the next morning, wearing the clothes they were wearing when they digested. They remember getting eaten, and however much of the concert they weren't pudge for."

"VIP pass holders, however." Tarvis interjected with a wink Henry's way. "They get reformed almost instantly, so they get to enjoy the whole concert. That's a bit harder to roll, which is why it's for VIPs."

The linoone set the dispenser down, before bringing both arms forward to rest on the curve of his belly once more, ignoring the soft huffs from his bandmate. "If we couldn't ensure that, we wouldn't be doing this at our live shows. We wouldn't eat anyone ever, no matter how hungry we got. But we've made sure it's safe. We're performers, and we want people to enjoy what we do, not be terrified and think they're going to die."

Henry nodded a bit, reaching to give Zaggy's belly a soft squeeze, resting his head on top of it, his eyes still locked on Lanner, like he'd forgotten he was touching another person and was just leaning against a comfy cushion. "Okay... wow... that must be a lot of work."

"It's worth it." Zaggy chuckled. "I bet my tummy'll like you as much as you like it, anyway."

The brown zigzagoon perked, and blushed deeply. "I... s-sorry."

"No need to apologize." Kapo smiled brightly, cheek still distended with his snacks. "He asked you to touch his gut!"

"R-Right." Henry gave another squeeze, and felt one in return from the arm around his shoulders.

"Anyway, as Tarvis was saying," Zaggy was grinning now. "As a VIP, if you'd like, we'd like to make you 'part of the show', yeah?" He licked his lips meaningfully.

The smaller Pokémon let out a high pitched 'zig' as he shrank down again, but only held on tighter to the rocker's belly for security. He glanced around apprehensively, between Zaggy's face and the others watching him.

Kapo was quick on the draw, waving his drumsticks. "You don't have to unless you really want to. Don't let those two 'goons pressure you into it."

The linoone nodded firmly. "Remember: It's all safe, and it's in good fun. We wouldn't do it if you didn't want to, no matter how greedy we act on stage."

Henry cleared his throat, looking a bit ashamed. "I.... uh.... I actually... haven't seen any stage performances." He leaned a bit more firmly against Zaggy, but couldn't meet any of their eyes. "I never had the money for tickets, but tickets were up in the prizes for this contest... I never thought I'd win a pass like this, actually get to meet you guys..."

"What, you haven't even watched bootlegs or anything?" Tarvis asked, tilting his head. His persona had fully dropped now.

"A what...?" The zigzagoon looked bewildered.

"You know, when a fan sneaks a camera past security and films the show, then puts the recording up online." Kapo explained.

"PEOPLE DO THAT?" Henry cried out louder than he'd intended, and buried his face down into black fur and zig adipose to hide it as the blush surged in his cheeks and up into his tufted ears.

Said ears were filled with deep laughter, four voices. At first he thought they were laughing at him, but the longer he went the more he felt the lack of derision. He wasn't being laughed at; they just thought that display was cute. That realization made him whimper, blushing so deeply, wondering if he'd have preferred ridicule from just how flustered he'd gotten.

The strong arm around Henry's shoulders shifted its weight and the clawed fingers at its end scooped the blushing zigzagoon's face clear of belly fat. "Hey. Do you have anything else you wanna know? We still have plenty of time before the show starts." Zaggy smiled warmly, his teasing front having faded from his attitude as well.

"Uh..." Henry swallowed. May as well go for broke. "W-what's this... 'lick' I heard about...?"

Instantly, the naughty look plastered across the guitarist's face again. "Let me show you..." He craned his neck closer, tongue starting to loll from his muzzle.

The normal type bit his lip, but nodded his consent.

Zaggy let his tongue loll all the way out, and it just seemed to keep coming, a low growl resonating from the Galarian zigzagoon's chest as his strong arm kept the fan in place. The part of the thick, drooling appendage that pressed against the smaller zig's cheek first was close to his snout. As he applied pressure, the length of maw muscle curled under Henry's jaw and up against his neck. Once it had been pressed fully in place, the naughty growl grew louder, and he dragged the whole length up, leaving behind mussed up and heavily moistened fur in its wake.

Henry couldn't think. He could hardly breathe. His jaws opened, and he let out a weak, pleading 'ziiiig' as the tip of the tongue reached his cheek, before flicking up and away, only to be reeled back in.

The rocker used his arm around Henry's shoulder to gently tug the fan away from his gut. He then ducked that arm down and used it to tug the smaller zig's band shirt up.

The flustered normal type perked, and looked down at his exposed belly. It was soft and a little pronounced because of his office job lifestyle, but nowhere as impressive as any member of the band. However that wasn't the focus at the moment. The brown fur of his middle band of darker fur was gaining a pattern. Within a few moments it became apparent it was a Galarian zigzagoon's face with tongue hanging out, the tongue nearly reaching down to Henry's navel.

His blush deepened again, the poor vessels in his face having hardly the time to recover between flusters! Tentatively, the zig poked that marking, feeling nothing in his fur. There was no pigment or moisture there. It felt just like his fur normally did.

Zaggy spoke, his voice close to the growl he had let out while tasting Henry. "You see, the 'Lick' is how I mark tasty cuties like you. It's calling dibs." He squeezed the smaller male back up against his body with a naughty grin. The whole time, his paw was starting to gently rub and stroke along the much smaller tummy in return, light brushes and squeezes of affection. "Congratulations. If you agree to be part of the show, you'll get to see the inside of this tummy you couldn't stop touching. None of these three can try to take you away."

Henry couldn't help it. He buried his face back into the big black belly, reaching to hold onto it and give a squeeze. His fidgety energy had subsided though. He just wanted to touch this belly and not let go, like Zaggy had described his behavior as being. After a long few seconds, he shifted his position enough so that he could peek up from the fur and see any part of the rest of the room. The zigzagoon murmured, just barely enunciating enough to be understood. "I'd love to be eaten by Zaggy..."

Lanner smiled warmly, standing up. "Okay, in that case, we should go over how you'll be coming on stage." He made his way over to sit between the two 'goons so he was in a better position to keep the fan from swooning back down into the guitarist's gut at any moment while he explained.

"Man, I wish I'd thought to call dibs before Zaggy." Tarvis grinned cheekily.

"You're sure you want this, Henry?" Kapo asked, ignoring his bandmate.

The zigzagoon nodded firmly, blushing still, his fingers starting to stroke and rub again along Zaggy's belly, as his own was still being gently stroked and kneaded by the rocker.

"I'll just eat plenty of fans tonight to make up for it." Tarvis continued, boastfully.

The green room door opened. An ampharos in a headset leaned in. "Five minutes, Grrgle. Pre-show's winding down." The electric Pokémon leaned back out and shut the door behind.

Zaggy perked. "Oh, better do this now." He gently released Henry, and with practiced ease stood off the couch without dragging the smaller male along for the ride.

As he walked around the couch, the brown zig face-planted directly into Lanner's yielding side. He bashfully sat back up. "Sorry, sorry."

"No problem." The linoone assured, before turning to look at the drummer. "Stop eating, Kapo, we want you hangry on stage."

"Fiiiine." The morpeko set aside his trail mix and stood up, tossing one of his sticks to his newly freed paw, before spinning both between his fingers and tapping out a rhythm on the sides of his tum, punctuating the impromptu solo with a swallow to clear his mouth of all food. "There. Don't want me going hangry 'till after the opening number anyway."

Zaggy, meanwhile, had come back around the couch, holding a shirt in his hands. "Here, I want you to wear this on stage." The Galarian zigzagoon turned the shirt around in his paws and held it so the writing was easily read. In the same jagged lettering as the 'I GOT GRRGLE'D' shirt Henry had seen on the trolley, it said 'ZAGGY'S SNACK' with a stylized image of the zigzagoon underneath. It was about the same style, size, and position as where the mark on Henry's belly had appeared. The rocker tossed it to the thinner 'goon and grinned at the flustered reaction it got.

Henry fidgeted in place, before looking down and into the shirt. The sizing label indicated it was the same size as the band shirt he was currently wearing.

"Go ahead, put it on." Zaggy insisted eagerly, licking his lips again. "You can pick up your old shirt after the show, no worries."

Nodding, Henry removed his lanyard, and then tugged himself free of the band shirt. This revealed his striped torso fully, along with the claiming mark Zaggy had left on him. It was soon covered back up with fabric. However, the way the shirt draped, the face on the shirt exactly matched the 'lick' mark beneath it. He put the lanyard back on, the pass partially obscuring the two 'G's at the top of the shirt's design. He stood up, looking bashfully around.

Tarvis strutted to the door, and yanked it open, having to duck to fit through it, which just accentuated his normally bad posture. "Show time." He grinned.