Part XIV: The Belly of the Beast

Previously, every time he had fallen down a long dark hole he had fallen unconcious for an unspecified amount of time. But this time, nothing had happened. He was awake. Free from harm. And seemingly, resting on a pile of pillows.

The pillows, which were soft to the touch, had stopped his fall into the belly of the fish. Perhaps it was all just a dream, and I have woken up in my bed, Hiro thought.

He put his nose close to the pillows, and sucked up the smell of home in his nostrils, then quickly recoiled. He was pretty sure his house didn't smell like a giant fish. Except, of course, on Thursday's, which was fish fry night.

A tear came to Hiro's eye when he thought of home. His wife was probably there with Hiro's arch-enemy (Hiro's wife's new husband), Jisaku Birobi. They were probably there right now, in the living room, gazing at each other, roasting sushi over the fire--

Wait a minute! Hiro remembered that he conveniently had a packet of waterproof matches in his pocket. He hadn't used them the entire time on the boat, as, well, the boat was made out of wood.

Pulling out the matches, he struck one on the box, and light filled the room.

Except, it wasn't a room at all. To his left was a massive white wall. Underneath him, what he thought were pillows, was quite clearly the color of flesh. And behind him was a massive pink... dew-drop.

If Hiro wasn't mistaken, his fall had been broken by the mouth of the Great Fish*...

*Hiro is a very quick guy.


NEXT WEEK: Lip Service


THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF X-BALL:
PART I       PART II       PART III       PART IV

PART V      PART VI      PART VII      PART VIII

PART IX      PART X      PART XI      PART XII

PART XIII      PART XIV