Jason Heeds the Call (Incredible!) Untitled Babysitting Story (Yes That is the Real Name, Deal With it) chapter 7 by 2kfsk

Madeline was starting to get a bit concerned when she felt the rope suddenly tense up. And moments after that, she was lifted off the ground.

“*Ooof!!* You okay down there!?” Madeline glanced back to Franky’s limp body, dangling in circles as she dreamed blissfully.

Madeline took that as a *yes*, and she held on tight as the pair of them ascended from the lake, up the pocket of air in the stomach, and eventually through the dilating esophageal sphincter. From here, the group was shoved—quite roughly—through the esophagus which rumbled and rubbed angrily at the two who dared defy the natural direction food goes in the body. It felt much longer than the trip down, Madeline noted. But they managed to stay connected and in one piece, or perhaps two pieces, when they finally popped out onto Jason’s tongue. This is also when real light finally reached them for the first time in what felt like years. To Madeline it felt blinding, but Franky seemed unable or unwilling to react to anything.

Madeline had to catch her breath on the tongue, but only could do so for a few moments when the tongue aggressively started to probe the pair. *Again!?* she thought. Just as she was about to fight it off, the tongue shrank back, and the mouth ahead of them opened in earnest. “**EW, gross!**” A giant voice blasted the pair from behind, and Madeline covered her ears.

Then, unceremoniously, the pair was shoved down the inclining rubbery slide of the tongue and onto Jason’s outstretched palm. They were lifted up to eye level for examination. Madeline was immediately struck by the intense cold—she was covered in spit, and aside from the brief lick she’d just endured, the stomach acid coating her body hadn’t gone away either. But even so, like Jason, Madeline found the condition of her friend far more concerning.

“J… *Jason*…?” Franky croaked in a voice that would’ve been impossible for the colossus to hear had it been ghost silent in the room. She coughed, her eyes still barely slits as they beheld the massive man in whose palm she rested. “You… saved me after all…”

This made Madeline fume. “Actually, *I* did that!” she yelled, pointing at her chest. “*ME!* I saved you, Franky! And **don’t you forget it!**”

Jason and Franky ignored the outburst. Seeing Franky all vulnerable and incapacitated like this was making him feel immense guilt at having left her in his stomach to die. It was useless to run from the reality there would’ve been no hope of survival for the girl had Madeline not arrived in the dead of night to give Jason a brilliant idea. Maddy was the star—nay—the *hero* of this show. She executed her mission with expert finesse.

That said, she *was* still a loose end, and a wild card. Jason wasn’t quite sure what to do with her.

He pondered this decision as he brought the pair to the bathroom and ran them both beneath a warm and gentle faucet. The remaining acids were washed away, as was the spit. Madeline found the shower refreshing, though Franky didn’t react much to it at all. Once the two were clean and dried off, Jason resisted the urge to taste them again. Instead, he cut the pair loose and threw the junk floss into the trash. Only when he was certain that he’d done as good of a job cleaning them up as possible, Jason laid Franky on her bed and aimed the regrowth ray at her.

*ZZZAPP!*

And like that, Franky was returned to her normal size. Her chest rose and fell in gradual movements, and she snored softly. Jason let out a sigh of immense relief. It was here that Jason realized just how utterly shredded her bathing suit had become; he covered her with the blanket and chalked it up as a loss. Maybe she got a bit too rambunctious while playing outside and ended up sliding into a blackberry patch. That could also explain her patchy hair. As for the welts, chickenpox would make a decent cover story. Jason was nodding, already planning out how to explain it all to Ms. Jones, when from his other hand he felt some vigorous squirms.

“Hey! *Heyyy!* What about me!?”

Oh, shit. He actually *did* forget about her for a minute. Jason opened his palm before his face and Madeline rolled out. She jumped to her feet and waved her arm angrily at Jason. “I still haven’t gotten my twenty dollars!”

Jason eyed her for a long time. She performed valiantly in the operation to rescue Franky… but every moment this girl still lived was an additional moment she could come clean about Jason’s role in nearly digesting Franky. And considering her eagerness to take credit for the rescue, and the aggression with which she pursued her payment, Madeline was nothing if not transactional.