Luz suddenly felt herself being catapulted away, and suddenly she found herself reeling and falling onto the cold floor of Belos's gut. Evidently all that time she had been standing still in the same spot while that monster played with her mind, and when she woke up it was as if her brain had been thrown back into her wooden head. Definitely not a good experience.
In front of her was Belos, back in Raine's body and not looking like he had shown her in the hallucination, and he was clutching his belly while his mouth was set in a snarl. "You filthy witch, how dare you summon a supreme being inside me!?"
The entire gut moved and twisted as if it were made of rubber; Luz soon found herself vomiting, and she fell to the floor several times and rolled from side to side. It seemed as if the whole island was shaking; Belos evidently had some serious problem, and in fact he was bending over on himself as if he was experiencing a great pain in his stomach, and streams of dark thick liquid were emerging from his mouth. "How dare you… make such an affront to me… you little filths… I will devour you all and tear you to pieces!"
Luz fully understood that Belos wasn't in the best shape at the moment, so she ran towards him and grabbed him by the waist and threw him to the ground. Belos looked at her with flashing eyes. "What do you think you're doing!?"
"Give me back my friend!" Luz exclaimed. "Get out of Raine's body now!"
"Raaargh... so much ingratitude! I went to the trouble of getting a human body so I could talk to you face to face, and this is how you thank me!?" Belos roared. "You really are a bad girl and... URGH! Damn it, I have no time for you! Stupid witch, how dare you...!"
It was clear that Belos was trying to fight a battle on another part of his body; evidently splitting his mind into two different pieces must have been creating serious mental stress for him. Mentally apologizing to Raine, Luz gave him two powerful slaps, which, thanks to the fact that she was made of wood, certainly hurt a lot. "Maybe I didn't explain myself properly!" she screamed. "I will continue to be an annoying mosquito for you forever! You can't focus on me right now, can you? Something else needs your attention! You don't want to leave a piece of your mind here with me!"
"You stupid puppet!" Belos hissed, but his eyes were constantly moving from side to side as if he was looking at something. "No... damn Grometheus... how dare you hit me... I will destroy you! You... stop it! You damned wooden girl, stop distracting me...!"
Luz grabbed him by the collar and stared defiantly into his eyes. "I'll say it in a way that even an idiot would understand" she said in a menacing voice, and her eyes seemed to twinkle slightly. "Get out of Raine's body right now, you parasite!"
Belos gritted his teeth in fury, but then he hissed: "All right. I don't have time for you right now! I'll make sure to discipline you later!". And suddenly from Raine's mouth emerged a black liquid, slimy and thick, which crawled away until it fell to the floor of the intestine and melted into the flesh.
As soon as that happened, Luz's breath caught for a second, and then she grabbed Raine by the shoulders and started shaking them. The bard was so pale that they seemed to have turned white. "Raine? Raine! Can you hear me?"
She had to shake them for a few moments before finally getting a reaction out of them; just when she began to think that Belos had killed them before abandoning their body, the bard let out a slight strangled breath, and then with extreme difficulty they opened their eyes, which were no longer blue and haunted, but had returned to their natural green color. "L-Luz...? Is that you...?"
"Raine! Oh, thank goodness, you're okay!" Luz exclaimed as she saw them recover, and immediately tears began to flow down her face. "I was afraid he had hurt you..."
"Ugh... it's okay. I'm fine" Raine tried to reassure her, but the puppet didn't listen to them at all and as soon as they were able to sit up she grabbed them and held them in a tight hug. Raine made a muffled noise at that strong contact, clearly still feeling the effects of Belos' possession, but still they smiled: "Hey... I told you, I'm fine"
Luz looked up. Raine was regaining some color, but now they had many more scars along her body. All those places where Belos' power had overflowed had left very obvious marks all over their face and arms, and certainly on other parts of their body too even if she couldn't see it because of their clothes. Well, at least they hadn't become physical wounds overflowing with blood: it would have been much worse. "Okay... I'm happy for it. Can you get up?"
"I think so" Raine replied, standing upright. The gut were still moving, but not as furiously as before; Belos was probably regaining some control over the situation now that his mind was no longer divided between his real body and Raine's.
Luz took their hand and helped them walk, and together they reached the enormous wall that closed the passage with the stomach. "Our friends are on the other side" she explained to them. "We have to find a way to open this thing"
"I'm afraid that only Belos can open it" Raine replied by drumming their fingers on that very hard wall.
Luz bit her lip. In fact she had no idea how to open the passage, and she remembered well that even Amity's magic had failed to do much damage to Belos, which meant that it was not possible to force it. "Well... let's come up with an idea! There must be something we can do..."
But just at that moment cracks opened in the wall, as if someone was hitting it from the other side. Both Luz and Raine looked at each other in confusion, and then they took a step back. More and more pieces of the wall began to crack, and some of them fell to the ground, and blue sparks like stardust appeared through these openings; and then, a familiar voice also came: "Luz, are you there?"
The puppet's eyes widened in surprise. "Collector!?"
"Damn it, Amity! You could have waited until we were all ready!" Hunter exclaimed as he watched Grometheus step out of the portal and begin clinging to the ceiling of the stomach. The supreme entity was clearly confused, but nevertheless was able to understand that he had to fight if he wanted to survive.
The young witch gave him a scornful look. "Sorry, but Luz is in trouble and we have to help her! I don't want to waste any more time!"
"Once we get home we will definitely have to work on your impulsiveness and temper" Lilith commented. "Anyway, at least it seems to be working"
Belos' stomach seemed to be in the grip of a very violent earthquake; huge tentacles appeared from all sides and tried to attack Grometheus, while eyes of all sizes appeared on the walls. The supreme entity would clearly have liked to retreat, but since Amity's magic forced him to remain stuck in the mortal world and not move from the portal, he had no choice but to defend himself. While Grometheus wasn't at Belos' level, he wasn't a pushover either and managed to inflict serious damage on the monster, clearly causing him severe pain. "It'll distract him long enough" Amity commented. "Mom, it's time! Call the Collector here!"
"Yes!" Odalia said; even though she still didn't understand almost anything about the situation, she was still able to comprehend how much their lives were at risk given that they were in a cave that seemed to be alive and in the throes of an earthquake, so she very cunningly decided to do anything daughter told her and put off any explanation until later.
The witch concentrated her mind, and a familiar portal appeared before her from which the Collector emerged. "Mamadalia! That's where you ended up, I was..." the child was already saying, but his expression immediately changed when he realized what was happening. "Uh... there's a problem going on, right?"
"Collector, listen to me!" Odalia said in the most authoritative voice she could muster. "We're all in grave danger, so we need you to do what we tell you right away, without wasting any time, okay?"
The Collector was clearly afraid, but still he gave Amity a look for confirmation; only after she nodded did he reply: "Okay, what should I do?"
Odalia was quite irritated by the total lack of respect that the supreme entity had always shown her and continued to show her even in that situation, but she still didn't waste time and pointed to the wall that closed the entrance to the intestine: "Break it down and get Luz out!"
The Collector didn't have to be told that again and immediately blue stars emerged from his hands, which became as big as a person and on whose surface a frowning face appeared, which hurled themselves one after the other against the wall. It cracked more and more, until it began to break. "Luz, are you there?" he asked, afraid of causing the wall to fall on the puppet and hurt her.
"Collector!?" Luz's voice emerged from the other side. "It's you!?"
"Yeah! Now move, I'm about to smash everything!" the Collector answered her, and after waiting a few moments to give her time to move away, he threw his stars one last time against the wall and shattered it into pieces.
As soon as this happened Amity, Camila and Eda jumped in, followed closely by Vee, Willow and Gus; they found Luz a short distance from the entrance, with Raine still leaning against her. "Luz, luckily you're okay! And so are you, Rainestorm" Eda murmured with relief when she saw them.
"LUZ!" Camila screamed as she grabbed her daughter and held her tightly, and a couple of tears fell from her eyes. "What happened? What did that monster do to you?"
Luz couldn't help but smile. Even though the situation they were in wasn't nice at all, she still felt happy to feel her mother hug her and worry about her, after not having her around for all that time. "It's okay, mom. Belos tried to brainwash me..."
"Brainwashing!?" Amity exclaimed stepping in between and grabbing her arm.
Luz's eyes widened: "Amity! You're back to normal! Well, almost..."
"Who cares about me! Luz, how did he try to brainwash you!?" Amity yelled at her, grabbing her face in her hands.
Luz bit her lip. "Belos... wants to seal a contract with me so that I will let him possess me. Apparently, my body is suitable to house his entire soul, and he could therefore free himself from the ocean forever" she answered them. "He tried to convince me to say yes, and he almost succeeded... but luckily I recovered in time and told him no"
Everyone's eyes widened. "Belos wants your body?" Camila whispered in terror. "Oh, my... what does he want...?"
"GUYS! You can talk later, now we all need to get on the airship!" Hunter yelled at them.
Luz raised an eyebrow. "Didn't he have...?"
"He's switched sides again, you're going to yell at him and beat him up next. Now let's go!" Willow exclaimed, wanting to avoid a further unnecessary argument, and she dragged Luz and Amity away by the arm, and the others followed suit.
"Hey, wait! Is Stringbean with you?" Luz asked suddenly.
"Stringbean?" Willow repeated confused.
"Yes, she's an... acquaintance of mine that lives here... she should be around here somewhere..." Luz tried to explain.
"Luz, I don't know what you're talking about, but I can assure you that no one lives in this monster's stomach! Now let's go, there's no time!" Hunter exclaimed, and without waiting for her response he grabbed her by the waist and threw her into the airship, clearly not willing to waste any more time as everything around them seemed about to be torn to pieces.
After everyone had boarded, Alador set off the airship. The lake inside the cave was becoming increasingly violent and stormy, and getting close to the walls or ceiling was equivalent to being destroyed by one of the flailing tentacles. "Can't we let the Collector take us away?" Odalia asked.
"No, our other friends are still on the other side of the island... I mean, Belos' body" Amity answered her. "Once the Collector takes us to his realm we will no longer have any connection to the mortal world. We must make sure we take everyone, or Belos will take his wrath out on them!"
Odalia rolled her eyes, clearly not liking having to risk her life for those people, but she still didn't complain. Alador took the airship over the center of the lake, just near the esophagus. "Here we are!"
"Good! Amity, have Grometheus deliver a very painful blow to the center of the stomach, and then send him back to his realm! And be ready to pull him out again if necessary!" Hunter said. The young witch looked at him rather badly, but she didn't think twice and through the contact she had with the supreme entity she made sure that he performed the exact action he had described.
As soon as Grometheus struck the center of the stomach, the entire cave convulsed with incomparable violence; waves of titanic size, so large that they hit the ceiling, crashed in every direction. Grometheus understood the danger very well and as soon as Amity allowed him to escape through the portal he didn't hesitate to do so and disappeared. Belos' stomach contracted and then it suddenly expanded, generating a mega shock wave that hurled the airship through his esophagus.
All the passengers screamed as the flying ship rotated on itself like a grain of sand in the grip of a tornado, while behind them the water contained in their stomachs traveled giving them further push. In less than a minute, a record time considering Belos' size, they reached the mouth which was already wide open much wider than usual. The monster coughed and vomited very violently, spitting the airship out; Alador quickly swung the rudder and stabilized it, and soon Hooty was spinning for propulsion, and they headed to the far side of the island to retrieve everyone else.
Belos continued to vomit and spit for at least five minutes, and as soon as he finished his eyes moved dangerously to the back of his back, and his eyelids narrowed into slits. "Do you think that you are so smart!?" he growled, talking more to himself than to them since the airship was now almost at the base of his tail. "Okay... if you want to play, let's play!"
His anger was such that his mouth tightened into a grimace and he began to foam; Princess and Abomatron, who had also been thrown out of the stomach as the monster vomited, were struck by terror and grabbed Kikimora, still unconscious, and swam away as quickly as possible, well aware of the storm that would soon arise. Without them realizing it, a small snake-like creature had also come out of the giant monster's mouth.
In Collodi's original book, Pinocchio and Geppetto manage to escape from the belly of the terrible giant shark because the latter sleeps with its mouth open because it suffered from asthma, and in order to escape Pinocchio has to lead his father all along the enormous belly of the fish; in this AU, Luz helps Raine in a similar manner, leading him to Belos' gut entrance. The way in which they actually manage to get out of his stomach is instead a reference to the Disney film, in which Pinocchio and Geppetto make the whale Monstro sneeze and be spit out, while in this AU Luz and her friends make Belos vomit.