Gayle & Terra's Trek: Part 1

Part 1 of a multi-part Patreon commission for KazJester! C:

This week's story poll closes on Wednesday!  There's currently a tie--go vote! https://www.patreon.com/posts/61462119

Story commissions are OPEN!  Only TWO slots left this month!  https://www.furaffinity.net/view/40857567/

Vote on next year's material!  Masterpost of polls here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/60430350

Contribute to the 2022 Suggestion Box! https://www.patreon.com/posts/60781996

__________

Gayle and Terra had been working together for quite a long time.  But these upcoming projects were set to be their biggest challenges yet.
Gayle, a green rabbit, cleared his throat and fidgeted with one of his machines.  He was always creating new things to help them with their work, and specialized in vacuum devices, objects that could suck in and push out other things.  After turning the knobs on his newest device, he slung it over his shoulder (it had a strap on it for easy carrying) and hurried to catch up with his companion.
Terra, an off-white canine with brown spots throughout her body, was the monster specialist of the two of them.  She was very familiar with the beasts around them, both inside and out—and that was quite literally true.  After all, she and Gayle had been swallowed up by a decent amount of monsters at this point, and by taking those opportunities to study the creatures, she had built up her knowledge to an expert level.
Today, the two of them had a very specific mission.  A lost city had recently been discovered in the distant deserts—but then, a giant, amoeba-like organism had taken over the place!  However, the being had quite a few lost monsters and technological machines inside of it, a wide array of different beings and devices.  So Gayle and Terra planned to go to this overtaken area and study it.
Gayle took a device out of his pocket and checked it.  He had instructed those who were last at the city to implant a tracking device in the amoeba—as it was a giant blob, it tended to move around a lot, so this made things easier when it came to finding the location.  “We should be close,” the green rabbit told his friend.  “Just have to go another mile west, and we should be there.”
“Great!” Terra exclaimed.  “I’m excited we’re finally going to study this thing!  So many creatures, so many possibilities!  It’s exciting!”
“I agree!” replied Gayle.  “I can’t wait to test my new machines out when we get there—it’s going to be a great time!”
The two of them were currently making their way up a very large hill—and when they reached the top, they saw two things.  First they noticed the city up a head, far into the distance.  And then they saw a giant plant monster sitting right in the middle of the road they were traveling on!  It had a massive, oval-shaped head, with trigger hairs sticking out of its mouth.
“Looks like a member of the Droseraceae family,” Terra muttered to Gayle, trying to keep her voice quiet.  “Hopefully it’s not hungry. . . If we just try and sneak around it, it might not notice us, and then we can—”
The plant twitched, and then, its head moved—it seemed to be staring right at the two travelers!  Before either of them could react, however, it opened up its maw wide, revealing dark purple insides that glistened with saliva—and then, a strong suction started coming from it, trying to pull the two into its mouth!
“Crap!” Gayle yelled as he felt himself getting pulled closer.  Panicking, he crouched down and dug his fingers into the top of the hill, holding onto it for dear life.  Next to him, Terra got a bit luckier in her selection—an old street sign, outdated and decaying, was dug into the ground next to her, and she wrapped her hands around it, clinging as tight as she could.
“Amazing!” the canine exclaimed, looking back at the plant.  “It uses a strong, vacuum like force to try and pull in its prey—I wonder if we somehow activated the trigger hairs and made it notice us that way—”
“Terra, that’s great and all,” Gayle said frantically.  “But we should /really/ focus on not trying to get eaten here, shouldn’t we?”
“Right, right,” the dog said.  “Sorry, got carried away.  Just hold on tight, ok?  I’m sure once it realizes we won’t be pulled into its mouth that easily, it’ll give up, and we can go on our way!”
“Good hypothesis!” the green rabbit praised his friend.  “I hope you’re right on that!”
“Me too!”
But then, Terra felt it: the road sign she was hanging onto was starting to be pulled up from the ground, thank to all the suction the plant was emitting!  Maybe the force was just too strong, not to mention the sign didn’t seem to be buried in that deep. . .
However, before the canine could try and do something about her situation, the sign was abruptly pulled out of the sand, and suddenly, she had nothing to hold onto!  Terra cried out in shock as she rocketed backwards; the canine frantically let go of the sign and clawed desperately at the ground, but she couldn’t get a good grip, and only pulled up sand.  Before she knew it, she landed in the plant’s mouth with a loud /SPLAT!/
Terra was momentarily stunned; she blinked in confusion for a few seconds.  Then, she was focused again, and she understood where she was: currently residing in the back of the plant’s hungry, open mouth, wet liquids dripping all over her body.  At the bottom of the maw, a leafy tongue twitched, and began to touch her, getting even more goo on her body!  The spit became more prominent, and the space turned even wetter: was this monster /salivating/ over her?
“Oh come ON!” the canine cried.  She gathered her strength and lunged forward, trying to jump out of the mouth—but before she could, the monster snapped its jaws shut, and she bumped into the inside of its lips, landing right on its leafy tongue.  She was trapped.
Gayle hadn’t noticed all of the commotion over the roaring winds around them, but Terra’s scream caught his attention.  He turned to see that she wasn’t next to him anymore—and looked back at the plant to see that she was in its mouth!  “Oh crap!” he yelled.  “Terra!  What should I do?!”
“Don’t panic!” the dog assured him.  “I’m just—augh!”  She cried out as the tongue ran against her body.  “I’ll probably be able to get out of here in a second!”
“Ok!” Gayle replied.
But then, there was a change: without warning, the suction around the green rabbit got even stronger than before!  His hand was wrenched from the ground, and before he could get a better grip, his other hand was pulled out too.  Gayle screamed as he, too, flew backwards, trying to grab at something to stop this from happening.  But he found nothing, and landed in the plant’s mouth, right next to Terra.
Now that the prey was caught, the monster snapped its mouth shut.  The leafy tongue ran over its food, tasting them.  Then, Terra and Gayle were pushed back to the throat, and a strong /GULP/ sucked them down.
A moment later, the two landed in the growling stomach of the beast.  “Great,” Gayle said.  “Just great.  Now what?”
“I’m sure the plant’s acids aren’t strong enough to digest us,” Terra said.  “It’ll probably let us out soon.”
“I hope you’re right. . .”