Happy Pop's Day
By Lolitafreak88
Starring: Pop, Cub, and Disco Bear
Featuring: Russell, Toothy, Lifty, Shifty, Giggles, and Petunia.
A disaster. A series of failed attempts. Pitiful. That was what the interior of the household of Pop and Cub looked like. The oven door was open and smoking and the remains of what were to be some delicious, home-made chocolate chip cookies were lying on a tray that was still very hot. The fireplace was extinguished after an attempt to make some toasted marshmallows went awry. Even the table in the living room was smashed with colored pencils destroyed and coloring books ruined when the fly appeared. Father's Day was a day not many of the Tree Friends celebrated. Giggles had a mother and Lifty and Shifty were brothers but only Pop was a father, and a dismal one at that. He meant well but he was careless, absent-minded, tried too hard, and often ended up killing or badly hurting Cub. He didn't even have the proper common sense to watch over Cub when he was using a lawn mower. This Father's Day he had tried to be perfect, he tried to be as focused as possible and also as entertaining. The day before, he had studied what it took to be a good parent at the library, and was careful not to upset Flippy. He had read that good parent's are warm, understanding, attentive, give space when needed, give advice when needed, and are active. A lot of the other Tree Friends felt that Pop lacked half of those needs or rarely displayed them effectively. It could be proven by the number of times father and son had died. Even then, Pop had done his best to channel those needs at least for one day, the holiday that celebrated fathers. But one measly fly had ruined that for him.
It had started with the toasting of the marshmallows. Pop was daydreaming about him and Cub enjoying the melty sweetness of the marshmallows and soon even the stick was lit aflame. Only Pop's though, not Cub's but it still stung Pop's hand and when he let go of the stick, it landed right next to Cub. Fortunately Pop had a fire extinguisher and he used it to quickly douse the fireplace and the stick that was ablaze. Some of the extinguisher material had landed on Cub's marshmallow and Cub had just put it in his mouth so Pop quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver on Cub. He was able to get Cub to spit out the marshmallow and he washed Cub's mouth out with water four times, though accidentally set it to hot on the first time before setting it to a cool temperature. Pop then tried to fix the tension by baking chocolate-chip cookies with Cub and it actually had been quite enjoyable. He let Cub eat a few of the chocolate-chips, helped him cut out the shapes with cookie cutters, and they laughed and smiled. Pop put them in the oven and decided to pass the time by coloring pictures in a coloring book with Cub. He got out the coloring pencils but then a pesky fly showed up from the open window and flew around the room. Pop scowled, it was Father's Day, not Fly's Day and it also made Cub a bit nervous. So Pop armed himself with a flyswatter and started to attack it. But he found himself a bit too into it and he fell onto the table at one point and promptly broke it and the colored pencils that were on it. The coloring books eventually got torn in the struggle between Pop and the fly, resulting from Pop stepping on the books and turning around with his foot on it, resulting in tearing the pages. The humorous struggle did entertain Cub though who was laughing. But then the smoke alarm went off after a while, as Pop, so focused on removing this fly from his life, had forgotten about the cookies. Pop temporarily abandoned his escapade and checked on the cookies only to find that they were ruined and smoking. Which now led to the current situation. Pop having a greater desire to demolish the fly, and Cub crying on the floor. But with one skillful swipe from the flyswatter, the fly was taken out and landed on the floor. Pop proceeded to stomp on it several times, not minding the gross feeling it brought him one bit as he was finally killing something that had been a nuisance to him and Cub. After the fly was crushed to bits, which surprisingly was just as disgusting than any of the Tree Friends getting smashed to bits, Pop got a napkin, sat on the couch, and wiped his foot of what was left of the fly. Cub, who now got up on his feet and was adorably waddling over to Pop then saw something that even to a young baby would be very heart-breaking. Pop laid on his side, tears clearly fresh in his eyes, grabbed a nearby pillow, and began sobbing hysterically into it.
It was the middle of the day and it already felt like Father's Day was absolutely ruined. He had messed up cookies, marshmallows, and now he had to go out to town tomorrow and buy a new table and risk getting killed in town. The only good thing about this was that he and Cub were alive but probably not for long. Why can't I do things right? Pop thought bitterly. He was a father, a lone father, with much more responsibility than the typical father. But he always seemed to show incompetence and disgrace as a father and poor Cub suffered for it. A baby shouldn't have to die as many times as Cub did because of their parent. Pop felt he didn't deserve Father's Day, it was far too kind of the universe. Cub looked very sad too and uttered a sad baby cry. But then he heard the sound of the door opening. Cub, an infant, was naturally curious about who that could be. He didn't really know anyone by their names yet, only descriptions. It was a system that he and Pop had developed. Was it "Bow"? "Captain"? "Genius"? "PTSD"? "Amputee?" "Speedo"? "Dimwit"?
"YARRR!" Came the call from the entranceway to the Pop household. It was "Captain", Russell to be exact! Russell was someone Pop and Cub liked, as he was very nice and warm-hearted. He was not a father though so was he here to simply congratulate Pop for Happy Father's Day? Not many of the Tree Friends congratulated Pop during Father's Day because of two reasons. He was the ONLY father in town and a poor one at that. But sometimes Nutty would do it, usually if he was sugar high and Lammy actually did congratulate Pop that morning, probably because she was still trying to fit in. Russell was smiling but then his face grew sentimental and a bit concerned when he saw Pop crying on the couch. Pop finally raised his face from the pillow, eyes red from crying so much and tear streaks still visible. He smiled weakly at the sight of Russell and muttered a "hello" in Tree Friend language. Russell then smiled and pulled out of his pants pocket a brochure. The brochure looked new and had an image of a pirate ship on it. Pop took it and began to look at it while Cub hopped excitedly. He liked anything with an exciting picture on it. Russell explained that this was a advertisement for his boat ride that would be happening in a few minutes and that he decided to personally come pick up Pop and Cub and take them on the boat ride as a Father's Day gift. It would be on Russell's very own pirate ship. The weather report said it would be a perfect day for sailing too so they wouldn't have to worry about hurricanes, whirlpools, tidal waves, or whatever disastrous weather could occur out on the sea. Pop had to admit that a little fresh air would be nice and that it DID sound like something he and Cub would have fun doing. Plus it was free! Pop nodded and his smile became bigger and more genuine. Russell laughed heartily and took Cub by the hand and escorted him and Pop out the door.
Eventually they were at the pirate ship. It turned out that Petunia and Toothy were also coming along for the ride. Petunia was even dressed in an old-fashioned Cavalier dress complete with hat and parasol. Her Christmas Tree necklace was ever present as her main accessory. Pop was holding Cub gently and tickled his belly making Cub laugh happily as they waited to get onboard. However, they did not notice that behind them were a few barrels placed in such a way that they hid whatever was behind them. And what was behind them were two familiar but not really welcome faces. Lifty and Shifty. They had heard about Russell's pirate ship and, of course, wanted to pillage him of his treasure that he had stored on the ship. They planned to sneak on board and sneak in and take the treasure and escape on one of the lifeboats. A dastardly scheme indeed.
Just then, the ramp to the boat was lowered and Russell appeared at the top of the ramp and called everyone to come over on the ship. Petunia was first, escorted by Toothy for no particular reason. Pop and Cub then came on deck. Lifty and Shifty climbed into one of the barrels and tried to tip-toe onto the ship but the titled angle of the ramp, the fact they were in a relatively heavy barrel with limited movement, and gravity caused them to lose their balance and fall onto the ramp. They rolled all the way down gasping and shouting and crashed into the rest of the barrels, destroying them. None of the Tree Friends that were on the ship noticed this however. Lifty and Shifty rubbed their heads and groaned that they messed up on sneaking aboard the ship. Although there's still another way, Shifty thought, eyeing the chain that held the ship's anchor. If they could hold onto the anchor and wait till it reached the top, then they could easily climb onto the ship. Sure enough, Russell started to hoist up the anchor and so Lifty and Shifty saw the anchor emerge out of the water and they grabbed onto it and each sat on either side of the anchor as it rose up. Meanwhile, the Tree Friends on the ship cheered and the ship set sail with Russell at the ship's wheel.
As the sun started to set, for the day was quickly getting late, Lifty and Shifty worked together and climbed onboard and began tip-toeing around the ship, careful to not be seen. The ship was going slowly, carried by the wind, as the crewmates were enjoying an early dinner. Russell and Toothy clanged their beer glasses together, the beer glasses in question being full of a frothy, bubbly drink. Pop, still nursing a napping Cub, raised an eyebrow. He thought that Russell would've had something a young infant could eat and drink and not beer of all things. Russell insisted that it was root beer and even offered to add ice cream to Cub's.
"He's sleeping." Pop replied, denying an offer for dinner altogether. Although the view was nice at the very least so it wasn't all bad. Pop looked to see Petunia gazing out into the beautifully bright horizon, twirling her parasol in an elegant way. She looked fair, young, someone very approachable and someone you could speak to honestly. It reminded Pop of...
"Hmm?" Lifty and Shifty asked together from behind a corner when they saw Pop suddenly fall to his knees and almost drop Cub. Toothy noticed first and quickly rushed to him, dropping his glass of root beer in the process. Cub was woken up from the sudden impact and started to moan, on the verge of a meltdown. Pop, who looked visibly shaken, quickly tended to Cub and hummed "Rock-A-Bye Baby" to him while swaying his arms. It worked though Toothy looked very concerned about Pop. Lifty, anxious to get to what they came for, nudged his older brother's shoulder and gestured that this was the chance to get into the deck where all the treasure was. Shifty frowned that he was the one who was out of focus but nodded and they went down into the basement of the ship. Unfortunately for them, there was but ONE single chest of treasure. Russell, being rather smart, usually kept his treasure at his home and so the twin thieves did not know this. Shifty and Lifty looked at one another and shrugged their shoulders, concluding that even just one treasure chest is still a lot of money. They ran over to it and were surprised it wasn't even locked when they tried to open it. The exposed chest had jewels, gold coins, necklaces, and some weird idol thing. But it looked ominous and familiar to Lifty and Shifty but they couldn't quite figure out what it was. That was when something very bad happened.
"THUMP!" The sound of something very large colliding with the ship echoed throughout the ship and the resulting impact caused Lifty and Shifty to lose their balance and fall over and they tumbled into the walls of the ship's basement though were ok. The chest dangerously slid a bit but didn't move too much. On the ship's deck, the Tree Friends weren't spared either. Pop fell over and dropped Cub onto the deck and Toothy nearly crashed into the steering wheel but managed to hold onto it to support himself. Russell held onto the ropes that raised the sails to stay on his feet. Petunia, carrying a parasol, had no method of holding herself together either and as she had been gazing off with a dreamy expression, fell over the right side of the ship and was hanging on for dear life on the edge of the ship screaming. Her parasol fell into the water and so did her Cavalier Hat. As the boat rocked back and forth from the vibrations, the sunset was quickly becoming hidden by what appeared to be an approaching storm. Russell looked shocked! The weather report mentioned nothing about a thunderstorm! Plus all pirates knew that thunderstorms were every pirates biggest test!
Pop was beginning to wish he had stayed home today but noticed that Cub was not in his arms and began to look for him. Pop saw him climbing some crates that were against the left edge of the ship. If whatever bumped into them the first time did it again while Cub was on the top of the crate, he would fall into the sea. Rain started to pour down as the thunderstorm arrived in record rate and the deck became slippery and the waves of the ocean started to grow big and menacing and rocked the ship with their intensity. The ship was anything but stable at this point, it kept shifting from to side to side, the rain and winds being intense and practically slashing at the sails of the ship. The sails seemed fine however though were being pushed with a lot of wind and the ship started to steer off course. Russell recognized instantly that the steering wheel was spinning out of control, due to the intensity of the wind and so he dared not touch it and he warned Toothy of this and was about to tell Pop when he saw Pop running towards Cub and crying out to Cub to stop climbing. Russell watched Pop go with a nervous expression before heading to rescue Petunia.
"Humph!" Shifty muttered seeing Pop racing across the wet deck towards his son. He and Lifty had finally exited the basement with the still open treasure chest and started to see what was making the boat so tipsy. Shifty, channeling a mischievous pirate, stuck his foot out and tripped Pop as he ran. Pop was propelled into the air for a bit and then hit the deck, sliding as the boat had tilted dangerously leftward and the rain had turned the deck into a slip and slide. On the right side, Petunia couldn't hold on any longer and let go, and as a result, began to fall towards the cold-hearted ocean. But her descent was ended quite prematurely when an orca, a killer whale, leapt out of the water and snapped its jaws, closing in on Petunia and taking her with it as it plunged into the depths. Petunia had now become dinner for the orca and it revealed the identity of the thing that had hit the ship before. All of this was witnessed by Russell who had gazed safely from the ship. Russell gasped, he had more than a few deadly experiences with aquatic life, the most recent one being a deceptive kraken, but rarely did he see such a dangerous sight and on something that usually comforted him. He had also previously felt what it was like to be inside a whale and he NEVER wanted to feel that again, it was such a dismal state. And seeing Lumpy being killed by his own hand...
"Ha...ha, HA, HA, HA!" Now Russell usually was a very reasonable, mature fellow, probably one of the most sane Tree Friends, but even he had a dark side. When a situation seemed too daunting and horrible, he had a tendency to... pull a Fliqpy. In other words, he underwent a flip out of his own. His eyes adapted a similar appearance to Fliqpy's own eyes, and he began to laugh manically. Sanity went off the plank at this point. He turned around suddenly and looked berserk. His eyes caught Shifty and Lifty first. Pop's momentum finally stopped when he himself, crashed into the same crates that Cub was on. Cub stumbled and fell over the left side of the ship, crying out as he fell. Pop quickly got to his feet and watched in horror as Cub hit the water. Pop looked to the left and right, scared and panicked. What do I do? What do I do? Do I just give up? Do I just accept that he is dead even when I don't know for sure? But Pop realized that his reasoning was that of someone who was afraid in his own abilities. He thought back to his studies the previous day. He had read that the best kind of parents would make sacrifices if necessary for their children. In Happy Tree Friend town that was possible... no, REQUIRED of not just parents, but the citizens in general. Pop took a few deep breaths, composing himself, and mentally preparing himself for what he knew he was going to do. I can't disappoint her or Cub anymore. Pop then placed one arm on the side of the ship, lifted himself over it up like a professional gymnast, and headed towards the water, landing in it with a big SPLASH!
Meanwhile, Lifty and Shifty decided to stay true to the pirate code of pillage and plunder and were approaching a very frightened Toothy in a menacing way. They wanted to see if he had anything up for grabs. Toothy was nervous due to a combination of a killer whale, the intensity of the storm, and the fact Lifty and Shifty had once killed Nutty to take something from him. But Lifty and Shifty hadn't taken Russell and his current condition into account. So Shifty was confused to feel a tap on his shoulder that felt more like a poke with a stick or something sharp. He turned to see something that was just about as scary as seeing Fliqpy up close, a clearly insane Russell about to slash him with his hook. Shifty didn't have enough time to react and Russell's hook landed squarely into Shifty's eye, stabbing into it. Shifty screamed, his sight now reduced greatly, and clung onto Russell's hook, trying to pull it out of his eyes. But Russell was far from finished and promptly pulled his hook out of the eye fiercely, pulling out Shifty's whole eyeball along with it. Shifty howled in pain, only to be tackled to the ground by Russell, who was out for blood. Lifty realized that Russell was not mentally well at this point and started to run but the slickness of the water caused him to slide across the ship and as the ship was tilting in all directions, he had no real control. Toothy side-stepped out of Lifty's way to avoid getting hit and Lifty ended up crashing into the steering wheel and fell over, his head under that very steering wheel. Then at that moment a very strong wind blew across the deck. Toothy was sent flying into the air but he managed to hold onto the mast of the ship and stayed on. But the wind sent the steering wheel turning at an alarming rate and it mashed Lifty's head with each rapid turn, smashing it and spreading blood and brains everywhere.
Meanwhile, back in the water, Pop's head popped out of the water and he started looking and calling out for Cub. He then heard Cub's wail a fair distance away from his location. Then he saw Cub flailing his arms in the water, crying out desperately. It was a miracle already that a baby was able to keep his head above water without any swimming lessons in the midst of such a storm. Pop quickly swam over to Cub but unfortunately the killer whale had noticed their presence in the water and was swimming around the boat and straight for them. Pop managed to reach Cub and took him in his arms only to see in horror, the orca ominously appearing out of the water, it's jaw open wide, to take a bite out of them. Pop managed to dive down into the water with Cub in his left arm and the orca brushed by them, though Pop suddenly felt a searing pain in his right arm, then he felt like he barely even HAD a right arm. Pop and Cub emerged again, Cub still sad and scared, and the orca was turning around for another go. But this time Pop was not about to let the orca have its way. He waited till the orca appeared above the water and then generated a menacing roar and expression. A bear's roar could be very intimidating and especially when accompanied with an intense expression. In fact, Pop's expression looked startlingly similar to Fliqpy's usual demonic glare. The orca was petrified in the presence of such an overpowering look and it quickly submerged and swam off, Pop's intimidation working like a charm. Cub smiled and cheered when Pop scared off the killer whale but then noticed what Pop also noticed with a grim expression. Pop's right arm had been eaten off, the tattered and suddenly short sleeve of his bathrobe being evidence of such. Blood dripped from the wound into the water but Pop seemed to accept his wound. It was like Handy's permanent wounds.
Back on deck, Toothy had safely slid down the mast back onto the deck and then noticed the treasure chest that Lifty and Shifty had taken out and then saw, THE CURSED IDOL. That must be what's causing this storm, he thought. Toothy raced to the chest, grabbed the Idol, and hurled it off the ship and far into the sea. As it hit the water, instantly the storm ceased, and the clouds began to disappear, showing a dusky dark sky adorned with stars. Toothy was glad that the storm was over but he was still hearing weird sounds. Like that of meat being sliced again and again and insane... uh-oh. Instinctively, Toothy looked around for Russell and saw exactly what he had been doing. Shifty's body looked unrecognizable, the face hacked with teeth, brains, and an empty eyehole exposed. The body had cuts everywhere, with organs slashed and bones visible. Russell was not exactly drenched in blood, as the rain had washed it off him creating a very ominous red puddle around him and Shifty, but he still had fresh blood on him and he was not any saner. He was slashing at Shifty again and again in a freakish rhythm with his pure crimson hook. Toothy sighed, knowing that he had to be precise with his approach. So he settled on running over to the rampaging Russell, grabbing him firmly, turning him around, and slapping him as hard as he could. Fortunately it worked as Russell's eyes regained their normal Happy Tree Friends shape and pupil. He looked over to the carnage he had inflicted and face-palmed at the fact that he had so quickly lost control. At least I defended my treasure and ship, Russell thought. But then he remembered their other passengers.
"POP?! CUB?!" He called out, trying to figure out where they were. Toothy was about to join Russell in his efforts when they heard a reply from what seemed like the water. Running over to the left side of the ship and sure enough, they saw Pop and Cub in the water. Toothy and Russell cringed when they saw Pop's injury but didn't hesitate to start lowering the lifeboat that ironically would've been Lifty and Shifty's intended escape route. Both were concerned about Pop. Pop would need to go to a hospital as soon as possible for such a wound, and that would leave Cub alone. They would need to find someone to babysit Cub. Father's Day had definitely proven itself to still be quite the eventful holiday for the Tree Friends. It did seem like Pop had proven himself a strong father though, so at least something good came out of it. Things usually did in Tree Friend town.
WHEW! Ok I know it's a week SINCE Father's Day but to be truthful, I came up with this story last YEAR on Father's Day so it was a must-do at this point. Plus it's my first Happy Tree Friends story in a LONG time since I was busy with Phineas and Ferb but hopefully I haven't lost my touch. It was tricky writing the ship scene though because I had to remember what ship terms to use and stuff but I think it went well XD. I do take some liberties with Pop and Cub's relationship I think in this story but I do try to stay true to what we've always known about them. Besides, I'm pretty sure we all wonder what it is that Pop does on Father's Day. So Pop and Cub survived an experience that left Pop with a hospital injury and Cub in need of a babysitter. Who will step up to the plate? How will it go? Are there anymore deaths in store? We'll have to see for ourselves in Part 2! Like with all stories I take no copyright and all rights belong respectfully and eloquently to Mondo Media and Happy Tree Friends (Who are now on their way to season 4 HOLLA XD). Thank you ^_^.