Hey, chapter three is up!
Listen, I wasn't going to post this chapter up so soon, but I have a question for you all. I was debating on whether or not to debut my three OC's in this fic. Half of me wants to, because it would make for more drama (saucy drama... maybe. Probably not...) But I didn't know if it was the best idea, since I was trying to keep this as HTF as possible... but I don't know... It would be a good way to introduce them, sort of...
So, give me your opinion on that, so answer in your Review. Please and thank you!
Chapter 3
Flippy awoke that morning feeling heavier than he usually did. The bear yawned widely and lifted his hands to rub at his tired eyes. Rubbing out the crust, he sat up and attempted to smooth his wrinkled white undershirt.
And that's when Flippy noticed that his stomach wasn't as… soft as it usually was. Opening his eyes wider, he looked down at his torso and saw that his arms were also bigger, thicker. Pulling up his shirt Flippy saw his stomach was still flat, covered with light green fur, but it felt firmer than it usually did.
Flippy wrinkled his brows and threw aside his light purple covers. His legs were longer and thicker, like his arms, and his…his…
What was that doing out?
Flippy snorted and poked it, but it did not retract or disappear – it only twitched. Frowning at such strange events, Flippy got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, grabbing his standard camouflage hat and jacket on his way. Flippy soon saw that it wasn't just his stomach that had changed. Along with his more noticeable muscles, Flippy had grown a few inches taller and his ears had become larger too. A tuft of green hair stuck out from the collar of his undershirt. Flippy was also interested in the fact that his eyes had changed. Instead of their regular solid black, they had thick honey-gold irises around them. Flippy liked the shade. Freshening up and taking his pills, the war bear made sure he was tidy and clean before heading for his front door.
But a thought struck him. He shouldn't be going around with his… thing showing. It wouldn't go where it was supposed to go – he would have to hide it. So Flippy took of his jacket and tied the sleeves around his waist, securing the piece of clothing with a belt.
A round of coughs shook Flippy, but he cleared his throat and went out to see how everyone else was doing.
It wasn't long until Flippy caught sight of Cuddles, Toothy, Nutty, Disco Bear, Pop and Cub. The four of them were sitting around Cro-Marmot's Ice Cream truck; Nutty was licking obsessively at a triple-chocolate hot fudge cherry nut sunday. Cro-Marmot was still in his truck, a hat on his 'head' and his constant smile on his face. But to Flippy – though it was absolutely impossible and stupid – it seemed that there was a tad of concern evident on the frozen friend's face.
All of the other's had changed, just as Flippy had. First of all, every one of them was taller, Disco Bear and Pop especially by a couple of inches. Their eyes were new colors too; Flippy was also interested to see that Cuddles, Toothy and Nutty were wearing strange pants.
As Flippy approached, Toothy was the first to notice. The beaver waved a paw lazily in greeting. It was Cuddles who said, "Oh, hey Flippy! It happened to you too?"
"I think it happened to everyone," Pop said, removing his pipe from his lips. His free hand was rested on Cub's shoulder. The bear cub was also enjoying an ice cream cone, though one not as deadly as Nutty's.
Toothy was the tallest besides Pop and Disco Bear, the same size as Flippy. As the bear drew closer, he saw that Toothy's fur was giving off a sheen he had not seen before. The beaver was gnawing on a piece of pine wood, his long thick teeth crushing the timber with ease. Toothy's ears had gotten larger and the beaver's large tail seemed to have become more flexible with the change, for it was lying in the grass, slightly curved about his waist. Flippy could also see that Toothy had gotten another pair of curved teeth on his bottom jaw, though they were smaller and less visible than his top ones.
Cuddles had changed a lot as well. His ears had gotten longer and grew larger at the ends, ending not in their usual half circle but in a more triangular shape. A creamy shock of hair fell in the rabbit's own golden brown eyes and he kept moving it aside with a paw. The creamy fur on Cuddles's chest was more pronounced as well. The rabbit's hind legs had gotten a bit longer with the pads beneath clearly visible now. He only wore one slipper and was holding the other between his fingers; Cuddles's tail was bushier than usual, rubbing back and forth against the forest floor.
Nutty looked for the most part normal, except the candy sticking to his fur was now quite visible wrapped within the clutches of his short green hairs. The squirrel had his tail wrapped securely around his waist, hiding his legs and making a good table for his treat. His ears were slightly bigger than before, but that was about it. His eyes, though, had changed also. Instead of one being normal and the other being lined with a band of green, one of Nutty's eyes was brown with the other being a pale shade of lime green, though the pupil of the green eye did seem smaller than the other.
Disco Bear looked more or less the same as well, aside from his height. Also, there seemed to be a bit of something like stubble growing off of his chin.
Pop was the largest of them all, and with a slight belly, his long robe just got past his thighs. He now looked as old as he was – Flippy silently wondered if he looked older too.
Cub was larger than he had been, and resembled something closer to a three year old than something that should wear diapers. His legs seemed too long, his features too big. But the little bear didn't seem to mind or notice it – he sat eating his ice cream in silent glee.
Flippy smiled at them and took a seat between Nutty and Disco Bear. "Nice pants guys – I didn't know you were into that kinda thing." Nutty, Toothy and Cuddles were all wearing bright, glittery bell-bottoms that seemed too small for them. Cuddles blushed and Toothy shrugged; Nutty simply didn't answer. "We had to wear them," Cuddles said, looking at Flippy over Toothy. "Disco Bear was the only one of us who had clothes."
"You got that right," Disco Bear grinned, his deep, smooth voice coated with something like self-satisfaction. "Those pants make them look groovy… almost as groovy as me… But not quite." Disco Bear glanced upwards, pushing back his carrot fro to look up at the sky. "I should get myself some sunglasses…"
"On a less random note," Toothy interjected, swallowing the last of his branch, "we should probably go further into town to see how everyone else is doing."
"Y-y-y-y-you th-th-think the others a-a-a-are like th-this?" Nutty twitched as he spoke, and the smell of chocolate and cherries assaulted Flippy's nostrils. The bear flinched; pushing himself away, he turned to face the town. He could just see one of the buildings further down the path.
"Why don't we go find out?"
Flaky nodded.
"Oh. I see. Alright." She was slightly blushing, but not too badly. The subject hadn't been awkward for Giggles's mother, so it shouldn't be for her. And besides, it wasn't abnormal or anything, to have them. Ms. Giggles said that every female had them. Even with their normal anatomy, they would work the same way. At least, that's what they thought.
Flaky once again stuttered a thank you to Ms. Giggles, who only smiled at the porcupine's nervousness. Giggles's mother looked much like the younger chipmunk – the only differences were that she had darker pink lines running down her back as well as light ones, and her tail was slightly longer. She was wearing an apron (Giggles said her mom always wore it), and in her lap was the long black curtain Flaky had covered herself with. They'd gotten to Giggles's house rather quickly, and strangely enough they hadn't seen any other friends on the way over. Petunia suggested that they were still in their own houses, freaking out about their own changes (it was obvious that the strange occurrence had happened to everyone).
Ms. Giggles (Flaky didn't know what else to call her) hummed as she sewed. Flaky was sitting on a stool opposite the adult, holding her arms across her lumps – no, Flaky corrected herself, they were breasts. Not lumps. Ms. Giggles told her she probably had them before, but they were much smaller and hidden under her fur, on her stomach. Flaky realized that she had seen them before, whenever she took bathes and washed her stomach they were there. She hadn't thought much of them. They were like her dandruff or even her tail – they didn't serve much of an obvious purpose, but they were there.
Flaky smiled softly. She was thankful for Ms. Giggles's maternal instincts. She'd been able to tell Flaky was uncomfortable at the thought of unclothing herself in front of the others. Though they didn't seem to have too much of a problem with it (besides Lammy, who thanked herself out loud for wearing a sweater all of the time). Ms. Giggles had distracted the others with the proposition of cookies, to which they'd agreed to stay in the other room, waiting for them to finish baking.
This was all so strange. Flaky couldn't help but continue to question what was going on. Nothing like this had ever happened in Happy Tree Valley, and though the valley itself was a surprise, she'd never imagined something so seemingly innocent to occur. And it didn't even seem fatal at all. Very much unlike Happy Tree Valley…
Flaky blinked. "Oh, I-I'm s-sorry," she stuttered, looking up at Ms. Giggles. The older female had asked her something. "I was l-lost in thought. W-what was it you s-said?"
"I was asking you to stand on the stool. I want to make sure the dress fits before doing the hem."
"Oh! A-alright." Flaky stood and Ms. Giggles pulled the fabric over Flaky's head. She'd left the back of the dress open so that the spikes wouldn't poke through. Flaky was a bit self-conscious about it, disliking the breezy feeling she felt against her back compared to the warmth of material against the rest of her body. Ms. Giggles had been kind enough to fashion the top of the dress so that Flaky's arms were covered with long, flowing sleeves. Flaky was surprised that the curtains were so long. She'd expected a much more… revealing dress.
Ms. Giggles asked how long Flaky wanted the dress (it was just above her ankles) and the porcupine told her it was just the right length. Ms. Giggles ended up making it a bit shorter, though. The bottom of it had been pulled up and scrunched, so that the hem itself was sort of ruffled. It didn't take too long for Ms. Giggles to finish the dress.
"All done," Ms. Giggles said to Flaky, allowing the girl to leave the stool. "There's a mirror in the other room, if you want to look." Ms. Giggles led Flaky out and into the living room, where the other girls were waiting as well.
Petunia was in the kitchen, pulling the cookies out of the oven as Flaky entered. Giggles had been speaking to Lammy about something. The lamb herself was still holding 'Mr. Pickles' in her hands, every once in a while shaking him and asking him if he was feeling any better.
Giggles was wearing a long skirt made from a blue bed sheet, along with a lumpy but comfortable looking tank top her mother had forged from a blue and green comforter while her daughter was out.
"Oh Flaky, you look pretty!" Lammy smiled as Flaky approached, which caused Giggles to look back. "Hey, she's right! You look great!" Flaky blushed from the attention, but it went unnoticed against her red fur. She allowed the girls to admire her dress, feeling the material as Petunia walked in, plate of warm cookies in hand. She set them down on the table, giving Flaky a compliment before going to the bathroom to wash her hands. Ms. Giggles had given Petunia one of her own outfits, since the skunk was the only one tall/full enough to fit into one, though it looked a snug fit. It was actually some kind of uni-suit, with long pants and big pockets on the hips, sleeveless. It was dark green, but looked surprisingly good on the skunk's curvy frame.
Flaky walked over to the mirror Ms. Giggles had mentioned and nodded to herself. She did look really good in the dress. The dark indigo color contrasted nicely with her scarlet fur. She also found that this dress was much more comfortable than other clothing she had worn before, since it actually fit against her body and had an open back part for her spikes and hair.
"Where should we go now?" Giggles asked, biting into a cookie. Petunia had returned and settled herself between the lamb and the chipmunk. She inspected one of the sugary treats before taking a small bite. "I'm not sure," she said to them. Flaky went to stand beside Giggles's side of the couch; there wasn't any room left on the couch for her to sit on, and she didn't want to sit on the arm itself, it seemed rude.
Ms. Giggles sat down in a chair opposite them. "Why don't you go to the hospital-tree?" she suggested. "It's a good place to go – if everyone's changed like you four, then I think they'd all go somewhere big to meet."
"She's right," Lammy said quietly. "And Sniffles will be there. He might know what's going on. He's kind of a doctor, right?"
"Uh huh…" Petunia finished her cookie and thought about it. Flaky piped in. "I-I think we sh-should go. And even if n-no one else is there, it's true that Sniffles m-might have an idea on what's h-happened."
"Me too!" Giggles agreed. She stood up, fixed her skirt and snatched another cookie from the plate. "Is it alright if we go mom? Do you want to come?"
Ms. Giggles waved them off. "No, I'll be fine. I think I'll go sit outside. If anyone comes by, I'll send them to the hospital-tree."
"Okie dokie then." Giggles kissed her mother on the nose. "We'll come back when we can and tell you what's going on."
"If we find out," Petunia added. She left for the door, Lammy following close behind. They all bid farewell one last time before leaving the tree and heading back into town.
If you didn't read the memo at the top, please do.
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