Chapter four, guys! Sorry for the wait, but I was trying to decide whether or not to include my OC's in this story. I decided not to. I didn't want to risk any potential readers, and besides, this story focuses on almost all of the characters at once - I don't need more to keep me busy. I'll just have to include them in a future story. After Blissfully Ill, of course.

Chapter 4

"Gak!"

"Quick doc, you have to tell us, where were you on the night of tomorrow?"

"That hasn't happened yet, idiot!"

"We won't be able to do the surgery with an attitude like that!"

"Ow! Shifty, don't touch me with that! Both of you, get off me! Put me down!"

"I'm afraid our code of doctordum won't allow that, doc, we have to perform the surgery, STAT!"

"Achoo!"

"Ew, stop sneezing all over me, brother."

"It's not my fault! They won't – achoo! – stop."

"Huh? Flippy, help!"

The raccoon duo turned to see Flippy, Cuddles, Nutty, Toothy, Disco Bear, Pop, and Cub standing at the double doors that led into the hospital-tree. They'd all been too interested in the scene before them to intervene. It seemed that Lifty and Shifty had been playing doctor with Sniffles, with the anteater being the patient. They had him half strapped to a rolling tabletop and were about to drape some kind of white blanket over him when they all entered.

Sniffles's long nose/jaw rose above the sheet and said, "Get these two pilfers away from me!"

"Hey, don't be callin' us names we don't know the meanings of," Lifty said, then broke into a fit of coughs. Shifty snickered at his brother's hacking, only to unleash an explosive sneeze – three of them, in fact, in quick succession.

All at once everyone started talking. Flippy winced at the sudden outbreak of noise, but with the wave of a hand, he silenced them. Though all of the Happy Tree Friends thought of each other as equals, it was sort of an unspoken rule that when there was big trouble, Flippy, Sniffles, Lumpy or Petunia would take charge (Lumpy least of all, unless it was absolutely necessary, for obvious reasons).

"Alright," he began. "Lifty, Shifty, please unstrap Sniffles from the table so he can tell us what's going on."

Both raccoons hesitated, frowning, but then released the anteater's arms and feet. They'd both changed in a similar way – they'd grown in length, and it seemed they'd gotten even skinnier. The fur on their cheeks had gotten longer; the thing that was most different about them was that their tails weren't pointed straight up in the air like they usually were. Instead they'd fallen to the floor, and they'd gotten not only longer but thicker, too. The two raccoons bared sharp teeth as they unwillingly freed Sniffles. The blue friend harrumphed as he sat up, and then pushed himself off of the tabletop.

In Flippy's opinion, it was Sniffles who changed the most, and he blinked in surprise at the anteater's new appearance. He'd not only gotten two or three inches taller, but he was bulkier, too. His arms seemed to have grown in length and width, and at their ends were three horrifyingly long, thick claws for each hand. The same had happened with his feet. Sniffles was slightly hunched instead of straight like he usually was, and Flippy guessed that it was because of the thick fur that was growing on the anteater's shoulders. More of it still ran down his spine from the back of his head, kind of like a Mohawk, though it wasn't too long. Sniffles's tail had also gotten a few inches longer, and it was draped in the new, longer fur.

The color of Sniffles's fur had changed as well. While his arms were a lighter blue, with most of his torso its regular color, his chest and back were darker. There were tufts of the straw-like fur growing on the anteater's chest and forehead as well. He was still skinny, but with all of that new, thick fur, it sure didn't look like it.

If it hadn't been for the anteater's indignant whimpers, Flippy might have felt intimidated.

"These two," Sniffles began, his jaw moving up and down like the head of an angry cobra, "snuck into the hospital tree last night and were attempting to make off with a large sum of money I'd won the other day for a science fair."

At the mention of their own antics, both raccoons snickered. Sniffles made a face and continued. "Apparently, they'd gotten themselves killed while doing so, though I didn't hear any of it – I found the bloodstains this morning. They were both asleep in the Rebirth section of the second floor when I went up to check for dailies." Flippy nodded. Since Sniffles lived in the hospital-tree, he took it upon himself to check for any patients every morning, noon and night before he went to bed. Sometimes, after being reborn, the Valley residents had trouble getting up, or remembering how they had died. Sometimes the aches and pains of their deaths still haunted them, and when that happened the agony was almost unbearable.

Flippy was about to ask Sniffles why the two raccoons had been messing with him when Nutty pushed himself to the front, holding an empty, dripping hand out to Sniffles. "Hey Sniffles, d-d-d'ya got a-a-anything to e-e-eat? I ran out of ice-c-c-cream!"

Sniffles sniffed Nutty's hand and then flinched, taking a step back. "Go into the kitchen. There're some pudding cups near the bottom drawer. Nutty, don't eat them all!"

Nutty had already left. Toothy followed, and eventually so did Pop, Cub and Disco Bear. Cuddles came to stand beside Flippy.

"I guess we're just going to wait here for the others?" he asked the two older Tree Friends. Flippy nodded, sighing. It was like waiting at base, curled up in the corner of a small room, nine other animals lying half asleep around you, waiting for the order to move out once again. Waiting to hear if the rest of your squad made it out alive or not…

The flashback was swift and transparent, but still enough to make Flippy rub his eyes, unsure of which reality he was standing in. Luckily, Lifty and Shifty tackled him, throwing their arms about his shoulders. "So, what's the orders, general?"

"Yeah," said Lifty, covering his mouth as he let out a small cough. "Y' got a reason my brother 'n I are hackin' our throats up?"

"Actually," Cuddles said for Flippy, "we came here to ask Sniffles that."

Both raccoons scoffed. "The sniffer doesn't know anything about it," Shifty said. "We asked him, what, twenty times what was goin' on, but he said he didn't have a clue."

Flippy sent a questioning look at Sniffles, and the anteater shrugged, somewhat upset at his lack of knowledge on the subject. "I really don't know why they're like that," he said. "I've actually been sneezing and coughing too, but I just thought it was the flu. What about the rest of you? How've you been?"

"I was sick this morning," Flippy told him. At the mention, he felt a cough bubble in his throat, but he ignored it and continued on. "Are you three the only ones here? Have you seen any of the girls?"

"Nope. I don't know where Lumpy is either; I'd prefer it if he never did show up."

"I second that!" Lifty and Shifty added in unison. They glared at each other and then Lifty took off, a playfully angry Shifty chasing him up the stairs. Sniffles sighed again. "Those two are going to tear everything up if I don't keep watch over them. They've already gotten into the bed supplies, as you've seen," Sniffles said, gesturing at the rolling bed. Flippy smiled in sympathy while Cuddles laughed. "Are you two hungry?" Sniffles started for the kitchen. "There's plenty for everyone, at least until Nutty eats all of the emergency sweets."

"Yeah…" Flippy rubbed a knuckle against his forehead. "We'll have to send someone out to go get food, maybe see if they can find the others."

"Huh?" Cuddles followed as the bear walked with Sniffles into the kitchen. "Why do you say that like we're all staying?"

"Because we are all staying," Flippy said, plainly. He and Sniffles shared a look, and then they both coughed. Cuddles frowned. "But… we can't all stay here. We'd need to go home eventually."

"No." Flippy allowed Sniffles to go ahead, and he stood by the doorway with Cuddles. "Listen, Cuddles, I know it's kind of weird, but I don't want anyone else going out until we've figured out what's going on. I mean, how is it that we've all gotten so sick at once? It could be the flu, but we want to know for sure."

"So we're just going to wade it out here?"

"That's the plan."

At that moment, Lifty and Shifty bounded back down the stairs, running past Flippy and Cuddles, diving for the fridge.

"And before I forget; Lifty, Shifty! Could you please cover up? No one wants to see all that!"

"Flaky, stop messing with your dress."

"B-but the bottom is t-t-too high… and the b-back of it is t-too low…!"

"Aw, c'mon Flaky. You look so cute in it!"

"Uh huh…"

"I'm j-just not used to d-d-dresses l-like this."

"Figures. You're such a tomboy," Petunia told her, playfully. Flaky smiled, taking the comment. How many times had she been called a tomboy? More than she could remember. But Flaky didn't really think of herself as a tomboy – just because she didn't dress up like the other girls or play with dolls or go to tea parties didn't mean she wasn't girly. And Flaky thought that maybe a tomboy would have a little more courage than her…

"Look, town's just ahead!"

Flaky raised her head at Lammy's words. They'd just entered the town. Rows of buildings began to stand on either side of her. A few restaurants here and there (they were all empty, with no Friends to man them). As they continued on, Flaky saw that even the playground was quiet, still. A chill ran up Flaky's spine. It was never this quiet.

"Let's go." Petunia began to jog before pausing to sneeze. "I want to get there and see what's going on," she said, starting up again. Giggles hurriedly followed the skunk. Lammy and Flaky glanced at each other before starting after them at a slower pace.

Eventually, after jogging through another dense line of vegetation, the four of them emerged on the other side of the trees. Before them stretched a long, green meadow-like opening in the woods, and in the middle grew the biggest, thickest tree in Happy Tree Valley. The front doors to the hospital-tree were closed, but Giggles said she could see shapes moving around in the other end.

"I think I see Cuddles," Giggles said, her voice rising in excitement. "And Flippy is there, too!"

"They guy's must have gotten there earlier," Lammy said, holding Mr. Pickles closer. Flaky found her body relaxing. They were finally here, in a calm, secure place with more people. Frankly, she'd been freaked out by the lack of life they'd all faced that day. I'd been more than a few hours and they hadn't seen any other Happy Tree Friends besides Giggles's mom.

Flaky also realized she'd started relaxing at the mention of Flippy's name. But why wouldn't she? Flippy was a good friend of hers, and when he wasn't flipped-out (killing everyone), he was a good protector. Though, it would be a lie to say Flaky wasn't terrified of him whenever he flipped-out.

A flock of birds abandoned the canopy opposite the four females. Following them came a loud crashing noise. They all winched, and Lammy and Flaky took shelter behind the chipmunk and skunk. "W-w-what was th-that?" Flaky asked in a shaky voice. The sound came again, practically booming, and soon afterwards a huge truck burst through the line of trees, taking leaves and branches with it.

"Uh oh…" they all muttered, watching as Lumpy's truck careened out of control and straight at the hospital-tree.

I just watched the end of Lord of the Rings, and now I'm all emotional. Aw gosh... *weep* The ending is just so amazing!

Anyways... *sniffle*

Read and Review.