Disclaimer: "Happy Tree Friends" is a copyright of Mondo Media
Happy Tree Friends: Blood & Fire (2)
Chapter 05 – Delay
A week went by since the 'request'…then a month had passed. There was no massacre; no 'death threat'; nothing from the Tiger General, in fact. 'Maybe he changed his mind…' thought Flippy as he lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, 'Then again, that's unlike him.' His mind drifted to his war-torn days as he rolled onto his side; remembered how ruthless the Tiger General could be if things never went his way. Looking up, his eyes landed on a framed picture of him and Flaky on their first date, smiled as he reminisced that moment.
It was Valentine's Day – Flippy usually stays home on this occasion, but he decided it's time for a change. While he wore his usual army outfit, Flaky was wearing a flowing red blouse over faded blue jeans; her quills were tied back in a high ponytail. He then led her to a waiting rowboat, helping her take her seat before joining in; pushed the boat away from the bank with his oar. As soon as they floated to the middle of the lagoon, he stopped rowing and pulled out a narrow box that was hidden behind him. "I made these for you…" he said as he handed the gift to her. Opening it, Flaky gasped – eight chocolate chip cookies were lined neatly at the bottom, covered in pink icing with sliced maraschino cherries forming a letter on top. They were arranged into a message which read: "I LOVE YOU".
"Aww, Flippy…" she gushed, "What a 'sweet' way to express your feelings to me." Keeping the box balanced in her lap, she leaned over and kissed his lips. The unexpected gesture threw him off balance, his hands fumbling around to steady himself…but he missed and splashed into the lagoon. "Flippy!" she yelped. Carefully setting the box down, she leaned over and held out her hand to grab him – and got pulled into the water instead. Fortunately, the rowboat didn't capsize. "Sorry…" he apologized. She giggled and splashed water onto his face; he smirked and returned the favour – before long they were laughing and having a water fight. Then he noticed a sudden flash of light – Cuddles and Giggles happened to be strolling nearby when they heard the commotion they were making; snapped a picture of this 'somewhat rare' moment. What they forgot was –
"Ah!" Flaky shrieked, swimming away from Flipqy as the flash reminded him about the explosions he experienced during the war. "Wait!" the golden-eyed bear called out, managing to grasp the frightened porcupine's hand…[strangely] gently. "I'm…" he confessed as Flaky turned cautiously to him, "I'm in no mood to kill you right now." The porcupine's heart seemed to melt within her as she noticed peace within those golden orbs. "I think it's because…" he added, gulping in some air, "I love you…actually, Flippy does. But I'm him too, so –"
She intervened by embracing him in a hug, catching him off guard. "I-I'm still scared of you…" she admitted, "But I'm sure I'll get over it eventually." He then smiled as they looked into each other's eyes; her fear of him seemed to have vanished as the distance between their mouths shrunk, finally locking in a kiss. "Aww~!" Cuddles and Giggles gushed. When they finally let go of each other, Flippy had already regained control of his body; the two blushed and laughed as they climbed back into the rowboat.
He was shaken out of his daydream when he heard laughter; got out of bed and looked out the window. "S-Stop it, Moonlight! Get off me!" Flaky demanded, laughing some more as the wolf tickled her. Flippy chuckled as he watched the girls playfully wrestle each other in the snow. He then watched them get up and run – assumingly – to his front door. Sensing their intentions, he quickly leaped back into bed and pretended to stay asleep.
"Ssh…" Flaky whispered as the two crept towards the bear. Flippy was trying his best not to react as his girlfriend gently tugged one of his hands . The red porcupine then nodded to Moonlight, who was holding a canister of whipped cream; she quietly spread some in his outstretched hand. Flaky then used Moonlight's tail tip to tickle his nose…but received no reaction. "Try again," the wolf insisted, but Flippy remained still. On the third attempt, he swatted her tail away with his 'untouched' hand. On the fourth attempt –
"Gotcha!" he yelled as he smeared whipped cream on both girls' faces, laughing as he bolted. "Get back here, Flippy!" they demanded as they chased him. Flaky then used a shortcut and intercepted her boyfriend in the living room, tackling him to the floor. Flippy then threw her off and pinned her down, tickling her as she squealed. Moonlight then happened to rush in from another door; blushed as she noticed their position – Flaky's legs were spread apart and her brother appeared to be –
"Not in front of me, guys!" she scolded as she covered her eyes and looked away. "I-It's not what you think!" Flaky exclaimed as she and Flippy looked at her, blushing in embarrassment. "Hey guys, is anyone up for –" Splendid asked as he strolled in, eyes widening and stopping dead in his tracks as he noticed the state Flippy and Flaky were in. "What the…fuck…" he muttered, "Are you doing on the floor?" Moonlight heard her boyfriend's voice and hid behind his back, her eyes still scrunched shut.
"It's not what you think…" Flaky repeated, "He was just teasing – I mean, t-tickling – me." The red-and-green couple got up and brushed off imaginary dust. "A-Anyway…" Flippy continued, "You wanted to ask us something?" Splendid snapped out of his semi-shocked state and explained that everyone in Happy Tree Town is gathering at the park for a snowball war.
A smile crept onto the war veteran's face – he loved snowball fights as much as he loved winter. Not only was it a great idea to perceive his traumatic days in a fun way, but it was also a fact that nobody could get hurt since they're only hurling snow at each other. "Oh yeah?" Flipqy asked, "Why don't you try recalling last year's snowball fight?"
Splendid, Splendont, Flippy, Flaky and Moonlight were over at Captain and Starlight's for Christmas dinner. The five youngsters were outside having a ball of a time in the snow…or at least until Flipqy emerged due to having a snowball hit him hard in the face – hard enough his nose bled.
"Flipqy, don't!" Flaky screamed as the insane bear starting packing a snowball with a live grenade inside it. "TAKE THAT!" he yelled as he threw it over to Splendont. The startled red flying squirrel then threw it to Splendid, who in turn threw it to Moonlight, then to Flaky, and then back to Flipqy who immediately threw it away...then realized it landed in his jeep. "Get down!" he ordered as it exploded, raining debris around them. "Cool…LET'S DO THAT AGAIN!" the golden-eyed bear declared as he immediately prepared another 'snowball grenade'. But then Flaky hurriedly threw another snowball to his head – snapping Flippy out of his state.
"W-W-Whoa!" the green-eyed bear screamed as he fumbled it in his hands; threw it away and hit the snow with everyone else…only to hear silence. "The pin's still on," Captain called out as he picked up the snowball – he had come outside to see what the commotion was about, "Flippy, are you even trying to keep him under control?"
"It's not my fault he brought grenades!" the green bear replied, glaring as the flying squirrels snickered to themselves. "At least nobody's seriously hurt…or killed," said Starlight, "Now you kids get cleaned up – dinner will be ready in 5 minutes." As they walked into the house, Flippy could hear his alter ego grumble at his own mistake.
"Hey Flippy, are you coming or not?" asked Moonlight as she waved her hand in his face. The army bear snapped out of his trance and agreed, grabbing his winter gear before driving them to the park. The venue was already crowded with – as Splendid mentioned earlier – everyone in Happy Tree Town.
Cro-Marmot was in charge of signing up five members for each team: 'Spring' (Flaky, Flippy, Moonlight, Splendid, and Splendont); 'Summer' (Cuddles, Giggles, Handy, Petunia, and Toothy); 'Fall' (Disco Bear, Lammy, Lifty, Shifty, and The Mole); 'Winter' (Lumpy, Mime, Nutty, Russell, and Sniffles). Pop wanted to participate, but he backed out at the last moment because he promised Cub they'll toast marshmallows and read stories in front of the fireplace.
As soon as their forts and snowballs were set up, Cro-Marmot announced the 'war' has begun by [somehow] ringing a bell next to him. "Take that!" Flaky called out, hurling a snowball towards the 'Summer' fort and managing to hit Giggles. The pink chipmunk retaliated, but her snowball was thrown way off-course and hit Lifty instead. Slightly peeved, the green raccoon hurled a snowball of his own…and it went SMACK between Russell's eyes, toppling the otter backwards.
Flippy peeked from the top of the fort, silently eyeing his target: Handy. Said beaver was pulling on his signature frustrated look as he realized he couldn't handle any snowballs due to his lack of hands; suddenly caught by surprise when he received one to his torso. "Get him!" he demanded, glaring at a laughing green bear. Giggles prepared another snowball for Flippy…but went off-course again and knocked off Shifty's fedora. "Oh yeah?" he yelled, preparing to hurl two snowballs at a time. But then his brother stepped on his tail, forcing Shifty to throw them towards 'Winter' – smacking Sniffles in the back.
Lumpy ducked as Moonlight's snowball went sailing above him; chuckled as she growled due to missing him by several inches. "Open wide~!" the moose called out as he threw one snowball; laughed harder as it somehow landed in Petunia's mouth. Said skunk immediately spat out the cold snow and rinsed her mouth with mouthwash; picked up some snow and hurled it – and hit The Mole (who was failing miserably by throwing snowballs towards the trees…)
Mime and Disco Bear were having a snowball barrage, laughing even if the packed snow hurt them quite a bit. Toothy was trying to sock Splendid, but the blue flying squirrel flew out of range and delivered two to the purple beaver (but they missed as well). Nutty – who was jittering crazily (as usual) behind his fort – managed to pack at least five snowballs and hit Lammy with them. Said purple lamb shook off the snow and retaliated, her snowball going SMACK on Cuddles' back; the yellow rabbit fell face-first on Giggles, both laughing as they packed more snowballs together. "Heads up~!" he called out, hollering as he hit the back of Splendont's head.
"You call that a snowball?" the red flying squirrel called out. He then flew out of his fort and began gathering as much snow as he could; before long, he was carrying a snowball three times bigger and wider than himself. "Here's a SNOW BOMB!" he shouted, pulling back and hurling the massive snow boulder towards the ground. "SHIT! RUN!" Splendid ordered, but they were too late – everyone got buried under a thick blanket of snow; so thick only the tops of the trees could be found. 'Oops…' Splendont thought, face-palming at his idiocy.
Seconds later, a blue hand popped out of the snow – Splendid dragged himself out, gasping for air and spitting out snow that got into his mouth. "What the fuck did you do that for?" he demanded Splendont. "Sorry…" his red 'polar opposite' apologized, "Anyway, we'd better dig them out before they suffocate." Sneaky and Mouse Ka-Boom – who happened to be passing nearby – witnessed the accident and offered to help.
All the team members of 'Summer', 'Fall' and 'Winter' were pulled out of the snow blanket unharmed and in one piece; Flaky managed to get herself out, saying Flippy and Moonlight could be knocked unconscious since they weren't responding. Sniffles rushed to his lab and returned with a snow plough; began digging out the snow where team 'Spring' was. But there was no Flippy or Moonlight. "Everyone start digging – find them!" Sneaky ordered.
When all of the snow has been dug out, Mouse Ka-Boom resorted to using firecrackers to help lure out Flippy (as the sound reminds him of gunfire) – but to no avail. They then decided to conduct a search through the entire town…but as hours passed, most of them gave up and went home. "Maybe they've escaped and gone home before my snow bomb hit," Splendont suggested before taking off.
'I hope he's right…' Flaky thought worriedly. Splendid accompanied her as she walked home…and the two received a shock of their lives. There, nailed onto the door of Flippy's barracks-inspired home…was a note written in blood-red letters. Behind it was a slightly wrinkled brown Manila envelope.
"If you ever want to see your loved ones again, then you must do as I say. Or else…"
Alarmed, the red porcupine tore the envelope off the nail and opened it; gasped as she stared at pictures of her boyfriend and his twin sister – they were tied and gagged, both sharing looks of hate and despair in their eyes. "Splendid, regardez ce que nous avons!" Mouse Ka-Boom shouted as he and Sneaky ran over; handed the blue flying squirrel Flippy's dog tags and Moonlight's star pendant.
They knew it meant one thing: The Tiger General has kidnapped Flippy and Moonlight.
[I know – I haven't updated in days! Stupid writer's block and distractions at home…
As usual, some changes could take place and – might – slightly alter the plot.]