The party was in full swing and Flaky couldn't be happier. She had invited everyone in town and it seemed like everyone was here. Except, she noticed, for Flippy. She talked to him earlier in the week to see if he wanted to come, but the war vet politely declined his friend's offer. He seemed like he had been sleeping and acted distracted when they talked. She didn't give it much thought, figuring Flippy's work at the library was just getting to him. The redhead had brought out a tray of drinks to the backyard where her friends were chatting and having a good time. She didn't even take a single step outside before all hell broke loose as someone smashed into her fence on the other side, causing the wood to splinter and crack.

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks as they saw who just had crashed the party. A few more heavy thuds hit the wooden boards before the fence's boards finally gave away, falling in pieces to the grass and revealed that it was Fliqpy, wild-eyed and grinning like a madman. No one moved or even breathed as the party-goers stared at Fliqpy, who gazed back at the tree friends like they were all in a deadly staring contest. Then the tension reached it's boiling point as Nutty, who was the closest to Fliqpy just coughed and before anyone could blink, Fliqpy grabbed the sugar addict by the throat, his iron grip crushing the boy's windpipe as he twisted the boy's head downward and violently ripped Nutty's head off without a word or yell. Everyone screamed in horror and panic as suddenly found the feeling coming back to their legs, running towards the possible safe haven of Flaky's house. Fliqpy lunged after the fleeing tree friends, using the decapitated head of Nutty attached to the boy's destroyed spine like a medieval flail. He cracked the gruesome weapon on the head of Lumpy, who fell as he tried to run. Fliqpy let out a low evil laugh as he grabbed the nearest new weapon he could find: a bunch of deflated balloons. The twisted murderer stuffed the balloons into the other man's mouth and then grabbed a nearby air pump, stabbing it into the man's mouth. He pumped air as fast as he could, inflating the balloons to their breaking point.

And Lumpy's head.

A sickening pop was heard as the balloons and Lumpy's head exploded in a bloody mess, showering the war vet in gore. Grinning even wider and covered in blood, Fliqpy marched slowly to the house where the rest of the tree friends were hiding. But the townsfolk were only delaying the inevitable

No can escape death when it comes knocking on their door.

X X X

The surviving tree friends have huddled away in Flaky's living room, having blocked off all doors so there was no way Fliqpy could get in.

And no way for the others to get out.

"What are we gonna do?!" cried Giggles, "That psycho is gonna find a way in here and he's gonna murder us!"

"This is great! I really want to go one day without being murdered by that nut case," yelled Handy, who was more annoyed than scared at the prospect of a impending painful death.

Meanwhile, as the tree friends panicked, Lifty and Shifty were busy eyeing Flaky's living room and it's many furnishings, possibly more interested in swiping the redhead's belongings that figuring out a plan to get out of here alive. Then Shifty nudged his brother, a smile on his face as he whispered in his ear. Lifty's own face brightened and nodded, a grin widening on his face as he yelled out.

"Everyone, shut the hell up! We got a plan!"

Everyone went quiet and gathered around the twins, very much skeptical that these two thieving brothers were actually going to try and help their fellow tree friends. But no one objected and Flaky muttered out, "So. . .tell us L-Lifty, what's the plan?"

"With pleasure, doll," Lifty winked and shot the group a grin, "First things first, we use little Flaky here as bait-"

Before Lifty could get any further with the twin's plan Giggles yelled out, "Absolutely not! We are not putting Flaky in that kind of danger."

"You didn't let me finish! We use her as bait, and then the rest of us attacked him from behind, and try to restrain him before we just conk 'im out or something."

Toothy spoke up, "What then? We kill him?"

"Yar! Get some good ol' fashion vengeance on the sea dog!" Russell laughed.

Flaky frowned and shook her head frantically, "No! No killing. Flippy's our f-friend and we can't just kill him. Then w-we'd be no better than Fliqpy."

Giggles put her hand on the smaller girl's arm, trying to comfort her as she saw how terrified the redhead was, "Then what should we do? We can't just keep doing this again and again, Flakes."

"We can help him. There's the mental institute where he could get help. I-I could watch him to make sure he doesn't flip out again. And maybe we can fix him somehow."

"That's actually good idea and I think I can help with getting him there," everyone turned and saw Sniffles sitting on the room's couch. The blue-haired scientist continued speaking as he had everyone's attention, "I've got this new serum I'm working on and I just happen to have a sample with me."

"What's this serum do, nerd?" Lifty frowned, crossing his arms.

Sniffles ignored the twin's insult and explained his latest invention, "It'll incapacitate anyone with a single drop and render them docile. Meaning we could trap Fliqpy inside Flippy's head and then no more flip outs."

"Pfft, it can't be that easy."

"Well, it isn't. The serum is only temporary and will wear off after a few days. But in that time frame, we could come up with a permanent solution to our friend's little episodes. Any questions?"

Before anyone could agree or disagree with this idea, they heard a violent crashing sound coming from down the hallway and everyone's blood ran cold. Fliqpy had arrived and they were out of time. The tree friends could hear his footsteps, slow yet heavy, as he made his way towards the living room. The tree friends quickly hid in another room adjacent to the living room just as Fliqpy appeared the doorway to the room, a devilish grin on his face as he chuckled darkly.

"Honeyyy, I'm home~."

Flaky tried her hardest to fight her urge to just bolt, knowing that if she tried that the deranged veteran would be able to catch her without even breaking a sweat. So the terrified redhead just sat on her couch, watching with a quickening heartbeat and panic coursing through her as Fliqpy slowly made his way towards her. He knelt down in front of the girl, unrestrained glee present in his yellow eyes as he noticed how scared the girl was.

He reached out and gently stroked her cheek, grin widening as she flinched from his touch, "Aw, c'mon. No need to be scared, Flakes. I'm your friend, remember?"

The girl shook her head, not looking at him, "Y-You aren't. You. . .Y-You're a monster. A m-murderer."

Fliqpy smiled and chuckled, "I'm just a soldier. Doing what I gotta do to survive. 'S that so bad?"

Flaky didn't answer right away, noticing from behind the distracted war vet that her friends were silently sneaking up on him. If Fliqpy hadn't been so engrossed with messing with the redhead, he might've heard the other tree friends as they tiptoed carefully towards him. Flaky knew they needed a few more seconds, so she tried to keep his attention on her.

"But you d-don't have to. The war's over, Fliqpy."

"Not this one. Not ours," Fliqpy shook his head, his evil grin vanishing for a second as he looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Fliqpy."

The man looked up from the carpet, confusion on his face, "Sorry for what?"

"NOW!"

Giggles and Russell grabbed Fliqpy's left arm while the twin's grabbed his right arm and Toothy latched onto the man's legs, effectively trapping him in place. Fliqpy's reaction was near-instant as he bucked and thrashed, trying his hardest to throw the tree friends off of his limbs, but to no avial as they were stuck on him like glue. He let out a roar of frustration, struggling a bit more before finally settling down and giving up.

"Well, congrats. You caught me," Fliqpy let out an almost amused laugh as he stared around at the townspeople, "Finally stopping being such pussies and actually fought back for once."

Flaky shook her head, an almost pitying look in her eyes as she watched the war vet, "We aren't fighting you. We're h-helping you."

Before Fliqpy could ask what the redhead meant, he felt a prick in his neck and the feeling of drowsiness overwhelm him. He fought the sense of sleep flooding his mind and managed to slur out a few words as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

"What. . What did you do to me, you freaks?"

"What's best for you, F-Fliqpy."

Fliqpy said nothing, choosing instead to look up at the redhead one more time before the world went dark and everything stopped.