Disclaimer: "Happy Tree Friends" is a copyright of Mondo Media
Happy Tree Friends: Camp Sanguine
Chapter 08 – Mischief
Flippy ran through the darkened woods, his breath escaping in ragged pants as exhaustion caught up with him. He couldn't remember how long he had been running, and he doesn't know what he's running from or why 'something' was chasing him.
The ground suddenly gave way beneath him and he could feel the air rushing past as he fell off the cliff. He thought it was safe landing in water…until jagged rocks suddenly appeared the closer he reached the bottom.
The teen soldier yelped and bolted upright, groaning as he hit his head on the top bunk's underside. Russell stirred and mumbled incoherent words before falling asleep again. 'Stupid dream…' Flippy mumbled, glancing at his watch which read 6.45am. Figuring he's too wide awake by now, he decided to head out for a little morning exercise.
His sister was up and about as well, practicing Karate by the edge of the lake. "Hey, wanna spar?" he asked, walking up to her, "It's been a while since my Judo classes – and I could use a 'training dummy'."
"What did you just call me!" Moonlight yelled and threw a punch headed for his face. Flippy dodged, grabbed her by the arms and flipped her over his head. She recovered quickly and landed on her feet; immediately performed a sweeping low kick.
He sensed what she was trying to do and jumped out of range, but failed to escape a following leg lock – he tripped and fell face-first onto the dew-drenched grass. "Nice move, sis…" he commented, "But let's see you escape THIS!" He performed a reversal and managed to trap his sister' legs, but she squirmed free; both immediately rolled away and assumed their stances while at a fair distance. They resumed their training, each successfully dodging, escaping and/or evading each other.
About 10 minutes later – they abruptly stopped as they somehow got their arms and legs tangled in a complicated lock. The siblings knew that if either of them moved, it would result in having their limbs fractured…which is the least of their problems. 'Damn!' they mentally cursed as the trumpet call blared over them. "Let go," Moonlight suggested. "No, you let go," Flippy insisted.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"You're grabbing me too tight."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are – ow!"
"Quit struggling!"
"Quit yanking!"
"I'm not yanking!"
"Are to!"
"Are not! Alright, we'll let go on 'three' – 1…2…3!"
The twins released their grasps and rolled in opposite directions before rubbing their wrists and ankles, chuckling to themselves. They then fled back to their cabins just as everyone else were about to wake up, sneaking through the bathroom window. Not one word about their sparring was mentioned…or at least until someone noticed the faint bruises each earned.
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"Hey, you listening?" Shifty demanded, "Guys~!"
Flippy, Splendid and Splendont were sharing a table with the sea-green twins; the first two had to be snapped out of their trance-like daze. "As I was saying –" Shifty continued, growling as he noticed Flippy and Splendid went back to glancing at two specific girls, sitting on a separate table as they talked and giggled. "Guys!" Shifty called.
Splendont smacked the back of their heads. "What!" the soldier and the blue hero demanded irritably. "Since Pop's headed out of camp for Cub's routine check-up, Lifty and I snuck into the Camp Office and found this," the fedora-wearing teen explained and nodded to his brother. Lifty reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a tattered hard-cover book.
It was completely black; intricate gold leafing resembling the shape of flames lined the bottom of the cover, making it look as though it's on fire. Although the book is smaller than their hands, it was slightly heavy and made a dull THUD as it was dropped onto the table.
"We're glad Mole was too blind to notice what we were 'borrowing', but we couldn't open it," Lifty explained as he showed them the book's lock – it had a peculiar skull-shaped indentation smack in the middle of a stainless steel clasp. "Earlier today, Lumpy was tossing something shiny in his hands," he continued, "It could've been the key; we couldn't pick this lock ourselves anyway."
"Why are you so eager to read this book in the first place?" Flippy asked, examining the book with one hand and feeding himself fries with the other. "Once they see something highly valuable – or just plain interesting – they'll do anything they could just to get their hands on it." Splendid replied before gulping some juice. "And how would you know what they'd do?" the army-clothed teen prodded, earning an 'I've-been-with-them-longer-than-you-think' look as an answer.
"So you need the key in order to unlock this book – whatever this is about," Splendont summarized, "What's the deal calling us then?" As though this was a casual conversation, Shifty 'requested' the three to distract the counselor while he and Lifty nab the key and escape unscathed.
"I'm up for it," Splendont agreed. Flippy did the same – just to shut Flipqy up. Splendid was hesitant and wasn't the least bit satisfied with their choices, especially his brother's. "Even Dad would say 'no' if he were our age," he pointed out.
"Dad's not here, is he?" his red twin prodded, "Besides, you can't always be the 'good twin' forever." Splendid still kept refusing…but eventually gave in after being outnumbered 4-1. "If this whole plan fails, I'm blaming you guys," he muttered. "You won't regret it – trust us~!" Lifty assured as they headed out of the dining hall. 'Since when was trusting you a good thing?' the blue hero thought.
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Lumpy whistled to himself before [seemingly] talking to Cro-Marmot by the lake, leaning against a tree trunk under a shady tree. Sitting quietly and stealthily above them were Lifty and Shifty – they had hidden themselves just minutes before the counselor showed up; their hair and clothes made a perfect camouflage combination.
A few meters away were Splendid and Splendont, discussing 'distraction tactics' (and arguing over some points); Flippy was a short distance away, laying back on the grass and pretending to take a nap under another tree's shade.
The army-clothed teen opened one eye just in time to catch the 'sneaky' twins' signal; the red-and-blue twins noticed and made their move. "Why the hell did you have to eat all those waffles?" Splendont argued, "And those were my favorites too – you know that!"
"Quit whining. You're the one who said I could have them in the first place," Splendid countered, taking his cue, "I was starving anyway and I couldn't find anything better."
"But you could've saved at least two."
"Then what should I say? 'Sorry, can't help myself'? Try saying that on an empty stomach!"
"Guys, quit it!" Flippy demanded while quickly sneaking a peek towards Lumpy and Cro-Marmot – they were intently watching the scenario. "I said 'quit it'!" the teen soldier repeated. He then jumped into the fray as Splendid and Splendont began wrestling each other on the grass...then somehow got tangled into 'fight' himself. Lifty and Shifty saw their chance – the latter helped his brother down…but he missed as the blue-haired counselor moved towards the trio yelling, "Boys, if you wanted to wrestle – take it outside!"
'Aren't we already outside?' Lifty and Shifty thought, snickering at the counselor's choice of words. The sea-green twins then noticed Cro-Marmot staring at them as though silently asking, "What are you doing here?"
'Think of something!' Lifty mentally begged as he glanced at his brother. Shifty then grabbed hold of his brother's ankles and shook him up and down. "I know you took my spare change – I saw you!" he yelled. "I-I d-o-on't kn-o-ow wha-a-t yo-o-u're ta-alk-i-ing abo-o-ut!" Lifty managed to yell back, getting dizzy in the process.
"Would you all just STOP IT!" Moonlight yelled, her voice echoing through the air. "Calm down, I'll handle this…" Flaky insisted and walked over to Lumpy, who stopped halfway trying to separate himself from the dueling trio (he somehow got absorbed into the fight himself). "I'll take it from here, Counselor Lumpy – I'm good at settling disputes," the red-haired teen assured as she pulled off and led him away.
As soon as he and Cro-Marmot had gone, Lifty (rubbing his head since he was dropped) and Shifty rushed over to the group. "Looks like we need a new plan," Lifty explained, "I didn't get to grab the key –"
"You mean this~?" Flaky asked, giggling as the boys stared disbelievingly at the object in her hand – it had a flat skull-shaped relief at one end; a slender small rod attached to it. It looked more like a miniature branding iron than a key. "How did you…" Shifty trailed off, glancing quickly at Lumpy and back to her. "I nabbed it from his pocket – it was poking out of a hole in the bottom, so he didn't notice," she replied, brushing back her hair and making some dandruff flakes fall to the ground.
"But that was his back pocket," Flippy pointed out, "He must've felt something at least." Flaky giggled once more and glanced at the 'sneaky' twins, who snickered nervously. "What? She wanted us to teach her…" Shifty admitted while avoiding glares from everyone else. "That aside…" Moonlight intervened, "Can we just open the book now?"
Agreeing, they hid themselves in the densest part of the woods. Despite the scorching noon-day sun, the shade in this particular clearing felt strangely cool and had a vague scent of pine in the air. It was even slightly breezy, ruffling the girls' hair and almost making Flippy and Splendid sneeze as the tips tickled their noses. "Come on, open it already!" Lifty urged. Shifty silenced him with a quick glare and turned the 'skull key' in the lock.
Click…
The fedora-wearing teen slowly opened the 'black-and-gold book' and flipped to the first page, cocking his eyebrows at the scribbled handwriting on the yellowed paper. 'Is this some sort of journal?' they thought as he flipped through more pages, some showing elaborate symbols among the script. "It's ancient Latin…" Flippy noted as he snatched the book, "I know this." He then studied the book, his green eyes gliding slowly over the words and pictures. "Holy shit…" he muttered, "Guys, you'd better give this book back."
"Why? It's just a journal…right?" Moonlight asked as he peeked at the book. "If you haven't skipped the Latin tuition Mom gave us, you'd know what this is," Flippy calmly argued, "And this happens to contain all kinds of dark magic! We have to give this back."
"Ah, come on…" Shifty countered, "Knowing we 'borrowed' a magic book just makes it 10 times cooler to read!" He then snatched the book back and immediately read out the first inscription he laid his sea-green eyes on. "Don't!" Flippy and Moonlight warned, but they were too late as they heard something.
Slither…slither…slither…
"W-What was that?" Lifty asked as the group glanced around. The slithering sounds seemed to grow louder and closer. "WHOA!" the group yelled as they were suddenly pulled high off the ground by vine-like tentacles; felt themselves being suffocated as they coiled around tightly like multiple boas. The book slipped out of Shifty's hands and fell to the ground, closing and locking itself.
"Kya~!" the girls squealed as tentacles slithered against the sensitive area between their legs. Even though their air supply's getting cut off rapidly, the boys couldn't help but blush at the sight. "S-Stop staring!" Moonlight demanded, her and Flaky restricting their moans. Splendid was the first to snap out of it and used his strength to rip himself free; flew around and freed the others with Splendont's help. Soon, they were lying on the ground among a twitching mass of torn vines.
"That…" Shifty and Lifty chimed, "Was awesome!" But their excitement didn't last as they were bonked on the head by Splendid and Splendont and knocked unconscious. "Are you okay?" Flippy asked as he knelt by the girls, earning a slap from his sister. "What was that for!" he demanded as he rubbed his cheek. "You know damn well what that was for!" Moonlight growled as she and Flaky stood up. "Screw this," she added as she stomped away, "I'm heading back to clean up."
"Moonlight, wait up!" Splendid called as he followed her, "You don't know if there are more of those things!" Splendont rolled his eyes and began following his brother while dragging an unconscious Lifty and Shifty along. "I-I'm f-fine…" Flaky stammered, "T-Thanks for asking." Flippy looked at her and smiled; suggested they get back to their cabins while picking up the Dark Magic Book. "U-Um…well…" she whimpered, crossing her legs, "C-Can I borrow your jacket, please?"
He was about to ask what it was for…but then noticed a 'wet patch' visible on her jeans. "She peed herself?" Flipqy asked, his snickers echoing through Flippy's head. "Uh…sure…" the teen soldier replied, shrugging off his army coat and tying it around her waist. "Thanks," she replied, unconsciously wrapping an arm around his waist.
Flippy's mind went blank for a few seconds. 'This is the second time she's held me this close…' he thought, a smile creeping onto his face. He then nervously wrapped his arm around her; Flaky buried her face into his neck in a futile attempt to hide her blush. 'I could get used to this…' he added, uncaring about her dandruff clinging onto his clothes.
Little did he know a certain hyperactive teen was glaring from his shadowy hiding place. 'She's mine, bastard!' Nutty screamed in his head.
[Whew, finally! And yes, I'm planning a little something between Flippy, Flaky and Nutty – not telling what it is. You'll have to wait…]