Disclaimer: "Happy Tree Friends" is a copyright of Mondo Media

Happy Tree Friends: Camp Sanguine

Chapter 13 – Achievement

Flippy hadn't slept a wink that night. As he trudged his way to the dining hall, he almost stumbled as Moonlight slapped his back while yelling, "Morning twin brother~!" He answered her with a sleepy smile and a playful (but surprisingly) weak sucker punch to her arm. "Are you okay, Flips?" the part-albino asked, deeply concerned. "Relax, I'm fine…" the teen soldier assured as they entered the dining hall.

The twins were then greeted by hugs and kisses from their soul mates, earning some 'aww~!' from some onlookers…except one. "Holy shit, you looked hung-over from a distance," Splendont commented, "Well, I guess that's expected after what you did last night."

The army-clothed teen finally snapped wide-awake as he heard him. "I caught you sleepwalking," the red-haired hero explained before Flippy had the chance to ask, "And by 'you', I meant yourself and your sister."

Moonlight shrugged as Splendid glanced at her with concern; she insisted she has no memory of what happened last night. "Maybe you should just describe what you saw," Flaky suggested, slightly worried about what her boyfriend's going through.

Splendont woke up the moment he heard the cabin door squeak open; blinked and rubbed his blood-red eyes as he caught Flippy walking towards the woods. Slipping on his sneakers and tiptoeing towards the teen soldier, he did a double-take as he noticed Moonlight on her feet as well – joining her brother as they cleared themselves a path into the woods.

'What's going on?' the red hero wondered.

He continued to follow them. After they stood motionless in a grassy clearing for several seconds, they began to laugh and span around in a peculiar dance. Splendont gasped as he realized their eyes were closed – not scrunched tightly, but as though they're dreaming as he noticed slight movement under their eyelids.

"Hey, wait up!" he whispered harshly as Flippy and Moonlight took off through the woods, hooting and hollering wildly with their arms spread out (much like how children pretend to be airplanes). The red-haired hero muttered curses as he got himself tangled in stray vines; took quite some time to free himself. Then again, he's more worried about the camp staff waking up due to the racket they're making.

By the time he managed to catch up, he spied the twins climbing up one of the tallest trees at the lake; teetered dangerously on the highest branches. "No –!" he choked as he immediately flew towards them, screeching to a halt as he witnessed Flippy and Moonlight belly-flop into the shallow part of the lake.

WHOOSH! SPLASH!

Splendont wasted no time in fishing out the unconscious twins, worried as they might have hurt themselves more than he thought they did. As soon as he brought them to land, he let out a surprised yelp as Flippy and Moonlight quietly stood; walked to their cabins and back to their bunks as though nothing had happened.

'You guys will be real sore later on…' he thought, snuggling into his bunk after changing out of his soaked clothes and drying himself.

"But it was just a dream…right?" Flippy muttered as he checked himself. Sure enough, there were some slight bruises on most of his front side. He looked over to Moonlight who was shocked when she noticed she was bruised as well. Along with that were faint scratches on their arms from running – well, sleep-running – through the trees as twigs brushed them.

"Why didn't you wake them up?" Splendid scolded. "It's not a good idea – you know that," Splendont insisted, "Don't you remember what happened when Dad got drunk one night?" Splendid paled as he recalled that horrible incident; abruptly walked out of the dining hall without a word. Splendont sighed and slapped his forehead. "I shouldn't have said that…" he muttered. "Splendid, wait!" he then called as he followed his brother, "I didn't mean to bring that up – I swear!"

"Leave me alone!" his brother harshly replied, taking off to the skies in a so-called 'morning exercise' excuse. "What was that about?" Moonlight asked as she, Flippy and Flaky caught up with them. "I'll tell you over breakfast," he answered as he led them back into the dining hall.

Splendid and Splendont were 12 years old when the incident happened. Their father was out all night and when he came back, he was drunk. As they peeked from their parents' bedroom door, they watched their mother clean him up before managing to get him in bed. "Dad's fine, boys – don't worry," she said, noticing them, "Now go to bed. You got classes tomorrow." The twins were then gently ushered back to their room and tucked in snuggly before being kissed 'goodnight'.

An hour later – CRASH!

"Huh!" the twins yelped as the sound of breaking glass alarmed them. Followed by that were screams and shrieks, coming from the kitchen. "Splendid, wait!" Splendont yelled as his blue brother began hurrying towards the commotion. Seeing there's no other choice, he followed and was standing next to him when they witnessed the sight.

Their father – still drunk – was standing over their mother, clutching a wine bottle in his hand. They had no idea he was sleepwalking because when Splendont rushed over and grabbed his legs, he was brutally rewarded with a large gash to the head as the bottle was smashed onto him.

Last thing he saw before he blacked out was Splendid wrestling his father to the ground; their mother pleading for him to stop.

"The next morning, Dad told us Mom packed up and left. A week later, they got divorced," Splendont continued, "Since then, Splendid believed if he hadn't tackled Dad while he was in a 'drunken-sleepwalk' state, Mom would still be around."

"Well, that sucks…" Flippy commented, yelping as Flaky and Moonlight slapped the back of his head and gave him the 'don't-say-that!' look. "I think you'd better find him and say it wasn't his fault," the part-albino suggested. Splendont shook his head, saying it's best to leave him for a while; he'll calm down eventually.

Pop then brought everyone's attention and announced today's afternoon activity: hang-gliding. "We'll see you kiddos at the cliff!" the tan-haired counselor added as he strolled out the dining hall door while the campers whispered excitedly to each other.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The wind was favorable – not too strong, but not too weak. On a day like this, Splendid and Splendont would spend hours flying together either for fun or competition. But today, it's just not happening – the blue hero was avoiding every form of contact from his brother (and everyone else) as he was too absorbed in his own thoughts.

Meanwhile, the red hero was playing the 'instructor' as everyone strapped themselves into their hang-gliders. "Holy shit, we're so high up…" Disco Bear muttered as he looked down, "Nice view, though. It'll be perfect if I got a girl with me – we'd climb up here, sit at the edge of the cliff and enjoy the sunset and the shimmering lake. Then once we're alone, we could start making love and –"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as he was kicked off, screaming as he fell like a rock towards the lake. Some of the boys snickered while the girls sighed in relief as they were rid off the perverted 70s teen.

SPLASH!

"Serves him right," Lammy noted, "The nerve of him talking like that." She then backed up a little bit as Splendont guided her; gave everyone instructions and rules about hang-gliding. Then when she felt ready, he gave her a slight boost and grinned as she took off successfully…then frowned as she suddenly plummeted and splashed into the lake below.

'Maybe we should've changed into swimming gear first…' Pop thought as Splendont lined up the next camper. He then double-checked if Cub was firmly strapped close to his chest; nodded and chuckled as his son babbled excitedly. "Alright, you saw her mistake – she forgot to guide herself in order to gain more altitude. Can you do that?" the red 'instructor' asked, chuckling as Mime nodded.

After watching the teenage mime soar for about a few minutes, he slapped his forehead as his 'student' plummeted into the lake with a loud SPLASH! "Well, he did better than Lammy – right guys?" Splendont asked. Some shrugged in reply; others snickered and the rest looked worried as they watched the first few 'students' scramble onto land.

Nutty's performance was expected: since he was still too jittery (due to cramming handfuls of candy down his throat five minutes before his turn), it looked as though he just slipped off the cliff's edge and fell like a rock. And from the looks of it, it doesn't seem our hyperactive teen will be surfacing anytime soon…

GASP! Cough! Cough!

"Oh, there he is…" Lumpy sighed in relief, "For a second, I thought you unintentionally killed him." Splendont couldn't decide whether to slug him (and 'unintentionally' break his arm) or let him laugh.

Russell was doing fairly well…or at least until his hooked hand somehow snapped the holding bar in two – which left him flapping his arms in a futile attempt to stay aloft before joining the 'fallen flyers' at the lake. Luckily, he had more than enough diving lessons – which earned him some cheers and hoots as he nailed a perfect water entry.

"Sniffles, this isn't the time for calculations. The wind's just fine!" Splendont insisted, growling as he was ignored. What's even more annoying was the fact his next 'student' had strapped a pair of fire extinguishers to his hang-glider. "This should do it!" the blue-haired nerd claimed as he launched himself into the air. What happened next was –

"NO!" Sniffles screamed as he fell straight down and landed head-first into the water. He had forgotten to remove the safety pins on the extinguishers before he took off. "I assume his little experiment backfired…" Mole noted, "Well, he still gets credit for trying."

Toothy was dead nervous when his turn came up. "Are you s-sure this is s-safe? Because I-I never t-tried this before…" he stuttered. Flaky huffed and claimed she's more nervous than he is – and not because this is her first experience. "If you say so," the purple-haired teen muttered as he gave some running allowance. Taking a deep breath, he then launched forward –

"W-W-Whoa~!" he screamed as he lost his footing and tumbled towards the lake, spinning in 360 degrees at least three times before splashing into the lake – on his back. "I'm not doing well for an instructor, am I…" Splendont muttered as he did a facepalm, "Everyone keeps splashing into the lake in less than a minute!"

"Move – Lifty and I will show you how it's really done," Shifty grumbled as he and his brother lined up side-by-side. The thieving twins then launched together, dipping slightly before slightly angling themselves; hollered louder than the air whooshing around them. "Hm…not bad," Pop commented, "It seems they've hang-glided before."

"They had lessons – fucking show-offs…" Splendont growled, yelping as the camp director slapped his head. "Watch your language – Cub's right here," Pop hissed. The red hero was about to retaliate when he caught the glares from everyone else on the cliff. "Fine, sorry!" he huffed.

The wild hollering drew him back to the sea-green twins. 'That's it – time for you to shut up!' he thought angrily as he concentrated his laser vision…directly onto the twins' hang-gliders. "Heh…" he snorted, sneering as he watched his 'victims' crash their rides into the lake while they landed all tangled-up in the nearest tree.

"Not bad…" someone purred darkly, "Not bad at all…"

"Nah, can do better – he just let them off easy if you ask me," another voice snickered.

Splendont gulped and turned his slightly-worried eyes towards Flipqy and Eclipse. He had forgotten the former 'good' twins 'flip out' the moment they see anything setting them off. In this case: burning and crashing hang-gliders (minus the victims, who survived with minor scratches).

"If I were the dominant personality, I'd pick you…" Eclipse purred, locking her golden eyes onto Splendont's blood-reds. Said red hero was caught between shoving her away and letting her snuggle uncomfortably close to him. Flipqy cleared his throat and separated his twin sister before glancing suggestively towards Splendid. "Oh right, her 'Blue Boy'…" his golden-eyed sister growled, then sighed, "Well, he's not that bad when it comes to kissing and groping."

"Better than getting – wait, what did you say?" Flipqy asked incredulously. As soon as Eclipse explained what 'Splen-Dick' and 'Moon-Bitch' did just recently, the insane teen soldier glared upwards towards a certain blue-haired hero.

"Splendid told me to keep quiet about it," Splendont insisted, fear creeping into his voice when Flipqy grabbed him by his shirt's collar, "I was about to tell you sometime. Besides, I'm sure Eclipse enjoyed it!" At that, Flipqy turned his shocked orbs to his embarrassed sister. "O-Okay, I did – so what?" she stammered. He was only half-convinced.

"I'll let that slide – for now," he growled through clenched teeth, "But next time…if your brother takes his little 'move' a bit too far, he won't be so lucky." A tiny smirk slowly appeared at the corner of his lips. "Then again, neither will you since you shut up about it – got that?" he added.

Splendont could only manage a quick nod; sighed in relief as the twins reverted back to normal. "You guys gotta control your fits – seriously!" he huffed as he gently shoved Moonlight away from him. Said girl was confused as to what had happened when she 'blacked out'. "It's my fault. I accidentally hit you so hard you were knocked out!" he chuckled, then muttered, "Gotta watch my own strength."

…but that 'white lie' didn't stop the teen soldier from secretly glaring at Splendont as soon as his sister moved out of earshot. "What Flipqy said, I second that – spread word to your brother," he growled. "Uh…will do," Splendont mumbled.

Putting it all behind them, Cuddles and Giggles dragged their hang-glider towards the edge of the cliff – Pop decided the official 'camp couples' share one instead (and due to the fact there weren't enough to hand out in the first place). The yellow-and-pink couple took off successfully and managed to hang in the air for a few minutes...and of course, plummeted into the shimmering lake.

'Cuddles just HAD to let go of the holding bar and cheer,' Handy thought, 'I wonder if Giggles made it out okay.' Said pink-haired girl was giggling along with her blond boyfriend as they wrung water out of their clothes. The orange-haired teen then looked over to Petunia. Said girl was polishing their ride's holding bar (and has been at it since they started the activity).

Handy pulled on his usual frustrated frown as he couldn't even hold the bar due to his lack of…well, can't be helped anyway. "Hey, cheer up!" his cobalt blue-haired girlfriend gushed, "I'll make sure not to let you go~!" And yet –

SPLASH!

"They weren't synced…" Lumpy mumbled, "But they landed nicely – right?" None of the remaining participants answered. Pop (noticing Cub was getting a little bored) insisted he and the rest of the camp staff go first to check on the other campers below. "Watch and learn from the 'masters'…" Mole boasted. 'Masters? Yeah right…' Splendont scoffed mentally.

Lumpy, Mole and Pop took off and glided around in synchronized loops before managing to touch the tips of their hang-gliders in a circle. Then in the blink of an eye (literally), Cro-Marmot suddenly appeared hanging from his ride and lightly touched the other hang-gliders from above with the bottom of his gigantic ice cube.

The group then broke off, circling again before touching down lightly at the cabins and receiving wild cheers and applauses from the campers. "Where did you learn to glide like that?" Splendont yelled down. "That's a long story – remind me to tell you sometime!" Pop answered via a megaphone, "Now you guys get down before the sun's gone!"

"You heard him…" the red-haired 'instructor' chuckled. Just as Flippy and Flaky were about to take off, the former looked towards his sister and noticed a frown on her face; he knew why. Splendont looked up concerned – his blue-haired brother hadn't even looked down while he was busy performing repetitive laps. "He just needs more time," he suggested.

"Anyway, are you ready?" Flippy asked an obviously-nervous Flaky. His girlfriend nodded, but it took a hug, kiss and cuddle to shake the fear out of her. "One…two…three!" the teen soldier yelled, the pair yelling excitedly as they pushed themselves off the cliff and circled above the lake as their movements acted as one.

Looking up, they momentarily watched the sun set; its orange-yellow glow seemingly blending in with the lake's ripples. Not far off, shadowy silhouettes of birds flew above some trees and seemed to disappear into tiny dots in the distance. Flippy glanced at Flaky and smiled as he caught a calm expression on her face. He then risked it and crashed his lips onto hers; the surprised-then-hypnotized girl kissed back.

"Hey! Watch the sky!" Flipqy scolded, snapping the teen soldier out of their mood. The two yelped as they swerved and narrowly missed hitting a tree, just ruffling the leaves. Laughing, they glided around a bit longer before [almost] crash landing at the bank of the lake. The slight jolt caused Flaky's reflex to gear up and she instinctively wrapped her arms around Flippy; he stumbled and fell onto his back due to the sudden gesture.

Flaky's legs happened to be on either side of him, their crotches coming in extremely close contact as she sat up. "Ooh…this feels good~!" Flipqy growled seductively. Flippy couldn't help himself – he pulled his girlfriend down, engaging in a heated kiss as the two groped and prodded each other's sensitive parts. Their tongues played wildly in their mouths, exchanging saliva and moans as it intensified.

Just as Flippy moved towards Flaky's jeans button, the army-clothed teen felt an unseen force stop his hands. "Not yet, kiddo. Not yet," Flipqy scolded teasingly, "You might wanna do something about your 'bulge', though…" The young soldier pulled away and sat up, holding Flaky close in a quiet cuddle while at the same time hiding his apparent erection from everyone else's view.

And speaking of everyone…

"Did you guys have to do that – right in front of us?" Handy muttered, unable to stop himself from smirking. Then again, most of the boys couldn't help doing the same thing; others were shocked. Petunia was attempting to pull on a disgusted face, but she ended up giggling and blushing along with Giggles and Cuddles. "Perhaps you should save that once you're at a motel…" Lammy suggested, "Or later, when all alone in the woods –"

"Not on my watch…" Pop warned, "And I thought you weren't happy with Splendid kissing and groping your sister – change of heart, Flippy?" Said soldier blushed and said that could be it, plus he just couldn't resist since he's 'uncomfortably' close to his girlfriend. "Well…we all go through that sometime…" the camp director snickered.

Meanwhile – Splendont was trying to talk Moonlight into hang gliding with him instead of his brother, but she wouldn't budge from her own decision. "But you might get hurt – Splendid won't forgive me if you do!" he insisted. "Don't you get it?" she fired back, "If he sees you with me, he'll think I ditched him – better if I just fly alone!"

Without another word, she brushed past him and ran off the cliff; began gliding until she was dangerously high. "Moonlight, don't!" Splendont yelled as he flew after her, "Your hang-glider might –!"

CRACK! SNAP!

Moonlight whimpered in panic as her hang-glider began to disintegrate, failing to keep it held together as she began falling at an alarming rate. "Hang on!" Splendont ordered as he zoomed closer. But just as he was within hand's reach, one of the flying parts suddenly hit the side of his head and he was rendered unconscious.

SHRIEK!

'Huh?' Splendid wondered as Moonlight's scream echoed below him. He looked down and gasped as his girlfriend began to plummet towards dry ground; his brother was out cold and there was a bleeding gash near his right eye. "Hang on, I'm coming!" the blue-haired hero yelled as he swiftly turned and whooshed rapidly towards the falling victims.

On the ground, the onlookers watched in horror as the scene rapidly unfolded. Among them, Flippy and Flaky were the most worried. "I can't watch…" the scarlet-haired girl whimpered as she buried her face into the soldier's chest. 'Splendid, you can make it – come on!' the green-haired teen silently chanted.

Splendid concentrated all of his energy and pushed himself, feeling his hair whip around wildly and his clothes flutter furiously as he picked up speed. Eventually, cool tears began to brim in his eyes while his fingers burned hot at the tips. He's never flown this fast before...

Splendont had just regained consciousness but was unable to do anything as he felt horribly disoriented from the hit. Moonlight had shrieked her vocal chords dry and was letting out choked whimpers while appearing to reach to someone high above them. That 'someone' was his brother, flying towards them at incredible speed. 'It's no use, Splendid…you won't catch us in time,' the red hero thought.

Flaky bravely peeked, sharing the same look of awe on Flippy's face as they watched some blue energy-like field form in front of Splendid. They also noticed he's become more than just a blur – in fact, he looked more like a glowing blue comet from where they stood.

The red hero blurred in and out of consciousness, but he could still see what was happening. 'It…it can't be…' he thought. Moonlight's panic sparked into hope; began flailing her arms towards her boyfriend.

Crackle…

BOOM! WHOOSH!

All of a sudden the energy curve just disappeared, leaving behind a blinding blue-and-white ring as Splendid appeared to burst through it. "Gotcha!" he yelled as he grabbed his brother and girlfriend seconds before they hit the ground; zoomed back up into the air before landing gently as his speed decreased.

He was then greeted by loud applause, cheers, hoots and hollers from his impromptu audience. Splendont had finally snapped back to normal and stood shakily on his feet, held up by Flippy as he teetered for some time. "Are you okay?" Splendid asked Moonlight as he helped her stand, chuckling as his pale girlfriend answered him with a choked giggle.

"Hey..." asked Splendont, "How does it feel to perform your first sonic boom?" His blue-haired brother (with Moonlight still clinging onto him) walked over and stood before him. He then clenched one hand into a fist and brought it up towards the red hero's nose, an audible crack clearly heard followed by a loud THUD as his twin hit the ground.

"As awesome as punching you," Splendid replied in a cocky manner, smirking as his brother glared. "What was that for!" Splendont angrily demanded.

"For not saving my girl – you were even closer to her than I was!"

"I was dizzy!"

"So? I've fought bullies blindfolded back in high school!"

"Did not!"

"Did to!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID TO!"

"I was there to help!"

"Yeah – you helped by standing around looking like an idiot!"

While the red-and-blue twins exchanged arguments, Flippy led his sister to the Camp Office clinic while the rest of the campers resumed whatever activity they had in mind.

…Splendid didn't want to admit it, but now he felt he could easily beat his brother the next time he was challenged to a flying contest…