Lumpy had decided that the best way to figure out what the Sneeze Bombs were was to contact Sniffles. He was pretty sure that his intelligent anteater friend had decided to stay in his house, to avoid getting hit by the bombs.
Lumpy made his way towards Sniffles' house, watching in horror as the Sneeze Bombs rained onto earth and exploded. And every single time they exploded, he heard quite a lot of loud sneezing, both from his friends and people he wasn't so familiar with. He tried his best to ignore the sneezes, however, no matter how loud they were.
Soon, Lumpy arrived at Sniffles' house, and he raised his hand up to press the doorbell. However, just behind him, a Sneeze Bomb was falling towards him, and before he could react, it landed on him and exploded. Lumpy didn't feel any pain, but the effects of the Sneeze Bomb immediately began. His snout began to twitch and redden, his nostrils flared up, and his eyes watered as his breath hitched.
"Aaaaah..." Lumpy tilted his neck slightly backward. He wanted to hold back the sneeze, but the urge was just too strong. "AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..." Lumpy inhaled again as he absentmindedly pressed the doorbell. He was too wound up in his pre-sneeze daze to notice that, and almost immediately afterward, Sniffles opened the door.
"Yes, how may I help you?" Sniffles asked before realizing what was about to happen.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-" Lumpy tilted his neck as far back as he could, then turned his head away from Sniffles and released a monstrous sneeze. "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
He could feel a large amount of mucus escaping from his nostrils with his sneeze. Immediately after the sneeze happened, Lumpy raised his forefinger up to his nostrils, which were still flaring up madly.
"Oh, my. Gesundheit, Lumpy," Sniffles responded in complete shock.
Lumpy wanted to respond, but he needed to sneeze again. That giant sneeze didn't provide enough relief for him to stop sneezing, so he removed his forefinger from his nose and took another massive inhale, followed by another massive sneeze.
"AaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" That sneeze wasn't enough, either. The effects of the Sneeze Bomb threw Lumpy straight into a sneezing fit. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh... AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Lumpy put a forefinger under his nostrils to stop the next sneeze, but that didn't work, and he released a final gigantic sneeze. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Lumpy recovered from his sneezing fit and sniffled as he rubbed his nostrils with his forefinger. His eyes were filled with tears that were streaming down his face, and his entire snout was completely red and running constantly thanks to his sneezing fit.
"Gesundheit," Sniffles said, again.
"Ugh. Sorry about that," Lumpy said as he was still rubbing his nose.
"It's quite all right, Lumpy," Sniffles replied as he got out a tissue and offered it to Lumpy. He wasn't angry at Lumpy at all, since he was used to him releasing large sneezes such as the ones he had just let out. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Lumpy sniffled again before taking the tissue and blowing his nose loudly. He then started wiping his nose on the tissue as he spoke again. "But somebody's been dropping these Sneeze Bombs all the forest, and I was sneezing because of one."
"Sneeze Bombs, you say?" Sniffles raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I don't know who's dropping them, but I don't know what the bombs themselves are, either, or what they put in them to make us sneeze so hard..."
"That is relatively unfortunate. However, if you would like me to figure out what the Sneeze Bombs are filled with, I will most certainly take care of that."
Lumpy thought about it for a moment, and then discovered that another Sneeze Bomb was aimed toward him. He managed to catch it before it exploded on him, and he hastily gave the ticking bomb to Sniffles.
"Quick, see if you can't disable it!" he warned him.
Sniffles inserted his hand into the back of the bomb as Lumpy looked on in concern. He then turned away, putting his hands over his eyes, but then the ticking stopped, and no explosion followed. Lumpy removed his hands and turned to look back at Sniffles in confusion. Sniffles was holding a small, black object.
"What happened?"
"I have defused the bomb so that it won't explode," Sniffles explained. "I am that much of a genius!"
"Oh. Phew..." Lumpy breathed a sigh of relief as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Thank you."
"Now I would like you to come inside with me while I can dissect this bomb."
Lumpy did as he was told.
Later, Sniffles was in his lab, taking apart the deactivated Sneeze Bomb and examining the parts, while Lumpy stayed in the living room, waiting patiently for the final results. As he did, he sniffled a few times and rubbed his nose. It was still slightly itchy from the Sneeze Bomb's effects, but definitely not as much as it had been since the last time he sneezed.
After a few minutes had gone by, Sniffles arrived from the lab.
"Lumpy, I have discovered what was inside of the Sneeze Bomb," he said. "There was nothing toxic; only a large amount of pollen, dust and pepper."
"Oh, that's a relief," said Lumpy.
"However, I discovered that there was also an extra ingredient."
"Really? What is it?"
"The name of the ingredient is Sneezite."
Lumpy didn't know what to say, since he had never heard of that before.
"What the heck is that?" he asked.
"Sneezite is an extremely rare, naturally-occuring substance. Found in the wild, it is in the form of a dark grey rock that is almost completely ineffective against creatures. However, when it is ground up, it becomes an extremely potent powder that is guaranteed to cause sneezing. Aside from simply causing you to sneeze, it has the ability to irritate all possible areas of the nose, including the nostrils, nasal passages and sinuses, and make them extremely sensitive to other irritants. As a result, extreme caution is advised when handling Sneezite."
"That's... really interesting," Lumpy said, despite barely having a clue what Sniffles told him. "But you don't have any of that stuff with you, do you?"
"No, I don't. I am considering acquiring some for my experiments, however."
After thanking Sniffles for his help and explanation, Lumpy proceeded to leave Sniffles' house. He was glad that he knew a little more about the Sneeze Bombs, but there was still one other thing that he was interested in as well.
"Okay, now that I know what the Sneeze Bombs are made out of, all that's left is trying to figure out who's dropping them in the first place," Lumpy said to himself.