Chapter 3: The Chase

Even though there were quite a few movies Flaky absolutely wanted to see, she still wasn't completely over the whole "getting strangled in a movie theater" thing from last time. Flippy understood, and even told her that she is completely in control on this date and will never push into anything she won't want to do. That made the red porcupine feel so much relief.

So she decided that a walk would be good for both of them. Nice and serene, and there should be plenty of moonlight if they stay out late. Flippy offered up the park as the place to walk around in and spend time at, which Flaky was all for. The park was called "Squirrel Park" by the locals of Happy Tree Town, mostly because there were an abundance of wild and anthro squirrels that liked to go there. Of course, Nutty was also present there more often than not, being a squirrel himself.

Flippy and Flaky walked through the park, holding hands and looking at the evening sky. It was turning orange and pink with the setting sun, with Flippy even watching the colours reflect in Flaky's big eyes. They both sprinkled in conversation topics here and there, mostly joking about what happened at the restaurant.

Eventually, they sat down at a bench. Flippy very casually snaked his arm around Flaky's shoulders and pulled her close, causing the red Tree Friend to squeak.

"Sorry," Flippy said, quickly pulling his arm away. "G-got carried away, Flakers."

"No no, it's okay! I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. I, er… like it, actually." Flaky assured him.

Flippy smiled and returned his arm to its place around Flaky's shoulders. She squirmed shyly in her spot, feeling excited butterflies fluttering in her stomach and a smile stretched across her face.

"So are you having a good time, Flaky?" Flippy asked.

"Y-yes. I am… honestly surprised at how well this is going. I mean, it's n-not that I thought y-you'd be a bad date or a-anything, it's just… I was r-really nervous since this i-is my first d-date."

Flippy inhaled and sighed.

"Okay, can I just admit something kind of corny?" the green bear asked.

Flaky nodded nervously.

"So, when we first met, I thought you were really really cute, but over the years as we kept hanging out, that's when I developed a big fat crush on you."

When he said the last part, he covered his face.

"And the reason I never confessed to you was because I thought you were really out of my league."

Flaky started laughing in disbelief, her own face turning pink.

"What?! No, no, no! It's YOU that's out of MY league!" she insisted.

"What?! Oh, acorns, you can't be serious!"

Both critters continued to laugh about the coincidence.

The laughter was interrupted by the abrupt sound of something, more specifically a woodpecker, pecking at a tree just behind them. Flaky looked behind herself and saw the bird, it hammered its head into the wood with full force, desperate to get the bugs under the bark.

"AHH!"

Flaky jumped and turned around to see Flippy had thrown himself on the ground and held his hands over his head.

"Flippy what-"

"Get down! Duck for cover, Donnovan! We have to… we have…"

Flippy seemed to be having a flashback of some kind, before whimpering and ceasing his screams and begs. Flaky started to panic since she knew what was coming, and this time she had no water or other way to snap Flippy out of his trance. She knew it was cruel, but also that Flippy would want her to get out and save herself.

'I'm sorry, Flippy!' Flaky thought bitterly.

She then began running for her life. She ran and ran until she collided with someone and went tumbling down with them to the ground.

"Ouchie! What was… Oh Flaky!"

The red Tree Friend recognized that voice.

"Nutty?!"

Sure enough, there he was. Neon green fur, candy decorating his face, one lazy eye that rolled side to side, red and white shorts.

"Yeah, that's my name! What are you doing here? Are you looking for my chocolate bar, too?! Please tell me you found it!" Nutty begged.

Nutty's voice was as jittery as he was.

"What? N-no! Nutty, this isn't the time to be looking for a chocolate bar, you have to run!" Flaky pleaded, shaking the squirrel's arm.

"Run? Why? What are we running from? Ooh! Ooh, is this a game?"

Flaky opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a dark chuckle from behind her.

"Oh, it's a game alright."

The deep, raspy voice was all too familiar to both Tree Friends. They looked to see the green bear, wearing Flippy's date attire, but of course it wasn't Flippy, was it? No, the eerie yellow eyes proved as much, not to mention the shark like teeth which were twisted into a smug, evil smile.

"A game called, life or death. Personally I like the latter more, but my opposing players prefer the first one."

As he spoke, he played with a bowie knife in a taunting way.

Flaky shuddered in fear. She had to get out of there, ASAP!

"Nutty, run!" she yelled, scrambling to her feet and making a break for it.

Nutty stood up and took a few steps backwards. He was nervous, because he had been killed by Fliqpy a few times before, the worst time being his death by pencil sharpener.

"Mm chocolate, gotta run, gotta get my chocolate!" he said, backing up.

"Wow, you're about to die and you're still thinking of chocolate? You really have a one-track mind don't you, squirrel?" Fliqpy said.

He started closing in on Nutty, who was quickly backing away, about to break into a run.

"Bye!" Nutty yelled, running away.

As Nutty ran, he was still looking around for any signs of the chocolate bar he lost earlier. He had been at the park but accidentally left one single bar of chocolate behind and now wants it back at any cost! He can't get it if he's dead though, so he's gotta run!

As he ran, he realized he lost sight of Flaky.

'She must be hiding somewhere. I don't blame her.' Nutty thought.

Then he laid his lazy eye on a sight to behold: a chocolate bar! Granted it wasn't the one he was looking for, but it was still a chocolate bar at the end of the day. Giggling uncontrollably, Nutty bounced towards the candy, ignoring the loop it was set in.

Once he stepped into the loop, it tightened around his ankle and hoisted him up into the air, leaving him dangling helplessly above the ground. Nutty started hyperventilating, reaching for the candy bar still on the ground that he now couldn't get to.

"CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!" the green critter pleaded.

"Still jonesing for what was ultimately your weakness?" Fliqpy said, coming out from behind a tree.

"Yes! I mean… no! Well… yeah but no? Just gimme gimme please! Pleeeease, I just want one bite, that's it!" Nutty pleaded.

His lazy eye was rolling around in a craze, which Fliqpy found amusing. Foam seemed to be coming from Nutty's mouth and Fliqpy wondered if that was from the candy craving or if this squirrel had rabies.

"Well, since you said please…" Fliqpy said, unsheathing his bowie knife.

With two quick slashes, he cut off Nutty's arms. Blood spewed from the stumps, and Nutty reacted as anyone would by screaming in agony. Fliqpy laughed at his work and watched as Nutty was turning pale from the blood loss. He picked up the chocolate bar he used as bait and shoved it down Nutty's throat. This caused the squirrel to chuckle at first but then he made choking noises as he couldn't chew the solid candy that had been forced down his gullet.

He waved his bloody arm stumps around in desperation, trying to find some way to get the candy out of his mouth, but it was no use. Whether it was from blood loss or asphyxiation, Nutty eventually died.

"Ah, that was fun. Now… where did my date go?" Fliqpy sighed.

The green veteran looked around for Flaky, but she was nowhere to be found. However, there was a trail of her trademark dandruff leading down a pathway out of the park. Fliqpy chuckled, gripping his blade.

"Puedes correr, pero no puedes esconderte…" he muttered menacingly.

Meanwhile…

Flaky had gotten so used to running in the cursed town that she was really really fast. Playing sports with Cuddles also helped her running skills. She wasn't sure where to run or where Fliqpy was. For all she knew, he could be anywhere and she wouldn't even know.

He was good at hiding and then jumping out when you least expect it, and he could camouflage himself too. Flaky remembered back when they played hide and seek and she was dragged up into a tree and strangled to death.

She couldn't run forever though, she was starting to run out of breath and wanted some water. Flaky stopped running and bent over to catch her breath. She wiped the sweat from her brow and brushed her quills out of her face. The red porcupine looked around to get her bearings.

She had gotten far away from Squirrel Park, she could only hope Nutty was okay, and now was in an urban area. There were a few houses around her, a majority of them shaped like trees, and most had their blinds shut and their lights turned out. Wait… What time was it again?

Flaky pulled her cell phone out to see that it was now 8:24 pm. The sun was almost completely set, only a sliver of orange light in the distance and the sky grew darker. She thought of knocking on the doors of one of the houses to ask for help, but then found reasons not to.

"No, I won't endanger anyone else! Besides, what could they do against a crazy, near invincible killing machine?"

There was also the issue of poor Flippy. Flaky remembered Flippy told her that he doesn't always see what Fliqpy does when he's not in control, since when he's flipped out, he's either knocked out in his own subconscious or trapped in a bad memory. Flaky wanted to help him get back out, but she didn't stand a chance against Fliqpy.

"I need to get into town. I'll… I'll think of something there. Or at least find an actual place to hide." Flaky told herself.

The actual business-y area of town was a fair distance away from the urban area Flaky was in, so she did intervals of running to get there but still couldn't keep continuously running.

Flaky again looked around for anywhere she could get something to drink. She finally set her pie cut eyes on a 24 hour convenience store and smiled in relief.

She walked in, setting off the bell that signified someone was entering the store. She saw one or two other Tree Friends there, and unsurprisingly, Lumpy was the cashier. The blue moose with mismatched yellow antlers was honestly the biggest wild card in town and usually caused a ton of deaths. Sure, mostly accidental ones but still.

Even so, Flaky would gladly take him over the psychotic green bear that was chasing her.

Lumpy saw her and waved with a happy smile. Flaky gave him a nervous wave and smiled in return.

She quickly found the water bottles and purchased one. Lumpy pointed out that Flaky definitely needed it on account of how sweaty she was. The red girl looked at the sweat marks that had formed under her armpits on her sweater. Embarrassed, she thanked Lumpy for his time and slinked away.

Flaky went to the back of the store near the coolers in the wall to cool off. She took off the orange sweater so she was left in the black tank top she was wearing underneath. She felt a lot better without the hot, sweat soaked sweater on. She also felt a lot better after gulping down the water she bought.

Then, a jingle sounded. Flaky thought nothing of it, someone else simply came into the store, that's all.

"Flippy!"

Flaky's head perked up. Was it really him? Did he flip back? She peeked around the shelves to see the checkout counter. The green bear's back was turned so she could see his eyes or teeth, but when she saw a blood soaked knife sitting comfortably in his hand, she knew that wasn't Flippy.

She was about to cry out to warn Lumpy, but Fliqpy quickly tackled the moose behind the counter and started stabbing him. Flaky couldn't see Lumpy being stabbed behind the counter but she saw the bloody knife raise and come down repeatedly, blood spraying all over and the blue moose screaming in agony before eventually going silent.

The other Tree Friends screamed and quickly scrambled out before they were next. Fliqpy stood up, now covered in fresh blood and turned his head in Flaky's direction. Flaky quickly ducked behind the shelves, covering her mouth to prevent any kind of incriminating sound from getting out.

'Please don't see me! Please don't see me! Oh, acorns, I'm trapped!' she thought.

Flaky heard footsteps approaching her direction. She guessed they were coming from the left, so if she wanted to survive, she should stealthily move to the right. So she did just that, trying to keep her head low and match the pace of his footsteps so he wouldn't hear her.

Eventually Flaky made it to another shelf of merchandise, namely potato chips and ducked behind it. She heard no more footsteps, so, Flaky assumed that Fliqpy must have given up. This was backed up by the sound of the bell above the door making its familiar sound.

Flaky sighed heavily. She closed her eyes and took another big swig of her water. She then turned to her left where-

"Boo!"

Flaky shrieked and threw her arms up in fear and shock. Her water bottle went flying up into the air as a result. It was Fliqpy, he had tricked her!

The green killer reached out to Flaky but was halted by her water bottle coming back down and hitting him on the head. Flaky hoped that would knock Flippy back into control, but no such luck.

"Agh! You little rat!" Fliqpy growled

Flaky started to feel tears in her eyes. She backed away from Fliqpy, feeling his anger and maliciousness.

"I-I-I'm sorry! Y-You scared me, and i-it was an accident!" Flaky pleaded, her hands up in a surrender position.

"Of course I scared you, idiot, that's the point!" Fliqpy yelled.

"P-please, I'm sorry! Really really s-sorry!" Flaky tried again.

"Ugh, always with the fucking apologies! You're such a wuss! Let's just skip to the part where I torture you, okay?"

"N-no thank you!"

With that, Flaky ran, or at least she tried to, because that plan was short sighted as Fliqpy grabbed her arm and yanked her back towards him. Flaky screamed and struggled but his strength was much larger than hers.

Her screams brought joy to Fliqpy, he was excited to try out every possible torture option on this girl, anything to get back at Flippy for yelling at him earlier. Not to mention it would satiate his boredom.

Flaky was in full on fight or flight mode, and she chose to fight. She struggled relentlessly in Fliqpy's arms which held her back against his chest, with one arm around her throat. She had to think, and quickly, before he tried anything. Then she realized: Her quills!

She had her arms free, after all, Fliqpy knew she couldn't use them to get herself out of his grip, but she could reach behind herself and free her sharp quills from the ponytail they were fixed into.

"Now, how about we try something slow…"

As he said that, he dragged his bowie knife down her left cheek, leaving a gash in its path. Flaky whimpered in pain, her tears stinging her wound.

"And fun! That's a nice cut, but how about we make it match?"

"Or you could get-"

Flaky turned her head and yanked her hair tie out, freeing her quills and shaking them around. Her dandruff flew everywhere like snowfall, meanwhile her quills left scratches on Fliqpy's face, just as she had intended. Having blood on her quills was uncomfortable to say the least, but it was a small price to pay for survival.

Fliqpy yelped in pain, loosening his grip until Flaky was able to get free. She even pushed Fliqpy away for good measure and made a run for it out of the store, the bell jingling once again.

Fliqpy growled and felt the cuts and scratches Flaky had given him. He looked at the blood on his fingers and even saw small slivers of Flaky's quills. He made a fist with his hand and let it fall to his side.

He was fuming mad and baring his teeth, silently cursing that red porcupine and her stupid quills that made him bleed. Then Fliqpy sighed and started to laugh, realizing how much more thrilling this night was becoming. It had been a while since he'd had a good opponent to give him a fight, and it was actually kind of fun.

The green bear left the bloody convenience store and looked at the ground to see yet another trail of dandruff leading away.

He was about to step forward to follow it, but was stopped by a voice.

"Leave her alone."

Fliqpy didn't need to look to see where the voice was coming from, he knew it was Flippy.

"Ha, not likely. In fact, I want to play with her more than ever now." Fliqpy explained.

"Why? Because she fought back? That doesn't sound like you." Flippy pointed out.

"I know, which is why I want to pursue this new feeling and see where it leads me. You know, maybe if she proves herself worthy, I'll let you keep her."

"Okay first of all, you don't tell me what to do, second, "prove herself worthy?" Man, this isn't a war, Flaky is a normal girl, not some war toy or whatever you think she is."

Fliqpy scoffed, offended at his better half's words.

"You don't get it Flippy. There's ALWAYS a war, you can keep your silly 'friends,' but I can't trust anyone. Also, calling Flakers "normal" is the most hilarious thing you have ever said."

"Flakers? Since when did you start using nicknames for her?" Flippy asked

"Since right now." Fliqpy replied.

With that, he started following the dandruff trail. Flippy wasn't letting go yet, though. He was going to keep pressing, anything to distract Fliqpy and buy Flaky more time.

It bothered Flippy that he couldn't force his way back in control unless Fliqpy's guard was down, but then again, that's how the latter forces his way out.

"So you think Flaky is a threat? Is that it?" Flippy asked.

Fliqpy looked over and saw his good counterpart in transparent form, floating beside him. His arms were crossed, too.

"Oh it's not personal, I think everyone in this town is a threat. Flaky is especially close to you, so she has a potential to be a big threat." the yellow eyed bear explained.

"Flaky isn't a threat, like I said, she's just a girl that I'm in love with, and I'm pretty sure she's in love with me too." Flippy said, hovering in front of Fliqpy.

"Pretty sure a porcupine who can give me scratches," Fliqpy replied, pointing to his wounds. "Is a threat. I mean, nobody else has been able to stand up to me like this before."

"That's because you never give them a chance, you asshole!" Flippy snapped.

"Yeah, exactly. You should never give your opponents a chance to get the jump on you, survival is about… well, surviving, so, fighting fair is out of the question. Still, Flaky has proved that she's more than capable of handling me, so, who knows, maybe she'll be your champion, Flippy."

Flippy sighed. It was no use trying to reason with Fliqpy, he was still going to drag this out until either Flaky was dead or he miraculously flipped back. He hoped that Flaky would either stay alive or find a way to get him back out. He looked ahead and saw two silhouettes in the distance, with pointed ears and big bushy tails, and one seemed to be wearing a fedora.

"Huh, well, looks like more players have joined the game." Fliqpy pointed out.

He reached behind himself and pulled out two machete's.

"Come on, leave them alone! You've already killed two people tonight!" Flippy pleaded, grabbing his other half's arm and uselessly pulling at it.

"Yeah, that's too few people, Romeo. Besides, these two robbed us, remember? This is what I'm talking about, you have no backbone!" Fliqpy said.

He shrugged Flippy off and made his way towards his next targets. Flippy knew that the twin raccoons were bad people and he of course never forgave them for stealing from him on Christmas no less, but that doesn't mean he wanted them to suffer. However, he was not in control and couldn't seize it back yet, so he had to just listen to the crunching of bones and the squishing of blood and organs as his bad counterpart did his worst.

Meanwhile, the only thing he could think of was hoping Flaky was safe. As much as he hated to admit it, Fliqpy was right and Flippy hoped she would be a sort of 'champion' in this game she was forced to be part of.

'Stay safe, Flakes, wherever you are…'

Done! Hope this chapter wasn't too short, and I hope the action was satisfactory. I thought the chocolate bar trap and suffocation was unique and clever too. I came up with it on the spot!

I also hope the pacing is good.

Also, I have fun writing dialogue for Fliqpy, he's a fun one to write for!