User blog:SaenihpNnylf/Things Just Got Real Chapter 2

'''Hello folks, welcome to the second chapter of Things Just Got Real with my awesome co-author HTFan. We had a blast writing this chapter and we hope you have a blast reading it and finding out who's going with Cuddles and Flaky on their adventure... or death trap. Only time can tell which.'''

Cuddles led Flaky over to the desk he had been working at and showed her the list, which Flaky was actually very surprised to see. With how much Cuddles seems to act on impulse, especially on the decision to go on this 'trip,' she hadn't expected him to put so much thought into who to bring with, but he had pretty much covered everyone.

Flaky's lips pursed slightly as she scrutinized every bullet point he had taken down before finally speaking in the clearest voice she could manage. "Well, it looks like your focusing on who will come out on top when maybe we should start with who will come out on bottom."

Cuddles rose in eyebrow at the suggestion running through what she could be saying. "You mean who we'd never take with us?"

Flaky nodded without looking up from the paper. "That's exactly what I'm saying." She looked over each name for a good example stopping on an obvious one and tapping the tip of the pencil against the name. "Right here. Cub? Isn't that Pop's one-year-old son?"

Cuddles just nodded looking down. "I wanted to make sure to cover everyone."

Flaky just shook her head and crossed out Cub's name. "I'm not taking a baby wherever we're going. He'd be safer here with Pop and that's really saying something."

Cuddles looked ready to say something to object to her reasoning but thought the wiser and kept his mouth. Cub was never a good idea to bring with in the first place and the reasoning for crossing him off didn't really change that.

Pleased to at least not hear any objections, Flaky tapped the name directly above Cub's thinking about more than just the idea of taking away the child's only parent. "It would be just plain stupid to bring any living weapons with us. They would make the idea even more dangerous."

"You're right there," Cuddles said, completely agreeing with both the choice and the reasoning this time. "Besides, they probably wouldn't have agreed since they rarely have to worry about dying anyways." Cuddles added as Flaky crossed off: Pop, Lumpy, Flippy, Splendid, Cro-Marmot, Mole, and Lammy.

"What about Nutty?" Cuddles suddenly asked. Flaky looked over at him a bit surprised but with a look that told him to go on. "What if there's no candy or sugar in this other world? When faced with withdrawal, he's just as dangerous as any of those you just crossed off."

She stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds. Beginning to question reality as the least sensible thing had just happened. Cuddles had realized an actual danger that she had overlooked. She wanted to accuse him of not be Cuddles right there but instead simply crossed out the name.

"I don't really want Lifty and Shifty coming either. They're just a pair of troublemaking thieves and would have to use up two spots on their own." Cuddles added thinking back to the time he tried to help them but they just took his mouse and let him get shredded to death by a pulley.

Flaky crossed their names off the list. They may have never stolen anything from her, she remembered being shook upside-down by the twins to make snow effects for the play. "So, that only leaves: Toothy, Giggles, Petunia, Handy, Sniffles, Mime, Russell, and Disco Bear." Flaky listed, tapping the last name in uncertainty.

Ignoring Flaky's concerned look at the name of the person whom she knew would only bring trouble, Cuddles lifted up the paper with a large grin on his face. "Well alright, then! We got our potential candidates right here! Anyone you think we should check out?"

Flaky, still feeling reluctant of wanting to bring anyone on this obviously dangerous trip to their deaths, looked at the names on the list and felt uneasy at trying to think anyone of them to be an actual benefit for the trip. Toothy's mixed bag of choices and similar reckless personality will cause trouble and influence the dangers Cuddles will most likely put upon himself. Petunia may freak out over the tiniest speck of dust the new world might have. Sniffles was a bumbling idiot that would probably make something to kill them all. Mime couldn't even speak if he tried. Russell's physical deficiencies could be troublesome. And Disco Bear was... Disco Bear.

This really left Giggles and Handy, though even them might have their share of problems when transitioning to whatever world they were going to visit, especially Handy considering he wasn't so... handy. Nonetheless, she still didn't want anyone to go...

Especially herself.

She shook her head. "I guess we should just go down the list and ask each one what they think..."

Cuddles jumped up to his feet with excitement. "Great! We'll start off with Toothy. I'm sure he'll want to see this for himself."

Remembering the events just a few minutes prior to meeting with Cuddles, Flaky placed a fake smile on her face as she lifted up her right hand. "I, um... say we should check on him last... maybe tomorrow, actually. He's a little... tired right now and we shouldn't disturb him until he wakes up, alright?"

Confused by Flaky's reluctance to check on Toothy first, Cuddles shook the thought off and looked at the list a second time. "Okay, then... I guess we'll start off with Giggles then. Come on, let's go!"

Cuddles busted out the door, excited to meet up with the potential candidates to bring on the trip. Flaky cautiously followed in pursuit against her will, and shook her head depressingly. "Oh boy, let's go find people to bring along and die with us. Yeah... fun..."

Cuddles stopped on the sidewalk checking his watch, though she thought she saw his eyes scan the street while he did. She shook off the thought. "Looks like perfect timing." He noted, pulling up her schedule in his brain. "She should just be getting off her shift at the hospital. Assuming she's still alive, we should be able to catch her there."

Cuddles made a turn heading in the direction of the worst place in town to work, hoping Giggles would see sense. Flaky trailed hesitantly behind him, hoping the same thing, just defining "sense" differently.

They got to the hospital just as Giggles was coming out, still in her nurse's uniform: hollow-faced, baggy-eyed, and glaring into empty space. Cuddles stopped in his tracks causing Flaky to run right into him having been looking all around her for any lurking dangers. "Why'd you stop?" She asked rubbing her nose but not finding any real damage.

"Look at her; it's not very fair to talk to her about it when she's like that." Cuddles noted. Even though she's more likely to say yes in this state, the decision would be fairly clouded.

Flaky was a bit confused but looked around him to see what he was referring to. She gasped at what she saw. "She looks like she was thrown off the back of a truck and beaten with a two-by-four."

"Or worse," Cuddles corrected, watching her turn back to the hospital with a glare. "Like she just finished a shift at the Happy Tree Hospital."

"It's really that bad?" Flaky asked him. It was fairly easy to guess that it would be a hard job with just the overall nature of the town cranking out so many brutal injuries but she had no idea what to make of the sight before her at that moment.

"She told me once that she ended up dying of exhaustion trying to keep Disco Bear alive after a heart attack and Dr. Lumpy just shocked her back to life and put her right back on the job not even a second later." Cuddles repeated the story he was told. "So, yes, it's that bad."

Knowing that, Flaky was having the same thoughts or not talking to her at that time, along with the previous thoughts about not talking to her about it at all but it was too late as Giggles spotted both of them.

Giggles, though nearly to the point of collapsing and falling over dead again, used whatever strength, both physical and mental, to place a small smile on her tired face, and waved to the two Tree Friends, who stared back questionably and with worry.

"Cuddles! Flaky! So good to see you two still alive and well!"

Though a little hesitant to speak to an exhausted Giggles, Cuddles straightened himself up and walked over to the pink chipmunk, standing still with a sluggish stance. "It's good to see you're alive too, Giggles."

As Flaky walked carefully behind Cuddles, Giggles shook her head and let out a tired sigh. "I'm not sure I'll be alive when working at this rate, Cuddles. If Lumpy keeps me working any longer, I might have to rely on Sniffles to patch me and everyone else up by who-knows-how... which is saddening because he hasn't showed up today yet..."

Cuddles and Flaky rubbed the back of their necks shyly, recalling the current status of the ill-fated anteater earlier today. "Yeah... I hope the guy's okay."

Giggles shook her head again. "If he doesn't show up in uniform, he'll probably show up here in a nasty body bag and I'll have to fix him up by some miraculous mean."

Seeing how Giggles was showing no sign of feeling even a touch of happiness, Cuddles tilted his head while pointing his right index finger behind him. "Is this a bad time? I'll come back tomorrow if-"

Giggles weakly brought up her right palm to silence Cuddles. "It's okay, Cuddles. My shift is over now and I can finally take a much needed break. I can talk."

Cuddles kept his worried expression, though was delighted to see his friend still having the mental strength to stand and talk. "Alright, um..." He rubbed his chin with his paw lightly and nodded his head with a smile. "You see, Flaky and I here were thinking of doing something really cool, and we were thinking if you would like to be a part of it!"

Flaky shook her head and spoke to herself depressingly. "We? You're the one that wanted to do this to start. I'm just forced to do what you say because heaven-forbid I get to have a say in anything you do."

Giggles went from a tired and depressed look to a curious and attentive one. She tilted her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Something cool? What exactly is it?"

Cuddles looked over at Flaky, still looking down with an expression that said 'I don't want to be here,' and patted her back lightly, making her jolt and drop a small quantity of white flakes on the ground. He smiled and gestured his head towards Giggles. "Well, go on, Flaky. Tell her what we have in mind!"

"Stop saying 'we.' There is no 'we' here."

Completely hesitant on doing this, and wishing not to bring another innocent person along on this trip, Flaky cleared her throat and placed a heavily forced smile on her face, nodding her head towards Giggles while speaking in a cheerful tone.

"Cuddles and I... found a way that can actually take us away from this world and transport us to a whole new one, separate from here, and we can bring a few other friends with us. So we were wondering if you would like-"

Giggles instantly removed her blood-stained nurse uniform and threw it aside, not caring where it landed or if it ended killing someone. She took in a deep breath and brought a determined look on her face. "When do we leave?"

Cuddles and Flaky both just stared at her in shock and a bit of confusion. Sure, she didn't know where the deal had come from but neither of them were expecting such an enthusiastic response with no question. Flaky in particular wondered if the exhaustion had somehow eaten away at her brain. Certainly wouldn't be the craziest thing that's ever happened.

Giggles had noticed that. "What? There's nothing else I need to know. I hate it all. I'm sick of dying and I'm sick of living as Lumpy's slave!" she shouted, with a certain fire they had never seen in their friend and hadn't even considered could exist.

Just on cue, the hospital door opened and out came Doctor Lumpy, wearing his surgeon uniform and carrying someone's brain, who was surprised and infuriated to find Giggles' nurse's uniform plastered across the windshield of a now crashed car. "Giggles, you need to work overtime right now! We got more bodies coming through the door. No excuses; get back in uniform and come in now!"

Though too afraid to say anything about it, Flaky looked at her watch, to see she wasn't even off work for even three minutes. And with the amount of work to do, she wouldn't be off work until the next day.

Giggles, however, turned to the town's tyrant with the same fire from earlier never leaving her eyes. "No, I quit."

Cuddles and Flaky's eyes pretty much covered their whole faces. You can't quit in Happy Tree Town. It simply wasn't an option for anyone in any job, besides Lumpy of course. The notion itself was so ridiculous that Lumpy actually laughed at it before saying in a dark way, "Did you forget who you're talking to? I own literally everything in this town! If you quit from this job I can guarantee that you won't be able to find work everywhere and everything you fooled yourself into thinking you own will be gone! I'm giving you only one more chance to come back into the hospital and get back to work!"

All three friends knew the threats well and how real they were, it was the same way Lumpy got anyone in town to do any job he wants them to. However, with the one way ticket out of this world, the threats blew right off Giggles without a second thought. "No!" she repeated.

Lumpy fumed for a few seconds before saying, now perfectly calm, "Fine, don't say I didn't warn you," before returning back into the hospital himself.

Silence reigned over the three in pure shock and disbelief. As far as they knew, it was a first in Happy Tree Town. Flaky was, surprisingly, the first to finally speak up, "Well, I guess she has to go now."

Giggles gave a nasty scowl towards the hospital, shaking her head as she could feel what felt like a heavy burden being uplifted from her heart. For the first time in what possibly felt like forever, she could let out a relieved sigh, finally having a sense of freedom... even in a world filled with death. She turned back to face Cuddles and Flaky, and nodded her head with a cheerful smile. "So... when are we leaving again?"

Cuddles and Flaky looked at each other swiftly, still stunned by the fast chain of events occurring in just a blink of an eye, and hoped if one had a clear answer to give. Cuddles shrugged his shoulders and face Giggles, rubbing the back of his neck with his left paw as he attempted to speak calmly. "Well... we still have two more slots to fill before we can actually go, so... you'll have to wait just a little longer... yeah..."

Giggles' smile slowly dropped as she brought her arms to cross in front of her. Cuddles gulped as he could see the rising anger noticeable from her eyes, giving him a stern look that told him she was not happy with his choice of words.

"Cuddles, in just under a minute, I quit my job, lost my home and have no place to stay in, and now you're telling me that we are not going now?!"

Cuddles raised his hands up while laughing with an obviously frightened tone. "W-W-Well, w-we did j-just ask you if you wanted to come with us or not. We didn't expect you to just... go and quit your job like that!"

Before Giggles could open her mouth and chew off Cuddles' ears out of anger, Flaky got in front of Cuddles and raised her hands to Giggles, placing a fake smile on her face as she prayed what she was going to say would soothe her. "You can stay at my place until we are ready, though! It's nice and safe there, and you can sleep comfortably there until everything is ready! That sounds good... right?"

Giggles thought about the deal for a moment, and nodded her head with the annoyed look she had with Cuddles. "Yeah, I guess that can work. Just don't take long, alright? The sooner we leave this world and the farther away I get from that blue tyrant, the better!"

The two Tree Friends watched Giggles walk off, waving her right hand goodbye towards them as she spoke with a happy tone again. "I'm just going to grab whatever I can from my house and take it before Lumpy gets rid of it. I'll meet you back at Flaky's house."

Flaky and Cuddles both waved to Giggles, and looked at each other with concerned looks. Flaky looked down for a moment and spoke softly. "Two more people to bring... who are we supposed to talk to next?"

Cuddles took out the list of names again and scrolled through the ones available for questioning. It took him only a few seconds to point out the next target on their list. "Why don't we give Petunia a visit and see what she thinks? She should be at home right now."

Flaky sighed, still regretting every bit of bringing the most innocent people along for the ride, and nodded her head with a forced smile. "Sure, let's do it... yeah..."

Cuddles ignored Flaky's depressed tone and placed a large grin on his face, happy to run off to find and bring their next vict- no, friend along for the trip. Flaky followed in his footsteps, looking down every step of the way and hoping for some kind of miracle to bring it to an end.

In this world, though, she had better chances winning the lottery then stopping Cuddles from this trip. So, without further questions, she kept up with Cuddles and made their trip to Petunia's home.

It didn't take long traversing through the devastation and death that laid between them and Petunia's home. There were a few rough patches here and there, with obvious signs of Fliqpy's work splattered across some of the sidewalks and buildings downtown, but luckily, both came out unscathed. For the time being, at least.

They stood out front of the lovely home of Petunia's. A well decorated front yard with beautiful flowers were planted, and the place seemed completely absent of any particles of dirt and grime. The stone steps leading to the house were even clean to the point that one could eat food off of it. It was downright spotless as ever, with the interior definitely looking ever more-so pleasant.

Both smiling in amazement at the house, Cuddles proceeded to walk up to the house and stood in front of the door. He turned his head to face Flaky and gave her a concerned look as he held his right hand to the wooden door. "Remember to wipe your feet before getting in. You know how she is with... dirt and stuff."

Flaky nodded her head, though began having questionable thoughts. Dirt and stuff? There was plenty of that here, but what about the other world? Could there be more of it? Could it be even dirtier than their world? Petunia would die of cardiac arrest if the world they went to had even a touch of filth the first step they took. Perhaps it would be better if they just left-

"Petunia? You there? It's me, Cuddles; I wanted to ask you something..."

Flaky went silent as Cuddles knocked on the door, alerting anyone inside and removing their chance of leaving Petunia alone. Flaky stood patiently as she watched Cuddles sit with an impatient stance, tapping his right foot on the stone step beneath him.

Flaky tilted her head and had a questionable look on her face. "Maybe she's not-"

Her voice was instantly silenced as Petunia came bursting out the front door, slamming it open and knocking Cuddles straight onto the ground hard. His nose broke and his face bruised by the impact of the door slamming against his body, with the hard hit on the ground against his head not doing any favors, but yet miraculously survived.

As Cuddles laid on the ground in pain, Flaky stood back in shock as she turned to face a terrified looking Petunia, screaming hysterically in an insane manner. "Petunia?! What's wrong with you?!" After taking a close look at her, Flaky could already tell what the problem was. Petunia's body was covered with dirt and filth, with the smell of sewage staining her once beautiful blue fur. She smelled like death. "Oh God, not again..."

Petunia looked around her yard, frantically searching every bit of it in an effort to find some way of getting clean. "MUST! GET! CLEAN!" She turned and faced the garden shed, and smiled insanely as she ran inside to clean off the filth by any means.

Knowing it was not worth fighting at this point, Flaky let Petunia go and face her fate as she walked up to help Cuddles up to his feet, who was groaning in pain. "You okay, Cuddles? You could've died just now!"

Cuddles wiped the blood off his broken nose as he made a fake chuckle. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not done with the day yet, so Death is just going to have to wait a little while longer for me."

Flaky was concerned with Cuddles instant acceptance of death, as if it were bound any minute, though was glad to see himself able to walk again. She helped brushed some of the dirt off his fur as she spoke calmly. "Well, I don't think we're going to get an opinion out of Petunia today. Maybe we... should..."

She went silent as the two both looked up to see the inside the house. While appearing clean, they could hear the angry voice of a familiar beaver banging against the walls and pipes of the house, spewing out profane words that are too graphic to mention here.

Flaky walked forward a bit and pointed her right index finger toward the entrance. "Is that Handy?"

Cuddles nodded, which was not doing fun things to his head, making his way inside, "Undeniably, I've never heard anyone else in this town get that frustrated over anything... except maybe Nutty when he can't get his candy." He looked to the door to the basement with great hesitation on approaching the beaver at this time after what happened with Giggles, but he also remembered from what happened with Giggles how urgent this search now was. He didn't particularly want to talk to Handy in this state but he didn't have many other options. "Well, let's go ask Handy..." he hesitated and added with a great sense of importance, "and we'll make sure to include all the information we have at this point."

Flaky nodded, already knowing full well that he's not going to take no as an answer, part of her hoped that he wouldn't make her be the one to ask but another part of her feared how he would ask the question.

In an almost robotic manner, Flaky followed Cuddles down to the basement finding it not as bad as the horror stories of the dreaded day but the filth was easily past their knees if they hadn't stayed on the stairs, even though neither of them have OCD, nothing could get them down into the water.

Handy had little choice though as he stood knee deep in the sewage just as covered in it as Petunia was. He continued to spew profanities, in spite of the wrench clenched in his teeth as he tried seemingly futile to fix her pipes, his nubby arms making it significantly more difficult than it would already be for an able-bodied Tree Friend.

It was a while before Handy noticed them and when he did, he completely misjudged why they were there. "I don't need your guys' help."

"We're not here to try to help," Cuddles told him, then regretted the poor wording there. Though, in his defense, he is fighting a concussion and Handy didn't seem to mind.

"Alright, why are you here then?" He asked, struggling to hold up the pipe with his nubs while he tried to bolt it into place.

"Well, we'll pretty much need your full attention for this." Cuddles added carefully, not wanting anything to get lost or misunderstood because he was trying to focus on the pipes and unlike most jobs since this was in someone's house, Lumpy wouldn't really find out if he stops for a minute or two.

Handy looked back over at the injured rabbit and realized how serious he was letting go of the pipe which had enough bolts on one side to keep it out of the sewage, just not connected to the other pipe. "Alright, just let me figure out where to put this wrench. I'd rather not have that junk on anything that has to go in my mouth." Handy looked around and ended up putting it on a shelf that will hopefully stay relatively dry and gave his full attention to the duo.

Though Flaky didn't notice, Cuddles grabbed onto the one railing in hopes to stop the room from spinning and wished there was a second railing on the side with the sheer drop. The room was still spinning like a top but he tried to sound as sure as he could as he said, "Can you promise to listen to everything we have to say before doing anything rash?"

Handy looked confused at the request wondering what it could mean and what rash thing he might even do but nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll listen. So, what is it?"

"Well, earlier today, Flaky and I were at the playground and I came across what was apparently a cursed statue thing." Cuddles explained carefully, surprising Flaky that he actually brought that part up, he really wasn't kidding when he said to include all the information they have. "It started talking to us, actual talking. It threatened us at first but it also had an offer for us, for five Tree Friends to leave this world to another one where we wouldn't have to die every day. We don't know when we would leave or even what this world would be like and have no reason to trust this statue, but we..." He looked back at Flaky who was not happy and quickly corrected himself, "I... figured it's worth the risk. Three spots are already taken by the two of us and Giggles so there's two spots left and I was wondering if you wanted to take one."

Cuddles stopped his spiel and waited for Handy's response. Handy was clearly shocked and seemed to bounce the idea around in his head instead of diving in head first like Giggles had. He looked at the pipes, down at his nubs, and up at the light bulb dangling from the ceiling for reasons that Flaky and Cuddles could not figure out. After a few seconds of intense thought, Handy looked back at them and answered. "I'm in."

Flaky was surprised by that response, she hadn't expected anyone to be able to know everything about the deal, actually think it over, and still think it's a good idea to go. Am I the only one in this whole town with any sense? she thought, surprising even herself.

Cuddles, however, smiled at this. "Great! Then we only have one more spot left to fill. We'll let you know if we get any more information." Cuddles let go of the railing and turned around to go back up but doing so was more than enough to completely lose whatever balance he had and fall face first into the filthy water.

Flaky screamed at this and rushed into the filth herself to check the off chance that he survived. On the contrary, Handy started laughing and remarked, "Well, saw that coming."

Flaky turned to the handless beaver in shock, she had forgotten how apathetic he could be towards the other Tree Friends' deaths and suffering. That and she simply didn't understand how he could have seen Cuddles taking a face plant off the stairwell coming. "How could you say that?"

Handy looked at her still laughing a bit. "What? It was obvious the whole time that he was badly concussed. I'm actually surprised he managed to stay on his feet for as long as he did."

Flaky's anger at Handy quickly transferred to anger at herself. "He had a concussion?" She asked in a soft voice. "How did I not notice that?" Handy shrugged at the second question taking his wrench back in his teeth and setting back to work on the pipes. Flaky thought back to when Cuddles was clubbed with the door and, in hindsight, remembered him hitting his head in the fall. She also remembered some signs of a concussion when he was talking with her and felt like a terrible friend.

Even more determined to check on him now, Flaky started searching for him but his body was completely submerged and she lost track of where he fell. The filth also offered absolutely zero transparency. Still she searched with a dogged determination.

After a while of looking and finding nothing, she heard Handy calling her name and turned to him. "Flaky, you're wasting your time; if the fall didn't kill him, he would have drown by now."

Tears filled Flaky's eyes as she realized he was right. Without a word, she went back upstairs and headed home. She sure as hell wasn't going to continue the search for other innocent tree friends alone.

She arrived to her own house in one piece pulling out a key ring that looks like it belongs to a janitor and unlocked the numerous locks on her front door, each of which had a different key. Many Tree Friends had commented to her that having so many locks on every entrance to her house was a complete overkill but because of it, she and Splendid remained the only ones in town who have never been robbed.

The next morning, she waiting impatiently for Cuddles knowing that he should be back to life by now. Perhaps it would have been best for her to wait inside at the comforts of her own home instead of standing in the open, subjecting her to the many possible ways Death could bestow on her, but all she wanted to do now was get the final candidates out of the way and finish this awful trip once and for all.

Flaky stood nervously outside a small house built out of tall and sturdy tree. She looked around nervously, keeping her eyes on every moving object that surrounded her, prepared for anything to-

"Hey!"

Flaky yelled at the top of her lungs, jumping down to the dirt below and covering her head as if a bomb was about to fall. The many flakes resting in her quills blanketed the ground around her, and her body shivered in fear from the sudden noise.

She stopped and got out of her panic mode as she heard a chuckle above her. "Jeez, Flaky, does every little thing actually scare you?"

Flaky got up to her feet and brushed the dirt off her chest, turning around with an annoyed expression as she saw the snickering yellow rabbit behind her. "Cuddles, that wasn't funny! You know I get scared easily when you jump out behind me like that!"

Cuddles only chuckled harder as Flaky gave him the annoyed stare after making her statement. "Flaky, everything seems to scare you easily."

Flaky shook her head while crossing her arms. "N-Not everything..."

Cuddles brought up his right hand, pointing to each individual finger as he made his rebuttal. "Let's see. You are scared of water, roller coasters, little birds, darkness, driving, flying, rats, sharks, heights, skiing... Flaky, you're pretty much scared of everything."

Flaky's cheeks blushed redder than her body out of embarrassment as Cuddles pointed out her fears in front of her. Though in hindsight, many of those fears of hers were things that got other people killed... and sometimes herself, so naturally having a fear of these things seemed normal to those not afraid in this world. Flaky sighed as she gestured her head to the house behind her. "Can we please just get this over with?"

Cuddles nodded his head with an eager smile. "Sure!"

The two turned to face the nicely built house and proceeded to march down the walkway towards the front entrance. As they walked side to side, Flaky looked at Cuddles with a rather saddened look. She felt awful about the events occurring yesterday, letting her one friend walk with a concussion and leave him for dead at Petunia's house. She should have made him walk home and call it an end for the day, but instead she let Cuddles walk to his death... and drown in it. With guilt getting to her, Flaky could not stop herself from speaking in a quiet tone. "Um... Cuddles?"

Cuddles looked over at Flaky, still holding his eager looking smile. "Yes, Flaky?"

"I'm... I'm sorry about yesterday. I should have-"

Cuddles brought up his hand and waved it aside, silencing her as he made a light chuckle. "Ah, forget about it, Flaky. Seriously, I died from a lot worse than being hit with a door. Whales crushing my body, being filled with chair stuffing, and killed by a damn claw machine... still can't get my finger around how I got in there... three times from that matter... still, it's nothing, Flaky. Let's focus on the now and forget about the past."

Flaky nodded her head, though was baffled still at Cuddles acceptance of his death so easily. No matter how hard she wrapped her head around it, she could never get herself to accept death as easily as he could.

Which only brought the fear of what death could be like in the other world. In an entirely separate world, does the mechanics of death work like their own world... or something with even more severe consequences.

Flaky snapped out of her trance as she found herself now in front of the door at the house. Cuddles, hopping up and down in excitement, knocked on the door three times, speaking loudly to announce the person inside their presence. "Hey, Toothy, it's me, Cuddles! You here, man?"

The two stood in front of the door patiently, awaiting for Toothy's appearance... if he was still alive, of course. For precautionary measures, Cuddles and Flaky stood out of the door's reach, making perfectly sure not to be hit a second time.

It didn't take long to notice the purple friendly beaver to open the door gently with a smile on his face. He waved his right hand towards them, his voice energetic and joyful. "Cuddles! Flaky! How are you two doing?"

Cuddles shrugged his shoulders as Flaky remained silent. "Oh, nothing much. Just another usual day in Happy Tree Town, just like yesterday, you know?"

Toothy slowly brought his hand up to his eye, covering it carefully as he nodded his head. "Yeah... just like yesterday..." He shook his head as he brought his smile back. "So, what is it you two want?"

Cuddles turned to Flaky and patted her on the shoulder, signaling her to give the message that she found as the equivalent of a death wish. She cleared her throat and spoke with a calm demeanor.

"Well... you see, me and Cuddles have found a way to... well, simply put, to leave this world and enter a new one, completely separate of this one. We don't know what it is, but we do know we can take three other people with us to this new world. Giggles and Handy already agreed to come with us, so we want to know if you want to come with us."

Toothy stood in awe for a brief moment, his eyes turning big like puppy eyes as an energetic smile formed on his face. "A new world?! Different from this one?! Of course I'll go on this trip! How do we get there?"

Flaky chuckled shyly as she rubbed her quills nervously. "Um... we're not entirely sure how it will work, only that it will be done through the Cursed Idol we found at the playground."

The excited look on Toothy's face dropped instantaneously, and he looked at both Cuddles and Flaky with a concerned stare. "Cursed Idol? You mean... that bronze looking statue... that kills people... that Cursed Idol?"

Cuddles shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, pretty much. So, you still want to come with us?"

Toothy gave a blank stare in response before looking at his feet. He brought his right hand to his chin, rubbing it gently as he mumbled to himself quietly.

"Well... going to a new world would be fun... though the Cursed Idol does kill people... and he did kill me at the swing set one time... but maybe he changed since then... though that's unlikely... but a new world could mean we'd escape his wrath... though he could be there too... but it give me something to do for fun... though I could still die there... but..."

As Toothy rambled to himself for multiple minutes, Flaky leaned over to Cuddles and whispered quietly in his ear. "Um... Cuddles... will Toothy make up his mind soon?"

Cuddles stood still for a moment before letting out a soft sigh. "I don't know. The guy has always been... all over the place, never really sticking to one thing. He's like one guy that can be dozens of others at any time... so it might be a while until he makes up his own mind..."

Flaky and Cuddles looked at each other for a moment in silence before looking back at Toothy, still looking down at his feet. The two slowly started to step back, Cuddles speaking up as they started to walk away. "Will be back later, Toothy. Just think about it."

As Cuddles and Flaky walked away, Toothy aimlessly walked away from his house to get some fresh air, rambling to himself simultaneously.

Toothy wondered around town, which at this time of day was still deceptively peaceful, still arguing with himself and not just in his head either. "Well, if I go to this other world, then I probably won't have to die every day, and my eyes could certainly use that break."

As he walked and looked at the other houses he passed, another drawback entered his mind. "What about my other friends? There's only one spot left and if I take it, anyone that doesn't already have a spot would have no way of reaching me."

Toothy stopped in his tracks, rubbing his temples with his index fingers before letting out a sigh, "Oh, why does this have to be so hard." Suddenly, he looked around finally realizing that he was alone. "Hmm, where did Cuddles and Flaky go? What am I even supposed to do if I decide I want to go?"

After a few seconds of thoughtful labor, he remembered something they mentioned, "I guess it would be the best bet to head to the playground if that's what I want but how can I even think about trusting that… that thing."

While Toothy continued to argue with himself like a crazy person, he hadn't realized that he wasn't as alone as he thought he was. There was another Tree Friend listening to his every word. This Tree Friend had much clearer thoughts on the idea and, closer to Cuddles or Giggles, saw the thought as too good to even think about not going. Without warning, the Tree Friend broke into a full on sprint towards the playground.

Just before that Tree Friend could make it to the playground though, they were tackled to the ground by another Tree Friend.

'''Cliffhanger! Who is this mystery Tree Friend? Will they make it on the trip or will the other Tree Friend stop him long enough for Toothy to take it? Why did that other Tree Friend tackle him/her? Where the heck are they even going?! Find out the answers to these questions and more in Chapter 3. For now, please comment and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.'''