User blog:SaenihpNnylf/Show Me Your War Whistle Chapter 2

Flaky was hiding around the corner while her new puppy played in her living room. "Come on. What's the catch? There has to be one." She mumbled to herself as she kept an eye from what she judged as a safe distance.

Yet as far as she could tell there wasn't one, the pup just continued to play and occasionally stop for a drink of water, Maybe I should call the place back and see what they say. She thought. She went over to the telephone and dialed the number for the pet store.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The voice asked kindly

"Yes, I recently bought a puppy from you..."

"Earlier today?"

"Yes, earlier today. Why do you ask?" Flaky asked, her heart accelerating even further.

"I just wanted to be sure, we have sold a few dogs over the last few days."

"Well, did you ever notice anything... unnerving about the dogs there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well... it's Happy Tree Town... there has to be a catch, right?"

"Most times yes."

"Most of the time? All of the time! But the dog seems just fine."

"As far as I know the dog is."

"Oh... that's all I needed then..." Flaky said, clearly uncertain.

"I would just recommend keeping an eye out."

"Trust me, I'll definitely be doing that..."

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Ummm... well... no, that's it."

"Well sorry we weren't much help."

Flaky didn't respond to that, still watching the dog play. "Do you at least know where they came from?"

"We got them from Lifty and Shifty. "

"Lifty and Shifty?" She repeated, her anxiety peaking even higher.

"Yes, they sold them to us."

"So... I'm most likely in possession of a stolen dog?"

"It's possible," she admitted.

"Would I get in trouble for it?"

"Unlikely you had no way of knowing."

"Well... that's a relief at least..." Flaky said, though her voice said otherwise.

"You should be fine."

"Th-that's all I have to ask."

"Okay well I hope you have a good night."

"I'll try..." Flaky trailed before hanging up.

She stared back towards the living room. The dog came up to her happily, unaware of her fear. It barked and put its front legs on her leg happily. "Uh… hi little puppy." Flaky said, awkwardly petting it.

It licked her hand. Though it was cute and sweet, Flaky just could not let her guard down even if she wanted to. It whimpered at her look of concern.

"I'll be okay, puppy...I guess you do need a name though."

It barked seeming to smile

Flaky thought pretty hard on that one, "How about Spunky?" It barked happily. "I guess Spunky it is then."

He liked her hand happily. "Yeah, I guess you're not too scary are you, Spunky." She actually smiled a little as it licked her hand again

Meanwhile, Lifty and Shifty were in their apartment, trying to practice how to steal "Sparkles" without waking it up. "Maybe if we tie it up?" Lifty offered.

"That itself might wake it up."

"Yeah, I suppose so but if we muzzle it first it could work."

"A muzzle wouldn't stop it from barking. We need to not wake it up at all."

"Sleeping pills in the food?"

"That would require getting in there in the first place."

"We've done that before though."

"Yes, because that worked out so well."

"Well for the most part it did."

"Up until I was skinned alive with a cookie?"

"Yeah, but you healed."

"Didn't make it hurt any less."

"I know, but it's nowhere near as bad as it would be with both of them."

"Which only makes my point."

"We can get in and out without waking the nut job."

"So, we go in the night before to put them in? That would require surviving two days in a row."

"We go in while their gone the first night. We better time it right though." Lifty added.

"We will, we watched and wait for them to leave and then we go in."

"Then that might work."

"See, we can do this."

"We still have to wait until the rest are sold though."

"Can we wait that long?"

"It's the only choice we have."

"I know but I don't have to like it. "

"I do too but if we don't then he'll just buy another one."

"Yeah that's true. "

"We just hope things don't get too bad by that point."

"Yeah, all we really can do."

"If only we could figure out that stupid bear's trigger... wait, I have an idea!" Lifty declared.

"I'm listening."

"I overheard once that Flippy had seen Lumpy as a psychiatrist a few times. Maybe if we can steal those reports, we'd find his trigger."

"That could help!"

"Then that's the plan."

"It's the best place to start."

"Then let's go!"

He nodded and they headed out to their van.

Shifty got into the driver's seat, of course, as Lifty got in the passenger's. "Let's roll!" He said as they pulled out.

After a bit of driving, hitting a few pedestrians on the way, they made it to the psych office. "Okay should be a simple enough break in."

They got out and Lifty was able to expertly pick the lock on the backdoor in mere seconds. Shifty darted inside and headed for the records room.

Finding the correct file was the hardest part though. "Where do we even start to look for him."

"That I'm not sure," Lifty admitted, looking the room over.

"Maybe figure out how it's sorted first?"

"Yes, that would be best."

"Possibly by the issues."

Lifty tried looking through them that way. "What would we classify his issue as?"

"Well, he's a completely different person when he flips, anything like that?"

"Split personality?"

"Yeah, like that."

"Okay, that's a starting point."

Lifty started looking based on that. "I think I might have it." Lifty opened it and affirmed, "Yes, this is his."

"Well, what's it say?"

Lifty skimmed it over and his eyes widened. "Even better then we hoped for. Not just what flips him out but an easy way to change him back."

"You're kidding! We are never that lucky!"

"Look for yourself," Lifty said, showing him the file. Shifty looked and his face broke into a smile. "Well, this changes the whole game in our favor." Lifty said with his signature grin.

"Yes it does, do we take this then?"

"Is that even a question?"

"Not really."

"Then let's go before we get caught," Lifty said, heading back to the van with the file in his paws. They ran out to the van and pulled away quickly.

Meanwhile, Flippy was outside, playing with Sparkles. He was happier than usual even. He finally had something to hold onto for the insanity of this town. That was a rare thing in fact he wasn't sure most people did.

"Alright, come on, Sparkles, let's get us both some dinner."

He barked happily as they headed inside. Flippy filled Sparkles bowl before fixing himself some food.

He decided that some beacon sounded wonderful. He pulled the bacon out of the fridge and threw some on the skillet.

It took a while but soon it started to pop. Unfortunately, to him, the pops sounded like gunshots. An instant later he flipped; his smile going from peaceful to malicious.

Fliqpy looked around and was disappointed to see that the dog wasn't in its murderous state. Huffing he stared down at the thing, wondering how to get it there.

He tried to think back to the only time he saw him flip. What had he been doing? He had been humming, maybe there was something to that.

He tried humming but it sounded different, not enough like a whistle and of course it did nothing.

"Must be something else," he mumbled, trying to think of other things he could try.

He paced trying banging pots and pans together with no effect. "Well, damn.."

He went over and tried clapping.

Nothing happened. So he tried laughing.

Nothing again; "What do I have to do to get to you!" he demanded.

The dog just looked confused with all the clammer going on. "So that's not it either."

Finally, after many fails, he tried whistling. The dog froze and then began to growl. A feral grin spread Fliqpy's face. "Finally. There you are." He said. Fliqpy went and opened the front door, "Let's go find some victims."

The dog barked as they headed outside. Fliqpy followed out the door with him. As they went they finally saw Flaky headed to the store.

Fliqpy caught in front of her with a feral grin, bowie knife drawn, and when she turned to run, was only met with Sparkles.

She started shaking a little not knowing where to run to. She didn't have much time to decide as both went after her.

Sparkles latched onto one of her quills and ripped it out before plunging the other end right at the same spot.

She leapt up only to meet Fliqpy's knife which plunged right underneath her ribcage. She gasped unsuccessfully for breath. The knife was stopping the movement of her diaphragm making breathing impossible but Sparkles wasn't done yet.

He ripped out yet another spike and stabbed her in the head. Flaky didn't even have time to scream as the spine went all the way though, right between her eyeballs.

The second she fell the dog shook its head and then looked around confused.

Fliqpy was prepared for that and stuck his fingers in his mouth whistling hard. The dog snapped back barking menacingly.

The next morning, Flaky woke shaking. She got up from the concrete, the memory of that death glued to her mind. "That was awful!" She gasped She tentively touched her back, moving around the quills as to not stick herself, remembering the pain.

They were all there and Fliqpy and his dog were not. Not only that but the dog looked... very familiar. A lot like her own dog.

"Could Spunky be… No he couldn't be, but then again in this town..." She sighed. She really hoped she was wrong. "I mean; he hasn't acted that. I'm just too concerned. "

She looked back in the direction of her house fearing going back there. She couldn't avoid it forever

She sighed and headed home because it couldn't be avoided forever. All along the walk, she repeated "Please be wrong," in her head like a mantra.

Soon she stood in front of her door keys out and shaking. Her nerves only struck up more each lock she undid.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open. When she did, Spunky trotted over to her in his nice state, unaware of his owner's fear. He just barked happily

Flaky yipped a bit, shielding her face. The dog whimpered liking her hands. Slowly, Flaky let down her arms.

It barked happily

She carefully reached out, calming down some by her standards. "You okay?" She asked it carefully

The dog just barked happily in response.

She couldn't help but smile a little. "Yeah, I guess you're not like that evil dog." It barked again happy for her to be home. "Did you miss me, Boy?"

It yipped again running over to its bowl and bringing it to her.

"Oh, right! I should get you some food." He barked as if to confirm that's what he wanted. "Alright," she said, leading him over to the kitchen.

He followed and to her relief just waited for her. She filled the bowl with dry dog food and immediately jumped back.

The dog just trotted over and dug in.

Her nerved did settle down a bit watching him eat. "Okay, so he's not dangerous, maybe but what if he just has some kind of trigger to make him like that evil dog." Flaky gasped.

Suddenly the fear was back "That is it! He's just waiting for a trigger. But what could it be? It could be anything at all. How am I supposed to know?!"

Spunky just looked up at her, his head tilted to the side.

"I…It's nothing." She stammered to the dog.

Spunky looked a bit concerned but went back to eating. She was nervous anything could set it off.

"What do I do?" She whispered to herself. She was so worried that everything seems dangerous even more than normal. "It has to be something," she muttered against reason.

Yet she didn't know and as such she couldn't really avoid it. The mere thought made her want to squeal. What if that triggered the dog though?

She bit her lip, stiff as a board. She couldn't just stand here in fear. Yet, what other choice did she have?

She could just try and relax there was nothing she could do really and there was no way she was going to try and change the dog.

She took in a deep breath and started making her own breakfast when she came across a bottle of whiskey and hesitated. She hadn't drank sense Flippy's birthday party but she could definitely use the calming effects right now. Maybe a small drink wouldn't hurt too much?

So she pulled out the bottle and a shot glass. Pouring herself a shot she drank it down in a single gulp. She could already feel herself calming down some.

It helped she just had to not go overboard. She put the bottle away before she was tempted to take another shot.

Feeling a little better she sat down in her chair and sighed. Though, a rumble in her tummy reminded her what she was doing when she found the whiskey.

"Right," she sighted getting back up.

She went back into the cabinets to hunt for something. Eventually she found some chips and went back to her chair to find the dog waiting for her wagging its tail.

Feeling better from the drink, Flaky actually bent down and pet him. "Hey Spunky." He barked happily and she managed a smile "Yeah, I shouldn't be worried about you."

He licked her face seemingly proud she was petting get him. Flaky did smile wiping her cheek. The dog curled up into her side and lay its head down as she turned the TV on.

Not long after she settled down, the phone rang. "Hello?" She said answering.

"Hey Flaky, it's Cuddles, I was checking on that pet thing. I couldn't yesterday because I died."

"Right okay so what did you learn?"

"Well, actually, I wanted to know if you're still up for it." Cuddles asked, not knowing that she already got one.

"I already got one though."

"Oh you did? That's great! What did you get?"

"I got a puppy."

"Really?! Hold on, I'm gonna come over and see."

"Alright, come on over."

"I'll be right over," he said before hanging up.

She hung up and waited. It wasn't very long until she heard a knock at her door. She opened it and Cuddles came in quickly.

Spunky came up to Cuddles, sniffing him curiously. "Aw, he's so cute." He said happily. "Funny, he looks kind of famil..." He stopped in his thoughts remembering the dog that attacked him. "No way." He muttered looking at the dog.

"What?" Flaky asked, her nerves spiking up some even with the drink.

"I could swear I've seen the dog before, the other day."

"You did? I saw one yesterday but that dog was vicious."

"Yeah, me too."

"Was Fliqpy with him?"

"Kind of yeah, it was hard to tell at the time."

"I think that's his dog. But it looks just like this."

"So, you think my dog is evil?"

"Well, then this could be a problem, Flaky."

"I know. It's like he's just waiting for some kind of trigger, then it would be vicious like Fliqpy's dog."

"I think that he is."

"It could be anything though."

"Could be, but what can we do?"

"That I don't know."

"I want to find out."

"Cuddles, you can't mean..."

"I do; I need to know."

"So you're going to TRY to make him vicious? I always knew you were reckless but that's a new low."

"Just to try so we know what not to do."

"But then we'd still do it."

"And die and come back nothing new. "

"But the pain..."

"Just once and then we can make sure it doesn't happen again. "

"I still don't think it's a good idea."

"It has to be done."

"No, it doesn't!"

"Yes it does."

The argument was cut short as a whistle came through the tv. The dog snapped to attention.

They both saw him turn into the vicious dog that attacked them. Flaky bolted as quick as she could.

Cuddles would have but Spunky leapt at him too quickly. It was quick and it was bloody. Flaky clenched her eyes shut, his screams echoing through her ears.

She waited until it faded into confused barks and whimpering.

She slowly opened her eyes finding that Spunky was back to normal but the sight of Cuddles' mangled corpse made her run to the bathroom to throw up.

She needed more information here. She remembered that the store owner said Lifty and Shifty dropped off the dog... "Maybe they'll know." She decided to head to see them.

She knew they lived in the apartment building. She didn't know the exact number but she might be able to get it from the receptionist.

She headed over not bothering to grab anything else.

It was only a short walk to the only apartment building in town. She went to the receptionist and asked for them.

Finding they were on the second to top floor, she thought about chancing the elevator but remembered the horror story from Cuddles and took the stairs.

She was up and knocking at their door in impressive time. She did notice an eviction notice when she knocks. It was a few seconds before Lifty answered. "Hey Lifty." She said smiling a little.

"Flaky, what brings you here?" Lifty asked, not used to anyone purposefully going to them for any reason.

"I have a question or two for you."

"Well, alright, I may or may not answer but ask away."

"Those dogs you sold to the pet shop, do you know how to calm them?"

"Oh! You got one of those? They're real easy, just don't whistle around them or anything too close and you'll be fine."

"Really? That's it? Nothing else?"

"That's it. Trust me, we have lots of those things here. We didn't know that until after we got stuck with all of them. Had to learn it the hard way."

"You're okay though right?" She asked concerned.

"We are now. There hasn't been an issue with them since we figured out the trigger."

"Good. I don't want to hurt you."

"Why do you care?" Lifty asked, blushing a bit. "I'm just some lowly thief."

"Well...I mean..."She stammered. Flaky thought back to the eviction notice and looked around Lifty at the rundown apartment, "Clearly there's more to it than I thought."

"Not really, it's just life."

"And you've never robbed me."

"Well yeah."

"What's going on here, Lift?" Shifty asked, coming to the door.

"Nothing, just someone with a question," he said.

"Well hurry it up, we've got a heist to plan."

"Right, just a sec."

"He seems to call all the shots?" Flaky commented.

"Shifty? Yeah, all the time. Not like there's many other options though."

"Why don't you try and call a few?"

"He'd never listen."

"Why not?"

Lifty shrugged. "He never has before."

"Well stand up for yourself."

"Easier said than done. He threw me out a hot air balloon to keep a cow we stole once."

"Hey! Now that I apologized for!"

"You never should have pushed me at all!"

"It was no big deal, you came back and we really needed that cow."

"I still died though."

"Yeah, so did I. So what?"

"I didn't kill you."

"Um... if I could cut in..." Flaky said carefully. "Lifty's right. Just because we come back, you shouldn't intentional kill your brother... or anyone… unless it's in self-defense of course."

Shifty sighed; "Okay so that was a little far I admit."

"Finally!" Lifty declared.

"I'm sorry okay? I never thought of it that way."

"Flaky, you, are a miracle worker." Lifty declared.

"No, I'm not." She blushed.

"With what you just got out of him, of course you are."

"Well, thank you."

"No, thank you. Maybe some actual progress will be made now."

"Well, is that good?"

"Yeah, thank you."

"No problem, I should probably go though."

"Yeah, I have some work to do apparently." Lifty said, looking back towards his brother.

"Okay, but maybe we should get together sometime," she said.

Lifty's eyes widened a bit. "Really?"

"Yeah, of course if you want that is," she said quickly.

"I would love to."

"Really?" She asked

"Yes, really."

"Okay, well then, I guess I should give you my number."

"Yeah, probably should," Lifty said about just as awkward as her. She took out some paper wrote the number down and handed it over. "Thank you, Flaky," Lifty said, trying to hide his blush as he took the paper.

"No problem, call me," she said.

"I will as soon as I can."

"You better," she said smiling.

"I will." He smiled back. She nodded and headed off.

"What was that all about, Lifty?" Shifty asked, looking at the paper in Lifty's hand.

"Just, personal stuff." Lifty said

Shifty only grinned. "So, that's why you always insist against robbing her. Not because of all the locks."

"Shut up." Lifty said shoving him lightly and blushing.

Flaky came back to her house feeling entirely different than she expected to. She felt happy, and that was rare for her and she certainly hadn't expected who she fell for. Still though, he seemed nice at least to her.

She reached down and pet Spunky as he came to greet her glad to know how to keep him in that state. She might even be able to use him as a guard dog. "Yeah, a guard dog would be good." Flaky said to herself.

The dog barked.

"When normal you are such a good boy," she said, petting him.

He barked proudly and licked her hand. She thought about taking him for a walk but was anticipating Lifty's call.

She smiled a little thinking about it, but then considered that he wasn't going to likely call any time soon. "Alright, come on, Boy. Let's go for a walk." She called, grabbing the leash.

He barked and held still for her to attach his leash. "Cuddles is going to be shocked tomorrow to see I still have you, Spunky."

The dog whimpered a little as if confused. "Don't worry about it, Spunky," she said, taking him out.

He barked again and out they went.

Meanwhile, what she didn't know is that Fliqpy and "Sparkles" were on the prowl again. They were enjoying themselves today. Fliqpy scanned the area for any more potential victims spotting Giggles. He pointed her out and they headed towards her.

She turned and spotted them but had no time to do anything but scream. They were on her in a second and soon enough she was torn apart literally.

Once the kill was done, Fliqpy wasted no time blowing a whistle, he had started to carry one around just for this occasion and of course, Sparkles was back to feral. "This is all working perfectly. " He growled.

The dog barked in agreement.

"It's nice having an ally."

As he thought of it, he was always super-efficient but now they're even more together. The best thing his other half had ever done was get this dog. "And to think, he doesn't even know," Fliqpy laughed. "Still though maybe he is good for something."

The dog barked as if to tell him to focus. He shook his head and refocused.

Meanwhile, Flaky had gotten back from her walk with Spunky and was well settled in when the phone rang. She jumped up and grabbed the phone; "Hello?"

"Hey Flaky, it's Lifty. You said to call when I got the chance?"

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting so soon."

"So, about getting back together?"

"I would love to, when we both have time."

"That'll be difficult."

"Not impossible I hope?"

"No, not impossible. How about right now? I don't have any money though."

"That's okay," she said.

"So, I'll come pick you up in the van?"

"Sure, let me get ready," she said.

"Alright, I'll see you soon."

"See you soon," she said happily.

As they hung up, Flaky's heart spiked for a different reason than normal. She'd never been on a date before, is that even what this is? She didn't know.

All she knew was that maybe sprucing up wouldn't be a bad idea.

She went to the bathroom and thought about doing something about her namesake but knew it was a lost cause and it hurt to try.

She decided to get dressed a little more than usual. She went to her closet which was rather empty not being one to regularly wear clothes still though, she managed to come out with a white sundress.

She put it on carefully, it already being designed to work around her quills. It was perfect and with a little perfume she felt it was just enough.

It wasn't long after that the doorbell rang. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Lifty, unlike Flaky, looked pretty much his normal self. He looked stunned at her. "Wow, Flaky. You really clean up well."

"Thank you," she said blushing.

"So… I honestly have no idea how this is supposed to go."

"Me either but we can just hang out."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Works for me."

"Maybe we could go to the park?" Lifty suggested.

"I'd like that."

"We should probably take the van."

"Yeah probably."

"If Splendid sees that van in front of your house, he'll get the wrong idea."

"Yeah, I can see why he might."

Before he could say anything, Spunky came over. "Aw, you remember me, Boy?" He barked happily placing his front paws on Lifty's leg. "So, I take it this means you're keeping the dog?" Lifty asked Flaky.

"Yeah I am."

"Good they really are good dogs when they don't hear any whistling."

"I can tell." She smiled

"What did you name him?"

"Spunky."

"Well, it's nice to see you again, Spunky," Lifty said, petting him. "Would you like to come with us?" He went and grabbed his leash. "That okay with you, Flaky?"

"Fine with me."

"Let go then?" He said, attaching the leash and they headed to the van.