User blog:SaenihpNnylf/Things Just Got Real Chapter 6

Since now he's stuck at least trying, Cuddles bought a skateboard from some of the group's fund and it wasn't as expensive as the four of them were worried, no it was time to try it out with the new body that he's still getting used to.

Apparently they do have helmets and pads and Flaky insisted on getting them at the very least for during practice and, surprisingly, Cuddles didn't interject. 'At least he's being somewhat safe for once.' Flaky thought.

They headed back to the place where they first came to this world for him to try to skate across the sidewalk.

It turned out to be good that he took the protection because he ended up falling more than a few times and none of the four could hope but think how that, in Happy Tree, he'd be dead even with the protection.

With practice though, he was able to get the hang of it and skate almost as well as he had back in his old body. "I must say, I'm impressed," Flaky admitted, even though she didn't like the idea in the first place.

"Yeah, it's just, Catherine wasn't wearing any of this stuff when he skated over either time, he might not react well to them." Cuddles admitted thinking back to his two encounters with him.

"Well, he'll have to deal with it because you're wearing them. I know you're more durable now but I'm not sure an injury would heal as easily in this world," Flaky cut in, thinking back to the hospital.

"I'm not sure about that…" Cuddles trailed off, weighing his options, he was glad to have the protection each time he fell but he also didn't want to want to stick out negatively anymore. "And actually, I'm not sure where or how to find him," he admitted, trying to think of anything that would help him find him.

He didn't have to think too hard about it when he heard called from the distance. "Yo, Slippers!" He turned and sure enough, Catherine skated over, this time Jake from the joint was with him. "I see you got a new board but what are you wearing all that unnecessary stuff for. I mean, YOLO, right?"

No one was surprised when Cuddles obliged, taking off the pads and helmet. Though, he did wonder in his own mind what this word he keeps saying even means.

"Cuddles, I really don't think you should…" Flaky started to say but was cut off.

"This is my decision, not yours, Flaky." Cuddles said making Flaky huff, even in this new world, he still refuses to listen to listen to reason. "I'm not going to make you come with but this is my decision."

"Yeah, Flaky." Catherine remarked mockingly. "Let the man live a little. I mean, what are you, his mother?"

Catherine didn't know it but that hit much harder than it was intended to… and I was intended to hit pretty hard to begin with. The parents of every single one of them, everyone in town but Cub, had fled town, they couldn't blame them, especially considering that they just did the same thing but it still hurt to be reminded of it.

"No, I am not his mother but I am his friend and am just looking out for him."

Cuddles looked back at Flaky, seeming to actually question his decision but he needed to learn more about the culture of this world so he did stick to it turning back to Catherine I did surprise his friends saying, "I'm sorry, Flaky but I'm going and you're not going to stop me."

"Well… so much for sticking together." Giggles noted as she watched them skate off. Then she remembered Flaky's reasons for coming to this world. "And you're going to follow him, aren't you?" Flaky was gone before she could even finish asking that question.

Flaky may not skate but she can run, she had no issues catching up with Cuddles and the others. She stayed hidden for the moment, not sure how he'd react if he knew she was watching him.

Cuddles didn't notice her either as they arrived at some sort of skate park which maybe Flaky's heart spike at all the gruesome deaths that could take place on such equipment. 'What do you think you're doing, Cuddles?' Flaky thought to herself as she watched.

What she didn't know was that Cuddles was wondering the same thing of himself as he looked over the park himself but he was too far in to really back out that easily. His seemingly more durable body did provide a bit of comfort. Enough to push himself forward.

"You ready for this, Slippers?" Catherine asked in a tone that actually only lead to one answer.

"I'm not suuuur-ah!" Cuddles exclaimed as he was pushed into the bowl he was able to keep himself on the board at least but he wasn't happy about being pushed but caught himself as hypocritical.

Flaky gasped to herself when she saw Catherine push him and though she was relieved that he was okay, it only diminished the already low level of trust she had of the reckless native.

"Not too bad, Slippers but work on doing it yourself," Catherine laughed before dropping into the bowl and doing a kick flip at the end.

"You go, girl!" Jake called out.

'Wait, Catherine is a girl?' Cuddles thought, the realization distracting him enough to know him off his own board. He got pretty scraped up in the fall but nothing was broken so he got right back up on his board.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! YOLO!" Catherine called seeing him get back up and keep going. There went that word again and every time she uses it, it becomes more and more confusing what that word is supposed to mean.

Meanwhile back with Lifty, "Well, the blanks on the application were hard to ignore but with the score on the test, you got the job." Aiden explained having honestly had to pull a few strings with his manager out of sympathy for the homeless man.

Lifty's face instantly lit up at the news. The mere idea of earning money honestly for the first time in well… as long as he can remember, was just too perfect. "Really?! That's great! When do I start?"

"That's the bad news. The next trainings not for another week so you're going to have to wait until then but were you at least able to find the shelter."

"Yes I was," Lifty affirmed, tossing around the idea of actual training for a job, something Tree Town didn't really have either, through his head and wondering what it would be like.

"That's good at least then. I'll see you next Wednesday at 8:30? Does that work for you?"

"Yes it does," Lifty affirmed, making a note to talk to Martha about when that is assuming that the time is a bit different there than in Tree Town, at least by what day of the week it currently is. "Thank you so much for this, I won't let you regret it." Lifty promised as he left.

"I'm sure I won't." Aiden said as he left.

Back in Tree Town, Shifty was having trouble pulling off his first ever heist alone. A small heist would seem like a smart but he had to somehow turn up rent soon or he'd be thrown back out in the streets.

No he needed something big. He didn't have any other options. Maybe he could break into the candy store and strike a deal with Nutty again but there are so many locks to keep the squirrel out and Lifty was usually the one to pick the lock, he wasn't so good at that part. I mean, he could do it but not as quickly.

Then he realized a bonus that the trip had left, there are now houses that were left without any owners to protect the contents, he wasn't sure who the other two were but he could get plenty emptying Cuddles' and Flaky's houses if he can get them before Lumpy did.

He got in the van and headed to Flaky's house knowing that hers would be the hardest, he'll need time to get through all the locks and the windows are rubber so that's not an option to simply smash them.

It took him quite some time but he was able to get through all the locks on Flaky's back door and made his way in. "Let's hope she has anything worthwhile," he said to himself, and started to search.

If anyone back in Tree Town was bothered more by the trip than Shifty, that would be Lumpy. With a pool as small as it was already, as small as it is, losing four workers took a huge hit that left him scrambling.

Days off had become non-existent for anyone, including himself and Flippy (who luckily understood as long as he could pick) and even then, the town was struggling to make ends meet.

Luckily for Shifty, he was stuck working on his farm and didn't have any time to worry about clearing the houses of the disappeared, he needed to focus on keeping Tree Town self-sustaining and even some luxuries couldn't be cut because of some of the residents there he remembered harvesting the sugar canes, if only Nutty was one of the five that disappeared.

If only there was a way to get imports into Tree Town like they did forever ago but a death certificate trumps all other forms of identification everywhere else. To the rest of the world, Tree Town hasn't existed for thousands of years and there was nothing that could be done to change that.

He shook the thought from his head and wiped the sweat from his brow, pressing on his farming.

Not sure what else to do, Giggles and Handy went back to their apartment and settled down on the floor, Handy was back on his ranting about how unfair it is that he still doesn't have any hands.

"Handy, just, please stop," Giggles cut in and luckily Handy did listen to her request.

He did have one question for her though: "So, if you weren't even told about the Cursed Idol's involvement, what were you told about the trip?"

"Just that they were leaving that world and can take a few friends with." Giggles answered honestly. "I didn't ask for any more information, I didn't think I needed to know any more."

"Really? That's it? I have a hard time imagining Cuddles would leave so much out to you when he pretty much told me everything, and that was while he was badly concussed."

"Actually, it wasn't…" Giggles broke off realizing what she was about to say and finally realizing that she had been getting mad at the wrong person this whole time. "It wasn't Cuddles who explained it, Flaky did."

"Oh, well, that makes a lot more sense then but why do you keep getting mad at Cuddles for what Flaky left out?"

Giggles had to think pretty hard on that one. "I'm not exactly sure. I guess it was almost kind of the default."

"Default? I thought you loved Cuddles."

"I used to," Giggles admitted with a shrug, "but then I saw his bedroom one day and there were pictures of me all over, it was the creepiest thing I'd ever seen. I broke up with him but he was relentless. That man just can't take a hint." Handy could hear her anger rise with every word.

"Yet you agreed to go with him on this trip?"

"Yes, because no matter how much I hate him, I hate Lumpy more. If you ever worked the hospital, you'd understand." She started to tell him the story of Disco Bear's heart attack when the phone rang.

"Sorry, I'm going to go get that," Giggles said, getting up and going over to the phone and removing the phone from the hook, hoping it worked close enough to the phones back in Tree Town but even with the phone in her hand, it kept ringing.

Turning the phone around, she saw numerous buttons, mostly numbers but one of which looked like what she wanted and pressed it. "Giggles speaking," she said into the mic.

"Yes, Giggles, this is Jenny from the hospital. I was wondering if we could set up to do a job interview."

"A job interview…" Giggles trailed off looking over at Handy who just shrugged not knowing what that is either. Though, the way the lady said it made it sound like she should know so she just went with it as if she did. "Well, I'm pretty much open for any time."

"Alright, how's tomorrow at 1:30 in the afternoon sound?"

"That works well with me," Giggles said, hoping that time worked the same way here as it did in Tree Town.

"Perfect, I'll see you tomorrow at 1:30." Jenny dismissed before hanging up the phone.

Giggles put the phone back on the hook, turning back to Handy. "So, apparently I have something called a job interview at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon… I have no idea what that is but I think I'm supposed to go to the hospital at that time."

Handy shrugged, "Seems like the best guess, so what was that you were saying about the bike pump?"

Flaky wasn't sure how long she was going to stay there besides as long as she needs to, they'd been at it for a while and she was almost spotted a few times.

She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts from her brain and stay focused. It all looked so dangerous, yet besides that one slip up that was virtually nothing, he was coming out unscathed.

"Incredible," She breathed both at the skills and overall durability and good luck. Then she realized something that made her feel selfish: Petunia, Toothy, Russell, even Flippy, as much as she fears him.

Everyone they left back in Tree Town to die and come back and die... she tried to push the thought away. She was saving them from a trap, not just leaving them in a curse. Still, part of her was a bit guilty.

No, she had to focus on Cuddles; that's her number one priority and as the day went on, that was becoming more and more necessary.

She was almost ready to interfere when Cuddles stopped himself. "Um… I think I should get back to my friends."

"Aren't we your friends now, Slippers?" Catherine asked skating over to him. Though her tone was more patronizing than genuine.

Cuddles either didn't catch that or didn't care because he just answered, "Yes you guys are but my other friends need me more right now."

"You mean like that coward redhead with all the dandruff?"

That grated Cuddles nerves. "Her name is Flaky and she happens to be my best friend so I'd rather you didn't talk to her like that." Flaky gasped having not expected him to stand up for her like that. Catherine stayed silent. "You know what? I'm leaving whether you want me to or not." He said before skating off to the apartment.

Flaky didn't leave yet though, she stayed in her spot watching Cuddles' new "friends" with suspicion. "Well, that was lame." Catherine commented, rolling her eyes. "And I can't get over his stupid bunny slippers. I must say though, he can sure take a hit."

"Still think he's worth it?" Jake asked, stopping as well.

"I think so. Like I said, he can take a punch. That push is in there somewhere. It shouldn't be hard for him to embrace YOLO."

Meanwhile, Cuddles arrived at the apartment to find Giggles and Handy sitting on the floor chatting but there obviously wasn't any sign of his best friend. "Where's Flaky?" He asked, catching both of their attentions.

"We don't know," Giggles admitted, starting to get worried something terrible happened to her. "She followed you their so we figured you'd be getting back together."

"Well, shit, I didn't see her at all," Cuddles noted and turned around. "I'm going to go look for her." He thought about his new friends a bit and added. "You two stay here, I'll bring her back."

Neither opposed as he left the apartment and headed back to the skate park hoping to find her hiding somewhere there alive and in one piece. Surely, she couldn't be that hard to spot when he's actually looking for her.

He was relieved to find her hiding behind a nearby bush. He went over and tapped her shoulder which of course made her jump back before she realized who it is. "Cuddles, how many times do I have to tell you not to scare me like that," she chided but kept her voice down.

"Well, sorry but this time, you kind of deserved it after you just scared all three of us." Cuddles folded his arms, looking down upon you.

"I scared you guys?" Flaky asked in surprise and confusion. "How?"

"Giggles and Handy were expecting you to be back with me and I didn't even know you followed me in the first place. We thought something terrible happened to you."

"Oh…" Flaky hesitated, having not expected to cause such a scare but she could certainly understand why it would, especially in this world that they still know how little about. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect to cause that much of a scare, I was just checking out your friends… I don't trust them."

Cuddles paused looking back at Catherine and Jake who hadn't noticed them. He didn't really trust them either but he felt as though he was left with little choice in the matter at this point. "I see. Well…" he wasn't sure exactly what to say at the moment. "Just… don't do it again. You really did scare us."

"Alright, I won't."

They got back to the apartment in little time at all. "I found her!" he called out as they entered.

Giggles immediately got up and went over to them. "Flaky! Are you okay?" she asked, looking her friend over for injuries.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Flaky said, fidgeting awkwardly under her scrutinizing gaze. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys. I was just watching Cuddles' new friends."

"Well, that's a relief," Giggles said, stopping looking her over. "I think I have some good news though. The hospital called and wanted to set up something called a job interview. I don't know what it is but it's tomorrow at one."

"Sounds like a good thing to me," Cuddles agreed. "Maybe it's like interviewing for the paper and they'll just ask you some questions. I don't know what kind of questions but that's what it sounds like."

"It would make sense but I guess we'll find out for sure when we go to the hospital tomorrow."

Petunia was still having trouble accepting that her best friend and boyfriend were gone forever. When death had been such a temporary reality for so long, she hadn't expected there to be any way to lose someone forever and it wasn't even though death but they left to some other world and didn't even think to invite her.

When she thought about it though, she might have said no if they did invite her; the idea of the unfamiliar diseases and various filth she would likely be introduced to made her skin crawl just thinking about it but it would have been nice to have the option.

Speaking of diseases, she had just finally gotten off a shift at the hospital and wanted little more than to go home and get some rest after working all night. She hated the time to time shifts, unlike time to time or death, when she had died, Sniffles had managed to bring her back to life and right back to work.

She got in her car, glad to find it in one piece and started the drive home, narrowly missing Shifty's van on the road.

When it went by, she couldn't help but notice through her distain that it was only Shifty, Lifty was obviously nowhere in sight.

'Could he…' she trailed, looking back through the rearview mirror but shook the thought from her head. 'Of course not, he must have already died for today.' She knew it was rare for one twin to die and the other survive, to her it was still much more likely than the truth.

She turned her attention back to the road only to need to swerve to avoid smashing into a tree, the sudden and random swerve causing her to run over Cub, who was playing nearby, his father asleep in front of his newspaper.

Petunia gasped seeing what she did, even though Pop didn't. 'I shouldn't be thinking about these things while I drive.' She chided herself and drove the rest of the way home without losing her attention again.

Once she got home, she tried calling Toothy but the phone just rang and rang. She supposed she should have expected that; he's probably either working or dead at this point in the day.

She hung up the phone and went to bed, too tired to really focus on anything else. She was having nightmares about the trip when she slept. Various different traps the group might have gotten themselves into and while all of them were equally unlikely: she knew the Cursed Idol's motives couldn't have been pure.

"Oh please take care of yourselves." As if to remind her to worry about herself, the Mole's car crashed through her house, flattening the skunk.

Back in the other world, Lifty came running back into the homeless shelter in a better mood then he could ever remember being in. Once he got there, he started looking for Martha.

"Martha, Martha!" He called out, looking around.

"Martha went home," one of the other homeless people told him from their bed.

Lifty turned to see the person dressed in rags not much better than he came into this world wearing. The person had short black hair and no lumps but curiously had skin much darker than his. "She has a house?"

"Of course she does, she's just one of the volunteers here," the native explained. Lifty didn't know the word he used but didn't ask because the way he said it made it seem like a word he should know. "I'm Jerome, by the way."

'Gosh, how do they remember all these random names?' Lifty wondered before introducing himself, "I'm Lifty."

"Lifty, huh, pretty weird name how did you get it? You're not a thief are you?" Jerome asked, unknowingly.

Lifty immediately panicked a bit at the question. "No, I'm not… I mean, not anymore."

"No judgement here, you'd be surprised how many people here have wound up on the wrong side of the law. Desperation does that to people the good thing is you decided to change." Jerome explained, laying down.

"Yeah, well, I came from somewhere that didn't have stuff like this, theft was my only option."

"Then there's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of," Jerome corrected.

"Well…" Lifty hesitated before realizing he was right and only sighed. "If only those I came with saw it that way."

"Well, I think it's their loss. You seem like a pretty cool guy, Lifty."

"Thanks," Lifty said, giving a genuine smile that someone who knows what he used to be was still thinking well of him. "That really means a lot to me."

"It's no problem, Lifty. I get how hard things can get and I couldn't imagine in a country like you must have come from."

Lifty wasn't sure what the word country meant but decided to just go with it. "Yeah, and most of the theft was my brother Shifty's idea anyways. He really didn't want me to leave either, almost killed me trying."

The look on Jerome's face alone told Lifty that, some way or another, death was much more serious here than in Tree Town.