The Sneeze Bombs, chapter 1 (HTF)

It started out as a seemingly normal morning in the forest where the Happy Tree Friends lived. Lumpy, who was sleeping in his bed, slowly opened his eyes when the rays from the sunlight reached his face. He sat up in bed, yawning into his hand, before he stepped out of bed and got ready for the day. He expected this to be a day like any other.

However, when he opened the front door and started to step out of his trailer, the first thing he heard were several large and loud sneezes, which happened at almost exactly the same time, followed by several more. Hearing them caught Lumpy off-guard, and they sounded awfully familiar to him. He stepped out of his trailer and looked around, wondering where they were coming from. He didn't see anybody else besides him, but he could hear the sneezes, so he decided to head into the town square to see what was up.

Once he had gotten there, there was a weird surprise waiting for him. The first two people he could recognize were Giggles and Petunia, who were both having reddened noses and were currently in an uncontrollable sneezing fit. Petunia was holding a tissue to her mouth and sneezing into it repeatedly, while Giggles sneezed into her hands several times.

"Haaaah, HAAAAAH... CHOOOOOOOO!!" Petunia released a loud sneeze, and tried her best to keep it feminine, but it sounded like she wasn't even trying. "Ugh, I can't... HAAAAAAAH-CHOOOOOOOOOO!! ...stop sneezing. HAAAAAAAAHHHHHH... CHOOOOOOOO!!"

"Haaaaah-CHYUU!!" Giggles also sneezed loudly, but her sneeze sounded a little cuter than Petunia's, even though it was much louder than the two of them were used to. "Me neither... HaaaaAAAAAH-CHYUUUU!!"

"You girls feeling okay?" Lumpy asked as he went over to Giggles and Petunia.

"We're fine, but... HAH-CHOOOOOOOOOO!!" Petunia sneezed loudly again, making sure to cover her mouth with the tissue she was holding. As she resumed, she started wiping her nose. "...we just can't stop sneezing..."

"I know, but why's that?" Lumpy asked.

"Ah... Haaaaaah..." Giggles inhaled twice, which interrupted Petunia, and then she sneezed right at Lumpy's face. "HAAAAAAH-CHYUUUUU!!!"

Lumpy could feel a small amount of spray landing on his nose. He stood in shock for a moment, and then rubbed the spit off his nose with his hand.

"Oh, that's real nice!" he said, sarcastically, just as Giggles realized what she had just done.

"Oh, my goodness! I am so sorry!" she said as she rubbed her nose on the back of her hand. "I just couldn't help it..."

"We can't really tell you why we're..." Petunia would have finished her sentence, but she needed to sneeze again. "HaaaAAAAAHHHHH..."

At the same time, Giggles needed to sneeze again. "Haaaaah... HAAAAAAAAH..."

Lumpy quickly ran out of the way, and then immediately put his hands to his unseen ears as the girls each released another loud sneeze in unison.

"CHYUUUUUUU!!!"

"CHOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

After the sneezes had finished, Lumpy removed his hands from his head, and sighed to himself in both annoyance and sympathy.

"Oh, my. Petunia, do you have a tissue?" Giggles asked.

"Yeah, but I'm already using it."

"Wow. For a couple of cute girls, you two sure have some un-cute sneezes," Lumpy said under his breath. "But why are they sneezing like that?"

Suddenly, he heard an explosion, and the ground shook. He looked to his side to see a large cloud of black smoke, which eventually cleared to reveal Cuddles and Toothy. Both of them had pre-sneeze expressions on their faces: their eyes were half-closed and watering, while their noses were reddening and twitching, and their nostrils that usually weren't visible were beginning to flare up. Their breaths were beginning to hitch as well. Lumpy gasped in fear - not because they needed to sneeze, but because they had somehow survived the explosion that had just happened - and ran over to them.

"Oh, my gosh! Cuddles, Toothy! Are you okay?!"

Without responding to his question, Cuddles and Toothy began to inhale at the same time. They really needed to sneeze, desperately.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh... Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH..." That was what Cuddles' inhales sounded like.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH..." And that was what Toothy's inhales sounded like.

Lumpy realized what was going to happen, but he was too late to do anything in time.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Cuddles and Toothy both sneezed at the same time, and it was extremely loud and powerful. Lumpy could feel the ground shaking beneath him. He stood with a shocked expression on his face; he just couldn't believe that they could sneeze this loudly. He thought he was the only one who could do that. Before either of them had time to recover, Cuddles and Toothy entered a simultaneous sneezing fit, while Lumpy could only watch. He also started blessing them repeatedly after every time they sneezed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Bless you."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Bless you."

"AAAAAAAHHHHH, AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Bless you."

A few seconds after that, Cuddles and Toothy recovered from the sneezing fit and rubbed their bright red noses; Cuddles did so on his hand, and Toothy did so on his arm.

"What the heck is up with you guys?" Lumpy asked.

"Lumpy, you've got to be careful out here," Toothy said. "We don't know how it happened, but..." Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly inhaled to sneeze again. "AaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-- CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Bless you," Lumpy said.

"...but somebody's dropping Sneeze Bombs all over the forest!" Toothy finished his sentence as he rubbed his nose, again on his arm.

"Sneeze Bombs?" Lumpy raised an eyebrow. He had never heard of the term before.

"Yeah. If you get one of them, you're gonna sneeze," Cuddles said.

"But I don't even know what--" Lumpy didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh... AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH--!" Cuddles inhaled twice, tilted his head backwards and then turned away from Lumpy at the last second. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Bless you," Lumpy said. "So that's why you're sneezing? Because of 'Sneeze Bombs?'"

"Yeah, it pretty much is," Cuddles said as he rubbed his nose on his hand.

"But I don't even know what a Sneeze Bomb is," Lumpy said.

"He just told you. When you catch one, you're gonna sneeze pretty fast," Toothy said. "And when you do catch one, you better get rid of it, and fast." Barely a second after he finished saying that, he needed to sneeze again. "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--!"

Lumpy immediately moved out of the way before Toothy sneezed again.

"CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"So that's why everybody's sneezing..." Lumpy said to himself as Toothy rubbed his nose on his forefinger. "But I still don't really know what a Sneeze Bomb is. What do they even look like?"

Lumpy then walked away, trying to figure out what was going on. All around him, he heard people sneezing loudly and constantly, but he ignored most of them as much as he could. When he heard another explosion, he looked up to see another cloud of smoke, but when this cloud cleared, Flaky remained. Her nose had turned a brighter red than the rest of her body was, and she needed to sneeze.

"Haaaaaaaahhhhhhh..." She inhaled once, and then shoved a forefinger under her nose, but the sneeze was going to happen, and she continued to inhale. Even though her eyes were watering, she could still see Lumpy, and she hoped that he would be able to stop her from sneezing. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..."

Lumpy immediately ran over to her, but the reason wasn't what she expected it to be.

"Flaky, can I ask you something?"

Flaky responded by tilting her head back, taking a final inhale and bringing up her hands to sneeze into.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Flaky released an uncharacteristically loud sneeze, something that she wasn't used to. Again, Lumpy could feel the ground shaking beneath him from the sneeze. Flaky removed her hands and rubbed her nose on her forefinger. She just had to do that every time she sneezed, because she thought it was cute.

"Bless you," Lumpy said.

"I'm so sorry, Lumpy. What is it?" she asked, still rubbing her nose.

"Cuddles and Toothy warned me about the Sneeze Bombs, but I don't know anything about them. Do you?" Lumpy asked.

Flaky wanted to respond, but she couldn't because she needed to sneeze again. She didn't even have time to warn Lumpy.

"HaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"I don't know anything, but I just had one blow up on me..." she said as she rubbed her nose, again on her forefinger.

"Really? I didn't see it!" Lumpy responded. "Maybe I should get one of those, whatever they are."

He then started to walk away, while Flaky prepared to sneeze a few more times.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaah... AaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

"Lumpy, please don't get one of those," Flaky begged to herself as she rubbed her nose on her forefinger. "Or you're gonna end up just like us."

Even after what his friends had told him, Lumpy was just too stubborn to actually understand what was going on. But it was only a short time after his encounter with Flaky before an unfortunate event happened and led him under the Sneeze Bombs' effects. He absentmindedly looked up at the sky, only to find an object falling from it. The object started to increase in size; it looked like a missile, but it was actually a Sneeze Bomb. Lumpy couldn't recognize what it was, however, but he quickly realized that it was about to drop onto him. He quickly moved out of the way, and the Sneeze Bomb landed on the ground without exploding. Lumpy looked at the object in curiosity, not knowing what it was. He walked up to it, picked it up with both of his hands and looked at it a little more.

"Hey, what's this?" he asked himself. He must have been a complete idiot if he asked that without guessing what it was. "I've never seen it before."

A faint sniffling sound could be heard from the Sneeze Bomb as Lumpy continued to wonder what it was. It was then that he heard a familiar voice.

"Never fear! Splendid is here!"

To Lumpy's surprise, Splendid was hovering over the top of a hill in the distance, and doing a heroic pose. He started to fly down to earth, but lost his balance along the way and tumbled to the ground, landing right in front of Lumpy. The ditzy moose cringed as he heard a crash, along with a brief scream from Splendid.

"Oh, hey, Splendid," Lumpy greeted him. To the Super Squirrel's slight dismay, Lumpy seemed to be completely unaware of what was going to happen. "I got this thing, and I don't know what it does. Do you know what it does?"

Without saying a word, Splendid got up from where he had landed. He noticed Flaky approaching him and standing next to Lumpy; she probably didn't expect Splendid's arrival, either. But he didn't want to pay any attention to that - he had a disaster to prevent. Splendid pressed one of the buttons on his utility belt, which proceeded to release a sneeze-bomb-catcher, which was actually a large bell, from itself. Lumpy and Flaky had barely enough time to react before the sneeze-bomb-catcher trapped Lumpy under itself.

"Hey! What are you trying to do?!"

Right after Lumpy had finished asking that, the sneeze-bomb-catcher suddenly shook. The Sneeze Bomb had exploded under it, but Lumpy didn't feel any pain. However, a second after the stifled explosion occurred, Lumpy could feel the effects of the Sneeze Bomb beginning. His snout was reddening and twitching; his nostrils were flaring up, and he could feel his eyes watering. He desperately needed to sneeze, and he just couldn't hold it back. He had to let it defeat him. Flaky and Splendid both looked on in a mix of curiosity and confusion until they heard him inhaling.

"Aaahhh... AaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH...!"

They couldn't see it, but Lumpy tilted his neck backward as he inhaled twice. Flaky almost immediately realized what was going to happen, and with a look of fear on her face, she ran away from the scene. Splendid, however, seemed to be completely clueless, as he stayed where he was with a confused look on his face. As Lumpy got close to the release, the sneeze-bomb-catcher suddenly shrunk to a smaller size, and Splendid bent over to inspect it.

Needless to say, that wasn't a good idea.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Lumpy released a huge and loud sneeze that was loud enough to cause the ground to shake. It was also powerful enough to launch the sneeze-bomb-catcher right off of the ground, like a rocket, and powerful enough to blow Splendid out of the way. Where the sneeze-bomb-catcher used to be, there was a crater where Lumpy was inside. He started to rub his nose on his forefinger, but he didn't have enough time to do that, because he still needed to sneeze.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH... CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

The crater shook violently as Lumpy released an equally loud, but nowhere near as powerful, triple-sneeze. After that, he finally got a chance to rub his nose on his forefinger, but he only had a few seconds to do so, because his nose still itched tremendously. Flaky and Splendid started to approach the crater, both of them thinking that the sneezes were over. They tried to look into the crater and see if Lumpy was okay, but he released yet another sneeze.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

This sneeze caused both of them to cringe in fear. Lumpy rubbed his nose on his forefinger, but could only do it for about two seconds because the Sneeze Bomb's effects were about to kick in again. Flaky decided to help Lumpy out of the crater, gently holding onto one of his antlers and pulling him upward.

"Um, I'll help you, Lumpy," she said.

Lumpy would have climbed out of the crater by himself, but he still had to sneeze. He took yet another dramatic inhale, and this time, Splendid put his fingers to his ears as he waited for the sneeze to escape.

"AaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Flaky immediately let go of Lumpy's antler as the sneeze caught her off-guard. A split second after the sneeze had finished, Lumpy recovered, and Splendid removed his fingers from his ears. Thinking he was done sneezing, Lumpy sniffled audibly and rubbed his completely red nose on his forefinger for a few seconds. He kept his finger under his nose as he looked at Splendid in irritation. Splendid tried his best to be innocent, hoping that Lumpy didn't blame him for making him sneeze.

"I guess my sneeze-bomb-catcher went a... little off-course," Splendid said.

Lumpy removed his finger from his nostrils and sneezed again. This was a more normal sneeze this time, especially in comparison to his usual loud sneezes, let alone the sneezes that he had just released, but it was still kind of loud. "AHHH-CHOO!" Lumpy put his finger back under his nostrils. "A little off-course?! Are you a..." He again removed his finger from the end of his snout and sneezed again. "AH-CHOOOO!" He then reapplied his finger to his nostrils, which were now completely satisfied. He still rubbed them, however, and he just didn't want to stop. "...schmo or what? You made me lose that thing I had!"

"Um, actually, Lumpy..." Flaky tried to state her best guess as to why Splendid arrived in the first place, and why Lumpy lost what he had before his sneezing fit. "I think that thing you just lost was what Splendid was trying to protect you from."

Splendid nodded once. "Exactly. That was a Sneeze Bomb. Soon after it ended up with you, it exploded, which caused you to sneeze."

Lumpy looked at both of his friends in bewilderment, his finger still under his nose.

"Why didn't you guys tell me that would happen?"

Splendid and Flaky could only look at each other, both with a slight look of dismay on their faces. Sometimes Lumpy was just too stupid. But at least the sneezing fit was over. Lumpy climbed out of the crater as he sniffled a few times.

"Oh, Lumpy, your nose is all red," Flaky pointed out, sounding sympathetic.

"Yeah, I know," Lumpy said with another sniffle. "I'm not feeling so good."

"I think you should go back inside for a while," Flaky said. "Or the bombs are gonna keep making you sneeze like that."

"But I still gotta figure out who's dropping them and stop them," Lumpy said.

"Don't worry about that, Lumpy. I'll take care of that for you," Splendid reassured him.

Lumpy understood and walked away with Flaky. Lumpy didn't quite understand as much about the Sneeze Bombs as he wanted, but he now knew they were something to watch out for.

To be continued