This Ain’t a Sneeze Fest, the story
The day of Sara's birthday had finally come. But what the Happy Tree Friends didn't realize was that they had to deal with a sneezy situation first...
"Happy Birthday, Sara!!" Lumpy said as he was holding a cake with some lit candles on it. "I brought cake! Wanna throw a party?"
"I have the games! Sneezy and tickly games, of course!" Nutty said as he giggled with excitement.
"I made a special sneezing powder!" said Sniffles.
"Uh, all the HTFs are here.... I guess..." Flaky replied.
Lumpy smiled widely as he listened to them. "And, we all have gifts! ^^" said Lumpy.
Instead of responding, however, Sara let out one of the loudest and messiest sneezes Lumpy and the others had ever seen and heard. She could only assume it was because of him saying "Happy Birthday, Sara!!" the way he did.
"EEEEEEEEEETTTTSSSSHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
"Whoa!!!" said Lumpy as he cringed in surprise, the cake in his hands almost cringing with him.
"Uuuugghhhh!!!" Sara groaned very audibly as she rubbed her nose, which was a deep red and dripping with green snot, with her forefinger.
"A-Are you okay??" Lumpy asked, very concerned. Now that he had seen Sara sneeze the way she did, every fiber of excitement in his body had faded away. He put the cake down on the table close to him, not wanting the cake to get ruined from Sara's sneezing.
"No!!" Sara replied with a loud sniffle.
"Oh my!!" Lumpy said in worry. He didn't think anything like this was going to happen. He had so many questions in his mind right now. Why on Earth did Sara sneeze so massively? Did something make her do that? Now that he thought of that, why was she looking so sick and miserable?
Sara sniffled loudly again. "Ughh...!" She could hear Lumpy gasp as she did so. By the time she had sniffled again, Lumpy had already gained that "?!" look on his face. Sara then looked over at Sniffles. The anteater had heard the sneeze and was quite a bit worried himself.
"I... I don't feel good..." Sara mentioned with a very sad frown on her face.
Sniffles frowned as well. He probably didn't expect Sara to feel so awful, either. "Oh... would you like me to try and make a remedy?"
"No." Sara sniffled again. She wouldn't admit this to Sniffles or anybody else, but she would personally would rather stay like this than be forced to celebrate her birthday with those annoying raccoons, deal with the stupid shenanigans of Splendont, either lose the games and get taunted for it or win the games and flip out for not getting a big enough prize, have to eat that cake... ESPECIALLY have to eat that cake. She didn't hate it, but she was extremely afraid of the large amount of calories that would probably make her dangerously ill, so there was that...
"...oh" Sniffles said in response.
Sara then lay down like a cat, sniffling constantly. She felt absolutely miserable. Perhaps she had come down with the flu; it couldn't have been a cold. It was worse than a cold. Sniffles walked up to her.
"...oh, my...!" said Sniffles.
"AAAASHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Sara sneezed again, and then rubbed her snot-covered nose with her forefinger, sniffling.
Sniffles jumped once he heard the sneeze. "-eep!"
"Uuuugh..." Sara sniffled once again.
Sniffles was going to bless her, but before he could, he sneezed out of nowhere. "..Ecchy~!"
"What the hell...?!" Sara said in complete disbelief.
Sniffles then sneezed two more times, doubling over with each sneeze. "Achyu! Hah-chyu!"
Sara cringed from hearing Sniffles sneeze like that. It sounded to her like he was coming down with something - probably the same flu-like sneezing illness that she thought she had.
"Ugh!" Sniffles rubbed his trunk. "...wha...why'd I sneeze??"
"I thought you were getting sick, too..." Sara pointed out.
Sniffles gave a sniffle in response and then sneezed quietly again. "Ecchyu! Eh-chyiu!"
"Yeah, I think you're getting sick," said Sara.
"Bu...bu..but- Ahh-chyyyiiew!" Sniffles released yet another sneeze.
"Either that, or it’s your own sneezing powder," Sara added.
Sniffles then rubbed his trunk with both his hands in a cute way. Sara couldn't help but blush and giggle as he did that, since she agreed that it looked cute. The tickle in his nose not satisfied, Sniffles sneezed two more times, almost inaudibly the first time.
"Sniffles, are you feeling okay?" Sara asked in concern as she sniffled.
"My trunk tickles!!" Sniffles rubbed his trunk again with his hands, trying to stop the itch.
"I know that, but do you know why?"
"N-no! Eh- Hah--" As Sniffles inhaled to sneeze again, Lumpy felt an identical tickle in his nose. He needed to sneeze as well, and so, he began to inhale.
Once Sara had realized Lumpy was going to sneeze, too, she ducked down to avoid being sprayed.
"Eh-CHYIIIEW!!!" Sniffles doubled over as he sneezed.
"AHCHOOOOOO!!" Lumpy also sent his upper body forwards as he sneezed. It was the sneeze that Sara considered to be long overdue, that he should have released as soon as he said, "Happy Birthday, Sara!!"
Sara cringed as her friends sneezed, and then she looked on in concern as they both released two more sneezes.
"Ehh-chyiu! Ecchyii!" Sniffles released two more of his quiet sneezes.
"Ha-'kshhh! Ahchhhhoooo!!!" Lumpy let out two audible sneezes, one uncharacteristically realistic, the other his usual exaggerated sneeze. Sara winced from hearing the first sneeze.
"Why did that almost sound like a real sneeze?!" Sara thought to herself.
Lumpy and Sniffles caught their breaths as they briefly recovered from their sneeze attacks. Lumpy rubbed his nose with his forefinger, while Sniffles rubbed his trunk, whining. Sara looked at them in concern.
"Thanks..." they both thanked her.
"You feeling alright?" Sara wanted to know.
"Not really." Lumpy shook his head.
Sniffles whimpered. "N-no...!!"
"I bet there's a cold going on around here," Sara stated. For some reason, she was feeling better than she had been before Sniffles' and Lumpy's sneezing started; was it because they had caught her "illness?"
"But how is it spreading so quickly?" Splendid asked. He flew to where Lumpy and Sniffles were, but as soon as he did, he felt a light tickle inside his nose.
"Somebody has never watched Contagion," said Sara. She hadn't seen the movie, but she had heard about it, as well as the fact that it was about an extremely catching virus.
"Wha-(sniff) What do you me- ah..." Splendid inhaled, about to sneeze. At this point, Sara had already realized that now wasn't the best time to compare that movie to this situation.
"Yeah, we'll talk about this later," Sara said.
"Ah... hah-!!" Splendid tilted his upper body back as he inhaled. Sara then plugged her ears, and then he exploded with the sneeze. "AH-'KCHOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
Sara cringed again as she heard the sneeze. "Gesundheit," she said to Splendid.
"Um, thanks, and excuse me," the Super Squirrel replied as he rubbed his nose.
Then, to his and Sara's dismay, they both heard Splendont chuckling at his twin's misfortune. Sara looked at him, not amused.
"What? It's funny!" Splendont said, but Sara didn't think so.
Just then, Sara got an idea, took Splendon't arm and brought him over to Lumpy and Sniffles. Sniffles probably still had to sneeze, and what were the chances that Lumpy wasn't going to sneeze again? They had to be pretty low.
"What are you do... hah-AAAH-" Splendont couldn't finish his question, as he was also going to sneeze.
"Giving what you deserve." Sara giggled cutely.
"AHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOO!!!!" Splendont doubled over as he sneezed loudly, with Sara looking on in amusement.
"Oh dear!! Gesundheit, Splendont!" Splendid said in response to the sneeze.
Splendont rubbed his nose, not wanting to hear the blessing. "Sh-shut up!!"
Sara couldn't help but giggle, but this was because of Splendont's sneeze and nose-rubbing rather than what he had said. Not long afterward, Lumpy sneezed again.
Just hearing the sneeze caused Sara to giggle even louder. She absolutely adored the sound of Lumpy's sneezes, and in her mind, he deserved this for saying those words the way he did at the beginning.
"Ahh-" Sniffles inhaled as he was going to sneeze again, while Lumpy rubbed his nose. When Sara heard the inhale, she quickly backed up so that he wouldn't sneeze on her. And then the anteater released. "Ehchyyyiiiu!"
Sara looked at him in concern after he had released the sneeze. She wasn't feeling sick anymore for some reason, and she had to state that. "I'm not sure why I'm not sneezing, too."
Giggles walked over to where Sara, Lumpy and Sniffles were. "I have no idea what this...-AH!!" A desperate gasp suddenly slipped out of the chipmunk. She was going to sneeze. Sara immediately looked at her in concern.
"AAH-CHEWWW!" Giggles sneezed audibly, but surprisingly without any snot coming out of her nose.
"Cute!" Sara said with a giggle.
"Thanks..." Giggles was rubbing her nose. Lammy then walked up to her.
"I don't get it, whatever's happeni-aaahh-" she inhaled.
Sara looked on, not knowing whether to be concerned or intrigued. "I can't remember the last time I saw Lammy sneeze..." she thought to herself just before Lammy exploded.
Sara cringed from the loud sneeze. It didn't sound very girly in her opinion. "Dang it, I expected a frickin' Zipzee sneeze..." Sara thought.
Lammy rubbed her nose. "What the ever-living...?!!"
"There MUST be a scientific explanation behind this, right Sniffles?!" Toothy asked as he walked up to Sniffles. But as soon as he did, the beaver felt a particularly strong tickle in his nose, and he knew that he was going to sneeze. "Oh, no!! Hah... AAAHHH--"
Sara looked on in partial concern and partial excitement.
"AH-CHOOOOO!!!!!" Toothy doubled over as he sneezed.
"Cute!" Sara said as she giggled again.
Toothy rubbed his nose with his arm. "Thanks.. ughh!"
Close to him, Nutty saw what he thought was a lollipop - in reality, it was just a rock - and jittered there. But when he did, he suddenly inhaled as his nose twitched.
Sara grabbed onto Nutty and pulled him away from the rock. "Nutty, that's not what you think it is!"
Nutty heard her, but was too late to respond, as the sneeze exploded from him. "HAHCHUUUUUUU!!!!!!!"
As soon as Nutty released the sneeze, Sara cringed and let go of Nutty. The squirrel then rubbed his nose as Handy walked up to him.
"Silly ol' squirrel, that's just a rock, ya sil-HAH---AH!!!" Handy was interrupted by the sudden urge to sneeze. Hearing his inhales, Sara gasped, ran up to Handy and placed her forefinger directly underneath his nose. "AH-HAH-"
Despite that her attempt to stop the sneeze wasn't working, Sara still tried to help Handy hold back his sneeze. She didn't want to hear him sneeze, because she knew he wouldn't rub his nose afterward and she hated that.
"AH---AAAH-" Handy continued to inhale, not knowing how much longer he could last.
Sara finally realized Handy couldn't hold back this sneeze anymore, so she changed her mind and decided to let him sneeze. She pulled her forefinger away from his nose, and not long afterwards, Handy exploded.
Sara cringed as she heard the sneeze.
"Uh ... can someone rub my nose...?" Handy then asked.
Feeling bad for him, Sara immediately obliged and rubbed Handy's nose for him.
"(sniff) thanks..." said Handy.
After Sara finished rubbing Handy's nose, Disco Bear looked over at Giggles and tried to flirt with her.
"Hey baby, I--ahh-HAH-" But he didn't even finish what he was going to say, as he was interrupted by the sudden urge to sneeze.
Sara looked over at Disco Bear and realized that he was about to sneeze, but she had no idea what to think. Of all of the Happy Tree Friends characters that she wanted to see sneeze, Disco Bear - DB as she called him - wasn't one of them. She had a feeling that this was going to be one of the most awkward things that ever existed, if not unintentionally hilarious.
"WHAT." Sara couldn't say anything more than that. Her eyes were wide and her pupils shrunken in complete disbelief and debatable confusion. It was then that she heard the sneeze of Disco Bear.
"AAAAHHHH---CHUUOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
"NOPE. NOPE." Sara turned away from Disco Bear after he had released his sneeze. She didn't get to see him rubbing his nose, but she didn't care. She couldn't believe what she had seen, let alone heard. If that was how he sneezed, she would absolutely hate to see him get sick, have an allergy or otherwise wind up in any sneeze-related situation one could think of. Luckily, Sara finally came back to her senses when Russell walked up to her.
"What's wrong, lass? ...AAAH-" Less than two seconds after he had asked that, Russell was already about to sneeze as well. Not realizing at first, Sara took a deep breath to calm down and then answered.
"Oh, nothing. Except I never wanted to hear DB sneeze..." Sara sweated a little as she blushed.
"Oh, I s--AH-CHYAAAH!!!!" Russell released his sneeze, causing Sara to cringe from how abrupt it was. Russell then sniffled as he rubbed his nose with his non-hooked hand. "...yargh...."
"Oh, no! Russell!!" Flippy walked over to Russell out of concern. "Are you alr--aaahhh-iight?"
Sara immediately realized, judging by Flippy's inhale, that he was going to sneeze. She gasped and backed up quickly just before he released.
Sara cringed as she plugged her ears for a brief moment. Flippy then recovered and rubbed his nose.
"This is truly bizarre!!" Flippy commented.
"I...I..." Flaky tried to say something in response, but she couldn't go much further than that.
"Yeah, this is weird," Sara replied to Flippy. "I hope Sniffles figures it out soon..."
Just then, Sniffles cried, "O-Oh no!!!"
"What’s wrong?!" Sara immediately wanted to know.
"I...I think I've figured it out!!!" said Sniffles, sounding like he was in a panic. "S-someone spread a substance here that... will make anyone sneeze.... forever!!! It works on superheroes as well!!!"
Sara was in major disbelief. The mystery as to why everyone was sneezing so much finally made sense. "Oh. My God!"
Sniffles then sneezed again. "EHCHYIU!!"
"But who could have done this?!" Sara looked around, trying to find a possible victim.
Sniffles rubbed his trunk. "M-Maybe..." Just then, he saw a familiar anthill, and the worst possible thought came into his mind. "....oh no!!! Not them again!!!"
Sara facepalmed in dismay. She knew what he was implying - that the ants were responsible for all of the sneezing that everyone was doing.
"Wh-whats wrong, laddy?" Russell asked as he rubbed his nose, sniffling audibly.
"I've been involved in these situations before," said Sara. It's almost always going to be the Ants that cause them..."
"Ants?" Lammy couldn't believe it. "Are you serious?? Not judging or anythin' but.... Ants??"
"Girl, weren't you the one who's pickle 'friend' almost destroyed a town?!" Splendont asked in response, and then sniffled loudly.
"Oh.." Lammy sweated a little, and then sneezed again. "AH-CHOOOOOO!!!!" She then rubbed her nose. "Are those ants so bad??"
"B-believe me... they've done worse....." Sniffles managed to say before he sneezed again. "HEH--CHYIIIIEWW!!!"
"Indeed," Sara agreed. "But this is pretty bad, too."
Sniffles rubbed his nose. "Not as bad as what they did before, but -ECHYIUUUU!!" He rubbed his trunk again, sighing in annoyance. At this rate, he and the others were probably going to sneeze forever.
To be continued... God knows when, however. :(