It was just another morning in the raccoons' apartment. Shifty, the older raccoon, had already gotten up and helped himself to some coffee. However, if there was something unusual he had noticed this morning, it was the fact that his younger brother Lifty hadn't gotten up yet.

"What is taking him...?" Shifty wondered to himself. He looked over at the clock on the wall; it was 8:30 AM.

Shifty got up from the table where he had been sitting and went into the bedroom where he and Lifty slept. He saw that there was something on Lifty's side of the bed - most likely Lifty himself. Shifty sighed to himself in annoyance. This wasn't the first time Lifty hadn't wanted to get up in the morning, but it was another thing for him to not get up before half past eight.

"Lifty?" Shifty asked out loud. "Wake up."

No response from whatever was in the bed. Just a couple of small but audible sniffles as it took whatever remaining covers were on the bed.

Shifty raised an eyebrow, not because of the remaining covers being taken, but because of the sniffling. Was Lifty not feeling so good?

Shifty went over to the bed and started to pull the covers off of Lifty's body. Lifty resisted, however.

"Come on, bro, you gotta get up," said Shifty. "I'm already outta bed, so wouldn't it make sense for you to...?"

"Gyah..." Lifty replied. His voice sounded a little different than it usually did, and as the one who had heard his voice the most, Shifty noticed.

As he finally gave up resisting, Lifty proceeded to remove whatever covers he had from himself, rubbing his eyes as he did so. His eyes had bags underneath them and his nose was a little red, still giving one loud sniffle after another. When he finally saw his brother's face, Shifty's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Uh, Lifty?" Shifty could already tell something was wrong. Perhaps he'd been right about thinking Lifty wasn't feeling well... "You feeling okay?"

"N-no..." Lifty answered, barely audible. He coughed a little, then gave another very audible sniffle. "Ugh..." Just then, his breath started to hitch, as if he was going to sneeze. "Aaaah... Haaaaah-aaaaaah..."

Shifty looked at him questioningly at first, but when he heard Lifty's inhales, he cringed in shock. But before he could do anything, Lifty pulled out a tissue - he either already had one or had gotten one in his sleep, but Shifty couldn't tell - and prepared to sneeze into it. Knowing what was about to happen, Shifty plugged his ears, fearing the worst.

"AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAH..."

But following the final inhale, the urge to sneeze disappeared. Lifty's breath returned to normal as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger. Shifty unplugged his ears, not knowing what had happened.

"What the heck...? What's gotten into you, bro?"

Lifty sniffled loudly in response, then blew his nose loudly. He then groaned as he wiped his nose repeatedly with his tissue. Shifty didn't know why he blew his nose if he didn't sneeze, but he didn't care. The older raccoon simply placed his hand on Lifty's forehead. It felt pretty hot.

"Uh, bro? I think you're getting sick," said Shifty.

"I know." Lifty sniffled again.

Shifty removed his hand. "I'll go take your temperature, I'll be right back."

With that, he turned and walked into the bathroom. On the other hand, Lifty stayed in bed, still sniffling and rubbing his nose with his hand. The urge to sneeze had completely gone away at this point, with no remaining tickle anywhere in or on his nose. He was quite disappointed, actually; he could only imagine how good it would have felt if he had let out the sneeze.

Eventually, Shifty came back with a digital thermometer and stuck it into Lifty's mouth. As they waited, Lifty's sniffling continued. He probably has the sniffles, Shifty thought. Hopefully he didn't catch it from watching some episode where people get sick...

About a minute later, the thermometer beeped. Shifty pulled it out and looked at the reading, with Lifty coughing a little as he did so.

"Yep. You've got a fever," Shifty stated. "It's a hundred and seven, by the way." Suddenly his eyes widened and he looked back at the thermometer. "Whoa, how did it get that high?!"

Lifty sighed in discomfort and lay back down in bed. He sniffled once more. "Shifty... I..." Another sniffle. "I feel absolutely awful..."

"Yeah. I can tell..." Shifty put the thermometer down on the end table. "No wonder you didn't want to get up."

"Aaaah...!" Lifty suddenly inhaled, holding his hand over his mouth and thinking he needed to sneeze again. Knowing what was going to happen, Shifty gasped and ducked down, hoping he would avoid being sprayed. "Haaaaaaaah..."

But again, Lifty didn't sneeze. He stopped inhaling and blinked, trying to regain his boundaries. Shifty stood back up, a bit annoyed. He could've sworn that Lifty was going to sneeze there...

"What's with all the false alarms, bro?" Shifty asked.

"I dunno." Lifty shrugged.

He then sniffled again and reached for the nearby tissue box, which coincidentally (and probably as a joke) had the word "Gesundheit" written on it. But Shifty decided that he should have it closer to him just to be safe, so he went to get it himself. Then, when he turned to Lifty, he saw him releasing a fake sneeze into his hands.

"Aaah-choo!" Lifty wasn't that good at doing fake sneezes, but aside from being uncharacteristically mild, he managed. And then he rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

Shifty was going to tell him "Gesundheit," as he usually did when his brother sneezed, but since the word was already on the box, assuming he didn't have to say it, he decided not to. He handed him the tissues. "Here you go, bro."

"Thanks." The younger raccoon pulled out a tissue and blew his nose again. Upon finishing, Lifty resumed rubbing his nose with his forefinger, sniffling a few times.

Suddenly Shifty realized something. "Wait a minute..." he said to himself. "I think I've had something like this before."

"You have?" Lifty asked.

"Yeah, but I can't put my finger on it," said Shifty. "All I remember was that I had a fever, and I was sniffling a lot, and coughing... Oh, and almost sneezing."

"Except... I forgot what it was called..."

Shifty then looked over at his smartphone, still sitting on the end table on his side of the bed. He unplugged it and picked it up.

"But I think I know someone who can help us," Shifty said.

He opened up the keypad and dialed a number, not noticing as Lifty tried to make himself sneeze, but failed. As the older raccoon waited for an answer, he walked out of the bedroom so Lifty wouldn't interrupt. But Lifty obediently stayed quiet, only sniffling sometimes while listening to Shifty's side of the conversation.

"Hey, Sniffles? It's Shifty. I'm doing alright, except my brother doesn't feel good. I don't know what he has yet, probably the sniffles. You don't mind if I bring him over to your place so you can figure out what's wrong with him, do you? Okay, great. We'll be there in a few minutes. Thanks, bye."

Shifty then hung up and returned to the bedroom. Lifty was rubbing his nose with a tissue.

"You might wanna get out of bed," said Shifty, "we're going to Sniffles' house."

Lifty nodded in understanding, then stepped out of bed. It felt like his legs had fallen asleep, so it was hard for him to get to the door that led to the living room, let alone the front door that led to the outside of the apartment. The whole time he made his way out of the apartment, his sniffling continued. It wouldn't stop.

As the raccoons headed on their way to Sniffles' house, Lifty kept sniffling and rubbing his nose. He sometimes had to sneeze, but never made it beyond the dramatic buildups. As they continued, Shifty got annoyed with how his brother wasn't finishing his sneezes. It wasn't like he had that Antisneeze thing that they'd heard about...

"What is it gonna take to get that sneeze outta you?!" Shifty wanted to know.

"Probably a lot more than this darn sniffles..." Lifty replied, rubbing his ticklish nose. Presumably he was trying to keep himself from needing to sneeze again.

Just then, the wind blew some dust into the raccoons' faces, causing them to wince in surprise. Shifty inhaled and sneezed immediately, while Lifty simply inhaled.

"HUUUH- CHOO!"

"Aaah... Ah, haaaaaaah..."

Shifty groaned a little as he rubbed his nose with his arm. If the dust made me sneeze, he thought, then it will definitely make Lifty sneeze. We're both allergic, aren't we?

Except not even the dust was enough to make Lifty release his sneeze. His breath once again returned to normal, but the tickle in his nose remained. Lifty exhaled through his nose to get the remaining dust out, then rubbed his nose again. Then he and Shifty continued on their way to Sniffles' house, with Shifty sighing to himself in dismay.

When they finally got there, Shifty rang the doorbell. After a couple of minutes had gone by, Sniffles opened the door.

"Oh, hey, guys!" he greeted them.

"Hey, Sniffles," Shifty replied.

Sniffles then looked over at Lifty. He didn't look any better than he did this morning. Sniffles quickly became concerned.

"Oh, my..." Sniffles said. "You don't look like yourself, Lifty." Then he turned to Shifty. "Are you sure you think he has the sniffles? He looks more like he has a bad cold, if you ask me."

"Well, maybe, but aside from sniffling all the time, he's not sneezing," said Shifty. "He keeps being all, 'Ah... Ah... AH...' But then he doesn't sneeze!"

"Hmm..." Sniffles tried to figure out what the problem was.

"Oh, and Sniffles?" Shifty then asked as Lifty sniffled.

"Yeah?"

"I might have had this exact problem before, but I have no idea what it was," Shifty said. "I'm pretty sure it was some sorta virus..."

"I might have to perform a diagnosis," said Sniffles. He took Lifty's hand and led him into the house. "Come on, Lifty, I'll take you to my lab so we can help you."

"Okay..." Lifty responded as he coughed a little into his free hand, not realizing Shifty was following him to make sure he would be okay.

When they finally made it to the lab, Sniffles had Lifty sit down in one of the chairs and felt his forehead. It was still pretty hot.

"Did you take his temperature this morning?" Sniffles asked.

"Yeah," Shifty replied.

"What was it?"

"About a hundred and seven."

"That's not a good sign..." Sniffles said to himself. He pulled out a first aid kit, opened it and pulled out an oral thermometer. "We'll have to see if it's gone up."

He inserted the thermometer into Lifty's mouth. Then, just to make him more comfortable, he wrapped a blanket around his body and placed a hot water bottle on his head in a matter of seconds. Lifty just let him do so, shivering slightly and occasionally rubbing his nose.

After some time, Sniffles said, "I think that's long enough. Are you feeling any better?" He pulled the thermometer out of Lifty's mouth.

"No..." Lifty replied. "Throat hurts... need tissues... can't sneeze..."

Sniffles looked at the reading on the thermometer, with Shifty sympathizing with his poor brother.

"108.5," said Sniffles. "His fever's getting worse."

"Oh, God!" Shifty said in worry. "If it gets any worse, who knows how long he'll have left?!"

"How long I'll have left of what?" Lifty asked. Before he could get a response, he winced as his nose tickled. He needed to sneeze again, and his breath began to hitch. "Haaaah, aaaaaah..."

Despite knowing that Lifty wouldn't actually release the sneeze, Shifty panicked and backed away from him. He motioned for Sniffles to do the same.

"S-Sniffles! Get outta the way!"

Sniffles did as he was told, putting the thermometer aside and plugging his ears. Lifty gave a final inhale and moved both of his hands up to his mouth.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-"

But once again, the itch in his nose subsided and he stopped inhaling. Despite this, however, he faked another sneeze, hoping it would help.

"-Choooo!"

It didn't do much good, but it was a bit satisfying to do anyway. Lifty pulled his hands away from his mouth and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. He could see that Sniffles and Shifty were looking at him in concern.

"Uh, bless me?"

Sniffles went back over to Lifty, pulled out a box of tissues and gave it to him. "Um, Gesundheit."

Lifty kept rubbing his nose, then pulled out a tissue and blew his nose into it. Then he wiped his nose, sniffling constantly.

"Thanks..." said Lifty.

"Are there any other symptoms besides these?" Sniffles wanted to know.

"Probably not," Shifty said.

Sniffles thought long and hard about what the illness was. After some time, it finally hit him.

"Wait a minute. Coughing, fever, sniffling, stuck sneezes..." Sniffles turned to Lifty and Shifty. "I think you're dealing with a case of the Raccoon Sniffles."

"What's that?" Lifty asked with a sniffle.

"It's a bit hard to explain," Sniffles started. "But what I do know is that it's a type of illness that only infects raccoons like yourself. You might as well expect it at least once in your life. Despite the high fever, it's not dangerous, nor is it deadly, and it'll go away in a few days - or less than a day, if you're lucky."

"Any explanation for the stuck sneezes?" Shifty wanted to know.

"Actually, unlike a lot of illnesses out there, this one isn't what's making him sneeze. Rather, his body is trying to expel the virus by making him think he needs to sneeze," said Sniffles. "Except the virus has the ability to manipulate every part of the nasal passages to not sneeze, and that's what causes all the stuck sneezes."

"That being said, he can still sneeze from other irritants, but they have to be used on him when he already needs to sneeze."

As Lifty listened to Sniffles' entire explanation, he kept rubbing his nose.

"The best thing to do is make sure he gets plenty of rest," Sniffles finished, "and he'll be fine."

"Okay, but before we go, you wanna find a way to make him sneeze?" Shifty asked.

"I could use it..." Lifty agreed.

Sniffles smiled at them. "Lucky for you, I have some sneezing powder right here." He pulled out one of his sneezing powders. "But I should warn you, this is absolutely guaranteed to work. Then again, I did make it out of pollen, dust and black pepper, so..."

"Does it matter as long as it makes me sneeze for once?" Lifty asked.

"Well, if you're that desperate..." Sniffles then turned to Shifty. "You might wanna stay out of the way."

Shifty gave a thumbs up, then took a few steps back and plugged his ears.

"You ready, Lifty?" Sniffles asked.

"Yeah, go." Lifty gave another sniffle, then began to sneeze. It had to have been a coincidence that he needed to sneeze right then and there. "Aah... Aaaaaaah..."

With that, Sniffles blew a small amount of sneezing powder into Lifty's face. Lifty's eyes widened and pupils shrunk as his nose twitched and nostrils flared up in irritation. In less than five seconds his breath began to hitch even more as he tilted his upper body back.

"HaaaaaaaaAAAAAH... AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH..."

Knowing what was going to happen - and that this sneeze was the one that was going to come out - Sniffles quickly ran out of the way and plugged his ears. A final inhale later, it finally happened.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH-TTTTTCCCCCHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lifty shot his neck forwards as he released one of the biggest sneezes of his life, with a good amount of spray and mucus spurting out of his mouth and nose. Sniffles and Shifty both cringed from hearing the sneeze as well; neither of them could believe how loud and forceful it was.

Once the sneeze had finally finished, Lifty rubbed his nose with his forefinger repeatedly. He sniffled and sighed with relief. He was feeling much better now that he had got that sneeze out, although he was still feeling sick. Shifty unplugged his ears and walked over to Lifty, looking at him in complete disbelief.

"Wow... Gesundheit," Shifty said.

"Thanks..." Lifty continued to rub his nose, then pulled out a couple of tissues and blew his nose as hard as he could. Then he wiped his nose.

"You alright? I... That was the biggest sneeze I ever heard!" Shifty commented.

"Yeah... but I feel so much better now." Lifty sniffled again.

"Gesundheit, indeed," Sniffles replied as he went over to the raccoons. He was in as much disbelief as Shifty, if not more. "I haven't heard a sneeze like that since the last time I made Lumpy sneeze!"

"Really?"

"Oh, yes, definitely," said Sniffles. "Are you feeling any better, Lifty?"

"So much better." Lifty continued to wipe his nose. "Thanks, Sniffles."

Sniffles smiled at him in response. "Think nothing of it," he said. "Oh, and I should point out, letting out one sneeze won't cure the Raccoon Sniffles."

"It's alright, it was worth it," Lifty replied.

He then got up from the chair, removing his blanket and hot water bottle as he did so.

"You ready to go home, bro?" Shifty asked, with his younger brother nodding in response. Shifty then turned to Sniffles. "Thanks for the advice, Sniffles. We're gonna go now."

Shifty then took Lifty's hand and helped him find his way out of the lab, as well as out of Sniffles' house. Sniffles waved to them as they left.

"Hope you feel better soon!" Sniffles called.

When the raccoons returned home to their apartment, Lifty went back to bed to get some more rest. Shifty stayed by his side, intending to make sure his little brother was as comfortable as possible. As he had been since this morning, Lifty kept sniffling, but it wasn't surprising; his illness was called the Raccoon Sniffles, after all. He had the occasional urge to sneeze that turned out to be a false alarm, but Shifty helped him release them when they were coming on.

"Aaah... Haaaah..." Lifty inhaled as he was about to sneeze again. He held his hand close to his mouth, not realizing that Shifty was trying to help him release the sneeze by tickling his nose with the corner of a tissue. A couple of inhales later, Lifty released the sneeze, making sure to cover his mouth with both hands. "HAAAAAAAHHHHH- CHOOOOOoooooooooooo!"

Despite not being too massive as that one sneeze from Sniffles' sneezing powder, it still felt good to let out. Lifty rubbed his nose cutely with his forefinger, still sniffling.

"Bless ya," said Shifty.

"Thanks..." Lifty replied, both for blessing him and helping him get the sneeze out. He continued to rub his nose, then blew it and wiped it with a tissue.

"You need anything?"

"No, but can I play on the GameCube?" Lifty gestured to the Nintendo GameCube that was sitting close to the only TV the raccoons had in their room.

"Oh, sure." Shifty pulled out a wireless GameCube controller and gave it to Lifty. "What game?"

"Sonic Adventure DX." Lifty kept wiping his nose.

"Don't worry, it's already there," Shifty told him. He switched on the GameCube as Lifty turned on his controller. "I'll go make you some soup, okay?"

"Yes, please..."

With that, Shifty left the bedroom to make his brother's dinner. Now Lifty was all alone, still sniffling and occasionally rubbing his nose as he played his game.

Aside from the stuck sneezes, the Raccoon Sniffles weren't all that bad. Lifty just took them as a chance to relax, and let his brother do all of the work for him. He was still grateful that Shifty was doing this for him, however. Maybe he would do something for him in return when he felt better - as in, stopped sniffling so much.