He sat in the large oak tree overlooking her modest home. He had been doing this for awhile now. Though it was unknown why. Even Flippy didn't know. He wanted to speak with her, and at the same time he wanted to drive his knife straight through her chest.

"Let's go." The voice in his mind mumbled. "Let's just leave. You won't kill her anyway." The voice pleaded weakly. He sighed. It was true. Despite the fact he was… insane… Evil… Monstorus… He couldn't bring himself to kill her.

He leapt off of the tall tree and proceeded into the woods.

The enchanted, ancient artifact dangling around his neck.

"I'm going to explore with Splendid, dad!" Flaky called out, tying up her shoes and putting on a baseball cap. "Be careful!" her dad cried. Flaky laughed, "C'mon, dad! I'm 17!" she called back, giggling.

She grabbed a big backpack and put the basic adventuring necessities in. Water, food, flashlights, blankets, and of course, candy! She zipped up the backpack and threw it over her shoulder. She zoomed down the stairs at super-porcupine speed, and ran out the door.

"I love you, dad! Bye!" She called out, before slamming the door. She walked for a while toward Splendid's house before she heard a voice call out.

Flaky turned toward the voice. "Took you long enough!" a blue flying squirrel laughed. "Splendid!" Flaky had been best friends with Splendid for as long as she could remember. After all, they were neighbours.

"Where do you wanna go today, Splendid? We could go to the meadow, the lake-"

"We're going into the forest."

Flaky gasped. "We… We can't! You know what our parents say about that place…" Flaky stuttered.

"C'mon, Flaky! It couldn't possibly be that bad. There are no such things as curses." He mocked, wiggling his fingers about making fake ghost noises.

Flaky sighed. Splendid sure is sarcastic. She thought. Suddenly it occurred to her mind to think about the curse, and she allowed herself to get lost in a flashback.

She was 15 during the time.

"Flaky."

"Yes, dad?"

"I never want you to enter that forest."

"But… Why…? You tell me this all the time."

"It is dangerous."

Flaky raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "In what way? I want an answer." she asked, obviously irate. She and Splendid used to play around the forest all the time.

"There are many things not right about that forest, Flaky. It is cursed,"

Flaky sustained a laugh. "Cursed?"

"It was a very cold winter, and you were two weeks old, Flaky. Your mother had gone to gather firewood for her friend who had broken a leg. Your mother was very generous, Flaky… And brave. I warned her not to go, but she wouldn't listen.

I had thought better of it and ran after her. I entered the forest and called her name. I couldn't see her anywhere. I suddenly heard the sound of a large fire burning in the distance, and clouds of black smoked formed above the tree tops.

I curiously followed the sound. I saw a large bonfire, and I could see many animals standing around it. I hid behind a shrub.

More animals entered, they were carrying a large metal chest. I curiously watched on in awe. They threw the chest onto the fire and one animal started to read from a large, black book."

Flaky's dad wiped his forehead, as if he were still standing near that fire. His eyes glistened with fresh tears. He waited a few minutes before continuing. Flaky patiently waited, no matter how ridiculous this sounded.

"When they had finished and left. I walked over to the dying bonfire and stared at the red hot chest. I used my shirt to open the top without burning myself…I won't say what I saw in that chest, Flaky… I couldn't…"

Flaky got curious.

"I won't be afraid, dad, please." She begged. "I have the right to know."

Her dad nodded. "I know you do."

He stood up and strolled over to the mantle above the fireplace. He relinquished a small ornately decorated box, and sat down. "I saw bones and ashes. And amidst those ashes… your mother's quills and ring." He choked, and put his head in his hands.

He sobbed for a while before gaining enough strength to open the box. He slowly lifted the top and pulled out a shining golden ring adorned with a big, blue jade. He slipped it slowly onto Flaky's finger.

It fit perfectly.

Flaky swallowed hard. She felt as if she had been punched in the stomach.

"That… is why, Flaky… I never want you to entering that forest. No one comes out once they've entered. Save for me, which is a mystery... I'll never quite get." He said, sternly.

"Earth to Flaky! Hello…!"

Flaky shook her head and was brought back to reality. She gazed at the ring on her finger. Splendid had been shaking a hand in front of her face.

"It's about time you snapped back to reality! What was that all about?"

Flaky swallowed. "I'm not going in there." She whispered.

"Fine. If that's what you want." He sighed. "But I for one think that the whole "curse" was made up by our parents to keep us with them as "their little babies". Well, I wanna do something for once. All we do in this 5 house town is sit around all day.

I want adventure. We've been everywhere. Seen everything here. Now are you in, or out?"

Flaky took a hesitant step back.

"Suit yourself, Flaky. I'll be back." And with that, Splendid disappeared into the forest. Flaky felt a lump form in her throat. She blinked back angry tears and marched back into her house. She threw the backpack onto the floor and stormed into her room.

It was small, but cozy. She looked out the big window. The sun was creeping down over the distant city. Its golden rays replaced by the dark night. The city was about 30 miles away, and its beautiful lights could be seen perfectly from her window.

Flaky often dreamt of living in the citty. A big one like that. Her thoughts were instantly interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in." she said, dreamily. Her father walked in and stood next to her. For a while they said nothing. They just enjoyed each other's presence.

"Flaky. I love you." Her father said at last, his voice but a whisper. He turned to her. "You look so much like your mother." Flaky smiled. It always made her proud, no matter how many times her father told her that... Even though Flaky didn't remember her mother.

She knew she had inherited her red fur, instead of her father's lavender fur.

Unfortunately she inherited his dry scalp. Her father squoze her hand gently, before leaving the room. "I also believe this is yours." He added, placing her backpack on the floor.

Soon enough, Flaky was alone again. She was about to go to sleep when she remembered something. Splendid! He hasn't come back, yet! She thought. She ran towards the door to leave, but realized that she couldn't leave the house with her dad still up.

He'd kill her! And she certainly couldn't wait for him to sleep. Splendid might not have enough time! She couldn't let him become like her mother…

Flaky took a big gulp and opened the window. She stuck one hesitant leg out, then the other, to where she was sitting on the edge. She looked down. It was a good 18 feet up.

She looked at the large oak outside of her window, and grabbed onto one of the large branches. Getting a good grip, she swung off the ledge and dangled there for a while. Her heart began to race as she looked for another branch to grab onto.

Upon finding none, Flaky could feel her heart beating fearfully in her chest. She held on for dear life as she looked for a suitable branch. Unfortunately, she couldn't hold on any longer, and the tree's bark was cutting her hands.

No matter how hard she held on, her hands were starting to slip more and more each second.

With a startled scream, the poor porcupine collided with the earth below her, her skull made contact with a sharp rock, causing it to make a sickening crunch.

Flaky could feel her arm make a ghastly popping sound as it lost contact with its socket and hung limply at her side. She groaned in pain, and felt the world grow fuzzy around her.

When she started to feel herself lose contact with consciousness, strong arms wrapped around her. With them came a mysterious strength that permeated within her. She thought of her father and allowed herself to drift into sleep.

"How is she…?"

"She's alive."

"Good."

"Who should we take?"

"It doesn't really matter. Any one. Before she dies. Let's hurry."

"Don't worry. I have him."

"...Well... I suppose he'll do."

Flaky heard footsteps hurry off and she lost consciousness with the world once again.

"Hey." A voice whispered. Flaky groaned. "You ok?" it came again. "Wake up."

Flaky opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings, she lay on a purple bed; and staring her in the eyes was a purple beaver.

"Ah! You're up!" the beaver exclaimed happily.

"Um… Where am I?" Flaky asked, looking at her surroundings cautiously.

"You're in Happy Tree Creek." Flaky just stared. "Never heard of it."

The beaver didn't look surprised. "I know. We don't really like people to know." The way the beaver said that made Flaky feel a little queasy and uncomfortable. "I'm Toothy."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Flaky." Toothy smiled, knowingly. "Would you like a tour of the town?"

Flaky nodded, but a thought struck her mind. "Who took me here?" The beaver stopped smiling. "Ah… That would be Flippy." He laughed nervously. "Flippy?" Toothy nodded in an attempt to change the subject.

Flaky quickly sat up. "Wait... How long have I been sleeping!"

"Three days." The beaver said, glad to be off the topic of 'Flippy'.

He started blabbering, nervously. "You would have healed quicker, but it took us a while to find a suitable-"

A green paw wrapped itself around Toothy's mouth. "Shut up!" the animal behind Toothy hissed. "We can't trust her." It whispered.

Unfortunately, Flaky didn't hear, but Toothy did; and he nervously nodded his head. A large green bear walked out from behind the shaking beaver, he stared at Flaky, smiling.

She felt like Jello-O under his gaze. "Ahm… This would be Flippy." Toothy pointed at the bear. Flippy waved. Flaky waved back shyly.

She was suddenly aware of her dandruff. Only she didn't know why; though she was always conscious of the dry flakes littering her quills, she just now wanted to rip them all out.

She slowly placed a pillow on top of her head. Earning a funny look from Toothy, and a hearty laugh from Flippy.

Flippy was muscular, his fur was a lime-green colour, he wore a dark green, camo army jacket, and a green beret sat atop his head, it had a Squadron Leader patch sewn onto the top.

Somehow, he had a guilty air about him. He looked as if he had done something awful.

Toothy suddenly piped up. "Alright! Now how about that tour?" Flaky nodded her head.

The mysterious Flippy had disappeared out of sight.

"When somebody new comes here, we usually have a giant get-together in the park. I called everybody, they'll be here soon." Toothy smiled, and looked at Flaky. Despite the fun she was having, she couldn't help but think about her father and Splendid.

Her father must be worried out of his mind... She couldn't imagine the trouble she'd be in.

"Hey there!" a high-pitched voice called from behind here. She turned around.

There stood a furry pink chipmunk, she had a big red bow on the top of her head, and she wore a red polka-dot summer dress.

Beside the chipmunk stood a smiling yellow rabbit. His pink bunny slippers made Flaky chuckle a bit.

"My name is Giggles! This is Cuddles." The chipmunk said, pointing to the rabbit. He waved excitedly. Flaky smiled at the two. "Hi."

Suddenly, Giggles grabbed her hand and pulled her away. "Let's go meet the other animals, Flaky! Every one' here now!" Flaky smiled happily to herself.

She already felt at home.

A large group of animals sat around in a big circle. "Alright, Flaky. To help you get to know every one, we're gonna play the Name Game. It's not really a game, but I like calling it that."

The chipmunk giggled before continuing.

"Anyway, everyone says their name and a little somethin' about themselves. Let's start with my BFF Petunia! Take it away, girl!" Giggles said, to a blue skunk.

Petunia smiled proudly. "My name is Petunia, and my BFF is Giggles!" the two girls giggled and started to chat non-stop. The game continued despite the two girls and their chattiness.

Flaky learned about Lumpy, a dopey-looking blue moose, Shifty and Lifty, a couple of green raccoons, there was the Mole, no one knew his name exactly, Sniffles was an ingenious anteater, Handy the construction worker, was an orange amputee beaver,

Disco Bear was a flirty yellow bear with a giant afro, (he made Flaky feel quite uncomfortable), Pop was a stay at home dad, and his son's name was Cub, Nutty was a candy crazed squirrel that wouldn't stop twitching, Mime was… a mime.

And lastly, Flaky found out that Flippy was a war veteran whom fought in the famous W.A.R. He smiled at her, and she could feel a blush creep onto her cheeks.

"Do you have a place to stay, Flaky?" Giggles suddenly asked.

"Well... I'd kind of like to go home."

Giggles went pale. "I-uh… But you just got here!" Flaky stared at Giggles incredulously.

"I've been here for 3 days! I have to see my father." Flaky demanded. Giggles stared at Flaky as if she had grown a thousand pairs of eyes.

"But… But… Wouldn't you like to see Happy Tree Creek some more?"

Flaky started to get angry. "I don't want to stay! I want to go home!" Flaky was getting scared.

A hand was placed on her shoulder, causing her to jump.

"You can't go home, just yet, Flaky. You haven't seen any of Happy Tree Creeks unique landmarks yet! We're "famous" for our unique individuality when it comes to food and culture."

Flaky turned to see Flippy.

"Have fun for a while."

She blushed a bit. "I-I can't…" the shy porcupine suddenly remembered what Splendid had said.

"I wanna do something for once. All we do in this 5 house town is sit around all day. I want adventure."

"I-I suppose I can stay… A little longer…" Flaky stuttered.

The bear smiled. "Perfect. You wouldn't mind staying with Giggles, then?" He put his head a little closer. "And if she annoys you, you can stop by my house." He added playfully, winking. Flaky laughed.

Giggles trotted up to Flaky fearfully. "Ok, Flaky. Let's go." She glared at Flippy, grabbed Flaky's hand and led her away.

Giggles' house was as girly as girly came. Flaky put her backpack down in awe.

Everything in the pink house was… Pink. A bright pink tea set sat inside of a bright pink china cabinet. A table stood in the middle of the room, covered by a bright pink tablecloth; oddly enough, her kitchen was even pinker then the rest of the house.

Flaky couldn't imagine the chipmunk's bedroom. A hot-pink loveseat faced a large flat screen TV.

"You can sleep here for now, if that's ok." Giggles pointed to the sofa. "If you get bored, you can watch the telly for an hour or two. I won't mind. And there are blankets in those cabinets over there."

Flaky nodded and looked outside. All of the pink was overwhelming, and Flaky, being a bit of a tomboy, couldn't stand it much. She sighed.

"Oh... And Flaky?"

"Hm...?"

"Stay away from Flippy for me... Ok?"

Flaky furrowed her brows and turned to Giggles. "But... Why?"

The chipmunk was gone.

Flaky sighed and stared out the window once again.

It was getting dark.

She lay on the cushy sofa. Flaky couldn't sleep… at all. She guessed it was at least 2 O'clock. She thought of all the things that transpired that day. She sighed. Giggles had acted odd when she had asked to go home. Speaking of home, Flaky didn't even know how far

home was. She could be on the other side of the world for all she knew. Flippy was certainly a curious character as well. Only, she didn't understand why every one despised the happy bear. Flippy... She didn't know how he convinced her to stay. But he did.

She then wondered where Splendid was...

Flaky hadn't noticed it before, but now she just thought of it, what was with the weird necklaces everyone was wearing?

This was definitely an odd place…

Happy Tree Creek.

A/N: AGhjxgjsdgjhd! This took a bajillion years to write. A BAJILLION. Anywho. Hmmm... Mysteriouuuusss.

Every thing here in this chapter is VERY important so I hope you payed attention heehee.

What ARE those necklaces? What did happen to Splendid and Flaky's dad? Why should Flaky stay? Why did that happen to Flaky's mother?

All of Flaky's questions will be answered in future chapters. So please stay tuned! 8D

And I know... I hate asking this... It annoys me.

But please review!

I just want to know if this story is any good. ;^; Haha

P.s. I welcome constructive criticism. :'3

Thanks for reading! :D