Lumpy sniffled loudly as he lay in his bed. His nose was tickling like crazy. Sniffles stood by his side, looking at Lumpy in worry.

"Lumpy, are you feeling alright?" Sniffles asked.

"No, by dose is ticklidg so buch..." Lumpy replied with another sniffle. "But it just doesd't wadda sdeeze."

"Did you try tickling your nose?"

Lumpy nodded. "Didd't work."

"How about smelling flowers?"

Lumpy nodded. "Dothidg."

"Inhaling pepper?"

Lumpy nodded. "Dot eved a buildup."

Sniffles took a deep breath and sighed to himself.

"Well, I guess there's only one thing I can do. But first, you'll have to come into my lab."

Lumpy got out of bed and slowly walked with Sniffles to his lab. Along the way, Lumpy sniffled constantly and rubbed his nose frequently. When they finally got there, Lumpy sat down in a chair while Sniffles got out his shrinking submarine ship.

"You're godda go id by body?" Lumpy asked in concern.

"I'm afraid so," said Sniffles. "Luckily for you, all I'm gonna do is go into your nose, tickle the insides of your nasal passages and make you sneeze me right out."

"Um... Okay..." Lumpy sounded nervous.

"Don't you worry," Sniffles said with a smile. "This won't hurt a bit, and it won't last long, either."

Sniffles climbed into his submarine ship, turned everything on and pressed the Shrink button on the control panel. He immediately shrunk to a microscopic size, then flew up into the air. He flew over to Lumpy and flew into his nostril. Lumpy cringed and covered his nostrils with his forefinger.

"Ugh, by dose tickles eved bore dow..."

Sniffles flew around in Lumpy's nose, looking for a ticklish spot.

"Hmm, I wonder what part of his nose I should tickle first."

He looked up at the "ceiling" of Lumpy's nasal passages and smiled mischievously. He pressed a button on the control panel. A panel in the ship opened, and a robotic arm holding a long feather came out. The arm wiggled the tip of the feather right on Lumpy's nasal ceiling.

Lumpy's nose twitched and his nostrils flared up. He grit his teeth as he whimpered, still holding his forefinger under his nose.

"That tickles..."

"Hang in there, Lumpy!" Sniffles called as he continued to tickle his nasal ceiling. "And don't hold back the sneeze; just let it go as soon as you feel it coming!"

"Um, if you say so." Lumpy cautiously removed his forefinger from his nose. It was tickling even more than it had been now. He began to inhale, tilting his neck back as his breath hitched.

"Aaaaaah... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh... AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...!"

As he heard his inhales, Sniffles stopped tickling Lumpy's nose and pressed another button. The robotic arm with the feather descended back into the panel they came from, and then the panel closed. Lumpy tilted his neck as far back as he could, nose quivering and nostrils flaring widely, and then it happened.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Lumpy shot his neck forwards as he released an absolutely massive sneeze even for his standards, with a huge amount of spray and snot spitting out of his mouth and nose. And the ship that Sniffles was in came barreling out of his nose. As soon as it landed on the floor, Sniffles pressed the Grow button, causing the ship to return to its normal size. He sighed with relief as he turned off his ship and stepped out.

Lumpy remained in the chair he had been in, sniffling as he rubbed his nose many times with his forefinger. He was glad his nose hadn't started running despite the messy sneeze.

"Gesundheit, Lumpy~!" said Sniffles.

"Thank you..." Lumpy continued to rub his nose.

"Are you feeling any better?" Sniffles wanted to know.

"Yeah, thanks," said Lumpy. "That sneeze was really harsh, though."

"I could tell it was," Sniffles replied. "I'm so sorry, Lumpy."

"It's alright, it still felt really good." Lumpy sniffled.

Sniffles smiled at him in response. "So now that that's out of the way, how about I make some lunch?"

"Sounds good to me."

Lumpy got up, then he and Sniffles went into the kitchen. Lumpy sat at the table as Sniffles made some sandwiches for himself and Lumpy. When they were done, he gave some to Lumpy and sat down with him, having the rest for himself.

Lumpy took a bite of his sandwich and chewed. It tasted good, but it could use some flavor. Lumpy took the pepper shaker at the table, but just as he was about to shake it on his sandwich, Sniffles saw what he was doing.

"Lumpy, wait!" Sniffles said. "That pepper could make you sneeze even harder!"

"Oh, come on, Sniffles!" said Lumpy. "What could possibly happen?"

Lumpy began to shake pepper on the sandwich, but the lid fell off. Pepper flew everywhere, including into Lumpy and Sniffles' faces. With no time to react, they began to inhale.

"Aaaaaah... Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

As Lumpy and Sniffles sneezed massively and in unison, it could be heard from several miles away from Sniffles' house. And during the buildup before the sneeze, Lifty and Shifty just happened to walk by the house, not knowing what was going on. And when Lifty and Sniffles sneezed, the raccoons cringed and embraced in fear immediately. They looked over at Sniffles' house, both of them looking concerned.

"Sounds like someone isn't feeling good," Shifty said to himself.

Lumpy and Sniffles were lucky to have blown all of that pepper away from each other's faces, despite that they both thought it would give them sneezing fits. They sniffled and rubbed their red nose and trunk with their forefingers.

"G-Gesundheit, Lumpy..." Sniffles said weakly.

"You too." Lumpy continued to rub his nose, as did Sniffles. "And sorry about the pepper. I guess we'll have to wait until dinner time..."

"I wasn't that hungry, anyway." Sniffles sighed to himself sadly. What he didn't know, however, was that two of his and Lumpy's closest friends were approaching the front door...

To be continued