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The Flattening By: Pent Ghelsburg

Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this work are purely fictional. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is purely coincidental. They are the original and rightful intellectual property of their creators. I use them with permission and respect. Additionally, some characters are depicted as underage and there is minor cartoon violence. There is also some micro-macro content. You have been warned.

"If nothing goes right...

Then try going left!"

-Bugs Bunny

Topsy Turvy...everything is on its head. What seems real may not be so much the case. The trees flow and yet they are still, the wind bristles and yet it remains stagnant. The sun glazes over the horizon and yet the moon seems ready to take its place at any moment. Expecting the unexpected is wholly an everyday activity. Such is the way of things in the toon world, one never truly knows what's going on.

Aleph was a blue wolf who lived in the big city of Toon Town. It was a busy city full of the craziest things you could imagine. Tall buildings dotted the skyline with the largest building having bright shiny letters that read ACME. It was the largest corporation in the world and everyone knew it. It was one of those places that every Toon dreamed to work out because they knew the company was going nowhere quickly.

Aleph lived with his parents and brother in the thralls of the big city. They owned an apartment in one of the many large complexes that dotted the city. As such Aleph and his young friends didn't get much chance to play since there wasn't much space. At 11 years of age, he went to the local Elementary school where he learned the usual school subjects as well as the basic day to day life of being a toon. However, his favorite class by far was drama.

As a member of a high profile family, Aleph was one of those kids who just stood out at school. Always the class clown and seeking attention through silly distractions, he was a nuisance to the teachers who tried to teach him more serious subjects. To say that he took anything for face value, would be nothing short of a farce. He was a chip off the old block of his brother who was just as playful as he was if not more so.

Stormy was 5 years his senior and edging towards the end of his high school academic career. Though had he gone to a traditional school, in the toon world he was considered a success. Just like his father, he was considered a comedian but unlike his younger brother, he wasn't exactly seen as a class clown, instead of going out his way to amuse people when he was out and about. His father was rather proud of the older boy, seeing him as a visage of himself. Even his mother saw him as a spitting image of dad, claiming to her friends that he'd be the heir to the family fortune of fame.

The family was a famous one, the father had his own comedy show which aired every single night. It was so popular that it outdid many of the sporting events, only falling second to the famous Space Bowl which invited the now-infamous Monstars to a basketball game of epic proportions. Every once and awhile the man invited his son on set to let him test his skills in public, eliciting a few laughs here and there. Both knew that there was some work to be done but the father believed his kid had a bright future in the realm of comedy.

One thing that the oldest male wanted his teenage son to do, was to mentor their youngest. Aleph was still a little wayward in his intentions and needed some direction in his life. However, they knew that the youngest wolf looked up to Stormy and so their father used this to his advantage. The older wolf was often tasked with being a mentor to his younger brother. As such, they were rather close and sometimes even inseparable.

One day Aleph came home from school quite upset. His eyes were red with disappointment, though he wasn't exactly crying. His mind was aflutter with what had happened earlier during the day. Today was a test day for his grade and he hadn't done quite as well as he had hoped. It was a test on his ability to reform his body as a whole after being flattened. After several attempts, the instructor had to pump him back up so that he didn't go home as a pancake.

The cub was alone for some time sulking in his room, thinking about what it was he did wrong in order to fail the assessment. What he didn't know was that it was just a matter of practice. It was about 2 hours before his brother came home as he was usually home from the Drama club before his parents returned from work. When Stormy finally came, he did so on his extremely calamitous moped which was colorful and slow. It wasn't the best when it came to transportation as it often stopped and went with loud sputtering noises.

When he arrived, the sound of the scooter was obvious enough. Upon the engine turning off, it made a blaring screech before finally turning off. Normally Aleph would have gotten up to greet his brother, however today he wasn't really in the mood to get up from his scouring disappointment. Stormy skipped off of his moped as it fell to the floor with a slight "boing" noise. The teenage wolf's step resounded with a squishing squeak each time they touched the floor.

The door opened the moment he walked up to it as if were an automatic one. A smile was wide across his face as Stormy was happy to be home. No matter how much he enjoyed the drama, it was always nice to be home. The teen wolf stepped inside and shuffled his shoes off causing them to squeak a bit. His paws were large and having them sprawled out on the soft and comfortable on the fabric of the floor.

Walking inside, Stormy wondered where his brother was. Normally Aleph was waiting for him on the sofa in the living room. Looking over the large piece of furniture, he saw that his brother was missing in action. So he went about looking for him in an effort to make sure he was alright. So the teen made his way towards his brother's room. Aleph's room was back towards the end of the house down a long hallway that never seemed to end.

On some days the hallway was short but on others, it went on forever. Today was one of those days where it looked back and forth like one was inside a funhouse. Stormy was quite annoyed that the house was toying with him as if he were its plaything but he knew better than to show his disapproval of the house might make his travel even more treacherous and long. Eventually, he made it into his brother's room which was much smaller than his own. The younger cub had his head in his hands, seeming quite upset.

"What's wrong?" The older wolf's voice was chipper and jubilant as he always tried to be a positive influence on his brother.

"Nothing...leave me alone." The cub's voice was between broken between sniffling caused by his misery.

"Well, if you don't tell me...then I can't help." Stormy sat on the bed next to his brother and placed his arm over his brother in order to make him feel better.

Aleph continued to be silent for a few moments, sniffling occasionally among his own tears.

"Don't' make me tickle you...I know how to get you to laugh." The older wolf knew full well a tickle attack would make his brother melt in mere moments.

Still, Aleph remained silent and was not cooperating and Stormy was one to live up to his promises. The older wolf reached over and began scrunching his fingers and claws all over the other boy's chests.

"Stop..." The younger wolf knew it wouldn't be long before he would cave into the other boy's whims.

"Nope...not until you tell me what happened." The teen continued his assault of tickling.

It didn't take long before the smaller wolf caved in and erupted in an uproar of laughter.

"Hahahaha! Okay...Okay...Uncle." The cub had always been a sucker for being tickled.

"Now...what happened?" Stormy let up on trying to make the boy laugh.

"I failed the flattening test...I'm not going to be a good toon." Yet again Aleph turned his head down in disappointment.

"Sure, you will. You know when I was younger I didn't succeed on the body re-assembling test or the puddle test." The teen was trying to make his brother feel better about himself.

"Really, you did?" The younger boy's head was guided back up by his brother's paw to meet him eye to eye.

"Yup, sure did. It took me a few times to master it but my Maestro of toned showed me best how to overcome my difficulties. Do you want me to help you out?" Stormy stood straight up and held his arms out in a welcoming position.

"Oh, sure that sounds good." Aleph stood up and immediately his mood improved to a more chipper one.

"Alright, get ready. Watch me first and then you can try and repeat." The older wolf reached into his pocket and pulled out a huge yellow hammer bigger than he was.

"Go ahead, hit me as hard as you can." Stormy handed over the gigantic hammer which surprisingly Aleph was able to lift the tool without any trouble at all.

The cub hoisted the large utensil over his head and then smashed it down with all his might over Stormy's head. All at once the larger fox went from being bigger than the other boy to being flat as a piece of paper. Once Aleph raised the instrument again his brother's body stuck for a moment to the end of it, before slowly falling to the floor back and forth. Within moments a raucous boing sounded before the wolf's body sprouted back into its previous form. It was effortless and his fur seemingly feels back into place as if we're in a fixated position on his body.

"Ta-dah!" Just like before Stormy's arms were held out in a welcoming position.

"Cool! So how did you do it? A simple demonstration wasn't enough for the inexperienced cub.

"Here let me take that and I'll show you how to do it step by step." The teen grabbed the hammer from his brother's hands and hid it back in his pocket as if it were collapsible.

"It's very easy just let yourself go and pretend that you're the balloon. Allow the air to fill yourself back up Want to give it a try?" Stormy asked as he wanted to see exactly where his brother was failing.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot." Aleph felt as if he might fail but he wanted to make his brother proud.

The older wolf reached back into his pocket making the smaller boy believe as if he were pulling the mallet back out. This time he retrieved a small gun that had a very distinguishable red ACME logo on the side.

"Ready?" Stormy pointed the device at the boy ready to fire at any moment.

"Yup." Aleph prepared himself mentally for the ordeal by puffing out his chest proudly.

The teen pulled the trigger as a spiral-shaped laser projected from the tip of the gun. It protracted along at a sluggish pace and Aleph could even track as it got closer and closer to his body.

It took only a moment for the warm beam of light to hit him. Once it did it was warm and caused his body to tremor as it hit him. It made him feel a bit giggly as the sensation as it made his body sizzle with uneasiness. Within moments he began to feel a little bit groggy as the sensation coursed through his body. Slowly but surely the cub watched as the other wolf grew steadily taller. Aleph's black shirt suddenly was becoming loose and hanging below his waistline. What he didn't realize was that he was getting shorter by the second.

Stormy watched as his brother gradually descended smaller and smaller. Aleph's confidence didn't seem to decrease, still intent on making his brother proud. He wasn't entirely sure why he was getting smaller but he was somewhat excited about the prospect of showing off in front of his brother, even if there was the prospect of failure. Soon he was eye level to the middle of the teen's chest, putting him at about half of the size of his brother. All at once it seemed to stop as Stormy stopped holding the trigger in place.

"What now?" The cub had no idea why his brother stopped.

"This..." Stormy pulled out a large red button from his pocket and pressed it.

An alarm went off as a bright red light signaled around in a circle as if there was some emergency taking place. Suddenly a trap door opened overtop the smaller boy and released a humungous boulder overtop his head. In no time it dropped right over the top of him, crushing Aleph into tiny bits. The boy's body extended into a puddle as it retracted against the pressure of the rockslide. Aleph couldn't see straight, all he knew now was darkness.

"Come on now...escape from the boulder and make yourself whole again." Stormy watched looming overtop him.

The cub could hear his brother's voice, although it was muffled. He could barely make out what he was saying. There was no pain, instead, he could only feel the insufferable reality that was now his version of Flat Stanley. He couldn't move, no matter how much he budged his body. Trying with all of his efforts to slip beneath whatever space there was between the bottom of the rock and the floor. He remained this way for several moments before Stormy finally gave way.

His older brother realized that Aleph was struggling and so he decided to help him out. Bending over the teen reached out a single finger and barely touched the rock before it crumbled into tiny bits. Now the pancake pup could make out some light as his eyes began to adjust to the difference in radiance.

"You can do it...just blow up yourself with air." Stormy continued to instruct the cub as if he had overcome the first obstacle without issue.

The boy wanted so badly to imitate the big bad wolf of legend. To huff and puff himself back into existence was all he wanted.

After a few moments of waiting, Stormy knew it wasn't meant to be, so he pulled a broken twig out of his pocket. Looking at it, he wondered if it could serve the task he had engineered for it. Deciding it didn't matter, he made a quick swipe and whacked his brother over the head. Within moments of the strike, Aleph turned back to a more normal state. Though he still only had his size, at least he wasn't flat anymore.

It took a few moments for him to recover. He noticed that each and every time that his body was returned to normal, there was a state of stupefaction. He couldn't think straight and his body was more wobbly than it normally was. His body couldn't' even stand upright for a good couple of seconds before his muscles could work once again as they were supposed to.

"So what did I do wrong that time?" Aleph very badly wanted to correct himself and perfect the art of flattening.

"I don't think you're really equally applying pressure. Even without the rock, I saw no signs of any recovery.

"Would you like to try again?" Stormy put his hands on his sides, intent on seeing his brother through this trying time.

"I guess. Can you show me again though?" The younger wolf was one of those students who learned by example rather than a hands-on approach.

"Sure. No problem. I got a different trick to show you this time." The older male extended his arms in an angle to present a proud demeanor.

Stormy took his left paw and extended it over his head so that it was barely gliding over his head fur. Suddenly it plummeted down and with it the entirety of the blue wolf's body retracted into a puddle in the floor, making a whistling sound as it did so. Aleph couldn't believe what he just saw. Sure he had seen it done before, but only by the most adept of toons and yet his brother seemed to do it with relative ease.

Mere moments later an accordion sounded as Stormy reformed right back into his former stature.

"Voila!" The older wolf re-presented himself in a proud if not gloat-worthy manner.

"Wow...I want to be able to do that." Truthfully Aleph was a bit envious of his brother's talent.

"You can. Just keep trying. Ready to try again?" The teen had a different approach to coax his brother into success this time.

"Yeah!" The cub was much more excited after seeing his brother's feat of skill.

"Ten-Four Alpha!" Stormy used a code name that they had not used since he himself was the younger boys age.

The teen reached back into his jean pocket and pulled out a small metallic disk with an arrow pointing down painted on it.

Aleph didn't need to be told what to do and once Stormy lowered it to the cubs level, he couldn't help but push it. Pressing the button sent a surge of electricity through his body. Now while it wasn't exactly painful, it did make him feel rather itchy. It took only mere seconds before his line of sight plummeted to the ground below. Going from only half the size of his brother to now looking up to his brother as a giant. Pooled around him was his own black hoodie which resembled more of a canyon now to him, than a piece of clothing.

Stormy lifted his foot and brought it down all in one quick motion. Aleph watched as the paw came down upon him with the force of a falling star. The cub didn't know what to think of it as the ground thundered around him and seemingly ruptured into a precipice of barren wasteland. His body fit more than easily between two of Stormy's furry digits as his body was now pinned beneath his grasp. Aleph could still see up the length of the older boy's body. He seemed like a giant now and his eyes were burning red with a glow, unlike anything he'd ever seen.

"Recover or you shall be forever my toy!" The teen made the most imposing voice he could muster.

Fear began to replace the normally playful persona of the younger boy. No matter how much he moved, his body remained completely subdued by the now titanic sized foot overtop of him. But then an idea came to him. What if he flattened himself and slipped underneath. An undetected measure would do him best but was something that until now, he hadn't mastered. However, the situation was one that changed and presented something that he thought rather pressing, both literally and metaphorically.

Aleph relaxed and shut his eyes. It was hard to forget about the gargantuan foot overtop of him but he tried to block it out of his mind in order to focus on the task at mind. He imagined himself as a snake, able to slither out without any difficulty. Little by little his body began to mold and Stormy could feel him wiggle, forcing the teen to chuckle out in laughter. Just that little bit of jubilation lifted his foot, giving the cub the small window of opportunity he needed.

The cub's body appeared very soon after that, a small slippery blue snake that coiled its head upward before flashing its tongue once. Suddenly the small snake trembled and almost all at once Aleph appeared from its form in one great leap, expounding from it's small confines to his original size. It seemed he had finally managed to reform himself, even if it was at the threat of harm. All that matter was he now understood how the ordeal worked. Stormy returned to his less than imposing true form, beginning to clap.

"Very nice work. See? I told you that you could do it." Stormy knelt down and hugged his brother.

"Yeah thanks, bro. I owe you." Aleph shared in the soft moment of embrace by tightly hugging back.

"Don't worry about it." The teen patted his brother on the head in approval.

It seemed that the boy had finally mastered both reforming and flattening. Going forward, Aleph would be even more insistent on pleasing his brother. Going out of his way to show Stormy each and every time he mastered a new skill. Of course, the teen was happy to share in his successes, even as inviting the boy to his own performances. Their parents too were glad to bask in their kid's glory and even more happy that the two brothers were closer than ever. It seemed everything had worked out ok for the better after all!