Fuli IN:
One Cheetah, Washed and Chilled

Fuli moaned as she slowly cracked her eyes open. Her head was buzzing like bees and her body was cold from the hard surface she was laying on. She shook her head to wake herself up and looked around at her surroundings. She was in a large chamber with straight walls and sharp angles. What's more, the chamber was white and unnaturally clean and free of the dirt and soil of the Pride Lands. Also, the walls were all full of countless small holes.

Fuli closed her eyes and tried to recall how she had gotten here, but all she could remember was being stung by something in her rear and then feeling really sleepy afterwards.

"Ugh... What kind of trouble am I in now?" she said to herself.

Fuli looked across the chamber to see a large rectangular opening. It was the only way out, so Full stood up and walked towards it. After taking three steps, Fuli felt her right forepaw ever so slightly sink into the ground with a soft click.

WHOOSH!

Fuli gasped as a gusher of water suddenly splashed onto the left side of her face. Fuli turned to see water dripping from one of the small holes.

"Oh no!" Fuli said with wide eyes as she beheld the hundreds of holes that surrounded her in a new light. "But...what caused it to happen?"

Fuli calmed down slightly and took a moment to study her surroundings. She then recalled how her paw sank slightly before she was sprayed with water.

"Did I step on something?" Fuli asked herself as she studied the smooth ground ahead of her. It was then when she noticed that the floor was divided into a dizzying number of small, paw sized squares of different shades. Curious, Fuli stepped back, sidestepped a bit, and then stepped forward, her right forepaw landing on a different square.

This time, Fuli could see the square she stepped on sink under the weight of her paw and emit a soft click. Before she could make sense of this, another spurt of water hit her on the right side of her face.

"Bleck!" Fuli said in disgust, and she shook her head to try and get the water out of her fur. She then looked down at the ground and said thoughtfully, "Okay. . . So how am I supposed to get out of here?"

Fuli lifted her paw and saw that the square was colored yellow. She then looked over at the first square she had stepped on and saw that it was yellow as well.

Fuli smiled confidently and said, "Ha! Okay! So, don't step on ones that look like cheetah fur! Easy!"

Fuli then put her left forepaw forward onto a square that looked dark gray to her, and her smile fell when she felt her paw sink down again and heard the square kick. Acting quickly, Fuli bent her knees to duck down and avoid any spurts of water.

There was a loud noise from her left and above her, and Fuli turned just in time to see a huge bubble of water fall out of a hole in the ceiling and splash right into her.

Fuli huffed and puffed as water dripped off of her left side.

"Okay. Okay. Calm down. It's just water," Fuli said between heavy breaths. She then narrowed her eyes and said, "Fine. Not those ones either. How about... this one?"

Fuli's attention was now focused on a very light gray square. Gulping, she carefully lifted her right forepaw and slowly lowered it onto the square. She felt her toes and paw pads squish and deform slightly as she gingerly put her weight on it, slowly working up the courage to fully stand on it.

Fuli let out the breath she was holding without even realizing it as she finished putting her weight on the paw. Another click and a sinking feeling became apparent, causing Fuli to frown grumpily and say, "Fine. Bring it on."

There was a loud clunking sound, and then forcefull slap as a jet of water hit Fuli right on her butt.

Fuli yowled as her rear stung from the impact, and her hind legs kicked up out of some kimd of instinctive reflex. Combined with the momentum of the jet of water against her hindquarters, Fuli found herself standing upside down on only one of her front paws while her hind legs kicked feebly up into the air above and her tail hung down to lightly touch her head.

Fuli's eyes were wide, one pupil bigger than the other and one eye twitching as her lips were tightly pursed closed. Panic surged through her as she began to tilt to her left, unable to stay balanced on her right forepaw alone. Not wanting to even think about what would happen if she fell onto a bunch of squares at once, Fuli quickly put her left forepaw down onto a square at random: a yellow square.

A gusher of water shot out from her left and hit her in the side. This actually stopped her tilting and stabilized her balance. As water dripped down the left side of her face, Fuli let out a groan and said, "Alright. Fine. Make it difficult. But I'm not giving up. I'll beat this thing!" She then peered at the ground ahead of her and said, "Just gotta try another shade..."

Deciding on a square that was only moderately gray in her eyes, Fuli extended one claw on her right fore paw and carefully reached out to it. She gently tapped the square with her claw, and then quickly placed her paw onto it.

Fuli waited a moment for the square to sink, for a click, for any sound or sign at all. When none came, Fuli laughed from her upside down position and said, "Ah ha! Yes! Those are the safe ones!"

Fuli then spotted two more of the aforementioned shaded squares that also happened to be shoulder width apart.

Fuli licked her lips and said, "Okay then... I can do this. Just aim for the squares. Aim for the squares."

Ignoring the tail tickling her head, Fuli bent her front legs down, took three deep breaths in and out, and then sprang herself upward, backflipping through the air and landing on her hind legs with her paws right on the squares.

Fuli stood awkwardly on her hind legs, her chest heaving up and down and her forelegs folded in close to help keep her balance.

"How does Timoni make it look so easy?" Fuli said as she stood nervously in the unnatural position. She then looked and saw too more safe squares ahead of her, slightly closer together than the two she was standing on. Fuli fell forward and her forepaws landed safely.

Back on all fours, Fuli was smiling as she saw she was about a third of the way to the exit. Spotting several more safe squares, she stepped forward. However, small puddles of water had been sent all over from the earlier missteps, and Fuli's right hind paw was in one just as she was moving. As a result, her paw slipped and kicked out. Fuli brought her paw back down in reflex, only to hear and feel land on an unsafe square.

Fuli quickly turned her head to the right. This was a big mistake, as the gusher of water came out of one of the holes on the right wall and hit her right in the face, or more specifically, the mouth.

Fuli's cries were garbled as water was forced into her mouth. When it finally stopped, the cheetah's cheeks were round and puffed up due to being filled with water.

Fuli's furrowed her brow as she daintily let the water flow out of her lips like a fountain. Then her nose began twitch uncomfortably.
"Ugh! Great! Water up my nose!" she said as she sniffled and shook her head to try and get the water out of her nostrils. Then her eyes widened and she said desperately, "Oh no. Oh no no no, don't sneeze. Don't sneeze. Please don't- ah-ah-ah-AHCHOO!"

The force of the sneeze causes Fuli to slide backward on her wet and slippery paws. She frantically tried to get a grip, but it was to no avail, as she inevitably ended up falling flat on her chest, spread eagle atop the squares.

Fuli's pupils shrank as she felt most of the squares she was lying on sink down and click. "Okay run!" she exclaimed as she quickly jumped back up to make a mad dash to the exit.

She didn't make it one step before she was hit several times by large bibles of water that fell from the ceiling and splashed across her back. As she was forced down low, she was also blasted on the right side of her head by a jet of water that hit hard enough to make her dizzy.

As Fuli staggered sideways, jets of water from behind hit her hard enough to send her flipping into the air. She landed hard on her bottom, after which twin jets of water sprayed both sides of her face simultaneously. After her face was squeezed, another bubble of water splashed down onto her head.

With her ears dripping and hanging low, Fuli snarled and threw herself forward just in time to dodge more water jets. Keeping her head low, Fuli dashed across the weirdly smooth and square filled ground, not caring at all what she was stepping on. Water splashed loud behind her, but she didn't look back as she speedily approached the exit.

However, two jets of water hit both pairs of her legs, tripping her up and sending her into a soggy tumble. Then, three powerful blasts of water from the back wall stuck her with a powerful, explosive splash that sent her spinning around on her back until she eventually slid to a stop.

Fuli opened her eyes and looked up at the hole filled ceiling. Then she looked ahead of her, moved her tail out of the way, and saw the room she had just come from.

". . .Did I make it out?" she asked hopefully as she put her hind paws flat on the ground.

Two loud clicks could be heard when her paws made contact, and Fuli gasped and scooted backwards, sliding out of the way right before two water bubbles fell from the ceiling and splashed onto the ground.

Fuli lay panting for a moment, then she rolled herself over and got up onto her paws. She just stood there for a moment, dripping wet and exhausted. Then she began shaking off. Water flew from her fur as she shook every part of her body. Her head, her torso, her rear, her two, and even each one of her legs.

Once she was finished shaking and was relatively dry, Fuli let out a very long sigh of relief.

"Now then," she said with an optimistic look on her face, "Time to find my way out of here!"

With her new goal in mind, Fuli stepped forward to do just that.

SPLAAAASH!!!

A panel in the ceiling above had opened, and an utter deluge of freezing cold water was unceremoniously dumped onto Fuli. Gallons and gallons of the icy liquid doused the young cheetah, soaking every last inch of her fur and skin.

Fuli stood stock still, her right fore leg still raised in midstep. The look on her face was utterly blank, and the only audible sound coming from her was the dripping water falling from her saturated fur and soggy tail and ears.

Finally, Fuli's face gave a slight twitch. Then another twitch. Then her nose wriggled. Then her lips pressed together tightly to hold in any sobbing as tears welled up in Fuli's green eyes, making them as moist as the rest of her body. Then she shut those watery wet eyes tightly and clenched her teeth, and then threw her head back and let out an anguish filled scream of complete frustration and rage.

After her scream, Fuli stood panting heavily, feeling as though she had just run across the entire Pride Lands twice without stopping. Then she took a deep breath, let it out, and said, "Finally....It actually can't possibly get any worse."

After this declaration, it suddenly hit Fuli how cold she was. Not only that, it appeared to be getting colder and colder by the second. Fuli took this as a cue to get moving, only to discover that her paws wouldn't move.

Alarmed by this, Fuli looked down and saw that the three paws still planted on the ground were now frozen to it.

"It actually got worse!?" Fuli exclaimed in disbelief. She tried hard to yank her paws free, but they were frozen solid. Then she looked at her raised leg and tried to lower it, only to see that it was frozen in place as well.

"I seriously can't move!?" Fuli moaned. She tried to wiggle her paw, but it was totally frosted over. Even worse, she lost all feeling in her paws. Frost slowly moved up her legs as more and more feeling left her body.

Fuli's teeth chartered as more and more frost creeped up around her, even curling her tail as it iced over.

"No. . .not like this..." Fuli thought as the frost reached her neck. She tried to hold her head higher and stretched her neck upwards, but it was all in vain as finally her head and face froze as well.

For a terrifying and agonizing few moments, Fuli just stood frozen and unable to move or even feel her own body, until finally the cold seeped into her brain and her consciousness began to fade.

The cheetah's awareness became spotty and sketchy from this point. She vaguely was aware of strange flat faced primate like creatures, being moved around, and various changes in light level and location.

Eventually, Fuli "awoke", and she found herself standing in the middle of a familiar flat grassy area of the Pride Lands.

"I'm. . . home?!" Fuli thought in amazement and gratitude. Relief and joy swelled within her initially, but then it faded when Fuli made another observation.

"Oh....Still can't move. Still cold..."

The Sun shone down upon the frozen cheetah, the frost covering her body starting to drip and drip. Ever so slowly, Fuli felt feeling begin to return to her body. Fuli wiggled the digits of her raised paw, and the ice cracked and fell away. Fuli wrenched her raised leg down to straighten it. Then she lowered her head to crack the ice around her neck and shoulders. Bending her knees and wiggling her rear and tail, more ice broke and fell away.

Fuli shook out her entire body to free herself from the icy prison, and she let out a relieved sigh as she could feel the warm Sun on her fur and skin. Utterly exhausted, Fuli fell down onto the ground and curled up for a warm nap.