Lick or Treat: The Outback Beast.

A/N: Apologies for being late with this one and the next one after and so on.

Life is a pain in the rear, as you all know.

Taren gets credit as co-writer for this.

—

[October 31]

Halloween had come to Australia, with many people celebrating. Even those in the outback were getting into the spirit of it, hence why Cody was grinning to himself as he looked over the declarations that his house was adorned with from outside.

If only his animal friends of the Outback could be allowed inside, they’d certainly enjoy—

The blonde boy was interrupted in mid thought when a familiar call reached his young ears, one that he knew fully well.

—

It didn’t take long until Cody made his way over to the source of the call in the outback. The source of call, of course, being none other than his friend Faloo.

The young female kangaroo sighed with relief as she hopped over to the boy, and lowered herself down he could get on her back.

”What animal got caught this time Faloo?” Cody asked as he held onto her back as best he could as the kangaroo through the outback with a swiftness and grace comparable to a deer.

“It’s something else Cody… You see, something’s been spooking everyone in the Outback recently.”

Now this, Cody couldn’t help but be intrigued by, especially considering today was Halloween.

”What exactly IS this something?” Cody asked.

“Well, I haven’t seen this ‘something’ myself, but from what I’ve been hearing, it’s some kind of monster. From what a koala told me, it was last seen going to the east. I figured you and I should investigate whatever is making the others so scared out of their wits and come up with a solution…”

Cody had to admit, he wasn’t expecting something THIS exciting!

~~

It took a while of hopping in the east, but eventually, progress had been made. That progress being in the form of pawprints that Faloo had found in the dirt of the Outback. Oddly enough, these pawprints were a smidge similar to those found on dingoes, but were considerable HUGE in comparison, the deeper indention further suggesting an animal of great size.

“You think these could belong to the monster Faloo?”

“Seems that way Cody…” The kangaroo said to the boy on her back as she moved slower, her hands for most of the locomotion with her tail providing stability. As she “walked”, the blonde boy on her back was acting as an extra pair of eyes for his companion as he made sure there weren’t any dingos looking for a quick meal. Faloo then straightened up when she saw a fresher set of those large paw prints that appeared to be leading towards an area packed thick with trees, akin to a forest really.

Just as she was weighing her options, however, she felt something sliding off of her back with a light thud. She turned her head to see, much to her shock, Cody heading into the direction of the fresh pawprints!

“Cody, what’re you doing?!” Faloo whispered nervously as she tried to block the boy’s path. After all, brave as Cody was, he was still a “joey” in her eyes.

“I’m going to see if the monster’s in there, just a quick peek and I’ll be out! He won’t even see me…” Cody said with a shrug as he went around the kangaroo and was about to start jogging down to where the paw prints went, when he felt himself being lifted into the air, courtesy of Faloo’s right paw being gripped onto the back of his shirt.

“A quick peek is one thing, but after what happened when you were kidnapped months back? It’d be better if you stick close to me for this one…” Faloo said with a tone akin to a protective mother.

“Fair enough…” Cody said as Faloo gently placed him back on the ground.

And like that, the duo continued following the tracks.

~~

No sooner had the two entered the forest, they were already getting a sense of slight claustrophobia as they were met with the sounds of owls, with the setting sun’s light just barely able to make it past the branches.

Thankfully, so far there wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary, save for the paw prints they were following. With them being utterly massive, it wasn't hard to keep up with them, and Cody was thankful Faloo had made him stick close to her. Finally, they came to a small clearing, where Cody was able to look around a bit more. Here the ground was harder, so the tracks had stopped. Cody frowned. "You see anything?" he called to Faloo.

"Nah mate," Faloo said from somewhere else in the clearing. "I don't see anything at aOOF!"

Faloo's yelp of surprise and a loud THUD made Cody whirl around. A giant creature, like a dog but *way* too big, had pinned the kangaroo to the ground. Big as it was, she was fully pinned to the floor, helpless to stop it as it...licked her face? One of Faloo's eyes was being pushed shut as the thing's gigantic pink tongue lifted her cheek up, tilting her head to the side to the bargain. As Cody watched, the "monster's" tongue flew off in a spray of drool, only to then repeat the process and lift Faloo's cheek up once again.

"This is the beast?" Cody asked. He walked up to the dog as it dragged its tongue up the underside of Faloo's chin, tilting her head back. Cody chuckled at the sight. "Hehe...I don't think it's dangerous, Faloo!"

"Easy for *you* to say!" Faloo said as the dog's huge tongue swept off her chin. "G-Get it off, Cody!"

"Okay, big guy, okay!" Cody said as he patted the thing on the creature’s ribs. "Leave her alone, okay?"

No sooner had Cody said this did he get a better look at the dog in question.

The beast had a coat and face akin to an English mastiff, with the biggest difference, aside from having a greater amount of muscle, was…

Well…

The dog was a LOT more massive, to put it mildly, standing at five feet and six inches at the shoulder, a body length of nearly nine feet (not counting the tail), this canine towered over Cody. And he was getting a full view of that as the massive mastiff turned around to face the small boy.

As the mastiff got off of Faloo, he lowered his head down and SNIFFED the top of the boy’s head, taking in his scent for a couple of moments.

That’s when the mastiff started panting with a friendly look on his face, his tongue rolling out.

“Uh, I—“

The boy was about to say, right before he found his vision being filled with pink as he stood in place, the tongue’s width allowing it to cover the entirety of his face and pressed all the way to near his ears. Cody felt himself being lifted into the air all the way to his tiptoes as the giant tongue dragged from his chin to his forehead, stretching his forehead out along with it before it finally slurped off in a spray of drool. Cody's heels hit the ground again and he staggered back. He was able to spot Faloo swirling one of her paws around her face to clean off the thing's slobber before she looked at him, grinning.

"Guess now it's your turn!" she called as the giant dog once again plastered its tongue across his entire face, once again lifting Cody to his tiptoes as it once again licked him from chin to forehead. As the tongue slurped off for a second time, Cody backed away, holding his hands out.

"N-now wait a minute, big guy!"

Cody was interrupted by the sound of a smack, as something pink and wet plastered itself onto the right side of his face. The left half of his face cringed as he felt the dog’s tongue suddenly slide upwards, forcibly rolling his cheek and keeping his eye completely shut.

“Seems he likes you quite a bit Cody…” Faloo said, using her paws to cover her mouth and stifle her giggling.

"Y-yeah," Cody agreed as the dog's tongue slurped off his face. Then it was time for the tongue to paste itself to the other side of his face, lifting his cheek up just as much. He could barely believe this was happening. While he was no stranger to getting licked in the face by his animal friends--he'd been mobbed by a pack of dingos not a week ago--this dog was something entirely new! Even as its tongue slurped off of his cheek and then once again smothered his face in another chin to forehead lick, he found the sheer *size* of its tongue hard to believe!

As soon as his feet were back on the ground, Cody retreated backwards so he could have a moment to recover from the huge licks he’d gotten from the dog.

As he was wiping his face (and bangs) off with a forearm, Cody’s back soon found itself pressed against a tree, leaving him cornered as the dog casually walked over to him.

Poor Cody didn’t even have a chance to open his eyes as, as he soon found himself being lifted off of his feet by another full face lick, his back sliding up the tree all the while. Through the sheer width of the dog's tongue he could hear Faloo laughing loud enough for the whole forest to hear as Cody's fingers twitched and curled and his feet kicked feebly in the air. The dog was so big that he couldn't even push it off of him if he wanted to-he was helpless against the unending barrage of licks that were slapping against his face over and over again! As his face was once again stretched out by the dog's giant tongue before it slurped off, he fell back down and right into another chin-to-forehead lick! His knees knocked together from the force of the blow as the dog once again lifted him off the ground!

Soon enough, rather than landing on his feet, he found himself collapsing onto his knees. Cody coughed an sputtered as wiped his face his hands.

The mastiff then laid himself down in front of Cody, using one of his front paws to pull Cody closer.

Cody only had enough time to look up at the dog’s face while pressed against his chest, right before the dog’s tongue smacked itself against the left half of his face. "Oh c'mon, big guy!" He groaned as his cheek was lifted up yet again, squashing his eye shut. "Cut it out! You're soaking me!"

"I don't think he's had enough yet, Cody!" Faloo said as she hopped around to watch Cody continue to be slobbered on. As Cody's cheek was licked yet again he glared at her, which didn't have much effect since half of his face was covered by his own flattened cheek and the dog's giant tongue.

This time around, the mastiff seemed to be savoring the taste as he slowly rolled the cheek up with his tongue, with Cody being unable to escape the point blank slurp as he cringed from the feeling of his skin being stretched thanks the strength of such a tongue.

At the very least, both he and Faloo knew this dog wasn’t some blood thirsty beast that the animals had initially thought he was, but for Cody?

Well, he wasn’t thrilled about getting a tongue bath on Halloween.

(end)