Care Bears Evolution
Chapter 4
Exposure
(Facility of Evolution Roy's lab)
Roy was currently in his laboratory, jotting down some notes. Despite him trying to stay focused on his work, his mind wandered, recalling the conversation he had with his two guests the other day.
( 2 days ago)
"Mr Baker, it has come to our attention that you have made some progress with your research, but you fail to inform us about this discovery, Care to explain why?"
The government agent, whose name was Linda, asked a flustered looking Roy.
" Well you see… I was going to inform you, but I wanted to make sure it was something worth your time to report. I didn't want to report something that might have been nothing."
Linda gave him a disapproving look.
"When it comes to this situation involving these aliens…"
she was cut off by Roy who wanted to correct her
"Technically I don't believe they are extraterrestrial. Our satellites have never picked up anything when it comes to the likes of them hehe"
Roy interjected, not realizing the slightly annoyed look the agent was giving him for interrupting her.
"Whatever they are, they are unknowns, and can possibly be dangerous. We need to know everything about them, and if necessary a way to deal with them. Now if what the information you gather is correct, they have some sort of power to alter one's emotions and mindset. We need to know if there's some way to protect ourselves from that. For all we know they could be hypnotizing the citizens of the United States, or they could be working for another country. I don't like not knowing about what I'm dealing with Mr Baker, so any and all information or discoveries you make needs to be relayed to us right away, Is that understood?"
Linda folded her arms, looking expectantly towards Roy for his acknowledgment.
Roy quickly nodded his head, not wanting to upset her any further.
"I understand ma'am, I apologize for my mistake."
"That's a good man. Now there's one more bit of business we would like to address with you."
This time it was the Burley military man whose name was Sergeant Carter Smith, who addressed Roy.
"We want you to show us exactly what you discovered."
(Present day back in Roy's lab)
Roy ended up showing the two every bit of details he had gathered throughout the few months of his research. He even ended up showing them the clump of fur, which got their attention. They asked if there was any special significance about it, or if they could somehow utilize it. Roy told them that not much could be done with it, the only progress and discovery him and his team made was that it had a special interaction with plant life. Roy decided to leave the mention of Kim being an intern to them. he did not want them to go and pester her. After wrapping up his report, Linda informed him that the government would continue funding his special project, but now under the condition that Roy spends the majority of his time researching and experimenting on the clump of fur. They told him if he discovers anything to inform them right away his findings. They believe that something beneficial could come from experimenting on it, perhaps they were looking for some solution to combat these poor creatures, knowing the government and military.
Now Roy was stuck in his lab most of the day, trying every possible form of testing on the clump of fur. From exposing it to extreme heat, or extreme cold. He used various amounts of chemicals, and even used some other animals' fur, just to see if it had a reaction.
Roy was under a lot of pressure now to get some sort of results. He knew if he didn't come up with something substantial, the government would be tired of waiting and do something rash. Roy wasn't really worried about them pulling the funding, but instead he was worried that they would take action and harm the creatures. They were mysterious and the discovery of a lifetime, but because we as humans know nothing about them, the majority will hate them and want them gone. It won't help when the media gets a hold of the story. They will most likely spread misinformation about them. They will probably claim that they're hypnotizing everyone and that they're extremely dangerous, without actually doing proper research themselves.
Roy Was going through hundreds of scenarios in his head, all of them ending up with a bad outcome for the creatures.
He was so distracted with his thoughts, Roy wasn't paying attention to his latest experiment involving the clump of fur. It was in a beaker, filled with various chemicals and other animal samples. He didn't notice the clump of fur beginning to glow a rainbow color. The clump of fur was indeed reacting, perhaps due to the combination of chemicals, the heating flame under the beaker, and the various other samples from different animals. The reaction finally got Roy's attention when he heard the contents begin to boil over, having some of the liquid spew out onto the flame, which in turn caused a big explosion, causing the entire beaker to explode and filling the room with a very thick purple mist. The explosion was so powerful, it made Roy fly back and hit a wall instantly knocking him out cold. Due to all the building smoke and the chemicals in the air, a hazard alarm began to ring throughout the entire building.
*Alarm" Attention Facility, Attention Faculty, there has been a contamination hazard detected in the building. All staff and personnel are required to leave the facility in orderly fashion. I repeat all staff and personnel are to leave the premises in an orderly fashion immediately."
( Facility of Evolution Kim's room 10 minutes prior)
Tim was looking at her laptop screen completely speechless, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, and she would have definitely rubbed her eyes if she wasn't wearing her Fox mask. There on her screen, revealed a clear image of a purple raccoon, the same as that brown bear she had an encounter with when it came to their species. Kim was too nervous to do anything, a million thoughts were going through her head at that moment. Should she quickly shut the laptop and throw it away? Was this some sort of super advanced filter, or Vtube model? Did they in fact know who she was and decided to come after her after all?
Kim couldn't concentrate at all, she was on the verge of having a panic attack, when she heard the raccoon speak.
" Ummm hello there. I know this must be quite the surprise. But I really just want to talk. I promise that's all this is."
Hearing his voice seemed to calm her down just a little, it seemed friendly and inquisitive. He sounded like someone she could have a in-depth conversation with for hours.
Taking a few seconds to get her thoughts together, Kim took a deep breath and let it out, finally getting some semblance of control before she decided to talk.
"Um…hi…. So you're really one of them?"
It wasn't the most formal greeting but Kim was too frazzled and curious. She just wanted to make sure she wasn't hallucinating or anything.
" Hehe yes, I am what is known as a Care Bear cousin. My name is Bright Heart Raccoon. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have, but if it's alright with you may I have your name?"
Bright heart requested politely, this seemed to calm Kim down a little more, the shock starting to fade, as her curiosity was now being peaked.
" My name is Kim Mikoto… I umm… I guess my first question would be where do you come from?"
Kim asked, she still seemed to be a bit nervous but was starting to warm up to him.
Bright heart smiled, expecting things to go slow, but was happy to answer her question.
" Well, we come from a place called The Kingdom of Caring, but most of us just call it Care A Lot. There's also a place called The Forest of Feelings, where the majority of the Care Bear cousins live."
Kim seemed to be intrigued, already having another question which she went ahead and asked.
" I've never heard of these places? Are they even on Earth?"
Bright heart took a moment to respond, not having an easy answer for Kim.
" In a way, both yes and no. We are in a way, in another plane of existence then you humans, but we still share the same Earth. Try to imagine that there's a one-way mirror. Your realm is something we can see through and go through when we're needed. But on your side you wouldn't be able to see or go through to our side without some assistance from us. Does that make any sense?"
Bright heart tries to describe their existence as best he could to Kim.
She understood most of what he was explaining. At the very least she understood that they could pop in and out whenever they wanted between the realms. Which explained why satellites or drones could never find them. This would be something Roy would definitely want to learn.
" Oh ok, that's very interesting. Do you mind if I ask another question?"
"Go right ahead. I want you to get to know us and feel comfortable."
"Thank you. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is the purpose of you crossing to our side?"
This would be a long story to explain to Kim. Bright Heart knows he would need to start from the beginning. He was about to start when all of a sudden he could hear some sort of alarm coming from Kim's end.
Kim jumped in her seat, the sudden loud alarm informing her of a chemical hazard surprised her. Hearing what the alarm had instructed everyone to do, Kim frowned, she had just gotten to talk to the most informative person that was willingly giving her information about their species, and this happens.
"That sounds serious… Perhaps we should continue our conversation once you get somewhere safe?"
Kim looked at Bright Heart one last time before nodding her head.
"You're right I have to go, Um.. thanks for answering my questions… you seem really nice, it was nice to meet you Bright Heart"
With a smile and wave Bright Heart ended the video call, once he did Kim immediately closed her laptop and brought it with her out the door. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Roy's number to see if he was already outside. When he didn't pick up, she got a little worried. She watched for a little bit, watching all the staff members and personnel leave in an orderly fashion outside to the front entrance. When she didn't notice Roy in the crowd, she knew something was definitely up. She tried his phone again with no luck, then deciding to look for him in the one place he might be, she made her way to his lab, not knowing that she was headed straight for the contaminated area. Making it to the labs front door, Kim noticed that the keypad display screen was blinking. Not really knowing what that meant, she decided to type in the code that Roy told her.
*5913 *Beep*
It made the sound it usually makes when accepting the code but the door didn't open.
Curious, Kim tried again typing in the same code as before.
*Beep*
Once again, the pad accepted the code but the door wouldn't open. Kim was getting very worried now, she put her ears up to the door to see if she could hear anything. Hearing nothing, she tried calling out to Roy, seeing if she would get an answer back or if he was in there. She decided to try the code one more time.
*Beep*.... Whoosh!
The door finally flew open, and behind it was a rush of thick purple smoke. Kim didn't have time to react, as the smoke washed over her, filling her lungs and making her cough violently. Kim knew something was very wrong with this smoke, but there was something more important to her at that moment.
"Roy! *Cough cough*"
She figured something must have happened to Roy. Running in, she noticed the lab was a complete wreck. Monitors were busted up and laid on the ground, broken glass and research papers were all over the floor. The purple smoke filled the entire room, and there, on the far side of the corner from the front door laid Roy unconscious. Kim was panicking now believing her friend might have been killed. Rushing over to him she immediately checked his pulse. It was faint but he was still alive. That gave her a little relief knowing that he was still with her, but now she needed to get him out of here and to safety. Using all the strength she can muster, she threw his arm over her and carefully had him stand up and lean on her. She had to slowly move forward, making sure not to drop him. It didn't help that she was shorter than him and weighed less than him as well. Eventually the both of them made it through the front door of the lab. Luckily there were a few stragglers who noticed the pair, and noticed that Roy was unconscious. Three of them went to Roy and Kim to make sure that they were okay, while one of them went to go get help. After that everyone made it out of the building safely, Roy was picked up by an ambulance and brought to a hospital that wasn't too far from the facility. A HazMat team arrived 10 minutes later and practically quarantined the entire facility, making it impossible to go back in.
The only thing Kim had with her was her laptop, cell phone and the clothes she wore for that day. Now Kim had to figure out where she would go for the time being while they decontaminated the area. One of the staff members recommended a motel not too far from there that was pretty cheap. He told Kim that he knew the owner and could probably get them put up there for a while, until things cooled off here. Kim thanked him, and decided to take a bus over to the motel. It was only a 25 minute bus ride, and when she got there, she met the owner who she let know that his friend sent her. He was pretty nice, and decided to let her spend the first week there free of charge after explaining the situation. The only downside was that there was no internet connection, so she would not be able to get back in contact with Bright Heart. She was a bit bummed out about that, but she quickly got over it and decided to get some sleep. All the excitement left her pretty drained, maybe a bit of sleep would help her think of what to do next. Getting comfortable, she pulled the covers over her and got some sleep.
