It was a really hectic day in the Kingdom of Caring. The Care Bear Cousins had come over for a visit, and they were just about to set out on a picnic when the Caring Meter started going berserk. Instead of pointing straight up, indicating all was well, the needle was running back and forth over the gauge, going left, going right, swooshing back to the left, flying back to the right, and eventually spinning around in clockwise and counterclockwise circles. Brightheart Racoon's little heart-shaped mini-computer indicated the first troubles coming from the north somewhere, so first a team was sent out to the north. Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear and Cozyheart Penguin made up that first team.
Then Brightheart Racoon's mini-computer indicated another batch of troubles coming from the deep south. A second team was sent out, consisting of Champ Bear, Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog. They had so much as left when Brightheart Racoon's mini-computer indicated trouble arising in the east. Wish Bear, Bedtime Bear and Braveheart Lion formed a third team to go there. And just when things seemed to settle down, Brightheart Racoon's mini-computer showed trouble in the west. Do-Your-Best Bear, Friend Bear and Proudheart Cat went there.
Back up in the Kingdom of Caring, Tenderheart Bear paced around near the staroscope in circles, looking through the staroscope about every two minutes. Strangely enough, the people on Earth seemed happy and cheerful, and not in the least troubled by anything. But then why was the Caring Meter acting so weird? Tenderheart Bear kept anxiously suspecting a trick by Noheart somehow.
==/=/==
Heading due north, the first group of Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear and Cozyheart Penguin were getting colder by the minute. Or well, the bears, anyway. They had already placed a roof on the normally convertible Cloudsmobile, and they were wearing heavy fur coats. Nosing the Cloudsmobile further and further north, Funshine Bear kept checking a compass on the dash, and then looked aside at Good Luck Bear sitting in the passenger's seat checking his portable Care Alert.
"Are we getting close yet, Good Luck Bear?" Funshine Bear asked, shivering so hard she had to yank the steering wheel to avoid hitting an iceberg.
"According to this, we are getting closer," Good Luck Bear said, checking his portable Care Alert. "But how close we are I can't tell yet."
"I sure hope we reach destination soon," Funshine Bear said. "I'm getting awfully cold."
"Ah, with a bit of luck we'll find out where we need to be quickly," Good Luck Bear said with a smile.
"I like it here," Cozyheart Penguin said from the back seat. "I love snow."
==/=/==
En route southward, the group of Champ Bear, Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog were having the exact opposite problems the first group was having. They were getting hotter by the minute. Despite the Cloudsmobile being a convertible, Champ Bear had also turned on the fan and the airco, and still they were puffing with the heat.
"Sheesh!" Cheer Bear said, mopping her brow with a paw. "It's sure hot here!" She looked over the edge of the Cloudsmobile at the land shooting by under them. "Look at that, nothing but sand everywhere you look."
"Did we bring enough to drink?" Loyalheart Dog asked from the back seat, panting with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
"Don't worry, sports fans, I thought of everything," Champ Bear said, driving the Cloudsmobile with his left paw dangling over the edge of the door.
"Did you also think of how we're going to pinpoint where we have to be?" Cheer Bear asked with a giggle.
"Uhmm..."
Champ Bear suddenly needed to adjust his sunglasses and check the compass on the dash intently. On the back seat, Loyalheart Dog laughed.
"Don't worry cousins, we'll get where we need to be. Just keep having faith. It'll all work out, I'm sure."
==/=/==
Eastward bound, the group of Wish Bear, Bedtime Bear and Braveheart Lion were merely having the problem that it kept being daytime as they got further. This was quite hard on Bedtime Bear, who didn't get a chance to close his eyes for a nap, but as he was driving the Cloudsmobile, maybe that was all for the better as well. While Wish Bear was silently musing over what the trouble could be, Braveheart Lion was hanging over the edge of the Cloudsmobile, looking at the land under them, his manes fluttering in the wind.
"That's weird," he said. "All the people we saw so far don't seem to have any troubles at all."
"I wish I knew what's going on," Wish Bear said.
"I wish night would fall, I'm not much of a driver during daytime," Bedtime Bear yawned. "And we've been driving for like hours, I'm getting real tired."
"Want me to take over the wheel for a while, cousin?" Braveheart Lion asked. "Give you a chance to stretch out on the back seat for a while?"
"That would be nice," Bedtime Bear yawned. "Aren't we at our destination yet, Wish Bear?"
Wish Bear checked her portable Care Alert.
"Not by long. The signal's still as faint as it was back home."
Bedtime Bear pulled up to a platform on a mountain top and stopped the Cloudsmobile.
"Then yes, please, take over the wheel, Braveheart."
While he crawled to the back seat and stretched out for a nap, Braveheart Lion climbed to the driver's seat and pulled off the mountain platform again.
==/=/==
Going west, the group of Do-Your-Best Bear, Friend Bear and Proudheart Cat were experiencing darkfall sure came very early when you drove away from the sun. With headlights turned on, Friend Bear drove the Cloudsmobile through the darkness, every now and then having to swerve to evade a real tall tree or something.
"My dear heaven, I almost can't see a thing," she said when she'd had to evade another sky-high pine.
"I can take overr for you, I have grrreat night-vision," Proudheart Cat said from the back seat.
"That might be an idea," Do-Your-Best Bear said. "We're not really used to driving in pitch darkness. That is Bedtime Bear's expertise."
"Yes, but I can't find a place to park for a moment anywhere," Friend Bear said. "It's too dark."
Proudheart Cat leaned over the back of the driver's seat and the edge of the Cloudsmobile.
"Take a heading two-seven-ninerr and descend twelve degrrrees, Frriend Bearrr," she said, pointing with a paw. "Therrre's an open spot in the forrrest up ahead."
Relying blindly on Proudheart Cat's directions, Friend Bear slowly let the Cloudsmobile sink lower and lower between the trees, fortunately indeed coming to a stop on an open spot. While they were standing still anyway, they took a little break while they were at it.
"Are we getting near already, Do-Your-Best Bear?" Friend Bear asked.
Do-Your-Best Bear checked his portable Care Alert.
"Actually, we must be very near," he said. "This thing's blinking like crazy."
Friend Bear looked around her at the rustles and whispers between the dark trees and bushes with a paw over her mouth.
"Gosh, I hope we find out what's wrong quickly. It's kinda creepy here, don't you think?"
"I'm quite sure we'll solve the mystery soon enough," Do-Your-Best Bear said. "All we have to do is..."
Friend Bear and Proudheart Cat looked at each other for a moment with a giggle.
"Do our best!" they chorused.
Do-Your-Best Bear grinned.
"Exactly!"
"Then let's get on with it!" Proudheart Cat said, jumping behind the wheel of the Cloudsmobile.
"That's the spirit," Do-Your-Best Bear smiled.
He and Friend Bear also got back into the Cloudsmobile, and Proudheart Cat calmly maneuvered it through the mass of dark trees and bushes.
==/=/==
"Wo, slow down, Funshine!" Good Luck Bear held up a paw while looking at his portable Care Alert. "The trouble must be somewhere down here."
Funshine Bear let the Cloudsmobile hover in place, wound down the window, stuck her head out and looked down.
"Are you sure?" she asked, shivering with the sudden cold. "There's nothing but snow and ice down there."
"Lemme have a look!" Cozyheart Penguin said. She also looked over the edge of the Cloudsmobile. "Aw, you're not looking good enough, Funshine. Look, there's a kind of igloo over there by that snow mountain."
"Oh yeah!" Funshine Bear said, also noticing it. "You're right Cozyheart, I hadn't seen it yet."
Good Luck Bear also took a look. He smiled.
"Well, with some luck, that's just where we have to be."
"Let's find out, shall we?" Funshine Bear said, pulling her head back in and winding up the window. "Frankly, the sooner we can go back home to some warmth, the better I like it."
She let the Cloudsmobile land softly on the snow and drove towards a huge mountain of snow. At the foot of that indeed was a rather small igloo. Parking the Cloudsmobile next to it, Funshine Bear pulled her fur coat a bit closer around her yellow body, looked at the others for a moment, then opened the door and got out. Good Luck Bear also pulled his fur coat tightly around his green body and got out of the Cloudsmobile, and Cozyheart Penguin tumbled out happily, frolicking in the snow. But she looked up when Funshine Bear addressed her.
"Hey, Cozyheart? You have experience in this kind of thing, don't you? Can you tell us if this is normal?"
Cozyheart Penguin stepped up to the two Care Bears, who were looking at the igloo rather surprised. And she looked quite surprised herself too when she saw the igloo had a door.
"Hey, that's not normal," she said. "Igloos don't usually have doors, they mostly have a skin hanging in front of the opening or something."
"Well, this one has a door," Good Luck Bear said. "And what's more, it even has a doorbell."
Funshine Bear scratched the top of her head in wonder.
"A doorbell? But how could that ever work in this icey wilderness?"
Good Luck Bear smiled a bit.
"I suggest we ring the bell and ask whoever opens the door how that's possible."
Funshine Bear also smiled and hugged Good Luck Bear.
"Now there's a great idea if I ever heard one."
She looked at the igloo's door, saw the button of a doorbell, and pressed it. From inside the igloo came a sound of icicles tinkling against each other, and a pleasant feminine voice.
"Coming!"
The two Care Bears and the one Care Bear Cousin heard some shuffling inside the igloo, slowly coming closer to the door. The next moment the door was opened. And both the Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin almost fell over with a shock of surprise when they saw who - or more what - opened the door!
Standing in the door-opening was a small female bear, just as short and pleasantly chubby as Funshine Bear and Good Luck Bear. In fact, the bear in the door-opening looked exactly like them, apart from the fact she had an all-white fur. So she most probably was a polar bear or something. But the thing that surprised Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear and Cozyheart Penguin most was that this white female bear had, just as they had, a symbol standing on her soft tummy! A symbol of a pink candy heart with the words "Be Sweet!" standing on it. The white bear smiled at the two surprised Care Bears and the surprised Care Bear Cousin.
"Hey, how nice! Visitors! We don't get those here too often. Do come in."
"You... you..." Funshine Bear gasped.
"Are you..? Are you..?" Good Luck Bear stuttered.
Before Cozyheart Penguin could voice her surprise, another feminine voice sounded from somewhere inside the igloo.
"Sugar, please close the door! It's getting cold in here!"
"Yes, do come in, don't stand out there in the cold," the white bear smiled at the surprised Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear and Cozyheart Penguin.
Being too surprised to speak, the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin followed the white bear with the pink candy heart on her tummy into the igloo. After going down a short corridor, they came in a quite roomy space, where it was pleasantly warm. And again Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear and Cozyheart Penguin got seized by a shock of surprise. In the room was another creature, not much larger than the white bear, or themselves for all that. The creature looked like a cat, white of fur, with a pattern of grey rosettes all over the body. Except for on the tummy, where, to the two Care Bears' and the Care Bear Cousin's unspeakable surprise, also was a symbol similar to their own! This symbol looked like a yellow star that seemed to be sneaking up on a red heart. The feline, obviously also female judging by the voice, looked up at the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin, who stared at her with wide eyes, smiling.
"Well, look at that. We have visitors. That's a rarity around here. Who are they, Sugar?"
That latter was directed at the white bear, who had started taking the heavy fur coats off Funshine Bear's and Good Luck Bear's shoulders.
"I don't know, they haven't introduced themselves yet," she smiled. "They somehow seemed too surprised to say anything."
"I think I know why," the female feline said, rising up with a look of surprise. "Have you taken a look at their bellies?"
"No I di-... oh my!"
The white bear clapped her paws before her mouth when she did take a look at Funshine Bear's, Good Luck Bear's and Cozyheart Penguin's white front sides.
==/=/==
All the way on the other side of the globe, deep south, Champ Bear was busy trying to cool down the Cloudsmobile's boiling radiator while Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog were trying to find a little coolness in the car's shadow. Cheer Bear was waving herself coolness with a heart-shaped paw-fan, and every now and then she used her pony-tail to mop her sweating brow. Loyalheart Dog was panting deeply with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, drinking from a bottle of water, sometimes pouring some over his head too.
"Almost done there, Champ?" Cheer Bear asked, mopping her brow with her pony-tail again. "I'm nearly melting here."
"Just a little more patience, sports fan," Champ Bear said, also mopping his brow. "This old baby's thirsty too, but if I pour in new water now, it just evaporates."
Cheer Bear nodded a bit, closing her eyes behind her star-shaped sunglasses and energetically waving the paw-fan. Very suddenly she rose up with a shock though when her portable Care Alert started beeping loudly. She looked at it, pressing a few buttons, and then she stood up completely.
"Leave the car be for the moment, Champ," she said. "My Care Alert indicates our destination being very close by. About half a mile due south of here."
"Well, let's go then, sports fans," Champ Bear said. He helped Loyalheart Dog to his feet. "Hey, you still okay, buddy?"
"I'll live," Loyalheart Dog panted, gulping down the last of the water from the bottle.
"Good," Champ Bear smiled. "Let's get underway then."
"Yes," Cheer Bear said, waving her paw-fan ever more energetically. "Because frankly, the sooner we can go back home so I can take a dip in the pool, the better I like it."
The two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin started walking. With the help of Champ Bear's wristwatch-like compass (he had thought of everything), and by the directions of Cheer Bear's portable Care Alert, they kept a due south heading, so they wouldn't get lost. After about half an hour of walking through the loose sand under the blazing sun, Loyalheart Dog suddenly looked up with a happy yip.
"Oi! Oi wow! Check it out, cousins! Swaying palms! A big pool! Tables with cold drinks!"
He started running towards a large sand dune, took a dive and landed with a "poof!" in the sand, throwing up a big cloud of dust. Champ Bear and Cheer Bear walked up to him, softly grinning and giggling a bit.
"Poor Loyalheart," Champ Bear grinned, helping the bewildered blue puppy to his feet. "That was what they call a mirage, sports fan."
"A-a-a wh-what?" Loyalheart Dog gasped, shaking the sand from his face.
"A hallucination," Champ Bear grinned. "It's something that happens in deserts. The sun, the heat, the thirst, all that start playing tricks on your mind and make you see beautiful things. So never trust anything that seems too beautiful to be true when walking through a desert, sports fan, 'cause nothing is what it seems. One moment you see a beautiful girl beckoning you, so you run up to her and kiss her, only to find you've placed your lips on a cactus."
Cheer Bear giggled softly, and Loyalheart Dog sighed a bit, wiping the last sand from his face with both paws.
"It looked so real," he said softly. "I could smell the water from the pool."
"It's alright, sports fan," Champ Bear smiled, patting Loyalheart Dog's shoulder. "It could have happened to any one of us. C'mon, let's move on."
The three of them started walking again, plowing through the loose sand puffing, climbing sand dune after sand dune. After about another fifteen minutes, they suddenly stopped short on the top of another sand dune they had climbed. They stared at the vision looming somewhere ahead of them, a couple of yards away, softly trembling in the heat of the blazing sun.
"Hey... guys?" Cheer Bear finally said after a while. "Are... you seeing what I am seeing?"
Cheer Bear was seeing a sort of oasis, a spot of green vegetation surrounding a small cottage, and between two of the palm trees she saw a hammock with somebody in it.
"It's got to be one of those mirage-things again," Loyalheart Dog whispered.
"When we're all three seeing it?" Champ Bear said, running a paw along his chin. "I doubt that. But it kinda depends if we're all seeing the same thing. I for one am seeing a sort of cottage surrounded by palm trees and green shrubs, on a patch of grass, and a hammock with someone in it." He turned to Cheer Bear. "What are you seeing?"
"What you said," Cheer Bear said, not taking her eyes off the beautiful vision.
"And you, buddy?" Champ Bear turned to Loyalheart Dog.
"Same here," the blue puppy said softly.
"Then we'd better check if it's real," Champ Bear said. "If we're all three seeing the same thing, fat chance it is real."
The three of them started walking again, descending the sand dune towards the beautiful vision they were seeing. As they got closer and closer, the vision remained where it was, but it also kept retaining the strange tremble of heat. But when the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin had reached the vision and set foot on the grass, they found they were actually setting feet on grass. As they looked around them with surprise over where they had landed, the somebody in the hammock rose up a bit and lifted a pair of big round sunglasses from the face. Champ Bear, Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog looked around, and almost fell over with even more surprise. The someone in the hammock was a small male bear, looking exactly like Champ and Cheer, apart from the color of his fur, which was black on the left side and white on the right side. But his nose was heart-shaped, he had a small red heart on his hips and under his feet, and his tummy was white. And the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin gasped with a shock of surprise when they saw the small male black and white bear had a symbol like their own on his white tummy!
"Well well," the small male black bear said with a smile. "Visitors? It's sure been a while since I last saw those. Welcome in my humble abode, you guys. Who are you?"
Neither Champ Bear nor Cheer Bear nor Loyalheart Dog answered, as they were still too busy staring at the black and white bear's white tummy, at the symbol on there. It was a bit of a strange symbol, although it did look slightly familiar. It actually kinda looked like the well-known Yin&Yang-symbol, but then... but then in the shape of a heart. The black and white bear smiled a bit at Champ Bear's, Cheer Bear's and Loyalheart Dog's wide-eyed staring, but his own eyes also went wide when he noticed the symbols on their tummies.
"Ola! But you're Care Bears!"
==/=/==
In the far east, Wish Bear checked her portable Care Alert, and placed a paw on Braveheart Lion's arm.
"We've gotta land, Braveheart," she said. "My Care Alert indicates the trouble is somewhere in that valley below us."
Braveheart Lion looked over the edge of the Cloudsmobile and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you sure? That looks like a positively peaceful valley to me."
"My Care Alert says so," Wish Bear said.
Braveheart Lion shrugged a bit.
"Well, alright, those things ought to know."
He swung the Cloudsmobile around and found a place to land, somewhere near a creek softly spattering through the luscious green valley. Wish Bear bent over to the back seat and shook Bedtime Bear's shoulders.
"Bedtime. Bedtime, wake up. We're here."
Bedtime Bear stirred, yawned widely and stretched his arms, and then rubbed his eyes, looking up with a sleepy smile.
"Hmmm?"
"I said, we're here, Bedtime," Wish Bear smiled.
"Are we, now?" Bedtime Bear said, with another yawn. He stalled in the middle of that yawn, looking around him with his mouth still wide open. "Are you sure? Trouble here would be like hellfire in the Kingdom of Caring."
"My Care Alert says we've reached destination," Wish Bear smiled.
"Well," Braveheart Lion said. "We can sit here in the car all day, or we can walk around and try to find out what the trouble is here."
"I go for the second option," Bedtime Bear said, yawning again. "Quite frankly, the sooner we can go home so I can look up my bed, the better I like it."
The two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin got out of the Cloudsmobile and started walking around the valley. And a beautiful valley it was. From one of the surrounding mountains came a crystal-clear stream of water, which ran through the entire valley. Flowers bloomed everywhere in the luscious green grass, and the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin saw people working on rice-fields, herding cattle, washing laundry in the stream and children playing and laughing, all of them happy as anything. When they'd gone all around the valley, they stopped on a sort of heightened platform against the side of one of the mountains, so they could overlook the entire valley.
"Gosh," Wish Bear said. "It's sure beautiful here."
"It is," Bedtime Bear nodded. "So calm and tranquil."
"I almost can't believe I'm seeing something as beautiful as this," Braveheart Lion said.
"Believe it."
The two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin looked at each other with surprise.
"Uh... what?" Wish Bear said. "Did you say that, Bedtime?"
"I didn't say it," Bedtime Bear said. "Did you say that, Braveheart?"
"Not me," Braveheart Lion said.
"I said it."
Wish Bear, Bedtime Bear and Braveheart Lion spun around, and they bumped into each other in the spin and fell to the ground on and over each other when they got seized by a shock of surprise. A little way behind them was a small female bear, looking exactly similar to the two Care Bears. Her fur was a soft, light sky blue, her tummy was white, and there was a symbol on there! A symbol of a small smiling sun and a small white cloud, connected by a small rainbow. She stepped up to the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin when they'd tumbled all over each other like that.
"Oh dear heaven, are you okay?"
She helped Bedtime Bear, Wish Bear and Braveheart Lion to their feet, and then gasped with surprise herself when she noticed the symbols on their tummies.
==/=/==
Deep in the dark west, finally, Proudheart Cat stopped the Cloudsmobile on another open spot in the forest when Do-Your-Best Bear's Care Alert beeped loudly. The green bear looked at it and pressed some buttons, and then he looked at the others.
"Well, we should be very close to our destination now," he said.
Friend Bear looked around her from the back seat with a paw before her mouth.
"Here? Oh my dear blue heaven, really?"
Do-Your-Best Bear twisted in the passenger's seat a bit and comfortingly placed a paw on Friend Bear's plushy peach-colored thigh.
"Don't worry too much, sweetie," he smiled. "We're together, we're safe. As long as we stay close to each other, I'm sure we'll find out what's the trouble around here safely."
"Let's get on with it then," Friend Bear said, swallowing softly. "Because frankly, the sooner we can leave this creepy dark place and go back home again, the better I like it."
Proudheart Cat also twisted in the driver's seat and placed a paw on Friend Bear's other thigh.
"That sounds like a good idea, sweetie. And don't worrry, it's like Do-Yourr-Best says; as long as we stick togetherr, we'll be just fine."
Friend Bear put her own paws on those of her friends lying on her thighs, and she smiled a bit.
"Thanks, you guys. Well, let's get going then, shall we?"
Do-Your-Best Bear and Proudheart Cat nodded with a smile, and all three of them got out of the Cloudsmobile. Although they could find their way through the dark foliage well enough, for Friend Bear's comfort Proudheart Cat used her beaming-power for a moment, making a symbol like the one on her soft tummy appear. The pink star floated a little ahead and above the party of three, the red heart inside it casting a clear light on their path. Friend Bear smiled a bit again, holding Proudheart Cat's paw and softly squeezing it. Still she kept looking around her somewhat anxiously at the sounds around them. It somehow seemed like they were being followed. By the light of Proudheart Cat's symbol, Do-Your-Best Bear kept checking his portable Care Alert, pressing a button on it every now and then.
"We're getting closer," he said, leading the way further west through the dense, dark forest. "We're getting closer. Ever closer. We should be really close now."
As they kept heading further west, the forest seemed to get denser and thicker at each step. Proudheart Cat's symbol actually had trouble to remain floating ahead of the party of three, and Friend Bear started squeezing the orange Cat's paw ever harder, looking around her anxiously. When a weird sound quite close to them suddenly rang out, the peach-colored bear stopped dead in her tracks, giving such an unexpected yank on Proudheart Cat's paw the orange Care Bear Cousin tumbled down on her back. She scrambled back up and looked at Friend Bear, who was standing stock-still, shivering with her eyes wide.
"What's the matterrr, sweetie?" she asked the trembling pink bear.
"I... I... I... can't do it," Friend Bear shivered. "I'm so scared, Proudheart. It's so terribly dark here. I can't do this. It's too hard."
"Come on, sweetums," Do-Your-Best Bear smiled, stepping up to Friend Bear. "All you've gotta do is your best."
"Indeed, that's good advice. You can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it. Nothing is as hard as it may seem."
When that voice sounded, Friend Bear let out a shriek and jumped into Proudheart Cat's arms.
"Yeek!"
"Who said that?" Do-Your-Best Bear said, looking around him.
Proudheart Cat snapped her fingers and beckoned her lighting symbol, but the pink star had faded between the trees somewhere. Still, in the dim darkness around them, the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin could see a small figure stepping up to them. Do-Your-Best Bear took a step back. Proudheart Cat tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness so she could see the figure better. Friend Bear pressed herself as close against Proudheart Cat's body as she could manage, squeezing her arms around the orange CareBear Cousin's neck, looking at the approaching figure shivering, her eyes really wide.
"Hey girl, don't be so afraid." The voice coming from the dark figure was feminine, gentle and reassuring. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I won't hurt you. I just came to see if you needed help."
"H-h-have y-you b-been f-f-following u-us?" Friend Bear shivered.
"Well, following... I just came to you, as I said to see if you needed help," the feminine voice said.
"Who are you?" Do-Your-Best Bear said.
"My name is Easy Bear," the feminine voice said. "But wait, a little light will make things a lot easier for all of us. Just a moment."
With some surprise, the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin saw the dark figure taking on a pose like they themselves would take on when using their Stare: arms to the back a bit and tummy thrust out forward. A moment later a light flashed, and a symbol of a yellow star and a red heart close to each other floated up, spreading light over the scene.
"Waw!"
That was Proudheart Cat. She took a step back, stumbled over something and fell over on her back again. Since Friend Bear was still in her arms, they fell on top of each other. Proudheart Cat gasped a bit when Friend Bear's landing on her stomach knocked the wind out of her. Do-Your-Best Bear dropped his portable Care Alert, and his lower jaw too. With the star-and-heart symbol now illuminating the scene, the three of them saw they were looking at a small female bear looking exactly like them. Pastel green of fur, with a green heart-shaped nose and dark green hearts on the hips, and a white-furred tummy with a symbol of a star and a heart close together on it! The pastel green female bear also looked at the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin with surprise.
"Oi! But you look just like me!"
"Hey, hold it," Do-Your-Best Bear said, recollecting his senses. "I would rather say you look just like us! Who are you?"
"Well, as I said, my name is Easy Bear," the pastel green female bear said. "And who do I have the pleasure with?"
"Uh... I... I... I am Friend Bear," the peach-colored bear said, scrambling up off Proudheart Cat's stomach. "A-and she's... she's one of our cousins, Proudheart Cat."
"And I'm Do-Your-Best Bear," the male green bear said.
"Oi!" the pastel green female bear said again. "Are you Care Bears, like me?"
"Whoa, hold it again!" Do-Your-Best Bear said. "Are you saying you are a Care Bear, like us?"
"Yes I am," the pastel green female bear said simply.
"B-b-but... h-how can that be?" Friend Bear stuttered.
The pastel green female bear sighed a bit.
"I'll tell you." She looked at Proudheart Cat scrambling up while drawing deep breaths. "Are you okay, honey?"
"Yes, don't worrrrry," Proudheart Cat said, drawing a last deep breath. "I'm fine."
"Oh, thank heaven," the pastel green female bear said. "Gosh, so... you're their cousin?"
Proudheart Cat nodded, sitting down on the grass with her back against a tree, rubbing her stomach a bit. Friend Bear looked at it, and she shuffled over to Proudheart Cat.
"Oh dear, did I hurt you, Proudheart?"
The orange Care Bear Cousin looked at the peach-colored Care Bear with a smile.
"It's not so bad."
Do-Your-Best bear took a step in the direction of the pastel green female bear.
"Please tell us your story, Easy Bear?" he said.
Easy Bear nodded, with another soft sigh.
"It's not such a very nice story," she sighed. "If you are Care Bears too, I'm sure you know how one special bear and one special pony once took a bunch of young bear cubs and other animal young to a special place in the clouds, to live there."
Do-Your-Best Bear, Friend Bear and Proudheart Cat looked at each other and nodded a bit, remembering. Easy Bear rubbed her green heart-shaped nose with a finger.
"I'm sure you also know that when they reached that special place in the clouds, a cloud broke loose and blew away, carrying a few of the young cubs on it?"
The two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin looked at each other and nodded again, and Friend Bear suddenly dived towards Easy Bear and took one of the pastel green bear's paws in both her own.
"Oh my dear heaven!" she said. "Are you saying..?"
Easy Bear nodded, her head bowed down.
"I was one of those cubs, yes. We were with four bear cubs and one feline cub. The..." She wavered for a moment, then drew a deep breath. "The cloud broke up a couple of times more, separating us all. I was blown this way, and I landed in this forest, where I've lived ever since. I... I don't know what became of the others."
The two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin were quite silent after that little story. Of course they knew of the couple of cubs that had gone missing when that one cloud broke loose so long ago. Of course they also knew all hope was given up on ever finding them back again, as there was not a trace left of them. And of course...
"Of course!" Do-Your-Best Bear suddenly said aloud. "That was why the Caring Meter was acting so strange! It located your present whereabouts! Has to be!" He looked at Friend Bear and Proudheart Cat. "I wanna bet the others who were sent out are about now hearing the same story from one of the other missing bears!"
"Oh my gosh," Friend Bear breathed. "Do-Your-Best, you may be very right. Oh my, this is so huge! Our long lost family members!" She bent over to Easy Bear and took one of the pastel green bear's paws in both her own again. "Oh honey, please tell me you are coming back with us!"
Easy Bear looked up at the peach-colored bear's face, a crystal droplet shimmering in the corner of her eye.
"To... that special place in the clouds?" she whispered. "Where... the others were brought to?"
"Yes!" Friend Bear said. "Our land! Our Kingdom of Caring! Please come back with us!"
Easy Bear flung her pastel green arms around Friend Bear's neck.
"I'd so love to! I've been so lonely here all those years! Please take me to my true home!"
Do-Your-Best Bear rose up, placing a paw on Easy Bear's shoulders while looking at the others.
"Let's get back to the Cloudsmobile," he said softly. "We have a long journey back ahead of us."
==/=/==
And indeed, Do-Your-Best Bear had been right. Somewhere all the way up north, in the small igloo with the door, the first shock had worn off with Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear and Cozyheart Penguin, and the white bear and the grey-speckled white feline had introduced themselves as Sugar Bear and Cunningheart Snowleopard, and they had told the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin just about the same story of the cloud that had broken loose and had taken away a few of the young cubs to be brought to a special place in the clouds. When the second shock, over having found some of their long lost family members back, had also worn off, Good Luck Bear remarked what luck is was for them they had been discovered now, and the white female bear and the grey-speckled white female snowleopard also grabbed the offer of coming back with them to the Kingdom of Caring with both paws. So, after saying goodbye to the place they had called home for so long a time, Sugar Bear and Cunningheart Snowleopard accompanied Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear and Cozyheart Penguin to their Cloudsmobile for a long journey back.
==/=/==
In the sweltering desert down south, Champ Bear, Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog fell in the green grass with a thump when the black and white bear had called out "Ola! But you're Care Bears!" He jumped out of his hammock and helped the party of three to their feet.
"You know us?" Champ Bear said with some surprise.
"Brother, I am one!" the black and white bear said.
"No!" Cheer Bear squealed.
"Yes," the black and white bear said, with a small smile.
"But... that can't be," Cheer Bear said. "You're... you're half black. That's not a Care Bear color. That's a sad color. We all have bright, happy colors."
The black bear smiled.
"Sister, trust me, nothing is what it seems. I should know, I'm the bear who shows people just that." He reached out a paw. "My name is Opposite Bear, and I was supposed to live in a special place up in the clouds somewhere. We were with a large group of young cubs, I remember that. But as we were brought to that special place in the clouds, a cloud broke loose and blew away with some of the cubs, including me, on it."
"Sheesh sports fan, you're right!" Champ Bear said. "I remember that too! And I remember Trueheart Bear searching the globe for ages to try and find a trace of the cubs gone missing, but there was none!"
Cheer Bear nodded with both her paws over her mouth and her eyes wide.
"I... I remember that too," she whispered. "Oh my, but then... you are our brother." She suddenly flew up to the black and white bear and flung her arms around his neck, kissing him. "Oh wow, I can't believe it! We found one of our long lost family members back! Oh, this is so great!"
"It sure is, sis," the black and white bear smiled, freeing himself from Cheer Bear's crushing embrace. "Hey, but I bet you're thirsty after walking all the way here, right?" He turned to a small refrigerator and opened it. "Anybody wanna Slurpee?"
The two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin accepted eagerly, and they sat in the grass for some time, enjoying the ice-cold drinks. When they'd finished them, Cheer Bear hugged the black and white bear again.
"Oh wow, I almost can't believe we found one of our long lost family members back now."
"Hey!" Loyalheart Dog said suddenly. "Wanna bet that was the reason for the Caring Meter going berserk like it did?"
"Of course!" Champ Bear said, spinning around and pointing a finger at the blue puppy. "Has to be! I even wanna bet Funshine, Good Luck and Cozyheart are talking to another one of those cubs gone missing back then right now!"
"What?" the black and white bear said, freeing himself from Cheer Bear's embrace again. "What did you say, bro?"
Champ Bear turned back to the black and white bear.
"Listen, sports fan, this morning our alarm-system started suddenly going crazy. We got an indication of trouble in the north somewhere, and some of us were sent there to find out what the trouble was. Shortly after we got an indication of trouble in the south somewhere, and we were sent out to check that."
"Were there... more indications?" the black and white bear asked.
"I don't know, we left at that second one," Champ Bear said, shrugging. "Who can say if there came more after we left."
"Then... It could be..." the black and white bear said. He placed a paw on Champ Bear's shoulder. "Bro, listen, that cloud that took us away broke up several times more, and we all got separated. If you say you left on an indication of trouble, and you found me, then... maybe... those others..."
"Yes!" Cheer Bear squealed again. "Oh Champ, that could be possible! Oh, please let's go home quickly and find out!" She turned to the black and white bear. "And please come with us, Opposite! Come with us to the land where you belong, with the family you belong in!"
"Of course, sis," Opposite Bear said. "Would want nothing more! But give me some time to pack, alright?"
"Just a minute," Loyalheart Dog said. "How are we going to get back home? The car broke down, remember?"
"Aw sheesh, that's true," Champ Bear said, snapping his fingers.
"Boiling radiator, I'm sure?" Opposite Bear said. "You get that around here. I can fix that."
He beamed a small light from his tummy-symbol, and in the light a sort of Cloudsmobile appeared. Champ Bear, Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog looked at it quite surprised. It sure looked like no Cloudsmobile they had ever seen before. It kinda looked like an open jeep, without doors or even a windshield, and it had deeply grooved black tires instead of the smooth pink ones generally seen under Care Bear Cloudsmobiles. Opposite Bear grinned at their baffled expressions.
"Well, come on, hop in. Room enough. You gotta show me where you left your car before I can try to fix it, right?"
He hopped into the strange Cloudsmobile behind the wheel himself. Champ Bear also grinned a bit.
"Sports fan, you're absolutely right."
He also got into the strange Cloudsmobile, on the passenger's seat. Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog found themselves a place on the back seat. Opposite Bear pressed the GO-button and pulled away from his oasis. After half a mile due north, they reached the Cloudsmobile which had failed Champ Bear, Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog. It was still standing near a sand dune, with the hood open. Opposite Bear pulled up next to it and looked at the radiator, from which still a few small wisps of steam were coming. He nodded.
"Yeah see, as I thought. Boiled radiator. Well, I'll have that fixed in a jiffy."
Taking the broken-down Cloudsmobile in tow, Opposite Bear drove back to his oasis, opened the small refrigerator again, and then simply poured a Slurpee in the Cloudsmobile's radiator. When after that Champ Bear pressed the GO-button, the engine of the Cloudsmobile started purring like a pussycat, like it was supposed to.
"Thanks a lot, sports fan," he smiled at Opposite Bear.
"No problem, bro," Opposite Bear smiled back. "Now, I'll pack my stuff and come with you. Stand back a bit."
Champ Bear, Cheer Bear and Loyalheart Dog took a few steps back, and they got baffled again when they saw what Opposite Bear did next. Applying his Care Bear Stare, a lighting symbol like the one on his white tummy appeared. It hovered into the air, growing larger and larger, and when it was really large it descended over the oasis, sort of slurping it up. A moment later all that was left was a small cloud suitcase standing in the sand.
"Wow," Cheer Bear gasped. "How... how did you do that?"
"As I said, sis, nothing is what it seems," Opposite Bear grinned. He took the cloud suitcase and got into his strange Cloudsmobile. "Well, are we going?"
==/=/==
And then of course, the fourth group that had headed to the east. When they all had gasped with surprise over recognizing a tummy symbol on each other, the sky blue female bear took Wish Bear, Bedtime Bear and Braveheart Lion with her to a small cave some way furtheron up the mountain which she lived in, and after she had introduced herself as Heaven Bear, the two Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousin had been listening to her story about a cloud breaking loose and taking away a few of the young cubs to be taken to a special place in the clouds in breath-taken captivity. Of course they remembered that too, and of course they also suddenly realized that firstly, they had found a long lost family member back, secondly, that had to have been the reason for the Caring Meter to go so berserk, and thirdly, that the other bears who had been sent out were probably hearing the same thing, only from another long lost Care Bear.
"Wow," Wish Bear said when Heaven Bear had finished her story. "This is just so wonderful. If you only know how hard we've been trying to find you back, sweetie."
"If only you know how hard I've been praying and wishing to one day be reunited with my true family," Heaven Bear said softly, her head bowed down a bit.
Wish Bear smiled a bit, placing a paw on the sky blue bear's arm.
"Have you been wishing upon shooting stars, sweetie?"
"Every time I saw one."
"Well, I should know, when you wish upon a shooting star, your wish will come true," Wish Bear smiled. She ran a paw along her chin for a moment. "A bit belated in this case perhaps, but it happened now anyway."
Heaven Bear looked up, with a sparkle gleaming in her eyes.
"So... you've come to take me home?" she asked softly. "To take me to that special place in the clouds, where I was supposed to live, with my family?"
"Yes, Heaven Bear, we have," Bedtime Bear smiled.
"I knew it," Heaven Bear said softly, lowering her head again. "I kept believing it would happen. I never stopped believing it would happen some day. And now... now it is happening."
"Yes, it is happening indeed," Bedtime Bear smiled. He stretched his arms into the air and yawned widely. "And frankly, I think we should better be heading home right now. Travelling all the way east made me miss a night, and I can't keep my eyes open for very much longer."
"Don't worry, Bedtime, I'll drive this time," Wish Bear smiled. "You can sleep on the back seat all the way home if you want."
"That sounds very inviting," Bedtime Bear smiled with another yawn.
"Yes, let's go, please let's go," Heaven Bear whispered with a smile.
"Then we're going right now, sweetie," Wish Bear smiled.
She put a paw on Heaven Bear's sky blue shoulder and led her out of the cave, followed by Braveheart Lion supporting an almost already asleep Bedtime Bear. They walked to the Cloudsmobile patiently waiting near the stream, and got in. Wish Bear sat down behind the wheel, Braveheart Lion on the passenger's seat, and Heaven Bear found herself a spot on the back seat, next to Bedtime Bear. She smiled when the blue bear sank over to his side and rested his head in her lap, cuddling up for a delightful nap. All the way back westwards, she kept softly stroking Bedtime Bear's ears. And from the other three directions of the wind, four more Cloudsmobiles headed in the opposite direction they had set out on (of course, from the south, it were two Cloudsmobiles heading north, as Opposite Bear was driving his own).
==/=/==
Back up in the Kingdom of Caring, Tenderheart Bear was still pacing in circles near the staroscope. He had already worn a waist-deep circular trench in the clouds with that, which forced him to stand on his toes each time he wanted to look through the staroscope. And he almost bumped himself a black eye on that thing when a voice rang out just when he was looking through it again.
"Tenderheart, look!"
It was Grumpy Bear who had shouted that, and he was pointing at the Caring Meter. Tenderheart Bear climbed out of his circular trench and also looked at the Caring Meter. The heart-shaped needle had stopped spinning, and it was slowly climbing back to its all-is-well-position. Tenderheart Bear smiled while rubbing a paw over his eye.
"I knew they could do it. I knew it." He mopped his brow with a paw. "Wow, I can't wait until they're all home again. I'm dying to hear what was the cause of all this madness."
"You won't have to wait for very much longer, Tenderheart," Grams Bear smiled, looking through the staroscope. "I can see them coming now. And... oh my! They have company!"
"What?!?"
Tenderheart Bear flew back over to the staroscope, peering through it intently. And indeed, he saw five Cloudsmobiles coming from the four directions of the wind. Two of them, coming from east and west, had one bear more in them than they had left with, the one coming from the north even had a bear and a sort of cat extra in it, and from the south the regular Cloudsmobile was accompanied by a second, very unfamiliar Cloudsmobile. While looking through the staroscope in surprise, Tenderheart Bear gasped when he saw how the five cars, all heading for the same direction from four different ones, almost came to a mid-air collision somewhere directly below the entrance to the Kingdom of Caring.
That of course was to be contributed to the fact that, even though they had supposed that would happen when finding one of their long lost family members, the drivers of the Cloudsmobiles still got very much surprised when they saw the additional bears in the other Cloudsmobiles. After their near-collision, the five Cloudsmobiles hovered in place just below the Kingdom of Caring for a few moments, while all the new Care Bears were introduced to the exsisting ones. Then, one by one, the Cloudsmobiles entered the entrance to the Kingdom of Caring, and they drove up to the Hall of Hearts in a line across the rainbow path.
At the Hall of Hearts, all the remaining Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins had assembled to welcome home the four search-parties. As the Cloudsmobiles pulled to a stop next to each other in front of the Hall of Hearts and all the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins got out, Trueheart Bear suddenly yelped and grasped Grams Bear with both paws.
"Grams! It's them! It's them! It's really them!"
"I do believe you're right," Grams Bear said, a lot more calmly, yet still a bit shaken by the shock of the unexpected.
Trueheart Bear let go of Grams Bear and ran up to the search-parties with tears in her eyes, hugging Sugar Bear, Heaven Bear, Opposite Bear, Easy Bear and Cunningheart Snowleopard in turns.
"Oh my dear heaven, it's you! It's you! You're back! You're back! You're found! You're back!" she cried.
The four new Care Bears and the new Care Bear Cousin all hugged Trueheart Bear back tightly, having recognized her as that one special bear who once, long ago, took them, along with all the others, under her guard to bring them to a special place in the clouds to live there. Only after quite some time Trueheart Bear managed to get a hold of her emotions, and all the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins were introduced to each other. When all that had been done, with the inevitable emotions, Braveheart Lion took Cunningheart Snowleopard with him to the Forest of Feelings, where the Care Bear Cousins all lived, and Sugar Bear, Easy Bear, Opposite Bear and Heaven Bear were taken into Care Bear Town and given a place to live. Of course, in the black bear's case, that was quite simple, as he simply opened his cloud suitcase and made his entire oasis appear again on the outskirts of Care Bear Town. For the other three houses were found, and they moved in happily. Once again, after so much time, the Care Bear Family was complete.
