This mostly adheres to the continuity of the Welcome to Care-A-Lot series, with one minor alteration being that the Care Bear Cousins are now part of the cast. The storyline is based heavily off of a (very funny) Donald Duck comic called, "The Think Box Bollix" which is part of the A Christmas for Shacktown comic compilation, available on Amazon. Please enjoy!(BTW, I have pictures of all the OCs from this story available on my blog, the Keeper of the Fun blog!)

It's a beautiful day in Care-A-Lot. In the middle of Gloomy Glen, Grumpy Bear is strolling casually out the front door of his Care-A-Van, getting ready to cook some hamburgers on his camping grill, when suddenly he hears a series of loud blasts and crashes emanating from the Forest of Feelings. "Whoa, what gives? Is it the Fourth of July?" The blue bear rushes down to the forest to investigate. "Maybe it's an invasion from Mars!" he muses cautiously. Suddenly, a large, odd-looking buggy(Which had been the source of the noise) motors past him. Grumpy immediately recognizes the driver. "No! It's that kooky inventor Brightheart Raccoon!"

"Hello, Grumpy!" the purple raccoon waves to his friend as he pulls the buggy over. At that moment, little Wonderheart Bear pops out of the back of the buggy, holding her beloved doll Floppy Bunny. "Howdy, Grumpy!" she greets him.

Grumpy stares in astonishment at the strange device. "What in the world do you have there, Brightheart?"

"My new Speedy Delivery Mobile, which hopefully will make delivery bears' lives easier. It runs three blocks on a quart of fire crackers, making speedy deliveries a breeze." Brightheart drops several lit firecrackers into the buggy's exhaust pipe, then grabs the steering wheel; he turns to the back seat. "Are you buckled in there okay, Wonderheart?"

"Yep!"

"All right! Ready…set….go!" The buggy then motors off at high speed again.

"Imagine the streets filled with those things!" Grumpy doubles over laughing. "Brightheart's been trying for years to invent something useful, and this is the closest he's come yet!" He then traipses off after the buggy. "I think I'll follow him and see what happens. I haven't had a good laugh in weeks."

The Speedy Delivery Mobile barrels through the forest, swerves abruptly, and crashes into a tree, sending Brightheart tumbling out. A worried Wonderheart rushes up to him, "Brightheart, are you okay?!"

"Don't worry, Wonderheart, I'm fine," the purple raccoon slowly sits up and rubs his sore head. "It's only a minor technical difficulty."

"Would you look at that?" Grumpy chortles. "You just ran into a tree!"

"Well yes, Grumpy. You see, this was where I wanted to stop."

The blue bear laughs harder and slaps his knees. "Some invention!"

"I haven't had time to perfect it, because I've been busy with a few other inventions." Brightheart traipses over to the Speedy Delivery mobile, opens the trunk, and takes out a small metal block with an antenna and several dials on top, which he then places by the side of a nearby path. "Oh, Wonderheart," he calls. "Could you please bring me that other Brain Booster?"

"With pleasure, Brightheart." the little cub removes an identical block from the trunk and places it on the opposite side of the path. "Ooh boy," she remarks excitedly. "I bet Share and Gentleheart would like these. They just love aminals!"

By now Grumpy's curiosity is beginning to get the better of him; he walks casually up to Brightheart, "Say, I believe I'd heard you call those crates Brain Boosters. Would I be too inquisitive if I asked?"

"Why, not at all, Grumpy, I have high hopes for this new invention of mine."

"They're full a'gadgets that send out 'lectric thought rays." Wonderheart explains.

Brightheart motions toward the devices. "See, we simply place one on either side of an animal trail, and any animal that passes through the ray beam will automatically be able to think like a human…or like us Care Bears."

"An' that's not all, Grumpy," Wonderheart adds excitedly. "Th' aminals'll be able to talk 'n do stuff like peoples, too!"

"Now I'll turn on the thought ray," Brightheart says, as he switches the device on. "And tomorrow we'll come back here to see if it has worked."

"Shewww, and I thought the Speedy Delivery Buggy was a goofy idea!" Grumpy mumbles under his breath. Suddenly, a notion occurs to him; he walks up to Wonderheart, "Say Wonderheart, just out of curiosity, why are you mixed up in this nonsense?"

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mention this earlier, Grumpy. I've decided t'be Brightheart's assistant 'n help him with his inventions 'n stuff."

Grumpy is utterly flabbergasted. "A sensible little kid like her becoming that wacko's assistant. What's the world coming to?!"

Evening falls; Grumpy stands in Tenderheart's living room, addressing Wonderheart, who's sitting on the couch, holding Floppy Bunny in one paw. "Now Wonderheart, don't you think that working with Brightheart might not be a good idea?"

The little cub wears a perplexed look. "Why's that, Grumpy?"

The blue bear is at a momentary loss for words. "You-well, uh, for one thing, when all of the other cubs hear about you helping Brightheart with his inventions, they'll tease you!"

"I'm willing to take that chance, Grumpy," a determined Wonderheart replies. "After all, everybear did soon stop teasing Bearconi and Alexander Graham Bear."

Grumpy's frustration begins to grow. "I know, but that's different! Bearconi and Graham Bear were geniuses and Brightheart's just a harmless kook!"

"Right, and that's just what everybear said about Graham Bear before his inventions clicked." the little cub them leaves for her room, toting Floppy Bunny under her arm.

Grumpy slowly exits the house and sits slouched on the front step. "Apparently she's been completely sold on that loony-brain's ideas. I'll have to find some way to convince her otherwise, but how?" As he silently muses, an idea suddenly occurs to him. "I know! I'll use strategy! Yeah, I'll expose Brightheart for the goof he truly is; Wonderheart will be so ashamed of him, she'll quit working for him for sure!" And with that, he then hurries into town.

Grumpy presently comes to a costume shop in the middle of town; he knocks gently on the door, upon which a sleep-deprived mocha brown bear with a scissors and measuring tape belly badge answers. "Hello?" he says drowsily.

"Yes, do you have a lion costume-one that looks real enough to roar?"

The shopkeeper bear leads Grumpy over to a display of costumes lined across a back wall, in the middle of which is a golden yellow lion costume with a bushy reddish-brown mane and tailtip, sharp teeth and claws, and a fierce expression on its face. "Will this do, sir?"

"Just what I'm looking for. Thank you!"

Grumpy pays for the costume and the shopkeeper wraps it up for him; the blue bear then hurries out the door, laughing, "Woo hoo, now when Brightheart and Wonderheart go into the woods in the morning they'll meet a 'lion' who's been enabled to think like a human being!"

The next morning, Brightheart is driving his Speedy Delivery Buggy through the forest, with Wonderheart safely buckled in back. Upon reaching a clearing, he pulls the buggy over and he and Wonderheart, who's still toting Floppy Bunny, both climb out. "Ooh boy," an excited Wonderheart says. "I wonder if any aminals passed through the Brain Booster's rays yet!"

"By the way, Wonderheart, there's another invention I've been meaning to show you." the purple raccoon opens the buggy's trunk and takes out a test tube filled with a florescent blue liquid.

"Wow," remarks a very intrigued Wonderheart. "What's that?"

"Positive Potion," Brightheart replies. "Whoever drinks it will only be able to say good things for hours."

The little cub giggles. "Oh boy, I bet Grumpy could sure get some good use out of this." she whispers in Brightheart's ear.

The two of them then traipse toward the animal trail where they'd put the Brain Boosters the previous day, little knowing that Grumpy was hiding behind a nearby tree, wearing his lion suit, save for the mask, waiting for the right moment. "I can hardly wait to see what wonders my Brain Boosters have worked." the purple raccoon remarks in anticipation.

Brightheart and Wonderheart observe several animal tracks going down the path. "Lotsa' aminals went by here last night." the little cub says.

"There's even a set of lion tracks here." Brightheart notes.

Now's my chance! Grumpy thinks; he pops his mask on and hops out into the open. "Ah, yes, friends, that was me! Good morning to you." he greets them merrily.

Wonderheart gasps with delight. "A lion! And he's talking!"

"My invention worked!" Brightheart adds happily.

Grumpy-dressed-as-a-lion turns to Brightheart, "Say, might you be the inventor of this marvelous device that enables us average, run-of-the-mill animal folk?"

"Y-yes, sir." replies a still very amazed Brightheart.

"My thanks, sir!" Grumpy-dressed-as-a-lion continues. "Why, just last night I was your basic average lion traveling into the forest to catch an antelope. I passed through your thought ray and presto-I was suddenly able to think and talk like a human." He glares fiercely over at the purple raccoon, licking his lips. "I no longer had an appetite for antelope, I wanted cooked food….ROAST RACCOON! YAAAAA-AAAAAH!" Grumpy-dressed-as-a-lion then begins to fiercely chase after Brightheart.

"Oh-oh my goodness, what could have gone wrong?" the purple raccoon wonders apprehensively. "Did I accidentally set one of the dials to gluttony?" Wonderheart fearfully hurries after them, shouting, "Brightheart! Brightheart!"

I'll give him a good scare, then reveal my true identity. thinks Grumpy, as he continues chasing Brightheart, yelling, "ROAST RACCOON! YAAAAA-AAAAAH!"

"N-no, Mr. Lion, please!" the frightened Raccoon stammers. "Wouldn't you settle for turkey franks instead?"

Suddenly, a foot sticks out and trips Grumpy! The blue bear looks up to see a mysterious lime green bear with a question mark belly badge standing over him. "Hold it there, lion! You won't be harming anyone on my watch!"

Grumpy slowly rights himself and dusts himself off. "I wasn't harming him, I was only trying to give him a scare! In fact," he promptly whips off his mask and unbuttons his costume. "I'm not really a lion, I'm a bear, see?"

"Really?" the strange bear muses. "Hmm, how very interesting…Because I'm not really a bear, I'm a lion!" He whips off his own mask and unbuttons his own costume, revealing his true identity as…a lion!

Grumpy gulps nervously and begins to sweat profusely. "Y'know, the strangest thing happened to me last night," the lion continues. "I was going down the path to catch an antelope, and I passed through these two funny boxes that were sitting on either side of the trail."

"Y-yes." the blue bear replies apprehensively.

The lion looks hungrily over at Grumpy and licks his lips. "And suddenly, I didn't want antelope anymore, I wanted cooked food! ROAST BEAR! YAAAAA-AAAH!"

The blue bear runs as fast as his paws will carry him, but the lion quickly overtakes and captures him. "What's in those boxes anyway, cousin? Some kind of appetite rays?" the lion inquires, as he carries Grumpy over his shoulder.

"I'm afraid so." Grumpy shudders in response.

While this is happening, a worried Wonderheart traipses through the woods, looking for any sign of her missing friend. "Oh dear, Floppy Bunny, I don't see any sign of Brightheart or the lion anywhere. I sure hope he's okay." Out of the corner of her eye, she notices some footprints on the road ahead and walks closer to investigate. "There's scuffle marks on the ground and-gasp-Grumpy's footprints!"

"Yeah! A lion got him! A real lion!" calls a voice behind her. The little cub turns to see a small brown monkey with a white face and belly, the owner of the voice, sitting in a tree behind her.

"Y-you're talking! You're a monkey!"

"Uh huh, it was the oddest thing, my husband and I were strolling down the trail last night, when we passed through these two funny boxes. But that's another story. If you want to rescue your friend, you'll need to hurry! He went thattaway." the monkey motions toward a nearby hillside, covered with fallen trees and large flat rocks.

"Thanks." Wonderheart gently shakes the monkey's hand, then hurries up the hillside.

The little cub avidly climbs over the rocks and fallen trees until she reaches a clearing in the middle of the woods. Peeking over some thick bushes at the edge of the clearing, she gasps in horror at what she sees. "Oh no!" The lion has Grumpy tied to a spit and is placing a pile of kindling under him. "Yessir, I've got quite a craving for roast bear!" the lion says, as he hungrily licks his lips again. Grumpy's eyes grow large as he begins sweating again.

"I can't fight that lion with my bear hands," muses Wonderheart, as she hurries back down the hillside and onto the path. "Maybe Brightheart can help." She runs toward the animal trail where they'd been earlier, upon which she finds Brightheart tinkering with one of the Brain Boosters. "Brightheart! Brightheart!" she cries. "Can you reverse th' Brain Boosters to bring a lion back t'normal?"

The purple raccoon rubs his chin. "Well, yes, I could double the beam back from box B to box A, causing the polar negative to break up the cosmic positive."

"Thanks," the little cub replies. "Now we'll need to hurry, we gotta dinner date t'break up!" She then grabs up one Brain Booster, upon which Brightheart grabs the other and they hurry back into the woods.

Once they reach the clearing, Wonderheart and Brightheart place the Brain Boosters on either side of the cook-happy lion, just as he's sprinkling Grumpy with spices. "Now, I'll garnish you with a little saffron to taste." Brightheart quickly turns the dial; the lion suddenly drops down on all fours, "Grrrr….Rruhhh?" and then bounds off into the woods in fright. "Growr! Arrh! Rrowll!" Wonderheart prances merrily up to her friend. "You're saved, Grumpy! The lion is thinking like a lion again!"

She and Brightheart carefully untie the blue bear and gently help him back onto the ground, upon which they all begin heading back toward home. "Now Grumpy, you can see why everybear stopped laughing at Bearconi and Alexander Graham Bear," the little cub notes. "You never know what wonderful things such people might invent."

Brightheart then stops short, whispers in Wonderheart's ear, and hands her the Positive Potion; the little cub walks casually up to Grumpy and inquires, "Say Grumpy, would you like some soda?"

"Ah, thanks, I was getting a bit parched." the blue bear drinks the potion down; Brightheart strolls up to him and says jokingly, "Yes, and some inventions are even helpful to grumpy, sourpuss bears, such as yourself!"

"Why, you…y-you…YOU WONDERFUL GUY, YOU!" Grumpy exclaims angrily.

"Well gee, thanks, Grumpy." the purple raccoon punctuates his sentence with a chuckle.

Ooh, I'd pay a MILLION dollars just to be able to bawl that guy out right now! the blue bear thinks fiercely.

The end.

Voice Cast

Grumpy Bear-Doug Erhotlz

Wonderheart Bear-Michaela Dean

Brightheart Raccoon-Steven Jay Blum

Shopkeeper Bear-Mike Pollock

Lion-David Lodge

Monkey-Patty Mattson

(1)This was based on an invention used in one of E.C. Segar's Sappo comics.