Title: The Last Gummi
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Disney (although I'd kill for my personal Gusto here xDD)
It was a warm day. The sun was shining and the birds sung playfully. Nothing hinted towards the shadow lingering above the lovely valley of the Gummies.
It had been three days since Tummi and Gruffi had disappeared without a single trace. Three days in which Grammi had almost died of anxiety – that is when she wasn't cursing Gruffi for getting her poor little Tummi into serious trouble.
Zummi made several attempts to find them with magic, but none of them led anywhere. Once the answer had been 'a hole in the ocean' – Zummi and the others had thought of this result as a failure, like all the other attempts before.
Cubbi thought that maybe Duke Igthorn had something to do with it, but when they searched for more hints, they didn't find anything there either. Desperation took over the little family, and troubled silence fell over the valley that used to be so happy.
One day, Cubbi was playing in the quick tunnels – or so he had said, he was actually just sitting on a rock, throwing stones into the cave. But he didn't want to worry Grammi anymore, so he pretended that his innocent child's soul didn't understand the adult's worries.
As the low clattering of another stone faded away into silence, the gummi bear heard something else – a low but piercing hissing; the sound of an approaching quick car.
"They're coming!" he burst out when he ran into the living room. "In the quick tunnels! They're back!"
Suddenly, the corridors were full of excited shouting again, and the sound of tripping feet was heard as the Gummies ran to the quick tunnels, full of wary hope.
The hissing was louder now, accompanied by a characteristic buzzing that made the cave vibrate slightly. But there was something else.
"Do you hear that?" Sunni asked, confused. "It sounds like a scream!"
Cubbi shook his head. "I think it's more like someone whooping with joy..."
"Then it's definitely not Gruffi," Grammi teased. "He wouldn't even shout with joy if Igthorn and his ogres finally left us in peace!"
"B-but who do you think it is?" Zummi asked, unsure. Nobody answered. They waited in excitement, staring into the tunnel until the vibrations increased into loud thunder, along with the yelling – it was definitely with joy! – and all of them recognised that it wasn't Tummi and absolutely not Gruffi.
Then the quick car came to a halt with squealing breaks. And, sitting in it, there were Gruffi and Tummi. But they were not alone.
With eyes wide open, the others stared at the unknown bear sitting behind them, his hands still reaching for an imaginary sky.
"Wow, what a ride!" he cheered. "I haven't had that much fun since I slid down the big waterfall eight years ago! Can we do it again? Please?" Gruffi answered his question by rolling his eyes, and the blue bear shrugged uncaringly. Then he noticed the other bears, staring at him with open mouths, and he gleamed with joy. "Gummi bears!"
Light-footed, he jumped out of the quick car and grabbed the hands of the stunned Grammi. "You have to be Grammi! I've heard all kinds of things about you! If you believe Tummi, you're the best cook on this side of the sea!" At some point he stopped shaking her hand – and her – and turned to Zummi to greet him as well with a wild handshake. "And I guess you're the magician! You don't look as absentminded as Gruffi said!"
"Er... thanks?" Zummi stammered, while adjusting his glasses.
"And you," the stranger turned around to Sunni and Cubbi, "are the little ones!" He examined them for a moment and then laughed. "I expected you to be smaller after listening to Gruffomundo's stories!"
"Gruffomund..." Cubbi started, but a croaky voice interrupted him: "Will you stop talking? Really, don't you feel the need to breathe?!"
Out of the tunnel flew a black bird with a beak that was way too big for his body, which landed, gasping, on the bear's shoulder. The bear laughed. "Hey, my friend, there you are. I thought I'd lost you on the ride."
"I-I'm sorry, but," Zummi stepped in, startling him, "who are you?"
The gummi bear looked at him in silence for a moment before slapping himself on the forehead. "Where are my manners?" Again he grabbed the magician's hand, and then Grammi's. "I am Augustus Gummi Bear, but my friends call me Gusto!"
"P-pleased to meet you," Zummi answered, again adjusting his glasses.
"Where...?" Grammi started, but was interrupted by Tummi: "Can't we talk about this inside? I'm hungry..."
Grammi laughed and nodded. "Of course, Tummi, we don't have to talk outside. Come on, all of you, get inside. I'll cook you a nice meal!"
"Brilliant idea," Gruffi said with a wide smirk. "Maybe Gusto will get homesick for his island soon..."
They entered the hallway and Gusto looked around with wide eyes, still blathering without stopping to breathe. "Gorgeous! Those forms, the style! Well, some of the pictures are a bit old-fashioned, but kinda folksy!"
Answering a questioning look from Grammi, Tummi said: "He's an artist."
Zummi whispered to Gruffi: "Who is this gummi bear?" In the past, they'd had a bad experience with a disguised goblin who had lured them all into a trap. Since then, they had all become more careful.
But Gruffi just shrugged his shoulders and told him an abridged version of their story. "We tested Tummi's boat and drifted out to sea. We landed on a forsaken island, just like him, but it was twelve years ago in his case." He made a face. "If you ask me, the sun has burnt and destroyed his mind. That and the loneliness, I guess. And I think he's been a bit nuts from the beginning."
Zummi turned around to take an inconspicuous look at Gusto, who was examining the furnishings with a critical gaze, and nodded. "He seems a bit... confused."
Gruffi snorted. "I'd like to see how you'd cope with spending so many days with him in a tiny boat on the wide ocean! One day you'd start wondering – would it be easier to throw him into the water or to just jump in yourself!"
Zummi didn't even bother to give him an answer to this.
While Cubbi had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from shouting out all the questions burning his mouth, Sunni just stared at the new bear with wide eyes. He was young. Of course, not as young as herself or Cubbi, not even as young as Tummi, but younger than Gruffi and way younger than Zummi. He was an adult with a touch of youth attached to him.
And although she couldn't deny that he seemed a bit... strange, neither could she deny that she found him rather fascinating.
Just a few minutes later, they were all sitting in their living room, listening to Gruffi telling their story.
"And now we're finally back," he finished, and looked into the faces of the others. They had all been listening to him with excitement and were now staring at him, marvelling. He didn't know if they were capable of comprehending everything he had told them right now.
But then Cubbi couldn't hold back any longer, and he burst out: "So, where do you come from? Gruffi said they found you on an island in the middle of the ocean, does that mean you're from New Gumbrea?!"
The others were looking at the seventh bear now as well. They all wanted to know the answer, and Gruffi wondered for the first time why he hadn't asked Gusto this before.
Gusto, however, shook his head. "No. No, I'm not from New Gumbrea. I've never been there either. But," his look became sad, "my home wasn't that far away from the Ancient Gummibears..."
The bird on his shoulder pecked his ear. "Stop moping, buddy! You've met interesting people in the world!" And with these words he ruffled his feathers in pride and smirked at Gusto.
The bear laughed lowly and flicked his friend's beak. "You're right..." He turned to the others. "So, since you asked... I guess we're pretty far away from New Gumbrea then?"
"You could say that," Zummi answered with a touch of disappointment in his voice. "We had hoped that you could tell us something about the ancient bummi gears, er, gummi bears. We're all waiting for news of them."
Gusto eyed him silently, then he asked: "Where exactly are we? What is this area called?"
"This is the kingdom of Dunwyn," Sunni proudly explained. Gusto looked up.
"Dun...wyn?" Suddenly he jumped from his chair and turned around to look at his surroundings again. Then he faced the others, who were looking at him with concerned faces. "Gummi Glen... this is Gummi Glen, right? Are you for real...?" With wide eyes he fell on his chair again. "You're the descendants of those who didn't flee with the others across the ocean... you're still here!" Suddenly he was gleaming. "There still are gummi bears on this side of the ocean! That's good news."
"You mean... they're telling stories about us?" Sunni asked unsure and Gusto nodded.
"Yes. Stories about the brave bears of Gummi Glen who didn't run away but stayed here to keep everything in good shape. Who didn't forget that gummi bears and humans once lived side by side, as friends, and who hope that there will come a future where this friendship is kindled again!" His eyes gleamed with excitement as he looked at the small group. "At my home, you're like heroes!"
Smiling, Grammi got up and said: "Come on, Gusto. It's been a long journey for you. I'll prepare the guestroom." Thankful, Gusto nodded and followed her out of the room.
He had barely left the room when Gruffi let his head fall onto the table. "He's going to live with us...what have I done to deserve this?"
"I think this is really exciting!" Cubbi shouted, and jumped off his chair, drawing his wooden sword. "Did you hear what he said? We're heroes!"
"Yes," Sunni sighed lowly. "I heard everything he said..." With dreamy eyes she looked to the ceiling. "This really is exciting..."
Something in her voice made Gruffi wince, highly alarmed, without being able to tell what it was or why. He got on his feet. "He'll have to learn some things. He can't go on living like he was on that island. There are rules. And there are humans!" His face was full of worries. "He'll have to learn to hide..."
"He'll learn, Gruffi," Zummi said confidently, and patted the brown bear's shoulder. "Look on the bright side! We're not alone! Somewhere behind that big ocean, they're still there! The ancient ones, waiting for a message from us. That's good news, don't you think?"
Gruffi folded his arms. "Maybe. But there will be problems..." With a worried face, he thought of the future. A future that would – because of a certain sky blue bear – become more chaotic than he wanted to even imagine...
End?
PLEASE READ
I'm a GERMAN. Although I have looked up the English spellings and names if they differed from the German ones, there might be mistakes. Please don't yell at me xD"" you're allowed to correct me, though =)
ok, I've been in a nostalgic mood lately and I just felt like writing this. Because in the show... they never interrogated Gusto about his roots and stuff.
And so I wrote this - my first and probably only gummi bears fanfiction xD Short and... ... well. whatever... xD Maybe I'll go on with this one day - I had some ideas for things, but I didn't feel like writing a long fanfic now... =)
Please note:
Although I know that there are many people that think Gusto's from New Gumbrea, I don't think so. Because... don't you think they would have SAID it in the show? I mean, it would be kinda important, right? x_X