Part 1: Finding the Star
A few hours before, Beastly and Shreeky landed in Care-a-lot with a plan to destroy the Care Bears. Nothing was going to stop them. Shreeky made sure her mirror was flawless, and it was. Satisfied, they went and looked around for their target.
"Find the Star Buddy and hit it!" Shreeky said, "This will turn the Star Buddy evil, and it will spread to the Care Bears before they can manage to take care of it. There is no cure for evil."
Shreeky laughed. They walked through some trees and bushes and spotted a Star Buddy at three o'clock, floating around happily.
"Here we go!" Beastly said, whipping out an enchanted cage that the Star Buddy couldn't escape from.
"Mirror, hit that star!" Shreeky yelled, and blasted her mirror at the Star Buddy.
The Star Buddy tried to move out of the way of the blast but saw it coming too late. The blast of evil hit the Star's little arm. The Star fainted and fell. Beastly caught it in the cage and closed it tightly.
"Haha! Got you!" Beastly laughed.
"Now let's go hide it where the Care Bears will find it!" Shreeky said.
They snuck through the trees and got closer to the Hall of Hearts. Shreeky spotted a good tree for hiding the Star in that someone would notice. That was just what she wanted.
"Go put this up in that tree, Beastly!" Shreeky yelled.
"R-right away Shreeky!"
Beastly flew up the tree with a cloud of smoke behind him and secured the cage with some rope. The star was still unconscious. Beastly came down.
"My plan better work, fur ball." Shreeky growled and hopped on their bike.
Then they went back to No Heart's castle.
Sophie and Wish Bear landed on the clouds that afternoon. They returned from their mission on Earth, where they helped a girl make her wish come true – volunteering at an animal shelter to earn a Girl Scout badge. Sophie felt happy, and her necklace was glowing with caring energy.
"It's always nice to help make wishes come true." Wish Bear said, "Great job, Sophie. We're a great team."
"I agree!" Sophie said and held Wish Bear's hand as they walked to the Hall of Hearts.
Along the way, Sophie looked up into a tree. Something caught her eye. A bunch of sparkles shot out from on top of a branch.
"Hey, wait a minute, Wish Bear. What's that up there?" she asked and pointed with her free hand.
"Let's go check it out." Wish said.
They climbed up the tree together and came to the branch where the sparkles had come from. A little Star Buddy was trapped in a cage and frantically trying to get out. The cage was tied to the tree in sloppy knots.
"Oh no!" Sophie said, "This star buddy needs help."
"You know about star buddies?" Wish asked, delighted.
"Well I have seen the Care Bear movies and shows, so yes." Sophie smiled.
"Good." Wish said, and gave her a thumbs up.
The door was locked shut, and enchanted. The Star squealed in distress as it flew around trying to escape. Sophie felt sorry for the Star Buddy. There was no way they could open it without some help. Sophie wondered how long the star had been trapped. Wish undid the ropes.
"Beastly and Shreeky must've done this." Sophie guessed angrily, with fists clenched at her sides.
"I think so. Let's bring this Buddy back to the Hall of Hearts. Secret Bear can open anything, even enchanted locks."
"Wow!"
They went to the Hall of Hearts and Secret Bear was visiting Friend Bear. They were hanging out in the front room. The two friends were whispering to each other and giggling.
"Hey Friend, hey Secret Bear." Wish said.
They both waved to Sophie and Wish Bear. Secret Bear did a little curtsy, and Sophie bowed politely, holding out a pretend dress skirt. It really wasn't necessary, but it was how Secret Bear wanted to greet Sophie since she was the Queen of Care-a-lot after all.
"Hi! Secret Bear is happy to see you." Friend giggled, "What's that you've got there?"
"Beastly and Shreeky trapped this Star Buddy and we can't open it. So we wanted your help, Secret."
Secret Bear nodded and gave Sophie a thumbs-up that meant "no problem" – as translated by Friend Bear. They went over to the heart-shaped table. Sophie then realized that the star buddy was drooping its points, and there seemed to be a white zigzag stripe on one arm.
"It's hurt." Sophie ached with empathy.
"We'll look at it once we get the cage open."
It took Secret Bear a few tries to get the right kind of key with her Care Bears stare, but she did get the right key. They all clapped once she did. Then she unlocked the cage door, but the Star Buddy was too tired to fly out.
"You saw her first, you should hold her." Wish said.
"This Star is a girl? How can you tell?"
Wish smiled and said, "What, you didn't think I could understand how stars talk? They don't call me Wish Bear for nothing."
Everyone chuckled. Sophie gently scooped the trembling female Star Buddy out of her cage.
"There, there, you're safe now." Sophie said gently.
The Star squeaked sadly. Secret Bear moved the cage out of sight. They'd dispose of it later.
"Her name is Lux." Wish said.
"Hi Lux. I'm Sophie." Sophie said, "Nice to meet you. I'll do my best to take care of you."
Lux smiled sadly. Her eyes drooped like she wanted to sleep.
"Keep an eye on her for a second. I have a book about Star Buddies. Be right back!" Wish said, and went upstairs.
Sophie gently stroked Lux. Lux reminded her of her kitten Cloudy.
"She's really cute." Friend said.
"Yeah. I've never held a Star Buddy before." Sophie said, "In fact, I kind of wanted one as a pet when my mom was alive."
Friend said, "Star Buddies aren't pets. But… you're the Queen. I guess you could have one as a pet if you wanted. Wish Bear knows all about Star Buddies, but I think she wants to teach you, so that's why she's getting her book."
Sophie smiled, understanding.
Secret Bear went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water with a straw in it for Lux. Lux took a small sip, but was too tired to do more.
"I'll go get her a blanket." Friend said.
Friend left too, and Wish came back with her book. When she put the book on the table, Friend Bear came back with the blanket and gently put it on Lux. Lux then seemed very interested in Sophie's necklace, which was glowing. Sophie laughed, which made it flicker.
"Hey, Lux likes your necklace."
Sophie took it off, and let Lux look at it up close. She snuggled up next to it.
"She's adorable." Sophie said, with her hand on her cheek.
Secret Bear and Friend Bear watched from the other side of the table, across from Sophie and Wish Bear.
"How do we fix her wound?"
"Let me see here. It looks like Shreeky blasted her with her evil mirror." she said, "Lux won't be able to fly until it's fixed. It'll need a few days of rest and a bandage with caring energy, specifically wishing energy. Which I have plenty of."
Sophie frowned, but Wish was beaming with pride. Wish turned a few pages.
Wish Bear did the Care Bears Stare at the cup that Secret Bear got for them. Then she stirred it up with the straw and warmed it up with a wish. It was glowing.
"Here Lux. This will make you feel better." Sophie said.
Lux took a few sips and then took a breath. Then she slurped down the whole glass. Everyone was amazed. Lux heaved a sigh and wanted to fall asleep.
"Let's bring her up to your room, Wish Bear. I bet she'll feel more at home there."
"I couldn't agree more."
They all went upstairs and made a little bed and a fort for Lux on Wish Bear's dresser. The little star was flickering as she slept on her blanket, still holding Sophie's necklace with no intentions of letting it go anytime soon.
"She's really attached to your necklace, huh?" Friend whispered.
"Yeah. I hope she'll let me have it back. But I can let her hold it for me for a while if it makes her feel better." she said, "I wonder why she likes it so much. Other than the fact it looks like a star, of course."
Secret Bear whispered to Friend Bear.
"Secret Bear says it's because your necklace has a ton of caring energy, so she will recover better than without it."
Sophie nodded.
"Let's give her some quiet time." Wish whispered.
They let Lux sleep for a little and left Wish's room quietly. They had to figure out how to keep an eye on her without being bored out of their minds.
"Hey, how about a camera or something?" Sophie suggested.
"We could still do other stuff but keep an eye on her too. That's perfect." Friend Bear said, "Wish Bear?"
"I guess. My room should be safe as long as no one but us goes in it. As in, the Cubs. If they find her, they'll want to play with Lux no doubt and we can't have that."
"We should make an announcement." Sophie said.
They all nodded.
A few minutes later they had requested a meeting at the heart shaped table. All the Care Bears arrived. Sophie got her crown and put it on her head to let the Care Bears know she meant buisness.
Sophie told them how they found Lux in the tree and were keeping her in Wish Bear's room until she got better.
"So we'd like it if no one went in Wish Bear's room without permission for the next three days. And we need to dispose of the evilly-enchanted cage." Sophie said, standing up.
"I'll take care of the cage after I call Bright Heart up." Grumpy volunteered.
"Thanks, Grumpy." Sophie said.
"Can't we see her?" the Cubs begged.
"Not now." Wish said, crossing her arms.
They all knew the Cubs would be a problem. Sophie sighed, trying to get her emotions under control.
"In three days when she's better you can see her, but you still must be very gentle with her." she told them.
"Aww…" Tugs pouted.
"I wanted to see her now!" Hugs begged, "Please?"
"There are plenty of other Star and Heart buddies around Care-a-lot. And you two have lots of other things to do, I'm sure." Sophie reminded them, pointing outside.
Hugs and Tugs crossed their arms and glared at Sophie. Sophie sighed and closed her eyes for a moment with disappointment. She thought she handled the situation rather well, but she sometimes needed to be firm with the Cubs – as did everyone else. Thankfully the Care Bears agreed with Sophie with plenty of nods to go around.
"Thanks for listening. Everyone's dismissed." Sophie said with a small smile.
After the meeting they set up the camera and let Hugs and Tugs take a peek at Lux. But for the rest of the day they monitored Lux by camera and studied up on Star Buddies. Wish Bear showed Sophie all her books and guides on Star Buddies.
Sophie helped make dinner with Grams, Share, Secret, and Friend Bear. Secret Bear was staying for dinner and sleeping over. Sophie helped them make delicious lasagna and a huge chef salad. Wish Bear went and personally checked on Lux for a while.
During dinner, they made sure to be respectfully quiet. They could still talk, but not even the cubs raised their voices. So far everyone was just talking about their missions for the day and trivial stuff. Funshine cracked a few jokes which made the girl Bears giggle. Wish blushed and tried to hide it. Grumpy Bear was checking his weather station during dinner, which Sophie thought was odd.
"What's up with your weather station, Grumpy?" Sophie asked.
"I've got some bad news. There's going to be a big storm tomorrow. This thing has been beeping constantly for the last day and it's really getting on my nerves." he said, tapping his weather station and taking a bite of lasagna.
"I thought everything got on your nerves." Funshine said with a lot of snark.
"H-hey, you better watch it, Mr. Sunshine, or everything will get on my nerves!" Grumpy raised his fist and his voice a little too much.
Tenderheart responded in kind but firmly, "Alright, settle down you two. You don't want to hurt each other's feelings."
"Sorry Grumpy." Funshine said half-heartedly and focused on his dinner.
Grumpy grumbled and went back to fiddling with his weather station and wolfing down his mountain of lasagna.
"Good thing we got Lux before the storm hit." Wish said, trembling.
Sophie nodded and said, "Mm-hmm. But she's not going to like it inside, either."
"Let's just hope this storm doesn't knock the power out." Funshine said, "I really don't like thunderstorms. They're too shady."
"That's coming from you. Mmm this lasagna is great!" Grumpy said.
Funshine managed to laugh, which put a nice atmosphere in the room. After dinner everyone helped clean up and Sophie, Wish Bear, and the cubs made sugar cookies.
"Should we check on Lux?" whispered Hugs in a barely audible voice.
Sophie smiled. She glanced at the monitor on the TV, but Lux seemed to be sleeping.
"She's still resting." Sophie said, "Maybe she'll be awake tomorrow, with the storm and all. We can bring her a cookie or two later."
"Yeah!" Hugs and Tugs whisper shouted excitedly.
They made the cookies and they turned out wonderful. They were glimmering with rainbow sugar sprinkles. Once they were cooled off, they took a small plate up to Lux.
The little star woke up and cried.
"Oh no! What's wrong?" Sophie asked, "Did we startle her?"
"Shh, she's just getting used to the medicine. Lux wants the cookies though." Wish said.
Hugs and Tugs watched up close, but watched her with kind eyes. Sophie gave Lux the cookies.
"She looks adorable." Hugs said.
Lux smiled as she ate her cookies.
"The cookies were a star-tastic idea." Wish said happily.
"Should we get Lux anything else?" the cubs asked.
Lux yawned again.
"Looks like we should let her rest some more."
They left the room quietly and went back down to the kitchen where everyone was enjoying the cookies. Sophie, the Cubs, and Wish Bear also enjoyed some cookies and milk together and talked about how Shreeky and Beastly hurt the star.
"How could they do something like that?" Sophie said.
Wish shrugged. "Maybe they were annoyed for some reason. I just hope they aren't going around and hurting the other Star Buddies."
Lux went back to sleep. Maybe tomorrow they could go and check the other Star Buddies if the weather was nice.