Sorry this took so long.

The 8 travelers emerged from underground around noon. Grumpy, Share, and Birthday took one look at the white ghostly trees, brown under brush, and dust covered ground and felt their hearts sink.

"So you weren't exaggerating. Earth is a wasteland now. No caring, no love, no happiness." Fauna nodded sadly at Birthday.

Share touched a bramble, it fell to pieces at the added weight. Tears came to her eyes, "Where are all the animals?"

Blue pointed to a red eyed flock of crows starring at them. "Those that are left have been corrupted by darkness. Most are in captivity. No Hearts private collection consists of cross breeds he created for power."

Fauna chimed in, "He sends those after me and Blue the most. But every time so far, we've been able to beat them."

Perfect came up next to Share, "The last one was a hippodile." (Hippo w/ crocodile, and yes it's possible...in my story :)).

She shook her head and wiped her eyes. Birthday placed a comforting paw on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "We're going to find the others Share. Then we'll fix all this."

"I sure hope your right Birthday," said Grumpy.

They reached a clearing and collapsed in the middle. Share and Birthday were panting, Grumpy was sweating. 30 years of immobility and then 4 hours of walking were not a good combination. Sandwiches, water, and chips emerged from packs and were passed around. Beastly and Fauna stayed towards the trees, talking. Grumpy watched them like a hawk, still untrustworthy of Beastly. The two separated, Beastly to join the others, and Fauna into the skeletal trees. "Where's she going?"

"She said something about asking the crows if they've seen any shiny things lying around." Not noticing the looks the Care Bears were giving him, he greedily bit into a ham and cheese sandwich.

"But, I thought you said the crows were overcome with darkness."

Blue nodded, "They are."

"So why would they help us?"

Perfect grinned at Birthday, "Lets just say Fauna has gotten very persuasive in the time you've been gone."

it was then a raucous caw followed by a primal growl echoed through the surrounding trees. All eyes turned to where Fauna had disappeared. The body of a crow came flying at them. It plopped to the ground and rolled. Upon closer inspection, it was found one of it's wings had been ripped off.

Fauna returned and immediately went to her pack. "We have to move. Now." Straightening, a towel in hand, the others saw blood around her mouth. She wiped it off, "The crows saw a shiny crystal 6 yards east from here. They also saw nightmare and Betray Heart Dog patrolling the area. What?"

Polite pointed to the crow, "Was that really necessary?"

"Hey I left the head on this time. And when a crow says they don't know anything it usually means they do."

"Is that what all that ruckus was about?"

after all the food was packed, Fauna lead them to where the crows said the crystals would be. And sure enough, there were 2 opposites waiting for them. As it was decided in the tunnels, Fauna, Blue and Beastly would distract the opposites while the Care Bears got the crystals.

The two opposites were just dozing off when Beastly burst into their midst. "Hurry, it's Fauna and Blue. They're after the crystals."

Betray Heart hesitated. "Why are you telling us this?"

"Just cause, now hurry." They dashed off in the direction he pointed. Beastly cackled, "And No Heart said I was stupid." Running after Betray Heart and Nightmare, he tripped over a tree root.

Perfect, Polite, Grumpy, Birthday, and Share cautiously approached the crystals. One was purple, the other pale green. Share and Grumpy each grabbed a crystal and the group started to retreat.

"Where do you think you're going?" Arrogant Heart Cat dropped out of the nearest tree. He smiled evilly and pounced on Polite.

Meanwhile, Fauna and Blue were leading the opposites as far away from the crystals as they could. Beastly was trying to keep up but he kept tripping on stuff, mostly his own feet.

Betray Heart had been following Fauna up until she suddenly disappeared. The female dog stopped and sniffed the air, but Fauna's scent was gone too. Fauna watched as Loyal Hearts opposite became more and more frustrated. Fauna had morphed into a lynx. The grey fur of this form allowed her to blend in perfectly with the dead trees and ashen underbrush. Quietly, she snuck behind Betray Heart, crouching as she went. When she was directly behind the opposite, she propelled herself forward. Betray Heart felt something knock into her head, which brought on a sharp stinging pain. The lynx landed in front of her and growled, taunting her to follow it. She did, "When I get my paws on you, you'll be nothing but a rug for Lord No Heart and Spirit's throne room.

Blue had gotten rid of Nightmare awhile ago and was heading back to the rendezvous point. Hearing raised voices, he quickened his pace. When he arrived, Grumpy and Perfect had Arrogant Heart pinned on the ground. Both were bleeding from scratch marks on their arms.

Blue hurried over to them and picked up Arrogant Heart by the scruff of his neck. The cat began to meow viciously and swipe at Blue. "What should we do with him?"

Beastly finally arrived and went to his pack. Taking out a length of rope, they tied Arrogant Heart to the tree trunk.

Fauna arrived shortly after they finished, carrying an unconscious Betray Heart. "Where did Arrogant Heart come from?"

"He ambushed us when we got the crystals. After he jumped on Polite, me and Grumpy held him off till Blue arrived."

Fauna threw the dog next to the cat. "Lets get out of here before Nightmare returns. Do we know who the crystals are yet?"

Birthday walked next to her. "We're pretty sure the green one is Gentle Heart. The purple one, we don't know yet."

They got clear of Dead-mans forest before stopping to check the crystals. The green one was indeed Gentle Heart, and the purple turned out to be Cozy Heart. This time, Birthday performed the ritual on Cozy Heart while Perfect changed Gentle Heart. Cozy Heart rubbed her back, "What happened. The last thing I remember was Proud Heart and me on the floor and Loyal Heart growling at our..." She saw Beastly and shoved a flipper in her beak to keep from making anymore noise. "What's he doing here?"

"And where is here?" Bleated Gentle Heart.

"It's been 30 years since that day. Beastly's one of the good guys now, and your on planet Malevolence. It used to be Earth, but as you can see No Heart changed it. People no longer care. They are nothing more then No Hearts slaves."

Cozy Heart hung her head, shaking it. "What's our next move?"

"I think we should split up. There are too many of us now and a large group is sure to attract No Hearts attention."

"Grumpy has a point. What do you all think?" It was decided they would split in the morning. One group consisting of Fauna, Grumpy, Cozy Heart, Gentle Heart, and Beastly would head to the south. Blue, Share, Birthday, Perfect, and Polite would go north. They found a safe camping spot in and abandoned water treatment plant 3 miles east of Dead-mans Wood. After the sleeping arrangements were made, Grumpy and Polite volunteered for the first watch. Fauna and Blue curled up together under a metal staircase. Blue's arm immediately snaked over Fauna puling her close to him.

"How was their wedding?" Polite stared at him, "Pardon?"

"Their wedding. How was it?"

"They didn't get married Grumpy. Fauna wanted to wait till she freed everyone."

He gaped, "You mean they've been engaged for 30 years!"

"That's almost what I said when she said she wanted to wait. I told her 'You don't know how long it will be or if we ever free them.' And she told me, 'Me and Blue are immortal, we have all eternity to be together.'"

Grumpy looked over at his goddaughter. "That sounds like her. So, what were you and Perfect doing all this time."

"Nothing really. We had to move a lot so No Heart wouldn't find us. We were able to locate 10 other crystals then the 5 we've already found. But we know what color they are and only who some of them are."

"What color were they?"

"3 were orange, 2 oink, 1 red so we know it was Tender Heart, and 2 purple."

Grumpy counted on his fingers, "That's only 8. What color were the other 2?"

"One was green so it has to be Good Luck," He couldn't miss the excitement in her voice, "and the other one was light blue, so it's either Tugs, Loyal Heart, or"

"Swift Heart."

She nodded. "When we found his crystal, I was thrilled . But I wasn't thinking clearly. All I wanted was to get him away from those horrid creatures. They almost got us that day. I just miss him so much."

"Hey your preachin to the choir." She smiled at him.

They talked for another 4 hours before Birthday and Perfect relieved them. Grumpy lay down between Cozy Heart and Share and fell asleep.

The next morning, the two groups said their goodbyes. Blue was less then happy about being separated from Fauna. But he also knew that each group needed someone who's powers could effect the opposites. He took Fauna in his arms, hugging her tight. Tears gathered in her eyes as she hugged him back. "This isn't goodbye. You only say goodbye if your going away for ever." She gave him a wet smile before kissing him. Hugging her one more time, he released her to walk to her group.

"Remember to keep your communicators handy. We'll check in every 5 days." The groups left the plant in separate directions. Fauna was very quiet for the first couple of hours.

"So where exactly are we gonna start lookin?"

"I was reading about a spell we, well you 3 can perform to find a crystal. You hold hands." The Care Bears and Cousins moved to obey. "And chant We are looking for those we have lost. Into darkness they have been tossed. Light of good please show us the way. So we may find our friends this day!" The 3 in the triangle repeated it. Their tummy symbols began to glow and each emitted an emblem. The emblems merged together to form a giant globe of light. The globe showed a blue crystal. "Where?" The globe view widened to show a street with broken lamps that looked like fish. "He's in Wilmington North Carolina. The triangle disbanded and headed for NC. After walking for about 3 hours, they found two abandoned hover bikes. These run on nuclear power so they never die or need replenishing. Fauna climbed on one with grumpy while Beastly, Cozy Heart, and Gentle Heart climbed on the other. Once everyone was settled, they hit the road.