When Two Nurseries Collide

Chapter 2: Introductions

The next day, Noble Heart brought the cubs down to Earth to meet the strange group of kids who called themselves the Muppet Babies. He turned to them all, and said, "Now remember, you're guests here, so be on your best behavior." He rang the bell, and the door opened.

"Hello, Noble Heart. I'm so glad you could make it today. Won't you come in?" said Nanny.

"Thank you, but I have a full schedule today…I'm teaching Take Care Bear how to drive the Cloudmobile. I'll just leave the cubs with you, if that's all right." said Noble Heart.

"Of course. I'm sure the kids'll be excited to meet them."

Noble Heart said goodbye to the cubs, half of which looking like they were going to cry, and drove back up to the Forest of Feelings.

"Follow me, kids," said Nanny, who's kind voice put the cubs at ease as they followed her to the nursery, "You'll have lots of fun here. It's always nice to make new friends." She opened the door that led to the nursery, where the Muppet Babies were playing, and said, "Hi, kids!"

"Hello, Nanny!" they chorused, dropping what they were doing when they saw that they had visitors.

"Kids, these are the Care Bear Cousin Cubs. Remember when Noble Heart visited you last night?" she asked.

"Uh-huh" they said, still in unison.

"Well, these are the cubs he takes care of, and they'd like to spend the afternoon with you." turning to the cubs, she asked, "Would you like to introduce yourselves?"

Brave Heart immediately stepped forward and said, "I'm Brave Heart Lion, and I'm the bravest boy in the world!"

"And the dumbest…" muttered Swift Heart, but thankfully nobody heard him. "I'm Swift Heart Rabbit, and I'm the fastest there is!" and he demonstrated this by racing around the room five times in exactly half a second.

"I'm Treat Heart."

"Woyal Hawt Dog."

"Gentle Heart…"

"I'm Bright Heart Raccoon, quite possibly the world's most precocious child."

Scooter, one of the Muppets, replied, "I highly doubt that," and buffed his nails on his chest.

"I'm Proud Heart Cat, and I do not like rough play."

"I'm Playful Heart Monkey."

"I'm Lotsa Heart Effafent."

"Elephant," corrected Bright Heart.

"Yeah, that too." said Lotsa Heart.

The Muppets went next, introducing down the line in much the same way as the Cubs had done.

"I'm Miss Piggy, and this is Kermie." Said a piglet in a pink dress.

"Um, that's Kermit, thanks…" mumbled the embarrassed frog.

"I'm Fozzie Bear, wanna hear a joke?"

"NO!" the muppets quickly yelled.

"I'm Rolf." Said a brown puppy,

"Aneemall." Said a little pink monster, who's name was Animal.

"I'm Gonzo, and this is my baby chick, Camilla." Said a little blue weirdo with a large hooked nose, holding up a small stuffed chick.

"I'm Scooter, and this's my twin sister Skeeter." Said the only remotely human-looking muppet.

Nannie said, "Okay, kids, have fun. Make our guests feel welcome, and behave yourselves." There was a note of warning in that last bit, indicating that the Muppets had been fighting too. She left, and the cubs approached the Muppets with varying degrees of shyness.

Finally Brave Heart grinned, and said, "I wanna exlpore!"

Animal crawled over, grabbed his hand, and led him around the room. "We explore! Yayayayayayaya!" he announced, giving a strange sort of laugh.

"Howcome you're not wearing clothes?" asked Skeeter. Some of the cubs were wearing baby jackets, and a few of them were wearing bonnets, but the rest of them were in diapers.

"I dunno." Said the cubs.

"We're wearing dipies." Loyal pointed out.

"Yeah, that's clothes." Said Rolf, and the two puppies went off to play.

Lotsa Heart was looking at Gonzo's nose. "Are you an ele…ello…effafent?" he asked.

"Naw, I'm a weirdo." Gonzo replied with a grin.

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true." Proud Heart protested, misunderstanding him.

"No," said Kermit, "he means that's really what he is, just like I'm a frog and you're a cat."

"Oh." Proud Heart and Lotsa Heart nodded.

Miss Piggy, Proud Heart, and Treat Heart went off to look at Piggy's doll collection. Kermit, Cozy, Lotsa and Gentle sat down to play with some of Kermit's toy divers, which he called 'frogmen.' Bright Heart went with Scooter, who wanted to show off his computer. Skeeter and Swift Heart began doing warm-up exercises, preparing for some sort of race. Fozzie, Gonzo, and Playful went to the toy box to look for costumes, and Brave Heart and Animal soon joined them.

"This place's so cool!" said Brave Heart, putting on a cowboy hat. "Let's go, Pilgrim! And don't ferget the horse!"

"Hey, you know how to use your imagination?" asked Gonzo.

"Yeah…I'm imagining I'm a cowboy." Brave Heart looked at Gonzo like the weirdo had a screw loose…which he probably did, but this time he actually had a point.

"Naw, I meant really use your imagination." He concentrated for a moment, and the nursery changed into a western scene.

"How'd you do that?" demanded Brave Heart.

"It's all in the mind." Smiled Gonzo, pointing to his temple. "You try it."

Brave Heart closed his eyes for a moment, and then a horse appeared in front of him. "Wow, neat!" He hopped into the saddle, and a 'pbbbbbbbttt!' noise was heard.

Fozzie burst out laughing as Brave Heart pulled a spent whoopie cushion out from under his bottom. "Wakka, wakka, wakka!" Fozzie taunted, and he and Playful Heart rolled on the floor, laughing uncontrollably. Brave Heart went off in a huff as the nursery reverted back to normal.

The lion cub sat on the window seat with his arms crossed, scowling, and Animal crawled over and looked up, concerned. "Wha?"

"Nothin'." He grunted, and Animal sat down nearby, playing with some blocks. Then he began to talk, causing the little pink monster to look up again. "They're mean sometimes. Play tricks on me 'cause I'm so dumb. Swifty calls me a blockhead, and I'm always falling for Playful Heart's jokes. Now I fell for that stupid bear's joke."

"Fozzie funny." Said Animal.

"No he ain't!"

"Aneemall sorry. Lion not dumb." Animal heaved himself up onto the window seat and patted Brave Heart's head, unintentionally mussing up his mane.

"No?" asked Brave Heart, sniffling a bit, but not exactly crying. He wouldn't let himself do that.

"Nuh-uh. Brave Heart cool." Said Animal, jumping back down off the window seat.

Brave Heart wiped his nose, and said, "Thanks. You're pretty cool too, for a little kid."

"Welcome." Animal said over his shoulder, going back to his blocks.

Just then, Fozzie came over, looking rather sheepish. "Hey, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings back there. I thought you'd think that was funny."

Brave Heart waved it off. "Aw, that's okay. C'mon, let's go play cowboy! C'mon, Animal."

"Okay." said Animal, dropping the blocks and crawling after his friends.