Growing Up

The Barbics, Glens and any other Disney characters are copyrighted to Disney and we claim no ownership. However, any new characters are copyrighted to Ulisa, Silver Fox and Cheetah the Furry. This plot is a collaboration of Ulisa, Silver Fox, and Cheetah the Furry.

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Tummi remembered Zummi saying that their presence was supposedly 'meant to be,' but that was just one theory. The thought of changing the future…it made Tummi shake his head, as if that would somehow make everything clearer. But it didn't work. If anything, the information seemed to settle and make him even more confused. He turned to Gruffi and Grammi.

Gruffi was pacing, anxious. Malachi was resting in Grammi's arms, exhaustion finally taking its toll. But even in his sleep, he cried out for both of his siblings. But more often than not, he screamed for Sachi, his twin. Gruffi always got a pained look. But Grammi didn't say anything. She had known Gruffi long enough to know that when he looked this way, she best not say anything.

The silence was all but about to make Gruffi snap when the bushes were parted and three pre-Barbics emerged: Pittori, Nevi, and Randi. Their clothes were torn and their faces solemn. Randi spoke, his voice deep and regretful,

"Gummeria has fallen."

Had Grammi not held a cub in her arms, she would have leapt to her feet. Instead, she held Malachi close to her chest and said,

"No…"

"Yes." Came a rough and heartbroken voice. Grammi turned her attention. Kuriani emerged from behind the other pre-Barbics, a small wrapped form held in her arms. Grammi knew that type of form,

"No…"

Kuriani took a look at her little brother, her now only surviving family member. She took a breath,

"Stephani stayed behind to search for any survivors…and to…start preparations."

"You found no survivors?"

Kuriani faced Gruffi with broken yet strong eyes. It took Gruffi a moment before he realized…

She was carrying Sachi's body.

Gruffi backed down, Kuriani said nothing more but laid her little sister's body on the ground. Nevi took Malachi from Grammi and pulled him away. Grammi spoke,

"Kuriani, I wish-"

"I know…" she paused, looked skyward and then said, "I was too weak. My kind was too weak. If I had been stronger…been Barbic!"

Gruffi and the others stared. Kuriani unwrapped the face of her bundle a moment. Sachi's eyes were gently closed, almost as if she were merely asleep. But she was gone. Her face had turned a light pale. Kuriani crouched on one knee and laid her face into her leg. She remained like that for a moment before she rose and lifted the body up.

"The last thing Sachi would have wanted was to be confined in the ground."

The other pre-Barbics seemed to gradually disperse but the Glens could not help but remain behind. Kuriani made no note of them whatsoever and merely scooped the small body of her sister up and then did the last thing the Glens had expected:

She laid the body in the fire.

Gruffi was all ready to protest when he saw her eyes were wet with tears and she spoke softly,

"Opo Gum ai fuc'in tu, en a't uen Gum ai gyu tu."

Kuriani said nothing until nothing remained of her sister's corpse. Then, with a gesture, she scooped her sibling's ashes up into her hands, waited for a strong wind and threw them to the wind. She stood silent a moment, tears in her eyes and then turned around and called,

"To me!"

Instantly, the pre-Barbics ran out to her. Kuriani fingered something in her hand. Gruffi saw it was the helmet she had once worn. She placed it upon her head and said,

"Corali…all the others…we can do nothing for them now. They were weak, as were we. No longer…we are no longer truly gummies…not those weak gummies. If we'd been stronger…yes, we are no longer those gummies." She looked at her remaining warriors and declared,

"Luy yie Barbics!"

She took a look around and saw that her warriors merely nodded. They turned and headed towards the remains of Gummeria to fetch Stephani. Kuriani walked into a tent and returned with her little brother in her arms. She clutched him tight and without a word, pressed by Gruffi and the others to join her warriors. She kept her helmet, despite that the others had since abandoned theirs…it was her only physical link to her cousin…she couldn't just throw it away.

The Glens didn't follow. Gruffi finally broke the silence,

"Another time, Zummi."

Grammi shouted, "Gruffi Gummi!"

Gruffi interrupted her, "This hurts me just as much as you, Grammi. But the fact is we still don't know what we need. If we go back now, we're in the same position as before."

Grammi fell silent and Tummi put his arm on hers. She patted his hand a moment before she nodded. Zummi spoke a few words and the four vanished as if they had never been.

Present

It didn't take Ursa long before she had her tunic on and had taken her sword back from Grubbi. She kept Buddi behind her and Grubbi had convinced Sunni down. Sunni stuck by Grubbi as she knew how well Barbic warriors fought. She could hold her own for a time but she felt safer by these three. Even Buddi could be dangerous, if he had to be.

Ursa spoke, with her gentle voice. It was not gentle as in her comforting voice. Buddi rarely heard that voice but he knew how she looked when she used it. She would smooth her hair back and physically touch someone more when she was trying to be comforting. But now, it was quite similar to her angry soft voice,

"Keep them back Grubbi. I've got a score to settle with this nishein."

Grubbi nodded but Buddi grasped Ursa's hand. She turned, as Buddi looked up at her with wide eyes,

"No, Ursa." He begged her, tightening his grip although he knew if she wanted to truly go, it would not take much to snap his fragile hold. "Please…let's just go…distract her, we can just go."

Ursa locked eyes with Buddi, her eyes stern. "That is the coward's answer; not the Barbic's."

Buddi's face fell and he only nodded. Ursa gave him a gentle pat on the cheek and then ran to meet Gritty in battle with Lady Bane.

Gritty was pretty much holding his own ground. He'd always been a fairly good swordfighter, only outranked by the other Gummi who was just now entering the battle. Gritty gave his leader a smile of relief and the two slowly but assuredly began to force Lady Bane back.

Lady Bane was beginning to realize she was going to have to act. These two were closing in on her and the adult by the cubs was managing to keep that Kuson-Pi busy by tossing it Troggel treats. She seriously needed to get herself some better aides than those amateurs. She spied her chance.

Swinging her blade, she missed the female bear's heart but managed to nick a dagger tip of blood. She still had the hair…and that spell was memorized. That spell she had been considering when that annoying pink bear had interrupted. She took a breath, ducked and then pushed the hair and blood together as she began to chant.

A bright flash followed, along with a mind blowing wind. Gritty and Ursa fell to their knees, shielding their eyes. Ursa looked behind them.

Grubbi had snatched Buddi and Sunni and was using his own body to shield them. They clung to him desperately. The Kuson-Pi was lifted into the air and then flung through the window. Ursa and the others heard voices of numerous enemies. Sunni recognized the most and some, no one present recognized:

The Aerials, the Spinster, Zorlock, Igthorn, the ogres, Tadpole, Toadwart, the trolls, the Carpies, the Slugger, Carni, that rotten sculptor, Erwilline, those Vikings, Marzipan, Lord Willaby, the Dreaded One, that blasted boar, the 'terrible foe' her ancestors had conquered, Grande Fromage, the Marquee de Bouillabaisse, and those Hairy Gobbers. Then, as quickly as the voices and images came, they scattered and vanished.

Lady Bane laughed hideously. Even if they escaped her, they had twenty-two others to deal with. Lady Bane snapped her fingers and her Troggels, those that remained, attacked.

Cubbi struggled to keep up. He wasn't even supposed to be following the knights. He was supposed to be resting. Sir Plucki had managed to get the instructions from him. But the doctors said that he needed to rest because he had lost so much blood. The spell medication had stopped any further loss but he had already lost a great deal.

He didn't care…he had to come. Some inner feeling pushed him onward. His legs still ached, mainly his left but he pressed on. Besides, he had to hurry to keep up. He normally could keep up but with this injured leg, he had to struggle to keep up with the taller adults. His advantage was that he knew where they were going.

He stumbled on.

The knights had halted for the moment. Plucki did not have as many as he desired but it would have to be enough. He had himself, Sir Blastus, Sir Gumlittle, Sir Ramsei, and the twins: Sir Yaci and Sir Ecri. He didn't know anything about this enemy however. He could see her castle…

A bright flash and terrible wind stopped any further thoughts. All six knights shielded their eyes. The light and wind only lasted a moment or so but Sir Ramsei demanded,

"What in Gum's name was that?"

"That," a voice answered, "was Lady Bane's doing."

Turning, the six knights found themselves looking at their youngest knight, dressed in his old knight clothes, leaning on his staff but with a face twisted in an expression of pure hate.

Near Past

Gruffi and the others looked about. They couldn't believe this. They'd never seen such a gorgeous wood. Their own wood was nothing compared to it. The trees were humongous, stretching so high, they could not see the sky. Gruffi took a breath,

"Well, at least-"

"HI!" an energetic voice called. The Glens all but jumped out of their skins. Looking up, Grammi saw a small cub scrambling down the branches to meet them. He jumped and landed before Gruffi.

The cub was small, very small, and had light brown fur and tangled brown hair. He wore dark black slacks, a baggy green shirt with black straps across the torso and he went barefoot. A darker patch of fur was over one of his eyes. He gave them a gap toothed grin and pronounced proudly,

"I just turned four," he held up four grimy fingers and giggled. He was certainly full of energy. But he spoke so…fluently for a four year old but his size told them he could not have been more than four. Besides, why would a cub be shouting lies to complete strangers?

"Hey kiddo," Gruffi announced, "Listen, we're kinda lost…"

"Let's go see Mama Ursa! She's good at this stuff. 'Sides, she been talking about other gummies!"

Gruffi and the others all but choked on their inhaled breaths. Grammi finally spoke,

"Did you say Mama Ursa?"

The cub nodded, "Yep…come on!"

Tummi spoke, the first words he had in hours,

"What's your name?"

The cub grinned again, revealing a missing front tooth. "My name's Buddi."

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