Gentle Heart struggled, but could not remove the massive paw that pinned her in place on the ground. No Heart threw back his head and laughed. "No need to squirm, you'll meet your end soon enough."
Changing form, No Heart turned himself into a gigantic ape. Grabbing Gentle Heart by the wrists he hauled her up, leaving her suspended in midair. She kicked and turned, but No Heart's grip was ironclad. The Forest of Feelings faded away, replaced by a barren, ragged landscape under an overcast sky. Just when she thought that she should just give up and accept the inevitable, Gentle Heart heard a voice in her ear.
"Bright Heart?" She asked, turning her head to try and find the source of the voice. But there was no one in sight. It felt like it was coming from inside her head.
"What did you say?" No Heart demanded of her.
"Gentle Heart…" Bright Heart's voice faded in and out, like he was speaking from very far away and with poor reception. "This is your mind…You have the advantage there. Use it. Reality there is what you want it to be." Gentle Heart blinked in surprise.
No Heart glared at her, but not having heard the message, was unaware of her revelation. "Your family's time is up. Apparently they don't care about what happens to you." He chuckled. "No matter, though. I had no intention of sparing you anyway. It might take a few more victims before I make the rest see things my way. All I have to do is pick my next one. Who to choose…do you have a suggestion?"
Gentle Heart said nothing.
"I could pay your friend Grumpy a visit, I have unfinished business with that one." He growled, angrily recalling the time where Grumpy had single-handedly staved off No Heart's destruction of Care-a-Lot. "Or, if that idea's not to your liking, I could eliminate your family's so-called leaders, the sentimental sop Tenderheart and the fool Brave Heart..."
No Heart failed to notice the increasingly determined look on Gentle Heart's face.
"…Tormenting those revoltingly cute cubs would be a treat, but not nearly as much as the look on their faces when I destroy your family's precious founders: Noble Heart and True Heart. I could rip out the very soul of the Care Bear Family in one blow. Of course I could just as soon go for the brains and destroy Bright Heart…"
That did it. Gentle Heart focused with all her might and her tummy symbol began to glow, brighter than ever. Gentle Heart summoned a Care Cousin Call that struck No Heart directly in the eye. Howling in pain, he let Gentle Heart drop to the ground as he reverted to his normal form, one hand clutched over his eye.
"You'll pay for that, you…you…" No Heart trailed off as he stared at the impossible sight before him. Towering over him was a giant Gentle Heart Lamb.
She was so big that the top of No Heart's cowl barely reached her knees. Gentle Heart bent over the stunned wizard and then, casually as you please, flicked the wizard with her fingers as if he were an insect. The analogy is partially misleading as Gentle Heart would never flick an insect that way, but to No Heart it was a moot point. The wizard was propelled far into the sky at breakneck speeds. When he finally managed to focus enough to use magic he transformed himself into a giant bat. Righting himself in midair he turned to glare at the suddenly huge lamb. Or he would have if he hadn't been so far away that she appeared as little more than a speck on the horizon.
Adding insult to injury, she boomed at him with a voice that still rang loud and clear even at such an extreme distance.
"That was for the lamb chops remark."
No Heart growled. "A few parlor tricks wont save you from me!" He snapped, buoyed by the fact that Gentle Heart had returned herself to her true size after tossing off her cutting remark. Tucking his wings back No Heart dove at her, intent on separating her head from her shoulders. He nimbly dodged the Calls she directed at him. Just as No Heart was close enough to see the whites of her eyes, Gentle Heart surprised him by conjuring up an unusual Call, not a straight beam but an expanding font of light that caught No Heart straight on.
"GRRAARRGH!" No Heart cursed as he landed flat on his back, startled back into his own form. "How are you doing this!" He demanded as he drew himself back to his feet.
"This is my mind No Heart." Gentle Heart said. "You're just a visitor and an unwelcome one at that. It's time for you to leave. I don't like hurting people."
"That doesn't go both ways!" No Heart shouted angrily, incensed beyond reason by the fact that a Care Bear would dare presume to act in his best interests. Lightning flew from his fingertips, crackling with dark magic. But every bolt arched around Gentle Heart as if there was a bubble surrounding her they could not penetrate.
Infuriated No Heart continued to fire away at her, again and again he would send lightning to strike her down. But not a single bolt of lightning touched her. Each bolt would harmlessly bend around her, leaving the lamb unscathed.
Gentle Heart was content to stay where she was. Defending was much easier than attacking and more in line with her personality. Besides, No Heart was rapidly exhausting himself, too angry to think straight.
"I will reduce you to a charred cinder!" No Heart bellowed over the roar of his own lightning. "And when I'm through with you I'll do the same to your family!"
"You will do nothing of the kind." Gentle Heart said softly, strangely at ease with herself. "Leave." She was surprised at her own straightforwardness in facing down No Heart and talking to him like this. "If I needed any further proof that this is a dream," Gentle Heart thought with bemusement, "That would be it."
Calm, plain speaking seemed to hurt and anger No Heart more than a Care Cousin Call would. "Do you really think I'm just going to walk away?" He demanded. "I'm not through yet! You're still the weak link Gentle Heart! You will be your family's undoing one day!"
Gentle Heart's confidence shook under the tirade, a nagging voice in the back of her mind agreeing with every hateful word that the wizard spewed. It was enough for the barrier around her to weaken, allowing No Heart's lightning to penetrate it. One bolt passed right by her cheek, missing by only the barest of margins. Gentle Heart smelled burning ozone as it past and knew what No Heart's game was.
Shaking her head, Gentle Heart stared right back at No Heart. "Maybe, but it wont be today!" She concentrated and released another Call. It impacted halfway between the two antagonists by No Heart's lightning.
For long moments that drew out for an agonizing length of time, both combatants (not that Gentle Heart saw herself in those terms) summoned up what strength they had, waiting for the other to slip or wear down.
No Heart tried his usual tricks, trying to chip away at Gentle Heart's confidence and make her loose focus. It had already worked wonders before. But no longer: Gentle Heart never so much as flinched under the onslaught. She never knew whether or not that was because this was a dream but right then and there, it didn't matter.
In the end it was No Heart whose strength slipped, leaving him wide open for Gentle Heart's Call. Struck straight in the abdomen, No Heart nearly doubled over in pain.
"ENOUGH!" He bellowed, straightening himself. "I'M GOING TO END THIS, HERE AND NOW!" Chanting in a strange tongue Gentle Heart didn't know; No Heart raised his hands to the sky. Dark clouds covered the sky, crackling with lightning and thunder. The ground shifted and shook, large chunks of it falling away, leaving only gaping trenches and holes that seemed bottomless. Even though this was Gentle Heart's mind, No Heart was far from powerless there, a cruel testament to the power he could wield even when he lacked the home advantage.
Finally, a gap appeared in the clouds and something lazily drifted down from it before sky grew completely covered in clouds once more. Gentle Heart couldn't make it out until it was in No Heart's hands: it was a sword. A large straight sword, longer than a Care Bear was tall, appeared in his hands. It seemed at once monstrously huge and monstrously powerful. Gentle Heart could feel it fairly pulsing with dark magic.
"There's more than one way," No Heart said, eerily calm. "To sheer a sheep." No Heart slashed at Gentle Heart, missing her by a hair. His blade could cut through the barrier she had established, leaving her vulnerable. Another stroke hit the ground, which splintered and shook upon impact, myriad cracks forming where the blade fell. Lightning cracked from the blade and twisted its way across the ground like a serpent. Gentle Heart moved at the last second, only barely missing being hit by one of those ground-based attacks. The lightning struck a rock in its path and promptly destroyed it, giving her an all too detailed knowledge of what would happen to her if that lightning ever struck her.
No Heart came charging at her, swinging his sword expertly. Gentle Heart ducked and started to back away, not daring to turn her eyes away. Before long she felt the back of her foot connect against nothing. Swaying her arms, Gentle Heart managed to fall forward. Straining her head, she saw that she had reached the edge of a very large plateau.
Gentle Heart doubled up in pain when No Heart's foot gave her a sharp kick to her ribs. She shakily got to her feet just in time to duck once again as No Heart's blade arched above her head.
She tried to run but soon found that there was nowhere to go. The ground had almost entirely fallen away, leaving behind only a small island of land where she and No Heart was. Turning around she Called again and again, but No Heart would simply parry with his sword, deftly turning the Calls aside.
Within moments Gentle Heart was trapped, No Heart in front of her and the bottomless void behind her. Between the Devil and the deep blue sea. No Heart slashed at her again and again with his sword, each time coming closer to landing a deathblow. Now it was Gentle Heart who was being worn down. She was tired and couldn't sustain herself. As if sensing her thoughts, No Heart lunged with a mighty swing that would separate Gentle Heart's head from her shoulders.
Gentle Heart managed to get off a Call that No Heart battered aside with ease. However, in doing so turned his wrist so when the sword connected with Gentle Heart's temple No Heart hit her with the flat side, not the edge, of his sword.
Her head exploded in pain. Dimly, Gentle Heart thought that dreams weren't supposed to heart like this. Perhaps she was just imagining she was in pain. Whatever the explanation was, it hurt. Gentle Heart swayed on her legs and fell to her knees, cradling her head with one hand, the other lay on the ground steadying herself.
"And so it ends at last." No Heart said evilly. "You put up more of a fight than I expected from the likes of you, but in the end it makes no difference. You may be the first, but you wont be the last Care Bear I destroy. Perhaps you have some final words you wish for me to pass on to your family, before I destroy it of course." Gentle Heart nodded.
"Tell them…" she panted. "…that I love them all and want to thank them for trying to help me…And tell them…that you aren't the invincible force you claim to be." She continued, her voice gaining strength as she continued. "If, in your own words, I am the weakest member of the family and I could give you such trouble, what should you expect from the others?"
No Heart growled. "Enough! This ends here!" He grasped his sword's hilt with both hands, preparing a thrust that was aimed straight at Gentle Heart's face. So enraged and assured of his victory, he never saw her tummy symbol beginning to glow once again.
Gentle Heart had seen many Calls and had summoned many herself. But none had ever acted this way. The Call struck No Heart's blade pushing it, and No Heart, back. The sword started to vibrate, slowly at first, but then louder and faster until No Heart had to struggle just to hand onto it. Then with one final roar, the sword shattered and blew apart. The ensuing shockwave knocked Gentle Heart on her back, her head dangling over the edge of the island. No Heart wasn't as lucky: The explosion knocked him off altogether, cursing and screaming as he fell.
The weary lamb crawled over and looked down at the spot where No Heart had fallen off. All she saw was a gradually diminishing figure, shrinking in the distance. His cries and curses fading into mere echoes which too, faded away. She didn't know why he didn't—or possibly couldn't—transform and fly back up. Perhaps he was too weak, maybe the explosion affected his magic somehow, or maybe he was too angry to focus. Whatever the reason the fact remained, No Heart did not return. As the clouds faded from the sky and the background faded back into nothingness Gentle Heart knew that it was finally over.
"You were right No Heart. It ended here."