Chapter 6: The Staff of Caring

The sound of Grams, Share and Good Luck Bear making breakfast woke Sophie up. Funshine Bear was already up and Nolan was gone too – they must've gone up to Funshine's room to play a game on his Wii. Sophie rubbed her eyes and stretched. Wish Bear woke up a second later, and gave Sophie a good morning hug.

"How are you?" Wish asked.

"Fine." Sophie smiled, and then her tummy grumbled.

Wish smiled, "Let's go see what's for breakfast, yeah?"

They held hands and went to the kitchen. It smelled like eggs and bacon.

"Smells great, Grams Bear!"

"Just wait till you try it. These aren't your ordinary eggs!" she told them.

"Yeah, then what are you making?" Sophie asked.

"Eggs Benedict!"

"Wow!" Wish said licking her lips, "It's been a while since we had those!"

Then Cheer and April came in the kitchen to smell the breakfast. They were impressed too.

"I've never had that before." Sophie said.

"They're really good." Cheer said, rubbing her tummy.

They went and set the table together. Sophie poured herself a glass of orange juice and took a gulp. She was feeling less groggy already, and looking forward to finding something at the Care-a-lot Castle. She wondered which one it was going to be!

Either way, she just hoped that Emily, Tanya and Vera had no idea about it.

Then breakfast was ready and everyone came downstairs to eat. Sophie was pleasantly surprised when she tried the eggs Benedict. It was probably her new favorite breakfast food.

Everyone took the first few bites of food and the atmosphere lit up. Everyone enjoyed Grams' cooking, especially when it was eggs Benedict!

After everyone warmed up, Tenderheart decided to make an announcement.

"Good morning every bear. Today, Sophie, April, Nolan, Cheer, Wish, and Funshine, are going to go and look for the quest items. Their first stop will be at the Care-a-lot Castle." he smiled.

"I hope something's there." Share replied.

"Me, too." Sophie said to her.

"So, the rest of you will be going on Caring Missions. Our Caring Meter is at 5 points." he said with a bit of a sad tone, "We need all the caring we can get. And please be careful of Emily, Vera, and Tanya."

Everyone nodded. No one groaned, not even Grumpy Bear. This was a serious problem and it needed to be fixed.

Soon breakfast was finished, and everyone helped clean up. Sophie went and got dressed quickly. Then she came back down and Wish Bear braided her hair. Today, Sophie was wearing an aqua tank top with ruffles on the bottom, and decided to wear her rainbow shorts again.

April was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, a pink tie-dye shirt but neon with pink shorts. She had on a pair of flip flops. Cheer did her hair up with a cheer-leader bow.

Nolan was wearing a clean yellow sport shirt with orange shorts. Earlier Nolan and Funshine Bear went back to his house and grabbed some clothes for his stay in Care-a-lot. Nolan's hair just needed a quick comb through, since it was too short to do anything with except put gel in it it, which he didn't do since he was only 9 years old.

Wish finished braiding Sophie's hair.

"Okay. Ready to go find that staff?" Wish said.

"Yeah!" Sophie replied.

Everyone else was ready too, so they went outside and climbed in the cloud car with six seats, and zoomed off to the Care-a-lot Castle.

Along the way, Sophie pointed out landmarks on the land below to Nolan, who hadn't gotten his tour yet. They passed over the Forest of Feelings.

They landed at the Care-a-lot Castle. It was a beautiful place, made of golden clouds and rainbows. They walked up the steps and Wish opened the door. They all went inside. It was trashed. Everything was turned upside down, inside out.

"What's going on here?" Funshine said, "Who forgot to clean this place up?"

"I… I have a bad feeling about this." Wish said, gulping nervously.

"What does the staff even look like?" Sophie asked.

None of the Care Bears knew.

"Not sure. But I think we'll know once we find it." Wish said hopefully.

Sophie nodded.

They were in the front room, which had a meeting table and area. The castle had a vintage feel too it, filled with nostalgia, even if the place was messy. It was like someone was here recently, looking for something.

"This is where we grew up as cubs." Cheer explained.

Sophie smiled. It was a very nice place other than the mess. They picked their way down to the basement and were about to open the door. Wish stopped everyone by holding up her paw.

"What is it?" Sophie asked, eager to go in the room.

"I think someone is inside…"

"What? Who?" April asked.

In that moment, Sophie guessed it could only be Emily, Tanya, and Vera. They were too late.

"Oh no…" she grumbled.

Wish Bear opened the door. Sophie's guess was right! Emily, Tanya, and Vera had torn the place apart looking for the staff.

"Ugh, where is that dumb thing? We have to find it before Sophie." Emily shouted, flipping a box over her shoulder.

Tanya and Vera stopped searching at once, when they noticed Sophie and her group of friends. Sophie cleared her throat because Emily was still searching desperately.

"Ahh!" Emily yelped once she realized they weren't alone anymore. She fell backwards into a pile of books.

"Intruders!" Funshine said, "Guilty as charged."

"Help me up, you fools!" she demanded, unable to get up.

Tanya and Vera swarmed around Emily and helped her up. Once she was standing, she curled the ends of her pink/blond hair on her finger.

"Great." Emily grumbled.

"What do we do, Emily?" Vera asked, trembling.

Sophie noticed there was something different about all of them. They seemed darker – their outfits did at least. They weren't wearing neon colors anymore. And Emily was wearing dark pink eyeshadow. The colors were dark, but you could still tell they were pink, purple and green.

"We don't stop until we find something… the shield, the staff, or better yet, the crown!"

Sophie and her team began to look feverishly on the other side of the room. There were shelves stacked with books, objects and trinkets of all kinds. The whole basement was about as messy as the attic.

"Hurry!" Emily demanded.

Sophie turned around to see Emily digging through a shelf. Wish Bear then touched a star on their side of the shelves, and a secret door opened a few paces away!

"It must be in there!" Wish said.

Sophie rushed in and right on the wall, was the staff. It was perched flat on two hooks. The staff was made of rainbow and it had a heart-shaped white gem on the top, nestled in clouds. Sophie grabbed it before Emily could even reach it.

"I got it!" Sophie cheered.

When she turned around, she was face-to-face with Emily.

"Give me that right now!" Emily whined.

"I'll never give it to you, because I care so much for Care-a-lot, the Care Bears, and my friends April and Nolan!"

This activated the staff unintentionally, and a beautiful rainbow light blasted out of the white gem. The only problem was, that Emily held up a book to shield herself.

"Nice try!" Emily laughed manically, "Also, look what No Heart gave us!"

She held up her wrist and there was a black and purple band.

"Oh no. It's like No Heart's magic amulet!" Cheer said, "They're invulnerable to our Care Bears Stares!"

All three of the bad girls laughed hysterically. Sophie boiled with anger. What was the point of the staff if they had defenses? She held the staff so tight her knuckles turned white.

There has to be another way, Sophie said.

Just then Emily swiped the staff away from Sophie's grasp, even as she thought she was holding on to it strong enough.

"Looks like you won't be needing this anymore!" she growled.

Emily bent her leg and held the staff with both hands over her leg, like she was going to break a twig.

"No, don't!" Sophie begged, reaching her hand out trying to grab it back.

But Emily had moved faster and tried to break it. She slammed it down on her leg. A burst of blinding rainbow light exploded out. Everyone fell backwards, and the staff clattered to the floor.

"Ouch, that hurt!" She whined, holding her leg.

Sophie scrambled to get up and grabbed the staff quickly. Tanya and Vera huddled near Emily.

"Are you okay?" They asked.

"No! My leg hurts, you idiots!" she shouted, pointing to the spot where she slammed the staff down on.

"Let's bring you back to No Heart's Castle and heal you." Vera suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Funshine said, but with an attitude that said that he just wanted them out of Care-a-lot. Which was true for Sophie and her friends.

"No. We're not leaving without that staff." Emily struggled to get up, though it was clear her leg was hurt badly.

Sophie held on to the staff. She wasn't going to let Emily ever have it. Sophie then saw the door was open, so she took her chances and fled out of the basement. The rest of her friends followed her. Though Emily and her sidekicks were right behind them.

"Get her!" Emily commanded.

Tanya and Vera jumped after Sophie but she swung the staff around and hit both of them. They fell to the ground.

"Use your bracelets!" Emily shouted.

They did. Only, Sophie somehow managed to block the dark green and purple blasts of evil.

"Go Sophie!" Nolan cheered.

Sophie took her turn and blasted a rainbow light at Tanya and Vera. They jumped over the light and Emily was almost hit, but she dove to the ground to avoid it.

"Get the staff!" Emily said.

"We're working on that!" Tanya growled and got up. She shot another blast of evil at Sophie. It nearly hit her, but she ducked and then aimed the staff.

Then the Care Bears, Nolan, and April used their caring power to help Sophie once Tanya and Vera charged at her, with a greedy look in their eyes. Nolan and April used their caring necklaces. All together the Care Bears, April, Nolan and Sophie hit Tanya and Vera with caring blasts.

Even though they were invulnerable, somehow the bracelets weren't as strong as No Heart's amulet, so they were still affected by the caring. It greatly weakened their evil, which was a good thing.

"No!" Emily cried, "Ugh. Let's retreat!"

"What? We still have a chance! Sophie isn't that good with that thing!" Tanya said.

It was only her first time using it, so that was true. Still, she wasn't going to let that stop her. She blasted them with a caring blast and they flew backwards.

"Okay, let's go to No Heart's castle!" Emily screeched.

Emily, Tanya, and Vera left Care-a-lot on a flying bike. Once they disappeared, Sophie could feel the adrenaline leaving her. She relaxed her grip on the staff. Both Nolan and April hugged her. Then Wish held her hand.

"You did a great job, Sophie." she said.

"Thanks." she smiled, "You helped, too."

"Everyone did. Now, let's clean up the Castle." Wish said.

They spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the Care-a-lot Castle. Then around noon, they went back to the Hall of Hearts. Wish decided that after lunch that Sophie would learn how to use the staff.

For lunch, Grams, Tenderheart, and the Cubs prepared delicious tacos and nachos. Sophie enjoyed them but thought that lunch went too quickly. They cleaned up in a flash. Only a few bears came back from their missions but as soon as lunch was over they were on their way back down to earth to help more people.

That afternoon Sophie and her friends were outside in the front yard, and Wish was looking up information in the book again. She found a section on the staff and how to use it, which was helpful.

"The staff works just like your necklace, but is a lot more powerful. That gem is what stores the caring power, and it can also flow through the whole length of the staff." Wish said.

Cheer had put up a few practice dummies. Sophie took a whack at them, pretending they were Emily, Tanya, and Vera. She jumped and spun around, hitting all of them swiftly. She was going to defend Care-a-lot with all her heart!

"Wow, you're really getting the hang of it." Funshine said.

Once Sophie warmed up, Nolan and April got to try. Cheer decided it would be a good idea if they all learned how to use it, in case Sophie dropped it during a battle.

They trained for a few hours. Then Grams came out with refreshments of fresh lemonade and watermelon.

"Why don't you take a ten minute break." Grams said.

The cubs came rushing out of the Hall of Hearts, too. They had sippy cups of lemonade. They all sat down on the clouds and enjoyed a little break.

"I'm very proud of Sophie." Wish told Grams, "She's pretty good with the staff."

"I'm not surprised. I knew she could do it from the moment I saw her." Grams smiled.

"Really?" Sophie asked. She could feel her necklace glowing.

"Of course."

Sophie drank the rest of her lemonade and nibbled on her triangle slice of watermelon.

As they were practicing again, Brave Heart Lion stopped by. Tenderheart came back from his mission a minute later. Brave Heart encouraged Sophie during her training.

"There you are, Brave Heart." he said, "Any word from True Heart and Noble Heart?"

"Yeah. They should be stopping by soon, too."

"Good. I think we could use their guidance." Tenderheart said.

"Who are True Heart and Noble Heart?" asked Sophie, as she had never heard of them before.

"They are the founders of Care-a-lot and the Care Bear family." Brave Heart explained.

"Oh."

"And… I have been looking for the shield in the Forest of Feelings. Us Care Bear Cousins haven't found it yet, even with Swift Heart Rabbit's help."

"Why don't we go over to the Forest of Feelings tomorrow? Once True Heart and Noble Heart arrive, I have a good feeling we'll have a better chance of getting Care-a-lot back to normal."

"I agree." Brave Heart nodded.

As they waited for True Heart and Noble Heart to arrive, Wish, Cheer, Funshine, and Brave Heart instructed Sophie on how to use her staff efficiently. While she was pretty good, this was only her first day using it. She learned that No Heart was a lot more powerful. A little hit to the stomach wouldn't do much damage.

Then a cloud ship arrived at the river. It was True Heart and Noble Heart!

"Let's go meet them!" Tenderheart said.

Sophie carried her staff with her as they ran down to the rainbow river. True Heart and Noble Heart had docked and were getting off just as the Care Bears arrived at the banks of the river.

"Hello!" True Heart said with a big smile and a friendly wave. She ran and hugged everyone, "Oh I missed you so much."

"I missed you too! Care-a-lot is in a lot of trouble… but thankfully we have someone who can help us."

"Sophie Summers! What a pleasure to meet you at last." True Heart said. She shook her hand, and hugged her.

"The Princess of Care-a-lot." Noble Heart said, doing a polite bow.

"Thank you, but that's not really necessary…" she didn't feel like a princess, at least not yet. Maybe after she found the crown, she'd feel like one.

"Now! Let's go to the Hall of Hearts, shall we?" True Heart suggested.

Everyone agreed, and went into the Hall of Hearts. Sophie hoped with all her heart that True Heart and Noble Heart could help them.