Chapter 9: Quest for the Crown
Care-a-lot was a sight for sore eyes. Nolan, April, and the Care Bears helped Sophie into the Hall of Hearts. She was exhausted. Nolan carried her into the Hall of Hearts and set her gently on the couch. April put a fleece blanket over her. Sophie smiled.
"Thank you." she said weakly.
April hugged Sophie kindly and let go. When Sophie looked at Nolan, he was blushing, but she didn't understand why.
Cheer showed Sophie her necklace.
"See look, it didn't even get scratched." she smiled.
Every bear came around Sophie to see how she was.
"Sophie, you sacrificed yourself for your friends…" Friend Bear was in tears, "That is the greatest act of caring ever."
"Really?" Sophie asked, and coughed.
"Someone get her some water please." Wish said.
Funshine went and got her some water. Sophie drank a sip of it, but all she really wanted to do was take a nap.
"Tenderheart! The Caring Meter went up a point." Baby Hugs said.
"That's very good." Tenderheart hugged Baby Hugs who was beyond happy to get a hug.
"Now everyone, let's give Sophie some rest." True Heart said gently.
Everyone all went to the heart-shaped table. Sophie closed her eyes and fell asleep within seconds.
When she woke again it was morning. She groggily woke and felt incredibly stiff. Wish Bear was there beside her reading Legend of the Queen of Care-a-lot. On the coffee table was Sophie's necklace, the staff, and the shield.
"Wish Bear?" she asked.
Wish Bear closed the book.
"Oh! You're awake." she said and hugged Sophie, "You took a long nap."
"How long?"
"Two days." she replied, and gave Sophie a bowl of oatmeal with raisins.
Sophie slowly ate her breakfast and then stretched. It must've been still very early in the morning since the Hall of Hearts was very quiet, and through the heart shaped window Sophie saw that it was just getting light outside.
"Don't worry about it though, you needed it." Wish said.
"What happened while I was out?"
"The Caring Meter went down three points. It was at seven. Now it's at 4."
"Oh no!" Sophie gasped.
"But everyone is going on missions and doing their best. And I have a good feeling the crown is at that abandoned library."
"Do you know where the library is exactly?"
"In Rainbow Capital City… on the outskirts."
"Sounds dangerous, and it's just begging for Emily's attention. Do you think she found it?"
"They're looking for it, but I don't think they found it yet." Wish said.
Sophie stretched and yawned.
"Why don't you go take a shower and clean up. I'll braid your hair for you when you're ready."
"Okay."
Sophie went up to the bathroom and took a long, warm shower. When she stepped out she felt completely refreshed. She dried and got dressed. She slipped on a new pair of rainbow leggings, and a short sleeve aqua top, with a star pattern on it.
Then she brushed her teeth. She noticed that her wrists didn't have marks on them like she thought they would. When she was done she went downstairs to Wish Bear on the couch and let her braid her hair.
Sophie yawned again. Outside the sky was very light. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was 6:40 in the morning. She could hear the faint birdsong outside.
When Wish was done braiding her hair, Sophie hugged her very long. Neither of them minded it.
"I missed you so much." Wish said.
"Me, too." she said and then told Wish Bear what happened during her time at No Heart's castle. Wish hugged her the whole time so she wouldn't feel alone.
Once Sophie was finished telling Wish Bear her side of the story, Wish told Sophie what happened to the Care Bears.
"First off, that blue blur that came by was Swift Heart Rabbit saving the Staff and the Shield. She helped untie everyone. Then we all went back to the Hall of Hearts and called for reinforcements. A few bears came and watched the Hall of Hearts with Grams and the Cubs. We held a quick meeting and made up a plan. Then it was time to go to No Heart's castle and save you."
Sophie nodded.
"The reason the Caring Meter went up a point the other day was because of you."
Sophie smiled but then quickly frowned.
"And it went down again because Emily, Tanya, Vera, Shreeky and Beastly are doing No Heart's dirty work again."
Then Sophie remembered that No Heart wanted to make the whole world evil. She told Wish Bear, but she already knew that. All of the Care Bears did. That was apart of his plan since the very beginning. Only, his first step was to eliminate the Care Bears, and he hadn't even succeeded at that.
"We have to find that crown today." Sophie said.
Wish Bear got up and went to Tenderheart's office. When Tenderheart wasn't on, anyone was welcome to use the computer. Sophie followed her. She used her side of the computer. Her background was a pretty photo of the milky way. Together they searched for the abandoned library on the maps, though they were having a hard time.
"Why isn't it even showing up?" Wish scratched her head.
"It is abandoned…" Sophie reminded her, "Maybe abandoned things don't show up on the maps for a reason."
"Usually things in Care-a-lot don't go abandoned because everyone cares about Care-a-lot here."
Sophie shrugged.
On the outskirts of Rainbow Capitol City there were a few, big, empty buildings.
"Maybe it's one of those." Sophie said pointing.
"It must be." Wish said, and went down to the ground view.
Right away they could tell it was the library they were looking for. Hopefully the crown was safe inside, and no one had gone searching for it before them.
"Well, now we know where to go." Wish said with a smile.
By now the rest of the Care Bears were waking up and Grams was starting on breakfast. Even though Sophie already ate, she took a small plate of fruit for more energy.
Soon everyone was eating breakfast. They were all happy that Sophie was awake, too. Sophie sat next to April and Nolan. True Heart, Noble Heart, and Brave Heart all had stayed overnight.
"So what did you do while I was asleep?"
"I spent time with Cheer, and did a lot of roller-skating." April said.
"And I spent a lot of time with Funshine Bear playing all kinds of games, both inside and outside."
"And we also watched some movies together." April added, "Also we went on a few more tours of Care-a-lot, and made sure the Castle was cleaned."
It sounded like they had fun, and Sophie was glad.
"That's good." she said, nibbling on a strawberry.
During breakfast, Wish Bear made an announcement about the crown's location. Tenderheart didn't even need to give them permission to go find it.
"I hope we find it." Cheer said. Wish and Sophie nodded.
After breakfast, it was time to go searching for the crown. Sophie put on a new pair of socks, and her light up shoes. Nolan and April got ready, too. April was wearing a plain pink shirt today, as well as sunrise colored pants and her usual pink flip flops. Her pony-tail seemed extra bouncy.
Nolan was wearing his usual yellow shirt again, but was wearing denim shorts.
Before they left, Sophie grabbed the shield and staff off the coffee table, and put on her caring necklace. She admired it for a moment, glad that it was okay.
Wish, Cheer and Funshine all got ready to go. Wish had memorized where the abandoned library was, but when they headed out to the cloud car, she logged in the coordinates to the car's JPS.
"Let's go get that crown!" Sophie said.
They flew to Rainbow Capitol City within 45 minutes. The summer air was hot and humid, but Sophie enjoyed it. Funshine had brought along a cooler of ice pops, refreshing water, lemonade, apples, and beef jerky for later. Sophie held on to the staff, but put the shield at her feet.
"Okay, here we are." Wish said.
They landed right in front of the little cluster of abandoned buildings. The library was directly ahead of them a few paces. When they hopped out, Sophie took the shield and staff with her. She didn't think it was a good idea to leave them in the car out in the open, especially if Emily was planning to come here.
It was clearly abandoned. There were vines snaking up the walls, and the windows were shattered and dusty. It was made of rainbow and cloud bricks. The sign that read "LIBRARY" was hardly readable.
They pushed open the door since the handle was missing and went in.
The library was dusty and most of the books were gone. A lot of the shelves were empty. There were a few remaining unwanted books. Sophie wondered why this place was abandoned in the first place. With some cleaning up and refurnishing, she could see a pleasant library.
This was only the first level. Sophie had a feeling that the crown was going to be higher up. There were three levels.
They all searched the first floor thoroughly, but didn't find the crown.
"It's not down here." Sophie said, breaking the dusty silence.
Sophie lead them all upstairs. The second level was pretty much the same as the first, but with a lot more dust, cobwebs and more books. There were some shelves that were empty, and some books were falling apart. There were loose pages on the floor too.
"I wonder if there are any good books left." April said as she crept forward next to Sophie.
Sophie and her friends wove through the isles between the bookshelves. Cheer opened a filing cabinet, but only found files with unhelpful information. It was just history of books that were checked out, and sheets of library fines. The bottom filing cabinet held office supplies like tape, rulers, and note cards.
"Nothing in here."
They double checked the second story, but didn't find anything. That could only mean that it was on the third floor, just like Sophie had guessed earlier.
They went up to the third floor with high hopes.
The third floor was more of a lounge and study area. There were groups of desks on the walls, and only a few heavy chairs that were covered with dust and spider webs. There were only a few lamps, but their bulbs were missing. Sophie and her friends all looked about the third floor.
Sophie found a little safe hidden under a pile of heavy books in the very back of the room. As she expected, it was locked.
"Every bear, I found a safe! The crown must be in here." she shouted, and she put the staff and the shield on the floor next to her.
"If only Secret Bear was here, then we could open that thing just like that. Secret Bear can open any safe or door." Cheer said.
Everyone got down on their knees next to Sophie and inspected the safe. Nolan even lifted it up and Sophie looked underneath it for a key or a note with the combination. But all she found was dust.
"Nothing's under it." Sophie said.
Nolan carefully put the safe back on the floor.
"Why don't I try?" Wish said.
She fiddled around with the combination, listening for clicks, but she wasn't as good as Secret Bear was with unlocking safes.
"Hmm." Wish said, trying again. But the safe didn't open.
Everyone looked around for a clue for the combination, but came back empty handed.
"Couldn't you wish to know the combo?" Sophie asked.
"Looks like I'll have to." Wish said, "Though I only like using wishes as a last resort."
Funshine tried prying open the doors with his paws, but of course that didn't work.
"Wait, let me try something first." Sophie said just before Wish Bear was about to make a wish.
Sophie's birthday was July 18th. If her mom hid the safe here, perhaps she used Sophie's birthday as the combination.
She tried the combination 07-18-07. To her surprise, the safe opened!
"Wow!" Sophie laughed. Everyone cheered.
Sophie opened the safe all the way.
Inside was the crown. It was gold and had clouds on the bottom. There were pretty and colorful heart gems on it too.
"Wow…" Everyone said together.
Sophie pulled the crown out of the safe. Her hands were trembling a little. It was such a beautiful, ornate crown. And it was for her.
"Put it on!" Cheer said.
"I can?" Sophie said.
"You're the Princess of Care-a-lot, aren't you? A princess needs her crown." said Nolan.
"I guess so…"
Sophie put it on. That moment, she felt like a princess indeed. Everyone gasped. A beautiful light radiated from the crown and spun all around Sophie. She was covered in sparkles. There were tears in her eyes. It felt like she was getting a hug from her mom. Her heart trembled with emotion.
All of her friends kneeled before her respectfully.
"Princess Sophie of Care-a-lot…" they said.
Then the light and sparkles faded.
Now she was really the princess. She was just one step away from being the Queen. But now that she had all of her quest items, why wasn't she the Queen?
"You don't have to kneel." Sophie said, "You're my friends."
Everyone stood. Wish gave Sophie a big hug.
"You did it! You got all of the caring items. Let's go back to the Hall of Hearts, every bear." Wish said.
When Sophie picked up the shield and the staff a huge surge of caring power flowed through her and light glowed around her. She could feel the power of caring flow through her, and she felt stronger. It was like her mom was holding her hand, guiding her.
They left the library, but Emily, Tanya and Vera were just arriving!
"Ugh, they beat us to it!" Emily growled when she saw Sophie with the crown on her head. She was tearing out her hair literally and having a tantrum.
"How is that even possible?" cried Tanya.
"We still have a chance, I think. We can still get all of her stuff, because now she has all three!" Vera reminded Emily.
"Yeah! All of our work has been done for us!" Tanya cheered.
Emily laughed manically.
"You're right! Let's get 'em!"
They charged at Sophie and her friends and prepared to use their bracelets. Yet Sophie wasn't going to let them take her hard-earned treasures.
"I'm not going to let you have my treasure that easily." Sophie said rather calmly, but with fierce determination, "Care Bears, stay back."
She got into position and closed her eyes as Emily, Tanya, and Vera charged at her. When she opened them she was fully concentrated, and gripped harder on her staff and put her shield defensively in front of her. Hopefully her crown would stay on her head.
"We will win!" Emily yelled, shooting at Sophie with evil magic.
Sophie knocked the magic away with her shield, and swiped the staff out in a crescent shape in front of her, whacking Tanya and Vera away as if they were flies. Caring energy rippled in the air around her.
Sophie took a chance and hit Vera and Tanya while they were down with huge blasts of caring energy. Now that she had all three magic items, she would have even stronger caring magic. Then the battle was just between Sophie and Emily. The Care Bears and Sophie's friends cheered for her. The Care Bears and Sophie's friends kept Tanya and Vera busy so that way they couldn't reach Sophie.
"Go Sophie, you can do it!" Wish cheered the loudest.
This gave Sophie a boost, since she knew that Wish cared for her. Emily shot another powerful blast of evil at Sophie, right at her head. Sophie dodged and used her staff. Soon they were incredibly close to each other, within hitting distance.
Sophie didn't want the battle to last long, and also she didn't want to hurt Emily to badly. Sweat was starting to form on her forehead as they fought round and around each other. Emily was even more determined and was growling and baring her teeth as she pushed up against Sophie's shield, trying to get her to fall backwards. Sophie wasn't going to let her.
When she looked in Emily's eyes, it was almost as if they spoke.
I hate you, they chanted with the darkest voice imaginable, I hate you more than you can think I do!
Emily hit Sophie with her dark magic. She took a wound, and yelled out in pain. But she wasn't going to let one hit stop her. In fact, it only encouraged her to keep fighting, and harder. Then, she knew what to do.
Sophie sprang up in the air high over Emily's head, and swiftly brought down her staff and put all her strength in it, determined to finish the job. She shot out a huge rainbow blast of caring magic. The force of the caring power sent both of them flying backwards yards away from each other.
But Sophie got to her feet instantly. Emily was lying flat on her back, completely stunned. Sophie aimed her staff at Emily and waited for her to stand up. She sat up half way, unable to stand and fight. Vera and Tanya were also hit by the Care Bears, Nolan and April, so they were on the ground. Emily looked at Sophie with such hatred it sent chills down her spine.
"I won." Sophie declared.
Tanya and Vera dragged themselves closer to Emily, who had her hand around the evil bracelet that was shattered.
"You might've won this small battle, but that victory is nothing when it comes time for the end of Care-a-lot!" Emily said, pain cracking her voice.
There was no way Sophie could forgive Emily. But she was incredibly sorry for her.
"I'm sorry for you." Sophie said.
"Don't pity me! You're the one who's weak!" Emily yelled, and then coughed.
Tanya and Vera put their bracelets together, and held Emily by the wrists. Then a dark purple magic haze flickered over them, and they vanished.
Sophie was relieved they were gone. The Care Bears and April and Nolan came over to hug her.
"You did it!" Wish said.
"Yeah. I did…" she looked down at her weapons. She didn't know that caring was that strong.
Nolan gave her a big hug too, and so did April. Then it was time to go back to the Hall of Hearts.
When Sophie entered the Hall of Hearts, the Care Bears who were there were completely startled. They kneeled before her. Sophie smiled sadly. She was going to have to get used to being treated as royalty. Tenderheart, True Heart, Noble Heart, Grams, the cubs, Share, Love-a-lot, and Grumpy were back. Everyone else was still busy on missions.
"You really don't have to." Sophie said, "Please rise."
"Sophie! You did it! You got all three caring items." Tenderheart said happily.
"Yeah! You should've seen her fighting Emily and her sidekicks with the weapons. She was amazing! And her final blow just knocked Emily down!" Nolan said enthusiastically, making a fake punch with his hands.
"That's the power of caring." Tenderheart said.
Love-a-lot went over to Nolan and whispered in his ear. When she did, he blushed rose red. Then she took him by the hand and led him to the kitchen. Sophie couldn't hear or see them since the rest of the Care Bears stayed and were talking about the crown.
"It's so beautiful!" Share said.
Sophie told them what happened. Every bear was amazed by Sophie's caring power.
"Now that we have all the caring items, we might have a chance to win against No Heart and his forces." Tenderheart said.
"Let's call a meeting to make a plan in fifteen minutes." said True Heart.
Sophie put her shield, staff, and crown on the table. She studied the crown up close for a few moments. The rainbow bejeweled hearts were incredibly beautiful.
"Pst! Sophie!" Love-a-lot jumped on the couch next to her.
"What?" she whispered back, "And what's with the whispering?"
"Shh! I have a secret I want to tell you."
They went to the empty rainbow rescue beam room for some privacy. Sophie knelt down to Love-a-lot's height, and Love-a-lot whispered in her ear.
"Okay. I'll just tell you straight up. Nolan has a crush on you!"
Sophie blinked.
"Huh? What?" she really wasn't good with friends, let alone friends who were boys.
"I kind of guessed you'd say that." Love-a-lot said.
"Oh. Really?" she blinked, "Did he say why?"
"No, but my guess that he thinks you're awesome. And he likes your personality a lot."
"But how? He's hardly even known me for a week." she crossed her arms, "And am I a little too young for that?"
It didn't make sense.
"Love has no boundaries or age. Love knows not of life or death… surely you know that. Your mom still loves you. I'm just telling you in case you have any feelings for Nolan, too. Or some develop in the future."
"Okay." Sophie said, "Well, I might have a change of heart. But I've never had a crush before."
Love-a-lot winked.
"Don't worry. Just follow your heart!" she nudged Sophie's arm.
Then a bell rang — but as they were going to the heart-shaped table, Sophie and Nolan bumped into each other. Nolan was blushing. Love-a-lot went on ahead to the meeting.
"So uh, what did you and Love-a-lot chat about?"
"Um… now's not a good time really. Let's talk later." She wanted to avoid that subject at least until later.
The meeting was about to start. All of the Care Bears had come back from their caring missions and were heading to the meeting table.
"Sophie, are you coming?" Wish Bear asked.
Sophie went to the heart-shaped table. During the beginning of the meeting Sophie had a hard time concentrating. As for now, she only saw Nolan as a friend. Maybe after the big battle, she would feel differently about him. Yet, she was curious about what love was like…
And what would her dad think? He did let her come to Care-a-lot after all. Hopefully she'd have time to talk with Love-a-lot and Nolan later.
They all put their heads and hearts together to come up with a plan to save Care-a-lot.