Pandamonium
Valiant Heart was up early this morning, hoping to get a jump start on training Defiant Heart today. They had managed to settle on a weapon for Defiant Heart to use, a spear, specifically a long bladed one that could be used for slashing as well as lancing attacks as the badger had found a natural talent with the weapon. However, Valiant reflected as he brushed his teeth, there was one problem with this, how were they gong to get a spear for Defiant to use in actual combat situations. He couldn't create a useable one from his tummy symbol as it would be plastic and non-lethal, as none of the Care Bear Family could create lethal weapons from their symbols, and getting a spear on Earth that could actually be used in combat without breaking easily would be prohibitively expensive, if it were even possible.
Valiant was forced to spend a greater deal of time brushing his teeth today because last night Playful Heart and Funshine had put something in his food. He wasn't sure what exactly and quite frankly, he preferred not to know. After brushing his teeth for the fifth or sixth time (he had lost count) the nasty taste was finally gone from Valiant's mouth. He rinsed, swished and spit and looked up at the mirror only to be greeted not by his own face, but that of a human woman. Valiant blinked, rubbed his eyes, and blinked again before he recognized the visage.
"Mirana? What brings the White Queen of Wonderland to my mirror this morning?" he asked.
"Ah Valiant Heart, it's good to see you again," Mirana said, "I've been trying to call you and your friends to thank you for saving Wonderlands from Dementiva for some time now, but I've never been able to catch you when you weren't busy."
"Well you have me now," Valiant said, "So?"
"Well, I wanted to give you and your friends a gift, here," she held up an item that Valiant recognized as the golden pocket watch that Swift Heart had carried around when she had been the White Rabbit, "It is a timepiece and a weapon, it becomes a staff with bladed ends."
"Huh, I see," Valiant said, "As much as that would useful, I doubt that Swift Heart or Grumpy would appreciate that thing being in our world unless," the blue and silver Wolverine thought for a moment, "Maybe you could make something like that, or alter that watch, you see I have a friend, Defiant Heart Badger, who needs help getting a decent weapon…"
Defiant Heart Badger paced around the training area, Valiant Heart was late for the training session. Defiant Heart had learned a lot more than he expected over the past few days, even with just the crude symbol-spawned weapons from his symbol, but he still wished he had something he could actually use if needed..
"Hey, Defiant!" the badger turned to see Valiant Heart Wolverine dashing towards him, slowing as the distance closed, "thanks for waiting, here I got something for ya." Valiant produced a small object from his pocket and handed it to Defiant Heart. The badger looked down at what was in his hand, it was a small replica of his tummy symbol, a small golden shield with a red heart at the center.
"Uh thanks, Valiant, but what is this?" Defiant asked.
"It's your new weapons," Valiant said as if should be obvious.
"Okay," Defiant said, drawing out the word and sounding as if he thought Valiant was crazy.
Valiant sighed, "Press the heart on the front," he said stepping back. Defiant Heart wasn't sure what to think but did as Valiant requested. Almost as soon as Defiant pressed the small heart the shield replica of his tummy symbol sprang out into a long spear. The spear handle was entirely black in color and the blade, which was colored gold, was a long blade with two shorter blades immediately next to the main one facing parallel to the central point with a small heart shaped crystal in the center of the main blade where the three points were connected on both sides; there were a pair streamers, blue on one side and white on the other, attached the bottom.
"Where did you get this?" Defiant said as he tested the weapon, feeling that the spear was surprisingly light and well suited to him.
"Mirana, The White Queen of Wonderland sent it to me, a thank you gift to us for helping stop Dementiva, I was just the first one she was able to get a hold of when I had time to talk so I asked her for something you could use," Valiant explained. "You can carry it anywhere and it's been made so that only you can extend or collapse it and only if you want to, so it won't accidentally extend if you put it in your pocket; you can collapse it by pushing the crystal in the blade. The blade's not real gold, Fauna would have a fit if I gave a golden weapon to you, but it's durable enough and strong enough to last you probably your entire life." Valiant clapped his hands once then drew forth his sword, "Now, whaddya say we get back to your training?"
Good Luck was the one who first heard the Caring Meter going off today and he rushed over to check what was going on. Since the Star-o-Scope was unoccupied he peered through it trying to get a fix on where the signal was coming from.
"Wow, it's all white down there, nothing but snow as far as I can see," he commented, whistling.
"Snow?" the voice came from Snowy Heart who had also heard the alarm and had come to check on the trouble.
"Yeah, take a look buddy," Good Luck said, stepping aside to allow Snowy Heart to see for himself.
Swift Heart and Cozy Heart came trotting up, "What's all the fuss about? We were talking to Noble Heart when we heard the caring meter go off."
"Apparently there's someone who needs help but," Snowy tried to look harder through the star-a-scope, "but all I can see is snow." He stood back, to let the girls take a look, "guess that means I should go, cause of the whole arctic climate thing."
Cozy pushed Swift Heart out of the way to look through the scope. "It issss ssssnowing! I'm going too!"
Swift Heart scowled, rubbing her arm, "What the private snowscape Jolly made for you isn't enough?"
"It already melted."
Swift Heart rolled her eyes, "Looks like I'm in too."
"Then let's go!" Good Luck declared, conjuring a cloud car and getting in the driver's seat. Snowy got in the front seat while Cozy Heart and Swift Heart got into the back and Good Luck took off.
Swift Heart was looking over the side of the cloudmobile, thinking. "Who could even live in a place that cold an wet? Are we sure the caring meter didn't make a mistake?"
"It hasn't let us down yet," Good Luck said, "and don't worry, I'm here so we're bond to find what we're looking for." Snowy just rolled his eyes as Good Luck pushed the car into a descent.
She smirked at Good Luck, "Nice try but Grumpy told me about the gutter incident. Looks like you're not so lucky."
Cozy Heart clapped a flipper over her mouth, "Maybe you ssshould ssssave the jynxing for when we are ssssafely on the ground." The cold blast of air and snow that hit them forestalled any further conversation as Good Luck was forced to struggle to keep control of the Cloud Car while the others held on as if expecting to be torn from the car at any second.
"Good Luck land this thing!" Swift Heart yelled to be heard over the howling wind.
"Believe me, I'm trying!" Good Luck said, trying to push in for a landing, going lower and lower until they hit the ground with a sudden *whump* which caused the car to dissolve.
Snowy was a bit chilly but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, in fact he felt a bit at home and he was the first to call out, "Everyone OK?"
Cozy Heart trilled happily, popping up from a snow bank, "I'm good!" Falling backwards she preceeded to make a snow angel. Swift Heart shook a snow pile from on top of her head, freeing her ears.
"Been better." Even though she had layered in a hoodie and long sleeve shirt, she still crossed her arms, shivering slightly.
Good Luck was in a similar state, he had been so excited that he hadn't bothered to put on more than the sweater he'd been wearing beforehand, so he was cold and now he was wet.
"I'll be fine," he said, pulling out his Caring Beeper and turning until it's beeping sped up, "and it looks like we need to go this way!" he said, pointing.
"Super. Let's hurry before we ffffffffreeze out here." Swift Heart started walking in the direction Good Luck pointed.
Cozy Shrugged over to Snowy, "Guess they can't appreciate a good blizzard."
Snowy smiled as they started following Swift Heart and Good Luck, "Well we can't blame them. They don't have insulated fur or feathers or fat to keep their heat in."
"Will you two arctic creatures hurry up, I can barely see you Snowy!" Good Luck called back to them. The penguin and the fox hurried to catch up to the other two.
"You know Good Luck you really sssshouldn't yell ssssso loud. Thosssse glacierssss are unstable." She pointed her flipper at the mountains around them.
"She's right you know," Snowy said, making an effort to keep his voice from getting too loud.
Swift Heart's eyes narrowed, feeling a tickle in her nose. "Ahhhhh...Ahhhhh...AHHHHH CHOO!" The force of her sneeze sent her flying backwards as the echo sounded around them. Snowy tensed up as he heard the telltale rumblings around him that indicated an avalanche was about to start. He rushed over to Swift Heart, helping her up.
"We need to outrun it!" he said, not bothering to keep his voice down now as he conjured a sled for them to ride down the slope. Cozy Heart started to push the sled, helping to get it moving. Getting a running start, Swift Heart jumped on the sled, using her inertia to help it start moving. As it slid away from her, Cozy Heart dropped to her belly and began to slide down the slope on her own. Good Luck managed to jump on the sled as it slid past him as they could hear the rumbling on their tails. Snowy gulped, concerned for the bear and the rabbit, he and Cozy Heart could probably dig their way free, but those two might not survive if they were buried.
Sparing a glance behind her, Swift Heart saw a wall of snow tumbling down towards them. "Must go faster!" Snowy did he best to paddle with his hands to speed up, but just ended up getting his hands covered in snow. No point in using his arrows here, they didn't generate enough force to speed them up.
As he felt the wall of ice and snow closing in on them, he called out, "Hang on!"
Cozy who had passed the sled saw her friends about to be swallowed by the snow. "Look out!" Good Luck chanced a look behind just as they were overtaken. Fortunately they had come far enough to avoid the biggest blast of the avalanche and it stopped a short time after covering them.
Snowy lay under the snow, catching his breath. He wasn't cold just a bit tired and he forced himself to dig upwards, thankfully hitting open air quickly. He stuck his head out and looked around for Cozy Heart or the others.
She was busy digging through the snow, "Swift Heart went under around here! I didn't see where Good Luck disappeared too." After a few more scoops, the top of Swift Hearts ears became visible.
Snowy forced himself to climb out of the snow, and managed to get over to Cozy Heart, "Here, let's get her out of there before she suffocates," he said, helping to dig around and expose more of Swift Heart, his paws being better suited to digging that Cozy Heart's flippers.
Breaking through the last bit of snow, Swift Heart inhaled deeply. "Ughhhh I'm wet!" She held a paw up to be helped out of the snow. "Where's Good Luck?"
"Don't know," Snowy said as he and Cozy Heart managed to pull Swift Heart free, "I can try to sense his location unless you have a better method." Snowy closed his eyes, trying to sense the presence of the green Care Bear.
Looking around, Swift Heart saw two white fuzzy things walking towards them. "What are those?" She pointed, ears standing straight up.
Cozy and Snowy looked but there was nothing there, "Ssswifty I think you hit your head in that crasssh."
"Things like this can frazzle someone's mind, I think Good Luck's over here," Snowy said, getting down and digging as fast as he could before finally uncovering a clover shaped tummy symbol. Desperately he dug up the bear's body and managed to expose Good Luck's head. The green bear was unconscious but thankfully he was breathing. Snowy Heart was tired from the digging and lay panting, trying to hold onto his breath. Even he had his limits for cold weather and the exertion hadn't helped.
Cozy began to pace, "Come on guysss we can't ssssit sssstill or we are going to freeze." The wind was becoming unbearable, pushing the snow against her like daggers. "We...can't...ssssit." She collapsed next to Swift Heart who's eyes were already closing. Cozy saw the edges of her vision going black, the last thing she saw were two white fuzzy shapes descending on her and her friends.
Snowy wandered through a hazy world, he was dreaming and in his dream he saw a vision of the man who had raised him, the elder of his village. The man spoke aloud to Snowy, just two words, "Wake up!"
Snowy shot awake, feeling surprisingly hot. He looked around noticing that he and his three friends were lying on beds built into a cave wall that surrounded them.
"Hey guys!" he called out, "get up, I think we're all right."
Good Luck sat up, "huh, hey looks like my luck held out!" he said enthusiastically.
A groan sounded from the bed next to him, "Good Luck...don't make me hurt you." Swift Heart buried her head deeper into the pillow she was laying on.
"Good to hear that you're all right," Snowy said, "Cozy, you awake?" he asked.
She sat up in her bed giggling, "Hard to sssleep with all the commotion." She quickly scanned the cave, "How did we get here?"
"Search me," Good Luck said, "everything went black after the avalanche hit."
"I think I remember ssseeing two creaturessss coming towardssss ussss." Grabbing her pillow she whacked Swift Heart with it, "Wakey wakey snow bunny."
Groaning Swift Heart slowly sat up. "Whaaaaaat?"
Snowy slid out of his bed, "Well whatever the case, we should look around, try to see if there's anyone here." He suddenly noticed how hot it was, "And more importantly, how it got so hot here when we were in a blizzard before."
Cozy got out of her bed and headed for a window. Looking through it she was they were in a lush tropical valley, with not a drop of snow anywhere. "I think I know why it'sss warm. You ssshould come sssee thisss Ssssnowy."
Snowy came up tot he window and peered out, "Whoa, now that's new," he said, "How could a tropical place like this exists amongst snow covered mountains."
"Perhaps we can clear up some of your confusion?"
"For the Valley you see is no illusion." They jumped in surprise at the voices behind them, and turned to see the fuzzy monsters that Swift Heart and Cozy Heart had spotted.
The rabbit grinned cockily, "Who's brain is playing tricks now Snowy."
Good Luck stepped forwards, doing his best to introduce himself, to whatever these things were, "Hi, I'm Good Luck Bear, who are you two, or what are you?" he asked, confused.
"Oh of course how silly of us." The one who spoke sounded male. Lifting his arm he pulled a zipper down on his front, showing the white fur was a suit of some type. The creature next to him was shedding in the same manner. Finally free of their outer layer, the Care Bears saw two Pandas standing before them.
"Well, it's nice to meet you," Snowy Heart said, "My name is Snowy Heart Fox, the penguin in Cozy Heart and the blue rabbit is named Swift Heart."
"My name is Perfect, and this is my sister Polite."
The she-panda next to him smiled at them, "Sorry if our snow gear gave you a fright."
"No worries," Good Luck said, taking Polite's hand, "We're just glad you saved us from the avalanche.
She blushed slightly, "Would you like to see our valley?"
"Of course, let's not dally!" Good Luck said, as he and Polite exited.
"Do you two always talk in rhyme?" Snowy asked.
Perfect smiled, "All the time. We aren't exactly sure why."
Polite called back, "But we can't seem to stop, no matter how hard we try." Swift Heart and Cozy exchanged a knowing look as they saw Good Luck and Polite walking out together before following them.
Snowy was about to speculate about why they were forced to speak that way, when Perfect pulled him out to look around. The valley was truly a tropical paradise, untouched by the winter world that surrounded it. Snowy was speechless.
"Hey this place could almost be home." Swift Heart exclaimed as she looked around.
"Yeah," Good Luck said, glancing over at Polite, whose hand he was still holding. He may have only known her for a few minutes but he liked her a lot.
"Maybe, but what about our mission?" Snowy asked, remembering the reason they came down here in the first place.
"Mission? What mission? Just who exactley are you?" Perfect questioned them.
Polite nodded in agreement, "What exactly is it that you do?"
"We are membersssss of the Care Bear Family. It'ssss our job to help people on earth who are having problemsss." Cozy had been so busy looking at the valley that she hadn't been paying attention to the conversation until then.
"I see, so you think someone in our Valley needs your help?"
"That's what our caring meter told us." Swift Heart told Perfect. "Are there other's here or is it just you and your sister?"
Polite and Perfect exchanged a look, "Well there is that village, but we don't know the people that well." She told the bunny cousin.
"Could you show us where it is, please?" Good Luck asked Polite.
Polite giggled, "If you want to know, just follow me through these trees," she said, leading them through a small patch of palm trees.
Swift Heart fell back aways to talk with Snowy. "How do you live in a place your whole life and not ever speak to the other people who live there?" She was getting a weird vibe off the twins.
"Don't ask me," Snowy replied shrugging, "but I can sense that those two are spiritually bonded, most twins are like that; they can feel how the other does if they're apart and in this case it seems strong enough to influence their speech pattern."
The village was a small affair, a couple dozen grass huts that were scattered around a large open space. In this space people were talking and children were playing. Polite stopped at the limits, pulling her hand from Good Luck's. "We will wait for you here."
Perfect joined her, "We don't want to get to near."
"Why not?" Good Luck asked, "you could help us find the ones who need our help."
"We're scared," Perfect admitted.
"So we've stayed at a distance and done nothing but stared," Polite added. Both panda's sat down, looking quite lonesome.
"I think I would go crazy if I only had one person to talk to my whole life." Swift Heart commented.
Cozy nodded in agreement, "It mussst get awful lonely." Realizing what the other said they cried out, "Wait!"
Swift Heart looked at the twins accusingly, "It was you! You're the ones who needed help."
"Well that settles it!" Good Luck clapped his hands together, "you two should come live with us."
"We thank you for the offer, but we don't want to impose," Perfect said.
"But we'll willing to try and see how it goes," Polite said, standing up and taking Good Luck's hand.
Swift Heart laughed, "Trust me you're not imposing. In fact it seems our last few Carng Missions have resulted in the new additions to the family. Maybe we should start charging for membership or something."
Cozy chuckled, "I'm sssure True Heart and Noble Heart would love that idea."
Snowy Heart rolled his eyes, "Well let's not wait around then," he conjured a cloud car.
Perfect held up his hand, "Can we make a stop back at our home?"
"There are a few belongings we need to get before we roam."
Cozy nodded and created a cloud mobile of her own, "We can put your sssstuff in here and you two can ride with Good Luck and Sssnowy. We all wouldn't have fit in one car anyway."
"All right!" Good Luck practically jumped for joy, "let's get packing then."
Less than an hour later the panda's had packed up their belongings in the cloud car and they were off to the Kingdom of Caring. Good Luck sat next to Polite in the back seat of the car while Snowy drove. Good Luck really liked Polite and the girl panda seemed to like him back.
None of them noticed the snow or cold winds that began blowing as they left.
Driving behind the cloudmobile, Swift Heart couldn't resist heckling them, "Good Luck and Polite sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
Good Luck just smiled and shot back, "Let her meet the rest of the family first." Polite just blushed and giggled.
"Whoa there pretty boy. Look at you with the game!" Swift Heart grinned at Cozy Heart, "I always liked that guy." It was then Care-A-Lot came into view and she angled the cloud mobile to land.
"Welcome to Care-a-Lot," Good Luck said gesturing around the place, "I'm sure you'll like it here, just wait until-" There was a whooshing noise and a strange spear landed point down in the clouds in front of the returning party.
"Not bad, Defiant, but keep a stronger grip on the handle," Valiant's voice called.
The badger dashed out from the nearby trees and grabbed the spear, "Don't go so rough on me then!" he called back.
"You do want to get better right?" Valiant said, emerging from the forest and sheathing his own sword. He noticed the group and waved, "Hey guys, who are the pandas?" the wolverine asked.
Swift Heart scowled at them, "More importantly why are you throwing spears at us?"
Cozy Heart interjected, "Thessse are Perfect and Polite Panda. We were called to the valley they were raisssed in becaussse they were lonely."
Defiant smiled and pressed the crystal in the spear blade to collapse it, "Well then welcome to the family," Defiant said, "you introduced them to everyone yet. Sorry bout the spear, Valiant's been training me to fight?"
"Why would you need to learn how to fight?" Polite asked.
"I thought that things up here were peaceful and right," Perfect sounded worried.
"They are," Snowy said, "but some of us would prefer to be prepared for anything."
"Yeah you never know when you may be sucked through a mirror and have your memory wiped. And no we haven't taken them to the Hall of Hearts yet, we were dropping their stuff off first." Clapping her hands, Swift Heart dissolved the cloud mobile so all the stuff dropped to the floor. "Piece of cake."
Perfect looked a bit shocked at what Swift Heart was said, but Valiant said he'd explain it to the panda later. Valiant and Defiant ended up carrying the panda's bags as they went to introduce them to the founders, then the rest of the Care Bear Family.
Swift Heart had separated from the group once they were dropped off at True Heart and Noble Heart. She had opted to tell the others to gather at the Hall of Hearts for the induction. "Attention all! Very important business at the Hall." Catching herself she groaned, "Crap now they have me rhyming."
The entire family turned out to greet the new arrivals, Noble Heart and True Heart actually seemed really enthusiastic about greeting these new family members.
"All right, everyone settle down!" True Heart said, beaming at the moment, running her hands over her swollen tummy.
"Yes because we'd like to tell you all something important!" Noble Heart said, happy but a bit exasperated.
"Is it that the baby isn't Noble Hearts?" Playful Heart called out. Swift Heart walked over to Grumpy and plopped herself down on his lap. The blue bear grunted but wrapped his arms around her.
"Who do you have your money on Playful?"
The two cousins paused thinking before deciding and announcing in unison, "Brave Heart!"
True Heart rolled her eyes, "No, Noble Heart is the father, but that's not it. You see, we actually know Perfect and Polite Panda. They were part of the family when we were first gathering all of your together."
"But one day they wandered away from us and when we tried to go after them, Dark Heart came after us and scared them away and we searched for them but could never find them," Noble Heart clapped Perfect on the shoulder, "but now you've found them and we're happy to be able to see them again."
He grinned at the horse founder, "Now that you mention it, your voice is familiar. I remember you from when I was small."
Polite clapped in excitement, "Yes! I remember being held while I cried after a rather nasty fall!" She hugged True Heart in her excitement in having remembered this.
There were cheers from the assembled family members, "I wish Fauna was here for this!" Funshine shouted over the din. Tenderheart and Brave Heart started arguing over where the pandas should live, Tenderheart argued that they were bears and should live in Care-a-Lot, but Brave Heart countered that they weren't normal bears but a different kind of animal and should live in the Forest of Feelings. Noble Heart settled the argument, letting the panda's decide where they would live.
"I think we'll live here in Care-A-Lot. The company seems most pleasant." Polite shot a grin to Good Luck who winked back.
"Indeed, that would seem best at present," Perfect said.
"Good," Tenderheart said, "We'll get you started on training as soon as you're settled."
"Welcome to de family frer!" Etienne gave them a toothy grin while getting up from his seat.
"Hope you enjoy yourself up here!" Guidance Heart said, putting her arm around Anger Heart and smiling at the new arrivals.
"I'm sure we will. You all have been so welcoming and kind." Polite told them as she rejoined Good Luck.
"Learning we had a larger family was a great find." Perfect agreed.
Cheer and Wish Bear came forward, "We can show you to one of the empty houses to stay in."
Wish nodded in agreement, "We built them after we had so many new additions just in case we found more."
Once the two pandas had gotten their possessions to their new house, Good Luck offered to show them around the Kingdom of Caring. Love-a-Lot, who had tagged along because Valiant had been carrying some of their bags, saw that Good Luck was smitten with Polite and offered to take Perfect on the tour. Valiant just rolled his eyes; his girlfriend was ever the matchmaker.
Friend and Secret Bear were re-painting the Caring Meter when the tour passed them. "Hi Pandas good to see you. I'm Friend Bear, and this is Secret Bear." The orange bear standing next to her waved.
"Yep, this is Polite Panda," Good Luck said.
Polite nodded, and blushed a bit when she felt Good Luck squeeze her hand, "Hello, how are you?" she asked.
"What is it that you all do?" Perfect asked Valiant.
Friend giggled, "Do you two always talk in rhyme?" she asked.
"Yep, they can't seem to stop," Love-a-Lot said, smiling.
"Our job is to help people around the world care and share their feelings," Valiant explained.
Love-a-Lot took Valiant and Perfect's hands, "Com'on, let's show Perfect around the Forest of Feelings!" she said, dragging them off and leaving Good Luck and Polite with Friend and Secret bear.
Secret pointed between Good Luck and Polite before imitating Love-a-Lot. Friend giggled at him, "I agree, that was one of her less subtle attempts at a set-up."
Good Luck smiled at Polite, "That's fine, I don't mind."
Polite giggled, "Aww, that's so kind."
"Good! Then you'll get adjusted quick beause I'm pretty sure Love-a-Lot made you her new hobby." Nodding in agreement Secret continued to paint the Caring meter. "So where are you going to take her next Good Luck?"
"I'm just going to show her around, want to join us?" Good Luck asked.
"Love to, but we need to finish this up." Friend once more picked up her paint brush.
"All right, we'll stop by later tonight," Polite said as they moved away.
The next day the Pandas gathered with Grumpy, Tender Heart and Good Luck at the training yard to learn how to use their tummy symbol. Both were extremely nervous, a fact that wasn't helped by Funshine and Swift Heart watching from the side lines.
Polite looked like she was about to faint but Good Luck propped her up from behind, "Don't worry I'll be here to help you, just aim your symbol at the target and fired away!"
Polite giggled and gave Good Luck a kiss on the cheek, "You're so smart, you teach so well, and your cute, I think you're swell," Good Luck stumbled away, mumbling nonsensically and blushing.
"Enough with the pda!" Grumpy growled stepping between the two, "We ned to get your training started."
Perfect nodded stepping forwards. He looked down the range, and fired off his stare, but like many before him the recoil hit him by surprise and he flew backwards, cannoning into his sister who fell back and accidentally released her own stare. Swift Heart and Funshine dove off the bench as the first stare flew at them. The next one hit Swift Heart in the rear causing her to leap in the air with a "Yooowwwlll!" Landing she dove behind a cloud bank for extra protection, Funshine scrambling to join her.
When the chaos had stopped, Tenderheart looked up, "Guess they need more training," he said.
"Don't worry," Good Luck said, "it took all of us time to learn to use our symbols properly."
Perfect looked down at the star wand on his sweater vest, "They're just so strong they're hard to control."
"We're trying our best but it really takes a toll," Polite added, sounding disappointed in herself.
"Don't worry," Good Luck said, "We'll be here to help you." Polite smiled and blushed. Good Luck glared at Grumpy but said nothing.
A few days later, the pandas were still having difficulty, even more than the others had had when they took up their training. After Tenderheart was forced to get a cast for his arm following a crash on a driving instruction, he called a meeting to discuss what they should do. Noble and True Heart decided to sit out for a couple reasons, but the one they explained was that they felt the younger generation should make this decision themselves.
In addition to Tenderheart and Brave Heart, the four who had first met the pandas were present: Swift Heart, Cozy Heart, Snowy Heart, and Good Luck. Tenderheart asked the first question, raising his unbroken right hand.
Swift Heart propped her feet on the table, "Do decide why the Panda's can't seem to get the hang of...well anything."
Cozy Heart nodded in agreement, "They do seem to be having a rough time of it."
Brave Heart massaged his arm; he'd been hit in the rear by a stare from perfect and knocked into a tree painfully. "Well, what should we do about this?" he asked.
"Why should we do anything?" Snowy Heart asked, "Yes, the pandas are having trouble and remember, they were completely alone before we found them, even I and the others who were lost on earth at least had contact with humans."
"Snowy has a point," Good Luck added, "I mean, what's the point of drawing a line with them. I'm not just saying that because I like Polite, the pandas are as much Care Bears as any of us."
"Maybe that's what they need. Since they spent their whole lives with just each other, perhaps we should split them up so they can make other friends." Swift Heart offered in response to what Snowy said.
"That might work," Tenderheart said, "does anyone have any other suggestions?"
"Sounds good to me," Brave Heart said, "Swift Heart, Cozy Heart, you two are going to come with me, we'll spend time with Perfect while you two," he motioned to Good Luck and Snowy, "Spend time with Polite, and help her make friends," he added giving Good Luck a severe look.
Swift Heart saluted him, "Aye aye mon capitan."
Cozy Heart grinned, "I'm up for it."
"You can count on us!" Good Luck said, jumping up.
"I'll keep things in order, don't worry," Snowy Heart reassured Brave Heart, "I'll bring Share along, don't worry we'll keep our minds on the job."
"Pssssh. Sounds more like a double date to me." Swift Heart turned to Cozy and Brave Heart, "Let's show Perfect around the Forest of Feelings. We can see what the others are up too and he can get a chance to know them since they've spent most of their time here."
The five of them left, picking up Share Bear along the way, they found the pandas sitting in a driving simulator that Bright Heart had managed to set up for them.
"Hey Polite," Good Luck said, dashing to get to them first and taking her hand, "we're going out to meet some people." Good Luck pulled her along before either panda could speak.
"Perfect you're coming with ussss for an afternoon in the Foressst of Feelingsss." She slipped her flipper around his arm and pulled him a separate direction from his sister.
Brave Heart had conjured a separate cloud mobile, "All aboard!" Perfect and Cozy sat in the back. He managed one more look at Polite before the cloud mobile took off.
Polite blinked, not sure what to say, so Snowy spoke up, "There are a bunch of people here in Care-a-Lot you should meet," he said.
"I think you should meet Harmony Bear," Share said, "Com'on let's go!" she said, pulling Snowy along as the other two followed
"And over here is where Illusion Heart lives. He's an excellent cook and is always happy to make food for everyone." Brave Heart indicated the green covered cabin to Perfect.
A yell came from inside, "Petite I said drop de steak, now!" The front door opened and a grey wolf came running out with a raw steak in her teeth. Etienne was close behind and he tackled her, trying to wrestle the meat from her mouth. She growled in response. "Non chere, dat isn't fo' you! Le' go." The two started a tug o' war over the steak, unaware of their audience.
Perfect looked to Swift Heart, "Should we help Illusion get his steak back?"
"Nah he's okay. But come to think of it, I don't think you've met the grey furry menace there yet have you?" He shook his head. With a final tug the steak tore in half, sending the two flying backwards. Looking pleased with herself the wolf ate up her half. Illusion got to his feet muttering a series of inaudible words in french.
Seeing the others he walked over to them, "Bonjour Perfect. Nahce to see you. Pardon my language but dat lil' tief jus ruined mah dinner."
Brave Heart clapped him on the shoulder, "Are you really that surprised?"
The alligator laughed, "Non. I got twa mo' in de fridge."
The wolf came over to the group. "Perfect, meet another estranged member of the family, Fauna."
"So you're the newest member of the family?" Fauna questioned him. "I thought there were two of you?"
Pefect nodded, "There are. My sister, Polite, is still in Care-A-Lot. Brave Heart told me they think we need some time away from each other."
Fauna grinned baring her teeth and slightly unnerving Perfect. "I'm sure I'll see her on one of my visits."
"Fauna livessss elssssewhere now but ssshe ussssed to live here with usss." Cozy Heart told Perfect in response to his confused look.
Swift Heart whispered to Brave Heart, "Did you notice he's not rhyming anymore?"
"You're right! Way to go Swifty!" He slapped her hard on the back. "Ow!"
When Snowy opened the door to Harmony's house they all heard two female voices singing a duet. Entering they found Harmony and Guidance Heart singing with Anger Heart there, watching for moral support.
Unaware of their audience they kept singing until Polite spoke up, "That was beautiful, you two are very good singers." Guidance turned around, blushing and mumbled a thank you. Others were mostly surprised that Polite had spoken without rhyming.
"Hello Polite," Harmony said, "I see you caught us during one of Guidance Heart's singing lessons.
"We've been practicing," Guidance Heart mumbled as Anger Heart came to take her hand.
"I was singing earlier too, not as good as these two here," he kissed Guidance on the cheek.
"Thanks," she said.
"It's nice to meet all of you," Polite said, "I really haven't had much of a chance to socialize with all my training."
Harmony snickered, "I'm surprised you aren't rhyming, I was told that you and your brother always spoke in rhyme."
"I'm not?" Polite was surprised by this fact.
"Maybe that's because you aren't in close proximity to your brother," Snowy guessed.
"Maybe," Polite said, "So who else should I meet?" she asked.
"Com'on, I'll take you to meet Funshine and Playful Heart," Good Luck said, leading Polite out of Harmony's house, "Just be careful, they might jump you and hit you with pies in the face."
"I'll try to be careful," Polite said.
Leaving Fauna and Illusion they continued on their tour, running into Lotsa Heart and Treat Heart. They then paid a visit to Loyal Heart and Proud Heart to see how baby Trust Heart was doing. As the afternoon wore on Perfect found himself relaxing and enjoying his family's company, but he was still happy when the time came to take him back to Polite.
Needless to say, Polite was pranked by Funshine and Playful, but she didn't mind too much. She was happy to re-unite with Perfect but even then they didn't resume their rhyming, surprising as it was to the others.
The two pandas seemed to be making some progress but sadly, the last straw came that night. Bedtime Bear was forced to wake the entire family up for an emergency. Both Pandas ended up tripping over each other on the way to the cloud cars that were being conjured and by the time they stood up, everyone was gone.
"Oh Perfect it's just no use. Nothing we ever do is right."
Perfect put his hand on Polite's shoulder, "We've tried so hard, but I think we just don't belong here."
"Should we return to our valley then? I don't feel right leaving without warning," Polite asked.
Perfect shook his head, "No, let's get some sleep." He put his arm over his sister's shoulder, "We'll tell them in the morning."
The next morning True Heart and Noble Heart noticed the Pandas were very quiet at breakfast. "Perfect, Polite, are you two okay?" Noble Heart asked them.
Perfect sighed, "No, we're not, actually we have an announcement to make."
"We're returning to the valley," Polite said, "we just can't handle life up here." Despite the breakfast commotion, silence suddenly fell. Those near the pandas had heard what Polite said and spread the word quickly.
"But it's only been a few days. Are you sure you don't want to give it a little more time?" True Heart asked them.
Perfect shook his head, "We've been trying so hard, but this life just isn't for us, there's too much we need."
"We miss our valley and the life we used to lead," Polite added.
Good Luck turned to Polite whom he was sitting next to, "Polite, I don't want you to go."
"I'm sorry," she kissed him, "but this is just how it has to be."
"I'll go with those two, and Good Luck," Snowy added, "and I think Swift Heart and Cozy should come too. We found them we should return them home."
Swift Heart groaned, "Back to the cold? Plus how do you know I didn't have other plans today."
Good Luck looked over at Swift Heart, "Well did you have plans today? I think we should all go to see them home."
"Grumpy can some too if you want," Snowy suggested.
She looked to Grumpy who rolled his eyes and shrugged. "No that's okay, we'll move our plans to later."
"Thank you," Snowy said, "So would you two like to return now?" he asked the pandas.
"The sooner the better if you please." Perfect told him, trying not to make eye contact with those around him.
"All right," Good Luck said, standing up with Polite. The six of them went outside and created a pair of cloud cars, first going to gather the belongings that the pandas wanted to take home with them plus a few keepsakes they wanted to bring with them.
Snowy, Swift Heart, Cozy Heart, and Perfect rode down in one cloud mobile, giving Good Luck and Polite privacy on the way. "Ssso Perfect are you absssolutley sssure you two don't want to ssstay? We sssure are going to misss you." Cozy told him.
"I'm sorry Cozy Heart," Perfect said, "but we just don't feel at home anywhere but the valley."
"We understand," Snowy Heart said, placing his hand on Perfect's shoulder.
"Yeah, Fauna felt the same way. That's why she left too." Swift Heart told Perfect.
In the other cloud mobile, Polite was resting her head on Good Lucks shoulder, "Do you hate me for going back to the Valley?"
"I could never hate you," Good Luck said, "but I will miss you, he kissed her as they descended into the snow, but managed to maintain control, "Shouldn't be getting close to the valley by now?"
Polite looked over the side of the cloud mobile, trying to get her bearings. That's when she noticed the ice covered palm tree and the frozen river, "Oh no!" She turned around in her seat and yelled at her brother, "Perfect somethings wrong with the Valley!"
He put his hand on Swift Hearts shoulder, "I need to land. Do not dally."
"Not dallying is my middle name." She dove the cloud mobile down to the ground.
They landed in the middle of the huts, which were all snowed in and nearly covered.
Perfect took Polite's hand, "We have to warn the villagers, we've goen without talking them for too long."
Polite nodded, "Yes, we need to protect them." The other four started to talk about what might be going on as the pandas entered a hut to find a family of parents with two young children, they looked at the pandas.
"Who are you?" the older man asked.
"You don't know us but we know you all," Perfect said.
"We've watched you grow since you were small," Polite continued.
"We've come to warn you, you need to run before you freeze in here!" Perfect said.
"But where, there's snow everywhere and no shelter?" the man asked. The Pandas exited, shivering and feeling helpless.
Swift Heart was shivering, arms crossed over her chest. "Look, short of making a giant bonfire in the center of the huts I don't know what we can do. I do know I'm not going to last long out here."
Cozy Heart stared a knit cap out of her tummy symbol and shoved it over Swift Hearts ears. Turning to Snowy she asked, "What do you think?"
Snowy thought, "When we last came here, I sensed a lot of energy here, the same kind we produce when we use our tummy symbols."
"Then it's simple, let's stare the snow away!" Good Luck said, he took Polite's hand, "you two should help too."
"But we haven't mastered our symbols yet, what is something happens," she asked, worried.
"We have to try," Perfect said, sounding determined.
They formed a line facing one of the more snowy parts of the town. "5..4..3..2..1 Stare!" Following Good Lucks countdown they began to stare the snow. At first it seemed like the Pandas were in control, and the snow was starting to melt.
"Keep it up," Snowy said, straining. But then the pandas lost control, stubling around, their stares firing wildly.
"Perfect Polite!" Good Luck cried in dismay.
"I'm sorry but we can't use our stares for long!" Polite said, panicked.
"Every time we use them, something goes wrong!" Perfect said before the two collapsed, out of energy.
It wasn't long before the cold and using her stare for so long drove Swift Heart to her knees, shivering. Good Luck to was forced to quit from the cold. Cozy Heart and Snowy followed shortly after, losing their energy. "There'ssss too much sssnow." Cozy panted from her place on the ground. Perfect and Polite looked around at their frozen paradise. The beautiful valley they had grown up in was in danger of being frozen forever, all because they hadn't been there to protect it.
"Perfect what are we going to do? The valley is dying and there's nothing we can do to stop the snow." Perfect nodded, tears forming in his eyes.
"I don't know what else to try Polite. We've done all we can and have nothing to show." His tears fell from his eyes. Polite began to cry as well, mourning the loss of her home. Slowly the Pandas tummy symbols produced replicas of themselves that began to glow and float away over the valley. When they passed over an area, the snow began to melt away.
Snowy sat up, "So that's what I sensed, it's the panda's love that keep the valley alive."
"So that means, they have to stay here," Good Luck said, he didn't sound said, but rather sounded like he was thinking. Perfect and Polite stood by, looking sheepish as the villagers slowly emerged and cheered upon seeing the pandas.
"Thank you so much for saving us! If it weren't for you we'd all be frozen solid." The man from before shook Perfects hand.
"You're welcome." A smile slowly spread over his face. Swift Heart and Cozy walked up to Polite.
"Looks like this is ta ta for now." She hugged the panda before passing her onto Cozy Heart.
Each of them exchanged hugs and Swift Heart conjured a cloud car for them to go. When they got in they noticed Good Luck was still standing nearby.
Snowy looked over at the bear and said, "Good Luck, we have to go now."
Good Luck looked over at Perfect, Polite, and the villagers, then back to the three in the car and said, "I'm not going."
Swift Heart hopped out of the cloud mobile, hands in the air. Stopping next to Good Luck she moved her arms like an umpire saying safe, "I'm sorry...what!"
Good Luck looked over at Polite again and smiled, "I'm staying here," he said, "I'm in love and honestly, after seeing how things are down here, I'd like to stay and live here."
"Are you sure," Snowy Heart said, "you realize that this wouldn't just be a vacation."
Cozy's eyes were wide, "But Good Luck...what about everyone elssse? Aren't you going to misss usss?"
Swift Heart nodded, "Yeah we grew up together. It's going to be so weird there without you."
Good Luck hugged all three of his friends, "I know, and I'll miss you all, but, you all have someone special waiting at home for you and I," he looked back at the pandas, I've found someone special here. I hope you all understand."
"I guess I do," Snowy said, "What about your possessions?"
"I'll be fine, there's not much up there I could either use down here or get again," Good Luck pulled his shirt off, as he was sweating quite a bit from the heat.
Swift Heart wiped suddenly misty eyes. "We'll come visit. Be careful okay?" kissing his cheek she moved away.
Good Luck wiped the tears from his eyes, "Thanks you guys, I'm gonna miss you, give everyone my best." Snowy sighed, wiping his eyes and got in the car as they flew off. Good Luck sighed then dashed over to Polite and hugged her tightly.
"Good Luck!" she was surprised, "what are you doing?"
"I'm staying," he said, smiling, but crying a bit, "I love you, Polite, and I know you have to stay here, so I'm staying too. I never want to leave you."
Polite kissed him, "thank you, and I love you too," she took his hand, "Let me show you your new home." She led him off to meet the villagers.
Landing in Care-a-Lot the three of them just sat in the cloudmobile for a moment, collecting their thoughts. "I guessss we ssshould tell the othersss." Cozy Heart offered.
Snowy Heart Fox nodded, "We should, Noble Heart and True Heart will feel strongly about this, and I don't know," he chuckled, "Tenderheart's gonna have a fit about the whole procedures things."
Swift Heart laughed, "Forget the fit. I'm pretty sure his head is going to explode. Cause now he has to find someone to take over Good Lucks shifts."
The three of them laughed briefly before they stopped and finally got out to tell the rest of the family about Good Luck's decision. As expected Tenderheart raved about how Good Luck wasn't thinking about what his departure would cause, but he was ultimately silenced by everyone else, most of them crying and commenting on how they'd miss the optimistic green bear.
Meeting up with Grumpy after the news was broken, Swift Heart hoped to salvage their afternoon. Walking paw in paw they headed for Grumpy's house. The blue bear had a smile on his face even though he had just heard about his friend leaving. "Why are you smiling?" She was intrigued every time he showed any positive emotion.
"Cause I understand why Good Luck left."
She raised her brow at him, "You do?"
"Yeah. I know that if you ever left, I'd follow you." He spun her in front of him, enveloping her in his arms.
"I couldn't bear to be away from you." Grinning she stood on her tiptoes sharing a soft kiss.
"Well when you put it that way..." He kissed her again, holding her tightly. "So you still up for our dinner date?" he asked her.
"Yup. Let's get cooking." They continued on to Grumpy's house, feeling much better about Good Lucks decision, and knowing if they had been in his shoes they would have done the same.