Down the Rabbit Hole
In a strange castle somewhere in Wonderland, a mirror rippled and the female ninja bear jumped out through it, landed, and turned, throwing Swift Heart into a cell, the door of which slammed shut and locked.
"Hope you enjoy your new home, you're going to be there for quite a while," the bear said, pulling down her mask and pulling her hood back, revealing her head. Her fur was midnight blue and her eyes were icy blue, with a cold expression locked into them.
Swift Heart massaged her hip as she returned the bears glare. "Guess whoever had you capture me didn't pay for shipping AND handling. Where are we exactly?"
"We're in Wonderland of course," the voice that responded was male, and sounded quite aggressive, but strangely happy. It had come from another Care Bear who was leaning against the wall nearby, his fur was black with white scattered over it, as though his fur were a shattered window. His symbol was a black heart that itself looked to have been shattered and at his sides he had a pair of cutlasses in scabbards.
Swift Heart whacked herself in the forehead, "Of course! How could I not have picked up on that, what with all the road signs we passed on the way here." Rolling her eyes she folded her legs and crossed her arms.
"Well I hope you are comfortable," the female bear said, ignoring her remark, "Shatter Heart and I will be guarding you until Miss Dementiva gets a look at you."
"Yeah, so don't bother trying to escape," the male bear, Shatter Heart, said, "or Blade Star will give you a shuriken in the shoulder."
"I am Dementiva." A tall woman in a gown the color of the sky, complete with clouds moved out of the shadows behind the two care bears. She had black curly hair that seemed to move and writhe as if it were alive and eyes as silver and lucid as mercury. Swift Heart eyed her.
"So you're the reason that I was so charmingly kidnapped and dragged here?" The sorceress smiled at her.
"Of course dear." Her attention went back to Blade Star and Shatter heart once more, "I guess I've seen uglier sidekicks." She goaded them with a smirk.
Shatter Heart was about to react, but Blade Star held him back asking Dementiva, "Will she serve as a White Rabbit?"
Dementiva held a hand out towards Swift Heart. Her hand started to glow sending ripples of color in Swift Heart's direction. As soon as it touched her she felt as if she slipped into a state of vertigo. The world seemed to be moving, random smells hitting her nose and strange sounds assailed her ears. Trying to drown them out she pulled her ears down tight over her head and buried her nose against her knees. "Yes she will do quite nicely. Well done you two. I must go inform our ally." Withdrawing her magic she strode from the room.
"Lucky you," Shatter Heart laughed, "You get to be the new White Rabbit of Wonderland. I hope you enjoy this place cause it's your new home forever." The two bears then left, leaving Swift Heart alone.
Once she was sure they were gone, she let the few tears she'd been holding back slide down her face. "Just keep it together girl. You know they're coming for you."
Snowy Heart managed to guide the group to a sparse forest where they touched down. He, Grumpy, Valiant Heart, and Loyal Heart all got out as Fauna landed nearby.
"This is the closest I can get us," he turned to Fauna, "The entrance is somewhere around here, we're relying on you to find it for us."
"No pressure though right. ha ha. Okay I've only done this a few times so it may take a moment." Closing her eyes she covered her body in gold light.
"Fauna what exactly are you doing?"
"Covering myself in my own magic, will let me sense where strange magic is when it tries to get in touch with mine Grumpy." She smirked, "I can already sense those three light bulbs standing next to you."
"Thanks," Valiant Heart said, rolling his eyes, "Just let us know when you find the entrance. Hey Snowy, where are you going?" Valiant Heart asked as Snowy Heart was moving behind a tree.
"Just to change, I'll be out in a minute," the arctic fox said.
Fauna started to walk away from the group. "I'm getting something from over here." As she walked she shifted into her human form but still continued to glow. Moving a patch of tall grass out of the way, she saw a blue and white swirly light coming from a hole 40 feet away. The light was flowing towards her. "I got it!"
"All right Fauna!" Valiant Heart said.
"We should make haste," Loyal Heart said, "Snowy Heart, we found the entrance."
"OK, I'm coming," Snowy Heart emerged wearing the white clothing with the thin blue lines in cross shapes across it that he'd worn at Halloween, "I'm ready, let's go."
Grumpy dove into the rabbit hole, followed closely by Fauna and the others. The fall was incredible, the hole was huge underground and was filled with strange items, tables, chairs, mirrors, plants, even a piano that was playing itself.
"Well this certainly is not something I will forget!" Snowy shouted as they fell.
"Ow! I was just attacked by a flying clock!" Fauna rubbed her head and glowered at the winged time piece floating away from her. "Guys, I see bottom...and it's coming awful fast." Grumpy yelled to the others while trying to a find a way to slow himself.
"Hold on, this may sting," Valiant extended his hand towards the bottom, "Hado 31, Shakkaho!" as he shouted, a blast of red energy flew from his outstretched hand, creating an explosion at the bottom, the shockwave of which had the desired effect, slowing their descent just enough that when they landed they didn't get turned into mush, but they were still in incredible pain.
"Everyone alive?" Valiant Heart asked, standing up.
Fauna groaned as she got to her knees, "I think you broke my spleen."
Grumpy was looking around, holding his injured arm and saw a bunch of doors scattered on the walls. "Well that's just great, how are we supposed to know where to go?"
"I could try to see where we should go," Snowy Heart said, dusting off the robed he was wearing, "Unless anyone else has a better idea."
"Give it a try," Loyal Heart said, "it would be better than trying doors at random. There is no way of telling what is behind them." Snowy nodded and closed his eyes, trying to sense the correct route. Grumpy paced as he waited for Snowy to come up with an answer. He hated that this was taking so long and that they had to keep stopping.
Snowy opened his eyes, "It is difficult to sense things here, this very world seems to defy reason," he pointed to two doors, "but those two doors seem the least dangerous, by how much I cannot tell." He looked over at Fauna, "Think you can help me with this at all?"
She looked at the two doors he indicated. One was normal sized and would allow them to pass through easily. The other was only about a foot tall. "My bet is on the little door, since you say this place defies reason."
"Maybe," Valiant Heart got down on his front and opened the door peering through it to see a fairly ordinary corridor, "but you're the only one of us who could fit through it with Fauna. How are we supposed to go through it?"
A yelp was heard from Grumpy drawing the others attention to him. He was hopping around holding his foot. "This table appeared out of nowhere!" On the table sat four bottles that read "Drink Me."
"Strange," Loyal Heart examined the bottles, "What do you supposed these are for?"
"Don't ask me," Snowy said, "I'm having difficulty even figuring things out in this place."
Rolling her eyes Fauna handed each of them a bottle. "I'd do what the bottle tells you to do and I'll meet you on the other side." Shifting into a mouse she scurried through the little door.
"Well, I might as well go first," Valiant Heart said, taking a small drink from the bottle. At first nothing happened then the wolverine shrank to half his height, "looks like this is the key," he said, drinking the last of the bottle and shrinking down to a little less than a foot.
"Very well, though shrinking makes me feel uncomfortable," Loyal Heart said as he, Snowy, and Grumpy each drank from their small bottles. A moment later, the four small Care Bears followed Fauna the mouse through the door, which promptly shut behind them.
On the other side of the door, Fauna regained her human form and smirked down at the tiny Care Bears. "Awww look how cute you are?"
"It's not funny!" Grumpy yelled up to her, however his voice sounded much higher pitched, causing Fauna to erupt in a fit of giggles.
"Well, we can only hope that we find something to make us grow again," Valiant Heart looked up at Fauna, "but to speed things up, you'll have to carry us." Before anyone could react to Valiant's request, he vanished, appearing up on Fauna's shoulder.
Bending down she held her palm out for the others to climb on. Once they were settled, she started walking down the hallway but couldn't go 5 feet before another smart alike response escaped her mouth. "Care Bear action figures. Gotta collect them all."
Loyal Heart covered his ears, "Please keep your voice down," he pleaded, "The others may not mind, but my hearing is even more sensitive at this size."
"Oh quiet down, Sir Loyal Heart," Valiant Heart said mockingly, surprisingly well balanced on Fauna's shoulder.
Something shiny was on one of the tables they were passing. Looking at it Fauna saw it was a mini box full of tiny cookies. "Hey look at this." She put Grumpy on the table, who promptly went to investigate the cookies. Picking one up he saw they said "eat me". "What do you think?"
"Just take a little bite and see what happens." Fauna suggested. Doing so he felt himself grow taller. He continued to take bites until he had reached his normal size once more. Fauna then put Loyal Heart and Snowy Heart on the table so they could do the same.
It's as though this place reacts to our desires in strange ways," Snowy Heart said, as Valiant Heart appeared beside him and the remaining cousins ate to get back to full size.
"How do you keep doing that?" Grumpy asked.
"Huh? Oh the flash steps," Valiant Heart said, "it's a technique I use by focusing spiritual energy into my legs to move fast enough to appear to teleport, it's very useful. But enough of that we should keep moving, Swift Heart's counting on us."
Guilt washed over Fauna and Grumpy at Valiant's words. Going to the end of the hallway Fauna opened the door and froze. "Oh wow. You guys have to see this."
The four Care Bears emerged, blinking, into the light. The world they were in was unlike anything they had seen before, they were in a massive garden, full of giant flowers, mushrooms and topiaries of all shapes, colors, and sizes. There was also a wrought iron fence and a few gazebos scattered around.
"This is one strange place," Valiant Heart said, whistling.
"I agreed," Snowy Heart said, closing his eyes, "I cannot sense anything. Back in the room of doors there was a faint presence of some order, but here," he shook his head, "one would have to spend a lifetime here to make sense of it."
Unknown to them, the rescue squad was being watched. The Wizard of Wonderland, freed by Dementiva after his failed attempt to take over Wonderland, was watching them through a mirror.
"Well well well, it seems as though we have intruders," he said.
"What are you babbling about? You know I can't stand babbling." A short stocky woman clad all in red walked up to the Wizard with hands on her hips. She was the Red Queen of Wonderland and was only interested in one thing, getting her way.
"Take a look for yourself," the wizard stepped aside, "four care bears and a human girl."
The queen's eyes blazed, "It's not that Alice is it!"
"No, it does not appear to be her, it is someone else," he said, "Dementiva should be told of this."
"She is busy working on her spell to turn that 'thing' in the dungeon into the White Rabbit. But I agree. Let's go." She stomped out of the Wizards room. Before he had a chance to move her voice rang loudly from the hall, "NOW!"
"I don't see why Dementiva puts up with her," the wizard said, following her.
Dementiva was flipping idly through a spell book, whistling to herself. She smiled at the Red Queen and Wizard when they came in. "Hello darlings. It looks like you have something important to tell me."
"Yes there are intruders in wonderland, four Care Bears and a young woman," the Wizard reported.
Dementiva frowned in a sporadic mood swing, "Well that didn't take them long did it. They are more resourceful then I anticipated." She paced, her hair writhing wildly around her. "Perhaps we can conjure something to delay them?"
"Conure what you want, but if you don't mind, Lady Dementiva, we'd like to handle this," The voice came from Shatter Heart who was leaning against the doorway with Blade Star standing next to him.
"Oh?" Dementiva gave them a sideways look.
"We have a, personal grievance with the Care Bear Family we'd like to settle," Blade Star said, spinning one of her five pointed shuriken with her middle finger and thumb covering the hole in the middle of the metal star.
She nodded to him. "Of course. I would never want to stand between a grievance that is so dear to you." Her eyes glistened and flashed as she looked at the two. "Have fun and remember, don't play nice darlings."
"Don't worry, we won't," Shatter Heart said as he and his partner departed, Blade Star lifting her mask and hood back over her face and head.
"I don't care what they say, I still think we should send something at these intruders, just to soften them up if nothing else," the Wizard said.
The Red Queen tapped her scepter against her red lips, "Well my red knights aren't doing anything. I suppose I could have them ride out and, I dunno do whatever it is they do."
"That's a splendid idea. We just need to delay them enough so I can get my White Rabbit." Dementiva turned to her spell book.
The queen rolled her eyes, "I still don't understand what the importance is of a White Rabbit." Dementiva turned on her eyes glowing brightly, hair looking like a mass of black snakes.
Grabbing a nearby glass vial she smashed it against the wall. "Because the White Rabbit is endowed with all the knowledge in Wonderland so it can serve as the ruler's advisor and source of information! Without one I will be blind to the goings on in my Kingdom! Got it?"
She was towering over the Red Queen hissing in her face. "Okay okay, no need to get snippy."
The chaos sorceress calmed down. "Lovely. Now run along I have work to do."
The rescue party had moved along, not encountering anything they could interact with yet, Valiant Heart was the first to speak up, "So, does anyone know how we can find Swift Heart?" He asked, "Hey Fauna, got a spell that can follow romantic feelings between two people," he said, grinning at Grumpy Bear.
Fauna snickered, "You mean you didn't know Grumpy has a built in Swift Heart locater? The closer he gets to her, the more bumbled his speech gets."
Grumpy rolled his eyes, "Exhibit A for why I didn't want you guys to know."
"This is hardly the time to tease our friend about his feelings for Swift Heart," Loyal Heart said, coming to Grumpy's defense, "But I am as curious to know if you have a way to locate her, Fauna."
She shook her head sadly, "Sorry. If she were a Pegasus I could find her like that." she snapped her fingers. "But the only thing I could think of would be to shift into a form with a strong nose and try to sniff her out." She couldn't shake the feeling that if she still lived in the Forest of Feelings, she could of prevented the kidnapping.
"Well, I doubt that would be of any use," Snowy Heart said, "they way she was taken might not leave any trail, but in lieu of any other ideas, and until I have adjusted to the strangeness of this land, that might be our best hope."
Loyal Heart looked at the sad expression on Fauna's face and said, "Forgive for asking, Fauna, but you seem to be even more distressed than the rest of us. I know you were close to Swift Heart but we will save her,"
"If I had been there she wouldn't have been taken."
"You don't know that," Valiant Heart said, "from what Grumpy said, whoever snatched her was no slouch," the wolverine drew his sword, "which reminds me, stay alert, whoever or whatever wanted Swift Heart could be watching us, waiting for the right moment to strike." Grumpy gripped her hand and gave it a squeeze, letting her know he knew exactly how she felt.
"Well it looks to me like you all don't have a clue as to who or what you are looking for." A voice came from the air around them. When the voice sounded, everyone was instantly alert, Snowy's bow and Loyal's sword appeared in their hands.
"Who's there!" Valiant demanded.
"I believe the correct question would be who isn't there. If I were there you wouldn't need to ask who's there because you'd already know."
"Please identify yourself," Loyal Heart said, searching the surrounding area, "We are searching for a blue rabbit with a winged heart on her tummy and we need to find her as soon as possible."
A light pink and magenta stripped cat with yellow eyes and a huge grin appeared at Fauna's feet. "Ah yes I believe I know who you mean."
"Then you can tell us where Swift Heart is?" Grumpy questioned eagerly? The cat inspected his nails.
"Swift Heart? Who's Swift Heart?"
"The rabbit." Grumpy replied.
"What rabbit?"
"The one you said you knew!" He was getting frustrated.
The cat began to float up, "Knew what?" Yelling he slapped his hands over his eyes.
"Grumpy calm down." Fauna grinned at him and winked, "You just have to know how to deal with cats." She began to scratch the floating cat behind the ear. "Do you know where the rabbit with the winged heart tummy symbol is?"
The cheshire cat grinned wider. "I do."
"Can you tell us where she is?" Her fingers skimmed down his spine.
"I can."
"Where is she?"
"At the castle."
"Thank you," Loyal Heart bowed at the cat, letting his sword disperse as Snowy's bow vanished as well, "can you point us in the right direction?"
The cat pointed his hands in two different directions and his tail in a third. "That way." His large grin never faltered. Valiant Heart sighed, this was going nowhere fast. He looked at Fauna, ask if asking if she could get clarification.
"You know Loyal Heart is married to a cat. He could probably do this too." She turned her attention to the floating cat. "You must think we are terribly rude that we didn't ask just who you were after you've been so helpful."
He grinned even wider. "I am the Cheshire Cat. And as I showed you there are multiple ways to get to the castle. This is the shortest." He indicated the way his tail pointed. "But you don't want to go that way."
Grumpy scowled "Why the hell not if it's the shortest."
Fauna pointed, "I think that's why." A small group of red knights marched towards them.
"And that's my cue. Ta ta." Stripe by stripe he faded away.
Loyal Heart reformed his sword as Snowy raised his left hand, the white bow appearing in his hand, "Looks like the welcoming committee," Valiant said, readying himself for battle.
"Then we shall respond in kind," Snowy said, drawing the bowstring and letting the arrow fly at a knight, striking it square in the chest and knocking it back. Fauna shifted into a rhino and charged at the nearest knight. She sent him flying into the air in a clatter of metal. Valiant and Loyal Heart both charged, swords at the ready and struck out at the knights, their blades slicing through the knight's spears and felling them easily, even chopping one or two in half. All Grumpy could do was watch. None of the others with special powers let the Knights get near him. He was so frustrated he wished he could get at one of the knights to pummel him till he felt better. Eventually, the knight's numbers were thinned and their morale failed them, and they retreated.
"And that wasn't even the worst of it," Valiant Heart said, "no telling what, or who else will be after us."
"You got that right, didn't expect you to be so intuitive," the voices came from two bears, one black with what looked like white cracks all over his body and the other the same ninja bear who had snatched Swift Heart, this time sporting a ninja ken sword across her back
Fauna looked at Grumpy with a look that said "That her?" When he nodded, she turned back to the bears, eyes glowing gold. "We were intuitive enough to track you this far."
"Track us? Ha!" The male bear said, "you got here on pure luck, and as for tracking, we've been watching you, how do you think we found you so fast?" he drew both his cutlasses.
"My name is Blade Star Bear, and this is my partner, Shatter Heart Bear," the ninja bear, said, drawing her sword, "we will ensure that you go no further."
"But you're Care Bears, why are you fighting us?" Snowy asked, lowering his bow.
"Ask your founders, if you ever see them again," suddenly, Blade Star charged forwards with speed that her originally slow gait had belied, it was all Valiant Heart could do to parry the attack. Shatter Heart suddenly appeared above them, a wicked grin on his face and swung down.
"HAA!" he shouted swinging down at Loyal Heart. Loyal Heart easily sidestepped the attack, but when the swords hit the ground there was a deafening blast of sound. Loyal Heart was forced to cover his ears. Wolf Fauna leapt at shatter heart, teeth going for one of his arms. Shatter Heart stepped back as Blade Star jumped back from Valiant Heart, conjured and threw three stars at the Fauna. Snowy Heart attempted to shoot an arrow at the ninja bear while she was in mid air, but she actually deflected it with her sword before landing on the ground.
"These two are good," Valiant said, gritting his teeth.
Fauna leapt to the side just in time to avoid the stars. "Aww what's the matter Valiant Heart? Did all that time away from me make you soft." She winked at him, "Cause the Valiant I know could take these guys with his sword tied behind his back." Crouching she bared her teeth at the two Care Bears.
Valiant did not share her jocular reaction, "Believe me, I'm trying!"
"Really, cause, I was just getting warmed up," Blade Star said, sheathing her sword she placed both her hands over her tummy symbol and suddenly drew forth over two dozen throwing stars, releasing the five pointed metal weapons with blinding speed. Valiant Heart and Loyal Heart tried to dodge but Valiant Heart got two stuck in his arm and Snowy got three in his shooting arm. Shatter Heart then charged at Snowy Heart cut deep into the Fox's bow arm with one of his cutlasses. Snowy tried to shoot him with an arrow, but the shot went way off because of the pain.
"Guess I need to take this more seriously," Valiant said, pulling the stars from his arm and holding out his sword, "Electrify, Alastor!" he shouted and his sword glowed white and extended, growing into the large sword he had used when he first returned to Care-a-Lot, which crackled with lightning.
"A soul reaper, so I was right about you," Blade Star said.
Fauna gaped, "Whoa, that's new!" She growled at Shatter Heart. "I think you better tell me what exactly you are right now!"
"Let's jstu say we're Care Bears who don't care anymore," Shatter Heart said, "And if you had bee-"
"Rensei Tokkan!" Valiant's shout cut off Shatter Heart's speech. Both bear managed to dodge, but not completely, and Shatter Heart was hit hard, the electricity burning him, Blade Star fared better, the fabric on her face and right arm being torn away.
"Looks like we didn't see all his abilities," Blade Star said, "We best retreat for now and tend to your injuries."
"Retreat, Ha! I won't run from battle," shatter Heart did his best to stand, but Blade Star propped him up and pulled out a small mirror.
"We'll settle our score later," she said, throwing down the mirror, which instantly grew to a full size, and jumped back through it. The mirror vanished a moment later.
Fauna regained her human form and threw her hands up in the air, "What is the deal with True and Noble and keeping secrets? Do they find it fun?"
Grumpy was helping Snowy Heart pull the stars out of his arm. "And we still don't know why they want Swift Heart."
"I do not think they were keeping secrets," Loyal Heart said, letting his sword disperse as he massaged his ears, which were still ringing from Shatter Heart's attack, "when the ninja bear was mentioned they were just as surprised as we were, perhaps this is something they are not entirely aware of either."
"Regardless," Valiant Heart said reducing his sword back to its original form, "these two, Shatter Heart and Blade Star, are a real problem here. What's worse is they seem to know a lot more about us than we know about them and if they can use that mirror thing, they could pop up anywhere."
"I'm done wasting time standing around here and talking. I know something bad is going to happen to Swift Heart if we don't get there soon." He started to run down the road tot he castle, not checking to see if the others were behind him. Valiant Heart, Snowy Heart, Loyal Heart and Fauna all took off after Grumpy Bear, they knew time was of the essence.
Blade Star and Shatter Heart reappeared in the castle and the ninja bear helped Shatter Heart to sit down. She then stood still, put her hand together and focused, her symbol glowed, and the parts of her outfit that were damaged regrew.
"Not our best performance," she said, pulling back her hood and mask, "but we did not know that that wolverine had those powers."
"Just you wait! When I'm healed I'll fix them for good!" Shatter Heart said, wincing in pain as he sheathed his swords.
"So I'm guessing from the looks of you the vendetta continues on...and you're losing?" Dementiva sauntered into the room Shatter and Blade were in.
"We weren't ready for that wolverine's powers, but we will be next time!" Shatter Heart said, gritting his teeth.
"Perhaps we should note their strength in numbers," Blade Star said, "and try to find a way to separate them as much as possible."
"Do as you wish. I only need until tomorrow morning to complete my work. And as I'm sure you know, it is almost sunset now." Her dress was beginning to show a tinge of pink on the top and it was ever so slowly working its way down.
"Maybe your Red Queen or pet wizard can help us," Blade Star suggested, "those flying animals the queen commands could separate them easily, we just need her to aid us."
"I will go mention it to her. But for now I need you to resume guard duty in the dungeons. Our guest has become...restless."
"I'll go," Shatter Heart stood up and winced slightly, he turned to Blade Star, "you work on your whole separation plan." He said, walking away, his wounds were healing rather fast and he focused his own energies into the injuries. Blade Star nodded but followed him, deciding to wait and see if the Red Queen and Wizard agreed to help them.