Chapter 7
"Insecurity among Gummies"
The Great Gummies and their families walked into Ursalia amazed at the size and wonder of this great city and many were surprised among seeing how long the city had been mostly abandoned only to be occupied by the Gummies of Barbic Woods and recently by the Gummies of Gummi Glen. Little did any of them realize that on one of the docks leading up to Ursalia, there was a near confrontation with a Great Gummi named Captain Blastus nearly attacking Princess Calla of Castle Dunwyn and her page and escort, a boy named Cavin. None of them realized that the princess and page were friends of the Glen Gummies and that they were only at the grand moment to show all of the Great Gummies that humans and Gummi Bears could coexist peacefully, although from what happened down on the docks, many could see that things weren't going to go down well.
But, nevertheless, Captain Blastus made his way up to Ursalia escorted by the Glen Gummies, the Barbics and their friends. Although he had calmed down some, he was still antagonized by the presence of Calla and Cavin. As the group continued their short walk up the hill, some were still shocked and appalled by the behavior that Captain Blastus displayed on the docks.
"You know, Buddi," said Sunni. "I know Calla and Cavin are here to demonstrate peace between humans and Gummi Bears, but don't you think we should do something to make sure we don't have another incident like what happened back on the docks, don't you?"
"I can see how you are reacting to this, Sunni," replied Buddi. "Didn't you see the hate and anger in Captain Blastus' eyes? He must want to kill Cavin and Calla and we need to keep him away from them at all times."
"It's just like when our groups met for the first time," added Sunni. "Remember how we didn't like each other at first and after a series that included Igthorn coming here to Ursalia, we understood one another and became friends? It seems like we need to do that again."
"But how?" asked Buddi. "This is not like when we first met, Sunni. These are the Great Gummies and their families who have come here to start a new life for themselves."
"You're right, Buddi," replied Sunni. "There has to be something that we could do to prove to the Great Gummies that Cavin and Calla are not like the humans that they think they are."
"If only we could convince them, Sunni," said Buddi.
As Sunni and Buddi were talking, Cavin and Calla were listening in and were wondering themselves on the same feeling. After all, they had a sword pointed right at their faces by Captain Blastus. It seems that despite their best intentions for being in Ursalia, Cavin and Calla were not to be welcomed by the Great Gummies.
"I can't imagine Sunni and Buddi being so worried about what happened on the docks," said Cavin who then looked at the princess of Dunwyn. "But most importantly, are you all right, Calla?"
"I'm fine, Cavin," she replied. "I'm just a little shaken up by what had nearly happened to us. Does this Gummi Bear mean to harm us?"
"I'm not sure," replied Cavin. "But, I know one thing's for sure. It is going to take time for us to be accepted by all the Gummi Bears that are here in Ursalia."
Cavin could notice the fear that was still on Calla's face, as she was also still trying to get over Duke Igthorn's near takeover of Dunwyn. She was also feeling pain in her feet as her white high heels were starting to hurt her. As soon as they were climbing a set of rock stairs, Calla nearly fell over and Cavin ended up catching her. Cavin nearly saved Calla from ruining her favorite formal dress.
"Are you all right, Princess?" asked Cavin. "You nearly fell over."
"Thank you, Cavin," she gasped. "Can we sit down and rest for a minute? My feet hurt."
"We are almost there, your highness," replied Cavin. "Once we arrive, we could have some quiet time to ourselves and you can rest before we meet the rest of the Gummies."
"That would be very nice, Cavin," replied Calla and she rallied to continue her trek up to Ursalia escorted by her page and secret boyfriend. A little while later, the group arrived back in Ursalia and as soon as they set foot back in the city, all of the Gummi Bears present fell silent upon seeing Cavin and Calla.
"Why is everybody so quiet?" asked Tummi. "They all look like they have seen a ghost."
"They are quiet because Calla and Cavin are here," said Gruffi.
"What are they doing here?" called a Gummi Bear. "Those humans are not welcome here. They must leave now!"
"Wait a second," cried Zummi. "These are our friends named Princess Calla of the kingdom of Dunwyn Castle and her page and escort, Cavin. We trust them with hespect and ronor, eh, respect and honor, so shouldn't you all do the same."
Captain Blastus got down and joined the crowd of Gummi Bears that were surrounding the Glens and Barbics.
"How could we show respect and honor to Gummi Bears who befriend humans?" shouted Captain Blastus. "Any Gummi Bear who befriends a human in any way is considered a traitor. You have all proven to us that you cannot be trusted among us and thusly, you must leave Ursalia now."
This made Gruffi very cross and he pulled off his white ruffle collar in anger and stepped over in front of Captain Blastus.
"Says who?" asked Gruffi angrily. "We are not leaving Ursalia all because we befriended a few humans. We are enemies with one human who sought us out for our secrets and finally succeeded by destroying Gummi Glen and conquering the kingdom where our friends come from by using Gummiberry Juice that he forced out of us!"
"Do you know what's worse?" said Sunni, once again picking up the skirt of her dark green dress and walking over as the sounds of her dark green slippers were being heard in the silence. "There may be a fear that Duke Igthorn is still out there and waiting for the moment to strike in which he would attack all of us. Our human friends may know more about this man who would seek out and destroy us all."
"Yeah," added Cubbi, stepping over next. "I want to be a great Gummi Knight and I was knighted by Princess Calla as the secret defender of Dunwyn, because she doesn't like any evil bad guys like the rest of us and you are all going to stand by and ridicule our friendship to them? I say not!"
"So go ahead," finished Gruffi. "Do as you wish, because we are not going to be friends with any of you unless you accept us for who we are."
"Very well then, traitor!" said Captain Blastus. "We will let you be as you are. But, just remember that one day, you will see that the day the Gummies befriend the enemies of evil is the day the Gummi Bears refused to exist at all."
"They are not traitors!" called a voice and Foxglove made her way up to the front of the crowds and faced Captain Blastus, dead in the face, her hazel eyes staring dead straight at his own. This made Captain Blastus feel very uncomfortable and caused him to crouch down like a scared puppy with his tail between his legs.
"Who are you?" he asked. "I fear you and yet, I know you."
"I am Foxglove Gustus," she cried. "Chief Counselor of the tribunal of the kingdom of New Gumbrea and a friend to all Gummi Bears and humans."
A loud gasp was heard from the crowds and Foxglove stepped back from Captain Blastus a little bit, but still looked sternly at him.
"I have heard everything you all have said about these two humans," she shouted. "And I say that you should all be ashamed of yourselves. These Gummi Bears have proven that all humans are not evil and I say that you should all consider giving Princess Calla of the Kingdom of Dunwyn and her page, Cavin, a chance to be accept among you for who they really are."
Unbeknownst to anyone in the city of Ursalia, the group of villains led by Duke Igthorn and Lady Bane were overlooking the crowds waiting for the moment to strike.
"Don't you see, Toadwart?" chuckled Igthorn. "Once the time is right, we will launch our full scale attack on all those Gummi Bears and use their secrets to finally conquer Dunwyn once and for all."
"You may get the weapons, Igthorn," said Lady Bane. "But the Great Book and all of the secrets of the Gummi Bears belong to me."
"No," said the king of the Aerials. "The secret of the Gummiberry Juice belongs to me and my fellow Aerials."
"And another thing," said Zorlock. "The Great Book of Gummi is mine for the taking."
This made Lady Bane use her magic to grab Zorlock by the throat. She looked at the tiny wizard with a menacing stare.
"And when did you say you could take the Great Book, hmm?" she asked evilly. "You will help me get the book and that will be it."
"Never," he cried, but Lady Bane placed her hand on his throat and squeezed on it to choke him. "But, in your case, I think we could share the book together, huh?"
"That's better, Zorlock," she said.
"What about us?" said Clutch, the leader of the trolls. "My lackeys, Nip and Tuck and myself deserve a piece of this too you know."
"You?" scoffed Igthorn. "What could you three cheeseheads do with Gummi Secrets?"
"They could be wearing a lot of valuable jewelry," suggested Nip. "That's ours for the taking, too."
"Absolutely not," said Toadwart. "Faithful Toadie and Dukie get most gold. We share with stinking rotten trolls, too."
"Why, you-," growled Clutch, but the Slugger roared loudly and silenced the menacing Clutch from saying another word.
"All I want is to eat the Gummi Bears," he said. "I have waited a long time for another chance to eat Gummi Bears. It's a lot better to eat than just plain Gnomeroot."
"Excuse Me," cried the Spinster. "You want to eat the Gummi Bears? I deserve some too, especially after what I went through you oversized worm."
"SILENCE!" shouted Lady Bane. "Everyone gets a fair share, but as long as I get the Great Book of Gummi, I feel that this conquest of Ursalia will be a success."
"But, my dear Lady Bane," reminded Igthorn. "We don't attack until our spy returns from the crowd."
Just then, the villains saw a Gummi Bear wearing a jester's outfit running up to them and the bear took his mask off to reveal an elf that once captured five of the six Glen Gummies to act in his show by acting as a Gummi Bear named Carney.
"Well, my spy," asked Igthorn. "What did you see down there?"
"They are all fighting over how two humans are with the Gummi Bears," reported the elf. "Now, is the perfect time to attack if you ask me."
"Let me see that," said Igthorn as he took a telescope from Toadwart. Raising his telescope at Ursalia, he could see all of the Gummies were still in front of Foxglove as she continued to give her defense speech about Cavin and Calla.
"Well, well, well," laughed Igthorn. "Isn't this my lucky day? Not only are all those Dummi Bears down below, Princess Calla is down there too. Maybe now is the perfect time for me to use her to force King Gregor off of his high and mighty throne."
He then turned his attention towards his troops who by now, were ready for battle and that they were all now ready to move in for the kill.
"GET THOSE GUMMI BEARS!" he shouted and jumping on the Slugger's back with Lady Bane, led the charge into Ursalia with the rest of the recruited villains in hot pursuit.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Gummies in Ursalia were finished listening to Foxglove when they all heard a loud rumbling noise coming from the distance.
"What is that?" cried Gruffi, now appeared to be shocked and scared.
"It sounds like trouble," said Ursa nervously. She then turned her attention to Buddi and the rest of the Glen Cubs as well as Cavin and Calla.
"Buddi," she said. "I want you to take Sunni, Cubbi, Cavin and Calla down below and none of you come out until I say so."
"Why, Ursa?" asked Buddi nervously. "Is something wrong?"
"I sense an evil approaching," she replied, but before she could say another word, the doors to Ursalia were flung wide open and the Slugger emerged with Duke Igthorn and Lady Bane riding on its back, both of them laughing maniacally.
"GO NOW!" cried Ursa and Gruffi as the crowds of Gummi Bears ran for their lives and Buddi led Sunni, Cubbi and their human friends towards a secret door as the hoards of villains made their way towards Ursalia.
Overhead, the rest of the Gummies saw Aerials dropping nets from out of the sky onto the fleeing Gummies below as the king of the Aerials led the charge with his second in command, Orbus, ordering the Aerials to dropping nets below. Captain Blastus tried to fight back against the Slugger, but before he could strike his sword at them, the Spnister came out from under the ground and spit a web at Blastus' legs, causing him to fall to the ground.
Meanwhile, Buddi had beckoned the others to follow him under the secret passage and once the younger Gummies and human friends were underground, all they could do was remain quiet as the hoards of villains assaulted Ursalia. Everyone in that bunker was worried as many Gummi Bears including their family members, were already being captured or were in the process of being captured.
"At last, my friends," shouted Igthorn with evil glee and joy. "Ursalia is ours!"
With that said, both he and Lady Bane laughed evilly as the assault of Ursalia was quickly over before it even began and the truth about Gummies and humans were beginning to come out and soon, Buddi and the others would have to come up with a plan to rescue the others, but only if they were to work together as they said they intended it to be possible.
