Chapter 9

"Scars of the Past"

While Duke Igthorn and Lady Bane were savoring the roots of their apparent victory, the rest of the villains were rounding up the rest of the Gummi Bears and placing them inside empty buildings that were yet to be remodeled by the arriving Gummi Bears. Gruffi, Grammi, Tummi and Gusto were placed inside a building right near the throne room where Zummi was being held captive by their main enemies. By now, Grammi was beginning to worry about her friend and Foxglove, who was also thrown into the same prison, was starting to feel sympathetic for her.

"You must really like him, don't you?" she asked tenderly. "I can understand your worry."

"Well, thank you, Foxglove," replied Grammi. "We are just worried for Zummi's safety and that I hope Igthorn and Lady Bane are not doing anything to harm him."

"Well, considering how your friend is in terms of being the keeper of Gummi Wisdom," said Foxglove. "I'm sure he is doing everything he can to buy himself time and allow us to keep our secrets hidden for as long as possible."

"How can you be so sure?" Gruffi asked indignantly. "He is in there with two humans that are evil and not just any humans, two humans that have been enemies of ours for a very long time."

"If only Night Wing were here right now," sighed Foxglove. "He and Captain Blastus could only see that not all humans are evil right now."

A large glare was given by Gruffi and the rest of the Glens over what Foxglove had said. After all, Captain Blastus was the one who pointed a sword at Cavin and Calla. From their point of view, they were still angry at Captain Blastus for his actions.

"But, I still don't understand," said Gruffi. "Are you sure that Captain Blastus isn't who he says he is, Foxglove? I mean, he seems to hate humans with a passion, even if they aren't evil at all."

"Captain Blastus used to be such a nice Gummi," began Foxglove. "He was very sympathetic to the Gummi Cause and the greatest treasure he had was a wife and child that he had while we were all living in New Gumbrea. One day, he was sailing to South Gumton to start a colony there with his wife and child, when all of a sudden; a group of human pirates attacked the ship, believing it to being a ship from a strange new colony. The ship was destroyed and when all was said and done; only Captain Blastus survived and the bodies of his wife and child were never found. When we rescued him later, he seem like almost a different Gummi Bear, always acting cold and moody around everyone that tried to make conversation with him. So, after we found out where you all were, we came here and Captain Blastus was going to live here and complete the journey he set out to start with his wife and child."

"Gee," said Tummi, wiping away a tear. "That's so sad, Foxglove."

"But, that doesn't explain why he nearly attack Cavin and Princess Calla," added Grammi. "They are good humans, not like all the other humans we have encountered in the past. In fact, they are the only humans we have ever known, Foxglove."

"But, Sunni and Cubbi and I met Princess Marie," replied Tummi. "She and Calla used to hate each other and now they are friends."

"That crazy human?" remarked Gruffi. "Grammi and I remember her bratty behavior with Calla nearly caused a war between her father and King Gregor, and-."

Just then, Gruffi remembered the day he denied the cubs from travelling with him, Grammi and Zummi to Ursalia because they forgot to finish their choirs back at Gummi Glen. This made him very cross.

"Are you telling me that the three of you left Gummi Glen on the day we came here to Ursalia when you should have been finishing your chores?" he snapped. "You three should be ashamed of yourselves, going out on adventures when you should have been at Gummi Glen working."

He then sat down in a chair and sighed heavily, taking off his hat.

"Tummi," he sighed. "What am I ever going to do with you and the cubs?"

"But," protested Tummi. "Sunni was the one who left us first. She didn't want to do chores, so she left with Calla and Cubbi and I followed."

"Besides, Gruffi," said Gusto. "We've got more important things to worry about. If only I had Arte Deco with me, I could send him over to Dunwyn for some help."

"Wait a minute," replied Gruffi. "Where is that blabber mouth bird of yours, Gusto?"

"He is in his cage back in my room," said Gusto. "He didn't want to meet the Great Gummies yet, so he stayed behind. Perhaps now, I think he made the right call."

"Yeah," added Tummi. "Especially what has happened to us right about now. I wouldn't be surprised if he is scared to death over what has been going on."

The rest of the Gummies looked out over a window to where Arte Deco was and wondered whether they would use him to find someone that could help them and everyone else out of this situation that they were all in.

Meanwhile, Night Wing and Captain Blastus as well as Starbuck were thrown in another building together and looked out over the group of Aerials that were now standing guard over them.

"Blasted Aerials," cried Captain Blastus. "When I get out of this situation, you will all wish that you never crossed paths with me."

"There are more to the Aerials than that," said Starbuck. "There are plenty of other villains that we have to think about right now and from the looks of it, Captain, we can't fight all of them single handedly. If we are to stand a chance against any of them, we need to join forces with the rest of our kind and their human friends."

This made both Captain Blastus and Night Wing very cross. Teaming up with other humans in their minds, were considered wrong and evil and that was something that they could never do.

"Are you out of your mind, Starbuck?" cried Captain Blastus. "Teaming up with the humans I tried to kill? That is utterly preposterous! My answer is no!"

"We should not get hasty, sir," replied Starbuck. "It appears that these human friends of the Glens and Barbics may know more about what is going on than any of us, but we can't get to them right now and that if we even try to escape, our jailers will see that we are gone and launch a full scale assault on the other Gummi Bears because we were already gone."

"Absolutely not," growled Captain Blastus. "I refuse to listen to any more of your crazy opinions and ideas, Starbuck. You are saying that humans and Gummi Bears should work together and I say that is very dangerous of you to say something like that. Humans are not to be trusted in any way, shape or form, do you understand?"

"I agree with your captain," added Night Wing. "Don't forget what happened 500 years ago that made all Gummi Bears view humans for who they truly are: greedy, spineless, savage, harpooning monsters that are incapable of any feelings and attitudes towards Gummi Bears of all backgrounds."

"That is not true, both of you," shouted Starbuck. "Don't you see? You both think that every human is considered evil and only focuses on their own gains and not on the safety and well-being of Gummi Bears of all backgrounds? Let me tell you, those two humans that you nearly killed sir mean no harm to you in any way. In fact, while we are sitting in here waiting for who knows what might come before us in the very near future, there are two humans with several of the cubs trying to come up with something that could get every single one of us out of this situation we are in."

"What makes you so sure, Starbuck?" asked Captain Blastus. "How could they help us when they are hiding like the cowards that they truly are?"

"They are hiding because the adult Gummies didn't want them to be captured," replied Starbuck. "They are right now the only hope for us all and right now, we all need to pray that they help us out without attracting the attention of all the villains that are holding us captive for their own gain."

"You don't understand, Starbuck," groaned Night Wing. "Never forget why we left all human locations in the first place."

"Especially since my wife and child died from an attack caused by them," added Captain Blastus. "Ever since they died at the hands of the humans, I have taught myself that must never be trusted in any way, shape or form."

"And how would they think of you if they were here right now," sighed Starbuck. "They probably wouldn't see the proud father and husband that used to love them and instead see a Gummi Bear who has become a self-loathing, human hating monster that won't rest until every single human that he has ever encountered lies dead in the same manner as them."

"How dare you say that, Starbuck?" cried Captain Blastus. "They were afraid as much as myself of humans and feared what they would do to them as much as what they would do to me. I spent my entire life trying to protect them from the dangers of the human world. I taught my child that the human was the enemy of the Gummi Bear and that all humans were to be avoided at all times. Gummi Bears were meant to be a much more superior race to the humans. Why, we have technology that they don't have and that they probably would not catch up on it for another 500 years."

"That doesn't matter, Captain," said Starbuck. "Nobody cares about what technology that we have is what the humans will use in 500 more years or so. What matters is that we could team up with the humans to eradicate those who want to destroy all the good that both the good humans and the Gummi Bears want to put in the world. So, go ahead, sir, continue to mope and complain about the humans and maybe, only maybe, you will finally see what I am trying to say to you."

Captain Blastus was already tired from arguing with his first mate and went into a bedroom to rest and think about what had just happened. At the same time, Night Wing was also tired of what Starbuck had to say and followed Captain Blastus into the bedroom to do the same thing.

Exasperated, Starbuck sat down in a chair in frustration as he wanted to try to do whatever he could to convince his captain that not all humans were evil. But, deep down, Captain Blastus had never truly gotten over the pain and suffering of losing his family at the hands of evil humans. Right now, he just wished he would do something to prove that the two humans that were trying to help them all out were not evil and only then, would Captain Blastus would change his mind and accept the fact that not all of the humans were evil. In fact, he would do anything that would make his captain happy, but that was all just a stop gap measure right about now.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Glen and Barbic cubs had left the bunker and were now making their way towards a storeroom that they could use to get the others freed. But, they heard a loud and strange noise coming from the distance. Walking closer to the source, they found a large bird that Sunni seemed to remember.

"Bobo," she whispered. "Is that you?"