Chapter 30: Old Memories and New Friends
The house was too quiet now.
Sweet Heart Pegasus sat on her bed, trying to read a book from the 'recommended reading list' Teacher Bear had handed out for those who wanted something to do over summer vacation. After trying to read the first chapter for half an hour she sighed and closed the book and lay back, her mind too scattered to think.
There was a knock on her bedroom doo, "Sweety, you in there?"
"Yeah, dad," Sweet Heart forced herself to sit up with the book on her lap as her dad entered, "you haven't called me that in ages."
"Since you were a toddler," Sage Heart sat on the bed next to her, "How are you feeling?"
"Lonely, but I guess…" Sweet Heart sighed, "It's so quiet with mom and Love Heart gone, and Kero, and Jump, and all my friends are doing family things today…"
Sage Heart put an arm around her, "I know, I already miss them, but mom won't be gone long and Love Heart will call when he can." He felt Sweet Heart shaking under his arm, "Sweety, what's wrong."
Sweet Heart drew her legs up to her chest, "They're not around and now… I just feel like they won't come back, just like before." She was shaking harder and was tearing up, "Just l-like when I…I…"
Sweet Heart was about to cry until Sage Heart hugged her, "There there, Sweety, just tell me."
"I still remember," Sweet Heart sniffed and hugged him back, "I still have nightmares, seeing Care-A-Lot crumbling, seeing Wish trapped and…" she started to cry.
"Let it all out, daddy's here," Sage Heart rubbed her back.
Sweet Heart calmed down fairly quickly with her wings spread behind her. "Thanks, dad."
"Anytime, Sweety. So, what are you reading?" he picked up the book Sweet Heart had dropped when she hugged him, "The Secret Garden?"
Sweet Heart nodded, "Yeah, Ms. Mulcahey said it's a classic."
Sage Heart chuckled, "I never read it," seeing his daughter's confused expression, "I grew up in Japan, not one of the things on my reading list."
"Oh yeah, I forgot you used to be a human," Sweet Heart folded her wings.
"I forget sometimes too," Sage Heart looked at one of his hands and wiggled the fingers as he observed his iridescent blue fur, "But I'm much happier as a Care Bear, because I met your mother and I have you," he kissed the top of her head. "This reminds me of something, please come down to the living room, if you want."
A few minutes later they were down in the living room watching an old home movie. A diapered Sweet Heart stood at the top of a playground slide, facing backwards and clutching the railing, her tiny wings fluttering behind her.
"I'm scared, daddy!" the young Sweet Heart cried.
On the screen, Sage Heart held out his hands open towards Sweet Heart, "It's alright, I'm right here."
"But what if I fall?" young Sweet Heart still clung to the railing.
"I'll catch you. Go on, you can do it," Sage Heart lifted his arms to reassure her.
Young Sweet Heart gulped and let go of the railing, her wings spreading. "I think I can, I think I can." She flapped her wings hard then jumped off the slide. The camera shook slightly as Sweet Heart dropped, then rose as she flapped harder, up and down up and down until she landed in her dad's arms.
"I did it!" Sweet Heart threw up her arms as she panted and faced the camera, "Mommy! Daddy! I did it!"
"I saw everything," Life Heart's voice came from behind the camera.
Sage Heart hugged their daughter, "Yes, you did! And you can show Hugs and Tugs and Love Heart when he gets home from his caring mission."
Sage Heart sat next to Sweet Heart on the couch as they watched the old home movie, "See, you were scared before too. But you did it. I know it's not the same but you can do it."
Sweet Heart nodded then leaned up against her dad's side, "Thanks dad." She spread one of her wings and wrapped it around his back.
"Feel better?"
"A little."
"Good. What do you want to do today then?"
Sweet Heart had to think for a moment, "I just wanna stay home and watch TV, maybe hang out with friends tomorrow."
"That's just fine." Sage Heart tried to stand but found his daughter's wing wouldn't let him up, "Want me to stay here?"
"Please, just a little longer," Sweet Heart whispered.
"OK," Sage Heart ruffled her headfur then reached for the remote to change to something else.
OoOoO
Love Heart drove the Cloud Car down to just above a treeline, following the arrow formed by The Glow Card; while Confidence and Loyal Heart were fine just riding in the car as they flew, Kero was getting impatient.
"What's taking this so long?" Kero finally asked, "I thought you could get anywhere in minutes with these things."
"It's not that simple," Loyal Heart sat forwards, then back as the seatbelt pulled him back, "Our technology is partly based on emotion and need, like Bright and Grumpy's Rainbow Rescue Beam only ever worked perfectly once right when it was needed and even since then it's never been that precise again. The giant portal we have set up also only worked because everyone on both sides was so dedicated to the idea that it was compelled to work so we can't just set them up whenever we want unless we really care about making it work.
"As for the cloud cars, when we're on a caring mission we can home in on the child we're supposed to help because we're needed, when we want to fly anywhere else it can take a lot longer."
"Yeah, took us a couple hours to get to Jamaica," Confidence looked over her shoulder.
"And now we're following a general direction not related to a Caring Mission, and I don't know where The Glow is taking us," Love Heart kept his focus on driving, only periodically glancing at the arrow.
"So we could be flying for hours or days," Loyal Heart sat back, "Just enjoy the ride."
"Alright," Kero sighed, "Did you bring any games?"
"Nope, sorry," Loyal Heart pulled out his heartphone and some headphones to listen to something.
Confidence Heart passed her phone backwards to Kero, "Here, you can borrow mine till we land."
"Thanks, Confidence," Kero accepted the phone and pulled up a game as they kept flying.
As the sun set, Love Heart landed on a small wooded hill, "Guess we're camping here for the night." He unbuckled, "Everybody out."
"Is it safe to camp here?" Loyal Heart asked.
"It's wilderness," Confidence Heart opened the trunk, "and I'll hear if anything gets too close. Let's make camp!"
It didn't take too long for them to set up both tents. Love Heart summoned The Jump spirit and it bounded into the tent that Loyal Heart and Kero were sharing.
Kero and Jump both looked around as Loyal Heart zipped up the tent, undressed then climbed into his sleeping bag.
"So why are we in a separate tent?" Kero asked as he landed next to Loyal, who was pulling out his heartphone.
"Do you two really want to share a tent with the happy couple?" Loyal gestured in the direction where the other tent was outside, "Even if they didn't want privacy it would be cramped."
"Yeah, magic spirits tent, woo!" The Jump pumped its foreleg in the air, "So what are we gonna do tonight?"
"Watch some cartoons, with the Caring Meter network we always have internet. Be kinda rough if we didn't," he finished texting to let everyone know they were safe and camped out for the night. "Or we can just talk about all this." Loyal Heart took off the locket and opened the top so Yue could be seen.
The Jump glared at the image of Yue in the upside-down heart, "Hello, Yue," its voice was acidic.
"Jump, I see you're doing well," Yue's reply betrayed no emotion.
"Despite you trying to turn me against Love Heart!" The Jump dramatically turned its head sideways with its forelegs folded.
Loyal Heart growled, "Don't fight, I just want to try and relax. I haven't been camping since I was a puppy." He began searching for something to watch on his heartphone, "And I don't want to be alone right now."
"Still worried about our connection?" Yue asked.
Loyal Heart nodded, "Yeah. I mean I can use your magic now anytime and last time I tried to let you take over, I just grew wings."
"You've synched up with Yue's magic through effort and will, not something I thought would be able to happen," Kero had folded his arms, closed his eyes and nodded, "I don't know if it will go any farther than that."
"I won't fade away if that's what you're concerned about, however my active role in your life may diminish until I just spend time sleeping." Yue said.
"Yeah, but still…" Loyal Heart paused.
"Still nothing!" The Jump bounded next to Loyal and hit the play button on the show Loyal had selected but not started, "Start the show already!"
Loyal Heart couldn't help but laugh as he dug out some trail mix from his pack for them to eat.
OoOoO
Love Heart and Confidence lay together, making out in their sleeping bag.
Confidence giggled, "Even if it's because we're on a mission, I love camping with you."
"I love it too," Love Heart snuggled closer to her, "Being here, it's like a little world for just the two of us."
"Not just the two of us anymore," Confidence whispered. Love Heart didn't have any time to speculate as Confidence guided his hand over to her tummy symbol, "I'm pregnant."
Love Heart just stared, "What?"
Confidence nodded, "I just found out this morning. I was waiting till we were alone to tell you."
Love Heart was still processing and asked the only question he could think of, "How long?"
"Don't know exactly, but Take Care said at most one month, maybe as late as our post-graduation camping trip, she didn't have time to be more precise." Confidence embraced Love Heart, "Are you ok?"
Love Heart blinked, "Just processing. I mean… how are you not freaking out?"
Confidence Heart took a deep breath, "I am, I just finally decided to really use the karate discipline stuff I learned to keep my cool." She was shaking now, "I'd probably be worse if I wasn't around you. How are you feeling?"
Love Heart closed his eyes, "I'm freaking out, internally," he opened them again, "I mean, I'm happy about this but I've got a million questions running through my head now: what's everyone going to say? Will we be good parents? Will they have magical powers? Will we be able to keep doing caring missions? When are we going to get married? Will they be a fennec? A bear? Maybe a unicorn or Pegasus like my sister? What about Su Yung? Oh stars!" Love Heart eyes went wide and he pulled Confidence into a tight hug, "What about Su Yung!?"
"Love Heart?" Confidence felt him shaking now.
"What if she finds out and tries to kill them," Love Heart looked pleadingly into Confidence's eyes, "Indy said Eriol said that she came back out of anger and spite, what if she tries to kill them out of spite just to make us suffer? What if she just tries to kill you out of spite?! Oh stars!" He kissed Confidence and held her even closer, if that were even possible.
Confidence nuzzled her face against Love Heart's face, "Are you going to ask me to stay back and hide from her and fights now?"
"No, I mean… I want to but… I don't want her to hurt you and we've seen what she can do." Love Heart took a deep breath, "But I don't want to be that guy who…" Love Heart was struggling to find the right words.
Confidence put a finger to Love Heart's lips to stall him, "No, I get it. I mean I don't want to just sit around and be useless but I don't want to risk her doing something just to hurt us," her left hand trailed down to her own tummy symbol, then touched his, "And I hate the idea of just sitting around and letting everyone fight for me, but I just…"
Love Heart kissed her cheek, "It's alright, we're in this together, we'll just take things as they come and tell the others in the morning. I love you, Confidence."
Confidence kissed him back, "Thank you. I love you too Love Heart." Soon they were making out intensely again and Confidence had rolled Love Heart onto his back.
Love Heart panted as he came up for air, "You still wanna, after all that?"
Confidence laughed, "Not like you can get me any more pregnant." She growled seductively as she dove in again.
The next morning, Confidence Heart broke the news to the other three as they packed up the tents. Kero and The Jump offered some small congratulations while Loyal Heart just stared at them, mouth agape.
"You, I mean, congratulations but isn't this going to put a huge time limit on our mission?" Loyal Heart shook his head then finished packing up the tent.
"There always was a time limit," Love Heart loaded his tent into the trunk of the cloud car. "We need to stop Su Yung before she kills anyone and even without that I need to finish transforming the Clow Cards before their energy gets so low." Love Heart touched the Heart book at his side, "I can feel their energy seeping away, that's why they haven't been talking to me. They're conserving their energy until I can infuse them properly. My hope is that this hunt for Su Yung will give me all the reasons I need to transform the rest."
"It will," Confidence gave Love Heart a kiss on the cheek, "I'm more worried about how dad and Tori will react."
Love Heart kissed her back, "Same, with my folks too. I know Sweet Heart's gonna be ecstatic she's gonna be an aunt."
At that moment, all three of their heartphones went off and they checked the texts.
"Its Wish Bear," Loyal Heart was the first to speak, " 'Sorry I missed your departure. I slept in'".
"Yeah, wish we could have waited," Love Heart paused for a moment then turned to Confidence Heart, "should we tell her?"
Confidence shook her head as she texted a quick 'don't worry about it' to Wish, "No. One piece of earth-shattering news at a time," she climbed into the passenger's seat.
Love Heart turned to The Jump Spirit, "Want to ride in the back or hop back in the book?"
"Back in the book, I don't want to risk falling out." The Jump bounded right into the Heart Book as Loyal and Kero got into the backseat.
Love Heart pulled The Glow out of the book then got into the car. "Glow Card, illuminate the way forwards." The card glowed then the orbs of blue light formed an arrow that pointed the same direction it had the previous day. Love Heart's forehead star glowed and he placed The Glow Card on the dashboard, where it stuck.
"How'd you do that?" Confidence saw the card remain stuck to the dashboard as Love Heart took off.
"Unicorn magic. It's not a specific spell but mom taught me that I can sort of just 'will' something to happen if it's within my power and will." Love Heart watched the arrow as he turned to face where it pointed.
"Magical power isn't tied to a specific type of magic," Kero nodded sagely, "Love Heart's magic has been growing with each card he captures or transforms."
"I feel it, I just wish I could transform the cards without needing some task for them. I don't want to fail them." Love Heart took a deep breath, then relaxed as he felt Confidence's hand on his shoulder and drove off, following the arrow.
Love Heart felt anxious when they stopped for lunch, forced to eat packed food for the second day in a row because they hadn't seen any signs of civilization: just woods and open fields. None of them even sure where they were on the map save that it was chillier than it should be for summer.
It was late after noon before The Glow's arrow started to pitch down and Love Heart dove in for a landing. There was a large two-story building set up in the middle of woods where all the trees in a large circle surrounding it were dead.
Love Heart stared wide-eyed at the building as he landed the cloud car a short distance away and stepped out, recalling The Glow without a word.
Confidence got out to stand at his side, "Love Heart, what's wrong?" she took his hand and felt him flinch but not pull away.
"There's no ice," Love Heart gulped, "but the design is so close that it has to be. This is one of Cold Heart's labs."
Confidence felt Love Heart start to shake, "You mean that ice-obsessed guy who just vanished one day?" She gripped his hand tighter to remind him she was there.
Love Heart nodded, "Yeah. I don't know why The Glow lead us here but I have to go inside." He took a deep breath and grabbed the Heart Key with his free hand.
"Key of the Heart
With Powers Burning Bright
Reveal the Staff
And Shine Your Light
Release!"
Love Heart grabbed the staff in his free hand then gently let go of Confidence's hand and pulled out two cards, "Jump, Sword," The Sword formed in his hand as The Jump dove into him and the wings appeared on his feet. "Everyone be careful, no telling what Cold Heart left behind." He strode in ahead then pulled out a third card. "Glow, appear and illuminate the area around us." The Glow Card lit up then orbs floated out to illuminate the area around him as he headed for the only visible entrance: a large sliding double door.
The other three exchanged looks then Kero's wings grew to envelope him and he stepped out as Kerberos, Loyal Heart conjured Yue's bow and Confidence just cracked her knuckles before the followed.
Love Heart didn't even bother trying to open the double doors, instead slashing both sides down and giving it a light kick which made it fall inwards with an audible *CLANG*. "Stay close and keep your eyes and ears open," Love Heart looked back at them.
"We will," Confidence gave Love Heart a kiss before they stepped in.
The Glow scattered a short distance as they entered, revealing a hall filled with mostly broken machinery and shattered glass tubes surrounded by puddles of some green substance. Love Heart tensed up as he looked around, "Just like the place he captured us." A pair of red flashes nearby made Love Heart turn suddenly, only to relax as he saw it was just a pair of dead red lights briefly illuminated by The Glow's light.
"You alright?" Loyal Heart walked up next to Love Heart.
"No. I still remember those things that grabbed us and feeling Cold Heart stab a needle into my stomach," Love Heart touched his tummy symbol with the staff in hand, "Brave Heart said we were gone for almost a week. I still don't know what he did or why he disappeared. No one wanted to come back here after that and since Cold Heart disappeared we decided to just let sleeping dogs lie, no offense, Loyal."
"None taken," Loyal Heart patted Love Heart on the shoulder.
"Let's keep moving then," Confidence Heart pumped a fist in the air and they continued on.
The rest of the facility was mostly bare but not any more pleasant: broken machines, leftover experiment parts but most notable were small tanks full of a glowing green liquid. Love Heart approached one of the tanks then suddenly recoiled as he got closer, as though he'd been burned.
"Love Heart!" Confidence grabbed his arm, "Are you alright."
"Yeah, I just got a really bad feeling about that stuff," Love Heart shuddered, "Like I can feel the air around it being poisoned."
Confidence just nodded, then her ears twitched, "Wait, there's someone over there!" she turned and pointed off to the groups right. "I just heard them gasp and run away."
"I almost heard something," Loyal Heart lifted an ear.
Confidence smirked, "Can't beat fennec hearing, let's go!" She took off towards the noise she'd heard with the others hot on her tail.
Confidence slowed to a stop in front of a large double door that looked as though it had been forced open and closed numerous times; several dents on the inner door indicated it had been forced by hand.
Love Heart took a closer look then tried to force the door open, it barely budged.
Confidence couldn't help but shudder, "What… thing opened this?"
"We're going to find out." Love Heart stashed his staff in his back and held The Sword in both hands, "Everyone brace yourselves." He swung twice at the doors again to sever them and let them fall inwards with a clang.
They waited for a moment until Confidence shouted, "We know you're in there! Come out!"
"Confidence!" Love Heart and Loyal Heart rounded on her before a snarling voice called out from the room.
"Get out! Leave me alone!" the guttural voice echoed through the building. Now they heard the stomping from inside the room.
Love Heart turned back to the dark door, "Glow, show us what's in that room." Half of the blue orbs floated into the room and illuminated the creature. He instantly regretted his decision.
It was some creature out of a nightmare, a large snarling badger with arms and legs far too long for its body which forced it into a hunched posture and a nightmare visage that made Love Heart recoil.
"GET OUT!" it lunged at the group.
"SHIELD!" Love Heart barely had time to pull out the card and summon a barrier that the creature crashed into and began clawing and biting at the shield, actually putting scratches and dents in it.
"LET ME REND!" The badger shouted, trying to get to Love Heart and Confidence.
"Get back!" Keroberos darted forwards in front of the couple as the shield cracked.
"How strong is that thing?" Loyal Heart drew back on the bow.
"Doesn't matter," Confidence Heart took a deep breath, "Let's get it!"
"Hold on!" Love Heart felt the shield about to shatter as he looked and saw that the badger had a heart stamp on its nose. "We're not here to hurt you!" The badger slowed down so Love Heart continued, "Look here!" he pointed to his own heart-shaped nose, "We're like you."
Confidence caught on and called out too, "Look, you're one of us! I'm sorry if we disturbed you."
"We just want to talk," Loyal Heart let Yue's bow and arrow dissipate; Love Heart also resealed The Sword Card and pulled The Glow back out of the room while Confidence assumed a more relaxed posture. Only Keroberos refused to back down.
The badger relaxed and assumed a hunched posture and stepped back farther into the darkness while still observing the group through the cracked Shield Card. It touched its heart-shaped nose then pointed to the group, "Are you the fuzzy-wuzzies?"
Love Heart nodded, "Yes, we are."
"Fuzzy wuzzies?" Confidence gave a lopsided look.
"What Cold Heart used to call us," Loyal Heart whispered.
"So that's what he made me in to," the Badger growled.
"May I get a better look at you?" Love Heart asked cautiously.
The badger nodded, "You may be repulsed by what you learn."
Love Heart motioned for The Glow's orb to fly forwards and better illuminate the badger. All four of them winced as he saw the out of proportion limbs but what startled them most was that the badger had breasts, which it hastily covered.
"What's your name?" Confidence Heart asked.
"Daniel," the badger said, "Do I disgust you?"
Loyal Heart shook his head, "No, we have an intersex friend back home."
Daniel was startled and dropped their arms, "You know about this?"
"We do, their name is Birthday Bear. What happened here?" Love Heart asked.
Daniel looked over them for a moment then motioned for them to follow, "Here, I need something to drink. And before you ask, I'm a man." The others followed him and saw Daniel approach a large shelf full of vials, most of which were filled with the same bright green liquid they had found while exploring. Without hesitation, Daniel grabbed one of the vials and downed it in a single gulp.
"What the fuck?!" Confidence's shout startled everyone, "Why'd you drink that crap?"
Defiant turned back to them and grinned, showing his sharp teeth with the green liquid dripping out like blood, "Sustenance, only thing Von Reichter gave me. Don't need to eat, drink or sleep at all."
Loyal Heart shook his head, "That sounds wrong."
"Who's Von Reichter?" Love Heart asked.
"The doctor who did all this to me," Defiant licked the last of the sustenance off his lips, "Tall thin blue guy with white hair and a pointy nose. Think he had a monocle too."
Love Heart folded his arms, "Other than tall and thin and the monocle, that sounds like Professor Cold Heart. Was there anyone else you saw here?"
Defiant put the empty vial back on the shelf, "Short fat dumb guy in winter clothes called Frost… something."
"Frostbite!" Love Heart and Loyal said at the same time.
"Definitely Cold Heart, but why the name change?" Love Heart turned to Loyal Heart.
Loyal Heart just shrugged and turned back to Daniel, who was downing another vial of sustenance, "Is there anything else to eat around here?"
"No, even if you can hunt there's nothing alive for miles. Von Reichter used them for his experiments, most of them are gone now," Daniel put the vial back, "Haven't slept in ages, don't know how long I've been stuck here but I can't handle going more than a day or two without this stuff."
Confidence held up a hand, "Let me cut the drug PSA short, what do you mean _most_ of them are gone?"
"Just me and one that keeps hanging on, I'll show you," Daniel lumbered off, needing to support himself on his hands periodically due to his out of proportion limbs as the group followed. "So, what are you all exactly 'fuzzy wuzzies'?"
Love Heart answered, "We're Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins, long story short we live up in the clouds and help kids through tough times. My name is Love Heart Bear, this is my fiancé, Confidence Heart Fennec and my friend Loyal Heart Dog."
"My name is Keroberos, I'm a magical guardian beast but that's an even longer story." Keroberos spoke up.
"Right," Daniel sounded skeptical but decided it would to hypocritical to criticize strangeness with what he was about to show them as they approached a large cylindrical tank full sustenance on top of some similarly shaped computer. "Here she is."
They all stared at the small figure floating inside the tank, curled up in the fetal position. It was pinkish-red and was curled up in a fetal position, in fact it looked like an actual fetus.
"What is it?" Confidence Heart turned to Daniel.
Daniel shrugged, which look odd with his out of proportion shoulders, "Don't know. Von Reichter called it CB10."
Love Heart was transfixed by the creature in the tank as he stepped closer, finally putting his hand on the glass. "It's… alive." He closed his eyes and the star on his forehead started to glow, "Cold… pain… who… are… you?"
"Love Heart?" Confidence approached and carefully put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's speaking to me," Love Heart opened his eyes, "We're Care Bears." He took a deep breath as a small glow came from where the creature's head would be, "Care… Bears… C…B…Lonely…" he spoke slowly again.
"It's talking to you?" Daniel sounded astonished.
"It's speaking into my mind with magic," Love Heart's eye shot open, "Oh my Stars!" He was about to step back when he felt another message scream in his head.
'Don't go!'
"I'll come back I promise." Love Heart took a deep breath with a hand on his chest then turned to Daniel, "Does this place have power?"
"Generator died a while ago," Daniel said, "Don't know how to fix it."
"Then I'll make my own," Love Heart pulled out a Clow Card.
"What's that?" Daniel recoiled slightly.
Confidence Heart grinned, "It's magic!"
Daniel looked like he was going to protest, but then shut his mouth and watched as Love Heart threw the card up in the air.
"Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall
Ancient forces heed my call!
Thunder Card, discard your former might
And draw new power from my light
Heart Card!"
Daniel recoiled as the magic lightshow overtook his vision and the wings on the staff spread, changing The Thunder into a green Heart Card and the energy began to pour out of the card in the form of blue lightning which converged into the form of a wolf made of lightning which bellowed. Daniel was about to pounce when Kero put out a wing to block him and Loyal Heart grabbed his arm to hold him back.
"Thunder, use your electricity to power this facility." Love Heart pointed to the central computer. With a howl, The Thunder send out tendrils of lightning to all the surrounding machines. With a whirr and a whine all the lights and machines in the facility came on at once, bathing the room in light and powering on all the surrounding computers.
Daniel was about to speak when The Thunder growled and spoke in a growling voice, "Seriously?! You transform me only to use me as a living battery!? I wanted to destroy something."
"Don't worry, you'll get that chance," Love Heart pet The Thunder, its coat sending little static shocks across his hand, "I just need to take a look at these things."
"That thing talked?" Daniel shook his head, "I should be skeptical but after all that's happened to me…"
"Want to tell me?" Loyal Heart motioned towards the door, "I think they'll be busy for a while and I don't feel safe around all this lightning."
Daniel just nodded and followed Loyal Heart as he headed outside.
Confidence smirked at Love Heart as he typed on the computer attached to the main tank, "So, fiancé?"
Love Heart blushed and smiled, "Well we said we wanted to get married and you're already pregnant. Sorry if I don't have a ring for you."
Confidence kissed him on the cheek, "I don't need one, but thank you."
"I'll try to find something… hold on… password?" Love Heart looked at the screen that was asking for a password.
Confidence shrugged, "Fuzzy Wuzzy?"
"Worth a try," Love Heart entered the word, "And, it worked?" he stared at the screen as it successfully logged in.
Confidence laughed and slapped Love Heart on the back, "Ha! Even evil geniuses are stupid about passwords."
Love Heart laughed, "I guess so. Now let's see… lots of stuff here: sustenance, CB project, Frostbite, Na… oh fuck."
Confidence looked at the screen and covered her mouth, "Did you know he was this screwed up?"
Love Heart gulped, "Not like this. Better get reading…"
Keroberos just sat nearby and watched.
OoOoO
Daniel winced as he stepped into the daylight, "Been inside too long," he shuddered and folded his arms over his breasts as best he could.
Loyal Heart sat down and motioned for Daniel to do the same, "So, what happened to you?"
Daniel sighed, "It's a long and fucked up story, you sure you want to hear it?"
Loyal Heart nodded and took his hand, "Yes, it's what we do. We help people share their feelings and solve their personal issues they feel they can't share with anyone. Even if it wasn't my duty I'd still want to help."
Daniel managed to smile, "Thanks." He took a deep breath, "I used to be human. I was born intersex, with both things below. My parents assigned my gender as 'man' but they didn't tell me I was any different than everyone else. They never let me sign up for swimming or sports but I didn't think much about it, until I took sex-ed in school." Daniel growled and threw up his arms, "I didn't know that normal people don't piss out of two holes at once! I though the urinals just took skill to use! After that I went online to find out about people like me."
"Intersex," Loyal Heart interjected.
"Not just that, a hermaphrodite, something that's never been recorded with humans before," Daniel growled again, "I was so mad at my parents that I yelled at them, got into a fight. They just said they were doing all this for my own good and left again!"
"Again?" Loyal Heart was astonished.
Daniel sighed, "Right, guess I should have said that. My parents were never around, like ever. They left for work before I got up and rarely came home before I went to bed. Sometimes I'd hear them come in late. They said they just wanted to give me a nest egg since I might not be able to get a job. All I wanted was for them to tell me what was wrong with me instead of me needing to find out and learn what kind of freak I was."
"Nothing's wrong with you. You're not a freak," Loyal Heart rubbed Daniel's back, "Like I said, we have a friend named Birthday Bear like you, they were just assigned man at birth, declared themselves nonbinary before we started school, then found out they were growing breasts and kinda freaked out."
"And you all like that about them?" Daniel asked.
"We've all adjusted, most of us accepted that its part of who they are," Loyal Heart said, "I thought it was weird but we were all barely teenagers, finding out changes about ourselves going on, but I'm different too in my own ways."
"What ways?" Daniel turned to face Loyal Heart.
Loyal Heart took a deep breath, "Well, I'm gay for starters, but I also share my soul with a magical guardian like Keroberos named Yue. I'll introduce you later. What happened next?"
Daniel raised an eyebrow for a moment, then sighed. "I tried to cope for a few years but as my breasts grew in and I had to start hiding them I felt more and more like an outcast, even if no one ever found out. Then eventually I just couldn't take it anymore and I ran away; just grabbed some stuff and left while they were at work. I hid out outside of town for a few days before I was kidnapped."
"By Cold Heart?" Loyal's attention was fixed now.
"By one of his things, big green guy that looked like Frankenstein with a flat top." Daniel shuddered, "It dragged me here and Von Reichter decided to use me as test for something called the 'CB project'. He said he wished he had time to 'correct my sex' but instead just made me into a badger-man, buffed up my muscles and fed me sustenance to make me strong and obedient. Called me CB-Zero the whole time.
"Then one day he just packed up and left, destroyed most of his unfinished creations except that one your friends are looking at. Guess he just forgot about me so I've just been living in there ever since."
Loyal tried his best to put an arm around Daniel's shoulder, but only managed to the middle of his back, "Ever since? How long?"
"I don't know, I was too scared to go outside so I just roamed around, drinking sustenance and looking at things," Daniel sighed, "I was restless and bored and lost track of time but I couldn't go anywhere else."
"So you just drank that… sustenance stuff?" Loyal Heart asked. Daniel nodded. "Have you ever tried to stop?"
"A couple times, but it hurt too much," Daniel turned to Loyal Heart, "What else am I supposed to do? I don't know how to hunt or even where any cities might be nearby and I can't carry enough sustenance to try exploring anywhere!" Daniel stood up, "What the fuck am I supposed to do!" He swung his fist at a nearby dead tree and demolished it in a single blow.
Loyal Heart jumped up, nearly tripping over his tail in shock. He watched Daniel panting from the release of his anger before he spoke, "You could some with us."
"Seriously?" Daniel turned to Loyal Heart, "where?"
"Right now we don't know, but eventually back to the Kingdom of Caring," Loyal Heart watched for Daniel's reaction.
"Really? But what about this, the deformed monster thing?" Daniel gestured to his out of proportion body.
"That won't matter, I promise," Loyal Heart opened the locket around his neck, "I have my own other side too remember."
Daniel at first didn't bat an eye when the image of Yue appeared in the locket's mirror, until he spoke. "Hello, Daniel. My name is Yue and I share a body with Loyal Heart."
"He can hear everything I do so he's up to speed," Loyal Heart smiled, "I've got a lot to tell you."
Daniel sat down on the ground, "Well, this is the weirdest and best day I've had in years. Tell me everything."
OoOoO
Confidence watched Love Heart silently reading the computer screen for a few minutes, "Find anything?"
"Yeah, a lot…" Love Heart's voice sounded distant.
"What exactly are you hoping to find?" Keroberos asked.
"Something to help CB10 here," Love Heart paused, "Seems like Cold Heart was a cloned body of his old self but it was only 'half-baked' because he needed to transfer his consciousness in to it in a hurry and leave his original body behind so The Allies would think he was dead. He says he was still a genius but also become dangerously obsessed with us once he found out about us."
Confidence Heart looked over Love Heart's shoulder, "I'm surprised it so easy to understand that."
"He was making a new cloned body but was worried he might not be able to understand any technical terms after transferring," Love Heart pointed to one passage in the notes of a journal, "He even says here 'It pains me to write all my information in layman's terms but I need to make sure I can still understand this after my new body is ready.' Makes it easier for us at least." Love Heart continued to read in silence for a time.
"Can you hurry this up please?" The Thunder shuffled in place, lightning still arcing from its body into the facility's machines.
"Hold your horses, electro-wolf," Confidence rolled her eyes, "Not like you can get tired."
"But I'm getting bored!" the Thunder shot back.
"Enough, just be patient," Keroberos interjected.
The Thunder looked like it was about to start an argument when Love Heart let out a startled gasp and clapped a hand over his mouth.
Confidence was at his side in an instant, "What's wrong?!"
"This is he did with us…" Love Heart took a deep breath, "Remember what I told you about our last encounter with Cold Heart before he vanished?"
Confidence nodded, "You and the others they sent here were captured by him but you don't remember what he did to you."
"Me, Tenderheart, Cozy Heart, Gentle Heart and Swift Heart but it wasn't here," Love Heart shook his head, "After we were rescued, another team was sent in lead by Indy again but the place was stripped bare, and from the notes here it looks like he transferred to his new body right about the time he went quiet, the same reason we were sent there." Love Heart gulped, "Now I know what he did, he took DNA samples and made his own Care Bears."
Confidence's eyes went wide, "You mean like Daniel?"
Love Heart shook his head again, "No, Cold Heart needed someone to test if he could make a convincing Care Bear out of a living being and giving him enhanced strength, testing sustenance. Daniel was just unfortunate enough to cross his path when he needed a test subject, ugg he even says 'I would have CB-Zero's body but I'm through being distracted by pet obsessions', then more about how sustenance warps the bodies of converted beings but not his creations." Love Heart put a hand to his forehead to quell a growing headache.
"What creations, you mean like that?" Confidence pointed to CB10 where it still floated in the tank.
"Yeah, he was trying to make infiltrators for the Care Bear Family, artificial Care Bears we could 'rescue' and would work against us from the inside for him, using extracted DNA from us to make them pass as the real thing," Love Heart touched the star on his forehead as he read further. "But he got things too right, they were too much like real Care Bears and he realized he was still obsessing over something that shouldn't matter to him anymore so he terminated most of them, only CB6 was unaccounted for, he basically forgot about Daniel since he just stayed out of the way after his testing was done. As for CB10, Cold Heart extracted the unicorn elements from my DNA to make them as a full unicorn but abandoned the project very quickly and didn't bother to destroy what he'd already worked on, CB10's basically a fetus."
Confidence looked from Love Heart to the tank where CB10 floated, then back to Love Heart, "So CB10's your brother? Sister?"
"More like my child, Bright Heart said clones are more like the children of their original donor once, some weird tangent we went off on but that's beside the point." Love Heart looked up at CB10, "I need to decide what to do about this."
"You're not just going to leave them here, are you?" Confidence sounded shocked.
"No," Love Heart shook his head, "But I don't know what the best thing to do is."
"Just ask then!" The Thunder suddenly spoke up.
"You were able to communicate before," Keroberos also took the moment to remind them he was there, "Perhaps you can again."
Love Heart smiled, "Thanks, you're right." He stepped up to the tank and touched the surface again, the star on his forehead glowing, "CB10, hello, can you hear me?"
'I…hear… you…you…came…back…'
"I didn't leave, just needed to learn some stuff. It seems like I'm your father." Love Heart felt a jolt of surprise.
'Fa…ther?'
"Yes," Love Heart rubbed his unicorn star, "Do you want me to help you?"
'Yes! Please! Want…out!' the mental "shout" almost made Love Heart jump back.
"I'll try but I don't know how. I'll be here, just wait a little longer," Love Heart heard one last answer as he stepped back.
'Thank…you…fa…ther…'
"So…?" Confidence waited eagerly for Love Heart's answer.
"CB10 wants to be free, but I don't know how to do that," Love Heart put a hand to his forehead, "They're too young to survive outside of that tank but with their development terminated they're only alive because of the sustenance their floating in. I can't do anything unless I find a way to let them develop properly and even then I'd need a way to make sure they come out without a need for the sustenance and make them a regular Care Bear Cousin instead of one of Cold Heart's creations." Love Heart held his head. "I'd ask mom but she's probably still on the demon hunt."
"What about Take Care?" Confidence asked.
"Take Care's a surgeon, this is biological manipulation and science we've never dealt with before," Love Heart sighed, "And even then I can't drag her away from Care-a-Lot for this kind of thing, and that's if she even knows what do at all."
"Then use me," Confidence's words caused Love Heart to look up and see her touching her tummy with both hands.
"What?" Love Heart just stared.
Confidence poked her belly again, "I'm already pregnant, my body is helping our child grow, why don't you put CB10 in here and let my body do the work, then we'll have twins."
Love Heart blinked then rubbed his eyes, "Are you serious? But how can I even make that work?"
"Can't you just use unicorn magic to will it to happen?" Confidence pointed to the star on Love Heart's forehead.
Love Heart touched the star on his forehead, "Sort of, I mean mom said if she really wants something she can do it, but I've never done something this complicated before." He turned to look into CB10's tank and stared at the fetal creature inside, "But… I'm willing to try. Are you sure about this?"
"100%" Confidence was already taking off her clothes, "I just need something to lie down on."
"I'm on it," Keroberos found and grabbed a lab table and dragged it over to the side of the tank and Confidence Heart she hopped up on top once she was naked and lay down.
Love Heart took a deep breath and turned to The Thunder, who was just standing there sparking a bit, "I promise, once I'm done here I'll let you have your fun."
"Fine…" The Thunder rumbled but kept powering the machines.
Love Heart touched the tank again and spoke to CB10, "Hello, I'm still here. I can take you out of there if you want."
'Want…please…free…'
"I can't let you totally free, I'll have to put you in another tank," Love Heart felt a wave of distress from the mind in the tank, "but I promise it won't be forever and you'll be comfortable and safe, and warm."
'Warm…safe…'
"Yes, and when you come out you'll be better." Love Heart smiled, "Would you like that?"
'Yes! Take…me… away…fa…ther…'
"OK, CB10's on board with this," Love Heart stepped back from the tank and over to Confidence, "You sure about this? I don't have any painkillers and once I start I can't stop."
Confidence gripped the sides of the table and took a deep breath, "I'm ready, do anything you need to."
Love Heart closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his unicorn star lit up and he placed his hands on Confidence's tummy symbol, "First I need to make some room." Confidence winced slightly as she felt the magic flowing into her then watched as her belly started to grow. It hurt but she just bit her lip until Love Heart was finished and she looked full-term pregnant.
Love Heart wiped his brow, "So far so good, now to make it possible to fit them in there. Please spread your legs."
Confidence Heart wanted to make a joke, but held back as she followed Love Heart's instructions. She also winced when she felt her nether region touched and start to stretch. It hurt and Confidence gasped as Love Heart pulled back, "OK gotta work fast," he reached into the Heart Book and pulled out a card, "Sword!" the card flashed and formed into The Sword in Love Heart's hand. With a single slash, Love Heart sliced the tank open which set off an alarm but as the tank top slid sideways and the sustenance started to drain, Love Heart plunged his hands in and grabbed CB10. As soon as the fetal creature was out of the liquid Love Heart heard it scream magically into his mind. "This'll be rough, hold on!"
Confidence Heart gripped the sides of the table as she felt something press against her nether region, then pain shot through her. Through the pain she could feel something being pushed into her and up her birthing canal. She had to resist the urge to bite through her lip as it moved up past that and settled in her womb. Love Heart hurried moved to close up her nether region before putting his hands on Confidence's tummy again and it began to shrink.
"Are you done?" Confidence panted but held on.
"No," Love Heart stared intensely at her shrinking belly, "I need to make sure they link to you properly or they could die," the glow from his unicorn star intensified and he felt himself start to shake, knowing it wasn't just CB10's life at risk.
CB10 had felt intense pain as the cooling and nourishing sustenance was removed and they were grabbed by the one who had said he was their father and couldn't help but cry out, and it didn't feel better when something soft began to enclose them and squeeze them from all sides. Finally, they felt themselves released into what felt like another tank but this one warmer and more comforting. There was another being in there, similar in growth if not in form but attached to the tank somehow.
Then the tank started to contract and CB10 started to panic, until something snaked out from the wall and attached to them, their body feeling intense pain for a moment as they felt a toxin they never knew was there purged from their body, and suddenly CB10 felt very sleepy as they were drawn closer to the other being in their new tank. They felt warm, safe and sleepy, and so CB10 fell asleep, curled up inside who was now their mother.
Love Heart stood back, sweating profusely as Confidence's belly shrunk down to nearly its original size, maybe a slight bump from where the new life had been deposited. "There, everything's safe now but you might feel some nausea so don't-" Confidence hopped up off the table as fast as she could, then immediately doubled over and puked on the floor, "- stand up too fast."
"Right, morning sickness, thought I could avoid that," Confidence grumbled as she turned back to Love Heart, then saw him teetering in place and ran to catch him as he nearly fell over, "Love Heart, what's wrong?"
"Tired… I had to use… most of my magic for that," Love Heart's legs wobbled as he tried to stand on his own. "Harder to do… even minor changes… to flesh and blood."
Keroberos walked over to Love Heart, "Here, on my back. You'll need time to recover your magic."
Love Heart carefully slung himself over Kerobero's back, "Thank you, Keroberos. Thunder you can stop powering things now."
The Thunder growled, "Finally!" it withdrew the power from the facility around them and the lights began to fade.
Confidence gathered up her clothing in her arms, "Let's get out of here."
Loyal Heart and Daniel heard the group approaching with The Thunder still behind them. Love Heart was still riding on Keroberos' back and he looked over his shoulder at the remains of the lab. "Thunder, please destroy that lab."
Daniel balked, "What!"
The Thunder grinned, "At last!" it flew upwards as bolt of lightning and over the lab.
Daniel tried to run towards the lab but The Thunder dropped down onto the lab, generating a sonic boom and an explosion of sound and lightning that obliterated the lab, sending chunks of debris flying and knocking Daniel off his feat.
"NO! My sustenance!" Daniel struggled to his feet.
"That stuff was a combat drug meant to keep soldiers fighting without rest or food for days, you shouldn't have been drinking it," Love Heart slipped of Keroberos' back and wobbled slightly but managed to stay upright, "And that place just needed to be destroyed."
Daniel growled and advanced on Love Heart, "What the fuck am I going to eat now?!"
Keroberos and Loyal Heart stepped between Daniel and Love Heart.
"We'll help you but you have to calm down," Loyal Heart spread his arms.
Daniel stopped and stared for a moment, then turned and ran to the nearest still standing dead tree and smashed through it, pummeled the trunk to splinters then moved on.
"Should we stop him?" Keroberos asked.
"If he gets too close, just let him vent," Loyal Heart let out a deep sigh of relief, "Let's get the tents set up for the night."
With a flash and boom, The Thunder landed next to Love Heart and Confidence, who jumped and almost dropped the tent she was pulling out of the cloud car. "That was great! Sound and lightning!" It crackled and boomed with laughter.
Love Heart managed a smile despite his exhaustion, "Thank you, now come back for the night." He held up his hand and The Thunder flowed back into its Heat Card form, which Love Heart returned to the Heart Book. Love Heart released The Jump into its spirit form then forced himself to help Confidence and Loyal Heart set up the tents.
By the time Daniel had finished venting on the dead trees both tents were set up. Loyal Heart had stuck his head out to watch for Daniel and motioned for him to enter the tent. Daniel was uncomfortable in the smaller space as he sat awkwardly with Loyal Heart, The Jump and Kero.
"Who are you?" Daniel's first question was directed at Kero.
Kero folded his arms as he floated in mid-air, "I'm Keroberos, the same guardian beast you saw before."
"That lion thing?" Daniel just shook his head.
"Feeling better?" Loyal Heart asked as he dug out some of their camping food.
"Not really, just tired," Daniel grumbled, "and worried about what I'm going to do now."
"Then rest and wait for the morning," Loyal Heart curled up into his sleeping bag, "and if you can't sleep then talk to Jump and Kero. I've learned to sleep through conversations others are having."
Daniel gave Loyal a perplexed look, "Umm… ok." He watched the blue dog roll over and start to sleep now before turning to the other two in the room, "Loyal Heart told me about the Clow Cards and Love Heart's mission and why you're out here. So where are we going next."
"Who knows?" The Jump shrugged its shoulders, "The Glow was always flighty and now we're relying on it to show us where to go."
"Right," Daniel fell silent, "I'm not used to talking to people anymore."
"Neither was I, but living with Love Heart helped that, and I think you'll fit right in with them," Kero landed on Daniel's shoulder.
Daniel sighed, "I hope so."
OoOoO
Once Love Heart and Confidence Heart had crawled inside their tent, Love Heart immediately collapsed onto their sleeping bag, needing Confidence's help to undress and mostly roll inside.
"You…alright?" Love Heart panted.
Confidence glared at him, she hadn't bothered redressing once they left the lab, "I should be asking you that, you can barely move."
"Yeah," Love Heart nodded, "forced myself through all of this, must be out of adrenaline. But I had to make sure everything was set inside of you. So how do you feel?"
"Still nauseous really," Confidence rubbed her belly, "Can't even think about eating right now. You hungry?"
"Yeah."
"Then here," Confidence pulled out a granola bar and pushed it into Love Heart's mouth, who gratefully chewed it down.
Love Heart grinned after he swallowed, "Practising being a mom?"
Confidence laughed, "As long as I don't have to do this to you all the time."
"You won't, I just need food and rest," Love Heart managed to roll onto his side as Confidence climbed in next to him. Both exhausted, they fell asleep.
OoOoO
The next morning was agony: Love Heart was still barely able to move, just enough to sit up so he could drink and feed himself, Confidence was ravenously hungry and ate almost all the food in her and Love Heart's tent but Daniel had it the worst as he felt the withdrawal symptoms of the sustenance, his whole body wracked with pain as what had to be months of exhaustion and hunger all set in at once which left the badger convulsing on the floor of the tent. It was all Loyal Heart could do to comfort and feed Daniel while Kero and Confidence conferred outside.
"Well thanks to all this, we're almost out of food," Confidence sighed, feeling guilty she had eaten so much, "And if anything Love Heart read about sustenance withdrawal is true we're going to need a lot of food and water soon. But we can't just drag them out of here."
"What are we going to do?" Kero turned to look at the tent where Love Heart lay.
Confidence pulled out her Heartphone, "I'm going to find the nearest city and fly there so I can buy all the food we need and you can look after Love Heart."
"So we're just going to stay out here?" Loyal Heart had stepped out of the tent, "Daniel just fell asleep."
"Yeah, we can't afford a hotel and camping's fine," Confidence was already heading for the cloud car, "And once we're ready to travel we'll call home to make sure everyone know's we're alright." She hopped in the driver's seat and set her Heartphone to use GSP, "I'll be back soon, just keep an eye on things."
Loyal Heart did have time to object as Confidence took off so turned to Kero, "From one Clow guardian to another, is everything going to be alright?"
"Of course, things are just gonna be rough for a while," Kero sounded more confident than he felt.
"So what do I do?" The Jump hopped out of the tent.
"Keep lookout in case there's anything else dangerous out there," Kero swept an arm around the landscape.
"Scout duty. Fine," The Jump groaned, "better than lying around in wait." It bounded off to explore as Kero and Loyal Heart retreated into their tents.
It was several hours before Confidence returned with a car trunk full of food and huge jugs of water, all of which was gratefully received by Love Heart and Daniel, the latter of which tore into whatever he was given since he hadn't eaten in ages. After a full day's bed rest, Love Heart was back on his feet but decided to wait for Daniel to recover. Loyal Heart stayed by Daniel's side until he was recovered.
After five days moaning and crying in pain and confusion, Daniel emerged from the tent. The changes were drastic, gone were the outsized limbs, fierce teeth and awkward posture, now Daniel looked like a typical Care Bear Cousin badger, although his coloring was black and white like a normal badger. It was easier to see how he was intersex with wide hips and broad shoulders and average sized breasts; Loyal Had confirmed (with permission) that he did have both sets of genitals and looked relatively normal.
Daniel stood in the light breeze, taking in the sensations and looking himself over.
"How do you feel?" Loyal Heart walked up beside him.
"Weird, calm, anxious, tired but not sleepy," Daniel let out a sigh, "Relieved that stuff's out of my system now." He turned to Loyal Heart, "Thanks for looking after me."
Loyal smiled, "It was just some basic stuff Take Care taught me, anyone would have done it."
Daniel awkwardly rubbed one of his arms, "No one ever did for me."
Loyal just stared, "Really? You weren't kidding about how little your parents looked after you, were you?"
"No…" Daniel hugged himself, "I was lucky I never caught anything more serious than a cold, but even then I had to just lie around, forcing myself to get up and eat when I was in pain and wishing someone would be there to help me, somehow…"
Loyal put a hand on Daniel's shoulder, "What do you want to do now? They must be worried about you."
Daniel stared at his hands, "Maybe… I don't know how long I've been gone and even then they wouldn't even recognize me," he touched his white tummy then poked one of his breasts, "with everything Von Reichter did to me I don't think I'd even be able to prove who I was with a DNA test."
"You could come with us," Loyal offered, "join the Care Bear Family."
"Really?" Daniel's eyes widened as he turned to face Loyal Heart, "but I'm not a Care Bear."
"Why? Because you used to be human? Because Cold Heart made you like this?" Loyal Heart smiled and poked Daniel's heart-shaped nose, "Love Heart's dad was human too and if you ask me Cold Heart did too good a job making you a Care Bear Cousin. And if you don't want to be one maybe we could ask Life Heart or The Great Wishing star to change you back."
Daniel blushed, "You'd do that for me? But we just met."
Loyal Heart nodded, "Yes, I want to help you however I can."
"Thank you," Daniel gave Loyal Heart a kiss on the cheek and blushed harder, "I didn't just learn I was intersex when I looked up things online… I like guys so I guess that makes me gay, if I really count as a man."
"You do if you say you are," Loyal Heart touched his cheek where he had been kissed.
"That's alright? I'm not betraying my unique opportunity and should declare myself NB?" Daniel sounded hurt.
Loyal was a bit stunned, "Of course not! Did people really tell you that?"
"Some, online…" Daniel rubbed one arm, "some said I should pick a sex and stick to it, others said I shouldn't declare any gender because I should take advantage of not being stuck in the world's binary choices," he threw up his arms, "Who gives a fuck! I don't want to be what either side wants! I want to be me: a man with tits and both sexes because that's who I am! Screw everyone's 'norms'! I defy them! I can finally choose who I am!"
"So who are you then?" Loyal asked after Daniel calmed down.
Daniel sighed, "Can I change my name?"
"Of course," Loyal nodded, "and if you want to be a Care Bear you can pick one based on who you are and how you feel. I chose my name because I help people remember who their real friends are and I stick by my own friends no matter what."
The badger touched his tummy, "Well, since I don't want to fit anyone's definition of 'normal' or 'proper' how about… Defiant Heart Badger."
"It suits you, welcome to the Care Bear Family, Defiant Heart Badger," Loyal Heart gave the newly christened Defiant Heart Badger a kiss on the cheek.
"Uhh thank you, Loyal," Defiant touched his cheek, "You like me, even with these?" Defiant put his hands under his breasts and lifted them slightly.
"Well we just met but I'd like to get to know you and as long as you consider yourself a man, that's enough for me, breasts or flat," Loyal offered a hand to Defiant.
Defiant accepted Loyal's outstretched hand, "So when do I get one of those stomach tattoos?"
"When we get back to the Kingdom of Caring," Loyal Heart led Defiant to their tent then went in to pull everything out. "Only Tenderheart Bear or Brave Heart Lion can give you a tummy symbol." He stuck his head and shoulders out of the tent and handed a t-shirt and shorts to Defiant, "Here try these on, might be a bit tight."
Defiant smiled and took the clothes, "Thanks, Loyal." He dressed then helped Loyal pack up the tent and the rest of their supplies. Defiant pulled the shirt up against his chest, "Not that tight, guess I'm a size smaller than you."
"Alright, you're ready to go, so how is everything?" Love Heart asked as he and Confidence loaded their stuff into the cloud car.
"It went great," Loyal Heart gestured to the badger, "Let me introduce: Defiant Heart Badger."
"Welcome to the Care Bear Family," Confidence clapped him on the back, "you're gonna love it with us."
"Thanks," Defiant smiled, for once it felt natural instead of forced like he'd had to in the past.
"OK anything else before we go?" Love Heart headed for the driver's seat.
"Just one thing I want to test," Defiant searched around until he found a large rock about his own size then carefully crouched down and lifted it up with minimal effort.
"Whoa!" Confidence almost jumped as she watched Defiant lobbed the rock a few meters away.
Defiant swiped his forehead then flexed, "Looks like I still have the super strength Von Reichter gave me. Thought I was dependent on the sustenance for that."
Love Heart sat in the driver's seat as everyone else piled in, "From what I read, only his direct creations need the stuff for survival or to fuel their abilities, but they could also do more impressive stuff like generating ice and cold. Body changes like yours should be fine with or without it." Love Heart pulled The Glow out. "Glow Card, illuminate the way forwards." Once again the orb flew out of the card and formed into an arrow, pointing to the right as he adhered it to the dashboard again.
"This thing can really fly?" Defiant grabbed the side of the car.
Loyal Heart held Defiant's hand, "Relax, we've done this hundreds of times." He felt Defiant tense up as the cloud car took off turned and flew off.
"So where are we going?" Defiant shouted and saw everyone else wince, leaving him feeling embarrassed when he realized they didn't need to shout to be heard.
"I don't know," Love Heart kept his eyes forwards, "I'm following The Glow to where I can confront Su Yung."
"That sorceress who attacked your home?" Defiant looked to Loyal Heart, who just nodded.
"And a chance to finish transforming the Clow Cards," Kero interjected.
"I think I need a more complete picture of what's going on," Defiant looked to Kero and Loyal Heart.
"We'll fill you in," Loyal Heart said.
They flew for three more days as Loyal and Defiant bonded while he was filled in until they finally saw a city in the direction The Glow was leading them, and at the center was a gigantic angel statue.
"Guess that's where we need to go," Love Heart began to pitch downward, "I'm gonna land outside the city, just in case."
"Where are we exactly?" Defiant asked as they landed and disembarked.
"Somewhere in Argentina," Confidence checked her heartphone before they unloaded everything.
"Just need to hide this," Love Heart turned on a GPS tracker in the Cloud Car before they pulled some debris to loosely camouflage it around the trees.
"So will people freak out if they see us?" Defiant asked, looking down at himself remembering he didn't look human anymore.
"Hopefully not but we haven't been everywhere and I can't remember us ever visiting a city like this," Loyal Heart squinted through the trees at the angel statue, "but something feels familiar about this place."
"Just stay together and don't overreact if anyone else does." Love Heart shouldered one of their backpacks as Defiant volunteered to carry the other.
Entering the city limits felt odd, even moreso when a few people passed by and just waved at the group without batting an eye.
Confidence waved back, "Huh, you'd think they'd at least give us a second look."
"Yeah," Love Heart nodded in agreement, then froze, "But I think I see why, look!" He pointed at a nearby group of what looked exactly like Care Bears and Cousins: a red fox, a two-toned blue raccoon, a brown lynx and three bears, one dark blue, one bright green and the other yellow.
"Care Bears? Down here?" Loyal Heart gaped.
"Hey!" Confidence shouted, "Over here!" the group of six turned to look at them as Confidence sprinted towards them, the other three right on her tail and all wondering just what they had stumbled into.