Care Bears Sharing the Talent!
Talented Heart Bear's Debut
Harmony Bear welcomes a new guest, Talented Heart Bear, on to her talent show called Sharing the Talent. It is a show equivalent to Earth's America's Got Talent, American Idol, etc. Other artistic bears such as Heart Song Bear, Super Star Bear, Surprise Bear, Laugh-a-lot Bear, Play-a-lot Bear, Shine Bright Bear, and Work of Heart Bear are commonly featured on the show and have some of the best talented performances in Care-a-lot. However after the practice session of Talented Heart's one hit wonder, Keep On Caring, he loses the ability to perform his song due to the evil doings of Shreeky and Beastly who now are taking place of Lord No Heart after his defeat. If they can't get Talented Heart Bear's abilities back in time for the show, Harmony will have to resort to having Talented Heart Bear lip-sync his one hit wonder.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: A Warm Welcome for a New Guest
Chapter 2: The Power Outage
Chapter 3: Care Bear Family to the Rescue!
Chapter 4: Escape the Darkness!
Chapter 5: The Show Will Go On
Chapter 6: Going to Starrywood
Chapter 1:
A Warm Welcome for a New Guest
Harmony Bear was preparing herself in her dressing room to meet her guest on her talent show, Sharing the Talent. Her guest was a new Care Bear who arrived in Care-a-lot, his name was Talented Heart Bear. Well, she was going to see just how talented he really was.
She knew Talented Heart Bear sang and made his own music, but had only ever heard one of his songs play on the radio.
She sprayed rainbow glitter on her fur, hoping she didn't put too much on to look like a disco ball. Then she very lightly sprayed on her signature perfume, Rainbow Paradise, as every singer had a fragrance. Hers smelled like lavender and frosted cupcakes, and the bottle was in the shape of her symbol. She put on a rainbow glitter headband with a bow, with her flower symbol in the center.
Heart Song Bear tapped on Harmony's dressing room door with her signature tap.
"Yes?"
"Harmony, your guest has arrived. The stage has been prepared, and I will of course get your theme song ready as soon as you step out on stage, just how you like to make an entrance." She said in a melodic sing-song voice. Heart Song Bear had the ability to speak in different types of music styles like pop, or even add auto-tune to her voice, and speak in all languages.
"Thank you so much, Heart Song! I'll be right out! Just making a few adjustments…" she checked herself in the mirror.
Something was missing from her get-up, so she put on a smile. There we go, now that was what completed her outfit.
Harmony exited her dressing room and went down the hallway with other dressing rooms. There were rooms for Super Star Bear, Heart Song Bear, Surprise Bear, Play-a-lot Bear, Shine Bright Bear, Laugh-a-lot Bear; who was a comedian, Work of Heart Bear, as well as a few guest rooms. It was like the creative bear's club, and Harmony was the leader.
She was a tiny bit nervous to meet this other creative bear. She was worried about if he'd out-shine her, or worse, not want to join the creative club. She admired all forms of creativity, as she felt that was her connection to community, and how she could give feelings to others. Sometimes she got a little too much into her talents that she worried she'd come off as a show-off, or worse, a snobby celebrity. She shuddered, for that was her worst nightmare.
When Harmony came to a certain spot in the hallway marked with her symbol, Heart Song played Sharing the Talent's theme song through the stage's speakers on cue, which introduced her as she stepped confidently out onto the stage. The stage was like her playground, and she was proud of it. She was ready for the before show interview.
Talented Heart was sitting in a comfortable studio chair. He looked at her with admiration as she came over to her director's chair which had her name in rhinestones and her symbol on the back of it. Heart Song Bear did a wonderful job preparing her entrance and making her guest comfortable.
"Hi, I'm Harmony Bear, and welcome to the stage of Sharing the Talent. It's a true honor to have you here on tonight's episode, Talented Heart. And thank you very much, Heart Song Bear." she gave a thumbs up to Heart Song who was working in the sound box in the back of the theater seats.
Talented Heart beamed a smile. His unique sunset and gold speckled multi-colored fur really sparkled under the stage lights. He had light cyan eyes that gleamed with creativity.
"Warm greetings, Harmony. You're a great host, and I'm ready for the show."
"I'm impressed with your enthusiasm. Thank you for coming, Talented Heart. Why don't you tell me about your symbol?"
Talented Heart nodded and he pointed to each part of his symbol as he told Harmony about it. His symbol was a rainbow layered heart with rainbow stars around it.
"Each heart inside it's own star represents a different talent of the arts, like painting, drawing, music, poetry, singing, dancing, and crafting. The rainbow layered heart represents the passion that goes into each talent. I am a jack-of-all-trades, master of none, yet I'm passionate about all of these talents. I feel like I'm ready to say hello to Care-a-lot."
Harmony nodded with interest. "I think you are too. Yet every artist has a shadow. You must have something that is a weakness. What is it? Don't worry, I won't judge. In fact, I promise to tell you mine. And no, it's not coffee."
Talented Heart sighed nervously with a flicker of a smile and said, "Honestly… I have a short attention span, so sometimes I don't finish projects I start. I have a lot of pieces that are works in progress. And I prefer to work solo. When I really get into a project, I get in the zone so much that I forget to eat or sleep."
Harmony's expression softened. She was glad he had some kind of weakness. Now it was her turn to share hers.
"Now that you've shared yours, I'm going to share mine. I'm worried that others will see me as a snobby celebrity, or that I just want to show-off and that I can never be 'off stage'. I admit, sometimes being 'off stage' scares me. But it's the things off stage that inspire me when I'm on stage, like friends and caring, and adventures. Yet, you do have a single song that is a hit. A one-hit wonder. Why did you come to Care-a-lot?"
"I was hoping… that the creative bears and like you said, caring and friendship could help me finish my projects. And I could go on caring missions to inspire kids and help them with their projects they have trouble with finishing."
Harmony was surprised he threw in the aspect of going to earth to do caring missions. She nodded. He definitely seemed like the kind of bear to be on Sharing the Talent.
"I'd love to hear your one hit wonder on the show tonight." Harmony said.
Talented Heart beamed with happiness and said, "Really? That's great! It's called Keep On Caring."
They sang a verse together.
I see you've got so much caring inside of you
Sometimes the world is scary and dark
Don't let it take away your heart
Let your caring power shine through the night
Harmony clapped her paws.
"Brilliant. Do you know some of my songs?" Harmony asked, "A whole show is half an hour, with a half-time break. You will be the feature guest tonight, but I do have a few other openings for my other friends who are a part of the creative club. I think Play-a-lot Bear, and Work of Heart are performing tonight as well."
"Yes, I could sing some with you."
"Perfect! We have a show. Would you like to practice the sound? I will be up in the box with Heart Song."
"Sure, sounds good to me." he nodded.
He went backstage and grabbed his microphone. Harmony assisted him by plugging it in, as well as taking the disc he brought with his song pre-recorded without lyrics. Harmony also got up a karaoke screen, with the lyrics on them, so Talented Heart wouldn't forget them, even though he already knew the song by heart. It was to help him be comfortable performing in front of an audience. Sometimes bears can get nervous on stage, so that's why she had a karaoke machine with the lyrics on them. Harmony wouldn't want her performers to get stage fright right in the middle of their song, especially since they performed live.
They let him warm up with some vocal exercises, and Talented Heart took a drink of water. Talented Heart put on headphones to make sure he could hear everything correctly and was ready. He gave a thumbs up.
Harmony and Heart Song were up in the sound booth.
"I hope he's good." Heart Song said, and Harmony nodded.
"Okay, we're going to play the music in 3… 2… 1…" Harmony announced through a microphone which could be heard on the stage.
They played the music, and decided to record it last second. Hopefully Talented Heart wouldn't mind.
The power of caring is much stronger than you realize
There are good things and bad things in the world
Sometimes things we think are good are hiding bad underneath
And we can lose hope when we feel we don't make a difference
I see you've got so much caring inside of you
Sometimes the world is scary and dark
Don't let it take away your heart
Let your caring power shine through the night
These hearts were made for caring, and that's just what they'll do
Keep on caring, caring is forever, it's magic can only grow
I see you've got so much caring inside of you
Show the world you care, and evil will never win
Talented Heart's practice was well, perfect. Harmony sighed with relief. Harmony and Heart Song clapped and gave double thumbs up to Talented Heart, who took a bow and waved.
Harmony and Heart Song came down to the stage from the sound booth.
"That was great. What did you think?" Harmony said.
Talented Heart smiled. "I'm glad you liked it. I thought it sounded perfect."
"Lucky for you, we recorded it!" Heart Song said with auto-tune.
"Really? Whatever for?"
"Just in case something bad happens. Like if you lose your voice right before the show, you can just lip-sync it."
Talented Heart looked incredibly nervous at the thought of that, and raised an eyebrow. Harmony was instantly worried and confused.
"I've never lip-synced before. I prefer to be genuine." he shuddered and shook his head.
Harmony's jaw dropped.
"Erhm." Heart Song nudged Harmony, who quickly put on a nervous smile. Her eye twitched.
"Heh, that's funny, Talented Heart. You didn't mention that. Well look at it this way. This is a genuine recording!"
Talented Heart considered for a moment, and nodded.
"Yes that's true. But if I lip-sync it, won't it be like tracing my own work?" he asked.
"Ok, you have a point there. But if you're 'doing' it," Harmony used air-quotes, "Wouldn't it still be genuine? It's like using the same recipe to make lunch. What's your favorite lunch?"
"Mm, chicken noodle soup, a club sandwich, and kettle cooked chips." he said.
"See now once you have all of your ingredients for your absolute favorite soup, and sandwich, and say you make it yourself and have it a few times a week, the exact same way, isn't it still a good meal?"
Talented Heart shrugged. "I see what you're getting at, using this metaphor. I'll only use it as a last resort, in case something bad happens."
Chapter 2:
The Power Outage
Just as Talented Heart said that, the power went out. They heard an evil laugh, and the emergency rainbow colored night lights turned on. The atmosphere went from a concert to eerie.
"Oh brilliant." Harmony said and rolled her eyes.
"Wh-what was that?" asked Talented Heart.
In the dim lighting, Heart Song and Harmony spotted the troll named Beastly, up to his evil shenanigans to bring the caring meter level down to zero.
"It's Beastly! Shreeky put him up to this again!" Harmony grumbled.
"Who's Shreeky?" asked Talented Heart.
"Beastly's human boss! She's awful." Heart Song said sadly.
Talented Heart felt caught up and nodded with understanding.
They all hurried out of the building which Harmony knew like the back of her paw. Except Beastly, he went somewhere else, which worried the three bears.
"Oh no, all the security cameras are out!" Heart Song grumbled, pointing to them.
"I hate that I have to keep having to get replacements for those, Beastly!" Harmony shouted.
"Careful, Harmony. We don't want him to let the caring meter go down." she reminded her.
"Right. Eh-ehm, excuse me. Thank you Beastly, now I can get the next top of the line security cameras!" she huffed.
They were in the small parking lot of the theater, breathing heavily from having run all the way out.
"I guess it's good you made a copy of my practice." Talented Heart said kindly.
Harmony nodded.
Beastly was up on the roof, and caught their attention with a megaphone and some awful singing.
"The show is over, go home!" he screeched.
Well, Harmony lived on top of the theater as it was 2 stories, so that made her angry.
"If you want a ticket, you can pay $12 at the ticket booth please." Harmony said, trying to figure out a way to get the mischievous troll away.
"No thank you, purple flower Care Bear. I actually wanted to give Mr. Sunset bear something." Beastly said.
Harmony and Heart Song were instantly suspicious, and put their hands on their hips. The only thing Beastly gave anyone was trouble.
However because Talented Heart was new to Care-a-lot, he had only heard about Beastly and Shreeky on the news. Surely he couldn't be that difficult to get rid of. The Care Bears did that all the time.
"Hey Beastly, what do you want to give me?"
Beastly threw down a potion bottle, which broke and exploded in purple shadowy smoke. Talented Heart only managed to breathe in a small part of the potion, before Harmony and Heart Song pulled him out of the way, and they used the Care Bear stare to render the rest of the airborne potion ineffective. Talented Heart coughed, and felt a headache bloom in his head.
"This! Ha-ha! Now you'll never be able to share your talents with anyone!" Beastly laughed, and disappeared.
"How long until the show?" Harmony asked.
"It's at 7:30 pm, and it's 2 pm now. We only have 5 hours to get rid of this potion effect."
Heart Song carefully picked up a piece of the potion bottle which had some potion liquid in it which hadn't been touched by the Care Bears Stare. She couldn't let it touch her, or else she'd end up like Talented Heart Bear was currently. She found a clean and empty plastic bottle in the recycling bin by the back door, and put the glass inside.
Talented Heart felt light-headed and sick. "Harmony, where is that music disc?"
"I have it with me still, Talented Heart." she said and held it in her paws.
"Get rid of it. I never want anyone to hear it. I can't go on your show anymore."
Harmony gasped. The potion was working faster than she thought.
"What? Why not?"
"I don't have any talents. I… never want to perform or share my talents again. I don't deserve to be a Care Bear anymore." he said, and nearly fell over.
"This is really bad, Harmony." Heart Song said as they caught him,"He only caught a whiff of the potion and this is how much damage it has done! How could they make something like this?"
"I think we have to go to the Hall of Hearts and ask the Care Bear Family for help." Harmony said, as she didn't know what this potion was made out of.
His symbol was slowly losing its color and turning gray. That creative gleam in his eyes went out. Harmony created a flower key out of her symbol and clicked the purple petal. A cloud car materialized on the parking lot, ready to go.
Heart Song and Harmony put Talented Heart in the back seat. Harmony was going to drive, and Heart Song made sure Talented Heart wouldn't fall out of the seat or throw up. Heart Song managed to hold on to the bottle with the broken piece of glass that had the drop of the potion on it.
Luckily, Harmony put the music disc in the cd player, and turned the music up.
"Fight it, Talented Heart! We care about you! You're very talented! You're a jack-of-all-trades type of Bear, with many muses! Painting, drawing, poetry, music, singing, dancing, and crafting!" Heart Song said, when she realized what Harmony was trying to do.
"Impossible… I failed those classes in school. I can't do those. I find no joy in those useless hobbies. I'm not any good, I'm the worst at those." he said, and put his paws to his mouth, as if he couldn't believe what he said, or was about to throw up.
Let your caring power shine through the night! Harmony sang loudly, hoping it would reach him.
They were just minutes away from the Hall of Hearts now, Harmony could see the top of it in the distance. She hoped the Care Bears would be able to use a Care Bears Stare on him and help Talented Heart.
"I love your music! It's my favorite song of the day!" Harmony said, "I have a different favorite song every day because I love so much music, so please don't be offended!"
Talented Heart coughed. That brought him back to the caring world, if only for a moment.
"Help me!" he cried out, before he slipped under the potion's control again.
Chapter 3:
Care Bear Family to the Rescue!
They landed at the Hall of Hearts. Harmony gave her best alarm sound effect noise she possibly could, with all her heart.
All of the Care Bears came rushing outside, stopping all activities. Tender Heart saw the situation they were in.
"What happened? How can we help?"
"Talented Heart came on my show. The power went out, and Beastly threw a potion at Talented Heart, which now makes him think he doesn't have any talents." Harmony was on the verge of tears.
She had only just met Talented Heart a half an hour ago, but she cared about him. She couldn't stand to see a creative bear be corrupted by evil.
"We care about him, Tenderheart." Harmony added.
"Of course. Let's do the Care Bear's Stare." Tender Heart decided.
"Wait! I have a piece of the potion with me." Heart Song said, giving him the bottle.
"Friend Bear, Wish Bear, can you analyze this evil potion for us?" he asked.
"Yes. We will be right back." Friend and Wish said as they took the bottle and ran inside together.
They got a chair for Talented Heart to sit on. He managed a weak "Thank you", before another wave of evil washed over him.
"What's your favorite talent?" Harmony asked calmly.
He tried his best to fight through it, for Harmony, but it was incredibly straining.
"Um… favorite… no. No favorites. I love all talents. I admire bears and people who have different talents than me, because I can't do those." he said, as he flickered between good and evil.
Harmony was relieved for a moment, but she could see him struggling.
"I see what you've been doing, Harmony. This is good. Keep at it. Wish and Friend should be back any second." Bedtime encouraged.
Grumpy spoke up and said, "I installed a new machine in the Rainbow Rescue Beam room. It can detect evil and what kind of things they use in an evil potion, and how to counter it with an antidote. Which, most of the time is a Care Bears Stare."
"And what if that doesn't work?" Heart Song asked.
"We will have to get True Heart and Noble Heart. They have the strongest caring power in all of the Care Bear world." Cheer replied.
Wish and Friend came rushing back with the results from their observation of the potion.
"It's made of forget-me-not flower oil, eraser shavings, toadstool, and some purple and green hair. Eww." Wish said, "It must be made of Shreeky's hair, which adds the evil in it. Eraser for getting rid of talents. Forget-me-not so Talented Heart doesn't remember who he is, and toadstool for poison. Antidote is a Care Bears Stare or Cousin Call."
"Oh boy. Look at how bad the Caring Meter is right now." Birthday Bear said.
The meter was currently at seven, yet the heart-shaped handle kept wobbling down to at least four hearts, and rarely went up past seven.
"We have to try a Care Bears Stare. If it doesn't work, we will call the Cousins and True Heart and Noble Heart to help do a huge Care Bear family Stare and Call." Tender Heart said.
The Care Bears all lined up in rainbow color order: Funshine Bear, Birthday Bear, Friend Bear, Tender Heart Bear, Love-a-lot, Cheer Bear, Baby Hugs, Share Bear, Harmony Bear, Heart Song Bear, Baby Tugs, Grumpy Bear, Bedtime Bear, Grams Bear, Wish Bear, and Good Luck Bear. They held hands and took a deep breath. Harmony wondered if 2 extra bears to a Care Bears Stare would have any effect.
"3… 2… 1… Care Bears Stare!" they all shouted, and aimed their symbols at Talented Heart Bear, who was sitting on the rainbow dining chair.
After the bright light faded, the bears saw that Talented Heart's symbol was now faintly restored, but only half way.
Talented Heart blinked, with his usual gleam in his eyes coming back for a moment. He rubbed his eyes like he had woken up from a nap that had a nightmare.
"What's going on? Why is everything so foggy and washed out?" he asked.
Talented Heart felt like his headache was getting better. He tried to walk over to Harmony to tell her he was sorry about whatever he said during the potion affected him.
"I'm so sorry Harmony, I didn't mean to say any of that." he said, but he wished he said it with more passion.
"What? What did he say?" asked Funshine, "He's mumbling."
"This is bad. Good Luck Bear, call the Cousins and True Heart and Noble Heart over through the Rainbow Rescue Beam." Tender Heart ordered.
Talented Heart was so confused. Why didn't they understand what he said? He wasn't mumbling.
"It's okay Talented Heart, we're helping you. Don't worry. Please, believe in yourself." Harmony said as she came over and held his hand cautiously.
"I don't like feeling like this. It feels like half of my caring has been taken away from me." he admitted.
"No one else likes that feeling either. And don't worry about the show, I can always cancel it and give you another chance, when your talents come back."
"I want to try singing, maybe that will help." Talented Heart said.
He tried, but all that came out was a croak of the first verse. Harmony and Heart Song covered their ears painfully.
"Please don't do that, we know you're trying to sing, but it's really…" Harmony was about to speak the rest of her sentence when Heart Song cut her off.
"It's a good try. You're not fully back yet, so don't give up. Why don't you try a drawing?" Heart Song said.
Talented Heart frowned.
Hugs and Tugs brought him some paper and crayons. Talented Heart decided to draw Harmony and Heart Song together, but when he did he chose the completely wrong colors, and broke the crayons as he tried to draw the two bears. He was startled.
"Oh no." he said with trembling paws.
"Don't feel bad. Sometimes I can't even draw a heart." admitted Hugs, shrugging her shoulders.
"Other times my Care Bear drawings just come out all scribbly, but I still have fun with them." Tugs said.
"What about writing a poem?" asked Love-a-lot, who brought a pencil and notebook paper.
"I'll try." Talented Heart said, but he wasn't so sure. He was starting to feel hungry and was losing his concentration on trying to restore his talents.
Rainbows are crappy,
Clouds smell like poo,
I hate Care-a-lot
And so does everyone else!
"That was not what I wanted to write a poem about! I swear! Oh my stars, it's awful!" he yelped with horror at the terrible creation.
The other Care Bears yelped too as they read his awful poem. At least he wrote it, but it was written as if Beastly or Shreeky would have written something to taunt the Care Bears.
"At least you wrote something?" Share Bear said, with a little bit of hope, "What about dancing?"
"Oh my stars, I don't think I can handle much more of this." Harmony cried.
"He's got to keep trying, Harmony. We have to keep caring about him." Share replied.
"I do. But how could anyone hate Care-a-lot?" she gasped, as she was on the verge of an anxiety attack.
"I want to try dancing. It sounds fun." Talented Heart said, to stop Harmony, Share, and Heart Song from arguing. He cared about them too, and it hurt to see them so worried about him.
"Play some music, Harmony!" said Share.
Share, the cubs, Talented Heart, and Birthday Bear all danced to the radio. Hugs and Tugs twisted and turned happily. Share did the sprinkler, and Birthday did the macarena. Talented Heart wondered if he could copy their moves. He twisted about and did the macarena, but he fell over his own feet and landed head first in the clouds.
The bears pulled him out of the clouds, and he puffed the clouds out of his mouth.
"That's no good. I'm a terrible dancer. Thank you for getting me out of the clouds." Talented Heart said and crossed his arms.
"You know, you can't always be good at something the first time around. Even the seventh. Or the thousandth, sometimes." Grumpy said, also shrugging, "Like…I'm not always good at repairing things. I sometimes forget which wrench is the right size for what I'm working on."
"And I sometimes forget which place I'm at when I'm knitting." Grams said, "I've knitted hundreds of scarves and gloves."
Talented Heart tried to comprehend what they were saying, but he didn't quite understand them in this state. What was Harmony saying about sandwiches earlier? He tried to think, but he couldn't remember.
"I'm so tired of being bad at things I used to be good at. It doesn't make sense. I practice so much. I used to enjoy doing everything we just tried to do." he said, and sat back down in the rainbow chair.
"Um guys, the caring meter dipped to three." Love-a-lot reported.
"I think he needs a big hug to feel better!" Hugs said, jumping at the opportunity.
Everyone who was outside gave Talented Heart a big group hug. Talented Heart struggled to understand what he was feeling. It felt like his feelings were battling each other. He wanted to be happy, but he felt more sadness than happiness.
The caring meter went up to three and a half, and wobbled.
"The Cousins should be here any minute." said Good Luck Bear as he came back from the rainbow rescue beam. They broke the hug, happy to hear the good news.
"Maybe we could try making some crafts." Tugs suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Harmony said.
They were about to get items to make some crafts like glue and construction paper, but Talented Heart felt the whole world spinning and he collapsed.