One Year Later…
Over the long months of training and honing her skills, Shion had gotten better at sensing the darkness in other worlds. As she stepped out of the Dark Corridor onto the rich soil of the forest once again, she closed her eyes and focused. She sensed that the darkness was still present in this world. However, she also sensed a great crowd of light that kept the darkness at bay and stopped it from spreading.
Shion smiled. That crowd of light must be the Care Bears, and their Cousins. Enough time had passed that all the cubs must have grown up and joined True Heart and Noble Heart in their quest to defeat the darkness.
Shion had also done some research into what kind of world this was. It was indeed a special kind of world, with natural heroes of Light. It was currently the only one of its kind, but others had been discovered in the past. The Unions usually left worlds like this alone and did not interfere very much with the inhabitants, unless the darkness was exceptionally strong.
But it wouldn’t hurt to check up every once in a while, and see how her friends were doing.
Shion walked along the outskirts of Camp Thunderbird, looking at the kids doing various activities. She wondered if Dawn, John and Christy were at the camp this summer, considering how depressed they had been during the last summer.
Her question was answered as a series of yells and shouts erupted from a nearby trail. Dawn and John were watching from a fence as a group of kids ran down the trail. Dawn turned around, and seeing Shion, she smiled.
“Hi! Nice to see you again!” Dawn said cheerfully. “Visiting from the other camp?”
Shion nodded.
“Go, Christy!” John called out toward the racing group. Shion squinted and saw Christy at the head of the pack, running effortlessly, while a boy in a buzz cut limped just behind her.
Christy ran toward the camp counselors’ office, a large building with twin totem poles, and slapped her hand on the doorway.
“First!” she chimed out. “The Camp Champ wins again!”
The boy with the buzz cut dragged behind her, panting. “So what else is new?” he said glumly, “You win all the time now.”
“I remember when you were last in everything,” another kid piped up, “and the only thing you were good for was shooting marbles!”
The buzz cut boy snorted. “Marble champ!”
Christy scowled. “All right, then,” She picked up a handful of trash bags and rods and threw them toward the buzz cut boy. “Double trash duty for you!”
“Hey, no fair!” he said indignantly, “Why me?”
“Because you’re a jerk,” Christy said, “and because you were an awful Camp Champ.”
“Hey, come on…” The boy said apologetically. “If I ever become Camp Champ again, I’d let other people win once in a while!”
Christy threw him a smug smile. “Well, you’ll never be Camp Champ again. No one will!” She walked away with a swagger in her step.
Dawn, John and Shion watched as the boy with the buzz cut started picking up trash with a dejected look on his face.
“That didn’t look like the Christy I know,” Shion said softly.
“Yeah…” John said, unnerved. “She’s a little different now. Ever since she started winning races…”
“She’s more confident now,” Dawn said, “And I’m happy that she is, but sometimes she can be so mean.” She looked over at the buzz cut boy. “Especially to that kid.”
John nodded. “He was last year’s Camp Champ, Ash. But now that he keeps losing against Christy, everyone calls him Trash.”
Shion grimaced. “Ouch.”
“But Christy’s never been mean to us,” Dawn added, “She’s never made us race if we didn’t want to, and never gives us chores if we come in last.”
“Hmm.” Shion wondered if she should have a talk with Christy. She remembered the Unions’ policy of non-interference unless the darkness took over, and reluctantly decided to let things be.
Not long afterward, Shion waved goodbye to the siblings and left the camp, wandering through the forest.
“How about we visit the Care Bears before we go?” Chirithy asked, “Just to see how things are going?”
Shion smiled. “Sure!” This would be the first time she would see the other Care Bears, and she couldn’t wait to meet them.
She summoned her Keyblade, and with a twist, it transformed into an airfoil. As Chirithy disappeared with a poof, Shion hopped onto the airfoil and floated up into the sky.
“This will be such a wonderful party,” Harmony Bear said to Tenderheart Bear as she looked around at the festive decorations.
Tenderheart nodded. “True Heart and Noble Heart will be surprised.” The de-facto leader of the Care Bears smiled as he thought of the two guardians who had raised them with love and care.
“Not if they get back before we’re ready,” Grumpy Bear said with his usual gruffness, carrying one side of a colossally long baguette.
“Cheer up, Grumpy Bear,” Cheer Bear said, “We’ve got time to spare. Look around, we’re practically done now!”
Grumpy Bear appeared again holding the other end of the baguette. “That’s because I’ve been doing double duty!” he said as the other Care Bears stared at him in confusion.
A flash of light caught their attention as a strange metal airfoil appeared out of thin air. They watched as a lone figure dismounted the airfoil, quickly transforming it back into a Keyblade.
Shion de-summoned the Keyblade and looked around at the cute, fluffy cloud buildings.
“This must be Care-a-Lot,” she said to herself, feeling in awe of being in a place with so much light. “It feels just like Daybreak Town…”
She looked over at the multicolored bears who had curiously wandered over to her and smiled. “Hi!”
“Who are you?” Tenderheart asked with a bemused look.
“I’m Shion,” she said, introducing herself. The other bears looked at each other, then back at her.
“Don’t worry, I’m a friend,” Shion spoke up.
“Oh! You must have heard about the party we’re having later!” Harmony Bear exclaimed, “We’re welcoming back True Heart and Noble Heart after their latest Caring mission!”
“You’re welcome to stay and celebrate with us,” Tenderheart Bear said warmly.
Shion nodded. “Thanks.”
They were interrupted by another Care Bear calling out from the plaza. “Hey, look!”
They all rushed over to the spot where a large, heart-shaped meter stood.
“The Caring Meter…” Tenderheart murmured.
“It’s going crazy!” Grumpy Bear exclaimed, as the needle pointed up, down, and rotated all around in random directions.
Cheer Bear glanced at Shion, who gazed at the spectacle with confusion. “The Caring Meter tells us when someone on Earth needs our help. The lower it gets, the more people need us.”
“But what can we do, with the Caring Meter acting like this?” Grumpy asked.
“You’ll need me,” a loud, cold voice rang out.
Shion and the bears looked up to see a red-haired boy with sunglasses and a red tracksuit, carrying a toolbox.
“I’m the Caring Meter Reader,” the boy said, “I’ve come to check your Caring Meter, and boy, does it need checking!”
“We didn’t call anyone,” Harmony Bear murmured, “Did we?”
Tenderheart shook his head. “But it wouldn’t hurt to have him check!”
As Shion watched the strange boy work on the Caring Meter, her hand twitched involuntarily. She was trying to hold herself back from summoning her Keyblade. Something about this boy was very, very wrong. Darkness seemed to roll off of him in waves. She looked around, but the Care Bears seemed to see him not as a threat, but as just an ordinary boy.
She looked over at a pair of Heart and Star Buddies hovering nearby and glaring at the boy. It seemed that she wasn’t the only one who was suspicious.
“There! All done!” The boy closed his toolbox just as the Caring Meter dropped from 100 percent down to zero.
Shion and the Buddies gasped and looked at each other.
“Just let it sit for a while, and it’ll be good as new,” he said.
“We’re having a party,” Tenderheart said, “Want to come?”
“Sure!” the boy said heartily, “Who likes games?”
There was an excited show of hands.
“Okay!” The boy turned around and pointed. “Hide and seek is over there, sack racing over there, and leapfrogging is right over there!”
The Care Bears cheered and raced off in multiple directions.
The boy’s expression grew cold behind his sunglasses, and he pulled out a large red bag. “Time for a game of disappearing bears,” he said with a sinister smile.
Seeing this, Shion glared and summoned her Keyblade. This boy was definitely up to no good. As he ran toward one group of Care Bears, she was right behind him.
But it turned out she didn’t have to worry. The Heart and Star Buddies were more than enough to subdue him, by tripping him, shoving cake into his face, and dropping him into a vat of frosting, among other things. Soon, the boy lay unconscious on the floor.
The Care Bears surrounded him.
“Hey, are you all right?”
“We’re so sorry!”
“Let’s give him a hug!”
The boy opened his eyes and gave an inhuman growl. His eyes flashed red. “Get away from me!”
“Everyone, get back!” Shion shouted, pointing her Keyblade at him.
“Keep your love and caring, kindness and affection to yourselves!” the boy shouted. His form crystallized, immediately changing into a formless cloud.
“It’s Dark Heart!” one of the Care Bears shouted.
“Dark Heart…” Shion murmured. Then she readied her Keyblade in a fighting stance, realizing she had just found the source of the darkness in this world.
But before she could do anything, two bright beams of light shot out, hitting Dark Heart and causing him to seize up. Shion turned around to see True Heart Bear, along with a purple horse with a multicolored mane. Noble Heart Horse, she assumed.
“True Heart!” the Care Bears called out, “Noble Heart!”
“You two,” Dark Heart said menacingly, “I should have known you would come back before I captured all your little helpers. I could have had you all!”
“Not if we can help it!” True Heart said. She and Noble Heart nodded to each other. “Care Bears!” she shouted, calling them to attention.
“Care Cousins!” Noble Heart joined in.
“Stare!”
“Call!”
The air came alive with a multitude of light beams, fired from scores of Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins. The lights ravaged Dark Heart, pushing him back until he retaliated with red lightning bolts.
Shion readied her Keyblade and fired a light beam of her own toward Dark Heart. The beam joined those of the Care Bears and Cousins, and was just enough to drive Dark Heart away.
“I won’t forget this!” Dark Heart roared, “I’ll be back, and I will defeat you all!”
He disappeared, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Shion stood by and listened as True Heart and Noble Heart spoke to the others, laying a charge upon the rest of the Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins, to continue caring for the world while the two of them chased after Dark Heart to defeat him while he was still weak.
“You can count on us!” Tenderheart Bear said.
“All of us!” Brave Heart Lion added.
Shion quietly slipped away as they all dispersed with a renewed vigor in their hearts, ready to work on helping the world care a little more.
Chirithy appeared with a poof. “I think it’s best to leave Dark Heart to them,” he said, “They’re more than capable of handling him.”
“I hope so,” Shion said softly. She opened a Dark Corridor with her Keyblade, and they both stepped inside.
Christy walked through the camp, nodding to other kids walking by and waving back to others. She still felt weird sometimes when the other kids looked and addressed her with awe and respect. But she quickly pushed the feelings away. She was Camp Champ, after all, and such things came with the territory.
She rounded a corner, and was immediately met by a large, bright red wolf.
“Stay back!” she shouted.
The wolf shimmered, and with a clap of thunder, it was replaced by a red-haired, red-eyed boy in a red tracksuit.
“You!” Christy exclaimed.
“I told you I would be back,” Dark Heart said smugly, “And I have a favor to ask of you.”