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Chapter 34: Sealed in

Soul Heart reappeared in front of her house with Valiant Heart still on the ground. She stared down at him with a mixture of contempt and amusement, "You at least proved this was a useful effort."

"What did you do to him!" Marine Heart Otter stormed up towards Soul Heart, water dripping from his coat and fire in his eyes.

"A test, to see if I could empower him. He both passed and failed." Soul Heart turned away from Marine Heart.

Marine Heart finally snapped, "Then test this!" he shot his hand forwards as a torrent of water blasted out towards her. Soul Heart pointed an arm behind her without even looking and dispersed the water as it struck her.

Marine Heart was stunned right up until he was bashed on the head and pinned down, an acidic ninjato at his throat. "You went too far this time, now you die," Blade Star whispered.

"No!" Soul Heart turned to face the two, "Let him go, Blade Star, I still have need of him."

Blade Star hesitated for a moment and looked down at the still growling Marine Heart, then sighed and stepped of his back and sheathed her sword, "As you wish."

Marine Heart growled as he got to his feet but said nothing.

"Good," Soul Heart nodded approvingly and stepped towards him. She reached out a hand towards the otter's face but he recoiled in disgust. Soul Heart frowned then shot forwards and grabbed his head, "Enough resistance from you," her eyes crackled with green magical energy, "Return to your home until I call upon you tomorrow."

Surprisingly, Marine obeyed. He stormed back to his house on the beach and left Soul Heart and Blade Star standing there next to Passion's unconscious form.

"Blade, take Passion home and bring Shatter Heart here. I will summon the rest of them later." Soul Heart turned and marched back into her home.

"At once, my lady." Blade Star cross an arm across her chest then picked up Passion Heart.

OoOoO

Funshine had changed back into a male by the time he finished his shower the next morning. After a breakfast in silence he went out to his skate park and started to roll around on his skateboard, but his heart wasn't in it. He didn't even make halfway up a half-pipe before he just slid back down and rolled over to a grinding rail, only to stop, sigh, and dismount.

Maybe he'd feel better later.

OoOoO

Soul Heart knew they wouldn't gather for her, so she went to the first place she knew they would be. She burst open the door to Flash Heart's house in the middle of a meeting he was having, with Shatter Heart and Blade Star flanking her.

"Good to see that you're all here," she gave a smug smile to the assembled group.

The tension in the air became thick as Flash Heart growled, "What do you want?"

Soul Heart didn't lose her smug expression, "I'm here to give you all a chance to defeat the Care Bears that humiliated you before," she turned to Passion Heart, "Tell them. Tell them how my power helped you yesterday."

Passion Heart found himself staring back into Soul Heart's eyes before he responded, "Yeah, I felt incredible," he gave a fearsome smile and clenched his fists, "they couldn't even slow me down and I would have had them if they couldn't fly."

"Exactly, though I need to refine the process so I can give you all that same level of power." She walked over to and squeezed Passion's shoulder, "Hopefully without making you as much of a berserker as Passion Heart was."

"Sounds good, a bit too good," Marine Heart gave a skeptical look to Soul Heart.

"I won't start right away. I need to know which of you needs this kind of help. After all, Flash Heart only lost his fight against Love Heart because of a momentary distraction," Soul Heart turned to Flash Heart, who just glared back at her.

"Maybe," Calm Heart's head began to ache and she put a hand to her forehead, "But I don't think it would be a bad idea."

"Yes...I mean..." Snowy Heart held his forehead too.

"Good, then we'll start tomorrow. Until then, good night." Soul Heart turned and left with her two bodyguards in tow.

Flash Heart ignored his friends as they dispersed from his house and chased after Soul Heart. Soul Heart heard him and stopped, motioning for Shatter Heart and Blade Star to wait and turned around.

"Did you need something?" she asked.

"Where is Tarot Heart?" Flash Heart's question was steady but challenging.

"I don't know." Soul Heart turned to walk away when Flash Heart suddenly appeared in front of her in a flash of light.

"Where. Is. Tarot. Heart." Flash Heart ground the words out through gritted teeth.

Shatter Heart was about to draw one of his swords to strike, when Soul Heart put out a hand to stop him.

"I don't know. He just vanished yesterday morning and I have no idea where he went." Soul Heart said.

"I don't believe you!" Flash Heart dropped into a fighting stance.

Blade Star drew her ninjato and jumped at Flash Heart, aiming for his neck with an acid laced blade.

Quick as lightning, Flash Heart dodged back and summoned a blade of light, slicing through the ninjato in a single swipe. Before Blade Star could retaliate Flash Heart had whipped out his Kusarigama and wrapped the chain around her body, pinning her arms to her sides. Shatter Heart shouted, sending a sonic wave at Flash Heart but before it could seriously hurt him Flash whipped the weighted end of his weapon at Shatter Heart face, the chain growing new links as it flew and wrapping around his neck. Flash Heart gave a sharp tug and pulled Shatter Heart to the ground.

"Enough!" Soul Heart stepped forwards and grabbed the chain, her magical energy shattering the object. "I know you won't believe me about what happened but believe me when I say this: if I knew where Tarot Heart was I would have retrieved him already. Now go back to your home and get ready for tomorrow." Soul Heart grabbed the arms of her two bodyguards and pulled them along back to her house.

Flash Heart just stood there, stunned, then turned and went home. He was crying by the time he got inside, the house feeling empty with Tarot Heart gone. "I'll find you someday, Tarot. I promise."

OoOoO

"Alright, you're cleared to go," Take Care removed the bandages from Loyal Heart's injuries.

"Thank you," Loyal Heart mumbled as he got up and left. Love Heart passed by Loyal Heart as he entered the office, the cast still on his arm.

"Ahh, here to get your cast off, or just to see a pretty doctor?" Take Care fluttered her eyelashes.

Love Heart smiled and blushed slightly, "Both, but take a look at my arm first."

"Of course. Into the X-Ray." Take Care guided Love Heart towards the device.

"Well, Love Heart, I'm impressed. Your arm is fully healed already. I'd say you haven't even lost any strength in that arm yet. Just give me a minute to remove it."

Love Heart held his arm out as Take Care carefully sawed the cast off. Take Care and Love Heart both grimaced and held their noses as the smell of fur unbathed for two weeks hit them.

Love Heart flexed his fingers and forearm, "Guess I should shower before our date. Do you need me for anything else?" he stood up.

"No, just my reports." Take Care smiled sweetly, "But I would like to go out before dinner tonight."

Love Heart blushed again but swallowed and regained his composure, "OK. I have to go to a meeting, excuse me."

OoOoO

Love Heart sat down with the rest of the Care Bear Magi, Tenderheart, Brave Heart, True Heart and Noble Heart alone in the Hall of Hearts. "I don't need to tell you that we have a serious problem so I'll get right to it: Passion Heart Wolverine's increase in strength is far beyond what anyone should be capable of in such a short time," he turned to Confidence Heart.

"I fought him less than half-a-year ago, before I could use any kinetics, and I kicked his ass," she saw the glare from Indy and the eye roll from Love Heart, "OK, so it was an even match and I almost died, but I still beat him and he wasn't as strong as he was two weeks ago."

"It sounds like he might have been holding back before, that or he's been...augmented somehow," Guidance Heart spoke up.

"So what do we do about this?" Anger Heart folded his arms across his chest.

True Heart spoke next, "I hope you don't mind my suggestion, but have you tried talking to them or reasoning with them."

"We have, or at least I tried a few times," Indy also had his arms folded as he started at his lap. "Shatter Heart and Blade Star chased me halfway across America and never relented. It was always: come with us or die," he looked up towards True Heart, "I don't think they want to talk."

"From what you told us, I'm inclined to agree," Tenderheart said, "The question is: what do we do about it?"

Love Heart sighed "What we need is time. Time to train, get stronger or just get ahead of them, but if they can get this strong so quickly then I don't know what we can do."

"Not unless we have a hyperbolic time chamber." Confidence Heart leaned back in her seat.

"Hyper-what?" Defiant Heart raised an eyebrow.

Confidence Heart leaned forwards, "It's a thing from Dragon Ball: a chamber they could go in where time moved a lot faster: one day in the real world was one year inside the chamber."

Defiant Heart groaned, "This isn't the time for anime fangirling. Can you focus on what we're doing please?"

"I might be able to do something." Everyone turned to Life Heart. Despite all the attention on her, Life Heart continued what she had to say, "If I can get a closer look at the barrier that surrounds the Kingdom of Caring I might be able to do something like that."

Sage Heart gave her a shocked expression, "You can do that?"

Life Heart averted her gaze, "Well...I don't know yet I haven't tried anything like this before but there are spells that can accelerate someone's actions. It would actually be harder if such a small area weren't already isolated by pre-existing magic but since it would just affect the Kingdom of Caring then accelerating time for everyone in here might be possible."

Love Heart smiled, "Thanks mom, we'll look into that. In the meantime, we need to be ready to train hard if this happens."

"If that's everything, then meeting adjourned," Brave Heart said.

"If you want, we can go check the barrier now," Sage Heart helped Life Heart to stand.

Life Heart nodded, her left hand on her belly, "Yes. The sooner I check the better."

Sage Heart drove them to the border of the Kingdom of Caring, having become quite skilled at driving a cloud car. He slowed to a stop as Life Heart held up a hand, indicating where the barrier existed. "Alright, here we are. Life Heart!" Sage Heart's eyes nearly popped out of his head as Life Heart stood up on her seat and leaned towards the barrier. She almost overbalanced until Sage Heart caught her and held her in place.

"I just need to contact it," Life Heart tilted her horn to contact the barrier. Her whole body tingled as she held the tip of her horn inside the barrier. She closed her eyes, "This is powerful and ancient magic, but I've felt something like it before. I think I can do something like what Confidence Heart suggested, if I have time to prepare." She let Sage Heart pull her back into her seat.

"How much time, before the twins are born?" Sage Heart glanced at Life Heart's baby bump before driving them back towards Care-a-Lot.

Life Heart leaned back in her seat, "Yes. The barrier actually makes things easier, since it isolates the Kingdom of Caring from the rest of the Earth, which is a huge part of the spell preparation done already. I should be able to set things up in a week or two at most."

Sage Heart nodded, "As long as you let us all help."

"I will."

OoOoO

Swift Heart slowed to a stop instead of her usual skid stop as she approached Funshine's house. The yellow bear hadn't even come to meals ever since he had shown up as a she over two weeks ago. Funshine was just coasting around in his skate park until he saw Swift Heart and stepped off his board. He was about to go into the house until Swift Heart's voice made him stop.

"Funshine, wait!" Swift Heart darted over next to him, "I want to talk."

"First time in weeks." He turned to face Swift Heart and for the first time she could see just how much hurt was in his eyes. "So, what do you want to talk about?" He averted his gaze as Swift Heart spoke up.

"I'm...sorry. I mean I shouldn't have run away like that I just didn't know what to think," she scuffed the ground with her foot, "I just...I mean I'm trying to understand and...everyone's just a little weirded out from seeing you as a girl."

Funshine's voice suddenly became rather dark, "To put it mildly." He turned to face Swift Heart, his eyes blazing, "Weirded out enough to not even come to see me for days on end or even try to contact me. I've been waiting, waiting for someone to come by and just give me the time of day and now I know what everyone thinks of me!" Funshine's voice had raised to shouting as he spoke and his face contorted in rage.

Swift Heart wilted for a moment under his stare, then stepped forwards and puffed up her chest, "Hey! You just sprung this on us out of nowhere, how did you expect us to react?!"

Funshine just groaned and threw up his arms, "How did you want me to say 'hey I think I might feel better if I was a girl' to everyone!?"

"I don't know I..." Swift Heart sighed, "I just don't know. I just... Look I'm sorry ok!"

Funshine dropped his arms, "OK." He was about to turn and leave when Swift Heart spoke again.

"There's one more thing," Swift Heart said as Funshine turned back to face her, "True Heart asked me about what you were going through and she's on her way to-"

"Funshine! Funshine!" The voice was interspersed with some heavy breathing as True Heart Bear jogged towards the house. Funshine turned to watch True Heart until she stopped, bent over with her hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

Funshine gave a sideways glare to Swift Heart then turned back to True Heart, "Did you need something, True Heart?" he tried his best to

"Just...a...minute..." True Heart panted then took a deep breath and managed to stand up and face Funshine. "I need to talk to you."

Funshine tensed as True Heart continued, "Swift Heart told me about your problem and I wanted to try and help."

"It's not a problem," Funshine bristled.

"I mean I want to help you. I don't understand-"

"NO, you don't," Funshine ground out.

True Heart was astonished, "Funshine, please, if you'll just come with me and see Take Care."

"I don't need to see Take Care! I'm not sick!" Funshine's face contorted in rage.

Swift Heart took Funshine's arm, "Funshine, please just do this so we can settle things."

Funshine gave a sigh of exasperation and glared at Swift Heart then True Heart. "Fine, let's get this over with."

OoOoO

"Other than a huge increase in stress and too few electrolytes compared to his last visit, there's nothing wrong with Funshine," Take Care looked up from her report, "He's in better shape than most of the family but I'd say that he hasn't been eating well the past few days, not badly enough to hurt him but he should get some rest and eat some more before he goes back to his usual 'extreme sports' activities."

"I see...But what about this whole..." True Heart struggled to find the words, "Gender Dysphoria?"

Take Care sighed and set her report down, "I'm sorry, True Heart, but I only told you about his physical health because he told me to. I'm bound by doctor-patient confidentiality on everything else. However..." She leaned forwards and stared hard at True Heart, "I can tell you that he is very lonely lately and he's going to need support to get through this. Avoiding him and treating him like he's sick is going to make things worse. Just try to be understanding, that's what we're good at. Now if you don't mind," Take Care stood up, "I have a date with Love Heart tonight, excuse me." Take Care stood up and left her office, heading into the part of the building that was her home.

True Heart exited just in time to see Funshine leave the office. She wanted to call out to him but stopped, sighed, then left the office and headed for home.

OoOoO

Take Care Bear was wearing a modest black dress without sleeves when Love Heart arrived at her house. Love Heart was wearing a sport's suit jacket over a dress shirt and dress pants, no tie though.

Take Care smiled, "Not bad for a first effort. Shall we go?"

Love Heart nodded, "OK, I found a place. Not sure how good it is though."

"It's the thought that counts," Take Care gave him a kiss on the cheek and grabbed her wallet, which she stuffed into a pocket that had been sewed into the dress, "Can you drive?"

"Haven't got the hang of it yet, but I have another way," he grabbed Take Care around the waist from behind and held on tight. "I've got you." Wind whipped up around them and they lifted off the ground.

"Oh my goodness!" Take Care had heard that Love Heart knew how to fly, but to feel herself lift off the ground with nothing under her feet was beyond exhilerating.

"I won't let you fall." Love Heart took off over the edge down towards Earth.

Take Care felt her heart leap into her throat as the sensation of free-falling hit her hard until they leveled off and Love Heart's grip around her waist tightened.

"This is amazing!" Take Care laughed, "How fast are we going?"

"Faster than you think, but there's a barrier of wind surrounding us so you barely feel it," Love Heart held her closer just to be safe, "We're almost there."

Take Care was almost disappointed when the exhilaration of flight ended as they landed in front of the restaurant, but she smiled nonetheless. "After the exiting flight over, I think dinner isn't going to measure up."

Love Heart chuckled nervously, "Just a place I found when I used to live here with Confidence Heart's family."

"Thank you," Take Care gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Now then, lead the way."

Love Heart nodded and took her hand to escort her in.

A couple hours later, Love Heart once again flew both himself and Take Care back up to the Kingdom of Caring, though he was exhausted as he landed in front of her house/hospital.

"That was a lovely evening, Love Heart," Take Care gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Want to come in?"

"Really? I mean right, of course," Love Heart cleared his throat, "I'd love to."

"You don't have to if you're not ready," Take Care assured him as she opened her front door.

"No," Love Heart shook his head, "I need to take this plunge or I'll never get over it, besides," he smiled, "I admire you."

"Oh, really?" Take Care waited until Love Heart had passed into her house and shut the door behind her.

"Yes, I like confident and capable women, I mean you need to have confidence and a lot of dedication to be a doctor." Love Heart said.

Take Care blushed, "Well it wasn't easy, but I wanted to do it and had to do it, for everyone's sakes."

"Exactly, maybe that's why I like Harmony Bear too," Love Heart scratched the back of his head, "I mean, learning music and performing is hard to do, all those people staring at you..."

"I see," Take Care took Love Heart's jacket and hung it up for him, "Thank you." She gave him a kiss on the nose. "Now then, shall we?" She led him towards her bedroom.

Love Heart chuckled nervously as he entered and began to remove his shirt, "I still can't believe I'm doing this."

"You'll believe it." Take Care reached behind herself, unzipped her dress then slid out of it. She stretched her arms behind her head, "Take a look."

Love Heart had tossed his shirt down and turned around. His jaw fell open as he saw Take Care, all her lavender fur exposed save for a lacy black lingerie panties and bra that carely covered her C-cup breasts where her chest symbol rested: a purple heart holding a yellow star. "Wow, I mean, where were you hiding those?"

Take Care giggled a she lowered her arms and draped them around Love Heart's neck. "All my clothes keep me looking professional, don't want my patients staring at my chest when I'm trying to treat them." She giggled and swayed slightly as she hooded her eyes towards him, "I bought these a couple years ago as a treat for myself, but then the whole 'I helped raise everyone up here' hit me and I realized I didn't have anyone I could wear this for, until now." She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss.

Love Heart finally reacted and carefully undid his belt, letting his pants drop. He edged around behind her and reached his hands up to cup her breasts, "Thanks for sharing this with me." He leaned forwards to whisper in her ear, "Now I'm going to share with you."

Take Care giggled, "Oooh, don't make me wait!"

OoOoO

In a hastily constructed arena in front of Soul Heart's house. Marine Heart was knocked to the ground as he stood facing Flash Heart. He was aching from several heavy blows the Bear had dealt him with his kusarigama. "RAAAAGGGGHH!" Marine Heart launched a torrent of water at Flash Heart only for a blast of light to bisect the beam and strike Marine Heart in the stomach, laying him out flat.

Soul Heart stood up from where she had been watching with Shatter Heart and Blade Star, "Alright, that's enough. Flash Heart you're done for the day, Shatter Heart bring Marine Heart to my house for his turn for augmentation."

"So that's how this goes now?" Flash Heart dissipated his weapon, "Loser goes for experiments and the winner goes free."

"Exactly," Soul Heart grinned, "And I expect every one of you to need this at some point. Don't get too comfortable, Flash Heart." Soul Heart left with Shatter Heart who had the injured Marine Heart Otter draped over a shoulder.

"This is fucking insane," Flash Heart swore aloud as he turned to leave, "Why are they all going along with this? Why am I..." he stopped halfway to his house and began to apply magical healing to his injuries, "Because I won't abandon them, even if this drives them crazy I would never abandon them to her, even if we have to do this." He looked skywards, "I need to find a way back to that castle, someday."

Inside Soul Heart's house she had Marine Heart strapped down to table as Soul Heart created another dose of the green substance she had used on Passion Heart, this time brighter green and only the size of a single drop.

"Not too much this time," she floated the small drop over to Marine Heart and dropped it onto his chest. The otter gave a sudden gasp of pain the grit his teeth as it absorbed.

"Good, like I thought it just needs smaller doses and more time to adjust. This should prove fruitful," Soul Heart stood back to watch as the otter convulsed on the table, "If this works then in just a couple months we will be unstoppable.

OoOoO

With the help of the rest of the Care Bear Family, Life Heart had set up three dozen towers around Care-a-Lot and the Forest of Feelings. Each three meters tall, made of red and blue steel and topped by an eight pointed star, each in a different color. Despite her due date rapidly approaching, Life Heart worked every waking minute on preparing the ritual for her spell and inscribing glyphs on a single larger tower that was attached to the top of the old caring meter and topped with a rainbow colored eight-pointed star.

Life Heart finally floated down from where she levitated next to the tower, hand on her huge taut tummy as Sage Heart caught her. "And it's ready." She turned away from the Caring meter to face the crowd, as everyone had gathered so everyone would know what was going on.

Life Heart took a deep breath then spoke, slowly at first but picking up speed as she spoke, "Care Bear Family, this is a magical device that will accelerate time for the entire Kingdom of Caring. For the next three months of real time we will be moving at twelve times the rate of the rest of the world; it will take three years of our time before we return to normal time. Bright Heart has set up a special calendar in the Hall of Hearts to track the time in the real world. Now is everyone ready?"

There were choruses of uncertainty, but no one objected. Life Heart nodded and turned back to face the Caring Meter. Her horn lit up with energy as she spoke words in a language no one understood before a beam of blue energy shot out from her horn and struck the star on the top. The star glowed bright blue the shot out beams in 36 directions, each flying to one of the towers set up everywhere else. Everyone felt a slight wave of nausea as their relative time increased and the whole Kingdom of Caring shuddered.

They were sealed in.