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Chapter 31: Discovery

The island where the Shadow Magi lived was in the Atlantic Ocean hidden behind a wall of magic; any ships that might have crashed into it were diverted by a sudden thought by the helmsmen and anyone who looked at it would see nothing but a flat useless piece of land, except for the Shadow Magi. The island itself was divided up according to each of their preferred living conditions. Marine Heart Otter lived in what looked like a fisher's hut on the island's main beach.

Marine Heart dove under the water and spiraled around, enjoying the feeling of the water flowing through his fur as he grabbed a sea urchin that he flew nearby, consuming it and three others in the same manner. He passed by a small field and stopped, sniffing then lowering his head to brush the mud with his whiskers then digging in the mud until he unearthed a batch of clams. He grinned and pulled out half a dozen of them before swimming on. Finally, he found what he was looking for: a large crab. Marine Heart licked his lips and snatched up the crab, avoiding its pinching claws, then swam back up to the surface, snatching fish around him as he headed upwards.

Flora was waiting for Marine on the beach with an arm full of berries as the otter stepped on the shore, arms folded and holding the pouch on his chest shut.

"Good fishing today?" Flora asked.

"It's just right for me, perfect food too." Marine grinned as he stepped over to a large, flat rock embedded in the ground, but still on the sand. He dumped the contents of his natural pouch onto the rock. "Got some fish for you too."

Flora giggled, "You're sweet," she gave him a kiss on the cheek, Marine responded with a playful nip to her nose.

Flora picked up a fish and bit into it as Marine spotted the crab trying to scuttle away. "Not so fast." He grabbed the crab and bit into its shell. He spat out the hard pieces as the crab stopped moving then bit into the tasty flesh inside.

Flora ate her fish, along with the berries she collected, and watched as Marine finished off the crab then picked up one of the clams and rapidly smashed its shell open before eating the insides.

"Feeling better?" the voice came from Flash Heart as he approached the couple.

Flora swallowed, "Much better."

Marine Heart tossed the last empty clam shell away, "So what brings you here?"

Flash stood next to the rock table, "We need to talk, all of us. Meet at my house when you're done here."

"Is everyone going to be there?" Flora asked.

"Everyone, except Soul Heart and the two freaks," Flash Heart turned to face Soul Heart's massive house. He sighed then turned back to the couple, "Just make your way there when you can, I've seen everyone else already today."

"OK, I'll be there," Flora stood up.

Marine took her hand and stood up alongside her, "Me too."

OoOoO

Everyone was gathered around Flash Heart's coffee table as he paced around the room: Passion Heart Wolverine, Marine Heart Otter, Flora Bear, Snowy Heart Fox, Calm Heart Lynx and little Tarot Heart Bear who sat between Passion and Snowy on the couch. Flash Heart checked each of them for injuries before he began.

"We have a problem, and it's about Soul Heart."

"Yeah, we noticed," Passion Heart leaned back on the couch.

"She's been locked up in her house all week, guarded by those two...thugs," Calm Heart shuddered.

Flash Heart nodded then turned to face the room, "Things didn't feel right when she ordered us to find and bring back any Care Bears we could find, or kill them, but I couldn't say no to her and I thought it would make sense when we brought them here. Then those two, Shatter Heart and Bladed Star, just showed up out of nowhere and behave like emotionless robots, except when Shatter Heart goes nuts, following her orders and threatening our lives whenever they have the chance." Flash Heart folded his arms and stared at the ground.

"Yeah, mom's been scary ever since you went to the castle," Tarot Heart kicked his legs on the couch. Everyone turned to stare at him.

"Now that you mention it, that's when she started to change," Snowy's Heart's expression became grim.

"And when I started getting headaches," Calm Heart had a hand to her forehead, "They started up again recently."

"So what do we do about this?" Marine Heart asked.

Flash Heart stepped over to a window and opened the shutter (none of their windows had glass) to stare towards Soul Heart's house, then shut it again, "For now we need to retrain and rest. If mom doesn't come out in a couple days then I'm going to that castle to see if anything there can tell me what happened."

OoOoO

"Alright everyone, please quiet down!" True Heart shouted over the usual pre-meeting din in the Hall of Hearts. Noble Heart had to resort to banging a heart-shaped gavel on a similarly shaped spot to restore order.

True Heart smiled at her husband, "Thank you. Now then everyone: it's been a week since our new family members, the Care Bear Magi, have joined us. I see you've all gotten along quite well, some more than others, and I am happy to see that. I do have good news, at least I consider it good news: Life Heart Unicorn has discovered why none of us have been able to have children ever since Hugs and Tugs were born. Life Heart?" True Heart turned to the Unicorn.

Life Heart stood up, hand on her pregnant belly, and took a deep breath. "When True Heart and Noble Heart told me about the seeming infertility of all our kind I felt the need to investigate if there was a magical reason, and there is. About ten years ago someone put a powerful curse of infertility on the Care Bear Family, affecting everyone whether they lived up here or on earth. I know you're wondering 'how are you pregnant then' it's because I'm a unicorn and I cannot be affected by curses, but the rest of you are."

There were a few murmurs in the assembly and at least one person saying, "No-Heart" in a grumbling voice.

Life Heart waited until Noble Heart restored order before she continued, "The good news if that I can remove this curse, it will take some time and effort but I can remove it, but this isn't selective, at least not at the moment. If I removed it now, then it would have to be removed for everyone and I'm sure you know what that means. I've seen how you all live up here and I don't want to disrupt that without getting all of your opinions."

"You don't have to decide now," Sage Heart stood up alongside his wife, "think about it and maybe we'll put this to a vote or just hear everyone's opinion before we decide. Thank you for listening." Conversation erupted as the Magi's founders sat down.

OoOoO

Soul Heart lay face down on her bed, hands on her head and arguing with herself.

"This is wrong! We can't keep doing this!"

"No! We Must! We can not leave this job undone!"

"All I want to do is talk to him. We're not going to fight him!"

"If you won't fight them then I will find another means to do so! You will not win!"

_ _

"I will! No matter the cost!"

OoOoO

It was later in the afternoon when Love Heart had taken the rest of the Care Magi out to a large expanse between the rest of the Kingdom of Caring and the Caring Castle, a dust rundown place that had once served as their home when they first arrived here. Confidence Heat Fennec, Anger Heart Fox, Guidance Heart Raccoon, Defiant Heart Badger, Crafty Heart Coyote and Hidden Heart Wolf stood in a line in front of Love Heart and Independent Bear.

"Alright everyone, now that you've all had a week to relax it's time to start training." Love Heart held up his hand, "I'm sure you've all felt how different this place it, how the magic flows more freely and how energized you feel and how you've changed."

"I'll say, look up at me," Crafty Heart grinned then put her arms behind her head and stretched, pushing her chest forwards.

"That's not the point, Crafty," Indy was un-phased by Crafty's display while Love Heart coughed slightly.

"He's right. Up here the magic flows into us and around us much more freely," Love Heart held up a hand, a field of blue lightning contained within it, "We can get stronger and learn magic faster here than we could on Earth. So for at least five hours a day I need to drill you all hard and get you up to speed. Those 'shadow magi' are still out there and who knows when they'll show up again, not to mention the other monsters out there: No-Heart and Cold Heart. I need to get the six of you into a better fighting form before that happens."

Confidence smirked and folded her arms, "I don't think that should be a problem, I took out Passion Heart and Marine Heart no problem."

"Actually you barely survived both times," Love Heart's face and voice shifted to one of concern, "I'd feel better if you let me train you more than just relying on what you already know."

Confidence sighed, then smiled, "Alright, Love Heart, I will."

Love Heart turned to Hidden Heart, "You'll need some basic magical instruction while Indy and I work with everyone else. You should go see mom to get some lessons while she's still able."

"O...OK," Hidden Heart nodded then stepped back from the group and ran back towards Care-a-Lot.

Crafty watched her go and whistled, "Damn, she runs fast."

"Focus," Anger Heart tapped his foot, his two tails twitching in irritation, "So what do we do now?"

"First, try and conjure your elements like you've done before, but really push yourselves as hard as you can," Love Heart said. To show what he meant he held up both hands and conjured a massive field of electricity in-between his hands. Guidance Heart shielded her eyes from the brightness until the lightning finally disappeared. "I'll be training alongside you too."

"Alright let's try it," Anger Heart held up his right hand and tried to conjure fire, only to nearly fall over when a pillar of fire erupted from his hand, "WHOA!" The fire shut off and he stood on shaky legs, "Damn, I could feel that stuff flowing into me."

"Will it stay with us when we leave?" Guidance Heart held up a hand and conjured up a bright field of light, almost blinding her until she shut it off.

"Maybe not at that intensity, but our power grows here exponentially so we need to take advantage of it." Indy said.

"Well then, let's get started," Defiant Heart clapped his hands together.

OoOoO

Hidden Heart poked her head into Life Heart's room to find her sitting on her bed, alone, "Can I come in?"

"Of course, come in." Life patted the spot beside her bed.

Hidden Heart stayed at the door, "Love Heart said you can teach me the basics before he starts training me. Can you, please?"

Life Heart nodded and carefully stood up, "We can get started outside, just to be safe." She walked towards the door, then stopped next to the wolf. "Is something wrong?"

Hidden Heart didn't realise the nervousness on her face as she looked up at Life Heart, "Are you going to teach me to fight like Sage Heart and Crafty Heart?"

"Not entirely. I'll be teaching you the basics then Love Heart can take over."

"I..." Hidden Heart twiddled her finger, "I don't want to fight like that. But I still want to help, somehow... I just don't know how..."

Life Heart put a hand on her shoulder, "There are other ways to learn and use magic, I can teach you spell magic if you want."

"Spell magic?" Hidden Heart's expression became curious.

"It's magic where you need to prepare spells and cast the with specific phrases or words." Life Heart said, "It takes longer to learn and leaves you vulnerable but it lets you do more things on your own, especially if you have someone to protect you."

"Like Crafty did," Hidden Heart whispered. "I'd like to learn to spell magic."

"Alright then," Life Heart returned to her bed and sat down, "sit down and I can start teaching you."

OoOoO

Despite all the work and sweat, Crafty still had tons of energy after the Magi finished their training. She grinned and forced herself between Love Heart and Confidence Heart as they walked back to the Hall of Hearts. "That was fun, so now what?" she looked from one to the other.

"Right now: supper then some rest" Love Heart swiped his forehead.

"May I join you then?" Crafty waggled her eyebrows at both of them.

Confidence Heart gently pushed Crafty away, "As much as I appreciate the thought, I'm still easing into this."

"I still don't know if I want to take part in this 'free love' idea," Love Heart said.

Crafty stuck out her tongue then picked up her pace, "Fine, but if you change your mind you know who to call!" She practically skipped off towards the Hall of Hearts.

Love Heart and Confidence sat down in a corner of the Hall after getting supper, pizza and ceasar salad.

"Mind if I join you?" Both looked up to see Harmony Bear standing next to their table with a tray of food in her hand, albeit much smaller than the piles of food the two magi had amassed. Harmony was a dark purple Care Bear with short hair the same color, a decent sized bust and a chest symbol that consisted of a group four rainbow colored eighth notes linked together on four bar scale without a clef.

"Go ahead," Love Heart gestured to the chair opposite him, which Harmony sat down in.

"I saw you training out there, good job keeping them all in line not to mention the lightshow," Harmony gave a subtle smirk as she ate.

Love Heart couldn't help but chuckle and smile, "Thank you."

"So how do you keep them in line?" Harmony asked.

Love Heart paused for a moment and swallowed before he answered, "Mostly it's what happened with the Shadow Magi on Earth. They want to be able to fight if they show up again, and I can show them what they could do if they keep trying." Love Heart was stumbling over his words a bit as he spoke.

Harmony smiled, "Awesome." Confidence continued to eat but just rolled her eyes.

"Well I'll catch you later. Call me, Love Heart," Harmony winked at him as she picked her now empty tray and headed off.

Confidence turned sideways and leaned her elbow on the table, propping up her head as she smirked at Love Heart.

Love Heart noticed out of the corner of his eye and turned to face her, "What?"

"You enjoyed flirting with her didn't you." Confidence didn't ask.

Love Heart chuckled, "Yeah I did. Are you jealous?"

"A bit, but don't let me stop you." She sat back up, "Yesterday, Cheer was all over me at the gym. In the shower, she helped me with my hair then walked right up to me and pressed her boobs right up against mine."

Love Heart had his mouth full and sputtered somewhat, needing to run off and grab a glass of water to clear his throat. He was still coughing a bit when he returned to the table, "What?"

"You heard me." Confidence had finished her food so she kept talking as Love Heart ate, "I think we should give this free love thing more of a try. You?"

Love Heart swallowed, "I never really thought about it, the Shadow Magi have been on my mind mostly. But you know," he turned to watch Harmony Bear as she swayed her hips, dancing to a tune from an MP3 player she had produced from her chest symbol, "I think I could give it a try."

"Yeah, and even then," Confidence took his hand.

"We'll always have each other," Love Heart leaned in and they kissed.

Confidence giggled, "Well then, I'm going to see Champ." She picked up her tray, "You?"

Love Heart finished off his food, "I'll see if Harmony's free."

As Love Heart bussed his tray, he ran into Hidden Heart Wolf, who had taken her meal to her room. "How'd mom's instructions go?"

"Oh well..." Hidden fidgeted nervously, "I talked with her for a bit and she said she's going to teach me spell magic, using words and stuff instead of just shooting it like you do."

"Really?" Love Heart gave her a skeptical look, "Well if you change you're mind I'll still teach you kinetics. Excuse me," he turned and headed after Harmony, who had just exited the hall.

Hidden Heart ate at the buffet when she saw Crafty Heart enter the Hall of Hearts, her pace a bit shaky after her day of training and having overindulged in skipping into the hall. Hidden Heart blushed upon seeing her, tried to avert her gaze and almost crashed right into Gentle Heart.

"Sorry!" Hidden Heart stumbled back.

Gentle Heart steadied her, "It's alright." she looked closer at the wolf's blush, "Are you alright?"

"Oh umm..." Hidden Heart looked back over her shoulder at Crafty as the coyote grabbed a tray then back to Gentle Heart, "Just...thank you for last night. It was a good first time."

"Happy to help," Gentle Heart looked over her shoulder to where Hidden Heart had glanced, "Does Crafty Heart make you nervous?"

"Sort of...I mean...I'm not scared of her but..." Hidden Heart stared at her feet and wrung her hands.

Gentle Heart motioned to a nearby empty table and they sat down next to each other. "Can you tell me what's wrong, please? You don't have to but I think talking will help."

Hidden Heart looked up at Crafty again as she walked the length of the buffet, "The first time we met, she saved my life, took me back to the Magi and gave me a home," the blush on her face turned crimson, "She gave me a life and now I'm here, in a place where I can be what I want and love, or make love, to any girl I want without being told it's wrong, or against some entity's wishes or anyone being scared of me just because I'm a big bad wolf. It's all too much to take in and...I want to thank her but she's so..."

"Aggressively friendly?" Gentle Heart looked up at Crafty as she reached the end of the buffet, "And slow to pick out food. That or she just loves it too much, same with other people," Gentle Heart giggled.

Hidden Heart blinked, "Pardon?"

"Brave Heart told me this morning, he asked to spend the night with her. She accepted and took to his lessons to in loving quite well, Brave Heart is a very good teacher," Gentle Heart blushed slightly then shook it off and continued, "And this morning, before the meeting, I saw her slip off to her room with Love-a-Lot." She saw that Hidden Heart's face had turned a bright crimson and took her hand to pull her back down to earth, "Are you saying you don't want to sleep with her?"

"No! I mean yes! I..." Crafty Heart gulped and reorganized her thoughts, "I want to have sex with her but I don't want that to just be it." She didn't notice when Gentle Heart looked up over her head and just continued, "I want us to have a more...meaningful relationship and everyone up here treats sex so casually that if I just ask her, won't it just be a simple thing for fun without any real meaning behind it?"

Gentle Heart put a finger to her lips in a 'shush' motion then looked down to Hidden Heart as the wolf raised her gaze to meet the lamb's, "Let me tell you something. When you share a deeper connection with someone, beyond the physical, lovemaking becomes more than just something fun or to blow off steam. It's hard to explain but... while I enjoy Brave Heart's skill and company, when I'm with Bright Heart Raccoon," Gentle Heart sighed contentedly, "It's like magic. I can't put it into words but you'll know it when it happens to you. It's like doing any other thing with someone you really love: playing a game or watching a movie with friends is fun but doing it alongside someone you love warms you right down to your core," Gentle Heart touched her chest, right over her chest symbol, "even when it's something so simple if you're doing it with someone who means something to you, even if you're not as into it as they are, then it feels like the most wonderful thing you can imagine."

"So maybe our relationship could be something like that." Crafty Heart's voice nearly made Hidden Heart jump out of her seat as the coyote sat down next to her. Crafty leaned sideways on the table and gave a sultry smile to Hidden Heart, "You could have told me anytime."

"I-I-I," Hidden Heart gulped, "How long were you..."

"Listening? Since about the time you said you wanted to have sex with me." Crafty set her food aside and Gentle Heart quietly excused herself while Crafty spoke, "I heard what you said about wanting it to mean more, and I get it. I know I'm having all the fun I can up here but I just have so much opportunity that I want to live it to the fullest." Crafty reached to carefully brush away the shock of hair that always covered Hidden Heart's right eye, "If you want to have a more meaningful relationship, we can start now and go at your pace."

"OK," Hidden Heart smiled.

Crafty leaned forwards and whispered huskily into Hidden's ear, "And even if we don't go that way, I'm always up for a romp under the bedsheets."

Hidden blushed but said nothing. Crafty grinned and sat back, "So tell me, what is it you like about me?"

Hidden Heart smiled, "Well you're brave and outgoing and friendly, you jumped in to save me without even knowing who I was and brought me here." She put a hand on Crafty's, "And you're never afraid to say or do whatever you want no matter what people think of you, I really admire that about you."

It was Crafty's turn to blush but she remained steadfast instead of withdrawing. "And I like that you're honest too, even if it's about being shy. You're gentle and sweet and always put someone else's comfort ahead of your own. That's what I like about you." Crafty leaned in and gave Hidden Heart a peck on the cheek. Hidden Heart responded with a soft kiss on Crafty's cheek.

Crafty cleared her throat, which dispelled her blush, "Now show me that honesty I like so much and tell me what else you like about me. Don't be afraid to be shallow," she grinned.

Hidden Heart blushed again and muttered something under her breath.

Crafty cupped a hand up to her ear, but kept grinning, "What was that? Go on?"

Hidden Heart took a deep breath but managed to speak without shouting, "I like girls with big boobs!"

Crafty turned to see where Gentle Heart and grinned, seeing that the lamb's breasts were at least as big as her own, "I can see that." She pressed her hands under her chest and hefted it up in front of Hidden Heart, "Wanna squeeze em?" she waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh I..." Hidden's face turned so red she looked like she was about to explode, "right here?! I...!"

"Go on," Crafty's stomach growled, "Or maybe wait until I finish eating." She turned back to her supper. Hidden Heart sat still and watched her, especially when Crafty deliberately let a small leaf of lettuce drop into her cleavage and slowly pull it out, giving Hidden a seductive sideways glance. It was almost too much to bear.

Finally, Crafty finished, "There, how about now?" she reached over and drew her finger under Hidden's chin, "Meet me in my room?"

Hidden shot up, "YespleaseIwantto!" she babbled. Crafty grinned and dropped the tray off then took Hidden by the hand before they dashed back to her room in the Hall of Hearts.

OoOoO

Defiant Heart decided to take supper on the go. After stuffing some salad down his throat he grabbed five slices of pizza in his hands and headed out of the hall, eating as he walked. He had found that the Kingdom of Caring became very quiet at meal times and he enjoyed the peace and quiet in the open space. He looked around and spotted Loyal Heart Dog standing with his face pressed into star-shaped telescope. Curious, he headed towards the observation point.

"What are you doing out here?" Defiant asked as he took a seat on a bench right behind the railing where the telescope was mounted.

"It's my shift on the star-o-scope," Loyal Heart stepped back from the railing and turned to Defiant Heart.

Defiant offered a slice of pizza, "Hungry?"

Loyal Heart accepted and smiled, "Yes. Thank you," he sat down next to the badger and ate along with him. "So how are you all adjusting?"

"To this place? As good as we can," Defiant Heart munched on another slice of pizza and stared at the star-o-scope, "So what is that telescope used for?"

"Watching Earth, looking for any danger zones or watching people who might need our help," Loyal Heart finished his slice of pizza. "Once Bright Heart and Grumpy finish the new monitoring system under the Hall of Hearts we'll only need to use it for emergencies."

"Right." Defiant Heart said. "So all you do is help kids?"

"That's our primary goal, but we've been...slowing down lately." Loyal Heart sighed, "Too many problems, barely enough time to handle them. Kids are believing in us less and less at younger ages and parents are becoming more paranoid about strangers being around their kids. We're lucky if we can get a dozen missions in a week these days."

"Oh..." Defiant Heart looked away for a moment, "So what do you do now? What kind of jobs do you have up here?"

"Other than monitor duty, not much. Gentle Heart had a vegetable garden and most of the Forest of Feelings is full of edible plants we harvest every so often. We've been talking about making orchards and a full on farm so we can be more self-sufficient, you have no idea how vast that forest is. Champ maintains the gym and we all take turns on cooking duty and other essential duties." Loyal Heart smiled, "Proud Heart has an artistic garden she's very particular about, but it is a lovely sight."

Defiant Heart saw the dreamy look on Loyal Heart's face and changed the subject, "So what kind of jobs are we going to have?"

Loyal Heart shook his head for a moment, "Something akin to military or police work, with the magic and fighting you'll do."

"Makes sense." Defiant Heart finished his last slice of Pizza. "Want me to take over so you can get some supper."

"Really?" Loyal Heart perked up his ears.

"Sure. Get some food and I'll sit here, boring myself to death," Defiant Heart chuckled.

Loyal Heart sprang up and gave the badger a hug, "Thank you, gotta go!" Loyal Heart took off like a shot towards the Hall of Hearts.

"Damn, he can be excitable when he wants to," Defiant Heart took a look through the star-o-scope, "I really can see all the way to Earth."