Chapter 9 – A tricky situation
As the Cloud Car arrived the drawbridge was still down.
	“Oh yeah, totally not a trap…” Grumpy crossed his arms as he sat back after parking. 
	“Oh Grumpy…Yeah it’s totally a trap but we have to enter to save our friends. We’re the Care Bears, let’s go show Void Heart that we care!” Share jumped out of the car as Funshine, Good Luck, and Bright Heart all got out as well. Grumpy sighed and got out, he handed the gliders out and sighed. 
	“Tenderheart, we’re here.”
	“We see you all, your earpieces also have a camera mode that’s active. Be careful.” Tenderheart stressed the careful part as the five walked into the castle, which was eerily quiet. 
	“Should we split up to search?” Bright Heart suggested before Thief Heart interjected over the earpieces.
	“No, bad idea. Stick together, if you find one all five of you need to work together to handle it. Between Funshine’s bow, Good Luck’s well…Luck, and the stares all five of you have, it should be easy to save the badges. Scattering and splitting up is a recipe for disaster, and we can’t make up for any…We have to get a gain on Void Heart.” Thief teared up a bit and wiped them away. Mend frowned, Thief was having everything he did come to fruition, but not in a good way. The group nodded and slowly checked rooms together until they saw a room with one orb.
	“Ok…examining…Ah! It’s Wonderheart’s…” Share’s words make Tenderheart freeze up at the computer. Thief immediately went to Tenderheart.
	“Tender, buddy, think for a second. If this is a trap that Void Heart is luring them into because of Wonderheart’s badge, it’d be like when I went after Bright Heart’s badge. Think before you react.” Tenderheart blinked and huffed a bit.
	“Thief’s right. Guys check the room. If it’s only a void guardian then good, otherwise LEAVE. No sense being reckless.” The gang slowly checked and not finding Void Heart anywhere close by the Void Creature was triggered. It appeared in the form of a samurai with a katana.
	“Ok, we’re going Japanese here? Alright, let’s shine some light on this old fossil!” Funshine fired an arrow with a smokebomb as the five scattered around. The earpiece created glasses to see through the smoke, something Grumpy added at Mend’s suggestion. Funshine rushed from the back and used the bracelet’s ability to swipe Wonderheart’s badge as Goodluck fired the grappling hook to get onto the balcony overhanging the room. He brought everyone up one by one as the Void Creature faded to dust, but didn’t screech. 
	“Hey, congrats you five but Funshine, Good Luck, notice something?”
	“Ah, it didn’t shriek! I think my luck isn’t being good for this.” Good Luck bit his thumb but the five nodded to one another as they squeezed through the vent system and found a big hallway like room. As they entered, they noticed all the belly badges not collected besides Thief’s, with a big 4 on a billboard. The five shared glances and glanced all over the room. Funshine handed his orb to Share and walked to one holding Harmony’s badge.
	“Ok, if something starts to happen, we know this is a big ol’ trap. If not, we’ll do this and quickly run. Is that ok, mission control?” Thief, Mend and Tenderheart exchanged glances. They all rolled some dice Thief had, with Tenderheart having the highest.
	“Ok, you guys be EXTRA careful. If you have to run and retreat for now that’s fine but please, caution.” Funshine swipped Harmony’s. No alarms, no sound of running Void Soldiers. Only the number changed from 4 to 3. Grumpy, Share, and Bright Heart went down and decided to grab Proud Heart, Cozy Heart, and Grams badges, Grumpy looked at Grams’ badge and sighed a bit longingly. 
	“Grams…Ack, alarms?! Now?” The alarms blared as bars went down around the other badges, Good Luck went down quickly and helped everyone up as they went through the vents again and decided to go out the door they originally came in. 
	“Let’s go and…Um…”
	“Hey guys, bad news, the tower’s already reorganizing! Your locations kept changing floors randomly, so I checked the telescope, and yeah, it was a trap. Triggering when the number went to 0. Damn, how could it be so obvious.” 
	“Thief, calm down. The gang just needs to find another door and leave through the window. It was a trap, and yes Void was watching them and set that area up quickly as a ploy. So—”
	“Mend, not to burst your bubble…but…we’re in a sticky situation. And not the type with honey.” Mend and Thief turned to the screen to see what Funshine meant and gasped as Tenderheart was already in shock, Void Heart’s throne room. They had wandered into it. 
	“Welcome to my Throne Room. Now, let me make it quick and easy for you annoyingly fuzzy Bears and Cousin. Drop the five orbs and you can leave, or risk escaping and losing your own badges, or even worse, your lives. I’ll give you five minutes to decide.”
Thief heart muted everyone’s earpieces except for Funshine’s.
	“Shine-boy, get ready to repeat after me. I have a plan that may work but also may not. If it doesn’t than Mend takes over. Otherwise, I’ll head this plan.” Thief Heart and Funshine both took a deep breath.
	“Hey, Void Heart, let me ask. While the timer is going can we do anything without you interfering? Such as me firing an arrow at your walls?” Void laughed at the mere idea of arrows doing anything, Thief unmuted the other four earpieces as Void Heart let out a sigh with a smirk.
	“Go ahead, knock yourself out. When I turn this hourglass over your five minutes begin, try whatever you’d like.” Void turned the hourglass as Funshine pulled an arrow back.
	“Wait…Now!” Funshine’s arrow hit the wall that kept spinning around. Thief counted. Five seconds. “Ok, next…Stare.” The five fired their Care Bear Stare at Void Heart, while Void Heart laughed as it did nothing. Void Heart counted how long it took for a full turn. A full minute. Each stare slowed the wall’s full spins for eleven seconds.
	“One stare makes it equal 16 seconds, two would be 27…three is 38, 49, then 60…If we can get one stare per member, and out that window…They’d be exiting facing the Cloud Car.” Mend listened to Thief and wrote out a plan. Tenderheart and Thief looked it over and nodded. 
	“Ok you five, this plan is dumb but please follow it. Once that Hourglass is done, Grumpy you’ll hit him with a stare, Funshine you exit the window. After that Bright Heart so Grumpy can go, Share for Bright Heart, Good Luck for Share and then yourself.”
	“How does that accomplish anything?! Mend he’s immune to our stares.”
	“No, not immune, resistant. We calculated, Grumpy, one stare slows the rotating wall by eleven seconds. Meaning instead of it being there every 5 seconds, it’s now every Sixteen, giving a much quicker escape moment. And it faces your escape vehicle.” Thief smirked as the other five looked at one another. Holding hands showing they trusted one another. Once the hourglass was over Void Heart roared as Grumpy waited for his signal. 
	“Now!” Grumpy fired his stare, and right on cue the wall slowed down giving Funshine the moment to escape without mistiming it. He fell and activated his glider. Void Heart slashed at Grumpy but Bright Heart tackled Grumpy making them dodge it and as Void reared for another attack, Bright Heart fired his stare, stalling Void Heart as Grumpy jumped. 
	“Bright Heart, thank you! Be careful you three! Ugh dang gliders…” Grumpy mumbled as he struggled to catch his breath. The other’s followed with a bit of a different tactic. All three fired their badges and jumped with their hands held together, activating their gliders as Void Heart roared.
	“CURSE YOU BEARS AND YOU COUSINS! I SHALL GET MY VICTORY!” As all five gathered at the bottom, They embraced tightly.
	“My heart was pounding at the end there! I’m so happy we all escaped.” Share cried both happily and out of fear as Funshine rubbed her back.
	“Let’s go, this was a huge risk.” Grumpy grumbled as he got in the car, he was obviously worried about how it almost all went wrong. Over the radio Grumpy heard a small voice.
	“Dibble bored! Tenderheart play!”
	“Aww, who’s this adorable little one?”
	“Tenderheart, is Dibble getting into stuff again?”
	“Not really Grumpy, but she seems to have gotten bored with the toys without you around. Dibble, Grumpy’s about to get back.”
	“Yay! Dibble love Daddy Grumpy!” Grumpy blushed and hid his embarrassed face from the other occupants in the Cloud Car. 
	“Dibble, It’s Grumpy. I’ll be home shortly and I’ll play with you then.”
	“So will I, promise little one.” Funshine spoke as Dibble coo’ed a bit and giggled, running back to some toys she was playing with. Thief and Mend looked and just realized that they hadn’t noticed the toybox or Dibble earlier. The two chuckled to each other as they waited for the group to return.