Chapter 15 – A crumbling plan
Thief Heart and Swift Heart arrived and saw Champ and Bright Heart were waiting on the couch.
	“Oh good, you lovebirds are here. Take your seats.” Tenderheart was typing on the computer while Mend was looking over their maps. 
	“What do you even mean, Tenderheart?” Mend sighed and turned around to answer for Tenderheart.
	“What he means, Thief, is that everyone decided you and Swift were going to kiss or something.” Mend saw Thief and Swift blush a bit and sighed. “You did, well Wingnut did send footage before him and Oopsy were told to collect you both.” Tenderheart turned around as Mend finished and looked at the four on the couch.
	“Mend and I decided, you four are going together. Champ, Thief, you were only banned for one mission. However, we have stipulations.” Tenderheart tapped the tablet to pull up the hologram board.
	“So, Thief, Champ, no facing Void Heart. Either retreat to avoid him or only attack if it’s to get you and the others to safety. Just like when Funshine fired his arrow to get Lotsa out of the castle.”
	“He’s becoming a lot more hostile and actively attacking himself. He may not make it easy to avoid a confrontation.” Thief pointed out as he leaned back in the couch.
	“While true, you two are the most reckless of the gang. Go, get the badges you can get, and run immediately. We need to be quick and efficient. Understood?” Tenderheart tapped his foot as he waited for all four to agree.
	“Alright, with that said, Swift, Champ, Bright here’s your bracelet. Thief, you get one as well for the tracking part.” Mend handed them out.
	“Thanks, Mend. Alright so who’s driving?”
	“This is my specialty, just watch.” Swift smiled before Champ intervened
	“No way, Swift, last time you were going at 100 MPH! I’m driving, I drive safely sports fans.” Champ grabbed the cloud car keys as the four headed down. Mend sighed and pinched the bridge of their nose. 
	“Tenderheart, was this a smart idea?”
	“No idea, Mend, but we have to trust those two understand the fact that we’re so close, but we’re risking so much.” Tenderheart pulled his ear piece on as Mend set theirs up. The two heard the third seat move and saw Cheer sitting down.
	“Hope you two don’t mind me. It’s been a bit and I want to assist with this mission.” Tenderheart and Mend smiled as they all got set up, Mend preparing strategies, Tenderheart having the map and Cheer on lookout for any anomalies. 
Champ drove the four toward the castle, Thief in the passenger seat, Bright and Swift in the backseat, Bright going over the bracelet’s specs and setting to get Swift caught up. As they pulled up, they walked in before Tenderheart’s voiced piped up.
	“This is strange. The layout is still the same as it was before. Did Void Heart not reset it?”
	“Tenderheart, keep an eye on the map, incase something does change. Maybe he’ll do what he did before when he started to change it midway?” Bright Heart suggested. The four decided to stick together as they explored. Thief noticed the room with the remaining badges,
	“This is totally a trap…All Eleven left out…”
	“Um, Sports fan? There are creatures waiting above.”
The others followed Champ’s word and looked up, seeing the creatures waiting.
	“Oh boy, we’ll need to be fast, and no one is faster than Swift Heart!”
	“Hold it, Swift, don’t rush in. Like Thief said, this is obviously a trap.” Mend intercepted and looked at their map. “Ok…As soon as you all get in, get the creatures to appear, there’s two vents on each side, rush into them. You’ll have to split up but escape the room and regroup. That’s the first step.” The four looked at one another and nodded, they rushed in but the creatures never reacted. 
	“Hey…Mend, um…There’s a problem, they aren’t—” Bright Heart’s sentence was cut off as the castle began to rumble, Cheer immediately got on the air.
	“YOU FOUR, GRAB A BADGE NOW AND RUN!” 
	“We can’t, Cheer. As soon as this castle began to rumble, the creatures immediately grabbed a badge and spread out, some of the walls have fallen apart.” Thief threw a knife only for the Void Soldier to make a shield, reflecting the knife as the others also made shields. 
	“Well now, the cat returns once again…” Void Heart landed from above, glaring right at Thief Heart. “I want to face you, you only have two choices. Death by my claws or crushed by the castle.” Thief gave a signal to Champ with his tail.
	“Bright, Swift, we need to chase and get a badge each. Thief’s distracting Void Heart right now.” 
	“Ugh…Thief, please, do NOT engage with Void ok?”
	“Can’t promise, Mend. If I have to, I’ll do my best to dodge and parry the attacks. They have to get out first, I won’t risk others getting hurt because of my own self-righteous ideas…” Thief rushed forward dodging the claws and tail as he kept Void Heart’s focus.

Swift, Bright, and Champ chased the creatures around the crumbling, keeping an eye out for where rocks were coming. Eventually Bright Heart caught one by surprise and grabbed Playful Heart’s badge.
	“Good job, Little Buddy! Get out of here we got this!” Champ and Swift rushed forward, Champ used the bracelet’s speed to catch up and knock a void creature down grabbing Brave Heart’s badge at the same time. 
	“Stay safe, Sports fan!”
	“I’m the fastest member, I’m Swift Heart Rabbit! See you all back at the car!” Swift used their bracelet’s speed to zoom around the collapsing castle to finally ram into a creature, grabbing Tenderheart’s badge. They rushed out and jumped out the castle, but as soon as their glider opened and they flew up a bit, some of the crumbling bricks crashed into the glider and trapped them.
	“Ah…I-I’m stuck!” Champ and Bright Heart turned back to the castle, stunned. They’d never be able to make it to Swift in time! Thief slid and was against the open window with Void Heart blocking the access to the door. 
	“Thief Heart was it…Seems one of your dear friends is trapped, the castle will crumble and might just crush them AND the badge they hold. Oh, and you should know, should the badge be shattered, the one who held it will begin to crumble into dust and be forgotten by ALL!” Tenderheart’s eyes went wide with concern. He covered his mouth with eyes of both fear and emptiness. Thief knew he had to make a choice. Either strike at Void to try and get a badge or retreat.
	“I have another offer, give up on your trapped friend for a free exit with this badge.” Void held up True Heart’s badge. “Or try and get it from me and risk not escaping alive…or at all.” Thief chuckled and slid his knives into their sheathes. 
	“I’m not going to fall for your ploy, Void Heart.” Thief stepped onto the window’s railing. “You can keep the badge for now. Getting a free badge at the cost of two isn’t a fair trade, and neither is me risking my life. I’m not reckless anymore.” Thief leaped off, opening his glider and flying up to where Swift was. “Swift, detach the glider.” Swift fumbled and as the latch was released, they fell only for Thief to catch them the next second.
	“Ah…Thief…You came for me, you could have gotten a badge and escaped…but…”
	“I’ll always come to the aid of my friends. Especially when it comes to you. I…I don’t want to lose anyone. Two for one isn’t a good deal if it means it’s their lives that are given up. I love you, Swift Heart, I don’t want to lose you or anyone.” The two glided down to the car, Swift listening to Thief’s heartbeat calming them down. 
	“You two are ok! Oh, thank the stars…”
	“That was scaring me, Sports fans!” Champ hugged the two as Thief put Swift on their feet. Bright got on the communicator.
	“Mission success, no casualties. Brave Heart, Playful Heart and Tenderheart badges obtained.” Thief walked over and grabbed the mic.
	“Sorry, you guys. I didn’t get a fourth badge, he offered True Heart but…”
	“Shut up, Thief. You saved Swift Heart and Tenderheart both. We can get True Heart’s badge later. Remember what you said to Wonderheart. No one left behind. We will retrieve the other badges in time.” Mend sighed as Cheer was rubbing Tenderheart’s back, who seemed to be worn out. “Besides, I think Wonderheart will be glad that Tenderheart was saved without you being reckless.” 
	“Heh…Fair point, Mend. This is why I put my trust in you completely.”
	“Heh of course. Also, your mic was on when you saved Swift Heart. So, you love them, eh?” The watchtower burst into some chuckling as Swift and Thief blushed deeply. Champ handed Thief the Cloud Car keys.
	“Here, Sports fan. You should drive us back. You saved our hides, especially your lover’s~” Champ and Bright chuckled as they got in the back seat. Swift hopped into the passenger as Thief drove back to Care-A-Lot. 

	“So, crumbling my castle wasn’t enough…We’ll settle this tomorrow. I won’t even interfere…I will just use the strongest Void Creatures I have access to. The Behemoths shall rise again. I only have access to a max of five. I’ll crush you all under their feet.” Void Heart began to change the castle, rearranging it to fit his plan. It would take until the next morning before it was ready, but he relished in the fact. Knowing that the Care Bears and the Cousins would be having to keep back until then. Maybe he could have one or two fall into full monotone early enough.