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Chapter 8: Secret Powers

Anger Heart's tummy symbol glowed and a pair of sai appeared in his hands. He twirled one of the three pronged weapons in his right hand, then dropped it on the floor of the gym. He bent over and retrieved the weapon.

"They're not as sharp as I thought they'd be," Love Heart watched his student hold the weapons.

"Sai aren't three bladed daggers, they're defensive weapons for law-enforcement designed to block and break swords or be throw." Guidance Heart said from where she stood next to Anger Heart.

Anger Heart turned to glare at Truth Bear, "You can stop staring."

Truth averted his eyes, he'd been watching the fox's twin tails with curiosity. He'd heard about Anger Heart's tails splitting from Wish Bear and just wanted to make sure it was real.

"Sorry, Anger Heart. So are you ready?" Truth Bear turned to Independent Bear.

"Ready," Indy conjured a katana and held it in both hands. Truth pulled out his guandao and leveled it at the silver bear.

Love Heart turned to both of his students, "Anger Heart, Guidance Heart, just watch us for now then we'll get to your training."

Anger Heart and Guidance Heart nodded and watched as the four began to spar. Anger Heart dissipated his sai and turned his head to face Guidance. "You really should learn to use a weapon."

Guidance Heart clutched her hands in front of her stomach, "I don't want to. I don't want to hold a weapon like that. My kinetics should be just fine."

"But what if they're not? What if you have to defend yourself when you're too tired to use that, or you're too close to someone who wants to kill you?" Anger Heart took her hand, "Please, just think about it, I want you to be able to protect yourself if you have to."

Guidance looked away from Anger Heart, "I'll think about it..." She turned back to watch the sparring match.

Love Heart blocked a two-handed swing from Defender Bear with his left sword then swung his right sword sideways and disarmed the white bear. Defender's sword clattered to the ground as Love Heart pointed his left sword at Defender's throat. Defender looked bewildered as Love Heart lowered his swords to his sides, "Don't hold back on me, Defender. Let's go again."

A clank from across the room drew Love Heart's attention to where Indy had Truth's polearm pinned under his foot and his katana held up to the black bear's throat. He stepped back and released Truth's weapon from under his foot. "Alright, again."

Anger Heart and Guidance Heart watched as Defender Bear attacked Love Heart again. Love Heart was giving Defender a look of disappointment and both Guidance and Anger Heart noticed that Love Heart wasn't even using the sword in his right hand, just holding it at the ready as Defender swung at him. Indy wasn't having any difficulty as he easily sidestepped Truth's swing occasionally deflecting a blow off from him. In an instant, Love Heart and Independent Bear took their first swing at their sparring partner and Defender's sword skid across the room while the haft of Truth's guandao was sliced in half. Defender and Truth were both panting and sweating while Love Heart and Indy weren't even winded.

Love Heart let his swords dissipate, "Tell me, Phoenix, how much actual training have you had?"

Defender Bear retrieved his sword, "I'm self-taught, and I practice with Loyal Heart and Truth whenever I can get time.

"I see," Independent Bear dissipated his katana.

Truth Bear held the severed halves of his weapon together and chanted a magic word which fused them back together. "What about you two?"

"Our father taught us from the age of five for three years until he died, then we trained regularly with each other and with Confidence Heart and Flash Heart for five years until we had to go on the run, not to mention all the near deaths we've had against Dusk Heart that allowed us to train and defend ourselves as we ran." Indy shook his head, "I'm having a hard time believing that you two were the ones who saved us from Dusk Heart."

Truth Bear winced but couldn't bring himself to disagree.

Love Heart sighed then turned to both of them. "I've heard about your exploits, Defender Bear, and it seems that both of you have gotten by on luck and your innate abilities."

Defender was taken aback but stood his ground, "It hasn't just been luck, the spells I learned have saved our lives numerous times."

"And nearly killed or seriously injured you every time," Love Heart folded his arms, "The energy beam that didn't quite kill No-Heart nearly killed you, you actually did die when you revived the Care Bear Family from the effects of the Cloud of Uncaring and only survived because the phoenix spirit brought you back, the sonic scream that freed the Care Bears from a reborn Dark Heart almost destroyed your vocal chords, and whatever you did to not quite kill the shadow dragon that became Dusk Heart put you in the hospital again." Defender stared open-mouthed at Love Heart.

"Are you blaming him for that?" Truth Bear stepped forwards, his eyes narrowed.

Love Heart blinked, "No, I just-"

Truth cut him off, "You can't throw stones in that area! You needed us to pull your butt out of the fire with Dusk Heart so I'm not the only one who needs training."

Love Heart's eye twitched and he bared his teeth, "That was a low blow! At least I've kept training and trying to improve."

"STOP IT! STOP FIGHTING PLEASE!" The high pitched shout came from Guidance Heart, who had her eyes screwed shut and her hands clenched at her sides. Anger Heart flinched backwards at her outburst and everyone else just stared at the blue raccoon.

Anger Heart un-tensed as best as he could and put a hand on her shoulder. "Guidance?"

Guidance Heart put a hand on her chest and took a deep breath. She was crying softly, "Please, this isn't helping. We all need to get stronger, we..." Guidance Heart trailed off as she struggled to find the right words.

Love Heart and Truth Bear turned to look at each other, then back at Guidance. "Sorry," they both apologized simultaneously.

"We all have things to learn I guess," Indy's expression softened as he stepped forwards.

Truth nodded, "Well then, what should we do?"

Love Heart shook his head and regained his composure, "Our training needs to change. Anger Heart, you should spar with Defender and Truth until you're both up to par while Indy and I can give you some extra training as you improve. Otherwise we need to step up our kinetic training, especially you, Guidance Heart." Love Heart held up his hands as electricity coursed across his hand until it gathered in his palm, "Next time, Dusk Heart." He bared his teeth clenched his fist, which created a small burst of electricity then shook his head, "Right, let's get started."

OoOoO

"I'm just saying they could help us." Chance sat with his twin sisters in one of their secret 'practise spots'.

Connie stared her brother down and shook her head, her arms folded across her chest, "And I'm saying that we promised not to tell anyone about this. What if they tell anyone else? You know some of the family like to gossip and mom, dad and Soulful will find out."

Chance glared back at her, "So why is that so bad? No one thinks twice about Anger Heart shooting fire out of his hands!"

"That's because you don't have a firearm licence!" Hope couldn't help herself and collapsed into a fit of giggles. Chance and Connie just rolled their eyes at their sister then turned back to each other.

"Jokes aside, Chance, Hope has a point. The magi are soldiers, they're supposed to have weapons and skills they need to fight and defend us. Why do we have special powers that no one else has?" Connie said.

Chance put a hand on his chin and hummed for a moment while he waited for Hope's giggling to subside. "What if we're secretly magi? Yeah like we were born to take their place until they came back and now we have these leftover powers to make us special?"

"That's a, heehee, bit of a stretch Chance," Hope sat back up, her mirth finally under control.

"But still, what if they can help us learn how to control this, or get better?" Chance pressed farther.

Contrary Heart sighed, "Alright, who should we ask, Chance?" All three of them started to think. "No way we're asking Guidance or Anger Heart, they're just learning the basics and they talk to Soulful too much."

Hope scratched her chin, "What about Independent Bear? He doesn't talk much."

Connie shuddered, "I can't figure that guy out, plus he kinda scares me."

"Also I think Love Heart said he was sigh- sigh-ron-ick?" Chance screwed up his face as he tried to say the word. "So not the same as the rest of them."

"I guess there's Flash Heart," Connie looked upwards as she considered the idea.

A moment later they spoke in unison, "No way!"

"He's always flirting with the other girls, he might let something slip and if Cheer hears anything..." Chance shuddered at the thought. "So that just leaves Love Heart and Confidence Heart."

Hope shared an awkward look with Connie, "I don't think we should tell Love Heart. Ever since No-Heart kidnapped Pace he's been kinda...intense, especially around us."

"Yeah, we had to put these little training sessions on hold for a week before he stopped keeping tabs on us," Connie shook her head.

"That just leaves Confidence Heart." Chance stood up, "She's free in the afternoon so let's go see her."

"Hold on!" Connie held up her hand, "We didn't say we'd tell her. She and Love Heart are engaged, plus I barely know her."

"I think it's a good idea," Hope stood up, "It can't hurt to at least go see her?"

Outnumbered, Connie relented and stood up. "Alright, but we don't tell her anything until she promises to keep our secret."

"Deal!"

The three liger siblings were careful to avoid being spotted as they left their practise spot and headed for Care-a-Lot. As they approached Love Heart and Confidence Heart's house they could hear and even see powerful bursts of wind and muffled shouted coming from the backyard. Curious and a bit nervous they pressed up against the wall of the cloud house and peered around the edge, Chance being forced to lie down with Hope and Connie standing over him as they watched.

Confidence Heart Fennec was in her backyard and dressed in a white Karate Gi with a black belt tied around her waist. She threw punches and kicks which sent out currents of air, then crouched as the air around her compressed and she launched into the air, striking at the air as she rose up then kicked at the air as she fell. The three siblings winced as she fell only for the air under her to compressed and slow her descent as she touched down, which made them all sigh in relief. Confidence continued her training regiment, striking at the air and occasionally shooting out a blast of compressed air from her hands and feet.

"I didn't think you could get a black belt that young," Hope whispered.

"Well let's go ask her then," Chance whispered back.

"How do we even talk to her?" Connie whispered.

Confidence Heart slowly came to a stop and exhaled as she let herself relax.

"Looks like a good time," Chance tried to push himself upwards.

"What do we even say to her?" Hope asked as she and her twin stood up to give Chance the space to stand.

"How about 'Hello!' that's usually a good place to start!"

All three jumped as the shout had come from Confidence Heart, who was still facing away from them. They waited as Confidence Heart turned and approached them, all shuffling like guilty children caught trying to peek at their Christmas presents early.

Confidence pointed to her big ears, "These aren't just for show. So what do you want?"

It was always awkward for the Liger siblings when they spoke to any member of the Care Bear Magi. To outside appearances Connie and Hope were definitely older than Confidence Heart but in truth they weren't even a quarter of her age, their fourth birthday was just around the corner while Confidence Heart was 18 years old. They had to keep reminding themselves that she wasn't younger than them.

Chance was the first to speak. "We have something we want to talk to you about, but you have to promise to keep it a secret."

Confidence Heart frowned and folded her arms, "OK, what kind of secret are you asking me to keep? I should warn you right now that I will have to tell Love Heart at some point, especially if it's dangerous."

Connie, Hope and Chance all exchanged worried looks. Ok now they had tipped their hand, even if they didn't tell her everything now Confidence could easily go to their parents and then... well no turning back.

Connie took a deep breath, "We have special powers like you do."

Confidence Heart blinked, "What?"

Hope fidgeted nervously, "It's easier to explain if we show you, but not out here. Do you have somewhere more private we can go?"

"Well, Love Heart's training lessons are usually done by now, so we can go to the training gym in the Hall of Hearts if you want," Confidence Heart motioned for them to follow her.

"There's a gym in the Hall of Hearts? Since when?" Chance asked.

Confidence pause mid-step as she walked past them, "Since Defender joined the family, but he made it so any of us Magi can access at ay time. Com'on I'll show you."

Now curious, they followed after Confidence Heart.

OoOoO

It was Flash Heart's day off and he found himself walking to Harmony Bear's house holding a bouquet of origami flowers attached to pipe cleaners. He was wearing a white shirt and black pants with a black longcoat over top of it. He finally stopped and knocked on Harmony's front door and waited.

There was a muffled sound from inside and a moment later Harmony Bear appeared. "Hello, Flash Heart."

Flash Heart smiled and offered the bouquet to her, "Ahh, Harmony Bear, would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a date?"

Harmony just stared for a moment then smiled, "Well, have you settled on me then? Sure why not? What did you have in mind?"

"How does dinner and a movie sound to you?"

Harmony snickered, "A bit cliché hon but why not, It's been a while since I've been on a date and the flowers are a nice touch. Did you make these?"

"I did. Origami is a hobby of mine I've picked back up recently," He extended a hand towards Harmony Bear, "Shall we?"

Harmony blinked, "Right now? OK just give me a minute to get something on." She shut the door behind her as she went inside.

"Why? You don't normally wear clothes," Flash Heart stared bewildered at the closed door, then he shrugged and decided to wait.

Harmony emerged ten minutes later wearing a yellow sundress with her symbol on the front and carrying a red purse over her shoulder. "What do you think?"

Flash Heart smiled and offered her his hand, "Very lovely, shall we?"

"Yes let's, but I'll drive, I've seen your attempts with Brave Heart," Harmony used her symbol to create a cloud car. Flash Heart darted ahead to open the door for her, which made her smile, before he got in the passenger seat and they took off for earth, with Flash Heart giving her directions.

OoOoO

Independent Bear had slept after his night shift the previous night only to be woken up by Love Heart when he was called for training. Now too awake to get any more sleep he grabbed a book from his house and made his way to the secret reading spot in the Forest of Feelings. He was surprised to see Take Care already sitting there and nose deep into a book.

She looked up when she heard Indy approach, "Hello, Indy. Sleep well?"

Indy sat down on the adjacent log and opened his book. "As well as I could. I had to get up for training again."

Take Care nodded then looked over at the book Indy was reading, "Redwall?"

"Yes. It's the first in a series of medieval fantasy stories about mice, rats and other such creatures. I saw the cartoon when I was younger so I decided to read the books." He smirked, "So far it's better than the cartoon."

Take Care chuckled, "That's something I hear a lot from Get Well."

"What are you reading?" Indy looked over at Take Care, but could only see the back cover of her book.

"Dune. Bright Heart recommended it to me," Take Care turned the book enough for Indy to see the cover.

"Never heard of it. Want to trade when we're done?"

Take Care looked back and forth between the two books, "I don't think you'll be done before I finish."

Indy laughed, "Well maybe I'll read a couple of the sequels first then."

OoOoO

"This is a just a broom closet." Connie stared, deadpan, at the closed doors in front of them inside the Hall of Hearts.

Confidence Heart smirked, "Normally yes, but," she placed a hand on the door and spoke two words that roughly translated to, "Room Transform" as mana flowed from her hand into the closet. She pulled the door open and the ligers gaped as the huge training room stretched out before them, "Now it's a gym. Come in," she beckoned them inside and shut the door behind them.

She dusted her hands off and walked over to where the three were examining some of the equipment in the gym. "Alright, show me what you can do."

The three ligers shared a look then turned back to the door. Confidence looked back over her shoulder then back to the siblings, "Relax, you need to know magic to get in and everyone else is busy or asleep. So go ahead."

"I'll go first then," Connie turned to face Chance and grinned.

Chance gulped and held up his hands, "No fair, wh-"

"Freeze!" Contrary Heart's tummy symbol flashed and Chance froze in place, his mouth still open in the middle of speaking. "There, he's frozen."

"Frozen?" Confidence Heart walked over to Chance and waved a hand in front of his face, his eyes didn't even twitch.

Connie nodded, "Yep. I call it 'freeze frame'. The only way to fix it is for something else to touch him."

"Like this?" Confidence tapped Chance on the nose.

"-y me!?" Chance stumbled a moment seeing Confidence in front of him. He glared over at Connie.

"Hey, she had to see how it worked and I've tested it on Hope enough already," Connie turned to Hope, "Your turn."

"Alright," Hope took a deep breath and her tummy symbol lit up. A moment later what looked like a large transparent soap bubble appeared around her. "This is my bubble."

"Like a shield?" Confidence Heart approached the bubble and tapped it. "Seems solid. Mind if I test how strong it is?"

Hope looked a little nervous but nodded, "OK."

Confidence Heart grinned then braced her legs and drew her hand back. She punched the bubble hard but didn't wince as it shuddered. "Not bad, now let's see just how well it holds up!" Confidence Heart let loose with flurry of punches, all connecting to the same spot. Hope watched the fennec's assault until she noticed, for the first time, a crack appear in the surface of her bubble. Connie and Chance also stared, mouths agape, as Confidence's assault continued, the cracks spreading until Confidence drew back her arm and punched hard enough for her hand to pierce the bubble. Hope gave a high pitched gasp and fell backwards, so shocked that her bubble vanished in the same instant.

Confidence Heart shook her hands, "*whew* not bad, hardest I've had to try to get through something."

"That was your best?" Hope slowly got to her feet.

"Yeah, gotta say I'm impressed." Confidence Heart turned to Chance, "So what about you, shaggy mane?"

Chance looked nervous, but Connie nodded and he spoke. "I can shoot fire and lava out of my symbol."

Confidence Heart whistled, "Lava huh? Go on show me."

Chance scratched the side of his head and averted his gaze from her, "Yeah, thing is I can only do it when I'm mad, like really mad. The last time I tried to do it on purpose I nearly dropped a ball of lava down to earth."

"Did it stick around?"

"What?" Chance looked back up at Confidence.

Confidence repeated, "Did the lava you created stick around or did it evaporate?"

Chance shook his head, "No, Connie froze it and Hope used a bubble to move it into rainbow river."

"As far as we know, it's still down there somewhere," Contrary Heart said.

"Alright, show me where then." Confidence Heart turned towards the exit door.

"What?" Hope jogged to catch up to Confidence Heart.

Confidence Heart turned to Hope. "Show me where you dumped it. If it's down there I'm sure Cozy Heart or Jolly Heart are going to find it someday, besides I want to see if it's still there."

"Alright, just promise not to show anyone," Hope was about to move when Confidence fixed her with a stern look, "Except Love Heart."

A few minutes later, Confidence Heart stood at the edge of the Rainbow River, unfortunately it wasn't clear enough to see to the bottom at this time of day. Confidence Heart undressed and left her karate gi on the riverbank as she did some stretches in preparation to dive in. "You sure it was around here?"

"This is the closest spot I can remember," Connie said.

"Alright. Just wait here and don't worry if I'm down for too long." Confidence Heart grinned over her shoulder then cannonballed into the river, splashing the siblings as she vanished beneath the surface. As soon as she was under, Confidence Heart created a bubble of air around her head then dove down to search the riverbed.

Five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty. Despite Confidence's earlier reassurance, Contrary Heart, Hopeful Heart and Chance Heart had become rather nervous, even Cozy Heart and Jolly Heart couldn't stay down that long. As if their thoughts had summoned them the purple penguin and violet platypus were seen swimming upstream against the rather mild current. Any hope of not being spotted was dashed when Cozy Heart waved to them.

"Hello Connie, Hope, Chance, what bringsss you here?" Cozy whistled.

"Just... watching the river flow by," Connie hastily tried to explain.

"S'way more fun if ya jump in. C'mon shiela, the water's great!" Jolly waved to them.

"No thanks, don't feel like it!" Chance shot back. All three of them hoped they would just swim past on the surface. No such luck as the two of them dove underwater together.

Hope gulped, "I'm not sure if I want them to find Confidence or not. She's been down there too long."

"As long as she's alright..." Connie tried to hide just how nervous she was but as they watched the water's surface they saw a bright flash and a moment later Confidence's head broke the surface with Jolly and Cozy beside her.

"What were ya doing down there, shiela? And how long? Your skin's all wrinkly," Jolly gave her a perplexed look.

"And what wassss that bubble around your head?" Cozy asked as Confidence grabbed the river bank and easily hauled herself out of the water.

"Aerokinetics," Confidence grinned then punched her hands together which send a blast of air around her to dry herself off, "I just made a bubble of air around my head to breathe, seeing how long I could make it last."

"Sounds troppo to me, just be careful," Jolly waved to Confidence as the fennec retrieved her clothes and headed towards Care-a-Lot. The liger siblings stared for a moment until Confidence Heart motioned for them to follow her, which they did.

"Did you find it?" Connie whispered.

Confidence Heart nodded, "I put it in my tummy symbol. Oof, I guess the weight carries over. I wonder if this is what being pregnant feels like."

"Ask mom, she has the most experience."

OoOoO

"So what do you want to see?" Flash Heart and Harmony Bear stood inside the theater's lobby. They were getting some stares but nothing they weren't used to.

Harmony Bear browsed the titles on the wall, then pointed, "How about 'Accepted' It sounds good to me."

"What's it about?" Flash Heart asked as they got in line for the ticket desk.

"A slacker who can't get into College so he decides to start his own to show he's not a failure, should be funny."

Flash Heart nodded and stepped in to pay for the tickets. "Popcorn?" he asked.

Harmony smiled, "Just a small, gotta watch my figure, ya know."

Flash Heart grinned then put an arm around Harmony, "You don't need to be worried about that, Harmony."

Harmony giggled, "Flatterer."

"Is that so wrong?" Flash Heart asked.

"Not at all," Harmony grabbed Flash Heart's arm and squeezed slightly, "You're not so bad yourself."

Flash Heart blushed slightly, "Thank you. Shall we?"

"Yes, let's," Harmony kept ahold of Flash's arm as they went to the snack bar.

OoOoO

By the time Confidence Heart got home, Love Heart had returned and was sitting in the living room. Despite their hesitation, Connie, Hope and Chance decided they might as well come clean to his since Confidence Heart had told them she was going to share with him anyway.

Love Heart had his arms folded as he stared at the snow-globe sized ball of obsidian sitting on the coffee table in front of him. "I'm impressed. Stuff we create with Kinetics vanishes after a few minutes but this has been down there for months." He looked up at the three sitting nervously and watching him for a reaction. Love Heart sighed and sat back, "Relax, I'll keep this between us." Their audible sigh deflated the entire room, "But why are you so nervous about telling anyone?"

"Because it's different, it's... weird," Hope twiddled her fingers together.

Love Heart snorted then pointed to the eight-pointed star on his forehead, "I'm half-unicorn. Weird is relative."

"And because No-Heart's had an interest in us since we were born, and he knows what Hope and I can do already," Connie shuddered, "And after what happened with Pace," she looked up to see the sick look on Love Heart's face, "Sorry... but yeah he's been after us since we were babies, and Chance's power is especially dangerous."

"Alright, I get it. So why did you want to tell us anyway?" Love Heart raised an eyebrow.

"It was my idea," Chance raised a hand, "I wanted help learning to control my flames, so I can learn how to do it when I want to without burning holes in the clouds."

"I can help with that, no problem," Confidence Heart grinned and jabbed a thumb towards her chest, "You're talking to a genuine Karate Sensei here, if anyone can help you get a handle on your powers it's me."

Love Heart nodded then leaned over and gave his fiancé a kiss, "Thanks, Confidence."

Confidence kissed back, "No problem. But I think I should help all three of you."

"Hey, we've been practising on our own for months, I think we know what we're doing," Contrary Heart folded her arms and half-glared at Confidence Heart. "Do you even know how our tummy symbol powers work?"

"Nope, but I do," Love Heart said. "My tummy symbol has a special power too: it can find lost Care Bears."

"What?" Connie's fierce expression softened as she and her siblings turned to Love Heart.

"When I'm close to a Care Bear without a tummy symbol mine starts glowing red and stays that way until I find them or lose them." Love Heart stared down at his symbol and sighed, "I haven't had much practise lately but I know how it functions: it's how the mana flows into and out of your symbol so it can be practised more-or-less like kinetics can."

"Why do you have a special power?" Chance asked.

"Because he's like us," Hope's statement drew her siblings' looks so she explained, "He's second generation."

Confidence Heart grinned, "Yup! Love Heart was born a Care Bear, not transformed like the rest of us. Of course he's a lot older than you kids, heck he's older than me by a few months. Anyways I can teach you how to control the mana that flows into your tummy symbol so you can do more stuff with your powers, if you want. Just call me in the afternoon when you have time to spare."

"What if mom and dad find out?" Hope asked.

"I'll just say I'm teaching you self-defence. That's not a bad idea actually," Confidence Heart held her chin and looked up at the ceiling.

"Wait... what about Hugs and Tugs?" Connie asked.

"What about them?" Chance raised an eyebrow.

"They're Noble Heart and True Heart's kids, what if they have special powers too?" Connie stood up, "I mean they're the same as us, what if..."

"Not a bad thought but I don't think we should tell them just yet, at least not until we know if they do," Hope grabbed her twin sister's hand to stop her from running out the doors.

"Yeah, and Tugs like to brag about all the little things he does right so there goes our secret if he starts blabbing," Chance said.

Connie sighed, "Alright fine. But if they show any strange sign of powers we all agree to tell them."

"I'll leave that up to you. I don't want to get any of you more involved than you have to be." Love Heart stood up and picked up the ball of obsidian.

"Involved?" Connie cocked an eyebrow.

Love Heart looked over at her, "In fighting. Our mission to protect the rest of you is dangerous, and yes I know you've been defending yourselves well enough so far but then there's monsters like Dusk Heart." Confidence winced at mention of their enemy's name, "I don't want to bring you into this fight, put you through training and other dangerous endeavors. Your powers are strong but I don't want to be the one to tell your parents that you got hurt on a mission, or worse..."

"Alright, thank you," Hope said.

"Until then, mind if we keep this?" Love Heart held up the obsidian ball, "I like the way this looks," he chuckled, "And if anyone asks I'll just say it was a gag gift Confidence got me for my last birthday."

"Hey!" Confidence stuck her tongue out at her fiancé, and they both laughed.

"Sure, go ahead," Chance said. "Until then I gotta go, Playful has something he wants me to help with."

"Oh no..." Connie groaned softly as her brother took off.

OoOoO

The next day, Guidance Heart was at the training gym an hour earlier than normal. She stood in the middle of the gym and concentrated on her tummy symbol and a moment later a long dagger appeared and she took hold of it with trembling hands. "OK, I can do this." She faced one of the straw combat dummies they used for weapon training and did her best to stab out at it.

"Guidance Heart?" Love Heart's voice caused Guidance to squeak as she dropped the weapon to the ground.

"Love Heart?!" She spun around to face him, "Wh-what are you doing here so early?"

"I just decided to do some solo training this morning, what's that?" Love Heart looked over to the weapon lying at her feet.

Guidance Heart crouched down and picked it up, "It's a dirk, a long dagger of sorts but I tweaked it to look like something I read about in a Redwall book." She showed the weapon to Love Heart, "I mean, you all said I needed to learn a weapon and this was the only thing I could think of."

"As long as you're alright with this," Love Heart smiled and created a wooden sword out of his tummy symbol, "I don't know much about those, but want to practise?"

"O-OK," Guidance Heart took a deep breath then swung out at Love Heart, who easily deflected the blade.

"Don't grip it so tightly, and try to relax when you're training or you'll stumble." Love Heart kept the wooden sword pointed at Guidance. Guidance nodded and adjusted her grip before she resumed the lesson.