Care Bears Countdown,

Four, three, two, one.

Who's that comin' from somewhere up in the sky?

Moving' fast and bright as a firefly.

Just when you think that trouble's gonna pounce,

Who's gonna be there when it really counts?

Do that Care Bears Countdown

And send a wish out through the air.

Just do that Care Bears Countdown.

Just when you need them, they'll be there.

Don't be afraid when clouds are growing in your heart.

If you can dream, just send a wish out in the dark

And do that Care Bears Countdown.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Lightning flashed inside the dark purple storm cloud surrounding No Heart's castle. The wizard was getting very angry because of his many failed plans. Those despicable fuzzy wuzzies, the Care Bears, always ruined his attempts at conquest. Oh great. Now he was starting to think like Cold Heart. Beastly, his bumbling assistant, and Shreeky, his vain and spoiled niece, were no help at all. Must No Heart do everything himself?

The Sorcerer paced near the Thunder Pit, trying to figure out the best way to finally defeat the Care Bears. As he thought, the nearby cauldron boiled and glowed an erie purple.

No Heart walked towards the cauldron. "Magic cauldron, show me what I will need to defeat those thorns in my side, the Care Bears!"

The cauldron glowed brighter and showed him an image of one of his previous spells.

"The Bubbles of Uncaring? What can I possibly do with those? Do you remember what happened last time with the Caring Crystals?" No Heart asked himself. Then, No Heart got a wonderfully evil idea. "Shadows!"

On their master's order, a shadow army flew to him.

"My Shadows, prepare to help Beastly and Shreeky steal all the Caring Crystals in the Forest of Feelings's mine." No Heart ordered.

The Shadows wailed in agreement.

"Beastly and Shreeky!"

The assistant and niece came running through the wooden door to see why they were needed.

"How would you two like to help my Shadows get all the Caring Crystals at the Forest of Feelings's mine?" Asked No Heart.

"That's a good idea, Boss. We'll do it right away," the pig-like creature said.

Shreeky and No Heart growled at him.

"I mean a bad idea because bad is good to us," Beastly corrected himself.

"Good, but do not fail me or else ..." Said No Heart.

"Yes, Uncle No Heart," said Shreeky.

"Right away, boss," said Beastly.

With that being said, Beastly, Shreeky and the army of Shadows went on their way to the Caring Crystal mine.

No Heart gathered the necessary materials for one of his old spells. "The bubbles of uncaring!" he laughed evilly.

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Caring, the Care Bears and Cousins were enjoying a beautiful sunny day. Many were relaxing. Loyal Heart Dog was helping Proud Heart Cat in in her garden. Swift Heart Rabbit was challenging anyone who would participate to race. Bright Heart Raccoon and Grumpy Bear were working on a new invention, so far with more miss-haps than actual results. Funshine Bear and Playful Heart Monkey were planning their next prank.

Everybody's relaxation was cut short by sound of the Caring Meter. When it made a noise like an off-key bell, that meant one of two things. One possibility was a drop in caring on earth. The other was that No Heart was up to something. All the Care Bears and Cousins stopped what they were doing and ran straight to the Hall of Hearts.

Brave Heart Lion was the first to ask a question at the emergency meeting. "Where is the uncaring activity happening, Tenderheart?"

"Well, the Star Buddies have spotted No Heart's Shadows, Beastly and Shreeky at the Forest of Feelings's mine," replied Tenderheart.

"No Heart's always up to the same old tricks," grumbled Grumpy. "He never learns."

"We better get there and find out what they are up to," Said Swift Heart.

"Right on Swift Heart," Said True Heart Bear.

"Let's go!" Said Noble Heart Horse.

Tenderheart, True Heart, Brave Heart, Noble Heart, Swift Heart and Grumpy hopped into their cloud car and drove to the scene of the caring energy drop. They arrived quickly at the mine and jumped out of the car.

"According to the Caring Beeper, the trouble is located inside the mine," said Swift Heart as the machine in question beeped like a smoke detector.

"Everyone, grab a supply belt. We might need them inside the mine," said Noble Heart.

The group did as Noble Heart told them. Each supply belt contained a flashlight, rope, a small first-aid kit, emergency food like granola bars and trail mix, and a canteen of water. Off they went into the mine. It didn't take long to find the source of uncaring activity. No Heart's Shadows, Shreeky and Beastly were there, taking every Caring Crystal they could find. The enemies were laughing in a very evil way.

"Uncle No Heart will be very pleased with my success," said Shreeky.

"You mean our success, don't you Shreeky?" Beastly asked.

"What was that, Fur Ball?"

The poor creature didn't want to face the young witch's shriek so quickly covered what he had said. "Your success Shreeky. Always yours, never mine."

"Oh no you don't, any of you." shouted True Heart to the enemy group.

"The Care Bears!" Shouted Beastly and Shreeky in unison.

"Drop those Caring Crystals!" said Swift Heart.

No Heart's lackies quickly flew or ran away from the Care Bears.

"After them!" called Noble Heart.

The Care Bears charged in hot pursuit. However, the enemies were too fast for the six. Beastly, Shreeky and the Shadows escaped too quickly, even for Swift Heart.

"Come back here!" shouted Brave Heart.

"We might need help, Tenderheart," said True Heart.

"I agree with you, True Heart."

"Whatever No Heart and his allies have in mind is not good at all," said Noble Heart.

"Let's go!" said Grumpy Bear.

The group exited the mine and jumped into the cloud car. They flew back to Care-a-Lot to get back up as fast as possible.

Meanwhile at No Heart's castle, the sorcerer had just added the final ingredient to his spell. A large puff of steam irrupted from the cauldron. A stream of large, dark bubbles quickly followed.

"At last, the spell is complete," said No Heart.

"No Heart!" cried Beastly and Shreeky in unison. The two were out of breath from their rush to escape the Care Bears. "We collected all the Caring Crystals from the mine, but the Care Bears have returned to Care-a-Lot to get help!"

"Then we'll start where we should have a long time ago," said No Heart. "I have enough bubbles to cover every part of the Kingdom of Caring! Ha ha ha ha!" With that, he ordered the bubbles of uncaring to go to Care-a-Lot.

The scout team arrived home in time to see the first bubbles approaching the kingdom. "Not again," the resident grouch moaned. "Things just had to get worse."

The Family members still in Care-a-Lot noticed the bubbles too. Before a full-blown panic could occur, Bright Heart thought of a plan.

"Everyone get into formation. Care Bears, countdown."

"Five, four, three, two,, one," everyone said in unison.

"Stare!" the bears shouted.

"Call!" cried the Cousins.

Multi-colored beams of caring energy struck a large number of the bubbles, destroying them. Unfortunately, more were coming.

"We can't keep up our Stare forever," Tenderheart panted. "There are too many of them."

"We can't let the bubbles touch us either," Brave Heart pointed out.

The Family continued to fight as best they could but the situation was starting to seem hopeless. It was only a matter of time before they tired themselves out.

"I have an idea," said Wish Bear. "A wish is what we need right now. The only way we can solve this problem is by getting our Caring Crystals back. Now everyone, concentrate with me. I wish we were at No Heart's castle."

The group concentrated as well as they could without letting up on their Stare. There was a bright flash and the Care Bear Family members found themselves in No Heart's throne room.

"Oops, so much for the subtle approach," Wish said a little sheepishly.

No Heart smirked. "Well, well, well. The Care Bears have hand-delivered themselves to me. Beastly, get the cages!"

"Yes No Heart."

Cozy Heart saw that Beastly was still carrying the large bag of Caring Crystals. Thinking fast, she created a large patch of ice directly in front of him with her symbol. The strange creature slipped on the ice, spilling crystals all over the place. He came to a stop face-down in a pile of them. Beastly stood up, looking dazed.

"Ow! That's got to hurt," said Brave Heart.

"Have a nice trip?" Cozy Heart whistled.

Beastly blinked a few times then started singing. "Love is the fuzziest thing I know.

The furry way to make it so.

Warm and so cozy

And golly gee,

Fuzzy and furry is me."

"Beastly, stop that singing and do as you're told!" No Heart screamed.

Beastly did stop singing. "But No Heart, that wouldn't be very nice. These bears shouldn't be caged up. They're so cute and friendly."

"I think your assistant will be out of commission for a while," True Heart laughed.

"I have to do everything around here!" No Heart hollered.

He transformed into a bull and charged at the Care Bears. Unfortunately for him, he also kicked some Caring Crystals into the Thunder Pit. The pit couldn't handle the caring energy and began to rumble. The Care Bears and Cousins scooped up the remaining crystals as quickly as they could. A hurried wish from Wish Bear sent them home just before one of the castle's walls collapsed. An angry yell from the sorcerer was the last thing they heard before leaving.

The Family cleaned up the bubbles and returned the Caring Crystals to the mine once they were home. The villains had not, in fact, taken every crystal, just the ones they could easily find. More would grow soon but it was best to save as many as possible. Life would soon be back to normal for the Care Bear Family. For now, they wouldn't have to worry about No Heart causing trouble. He'd be too busy making repairs on his castle. Maybe Beastly would be a little nicer from now on after his over-exposure to caring energy. Only time would tell.