The Great Adventure

“Now, in case you forgot, you still owe me 79,900 Cat Credits,” said DeBear to the gang after their rescue when they were all safely flying away in their Bearmy ship.

“But we have none, yo!” said Bird.

“My problems consist of corn and politics,” said DeBear. “This is not my problem.”

“Corn?”

“And politics!”

“Well what’s gonna happen if we don’t pay you, yo?”

“What do you think, hmm?” asked DeBear. “You’ll go to Bourt and get sentenced to Brison.”

“Hm, that’s not ideal,” replied Bird.

“You could work for us to repay the debt,” suggested DeBear.

“What jobs do you have?”

“You could become a Bearmy soldier. You could be a Beardyguard for the King.”

“Y’all got a new king?” asked Snorter.

“No, not yet. We’re still working on finding one,” explained DeBear. “It’s a very complicated process.”

“How’s it work?” asked Snorter.

“Well, first they gather all five of the Five Powerful Bears of the Bears, or FPB of the B for short. I, the leader of the Bearmy, am one of them. There is also the Budje, or Bear Judge if you don’t like Bearnacular. There’s also the head of the Bearnk, Bear Bank. You’ll meet with him soon to discuss the debt. Then there’s the head of Bear Foreign Relations and finally the Bear President. Additionally, the Three Powerful Bear Leaders of the Five Powerful Bears of the Bears, or TPBL of the FPB of the B for short, must also meet with us. They consist of--”

“Okay, nevermind. Just keep listing potential jobs,” said Snorter.

“The only job remaining is Bear Miner,” said DeBear. “They go out to the quarry and mine stone for the Bear Fortress. But you also get paid whenever you find a valuable gem or material. You get 10% of its worth.”

“Oh, sick!” exclaimed Plagiarize. “We could get rick quick with that!”

“How long will it take us to repay our debt?” asked Mushpuff.

“A few years, maybe,” said DeBear.

“Well we certainly don’t have that much time,” said Bird.

After much conversation, it was decided that the decision would be decided at a later point. For now, the gang relaxed in the Bearmy ship as it flew back to Bear Stone Planet.

Upon arriving at Bear Stone Planet five days later, DeBear parked his ship in the Bearmy Garage, which had a massive door at the base of Bear Fortress. This garage stored all the ships of the Bearmy and was where all the gricklite from the quarries went to be used in Bear Missiles.

DeBear led Mushpuff, Bird, Plagiarize, Snorter, Hoofa, Gumpton, Klumpkrump, and Qaeron through the halls of Bear Fortress. They all had very fancy rugs and were decorated with beautiful gems. Bears walked here and there and everywhere - into doors, out of doors, through doors, under doors, around doors, behind doors, in front of doors, and above doors. Eventually they arrived at the central room.

The central room of Bear Fortress was a very large tower with at least 20 floors, though quite possibly upwards of 24 and certainly no less than 18. The center of each floor in the room was gone, so you could look up from the bottom floor and see all the way to the top and out of the fabled Bear Dome, which had a stained glass pattern on it that depicted a bear being crowned as Bear King. The dome was currently covered with tape.

“What’s with the tape?” asked Mushpuff.

“It’s a tradition, you see,” explained DeBear as he walked towards a staircase. “Anyways, come along!” The gang followed DeBear up no less than 18 but no more than 24 flights of stairs, all the way to the top floor of the central room.

“Now come through this door,” said He, DeBear, walking through two large double doors. A label above the doors read “BEAR BANK™”. The Bear Bank was a sizeable room filled with over a hundred bears. It was quite bustling.

DeBear led the gang through the crowd of bears, and they received a lot of attention. Their case was quite well known among the bears, after all. They were taken to a door in the back of the room which DeBear unlocked with a key. This was the room of the head of the Bearnk. DeBear led the gang in and then left to attend to other important matters.

This room was shaped like a rectangle, and the door they entered from was on its short side. On the opposite side was a very large circular vault door with a diameter of about 5 meters. Between them and the vault door was a small desk with a chair and a bear and some paperwork.

“Mmmm, welcome!” said the bear, looking up from his paperwork. “I am Mound, head of the Bearnk. Also, dog, weapons aren’t allowed in here.”

“It’s a replica,” said Hoofa, showing off her Kearthian pirate gun she still had. “It doesn’t do anything.”

“Very well. Come sit down, everyone.”

“Where, yo?” asked Bird. “There’s no chairs.”

“Just wait for it,” said Mound.

It was a good long 10 seconds before anything happened. Then a section of the wall slid away and some chairs tumbled out. These were bear-sized chairs, though, so everyone except for Gumpton and Qaeron struggled to set them up and sit on them.

“So--” began Mound, just before he was cut off by a great rumbling, followed by the Bear Alarms going off.

“Oh no!” shouted Mound.

“What’s happening??” asked Snorter.

“This specific Bear Alarm means there’s an attack or an invasion! Follow me!”

Mound walked up to the large circular vault door and stuck a key in a small keyhole and then entered a 16-digit code and then flicked a few levers and played a game of chess against an AI and then scanned his paw and then the door flung open.