Chapter 11 - To the Bear Cave

How could he have forgotten about that big loveable ball of fur?

Okay, so maybe he was more like a giant black furry killing machine. Despite the unlikeliness of it all, they had befriended each other throughout the previous evening's events. He had heard somewhere that unbreakable bonds could form between those who overcome great adversity together. Was that what happened? Or had it been something else?

Regardless of why it had happened, without Yogi's help, Kip would have never arrived in time to save his Mom. For that alone, Kip owed the large bear more than he would likely ever be able to repay. While he was confident that he would have located Banner's Bunker of Blood-stealing Bastards eventually, he wasn't sure how long it would have taken.

No use thinking of what-if scenarios now anyway, Yogi had helped him, and as promised he'd be getting some fishy snacks!

"How did you know I promised him large amounts of fish?" Kip asked as Skyla in confusion as he noticed the large cart stacked with salmon waiting for them near the front gate. Each of these salmon was large enough to feed a family of humans for an entire week, and yet would only be a light snack for Yogi.

"Duh, I have ESP," Skyla said as if it should be evident as she grabbed one side of the handle used to tug on the cart. In the past, a horse would have been required to pull a wagon this massive, yet Skyla or Kip could manage it themselves.

Kip grabbed the other side then asked a bit alarmed "I thought you could only read people's intent, not their thoughts?" Nobody was perfect after all, and everybody had thoughts that they didn't want others to hear every now and again.

"You should see the look on your face," she said with a laugh before continuing. "I don't even need extrasensory perception to know what you are thinking! To answer your question, no, I can't read your thoughts. I was only able to discern the thoughts you directed at Yogi."

"I see, can you hear this thought?" He asked while thinking 'your shoes are untied,' to Skyla as they heaved the cart through the gate and towards one the bridges spanning the lake.

"Ha nice try, but yes I did hear that. You seem to have a type of telepathy where you can communicate mind to mind with those that are receptive, "Skyla surmised.

"So you can hear my thoughts, but not send any back?" Kip asked with curiosity as they made their way across the bridge.

"Nope, at least I don't think so. I have tried sending a bunch of different thoughts to you this morning, but you haven't reacted in the slightest," answered Skyla.

"Hmm, I wonder why animals seem to be able to both understand my communications and to respond to them?" Kip asked before continuing, "I am not sure if all of them can, but Yogi and that huge monster both that the ability."

"That is probably unlikely," Skyla said before explaining. "It is much more likely that you possess the ability to send your thoughts in a way the Beasts can understand and the ability to read their thoughts. After all, what is more likely, you possessing that ability? Or a bunch of different animals having the ability to project theirs to you?"

"Well, that makes sense when you say it like that," he said pensively before asking. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Just up this way not too much longer," Skyla mysteriously answered as they headed down a path off the main road.

They had traveled north of the main stronghold for a few miles then had turned west heading towards the foot of the mountains bordering the valley. After another fifteen minutes of travel, they were already halfway up the slope of the mountain, having climbed over a thousand feet (300m+) of elevation. Usually, that wouldn't have been much of an effort, but pushing the cart had been a bit of a struggle. Especially as the path had mostly disappeared, causing the wheels to get stuck often.

Finally, Skyla stopped and motioned to the right along a rocky path that led off into the woods. "We won't be able to take the cart up the path, so why don't you go fetch your bear friend?"

"How do you know this is his home?" Kip asked.

"Yogi and his kin have lived in this Valley for hundreds of years. The general population does not know it, but they are a big reason that we have been attacked so infrequently by other evolved beasts. They view Fort Valley as their home and hunting ground, so they deter other predators from taking up residence. Since they have no taste for human flesh themselves, they have indirectly protected us by keeping these other man-eaters away. It is true that they have killed many humans over the years, but mostly only those that came too close to their cubs, their home, or their kills," Skyla explained.

"Aren't we kind of close to their home now?" Kip asked a bit stupidly.

"Yes, and we are already under observation. If you weren't buddies with Yogi, I would have never come this close. Now go fetch your bear so we can give him his promised treats," she said.

"Okay…" Kip started to say before he heard what sounded like a stampede approaching them from the way Skyla had indicated. Kip reflexively hid behind the wagon with Skyla while cloaking them both. He relaxed a moment later, however, when he saw Yogi round the bend in the path ahead approaching them at a trot. Two bears about a quarter the size of Yogi trailed him by a few steps. They looked tiny compared to Yogi, but they were still a ton or two each and as tall as Kip at the shoulder!

Dropping his cloak, Kip stepped forward and greeted Yogi. "Hey Yogi, we brought your fishy snacks as promised!"

Yogi did not indicate a response and instead lumbered towards Kip at what seemed like a dangerous speed!

"Whoa," was all Kip got out before Yogi had barreled him over with his snout and began to lick him with his huge tongue! "Eww gross, bear slobber," Kip protested as he covered his head with his arms. "Be careful. You may accidentally swallow me without even noticing!"

Yogi meanwhile had finally returned a thought of 'Fondness,' then an image of Kip and Yogi with the massive "King of the Forest" in pursuit and then Kip cloaking them both to prevent them from being eaten.

"It's the least I can do for my loyal bear mount! If I had let you get eaten, I would have had to walk the whole way," Kip exclaimed finally able to climb back to his feet, completely covered in bear fur and saliva.

Yogi chuffed in 'Amusement' before shifting his attention to the wagon and its contents.

"Now you look like one of his cubs!" Skyla said unable to hold back her laughter at Kip's ridiculous appearance.

"Hey Yogi, if I requested it, would you lick her to death as well?" Kip asked threateningly.

Yogi looked at Skyla then the two small bears behind him. Kip then swore he saw a huge grin split his bear maw before the two cubs advanced and proceeded to surround Skyla to snuffle and lick her.

"Ahhhh, make them stop, it tickles!" Skyla shrieked while simultaneously trying to defend herself and giggling like a little girl.

"Well, it is good to see you too Yogi and to thank you for all the help you provided the other night. Without you I'm not sure what would have happened, "Kip greeted Yogi while stepping forward and scratching the spot on his neck that he seemed to love.

Yogi responded with an image he had sent before of a family of bears, then an image of Skyla and Kip, and a strong feeling of 'Inclusion' before leaning into Kip's scratches and nearly knocking him back down onto the ground.

"We feel the same buddy, but Skyla organized all these yummy fish for you so it would be a shame for them to go to waste," Kip added pointing at the cart.

As if he had just given them permission, Yogi and the two cubs stalked over to the cart and proceeded to scarf down the fish in mass quantity.

Upon seeing the feeding frenzy, Skyla joked, "Wow, they sure can eat. Are you sure they aren't Pig Bears?"

Yogi looked up for a moment at her then sent thoughts of 'Acknowledgement' to Kip.

"Yogi thought your joke was funny, which should come as a surprise, but I was pretty sure he interpreted your words the other day as well. So maybe you can communicate with animals as well and not understand them? Or maybe Yogi is just special? I am not sure myself. It could also be that him having to interpret my speech, forced him to learn how to understand other humans as well. I wish there were a guide to all these evolved powers." Kip exclaimed in frustration.

Skyla added, "Yeah me too. With humans only having started evolving fifty years ago there isn't all that much information available yet. At first, most were only getting stronger and faster. These more advanced powers have only started to become normal in the past twenty years or so. Even Mom and Dad didn't develop theirs until they were already adults. I did steal some documents from Banner's lab that listed out all the powers they had found out about, but that only gives us a small idea of what is out there. Not how people develop new abilities or how common they are. It is very frustrating."

Realizing something Skyla had omitted Kip asked. "Wait, you didn't tell the Council of Elder's about what happened?"

"We told one or two we trust and they were going to spread the word amongst those they trusted before we met with The Council as a whole. We told everybody else that we met and joined Banner's crew and had headed back towards the valley when we were attacked by 'The King of the Forest.' It won't hold up if any of Banner's crew survived to report back in, but we didn't want to make ourselves targets right away," Skyla explained.

Yogi looked up briefly from his feeding frenzy and sent Kip a series of vivid images of Yogi and a few other bears stalking then tearing apart three humans outside of the valley. He included an image he had sent before the group of people representing those that were involved in attacking his parent's scavenger team.

Sending thoughts of 'thanks' to Yogi then interpreting aloud to Skyla, "Some did survive and tried to get back to the base, but Yogi and a few of his ilk killed them. We can't be sure if any survived and went back to their burning bunker, but it looks like we are safe for the moment."

"Well that buys us a bit of time, but what are we going to do next? Mom and I discussed it a bit, but we didn't want to give anything away in case someone could listen in. We figured our first step would be to have Lyra spy on some of the council members to see if we can find out who was involved. Once Lyra finds the guilty parties we would sneak in and steal any physical evidence needed to prove their guilt. The last step would be to present all the evidence we find to those in The Council we determine had nothing to do with it."

"Um that sounds like a plan, but why are you asking me? You know I'll do whatever you all come up with." Kip wondered.

"Kip, you already saved Mom's and probably my life as well. You aren't even thirteen yet. You shouldn't have to keep taking risks for our safety!" she answered emphatically.

"I wouldn't call sneaking in and stealing something from some old geezers risky," Kip argued.

"That is why you need to listen to me! How could you even think that after what you have just been through in the past few days? Do you think that you know all of the Elder's 'evolved' powers? First off as you know, people like to hide specific abilities as a trump card. Secondly, if Banner was working for them, they may have acquired more abilities through some sick experimentation. Who knows how long they have been abducting people for them? When we went through that log book you stole it had names of people that had gone missing dating as far back as five years ago that were supposedly lost to beast attacks," she half shouted as if in exasperation.

"Skyla, I know you are trying to keep me safe, but we have no choice here. Dad is gone, Mom can't do this, and you don't have any powers that can help. If we need to steal something to protect ourselves or the lives of others in the valley, I am the best option. If it makes you feel better, I'll be scared while doing it or better yet, I'll bring you along. While it is unlikely that I'll need to blow something up, better safe than sorry right?" He asked trying to add a bit of levity to the conversation.

She stared at him for a moment finally sighing. "Well we will see how it goes, we need to see if Lyra will even do the spying for us in the first place."

"What is Lyra's story anyway?" He asked as the sounds of the feeding frenzy started to abate.

"Her family worked for Banner in some capacity, but when they found out what he was doing, they objected and then promptly disappeared. Banner was probably keeping her around to breed when she was able. She is a few years older than you, but she is very immature in her body development for her age which likely delayed their plans for her," Skyla couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what they would have done to both Lyra, and herself had they not escaped.

Yogi having finished eating and seeming to have sensed her thoughts came over to comfort Skyla. As he walked up to her something completely unexpected happened. He shrunk from a six-meter tall monster to a one-foot tall tiny bear who then proceeded to jump up into Skyla's arms.

Skyla reflexively caught him then mouthed, "What the heck?" to Kip as Yogi snuggled into the crook of her neck.

Kip just as flabbergasted asked, "since when can you do that Yogi?"

Yogi responded with 'Shrug' and 'First.'

"It is his first time he changed, so either he didn't know he could or he just somehow gained the ability," Kip explained after interpreting Yogi's thoughts.

"One of Banner's crew did have the ability to change in size now that I think about it. He only had the energy to double or half in size and could only maintain it for a limited duration," Skyla added.

"Well Yogi just reduced to like 1/20th does that mean he could also increase his size by 20 times? If so he could likely smash the "King of the Forest" no problem!" Kip exclaimed triumphantly.

"Um didn't that same monster eat most of Banner's Crew? Could it have gained more powers as well?" Skyla asked.

Kip couldn't stop himself from shuddering. Had he unintentionally given that Killing machine more weapons? If that monster was only a bit smarter, it could likely wipe out Fort Valley with little trouble even with its inability to scale mountains. If it all of a sudden possessed a pyrokinetic or another equally frightening ability nothing could stop it.

Yogi interrupted Kip's self-doubt session before it could ramp up by jumping down out of Skyla's arms and headed up the path towards his den. As he shimmered and grew back to full size in an instant, he stopped and sent a thought to Kip 'Follow.'

"He wants us to follow him," Kip interpreted to Skyla as he headed off into the woods after Yogi, Skyla trailing behind.

They followed Yogi for ten minutes or so until their path ahead appeared to dead end into the side of the mountain. So when Yogi suddenly disappeared, it was a bit of a shock. Until, when they got closer, Kip could see that two rock faces overlapped to hide the entrance of a cave. The hidden entrance was just large enough for Yogi to walk through unimpeded in his standard form. Once inside a tunnel descended diagonally into the mountain for what seemed like at least half of a mile (800 meters) before leveling off. Kip was pretty sure that at the steep angle they were descending they may be below the elevation of the valley floor. About that time is when he stopped to stare in amazement causing Skyla to run into the back of him. She had been following just behind him, not because of the lack of the width of the corridor, but because most of the path was covered in water. This left only a small strip of rock to walk on if they wanted to keep their clothes dry. Yogi, of course, hadn't cared.

"Hey, what are you doing stopping all of a sudden?" She asked in an annoyed manner until she looked up gasping in surprise as well.

They stood at the entrance to a massive underground chamber that was well over a thousand feet across and just about half as tall. What surprised Kip so much wasn't necessarily the size of it, although it was imposing. What had him staring in shock was at the top of the dome-shaped ceiling was a light source so bright that it filled the entire chamber as if they were outside. After his eyes adjusted a bit, he still could see that the light came from multiple points on the dome. At first, he thought the light sources were openings in the ceiling that let light in, but at their depth that would be impossible. He supposed maybe they could be on the other side of the mountain range, but he didn't think they had walked that far.

"Are those electrical lights?" Skyla asked perplexed.

"Um, they sure seem to be. Now that my eyes are adjusting this whole space looks to have been built." Kip said as he glanced around at the extra smooth walls and ceilings.

"But by whom? There is no record of this place, even the original inhabitants of the valley before our ancestors got here didn't know about it. I mean if they did, why build a compound? This place is large enough to fit the entire population of Fort Valley and much easier to defend!" Skyla wondered.

"No idea," Kip answered as he rushed to catch up to Yogi who had almost disappeared from view. Normally that would be impossible in a huge chamber like this, but in many spots trees and other plants had somehow rooted into the floor growing up towards the ceiling as if seeking daylight. He also could see other bears lumbering through the "forest" and others peeking out of side chambers. He figured Yogi had spread the word not to eat him, but he wasn't in the mood to be mauled accidentally so kept as close as possible to the big bear. As he caught up to Yogi, he did a double take on the plants and trees. He now saw that they were in orderly rows and patterns, contained to the areas along the paths. They were also as far smaller than plant life outside of the cave, almost as if they never experienced the rapid evolution that others had. His troubled mind was interrupted from how that could even be possible by a message from Yogi.

An Image of a metal door and many bears trying to get through it came into his mind followed by 'Annoyance' and a bit of 'Concern.'

Kip was about to inquire about the door when it was all of a sudden in front of him. He hadn't realized it, but Yogi had led him down a side passage off of the main chamber that was terminated a dozen or so steps down by a large metal door. Scratches in the rock, floor, and ceiling around it showed the effort that the bears had gone through to try and open it. The door itself was unharmed. Well, I guess it isn't common metal he thought, Yogi could have probably torn right through that. It was in a hall that would have made it hard from them to get at it, but still bears of the 20th century could get into just about anything if they were determined enough so it would take a lot to keep out more 'evolved' bears.

"You want us to try to open this door?" Kip asked Yogi though speaking to Skyla just as much.

'Acknowledgement' and 'Wariness' were what Kip received in response.

"He wants us to open the door?" Skyla asked.

"Yeah, but despite his curiosity about finding what is behind it, he seems both worried and concerned about what we may find," Kip answered.

"Well, I would want to open it even if he didn't ask. Where did this place come from? Who built it? Maybe we'll find some answers in there or maybe even some new technology we can use!" Skyla went on excitedly.

"I agree," Kip directed at Skyla, but then turned to Yogi and asked, "Why are you worried?"

Yogi responded with an image of him sniffing and then what translated to 'Unfamiliar' or 'Unknown.'

Kip sighed, "That wasn't much of an answer, but it can't hurt to try right?" Kip pretty much jinxed himself by saying those lines as he began to study the door. He thought he would find a seam, panel, or other indication of how to open the door. Skyla helped him look feeling along the edge of the door and even along the rest of the tunnel, floor, and ceiling to see if there was anything that they missed. Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be any other clue as to how to open the door. Kip got frustrated enough to physically try to push on the door, even though he knew the much stronger bears were sure to have done that already. However, unexpectedly, something did happen. The door didn't swing open. Instead, a panel about a foot wide in the center of the door slid to the side revealing a small screen. On display were lines of text he somehow understood.

-- Speech pattern analyzed adjusting dictionary and commands accordingly.

-- Please place your hand in the designated location for access.

With that, a circle about ten inches (25 cm) in diameter replaced the text. Inside of the circle contained an over exaggerated outline of a hand. Figuring that it couldn't hurt anything, Kip placed his hand inside of the shape.

-- Biometric pattern unrecognizable.

-- Biometric database is corrupted.

-- Reverting to a secondary form of identification.

-- Please place a genetic sample into the supplied capsule for alternative identification.

The screen slid aside as well, and a small robotic arm extended out from the door with a cylindrical object about 4 inches (10 cm) with a finger width opening in one end.

Skyla having stayed silent up until this point, in surprise, shock, or maybe contemplation finally spoke up. "Um, are you sure that's a good idea? It looks like you put your finger in there, what happens if you don't gain access? Will something bad happen?"

"No idea, but we have Yogi here to help if something happened right Buddy?" Kip turned to Yogi to gain assurance, only to find that the latter was now crouched in trepidation, all the way back in the main chamber.

Skyla couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, I feel so reassured with such a fierce, and brave bear has our backs."

Yogi turned and looked at Skyla in what could have been 'Chagrin' and inched closer in a slow crawl that was rather comical to watch. His actions, of course, made Skyla laugh even more until Yogi finally straightened up with a chuff of indignation and once again approached close enough to look over Kip's shoulder.

Kip was pretty sure that Yogi had reduced in size by about half or he would probably not even fit into this tunnel, to begin with, but he did appreciate the support.

"Well here goes nothing," he said placing the index finger on his left hand inside of the hole. Immediately after he put his finger in, he felt a slight pinch, and the contraption recalled back into the door. The only evidence of what had happened was a small bead of blood on the pad of his finger.

--Analyzing genetic sample one moment.

--Processing.

--Genetic match verified 98% match to race classification "The Ancients."

--Access verified, initiating the opening sequence.

"Um, who are 'The Ancients' that this thing thinks I am?" Kip asked warily.

"Don't worry about it, for now. I'm sure we'll be able to find out more answers once we are inside," she stated.

As if on cue the door split along the center each side retracting into the wall on either side. Considering they had not been able to find a seam at all in the door and it had now shown a display, a robotic sampling arm, and had now split along the middle. It was clear that it was advanced technology that was far beyond human's current technological means.

Kip took a moment to survey what was past the door, but could only see a softly illuminated corridor made from the same substance as the door. It extended a dozen steps or so until it dead-ended into another entry. With nothing looking all that threatening he stepped forward and through the opening. After a couple of steps, he noticed that Skyla had not followed him, so he turned to see why.

Skyla stood just on the other side of the door banging against what looked like thin air with her open palm. She was also shouting something, but he could not hear anything that she said.

He was about to respond when the metal doors slammed shut blocking out his view of his concerned sister and bear friend towering over her back.

And then the lights went out.