We Bare Bears: The Truth Or Never Again Chapter 10 The Truth That'll Set You Broken

Panda just finished his roleplay with the Poppy Rangers and took the whole group back to where Tabes and the others are at. Little did Grizz or him know, he hadn’t realized that Clifford didn’t come back from his bathroom break. His brother is too occupied with the Poppy Rangers, he forgot to spend time with his best friend, even though he’s dealing with peer pressure just like Panda was twenty minutes ago.

“Panda!” Wallace called from the back. “When we get back to Ranger Tabes, are you gonna join in on the activity?”

“Sure!” Panda smiled. “Granted I don’t know what it is, but I’m not gonna skip on it.”

While the rangers from the back cheer, knowing that Panda will be part of the fun, Chloe is at the front of the group with Grizz, relieved that Panda has calmed himself and will join the group in their next activity. “I got to say, you're in a more chipper mood than before.” She replied.

“Yeah, and this is the first time you're really enjoying yourself since this trip started.” Grizz added.

“I know, but I’m not sure if Ranger Tabes will like the idea of letting the Rangers do roleplay rather than anything involving camping.” Panda responded.

“Don’t worry about it, if she finds out, she’ll understand after preventing you from leaving.”

As Panda puts his attention to the trail, he feels he's officially in a state where he can handle anything with Lucy for an activity sooner or later. For the rest of the day, he can make sure that Kale won’t have to worry about anything as long as they settle it with his girlfriend.

The group took the time they needed to walk along the trail, while heading to their destination. Grizz also remembered that he talked to one of the kids who needed to use the bathroom and realized he didn’t check on him once he left.

“Rangers.” He called from the back. “Have any of you seen Clifford lately?”

“No, did you?” Parker responded.

“He was using the bathroom, he needed some privacy.”

“Wait what?” Panda reacted. “Clifford was using the bathroom and you didn’t bother to check on him?”

This caused the Grizzly Bear to bite on his lip, for how much fun he was having with roleplaying, he totally forgot to keep track of every child of the group. “Umm...maybe he wandered off to go on an adventure?”

Panda stopped walking with his eyes shot open in shock and horror. He still has the list of Clifford’s allergies he received when he babysat him to help out Lucy. The Poppy Rangers including Chloe stopped themselves, remembering that they’re aware that Clifford is lost in the woods.

“GRIZZ, THE FOREST ISN’T SAFE AROUND HIM!” Panda shouted at his brother. “He might be stuck to something he’s allergic to!”

“I’m sorry!’ He squeaked out, backing away.

“How am I gonna tell Tabes or Lucy about this!?”

“Panda, we can still find him before it’s too late.” Chloe called.

“But we can’t just split up right now! We're gonna tell the others first!”

With the Poppy Rangers concern of one of their own, potentially being seconds away of getting into danger before it’s too late. “Then let’s find Ranger Tabes!” Murphy called.

“She knows the forest better than all of us combined!” Diaz added.

“Then let’s hurry up!” Panda cried. The whole group decided to double time on their hike and started running, hoping to find Clifford before anything bad happened to him.

---

After running in the woods for nearly fifteen minutes, Grizz and Panda slowed down with the children running past them. Just when they’re about to head out of the trail, they stopped themselves.

“Come on Grizz and Panda, we’re almost there!” Nguyen called.

The two bears couldn’t catch their breath after the emergency, their brains going haywire. “Sorry.” Grizz responded while walking slowly.

“I really need Clifford to stay close to me if we do this again.” Panda added while following suit.

The Poppy Rangers continue to run however leaving the two bears behind. Grizz tried his hardest to regain his speed while his brother did the same. Although they’re aware Ranger Tabes isn’t gonna like that one child got separated. When the two catch up, they see the Poppy Rangers standing at the end of the trail that leads where the archery is located.

When they saw Ice Bear, Kale, and Ranger Tabes, they noticed that Clifford is standing face to face with her sister who’s on her knees, talking to him. “Clifford’s safe!” Wallace pointed, while getting the attention from the adults.

“Oh thank goddess, I thought Clifford would be missing.” Panda smiled.

As the whole group ran up to the adults, they looked at Panda with a flinched expression including fear. Ice Bear was hoping it would take them longer to come back, but he knew it wouldn’t last any longer than it should.

“What’s going on, are we gonna do archery?” Panda asked, pointing at the targets.

They didn’t respond to his question whatsoever. When they saw Lucy taking Clifford with her, she wasn’t happy. In fact, they heard everything of what he said to his sister, the events they never learned between him and Panda.

When Panda turned his attention to Lucy, he decided to let her know what happened with Clifford recently. As he headed his way, his brother Grizz tilted his head in confusion. “Is there something wrong guys?” He responded. “Did Clifford have an allergic reaction?”

“No.” Kale responded.

“Not anything worse, but something much scarier.” Dana added. 

All that Ice Bear could do is whisper into Grizz’s ear, letting him know that Lucy knew about their brother’s secret, but not completely, which caused Grizz’s eyes to shoot open. “Oh no…”

The Poppy Rangers have no idea what’s going as if they did something wrong, but Chloe can tell the whole situation after meeting Clifford today. When Panda headed up to Lucy from behind, she stood still, not making any eye contact with him, much to Panda’s relief.

“Lucy, Clifford needed to use the bathroom so he asked Grizz. I swear, I thought he was with us the whole time.” He said while trying to stay calm. “I’m telling you the truth, I was too focused on the Poppy Rangers. Please believe me!”

Lucy didn’t respond to Panda’s confession at all. She heard every word from him but she wasn’t bothered by it. Clifford popped his head to look at his best friend. “I’m really sorry.” He responded as he backed away.

His sister gets on her feet while slowly turning to Panda. “Panda…” She spoke, while being serious.

“Yes?” Panda asked, feeling concerned.

“Clifford didn’t get lost, he ran all the way to talk to me.”

“You did?” Panda looked at Lucy’s brother who nodded and confirmed her statement.

“Panda, look at me.” Lucy instructed, which made him very paranoid. “Remember when you offered to take care of him when I was working? He told me you do it to impress me.”

“But I thought he did, but he actually-”

“Clifford!” She turned to her brother. “Stay out of this, you didn’t do anything wrong.” As her brother remained silent, Panda began to feel nervous. “Not only that, he was so upset, he bumped into something, and an open jar of peanut butter fell on his head.”

“But I gave him an allergy pen, I-” Panda gets cut off while Lucy raises her hand in front of him.

“Let me make this clear, that fact you didn’t tell me while I was delivering and it led him into danger is unacceptable. But the fact you would do this just to impress me and not helping me out is not what I wanted, nor would expect from you.”

Their friends at the back of the group can’t even try to help out. Grizz and Ice Bear were biting on their lips after dealing with their brother's stress all day. They expected this to happen back at their cave, but even they don’t know how to handle the conversation.

Panda’s heart was beating faster by the second with Lucy learning about what happened to her brother. He’s utterly speechless to even consider talking about his secret to her, but Lucy isn’t playing around.

“Panda.” Lucy responded while trying to keep an open mind. “Do you have something to say to me?” Panda started hyperventilating again, with his lungs not taking in enough air quickly enough. “You're doing it again!”

“What!? What!?” Panda reacted.

“You are hiding something from me because you’re hyperventilating!”

“Lucy.” Kale walked up to her. “I know this is personal with you but why don’t we handle this on Monday night?”

Lucy backed away from her boyfriend, which took him by surprise. “I made up my mind Kale, you have no idea how Clifford dealt with this, when he found out about it.”

Kale scratched on the back of his head. With him having less knowledge of his girlfriend’s brother. “Yeah but I’m telling you, Panda’s wasn’t-”

“He’s not helping me out, he has to be hitting on me!”

Upon hearing it Panda along with the others stunned into silence and disbelief. The Poppy Rangers stood there, with their eyes wide open, now learning of what Panda meant was a lot more than a normal relationship.

“Okay, let’s not cause a fight!” Ranger Tabes chimed in.

“I’m not causing a fight, I just want a straight answer from him!” Lucy pointed at the black and white bear.

“Trust me, this isn’t as much of a big deal as you would think.”

“Then why am I the only one not allowed to learn about it, while you two did!?”

“I’m doing what's best for Panda!” Kale shouted back.

“Best for Panda!? Are you trying to justify his choices?”

The three grown adults continue to argue, causing the situation to become problematic. Clifford became uncomfortable seeing his older sister in an argument, he knew she would be upset over what he went through, but not like this.

Panda couldn’t move a muscle, seeing his friends fighting each other was the last thing he wanted to happen. His heart rate reached its limit while he continues to pant hard. Just when he began returning into a good mood, he’s back at square one again.

“Guys, come on!” Grizz called while walking up to the adults. Instead of calming things down, he was simply ignored with his friends arguing getting worse and worse.

“What are we gonna do?” Chloe replied, to which Ice Bear didn’t respond.

Panda couldn’t hardly breathe, with how chaotic this had all become, he didn’t even have an inhaler to keep himself from fainting. He had nothing to hide, nothing to protect himself and nothing to find a different solution. He turned around to look at Ice Bear who’s scared seeing the whole scene. He shook his head to make sure his brother doesn’t speak out the truth, all because he doesn’t want to see him leave like before.

However it only causes more pressure and turmoil in Panda’s mind. He couldn’t take it anymore, he couldn’t handle the stress after helping Kale’s day for Lucy. With everyone arguing with each other along with his brother trying to cool things down, he had no other choice. He closed his eyes, placed both of his hands on his face, only to raise them in the air to take out his frustration.

“STOP!!!” He shouted, which caused the adults to stop arguing. “I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU LUCY!!!”

With echoes coming from all around the forest, birds flew from the trees in fear. The scream was so loud, Charlie who was playing a board game with a raccoon, blinked upon hearing Panda’s echo, hearing all six words crystal clear.

“Uhhh...that won’t be good.” He spoke in concern, while looking at the sky.

Everyone around Panda remained silent now that the secret had finally been exposed. The Poppy Rangers jaw dropped, while Chloe and Ice Bear stood still like they were frozen in a giant block of ice. Grizz’s eyes shot open while his ears were ringing in slight pain, from his brother’s scream. Kale, Clifford and Ranger Tabes were completely speechless from the secret coming out. They had no idea where to start at this point of helping out Panda, because now there’s no turning back.

Panda panted heavily, his voice sore from the loudest yell he could muster. When he opened his eyes, he saw Lucy right in front of her after hearing the straight answer she had been looking for for the first time, unfortunately, she’s far from happy.

“After all these years of being your friend, being so nice, so respectful for who you are and what you’ve done for me, was all because you want me to be your girlfriend!” She walked towards him as he backed away in fear.

“Lucy I-”

“Don’t say another word!” She interrupted him. “When I saved you when your allergies flared up, on the way, I was nothing but a figment of your imagination!”

“Lucy.” Clifford spoke from behind, but his sister ignored him.

“I wondered why you kept dragging me around when we had dinner after the day I had with you and your brothers. It was never a date, it was just a hang out!”

“Lucy!” Tabes called.

Panda’s heart couldn’t even beat any faster from the rage he’s receiving from Lucy. For the first time in his life, he saw the former girl of his dreams in such a furious mood, it was just like he imagined, if not worse.

“It’s one thing to write a song about someone who’s a friend, but only for romance and the affection is unacceptable since I’ve been going out with Kale since then!”

“You were hanging out with Kale, even when we danced at the farm!?” Panda said back.

“Yes! He didn’t offer to help, because he was traveling to a different country!”

“How long have you two been together?”

“IT DOESN’T MATTER!!” Lucy yelled back. “I can’t believe you’ve been crushing on me for so long, you only think about what you want, rather than what others like me deserve the most!”

“That’s not true!” he replied curtly.

“Not true!?” Lucy stopped herself and so did Panda. “Clifford has every right to be upset when he tells me everything about your babysitting! This is beyond anything I wanted from a friend like you. Ahhh! You’re so disgraceful, and don’t deserve to be trusted!!”

With her rage reaching its limit, she prepared to slap him in the face. But just when she was about to, in just the nick of time, Panda grabbed her arm, not even ducking from the attack. Everyone including his bears gasped in disbelief from the defense from Panda, even Lucy never expected it from Panda.

“Am I really that disgraceful as a friend!?” Panda shouted back as he let go of her. “You really think I care about nothing other than you after the whole restaurant incident!? NO!” Panda began to cry with tears streaming down on his face. “I may have made bad decisions when I met you since day one, but I’ve never had a girlfriend in my whole life!”

Lucy’s eyes shot open from hearing the outburst from Panda. His brothers thought they knew Panda wanted Lucy to be with him, but over the past week, they can only wish the girl was with them, if she wasn’t late.

“You may not like my secret, but it doesn’t make me worthy of companionship! I can’t improve to be better in front of people like you when all I ever do is keep all my feelings to myself and never ONCE talking to someone like YOU to fix it!!!” More tears ran down from his face as his blood ran cold under his skin and fur. He ran away as he ran past Chloe and Ice Bear.

“Panda!” Kale called while walking up by his girlfriend.

“You can’t leave us!” Grizz added.

“JUST LEAVE ME BE!” He shouted back.

The whole group remains silent while seeing Panda running away in pure depression and a broken heart and soul. Lucy wasn’t furious anymore, but confused about Panda’s feelings towards her. It was unbelievable after everything she went through with the bears and then she realized, Panda, along with his brothers never fit in with other humans.

When Charlie finished with his board game, he tried to find where Panda was even at the risk of getting caught in front of the humans. “Panda!” He called. “Panda!”

He then heard crying in the distance as he saw Panda running right past him, not even bothering to look at him. From what just happened recently, there’s no way he’s gonna come back to the group after the scene that just transpired.

“Panda, don’t run.” As he looked from behind where his friend ran from, there’s another way his brother will be able to help him now. He looked back at Panda, and decided to follow him if he could cheer him up.