Book 2

## Chapter 1

“Hop bear?” Ice bear wondered as the bear, or her long lost brother, stepped toward her.

“Icy?” Hop bear called. He used to call Ice bear Icy. Ice bear felt her heart leap as she saw the familiar white shape of her brother again.

He bounced around excitedly and squeezed her in a tight hug. Ice bear felt tears of surprise and relief stream down her fur. “You’re alive?” Ice choked out, hugging her brother back. As he laughed warmly, Ice bear didn’t ever want to let go. For a moment it was just them, white fur pressed together, long lost siblings back together again.

“I can’t believe it’s you!” Hop bear exclaimed as he let go of her to take a look at how much she had changed. “How did you find me? And where’s Mom and Dad?”

“Long story. Mom and Dad’s at our new house in America.” Then, she noticed something odd about him…he didn’t have a left foot.

“A gangster chopped off my foot when I was kidnapped,” Hop bear explained when he saw Ice bear gawking at his missing foot. “So it would be hard for me to escape from him.” Ice bear was shocked that anyone would do that!

“How did you escape?” Ice bear asked curiously.

“I always find a way,” Hop answered mysteriously.

“No, seriously, how?” Ice probed.

Hop rolled his eyes. “I burned down the gangster’s hideout, okay?”

Ice bear couldn’t really remember what happened to Hop when he was kidnapped because she was so young then. But when she stared at the empty space where his foot should be, fuzzy memory fragments rushed through her mind and pieced themselves together to form a memory.

A young Ice bear and Hop bear, playing together at an airport. They had been on a holiday to Russia. Their bubbly laughter splashed off pale blue walls of the airport and swirled in the air.

Then, a gangster with an eye patch appeared, scars all over his hands as a malicious look came to his face. He stared at the two bears as if they were his lost treasure he could finally reclaim after decades. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he took out a rainbow coloured lollipop and held it toward the bears.

Ice bear was confused about why this strange man was giving them a lollipop and ignored him, but Hop was very easy to bribe with food. He followed the gangster, and by the time Ice bear turned around and noticed, it was too late. She screamed for her parents, but the gangster had already run off with her brother. And she never saw him again…until now.

“I’ve got it!” Ice bear exclaimed, as the memory faded away into the back of her mind. She had just gotten an incredible idea, one that could erase all her brother’s pain. She let the words hang in the air for a while, and then announced,

“Let’s go back in time and get your foot back!”

## Chapter 2

Hop stared at her for a second. “Go back in time?” he echoed. Ice bear realised she hadn’t told him about the ring. “You're not going to believe this, but…” She held out the ring, sparkling golden in the warm light. “I can travel through time. With this.”

“Woahhh!” Hop’s eyes grew wide. He looked up at Icy with hope sparkling in his deep brown eyes. “I had no idea bagels were so powerful…Icy!! I have a great idea! What if we used the ring to get my foot back??”

Ice bear rolled her eyes. “Great idea,” she said sarcastically.

Hop bear grinned at her for a moment, and Ice bear realised just how much she had missed him.

“This is how I saved our parents from drowning in quicksand…sorry I didn’t tell you about that, it was on our holiday to Egypt a few years after you were kidnapped,” Ice bear explained as Hop bear looked at her in horror. “I saved them, so it’s fine.”

“That means—you were alone all this time??” Hop choked out.

Ice bear nodded. She quickly changed the subject back to the ring, not wanting to talk about that time.

“We have to both hold on to the ring,” she explained, using the information she had gotten from the ring. “And think of where and when we want to go. So now we’re going to the Russian airport, in 2136.”

She held out the ring for Hop to grab on to and closed her eyes, remembering what the GOT told her. Russian airport, 2136, she thought, remembering the big, cool space with soft carpet. *The day Hop bear was kidnapped…*

Instantly, the bubble enfolded her and Hop bear. Bright swirls obscured her vision and the date imprinted on the bubble read: 5 September, 2136, Russia. There was a light whirring sound and—

When Ice opened her eyes again, she saw her and Hop’s younger self chasing each other around the large airport while their parents stood by the side, trying to book their plane tickets.

Her eyes watered. She realised then how much she had missed her parents.

Then, the gangster came. Ice shuddered at the sight of him. He looked as scary as ever!

The gangster glanced around furtively before pulling out the lollipop. Young Ice bear had ignored the gangster and was now busy trying to climb a tree. Young Hop, however, instantly trusted the gangster when he saw the lollipop. “Oooh, yummy! Nice man have lolly!” Young Hop exclaimed as he tottered toward the gangster.

“Hur hur,” the gangster chuckled, leading Young Hop away.

Meanwhile, Young Ice had failed to climb the tree and turned to face her brother. But he was—gone.

Now, Hop nudged Ice bear and grinned. “Aww, I was so cute!”

Ice bear sighed. She didn’t think her brother had learned his lesson not to follow strangers with candy at all. “How are we going to stop the gangster?” she wondered.

Right then, Young Ice started crying. “Hop? Is he dead? Did he follow that GANGSTER??” The young white bear sobbed. “WAAAAAH!”

Ice bear turned to Hop bear, who was trying not to laugh. “Hey, I don’t remember that…”

Ice bear was back to thinking about how to stop the gangster when a clouded white bubble drifted down from the pale sky and landed beside her. Delightedly, Ice looked over. The GOT! He’ll know what to do to get Hop’s foot back.

“What’s that?” Hop wondered, pointing at the bubble.

Before Ice could explain, the figure inside cleared his throat and announced, “I AM THE MIGHTY GUARDIAN OF TIME!”

Hop bear blinked, then shrugged. “Yeah, right, if you’re so mighty, why don’t you show yourself? Why hide in that bubble?”

Ice bear glanced at her brother, surprised that she had never thought of that. The GOT’s bubble shook slightly, as if he was struggling to come up with a good answer. “Well…”

“Show us! Show us!!” Hop bear chanted, pushing his arms into the bubble as if trying to burst it.

The GOT growled. “My form is so majestic, your tiny polar bear eyes would never be able to look at it.”

“PLEASEEEE?” Hop widened his eyes and gave a pleading expression. Ice bear remembered how he had used that face many times to ask their parents for candy. She glanced at the GOT, wishing they could get back on track as soon as possible. The gangster could be anywhere by now…

To her surprise, The GOT let out a relenting sigh. “I suppose it would help you trust me more,” he admitted. “But don’t tell anyone…”

## Chapter 3

Hop leaned forward in anticipation, and even Ice bear couldn’t help holding her breath. What would the Guardian of Time look like? A majestic lion? A golden eagle? An enormous ball of light??

The GOT’s bubble expanded and burst, filling the air with mist as his true form appeared. Sitting on a small floating cloud was…a small, collared cat.

“HAHA!” Hop bear burst out laughing. “CATTY CAT IN A HATTY HAT!”

The GOT’s cat cheeks flushed pink. “H-hey!” he said. “Do you want your leg back or not??”

Hop bear went silent, but he still shot a teasing look at the GOT. Ice bear had to admit, his small fluffy body in a top hat was pretty hilarious considering he was the guardian of time.

“Hand me the ring,” the GOT told Ice bear.

“You mean…paw me the ring?” Hop bear cracked, but quickly stopped when he saw the GOT’s sharp glare. He clutched the ring with his paws when Ice gave it to him and nodded. “You have unlocked the ring’s boomerang ability by doing your second time travel. You can use it to recover Hop bear’s leg!” The ring transformed into a boomerang under the GOT’s paws and he looked at the bears proudly.

“So what can it do?” Ice bear asked.

“What do you mean? It’s just a boomerang,” the GOT looked at Ice bear like she had three heads.

“How are we going to use this to stop that big gangsta?” Hop snatched the boomerang from GOT and started playing with it.

“I don’t know, figure something out. I have to do…important stuff now. Bye!” Suddenly, the GOT’s form warped away and the two bears were left on their own again.

“What was that all about?” Hop wondered, staring at the space the GOT had been.

Ice bear rolled her eyes. “He’s always like that. It’s fine.” She stared at the boomerang-ring, the gears in her brain churning. “Hop, I think I have an idea,” Ice bear told him. “What if we use this boomerang to knock the gangster out? Then we could rescue young you and your foot would never have been chopped off!”

Hop’s eyes shone at the thought of knocking out the gangster. “Gladly!!”

Without a second thought, the two bears ran toward where the gangster had gone. They navigated through the airport quickly, following the tracks the gangster had left on the otherwise pristine carpet floors. Soon, they were out of the airport and in a dark alleyway.

In the middle of the alleyway was the gangster, menacingly holding up a knife to the tied up Young Hop bear.

Young Hop bear squirmed in his seat, an uneasy look on his face. His eyes were wide with fear, and he tried to scream but the cloth tied around his mouth reduced it to a muffle. The gangster smiled evilly as he raised the knife high up above his head.

“Your leg’s gonna make a nice dinner!” He laughed. “Hur hur hur!!”

Hop winced at the sight. “He’s so EVIL,” he muttered, raising the ring boomerang to throw.

The gangster’s knife went down.

Hop bear’s boomerang flew toward him.

The gangster’s knife went lower.

Hop’s boomerang was nearer.

The gangster’s knife lightly grazed Young Hop’s fur.

Ice bear held her breath.

## Chapter 4

“STOP!” Hop bear’s voice rang out in the alley as his boomerang hit its mark. The gangster tried to turn around, but the boomerang was there and he faceplanted into the mud. Hop reached up and caught the boomerang effortlessly as it went back to him.

“How’d you get so good at boomerang??” Ice whispered to him.

“I didn’t! I’ve never even touched a boomerang before.” Hop looked at the boomerang in his hands. “It was like it hit the gangster on its own…and came straight back to me!”

Suddenly, a new rush of memories crashed into her mind. The timeline must be changed!

Suddenly, Hop bear’s left foot stub started glowing bright blue and his leg reappeared before their eyes.

“Your foot!” Ice bear gasped. “It’s back…” Their plan had worked!

Just then, Young Hop looked around, unsure of what just happened. After  seeing the gangster lying in the mud, he scrambled up and ran back into the airport. Back to Young Ice bear and their parents.

Hop jumped up, dancing around to test out his new leg. “It is! We did it, Icy!!”

Ice bear smiled.

Mist appeared in front of her as the GOT’s form took shape again. “Well done, bears!” he mewed. “To reward you for successfully getting Hop’s foot back, here is a time-travel diamond. It is like the ring, but much faster and better.” Ice bear accepted it gratefully.

“Hey, what was the important thing you needed to do, GOT?” Hop teased. “Were you…hmm….meeting up with your little kitty cat GIRLFRIEND?” Ice added jokingly.

“Argh, no! Why would I meet up with her?” the GOT yelled.

“Oh, so you DO have a girlfriend!!” Hop exclaimed.

“NO! I HAD a girlfriend,” the GOT explained, looking unexpectedly sad. “She was my best friend, but became jealous of my power and tried to take over the world to spite me. So now she is the Demon of Time, or DOT.” He paused. “We broke up…”

“Aww, don’t be sad, GOT,” Ice bear reassured him.

The GOT nodded sadly and floated away, but before he disappeared completely, he called, “Watch out for her. She’s still out there…and now you have the ring and diamond to protect…”

“We will!” Hop bear promised. “We’ll look out for your girlfriend!”

Ice bear smiled and held out the diamond. “Ready to try this thing?” she asked, and Hop eagerly nodded. But then, there was a flash that blinded both of them. Unlike the GOT’s misty appearance, this was a harsh red flash. But it still revealed…a cat with a broken clock on her collar.

“ANOTHER CATTY CAT!” Hop bear giggled.

But this cat had a weird stick.

“!!!” Hop bear cried.

Ice bear stared, remembering the GOT’s story. Could this be the Demon of Time?? The cat cackled evilly and rushed over to tap Hop on the head with the stick with a zap, who yelped in pain.

“Hop!” Ice bear ran toward him, but the DOT was in the way. She ran toward her, trying to zap Ice bear too, but Hop bear jumped in the way and got zapped again.

A pale glow spread across Hop’s stomach as he fell to the ground. It was a very strange colour, almost like ice blue, but fading to white as it absorbed into Hop’s fur. Hop clutched his stomach as he fell over.

Ice bear caught him with one arm as he collapsed, fumbling for the diamond with her other. She grabbed it and thought 2144, the present day, our new house and the diamond’s bubble zipped them away, away from the DOT and the zaps and back to safety.

Ice bear held the unconscious Hop in her arms as they drifted through time and space. “Don’t worry,” she whispered to her brother. “We’re going home now…”