The noise that woke Super Bear from his slumber was extremely faint-the brushing of hairy legs through the fibers of the carpet, the sharp tapping of hairy, pointed legs on the plastic frame underneath it-but unmistakable. Another monster was trying to claw its way up to drain blood, marrow, and light out of his best friend.
The monster’s antennae poked over the side of the bed, but Super Bear waited until the monster’s pincered face was visible before he launched himself from his best friend’s cozy arms and rammed into the monster, knocking it prone onto the floor. The monster’s stinger rose into position, defending its vulnerable underbelly from attack until it could right itself. It’s thirteen eyes scanned the room, before spotting Super Bear floating in midair. It raised its stinger and sent a crimson laser beam from its tip straight towards the him. Super Bear punched the attack, and the laser beam slammed into his fist and refracted off.
The monster jabbed its pincers into the ground, and spikes of crystalized darkness jabbed out of the carpet, shattering goldfish crackers and spearing Pokémon cards. One jutted up in front of the bear, who punched straight through it. Another one whacked his underbelly, launching him upwards.
The monster created a dull spike underneath itself, launching itself after its foe. It grabbed the bear, and threw it to the ground, before finishing off with another laser form its tail. Super Bear slammed into the floor. Clouds of dust and individual threads of the carpet were thrown from the crash.
The monster crawled up the side of the bed. It opened its claws, tiny mouths in their centers ready to drain life from the small child and rend his flesh.
As it approached, it was jerked backwards. It turned its head, thinking that its tail was caught on something. For a moment, its many eyes blinked in dull disbelief as it saw Super Bear holding onto its tail. It was then hurled backwards as the bear threw it off the bed. The bear darted into the depts of the room, disappearing into the darkness beyond the nightlight. The monster looked around, nervous.
A Lego Brick tore into the shoulder of the creature’s arm. It severed exoskeleton and muscle tendons, disconnecting the arm in a burst of emerald blood. The arm then dissolved into the darkness from whence the monster was spawned. The monster then looked up in time to see the bear wielding a plastic, humming, sapphire Lightsaber, one multiple times the size of its minute body, like a lance. He flipped backwards in mid-air, building the Lightsaber’s momentum in a blur of light before delivering a mighty slash at the monster. The Lightsaber’s sound chip crackled as the monster was launched into the wall, slamming into it and sending cracks into the wallpaper. The bear tossed the Lightsaber up, flipping it lengthwise before punching it in the bottom of its hilt with enough Force to send it flying like a spear at hypersonic speeds, enough Force to shatter the monster’s exoskeleton and decimate its internal organs, causing the monster to dissolve instantly. The Lightsaber’s Force was dissipated by the monster, causing it to tap against the wall and gently fall onto the floor, leaned against the wall. The Lightsaber’s hum cut off with a soft hiss.
The bear’s moment of triumph was interrupted by the door creeping open. The bear zoomed to the boy’s arms, snuggling into position before the door opened.
The bear’s ultra-sensitive nose was overwhelmed by the stench of pee and throw-up. His whole body tensed. He should have gone dormant if there were no monsters coming to attack his best friend.
The light from the door continued to flood the room, causing the boy to stir.
The bear’s instinct to go dormant would become overwhelming if all the monsters had returned to the darkness He tensed, as a monster that large would have been infinitely more powerful than the monster he had just dispatched.
“Pathetic.” The voice was harsh and slurred. The shadow lurched across the room. The bear squirmed, causing the boy to wake fully up and crawl into the corner away from the grungy woman, pulling blankets up around himself while keeping the Bear close to his chest.
There were rules in place. The bear was not permitted to harm a human. And yet, if he was truly not supposed to do anything, why would he be awake?
“You’re a soft little bastard.” The woman yanked the blankets away from the boy, who quickly gave up wrestling them from her and clutched the bear to his chest. “Like your shit of a father. It’s time to toughen you up.”
“Y-you’re not supposed to be here!” The boy said. “Daddy said you weren’t going to come back! Get away from me!”
The bear would risk everything his kind had worked for if he revealed himself. If children weren’t granted their protectors, then monsters would be able to twist their minds and turn them into monsters like the one seen before him.
But if he didn’t act, it wouldn’t stop until his best friend was a monster, too.
The boy quivered in fear. The woman made a show of unbuckling her belt, and slowly pulling it through her belt loops. The stench of throw-up became overwhelming. The woman raised her arm to the side, the belt snaking through the air
The woman tried to pull her arm forward, to strike the boy, but her arm remained still. She strained, the veins in her arm bulging. She looked towards her hand to find the bear gripping her fingers, crushing her bones in his paws, causing the belt to fall to the bed.
Christian Vaughan 