CLASH: A Run In With The Claw

Saturday night, a lonely city bear peruses the local bars and clubs, seeking a flirtatious interaction before, as usual, leaving alone. Banned from half the city due to his destructive exits, he ends up near the river, where a younger crowd dominates. He flies in, ready to party. Instead of the middle-aged cheering for him, post grads scoff and ignore. The bear drinks himself silly and wanders out of the bar, stumbling behind it and over an embankment, landing in the shallow water of the river’s edge.

Across from the embankment, he notices a familiar factory, the subject of recent news. Toxic waste dumped by this building was thought to be the birthplace of a local myth. From the stories he heard, the bear wanted nothing to do with this area. In a daze from the booze, he turns and walks, getting lost in the woods rather quickly. He happens upon a fortress built of twigs and branches. The myths were true.

“The Beaver-Hold… it’s real.” he whispers, sobering up, knowing he isn’t alone.

From above, the bear hears a ‘THWOOSH’. He’s slammed to the ground, and held down by the powerful tail of the local myth.

“Beaver Claw!” he shouts in disbelief.

Beaver Claw peers down at his captive, “A bear, that can speak…” he turns his head in consideration and then turns back quickly. “...still a bear!”

The buck-toothed hero lifts his tail and attempts to strike again. His assessment, however, is wrong. The bear wasn’t a threat, until now.

A glow comes from beneath the Beaver Tail, which is paused in the air and unable to be moved. Beaver Claw realizes this is no typical bear. Protecting his colony had landed him in a battle he was unprepared for.

The bear releases the Beaver Tail, floats a few feet above the ground and flies forward to throw a massive punch at the masked hero.

Beaver Claw ducks swiftly and digs his own claws into the bear’s furry body. The force of the punch carries the two back toward the city, Beaver Claw furiously biting the bear repeatedly the whole way.

Luckily for the Beave, they stop moving just above the bar the bear came from. The crowd outside gathers to watch the two scuffle in the sky, Beaver Claw dangling from the bear, his claws firmly set.

“He’s cute.” one of the girls says audibly.

The bear assumes the compliment is for him, and thus, his glow fades and he descends. Though confused, Beaver Claw lands a couple solid punches on the jaw of the somehow disarmed, powerless bear to knock him out and then scurries back into the woods.

Everyone from the bar walks over and a few of them carry the bear inside out of undeserved kindness. When he awakes alone in the morning, he flies through the ceiling to leave. Now, he’s banned from both halves of the city.