by Justin Sloan
The surrounding teddy bears started to boo at Gruff and Harry, who seemed about to explode.
“Hey,” Ari said, a bit annoyed.
“Quiet,” Mia commanded. “I’m saving your hide. Well, giving you a chance, anyhow.”
Gruff allowed Ari to fall to the ground but still kept his grip on him. “So? Do you challenge?”
Ari glanced at Mia, who nodded. “Uh... Yes?
“You won’t stand a chance. But....” Gruff turned to the crowd, paw in the air. “Very well. To the pits!”
Ari’s eyes went wide as Gruff dragged him off, Harry following close behind with wild eyes and bared teeth.
Chapter Nine: The Pits
The pits were exactly what they sounded like: pits hollowed out of the sand, surrounded by bleachers like a coliseum. The sun blazed down, soaking Ari’s surroundings in bright light so it all looked like the dream that he still hoped it was.
The fat bear played his bagpipes, and the crowd’s cheer rose up in anticipation. Ari’s eyes searched for Mia. He spotted her right next to that weird bear with the red bandana covering his eyes. It was odd how, in spite of the bandana, the bear seemed to stare directly at Ari.
Gruff and Harry entered the pits, and one raised paw from Gruff silenced the crowd.
“Tradition serves you well today, friends,” Gruff said. “I promise a show to tell your mothers about!” He turned and whispered to Harry, “If they had mothers.”
The crowd cheered again.
“For this bear to join our ranks, he’s gotta prove himself.” Gruff smiled evilly at Ari. “I hope you sharpened your teeth, cub.”
Ari stared back, refusing to blink. He slowly pushed himself to his feet as the crowd’s cheers grew.
Gruff scowled and motioned to Harry. “First challenger... my brother!”
Gruff hustled out of the pit as Harry began to circle Ari. The sun glistened on the spike-covered straps of leather tied around the bear’s arms. With a cheer from the crowd, Harry charged.
Ari dodged beneath the first strike, and Harry’s claws whistled through the air as Ari struck hard at Harry’s groin. The crowd cringed as one, all but Mia who burst into laughter.
Gruff grabbed two gladiator bears and tossed them into the ring as his brother lay on the sand in tears. “Get in there!”
The gladiator bears rushed in for the attack, and Ari braced himself again. The bears went to all fours, circling him. He looked between the two attackers, not sure which to strike first, when over their shoulders leapt a scraggly bear with chains dangling from his arms and neck. The two charging gladiator bears slammed into Ari and sent him flying. While Ari was mid-air, the scraggly bear leapt and met him with a punch.
Ari hit the ground with the scraggly bear still on him. In the sand cloud that enveloped them, no one could see what was happening, not even the two bears themselves. With a solid “thwop” to the scraggly bear’s chin, Ari sent him flying through the air. The scraggly bear landed with a thud on the ground. Everyone’s eyes slowly returned to Ari, who knelt in the sand as the dust settled. The cheers erupted now louder than ever, and this time for him. They began to throw cabbages and tomatoes at the gladiator bears.
The larger gladiator bear caught a cabbage in its mouth with a crunch, then turned on Ari as he spat it out. “Say your prayers.”
But Ari didn’t wait, instead running forward. Before the larger gladiator bear realized what was happening, Ari connected with a kick to the face and a loud, “hi-ya!”
The larger gladiator bear wobbled, almost falling on some of the crowd, as the other gladiator bear turned on Ari.
Meanwhile, three more gladiator bears lumbered into the pit. This was getting ridiculous! One wore a lion’s pelt like a helmet, another a leopard-skin cape, and the third, a female gladiator, wore a wolf skin.
The tides turned as two gladiator bears squished Ari between them, then heaved him across the pit to be clotheslined by the female gladiator. Ari rolled aside as the gladiator bear from earlier pounced, but a kick from behind connected to send Ari into the lion-pelt-wearing gladiator’s clutches.
Trapped in a bear-hug, Ari gasped for air.
“Come on, Ari!” he heard Mia call.
Ari was choking. He struggled for his life, and managed to maneuver to see her.
“You got this!” She blushed, covering her mouth. She pointed to the bandana-wearing bear beside her as if to signal that he had been the one calling out.
Knowing that at least someone out there had faith in him, Ari found his strength and head-butted the gladiator bear. Ari landed to see the scraggly bear crouched beside him, jagged teeth dripping saliva.
The two went at it again. One of the scraggly bear’s claws nearly took off Ari’s nose, and he finally understood why so many of these bears were patched up. Ari landed a one-two punch to the scraggly bear’s gut and a hook to his jaw. The scraggly bear’s head spun in circles before he dove to take out Ari’s legs. Ari brought a down-elbow on his opponent’s head and the crowd loved it.
A gladiator bear slammed its fist down, narrowly missing Ari’s face and sending a cloud of sand billowing out like a shock-wave around them. Ari dodged an attack from the female gladiator, rolled aside to grab the scraggly bear’s chains and twirled the crazy little bear around his head, taking down the female gladiator in the process. He sent the scraggly bear flying at another gladiator bear so that both of them collapsed backward into the stands. That gladiator bear roared, about to charge back into the fight, when SMASH! He collapsed as a honey pot broke over his head, honey dripping down to his shoulders.
Ari saw Mia quickly duck back into the crowd. His eyes lingered, but then noticed that the crowd’s cheers had turned to shouts and they were pointing past him. He spun to see the other gladiator bears advancing, almost on him. The female gladiator had recovered and joined her companions, and Ari had no idea how he was going to deal with this. He backed up, a cold sweat dripping down the back of his fur.
The gladiator bears paused at a whistle from Gruff.
“Hold!” Gruff jumped into the pit. He lumbered over to Ari, paws ready. “So you think you have what it takes, huh? You think you belong with the misfit bears?”
Ari took a step back. “I just wanna find Rick.”
“Isn’t that cute. Right now, there’s only us. Might as well give up on Rick.”
Ari growled, low and deep. He looked to the sky and pulled at the light until it formed massive orbs of light around his paws.
But Gruff laughed, as he too pulled light. The other opponents did likewise and the pit was filled with fierce light glimmering off the bears’ fur and animal pelts.
Ari ran forward and punched, but Gruff caught his fist and squeezed.
“Silly bear,” Gruff said. “That only works against monsters. Everyone knows they’re long gone.”
Allowing his light to dim, Ari stepped back. “You’re wrong.” He raised his voice so the crowd could hear him. “The monsters are back. They took my boy, they took Rick!”
Gruff laughed, claws at the ready as he stood tall over Ari. He glanced at his companions, but they were backing up now, trembling.
“What’s this?” Gruff asked in bewilderment.
Shrieks of pure terror came from the crowd. Gruff’s eyes rose to just above Ari and filled with fear. Ari turned in confusion to see darkness filling the sky. Perhaps a coming sand storm? The howls started, followed by evil laughter and then the red eyes. This was no ordinary storm.
“It can’t be,” Gruff said. Two of his gladiator bears reached into the sky, no thought of Ari now, pulling light in wisps to their paws.
Ari stepped back and stumbled.
The gladiator bears stood ready, but the sand began to pelt their faces and the darkness snuffed out all light.
“Every bear for himself,” Gruff said as he fled.
All around Ari the crowd screamed, running in panic. Ari turned left and was almost trampled on. The other direction, the same. He looked to t
he approaching darkness, with no idea what to do, and curled into a ball, shaking with fright.
A deep, comforting voice said, “Give me your paw.”
Ari looked up to see the red bandana flapping in the wind, the strange bear’s paw reaching down for him. “Who are you?”
“The name’s Klide.”
Ari grabbed Klide’s paw and was pulled to his feet. They were running, the sand so strong around them now that Ari could barely see a thing.
Chapter Ten: Return of the Eye
The dark sands swirled around Ari and the bandana-wearing Klide as they ran. Winds howled, filled with a putrid smell like rotting fish.
“This way,” Klide said as he pulled Ari along.
They crested the pits, but a faint voice called out, “Help!”
Ari spun around, trying to focus his hearing, shielding his face from the pelting sand.
“Come on!” Klide yelled.
“Someone’s back there. We can’t leave ‘em!” Ari pulled his paw from Klide’s and ran back.
The sand was thick and, as he ran through it, he felt he was sinking in every direction at once. The sand stung and nearly blinded him. He turned back to Klide, or at least the direction he thought Klide had been, realizing he may have just doomed himself, and for nothing.
“Hello?” the voice said again. “Anyone!”
It was so close. He spun and there, at a ledge above one of the sand dunes, a pink paw and half a face stuck out of the sand—it was Mia! He rushed over, grabbed her paw with both of his, and pulled her free. She seemed about to smile, but the sand took them. Their eyes, inches from each other, reflected each other’s hopelessness.
The fat bagpipe-playing bear’s hands appeared, one on each of their shoulders, and he pulled them up.
“Brutas!” Mia exclaimed in excitement.
Klide appeared beside Brutas. “Playtime’s over.”
Brutas tucked Ari under one arm, Mia under the other, and followed Klide as he led the way through the dark sandstorm.
They bumped along and Ari wriggled sideways to face Mia. “Can he even see?” he said, referring to Klide.
“Can you?!” she replied.
She had a point. It seemed even darker now, and as he noticed this, the shrieks filled his ears, piercing. Klide disappeared for a moment, then reappeared as a faint outline. Something collided with Brutas’s back and he fell forward, sending Ari and Mia careening through the air to land at Klide’s feet.
“Don’t ever stop,” was all Klide said before disappearing into the sand ahead.
Ari pushed himself to his feet, ready to run, but saw Brutas was still on the ground, reaching up for him. Out of the darkness, a shadowy hand appeared and yanked Brutas out of sight.
Mia lunged for Brutas, but Ari grabbed her.
“It’s too late!” he said.
“My brother! We have to go back!”
“Into that?” The darkness and shrieking were almost overpowering.
“Don’t be a coward, it’s just....”
A monstrous shadow figure formed over them, hand reaching.
Klide appeared and pulled at them as he yelled, “Go!” and pushed them away from the shadow. A swipe of the shadow caught him across the back and he howled.
Ari ran with everything he had now, wanting no part of this horror. He had no idea whether the others were with him until heavy breathing sounded almost at his back. He stumbled and turned, ready to attack, but saw Mia glaring at him, running nearby. She pulled ahead and Ari followed, barely able to make her out in the darkness.
A figure came out of nowhere and knocked Mia sideways. Ari lunged forward, but the figure, Klide, slammed him to the ground.
“Not that way.” Klide gestured in the direction Ari and Mia had been running, and when Ari caught a glimpse through the sand he saw a disastrous drop off.
“But how did you see tha—”
“Come.” Klide pulled Ari and Mia to their feet and continued in a different direction. His back was torn and stuffing fell from it as they ran.
Ahead seemed darker than everywhere else. Ari and Mia slowed.
“This’s no time for fright,” Klide said. “That’s shelter ahead. Safety.”
A scraping, like flesh rubbing against sandpaper, sounded from behind and they ran faster. Ari glanced back to see three shadowy wisps like streams of darkness, with glowing red eyes, slithering along the ground. Ari ran as fast as his little stuffed legs would take him.
Hissing sounded in his ear. One of the shadow-wisps darted forward and took Ari by the legs, sending him sprawling forward, but Mia wrapped her arms around him and lunged.
They landed just past a tree line, in a bed of grass. The bellowing wind died down and the sandstorm retreated, not daring to pass the tree line. It was like the bears had crossed into a new world. A blue mist hovered just above the trees, tendrils drifting down as if to test the air, but faded before reaching the bears.
“We made it,” Klide said, and Ari spun to see the blindfolded bear standing above him, facing the shadow-wisps with bared teeth.
Mia pushed Ari off of her and stood. She approached the tree line, where inches from her face the shadow-wisps hissed, unable to cross some invisible barrier. She pulled at the light, but managed only a meager glow.
“They can’t pass. Relax, rest.”
Mia spun on Klide, furious. “Did you see what just happened out there?”
“Aye.” Klide bent to find a pebble, which he flicked at the shadow-wisps. They raged and shrieked, but couldn’t pass the invisible barrier.
“All our friends are gone, and you say relax? Rest?”
“They’re gone. You can do nothing for them. Be grateful those monsters are bound to a higher set of rules.”
“Grateful?!” Mia turned to lean against a tree, her eyes on her fists and the flickering glow. She turned to Ari, but her expression remained stony. “You were telling the truth. The monsters are really back.”
Ari gave a slight nod in response.
“The fight’s not over,” Klide said.
Ari couldn’t believe what the blindfolded bear was saying. “Of course it’s over—look at them!” Ari gestured toward the shadow-wisps and the raging sandstorm of darkness. “How can we compete with that?”
“You’re using your eyes to look. Speaking of eyes, or eye… hand it here.”
Klide moved toward Ari and searched him as Ari stared, confused and in shock.
Ari tried to slap Klide’s paw away, but Klide was too fast. In Klide’s paw was the little button, the one Rusty had given to Ari.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Ari said. “What do you need that stupid thing for anyway? It doesn’t work.”
“Maybe not on Rusty.”
“You know Rusty? But how?” Ari’s words trailed off as Klide turned and fiddled with the button under his blindfold.
A moment later, Klide turned back and lifted half the blindfold. A wise black eye stared down at Ari.
“You have sand on your face,” Klide said.
“H—How’d you know Rusty?”
“I swore an oath, exiled myself long ago, when I betrayed him. He kept this,” Klide gestured toward his one eye, “until the day I could earn his forgiveness. I heard you drop it back there in the bar. I’d know that sound anywhere. Come, it’s time I repay my debt.”
Mia couldn’t take it and erupted. “How? We’ve lost, you blind fool!”
“Ah, but I’m not blind. Not anymore.” Klide turned and walked toward what appeared to be a stone fortress in the distance.
Ari stared after him, and then, with a shrug to Mia, followed. A moment later he heard Mia scampering up beside him. They caught up to Klide, who gave them an approving look with his eye and then continued to move branches out of their path.
“You’ve come here for your boy,” Klide said to Ari. “I heard you say it back at the pits. You say the monsters took him. Well… there’s only one way to get to where they’d have him.”
�
��And where’s that?” Ari asked.
“The Shadowlands.”
Mia stopped walking, aghast.
Ari looked from her to Klide.
“Nu-uh,” Mia said. “No way.”
“The what?” Ari asked.
Klide continued on, not pausing to wait for them. “The Shadowlands. It’s where they live, where the bears banished them after the great wars.”
“But…. They were supposed to be gone. Forever.”
“Incorrect. Just banished, in exile, like myself. Like us. Only to a much worse place.
“You mean, everyone back there, you were exiled teddy bears?”
“When bears are no longer wanted or needed, this is where they end up.”
“I never had nobody,” Mia said. “I don’t need nobody, and I’m certainly not going to the Fortress of Monta or the Shadowlands. Count me out.”
Klide kept walking, and Ari saw no other choice but to follow. Not if he wanted to find Rick.
“Okay,” Mia said as she caught up with them. “But only because they have my brother.”
“Good,” Klide said. “Then each of you has your rescue mission, and I have my debt to repay. This will be fun.”
Ari and Mia shared a frightened look. This was most certainly not going to be fun.
Chapter Eleven: The Monster Dungeon
Rick awoke to screams. At first he couldn’t remember where he was, and for a moment thought he was home, having a nightmare. He bolted up, eyes searching for anything he recognized, but all he saw was the dark stone room, enclosed with rocks like prison bars. Past the rocks, a warm red glow from rivers of molten lava was visible.
His head thudded with a dull ache and his chest fluttered, but then he saw Tiffany, lying there beside him. At least the monsters hadn’t separated them. That thought calmed him enough to clear his thoughts. He had to get his sister out of there.
He leaned over to nudge her awake. He paused at a shifting in the shadows, feeling eyes watching him.
“Who’s there?” he said, trying to sound brave.
Children emerged from the darkness. A large boy stepped forward and said, “Look at this, a little boy and his girlfriend. You won’t survive a week down here.”
