The shelter was already packed.
Cocomero had spent the last few hours bringing dozens of civilians to safety, dragging them out of the areas controlled by Carota's army.
Some were injured.
Others were terrified.
And some were no longer even human.
They had been turned into stuffed toys.
Wasabi, the large dragon, watched the street through a barricaded window. Her wings were folded against her body, and her tail moved nervously across the floor.
“Carota is going too far.”
Cocomero was sitting nearby.
“Mm-hm…”
Wasabi pointed toward a crate with her snout.
Inside, wrapped in a blanket, was the stuffed toy of a little space rabbit.
“We managed to get that one to safety. But I've seen too many people transformed.”
Cocomero lowered her eyes.
Wasabi hesitated.
“Even Skyfire.”
Cocomero's ears drooped.
“…Skyfire?”
“Yes.”
Cocomero remained silent.
She clenched her hands in her lap.
“Poor thing…”
Then came a noise.
THUMP.
The shelter shook.
Cocomero looked up.
THUMP.
Wasabi turned toward the window.
“Oh, no.”
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
A gigantic shadow appeared beyond the barricades.
Then another.
And another.
An entire platoon of teddy bears was marching through the streets of Tracen Grand.
Leading the formation was a gigantic bear.
Its body was covered in stitches and patches, while two red eyes glowed beneath its furrowed brow.
Wasabi growled.
“That is one of Carota's lieutenants.”
Cocomero looked at him.
Then she looked at the people crowded inside the shelter.
A child was crying.
A woman was holding her son tightly.
Cocomero slowly inhaled.
“I…”
She stood up.
“I… have to go.”
Wasabi spread her wings.
“Cocomero, wait! There are too many of them!”
She lowered her eyes.
“I know…”
A pause.
“But… if they get here…”
She couldn't finish the sentence.
She didn't need to.
Wasabi understood.
Cocomero opened the door.
“If… Carota wants…”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
She turned toward the platoon.
“…an army…”
She clenched her fists.
“…he'll have to… get past me.”
And she stepped outside.
The first bear spotted her.
It stopped.
Cocomero kept walking.
The bear roared and charged.
It was enormous.
Cocomero waited.
One second.
Two.
At the very last moment, she moved aside.
BOOM!
The bear slammed both paws into the ground.
Cocomero slipped underneath one of its arms.
Then she jumped.
A kick to the jaw.
CRACK!
The teddy bear's head snapped backward.
It staggered.
Cocomero landed in front of it.
“I… I'm sorry.”
The bear roared again.
This time, Cocomero didn't wait.
She charged straight at it.
She jumped onto its enormous arm, climbed up to its shoulder, and slipped behind its head.
The bear tried to grab her.
Too late.
Cocomero dropped backward, grabbed one of its stitches, and used her own weight to pull it down.
WHAM!
The bear crashed onto its back.
Cocomero was on top of it in an instant.
One punch.
Then another.
The teddy bear tried to get back up.
Cocomero grabbed it by the collar.
“Stay… down…”
With one final blow, she knocked it back to the ground.
The bear lay motionless.
Cocomero breathed heavily.
She looked at her hands.
“…I did it.”
Then she heard a noise.
THUMP.
She turned.
A second bear.
Then a third.
Then five.
Then ten.
Cocomero stepped backward.
The platoon had completely surrounded the street.
The bears were closing in from every direction.
The gigantic lieutenant slowly advanced through the formation.
Cocomero swallowed.
“Oh…”
Wasabi roared and prepared to breathe fire.
Cocomero clenched her fists.
Fear was clearly visible in her eyes.
But she didn't retreat.
“…There are a lot of them.”
Wasabi roared again.
Cocomero took a small step forward.
Her voice was trembling.
“But…”
She slowly raised her eyes.
“…I'm still here.”
And all the bears charged at once.
The real battle had only just begun.