I walked and walked and then walked some more. The trail my father and I had come in on had fundamentally changed, and whenever I thought I went off the trail and got lost, I saw another sign that I was on the same trail that I remembered. So I kept trudging along, not singing a song, not in a winter wonderland.

The sun was halfway past the mountain range, causing the shadows to lengthen and the local colors to darken with gloomy peril. I didn’t see any other signs of monsters, or other creatures that might pose a threat, but I didn’t drop my guard or lower my awareness.

A loud snap of breaking wood sounded off the trail and into the distance. I paused and then huddled close to a tree for some type of cover and concealment. The sound of crunching leaves and twigs reverberated in the distance as if a large creature was walking toward me. Then I saw what it was and I was even more stunned.

At first, I thought it was a bear. It was as tall as one and covered in dark brown fur. It looked almost exactly like a bear, except for its head. Where a snout should be was a beak-like that of a duck. Where there should have been a flap of skin that bears have in place of a tail (survival training in a forested mountain range gave me this information) was a small tail of a beaver, which looked very out of place for the size of the bear.

Platypus Bear

Level: 15

The screen popped into my vision just as I was wondering what the creature was. I knew this creature though, I had seen it before, or at least the concept of it.

If this is what I think it is, then that means…

I stepped out from behind the tree and adopted a fighting stance. I simultaneously struck out with my arm and stomped my foot on the ground, just as it was done on the cartoon where I had seen a Platypus Bear. No rocks came up.

Damn, I guess I’ll try fire.

I had to move quickly because my actions alerted the bear to my presence. The show was one of my favorites when I was younger, so I had spent a fair amount of time practicing all the moves. I was experienced in Judo and I knew some basics of other martial arts. I also knew that the bending styles were based on martial arts.

I attempted a few fire punches toward the bear, but unfortunately, nothing happened.

The Platypus Bear roared at me in warning and stood on its hind legs. It towered over me even from the distance between us.

I tried a couple wind kicks and still nothing happened.

I should have done this behind cover. I need some water.

I took my backpack off and grabbed my canteen. It was on top of all my other equipment since I had been using it to drink from during my hike. Too bad, it was too late. The Platypus Bear rushed toward me with incredible speed. My ability kicked in as I watched it and I gathered a little information on its intent. As it reached me, it stood up and took a huge swipe at me. As a wild animal, the attack was telegraphed, so I knew where the attack was coming from, but it was so quick, I wasn’t able to read it swiftly enough. Its massive paw slammed into my arm and I went flying away. I thought that I would be dead, but I found myself quite lucid as I sailed through the air, then I hit a tree.

I blanked out for a moment, but it must have only been for a fraction of a second. As I came to, I was lying on the ground in a short ditch created from my body impacting the soft forest soil and the tree I struck was falling and crumbling. There was a splintery hole in the middle of the trunk where I struck it, and with that hole, the rest of the wood couldn’t support the tree. I scrambled to my feet and ran to get out of the way, so I wasn’t crushed by the tree as it fell.

I didn’t even think about how I could get up after being struck by an eight or nine-foot-tall bear and then flying through a tree and sliding across the ground. I should have a broken arm from the bear or a broken back from the tree. Hell, I should be pulp from hitting that tree.

As I ran from the falling tree, the Platypus Bear confronted me once again. As soon as it saw me, it stood up on its haunches and took another swipe at me. Either it was slower this time, or my power had learned a little bit, but I read its movement quicker and I was able to duck and roll out of the way. Sure, I didn’t die from the first hit, or from flying through a tree, but I was going to feel this a little later and I didn’t want to make it worse.

As I sprang up from my roll, I was right next to the towering bear. I roundhouse kicked it behind the leg and it began to topple backward. The bear flailed its arm out as it fell and I grabbed onto its arm and pivoted to use its mass and already growing momentum to hurl it over my shoulder. The Platypus Bear flew and spun in the air, twisting uncontrollably as it struck the branches of a nearby tree. The tree didn’t stand a chance as it turned everything it touched into pulp. It fell slowly through the branches and as it landed on earth, the ground rumbled from its weight. I could see a small branch had pierced its hide, but the bear didn’t seem to care, it just looked at me as it stood, then roared even louder than before.

Honestly, I was more stunned that I flipped the giant bear creature over my shoulder and into the branches of one of the trees than I was at it standing up. The normal laws of physics and what I would usually consider normal were long gone. It didn’t surprise me that the Platypus Bear stood up because I had just been hit so hard I flew through a tree.

I looked around quickly for my pack so I could get my machete out, but I couldn’t see it and with the now enraged bear looming over me, I didn’t want to take too long looking for it. I pulled my knife off my belt and flipped it around to hold it in a reverse grip. I moved forward to press the attack; I didn’t want to give it the chance to rest.

As I was in range, it reared back to swipe at me with its paw. As it swiped down, I dove forward and rolled between it legs. During the dive, I swiped at its femoral artery and hoped that I struck deep enough to sever the flow of blood. I pivoted around, preparing to jump on the bear and plunge my knife into the back of its neck. Just as I completed my turn, the back of its massive, furry paw slammed into my head.

I had an interesting sensation of confusedly cartwheeling through the air. Then I hit a rock. This is getting redundant. I slammed into the rock on my side. My arm had been flailing so it was up when I struck and it absorbed the impact between my head and the rock. I was certain that I would have died if it wasn’t there because I felt a sickening crunch inside my shoulder as I slammed into the rock. I probably would have heard it too, but my ears were already ringing from the bear’s strike to my head. I slid down the rock and landed in a painful heap on the ground before it. There was too much crap in this forest for a fight, I was already missing the time when I would fall into some nice soft water after flying through the air.

I wiggled my toes, which let me know that my legs weren’t broken, and then I used my good arm to lift myself off the ground. As I stood, my vision swirled like tie-dyed paint in a bucket and I had to kneel back down. I placed my hand on the firm ground to help steady my equilibrium and gave silent thanks that the bear didn’t finish me off. Why didn’t it finish me off?

As I opened my eyes, I received the answer to my question. My slice to the bear’s artery did more damage than I expected. It appeared that the bear was unable to use that leg and as the last light of the sun dipped below the mountain range, I could see a glint off the large amount of blood in its wake. The Platypus Bear was slowly hobbling and crawling toward me, but even though it was injured, it still had murder in its eyes.

I looked around for my knife, so I could have a weapon to kill it with before it got to me, but I couldn’t see it anywhere. After my flying cartwheel adventure, there was no telling where it could be. On top of that, my pack wasn’t near me either so I would have to kill this beast with my bare hands.

Ha…bear hands.

Luckily, my arm was already starting to feel better. I made a mental note to really check out those screens that kept popping up in my vision as soon as I could. I would be mad at myself if there were information in them that could have helped me end this fight quicker. Although I really wanted to get to the car quickly to get my phone and be able to drive to civilization. But all that went through my mind swiftly and I focused on the problem in front of me. How am I going to kill this bear?

I quickly thought about choking it out like the Dread Pirate Roberts did the giant Fezzik, but then I remembered the bears claws that could easily rend flesh. I thought about staying away from it until it bled out, but seeing as how my shoulder was already starting to feel better, I didn’t want to take the risk of the bear getting better too. Thinking of my arm, it’s pretty useless and I couldn’t do the first idea or really anything else with it. Guess I’ll have to kick it to death.

I grit my teeth to control the pain in my arm and I rushed to the bear that was slowly making its way to me. It saw me coming and growled. Balancing on its good leg and opposite arm, it took a swing at me. However, with the combination of my ability telling me what it was going to do, its injured body that limited its attacks, and the fact that I was going to its other side, the swing wasn’t even close.

I went to the arm it used to prop itself off the ground and struck out with a straight kick to its elbow. Its elbow was crushed in one blow. It came crashing down hard to the ground. I was already running around its back so it couldn’t see me as it tried to rise. By the time it was precariously balanced on its one remaining arm and leg, I kicked and shattered its other arm. As soon as its head struck the ground, I started stomping on the Platypus Bear’s bill and head. I started with one foot to make sure it didn’t try to bite me, but I was soon standing atop its colossal head jumping up and down with wild abandon like a rabid monkey. I didn’t stop until I was infused with the warm glow that indicated I killed the bear and I leveled up from the process. It was a good thing I leveled from killing the Platypus Bear because I don’t know how long I would have kept going if I didn’t; I was in the zone.

The warm glow of powering up filled my body and even made my arm feel better. I checked the damage and found that while it was still mangled and broken, I could move my fingers a little. I decided to get my pack before I looked for my knife since I had a flashlight and I needed a drink of water, and just as I got to my pack and was about to put it on, a screech from the sky pierced the silent forest.