Mishi-pizhiw bounded down Castle Rock, taking fire and damage the whole way. Still, he snatched Bugz from the ground with his jaws and flung her onto his back. He ran through the shallows and leapt to the nearest aircraft carrier. He landed claws-first and tore up huge chunks of the tarmac. Then he leapt to the next carrier, leaving a similar trail of destruction before diving off into deeper waters.

Mishi-pizhiw transformed into his water form and spirited Bugz away. Under the cover of a massive forest of seaweed, he swam her to the far side of the bay. There, amid the roots of the lily pads and bulrushes, Mishi-pizhiw locked eyes with Bugz. His giant catlike pupils pierced the center of her soul.

Bugz thought of her mother. “I love you,” she whispered. The tears welled in Bugz’s eyes and dissolved in the virtual water of the lake. The giant beast motioned with his head for Bugz to stay.

“I’m coming with you,” she protested. He simply shook his head no.

Bugz and Mishi-pizhiw nuzzled their noses together as they breathed deeply and exhaled, sending bubbles upward. Bugz shuddered to the core of her being. The beast smiled a final time, turned, and sped toward the battle.

From beneath the shallow waves, breathing through a water lily stalk so as not to send any more telltale bubbles to the surface, Bugz watched as Mishi-pizhiw launched a valiant assault on the Clan:LESS horde. The energy fire crashed into him as he roared to the heavens. He snatched a helicopter into his mouth and threw the chopper at another gunship, sending them both spiraling from the sky. He looped his serpentine body through the air over and over again, smashing dozens of boats and an aircraft carrier in the process. Through it all, his body was illuminated with gunfire and lasers. He coiled himself around his targets and dragged half a dozen tanks into the water with him. He surfaced and spun several times, taking more Clan:LESS machines with him as he corkscrewed through the air.

From Bugz’s vantage point, the battle was all chaos: Mishi-pizhiw in motion, hundreds of gamertags flying to the sky, and the energy cannons raining fire down on her last remaining companion.

Under a massive barrage of fire, and with a dramatic roar that shook the earth, the greatest beast the Floraverse had ever known fell to the beach with a thunderous blow, finally spent. Mishi-pizhiw’s eyes remained open, but they stared past Bugz as the energy cannons rained fire down on him for five minutes straight, interrupted only by the occasional rocket or torpedo. When the gunfire ended, Mishi-pizhiw’s dark form lay motionless, half ashore and half in the water, still smoldering. Tears flowed from Bugz’s eyes, turning the shallows in which she lay to salt water.