Chapter 11: The Last Stand of Grumbles the Bear

The quartet had entered a door at the bottom of the stairway, and were now in an elevator, heading down towards what they knew had to be the control room. All were nervous, not knowing what lay in wait ahead of them. The elevator finally stopped, the doors rattled open, and the group of ragtag heroes stepped out into a seemingly empty and very long corridor. The only thing in sight was a door at the opposite side of the hallway. Glancing around quickly to make sure no one else was around, the group commenced the walk down this creepy place. As the group trudged through, they couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right, but dared not speak their fears to the others, and instead kept their gaze steadfast towards the door. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached the end of this hallway, and Lizard Man grasped the door knob. Upon doing so, a voice came from behind them.
"Good evening, lady and gentlemen. Though I do use the term lightly." The foursome quickly turned around, only to see a bigger shock than even the giant cat robot produced - Sasquatch was standing in front of them. To add on to the strangeness of the situation, he sported a top hat, a diamond encrusted cane, and (most stylish of all) a golden monocle.
"Sasquatch!?" Lizard Man asked with surprised. "What are you doing here? And when did you learn to talk? Last time we met, your intelligence was less than that of most animals..."
"Well, your dear friend Grumbles isn't the only beast to have been experimented on by the Blood-Eyed Cat Syndicate. When they saw the destruction that one simple bear had wrought, they knew that emulating those results with a creature of even greater strength would prove to be a most epic endeavor. Of course, on top of strength far surpassing Grumbles, I have an even higher level of intelligence." The friends scoffed at this.
"If you have so much intelligence, then why are you letting the Blood-Eyed Cat Syndicate make you their errand boy?" Quincy O'Snappers asked.
"Laugh all you want, but at least I didn't become hopelessly addicted to Pokemon Cards." Sasquatch replied with a wry smile. And at this, he held up Grumbles' binder, full to the brim of all his Pocket Monsters.
Without a single warning, Grumbles sprang into action, and slashed his awesome bear claws at Sasquatch, who barely had any time to react with a crazy backflip kick to the face of the beloved Grumbles. Not phased by this, Grumbles slashed once again at Sasquatch, this time breaking the monocle. A furious Sasquatch then swiped at Grumbles with his diamond encrusted cane, whalloping Grumbles right in the snout, and drawing blood from the bear. Lizard Man made to jump in on the action, but Grumbles extended his arm, blocking his path. Lizard Man nodded in grim understanding at what was to happen: Grumbles wanted to fight Sasquatch by himself, even if it meant his own death. Stacy and Quincy, on the other hand, didn't understand this situation.
"Why don't you help him!?" Stacy asked. "Even if he can beat Sasquatch, there's no way he's going to be in any shape to do anything else..."
"You must understand the pride of a bear," Lizard Man replied thoughtfully. "They are undoubtedly the awesomest animal ever, and to disrespect one, especially right to their face, is something that should never be taken lightly. Grumbles is one of the proudest creatures I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, even for a bear." Lizard Man trailed off, and the trio watched on in horror as the fierce battle continued. Fist vs paw, claws vs nails, bear vs yeti; to describe ferocity of the battle in any detail would do it little justice. Imagine God creating the entire universe, and one might begin to have a faint understanding of the pure power that emanated from both of these furry warriors. Finally, after nearly 10 straight minutes of these two beings entangled in the fiercest of mortal combats, Grumbles tore off a chunk of Sasquatch's nose with his powerful bear jaws. Sasquatch then fell to the ground, holding the bloody part of his yeti face where the protector of his naval cavity used to be. Grumbles, too, kneeled down to the floor, most of his energy spent in his battle against Sasquatch, just as Stacy had predicted. The group walked over to Grumbles to see if they could comfort their friend.
"I'll be fine," Grumbles said, giving his best attempt at a smile. "You three better go on, and finish this thing without me." At this, Stacy gave Grumbles a hug.
"Thank you Mr. Grumbles. Thank you for everything you've done for us...I'm sorry it had to come to this. But after we finish off the Blood-Eyed Cat Syndicate, we'll come back, and you and I and Quince, and Lizard Man too if he wants, can go and-" But what exactly they could do was never spoken aloud, as the ceiling gave a great lurch and started to collapse. Before it could fall all the way and make all of them into icky flesh pancakes, it stopped, and everyone saw that Sasquatch had somehow gotten up and was holding the entire ceiling, despite the grotesqueness that his nose was missing.
"Hurry," the yeti said. "Go on, I can't hold this for much longer." Lizard Man and Quincy hurried over to support Grumbles, and, along with Stacy, hurried to the door. As they were walking away, Grumbles looked back, and saw, through horrified eyes, that Sasquatch was about to give out. He pushed Lizard Man and Quincy out in front of him and grabbed the ceiling himself.
"NOOO!" Stacy and Quincy screamed together.
"I'm so sorry about this, Grumbles," Lizard Man said with sorrow in his voice.
"Don't worry about me anymore," Grumbles said. "Just get those two out of here and finish the job we came to do." Lizard Man obliged, grabbing both Stacy and Quincy O'Snappers and bolting through the door. As he was being carried away, Quincy caught Grumbles' eye, and they both understood each other for the last time, while Stacy yelled "Good-bye Mr. Grumbles; we love you, thanks for everything!" with tears streaming down her face. Grumbles turned behind him to Sasquatch, who looked back at him.
"I'm sorry my fellow woodland creature," Sasquatch said. "We should have never fought."
"Don't worry about it," Grumbles said with a grim smile. "I could hardly pick a better yeti to die with."
Lizard Man had reached the new room, and with one last look at Grumbles, closed the door behind him. Immediately afterwards, an earth shaking slam was heard, and all three knew that Grumbles the Bear was gone.