The bloody battle had been raging for days. Bodies were strewn across the ground, mutilated and disemboweled, but the greatest danger had yet to unfold – the battle was nearing the deadly Cliffs of Doom. “Captain, we can’t hold!” bellowed the White Tiger as he struggled with a Transformer. With a roar of frustration and powerful swipe of his paw, Tiger sent the metal fiend toppling to the ground. “We must call retreat!” he shouted over the raging tumult of combat.
         Captain Bear was struggling mightily against Captain America. Curse that superhero’s unbreakable shield! Captain Bear delivered a blow that would have crushed any normal man, but Captain America merely laughed and threw off the grizzly bear’s fist. “You should listen to your lieutenant,” the man sneered. “He has the sense to see you’ve lost already.”
        “Captain!” came the Tiger’s desperate shout again.
         Captain Bear didn’t dare look away from Captain America, but he shouted a response:  “No!” he stubbornly bellowed. “We never retreat!”
          The Tiger nodded in obedience – if not agreement – and with a flick of his powerful white tail, he threw himself back into the carnage to help his friends. Captain Bear was brave, but it wasn’t hard to see that they were losing miserably against the Evil Ones. The Transformers had upgraded, the Superheroes were stronger…the Animals would follow Captain Bear to their deaths, and Tiger feared that was exactly where they were going to find themselves today.
           Tiger bounded towards a unicorn in distress, who was trying to take on the Hulk and Iron Man. “NO!” Tiger roared, only a few steps away, as if his cry could stop Iron Man from incinerating the unicorn and the Hulk from smashing its remains into dust. Tiger snarled in rage and leapt after the Hulk, who sent Tiger catapulting across the battlefield with a blow from his boulder-sized fist.
              “You’ll pay for that!” Captain Bear roared, having seen the entire incident from a distance. He blocked a blow from that infernal shield of America’s and shoved it into his opponent’s chest. “He was one of my best!”
             “Apparently not,” Captain America smirked, watching Iron Man kick at what was left of the unicorn. Hulk lumbered after the Tiger he had just tossed aside. “You can’t win this battle! Look around you; your men are being crushed. Even if they put up a fight, they can’t win when I drive them off the Cliffs!” He grinned and gestured to the Cliffs of Doom. To Captain Bear’s horror, he saw that Transformers had trapped the Wolves and Dinosaurs at the edge of the cliff.
          A streak of rosebud pink caught Captain Bear’s eye. It was his best flier, Flamingo, diving into the rage of the battle near the Cliffs of Doom. Shrieks echoed from the edge as fighters from each side toppled over the precipice, lost into oblivion. Captain Bear watched as Flamingo dove towards a wounded Wolf and snagged him by the tail. “Hang on!” she said through her clenched beak, and carried him back to safety.
         “Thanks,” he panted before she took flight again.
         Flamingo was already in the sky.  “Noo!” Captain Bear heard her screech of fury. She had seen a dinosaur fiercely battling the little green blur of Yoda – but the great beast was too slow, and Yoda had brought him to his knees. Bear looked up to see Flamingo’s pink wings tucked against her body as she hurtled towards the unsuspecting Yoda. With a terrible crash she bowled into the little green man and plowed him into the ground…but Flamingo gave a cry of pain as Yoda’s light saber slashed up at her.
          “Flamingo!” Bear bellowed as he saw the deadly flash Yoda’s triumphant light saber. “Curse you, green villain!” he shouted, but he was quickly distracted by his opponent. Bear managed to land a punch to Captain America’s face, but it only made the man snarl in furious disbelief and attack with renewed vigor. Before Bear realized what happened, he was trapped between the Captain’s shield and the Cliffs of Doom.
          “Surrender,” sneered Captain America, pressing forward. Bear felt his hind paws slip against the edge of the Cliffs. Where was Tiger when he needed him? He looked desperately for aid, but his lieutenant had disappeared – Flamingo had somehow managed to pin Yoda to the ground - Bear’s two best Unicorns were reduced to dust beneath the Hulk… a Wolf was busy clamping its jaws around a Transformer’s arm…two wounded Dinosaurs were battling Batman on the ledge...

          “Surrender, you fool - ”
          “Never!” Bear roared, and gave a final blow towards his mortal enemy. Captain America easily blocked it with his shield. His eyes flashed murderously as, with a single push, he sent the valiant Captain Bear over the edge of the Cliffs of Doom.
         A Shadow fell across the sky; it dropped like a dark cloak across the entire battlefield. Captain America stopped as Bear toppled into oblivion…a cold chill stole the man’s triumph. Darkness slipped across the remaining Animals and Evil Ones…soon, silence had stolen the voices of every warrior. Even the dead seemed to shrink beneath the Shadow that blotted out all light from the sun.
           “Thomas, what on earth are you doing?” Mom said, scanning the scattered toys with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. 
           “Ummm….it’s a battle,” Thomas said sheepishly, as Mom came up the last few steps of the stairs and picked up his stuffed bear. Thomas lowered Captain America, who was gripped tightly in the boy’s meaty, sticky hand.
          His mom gently placed Bear on the cliff next to Captain America. She then picked up a green Lego arm and twisted it back onto Yoda, who was pinned beneath an angry-looking flamingo. “I see that,” she said dryly, pulling the pink bird away from Yoda. “It looks pretty intense.”
          “It was,” Thomas promised gravely. Large, solemn eyes stared up at his mother, waiting for a scolding or an approval.
Mom simply smiled. “You can pick these up later, all right? It’s time for dinner, kiddo.”
             Thomas dropped Captain America from hand and the stuffed dinosaur from his other. “Coming,” he sang, all warlike countenance gone as he abandoned his game for the much more serious and promising prospect of hamburgers. He and his mother made their way down the stairs, hand in hand.
           Captain America toppled to the ground, unstable without Thomas’s hand. A Transformer tumbled down another stair step as a stuffed dog slid forward on the banister.
          Thomas did not look back as his world collapsed behind him.