The mega-lobster slashed through the water with a huge crusher claw.
Dan, distracted, felt more than a glancing blow as the claw bludgeoned his carapace like a knight wielding a heavy mace. He felt something crack and a diffused stream of blue wafted into view.
"I'm bleeding! That bastard!" Dan cursed as he realized that he was leaking blue lobster blood. He was such a nerd that he even knew lobsters have blue blood due to the presence of hemocyanin, which contains copper.
He thought quickly to Kat and mom. "I've gotta cut the connection," he informed them. "If I don't concentrate, I'm going to get clobbered."
The gigantic lobster scuttled closer, its feelers and antennae going nuts as it sense blood in the water.
A terrified Dan suddenly flicked his tail and whooshed several yards in one spurt. He realized his lobster instincts might just have saved him. In a pinch, lobsters can curl and uncurl their tails to sort of jet-propel themselves through the water.
Of course, his pursuer wasn't easily discouraged. Dan saw the immense crustacean scuttling toward him. The other lobster's sensory apparatus had no trouble tracking him now that his cracked carapace continued to leak blue blood into the water.
Dan did the trick with his tail again and almost propelled himself over the edge of a deep, inky abyss. His antennae waved as he tried to study the strange chasm. He also felt the tug of a strong current that was washing into the gaping darkness in the seafloor.
He scuttled and backed to the edge of the abyss as he found himself forced to face the incoming giant lobster. Dan tried to wave his claws over his head in a defensive manner, but the much larger lobster responded with its larger claw and seized Dan's much smaller crusher claw and severed the appendage in one fell swoop.
Dan shrieked in pain, which automatically renewed his mental connection to his mother and sister.
"That's it! I'm pulling him out of there," mom exclaimed forcefully.
"It's too risky..." Kat tried to interject.
Dan staggered and his legs scuttled closer to the abyss. The gigantic lobster closed the gap to finish the job, intending to precisely dismantle the smaller crustacean.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light. Blinded, Dan lurched backward and fell into the abyss. The other lobster got blasted backward for several yards. Dan, stunned, drifted slowly, deeper, into the blackness.
In the living room at home, Mom and Kate stared at a severed claw. "That's all you got?" Kat asked.
They both tried to re-connect with Dan. "I'm getting nothing," Mom said.
Kat confirmed that the connection had gone dead and looked sadly at the jagged claw on the carpet.
"How am I going to tell your father?" Mom lamented.
Meanwhile, in a world of darkness and pain, Dan began to detect a light...