We all know of the infamous Superman: Doomsday story arc, in which the evil Kryptonian Super Soldier is awakened and kills the Man of Steel. Now, I must ask, what if this plot lines was somehow put into the Krypto the Superdog cartoon? Of course, this would never happen, since the cartoon was kid friendly and lighthearted. Well I say NAY to that! Today's kids can handle more than focus groups think! So, without further ado, I give you all (Please forgive the lame pun, which might just be a spoiler for the climax):
Superdog: Apocalupus
Part One: The News
On the planet of Cainus Magnus, Planet of Giant Dogs, it was complete and utter chaos. Enormous cat bots stomped across the town, crushing houses and scaring the living daylights out of the dogs who have never seen anything bigger than they were before. Their military sent out a group of tanks to fend off the giant cat bot battalion. However, the shells merely bounced off the metallic legs of the cat bots. The evil machines laughed as they reached down and picked up the tanks like toys. The not so giant dogs jumped out of the tanks screaming as the robots crushed the machines in their clawed grip.
Meanwhile, high above the planet floated Mechanicat's Space Station of Evil. In the bridge, Mechanicat laughed maniacally as he held a large ray gun on his lap.
"Thanks to my amazing new Growth Ray invention, it will only be a matter of time before I rule this entire planet!" he said, and he reclined back in his chair and laughed maniacally.
Snooky Wukooms smiled, "Indeed, you Geniousness!"
Suddenly, the door to the bridge slid open and Delilah ran in excitedly, with a look of malice in her face. She cackled wildly as she strode into the room.
Mechanicat turned his chair around fast and glared at Delilah. "Did I say you could interrupt my evil laughter and gloating with your own cackling?!" he complained.
The cat smirked cruelly as she quickly ran up to the control panel and typed into it. "Check out what happened back on Earth! Ooh, how I love it!"
Mechanicat looked uninterestedly at the screen. However, as the images came in, his expression changed from surprised, to shocked, to disbelief, to wicked delight.
The cyborg cat shook his head solemnly as he began to laugh again, this time more darker and crueler than ever before.
The Dog Star Patrol's Space Station quickly entered the atmosphere of Cainus Magnus. Seven canine heroes flew out and faced the giant cat bots.
Krypto turned to Mammoth Mutt and nodded, "Ready?"
"And raring!" Mammoth Mutt replied as she inflated to mammoth size. Krypto then tossed her into the head of one of huge cat bots, knocking it clean off.
"Strrrrrrrike!" she said as the cat bot fell down in the street.
At another cat bot, Hot Dog was breathing fire at the robot's leg, causing the robot to wobble.
"Pound away Paw Pooch!" Hot Dog called out.
Paw Pooch chuckled, "Hey! That's not bad!" He then rapidly buffeted the cat bot's weakened legs with all eight of his paws until the legs bent over and the robot crashed onto the street.
Tail Terrier used his tail to tie one of the robot's legs together. It fell forward, and was completely pushed off balance by a strong blow from Bull Dog's horns. As the robot crashed onto the ground, Tail Terrier and Bull Dog bumped paws. However, they were interrupted by the approach of a final cat bot. They fearfully backed up as the massive cat bot reached out with a sharp claw to snag them. However, the bot suddenly stopped dead and fell backwards in a heap. Tail Terrier and Bull Dog looked to see Tusky Husky running along the cat bot's chest. He had shattered the light bulb on the cat bot's head, deactivating it.
"Not bad, eh?" Tusky said as he smiled with his huge tooth.
The rest of the Dog Stars regrouped and surveyed the damage.
Hot Dog hopped up in down in rage as smoke shot out of his ears, "Oooo! Mechanicat makes me boiling mad!"
Krypto looked around sadly at all the deactivated robots, "This is going to take a long time to clear up."
"I beg to differ, Superdog," came Mechanicat's voice.
The dogs looked up to see the villain descend in a smaller purple ship. The hatch opened and Mechanicat stood up, holding his Growth Ray.
"Alright, Mechanicat! It's all over!" Bull Dog called out.
"Indeed it is. You win," Mechanikat replied.
Hot Dog burned with fiery rage, "BRING IT ON, CAT! YOU WNNA PIECE OF ME? I'LL-," his burning aura suddenly went out and he blinked, "Wait, what?"
Mechanicat smiled, and he fired his ray at the deactivated cat bots, shrinking them back down to normal size one by one.
"What is he-?" Mammoth Mutt gasped.
"Eh?" was all Tusky Husky could say.
After the last cat bot was returned to normal, Mechanicat dropped the ray, where it hit the ground and shattered to bits.
"You win this round, Dog Stars!" Mechanicat said with a smile.
"Well then why you smiling like a fox in a hen house?!" Tail Terrier said angrily.
"Well, let's just say after what's happened, you deserve this. I'm not completely heartless after all," Mechanicat said as he lay back comfortably in his cockpit.
"What are you talking about?" Krypto asked.
Mechanicat looked at Krypto with a fake wide eyed expression, "What? You don't know?" Mechanicat then laughed manically a little and said, "Know this, Krypto. There will come the day when I finally defeat you. You kind is not invincible, just ask Superman. . ." And with a final triumphant smirk, the cockpit closed, and the ship flew back up into the evil space station, which then promptly flew off into deep space.
The seven superheroes looked up at where Mechanicat escaped too.
"What the hay was that alla 'bout?" Tail Terrier said.
"Beat's me!" Paw Pooch said as he scratched his head.
Krypto frowned at where the space station disappeared into deep space. He then shook his head and turned, "Come on guys, let's help clean this place up. I'm sure Magnuslings will appreciate it."
Luckily, the damage caused by the giant cat bots was actually quite minimal. The Dog Stars were finished after about an hour. After getting a grand thank you from the mayor, they all prepared to be beamed back up into their space station.
"Beam us up, Scottie!" Bull Dog said into his collar mic. A beam of light shone down and teleported the seven dogs back into the ship.
"Knock it off, you know Brainy doesn't like it when you call her that!" Mammoth Mutt complained while nudging Bull Dog on the leg.
Bull Dog gave her a light friendly shove, "Oh, cripes! Let out a little hot air, why doncha! She don't mind it, do ya Brainy?"
Brainy Barker was hovering in her usually spot at the ship's control panels, however, she now had her back to the other Dog Stars.
Bull Dog looked around nervously, "Uh. . .oh. . .well yikes, sorry Brainy, didn't think you'd take it so hard. . ."
Brainy simply shook her head and hung it even lower.
"Uh, I don't think that's the problem," Mammoth Mutt said nervously.
Filled with a sudden resolve, Krypto flew up to where Brainy sat. "Brainy? What's wrong? What's the problem?" he asked gently.
The Afghan Hound didn't respond, unless a quiet sigh counted as a response. Nevertheless, she didn't turn around and she still hung her head low.
Krypto felt himself get nervous inside, but he pushed it aside and cleared his throat, "Well, listen, whatever it is, we all will help you. I'll do whatever I can, so if you'd just-."
Krypto was suddenly interrupted when Brainy suddenly whirled around and hugged him tightly. This cause the other Dog Stars to gasp and whistle, and Krypto to blush the color of red Kryptonite.
Mammoth Mutt nudged Tail Terrier and said, "I knew it!"
Tail Terrier and Tusky Husky exchanged glances and shrugged.
"B-Brainy? I-?" Krypto stammered as he realized that Brainy was silently sobbing.
"I - I'm sorry, Krypto. I'm so sorry. . ." she whimpered as she hugged him.
"But- but you didn't do anything. . ." Krypto said, who was having a hard time forming words due to his racing, thumping heart, "what do you-?"
Brainy Barker broke off the hug and stood nose to nose with Krypto. Her eyes were still moist as she said, "Sorry. . .again. What I mean is, I feel sorry for you. . ."
Krypto cocked his head, "What do you mean?"
Brainy Barker looked Krypto straight in the eye. She sniffed and gathered together all her nerve. "I'm so sorry Krypto. . .but Superman is dead."
. . . . .
"What?" Mammoth Mutt said flatly.
Krypto simply floated there, with a blank look on his face.
"Is this some kind of cruel joke?" Bull Dog said sternly.
"You calling her a liar?" Mammoth Mutt said.
"Did you hear what she said?!" Bull Dog shouted, "Superman? Dead?! That be impossible!"
"Yeah, I'm with Bull Dog! Nothing can crack the Man of Steel!" Hot Dog said.
Tusky stepped forward and said nervously, "Uh, how do you know about this, eh, unpleasantly?"
There was a click as Brainy Barker hit a button on the control panel. The large monitors turned on, revealing photo of Superman fighting a strange creature in Metropolis. The creature was bipedal, with stone grey body, spikes coming out of his joints, and long grey hair. The two were fighting each other wildly throughout the city, and Superman was clearly loosing. Images showed Superman mortally wounded and broken. Eventually the images all showed the creature finally dying as Superman died as well, right in the arms of Lois Lane. Among them were newspaper articles announcing the sad news.
Paw Pooch fell down and put his paws over his eyes as he cried hard. Tail Terrier put a comforting paw on Paw Pooch's shoulder. Mammoth Mutt gasped and covered her mouth. Bull Dog and Hot Dog exchanged shocked and horrified glances.
Tusky Husky just stared into space with wide eyes. "S***-kickers. . ." he finally said coldly, and he turned and left the room rather quickly.
Brainy couldn't bear to look up at Krypto, so she simply stared at the floor. However, she could still sense Krypto nearby, and he didn't seem to be leaving. A few minutes of total silence went by, and Brainy couldn't stand it much longer. She looked up at Krypto. He was staring at the final images, still with a blank expression on his face, his eyes revealing a shocked mind filled with disbelief. Brainy did notice, however, that Krypto's whole body was trembling.
All of a sudden, Krypto fell to the ground, clumsily landing on his side and breathing heavily.
Brainy floated down to Krypto's side and gently ran her paw down his back. "Oh, Krypto," she said, "When I first saw this on the Earth's media-."
Brainy was cut off when Krypto rose suddenly, throwing her against a wall. He then flew at top speed towards the door, bowling through the Dog Stars and knocking them asunder like bowling pins. As the other dogs slowly got up and regained their bearings, Brainy Barker simply laid on the ground, tears running down the face.
"Why did I have to be the one to tell him? Why did I have to be the bearer of so much hurt to such a brave, strong, caring hero?"
Then she broke down and wept hard.