Superman, Son of Hippolyta - A T-Rexcellent Reviews Fanfiction
I of course own no DC Comics properties or characters and make no money off of this, I am merely a giant DC Fan who wants to share my stories with all of you.
Chapter 10: Who Let The Dogs Out
Beneath the Island of Themyscira… in a clearing in the middle of the Jungle of Pantherus…
Something big was leaving the Underworld.
Something very, very, very… big…
While this fact would not be immediately obvious to most mortals or even immortals for that matter, but to those who understood cross-dimensional transitions, could definitely tell that something was clawing its way out of the dark depths of the earth, moving fast towards the surface.
The continuous and concentrated shaking of the ground was proof enough of that, as whatever it was dug its way up through many hundreds of tons of rock and dirt to reach the surface world, more specifically, the isolated realm of which the Amazons ruled over, the Island of Themyscira.
The creature in question knew he and his brothers were not only trespassing by coming to these particular surface lands, but also violating many Olympian laws by doing this, he knew they did not have permission to leave the Underworld at this moment in time, much less to come to this isle of warrior women.
But they had to…
Something had changed on this island in the last couple of years, there was something new here, some sort of new creature, unlike any animal the three of them had smelled before in their long lives. They had sensed it a long time ago, but only really taken interest in it in the last couple of moons, like the larvae of a Demonic Flea who had just hatched from their egg to begin feasting on their blood, its presence had only just grown big enough to really be noticed now…
Thank Rhea, it was not a Demonic Flea though, the three of them hated fleas…
Whatever this strange new creature was, it had apparently sensed their presence as well, even under the surface where their den was located within their master's domain, because on full moon nights, it would often call out to them with long and lone howls that echoed deep beneath the earth, howls that the three of them would often respond to with howls of their own in return.
However, despite their best attempts at establishing a lasting line of communication between themselves and this unknown creature, the three brothers could not properly decipher the exact meaning of this howler's message with so many layers of earth between them and him.
The three of them had spent many nights while out on guard duty, discussing the howler's message and what they should do about it. Was it an invitation by the howler? An offer to come roam and hunt atop the surface lands with him? Or was it a warning to stay away from this beast's apparent territory or even more serious, a challenge to the three of them for their own.
All three were viable possibilities to the three brothers, the youngest brother hoped it was an invitation to come run and play together, whilst the middle brother thought it was a challenge for their territory and they should respond in kind and the eldest brother believed it to be simple warning to them to respect the boundary between them and this howler's own hunting grounds, which in the oldest brother's opinion was fair enough.
Still, from this distance, they could not be sure what the howls actually meant, only that they were coming from a creature that spoke in a tongue that they could understand, meaning that whatever strange new animal it was making these howls, it was something similar to the three of them.
Something was calling to them and the three brothers had to find out what it was.
So, after one more full moon night of consistent, far-off howling from the world above, they came to an agreement on what to do, as soon as they thought the coast was clear, the three of them would quietly sneak away and dig their way up to the surface lands to investigate these howls at their source, the Island of Themyscira…
… and they were almost there, just a few more feet and they would reach the surface…
Suddenly, the great shaking of the ground stopped, almost abruptly and all was peaceful again…
Then, just a few moments later, the grassy green earth erupted in an explosion of dirt and debris, as what could only be described as a giant jet-black paw lifted itself out from the darkness of the hole and landed heavily on the torn-up ground with a thunderous slam, followed quickly by another equally huge paw as the beast they belonged to hauled itself up.
After pulling itself out of its freshly made tunnel, the three creatures allowed their red eyes to gaze around at their lush surroundings for a moment whilst they caught their breath, the youngest of the three letting out an almost appreciative growl as he did so.
This tropical island was nothing like their den back in the Underworld, everything was so bright, natural, and alive here, so unlike their master's dark domain along the River Styx where they liked to swim and splash along its banks, this land could easily rival Elysia as a paradise.
That is not to say the three brothers did not love living with their kind master and their beloved mistress, they had freedom that most ancient Greek beasts did not, they had a noble purpose they were proud to perform and all the free bones they could ever chew on, but there were times in their long existence where they did miss roaming around the surface lands as they wished…
… still, it was all worth it, for the love of their master's mate, their surrogate mother who like them, came from these sunny, surface lands and who loved the three of them like they were her own sons…
The beast's surprisingly retrospective train of thought was suddenly halted as an unexpected cool breeze brought with it the scent of the creature whose howling cries had drawn them out of the Underworld in the first place.
After sniffing the air intensely for a moment, the trio of beasts flattened their ears against their furry skulls as they all growled even more fiercely than before, they had found the scent they were looking for, it was close intermingled with another scent on the breeze, two scents meant two creatures and both were not very far away.
Appreciation of this islands beautiful, natural scenery would have to wait for now as well as reminiscing about their shared ancient past, now, it was time for the three brothers to hunt once again.
Stalking forward on huge furry feet with legs as big as tree trunks, the escaped beasts made their way out of the clearing and into the surrounding tropical jungle with surprising stealth that no creature their size should possibly possess.
Whatever it was that had been calling them here to this hidden island paradise in the middle of the Aegean Sea, they would find it and if the three of them deemed it to be a potential threat to themselves, their kind master, and their loving mistress's rule of the Underworld… they would kill it.
Without hesitation.
Sometime later… in an open field nearby…
"Go Krypto! Go get the ball boy!" Kal said happily as he threw the ball and watched as his white Wolfdog eagerly chased after it.
The boy and his dog were in a secluded part of the island, a large grassy green plain at the edge of the Jungle of Pantherus, far away from the palace and the city, one of the few places on the Amazon dominated tropical island the prince and his best friend could be alone for a while.
A place where the pair could indulge themselves in one of the oldest and grandest pastimes between man and his ever-loyal canine companion, the game of fetch.
The ball flew through the air at rapid speeds from the sheer strength of Kal's tremendous throw only to be suddenly caught in the long jaws of the albino canine.
"Nice catch Krypto." Kal said smiling in carefree happiness as his pet Wolfdog quickly bounded back over to him and dropped the drool covered ball into his open palm, before spreading his front legs and lowering his head, panting happily while his bushy tail swung back and forth rapidly, eager for him to throw it again.
Kal laughed at the sight, pulled his arm back once more and threw the ball again, even harder this time as it soared right of the meadow and into the jungle, and just like before, Krypto raced after it at super speed, practically flying over the grassy ground before disappearing into the dense jungle with a loud crash of foliage.
Kal watched still smiling as this happened and then just like before, stood there, waiting for Krypto to come back with the ball so they could continue the game.
But as moments turned to minutes, the smile slowly fell from the boy's face as he became worried about his pet's increasing absences. "Krypto?" he called out anxiously, trying to keep the worry out of his tone.
After a few insufferable moments of silence, Kal heard a distant, but still easily recognisable bark and breathed a sigh of relief, before rushing off the to find his best friend, pushing his way past the jungle ferns, Kal finally found Krypto standing out in the middle of an open clearing, looking down at something.
"Krypto!" Kal called out as he ran over to his best friend, who at the sound of his voice looked over his furry shoulder at him and barked once, twice, then three times, but did not move from that spot.
"Krypto, what is it, boy?" Kal asked curiously as he came to stand beside his best friend. "What are you looking… at?" He questioned as his voice got slower with stunned surprise…
… for right in front of the both of them was Krypto's favourite fetching ball, it had landed inside what looked like large crater in the middle of the grassy meadow.
But it wasn't a crater, Kal realised upon a closer look, in actuality, it was a footprint, the largest footprint either of them had ever seen in their entire lives.
It was bigger than both of them.
After staring in sheer disbelief at the monstrous impression in the ground for a moment, Kal bent down and picked up the ball from the impact hole with a numb sense detachment, the earth was still fresh when his hand touched it, the soil had only recently been disturbed by this crater of a footprint…
… which meant, whatever had made it, couldn't have done so too long ago…
Krypto then sniffed the hole intensely for a moment, before strangely putting his own paw into the torn-up earth, leaving his own much smaller footprint inside the giant one, as if to compare the two
The most shocking thing was, except for the obvious size difference, the two footprints looked almost exactly the same… as if the gigantic one had also been made by the paw of a dog.
A really, really big dog.
Turning his head quickly in all directions, Kal saw nothing else in the clearing with them, but he did see more footprints scattered all over the place, all the same size as the one before him and with his excellent sight he could tell they were all fresh, just like the one before him.
Krypto's bark drew Kal back to reality as the boy saw his Wolfdog had wandered over to a nearby crater, a hole that was larger than all the others, but as he got closer, the boy realised it would be more accurate to call it a tunnel instead.
Carefully looking over the edge, Kal peered down into the dark depths of the tunnel, even with his incredible eyesight, he couldn't see the bottom at all, it was as if the tunnel led to the very bowels of the earth itself and judging by the claw marks along the sides of the tunnel, it was clear that something had dug its way out from it.
A shiver went down Kal's spine.
What kind of creature could have done this? He and Krypto had played together in this part of the jungle countless times and they had never seen any animal large enough to make footprints this big or a tunnel this long?
On second thought, Kal wasn't sure he really wanted to know the answer to that question.
"Uhh… Krypto." Kal said slowly, suddenly feeling more exposed and vulnerable out in the middle of this empty clearing than he had ever been in his entire young life. "I think we should get out of here boy."
Krypto didn't respond, he was too busy sniffing the air, a sudden, strong breeze had blown over the clearing, bring many familiar scents of their island home with it… and one very unfamiliar scent as well too.
The Wolfdog growled at the empty air and raised his hackles at seemingly nothing, the unfamiliar scent was close, to close for comfort for Krypto.
"Krypto, what is it?" Kal asked warily, he remembered the incident with the Chimera, the boy knew his pet protector and best friend only acted this way when danger was close by.
Just then, a gigantic dark, cloud was suddenly caste over the pair as a few drops of rain water seemingly fell from the sky, quickly forming a puddle between the boy and his dog.
But it wasn't water, Kal realised slowly as he peered down at it, it was drool and the ominous darkness behind them wasn't a storm cloud at all, it was a shadow.
Something giant was drooling above them; something giant was casting them in its shadow… something was standing right behind them.
Kal felt himself go still with fear and Krypto's growling only intensified in volume.
As if in response, a low ominous sounding growl that resembled the rumbling of thunder tore through both the boy and his dog, bringing with it the unmistakable stink of bad breath, it smelled of meat, slobber and decay, its breath stank of death.
Not being able to take it, Kal spun around to face whatever it was that looming over them… and immediately regretted doing so.
For standing right there, staring down at them with blood red eyes that glowed like the flaming forges of Hephaestus himself, was the biggest hound Kal had ever seen, hell, it was the biggest creature he had ever seen in his whole young life so far.
Its entire monstrous appearance was covered in jet black fur and its unique physical features made it look like a hybrid cross between three different dog breeds, with it possessing the strong neck of a Dobermann, the bulky head of a Staffie and the muscular body of a Rottweiler.
It didn't stop there though, with its long, powerful legs, broad clawed paws, huge sharp teeth and finally, a thunderous sounding tail that was not a dog's tail at all, but instead the scaly tail of an Alligator or an Iguana, along with armoured back and neck plates to match the reptilian appendage, this colossal canine was of such a massive size that it easily rivalled the likes of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
But none of these rather intimidating physical traits were the most astounding thing about this demonic looking dog, no, nor even its gigantic size which easily outmatched any creature Kal and Krypto had encountered on the island so far.
No, the most astounding and intimidating feature of this hellish looking hound was its head, or rather, its heads, as it had three of them, the middle one was by far the largest, the right one had a notch missing from its right ear and the left one had white spots on its snout, but all of them had chained collars around their necks and jaws which looked large enough to swallow him whole.
The ball fell from numb fingers and landed in the puddle of drool with a sticky splash as Kal and Krypto continued to stare up at the gigantic Three Headed Hellhound, who stared right back at them, growling ominously all the while…
Greetings to all my fellow fanfic readers and writers, I hope you all enjoyed Superman, Son of Hippolyta Chapter 10: Who Let The Dogs Out, which introduces one of most notorious Ancient Greek Mythical Beasts of them all into this story, it also happens to be one of my favourites.
Also, Sorry about the lack of an update on this story guys and cliff-hanger nature of this short chapter, but don't worry, part two of this particular story arc will be published soon.
Now onto answering some more fan questions from all of you, thanks for the questions guys and please don't hesitate to ask more in the future, but do brace yourselves, it's a long one…
1. Yeah, the Queen's Circle are a pleasant bunch, aren't they? What with their constant looking down on their own sisters for being soft and their plans to murder an innocent boy the moment they don't need him anymore, but don't worry guys, they'll get what's coming to them and worse… much, much worse… because as bad as the circle may be… their nothing compared to Hercules…
2. One of the major themes I like to explore with this story guys, amongst all the Greek myths and Shakespearian drama that borderlines on the uncomfortable at times, is the idea of having real world issues get brought up in unexpected ways, for example, Alkyone objectifying her partner Phinea and treating her like a servant is sadly based on cases of real world domestic abuse, that in this environment of supposed sisterhood is not supposed to happen and yet it still does, Paradise Island isn't all its cracked up to be guys.
3. The Queen's Circle consider themselves the pinnacle of what every Amazon woman should be and thus tend to look down on everyone of their sisters who don't meet their standards, which is, basically half their tribe, including Phillippus, who they all resent for being the only Amazon ranked above them besides their Queen of course.
4. Kal's Super Durability works in a similar manner to a Dragons Armoured Scales in most works of fiction, becoming stronger as he ages, adapts to different forms of trauma in different ways as he faces them and heals remarkably quick, but at the same time, is still not completely impenetrable to all physical attacks.
5. The story is set in the modern DC era, with the Amazons still living in a lifestyle similar to the one they had before Greece Fell whilst the rest of the world has moved on without them, causing both their tribe and their island to become a myth to all… but a few…
6. Yes, Kryptonite is in the story, but its affects and properties have been altered slightly, if you go back to chapter three and read through it again, you'll notice the bracelet that Hera gave Hippolyta has a GREEN emerald inside it that glows, that colour is not a coincidence.
7. Will Kal have a romantic partner on the island when he grows up? The short answer is, yes, he will, but maybe not in the way you would think, I say no more on it for now.
8. Will Lois be apart of the story, maybe, I do have a potential idea for her inclusion, but as usual, things can change and she will DEFINETLY be different than most versions of Lois if she does appear.
9. Kal WILL at some point leave the island and meet an uncle Ben and aunt May like figures who will act as foster parents to him, but they won't be the Kent's, nothing against them, but they don't really fit into the theme of this story very much, this is a Kal-El story, not a Clark Kent story.
10. Epione wants to be a mother, just like many other Amazons do, but sadly there aren't enough girls to go around for every woman on the island to be a mother, girls usually go to partnered couples anyway and none of them ever gets to have two children, except for Hippolyta, which has caused more than some of their sisters to have some jealous resentment towards their Queen.
11. The Amazon's general thoughts and feelings on Kal are… complicated, to put it mildly, all of the women on the island know what Kal's Goddess given purpose is, Diana and the other young girls however, do not, some have already accepted him, more are like the Circle and never will though, but most see it as pointless anyway because they do not believe he will actually survive his battle against Hercules, thus there's no point in getting attached or sealing their commitment to him as a member of their tribe.
12. Concerning Hippolyta, the fate she was originally going to resign Kal to was not a case of callous cruelty on her part, but rather, a case of heavy is the crown, she didn't really want to do it and she took no pleasure in giving the order to do so, but the Laws of Themyscira are made by the Goddesses, not her, she can't just ignore them because of her own personal feelings on the matter.
13. Hippolyta does really love Kal though guys, she loved him after the first time they were alone together where she could be a woman and a mother for a moment and not a warrior or a queen for once, which just makes this whole situation all that more tragic.
14. Speaking of love and family, ManOfSteel, you guessed right mate, Alkyone did murder her little brother when she was six and he was barely three, out of jealousy for the lack of her parents love and attention after he was born, she's been killing babes since she was child herself, long before the understandable reasons most Amazons obtain for hating men.
15. Alkyone is a classic case of a character who views themselves in the way they want to perceive themselves, someone who confuses caution for cowardness, privilege for entitlement, jealousy for injustice, anger for righteousness and love for lust,
16. Alkyone also thinks she's in 'love' with Hippolyta and wants to be with her as she's the only women on the entire island she really considers to be 'her' equal, Alkyone also wants to sleep with Diana when she gets older as well, to make a real Amazon woman out of her in her mind, as Diana is basically a younger Hippolyta and she really does believe Hippolyta will agree to that one day.
17. Alkyone wants to be a part of the royal family, to be with Hippolyta and have Diana to herself, that's her dream for the future and to her, Kal's very presence is standing in the way of that happening.
18. You all may have noticed by now that the Queen's Circle never refer to Kal by his name, they only ever call him by a royal title or Demigodling, my own personal term for a young Demigod, the reason for that is simple, racism, people have names and by their standards, they don't consider Kal a person at all, but rather a tool to be used, an animal to be commanded and then killed when deemed necessary.
19. You also may have noticed that for the most part with the obvious exception of Alkyone, the Queen's Circle is very good at pretending to care about the boy, for the most part anyway, which is something also sadly very real in our world, people pretending to care about others to get something they want.
20. Kal's relationship with the Amazons will defiantly change as he gets older and becomes wiser to the world around him, right now, he's still young and smaller than them, thus not really threat at the moment, but to most of the Amazons on the island, they view him as something like a Nemean Lion cub, small and kind of adorable now, but when he gets older and bigger, a powerful apex predator that could one day turn on them.
As always, a shout out to my amazingly supportive friend and fantastic fellow fanfic writer Ricardo753 for supporting my work, go check out his own stories, their T-Rexcellent as well as my new creative consultant and Greek mythology expert Luke5921, proud to have you onboard as an advisor as I write this story mate.
Now please allow me to thank all of you who have followed, favourited and especially reviewed this story.
SuperWonderStan, ManOfSteel, Luke5921, cabrera1234, Joel, HeartOfChaos13, GR8ER3241, Kalel4444, JustAnotherIntern14, Erika Lopes, SilveerKnighT, SuperKamiGuest and dakota please keep the reviews coming guys, their what fuels these chapters and to all my other readers, if you write me some reviews in the future then you can be seeing your name here to, until next time this is T-Rexcellent Reviews signing off…
… but before I do, I just want to say again, guys, I cant tell you how much all the kind support you've given me for writing this story means to me, seeing your complementary reviews is to me what I hope my chapters are to all of you, with that in mind, I hope some of you will consider also reading and reviewing my Jurassic World story, Now That Dinosaurs Roam the Earth, it has sadly not gotten nearly enough attention as it deserves and it was the reason I started writing here in the first place, so without it, this story probably wouldn't exist anywhere except for my head.