I don't own Transformers or the Riordanverse; they belong to their owners.
Chapter 12: Dogs Day Out.
"I can't believe you three ate through all that food in a few days," Hot Rod murmured as he drove Thalia through the streets of a nearby city on another shopping trip in his Dodge Viper vehicle mode.
"Look," Thalia stated. "This is the first time in ages we've had access to food on the regular; don't blame us for indulging a bit."
"Who said I was blaming you?" laughed Hot Rod.
"It's okay, Thalia," Chromia stated as she drove alongside Hot Rod in her motorcycle mode. "We get it. It's the first time you kids have had a proper place to stay."
Thalia sighed in relief.
It had been a few days since she, Luke, and Annabeth had met the Autobots, and so far things were going great. Right now, Luke was off with Hound and Luke on some mission, and Annabeth was helping Prowl and Sunstreaker with something.
Their human food stores had been getting low, so Hot Rod decided to take Thalia on another grocery trip. Chromia had asked to come along as she wanted to test out the new policewoman holomatter avatar she'd designed for her vehicle mode.
"Hey Chromia, I have a question," Thalia said as they drove past an intersection.
"Shoot."
"You're like... as tall as Prowl, how can you shrink into a motorcycle?" Thalia asked.
"It's called mass displacement," Chromia explained. "Certain Cybertronians-"
"Transformers" interrupted Hot Rod.
"-certain Transformers like me can shift their molecular structure and mass when they transform." Chromia continued.
"So you could become as big as a skyscraper?" Thalia asked, getting excited.
"No. It only works when we shift into vehicle mode."
Thalia thought briefly, "So... could you transform into smaller stuff? Like a tape player? Or a gun?"
"Thalia. Why would any of us turn into a gun for someone else to use?" Hot Rod asked, "That's really impractical."
"Oh yeah," Thalia murmured.
"But to answer your question, yes, but most of us prefer vehicles. More useful and mobile," Chromia replied.
"Cool," Thalia said.
A few minutes later, Hot Rod spoke up. "Hey... guys?"
"Yeah?" Chromia asked.
"Is it just me, or has that strange canine creature been following us for a while?"
Thalia looked back and saw a stray German shepherd walking down a nearby sidewalk.
"It's called a dog, Hot Rod, and they're harmless," Thalia explained.
At least she hoped it was harmless...
At the grocery store, Thalia went in alone. She struggled to make out the words on the list put together by Annabeth and Luke, squinting as she read it.
"I don't know what's worse," she muttered, "Their handwriting or my dyslexia..."
After a few minutes, she was almost done gathering everything when she overheard one of the employees.
"Hey, did any of you see a dog wander in here?".
Thalia froze; a cold chill settled in her gut.
Right now, she knew she had to leave. She hurried toward the self-checkout, hoping to get out as fast as possible.
So, naturally, there was a line.
"Great..." Thalia murmured.
The line seemed to take forever. Thalia nervously tapped her foot and played around with the mace canister in her pocket. She kept looking over her shoulder.
There was no sign of the dog at the moment, but she could almost feel its presence.
The checkout line finally got to her, and she frantically scanned all the items.
"Come on, come on!" she murmured.
She had just finished up with the payment when she heard it—a soft growling sound.
She turned sideways and saw the German shepherd staring right at her.
"Hey, um... Look." Thalia started. "Normally I'd fight you any day of the week, but I'm kind of doing something with my friends, so if we could just do a rain check-"
The dog snarled and leaped toward Thalia, baring his teeth.
"That's a no!" Thalia cried as she brought out her can of mace before extending it into a spear; she swung it forward with the tip surging with electricity.
It struck the dog in the chest. The dog whimpered as it was thrown back.
Someone screamed. Thalia figured that was her cue to get out of there. She picked up the groceries and started running out of the store, hoping to get back to Hot Rod and Chromia before the dog recovered and caught up with her...
Hot Rod sat bored in the parking lot with Chromia. Thalia had been taking forever, and Hot Rod was starting to get agitated.
"So... Chromia." Hot Rod said awkwardly, "You heard from Velocity lately?"
"Right before we left," Chromia answered.
"What's she been up to?" Hot Rod asked. "Any idea what she thinks of-"
"Hot Rod, if you're so interested in what Velocity is doing, why don't you call her yourself?" Chromia asked.
"I'm kinda busy, right-" he was interrupted when the two Autobots saw Thalia racing toward them with the bags of groceries.
"Oh, Thalia, finally!" Hot Rod said. "You have any idea how long-"
Thalia dumped the groceries in Hot Rod's passenger seat and jumped into the driver's seat.
"GO GO GO!" she cried.
"Whoa, slow down, kid," Chromia replied. "What's going-"
"What in the name of The Fallen is that?!" Hot Rod exclaimed.
Chromia looked and saw the German Shepherd from earlier racing toward them.
Only this time, not only was it as big as a car now, but it had two heads and a scaly tail.
"Is that normal?" Chromia asked.
"I'll explain later!" Thalia cried.
Hot Rod revved up his engine and started to drive off, Chromia following close behind as the giant two-headed dog chased after them.
Hot Rod and Chromia accelerated down the city streets, swerving through traffic.
The giant dog was hot on their heels, shoving cars and trucks out of the way. The sounds of horns blaring and cars being crushed ringed all around them; the noise was deafening.
"Can you tell me what that thing is now!?" Hot Rod asked.
"Remember how I said that monsters were attracted to demigods like me?!" Thalia asked, "This is one of those monsters!"
Just then Chromia and Hot Rod found themselves at a four-way intersection; the traffic right was red, and Thalia could see cars going right and left down the road in front of them.
"OH NO!" cried Thalia.
"Here we go!" Chromia said as she turned sideways and started skidding on the ground low enough to go under the chassis of all the cars going through the intersection.
"Hang on!" Hot Rod yelled.
The frame on his Dodge Viper form seemed to go low to the ground. Before Thalia could ask what was happening, he made a sudden jolt upward, and Hot Rod jumped forward into the air, flying over the intersection.
"You can jump in vehicle mode!?" Thalia asked, astonished.
"Of course." Hot Rod answered. "Why wouldn't-" Just then, the giant dog jumped forward too. One of its heads opened its jaws and bit down on Hot Rod's trunk. "-WE!" Hot Rod cried.
With their momentum gone, both Hot Rod and the dog began to fall to the ground. Thalia braced herself, and they hit the pavement hard. The sudden impact forced the dog to let go, and Hot Rod rolled sideways, roof over chassis, until he finally stopped in a nearby grassy area in a park.
"Urg…" Hot Rod mumbled. "You okay, Thalia?"
"What hit us-" Thalia looked back, and her face turned white. "It's coming back!"
Hot Rod revved his engine, and his wheels turned, tearing up the grass. He moved forward and got back on the road, the two-headed dog following behind.
Chromia saw Hot Rod coming up behind. "Where'd he get you, kid?"
"Rear axel..' Hot Rod muttered, "I'll be fine." He grimaced.
"We need to get to a place free of civilians so we can actually fight this thing," Chromia said as she dove and dodged through more traffic.
"Let's get back to the woods!" Thalia suggested.
"Works for me!" Hot Rod said.
He and Chromia turned down a roadway that was the fastest way to get back to the woods.
"Come on, come on!" Hot Rod cried, struggling to regain some speed, but the damage he had taken was taking its toll. He could see the giant dog getting closer and closer.
"Come on, Hot Rod, you can do it!" Thalia encouraged.
"Maybe..." Hot Rod groaned. "Can you give me another boost?!" he asked.
Thalia smirked. She put her hands on Hot Rod's dashboard, closed her eyes, and started to focus.
It wasn't as big of a jolt as last time, but she was still able to deliver an electric shock right through Hot Rod's systems. Hot Rod could feel the supercharged boost entering him.
"Woo hoo!" cried Hot Rod as he hit the gas harder than ever before, making up for lost speed.
"Now this is speed!" he shouted.
"Hang on, we're coming up to the woods!" Chromia cried.
Hot Rod and Chromia barreled through the fence line, separating the roadway from the woods.
"Hang on!" Hot Rod called. The second he and Chromia entered the wood line, they transformed. Thalia found herself flipped and turned around until she was finally standing next to Hot Rod and Chromia.
The giant, two-headed dog entered the woods and leaped towards them, his fangs bared out.
Chromia balled her right hand into a fist and pulled her arm back, and right when the dog was in front of them, she shoved her fist into the dog's neck, sending it flying backward.
The dog hit a tree and whimpered before charging again; this time Hot Rod shoved a spinning kick into the dog's gut, and Chromia threw another punch at it.
"Keep it restrained!" Thalia instructed as she pulled out her spear.
"Got it!" said Hot Rod, and he grabbed the dog by one of the necks. Chromia grabbed the other neck.
Thalia snarled and pulled her spear back. Electricity danced over the top, then she ran forward and jammed the spear into the dog's gut; once it was in, more electricity danced all over the dog's body.
The dog barked and growled in pain. Hot Rod and Chromia felt the necks they were holding feel looser and looser until they dissolved entirely as the dog faded into dust. Soon, there was nothing left of it except for a fine yellow powder on the forest floor.
Hot Rod and Chromia stared at the dust for a minute, watching it as the wind blew it away into the distance.
"Okay, I know this is the third time I'm asking this, but... what the heck was that!?" Hot Rod exclaimed.
"It's called an Orthus..." Thalia muttered as she put her spear away. "It's a two-headed dog from Greek mythology."
Chromia knelt down and examined the dust for a bit, then she turned to Thalia. "You mentioned something about monsters being attracted to you?"
Thalia looked down. "Yeah, it's part of the reason being a demigod sucks so much," she explained. "And this is only one of them. There's a lot more."
Hot Rod and Chromia both looked at Thalia.
Great. Thalia thought to herself. I know exactly what they're thinking. We're putting them in danger by being around them. They're gonna kick us-
"Don't worry, Thalia." Hot Rod said. "We'll protect you."
Thalia looked startled. "You- You mean it?"
"Looks like you kids could use our help as much as we need yours," Chromia said.
Thalia smiled. "Thanks," she said.
"Now come on, let's get back to the Ark." Hot Rod said. "Where are those groceries?"
"Uh... Hot Rod." Chromia said, pointing at his foot.
Hot Rod looked down; his foot was covered in the smashed remains of the groceries. He must have stepped on them during the fight.
"Oh, oops," he said sheepishly.
Thalia laughed. "It's okay, Hot Rod. We can go back and get more at the store."
"Hope there are no more giant dogs that like the taste of me this time," Hot Rod muttered.
So I know Orthus already has a location in the Percy Jackson mythos with Geryon, but I've always liked the idea of there being multiples of certain mythical creatures, so that's what I'm going for here.
Thanks for reading! And don't forget to leave a review!