There's No Need To Fear

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“There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!”

- Underdog

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Chapter 1

Out of all of the abilities that I got from Dr. Barsinister, longevity wasn’t one of them. I protected Capitol City from the day I got super powers to my death twelve years later. I didn’t leave them underdog-less though, as it turns out, those powers ended up being hereditary, and were passed down to mine and Polly’s pups. Out of our small litter of four, three of them got various powers.

There’s Micah, he’s a devious little rascal with my speed. He managed to somehow get heat vision, which I learned the hard way. There’s Fiona, she’s a cutesy pup with the bark of a hurricane and my flying. Finally there’s Dug, he’s the rough house that got my strength and durability along with some kind of power over nature. All of them have the ability to talk to and understand humans. They spend as much time as possible with their ordinary sibling so that way she won’t get envious enough to become Capitol City’s next villain, because you know that’s happened before.

My superhero career was as fulfilling as any other hero, I guess you could say. I’ve ran into dog versions of just about any villain you can think of. Joker, Bane, Two-Face, the Riddler, Dr. Octopus, Brainiac, Solomon Grundy, Lex Luther, one even went by the guise of Sebastian Shaw. But the worst one, the worst one… or best one depending on how you look at it, was not Dr. Barsinister.

When he managed to somehow get out of solitary for “good behavior”, he rebuilt his lab from the ground up and made my arch-nemesis, a dog that went by the name of Archion. He had the same powers I did and a couple others that managed to best me on a few occasions. In the end though, we teamed up with a couple other super animals - like Batdog, Krypto, and Dr. Bruce Banner’s gerbil, Snuffles - to fight against a threat we didn’t even know we had: the Canine Villains Alliance. It took all we had, and in the end we succeeded, but I and Archion went down fighting.

A memorial statue, made out of solid granite. It was a tribute to a canine that went from zero to hero, and to villain that was willing to put aside differences for the betterment of the people when it mattered most.

At the end of it all, I was happy and I had no regrets. Wait…

Crud, I left the oven on, man Polly’s gonna kill me!

You’re fine, Underdog.

I’ve had voices in my head before, but they usually tried to make me do things I didn’t want to. This one was different, it was soothing.

You’ve done so well defending Capitol City’s citizens, and I personally believe that you need a vacation.

“Well no offense, ma’am, but death was planning to take me to Barbados.”

I mean another life, in a different world. You’ll still have your powers, but far less goes on around here in my city that it would feel like a vacation for you.

I thought it over for a bit, but shook my head.

“Sorry, ma’am, but if anyone deserves a second chance, it should be Archion, he didn’t really have a choice as to his path in life.”

I already asked him, and he said he would only go if you were there with him.

My non-existent eyebrows rose at that statement.

“Didn’t know he respected me that much.” I sighed. “Alright, I’ll go.”

Great! Now hold still…

“Why would I have to-” I was cut off because a beam of… something hit me broadside.

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When I came too I was in cartoonish looking meadow. I stood up and looked around. I found Archion wearing his black suit with its emerald “A” on the chest. He looked cartoonish as well, he even looked as though he was better suited for walking upright. I looked at myself and saw that I was the same way. Cartoonish and standing upright with no problems.

“Well this is certainly…”

I slapped my paws over my mouth, because my voice was different as well.

“…Unusual.”

I walked over to Archion and poked him in the side. He groaned and stood up. He twisted his back until it popped and sighed. His eyes opened and he looked around.

He turned to look at me. “I guess I wasn’t imagining things.”

His paws slapped over his mouth. He removed them and said, “Whoa, my voice changed.”

I smiled and said, “Mine too.”

Archion laughed. “At least mine sounds cool. Yours makes you sound like a nerd.”

I narrowed my eyes before smiling and shaking my head, silently agreeing with him. I took a closer look at my body, and noticed a ring on my left paw… hand… thing. Out of curiosity, I pushed the big “U”. There was a soft click and the top half of it opened, revealing a small red pill.

I looked over at Archion to see that he had done the same thing with a ring that was on his right paw. His pill was blue. He tried to fly, alone to land on his feet after jumping barely a foot-and-a-half in the air. Instantly wary, I did the same and met the same results.

I looked at Archion. “These pills probably act like Dr. Barsinister’s.”

Archion shrugged and swallowed his. Another blue pill immediately took the spent one’s place on the ring. It clicked closed, as Archion started flying through the air.

Seeing that it worked, I swallowed my pill and closed the ring. I jumped into the air and flew after him. I flew in beside him and we both started looking around.

“Hey, Underdog.”

I looked at Archion, who had an expression of confusion on his face. I titled my head. “Yeah?”

“Did you really mean what you said back of the CVA’s HQ?”

I nodded my head. “Every word. You never had a chance to be the good guy. I think that this is just the break you need in order to try out the superHERO part of your moral compass.”

He nodded and motioned towards a small town in the distance. “Wanna try to get some info over there?”

I nodded and flew ahead, with Archion right behind me.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sweetie Belle looked down at the ground in worry.

Scootaloo finishing tying them to their mount and looked at her friend. "Don't worry, this is perfectly safe."

Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo in shock. "SAFE?! We're tied to the back of a sleeping timber wolf!"

Scootaloo shrugged. "We'll be fine."

Sweetie Belle muttered to herself, "How exactly is this supposed to get us rodeo cutie marks?"