Growing Pains

"There is a cyclops down here! That's so cool!"

"Yes, Califa, I can see that! Now move!"

I dodged out of the way as a few big rocks rained down around us and blasted one of the larger ones that almost hit me in the head with a ki blast.

Once the resulting dust cleared up I was able to get a better look at the monster.

My impression?

Big.

Not quite as big as an Oozaru, but it could definitely get into a fist fight with one and not look like a runt. It actually made me sad I couldn't transform to fight it out in a kaiju battle, but it did make me consider looking more into how that fake moon ball technique worked just in case a situation like this popped up in the future.

Not important right now.

Because my second impression of the cyclops was that it was fast. At least for something that size. It only took a few steps for the giant to cross the room and try to swat me like a fly.

I quickly flew over his hand and shot a Ki beam at his face that was blocked by him simply raising his other hand. Unlike with the manticore, there wasn't even a mark where I hit.

It didn't have the same near invulnerability to blunt force the manticore did though, because Donna had used the cyclops's focus on me as a distraction to fly around and punch him in the jaw. The giant's head snapped to the side and after taking a second to shake off the impact, let out a pain filled bellow that shook the whole area.

We made a pretty good team by now, enough so that we didn't really need to talk about every little thing we needed the other to do. So when I saw she had successfully distracted the cyclops, I swung around to his back and kicked him as hard as I could behind the knee.

I got another grunt of pain for my efforts, but more importantly, the cyclops collapsed forward and had to use both hands to stop himself from face planting into the floor. And then found himself being flung across the room until he smashed into a wall when Donna circled back around and crashed into his side just below his ribs at full speed.

While we waited for the dust cloud to settle the two of us hovered close to the center of the room. "So, any secret weak spot or thing not to do like with the hydra?" I asked Donna. I didn't think cyclops had anything like that but it didn't hurt to make sure.

"No, this should be a straightforward fight." Donna confirmed wryly. "As straightforward as fighting a child of Poseidon can be anyway."

I paused.

"Wait, is this guy really the son of a god? Not just some fake made by magic or whatever?"

Cause that would change things, Poseidon was kinda a dick to the people that hurt his kids.

Even if they deserved it.

Thankfully Donna shook her head. "Everything in the Monster's Den is made from magic, remember? But we were told everything in here had the same strength as the real thing. So it doesn't make much of a difference for us now."

So we weren't going to piss off a god? That was good. I wasn't in Poseidon's weight class just yet and I had no idea what I'd do if he just turned me into a shrimp or something.

"Cool, do you think – oophf!"

Before I could finish my sentence a rock the size of a truck hit me in the face.

Right, head in the fight. No more miss nice saiyan.

Since I was a little stuck between the cratered section of wall I had been smashed into and a literal boulder, I took a second to focus my Ki and then surged forward through the rock.

Then I flew forward until I was at eye level with the cyclops but just out of arm's reach and fanned my fingers near my face.

"Hey you giant jerk! Watch this!" I shouted, giving Donna enough time to see what I was doing. "SOLAR FLARE!"

-o-

[Batman POV]

"That's the island there." Wonder Woman said, pointing to a small barren rock that was barely poking out of the ocean. But Batman didn't argue and simply tilted the Javelin towards it. Seconds later something washed over his skin and the lifeless rock barely deserving being called an island transformed into something covered in lush green forests.

Magic at work then. As expected of the one they were here to see.

Wonder Woman had recognized the style of the mirror as something that could have come from Themyscira, but was not familiar with the mirror itself. Batman had allowed her to take it with her to see if any of the Amazons could identify it and its purpose.

None were able to, but they did point them towards a possible creator.

Something that could be problematic considering the past interactions both Wonder Woman and Superman had with them.

So Batman was on his guard when the three of them exited the craft and were immediately met by a stunningly beautiful woman that had very clearly not been there moments before.

"Diana! What brings you out to my little prison?" The purple haired sorceress asked saccharinely. "How's your mother? Still a bootlicking little stick in the mud?"

"Circe." Wonder Woman growled but didn't respond further. Not that the sorceress seemed to care.

"And Superman! It's been a while since I've seen you as well. Keeping well?"

"As much as I can." Superman replied politely. "We've got a few questions for you."

"Questions, hmm? How interesting. But you haven't introduced your third little friend here. Who is tall, dark, and broody here?" She asked, sidestepping Superman and making her way towards him only to be cut off by Wonder Woman.

"Circe, Batman. Batman, Circe. She was banished to this island because she has a habit of turning people into animals, among other crimes."

If Circe was offended by the introduction, she didn't show it. Instead she smiled and played with a lock of hair. "Don't forget to mention I'm really good at it."

Batman ignored the flirting tone. "I know, I've read the Odyssey. Like we said, we have questions."

"Oh, Odysseus! He was a fun one. To play with anyway, not the man himself. Diana I'm sure you've realized by now how men can be. So quick to call themselves heroes and such but when their base instincts are released they are…just such a bore."

The Amazon wasn't playing her game though. "We found an artifact. We need your help to figure out how to either use it or bring back the person it transported away."

"Oh?" Circe drawled, checking over her fingernails. "And what's in it for me?"

"Three centuries off your imprisonment if you can tell us anything new about the object. Three luxuries of your choice if you can help us."

That got the sorceress to lose the mocking, almost playful nature she was affecting. "Oh my, that is a prize. Hippolyta must be really serious about this. Fine, give it here."

Batman obligingly handed the mirror over and the sorceress got to work.

He had seen the process with several magic users already so instead of watching her hands, Batman watched Circe's face.

For the first few minutes she had a look of casual arrogance, no doubt expecting to quickly finish with her task. But it didn't take long for that to change as Batman caught a quick look of shock, followed by confusion and concern, and settling into a look of intense focus.

Almost an hour later, she was still inspecting the mirror.

Ironically, the longer the Sorceress looked the artifact over, the better Batman felt. Because all the other magic users he had look over the mirror quickly gave up after half that time.

Circe might be the one that finally gave them a lead.

"You found something?" He asked once the sorceress was finished and had moved to rejoin them.

He was ignored though as Circe went straight to Wonder Woman.

"Diana, where did you get this?"

"Batman recovered it after it was stolen from a museum in Man's World. Why do you recognize it?"

"You would think so. There's not exactly a lot of mirrors touched by a god with enchantments like this lying around. Especially because I recognize the style of the enchanter."

Superman perked up. "Great, can you tell us anything about them?"

Circe scoffed. "I would hope so, it's my style after all."

"Your style? You're saying you made the mirror?!"

"It would appear so…the one problem is that I have absolutely no recollection of making anything like this."

"Could you have forgotten?" Wonder Woman asked. "It wouldn't be shocking for someone who's been around as long as you."

"Cute." Circe rolled her eyes. "But no. like I said, this was touched by a god. I would have needed to have been there during the mirror's creation. And for people like me, meeting a god isn't something you just forget about."

Batman could see why Circe had been shaken up. He took incredible steps to make sure of the integrity of his own mind. To have that integrity thrown into question would be incredibly distressing.

That wasn't his issue to deal with at the moment.

"Can you use it? Send us to where it transports people or bring someone back?"

"Oh you figured out what it does already? Hmm, how surprising. But no, I cannot simply call a person back. The transfer sends the target to a rather large dreamspace. Unless the person you are looking for didn't move the entire time they were there, it's impossible to pull them out that way."

"That way. So there is a method you could use."

"Well, yes. You're a smart one, aren't you?" Circe said, turning the mirror over in her hands. "There are three other ways to release someone from the mirror. A spell that calls a person from a specific room that doesn't seem to work anymore. A condition that will release everything inside once a certain task is completed. And finally a safety net I can use whenever, which is interesting because it seems like the mirror was made for you, Dianna. And I'd certainly never make something like this without some…let's call them additions."

"Made for me? I've never seen anything like it before though."

Before they could get sidetracked Batman jumped back in. "The safety net, activate it."

Circe scowled. "Watch your tone, little man. Besides, why should I? I've already earned three centuries off my sentence and as much as I'd like a few things to spruce the place up, I don't see why I should help anyone involved with Hippolyta."

Batman stepped forward, ready to argue but Superman beat him to it by placing a calming hand on his shoulder.

The Caped Crusader glared at his friend but after a silent argument forced himself to relax and took a step back.

"Circe, the person who was taken into the mirror was a little girl. A child. We just want to make sure she is safe before anything happens to her."

The sorceress softened a bit. "A child? Well then I guess I can excuse your friend's poor manners. Very well, don't let anyone say I don't have a heart."

With a wave of her hand, the mirror levitated to the ground while Circe gathered up some greenish energy. Then with a light flourish she struck the mirror with the gathered spell where…nothing happened.

Circe frowned and repeated the spell. And then again when that failed as well.

Batman had to lock down his emotions. Something was obviously wrong.

"What's going on? Can you not cast the spell or something?" Wonder Woman asked.

Circe cast the spell one final time before shaking her head in disgust. "Or something. I cast the spell perfectly, but the mirror is enchanted to only activate the safety net when I cast the spell."

"So what's going wrong?" Superman asked.

"The mirror doesn't think I am me."

-o-

[Califa POV]

Donna and I stood panting over the body of the cyclops.

This one was definitely the hardest monster we'd faced so far and it showed. The room was absolutely demolished, covered in rubble kicked up from the massive collisions, burns from my Ki attacks, and craters from where the cyclops either missed a punch or one of us ended up making when those punches hit something.

And he ended up hitting us a lot.

Honestly, we probably should have lost this fight. Only the fact that Solar Flare let us get a lot of free hits really early on let us stack up enough damage to bring the big guy down. Without that…we would have needed to back off and think of another way to beat him.

But we won in the end so I wasn't going to complain too much.

"So what do you think? Go forward or what?"

Donna shook her head. "We should go back to the rest area and recuperate. Neither of us are ready to face anything considered stronger than the cyclops right now. Besides, we need to remake our clothing, again."

Yeah, that was another thing.

Turns out being slammed into rocks at very high speeds was just as rough on clothing as ever and our outfits were destroyed again. I was missing nearly an entire pant leg and had holes all over the place and Donna's outfit looked like someone had taken a cheese grater to it from the time she was sent skidding over the floor.

"Maybe we should make two sets? So that way we have something to change into afterwards?"

"That's not a bad idea, although I don't know if I want to consider what's worse than a son of Poseidon."

I thought about it for a moment. "Maybe a minotaur? We haven't run into one of them yet and if I remember one of them was supposed to be the son of Zeus."

Donna groaned. "By the gods I hope not. I just want to find the end of this place so we can return to the surface. I really miss the sky by now."

I shrugged and started staggering off back towards the door we came from. I couldn't say anything about the sky but I was really missing a nice big juicy steak. Hopefully we could find a way out of this mirror soon so I could show Donna what she was missing.