Author's Note: And now the story actually begins. Before you start reading, I'd like to say that this fanfic won't be that long. It's really just to ease Calvin and Hobbes into more action-y situations, as a setup to future stories. Stay tuned for those. Anyways, on with the show!
It was a peaceful, sunny day in a small town somewhere in Ohio. The children had gone off to school, and their parents were enjoying the precious time they had before their kids came back, particularly one hyperactive spiky-haired six-year-old.
At that very moment, a yellow school bus drove up to the sidewalk, and opened it's doors. As soon as it did so, the aforementioned six-year-old burst out of them, laughing like a madman.
Welp. Peace is over.
"You thought you could keep me imprisoned, but you failed!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "I won! You cannot keep me imprisoned! EVERY TIME YOU TRY TO KEEP THE MIGHTY CALVIN IMPRISONED, HE SHALL RISE AGAIN!"
The bus driver, having grown used to the child's shouting, didn't acknowledge him, and began to drive off the next house. The child-Calvin-turned around, grinning triumphantly, and began walking towards his house. He opened the door, stuck his head in, and shouted, "I'M HOME!"
Suddenly, a burst of orange and black flew out of the house and slammed into him, sending him flying. The boy skidded across the ground, coming to a stop next to his assailant; a tiger that just so happened to be able to stand on two legs and had opposable thumbs.
Calvin glared at the tiger, who was laughing his head off.
"That's the farthest I've seen you go in a while!" he said.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Hobbes." Calvin grumbled irritably, standing up and walking back towards the door. "But I will get you back for this."
As he walked through the door, his mother looked up and noticed him. A look of surprise crossed her face, and she opened her mouth to ask what happened, but decided against it, knowing that she probably wouldn't get a direct answer.
Calvin got into his room, opened the door, and found that Hobbes had somehow already beat him in.
"...How did you even...?" he began, then cut off, deciding it wasn't worth his time. There were more important things to attend to.
"Anyways," he said. "We have some planning to do."
"We do?" asked Hobbes.
"Of course we do." Calvin snorted. "We have a G.R.O.S.S. meeting, remember?"
"Oh... Oh yeah." said Hobbes, who remembered that there wasn't any meetings for their personal club, G.R.O.S.S.-Get Rid Of Slimy girlS-but decided that arguing against Calvin wouldn't be worth the time. "We do. Silly me."
"Now, to the treehouse!" Calvin said.
Calvin and Hobbes were in the G.R.O.S.S. headquarters, Calvin's treehouse. Calvin was doing the speaking, while Hobbes took notes.
"As you know," said Calvin. "Our clubs' worst enemy, Susie Derkins, lives right next door.
"Gasps of horror and outrage all across the room." said Hobbes, writing in the notepad in his paw.
"As our goal is the vanquishing of all slimy girls, we cannot tolerate this injustice! As a plan of action, I suggest we stage an all-out assault upon her! Any questions?"
"Cheers ring out." muttered Hobbes. "Bottles smash. Chairs fly across the room."
"Good!" said Calvin. "Now, to battle!"
"That's it?" asked Hobbes.
"What do you mean, that's it?" Calvin asked back.
"Well, I was kind of expecting a longer speech." replied Hobbes.
"Oh." said Calvin. "Well, that's the best I could think of. Anyways, let's go!"
Calvin and Hobbes were standing behind a bush, watching Susie play with her stuffed rabbit, Mr. Bun. In their hands was a water balloon each, and at their side was a bucket filled to the brim with more balloons.
"On my call, we drench her." whispered Calvin.
"Got it." replied Hobbes.
"In three... Two... O-"
Calvin was abruptly cut off by a loud splash, followed by a voice very similar to his saying "Take THAT, Susie! Ha ha!"
Calvin and Hobbes exchanged glances. Who was that?
"CALVIN, YOU LITTLE CREEP!" Susie shouted. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR! I'M TELLING YOUR MOTHER!"
Calvin and Hobbes watched in shock as Susie ran off, while the Calvin-like voice laughed hysterically. Calvin peeked his head around the bush and gasped. Standing in Susie's lawn was... Calvin.
Hobbes peeked out, and gasped as well. He looked down. Yup. Calvin was right there. He looked back at person in Susie's lawn. Somehow, Calvin was still there, laughing. He looked back at Calvin, who stood up at the same time and clunked his head against Hobbes.
He looked up at Hobbes and glared. "Watch it!"
The Calvin lookalike in Susie's yard looked in the direction of the sound. Upon seeing Calvin and Hobbes, who were currently arguing about something at the moment, he turned around and ran.
The duo noticed the doppelganger running away and immediately stood up.
"Hey! Wait!" Calvin called, but the other Calvin had disappeared.
There was a pause. After a moment, Hobbes broke the silence.
"Who the heck was that?" he asked incredulously.
Calvin shrugged. "I have no idea! He could be an alien criminal, for all I know!"
"Calvin," said Hobbes. "let's be reasonable. I'm pretty sure that an alien criminal would not look like you."
"Do you have any proof?" asked Calvin.
It was at that very moment that a shadow loomed over Calvin. He turned around to see who it was.
It was Mom, and boy, was she mad.
"Calvin," she said. "Susie came to me and told me that she was minding her own business and you soaked her with a water balloon for no reason."
"Don't worry, Mom, I can explain." Calvin said.
"Oh, really?" said Mom.
"It was really weird, Mom! Somebody who looked just like me came in, splashed her, and ran off! It wasn't me! Honest!"
"Then what about the bucket filled with water balloons?" asked Mom, motioning to the bucket next to him.
"Oh, this?" said Calvin. "We were hiding behind a bush, waiting to soak her. That's when the doppelganger... Struck..." He trailed off as he realized what he just said, and hastily added, "But I didn't actually go through with it! Don't I get points for that?"
Mom's glare deepened.
To put it simply, Calvin was put in his room, and was stuck there for a week.
"My life needs a rewind button." he sighed.
"And a stupidity control." Hobbes added.
"Uh huh..." said Calvin. "Wait a minute..."
Hobbes snickered, hand over his mouth, before Calvin tackled into him. They bounced around the room, knocking things over.
"CALVIN!" Mom shouted. "STOP THUMPING AROUND!"
The two stopped their fighting, sprawled out across the room. After a moment, Calvin sat up.
"Okay," he said. "I have a plan."
Hobbes groaned, dreading the inevitable chaos that would ensue. "Please keep me out of this." he said.
"Oh, stop whining, you sissy." Calvin said. "We'll just tie up the blankets, put 'em out the window, and climb down it like a rope ladder. It's not like we haven't done it before."
"I don't seem to recall those plans ending well." Hobbes muttered under his breath.
"Did you say something?" asked Calvin.
"Nothing..." said Hobbes.
"Huh." said Calvin. "I could've sworn you said something... Ah, well. Let's set up the blankets."
The two grabbed the blankets on Calvin's bed, and started tying them up. When they finished tying, they dangled the blanket-rope ladder out the window, and started climbing down it. Suddenly, a yell came from the house, causing them to jump and fall to the ground in a heap.
"AAUUGH!" shouted Mom. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE IN YOUR ROOM! AND YOU'VE GONE AND BROKEN ALL OUR FRAGILE BELONGINGS! YOU'RE GROUNDED FOR A MONTH!"
Calvin jumped up, knocking Hobbes off of him.
"The doppelganger has struck again!" he said. "And now they've gotten me into even more trouble! There's something fishy going on, Hobbes, and going to get to the bottom of it!"
"But first, we need to pull down the blanket ladder, before your long-lost twin or whoever he is uses it to escape." Hobbes pointed out.
"Oh, yeah." said Calvin, as Hobbes pulled down the rope ladder. "Hey, what if he actually is my long lost twin? How would that even work, though? And why have I never heard of him before? And why is he wearing the exact same clothes as I am? Hobbes?"
Hobbes simply pointed in front of him. Calvin looked in the direction Hobbes was pointing, and his eyes bulged.
It was Moe, the local school bully. He was big, buff, and frankly, he wasn't too smart. Still, he was big and buff, and his favorite pastime was pounding smaller kids into the closest wall, so that was generally enough of an incentive for most kids to steer clear of him. He wore a black T-shirt with a skull on it, and his hair covered his eyes. No, I don't know how he sees through that haircut. Don't ask.
Also, he was really, really mad. Considering the amount of clobberings he gave out when he was in a good mood alone, that sounds pretty noteworthy.
"Um..." Calvin said nervously, half-paralyzed with fear and panicking internally. "Hi, Moe! What brings you here? I mean..." He laughed nervously. "I think this is the first time you've ever stepped foot the general vicinity of my house!"
"You've been saying things about me." Moe growled.
"I have?" asked Calvin. "I don't seem to remember that, either."
"My pals came over and laughed at me. They said you told them a secret."
"You have secrets?!" asked Calvin, genuinely surprised. "I thought your personality was punching smaller people and that was it."
"You said I played with dolls and ponies." Moe snarled, clenching both his teeth and his fists.
"Do you?" said Calvin, slowly sidling away from the hulking brute that looked seconds away from clobbering him into oblivion. "You don't seem like the type to do such things."
"But you told people I do." Moe went on. "You made people laugh at me. You know what that means?"
"No, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it involves clobbering me into this wall." Calvin said, who was now beginning to sweat, his eyes darting back and forth, desperately looking for an opening to escape.
"Yup." said Moe, and with that, he brought his massive fist down towards Calvin. The helpless boy closed his eyes and covered his face with his arms, and braced for impact...
But it didn't come. Instead, a bright, neon greenish-blue light encompassed him, leaving him completely unharmed. He hesitantly opened his eyes, and saw Moe looking at him, a puzzled look on his face. His confusion quickly turned back to anger, and he raised his fist again. Calvin quickly rolled out of the way, and Moe just missed him. His fist smashed into the wall, and he winced in pain.
Suddenly, a whizzing noise cut through the air, and a tranquilizer dart materialized on Moe's thick neck. He only managed to mumble, "What the...?" before he collapsed, and started snoring loudly.
Calvin looked over his shoulder in the direction that the dart had come from. Standing there were...
"Galaxoid and Nebular!"
Two aliens resembling blobby squids, standing on four thin tentacles, with their heads on the tip of the mantle, featuring one eye and a toothless mouth. They both wore pointy hats, Galaxoid's having a star on it, and Nebular's having a moon. Galaxoid was holding a tranquilizer dart gun in one of his tentacles.
"Calvin." replied Nebular. "We have need of your assistance."
"Um..." said Calvin. "Okay, then. I see there's a problem that only the Supreme Earthling Potentate can deal with?"
"Actually, I believe we've cleared up that there is no Supreme Earthling Potentate." Nebular said. "It's just that most of the planets in our intergalactic alliance have a Supreme Potentate, so Galaxoid usually asks where it is whenever we meet new civilizations. Not all planets have the same way of ruling, you know.. Anyways-
"Wait, where's Hobbes?" Galaxoid cut in.
Calvin looked around. Where was Hobbes?
"I'm up here."
Calvin, Galaxoid, and Nebular looked in the direction that the voice had came from. While Moe had been talking to Calvin, Hobbes had managed to scramble up a tree.
"Hobbes, get down from there." Calvin snapped. "You should've been helping me when Moe attacked."
"I would've helped you, but I'd rather stay alive, thank you very much." Hobbes replied, beginning to climb down from the tree.
Calvin rolled his eyes, and turned back to the two aliens. "So what's the big deal?" he asked.
"It would probably be better to talk about it in our ship." said Nebular, pointing to the spaceship floating above the street as it turned off it's invisibility feature.
"And Moe?" asked Calvin.
"We'll bring him with us." Nebular said. A look of horror crossed Calvin's face, and Nebular chuckled. "Don't worry. The tranquilizer won't wear off for a couple hours. We'll put him in his bed and his parents will think he just decided to take a nap. Come along, now."
The spaceship landed next to them, and Calvin, Hobbes, Galaxoid, and Nebular began to walk in.
"So why are you here, again?" asked Hobbes.
"Well," said Nebular. "We're looking for a shapeshifting alien criminal who was last located on this planet. His name is Nimic."
Author's Note: Chapter One completed! I have posted my first actual chapter on Fanfiction! This is a major turning point in my life! Celebration time!
*Ahem*
Anyways, you might be wondering what's going on with Galaxoid and Nebular, and how the bit of backstory given contradicts the comics. To put it simply, the role they and their race plays in this fanfic doesn't work with their portrayal in the comics, so I changed it a bit, so here they know that Calvin isn't the Supreme Earthling Potentate. They also already knew about snow. I don't want to make this Author's Note too long, so I'll go into detail in future chapters. See you when I upload them!