The sliding metal doors creaked as they pushed open.

Rupert and Earl entered the laboratory, where they saw Retro working tirelessly at a desk across from them. He didn't even seem to notice their arrival as he continued staring intently at the desk, grabbing tools and mechanical parts from nearby desks, and applying them to whatever he was working on.

Earl stopped and waited as Rupert approached, trying to maintain his professionalism, but still coming across as a child peeking at his Christmas present as he looked over Retro's shoulder at what he was working on.

The device was unmistakable from its previous iterations. The helmet and dial operated system remained the same, albeit with some minor aesthetic defections, from the lack of resources he had been given.

"And what is this?" Rupert asked, maintaining his blank tone, although on the inside, he was giddy.

"It's the Imaginator," Retro said. "It's a little rough, of course, seeing as how I didn't have all the pieces I needed. But it's here. Should be serviceable."

"Imaginator?" Earl asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, yes… Think of it as a… as a 3D printer…," Retro said, twirling his hands around. "The device pulls your thoughts into the computer and uses a dark matter manipulator to create the thought physically. You would be surprised what you can do with dark matter. Building blocks of reality right here. Counterfeiting is a breeze, naturally."

Earl couldn't hold back the bewildered look on his face.

Retro caught this and looked up. "What?"

"Nothing," Earl said. "I just… and I thought we were mustache twirling-ly evil."

Retro waved him off and continued working.

Rupert took a step back and furrowed his brow. "But… it can kill him, right?"

Retro stopped working. He looked up at Rupert, sharing his expression of madness. "A hundred times over," he said, grinning. "But we can't do that… Death is too good for him…"

An insane smile spread across Rupert's face. "Finally… Someone who understands…"

"We'll take turns," Retro continued, excitement building in his eyes. "I'll have a minute with him, then you can… How does that sound?"

Rupert looked back and forth between Retro and the device before him. "You might have to fight to get your turn."

Retro stifled a chuckle. "When you see the things that I have in mind for him, I don't think you'll mind…"

Earl switched his gaze between the two lunatics, worriedly. "Er, sirs… You should keep in mind that if you just plan on torturing him… He could escape and beat us. Something he's known for doing repeatedly."

Rupert waved Earl off. "We'll kill him, of course. We just need a little fun at first…"

"If you have an Imaginator, you can kill him, bring him back, and kill him again. Why don't you just do that? That would be a lot safer..."

"Earl…," Rupert said, slowly.

Earl stopped. "Yes, your highness?"

"We will kill him. But we need to make sure he feels it."

"He deserves to feel it." Retro growled.

Earl raised his head in thought. He looked back and forth between the two and could almost see the lack of lucidity growing from within them. Retro's head twitched, ever so slightly.

"Understood," he said, finally.

Hobbes walked into Calvin's room. In the nearby bathroom, he heard the sounds of the running sink as Calvin brushed his teeth and did his usual pre-bedtime routine.

The tiger looked around the room with a nostalgic expression on his face. In all the thirty years of adventuring, Calvin's bedroom still looked the same as it had when he first saw it. Bed in the corner by the window. Desk sitting adjacent with an overhead lamp from 1987 and unfinished homework from 1992. Closet stuffed to the brim with clothes and inventions that Calvin had created over the years. Toys littering the floor, some of which were abandoned inventions that the boy never finished, as most of the new ideas these days were eventually turned into features on the MTM.

And of course, the old cardboard box with the words TIME MACHINE scribbled across the side. The box was in remarkably pristine shape for its age. Although obviously showing some signs of wear here and there, there were positively no rips to the outside, and the tape holding the bottom closed had somehow managed to survive the countless outings it had been on without needing to be replaced. Hobbes wasn't even sure he remembered what that box originally held. Who would have guessed it would have turned into such an icon?

Hobbes looked at all of this in deep thought. If he was an imaginary friend… and time was moving forward again… What was going to happen to him when Calvin grew up? Was he going to abandon him? Was he going to cease to be? Would he just be thrown in one of these boxes to be forgotten to time, as the boy moved on with his own life?

Hobbes moved over to the bed and sat down on it, still looking around, sadly. What if his time was actually limited now? Calvin had turned seven… Most kids stop having imaginary friends at eight…

But then again, if he were an imaginary friend, why would he be worried about being one? Wouldn't that worry just be an extension of Calvin's worry? He seemed fine. He didn't even seem to have any concern at all about it. What's more, how was he able to talk to Mom that one time in the living room? Or Andy and Sherman? Were Andy and Sherman imaginary too? No, they couldn't be. He'd seen Andy talking to Mom and Dad before. Was Socrates? Hobbes had a really hard time picturing that that tiger wasn't real…

"Something on the mind?" a British voice suddenly interjected with Hobbes' thoughts, causing him to jump.

"Jeeze…," the tiger grumbled. "I forget you're here sometimes…"

"Well that's not very nice," MTM said, blankly. "I'm just one of the most powerful AIs in the universe, don't mind me."

Hobbes stopped as he looked down at the CD player, which sat idly at Calvin's bedside desk.

"Are… Are you…?" he started.

"Yes, I am real," MTM replied.

Hobbes' brow furrowed. "Have you been reading my mind again?" he demanded.

"I don't have much else to do at this point," MTM said. "Be lucky you and Calvin don't have access to the internet. Boy oh boy, what a circus that's turned into…"

"How many times have I told you to not do that?!"

"No idea. Haven't counted. Would you like my input?"

"No!" Hobbes turned around and crossed his arms. Then: "… Maybe…"

"Excellent." MTM said. "Would you like the cold hard facts answer, or the emotionally feels good answer?"

Hobbes paused. "Erm... Cold hard facts, please."

"Cool," MTM said. "Good job, not very many people would pick that. Here we go. If you are, in fact, a figment of Calvin's imagination, then tell me, would you know the difference?"

"What do you mean?" Hobbes asked.

"If you just ceased to exist… If Calvin were to 'outgrow' you, as it were… as sad as that may be… How would you even be aware of it at all?"

"But I am aware of it!"

"I know. Isn't that curious?"

"But what if you aren't real? What if you're a figment of Calvin's imagination? You're in the same boat as me if that's true!"

"Okay? What if I am? What exactly is an existential crisis going to do for me?"

"But…"

"Take this into example. If you and I don't exist… If you and I are both a part of Calvin's mind, then this conversation isn't even happening. This is all happening in Calvin's head. Now, I don't know about you, but conversations in someone's head… That strikes me as a bit crazy. As in, 'danger to society, should be locked up crazy'. Does Calvin strike you as that kind of crazy?"

"Well… No?" Hobbes started. "But would he, if he were that crazy?"

"Indeed, we could present examples to each other countering arguments like this forever," MTM said. "In the end, where does that get us? Nowhere. So if we are, in fact, part of Calvin's mind… What's the point in being upset about it?"

"But… if we are, then Calvin must be aware of it. He must be scared that we're going to be gone soon. Right?"

"I haven't the faintest idea."

"You can read minds though!" Hobbes said, throwing his paws up. "Why don't you tell me?"

"If I'm a figment of Calvin's imagination, how would I know what thoughts are his, and what are my own?"

Hobbes paused. "Er…"

"No point in worrying about it, my dude," MTM said. "Just take the blows as they come. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

"Have you always known about this?"

"I've always considered it a possibility. But I consider everything as a possibility. When you're able to look into alternate dimensions and peek into the realm of infinity, it tends to happen. Would you like to hear about the universe where we're an old comic strip?"

"No…," Hobbes moaned, falling back onto the bed.

"You sure? It's pretty interesting. People write fanfiction about us. Some of them are even readable!"

Before Hobbes could reply, the door opened, and Calvin came strolling in, in his pajamas with his usual bored expression on his face.

"Already in bed, huh?" he droned.

"Yeah…," Hobbes started. "Just talking to MTM."

Calvin opened his bottom dresser drawer and climbed inside, closing it around him. Then, each drawer opened and closed a little, ascending all the way to the top one, and he popped out of the top one, climbing out and into the bed. He crawled under the covers and switched his bedside lamp off, plunging the room into darkness. "MTM, activate bedside security system."

"On it," MTM said. "Proximity alarm and motion detection are all fully functional. Dimensional portals under the bed and in your closet are still tightly sealed. No monsters in either."

"Wonderful," Calvin nodded. "G'night, MTM."

"Goodnight."

For a while, Calvin and Hobbes lay in silence in the bed. Hobbes stared at the ceiling.

Finally, he heard Calvin's voice. "I'm not ready for this, Hobbes..."

Hobbes turned and looked at his companion, only seeing the back of his head, as he faced away from the tiger. "Ready for what?"

"This whole growing up thing. I'm just now starting to realize how much this sucks. For the first time in however long, I don't know what's going to happen. And that's pretty scary."

Hobbes paused. "We still have a couple more weeks. Tomorrow, we'll figure something fun out, and we'll make the most of the time we have. It'll be okay in the end."

"I know…," Calvin sighed. "But still… Promise me one thing, will you?"

"Hmm?"

"You'll stay with me through it all, right?"

There was a long moment of silence, as Hobbes stared at the back of Calvin's head in uncertainty.

"Of course I will…," he said, finally. "I'll never leave your side, buddy…"

"Better not…," Calvin yawned. "I'm not dealing with the idiots in college by myself. Could barely deal with them in first grade."

Hobbes chucked. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere."

Hobbes patted Calvin's head, then cuddled into the pillow himself.

He had to be real. There was no way he wasn't.

… Right?

The Imaginator beeped and hummed as Rupert's spaceship quickly began approaching the Earth. Rupert stood at the window observing the planet as they grew ever closer, and Retro fiddled with the machine, nearby.

"We've other smaller encounters, but that's it. Those were the main plans…," Rupert said, slowly. "Isolating them… Turning them against each other… separating them from friends… Always fails…"

"Do you ever think why?" Retro asked, standing up.

Rupert looked over at Retro curiously.

"Everything seems to go awry as soon as the other little brats notice Calvin is missing," Retro said, approaching the window with Rupert. "We just have to make sure this time they don't."

Rupert nodded. "Yes. And just how do you plan on doing that?"

Calvin lay motionless in bed. A small puddle of drool was forming on his pillow as he slept, and beside him was Hobbes and MTM. Hobbes was snoring, and the very faint sound of a radio show was heard from the MTM's speakers.

Suddenly, with no indication of it or any flash of light to give it away, Calvin was suddenly gone. The covers lingered in his shape for a brief moment, before slowly falling down. The radio show paused on MTM's end for a moment.

"Motion detected. What's that then?" he said. "Scanning for lifeforms." There was a moment of silence as the machine hummed to itself. "Oooh boy. Calvin's missing. Time to sound the alarm."

MTM began prepping a very loud alarm sound to wake Hobbes up, when all of a sudden, a new signal reached his scanners. The CD player paused.

The signal was garbled and distorted, almost as if it wasn't even there. Then the sound came. The sound of cicadas. The sound of wind that wasn't wind. The sounds of whispering.

"Oh, it's you," MTM said. "Listen, mate, I don't have time for conversation. I think a new adventure is coming up so if you could…?"

Suddenly, the MTM felt something interfering with his circuits. The whispering got louder.

"You… you can do that? Okay, you've never interacted with this universe before, I honestly didn't think you could… This could be bad. This could be really bad. I'm going to have to ask you to… Hey! Stop it! Emergency! Emergency! There's an emergency going…!"

Zzzt...

Hobbes rolled over in bed and snorted.

Beside him, the MTM fizzled and buzzed for a moment, as the whispering slowly began fading away.

There was a moment of silence.

Suddenly, the sounds of the radio show began coming from the MTM's speakers once again.

"Hmmm…," MTM said in a low voice. "Weird. I feel like I missed a good chunk of the best part."

Calvin floated in the air, still in his pajamas and the exact same position he was in bed in, over the top of the glowing Imaginator in Rupert's ship.

Rupert and Retro stared at him in desperate vengefulness.

"I've never seen him this vulnerable before…," Rupert grunted under his breath. "We could just… kill him now…"

"Hold on there, friend," Retro said, picking the helmet of the Imaginator up and placing it on Calvin's head. "Let's not forget the plan, here."

Retro secured the helmet on the boy's head, and began flipping switches and turning dials on the device before him.

At that moment, Earl slithered into the room as he observed the happenings. He looked at Calvin, then looked over at Retro and Rupert, who were busy clicking away on their own respective computers.

"Everything going to plan?" he asked, starting at the sleeping child with an expressionless face.

"Better than," Rupert said, slithering over to his companion. "Watch this…"

There was a flash of light and an exact replica of Calvin appeared in the air next to the original. Pajamas and all, as he slept in the exact same position as his counterpart.

Earl watched this, blankly.

"Done…," Retro grinned, looking up at Calvin and his duplicate. "They'll never know."

"What's stopping this duplicate from just coming back and coming after us later?" Earl asked.

"Oh, Earl, you think we didn't think of that?" Rupert chuckled.

"The duplicate doesn't share Calvin's morality," Retro explained. "It'll be the perfect disguise, but once it comes down to us coming down to Earth, it won't feel any need to do anything about it. Then we just go by and delete it. Simple as that."

Earl nodded. "Okay... Should we do a brain scan of it to make sure it's enough like Calvin to pass off as him?"

"No time," Retro said. "Don't worry, Earl. It's perfect."

"How is there no time?"

Retro waved Earl off. "He has a security system down in his bedroom. I need to get this duplicate down there before it notices he's gone if it hasn't already."

"We don't need to anyway," Rupert said, looking the duplicate up and down. "It's perfect. Heck, it might even be an improvement…"

Retro nodded and pushed another button on the Imaginator. The duplicate vanished in a flash of light, and Calvin slowly began sinking to the ground.

Rupert and Retro stared at him for a long throbbing moment. Earl looked between the two, wondering when they were going to make their next move.

"I finally have him…," Rupert growled.

"We have him…," Retro grinned.

"This time he won't get away from us…," Rupert growled in a deeper tone, as he pushed a button on the nearby console, causing Calvin to be teleported away.

"I hope…," Earl muttered under his breath.

Rosalyn sat comfortably on the couch, reading a book. She looked up, as she saw headlights approaching from outside. She quickly put her book away in her purse, and messed up her hair as she stood up. She walked over to the door and answered it as Mom and Dad approached with apprehensive expressions on their faces.

"So…," Mom started. "How did it go?"

"Surprisingly, not as bad as usual," Rosalyn said, as she limped out of the house. "I didn't feel any blood vessels popping behind my eyes tonight."

Mom and Dad breathed collective sighs of relief.

"Oh… Oh thank god…," Dad sighed. "Here's an extra ten for your troubles. Thank you so much for this, Rosalyn."

"It's not a problem. I'm just glad you continue to employ my services. Always available."

Rosalyn thanked them as she took the ten and limped off towards her car.

Mom and Dad watched her go. "I still have no idea how we keep getting her to agree to come here," Dad murmured thoughtfully.

"Let's not question it. Let's just be thankful she's willing to go through all this," Mom sighed, as the two entered the house.

They took off their coats, and walked into the kitchen.

"Shall we go check on him?" Mom asked. "See if he's asleep yet?"

"I guess one could be hopeful," Dad said.

The two started up the stairs towards Calvin's room. Slowly, Mom turned the handle and the two peered inside of the room.

Calvin was lying in bed, his eyes shut as he tightly gripped his stuffed tiger to his side. He breathed slowly and steadily as the two looked down at him.

"Gee… he's just so innocent-looking when he's asleep…," Mom said.

"I know right?" Dad whispered. "Imagine what someone who didn't know him would think when they saw him right now?"

Slowly, the two pulled their heads out from the door and closed it behind them.

For a moment all was silent in the room, as Calvin and Hobbes remained motionless in their beds.

Suddenly, Calvin's eyes burst open. Except they were unmistakably not Calvin's eyes. A certain darkness surrounded them, as he stared at the now closed door in which his parents had very shortly been at.

A wide and evil grin spread across his face as he stared fixedly at the door.

And he maintained that evil smile as he stared at the door for the rest of the night, even as he dozed off.