There was a bright flash of light, and Calvin, Hobbes, Andy, Sherman, Socrates, Dr Brainstorm and Jack materialized in the lab under Yellowstone National Park.

They were unimpressed by the amount of empty plates and food dishes lying around.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Dr Brainstorm snapped, looking around in disgust. "I was only gone for six hours! Look at the state of this place! DEBBIE! GET IN HERE!"

A few moments later, a rather bloated-looking Debbie waddled into the room, wearing her apron, which now didn't seem to fit as well as it did before. "Yes, sir?" she asked.

"What is the meaning of this mess?! It's disgraceful!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but – urp! – but your mother came to visit!"

"That's no excuse! You work for me! My mother does not have precedent over me!"

"FRANKLIN!" a familiar voice bellowed from the other room.

Dr Brainstorm jumped in terror. "Yes, mommy?" he asked worriedly.

A few moments later, Mrs. Brainstorm came waddling furiously over to her son. "THERE YOU ARE!" she bellowed.

"Mommy, I'm sorry, but I… Look, you can't just barge in here and… It's Windows 8, Mom! It's useless! You can't just – ACK!"

Brainstorm suddenly found himself being smothered in his mother's flabby neck as she unexpectedly hugged the bejeezus out of him. He squirmed for a moment before realizing she wasn't hurting him.

"Oh, Franklin," she sighed in a normal-toned voice that sounded like relief. "I'm so glad you're safe."

Brainstorm's eyebrows rose as he found himself buried so deep in her fat that he couldn't open his mouth to reply. He could only manage a muffled, "Hmmmm?"

She finally released him, looking him up and down. "Oh, my poor boy – look at your eye! That no-good Thunderstorm! I'm glad he's not my son! That means I can kill him myself!"

"It's okay, Mother," Brainstorm said, still startled by her unexpected tenderheartedness. "Thunderstorm and Shadow have been dealt with. They won't be bothering us anymore."

"Oh, my brave boy," Mrs. Brainstorm said, pulling him into another hug. Fortunately, Brainstorm was able to navigate his head so he could rest it on her shoulder and thus be able to breathe.

Jack smirked. "You should've seen him, Mrs. B," he said, approaching them. "Frank was tough as nails. He never showed fear. Thunderstorm didn't know what hit him."

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Brainstorm's other arm suddenly flung out and wrapped itself around Jack, pulling the robot into the hug as well. "Oh, you're both good boys!" she cried, holding them both tightly.

Jack reacted with surprise, but he shrugged and allowed the hug to happen.

"Mother, not that this isn't nice and everything," Brainstorm grunted, "But what about the alien invasion? These guys say you took care of it."

"Oh! Those stupid aliens!" she snapped, setting the two of them down on the floor again. "I made first contact with about twenty different alien species today!"

"You did? What did you tell them?"

"I told them to go back to their home planet and leave us alone, or they'd have me to deal with."

"… That's it? You told them to go away?" Dr Brainstorm asked, looking very surprised. "That's all it took?"

Calvin cleared his throat. "It's true, Frank. Your mother has a way with words."

"More precisely," Hobbes added, "she has a way with shouting them very loudly."

"Ah-ha," Jack remarked with a knowing grin. "How could we have ever doubted you, Mrs. B?"

Mrs. Brainstorm merely belched in response.

Her son sighed heavily. "Mother, have you been binge-eating from the synthesizer again?"

"DEBBIE LET ME IN AND WE HAD LUNCH TOGETHER! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU WERE GOING TO RUN OUT!"

"Mother, the synthesizer is for emergencies only!"

Jack nudged him in the arm, raising his eyebrows at his creator.

Dr Brainstorm cleared his throat. "Okay, yeah, fair point. Still, I prefer to shop at the store. I feel less lazy that way."

"WELL, GOOD FOR YOU! MEANWHILE, ALL THIS ACTIVITY HAS LEFT ME FAMISHED! COME ON, DEBBIE! LET'S HAVE ANOTHER LUNCH!"

Debbie blinked, looking a little ill. "Oh, I don't know… I've had so much already."

"NONSENSE! I WANT TO HEAR THAT STORY ABOUT YOUR BOY'S MOWHAWK AGAIN!"

Debbie looked uncertainly at Dr Brainstorm. "I am technically on the clock…," she murmured.

Dr Brainstorm looked at Jack, who merely shrugged in response. The mad scientist sighed heavily again before looking Debbie straight in the eye. "You're fired. Be sure to collect your pay before you leave."

Debbie's eyes widened. "Fired?! But… But I haven't even…"

Dr Brainstorm continued. "Our company offers a generous severance package. One hundred dollars for every hour you worked here. Jack – what's that amount to?"

"Roughly eight hundred and sixty-five dollars and forty-two cents," Jack replied.

"Plus, a letter of recommendation for the next job you apply for, which will be typed up and ready before you leave. That sound fair?"

Debbie looked too stunned to say anything for a moment.

"COME ON, DEBBIE! THAT CHAIR WAS JUST GETTING COMFORTABLE!" Mrs. Brainstorm yelled cheerfully as she waddled back to the kitchen.

Dr Brainstorm groaned. "Jack…?"

"I'll make sure we get a new chair," the robot replied flatly.

During all this, Calvin, Hobbes, Andy, Sherman and Socrates had been watching all this in silence, strangely fascinated by the proceedings.

"Ahem…," Calvin said at last. "So… are you going to be okay, Frank?"

Dr Brainstorm looked at him in surprise. "… What?"

"Well, I mean, your former friend is gone forever, and we just had a particularly rabblerousing adventure together. Are you okay?"

There was a long moment of silence as Dr Brainstorm stared at the group before him in silence.

Finally, he knew what he wanted to say.

"DR BRAINSTORM!"

The others groaned.

"AND DON'T YOU DARE GET ALL SENTIMENTAL ON ME, CALVIN! WE JUST HAPPENED TO BE ON THE SAME SIDE TODAY! THAT'S ALL! NEXT TIME, I MAY HAVE TO KILL YOU MYSELF!"

"There's the Dr B we all know and love," Andy chuckled.

"DON'T THINK I WOULDN'T! I'D DO IT IN A HEARTBEAT! NOW GET OUT OF MY LAB BEFORE THAT HEARTBEAT HAPPENS IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES!"

Rolling their eyes, Calvin led his friends towards the exit and out of the lab.

Jack chuckled as they left through the elevator. "So! Back to normal, eh, Frank?"

"Yes, Jack, back to normal, and on that note, as I believe I just said – DR BRAINSTORM!"

"Okay, okay… Want to watch some TV? Take your mind off things?"

"… Yeah, okay."

"Movie marathon?"

"Popcorn?"

"Soda?"

"Solid."

"Cool."

They made their way over towards the comfortable chairs to watch TV.

Unknown to them, Mrs. Brainstorm was watching from her place in the kitchen.

"They're good boys…," she said quietly.

"Yes, they are," Debbie said with a smile. "Now then – have I ever told you about the time our family dog got painted pink?"

"Go ahead," Mrs. Brainstorm replied as she leaned back in her chair so her entire head was under the synthesizer. She slammed her fist into the button, and in a moment's notice, an avalanche of doughnuts came pouring out of it and down her gullet, and she gobbled them all up, she listened as Debbie told the same story for the twentieth time in a row.

The five friends were in Calvin's backyard, lying in a circle in the grass, staring up at the clouds that were rolling overhead. MTM sat in the center of the circle.

"Hey, Calvin?" Socrates asked after a long silence.

"What?"

"Did you mean what you said earlier about us being friends?"

Calvin groaned as the others around him snickered in amusement. "Yes, Socrates, fine – I meant it. We're friends."

"Really…?"

"Yes, we're friends who don't like each other. In fact, we're friends who can't stand each other."

"Awww, that's sweet, Cal."

"Don't call me that."

"So who was the guy with no face and the long arms?" Hobbes asked.

"No idea," Calvin said quietly.

"And the guy in the hoody – who was he?" Socrates added. "Were they the same person? Were they working together?"

"Perhaps," Sherman said. "I have a feeling this is going to be one of those things we will never know the answer for certain."

"There are some mysteries that should probably never be solved," MTM put in.

Andy cleared his throat. "So now that that's over with, what happens now?"

"What do you mean?" Hobbes asked.

"Well, with Thunderstorm and Shadow condemned to who knows where, that's another pair of bad guys taken care of. Holographic Retro was killed, Rupert Chill is in prison, trapped in a human body, Earl and the other aliens have been quiet, and now Thunderstorm and Shadow are gone. What's going to happen to us next?"

"Ohh, I daresay some sort of conflict will arise to keep us busy eventually," Sherman said knowingly.

"Yeah, there's always something," Socrates agreed. "For example, we still haven't figured out what the deal with my tail is. I mean, I always thought the red stripes were just a birth defect or something, but maybe it's something more."

"I've noticed that everything has its reasons," MTM added. "There must be someone else returning that we don't know about."

"That stands to reason," Calvin said quietly. "Yes, I imagine there's still a lot for us to do."

"It's just not going to happen as frequently as it used to," Andy said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Is anyone else feeling a distinct change in the air?" Socrates asked, rolling his eyes around the sky as if searching for it in the clouds.

"It does feel like the end of an era for some reason," Sherman put in. "Almost as though… I don't know how to describe it. It's like… we have less evil to worry about for now. It used to be every week there was something to worry about."

"Perhaps the universe is deciding we're due for a break," Hobbes suggested. "These past several years have been pretty rugged lately."

"Past several years…," Calvin murmured, seeming a bit confused for a moment before he shook it off. "Yeah, a lot has happened. You know, I remember back in the very beginning when it was just Hobbes and me against the world – fighting against the slimy girls, homework, babysitters and eggplant casserole. Then we met a mad scientist who wanted to rule the world with imagination, and then a bunch of idiot aliens mistook me for the Earth Potentate, then we met Socrates, and then we met Andy and Sherman, and then Dr Brainstorm and Jack showed up, and then I had the MTM, and it's just been one madcap adventure after another. It used to be so quiet around here, and now I'm constantly saving the planet with my five best friends in the world."

"Yeah…," Hobbes said quietly. Then he grinned. "It's good, isn't it?"

"The best," Calvin agreed.

"Wouldn't give it up for anything," added Andy.

They all lay in silence.

"So what now?" Socrates asked.

Calvin checked his watch. "I have to go in for dinner in a few seconds," he said quietly.

"I see…"

They thought about that for a moment.

"Shall we start running in the opposite direction then?" Sherman asked.

"Sherman, you read my mind!" Calvin declared, immediately jumping to his feet and grabbing the MTM.

Andy scooped up Sherman, Hobbes and Socrates leapt to their feet, and they all proceeded to run off towards the hill, where a familiar red wagon was waiting for them on the edge of the slope that would take them into the deepest reaches of the forest.

As they piled in, they heard the door open behind them. "Calvin! It's time for din – NO! CALVIN! DO NOT PULL THIS NOW! YOU'RE HAVING CREAMED SPINACH AND THAT'S THAT!"

But it was too late. The five friends were already racing off into the woods, laughing and hollering over the rattle of the wagon as it went.

"Where are we going to go?" Hobbes shouted gleefully.

"Exploring!" Calvin replied cheerfully. "Where else?"

And they rattled and rolled down into the thick woods, laughing all the way.

AND THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

VOICE ARTISTS:

Pamela Adlon – Calvin

Tom Hanks – Hobbes

Ryan Stiles – Socrates

Andrew Lawrence – Andy

Colin Mochrie – Sherman

Norman Lovett – MTM

Neil Crone – Dr Brainstorm

Michael Brandon – Jack

Clancy Brown – Dr Thunderstorm

Tom Kenny – Shadow

Jennifer Love Hewitt – Mom

Mary Jo Pehl – Mrs. Brainstorm

Melissa McCarthy – Debbie

Dee Bradley Baker – Additional Voices

Author's Notes: And that's it. The end.

Okay, a bit of housekeeping - first of all, I did absolutely no research whatsoever on the Slenderman. This story was Swing's idea, and he wanted to include this guy for some reason, so anything he does was directed in the notes Swing gave me. I felt that by not researching it, I would be as much in the dark as the reader, therefore making it just as exciting for me to write and improving the quality of the writing. Whether or not it did any good is up to you. The group's questions at the end were basically my own, and I have no intention of finding out for myself. It's fun not knowing things.

Second, I'm going to work on compiling a Bonus Chapter of some sort, filled with stuff that would've happened in Season 5 and ended up not happening, including discarded episode ideas and other ideas we'd had, possibly for Season Six, which we never really talked about. Also, I'm considering a Q&A session, so if you have any questions, not just about Season Five, but about the Series in general, feel free to ask - preferably in a PM, not a review.

Finally - Lost at Sea Rewritten is not finished yet, so it will not be posted straight away. It's about half done, and Swing is dragging his feet a bit, but I promise it will be finished and posted sometime in 2014. However, because I'm sure most of you were hoping for it, I have completed another rewritten story that will be posted within the next week. Hopefully, that will suffice, and I hope you will enjoy it.

Thanks to all of our loyal readers for sticking with us, and thanks to the ones for giving up on us for sticking with us for as long as you did. The Series has been fun, but it's time to bring it to an end. However, we have no intention of bringing the... ahem... "Calvinverse"... to an end. I will be wrapping up lose ends presented here in other stories.

See you in the funny pages!