Chapter 22: The Final Battle
Mechalopnica roared to life as it began to slowly march towards the five.
"So uh, what's the best course of action here?" Tracer Bullet asked.
"Simple." Calvin responded, "You, Spiff, and Stupendous Man use all your powers, weapons, gadgets, etcetera... while Hobbes and I infiltrate it from the inside."
"Why do I have to go inside that thing?!" Hobbes protested.
"Because you don't have super powers. Simple as that." Calvin replied back. Hobbes sighed and accepted defeat.
Spaceman Spiff pulled out his Death Ray Blaster, and Tracer Bullet pulled out his .44 Magnum and the both of them began shooting at the giant robot.
Stupendous Man on the other hand started flying in circles around the robot to confuse their movement.
"Ugh! These egos of his complicated my plans ten-fold! I knew I should've just built a robot army instead of relying on duplicates!" Dr. Scientist remarked as he furiously pressed at several buttons to try and fight back against the alter-egos.
Calvin and Hobbes were able to run to the behind of Mechalopnica and noticed one of the legs had a door that led to its inside.
"Well, do we try and break in through there?" Hobbes asked to Calvin.
"Of course furball! Where else do you expect us to break in through?!" Calvin shot back.
"Point taken." Hobbes conceded.
Calvin started running towards the door, but then the leg moved up as Mechalopnica moved forward the alter-egos, nearly crushing Calvin.
"HEY! I'M RUNNING DOWN HERE!" Calvin yelled out.
"You do realize it would be optimal to wait until its not moving right?" Hobbes remarked.
"I do now..." Calvin grumbled.
Finally when the leg stopped moving, Calvin and Hobbes busted their way into the leg.
They immediately ran into Duplicate 3 controlling the leg.
"Hey! How did you guys get in here?!" Duplicate 3 exclaimed in shock.
"The door, where else?" Calvin replied.
"Darn it! I knew I forgot to lock it!" Duplicate 3 grumbled.
"Well, we're gonna make sure you remember now..." Hobbes snickered as he grabbed Duplicate 3, and chucked him out of the leg.
Duplicate 3 then ran away screaming as Mechalopnica continued to ravage through the giant hangar.
"Impressive." Calvin complimented.
"I should really do that to you more often. You should make duplicates more often so I can use them for practice." Hobbes suggested.
"Like that's ever gonna happen." Calvin said rolling his eyes.
Meanwhile, in the main control area in the "head" of Mechalopnica, Dr. Scientist and Moe were feverishly trying to fight the onslaught of attacks they were receiving. Then, Moe heard an alarm beeping near one of his control panels. He ran over and was horrified at what he saw.
"Hey Dad? Left leg doesn't have anyone in it..." Moe said alerting his father.
"WHAT?! Can't that Duplicate 3 do ANYTHING right?! Remind me to take him out of my administration once I become Supreme Dictator Overlord of the World..." Dr. Scientist grumbled in fury as he continued to work the controls to fight back.
Back with Calvin and Hobbes, they had climbed up the leg to what was the "body" of Mechalopnica. They were quickly met by Duplicates 4 and 6, who were serving as guards.
"What the?! How did you guys get in here?! You should be getting squished to a pulp out there!" Duplicate 6 exclaimed.
"Yeah well, my other identities are taking care of the dirty work while Hobbes and I gut the innards!" Calvin shot back.
Everyone stared at Calvin.
"That's a terrible comparison..." Duplicate 4 remarked.
"Yeah, I'm gonna have to side with him on that one." Hobbes said in agreement.
"You guys are all sissies." Calvin said annoyed, "Its simple! They take care of the skin care routine, while we go inside and operate on all the infectious parts!"
"That was even worse." Duplicate 6 remarked.
Calvin grew red in the face as the four continued to argue.
While this argument was going on, Spaceman Spiff and Tracer Bullet landed a critical blow with their weapons on the right leg, which was being controlled by Duplicate 5.
The control station Duplicate 5 was in started to catch fire, and Duplicate 5 in a panic quickly climbed up to the body, where he walked into a heated argument with Calvin, Hobbes, and Duplicates 4 and 6.
"You're comparisons make no sense! No wonder you're still stuck in first grade!" Duplicate 4 exclaimed.
"Oh YEAH?! At least I didn't spend an tranquility as a worm!" Calvin shot back.
"What on earth is a tranquility?" Duplicate 6 questioned.
"SEE?! You're just as dumb as me!" Calvin exclaimed.
"What kind of self-roast is that?" Hobbes remarked, bemused by Calvin's statement.
"Oh shut up furball!" Calvin grumbled.
Then, the four noticed Duplicate 5 was standing in their midst.
"So uh... What did I miss?" Duplicate 5 asked in an awkward tone.
The four looked at each other for a moment, before Calvin came up with an idea.
"THESE FOOLS ARE CONSPIRING AGAINST EVERYONE! THEY'RE TRYING TO TAKE OVER THIS PLAN BY THEMSELVES!" Calvin blurted out, pointing at Duplicates 4 and 6, completely taken aback about what Calvin had just said.
"You idiots are WHAT?! I SHOULD'VE KNOWN!" Duplicate 5 exclaimed furiously as he charged at the two duplicates and the three began to brawl.
Calvin and Hobbes took this opportunity to take the ladder to the head, where Moe and Dr. Scientist were at.
"That idea was completely ridiculous, but it was ridiculous enough to work." Hobbes commented as he and Calvin continued to climb up.
"What can I say, I know myself well." Calvin replied proudly. Hobbes rolled his eyes.
As Calvin and Hobbes climbed up into the head where the main control area was, they noticed that Dr. Scientist and Moe were running frantically around to the different control panels and pressing various buttons in despair. A siren was also going off in the head.
"Well, I think its safe to say your alter egos have pulled their weight in this battle." Hobbes remarked.
"That's for sure." Calvin said in agreement.
As Dr. Scientist was running towards another control panel, he screeched to a halt when he saw Calvin and Hobbes in his midst.
"Aw geez Doc, looks like once again, you've been outsmarted by people far younger than you. I know you thought you were gonna come out on top but we all know how that's going." Calvin said with a sly grin on his face.
Dr. Scientist's face quickly grew red in the face.
"You know something kid, I've been in this field for a long...long...time. I've had my fair share of defeats, and there's been instances where I was backed into a corner, just kind of like right now, and I caved under the pressure..." Dr. Scientist rambled as he slowly walked towards one of the control panels.
"I mean do you really consider being a failed evil villain a job field? Seems kinda weird in my opinion." Calvin remarked.
"Oh Calvin, you have much to learn about the doing of villany... Unfortunately, you won't be around for such lessons." Dr. Scientist said coolly as he quickly grabbed a laser gun from his lab coat and began shooting at Calvin and Hobbes, who quickly dodged.
"I WILL NOT LOSE TO A KID AND HIS STUPID TIGER! NEVER!" Dr. Scientist screeched as he began shooting like crazy at the two.
Moe also joined in and landed a punch on Calvin, and the two began to fight it out.
The two began pushing, shoving, and attempting to punch each other throughout the head, while Hobbes tried to pounce Dr. Scientist and get the laser gun out of his hands.
As Dr. Scientist continued his descent into madness, he began shooting with his laser gun erratically and started damaging the control panels as well as nearly shooting Moe and himself a few times.
"WHY WON'T THIS THING WORK HOW I WANT IT TOO?! CURSE TECHNOLOGY!" Dr. Scientist screeched.
At that moment, Calvin managed to break away from Moe and starting running away from him. Moe began to give chase towards him, but in the process knocked himself into Dr. Scientist, causing the laser gun to fly out of Dr. Scientist's hands, and right into Hobbes' paws, who fidgeted with it slightly but got it under control, albeit visibly shaking.
"Well, well, well. How the tables have turned..." Calvin said sinisterly as Moe and Dr. Scientist were clearly shaking and nervous now that things had gone from bad to worse for them.
Calvin then turned and noticed Hobbes shaking.
"Relax Hobbes, its just a laser gun." Calvin said nonchalantly.
"I love how you say that so calmly despite it nearly killing us several times..." Hobbes said sarcastically.
"You're such a sissy." Calvin replied back while rolling his eyes.
"Please Twinky! Just let us go and we'll never bother you again!" Moe pleaded.
"Yeah! We'll move to a whole other continent! You'll never hear or see from either of us again!" Dr. Scientist added in.
"Oh come on guys..." Calvin scoffed as he grabbed the laser gun from Hobbes, "I know I'm not necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed, but do you really think I'm dumb enough to fall for a plea like that?"
Moe and Dr. Scientist looked at each other.
"Yeah, you're right..." Moe conceded.
"He isn't as dumb as he looks, that's for sure... Now why don't you just drop that thing before anyone gets hurt?" Dr. Scientist said calmly, trying to get the laser gun back from Calvin.
"I don't know Doc, this here is a pretty cool weapon you got, I'm not just gonna drop it." Calvin replied.
"Fair enough... Fair enough..." Dr. Scientist remarked, "GOOD THING I ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP!" He screamed as he pulled out two more laser guns, tossed one to Moe, and the two started shooting at Calvin.
Calvin and Hobbes quickly ran around the head, with Calvin shooting back every chance he had.
While running, Hobbes noticed there was a ladder that went up to the roof, and quickly hatched a plan. While Calvin had Dr. Scientist and Moe distracted in a laser gun fight, Hobbes climbed up the ladder, and then positioned himself in a way he could pounce someone easily, and then pounced Dr. Scientist, knocking the laser gun out of the head.
This distracted Moe, which allowed for Calvin to take direct aim at the laser gun, and shot right at it, destroying the gun.
Moe and Dr. Scientist were left speechless, but were too exhausted to say anything, even now that they were facing certain defeat.
They had no more back up plans. The game had been played, and had gone in the favor of the boy and tiger combo.
"So, got anymore tricks up your lab coat? Or are you ready to throw in the towel this time?" Calvin asked, looking down on the two.
"How... just how... did I fall this low..." Dr. Scientist grunted in between breaths.
"I've never lost to twinky before... This feeling sucks..." Moe grumbled.
"You know considering that's all they've said after we went through that entire sequence without saying a word is a real letdown." Hobbes piped in.
"Tell me about it. I expected more tears and begging for mercy." Calvin said in agreement.
Just then, an explosion could be heard. The room began blaring a warning siren and a red light began blinking.
TERMINAL FAILURE. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. TERMINAL FAILURE. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.
The alter egos had managed to completely destroy one of the legs. This of course, led to Mechalopnica to begin falling down.
"Do you suppose we bail out?" Spaceman Spiff asked to the other two.
"Does it really take a private eye to solve that?" Tracer Bullet remarked sarcastically.
"With my stupendous strength, I'll get you both to safety!" Stupendous Man said triumphantly as he grabbed the both of them and they flew out.
Just as Stupendous Man flew out of the ship, Cooper finally managed to make his way into where the battle was taking place, and was bewildered at what he saw.
"Y'know, I'm just gonna stop questioning everything and just assume that this is all just a very, very, very bad dream..." Cooper said nonchalantly as he watched Mechalopnica slowly fall to the ground.
Dr. Scientist and Moe were furiously trying to make things right, but it was no use, and everyone was getting jumbled around in the control room like crazy.
"NO! NO! I CAN'T GO DOWN LIKE THIS! I JUST CAN'T!" Dr. Scientist screeched as he tried to make something work.
"I mean we're literally going down, so its kinda inevitable at this point." Calvin remarked.
"WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" Moe yelled.
"Yeah, shouldn't we be getting out of here before its too late?" Hobbes asked to Calvin.
"Way ahead of ya." Calvin responded as he looked towards the broken windows where Dr. Scientist was furiously pushing buttons.
Calvin started running towards them amidst all the jumbling going on, and quickly managed to make a dive through an opening in them, with Hobbes right behind.
However, Dr. Scientist grabbed Calvin before he could make it out, but Calvin threw out the ring box to turn it back into the normal box, and Hobbes managed to hop in first and tried to get control.
Calvin meanwhile, was still fighting to break free from Dr. Scientist.
"IF I'M GOING DOWN, I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME!" Dr. Scientist screeched.
"Give it a rest you quack! You've lost! Just throw in the towel already!" Calvin shot back as he tried to break free.
"NEVER! DOCTOR MURDOCH ZENITH SCIENTIST NEVER ADMITS DEFEAT!"
But just then, Hobbes careened into Mechalopnica, managing to break Calvin free and flung him into the box, sending Dr. Scientist flying.
"HURRY HOBBES! THIS PLACE IS GONNA BLOW!" Calvin yelled as Hobbes tried to find an opening.
"What? No thank you?" Hobbes said offended.
"SAVE THE THANKS FOR LATER! THIS PLACE IS BLOWING UP!" Calvin yelled back as Mechalopnica crashed to the ground and exploded.
Hobbes pointed the box in a small opening and tried to make it as the rest of the ship began to blow up, pushing it harder and harder.
But right before they made it to the exit, everything turned white.