V

There was little Hobbes could remember before his current life, even as the memories trickled back from the back of his mind. He remembered the shots, and the dark figure....Callous. He remembered the kind voice, and the explosions, and the running and the scars.

But even though he wasn't supposed to anymore, even though the computer was supposed to be erasing the memories, he still remembered the day he met Calvin.

"Bababaaaaaah!!!"

He was somewhere, far away from the bad men, sitting on a pile of dirty dolls and moldy shoes. He was in some kind of market, but he only remembered being unable to move, only until others moved him around, and that had been often. He didn't have mobility or real thought, or even a name - so he figured - before that day.

"Baaaaaaah!" Something had been tugging at his tail hard - his first crystal clear memory. "Babababa!"

....Ow. He was tempted to say something before he remembered. Wait. Nothing will happen. I'm a doll.

"Calvin!" His tail was suddenly released as another, older, female voice spoke in a firm voice. "No taking stuff. Leave that tiger alone."
"...Baaaaaaaaaaaah...."

Tiger.... The doll's mind clicked. Huh. If she is talking about not touching the tiger, and she was talking to someone, and that someone was touching me before she told them to let go....then my name is....The Tiger?

The reaction after this revelatory thought was a repulsed shudder from the piercing, blubbered cry that ensued. It was not at all a pleasant sound, and it grated on his ears. His nose twitched, and his eyes looked upon what had touched him.

The fat, slobbering, hairless blob of human flesh stared back at him with big, teary eyes eyes as it sat in its stroller. It suddenly clapped in a jerky, odd motion. It was, without a doubt, a big shock to the doll, who never thought such a monsterous looking child could exist. Especially, he realized, since its mother, the female who had called him The Tiger, was so pretty.

Say something. the doll's mind sifted through a confused mesh of thoughts. No, I'm a toy. Toys don't talk. Toys can't think.

Then, the mother started to wheel away, and the cries became even louder. It began to echo throughout wherever the doll was, and the entire place began to stare at the baby.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" The baby's screams became deafness-inducing wails. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

....SAY SOMETHING!

Suddenly, even though he was a toy, according to the man who was selling him, even though dolls had no thoughts or moblity, he found himself acting on his feverish desire to stop the grating sound. The doll sat up, glared at the baby, and screamed as loud as he could.

"STOP CRYING," he snarled. "AND
SHUT UP!"

This caused the crying to cease immediately. The doll stared at the baby as it stared back at him, shocked that the baby acknowledged him as existing. He was a doll, unable to exist living, yet he silenced the baby.

For a moment, there was nothing, simply a staredown - a blank look of shock from the baby, an annoyed glare from the doll.

"....HOBHOBHOBHOBHOBAAAA!!!!"

To the doll's surprise, the baby suddenly giggled and shouted, clapping its hands again. It was almost jumping out of its seat as it went nuts over its new friend.

"HOBAHOBAHOBAHOBABABABABAAAAAAAA!!!!" It was almost cheering as it tugged on its mother's shirt. "HOOOOOOOBAAAAAAAA!!!"
"
ALL RIGHT!" The mother, looking completely exasperated. ".....I told him I wouldn't buy anything...damnit....How much for this stuffed tiger?"
"Four dollars," the gruff voice of the doll's owner replied. "No tax, lady."

Huh? Suddenly, the doll was picked up. The lady and the guy didn't yell at me or anything, but that baby......he saw what I did....but....its like....she didn't!

The confusing paradox plagued the doll as he was carried back to a station wagon. Inside, the doll could see a dark-haired man the father of the baby - looking cross as the mother came over.

"What is this?" There was a demanding tone from the father as the mother opened the car door and carried the baby out of the stroller. "I thought we weren't getting anything!"
"Calvin wanted it." The mother placed the baby into a car seat. "And I wasn't going to stand the baby crying and screaming because he didn't get the doll all the way home."
"What if that thing has fleas?"
"Well, I'll just burn it if it does!" The doll winced. "But I'm not staying in a car for tweny hours listening to Calvin the whole time!"
"Fine, fine!" The doll was placed next to the car seat. The baby smiled a toothless, satisfied grin. "Of course, you know, I wanted a dog..."
"Stop that!"

The car gave a jerk, then a roar, as it jumped to life. With more mumbles on his mind, the man put the car into drive and sped out of the parking lot.

Calvin... The doll looked at the baby. Its mind analyzed the name, and made the association. Baby....Calvin.

Calvin gave another giggle as the car went on. It smacked its hand against the doll, gurgling as it did.

"Hobhobhobhobhobhobhobhobhoba......." Calvin chirped. "Hobahobahoba."

Hoba? The doll looked at Calvin with unease. I don't want to be called....

The thought trailed off, and suddenly, a strange revelation came into the tiger doll's mind. The baby's endless babbling, as annoying as it was, had jogged something in his mind, something he had lost.

.......Hobbes. It clicked. My name. My name....is Hobbes.

It was in that first memory that the doll realized that he was no ordinary plaything. He had a name, he had thoughts, and, looking at how he squirmed from the baby Calvin hitting him, he could move as well. Those were the three things all living, real people could do. The baby's parents seemed completely unaware, but Hobbes - not the doll,
Hobbes - didn't care. One person acknowledged he could, even if it was an undesirable person that was now grabbing his arm. And one person was all it took.

"Twenty hours......" There was a mumble from the front seat. "And we couldn't go on a plane, could we....?"
"Stop it." The mother turned and smiled. "See, look, its already working. Calvin's hugging the tiger, aww...."
"Hobahobahoba..."
"Yes, my name is Hobbes, baby...." Hobbes frowned as the baby leaned its head on his arm, drooling all over him as he did. "....Now...since we seem to be on the same wavelength, could you......please stop
doing that?!"
"Hobaaaa.....hobbbbesaaaaaaa.....
hoooooooooobes………



"HOBBES!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, his eyes shot open. The flea market, and drive, the arguing from the parents, all of that was replaced by the blinding light of the laboratory of the present.

"…Huh?" The response was groggy. "Ow….."
"Hobbes!!!"

Hobbes blinked several times, his mind still confused. He could see the scenes, more scenes with Callous and the blackness, now with more clarity than ever. He looked over at Calvin, who was trying to untie him from his binds, and saw his shocked face. Hobbes looked back at him, still blinking as he did.

"….What?"
"What?" Calvin looked back, his face filled with worry. "Do you remember who I am? Hobbes?!"
"…..Well….."
"HOBBES?!?!?"
"….I'll admit that I wish I didn't sometimes." Hobbes stuck his tongue out. "Why do you ask?"
"What?!?!" Callous' eyes widened. "What…what is going on?!"
"What do you mean, why do I ask?!" Calvin gave a snarl. "Don't you remember where we are?!?"
"Hmm…" Hobbes paused. "I remember being with you, and you were being an idiot with the G.R.O.S.S. handbook, and your uncle came and you-"
"Ok, OK!" Calvin rolled his eyes. "I get the point! You remember!"

*CRAAAAAAAAASH*



The sudden sound made the two jump up in shock, or at least Hobbes would have had he not still been tied up. It was the computer monitor, which had been violently thrown at the wall. It now lay shattered over several of the computer towers, shattered into many tiny pieces.

"Of all the….!!!!!!!"

Calvin and Hobbes turned to Callous, who was red-faced and visibly angry. His plan to erase the memories of Calvin from the tiger's chip had failed miserably, and it was, in Callous' eyes, all Calvin's fault. The computer had not only exploded because of the boy, the memory program had somehow failed as well.

However, the explosion was not because of Calvin, though he blamed the boy for smashing up the dome and the equipment. Rather, it was the memory-wiping program itself; it was a sub-par Windows XP-based file on a computer compatible with the more superior Windows 98. It was, in truth, the lab monitor's fault for not realizing that there was a difference in operating systems; as they were upgraded, the program quality in the system got worse. In short, the program has shorted out, aborting what was supposed to be the memory wipe and destroying the computer.

"Damn you…." Callous' face darkened as he pressed a button. "You little brat!"
"Huh?!?"
"The retrieval process of Porcelain Tiger has failed because of you." There was a certain degree of satisfaction in Callous' voice. "There is no reason to try again since it has already failed once, only to get the same results. The program was one-of-a-kind, either way, as…" At this, he gave a dark glare towards the limp body on the floor, "…the man who created it is now dead under my feet…..so we can't duplicate it." He turned back towards the two. "I therefore see no reason in keeping you or Porcelain Tiger alive any longer for the B.A.D.'s purposes, boy."
"H-HUH?!?!?" Calvin's eyes widened. "Wh-what do you-"
"Just as I…..suspected, the government will just have to be told that the tiger no longer exists…." A twitch of a smile came onto the man's face. "I guess this mean goodbye then, eh? Heheh..."

There was the sudden click of a gun. Calvin froze as Callous held up a Glock, one made of pure gold, towards him.

"You first."

GAAAAAAAAH!! Calvin stared in fright. That's a Golden Gun! He's going to KILL ME!!!!!!

*VAROOOOOOOO!!!!! VAROOOOOOOOOO! VAROOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!*



Suddenly, an alarm blared through the room. The lights in the dome started flashing red and white, and the remnants of the computer, and the shield, turned off.

"What the.....?!?!" Callous' cantankerous expression suddenly melted away to pure fear. "NO!!! Not him! Not now!!!!"

In the distance of the hall, the faint sound of raining bullets could be heard, as well as. Some ricocheted bullets hit the door of the room; one of them knocked the knob off.

"Sound an alert!" Dropping the gun, Callous ran his hands through his hair as he ran over to the door and pressed a button for a voice communicator. "Get the men out there and begin Diversion B! They've invaded the base!!"
"Woah!!" Calvin stared. "There's more guns out there!! Automatic sniper rifles and Glocks, if my hearing's right!"

You're hearing's right.....

As Calvin started to imagine what it would be like to blow people up with exploding bullets, Hobbes was working feverishly to get himself free before Callous' attention returned back to them. However, he only managed to get one paw out.

Come on....!!!

As he struggled, an idea as to how he could get out quickly came to him. In truth, he didn't really like the idea, but deep down he found it to be too foolproof to pass up.

"I wonder if they'll let me shoot a guAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

Calvin was suddenly lifted by his collar in midsentence by a tiger paw. Giving a shot, Calvin gave a glare towards the tiger before turning his head up.

SCANNING.... The eye of a laser, which was not controlled by the computer that was shut down, but rather by an internal ship, stared back at him. SCANNING FOR C-A-L...

"AAAAAUGH!!" His eyes bugged out, Calvin wriggled angrily to free himself, to no avail. "TRAITOR! BAD!! EVIL!!!!!!!!"

Calvin kept screaming as the laser eye spotted him in front of Hobbes. It adjusted for several seconds, scanning him. Finally, after taking the boy to be hostile, it took aim and shot out a beam.

"Benedi-DOOOOF!!"

At the last moment, Hobbes let go of Calvin, allowing him to drop to the floor with a hard thump. The beam blasted harmlessly through Hobbes' middle restraints, and with little else holding him, he leaped off of the table.

"Well!" Hobbes looked down on Calvin, who was rubbing his rump. "That was easy."
"Yeah, suuuuuuure." Calvin's reply was dry. "I'm not the one repaying me for saving my life by trying to kill me!"
"Look," Hobbes crossed his arms. "As much as I'd like to speak for my defense, I think that this argument should be put aside for the sake of our lives, yes?"
"No, no, NO!!" Calvin gave a tantrumed stomp. "This CAN'T wait! You keep hiding things from me, and its NOT FAIR! And THEN you try to kill me!! What kind of friend ARE you?! Did Susie pay you or something?!"
"...Well....." Hobbes tapped his chin. "If Susie paid me to do something to you, I guess I'd consider...."
"ARRGH!!"

Calvin just barely missed a second laser coming at him. He leapt up, only to suddenly be taken up once more by Hobbes.

"What the..?!" Calvin found himself being piggybacked y the tiger. "What are you doing? This is no time to be playing stupid games!!"
"Just hang on tight...."

Hobbes quickly crouched down low to the ground. His eyes quickly darted around, looking at every concievable entry and exit point. The only place to get out that he could figure was the door; by the way the voices echoed through the halls and the room, the room was within a deep interior of the complex. Therefore, jumping through the wall, he reasoned, would simply lead to concrete.

But barging through the door was a possibility.

"HURRY!" Callous snarled into the communicator. "Get reinforcements! I need them to counter-attack!!"

Well.... Hobbes crouched further. Its now or never...

At this, Calvin suddenly began to realize what it was that Hobbes planned to do. He quickly grabbed onto the tiger's neck.

"DOOF! Too tight..."
"Are you crazy?!" Calvin loosened his hands. "We'll be shot!
"Much better." Hobbes was dengerously low. "I'll grab the gun. Whatever you do, don't let go until I say so. Understood?"
"How are you going to-"

Calvin didn't have time to finish his sentence. All of a sudden, the world became a blur, and everything shifted violently downwards.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!!!!"

In the moment which Hobbes shifted himself and, with a powerful pounce, leaped up over onto the ground near the door, Calvin was practically flying. The air blew in his face, and his hair was in a breeze. It was a fast, adrenaline-pumping sensation of power that may have coursed through his veins during that moment. The lurching feeling in his stomach, however, overtook any euphoric thought that could have been attained by the powerful leap.

"HURRY!" Callous roared into the communicator. "Get reinforce.....eh...?"

He turned over just as Hobbes and Calvin leaped over onto the highter platform which he himself stood on. Calvin, in turn, was just readjusting himself so as not to throw up. Both of their heads turned at the same time, and their eyes and faces met for one single instant.

......You.....

Callous, staring at the boy with hateful eyes, knew that the tiger was awakened, and knew he would not be able to catch him before he made the door. He knew, also, that it was Calvin that the tiger would serve, and not him; it was far too late to reassert control, and the only means of doing so was destroyed. Nevertheless, Callous wanted to stop him, wanted to take the little boy and squeeze the life out of him like a tube of toothpaste for destroying his project.

Callous was then given another reason to hate the little blonde boy even more than before. Calvin, on his side, realized that he and Hobbes were escaping. As much as he liked the gadgets they had, the scariest parts of the whole day - the mean Callous, the memory erasing, and the lasers that Hobbes tried to kill him with - were too much for him to handle without a pillow. In a few minutes, Calvin and Hobbes would be gone from that place for good, or so Calvin hoped. Because Callous, to Calvin, was a large, wet-haired jerk who had a golden gun, and in the movies you didn't have golden guns unless you really wanted someone dead.

With that in mind, Calvin decided to give Callous one more thing. As his goodbye present, he took his pointing fingers, stretched his mouth out with them in as gross a manner as he could without fallin, and stuck his tongue out as far as he could.

"PHFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFNYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!"

Before Callous could react, Hobbes had landed, and bolted out the door, taking the golden gun with him.

"YEAAAAAAH!" Calvin threw a hand up in the air. "We did i-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!"

Calvin was suddenly jerked back, and it took all of his might to hang on as Hobbes shot through the corridor.

-------------------------

What the.....

Callous staggered up, and stared out of the door at the orange blur, trying to grasp what had just happened. He held his chest as he took in great gasps oif rage, trying to restrain himself from going berserk on the dead body of the lab monitor..

In all of his years in the service of the government - and for himself - never before he he been subjected to such an insult, to such a terrible, unjust act.

He.......stuck.......his tongue.....out.......at ME!!!!!!!!

With a roar, he sprung upon the wall communicator and slammed his fist into the communicator. The crime committed would not be forgiven.

"GUARDS!!!" He roared into the communicator. "The Porcelain Tiger has escaped! STOP HIM!"