In our last gripping episode, Mr. Peabody was pushed into a raging river by his clone, who is now pretending to be the original!

Rocky, Honeysuckle, Sherman, and the Peabody clone are standing on the edge of an old bridge, watching in horror as Peabody dog-paddles furiously in a futile effort to keep his head above the swirling rapids. "Someone's got to jump in and save him," says the Peabody clone, "and I can't swim!"

"I don't have my swimming goggles!" says Sherman.

"I'm too heavy!" says Honeysuckle. "I'd sink to the bottom!"

"Then it's up to me!" says Rocky.

Leaping from the bridge, Rocky glides down to the surface of the river and flies swiftly toward the imperiled Peabody. Meanwhile, three Pottsylvanian military police officers surround Honeysuckle, Sherman, and the Peabody clone, rifles drawn. "You are all under arrest," barks the first MP. "Give me the radio!"

Honeysuckle shrugs. "What radio?"

"Come to think of it," reflects the second MP, "whatever she had in her hand was much too small to be a radio."

"Then it was a microphone," says the third MP.

"A microphone without a wire?" the second MP chides him. "You read too many science fiction books."

"Shut up, both of you!" ordered the first MP. Bowing to Honeysuckle, he says, "My apologies, madam."

"Save your apologies," says Honeysuckle, pointing toward Rocky and Peabody. "My friend is drowning! Can any of you swim?"

Meanwhile, Rocky has reached Peabody and is struggling to lift him out of the river, but his strength is failing. "Must...pull..harder..." he gasps. Suddenly a towering wave crashes down on him, flinging him into the rapids. Now he, along with Peabody, is being swept along helplessly by the current. The Peabody clone observes this with a sinister, satisfied smirk.

"Oh, no! Rocky!" cries Sherman.

"I can swim," boasts the first MP. "I would have competed in the Olympic Games as part of the Pottsylvanian aquatic team if not for the draft."

"Then get your butt in the river and save them!" Honeysuckle orders.

Without hesitation, the MP strips down to his undershirt, drops his uniform onto the bridge, and dives gracefully into the angry river. As Honeysuckle, Sherman, and the other two MPs race along the riverbank, the MP swimmer draws closer and closer to Rocky and Peabody with his powerful strokes. In less than a minute, he has grasped the two under his arm and paddled to shore.

"They're safe!" Honeysuckle beholds to her relief.

"Hey, where's Mr. Peabody?" says Sherman, looking around.

Two of the MPs apply mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to revive Rocky and Peabody, who cough and sputter vigorously. Once Peabody becomes lucid, Honeysuckle addresses him. "I know you feel bad about betraying your country, but that was no reason to jump in the river."

"What?" says Peabody incredulously. "I didn't betray my country, my clone did! And I didn't jump, he pushed me!"

Honeysuckle, Sherman, and Rocky gasp in surprise.

"You mean...you're the real Mr. Peabody?" Sherman realizes. "And your clone tried to kill you?"

"I was a fool not to suspect him," Peabody laments. "He was evil all along, but unlike the Bullwinkle clone, he was smart enough to hide it until an opportunity arose. A good clone of me would never betray his country!"

"An evil Peabody clone on the loose?" marvels Honeysuckle. "Then the danger is even greater!"

"We must get to Rottenov's headquarters, quickly!" barks Peabody.


Inside the office of Igor Rottenov, the Fearless Leader of 1925 is consulting with the present Fearless Leader, who is still clutching the time-travel device. Rottenov is a blond, overweight man with a scar and monocle. "Your concern is unwarranted," he assures the other Fearless Leader. "My headquarters is guarded by a team of utterly ruthless trained killers. Your moose friend will never make it past the reception area."

Suddenly the Bullwinkle clone rushes through the door, clutching a machine gun. "Stick 'em up, both of you!" he commands. Fearless Leader rests the time-travel device on the floor, and he and Rottenov both put their hands up.

"How did you get in here?" Rottenov inquires.

"I disguised myself as a potted fern," the clone explains.

Rottenov shakes his head in disbelief. "That should not have worked!"

The evil Bullwinkle duplicate trains his gun on Rottenov's chest. "Once I kill you, by right of ascendancy, I will become the new Fearless Leader. Say your prayers, Rottenov!"

"But I do not believe in God," Rottenov points out.

"Then you'll be awful lonely where you're going," says the evil moose.

Before he can pull the trigger, the evil Peabody clone appears behind him, pointing a revolver at his rear end. "Drop it or I'll blow your brains out!" he orders.

Seeing no way to escape, the Bullwinkle clone drops his machine gun and sticks up his hands.

"Another one?" Rottenov marvels. "How did you get in here?"

"I constructed a catapult out of bull rushes," replies the Peabody clone.

"Oh, that's so lame!" groans the Bullwinkle clone.

"As you can clearly observe, Rottenov," says the Peabody clone, "I am possessed of a vastly superior intellect combined with a complete lack of moral scruples. Under my leadership, Pottsylvania will enter a new age of prosperity, technological advancement, and--need I say it?--world domination. Transfer the office of Fearless Leader to me willingly, and I will spare your life."

Rottenov waves his hand about. "You want my office? It's yours! I hate the color scheme anyway."

A young female receptionist pokes her head in the door. "A swarm of locusts here to see you, sir," she announces.

"Do they have an appointment?" asks Rottenov.

Rocky, Honeysuckle, Sherman, and Peabody march into Rottenov's office, wearing grasshopper costumes and brandishing tommy guns. "Drop your weapons and put your hands up!" Honeysuckle barks. The Peabody clone drops his revolver and slowly raises his hands.

"The charade is over," says Peabody, glowering at his evil clone. "I know what you really are now."

"Go ahead, shoot me," says the clone defiantly. "At least I'll die with dignity, and not wearing some ridiculous costume."

"As much as I loathe and despise you," says Peabody, "I believe in the sanctity of all life and in the ideals embodied by the American system of justice. You will return to the future with us, where you will be tried for your foul deeds by an impartial jury..."

While Peabody makes his long-winded speech, his evil clone suddenly lunges toward the time-travel device, knocking it over and rolling along the floor while grasping it tightly in his arms. Rocky and his friends point their tommy guns at him, but he jumps to his feet and shields himself with the device.

"Don't shoot!" cries Peabody. "You'll destroy the time-travel device!"

"Yes," gloats his clone, "and then you'll be trapped in the past forever! Muwahahaha...AAAAAARGH!"

A gunshot is heard. The Peabody clone screams in pain, drops the undamaged time-travel device, and collapses to the floor, clutching his wounded foot. Honeysuckle blows the smoke from the muzzle of her tommy gun.

"Hokey smoke!" says Rocky in astonishment. "How'd you do that?"

"Ever hear of something called target practice?" replies the unruffled she-moose.

While Peabody picks up a nearby rope and goes to tie up his injured clone and attend to his wound, Honeysuckle, Rocky, and Sherman, still dressed like grasshoppers, point their weapons at the Bullwinkle clone. "Fearless, program the time-travel device to take us back to our own year," Honeysuckle orders. "Bullwinkle clone, you're coming too. Don't try any funny stuff."

"You mean like this?" The evil moose stretches his lips with his fingers, revealing all of his teeth, and waves his tongue about. His pupils roll around in the whites of his eyes.

Honeysuckle starts to laugh riotously. While she is distracted, the Bullwinkle clone jumps forward and knocks the tommy gun from her hands with a mighty swipe of his antlers. Honeysuckle deftly counters with a side kick, knocking the villainous moose onto the floor. As Rocky and Sherman point their tommy guns in his direction, Honeysuckle motions for them to stand back. "Leave him to me," she instructs them. "You two have such lousy aim, you'd probably hit me instead of him."

The battle is joined. The Bullwinkle clone clambers to his feet and charges at Honeysuckle, who leaps out of his path. He smashes into the wall...and keeps going. Honeysuckle pursues him through the newly created hole.

They are now on the thatched roof of Rottenov's HQ, exchanging kicks and punches. What the Bullwinkle clone lacks in martial arts prowess, he makes up for in dumb luck, dodging most of Honeysuckle's attacks by hopping back and forth while waving his head. "Will you hold still so I can knock you out?" Honeysuckle urges him.

"Knock me out?" boasts the evil moose. "My skull is so thick, you'd have to drop a ton of bricks on me to knock me out!"

Knowing what will inevitably follow, Honeysuckle jumps out of the way.

A pallet of bricks plunges from the sky, landing directly on top of the Bullwinkle clone's head. So great is its momentum that it crashes through five stories of the building and comes to rest on the bottom floor, with the moose flattened underneath it.

After descending five flights of stairs, Honeysuckle finds the Bullwinkle clone semi-conscious and delirious, buried underneath a pile of strewn bricks. "Humina humina humina..." he mumbles.

Honeysuckle grins. "It works every time."


Moments later, our heroes arrive in the present day along with the captured evil duplicates!

The time-travel device appears, accompanied by Rocky, Honeysuckle, Sherman, Peabody, and Fearless Leader. The evil Bullwinkle and Peabody clones are bound hand and foot, and one of the Peabody clone's feet is bandaged. Rocky and his friends are still toting their tommy guns. They have landed in the middle of a grassy field in Neutrylvania, a neutral country that borders Pottsylvania.

"I'm impressed," Honeysuckle says to Fearless Leader. "You kept your word for once."

"I was afraid we'd end up in a Pottsylvanian dungeon," says Rocky.

"It was the least I could do for such a worthy adversary," says Fearless Leader.

"Do you mean me, or him?" asks Honeysuckle, gesturing toward Rocky.

"Stand back, everyone," Peabody warns his friends. Aiming his tommy gun at the time-travel device, he riddles the delicate circuitry with bullets.

"Better luck with your next scheme, Fearless," Honeysuckle encourages the spymaster.

"I'll be back!" vows Fearless Leader, who then walks away toward the Pottsylvanian border, grumbling bitterly.

"The airport should be that way," says Peabody, pointing.

Upon arriving at the Neutrylvanian International Airport, our heroes board a plane and return to the United States. They find Bullwinkle waiting for them at DDEWHD headquarters.

Rocky, Honeysuckle, Sherman, and Peabody are chatting with Bullwinkle, who has recovered from his injuries. "They drew three new ribs for me, and I was good as new," the moose relates.

"I wish you could've come along, Bullwinkle," says Rocky. "It was quite an adventure."

"Yeah, but you did just fine without me," says Bullwinkle sadly.

"It was only that one mission, bully boy," says Honeysuckle reassuringly. "From now on, you and Rocky will work together again. Of course, I'll tag along from time to time."

"I know I'm taking it harder than I should," Bullwinkle admits. "You see, Rocky and I have been partners ever since...ever since we were drawn, and when I found out I'd been replaced, it...it hit me like a ton of bricks."

Rocky, Honeysuckle, Sherman, and Peabody suddenly flee in terror.

"Huh? Where'd they all go?"

THE END