Meanwhile, Mom and Dad had called everyone they knew, and they always got the same response: Calvin had stopped by asking if he could live with them, and they threw him out. Each time they mentioned it, Mom and Dad felt worse each time.

"You have to admit," Dad said, "we weren't exactly being fair to him. The tree house is his sanctuary, and being mean to girls is just something that boys do at his age. It's only natural. And besides, making him eat with Susie is pushing it a little too far."

Mom sighed. "All right, maybe we were going a little too far with the whole thing. Besides, we don't give that kid enough credit. He's just a six year old with a wild imagination. After all, how else could he come up with all those details to that little story of his? You remember it?"

"How could I forget?" Dad chuckled. "All that talk of some weird machine called the Imaginator and that guy with a cool car."

They really are idiots, aren't they?

Calvin, Hobbes and Sherman ran all around the building, looking for Andy.

"This is insane," Hobbes grunted. "How are we gonna find him?"

"Search me," said Sherman.

Calvin looked at his suitcase. He had an idea.

"Hey, look! The Creature!" he shouted.

Hobbes and Sherman jumped. "WHERE?" they shouted.

Calvin ducked into a closet.

Hobbes glared at where Calvin had once stood. "Don't do that!" he shouted.

"What are you yelling at?" Sherman asked.

Hobbes and Sherman looked around hall. Where was Calvin?

Then they heard someone talking from the closet door. "While his comrades are distracted, mild-mannered Calvin ducks into a closet. Donning his red mask and cape, he transforms into… Stupendous Man! DA, DA, DA, DA, DA, DU, DUMMMM!"

Hobbes groaned. Not again.

Calvin, dressed in his hero costume, burst out of the closet.

"What's he doing now?" asked Sherman.

"He's embarrassing me to end," Hobbes sighed.

Calvin sang out as he ran up the stairs to the second floor.

"Quiet, you fool!" Sherman called. "What if the Creature hears you?"

"That's the point!" Calvin shouted. "Once the Creature comes out of hiding, we'll save the poor lad and I'll use my stupendous strength to defeat the Creature."

Hobbes sighed in response. Sherman hopped up on his shoulder and they slowly made their way up the stairs. As they went up, some plaster dust showered down on them.

"That reminds me," said Sherman. "The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome is—"

"Hold the lecture, Vermin!" said Hobbes. "Something's going on upstairs."

"Indeed," agreed Calvin in a heroic voice. "We need to get up there right away!"

Calvin, Hobbes and Sherman scurried up the stairs.

"Hang on, Andy!" Sherman shouted. "We're coming."

Calvin led the way. He rounded the stairwell and dashed down the hall. His red cape flapped as he continued to shout.

"Creature! Come out; come out, wherever you are!"

That's what happened. The Creature came out.

Hobbes and Sherman froze in terror.

Calvin jumped the Creature, knocking it over.

"Eat Stupendousness, Creature!" Calvin yelled.

The Creature, much to Calvin's surprise, lifted him up and hurled him at Hobbes and Sherman, knocking them over.

Calvin's mask was blown off, and he picked himself up.

"Great Moons of Neptune!" he cried.

"Oh, just shut up!" Hobbes shouted. "We've gotta flee."

They ran for their lives down the hall.

"HEEEELLLLP!" they hollered.

The Creature was faster than they had thought. It was running after them at full force.

"Leave us alone, you big green freak!" Calvin hollered.

In all the confusion, Calvin's cape flew off. As they rounded a corner, it flew out an open window. It swooped around the front walk and got caught on the fence outside the building.

Calvin didn't even notice it was gone. He continued to run like a mad man after the tiger and the hamster.

The Creature then did something that they didn't expect. It shot green, gooey stuff out of its wrists. It hit Hobbes' shoulder, covering Sherman all over.

"This reminds of the food fights at the university," he said, trying to get it off.

"Now it's starting to sound interesting," said Calvin.

"But how can a Creature made from a Teacher shoot gunk from its wrists?" Hobbes wondered.

"Less talky, more runny!" Calvin ordered.

They rounded a few corners until they finally tripped and fell. Sherman flew from Hobbes' shoulder and slid into a hole in the wall. Neither noticed him.

The Creature wrapped its long claws around Calvin's collar and Hobbes' neck.

"Put us down!" Calvin shouted. He turned to Hobbes. "Give him a can of tuna! The bad smell might knock him out."

"I beg your pardon?" Hobbes protested.

The Creature took Calvin, Hobbes and their things away.

He had conveniently forgotten about Sherman.

In the old classroom, Andy was sitting in a desk, not looking too proud.

Suddenly, the door opened. The Creature poked its head in, and then tossed Calvin, Hobbes and the bags into the room, immediately slamming and locking the door afterwards.

"Calvin! Hobbes!" cried Andy, getting up from the desk. "Are you guys okay? What happened?"

"Ol' Stupendous Man fails again," Hobbes replied.

"Shut up. You didn't even attack him! You're the laziest tiger in history!"

"Hey, do you think I'm stupid enough to attack something with supernatural powers?" Hobbes snorted.

Calvin rolled his eyes.

"How'd you get here?"

"The Creature grabbed while I was playing basketball. I couldn't get away, but Shermie escaped."

"He's probably in a better place now," Hobbes said.

"What do you mean?"

"Ignore him. He's an idiot," said Calvin. "Things are getting strange around here. We need to escape."

"I've tried," said Andy. "I can't break the windows, and even if I could, we're on the second floor. I tried the air ducts, but I can't get them open."

"Well, we're trapped," said Hobbes mournfully. "We'll be the blue plate special for the Creature."

"Unless Sherman can pull something off," suggested Calvin.

"Like I said," said Hobbes.

Mom and Dad were still searching for Calvin. They had left the house and were searching the deserted part of town. Just a plastic bag floating in the wind seemed to freak them out.

With them were Susie and her parents, Moe, Rosalyn and a ton of their neighbors, as well as the police. They looked in the old buildings for him and his stuffed tiger, but there was no sign of them anywhere.

"This is insane," Moe said angrily. "I have better things to do than look for Twinky. I don't care if he ever comes back. At least we'd finally have some peace."

"Seriously," agreed Susie. "I'd finally get to stop wearing a rain coat whenever I leave the house worrying about falling water balloons. He's the biggest jerk on the planet."

Rosalyn sniffed the air. "What's that smell?" she asked.

Mom and Dad instantly recognized the smell.

"That's tuna fish!" said Mom.

"Calvin must be nearby!" said Dad.

They hurried down the road towards the location of the smell. They skidded to a halt at the old elementary school.

"That's the Teacher Creature's home!" Moe shrieked. "Let's just back away slowly."

"There's no such thing as a Creature," Dad snorted.

"You are when you wake up in the morning," Mom muttered.

The police searched the area, trying to find a way in. During the search, one of them found something maroon colored waving on one of the metal poles. He took it over to Mom and Dad.

"Sir, Ma'am," he said, "can you identify this cape?"

Mom's eyes went wide. "That's Calvin's cape!" she said.

"That confirms it then," said the chief. "He must be in the area."

"How do we get in there?" asked Rosalyn.

A policeman took a crowbar out and pried the locks off of the gates. Everyone spread out and searched the place. They never thought to look inside.

Inside, Calvin, Hobbes and Andy were still waiting for someone to come. They were too miserable to think to look out the window and see people looking for them.

"What'll we do now?" Andy asked.

"We'll be served in a black cauldron and then dumped into the furnace," Hobbes said.

"Oh, come on!" said Calvin. "Stupendous Man may have failed us, but we can't give up because things look bleak! We will save the day by what's in our hearts! Not by what's in this dippy old cape!"

"What cape?" asked Andy.

Calvin looked at his neck. His cape was gone!

"Aw, man!" he whined. "That Creature must have stolen it. I can't stand him!"

He stomped his foot down on the ground hard. That was a bad move on his part.

With a creaking roar, the floor under Calvin crumbled and the poor boy fell through the floor. The bags fell with him.

"CALVIN!" cried Hobbes and Andy.

They looked through the hole, and were relieved that Calvin's shirt had caught onto a splintered beam. The bags had scattered all over the floor.

"Help?" Calvin called up.

Hobbes reached down to pull him up, but the floor creaked some more, and Hobbes and Andy fell through the floor!

Hobbes grabbed onto the same splintered wood and dug his claws into it. Andy held on by his tail. Calvin's shirt ripped and he had to grab onto Andy's arm.

"This is a problem," Andy moaned.

"Thanks for the news bulletin," Hobbes muttered.

Calvin observed their situation. "If I estimate our weight correctly and factor in wind resistance, the velocity at which we'll hit the floor should be enough to cause a major boo-boo."

"Stop thinking!" Hobbes shouted. "We need some help. I can't hold on much longer!"

"Some tiger you are!" laughed a familiar voice.

The three of them looked down.

There was Sherman, grinning up at them.

"Shermie!" Andy cried.

"Vermin!" added Hobbes.

"It's Sherman!" the hamster squeaked angrily.

Calvin looked around the first floor classroom that Sherman was in. He knew their stuff was around here somewhere. He spotted his suitcase in the corner.

"Sherman, push my suitcase underneath us! There's something in there that will help!"

Sherman scurried over to Calvin's suitcase. It took about two minutes, but he got it directly under Calvin. He unclipped it and everything poured out.

"What do you want me to use?" he called up.

"There should be a little blue glowing box down there. Put it directly under me."

Sherman started digging through the junk. He finally found the glowing box and placed it under Calvin.

"How could this possibly help you?" Sherman demanded. "There is no chance that this little box could possibly save you from being flattened."

"You don't know what Calvin can invent," said Hobbes.

"Pah!" said Sherman. "What a load of tripe. I can bet that the minute he lets go, he'll die. Based on research at the university, nothing of this density and size could possibly—"

Hobbes let go of the wooden beam, and the three of them fell straight into the glowing box, much to Sherman's amazement.

"Humana, humana, humana…," he stuttered.

Calvin reached out and pulled himself out of it, followed by Andy and Hobbes.

"How did you…?"

"Hypercube," Calvin said. "It can store an infinite amount of objects of any density and size. You won't find that at the university. I'll tell ya that."

"I guess that's sort of impressive."

Andy picked up his backpack, which Sherman jumped into.

"It was fun hanging out with you guys," he told them. "Maybe I'll see you around the neighborhood."

"And maybe I won't," squeaked Sherman.

"Wait, you're leaving?" asked Calvin.

"We've got to. My parents are probably going to kill me if I'm not home soon. Thanks for the help. We'll see you guys later."

"Well, hang in there, Andy," Hobbes said encouragingly. "Maybe someday you'll get a real pet instead of a know-it-all fur ball."

Sherman stuck his tongue out, then ducked his head inside the pack.

Andy waved and marched up the bleachers until he could slip out the window.

"That kid is cool," said Hobbes.

"Wish I could say the same for that hamster," said Calvin. "Come on. I'm not going to risk my butt around here just for a sissy title of hero. Let's get out here."

They turned down the hall.

"Hey, do you hear voices?" Calvin asked.

"Calvin, you're always hearing voices in your head."

"No, I mean, it sounds like Mom and Dad! They're looking for us! Come on!"

Calvin and Hobbes ran for their lives. Freedom and safety would be just out that door.

However, someone was determined to keep them from leaving.

The Creature jumped down from the balcony of the second floor and landed right in front of them.

"GROWL!" it said.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" yelled Calvin and Hobbes.

The monster made a swipe at them, nearly making the rip in Calvin's shirt worse.

Calvin and Hobbes screamed even louder, and made their way to the second floor.

"WE'VE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!" Calvin yelled.

They ran down the hall, still screaming, and the Creature right behind them, still growling.