It was dawn by the time Calvin and Hobbes returned to the campsite. However, something was different.
"Where're Mom and Dad?" Calvin asked frantically.
Hobbes ran into the tent and found that it was empty.
"They're not here," he said. "It's empty."
Calvin looked around frantically. Something wasn't right here.
"How are we gonna find them? This island's huge!"
"Maybe there's something in your hypercube?" Hobbes suggested.
Calvin reached into his pocket and pulled out the glowing cube. He reached inside and pulled out a familiar cardboard box.
"Me and my big mouth," Hobbes muttered.
"It's our only hope. We have to find Mom and Dad and find a way to get them to hurl those pills."
"Calvin, the pills went to their brains, not their stomachs. Making them throw up isn't going to work."
"Well, what are we going to do? We have to do something."
They climbed into the box, put on their goggles and prepared for takeoff.
"When we find your parents, what are we going to do with them?" Hobbes asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
They took to the skies above the island. Calvin pulled out the binoculars and searched the island.
"Do you see anyone?" Hobbes asked.
"Yes, Hobbes. That's why we're flying down towards them."
"Oh, well, if you're going be like that…"
The sun was rising quickly, so there was a bright red color that filled the sky. The island was shining brightly, which struck Calvin as odd. Especially when he spotted a rock that seemed to shine.
"What's that?" Calvin asked.
Hobbes grabbed the binoculars and looked down. "I'd say it's a tree, just like that one and that one and that one and that one and that one and that one and that one and that one and that one and that one and that one…"
"Not that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that and that. I meant that!" He pointed that time.
Hobbes observed a bit more closely. "I can't tell. It's so shiny that I can't make it out properly."
Calvin slammed on the brakes, causing the binoculars to fly from Hobbes' hands.
"Oh my good-golly-gosh," Calvin said slowly. "Hobbes, we've struck gold."
"We haven't touched it yet," Hobbes said.
So Calvin flew down to the golden rock and rammed hard into it. A huge airbag ploomed out, and they slammed into it.
"Okay, now we've struck it."
Hobbes quickly got out of the box, and he started to look around the rock.
"Calvin, I think this is gold!" he said excitedly.
Calvin scratched the rock. "It's certainly not painted, that's for sure."
Hobbes breathed on it and rubbed it, only to see his reflection.
"Oh, it even looks good. It's real!"
Calvin whooped. "That's one in the head for old Dad."
"So, how do we plan to move it?"
Calvin pulled out the hypercube. He flew up to the top of the rock and tossed the hypercube on top, open-side-up. The gold was immediately sucked into cube. Calvin flew down to the ground.
"Well, that took care of that," he decided.
They put the cube back in the box, and they flew off back into the sky.
"Hobbes, I know that a lot of my get-rich-quick schemes have failed in the past, but we have finally succeeded! WE ARE RICH! WEALTHY! FINANCIALLY SECURE!" he screeched.
Hobbes rolled his eyes and sat back. "Now that we have the gold, what do we do with it?"
"We'll buy this whole planet! We'll be the ultimate rulers!"
Suddenly, a bolt of green crimson shot across the sky, narrowly missing them.
Hobbes looked over his shoulder. "I think they'd like to say different."
Calvin looked back and saw a familiar spacecraft was zapping at them.
"Oh, no they don't!" he shouted.
He aimed the box towards the island, doing a nosedive. The spacecraft shot down after them.
"MY STOMACH!" Hobbes screamed.
Calvin had to pull up before they crashed, and they took to the skies again. He looked back and saw that the craft had disappeared.
"Hey, where'd it go?"
Hobbes looked all around, but the craft was indeed gone. Instead, he saw two purple little hover-scooters heading towards them. He pulled out a spare set of binoculars and looked at them.
"Oh my…," he said.
"What is it?" Calvin called.
Hobbes handed him the binoculars. Calvin looked back and saw, wearing purple jumpsuits and goggles…
"MOM AND DAD?" he screamed.
Indeed, Mom and Dad were flying the scooters after them, and on their helmets were giant bazookas! The fact that they could hold them on their heads was a testament to how strong they really are.
"How on earth…?" Hobbes started.
"It's the pills, Hobbes! The pills! Retro's got them under his control! We've got to get away from this island."
Suddenly, there was a sputter, and the box suddenly malfunctioned. They hovered in midair for a brief moment before it plummeted into the campsite. Fortunately, they landed on one of the tents, so the impact was softened.
"This couldn't possibly get any worse," Calvin moaned.
Suddenly, they heard a familiar engine, followed by some awful snapping noises with scraping metal.
"I think it's getting worse," Hobbes sighed.
They got up and quickly ran to their own tent. They ran inside to hide.
"What do we do?"
"Start packing," Calvin ordered. "We're getting out of here."
They loaded their bags and ran outside. They immediately wished they'd gone out the other way.
Retro was sitting there in his claw-car.
"Oh, Calvin!" Retro said in mock surprise. "What a shock to see you here."
Calvin held his stuffed tiger in front of him, hoping something would happen.
"Hobbes! Attack! Attack!"
Nothing.
Retro laughed madly. "You think that little stuffed tiger is going to help you? Calvin, don't you understand the concept of your little friend?"
Calvin gulped and dared to look Retro in the eye.
"What do you mean?" he asked meekly.
"Hobbes doesn't exist! He's fake! Phony! False! Pure imagination on your part!"
Calvin's eyes started to water.
"I don't understand…," he said.
"Of course not! You're an idiotic child," Retro cackled. "This tiger isn't a real tiger. He's a toy powered to be real by your imagination! That's why I did the whole Dr. Griffin thing. If I separated you two and helped you realize what a lie your life has been, you'd lose confidence in yourself, and I'd eliminate you once and for all."
Calvin stared at Retro, trying not to believe him. But when he looked at Hobbes, he didn't see the tall, furry friend that he'd grown to know and love. He was as he was: a plain stuffed tiger.
"NOOO!" he screamed, dropping to his knees.
He held the stuffed tiger tightly. He looked up at Retro, who simply glared down at him menacingly.
It was then that Calvin did something purely amazing. He didn't cry. He didn't get mad. Instead, he attacked Retro. How?
"Take this!"
He grabbed a huge rock. Normally he wouldn't be able to budge it, but he was so angry that he found it within himself to lift up the rock and hurl at Retro.
Retro was whacked on the head, and he fell out of the car.
Then Calvin jumped into the car and started hitting several buttons.
The claw went down and started to scoop up loads of sand. The sand was hoisted up set above Retro.
Retro managed to regain himself and push Calvin out of the car.
"Thought you could get the better of me, huh?" he snarled. "Take this!"
He hit the button that opened the claw, only for sand to be dumped all over him.
During all this, Calvin had grabbed his stuff (including the now lifeless Hobbes) and was in the canoe, paddling like mad, trying to go forward. He finally tossed the paddle out, and reached into the hypercube. He pulled out an outboard motor. He placed it on the back and yanked the cord, causing them to shoot forward towards land.
Retro dug his way out of the sand and grabbed his walkie-talkie.
"Galaxoid! Nebular!" he shouted.
The two aliens were beamed down from their spaceship to land. They saluted.
"Get them now!"
"Right, boss!" they chimed.
They boarded a pair of hover-scooters and took off after the canoe.
It only took a minute to get across the lake, and Calvin grabbed his things and dashed for the car. It was lucky for him that it was unlocked and the key was still in the ignition.
"Finally!" he said. "My chance to get that motor running and head out on the highway."
He turned the key and put the car in neutral. However, he wasn't tall enough to see where he was going. He knew that if Hobbes was himself, he'd be able to drive.
"Hobbes, come back! Get back in your body now!"
Hobbes just sat there, the same stuffed tiger.
Calvin was frantic. He could see Galaxoid and Nebular were coming closer, and there was little he could do.
All he could do was remember. He remembered that time they won the triathlon. He remembered the time they became the ski kings of Mt. Superior. He remembered how they'd skipped school together in that really cool car. He remembered all the GROSS meetings and the games of Calvinball.
A tear dropped from Calvin's eye and he hugged his faithful friend.
"It's the end," he said sadly. "We don't stand a chance. My best friend has been a toy all these years, and now I can't get any help from him at all."
But Calvin thought about all those thoughts again. He remembered how Hobbes had helped out all those times. Something was seriously not right. How could he be a toy?
He went to the backseat, leaving Hobbes and curling up into a ball.
Galaxoid and Nebular had finally caught up and saw a boy and a stuffed tiger sitting there in the car.
"There they are," said Galaxoid.
"Indeed," said Nebular. "I must say, the tiger has lost some weight."
Galaxoid looked closely at the tiger in the passenger seat.
"Wait! That's not the tiger!"
"It's not?"
"Well, technically it is, but it isn't. It's a stuffed tiger. No doubt it's part of Retro's plan."
"But how could he have turned the tiger into a toy?" Nebular asked.
"I'll bet it was those Imaginator Sensors that he had hidden in his Three Stooges Haircut. He probably changed the tiger into a toy to ruin the Earth Potentate's chances of winning."
"Well then, it's a good thing that those pills didn't have any effect on us at all," Nebular said. "Otherwise, that kid would be in loads of trouble."
"Indeed. Come on. While we were in the office, I swiped this baby!" Galaxoid said. He yanked out a familiar machine from the back of the hover-scooter.
"Those compartments can hold anything!" Nebular exclaimed.
Calvin was still sniffling in the backseat when he heard something tapping on the window. He dared to look, and was surprised to see Galaxoid and Nebular.
"You two!" he cried.
He threw the door open and looked down at them.
"What are you two doing here? I thought you were working for Retro!"
"Are you nuts?" Galaxoid snapped. "Work for him?"
"We were working undercover," added Nebular mysteriously.
"Huh?" Calvin asked.
"We only pretended that the pills effected us so that we could help you."
Calvin didn't feel any better. "Well, thanks for trying to help, guys, but my life's a lie. Hobbes has been a toy all my life, only triggered by my imagination!"
"So that's the tiger's name," Nebular whispered.
Galaxoid ignored him. "Retro used Imaginator Sensors to turn Hobbes into a toy. He's a real tiger, all right. He's just been a bit tampered with."
Calvin immediately brightened up. "Really? How do we bring him back?"
The two aliens pointed (somehow) to the machine nearby.
"The Imaginator?" Calvin cried.
"Version 2.0.," Galaxoid finished. "We swiped it from the lab when it came time to leave."
"This works out perfectly!"
Calvin immediately slapped his helmet on and turned to Hobbes. A bolt of energy came out and hit the stuffed tiger. He slowly morphed from his fake look turned to a slightly more realistic tiger.
"WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE ARE WE? ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?" he shouted.
Calvin jumped him. "Hobbes, you're back!" he cheered.
"Where'd I go?" Hobbes asked.
"Retro is completely whacked! He tricked me into thinking you weren't real, and then he turned you into a toy! We need to get out of here before he does it again!"
"How?"
They all looked at the car.
"Oh, no," Hobbes moaned.
"Oh, yes!" said Calvin.
"There is nothing in this world that could get me to drive that car."
Suddenly, the earth began to rumble.
Calvin, Hobbes, Galaxoid and Nebular looked at the island, only it didn't look like an island anymore. It had taken on a new form; that of a military base. They could see the spacecraft sitting there. Fleets of little ships were flying out into the sky, setting off to the far corners of the earth.
"It's all part of Retro's plan!" cried Nebular. "He's using the Imaginator to transform the world into what he's always desired!"
"Okay, there's something right there," Hobbes said. "Everyone get in!"
The four of them piled into the car (Calvin grabbed the new Imaginator).
"Okay, Calvin, get on the floor. Galaxoid. Nebular. You two get in the backseat," Hobbes ordered.
The two aliens obeyed, but Calvin didn't.
"The floor? Why?" he demanded.
"Because I'm driving the car, okay?" Hobbes sneered.
Calvin arched an eyebrow.
"Okay, that and because I'm not tall enough to reach the pedals. Do it!"
Calvin gave him a dirty look and got down on all fours.
"Hit the clutch or brake when I tell you," he said.
He turned back to Galaxoid and Nebular.
"Please fasten your seatbelts. The emergency exits are located to your left and right. In the quite likely event of an emergency, put your head between your, er, tentacles and—"
"Kiss your butt goodbye!" Calvin cut in coldly.
The two aliens gulped. They tightened their seatbelts.
Hobbes put the car in drive and looked down. "Oh great. It's a stick," he groaned. He put it in reverse. The car wasn't moving right.
"Why aren't we moving yet?" Calvin called, his hands gently pushing on the gas pedal.
Hobbes reached to the glove compartment and pulled out the owner's manual.
"Here," he said, tossing it to Galaxoid. "Read it and tell us what to do."
Galaxoid quickly flipped the pages. He looked through TABLE OF CONTENTS, searching madly for the chapter that would start the car.
Calvin peeked over the dashboard and looked. A fleet of ships was heading for them, firing plasma blasts. One of them set the canoe on fire.
"Hurry up!" he called.
"Okay, I found the chapter!" Galaxoid cried.
"What do we do?" Hobbes asked.
"Depress the clutch and ease into first gear."
Hobbes prepared to shift gears, but Calvin wasn't doing his part. Okay, he was, but not the way he supposed to.
"I used to have a beautiful life, clutch," he was saying. "Then school entered my life. It ruined me, clutch."
"First of all, that wasn't all the depressing," Hobbes said. "It means to press it gently."
"Hey, you're one to talk. You used to think a clutch was a small purse."
The fleet was getting closer.
Calvin gently pushed the clutch down, and Hobbes eased the stick to first gear.
"Okay, now gently press the accelerator as you slowly let out the clutch."
Hobbes did so, and then he noticed something.
"We did it! We're moving!"
They pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway, where they got away just in time. A plasma blast was fired at the spot where they had just been.
"Now hit the gas and drive like all get out!" Galaxoid shouted.
"Does it actually say that?" Nebular asked.
"No, but I don't care! Drive!"
Calvin sat down on the gas pedal and they shot down the highway. Hobbes was steering carefully to avoid upcoming obstacles.
"That's strange," Hobbes observed. "There aren't any other cars out here!"
"It's another part of Retro's plan!" explained Nebular. "He's enslaving the human race. Those pills were built by his imagination."
"Then maybe we can think up the antidote!" Calvin said.
Hobbes watched all the space fleets take off into the horizon. "Those fleets must be off to give pills to everyone on the planet!" he gasped.
"Then we've got to stop them!" Calvin decided.
"Well, we've got a full tank of gas," Hobbes said, examining the gauges. "At the rate we're going, we should be back in our neighborhood in no time."
"Let's hope so," Calvin sighed. "My butt's gonna get sore after a while."
As they shot down the road, Galaxoid was now flipping through the pages of owner's manual.
"Oh, I seriously doubt they're getting this kind of mileage," he muttered to Nebular.