Retro stood in the main control room. He watched proudly as fleets of ships carrying his armies were taken all over the world. The armies would see to it that his slaves carried out his orders.

"Let's see," he pondered. "What should I rename the Earth? Retropia? Retria? Or maybe something simple like the Planet of the Retro."

There was a buzz on his desk.

"Mr. Retro, Bob is here to see you."

"Send him in."

The doors opened, and in walked a timid-looking man. He had on rectangular glasses.

"R-Retro?" he stuttered nervously.

"Bob?"

"It seems that Galaxoid and Nebular were unaffected by the pills, and are now helping the boy and tiger get back to their own town."

"I see."

Retro paused for a moment to think.

"Did you pick up the files for me, by the way?"

Bob looked up. "Oh, yes. Here they are."

Retro was handed a portfolio. He looked through the different papers. There was a paper on Calvin's parents. There was another on Galaxoid and Nebular. There were some about Spaceman Spiff, Tracer Bullet and Stupendous Man. However, there was one that interested him more than the others.

"Hmmm," he said. "This might be what I need. Bob!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Fetch the Imaginator Sensors. I'm feeling a new idea coming on."

"Yes sir."

Bob left, and Retro hummed happily to himself.

"Let's see, where was I…? Oh, right. There's always San Franretro…"

A beaten car sputtered and coughed into a deserted neighborhood. It was their own, but it was different.

Hobbes looked out the window. "Where is everyone?"

Calvin got off the brake to look. "Retro's probably asked them all to gather somewhere. We need to get to them now."

"How're we gonna do that?" asked Galaxoid. "This car is in no condition to be driven."

"Where there's a will, there's a way," Calvin said. "And I have the will to find that way."

He ran to his house and got something, which he brought back to them a bit later.

"Oh come on!" Hobbes shouted.

It was the wagon.

"We don't have much a choice, Hobbes. Look at the car! We couldn't possibly use it anymore."

"And yet, I'd feel safer in it."

Calvin got in front, and Galaxoid and Nebular squeezed in behind him. There was just enough room for Hobbes.

Having no choice, Hobbes pushed the wagon hard, and he jumped in.

They rocketed down the streets, looking for people and maybe clues.

"Where is everyone?" Calvin shouted.

"Look over there!" said Nebular.

They all saw two green beams of light shooting up into the sky just ahead, and they were moving back in forth.

"Spotlights!" said Calvin. "Maybe they're all over there."

Calvin steered through wreckage that the citizens had made. There were trees over the road, and the houses seemed to be boarded up.

Finally, they reached the streets that were packed with people.

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

"Like this," Calvin replied.

They parked the wagon behind a tree. Then Calvin reached into the hypercube and pulled out the box. They all piled into it and it flew to the sky above the crowds. They saw a big stage and landed on top of the overhang.

"Front row seats," he said.

They all got out and looked down to see someone standing at podium.

"Who's that?" asked Calvin.

"That's one of the imaginary army men that Retro created," said Galaxoid. "They're giving out orders to the slaves."

Calvin and Hobbes watched closely.

"Okay, everyone. You all have mission," the army man said. "You are all to do Retro's bidding, and those include finding the boy and the tiger, as well as two rebellion aliens, and destroy them once and for all."

The four figures above him were nervous and sweating, hoping that no one would see them.

"Look at everyone down," Calvin whispered. "Everyone we know is here, and they've all got glowing green eyes. Mom and Dad, Susie, Moe, Miss Wormwood, Mr. Spittle, Rosalyn, Andy, Sherman…"

"Wait, that hamster took a pill?" Hobbes asked. "Well, it seems some good came out of this."

"We need to break this spell and free everyone somehow," Calvin said. "But how?"

Galaxoid and Nebular looked at each other. "Imaginator."

Calvin and Hobbes perked up. "That's it! We need to get the Imaginator and think up an antidote. Where is it?"

"It's still in the car," said Hobbes. "Let's head back."

They all piled back into the box. Unfortunately, Calvin was so excited that he took off right over the crowd, rather than sneak around.

"THERE HE IS!" shouted the army man.

Hobbes slapped his forehead. "Moron," he muttered.

"Don't worry," Calvin said. "They'll never catch us up here."

Suddenly a hot shot of red blasted past them.

"Maybe not, but they can," said Galaxoid, pointing behind them.

A fleet of battle ships was flying after them.

"FASTER!" Hobbes shouted.

Calvin managed to redirect the box down towards the streets. The ship flew after them.

"AAAAHHH!" everyone screamed.

Calvin did a sudden nosedive. The ship followed. Calvin pulled up seconds before hitting the ground. The ship didn't. It crashed and flipped across the streets.

The box flew back to the car, and they jumped out and ran inside.

"Let's get this thing working!" said Hobbes.

They tossed Calvin the helmet, who immediately thought about an antidote.

In a beam of light, something appeared outside. It was a crate. Once they had it opened, they found that it was…

"Pills?" asked Calvin.

"They're a different color from the mind-control pills," said Nebular. "These must reverse they effects."

"The mind-control pills have a tendency to wear off after a few days," added Galaxoid. "New pills will be sent out to the world an hour before this happens so as to keep it all working without a pause."

"Well, then, let's get this crate back to the island so that we can switch it."

"Actually, they're being shipped out from another state," said Nebular. "We'll take you there, if you'll let us drive."

"Very well," Calvin agreed.

Hobbes went pale.

They loaded the crate into the box, and they took to the skies, Galaxoid and Nebular up front.

Calvin continued to look down at the sights below him, which didn't seem to change. There were people roaming the streets with green eyes. The streets and towns were all in ruins of their former glory and everything.

Back in his lair at the island, Retro was watching everything. He could see the four friends flying off to the production of pills, and he was enjoying it.

Bob couldn't understand why. "Sir, they've got the antidote, and they're going to ruin your plans. Why are you so happy?"

"Because," Retro said, "even if they do make it and save everyone, I've sent for a special someone to wait for them."

"You mean…?"

"Yes. Be sure that he's still happy. We don't want him killing anyone other than those four."

"Yes sir," said Bob, and he left.

The box landed in a once again deserted street, over a hundred miles from home.

"Where are we?" Calvin asked.

"I dunno," said Galaxoid. "We just programmed the coordinates into this box. We don't know the name of this place."

"Figures," Hobbes muttered.

They climbed out of the box and looked around.

"The production building is over here," Nebular whispered.

They hunched behind a corner and saw a giant building with smokestacks.

"That can't be healthy for the earth, with or without the smokestacks," said Hobbes.

Calvin then noticed a familiar figure with glowing green eyes.

"Uncle Max!" he whispered loudly. "This must be his town!"

Indeed, Dad's brother was walking into the giant building.

"Quick!" said Nebular. "Let's follow him!"

Checking their timing, they bolted after Max into the building.

Max bent over and picked up a giant box. He carried it away towards a conveyor belt.

"Those are crates of mind-control pills!" said Hobbes.

"We need to switch those with these," said Calvin.

When Max had left, they ran forward, carrying the crate.

Hobbes lifted the bad crate off, and Calvin, Galaxoid and Nebular put the good crate on. Then Nebular fried the bad pills with a ray gun, and then blasted the pill-making machine, totaling the system.

"The pills will be distributed all over the world within half an hour," said Galaxoid. "We need to get over to your town to make sure it all goes smoothly."

"Oh, I doubt you'll get anywhere," said a familiar voice.

They all whirled around to see Retro standing over them, with an army mind-controlled citizens right behind them.

"Okay, Larry," said Calvin, making a Three Stooges reference.

"How did you know my nickname?" asked Retro, who was actually surprised.

Everyone took a look at his hairdo and rolled their eyes.

"Anyway, I think we can take on your dumb human army no problem," Calvin said firmly.

"I'm sure you could, which is why I thought ahead."

He snapped his fingers. The humans parted.

"What's going on?" Hobbes whispered to Galaxoid.

"I'm not sure. This must be new."

It certainly was.

Something that only Calvin and Hobbes recognized was moving towards them.

"You see, I looked up some past adventures of yours, I found another enemy of yours. Please give it up for…the TEACHER CREATURE!"

Calvin and Hobbes gulped hard as the giant figure walked toward them. It looked just like it had back when they had been trapped in the old school last month.

"We're in serious trouble here," whimpered Hobbes.

"No we're not!" said Calvin. "Watch!"

He jumped the creature and gave a hard tug on his ears.

"Don'ch'a remember? The Teacher Creature was a fake!"

He tugged and pulled at the Creature's head, but it wouldn't come off.

Hobbes, Galaxoid and Nebular looked closely. Nothing yet.

"Calvin, I think this thing is real," Hobbes said nervously.

Suddenly, the Creature roared and grabbed Calvin, hurling him into Hobbes.

"Ya know, Hobbes, I think you're right."

"In fact," Retro said, "you're not alone."

Suddenly, the room was filled with several Teacher Creatures!

"I take it found my Duplicator," Calvin moaned.

When they looked again, they saw that Retro had disappeared somehow.

"What do we do now?" asked Galaxoid.

Calvin looked and saw the Imaginator sitting near by.

"I think Calvin has an idea," said Hobbes. "The question is, however, do we want to know what it is?"