Swing123: The next chapter will be the last, just so you know, not including the Bonus Chapter.

Calvin and Hobbes rushed across the landscape to the airport a few miles away.

Finally Calvin and Hobbes reached a UFO.

"Here we are!" Calvin declared. "A UFO!"

"Why can't we lead a normal life?" Hobbes grumbled.

"Ok, Hobbes," Calvin said. "We'll struggle to find out how to use the stupid controls right, then we'll go home! Ready?"

"No."

"Good, here we go!"

Calvin and Hobbes rushed up to the UFO.

"Ok, now listen up." Calvin said. "This place is probably storming with guards. We might just find ourselves in a combat situation! And maybe you'd like to go first."

"Yeah, or maybe I wouldn't." Hobbes said.

"WHAT?" Calvin shouted.

"I said... oh boy. Combat. Oh goody."

"That's the spirit!" Calvin grinned. "now let's go!"

Calvin and Hobbes rushed into the first room.

All the aliens seemed to have left.

"Alright." Calvin said. "how do we start this thing?"

Hobbes hit the start button.

The engine roared to life.

"Oh, Ok, I guess that'll work." Calvin shrugged.

Calvin grabbed the controls, and hit full throttle.

The aliens stared at the radar screen.

"I'll be darned." Said Alien number one. "There's goes another unauthorized ship."

"Shall I send another mutant after it?" Asked alien number two.

"Nah." Said Alien number one. "That would be redundant. Lets just stare at the screen with awe, and continue to contemplate our meaningless lives."

"Uh-kay." Said Alien number two.

Calvin jerked the wheel upward.

"Alright." Calvin said, looking at a map. "We're in the region of here," Calvin pointed to a place on the map. "And Earth is over here someplace." He pointed at another spot on the map.

"How lucky are we to have such a experienced mapper?" Hobbes asked.

"Uh-huh."

Calvin looked at the radar screen.

"No attackers. Heck, Hobbes, this just might be a silent flight through the vast regions of space."

"Mmm." Hobbes muttered, laying back in his chair.

Calvin pushed the hyperdrive button, and the engines kicked in, rocketing them out of Zok's atmosphere.

"See ya, lava land!" Calvin screamed. "Earth, evil creatures from another planet, and the all of mindless, nose picking zombies from North Dakota, here we come!"

"If we ever get home, I'll never set foot outside, again." Hobbes grumbled.

The first fifteen minutes went smoothly.

Calvin hit a button on the control panel.

"HEY! ROBOT SLAVES! GET IN HERE!" He screamed into a microphone.

A tall thin robot with a sleek sliver body burst into the room.

"How may I ease your life, oh great master?" The robot asked, bending down on his hands and knees.

The robot didn't sound like you other forms of robot. It didn't have a flat voice like most robots, but it actually had a human like voice.

"Yeah." Calvin said. "I wanna glass of water."

"Yes oh great one!" The robot said. "Do you want that in a tall glass or a short glass?"

Calvin blinked.

"Uh... tall."

"Yes oh wonderful one whose hair is as intriguing as a nail. Would you like ice with that water?"

"Yes." Calvin muttered, losing patience.

"Yes, oh notable potentate of my unworthy skin." The robot said.

"You don't have skin." Hobbes said.

The robot ignored Hobbes.

"Would you liked cubed ice, or sliced ice, oh wonderful one?" He asked.

Calvin glared at it.

"Cubed!" He growled.

"Would you like a lemon slice with that water, oh mighty creature?"

"NO!" Calvin growled.

"Would you like cold water or hot water, oh famous one whose shoes can stomp a car?"

"Cold!" Calvin spat. "Now get going!"

The robot sat up.

"Right." He said. "That's cold water, in a tall glass, with cubed ice, and no lemon."

He started for the door, then stopped.

He turned back to Calvin.

"Would you like fries with that?" He asked.

"GET OUT!" Calvin screeched.

The robot bowed, and started babbling.

"Yes, oh wondrous man whose breath could stun a moose. oh mighty ruler of my person. Oh great..."

He shut the door, but Calvin still heard him talking through the door.

"...of my worthless skin. Mighty creature to which there is no limit. Great boy who has many a..."

"Put a sound field around the stupid door, Hobbes!" Calvin screamed.

Hobbes pushed a button on the panel, and the blabbering stopped.

Calvin turned to the computer monitor.

"HOW MUCH FARTHER NOW!" He screamed.

"Earth exactly four billion, ninety three million, four hundred fifty two thousand, two light-years away from present location." Said a flat robotic voice.

"OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Calvin screeched. "Why can't this stupid thing go any faster than this!"

"Well, there must be some way to get to go faster." Hobbes said. "I'll look around."

He turned back to the control panel and gulped. There were over a million buttons on that on stretch of panel Hobbes was at.

Suddenly, the ship started to wander into a field of red planets.

While Hobbes searched for something to make the ship go faster, several eyes watched ths ship, from behind the planets.

Calvin was grumbling, and pacing the floor.

Suddenly the robotic voice came on.

"Warning." It said. "Shadowfax territory."

"Shadow what, territory?" Hobbes questioned.

The computer repeated the warning.

"Shadowfax territory. Shadowfax territory. Shadowfax territory."

"Make it shut up!" Calvin yelled.

Hobbes looked around on the control panel.

"I can't find the button." Hobbes said.

"Then tell it to shut up!" Calvin said.

"Shut up!" Hobbes spat.

"Watch your mouth, Hobbes, your talking to the Earth Potentate here!" Calvin snarled.

"I was talking to the computer." Hobbes said.

"Oh." Calvin said.

But the voice kept on saying SHADOWFAX TERRITORY.

Suddenly the radar started beeping.

Calvin and Hobbes turned around, and stared at it.

There appeared to be four unidentified things heading for the ship, each coming in a different direction. Almost as if it was hunting them.

Calvin and Hobbes stared at the radar screen. Then stared at each other. Then stared back at the radar.

Calvin gulped.

"Um, Hobbes?" He asked. "What do you suppose a shadowfax is?"

"I have no idea." Hobbes said. "And I'm not sticking around to find out."

Just then, something collided with the back of the ship.

Calvin and Hobbes gasped in horror.

They looked up at the ceiling.

The scrape of claws against metal sounded as something moved across the roof of the ship.

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged glances.

"Well," Hobbes said. "I've said it once. I've said it twice, I've said it a hundred times. We're dead."

Calvin and Hobbes slowly turned around and faced the windshield.

They screamed.

There was a pitch black creature clinging to the glass, and staring at Calvin and Hobbes with red eyes.

It scratched its claws against the glass and screeched.

Then it raised a fist, and punched the glass, cracking it.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" Calvin and Hobbes screamed.

The Shadowfax repeatedly started punching the glass, making bigger cracks.

"Quick, Hobbes!" Calvin yelled. "Set up the Shadowfax shield!"

"The what?" Hobbes asked.

"Forget it! Just start hitting buttons!"

Calvin and Hobbes started pushing random buttons all at once.

Then another Shadowfax attached itself to the window. Then three more. Then six more. then five times that number. then some more.

Soon, the entire ship was covered with bloodthirsty shadowfax.

"Nothing's working!" Calvin said, frantically.

"Wait, Calvin!" Hobbes yelled. "We're not cavemen! We have technology!"

Hobbes grabbed a work computer off of the desk, and started banging it against the window.

Nothing happened.

"It didn't work." Calvin said.

Hobbes ran over to the computer monitor, and yelled, "What do we do!"

The computer answered.

"Brush your teeth and wash your face every day, and you will have good clean hygiene, throughout your entire youth."

Hobbes stared at the computer.

"What?" He demanded.

"Hey, I'm a computer, not a miracle worker." The computer said.

Calvin rushed over to the controls.

"Lets see if I can shake them off!" He yelled.

He pushed the wheel forward, and the ship lurched forward sending three Shadowfax screaming off.

"OK." Calvin said. "Three down. About thirty million to go."

Calvin pushed the wheel far back, and the ship screamed forward in a burst of speed.

The Shadowfax clung on, and continued to punch at the glass.

"What are we gonna to do?" Hobbes yelled.

"Quick, Hobbes!" Calvin yelled, whirling around. "If Captain Napalm were here, what would he do?"

Hobbes stared at Calvin.

"Calvin, you are the stupidest six-year old I've sever seen in my life."

"I'm just throwing ideas around!" Calvin yelled.

He spun back to the control panel.

the Shadowfax were almost in the ship, and air was hissing out of the it through the cracks.

"There must be some kind of defense here!"

Calvin grabbed a users manul, and started reading.

Shadowfax

Oh, hi there. Shadowfax are black things that eat other stuff. They like food, and really, really, don't like bright lights. OK, see ya.

Calvin blinked.

"Alright," He yelled. "This idiot book has given me some vital info! They like food!"

Hobbes stare at the book.

"Lights!" Hobbes yelled. "We need lights!"

Hobbes rushed over, and turned on the headlights. What a UFO was doing with headlights, I have no idea.

Light spewed out of the ship, and hit several Shadowfax.

They screeched in pain, and fell off the ship, with smoke rising from them.

"We need more light!" Hobbes yelled.

Calvin grabbed a flashlight.

"Here, try and get them off the glass with this." He said.

Hobbes took the flashlight, switched it on, and pointed it at the glass.

Smoke hissed from them, and they screeched, and leaped off.

"Gee, this is fun." Calvin said.

Hobbes looked up, the Shadowfax had pried the door open, and were rushing inside, screaming their heads off.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Calvin yelled.

He flipped the light switch, and light spewed into room.

While Hobbes closed the door, to prevent any more coming in, or losing any more air, The Shadowfax yelled and screeched dramatically, and then faded into smoke.

"Nothing like a bunch of drama to get the movie going, huh Hobbes?" Calvin asked.

"Uh-huh."

Calvin and Hobbes then turned back to the control panel.

"Here we are." Calvin said.

He flipped a switch marked, "Lots and lots of light."

The UFO started to glow with bright, white light.

Shadowfax fell off, screeching, and yelling.

Calvin and Hobbes watched, with glee.

"Oops!" Calvin said, pushing a lever forward. "I just increased the power of the light! Bad me!"

The Shadowfax all fell off the ship, screaming and yelling.

Calvin and Hobbes sighed.

"Thank goodness." He said. "We're saved."

Calvin turned and stared at the windshield.

He gasped.

Hobbes turned around. He gasped.

Calvin and Hobbes stared in horror at the terror in front of them.

"OH MY GOSH!" Calvin yelled. "Look what Rupert has done to the Earth!"

"And yet, we both find the destruction of human nature strangely hilarious." Hobbes said.

"True, so true." Calvin said.

Rupert still had that metal cover over the planet. Which wasn't good.

Calvin looked around, then found the opening.

Calvin and Hobbes exchanged glances.

"Terrific." Hobbes said. "A creepy opening to a place I don't want to see at this particular moment."

Calvin gulped, then steered the spaceship towards the opening.

"Well, Hobbes." He said. "This is it. Our final face-off with what's-his-name."

"Wonder." Hobbes said. "If you need me, I'll be hiding in the closet."

And with that, Calvin and Hobbes entered Earth's atmosphere.

Maybe they shouldn't have done that.