Chapter Fourteen

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ground shook on every footstep.

"RUN!" Calvin screamed.

"Run where?" Hobbes demanded, looking around. "We don't know where it's coming from!"

"INTO THE BUSHES!"

Calvin and Hobbes raced back into the dense forestry, and dove into some bushes, scattering a few lizards.

There, the two laid low, until Calvin screamed, "WHERE'S THE MTM!"

Calvin and Hobbes' eyes fell on the miniature CD player. It was lying in the middle of the plain, bouncing along at every footstep.

Calvin crouched down, into a racing position, and burst forward.

"CALVIN!" Hobbes screamed. "YOU IDIOT! NO!"

"IT'S OUR ONLY WAY HOME!" Calvin called back.

"GET IT, CALVIN!" Hobbes screamed. "GET IT! GET IT! GET IT! GET IT! GET IT! GET IT!"

Calvin raced up to the MTM, and grabbed it off the ground.

A moment to late, however.

At that very moment, over fifteen feet of predator exploded from the brush, and it's eyes fixed onto Calvin.

Calvin blinked.

The Tyrannosaur roared.

"Gasp." Calvin muttered.

Then, there was a blur of red and a loud gush of wind, and Calvin vanished.

The T. Rex roared, again, and started after Calvin with its terrible eyes fixed on him.

Calvin flew into the bushes to alert Hobbes of the... Hobbes had vanished. Calvin flew out of the weeds, shall we say, and continued running for dear life.

Oh, and he released an Aerial Probe to go take pictures of the T. Rex.

Of corse.

The T Rex stomped through the forest, roaring, and keeping his gaze locked on Calvin.

Uh oh.

The Rex was gaining.

Calvin frantically grabbed the MTM.

Welcome to the MTM Hypercube. Please stick your hand in here, and pull something out.

Calvin twiddled his fingers, then shoved his hand into the MTM's storage box.

He pulled out... hmmm... a pair of shoes.

Calvin quickly put the MTM away, and started to kick his red sneakers off.

When he got them off, he flung them at T. Rex.

They bounced off his nose.

However, the impact of the shoes was enough to cause T. Rex to stop, shake his head, and sneeze.

That was enough time.

Calvin quickly slipped the shoes on, strapped them on, and flipped a switch, causing it to hum, and have several lights come on.

Calvin leaped back up, and started running off, again.

Finally, T. Rex stopped sneezing, and started chasing Calvin again.

Calvin pumped his arms and waited for... ah yes... all at once, trees and bushes were shooting past Calvin like crazy.

Calvin made sharp turns, and quick maneuvers as T Rex started to fall behind.

Calvin looked behind him to see Rexy disappear behind the hill.

Calvin chuckled, and...

CRASH!

Have you ever tried to look behind your shoulders, while running at ninety miles per hour in a forest filled with trees? Don't do it.

Calvin found himself lying on his back, and he began seeing checkers, and stars and little pink elephants with umbrellas.

He sat up, and stared at the stupid tree in front of him.

Calvin started putting several curses on the tree. Then he stood up, and tried to keep himself from falling over.

He was very dizzy, don't you see, and he felt it very hard to stand up.

And so, he limped, staggered and floundered across the forest, until he came Hobbes' last known location.

There, he started calling for him.

"HOBBES! HO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-BBES! GET OVER HERE! I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

Hobbes finally climbed down from a tree he was in, and walked over to Calvin.

"Oh, hi, Calvin." He said. "Where'd the T. Rex go?"

"That's not important, right now." Calvin spat. "The important point is that you abandoned me, when we were in a red alert situation! You oughta be ashamed of yourself!"

"I am."

"No, you're not."

"Yeah I am. Because I felt more like I did then, than I do, right now."

"What?"

"I said, I felt more like I did then, than I do, right now."

"Oh. Yes, of corse."

Calvin's eyes blanked out.

"I seemed to have lost my train of thought."

"The color red and abandoned towns."

"Shut up, Hobbes."

Calvin thought for a few minutes, then it returned to him.

"NOW I remember!" He yelled. "Before T. Rex so rudely interrupted us, we were looking for Triceratops!"

"Hmm, yes."

"Well, COME ON! Do you think we have all day!"

And so, Calvin and Hobbes continued their search for Triceratops.


After about twenty minutes, they finally reached the lake.

Can you guess what they found?

Water.

But nothing else. No Triceratops.

That made Calvin angry.

"I don't understand it!" he yelled. "They were supposed to be right here!"

"Huh." Hobbes said, scratching his head, and looking out over the lake.

"I TAKE THIS AS A PERSONAL INSULT!"

Calvin spent the next few minutes fuming, griping, complaining, screaming, yelling, throwing his arms in all directions, banging his head against a tree, yelling some more, and running around in circles.

Hobbes watched.

"Calvin," He said. "It's just a animal photo."

Calvin muttered and grumbled, and turned away.

Finally, he calmed down, and they continued their search.

However, Calvin now had a headache. Caused, no doubt, by Calvin banging his head against the tree.

It was causing him much pain.

"Ooooh." Calvin moaned, rubbing his head. "Ya know, Hobbes, all trees should be equipped with signs that say, 'don't bang your head against this thing, no matter how much you hate camera shy dinosaurs, because you'll fracture your skull, and the tree will never feel a thing'."

Hobbes rolled his eyes.

They continued walking.

"So, where are we going to look for Triceratops, now?"

"We're trying the lake on the other side of the mountain." Calvin said.

"Wait, a minute, we're climbing over a mountain?"

"Just a small one, don't worry. The thing I'm worried about is that there's a tar pit across the mountain. They usually give off carbon dioxide this time of year."

"Carbon dioxide?" Hobbes asked. "As in, that stuff that's heavier than air, and suffocates you if you breath the slightest bit of it?"

"That's the one."

"Give me that Time Machine, now."

"Oh relax, Hobbes." Calvin said, "You think I didn't prepare for that?"

Calvin clicked about the MTM for a minute, then, a couple of white suits fell out.

They hadhelmets with glass openings, green gloves, and black boots.

Calvin slipped his on, and screwed on his helmet.

Hobbes sighed, and put on the suit himself.

"OK, Hobbes." Calvin said, over a radio in the helmet. "Let's test the suits out. They're voice activated so just repeat after me."

"Uh huh."

"Gravitation boots."

Calvin lifted into the air, and started hovering three feet above the ground.

Hobbes followed suit.

"Fire hands."

Fire blasted out of Calvin's gloves like a flamethrower.

Hobbes did the same.

"Voice amplifier."

Calvin cleared his throat, and whispered the tiniest of sounds.

"peep."

It was immediately increased.

"PEEP!"

Hobbes skipped that one.

"Alright, Hobbes. The suit's work fine." Calvin said, dusting them off. "I was going to add in a voice changer, but I didn't have room."

"What would we do with a voice changer?" Hobbes asked.

"I dunno. Make our voices sound different, I guess."

Hobbes' eyes squeezed shut.

"Alright, Hobbes." Calvin said. "Let's go!"

"What if their aren't any Triceratops at this lake, Calvin?" Hobbes asked.

Calvin's eyes blanked out.

"We'll deal with that bridge when we come to it, Hobbes." He said, finally.

Hobbes sighed, and rolled his eyes skyward.

"Oh boy." He muttered.

And so, Calvin and Hobbes began the climb up the mountain.

About half way up, something very interesting happened.

Something dangerous.

You'll see.

But you're going to have to keep reading.