The ground started trembling.

Hobbes saw that the three sets of creatures were starting to charge.

"What do we do?" asked Sherman.

"Well, I have one idea," said Hobbes.

"What's that?" asked Nebular.

"Run around and scream like scared little babies."

"Sounds like a plan," said Andy.

They threw their hands in the air and started to scream, running around in circles.

Calvin and Bob groaned.

The alien janitor was near Retro and Earl, who were looking inside the hypercube.

Desperate to avoid a filthy mess to clean up, he pretended he was mopping, and the handle bumped into the back of Retro's head.

"Whoops," said the janitor. "Sorry."

But the force had been enough to knock the hypercube loose from Retro and Earl's grasps, and it fell to the ground, and several things began to tumble out.

The cube itself stayed on the platform they were on, but a few of Calvin's things fell to the ground in the arena.

"Oh-no!" screeched Retro.

"Catch those!" added Earl.

Rupert saw the objects fall too late.

Hobbes and the gang spotted them.

What had fallen were the wagon, an advanced alien gun from Zok, and a propeller.

Hobbes glanced over at Sherman, and a sly grin came across his face.

He grabbed the genius hamster.

"HEY!" Sherman squeaked.

"Quick, Vermin!" Hobbes shouted. "We need your genius now more than ever!"

"But I can't handle monsters!"

"You don't have to. Just use these three things to build us something we can use as a defense!"

Sherman saw the three objects on the ground. His mind worked at lightning speed.

"I'll see what I can do," he said.

Hobbes had the others gather in close.

"Okay, here's the plan!" he said. "Sherman's gonna combine all of those non-Calvin-inventions over there, but we need to give him time. That means all of us have to distract those three monsters ourselves! Got it?"

"Got it!" said Andy.

"For sure!" said Socrates.

"Affirmative," said Galaxoid.

"There's a plan?" asked Nebular.

"Break!" shouted Hobbes.

They all split up.

"Good luck, guys!" yelled Calvin.

The Spacers came first. Galaxoid and Nebular stood before them.

The Spacers opened their mouths wide, but before they could start sucking things into their mouths, the two little aliens sang.

"THERE ONCE WAS A MAN FROM PERU WHO DREAMED HE WAS EATING HIS SHOE! HE WOKE WITH A FRIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, AND FOUND THAT HIS DREAM HAD COME TRUE!"

The Spacers stopped. They stared at Galaxoid and Nebular quizzically.

A spotlight suddenly shown on Andy, who took a piece of paper out of his pocket. He cleared his throat and read.

"THERE IS A PET STORE IN THE MALL, AND THERE, I HEARD A BIRDIE CALL. 'CHEEP! CHEEP!' IT CRIED. AND 'CHEEP' ONCE MORE! IT THEN ECHOED THROUGH THE STORE! IT SOUNDED NICE UNTIL I ASKED THAT BIRDIE'S PRICE! I WILL NOT GO BACK TO THAT MALL. THAT BIRDIE WAS NOT 'CHEEP' AT ALL!"

The Spacers found themselves giggling. Those were funny poems.

"They like funny!" said Hobbes. "That gives me an idea. If we get one of them to laugh so hard that it opens it's mouth real wide, it'll swallow all the others! Andy, do you know any more jokes?"

"I do a bit."

Andy stepped into the spotlight.

"HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL! HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL! ALL THE KING'S HORSES AND ALL THE KING'S MEN…HAD SCRAMBLED EGGS FOR BREAKFAST AGAIN!"

The Spacers laughed a little harder, but one seemed to think that was the funniest thing ever, because it seemed to open it's mouth wider than all the others.

"Keep it up!" shouted Hobbes.

Socrates slid forward.

"A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named 'Amal.' The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him 'Juan.' Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his mom. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Amal. Her husband responds, 'But they are twins-if you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal.'"

The entire stadium burst out laughing.

But there was one Spacer that just couldn't control himself. His mouth opened wide from laughter, and he sucked up his fellow Spacers, who suddenly didn't feel like laughing. And now in stitches, the Spacer rolled back out of the stadium.

"EETHA HAS DEFEATED THE SPACERS!" shouted the announcer. "THAT JUST LEAVES THE TORNADUSES AND THE CLAWRACKS!"

By now, Sherman was able to shout, "FINISHED!"

Hobbes examined what Sherman had done.

"I attached the propeller to the middle of the wagon, and I ran some wires through the steering handle to steer like you normally would. The laser gun has been split open and equipped to fire atomic blasts on either side of the craft."

"Huh," said Hobbes. "Not bad, Vermin."

"IT'S SHERMAN!"

Hobbes hopped into the wagon, pressed a button, and the propeller turned on. The wagon took to the air.

Hobbes spotted the Tornaduses were currently in spin cycle. Socrates, Andy, Galaxoid and Nebular cowered in a corner of the stadium.

But Hobbes knew what to do. He threw the wagon into hyperdrive.

The wagon blasted toward the Tornaduses, which almost had the others. Hobbes spun the wagon around the monsters in the opposite direction of which they were spinning.

Rupert stared. "NO FAIR!" he shouted. "They're aren't allowed to use the Earth Potentate's inventions!"

"Actually," said Calvin. "I didn't invent that. Sherman did, so they're still within the legal limits."

"Gotta love loopholes," said Bob.

Rupert growled at Earl and Retro, who looked away nervously.

By spinning in the opposite direction of the Tornaduses, it caused the monsters to get confused, and they got very dizzy and collapsed.

"THAT'S TWO MONSTERS DOWN AND ONE TO GO!" shouted the announcer. "ALL THAT ARE LEFT ARE THE CLAWRACKS!"

Hobbes touched down on the ground.

"Good job on this thing, Vermin," said Hobbes. "I must say, it worked like a charm."

"It was nothing," chuckled Sherman modestly.

However, celebrations were cut short when out stomped the Clawracks.

"Uh-oh," said Galaxoid.

Hobbes suddenly didn't feel so confident.

"Any ideas, anyone?" asked Andy.

Hobbes glanced at the Clawracks.

The roundish creatures growled at him and extended their talons.

Hobbes spotted the announcer was sitting at desk, waiting for something to happen.

He also spotted a knob on the base.

Using his good vision, Hobbes read SINGING VOICE.

He hoped that it meant a voice from Earth.

Hobbes leaned over and whispered into Andy's ear.

Andy's eyes popped open.

"You really think so?" he asked.

"Couldn't hurt," Hobbes replied.

Andy reached into his pocket and pulled a CD.

It said Karaoke CD Vol. 5: Gospel and Religious.

Rupert, Earl, Retro, Calvin and Bob observed.

The Clawracks watched with great interest.

Hobbes inserted the CD into a sound system that connected with all the speakers in the stadium. Then he skipped around a couple of songs.

"What the heck is he doing?" demanded Rupert.

Earl turned pale.

"I think I know."

Hobbes approached the announcer.

"Could I borrow your microphone real fast?" he asked.

"You mean my voice amplification unit?" asked the announcer. "Sure."

Hobbes took the microphone.

Suddenly music started to play.

Earl's eyes bugged out.

Everyone in Earl's crew covered their heads.

Retro and Rupert glanced at each other.

"What's he up to?" demanded Retro.

Earl whispered into their ears.

Retro's eyes bugged out.

Rupert gasped.

"Uh-oh," they muttered.

The music wasn't hard rock, though.

It was a bit more soothing.

And Hobbes was ready.

"Take a good look at yourself.
You're probably singing along.
Lying alone in your room,
or crusin' down an empty road.
Or maybe you're on your feet,
in a crowd of strangers and friends.
The spotlight's on someone else,
But you feel like you're part of the show.
What's the magic in the music?
And why does it bring us together like this?
We all have a longing inside.
And it keeps us singing song after song after song.
"

Calvin stared.

He had no idea that Hobbes could sing.

The voice was beautiful.

Socrates, Andy, Sherman, Galaxoid, Nebular and Bob were all gaping.

The Clawracks, however, seemed as though they were under a trance.

Hobbes started to walk around the stadium, stilling singing.

"We're all waiting for the best song ever!
It's somewhere out there, and everyone can feel it!
We keep waiting for the best song ever!
And when it arrives the whole world's gonna hear it!
Yeah, the best song ever!
Someday we'll all be singing it together.
"

Rupert, Retro and Earl were watching with stunned looks as Hobbes started to dance a little.

The Clawracks were dancing behind him.

"Where will the song come from?
Who's gonna find the right words?
Come up with a melody?
That rings in every human soul.
Well dig out your instruments.
Make sure they're all in tune.
'Cause nobody knows how long,
but we still got some singing to do.
'Cause there's magic in the music.
Just look how it brings us together like this!
We all have a longing inside,
and it keeps us singin' song after song after song!
"

Somehow, Hobbes was now wearing a white tux and a top hat was on his furry head. And now a spotlight had shown on him and the monsters behind him.

As he danced the Broadway down the length of the stadium, the Clawracks all got into a row behind him and danced just like him.

"We're all waiting for the best song ever
It's somewhere out there, and everyone can feel it
We keep waiting for the best song ever
And when it arrives the whole world's gonna hear it!
Yeah, the best song ever!
Someday we'll all be singing it together.
"

Now there was guitar / piano duet playing as Hobbes and the Clawracks danced around.

"Guess it's true what they say," said Sherman. "Music soothes the beast after all."

"We're all waiting for the best song ever!
It's somewhere out there, and everyone can feel it!
We keep waiting for the best song ever!
And when it arrives the whole world's gonna hear it!
Yeah, the best song ever!
Someday we'll all be singing it together.
"

Now Hobbes stood on the claw-car and directed the Clawracks out of the stadium, where they danced in a hypnotic state out of the building.

"Where will the song come from?
Who's gonna find the right words?
"

Hobbes took a bow and tipped his hat.

"YAY!" cheered Calvin.

"WAHOO!" added Bob.

"TEAM EETHA WINS!" yelled the announcer.

"HOORAY!" cheered the alien janitor. "I don't have a mess to clean up!"

Socrates climbed into the cab with Hobbes.

"Impressive move there, buddy," he said. "Now let's free Calvin and Bob."

Socrates pressed a button, but it was the wrong button, and a net shot out, trapping them. They dangled from the tailpipe, embarrassed.

"We shall never speak of this again," whispered Socrates.

"Agreed," said Hobbes.

After cutting their way out, Hobbes pressed another button, and it extended the claw, and the cage was ripped open.

Calvin ran over towards Rupert, snatching away the hypercube.

"I believe this is mine!" he said.

He and Bob jumped into the arena.

But Rupert, Earl and Retro didn't look none too happy.

"That does it!" shouted Rupert. "WE MUST NOW DESTROY THEM ALL!"

"Right!" said Retro. "We're going to rip you fools apart. You'll rue the day you messed with us!"

"Well, in that case…," said Hobbes, "…we'll be catching the next flight out of here."

Hobbes quickly used the claw car to scoop up Calvin, Andy, Socrates, Bob, Sherman, Galaxoid and Nebular. He brought claw over towards him, and then climbed in. He reached over and pressed a button, and then they were all flung through the air!

"YAAAHOOOOOO!" cheered Calvin.

"LATER, VILLAINS!" added Hobbes.

They flew straight out of the arena.

"They're heading for the ships!" said Earl. "AFTER THEM!"