"News will come in a few minutes..." Hobbes told the toys.

Jason and Marcus zoomed through the halls, singing all the way:

Secret agent man

Secret agent man...

Jason looked up. "Look out! Stairs ahead!"

"Uh-oh." They crashed down the stairs. Startled, the Quincy's scattered in different directions.

"Guys!" called Jason. "Come back!"

Marcus sighed. "So much for the mission."

Jason checked to see if their huge monitor was secure. "As long as the baby monitor's okay, we're fine."

"Do you hear something?" listened Marcus.

"Yeah, it's..."

They both looked up to see a huge kid stomping towards them. "CALVIN!" They ducked into a potted plant as Calvin ran through. He accidently stepped on a lone Quincy that didn't escape in time.

Calvin picked up the crushed toy. "Huh? Where'd he come from? Oh well." He tossed it away. As soon as Calvin disappeared, Jason and Marcus recovered the squashed Quincy.

"Quincy #31!" cried Jason. "The poor little guy..."

Marcus jumped into a potted plant, which would serve as their hiding place. "He's still alive, don't worry. A little glue will help him out. Now let's set up the monitor. They're getting out the presents."

Back in the bedroom, everyone was worrying a bit.

"Oh dear!" paced Edd. "Why haven't they reported anything!"

Lucy glared at Hobbes. "Nice plan, tiger."

"Please," said Linus, "I have faith in Hobbes."

"So do I!" added Snoopy.

"Thank you," smiled Hobbes, "I appreciate that. Besides, all of you know how tough the stairs are on toys. We'll have a report in no time."

The monitor crackled to life. "Can you read us?" said Jason.

"We sure can!" said Hobbes.

"He's opening the first one!" Marcus said nervously. There was a long pause. "It's...blankets."

"Who invited that kid?" complained Eddy.

"Well, this is a nice surprise," smiled Linus.

Time flew by. Soon they were up to the last present. "Here's the last one...it's...a board game! Candyland!"

The toys cheered. "We're alive!" cried Snoopy.

Hobbes sighed calmly. "See, there's nothing to worry about."

The monitor suddenly flared again. "Wait!" cried Jason. "Don't turn off the power! Calvin's mom has pulled out a surprise present!"

"Curses!" moaned Edd. "This can't be good!"

"Some kid's in the way!" said Marcus. "I can't see what it is! It's a...a..."

"I cannot handle the pain!" yelled Ed. Ed rammed his head against the baby monitor, knocking out the batteries.

"Nice going, lumpy!" groaned Eddy.

Ed smiled absentmindedly. "My head feels better."

The toys all scrambled around, trying to put the batteries back in. Hobbes stayed up on the bed, trying to restore order. "Keep calm! Keep calm!"

"Put 'em in!" screeched Eddy, struggling with the batteries.

Kevin grabbed them himself. "Dork, they're the wrong way!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Edd managed to put the batteries back in a second.

Jason's voice was heard again on the monitor. "Calvin's coming upstairs! RUN!"

The toys all hid, or fell limply to the ground. Hobbes stayed on the bed. Calvin burst in and shoved a toy on the bed, accidently knocking Hobbes off. "Wow!" cried the boy. "This is so cool!"

Calvin ran downstairs again. The toys come out. "I am in awe," said Ed.

"Indeed," agreed Edd.

"Did anyone see what the new toy is?" asked Charlie Brown.

Hobbes crawled out from under the bed where he was knocked. "I missed it."

"Like, why are you on the floor?" asked Nazz.

Eddy ran over. "I'll tell you why he's on the floor! He was pushed off! By Calvin! So much for being the kid's favorite!"

Hobbes dusted himself off. "I'm sure Calvin still likes me," he defeneded. "He was just excited."

Snoopy looked up nervously. "He must have a good toy to be that excited..."

Hobbes shrugged. "The poor toy might be a little scared, you know. A new house and new friends and everything. I'll go up and talk to it, you know, give it a nice 'Calvin's Room' welcome."

Hobbes climbed up on the bed and found an action figure of an odd man in overalls with a mustache. Mario the plumber. "What sort of weird land is this?" the new toy was saying to himself.

Hobbes jumped out. "Hello!"

"AAAHHH! KOOPA!"

Hobbes backed up. "No! No! Just a tiger."

"AAAHHH! TIGER! Prepare to meet thy doom!" Mario held up a toy fire flower, which did nothing but make weird noises.

"Calm down..." said Hobbes, "it's cool."

Mario put down the flower. "Oh...sorry I freaked out on you. Where am I?"

"Calvin's room. I'm Hobbes, the general leader."

"I'm Super Mario!"

The other toys climbed onto the bed. "Super Mario?" repeated Edd.

Eddy laughed. "Heh, Hobbes ain't super."

"Be quiet, Eddy. I'm Nazz, Mr. Mario."

Mario was impressed. "Mama mia! Just look at everyone! I guess I'll explain myself. I grew up in Brooklyn with my brother Luigi. Using a warp pipe we found in the sewers, we found the magical Mushroom Kingdom, which I'm trying to protect from the evil Bowser Koopa!"

Ed jumped in front of him. "I am monster Ed! Roar!"

"DIE!" Mario started pressing a button on his fire flower which made video game sound effects. Nothing happened.

Edd nervously pulled his friends away. "Oh, don't mind Ed. Lovable oaf. I'm Edd with two d's, so everyone calls me Double D. There's Eddy, Snoopy, Kevin, Charlie Brown, Schroder, Sally, Linus, Lucy, and I'm sure you already know Hobbes."

"Nice flower thing," commented Snoopy.

"It's a fire flower," Mario said proudly, "a dangerous weapon."

"I don't see Hobbes with one of those," remarked Eddy.

"Please," Hobbes said defensively. "I'm...scary enough! I'm a tiger, after all."

"A fluffy cute one," said Eddy.

"This ain't a shabby-looking guy," Kevin said, looking at Mario.

"A button I see!" Ed pressed a button on Mario's back. A voicebox inside Mario said "It's a-me!"

"Nice!" said Eddy. "Hobbes doesn't have that either!"

Nazz glared at him. "Eddy, I said leave him alone!"

"Fine..."

Hobbes shrugged. "Besides, I...don't have a voice so Calvin can use his imagination!"

Mario strolled around the bed. "Well, I guess I'll stay here until I find a warp pipe. Any mushroom houses around here? A P-Wing could really help."

They heard laughter. Everyone rushed to the window to see a large boy next door in his yard.

Hobbes gasped. "Oh, great...Moe."

"Horrors!" moaned Edd. "I thought he was away!"

"That happy child?" asked Mario.

"Happy?" yelled Eddy. "He's insane! He tortures toys for fun! Who's the victim this time?"

Hobbes looked down to see a poor toy strapped to a rocket. "Oh no...it's a Wilfred the Pig doll."

Wilfred was blown up seconds later. Everyone shuddered. "If I ever meet that boy, I'll show him a thing or two!" said Mario. "With a few stomps, he'll be..." The toys all listened to Mario as Hobbes and Nazz walked away.

"He's pretty funny," smiled Nazz.

Hobbes looked away. "Yeah...I guess."

"Don't listen to what Eddy says. You're still Calvin's favorite."

"You're right. I remember how popular Double D was when he first arrived. I'm sure things will die down and Mario will be a normal happy friendly member of our family. I wish he'd stop pretending he was real, though."

The scene where Moe blows up a toy was sort of tough, mainly because I didn't know who to sacrifice. Finally, I settled on one of Rolf's farm animals.