Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Garfield or Calvin and Hobbes, they are owned by Jim Davis and Bill Watterson respectfully.

"All rise and hail our glorious leader!" Collix announced, standing at perfect attention as Garfield entered his newly built throne room, which was once his owner's house. His fur was dry and matted. Bits of dirt and debris clotted it up into knots, eyes were piercing red, and stride was that of a newborn giraffe, not the appearance of a victorious general.

As he ascended to his throne made of pure gold and studded with diamonds, Garfield slumped in his seat, arm resting to support his heavy head. It had been a long trip, one in which few of his soldiers survived.

Cautiously, Collix approached him, hands loaded with papers. "Our leader, there are issues at hand that need your guidance."

His eyes looked up, evilly at this cat, "What is needed?" he spat, eyes pure red from having not rested for three days.

"My leader, our army at Indianapolis has been destroyed. Few of them remain, yet we have another division waiting for your command. Just say the word and they will retake the city" his words were hyped and jubilant. Garfield's words were not so when he replied, "No, we will not retake the city. Instead, we will dig in, build up our trenches and forts and let our foe come at us. It will be decided on the outskirts of Muncie of what our revolution will be"

Under his hand, hundreds of prisoners and slaves were ushered out, given tools, and forced to dig, cut, and build. One such individual was a tall, thin man, made thinner by the lack of food, with dark glasses and equally dark hair. Handed a shovel, he was instructed to dig a hole. As his tool pierced the soil, he grumbled to himself, "I'm a patent attorney, not an engineer" His wife was working in a sweat shop in Muncie, polishing metal for cat weapons. For them, it was hell. "At least Calvin's in a safer place" he muttered as his shovel went deeper into the soft soil.

If this is safer, then Calvin wanted to be in heaven. This rag tag army, in which he had somehow managed to rally, had pushed back Garfield's feeble attempt to retake using Kitty tanks, and now had them on the run. Working their way out into the suburbs and eventually into the country side, dogs managed to overcome every obstacle as the shattered cats sought to turn every knoll and hill into a line of defense. Contests were bitter and casualties high, but through sheer determination and ingenuity, dogs overcame everything that was thrown against them. The tip of the spear, Calvin was at the forefront of this drive, always mixing himself up in battle. A soldier whom witnessed him called him, "A pony that hoped about from place to place with unlimited energy and drive"

As they neared the outskirts of Muncie, Calvin finally ordered a halt to his force. On a slight ridge on the south west side of town, he could survey the vast network of trenches being dug, truly impressive, and plump for the taking, however, he had to reject it. Up to this point, his followers were in shambles. Few were left standing. Hungry and exhausted, plus few in number, they were not in shape to attack once more. It was best to let them rest. However, as they recouped, so did Garfield whom was now exerting more and more of his fame to solidify his brevetted power.

After a cat nap and grooming, he called in his new set of advisors to ascertain what was happening elsewhere. In California, the state government had been over run, and now cats have been placed in power. The same could be mentioned for New York and North Carolina. Each of the three states, to show their loyalty, offered gifts to Garfield, including prisoners, which have now become lost. Still, Garfield now flexed his muscles by emplacing new governors of those states, cats he could trust to oversee the influx of his influence as he continued to battle dogs in his state. Indiana was a mixed bag, with small skirmishes erupting all over, but most of the conflict was centralized around it's capital and Muncie. What Garfield needed was more troops and weapons, which were now coming in. Mr. Hobbes, whom decided to stay onboard, was promoted to chief quartermaster whom oversaw all supplies to Garfield's army. With this, he was able to see all weapons and troop movements, which he kept written down on a small slip of paper. All of this needed to get sent to Calvin as quickly as possible. Two days later, the last of the Kitty tanks came back to Muncie, damaged, limping, spewing smoke, they were the last survivors of the ill fated counter attack. Calvin watched them, powerless to prevent them from entering.

At day light dwindled into the evening, a courier arrived, inviting Calvin to a special session of leaders to discuss new tactics in quelling the rebellion. There had not been enough time to shower, comb his hair, or brush his teeth, thus Calvin appeared ragged, red shirt matted, smeared with blood and grime, sort of like what he appeared on Saturdays. In a small room of an abandoned house, arrayed in a circular fashion were five dogs of various styles and ethnicities. Dilger was there, his head almost fully healed. Calvin sat to his right. On his right was a larger German Shepard named Fritz, an abbreviation of his real name that was hard to pronounce, further on was a small rat like dog, named Diego, he was master of information and intelligence gathering. Conco, a pure collie was next, he was master of a small company just like Dilger, fourth was beagle named Samsonite, of quarter masters, and last but not least was Vincent, a tall, slender, pure bred Dalmatian, he was leader of the Fire Brigade, all fire dogs answered to him.

"Officer Calvin," spoke Vincent, "We are most impressed with your handling of the war thus far. I must say it's a true sight to see a dog fighting along side humans, as it must be.

Calvin sat nervously in his chair, surrounded by talking dogs. Hobbes was different, to some he was stuffed, he saw it differently.

"But now, we come to the point where your assistance is no longer needed. We can handle this fight from here" Vincent was a proud animal, but he had ruffled the fur of his friends many times before with his arrogance and self righteousness.

"Don't give me that" Calvin blurted out, shocking everyone on the council, "You dingle berries are the reason why it all went wrong! When I went out there, dogs were fleeing for their lives and doing everything BUT fight. My home is lost, my parents are gone as well, as is my best friend. I want this Garfield to pay for what he has done, and YOU, you little fire puke, are not going to stop me! And what kind of council is this? All I see are a bunch of mutts whom swindle to be to the top and do not a darn thing about those underneath them! The only dog I see whom is doing his best is Dilger here and he's been knocked silly because he's been in combat. So unless you animals take your thumbs out of your asses, I won't listen to a darn word you say" with that, Calvin stormed out of the meeting. Dilger was hot on his heel, furious of what the council thought of doing.

"Quite a spunky little brat isn't he?" Samonsite asked.

"You have no idea" Dilger muttered in response.

Removing themselves from the abstain council, the two officers were bone tired and were not up for a another night in the trenches or sleeping on soil. "How about a midnight stroll?" Calvin suggested, "I wanted to see what it's like out there". Going over the lines was dangerous. Soldiers on both sides were itchy, and fire was spattering in the distance every time a tree branch snapped or a leaf fell. Looking all about him, Dilger came to the conclusion, perhaps it was best to steal himself away from this hell hole, at least for a little while. "I'm up for it. I want to see what a real tree looks like. I'm fed up of fire hydrants" the two smiled and then walked out into the dead of night.

Walking blissfully, bodies hunched over, the two snuck out without alerting nearby sentries. There was no trail to follow, so they blazed one themselves, going past large trees, across small streams, and through thickets, quite daunting, still Calvin was an adventurer, he knew forests and the like, "Just stay close to me" he whispered to his more hesitant follower. After almost two hours of bumbling, they came across a clearing, somewhere west of Muncie. Here, the ground rose from the tree line and near the summit was a large tin shack. There was no sign of movement, no sign of life. Still, it was worth looking into. Perhaps some farmer had stashed away his corn or beef there. Dilger moved out first, at a crawl through the moist short grass. When he reached the shack, he motioned for Calvin to come up. The two surveyed the area, high and low, no sign of life. Before they could make entrance, there came a clatter from inside, followed by some low profanity. Someone was in there. Flanking both sides of the door, the two prepared to make an entrance. At the sign to go, Dilger rapidly kicked it in with all of his might. The darn door lost a hinge and dingle for a moment open before falling off completely, next Calvin entered, weapon at the ready. All about were sacks and boxes, but a shadow in the corner caught his attention. Aiming his weapon, the boy called out for his surrender.

"Whoa! Watch where you're pointing that thing!" a voice called out from the darkness.

"Come on out!" Calvin ordered.

With hands raised, a tall figure emerged, Calvin's face dropped.

"Hobbes!"

"Well, it's about time you showed up." Hobbes smirked, "I was getting rather lonely out here".

"What are you doing out here?" Dilger asked.

"Well, you see, that fat cat thinks that this place, belonging to old Farmer Brown, is a suitable place to build a fort, so I was sent out here to do some scouting. As you can see, it isn't"

With their "prisoner" in tow, Calvin and Dilger escaped into the dead of night back to their line. Garfield was none the wiser of this little raid until several days later when his reports failed to come in. Sitting in his throne room that night, he dictated a personal order, "All cats that willingly give themselves up to the enemy, will be summarily put to death. All prisoners recaptured by this army will like wise be done so".

Returning back to their lines, Calvin had a sit down with his friend, "Blimey, how come you went back?"

"Well, listen, I tried to get back, but that darn fat cat ordered me onto the trains which were under guard. It was simply too dangerous for me to go back to you." Hobbes confessed.

Calvin bought this, at least he was safe.

"While you were off having coffee and crumpets with the king, we had a real situation on our hands. They threw tanks at us. Hundreds of them" Calvin squawked.

"Yes, I know about them. Kitty tanks as they are known. I would have warned you about them, but there was no way for me to get word to you" Hobbes confessed "This time, I swear, I won't go back. I'm here to stay" Hobbes said, raising up his right paw in a swearing allegiance.

"That's good enough for me" Calvin shrugged. Dilger was convinced as well, but how would members of the council take it? They were not too sympathetic to line crossers. Still, Hobbes provided valuable intelligence on the works Garfield was constructing. He also assured Calvin that his parents were alive, languishing under Garfield's hand. The news he provided were not too pleasing as well. Thousands of cats were still under arms, and massive forts, casemates, and batteries were being built up all around Muncie in a attempt to seal it off from the rest of the world. Though their victory in Indianapolis was deceive, they failed to act on it in time. Small clusters of rebels were still trapped inside that town, but it was not too troublesome.

As the night wore on, Dilger was dispatched a letter from the council. In it, they stated a new reorganization of the force. Calvin was going to be removed and placed with his own separate command, consisting of other humans, and Dilger was also being transferred as well to a different command, thus separating the trio.

Taking the paper to read himself, Calvin read it with disgust, "We deem it advisable that the boy be placed in a isolated command to be the forefront of our new campaign. His command will be under his jurisdiction, but will still be under high dog command to be moved on elder call only. He will not be troubled with any other operation other than a blocking force to prevent an escape attempt, reconnaissance, and sabatoge"

"What in the world is going through their minds" Calvin exploded, crumbling up the paper before throwing it onto the floor. "This is incredible, they're breaking us up and it makes no sense in what they are saying!"

Dilger calmly refrased those words, "It means that you are being given your own command"

"there goes the war" Hobbes rolled his eyes.

"You are not going to concern yourself on what everyone else is doing, we'll handle it, just do what you think is best to win this bloody war" Dilger touched Calvin's shoulder, nodded slightly to Hobbes then calmly walked away. It would be the last time they would see him for a long time. Having his own command would be a trill, except their was no command at all. When the dogs segregated the humans from the dogs, there were only a dozen, not even a hand full and most were just kids, not old than he was. It took Hobbes size and strength to get the unruly ones into line. Their line of fourteen total was a laughing stock as the hundreds of dogs continued to shift to their right, forming up a proper line and moving forward towards where the action was. Already, in the far distance, artillery flashes and booms could be heard. That is where they wanted to go, and some were getting adjetated.

"Why aren't we going?" one yelled, "I came here to fight not to sit out here and bake in the sun!"

Fed up of hearing their whining, Calvin sat under the shade of a sappling, pulling out a crumpled brown piece of paper. On it, Hobbes had sketched out a rough detail of the terrain to their front. Most just forest and a few streams crudely marked "hobs crk" It was too vague to come up with a inedible plan, but the company was near the point of mutiny and it had only been one night.

"some commander I turned out to be" he muttered to himself as hobbes finally showed up, two tin cups full of powdered organe juice.

"Here's your breakfast" he smiled, handing over a cup. Calvin accepted it, taking a sip, his lips curled at it's rough taste before setting it aside and getting to work..

"Hobbes, if we move here and take this area where we captured you, perhaps that will gain us an advantage."

"Perhaps, but we still don't know what Garfield is up to. He could have moved his troops there. No doubt he knows that we are here."

"They outnumber us. Plus they have tanks, and now, more forts" Calvin hissed almost under his breath.

"That's not the worst of it" Hobbes informed, "They are also working on some top secret plans"

"Like what?" Calvin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Secret. Not even I could find out, except that it involves flight"

Unmoved, Calvin went down his line to inform them on his next plan, following one more day of rest, they were to move forward, towards a small forest bordering Muncie. It was just twelve miles from town, so there was bound to be some enemy. Everyone began to grow jittery. There, Calvin planned on establishing a large fort, out in the open. It's size would rival that of any other, beckoning all that saw it to attack, drawing them away from their own defenses.

"If we can move those artillery that were abandoned at home, we can further increase our strength, we could probably throw some rounds right into their trenches" Calvin said.

"I agree" said Hobbes, "But it will be difficult to do. When they retreated, Garfield had all the rail and road ways sabotaged. Without them, it will take days to move those guns here, plus they need powder and rounds."

Thinking to himself hard, the boy had to think fast over what to do. He could move and establish his base, but without artillery, it would be risking for an untold amount of cats were lurking nearby. After a night of sleep and a good meal, the company broke camp and set out towards the woods. It was an uneventful trip, but everyone's nerves were on a knife's edge. Every sound caused them to halt and lay down, then Hobbes would search about. Finding not a soul, they would resume for about 100 yards and the process would repeat itself. When they came upon that same shack that Hobbes was captured in, Calvin reckoned that this would be suitable use for his fort.

"We'll tear it down and use the tin for our walls" he told Hobbes.

It was another half mile of travel, when they crested the horizon did Calvin come to realize that the spot he now stood was perfect for his fort. To his immediate front, just a half mile distant was a thick forest, to his right and left were clearing, perfectly flat grass, lush and green, being fed from a stream.

"1st Tiger Hobbes!" Calvin ordered. He appeared, standing at attention. "We will build here. Have a detail sent back to the shack, dismantle it and have it's contents brought up here"

"Yes, sir" Hobbes saluted. Taking six members, they went back and preformed this task. Otherwise, Calvin's remaining team began to clear out the field, marking according to the boy's expressed view on the outline of his fort. He wanted it big, a full square acre. "It will have gun ports, and observation towers, with barbwire, and minefields" rambling on and on about it.

When Hobbes returned, the work got underway, lucking several good shovels were inside the shack and were put to work. As the ground was broken and put into sacks, the fort gradually began to take shape. Situated on a slight rise, it wasn't much of an advantage, but by night fall, enough earth had been excavated that only the heads of it's occupants could be seen. Lacking artillery, they had brought with them several stacks of small arms of all sorts from automatics, to bolt actions, plus a few pellet rifles. With a dense forest to the east and open fields north and south, the fort looked vulnerable, still, both the two leaders refused to abandon it, "This is the way we want it" Calvin smirked.

Two more days elapsed, G.R.O.S.S was still there, working their shovels to a nub. Nothing much happened except a light show at night when artillery opened up. Somehow, they felt they were being left out. Taking full advantage of the isolation, the garrison sought to get a good nights sleep. With Hobbes on sentry duty, Calvin found himself a blanket and curled up against the wall. Hours went by, when suddenly, he was jerked awake, "Get up! Someone is coming" It was Hobbes, face right into his. Others were awaken as well, storming up to the walls, rifles resting on the crest, waiting to fire. Out near the tree line, they could see several dark figures moving about.

"Are they friendly?" Calvin whispered to Hobbes.

"They aren't cats" he replied.

"Then they must be friendly" a soldier jauntly spoke, only to be hushed by his compatriots.

"Don't be too sure. Garfield has many humans working on his side as well." Hobbes told them.

The figures milled about for a few moments, then began to march right for the fort. "Steady" Calvin told them, "Let them get close. Make every round count"

Tense moments passed as the figures, seemingly multiplying as they came closer, came to within a few yards of them.

"Halt or you will be shot!" Calvin screamed.

"Oh jeez!" one of them cried, "Not you!"

"Susie?" lowering his weapon.

"Yes it's me, noodle brain. How in the world did you get out here?"

"I'm in command of this fort, you booger" he spat back.

"There goes the war" she squawked.

"Hey!"

Susie and her friends were accepted into the fort. They were dogs of the mutt variety. Strays and orphans from Muncie that had escaped from Garfield as the rebellion got underway. They were just a mere handful themselves, about twenty or so, but it was a welcome boast.

Given a blanket and some drink, the three friends gathered about to remanice.

"Well" said Susie, sipping occasionally from her drink, "I found myself moving about through the streets. Somewhere in the process, I found myself lost, then the cats found me, surrounded me, and took me away, back to their head quarters. Before I could arrive, they saved me. Since then, I have been with them. What have you been doing?"

"Fighting tanks" Calvin boasted.

"Stop playing around" she sighed.

The next day, Hobbes was sent out into the woods to see if he could come into contact with the cats. There had to be someone out there in which to fight. With him gone, the rest of the garrison set about strengthening their little fort. With their reinforcements, the walls were strengthened, back by the tin from the dismantled shack and sandbagged, view ports were made with fallen timber for beams, making it a stout fort. Still, if Garfield decided to throw his tanks or large infantry units at him, it wouldn't do much good.

"Just wish we had those guns" he kept muttering to himself.

By noon, the sun was burning down on them from high above. It was a cloudless, dry day, and sweat was forming on their brows and flowing down their cheeks. Buckets full of water were being drunk, but that didn't help stave out exhaustion. There was no shade to shelter in, no hats, or any other protection, they had to just bare with it as the tiger came galloping back with news.

"There are there!" he exclaimed, pointing into the woods, "lots of them! They are working on a fort themselves, but are in the open, we can attack!" Calvin agreed.

"Here's the plan. I'll take a team out like bait. Go through the woods and lure them in. When they do, we will fall back to the fort, where you will be hiding in wait. They will think we are just six or so, so they'll go right for it"

"Sounds good to me" Hobbes smiled.

Taking six hand picked individuals, Calvin set out at a dash towards the woods, everyone else hunkered down inside the fort to wait the signal. With his eyes peering through a view port, Hobbes kept a visual as Calvin disappeared into the tree line.

Sounded like a simple raid. All he saw were just a few dozen workers, digging and moving. They were not soldiers, perhaps they would surrender without a fight. Hope so, this war was dragging on for too long.

Five minutes elapsed, what was taking so long? No sound of gunfire, no movement. Hope everything was okay.

Suddenly, there was wild yell and people began to run for their lives from the trees. Members of the garrison came right up and jumped back into the fort, eyes full of fright.

"What happened?" Hobbes asked one, grabbing him by the collar to steady him.

"It was a trap. There were thousands of them. They knew we were coming!" he said.

"Where's Calvin?" Hobbes hissed.

He jumped in, the last to do so.

"Hobbes! What the hell happened, there were thousands of them out there. It was an ambush."

"I didn't see them" he told him, "I swear. All I saw were just those workers."

"Well, in any case, there were thousand of black cats, and now they are coming for us"

"Look!" Susie cried out, pointing southward.

Hobbes rose up to his feet and looked, his eyes filled with terror at the sight of a enemy column marching towards him. It must have been 100 strong force arrayed neatly in a thin line of battle, shoulder to shoulder with only a few feet in between. When Susie raised the alarm, they had just moved into position and begun their advance. After taking ten paces, they stopped, knelt, and fired a volley. Getting back up, they reloaded, advanced another ten paces, knelt, and fired a second time. This process repeated itself several times, all the while, the garrison was firing wildly in return. Hobbes did his best to rally them, jumping with his superior jumping legs, from position to position, shouting encouragement, damning cowards and the cats, and praising those that stayed. Having crossed some 300 yards, the company fired another volley, they were getting dangerously close now, and were nearly intact, only three bodies marked their trail. It was the last 300 yards that proved the most difficult. Going up a steady incline, the cats moved up, fueled by thoughts of victory, began to encroach closer and closer the fort. As they did so, a much louder yell sent a cold shiver down the backs of the garrison, for out of the tree line to their front came the reason why. A full brigade, and not just any brigade, Divet's Brigade, the Black Cats, reinforced now and up to 4,000 strong. With new weapons and a stronger set of wits, they came barreling right up to the fort, weapons at the ready.

"This can't get any worse" Susie yelled.

With few numbers on hand, and unwilling to retreat, Calvin Hobbes steadied his followers. Resting their weapons on a pile of branches, they waited until their foe was just yards away before giving them a defiant volley in their faces…..