Summary: Calvin and Hobbes get trapped in the mall when the time lock goes off at closing time.
And now back to Calvin and Hobbes: The Series
Written by Garfieldodie and Swing123
Department Store Horrors
Calvin was working feverishly on the MTM one afternoon. There was a glitch in the software, and it was starting to annoy him.
Hobbes entered the bedroom and saw what was happening.
The MTM was making strange whirring noises and was vibrating loudly.
"Say, Calvin," he said, looking over Calvin's shoulder. "What's it mean when the MTM does that?"
Calvin tried frantically to fix the MTM with a screwdriver, but the noises started to get worse.
Finally, Calvin hit it with the hammer.
FOOOM!
A plume of smoke spurted from the MTM and nailed Calvin square in the face.
With a dull expression, Calvin replied, "I believe it means the MTM is broken, Hobbes."
Hobbes nodded and went back to the bed to read a comic book.
"This is getting ridiculous," Calvin muttered, dusting himself off.
"What's the trouble?" Hobbes asked, not looking up.
"The MTM is still suffering some glitches in its software," Calvin said. "This is odd. It must be a virus or something."
"Uh-huh," Hobbes said. "I say chuck it."
"I couldn't do that!" Calvin exclaimed. "I've come to think of the MTM as my son!"
There was a pause.
"Well, maybe not. Maybe it's more like a cousin."
Another pause ensued.
"Okay, not that either. Perhaps like my grandfather."
"I prefer to think of it as your zany uncle from Bermuda," Hobbes replied.
Calvin sighed and continued to tinker with it for a few moments.
Just then, Mom entered.
"Calvin, come on!" she said. "We're going to get you some new clothes."
Calvin looked up from his work, annoyed.
"Why?!" he asked. "I've got enough clothes right now!"
"Yes, and they're all red shirts and black pants. Come on! We need to get going!" Mom said, tapping her foot.
Calvin glared at her.
"This is just an excuse to take me shopping, isn't it?!" he accused. "You don't want Dad to think you're spending his money on something frivolous, so you pretend you're just going to buy me a few clothes, and those other things you buy were things you 'saw on the way'! Well, I refuse to be taken in by you! I shan't be moved!"
Mom grabbed Calvin's arm and started to drag him out.
Calvin quickly grabbed onto the chair, and he dragged it behind them.
"NO! PLEASE! I'VE STILL GOT TO FIX MY MTM! IT'S MY CHILD…or my cousin…or grandfather…or—"
"Come on!" Mom ordered, releasing Calvin's arm.
Calvin quickly ran back to the MTM.
"If I leave it here unattended, who knows what could happen?!" he cried.
Mom rolled her eyes.
"Fine, fine, you can bring it with you. Now let's go!" she grumbled.
Calvin glared at her.
"Just for that, I'll do that!" he yelled.
Calvin grabbed Hobbes and the MTM and stormed out of the house with Mom following close behind.
Soon, they had arrived at the department store.
As they walked through the doors, Calvin continued to try and work on the MTM.
"This is ridiculous," Calvin complained. "The holographic menu's stuck, the phone isn't working, the button commands are mixed up, and somehow the music is all country and western!"
Hobbes looked at it.
"Maybe it needs a spanking," he said.
"No, it doesn't," Calvin snorted. "You're just looking for a reason to 'accidentally' break it."
Hobbes rolled his eyes around innocently.
Mom grabbed Calvin's arm.
"Come on, I've found the clothes department," she said, pulling him into a store.
"Good eye, Mom," Calvin sighed. "It's nice to know your sight has yet to have departed you."
"Calvin, just work with me here," she said. "I'm sure we can find you some cute outfits."
"There! See? That's your first mistake right there! I don't wanna look cute! That can only lead to embarrassment!"
"It won't embarrass me," Mom said.
"I'M TALKING ABOUT ME, WOMAN!" Calvin roared.
Mom quickly grabbed an outfit off the rack.
"Here, try this on," she ordered.
Calvin stared at it.
It was a cowboy outfit.
"Oh, that's not even cute," he grumbled. "What are we doing now? Dipping into Ryan Stiles' wardrobe?"
"Just put it on," Mom sighed.
Calvin glared.
"I refuse!"
Calvin emerged from the dressing room in the cowboy outfit.
Hobbes was biting his tongue to avoid laughing.
"Oh, you look so cute!" Mom cooed.
"You shall pay dearly for this," Calvin muttered.
Next, he came out in a white tux and black pants.
"Ooh, that's very smooth," Mom said. "Now we just need to do something about the hair…"
Calvin immediately yanked the tux off of himself.
Then he threw a shoe at Hobbes to get him to shut up.
Then he came out in a little boy outfit with one of those helicopter hats.
"Oh, I need a camera!" Mom cried, running off to find one.
"I need a vomit bag," Calvin muttered, ducking back into the dressing room.
"I think you need a big lollipop," Hobbes called, still laughing.
Calvin then emerged wearing a set of blue footsie pajamas and a red cape.
"Why do I suddenly feel a sense of nostalgia?" he asked.
"Here, let me help," said Hobbes.
Hobbes reached into the hypercube and pulled out a red lunchbox and a flashlight and had Calvin hold them. Then he sprayed Calvin's hair with a spray bottle, and then shifted it until the spikes curved to the right.
There was a pause as they looked at him in the mirror.
"I don't get it," Calvin said at last.
"Yeah, me neither. I'm gonna get some carrots," Hobbes said.
Finally, Calvin emerged from the dressing room in his normal attire.
"There's only so much I can take," Calvin sighed. "I need to escape for a while."
He reached into his pocket and discovered something.
It was an unsharpened pencil.
"Yes!" he cried.
Calvin looked for Hobbes.
He was looking at some sunglasses.
Deciding that he could never convince Hobbes to be duplicated willingly, he decided to do it without asking first.
Aiming carefully, Calvin managed to get the Mini-Duplicator to scope out Hobbes, and then he pressed the pink button.
BOINK!
Hobbes at first didn't notice. He was wearing a pair of green sunglasses.
Then suddenly, he noticed his reflection in the mirror.
Grinning, Hobbes went into a laidback position.
The reflection did the same.
Then, Hobbes gave himself rabbit ears.
So did his reflection.
Next, Hobbes did a handstand.
The reflection reflected it.
Then Hobbes started spinning.
So did the reflection.
Then finally, Hobbes got dizzy and stumbled around.
The reflection didn't.
Hobbes stopped to regain his bearings, and then, hunched over, glanced at his reflection.
His reflection was staring back at him through his green sunglasses, standing up straight and with his hands innocently behind his back.
Then Hobbes finally put two and two together.
"Oh great," he muttered.
"Hello," Hobbesclone said.
Hobbes glanced at him.
"Well, they look nice on us, but I think you should put them back," he said, referring to the sunglasses.
Calvin ran up to him.
"Okay, Hobbes. I'm going to leave duplicates of us behind so that we can have time to fix the MTM. The duplicates will be staying with Mom, okay?"
"Why do you need me?" Hobbes asked.
"Because your name is in the title too," Calvin replied.
"True."
Calvin then aimed the Mini-Duplicator at himself.
BOINK!
A second Calvin appeared next to him.
"You," he said, pointing to Hobbesclone, "Tell him what's going on."
Calvin grabbed Hobbes and the MTM and ran off.
Calvin and Hobbes ended up in the elevator.
"We'll just stay here for a little while," Calvin decided, pulling out some tools.
"This should go nicely," Hobbes sighed, pulling out a magazine and resting in the corner.
Calvin, annoyed by the elevator music, reached into the hypercube and pulled out some headphones.
"Thank goodness I had the good sense to make the MTM out of a CD player," he muttered.
He quickly turned on some loud music, and he then set to work.
Hobbes tuned out the world, reading his magazine.
People would enter the elevator every once in a while.
They found a six-year-old boy sticking a screwdriver into a CD player and a stuffed tiger with a magazine sitting in the corner.
They chose not to do anything about it.
As the elevator went up and down, Calvin got closer and closer to fixing the MTM.
Hobbes eventually dozed off.
This went on for three hours.
Neither of them knew that Mom, Calvinclone and Hobbesclone had gone home long ago.
Soon, a voice went out over the intercom system.
"Attention, shoppers," it said. "The department store with no name is now closing. "Please take your purchases to the check-out and get the heck out of my store."
Calvin was so involved in listening to music and fixing the MTM that he didn't notice.
Hobbes slept right through the announcement.
Neither of them really noticed when the crowds left the stores.
Neither of them really noticed when the doors were all locked.
They didn't even notice that the store was now completely empty.
However, they did notice when the lights turned off into the elevator.
Calvin suddenly couldn't see what he was doing.
Quickly, Calvin activated they hypercube's special glow-in-the-dark feature.
The small cube suddenly gave off a blue glow in the elevator.
Calvin looked around.
"This could be bad," he muttered.
Then he noticed Hobbes was asleep.
"Hobbes, wake up," he ordered.
Hobbes began to roll around in his sleep.
"Zzzz…Calvin…zzzz…why yes, I'm quite fond of Calvin…zzzz…pass me the gravy, please…zzzz…," Hobbes said.
Calvin glared at him.
"WAKE UP, YOU WEASEL!" he shouted.
"AAAAHH!" Hobbes cried.
Then, furious at having such a lovely dream interrupted, Hobbes immediately attacked Calvin.
They rolled around on the floor of the elevator for a long time until Calvin was able to slam him into the wall.
"What'd you wake me up for?!" Hobbes demanded, standing up.
"Someone's turned off the lights in the store!" Calvin shouted.
Hobbes finally realized that they were standing in the blue glow of the hypercube.
"Oh," he said. "Well, let's leave the elevator then, huh?"
Hobbes pressed the OPEN DOORS button, and Calvin and Hobbes left the elevator.
However, they soon found that the entire building was empty and dark.
"That's weird," said Calvin.
Hobbes gulped.
"Oh no," he muttered.
"You don't think that…?" Calvin asked.
They quickly ran to the doors that stood between them and freedom.
They were locked.
"Let us out!" Hobbes screamed. "I don't deserve this fate! I'm too pretty!"
"Shut up!" Calvin hissed. "We don't want anyone to find us!"
"Why not? Then they could help us!"
"Well, I…"
Before Calvin could give an explanation, the MTM made a strange grinding noise.
WHIRR! WHIRR! WHIRR! CHK! CHK! CHK! CHK! WHIRRRRR!
Calvin pulled it out and shook it.
"Drat! The thing's still malfunctioning! If it was working, it could help us escape!"
Hobbes sighed.
"Great," he muttered, sitting on the floor. "We're stuck here!"
"Well, Mom and Dad shouldn't worry. We left duplicates of ourselves with them. I'm more worried about the MTM. I can't figure out what's wrong!"
"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG! WE'RE TRAPPED IN A MALL, AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS TALK ABOUT YOUR CD PLAYER!!" Hobbes roared.
"Hobbes, voice volume!" Calvin said calmly.
WHAM!
They both looked up.
"What was that?" Hobbes asked nervously.
"I don't know," Calvin replied.
CRASH!
"Oh, I'm sure it's just nothing," Calvin said unsurely.
SLAM!
"Ack! That nothing was something!" Hobbes yelped.
WHAM!
Calvin looked ahead.
There was a toy store just ahead.
"I think it's come from in there," he whispered. "Come on, Hobbes."
There was no reply.
Hobbes was gone.
Calvin sighed.
"Of course," he said. "Hobbes, as we all know, is a craven coward who worries more about saving his own sorry skin rather than helping the one person who gave him a home!"
No reply.
Calvin rolled his eyes and approached the toy store.
"Fine. I'll show him. You only get things done when you're brave."
He opened the door to the toy store and went inside.
"Hello?" he called. "Anybody there?"
RUSTLE!
Calvin jumped.
"H-hello?" he asked, a little more meekly.
RUSTLE!
Calvin then looked around the aisles.
For the first three, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.
But when he got to the fourth, he saw something weird.
There was a small door on the top of the ceiling.
It had been flung wide open, and was swaying back and forth making a creaking noise with each swing.
The rustling he and Hobbes had heard were several action figure packages falling onto the ground at once.
Calvin eyes went from the door to the toys on the ground, then back to the door.
There was a long pause.
Suddenly, another sound reached Calvin's ears. This one coming a couple of isles down.
CRASH!!!! TWAAAAANG!!!
Calvin jumped.
Very slowly, he started out of the isle, and started looking down the next one.
His eyes popped open.
There was a man standing in the isle, holding his foot in pain, and hopping around in circles. In front of him was a large, green metal frog grinning straight ahead like toys usually do.
The man was dressed entirely in black.
Black long sleeve shirt, black sweat pants, black gloves, black snow hat, black shoes, black socks, everything.
Calvin stared at him for a long moment as he limped around in circles, muttering to himself.
Then, he looked up, and saw Calvin.
He growled, dangerously, and whipped a silver gun from his pocket.
He began aiming it at Calvin.
Calvin stared at him for a moment.
Then, he acted.
"AAAAUGH!!!" Calvin screamed, at the top of his lungs reeling back in sheer terror, and rushing off in the other direction.
The man glared after him for a minute, slipped his gun back into his pocket, then started walking off.
Calvin raced through the departments, screaming his head off.
He grabbed the MTM off the floor, and raced down through the electronics isle.
Guess where Hobbes was?
He was hiding under the table displaying the plasma screen TVs, shivering.
Calvin glared at Hobbes.
"Hobbes, look at you!" He panted. "Have you no pride?"
Huh boy...
"Ok, Calvin, what was that?" Hobbes demanded, looking over his shoulder.
"Huh?" Calvin asked, tearing his attention away from the Mini DVD players hanging on the shelves. "Oh, it was just a burglar breaking in through the attic. Nothing major. I could use these things for an invention."
Calvin picked the mini DVD player up, and examined it.
Hobbes stared at Calvin for a long throbbing moment.
Calvin looked up.
"What?" He demanded.
"It was only a flesh ripping, cross eyed cannibal, nothing major." Hobbes said, glaring at his associate.
"Oh come on, Hobbes," Calvin said. "When you compare a burglar to everything else that we've been through, don't you think he doesn't even hit the top ten list?"
"Oh, so what, you're going to ignore him?" Hobbes demanded, glaring at him.
"Well what did you have in mind?" Calvin asked. "This is a eight story building, Hobbes. I think we'll be able to hide from one man."
He put the DVD player back.
"Just as long as nothing else goes wrong in this place, we'll be just fine." Calvin said.
BZZZZZT!! BZZZZT!! BZZZZT!! BZZZZT!!!
Suddenly, sparks of electricity began shooting from the tip of the MTM.
Calvin and Hobbes turned and stared at it.
A holographic message shot out.
MTM malfunction. Electro attack activated.
And by the way, bite me.
"Hey!" Calvin shouted.
Suddenly, a bolt of electricity blasted out of the tip of the MTM, causing it to fall out of Calvin's hands.
The CD player fell onto the floor, and began firing wild shots in every direction, twirling around on the floor.
"AAAAUGH!!" Calvin and Hobbes screamed, leaping from the way, as the MTM blasted a hole through the shelf.
Several packages fell off the shelves, and came crashing to the ground, on top of the MTM.
The red power light began flashing, and the CD player started buzzing again.
Calvin and Hobbes looked out from behind the DVD stand.
The MTM was spinning around in circles, firing wildly in every direction.
"Hope these people have insurance." Hobbes commented, ducking a blast of electricity.
He and Calvin began backing away from the electronics aisle.
Just then, Calvin and Hobbes backed into something.
Something alive.
"AAAUGH!!!" Calvin and Hobbes both screamed, wheeling around, and facing the burglar.
He was glaring at Calvin and Hobbes, dangerously, and was holding up that same metal gun.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEELLP!!!" The duo screamed, rushing off in the other direction.
The burglar glared after them, growling.
Just then, somebody else walked into the picture.
It was a tall silver robot, holding a Pepsi in his hand.
"Hey, Frank," He yawned. "Found the soda machine. How's the being a criminal thing working out?"
The burglar swung around and faced the robot.
"JACK!!" He screamed. "IT'S DR BRAINSTORM!! And thanks a lot for giving our cover away!!"
"Cover?" Jack said, taking a sip from the bottle in his hands.
"Here I am being a creepy burglar and keeping the audience in the dark about who I am, and then YOU walk up and ruin everything!"
"I think the audience has long since figured out, Frank."
"DR BRAINSTORM!! And never mind! Those two brat punks are here!!"
"Calvin and Hobbes?" Jack yawned.
"Whatever. They've followed me to me to this place and they're trying to stop me!!!"
"Uh huh." Jack replied.
Suddenly, The MTM wheeled to the left, and shot a blast of lightning at Brainstorm.
Brainstorm whipped around.
"AAA!! JACK! SHIELD ME!!" He screamed, holding his arms over his face.
"I'm drinking my Pepsi." Jack said, annoyed.
BLASTT!!!
Jack watched, blankly, as the blast threw Brainstorm across the room, and into shelf.
CRASH!!!
The shelf tipped over, and hit another shelf, causing that shelf to tilt, hitting another shelf, and so on.
CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!! CRASH!!!!
Jack walked up to him.
"Do you suppose you'll have to pay for that?" He asked, taking a sip.
"Jack, I am going to DESTROY you!" Brainstorm shouted.
Calvin and Hobbes stood behind a giant card stand, panting.
"Great." Hobbes grumbled. "Here we are, trapped in a mall, we have one of your inventions out there trying to kill us, again, and there's a crazed lunatic wandering around this store."
"Well, look at the bright side." Calvin said.
Hobbes turned and gave him a look.
"Ummm... well..." Calvin paused. "OK, so there's no bright side. Sue me."
Hobbes rolled his eyes.
"OK, Hobbes, new plan of action." Calvin said, turning to the tiger. "If we both split up and go in different directions, the burglar won't be able to follow us both."
"OK," Hobbes began unsurely. "Which one of us will he follow?"
"Whoever it is he sees first," Calvin replied. "Now, I'll head off upstairs towards the clothes department and such and you head on in that direction."
Calvin pointed to the left.
"Move out!"
And with Calvin rushed off towards the escalator which was currently off, climbed up them, and came to the clothes department.
Hobbes hesitated, then rushed off towards the toy's department.
Meanwhile, Brainstorm had just picked himself up, had screamed at Jack, and then decided to go back to their mission. Or his mission to be more precise. Jack was probably just dragged along with him.
"OK, Jack!" Brainstorm said, cutting his eyes from side to side. "We need to find that small jerk and the tall robot and destroy them!"
"He's not a robot." Jack groaned.
"Shut up," Brainstorm snapped. "Now, where is he?"
Brainstorm peeked out from behind the pharmacy desk, and looked around.
Then, his eyes fell on Calvin, who was rushing up the stairs towards the clothes.
"Target detected!" Brainstorm shouted. "Jack, put on your disguise!!"
Jack sighed.
He pushed a button on his arm.
Suddenly the Jack's metal skin opened up, and a black suit similar to Brainstorm's came out.
A black shirt, a black pair of pants, and black gloves.
And then, the screws in the top part of Jack's head, loosened, and suddenly the top part flipped over, revealing a black snow hat.
"Excellent!" Brainstorm grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Let's go destroy him! AND THEN HE'LL STOP TRYING TO OVER THROW ME!!!"
Jack rolled his eyes as Brainstorm whipped out that same metal gun.
"Servant Ray in hand. LET'S GO!!!!"
And with that, Brainstorm leaped up, and raced off towards the stairs.
Jack stood up, yawned, stretched, picked his Pepsi up off the desk, took another sip from it, then began following Brainstorm at a leisurely pace.
Meanwhile, The MTM was still hopping up and down on the ground, buzzing and throwing sparks everywhere.
Suddenly, it turned, and faced the toy department.
ZZZZZT!!!!
Another blast of lightning shot from the tip, and struck the shelves.
Hobbes slowly made his way through the toy department, shivering, and casting nervous glances over his shoulder.
Suddenly, he thought he saw a small spark in one of the toys. It was a Captain America action figure.
Hobbes turned, and stared at it.
It remained motionless.
Hobbes stared at it, cautiously, then, slowly, continued.
Just then, he saw it, again, in another toy. This time it was one of those toy monkeys with cymbals.
Hobbes whipped around, and stared, wide eyed.
The toy was still.
Hobbes began backing away from it.
Just then, he saw it yet again!
Another spark of electricity flew from a Barbie doll on the shelf.
Hobbes' eyes cut from side to side.
The shelves on both sides of Hobbes were suddenly engulfed in electricity.
Slowly, the toys started moving, as the crackling lightning flowed right through them.
Hobbes started backing up, looking from side to side.
Suddenly, another action figure moved forward and began punching at the plastic packaging.
Hobbes whipped around to it.
"Uh, your not supposed to do that..." He began.
The toy ripped out of the packaging, and stepped out.
"Nobody's really bought you yet..." Hobbes said.
The toy held up its hands, which electricity was flowing from.
"You reeeeeeeally shouldn't do that." Hobbes pointed out.
The figure turned and stared at Hobbes.
There was a pause.
"...Hello?" He guessed.
The toy pointed a finger at the tiger.
ZZZZT!!
"YIPES!!!"
Hobbes leaped into the air, barely avoiding an electrical blast, then rushed off down the isle.
The other toys began ripping through their boxes, looking around, and firing lightning everywhere through their finger tips.
Meanwhile, Calvin was upstairs in the clothes department, hiding in the dresser room.
He heard the sounds of Brainstorm knocking stands over, ripping clothes out of his way, and growling to himself.
Calvin gulped.
Jack followed Brainstorm around, still sipping on his soda while Brainstorm rampaged through the store, knocking everything over as he went.
"I can't believe this!" The mad scientist growled. "These pants are seventy five dollars?! What kind of idiot would pay that much for a pair of pants!"
"Well, you for instance." Jack said.
Brainstorm glared at him.
"What are you talking about?!" He demanded.
"Your pointing at the price tag on the pants your wearing right now." Jack replied.
Brainstorm stared at him.
"Well who asked your opinion?" He demanded, finally.
Jack rolled his eyes.
"Now then, where could that little spike haired punk be?" Brainstorm hissed, returning to knocking everything over.
Suddenly, the scientist whipped his head around to the dresser room.
He saw Calvin's feet under the door.
A wide, evil grin spread across his face.
"There we go!" He chuckled.
"Isn't this called 'invading someone's privacy'?" Jack inquired, taking a sip from his Pepsi.
Brainstorm ignored him, and whipped his Servant Ray out.
"Servant Ray!" He commanded. "Fling that door open and kill Calvin!"
There was a moment of silence.
"You don't have any accumulated knowledge at all, do you?" Jack said, sipping the rest out of the bottle.
Brainstorm glared at him.
"OK, then," He grumbled. "DO NOT do what it was that I just said."
The Servant Ray began glowing, brightly.
Suddenly, the door flung open, and revealed Calvin. As terrified as he could be.
Then, a blast of red shot from the Servant Ray, and headed towards Calvin.
Calvin screamed, and ducked, as the blast flew through the door, and blew a hole into the wall behind him.
"Nice aiming, Frank." Jack said.
"DR BRAINSTORM!!!!!" Brainstorm shrieked.
Calvin's head came up.
"What?" he demanded. "Brainstorm? Oh..."
Calvin stood up and wiped some sweat from his brow.
"It's only you..." He sighed.
"ONLY ME?!?" Brainstorm demanded. "I'D THINK TWICE ABOUT THAT SENTENCE FOR A MOMENT!!"
"Uuuh, no." Calvin replied.
"SERVANT RAY!! MAKE HIM TAKE IT BACK!!!"
The gun didn't do anything.
Calvin rolled his eyes.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" He demanded, walking up to him.
"He came here to buy some miscellaneous stuff for some other invention he was going to use to rule the world with."
"Huh," Calvin said. "And... uh, why here?"
"BECAUSE THIS IS ONLY STORE THAT HAS EVERYTHING I NEED!! THAT'S WHY!!!" Brainstorm screeched. "NOW STOP ASKING QUESTIONS AND LET ME DESTROY YOU!!!!"
"Why did you break in?" Calvin asked.
Jack shrugged.
"The store was closed and he didn't want to wait." He said.
"JACK!!!" Brainstorm screamed, whirling around to the robot. "I COMMAND YOU TO SHUT UP!! AND THIS IS ALL GOING INTO MY REPORT!! STOP GIVING INFORMATION AWAY TO THE ENEMY!!!"
Calvin and Jack rolled their eyes.
"And as for you!!!" Brainstorm whipped back to Calvin. "I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!! YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT!!!!!"
Calvin looked at Brainstorm, unsurely.
"Uh, OK..." He began.
Brainstorm whipped his Servant Ray out and aimed it at Calvin.
"SERVANT RAY!!" he commanded. "DO NOT ATTACK!!!!"
A blast of electricity suddenly blasted from the gun.
Calvin screamed, and leaped from the way as it blasted a hole into the carpet.
"Hope these guys have insurance." Jack observed.
Hobbes ran screaming through the store, holding his head.
There were several toy airplanes flying above him in a "V", firing electricity blasts at the tiger, and there were several other toys rushing after him, too, on the ground, shooting lightning at him.
Hobbes ducked behind a shelf, and the airplanes flew over him.
Unfortunately, upon trying to turn, they flew over the electronics section.
BLAST!! BOOM!! CRASH!! ZZAAP! ZZZZZZT!!
Suddenly, the MTM, fired its defense feature at the airplanes, blowing them to bits with a single blast.
Hobbes stood behind the shelf, panting.
There was still lightning flying from every angle around random parts of the store.
Suddenly, another sound reached Hobbes' ears.
The sound of marching.
Hobbes turned, and stared down at the floor.
There was a small army of toy soldiers marching up to Hobbes.
They held their rifles up and pointed them at Hobbes.
"Listen, what do you have against me?"Hobbes demanded, hurtfully.
The soldiers fired.
Hobbes gasped, and ducked, as the electric blast cut through the air, and blasted a hole in the ceiling.
"HEELP!!" He screamed, rushing off.
Meanwhile, Calvin had rushed back downstairs, and was examining the damage.
"Hooo boy." He sighed.
Everything was destroyed.
Lightning was crackling everywhere, there were toys running around, shooing even more lightning, all the shelves had been knocked over, and Hobbes was in the middle of it.
Brainstorm came rushing down the escalator, laughing insanely.
"HA HA!!" He screamed, holding his Servant Ray up. "NOW YOU WILL..."
The doctor paused, and looked around the room.
"Wow, what happened here?" He asked, shocked.
Suddenly, Hobbes came rushing up.
"Calvin!" he panted. "The MTM! It's brought everything to life! The toys the machines, the books! And they're all attacking me!!!"
Calvin stared at him.
"Well, what did you say to them?" He demanded.
Hobbes stared at Calvin for a long moment.
Then, his eyes came up to Brainstorm, who was looking around, confused.
"Oh, hi, Frank." He said. "What's up?"
"DR BRAINSTORM!!!" Brainstorm shrieked, whipping back to the duo. "You dare ask me what's up?!? PREPARE TO DIEEEEEE!!!!"
"That's nice." Hobbes grinned. "Now, Calvin, what do we do?"
"Well, the MTM has apparently reached a critical malfunction." Calvin said, rubbing his chin. "The only way to stop it is through another electrical source powerful enough to set it into a five minute state of calm. Then, I can have one more look at it, and see what's wrong."
Calvin and Hobbes turned to Brainstorm.
He was hopping around in circles, screaming, and yelling, and trying to get his Servant Ray out of his boot.
They exchanged unsure glances.
Then, they looked up at the top of the escalator.
They grinned, widely.
"Yo." Jack said, climbing down the stairs. "Have I missed much?"
"Jack!" Calvin said, excitedly. "You're just the robot we need to save us! ...From Mom and Dad when they find out how much they have to pay for the repairs!"
"I see," Jack said, rubbing his chin. "And what would Frank have to say about this?"
"He'd hate it." Hobbes grinned.
"I'm in." Jack said.
"JACK!!!!" Brainstorm screeched.
Calvin checked his watch.
Jack had now taken off the black burglar outfit, and was in his usual attire: Nothing. He's a metal robot.
"OK, Jack," Calvin said. "While Hobbes keeps Frank over there busy, you and I will stop the MTM from sucking us all into a time vortex."
"Uh huh," Jack yawned.
"Now, the MTM is going to send a Time Blast over here in about sixty five seconds."
"How do you know that?" Jack inquired.
"Because it's been doing it for the last few minutes." Calvin said. "Now, Jack, I need you to stand right over..."
He looked around.
"...HERE!"
Jack took two steps to the left.
"Good, right there!" Calvin grinned. "Now, do you have an energy absorber?"
"No," Jack replied.
"Energy catcher?"
"No,"
"Lightning rod?"
"No,"
"Anything close to that?"
Jack thought for a moment.
"I do have this," He reached into a small compartment, and took out a small box.
"What's that?" Calvin asked.
"One of Frank's inventions." Jack replied. "It's supposed to engulf entire cities into fire or something like that. All it does though is put out fires."
"Good old Frank." Calvin grinned. "OK, Jack hold that directly out in front of you!"
Jack did so.
Calvin looked at his watch.
"And five... four... three... two... one..."
BRAAA-ZAAP!!
Suddenly, the MTM wheeled around, and shot a blast of lightning at Jack.
It struck the box, which immediately lit up with energy and began humming.
Jack didn't even blink.
The Time Blast then shot out of the box, and headed back to the MTM.
BLASST!!
Suddenly, the MTM froze.
It began glowing yellow, and finally dropped to the ground, motionless.
Calvin grinned, and ran up to it.
"OK, MTM, let's check out your main software, here."
He pushed the EJECT button.
The top of the MTM came up, revealing several wires, machinery, and the regular spinner you'd expect to find in any CD player.
Calvin squinted his eyes, and stared intently at the MTM.
Then, suddenly, his eyes popped open.
"Wait a minute..." He began.
He reached into the MTM, and began fishing through some of the wires and such.
Then, he pulled something out, which had been jammed in between the holographic projector and the defense mechanism.
"HERE'S the problem!"
Hobbes turned away from dodging Brainstorm's blasts, and looked at Calvin.
His mouth dropped open.
Jack sighed, and shook his head.
It was a hair pin.
Calvin threw the pin over his shoulder, and closed the MTM back up.
He pressed a few buttons on it, and suddenly, the yellow glow vanished.
Slowly, the machine started humming, signaling its activation.
...working...
"There we go!!" Calvin shouted, triumphantly. "I have fixed the Mini Time Machine!!"
"Calvin, how did a hair pin get stuck in that thing?" Hobbes demanded.
"How am I supposed to know?" Calvin shrugged. "I'll check out its security footage later on, I have sorting out to do."
Brainstorm had had quite enough of all of this.
"OK!! THAT'S IT!!!" He screamed, holding his Servant Ray up. "SERVANT RAY!! DO NOT DESTROY CALVIN AND HIS ROBOTIC FRIEND!!!"
"I'm not a robot!" Hobbes snapped.
"Whatever." Brainstorm mumbled.
Suddenly a blast of light exploded from the tip of the Servant Ray.
The first shot went for Calvin.
He grinned, and held the MTM up.
SHOOOOOOOM!!
There was a blast of light, and the CD player absorbed the energy blast.
"Yeah, it's working, again." Calvin grinned.
He pressed the PLAY button.
BLAAAAASTT!!!
That same blast exploded from the MTM, and shot for Brainstorm.
"AAAAUGH!!" Brainstorm screeched, leaping from the way, as the blast hit the ground with an explosion. "JACK!! THEY'RE TAKING COUNTER MEASURES!!! THIS IS WAR!!!!"
"Have fun." Jack said, turning, and walking away.
"GET BACK HERE!!!" Brainstorm screeched. "JACK!!! I COMMAND YOU!! GET OVER HERE AND FIGHT!!"
There was a moment of silence.
FOOOOOOOOM...
Click.
Calvin and Hobbes exchanged glances.
Suddenly, Jack came back into the electronics department, holding another Pepsi.
"Hmmm?" He asked, turning to Brainstorm.
"RRRRRRRRRGH!!!" Brainstorm growled, holding his had.
Calvin rolled his eyes, and turned around.
There were still hundreds of toys walking around the department store, shooting lightning at everything in their paths.
"So, MTM? How ya feeling?" Calvin asked, turning to the CD player.
A hologram popped out of the CD player.
Fine. Whatever. I suppose you want me to activate the Energy Absorber?
"Please do so." Calvin nodded.
Oh, very well.
Suddenly, the end of the MTM began glowing, brightly.
Hobbes turned around.
The MTM started humming loudly as Calvin pointed it at the army of toys approaching.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTT!!!
Suddenly, all the electrical currents flowing through the shelves shot towards the MTM, and were absorbed into its hypercube.
The several toys marching around the store suddenly stopped, as the electricity was pulled from them, and straight into the MTM.
There was a small clatter, and they all fell to the ground, motionless.
Calvin then, pointed the MTM at the ceiling.
The lightning which was streaking across the air suddenly all focused onto the MTM, and soon, it all stopped.
Calvin grinned.
A holographic message popped out of the MTM
All electrical disturbances have been pulled from the room, thank you for using the MTM.
"There!" Calvin grinned, looking around the trashed department store. "We're totally dead!"
"OH, I'LL SAY YOU ARE!!" Brainstorm screeched, holding his Servant Ray up.
Calvin and Hobbes turned around.
"MTM?" He asked, his eyebrows raising.
Sure.
Suddenly electrical currents exploded out of the Servant Ray, and shot into the MTM's hypercube.
"SERVANT RAY!!" Brainstorm ordered. "DESTROY CALVIN AND HOBBES!!!!"
There was a moment of silence.
"OK, then, DO NOT DESTROY CALVIN AND HOBBES!!!"
There was another moment of silence.
Brainstorm frowned, and stared at the ray.
"What the..."
"Energy absorber, Brainstorm." Calvin said, grinning, smugly. "The MTM has just consumed all of your Servant Ray's battery power!"
Hobbes chuckled.
Brainstorm blinked.
"WELL GIVE IT BACK!!!" He ordered.
"No, you go back to Yellowstone and change the batteries." Hobbes said.
Brainstorm growled, dangerously.
"OK, fine! You've won this round. But I shall be back!! TO KILL YOU AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD!! BWA HA HA HA!! I'M THE GOD!! I'M THE GOD!!"
Calvin, Hobbes and Jack rolled their eyes.
Brainstorm turned to Jack.
"Okay, Jack! GET OVER HERE!! We need to refuel!! BEFORE WE LOOSE MORE MEN!!!"
"Whatever," Jack yawned.
Brainstorm pushed a button on his sleeve.
Suddenly, the wall next to them exploded outward, the Brainstorm rocket appeared in the mall.
Brainstorm hopped inside.
"Jack, GET IN HERE!!" Brainstorm ordered.
"See ya, Calvin, Hobbes." Jack said, walking towards the rocket. "Glad I could help."
"Uh, thanks... I guess..." Calvin said.
Jack waved goodbye, and stepped into the rocket.
BLASST!!
Suddenly, the rocket lurched forward, and blasted out another wall.
Calvin and Hobbes watched them go.
There was a moment of silence.
"Brainstorm doing that set off a silent alarm, didn't it?" Hobbes asked.
"Ah-yep." Calvin nodded.
"Of course."
"However, I know a good way out of this." Calvin grinned.
Hobbes looked up.
Calvin patted the CD player in his hands.
"My good old son / cousin / grandfather, MTM!"
Hobbes rolled his eyes.
"Calvin, I don't think even the MTM can clean this place up in time." Hobbes sighed.
"Oh do you?" Calvin asked, raising an eyebrow.
He opened up the holographic Main Menu, and began pushing some buttons.
Concentrated Time Vortex activated
Hobbes stared at the message.
"Concentrated Time... huh?" Hobbes demanded, looking over at Calvin.
Suddenly, a large funnel like light burst from the tip of the machine, and hit the destroyed wall.
CRAAAACK!!
Hobbes blinked.
All the bricks suddenly reassembled themselves onto the wall, and fixed itself.
Calvin turned the MTM onto the other wall.
The same thing happened.
Calvin then turned to the broken and fallen shelves and the toys littering the ground everywhere.
ZZZZZZZIP!!
Suddenly, all the shelves repaired themselves, and stood up straight on the floor.
All the toys lifted off the ground, and flew into to their appropriate packages which immediately sealed back up, and lined up on the shelves.
Calvin then turned the MTM to the clothes department upstairs.
The stands suddenly all flew back up straight, and the clothes lined back up on the racks.
"There." Calvin said, pushing the STOP button the MTM. "Everything is as it should be."
Hobbes looked around in awe.
"How... how..." He stuttered.
"Concentrated Time Vortex." Calvin replied. "The MTM just reversed everything and put it back to the way it was, exactly fifteen minutes ago."
"Amazing," Hobbes said. "Could you tell the MTM I'm sorry for doubting it?"
"Sure, why not?"
Calvin typed something into the MTM.
There was a pause.
A hologram shot out.
Bite me.
Hobbes glared at it and began growling.
"Oh... oh... I'm sure he was just joking..." Calvin said, quickly closing the message down.
"Well, it doesn't matter." Hobbes said, glaring at the CD player. "We're still trapped in this place and now the police are coming."
"Trapped?" Calvin grinned. "Why, Hobbes, we are not trapped at all!"
Calvin turned to the locked doors, and pushed a button on the MTM.
CLICK!!
Suddenly, the doors flung wide open, revealing freedom.
Hobbes stared at them.
"Ooh..." he said.
"Now all we have to do is use the MTM to put ourselves in an invisibility force field, and we can just walk home." Calvin grinned. "Then we can delete those stupid duplicates and get back to our lives."
Hobbes looked at Calvin, nervously.
"Calvin you don't seem that worried that the MTM is going to malfunction, again." He began.
"Oh, it's not." Calvin said. "I checked the security footage."
Hobbes stared at him.
"When did you do that?" He asked.
"While I was cleaning the place. The point is I know how the pin got there."
"Really? How?" Hobbes asked.
"Just promise me something, Hobbes," Calvin said, as he and Hobbes walked out of the stores. "Just one thing."
"What?" Hobbes asked.
"Remind me to destroy Socrates the next time we see him." Calvin growled.
He pushed a button on the MTM, and the duo vanished into thin air.
The End
Voice Work
Pamela Segell Adlon Calvin
Tom Hanks Hobbes / Hobbesclone
Jennifer Love Hewitt Mom
Bill Murray: Department store announcer
Neil Crone Dr Brainstorm
Michael Brandon Jack
Coming up Next: That's MISTER Sherman to You!