Swing123: Besides TERROR IN THE TOWN, this will probably be my last story with Rupert and Earl in it, so enjoy.
Calvin walked up the stairs one bright summer day.
He had a wide grin on his face, and he was pumping his arms as he went.
He burst into his room, where Hobbes was reading a comic book.
"Guess what, Hobbes?" Calvin asked.
"Whatever it is, the answer is no." Hobbes said, turning the page to his comic book.
Calvin glared at him.
"I'll have you know, I wasn't asking you to do anything! I was going to show you something."
"It'll always lead up to something hazardous to my health." Hobbes said.
Calvin scowled.
"Relax, Hobbes. This invention isn't even complete, yet."
Hobbes' head shot up.
"Invention!" He yelled. "CODE RED!"
He leaped from the bed, dove into the closet, slammed the door, and locked it.
Calvin blinked.
"Hobbes, I'm not going to use this invention for financial worries or for fun this is a strictly serious thing."
Hobbes didn't emerge from the closet.
"Hobbes! This invention is going to be used for our safety!"
Hobbes opened the door a crack and peeked out.
Calvin grinned, and reached into his toy chest.
"Hobbes. Prepare yourself."
"That would be impossible."
Calvin pulled a long microphone with an extended wire at the bottom.
"This Hobbes, is the Mega-Shrinker 5000! It shrinks you!"
Hobbes stared at the device.
The microphone was a sleek silver color. The wire was black, and had a jack at the end, the microphone also had an extending neck. Which means that it got longer when it was plugged in. There was a single button the holding point, and a small switch between SHRINK and UNSHRINK. Oh, and it was pointing at Hobbes.
Hobbes stepped out of the way, as Calvin showed it off.
"However!" Calvin said. "It's not done yet. It still needs some other stuff. But when it's done, we can shrink all our attackers, and we'll be invincible!"
"Uh huh." Hobbes said. "And what happens if we get shrunk?"
"We won't." Calvin said. "Now, I'm going up to the attic to work on it. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes send a banana creme pie after me."
Hobbes rolled his eyes, as Calvin rushed out of the room with the microphone... Shrink ray Whatever... and wire tagging behind him.
Calvin ran up into the attic with the shrinker.
Meanwhile, high up in the sky... higher... higher... a bit higher... about three inches higher. There we are. Right above the planet Earth, a giant spaceship orbited the planet.
Standing in the window was a tall man in a white T-shirt, sunglasses, a goatee, short black hair, jet black jeans, brown boots and dog tags. Standing next to him was a slightly shorter man with a bald head, also with sunglasses, blue jeans, sneakers, a red T shirt with a jet black jacket, and sharp features.
Both were staring out over the Earth.
"EARTH POTENTATE, LOCATION: HOUSE, ATTIC." Said a cool robot voice.
"What's he doing in the attic?" Earl asked.
"Who knows?" Rupert replied. "And more importantly, who cares?"
Earl pushed a button on the intercom and called, "Attention. This is your captain speaking. Please report to the Control Room, immediately."
Nobody answered.
Rupert and Earl exchanged glances.
"Anyone who comes will receive a free milkshake." Earl added, a littler colder.
At these words, fifty aliens stampeded into the Control Room.
The aliens all had tentacles for arms. Their feet and legs also consisted of several tentacles. Their heads were chrome, along with the rest of their body, and took on a crescent moon shape. They had sharp, yellow, compound eyes, They all had stupid grins on their faces, and were wearing red uniforms with a PLANET ZOK logo on the chest.
They all lined up, pushing and shoving to get to the front, acquired serious expressions, and did salutes.
Rupert and Earl watched with their arms crossed.
"Alright." Earl said. "Is everyone here?"
Everybody stared at Rupert and Earl.
"Mm-hmm. Good." Earl said. "OK. We have received intelligence that the Earth Potentate is in his house. In his attic. Do we all know the plan?"
A tentacle went into the air.
"What?" Earl asked, turning to an alien. It was Alex.
"What time is it?"
Earl's eyes slammed shut. He pointed at the clock.
"Oh, thank you."
Another tentacle went into the air.
"Yes?"
"What planet would this clock tell time for?"
"ZOK!" Earl yelled.
Another tentacle went up.
"What!"
"Would that be the time zone that I live in?"
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW!" Earl screamed, throwing his arms into the air. "ANY OTHER QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT TIME IT IS!"
Nobody moved.
Earl calmed down a bit.
"Alright. Good. Tonight, we invade the house. Any questions?"
A tentacle went into the air.
Earl spun around to him.
"The clock's there, it tells time for Zok, I don't know which Time Zone, there's a frame around it, it ticks, And it's hanging on a wall. Does that answer your question?"
The tentacle went down.
"Good." Earl said, turning back to the crowd. "Now, please return to your work stations."
"What about our free milkshakes?" Asked an alien.
"OUT! NOW!"
The crowd rushed out of the room.
Calvin used the screwdriver, and attached several screws into the handle of the Mega-Shrinker 5000.
After it was screwed in, he took a black marker, and wrote on the neck of the shrinker,
Mega-Shrinker 5000
Calvin grinned, and dusted his hands together.
Calvin then took the marker, and added a small personal touch.
By Calvin the Bold, Boy of Dynasty
Calvin grinned, and kissed his thumb and forefinger.
"Perfect!" He chuckled.
Calvin held up the shrinker.
He plugged it into a headphone jack on a CD player. There was a SHIIICK, and the shrinker's neck shot out, to full length.
Calvin flipped the switch to SHRINK, and pointed it at a box of winter clothing.
He pulled the trigger.
ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
Red light shot out of the shrinker, and compacted the box into a half inch tall.
Calvin placed the device down, and got down onto his belly, and peered at the ground.
Calvin could see the box. Just barely. But he could see it.
Calvin grinned, and stood back up.
He grabbed the shrinker, set it to UNSHRINK, and pointed it at the box, again.
zzeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
The box instantly returned in a blast of red light a gasp of blue smoke.
Calvin's grin increased.
"IT WORKS!" He yelled. "MY SHRINKER IS A SUCCESS!"
Calvin placed the Mega-Shrinker 5000 on the table, and rushed down to his room.
"HOBBES! HOBBES!"
"What? What?" Hobbes asked, not taking his eyes off the comic book.
"My new invention works! I'm a genius!"
"Whoop Dee doo."
"And now, we're invincible!"
"Uh huh."
"You have absolutely no idea how important this is, do you?" Calvin asked, scowling.
"Nope." Hobbes said.
Calvin muttered and grumbled, and rooted through his comic books.
"Well, I'm not going to let your not caringness of my inventions lower my self esteemer. I'm going to read a comic book."
"Uh-huh."
Calvin sat down on the bed, next to Hobbes, and started reading Captain Maim.
He was grumbling to himself about all the injustices in the world, and how the shrink ray would come in handy for them, someday.
Heh, heh.
Meanwhile, Rupert's spaceship continued to hover over Calvin's state.
And it was lowering.