Fanfic / Calvin and Hobbes III: Double Trouble

Calvin and Hobbes III: Double Trouble is the third film in Swing123's Script Fic trilogy, following Calvin and Hobbes: The Movie and Calvin and Hobbes II: Lost at Sea. It also has a part in the Calvinverse, like the stories before it.

Rupert and Earl have set out for revenge on our young hero, and they end up kidnapped by a man who wants a ransom for their safe return. Will they make it? Probably.

A rewrite has been written and completed on garfieldodie's account.

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This fic provides examples of:

Tropes for the original

• Adults Are Useless: From the author's notes:
  No, The town won't save Calvin. They'll be worthless. Worthless to the end.

• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: A gag of the aliens destroying Calvin's mom's antiques starts out reasonable enough, but ends with a clock worth about 50 bucks. She reacts exactly the same.
• Ascended Meme: Rupert mentions the widely-known origin of the duo's names.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The giant goose.
• Author Catchphrase: The first appearance of "Help. Cry for help."

• Big "NO!": Calvin's mom does this when her antiques start getting destroyed.
  • Rupert does this in response to Calvin freeing the entire world from his control.
  • He does another one shortly after a Big "WHAT?!" not long later.
• Big "WHAT?!": When Calvin and Hobbes find out the aliens drink lava.
  • Calvin does one later when he finds out being tortured is a sport.
  • Calvin does another one when Hobbes refuses to fight.

• Cassandra Truth: Finally subverted in Chapter 5, when Rupert and Earl reveal themselves.
• Close-Call Haircut: Calvin, who gets really angry about it. "NO ONE MESSES WITH THE DO!"
• Comedic Sociopathy: Calvin slams the door shut on Rupert's foot.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: The first two trials - eating a bunch of stale Kit Kat bars and going three miles on a treadmill.

• Disguised in Drag:
  • Retro dresses as an old lady to hitchhike.

• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Rupert does this to freak out Calvin, though it loses its luster when another alien exclaims "Hi, Mom!".

• Escape Pod: Discussed by Calvin, who reasons that if they are in a UFO, there must be an escape pod because "It's in the rules!"
• Every Car Is a Pinto: The Mazda explodes when it crashes into a rock.
  Calvin: Now really! How often do you get to see a car explode in real life?
  Hobbes: That is such a stupid question, I refuse to answer it.

• Expecting Someone Taller: A villainous variant:
  Alien: Ah. You must be that Earth Potentate that gave everybody such a hard time. Huh. I kind of pictured you taller.

• Hypocritical Humor: Calvin claims one shouldn't make fun of the Spanish, despite his doing so in Lost at Sea. Hobbes even points it out.
• Invisibility: The Inviso Bombman.

• Masochist's Meal: The aliens drink lava. Justified, since they're aliens.
• Mass Hypnosis: Everyone on Earth is apparently brainwashed to serve Rupert and Earl.
• Medium Awareness: Exaggerated: Calvin manages to briefly hijack the narrative.
  Susie was playing on the sidewalk with Mr Bun.
  She was performing a ritual known to us only as "THE TEA PARTY".
  That's not me talking by the way, Calvin slipped it in while I wasn't looking.
  • Then there's this:
  Calvin: But anyway, if this is a UFO, it has to have some kind of Escape Pod or something! It's in the rules!
  Hobbes: It is?
  Calvin: Plus this chapter would be extremely boring if we just sat in a cell all day.
  • Another one:
  Tracer: Who's Earl?
  Calvin: The ship captain! Didn't you know that?
  Spiff: Not really. He wasn't called Earl until the end of the second movie.
  • Even later:
  Calvin: Now hurry up, and go! We're running out of room for this chapter!
  • "Nothing like a bunch of drama to get the movie going, huh Hobbes?"
  • "And if we'd known that trick in the first place, this movie would've been shorter."
• Misery Builds Character: According to Calvin's dad, burns build character.
• Mood-Swinger: The Mood Swing Babbler.
• Motor Mouth: Rupert's small rant:
  "The name Calvin is a western theologion guy who believed in things I can't remember right now. and Hobbes is the same, and further more, you spelled 'Hobbes' H-O-B-S, when it is really spelled H-O-B-B-E-S. And clearly the name is Calvin and Hobbes, but someone scratched it out, and wrote, Hobbes and Calvin, plus most of these items haven't been invented yet, and I've looked it up, and GROSS isn't a club within any part of this immediate area!"
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Goose of Death.
• Nonverbal Miscommunication: Hobbes waves frantically to Calvin - he replies to his mother, "Hobbes says hi."
• Noodle Incident: Calvin references the Trope Namer, prompting a Lame Rhyme Dodge to "Poodle Incident".
• "Open!" Says Me: Rupert and Earl blast Calvin's door open.
• Pity the Kidnapper: Chill gets tormented by Calvin. Rupert and Earl exploit this in order to kill Calvin.
• Real Song Theme Tune: "Calvin and Hobbes" by Pure Joy, fittingly enough.
• Saw It in a Movie Once: "I saw this on that Jimmy Neutron movie!"

• Shout-Out:
  • Calvin describes Rupert as a demented SpongeBob.
  • Then there's this:
    Calvin: OK. You've reminded me of that scene in that stupid Peter Pan movie, and all at once, I've lost interest. Thanks a lot.
  • Calvin later claims to be SpongeBob.

• Squick: Calvin and Hobbes' In-Universe reaction to Vivid Video Vapors.
• Take Over the World: Rupert and Earl manage to achieve this.
• Tempting Fate:
  Stupendous Man: At least they can't get me up here!
  (the brainwashed Mom floats up on a rocket scooter)
  Stupendous Man: Why did I say that?

• Weaksauce Weakness: One can stop brainwashing by splashing the affected with water.
• We Will Meet Again: "I'LL BE BACK, CHILD! COUNT ON IT!"'
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Subverted - apparently, the city's in North Dakota.

• You Won't Like How I Taste:
  Calvin: Did I mention that I taste terrible? Awful! You don't want to eat me! I'll give you indigestion! I'll make Heart Burn! Terrible heart burn! And did I mention the indigestion? WHOO HOO! Not even alka-seltzer could break me up! I mean we're talking about...

Tropes for the rewrite

• Birthday Episode: Calvin's first birthday since he got rid of the Floating Timeline back in The Collective and thus, his first one to subvert the Ageless Birthday Episode trope since he turned six, occurs during the fic.
• Darker and Edgier: Good grief yes. For one thing, Human!Rupert's character has been completely revamped from a wacky Jim Carrey knockoff to a grim Shell-Shocked Veteran with a downright tragic backstory. His kidnapping of Calvin and Hobbes is a much more serious affair here, as everyone reacts to it appropriately.