Calvin has to write a story to present at school the next day, but can't think of a story to write. He decides to use his time machine to go forward in time a few hours to pick up his report from his future self, but quickly opens up a large can of worms concerning time travel that complicates his evening tremendously.
Tropes
- Casual Time Travel: For Calvin, traveling through time is as easy as jumping inside a cardboard box.
- I Hate Past Me: Played for laughs. 8:30 Calvin realizes the reason why he doesn't have the finished story is that 7:30 Calvin didn't write it, so he resolves to go berate him for being lazy and try to force him to do it.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Calvin's story was most certainly written, but not much else about this arc is clear by the end. Calvin's time traveling can be assumed to be imaginary, since his prior use of the time machine made it clear that the dinosaur photos he took were just his dinosaur toys and he never actually went back to the past. However, if Hobbes is just a stuffed tiger who isn't capable of writing and illustrating a story, then the only possible explanation is that Calvin decided to write a story that made him look like an idiot and acted like he didn't realize that was the case until after he got up in front of the class to present it, and then got furious about it afterwards.
- Never My Fault: None of the Calvins can accept responsibility for the story not getting written, blaming one of the other Calvins for it not getting done.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Averted. Calvin meets two future versions of himself, and Hobbes meets one, without consequence, and Calvin's entire plan revolves around meeting with his future self to get a completed story from him.
- Other Me Annoys Me: The Calvins all dislike each other because none of them actually wrote the story they need for school and each blames the others for it not getting done.
- Revenge via Storytelling: 6:30 Hobbes and 8:30 Hobbes do bail Calvin out of not writing the story by writing the story for him, but said story makes Calvin look bad due to it being about his own failed attempts to use time travel get a story without writing it. Calvin is not pleased when he realizes what Hobbes wrote about, and even after realizing he got an A+ on the story is still upset.
- So Proud of You: Miss Wormwood praises Calvin, giving the story an A+ and adding that she's glad at him for finally applying himself.
- Temporal Duplication: The arc features as many as three Calvins at once due to the effects of time travel, as well as two Hobbeses.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: The story the two Hobbeses write for Calvin gets an A+.
- Time Travel: How Calvin tries to get around writing his story for school, going into the future to get the completed story from his future self. He doesn't realize the obvious problem with his plan until after it's failed.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: 6:30 Calvin goes forward in time to 8:30, intending to pick up his finished story from 8:30 Calvin. But 8:30 Calvin hasn't written it yet because at 6:30 he went forward in time to 8:30 to get it instead of writing it. While the two Calvins go back to 7:30 Calvin to berate him for not writing it then, 6:30 Hobbes and 8:30 Hobbes decide to just write the story for Calvin. When 6:30 Calvin and 8:30 Calvin get back to 8:30, the Hobbeses give 6:30 Calvin the story, and 6:30 Calvin goes back to 6:30. So 6:30 Calvin proceeds through time normally, eventually being 7:30 and 8:30 Calvin, so therefore, 8:30 Calvin should have known that Hobbes was eventually going to write the story when 6:30 Calvin traveled to them initially, and there was no need for them to go back to bother 7:30 Calvin to try to make him write it.
- Write What You Know: In-universe. 6:30 Hobbes and 8:30 Hobbes decide to write the story for Calvin since Calvin obviously isn't going to do it. So they decide to write about the experience of Calvin trying to use time travel to get out of writing the story from their perspective, intentionally making Calvin looks as foolish as possible in the process.
