Socrates, always one for a prank, has been wickedly trolling Calvin for quite a while, and Calvin is understandably really pissed about it. After cleaning the mustard off of him, he bribes Hobbes into giving him some info on how to get some sweet, sweet, revenge.
Calvin riles up Socrates by mocking him, refusing to step into any of his traps. As it turns out, Socrates becomes The Berserker when truly riled, and so they strife for a bit. When Calvin's mom comes, similarly angry, Socrates has vanished.
Socrates then hikes around, angry. He finds Hobbes and unleashes a nasty Humiliation Conga on him, destroying his respect for his idol.
Meanwhile, Calvin sits in a shed, plotting his revenge. Then Socrates bursts in, and after a long moment of silence, the two argue.
Socrates informs Calvin of his plans to run away, and Calvin claims he's insane. They then duel once more - neither really gain the upper hand, but the duel ends when Calvin grabs Socrates by the scruff of his neck, subduing him. He then throws him out in the woods, somewhat uncaring.
Calvin returns to the house, where Hobbes wonders where Socrates went. At this point, Calvin is clearly a nervous wreck, repeatedly calling Hobbes "Socrates", making him suspicious.
The two then attempt a rescue mission, though Calvin quickly goes alone as Hobbes suffers a leg injury. There, he finds Socrates playing Checkerless Checkers with two talking bears. The two apologize, and then the bears get angry and chase them. They escape thanks to a train track and return home, where Status Quo Is God takes effect once more.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Calvin's mom beats him with a broom ala Tom and Jerry for ruining her white sheets.
- Homage: To Tom and Jerry.
- Bears Are Bad News: Subverted - Socrates plays Checkerless Checkers with them.
- Double subverted shortly afterwards.
- Brick Joke: Checkerless Checkers.
- Call-Back: To "The Night of the Living Television":Socrates: You big lugs couldn't catch a flea on a grandpa's knee! And ha, ha, ha! And ho, ho, ho! And hee! Hee! Hee! And I'll bet your mothers wear old tow sack drawers.
- Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Calvin and Socrates' relationship.
- Character Development: Hobbes idolized Socrates in his initial appearance and onwards, but upon suffering a Humiliation Conga at his hands he's suddenly lost all his respect for him.
- Also a case of Broken Pedestal.
- Circling Birdies: Socrates gets this during the second duel.
- Darker and Edgier: A sudden deconstruction of Socrates' prankster roots, showing another side of him.
- Food as Bribe: Calvin duplicates some tuna in order to get information from Hobbes.
- High-Pressure Emotion: Calvin's mom.
- Humiliation Conga:Suddenly, a water balloon splashed into Hobbes' head.
"ACK!" Hobbes yelled.
It was then that Hobbes realized that Socrates hads pushed Hobbes over sending him tumbling down the hill.
He landed in the creek.
However this wasn't enough for Socrates.
Socrates rolled the garbage barrel over to the hill, and dumped it.
Over a ton of garbage colapsed onto Hobbes, just as he was climbing out of the creek.
Then, Socrates grabbed a barrel full of mustard, and sent it tumbling down the hill, screaming in anger.
It hit Hobbes, and he went tumbling back into the creek, now covered in mustard. - Insult Backfire:Calvin: You're a twisted feline!
Socrates: Why thank you, Calvin. - Last Chance to Quit: Calvin offers Socrates one chance to apologize. He refuses.
- Mind Screw: Checkerless Checkers.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Socrates spends a good portion of the story pissed off. Swing himself admits this in the opening of Chapter 5, promising not to do things like this again.
- The Prankster: Deconstructed - Socrates pranks end up earning the ire of Calvin, and when the latter finally gets his revenge, Socrates doesn't take it well (earning the ire of Hobbes in the process).
- Revenge: Calvin wants this on Socrates.
- Shown Their Work: You really can stop a cat by grabbing their neck.
- The Unapologetic: Socrates flat-out refuses to apologize.
- Your Mom: See above.
