3. Tippy Returns Again!

CHAPTER 3 TIPPY RETURNS AGAIN! Tippy Tinkletrousers was in big trouble. He had zapped himself back in time five years and accidentally frightened four bullies. This thoughtless mistake set in motion a series of events that ultimately got Mr. Krupp fired. And since there was no Mr. Krupp, there was no Captain Underpants. And since there was no Captain Underpants, there was nobody to save the world from the terrible devastation caused by the villains from our first three epic novels. Tippy decided there was only one thing to do: go back in time and stop himself from scaring those bullies. But in order to do this, he would have to go back in time before the last time he had gone back in time.

So Tippy set his Tinkle-Time fravelometer for ten minutes BEFORE the last time he had arrived in the past, and pressed the "Away We Go!" button. After several seconds of made-for-television- styled special effects, Tippy found himself transported to the awful night of the terrifying thunderstorm. Everything looked very familiar. He knew at any moment, the four bullies would come running from the school and tear across the football field. Then they would come face-to-face with him (well, a slightly younger version of him), and only he could stop it all from happening.

Tippy hid behind the side of the school and waited as the wind howled ferociously. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of lightning struck a nearby power line. The electricity in the school went out, and all of the windows became dark. Tippy listened closely and heard the sounds of squealing and slapping and shuffling. It sounded as if a terrible struggle was taking place inside the school. Then suddenly, the back door of the school crashed open, and the four petrified bullies shoved their way outside. Quickly, they darted toward the football field. This was Tippy's big chance. He aimed his Freezy-Beam 4000 at the running delinquents and zapped them all with a mini-mountain of molecularly modified ice.

The four bullies were frozen in place. Tippy scanned the boys with his life-systems monitor and found them to be perfectly preserved. The carbonite-and-tibanna-gas- infused ice had been programmed to remain solid for fifteen minutes—just long enough for Tippy to do his thing. Quickly, Tippy turned toward the football field, where a ball of blue lightning was growing bigger and bigger. Suddenly, it exploded in a blinding flash.

And there, where the ball of lightning had been, was a giant pair of robotic pants. "Boy, that was a close one," said a voice from inside the depths of the newly arrived Robo-Pants. "Captain Underpants is a lot stronger than I thought!" The zipper of the newly arrived robotic trousers opened, and a tiny man peeked out to marvel at the world of five years ago.

But to his surprise, he saw an identical copy of himself staring straight at him and tapping his gigantic robotic foot impatiently. "Who are you?" asked the newly arrived Tippy. "I'm YOU!" shouted Future Tippy. "You from the future!" "What's going on?" asked Tippy.