32. Four Years Later

CHAPTER 32 FOUR YEARS LATER Four years later, a giant sphere of blue lightning appeared on what used to be an elementary school football field. Soon, the sphere exploded in a blinding flash of light, leaving Tippy and his gigantic Robo-Pants behind. Tippy peeked out of the zipper and discovered that Earth had been destroyed.

He crawled out of his giant Robo-Pants and shuffled through the shattered city, inspecting the chaos. All around him, the landscape was littered with massive moon rocks, skeletal skyscrapers, and torn-up toilets. "What the heck happened here?" Tippy cried. When the morning sun rose above the horizon, Tippy finally saw a sign of life. A little preschooler was walking up a burning boulevard with his mother.

"Hey, kid," yelled Tippy. "What happened here? How did Earth get destroyed?" "Well," said the little boy, "a few weeks ago, some guy in a diaper blew up the moon and tried to take over the world. But a week later, a bunch of Talking Toilets attacked the city and ate him up. Then, a week after that, a spaceship landed on top of the elementary school, and all the kids got turned into giant evil zombie nerds!" "I sure wish you would stop obsessing over such foolish nonsense," the boy's mother said.

"But what about Captain Underpants?" asked Tippy. "Who's that?" said the boy. "He's that fat, bald superhero," said Tippy. "You know, the guy with the underwear and the red cape? What happened to him?" "I've never seen anyone like that," said the little boy.

Suddenly, Tippy realized what a terrible mistake he had made. Somehow he'd changed things in the past, which had resulted in the destruction of both Captain Underpants AND Earth. "I must go back and undo what I did," cried Tippy. "I must go back in time to SAVE Captain Underpants! "Quickly, little boy," screamed Tippy, "tell me everything you know about these zombie nerds who have taken over the world!" "Well," said the little boy, "they're really strong—and they're really powerful!" "Yes, yes," said Tippy. "What else are they?"

"They're right behind you," said the boy. Tippy turned and looked up. There, standing behind him, were two of the biggest, evilest-looking zombie nerds anyone had ever seen. One of the zombie nerds raised his foot above Tippy's head. "NOOOOO!" screamed Tippy. "You can't kill me! I'm the only chance this world has of ever returning to normal!"