Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates are in the middle of a game of Calvinball when they are attacked by Dr Brainstorm, once again trying to destroy them. Although the trio are indifferent, they still recognize the need to get rid of him, so they escape in the wagon and locate the cardboard box.
Dr Brainstorm and Jack argue over the existence of Dr B's "report" and how badly Jack is doing, they notice that Calvin and Hobbes are suddenly appearing everywhere at once, constantly running past them in several different directions. While Jack recognizes that they've duplicated themselves with the Duplicator, Dr Brainstorm is freaked out and gives the order to retreat. In the process of escaping, he runs past the original Calvin and Hobbes who are with Socrates by the Duplicator, accidentally bumping into Socrates and sends him into the box.
After Dr Brainstorm and Jack depart in a rocket, Calvin and Hobbes realize that Socrates has been duplicated by accident. Calvin is naturally disturbed by these events, but the two Socrateses are delighted to know one another, and they proceed to head into town to cause trouble and prank everyone they see.
Calvin, Hobbes, Andy and Sherman quickly get irritated and make plans to do something about the extra Socrates.
However, there is no need for this. The two Socrateses are constantly trying to outdo each other, and the first Socrates is soon being run ragged by his other self, who seems to thrive on his exhaustion. They try to get a prank ready where they fill someone's swimming pool with ice cream and sprinkles, but it proves to be too elaborate, and it only gets half-finished before they start arguing with each other. Calvin is amused by the situation, and decides to let the event run its course.
With the original Socrates getting tired, he tries to escape from his clone, but the other Socrates decides to start pranking him instead. Infuriated, the first Socrates declares war, and the two proceed to engage in a battle of pranks.
Meanwhile, Calvin, Hobbes, Andy and Sherman have found the incomplete prank (ice cream-filled pool) and decide they can charge people money to eat from it. As they proceed on setting up a stand and passing out advertisements, they observe from a safe distance as the two Socrateses deal with each other.
At last, while the four of them are making money, the two Socrateses come to Calvin, demanding that he delete the other one. Calvin instead merges them back together with the Duplicator's undo button, and Socrates is unique again. Although he hasn't learned much from the ordeal, Socrates expresses his new found respect for the others having to put up with him all the time, and he promises to remember that while he's pranking them again tomorrow.
Tropes:
- Accidental Hug: Calvin and Susie have one after one of Socrates' pranks causes an explosion.
- Ask a Stupid Question...:Calvin: Spoons are complimentary!
Susie: They're free?
Calvin: No, we wrote little personal praises on the handles. Yes, they're free. - Big "WHAT?!": Brainstorm does one when Jack remarks that he doesn't care about his report.
- Electric Joy Buzzer: Shortly after declaring a prank war, the two Socrateses shake hands and fall victim to this.
- Escalating War: The twin Socrateses' prank war.
- Impact Silhouette: Downplayed, as Socrates ends up crashing into the ceiling, but never actually breaks through it.
- Other Me Annoys Me: The twin Socrateses eventually end up like this.
- Pie in the Face: Andy receives one from one of Socrates' pranks.
- Pluralses: How the story treats the twin Socrateses.
- Shout-Out: Socrates gets awoken by a radio playing "Maybe Tomorrow" by Scooch
(a British pop band).note - Sherman later asks, "How exactly are the Wonder Twins, anyway?"
- Thing-O-Matic: The Defeat-O-Matic.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Calvin does this after discovering the two Socrateses.
- Twitchy Eye: Brainstorm gets one as Jack casually walks towards him.
- Unsound Effect: The duplicator being reversed gets an "UNBOINK!"
- Worthy Opponent: A particularly amusing variant:Socrates 2: It's been so long since I met a worthy adversary.
Socrates 1: You've only been alive for a few days!
