I DON'T OWN SPONGEBOB. I HAD THIS IDEA FOR A WHILE AND WANTED TO GO AHEAD WITH IT. HOPE IT'S LIKED.
-Natty
I stared solemnly, ahead of me at the ruin, the debris and rubble. I stared at what was once known as Bikini Bottom, a carefree and happy place where sea critters once roamed freely and in peaceful harmony. Until that day came, that fateful day, that unholy day that everything changed. One would have thought it was the apocalypse if one hadn't known better. Buildings falling, crumbling, dust and dirt scattered everywhere. The sand and gravel flying up into driver's eyes, blinding them which only caused more mayhem. Cars crashing left and right, families and friends trying to flee, brothers and sisters screaming for if not their lives then the life of their sibling. That day would live in history as the last day of our world.
And that didn't even scratch the surface of what happened on this day. On this day, we lost an individual, perhaps even more important than the hundreds of lives lost on this one day and many more to come.
The chaos didn't start solely on this day. The madness started days before this, possibly a week. No one expected this, and it's my shame that makes me think that everyone should have saw this coming. It is only so long that something lasts, and it is but so long until a plan is formed and ready. Bikini Bottom, these creatures, we weren't ready. Ready…none of us were ready.
The day Plankton took over was the day our inferno began. It was like a flame, lighting itself slowly, and this was seen, but then the flame blew up, igniting everything in its path and destroying it with a sick sense of easiness, almost too darn easy.
Bikini Bottom was no more. It was now a gravesite of what once was here. But now, here lay Planktopolis. I used to love this city, with its blue skies, and everyone I've come to know here. Creatures used to laugh and littler creatures used to play and go to school to learn. The little shops and the Lagoon, that beautiful underwater beach where everyone hung out and played and just came to have a good time. I have a lot of memories of that place. Now that I look back on it, I should have had so many more. I didn't spend most of my time on what mattered most, my friends, the ones I thought of as family. Shoot, they WERE my family. I don't have anyone else here but those guys.
Things were scattered now. I haven't even seen half of my friends for a while. I know where they are, or more likely where they're hiding out. You had to be careful here around these parts. If you knew what was good for you, you'd stay off of the streets. They were almost deserted, and I watched a tumble weed roll by in the distance. It was a dead silence, save for the patrolling jellyfish, the sounds of painful zaps and cries of terror, always of suffering.
Then there was the whistle that our downfall couldn't have been possible without. The control whistle, the one that spoke commands and instructions of punishment. Ones that most certainly ended in death, and that was if you were lucky.
The only real commotion came from the middle of town, at the square, where fish were forced to gather to watch horrific sentences and torture. This was a new and gruesome version of a civil trial. When you were charged with a crime, no matter how small it was, you were horribly punished. You were led, and if you were brave enough to resist, you were forced to the center of the square, where you were beaten. Whipped or electrocuted until you begged for mercy or in most cases, your own death.
One of these events were taking place as I thought, so I walked forward, closer to the center so I could see who was getting it and if it was anyone I knew. No one cared about each other anymore. It was natural selection at this point, and only the wisest would be able to survive. It was survival of the fittest, at least for everyone else, except me. I would be fairly easy to kill. You probably wouldn't think so, but I'm powerless to do anything because of an agreement I would have done anything to stop.
A whip cracked against flesh and I could see the blood fly up and mix with the water of the ocean. It diminished soon and disappeared, seconds later a zap occurred and another moan of pain echoed. The old, short fish, lay shaking on the sea floor. "But...its my birthday..." He coughed weakly. His glasses broken on his face, clothes torn and ripped and his walker laid a few feet away from him. It was a ghastly scene.
The surrounding fish could only watch, with wide eyes and fear for if they so much as blinked wrong then they'd get the same fate as the fallen fish before them. The crowd gasped as the abuse continued, parents covering their children's eyes and women shielding their own pupils from the crude sight. Some fish cringed while others turned away, one of them to throw up, not thinking he could take anymore as he tried to run away. He was stopped immediately, being whipped across his back, groaning as he fell to his knees, tears welding in his eyes as a jellyfish hovered down to electrocute him from behind. The sounds of all these things both bothering and sickening to me as I even struggled to keep my stomach acid down. There wasn't much food anymore, but I was allowed food more than others. Everyone else was forced to eat Chum by law.
I was hated in this town now. I recalled that now as fish started to look at me, giving me angry and accusing glares. They all thought this was my fault, and I admit that in a way it was. I was blind and foolish. I didn't know what was happening right behind my back.
More hate filled eyes turned to me, even children had taken to mimicking their parent's icy glare at me. Soon it seemed like everyone was looking at me in pure detestation.
The most horrible of the sounds ceased in existence, the laughter. Plankton stopped laughing and turned. "Hey! Where's the fire? You are ALL supposed to be watching my display of public humiliation! What are all of you- Oh…" He looked at me, and smiled.
He made me sick, and he knew he did, that was why he stared me down the way he did, mocking me, mocking everything he's done up to this point.
"Well if it isn't dear old Sandy Cheeks! What are you doing up and about so early in the AM, huh?" Plankton said, standing smugly on top of the desktop of his computer wife. I don't know how she was okay with this, with all of this. We've spoken before and she was a pretty swell gal. Now, since she was with him, on his side, I hated her just as much. Her screen's expression was blank of emotion, just a flat line and oddly she didn't speak. She hasn't spoken since he's taken over, I think. In fact, now that I think about it, she hasn't spoken before then either, for weeks even. I couldn't remember the last time I heard Karen spoke a witty remark or so much as sighed in dismay at her microscopic husband. I looked at her and her screen turned to me. Her straight line blinked and then nothing. Well fine, I turned my nose up at her too. She could be that way. I hope she was happy with this, with all if this. And if this thing ever blew over, I'd make sure that I shut her down permanently and if computers could feel pain, then it would be painful for sure. How could she stand by Plankton as all of this was happening? How could she still love him or even be bothered with him after this? It both puzzled and angered me greatly. I swore to my friend that I'd get back at both of them.
I despised the teeny organism, with every fiber of my being. I glared at his smirk and some fish in the crowd mumbled of my foolish bravery. Trust is, I wasn't scared of this pipsqueak! Not a bit! And I'd do something about it over and over again! …If only I could…
Plankton looked down at his small little wrist, and if I squinted I could have clearly seen a tiny watch on one of his stubby little arms. "It's ten o'clock sharp. Shouldn't you be enjoying the buffet along with the other heroes of this town that helped me rise to victory?"
I couldn't take it anymore. I prayed an apology to the land above us and spoke back to him, for the first time in weeks. "I didn't help you rise to anything, and you think that then you're even crazy'er than monkeys in a-"
"-in a barrel filled with clam juice. I think I heard you the first time, airhead!" Plankton finished my sentence, gesturing to my suit. This was one of the reasons I couldn't fight against his reign the way I wanted to. If my suit got scratched or punctured, or even torn, if my helmet cracked or shattered then I was a goner. It was one of the many reasons why Spongebob didn't let me take action in the first place. Maybe if I had then things would have been different, much different than how they were now.
I fought back still, because at this point I didn't care if they whipped me to silence me. Let them. I'd rather die than live this way, with regret and what if's and why didn't's. "And I'm no hero! Neither are you! You disposed of our real hero, and why'd ya do that?" I asked and answered "You were scared, because if ya di'nt get rid of him then it'd be the end of your hardnosed reign of tyranny, barnacle!" I smirked to myself, because I knew I had him. He had to admit it now, in front of everyone, he was caught and there was nothing he could do about it!
"Shouldn't you be meeting some friends or something somewhere?" Plankton asked, his evil grin wide.
My mouth was gaped open wide as I backed away fearfully. Everyone watched, unknowingly, but I knew what he meant, and so did he. I had to keep biting my tongue and I had to keep standing down to him. It wasn't just for my own life anymore, now that of my friends remained in the balance. He was threatening them! Before I ran away, I told him one more thing, something definite. "We'll stop ya…Somehow we'll stop ya! And when we do…you're going to PAY...for everything you did to us critters!" I scolded and turned to leave. A stranger in a brown cloak stood in my path. I looked at them curiously before running past them, far away and as fast as I could into the suburban part of town.
We lost a hero that day, perhaps the only one that could stop this, stop this hell from burning its fire. To stop the rule of an evil ruler, a dictator, a villain of sorts. I lost a best friend, a partner, someone who was like family to me.
Spongebob, if you could read my thoughts up there, we need you now more than ever, and now that you're gone, even more than that. You were the only one who could stop Plankton, and it killed me to see you go. We need you. Bikini Bottom needs you…and…I need you.
I'm so sorry Spongebob…
…For everything…
