Jellyfish Man

(Chapter One. Every hero has a starting point)

Spongebob's POV (Narrating in present tense)

"Bikini Bottom… it's a place like no other. First we all know that the best place to go to eat is the Krusty Krab, but aside from fast food restaurants there is more to Bikini Bottom than you know. For the most part Bikini Bottom is a safe town, most of the people here get along and there is usually no trouble. Once in a while strange things happen, but one thing that makes Bikini Bottom different is the fact that the citizens have someone watching over them and that someone is me. Most of you know me as a fry cooking, karate chopping, and jellyfishing kind of guy. There is another side of me; let me go back to the last thing I said, the part about jellyfish. I'm actually part jellyfish now; yes that's kind of freaky but you learn to live with it. I have been given special powers and it's all because of a jellyfish. When the accident first happened many people called me a freak, and other people were too afraid to look at me. It took me a while to figure out my powers, but now the citizens of Bikini Bottom have accepted me as their new hero. Of course no one really knows that it is me because secret identity is the most important thing about being a hero. How did this all happen you may ask? I'll tell you because every great hero has a story to tell."

(Two years ago)

Inside the Chum Bucket Plankton is testing his chum recipe, everyone knows not to eat chum not only because it tastes bad, but also because it does bad things inside of you.

"Finally I've finished another batch of chum, Karen will you…"

"No way am I eating that. First of all I can't eat it because I'm a computer and I've seen what your chum does to people. The chum is glowing a yellowish green color. One other thing… who puts radioactive chemicals in food anyway?" Asks Karen.

"Ok ok I see your point… I'll just dump this batch."

Plankton pulls a switch and it ends up outside in a dumpster. It was that time of the year when rare species of jellyfish buzzed throughout Bikini Bottom and end up in Jellyfish Fields. Usually jellyfish don't travel alone unless they are looking for something to eat. Some jellyfish have been known to eat out of dumpsters. This one jellyfish happened to be passing by not long after Plankton dumped his chum. The yellowish green glow of the chum got the attention of the jellyfish and since it didn't know any better it ate the chum. Then it travels back to Jellyfish Fields completely unaware of what it ate. Of course when rare jellyfish are in Jellyfish Fields, you know Spongebob is going to be there to catch and admire them. It was after seven and the sun was starting to set. After the jellyfish ate the chum it soon started to glow yellowish green. This of course gets Spongebob's attention and he begins to run after it. Since Spongebob is an experienced jelly fisher, he not only knows how to catch jellyfish but also studies jellyfish. It is not often that jellyfish sting people unless they are angry, afraid, or sometimes when they become sick.

"This jellyfish is one that I have never seen before. It looks like a regular jellyfish except for this yellowish green glow to it. It's… so pretty." Says Spongebob.

He always brings a camera with him whenever he wants to take pictures of the jellyfish. He starts to chase after the jellyfish, but the jellyfish swims away. It seemed to move faster than normal jellyfish, if Spongebob wanted to take a picture of it he realized that he would have to run and catch it first.

"It seems like this jellyfish is either shy or afraid, not only that but it seems to swim a bit faster than the other jellyfish. Still I must get my picture so I'll need to run a little faster so I can catch it and take a picture of it."

He ran after it as fast as he could until he finally caught it, which turned out to be a mistake because this only made the jellyfish angry. A few seconds after being caught the jellyfish managed to escape and then stings Spongebob. Spongebob has been stung my many jellyfish throughout the years, but nothing hurt worse than what he was going through right now. He completely forgot about wanting to take a picture and just yelled in pain.

"Ouch! Ow! That really hurt! Note to self glowing jellyfish sting harder than normal jellyfish."

After being stung he noticed that the jellyfish was no longer glowing.

"That's weird… it's not glowing anymore, maybe that's what happens after they sting people. The funny thing is… I just suddenly got really tired, I should get home."

He yawns and gets even more tired as each second goes by.

"On second thought… (Yawns) maybe I could take a quick nap here, just for a few minutes."

He puts his camera and jellyfishing supplies down beside him, leans back in the grass, looks at the ocean sky for a moment and then is sound asleep. What he didn't realize was that the jellyfish that stung him was radioactive due to the chum that it ate. Once it stung him the jellyfish returned back to normal. As he was asleep in the grass strange things started to happen within him. Not only that, but while he was asleep he had a strange dream, which was actually a dream that showed events that would happen to him soon. Some parts of his dream were calm moments while other parts of the dream made him toss and turn in his sleep. The dream seemed to last forever but finally something happened in the dream that frightened him and woke him up. When he woke up it was morning he realized that he had been in jellyfish fields all night. He looked at his watch and it read eight o clock.

"Oh wow I must have fallen asleep. My head still hurts from that jellyfish sting. Oh wow I don't have time to worry about that… I have to be at work in an hour, I better get going."

Jellyfish Fields was actually a good distance from the Krusty Krab so Spongebob started running so that he could get to work in time. What was weird for him was that he was running a little but faster than usual. What he didn't know was that since the jellyfish stung him he started glowing and it caused a lot of people to stare at him. Soon something seemed different; he realized that his feet were not touching the ground anymore. It was so weird; it was like he was floating like a jellyfish. He got to the Krusty Krab just ten minutes before it opened. Later on during the day Spongebob wasn't feeling very well. Spongebob usually took allergy pills first thing in the morning, but since he woke up in Jellyfish Fields he didn't get a chance to do that. He sneezed and purple smile came out of his mouth. It smelled like jellyfish jelly. Many people noticed these strange turn of events and started whispering among themselves.

"Did you see what that? Not only is he glowing, but he sneezed purple slime, what a freak." Says a lady.

"Quiet he might hear you… there is something else odd about him. Earlier when he was running his legs came off the ground; he looked like a jellyfish. These events are not just strange, but they could be dangerous to us if he comes near us. We should all leave and try to avoid him." Says a guy.

As the customers left Spongebob noticed this and thought that he heard his name several times, which is weird because all that he usually hears is the grill.

"Hey where is everyone going?" Asks Spongebob.

"We're getting out of here. With all of this freaky stuff going on like floating, glowing, and slime, we decided to get out of here. This stuff could be contagious… or you could just be some kind of freak." Says a lady.

"What do you mean?" Asks Spongebob.

"Just look at yourself." Says a guy.

He pulls up a mirror and once Spongebob saw himself he freaked out.

"Whoa what is going on here? I'm glowing some kind of green color." Says Spongebob.

"Not only that, but we saw you floating around earlier and when you sneeze, you sneeze out jellyfish jelly. Ok we thought you were weird before, but this is just freaky. Stay away from us you freak." Says a lady.

They all run out of the Krusty Krab.

"Alright thanks Spongebob. Since everyone in town is afraid of you now they won't come here to eat anymore meaning that I can go home now." Says Squidward smiling.

Squidward leaves happily and instantly, but Spongebob looks down sadly at his hands which were glowing.

"How come I didn't notice this before, what's wrong with me? Why is everyone afraid of me, and why are they calling me a freak?" Asks Spongebob sadly.

He walks out of the Krusty Krab and walked down the road towards Sandy's house. Since she was a scientist maybe she could help him and tell him what was going on. Then he thought to himself again.

"What if whatever I have is harmful? I feel ok except for my head from the jellyfish sting. Whatever I have could be contagious, maybe it would be best if I stay away from people. I wouldn't want anyone to get sick or something. I shouldn't even go to see Sandy or any of my friends. What would they think if they saw me like this? What if they get sick or something? I need to stay away from everyone until this thing ends… if it ends that is. I don't know how long this will last. It could last for a day, or it could be permanent, either way until then I'll just have to face a fact. That fact would be that I'm a freak of nature that no one wants to be around."

He sighs to himself and walks back to Jellyfish Fields. No one really went into Jellyfish Fields so no one would really bother him.

"The strange thing about this is all of this didn't happen until I was stung by a jellyfish. Wait a minute… someone said that when I sneezed it looked like jellyfish jelly, and that I started floating in the air like a jellyfish. So that leaves me with one question… am I turning into a jellyfish?" Asks Spongebob.

(To be continued)