When Spongebob came to, he was no longer in the cave. He was laying in a bed, covered with too many layers of blankets.
Blinking, he peered at his surroundings. The room was decorated with posters of him and his friends, the walls a dark blue, possibly to imitate the ocean. It may have not given off the same vibe as the aquamarine light, but he still felt secure in this room.
Throwing off his blankets, he stood up and stretched. That was a mistake. His back cramped, causing Spongebob to wince. Yowch.
The memory of the cave came back to him, including how he had lost Patrick. He remembered how he heard Patrick's voice, and how he had felt when he couldn't find him. For the first time in a while, he felt completely alone.
Brushing off the feeling of dread, he trudged towards the door in his room and opened it, hoping that wherever he was, he felt as comforted as he had in the room.
He was greeted with a loud THUD, a stumble, and a crash of various objects dropping everywhere.
"Oh my! I'm so sorry!" Spongebob said, helping the young boy that had been hit by the door. "Are you ok?"
The boy looked to be about 11, with a rather... interesting head of hair. The boy's hair resembled chocolate ice cream, the kind you get with a cone. He was wearing a red shirt with a neutron symbol on it and blue jeans. But, most noticeably, he had a large bump on his forehead. Of course, this was due to Spongebob. Scattered around the boy were various strange objects that were the boy's inventions.
"No, it's fine," the boy said, shaking his head to regain his composure. He glanced up at Spongebob, then his eyes widened in surprise.
"Leaping leptons!" the boy exclaimed, moving around to examine the sponge.
"What's wrong?" Spongebob asked, bewildered.
"Why, you're Spongebob Squarepants!" The boy shook the sponge's hand rapidly in excitement. "I'm Jimmy Neutron, boy genius. You can call me Jimmy."
Spongebob was still confused. "How do you know my name?"
"You're kidding! Spongebob, do you have any idea how well-known you are?"
Spongebob gave Jimmy a look of disbelief. "No... I can't say I do."
Jimmy shook his head. "Well, I'd be careful if I were you. Some of these characters... they're convinced you're the reason they aren't that popular."
Perplexed, Spongebob asked, "not that popular? What are you-"
Suddenly, another door swung open. Out came another boy, with buck teeth and a pink hat. The boy's mouth opened as his eyes met Spongebob's.
"So he's the new guy everyone's been talking about?" The boy piped up, his voice rather high-pitched.
Jimmy nodded. "You know who this is, right, Timmy?"
Timmy blinked in confusion.
Jimmy groaned. "You know!" He sighed. "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?" He attempted to carry on a tune as he sang.
"Oooooh!" Timmy laughed a bit at his own ignorance. "Yeah, you're Spongebob Squarepants!"
Spongebob fidgeted as he spoke. "Um, can you help a guy out and tell me what's going on?"
Timmy scoffed. "Wow, maybe hanging out with Patrick has done something to you." Spongebob felt a twinge of guilt in the pit of his stomach upon hearing his name.
Jimmy gave Timmy an annoyed look and cleared his throat. "What Timmy is trying to say is that he's surprised that you don't know how famous you are. Everyone here knows who you are."
"Really?" Spongebob asked.
"Absolutely." Jimmy replied.
Questions crept up into Spongebob's mind. "So where am I?"
Timmy and Jimmy shot each other nervous glances. Jimmy cleared his throat. "Well, you're in the Cartoon Inn. It's where cartoon characters stay when they aren't in their worlds."
"Cartoon characters?" Spongebob laughed nervously. "That's... that's just silly! There's no way that I'm... a..."
Realization hit Spongebob. The kids in front of him were not sea creatures. He was not underwater. He shouldn't have been able to breathe. Yet here he was, carrying on conversation with them.
He stammered trying to respond. "Oh... Eheh..."
Timmy walked up and gave Spongebob a pat on the back. "Don't be so worried about it. It hit pretty hard for me too."
Jimmy responded immediately. "Uh, no it didn't."
Timmy scowled at Jimmy, prompting him to keep quiet.
"So what do I do now?" Spongebob asked.
Timmy chuckled. "What do you do now? Heck, you're already famous! You've got a great life! Live a little! Go hang out with some people!"
Spongebob smiled. "You're right, Timmy," he said, pointing towards the hallway. "I'll make it my duty to be friends with everyone in this inn!" With those words of self-encouragement, Spongebob bolted towards the stairs, going down to start at the first floor.
Timmy cupped a hand around his mouth to whisper to Jimmy. "Did you tell him that almost everyone here hates his guts?"
Jimmy shrugged. "He'll find out soon enough."