Chapter 1: New Sponsor, New Opportunity

It was another ordinary day at the Krusty Krab.

SpongeBob was cooking Krabby Patties, Squidward was sleeping at the register, and Mr. Krabs was counting money in his office.

Business on this particular day was pretty slow, with only a few people coming and going to get some Krabby Patties, until two fish in suits came in and up to the cash register.

Squidward was suddenly jolted awake by the shadow of the two fish. He took one look at them and sighed.

"If you're here to subpoena this place, the owner is right over there in his office." Squidward said pointing to Mr. Krabs' office.

"Um, we're not lawyers..." The one fish said.

"Yeah, we just came to get two Krabby Patties." The other fish said.

Squidward groaned, for a moment, he thought his days at the Krusty Krab would coming to an end.

"Whatever... SpongeBob, I need two-"

"Order up!" SpongeBob belted out as he gave the Krabby Patties to the two fish.

"I hate my life..." Squidward sighed.

"I gotta say, these Krabby Patties are excellent." The one fish said as they ate their meal.

"Yeah, this truly is fast food." The other fish said in agreement.

"You know what Jim? That's what we need! We need to get a fast-food sponsor on board! I'm sure a whole lot of money-"

"DID SOMEBODY SAY MONEY?!"

The two fish were caught quite off-guard when Mr. Krabs suddenly landed on their table.

"Uh... Yes, we did..." The second fish said slightly disturbed.

"And you are?"

"Eugene H. Krabs, owner and manager of the Krusty Krab, and I like money!" Mr. Krabs said proudly as he shook fins with the two fish.

"Well erm, nice to meet you Eugene... I'm Jim Fish, the current CEO of BASSCAR, and that's Mike Helfish, the current Vice Chairman of BASSCAR." The first fish said as he introduced himself and his colleague to Mr. Krabs.

"Oh I've heard of ye! Yer the one whose last CEO got arrested fer-"

"Yes, but that's beside the point..." Fish said awkwardly trying to change the subject.

"The reason that we had mentioned money is because BASSCAR is going through bit of a rough patch right now. Ratings have been down since Tony Fast retired a few years back, fans are losing interest, and attendance at the tracks has been down. To make matters worse, Shell refused to renew its deal as the premier series sponsor, and Barg'n Mart dropped out as the sponsor for the first race at the season at Baytona! We need sponsors fast or else we're going to be down under in a few years!" Helfish explained.

"Well, have you two fellers been able to find any?" Mr. Krabs inquired.

The two fish shook their heads.

"Then I'm yer Krab." Mr. Krabs proclaimed.

The two fish's eyes lit up.

"You'll sponsor the race at Baytona?" Fish asked hopefully.

"Not only that, I'll sponsor yer top series as well!"

The fish sighed breaths of relief.

"So how much money we talkin' here?" Mr. Krabs asked.

"I mean, we'd have to get our accountants to figure that out, but I'm sure somewhere in the hundreds of millions, maybe billions..." Helfish said.

Mr. Krabs' eyes turned into dollar signs.

"Excellent! Great to be doin' business with ya! Mister Squidward! Call up the presses! I want a press conference with these fine gentlemen ASAP!"

"Oh boy, this is going to end well as always..." Squidward grumbled as he went to dial the phone.

"Oh don't be so negative Squidward! Think of all the racers will be able to meet! All the amazing tracks we'll be able to see! And all of those shiny and fast race boats roaring across the track!" SpongeBob said in excitement. Squidward just sighed.

Later...

At the Chum Bucket, Plankton was flipping through channels on the TV, while trying to think of a new way to steal the Krabby Patty Secret Formula.

He was taken quite aback when he saw Mr. Krabs on TV.

"KRABS?! What kind of barnacles is he trying to pull now?!" Plankton asked bewildered.

"It truly is an honor for me restaurant to now be the premier sponsor of the BASSCAR Cup Series, as well as its first race of the year at Baytona as well. I'm sure this is the beginning of a great partnership between us!"

Plankton fumed, if he had the formula, the Chum Bucket could very well be sponsoring the series.

"Mr. Krabs, are you planning on entering a boat into the Krusty Krab 500?" A reporter asked.

"Oh! Errr... Hadn't thought of that to be honest with ye... But sure! More money to be made! I'll get me claws on one of the finest racing boats in the sea! And, I'll find a driver that can get lead to me to mone-er, victory!"

Suddenly, an idea popped into Plankton's head.

"Karen, do you remember my old college friend Chokey Finick?" Plankton asked Karen, his computer wife.

"The name sounds familiar, what did he do again?"

"He built race boats in BASSCAR for a long time, but then he got banned for life after he was falsely accused of modifying the boats so they could do better." Plankton explained.

"And by 'falsely accused' you mean he did it." Karen replied.

"More or less so." Plankton replied.

"So let me guess, you want him to build you a boat so you can enter it into the Krusty Krab 500 and then use every trick in the book to win unfairly and get the formula..." Karen said dryly.

"Exactly! Get him on the phone would ya?" Plankton replied.

Karen groaned.

The Next Day...

So the BASSCAR executives ended up hooking Mr. Krabs up with an unused racing boat that with a good driver in it, would be able to compete week in and week out for victories.

"No! No! No! The boat needs to be in the exact color shade that the Krusty Krab sign is in! Not to mention the number font and color needs to be just how I have 'Krusty Krab' on the sign!" Mr. Krabs exclaimed annoyed.

"You know sir, this would be a lot easier on us if we did this at a team shop..." The painter grumbled.

"You think I'm going to have me precerous racing boat customized at one of those slimy garages? Oh no! I need this to be just the way I like it so I can get all that precious sponsoring money when it wins the Krusty Krab 500!"

The painters grumbled and went back to re-paint the race boat for the 3rd time.

Then, SpongeBob came outside to clean the windows.

"Wow Mr. Krabs! That race boat is looking good!" SpongeBob exclaimed.

"It sure is me boy-o, and would look even better if these darn painters would GET IT RIGHT!"

The painters just rolled their eyes and continued to work.

"Yep, once they get that fixed, I just got to get me driver set and we'll be good to go!" Mr. Krabs exclaimed.

"Who are you going to have drive it Mr. Krabs?" SpongeBob asked.

"Well SpongeBob, I left a message for Tony Fast last night. We would have a guaranteed victory against all those chums racing! If he comes out of retirement and does the race, I told him I'll give him a coupon for not one, but TWO free buns with the purchase of a regular Krabby Patty!" Mr. Krabs explained proudly.

"Wow Mr. Krabs, you're a genius! No way he would say no to that!" SpongeBob said in awe.

"Indeed I am me boy-o, indeed I am..." Mr. Krabs said proudly.

Then, Squidward came out.

"Mr. Krabs, some guy named Tony Fast called here and wanted me to tell you that while he appreciated the offer, he wanted to help out his son who's starting his own... BASSCAR? Yeah, BASSCAR career or something..."

Mr. Krabs slumped down in sadness.

"Oh, and he also wanted me to tell you that you were a cheapskate. Heh, heh heh..." Squidward said chuckling as he went back inside the Krusty Krab.

"What are we going to do now Mr. Krabs? The race isn't that far off!" SpongeBob asked to his now depressed boss.

"I don't know boy... Hopefully, some driver will come out of nowhere and drive for me..." Mr. Krabs said sighing sadly.

Then, the two heard yelling from the Chum Bucket.

"STOP DRIVING THIS AT ONCE!" Plankton yelled as his own racing boat (still a work in progress) was being driven around wildly by a certain pink starfish.

"Is that... Patrick?" Mr. Krabs asked as he looked onward.

"Sure looks like it to me." SpongeBob replied.

"WHEEE! I love this game!" Patrick yelled out in glee as he continued to drive around Plankton's race boat all over the place, crashing and destroying anything that Plankton brought out to try and stop him.

"CURSES! STAY STILL YOU FOOL!" Plankton yelled as he emerged from the rubble and tried to chase Patrick down, only to be run over by Patrick.

After unflattening himself, Plankton grabbed out a device, pressed a button, and Patrick was ejected from the boat, flew into the air, and fell right onto SpongeBob, and Patrick was still laughing the whole time.

"MESS WITH CHOKEY AND MINE'S BOAT AGAIN AND YOU'LL BE PRAYING TO NEPTUNE!" Plankton screamed in fury as he and Karen pushed the boat to the back of the Chum Bucket.

"Aww... That was the most greatest bumper boat I had ever driven..." Patrick said sadly as he got up and whipped SpongeBob back into his normal self.

"SpongeBob?"

"Yes Mr. Krabs?

"I think we've found our driver." Mr. Krabs said grinning as he looked on at Patrick, who was licking the paint off one of the paint brushes.