Time for another chapter of the S-Men!
I hope you enjoy it.
And yes, in this chapter, our heroes are going to try busting out Gary and Wendy.
Spongebob and Squidward's lives just wouldn't be the same without their trusty companions.
Of course, they could they getting pets from the pet store instead...but doing that would be disrespectful to the two of them.
Chapter 21: Mt. Bikini
Unsurprisingly, the area Mt. Bikini was in was rather cold.
At the foot of the mountain was a ski resort.
But our heroes didn't have time to be skiing. They had work to do.
Spongebob was reminded of the times he had gone into the Krusty Krab cold storage to get frozen patties. His teeth tended to be chattering when he came out. He considered asking Mr. Krabs for a coat.
Since they already had a freezer, perhaps they should consider selling ice cream as well. Patrick would have a field day if the Krusty Krab sold ice cream.
Fortunately, there was a shop they could use to buy winter clothing.
That way they wouldn't become popsicles.
Patrick wouldn't need it though. He was an ice superhero. As such, he hardly ever felt the cold.
He definitely could still feel the heat though. That was kind of his weakness...hence the reason he partnered himself with Sandy.
Perhaps Patrick would do well fighting in such an area.
As soon as they entered the shop, the shopkeeper panicked.
"Aaahhh!" screamed the fish, raising his fins in the water.
"Does he think that we're working for Plankton?" asked Squidward. Working for supervillains just wasn't a hobby that he would like to pursue...though chances are it would be a more profitable pursuit than working for Mr. Krabs.
"Apparently." nodded Sandy. She would imagine that he would at least recognize Spongebob as the manager of the Krusty Krab, however.
However, the shopkeeper panicked when he realized who was in his shop.
"Wait, you're not evil minions. You're the heroes that have been in the news." realized the shopkeeper.
"We sure are." confirmed Spongebob.
"What do you five need? I suppose I could give you a discount since you're superheroes..." reckoned the shopkeeper.
"That's better." remarked Pearl. Thankfully, she was warm-blooded so she didn't have to worry as much about the cold.
Besides, she had blubber. Though sometimes she wondered if it made her look fat. She was fashion-conscious.
In Sandy's case, she didn't need winter clothing, much as Patrick didn't anymore.
Her suit was warm enough as it was.
Mindy decided she needed to tell them about the new threat that they were facing.
They had already defeated Manray and the Dirty Bubble, but this foe was different.
"Careful. I sense the presence of another member of CHUM." warned the mermaid.
"I wonder who it is this time." thought Spongebob out loud. Was it the Flying Dutchman? The ski resort they were in didn't seem to be haunted.
"That would be me." answered Madame Hagfish.
"Is there another intercom here?" asked Patrick. They seemed to be all over the place these days.
"No, I'm speaking with you through a projection spell." explained the witch. That way she never needed to text anyone with an Iphone.
Sure enough, there was a projection of her nearby.
"I wonder if my father would be interested in learning alchemy..." thought Pearl out loud. He would love the chance to turn objects into gold. There was no way somebody would be able to eat a golden Krabby Patty though.
"Madame Hagfish? What do you want with this mountain?" asked Squidward. Why not take over public property like Manray and Dirty Bubble before her?
He remembered the time that she had cursed the Krusty Krab into nearly going out of business.
Regarding the mountain, there gems there that people didn't know about? If so, Mr. Krabs would want to know this information.
"I figured it would be the perfect place for me to hide while I cast curses on the populace who insulted my appearance." explained the slug.
Suddenly, a sea pig approached Patrick.
"I wonder what this pig is doing here..." questioned the starfish. It seemed kind out of place.
It seemed unhappy about something.
Wait...maybe this pig was one of the fish was that was cursed.
Hopefully there was a way to change him back.
It would be terrible if he were stuck like that.
"I suppose I can sympathize with you...but cursing others is wrong!" exclaimed Spongebob.
Besides, she had met others that didn't mistreat her for her appearance. Perhaps they thought it made her look evil.
"You'll have to reach the summit first." explained the slug. That was where she was. Relaxing in a gypsy tent.
"All the way up there?" asked Pearl. That seemed like a long climb. And they didn't have any mountain climbing gear.
"Don't tell me that you heroes are quitters..." noted Madame Hagfish.
She would be disappointed if they were. The S-Men were now famous.
Besides, she wanted them to watch them fight her minions. She had witnessed them fighting Manray and the Dirty Bubble.
"We're not." answered Spongebob. They would find a way to get up that mountain.
"Good. I've been looking forward to meeting you again." answered the slug.
"I haven't." remarked Squidward.
She knew that they had already defeated Manray and the Dirty Bubble, so she wanted to make sure that our heroes were challenged.
So why not make them climb up a tall mountain?
"Actually, I've determined that Gary and Wendy are located close to the mountain." explained Mindy.
"So we don't need to climb the mountain to rescue them? That's awful convenient." noted Sandy.
"Yeah! Mountain climbing is hard work." remarked Patrick. And unlike Spongebob, he wasn't exactly a worker
Spongebob had suggested to him that he should try getting a job. He loved his job very much. Even though his job as a fry cook didn't exactly pay well.
However, Patrick had pointed out to him how much Squidward hated his job.
Spongebob noted that explained why he kept seeing him sleeping at work. He was probably dreaming about a world where Spongebob wasn't his neighbor.
Unfortunately, as they started their search for Supersponge and the Invisible Ink's pets, they found Plankton's minions were waiting for them.
Specifically, starfish.
"Not more of them..." remarked Squidward. He was starting to feel like he was surrounded by Patricks.
In other words, he was surrounded by idiots.
These starfish preferred throwing snowballs at them.
"Take this, you sorry bunch of losers!" exclaimed one of the starfish.
"I am not a loser!" shouted Squidward. Patrick might be one though.
Unfortunately, they could throw fairly quickly. And they had a tendency to pick the same target.
"Ow!" exclaimed Spongebob. These starfish threw pretty hard. It wasn't too surprising, considering he knew for a fact how strong his friend Patrick was.
Incidentally, they were colored blue.
They also had Patrick's ice breath. It was a bit of an unusual experience for the S-Men to take it rather than give it.
"That's c-c-cold!" exclaimed Pearl.
She began to shiver.
"Sandy, did you give them some of your serum? I figured you probably wouldn't but I can't think of another reason are enemies are getting superpowers..." questioned Spongebob.
"I think Plankton might have his own team of scientists now." suggested Sandy.
"That's not good." remarked Pearl. Plankton was able to accomplish a lot with his intellect alone, though it was rare for him to come up with something as brilliant as Plan Z.
"Maybe I should challenge these guys to a snowball fight." remarked Patrick.
"Maybe you should play with someone that doesn't work with Plankton." suggested Squidward.
Patrick noted that Squidward had a good point. Plankton's minions had a tendency to play...rough.
Fortunately, the octopus tricked the starfish by telling them there was ice cream on the other side of Bikini Bottom.
They bought it hook, line, and sinker.
Perhaps his experiences with Patrick were starting to work in his favor for a change.
There were also crabs...but they were covered in crystal.
Perhaps it was a side effect of their greed.
Unfortunately, they could fire crystals at them.
And to make matters worse, they could use the crystals to heal themselves as well.
This naturally prolonged the fight.
However, it wasn't hard to smash a crystal with a blunt weapon.
Such as one of Patrick's rocks, for instance.
"I'm getting out of here! You're not smashing any more of my crystals!" exclaimed one of the crystal crabs.
The rest followed suit.
Our heroes discovered Gary, who like the rest of Supersponge's friends had been locked away.
"Gary!" cheered Spongebob.
It looked as if he had finally found his friend.
"Meow!" exclaimed the snail. While he couldn't exactly tell, he was clearly happy to see his owner once again.
"Well, Spongebob, you finally managed to find your snail. Now if you would please keep him off my l-"
Squidward didn't finish that sentence, as he noticed Wendy.
He was very happy to see her again.
"There you are! Did Plankton hurt you?" asked the octopus. If so, he was going to step on him.
Or maybe he would have Bubble Bass sit on him. That would probably be preferable.
Fortunately, he had not. His pet worm was just fine.
Though she probably had complained about the cold.
Wendy panted happily.
It looked as if Squidward had found her at last. This environment was giving her the chills. At least Gary had a shell to keep her warm.
However, there was still the matter of unlocking the cage the two were in.
"Where could the key possibly be?" asked Spongebob.
He scratched his head.
Perhaps it was buried in the sand somewhere.
Maybe they needed a metal detector to find it.
However, Gary explained that Spot the amoeba had it.
"Spot again? I remember seeing him in Glove World." noted the sponge.
It was ironic that he had the key, considering that he and Gary were friends.
Perhaps he simply didn't realize that he had the key to his cell.
Just like he wasn't aware of Plankton's goal to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
"I guess we're going to have to catch that amoeba again..." noted Spongebob. Though it probably wouldn't be as easy this time.
"But he's going to lead us into ambushes!" exclaimed Squidward. Who knows what was waiting for them at the Bikini Ski Resort?
"Well, obviously, but we can't leave those two fellers to their fate. Besides, one of them is your worm!" pointed out Sandy.
"I suppose you have a point. But we should at least pay attention to where we's going." noted the octopus.
"That sounds reasonable." remarked Sandy.
Pearl found that following Spot was a bit like following the White Rabbit to Wonderland. The amoeba didn't seem to have a schedule to attend to, however.
As before, Plankton's pet was leading them into traps.
...though perhaps he did not know what he was doing.
Suddenly, Patrick fell into a pit that had been covered with snow.
"Whoa!" exclaimed the starfish.
"Patrick!" shouted Spongebob.
For some strange reason, there was magma underneath it.
The effects were immediate.
"Ow! Hot hot hot!" bellowed the starfish. Perhaps this was why Spongebob had told him NOT to play in a volcano, especially an active one.
Quickly, he leapt out of the pit. He certainly didn't want to spend any more time inside of it.
Miraculously, his pants weren't reduced to ash.
Squidward didn't need to know why though. It was pretty relieving.
"You'd think that the magma would melt the snow..." remarked Spongebob.
"I know..." nodded Sandy.
But they could think about that later. Patrick was feeling woozy.
"Man, that magma was hot!" exclaimed the starfish. He didn't have a thermostat, but he was pretty sure that magma was boiling.
Fortunately, it seemed Pearl could heal others.
Perhaps she had a desire to protect her friends...and the serum was giving her that ability as a result.
When she healed someone, her fins glowed green.
"Thanks." remarked Patrick. "Maybe you should become a doctor."
Of course, judging from his past experiences, she should become a real doctor, not a real one.
Or maybe she could become a nurse. It depends on her preference.
Plankton's cousins popped out from the snow.
"You're skating on thin ice crossing with Plankton!" exclaimed one of the plankton.
They were dressed much like the plankton that they had encountered in Goo Lagoon, with the exception of their scarves.
"I think Madame Hagfish trained these plankton too." noted Spongebob.
"Actually, I used my magic to enhance their bodies." explained the witch. It was a lot more efficient that way.
"Figures." answered Squidward.
One of them got in a swordfight with Patrick.
Suddenly, one of the plankton attempted to run over Squidward with a snow plow.
"Aaaahh!" screamed the octopus.
"That octopus looks as if he could use some excitement in his life. So I'll give it to him." remarked the plankton driving the vehicle.
Frantically, he attempted to run away from the vehicle. It was much like the times that he had run away from Spongebob while he was trying to drive a boat.
He couldn't let the snow plow hit him. Otherwise, it would...plow right into him.
"We should really save him." noted Spongebob. He was his neighbor, after all.
There was no point in letting Squidward get himself hurt.
But how would they stop the plow from hitting the octopus?
Perhaps the Invisible Ink could try turning himself invisible.
But upon closer inspection, he was leaving footprints in the snow.
That probably wouldn't work.
It was moving a bit too fast for Patrick to push it as well.
"Hmm, I'm not sure how we're going to save Squidward..." questioned Spongebob.
"I hope you come up with an idea faaaaaaasssstttt!" exclaimed Squidward.
Fortunately, Pearl knew what to do.
She tossed a black pearl at the snow plow.
The pearl exploded, and the plankton was sent flying out from the vehicle.
He let out a scream.
"I didn't know that they had boooooommmmbsss!" exclaimed the plankton.
Then again, they too had bombs. Bomb robots, to be exact.
Luckily, he had a soft landing. There was snow all around. And plankton were known for being resilient. Sheldon was anyway.
He quickly spat the snow out from his mouth.
Spongebob blew bubbles at the plankton.
"Who would have thought that blowing bubbles could be an efficient combat tactic?" questioned of the plankton.
Patrick followed by using his ice breath.
However, some of them froze Spongebob's bubbles.
Fortunately, this actually strengthened the attack, as it made the bubbles grow bigger in the process.
"Perhaps you should consider doing that again in the future..." noted Spongebob.
The cousins decided to retreat. The battlefield was simply too cold for them. And it didn't help that one of the people they were fighting was the famous Shooting Star and his almost as famous ice breath.
Spot went into the Ski Lodge.
Our heroes weren't sure what they were inside...
...but most likely, it would be warmer than outside.
Maybe if they were lucky they would find some hot chocolate.
That would be really great right now.
Unfortunately, when they went inside, they found sponges.
Hot Sponges.
These sponges were red.
Perhaps they had a bit too much hot chocolate to drink.
Instead of bubbles, they shot fireballs.
"Ow! Didn't your mother tell you not to play with fire?" asked Squidward.
"Well, Plankton seemed to think it was a good idea." answered one of the sponges.
And they couldn't touch them either. Otherwise they ran the risk of being burnt.
Fortunately, unlike regular sponges, these sponges were vulnerable to water.
After Patrick used his ice breath to freeze the sponges, Supersponge decided to stop for a moment to admire the nice furniture and artwork the lobby of the ski lodge had.
"It looks like somebody built a sea bear statue!" exclaimed Spongebob.
There was a sea bear statue in the lobby.
But there seemed something a bit off about it.
The "statue" let out a roar, much to his surprise.
"Wow! It even roars and everything!" remarked Supersponge.
"Um, Spongebob, I'm seriously starting to question whether that's really a statue." warned Sandy.
As it turned out, it was a real bear.
"Oh no! Plankton brainwashed the bears too!" exclaimed Spongebob.
"I wonder how?" asked Patrick.
"Probably the same way he brainwashed the jellyfish...they happen to like their jelly." noted Sandy.
"I know! I'll climb a tree to escape from it!" exclaimed the starfish.
He went outside to climb up an evergreen tree.
"Um, Patrick. That doesn't work." warned Sandy.
"Huh?" asked the starfish.
The sea bear began to climb up the same tree Patrick was on.
Fortunately, Spongebob remembered that he had sea bear spray.
His mother gave it to him in case he ever encountered one.
He sprayed the bear and he ran away.
Afterwards, Spot left the ski lodge.
"But I liked it here..." complained Squidward.
"We can come back later when we're not trying to save Bikini Bottom." replied Sandy.
As they continued to chase Spot, they suddenly encountered...
...the Yeti Crab.
Spongebob gasped. He happened to know that particular crab.
"That's the same yeti that tried to cook us..." noted Squidward. He also tried to cook Mr. Krabs...which was ironic considering he was also a crab.
"Yeah! It was scary!" exclaimed the sponge. For a moment he thought he was going to sponge heaven.
It was a good thing he carried Krabby Patties in case of emergency.
"I thought yetis didn't exist..." remarked Pearl.
"That's what we thought. We figured that Mr. Krabs had made up the yeti so that he could get us to work harder. As such, when the yeti wandered in, we figured that it was him in a costume. Boy, were we wrong." noted Squidward.
Unfortunately, it seemed the yeti wished to capture them.
Perhaps Plankton too had promised the creature Krabby Patties.
"Careful! This crab is very aggressive!" exclaimed Mindy.
"I hadn't noticed..." answered Squidward sarcastically.
"Well, he also has superfish strength!" warned the mermaid.
"Oh dear..." remarked the Invisible Ink.
"I have to admit, having a voice in my head takes some time getting used to." noted Pearl.
"It'll be OK. I like hearing Mindy's voice anyway." answered Patrick. He thought it was soothing.
Perhaps he should review his options before going on a date with her though.
The crab let out a roar, knocking Patrick and Sandy off their feet.
Spongebob offered the crab Krabby Patties...
...but it seemed that he had been brainwashed by Plankton.
The yeti threw a big snowball at Squidward and Pearl.
"Ow!" bellowed the two in unison.
It then pounded its claws against the ground, creating a shockwave.
Fortunately for Sandy, she didn't have anything to worry about from the attack. She simply took to the air.
However, the yeti then threw icicles at her.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Sandy.
Fortunately, she threw fireballs at them and they melted before they could reach her.
Patrick threw a rock at the yeti, nearly knocking it off its feet.
Spongebob then followed by punching the crab.
"I'm not on the menu tonight!" exclaimed the sponge.
Though for some strange reason, Plankton seemed to want them alive.
Pearl threw a pearl at the crab.
The yeti began to see stars.
However, he shook his head to recover.
Fortunately, it seemed fighting the crab had caused the brainwashing to wear off.
He went to his cavern to go watch TV.
Fortunately, it seemed that during the fight, Spot the amoeba had taken a snooze.
It seemed unusual that he would do so in the cold...but perhaps the snow made for a decent pillow.
Luckily, this meant they had a chance to catch him...provided they walked slowly.
Sandy managed to catch Spot.
"Gotcha, little critter!" exclaimed the squirrel.
"Thank goodness. Now we can get Wendy out of there!" shouted Squidward.
"Don't forget Gary!" replied Spongebob.
The two of them released Gary and Wendy from their cage.
"I'm so happy you're safe!" exclaimed Spongebob.
"Meow!" cheered Gary.
According to Mindy, Mr. Krabs was at a cemetery. Most likely the Bikini Bottom cemetery. It was kind of ominous...but it seemed he was still alive.
However, when they went back to the Patty Wagon, the S-Men discovered that somebody had emptied out the gas tank.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Spongebob, sweating and putting his hands on his chin.
"I'm starting to think we should keep a better eye on this car..." noted Squidward.
Though admittedly they were busy fighting the forces of evil.
Unfortunately, there was no gas station nearby.
There was no way they could drive to the Bikini Bottom Cemetery now.
"It's just as well. We can't allow Madame Hagfish to continue casting spells on innocent people." noted Spongebob.
"But how are we going to fight her without getting cursed?" asked Squidward. He wasn't looking forward to spending his life as an urchin. It seemed that everyone was afraid of them.
How long did these curses last, anyway? Hopefully they didn't last a lifetime because that would be really bad.
"Hmm..." pondered Sandy.
Fortunately, since Wendy was already a worm, perhaps she didn't much to worry about when it came to polymorph spells.
On the other hand, it might be hard for Gary to dodge the spells. He carried a shell on his back. Ans having a shell on your back restricted your movement, as a turtle could attest.
He didn't feel comfortable taking it off though. It gave him decent defense...and he didn't want people seeing his underwear.
Unfortunately, there was a big boulder in front of the mountain.
There was no way for them to climb with it in front of the entrance.
And it was too heavy for even Patrick to lift.
It was also too durable for Pearl to blow up with her pearls,
"Oh man...we are stuck between a rock and a hard place." noted Spongebob.
Perhaps in this case, the hard place was the mountain.
How were they going to get past it?
Perhaps Madame Hagfish wanted to challenge them even further.
"There should be a crate of dynamite in the desert..." noted Mindy.
"There's a desert nearby?" asked Spongebob.
It seemed unusual that there was a desert so close to the tundra, but considering that they were in a world filled with talking sea creatures, he decided not to dwell on that.
The five of them set out to the desert...
...but found that Gary and Wendy wanted to go with them.
"You want to go with us?" asked Spongebob.
The two of them nodded.
"OK, but you should have this for your own safety." noted the sponge.
He gave them two serums for them to drink.
Now there was only one left.
"Hmm, I haven't tried using those on animals..." noted Sandy.
Hopefully it wouldn't have negative side effects.
The seven of them went to the desert.
Well, our heroes have rescued Gary and Wendy. Now all that's left is Mr. Krabs. He's in the clutches of the Flying Dutchman. But at least he's not in Davy Jones' locker. Otherwise our heroes will never be able to rescue him.
I decided to include Madame Hagfish because I figured I should probably give our characters a female antagonist to fight. Well, excluding the ones I made them fight already.
Besides, I also figured making our heroes fight a sorcerer would be interesting.