Chapter Sixty-four: Reign
Like the coward he was, Plankton hunched behind SpongeBob's pineapple with that insufferable snail. He always let things happen to him instead of making things happen himself. He had to do something, like the rest of the Guardians who were fighting the Lemures that domed the dream world.
Plankton rushed into the fray, only for Lemures to engulf him. He hollered. The world blackened. Once again, he was a nuisance, unable to save Karen, unable to save himself, unable to save his Chum Bucket.
If only he was bigger. If only Bikini Bottom was his own, not the land of the large.
The world brightened into Bikini Bottom, his Chum Bucket intact, the Krusty Krab erect across from it.
Was he still dreaming? He had heard of lucid dreaming, the ability to control what was happening in one's own dreams. Plankton craved an escape into his own kingdom, where he ruled supreme, controlling the Dead Moon Circus and Bikini Bottom's citizens.
He would no longer fear what the bigger creatures could do to him, anyone seizing his Chum Bucket, Krabs stealing his customers. He wouldn't have to take being stepped on. He could invent a machine that made him the biggest creature in Bikini Bottom—no, the world. Karen would be his queen, and they'd rule together. Well, Plankton mostly, but she'd have input every now and then.
Plankton stood in Bikini Bottom. Small.
A Fodder wheeled around a bush beside the Krusty Krab. Playing that stupid children's game, "Ring around the Rosie."
Not much longer. The sole choices in Plankton's world were to obey or be destroyed.
Here was Plankton's opportunity for vengeance. He'd repay the robots for what they'd taken. Not only had they stolen his good china, bending his spoons and forks while they were at it, but they'd also stolen his dignity.
First, Plankton would take over the dream world. Then, he'd figure out how to use what he gained here and transfer it to the real world. He'd demote Michiru into his lackey, promote Karen to his queen.
Starting with the Fodder.
Plankton cleared his throat. The Fodder kept wheeling around the bush.
He cleared his throat more loudly. The Fodder kept wheeling around the bush.
He stomped on the sand and cleared his throat so loudly that clams startled into the air, squawking.
The Fodder turned toward Plankton, its red radars of eyes flashing. It cocked its head, like it was unfamiliar with who Plankton was. Same as everyone else who loved to ignore him.
Chuckling, he stepped in front of the Fodder. Even though the robot was taller than him, he had the bigger personality. "I am Plankton, your ruler, your superior, your—"
The world flashed, and Plankton writhed. The thing had electrocuted its ruler. Rebelling. Committing an act of treason.
How to punish treason?
In his dream, Plankton was the all-powerful. He could make himself into a giant. Didn't know how, but he'd learned one thing from SpongeBob: the power of the imagination.
As he was being electrocuted, Plankton managed to visualize himself as tall as a skyscraper, bigger than any creature in Bikini Bottom, King Neptune included.
He kept writhing. Felt nothing happening.
Gritting his teeth, he forced open his eyes. He grabbed the Fodder, and it choked on the air.
The Fodder shrunk. Instead of growing, he shrunk others. Just as well.
The Krusty Krab was shrinking, too. And the ground. Was he shrinking them all at once?
He looked up. The sky was approaching him.
He was growing.
His dreams were coming true. No sponge was around to collapse his dream, shapeshifting into a tack and sticking his foot to deflate him.
He visualized himself made of titanium so nothing could pierce and shrink him. The titanium spreading inside of him threatened to crush him, it was so heavy, but he held fast to his dream. The titanium encompassed him.
Now he was invincible. More invincible than King Neptune. More invincible than Sailor Neptune.
King Neptune, Michiru, everyone would pay for underestimating him, thinking of him as a fly. Pegging him as a villain when he'd been trying to improve the world through his chum and rulership. Everyone in the world was stupid. Only Plankton was capable of advancing the world.
Plankton grew and grew. The heat from the sun seared him but felt like a tickle compared to the pain of smallness. He stopped his growth before he grew too close to the sun. Besides, he wanted to be big enough to be bigger than every creature under the sea but small enough to enjoy torturing them.
He unwrapped his hand from the Fodder, letting it lay in his palm. He'd been merciful upon it. Only to torture it more later, but still.
He stomped to his Chum Bucket, which had grown alongside Plankton, nearly matching his size. He threw open its doors.
Inside, sitting on a chair, was Michiru.
Mind blank, he stared at her. Mouth pressed into a line, she stared up at him. Despite her fancy powers, his size was superior to hers.
"I was thinking of you." Michiru stood. "I guess that's why I ended up here."
Plankton snarled. "I command you to sit. You shall not stand in my mighty presence." His booming voice shook the Chum Bucket down to its foundation. Waves of satisfaction rippled throughout Plankton.
Michiru sat. Plankton smiled. Others obeyed him without delay instead of discounting his voice as buzzing in their ears. Their excuse for not being able to hear him was that they couldn't see him.
No more. Plankton was in control. He'd always been superior. His size cemented his superiority.
"What are you doing here?" Plankton spat. "Trying to destroy my dreams, too? Oh, wait, you destroyed them all when you destroyed my Chum Bucket."
Michiru cringed. Plankton sounded like a broken record, bringing up his Chum Bucket, but he couldn't help but remind Michiru of her failure and arrogance, as if she needed reminding, based on how she hardly looked him in the eye.
Despite his arrogance, Plankton controlled himself and his newfound powers. He'd happily let the power go to his head, but he'd never lose control of himself. He refused to stoop to Michiru's level.
"I deserve every word you throw at me." Michiru sounded more soft-spoken than usual. She looked around, taking in the menu hanging at the front of the Chum Bucket, greeting customers with its metal frame. Plankton served only chum, which some confused with chili. The idiots couldn't grasp that his pink, brainlike chum was superior to chili.
"Looking at how beautiful this place was before you destroyed it?"
Michiru's eyes drifted to Plankton, almost half-lidded, like she didn't care about his feelings when her words said otherwise. Wouldn't be the first time people lied to him using words when the truth was evident on their faces. Part of the reason why Plankton had built a computer W.I.F.E., so he couldn't tell when she was lying to him. Except, since they'd been married for decades, he could. One of the pitfalls of spending countless hours with one computer for so long.
She looked at the Fodder in his hands. She noticed that he held power, the way his fingers curled around the Fodder, poised to crush the robot at any time. Perhaps drew a parallel that he could do the same to her. She was small enough; no, he was big enough.
Maybe stomping her into the dirt would be more satisfying.
"May I stand?" she asked.
"I will not let you stand before me." Plankton tugged at a nonexistent shirt. Needed a king's robe to go with his royalty. "I am the god now. Which means that only certain people are permitted to stand in my mighty presence. You will never be one of them." Another warm wave of satisfaction coursed through him. Hopefully, his dream never ended.
Michiru nodded. "I don't want to beat around the bush with you, Plankton. How can I make it up to you?"
Plankton regarded Michiru through a half-lidded eye, like she had looked at him. If she wasn't going to care, neither would he.
He could either kick her out of his dream or bleed her dry.
The latter sounded more satisfying.
He tapped his chin with the Fodder, the robot's head bobbing each time. "Make up destroying my Chum Bucket. A tall order." The ceiling was close enough to touch. "Taller than I, your supreme ruler. If you haven't noticed." He paced the room. As if he was thinking, to make Michiru sweat. Plankton didn't often admit that others were right, but Michiru, the idiot, was right about deserving everything he hurled at her. "I suppose you deserve a chance to make up for everything you've done. Everyone deserves mercy. Maybe."
Michiru didn't move.
"Do I make you fear, like you made me fear hours ago?" He walked toward her, relishing in his shadow covering her. Michiru craned her neck to keep looking him in the eye. Otherwise remained as steadfast as an oak. How badly Plankton wanted to rattle her sure frame, like she'd rattled him. "Can you ever make it up to me? I think not. I don't accept anything from anyone. I am a self-made man."
Michiru looked around the Chum Bucket, its emptiness.
He scowled. "I know what you're thinking. I don't have much success. My restaurant is empty. It was empty when you destroyed it. If I had that darn secret formula, fish would be lining up here, too." A grin stretched on his face. "So I want you to help me steal the krabby patty secret formula, here, in this dream. Then, I'll start taking over the world." He tapped his chin once more. "Should I take it over slowly, to relish in what I'm gaining, or quickly, so I can have all the power at once? A tough decision."
Michiru blinked at him.
He pushed his hand into her face. "Silence. I accept counsel from only myself, because I am the wisest in Bikini Bottom. Krabs may have more business than I, but I am smarter than he. I have better business sense, a prettier restaurant, better recipes, and I went to college." He stroked an antenna. "Not to mention, a killer cologne. Krabs smells like sweat all the time. I have the decency to cover my sweaty smell with cologne. In fact, SpongeBob introduced me to this cologne." He sniffed its sunflowerlike scent. "It smells like woman."
Michiru blinked once more. Keeping her expression expressionless. Wise choice. A docile lackey. How lucky Plankton was, to gain a goddess as a servant.
Plankton stepped closer to Michiru, his shadow shrouding her. "You will not so much as twitch without my permission. You will help me take over this world. You will not rule beside me, oh, no. Only Karen may gain that honor." His eyes grew wistful. "She must be here." He found himself running through the double doors, into his laboratory, with his Lab barking on the screen at the side, in welcome.
There Karen was, at the opposite end of the laboratory, where she'd always been, waiting for him after a hard, honest day's work, trying to steal the krabby patty secret formula to provide for her.
Plankton wanted to take over the world, but he wanted Karen at her side, giving her the best life had. The latest software, a high-gigahertz CPU, RAM that held more information than the most advanced supercomputers.
Plankton grinned, not just at the fact that he towered over her, but at his W.I.F.E. being where she belonged. At home, like she'd always been. One of the few constants in his life.
He slowed into a walk. "Karen." Her name felt nice to say. Didn't realize how much he'd missed her until he saw her again, even if she was only his in dreams. Despite their bickering, Karen filled a hole in Plankton's life. With her, he could cope with the cruelty of the world. Even though she added insult to many insults and injuries Plankton had sustained throughout the day of being stepped on, made fun of for his size, ignored, flicked out of the Krusty Krab, she supported him, wanted to see him steal the krabby patty secret formula and succeed. Encouraged him to create a secret formula of his own. Plankton had tried, but fish tasted his food and then vomited for weeks afterward. Plankton had given up, deciding that Krabs' inferior palate had created a secret formula that the customers' juvenile palates enjoyed.
"Not to mention, didn't barf from," Karen had said when Plankton told her that he would keep trying to steal the formula. "Probably a significant factor."
Now the line on Karen's monitor, indicating her emotions, her talking, her heartbeats (sometimes her heart beat faster when Plankton was near, which made Plankton feel more attractive, especially since others ignored his handsomeness), was etched across the screen, still. Indicating no excitement at Plankton's coming.
This was Plankton's dream. She would be excited to see him, darn it.
The line pulsed steadily. Plankton's smile broadened. Finally, someone happy to see him.
"Sheldon." Her voice warmed him like cuddling beside a burning fireplace after being buried in snow for hours. How Plankton wanted to sit by her, tell her about his time with the Guardians, complain about how they'd treated her.
With…whatever that hug that Makoto had given him was called. Not simply a hug, but something else that Plankton couldn't pinpoint.
Karen had said his loathsome first name. He shuddered at her parading it around during his impromptu family reunion, when he'd recruited his hillbilly relatives to help him steal the secret formula. This time, she wasn't hanging it over his head, threatening to reveal his first name to others. Although "Plankton" was a simple name, no one ran in terror from a Sheldon.
King Plankton, though… No, Plankton the Supreme. Lord Plankton, perhaps? Whatever name he made his lackeys call him, they'd fear.
"Ah, Karen." Plankton stepped inches away from her monitor. Sometimes he wished that she was flesh and blood so he could wrap his stubby arms around her, and she could wrap her fins around him. "How I've missed you."
"You only went to the bathroom. I enjoyed my two minutes of silence."
Plankton let the insult roll off his back. Her insults were part of what made their marriage electrifying. "How have you been?" The Fodder squirmed in his hand. Squeamish at their relationship?
"You usually don't ask me that question. Is there a full moon tonight?"
Plankton sighed, his body sinking in relief. "Just like I remember." Finally, he was home. Ironic that the only home he could find since his Chum Bucket had been destroyed was in his dreams.
"You're acting more strangely than usual."
"Do you mind my strangeness?"
"Yes."
"That's good." In real life, Karen would mind, too.
"What're you hovering around me for? There's plenty of daylight. Go steal the secret formula. Shoo, shoo." A crane with a mime-like hand at the end extended from Karen's top, pushed Plankton toward the door. Fine. He wanted to hear more insults but was thankful that she was all right. That she was his again, and his alone.
Plankton stomped to the entrance of his Chum Bucket, snatching an unresistant Michiru along the way. He dropped the Fodder, and it clanged to the floor. He climbed to the top of his restaurant and stood, his building taller than the rest, overlooking Bikini Bottom and his ants below.
His kingdom.