Chapter 18 – The Toys Find Happy Chapman

"Hey, SpongeBob!" Cody's head popped outside the open exterior of the cardboard box alongside Oscar. "Are you in here?"

"Nah, this one's empty, too." Oscar brushed off.

The toy group had finally reached the office of Happy's Toy Stadium after a long retrospective throughout the entire store, courtesy of Tour Guide Bratz. Cody and Oscar looked through cardboard boxes, Alex and Utility Belt Jimmy looked through the drawers, Sherman and Agnes checked Happy's desktop computer for any signs of SpongeBob's wherabouts. Every single toy member of the rescue party had gathered the purpose of finding their friend, thus calling out his name as the searched high and low.

"Any leads on SpongeBob's whereabouts?" Sherman asked Agnes, whilst typing on the keyboard buttons, trying to search Happy's dossier.

"No. In fact, I don't think the toy that they're looking for is in any part of the store." Agnes explained to her older brother.

Clifford jumps onto the desk, and he sees red and blue Rock 'Em Sock 'Em combatant robots in a yellow plastic wrestling ring. "Pardon me, kind gentlemen, but have either of you seen a SpongeBob SquarePants pull-string doll around here?" Clifford asked." He is yellow sponge boy doll with a bad arm, and we're trying to find him."

"Why, no, I haven't." The blue robot replied politely.

"Hey, he was talking to ME!" The red robot shouted.

"NO, HE WAS TALKING TO ME!" The blue robot yelled back. The two punch one another, until the red robots head pops up, and a boxing bell ding was heard as Clifford backs away nervously. At the same time, Alex was talking to Utility Belt Jimmy about the tips of how to play a certain video game.

Alex recalled, "You see, all along we thought the way through Darth Vader's fortress was through the main gate, but in fact, the secret entrance is to the left hidden in the shadows."

Utility Belt Jimmy opened his communicator and took notes. "To the left and in the shadows. Got it."

Cody joined Sherman and Agnes on the desk, and asked, "Guys, any trace of SpongeBob yet?"

Sherman shook his head, "Nada."

Agnes denied, "Nope."

Suddenly, they hear a man's voice coming from outside the door, and all the toys turn to the source coming from the door.

"Someone's coming!" Clifford cried.

"That's Happy out there!" Sherman exclaimed.

"Everyone, take cover!" Utility Belt Jimmy whispered quickly.

"Sherman, let's hide!" Agnes issued.

The toys all gathered and hid behind the desk, and Sherman and Agnes quickly shut off the computer before joining the others. Happy walked in, talking to Mr. Watanabe, the main curator of the toy museum named after his kind, on the phone. "It was a big pileup, but I don't wanna bore you with the details." The man dropped his bag near the toys and went over to his fax machine. "Yes, now let me confirm your fax number."

The curator on the other line instructed, "011..."

Happy pressed the buttons. "011... That's a lot of numbers. No, I got it."

The owner of Happy's Toy Stadium was completely unaware that he was being observed by the group of toys hot on the trail to find the toy they've been searching for. "It's him." Clifford glared.

"The football man." Cody narrowed his eyes.

"Funny, he doesn't look like a piece of sports equipment." Utility Belt Jimmy clarified, raising his eyebrow quizzically.

"That must be Happy Chapman, they guy you were talking about." Sherman whispered to Agnes.

"Not only that, I think the others mentioned to describe the owner of the store to be coming up with a very big scheme." Agnes whispered back.

"How did that guy find SpongeBob anyway?" Sherman asked.

Oscar was the first to speak. "Well, Sherman, the man found him at a yard sale and he stole him, completing his collection to focus on his scheme to become a very rich man." Oscar explained.

"That's the kidnapper, alright." Clifford described.

"A kidnapper. He must be an agent of Darth Vader if I ever saw one." Utility Belt Jimmy gritted his teeth.

Agnes got a confused look on her face. She asked quizzically, "An agent of Darth Vader? Happy's a human!"

"You may have a point there, Agnes." Sherman told his sister. "This Jimmy toy has some type of programming that makes him act like a real Space Boy. This is starting to get a little weird." Sherman beamed with realization and began to ponder, "Unless..."

At the Jimmy Neutron aisle...

The real Jimmy was still trying to get out of the box he had been trapped in for a while. Jimmy had to shake forcefully, until he falls onto the floor. Jimmy then begins to kick the bottom of the box while grunting and yelling fiercely. He just needs to focus on the wires restraining him.

Back in Happy's office...

Happy faxed an image of SpongeBob to his boss with a smirk. "And the piéce de résistance!" he presented with a broad grin. "I promise this entire collection will be the crown jewel of your museum!" As the printer is done scanning the picture, it flutters down to the floor near the toys, and their eyes widened at what they saw. It wasn't exactly the most shocking news...

"It's SpongeBob!" Clifford recognized, eyeing the photo. This must mean that he is about to sell him to Japan.

Alex dreaded, "That man must be this close to selling SpongeBob to the museum in Japan."

Agnes alerted, "We have got to go after your friend, or it will be too late!"

Sherman came to a realization, "I would say that your friend must be changed from a toy to a rare collectible, or so that man thought. Toys are meant to be played with, not sold in an international museum!"

Cody said to Sherman, "Well, that's exactly what you and your little sister were talking about."

Sherman explained worriedly, "Not only that, I would say how much that man had an extreme obsession for money, then that could mean that he is a money-greedy businessman. Worse, he will turn even more greedier than we was before once SpongeBob is sold to the cultural Japanese toy museum."

Some of the toys gasped at this horrid revelation. This greedy toy collector had stolen SpongeBob SquarePants ever bought to trade him to a toy museum for moolah. It was something bound to haunt Mike Wilson and the entire toy menagerie for the rest of their lives.

"Even his life has been all about money." Agnes began to rub her fingers and thumbs together, "Saving money, collecting money, and touching money."

Sherman said courageously, "There is no way we are going to give up saving your friend once and for all! Also we won't allow it!" He continued with new resolve, "And that part where you mentioned that this Chapman guy stole him, crime is against the law. It's time that we put an end to his plan ASAP!"

Agnes studied the photo still on the floor, and asked, "So this must be SpongeBob, right?"

"Yep." The toys all nodded.

Agnes took a closer look, "If I were to make this photo out perfectly clear, I would say SpongeBob is square-shaped, has a yellow body, a blue mask, and his outfit consists of a white shirt, brown pants and a red tie, which is also a pair of SquarePants."

"Well, now that I have your attention, just imagine that we have added another 0 to the price, eh?" Happy bargained deceitfully.

"I don't care how many zeroes you add!" Mr. Watanabe responded on the other line.

"What?" Happy asked.

"I'll pay anything you want! Anything you want!" Mr. Watanabe responded on the other line again.

"YES!" Happy whooped excitedly. "Yes! You got a deal! I will be on the next flight to Japan!" The SpongeBob's Roundup collection has finally been accepted! And the curator museum will be achieving higher ratings once the new exhibit is in the palms of his hands. The toys hear the cheers of the man, so they have to take evasive action.

Utility Belt Jimmy issued, "Quick, into the football man's cargo unit!" He held Happy's bag open, "He'll lead us to Darth Vader! Move, move, move!" The toys obediently get inside the bag, with Utility Belt Jimmy following suit.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you!" Happy said. He picked up his bag, and performed a happy dance, while scatting. If it all goes accordingly, Happy Chapman is going to become the most richest man in the world!

At the Jimmy Neutron aisle...

Jimmy finally got his wrist free from the last of remaining metal wires with a grunt. He is now free from the packaging. He peeked over a corner as he sees Happy exiting his office, a joyful expression. "RICH, RICH, RICH! HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!"

Jimmy sees Alex's tail poking from the bag's opening, and gasps. The Space Boy action figure suddenly saw that his friends are in the bag. As Happy begins to walk toward the exit, Jimmy ran after the man. He then trips over the scattered bouncy balls from earlier. Jimmy sees Happy nearing the exit. He stood up and sees a shelf nearby and, like a gymnast, Jimmy flips up from shelf to shelf. He lands on a rack holding baseball bats. He drops one, and balances himself onto the bat's end. He jumps off the bat, bounced on a trampoline, then grabs a balancing circus monkey toy hanging on the ceiling. The monkey moved forward on a furrows his eyebrows intently as Happy exits the store. Jimmy flips through the air towards the doors...only for them to close, and Jimmy smacks face-first into the doors.

Jimmy slides down to the floor, and he desperately jumped up and down onto the sensor mat as the car drove off. Jimmy groaned as the car drove across. Luckily, the car parked in front of the apartment, which is just across the street. Jimmy cocked his eyebrow in a realization. Seeing that the toy store doesn't seem to be too far from his home, and a lot of weight will cause the motion sensors to pick up, the Space Boy action figure looks around and sees a pile of games and toy boxes nearby. He jumps onto it, then kicks away one supporting box. Jumping out of the way, Jimmy watches the boxes topple over and collapse on the mat, making a big pileup. It did the trick. The doors open, and Jimmy raced outside, as he begins to run across the parking lot to the apartment building, trying to catch up with the others.

Unfortunately, one of the boxes has a toy version of Jimmy Neutron's arch-nemesis, Darth Vader. A black fist punches through the top of the box, then the demonic cyborg propped himself up, carrying his weapon. Through his demonic mask sees Jimmy running across the parking lot, and he had but one wish.

"Jimmy Neutron!" Darth Vader growled as he got out of the box. "Time for you to be destroyed!" And with that, he followed him in pursuit, in which Jimmy doesn't seem to notice in his presence.