Hi, it's me chapter is a lot longer than I thought it would be. It sort of balances out how small the first chapter was. Anyways, happy reading!

Business in the Krusty Krab has been booming, as usual. SpongeBob has served dozens of Bikini Bottomites while Squidward has ignored said Bottomites. The squid has been sitting in his station, reading the latest rerelease of Everybody Aplomb Now as a line of hungry customers glare at him. But Squidward doesn't care; he's been waiting for this read for months and he WILL read it, even at the expense of others.

While he reads, someone begins coughing, trying to catch his attention. He ignores it at first, but Squidward's temper has become easier to trigger over the years; being neighbours with people as annoying as SpongeBob and Patrick does that sometimes. As the coughing intensifies, Squidward decides to peer over his manual and check out who's annoying him, and what he finds surprises him.

"Plankton?" Squidward is a bit surprised at the megalomaniac. Plankton is usually sneaking around every which way, using costumes, gadgets, and anything else to try and steal the formula. For him to be sitting on the Krusty Krab cash register talking face-to-face to Squidward without any obvious plans is rather... odd.

"Yes, it is me." Plankton confirms. "I have an important announcement for you, the sponge, and most importantly Krabs."

Squidward is, of course, suspicious of Plankton's request. He crawls out of his workstation towards his boss' office, opening the door and peering into it. Mr. Krabs is inside, counting cash as usual, but stops when he notices Squidward.

"What do ya want, Mr. Squidward? You being here means you're not out there taking orders." The crab continues to count cash as he says this, never looking up to directly address his employee.

"Someone wants to see you, sir." Squidward answers, slightly worried about the circumstances of his request.

"I'm a bit busy at the moment, but send them in anyhow. Unless they have complaints, that's for you to handle."

Out of Krabs' eye, he sees Squidward motion someone to come inside, though he doesn't see who or what comes in. Squidward leaves, and Krabs still doesn't see anyone else inside the office. He starts to think that Squidward may be pulling his leg, though realises that Squidward isn't one for jokes. Well, except for that one April Fools' Day where-

"Hello, Eugene."

Krabs stops his thoughts right there. He knows that voice all too well.

"Plankton!" Krabs whispers to himself as he looks over his money and finds the speck himself on his desk staring straight into his eyestalks. "What are ya doin' in me office, Plankton?! I've kicked you out twice today, and I'll do it again!"

"Eugene, please. I have an announcement for you and your workers, one that you'll be surprised to hear."

Krabs glares at Plankton for a while, before getting off his seat and heading to the door. "I don't know what you're pulling, Plankton, but you have five minutes." Krabs opens his office door and turns to his employees. "SpongeBob! Squidward! In me office NOW!"

Squidward, suspecting this being related to Plankton, begrudgingly exits his workstation as SpongeBob gets out of the kitchen through the order window, landing next to Squidward. SpongeBob opens the office door and enters. As Squidward goes to join him, one of the customers, an olive green fish by the name of Jimmy Gus, moves towards them.

"Wait. If you two are in there, who's going to be out here serving us food?" His question is accompanied by a chorus of voices muttering and questioning the same thing.

Squidward, however, doesn't care. "I don't know and I don't care. If you're so hungry for food, cook it yourselves."

The squid enters the office, leaving the customers to talk amongst themselves. One customer, Shubie, looks around in though before having an idea.

"Well," Shubie starts, "He DID say that we could cook the food ourselves. Does anyone here how to cook?" Her question is met with a wave of unsure mutters and curious gazes as everyone realises that no-one here knows how to cook.

However, one small red fish raises his fin. "I know how to cook! I've done so for years! I've even worked at Fancy!"

The crowd gasps; if a fish has cooked for one of Bikini Bottom's most prestigious restaurants, they must know their way around the kitchen.

"Let's hear it for Archie!" Shubie yells as everyone cheers and picks up Archie, making their way to the order window before tossing him into the kitchen.

"Now get to work!" The customers demand as they immediately go back to their tables in wait for food. As Archie gains his bearings from being thrown into the kitchen, he realises what he's gotten himself into; cooking for 30+ hungry fish in an unfamiliar kitchen.

"Me and my big mouth..." Archie mutters as he looks around the kitchen, hoping to find the ingredients needed to satisfy a hungry restaurant.

In the office, Plankton is sitting on Mr. Krabs' desk surrounded by the workers of the Krusty Krab, each of them wondering what the plankton has in store for them.

Mr Krabs is, obviously, the first one to comment on the situation. "So, Plankton, why have ya gathered us here? What is this big announcement that ya have to tell us?"

SpongeBob chimes in next. "Ooh, maybe he's got another pet! I've heard sand fleas have been popular recently."

Squidward follows. "SpongeBob, do you really think Plankton would come into the Krusty Krab just to tell us that he has a pet?"

SpongeBob nods, not surprising the squid in the least. Plankton coughs, regaining the attention of the group.

"If you would let me speak, I will tell all." He speaks with a glum tone in his voice, something Krabs notices. "I've been trying to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula every day for over 25 years. Thousands of plans, wasted. Hundred of hours, lost. My entire life dedicated to try and steal a simple ''recipe'' and failing every single time! It's INSANITY!"

The Krusty Krewmembers move away from Plankton's outburst, and the scientist breathes in and out calmly. Him being angry will not help him at all in this delicate situation.

"What I'm trying to say is that with the help of my computer wife, I've realised how obsessed I've been with the formula. It's time I bury the hatchet, Krabs. From this day on, I will stop stealing the formula!"

SpongeBob gasps, and even Squidward is shocked at the announcement. Mr. Krabs, however, is not convinced. "Nice try, Plankton. You've pulled this before."

SpongeBob holds up a book entitled ''Plankton's Plans'' and opens it up. "Exactly. Plan 73a: Plankton fakes a truce and opens a gift shop in hopes of fooling Mr. Krabs into thinking that he's given up, eventually leading Mr. Krabs to bond with Plankton and give him the formula as a sign of trust. A shame though; the Chumporium sold the best snow globes I've ever seen."

Plankton looks at the group, urging them to calm down. "I assure you all that this time I've gone straight. You can test me if you want."

Mr. Krabs opens up his desk, flinging Plankton off it and making him land on SpongeBob's spongy body. After a while, Krabs takes out a mobile lie detector and closes his desk. Plankton bounces off of SpongeBob's body and back onto the desk, knowing what's to come.

"A lie detector, Eugene? You really don't trust me that much, do you? Fine, let's get this over with."

Mr. Krabs moves one part of the lie detector over Plankton's head and keeps an eye on the meter found in the lie detector's second part. "Plankton, do you swear on Neptune's name that you are not going to steal the formula from now on?"

Plankton rolls his eye and places a hand on his chest. "I, Sheldon J. Plankton, do solemnly swear on King Neptune's name that I will not try to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula, or help anyone steal said formula, for the rest of my life."

The lie detector begins to hum, calculating Plankton's brainwaves and vital signs and turning them into information to decide whether Plankton is lying or not. After a while, the machine stops humming and its arrow moves towards an option on the detector; "Truth."

Mr. Krabs is flabbergasted at the revelation. Could Plankton actually be calling it quits after all this time? The crab looks at the plankton, who is staring at him with his single eye. Inside Krabs, anger begins to build.

"I don't know how you passed by a lie detector, but you still aren't foolin' me, Plankton!" He states, his blood starting to boil as Plankton backs away in surprise.

"Eugene! You still think I'm going to steal the formula? I passed a lie detector test. I swore on Neptune's name! I've done all this and you still don't want to bury the hatchet?"

Mr. Krabs leaps from his chair onto his desk, knocking Plankton off and onto the ground as SpongeBob and Squidward back away. "YES!" He shouts, veins appearing in his eyes. "I'm not falling for this charade again, Plankton. Now get out before I kick you out!"

Plankton has had it. He feels the tears welling up, but he just turns to face the door. "Fine! If that's how you want it, I'll leave! Goodbye, Krabs!"

He opens the door and dashes out of the office towards the entrance as the Krusty Krewmembers look on from the office. SpongeBob tries to follow him but Squidward grabs his arm. "Now's not the right time, SpongeBob. He needs a break." SpongeBob nods in understanding.

Mr. Krabs calms down, his eyes wide in realisation what he's done. "I need some time to rest. You two take care of the customers."

It's at this point that Squidward notices that the customers are happily eating food, despite their absence. Money has been left in front of the cash register, and a hiss of food on the grill can be heard. "Wait, who's been cooking while we were gone?"

Squidward and SpongeBob go to the kitchen to investigate, and Mr. Krabs turns away from his office to join them. They enter the kitchen, and Archie drops his spatula, surprised that the staff were back. "W-wait! I can explain!" Archie pleads, fins covering himself defensively.

Mr. Krabs goes up to the worried fish. "You've been cooking for me customers? Why?"

Archie nervously points to Squidward. "Well, he told us to cook our own food while the fry cook was gone, a-and I volunteered."

Mr. Krabs thinks this over for a while, before smiling. "A volunteer, huh? Well, since you're doing so well, how about I make you an honorary crew member?"

Archie is startled at the crab's words; he didn't expect this to escalate this quickly. "Wait, wait, wait!"

But before Archie can react, Mr. Krabs has grabbed him by the pants and is dragging him to the office, with Archie pleading the crab to let him go all the while. SpongeBob turns to Squidward with a happy smile on his face. "We're getting a new friend, Squidward! Isn't that great?"

At this point, Squidward has walked back to his station and started to read Everybody Aplomb Now. SpongeBob shrugs, and starts cooking patties for the next batch of hungry customers.