Sorry I've been gone for a bit. Some life stuff happened, but now here's a bit of a big chapter.

A few hours later, Mr. Krabs was sitting in his office, thinking of what happened with Plankton. The evil genius had rebranded and had actually managed to attract some customers for the first time in... well, forever. Mr. Krabs could sense the trouble that this could bring; Plankton having customers meant that he's a step closer to becoming a legitimate rival in the food business. He's already stolen three customers, and that's three customers too many.

As Krabs thinks, he notices that the atmosphere of the restaurant is... off. "Something's wrong." He leaves his desk and opens his office door to an alarming sight; an empty restaurant. "Where are all me customers?"

Squidward, who's currently washing a nearby window, turns to look at him. "We haven't had a customer all morning. The only people who have been here are you, me and SpongeBob."

Mr. Krabs can't believe his ears; no customers? He walks to the door and checks the open/closed sign, finding that it is indeed set to 'open.' He looks out onto the street to see if anyone is coming, but he finds no one.

"It's not all bad, though," Squidward comments with a smile. "It's given me time to do a bit of cleaning. Do you know how filthy these windows can get?"

As Mr. Krabs questions the lack of customers, the front doors open, and Debbie Rechid and her son, Ryan, enter. Krabs instantly notices them and goes to greet the newcomers. "Good morning and welcome to the finest eating establishment this side of Bikini Bottom! What would you like?"

Debbie puts a fin to her mouth in thought. "Hmm. Could I get some double deep-fried coral chunks with a side of two lightly salted seaweed salads for me and a Frytabulous Fried Fun Pack meal for my son? He's been wanting it ever since this morning."

While Mr. Krabs would easily tell SpongeBob to get to work cooking the orders, he needs to stop and process what the barnacles this lady just ordered. "We don't sell any of that malarky."

Ryan, in response, starts jumping around impatiently. "No no no! I want my Frytabulous Fried Fun Pack meal, and I want it now!"

Debbie glares at her son. "Ryan, behave or you won't have anything from the Fry-Right Zone!" After she says this, she looks around the restaurant curiously. "This IS the Fry-Right Zone, isn't it?"

Mr. Krabs, upon hearing his nemesis' restaurant, narrows his eyes. He's not giving Plankton any more customers. "Why yes, this is the Fry-Right Zone, where all your deep-frying dreams come true!" He turns to the rest of the restaurant and motions towards it. "In the Fry-Right Zone, we fry only the utmost-" He glances back and notices Debbie and her son leaving. He immediately moves between them and the exit. "Wait! Why are ya leaving? Don't ya want yer food?"

Debbie stares at the crab with an unamused look on her face. "No, because we've realised that the Fry-Right Zone is on the other side of the street." She points past Krabs to said restaurant, and he gapes in shock as he notices several fish entering it. Debbie and Ryan walk past Mr. Krabs and out the door, with Ryan blowing a raspberry.

As Krabs stands in shock, he thinks over the recent happenings: Plankton, his arch-nemesis, creates a new restaurant. Said restaurant suddenly becomes popular. This results in the disappearance of 30+ hungry customers from the Krusty Krab. He eventually to a conclusion, one which he dreads to think of.

"Plankton's stealing me customers. His restaurant is becoming so popular, people are mistaking my restaurant for his!" He turns to Squidward and grabs him by the arms before staring into his eyes. "He must be using some kind of mind-control device to lure everyone to his restaurant. There's no way that his restaurant can be popular without foul play involved. There's no way!"

Mr. Krabs starts shaking Squidward to emphasise his point. As he does this, the doors of the Krusty Krab open and Archie walks in, a nervous smile plastered on his face. Krabs, upon realising who has arrived, tosses Squidward away and approaches his newest employee. "Archie! How are ya, boyo?"

Archie, in response, nervously scratches the back of his neck. "I-I'm fine, Mr. Krabs, but I have something I want to talk about. Something you're not going to like."

He hands Krabs a piece of paper, which the crab grabs and reads. After a few moments, he looks at Archie in shock. "What do you mean you resign?!"

The outburst catches the attention of SpongeBob and Squidward, who start to eavesdrop. Archie takes a step back. "Well, i-it's not because of the restaurant or anything, this place is wonderful, but it's sort of the fact that you forcefully drafted me onto the team after I cooked for you."

Krabs folds his arms together "Well, if you're cooking in my restaurant, ya may as well be part of the crew."

SpongeBob slides out of the kitchen window towards the two, a sad look in his eye. "It's a shame that you're leaving, Archie. You were a good teammate for someone who worked only one day."

SpongeBob hugs Archie as Squidward walks over to join the conversation. "Have you found another grease trap to work at yet?"

Archie, though happy for the hug, slowly pushes SpongeBob off of him. "Actually, yes! I'm going there as soon as I leave. It's not even that far, either." He goes to the front doors and opens them, looking back at the others. "Goodbye, guys."

As Archie leaves, the Krusty Krewmembers wave goodbye; well, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs are, as SpongeBob is holding Squidward's tentacle and waving for him. They watch as Archie approaches the intersection... and keeps going. The waving stops as Mr. Krabs realises that Archie is heading straight for the Fry-Right Zone, where Plankton and Karen are waiting. He looks on in outrage as Archie and Plankton shake hands.

"WHAT?! He's working for Plankton?!" Krabs flips over a table in rage, before kicking a barrel across the restaurant. "First Plankton steals me customers, and now he steals me staff! This has gone on for far too long."

SpongeBob slowly approaches his boss, scared and worried for the crab. "But what will we do, Mr. Krabs?"

Mr. Krabs smiles, a plan formulating. "I have the perfect idea: a special promotion! A product that will attract me customers back from Plankton's grasp."

Squidward raises an eyebrow, curious at Mr. Krabs' plan. "But we need something to sell and something to attract attention to our promotion. We have nothing."

Mr. Krabs walks towards Squidward's workstation and picks up the phone's receiver. "Don't worry, Mr. Squidward. I have it all planned out. When this works, Plankton will be put out of business and I'll be number one once again!" He laughs, and begins to dial a number.

One Half-Hour Later

Outside the Krusty Krab, a large tarp is covering something. While Squidward and Mr. Krabs are standing beside it, SpongeBob is nowhere to be found. Squidward looks at the stand, confused. "How's this going to help us? What even is this?"

Mr. Krabs starts to tap his claws together in wait. "Oh, you'll see, Mr. Squidward. You'll see."

After a few moments, a Bikini Bottom News van arrives and parks near the Krusty Krab. The van's back doors open, and out step Perch Perkins and Gale Doppler, with Fred as their cameraman. As they look around Squidward looks at Mr. Krabs in surprised. "You called the Bikini Bottom News?"

In response, Krabs folds his arms and smiles. "Of course! What better way to spread the news, then by using the news. It's genius!" He goes over to the news crew and shakes their hands. "Perch! Gale! Thanks for coming out. I have a new promotion and need to spread the word."

Perch happily nods. "We'd be happy to! We've run low on news anyway, so this is a great chance for a big scoop."

Gale nods and returns the handshake. "You've picked the right people to talk to. We'll spread the word faster than you can say 'cumulonimbus'." He turns to Fred, who gives a thumbs up to Gale. "Roll cameras!"

The Bikini Bottom News theme plays as Perch, Gale and Mr. Krabs stand in front of the tarp, while Squidward has moved to be in the background.

Perch turns to the camera and smiles. "Hello, and welcome to the Bikini Bottom News. I'm Perch Perkins-"

Gale leans towards the camera suddenly. "And I'm Gale Doppler!"

Perch glares at Gale, before continuing. "Today we have a special report about the Krusty Krab's latest promotion. Gale, care to explain?"

Gale laughs. "I sure can, Peach. We're here at the Krusty Krab where the owner, Mr. Krumbs, has a new promotion."

Mr. Krabs glares at Gale. "It's Mr. Krabs. Anyhow, my new promotion is made to cool off the people of Bikini Bottom from this hot summer weather."

Squidward looks at his boss questionably. "But it's the middle of winter."

Mr. Krabs, in response, bumps Squidward away as he grabs the large tarp. "Behold!" He pulls the tarp, revealing a large milkshake stand manned by SpongeBob, who waves at the camera. Mr. Krabs goes over to the stand and pats the stand. "This here stand is the Krusty Krab's officially licensed milkshake stand, which is selling the Krusty Krab's newest food item; the Triple Dip Milkshake! Twice as delicious as a regular Double Dip Milkshake, but three times the price!" He turns to SpongeBob with a smile. "Show 'em how it's done, boyo."

SpongeBob immediately gets to work, grabbing a few cherries, some tubs of ice cream and a can of whipped cream. He opens up his head and throws all the ingredients in, before closing his head. He removes his head from his body and shakes it vigorously, even throwing it in the air a few times. After a few moments, he puts his head back on and presses his nose, causing his tongue to shoot out with two fully loaded milkshakes.

Perch and Gale share a glance, before Perch grabs a milkshake and drinks it. His eyes widen in surprise at the taste. "Wow! This milkshake is amazing!" He looks at the camera with a shiver as a blue hue overtakes him. "The K-Krusty Krab's new f-food item is s-s-so good that it'll..."

Perch never finishes the sentence, as he gets frozen in a giant ice block. Mr. Krabs gasps and glares at SpongeBob. "What did ya do, boy?!"

SpongeBob nervously smiles as he holds up some ice cream containers. "Oh! I wanted to make the milkshakes extra special for the news report, so I used ten times the recommended amount. In hindsight, it was a bit much."

Gale knocks on Perch's frozen body before turning to the camera. "Now THAT, folks, is what I call a cold weather front!" He laughs for a moment, but stops with a concerned look on his face. "But seriously, can anyone unfreeze my colleague?"

"I can!"

Everyone turns to the source of the voice. It's Plankton, who's accompanied by Karen and their food cart. "I have a solution to Krabs' blunder! One that is truly useful for battling the harsh weather of the winter. Behold!"

Karen opens up the food cart and grabs a fast-food box filled with crispy, golden brown orbs. "A box of steamy, deep-fried coral chunks. Courtesy of the Fry-Right Zone."

She moves the coral chunks over to Perch, and the steam from the coral chunks melts the ice surrounding him. He notices the coral chunks, grabs them and eats a few of them, causing his eyes to bulge out in amazement. "Holy Neptune! These are a dozen times better than the Krusty Krab's milkshakes."

Mr. Krabs, upon hearing Perch, gets out a large mallet and destroys the stand in anger, scaring his employees. "Stupid lousy milkshakes! They're the eighth lowest-selling item on the menu anyway. Investing in them was stupid!"

As Perch continues eating the coral chunks, Gale walks over to Plankton and Karen. "Gale Doppler here for the Bikini Bottom News, and I am here with the two people that both saved my coworker and gave him the best lunch of his life. Tell us, what are your names?"

Plankton looks at the camera with a smile as he grabs Gale's microphone. "I'm Plankton."

Karen moves to his side, waving at the camera. "And I'm Karen."

The two look at each other with a smile, before looking back at the camera. "And together we run Bikini Bottom's latest and greatest fast food restaurant." They move back and motion to their restaurant. "The Fry-Right Zone, where we'll fry anything and everything your heart desires."

Gale takes back his microphone with a laugh. "There you have it folks; Plantan and Kelly's restaurant is the perfect place to warm up, and their food is the hottest thing in town. Literally." He laughs to himself. "And that's all the time we have for today's broadcast. I'm Gale Doppler-"

Perch suddenly moves into view in front of Gale. "And I'm Perch Perkins." Gale glares at him and moves to his side. "Thanks for watching."

Fred gives a thumbs up to the newsmen and starts packing up the equipment. Plankton and Karen go up to Gale with a curious look. "Plantan and Kelly?" Plankton asks. "You're horrible with names."

Gale just laughs. "I'm Gale Doppler, and I deny your statement. I'm great with names." He turns to Perch and Fred, who are getting into the news van. "Isn't that right, Peach Pickers and Frida?"

Perch and Fred look at each other before glaring at Gale. They close the news van's door and zoom into the distance. Upon realising that they're not coming back, Gale takes out a shellphone and dials a number. "Hello? I'm going to need a ride."

Gales walks away, and Plankton smugly smiles at Mr. Krabs. "How's the business going, Eugene?"

Mr. Krabs, in response, just scowls as he grabs SpongeBob and Squidward and walks into the Krusty Krab. "Plankton may have won this fight, but he hasn't won the war. I'm not giving up now!"

Spongebob looks at the Fry-Right Zone with a worried look on his face. "But what will we do? Plankton's restaurant is becoming so popular!"

Krabs put his claw to his chin, before turning to his employees. "We need to find out how Plankton has had so much success. I'll go into the restaurant and distract Plankton and Karen, while the two of you to do recon. If he's hiding any secrets, then you two will scout them out and tell me if you find anything. I will not let that no good thief win."

Krabs goes out the doors towards the Fry-Right Zone. He's not sure what plans SpongeBob and Squidward have to find out Plankton's secrets, but they better be good ones. For their sake, and the sake of his restaurant.