i"Breaking News! It seems that local resident SpongeBob SquarePants has gone missing! He was last seen at the scene of the inferno incident at the Chum Bucket last night, possibly with Krusty Krab owner Eugene Krabs, 61, who was the hero of the night after taking several risks to save the owner of the Chum Bucket Sheldon Plankton from the blaze.

The Krusty Krab fry cook, who is in his late teens, could be anywhere in or outside of Bikini Bottom, though there are possibilities that he may be dead. Search parties have already been made going as far as Jellyfish Fields, but all that was found of him was this little white hat with a blue anchor on it.

SpongeBob is described by local residents as having bulbous blue eyes, a long thin nose, three freckles on either side of his cheeks, two buck teeth with a gap between, and wears a square shaped white shirt and brown pants with a black belt. We'll keep you updated on the whereabouts of this innocent young bathroom utensil, I mean, fry cook. In other news..."/i

Tears flooded Mr Krabs' towering green eyes as the TV screen persistently displayed pictures of SpongeBob all happy and innocent. Even though the porous employee had annoyed his greedy boss at times, old man Krabs felt sympathetic and guilty about this possible loss. "Whaaaaaa!" the aging crustacean finally sobbed with guilt "SpongeBob! I should never have called you up, and made you go inside! It's all my fault! MY FAULT!"

"Forget your stupid cube, what about me?" an angry voice called from a distance.

Mr Krabs froze for a bit, wondering where it came from. "Down here, stupid!" it added. Casting his eyes to the ground, Krabs still couldn't see. He soon heard the sound of a wheel rolling...a wheelchair...it was Plankton.

The tiny single-celled creature was in bad shape - wheelchair bound, his body half covered with dressings to cover up the burns he had, having to breathe pure oxygen from a little pump because he inhaled a lot of smoke...

"Look at me..." Plankton whispered, "I'm a wreck...I have nothing left...you should have left me in there Krabs...you should have..."

For once, Mr Krabs felt sympathetic for his business rival. "Cheer up Plankton!" he said with an eerie smile, "I'm sure I could cover the Chum Bucket for you..."

"That's not true!" Plankton retorted pointing a bandaged finger, "You're so cheap! You'd never pay to help someone get back on their feet!" He panted, feeling a bit dizzy - maybe he shouldn't have raised his voice too much.

"Someone's being a little cranky methinks?"

"You don't know what it's like to lose everything that you love...my computer wife Karen...my home...my little...angel..." Millions of thoughts and memories flooded Plankton's brain, bringing on the tears. "I no longer wish to talk". In an act of defeat, he finally made an 180 degree turn and wheeled himself out of the room.

"Suit yourself," Mr Krabs made a final comment.

***

Meanwhile, deep in the dark shadowy caves in Jellyfish Fields, SpongeBob and the mysterious girl sponge had spent the night together after tiring themselves out running. SpongeBob roused first, wondering where he was. Usually he would be woken up every morning by his booming alarm clock, but he knew that this wasn't home. He gasped - the girl, was she still there? he thought. He turned around. Yes, she was! What a relief.

The girl, who was still sleeping, somehow had stopped glowing, showing her true features. She happened to look a lot like SpongeBob, but slightly smaller in size, lighter in colour, and without buck teeth and red freckles. Her spongy body had fewer holes, positioned in different places. She had a shorter nose, as were her arms and legs. On top of it all, she had a full head of streaming, striking violet hair at full body length. Eventually she began to stir too, and opened her eyes - a beautiful kelp green in colour. However, she was naked.

This girl's facial being had left SpongeBob stunned. But then he asked himself - why was she glowing last night? Why did it stop? All he could do politely was wait until she fully woke up, and then speak. This took several minutes, but Sponge remained patient. "Uh...hi." he began once the girl roused, feeling a little nervous, "I'm SpongeBob, and uh...you are?"

The girl seemed to be much more hesitant that SpongeBob was. "Uh...hi iym spon ob yoowar..." she replied - or for that matter, repeated reluctantly Sponge's last few words.

Somehow, SpongeBob suddenly felt a slight sense of suspicion...her words...why were they so slurred...could she possibly have been drunk? If so, where did she come from? What was she doing round the Chum Bucket? Tons more question flooded SpongeBob's mind. But no matter how mysterious she seemed, somehow he really liked her. Where have you been all my life? he thought.

"No, no," Sponge corrected the girl, "When you talk about yourself, you say 'I', and when I talk about you, I say you...uh, it's kinda complicated for me myself, dahahaha," he laughed, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Suddenly, the girl's belly began to rumble - hungry...she looked around for something worth a bite. In a matter of seconds, she caught her eyes on a few strands of kelp, which were swaying gently with the sea current. Her temptations to eat were close to maximum. While SpongeBob continued to ramble on about nothing, she mindlessly crawled over to the kelp, grabbed hold of a strip, and yanked it out, ready to put it in her mouth.

The sound of the yank disrupted SpongeBob's talk. "No, don't eat those!" he shouted, trying to stop his new friend from munching on any more, "Kelp doesn't taste good, trust me!"

Too late, the girl had already eaten the first strip - and seemed to enjoy it. "Kelp...dusent taste good!" she commented with a content smile, carrying on eating her tasty kelp.

Soon, a strange noise sounded in the distance, a buzzing noise...jellyfish. "Jellyfish!" SpongeBob called, "Ah tartar sauce! If only I had my jellyfishing net!" He turned his head around, only to find that the girl had gone. "Aaaah! New friend! Where did you go?" In a panic, Sponge searched everywhere in the cave - under every rock he could lift, into every kelp bush present...but to no avail...she must have ran off without him.

No sooner had SpongeBob took his first step out of the cave, he heard someone scream among the same annoying buzzing sound he heard earlier - the girl! "Kelp girl!" he cried, "Where are you?"

In great worry, the little sponge kept running and stopping, trying to track down his new friend. But then, he saw a figure dash past...it must be the girl! He went straight after it. Yes, it was her, being chased by a raging swarm of jellyfish. As the translucent creatures stung her continuously, she yelped and cried in pain, while evading the swarm.

No matter how exhausting running could be for SpongeBob, he had to save the girl. But how? The only way he could do it was by having to catch up with her. Trying hard not to stop running for breath, he pushed himself a little harder...and was getting really close to the jellyfish.

One jellyfish had noticed that his family had company behind them. In a matter of seconds, the whole swarm ignored the girl, turned around and headed for SpongeBob, who kept running. Ignoring the pain of several stings, he was finally at his friend's side. Thinking that he was a jellyfish, the girl started running again, leaving SpongeBob to have to chase her. "Grab my hand!" he called, holding out his arm towards her.

Luckily, the girl had changed her mind, faced the boy sponge and copied his last move. SpongeBob grabbed her arm and both headed over to an enormous rock to hide themselves from the jellyfish, which had now surrendered and whizzed past the rock.

Both of the poor sponges were exhausted, their skin sore from all those jellyfish stings. The girl was shivering with fear, and felt like crying. Unlike SpongeBob, who had already suffered from a full body of stings a few times in the past, this was her first time. SpongeBob hugged his female friend in an effort to comfort her, even though it hurt the both of them. "My house isn't far," he whispered, stroking the unaffected parts of the girl's back, "We can recover once we get home..."

Due to the pain, the girl didn't really pick up much of what SpongeBob just said, but she responded to the word 'home'. They both struggled to stand up. When on their feet, they waddled on home, trying to ignore the soreness of their lesions.

Walking normally hurt them so much that by lunchtime, the sponges had arrived in Bikini Bottom. Conch Street was only a few minutes' walk from the city limits, but know their pain, it took longer to get to the pineapple house. The girl felt surprised as the pineapple appeared in her sight.

Finally, they reached the door to SpongeBob's house. But just as her was going to turn the vault knob, he heard a low familiar voice call his name.

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