Chapter Three:

The Black Market

Last night, SpongeBob had set his alarm to 6 in the morning, and that is the exact time that the alarm went off. SpongeBob immediately sat up in bed and quickly turned off his fog horn clock.

"Oh boy! Another great day with my new friends!" Said SpongeBob happily to himself, and then he looked down to the ground to see Gary looking up at him oddly.

"Good morning Gary!" Said SpongeBob as he patted his pet snail on the shell, "How about we go down together and wake up our alien friends?"

"Meow, meow!" replied Gary, and if we understood snail language, we would know that Gary had said, "You dope, they got kidnapped last night!"

SpongeBob hopped off his bed and took Gary in his arms, and then he happily went down the stairs to the living room to wake up Kyle and Eddie. Unfortunately for him, when he got to the living room, he gasped as he saw that Kyle and Eddie weren't in the living room at all! SpongeBob put Gary down as he looked at the couch that Eddie was sleeping on for awhile.

SpongeBob began to think. "Maybe they woke up early this morning," he said to himself, and then he started to search his house for the two kids.

Maybe after about 10 minutes of searching, he finally realized that the kids had gone missing! The thing is though, that he doesn't know that they had been kidnapped.

"Oh Gary, my friends are missing! Where do you think they had gone to!" Said a panicked SpongeBob.

"Meow…," said Gary, which would of translated to, "Maybe this will help…"

Gary had slithered slowly to the couch and found a sweaty dollar lying on the floor. SpongeBob looked to see where he had slithered and went over to him to get a better look at the dollar.

"Where'd this come from? I usually give all my money to Mr. Krabs," said SpongeBob, and then he picked up the dollar and smelled it.

SpongeBob gasped loudly. "Gary! Do you know who this dollar belongs to!" He said.

"Meow," said Gary, which really meant, "Yeah, your sweaty, stinky boss."

"This dollar belongs to Mr. Krabs, which means that he was in my house, which means "

SpongeBob gasped even louder and then he looked angry. "Mr. Krabs must of kidnapped my friends!" He said slowly and angrily.

"Meow," said Gary, which would of translated to, "Duh, bonehead."

SpongeBob quickly changed into his clothes before he called Patrick to tell him what had happened.

"Uh, hello? Is this Fishino's Pizza?" Asked Patrick on the phone.

"No, Patrick, this is SpongeBob!" Said SpongeBob on the other end of the line.

"You work for Fishino's now?" Said a confused Patrick.

"No! Listen Pat, our alien friends had been kidnapped by Mr. Krabs!"

"Huh?" Said Patrick.

"You know, the aliens that we've wished for!"

"Huh?"

"The ones we've wished for with that magic box of yours!"

"Huh?"

"The two "

"Huh?"

"Oh, never mind! But listen, we have to save Kyle and Eddie before Mr. Krabs sells them or something!" Said SpongeBob quickly.

"OOOOOHHH! Those two! Yeah I remember them!" Said Patrick happily.

"Come on, Pat! We need to go save them!" Said SpongeBob.

"I'm on my way!" Said a determined Patrick, and with that, he suddenly squeezed his way out of SpongeBob's phone and landed on the ground pretty hard.

"Let's go Pat!" Said SpongeBob.

"Yeah!" Said Patrick, and then they ran out of the house and to the Krusty Krab to confront Mr. Krabs the kidnapper.

When they reached the Krusty Krab and went inside, they saw Mr. Krabs sitting at one of the tables and counting, what appeared to be, a lot of money in his claws.

SpongeBob and Patrick could hear Mr. Krabs muttering to himself, "50... 100... 150..."

The two dudes walked up to Mr. Krabs' table and starred at him hard. Mr. Krabs didn't notice them until after a minute went by, and when he did look up from counting his money, he had a weird expression on his face.

"What do you two want?" Asked Mr. Krabs, as he raised an eyebrow at them.

SpongeBob and Patrick put their hands on their hips and looked more angry at him, but to Mr. Krabs, they just looked even weirder then before.

"What did you do with our alien friends?" Asked SpongeBob sternly.

"Tell us now, or we'll give you major wedgies!" Threatened Patrick.

Mr. Krabs looked irritated and annoyed. "What are you talking about? You mean those two freaks that you brought in here the other day?" Said Mr. Krabs, who went back to counting all the money that he had.

SpongeBob narrowed his eyes at Mr. Krabs, but then he went into his pockets and shoved the sweaty dollar that he found in his house in Mr. Krabs' face.

"Then why was your sweaty dollar in my house!" Demanded SpongeBob.

Mr. Krabs quickly took the dollar out of SpongeBob's hand, and tears began to form in his eyes. In seconds, Mr. Krabs started sobbing greatly.

"I couldn't help it! Forgive me, me boy, but they were just too tempting to not sell!" Sobbed Mr. Krabs, and he dropped all the money in his claws to the ground and cried into them.

SpongeBob's eyes grew wide with shock, and he picked up some of the money on the ground. "Is that the money you got from selling them? But, who did you sell them to?"

"Hmm… money," said Patrick, as he took some of the dollar bills and began to eat them.

"Hey, hey, hey! GIVE THAT MONEY BACK!" Screamed Mr. Krabs, as he suddenly jumped on Patrick's stomach to make him cough up the money. Mr. Krabs took whatever money was on the ground and put it in his pockets.

After that, Mr. Krabs' eyes began to fill with tears again as he looked at SpongeBob. "I sold them to the Black Market in town!" Sobbed Mr. Krabs, "They gave me 700 dollars for them alien kids! I just couldn't resist the offer!"

Then Mr. Krabs slammed his head on the table as he sobbed even harder and louder. SpongeBob and Patrick turned to each other and they both looked proud and brave at the same time.

"Come on Patrick; to the Black Market we go!" Cried SpongeBob, and then the two rushed out of the Krusty Krab and into town to where the Black Market is.

Without any cab rides or even bikes of some sort, the two heroes took a long time to finally find the Black Market in town. It also took forever, because Patrick had to make pit stops to small snack bars and the bathrooms about every two minutes, and the two guys kept running out in the middle of roads which caused people to go in an uproar over them.

The Black Market was… well… what the name suggests: it's a small, stand (or market) looking thing that was all black, and behind the counter of the stand was a fish dressed in a black ninja suit.

SpongeBob and Patrick approached the black ninja fish.

"Is… this the Black Market?" Asked SpongeBob to the ninja fish.

"Yes, and what do you two need from this place?" Said the ninja fish in a strange accent.

"Yeah, I would like to order about a dozen donuts, some pizzas, and I would like an orange smoothie," said Patrick.

The ninja fish eyed Patrick angrily. "This is a market, not a food court, you idiot!" Said the ninja fish angrily, "Now what do you want from me!"

"Did anybody by the name Mr. Krabs sell two alien kids to you?" Asked SpongeBob.

The ninja fish was in some thought before he answered. "Come to think of it, yeah, very late last night, that Krabs brought two aliens to me for money. I gave him the money, and what do you know, when the early morning came, the kids sold instantly!"

SpongeBob and Patrick's eyes grew wide with shock.

"You sold them already!" Asked SpongeBob in surprise, "But to who?"

The ninja eyed them suspiciously. "Give me a good reason why I should give that kind of information out to the likes of you?"

SpongeBob's eyes became big and innocent. "Because those aliens are our friends! I have to know where they are!" Sobbed SpongeBob. Patrick patted him on the back for comfort.

The ninja fish sighed and rolled his eyes, "Fine, but I can only tell you where one of those aliens are, for my other client who bought one told me not to give out its identity. The little alien boy was sold to the Tough Tavern, and that's all I know, I swear it."

SpongeBob and Patrick gasped. "The Tough Tavern!" Patrick said nervously, "B-but, that place is scarier than that scary alien girl!"

The ninja fished snickered, "You two dorks wouldn't stand a chance against the tough fish in there!"

SpongeBob put on his brave face, "We so can!"

"Cannot!" The ninja fish cried.

"Can too!"

"Cannot!"

"Can too!"

"Cannot!"

"Can too!"

"Enough! Leave me be now!" The ninja fish growled.

SpongeBob turned to Patrick and gulped. "We have to go there Patrick. What if Eddie gets hurt! What if he got…"

"A wedgie…" Patrick finished slowly.

The two both shivered at even the thought of Eddie getting a wedgie.

"We gotta go Patrick! To the Tough Tavern we go!" SpongeBob yelled out, and then the two started to head for that terrible place.

The Tough Tavern was the last place that SpongeBob and Patrick wanted to go too. That place was full of the toughest fish in the sea, and for SpongeBob and Patrick, they were considered the weakest.

It took them a long time to get to the Tough Tavern, but when they got there, they already saw a few fish get thrown out. They started to shake with fear, because they knew they were most likely going to get beaten up and thrown out themselves.

"We have to go in Patrick; Eddie's life is at stake!" Said SpongeBob nervously.

"I don't want to get a wedgie!" Patrick cried.

"I know Patrick, but we have to go in."

As the two slowly made their way toward the door to the Tough Tavern, they suddenly heard a voice that was very familiar to them.

"SpongeBob! Patrick! What are you all doin' at a place like this!"

SpongeBob and Patrick spun around to see Sandy Cheeks walking toward them, waving.

"Sandy!" Cried SpongeBob and Patrick in unison.

Sandy stopped in front of them and asked, "So what brings you two to a place like this?"

SpongeBob pointed to the Tough Tavern and answered, "Our alien friend is in there!"

Sandy raised an eyelid. "Uh… alien?" She asked curiously.

Patrick nodded quickly, "Yeah, and they're freaky looking too!"

"Can you help us save our alien friend in there?" Asked a pleading SpongeBob, "Please!"

Sandy smiled and slapped SpongeBob in the shoulder playfully, "Aw shucks, SpongeBob, of course I'll help you save your… uh, 'alien friend.'"

SpongeBob and Patrick jumped for joy and then they followed Sandy into the Tough Tavern.

Inside, they saw that mostly the place was all in ruins, from the counters, to the torn walls and floor boards. SpongeBob and Patrick became even more scared of the place when they saw a couple of tough guys duke it out not that far from them.

Sandy slightly pushed SpongeBob and Patrick behind her. "Stay close to me fellas," she said cautiously, "This place can get really ugly sometimes.

"Wait a minute! Aren't you supposed to be hibernating?" Asked SpongeBob suspiciously.

Sandy rolled her eyes and grunted "How many times do I have to tell ya, SpongeBob! I wasn't hibernating, I was just napping!" She said. "Now, can you tell me what your 'alien friend' looks like?"

SpongeBob began to think. "Well… he had a brown, dead animal on his head, and ugly, small brown eyes; and he had a weird color on him too!"

Just then, Patrick tapped on SpongeBob's shoulder, "Can I go hit that ugly piñata over there?" he asked hastily, and then he pointed to something behind him.

SpongeBob turned around to see where Patrick was pointing to and gasped loudly. The piñata was none other than poor little Ed, who was hanging down from the ceiling by his waist, with his mouth duck-taped shut. SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy could hear his muffled cries and screams.

"Is that your 'alien friend?'" Asked Sandy as she pointed to the tied up Eddie.

"That's him, but how are we gonna get him out of this!" Said SpongeBob worriedly, as he watched a couple of tough guys get some bats and are about to whack Eddie around with them.

"What a weird, ugly piñata," said Patrick slowly.

"Patrick! That's not a piñata! That's Eddie, and he's about to be beaten up!" Said SpongeBob in shock.

"The alien boy turned into a piñata!" Cried Patrick, but than he suddenly picked up a bat and shouted, "Batter up!"

"Stop it!" Cried Sandy, and then she fisted Patrick on the head to make him drop the bat.

SpongeBob and Sandy thought for a moment (except for Patrick, because he's just too stupid to think.) They had to find a way to distract the tough guys from not beating up Eddie; and while distracting, get Eddie out of the Tough Tavern quickly.

"I know!" Said Sandy, who suddenly came up with an idea, "I'll start a fight with one of them tough fish, and hopefully the whole place will start to fight too. While this is happenin,' you and Patrick can get the alien boy out of there as fast as your little feet can go!"

"Alright, I hope it works," said a nervous SpongeBob, and then he watched Sandy walk over to one of the tough fish holding a bat.

She tapped his shoulder and asked sweetly, "Excuse me?"

As the tough fish turned around, Sandy threw back her fist and punched the fish down to the ground.

"Who wants some!" Cried Sandy bravely.

Most of the tough fish growled and started to fight with Sandy, but then it turned to all of the fish in the tavern fighting each other.

SpongeBob and Patrick quickly went over to Eddie and got him down from the ceiling, and with that, they ran out of the Tough Tavern as fast as they could.

"Lets head to my house!" Said SpongeBob to Patrick.

Patrick nodded, and the two of them carried poor Ed all the way to SpongeBob's house. Once they were safe inside the house, they set Eddie down on the couch and roughly took the duck-tape off from his mouth.

"Ow! That hurt!" Yelled Eddie as he rubbed his mouth.

SpongeBob and Patrick hugged Eddie tightly.

"You guys… you're choking me!" Eddie gagged, and the two quickly let go of him.

Eddie looked around himself and asked, "What about Kyle? Did you find her?"

SpongeBob looked sad, "We don't know where she is! Oh, poor Kyle!" And then SpongeBob started to sob oddly.

"I know where she is," said Eddie, "Someone bought her before me."

SpongeBob and Patrick's eyes lighted up in happiness and in hope. "Where is she alien boy!" Asked SpongeBob happily.

"Um… she was sold toothe person who bought her… was Plankton!" Said Eddie.

SpongeBob and Patrick gasped.

"You guys gasp too much," replied Eddie sarcastically.

"Plankton bought Kyle!" Patrick said shockingly, "But she's so scary looking!"

"Plankton looked very happy when he bought her, and when he was leaving with her, I could hear him talking about her hair." Said Eddie.

SpongeBob and Patrick started to think. "Why would Plankton talk about… her hair?" SpongeBob wondered.

"Her hair? You mean the dead, freaky animal on her head?" Asked Patrick stupidly.

"That's her hair," said Eddie slowly.

"Uh, what's hair?" Asked Patrick.

"That's what's on her head."

"What's a head?"

"Never mind."

SpongeBob narrowed his eyes and had that determined look on his face. "We gotta go to the Chum Bucket, guys, and save the girl."

Eddie cocked his head and starred at SpongeBob oddly. Eddie has always been a big fan of him for a long time, but with all the episodes that he has watched of SpongeBob, Eddie came to wonder: how are people like SpongeBob and Patrick going to save his sister from someone so evil… and so small?