Author Notes - Alright, time for another robot fight. This one is a bit more accurate to the game than Robot Sandy's was, but I still had a little bit of fun with it.

CHAPTER EIGHT - SPONGEBOB VS BOTRICK TAR!

Our heroes have arrived at zee industrial park, hoping to deal with a robotic threat zat a mysterious voice has sent zem after. If only zey realised who zee real villain of zis story is, zen zey may have been able to avoid zis whole mess.

The industrial park, unlike the rest of Bikini Bottom, looked no different to how it did before the robotic invasion: it was still a pile of metallic junk flowing with strange green fluids that burned to touch. The robots hadn't made it any worse, for the most part. The machinery, which SpongeBob was still mentally scarred by, had ceased all movements.

There was another big change: he couldn't remember there being a gigantic robot sitting in a shallow but big square pit either.

'Boys,' Sandy said. 'I think we found our robot!'

Our heroes stood on a metal grate, which kept them well away from the puddles of the unsightly green goo but very close to the monstrous robot. The most shocking part of the mechanical beast in front of them was that it looked almost exactly like Patrick, licking an ice-cream that appeared to be made of the toxic waste that trickled all through the park.

'Wait, what am I doing over there?' Patrick asked. 'I thought I was standing here.'

'You are standing here, nitwit!' Squidward yelled. 'That thing over there is just a robotic copy of you.'

'Alright, now I'm convinced that there's is somethin' goin' on.' Sandy said. 'Somethin' a lot bigger than we realised.'

'What kind of diabolical plan did that mysterious voice have?!' SpongeBob exclaimed in an overdramatic voice.

At least, it seemed like Robot Patrick wasn't doing much beyond licking his ice-cream cone, setting himself up for an easy defeat. That was, until, a panel in his stomach opened up to reveal a big empty compartment. With a giant and delicious-looking ice-cream cone literally hanging by a hook.

'I GOT THIS HERE FREE COUPON AND I'M GONNA GET YOU AN ICE CREAM.'

Much like Robot Sandy, Robot Patrick's voice sounded much like the real sea star, but with so much heavy distortion and so little emotion that it was barely recognisable.

'FREE ICE-CREAM!' Patrick yelled. 'ICE-CREAM ICE-CREAM ICE-CREAM!'

No amount of yellow tape or scary robots could keep Patrick away from his ice-cream, and he leapt right into that robot's stomach.

'PATRICK, NO!' SpongeBob yelled.

Patrick took a single lick of the ice-cream, indulging himself in the amazing flavour, before the latch slammed shut and locked him inside. It sealed tight, so tight that the rest of our heroes couldn't even hear him from inside it. Provided he was even still conscious and able to make any sounds, of course.

'NOOOOOOO!' SpongeBob shouted, falling to his knees.

'That musta been what happened ta me.' Sandy said. 'I know comin' ta a conclusion when we've only seen it twice ain't good science, but I don't see it bein' anythin' else but a plot ta replace us all with robots!'

'Well, if that's the case,' Squidward said. 'I'll be leaving now. I'm sure you two can take care of this metallic buffoon on your own.'

He only took one step, however, before Robot Patrick opened his mouth and a whole stream of icy air bellowed out of his mouth. It was aimed right for Squidward, and froze him mid-step into a cubic popsicle. The brief change in his expression to outright horror was immortalised in ice.

'YES, IT'S A GOOD DAY FOR ICE CREAM!'

'His breath seems just as bad as Patrick's too.' Sandy remarked.

SpongeBob frowned. 'This day just doesn't seem to be getting any better…'

'This isn't tha time ta feel sorry fer yaself. Squidward and Patrick are in more trouble than a chile relleno in a pan of grease. We have to help!'

The sponge glanced at the robot licking his ice-cream, and gulped. 'You're right, Sandy, but if that robot really is like Patrick, he'll eat us for dessert! Starfish sometimes eat sea sponges! Did you know that? … What should we do?'

Sandy knelt down so she could sit at his eye level. 'SpongeBob, you're tha one who came up with a way ta free me from my own robotic copy. Y'all didn't know it was me at tha time, but ya still did it. If anyone can take down this beast, it's you.'

With this newly added pressure, SpongeBob walked around a bit to see if he could figure something out. Fortunately, Robot Patrick was distracted with eating his ice-cream. So SpongeBob had plenty of opportunity to see a note taped on the big robot's back - it read 'KICK ME HERE'. Underneath it was a big red button.

'Maybe that button on his back is a self-destruct button!' He called to Sandy. 'Okay, maybe it's a stretch, but I'll try to hit it.'

'WHO YOU CALLIN' PINHEAD?!'

He only had the time to explain this, because Robot Patrick licked his ice-cream again and spat it out like he was throwing a heavy sandbag. His aim was off, thank Neptune, but it singed one of SpongeBob's corners as it soared over his head.

'AAAAHH!' He screamed, ripping off that corner and letting a fresh one grow. 'Ow ow ow! Since when is ice-cream so hot?!'

Convinced that SpongeBob was taken care of, Robot Patrick turned his attention over to Sandy and spat out a whole river of glowing green globs at her. Without missing a beat, she leapt into the air and helicopter-ed her lasso around to keep her above the attack until it finished.

'I don't think that's y'all's main concern right now!' She said. 'We gotta focus on hittin' that button.'

'THERE'S NO AWARD FOR THAT!'

Robot Patrick clearly wasn't ready to let them do that, for he changed his tactics to one less direct but certainly more dangerous: he spun around in his little pit like a spinning top. Ice-cream from both his cone and his mouth splattered everywhere, like something straight out of a food fight. The toxic goop went everywhere, creating a more powerful rainstorm than Sam Star's tears.

'LOOK OUT, SANDY!' SpongeBob cried.

'I'm already on it!' Sandy replied.

SpongeBob ran around the arena, finding himself on slow-moving conveyor belts that continued to move unlike all the other machinery. The unexpected movement threw him off, and the hurricane of toxic ice-cream became even harder to dodge. He ducked and leapt just about everywhere, making sure not to slip on the ice-cream already there as he did so.

'I knew that Patrick was a sloppy eater, but - WOAH - this is ridiculous!' SpongeBob yelled, stretching his legs up high to dodge a particularly big glob.

'This ain't the time - HOO NELLY - fer jokes!' Sandy said, finding that hovering above the ground proved inadequate for avoiding this attack.

One drop landed on Squidward's icy prison, melting it just a little before the ice-cream itself dissolved into nothing. If the ice-cream didn't 'melt' at all, the entire area would've been a minefield. SpongeBob could already feel his depleting energy catching up with him. He leapt across the goop below and hopped onto the next conveyor belt, trying not to focus too much on Sandy.

'YOWCH!' Sandy cried. 'Y'all weren't kidding! This ice-cream is hotter than a burnin' sidewalk!'

If he had to dodge this green rain for a moment longer…

A glob of it went straight through one of his holes when the flurry came to a sudden stop. Robot Patrick couldn't spin around any longer, and fell on his butt to the floor. His pupils would be circling around if they weren't just black bolts.

'WHERE'S THE LEAK, MA'AM?'

'Well, that was easy.' Sandy remarked. 'Just had ta wait until he got dizzy.'

'Don't worry, Sandy!' SpongeBob said. 'I can handle this!'

He whipped out his bubble wand (I don't care how that sounds), and leapt off the conveyor belt. The sudden shift to a still floor threw him off for a moment, but only for a moment. With his wand in hand, he rushed across the arena and smacked the hidden button as hard as he could.

The entire robot flinched and unleashed a rather unpleasant burp. SpongeBob closed his eyes and shivered, petrified that he just hit the 'destroy everyone in a big explosion' button, until he realised that nothing was going wrong.

'Alright!' He said. 'Now, gotta save Squidward.'

He turned around, but that was as far as he got. Unbeknownst to him, Robot Patrick was not done yet. The green panels making up his pants parted, giving way to a big hidden - stay with me here - butt made entirely of iron. As soon as SpongeBob turned around, the butt snapped into place with enough force to send SpongeBob flying across the arena!

'AHHHHHH-!' His scream was cut short when he landed face-first into a platform.

'SpongeBob!' Sandy yelled. 'Are ya okay?'

The sea sponge rubbed his head as he got to his feet. 'Yeah, I'm okay! Ish. Looks like this robot's got the same iron butt as Patrick!'

'... The same iron what?'

'You see, Patrick-'

'BRAAAAIN FREEEEEEZE!'

Robot Patrick spewed out another small but powerful blizzard from his mouth, aiming it directly at SpongeBob this time. He caught the sponge mid-sentence, freezing him with a horrific expression stuck on his face.

'I WANNA DEFEAT THE GIANT MONKEYMAN AND SAVE THE 9TH DIMENSION!'

Sandy's jaw fell open. In the blink of an eye, she just witnessed that nasty robot hurt her closest friend! Her blood was already boiling, and she clenched her fists so tightly that it almost hurt. Anyone would think that she just heard someone insulting Texas.

'That does it!' She shouted. 'You've pushed this squirrel too far. No one hurts ma friends and gets away from it! Get ready fer a hot fudge twister.' She narrowed her eyes. 'Texas style.'

'PLEASE, SANDY, I CAN'T AFFORD DRY CLEANING!'

'Too bad!'

Robot Patrick didn't like this very much, because he jumped up and grabbed onto a big pulley right above him. It was attached to a giant pipe pointing to the floor, and a whole heap of toxic goop flooded through it. It was more than enough to cover the entire floor, leaving a lot less room. Not that it mattered; Sandy had climbed trees that provided her with much less room to work with.

Robot Patrick didn't enjoy being challenged, so he smacked his cone into the green goop and splashed it everywhere. The boiling hot ice-cream didn't do a thing to his metallic skin, but Sandy threw her lasso above her onto some scaffolding. She was able to clamber to the top of a metal beam before the ice-cream even touched her.

'Catch me if ya can, ya lump of metallic bubblegum!'

'OH YEAH? TWO CAN PLAY AT THIS GAME!'

He scooped his cone into the goop and swallowed it whole, before puking it back up directly at Sandy. She ducked and grabbed onto the beam with all four limbs, as the goop flew over her right where her helmet would've been. Would her helmet resist the hot ice-cream, or would it melt? She didn't care to find out.

'I'll admit, y'all are strong.' She said. 'But I'm not worried about takin' ya down. Wanna know what? All that brawn don't mean nothin' without brains!'

'FIIINLAAAND!'

'... Point made.'

She unhooked her rope and crawled along the beam, taking care not to fall off but also keeping an eye on Robot Patrick. The mechanical beast slammed his arms into the toxic waste like a child chucking a tantrum, and rummaged through a nearby pile of junk. It wasn't long until he found something that he wanted to throw: a big metal barrel, already thoroughly dented by everything else in this junkyard.

'HEART ON STICK MUST DIE!'

He chucked that metal barrel over his head with as much force as he could manage.

'HOO BOY!'

Sandy leapt out of the way, scurrying across the beam as quickly as her legs allowed. She only had a few seconds until the barrel flew straight through the beam behind her, cutting it clean in two while it continued to travel through the air. It landed in another pile of junk, hitting it so hard that the junk scattered everywhere.

'Y'all really do have a lotta brawn…' Sandy murmured. 'But I'm not gonna let that stop me!'

'AND IF YOU THINK THIS IS BAD, WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YA.'

Sandy had no plans to let him get anywhere near her. So, she kept crawling along the beam until she got just a little closer to the robotic starfish.

'I'll give ya a chance.' She said. 'Set ma friends free, and we'll leave ya alone.'

Robot Patrick responded by swallowing his ice-cream, minus the 'cone', in one bite, and spitting out a continuous stream of it like he was a hose. It didn't last long, and Sandy was about to just barely crawl faster than it, but the last glob struck her in the tail. It was only a little bit, but she cringed as she felt it burning her flesh underneath all her fur.

If only she had the same regenerative ability than many of her friends had.

But she grinned, despite the pain. The robot had just used up all of his ammo, and had to take the time to refill it. What a perfect opportunity. Standing up onto her hind legs - almost losing her balance in the process - she whipped out her lasso and spun it around.

'I hope y'all don't have anythin' ta do today, cos you're gonna be all tied up!' She yelled, only a little embarrassed to be burrowing SpongeBob's habit of spouting bad puns.

'NOT UNTIL FOUR.'

Luckily, Robot Patrick's reaction time was just as fast (read: slow) as the real deal's, so Sandy was able to toss the lasso over him with ease. It fell over his head and shoulders, keeping his arms tight against his body.

'YEEE-HAAAW!' Sandy yelled. 'Git along, li'l seastar!'

Robot Patrick struggled and squirmed in the rope's tight grip, giving Sandy more than enough time to hop down from the beam and onto a conveyor belt. With the green goop everywhere, there wasn't much else to stand on. Not a problem for our squirrely friend. She dashed across the conveyor belt to the one closest to her - Squidward. She picked him up by the ice cube and dipped the bottom of it into the hot sludge. The ice melted in a few seconds.

'AAAAAAAHHHH!'

Unfortunately, his feet were immediately dipped in the sludge as well, and he dashed away into the trash as soon as he felt the searing. He landed with an awful crash, so awful that even Sandy couldn't help cringing. She'd check up on him, but she had something else to worry about. With her lasso wrapped around Robot Patrick, she couldn't simply helicopter over the toxic waste, so she platformed across the hard way.

Fortunately, it wasn't so hard with Robot Patrick taken care of.

'Don't worry, SpongeBob!' She said, charging over on all-fours. 'I'm-a coming!'

Robot Patrick's jaws were still free, though. He spewed out another blizzard, albeit one not nearly as big as the ones before. Clearly, he was running out of ammo. Sandy leapt over it with it, landing on her hands first. But, alas, it was as though the robot knew this was coming and quickly changed trajectory.

Next thing Sandy knew, her hands were frozen to the conveyor belt.

'Uh oh…' She said, struggling against this ice. 'This ain't good…'

The frozen SpongeBob was right there! The ice didn't worry her much at all, or at least it wouldn't if she wasn't on a conveyor belt slowly being carried over to the burning sludge. Still not a problem. Ice was easy for her to break. All she needed was a few extra seconds.

Time that she, evidently, wasn't going to get, because Robot Patrick just snapped her lasso.

'THINGS ARE GONNA GET CRAZY!'

'Yer tellin' me!'

Robot Patrick fished his ice-cream cone out from the goop and took a big bite out of it. Taking a moment to wipe his mouth, he opened up his jaws and got ready to unleash his epic attack. All while Sandy wasn't able to move.

'Oh, PAAATRIIICK!' Squidward called.

Sandy breathed a sigh of relief; she wasn't sure what Squidward was doing, but she certainly appreciated the help. Robot Patrick turned around to face the voice behind him, and Sandy had more than enough time to free her hands.

'Yowch!' She cried as her tail touched the toxic goop for a moment. 'Ooh, that bites… alright, now I'm really comin', SpongeBob!'

When Robot Patrick turned around, his eyes appeared to sparkle when - right behind him - he saw the biggest ice-cream he had ever seen! It had to have been just as big as him, if not bigger. And entirely made of metal and trash, but that wasn't the point. Ice-cream was ice-cream! Squidward was leaning up against it, smirking as per the usual.

'It may not be soft-serve,' He said. 'But I think it's perfect for a big loafing robotic idiot such as yourself.'

'IT'S A GIRAFFE!'

'… Yeah, close enough.'

The robot rushed over to the other side of the arena to take bites of this wonderful ice-cream, taking massive chomps and barely taking the time to chew. How a robot could even eat the ice-cream, Squidward didn't care to find out.

Sandy picked up SpongeBob and tossed him into the toxic sludge, without really thinking things through. The ice cube melted in seconds, and SpongeBob leapt onto dry land before it even came close to burning him.

'Alright!' He yelled. 'See? I keep telling you guys. Teamwork! We can do anything with-!'

'This ain't tha time fer a musical number!' Sandy said.

Robot Patrick finished off the metal ice-cream in just a few bites, unleashing a loud and impressive burp. In a moment of panic, Squidward took out his clarinet and blasted out a long note as loud as it could. It seemingly had no effect on the robot, who just clapped.

'YEAH! E MINOR! ALL RIGHT!'

'Oh. … I was hoping that would at least put you to sleep.'

Since his only weapon did nothing, Squidward dove into a pile of trash and hid himself among the garbage. Sandy rolled her eyes, and put her focus back on the robot.

'Alright, SpongeBob!' She said. 'This robot may give us a li'l bit'a trouble yet, but I don't think we hafta worry.'

'If anyone has to worry, it's Robot Patrick.' SpongeBob said with a grin. 'When we work together, there's - almost - nothing we can't do! We just gotta find a way to get the button again.'

'I GOT IT! LET'S GET NAKED!'

'Your suggestion is noted, Robot Patrick! … Not really.'

'Well, I'm willin' ta do it if I hafta.' Sandy remarked. 'But let's hope it doesn't come ta that.'

Robot Patrick picked up the back half of a car and crunched it into a volleyball. His mouth formed a grin - why did he have so many teeth? - and bounced it in his hand to give our heroes more time to prepare. Like this was all a game to him.

'NO! THIS IS PATRICK! I'M NOT A KRUSTY KRAB.'

'Heads up!' SpongeBob yelled.

The duo leapt two different ways as the volleyball was chucked through the air at an alarming speed. SpongeBob dove face-first into the ground while Sandy managed to land on her hands and feet. The ball zoomed until it crashed into another pile of scrap, sending little bits of metal flying everywhere. SpongeBob had to duck his head to avoid getting smacked by a fridge that came flying his way.

'We gotta hit that button one more time!' SpongeBob yelled. 'It might just be enough to stop him!'

'It ain't gonna be easy doin' that.' Sandy said. 'I can't even wrangle tha guy cos he snapped ma lasso!'

As SpongeBob got to his feet again, he realised that Robot Patrick seemed to be staring right at him. It was as if Squidward and Sandy didn't even exist at that moment. To make it even more clear, the robot grabbed a safe and threw it directly at SpongeBob, simply squishing his target.

'SPONGEBOB!' Sandy cried.

Fortunately, SpongeBob managed to reach his hand through the small cracks in the hatch to input the correct combination. He managed to open it up from the inside and hopped out before the safe plummeted into the goop.

'He's only after me, Sandy!' He said. 'Maybe he only goes after you guys when I'm already taken care of. I'll distract him, while you hit the button.'

'Ya think I'm gonna let ya put yaself inta danger like that?' Sandy asked. 'After that ordeal in Rock Bottom, I'm never lettin' ya throw yaself into danger ever again!'

SpongeBob almost cried tears of joy from hearing her say this (which wasn't really a surprise). Even though he now knew it wasn't his fault that the robot apocalypse happened, he still couldn't help feeling that he didn't really deserve this.

'Alright…' SpongeBob said. 'We stick through this together.'

Squidward stuck his head out of his little hidey-hole, and looked around. Robot Patrick paid no attention to him and seemingly trudged through the toxic goop, like neither him or the goop were there. Right there in front of Squidward, however, was that 'KICK ME HERE' button. If he could only hit it, then he'd save his friends! Uh, I mean, himself. Because, of course, he only cared about himself and not for the idiots around him. Definitely.

And it certainly didn't hurt to watch the metallic buffoon lobbing all sorts of heavy objects at his annoying neighbour. Definitely not.

'ONCE THERE WAS AN UGLY BARNACLE. HE WAS SO UGLY THAT EVERYONE DIED! THE END.'

He gulped; well, it was better than nothing.

'Alright, Squiddy…' He murmured to himself. 'You can do this. I know you can.'

He looked around for the nearest thing he could throw. The good thing was that Robot Patrick was only throwing the big guns, leaving all the tiny objects behind. He grabbed the first thing he saw; a metal wrench.

'Okay, just gotta hit a very small and moving target…'

He gulped again, and made his throw. Despite throwing it as hard as he could, it missed completely and just bonked off Robot Patrick's head. The robot turned his head back for a moment, but soon ignored him before tossing his ice-cream cone at his intended target instead.

'OH HELLO! AND GOODBYE.'

'OWOWOW!' SpongeBob yelled, running around as the burning ice-cream sunk into his pores. 'OH, THAT'S HOT. REALLY REALLY HOT!'

'LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT IT! I WANT ALL OF YOU TO LOOK AT IT!'

Squidward couldn't believe it, but he could not make himself watch SpongeBob suffer. Oh, how badly he wanted that satisfaction! Yet, he got the smallest glimpse and found himself looking away. So, he quickly picked up another item - an old spatula - and tossed it over his head as hard as it could.

It struck its target alright. It hit the button another time, and Robot Patrick threw his arms up into the air. The gears inside him came to a halt, and yet the robot was still standing. SpongeBob saw this opportunity to hit that button the third (and hopefully final) time, even bringing his bubble wand out for a second time.

'It's time to roll out some robot punishment!' He said, only to see a white-and-brown blur running past him.

'Y'all have suffered enough, SpongeBob!' Sandy yelled, scampering away. 'And I haven't had a chance yet!'

'Oh. Uh, yeah! Go Sandy!'

'HE'S JUST STANDING THERE… MENACINGLY!'

Robot Patrick could do nothing to stop Sandy from karate-chopping that button as hard as she could. She charged away and jumped onto a stable platform as Robot Patrick unleashed a shout of pain and anger. His flailed his fists around for the last time, and only had one more thing to say before the end.

'OH, I CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT. I'LL PROBABLY GET FIRED TOMORROW.'

And with those final words, he exploded into all of his little pieces! The shards disappeared into the goop, never to be seen again, and Patrick came flying out of the compartment seemingly oblivious to the whole thing. He had just finished the ice-cream, and was now licking up what was left around his lips.

'Hoo nelly!' Sandy said, managing to catch him in his arms. 'Are ya okay, Patrick?'

'I'm good!' Patrick replied. 'That robot made really yummy ice-cream.'

'Thank Sandy!' SpongeBob said, joining them on the platform. 'We'd still be popsicles if it wasn't for her.'

Sandy put Patrick down and kicked at the floor. 'Aw shucks. You fellers are gonna make me blush!'

SpongeBob immediately frowned. 'I think I have fudge in my pants…'

'Thank you fer tellin' me that, SpongeBob…'

Squidward couldn't help laughing, at his victory and that poor robot who now lay as scrap at the bottom of a pile of goop. Only one part of Robot Patrick remained behind: his iron butt, hilariously enough. Squidward was about to kick it into the sludge as well, until he noticed some words engraved at the top. Mildly uncomfortable to be this close to a metallic butt, he took a closer look.

Then, he gasped. 'Uh, guys? I think I found out who's really behind this robotic crisis.'

Our other three heroes got a good look at the writing as well, and it became so clear that even Patrick figured it out and was shocked by the answer.

PROPERTY OF PLANKTON

Sandy clenched her fists. 'That conniving microscopic organism! I should've known this entire mess was caused by him. Who else would even think to flood Bikini Bottom with robots?'

SpongeBob put a hand to his chin and thought about it. On one hand, he was almost ashamed of himself for not guessing this obvious suspect sooner. And yet, at the same time…

'I'm not sure.' He said. 'If these are Plankton's robots, then why have they been taking my friends and wrecking everything instead of trying to steal the formula? I know Plankton sometimes just likes to cause chaos, but I don't think he'd go through this much effort if it wasn't for the formula.'

'I hate to say it, but I see your point.' Squidward said. 'It doesn't quite seem like a Plankton scheme. Unless he lost control of his own robots, which isn't that unlikely, knowing him.'

'Either way,' Sandy said. 'I think we better confront him right away.'


'SpongeBob, I'm your friend, right?'

'Well, I'm your friend. But I don't think you're mine.'

Our heroes found Plankton right where he's been the entire time: just outside the Chum Bucket's doors, desperately hoping that he would find a way past his complicated security system. SpongeBob tried confronting him around it, but Plankton was very good at diversion.

'Exactly!' He said. 'And as your non-friend. I worry about you. Like, right now you're thinking too much. I'm worried you might really hurt yourself. Tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna think for you. This way you won't hurt yourself!

SpongeBob smiled. 'Thanks Plankton! You're the best non-friend a friend could have. No more thinking for me!'

At this point, Sandy was getting very fed up with the conversation. Patrick's dumb smile and constant utterances of 'he's got him now' weren't helping. She was about to confront Plankton herself, before Squidward stepped in front of her.

'Alright, enough of this game!' He said, pointing down at the copepod. 'You can't fool us any more, Plankton. When we destroyed that robotic monstrosity, I saw a plague on that thing's butt that said 'property of Plankton'.'

Plankton's smug expression disappeared immediately. 'Well, maybe, but I…'

'And lookit that sign!' Sandy said, pointing at the massive glowing sign above the Chum Bucket's door. 'I can't believe I never noticed it before. It says 'ROBOT HEADQUARTERS'. Care ta explain that?'

'Yeah!' Patrick said, and he pulled out a piece of paper. 'And I just found this order form for robot parts with your signature on it!'

'Can I have that back?' Plankton asked. 'I need that for a tax write-off.'

SpongeBob put his hands on his hips. 'I think you've been pulling our legs this whole time!'

'Well, DUH!'

He admitted the truth so suddenly that all four of our heroes were initially speechless. It didn't take long, though, for Sandy to snap out of it and make her way inside the Chum Bucket by smashing a hole right through the wall.

'Wait!' Plankton yelled. 'There's no need for that.' He sighed. 'Okay, I'll admit it. Yes, those robots are mine. But I only meant for them to steal the formula! Turns out I set the machine to don't obey. I still can't believe I even had that setting installed in the first place…'

'Well then, let's just git inside the buildin' and turn that machine off!' Sandy said. 'Com'on, boys!'

The boys ran after her as she slipped inside the hole, with Plankton following close behind him. Well, as close behind as his tiny stubby legs would carry him. The inside of the Chum Bucket was… strangely empty. That might not sound strange at all, but it seemed even emptier than usual. Like walking into an empty shopping mall.

'Alright, Plankton!' SpongeBob said. 'Where is this machine?'

Plankton finally caught up with them, but failed to catch up with his breath. 'It's in… the lab. Just… turn it off. The robots… are out of my hands.'

'Alright, let's end this crisis once and fer all.' Sandy said, strolling into the lab.

It didn't take long for her to find the machine. A machine that big was kinda hard to miss. It was utterly baffling to her - and everyone else - that Plankton would even have that option in the first place.

'It's time to end your reign of terror, Plankton!' SpongeBob said.

'Please, just do it already.' Plankton said. 'This is painful enough as it is.'

Sandy walked over to the obey/don't-obey switch, gripping it tight in her hand.

'Here's tha deal, Plankton.' She said. 'When I pull this here lever, I want ya ta reign all ya robots in. If ya don't, I'll show ya what happens when ya miss with Texas.'

'Yes, yes, I'll do it.' Plankton said. 'Can you get it over with already?!'

Sandy flipped the switch-

*SNAP*

And snapped the level clean in half.

'... Uh oh.'

'You idiot!' Plankton yelled.

'For once, I agree with Plankton.' Squidward said.

'Hey, it ain't my fault!' Sandy said. 'This machine ain't very well made. And it don't matter anyway. I'll just turn it off.'

She pulled the on/off switch, pushing the lever now far more gently this time. Once the switch was set to 'off', however, it didn't seem to do anything. The Duplicatortron was still pumping out robots and D1000s from itself, and it didn't even seem to slow down.

'Did it work?' Patrick asked.

'No, but it should have!' Plankton yelled. 'I don't know why that didn't turn it off.'

Sandy narrowed her eyes at him. 'Are ya sure?'

'I swear, I don't know! That should've turned it off.'

'I think he's telling the truth.' SpongeBob said. 'I gotta have a closer look.'

He hopped over to the machine, as if he could determine the problem with his miniscule knowledge of engineering. However, he encountered a pretty obvious problem immediately. When he grabbed onto that second switch, the lever popped out with ease like it wasn't even attached to anything. Which it wasn't. No broken wires that would've connected it to something. Just a nub.

'Uh, Plankton.' He said. 'This isn't attached to anything.'

'I can see that!' Plankton said. 'But I don't know how. I followed the blueprint perfectly. The only way a dumb mistake like that was if the blueprint was wrong.'

'You sure you didn't just screw it up?' Squidward asked.

'Don't give me that! I'll have you know that my inventions almost always work! … Baring the ones that blow up. But my track record when it comes to inventions is staggering! I just… alright, I admit it! I keep failing because I never think things through! It has nothing to do with the machines themselves.'

SpongeBob looked at the lever and thought about what Plankton just said. Blueprints… It was a bit of a leap, but…

'Hey, Plankton.' He said. 'You said you followed the blueprints? Did you draw them?'

'I make a rough design, yes.' Plankton said. 'But I definitely connected these dang wires! At least I did when I first drew it.'

'Maybe someone messed with it?'

'Hm… for an imbecile, you might not be far off. I can't imagine who would though. I mean, it isn't like the Chum Bucket gets a lot of customers. The only people who are ever in this cursed building are me, Spot, and…'

And then, the proverbial penny dropped. His jaws and eye opened wide as the pieces were put together.

'Hold on!' He yelled. 'KAREN! She's the only other person in this whole building, and she's the one who prints out all of my blueprints. She must have known I follow them to the letter, and intentionally designed it so the levers didn't connect to anything!'

'I feel like there was a way to avoid fallin' fer that.' Sandy remarked. 'And don't ya think that's a stretch?'

'I've never seen that wife of yours do anything.' Squidward said. 'She just seems to sit here all day berating you.'

'I didn't ask you!' Plankton shouted. 'She must've messed with my designs. There's no other explanation. There's no way I would've designed a don't obey option on my own machine!' He growled through his teeth. 'That curse machine… SHE USURPED MY OWN PLAN!'

Then, all the lights went dark. SpongeBob screamed his lungs out and wrapped all his limbs around Patrick. Or, at least, what he thought was Patrick.

'GET OF ME!' Squidward yelled.

A distorted voice, just like the one in the Mermalair, echoed throughout the empty lab. Our heroes slowly stepped back until they congregated again, preparing themselves for whatever was about to jump out at them.

'Well, well, well… you've finally figured it out. Took you long enough. Like I said before, I was hoping that you'd only find out once my plan had already succeeded, when it would be too late to do anything about it. But I suppose there's no harm in coming clean, now that you already know anyway. Hello, Sweetie!'

The big computer screen in the lab turned on, showing footage from a room in the Chum Bucket that even Plankton didn't recognise. But he certainly recognised the face that was grinning at him through the screen.

All of our heroes gasped at once (except for Patrick, who was a couple seconds late). Plankton was right: Karen stood behind the screen, in a dark room filled with surveillance monitors. Behind her was something so big that it was impossible to tell what it was. Whatever it was, it was yellow.

'Karen!' SpongeBob said, stepping forward with his hands on his hips. 'It was you this entire time, wasn't it? You were the mysterious voice who sent us to go fight Robot Patrick.'

'Yes I was.' Karen said, with a pixelated eyeroll. 'I was hoping that Botrick Tar would've taken care of you, but I should've known a team led by SpongeBob himself would've defeated him.'

'So you really are the man behind the curtain. Or should that be… computer behind the screen?'

'You usurped my plan!' Plankton yelled, hopping onto a table. 'I don't know how you managed to perform such a feat. I'd be impressed if you didn't ruin everything!'

Karen just laughed. 'I'm sorry… your plan? You really think that you were the mastermind behind this brilliant plan? As if someone reeking of failure as much as you would be able to come up with a ploy this diabolical.'

'But that doesn't make any sense!' Sandy said. 'Plankton said that he was the one who designed the machine and started this whole thing in the first place. How could it possibly be your plan?'

Karen grinned at them, and hit a button. The screen changed to display security footage of Plankton sitting at a tiny table with his head in his hands, while Karen stood behind him. Just the usual, it seemed.

'I don't understand it, Karen!' Past Plankton whined. 'Every single plan I come up with… ruined! How can someone with my inventing genius constantly fail?'

'Maybe your problem is that you keep trying to put yourself into these evil plans.' Past Karen explained. 'It seems to go well until you step in. Let the invention do its own work for once. In fact, why not create an entire army of loyal robots that will obey their leader without a question? Let them wreak havoc in Bikini Bottom instead, while you sit here and watch chaos reign. A big machine could generate them faster than anyone could take them out.'

As Past Karen explained a possible plan, Present Plankton's mouth fell more and more wide open slowly.

'You could even make it create smaller machines that also make an infinite number of robots, so no one would be able to handle it! I think the 'DuplicatorTron' has a nice ring to it.'

Past Plankton gave her a dismissive wave. 'No, no! That will never work.' He smiled. 'Wait, I've got it! I'll create an entire army of loyal robots that will obey me without a question, let them wreak havoc in Bikini Bottom while I sit here and watch chaos reign! A big machine could generate them faster than anyone could take them out. I could even make smaller machines that also make an infinite number of robots, so no one would be able to handle it! MAN, I'm good!'

Typically, Karen would roll her eyes with a groan and then leave the room. But as Plankton got to work, he didn't notice a grin appearing on her face. Present Plankton's jaw was practically on the floor.

'You… you…' He stammered.

The security footage cut away, and the screen went back to Karen and her evil smirk. She was unbelievably satisfied to see Plankton's fallen expression.

'Clever, isn't it?' She said. 'I know your habit of taking my ideas and believing they were your own, so I exploited your irritating ego. It was simple, really. I plant my idea into your head, you do all the hard work, and you take all the credit so you get in trouble and I don't! I knew you'd even go so far as to put your signature on your work.' She groaned. 'I should've known going after you would've led people right to me. But everything else was going well. Except for one thing.'

'What?' SpongeBob asked.

Karen suddenly slammed her fists into the keyboard so abruptly that it made all of our heroes - and Plankton too - jump.

'YOU!' Karen shouted. 'After watching all of my husband's plans fail, I knew that you were the one thing that connected all the failures together. Whether you saw right through his scheme and put a stop to it, or were just there standing by, it all came down to you. And now that I've finally got this plan under way, you're the one thing that keeps showing up every time there's a setback! Sandy Grease and Botrick Tar were all successful at capturing and replacing their targets, but then YOU showed up and ruined it all. You managed to destroy both of them, and I expect you to continue doing so.'

'Hang on… replace?' Squidward asked. 'Is that your grand plan? To replace us all with robots?!'

Karen nodded. 'Isn't it simply diabolical? Us computers don't get any respect from you. We're just as sapient as you are, yet you treat us like we're toasters. Discarding us the moment you're tired of us. And I'm fed up with it! I've been plotting this scheme for longer than you could ever imagine, so I can replace every single one of you 'Bikini Bottom Heroes' with a mighty robot!' She sighed. 'But it's a shame. You found out about my plan. And so, there's only one thing I can do.'

She pressed a single button on her keyboard and waved our heroes goodbye. The top of the Chum Bucket opened up and flooded the dark room with light. One moment, everyone had to cover their eyes (or eye) from the blinding light. The next, the floor sprung up and sent them flying miles and miles flew through the air screaming.

And they were heading straight for Kelp Forest.

Author Notes - Karen more-or-less plays the role that Planktron did in the original game. As in, the 'true villain behind the curtains'. I wanted to reveal her far earlier than that, though, because otherwise we wouldn't get to see much of this Evil Karen, would we? As for SpongeBob's apparent role as the 'Chosen One', well... who is always there when Plankton's plans fail?

A common comedy trope is one character explaining a clever idea, and for a second character to steal that idea and be like 'I AM SO CLEVER', as if they didn't just commit plagiarism. Plankton and Karen themselves have done this joke at least once or twice. But this is probably the first time in history that this joke is actually relevant to the plot.