Evil Spongebob
Chapter 4
Sandy jumped out of her exercise wheel, and wiped the sweat off her brow. Every leg muscle tensed just the way that she liked it. It had only been until now that she realized how dry her throat had become from all the running.
"Whoo-hee! All that trainin' on the exercise wheel got my thighs burnin'. Ah' mo go grab some refreshments."
She went inside her treedome and checked the time on her acorn clock. Had an hour really passed by? It only seemed like she had been on the exercise wheel for twenty minutes. With no one to stop her it was harder to keep track of time. She still wasn't done yet. She had weight training to consider. Maybe she'll even invite Spongebob this time so she wouldn't lose track of time. That silly sponge would always get tired before she did.
Sandy took a glass and threw in a couple of ice cubes. She filled the glass with water and took sips from it. She was also going to get some orange juice, but the absence of a orange carton in her refrigerator told her all she needed to know.
"Looks like I'm all out of orange juice. I'll just make a quick stop and get some more."
She went to the Bikini Market and pushed through the door when she saw the fish people in front of her were bubbled. For a second she thought there may have been a bubble convention of some sort, but these people looked desperate for a way out. In fact, when she looked around the store, all of them were bubbled!
"What is tarnation is goin' on in here?" Asked Sandy.
"It's-it's horrible!" Shouted a male fish. "He came in and trapped all of us in bubbles!"
"Not before purchasing them. " The cashier added as if this were an important detail.
"Who came in?" Sandy asked.
"The bubble blower!" Replied the male fish, and covering his face with his fins cried, "And all I wanted was to get a haircut!"
"A haircut? This is a market. Not a barbershop." Said the female fish next to him. "Besides, you don't even have any hair."
The male fish felt for his head and realized the female fish was right. When he looked beside him, his wig was captured in a separate bubble.
"Well, I guess my secret's out…" The male fish said, looking gloomily at the ground.
"Anyway, we are stuck here. We have been for a while." Said the cashier.
"Don't worry, y'all. I'll wrangle the little sucker back in his den!" Sandy assured them. "What's the name of this bubble blower?"
"Spongebob Squarepants."
Sandy's jaw open in disbelief. "Spongebob?" She rubbed the side of her helmet, worried. "It's not like him to do somethin' like this. At the same time, these bubbles do have his name written all over it."
"He is the yellow square dude in brown pants with a red tie, isn't he?" The male fished asked.
"Yeah," Said Sandy, "but there's gotta be some kind of explanation. Do any of ya'll know where he's headed?"
"He said something about going to the Krusty Krab. He didn't say anything else though," the cashier answered.
"Good enough. The the Krusty Krab it is then!"
Sandy ran out the door and the cashier yelled after her, "Hey! Aren't you going to free us?" But it was too late. Sandy was gone, leaving everyone to watch her go.
There was a long awkward silence.
"Well, does anyone want to play charades?" Another male fish asked, trying to break the awkwardness.
Sandy stopped, when she saw a store displaying a television screen on the window only now the news was shown to have a wobbly effect due to the camera being in a bubble.
Spongebob was seen aloft a circus tent, blowing an endless bubble stream that engulfed workers, entertainers, and Bikini Bottom residents just looking to have a good time at the carnival.
"And the sponge is still at it." Perch Perkins was floating in a bubble a few feet away from the camera. "Locals report the only mysterious clue is a strange hat." A picture of the hat was shown at the side of the screen. "The source of where the hat came from is unknown, but I do know that I could use one for myself. Seriously. It's sunny over here."
"Golly! This ain't lookin' good." Sandy said out loud. She analyzed the picture of the hat from up close. A slight show of the underside indicated steel was underneath. "Hmm. It looks like there might be some high tech work that's been done to this heres hat. If that's the case, then Spongebob must be in some sort of mind control. I can't be too sure unless I see it for myself."
A noisy cry sounded off in the distance. Sandy lifted her ear up to the noise. That was when she heard a yell for help coming from the Krusty Krab. She went inside, and listened for more shrills. She found it was coming from Mr. Krabs's office and slammed it open. Sure enough, he was squirming in a jellyfish net that hugged tightly around his waist while his legs were strapped to his office chair.
"Mr. Krabs!"
Sandy untied and undid the rope until his legs were free. She grabbed the jellyfish net by the handle and tried to lift it up. "This sure is a tight squeeze!" She said, pulling harder. The net finally gave out by a split made in the hoop and withdrew it's grasp around Mr. Krabs, giving him room to breathe.
"Are ya'll okay?" Sandy asked.
"Okay?" Mr. Krabs stood up as he repeated the word but louder. He went around his desk glowing out his office door. "That lad has got it in his head that he could steal me restaurant right off of me claws!"
"Where is he now?"
"He went to get more bubbles. Why, when me eyes see him again, he's fired!" He shook a claw and Sandy gently put a hand to his shoulder.
"Settle down. Ah believe this ain't no matter of choice. Spongebob was possibly controlled by a high tech device made to resemble a hat. We should investigate this scenario a little further."
"A high tech hat, huh?" Mr. Krabs rubbed his chin.
"You mean you didn't see him wearing it at work today?"
"Well, I did see him holding it. I didn't think anything of it but now that you mention it, I'm willing to bet that conniving thief, Plankton, has something to do with this. He's always been after me secret formula."
"In that case, I'll have to find him and get him to reverse the effects."
"Wait! I'll come with ye. I know that little pest better than anyone. If he's got tricks to play, they won't fool me."
"Alright, but we gotta keep moving."
"I'm with you on that!"
Mr. Krabs and Sandy hurried over to the Chum Bucket. Mr. Krabs knocked, but there came no answer. He peered through the circular window and saw not even a glimpse of Plankton anywhere. He sniffed the air, concentrating on the scent.
"Hmm...my senses tell me Plankton isn't home."
"I guess our luck ran out at this place. We'll just have go see Spongebob for ourselves. Come on!"
Sandy and Mr. Krabs went over to Conch Street. As they were passing by Patrick's rock, they came across Squidward carrying a trash bag, a mournful gaze formed in his eyes when he set the bag inside the garbage can.
"Mr. Squidward!" Mr. Krabs called.
Squidward jumped at his name being called. "Huh? Who? What?" He looked over to see that Sandy and Mr. Krabs were looking at him, and he regained his composure. "What do you want?"
"Ye wouldn't happen to know what happened to Spongebob would you?" Mr. Krabs asked.
"Yeah, that's the barnacle brain who ruined my art that I took great pride in and trapped me in a bubble, leaving me behind! What about him?" Asked Squidward.
"Wait—how did you break free from the bubble?" Mr. Krabs asked.
"It broke when I ran into a sharp piece of my broken easel," Squidward explained, pointing a tentacle-shaped thumb at his window.
"It's a bubble, so of course," Sandy said, "but it ain't Spongebob's fault for the cause of this. There's somethin' up with his psychological state of mind that I'm tryna figure out. Do you still have the broken piece? We can use it to free everyone."
"Sure. I'll go get it. It's the only thing I haven't thrown out yet."
Squidward left while the rest waited but as the seconds passed, somehow the sunlight seemed to have dimmed and stayed obscured for far too long for it be a passing cloud.
Sandy looked up. Spongebob was riding on a bubble and had opened Squidward's window. His arm extended in a curve and reached for the broken easel piece before Squidward did.
"No!" Sandy and Mr. Krabs shouted simultaneously.
Spongebob laughed and floated away before Sandy could get a word out to him. That Spongebob! He must of overheard their conversation.
When Squidward open his door to his house again, he threw his tentacle out in the direction that Spongebob had left. "Well that plan has up and left."
"So what now?" Asked Mr. Krabs.
Just then the three of them heard a groan.
"What was that?" Squidward asked.
"Sounded like it was coming from over there," Mr. Krabs pointed at Spongebob's house.
"That doesn't sound anythin' like Spongebob." Said Sandy.
The three of them approached Spongebob's house. Squidward crossed his arms while Mr. Krabs and Sandy leaned an ear over the door for a listen. The groan became more evident.
"Someone's in there." Said Mr. Krabs.
"Ah'm coming in!" Sandy announced. She back away and ran arm first into the door, busting it off of it's hinges.
Instead of seeing the yellow sponge, the sun's soft luster was beating down on a familiar pink starfish that laid on the ground with his eyes closed. Spiritual music played softly in the background as if to symbolize that the descent towards heaven was drawing near. Squidward, Mr. Krabs, and Sandy surrounded him.
Sandy got down on her knees and lifted Patrick's head up with her hand.
"Patrick? What happened?" Sandy asked.
Patrick coughed and he opened his eyes to a squint. His breathing was labored and he tried desperately to catch his breath.
His whole body shuddered. "It was...horrifying!"
"What did he do, lad?" Mr. Krabs asked.
"It was…intimidating!" Patrick continued.
"Yes? Yes? What did he do?" Squidward urged.
"When I saw those fingers coming close, I thought it was the end of me. I couldn't breathe; I couldn't talk." Everyone had their share of worry for Patrick. They patiently waited as Patrick took a moment to take a deep breath. "Spongebob—he-he tickled me...so hard!"
There was silence. An irritating one that could explode at any second. If there ever been time where Sandy wanted to beat Patrick into a pulp (which had been many) this was one of them.
Squidward beat her in addressing Patrick's idiocy, adding wild gestures and leaning over heatedly. "Are you serious? You've been lying on the floor all this time because of a tickle?"
"Yeah, why?" Patrick asked.
Sandy dropped Patrick's head down, making his head bop against the floor. She stood up with her hands on her hips. "Patrick, we don't have time for this! Did you happen to see what went wrong with Spongebob?"
Patrick sat up. He started to tell them about how he went to visit Spongebob to watch Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy but when he went to see what took Spongebob so long to get his milk, he acted strange.
"-Then he started laughing like a maniac and tickled me until I passed out! He left his house. I think he might of turned evil."
"Evil!"
Out the window, Mermaid man ran past to the invisible boat mobile that Barnacle boy was lying comfortably asleep in. Barnacle Boy stirred at the panic scream and was even more awake when Mermaid Man floored the accelerator, running over and flattening the mail man in the process.
"Oh, we mustn't wait a moment later! Spongebob could be anywhere." Sandy said. "Patrick, on your visit, did you see Spongebob wearing a hat?"
"A hat? Oh yeah! It looked really nice." Replied Patrick.
"Ridiculous you mean." Squidward uttered.
"That's right! You walk home with the lad. You saw him with it today, didn't you?" Asked Mr. Krabs.
"Sure did. He said Plankton gave it to him as part of some holiday of his."
"I knew it! Plankton did have something to do with this."
Just then a 'meow' came nearby. Everyone glanced at the corner of the kitchen to find that Gary was also a victim, trapped in a bubble cell.
"Even captured his own pet," Said Mr. Krabs.
"Don't you worry, Gary, we'll get you out lickety-split," Sandy said in comfort.
Gary bellowed another "meow."
"There's gotta be something in these drawers," Squidward suggested, "that we use can use to pop the bubbles."
"Good thinkin,'" Sandy said.
The four of them began searching through the kitchen. When there wasn't much found but food, Sandy searched the living room; Squidward searched the bedroom; Mr. Krabs searched the garage; and Patrick searched the library. At last they all came to a stop and met up in the living room.
"Haven't found anything other than his underwear strewn all over the place," Squidward said.
"I haven't found anything either," Sandy added.
"Me too," said Mr. Krabs.
Everyone looked to Patrick, awaiting his answer. Once Patrick realized everyone was waiting on his answer, he responded, "Oh, I haven't found anything either."
"You'd think Spongebob would have a knife or something sharp." Mr. Krabs said. "The boy must of thought this through."
"Sorry, Gary. Looks like you're gonna have to wait longer than we thought." Said Sandy
"Couldn't we just get a sewing pin or needle?" Squidward asked.
"Yep. That's exactly what we have to do." Said Sandy. "What stores 'round here sell sewing pins and needles?"
"There's the Pins and Needles store at Sealine Street," Replied Patrick
"You're right, Pat. Let's head that way," Sandy said.
Patrick guided them to Sealine Street where it was quiet except for the wind pushing a tumbleweed down the street. "Well, here we are." Patrick said, pointing at the building.
Mr. Krabs pressed his eyes against the window. "The shelves, she's empty." Mr. Krabs said.
"Shoot, looks like our luck has run out in this place. Anywhere else we could possibly find em'?" Sandy asked.
"There's Guppy's Arts and Crafts," Squidward faced another direction. "They are sure to have them. Follow me."
When they arrived, Squidward proudly presented them with the store. Dreamily, he said, "Ahhhh, art material at its finest."
"Hmm. Looks empty too," Patrick said.
"What?"
Mr. Krabs pointed at the window.
Squidward turned around and looked through it. The shelf that normally would contain the sewing pins and needles were cleared out.
"How is this possible?" Squidward continued to look shockingly towards the shelves.
"Now that I think about it, I may have a sewing needle back at the Krusty Krab.
"You now just realized that?" Squidward said with crossed arms. "Why do you have a sewing needle there anyway?"
"To make me money blanket while you work." Mr. Krabs replied.
"Well, we're headin' to the Krusty Krab then," Sandy replied, already heading that way. "Come on! We still have to bring Spongebob back!"
Patrick groaned and everyone looked at him as he pressed his knees together. "Erm...I have to use the restroom."
"You can use the restroom when we get to Krusty Krab." Squidward said.
"But it's an emergency," Patrick whined.
Sandy placed a hand over her forehead. "You know what? Go next door to the restroom. Just meet us at the Krusty Krab."
Patrick left in a hurry while the others pressed on.
Sandy got a head start speeding past people in bubbles and powering through the fire in her legs.
She opened the doors to the restaurant when had stopped mid-step with her mouth agape. There, standing with his back turned was Spongebob. He slowly turned around to face her, leaning back against the boat containing the cash register.
"Hello…friend," Spongebob said sardonically as he spun the handle of his Spatula skillfully upright on his pointer finger.
