Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island
Chapter 8: Journey to the Volcano
The team trekked quickly deep into the forest, passing through broad leaves and tall palm trees.
Danny, who was leading the group, came into a clearing. He stopped and looked back as the rest joined him.
Timmy leaned on his knees, panting. "Dude...can we...slow down?"
The ghost teen shook his head, even though he was puffing too. "We can't. Every second we wait, the Mawgu's gaining more energy from our worlds."
"I understand, Danny," said Spongebob as he gasped, "but we..." The sponge trailed off and his eyes widen in fear, lookin past the teen.
Danny raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"
Timmy shuddered and pointed behind him. The ghost teen stiffened and slowly turned around. Standing very close to Danny was an enormous tree monster. It had a huge mouth and sharp fingers on its skinny arms. Most of its body was composed as a giant tee trunk, complete with green foliage on its head.
The tree monster growled and stomped the ground. Thick mud appeared beneath the heroes' feet, causing them to slip and slide.
"Aw, crud!" sweared Timmy as he tried to stand up.
Cosmo piped up, "Now that's what I call, a sticky situation!" He laughed at his bad joke, but stopped after receiving a glare from the gang.
With another stomp, giant acorns fell from its head and dropped towards the team.
"INCOMING!" shouted Jimmy.
As the team desperately tried to avoid the seed missiles, the monster opened its mouth and hacked a glob of mud at them.
Danny yelped and blasted the mud away with a powerful ghost ray.
"Nice shot," commented Spongebob, but then he looked a little closer. "Say, have you gotten shorter?"
The teen replied, confused, "No," but then he looked down and gasped. The mud had risen to his knees!
"Leaping leptons," cried Jimmy as he struggled, "we're sinking!"
Now beginning to panic, the team watched as the tree monster raised its arm, preparing to slice the team in half.
"Oh no you don't!" snarled Spongebob as he extended his arm to the monster and gave him a strong karate chop to the head. The attack caused the monster to lose its footing and fall backwards, crashing into the forest behind it.
With the tree monster stunned, the heroes turned their attention to the quicksand. Already the mud had risen close to Danny's chest and almost over Jimmy's and Timmy's heads. Thinking fast, the teen grabbed the duo and used all of his strength to pull them out. He gently tossed them to solid ground.
Next, Danny focused on Spongebob and Patrick, who had almost disappeared beneath the sucking mud. Only their hands were visible. The ghost teen grabbed his friends' hands and chucked them out, flinging the sponge and sea star to the genius and bucktooth boy.
Meanwhile, Sandy had escaped and was tugging Sam out of the sticky mud. With one last heave, the squirrel drug the goth to safety. Now, only Danny was left. The mud now was up to his neck and he was starting to have trouble breathing. A thick vine was tossed to the teen's side and, upon grabbing it, lugged him onto land.
Once everyone was safe, the team took a moment to catch their breath.
"That was close," commented Sam, brushing the mud off her body.
Sandy added as she did the same, "Dang too close if ya'll ask me."
"We didn't," pointed out Timmy, wringing his hat.
Patrick poked Spongebob and mused, "Wow, it's a good thing you gave that beastie a taste of your ka-rah-tay!"
The sponge was silent, laying on his side.
"Spongebob?" asked the sea star as he turned his friend over.
"AHH!" screamed Patrick upon looking at Spongebob's face.
Danny rose his head and gasped. His sea friend was unconscious, completely drenched in sticky mud.
"Spongebob!" the teen exclaimed and he rushed over to the sponge.
The ghost teen shook Spongebob's shoulders, desperately trying to wake him up.
"Jimmy!" called Danny, "What's wrong with Spongebob?"
The genius laid a hand on the sponge's chest. "It looks like that mud is clogging up his pores, leaving no room for water."
"We've gotta help him then!" Timmy pleaded, "What can we do?"
Jimmy answered, "We need to bring him to a water source. I'm sure there's one not far away."
With that said, he disappeared into the forest. Carrying Spongebob in his arms, Danny stood up and started following the genius, soon joined by the others.
A few minutes later, the gang was still trailing Jimmy. Danny looked again at Spongebob; he was still not responded.
Patrick sniffed as he stroked the sponge's head. "Oh, why won't you wake up, buddy?"
"Don't worry, Pat," said the teen, putting on a brave face, "Spongebob's gonna be fine."
Jimmy suddenly exclaimed, "I found it!"
The gang looked ahead and saw a clear pool of water with a trickle of water flowing from a crack in a rock. Jimmy motioned Danny to come to the edge. The teen knelt down and placed the mud-covered Spongebob in the water. Already, the mud was starting to wash off.
The teen sighed with relief and was about to stand up when lost his balance and fell into the water, along with the sponge. Underwater, the pool was much deeper and Danny floated down almost to the bottom. Opening his eyes, he saw Spongebob was sinking to the floor. The teen swam towards him and landed softly on the bottom next to the sponge. All the mud was washed away and Spongebob returned to his bright yellow self
Suddenly, the sea creature started to come to. He opened his blue eyes and noticed Danny, who was floating next to him smiling with puffed-out cheeks.
"Oh, hiya Danny," greeted Spongebob, "what happened?"
The teen pointed to the surface and grabbed the sponge's arm. The two soon burst to the surface, with Danny taking a few breaths of air.
"Spongebob!" exclaimed Patrick happily and he pulled his friend out.
After Danny climbed out, he shook the water from his hair and asked Spongebob, "You okay, dude?"
The sponge beamed, "I've never felt better! Thanks, buddy!"
Timmy looked at his dirty hands. "That reminds me; I need a bath."
"Me too," agreed Sam, "dirt never looks good on me, no matter how dark."
Danny smiled, "Now how could that be? Everything looks good on you."
The goth glanced up at the teen, who suddenly became shy and turned away.
Sam giggled a little and started towards the water's edge. With the gang following her suit, Danny looked down at his reflection. A young, green-eyed teenager, white haired stared back at him.
Cupping some water and splashing it onto his face, the teen looked over at his friends. The mud that was clinging onto them was starting to wash off from the water. Staring again at his reflection, Danny noticed how strong his chest and arms looked. Puffing them out, the teen couldn't help but grin at his hero look.
Sam glanced over to her friend and gasped a little. She'd never noticed how strong he looked when he was in ghost form. A happy smile crossed her face as the goth sighed. Danny washed off the last of the dirt and stood up, stretching his arms and legs. Even watching that made Sam get a little excited.
She walked over and put a hand on his powerful shoulder. "Wow, I didn't know a ghost could have muscle tone," the goth flirted.
The teen blushed bright red and a sheepish smile crossed his face. But, keeping calm, he replied smiling, "Well, not all ghosts are as strong as me."
With that said, Danny puffed out again and flexed. Giggling again, Sam gave him a poke in the belly and the teen deflated.
"It won't mean anything unless you have a strong heart, too," she said.
Danny cocked his head to the side, asking, "A strong heart?"
"Of course," the goth explained, "it makes sense that a hero like you would have it."
The teen was still a little confused. A strong heart, he thought, I wonder what that means...
"Excuse me."
Jimmy's voice interrupted Danny's thoughts. The genius and the others were standing near the forest path that lead to the volcano.
"Are you guys ready?" asked Jimmy.
The two teens nodded and joined the group, heading deeper into the thicket.
A few hours later, after trekking through the rain forest, the heroes came upon the volcano's base. A large cave was carved out and dripped sticky purple ooze.
"This has gotta be the entrance," concluded Jimmy. "If we go through here, we could reach the volcano's top in a couple of minutes."
Danny's heart was beginning to race with anticipation. "Well, everyone, this is it. Let's go!"
The team entered the oozing cave, careful not to get any of the purple goo on them. As they trekked deeper into the cave, it started to get a little hotter.
Timmy fanned himself with his hat, "Man, where'd all this heat come from?"
"Well it is a volcano," Jimmy pointed out, wiping his sweaty forehead.
Suddenly, a low grumbling sound echoed through the caverns.
"Danny," asked Spongebob, "that wasn't your stomach again, was it?"
The teen shook his head, "Nope."
Another grumble made the team cluster together as they grew wary of the noise.
"Ah, shucks!" exclaimed Sandy once she realized what was going on. "The volcano's actin' up!"
Spongebob gulped, "Actin' up? What does that mean?"
"It means that the magma is moving underground," explained Jimmy, "causing the rocks to grind against each other and creating the-"
"Cut to the chase, dude!" interrupted a frantic Timmy, "Is this volcano gonna blow or not?"
The genius assured, "Most likely not, but keep an eye out for falling lava rocks."
"Noted," Danny grunted.
The team continued to venture deeper into the volcano. As they did, each member reacted to the situation differently; Spongebob shuddered nervously as his eyes darted this way and that, Danny kept looking straight ahead, sometimes looking back to ensure everyone was following, Jimmy had one of his inventions out to examine the rocks, Timmy anxiously twirled his fairy-formed pens, Sandy's tail twitched in anticipation and Sam cautiously studied her surroundings.
Patrick, however, didn't seem to be afraid; in fact, he started to skip and sing, "Ah, deedle-leedle-lee! Dee-da-lee! Ah, deedle-leedle-lee! A-lit-lee!"
The sea star's dopey voice echoed through the cave, bouncing off of the sides and producing a haunting tune.
Timmy finally said, "Dude, this is no time for singing! This is serious!"
Patrick turned to the bucktooth in surprise. "What?! How could you say that? There's always a time for singing!"
"It's okay, Pat," said Spongebob, "I like it. In fact, you should sing more."
The sea star's eyes grew wide as Timmy shook his head. Taking a breath, Patrick started singing again. "Deedle-leedle-lee! DEE!"
Timmy covered his ears and groaned. Spongebob spun around to face him and asked, "What, you don't like Patrick's singing either?"
The bucktooth lifted his head up and noticed the sponge's sudden change in demeanor. His happy smile was now an annoyed frown.
"It's not that I don't like it," replied Timmy, "It's just that it's annoying."
Spongebob retorted, "That's the same thing you said about my singing!"
The bucktooth kid shrugged, "And your point is...?"
"My point is that you should stop being a jerk and treat us like the friends we are," said the sponge.
Upon hearing the word 'jerk', Timmy lifted his lip in a snarl. "What did you call me?" growled the bucktooth dangerously.
Spongebob got right up to his face and jabbed his finger in the boy's chest with every word, "Stop. Acting. Like. A. Jerk!"
Timmy contorted his face to make it look ugly and snapped, "MAKE ME!"
"ENOUGH!"
A deep shout echoed loudly through the cave. The gang, including the two boys, turned their attention to Danny, the owner of the voice.
"You guys knock it off!" the mad teen continued, "Get your act together or I'll make you get your act together!"
The threat silenced the boys. But for only a moment.
Timmy pointed at Spongebob. "He started it!" he accused.
"Did not!" retorted the sponge.
Danny took a breath to yell again but stopped short when he heard a loud roar coming from deep within the cavern.
Spongebob immediately skittered under the teen's feet again, followed by Patrick.
"What was that?" asked the nervous sponge.
The team clustered together and watched in horror as a giant black shape appeared from one of the openings. It stood on four legs, was as large as a truck and covered in purple ooze and harden lava. It came to a stop at the entrance to the opening and growled.
Jimmy yelped, "It's a giant rock panther!"
"Oh crud," muttered Timmy.
The monster crouched low and sprang forward, dashing towards the heroes. Screaming, the gang dashed off deeper into the cave. BAH-BOOM! BAH-BOOM! The rock panther's feet made a loud pounded sound as it chased the team. Danny sprinted in front of the others, leading them through the cavern.
Sandy caught up with him and asked, "Ya'll gotta plan?"
"I'm thinking..." replied the teen, focusing on the path ahead.
The rock monster snapped its jaws close to Timmy. "Well think faster!" he yelled.
The team rounded a corner and noticed a bunch of stalagmites scattered in a opening.
An idea came into Jimmy's mind. "I've got it! Listen up, everyone..."
A few seconds later the giant rock panther entered the opening. It stopped and looked around, confused. The corridor was empty, but it knows that the gang was chased here; it just had to find them. The monster began sniffing the ground, moving slowly. Meanwhile, behind some of the stalagmites, the heroes braced themselves.
Spongebob cautiously peeked from his hiding place. He saw the rock monster was coming towards his direction.
Stiffing up, the sponge pressed his back to the rock and stood still. The rock panther's head looked over the rock, mere feet from Spongebob's head. A drop of purple oozed trickled down it's mouth and dripped down to the sponge's head.
The moment the oozed touched him, Spongebob felt pain and yelped, "AHH! Get it off!" and started running around.
Danny gasped as he watched the rock monster pounce on the helpless sponge.
"Back off, kitty cat!" shouted the teen as he lept from one of the stalagmites and threw a powerful punch at the beast.
The rock panther, however, saw it coming and used its tail to bash the ghost hero in the head. Danny fell to the ground on his feet, but as he tried to stand up, dizziness overcame him and he held his head in pain.
Seeing her friend in no condition to continue, Sam sprung from behind a rock and blasted the monster with her Peeler suit gun, causing it to stop.
Sandy, Jimmy and Timmy soon joined in and attacked the stunned beast; Jimmy used his Ice Ray gun to freeze the monster's feet and Timmy lashed out with a flurry of star flingers. Spongebob, who had recovered, noticed Danny's discomfort and raced towards him.
"Danny," the sponge asked the dizzy teen, "are you okay?"
The ghost hero shook his head, trying to recover, but he continued to see flashes of light and double images.
Despite this, Danny stood up and said, "I'm fine. Let's go help the others!"
With a nod, Spongebob and his friend joined the fight in progress. The giant rock panther had escaped from the genius's ice prison and soon proved to be an experienced fighter, deftly dodging their attacks and launching a few of its own.
Soon, the team was beginning to tire. Danny stood his ground, even though the teen was out of breath and his muscles were starting to cramp. Even worse, Danny was still dazed from the monster's earlier attack.
Suddenly, the beast rose up on its hind legs, its head almost touching the cave roof, and used its front to slash and stomp the heroes. The vibration of the rock panther's attack caused the roof to crumble and give way.
"We've gotta get outta here!" yelped Jimmy and led the others through the tunnel.
Big rocks and stalactites were falling all around the team, threatening to crush them. A large slab of rock crashed right in front of Sam, causing her to scream and fall backwards. Danny heard his friend and dashed over to her.
"Hang on, Sam!" the teen shouted and picked up the goth in his arms. Ignoring the pain in his head, the ghost hero carried her to the others.
The team finally saw a small nook in the wall and quickly crawled inside. Patrick was the last to go, but the sea star got stuck in the opening. Spongebob helped his friend by tugging his arm and pulling him through. Outside, the cave was still shaking and more rocks fell from the ceiling.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the rumbling stopped. The group stayed silent and still for a minute to catch their breath.
Finally, Timmy asked, "Is it over?"
"I think so," mumbled Jimmy, unsure.
Danny didn't say anything, still a little dizzy in the head. He blinked and looked down at Sam; she was still in his arms and, surprisingly, hugging him.
A shiver of excitement went down the teen's spine, but he calmly asked, "You alright, Sam?"
The goth lifted her head to face him. Although he looked like he had been in a fight, Danny was smiling that happy smile Sam had always liked.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she said, a little shy.
The teen was about to say something else but a throbbing pain in his head made him groan instead.
"What happened to you?" asked Timmy, looking at him.
Jimmy said, "That rock panther gave him a pretty good hit on the head. I think he may be suffering from a concussion."
"Man, I thought it would be over by now," muttered the teen as he held his skull.
Sam rubbed her friend's back, asking Jimmy, "Can he still fight?"
The genius frowned, "It's hard to tell."
Suddenly, a red glow appeared in the Hyper Cube. With a flash of light, a tiny glowing ball of energy emerged from the device.
"Wow," mused Cosmo as he watched the glow, "I didn't know you had floating orbs of light inside that thingy."
Jimmy shook his head, "I don't."
"Then where'd it come from?" asked Wanda.
The red glow drifted to Danny and landed in his white hair. It started to glow even brighter and the teen felt warmth hug his body. Suddenly, it disappeared in a flash, leaving the team stunned.
Danny blinked again and realized that the pain in his head was gone, as were the funny images in his vision.
"Hey, I feel a lot better," he commented, rubbing the top of his hair.
Spongebob's eye's lit up. "You do?"
The teen nodded and added, "I think that strange glow healed me."
"Interesting," pondered Jimmy, "but where exactly did it come from?"
Patrick poked the Hyper cube. "It kinda had the same color as that stone thingy."
"You think it came from that?" asked Timmy.
Sandy shrugged, "Maybe; Shelly did say the stone had amazin' power."
"Wherever it came from," replied Danny as he stood up, "I'm ready to fight again. Let's keep goin'."
Once the team exited the nook and continued down the tunnel, Timmy caught up to Spongebob.
"Hey, Sponge?" started the bucktooth.
The sea sponge looked at him, "Yes?"
"I'm sorry that I got mad at you and Patrick," atoned Timmy, hanging his head. "I was just getting so anxious about this whole 'saving the worlds' thing. I didn't mean it, honest."
Spongebob considered his words and beamed, "I accept your apology, Tim. But is my singing that bad to you?"
"No way," assured the bucktooth, "it's great. In fact, sometimes I wish I could sing just like you."
Wanda and Cosmo lifted their wands in preparation.
"Without magic, that is," finished Timmy and his fairies lowered their instruments.
Spongebob smiled again, "Do ya want me to teach you?"
The bucktooth shrugged, not knowing how to answer.
"Oh, it's really simple," the sponge started to explain, "first, you've got to sing from your belly, not your chest..."
As the two conversed, Danny smiled in satisfaction.