Nicktoons Unite!
Chapter 7: Plankton's Wrath
The four heroes had finally reached Plankton's factory. Its enormous, steel doors stood tightly shut with a huge, metal beam acting as a lock. Danny walked up to the doors and tried to lift the beam. With a grunt, he flung it to the side and it fell with a CLANK! Stepping back, Danny delivered a powerful kick to the doors, but they held their ground and the teen yelped in pain.
Spongebob rushed up to Danny. "You okay?"
Danny was still holding his foot and hopping up and down on the other. "Darn it! I thought they would open that way!" he growled.
"Lemme try." said Jimmy. He took out his watch and shot a small laser at the doors. The powerful energy of light carved a circle lit with red.
After completing it, the genius pushed the hole forward and it fell to the ground inside the factory. Stepping through the hole, he did a quick scan of the room before motioning his friends to come. Once they were all inside, the true scale of Plankton's plan was revealed.
There were three large tanks filled with buzzing jellyfish inside. Attached on their sides were long tubes and a single door hatch in each one. An antennae-like contraption sparked above the trapped sea jellies.
"Plankton must be using these devices to extract the sting from those jellyfish." concurred Jimmy, examining the machines.
Danny placed a hand on one of the glass tanks. "We need to figure out a way to free these guys."
"HELP!"
The four spun around. "What was that?" asked Timmy.
Spongebob then spied something on the metal shelf. "Guys!" he pointed.
The heroes followed the sponge's gaze and saw the pink starfish they had met earlier. He was trapped inside a giant, glass bottle.
"Patrick!" Spongebob said happily. "Don't worry, buddy; we'll get you outta there in a jiffy!"
He then made his way to his trapped friend, climbing up one of the shelves to get to the other. The three humans followed him haphazardly, leaping and swinging over gaps. Finally they made it to Patrick.
"I'm so glad you guys are here," cheered the sea star. "Now we can have a party!"
Spongebob climbed to the top of the bottle. "The party can wait, Pat. Let's get you outta here, first." He noticed that the top had no cap or cork on it, but the neck was too narrow for Danny, Jimmy or Timmy to slip through.
The ghost teen tapped the glass. "Want me to phase through and get Patrick?" he suggested.
"Nah, I got it." Spongebob said and, to the amazement of his friends, was able to squeeze his squishy body through and grab Patrick. He then made his way up the bottle neck and popped out, landing with the pink sea star in his arms.
Patrick laughed in his dopey voice. "Haha! That was fun! Do it again!"
"Maybe later," said Spongebob as he put his friend down, "but its too dangerous to be around here, Pat. You should go."
The sea star looked like he was about to cry. "Aw, but I wanted to save the world with you, Spongebob."
Spongebob sniffed, trying to hold back tears. "I'm sorry, buddy..." Then the two burst into tears and held one another.
Danny groaned and slapped his forehead, while Timmy rolled his eyes and Jimmy awkwardly approached the two friends.
"Guys, I appreciate all this drama, but we've got a situation here." he said gently.
Spongebob wiped his eyes and said, "You're right. Go on, Patrick, get outta here."
Patrick bit his lower lip but turned and ran through the hole in the doors, disappearing quickly for an obese sea star.
The brave sponge turned to his friends. "Okay, guys, let's free these jellyfish now."
The four walked over to one of the hatches. Spongebob tried to turn the wheel but it refused to budge. Danny, Timmy and Jimmy grabbed onto it.
"Okay, on three, we turn it to the left." said the teen, bracing himself.
Timmy looked at him uncertainly, "Why left?"
"'Righty tighty, lefty loosy'," squeaked the sponge, "that's how I remember it."
Jimmy started the countdown, "One...two..."
The heroes' muscles tensed with anticipation.
"Three!"
With a grunt, they pulled on the latch with all their strength. Finally it gave way and the door opened. As he widen the hatch, Spongebob looked at all the jellyfish. "You're all free, guys! We'll get the others out, too!"
The jellyfish seemed to understand the little sponge and buzzed over their heads and out the hole in the door. With one tank opened, the heroes did the same with the others. Once all the sea jellies were freed, Jimmy turned to his comrades.
"Now that all those cnidarians are free, we can find Plankton." said the genius.
As Danny, Spongebob, Timmy and Jimmy raced up the stairs, the sponge exclaimed, "We're coming, Mr. Krabs!"
The four reached the top of the factory and scanned the area. They had arrived at the roof with a grand view of Bikini Bottom.
"I wonder where Plankton might be?" asked Timmy, looking around.
"BLAST IT, EUGENE!"
The heroes turned at the yelling and looked up. On a platform above them, a one-eyed, green creature had a red crab wearing a sailor's uniform on a table, strapped down. Plankton jumped onto Mr. Krab's chest. "I've tried being reasonable, and I've even tried being unreasonable," he snarled, "but you still won't give up the secret recipe. WHY!?"
"Plankton!" exclaimed Spongebob.
The one-eyed protozoa spun to face the intruders. "What?! Spongebob?!" he growled.
The courageous sponge stood tall. "That's right, it's us! Now you let Mr. Krabs go! What would your mother think?" he scolded.
An evil smile grew on Plankton's face. "Oh, I think she would be very proud of me. And I've got a special surprise for you brats."
Spongebob's face brightened. "Ooh, really! What is it?"
The evil protozoa pressed a button on a remote and from a secret trapdoor a large, mechanical, green crab rose up. After the raising platform stopped, Plankton raced over and jumped into the seat. The machine suddenly sprang to life and launched down onto the roof were the heroes were.
"Here he comes, guys!" warned Jimmy as he took out his weapon.
Cosmo and Wanda transformed into a ray gun for Timmy, Danny's fists began to glow with green ghost fire and Spongebob quickly retrieved his bubble solution, wand and karate gloves.
The mechanical crab lashed out with its huge claws, but the four nimbly dodged the attack. Danny rose into the air and shot a powerful ghost ray from his hands. Although the hit almost knocked the machine off its feet, it was able to recover quickly and stomped it feet.
The shaking caused Timmy to lose his balance and landed on his behind. As he was lying there, the robot clamped its claw around his torso and lifted him up. Spongebob watched in horror but quickly blew some bubbles at one of the connectors in the crab's arm, causing it to malfunction and drop the bucktooth kid.
Danny caught the shaken but unharmed Timmy in his arms before he hit the ground. Spongebob then got an idea; if a few bubbles could do that, then what about...?
"Jimmy, I need to use your Tornado Blaster thingy!" yelled the sponge.
The genius looked confused, but tossed him the device anyway. Spongebob positioned his bubble wand at the barrel and pulled the trigger. Huge, glistening bubbles exploded from the combined weapons and blasted Plankton's crab robot. The machine, now wet with the solution, began to spark and smoke. Finally, it collapsed in a heap with a surprised Plankton climbing out.
"That was awesome, Sponge!" exclaimed Timmy as he, Danny and Jimmy raced to his side.
Spongebob beamed a, "Thanks," and eyed the evil protozoa. "There, Plankton, now what will your mother think?"
"You're right, Spongebob," sighed Plankton as he climbed out of his failed invention, "being evil is no fun. I want to do better; I can change!"
"That's it, let it all out," said Spongebob.
Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not sure if he means it, but at least Bikini Bottom's save now."
"OF COURSE I DON'T MEAN IT, FOOLS!" roared an irked Plankton as he when right up to the four, "I can't believe you fell for that. Everything about me changing and my mother, when will you people learn!"
Before he could continue, there was a yell and BAM! Patrick landed on top of the one-eyed villain.
"Pat! Where did you come from?" asked a surprised but happy Spongebob.
The sea star scratched his head, "Uh..." and pointed up, "Up there."
The four leaned their hands back, but saw nothing but ocean sky.
"Mmf..." grunted a squashed Plankton. Patrick stood up and looked at his behind. The protozoa was stuck to his pants like chewed up gum.
Plankton pushed off of the pink starfish and landed on the ground. "Blegh! I need a bath!" he sickened as he brushed off his body. But then he turned and smirked at the boys. "I may have lost the battle, but the Evil Syndicate will win the war; our doomsday device has more than enough energy to get up and running. Nothing can stop us!"
As he gloated, he took out a small helicopter device and flew away. "NOTHINNNNNG!"
After the villain disappeared, Spongebob looked at his friends in fear.
"D-D-Did he say that they w-w-were building a d-d-d-doomsday device?" he asked shaking.
"Uh huh," Timmy answered in the same worried tone as the sponge's.
Danny pounded a fist into his hand. "Well, we can't just sit here and panic-"
"I can!" interrupted Patrick.
"-we have to stop them!"
Jimmy nodded as he opened the portal to his lab. "And stop them we will, Danny. Remember, we're all in this together."
Something about that phrase warmed the heroes' heart. The four heroes stepped through the portal and disappeared.
Patrick said, "What? No party?"