Later that evening, while the good citizens of Bikini Bottom slept in their beds, Plankton launched his evil plan. Using a helicopter jet pack, he took off and flew through the night. When he saw his final destination, he began to chuckle to himself. "Heh, heh, heh, heh! It's time to put Plan Z into effect."

Plankton landed on a dark hill. He turned off his jet pack. Then he stared out at the beautiful castle of seashells and pearls in front of him.

"My evil plan starts right here, at the undersea castle of King Neptune!" Plankton said to himself.

Chuckling with glee, he floated up to the castle's biggest window and peeked inside.

On his giant throne sat the great merman King Neptune. Neptune, the king of the sea, had a long beard and a big fish tail. He held his mighty trident in one hand, and on his head sat his golden crown.

To Plankton, the king seemed enormous!

Next to the huge king was his little daughter, Mindy. She was a very pretty mermaid with big eyes and a bright smile.

Just then the squire entered and blew his horn. Then he unrolled a scroll and read from it. "Royal court is now in session," announced the squire. "Will the prisoner step forward."

Two tough-looking guards entered. The guards carried in a defeated-looking fish, bound in fin-cuffs. "Sooooo," Neptune began. "You confess to the crime of touching the king's crown?"

"Yes, but...," squeaked the fish.

"But what?" yelled King Neptune.

"But it's my job, Your Highness," the little fish replied. "I'm the royal crown polisher."

"Well," said King Neptune with a frown. "I guess that means I can't have you fried. So twenty years in the dungeon it is."

"Daddy!" cried Mindy, horrified.

She swam over to the fish and unlocked his fin-cuffs. The fish bowed politely.

"Thank you, Princess Mindy," said the royal polisher.

Then the little fish ran away as fast as he could. It was time for the royal polisher to find a new job.

"Mindy!" King Neptune roared. "How can you defy me?"

"But, Daddy! Why do you have to be so mean?"

"I am the king!" said Neptune, pounding his royal trident on the floor. "I must enforce the laws of the sea."

"Well, I wish you'd try some love and compassion instead of these harsh punishments," said Mindy.

"That would be nice," added the squire.

The king bonked the squire on the head with his trident.

"Squire! Clear the room," demanded Neptune. "I wish to speak with my daughter alone."

King Neptune reached up and pulled off the heavy crown, revealing his shiny bald head. Then he showed it to his daughter.

"What is this, Mindy?" asked the king.

"Your crown?" asked Mindy uncertainly.

"And what does this crown do, Mindy?" asked Neptune.

Mindy thought about it.

"Covers your bald spot?" she guessed.

"It's not bald!" the king bellowed defensively. "It's thinning. Thinning!"

After Neptune calmed down, he set his crown on the royal pillow and leaned forward.

"This crown does much more than cover a slightly receding hairline," said the king. "This crown entitles the one who wears it to be in charge of the sea."

While the king imparted some wisdom on his daughter, Plankton crept into the room. He tiptoed up to the pillow. Then, with a wicked chuckle, Plankton snatched the crown and slipped away without anyone noticing!

"One day you will wear this crown," continued King Neptune.

Mindy was horrified. "I'm gonna be bald!"

"Thinning!" Neptune cried. "But the point is you won't be wearing it until you've learned how to rule with an iron fist, just like your father."

King Neptune reached for his crown. His hand grabbed the royal pillow instead. He placed the pillow on his head.

"Uh, Dad, your" -Mindy stopped and stared- "crown," she said, pointing.

With the pillow drooping over his ears, Neptune picked up a gilded hand mirror and gazed into it.

"What the-!" he yelled.

He frantically looked around the throne room, but the crown was gone. "My crown!" Neptune shouted.

Then he jumped up from his throne and roared with anger. The king howled and howled like a kid who just had his favorite toy taken away from him.

"Someone's stolen the royal crown! Guards! Mindy! Heeeeelllllp meeeeeee!"

*S*S*

Meanwhile Plankton flew from the castle with his helicopter jet pack, carrying Neptune's crown and laughing to himself. As he flew back to Bikini Bottom, he passed over Goofy Goober's Party Boat!

The joint was rocking, and the music was blasting. A crowd of young fish were chowing down on delicious Goofy Goober's Ice-Cream Treats. The staff was rushing from table to table, delivering towers of ice cream.

There was ice cream covered with gobs of chocolate and piles of whipped cream. Ice cream with sprinkles, nuts, cherry, strawberry, or seaweed toppings. And huge banana splits with up to five flavors of ice cream and two big bananas.

And in the middle of all the fun and eating came an announcement. "Hey, all you Goobers! It's time to say Hooowdy to your favorite undersea peanut!"

Then the curtains parted and Goofy Goober - a large mechanical peanut - danced out in all of his peanut glory.

"Howdy, Goofy Goober!" all the fish cried.

Goofy Goober tipped his peanut hat and tapped his toes. "Hey, fellow Goofy Goobers," he said. "It's time to sing."

And as he did, the audience cheered!

"Oh, I'm a Goofy Goober, yeah!" he sang.

"Yeah!" shouted all the little fishes.

"You're a Goofy Goober, yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Goofy, Goofy, Goober, Goober, yeah!"

Everyone was singing and scarfing down ice cream and having a good time.

Well, almost everyone.

At the ice-cream bar, one sad little sponge sat alone, crying in his soda.

"All right, get it together, old boy," SpongeBob told himself. Then he got a brilliant idea.

"I know. I'll just stop thinking about it."

SpongeBob stared at nothing for a long time.

"Hey, you know, I actually feel a little better," he said with a smile. "I don't even remember why I was sad."

Just then Patrick arrived. The starfish sat down next to SpongeBob at the bar.

"Heeey," said Patrick. "It's the new Krusty Krab 2 manager."

SpongeBob burst into tears.

"Wow. The pressure's already setting in," said Patrick.

"No, Patrick, you don't understand," SpongeBob said. "I didn't get the promotion."

Patrick was shocked. "What? Why?"

"Mr. Krabs thinks I'm a kid," said SpongeBob.

"What?" Patrick cried, slapping his head. "That's insane."

"I know," said SpongeBob.

"Well, saying you're a kid is...is like saying I'm a kid," said Patrick.

"Exactly," said SpongeBob.

The waiter set a tray in front of Patrick and said, "Here's your Goober Meal, sir."

"Hey," said Patrick suspiciously. "I'm supposed to get a toy with this."

The waiter tossed Patrick a stuffed peanut.

"Thanks!" said Patrick, cuddling it.

SpongeBob sighed. "I'm going to head home, Pat. The celebration is off."

"Are you sure?" said Patrick with a frown.

"Yeah," said SpongeBob as he rose from his bar stool, and he turned to go.

Just then the waiter returned with a towering ice-cream sundae. "Here's your Triple Gooberberry Sunrise, sir," he told Patrick.

"Yum," said Patrick as he rubbed his starfish tummy and licked his lips.

The wonderful scent of sundae reeled SpongeBob back in.

"Wow! A Triple Gooberberry Sunrise, huh?" said SpongeBob, sitting back down on his stool. "I guess I could use one of those."

"Well, now you're talking!" said Patrick, slapping him on the back. "Hey, waiter! We need another one over here."

"Right away, sir," the waiter replied.

And so began a night of ice cream eating that SpongeBob and Patrick would never forget!