The Chum Bucket was suddenly the most popular restaurant in Bikini Bottom! Customers lined up around the block to get into the how new eatery. Plankton had done a brilliant job of redecorating. The walls had been freshly painted. The floors had been redone and the furniture was brand-new. But the big draw was the delicious food.

"That's right," shouted Plankton through a bullhorn. "The Chum Bucket has got Krabby Patties. Get them while they're hot and delicious."

Just then reporter Perch Perkins sauntered into the Chum Bucket. He walked right up to Plankton.

"Excuse me, Plankton," he said. "I'm Perch Perkins, Action News. Can I get a minute of your time?"

"Anything for you, Perch," Plankton answered with a phony smile on his face.

"All of Bikini Bottom wants to know. How did you get the Krabby Patty?" asked Perch Perkins, shoving his microphone under Plankton's nose.

"Well, Perch, before my dear friend Eugene Krabs was frozen by King Neptune," said Plankton, pausing to wipe away a phony tear, "Krabs confided in me a secret wish - in the event that his criminal past ever caught up with him."

Plankton sighed theatrically. "He said, 'Sell the Krabby Patty in my absence at the Chum Bucket. Don't let the flame die out."

"Wow," said Perch Perkins, touched.

"And there's a Chum Bucket helmet free with every purchase!" added Plankton brightly, and handed Perch a bucket-shaped helmet with the words "Chum Bucket" written on it.

"Thanks," said the newsman.

Plankton started throwing bucket helmets to everyone in the Chum Bucket. "Bucket helmets for everyone!" he cried. "Here you go, sir!"

"Thanks!" said a fish.

Plankton gave a bucket helmet to Mrs. Puff. "Here's yours, ma'am."

"Why, thank you," said Mrs. Puff.

"Helmets for the whole family," said Plankton as he circled a big table. He placed a bucket helmet on everyone sitting there.

"Thanks!" said the newly bucket-helmet-headed family.

With a wave to all of his new customers, Plankton ran into the kitchen.

"Karen, baby," he told his computer wife. "I haven't felt this giddy since the day you agreed to be my wife."

"I never agreed," replied Karen the Computer.

Plankton ignored her.

"Evil Plan Z is working perfectly," he said instead. "Nothing can stop me now."

"I hate to be the one to tell you this," said Karen. "But my sensors have indicated that SpongeBob and his pink friend are going after the crown. If they make it back, Neptune might see some fingerprints."

Karen stared at Plankton's little hands.

"Tiny fingerprints," she added. "Stubby, tiny fingerprints."

Plankton stared down at his hands and frowned. Then he put them into his pockets.

"Evil Plan Z is way ahead of you," he said. "I've already hired someone to take care of those two. His name is Dennis. He's a really big scary dude who rides a huge motorcycle."

XXX

Back at the gas station near the county line, a huge motorcycle pulled up to the pump. Behind the handlebars sat Dennis, a really big scary dude.

Cutting the engine to a rumble, Dennis spied a spot on the concrete. He lowered the brim on his cowboy hat and crouched down. Then he sniffed the concrete.

"Mustard," he murmured.

"Hey, mister," hooted Lloyd, the gas station attendant. "Does that hat take ten gallons?"

The gas station guys laughed and laughed - until the big scary dude knocked each of them over. Flat on their backs, Floyd and Lloyd were in no position to be laughing.

Not so very far down the road, SpongeBob and Patrick trudged along. They tried to sing to keep up their spirits, but they were just too tired.

"All right...huff...oh, yeah...puff...," wheezed SpongeBob.

"Are we there yet?" Patrick whined.

"We must be close now," said SpongeBob. Then he spotted a sign.

"Hey, Patrick! Look. Shell City, straight ahead."

They read the sign, which was partly hidden by some seaweed. It read SHELL CITY, ONLY FIVE DAYS.

"Wow!" said SpongeBob. "Only five days away-"

Then the wind blew the seaweed away - and the rest of the sign was uncovered.

"-BY CAR!?" cried SpongeBob.

Patrick slapped his head and SpongeBob's shoulders sagged.

"At this rate we're never going to make it back in six days," said SpongeBob. "If only we still had our car."

Patrick grabbed his square friend's arm. "SpongeBob, look - it's our car!"

It was the Patty Wagon, parked next to a sunken tugboat. Music and voices seemed to be coming from inside the tugboat, called the Thug Tug.

"Let's hurry, Pat," SpongeBob cried, "before the thug who stole our car comes back."

But when they reached their car, something important was missing.

"The key!" SpongeBob cried.

"Where do you think it is?" Patrick asked.

SpongeBob faced the tugboat just as a terrified fish was tossed through the window.

"This looks like a nice place," said Patrick.

But SpongeBob wasn't so sure.

Cautiously the two friends crept up to the window and peered inside. Tough-looking thugs were shooting pool, throwing back drinks, and acting tough.

Suddenly SpongeBob spotted the thug who stole the Patty Wagon. He was shooting Pool with some other fish. Hanghing from his belt, SpongeBob spotted a gleaming object.

"There it is, Pat. The key!" cried SpongeBob. Then he frowned. "But how are we going to get it?"

"I know," said Patrick. "Walk in and ask for it."

SpongeBob shook his head. "Patrick. That's a terrible idea."

"Sorry."

"I know!" said SpongeBob, snapping his fingers. "I'll go in and create a distraction. Then you grab the key."

"Ooo, ooo, wait!" Patrick cried, hopping from tentacle to tentacle. "I want to do the distraction."

SpongeBob shrugged. "Okay. I guess it doesn't really matter who does the distraction."

Remembering an old Western movie he'd seen, Patrick swaggered right up to the front door and threw it open. Then he boldly stepped inside. SpongeBob crept in behind his pink friend, trying not to be seen.

"Can I have everybody's attention!" yelled Patrick.

The music stopped and all heads turned toward the front door. Dozens of mean-looking eyes stared at the young starfish, waiting for him to speak again.

"I have to use the bathroom," announced Patrick.

One of the thugs pointed to a door next to the phone booth. "It's right over there."

The thug at the pool table looked down. There was SpongeBob, tugging on the Patty Wagon key hanging from his belt.

"Oh, there it is," SpongeBob said, rubbing his eyes. "Stupid contact lenses."

SpongeBob pretended to pick something off the ground.

"I'd better go wash it off," he said, and bolted for the restroom.

"Patrick!" he cried, pushing through the door. "You call that a distraction?"

"I had to go to the bathroom," Patrick replied sheepishly.

SpongeBob look down at his hands. They were filthy from fumbling on the floor.

"I got my hands dirty for nothing," he said, disgusted.

SpongeBob pumped the soap dispenser. Bubbles popped out and floated around the bathroom.

"Patrick! Check it out!"

"Whoa!" cried Patrick.

"Hooray! Bubble party!" SpongeBob said, and they began to squirt more bubbles. The two giggled and danced and lathered up as bubbles filled the bathroom.

Some of the bubbles started to leak out of the restroom door. Suddenly the music in the next room stopped and someone yelled in an angry voice.

"Hey! Who blew this bubble?" yelled Victor, the bartender.

"Not me, Victor," said a frightened thug.

"I didn't," cried another. "I hate soap."

"You all know the rules," Victor yelled.

The tug thugs all nodded.

"Any and all bubble-blowing babies gets kicked out of the bar," said one of the thugs.

"That's right," roared Victor. "So who blew it?"

Inside the bathroom SpongeBob and Patrick could hear all the yelling going on in the bar, and they were frantically trying to pop all the bubbles before they were caught.

"So nobody knows, eh?" said Victor, looking around. "Well, I know. I know that somebody in here is a bubble blower."

SpongeBob and Patrick left the bubbleless bathroom and tried to sneak out the back door.

"You!" said Victor, pointing at them. "We're on a bubble-blower hunt. And don't think we don't know how to weed them out."

Victor had everyone in the tugboat line up so he could inspect them. When everyone was in a neat row, he turned to his disc jockey.

"DJ, time for the test," he called.

The DJ fumbled behind the speaker and put on the Goofy Goober theme song.

"No bubble blower can resist singing along to this," Victor snarled.

"SpongeBob," Patrick whined. "It's the Goofy Goober theme song!"

"I know," said SpongeBob.

The music began to play - loudly - and SpongeBob and Patrick struggled desperately against the urge to sing along.

One of the tough guys coughed and Victor rushed up to him.

"It was you!" he cried. "You're the bubble-blowing baby!"

"No, no," the thug said. "I only coughed. I swear."

Sneering, Victor moved down the line. Nobody had cracked yet, so Victor called to the disc jockey, "Turn it up louder!"

The music swelled, filling the tug with the perfect sing-along tune. Sweat was pouring down SpongeBob's head. His foot began to tap, but he managed to step on it with his other foot.

Patrick appeared ready to break.

"Don't sing along, Patrick," SpongeBob whispered.

"I'm trying," Patrick said. "I'm trying so hard!"

SpongeBob looked up to see Victor towering over him.

"Don't you know the words?" Victor growled. "I'm a Goofy Goober, yeah! You're a Goofy Goober..."

SpongeBob and Patrick resisted singing along with the tune for as long as they could.

Finally someone cracked.

"I'm a Goofy Goober, yeah! Goofy, Goofy, Goober, Goober-"

"Well, well, well," said Victor.

SpongeBob and Patrick breathed sighs of relief as Victor rushed up to two Siamese twin fish.

"Which one of you babies was it?" he roared.

The two fish pointed to each other. "It was him!" they cried.

"Well," said Victor with a nasty grin. "Looks like we've got ourselves a double bubble-blowing baby."

The Siamese fish tried to swim away, but the thugs chased them.

With everyone running around, SpongeBob and Patrick managed to escape.

"Man, that was a close call," sighend SpongeBob once they were outside the tugboat of thugs.

"Guess what I got," said Patrick with a goofy smile.

He pulled the Patty Wagon's key out of his pocket.

"The key!" SpongeBob cried. "Oh, Pat, I could kiss you."

They ran to the Patty Wagon and started the engine. The Goofy Goober theme song blasted out of the speaker.

SpongeBob turned off the sound system, pulled out the CD, and smashed it. It landed on the ground right next to two bottles of bubbles. Then the Patty Wagon sped off into the night.