The Cyclops was really mad. Two stupid sea animals had wrecked his shop. He was ready to squash SpongeBob and Patrick when he heard a terrible sound.

He looked up, then screamed.

All of the sea animals he had dried up were alive again - and they were really, really mad!

The puffer fish puffed up and charged the giant, sticking him with their little points. Sea horses neighed and stampeded over the giant's toes. The clown fish attacked his shins. And the mariachi fish played their music - a song that spelled doom for the cruel one-eyed monster who had tortured them!

A lobster squirted glue into the Cyclops's eye and he squealed. Clams snapped at his butt and he yelped. Then all the fish cheered as the giant slipped on the water and fell down. With claws snapping, teeth gnashing, and fins finning, the fish closed in on the evil Cyclops.

"Come on, Patrick!" yelled SpongeBob.

They both grabbed the crown and ran to the dock.

"You still have that bag of winds?" SpongeBob asked.

"Sure do!" said Patrick.

"Okay, let's go over the instructions," said SpongeBob as he unfolded them.

He began to read: "Step one. Point bag away from home."

"Okay," said Patrick, pointing the bag away from Bikini Bottom.

"Step two: Plant feet firmly on the ground."

"Right," said Patrick, his feet planted.

"Step three," SpongeBob read. "Remove string from bag, releasing winds."

"Check," said Patrick as he pulled the string.

With a whoosh the winds rushed out of the bag. The force snapped the sack out of Patrick's hand and it sailed away like a balloon full of air!

Patrick stared at his empty hands in surprise.

"Well, that sounds simple enough," said SpongeBob, still clueless about what had just happened. "Point the bag away from home, feet firmly on ground, pull string releasing the winds."

SpongeBob tucked the instructions into his pocket.

"All right," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's do it for real."

"Uh, SpongeBob?" said Patrick sheepishly.

SpongeBob turned around and Patrick pointed toward the bag.

There was the bag of winds, hurling through the sky far out to sea. It was heading toward Bikini Bottom and home - without them!

"Oh, no!" cried SpongeBob. "How will we ever get back to Bikini Bottom now?"

"I can take you there," said a friendly voice.

SpongeBob and Patrick looked up to see a man running toward them across a white sandy beach.

The man's head was a mass of black curls. His face rugged and tanned, muscles hard and rippling, he word a bright red swimsuit and carried a flotation device. And his smile was brighter than the California sun.

"What are you?" said SpongeBob.

"I'm a lifeguard," the man in the red swimsuit replied.

Patrick and SpongeBob whooped. Saved!

"So where's your boat?" asked SpongeBob.

The lifeguard threw back his handsome head and laughed. His teeth were white and pearly.

"Boat?" he said. "Who needs a boat?"

With that, he tossed SpongeBob, Patrick, and Neptune's crown on his broad back and jumped into the water.

"Go!" cheered SpongeBob.

With mighty strokes the buff lifeguard swam like a torpedo toward Bikini Bottom, where...

XXX

The evil Plankton was taunting poor, frozen Mr. Krabs.

"Well, Krabs," cooed Plankton. "You know what today is?"

The mad ruler of Planktopolis ripped a page from the calendar and cruelly tossed it into a wastebasket.

"Why, it's March fourteenth. But wait! That's not right." Plankton chuckled. "It should say 'the day that Krabs gets punished!' Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Just then a fanfare played and in walked the squire.

"Presenting old iron fist himself...King Neptune!"

Neptune's trident reached through the door and bopped the squire on the head. Then King Neptune entered the Krusty Krab 2 in all his regal glory.

"Greetings, sire," said Plankton with a bow. "Glad you could make it. I got the crab set up here for ya!"

Inside the ice, Mr. Krabs shivered.

Plankton pulled up a chair and said, "I'm all ready on my end."

"Who are you?" King Neptune demanded.

"Me?" said Plankton with a phony smile. "Oh, I'm just a concerned citizen waiting to see justice done. This crab must pay for his horrible crimes."

Then the evil Plankton eyed Mr. Krabs. "Might I suggest aiming for his head, Your Highness?"

XXX

Meanwhile the lifeguard was cutting through the ocean waves like a speedboat. As he swam, he passed a fisherman's dinghy. The incredible force of his wake rocked the boat and threw the fisherman into the water.

SpongeBob and Patrick hung on as they raced for home. Up ahead they spied a familiar green island.

"Hooray for the lifeguard!" cheered SpongeBob. "Nothing can stop us now!"

"Uh-oh," cried Patrick. "Unidentified object off the hindquarters."

As the boys watched, a giant boot rose out of the ocean and was gaining on them. The Cyclops's boot!

"Bigger boot?" said SpongeBob. "But how?"

A powerful gust of wind blew the boot away. Underneath it was Dennis with a mean grin on his face.

"Did ya miss me?"

"AHHHHHH! It's Dennis!" yelled SpongeBob.

XXX

Back inside the Krusty Krab 2, a fish drummed a sad tune as King Neptune prepared to punish Mr. Krabs.

Plankton ate marshmallows and enjoyed the exciting show.

"This is the best seat in the house!" Plankton gushed. "All right, King Neptune, let's get it on."

King Neptune rose up to his full kingly height. He aimed his trident at Mr. Krabs.

"Eugene Krabs," said the king. "Your six-day reprieve is up and it is time for your punishment."

A tear rolled down Mr. Krabs's chilly cheek.

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing else I can do," said the king.

Princess Mindy appeared at her father's side.

"You can give SpongeBob and Patrick a little more time."

"What? Mindy!" King Neptune bellowed angrily. "Will you butt out! I'm tired of you trying to stall this crab's punishment."

"Stalling," said Mindy, wounded. "Why, I'm not stalling anything."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are," roared the king. "You're doing it right now."

"Doing what?"

"Stalling!" cried King Neptune.

"No, I am not," Mindy insisted.

"Yes, you are!"

"No."

"Yes."

Plankton shook his head and sighed. "Oh, boy," he muttered. The evil leader of Planktopolis was losing patience with this pair.

XXX

On board the lifeguard's back, things were not going well for Patrick and SpongeBob.

"Now," said Dennis, his shadow looming over them. "Where were we?"

"Patrick, run!"

But Patrick stood his ground - or rather, the lifeguard's back.

"No," he said. "I'm tired of running. If we run now, we'll never stop."

Patrick cracked his knuckles and looked up at Dennis. The biker hauled off and whacked the little starfish. Patrick flew through the air and landed on the lifeguard's foot, where he held on for dear life.

"Run, SpongeBob!" yelled Patrick.

SpongeBob ran down the lifeguard's back, across his butt, and down his leg. Dennis was right behind him. The evil biker extended the spikes in his boots and ran across the deck - or rather, the lifeguard's back.

"Hey! Take it easy back there, fellows," cried the lifeguard.

Dennis came closer and closer. The spikes in his boots were gleaming.

"Come on, kid, give it up," said Dennis. "I always get my man."

SpongeBob was trapped. He looked down at the ocean waves churning between the lifeguard's mighty legs. Then he took a deep breath.

"I'll never give up!" the plucky sponge cried as he jumped from one leg to the other.

"Yay!" crowed SpongeBob. "I made it!"

But so did Dennis. "You've got guts, kid. Too bad I got to rip 'em outta ya."

"Look," said SpongeBob. "I don't know what Plankton's paying you. But if you let us go, I promise I can make it worth your while."

SpongeBob reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a wad of bills. He stuffed them into Dennis's hand.

"It's gonna take a lot more than..." Dennis looked at the bills. "Hey, what is this anyway?"

"That, sir, is five goober dollars," SpongeBob told him. "Legal tender at any participating Goofy Goober's Party Boat location."

Dennis grabbed SpongeBob by the throat.

"I've got bubbles. Fun at parties," said the desperate SpongeBob, blowing a few. The bubbles rushed toward Dennis and burst in his face.

"Uhhhhh," he screamed. "My eyes! I've got soap bubbles in my eyes!"

Dennis tossed SpongeBob over the side. He landed in the water, but as SpongeBob floated by, Patrick caught him.

"I've got you," said the brave little starfish.

SpongeBob climbed aboard the lifeguard's foot until he was next to Patrick, clinging to the heel.

"Thanks, buddy," SpongeBob said.

Then Dennis appeared, standing over them. His spiked boot was raised over their heads, ready to stomp them flat.

"I'm through messing around. See you later, fools," he said.

Just then the lifeguard swam beneath an oncoming catamaran and knocked Dennis into the sea.

"See ya," said Patrick, waving.