Author Notes - This is one of the shorter chapters in the story. Make of that what you will.

CHAPTER FOUR - SLIP, SLOP, SLAP, SLAY

Ah, Goo Lagoon… a sun drenched beach of sludge at zee bottom of zee sea. Sometimes I wonder how zere can be water under zee water. Perhaps it is because zee water in Goo Lagoon has a higher salinity zen zee rest of zee water, causing it to sink to zee bottom, and… oh, it appears I am getting off track. All is not well here in paradise.

Compared to the husk that Downtown Bikini Bottom had been reduced to, Goo Lagoon wasn't nearly as awful. There was certainly a robot here or there, but clearly they were too afraid to get near the 'water' in case it gave them a short circuit. A very big concern for these underwater robots. There were even still a few fish people remaining, though many of them were screaming in terror.

There was, however, one thing that certainly stood out among everything: on an island, way far out in the middle of the lagoon, was a pile of boxes. Big boxes too, taller than all four of our heroes. On the very top was a robot, one that no one in the quartet could recognise. Whatever it was, it had a biiig vat of tartar sauce on its back.

'Why do I have a feeling that we'll have to contend with that?' Squidward asked himself.

'There's only one way to find out.' SpongeBob said. 'Come on!'

They zipped past the 'Welcome to Goo Lagoon' sign - which now read as something I can't quite repeat - and immediately came across another form of robot. Including the different guy on the box island, that was about… six now? Much like Chucks, this guy hovered in the air above everyone, except it floated due to an umbrella attached to its back. It wore glasses much like those you'd find on a nerd, and it heard a remote in its hand. Once it found a poor beachgoer, who was just chilling on his beach blanket, it chuckled.

It pressed a button on its remote. In an instant, an electrical cloud formed in the 'air' above its head and floated over to the fish person. The cloud turned grey, and struck the sunbather with a powerful charge of lightning!

'ARRRRGHHH!' The fish person screamed, running his blackened body away as fast as he could.

I believe that 'Monsoon' is an appropriate name for this robotic lad.

'How many of these robots are there?!' Sandy said. 'And why are they all so… weird?'

'Oh, SpongeBob has a craaazy imagination.' Patrick replied.

Squidward smirked. 'Well, don't worry. Clarrie and I will deal with it.'

He took a deep breath to destroy this Monsoon, only to be interrupted.

'SPONGEBOB!'

It was a familiar voice alright; Larry, who was running towards them as quickly as he could on those tiny legs. He didn't seem worse for wear, which wasn't really a surprise; his muscles could easily tear apart those sentient tin cans.

'Hiya, Larry!' SpongeBob greeted, like this was just a regular old meeting.

'SpongeBob, do I look a little burned?' Larry asked.

'You do look a little red.' Patrick said.

Squidward was about to point out the obvious, but he got as far as opening his mouth before he decided that it wasn't worth it.

'Barnacles!' Larry exclaimed. 'That dang robot…'

'Ya mean tha one all tha one on tha island?' Sandy asked, somewhat shooting in the dark.

'That's the one. It stole everybody's sunscreen!'

SpongeBob gasped. 'Oh no! Everyone will burn, and then they'll get all itchy and peel.'

'Exactly' Larry said. 'You can't spend a day at the beach without sunscreen. That sun is way too hot.'

Sandy approached the edge of the shore and stared off into the distance. All things considered, the island wasn't that far away at all. Perhaps it would be a bit much for her friends. Patrick couldn't really swim at all. SpongeBob was decent after receiving lessons, and Squidward wasn't awful, but it was a far stretch of water. But Sandy didn't worry. She didn't have to worry about drowning with a special suit on.

'Well, this is easy.' She said. 'I'll just swim out there, git ridda that robot, and we can send a boat ta carry tha boxes!'

'Oh, I've already tried that.' Larry said. 'But there's just one problem with that. That robot is packing a gun loaded with boiling hot tartar sauce! Every time I try to get near it, it attacks! Do you know what tartar sauce does to a lobster? Do you?!'

'Tartar sauce?' SpongeBob said. 'The horror!'

'Tell me about it. Even boats can't do anything against that smoking sauce!'

Squidward whipped out his clarinet and spun it around. 'I can handle this.'

'From this distance?' Sandy said. 'You'd have ta be pretty close for that clarinet ta destroy a robot, and I don't think ya could be loud enough ta wreck it from here.'

SpongeBob looked around for any other way to solve this problem. The island could only be reached by strong swimming or a boat, but if even Larry couldn't swim there without a splash of tartar sauce, then that was way out. Unless, of course, they could deal with the robot without getting close to it. But the Tar-Tar (as we'll call it) was too far away for even Squidward's clarinet to have much effect.

Then, his attention fell onto a series of towers strewn throughout the beach. They all had glass reflectors at the top, movable with big buttons on the side. They were typically used for shows or for sunbathing purposes, but maybe they could do something else…

'Hey!' He said. 'I just got an idea!'

'Uh oh…' Squidward muttered.

'Hey now.' Sandy said. 'Let's give tha yellow guy a chance, unless you've got a better idea.'

SpongeBob cleared his throat. 'See those reflectors? I bet that if we move them around so they're reflecting sunlight on that robot, it might overheat and shut down!'

He wasn't so sure of this idea when he said it out loud, but he was undeniably desperate to fix up his mistake. It brought him relief when the others (except for Squidward, of course) smiled.

'LET'S DO IT!' Patrick yelled.

'It's worth a try!' Sandy said. 'Seein' as we don't really have any other options. And if ya got no other ideas, ya might as well go with tha one you've got.'

'That could work!' Larry said. 'Once that sauce-spewing robot is taken care of, it'll be easy for a boat to carry all the sunscreen back. There's four towers in total, and that should provide enough sunlight to melt that robot's innards.'

He pointed at each tower as he talked about them. The first tower was barely visible within a giant sandcastle.

'The first is over there, by the sandcastle competition.' Larry said. 'We, uh, sorta buried the tower in the biggest sandcastle of all, but its top is still okay! There's another by the pier, where the carnival is. The third is at the end of the caves, and… honestly, we probably should've torn that one down a while ago. But at least it's got some use now. And the fourth one is right over there.'

This fourth tower wasn't too far away from our heroes at all. A couple of minutes' worth of walking at most. The only problem was that a Monsoon guarded it, laughing to itself as it summoned a small army of electrical clouds to defend itself and the tower with. SpongeBob gulped; that didn't look especially easy to deal with.

'Alright, I'll take tha sandcastle.' Sandy said. 'Ma lasso oughta make scaling that tower a lot easier.'

'Ooh, ooh!' Patrick said. 'I wanna take the pier, so I can visit the carnival.'

Squidward groaned. 'Of course you do. Since I'm certainly not dealing with that bothersome robot, I suppose I'll be forced to take the caves. Hopefully, I won't die a few dozen times by the end of it.'

SpongeBob gulped again. 'W-Well, I guess that leaves me with this tower. You know. The one with the scary lightning-y robot. But I'll do it! I'll just find some sort of way to deal with it. S-Somehow.'

He turned around, and unleashed an embarrassing yelp of terror upon seeing a storm cloud right above him. There was only a moment between him leaping out of the way and a lightning bolt striking the sand right where he had been standing. He fell flat on his face, but the fear of getting zapped got him right on his feet again.

'Uh, h-hello there, Mister Robot!' He said, trying his best to smile. 'Or M-Miss Robot. I, uh, I don't wanna assume, ya know? Uh, if we could just talk this one out…'

The Monsoon paid his attempts at diplomacy no mind, and simply spawned a second cloud. Both were heading right for SpongeBob, thunder rumbling from inside them. With seemingly no other choice-

'AAAHHHHH!'

SpongeBob ran away from the robot and the tower, screaming his little lungs out. The Monsoon, fortunately, could not fly very fast with its method of propulsion. But its clouds certainly could, and they were gunning close behind him.

'Oh, if only I had my bubble wand…' He murmured. 'Then I could do something about this guy.'

'SPONGEBOB!'

He skidded to a stop. Now that was another very familiar voice. He looked around, trying to see if he recognised the voice correctly. What he saw was a taxi, of all things, zooming towards him at a breakneck pace. A bubble taxi, with a big pink bubble wand visible through the translucent 'skin'. Indeed, SpongeBob did hear the voice correctly. When the taxi came to a stop, he wasn't at all surprised to see who popped out.

'Bubble Buddy!' He said, throwing his arms up. 'Long time no see! How's it been?'

'Oh, just the usual, SpongeBob.' Bubble Buddy said. 'Shiny started his first day of grade 3 just a few weeks ago!'

'Really? Oh, that's awesome! They really do blow up so fast…'

'Oh, indeed they… wait, why are we talking about this? There's a robot on your tail!'

SpongeBob yelped again, and yanked Bubble Buddy away by the arm. One of the clouds struck, barely missing the bubble man's fragile body. So close, SpongeBob could feel the heat coming off the lightning bolt.

'WOAH!' Bubble Buddy yelled. 'Looks like I got here just in time.'

'What are you talking about?' SpongeBob asked. 'This was a terrible time to visit! There are robots everywhere!'

'That's why I'm here, SpongeBob! Somehow, I knew that someone with a heart as big as yours would try to fix this sticky situation. And I also knew that you would probably rush into a battle without a weapon. So, here's that weapon you forgot…'

They jumped out of the way of another lightning bolt, and Bubble Buddy held the bubble wand over his hands like it was a genuine sword. But, perhaps, it was the same thing in skilful hands. All one needed was a powerful imaaaginaaaation.

And we all know how good SpongeBob is when it comes to imaaaginaaaation.

Holding up that bubble wand like it was the world's most amazing artefact, he declared, 'I'd hate to rain on your parade, Robot, but your thunderous reign of terror ends here!'

Like an action hero, he rolled out of the way of another lightning strike and towards this irritating robot. The way it laughed at him was almost funny; clearly, it did not realise the trouble it was in. SpongeBob stood directly under it, taking advantage of it fiddling with the buttons. In a matter of seconds, he swished his wand over his head and created a big Viking's hat that he wore just like Olaf, a real Viking! And Olaf. And Olaf. And Olaf. And Gordon!

Then, he shot upwards like a rocket. It wasn't very high, but it was high enough. The moment that tough bubble collided with the flying Monsoon, it was reduced to scrap metal scattered all over the floor. Even its clouds dissipated like they were never even there, and the Monsoon's robot cracked in half as it hit the ground.

'Good job, SpongeBob!' Bubble Buddy said. 'I'd give you a thumbs up, but uh… I don't really have any.'

'Here!' SpongeBob said. 'I'll blow you some!'

'Yeah, maybe later. But don't you see, SpongeBob? Maybe you don't have Sandy's smarts. Or Patrick's brawn. Or Squidward's… clarinet. But you've got something that they'll never have.'

'What's that?'

Bubble Buddy held his arms up, creating a little rainbow as he moved them. 'Your imaaaaginaaation!'

SpongeBob smiled, and made a little rainbow of his own. 'Yeah! My imaaaginaaaation!'

'Now that we've resolved that little conflict… you should probably turn that reflector around.'

'Oh. Right.'

'Alright! The carnival!'

As soon as he arrived on Goo Lagoon Pier, Patrick saw the carnival and immediately forgot all about the task at hand. But who could blame him? The theme park, balancing precariously on the pier, was just too enticing. The teacups, the seahorse ferris wheel, the bumper cars… everything so classical and the epitome of F.U.N.

Patrick ran onto the pier and rushed for the ticket booth. Of course, he didn't have any money on his person, so when he reached into his pocket to grab the first thing he had, the poor person in the ticket booth received nothing but lint, paper clips, and pre-chewed lollipops.

'One ticket to the carnival, please!' Patrick requested.

The person in the booth said nothing.

'Hey! I want a ticket! You gonna talk to me?'

He peered behind the glass, actually paying attention to whoever was manning this station. He couldn't recall the fish person being so metallic-looking, or holding a massive hammer made entirely of delicious-smelling meat. It took a while, but finally the proverbial milk cartoon tipped over.

'AAAAHHHHHHH!' He screamed. 'A ROBOT HAS KILLED AND REPLACED THE TICKET BOOTH MAN!'

Perhaps a little more dramatic than what really happened - the real guy had since evacuated the town - but Patrick was still terrified. In order to get rid of this horrifying threat, he ran off for a moment and returned with a rock the size of a watermelon.

'BEGONE, FOUL ROBOT!' He shouted.

The poor Ham-Mer inside the booth only had a moment to comprehend the big rock coming its way before it was crushed into metal stew. And the ticket booth itself was reduced to a pile of wooden boards. And a massive crack opened up in the pier, spreading all the way from the ticket booth to the ferris wheel, thus resulting in the massive ride falling through the pier and landing in the water.

By some miracle, it continued to work.

'I did it!' Patrick declared, seemingly oblivious to the damage he caused. 'Now I have to… play on the bumper cars!'

On his way to the bumper cars, he dealt with a few more troublesome robots like they were nothing. Clearly, nothing could stop him from his bumper-car mission. On a random note, tartar sauce tasted great on metal-flavoured ham. Not even the robots who were rolling around in the small bumper car arenas were a problem, since all he needed to do was toss them into the 'ocean' and the water dealt with their circuits for him.

Because of course underwater robots aren't waterproof! Why does that seem so illogical to you?

Patrick was about ready to hop into one of the bumper cars, even though absolutely no one was around to play the game with him, until he noticed a watchtower at the very end of the pier. He stepped out of the car and approached the tower, 'chin' in hand.

'Hmm…' He murmured. 'I feel like I'm supposed to do something with this. But I'm not sure what? What was it that SpongeBob told me? … Remember the funnel if I forget how to eat again? Stay away from the ice-cream at the police station? Licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets?'

He looked the tower up and down, and a big red button caught his attention.

'It has something to do with this big red button… maybe it'll give me ice-cream! … Wait, SpongeBob wouldn't like that. I wouldn't be able to share it! So it can't be that. Maybe it launches a rocket! … But I don't know how to drive a rocket! I don't know what SpongeBob wanted from this tower, but I know he wanted me to press it.'

So, regardless of what reason his bizarre brain could come up with, he finally hit the button. The reflector reacted immediately, spinning around until its ray of light hit the robot.

'I DID IT! Again!'

Squidward had seen better days. He had expected the cave to be a pain in the behind to get through, but it managed to exceed those expectations. Though the army of robots may have been nothing for him and his clarinet…

It didn't stop a blob of boiling hot tartar sauce from hitting his behind. And the cave itself was proving to be… difficult to navigate. At least there were a few holes in the walls and ceiling, so the place wasn't totally dark. But the floor was lined with water that rose and receded with the tides, making many of the rocky surfaces he had to walk over very slippery. Thank Neptune his suction cups were sticky.

It also didn't help that a large portion of his time spent in this Neptune forsaken cave was waiting for either the water to recede away from rocks or stalactites to fall. Yes, really.

'Come on!' Squidward yelled at a stalactite above him. 'Fall already!'

He stood on a small rocky island, cringing every time the water rose high enough to submerge his feet. The only way to the exit was on the other side of a lot of water. The last thing he wanted was to go swimming through that goo while he was still in his daytime outfit.

'Do you want me to swim through that smelly goop?' He asked the rock, like it would reply. 'The rest of this cave felt like cooperating with me. Why are you stopping now?!'

Of course, the stalactite didn't respond to him. Growling to himself, he picked up a small rock off the ground and chucked it at the stalactite as hard as he could. Seeing as he wasn't one for muscle, that wasn't very hard at all. But it must've worked, because it created a small crack near the top.

'Finally.' Squidward muttered. 'A little bit of cooperation. For once.'

*SPLASH*

He could do without the goop splashing him right in the face, however. By this point, he could only react to it with a deadpan expression.

'Well,' He said. 'At least I got the rock to fall.'

Tucking his clarinet under his arm, the octopus made a leap to the next rock. His four legs gave him plenty of bounce, but Sandy's lasso would've done a much more impressive job. Still, he struck the landing like the expert ballet dancer he knew he was. Luckily for him, there was a little dock near the exit of the cave.

'If they expect people to walk through this…' Squidward said. 'You'd think they would at least make it less painful to move through.'

The idea that most people exploring this cave wouldn't mind waddling through rising water did not occur to him. It filled him with relief to see this blasted cave adventure finally coming to an end.

'Ya see this, robots?' He yelled to no one in particular. 'Nothing is going to stop Squidward Q. Tentacles!'

The only robot left to hear this declaration was a single Fodder, who had managed to avoid the maximum power of Clarrie just by being out of reach. Its inexpressive face put on a decent look of indignation, and it tossed its electrical wand in the direction of this speech. It bounced against the wall. And it bounced again. And again. Like the ball in an aggressive game of Pong.

Until it tapped against another stalactite. Despite it losing most of its force at this point, it was just enough to cause it to crack too. In mere seconds, it snapped off the wall.

'AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!'

And came extraordinarily close to impaling and crushing a certain octopus underneath as it fell. Squidward was so shocked that he nearly dropped his clarinet.

'Alright! Alright!' He yelled. 'I'll get out of here!'

Squidward zoomed out of that cave as fast as his four legs could carry him, which was pretty dang fast. It was a quick burst of speed, so fast that all one could see of him was a stream of bubbles. He didn't stop charging until he finally saw the sunlight again, whereupon he fell onto his knees and gasped for breath.

'Holy barnacles…' He murmured. 'It would've been easier if I just climbed over the stupid cave…'

Once he got his breath back, which took a little while, he climbed back onto his feet and unleashed a heavy sigh of relief; the watchtower was right there, its reflector in one piece and defended by nothing.

'Who would even use a watchtower out this far?' Squidward asked himself. 'Then again, I can believe that people would get this lost.'

While the boys were dealing with their towers, Sandy was making her way into the massive sandcastle. The drawbridge was a nice touch; if this wasn't the winner, she wasn't going to be happy about it. The Atari controller was pretty cool too, though. The moment she reached the other side of the entrance tunnel, a wooden gate slammed shut behind her and trapped her inside the castle's walls.

'Alrighty then.' She said, not concerned at all. 'Points fer realism, I suppose.'

She looked around. It was pretty dang impressive - the big pillar in the middle was surrounded by a fairly high wall with barracks, with it all being made entirely of sand. Save for the red flag at the top, of course. A red flag that was on top of a beach tower. Indeed, whoever built this sandcastle used that watchtower as a helpful base, and one could still see the reflector.

'Somehow, I feel like some rules were brok'n here.'

Fortunately, this tower may have been tall but it wasn't nearly as tall as what they have been climbing before. Compared to Spork Mountain or even the lighthouse, this was nothing. So, it wasn't hard at all for Sandy to toss her lasso up and over the watchtower. It snagged onto its target with ease - no grappling hook necessary.

'This shouldn't take too long. But I feel like it will.'

She pressed her boots against the sandy wall and began her climb upwards. It was quite surprising how well those sandy wells held up as she hopped upwards. She stopped; her ears picked up the sound of moving metal parts, and there was only one thing that could've made a sound like that. She spun her head around, towards the barracks.

There was a Chuck, armed and ready to go, on one barrack and a second Chuck on another. In between them was the same type of robot as the one guarding the sunscreen - a troublesome Tar-Tar. And all three were taking aim at her.

Sandy narrowed her eyes. 'So that's how ya want ta do it, huh? Y'all don't realise that I've won more rock-climbin' competitions than y'all can count. And at least three of 'em had rocks fallin' down.'

For a moment, nothing happened. The very next, both Chucks tossed their missiles at her at once. Sandy took a quick moment to calculate their speed and trajectory: turns out that their accuracy was just as good as you'd expect a being without organic limitations to be. Holding tight onto her lasso, she made a big leap upwards as far as she could. On a surface like this, she couldn't make it very high, but she leapt out of the way of those torpedoes.

When the torpedoes hit the tower's walls, a massive chunk of sand fell to the ground. Sandy didn't stop to look, however, for she was too busy trying to get to the top of the tower. While the Chucks re-armed themselves, the Tar-Tar finally fired its own projectile. Its gooey ammo flew over Sandy's head, hitting the wall above her instead.

'A-HA!' She declared. 'Ya missed! … Huh?'

Very quickly, she realised that the Tar-Tar didn't miss. The sauce it spewed was just as hot as Larry made it seem, and very soon her rope was smoking. Any moment now, it would snap.

'Hoo nelly!'

She clambered up as fast as her inner squirrel could, barely able to get a grip on the tower thanks to all that tartar sauce in the way. Her suit protected her from the worst of it, but the heat seeped straight through the tough fabric. She cringed; if she didn't hurry up, it would burn her no matter how strong her suit was. And, unlike SpongeBob or Patrick, her regenerative powers were almost nothing.

*SNAP!*

The heat of the sauce snapped her rope just as she grabbed onto it. Fortunately, she had grabbed onto the lasso above where it ended up snapping, and now she was climbing faster than ever. As she was reaching the top, she checked behind her.

The Chucks had fired again.

'Y'all think that'll get me?!'

Before those torpedoes could hit her, she kicked them away like she was doing karate. They didn't explode in her face like she half-expected, but instead they did exactly what she wanted: they crashed into the Chucks that threw them and blew them both up! Sandy wanted to gloat about it, but the Tar-Tar was getting ready to aim again. So, she pushed herself up onto the final hurdle, and climbed onto the top of the tower.

The Tar-Tar couldn't reach her anymore.

'Yee-haw!' She yelled. 'And I was worried fer a moment there.'

The buttons of the watchtower had been buried in the sand, but that was fine. Sandy could easily move the reflector with her bare paws.

'Well, that was easy.'

She stood in place, staring over the massive lake to watch the other towers move. She was so focused on this, in fact, that she didn't pay much mind to the robotic noises coming her way. It was probably just that Tar-Tar swearing at her some more, maybe a couple more Chucks if there was a D1000 that she had missed.

The other towers were just about starting to move into the right spots, when suddenly the robotic noises became far too loud to be a mere Tar-Tar.

'What tha-?!'

She saw two green eyes staring right at her.

Then she saw nothing at all.

Bubble Buddy had left. He had a wife and son to worry about, after all. But he said that he might return when SpongeBob would need him the most. The sea sponge had no idea what this meant.

SpongeBob grabbed a pair of binoculars from the tower and watched as the other three reflectors were aligned perfectly. Only once all four lights were shining on it did the Tar-Tar realise that there was a problem at all, and by then the amplified sunlight had already set its circuits on fire and destroyed it to crispy smithereens.

'Hooray!' SpongeBob yelled, throwing his arms into the air and the binoculars away. 'We did it!'

'You sure did!' Larry said. 'Now that we won't have hot sauce flying at us anymore, we should be able to take it from here. Thanks, SpongeBob! I owe you one. How about… all refreshments served on the beach are free!'

'Aw, thank you, Larry. You didn't have to do that, you know. But thanks anyway!'

'It's the least I could do. You and your friends have been real life-savers, SpongeBob.'

The sea sponge cringed a little, but he tried to keep up a smile for his friend. Larry didn't need to worry about him, but there was no denying that those words had cut deep. If only Larry knew what SpongeBob had really done, then he wouldn't be treating the guy like the 'life-saver' that he really wasn't.

Would a life-saver make a stupid wish that puts all of his best friends in danger?

He tried not to worry about it too much. There was certainly some good news in this mess; a boat was already on its way, loaded with beachgoers to get all the sunscreen back. After all, there were only a few things as bad as a sunburn: getting sand in your buns, being buried in the sand and forgotten about, and losing your best friend.

'Hey, didn't you also help Downtown Bikini Bottom evacuate?' Larry asked.

SpongeBob flinched. 'Oh, uh, kinda. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my friends.'

'Don't sell yourself short, SpongeBob! You may be so weak that you can't hold up marshmallows on a stick, but you've got in where it counts.'

'I'll have you know that I have been lifting weights lately, and I can now easily hold up two marshmallows on a stick!'

Larry gave him a thumbs-up, or at least the best a big meaty claw could manage. 'Nice work! Maybe soon, you'll be able to lift four marshmallows!'

Patrick was the first of SpongeBob's friends to return, his face covered in all sorts of carnival treats. In fact, he even looked a little bigger around the stomach. Squidward arrived not too long after him, groaning and moaning from the agonising return trip. SpongeBob was certainly overjoyed to see them back, but the obvious absence was too hard for him to ignore.

'Good job, boys!' Larry said. 'Because of you guys and your great teamwork, we can now…!' He frowned. 'Wait, where's Sandy?'

'How should I know!' Squidward yelled. 'I was too busy exhausting myself in a cave.'

'I didn't see her on the way either.' Patrick said, shrugging. 'Maybe she's caught up.'

'Sandy? Never!' SpongeBob said. 'She could've done all of that and more by now. She should be back. So, where is she?'

The boys all looked around, seeing nothing but casual beachgoers and the remains of a bunch of robots with no furry tails or space suits in sight.

SpongeBob gasped. 'Oh no! The robots must've got her. She could be in danger.'

'SpongeBob,' Squidward said. 'I've see that weasel-'

'Squirrel.'

'Squirrel in action. With the kinds of robots that we've been up against, I don't think she'd have any trouble at all. If we were able to take them on without a problem, she'd plough right through them like they were nothing.'

SpongeBob knew he was totally right. No one, the sea sponge least of all, would underestimate the squirrel's glorious combat skills. If anything, she may have been able to handle this entire robot situation singlehandedly! But what else could possibly be keeping her?

'I don't know, Squidward…' He said. 'She should be back here by now. And she's totally missing! I can't even hear a wild 'YEEE-HAAAW' in the distance. Something must have happened to her!'

'Someone managed to get Sandy?' Larry asked. 'There's no way those little robotic guys could've dealt with the three-years-running anchor-throwing champion. Maybe there's-'

'A BIG robotic guy!' Patrick blurted out.

Squidward rolled his eyes. 'Normally I'd call you a moron for a suggestion that inane, but… I think you might be right. There might be more to this robotic invasion than we realised.'

SpongeBob could hardly hear a word that he was saying. His mind was too busy focusing on what may have happened to Sandy. For all he knew, he'd never see his furry friend again. The robots could've hurt her, captured her, tortured her, and maybe even worse.

And it's all my fault!

His inevitable downward spiral was stopped before it could start, fortunately, when someone suddenly appeared in front of them. And when I mean 'suddenly', I mean it literally. Before anyone knew it, someone arrived in a quick flurry of bubbles. The way he shadowed over all of them meant it couldn't be anyone but…

'KING NEPTUNE?!' The boys all cried at once.

'It is I!' King Neptune bellowed, so loudly that the entire world seemed to shake. 'Why are you not bowing before me? Come on. Chop chop! Get to bowing.'

While most of our heroes were too frightened to move, SpongeBob obeyed his orders immediately and got all the way down onto his knees. King Neptune grinned, deeply appreciating the honour, until he felt something tugging at his arm. His wife, Queen Amphitrite, had come along too, precisely to keep him in check. And she was giving them 'the look'. You know, that look that irritated wives often give their beloved husbands.

'What?' He asked. 'What have I done now?'

'Neptune!' She scolded. 'Is that how you should treat your subjects?'

'I am a GOD, Snookums! It is how I am to be treated!'

Amphitrite sighed. 'How many times do I have to tell you? Since SpongeBob has helped return Triton to our side, we are to treat him and his friends well. Not like servants!'

Neptune's cocky smirk faded away immediately. 'Yes. You are right. My deepest apologies, SpongeBob. Sometimes being a god can… get to your head.'

SpongeBob returned to his feet, and gave the mighty god a smile. On one hand, being approached by King Neptune himself could be a horrifying experience. For the little yellow guy, however, he was almost friends with the guy. Almost.

'Hiya, King Neptune! Queen Amphitrite!' He greeted, waving. 'What brings you here to Goo Lagoon.'

'I have another challenge for you, SpongeBob SquarePants!' Neptune declared. 'Do you accept it!'

Patrick clapped his hands together. 'Oh boy, a challenge!'

Squidward gave him a look. 'Lemme guess. We don't have a choice?'

Neptune bellowed like the god he was. 'You mortals are even smarter than I thought! Come along now. We must go to the coliseum at once!'

A little amoeba hopped down a big staircase into a dark room. Anyone who wasn't paying attention may have thought that he was Spot. An understandable mistake to make, I assure you. But if one were to look closely, one could see the metallic parts and shine underneath the green paint.

The most obvious difference? The fact that this robot version of Spot - known as RoSpot - could talk.

'Mister Planktron Sir!' He said, hopping into the room. 'Step two of the plan is underway!'

Another figure emerged from the darkness - a robotic version of Plankton himself floating on a small chair of sorts. Unlike the real Plankton, whose expressions could change, Planktron could only ever glare angrily at people.

'I know, RoSpot.' He said, in an unnaturally stilted voice. 'The alert is right there on the screen.'

He pointed to a big blue computer screen mounted on the wall. A simple message in red flashed on it.

'SANDY SUCCESSFULLY CAPTURED. ENGAGE REPLACEMENT.'

Planktron belted out a stilted but impressive evil laugh. 'The boss is indeed pleased!'

Author Notes - So it should be pretty obvious by now what I'm doing with the robotic boss fights. Sandy got captured by her robot counterpart; I don't think that's much of a spoiler. Why did I do this? Because when I first heard about this game, I thought that beating Robot Sandy would unlock real Sandy as a playable character. Not sure why I thought this (Robot Patrick, anyone?) but it makes for a neat idea.

You may be wondering why I revealed Planktron so early, when his existence is meant to be a plot twist of sorts. Not much of a reason, really. Most people reading this already know about this existence, so waiting so long for such a predictable plot twist would be kinda weird. That's all. Really.