Author Notes - Only a few chapters to go, but the final one is being a pain in the square behind. But it's still happening, because I'm not letting the only adaptation of this great game (that I know of) die. And then I'll inevitably have to make one for Cosmic Shake about a year from now. ... I'm saying that as a joke, so don't get your hopes up, but there's a non-zero chance it will actually happen.

CHAPTER ELEVEN - ESCAPING THE DREAM WORLD

The Flying Dutchman stuck to his word, surprisingly enough. The threat of bad clarinet playing was just too frightening. He dropped Mr Krabs and Pearl off at a helpful evacuation point, so they could get out of town for real this time. Then, he did as promised and returned our heroic quartet to the Chum Bucket, dropping them right off at the door. Once he did, he zipped off faster than you can say 'here to steal your souls'.

'Goodbye, Dutchie! Oop. I mean, the Flying Dutchman!' SpongeBob said, waving him off. 'Hope to see you again.'

'I do not.' Squidward said. 'Now, let's finally put a stop to this robotic invasion.'

'YEAH!' Patrick yelled. 'Let's kick their butts!'

'I'd be careful with that if I were ya.' Sandy said. 'Their butts are made 'a steel.'

'I bet my iron butt is stronger!'

'I… don't wanna know.'

The hole from before was still there, by some miracle. Sandy led the team inside with the boys following close behind them. Plankton, still chilling inside of SpongeBob's head, could feel his own paranoia mounting.

'I have a bad feeling about this.' He said. 'It's too easy. I refuse to believe Karen would forget to close our little entrance!'

SpongeBob came to a stop, and looked around. The room was eerie dark, so dark that he could hardly see a thing. Even his friends were getting difficult to see.

'I think you're right, Plankton.' He said. 'We should get out of here.'

When he turned around, however, he found that the exit had disappeared.

'What the barnacles?' Plankton cried. 'Where'd the exit go?!'

SpongeBob gulped. 'U-Uh, guys. I think we wandered into a trap!'

No response. None of his other friends, even Patrick, said anything. Peering closer into the darkness, SpongeBob realised he couldn't see any of them at all.

'P-Plankton, do you know what could be going on?' He asked.

'I don't know!' Plankton said. 'This must be another one of Karen's tricks. Now, I'm the only one in this bucket who can invent things, so she must be using one of my inventions to do this. If I can just figure out which one, then I can…'

His voice trailed off. In the middle of this dark void, an unseen ceiling light turned on. It revealed a simple round table, standing on its own with no other furniture or even a room in sight. And on that table, rested a glass bottle.

Inside that glass bottle, was a rolled-up piece of paper.

Plankton gasped. 'No. It can't be. It's… it's… THE KRABBY PATTY SECRET FORMULA!'

'But what!' SpongeBob said. 'That doesn't make any sense. What would the formula be doing-?'

'COME TO PAPA!'

Plankton leapt out of SpongeBob's head and onto the table in a single bound. He hugged and kissed that glass bottle like he loved it more than his own wife. Which is a very real possibility.

'It's mine!' He yelled. 'IT'S FINALLY MINE!'

'Plankton!' SpongeBob said. 'That can't be the formula! It must be another one of Karen's tricks. You have to-'

He took a single step forward, only for his foot to sink into the ground. The featureless floor disappeared slowly, revealing that he was standing on top of a gigantic krabby patty. His eyes sparkled when he saw the world around him - gigantic krabby patties floating in a beautiful pink sky! He was already salivating at the sight!

'KRABBY PATTIES!' He cried, skipping around. 'Krabby patties everywhere!'

He leapt over a big gap and floated over to the next patty like he was flying through the clouds. The aroma of grease and freshly grilled meat filled the air. His smile was so wide that it practically fell off his face. It only grew bigger when krabby patties rained down from the sky. It was just like a dream!

Like a dream…

'Wait…'

His smile faded.

With sleep comes dreams, and our heroes may find zemselves trapped within zem. What mischief can be found in zis subaquatic somnambulant realm?

'Wait!' SpongeBob yelled. 'I think you're right, Frenchie! We just walked into the Chum Bucket. Why would there be krabby patties everywhere? In the Chum Bucket?'

He glanced over to Plankton, who remained on that table which was now floating in midair. It was as though the copepod hadn't noticed all the other krabby patties floating around and literally raining from the sky.

'Plankton!' SpongeBob yelled. 'PLAAAANKTOOOON!'

Plankton didn't respond or even look his way. It was as if the bottle had hypnotised him.

'PLAAAANKTOOOON!'

SpongeBob leapt over to the table, or at least as close as he could get. One smaller krabby patty was floating close enough.

'Plankton!' SpongeBob shouting, cupping his hands around his mouth for good measure. 'That isn't the real secret formula!'

'Don't lie to me!' Plankton snapped. 'This is a dream come true!'

'You're more right than you realise! This… this weird world we're in right now. We must be sleeping or something! I don't know when, or how, but I think Karen may have trapped us in some sort of dream world.'

'Stop ruining my victory!'

SpongeBob tapped his fingers together nervously. Upon looking around some more, he couldn't see his friends anywhere. Apparently, he and Plankton were the only ones sharing this little dream world, perhaps because he had been riding in his head this whole time. He wasn't going to find anyone if Plankton was convinced that this was a reality.

Then, a little idea came to that square brain of his. 'Open it up, Plankton! Read the recipe.'

'I was getting to that!'

Plankton climbed up to the top of the bottle and yanked the cork right out. He took his sweet time so he could savour this victory, reaching in and unfurling the little ribbon that tied up the paper. Then, unravelling the treasured artefact, his eye beheld the beloved recipe…

And it was totally empty.

'WHAT?!' He shouted. 'There's nothing on this paper!'

'I tried to tell you, Plankton!' SpongeBob said. 'This isn't real. I think we're stuck in some sort of dream world. Why would there be krabby patties in the Chum Bucket? And that recipe… if Karen crafted this place, and she doesn't know the secret recipe, she wouldn't have been able to write it down. And even if she does, she wouldn't want you to have it! She's just trying to give us what we want!'

Plankton stared at that piece of paper, as if words would magically appear if he looked hard enough. After a while, his grip on the paper tightened and shook it about.

'That conniving computer!'

He ripped up that piece of paper into dozens of little shreds, throwing them around like confetti and kicking them away.

'Okay, you invented this thing, right?' SpongeBob asked. 'So you should know how to turn it off, right?'

Plankton kicked the bottle aside, and it drifted away into the krabby-patty-filled void. With a single mighty bound, he landed on top of SpongeBob's head once again.

'I'd hate to say it, but I don't recognise this one.' He admitted. 'I think I had some plans for it, but I left it aside because I realised that Eugene's dreams would probably involve him stepping on me. Karen's no inventor, so how could she make a machine like this?'

SpongeBob gasped. 'Wait a moment! If she made robotic versions of my friends, then maybe she made a robotic version of you that could invent stuff for her!'

Plankton bashed his own forehead with his fist. 'Of course! One of the robots I designed was one that would be a perfect copy, down to my intellect. I knew I shouldn't have made a copy of myself, but I'm just so cute!'

'That you are! But that means that you didn't invent whatever it is that's keeping us in here, and so we're gonna have to find another way out. And before we do that, we-'

Plankton sighed. 'Wait, let me guess. We gotta save your friends first.'

The sea sponge smiled. 'Yeah! How'd ya know?'

'Because I know you a lot better than I'd like to. And it isn't like we know how to get out of here anyway. For all I know, finding your friends is our ticket outta here. But we need a way to get to them.'

SpongeBob paced around on that one krabby patty, while Plankton remained silent. Whatever weird idea the sponge came up with, it was gonna be the only way to stop Karen. It didn't take SpongeBob long to realise something: if he was dreaming, then he could do whatever he wanted. The first thing he did upon realising this was dream himself up a very rugged moustache.

'SpongeBob…' Plankton said, in an exasperated voice. 'What the barnacles are you doing?'

'It's a dream!' SpongeBob said. 'So I can dream up whatever I want!'

Plankton responded by ripping that moustache clean off his lips, a decision he quickly regretted when it made SpongeBob scream like a hundred little girls.

'W-What did you do that for?' SpongeBob asked.

'CONCENTRATE, SPONGEBOB!' Plankton shouted. 'Stop making yourself look so rugged and focus on getting our - your - friends back!'

'Alright!'

SpongeBob pressed his hands against the sides of his head, and really put thought into it. Imagining his friends being right there next to him failed, so he tried to think of the next best thing. Slowly, the krabby patties around him moved around until they formed a few basic but bumpy paths. At the end of each of them was a translucent image of each of his teammates, floating in the sky like a parade balloon.

'I did it!' He declared.

'What did you do, exactly?' Plankton asked.

'They're dream bubbles!' SpongeBob replied. 'If we hop into them, then we'll be able to hop into our friends' dreams! Hopefully.'

'Well, it's better than nothing.' He glanced around at the three paths. 'I think we should go save Sandy first. That lasso could really come in handy.'

'Good idea, Plankton!'

So, SpongeBob merrily skipped across the krabby patties in the sky and hopped into Sandy's big dream bubble. The very moment he was through the thin soapy layer, he was greeted with totally new surroundings. He landed on a giant sheriff's stair hovering miles and miles above what appeared to be Texas. He couldn't be sure, but the big deserts and tall oil rigs seemed like 'Texas' to him, based on what Sandy told him about. Fortunately, he and Plankton could still breath just fine despite all the air in the… well, air.

'YEEEEE-HAWWWW!'

SpongeBob gasped; he would recognise that voice anywhere! But he couldn't quite find her. Before him was a labyrinth of slides and slopes, all coloured just like the flag of Texas. Slides and slopes that weaved between giant floating acorns, and through a gigantic cow skull that dwarfed even the tallest buildings in Bikini Bottom (except for maybe the Sea Needle). Oil rigs floating on clouds spat their valuable viscous fluids into the air, raining oil down upon everything.

Finding that squirrel was going to be like searching for hay in a needlestack. Which SpongeBob could also see dotted around the place.

'Who puts challenges like this in their own dreams?!' Plankton asked. 'They're dreams! You shouldn't be challenging yourself.'

'Squirrels are just tough like that.' SpongeBob said. 'I know Sandy is.'

'Speaking of her, shouldn't we be-?'

Right on cue, one of the needlestacks on the slides scattered everywhere in a glorious explosion as Sandy dashed right through it. She was riding on her shell-shaped sandboard, sliding all over those winding paths so fast that her board was leaving behind a trail of burn marks. And, because it was her dream, she didn't need her suit.

'Now this is a slide!' She yelled. 'Ya don't get rides like this in Bikini Bottom!'

She weaved her way around every crazy bend and turn like the slide had barriers fitted. Even those floating manure trucks couldn't stop her, and she practically flew over them with ease.

'SAAAANDY!' SpongeBob shouted. 'OVER HERE!'

If Sandy heard him, she certainly didn't act like she did. She simply continued sliding around the crazy slide, all the way into one of the 'eyes' of the giant cow skull. By then, she would've been too far away to hear him anyway.

'Now what?' Plankton asked. 'We can't just leave her here! She's too useful.'

'I'll tell ya how we're gonna get her back.' SpongeBob said. 'We're gonna go sliding after her!'

'What, on your tongue again?'

'Nope. Not fast enough. 'I'll need to create something with a lot more oomph!'

With his 'imaaaginaaaation', he created himself his own shell-shaped sandboard. Except, unlike Sandy's, his came with a miniature rocket. He hopped on, and quickly made himself a little seatbelt to keep himself in place.

'You've got one last chance to back out, Plankton!' He said. 'Cos this ride is gonna be really fast! Unless, of course, you wanna join me.'

Plankton immediately hopped out of his head and onto the big sheriff's star. 'Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather not. All I have to say is… go get her, SpongeBob!'

SpongeBob waved his microscopic friend off, and zoomed down the side as fast as that rocket could take him. Which was incredibly fast - it was like being on the hull of Sandy's rocket once again. As he raced through the maze of sides, he could barely keep himself seated. In fact, it was a struggle just to keep his eyeballs in. Plankton watched him hurtling like an out-of-control go-kart, and couldn't have been more relieved that he wasn't going to be a part of this.

'Why can't I ever just dream normal dreams,' He asked himself. 'Of world domination?'

It didn't take long at all for SpongeBob to finally reach the cow skull. He had only come close to falling off the track about fifty times now, and his heart was about ready to give up on him. But now, he was getting closer to her. He could tell. So, using his imagination once again, he slowed his rocket-sled down just a little, so he could properly control it a bit better.

Imagine his surprise when the eye in the cow skull led into a massive room, covered in starry Texan wallpaper, with an entire pit loaded with what could only be described as a metric ton of cow manure. SpongeBob had to hold his breath, because the whole room reeked more than Gary's litterbox. There is a wonderfully subtle visual pun in this, but I can't repeat it because it isn't appropriate for this story's rating.

Worse yet, the slide broke away, and the only thing getting SpongeBob across the room was all of his momentum. He would've loved to scream in terror, but he didn't want to inhale that terrible smell. So, he held on tight, and managed to avert a heart attack until he landed on the other side and kept sliding.

Once on the other side, he finally saw her: Sandy, going nuts (heh) on her snowboard, right in front of him. He (hypothetically) slammed the breaks on his ride down and drifted in right behind her. His heart wasn't racing so much anymore; it was a snail's pace compared to how fast he had been going before.

'SAAAAND-DAAAAY!'

He had to shout as loudly as he could, lest his voice simply be carried away by the wind.

'Huh?'

And Sandy heard it. She turned her head back, and was more than a little surprised to see SpongeBob right behind her.

'SpongeBob?!' She yelled. 'What in tarnation are ya doin' here?'

'It's a long story.' SpongeBob replied. 'But all you need to know is - LOOK OUT!'

The slide took a sudden left turn, and Sandy went flying off the track. SpongeBob couldn't look and covered his eyes, apparently not realising that he would send him flying off the track too. His worries ended up being for naught, for Sandy simply whipped out her lasso and spun it around in the air. Luckily, there was a floating landmass with an old Texas-style building not too far away at all, so she hovered over to it with ease.

When she looked back at her porous friend, he was already falling off the track.

'Hang on, SpongeBob!' She cried. 'I'LL SAVE YA!'

Her aim with her lasso was impeccable, and she ensnared SpongeBob in it before he could even realise what was going on. She yanked him back as fast as she could - how fortunate that he had no spine to snap. Only when he was safely returned to her side did he open his eyes, and they brimmed with happy tears when he saw her alive and well.

'SANDY!' He yelled, giving her a hug. 'You're alive!'

'O' course I'm alive.' She said. 'Somethin' like this ain't much o' a challenge at all! Now, mind tellin' me what's goin' on?'

SpongeBob explained the whole situation to her, somewhat rambling and speaking so fast that she could barely understand him. It didn't help that he provided more details than necessary. Plankton could just barely see them from where he was standing, and he couldn't believe that SpongeBob had actually succeeded. By the end of the sponge's speech, Sandy's face was practically turning red.

'Gah, O' COURSE THIS WHOLE THIN' IS A DREAM!' She shouted. 'I shoulda known. But this place was just so… purdy. And that slide looked like so much fun. Oh, how could I let Karen trick me like this?'

SpongeBob put his hand on her shoulder. 'Don't blame yourself, Sandy. I think Karen's giving us exactly what we want, so we don't want to leave. I only realised what was going on because Plankton ended up in the same dream as me.

'Wait. If I'm trapped, and you and Plankton were trapped… what about Patrick and Squidward?'

'We gotta save them too! … If we can get out of here.'

Sandy grinned. 'Leave that to me.'

One terrifying slide home later, our duo became a trio and returned to the 'hub world' if you will. The Sandy dream bubble disappeared like it wasn't even there to begin with. Now, our trio embarked into Squidward's dream bubble instead, and they all had a good idea of what awaited them on the other side.

The answer? Clarinet playing. Clarinet playing that was… surprisingly tolerable. At least it wasn't 'oh sweet Neptune, put me out of my misery' anymore. More 'eh, I could listen to it if I had to'.

'Even in his dreams,' Plankton remarked. 'He still isn't a great player.'

'Hey!' SpongeBob said. 'He plays that clarinet really well!'

'Sure.' Sandy said. 'If ya insist…'

This dream was mostly open, with many of Squidward's 'wonderful' self-portraits floating around larger than life. Before our trio was a curly path that led forward, towards a massive stage with a bunch of generic fish enjoying the show. Squidward stood on that stage, playing his clarinet with all the energy and enthusiasm his music usually lacked. The outfit he wore was quite similar to Kelpy G's, just without the impressive hair.

And you know it was a dream because the crowd was cheering.

'Ya know,' Plankton said. 'We probably don't need to save him. I'm not sure what this guy really adds to the team. I mean, SpongeBob's the chosen one, the pink idiot has brawn, Sandy's got her lasso, I have insider knowledge… what's Squidward got?'

'A clarinet capable of destroyin' a whole group of robots at once.' Sandy replied. 'And a bucket load of ink if we ever need it.'

'And,' SpongeBob said. 'Most importantly, he's our friend. Now, let's go get him back!'

There was just one problem - that winding path was not solid. At all. Instead, it was made of wavy sheet music that wasn't even tangible. Instead, the only way to get across was over the big blue and yellow musical notes that travelled slowly along the sheet music. Worse yet, those notes travelled towards our heroes, and not the octopus on the other side. In other words, there was a jumping puzzle ahead of them.

'This oughta be easy.' Sandy said. 'All I hafta do is just lasso across, and I'll be fine.'

'I don't think so.' Plankton said. Upon seeing her glare, he quickly clarified, 'Don't get me wrong. I'm sure you'd be able to get across this easily. But you're not the quote-unquote 'Chosen One', are you? You're not the one that Karen is trying so hard to get rid of. SpongeBob may be the only one capable of getting Squidward back.'

Sandy sighed. 'I'd hate ta say it, but I think yer right. SpongeBob really is our only hope.'

'And I won't let you down!' SpongeBob said. 'I'll get Squidward back. I promise!'

A little ukulele appeared in his arms, and he began to strum a lovely and relaxing Hawaiian tune. The notes along the winding sheet music began to bop up and down to the tune, just slightly. With his heart full of song, SpongeBob took a small running start and landed on the first note. His tune struggled to overpower the clarinet, but it slowed the notes down considerably.

'I know ya can do it!' Sandy said.

'Something something words of encouragement.' Plankton said, deadpanned.

SpongeBob absorbed their encouraging speeches and made the leap to the next blue note. As he landed on it, it lit up and emitted a short but not unpleasant clarinet note. He played his ukulele louder, and the notes came to a(n almost) complete stop. It allowed him to make another jump with ease, but there was something a little different about the landing.

This note was yellow, and it played a discordant piano tune instead. It shook underneath his feet and almost made him lose balance.

'Woah!'

It gave him a bad feeling about this note, so he leapt off it as soon as possible and onto a much more stable blue one. The yellow note dislodged itself from the sheet music and fell into the endless void below.

SpongeBob temporarily grew a third arm just to wipe his brow. 'Phew…!'

'Keep goin'!' Sandy yelled. 'YOU CAN MAKE IT!'

SpongeBob nodded, and - still playing his ukulele - jumped from note to note as quickly as he could. Some of those dastardly notes were yellow, and quickly fell down mere moments after SpongeBob touched them. But even the blue notes were making his job hard, as they swung back and forth. His ukulele playing only slowed them down. But Squidward's little concert was still in his sights, and no matter of moving notes would stop him. And that giant moving hashtag thing wouldn't either - all he had to do was wait for it to reach the other side of the sheet music, and he could leap over with ease.

His final obstacle was a much easier one - a little drum hovering in the sheet music. SpongeBob aimed for it, and the drum bounced him up high into the air. Once there, all he had to do was recover from his brief moment of panic and steer himself through the sky.

He landed right next to Squidward. The clarinet playing came to a total stop.

'SpongeBob!' Squidward said, glaring at him. 'Can't you see I'm busy here? This is my first clarinet recital in ages and I won't have you ruining it!'

The ukulele vanished into thin air, as SpongeBob didn't need it anymore. When Squidward saw this solid object disappear before him, he flinched.

'I know it feels good to play for all these people,' SpongeBob said. 'But they're not real.'

'I… W-What do you mean, they're not real?' Squidward asked. 'Listen to them!'

'It's all just an illusion, Squidward. Karen wants you to think it's real, so you never want to leave. And if you can't leave… then there's nothing you can do to stop her. Right this very moment, she could be planning to replace you with a Robot Squidward! Do you really want that?'

Squidward glanced back at the fish people before him. Now that he looked closer, something was definitely off: it seemed like the same five generic fish designs had been copy-and-pasted multiple times to create a lazy background shot. And they were still cheering for him, even though the song had stopped.

'B-But… Karen gave me my own concert.' Squidward murmured.

'But it isn't real!' SpongeBob said. 'You can bring a real crowd to your clarinet recitals, but all Karen has given you is an illusion, just to lure you into her trap! So she can replace you with some robot. Is that really what you want?'

The octopus looked down at his clarinet. Even it seemed to be fading from existence, like it didn't truly exist to begin with. It felt wrong in his hands, like it was too 'perfect' and lacked all the bumps and grooves he was used to.

Narrowing his eyes, he tossed it to the ground.

'No!' He said. 'What good is an illusion for me if I'm not entertaining real people? I won't sit here and play for a bunch of holograms while Karen is out there, trying to replace me with some hunk of junk!'

'HOORAY, SQUIDWARD!' SpongeBob cheered.

'And you better not make me regret it.'

Most of the team had been reformed, but there was still one member of the team missing: Patrick, of course. As much as Squidward tried to persuade them to leave him behind, they still hopped inside the sea-star-shaped dream bubble together.

Before SpongeBob could comprehend the new environment, he took in the lovely scent of an unbelievable amount of ice-cream. So much ice-cream, that he was already feeling giddy. Sure enough, what lay before him was an ice-cream wonderland. Giant sundaes floating in the usual void, covered in big balls of white and pink, with delicious chocolate syrup flowing down them like a river in a forest. A couple were connected by a big yellow-and-red straw, and there were even a few ginormous onions sprinkled around.

'Mmm…' SpongeBob murmured. 'Ice-cream…'

'Yep, this is Patrick's dream alright.' Squidward remarked. 'All it's missing is a milk carton tipping over.'

Sandy winced. 'It's almost too sweet.'

'Eh, I've seen worse.' Plankton said. 'A lot worse. Have you ever been inside SpongeBob's brain? IT'S HORRIFYING!'

'I can imagine.'

In an ice-cream wonderland such as this, you'd think Patrick would be easy to find. Diving through the icing, swimming in the syrup, or scooping up the dairy treats with a gigantic spoon. But SpongeBob couldn't find his star-shaped friend anywhere.

'Patrick's got to be around here somewhere.' He said. 'Come on!'

Our heroes walked along a giant spoon and set off on the first island in this sugary dream. SpongeBob couldn't help himself and licked up a big heaping of ice-cream from the ground, swallowing it in one bite. It was his favourite flavour - plain vanilla!

'Ew…' Sandy murmured. 'SpongeBob, ya don't know who's been walkin' all over that.'

'Do I have to be the one to keep us all focused?' Squidward asked. 'We're not gonna find this idiot if we just stand around!'

'I thought you hated the guy.' Plankton said.

'I do. With a passion. But I wanna get out of here, and we ain't getting out without him.'

SpongeBob got another gulp of this delectable ice-cream and led his team through the dairyland. None of them would admit it, but he wasn't the only one who wanted to taste the treats. All of them snuck in a quick taste of their favourite flavour. Sandy, in particular, took full advantage of her lack of a need for a suit.

Even compared to the previous dreams, this one wasn't frightening at all. No insane jumping puzzles or haphazard slides. Just a simple waltz through a dairy wonderland. The closest to danger they found was the strawbridge, which had no handrails or anything of the sort to stop them from falling. Even then, they crossed over the bridge without much problem.

'There must be a catch.' Plankton said, as they stepped onto the next island. 'Even if Karen is giving us exactly what we want, there's no way Patrick's dream would be this simple.'

'You sure?' Squidward said. 'Frankly, I'm surprised it isn't more simple.'

'Wait!' SpongeBob said, pointing somewhere. 'I think I just found something!'

There was a single scoop of Dill Pickle Swirl with mustard and bacon bits; Patrick's favourite flavour of ice-cream. That wasn't all, for SpongeBob saw a little star-shaped door stuck in it. The door was just big enough for Patrick himself to fit through.

'Well, this looks like the place.' SpongeBob said. 'I don't know what could be on the other side of this door, but I think I should go by myself.'

'Are ya sure?' Sandy asked. 'It could be dangerous.'

'That sounds good to me.' Squidward said. 'Bye-bye.'

SpongeBob gulped, took one last look at his friends, and slipped inside the door. He made sure to close it behind him, and so there was only one light source in the whole room. There was a single ceiling lamp, providing a small patch of white light in the middle of this featureless black void. And standing right under that light was none other than Patrick himself. He was holding what appeared to be a shiny and golden spatula.

'Patrick!' SpongeBob cheered. 'It's you!'

The sea sponge ran for his best friend as fast as his legs could go, but he skidded to a stop when Patrick held his hand out in front of him.

'Not so fast, SpongeBob.' He said. 'You'll have to pass my test before we can leave.'

Ah, of course. Plankton did say there could be a catch, and this was evidently it. SpongeBob looked around; there was nothing in the room, yet. So, he couldn't imagine what kind of challenge awaited him.

He took a deep breath. 'Very well sir. Challenge accepted.'

Patrick narrowed his eyes. 'Very well. Your challenge is…' He threw his arms up. 'To find the golden spatula!'

SpongeBob glanced at the spatula in his hand. 'Uh… you're holding it.'

For a moment, SpongeBob wondered if that was the spatula he was supposed to be finding. But, sure enough…

'YOU DID IT!' Patrick declared, as the golden spatula dissolved into bubbles. 'Now your reward is… we can leave!'

'Uh, sounds good to me!' SpongeBob said.

'Now, I challenge you to-'

'Patrick? I already solved the challenge.'

Patrick tilted his head in confusion. 'You did? Then here's your rewar-'

'You already gave it to me.'

'I did? Then I challenge you to-'

SpongeBob grabbed his friend's wrist and dragged him towards the exit.

'Uh, we gotta go!' He said. 'Gary needs another bath.'

SpongeBob had hoped that reuniting everyone in the hub world would end the dreams and free them all, but he was disappointed to find that nothing of the sort happened. Though all the dream bubbles were gone, the krabby patty heaven remained.

'Okay…' Squidward said. 'Now what?'

'There's a way out of this.' Plankton said. 'I'm certain of it. If my robotic counterpart has my inventing skills, then that means…' He sighed. 'There's gotta be a way to stop it. And it's probably something stupid.'

'Yer self-aware.' Sandy said. 'I'll give ya that. But that don't really help us out much.'

None of them noticed a puddle of oil forming behind them, bubbling up from the ground. All, except for Patrick, who happened to turn his head around at the right moment.

'Uh… guys?'

'Can't you just imagine an exit or something?' Plankton asked. 'Seems like an obvious solution to me.'

'I've already tried that!' SpongeBob replied. 'I guess Karen made it so doing something like that wouldn't work.'

The puddle stopped growing, but it continued to bubble. A massive bubble, made entirely of a thin layer of oil, emerged from it.

'Guys?!'

'Looks like we were right.' Squidward said. 'Karen really does think through her plans a lot more than you do.'

'YOU DON'T HAVE TO RUB IT IN!' Plankton shouted.

Patrick trembled in his place as something else, from inside that big bubble, emerged from the oil. It was another kind of robot, but one much taller than the ones they had encountered before. Its bottom half resembled three big tires stacked on top of each other, and it held a bubble wand in its hand. The wand dripped with oil.

'GUYS?!'

The rest of our heroes finally turned around to see what the fuss was all about, but it was too late. The robot - a 'Slick' - already blew a bubble through its wand and fired it at the team. Most of them were able to dive out of the way.

'AAAAHHH!'

Squidward, of course, was the unlucky one. He managed to avoid the initial blast, but slippery oil splattered against the ground. His four legs slipped and slid around on the greasy surface and, next thing he knew, he had slipped off the edge and was plummeting into the void.

'GOTCHA!'

Luckily, Sandy was right there, and grabbed onto his feet with her lasso. It was quite fortunate that his greased-up feet didn't slip out of the loop. While she was hauling him back up, the Slick was already refilling its wand.

'Okay Plankton, you designed the robots!' SpongeBob said, slowing backing away from the Slick. 'Y-You can explain what this thing is, right?'

Plankton groaned. 'I knew I shouldn't have designed this one to be so annoying to fight… it's got the works. A ranged attack that makes the floor too slippery to stand on. A bulky body that takes a few hits to destroy. Oh, and that oily shield will block all attacks unless you can hit it with a projectile first. And the shield regenerates after a few seconds.'

'Now why didya put that many crazy features on it?' Sandy demanded, lifting Squidward up onto the ledge.

'What part of 'I did not expect to be on this side of the fight' did you not understand?!'

The Slick fired another glob of oil, but this time everyone was able to jump out of the way. A small blob splashed onto SpongeBob, and he shivered when the cold liquid was absorbed into his skin.

'D-Don't worry, guys!' Squidward said. 'I've got this!'

He took a deep breath and blew into his clarinet as loud as he could. Everyone had to cover their ears or equivalents. Alas, the Slick didn't seem to mind it one bit.

'That dang oil must be soundproof too!' Plankton said. 'I don't even remember programming that part.'

'Maybe Karen knows about Squidward's clarinet,' SpongeBob said. 'And added something to block it out so the robot wouldn't be so easy to beat!'

'Then tha solution is easy.' Sandy said. 'We get ridda that oil bubble thing!'

She rushed at the robot and tried to karate chop her way through it. Only to find, however, that it was like trying to connect two incompatible magnets together; her hand was pushed away by the shield, slipping around like butter.

'Alright,' She said. 'Who's got a projectile?!'

'Patrick's good at throwing stuff!' SpongeBob said. 'If I give him something to throw…'

He dove out of the way of another globby attack so he'd have time to think about it. Another floating landmass, this one a big bowl of ice cream, appeared from thin air. A metal scoop, shaped like an anchor and about Patrick's side, was jammed into it.

'That's the best you got?' Squidward deadpanned.

'You got a better idea?!' Plankton yelled.

'Patrick,' SpongeBob said. 'Grab that scoop and toss it at the robot!'

Patrick saluted him like a sailor. 'Well do, Boss!'

The seastar hopped over to this ice-cream shaped island, and tore the scoop from the cream. You'd think he'd get distracted by the lure of dairy treats, but his mind was surprisingly on point.

'WOAH!'

SpongeBob slipped on a puddle of oil and fell onto his back. The Slick laughed at him, which only made Sandy want to destroy it more.

'I'll be honest,' She said. 'I think this is ma least favourite robot yet.'

'Hear hear.' Plankton said.

'LOOK OUT!' Patrick shouted, holding the anchor-shaped scoop above his head with ease.

Everyone clambered away from the danger zone, as well as they could across the slippery oil. Squidward came very close to plummeting to his death once again, and - again - Sandy was right there to catch him.

'AAANCHORSSS AWAAAAAY!'

With his mighty battle cry, Patrick heaved the anchor right into that mean old robot. The Slick remained undamaged as the scoop bounced off its oil shield, but the shield did not survive the attack. It was about to attack away, until it realised that its shield was gone.

'NOW, SQUIDWARD!' SpongeBob ordered.

Squidward took in all the air he could, and blasted the most obnoxiously loud note that you could imagine. Luckily, SpongeBob had already dreamed up some temporary earmuffs for his friends. The Slick scrambled to regenerate its shield, but it didn't have the time. The clarinet note shook and rattled its circuits, and it fell apart right in front of their eyes.

SpongeBob wiped his brow. 'Phew… we did it.'

By this point in the adventure, it wasn't so easy to celebrate the victories anymore. Our heroes had no time to celebrate anyway, for the dreamy sky around them seemed to be glitching in and out of existence like a bad TV.

'Uh… what's happening?' Patrick asked.

'I can't be sure…' Plankton replied. 'But I think we may have just gotten out of here.'

The surreal surroundings disappeared and faded away. Next thing our heroes knew, they were standing right outside the Chum Bucket doors, as though none of that had never happened. They looked around, just to make sure that it was real.

'WE DID IT!' SpongeBob cried, throwing his fists into the air. '... I-I hope.'

'You have got to be joking…'

Karen couldn't believe it. Once again, this sponge kid managed to foil one of her plans! Just by being himself, no doubt. She couldn't even work up the energy to get angry anymore.

'Planktron!' She yelled, definitely not angry.

'Yes, my computer boss?' Planktron said, definitely not frightened.

'How close until our secret weapon is finished?'

'Approximately ten minutes.'

Karen groaned, and looked at the gigantic yellow robot behind her. So close, and yet so far. She slammed her fist into her console.

'That isn't enough time.' She said. 'Planktron, deploy Squidwork Technicals!'

'But Karen,' Planktron said. 'He is not finished yet. He will be defeated swiftly and easily.'

'I don't care. It'll still take them a few minutes to take care of him. We just need a little more time! If SpongeBob gets here before we finish our secret weapon, then the whole plan goes to ruin!'

The first hole into the Chum Bucket had been repaired, but Sandy was swift to make a second one. Once they waltzed inside, they saw the Chum Bucket interior and not a black void of nothingness. In fact, they didn't see much of anything.

'Alright Plankton,' Sandy said. 'Where is that wife o' yers hidin'?'

'She could be anywhere!' Plankton said. 'Do you know how many rooms this place has?'

'Can you give us a decent guess?' SpongeBob asked.

Plankton proceeded to pace. 'Well, if I know anything about being a villain, the lair is either at the highest point in the building, or the lowest. If I had to choose which one, I'd go with 'low'. I can't imagine Karen would fit all of her supervillain stuff above us.'

Squidward looked down at the floor, for he could feel vibrations from down below. He held onto his clarinet to prepare himself for any threats. He certainly wasn't expecting - nor was anyone else for that matter - for a giant metallic tentacle to smash through the floor!

'AAAAHHHH-!'

And all he could do was scream, before the tentacle snatched him up.

Author Notes - Oh my god, Robot Squidward is going to have an actual fight! Oh wait, I've already said multiple times that Robot Squidward would get a fight scene dedicated to him. Speaking of unused content, I wanted to use both versions of Patrick's dream. The one in the finished game because it's so iconic, and the unused ice-cream land that can only be visited via third-party hacking. Minus a trippy skybox. I think I did a decent job at combining them.