Episode 1: Awakening

It was a normal Saturday night work shift at the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob was joyfully cleaning the tables, humming a cheerful tune while Squidward stood at the register, tired and bored. For what felt like the first time all day, no customers were entering the building as the night slowly drew to a close. As the time slowly ticked on, SpongedBob stopped his happy tune and started talking to his co-worker.

"Hey Squidward?!" SponjeBub says enthusiastically.

Sigh "What is it, SpongeBob?" Squidward replies apathetically.

"Do you want to go jellyfishing with Patrick and me tomorrow?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Squidward says, wincing from annoyance.

"Are you sure you-"

Suddenly, the clock finally hit 6:00 PM, much to Squidward's relief. He immediately got up and flipped the sign from "OPEN" to "CLOSED", acting quickly so there wouldn't be a chance of any more customers coming in. He and SpongeBoop soon had the place closed down and started walking back to Conch Street. The short walk was pretty quiet, which wasn't very common, but was very relieving for Squidward. Much to his dismay, however, SponchPob followed him as he turned to his house.

"So as I was saying, are you sure you're sur-"

"I. Am. Sure." Squidward interrupted, making his point as clear as possible.

"Okay neighbor! See you tomorrow!" SpingBing said before walking away.

Squidward sighs before opening the door, half-expecting SpangeBlod to cartoonishly appear behind his door. Much to his confusion, however, something entirely different sat within his home. A creature unlike anything he'd ever seen stood before him. It was much like those land-dwellers Sandy occasionally talked about, but its body was seemingly made entirely of shadow, aside from two glowing white eyes which stared directly at Squidward.

"What the-? What are you doing in my house?!" Squidward said aggressively.

"Willpower is held within the souls of us all, but the will of a thousand cannot defeat one who can truly wield it. One who can use their willpower can shape the very world around them. It matters not who they are or where they come from, just how bright the flame within them burns. This is true strength," the shadow person says.

As the shadow person monologues, a golden arrow starts to float up next to them. Squidward's eyes lock onto the arrow, his aggression turning to fear and caution.

"W-What are you-"

"It is only those with a strong enough will that can defeat the greater evils in this world. Even then, one strong will cannot face the darkness alone, for the combined flame of those grasping for power is great indeed."

The arrow turns to Squidward, causing him to back into his door, which has strangely seemed to close itself. He tries to open it, but it refuses to budge, as if it is being pulled back. As Squidward turns around again, his eyes widen as the arrow flies toward him at an incredible speed, piercing him before he can react. As the octopus collapses on the ground, the strange figure continues.

"Great evil has arisen, and the true strength of will is the only thing that can stand against it."

The shadow and the arrow seemingly vanishes, seemingly leaving the injured octopus to die. Squidward tried to move, to yell, something. Despite his resolve to keep living, his body continued to weaken as the world around him darkened.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Stand name: ?

Stand user: ? (Shadow Guy)

Power: ?

Speed: ?

Range ?

Durability: ?

Precision: ?

Potential: ?

The next morning, Squidward awoke, still laying on the floor near his front door. He immediately began to feel where the wound was, but it was gone, the only thing remaining being a tear in his shirt. He was confused, of course, but tried to rationalize what had happened.

"Ugh, what in the name of King Neptune happened? Did-…No, that's impossible."

As he got up, still cautious about possibly sustaining injury, he took a deep breath. He calmed himself down and changed his torn shirt, though the pain from the arrow still lingered in his mind.

"Maybe I really am overworked. I need a vacation," he said to himself before hearing familiar voices outside.

"...Especially from these barnacle heads."

He walks out of his house, only to see Springbed and Patrick standing between his and Spongleblab's house, Both of them immediately turn to Squidward, though lacking their usual happy expressions.

"Squidward! Did anything weird happen last night?" Spungeblod asks with concern.

"Uh…not really." Squidward replies with confusion.

"Hm. Must have been some kind of dream then," Patrick said casually.

"I guess. That arrow sure felt real though," SpoingBad said, rubbing his hand on his side. "I guess that's the power of shared best-friend dreams! :D "

Squidward froze as the realization hit him. Something had happened last night, but none of it made sense to him. It wasn't just that that had him on edge though. A strange aura was causing a chill to run down his spine, as if something was watching them with malicious intent. Suddenly, the trio hears a loud crash as something hits Squidward's house, mere inches away from them. As they turn to find the source of this impact they see a fish exerting a menacing aura, with bits of a Krusty Krab pizza all over his face. (He never washed it off.)

"It's YOU! I've been waiting all of this time to get my revenge on you for what you did to me!" the fish said aggressively.

"...Who are you?" Squidward asks, more than confused.

"You don't remember me?! Oh, after I'm done with you three, Plankton will reward me greatly. And once I'm rich and you're in Davy Jones's locker, I can finally GET MY DRINK!" Customer yells with rage.

"...What?" Squidward said.

Suddenly, a strange, humanoid figure with armor made of coral appears next to Customer. (That's his actual name on the SpongeBob Wiki.) The spirit had bits of coral growing out of its back, some of them breaking off and orbiting it. Customer calls out "BARRIER REEF! Attack!" before bits of coral fly at incredible speeds toward the trio, striking each of them a couple of times. The three of them scream as coral pierces them.

"What is this power?!" Squidward yells, narrowly dodging another piece of coral.

"What is that thing?!" Spongebob screams.

Customer suddenly freezes after hearing SpunCob, realizing that the eyes of his enemies aren't locked on him, but the spirit next to him.

"You can see it?" Customer asks.

Squidward stays silent, trying to figure out if he can take advantage of this momentary ceasefire.

"I asked if you can see my spirit, delivery boy!" Customer yells, noticeably a bit stressed.

"...Are we not supposed to?" Patrick asks.

"No wonder why Plankton wants you all dead. You've met him, haven't you? The man of shadows?" Customer asks.

"The man of shadows? That wasn't a-" SpoingBoing starts to ask before being interrupted by Customer.

"I can't underestimate you then! Barrier Reef, STRIKE THEM DOWN!" Customer says as his spirit breaks off a large, sharp piece of coral. It begins to spin like a drill before hurtling toward Squidward. Just then, as Squidward braces for the impact, an arm seemingly appears from Squidward's body and punches the side of the spinning coral just before it strikes him. An aura of power starts to engulf the trio.

"What!?" Customer and Squidward say in unison.

"Woah! I didn't know you had a third arm!" Patrick says.

"I don't, you moron!" Squidward yells back.

"I can't let them learn about their spirits! I need to kill them now!" Customer thinks to himself.

"That's it! Slice them to pieces, Barrier Reef!" Barrier Reef then breaks off a large sword-shaped piece of coral that was growing on its back with its hands, before it and Customer dash toward the trio. As they start to close the distance, Barrier Reef continuously launches coral pieces at them. Squidward tries to flee, but the flurry of coral strikes his legs, causing him to fall to the ground. He turns around to see the coral sword raised up, ready to strike.

"Squidward!" SploodClot and Patrick yell as they run to Squidward, an aura of power coming off of them. However, just as the sword starts to come down, Squidward's spirit finally reveals itself. It appears from Squidward and catches the blade between its tentacles. Much like Squidward, his spirit takes the appearance of a humanoid octopus, though noticeably more muscular (and with the handsome Squidward face).

"What?!" Customer yells before he's suddenly struck by what feels like a burning log of wood, being SpunksClob's spirit. His spirit takes the appearance of a square with "arms' and "legs" made of burning logs of wood, with a flaming face in the middle of the burning square. As Customer tries to recover from the hit, Barrier Reef pulls its sword back and tries to slash at SplungePlop and Squidward before being caught by a large, blue crab claw coming from Patrick (His spirit is literally just a large, blue, realistic crab). Before he can even react, he hears a tune coming from Squidward's spirit, then feels the water around him pushing him, sending him flying away from the trio.

"Urgh! Tartar sauce!" Customer yells after he lands. "How is that octopus's stand faster than mine?!" He starts to back away from the group while they're preoccupied figuring out what these spirits are.

"...I won't go back empty handed though. There's still that old crab. I'll deal with these three later." he says to himself before retreating.

"I guess we won," Squidward says as his spirit disappears.

"I guess what happened with that shadow guy wasn't a dream after all," Patrick says.

"I don't get it. What just happened!? Who is the 'man of shadows'? What are these spirits?" Sprangbrop says, confused and even a bit frightened.

"I think I can answer that," the trio hears before looking up and seeing three humans in diving suits descending from the surface, the one in the front of the small group being none other than Jotaro Kujo.