May 10th, 2013
In a dark forest located on the outskirts of Japan, a figure ran through the bushes, leaping from bush to bush. It was a female humanoid figure that wore a brown kimono, was covered in brown fur, had a fox tail and ears, and possessed a muzzle. This was a Kitsune, or fox spirit, a member of a race of ancient shape shifting foxes that had existed since the Edo period. This certain fox spirit then heard a cry of,
"Emi!"
The fox spirit, Emi, then leaped behind a bush and found another fox spirit. This one was older than Emi and had her hair tied into a messy bun unlike Emi's free flowing hair that rested right below her shoulder blades. Emi nervously whispered,
"Mama…what do we do? The men with guns…they'll…"
"Kill us. Yes, I know. They've been hunting fox spirits for years. They say it's something about how we taste and making us into coats."
"Like they did to Papa…"
Emi's mother stayed silent at those words. The memories of losing her husband were still fresh and painful in her mind. But that didn't matter now. She needed to make sure her daughter would survive. Frantically, she told Emi,
"Listen, I need you to find the nearest lake. It leads directly to the ocean and you should be able to swim to safety. I'll hold off the humans for you."
She then reached into a pocket in her dress and pulled out a necklace with an orange gem placed in the middle. She frantically told her daughter,
"This pendant will allow you to breathe underwater without having to transform into a fish and shrink you to the size of one. The only cost is that you'll have to lose the ability to transform into anything but a human form. Now go!"
"But Mama-!"
"GO!"
Upon hearing this, Emi reluctantly obeyed her mother and took the necklace, running off as she heard the footsteps coming closer. As she ran, she heard the roar of a beast, and then gunshots. She closed her eyes to try to get the image of what must have happened out of her mind. Eventually she reached a lake that led into the ocean and jumped in, belly flopping as she did so.
She then put on her pendant and began swimming despite feeling herself shrinking. She kept swimming and swimming, going as far as she possibly could. However, she felt more and more exhausted, eventually, she went limp, and as she was blacking out, her only thought was,
"Mama…"
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It was an average sunshiny day in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. Sea creatures of all kinds mingled with each other, shopping, talking and doing various other human things. Walking towards Goo Lagoon was local fry cook Spongebob Squarepants. Known as the most optimistic person in Bikini Bottom to the point where it tended to piss off a lot of the townsfolk, Spongebob was just grateful to be living in this town.
It had been a year since he had been hired at the Krusty Krab restaurant, a place he wanted to work at ever since it had opened in 1996. He was already familiar with its 2 other occupants, Eugene Krabs and Squidward Tentacles, thanks to his time at the summer camp Kamp Koral. Squidward never seemed that fond of him, but Spongebob didn't care. He still saw him as a friend.
The 27 year old sponge then reached into his pocket and pulled out a shellphone, holding it to the closest orifice he had to an ear and telling the person on the other line,
"Alright Patrick, I'll be there soon! Keep the ice cream warm for me, old buddy!"
Spongebob's best friend Patrick, who was currently feasting on an ice cream cone, replied through his own shell phone,
"You got it, buddy! Wait, who are you again?"
Spongebob chuckled at this and hung up, putting the phone away. However, just as he was about to start sprinting to he and Patrick's meetup spot, he suddenly noticed something in the sand. He ran up to it to get a closer look at it, and was shocked to discover what looked like a furry human figure buried in the sand. He quickly began digging the mysterious figure out, and was even more shocked to find that this was seemingly a hybrid of a human and an animal.
It was also clearly a girl. The sponge thought to himself,
'Great barrier reef! What could have happened to this person that could've gotten her to this point? I can't just leave her here!'
Spongebob then pulled out his phone and called Patrick again, telling him,
"Sorry Pat, I'm gonna have to cancel our meetup."
He didn't receive a reply and sighed. Either Patrick had forgotten how to use his shellphone again, or he had simply swallowed it. Both seemed likely. But it didn't matter now. He scooped the unconscious girl in his arms and ran to his house. Once he arrived, he kicked the door open and yelled at his pet snail Gary,
"Gary! We have to get this girl medical attention stat!"
Gary didn't have time to wonder why his master was holding an unconscious…whatever that was before he zoomed up to their bedroom and placed her on his bed. And so, Spongebob spent the next few hours tending to the mysterious girl, trying to make sure she was as well as possible. Gary even decided to pitch in to help, bringing water for Spongebob to give to their mysterious visitor.
Eventually, the girl's eyes fluttered open. Excited by this, Spongebob told Gary,
"Gary, Gary! She's waking up!"
As the girl's eyes opened, she saw Spongebob and jumped back, letting out a distressed yelp. Spongebob held his hands up upon seeing this and told her,
"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you! My name's Spongebob Squarepants!"
The girl moved her head to the side out of curiosity as Spongebob continued by saying,
"I can tell you're definitely not from here. Where are you from? What's your name?"
The girl brought the blanket of Spongebob's bed closer to her defensively, and seeing this, the sponge softly told her,
"Don't worry, I'm not dangerous. I just want to help you."
He pulled out a bottle of water and held it out to her, telling her,
"Here. drink this."
The girl cautiously took the water bottle and flipped it open, taking a sip from it. Once she was done, she lifted it down and said the first words she had said since she awoke.
"A water bottle…underwater?"
Spongebob giggled and replied,
"Yeah, Bikini Bottom works in mysterious ways. Best not to think about it. Also no offense, but you smell funny."
Emi looked at her fur and realized that she probably smelled really bad, so she shapeshifted into her human form. Her human form was a redhead who still had her fox ears and tail, and Spongebob blushed a little at seeing her, finding her attractive somewhat. But he shook his head and asked again,
"Who exactly are you, by the way?"
The girl looked down apprehensively, but then sighed. This being seemed nice, so she guessed she could trust him with at least her name. She then looked up and said,
"Emi. My name is Emi. I'm a fox spirit from the human nation of Japan."
"Fox spirit?"
"We're ancient shapeshifting tricksters who live in forests. But for the last few centuries we've been hunted by humans. My parents…"
Emi fell silent, as this was a tough subject for her to talk about. Spongebob, noticing how sad Emi looked and wanting to cheer her up, asked her,
"Do you have anywhere to go?"
She shook her head, and Spongebob then said,
"In that case, you can live with me! I don't get paid much, but I'm sure we can work something out!"
"I…don't know…"
"Come on, it'll be fun! We can do all kinds of things together! I'll even show you all that Bikini Bottom has to offer!"
Emi thought about this for a few moments. This sponge seemed to be nothing but nice, and she truly didn't have anywhere to go. Her mother was dead and staying on the surface would likely be more dangerous than living with this sponge. Finally she replied,
"Ok, I'll do it."
Spongebob cheered at this, and Gary then meowed. That was when Emi noticed him for the first time and asked,
"Who's this?"
Spongebob's eyes widened. How could he have forgotten to introduce his little buddy to his new guest? He answered her question by saying,
"Oh, this is my pet snail Gary. Don't worry, he's a good boy. Say hi to our new friend, Gary."
Gary nervously slithered up to Emi, who was equally as confused on what to do. She slowly put her hand on Gary's eyestocks and began trying to rub them, thinking that that would get a response. Surprisingly, the snail began meowing happily, and Emi smiled at this, continuing to rub his eye stack. Spongebob smiled upon seeing this and said,
"Looks like he likes you!"
Emi giggled as she knelt down and stroked Gary's eyestalks more, and Spongebob couldn't help but smile at this. This was going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship
Yeah, in case you all couldn't tell, this fanfic is set in the Kamp Koral timeline, consisting of Kamp Koral: Spongebob's Under Years, The Patrick Star Show, and The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run.