The Witch and The Sponge

Plankton was free from the Prison for the Criminally Tiny after a rather unusual set of circumstances. (Some Eyebat had frozen him like a statue and broke him out.) He was back at the Chum Bucket plotting his following devious scheme.

He began by pulling out a new drawer of plans, sorted by color in the order of the rainbow. He pulled out the Red plan and looked it over.

Natalie teleported into his lab, and Plankton jumped in surprise.

"Plankton," Natalie said, "I require your assistance!"

Plankton kneeled and said, "I am your humble servant, master."

Natalie said, "To destroy the Sponge, we must fool people that he isn't longer nice. Do you still have a giant robot shaped like SpongeBob?"

"I'm sorry, my master," Plankton said, "But my machine was destroyed long ago."

Natalie snarled, "Useless!"

Plankton explained, "I have several plans on standby; perhaps we can utilize them for destroying SpongeBob."

Natalie took up the Red plan and read it over, a twisted grin spread across her face.

Natalie said, "Plankton, this is ingenious!"

The next day, SpongeBob goes through town in the morning. He always went down Main Street to say Hello to everyone he met on Sundays.

He knew this route like the back of his hand. So he was surprised to see a crowd of fish folk around a stage. He went to greet everyone, but he was stopped when the stage lit up. A woman appeared. She was dressed up as a magician.

"Greetings, citizens of Bikini Bottom," The woman shouted, "I'm the wonderful and powerful Janice!"

SpongeBob was amazed and intrigued.

Janice pulled out a magic wand and waved it around. Another puff of smoke and a little podium appeared. On it was a mirror that SpongeBob recognized as the same mirror Natalie tried to use against him, a scarlet red number with a reverse pentagram on the back. It was face down on the podium.

SpongeBob couldn't believe his eyes; this had to be a coincidence.

Janice explained, "I will use my powers to grant the friendliest being in the city a wish!"

The crowd murmured among themselves, and SpongeBob wanted to run when he was spotted among the other fish.

But then he heard Harold shout, "We don't know who among us is the friendliest Janice; we're all nice in our way."

Janice seemed disappointed, but Harold said, "And it's all thanks to SpongeBob!"

The crowd seemed to agree with this sentiment. SpongeBob felt flattered but noticed that the crowd of fish began to cluster around him. Norma was closest to him, and she spotted him.

Norma asked SpongeBob, "Do you think we should trust this girl? That mirror does not look safe."

SpongeBob said, "I wouldn't be so quick to judge, Norma. After all, Janice hasn't done anything wrong."

Norma passed this message around until Harold heard it.

Harold said, "We're not sure where SpongeBob is, but he's probably nearby watching you. Maybe you can prove your powers are indeed good."

The crowd murmured in agreement.

Janice smiled and said, "Of course I can prove it."

She made the mirror disappear, and the curtain on the stage parted. Janice put on a show, and she was a talented escape artist. SpongeBob was amazed, and the crowd's suspicion was alleviated.

SpongeBob then gave a nod to Norma.

Norma then shouted, "Hey guys, I found SpongeBob!"

The crowd made a path for SpongeBob, and he approached the stage. He got up on the stage, and Janice smiled as she took the mirror from its podium.

Janice asked SpongeBob, "Tell the mirror, what do you wish for most of all?"

She held the mirror to SpongeBob and, while looking at his reflection, replied, "I wish Natalie couldn't lie anymore today."

Janice was surprised; the mirror leaked black smoke and surrounded SpongeBob. Then, when the smoke cleared, nothing about him changed.

Janice was transformed into Natalie after she spun around for a minute.

Natalie explained, "Now you'll believe everything I tell you for the rest of the day, you stupid Sponge."

SpongeBob then screamed in horror, and the crowd of fish folk immediately turned into a mob. They swarmed Natalie and dragged her away.

Harold shouted, "Let's burn this witch!"

SpongeBob shouted, "Throw her out of town, but don't hurt her!"

The townsfolk listened, and Natalie was dropped out of town.

Natalie grinned as she sashayed back to her lair. Then she sat on a throne and took out a bottle of bubbles. When she took out the bubble wand, the soap was tinted red. She whispered something into a bubble, and it floated to SpongeBob.

It popped right next to his ear, and Natalie's voice told him, "You're too strong; your friends are terrified of angering you."

SpongeBob was a bit sad; the weight of the curse sunk into him. He didn't want to, but he believed Natalie.

SpongeBob tried to keep himself composed, doing what he usually does—saying hello to his friends and going along with his day.

Natalie kept whispering into bubbles and growing the fear inside SpongeBob. But he didn't seem to be affected. When the day was almost over, he was back home. He took a deep breath and collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably. The dark magic was no stranger to pushing him to do things he didn't want. But this was by far its cruelest move.

SpongeBob was greeted by Gary, the sweet snail comforted the Sponge. SpongeBob gently hugged his beloved pet before calming down. He then went to the kitchen to feed Gary.

He sighed and put on a nice bubble bath for himself. It had been a while since he needed to take an evening bath like this, let alone soak. He let his body absorb just a little bit of the water in the tub; as he did, the fear seemed to melt away. He then rinsed off, letting the darkness wash away from his body. He dried himself off and relaxed on his chair. He sighed in relief.

SpongeBob told the observing witch, "Nice try, Natalie, but I have too much self-respect to fall for that old trick."

Natalie seethed but didn't have the energy to throw a tantrum this time.