The Witch and The Sponge

SpongeBob has tried and failed many times to change his evil nemesis, Plankton, for the better. However, he doesn't want to force Plankton to change.

To keep his powerful ally Bill occupied, SpongeBob casually mentioned the Mawgu as the only villain he really worried never learned their lesson. After learning this, Bill left SpongeBob's side.

In the meantime, Lil' Citrus was making plans to move to Bikini Bottom permanently to be by Larry's side. Perch's attitude had changed to be a bit chipper, and he seemed to have taken his lesson to heart.

SpongeBob was relieved that his world was returning to normalcy. He eased himself back into the regular rhythm of life.

One day, something terrible happened. His favorite heroes, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, refused to renew their contracts as their health had gotten so much worse. They put themselves in hospice, and SpongeBob visited them. He was upset, but they comforted him by reassuring him that even though their lives were ending, their story would continue through SpongeBob.

MermaidMan weakly said, "This world is counting on you to fight the good fight now, kid."

Barnacle Boy added, "You gave us a second chance to live our old glory, and for that, we are eternally grateful. But now, we have to leave, and there is no turning back."

MermaidMan unbuckled his belt and gifted it to SpongeBob, saying, "It's your turn, SpongeBo. Goo and inspire the next generation."

SpongeBob took the gift tearfully, saying, "Thank you for everything."

He hugged them both and left their side. They died a few days afterward.

At least a hundred people attended the heroes' funerals. MermaidMan and Barnacle Boy were buried under a Statue of themselves in their prime.

SpongeBob took some time off to process his grief. In the will for the heroes, they had left their Merma-lair and all the gadgets to the next generation of the International Justice League of Super Acquaintances. (Invinci-Bubble, The Rodent, Sour Note, Sir-Pinch-Alot, and Plank-Ton)

The rights to their stories went to Viacom.

SpongeBob could hardly believe that the heroes would gift his team with their gear and the name of their old team. It would be a week before SpongeBob went back to his regular rhythm of life.

Enter Hannah, a human girl who was gifted the ability to breathe water from the magical rose necklace she wore. The magic also granted her owl-like wings. She helped around town by cleaning windows, sweeping the streets, and generally keeping things tidy. SpongeBob met up with her, and they were instantly on the same page.

The Chum Bucket had gone months without any customers. The dust had settled on the floor and tables. Cobwebs tangled the stools to the table. The tiles of the walls had been rusted a bit around the edges. Plankton stood in the kitchen doorway and looked around at the state of the neglected dining room. He took a deep breath and went into a nearby broom closet.

Well, more accurately, he had struggled to open the door. Karen had to come and help Plankton open the broom closet and grab a full-size broom herself. He grabbed a broom that was his size and climbed up the stools to dust off the tables. Working together, the two cleaned up the place. When they were done, the dining room reeked of lemony cleaning fluid.

"Cleaning day is pointless," Karen said, "But oddly rewarding."

Plankton replied, "That's the foundation of our marriage, Baby!"

Karen chuckled a bit. She then went back into the laboratory. Plankton hopped onto the counter and squeezed into the ordering booth through a slot. He sighed as he sat down.

Suddenly, the Chum Bucket's front doors swung open, and the newest resident walked to Bikini Bottom. Hannah, a human, looked around at the place with a smile.

"Boy," Hannah said, "You cleaned this place well, Professor Cyclops."

Plankton came to his feet and asked, "Aren't you a loyal customer of the Krusty Krab?"

Hannah laughed, almost menacingly, and said, "I did fool you and those morons."

Plankton was confused and surprised.

"I was only pretending," Hannah explained. "SpongeBob is so disgustingly soft and gullible that it was easy to convince him that I was hopeful, Hannah."

A twisted smile crossed her face as she said, "But I'm not Hannah, SpongeBob's trustworthy friend."

She then threw down a smoke bomb, and when the smoke cleared, she had dawned a checkered jacket, and some hair was covering her left eye.

"I am Natalie," She said. "That little yellow headache's worst nightmare."

Natalie turned to Plankton and said, "Join me, Sheldon, and together we can rule the ocean!"

Plankton rubbed his hands together and said, "Yes, I will."

"Excellent," Natalie said.

Plankton asked, "So what's the plan?"

Natalie laughed, saying, "You'll see, but first, I need you to make a specialized robot for me."

She pulled out a giant pencil.

Plankton asked, "What is that?"

Natalie replied, "The magic pencil; I can help you copy its power for the new machine I'm commissioning you to build."

Plankton asked, "What are you offering?"

Natalie smiled and said, "No one but you and Karen knows who I am. So I can still buy you a Krabby Patty so that you can finally have the formula."

Plankton gasped, "That's genius!"

So, as Plankton started work on the machine, Natalie went to get a Krabby Patty. She carefully changed back to look like Hannah to avoid arousing suspicion. Then, it was only a matter of getting the burger to the Chum Bucket. Once there, Plankton could extract the formula and recreate the Patty.

"Woohoo," Plankton cheered, "You did it, Natalie; now all that's left to do is for me to taste the burger at long last!"

He took the giant bite, but it tasted off somehow.

Natalie asked, "Is something wrong, Sheldon?"

Plankton replied, "It's missing something."

Natalie asked, "What is it missing?"

Plankton replied, "A bit of Chum."

He paused for a moment to think about that statement.

Plankton asked himself, "How did I know that?"

Natalie grimaced. "Are you thinking of the recipe for the beta Krabby Patty, a sandwich known as the Plab Patty?"

"That makes sense," Plankton said. " I did invent it with Krabs!"

"This is awful," Natalie snarled. "You should have forgotten about it by now."

Plankton asked, "What's the big deal? It's just a silly little memory."

Natalie poked Plankton's belly and said, "The big deal is that the moment your body is done digesting that Krabby Patty, your villainous days are over!"

Plankton took a step back to rub his tiny body and think.

Plankton asked, "Why did you call me Professor Cyclops earlier?"

Natalie smiled and said, "It's your supervillain name."

Plankton asked, "If I eat my patty slowly, will it prolong my time being evil?"

Natalie nodded.

Plankton said, "If that's the case, then I will never finish my Patty. I want to see your plan through to the end."

Natalie said, "That's not how that works; you do have to finish it eventually."

Plankton asked, "Will your plan take long?"

Natalie replied bluntly, "Longer than it should take to eat that thing reasonably."

Plankton said, "Then let's get started."

Plankton began building the robot Natalie requested. While he was forming this new machine, a strange change overtook him. His mind was growing a bit fuzzy midway through building this new robot. Then, when the fuzz vanished, he noticed that the robot was shaping up to look very similar to SpongeBob for some reason. It was too late for that since it was almost entirely done. All that was left was to bring it to life.

Plankton noted, "Weren't we already on the same Te-am before?"

Natalie replied, "Don't worry about it."

Hannah restored herself, and she started chuckling to herself.

Meanwhile, Natalie was pissed watching an imposter put ideas into Plankton's head that he would become good by finishing the Krabby Patty.

Malum snickered, "Looks like there's two Natalies."

Natalie hissed, "Stay out of this Blood Lake. I've gotten this taken care of!"

Natalie confronted Hannah in the town square the following afternoon.

Natalie snapped, "How dare you come into this world and start poisoning it with your hope!"

Hannah mockingly whined, "Aw, I'm sorry, I didn't realize just how much the nightmare demon has made you into a joke!"

Natalie growled and tried to blast her with dark magic. Hannah shielded herself with light magic and laughed.

Hannah asked, "What makes you think Mindy wouldn't prepare me for this encounter?"

Natalie hissed, "Don't invoke that name to me, you pathetic little siren."

Hannah said, "It isn't wise to threaten the chosen wielder of the Heart of the Ocean like this, Natalie. You, of all people, should know that."

Natalie scoffed, "Yeah, right, you?"

Hannah answered, "No, SpongeBob SquarePants."

Natalie was shocked and asked, "Wait, really? That guy? Why?"

Hannah said, "You won't believe me if I told you."

Natalie flatly asked, "You don't even know, do you?"

Hannah answered, "Oh no, I do. It's because he's nice, kind, and friendly."

Natalie gagged, "That's so corny!"

Hannah chuckled, "But it's true!"

Natalie hissed, "You're lying. That's not the real reason!"

Hannah rolled her eyes and quipped, "I told you wouldn't believe me. It's really just that simple."

Natalie snarled. "We'll just see about that!"

She rushed off before Hannah could say anything else.

SpongeBob was checking in on Plankton. He gasped when he saw that Plankton had the magic pencil.

Plankton smiled and said, "Ah, SpongeBob, I see you have finally come to see me."

SpongeBob asked, "Plankton, what are you doing?"

Plankton said, "Fulfilling my destiny!"

SpongeBob asked, "What do you mean?"

Plankton flipped a switch, and the robot turned on.

Plankton laughed in a twisted way as the robot walked forward and opened its eyes, revealing them to have red squared irises.

Plankton said as the robot picked him up and set him on its head, "Behold your doom, otherwise known as DRAWBOB!"

DrawBob opened his teeth and snarled mechanically. "Prepare to be erased."

DrawBob aimed at SpongeBob with his hand to try to erase him. SpongeBob dodged the beam, pulled the pencil from the machine that made DrawBob, and took off running. DrawBob gave chase; SpongeBob quickly drew a large ravine in the street to stop DrawBob's pursuit.

SpongeBob was scared and ran back to his house. He tried to steady himself with deep breaths.

SpongeBob whimpered, "I can't believe that Plankton has gotten into this Malum business. I mean, I get why Squidward did it. He was jealous and had forgotten his love for me. I get why Natalie does it. She hates me and wants to see me be as hurt as she is. I even understand why Bill did it; he was trying to keep his reputation as a villain before he realized that it may not be something he wanted anymore. But Plankton? I thought he had learned his lesson after that adventure to save the formula and was only going to be a playful rival."

SpongeBob said, "I don't want to use my power against him; that would be irresponsible!"

SpongeBob looked at the wall and spotted a little picture of DoodleBob.

SpongeBob sighed, taking down the picture. "DoodleBob, I don't know why you keep popping up. And I really don't want to force you to do this. But I need someone experienced with the Magic pencil to help me. So I guess I'm asking you if you will let me control you for a little while so that I can get my world back on track?"

DoodleBob's image changed. He raised a thumb as if consenting to SpongeBob. SpongeBob pulled on DoodleBob to get him out of the page. Very hesitantly, SpongeBob used his power to transform DoodleBob into a paper puppet. SpongeBob and DoodleBob then left the house. SpongeBob was nervous, but he was conscientious enough to assert his will on DoodleBob lightly.

They came to the ravine, and DrawBob was partially drawing a bridge. SpongeBob had DoodleBob draw the other half of the bridge quickly. DrawBob and DoodleBob clashed, Plankton barking orders and SpongeBob very gently guiding Doodle's movements.

Plankton said, a twisted grin on his face, "How does it feel to have total control just like I did back in the day?"

SpongeBob protested, "No, this is different. DoodleBob consented to this, and one entity isn't the same as subjugating the whole town!"

Plankton laughed, "Then you must be controlling him because you don't trust him to choose to do good on his own."

SpongeBob sighed, "You're right, but that's because he has demonstrated to me multiple times that he can't be trusted to do the right thing. Unlike you, I've seen that this specific flavor of evil isn't your speed. Why in the world would you even think that this is even remotely close to what you want?"

Plankton snapped, "You're just upset that more heroes will want to challenge me. Frankly, I find your possessiveness of me to be problematic and kinda toxic."

SpongeBob was confused and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Plankton said, "I'm talking about the rest of Unite. I've been making a new plan with the Evil Syndicate. Professor Calamitous might be taking a break from multiverse dominance, but I'm not. Things have changed a lot since those Element Immortals have made themselves known."

SpongeBob asked, "How do you know?"

Plankton replied with a twisted grin, "Bill told me as if to scare me away from my plan."

SpongeBob's jaw hit the ground.

Meanwhile,

Squidward was alone in his gallery with a blank easel and a paper bag with something inside. He opened the bag, and inside was a Krabby Patty. His belly rumbled as the smell of the Patty enraptured his nose.

Squidward sighed blissfully, "Alright, Patty, guide my tentacles."

Squidward closed his eyes and took the first bite of the Krabby Patty. He took up his paintbrush and dabbed a bit of blue and began painting. He ate on the Patty. He dabbed a bit of white and blue. Then, I mixed it on the easel for a light gradient upwards. Squidward ate more of his Patty. He dabbed a bit of blue and black and mixed it on the easel for a dark gradient downwards.

Squidward finished his meal, picked up a box of crayons, and left his house. He went into the struggle of DrawBob and DoodleBob and threw the box of crayons at DrawBob.

DrawBob caught it and ate the box. He suddenly stopped fighting DoodleBob. SpongeBob very gently stopped DoodleBob from continuing the fight.

Plankton asked, "What are you doing? Why did you stop?!"

DrawBob said, "I feel like my programming is changing. I have new powers."

DrawBob then wiggles his fingers and begins scribbling bright rainbows on the bridge. SpongeBob and DoodleBob were amazed.

DrawBob then said, "Can I go home and hone these new skills?"

Plankton sighed. "Fine."

Then he marched away, much to DoodleBob's confusion and frustration.

SpongeBob then led DoodleBob back to SpongeBob's house, setting him free from being a puppet so he could return to the page.

The page read, "There was once a magic book that told the tale of a happy, sweet, and wholesome little Sponge named Bob that goes on a journey to accept himself and earns the title of manager for his job. One pirate called Burger Beard heard of this powerful book and decided to use it for his gain. So, he stole it from its place on Bikini Atoll and rewrote the story, taking away Bob's happily ever after.

Burger Beard instead wrote in his own happily ever after. To set things right, SpongeBob had to team up with his greatest enemy, Plankton. SpongeBob managed to take his story back from Burger Beard, but in the process, most of the book was burned. Some of the pages survived, and SpongeBob entrusted them to his friend, Bubbles, the magical talking dolphin from the future. SpongeBob didn't realize until very recently that this had happened.

His story now is about protecting his harmonious world from the existential threats he opened them to. Among them, SpongeBob managed to make a friend from Globulous Maximus. Globulous now refers to himself as SpongeGlob. In the process, SpongeBob met up with more friends from other worlds. He felt like his old world and story were very small. He never gave it much thought beyond the moments he was far from home. His new friends, the Nicktoons, were a comfort in those moments.

However, SpongeBob was protected from those kinds of thoughts until he met Natalie. Natalie directly brought in the existential threats to SpongeBob's home.

SpongeBob has no idea how to combat this. Fortunately, he doesn't have to stand alone. Previously, Squidward had agreed to work for Natalie so he could be the main character of the story. Still, it only made him more miserable, and he forgot why he and SpongeBob were friends as a sacrifice. But he soon realized his mistake and has resolved to become helpful in SpongeBob's life rather than a hindrance."

Squidward frowned, reading this. He quipped, "I don't think we need this kind of recap for the twelfth time, Hannah."

Hannah chuckled, "Sometimes it can be easy to forget everything that's happened so far. I just wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page."

Squidward noted, "Yeah, but sometimes that's not necessary, especially if the story at hand has nothing to do with the exposition itself."

Hannah said, "You're right; maybe I should stay focused on the story at hand."

Hannah took the page from Squidward, rushed off, and said, "Thanks, Squiddy!"

Squidward quipped, "What a weird girl."

He went right back to work. After his shift, Plankton approached him in a robotic suit. Squidward was surprised, but then a cloud surrounded them.

Squidward panicked and asked, "What is this?"

Plankton said, "Think about it, Squidward. We were great together as Squidton. Don't you miss that?"

Squidward snarled. "No, because you just want to be big! Squidton wasn't what I wanted now! And if we have to be in synch if we're going to fuse, right?"

Plankton chuckled, "Only if we're using the original spell. But I took the liberty of editing it so that more powerful ones can fuse with whoever they please. My new mechanism makes my small stature a non-issue."

Planton then rushed into Squidward, but Squidward skillfully dodged by jumping Plankton with one fluid movement. Squidward posed, definitely.

Squidward said, "You forget, I have mastered moving my body in ways your clunky machine can't."

He wiggled his tentacles to demonstrate.

Plankton asked, "Is that what you think?"

Squidward smirked and slipped a few sweatbands on his wrists before quipping, "Let's dance!"

Plankton charged at Squidward, and the octopus slinked below to duck from Plankton's thrusts. Squidward then stood up and quickly and expertly tried to dismantle Plankton's machine with his suction cups. Plankton tried to shake him off, but Squidward was too fast, and his movement too fluid. Plankton felt restricted by the slow and clunky movement of his machine. He was able to knock Squidward off, but in the process, Plankton's mechanical arm was torn off. Squidward chuckled as he kicked the arm out of the cloud.

Squidward said, "You frankly disgust me with your overuse of technology. I have found how to see the beauty in myself, and now that I've been in your head, I know you don't."

Plankton snarled, "Shut up, you don't know me; of course, I see the beauty in myself."

Plankton tried to pin Squidward with his remaining arm, but once again, the octopus undid the screws to that part with blinding speed. He then kicked the arm out of the cloud.

Squidward snapped, "That's a lie, and you know it! You hate being small and ineffective. That's not to say you're not incredible in other ways."

Plankton was intrigued and asked, "What do you mean?"

Squidward said, "Think about it, Plankton. Who else has such a brilliant mind that they could create such a wonderful piece of technology that can supplement their disadvantages? Who else would have such a crazy idea as to refuse with the one other person who hated the Sponge as much as them?"

Plankton snapped as he tricked into kicking Squidward with the robot, "I don't need a pep talk from a hack artist like you!"

Squidward dodged the swing and said, "Well, excuse me for trying to help you understand my viewpoint."

Squidward spun around and quickly swept Plankton's robotic suit off its feet, and the cloud dissipated.

Squidward asked, "Doesn't it get tiresome being the villain? Don't you wish you could do other things than plot and scheme? Especially now that there are bigger threats that will destroy everything you want to conquer so badly?"

Plankton hissed, "Oh, shut up! You sound just like that little yellow twerp!"

Squidward gave it some thought and said bluntly, "You have no idea what it's like. I stared deep into that abyss of my darkness once. Into that Mirror of Lies, the one Natalie likes to cradle as if it comforts her. I don't know what the hell she sees because all I saw was sorrow and agony."

Plankton got out of the robot and asked, "What do you mean?"

He turned from Plankton and removed the bands from his tentacles. He then focused his mind, and it was like most of the color was drained from his body. He collapsed onto the ground, using his tentacles uncontrollably. Plankton was surprised.

Squidward then slowly stood up and moaned, "Allow me to show you exactly how Malum sees you."

Squidward turned back to Plankton, and his eyes were now transformed, resembling humans with deep, scarlet red irises and blackish-red streams coming from his eyes.

Plankton asked, "Is that..."

Squidward said, "Yes, it's my 𝚋̶𝚕̶𝚘̶𝚘̶𝚍̶."

WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK TO SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS. ONLY ON NICK!

Squidward was frozen, grimacing at Plankton, and Plankton was frozen in shock. A White fish with a purple-slicked-back dorsal fin and purple-rimmed glasses enters stage left. This fish was Phil, the Titan of Organization.

Phill reached behind himself and pulled out a metal bat with the word "Censorship" and whacked Squidward multiple times until he snapped back to being a regular Squidwar, but with mascara tears running down his face.

Phil said, It's muchch better; now mmulti-marketing moneymakerer can stay ignorant of the damage my brother is doing."

Phil then approached Plankton and very slowly picked him up. He then used a surge of purple to try to write Palinkton's memories over, but then Phil felt his gills shut up, and he was forced to become a human. He swam up to the surface to breathe.

Aquarius snarled, "What the *Dolphin noise* do you think you're doing? My children are trying to express just how deeply your brother, that Blody Tita, has destroyed their lives, and you're trying to censor that?!"

Phil said, "Do you have any idea how much this will affect our bottom line? If this show gets the plug pulled because children decide to google 'scary, sad Squidward' and discover a deeply gross and cruel fiction. It will be pinned on us because of those idiot adults who refuse to parent their kids!"

Aquarius asked, "What did you just call them?"

Storm clouds threateningly stirred up above Phil. Phil was terrified and immediately disappeared. Aquarius restored Squidward to his colorless self, with blood running down his cheeks.

WE'RE BACK TO SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! ON NICK!

Plankton gasped, "Why are you crying out 𝚋̶𝚕̶𝚘̶𝚘̶𝚍̶ ?"

Squidward answered, "This is what Malum made me into when I looked into that damn mirror! He fed on my desire for external validation and transformed it into this! A deep and utterly soul-draining depressed monster! He's crushing whatever willpower to live I have left!"

Plankton asked, "How did you break free?"

Squidward took a deep breath. He put himself back to his colorful self and dried his tears.

Squidward answered, "I had to stop thinking of just myself and be reminded that I'm part of a team. SpongeBob's team. I have people who love me and my art, and I have gone through a lot alongside SpongeBob. Despite our differences, he still cared about me, and that made me realize that what I really wanted was to love myself. Yeah, I still think he's an annoying optimist, but damn it, sometimes it can get draining being pessimistic when he repeatedly proves that saving the day works!"

Plankton sighed. "Maybe you have a point. I had no idea what I was getting into with being genuinely evil. But being SpongeBob's teammate feels so wrong. I spent my whole life just being the villain. I went back to it after that whole Burger Beard incident! If what you say is true, then Natalie may take my place as the villain, and I once again have to be part of a team. I don't know if I want that this time."

Squidward asked sympathetically, "But why wouldn't you want that?"

Plankton rushed away, not answering Squidward's question.