The Hopeless Future

Tiger Claw was the fearsome and deadly mutant tiger that slaughtered a dozen people and aliens. People feared him, and now he was one of the few remaining mutants in the dystopian future. Timmy felt uneasy near the tiger. If Tiger Claw didn't, then Leatherhead would also make him uncomfortable. Unlike Tiger Claw, Leatherhead was at least gentle and didn't growl at him so often.

They both stood quietly in front of the metal doors. The doors seemed to be wary and a little rusty. There was a loud scraping noise among the place as the doors were sliding open. Timmy wanted to comment, but Tiger Claw was too intimidating to even whisper around. Cosmo and Wanda shared the feeling that Timmy felt when they all spotted the shadowed, inhuman figure appearing. Shrouded in the dim subway's shadows, he wore an old costume, not worn for what seemed like eons. The humanoid turtle sported a hood, with a jagged purple bandana around his eyes. Adorned with brown knee and elbow pads, light gray bandages encircling his ankles and wrists, and a metallic shell stained with red at its rim, he was a sight to behold. Clutching a lengthy bo staff wrapped with orange, blue, and red masks, the turtle stepped slightly from the shadows and extended his hand, relieved to meet someone other than a mutant or monster. The shadows covered the upper portions of his body, which made him more intimidating and didn't make Timmy feel any more positive about accepting the turtle's hand. "Careful, Timmy. He could bite!" Cosmo whispered as he was still disguised as the green backpack resting upon Timmy. Wanda remained disguised as Timmy's pink jacket with a yellow accent.

"Uh, nice to meet you, dude." Timmy awkwardly replied.

"Oh, they don't bite! I hope they don't smell."

"Cosmo, we're in a sewer! Everything smells!" Wanda corrected.

"It's nice to meet you, too. You're the first human I've seen in a long time." The mere sentence already shook Timmy.

"So, what's your name?"

"Donatello. You can call me Donnie if you want."

Time seemed to stand still, and the subway hushed to a silence. Donatello was relieved to meet someone who wasn't a mutant or a monster. It was truly a rare sight in the dystopian world.

"Wait, he's a French turtle?" Cosmo's voice audibly rang from Timmy's back. Donatello shifted his head around. He was completely curious as to where the voice came from, but Tiger Claw growled. Tiger Claw's growl made Cosmo completely silent. Wanda rolled her eyes.

"No, Cosmo. I think he's Russian." Wanda corrected. She wasn't the best in Earth terms, but she tried.

"You guys can stop disguising yourselves now. You guys don't have a connection with Fairy World," Timmy added quietly. Cosmo and Wanda reappeared above Timmy, which caused Donatello to turn around in surprise. Tiger Claw would be a little more shocked, but he's seen far worse when he was traveling through various worlds.

The group wandered inside of Donatello's lair. It was messy, but there were still some reminders of before the invasion. Pizza boxes covered the floor, the television was broken, video game cases were strewn about, and Donatello's brother's DVD collection lay within a ripped teddy bear.

"Whoa, what are all these tapes?" Timmy questioned. It made Donatello jump to him and gently hold up one of the tapes, which had a stain of pizza on it.

"Well, we didn't exactly have cable, and Splinter had to find something to keep us entertained. My brother Mikey loved these superhero tapes." Donatello explained.

"You have brothers?" Timmy questioned. He stared at Donatello's bo staff, which Donatello held close.

Unfortunately, before Donatello could get a chance to explain, the crazy little robot he had rushed and gave Donatello a tight hug around his legs. Donatello felt incredibly shocked to see the little robot. He was more advanced and detailed-looking than the robots Donatello would make with trash and scraps he found in the New York Junkyard. Despite GIR's simplistic design, he had plenty of details across his body and a symbol that looked alien. Donatello fought aliens, of course, but had never seen a symbol similar to GIR's.

"Do you want to be my friend, talking frog?!" GIR exclaimed. He looked up while still hugging Donatello's legs. Donatello was curious to see what was inside GIR's head and do further examination, but his excitement faded when he remembered the world was close to ending. Unfortunately, time stops for nobody.

"Sure, I'll be your friend, little guy. At least for as long as the world is still here." Donatello commented, the second part a little quieter than the rest.

"Don't you have to get something shiny from the turtle, child?" Tiger Claw towered over Timmy's shoulder with a tight growl of a beast. Timmy briefly forgot that Tiger Claw had low patience for everyone and that Tiger Claw preferred to get the job done rather than chat.

"Shouldn't we be going? Don't you have to get something shiny from the turtle, child?" Tiger Claw tapped Timmy's shoulder with a small growl. Tiger Claw had low patience for everything and everyone, although he could have been more clinical than some people. Tiger Claw preferred to get the job done rather than chat.

"So... Donatello, could you lend me the blue crystal that's here? It's supposed to be powerful." Timmy posed the question and waited patiently for a response. Timmy heard Cosmo doing a small bit of whistling, which sharply contrasted with the gravity of the situation. Donatello nudged GIR slightly away and gestured for the group to follow him. They walked through the lair towards an open door that revealed a laboratory that was decorated in purple. Donatello's lab was a little messy and more of a workshop rather than a full laboratory like most scientists would have. GIR was surprised and audibly gasped while Timmy and his fairies stared in awe at the workshop. The toolbox was the first thing on the desk he saw, and he noticed a little writing on it. "Mikey, do NOT TOUCH!" Timmy read it and was curious about who that could be. While there was a ticking clock that loomed over them, Timmy had a lot of questions about Donatello.

"I'm going to the Dojo," Leatherhead added as he left the lab; his footsteps left a bit of a rumble. He also had an upset feeling in his stomach, but he ignored it. Tiger Claw joined him by his side, but instead of heading to the dojo, Tiger Claw stood in the middle of the lair.

"Uh... Your lab is kind of-"

"A dump? Yeah, I know. I should clean it, but the world is going to end anytime now." Donatello added. He pulled open a drawer from the desk and his fingers held a photo that bounced off the light. He waited for a second and showed it to Timmy while Cosmo and Wanda floated above him and also gazed into the photo.

"Oh, are those your brothers? You mentioned a brother. I didn't think you'd have three." Timmy commented, "A group of turtles? That must be a slow day." Cosmo added.

"We were a team. A team of teenage mutant ninja turtles." Donatello added.

"Who's the tall rat?"

"Oh, that's our father. He raised us since we were baby turtles and taught us ninjutsu." Donatello explained with a smile.

"Whoa, I was certainly not expecting any of that."

Timmy watched Donatello

Timmy watched and stumbled back a little bit, letting Donatello pull himself off the ground.

"I miss you guys and Master Splinter," Donatello uttered while placing the picture on top next to him and turning to Timmy.

As the light danced across Leatherhead's snout, his gaze fixated on the floor of the dojo, where a multitude of crimson stains had been splattered, the vivid color leaping out at him. Leatherhead's mind churned, contemplating the type of fierce battle that could have left such an unusual and messy mark on the training area. His thoughts wandered to the scattered metallic weapons lying near the farthest wall, their presence adding to the air of mystery and potential danger in the room.

Donatello's room had undergone a dramatic transformation since his family fell. Before, it was just a place for relaxation, but now it had been converted into an extension of his laboratory. The once familiar furniture was now pushed to the sides, making way for various tools and equipment, while the bookshelf was overflowing with books on physics, equations, and nature. There were a couple of comic books lying on the floor. Amidst the chaos of the makeshift lab, a blue crystal stood out, its vibrant color adding a touch of mystery to the otherwise messy space.

"I'm guessing that's the power source you need?" Timmy nodded and hastily sprinted through the room to reach for it. Pulling it free from its connected wires, Timmy retrieved the source of Donatello's remaining power. He'd normally be freaking out, but when he lost his family and the world was about to end, it didn't matter to him anymore. There was hardly anything that phased him, he only sought interaction and friendliness from someone who wasn't Leatherhead or Tiger Claw. Thankfully, GIR provided him with a little bit of warm comfort from the hug he gave him. Donatello appreciated it, but now it was time for action.

"Awesome!" Timmy's voice sprang out through the dim room, the only light source being the floating crowns above Cosmo and Wanda's head. Despite losing their magic, the crowns still admitted some light, and they still sometimes disguised themselves just out of habit for having done it for so long.

"Sorry about the lights, Don. I promise I'll make it right so this future doesn't happen." Timmy stated something that Donatello immediately understood; through his years as a ninja and protector of New York City, he had faced similar choices. Cosmo appeared in front of GIR with a happy poof and instantly alerted him to the discovery of the crystal.

"So, are these little guys aliens? Timmy's sole goal right now was getting out of the sewer and getting back to Zim. He was hoping the Voot Cruiser wasn't found by any of the goo monsters.

"Yeah, they're my best friends and from another planet, don't worry about it," Timmy answered with a shrug.

"Well, that's not the strangest thing I've seen with my brothers."

Donatello's and Timmy's quiet stroll was interrupted by a horrific howl. Donatello easily indicated it was coming from the dojo, and Donatello's hand tightened around Timmy's arm, pulling him along towards the dojo.

"Leatherhead? What's wrong?" Tiger Claw asked. While Cosmo and GIR stood in confusion, seeing the burly mutated alligator start to cough repeatedly and fall to the ground, he was losing his strength and himself to the ground. GIR's eyes thankfully had a built-in flashlight setting that he could do anytime he wished. The blue-cyan light gave a clear view of Leatherhead struggling. Tiger Claw wanted to get closer, but he was extremely hesitant. Tiger Claw had a hunch that it was about to get worse.

"I can feel it... I can hear him." Leatherhead had just managed to utter the words. Timmy and Donatello shared the confusion, but Donatello was more concerned about Leatherhead than the others; he cautiously began to approach the shaking alligator. Leatherhead's arms were the first part of his body to become swollen, it increased by the second with an orange hue. Donatello and Timmy immediately saw the color orange start to show and knew he was about to turn.

"Go... Please go now!" Leatherhead pleaded with the last bit of willpower he had left; it was causing him intense pain, and he could feel himself becoming a puppet. He was losing control of his body, it was hard even to say anything. The goo from his stomach started to build up and cause an uproar. Leatherhead, unfortunately, after chomping down on so many goo creatures, has caused him to become infected. Tiger Claw started to back away as his hand shook, grabbing his pistol with blue highlights from his pouch.

"No... Leatherhead, not you too!" Donatello complained as he noticed Leatherhead's entire upper head become infested with a wad of goo. The goo started to slide down his back to his tail, it was probably going to mutate it, but the blue eye above his head was growing as well.

"I'm sorry, Donatello... It was an honor being your friend in this tragic time." Leatherhead knew these were the last words he could say before fully submitting to the goo. Donatello was swell with so many emotions going through his head. He lost so much, and now he was going to lose one of the few friends he still had. Donatello wasn't exactly sure if he would have time to grieve, but there wasn't time to worry about that now.

The orange substance covered his vision; the only part of his head that wasn't full of goo was his mighty jaw. Goo stained his arms and dripped from his tail, as there was a series of orange spikes going down his back and ending at his tail. Timmy grabbed Donatello's shoulder and yanked him backward before Leatherhead's jaw could chomp his facial region. Timmy began panicking, and sweat was dripping down his forehead. GIR started to back away as well.

"Sorry about Leatherhead, but it's time to move, Don!" Timmy pulled Donatello and GIR through the lair, their footsteps echoing in the tunnel as they approached the sliding doors. Just as they were about to reach them, the doors opened automatically, and Timmy, Donatello, and GIR barely managed to catch themselves before falling through. The only sound that broke the silence was Cosmo's panicked screaming, and they suddenly heard a deep, monstrous growl that sent chills down their spines. It was a sound they had never heard before, except for their terrifying encounter on the surface.

"Something tells me he's going to eat us! I don't even taste that good!" Cosmo's voice shrilled as Tiger Claw stood a little back from the group, blue and red lasers illuminated the subway tunnel briefly as they made contact with Leatherhead's body.

"I think we should focus on running away from the alligator, Cosmo." Timmy's voice sounded distressed, and he didn't look back at all. The red hue of the subway only made the situation more intense. Leatherhead was trailing behind them, and it was scarier hearing how thunderous his stomping was. Without a moment to spare, GIR raised his head high and sprinted in front of Timmy easily. Perhaps GIR was going to be useful.

"GIR, could you track where the Voot Cruiser is?! I forgot!" GIR squealed and made a small bit of laughter. GIR was fleeing for his life like the rest of them, but always had to chuckle at any situation.

"Okay! But only for you!" GIR's nonsense showed again as the group continued running through the red hues of the sewer. Just one more turn, and they'd make it successfully out of the subway, but the situation didn't feel any less dire. The chase felt more intense with every step closer they'd taken.

"We need to rush! I'm running low on ammo!" Tiger Claw roared as he gazed at his blue pistol for a second and realized it wasn't firing any more icy projectiles. He was running out of options to defend himself. Tiger Claw's belt only housed a couple of grenades as a last resort.

"Do you have anything left in that belt of yours?!" Donatello asked while harrowingly avoiding a chomp from Leatherhead. This is the rare time when Donatello has to run for his life in this dystopian future. Every step had panic increasing. Tiger Claw's hand reached around the sides of his belt and felt nothing but small circular items. He clutched it and held it up to his face before realizing it was the last three smoke bombs he still had. He completely forgot that he had smoke bombs. He hasn't used them for a good while.

"Nothing useful besides a couple of smoke bombs." Tiger Claw responded while grabbing a smoke bomb and tossing it behind him, he looked back briefly to notice the smoke bomb landed directly inside of Leatherhead's mouth.

"And that's a perfect shot." GIR pointed towards the stairs leading out of the subway tunnel. Leatherhead chased them and almost chomped one of them, but thankfully, the smoke bomb started to make him feel disoriented. However, just to be safe, Tiger Claw threw another one directly in front of the blue eye resting above Leatherhead's snout. The eye had tears slowly starting to flow as it was blinking rapidly. Tiger Claw formed a devious grin on his face, seeing the eyeball collapse to the subway tracks right below Leatherhead's jaw.

"Well, that was something I never want to experience again," Timmy said while they all agreed in unison.

"So I'm guessing this means that we're coming along with you, child?" Tiger Claw asked while Timmy bit his tongue; he didn't exactly consider it, but under the circumstances, he might have.

"I guess unless you wanna stay here and rot," Timmy answered. Donatello immediately stepped in front of Tiger Claw, directly into Timmy's face. Donatello didn't want to be alone anymore; he was drowning in enough sorrow before Timmy arrived, and he was the only sense of hope that he had in a while. Donatello and Tiger Claw shared a feeling of despair and crippling sadness just being cooped up in the sewer with nobody to talk to or even return to. Everyone they knew was either dead, missing or a puppet controlled by the goo. The whole lair and subway tunnel in general was an echo chamber of bad memories and a despairing atmosphere.

"Well, I don't know about you, Tiger Claw, but I'd rather join Timmy than have a second encounter with Leatherhead and his array of sharp teeth," Donatello said. Tiger Claw's cold gaze revealed his decision to join Timmy's group without him having to say a word. The gruff exterior and stoic demeanor were constant for the gruff mutant, and made a stoic nod.

"Very well. Then take us to your ship." Tiger Claw crossed his arms and waited for GIR to continue leading the way ahead of them. Timmy noticed GIR was the first to stagger carefully up the stairs leading to the surface; the goo monsters appeared to be absent, but a creepy feeling remained. It was almost as if GIR was being watched. GIR noticed a familiar sound, something he'd heard before in the most ridiculous ways possible.

"The coast is clear, but I don't see any muffins, aww," GIR sadly responded, resulting in the usual eye-roll from everyone else who heard him. The little robot didn't exactly have a stomach, but had a hungry feeling to him. Timmy started to hear a buzzing-like sound, almost as if something was creeping near them.

"Does anyone else hear a buzzing sound? It's annoying." Timmy's eyes scanned the street in front of them, it consisted of the usual goo flowing everywhere, brutes roaming around in the distance, and goo dripping from above.

"I hear it as well, it's coming from above us." Tiger Claw pointed out. The noticeable bonus of being a mutated tiger was that he had an increased sense of hearing and could notice noises better than any human could. GIR looked upwards and scratched the side of his head, he got distracted seconds later by a destroyed car with a broken headlight.

"GIR, stop! There's a monster near that car!" Donatello pointed out while sticking closely behind Timmy and Tiger Claw, desperately trying to sneak through the goo and remain undetected to get to the Voot Cruiser.

"But, I'm hungry!" GIR exclaimed, the squeaky voice was already starting to draw unwanted attention, and GIR's voice started to scream louder as he felt a grip against his arms. Donatello and Tiger Claw already had a feeling who was making the noise. GIR's body was hanging above them, being held up by a large, disgusting, mutated humanoid flying monster. The sight was all too familiar to Donatello and Tiger Claw.

"Of course, it had to be Stockfly..." Donatello said while Tiger Claw immediately had a strike of anger, he suddenly remembered all the whiny and annoying noises that Stockfly would make when he was on a mission with him before the invasion started.

"And, I thought he couldn't get any uglier. I guess I was wrong." Tiger Claw commented as Timmy rushed ahead and attempted to scan the ground for anything he could throw at the flying target holding GIR in its vicious claw. Cosmo also panicked, feeling a huge wave of anxiety as he saw his new best friend held aloft like a ragdoll. GIR continued to struggle while retaining a blank expression on his face. Normally, GIR would panic, but he had already gotten bored with that and waited for something to happen. GIR only had one hand free, but was too bored and starving to free himself.

Stockfly grumbled in a distorted voice with an audible bit of buzzing spewing out of his mouth whenever he made any movements with the abnormally large tooth in the center of it. Donatello was thinking of a plan, he normally thought of a plan before acting, but Timmy didn't quite do the same thing, after a few seconds of sporadically finding something off the ground, he grabbed two empty, crushed soda cans and threw them at Stockfly, thankfully he didn't hit GIR at all, but GIR caught one with his other hand and ate one immediately.

"Hey, you're throwing soda cans! Ooh, that reminds me of throwing them at Jorgen and-" Cosmo's voice was cut off as Timmy laughed and felt an incredible wave of satisfaction after tossing a soda can directly into Stockfly's head. The blue eyeball above Stockfly narrowed and waited for a second before commanding Stockfly to attack.

"Uh, not to spoil the parade, Sport... But we got company!" Wanda's voice rang out with panic. Timmy noticed the orange slimy brutes were approaching him at a swift speed. Timmy thought fast and noticed they were about to be surrounded soon.

"Cosmo and Wanda, I need a shield and sword again!" Timmy made a small smirk as he held his green shield high above his head and his pastel pink sword to his side. Timmy grinned and readied himself for any oncoming attack, fortunately, he was about to put his reflexes to good use.

"I'll take care of Stockman. I urge you two to clear a path so GIR can take you back to your ship." Tiger Claw said as he ducked and before Stockman's wings could carry him away, Tiger Claw grabbed his leg and forcefully yanked GIR out of his slimy claw. GIR went skidding across the street over Timmy's head and shook his head. GIR took a second to adjust himself and point toward the direction of the Voot Cruiser. The Voot Cruiser was close, but not close enough for them to directly sprint towards it and avoid the barrage of monsters shortly arriving.

"The taco is that way! I think." GIR waited for Donatello and Timmy to follow him. Timmy sliced through various brutes as Donatello held some of them back with his lengthy bo staff. Timmy noticed that GIR was just a few meters away from his side. He was about to stand there idly, but that was put to a halt after Timmy yelled towards the robot. Timmy stopped for a minute and glanced at GIR quickly.

"GIR, duty mode! Attack the glob monsters!" GIR's cyan eyes shifted into a bright red color as he stood in front of Timmy and various laser weapons, one rocket launcher with four rockets and a piece of a slice of moldy pizza erupted from his head. There were smallish explosions making contact with the goo monsters, causing the goo to temporarily ooze into a melted puddle, and so did the brutish monsters as well.

"Wait, where's Tiger Claw?!" Donatello's attention left Timmy and immediately diverted to Tiger Claw's leg in the air, and was about to make a forceful impact against Stockman's wings. Stockman's wings weren't extremely durable, but strong enough to take some strength unless it was repeated strikes.

"I've always wanted to clip your wings." Tiger Claw proceeded to stomp on Stockman's mutated wings repeatedly. mutated veins, a little bit of bluish liquid, and orange substances popped out of his body as well. There were a few traces of mutagen still pumping through Stockman's veins. Tiger Claw remembered all the times Stockman would obsessively make buzzing noises, tease him, and overall annoy his colleagues when Shredder or Rahzar wasn't looming over his shoulder. The blue-colored eye hovering over Stockman's went limp and rested on the ground with little movement. Tiger Claw embraced his triumph, however, it was abruptly stopped.

"Tiger Claw, look out!" Donatello tried to warn the angry tiger and watched three incoming brutes starting to stomp over towards Tiger Claw before goo started to flow near him as well. Tiger Claw kept his distance while getting ready to put up the best fight he possibly could. Tiger Claw felt like he was in a cage of goo with the lights dimming down by the minute, and with every footstep, he got angrier. Timmy accidentally backed into Donatello, there was an army of imp-sized goo monsters approaching him like an army of zombies getting ready to feast.

"GIR, do you have the crystal?!" GIR snapped out of his rage-induced defense mode and swiftly turned to Timmy while he idly held his pastel pink sword by his side.

"We have an opening, let's move! Quick, before the goo spawns more monsters!" As Donatello placed his order, Timmy spun around to see Tiger Claw battling a pair of brutes. Despite having a gash on his arm, he remained steadfast. Tiger Claw fought the stinging sensation on his arm and growled.

"Tiger Claw, come on, we've got a few seconds before the monsters regenerate!" Timmy called out loudly. GIR watched in horror as Tiger Claw attempted to reach them, but felt his wounded arm get tugged by the orange goo monster, and another brute began to stomp closer to him. Tiger Claw tried to block the incoming punch against his chest, but huffed as he slid his leg underneath the brute in front of him. he watched the gooey brute fall to the ground while the other brute held Tiger Claw's wounded arm.

"Timmy, we've got three seconds until they regenerate!" Donatello remained him; he held his bo staff tightly against his side as the goo swiftly regenerated.

"Go, just go! I can buy you time to escape!" Tiger Claw exclaimed. Tiger Claw's leg swiftly pushed forward, making an impact against the brute in front of him. the brutish monster landed against another monster but soon began to merge into a bigger glob that was about to tower over Tiger Claw. There was no getting around it or above it, the mass of goo turned into a bigger blob of goo that was about to engulf him. Tiger Claw tried to wrestle his way out of the blob of goo surrounding him. He slowly tried to swipe at the blue eyeball that stared at him, it pained him to see it was just out of his grasp, and he made the loudest roar he could before the blob almost swallowed him up to his neck.

"Go save the world, GO!" Tiger Claw cried, Timmy, Donatello, and GIR ran for their lives from the thousands of small imp-sized goo monsters sprinting after them. It was too late to say goodbye, and just one glance back would be futile.

"Quick, get in!" Timmy cried. He slammed the Voot Cruiser's windshield shut as splotches of orange goo splattered against it, creating a multitude of smudges that quickly obscured the entire windshield. The situation was getting dire; any minute now, the windshield could be broken, and the goo would reach them.

"Yay! We're going to die!" GIR turned his attention towards Donatello in front of him who was freaking out, he was more panicked than he had been in a while. Timmy's fingers bounced through the buttons to make the Voot Cruiser lift off into the air. He came too far to stop now and was doing everything he possibly could to escape the situation.

"Could you possibly start the thrusters so we can take off?!" Donatello hollered at Timmy in pure desperation. Timmy ignored what Donatello was yelling.

"Don't you think I'm trying?!" Timmy said as his finger forcefully crushed the purple button that started the thrusters. The goo started to slide and flow off the Voot Cruiser's windshield, the small gooey imps started to whimper and screech as the Voot Cruiser was quickly escaping their reach. The blob of goo stretched itself over to where the dozens of imps were and started absorbing them, which caused the blob to get bigger.

"Uh... I think we've got bigger problems, guys." Cosmo's eyes got cartoonishly big and started to tremble as he and Wanda cuddled each other and we were almost frozen with complete fear. Donatello's head appeared above Timmy's shoulder. Timmy was focused on the way in front of him, instead of worrying about what Cosmo was talking about. Cosmo was the first one to see the large blob approaching then.

"I don't want to alarm you, but there's a large monster behind us!" Donatello screeched. There's so much wrong, and anything could happen. The giant blob slowly tried to reach for them, it was failing, and with every failure, it tried to regenerate itself to reach higher. Donatello started to panic again. The only one who wasn't panicking was GIR, he was patiently waiting for what was about to happen next.

"You don't think I know that?!" Timmy responded, flustered. Timmy slammed his hand against the button that would activate the hologram to contact Zim if they needed something. The button was slammed, and the hologram showcased the interior of red and purple. Timmy heard grumbling, he knew the grumbling meant Zim would be annoyed about something and probably immediately ask him about the crystal they needed.

"Zim?! How do you activate the weapons on this thing?!" Timmy exclaimed as loudly as possible, Zim's eye spotted GIR waving towards him with a smile. Zim groaned and reluctantly explained to Timmy before asking him a question that Timmy already knew.

"The button for weapons is on the left side of the keyboard, it'll provide missiles over the dashboard. Do you have the crystal, human?!" Zim's eyes locked onto Timmy's face before scanning for the crystal anywhere in the Voot Cruiser. Zim was confused as he noticed the humanoid turtle sitting in the back of the Voot Cruiser next to GIR.

"Yes, I got the crystal, I'm on my way back now!" Timmy shouted while his finger connected against the side button on the keyboard, like Zim said, Timmy finally took a sigh of relief as he pressed two more buttons to lock onto the blob monster. Donatello, GIR, Cosmo, and Wanda stared out the window on the side of the Voot Cruiser as the massive blob monster sank into the ground, overlapping colors of orange and blue melting into a puddle. The grossest and most orangish puddle each of them had ever witnessed.

Donatello and the rest of the group sighed a large sigh of relief from the destroyed New York City. It was one of the most grueling places Timmy had ever been to. He wouldn't want to be here if mutants were also roaming around the place, especially if they were harmful and dangerous.

Membrane City - Zim's Underground Base

"Excellent. Now wait a few minutes, and the turtle creature should place the crystal inside my time machine, for you to return home should be activated. Zim appreciates the items you have gotten, human." Zim turned his back on the child and knew it was about time to activate the Megadoomer. Zim wanted to leave everyone there and make his final step against Globulous. Donatello introduced himself a few minutes prior and explained how he was the smartest of his brothers and had a little bit of experience in alien technology himself. He spent two years fighting against alien robots and hacking some of their machinery with his brothers in the past. Zim didn't care much for anything else around him and got ready to crawl inside the Megadoomer.

"GIR, this will probably be our last encounter. I always hated you." Zim partly wanted to make GIR self-destruct, but he didn't care enough. Zim carelessly got into the Megadoomer and got ready to test the thrusters in a minute before stomping his way through the hall to reach the room where the Voot Cruiser resided. He was going to complete his mission, and nothing would stop him from trying. He was going to prove his strength, despite not being able to see Zim, he knew his Tallest would probably be proud of him. Although the Tallest were pretty selfish, Zim never picked up on that.

"Aww, I'll miss you, Master." GIR's eyes started to swell, and he tucked his head into his arms. The robot looked visibly shaken. The rest of the group was staring in confusion. GIR instantly got distracted again, and he watched the Megadoomer move. GIR's thoughts immediately went to chicken legs again with every step the Megadoomer took. Timmy approached Zim's Megadoomer and posed a question. Zim shifted his position and adjusted the window before him to gain a clear view ahead.

"So this is it, huh? I guess uh... Thanks for helping me, Zim." Timmy uttered, Zim's eyes narrowed, but he still retained the careless attitude and gave a sharp answer while the Megadoomer's footsteps shook the whole base.

"Eh, whatever. Listen to me closely, human. I helped you, and you better stop this from happening! You better!" Zim's voice rang inside Timmy's skull.

"What's going on? It sounds like multiple explosions." Cindy quickly took a few steps back and avoided the large red mech stomping past her and Carl. Carl started to whimper, he felt a little uneasy just seeing the large mech. Cindy began approaching Timmy and felt a few butterflies in her stomach.

"Oh hey, Cindy. I didn't see you and Carl walk in." Timmy replied as Carl felt a little numb, anxiety was growing inside of his stomach as he had a worrying feeling that something terrible was going to happen.

"I hate to say it, guys... But I got a bad feeling." Carl interrupted everyone. Donatello continued investing in Zim's old time machine, he tampered with the small space inside of it. Zim completely left the building, the Voot Cruiser remained, but he abandoned it to take on Globulous. The group, besides Donatello, stared at the monitor that showcased Globulous and the Megadoomer. The Megadoomer was getting closer to Globulous, it was either going to be a short battle or a long one, and miraculously, the Megadoomer would defeat Globulous.

"ALERT: INCOMING INTRUDERS!" The aggressive voice echoed through the base, startling everyone, and Carl's anxiety spiked, causing him to jerk and get closer to Timmy. Timmy started running towards the camera that provided an aerial view of the lawn, with Zim's robotic gnomes and Roboparents resting outside the door; they both were the last lines of defense in case the goo monsters got through. Timmy's eyes locked onto the incoming barrage of brutes and flowing goo, slowly reaching the lawn gnomes. The lawn gnomes fired as many lasers as possible and only shot a couple of brutes before being engulfed by the wave of flowing goo.

"I got a transmission from my master!" GIR shouted, Timmy turned his attention towards GIR as a holographic screen stuck up from his head, showing Zim's face inside the Megadoomer.

"Attention, humans! He's sending his minions to reach all of you! I'm holding him off the best I can, but be prepared and send the bucktooth child to the past, already!" Zim's voice just barely made it through the speaker, the Megadoomer's comms became jammed afterward, and his screen disappeared as well. GIR pointed towards the camera again, and Timmy stared in horror to see the brutes had already destroyed the Roboparents. The flowing orange substance was making its way into Zim's house and slowly attempting to reach the underground base, it'd take it a minute or two to fully get it.

"Donatello is the crystal placed inside the time machine yet?!" Timmy hollered, Donatello wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead, and took a few seconds to reply properly.

"I'm on it! There are numerous circuits to navigate to prevent the crystal from colliding with the wrong wire!" Donatello increased his pace, meticulously moving as swiftly as possible without causing the crystal to snag on the circuits. The crystal needed to be delicately positioned inside the machine while connected to a wire that dangled loosely above his hand.

Timmy shifted his attention and looked through the camera of the base; the entire lawn was now filled with orange goo that bubbled as well. Timmy got more worried seeing more monsters start to emerge from the goo and slowly stomp their way through the house's door.

"Guys, the goo is starting to get closer, I can feel it drip on my hand!" Carl panicked while wiping the goo on the floor, it was any second now that the goo would fully break through the ceiling of the base and start flowing in like lava. GIR was exactly underneath the oncoming orange substance breaking through the ceiling, numerous goo drips started to fall above his head, and GIR didn't pay attention in the slightest. GIR continued to not pay attention, but unfortunately, that was shortly put to a halt as GIR's body disappeared into a large pile of goo oozing from the ceiling. The goo successfully made its way through the base, glass, and other pieces of metallic technology dropped from the ceiling, making a large pile of debris underneath the flowing goo.

"Any second now, Don!" Timmy said as he backed away from the flowing goo. Carl and Cindy joined him and stood close to him, they were running out of space quickly.

"Just one more second!" Donatello responded after he wiped his sweat again. he closed the panel and dashed in front of the portal to see if it showed a blue light. The machine started to activate behind them, and the machine emitted a blue hue. They and Timmy shared a smile on his face. Unfortunately, Donatello felt a tug on his bo staff, which was strapped to his back, and attempted to throw it, but before he could, his legs got stuck inside the orange oozing goo. The goo stopped for a second to engulf the mutated turtle. Donatello gave a thumbs-up motion before being swallowed by the orange-flowing goo. Carl was about to be swallowed next, Cindy attempted to grab his arm and pull him out, but the goo's overwhelming strength easily overpowered her.

Timmy stumbled up the stairway leading to the time machine's portal. There were only ten seconds left before the portal would disappear and Timmy would be trapped there forever. Cindy noticed he was about to enter, but gave him a quick hug before Timmy made contact with the blue portal. Timmy returned the warm embrace for a second before instantly jumping through the blue portal, with Cosmo and Wanda following him as well.

"Goodbye, Timmy... Good luck." Cindy felt her leg make contact with the goo. She watched Timmy jump into the portal, and the machine's blue light disappeared as soon as he entered. She hoped that he could change all of this and this horrible future.


LOCATION UNKNOWN?

Timmy began to freeze in motion, as if in a trance. Everything seemed blurry to him, he couldn't make out what was in front of him or even behind him. He felt like he was swimming in space. Cosmo and Wanda also seemed equally confused as he did.

"Hey, when did we get these medallions around our necks?" Timmy questioned, and he felt even more confused and uneasy. The void they were in felt cold and was a weird mix of black and white. Timmy desperately wanted to escape and not be frozen in time or whatever he was, but had no idea where to go or even if Cosmo and Wanda's magic would work here.

"So are we dead? Because if we are, I thought it'd be warmer and happier." Cosmo's eyes locked onto a glowing green portal that appeared in front of them. They couldn't move at all to get close enough, but they shared an uneasy feeling just staring at it. The first object that passed through the portal was a staff that had a clock on the very top of it; the body of the staff was gray, while the very bottom was pitch black. The trio's eyes widened to notice a specter with a purple cloak covering his entire body. The only visible parts of his skin were his face and the ghostly tail that was flowing below him.

"So are you going to hurt us? You look like a bad guy." Timmy said while the ghost chuckled before responding. The ghost's red eyes didn't help either, but he was eager to assist Timmy before having to return to his regular schedule of observing Danny and other ghosts.

"I gave you those medallions, don't take them off, and follow me through this portal if you wish to return home." Timmy didn't have much of a choice, it was a little tough swimming through the vastness of a void. Timmy went to space but didn't like having to swim through it to move. Cosmo and Wanda's wings gave them an easier time moving through the void, and Cosmo helped Timmy enter through the portal. The green portal was more unnerving than Zim's time machine; the green aura it had was like a ghost phasing through his body. He didn't want to go through any more portals after this.

"Whoa... This place looks like it's the stuff of nightmares." Timmy said. The ghost normally would agree, but he'd been there for thousands of years, it was practically his home now, and the large clock on the wall allowed him to see through anywhere he wished.

"So what's your name, and why are you helping me?" Timmy questioned, and Cosmo and Wanda flew closely towards him. This place looked terrifying, and they didn't want to wander too far in case something attacked them or worse.

"Child... I saved you because you were about to be displaced outside of time. I see all the twists and turns of time. I'm the ghost of time, and I noticed you were about to be forever stuck outside of time, and I saved you to return you to your own time."

"Uh... Thanks. I guess you met Danny Fenton?" Timmy waited for a response as his eyes scanned through all the various artifacts resting inside the ghost's lair, floating dark green gears littered the outside, and a staircase led to the very top of his lair, which rested a giant clock.

"Yes, I've helped the Ghost Boy on multiple occasions. I'm Clockwork, and I'll send you back if you're ready to go." Timmy was still a little uneasy but felt a little better hearing that Clockwork would assist him; it was still an overly strange experience, though.

"Oh, I'm definitely ready to go home," Timmy responded, which made Clockwork make a small chuckle before activating his time portal.

"I'll send you back to your home... I urge you to be careful, however. Globulous had already started his invasion." Timmy got ready to assist in the invasion any way he could, although he'd probably have to contact AJ and Jimmy first to make sure that they knew he was okay. He knew his parents didn't give him much attention, but he still wanted to make sure they knew he was okay.


The Mawgu Lair - The Past

"What do you mean you, Timmy's stuck in the future?!" Jimmy's voice boomed through the hangar, and everyone else was doing their own thing or standing around waiting for something to do. Jimmy and Amarok, near him, were the two calling the shots for now. The first part of their mission was to find the piece of.

Thankfully, Amarok managed to activate an old computer, Jimmy added a sequence for it to scan the molecular structure and give them a weapon based on them with Mawgu technology. Amarok never used it unless it was a world-ending threat; he's incredibly protective of any Mawgu technology.

"Wait it scans your personality?! Ooh, I hope I get a chew toy!" Dudley was the first one to stand underneath the lamp and waited for the machine to activate the DNA sequence, the top of it was a lamp while the rest of it looked like a keyboard, after the scanning was complete a small platform extended from the top of it and revealed the weapon it generated for the user.

Dudley felt the purple light surround his body, and a tickling sensation was there. The scanning lasted for a second, and Dudley opened his eyes to notice a weapon in the shape of a gun, with a purple handle, a sniper scope, and a red button on the left side of the handle.

"Aw, man, I wanted a chew toy!" Dudley started to pout as he watched SpongeBob stand underneath it. SpongeBob made childish giggles as the purple light made contact with his soft skin, it was incredibly satisfying for him. SpongeBob's eyes grew open cartoonishly wide, and he gasped as a purple stick appeared. The stick had a net wrapped around it on the top, and shortly formed into a jellyfish net. The machine gave SpongeBob a magical jellyfish net with a purple texture and a button at the bottom of it.

"Whoa, it's a magical jellyfish net! Oh, thank you, Jimmy!" SpongeBob's arms wrapped around Jimmy in a tight, soft, warm embrace. Jimmy returned the embrace briefly before SpongeBob started playing with his new jellyfish net.

"Alright, who's next?" Jimmy asked while Amarok pressed various buttons on the keyboard, resting underneath the monitor. The technology looked a little old but it still worked like a charm.

"Jimmy, I appreciate the folks you have here to help, but we need more than just them. I'm trying to contact more people to help us."

Jimmy turned his attention towards Amarok and agreed. Although they had a couple of fighters and heroes, they needed more assistance.

"Okay, so we need more help. Who do you have in mind, guys?" Kitty spoke up, and Jimmy placed his hand underneath his chin and thought about it. A couple of the heroes were busy protecting innocent people, and some might have been missing or controlled by the goo.

"Well, I know some of you will not like this, but I think we might have to invite the Evil Syndicate!" Jimmy spoke up. Normally, Amarok would make the list, but he knew fewer people than Jimmy did. He was over a thousand years old, after all.

"What?! Why?! They're evil, I'd rather have Zim here than any of those jerks." Danny spoke up; he had too much experience with the Evil Syndicate that he cared for, and so did Jimmy, but there wasn't anyone else they could call.

"It's for a reason, Danny. We're low on help, and the more we stand here, the more time that the world's closer to ending!" Jimmy argued. Jimmy would invite Jenny Wakeman and El Tigre again, but both of them were heavily busy protecting their homes and dealing with monsters of their own.

"Jimmy's correct. You may not like it, but we don't have much choice. I say we stop wasting time and start tracking down pieces to the Vessel of Portentia!" Amarok exclaimed, his old whispery voice echoing through the entire hangar.

"What?!" Everyone said in unison that the new vessel was brand new, and Amarok only told people now, which was a little foolish, but he's ancient and tends to forget things, even like having to eat regularly to survive.

"Alright, settle down! Follow me and I'll show ya what I mean." Amarok waited impatiently for all of them to follow him. Kitty had her arms crossed, SpongeBob skipped gracefully as the others walked, and Squidward was nearing his boredom limit again.

The metallic door had a lever resting near it and had a purple hue to it. The door was larger than the lair itself, and there was a wide platform with scraps of metal resting on the floor. The partly constructed robot, with laser cannons, pitch-black eyes, scratched silver arms, and purple gauntlets, froze everyone on the platform in surprise.

Amarok pressed his wrinkly claw against the side of the robot's torso. The platform extended up to the head of the robot, but Amarok lowered it down to its chest for a special reason. After three pounds against the torso, the robot's stomach cavity revealed seven yellow spots that were missing various pieces for it to function.

"This old thing is about as old as me. I haven't used it in decades, but we can use it to stop this disgusting goo. However, the yellow spots are the robot's main power for it to function, and they're missing!" Amarok noticed everyone was still standing and admiring the massive robot in complete awe, it towered over everyone.

"Uhm... How do we find these pieces, Amarok?" Jimmy broke the silence that filled the room and heard a sigh from Amarok. The old crab was full of surprises. The suspense was killing some of them, but they all shared the motivation to get the pieces and stop the world from ending.

"You know, I thought you were just a wild, old, crazy crab, but... you're still crazy, but I like the robot!" Dudley interrupted the seriousness of the situation, and Amarok ignored him after urging them to follow him back to the hangar. The footsteps echoed through the room until the large doors slid open again. They officially had a better chance of fighting, and we will do the best we can.

"We've got a robot to repair! Now, which one of you wants to go to Bikini Bottom and find the first piece?" Amarok questioned while his claws danced through the various buttons on the keyboard, after the button mashing, the monitor revealed the current distressed state of Bikini Bottom.

"Oh no! I can't stand seeing Bikini Bottom like this, we've got to do something, Squidward!" SpongeBob's voice went from happy to a desperate plea of despair. SpongeBob felt like he was watching a tragedy unfold every second; it was killing him, and he wanted to get there to salvage it in any possible way he could. Squidward felt a little guilty for completely not caring, but didn't have enough energy to assist SpongeBob.

"Hm... I don't think I want to." Squidward responded and noticed SpongeBob's eyes grew cartoonishly wider, and tears started falling to the floor like a waterfall. Squidward didn't bother to look back, he had his eyes shut as he sighed.

"Hey, Squidward, what about your clarinet?!" SpongeBob's sentence spewed between his tears, he barely managed to get the words out enough to speak. he noticed Squidward became concerned for a moment, and Squidward thought about the goo destroying his home and the only thing he ever cared about, which brought him happiness in the depressing state of his life.

"What about the Krusty Krab?! What about your fabulous art?!" SpongeBob exclaimed in pure desperation. He's been practically begging Squidward to go along, but Squidward wouldn't budge at all.

"Whatever..." Squidward said as he went back to minding his own business. Before SpongeBob had a chance to sob again, he felt a familiar hand placed on his shoulder. Sandy noticed his eyes lit up with happiness and shared the smile that SpongeBob was starting to form.

"Aw, don't cry, SpongeBob. I'll go along with you to save Bikini Bottom. It's my home too, and my friends like you live there." SpongeBob eagerly watched Sandy stand underneath the computer as the purple light reflected off her pure white suit. Sandy had a smirk on her face, noticing that the computer gave her an upgraded set of her usual karate gear. The gear retained the green texture; however, it gave Sandy more strength than she'd usually have with her regular karate gear.

"Your gear should be stronger now, Sandy. Are you two ready to go?" Jimmy questioned, SpongeBob nodded along with Sandy standing close to him with a smirk and her tail pointed upwards in excitement.

"I'm ready, I'm ready! Let's go save Bikini Bottom!" SpongeBob eagerly waited for Sandy to join him near Jimmy's Mark II Rocket. It appeared to have been made from a lot of grimy metal junk and likely old possessions owned by Jimmy or his parents, or just anything he found. The entire body of the rocket lacked any paint besides the tail fin, which is painted yellow and has Jimmy's iconic atom symbol. The yellow atom piece with a red background was the logo of virtually anything created by Neutron Labs or Jimmy himself.

"You know how to pilot that thing, right?" Jimmy questioned; Amarok watched from a distance. Sandy nodded and knew the controls; she piloted a rocket similar to this one not too long ago. Although her rocket was a little bigger than the Mark II in every possible way. The controls and buttons retained the same layout, however. Before Sandy could place her finger on the button to activate the thrusters, he asked Jimmy a question.

"How come we're taking this rocket and not the blue, red, and yellow rocket you had?" SpongeBob questioned, and he glimpsed it when Jimmy used it to give Dudley, Kitty, Keswick, and Chief a ride back to Neutron Labs.

"That's one mostly for Neutron Labs. I use this as a spare." Jimmy waved goodbye, seeing the thrusters activate on the tail end of the rocket. Jimmy gave them one last reminder before they blasted off to start their mission.

"Amarok gave me this compass, it should lead you to the piece that's in Bikini Bottom." Sandy grabbed the compass from Jimmy and gladly stuck it on the front of the Mark II's dashboard. They were all set and ready to go, Jimmy stood a few steps back as the rocket started to fire up its engines.

Bikini Bottom - Jellyfish Fields

SpongeBob sat calmly in his seat, he was shaking a little, partly in excitement and partly in nervousness to return to the destroyed state of Bikini Bottom. Suddenly, the communicator on the front of the dashboard began beeping,

Sandy leaned forward and pressed the button. The telecom came to life with an image of Jimmy Neutron, while there was a little bit of chatter in the background. Jimmy appeared to check in on the duo; he knew Sandy was stern and ready for action, but SpongeBob was a complete wildcard.

"Jimmy, we made it to Bikini Bottom. It has seen better days. That's for sure." Sandy added that while she parked the Mark II Rocket, the sunlight gave off a bright view in front of them, they could all see the monsters, destroyed buildings, and the scared bikini Bottomites who weren't infected with goo were hiding in their houses. Sandy reached for her upgraded karate gear and adjusted it to fit her fists. SpongeBob leaped out and did a heroic pose while wielding his purple-colored magical jellyfish net. The net looked harmless, but it was full of surprises and lethal for monsters.

"I wish you luck, guys. Remember to get that piece of the Vessel of Portentia!" Sandy responded with a nod and turned her attention to SpongeBob, eagerly waiting to fight the goo monsters and save Bikini Bottom. Sandy pressed her hand against the communicator as the image of Jimmy disappeared.

"Also, remember that SpongeBob has a compass that can track the piece we need!"

"Sandy, I think Patrick's in trouble!" SpongeBob suddenly hollered. Sandy got concerned for a minute, she hadn't seen Patrick before this started, he was always with SpongeBob or resting underneath his rocky house. Squidward didn't bother to remember where he was, he tried to avoid Patrick every possible chance he got.

"How can you tell?" SpongeBob thought for a second before replying, he could suddenly feel a spark in his brain appear. SpongeBob remembered that before the whole goo invasion started, Patrick was last seen heading towards Goofy Goober's Ice Cream Party Boat. Patrick loved ice cream, it was one of the foods he'd consistently eaten. While SpongeBob was distracted by remembering the whereabouts of Patrick, she quickly snatched the compass from SpongeBob's hand.

"I remember he mentioned that he was heading toward Goofy Goober's Ice Cream Party Boat! Maybe he could help us!" SpongeBob said, Sandy normally wouldn't agree, but they didn't have much choice.

"Well, I guess we can try to find him, but remember we have to find the piece to the Vessel of Portentia, SpongeBob!" Sandy reminded him that SpongeBob knew but appreciated the remainder, regardless. Sandy held the compass and realized it was pointing towards the right side of Jellyfish Fields. They had to walk approximately 30 miles just to reach Goofy Goobers.

"Oh, I hope Patrick's alright, he's probably scared to death like the rest of Bikini Bottom." SpongeBob started sprinting as fast as he could through the fields, avoiding some stray jellyfish swimming in the air. There weren't too many goo monsters in Jellyfish Fields, but some goo puddles were resting in select spots of grass.

Sandy thought for a second, her treedome was probably shattered to pieces, but wouldn't mind taking a gander at it again. Sandy focused her vision on the endless stream of grass ahead of them. it didn't seem very far at a glance, but it was one hell of a walk to go through.

Goofy Goober's Ice Cream Party Boat

Normally, the ice cream parlor would be a sweet place to relax, have fun, and generally chill while eating ice cream with a buddy, but all of that changed today. Very few children huddled near Patrick; they all stood on the counter, and the remaining employees were too scared to leave the lounge even to investigate. The goo drowned the entire building floor, leaving only tables, chairs, and stools to float above the goo. The whole place was a mess of what it used to be. If there weren't any civilians there, it'd be quarantined and labeled as an infected zone.

"Oh, Neptune, help us!" Patrick's voice was a little sore from many screams of terror, he was carefully not trying to stumble off the counter. all the lights were dead except only a few flickering lights; the employee's lounge only retained a lamp as a light source.

"Hm, maybe this is a bad dream, I guess it must have been something I ate last night." Patrick figured all of this was a bad dream, he convinced himself that this was the only one he had yet to awaken from. Patrick raised his fist in the air, getting ready to slap himself. the surrounding children were confused but retained the terrified feelings.

"I wish my mommy was here!" The child started to wail, and soon the other children began as well. Shortly after Patrick joined them in the wailing, the whole place would probably be drowned with tears if there wasn't a sea of goo covering the floor.

"I want my mommy, too, Billy!" Patrick's eyes started to swell, but suddenly the crying ceased as the door to the ice cream parlor was broken open with a powerful kick.

"My name isn't Billy, it's Beth!" The kid replied, but Patrick ignored her, as his eyes grew wide and he had a small sense of relief to notice his two best friends were standing near the door and about to rescue him. Patrick felt a small sense of hope, He waited eagerly for SpongeBob to execute a series of jumps to reach him, his shoes landing precisely on the various tables and chairs. Sandy stood by, ready to assist in any way possible. SpongeBob had a reckless plan in mind; it was risky, but it might just work. Deep down, SpongeBob believed it would succeed, or at least, he hoped so. SpongeBob got close to Patrick and held his hand, and Patrick yanked SpongeBob a little closer so he didn't fall into the goo below him.

"Alright, Patrick... I need you to listen very carefully..." SpongeBob's voice trembled a little as he positioned himself near the edge of the counter they stood on. SpongeBob shifted his arms to have a little bit of extra muscle power; it took a chunk of his energy, but he used it to give himself some additional strength.

"Okay, my ears are perked and uh... hearing!" SpongeBob calmly concentrated on his breathing, preparing to use his small, elastic, squishy arms to lift the trio of children huddled around Patrick. They looked more frightened than ever, feeling like it could all be over at any moment. A sense of doom still lingered despite a glimmer of hope upon seeing SpongeBob.

"I need you to gently hold the child while I grab them and carefully stretch my arm over to Sandy. So don't do anything drastic and stick to the plan! Can you do that, buddy of mine?!" Patrick nodded, clutched his soft pink hand around the child, and waited for SpongeBob to hold the child gently.

"Oh, please don't drop me, Mister... I just wanna see my mommy!" SpongeBob heard the children plead and held them as gently as possible while his arms began stretching over the pool of goo below him. the child was scared, but SpongeBob's determination kept his strength up.

"Get ready to catch the children, Sandy!" SpongeBob shouted, Sandy's arms were raised, and she focused directly on SpongeBob's lead. SpongeBob got close to the scared duo of children and attempted to comfort them. They felt a small sense of relief that SpongeBob's strength held up enough to carry them to safety, despite one drop, and they would be doomed.

"Alright, kids... I hope you enjoy the ride!" SpongeBob's strength started to diminish a little bit, Sandy's arms just barely reached the scared children and SpongeBob's arms began to shake a little, thankfully after a second of shaking, Sandy caught the two children and kept her eye on them as they began to huddle around her in fear and a little bit of comfort.

"A ride?! Hey, I want a turn on the ride, SpongeBob!" Patrick got jealous instantly and tapped his short leg repeatedly in frustration. Sandy witnessed it and cringed, while SpongeBob had an awkward facial expression.

"Uh... You're next, Patrick!" SpongeBob triumphantly exclaimed. He grabbed his best friend and stretched his tired limbs over the pool of goo once again. he was noticeably heavier than the children he carried, but miraculously, SpongeBob still had enough strength to deliver Patrick to Sandy and not drop him to his demise.

"Sandy, are the children okay?!" SpongeBob questioned. SpongeBob was about to head back near the entrance to meet Sandy.

"They're safe and sound, SpongeBob! Are you coming?!" Sandy hollered, and Patrick stood close to her, watching SpongeBob still standing on the counter. SpongeBob caught a glimpse of two people through the small window that led to the employees' lounge. SpongeBob's hand knocked against the door and attempted to get the employees' attention. SpongeBob's voice sounded muffled through the window, but the two could barely make out his words.

"Hey, you two have to come out of there! I'm here to save you!" The employees heard him, but they still were cowering together in the room; they wouldn't open the door at all. They didn't have the willpower even to attempt an escape at all. SpongeBob didn't want to leave them alone in the parlor, so he scanned the wall before him to find a vent or anything he could squeeze through.

"I need you to wait there, Sandy! I'm trying to save two people stuck in here!" SpongeBob hollered as he quickly bent down, stretched his leg to the center of the vent, and kicked down the cover. SpongeBob took a deep breath before crawling through the vent. He was making a little bit of a racket, but managed to find an opening after a minute of crawling through the dirty vent. The employee drew a slightly puzzled look, widening his eyes and biting the inside of his right cheek as SpongeBob dropped in front of them from the vent and gave a friendly wave.

Before one of the employees could answer, a small cough came from one of them, and they didn't know how to react. They didn't expect to be saved by someone, actually, but introduced themselves while SpongeBob thought of a plan. SpongeBob could be a little dimwitted and oblivious at times, but it took him a minute to realize he could help them both get through the vent the same way he got inside.

"Well, I'm Harold, and this is Mark. So what are we going to do, SpongeBob?!" Harold panicked. Harold is a cyan-colored fish with light cyan arms and legs, purple spots, light pink lips, a dark blue fin, and black eyebrows. He wears a white shirt while his work uniform covers the rest of his body, and Mark's.

"I'm going to lift you both into that vent! You have to crawl through to get to the counter, and I'll carry you over the pool of goo!" SpongeBob noticed Harold and Mark shared a shrug, but they had no other choice. It was either go with SpongeBob or stay in the room until the goo pushes through the door and swallows them. SpongeBob placed himself underneath the vent while his arms were in front of them, waiting for Harold to step onto his hands to boost Harold into the vent.

"Alright, now it's your turn, Mark!" Mark took a deep breath before making the same motion as Harold and crawling behind him inside the vent. Thankfully, Harold knew the proper way to the counter after working at the parlor for so long, he'd used to clean the ducts as well before being promoted to serving food for the patrons. SpongeBob easily stretched his arm to get into the vent and shrank himself down to move past Mark and Harold. SpongeBob reshaped himself to normal and got ready to carry them both.

"Alright, we're almost out of here! I'll carry you guys over to the entrance where Sandy is!" SpongeBob reassured the duo as they took a deep breath before trusting SpongeBob. SpongeBob caught Mark's nod and carefully grabbed his arms as SpongeBob once again did his usual arm stretching as Sandy helped Mark to his feet. He did the same with Harold before jumping over various tables and escaping the goo-infested ice cream parlor.

"Good work, SpongeBob." SpongeBob nodded as Sandy complimented him. Sandy pulled out her compass and noticed they were slowly getting closer to the first piece of The Vessel of Portentia.

"Come on, guys! We seriously need to get moving!" Sandy said while she sighed at another building collapsing behind her. Patrick caught a glimpse of the compass that Sandy held in her hand and immediately got into her face to spout some information.

"Hey, that weird thingy on your watch! I saw Bubble Bass eat it!" Patrick's words made Sandy's face full of dread. She sighed again, after remembering Bubble Bass was the one who destroyed her treedome. SpongeBob turned his attention towards the recently collapsed building and fell to his knees after realizing that the store kept Gary's food.

"It's a compass and of course he did..." Sandy sighed while grabbing Patrick's arm, turning around to notice SpongeBob on his knees and wailing into the sky. He felt so crushed seeing the building fall to the ground.

"Noo! Not the Barg'N-Mart! That's where I get Gary's food from!" SpongeBob's voice cried before Sandy grabbed his arm and dragged him through the destroyed state of Bikini Bottom. They needed to find Bubble Bass, a major threat at about the same level as the goo.

"Aww, crap! We got some more company, boys!" Sandy stopped in her tracks to see more brutes block their path while a trail of orange goo broke up the street in front of them. It'd take a jump to get over it. Patrick's worry disappeared as he pointed towards a familiar store.

"SpongeBob, look! It's the Palace of Pranks! Ooh, we should go there after this goo thing ends!" Patrick suggested.

"That sounds fun, Patrick... But we've got bigger problems to worry about!" SpongeBob twirled his magical jellyfish net around himself and watched with glee as the goo monsters became bubbles and popped into thin air. Patrick was watching from behind, both mesmerized and terrified.

"Nice move, SpongeBob!" Patrick complimented his friend, and he turned around, and goosebumps appeared on Patrick's skin. Patrick started to mumble a little bit of gibberish in a panic, the orange goo melted a little over the head of the foe that was looming over Patrick. The former foe was once a supervillain who Patrick recognized from endless comic book reading and adventures with SpongeBob.

"Man Ray? You look different. Did you get a haircut?" Patrick didn't realize he was about to be in danger. Man Ray retained his red bodysuit, blue gloves, and boots, but the orange goo caught him and melted around his head while goo dripped from the visible hollow eyeholes his helmet would usually show. Man Ray couldn't respond all he did was gurgle up strange noises and approach Patrick slowly with his fist raised in the air, ready to strike. Patrick forcefully skidded across the sand as Sandy and SpongeBob were still fighting the brutes ahead of them.

They began to overwhelm Sandy and SpongeBob, and Patrick began to slowly stand up after coughing a little bit of sand out of his mouth. SpongeBob stopped fighting for a second and turned his attention towards Patrick. He quickly placed his hand on his head and tried to help Patrick off the sandy flooring.

Man Ray then positioned both his arms to strike down hard and fast on the duo strongly. SpongeBob held his magical jellyfish net in the other hand and successfully blocked Man Ray's attack while knocking him back a little.

"SpongeBob... Is it Sunday?" There was a wave of dread covering Patrick. SpongeBob turned his gaze to Sandy, who was barely holding off the brutes and the projectiles of goo they were firing. SpongeBob quickly tried to think of a way out of the dire situation. Patrick got back on his feet but was noticeably in pain. Even then, Patrick stood his ground, never averting his gaze from SpongeBob, who was still trying to think of a way to escape.

"SpongeBob, what are we going to do? We're surrounded and I don't want to get hit again!" Patrick noticed Sandy was about to be backed into SpongeBob; she was losing ground, and the trio were about to be sandwiched. SpongeBob's eyes lifted into the bright sunny sky, and suddenly a silhouette of a man appeared above them.

Mermaid Man psyched himself up and started up his signature whirlpool ability. He was going to save them one way or another.

"Do not worry, Sponge Kid and friends, I'll uh... Use my Raging Whirlpool power!" The elderly superhero made a heroic landing with his hands on his hips before throwing his arm in the air to summon a forceful whirlpool that pushed all the brutes and Man Ray a considerable distance away.

"Don't throw your back out, you old coot!" Barnacle Boy slowly walked near Mermaid Man while Mermaid Man was enjoying his triumph, despite his back hurting a little. SpongeBob and Patrick eagerly stared at each other with excitement before turning to Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy and starting to geek out.

"Patrick, we just got saved by the greatest heroes ever! This is one of the best days of my life!" SpongeBob jumped up and down repeatedly in pure excitement, Patrick did so as well, while Sandy was facepalming. However, that best day ever feeling wasn't going to last for long.

"I hate to rain on the parade, but we have to stop Bubble Bass from destroying Bikini Bottom before the piece reaches his stomach acid and gets dissolved!" Sandy grabbed Patrick and SpongeBob's hands as they both waved goodbye to their heroes.

"See you later... What's his name again?" Mermaid Man asked after he returned the goodbye wave. The orange goo stopped for now, but the monsters would return, eventually. Man Ray seemed to be slowly approaching them again at the slowest speed possible.

"SpongeBoy, I'm pretty sure. Eh, doesn't matter." Barnacle Boy and Mermaid Man stood idly in the center of the goo before they're eyes scanned the surroundings for more people to save or evil lurking around. They were getting ready to attack again at the slow-moving Man Ray.


The Krusty Krab

"Eww. It's the attack of the filthy foot slob!" The voice said below SpongeBob's foot. SpongeBob kneeled to notice Plankton below him with multiple bandages on his body, the Chum Bucket looked like a masterpiece compared to the destroyed state of the Krusty Krab.

"Aw, jeez, Plankton, what happened to you?" SpongeBob questioned, while Plankton leaped on top of his yellow hand, he grunted a little. He was going to explain to SpongeBob, but didn't want Bubble Bass to destroy it. Plankton dedicated a large portion of his life to running Krabs out of business, and he wasn't going to let a slob like Bubble Bass destroy Krabs and the Krusty Krab itself.

"That's not important right now, we have to stop Bubble Bass from eating the Krusty Krab! The secret formula is in there!" Plankton mostly wanted the secret formula, even in the current state of the world, he still wanted to know the secret formula to outshine Mr Krab's business and rub it in his face while being the richest in the sea.

"So, how are we going to get up there to reach him? None of us can fly, and he's about to eat the Krusty Krab!" Patrick panicked, SpongeBob held up his hand while Plankton stood strongly, he had just the plan for an occasion like this. Plankton held the small watch up to his mouth and contacted Karen for a brief moment.

"Karen, I need you to go into my laboratory and send the Air Plankton and make sure tartar sauce is loaded into it!" Plankton shouted over the small communication function on his watch, he noticed the Krusty Krab's large sign with the purple clam was already devoured by the gigantic Bubble Bass. Bubble Bass got ready for dessert which was the Krusty Krab. The Chum Bucket was the next target, and after that, anything massive he'd eat next.

"I'm sending it now. Don't disappear on me again, Plankton." Karen said she would normally be a little witty, but noticing the sheer screams of terror of various bikini bottomites and the monstrous roars of Bubble Bass, she did what Plankton commanded.

"Don't worry, Karen. I got a little assistance this time." Plankton said while he looked up in the sky along with Patrick, SpongeBob, and Sandy. The four of them stared at the medium-sized plane that had the same shade of green as Plankton, along with his antennas and his eye on the very nose of the plane.

"Plankton, how are we going to join you if that plane only has one spot for you?!" Sandy questioned while SpongeBob and Patrick stared in awe at the green-colored plane. Plankton thought about it for a moment and shrugged before answering. Plankton had an idea after tapping his foot for a few seconds.

"Just hang onto the wings. I'd let you use the ladder, but it's not durable enough for two people and an idiot like Patrick." Plankton climbed the small ladder, which hung from the plane. The controls easily matched Plankton's size despite the plane itself being a little smaller than the gigantic Bubble Bass.

The trio each grabbed onto the wings of the plane, as Plankton blasted it off into the air, there were two huge gallons of a sticky substance being reloaded inside the plane. The plane's ammunition mostly consisted of kitchen condiments, but the largest weaponry Plankton saved for special occasions within the plane was three gallons of tartar sauce. The tartar sauce was one of the saltiest and stuffed with a little bit of Plankton's chum. He'd use it for a scheme if the invasion weren't happening right now.

"Listen up, idiots! I need SpongeBob to make Krabby Patties so Bubble Bass can be distracted! Once Bubble Bass is distracted and about to eat the Krabby Patty, I'll drop one of the large gallons of tartar sauce!" Plankton informed them, and they all shared a nod, except for Patrick, who was admiring the destroyed boat mobiles below them.

"Plankton, can't you just launch all three of the gallons of tartar sauce?!" Sandy questioned as SpongeBob dropped from the plane and proceeded to glide down through the exposed ceiling of the Krusty Krab, along with Patrick holding onto his arm. SpongeBob landed in front of his grill, admitting all the shaking that Bubble Bass caused.

"Yeah, I just need an opening!" Plankton hollered while focusing all his attention on not crashing the plane into Bubble Bass or the Krusty Krab. Patrick's panic was being pushed to its limits. He was in the corner of the kitchen watching SpongeBob work as fast as possible to gather all the ingredients he needed for Krabby Patties. Thankfully, Patrick's worrying came to an end after he noticed SpongeBob using supernatural speed to make a collection of Krabby Patties.

"SpongeBob, quickly make as many Krabby Patties as possible!" Plankton shouted from above, while Sandy clung to the wing of Plankton's plane. It was a crazy sight: a volley of Krabby Patties being hurled into Bubble Bass's gaping mouth, resembling a mini-gun firing burgers instead of bullets into the maw of a giant.

"Drop the tartar sauce now!" Sandy ordered. Plankton started to chuckle evilly as his finger mashed against the red button on the dashboard, the bottom of the plane opened up like a sliding door, which made the large gallons of tartar sauce quickly drop into Bubble Bass's mouth. Plankton flew his jet away from Bubble Bass after he completely swallowed the large gallons of tartar sauce.

"Next time, don't eat something from space, Bubble Bass!" Sandy hollered, although Bubble Bass didn't hear it because he couldn't feel anything but endless nausea. Everything felt like a blur, his stomach rumbled worse than a volcano, and he couldn't do anything to stop it other than face it head-on.

"Well, at least Slobzilla has been defeated," Plankton remarked as he continued flying his plane above the gooey surface and the very little remaining debris of the Krusty Krab. Plankton parked the plane after a minute of flying it above the endless substance that erupted from Bubble Bass's mouth, he was shrinking in size as well. Thankfully, after a minute, he was his normal size again. SpongeBob unfortunately felt a large batch of a soft, gooey substance shower him. He instantly started panicking and forcefully tried to shake it off the best he could while catching a glimpse of Bubble Bass falling backward into the sand.

Patrick stepped back slightly, sharing a confused look with Plankton and Sandy as they watched SpongeBob observe the orange goo cascade down his body without showing any signs of aggression or mutation. Sandy hurried over to SpongeBob and Patrick, while Plankton remained in his plane. Just as Sandy was about to question SpongeBob, she stopped, startled by a loud burp from the dazed Bubble Bass. The object he coughed up was patterned with white and purple, and its tip bore a tight metallic finish, almost resembling the end of a wrench. Sandy grabbed the piece and shook it violently to lose the bits of orange slime.

The entire Krusty Krab looked deserted, the place was in shambles with very few walls remaining, the entire restaurant was covered in orange goo, and the only visible parts were the doors that people would enter through and a couple of tables that miraculously survived the attack.

"Uh, SpongeBob, I'm not a psychic, but I think something bad was supposed to happen when you got touched by that goo." Patrick once again pointed out the obvious, but this time the usual result didn't happen.

"I guess I'm too good to become a monster!" SpongeBob chuckled while Sandy approached them and showed off the piece they required. SpongeBob continued shaking off more of the small bit of goo that was melting down his arms, and carefully making sure not to let Patrick taste any of it as he wiped it off himself.

"I'll contact Jimmy and tell him we have the first piece," Sandy replied. Sandy instantly stopped as she remembered her suit didn't have any communication systems, only cooling systems and a monitor on her arm that displayed the amount of oxygen she had in case water was seeping in somehow.

"Sandy, maybe we should take Plankton along with us," SpongeBob offered the idea. Plankton was evil, of course, but it had to either leave him to deal with this alone or have more help on their side. The whole world was endangered, and it was better to have more help than just the little they had back at the Mawgu Lair.

"I don't know about that, SpongeBob, he's a tiny meanie." Patrick interrupted before Sandy could properly respond. Plankton's plane started to make audible noises as he got ready to ditch them in the middle of their talking.

"That may be true, Patrick. But I think he could help us! Didn't you see that he just helped us defeat Bubble Bass and stop him from eating the Krusty Krab and the entirety of Bikini Bottom?!" SpongeBob raised a decent point, and Sandy thought about it, but that thinking was cut short as Plankton was getting ready to leave them to return his plane to the Chum Bucket. Sandy ignored SpongeBob and Patrick and sprinted towards Plankton's plane. He must have had a communication system if he could talk to Karen. Sandy luckily managed to get his attention before he was about to take off.

"What do you want, Sandy? I'm busy." Plankton questioned.

"Busy? Busy doing what?!" Sandy asked.

"Uh... Busy not caring about what you have to say and getting myself the secret formula somewhere in the disgusting Krusty Krab." Plankton didn't care for what she had to say, but Sandy's determination was impressive to him.

"Plankton, if the world ends, then the secret formula will get you nothing! There won't be any people who will eat at the Chum Bucket!" Plankton sighed and hated the fact that she was correct; he was so caught up in his dreams of finally getting the secret formula that he completely forgot the world was getting invaded.

"Fine... So, what do you require my help for?" Plankton asked with a couple of grumbles.

"I need to talk to Jimmy Neutron! You got a way to contact him, right?!" Plankton nodded and pressed a button on his keyboard. All he needed now was his number. Plankton would normally call Neutron Labs, but every time he tried before, it would end with him getting abruptly hung up on.

"Yeah, but do you have his number?" Sandy sighed, she realized she didn't have it, but relied on SpongeBob, since he perfectly memorized it. Sandy quickly grabbed SpongeBob's arm and walked him over to Plankton's plane. SpongeBob stopped his constant gaze at the horrid state of the Krusty Krab and diverted his eyes to Plankton.

"So could you be useful and tell me what Neutron's number is so we can get out of here?" Plankton was feeling bored and wanted to get this over with already.

"Oh, for sure! He's always such a good friend to talk to!" SpongeBob got ready to inform Plankton, but Patrick started to wander near the Krusty Krab. he heard a weird voice calling out to him, it was muffled, but he could hear his name. Patrick noticed a couple of orange bubbles erupting from the large pile of orange goo, and his curiosity grew again. As the inhuman sound grew, Patrick carefully began to tiptoe, as if an animal were preparing to attack its prey.

Patrick's eyes caught a glimpse of a red claw digging through the endless pile of slime that engulfed the Krusty Krab. Patrick quickly started to panic with sweat marks going down his forehead. he normally wouldn't be so scared, especially during the day, but after a recent turn of events, fighting alien monsters, he was constantly on his toes; he just wouldn't often show it. Patrick tiptoed a little closer until he was a few meters away from the oozing pile of slime. He noticed the claw started digging towards him through the slime, and Patrick instantly got frightened seeing a blue ball elongate itself through the small tunnel he was viewing in from. Patrick cautiously backed away, but his jaw dropped while his eyes were cartoonishly huge, seeing a horrifying sight wrestling to get out of the slime pile.

"Mr. Krab?! You really should take a shower." Patrick said, he instantly turned around after he caught sight of the infected Mr. Krabs starting to pounce on him like a predator. It was one of the scariest things that Patrick had ever seen.

"SpongeBob, SpongeBob! We need to get going!" Patrick paused in front of them while catching his breath. Plankton was still inside his plan, while Sandy was on top of the wing. It was easier to do that in case they needed to escape.

"Patrick, what's wrong? Why are you out of breath?" Patrick took a second to catch his breath, but before he could answer, Sandy, SpongeBob, and Plankton shared a terrified expression. The four of them all locked eyes with Mr. Krab, who was about to jump at them with a puddle of goo below his claws.

"Mr. Krabs, no! Not you too!" SpongeBob's facial expression turned into a depressed look of despair, it was a high contrast compared to his positive and determined mood before. SpongeBob turned frozen, almost as if he had gone into paralysis. He saw his boss and one of his longest friends in a distressed, animalistic state. SpongeBob wondered if there was even a way to revert him to normal. The four of them had to move, but SpongeBob couldn't, which resulted in Sandy having to pull his arm and drag him with her onto the wing of Plankton's plane.

"Time to go now, Plankton!" Sandy ordered while she once again attempted to help SpongeBob up to the wings of Plankton's plane. Plankton's plane wasn't the largest in the world, but thankfully, the plane was just a little less bigger than an average one on the surface. It was a pure miracle that the wings of the plane could carry them. The two propellers on each wing started to shift as the infected Mr. Krabs tried to clutch onto Patrick's leg. Patrick quickly avoided the swinging claw and forcefully pushed his stubby foot against the blue eyeball that rested above Mr. Krab's head. It was the usual eyeball that all the goo monsters had; this time, it would control instead of being a mindless goo monster.

Plankton tightened his grip on the controls of the plane and strongly pulled it to his chest, which made the plane go straight up into the air. Sandy and SpongeBob barely held on but still retained a tight grip as Patrick was holding onto SpongeBob's leg for his life.

"I gave you Jimmy's number, quickly give him a call, Plankton!" Sandy ordered, she looked behind her as she caught a view of the infected Mr Krab getting ready to attempt to pounce on them again. It was a complete mystery to them, but somehow the mutation that turned people into goo monsters also gave a select few of their special abilities.

"Yeah, yeah. Could you give me a second to get us out of Krab's reach!" Plankton retorted while multitasking with entering the correct numbers on his dashboard to reach Jimmy.

"Huh, that goo made Bubble Bass a giant monster, and now it gave Mr. Krab's enhanced jumping power?! How interesting." Sandy snapped out of her thinking and attempted to get Plankton's attention again.

"Plankton, I need you to drive us towards Jellyfish Fields!" Sandy hollered through the wind of the ocean, She looked below to see a couple of destroyed boulders, houses, and a pool of goo.

Before they were about to enter Conch Street, they heard a familiar sound that they usually heard every week. Sandy and SpongeBob turned their heads to see the infected Mr. Krabs pounce on a regular patron of the Krusty Krab and the local hospital.

"Agh! My leg!" Fred the fish was about to be the next infected fish in Bikini Bottom, after it took a minute for Mr. Krabs to chomp on Fred's leg.

Thankfully, the attack provided the distraction they needed to reach Conch Street.

Plankton was fully oblivious to the attack on Fred; he was incredibly focused on getting to Jellyfish Fields and avoiding the falling goo from the sky.

"Ugh, we're almost there!" Plankton concentrated on making it towards Conch Street. Once they passed the minor resistance at Conch Street, they would be directly entering Jellyfish Fields. There were only three houses, an array of flowers, a couple of purple bushes, and large purple pieces of coral. SpongeBob snapped out of his state of despair and locked his eyes on the ground, he gasped in surprise to see that his pineapple house was mostly intact. Squidward's house was showered in goo like the Krusty Krab while Patrick's was only missing the small arrow above it.

"Oh no, I need to see if Gary is okay!" SpongeBob got ready to loosen his grip on the wing of the plane while Patrick was hanging on still; he was starting to panic again.

"Wait, SpongeBob, what about getting to Jellyfish Fields?!" Sandy asked. SpongeBob turned his face towards her briefly and provided an answer.

"Sandy, just come and get me when you find the rocket we parked in Jellyfish Fields, I have to see if Gary's okay!" SpongeBob quickly took Patrick's hand and focused on pulling him up near Sandy.

"Sandy, help Patrick!" SpongeBob said, without thinking, she used her right arm to tightly grip Patrick's hand. The sweat dripping down his forehead ceased as well as Patrick's endless panicking. SpongeBob dropped from the wing of the plane and used his favorite brown pants to inflate and act as a makeshift parachute.

"SpongeBob! Please find the milk I left in my fridge!" Patrick screeched while watching his friend glide gently on top of his orange pineapple. SpongeBob normally would use the front entrance, but his eyes scanned for the escape hatch he used when avoiding any danger lurking inside his home. It happened more times than he could count on numerous occasions. SpongeBob placed his fingers on the hatch and opened it slowly, the lights were off, so he had to carefully climb down the ladder that led to his bedroom. SpongeBob took a glance at his bed, the blanket was lying on the floor next to Gary's pile of newspapers. The food bowl would normally be there, but SpongeBob remembered he was cleaning it before he headed out for work today and left it in the kitchen.

"Gary?! Where are you, buddy?" SpongeBob carefully listened for any noises as he changed his direction towards the treasure chest that was inside his room. It was mostly used for storage, keeping artifacts he got on his adventures, and a large collection of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy memorabilia. SpongeBob felt a little bit of relief seeing all the items he collected from his favorite heroes, but he couldn't sit there all day. SpongeBob snapped out of his trance and sprinted downstairs. He didn't bother shutting the door to his bedroom either.

SpongeBob stopped in his tracks to notice a long stream of blue slime that ended at the door leading to the kitchen. The interior of the house mostly stayed the same as well, There was a little slime that belonged to Gary on the wall, and the chair that SpongeBob would sit in to watch television. It wasn't overly out of the ordinary.

"Gary? Are you in there, boy?" SpongeBob heard a loud hissing sound that came from the kitchen. It sounded a little muffled through the doo,r but SpongeBob instantly knew it was his beloved snail. SpongeBob was hoping the innocent snail wasn't in any grave danger.

"Gary? Hold on, I'm coming!" SpongeBob barged through the door, and Gary instantly locked onto SpongeBob and jumped from the fridge directly into SpongeBob's open arms. SpongeBob took a sigh of relief as the snail he loved was snuggling in the warm embrace. Unfortunately, the snuggling stopped as Gary turned his attention towards the small rabbit that started to hiss much like Gary did.

"Uh, I don't like the sound of that..." SpongeBob said he continued to hold Gary. He sensed trouble nearing, with the sound of a tiny creature inching closer. SpongeBob clutched Gary, beginning to tremble slightly as the sound took on a faint echo. The echo grew steadily, suggesting the presence of more than one creature lurking nearby. Because SpongeBob was not keen on waiting, he took off running, only to quickly discover the source of the noise. SpongeBob shook as the three creatures behind him roared.

"How did a nest of sea bunnies get into my house?! Why did they have to eat the goo as well?!" SpongeBob sprinted like his life depended on it, which it did, and as soon as he stepped outside, he slammed the door as hard as possible.

"Meow... Meow." Gary took a deep breath as he noticed SpongeBob start to stroll down the pathway that usually led to his doorstep. He was on his way to attain Squidward's clarinet. Squidward seemed miserable back at the Mawgu lair, so SpongeBob was hoping that his clarinet would at least help him be less miserable.

"I know it's bad, Gary. I promise, my friends, and we will do our best." SpongeBob reassured his snail, but unfortunately, he forgot that Squidward's house was engulfed in a large pile of goo. SpongeBob considered it and remembered that Squidward was one of his best friends, as much as it was going to feel disgusting, he'd do anything for a friend.

"Wait here, Gary. I promise it'll only take me a minute. I hope..." SpongeBob extended his hand first and felt a squishy, slimy, disgusting feeling that was soon to linger all over his body. SpongeBob continued entering Squidward's house, the inside was only significantly better, but not by a total margin. SpongeBob realized he had stepped onto a table floating above a vast sea of orange goo. He also observed a clarinet resting atop a television, which too was adrift in the slime. SpongeBob took a sigh of relief that only a small bit of parkour was needed to reach the clarinet. SpongeBob easily did the parkour and crouched on top of the television. He snatched the clarinet and swiftly jumped off the television before it sank into the orange abyss.

"Meow!" Gary delivered a cheerful meow as SpongeBob made it through the blob that engulfed Squidward's house. SpongeBob shook off all of the orange goo and paused for a moment to catch his breath while wielding Squidward's clarinet.

"I'm sure Squidward will be glad to see his clarinet again, huh, Gary?" SpongeBob said. SpongeBob heard a sound that sounded like a vehicle approaching him. he held Gary again and looked behind him to see Sandy. SpongeBob shared the cheerful expression that Sandy and Patrick arrived with.

"Hop in, SpongeBob! It's cozy in here!" Patrick said. It was a little bit of a tight squeeze, but thankfully, SpongeBob made it inside the rocket with Patrick. The rocket instantly went off into the air before it entered the surface. Sandy quickly gave Patrick the air helmet she had, he didn't get a chance to chew the gum that Jimmy made for SpongeBob and Squidward to breathe on land. Gary also shared the helmet, and Patrick carefully held Gary as nicely as he possibly could.

"What about Plankton, Sandy?" SpongeBob questioned, and she turned to him briefly and explained.

"He's going to meet us there. Jimmy gave him the location while we briefly talked before coming to get you, SpongeBob," Sandy explained. It was a little bit of a lengthy drive, but they were going to make it after a successful mission.