//------------------------------// // Trouble in Bikini Bottom/Chased by the Frogfish // Story: G5 Adventures in The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// Back in Bikini Bottom, the very next morning, Plankton’s devious plot kicking into high gear, and little did he know it a certain grumpy octopus was about to find out what it was. Squiward popped his head out of the window of his tiki home, in a more chipper mood than usual. “Too bad SpongeBob’s not here to enjoy SpongeBob not being here,” he laughed. With SpongeBob and Patrick not around, nor any of those friends that they met, Squidward was committed to make the most of what he believes to be the perfect day. Deciding it be a good idea to go for a little ride around town, he hopped onto his recumbent bicycle and pedaled down the road. He hummed a little tune to himself as he rode down the street when he saw something odd: a fish with a Chum Bucket helmet on its head. “Morning!” “Some people have no taste in headgear,” Squidward muttered to himself. Suddenly, he stopped at an intersection and found something even more strange-- an entire fish family, even the baby, with Chum Bucket helmets on. “Huh? Babies too?” At the traffic light, he rode up to Mrs. Puff, the driving instructor, and she too was wearing a Chum Bucket helmet. “Excuse me, Mrs. Puff, but where is everybody getting that horrid headwear?” “Who said that?” Mrs. Puff asked, looking around in confusion. “Down here.” Mrs. Puff looked down and found Squidward right below her vehicle. “Oh! Squidward! Well, I got it at the Chum Bucket. Plankton’s giving them away free with every Krabby Patty.” “Chum Bucket? Free? Krabby Patty? Plankton? Giving? With?” “That’s right,” Mrs. Puff called, as she zoomed away. “Hmm… Something smells fishy around here,” Squidward thought, scratching his head. “And for once it isn’t my laundry.” And not wasting any time, Squidward pedaled right over to the Chum Bucket as fast as he could. Sure enough, the place was hopping with customers walking in and emerging with bucket helmets. Inside the restaurant, Plankton stood high on a ladder looking out over the masses of fish. “Oh, how long I’ve been waiting for this day!” Plankton sighed blissfully. But just as he was enjoying himself, Squidward burst through the door and spotting Plankton high atop his pedestal. “So you’re selling Krabby Patties, eh, Plankton?” “That’s right, Squidward,” Plankton said, grinning smugly. “And there’s a free bucket helmet with every purchase. Care for one?” “No!” Squidward said. “You may have hoodwinked everyone else in this backwater town, but you can’t fool me. I listen to public radio.” “And what’s that supposed to mean?” “It means you set up Mr. Krabs!” Squidward cried. “You stole the crown so Neptune would freeze him, and you could finally get your stubby little paws on the Krabby Patty formula.” Plankton gave Squidward a wounded look, staring at his hands. But the crusty old cephalopod wasn’t buying it. “It was you all along! But you made one fatal mistake; you messed with my paycheck. I haven’t solved the whole bucket-helmet giveaway part yet, but I’m gonna report you to the highest authority figures in the land, King Neptune and Queen Skygrace!” “We’ll see about that, Inspector Looselips,” Plankton said sinisterly before pressing a button on Karen. “Now activating helmet brain-control devices.” “Huh? What?” A satellite then rose up on the Chum Bucket and before Squidward knew it from every home, and all over Bikini Bottom, something strange began to happen. All at once, an antenna rises out of each customer’s bucket helmet, which covers all their heads, one by one. With a buzz and a click, the helmets proceeded to take control of everyone’s minds. Soon, they all stood up, and spoke in drone-like voices. “All hail Plankton!” the Bikini Bottom citizens chanted in unison. “All hail Plankton!” “What’s going on here?” Squidward gasped, eyes widen. “Seize him, slaves!” Plankton barked. “I’m getting outta here!” Squidward cried before he tried to make a break for the door, but soon an army of bucket heads burst in and corner him. “All hail Plankton! All hail Plankton!” Cornered, Squidward screamed in horror as Plankton’s slaves captured him. “Who can stop me now?!” Plankton cackled victoriously at the top of his lungs. “WHO?!” XXXXXXXX Silverstream and Skygrace were watching everything by that point, and watching through their magical seeing pearl as their seapony subjects were being chained up and enslaved by Plankton’s mind control victims. “I can’t watch this for another second!” Silverstream turned away. “Skygrace, we have to warn Sunny, SpongeBob and the others!” “I agree, but one of us should stay here and make sure Neptune doesn’t do anything brash,” Skygrace said. “So… you should go.” “What?! No way!” Riverstream protested. “You’re a queen! They’d listen to you better!” “I’m a princess too, you know,” Mindy said as she swam over, “and so are you. We’re not gonna get another chance, so we have to go now!” Riverstream sighed heavily for a moment before nodding. “Okay… get the royal carriage and we’ll head that way.” “Good luck, little sister,” Skygrace said. “I’ll try my best to make sure to keep Mindy’s father in line.” “Thanks… I’ll need it.” XXXXXXXX Meanwhile, out on the open road, SpongeBob SquarePants and his crew were still driving, laughing loudly over their triumphant escape from the Thug Tug, as well as something Patrick just did. “Come on, Pat,” Arctic urged. “One more time.” “Okay,” Patrick stood up before he imitated the bartender from the Thug Tug. “We’re on a baby hunt and don’t think we don’t know how to weed ‘em out’!” “Weed ‘em out!” Izzy and Hitch burst into laughter. Meanwhile, the scenery around the vehicles began to change, passing skulls and bones, but no one really seemed to notice, even when they drove over a mountain of bones. “Whoa! The road’s getting kinda bumpy here,” SpongeBob commented. “A-A-And I’m not t-t-t-too fond of the bumpy feeeeeeelings!!” Misty said as the Patty Wagon violently shook. It didn’t take long for the Patty Wagon to make it over the bumpy bones and back onto some smooth road. But it didn’t change the frightening sight they rest of the gang saw all around them. “You know, SpongeBob,” Patrick said. “There’s a lesson to be learned from all this.” “What’s that, Patrick?” “A bubble-blowing double baby doesn’t belong out here in man’s country.” “Yeah… wait!” SpongeBob realized. “We blew that bubble.” The boys stared off in the distance, as if contemplating the thought, when suddenly Patrick spotted an ice-cream stand. “Hey look! Free ice cream!” The entire group turns to the side; indeed, there was a tiny ice cream stand randomly sitting off the side of the road. “Hmm… this seems just way too convenient,” Sunny hummed, thinking long and hard about this. “Who cares?!” Izzy cheered excitedly. “FREE ICE CREAM! Pull over, you guys!” And once he was out, he raced toward the ice cream stand through the pile of bones, of course being oblivious to his surroundings. Zipp however, began to frown in concern. “This doesn’t seem right… why would there be bones all over the place?” “I’m not sure, and I don’t like it,” Hitch said. “Of course, SpongeBob and Patrick don’t seem bothered.” “How you doing?” Patrick asked a skull. Suddenly, as Patrick took another look at his surroundings, it’s as if something dawned on him and the worry began to grow. “Wait a minute… wait a minute… SpongeBob!” “Yeah?” SpongeBob called out. “Make mine a chocolate!” Patrick shouted. “Got you covered!” Misty sighed heavily, swimming out of the wagon. “I better go keep an eye on him.” “Be careful, Misty,” Sunny said. Misty swam over the bones and reached the ice cream stand, where the bad vibes she was getting suddenly amplified. “Two please,” SpongeBob requested. “Certainly,” the old woman replied back, and after a few minutes, she reached them two big sloppy sundaes. “You kids enjoy.”  “Actually, we’re men, lady, but thanks,” SpongeBob said, turning and preparing to go back and give Patrick his ice cream. “Okay, Patrick, let’s…” SpongeBob tried to leave the ice-cream hut, but it seemed the old lady wouldn’t let go. He began to tug and pull, but it felt as if his hands were stuck on the bowl like glue. “Uh, you can let go now. I said, let go, please.” “Hang on, SpongeBob, I’ll give you a hoof,” Misty grabbed him in her horn’s aura and tried pulling, letting her hooves touch the ground. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble, as SpongeBob and Misty struggled to get away. The walls of the ice-cream stand fall one by one and the old lady herself looked less and less than what she seemed. “Ugh! Ugh! What is this?” Misty cried. “What kind of old lady are you?!” Just then, her wig and glasses fell off, making SpongeBob and Misty grimace in disgust. Suddenly, they felt themselves being lifted off the ground and they screamed at the sight around them. Snapping fangs came out from the ground, two bulging eyes soon emerged staring toward SpongeBob. It was a trap! “PONIES!!” screamed Misty. “GET US DOWN FROM HERE!!” “Hang on, Misty! Pipp, come on!” Zipp cried to her sister and flew upward, with Pipp on her heels. “Quick!” Pipp shouted. “Grab our hooves and we’ll pull you out!”  Misty grabbed Pipp’s hooves in her magic and SpongeBob strained as far as he could to grab Zipp’s. “Got it!”  “Okay, Pipp!” Zipp barked. “Full reverse!” The two pegasus sisters strained as hard as they could, managed to pull their friends off the frog fish’s tongue, and they sped back to the Patty Wagon as fast as they could. “Did you get the ice cream?” Patrick asked, oblivious. The frog fish roared, causing SpongeBob and the others to wince in fright. “STEP ON IT, PATRICK!!!” Patrick slammed on the gas, the steel-belted pickles spun in the dirt, and the Patty Wagon, Monster Machines and condi-bikes raced away at top speed, andveryone screamed as the frog fish began to pursue them. XXXXXXXX Meanwhile, back at the Thug Tug, a motorcycle pulled up with a roar and a cloud of sand. Sitting in the saddle was the really big scary dude, Dennis the Bounty Hunter. He scanned the area, searching for clues, until he found one: Remnants of popped bubbles lying on SpongeBob’s footprint in the parking lot. “Hmm…” He dipped his hand into the bubble, unmasking the red scarf over his mouth. He blew into the liquid, forming a bubble, and images of SpongeBob and Patrick giggling appeared in it. Suddenly, all of the thugs appeared. That's when Dennis knew that he was on the right track. “Hey!” Victor cried, stepping from the doorway. “You may not know it, cowboy, but we got a rule around here about blowing bubbles.” “All bubble-blowing babies will be beaten senseless by every… able-bodied… patron…” the thugs recited, but stopped immediately as Dennis punched Victor, who screamed and flew all the way back to the Thug Tug,  which tilted back some and quickly sank. Dennis tipped his cowboy hat and sped away on his motorcycle, hot on our heroes’ trail, as the thugs watched in fear. XXXXXXXX Around that same time, SpongeBob, Patrick, and their friends were still fleeing from the frogfish, who was gaining on them. The hungry, fanged mouth was about to swallow the Patty Wagon as the old lady popped out. “Come on, kiddies, have some ice cream!” This caused the twins, SpongeBob and Patrick to scream in nothing but terror. “I’ll let you pet Mr. Whiskers!” A little phony cat on the tongue pokes out of the Frog Fish’s mouth, meowing like a cat. “That’s not a cat!” Hitch screamed. “That’s not a cat!!!” “Everypony, abandon Patty Wagon!” Zipp cried out, and everyone leapt out quickly, SpongeBob, Patrick and the twins being the last to escape as the Patty Wagon flew over the edge of a cliff. The jaws of the frogfish snapped shut, swallowing them. The monster smiled, making a yummy noise… only to realize it leapt right over the deep trench with nothing holding it up.  The group watched as a tongue wrapped around the frogfish and a gigantic eel ate the frogfish whole, like a tiny goldfish, and slowly diving back into the deep. “Is everyone okay?” Sunny asked her friends. “I-I think so…” Tropic quickly felt herself in relief. “But we lost our car again…” “Never mind the car, where’s the road?” Patrick asked as his voice echoed the word ‘road’ across the trench. The echo turned out to be Patrick repeating as the group stared at him. “Patrick…” Starla spoke with a frown. “R… sorry.” “There’s the road!” SpongeBob pointed further ahead. Unfortunately for the group, while they could see the road just on the other side of the trench… there was a slight catch, as they all looked down. “On the other side of this deep, dark… dangerous…” “Hazardous…” Patrick said, seeing a fire. “Hazardous…” SpongeBob repeated. “Monster-infested…” Izzy whispered. “Y-Yeah, monster infected… t-trench,” Arctic gulped nervously. “So… I guess we’re gonna get across it to keep going,” Sunny sighed, but gulped to herself. “Gee, beating Opaline seemed a lot easier than this… but how are we gonna get across when the trench is monster infested?”