//------------------------------// // The Journey to Find Gary Begins // Story: G5 Adventures in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run // by ponydog127 //------------------------------// By the time lunch came around the next day, the restaurant was already busy, and the ponies decided to take SpongeBob, Tropic and India out on a picnic while they were on their 30 minute lunch break.  They settled in behind the Krusty Krab with Krabby Patties and other tasty treats, and they began to talk about the Mane 6’s earlier adventures… one of which being the tale of Starlight Ridge. “Seriously?” India asked with wide eyes. “Allura could use her hypnotic purr to make the auroricorns pretend to be happy so they could steal stars for her?” “Jeez…” SpongeBob shuddered. “Not only is that scary, but that’s wrong!” “I know… everypony deserves to be happy,” Hitch said, “but they can’t be forced to act that way.” “So… have you had to deal with her more than once?” Tropic asked. “Like how you had to deal with Opaline all those times?” “No, thank goodness,” Misty sighed. “She’s still trapped in Starlight Ridge’s borders… at least, that’s the last thing we heard.” Tropic gulped nervously when she heard this. “I hope she doesn’t come to Bikini Bottom and make us go all-smiley…” “Hey, don’t worry. A, she’s a snow leopard. She can’t breathe underwater unless she has some sort of magic to do that,” Zipp reassured. “And second… well, I don’t really have a second reason, but… I do know what we would protect you if she ever WAS around.” “Phew… that’s relieving to think about,” SpongeBob said with a laugh. “Well, we better get back to our picnic and back to work. Mr. Krabs won’t be happy if we take too long to wrap it up. Heh heh… get it?” Izzy burst into laughter at this. “Wrap it up! Cause we wrap up a picnic blanket! You’re hilarious, SpongeBob!” “But either way,” Tropic said, “it’s back to work for us, and then after work, we get to play with Gary some more!” XXXXXXXX It only took a couple more hours for SpongeBob and the ponies to wrap up their weekend shift, and SpongeBob opened the door and let everyone pile inside. “Gary, we’re home!” But, as he opened his arms for a hug from his favorite snail, he noticed that Gary was no longer in sight. “Gare-Bear? Hey, where are you, buddy?” “Huh… that’s weird,” Pipp observed. “Where is he?” “Yeah,” Misty nodded. “He’s usually here by the time we get home.” “I think we better spread out and look for him,” Zipp said. “Maybe he’s just playing hide and seek.” Nodding, the ponies spread out to search for the snail. “Gary?” Tropic reached into his scratching post, but only pulled out a bunch of snail slime. “Not here!” “Gary?” Zipp lifted the cover off of Gary’s litter box, only to be met with the smell of stinky litter. “Ugh… not here either!” “You must be in the--!” cried SpongeBob, looking in the cabinet, but only to be met with disappointment. “No…” That’s when the search for SpongeBob became more desperate. “Gary? Gary?! Garr-ry!!” He wasn’t in the fridge, the bedroom, the bathroom or inside the couch, and with each attempt, SpongeBob was growing more and more frantic. “Gary, Gary, Gary! Gary! Gary! Where’s Gary?! GAAAAAAARRRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!” “SpongeBob, SpongeBob, calm down!” Sunny tried to calm her friend down. “Maybe he’s… uh… I’m not sure where he is, but we’ll find him. Maybe we can ask the neighbors to see if they’ve--” But before she could finish, SpongeBob was already out the door, making Hitch blink in surprise. “Is this how I acted when Sparky went missing those few times?” “...yep.” “Absolutely.” “Definitely.” “You acted sorta like that.” “Maybe?” Hitch sighed with his head lowered. “That’s what I thought…” XXXXXXXX Immediately after leaving the ponies and Tropic to clean up the mess he left behind at the house, SpongeBob started putting many "Lost Pet" Posters at the Electronics, the supermarket, all over a brick wall, and at the bakery. SpongeBob then turns into a roller to put many posters in a bakery. Then, he puts his poster on an old lady's face. “GARY!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!!” After the last poster was put up, SpongeBob ran back home, completely out of breath. “SpongeBob… take a deep breath. Maybe there’s something we can use here to find… and he’s not listening, is he?” Zipp sighed as SpongeBob continued to pant out of tiredness and worry. “Then why am I even trying…?” True to Zipp’s word, SpongeBob wasn’t listening. Instead he found a picture of a younger version of him and a younger version of Gary, letting his eyes fill with tears. “Ohhh… Gary…!!” he sobbed. “I loved you since the first day we met…” “...and when was that, SpongeBob?” Pipp asked gently as the ponies and Tropic surrounded their friend. “...Camp Coral,” Tropic answered. “When SpongeBob was just a little older than me.” XXXXXXXX Camp Coral was a very popular summer camp for kids under the ocean, and on this particular day, a young SpongeBob was eating his sandwich from the cafeteria on a little log when a little meow caught his attention. To his right was a little snail, a younger Gary, peeking over the side of the log. “Hello, little snail.” Young SpongeBob took the pickles pickles out of his Krabby Patty and gave it to the snail, which he ate immediately. SpongeBob then giggled as Gary meowed at him, with the snail’s eyes going up and down before SpongeBob let the snail climb on him. “What’s your name?” The snail meowed as he climbed onto SpongeBob’s head. “Gary, huh? Well, hi, Gary. Gary, do you want to be friends?” Gary meowed again, and SpongeBob seemed to understand what he was saying. “Me too…” XXXXXXXX “Awww… that is such a sweet story,” Sunny smiled. “I can’t believe you never told us that story, SpongeBob.” But when she looked at SpongeBob, he was just staring at the photo with blank eyes. “S-SpongeBob?” As Sunny laid a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, SpongeBob burst into tears, causing the ponies to reel back in surprise. “Ponies, grab the buckets and move out!” Hitch cried. “I feel bad for SpongeBob, I really do, but we gotta scoop out these tears before SpongeBob floods his house!” XXXXXXXX Later on through the day, Patrick and Arctic were racing to SpongeBob house with a missing poster in hand. “SpongeBob! SpongeBob!” Patrick yelled, flinging the door open. “Hey, SpongeBob! I found this flyer,” Patrick said “Gary's missing!” The sea star and sea pony looked to see SpongeBob sobbing on the ground with the others trying their best to comfort him. “I know, Patrick...” “...SpongeBob?” Patrick gently called as he and Arctic came inside. “Oh, Patrick, if something were to happen to Gary, I, well... I don't know what I'd do,” SpongeBob flopped onto his back, his teary, bloodshot conveying all the pain and heartbreak within him. “We know, SpongeBob,” Zipp laid a fin on his side. “We'll do everything we can to make sure Gary is safe and sound.” “I’m sorry too, buddy,” Patrick frowned before getting an idea. “Hey... maybe he left a clue!” Patrick didn't get to walk too far-- a second later, he stepped on a chew toy, tripped, and face-planted into Gary's litterbox. “Hry, uh... you okay there, Patrick?” Hitch asked. Without answering Hitch’s question, Patrick lifted himself up and noticed a large note stuck to his face. "Look! A clue!" Swiftly taking the note, SpongeBob and Tropic (the former reading over his shoulder) quickly read through it and the latter let out a screech. “Gary's been snailnapped!” “And taken to the Lost City of Atlantic City!” SpongeBob continued. Patrick lifted his head from the litterbox, now with a mouthful of litter. “Really?” he asked as he munched on the litter. “That's awesome!” “Ewwww, Patrick!” Pipp cried. “What are you doing?!” “You know that's Gary's litter box, right?” Misty asked her face went green. Patrick nodded, still chewing the litter before he spat some out. "Now we know where he is." But then, Patrick eyed the clump he had chewed on and put it back into his mouth, causing the Mane 6 to almost puke... but Sparky looked on in interest. “Not really that awesome, Patrick,” SpongeBob stated as he looked through his ‘Nimrod’s Guide to Lost Cities’ book. “Listen to this. Made famous by the glitzy palace Poseidon calls home, The Lost City of Atlantic City is a scary, vice-ridden cesspool of moral depravity.” “That sounds horrible,” Sunny spoke. “Especially with ‘scary’ and ‘vice-ridden’ in the same sentence.” “Wow,” Patrick commented. “All that, and it’s lost too?” SpongeBob continued to read while Tropic rested at the top of his chair. “King Poseidon has proven himself a whimsical tyrant, known for executing his subjects by beheading them in a flamboyant floor show extravaganza. Our advice for those traveling here is…” SpongeBob turned the page and only a single word was written on it. “...don’t.” At this remark, Pipp gulped, ears pinning in fear. “T-This King Poseidon sounds like a tough customer.” “Oh, yeah. Tough,” Patrick said as he fervently munched on the leftover litter. “Arctic and I used to hear all sorts of legends about that place. Many people visit the Lost City of Atlantic City, thinking it's the perfect vacation spot,” Tropic explained with a shudder. “Some never returned.” “And…” Arctic hunkered down behind Patrick. “Who knows what me might do to us…” “Aww, so what?” SpongeBob threw the book down on the floor. “This is about friends. And friends don't let friends become somebody else's face cream!” “He’s right, guys,” Sunny said, turning to face the others. “Gary's just as much as a friend to us as he is to SpongeBob.” “And letting a friend get taken,” said Patrick, “is not what friends do.” “So what if it's dangerous and scary?” SpongeBob rhetorically asked, causing Patrick to cross his arms. “So what?” “What is stopping me right now from going there, rescuing Gary, and standing up to this King Poseidon, huh?” Patrick then got in SpongeBob’s face. “I don’t know!” “Well, I do!” “What is it?” “Uh… yeah,” Zipp agreed. “What is the thing that’s stopping you?” “I...don't...have...the...courage…” SpongeBob began to tear up, sniffled and then cried out geysers of tears that sent him up through the roof and crashing back down. “Ohhhh… Gary…!!!” “...does anypony know how to repair a roof?” Hitch looked up at the sky in the ceiling as Sparky burped out some litter. “We should be more worried about SpongeBob right now,” Zipp told her friend with a scolding look. “Tartar sauce!” Patrick turned to SpongeBob. “What's the next best thing to courage?” The sponge sniffled before he decided to answer. “Resolve?” “No?” Then, it was Arctic’s turn. “Fortitude?” “Nah.” Now, it was Tropic’s turn. “Commitment?” “Nope?” “Wherewithal?” “Mm-mm.” “Bravery?” “No.” “Valor?” “What?” “Grit?” “No.” “Heroism?” “Uh-uh.” “Gallantry?” “Nah.” “Moxie.” “A buddy! A wingman!” Patrick finally answered his own question, putting an arm around SpongeBob, who blinked. “A wingman…?” “A friend,” Patrick answered. “Ohhhh right! Never mind that vocabulary trivia and Patrick has a point, SpongeBob,” Sunny realized. “All you need are your friends to be by your side.” “Totally,” Misty nodded. “We’ll all go with you and save Gary from the king.” “Together-- as a team!” Izzy chirped. “Really, guys?” SpongeBob asked. “You’ll go with me?” “Yeah, right behind you!” Patrick lifted SpongeBob back up on his feet, just as Tropic began to get excited. “Do I smell a road trip?!” That’s when Patrick immediately covered his mouth. “That could be my breath.” XXXXXXXX A few minutes earlier, SpongeBob had been sobbing like crazy, but now, he and Patrick were leading the Mane 6, Sparky and the sea-unicorn twins out of the house, laughing. “Okie-dokie!” SpongeBob then declared. “Now let’s drill down on the plan.” “Arctic and I, alongside Sunny and the others, will be the moral support/combat/navigational specialists. Pat, you’ll be in charge of the transpo,” Tropic said. “Just remember, we don’t drive, and you don’t have a car.” “So… huh? Wait, hang on a second,” Zipp said as she sped in front of them. “If we don’t have a car, how are we going to get there before Gary’s slime is depleted to unknown levels?” Before anyone could answer the question, a horn caught them off-guard, and a long boat, the size of a limo with enough room for all of them drove in front of the house, with Otto at the wheel and Plankton sitting on the hood. “Hey, boys! Talking ponies,” Plankton greeted casually. “Don't know if you have any use for this old thing if you're going on any tips or journeys or quests or rescue missions. But if you are, Otto is your ticket.” While the ponies seemed a little unsure and suspicious, SpongeBob and Patrick seemed taken with the idea. “Otto…!” “Just tell ol' Otto where you want to go,” said Plankton, “and it will take you there!” “All aboard,” Otto declared. “You’re fired.” “Wow!” Patrick spoke up, getting in the back of the car. “A self-driving boat.” “I wouldn’t call it self-driving since there is SOMEONE at the wheel,” Sunny said as the ponies got in with him, SpongeBob and the twins, “but I do appreciate the enthusiasm.” “Thanks, Plankton!” Arctic said as they all buckled up. “You don’t know how much we appreciate this!” “I know, I know. Bye-bye,” Plankton hopped down from the hood and went to the side of the road so they could get going. “Otto,” Patrick tapped the robot. “Find… Gary.” “You got it!” Otto sped forward, spinning on the side of the road before crashing smack-dab into an anchor not too far away. “Ugh… no, Patrick,” Zipp shook her head to clear it. “I think you need to be a little more specific.” “Here, watch me,” SpongeBob said before turning back to Otto. “Otto, find Gary the snail.” “Recalculating.” The car immediately sped backwards and took another spin before crashing its rear end back into the anchor again. “Ugh… you know what I think, guys?” Misty groaned, putting a hoof to the side of her head. “Maybe this isn’t such a good mode of transportation after all.” “Nah, sure he is, Misty! He just needs the right commands. Let me try,” Plankton hopped up onto the hood again. “Take them to The Lost City of Atlantic City and DON’T EVER COME BACK!!!” This caused the group to stare at Plankton rather strangely, but Plankton only smiled and shrugged. “Never hurts to employ a little hyperbole.” “Wait just a second,” Zipp began to say suspiciously. “How did you of all people know we needed to go--?”  “It is my pleasure to serve you.” Before Zipp could finish her question, the car sped down the road at a lightning-fast speed and causing the gang to scream as the car zoomed from sight. “Bon voyage, SpongeBob, Patrick and horses!” Plankton bid farewell before he began to skip down the road. “ I'm ready, I'm ready. They're dead…” XXXXXXXX Back on the road, Zipp couldn’t help but feel that something was off about Plankton’s behavior. “Guys, how did he know that we needed to go to the Lost City of Atlantic City? I mean, was he listening in on us? Did he have something to do with Gary’s abduction?” “I’m not sure, sis, but it doesn’t really matter at the moment,” Pipp told her. “Right now, we’re on the move and we can’t slow down.” “Ugh, but these questions are driving me crazy!” Zipp groaned in frustration. “And we're no closer to figuring out how to win over the hesitant dragons or figuring out the mysteries of Allura's past!!” Sunny shuddered at the mention of Allura's name... something that everyone seemed to notice. “Hey, you okay, Sunny?” SpongeBob asked her gently. “You look as stressed as an unhappy customer on Black Friday.” “...I had a nightmare about Allura the other night,” Sunny admitted. “She said she escaped from Starlight Ridge, and she was looking for the star she needed. And... she was gonna stop at nothing to stop us from stopping her.” “W-Who's Allura?” Arctic asked, a little worried. “An evil snow leopard that Sunny told me, SpongeBob and India about earlier,” Tropic explained to her sister. “But... I thought she had been stopped.” Zipp pulled out her Flypad for recording some information. “Did she say or do anything else that caught you off-guard?” “...when she tried to pounce on me and I flew out of the way, ice formed under her paws when she landed,” Sunny recalled. “She never did that before.” “Eek... but, don't worry, Sunny. I'm sure it was just a dream,” said Misty. “She’s still probably back in Starlight Ridge. But if she is around, we'll be ready for her.” Sunny sighed at this, looking at the surroundings around them, hoping that her friends were indeed right.