SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Junior Novel (4 page)

“We get the rest of the day off?” Squidward asked hopefully.

“No,” Mr. Krabs said, shaking his head. “This be but a harbinger of what I fear lies ahead. For you, for me, for all of Bikini Bottom. The Krabby Patty is what ties us all together, and without it, there will be a complete breakdown of social order! A war of all against all! Dark times are ahead! Dark times indeed!”

Squidward scrunched up his face. “Seriously?” he asked. “Aren't you overreacting a bit?”

But when he looked around, Squidward saw that Bikini Bottom had already erupted into flames. People
were looting stores and fighting each other over scraps of food. The town had become a violent, ugly place. And Squidward and Mr. Krabs themselves were suddenly wearing leather outfits that made them look tough.

“Welcome to the apocalypse, Mr. Squidward,” Mr. Krabs said dramatically. “I hope you like leather.”

“I prefer suede,” Squidward said.

S
urrounded by attentive seagulls, Burger Beard read from the old book he'd stolen. He held it open to a picture of Bikini Bottom in flames. “‘And so,'” he said. “‘Bikini Bottom became an apocalyptic cesspool forevermore.'”

He snapped the book shut. “The end.”

The seagulls were very upset. “What?” they cried. “No! The book has more pages than that!”

Humming and singing to himself, Burger Beard strolled over to the ship's wheel and steered.

A seagull landed on the wheel and said, “There is NO WAY that's the end of the story!”

“Well, of course it is!” Burger Beard insisted. “I'll show you. Turn around.”

The seagull turned, and Burger Beard plucked a feather from its tail. “Hey!” the seagull cried. “I need that to fly, you jerk!”

Burger Beard dipped the point of the feather in black ink and wrote
THE END
in his book. Not wanting
the story to end, one of the seagulls tried to pull the book out of his hands.

“Gimme that book!” the seagull squawked. He accidentally tore loose the page that Burger Beard had written on.

“HEY!” Burger Beard shouted. “Let go of that!”

The pirate scrambled to grab back the torn page, but he slipped and fell on the deck.
KLUNK!

The seagull flapped its wings and flew off the ship with the page in its beak. Then it dropped the sheet into the water. “I shouldn't be littering,” the seagull admitted, “but that ending was GARBAGE!”

Burger Beard jumped to his feet and started swatting at the seagulls. “Why, you sky scum!”

The page with
THE END
on it slowly sank into the briny depths….

In Bikini Bottom, things had gone from bad to worse. Chaos reigned everywhere. Lawlessness ruled the streets. Fires, robbery, people bumping into each other without saying “Excuse me”—you name it.

Somehow Patrick didn't notice. He strolled into the Krusty Krab and cheerfully said, “Good morning,
Squidward! I'll have the usual … with cheese.”

Squidward shook his head. He couldn't believe Patrick hadn't heard the news. “We're out of Krabby Patties right now.”

“Out of Krabby Patties?” Patrick said, surprised. “Okay, then, just gimme a double Krabby Patty.”

Mr. Krabs ran out of the kitchen, waving his claws in the air. Flames shot out of the kitchen door. “Patrick!” he shouted. “THERE ARE NO KRABBY PATTIES!”

“No Krabby Patties? NOOOOOOOO!” he wailed.

SpongeBob peered through the bubble as it flew over his hometown. “Look what's become of Bikini Bottom!” he cried. “We really need to get that formula back!”

“Hmm,” Plankton mused. “Get the secret formula, you say? Excuse me. I need a moment.”

He turned away from SpongeBob and talked to himself. “With that formula, I could rule the WORLD!” He muffled his evil laughter as best he could. Then he turned back to SpongeBob.

“Well, what do we do now?” Plankton asked innocently.

“Now we work TOGETHER!” he exclaimed. “You
know, TEAMWORK!”

Plankton looked as though he had absolutely no idea what SpongeBob was talking about.

“What's a
tee-am
work?” he asked.

“No, Plankton,” SpongeBob gently corrected him. “TEAMwork.”

“
Tee-am
work,” Plankton said.

“Teamwork.”

“Tie 'em work.”

“Teamwork.”

“Tie 'em up.”

SpongeBob sighed. “Say ‘team,' like a sports …”

“Team,” Plankton said.

“Team! Now say ‘work.'”

“Work.”

“Put 'em together and whaddya got?” SpongeBob asked hopefully.

“Time bomb,” Plankton said. “Work.”

“Gettin' better!” SpongeBob said encouragingly.

I
nside her treedome, Sandy sat down to watch TV and eat a Krabby Patty she'd been saving. “Mm-MMM!” she said, licking her lips. An anchorman came on the screen and announced, “Now: Bikini Bottom Action News!”

Sandy heard a strange noise above her. She looked up and saw Patrick stuck to the outside of her treedome, staring at her Krabby Patty and drooling.

“Oh!” Sandy said. “Uh, hey, Patrick!”

With his tongue stuck to the dome's glass, Patrick said, “KABBY! PABBY!”

When Sandy started to take a bite, Patrick pulled his tongue off the glass and said angrily, “KRABBY! PATTY!” He pounded the glass with his fists. “KRABBY! PATTY!”

Each time Sandy tried to take a bite of her sandwich, Patrick screamed, “KRABBY! PATTY!” Finally, she shoved the whole Krabby Patty into her mouth at once. Patrick screamed, slid off the glass, and wandered away
miserably. “C'mon, tummy,” he said sadly. “It's gonna be a long day.”

Sandy watched him go. “What's gotten into Patrick?”

On the TV, the anchorman said urgently, “We interrupt your regular program for an important news bulletin!”

Reporter Perch Perkins appeared on the screen holding a microphone. “Perch Perkins, reporting live from downtown Bikini Bottom,” he said, ducking as a boatmobile flew by his head.

“Complete chaos here today as our town attempts to deal with a sudden and complete shortage of Krabby Patties,” he reported, ducking again to avoid a metal trash can. “Events here have this reporter wondering—what IS the secret ingredient in Krabby Patties, anyway?”

An angry fish ran up, waving a metal pipe. “It's love!” he yelled. “The secret ingredient is LOVE!”

Perch Perkins ran away screaming. The angry fish swung his pipe at the camera, and Sandy's TV screen went blank.

“No more Krabby Patties?” she said.

Suddenly, the inside of the treedome went dark. Sandy looked up and saw a huge shadow covering the curved glass. “Huh?” she said. “What the corn dog is THAT?”

The page from Burger Beard's book with
THE END
written on it had drifted down and landed on Sandy's treedome.

Up in their bubble, SpongeBob was still trying to teach Plankton about teamwork. “Come on, Plankton! It's easy! It means I help you, you help me, and when we accomplish our goal, we do ‘hands in the middle'!”

“Hands in the middle?” Plankton said doubtfully. “No, no. Sounds idiotic.” He looked down through the bubble to the town below. “Besides,” he added, “the two of us are no match for that cranky mob!”

Down in Bikini Bottom, the angry horde was destroying a doughnut shop. They pushed on the side of the building until it tipped over and burst into flames. Doughnuts flew everywhere. People from the mob frantically gathered up doughnuts and carried them off, laughing hysterically, madness in their eyes.

“We could probably use a few more
tee-am
works,” Plankton suggested.

SpongeBob brightened. “That's exactly what I was thinking!” He pulled a pin out of his pocket.

“Wait!” Plankton said, holding up both hands. “What are you doing?”

SpongeBob jammed the pin into the bubble.
POP!
He and Plankton plummeted through the air with Plankton screaming all the way!

W
HUMP!
SpongeBob and Plankton landed right next to Squidward's house. Plankton groaned, lying on the ground. SpongeBob quickly got to his feet and looked around.