SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Junior Novel (6 page)

“We better get out of here until things cool off,” Plankton said.

That night, high on a ridge overlooking Bikini Bottom, Plankton and SpongeBob looked down at their hometown. They could see fires burning in the darkness.

“Everything we know and love has been destroyed!” SpongeBob said sadly.

“Looks like they're gonna have to change the name of Bikini Bottom to Dirty Bottom,” Plankton said, chuckling. “Right, SpongeBob?”

SpongeBob wrinkled his nose and frowned. “That's a little gross, Plankton.”

“Yeah,” Plankton said. “Yeah. Too soon, huh?”

SpongeBob stared into distance. “This feels like it really IS the end!”

“Don't worry, SpongeBob,” Plankton reassured him. “We'll find the secret formula, and everything will go back to the way it was. You know, all happy and junk.”

He pushed a rock toward SpongeBob. “Now let's try to get some sleep.”

“Yeah, I guess you're right,” SpongeBob said, laying his head on the rock.

Plankton pulled a blanket of seaweed over SpongeBob. “There you are,” he said. “Feeling comfy?”

“You know, Plankton,” SpongeBob said sleepily, “I think you might know a little bit more about teamwork than you let on.”

“Good night, SpongeBob.”

“Good night, Plankton.”

Exhausted from the day, SpongeBob instantly fell into a deep sleep.

Plankton let out an evil little chuckle. “Good night indeed!” he said to himself. He crept up onto SpongeBob's head. “That's right, SpongeBob, sleep! You're hiding that formula in there somewhere….”

Plankton forced one of SpongeBob's holes open and jumped into his head!

O
nce inside SpongeBob's head, Plankton wasted no time going straight to his brain, hoping to find the Krabby Patty secret formula. “Well,” he said. “Here goes nothing!”

The inside of SpongeBob's brain was colorful and bright, with funny shapes and happy music. “Huh?” Plankton said. “What IS this place?”

A bottle of maple syrup ran by laughing, chased by a waffle, which was also laughing. “Hee hee! I'm gonna get you!” said the waffle.

Plankton was confused.

Two ice cream cones threw fudge at each other. “Fudge fight!” they said, laughing.

“Hmm,” Plankton said. “Apparently it's very sweet inside SpongeBob's brain. After talking to SpongeBob, I thought it'd be mostly empty. But that secret formula's got to be in here somewhere….”

As he started to search through SpongeBob's
brain, Plankton heard two voices calling to him. “Hello, Plankton! Come play with us!”

He turned and saw two ice pops stuck together. They were smiling at him. “Hurry!” they called. “Before we MELT!” They giggled.

Horrified, Plankton ran away, scattering a bunch of happy balloons. He passed a doughnut blowing bubbles out of its hole. Screaming, Plankton ran off the edge of a cliff, landing in a pile of cute little fur balls!

The fur balls pushed together and transformed into a single giant kitten. It was cute but gigantic. Looming over Plankton, the kitten purred and meowed.

“So … much … sweetness,” Plankton groaned, heaving. “I think I'm going to be sick.”

He threw up, but what came out of his mouth was a giant rainbow! He stared at the rainbow in disbelief. The giant rainbow suddenly grew arms and eyes.

“DADDY!” cried the giant rainbow.

Plankton screamed and ran away again. Soon he popped out of SpongeBob's ear and landed next to their cold campfire. His grunts and groans awakened SpongeBob.

“Plankton?” he asked groggily. “Plankton! I just had the craziest dream, and you were in it!”

Plankton was covered in cotton candy, cookie crumbs, and caramel sauce. “I'm sure it was nothing,” he said quickly. “Now go back to sleep.”

“Well, good night,” SpongeBob said. But as he lay down, he noticed a candy cane stuck to Plankton's head.

“Were you in my brain?” SpongeBob asked.

“What? No,” Plankton insisted. “That's crazy talk.”

“Then why is there cotton candy on your antennae?”

“Because … um …,” Plankton said, stumped. “Okay, fine! I was in your brain!”

SpongeBob gasped, stepped back, and covered his head with his hands. “What were you doing in there?”

Plankton rolled his eye. “What do you THINK I was doing? Looking for the secret formula.”

“WHAT?” SpongeBob cried.

“Don't act so innocent!” Plankton sneered. “You knew what I was up to. That's why you're pretending not to know the formula!”

SpongeBob looked shocked. “I'm not pretending! I can't believe you thought I was lying!”

Plankton shrugged. “Hey, don't take it personally. I just assume everyone's lying.”

“That is a horrible way to live your life.”

“Whatever,” Plankton said.

“It is! And if we're going to be on the same team—”

Plankton jumped to his feet and shook his fist. “Maybe I don't want to be on a
tee-am
! You ever think of that?”

“But, Plankton,” SpongeBob protested. “EVERYTHING's better when you're part of a team!” With that, he pulled out a pitch pipe and blew through it.

“You're not going to start singing, are you?” Plankton asked, shaking his head.

But he was. SpongeBob sang a song about teamwork—about how nothing is impossible if you tackle it as a team. In his enthusiasm, SpongeBob picked up Plankton during the song. After the song was over, Plankton said, “All right, you can put me down.”

SpongeBob gently set Plankton on the ground. “Well, that's one minute of my life I'll never get back,” Plankton complained.

“Not without a time machine,” SpongeBob pointed out.

Plankton froze. “Wait a minute!” he said. “Repeat that! Slowly!”

“Not … without … a … time … machine,” SpongeBob said in a slow, deep voice.

“Yes!” Plankton shouted. “THAT'S IT!”

“S
pongeBob, you're a genius!” Plankton cried, clapping him on the back.

“I am?” SpongeBob asked, puzzled.

“If we build a time machine,” Plankton explained enthusiastically, “we can go back to before the formula disappeared! Before society broke down! Before we became the hunted!”

SpongeBob looked doubtful. “That sounds great, Plankton,” he said. “But how do we build a time machine?”

Plankton paced back and forth, thinking. “Well,” he said slowly, “first we'll need a computer powerful enough to calculate the intricacies of time travel.”

“Where would we get one of those?” SpongeBob asked.

“I just happen to be married to one,” Plankton answered with a smile.

High on another cliff at the edge of Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob and Plankton looked down at the Chum Bucket. It was surrounded by guards. And they looked angry.

“Those thugs have got Karen tied up in the back room,” Plankton said. “We're going to have to sneak by them. You know, it's funny. I've never seen this many people at the Chum Bucket.”

“I know!” SpongeBob exclaimed. “I've never seen ANYONE there.”

Plankton looked exasperated. “Now, was that really necessary?”

“Because the food's really bad.”

“Oh, come on! REALLY?”

“SHH!” SpongeBob said. “How are we gonna sneak past those guards?”

“Hmm …,” Plankton said, thinking of a plan.

Moments later, a tire rolled down the cliff toward the Chum Bucket. When it reached the bottom of the cliff, it kept going, rolling right into the middle of a group of guards.

“Well, what do we have here?” asked one guard.

The guards pulled out some wooden sticks and metal rods and started beating the tire!

Behind them, SpongeBob and Plankton sneaked over to the Chum Bucket, hidden in a stack of tires. “We'd better hurry,” SpongeBob whispered. “Those guys really hate tires!”

Plankton tried to open a small door, but it was locked. “We'll never get in!” he cried. “The door's locked!”

“A team doesn't give up that easily,” SpongeBob reassured him. “Let me take a closer look.”

SpongeBob climbed out of the stack of tires and examined the side of the Chum Bucket more carefully. When he looked up, he saw an open window.

“There!” he said. “That window's open! C'mon, Plankton. Time for some real teamwork. Gimme a boost.”

“Okay …,” Plankton said uncertainly. Then he saw SpongeBob's shiny black shoe coming down at him. “Wait a minute! NO!”

Plankton tried with all his might to hold up SpongeBob by his shoe, but he just didn't have enough strength.
SQUISH!

Not realizing what had happened, SpongeBob was still straining to reach the open window. “Just … a … little … higher, Plankton,” he said. Then he realized Plankton wasn't answering him. “Plankton?”

When SpongeBob lifted his shoe and looked at its
sole, he saw Plankton flattened across it.

“Why don't YOU boost ME up instead?” Plankton suggested sensibly.

“Oh, yeah,” SpongeBob said. “Good thinking!”

SpongeBob lifted his shoe up to the open window and scraped Plankton off. Groaning, Plankton landed on the windowsill. Then he jumped through the window into the Chum Bucket. As soon as he hit the floor, he ran to the small door and opened it.

“Come on, SpongeBob!” he whispered intensely. “Come on!”

SpongeBob squeezed through the small door and into the restaurant. “We're in!” he said. Then he swung the door closed.
SLAM!

“Shhhh!” Plankton hissed. “There's a guard over there!”

Plankton pointed across the room at the guard. It was Patrick, snoring loudly as he slept in a chair by another door. “The key's around his neck!” Plankton whispered. “We can take it from him, but we'll have to be very quiet. Let's walk on the tips of our toes.”

Plankton raised himself up on the tips of his toes—which SpongeBob had never noticed before—and skittered across the floor. There was a high, tinkling sound.