And here is Chapter 11! Enjoy! I changed the title, btw. :)
Chapter 11: Breaking Sandy
Plankton paced next to his throne. He was eager to hear the news that his plan last night worked. A voice then appeared through his walkie-talkie. It was in Flats’ voice, “Sir, your robot fleet came back to Sardine Sauna. They confirmed the sponge’s elimination and the squirrel is in custody. We will be meeting you in less than an hour. Flats out.”
Plankton gasped, disbelief written all over his face. He smiled and turned to Karen, “It.. It worked. My plan.. It just wiped out all of my threats! Krabs, the squid, that bloated star, the king and his daughter are all locked up in my dungeon. The squirrel is captured and will be amongst them, and, best of all, SPONGEBOB IS NO MORE!” He once again began laughing evilly. Karen then warned, “You know, Plankton. Even though your plan seems like a success right now, cheering before it’s really over tends to ruin you and your plans. We don’t know yet if SpongeBob is gone nor do we know what the squirrel will do to you. She has the strength, intelligence, and flair to start up a riot in that dungeon!” Plankton laughed, “Honey, I predicted beforehand that the squirrel will be in too much of an emotional wreck to fight back. I planned for her to accompany the sponge. Based on my research of their friendship, I planned for those two to fall in love on their little journey here, which is why I had my throne built so far from Bikini Bottom. Also, the nightmares seem to do its own justice by subduing her and the rest of Bikini Bottom that much more.” Confused, Karen asked, “What nightmares?” Plankton facepalmed himself and answered, “Karen, don’t you remember the mind control helmets from Plan Z? I designed the helmets to weaken the mind of the target in order for it to be vulnerable enough to control at my will. When SpongeBob destroyed the helmets with that stupid kiddy song, they caused a negative effect on the mind, causing whoever was brainwashed to have the continuing effect of the helmets, hence the frequent nightmares. Because the squirrel was one of the people brainwashed, she is one of those that suffers the nightmares.”
Karen questioned again, “That doesn’t prove that she won’t fight back. Did you see what she did to Dennis and The Tattletale Strangler yesterday?” Plankton got frustrated by her constant doubt, “I’m aware! This is why I built new and improved bucket helmets.” He showed Karen a see-through bucket helmet that glowed red. He continued, “ If she doesn’t cooperate, she and the rest of my prisoners in the dungeon will be forcibly brainwashed to follow my command. I made sure that these helmets won’t break easily. Now let’s just wait until Flats and the others arrive. We’ll play everything out from there.”
About a half hour passed. The doors slammed open. Robo-Commander and Flats showed up with Sandy, cuffed and looking down to the ground in grief. The remaining robots from Marlin Marina followed closely behind. Plankton laughed evilly at the sight of the squirrel. He shouted, “Ah! Sandra Cheeks! What a pleasant surprise!” Sandy still stared to the ground. Tears filled her eyes. She refused to look at the person responsible for her secret love’s murder. Outside, Sandy was depressed and out of life. On the inside, she wanted cold, hard revenge on Plankton. She wanted to cause some of the worst harm possible to Plankton, but her grief was too strong for her to make any moves. Plankton continued, “It’s such a shame what happened to your little friend, SpongeBob. He seemed like the only one who can stop me. Now that he’s gone, there will be nobody that can stop me!” He started laughing evilly again. Sandy made an inaudible growl. Plankton mentioning SpongeBob’s name in such a way fueled her inner anger much more. Tears dripped onto her helmet. Karen noticed this, “Plankton, she’s crying.” Plankton took a moment and squinted at Sandy. “Yeah, she is, just like I planned,” he said quietly, “I told you, Karen. She’s too broken up after witnessing SpongeBob’s death to even look at me.” He cleared his throat, “Listen, squirrel, you will join me in being my lead scientist and you will invent new weapons of mass destruction. Now that SpongeBob’s not here to stop me or motivate you, you have no choice. Resistance is futile at this point!” Sandy still looked at the ground. She made another inaudible growl. She sniffled and sighed. She slowly looked up at Plankton and said, coldly and threateningly, “I’d rather die than work for you, soulless varmint!” Plankton glared, “You will change your mind in time! Guards, take her to the dungeons!” Two large robots grabbed Sandy’s arms and took her down into the dungeons.
Mindy paced in her cell, thinking of a way out. Squidward looked down at the ground, fearful of what was coming up in the future for him. He hoped that he won’t be enslaved or brainwashed by Plankton again. Patrick went back to sleep, dreaming of having ice cream with Mindy. In the next cell, Mr. Krabs sighed. He hoped that SpongeBob would make it to Planktopolis 2 and somehow save everyone again, like he did when he returned from Shell City. Neptune sat on the opposite wall, still in disbelief that any of this was happening. He feared the safety of him, his daughter, and the state of the sea at this point. Everyone, except Patrick, turned and approached the cell bars when they all heard the dungeon doors open. The guards walked down the hall with Sandy. Mr. Krabs gasped. Squidward shook his head in disbelief. Mindy gasped. She remembered her from the photo album. She was the person SpongeBob brought along on the journey. There were two questions Mindy had. Where was SpongeBob and why was Sandy crying?
Sandy was placed in the cell adjacent to the cell that held Mindy, Squidward, and Patrick. The guards exited and shut the door. Patrick woke up, “Huh? What just happened?” Squidward shushed him, causing him to go right back to sleep. Mindy whispered loudly, “Uh.. Sandy?” There was no response except a sniffle, followed by labored breathing and gasps. Mindy took the hint. She sighed, “There’s no hope now. It’s all over. We’re done.” Squidward stood up and asked, “What? What did Sandy say?” Mindy answered, “She didn’t say anything, but she’s in the other cell, crying. That can only mean one thing. Before he left, SpongeBob told me he would bring a friend with him on the journey here to save us. I’m pretty sure it’s her. She couldn’t have gone into hiding back in Bikini Bottom. I evacuated everyone that was left there two days ago. It also explains why she got captured after three whole days. If she’s crying, and she got captured alone, that means that… SpongeBob’s gone!” Squidward debunked Mindy’s theory, “That doesn’t make sense! SpongeBob must still be out there, hiding! We don’t know if he is dead.” Sandy yelled from the other cell, “HE IS DEAD! I SAW HIM DIE!” Mentioning that moment brought tears back into her eyes. Squidward and Mindy scooted closer to the wall. They heard audible gasps and sniffles. Squidward sighed, “Well, there goes my hope of getting out of here.” Mindy sighed and looked down. She heard her father’s voice, “Mindy, what happened?” Mindy sadly said, “It’s over, Daddy. All hope is lost. SpongeBob is dead. His friend he brought with him told me.” Neptune was shocked. He then sighed. SpongeBob was their last hope, and he’s gone. Mr. Krabs burst into tears. Plankton won.
It was late nighttime. Everyone else was asleep, except Sandy. Nightmares weren’t the only problem she faced. Now it was her pleasant, heartwarming thoughts and memories of her and SpongeBob. With him gone, his memory would forever be printed in her brain, and it hurt her every time she thought of him, and his demise. She turned her back to the cell door and silently wept again. She heard the dungeon doors open. Whether it was a guard or Plankton or one of his able henchmen, she did not care. She refused to look at anyone on Plankton’s side. Plankton stood outside of her cell, smirking. Now to break Lover Cheeks, mentally and emotionally, Plankton thought. He started his insulting. In a low, dark voice, he mocked, “Look at you. The once brave, smart, strong squirrel before this whole thing started turned to… THIS. Pathetic. Gullible, stupid little rodent. You’re actually dumb enough to trust that idiotic child of a sponge. Ha! He never loved you. He never CARED for you. You were just such an outcast down here that he felt bad for you.” Rage and hatred built up inside Sandy while she heard this. She shouted at Plankton from in her head, THAT IS NOT TRUE! Plankton smirked, sensing a breakdown, and continued, “You know it’s true. Now to my main point. You will join me, one way or another. If you want to keep your free will, you will accept my offer right now. If you don’t, you and everyone else in this dungeon will be saying hello to my improved and upgraded bucket helmets. You will help me build weapons of mass destruction. I will then use them to take over the world! After I finish off this sea, I will move on to the land, even your precious Texas!” Sandy mentally growled. First he mocked SpongeBob’s death, then her, now Texas? He was crossing the line she never wanted him to cross. Plankton continued, “I will capture your little family. Soon they’ll work for me and suffer under my rule! How does that sound?”
Sandy’s inner rage couldn’t take it anymore. She growled and flung herself at the cell doors, grabbing the bars. Plankton just smirked. He took a moment to see the work he had done on her face. Her eyes were a puffy red from nonstop crying, tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks, and her breathing pattern was quick and labored. Mindy woke up from Sandy’s actions. Plankton didn’t notice, so she just listened in. Plankton laughed, “You stand no chance, squirrel. You’re weak! SpongeBob’s gone and you got nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. You better accept my offer by noon later today, or the new helmets will be on the heads of you and everyone else down here!” He walked back out to his throne, laughing evilly. As soon as he left, Sandy broke down again. Concerned, Mindy said, “Sandy?” All she heard was weeping. She felt bad for the squirrel. Sandy must have cared for SpongeBob for a long time, and this journey made her care for him enough to love him.
SpongeBob woke up. He had the craziest dream that he got hit by a robot’s cannon. He tried looking around, but there was no space. His entire right side was crushed by debris, but his left was left mostly intact. He got enough space to breathe thanks to a window landing at an angle against the building’s foundations. SpongeBob heard screaming and explosions around him. He assumed Sandy was calling for help. He had no choice but to scream in order to get out of the debris. He started screaming for help. A patrolling robot heard the screams and saw SpongeBob through its X-ray vision. It said, “Destroy SpongeBob.” It fired its cannon at the debris. The resulting explosion caused SpongeBob to fly up. He landed closeby with the robot rolling towards him. He pulled his crushed right arm out and conjured up a new arm. He then pulled out his spatula and swiped the robot away, landing in the debris of another building, exploding on impact.
SpongeBob was finally able to look around. It was dawn. There was no sign of the robots that attacked him, and there was no sign of Sandy. He came to the conclusion that he was crushed by the building and the robots captured Sandy, which meant that she was at Planktopolis 2! SpongeBob gasped. She must be in trouble, and he had no idea where to go. There was no map, and nobody to ask for directions. Luck was on his side. There was a street sign that conveniently showed the four cardinal directions. SpongeBob thought aloud, Wow.. That was lucky. He followed the sign pointing east and continued on his journey alone.
He reached the small town of Sardine Sauna soon after. He checked the time on his watch that conveniently appeared on his wrist. It was ten in the morning. He had walked for an hour. He took a look at the town. Basically nothing was left of the town. Buildings were burnt to a crisp, boats were crashed everywhere, and robot parts filled the ground. He sighed. There was probably no town left intact. He moved on quickly hoping to reach Planktopolis 2 before Plankton could do any harm to Sandy and the rest of his friends.
Sandy only had two hours of sleep. Fortunately she had no nightmare, but she did dream. She dreamt of her happiest memories with SpongeBob, from when they first met to the deep conversation they had on the first night of their journey. She woke up with tears in her eyes, saddened by the fact that there will no longer be any more moments between them now that SpongeBob is dead. She turned when she heard Mindy’s voice from the other side of the wall of the cell, “S-Sandy? Are you okay?” Sandy sniffled and sat against the wall, “No. I don’t think I can ever feel okay again.” Mindy grabbed her heart after hearing that. Sandy was so distraught. She asked, “Are you at least calm enough to tell us what happened out there?” When she said that, Patrick and Squidward scooted close to Mindy to listen in on what happened on the journey.
Sandy sighed. Maybe this can lighten the load of her grief of SpongeBob’s death. She began, “It started when he came in while I was working on my experiment. He told me everything that went on and wanted me to join him on the journey here to save everyone, but…” She paused as the tears returned. After a few seconds, she continued, “But I didn’t believe him at first. I believed him when I saw the robots destroy my rocket and my car. We decided to go on foot. That night, I apologized to him for all the bad things I did throughout our years of friendship.” She paused again as the tears returned again. It was really hard for her to tell the main events in the journey that involved her and SpongeBob. She continued, “The next day, we fought the varmints Dennis and the Tattletale Strangler. All we did for the rest of the day was gain as much ground as we could. Yesterday, we ran into the town of Marlin Marina, where we got ambushed by an army of huge robots. We got split up by the ambush. I defeated more than half of the robots. When I saw him, he got…” Sandy started weeping, reminding herself of the scene of his death. Mindy understood. She shook her head and glanced at Patrick and Squidward. Squidward sighed, “Then all hope IS lost, then.” Patrick burst into tears, “NO! SpongeBob is dead? My best friend can’t be dead!” Mindy comforted him, patting his back.
They suddenly heard the dungeon doors open. Plankton entered with two guards behind him. He made his way for Sandy’s cell. He asked, “Have you made your decision, squirrel?” Sandy, tears still in her eyes, turned to Plankton and growled, “Like I said, I’d rather DIE than join you, Plankton!” Plankton glared and motioned the guards. They opened the cell at the end and pulled out a palace guard. He yelled, “Then watch as one by one all of you will forcibly wear my new bucket helmets!” One guard shoved the helmet on the prisoner. He struggled as he tried to pull off the helmet frantically. Plankton then pressed a button on his remote control. The prisoner stopped, looked at Plankton, and said in a monotonic voice, “All hail Plankton.” Patrick, Squidward, and Mr, Krabs all screamed. Sandy burst into tears. She wished with all her heart that SpongeBob was alive and on his way to save her and everyone else from a demise that was more demeaning than death. Little did she know that right in front of Planktopolis 2, SpongeBob stood and stared at the sight before him. The dormant volcano was glowing orange with molten lava, and the palace looked like it was glaring down at him. SpongeBob took a deep breath. This is it.
Oh here we go! The final battle is upon us! Hope you enjoyed! Chapter 12: Breaking Out will be up soon! Also quick note, I want to know how I'm doing with the characters. Are they all in character? Just a reminder, SpongeBob pops in and out of character because he's maturing, but is everyone else okay? Just asking for feedback. In the meantime, stay tuned! 