Mr. Krabs rocketed down a street that ran along the beach. Sandy sprinted behind him with Squidward on her back. Patrick brought up the rear, riding on SpongeBob’s back as he propelled himself with his powerful bubble-blower!
On his Burgermobile, Burger Beard peered through a spyglass until he spotted the floating bubble with his old book trapped inside it. “Thar she blows!” he called, laughing.
But when he looked in his rearview mirror, Burger Beard saw the heroes gaining on him. Growling, he release his side sails. The sails gave him more speed, and he shot ahead.
“Engage boosters!” Mr. Krabs said, firing up extra engines.
“Hang on tight, Squidward!” Sandy whooped. “YEE-HAW!”
But it was SpongeBob and Patrick, cruising on bubble power, who reached Burger Beard first. Patrick climbed on board but accidentally sent SpongeBob spinning away. SpongeBob managed to grab Patrick’s shorts, pulling them down until he could see Patrick’s butt crack. “AHH!” SpongeBob screamed.
Burger Beard dropped his heavy anchor, knocking SpongeBob and Patrick off the Burgermobile. “Arr, arr, arr, arr!” he laughed like the evil pirate he was.
He spotted the book in the bubble floating above his ship-truck. Letting go of the steering wheel, Burger Beard climbed up into the crow’s nest. He was so eager to get his magic book back that he didn’t notice SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, and Squidward standing on his anchor, behind the Burgermobile!
“He’s after the book!” SpongeBob yelled, pointing. “Sandy, use your squirrel powers!”
“Roger that!” Sandy replied. She ran up the anchor’s chain and onto the Burgermobile.
But as SpongeBob watched anxiously, Burger Beard got closer and closer to his magic book. “She’s never gonna make it!” he cried.
He spotted a large metal statue just ahead on the right side of the road. “Everyone, LEAN!” he shouted. They all leaned to the right, and the anchor hooked on to the statue.
The Burgermobile jolted, and Sandy fell right off. “Whoa!” she shouted. But the Burgermobile didn’t stop. It kept going, dragging the heavy statue behind it. Mr. Krabs, Squidward, SpongeBob, and Patrick were sent flying into the street. Burger Beard managed to hold on to the mast.
As the Burgermobile slowly came to a halt, Burger Beard grabbed for the book in the bubble!
“The book!” SpongeBob said. “Sour Note!”
Squidward blew his clarinet. The clarinet’s horrible sonic wave popped the bubble, and the book fell down into the truck.
“NOOO!” Burger Beard howled. He jumped down into the truck just in time to see his precious book burst into flames on the grill. “NOOOOOOO!”
SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs strode up to the pirate. “All right, Burger Beard,” SpongeBob warned. “Prepare to be teamworked. GET HIM, THE RODENT!”
Sandy filled her cheeks with nuts from a handy bin and fired them at Burger Beard. But the wily pirate batted the nuts away with his spatula until she ran out of them. “Aw, nuts!” Sandy said. “I’m all out of nuts!”
Burger Beard used a rope to hoist himself up into the crow’s nest. Patrick summoned dozens of ice cream cones to fly at him, pointy end first.
“Patrick, I should NEVER have doubted your powers!” SpongeBob said admiringly.
Burger Beard jumped out of the crow’s nest and swung around on a rope. The ice cream cones followed him. But when he swerved back up, the ice cream cones all headed straight for Patrick! He fell to the ground, covered in ice cream.
“I can’t think of a sweeter way to go,” he moaned.
Burger Beard dangled the secret formula in his hand. “It’s ALL MINE!”
“Not so fast, Booger Beard!” Mr. Krabs said. He shot his claws at the mast, cutting it into three pieces. The pirate fell to the deck and dropped the formula, which rolled into the street. Mr. Krabs’s claws flew back to his arms.
“Me formuler!” Mr. Krabs shouted. But before he could grab it, Burger Beard shot him away with a blast of melted butter!
SpongeBob reached for the formula, but Burger Beard saw him. The pirate pulled on a lever. Hatches opened on the Burgermobile and REAL CANNONS popped out!
“Voilà!” Burger Beard said proudly.
“Uh-oh,” SpongeBob said. A cannonball was rocketing towards him!
Using his incredible flexibility, SpongeBob managed to dodge all of Burger Beard’s cannonballs. One flew right through SpongeBob’s bubble wand and came out trapped in a bubble. He watched the cannonball float away.
“Huh?” he said. Then he got an idea!
While Burger Beard continued to fire cannonballs at him, SpongeBob used his bubble wand to catch every single one in a bubble, rendering each cannonball harmless!
“They’re beautiful!” Patrick said. He reached up to touch one floating over his head. POP! WHAM! The bubble popped, and the cannonball fell on Patrick, knocking him out cold.
“Patrick!” SpongeBob called to his friend. BLAM! Distracted, SpongeBob failed to dodge Burger Beard’s last cannonball, which sent him flying. The pirate laughed a long, loud, evil laugh.
SpongeBob lay on the ground with cannonballs falling from bubbles all around him.
Still laughing his evil laugh, Burger Beard grabbed the secret formula and ran back to his Burgermobile.
Covered in ice cream, Patrick crawled over to SpongeBob and cradled his best buddy’s head. “SpongeBob!”
“Patrick?”
“Yeah, buddy. Talk to me.”
“I’m … I’m seeing a bright light.”
Patrick moved his head to block the sun, which was shining right in SpongeBob’s eyes. “Is that better?’ he asked.
“Much. Thank you,” SpongeBob said. “But the discomfort I feel in my eyes is nothing compared to the shame I feel for letting down the Patty. For letting down Bikini Bottom.”
“Yeah, SpongeBob,” Patrick said, nodding. “You really blew it.”
“No, Patrick. WE blew it … as a team.”
“Nope. This one’s on you.”
Inside the Burgermobile, Burger Beard hummed happily as he started the engine. “Hmm-hmmm, tiddly hmmm …”
Suddenly, a loud voice boomed through the food truck. “Where do you think YOU’RE going?”
Burger Beard looked around and saw … Plankton!
The mean old pirate laughed hysterically. “Why don’t you get goin’, little fellow, before you hurt yourself?”
Burger Beard put his Burgermobile in gear and hit the gas, but the vehicle wouldn’t move. When Burger Beard looked around again, he saw the reason.
Plankton now had a huge, strong body! He was holding one end of the truck up over his head. He shifted his hands and lifted the entire Burgermobile over his head!
“Plankton?” SpongeBob asked when he saw the new version of his teammate.
“It’s Plank-TON!” Plankton roared. He flipped the Burgermobile upside down and shook it. Burger Beard screamed as he fell. He managed to snag the broken mast and climb up into the ship-truck through a trapdoor in the deck.
Plankton growled, flipped the ship right-side up, shook it, and spun it around. Inside, Burger Beard was pinned to the wall by the force of Plankton’s spinning. Kitchen knives flew at Plankton, narrowly missing him.
Plankton’s huge red eye peered through the window of the Burgermobile. “Come out, come out, wherever you are….”
Burger Beard squeezed hot sauce straight into Plankton’s eye!
“MY EYE!” Plankton screamed. He threw the food truck down onto its side, and Burger Beard jumped out and ran down the street.
“He’s getting away!” SpongeBob yelled.
Plankton jumped out from behind the ruined Burgermobile. “Ready for a Plank-TON of bubbles?” he asked.
SpongeBob smiled and nodded. Plankton picked him up, took a deep breath, and BLEW through SpongeBob’s bubble wand. A massive cloud of bubbles headed for Burger Beard.
The pirate looked back and saw an avalanche of bubbles be
aring down on him. He tried to run, but slipped and slid so much on the soapy bubbles that he ended up running in place. Plankton reached down and picked him up by the hat.
Holding Burger Beard in one hand, Plankton held out his other hand and said, “The secret Krabby Patty formula, please.”
“Come on!” Burger Beard pleaded. “Team up with ME! We’ll be RICH and POWERFUL!”
SpongeBob and Patrick gasped. Would Plankton accept the pirate’s offer?
Plankton shook his head. “No, thanks,” he told Burger Beard. “I’m already part of a teamwork.”
He moved his hand closer to the pirate. Burger Beard gave him the bottle that held the secret formula. Plankton drew back his muscular foot and punted the pirate far, far away.
“YAAAAAH!” Burger Beard screamed as he flew through the air. He returned to the deserted island where he’d lost all his treasure, buried up to his neck in sand. A seagull landed on his bare head. Burger Beard moaned.
Back on the boardwalk, Patrick asked, “Can we do hands in the middle again?”
“Yes, we can, Patrick!” SpongeBob agreed. “But this time, there’s ONE MORE HAND to go in the middle!”
SpongeBob put his hand in. Patrick put his on top of SpongeBob’s, followed by Mr. Krabs’s, Squidward’s, and Sandy’s.
But where was Plankton’s?
“Plankton?” SpongeBob asked, looking for their last team member.
Plankton was standing nearby, staring at the secret formula in his hand. The secret formula he’d been trying to get ahold of for so many years.
“Hmm …,” he said, thinking.
“Oh, no!” Mr. Krabs gasped, thinking Plankton was going to keep the formula for himself.
Plankton handed the bottle to Mr. Krabs. “Here you go, Krabs. She’s all yours.”
Mr. Krabs joyfully took the bottle. Then he looked suspicious. “This doesn’t have another insulting note in it, does it?”
“No,” Plankton said. “That’s the OLD me, the one who turned his back on everything important just to have that formula all to himself. But I realize now that keeping something to myself is … selfish.”
“Especially when that something is the Krabby Patty,” SpongeBob said, smiling proudly. He turned to the other team members. “Okay, everybody! Let’s get back to Bikini Bottom and put things back the way they were.”
Suddenly, he realized something awful. “Oh, no!” he cried. “I don’t have the page from Burger Beard’s magic book! It must be back on Pelican Island!”
“Don’t worry,” Plankton reassured him. “I thought of everything.” He handed the last page of the book to SpongeBob. “All right, SpongeBob. Take us home!”
“Thanks,” SpongeBob said. He looked around for Squidward and saw him admiring his own superhero body.
“Oh, yeah,” Squidward said. “Nice.”
“C’mon, Squidward!” SpongeBob called. “It’s time to go back and open up the Krusty Krab!”
Squidward looked appalled. “Are you out of your MIND? I’m NEVER leaving this place! I mean, look at me! I’m a GOD!”
“No, Squidward,” SpongeBob corrected. “You’re a CASHIER.”
SpongeBob started to write on the page from the magic book.
“Wait a minute!” Squidward cried. “What are you doing? NO!”
Energy swirled around them and they vanished!
Back in the Krusty Krab, Squidward appeared behind his cash register, back to his normal self. “Well, it was fun while it lasted,” he said, sighing.
Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Patrick, and SpongeBob re-appeared. They, too, were back to normal.
“Don’t be sad, Squidward,” SpongeBob said. “I left you a little surprise, under your shirt.”
Squidward lifted his shirt, and was delighted to see …
“Rock-hard abs?” he said, amazed. “Aw, SpongeBob, you’re okay in my book.”
“Shucks!” SpongeBob said modestly.
“Excuse us,” said an eager voice. They all turned to see a huge line of customers snaking out the door of the restaurant.
“We’d like three thousand Krabby Patties, please,” said the customer at the front of the line.
“That must mean things are back to normal,” Squidward said.
SpongeBob zipped into the kitchen and returned with a tray full of sandwiches. “Who wants three thousand Krabby Patties?” he asked.
The customers all cheered!
“First one’s for you, Gary,” SpongeBob said as he handed a Krabby Patty to his pet snail. “Extra mayo, just the way you like it.”
“Meow,” Gary said, looking pleased.
“AHA!” SpongeBob shouted. “Caught you red-handed! Gary HATES mayo … PLANKTON!”
SpongeBob opened Gary’s shell, revealing Plankton hidden inside, operating a robot version of the snail. “Up to your old tricks again already, eh?” SpongeBob said.
“Hey, I’m just putting things back the way they were!” Plankton said innocently.
The real Gary crawled up next to SpongeBob. “What do you have to say about this, Gary?” asked SpongeBob.
“GRRROWWWLLL!” Gary roared.
“Oh, shrimp,” Plankton said. Moments later, he was riding his robot snail out the front door of the Krusty Krab, screaming. Gary chased him out, still roaring.
As he watched Plankton ride away, SpongeBob waved goodbye. “See you later, tee-ammate!”
SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water Junior Novel Page 7
