The Sponge's Yearning

Chapter 1: Weird Dreams

Percy woke up in cold sweat. He first focused on his breathing, taking deep breaths. Now you see, Percy was no stranger to weird dreams but this one, this was something else. A dream about Spongebob had to be on the top ten list of dreams that makes you wonder what the hell the gods were planning to do. The craziest thing is he woke up as if he'd just been in a nightmare, which could be true if he had a fear of sponges. I should probably get ready for the day. So far, the school year hadn't completely sucked, and guess what, he was another day closer to seeing Annabeth again. Mostly a plus in his books. Once he got out of bed and took a step forward, he heard a bloodcurdling squeak. The boy froze in his tracks, shut his eyes tight, and summoned all the courage he had to look down to see what he stepped on.

Lifting his foot he opened his eyes to find a yellow kitchen sponge on the floor. Was this some joke from the Gods? He swears it can't just be a coincidence that he dreamt of a sponge and now there's a sponge on his floor. Percy held the sponge in the palm of his hand. It was slightly wet, disgusting. "This probably got infected with something if it lived long enough to stay the night on my floor," Percy said aloud, as he placed the sponge on his desk. Then something that could only happen to Percy happened. The fricking sponge moved by itself.

Maybe it was because she was his mother but Sally Jackson could always seem to tell when her son was in danger. And right now her spidey sense went off. "Percy is everything alright?" Sally asked while walking to his room.

What she saw shouldn't have surprised her. She watched in disbelief as she saw her demigod son talk to a kitchen sponge. She rolled her eyes, "What is it this time?"

"Okay so this might sound a little crazy," Percy started

"At this point, nothing does,"

"Alright, so this sponge is from the animated show,"

"Of course it is," Sally exasperated.

Sally took a deep sigh, "Look do what you need to do just come home before midnight, got it?"

"No problem," Percy replied.

Sally knew it was a bad idea to leave the conversation at that, but it was too dam early to start worrying about some demigod shenanigans. Plus, she trusted that Percy could protect himself, most of the time.

Percy knows it might sound shocking to talk to the literal cartoon character that is Spongebob, I mean he could hardly believe he stepped on him. For some reason, only he could understand the poor sponge and his story wasn't one to laugh at.

"Okay to be completely clear, you woke up one morning and felt something wrong, your friends were gone, and then you fell through a portal?" the demigod recited.

The yellow sponge nodded solemnly. To be honest it was still incredibly unsettling to see a sponge move and talk to him. But to be fair, it'd be creepier if the sponge had eyes or a mouth for that matter.

"Then I got whisked away here, you gotta help me find my friends," Spongebob pleaded.

"Alright alright, I'll help you, you seem genuine and not an elaborate prank created by the gods to forever question my existence," Percy responded.

"So what are we waiting for let's get moving!" the sponge said with such determination, it was kinda cute.

"Wait, before we leave we should binge your show to find clues right?"

"I have a show?"

"Oh yeah, about that-"

"So every decision I've made wasn't mine, it was someone writing me?" At this moment the young sponge was confused. How was he supposed to react to this? For his whole life, he was taught that everyone had a sense of free will, but now, it was just how he was written. He wondered if he truly had any free will? The demigod stayed silent. What should he do to comfort this little guy? I mean he would freak out if he found out his life was entertainment to people.

The little sponge bent down, it almost looked as if he was sitting. Percy quickly searched for any clue online that could lead them to a way to bring Spongebob home. At this moment Percy was thankful for the demigod tech he'd been gifted recently.

Once Spongebob snapped back to reality, he found the boy watching some clip of him. As Spongebob leaned closer to Percy to see the screen, he realized his whole life was a show, even a few movies. That was kinda cool in theory, still gave him the willies.

The pair binged through a couple of episodes. Percy wanted to ask if Spongebob could see without his eyes, but thought it might be rude to say.

It was quite fascinating to see the sponge go through different emotions so quickly. From amazed, to confused, and all the rest, the sponge looked quite animated just from his movements. The son of Poseidon silently chuckled at the sight.

Once they finished their batch of episodes, Percy checked the time to see it was noon already, they needed to get out of his bed. "Right, c'mon buddy we need to get moving," Percy scooped up the kitchen sponge and put him on his shoulder.

"Will you be good up there?"

"Yeah, I think I can handle this Peter"

"It's Percy"

"Sorry about that,"

The green-eyed boy then stormed out of his apartment to the outside world that is Manhattan, not even considering bringing a backpack. The sun shone in the pair's eyes.

"Wait where are we even going!?" Percy questioned

"The beach?" The sponge replied, I mean that is where Spongebob assumed he lived (if the episodes were anything to go by). Wait for a sec, what was the point of watching his show if they didn't gather any clues?

"Got it." Percy proceeded to walk past the busy crowds towards the nearest beach he knew. Spongebob watched the world around him attentively, everything was still processing in his mind. The T.V show, where he was, his thoughts from earlier, everything seemed to pile on each other. He tried to look as unsuspicious as possible on Peter's shoulder.

"Everything is going according to plan," a shadowy figure looked above a nearby building, their lips slowly turning into a soft smile. "Remember, I'm doing this for the benefit of us all." The figure then disappeared, following the duo through the darkness of the shadows surrounding them.