Time: After Movie 11
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On a summer morning, deciding to try another peaceful mission, SpongeBob and the Kamiya Siblings take a job as a fire lookout in Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming. On their first day, Dalia, a lookout in another watchtower, contacts him via walkie-talkie and asks him to investigate illegal fireworks by the lake. While SpongeBob and Tai handle another problem nearby, Kari discovers a pair of teenage girls, Chelsea Dean and Lizzie Morgan, who accuse her of leering. On the way back, she comes across a locked cave and spots a shadowy figure watching her before disappearing. The trio returns to their watchtower to find it ransacked. The next day, Dalia asks the trio to investigate a downed communication line. He finds it cut, with a note apparently signed by the teens. The four plot to scare the girls off, but when the trio finds the girls' campsite ransacked and abandoned, they begin to worry.
SpongeBob finds an old backpack and a disposable camera belonging to a boy named Brandon Goodwin, who Dalia explains was the son of Neil Goodwin, a former lookout. Neil was an outdoorsman who suffered from a traumatic experience in Iraq, while his son enjoyed fantasy novels and role-playing games. Though it is against the rules for employees to bring their children to the towers, Dalia was fond of Brandon and lied about his presence. He and Neil apparently left abruptly and never returned. Later, the teenage girls are reported missing. Fearing an inquiry, Dalia falsifies reports to say that neither she nor the trio encountered the girls.
Two months later, a small wildfire breaks out south of the trio's tower. Two weeks later, they discover a radio and a clipboard while fishing, with notes including transcripts of their conversations with Dalia. While SpongeBob and Kari look around, Tai is beaten unconscious by an unseen assailant and wakes up to find the clipboard and radio gone. In a meadow referred to on the clipboard letterhead, the trio finds a fenced-off government research area. They break in and discover surveillance equipment and typewritten reports detailing the conversations and private lives. They also discover a tracking device, which they take. Tai and Dalia discuss destroying the government camp, but decide against it, much to the relief of SpongeBob and Kari. However, as the trio hikes back, someone sets fire to the camp.
The next day, the trio uses the tracking device to find a backpack with a key to the locked cave. Dalia reports a figure in the trio's tower; when they arrive, they find a Walkman taped to the door with an incriminating recording of Tai and Dalia's discussion about destroying the government camp. The next day, someone impersonating SpongeBob calls another lookout and claims that Dalia knows the cause of the station fire, putting her and the trio more on edge.
The trio uses the found key to enter the cave, but is suddenly locked inside by an unseen figure. Deep in the cave, the trio discovers Brandon's body and broken climbing gear before escaping the cave. Dalia is upset by the news after they relay it. The next day, an evacuation order is given for all the lookouts, as the wildfire that the trio had spotted and named earlier has grown out of control.
As the trio prepares to leave, the tracking device begins beeping. He follows the signal and discovers a tape from Neil. Neil claims that Brandon's death was accidental, and that the boy fell due to climbing inexperience. Unwilling to return to society after Brandon's death, Neil secretly lived in the area ever since. Choosing to venture deeper into the wilderness, Neil warns the trio to stay away from him. The trio finds Neil's makeshift bunker, along with items stolen from the government camp, the lookout towers, and the teenage girls (who Dalia confirms have been found safe but in jail after going for a reckless joyride). The government camp was simply studying wildlife; Neil had been using its radio equipment to ensure that no one was looking for him and to create transcripts to scare everyone away. Despite Neil's confession, Dalia blames him for Brandon's death and leaves on the rescue helicopter, but the trio believes that it was an accident. The trio goes to her tower, only to find it empty. The trio and Delilah say their goodbyes via radio before the former evacuates. As they leave, Kari laments on how they wanted some peace after all of the hectic missions that Team Arch had to go through, but SpongeBob comforts her by telling her that "Sometimes, life is often not what you expected".
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Team Arch TV Specials
FanfictionThis is pretty similar to my Team Arch Movies book, but instead, these are TV specials, which have similar lengths
