Chum

Dave was tired.

He awoke to absolute darkness in a slumberous manner. As he was laying down on his bed he noticed had trouble getting up. As usual he was probably going to be late for his boring office work. He always had trouble getting up early for his horrible job he had. He hated getting up early. As his vision tried to make sense of his visions around him. He figured as he left that he'd grab a shake and patty to go get himself some energy before work. But then his boss would yell at him again for being late...he couldn't lose this job, after all he had nowhere else to go in this town! So this office job in this miserable little town was all he had. Dave was a miserable little fish.

Dave finally decided he had enough time laying down as his senses came back to him. Only...he couldn't move. He looked left and right as he found out his flippers were slapped down. Adrenaline quickly kicked in as his eyes widened and he struggled against his bonds. In a panic, he yelled a loud, "HELP!" as he continued to struggle against his bonds. Many questions flooded his mind in that instant, "Where am I?", "Who would want to keep me hostage?", "How long will I be here?", "Will I survive?". All these questions would continue to cause him more panic as he breathed heavily with more and more bubbles leaving his mouth as breathed harder and harder. As time went on, he began to calm down. However, his curiosity was still lingering. He tried to look around to see where he was, but all he could see through the darkness was very poorly nailed down metal tiles. He looked below his feet, and he saw what he thought was a double door with what looked like tracks below it, which led to him. He realized his assumption was correct as his table began moving to the door and forcefully bumping the moving doors open. The table holding him down rolled at a moderate speed through a brightly lit hallway which nearly blinded Dave, as his eyes had grown used to the darkness holding him. As he rolled down the hallway more, he heard noises that sounded like a factory. He once again regained his vision as he saw a bunch of machines that processed an odd, brown goop that he couldn't recognize through an assembly line. He noticed that it ended when the goop was poured into buckets that two mechanical arms would hold out, and as the goop was poured into the bucket, the arms would set the bucket onto a conveyor belt that was through a window, which led the bucket to an unknown area that Dave did not know. Dave's neck was getting sore, so he let himself lie down onto the table, awaiting wherever fate led him. Finally, his trip came to a stop as he was brought through another double door and stopped in what looked like a dentists office with an electrocardiograph monitor next to him.

"H-hello?" Dave said out loud in a fearful voice, hoping somebody would hear him.

''"Aah! Calm down! Relax! This is gonna be over quick alright sweetie?" ''

This startled Dave, but as soon as he heard the nasally nanny-like voice that came from the electrocardiograph monitor, his fear instantly changed to an odd curiosity. Where WAS he? Dave then decided to communicate with the electrocardiograph monitor that apparently could talk with him.

"Okay sorry, Miss...heart rate monitor...?"

"Please, call me Karen darling!"

"Karen, where am I?"

"Can't answer that darling, I'll let my hubby answer that for ya."

"Who's your...hubby?"

Karen didn't even answer as she sped out on her little wheels out another double door in the room only to come back seconds later with mechanical arms, hands, with a pencil and clipboard.

"Alright darling I'm gonna ask you a few questions alright?"

Dave was now confused, "Hold on, you never told me about-"

"What's your name?"

"Dave, now I want to know-"

"How much do you eat every day?"

"Why do you need to know tha-"

''"How. Much. Do. You. Eat?" ''Karen said in a more stern voice. Dave figured out that Karen wasn't going to tell him much, so he decided to comply. He also had an idea that it could even lead to his freedom.

"I eat a fair bit I guess...not an unhealthy amount, but I'm not the skinniest guy." Dave blushed a little forgetting about his captivity, and laughing a little at his large eating.

''"Alright babe, that's all I need to know. Thanks!" ''Karen said in a cheerful voice as she sped out the room through the same double doors. He then heard two loud "clicks" as his table turned to face and went through the same double doors. He had a feeling he was about to find out where he was, and why he was here. He kept lying down as he was transported through another smaller hallway, when he finally ended up in a large room with a giant machine that he figured to start the large assembly line that he saw earlier. He saw there was a bit of the conveyor belt which start the assembly line sticking out from the machine, which led to a conveyor belt out into another unknown room where he heard mechanical noises which confirmed his theory that this was the start of that assembly line. The fact he was the only thing held captive while at the start of this assembly line gave him a really bad feeling...

He then heard a deep voice to the left of him, "Hello!"

He looked to the left of him, only to see a lone stool.

"I-I'm sorry but...where are you?"

''"Ugh, I'm right HERE you aquatic imbecile!" ''

Dave, remembering that a talking electrocardiograph monitor was communicating with him earlier, decided that a talking stool wouldn't be surprising either.

"My apologies Mr. Stool, can you tell me where I-"

"KAREN!"

Karen burst through the doors with one of her mechanical hands holding a large magnifying glass. "I'm so sorry honey! But don't feel bad, the patient can't help it that you're so small!"

Dave watched as the magnifying glass was held at a sideways angle so Dave could (barely) see who he assumed to be his captor. It was a very very very VERY small, alien-like thing. It has two little stubs that it stood on, with two other stubs that what he assumed were arms. It had one giant eye in the middle of it with a mouth directly below it. Finally, it had two antennae that was on its head. Dave saw it jumping up and down in an angry fashion as it yelled at Karen, with Karen calmly talking back in an argument that Dave didn't pay attention to.

"Can't believe I'm being held captive by a couple of barnacle-heads." Dave thought to himself.

''"Sir, what's going on here?" ''Dave finally said as he interrupted the argument which Karen was clearly winning as he could tell. ''"Why you're in my lair, which you'll never escape from!" Dave asked the small creature, "Who are you?"''

"I am Plankton, future franchisee of the Krusty Krab and soon to be, ruler of Bikini Bottom!" Plankton said in an over the top fashion as he laughed maniacally.

Dave, once again forgetting about his captivity and just wondering how much more of his self esteem can be destroyed as he kept remembering that he was captured by someone the size of a grain of sand, rolled his eyes as he simply couldn't talk a man of Plankton's size seriously. ''"Mr. Plankton...look...can you let me go? If you want money...food...work...I'll give it to you! What do you want from me?" ''Plankton smiled and furrowed his brow. "I just need you here, that's all!" Plankton said as Dave's table was placed onto the conveyor belt. Dave began to panic, "H-hold on now...are you sure I can't get you anything? We can work this out I'm sure of it!" Plankton didn't even listen as he hopped onto a control panel for his machine and pulled a lever, which showed Dave that he had a large amount of strength for his size. As Dave looked down his feet into the machine, he saw a bunch of mashers repeatedly slamming down hard onto the conveyor belt. Dave panicked and resorted to begging, "Mr. Plankton, sir, are you sure we can't w-work something out?! Please let me go I'll do anything!!"

As Dave was eased slowly into the machine, he saw Plankton through the magnifying glass for a last time, ''"So long barnacle-brain!" ''Plankton said as he laughed maniacally once again while a door closed down, dividing Plankton and Dave. Dave's bonds released him and retracted into the former table, now a simple plank for why he assumed to be so the mashers wouldn't break the bonds instead. Dave, after wondering why Plankton would be so stupid to try and make sure cuffs weren't scratched instead of making sure the captive wouldn't escape, jumped out of the way of the masher just in time as the conveyor belt began to speed up. He saw down the conveyor belt he was going through the window into the area where he saw the weird goop being processed earlier. More mashers, as well as moving blades were approaching him very quickly as he dodged around them nimbly. Dave got a break as he stood up in what he saw was...the brown goop from earlier. However, what made him sick was seeing a single eye in the brown goop, which made Dave horrifyingly realize what this brown goop was. He ran forward past more blades and mashers to get out of this place. He then remembered about the one window he saw, the one with the buckets being placed into that mysterious window. Dave ran past the booby traps, and even jumped over a giant deep fryer to get to the window, but he managed to do it. He let himself be carried across the conveyor belt through a tight corridor. He saw a light in the left side of the wall, which he knew was his escape. He jumped out of the opening to fall into a dirty dining hall. The lights were on with some music playing by "Ned and the Needlefish" from a distant speaker. Dave quickly dashed out of another pair of double doors to find himself outside just across from the Krusty Krab. In confusion, he looked behind him to see the place he was being held captive.

The Chum Bucket.

~Kalmahavak