Welcome to chapter 1 of "Beast Appreciation Day!", my newest fanfiction for Bunsen is a Beast! Butch Hartman's most recent cartoon! I found this show to be pretty enjoyable! And I liked the main characters' dynamics.
I imagined that there would be some type of 30-minute special on Nickelodeon for it being a year that the show has gone by, and that's where this story came from. February 20th is the "Beast Appreciation Day" in the story because that is when the show first aired on television.
Enjoy!
~RisingStarlight
Chapter 1—The Big Day
"Come on, Mikey! Give me everything you've got!" Bunsen screamed.
"Alrighty, Bunsen, you asked for this!"
The red-headed boy rolled up his sleeves beneath his sweater-vest and cracked his knuckles. Then he brought himself right into Bunsen's face, where he peered into his yellow eyes for a good three seconds.
"Favorite food combination!" Mikey said with a smile. Then he counted off. "One, two, three!"
"Cheese with onions!"
The boy and the beast stared at each other with surprise, having said the same thing at the same time. They danced ecstatically in their seats, laughing madly. The other kids in the classroom stared at them like they were crazy.
"We did it again!" Mikey squealed. "That's 98 rounds in a row so far!"
"Now it's my turn!" Bunsen replied giddily.
The blue beast gave the red-headed boy a challenging glare as he said, "Mikey, there is no way we have the same favorite hobby! One, two, three!"
"Making sculptures out of toe jam!" they shouted, both pulling out brown and green sludgy lumps from their pockets.
Then they gasped and jumped up and down in their chairs again with even more vigor.
"How are we doing this?!" Mikey shouted.
"I know!" Bunsen replied. "It's like I'm reading your mind with one of my privacy-intruding tendrils to say the exact thing you're thinking!" When he said this, the showerhead-like device popped out from the hole in his head.
"Come on, Bunsen, this is it!" Mikey squealed. "Round 100 is for all the marbles—which also happens to be something we both love to collect!"
Mikey triumphantly raised a pointed finger skyward as he looked to Bunsen and shouted, "Favorite funny noise!"
They stared at each other in suspense. Then, in perfect sync, their hands slowly rose to their armpits, and they flapped their arms to make three loud farting noises.
They exploded into the loudest of cheers.
"Oh my gosh, Bunsen, we did it!" Mikey exclaimed. One hundred rounds of 'What Do We Have in Common!' We literally have everything in common!"
"Yeah!" Bunsen agreed, grinning widely. "Even things people find stinky, disgusting, and annoying about us!"
The two boys leapt from their desks into a friend hug, Bunsen's extra arms coming out to hug Mikey even tighter.
"I can't think of any better friends than the two of us, Bunsen!" Mikey cheered.
"You said it, Mikey!"
Their embrace was interrupted by the loud ringing of the first period bell. Mikey and Bunsen zoomed back to their desks.
Into the classroom came Ms. Flap in her pink blouse and purple skirt. The slightly kooky smile on her lipsticked face was especially large today.
"Hello, everyone!" she greeted. "Today I'd like to shout out a special student in our class today! He's funny and a little strange—and if our lives were all a part of a TV show, he'd be the main protagonist of whom the show is named after!"
"Ooh! Ooh!" Mikey yelled, eagerly waving his hand. "Are you talking about me, Ms. Flap?"
"No, Mikey," Ms. Flap answered, laughing. "You're much too kind and sweet to be a reality TV star!"
"Is it Jerk von Handsome?" Sophie Sanders asked, motioning with her thumb to the huge, muscular young man behind her taking selfies. He looked up from his cell phone mid kissy-face.
"Nope! I'm referring to Bunsen the Beast!"
The class cheered for the Bunsen, who grinned with with surprise. Mikey, of course, cheered the loudest for his friend.
Then came a certain spoiled mean girl, late as usual, inside the classroom, dressed in her typical schoolgirl outfit, Mary Janes, and blue hair bow. The bored frown on her face instantly became a smile as the students' cheers greeted her.
"Ooh, is this applause and praise for moi?" Amanda Killman asked, pleased.
"As if, Amanda! We're clapping for Bunsen!" Ms. Flap replied. Then she continued, "Why would we ever cheer for you? You're a rude, hateful girl who disrespects everyone she encounters and brings a cloud of anger with her wherever she goes!"
"I didn't ask for your input, you incompetent kook!" Amanda barked.
"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about."
The girl and the teacher squinted at each other before Amanda stomped over to her desk, growling. When she sat down, a physical cloud of anger manifested above her head and made Mikey, Bunsen, and the students sitting near her cough erratically.
"Bunsen," Ms. Flap continued excitedly, "today we acknowledge you because…it has been almost one whole year since you've attended Muckledunk Middle School and have been a part of the human world!"
"WHHAT?!" Mikey, Bunsen, and Amanda shouted.
The students erupted into cheers. Ms. Flap pulled out a kazoo to blow and spun noisemakers in her hands. Bunsen shout out a buttload of confetti from the hole in his head that rained down onto the whole room.
"Mikey, it's really true!" Bunsen said to the red-headed boy. "February 20th was my first day at Muckledunk Middle School when I first met you and we became friends!"
"Gosh, I can't believe it!" Mikey laughed. "Already, we've shared a whole year of fun, zany adventures! Time flies, man!"
"NO! THIS CAN'T BE!" Amanda screeched.
All the heads in the room turned to the girl, who looked like she had seen a ghost.
"I-If you've been here for one whole year," Amanda uttered, pointing a trembling finger at Bunsen, "then that means…I've failed to expel you from our town for almost a year now!"
Bunsen said nothing as he stared into Amanda's widened eyes. Then he smiled and answered, "Well, I guess that's another way to look at things!"
"Oh, thank you for reminding us of that, Amanda!" Ms. Flap said cheerily. "Everyone!" she announced, "It has also been one year that Amanda has been a failure at expelling Bunsen from our town!"
The class cheered once again, as Bunsen shot another load of confetti from his head.
Amanda scowled. To add insult to injury, her cloud of anger above her rained on her head.
"Bunsen!" Mikey shouted, eyes wide, "We need to do something big and special to celebrate your Beastiversary! Ooh—that's what we should call February 20th—your Beastiversary Day!"
"I like that, Mikey!" Ms. Flap replied. "Come on, class! Let's all sing the special Beastiversary song for Bunsen! And-a-one, two, three!"
The sixth-graders proceeded to confusedly sing various songs, all out of tune. After a while, their voices died out slowly.
Ms. Flap grimaced at the noise, then put on a sheepish smile. "Oh, I guess we should have thought of lyrics to the Beastiversary song before singing it…"
"There is no need to sing off-key for me, fellow classmates!" Bunsen announced, raising his hands. "In fact, there is no need for a Beastiversary day! I will simply be happy spending February 20th like I do any other day…"
The beast then extended an extra arm to reach Mikey in his desk across from him. He pulled Mikey towards him—along with his desk, which scraped noisily across the floor—into a one-armed hug, smushing the boy against his face.
"With my best pal, Mikey!"
"Wait. What?!" Mikey replied. "Bunsen, you don't want a big gesture made for celebrating a year you've been in Muckledunk?"
"Nope!" The blue beast said with a smile. "It is special that we have been friends for almost a year, but I do not see any point in making an effort to celebrate our best friendship on one specific day. Every day can be a Beastiversary day!"
The bell rang, marking the end of first period. The students all proceeded to flood out of the classroom. Bunsen released Mikey from his embrace, took his things, and followed the crowd of students. Mikey followed, appearing to look upset.
The room was void of children except for Amanda, who still sat scowling at her desk, sopping wet and covered in Bunsen confetti.
"I can't believe that beast has bested me and my plans to get rid of him for all this time!" she yelled, throwing a tantrum in her seat. "And now they're giving him a Beastiversary Day'," she mocked, using finger quotes, "What a stupid name for a holiday!"
She shook herself dry, then clenched her fists on her desk. "I cannot let a full year pass by that I have not expelled Bunsen from Muckledunk! I must devise a plan, something so evil and foolproof, it will cleanse our town of Bunsen once and for all!"
Amanda then banged her hands on her desk, stood up in her chair, then stood atop her desk triumphantly.
"I, Amanda Killman, vow that I will be rid of Bunsen the Beast by this Saturday, February 20th!"
Her cloud of anger appeared above her again, now a raging storm. The heavy gales blew her pigtails and skirt dramatically, and an evil smile grew on her face as a clap of thunder shook the classroom.
Ms. Flap yelled fearfully as the blowing winds reached her teacher's desk.
"Amanda, please leave!" she shouted. "The thunderstorm from your anger cloud is blowing all the papers off my desk!"