Arc 1

Chapter 4: Bubblestand

A few days later...

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January 15, 2010

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Spongebob walked inside of his house, having gotten home from another day of work. After several minutes, Spongebob went back outside. He took a deep breath.

"What a wonderful day. The sun is out, the water is shimmering, scallops are chirping, so peaceful."

Spongebob suddenly had an idea, that in his mind, would liven up the neighborhood for the rest of the evening. He ran into his house and got some nails, green wood planks, and a hammer. He sat the items on the ground outside and began his work.

The construction noises that Spongebob was making were especially loud.

Squidward looked out of the window of his Tiki to see what that racket was. "Can we lower the volume, please? I can't work with all that racket going on!"

Spongebob looked up from his work. "Sure thing, Squidward!"

"Hehe, right." Squidward walked away from the window.

Spongebob looked back down to his work. "Okay." He slowly hit the hammer against the nail and looked up. He didn't want to upset Squidward, but he also wanted to finish what he was building.

He did this several times.

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"And now, for some soothing sounds from Squidward's clarinet." Squidward was about to practice his musical composition. "Thank you, thank you."

He took a deep breath and started playing. The playing was horribly off-key.

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Spongebob stared at Squidward's window. He thought that Squidward might get ridiculed, because the off key was very loud.

He drowned out Squidward's awful play by working on his project like he was earlier.

Squidward stopped playing and looked out his window. "I thought I-huh?"

Squidward saw Spongebob sitting next to a stand of some sort.

"Hey Squidward, want to blow some bubbles? Only 25 cents!"

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Foxy was mad. He looked like he could explode any second.

"Foxy, what's wrong?" Chica asked. Chica was sitting next to Foxy.

Foxy stood up. "I'll tell ya what's wrong! I'm trying to watch this pirate show, and someone just happens to want to make loud construction noises!"

"Well I'm sure it's-"

"And that's not all! The noise stops, then some god-awful clarinet music starts playing, and that construction noise starts up again!"

"Well, it stopped, Foxy, so-"

"I don't care!" Foxy started walking to the door. "I'm going to go out there and give a piece of my mind to- what the?"

Foxy had opened the door and saw Spongebob standing behind a small structure, who was talking to Squidward, who was in his house looking through the window.

By now Bonnie and Freddy had come downstairs to see what the commotion was. They were all now standing outside.

"Hey Squidward, want to blow some bubbles? Only 25 cents!" Spongebob said.

"Oh, right, like I would spend a moment of my time blowing bubbles." Squidward said.

"Uh-ha!" Spongebob nodded.

The quartet walked over to the bubblestand.

Spongebob turned around. "Oh, hey guys! Would you like to blow some bubbles? Only 25 cents!"

"Blowing bubbles?" Freddy asked. He remembered a time at a kid's birthday party when a kid got a giant bubble-blowing machine along with a huge thing with bubbles. It didn't end well.

"Yep."

"Well,"

Squidward unknowingly interrupted him. "Oh please, who in the world would pay to blow bubbles?"

Patrick's rock opened. He had heard the construction noises and decided to see what was going on. "Good evening."

Patrick was sticking to his rock. He slid off of it. "Whoa!"

"Oh boy."

While Patrick was walking to the bubblestand, Freddy had decided he would blow a bubble. He gave a quarter to Spongebob. Spongebob bit into it to make sure it was legit.

"If you would like, we also give lessons for beginners. Only 25 cents."

"Who would need lessons to blow a bubble?" Bonnie cracked up.

Spongebob gave Freddy a dipped bubble wand.

Freddy looked at the bubble wand. He gave a small breath and blowed. A small bubble appeared.

It floated in the air.

"Look at that!" Foxy said. He raised his hook arm to the bubble.

The bubble floated down directly into Foxy's hook. Upon contact, it popped. Foxy brought his hook down and looked at it. "Did I, did I just kill it?"

"No, Foxy. Bubbles are supposed to pop!" Spongebob said, then laughed.

By this time Patrick had gotten to the bubblestand. Spongebob turned around.

"Hello, good sir. I am helping out these customers over here so could you just wait a moment?"

"Sure."

Spongebob turned back around. "Alright, who's next?"

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Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy had now gotten to blow a bubble.

Bonnie's bubble was big, Chica's was small, and nobody knew what Foxy's bubble was because he popped it two seconds after he blowed it.

Spongebob then turned back to Patrick. "Thank you for your patience, sir. Would you care to blow a bubble?"

"Hm, how much is it?" Patrick replied.

"Only a quarter."

"Sounds reasonable."

Patrick checked his pockets. He didn't have any money.

"I'm going to need to borrow a quarter."

Spongebob pulled a quarter out of his pocket. "Sure thing, Patrick." Spongebob handed the quarter to Patrick.

"Aw, one quarter."

Patrick handed the quarter back to Spongebob. Spongebob bit the quarter to make sure it was legit. "Thank you."

"Business is booming." Squidward said in a deadpan tone. He started laughing and went back to practicing his music. "How did I ever get surrounded by such loser neighbors?" He started playing his clarinet.

Spongebob dipped the bubble wand in the soap, and handed it to Patrick. "One bubble wand, dipped and ready to go!"

Patrick took the bubble wand. He took a deep breath.

He started blowing into the wand as hard as he could. He continued doing this, stopping to take a small breath.

"Well, there's the answer to your question, Bonnie." Chica whispered.

Spongebob put down a small sign on the table that read 'LESSONS 25c'

Patrick stopped his futile attempts to blow the bubble.

"Could I interest you in some lessons? Only 25 cents." Spongebob suggested.

"Very well then. Hey Sponge, can I borrow another quarter?"

Spongebob handed a quarter to Patrick, who handed it back to him. "Ok Patrick, it's all in the technique!"

Spongebob ran to a clear spot so everyone could see him.

"First go like this..." Spongebob raised his left foot behind him

"Spin around, STOP! Double take three times. One, two, three. Then, pelvic thrust! Wooooo..." Spongebob thrusted in a random direction.

"Wooooo..." He thrusted back to where he was standing.

"Stop on your right foot, don't forget it! Now it's time to bring it around town, bring it round town!"

Then, Spongebob started to do random poses. "Then you do this, then this, then this and that and this and that and then..."

Spongebob blew into the bubble wand. Out came a bubble duck and two smaller ducks. They all popped.

All 5 of them marveled at what Spongebob had done.

Spongebob then blew out an ice cube and then a caterpillar.

The caterpillar's segments individually popping sounded like farting, so Patrick laughed.

Spongebob then blew out a giant ship. It floated for a moment, until it popped and let out a huge foghorn sound.

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Squidward flinched at the noise. "Huh?" He shook his clarinet, thinking it was the source.

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"And now, with two hands!" Spongebob took a deep breath and blowed into the bubble wand as hard as he could.

Out came a giant bubble elephant. All of them watched it.

"Ahaha, ahaha, it's a giraffe!" Patrick.

"No, it be an elephant!" Foxy corrected.

It started to move toward Squidward's house. It was nearing the window.

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Squidward was playing his clarinet. He noticed something coming through the window. It looked like a large elephant.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Squidward ran downstairs. He gasped as he realized who caused that to happen.

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Patrick was laughing, while the others looked worried. The bubble elephant had completely entered Squidward's house.

After a few seconds, the bubble popped. It lets out a mighty trumpet sound, scattering bubbles everywhere in Squidward's house.

"Uh, guys, I think we should go now." Freddy said.

Before Spongebob could say anything, the quartet rushed back into their house.

Squidward angrily exited his house.

Spongebob and Patrick attempted to hide under the stand. Spongebob put a 'CLOSED' sign on the stand.

Squidward walked to the stand, glaring. He could see Spongebob and Patrick from where he was standing.

Spongebob raised his head. "Excuse me sir but we are clo-"

"Don't give me any of that! How can you possibly make all that noise just blowing bubbles?" Squidward ranted.

By now Patrick was standing up too.

"We're not just blowing bubble, we're making bubble art!"

Spongebob started to repeat the technique he did earlier.

"First go like this..." Spongebob raised his left foot behind him.

Squidward raised an eyebrow at what Spongebob was doing.

"Spin around, STOP! Double take three times. One, two, three. Then, pelvic thrust! Wooooo..." Spongebob thrusted in a random direction.

"Wooooo..." He thrusted back to where he was standing.

"Stop on your right foot, don't forget it! Now it's time to bring it around town, bring it round town!"

Then, Spongebob started to do random poses. "Then you do this, then this, then this and that and this and that and then..."

Spongebob gracefully blew a bubble butterfly out of the bubble wand.

It flapped in the air, landing on Squidward's head, then popping.

"That's not art! That's just annoying! Blowing bubbles. That's the lamest idea I've ever heard."

Spongebob and Patrick looked down in disappointment. "Squidward's right, Pat." Spongebob and Patrick walked into Spongebob's pineapple.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Squidward laughed.

He then looked at the small container. Surprisingly, he got curious. He took out the bubble wand and started to sniff it.

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Spongebob was looking outside from his window. He gasped, and then signaled Patrick to come with him.

They stealthfully walked to the bubble stand.

"That'll be 25 cents, sir."

"AH, whoa, wha?" Squidward saw Spongebob and Patrick standing behind the stand.

"Oh, who would pay 25 cents to blow bubbles?" Squidward questioned.

"We also offer lessons for beginners."

"Beginners? What could be more simple than blowing a stupid bubble?" He put a quarter on the stand.

"Here's your 25 cents!"

Spongebob bit it to make sure it was legit.

"Watch and learn." Squidward took a deep breath, and blowed.

Nothing happened.

"Uh, wait wait wait." Squidward breathed harder.

The same result.

"One more time, wait wait wait." Squidward took as deep as of a breath he could muster.

When he blowed, the bubble fell to the ground and popped.

Spongebob and Patrick looked nervous. They started to innocently whistle.

Squidward took out another quarter and put it on the stand.

"Just a mere warm up."

Squidward kept having to use up his quarters, due to the bubble not being to his liking, and Spongebob and Patrick were trying to remind Squidward about the technique.

"TECHNIQUE, TECHNIQUE, TECHNIQUE..."

Squidward glared at Spongebob and Patrick.

"You're not doing the technique..."

Squidward started to get angry. "Technique? Technique? Technique, technique, technique, technique, technique!

Squidward started to mock Spongebob's technique he had done earlier.

"First go like this..." Squidward raised his left foot behind him.

"Spin around, STOP! Double take three times. One, two, three. Then, here we go, pelvic thrust! Wooooo..." Squidward thrusted in a random direction.

"Wooooo..." He thrusted back to where he was standing.

"Stop on your right foot, don't forget it! Then, bring it around town!"

Then, Squidward started to do random poses, faster than Spongebob had done. "Then a little of this and that and that and that and that and that and that and then..."

Squidward took a deep breath.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! AAAAHHH, AAAAHHHH, AAAHH, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Spongebob and Patrick had to look up to see how huge Squidward's bubble was.

Squidward's bubble wand was floating up with the bubble until it broke off.

"All right, Squid! That was so good!" Spongebob complimented.

"Squid is number 1!" Patrick added.

"I really did it, didn't I?" Even Squidward was impressed at what he had done. "You guys didn't blow anything like that!"

"No."

"Now that's a bubble."

"You said it Squidward. You see, it is all in the technique!"

"Yeah, technique!" Patrick added.

"Technique? Hah. Spongebob, you don't think I created that beautiful work of art with your help? Come on, it's in my genes!"

Squidward started to walk back to his house.

Spongebob and Patrick looked at each other.

"Squid, got genes, Squid's got genes, Squid's got genes!" They chanted.

"Thank you, thank you." Squidward entered his house.

Squidward went upstairs into his music room and started playing his clarinet, this time playing much better than earlier.

Now, Spongebob and Patrick were happily chanting, "Squidward, Squidward, Squidward..."

Squidward took a breath from playing. "I rock."

He went back to playing.

The unattended bubble was now looming over Squidward's house, leaving a giant shadow. Nobody noticed.

The giant bubble was enveloping Squidward's house now.

Spongebob was realizing what was happening. He stopped chanting, and so did Patrick.

Now, instead of happily chanting Squidward's name, they were saying it with concern.

The bubble managed to make Squidward's house break free of the foundation. The bubble was slowly floating to the surface.

"Patrick! If we don't pop that bubble, we'll never see Squidward again! Come on!" They ran into Spongebob's house.

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Squidward finished the song and looked out the window.

"Hello, my friends, you are looking at a..."

He saw how high he was from the ground.

"genius." He said that last part with a deadpan tone.

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Spongebob and Patrick were franticly running up to the roof of Spongebob's house.

"Did you get the NERF Gun, Patrick?"

"Yep." Patrick handed the NERF gun to Spongebob.

"Thanks." Spongebob inserted a pencil he had gotten into the NERF gun. "I only have one shot at this."

He aimed carefully. He fired, with the pencil shooting out.

Time slowed.

The pencil soared in the air.

A direct hit.

A large popping noise could be heard.

Squidward's house succumbed to gravity.

Time resumed.

Squidward's house fell back to its original spot. Miraculously, it was still intact.

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AN: Feedback is always appreciated!