June 12, 1972

A year. It had been a year since the war ended. But still….he couldn't get the images out of his head. The screaming, the blood, the death. As he lay on his bed, thinking, he decided to go brush his teeth. He got up and walked to his bathroom, opening the door. What he saw wasn;t a very pretty image.

He hadn't showered in months and that was obvious. In addition his clothes were a wreck, and he had grown stubble under what would count as a chin. He sighed and said to himself,

"What was it all for?"

Power. The "new" King Neptune had wanted to secure more power in the oceans. So many died, just so one tyrant could rule the sea unopposed. It was a farce. So many had died for practically nothing. Shaking his head, Krabs brushed his teeth and returned to his bed, gulping down another bottle of whisky. This was all he had to blot out his memories of those horrors.

As he lay down, he heard knocking on his door. Not again.

"Go away mommy. I'm not in the mood."

"I've got something special to tell ye, Eugene!"

"I said I'm not in the mood."

"It'll help ye get money."

Within an instant, Krabs burst out of bed and opened the door, looking reinvigorated and asking,

"What is it?"

His mother said,

"Well, I've been talking with the owner of this retirement home, and-"

"Retirement home?! Mommy, you're not that old!"

Krabs's mother chuckled.

"It's not that, son! I found this bankrupt retirement home, and the owner's agreed to allow you to have it for free."

"Why would I want an old retirement home?"

"Well, it's a family heirloom, AND you can open that restaurant ye always wanted!"

"Restaurant?! What are we waiting for?!"

Krabs tried to run to the door, but his mother grabbed him by the back of his shirt and said,

"Oh no, young man. You're not going out until ye take a shower!"

"Yes, mommy…"

After finishing his shower, Krabs got into his mother's car, and she drove them to the retirement home. It had been months since Krabs saw the outside world, and it was…refreshing. They soon arrived at the retirement home, the Rusty Krab. It looked like a crab trap, which made Eugene a little uncomfortable, but he would manage.

The owner, an older looking gentleman, walked up to Krabs and shook his claw. After a short talk which Krabs barely paid attention to, he looked up at the building's sign. He had an idea. He asked the old man, who was the owner of the Rusty Krab,

"Can ye spare some red paint, a brush and a ladder?"

The old man agreed and pulled out what Krabs requested. The crustacean then used the ladder to climb up the sign, and painted a K in front of the R in the Rusty Krab's name. He then climbed back down and said,

"Perfect!"

November 4th, 1973

Mr Krabs sniffed his newest stack of loot. It had been only roughly a year since he had opened this restaurant, and it was already a huge success. It helped that he had (very reluctantly) paid a lot of money in advertising. Black and white commercials, billboards, even Krabby Patty Parades with the performers wearing Krabby Patty afros to appeal to the young people.

This marketing campaign was a massive success, and people flocked by the dozens to taste his patty. Quickly realizing that he couldn't manage the restaurant alone, Krabs put out an ad for a cashier. He made sure to advertise that there was low pay and no benefits. Despite this, he now had a cashier named Jeffery Logan. Jeffrey had dropped out of college and was desperate for work, so hiring him was easy.

Suddenly, Krabs heard something. He ran out to the front of the restaurant, and to his shock, he saw a giant burger shack right across the street, with…..someone that he clearly remembered saying a speech on a podium. There was red tape in front of the shack and everything. Krabs muttered,

"You…"

Krabs zoomed to the podium and ran up it, shoving aside the security guards. There, giving a speech, was the fish he only knew as Stinky. The old man was 63 years old now, and it showed. He was using a cane, and was wearing a white suit. Evidently he had started embracing the wealth Plankton and Krabs had witnessed so long ago.

Stinky noticed Krabs and proclaimed,

"Ah, rag boy! Long time no see!"

Krabs was about ready to strangle Stinky for calling him that, but instead he asked him,

"What are you doing here? I thought you got shut down by the health department decades ago."

"Ah, I was. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to pay off the authorities to overlook stuff."

"But why come back? Why now?"

"Ah, there's a simple reason for that."

Stinky started hobbling towards Krabs.

"I've seen your commercials on TV. I saw how successful you've become. And I had to come back to remind you of your place. You're rag boy, and you will ALWAYS be Rag Boy."

Krabs gritted his teeth and grabbed Stinky by the shirt collar.

"Listen here, you fat bastard. While you were sitting in your mansion making fun of those less fortunate than you, I was in the nay fighting a war! So don't think you can step all over me, fatass."

Krabs then scurried away, leaving Stinky enraged..

June 27, 1976

Krabs sat at his television, watching the press conference unfold. The superbeing registration act had been passed just a week prior, and a resistance led by Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy had already been created. He personally didn't really care, and kind of just found the whole thing stupid. These guys had been saving everyone's butts for years now.

Stinky was on the TV, and was giving a speech about his support of the registration act and the need to contain superheroes. Krabs sighed and got up to go to the bathroom, when suddenly two figures fell out of the sky into his room. It was two super heroes, Go-woman and Anchorman. Krabs hid behind his couch as the two heroes battled. He heard grunts, screams, and punches fly, and once they stopped, he peeked back over the couch.

The two heroes were gone. Krabs cautiously walked out of his house, and seeing the coast was clear, decided to go get some groceries. However, as he walked into downtown Bikini Bottom, he saw to his shock dozens of superheroes fighting above the city. All of downtown was in ruins, and the people were running and screaming in fear.

After pausing for a moment to take in the scene, Krabs began to run. On the way he saw several matchups which he didn't have time to pay attention to. After surviving for what felt like hours, Krabs saw the Barg'in Mart, and ran in. The greedy crustacean quickly grabbed some Krabby Patty ingredients and ran like hell.

As he ran, explosions rang out across the city, threatening to bury him under rubble. Krabs was absolutely terrified, knowing that he could be crushed at any moment. Hiding behind a ruined building, Krabs grabbed a piece of rubble to defend himself. He knew it probably wouldn't do much, but he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Suddenly, two bodies crashed near Krabs. He held up the rubble piece, but the two heroes seemed to be ignoring him. One of them was a buff human looking man wearing a fur pelt. He was called "Teracles." Battling him was a humanoid robot. Krabs had heard on the news of its killing of a hero who had the ability to increase his size.

Teracles ripped into the robot, tearing it apart piece by piece. Krabs threw the rubble piece he was holding at Terracles, who turned to him and scowled for a moment before flying off to rejoin the fight. After what felt like hours of waiting, the fighting finally stopped. As Krabs walked out from behind the rubble, he saw Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy flying away.

Confused, Krabs got out of his hiding place and walked off, seeing the destruction around him and the people hurt in it. He was shocked that heroes that had spent the last 27 years protecting fishkind against threats had done all this. He then went back to the Krusty Krab with a melancholic expression on his face.

April 17th, 1978

Krabs sat in his office across from Stinky, who looked dejected and worn. In the years since the super being civil war, the Krusty Krab had become even more successful, while Stinky's restaurant had been slowly failing. Stinky was looking at Krabs with mad fury in his eyes, and yelled,

"Listen here Rag Boy, if you don't accept my offer to join our restaurants into one, I'll tell the whole public about your cheapness, your horrendous safety and cleanliness standards, and making your one employee pay you 100 dollars an hour! I wonder what the OWS will have to say about that?"

Krabs flinched slightly at the thought of the OWS, but quickly fired back with,

"Oh really? If you somehow managed to get your restaurant up and running after getting shut down by the health department, I think I'll be fine."

"Last chance, rag boy."

"YOU'LL HAVE ME RESTAURANT WHEN YA PRY IT FROM ME COLD DEAD CLAWS!"

Stinky grabbed Krabs by the throat and yelled,

"LISTEN HERE YOU CRUSTACEOUS CHEAPSKATE! I've spent 6 long years trying to gain back the people's Lispect, but you foil me at every corner! I will not let you, of all people, ruin my chance at glo-*Hurk*"

Stinky suddenly fell to his knees, clutching his chest. He had been having heart problems for a while now, and the stress of this situation pushed him over the edge. With the last of his strength, Stinky told Krabs,

"Hate….You….."

And so, Stinky collapsed, dead. Not sure what to think, Krabs called an ambulance knowing it was too late. He felt….melancholic. Yeah, Stinky had been one of the people who tormented him as a child, but at the same time, it all ending like this felt….wrong. But he shook it off. There was no time to mourn. He was now free of competition, and was free to get all the people's money.