DoodleBob Redrawn

Chapter 14: A City Once Breathing

January 27, 2017. What had been Bikini Bottom.

8:55 A.M.

Once upon a time..

A young man named SpongeBob found a magic pencil, and he was astounded by it. Curiosity got the best of him and he drew another being, just like him. It went rampant and caused trouble in SpongeBob's town, so he had to conceal him in another world to protect his homeland and well-being.

15 years later, there is no homeland. DoodleBob's demise came at that cost.

Truth be told, there's no happily ever after, not in this story.

SpongeBob, Patrick and Gary, being the only survivors of the fight, look around and see what's around them. Nothing remains of the city they lived in. All that's left is just debris. Tears forming in SpongeBob's eyes, he walks around the city and sees bodies lying all over the place, some with horrible wounds or missing limbs. Craters were present in the ground, vehicles and households that were once working or standing were toppled over and gouged into.

"If I didn't create DoodleBob, none of this would've happened", he said quietly, choking on his own tears.

Patrick heard what he said, and tried to cheer him up.

"SpongeBob, you didn't know. It's not your fault he was ill-minded. You made him, but he chose to destroy our town, not you", he said.

SpongeBob turned around, mad at himself.

"PATRICK", he shouted. "I brought him into this world! I KNOW I didn't tell him to kill people, but why would he do that!? He just killed everyone we knew and destroyed Bikini Bottom! If that pencil never showed up in Bikini Bottom, this wouldn't have happened! We should've never touched it!!!"

He then kneeled on the sand and started bawling.

Patrick started to tear up, too. 

"No, we didn't destroy Bikini Bottom. No...."

He tried to bottle in his emotions. After all, he was sad, too, but he needed to be strong.

"We didn't end Bikini Bottom. DoodleBob did, and now that he is dead, we should be--"

He then started to cry.

"NO, we lost too much to leave!", he spat out.

Gary looked down. He saw a mangled mess of his own homeland. He looked towards their street with binoculars, and saw that everyone on the street, including Squidward, died. The houses seemed in worse condition. Patrick's home wasn't even there anymore.

He looked away and saw SpongeBob and Patrick sobbing, holding each other and hugging to ease the emotional, physical and mental pain they endured. It seemed unbearable.

"MEOW MEOW MEOW MOW MOW OW MOW MOW MEOW MROW MOW MEOW".

TRANSLATION:

Memories just can't be erased like flawed stories, can they?

Gary just stared down, trying to let the fact that Bikini Bottom is gone sink in. 

SpongeBob got up, and so did Patrick. 

Pat was the first to speak. Somberly, he said, "We can't stay here. There's nothing left."

SpongeBob nodded his head and looked over the horizon. "It kills me to say this, but I think we have to move to another town," he said.

Knowing that there would be less of a chance fighting in other wars as nightmarish as the previous one with DoodleBob in other SURVIVING cities, SpongeBob, Patrick and Gary all came to a consensus.

They would leave Bikini Bottom forever.