Champion of Gods
Arnold has been in San Lorenzo for a few Years, when he is granted superpowers by Mayan divinities. He decides to come back to Hillwood and become a super hero, but he has some learning to do on the way, as well as meeting old friends and loved ones again. How will he come with his new self and with his feeling for a certain blonde? Rating might go to M as the story goes on.
Author's note: Hi everyone, this is my first fanfiction ever, so I hope it turns out OK. We'll see, in the meantime feel free to comment and give some advice (even on my English since I'm french).
enjoy
Chapter 1: The heart
My dear Arnold,
Yup it's me...still writing to you again and again. Addiction? May be, but … doi can you blame me?
I really miss you Football Head! It's been too long since we last saw each other ( 2 years 10 months and 2 days...yeah I counted) and it really has been a torture (yeah I'm openly nice I know, see how mad I'm getting?!). Anyway, enough mourning for now, I'm sure you want some news...
Well Hillwood being Hillwood, nothing much happened since my last letter, no aliens, no earthquake, no explosions, no flooding, in short no fun (surprising isn't it?). Well Miriam is still having her therapy, Bob is still selling cell phones although he also got himself in the computer field and he strangely seems to like it(probably has something to do with money though). Olga is still teaching, but surprisingly she decided to move on and start teaching in Spain! (yeah tell me about climate change...). Well about the 'Gang' as Geraldo called it. What can I say? Gerald and Phoebe are surprisingly still dating,...Eugene and Sheena too, but the big change is: Harold dumped Rhonda for Patty! Wooh there comes the surprise! I mean you should have seen the little princess's look when he did, it was priceless! I know you're thinking that I shouldn't laugh at others misery, but come on Arnoldo, it's Rhonda!... Ah well it's a girl thing, perhaps you won't understand...Anyway, as I told you, this place is a mess without you and your 'look on the bright side' attitude and your little advises. I even had to take a little summer job at Slausen's to have some money, can you imagine how serious the situation is?
But may be I could buy you a plane ticket to Hillwood with the money and since it would be a gift, your 'Mr. Goody-two-shoes' side wouldn't refuse it, and you would have to come back here and...Doi me and my crazy schemes! Anyway, I really really hope to see you again anytime soon my dear Football Head. Please write me back quickly or you'll have to face the wrath of Ol' Betsy (that's right)...
Well kidding of course but you get the picture...
miss you,
Helga
XXX
Arnold finished reading the letter with a slight smile. Yup,...Helga was still Helga...
She was right though...It really was a long time since they last saw each other... It was exactly 2 years 10 months and 16 days ago as he, just like Helga, had counted. It nearly had been three years but that part of his life was still vividly present in his memory.
He and Helga had been happily dating for four years, since they had come back from their journey to San Lorenzo, when history repeated itself. An old friend of Arnold's parents had come to Hillwood to ask for help one last time. Arnold had not found the courage to part from his parents again and had decided to go on with the flow and follow them to San Lorenzo. Unfortunately, it also meant that he had to end his relationship with Helga. Telling the gang goodbye hadn't been easy for him, but it was nothing in comparison to telling goodbye to her, and seeing the pained look in her eyes...Of course he kept in touch with her and with the rest of the gang but it wasn't the same, plus, there was always this little chance that she could move on that always scared him...because he hadn't.
But eventually, he had learned to put that thought aside and focus on his work here in the jungle. After all it was the reason they had come here in the first place, to help the green-eyed people in their quest for peace and safety.
This time, Mike and Stella had decided to help them redo the health structure of the village. They'd had to build new buildings, pipes, and were now trying to build a small hospital but it appeared to be more difficult than they expected. They had been working on it for seven months, but where still struggling to have the building done, thanks to the lack of specific tools. And although he loved to help, Arnold couldn't help to wish the construction would come to an end, because for him it meant coming back to Hillwood...
But living in nostalgia wouldn't help him right now, so he folded Helga's letter, got up and put it on his desk. He then took a sheet of paper, a pen, sat in his chair and began to write.
Dear Helga,
I'm glad to read about you again, yeah I don't mind getting letters from you, and I have to admit, the more I get the happier I am...Yes I miss you THAT much.
But I'm also happy to hear about Hillwood, I miss this town so much you have no idea... But I especially miss each and everyone of you guys, it's like I left a part of me there...
Anyway, I'm really happy to know that things are getting a little better in your family because you really deserve a real family Helga...And of course you shouldn't laugh at Rhonda! She must be sad right now, and the right thing would be to comfort her, to help her getting through this.
Talking about helping, we really achieved a lot with the green-eyed people here. We created a whole water supply system, because infected water or simply dirty water is the first cause of big epidemics. Anyway we're now trying to build them sort of a "mini hospital" you know. But we're having problems with that since there isn't any electricity here, we have to decide how to do a functional and useful hospital without electricity which is quite hard. But can't wait to have it finished because that would not only help the green-eyed people pretty much, but that would also mean the end of our work here. Ah coming to back to Hillwood would be so wonderful you know...(sigh)
But anyway I...
"ARNOLD!"
Arnold jumped at the shout. He looked up to the entrance of the tempt where a young boy burst in, obviously exited about something.
"Arnold! Here you are! You NEED to come with me!"
"Slow down Pepe!"Arnold replied holding his hands up. "Hold your horses buddy, why do you need me?"
"I want to show you something!" Pepe shouted. "I was walking in the forest and I discovered something and...and you HAVE to see it! It is incredible! Come on Arnold! Come with me pleaaaase!"
Arnold took a look at the boy in from of him. He really seemed thrilled about his new discovery. The problem was...Pepe used to be thrilled about everything and his usual discoveries did not always happened to be that thrilling nor that safe. But Arnold being Arnold couldn't refuse the young boy's request, that would make him really sad.
"Oh fine Pepe, I'm coming.
- Oh thank you! Pepe joyfully shouted while Arnold was getting up. You will not regret it!
- Yeah yeah sure... but come on buddy lead the way." Arnold replied throwing a glance at the letter on his desk.
He wasn't so fond of letting his letter unfinished, but on the other hand he still had the whole day to do it. So he followed Pepe out of the tent.
Outside, the villagers where all doing there everyday duties. The children were playing while the adults were taking care of the village, some of them helping Mike and Stella with the hospital.
"Arnold!"Stella shouted when she saw her son. "You're out of your tent already? We thought you would be in here for an hour! How's Helga by the way?"She added with a grin on her face.
"Mom!" Arnold shouted, his face getting red.
"Oh actually Stella I got him out of his tent, because there is something I have to show him!"
"Oh I'm sure you did Pepe!"Stella smiled."Go and show him your...whatever it is, he needs to see the sun a little",she added, playing with her son.
"Mum!"Arnold complained.
"Don't mind me dear go with Pepe and have fun, but don't come back too late."
"Yeah yeah I know..." Arnold replied a little annoyed."Bye mum we'll be back here on time."He took Pepe by the arm and pulled him toward the forest."Come on Pepe what is it you want to show me?"
"Wait Arnold. We need to find Corazón, I would like to show her too. I am sure she will like it."
"You mean you want to show off in front of her?"
"What? NO! It is just...I..she...I just think she will like to see it too"Pepe replied blushing furiously.
"Whatever you say Pepe"Arnold told him as they were getting on the way to find Corazón."But you know, it's allright to have a crush on a girl...I mean, when I was a little younger than you I already had a few crushes on girls I knew, or thought I knew..." Arnold added as the face of Ruth McDougal crossed his mind.
"Arnold! I don't have crush on her! I...I just like her". The poor boy was getting redder and redder.
"Yeah that's what they all say... Oh wait man. Turn your head slightly to the left and...Bingo! There she is!"
"What?...Oh yeah you are right... hehe...I guess I should go talk to her then right?"
"Well unless you find a way to invite her without talking to her..."
"Very funny..."
"I know, now go get her tiger, I've got a letter to write."
"Yeah right...I will do it."
And he walked toward Corazón, getting redder by the minute.
Looking at the young boy, Arnold couldn't help but remember his own shyness at the time he started dating Helga, back when he was ten. The two of them were constantly blushing at each move the other dared to make, even with a simple hand contact. How cute they were at the time...But luckily they had gained some self-confidence,...well at least enough to make out on Arnold's sofa or Helga's bed during those sunny afternoon they spent together. Ah yes ...he could remember those very well, still smell her flowery scent that was overpowering him every time he was only inches away from her, still feel her soft loving lips on his, still feel her hands gently brushing his cheeks or roughly running through his hair...
"Hi Arnold!"
"Huh?"
Breaking from his daydreams, Arnold realized that Pepe and Corazón were standing just before him.
"Oh hi Corazón how are you?"
"Oh good Arnold, a little exited about Pepe's surprise though..."she gave a sweet but exited look to the young boy, "and you?"
"A little nostalgic at the moment, but fine thanks...And no I don't know what that big surprise is" Arnold added with a smile in response to the girl's inquiring look.
"Oh well...let us see what it is then, lead the way Pepe!"
"I'm on it"
And so the young Pepe brought them to the edge of the village where they continued trough the forest. Arnold knew most of the path Pepe was following. During his nearly three years among the green-eyed people he had explored the forest many times and was getting to know it by heart. So of course he was wondering what Pepe would show him that he hadn't already seen. But Pepe seemed confident about his surprise, he was happily walking forward, talking to Corazón who was listening with all ears. The two of them were cute together, it reminded him of him and Helga...
Even if he really wanted to finish his letter, Arnold had to admit he really was enjoying the walk. Walking trough the forest was one the thing he liked the most here. It really helped him to clear his thoughts. This omnipresent nature was invigorating him. It usually was the place he would go if he would go if he wanted to peacefully think about his friends, his childhood or a certain blond girl...
Lost in his thoughts, Arnold had not noticed that he knew where the three of them were heading. But Corazón did:
"Pepe, are we going to the temple?"
The word "temple"got Arnold out of his reverie. He looked around and quickly saw that Corazón was right, they were heading to the Maya temple.
"What? But Pepe you know we shouldn't go there it's dangerous." And Arnold was right. The Maya temple was a giant temple the Maya built eight centuries ago, and it was quite in a good shape for it's age, well at least on the outside. On the inside the rooms of the temple had started to fall appart, which made it a dangerous place to visit. But that wasn't all of it. The Maya had thought the temple to be important and therefore had put traps all over the place, and deadly kind of traps. This was one of the reasons why the green-eyed people had forbidden their children to go in there and Arnold had to admit it was a valuable reason.
"Well not in the room we are going..." Pepe replied with a slight smile.
"What do you mean?"
"Well...follow me for now I will explain later...trust me." he added to skeptic Arnold.
So the three of them pursued their walk through the forest for another ten minutes until they finally got to the temple.
It was a gigantic pyramidal monument, built in a complete Maya style. It had two main floors, the top one led to an old broken altar used for rituals, and the first floor led to the inside of the temple. The temple itself was quite massive and impressive, but the whole nature that was gaining its rights back from it made it look even more striking and frightening.
"So...how about you tell us everything BEFORE we all die in a painful way?" Arnold asked
"Alright! Alright! Ah...bambino de hoy... well, you know I have been exploring the temple during the past days and..."
"Are you out of your mind Pepe? It's forbidden to go in here, and for good reasons!" Arnold cut him.
"I know, I know, it is just that I got a little curious there...I wanted to know what is in here, and why they put all the traps to protect it."
"What do you mean" Corazón asked the young boy.
"Well if they put all those dangerous traps in the temple, it surely was for a good reason. There must be something very important in it don't you think?"
"Well you've got a point here,"Arnold admitted "but how comes nobody has ever found anything valuable in it then?"
"I don't know, may be they were not that thorough,...anyway, I was curious and I explored the temple, and believe me I have gotten to know most of the traps in it..." he added, showing off a little.
"I don't like your 'most'..." Arnold cut him.
"Anyway, I discovered an awesome room and I know a perfectly safe way to get to it, and you have to see what is in it!" and with that he turned around and went for the giant stairs of the temple.
"He really doesn't want to tell us, does he?"Corazón asked.
"Nope, he doesn't...let's follow him, he might hurt himself."Arnold added with a slight grin on his face.
The two of them went after Pepe who was already half the way to the entrance. They finally reached him when he stopped in front of the door waiting for them.
"Took you time..."
"Listen Pepe...", Arnold tried to protest "we really shouldn't..."
"Shhh not a time to talk now, follow me and you will talk later."
So they did. Arnold and Corazón followed Pepe through his expedition inside the temple. They were getting nervous by the minute, expecting to be stabbed by rock stakes, have their body pierced by hundreds of arrows or crushed by a giant rolling rock, but Pepe seemed to know what he was doing, and Arnold had to admit he was being careful. He was analyzing each and every steps the group was making, telling the others where to walk and where not. They walked under Pepe's vigilant eye for fifteen minutes into the maze of the temple, taking corridors after corridors until...
"We are there, it is the next room to the right."
Of course Pepe was right, as soon as they passed the right corner of the corridor they arrived in a big room covered with statues, sculpting and paintings on the walls and apparently close to the surface since there was a ray of light coming from a hole in the wall in front of them. And that precise ray was lighting up the biggest statue in the room. It was that of giant Snake with feathers and wearing some ornaments. But there was something weird about it Arnold thought, it was as if the snake was looking at him, trying to tell him something...
"My dear friends, here stands before you Kukulkan, the serpent god!" Pepe announced them.
"Please tell me you didn't make us come here just for a statue..."Arnold pleaded shaking his head.
"Hey first of all it is freaking Kukulkan, and second no there is more to see..."
And with that, Pepe approached the statue and knelt in front of its pedestal.
"The interesting part, I discovered thanks to this statue. Here is written: "Kukulkan lord of the elements, will guide your heart through its journey.'"
"And how long have you been speaking maya?"asked Arnold, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Hum... let us say I have been here for a while."Pepe answered with a little grin on his face, "Anyway..., as I said, Itzamma is supposed to guide us and what is funny and interesting, is that there is a small arrow on his tail that points to this wall." he added pointing the right wall with his index finger.
Arnold and Corazón went near the tail of the statue and looked at the said arrow. It was there just as Pepe had told them, a little arrow carved in the tail of the giant feathered snake.
"And if you follow the arrow and go the the wall, you can see a small carving of our dear Itzimma. And the funny part is that if you press it, the wall will turn"
And it did. A part of the wall started to move and turn like a giant door as Pepe pushed the engraved brick, leading to another mysterious room. Arnold and Corazón quickly followed him as he entered the next room.
The new room was small compared to the great hall they had just left. It felt warmer too. A fiery glow was enlightening the walls, revealling some of the most beautiful carvings Arnold had ever seen. They seemed to be a strange mixture of runes and pictures, probably depicting a mayan legend. But stunning as they were, Arnold realised, as he looked for the source of the glow, that they were far from being the most interesting thing in the room. There, on his right, held on a , was the biggest ruby he had ever seen. It was the size of a coconut, and purely bloodred. As Arnold was starring at the big gemstone, captivated by its beauty, he heard Corazón's gasp which indicated she was equally affected by it.
"Amazing isn't it?" asked Pepe.
Arnold had to agree on that, the ruby was not only stunningly perfect but it also seemed to be more than that. Warmth seemed to be radiating from it in waves, making it look like a big red heart beating in a low rhythm.
"It's so beautiful Pepe!" squealed Corazón, "it's so big and perfect and... wow...You think we should take it to the village?"
"Well I thought about that too. I mean we could sell it to make money and help the village, you know, buy some drugs or something like that..."
"Oh that would be wonderful!"
"Yeah but the problem is I don't know how to take it..."
"What do you mean?" Arnold wondered.
"Well it won't leave it's. I tried moving it as much as I could, but nothing happened. It won't budge even a tiny bit." Pepe explained, sadness clearly showing on his face.
"What? No kidding?" Arnold was quite skeptical. Given how the ruby seemed to have been simply laid on a stone, he had a hard time imagining it as being unmovable.
"Come on let's try it together, I'm sure it'll move somehow" he offered.
"Well I appreciate your confidence Arnold", Pepe thanked Arnold with a smile, "but somehow I don't think it will be that easy."
"What makes you say that?" Arnold asked, quite intrigued as he slowly approached the fiery gemstone.
"The writings on the walls actually."
"You can read them?" Arnold asked, still starring at the red gemstone which was now only centimeters away from him.
" Of course, their the same as the ones on the statue,...and as any other writings in the whole temple for that matter..."
" What do they say?"
" Well they say that the 'crystal heart', which I take is this ruby, is a gift from the gods that can only be accepted by a pure soul. So I think the people who built the temple and made that room, made sure none would take it away that easily."
"I guess that makes sense." Arnold admitted, his eyes strangely rooted to the stone. "But giving it a try won't hurt now, will it?" he added smiling to his friends.
And before anyone could say anything, he had his hand on the red stone, simply wanting to try and take it away...But none of them had expected what would happen next.
The moment he laid his hand on the warm stone, a surge of electricity went trough his arm and to his head. Arnold felt as if struck by lighting, and his mind went blank as the sound of his friends screaming came to his ears.