Note: Story is based on the Hey! Arnold episode "Grandpa's sister" For those that grew up watching Hey Arnold you've probably seen this episode, if not then I recommend watching The '90s are All That on Teen Nick(Check your listings) you can also find this episode on YouTube. All characters and storyline are property of Warner Bros, DC Comics and Nickelodeon. Anyway, on with the story!
It was a normal Friday morning. For the most part in late August, it was still warm until around November but not this week. Since Tuesday, rain and high winds had caused the temperature to drop. During the night, it stopped raining. Apart from a few puddles and scattered leaves on the ground, it was still a nice day to go outside… or so it seemed.
For one group of young heroes, after a long week of being stuck indoors in the rain during their time off it was nice to be up and about.
Kid Flash looked out the window of the Metro Tower and sighed. Currently he was sitting in the lounge with Robin, Static and Supergirl, next to him was a fishing pole.
Just then, he heard footsteps and looked up when he spotted another one of his teammates.
"The last good weekend of summer vacation. The leaves are turning, the bass are biting and I'm about to go fishing with my teammates." said Artemis.
"Hey, I'm on this team too." Kid Flash pointed out.
"Uh-huh," Artemis muttered.
Grabbing her fishing pole and backpack, she started to walk out of the lounge followed by the rest of the group.
"Yep, just us, nothing's gonna stand in our way." She continued
She opened the door and was about to step outside when she saw someone standing there.
Artemis' eyes bucked.
"Jade?!" she exclaimed.
"Are you gonna stand there catching flies or are you gonna take my bags?" the other girl asked.
She then handed Artemis a tote bag and a suitcase.
"I-I…Uh… We, we…" Artemis sputtered.
Jade then looked over at Kid Flash.
"You must be Kid Flash, how are you doing? I'm Jade." She said and shook his hand.
"Yeah, fine, nice to meet you too. We were just leaving on a long fishing trip." Artemis explained.
"I'll let myself in. Where's Barb? You still friends? She still living in Gotham?" Jade asked as she walked in and looked around.
"Artemis, who's Jade?" Kid Flash asked.
"I'm her sister," Jade replied.
Kid Flash and everyone else froze.
"You have a sister?!" he said in shock.
Moments later…
"Yes, we're siblings; I'm the oldest by four years, so that makes me her big sister. Ain't that right, Arty?" Jade continued.
"Eh," Artemis muttered.
"Uh…Jade?" Kid Flash said nervously.
"Relax, Kid, go ahead." She assured him.
"Did you visit Metropolis during the summer too?" Wally asked.
"Sure did, only it was a lot nicer back then. Looks like some areas have gone downhill." She replied.
"You got that right, girl. Hobbs Bay is a regular flea bag." Said Robin.
"Yeah, it's falling apart." Static agreed.
"How come I've never met you before? Do you live a long way away from here?" Kid Flash asked.
"I live right in town, Artemis and I just haven't spoken to each other for… five years." Jade explained.
"Six, but who's counting?" said Artemis.
"It was five," Jade insisted.
Just then, Artemis got up from her seat.
"Nice of you to show up out of the blue and point that out, Jade. But enough small talk, let's call it a day. You don't like me and I don't like you." Artemis replied.
"So what are you doing here?" she asked.
"I wanted to get to know, Kid Flash, you two work together, ya know. You both seem to get along despite your differences." Jade explained.
"Yeah, yeah he's a good friend. Now when are you leaving?" Artemis asked.
"Who said anything about leaving? I'm here to stay." Jade announced.
Artemis froze, spitting out the water she was drinking.
She coughed for a moment before she spoke.
"Stay?!"
"That's right, I've got nothing better to do and since we're related, I have every right to stay here." Jade answered.
"Why that's wonderful, Jade. You can sleep in our dorm room." Said Barb.
"Our dorm room?!" Artemis exclaimed.
"We'll have a sleep over, just like old times." Said Barb.
The two of them laughed, remembering when the three of them used to have sleepovers as kids.
"Wh- Wha… just a second, where am I gonna sleep?" Artemis asked.
That night…
"Doggone it, I thought I was going fishing. Giving up my own bed so my incredibly irritating sister can hog it and stink up the all pillows with her smelly Chanel number five." Artemis muttered as she grabbed a pillow and blanket off the shelf in the closet.
"I'm sure by tomorrow, you'll work something out." said Kid Flash, who was currently standing in the doorway of one of the spare rooms.
Although they had dorms up on the watchtower, the league also had rooms at the Metro Tower, in case certain members needed a place to stay overnight.
"Oh, we'll work something out all right. I'll work her right out the front door." Artemis replied.
"Artemis, I can't believe you want to throw out your own sister." Kid Flash continued.
"I have no sister, as far as I'm concerned she's long gone to me." said Artemis.
"Arty, you're not making sense." Wally told her.
"Look Wally, I haven't spoken to her since November 17th 1997." Artemis explained.
"What happened on November 17th 1997?" Wally asked.
"I have no idea, go to sleep." Artemis answered before putting on her eye mask.
"Well, you're gonna have to start speaking to her, she's staying here with us. She said so." Wally pointed out.
"Yeah, she did say that. So I guess there's only one thing I can do." Artemis concluded.
Wally looked up for a minute.
"Make peace with her?" he asked.
"P… no! Haven't you been listening to a word I've said? I've got to get her to change her mind about staying here. That's right, Wally. Come tomorrow, it's all over." Artemis answered before closing her door.
The next day…
Artemis got up early and climbed onto the roof of the Metro Tower.
Using a power drill, some planks of wood and a few other supplies she got to work.
She snickered as she began to drill holes in the roof.
Meanwhile, Wally and everyone else woke up to what sounded like thunder which was actually a recording Artemis played from a stereo system at a high volume.
"What the…?" Supergirl muttered, hearing the noise.
Picking up a bucket, Artemis poured water over the holes that she drilled into the roof.
"Gaah!" Jade yelled, covering her head with a pillow as the water dripped from the ceiling.
Artemis chuckled and headed back inside.
She whistled casually as she walked down the hallway, passing by Batgirl's dorm room.
"Oh, unusual weather we're having. Been meaning to fix that roof." Said Artemis as she glanced at the ceiling in the dorm.
Jade stepped out into the hall and was about to go into the bathroom across the way.
"Uh, I wouldn't try to use the shower if I were you. Water heater's broken. You can take a cold bath in the janitor's washroom, in the basement." Artemis explained.
"Have it your way, Smart alack." Jade replied before she went back in the room and grabbed some dry clothes. She then walked out and headed down the hallway.
Artemis laughed once she was gone.
"Fell for it, what a sap!"
Just then Wally came up, dressed and ready for the day.
"All right. I'll see you in a bit, Wally." Artemis said to him.
She went into the bathroom and shut the door.
Artemis continued to whistle but stopped when the water in the shower went from warm to hot.
"Ow! Oh! It's hot!" she yelled.
She let out a sigh of relief when it went back to normal.
Static looked up from the Looney Tunes comic book he was reading. He frowned at hearing Artemis yelling in the distance.
"Phew! That's goo… oh, it's cold!" Artemis continued.
Meanwhile, Jade was down in the basement laughing as she flushed the toilet over and over.
Later that day…
After getting ready for the day, Artemis went into the lounge with a large box and got on the floor.
Jade stopped and watched for a minute before she spoke.
"What the heck do you think you're doing?" she asked.
"Oh, just setting up the traps like I do every morning. We've got a real rat problem you know." Artemis answered.
"You don't say," Jade replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh yes, big ones with little, tiny yellow teeth." Said Artemis.
Jade blinked and looked at her sister as if she was… well… crazy.
A short time later, Artemis heard her shout.
"Eek! Artemis, get in here, quick!" said Jade.
Artemis raised an eyebrow as she walked into the room.
"What in the…?"
"Ow! Oh, ow! Ow! Oh! Ow! Ow! Aah! Ow!" Artemis yelled as she stepped on the mouse traps.
Jade quietly walked out of the lounge, closing the door.
She quickly spotted Robin, Kid Flash and Static.
"Hello, boys." She greeted them.
"Hey, what's all that racket?" Robin asked, regarding the noise.
"Oh, just the mouse traps." Jade answered.
"Mouse traps? Are there mice in the Metro Tower?" Static said nervously.
"No mice, just a big, fat rat." Jade replied.
She then walked away.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Ow!" Artemis yelled.
Kid Flash, Robin and Static were quickly alerted by the sound of the door opening.
Artemis walked out, with a few mouse traps hanging from the sleeves of her shirt.
"Not a word from any of you." She said, before heading down the hall in the opposite direction.
Kid Flash and the others just stared and didn't say anything.
That Night…
The sound of laughter could be heard in the Metro Tower.
"So… so then what happened?" Batgirl asked.
"Yes, tell us more of the story." Robin insisted.
"Well, you Artemis was only afraid of riding horses at that point, not like the time…" Jade continued.
Wally then looked over at his teammate.
"Come 'on, Artemis, these are pretty funny stories." He said.
They were currently having dinner with the rest of their teammates. Batgirl had ordered take out from Dynasty, one of Metropolis' top restaurants, which was known for having the best Chinese food in the city.
"Eh, she'll be laughing out of the other side of her mouth in a minute." Artemis muttered.
Wally frowned.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
Artemis scoffed.
"I put Maalox in her bok-choy." She whispered.
"You what?!" Wally said loudly.
"Shh," said Artemis.
"Finished already, Jade? Here, have some more bok-choy." Said Batgirl, handing her one of the take out boxes.
"No thanks, Barb. I don't really care for bok-choy; I gave all of mine to Artemis." Jade replied.
Artemis nearly fell over when she heard this.
"I put them on your plate when you weren't looking." Jade explained.
Artemis quickly stood up.
"That's it, Jade! The finale straw! I've had it up to here with you! This is my turf and I say that..." Artemis stopped short when she heard her stomach growl.
"Oh, boy… hold that thought, excuse me." She said before making an exit.
15 minutes later…
(Toilet flushes)
Artemis groaned, it was obvious she didn't feel well.
"Nighty- night, Arty. Sleep well," Said Jade as she walked by the bathroom door.
"Ohhh!" Artemis groaned.
1 hour later…
"Feeling any better?" Wally asked as walked into the room.
Artemis glanced at her stomach, then at Wally.
"I have little episodes once in a while, otherwise I'm fine." She answered.
Wally quickly noticed some paper and pencil on the desk next to Artemis.
"What are you working on?" he asked.
"Just a device." She replied.
"A device?" Wally said in surprise.
"All this time, I've been thinking too small, Wally. Everything I've tried so far, has backfired. Well, I gotta think, big, see? I got to invent some kind of contraption that's gonna work, oh yeah… work real good." Artemis explained.
"Ok, Arty. Sounds good, get some rest all right?" Wally said as he backed out of the room and closed the door.
"See ya tomorrow, Wally." Jade said as he walked by the room.
Wally paused and looked at her.
"Good night, Jade." He said before continuing on his way.
With most of his friends asleep, Wally decided to step out for a while.
He went over to Artemis' apartment as he walked up to the building he thought about what happened earlier. So far, his weekend was anything but pleasant.
Wally quickly snapped out of his thought, when Paula answered the door.
"Mrs. Crock, I got a problem." He said.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I'm worried about Artemis and Jade, she seems nice and all but Artemis just can't stand her. She dislikes her so much I'm afraid she's about to do something drastic. I just don't get why." Wally explained.
Paula was distracted by a house fly. She grabbed a newspaper off the kitchen table and rolled it up.
"Wally, the thing to do in situations like these is to keep your nerve. Coolly approach things, work out a plan and… take action." She said as she tried to swat the fly but missed.
"And try looking on the book shelf in the living room next to the fish." She added.
Wally blinked; looking rather confused but did as he was told.
Next to the betta fish bowl was a bookshelf. He pulled out a large dark red album and wiped off the dust on the cover. The word "Photos" in are bold silver letters was on the front.
Wally opened the album and noticed some photos of Artemis and Jade when they were younger.
He turned one of the pages and saw photos of a large black and white dog with one blue eye and one hazel colored eye. The dog looked like a Border collie and Ridgeback dog mix.
Wally then read what was on the top of the page.
"Scooter?"
He glanced at another page, which had more photos of Scooter. One of them was of him playing fetch, the second one was of him, Artemis and Jade on the board walk near a beach and the last one was of him being given a bath.
Wally smiled for a moment.
Turning the page, he frowned when he saw another set of photos, Artemis and Jade were both a little older and didn't look as happy as they did in the other photos.
Wally frowned when he saw this.
Before closing the album, he grabbed the photo of Scooter, Artemis and Jade that had been taken at the boardwalk at Hobbs Bay.
The next morning it was rather quiet. Everyone had slept in, except for Artemis.
Wally quickly woke up when he heard a crash, followed by the sound of glass shattering and a scream.
Sometime later, he got up to investigate.
"Artemis?" he asked, noticing her walking out of Batgirl's dorm.
"Yikes!" she yelled.
"Oh, it's only you, Carrot top."
"What are you doing?" Wally continued.
"It's all ready," Artemis announced.
"What's ready?" Wally asked.
"The device, c'mon I'll show you. Careful where you step." Said Artemis.
She then carefully opened the door.
"See, when Jade opens her bedroom door, this bucket will pour cold water onto her and she'll jump sideways; onto this ironing board which will bend back on this spring and jettison her out the window into a hornets' nest!" Artemis explained.
"Artemis, you can't jettison Jade out of the second floor window." Said Wally.
"Sure I can, I already tested it on Robin and he's more or less the same weight." Artemis replied.
"Artemis, this is crazy. There's gonna be a better way for you and Jade to work out your problems." Wally told her.
"But I can't stand her, Wally! There's only room for one of us in the Metro Tower and I've got to get rid of her." Artemis answered.
"I'm sure there was a time when you two really loved each other." Said Wally.
"Now, how would you know? Jade and I never agreed about anything." Artemis replied, noticing her sister standing in a corner, listening.
"Oh yeah? What about Scooter?" Wally asked. He pulled the photo out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her.
Artemis looked at the photo and smiled.
"Aww, look it's Scooter." She said.
"And Jade," Wally pointed out.
"Nah, it must be some neighborhood girl." Artemis muttered.
"C'mon Artemis, that's Jade. Look at the two of you, look how happy you were together, you guys look like you got along great." Said Wally.
Artemis just looked at him and blinked.
"Ohh, our old mutt, Scooter, what a wonderful dog. Smartest thing on four legs, we took him everywhere." She said.
"Throwing sticks in the park till it was too dark to see anymore." Jade added.
"And giving him baths in the backyard." Artemis pointed out.
"And taking him to the beach," said Jade.
"Remember how he'd used to howl when we listened to the radio on the way back from the beach? And Dad would say…" Artemis stopped short.
"Is that you or the dog?" Artemis and Jade said at the same time.
"Yeah," they sighed.
"Whatever happened to him?" Wally asked.
Just then, Artemis and Jade stopped smiling.
"Well, we kept him in the backyard…"
(Flashback begins)
Six years ago…
"And one day he got out." Jade explained.
Artemis and Jade were both sitting in the living room watching TV, unaware Scooter had dug a hole under the fence, climbed out onto the other side and ran off.
"And Artemis and I went looking for him,"
Artemis finds the hole in the fence sometime later and runs off to go look for Scooter.
"We walked all over the neighborhood, calling his name until dark." Artemis added.
The two of them walked several blocks calling Scooter's name.
"And when we finally found him, he ran into a tow truck." Said Jade.
Artemis and Jade stop at the end of the block, hearing Scooter yelping and see the truck driver holding him.
"We took him to the vet, but they couldn't help him." Said Artemis.
Artemis and Jade are both waiting at the vet's office when the doctor comes out holding Scooter's brown leather collar and shakes his head.
"Then, two days later… he was gone, on November 17th 1997." Artemis finished.
Artemis and Jade place flowers and Scooter's collar in front of his dog house in the backyard, the two of them have tears in their eyes.
(Flashback ends)
"It was your fault, Artemis! You were supposed to fix that gap in the fence." Said Jade.
"I did fix the fence, you were supposed to fill in that hole he dug." Artemis growled.
"I did fill in the hole, it wasn't my fault," Jade replied.
"Well, it wasn't my fault either." Said Artemis.
Wally got between the two of them.
"Artemis, Jade… it sounds like it was an accident. Scooter just ran away and there wasn't anything the two of you could do about it. It wasn't anyone's fault, you both loved that dog and it sounds like you were really hurt when you lost him." He said.
"Yeah, so much that we stopped talking to each other for five years." Artemis admitted.
"Six," Jade corrected her.
"C'mon you guys." Said Wally, who folded his arms in front of his chest.
Artemis and Jade looked at each other then hugged.
"Aw, Jade I'm sorry for being so mean and tryin' to get rid of you." Said Artemis.
"And I'm sorry for telling everyone all those embarrassing stories." Jade apologized.
After letting go, Artemis grinned.
"Look, J if you want to stay here. You can stay." She said.
"Gee, Artemis. Y-Y-You really mean that?" Jade asked, wiping the tears from her right eye.
"Yep, you stay as long as you want, sis." Artemis answered.
It didn't take long for Jade to smile at her sister.
"Ha! Are you kidding?! I'd never stay in this flea bag; I just wanted to see if you'd actually invite me. Now that you have, I'm ready to go home." She announced.
Artemis and Wally looked at each other then back at Jade.
"I'll get packing." Said Jade.
"Oh! Uh, Jade Wait, it's a trap!" Artemis warned.
She followed her sister into the dorm and accidently set off the trap.
Both Jade and Wally watched, hearing Artemis scream.
"Yow! Oh! Whoa!" she yelled before being thrown out the window.
The two of them heard a loud buzzing noise.
"Ow! Ow! Stop it! It's me! No! Ow! Ow! Ow! What are you doing?!" Artemis shouted.
Wally covered his eyes, and Jade winced.
"Ow! Oh, that stings!" said Artemis.
"Come 'on, let's go pull the old girl out of the hornets' nest." Jade sighed and walked over to the window with Wally not far behind.
That weekend…
Artemis and the rest of her teammates headed up to Lake Metropolis. The fishing trip went well, apart from Wally nearly falling off the dock. That evening, he and the others looked through the photos taken at the lake including one with the group holding up the fish they had caught. Once they were done looking Wally closed the photo album which had "Summer Vacation 2002" on the cover and smiled.
What started out as a rough weekend turned out to be just another adventure…
And that's a wrap. Just to clear up some things: The story is based on the Hey Arnold episode: Grandpa's Sister. Scooter's mix is Border Collie and Phu Quoc Ridgeback. The Phu Quoc Ridgeback is a Vietnamese dog breed. They're known for being highly intelligent, very loyal and affectionate. They're also rarely seen outside Vietnam. There's more info on them on Wikipedia and Dogbreed .
Scooter's eyes being two different colors (blue and hazel) is called bi-color or bi-eyed, which can be found in certain dog and cat breeds and in some cases, humans.
Also, Virgil Hawkins/Static is from the series Static Shock, Kara/Supergirl was in Superman: The animated seriesand Justice League Unlimited and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl was in Batman: The animatedseries. The Metro Tower is the Justice League's headquarters in Metropolis and was featured in the last season of Justice League Unlimited. It's similar to the Hall of Justice which was featured in other DC animated series. Hobbs Bay is an area in Metropolis.
Also, Dynasty is the name of a restaurant in Metropolis.
Also betta fish is a type of fresh water fish from Thailand. They come in a variety of colors and are popular as pet fish. I've had them before, they're great pets. I've also had dogs, both purebred and mixed.
Haven't been writing as much as I used to but I'm trying to get out of that. Feel free to check out Just Another Day in the Neighborhood and Bikes, Buses and Subways. Anyway… keep an eye out for both updates and new short stories.
So, stay tuned!
Reviews are appreciated.