To the guest reviewer who asked if Helga forgot about Arnold after he stayed in San Lorenzo. I apologize if it wasn't clear, but this is A/U so Arnold never lived in Hillwood. He and his parents stayed in San Lorenzo, because remember that is where he was born.
Thank you to all of those who reviewed. I'm pretty excited for this story, because it's different from anything I have ever written. I hope you enjoy this next chapter and please review.
Welcome to the Jungle Part Two
Arnold burst through the door of the hut he lived in with his parents. Like the other huts in the village it was small. It just had two bedrooms and a small sitting area. There was a cooking area near the center of the village where everyone took turns preparing meals for the rest of the villagers. They were a very tight knit community and they almost always ate together. His mother was just exiting her bedroom when Arnold burst through the door. Her light brown that had started to gray over the last year was pulled into a messy ponytail, "Arnold!" Stella jumped back a little, startled, "What's wrong?" Stella's hazel eyes locked contact with Arnold's emerald colored eyes in concern.
"I just spoke with Geneva. She has seen her arrival." A small smile crept onto his lips, "She is San Lorenzo." The more he thought about it the more excited Arnold was to finally meet her. He had dreamed of her so long it was like he already knew her, but he knew there was still so much left to learn about her.
"I had a feeling that the time was coming." Stella whispered before she paused for a moment as realization sunk in, "If she knows he knows too."
"That's what Geneva said." Arnold chuckled softly. "I need to make sure to find her before he does." He sighed, "I'm going to gather some supplies and start scoping out the jungle. Geneva insists that I will find her with the connection we share, but…." He trailed off, unable to finish the thought. "I'll be camping out there for the next few nights."
"You need to have faith Arnold." Stella encouraged quietly, "Geneva is rarely wrong." She fell silent for a moment, "Just please be careful out there."
Arnold offered his mother a small smile, "I always am." He promised. "I'm going to go pack."
Stella watched him disappear into his bedroom before retreating back to her and her husband's room. "Miles. Wake up." She demanded, shaking her husband rather roughly. Like her son, he was a heavy sleeper. "Wake up!"
Miles groaned softly before his eyes blinked open, "What do you want?" He grumpily asked his wife.
"Geneva has seen her arrival. Our son will be camping out in the jungle until he finds her. Go talk to him and make sure he is careful out there."
"Stella you know he always is. He knows the jungle now and-"
Stella cut Miles off before he could continue. "It's not the jungle I'm worried about. They'll be looking for her too, and if we thought they were ruthless before…" She released a ragged breath, "I have a feeling we haven't seen the half of it."
Miles was fully awake now. "I'll talk to him." He combed his fingers through his salt and pepper colored hair. "It's going to be okay Stella." He pressed his lips onto hers, giving her a comforting kiss. "We knew this day was coming for a long time. We're all prepared. Arnold is prepared."
Stella nodded silently. Yes, she and Miles learned of the legend years ago, before Arnold was even born. It wasn't until her son was two or three years old that the village elders shared their suspicions that he was the one that the legends foretold of. When he was nine it was confirmed. They had been preparing for this for years, but Stella was a mother and she was worried about her son.
Helga Pataki slipped her key card into its slot before opening the door to the hotel room, she was sharing with her best friend Phoebe. "Morning Pheebs." The blonde greeted as she spotted her friend sitting on her bed, flipping through channels on the TV. She was happy to see the raven haired girl's hair was wet, so she knew Phoebe already took a shower and it would be free for her to use.
"Ohayo Helga." Phoebe greeted in her father's native language. The Japanese American glanced at her friend, who was dressed in a pair of hot pink athletic shorts paired with a gray tank top. When Phoebe had woken up earlier that morning she found a note from Helga, telling her she went for a run, "How was your run?"
"Awesome." Helga grinned, "It's pretty amazing running by the ocean."
"You know we aren't supposed to be outside the hotel alone." Phoebe reminded her as she turned off the TV.
"I didn't leave the hotel's property. Relax." Helga plopped herself down on a spot on the floor, not wanting to sit on one of the beds when she was all sweaty from her run. "Besides, I always run with this." She unclipped a small canister off a loop on her shorts. "It's pepper spray. Come on Pheebs. I know I can be careless sometimes, but I'm not stupid." Back at home, she often ran alone in the morning and she brought the pepper spray in case she ever needed it. Luckily she never had to use it.
Helga looked down at her mess of a suitcase. While Phoebe had placed all her clothes neatly in the drawers of the dresser and her dresses hung up in the closet and her suitcase tucked away, Helga still had her clothes messily stuffed in her suitcase even though Phoebe had left plenty of room for her things in the both the dresser and the closet. "Well, I'm gonna hop in the shower. Do you want to get some breakfast before we go to the beach after I get out?"
"Sure. Do you care if invite Gerald along?"
Gerald Johansson was Phoebe's boyfriend of two years, "Whatever floats your boat. Invite whoever you want. Just give me twenty minutes." Helga quickly dug through her suitcase and pulled out a cobalt blue colored bikini and a light pink sundress.
"Are you ever going to put your clothes away?" Phoebe looked down at the suitcase slightly annoyed. She liked order and seeing Helga's clothes in a crumpled up mess was driving her a little crazy.
"Eventually." Helga shrugged, "If it's bugging you so much by all means, unpack for me." She smirked, knowing full well that she would do just that.
"Unpacking." Phoebe had reached Helga's suitcase before Helga even entered the bathroom.
After turning on the shower Helga stripped off her running clothes and threw them in a pile on the floor. She caught her reflection in the mirror for a moment and debated if she should pluck her eyebrows after her shower. Up until she was thirteen, she had a unibrow that took her sister a solid year to convince her to wax. Since then she wore her eyebrows thicker than most girls, but they still required a lot of upkeep to prevent the caterpillar from returning.
Helga took a moment to take in her reflection before she slipped in the shower. Growing up, she never thought she was very pretty. Honestly, she thought she was rather ugly. Once she hit puberty things had changed. She went through 'the change' earlier than other girls and it had been pretty noticeable. Now, without be conceited or stuck up, Helga knew she was attractive. She grew into her once over sized features; she had blonde hair that reached just a couple of inches past her shoulders, and she had a unique shade of blue eyes that matched rather well with one of the shades of her aquamarine birthstone.
Thanks to all of the sports she was in she had a body that most would be jealous of and she was damn proud of it. She loved her muscles. She slipped into the shower and started washing herself. She was excited that by the time she got back from San Lorenzo track would be starting. Out of all the sports she was in track was probably her favorite. Sure, she loved volleyball, basketball, and swimming, but she absolutely loved running. It relaxed her; it was her escape from the world.
The man with dark brown eyes had sent out the orders. Find the girl and bring her to him unharmed. He knew the brat and the rest of that God forsaken village would be searching for her too, and he didn't want them to find her first. If they did all these years out in the jungle would be a complete waste.
He grabbed his gun and placed it in its holster around his waist. No. He wouldn't be using the gun on her if he found her first, but she didn't know that and he wouldn't hesitate to use it on anyone else that got in his way.
As promised, twenty minutes later Helga exited the bathroom ready for breakfast. Her hair was still damp from the shower and it was flowing freely down her back. "Thanks for unpacking for me." She thanked Phoebe as put her dirty undergarments into a plastic back and stuffed it in the bottom of the closet. "Where did you put my beach bag and sunblock?"
"I have them over here." Phoebe held up both Helga and her own beach bag. "Are you ready for breakfast?"
Helga nodded, "I'm starving. Is Geraldo coming with us?"
"Yes. So are Curly, Rhonda, and Nadine." Phoebe tossed Helga her beach bag, "We just need to stop by their rooms on the way down."
The group was staying at an all-inclusive resort so they had a quite impressive breakfast buffet. "I don't understand it." Rhonda Wellington Lloyd stated as the group of friends sat down with their plates of food. Her ebony hair was pulled into a high pony tail, "Seriously, Helga. How can you eat all of that and still have your body?" She looked at Helga's plate that was filled with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. She also had a bowl of fruit. Rhonda looked down at her own breakfast, which was a small bowl of fruit.
"Probably because I ran five miles this morning." Helga explained with an eye roll, "I work my ass off, so I can eat what I want."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it in a bad way, it's just you have abs! I don't know how you do it." Rhonda ate a bite of pineapple. "It was a compliment really."
Helga shrugged, "I don't know. I'm in a lot of sports. I work out." She bit off a piece of bacon, "Now let's hurry up and eat. I want to get out there and enjoy the beach before it rains this afternoon."
Phoebe and the others exchanged looks, but said nothing. Ever since they were little it seemed like Helga had some weird sixth sense when it came to knowing that it was going to rain that day. Even on days where there had been signs of rain or the weatherman had predicted sunny skies, she brought an umbrella and it always rained. No one, other than Phoebe and Helga, seemed to remember their first day of preschool when Helga showed up muddy and wet. She walked to school alone and was caught in the rain; ever since that day Helga had never been caught in the rain without an umbrella again.
"Are you going to swim with us, Helga?" Nadine asked as she slipped off her jean shorts and placed them in a pile on her beach towel. The group of friends set up their beach towels a few yards away from the ocean. The section of the beach was for hotel guests only so it wasn't as crowded as the other beaches in San Lorenzo.
"Not right now. I ate too much. I need to settle my stomach." Helga was lying on her stomach with a book in hand. "I'm just going to read a little bit before I get in the water. You guys go ahead though. I'll be fine here."
After reading two chapters of her book Helga fell asleep, using her book as a pillow.
She was running again. Whoever was after her was close. Who was doing this? What did they want with her? About a month before they left on their trip she and Phoebe watched a documentary about human trafficking, did they want her for that? She was panicking. She didn't know how to get away or out run whoever was behind her.
She stopped dead in her tracks, preparing herself to face whoever was chasing her…
He reached her quickly and she was ready for to fight for her life…
Maybe she should stop running. Maybe knowing who was chasing her was better than not knowing.
"Leave her alone. She's sleeping." Phoebe demanded her boyfriend in a low whisper. Gerald was slowing creep closer to Helga. For some reason he thought it would be really funny to scare her awake.
"Come on Babe. She'd do the same to any of us." He crept closer to the sleeping blonde, ready to pounce.
"Gerald! Stop!" Phoebe hissed.
But it was too late. Gerald roared as he grabbed the sleeping blonde's shoulders, laughing while he jolted her awake. His laughter didn't last long.
Somehow five feet eight inches tall Helga managed to flip Gerald onto his back, even though he was a good four inches taller her and at least fifty pounds heavier than she was. Before Gerald could even react Helga was sitting on his waist. Her left hand had its fingers grasped tightly around his throat and her right hand had grabbed the first object in reach, a bottle of sunscreen, and held it high above her head like a dagger ready to stab him.
"Helga!" Phoebe screeched in fear. What the hell was going on? "Helga, stop! It was just Gerald!"
Helga blinked now fully awake. She looked down at Gerald, who looked like he was about to wet himself. Her right hand dropped the bottle of sunscreen and it landed silently on the sand next to them. It took her a short moment to realize she was still sitting on him and still had her fingers grasped around his throat. Quickly, she released his throat and got off from on top of him.
The three friends just looked at each other for a while, not knowing what exactly just happened. Gerald rubbed his throat, "What the hell was that?" He finally asked Helga.
Truthfully Helga had no idea. All she knew she was about to be attacked in her dream and she knew she had to defend herself and the next thing she knew she was practically strangling her best friend's boyfriend. She cleared her throat, "I guess you shouldn't wake me up like that again." She told him, her voice wavering just slightly.
"Yeah, next time you might actually kill me." Gerald mumbled, unable to take his eyes off the frightened looking blonde.
Phoebe laughed nervously, "Well, Helga now that you are awake do you want to go swimming for a while?"
Helga nodded, still trying to figure out just how she managed to get Gerald into that position in first place. She had always prided herself on being strong, but that shouldn't have been physically possible. "Sure." She finally spoke, "Let's go swimming."