Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or any of the characters. Hey Arnold is the property of Nickelodeon and Craig Bartlett.
A Trip Through Time (New Version)
Chapter 2: Where are we? When are we?!
Previously
"Criminy! Watch it, Football head!..."She yelled.
However, even as she grabbed him, Arnold ended up touching the portal by accident...and that's when things began to go south.
Something weird happened as they portal suddenly began growling and before they could get out of there, it began suck Arnold in.
"What's going on?!..."Arnold shouted as he found himself being pulled inside, only for Helga, Gerald and Phoebe to each grab onto him, trying to pull him to safety.
"ARNOLD!..." Helga shouted, her love and concern leaking out of her facade as she tried to hang onto him.
"We got you, Man!..."Gerald yelled as he tried to pull his best friend to safety.
"Hang on!..."Phoebe yelled as she tried to pull as well.
However, whatever force this was, it was too strong. It soon began pulling all four of them inside as well.
"AAHH!..." They all screamed as they were soon sucked inside the time portal.
Soon the time portal disappeared and the three kids were no where to be found.
Oh boy...
Present Time
Phil Shortman was in the middle of the kitchen, reading the evening paper. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was already passed sundown.
"I guess the short-man and friends should be at "the portal" right now...Heh, heh, heh..."Phil chuckled as he went back to the paper.
Soon, Gertie walked in, wearing her cowboy hat and playing her guitar as she sang one of her old western songs.
"Hey Slim, where's Tex?..."She asked after noticing the absence of their grandson.
"The short-man is off with his friends, having another wacky childhood shenanigan..."Phil answered, not looking away from the paper.
"Well, when he gets back, let's put on a show in the saloon..."Gertie said in her usual, eccentric way as she strummed her guitar.
"Sure, Pookie. I'll get right on it..."Phil said sarcastically as he kept reading the paper.
He's still sure that his grandson will be back soon.
With Arnold
The young blonde boy began to stir as he began to regain consciousness. He hissed as he felt a slight headache and winced when the sunlight hit his eyes, bothering his vision.
However, he paused when he noticed something.
"Wait? Sunlight?!..." Arnold questioned out loud as began to run his eyes, finally coming back to the land of the awake.
He looked around to see that the sun is out. It's daytime, and not even dawn either. It looked like it was probably seven or eight in the morning, judging by how it looks.
He turned to see Gerald still asleep on the ground, totally knocked out. Just then, his memories came back to what they had previously been doing and he had a bad feeling about this.
"Oh man! Don't tell me we have been out ALL NIGHT?!..." Arnold thought in alarm.
His grandparents must be so worried! Not to mention Gerald's parents and the others.
"Wait? Others?..."Arnold said and then recalled that he and Gerald had not been alone.
He remembered that Helga and Phoebe were with them last night when...when...whatever that thing was appeared. He can't remember anything after that but he knew that this is not good.
"Gerald, wake up!..." Arnold said as he tried to shake him awake.
Unfortunately Gerald was a pretty heavy sleeper and didn't open his eyes yet.
"Not now, Mama Five more minutes..." A still sleeping Gerald mumbled in his sleepy state.
Arnold blinked and then frowned at that.
He had to wake him up!
"GERALD!..."He yelled as he began to start shaking harder, finally successfully waking his best friend.
"I'm up! I'm up!..." Gerald shouted as he blinked as he was coming back to the land of the awake.
"Good..." Arnold said in a calmer tone as his best friend got up.
"Man, what time is it?..." He asked as he yawned and stretched his arms.
"Gerald, focus! It's morning and we're still near the woods..." Arnold said slowly, snapping his friend into listening.
Gerald heard this and looked around their surroundings, a panicked look came onto his face.
"What? Oh man! Don't tell me we've been out all night!?..."The tall-haired boy pleaded, looking nervous.
"I'm afraid so..." Arnold sighed as Gerald began to panic.
"Oh man! My mom and dad are going to kill me!..." He said in fear and dismay, knowing full well they crossed a line here.
Being late for curfew is bad but staying out all night is worse!
Arnold felt the same way but he tried to remain calm here. He looked around and felt worried when he couldn't see either Helga or Phoebe anywhere in sight.
He gulped, not liking this at all.
"We have bigger problems, Gerald. I can't find Helga or Phoebe anywhere..." Arnold said and Gerald flinched.
"What?! What the heck happened last night, anyway?! I remember coming here...and then that light thingy came and then...I can't remember anything else..." Gerald said in confusion.
"I can't remember anything either..."Arnold admitted, feeling frustrated by this very strange situation.
Just what was that strange light and what happened to them, anyway?
The blonde boy sighed as he had no answer. He then turned to his best friend.
"Let's just find the girls and get out of here..." Arnold suggested and Gerald nodded.
The two boys then went to search for their missing classmates, and the football-headed boy was deep in thought.
"I hope Helga is alright...Phoebe too..." He thought to himself as he and his friend searched for the two girls.
Wherever they might be.
Elsewhere
With Helga
Helga G. Pataki had been sleeping and enjoying a wonderful dream of her one true love Arnold, where he finally returned her affection and swept her off her feet.
In her dream, she was dressed in a fancy ballgown and Arnold looked very handsome in a suit. They both danced together at some ball, just like a fairy-tale.
"Oh Arnold, you dance divinely~..." The sleep girl sighed happily in her sleep as she dreamed of dancing with her beloved.
However, all good things must come to an end and before she knew it, she hissed when she felt someone probing her, trying to force her out of her sleep and out of her beautiful dream.
However, the blonde girl is stubborn and refused to even open her eyes, staying in place.
"Leave me alone, Olga! It's Saturday!..." She mumbled as she tried to cling to her slumber, not wanting her sister to ruin her morning yet again just to do slave-work for Bob and Miriam or do whatever ridiculous "bonding activity" her sister had planned.
However, the voice she heard was not the annoyingly perky voice of her older sister, but one that is meeker and more bearable.
"Helga?!..." The meek, not Olga's voice spoke and Helga immediately opened her eyes.
She got up to see her best friend, Phoebe who was looking at her with wide eyes. Helga got up after she finally regained her consciousness.
"Phoebe? What are you doing here?..." Helga asked as she yawned as she got up and stretched her arms.
She noticed that her best friend looked troubled about something, but what?
"Helga, I just woke up here a moment ago..." Phoebe explained as she gestured to their surroundings.
Helga, finally awake, got up and looked around and looked around. She saw that she wasn't in either her or Phoebe's bedroom. No, they were outside...away from the civilized areas it seems as well. She also saw that it was no longer night time but daytime.
She recalled that they had gone to the woods at night...and now it's DAY TIME?!
She flinched at the implication and had a bad feeling about this.
"Criminy! Did we really spend the entire night sleeping in the woods?!..." Helga exclaimed in disbelief, not liking this at all.
"It would appear so..." Phoebe said with a a cringe on her face.
Helga heard this and groaned loudly, knowing that this is bad.
"Oh, perfect! Olga is probably having meltdown and bawling at Bob and Miriam to find me...and they probably didn't notice until she pointed it out to them..." Helga thought with an eye roll and tried not to think about it.
Despite not wanting to admit it, she knew that her sister would probably the first...and only one to notice that she didn't come home and would nag her parents into noticing that she wasn't there as well and doing something about it.
The blonde girl sighed miserably at the fact that her own parents probably wouldn't even notice that she went missing over night without her sister being there to point it out. Although they'll definitely notice when they yell at her for "worrying" her sister to death, that's for sure.
The favoritism in the Pataki family was so blatant, that it's not even funny.
"Criminy!..."She thought with an eye-roll before she looked around the area.
"What exactly happened last night, anyway?..."The blonde girl asked, getting a headache as she tried to recall what happened.
"I'm not entirely sure Helga..." Phoebe confessed.
Helga, however, tried to look at the facts.
"Let's see...if my usually sharp memory serves me, we came across the Football Head and Tall Hair boy and we wanted to disprove some kind of story..."Helga began as she thought back. "We came to the woods and then...then something happened...I remember a bright light...some kind of light show and then blacking out..." Helga said to her friend until something clinked in her mind.
She and Phoebe had been out but they weren't alone. They had company and Helga was particular concern when she noticed that a certain boy is not here.
"Hey, wait? Wait? Where's Football-Head and Geraldo?..."Helga asked, trying to act like she doesn't really care.
Phoebe knew it was an act but answered anyway.
"I am not sure. I only woke up a few moments before you did..."Phoebe said in concern, admitting that she has no clue where they are.
Helga suddenly felt worried for her Football-Headed angel but she had to keep up appearances. So, she rolled her eyes and looked annoyed.
"Those two...as if we aren't in enough trouble, already..."She muttered as she let out a fake, exasperated sign to disguise how worried she is about Arnold.
On the inside, this is what is going on in her mind.
"Oh where, oh where has my football-headed prince gone?!..." Helga thought, love and concern flowing in her heart while she tried to keep a composed exterior.
She turned to her friend, Phoebe, who was visibly worried for their friends.
Especially Gerald, she figured.
"Oh my..."Phoebe said in concern while Helga looked around in hopes of finding her beloved Football Head.
She wanted to find her him and make sure that he is okay. She turned to her friend, still maintaining her "mean face".
"Let's see if we can find those morons and get out of here. The longer we get home, the worse it'll be for us..." Helga said, trying to maintain her cool.
"Come on, Phoebe..."She ordered to her friend.
"Coming..."Phoebe said as she nodded.
The two girls left the spot but unknown that at that time, a certain young boy was heading in a similar direction.
Just not the one she is familiar with.
A few moments later
The two girls were trying to find the missing boys, looking around the area. During this time, Helga thought back to the previous night and is still confused.
"What the heck was that light thing, anyway?..."She wondered as she and Phoebe were still searching for the boys.
Thankfully, a familiar voice was heard and made Helga's heart skip a beat.
"Helga! Phoebe!..." Arnold yelled as he and Gerald searched for them too.
"You guys around?..." Gerald yelled as well.
The girls stopped and ran to the source of the voices as they kept following.
"Helga!..." Arnold called out again.
"Phoebe..." Gerald cried out.
"Gerald! FOOTBALL HEAD!..." Was heard and they turned to see Phoebe and Helga running up to them.
Helga was greatly relieved to see him but recovered and put on her an angry face at them.
"Where the heck have you guys been?! We've been looking all over for you two!..." Helga yelled to the boys.
"What? We've been looking all over for you guys..." Gerald shot to the blonde who sent him a nasty glare.
"Well, you found us, whoopty-doo!..." The blonde girl said sarcastically while on the inside, her feelings were in overdrive... "Oh Arnold, thank heavens that you are unharmed!..." She thought to herself, as she was feeling love on the inside but still had her "mean face" on.
"Calm down, Helga..." Arnold said, trying to be peace maker but as always, it didn't work.
Helga started yelling and complaining about their situation.
"How can I be calm?! We're all in for huge trouble the second we get home!..."She yelled as she waved her arms around in anger as she marched around. "And what excuse do we have?! "I'm sorry mom and dad but me and the guys went out myth chasing and accidentally spend the night near the woods, anyway what's for breakfast?..." Helga said in a faux-innocent tone before glaring.
Arnold heard this and sighed. He knew that she is right to be worried but he still tried to calm her down.
"I know that we better be head back. Grandpa and Grandma probably have sent a search party by now..." Arnold said, feeling bad for worrying them like that.
Helga, on the other hand, went back to complaining about their situation.
"How the heck did this happen?! What the heck possessed me to go along with one of your crazy ideas, anyway?!..." Helga grumbled to herself but Arnold heard her and frowned.
"How the heck is this my fault?..." Arnold demanded, tired of her always blaming him for everything.
The blonde girl, however, did not back down.
"It was your idea to come here in the first place..." She pointed out as she pointed to him accusingly.
Arnold blinked at that...somewhat... fair point but he still held his ground.
She's always been on his case and he didn't like it.
"I didn't mean for this to happen, Helga..."Arnold said and the girl still looked ticked.
"Whatever..."She said and the boy sighed.
"Let's just get out of here and get home..." He suggested, since they had no choice.
"Finally..."Helga said in an exasperated way as she began to think. "Maybe I'll be lucky and Bob and Miriam are still asleep if Olga hasn't woken them up yet. I can always sneak back in and make it seem like I was there all night and she just didn't see me..." Helga mumbled as she considered her options while Arnold merely shook his head at that.
Gerald, being impatient, spoke up next.
"Come on..." The tall-hair boy said as the group of four decided to leave the area and head back home.
As they kept walking, Arnold glanced over to Helga, who still walk and acted mad. Despite it all, he is happy that she isn't hurt. Meanwhile, Helga sent a glance to the boy of her dreams, still greatly relieved that he is unharmed.
"I'm glad he/she is alright..." Two of the four children thought in sync.
However, they didn't know that the person they were thinking around...was thinking the exact same thing about them.
Later
The children has spent almost 15 minutes of endless walking in circles. They were tired and confused.
They knew that they should have reached familiar territory by now but everything seemed so out of place here.
It's weird .
"I can't believe you got us lost, Geraldo!..." Helga's irritated voice shouted, blaming him.
"Watch it, Pataki!..." Gerald warned, though he was completely confused.
This was the same route they had used to get to the woods in the first place. He, as the Keeper of the Tales, knew the city like the back of his hand and he had a decent sense of direction.
However, nothing here seemed familiar. Even after they had arrived to the shoreline and had the view of Elk Island. They passed by this place last night but nothing seemed familiar at all now.
This is confusing and it's distressing them even more.
"Oh great! Out all night, slept on the grass, soon to be grounded for life and lost of all things! Yep, just the cherry on top for the perfectly ruined weekend..." Helga complained under her breath, while on the inside her heart pound as she sent a quick glance at Arnold who was looking the other way.
"Although a few moments of suffering just for the chance to be with you is worth it, my beloved. Oh~..." She sighed internally before returning to her angry complaining.
She is not the only one upset, as the others were getting worried as they were still lost.
"Helga, I have a very bad feeling about this..." Phoebe confessed.
"Doi! Didn't I just say that we're going to be grounded for life and lost at the same time..." Helga said as she raised her hands to the air to emphasis it.
Phoebe, however, shook her head.
"Not that, about this place. I've been getting a strange feeling every since we woke up this morning..." The Asian girl explained.
Helga blinked at that.
She had been getting a weird feeling too but she was more worried about finding Arnold and trying to avoid getting in trouble to pay it much mind. Before she could answer, Gerald spoke up and went to "comfort" Phoebe.
"Don't worry, Babe. Gerald has got it all under control..." He said, trying to sound smooth.
"Oh sure, you are handling things so well..." The blonde girl said sarcastically.
Once again, Arnold tried to be peace maker and tried to think of something.
"I say we go and ask for directions..." He suggested and wasn't discouraged.
"From who?..." Helga said, gesturing to their surroundings as no one was there.
Arnold looked around, trying to find someone or something familiar to help them get home.
He was getting worried before his eyes landed on something.
"Look over there..." He pointed.
The other kids looked to where he was pointing at and they saw that it was one of the higher hills that had a good look of the city. Helga frowned at him.
"Yeah, so?..."She asked, wondering what he has planned.
"I say we go over there, maybe getting a better view will help..." Arnold suggested.
With no better ideas, the four kids walked up until they were on top of the hill but with what they have been through...and given that it was pretty steep, they got a little winded.
"We made it..."Arnold said while the others were tired and irritable due to the kind of morning they had.
"Criminy! Can this day get any worse?..." Helga grumbled but was ignored.
However, she and the others then heard a squeaky gasp, coming from Phoebe.
"Oh my!..." The dark haired girl squeaked all of a sudden.
Arnold, Gerald and Helga turned to her to see what's wrong.
They saw that her jaw was dropping, her eyes were wide as saucers and she looked like she was around to faint or something.
"Phoebe, are you okay?...Helga asked in concern as her friend was still in a zombie-like state.
She snapped her fingers and tried to shake her but she is still like a statue and it was unnerving her.
"What are you looking at anyway?..." Helga asked, ironically, turning her back to whatever her friend was looking at.
Phoebe, still somewhat frozen, somehow managed to nudge Helga to look behind her.
Helga and the others did so and once they did, they were in shock too with what was before them.
"What...the...HECK?!..." Helga mouthed while Phoebe was still like a statue.
"No way!..."Arnold whispered as he saw what was in front of them.
It was their home town...but it was different.
Very different!
While Hillwood was fairly big city that had sky scrappers and everything, it wasn't like this!
They knew that in this area, you got a good view of the whole city but everything was like it was out of place.
New, BIGGER building and sky scrapper that weren't there yesterday were now present and Arnold finally saw one of the department stores they passed on their way to the woods yesterday. He saw that it now had a shoe store that wasn't there yesterday, along with a frozen yogurt shop that he did not recognize
They also noticed that a bunch of other big things were either gone, replaced or upgraded, looking so different than it was yesterday.
It was a big shock and the kids were still having trouble processing it.
"Is this a gag or something?!..." Gerald said, wondering if he was either dreaming or losing it.
The others were wondering the same place as they looked at their home, that looked so different.
"T-This is I-I-mp-possible!..." Phoebe finally managed to stutter out, still petrified.
How on earth can an entire city change so much in one night?!
"Guy's, I don't think we're in Hillwood anymore..." Arnold said with a shaky voice as he pointed to the much larger city in place of their own home town.
There was an uncomfortable silence as the four children were still stunned by this development.
"Actually, you guys are in Hillwood right now..." A new voice suddenly said, snapping them out of their shock.
The four children turned around and everyone's jaw dropped when they saw the source of the voice.
It was a young a boy around their age.
A young boy with a familiar looking FOOTBALL-SHAPED head!
"What the heck?!..."All four kids thought in sync.
-To be continued-
Next time on A Trip Through Time (New Version)
Another Football-Head
A/N: I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter :)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
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Invader Johnny: Oh boy, indeed.
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:) Till next time beautiful people, remember to read and review :)