"Come to me, my love…I'll protect you forever…I promise…"
The Adventure of a Lifetime
"Those children will suffer in the same way the other children suffered…"
By Inuyasha-loves-Kagome (A.K.A. Inu-chan)
Guide to write style:
"…" = dialogue
[…] = thoughts
(…) = notes by me
Italics = dream conversations
{…} = noises (not too frequent)
Disclaimer: In Inu-chan's dreams, she owned Hey Arnold…but this is the real world and sadly, she owns nothing except her anime collection and computer. Craig Bartlett owns Hey Arnold. "Hey Craig! I'll buy Hey Arnold off you! Oh! And I can't wait for the movie! You'd better not disappoint us in the "Helga confesses to Arnold" thing!"
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Episode 2: Two New Friends
Arnold unrolled the map that Ardine had given them a few hours ago because Helga had questioned where was the first place they were going. Although back at the ranch Helga had complained and wished she could just go home, she was actually changing her mind upon seeing how beautiful a world Rorome actually was. Right now they were faced with hills that went deep down and had tall grass. Up front they could see a forest begin to build and the ground there looked a bit more flat. It would be the perfect place to camp out since it appeared as if night would come soon.
Loud voices were heard not to far away and Arnold's ears perked up to the noise. His sword at his side, he ran onward towards the source. Helga watched him curiously "Follow him Raln," she ordered. She clicked the roof of her mouth with her tongue. Raln didn't want to run after him but she urged him forward so he ran after Arnold.
Arnold ran to the top of the hill and saw four figures below. Two were running away from the two other ones. Arnold couldn't really make out the first two but the second two wore long black trench coats (not, not the trench coat mafia).
Helga caught up to him and looked below. "Who are they? What's going on?" she asked him.
"I don't know," Arnold said softly. He ran down the hill as fast as he could, holding the hilt of his sword tightly just as a precaution. Helga frowned at him and made Raln follow him.
What they saw was truly amazing. The two people who looked as old as Arnold and Helga took out cards and a sword. The boy there had short chestnut hair that fell in front of deep emerald eyes. He was dressed in a red short-sleeved shirt and blue jean shorts. He also had a red cape that was blue on the outside. The claps on his shoulders looked like the wings on the Angel Crystal, only that they were silver. He moved with grace and speed against one of the men and battled with his sword.
The girl, who also looked as old as Arnold and Helga, took out a card similar to the kind Helga had. She had darker brown hair than him that was up into two pigtails. Her eyes were brown instead of green and she wore a tanned trench coat made of cloth. She also wore jean pants and a white shirt. She held the card up high. "Wind!" she yelled at her attacker, who was running towards her with his own sword. The wind swirled around him furiously and made him block his eyes, which gave the girl enough time to take out another card. "Sword!" A long sword appeared before her and shot towards the man, hitting him clearly through the stomach.
Arnold and Helga gasped as his body disappeared, leaving behind a black soul with red, gleaming eyes. Helga dismounted Raln and ran forward to let the soul get collected into the crystal.
At that moment, the boy had finished off the other guy and his soul, too, was sucked into the Angel Crystal. Helga took it out and looked at it but it remained the same, as if nothing had happened.
"You can't see the souls," came a deep voice. Helga looked up to see the boy and girl looking up at her and smiling. Arnold stood not too far away, although away from Raln who was glaring at him.
Helga hid the crystal away from view, blushing. [Do they know?] she wondered as she looked at their innocent faces. She frowned to hide the redness on her face. "Why do you think I'm looking at their souls?" she asked meanly. "I was just admiring my necklace."
The boy shook his head. "I know what that was. It was the Angel Crystal."
Arnold tried to hide it by laughing but it came out nervously. "W-We don't have any Angel Crystal."
"Please," said the exasperated girl. "You can't fool us." Her mad face turned into one of happiness. "I'm actually glad someone found it for us. It saves us the trouble."
"Who ARE you?" Helga asked angrily, suspecting them to be one of Trinidad's men. But if they were, then why did they kill one of their own?
The girl and boy bowed to them. "Legendary Heroes, allow us to properly introduce ourselves," said the boy. "Our names are Ray and Darlene, prince and princess of Kyapa, the town famous for it's well-natured people."
Arnold's eyes bulged as Helga gaped. "Y-you're a prince and princess?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yes," replied Darlene as she placed the two cards she had used into her pocket. "It's not a very big town but we love it and we're proud of it."
By now, the sun had completely disappeared and the sky turned into a pink hue with tiny, barely visible stars in the sky. All four (five if you include Raln) noticed this and Ray sighed. "I think we should set up camp here. It's quite a long walk towards Ikomo. Besides," he turned to look at them, "it seems we need to have a talk about you and the crystal."
Helga fumed. [Who do these two think they are?] "We've got nothing to tell you about anything!"
"It's okay," Darlene said softly. "We were on our own journey to do what the two of you are doing." She shrugged. "But it seems that you two have already found the crystal so we don't need to do that anymore."
"Alright then," Arnold said, turning to Ray. "Let's set up camp and we can talk then."
Ray smiled and they began.
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The crackling warm fire; the gentle sound of the crickets; and the twinkling stars above made the scene spectacular. It was enough to make Helga sick.
The tents were up and now everyone else was off looking for more wood while Helga stayed behind. She wanted a little alone time to think about things. She was puzzling over what Ardine had told them: "No one knows what happened to them." [What DID happen in the past? Why didn't the two kids have their happy ending? And why do I feel like this has to do with my dream?] At the thought of the dream, Helga remembered about this morning. She frowned. [He probably doesn't even remember…]
A rustling was heard and Helga jumped. She pulled out any card she could finger and waited, should it be one of Trinidad's men.
It wasn't.
Darlene, Ray, and Arnold emerged, their arms heavy with wood. They all set the wood a distance away from the fire and they sat down on the logs, tired.
"How's the food coming Helga?" Arnold asked. He yawned tiredly.
"It's been done for a while Football Head," she said with a sneer. She hated the fact that he was no longer worried about her like he had been in the morning.
Arnold frowned at her and stayed quiet while Darlene winked at Ray. He winked back knowingly. Something no one could notice was passing through their minds.
Ray stood up and began to pour the soup into a bowl. Arnold observed it and saw that it was broth, with vegetables, and some sort of meat Arnold had never seen before. The meat was all sorts of colors and it glowed.
"Kyapa fish," Ray explained as he handed the bowl to Arnold. "It's the best tasting fish in all of Rorome."
Arnold eyed the food before him as he let it rest on his lap, warming it from the cold of the night. He lifted the spoon and took a taste. His eyes bulged in pleasure. Never had he'd tasted fish this good. "Wow," he said breathless.
"Yeah," chorused Helga, who in turn tasted the fish. "That's really good."
Darlene smiled at her. "Thanks."
"So," began Ray, wanting to get to business, "what are your names? We shared ours but you two have yet to share yours."
Arnold pointed to himself as he had his mouth full, his cheeks round looking. "I'f Arfuld," he answered.
Darlene giggled but tried to hide it with her hand, Ray chuckled out loud, and even Helga smiled and tried not to laugh. Arnold finally swallowed and glared at them. "Hey, it isn't easy talking with your mouth full."
Helga couldn't take it so she broke out into laughter, Ray and Darlene joining her. "Then you—haha—should have—hahaha—waited till you were done—hehe—football head—HAHA!"
Arnold, being the good-natured guy that he was, also joined into the laughter. He had to admit that that was pretty funny.
It took then a good 5 minutes before they were able to calm down. Darlene wiped the tears that were streaming down her face from all the laughing. "Man, I haven't laughed like that in days."
"Why not?" Arnold asked.
Both Ray and Darlene calmed down completely and instead looked downwards with a grim, sad look. Arnold was getting even more curious, but he also felt like kicking himself. Ray sighed. "I guess we'll have to tell you why we were looking for the Angel Crystal." He turned to look at his sister as if he wanted her to continue.
She sighed, defeated. She knew that he hated having to talk about such sad things. "Our kingdom was taken over by Trinidad's men and they captured our parent's. We had known about the Legendary Heroes and the Angel Crystal since we were kids. So when everything was taken away from us, we decided to go in search of the Crystal, free our parent's and then challenge Trinidad."
There was a long pause in which everyone let it all sink in. Helga actually felt envious towards them because they had love towards their parent's and were risking their lives for them. Helga never thought she would do that for HER parent's.
They all remembered about their food and Ray decided to laugh off everything. "But we don't have to worry now. You guys are here and I'm sure you'll be able to stop Trinidad!"
Darlene nodded in agreement. "And what about us helping you? Since we ARE doing the same thing, why don't we join forces and become even more powerful? Me and Ray can't just sit around and let you guys do all the work while our parent's are prisoners back home."
Arnold thought about this for a while. He thought back to the fight a few hours ago. They had taken on two of Trinidad's men by themselves and won. They definitely were powerful and knew what they were doing. He smiled and nodded. "Sure. And perhaps you could even help us learn how to use our weapons. We just barely got them today."
Darlene and Ray smiled, glad that they accepted.
Helga was the only one who probably wasn't so pleased. If those two went, then that meant that she wouldn't have any alone time with Arnold. "I'll be right back okay? I need to go wash up before we go to sleep."
Darlene could see the slight rage in Helga's eyes. She decided to pretend to need to go wash up also so she could talk to her.
This gave Ray the perfect opportunity to ask about the "relationship" that Arnold and Helga had. "So what's the deal with you two? Are you dating?"
Arnold's eyes went wide and he blushed. "Wha-What are you talking about?! We're not dating!"
Ray chuckled nervously and out two hands in front of him in surrender. "Okay, okay. There's no need to get all huffy about it. I was just curious. It's just that you two seem like you're in love."
Arnold blushed even deeper. "I'm not in love with Helga. She hates me."
"It doesn't look that way."
Arnold looked at Ray like he wanted an explanation. Ray continued. "When I saw the way she was looking at you when we came back to camp, it made me feel like she had an unrequited love with you. If you're not in love with her, then she is."
Arnold shrugged this off and didn't say anything. [There's no way that Helga G. Pataki is on love with me. Ray was probably reading her wrong]
They ate in silence after that, both waiting for the girls to come back so they could say goodnight and go to sleep.
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Helga had stopped at a little stream that she had discovered in her walk away from the camp and kneeled in front of it to peer at her reflection. All she saw was a miserable little girl who wanted some alone time with her love. Yet here come these two who want to accompany them on their journey and they ruin everything.
[But what types of things did you have planned Helga?] she asked herself as she heard the calm noises of the stream. [Were you planning on confessing?]
Helga fumed and looked away from her daily reminder of why Arnold would never like her. [I actually did plan on it, OKAY? I was just going to wait for the right time. But now these two stooges are here and I can't tell him with them around.]
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a rustling behind her. She became alert and fingered her cards like when Arnold, Ray, and Darlene had come back from camp. [You never know when one of Trinidad's men will strike]
Who should appear from out of nowhere except Darlene. She was watching Helga with an expressionless face, yet Helga, who had spent her whole life deciphering people, knew that Darlene wanted to smile.
Helga narrowed her eyes a little. "What do YOU want?" she asked, trying to keep her voice soft, yet deadly, like a snake who was ready to strike at any time.
Then came the smile. And she wasn't trying to be discreet about anything either. "You like Arnold, don't you?" There, see. She just came right out and said it.
Helga would have blushed, but she was the best of the best actresses, so she kept her face neutral. She turned her face away. "I have no idea WHAT you're talking about."
Darlene slightly rolled her eyes at that. "Helga, no matter how hard you've tried to hide it from everyone, you can't hide it from me. I'm too observant. I've been able to see through the facade you put up. You like Arnold." She continued before Helga could because she was opening her mouth to argue. "And you can't deny it no matter what. But you don't have to worry because I'm not telling anyone. This is a secret kept between you and me kay?"
Darlene stuck her hand out and Helga looked at her, trying to find her lying, any hint at all that would tell her not to trust her. However, she saw that she was telling the truth and that she really wouldn't tell her secret. Perhaps these two weren't so bad after all.
Helga shook her hand and genuinely smiled for once. "Okay." Then came the fists. "But if you DO tell, you'll have to meet Old Besty and the Five Avengers."
Darlene just chuckled. "I promise." She released her grip and turned to walk away. "Come on. The boys are probably worried about us."
Helga looked one last time into the stream. [I hope the future looks bright for all of us] Then she turned and followed Darlene.
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When they made it back to camp, they found the boys already asleep. How did they know? Well, let's just say that Ray's extremely LOUD snoring gave it away. Darlene laughed at this and went into her own tent. "Goodnight Helga."
''Night," Helga mumbled. It had felt weird for her because it was the first time she had ever said goodnight to anyone.
Neither noticed the small noise near them…
"Ow," someone mumbled inaudibly, but still enough to annoy his partner.
"Shh!" the other hissed softly with a finger to his lips. "We don't want to wake them! If they know, then the whole plan will fall!"
They both crept slowly towards the sleeping children. They tried to make their steps inaudible but it seemed to have failed. There was someone with sharp hearing who burst from the tents and stood in front of them, glaring with eyes that could kill. "Who are you two?!" Helga hissed. Ever since she had gotten her crush (or fallen in love with Arnold), she had made sure her hearing doubled a normal person's because she had to make sure no one was around as she sprouted poetry to her locket. But now she faced the two intruders with looks that could kill.
The uglier looking man cursed, but what was done was done. He smirked. "We don't need to answer your question little girl. All you need to know is that you and your little friends are going to die tonight."
Something exploded inside of Helga there. She felt like déjà vu. Like she had faced a similar situation before. The sudden rush of heat flowing through her veins…the anger and hatred…it all felt so familiar. She wasn't about to stand around and watch her friends die!
She took out a card, any card, she didn't care which one. Of course she still had to look for it before she could shout the name. "Fire!" she yelled. Upon command, a long stream of fire blew out of the card like it was a flame-thrower. Both of the men dodged it…but just barely.
"What's going on Helga?" someone called out sleepily and with a yawn. It was Arnold, followed by Ray and Darlene who all looked like they hadn't slept in years and had been woken up when they were finally going to get some rest. When they saw what was going on, however, their eyes widened and they became fully awake.
"Urgh!" Helga complained, wishing they wouldn't have woken up. [I didn't want to involve them!] She took out another card and called upon it. "Illusion!"
This card was strange. The people who weren't affected by it felt normal and watched as the people affected by it acted as if they were loony. There were many different reactions among the different people. Some lived nightmares, others fantasies, and others good memories that they didn't want to let go off. These two seemed to be in the fantasy state. One had a dreamy look in his eye and was cupping his hands together, mumbling stuff about being king of Rorome. The other danced around in a happy mood and he acted as if he wasn't alone.
Helga turned to look at the other three who were just standing there. "Come on! We've got to defeat them!"
Everyone nodded and the boys went back for their swords while Darlene stepped forward and helped Helga. She took out a card. "Ice!"
Several sharp ice spikes came flying from the sky and landed on the two men, but they appeared unfazed. She was forced to take out another card. "Lightning!" This time a large bolt hit each of them, but they were still in the illusion and seemed totally unaffected by the spell.
"It's not working Darlene!" Helga yelled. She thought up of something that Ardine had told her:
You just need to learn an enemies weakness so that that can be the card you use.
Helga decided to take that advice. She turned towards Arnold and Ray when they came back from getting their swords. "We need to find their tattoo! It'll tell us what weakness they have!"
Ray blinked at her in TOTAL surprise while Arnold looked confused. "Helga," Ray breathed, speechless. "How did you know about that? Did someone tell you about the tattoo's?"
Helga didn't say anything and also blinked in her own surprised. [That's right! Ardine never told us about that. She was vague when she explained everything. So then…how did I know?]
She shook it off and shouted at them. "Just search for it! Never mind how I know!"
Ray and Arnold decided to shrug it off for now, and went ahead and began to tear at the men's clothes. They needed to move fast. They would be getting out of the illusion spell soon.
"There it is!" Arnold announced, pointing at the space behind the ugly guy's ear. How he had managed to find it there was beyond him. But either way, he told Helga about the tattoo. "It's a purple star with purple circle. And there's a black 'T' in the middle."
Helga and Darlene thought for a while, thinking up of what type of thing purple meant. Darlene seemed to get it before Helga. She gasped. "That's the color of hate! The card of love will work against that and destroy them!"
Both of them took out those cards and each pointed it at their own separate guy. "Love!" they chorused together.
A pink shimmery light with little pink cards flew out of the card and hit the two men. They felt the love overpower them. There was too much hate in them that they couldn't take the sudden rush of love. The illusion was broken…but so were they. Their bodies materialized into nothing and all that was left were two black souls with red eyes. They were sucked into the crystal where they would face their judgment.
Helga breathed deeply, glad that it was over. [Over? Yeah right. I bet there are more of them we're going to have to face. This isn't going to be easy]
"Helga," came Ray's voice. She turned to look at him and he was looking at her with the same expression of puzzlement. "How did you know about the tattoo's?"
Helga frowned at him. "How did you know I didn't know? Maybe I could have heard it from somewhere, like Ardine, our friend who helped us out?"
Ray shook his head. "There was no way your friend could have known unless she fought one of Trinidad's men herself. But I doubt that. No one really knows how to beat them unless they've fought and gotten lucky. The tattoo's are their weaknesses because they reveal what they're weak against. But like I said, no one really knows that so it was pretty easy for them to conquer many towns."
"Like Ikomo?" Helga wondered, not wanting to say "Kyapa" because they knew how delicate they were on the subject.
Ray nodded.
"What's the situation there?" Arnold asked.
Darlene decided to answer that. "Trinidad's men disguised themselves as regular citizens and then went around blaming people that they were the ones who stole their stuff. Me and Ray are still trying to figure out why they go around blaming people and causing fights. We think that it's so the people kill each other, thus letting them gain power of the town."
"We've got to stop them!" Arnold protested.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Ray yawned. "But how about we get back to sleep. I can tell tomorrow is going to be a long day."
Everyone seemed to agree to that too so they bid each other good night and then hit the hay.
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Woo hoo! Episode 2 is done!! FINALLY!!! Yay!!!
I'm not sure if I rushed it or if Arnold and Helga seem a bit OOC (out of character for those who don't know that abbrev.) I hope you forgive me if they are. I'll try to make them more like themselves. It's just a bit hard to imagine them any other way. If you were Helga (bossy, mean, but with a hidden love), would YOU also act this way if faced with this situation????
Anyways, I have MANY things planned for Arnold and Helga AND for Ray and Darlene (those two are so fun to write ^^). Romance coming in further episodes!!!
Okay, so please please please please please review!!!
And I'll try to get Episode 3 out soon!! Promise!! Like I said, this fic has now become fun to write and I'm not about to abandon it!!
Signed,
Inuyasha-loves-Kagome (A.K.A. Inu-chan)
Email: hitomi_fanel1111@yahoo.com