Operation: Kids In America Chapter 1: History Class

It was a bright spring morning in Hillwood City and the fourth grade classes at PS: 118 were going on a field trip to the Hillwood City Museum of History. Mr. Simmons sighed as his class finally fell silent and began to listen to both him and the tour guide. Arnold yawned as the group went into the ancient Egyptian section of the museum. Gerald groaned as the tour guide began to talk about the embalming process. "Man, Arnold. This trip would have been worth staying in school for. It's really boring here." "No kidding." Arnold stated and looked around. Suddenly his face lit up and he narrowed his eyes mischievously at the door in the far end of the hallway. He tapped Gerald lightly on the shoulder and smiled. "What do you say we do a little exploring on our own?" Gerald gave Arnold a look. "And risk getting caught, given detention, have our parents called, made to do a thousand page essay and scrub the bathroom floors of the girls' bathroom for two weeks?" Arnold shrugged and Gerald's smile rose from ear to ear. "Count me in, man." He stated and the two boys quickly slinked off. Helga growled under her breath at her classmates as they left the group. Suddenly an idea popped into her head and she grabbed Phoebe's wrist, gently tugging her towards the boys. "Phoebe, come on." Helga said as she felt Phoebe resist. She turned to face her best friend and gave her a scowl. "But, Helga. I want to hear this. I've always been interested in the ancient process of embalming." Helga rolled her eyes and released her from her grasp. "Okay, but if you don't come with me, Gerald might run into some other girl and forget all about sweet little you. You'd loose a friend and a boyfriend to some ditzy sixth grader who would give him anything he ever wanted." Phoebe's ears perked up at this. Her eyes narrowed and she grabbed Helga's hand. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" She snapped. Helga smiled triumphantly at her knowledge of Phoebe's weakness for Gerald Martin Johanssen. The two girls quickly ran off after the boys. Brainy watched as Helga, Phoebe, Gerald and Arnold ran off towards the farthest door on the other side of the room, ducking behind exhibits of mummies, pottery and jewelry. He wheezed and looked back at Mr. Simmons, who had his back turned away from the class, and decided to follow Helga, the girl he had a crush on. He melted into the shadows and swiftly followed them. Rhonda grunted as she saw five of her classmates running away from the lecture. She hated not being a part of anything and so grabbed Nadine and Lila's wrists and yanked them along with her. Lila tried to protest but was cut off by Nadine's hand being clamped over her mouth. Rhonda turned around and put a finger to her lips, hushing Lila. She nodded and the three girls followed their classmates. Harold, Sid and Stinky quickly followed, trying to stay hidden in the shadows. They hated history as much as anyone in the class and were not about to be left behind to stare at old sarcophaguses and ancient texts. Pretty soon Lorenzo, Curly, Iggy, Eugene and Sheena had joined the other kids, leaving only Park, who was staring at an ancient text, Robert, who was listening intently to Mr. Simmons, and Billy, who was staring awed at an ancient sarcophagus.

Arnold smiled as he and Gerald walked into the ancient Greek section of the museum. "That was too easy." He said and turned a corner. He grunted as he hit someone and fell backwards. He looked up and saw Helga, sitting on the floor, rubbing her hip. "Helga?" He cried out. "Arnold!" She asked, her heart racing. Suddenly she shook her head realizing Gerald and Phoebe were near. A scowl replaced her goofy grin and she glared at Arnold. "I mean, why don't you ever watch where you're going, Football Head?" She hissed. "What are you two doing here?" Gerald asked, helping Arnold stand up. Helga grunted as Phoebe helped her stand up. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned away from the two boys. "We're the ones who should be asking you that very same question." She spat in her most venomous voice. "We asked first." Arnold said, clenching his fists at his side. Helga shot a look at him and smiled wickedly. "We decided to ditch windbag Simmons and go out on our own, right, Phoebe?" She asked, urging Phoebe with her mind to agree with her. Phoebe nodded. "Uh, right, Helga. The lecture Mr. Simmons was giving was getting really boring." She answered. Gerald cocked an eyebrow at Phoebe. "Funny. You usually like that kind of stuff, Phoebe." He said. Phoebe chucked bashfully. She hated lying, especially to Gerald. Helga noticed the look Gerald gave her and quickly came to her friend's rescue. "What's it to you, Geraldo? Why's it any of your business what Phoebe does?" Gerald's eyes grew wide in fear as Helga approached him, her fist clenched. Gerald quickly backed behind Arnold. Helga sighed. "You're not even worth a fist fight. Anyway, what's your reason for ditching Simmons?" "Same as yours." Arnold answered. Helga shook her head and suddenly stiffened up as she heard wheezing behind her. She closed her eyes and quickly swung her left fist behind her shoulder, hitting Brainy in the face. Arnold saw this and quickly ran to Brainy's side. "Helga! Sheesh, what was the point of that?" He asked, helping Brainy to his feet. Helga shrugged and went to look at some pottery. "You okay, Brainy?" Arnold asked and Brainy nodded. "About time we found you five." Rhonda's voice rang clearly from the other side of the small room. Arnold looked up and saw her, Lila and Nadine standing next to the entrance. "You just had to take that many twists and turns. We almost lost you and ourselves." Helga turned around and glared at Lila. "I'm just ever so grateful we found you." Lila said. Helga looked at Arnold and saw him melt into her voice. "Oh brother." She whispered under her breath. "I dun know where they are. This really bites." The eight kids heard a voice calling from the other room. "Boy howdy. I think we're lost." A second voice called. "Maybe they went in here." A third voice said and Stinky, Sid and Harold walked into the room. Harold smiled smugly. "Told ya." He said putting his pudgy hands on his hips. "Oh, great." Gerald muttered. "Now we've got pretty much the whole class in here. "Arnold, what ever happened to being discrete?" Arnold shrugged. "Guess we all wanted to get away from Mr. Simmons." "Ouch!" A voice cried from the room Harold, Stinky and Sid had just come from. "I'm okay." "Great, now we've got Eugene coming." Gerald said just as Eugene, Sheena, Curly, Lorenzo and Iggy appeared. Arnold sighed. "Make that everyone in the entire class!" Gerald cried. "Actually, we're missing Park, Robert and Billy." Sheena said matter- of-factly. "But they're not coming. They actually like that whole history thing." From next to Helga, Phoebe blushed. Suddenly the lights went off and a few people screamed. Arnold tried to quiet everyone down. From next to him, Helga grunted. "EVERYONE SHUT UP!" She screamed. Suddenly the room fell silent and Helga pulled a flashlight out from her backpack, flipped it on and shinned it onto the kids, one at a time. "Criminey, you'd think this place was haunted. The museum probably blew a fuse so just shut up." She sighed and tossed the flashlight to Arnold. "Care to use your advice to get us out of here, Football Head?" She hissed. "Thanks, Helga." He spat back. "What we need to do is stick together. All we have to do is wait until." Suddenly four beams of light fell on the kids. A yellow beam fell on Arnold, Helga, Lila and Brainy. A blue beam fell on Gerald, Phoebe, Iggy and Lorenzo. A green beam fell on Rhonda, Nadine, Eugene, and Sheena. A red beam fell on Harold, Sid, Curly and Stinky. Sheena screamed as the kids were lifted off the ground and a black mist surrounded them. Arnold's eyes drooped as well as did the others. They all yawned and fell into unconsciousness.

Arnold was the last to awaken from the smoke. He coughed and looked around. He and his friends were in a shadowed area where melting clocks that were ticking backwards were drooping from trees and hourglasses had sand running from the bottom up. Arnold groaned and rubbed his head. He looked around and saw a sign. "We're in a place called the Time Dimension." Gerald answered as Arnold looked towards the sign. Arnold looked up at his best friend and gasped. He looked at least sixteen. "Whoa!" Arnold cried and backed away. Gerald gave his friend a confused look and noted the age change. "Yeah, I know. Somehow we've aged to where we're all sixteen. Apparently this place changed all of us." Arnold looked around and saw Helga. He gasped at how gorgeous she was. She had her waist length hair tied up in a ponytail, held with her normal pink ribbon and bow. Her neck occupied a red choker. She had on a red tank top with a white heart in the center of it and she wore a pink and red jacket over it. Her jeans were pink bellbottoms that had white and red hearts traveling from the left pant leg up to her left hip. Her shoes were a pair of high-healed red boots. Arnold looked around and saw the rest of his classmates, all who looked about the age of sixteen, including Harold. Rhonda was wearing a dark red sleeveless dress. In her hair she had a black headband and jet earrings that dropped from her ears. Her shoes were a pair of black sandals with jet stones along the straps. Phoebe had her hair down from its usual hair tie. She wore a white blouse with a lavender jacket over it. She also had a light violet skirt on that reached down to her knees. Each of her wrists held a silver bracelet. Her shoes were a pair of lavender open toed sandals and on her right toe she had a silver toe ring. Her ears held a pair of rhinestone earrings. Nadine had on a pair of light blue hip hugger jeans, a cerulean blue sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of baby blue sneakers with cerulean blue laces. Her hair was in its normal style but instead of being held with pink barrettes, it was held with blue barrettes. Lila had on a sleeveless summer dress and a straw hat. Her feet held a pair of flip-flops and her wrists had at least three gold bracelets on each wrist. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and braided neatly and tied off with a light green ribbon. Sheena wore an olive green t-shirt that reached down to her mid thighs and a pair of bellbottom blue jeans with flower prints. Her hair was short and pulled back in two barrettes. Arnold looked at himself. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a blue shirt with a black "A" on the front and black sneakers. He quickly felt the top of his head and found his hat. He breathed a sigh of relief, never wanting to part with his classic trademark item that his parents gave him before they disappeared. He looked at his friends and noticed they all had on different outfits. Gerald had on a red t-shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts, and red and blue tennis shoes. Around his forehead he wore a bandana. Harold had on a loose fitting blue t-shirt, khaki slacks and a blue ball cap. Basically he looked almost identical to his younger counterpart. Stinky had on an olive green shirt and black slacks. He wore a pair of beaten up old tennis shoes. Iggy had on a purple sweater over a golden yellow t-shirt. His slacks were a dusty orange color and his shoes were black sneakers. Eugene wore a pair of regular blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Sid had of course, his regular beetle boots on along with a black t-shirt, a leather jacket, and a pair of dark blue jeans. Brainy had on a mustard yellow sweater and khaki slacks. Lorenzo had on a white t-shirt under a blue jean vest. Like Brainy, he had on khaki slacks. Curly wore an identical outfit to his younger counterpart. Arnold shook his head again, trying to soak up everyone and their surroundings. Suddenly, a puff of white smoke erupted from the ground, less than ten feet away from where Arnold was sitting. The sixteen kids gasped as they saw an older looking man in a white robe approach them. He had a long white beard that reached down to his navel and a devious looking white mustache. His eyes were slanted, like that of a cat's. He smiled warmly at the kids. "Welcome, young students of PS: 118. You may be wondering what you are doing here." Sixteen heads nodded in unison. The man chuckled. "Let me introduce myself. I am Professor Emit, the master of all time and space. Some of you may know me as father time. You broke away from your learning group to go off in search of something more fun to do than to listen to boring lectures. I have decided to bring you to the Time Dimension so you may continue your search of a more energetic learning experience. I will split you into four groups of four." Suddenly, a yellow light fell upon Arnold, Helga, Brainy and Lila. A blue light hit Gerald, Phoebe, Lorenzo and Iggy. A green light hit Nadine, Rhonda, Eugene, and Sheena. And finally, a red light fell upon Stinky, Sid, Harold and Curly. Professor Emit smiled again. "Team Yellow will be given the assignment of Pearl Harbor. Team Blue will have the September 11th bombings. Team Green will have the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And Team Red will have the Martin Luther King speech at the Lincoln Memorial. You will be given two days to do this assignment in that time, while here in the current world, you will only be gone for two hours." Professor Emit held up a crooked wooden staff and the kids screamed as they became transparent and finally disappeared.