Ok, to all of you people that are reading this, I missed a ruin. In other words, there was another part that I wrote the whole thing up, but... um... I lost it. Oh well, it only had a couple fights, a whole bunch of talking, Virginia getting depressed because she misses her father, and learn about a new artifact. I don't own Hey Arnold or Wild ARMs 3!
Helga, Arnold, Phoebe, and Gerald all walked out of the Gemstone Cave (that's it's actual name... pretty appropriate, no?), and looked around for their horses. Phoebe noticed that they had wondered off a little ways, and were eating on small patch of grass. The four walked to the horses, and got on, still glancing around. Helga sighed, and looked to Arnold, who was feeding his horse (that he named Keola) a carrot that he had found in the cave. "So, football head, do you have any preferences on where to go tonight? Stay here and camp, go to Humphry's Peak, go to a different town, what?" she asked, crossing her arms, and raising an eyebrow at him. He sat up, and looked to the south.
"I don't know. What do you think? You're the leader of this team." he said, looking back to her, while shrugging and smirking. Helga scoffed, and rolled her eyes, looking to the east. She glanced up, then back down, then to the side, and then finally turned her head back to Arnold.
"Don't know, don't care, as long as we find somewhere soon." she said, pointing to the west. The others looked that way, then back to Helga, with confused looks on their faces. She sighed, aggravated, and rolled her eyes, grabbing her head with her right hand. "Doi! The sun is setting! I don't want to be roaming around in the dark looking for a place to sleep!" she said, and placed her hands on her hips. Arnold sighed, and shook his head.
"We won't be doing that. We're just going to look until the sun gets close to setting, and if we haven't found a town by then, then we'll just settle down and camp there." he said, and Helga shook her head stubbornly, making Arnold scowl and cross his arms. "And why don't you think that is a good idea, huh? I personally think it's better than your plan to look for a town even in the dark."
"Well, football head, I personally don't like the idea of having to-" Before she could finish her sentence, Arnold's eyes widened, and she saw him reach for his ARM. Her eyes widened, and she leaned back a little, blinking. He leaned over, so he could see behind her. He brought his ARM up, then he aimed it behind her, making her scream and duck down, covering her head. He shot at the thing behind her, killing it right on. Helga sat up, and looked behind her just in time to see the monster fall down, dead. She breathed heavily, and looked to Arnold. "Thanks, Arnold." she said, placing her hand over her heart.
"Welcome," he said, directing his horse towards the south. "Now come on, let's go to that one town that you told me that you had visited not long before Humphry's Peak." he said, and Helga smiled, turning her horses towards the same direction.
"Ah, yes! That one city... uh... what was it called again, Pheebs?" she asked, turning to her best friend, who was silently sitting on her horse, next to Gerald, who was also silently sitting on his horse. Phoebe looked up from her horse's mane, and smiled.
"I believe it was called Little Rock." she retorted, making Helga nod her head and look towards the southwest. She looked back at Arnold, then at Phoebe, and then at Gerald, who was now looking up.
"Ok, we're going to stay in Little Rock tonight. Let's get going." she said, motioning towards the south. They got their horses to run that way, and they were off. The horses jumped over the crevasse, and this time, Helga saw it. They continued on in the direction of Humphry's Peak, then when they got to it, they turned to the left, and began running towards a bridge that went over a small river of sand.
After getting across the bridge, they continued in that direction, Phoebe leading them (because, as Helga said in the previous chapter, Phoebe is now the navigator). They turned completely to the left, past a mountain on the right side and a beach on the left side. They continued, until Phoebe said to turn to the left, because the mountain curved that way, so they turned in that direction. Soon, they came to Little Rock.
When Phoebe's horse stopped, she slipped, and began to fall off. "Whoa!" she cried, and before her she hit the ground, she felt two hands grab her under the armpits. She looked up into the smiling face of Gerald.
"You should be more careful. Wouldn't want you to break your neck, ya' know?" he said simply, making her blush, and slightly giggle. He helped her get off the horse and onto her feet, all the while a very slight blush spreading across his face.
"Thank you, Gerald." Phoebe acknowledged, giving Gerald a slight peck on the cheek, then running into the town. He blinked, then began to walk after her, while touching his cheek, and smiling.
Arnold and Helga each watched the scene from their own horse, smiling. (Helga named her horse Jaime, because it means I love.) They looked to each other, and once Helga remembered that she was smiling, she scowled, making Arnold's own smile droop. They looked away from each other, then got off their horses, and walked into the town, to see Phoebe and Gerald walk into the Rolling Stone inn, arm-in-arm.
Helga laughed, and shook her head, half-smiling. "Good going, Pheebs, you finally got tall hair boy." she muttered, then heard Arnold mutter something also. She heard what he said, and she right away scowled, and began walking quite quickly to the inn, her teeth and fists clenched. Arnold looked at her strangely, then began running towards her. He slowly down when he got next to her. "Go away." she snarled, and began to walk quicker.
"What did I do?" he asked, being his normal dense self. Helga glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, to see him walking quicker, also, so he could catch up with her. Her lip curled into a snarl, and she slammed her right fist into her left palm.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing. Now that you know, GO AWAY, FOOTBALL HEAD!!" she shouted at him, finally running inside the inn, to see Phoebe and Gerald standing at the counter, staring at her strangely. "Did you get the rooms?" she asked, and Phoebe and Gerald looked to each other then back to her.
"Well, we got one room, because there are 4 beds in each room..." Phoebe said, handing the person behind the counter the gella they had gotten when they fought the monsters and Maya's team. Helga shook her head, pointing behind herself at Arnold, who had just walked into the inn.
"I am absolutely refusing to stay in the same room with him!!" she growled, looking over her shoulder at him. He gave her a confused look, then looked to Phoebe and Gerald, who were frowning at him.
"What did I do? Helga was just mad at me for some reason... I just muttered something about how I wish Lila and I would get together, like you two, and then she got all mad." he said, motioning to Helga, who bit her lip, hoping it wasn't too obvious to Gerald why she got suddenly so angry. The two looked to Helga, frowning.
"I'm tired. Let's just go to the room." she said, taking the key from Phoebe's hand. She quickly ran up the stairs, biting her lip, and furrowing her eyebrows. "Oh, why did I overreact? In front of Arnold, Gerald, and... well, it didn't really matter that Phoebe saw it, 'cause she already knows how much I love Arnold. But, why oh why did I do that? Stupid girl, stupid!" she said to herself, hoping that niether Arnold nor Gerald had followed her. Then she heard a floorboard squeak. She froze, and paled.
"Helga, you did it because you don't like the fact that Arnold like-likes Lila? Ha!" she heard a voice that she really, seriously didn't want to hear. It was Gerald's voice. She flinched, and turned around, frowning. He was smirking. "Wait until I tell Arnold..." he said, making Helga's eyes widen and her jaw drop. Quickly, she recovered herself, and whipped out her ARM, aiming it at Gerald. "Whoa, Helga, don't overreact... It's not worth killing me over..."
"Oh, I would never kill you! Well, at least not if you promise NEVER to tell Arnold. I plan on telling him myself, when I'm ready." she said, lifting the ARM up towards Gerald's head. He watched it, then glanced down at Helga.
"Ok, ok, I won't tell! Don't worry! Sheesh, you like to overreact more than Sid." he chuckled, pushing her pistol-like ARM away from his face with the back of his hand. She scowled even deeper, and plunged the gun back where it had been. She narrowed her eyes at him, and poked his stomach several times.
"You better not, or else. Remember that. NEVER forget, tall hair boy." she threatened, then turned around, took the key out from her pocket, slid it into the keyhole of the door, and opened the door to see a room with a couple barrels, a little bit of pottery, a bookshelf, and two bunk beds. "Hey, this is the room that Virginia's team stayed in when Phoebe and I had them stay in this town." she said, running to the bunk bed on the same side of the room as the door. "I get the top bunk." she proclaimed, and began climbing up onto the top bunk. Arnold walked into the room, and looked strangely at Helga, who had one foot down on the bottom bunk, her hands gripping the top bunk's covers tightly, her chin just barely over the top bunk, and one foot up on the top bunk.
He chuckled, and walked over to her, making her glance down at him. "Do you need any help, Helga?" he asked, and Helga shook her head as best as she could. He sighed, and shook his head at how stubborn she was. "Come on Helga, it'll be my way of saying sorry about whatever I did to make you so mad at me." he offered, holding his hands out to her, his palms facing upwards. She paused for a minute, then sighed.
"Fine, football head. Grab my lower foot down their, and hoist me up. Okay?" she asked, and he nodded his head, grabbing her foot that was on the lower bed. He held her foot up, higher then it had been before, while she pushed herself up with it. She was finally up on the bed. She sighed, and kicked off her boots, while pulling her jacket off. She threw her jacket down next to her boots, then pulled up the blankets of the bed, and climbed under them. "Well, see ya in the morning." she said, resting her head down on the pillow and pulling the blankets up.
While she rested there, thinking about going right to sleep, but also thinking against it, she listened to the others' conversation. "So, Gerald, where are you going to be sleeping?"
"On the upper bunk, if you don't mind, Pheebs." 'Sounds like Geraldo uses my nickname for Phoebe now. Pff, he should find his own.'
"Oh Gerald, you know I don't mind! I would in any case prefer the underneath bunk." 'Aw, how nice of you, Pheebs. Letting Geraldo get his own way...'
"Um, which one are you going to sleep on, Phoebe?" 'Oh Arnold... your voice soothes me so...'
"Probably on the bunk underneath He-"
"Wait just a minute!" 'Geraldo, why did you interrupt Phoebe? You could have at least waited until she finished talking... how I want to strangle you so badly!!'
"What is it, Gerald?" 'Yeah, what is it, Geraldo?'
"How about you sleep on the one underneath my bunk? I mean, I'm sure you'd be more safe there..." 'Wow, hold up there, Geraldo. She can defend herself, and if she can't we're all in the same room, so, DOI!'
"Oh, I get it." 'Arnold, you sound amused...' "I guess I'll sleep on the bunk under Helga... as long as she doesn't snore..." 'As long as I don't snore!? When has he ever heard me snore?'
"Oh, don't worry, Arnold, Helga doesn't snore." 'Thanks for clearing that one up, Pheebs.'
"Oh, ok." she heard Arnold sit down on the bunk underneath her.
Arnold pulled back the blankets, then pulled his boots off, then his coat. He settled down into the bed, and said, "Well, goodnight." and closed his eyes.
"Goodnight." he heard Phoebe, Gerald, AND Helga all reply. His eyes opened, and he looked up at the bunk above him, with a confused look. Then he closed his eyes again, and fell right into a deep sleep.
4 hours later, Helga was awake again. She sighed, and pulled her locket out of her shirt, smiling. "Oh Arnold..." she murmured, closing her eyes and bringing the locket close to her heart. She sighed again, opened her eyes, and brought the locket up so she could look at it again. She rolled over, with the locket still in her right hand, her hand hang over the side of the bunk. She closed her eyes, and soon, she was asleep again. Her grip on the locket began to slowly loosen, and the locket fell to the floor.
That morning, Arnold was the first to wake. He yawned, stretched, and sat up, hitting his head against the top bunk. He looked at it, frowning. He rubbed the top of his head with his hand, as he rolled out of the bed, so his feet were on the floor. His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked down to the floor. He had felt something cold on the floor, and there, under his foot, was a golden locket with his picture in it. He picked it up, and then looked up to see Helga's hand hanging over the side of the bed. His eyebrows shot up, and his eyes widened.
"Huh!?" he exclaimed, looking back to the locket, and then back up to Helga's hand. He pulled his coat on, and slid the locket into one of his pockets. He looked back up to her hand, then it clicked. The overreacting to what he had said that night, the locket with his picture in it, her hatred for Lila. It all made perfect sense. "She likes me." he said, smirking. "But if she kept it a secret that was so well hidden, then she must not want me to know yet. So I won't tell her I know." he reached into his pocket, pulled out the locket, and placed it into her hand.
He pulled on his boots, then put the belt and his ARM back around his waist, and began to walk out the door. Before he walked out the door, he heard someone clapping. He turned around, to see Gerald sitting up in his bed, with his legs crossed, clapping. "Good job figuring out, man." he said to his best friend, and jumped off the top bunk onto the floor. Arnold looked to Helga, then back to Gerald, his smirk now a half-smile.
"Yeah. I should have known this earlier, though. It was so obvious, now that I think about it." he said, laughing. He looked back over to Helga, to see her sit up and stretch, yawning, and then drop the locket, making him laugh again. "Hey Helga, you might want to try not to drop that locket. You could possibly break it, and I don't think you'd want to do that." he said, and Helga looked to him with a look of horror, that she tried to hide.
"Did I drop it last night?" she asked, trying not to sound in a panic. Arnold debated with himself about it for a few minutes. If he told her that she did drop it, then she'd know he knew her secret. And if he told her that she didn't drop it, that would mean that he was telling a lie. He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to think it over. Then he decided.
He sighed, and shrugged. "No." he said, afraid that she wouldn't buy it. She smiled, then jumped off the bed and snatched the necklace up, glancing quickly at Arnold, making sure he didn't see that it was his picture in the pendant. He smiled at her, and she scowled her normal scowl back. He figured it must be her way of hiding her feelings.
"Well, you better stay away from my stuff, head boy." she said, sticking her tongue out at him, then grabbing her jacket and pulling it on. She grabbed her boots, plopped down on the ground, and began to tie them. Arnold sighed, then turned and walked out the door, thinking about Helga's crush on him.
He walked out of the inn, and looked around, to see Maya's group come walking into the town. His eyes widened, and he began backing up towards the door of the inn. "Uhh..." he continued to back up to the doorway, until he bumped into someone, who had just walked out of the inn. He looked behind him, then up, to see Helga's scowling face.
"What is it, football head?" she asked, and Arnold stood up straight, motioning towards Maya's group, who was walking towards the inn at that very moment. When Helga saw them, she gasped, then grabbed Arnold's wrist (which sent chills up her spine), and ran inside and up the stairs into their room, slamming the door behind them. Arnold looked out the window, to see the Schroedingers walk in the front door.
"Well, looks like we can't leave yet." said Arnold, looking back to the others. Phoebe and Gerald looked at them curiously. Arnold sighed, and shook his head, motioning downwards. "Maya, Todd, Alfred, and Shady are downstairs. Most likely getting a room." he said, looking back out the window. "Either we could stay here or, since there isn't any vacancy, we could leave and they could have our room." he said, looking to Helga who nodded her head.
"Let's do the second one you mentioned." she said, opening the door. They all walked downstairs, hiding their faces from the others. As they passed the counter, where Maya was arguing with the person behind the counter, Helga (disguising her voice) said to the person behind the counter, "They can have our room." and then tossed the key to Maya, who was looking at her with wide eyes.
"You're those one Drifters!" she exclaimed, making Helga flinch, and look to the others, who were also flinching. They uncovered their faces, and turned to the other team. Maya laughed, and shook her head. "I figured I'd see you again, but not so soon!" she said, shaking her head, and sighing. Helga rolled her eyes, and looked back to Phoebe, Gerald, and Arnold who were staring at Maya.
Helga turned back to Maya, and crossed her arms. "Yeah, yeah, we were just leaving." she said, turning back to the door, and motioning for her comrades to follow her. They began walking in that direction, until they heard Maya say something, making Helga spin around and face her again. "What was that?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips. Maya was smirking.
"Are you heading to get the Aquelite and Germatron energy crystals? If you are, forget it. We're going to get there first, and get the crystals before you even have a chance to say 'hey!'" she said, flipping her hair with her hand. Helga blinked, then looked back to her companions, who shrugged. She looked back to Maya, and nodded her head.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, we are. And you're wrong, we're gonna get there first!" she challenged, pointing at herself with her thumb, and smirking. Arnold tapped her shoulder, but she just shrugged his hand off. "Just a minute, head boy." she spat at him, turning her head to him then back to Maya, who was raising an eyebrow at Helga. She straightened back up, and smirked at Maya. "What do you and your pathetic team say to that?"
"I say that you can't possibly get there before we do. I bet you don't even know where it is!" she smirked, and placed her hands, that were curled into fists, on her hips. Helga let out a single 'ha!' then motioned for the others to follow her out the door. As they were walking out the door, Arnold looked back to Maya's team, to see them lazily walking up the stairs to their room. He turned back forward, just in time to stop himself from running into Helga.
"Whoa!" he said, waving his arms in circles to keep his balance. He backed up a little bit, his face getting a slight tinge of pink to it. When he was completely backed away, he stood straight up, scratching the back of his head, chuckling. "Sorry about that, Helga." he apologized, shrugging, and looking down at the ground. He didn't receive and answer right away, so he looked up into the eyes of Helga.
"It's fine, football head, just don't get so close next time." she said, turning around, and climbing onto her horse. After Helga, Phoebe, and Gerald were all on their horses, Arnold was still standing on the ground. "Um, we're leaving, football head. You can get on your horse any time. Or if you'd prefer, you can walk." Helga snickered, covering her mouth with her fingertips. Arnold's face flushed again, and he climbed up onto his horse, hoping no one else saw his pink face. But Gerald did, and he was snickering under his breath.
Once they were all on their horses, they took off on the journey to look for Virginia's team. All of them had separate thoughts. 'Man Arnold is cute in that outfit.' and thoughts like that were Helga's thoughts. 'Why would Helga have a crush on me?' and thoughts like that were Arnold's thoughts. 'I can't believe Gerald likes me like I like him...' and thoughts like that were Phoebe's thoughts. 'I'm going to have to start playing matchmaker... all I have to do is ask Phoebe to help me.' and thoughts like that were Gerald's thoughts.
They rode to Humphry's Peak to see if Virginia's team was there. They weren't, so they began to search everywhere for them. They came to a train station, but they didn't figure they were anywhere that wasn't near there. They looked around the area near the train station, expecting to maybe see the other team. They saw unfamiliar people, some that were obviously not Drifters, and some that were obviously Drifters. But no Virginia, Jet, Clive, or even Gallows. Well, at least they knew that it would be hard to miss Jet, because of his silver hair and violet eyes.
They all looked around, every once and a while glancing at each other. "Well, where are they!?" Helga asked, irritable, ramming her right fist into her left palm. The others looked at her, and shrugged, showing that they didn't have any clue either. She sighed, and rested her head in her hands, shaking her head back and forth. "I guess we'll just follow them tomorrow. It's getting late. We need to get back to Little Rock before it gets too dark to see." she said, turning her horse around, with the others following suit.
They began rushing back to Little Rock, where they would stay until the next day, when they would follow Virginia's team to another ruin.