Next chapter! Yay! And this one is going to be REALLY long... really long. This chapter has fighting, romance, and blushing! Like all the others! Ha haha. I do not own Hey Arnold! or Wild ARMs 3, and most of the things that the Wild ARMs 3 characters are saying when they aren't talking to Helga, Arnold, Phoebe and Gerald are lines from the game itself. The romance-y stuff that the WA3 characters talk about isn't in the game, though.
Helga awoke to the sound of someone reloading his (Phoebe doesn't have an ARM, so she can't reload it, so it's either Arnold or Gerald) ARM. She sat up, yawned, and stretched, patting her mouth with her right hand. She glanced below the upper bunk to see Arnold reloading his ARM. "Mornin' football head. Sleep well?" he glanced up at her, and flashed her a quick smile before looking back down to his ARM.
"Yep. You?" he asked, then placed his ARM into the belt around his waist, pulled on his coat, and then pulled on his boots. Helga sighed, her face contorting into a lovesick look. Arnold stood up, and turned around to her, making her face contort back into one of her usual looks (no, this time not a scowl... more like a bored look).
"Yeah, like a baby," she answered, then sat up and turned around so her feet were dangling off the top bed. She glanced over to Gerald and Phoebe's beds to see that both were empty. "Huh, looks like the two lovebirds are off doing something. Where are they? Did they tell you?" she asked, dropping down off the bed onto her feet. Arnold glanced over to the other two bunk beds, and shrugged.
"They didn't tell me. I think I was half asleep when they left. I remember them leaving, but I don't remember them talking about where they were going." he said, walking towards the door. Helga nodded her head while her mouth formed an o shaped, and then she sat down on Arnold's bunk, grabbing her boots so she could quickly put them on. She slipped her jacket on, and then quickly jumped up and followed Arnold out the door. She glanced around the area, and then ran the stairs and out of the inn to see Arnold standing on the porch with his arms crossed across his chest. She walked up next to him, and looked at him strangely. He looked to her, then smiled, and looked back forward. "I can't see them, but I think they're with the horses."
"Oh, and what make you so sure, Mr. Know-it-all?" she asked, crossing her arms and giving him a challenging look. He grabbed her hand, and began dragging her towards where they had left the horses the previous night, despite her protests. "Hey! What do you think you're doing, football head!? Let go!" she shouted, trying her best to get his hand off of her's. He shook his head, and looked back at her smiling.
"No, I'm not letting go, cause you'll be your normal stubborn self and just stand there." he faced forward again, and sped his pace up. She scowled deeper, and tried harder to get him to let. Shouting at him, pushing down on his hand, and even beating on his shoulder. Nothing worked.
"Come on, football head, I'll follow you! I know where the horses are, plus, we're going to be going to the horses anyway, right!?" she cried, lightly sticking her amazingly long fingers nails into Arnold's hand. He yelped, pulling his hand off of her hand, and holding it with his other hand. He looked down at his hand, then up to her, frowning. She smirked, then stuck out her tongue.
"Fine, Helga, fine! It's not like I was going to run you off a hill or something. Yeesh!" he cried, walking faster towards the horses, leaving Helga standing there, biting her lip, with a slight scowl.
"Great, Helga, you stupid girl, you are doing it again. Running him off, but even worse now, you hurt him!" she chided herself, sticking her nails into her own skin to punish herself. Her eyes widened, and she pulled her hand away from her arm. "OW, no wonder he got so ticked! I GOTTA apologize now." so she ran after him.
Soon, she reached the horses, to find that Gerald, Phoebe, and Arnold were already there, talking. She walked slowly up, and got up on her horse, then pointed the way they had came before. "Let's go back to Humphry's Peak to see if they already left." she mumbled, then turned her horse in that direction, and they took off, Helga in lead, then Phoebe, then Arnold, and in the back, Gerald. Soon, Gerald road up a little so he was right next to Phoebe, then they both slowed down so that they could still keep up, but talk privately. Arnold road up a little bit, so he was right next to Helga, but without completely realizing it. She glanced out of the corner of her eye to him, to see that he was just staring forward. She sighed, and faced forward again. "Listen Arnold, I'm sorry about digging my nails into your hand and not complying to what you were wanting. I didn't know that my finger nails had gotten longer." she said, making Arnold look at her, a smile on his face.
"It's ok, Helga. I understand." he said, reaching over and patting her on the shoulder. Inside, Helga was melting at his touch, but on the outside, she looked like she was ignoring him. He gripped the reins again, and faced forward. 'Hmm, she's starting to show her feelings better, but she still has to go along with her normal attitude that hurts.' he looked down at his hand, that still had the finger nail marks on it. He cringed, then shook his head, and looked forward.
Behind Arnold and Helga, Phoebe and Gerald were having their own conversation. "So Pheebs, I was thinking."
"About what?"
"I think we need to do something to get Arnold and Helga together."
"I concur, but why do you...?"
"Why do I what?"
"Want them together. I know you think that Arnold and Lila are a better match, although you now know that Helga loves Arnold."
"Oh. Well, it's the way he acts around her. have you ever noticed how ticked he gets when she acts like her normal self? And, yesterday, when she made fun of him about not getting on his horse yet, he blushed about it."
"Yes, but it's not very much proof."
"Ok, fine, we'll wait until you see more proof, but I'm telling you, he likes Helga back."
Once they got to Humphry's Peak, they saw the other four Drifters walking out. They quickly steered their horses behind a small hill, to hide themselves. The other four quickly got onto their horses, and began riding towards the southwest. Helga motioned for the others to follow. They rode behind the others for a while, quite far behind, until they got to an old ruin of a pretty obviously important at one time building. The other four stopped their horses, and got off, heading to the building's entrance. When they were just about to head inside, suddenly a monster attacked Virginia alone. She pulled her ARMs out, aimed directly at the monster, and hit it, only a tad bit though. The monster got back up off the ground, and blew a poisonous gas at Virginia, infecting her with it.
Virginia gripped her sides, and frowned at the monster, balling her hands into fists. Suddenly, Jet came running out of the building, with his Airget-lahm (ARM, gun, whatever you want to call it, but that's it's name... Airget-lahm B/V2) in his hands. He came running at the monster, then stopped suddenly, and shot at it, getting a critical hit, which killed the monster right on. Then he walked over to Virginia and gave her a antidote, making her smile at him. He was just scowling. He walked back into the ruin, complaining about babysitting, with Virginia tagging along behind him.
Helga and the others followed the other four into the ruin, but not so they could be seen. They hid in the door and listened to the others' conversation like they had done so many times before.
"I can't believe an artifact exists in such good shape... That's pretty darn amazing!" Gallows exclaimed, looking around the ruin that looked like it had machinery all through it.
"Yeah, and I bet the security systems still up and running, too. How amazing..." Jet said cynically, rolling his eyes.
"..." Virginia sighed, and looked slightly down and to the side. Clive noticed this.
"What is the matter?" he asked, and Virginia looked up to him, with a forced smile.
"Oh... It's nothing..." she said quietly, and they began walking towards the north, where they found a set of stairs and at the bottom of the stairs a door. Helga looked back to the others, smirked, and began walking after the other four, with Arnold, Phoebe, and Gerald close behind. They walked in the door at the bottom of the stairs, and quickly, Helga stopped, then backed slowly back into the doorway, so they wouldn't be noticed.
They saw Virginia's team walk into a door to the northwest, then not too long afterwards, they walked back out. They began walking towards the east where a set of stairs were, until Virginia stopped, and looked towards the door that Helga and the others were standing in. Helga backed up a little, noticing the confused look Virginia gave them. She then shrugged, muttering about how she thought that she had seen something. Her team walked up the stairs and into a door that was at the top of the stairs. Quickly, Helga motioned for the others to follow her, then they quickly chased after Virginia's team. When they got into the room, they did the same thing they had done before.
The room they were in now had a giant furnace in the middle of it, that wasn't turned on. Virginia stepped onto this large square button in front of the furnace's face, then turned to where the furnace had opened, and threw several Tindercrests into it, starting a fire. She walked off the button, and they continued out a door that was on the opposite side of the room as the other door. The others followed them, yet again.
They walked into a room that had a metal net like thing hanging across the ceiling so that they could climb across and get to a couple of treasure chests. They watched as Virginia, then Jet, then Clive, and then Gallows climbed across to the chests. They opened them, then quickly jumped down off the ledge onto the ground below them, and out the door. Helga walked out of the doorway, and over to where she was underneath the metal net. She placed her hands on her hips, and frowned, looking up at the thing above her. "We have to climb across this? Why don't we just jump down there onto the ground so we can follow them more quickly?" she inquired, as Arnold walked over, shaking his head. She looked down at him, crossed her arms, and raised an eyebrow at him. "And just why not? I AM the leader of this group, aren't I?"
"Yes, you are, but I was just thinking, if we climb across it, then we'll be more used to it for when we absolutely are forced to do it." he said, jumping and grabbing a hold of the metal net thing. He looked down at her, and smiled. "Come on, what do ya' say, Helga? Wanna get used to it?" he asked, and she shook her head stubbornly.
"Nuh uh. No climbing for me, thank you very much." she walked over to the edge of the ledge, and just before she was about to jump, she felt a hard tap on the shoulder. She looked behind herself to see that Arnold had climbed over that way, and had tapped her with his foot. She sighed, then rolled her eyes, and walked over so that she was under an area that neither Phoebe, Arnold, nor Gerald was on (Phoebe and Gerald came over and gripped onto the net-thingy), then jumped and grabbed a hold of the thing. "Fine, guys, are ya' happy? You got your LEADER to do what YOU want to do." she said, then began grumbling under her breath, climbing as fast as she could towards the other side, with the others close behind.
When they got over to the other side, they quickly jumped down, and walked out the door quickly (they figured that Virginia and her team were already in the next room by now). They walked out into the next room, and saw Virginia, Jet, Clive, and Gallows standing on a elevator, looking towards the door. Helga acted surprised (then whispered to the others to act surprised, too), and gasped. "What are you doing here?" she asked, pointing to the others. Virginia smiled and walked off the elevator.
"I knew I saw someone else in that door back there! Hi, Helga! What are you guys doing here? We're here to get the Kizim Fire to deliver it to the Arc of Destiny." she said, walking closer. Helga looked back to the others, who gave her a look that said 'no, we're not here to get that thing she mentioned.' She shrugged at them, then looked back at Virginia, and gave her a shrug.
"We're just here to get some of the extra stuff left behind in here. We didn't even know about that Kiziwhatsit that you're talking about." she said, making Virginia nod her head, and then walk back to her team, who were still standing on the elevator. Helga motioned for the other 3 to follow her onto the elevator, then she walked onto it, with the others behind her.
"I hope you don't mind if we follow not far behind." Phoebe said, and Virginia smiled wider.
"Of course we don't mind, do we?" she asked her teammates, who shook their heads, except Jet. He just stood there, with his arms crossed. She giggled at Jet, then looked back at the others. "Don't mind Jet, he's just antisocial." she glanced at him from the corner of her eye, to see that he didn't have much of a different look on his face. In fact, she was positive that he hadn't even moved a smidgen. She walked over to the elevator's control panel, and clicked the down button (no, it doesn't have numbers, it just has up and down).
Once they were at the bottom level, they noticed another one of those metal nets hanging over a small platform, and a rusted old button below the metal net. Virginia's team went over and got onto the metal net, then Virginia climbed over so that she was right over the rusted button, and dropped down onto it, opening a door, which was behind a block. Arnold walked over to the block, and pulled on it, but nothing happened. He looked up to Virginia's team, then noticed a door above the metal net thing. He pointed at it, making everyone look up at it. Clive climbed over to the edge of the metal net, and swung himself up so that he was standing on the net. He walked in the door, and about ten minutes later, he came down in the elevator. The others looked at him strangely, and he just shrugged.
Clive slipped on a pair of glowing gloves, that shocked everyone, and picked the block up, placing it beside the door. They walked in that door to come into a room with a complicated puzzle. They figured it out, and when they did, a door opened up at the bottom of several stairs. They walked in the door, to find another hard puzzle, but maybe not as hard as the previous one. The figured it out, and a door opened. They walked in the next door, into a room with several orange gems on the floor, which they shared, and then they walked up a long staircase into a room with a more simple puzzle in it. They figured it out, and got to go into the next room.
This room was one they had been in before, but this time they were in an area higher than the other. They walked to the left to find two treasure chests, and then walked in the next door. This room had a long stair way that lead down, and several more orange gems on the floor. They walked into the next room to find another difficult, but not impossible, puzzle. They figured it out, and walked in the door that it opened. They walked into a simple room with just a platform, stairs, and a door. They walked down the stairs, and into the door leading to the next room.
They were greeted with an orange glow. Almost all of them were shocked. Basically all but Jet and Helga. They walked towards the fire shaped artifact, and Virginia just stood staring at it with her jaw dropped. "I can't believe a flame has been crystalized." she said, almost breathlessly.
"So this is one of the energy forces which provided energy for a prehistoric culture... Quite interesting, indeed." Clive said, pushing his glasses up with his index finger.
Gallows brought his hand up and began scratching the back of his head. "Well, it's all fine and dandy that we got this thing, but does that whatchamacallit Order know how to use it? This is some pretty funky technology, you know?" he shrugged, looking at Clive, who also shrugged.
"That's ain't our concern. We're getting paid to bring this thing back, that's all." Jet said in his normal angry voice. Gallows looked over at him, and brought his hand down away from his head.
"Sheesh... Do you always have to be so frank?" Gallows asked, slightly laughing. Virginia grabbed the Kizim Fire out of the stand, then turned around and motioned for the others to follow. They all walked out the door, just in time to hear a female's voice echo from above them, on the platform.
"'The Immigrant Vessel'... A vessel said to have come from a distant land... Out of all the artifacts we know of, this one seems to have made the biggest mark." the woman said, in a very silky voice. They all looked up, and when they did, Virginia pulled her ARMs out and aimed them at the woman. The woman had purple hair that came down around her face, framing it, with a yellow hat type thing on her head, and was dressed in a robe-like gown that came down so that it covered her feet and had sleeves so long that the others couldn't even see her hands. The robe-like gown had orange, yellow, and pink splotches on the front of it.
"Melody!" she exclaimed, making the woman, who was obviously Melody, look down at her with a fire in her eyes.
"But, you're first on my agenda today. Our plans cannot be delayed any further. Your very existence is detrimental to our plans for the future." Melody stated, a scowl forming. Virginia had a scowl forming on her face as well.
"We're not going to let you toy with our future. Let alone Filgaia's!"
"What does this weakened, unsightly little planet need? It needs strength and beauty... How dare you stand there and oppose me! Come, Asgard!" Melody exclaimed, pointing at the 8 Drifters. Quickly, Helga, Arnold, Phoebe, and Gerald all dashed into the room they were in before, so they could get out of having to fight. They knew that they probably would, anyway, but they wanted to try to get out of as many as possible anyway. A bright light shown out in front of Virginia's team, and a thing all in brown with a blue light on it's wrist appeared.
Helga and the other 3 watched as Virginia attacked the thing, then watched Jet attack it, then it suddenly brought the arm with the blue light up, then swung it down so fast, it split the ground, shaking the floor so that everyone against it would fall. It stopped, and stood there as stiff as a rail as Melody walked down the stairs so she was standing right next to Asgard (the thing).
"How pathetic... And above all, unsightly... Your inconsequential existence is filthy. Just like this planet... Filgaia is unsightly because it is impoverished. There is nothing more hideous and repulsive than a weakened and decayed existence." she said, and Clive looked up at her, frowning.
"What I find repulsive is your denial of an existence trying desperately to survive." he stated, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. Her jaw dropped, and she scowled even more deeply than before. This was beginning to worry Helga's team, and they were afraid they were going to have to fight.
"You dare ridicule me twice!? Then let me show you hands on, the true meaning of beauty! Show them the light, Asgard!" she shouted, obviously joining the fight.
"ROGER..." Asgard said in a deep, low, obviously robotic voice. This shocked the two teams.
"What the...? Since when does this clunker talk?" Gallows questioned, his eyes wide.
"This ain't the time for twenty questions!... We gotta act fast or we're in for it!" Jet shouted, aiming his Airget-lahm directly at Asgard. The others followed, and soon, they began fighting again, this time with a bigger threat, because of Melody.
Virginia aimed at Melody, and when she shot, suddenly Melody turned into Asgard, and Asgard turned into Melody, shocking all of them. Melody just smirked, and pulled an Eliminate Scanner on Clive, making him fall to the ground. Now it was just Virginia, Jet, and Gallows, and the other 4 were worried that they were going to have to fight.
Not long after, Gallows fell, and Virginia walked over to Jet and shook his arm. "Jet, come on, revive them! You have the medium that can do it!" he looked over at her, and glared. She glared back, and soon Jet sighed, giving in. He did a few motions, then slammed his hand down to the ground, and Clive was consumed in a circular blue light. Gerald stared, shocked, and the others just stood there, watching. (Remember, Gerald was stuffed in the closet not long at all after they began playing, so he didn't get to see anything happen.) Soon, Clive stood up, and began fighting again.
Not long after, it was just Virginia standing once again, and the other team knew they were going to have to fight, now. Suddenly, Helga stood up, and began walking out towards Virginia, shocking her teammates. Arnold stood up, and quickly rushed over to her, grabbing her arm. She looked at him, and he gave her a clearly confused look. She half smiled, and shook her head. "I may be a bully most of the time, Arnoldo, but that doesn't mean I'm completely heartless. I can make my own decisions, thank you very much." she pulled her arm away from him, then walked up to Virginia, and whispered in her ear, "If you want to live through this fight, you might want to take your teammates, and go into the doorway my team and I hid in."
Virginia nodded her head, and quickly help her comrades into the safety of the other room. Phoebe, Arnold, and Gerald walked out to where Helga stood, their ARMs (and book) at the ready. Melody gritted her teeth, and clenched her hands into fists. "What's this?! More annoying Drifters to get in the way of our plan!? This will back our schedule up quite a bit, but that's not the point." she pulled an Eliminate Scanner on Phoebe, and she fell onto her knees, crying out in pain. Gerald looked at Phoebe with terror written all over his face, then back to Melody, with fire in his eyes. Phoebe stood up slowly, holding her stomach. Gerald stood aim, and shot his ARMs at Melody, but she did the switcho-chango again, making him hit Asgard. He roared angrily, and then felt a gentle hand touch his arm.
He looked over, to see Phoebe looked at him, shaking her head. "Just worry about defeating the golem, all right Gerald?" she command, rather then asked, and Gerald nodded his head, looking back at Melody with a flaming death look. She just smirked, annoying him much more.
Helga aimed her pistol-like arm at Asgard, and shot, but unfortunately, it didn't even scratch it. She looked down at her small ARM and snarled at it. "If only I had a large firearm, THEN maybe I could actually hurt the darn thing." she growled, tightening her grip around it, as if to squeeze any life out of it that it could possibly have. Like that was possible. It was an inanimate object, it had no life in it. Suddenly something unexpected happened, and she narrowed her eyes. It was like she remembered something, but didn't know what. She closed her eyes, put her arms together, then swung them out each side, opening her eyes. She watched in amazement as Asgard was consumed in a ball of ebony, then as it disappeared, and he fell onto his knee. Her eyes widened, and she blinked. "Wh-what did I-I just do!?" she asked herself, then looked back, to see Virginia staring in shock.
Arnold looked at Helga, also in shock. What had she just done? It was like she had lost control of herself, then suddenly... BANG, she did magic to Asgard! She stood there, then suddenly fainted, shocking them further. "Helga!" he cried out, rushing over to her. He lifted her head, and patted her cheek. He looked over, to suddenly see Asgard standing up, more angry than any of them had ever seen anyone. He spread his arms out to both sides, and a huge ball of light came down on all of them. When it passed, each of them were lying on the ground, knocked senseless.
Virginia and her teammates (they recovered) ran out, and checked their friends to see if they were still alive. They were, but just barely. They all looked up to Melody, to see her just beaming. Then before she could say anything, Asgard said, "LIMIT OVERLOAD... GENERATOR OVERHEATING..." Melody looked to him, then back to the 8.
"If every existence had an equal and beautiful moment to shine... It is when the light of life goes out, no matter how pathetic or unsightly... The moment of death is when you shine best... Now, witness the light." she said, smirking. Just as Asgard was about to kill them all, a gun shot was heard, and Asgard stood still, sparks flying around him.
"SYSTEM DOWN... GENERATOR MALFUNCTION..." Asgard boomed, and Melody's eyes went aflame.
"Darn it! Stand by for auto recovery! Switch to scan mode!" she shouted at Asgard, just standing there. Virginia opened her eyes, and looked at the two in front of her.
"What's... going on?" she asked, then looked around, for the source of the shooting that had gone on earlier.
"Those who have not forsaken life must stand and fight!" she heard a voice boomed from the platform above Melody and Asgard. She looked up, to see a brown haired-green eyed man with a large brown hat and brown coat that came down to his feet. Her eyes widened, and she gasped.
"Huh...? Daddy...?" she breathed, staring at the man standing there. He looked down to her, his eyes looking almost full of anger.
"What are you waiting for!? The jammer bullet is only effective for a certain period! Make the most of this chance! Show me the meaning of your duel guns! Show me, Virginia!" he shouted at her, and she looked back to Asgard, her eyes aflame. She brought her ARMs up, and aimed them perfectly. The second fight began.
After a bit, they beat him, but didn't completely destroy him. Melody was outraged. She scowled, and shook her head. "No... this can't be... the wisdom of Hyades has tampered with Asgard's driver system!? We are only capable of such things. Except maybe..." she trailed off, then both her and Asgard lit up, and disappeared.
Virginia looked to the man up on the platform, to see him begin to walk away. "Wait! Uhh..." she began mumbling under her breath after the man stopped, but didn't turn around. Once he continued walking again, she scowled, and balled her hands into fists. "Say something! Why won't you talk to me!?" she shouted as he walked out the door. Tears sprung to her eyes, and she looked down at her feet. Jet looked at her out of the corner of his eyes.
"You aren't going after him? He is your..." he trailed off, and Virginia looked up, shaking her head.
"Not now... we have to deliver the Kizim Fire to our client. Right now, I'm a Drifter... not his daughter... That's all..." she trailed off, and then looked back to Helga's team, to see them standing up. "So, are you 4 al right? You took quite a fall." she said, glancing at Helga. They all nodded their heads. Helga kept her head down, staring at her hands. "So, um, Helga... why didn't you tell us you had a medium?"
"I don't," she said, looking up at them. All of them looked shocked, to say the least.
"You don't have a medium!? Then how did you...?" Gallows exclaimed, staring at her in shock. Helga shook her head, shrugging.
"I don't know! I really, really, DON'T know how I did it! All I know is that suddenly I felt like I could do that magic thing." she said, and she looked to Virginia, who looked thoughtful. She furrowed her eyebrows, and cleared her throat, making Virginia jump and look up. "What were you thinking about?" Helga asked, and Virginia shrugged.
"I was wondering if maybe... naw, if you didn't know about your power to do that before, then never mind. But what I was going to mention, was that I heard of this old magic from the stories I used to read for History in school. You probably heard about it before, though." she mentioned, and Helga looked intrigued
"No, I don't know about it. I was never taught it." she said, and realized what she was talking about must be from the first or second Wild ARMs games. Vrigina looked shocked, and scratched her head.
"Heh, I thought everybody was taught about that in History. Oh well." she looked straight at Helga, and shrugged. "It's called, 'Crest Sorcery.' If you really did have it, you would know about it, because you would have had to find a bunch of Crest Graphs and had to have gone through a bunch of schooling on it and such." she said, and Helga's eyes widened. What if this was what that was? That would mean she was a... type of Sorceress! She scratched her head, her eyes wide.
"Now that I think about it, yeah, that's what it is. It was a while ago that I learned that stuff, though." she said, grinning. Virginia and her whole team looked completely amazed. Well, all but Jet, who just raised both of his eyebrows at the news.