Author's Note: The reason for the delay? Midterms, man. Can't afford to screw up. That, and I got hit by a massive author's block, until I saw a great movie called Save the Last Dance. I love the story so much that I thought I might integrate some of it into my fanfics in the future. And some of the scenes in this chapter were inspired from that movie too. On an unrelated note, I've updated my profile and I invite all of you to go there and read it, and please give some inputs of my ideas. I greatly appreciate it.

Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.

Chapter 17: A Visit to Fuzzy Slippers'

To get to Fuzzy Slippers' place, Gerald and Sid had to take the el train line. The trains really were showing its age, since the looks of its interior was dilapidated and almost worn out -yet another victim of vandalism. There were windows on the brink of shattering and graffiti was almost everywhere on the walls, windows and even on the floor. It was a wonder how did they managed to survive to this day. The train driver announced their stop, and they quickly got up and squeezed through the packed train to the exit. They then proceeded to the token gate, and after a flight of stairs, they were back on the street again. Sid stopped for a while and scanned around the area high and low since this was his first visit here and he wanted to get familiarize with the surroundings.

"So this is where the famous Fuzzy Slippers live, huh Gerald?" Sid asked him as they walked together, braving the strong wind. The sun was setting, casting a very weak and dim yellow light to that neighborhood. A way to describe the place was that the winds blowing the newspapers, dusts, garbage and empty cans away, gunshots were heard from afar, suggesting that this was a pretty hostile place, streets and old buildings weren't maintained very well, and graffiti was everywhere.

"Yep, this is the place where he was born and raised. Hey, I thought you've met the guy."

"Yeah I did, but I didn't ask him where he lives. Still, I can't remember much though. The last time I met him was," he paused to reminisce, "I was at your house when he came over right?"

"That was the last time you met him?" Gerald asked incredulously, "Man, that's like when we were ten and stuff. It was the time when we practiced our urban legend presentation, wasn't it?"

"I think so." He replied back. "So, how is the old guy, huh? Still helping his dad at the grocery store?"

"Old guy? He's about five years older than us, man. He studies at University of Hillwood to become a doctor for crying out loud."

"All right, whatever. So, why is meeting with Fuzzy Slippers will help with us with anything?"

"I told you before man, he's the spy agency's number one informant. He knows all the happenings and activities in the city, and that's why the man is extremely valuable to them."

"Where does he get his sources, anyway?"

"That, is a secret my friend." Gerald smiled at Sid and snickered back softly as they continued their walk to the mentioned grocery store. To get to the store, they had to pass by a basketball court, which as of now, there were people on the court playing the game and also watching it, shouting to their team mates for the ball, shouting profanities, and cheering for support. Gerald and Sid recognized one of the players in the court. The player gave them a wave, and they waved back, and the player came over to them to have a friendly talk.

"Hey 'sup, Gerald, Sid, what's happenin'?" the player greeted them warmly behind the chain-linked fence as Sid and Gerald stopped at their tracks.

"We're just cool, Joey." Gerald replied back, smiling. "Who's winning?"

"Man, as if you didn't know!" he snickered boastfully, "of course we're winning! We whooped those sorry ass losers' hard, man!"

"Bullshit!" an opposite team member shouted, "It ain't over til it's over, and I'd say we're going to kick your ass!" and he was accompanied by cheers from his teammates.

"You're just bitter because you're already lose, mofo!" Joey replied back, "Why dontcha—"

"All right, all right," Gerald interjected nonchalantly, "Cut the stupid thrash talk out will you two?" he said to the both of them.

"Hey Gerald, say to that friend of yours that he's just a loud, bragging wannabe prick!" the opposite team member mocked playfully, which was followed by a loud, mocking, hysterical laughter.

Joey just ignored the insult, smiling and said to Gerald, "So, what're ya doin' here man?"

"Meh, we just thought that we'd give Fuzzy some company. Is… what the…" he saw a car, which looked familiar to him coming towards the court, "does that car look familiar to you?" he asked Joey, pointing at the said car.

"What car? You mean— oh shit…" he became fearful, alarmed, and quickly he shouted, "EVERYONE, DUCK NOW!" and some gunshots were fired.

"Sid, get down!" Gerald yelled alarmingly to Sid, and quickly he followed as ordered. It was a drive-by, specifically targeting an individual inside the court. Everybody was lying on the floor, face down. The person who was targeted by the people in the car retaliated by firing gunshots at them back. The car then drove out of sight. The drive-by was over in less than a minute, a very scary less than a minute. Thankfully, nobody got shot at or injured. There was a long silence followed soon after that, then one of the players got up and asked, "Is it over?"

The gunman sighed in relief and replied back to him, "Yeah, everything is cool now…" and then everyone got up, but still nervous as most of them alertly scanned around their surroundings incase there was a second wave.

"You're okay Sid?" Gerald asked him as he pulled him up.

"Yeah… thanks. I'm just feeling very edgy right now, that's all." He said shakily. "I really hope that something bad will happen to that car…" he was looking at the street where the car went to.

And something bad did happen to that car. They could distinctively hear a screeching noise and crash soon afterwards. It was the work of LES, a couple of their members who were stationed in that neighborhood shot the wheel of that car with a crossbow and the car crashed to the sidewalk, but thankfully nobody was badly injured. Couple of seconds later, sirens of emergency vehicles was heard coming to the crash site. The driver and his passengers would have a very difficult time to explain why there were firearms inside their car to the cops. The spy agents smirked at each other and left the rooftop where they were positioned to go to another part of the city.

"Well, your wish just came true." Joey said, chuckling softly.

"Now you're making me feel bad." Sid replied back coolly, slightly feeling guilty about the curse.

Gerald snickered as he shook his head, "Look Joey, we'd better get going. Good luck with the ass whooping."

"Damn man, after that mess I doubt that any us wants to play again." He said, and he turned his face to his gang and shouted, "Yo, how 'bout we call it a day, huh?"

"Yeah… let's get the hell out of here before things are getting uglier." One of his friends said back to Joey.

Joey chuckled nervously, and said to Gerald and Sid, "You were saying something about Fuzzy, Gerald?"

'Yeah, um… Fuzzy is still at his pop's store, right?" Gerald said to Joey.

"Well, you'd better be quick then. His shift will be over anytime soon."

"Thanks man. Say, wanna come along?"

"Ahh… nah. It's getting late anyway, and I probably should get back home helping my old man with the garage."

"You shirked away from your dad? You ingrate." Sid accused playfully.

"That's low, man. What kind of a son are you?" Gerald added more.

"Shut up." Joey replied back, chuckling. "I promised him I'll be back in time to help him. And you know me, man. I ain't the kind of a punk ass moron who breaks his own promise."

"A'right. A'right. Don't hurt yourself, man. We'd better go anyway. We're out." Gerald said, pointing to the location they're heading.

"Yeah, see ya." Joey replied back, as he gave them a small wave and headed back into the court. Gerald and Sid resumed their journey to the grocery store to meet with the great Fuzzy Slippers. The store was between a barbershop and pawnshop. Although from the outside it looked somewhat old and unmanaged very well, the interior were very clean, the items were carefully shelved, and welcoming, since it was after all a family store ran by Fuzzy Slipper's family for generations. As Gerald opened up the door, ringing the little bell above it, he saw Harvey, the neighborhood mail carrier at the counter, lingering around.

"Hey Harvey my man!" Gerald greeted him.

"Hey man." Sid also greeted him.

"Hey guys." He greeted back, "What're you two doing here?"

"We thought we'd pay Fuzzy a visit. You're not coming all away here to buy groceries, are ya?" Gerald asked him.

"Heh, hell no man. I just cut my hair. I've been to that barbershop next door for over 20 years now. Hey, wanna check it out?" he took off his hat, revealing his new hairdo to Gerald and Sid.

"A regular Denzel Washington, Harv. The chicks are gonna love you now." Gerald complimented, smiling at him.

"You think so, man?" he said, looking at a mirror behind the counter. "I still think it looks kinda like Wesley Snipes' hair." He then put his cap back on.

"Nah…" Sid disagreed, "You're somewhere on along Ray Charles' line."

"Ray Charles? Maybe ten years from now man. You sure I don't look like Wesley Snipes?" he asked again to reassure.

"What? Denzel ain't cool enough for you?" Gerald asked back, smiling.

"What're you talking about dude? He obviously has that Ray Charles look on his face." Sid said to Gerald, making a frame with his fingers with Harvey's face inside it.

"Well, I guess I've to ask my money back then!" he replied, and the three of them laughed heartily. Well, not that heartily.

"Whoo… oh man." Gerald said, as his laughter died out. "Hey Harv, where's Fuzzy?"

"He's at the freezer back there, unloading some stuff." Harvey replied back, pointing with his thumb. "Go ahead boys, go and annoy him." he said, smiling. Sid and Gerald smiled back, went to the place that Harvey pointed out. And they finally met Fuzzy Slippers, who was unloading some cans of sodas from a box into the freezer.

"Hey Fuzzy." Gerald greeted him.

Fuzzy replied the greet back, as he unload the box.

"Busy day, huh?" Sid asked, smiling.

He said something that it was a very slow day today, so he finally had some time to unpack these sodas that hogged the space inside the stockroom. Harvey came over to them and grabbed a can of root beer from inside the box, pulled the tab and drank it. Fuzzy was annoyed and glared at him.

"Hey, cool man. I'll pay it back." Harvey replied back, sipping the drink. Fuzzy scoffed, shook his head and resumed the unpacking. He warned Harvey not to spill the drink, and Harvey snickered at him.

"Hey Fuzzy," Gerald said, "Got any new urban legends? I'm really running out of materials here, man."

Fuzzy asked back about what urban legends that Gerald had told to the good people of this city.

"Buncha stuff; The Subway Train Ghost, The Massacre of Victoria Mansion, The Guy who fell down into the Soda Vat and Died, Bridget's Spy Organization…" he said, pointing them out with his fingers one-by-one.

Fuzzy then took a plastic container box and sat on it, as he extended his index finger out and said that he has a new one for him. Gerald widened his eyes and lay back against a shelf and relaxed himself by putting his hands inside his pockets. Sid took a can of soda inside the freezer and drank it. Fuzzy glared at him as he grinned nervously.

"Hey, I'll pay for it, dude. Don't worry about it." He chuckled nervously.

Fuzzy groaned in annoyance, but keep his cool. He then proceeded to tell a story to them about The Legend of the Bridge Walker. It was said that in a gloomy, foggy night in the time after the construction of the longest bridge in the city was completed back in the late 1890's, there was this maiden, who unfortunately for her, had an unfaithful fiancé. She saw her fiancé with her own very eyes that he committed adultery with another woman. Disheartened, and heartbroken, she stormed out from the house and ran away as fast as she could. Her jerk of a fiancé tried to catch up with her, calling her repeatedly, begging for forgiveness. But she ignored him. She ran across the road as her fiancé tried to catch up, but suddenly this fast stagecoach knocked her fiancé down and trampled him as he screamed painfully, and finally resulting in a painful, agonizing death. She glared at the lifeless body, smirking and was actually delighted that he got what he deserves.

She began to smile widely, in a psychotic grin kind of way, and burst into a maniacal laughter. People at the scene were perplexed and started to become frightened of the girl. She stopped laughing, scanned around with that freakish smile and fled the scene. As she walked, she hugged herself, softly laughing maniacally. She walked to the middle of the mentioned bridge, climbed the ledge and threw herself into the river as she laughed. And the laughter was silenced forever. And again it was told that if you went over to the bridge sometime around midnight, you could hear her maniacal laughter when she killed herself. And with that, Fuzzy ended it with a smirk, beaming at the guys, who had their jaws gaped incredulously.

Fuzzy then continued and said something regarding Bridget's spy agency, that they've recruited new agents to replace her.

"Yeah, we know about it." Gerald replied. "Why did she want to quit anyway?"

Fuzzy replied that Bridget is one semester away from her graduation. She wanted to concentrate fully on her studies to become one of the top graduates.

"Yeah? Sid asked, "What's her major?"

Political Science, he replied. He elaborated that she wanted to become a columnist for a major newspaper someday since she loves to write.

"Kinda like Helga, isn't it?" Sid whispered to Gerald.

"Nah, Helga likes to write, but not about politics." Gerald said back. "Do you know it's actually our friends who got selected to become their member, Fuzzy?"

Fuzzy shook his head and shrugged, saying that he didn't know about it. All members were selected due to their attributes, merits and quality, not under influence from anyone else. But, he said more, that they shouldn't worry about their friends since the agency took care of their members very well, and not to mention each individual was put into training to become dependable, vigilant and trustworthy vigilantes.

"Wow, you know almost everything about them, don't you?" Sid asked him.

Fuzzy shot back a soft smile, and resumed unloading the cans.

"So… Do you have any juicy dirt for us? You know, tip-offs and all." Gerald asked.

Fuzzy replied that if they wanted to know, then they have to keep it a secret and act as if the conversation never happened before.

"Man, that classified?"

"You bet." Harvey interjected, "Imagine that the tip-off was leaked. Now imagine one pissed off bad guy who can't carry their operation out because of that leaked tip-off. And imagine that they're going to find that guy all over the place and won't rest until they've found himand beat the crap out of him… or worse."

Sid and Gerald gulped nervously. They now had second thoughts about it.

"Ah, don't worry about it." Harvey said, snickering. "Just keep your mouth shut and nothing is gonna happen."

Gerald and Sid looked at each other, contemplating. Sid then shrugged, and Gerald said to them, "Ah, what the hell. Just shoot."

And so Fuzzy gave some info that he had heard on the streets recently. A house somewhere outskirts of the city was in suspicion of smuggling drugs. An abandoned dock at some small port was expecting a shipment of illegal drugs. And finally, Michael was planning to do some assaulting, but Fuzzy couldn't tell to who or what he was targeting.

"Have you told Bridget about this?" Harvey asked him.

He replied no, since two of their agents will come here soon to obtain Fuzzy's tip-off.

"Who're the agents? They're not the new ones, are they?" Sid asked him.

He shrugged and shook his head, and replied to the two concerned guys that they shouldn't be worried about it if their friends were the ones who'll be given the tip-off. It was a usual standard procedure for them to come to his place, since it was the safest way to pass the information.

"Still, we're kinda concern about it, man." Gerald replied, "We want help them, one way or another."

"Help them? How?" Harvey asked, sipping the root beer.

"Well… we want to be their informants, just like you guys." Gerald finally expressed his interested to them.

"We?" Sid raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, we." He replied back, "if we want to help them, the sure proof way is to become their informants. There ain't any other way."

Harvey and Fuzzy stared at each other disbelievingly. Were they serious about volunteering themselves to become their informants? An informant's job isn't as easy as it looks. It shouldn't be taken lightly as responsibility is high if a person wants to become one and he would be held accountable for any false and misleading information or intelligence. One misinformation and it could spell jeopardy for the agents, or worse. Fuzzy warned them both, if they wanted to become one, then they must be highly dedicated to their job.

"We'll try our best, man. I mean, we have you guys to guide us and besides, we're in school. School is the best place to pick up information." Gerald justified his reason. Credible, but wasn't good enough for Fuzzy and Harvey.

Harvey and Fuzzy then discussed about Gerald and Sid's volunteering in front of them. There were some disagreement and voices were raised, but finally, they were unanimous. With that, Harvey said to them, "Sorry guys, can't let you to become one."

"What! How come?" Gerald protested, in demand for an answer.

"Look, I know you two are concerned about your friends, but you two don't have what it takes to become one."

"That's bullshit, man!" Gerald swiped his hand wide across angrily, unsatisfied with the given answer. "We could do twice a better job than you do! Better even!"

"Now you're being obnoxious, man!" Harvey replied back, "Didn't you listen to yourself just now Gerald? You're whining! You guys aren't responsible and mature enough for the job!"

"I can't believe it!" Sid said angrily, "We're offering our help on a silver platter and you guys reject it outright! We'll prove it to you that we have what takes, and we're gonna beat you in your own game!"

Fuzzy then finally interjected and said to them that this fuming conversation is over. Gerald and Sid glared at them for a moment, with rage still flaring in their hearts, and they then abruptly left the store, slamming the door shut. Harvey and Fuzzy looked at each other, absolutely concerned.

"They'll understand that this is for their own good eventually." Harvey said dejectedly. Fuzzy nodded, and replied to him that Sid didn't pay for his soda.

Outside the store, Gerald and Sid walked away angrily with rage still burning in their hearts.

"This sucks." Sid muttered softly.

"Yeah, who the hell they think they are?" Gerald said back, kicking a can. "Fuzzy became their informants when he was our age, and yet he has the freaking balls to tell us we're not responsible enough! What a stupid excuse."

"Now what're we going to do?" Sid asked him.

Gerald contemplated for a moment, trying to remember what Fuzzy told to them earlier. He remembered something, and smirked. "Hey, Gino has a brother called Michael, am Iright?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Don't you remember what Fuzzy just said? This Michael guy is planning something bad, but Fuzzy ain't know nothing about it!"

"Oh, come on dude. There are thousands of Michaels out there in this city. What makes you so sure Gino's psycho brother is the one we're looking for?"

"Sid, it's… freaking… Gino…"

Sid was stunned, and stared at Gerald for a moment. "My God, you're right. Let's go find him!"

And to get to Gino's place, they had to take the subway. Once it arrived, they went inside the train, and took a seat near the exit. They didn't talk, most probably since they were too tired or had nothing to talk about. A couple of moments later, Gerald suddenly smiled and snickered softly, which made Sid raised an eyebrow at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Heh. I just remembered something when I was nine. Remember the 'When the sun goes down, stay above ground' warning?"

Sid chuckled, and replied, "I can't believe you still remember that shit, man."

Eventually they arrived in front of Gino's house, with bodyguards patrolling inside and out of his abode. The house was surprisingly modest, almost a mansion but it wasn't, and its front lawn wasn't big at all.

"Should I ring the doorbell or should you?" Sid said to Gerald, smirking.

One of the bodyguards took notice of the presence of the two awkward teens staring at Gino's house, and he immediately took action, "What are ya kids looking at! Get outta here!" he ordered them.

"Jeez man. We're just admiring the place, that's all." Gerald replied back as he and Sid went off. They then walked into an alley nearby to gather thoughts and tried to conjure up a plan on how get into his house.

"So how are we going to get in?" Gerald asked.

"Wear a fake moustache and go for the old pizzaman trick?"

"Be serious, man!" he retorted back, "There's got to be a way to sneak in past those guards." He said, rubbing his chin.

Suddenly they heard a loud knocking sound from deep inside the alley, and a soft "shit…" was heard. They then turn to the where the sound was coming from and saw a figure trying to climb up a fence. They recognized that figure.

"It's Gino." Gerald said, spitefully.

"Come on," Sid motioned his head to suggest to Gerald to go after him. They walked with a somewhat hastened pace to Gino, as he was trying hopelessly to climb the chain link fence up. Sid yanked his clothes, Gino turned around and Sid said to him, "Hey there pal."

Then both of them grabbed Gino by his shirt collar and pinned him to the wall aggressively. Gino was stunned and began to get scared of the threatening situation. He tried to cool them down by talking to them and trying not to struggle.

"Gerald, Sid, what are you—"

"Cut the sweet talk, asshole!" Gerald replied angrily.

"You're just as sick as your brother you son of a bitch! You guys are planning to destroy LES and their members, aren't you! Tell us what are his plans now or we will beat the shit out of you!" Sid threatened him.

"Look, I think there's a big misunderstanding here." Gino replied back nervously. "I'm not in the same league—"

"Yeah, right! I bet your ass you're not!"

"Talk, man! Don't make me use this!" Sid warned, as he took his pocketknife out.

Gerald became alarmed, "Sid, what're you doing? Put that thing away!"

Sid scoffed, and put it back into his pocket. "All right, Gino! 'Fess up!" he continued.

"Please, guys! I'm really serious about this! Bridget's spy organization could be in danger right now! There's a big possibility that they're going to fall into my brother's trap! Please man, listen to me!"

Gerald glared at Gino's nervous look. He thought that they had intimidated him enough, and felt that he was being honest about it, and finally he said "All right. Start talking, but don't even think of pulling something stupid." Gerald warned him.

"Well, if you'd please let me go from your clutches? I swear that I won't run away." He replied back timidly, as he tried to shove their hands away from his suit collar. They were reluctant at first, but finally they released their hands away. Gino brushed his suit, and said to them, "Let's go to Helga's house. I'll tell you all the details on the way there."

The reason why I wrote Fuzzy Slippers' scene like that because I wanted him to be parallel to the show, to be mysterious even in writing format. Although, Fuzzy's background and all that came from my imagination and that's what I've pictured him in show. Cliffhanger? Yep, most likely. Anyway, thank you so much for reading and please leave a review.