Chapter 29: Extras Menu

Hello. First of all, I would like to say thank you to all of you who's with me from the beginning to the end of this fanfic. You guys have been a great support and I appreciate all the reviews given by you guys. You guys rock! This fic, like my other fics are a product of boredom and insomnia. I write these fanfics mostly during and after midnight because it helps me go to sleep. So if there were lots of grammar errors or whatever, that was when I wrote it during the night. Otherwise, I wrote it during afternoon. This story is an action/adventure genre and focuses on the secret organization, and yet, it has more depth than that. I don't want it to end up as one of those mindless action flicks. It has lots of subtle hidden messages shown throughout the story, like teamwork, friendship and the one that I stress the most: sibling relationship. (Helga/Olga) and (Gino/Michael). Yeah, really. So, you might ask me why do you do a story about drug smuggling. I don't know, it sounds like a good plot device, and it's common in many movies about trafficking nowadays. I'm not going to do a flour smuggling operation, okay? It's too silly, even for this fanfic.

Other reason why I did this story is because of this: Bridget and her small spy organization are first introduced to us in the Hey Arnold movie. Little is known about them, so I wanted to to write about them. 'Sides, there aren't a lot of people who'd do this kind of fic. Action/Adventure stories are so small in numbers compared to Romance fics. That's the reason why I created this story. Here's what I think when I first saw the agent scene.

1. There's a high probability that the agency recruits females only.
2. The agency is very high tech, indicating that the agency is very selective and has some financial and technology backups.
3. It has an acceptance for male assistance, as shown in the movie.
4. They are highly disciplined, like the army. It's a strong indication that they have a long, age-old tradition.
5. Bridget has a different colored uniform than the other agents and since she's the only one who wears it shows that she might be the leader of the organization.
6. When a leader is present, obviously a hierarchy must exist.
7. All agent chicks are hot.

Will this story have a sequel? I don't know. I've been toying around about a story of Helga's ascension to chiefdom, but so far, I can't guarantee anything. And why do I write this chapter you ask? Well, mostly is for answering all of your questions, of course.

Trivia

Fun with numbers:

According to my word processor, these are the amount of raw and unedited words cumulated ever since its inception, excluding present and future chapter of course.

1. 98718 words 2. 452384 characters (no space)
3. 548601 characters (with space)
4. 10708 lines
5. 235 pages
6. 2964 paragraphs
7. 992 Kb of file size.

FFnet's count:

1. 102565 words
2. 135 reviews

Not too shabby, huh?

Just by looking at those numbers makes me realize that all the time that I've wasted writing this story goes absolutely nowhere. :( I could've done something more constructive like splicing a DNA cell, or win a Nobel Prize or weaving a basket. Oh well. But in spite of it, by comparing the first chapter and the last one, I think my writing has more or less improved a bit. Maybe that's only the positive thing that I can see, I guess… and, keeping you readers entertained. That too. Many of you asked what kind of awesome substances that I took to create this story and where to find it… well, uh… um… hey look what's behind you! (Runs)

Stories behind the numbers:

Most of the numbers in this story has either have a significant meaning behind it, or picked out of random. Here's some of the numbers that has a meaning behind it:

Five Agents: Helga, Rhonda, Phoebe, Nadine and Lila. Why five you ask? Mostly it's because of the Power Rangers rule. They're made out of a group of five, until Tommy showed up and steal the limelight from Jason… Also, having more than five people tend to be tedious. If I put say… Sheena in, I wouldn't have a place to develop her character. 'Sides, she's too much of a pacifist so I don't think she'll end up joining the agency.

Chapter 4: 20 Questions: A take-off on the 20 questions game.
Chapter 22: 1138: George Lucas' movie THX-1138.
Chapter 22: 1984: George Orwell's book, and a very significant number to me.
Various: 42: The answer to life, the universe and everything.
Chapter 21 Onwards: Highway 405: A highway in Los Angeles. I used to live near there. Inglewood represent!
Chapter 23 Onwards: Order 28602: Uh… let me get back to you later… it actually has a reference, but I forgot what it refers to…
Chapter 25: Highway 105: Yet another highway in Los Angeles.

Movie homage: SPOILERS WITHIN!

I'm a big, big fan of the movies. Although quality seems to decline these past few years, it doesn't stop me from being a moviegoer. I think I left some out, but I trust you guys know which is which.

Chapter 2: Hey Arnold the Movie: At the very end, the dialogue between Rhonda, Bridget, Phoebe and Nadine. A direct rip-off from the movie.
Chapter 3: Star Wars Empire Strikes Back: Helga quoted Yoda a bit at the end of the chapter. "Danger? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things."
Chapter 5: Mulan: Linda quoted the matchmaker, "TOO skinny!"
Chapter 5: The Matrix: Phoebe and Helga paraphrased Neo's line. "I know kung-fu!"
Chapter 5: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Phoebe/Sal is fight taken from the dojo fight scene.
Chapter 6: Hey Arnold the Movie: Bridget and Helga's stakeout, similar to Gerald and Arnold at Vermicelli's place.
Chapter 7: Mallrats: Helga paraphrased Brodie's line. "…I can't express myself monosyllabically enough for you to understand it all!"
Chapter 8: Lord of the Rings The Two Towers: The girls are talking about it in the common room.
Chapter 8: Mortal Kombat: Helga Vs. Linda fight was inspired from it.
Chapter 9: Sid's movie: I was going to say Beverly Hills Ninja but meh…
Chapter 9: Fight Club: The scene with Curly was inspired from a scene where the Narrator beat himself up in his boss' office.
Chapter 12: The Godfather: Line from Don Corleone was spoken by Gino and also as the topic title. "I'll give you an offer you can't refuse."
Chapter 12: Fight Club: Curly chanting 'His name is Robert Paulsen'.
Chapter 14: Sleepy Hollow: The whole horse carriage scene.
Chapter 14: Lord of the Rings The Two Towers: The way Lila mounted the horse was similar to the way Legolas mounted his.
Chapter 16: Matrix Reloaded: At the very end, Eugene paraphrased the line from Link. "The ugliest hack I've ever done."
Chapter 17: Save the Last Dance: Drive-by scene.
Chapter 19: Star Wars Return of the Jedi: Chapter title, line was spoken by Admiral Ackbar.
Chapter 19: Kill Bill: First appearance of The Pet Shop Girl as 'The Bride'.
Chapter 19: Matrix Reloaded: Bridget and Michael paraphrasing Smith's line in the Burly Brawl. "Yes, me. Me, me, me."
Chapter 22: Various Star Wars: Chapter title, dialogue between Olga, Helga, Rhonda and Gino. "I hate sand…"
Chapter 22: Independence Day: Gerald exchanging banter with Sid. "Tunnel, tunnel! Exit! Exit!"
Chapter 23: Star Wars Revenge of the Sith: Vader's crappy 'No' line.
Chapter 24: Matrix Revolutions: Song in Neo/Smith fight – Neodammerung.
Chapter 24: Rush Hour: Rhonda and Nadine's fight.
Chapter 25: Three Men and a Baby: Description of Gerald, Sid, and Stinky in a scene.
Chapter 25: The Three Stooges: Description of Gerald, Sid, and Stinky in a scene.
Chapter 27: The Matrix: The rooftop chase.
Chapter 27: Hey Arnold the Movie: Gerald's comment on Bridget's button.
Chapter 27: Bridge on the River Kwai: I heard the 'Jolly Good Fellow' song on the same day I wrote this chapter. I just had to put it in.
Chapter 28: The Godfather: Gino's dialogue with Mr. Bailey. All of them. Direct rip-off.

Videogame homage: SPOILERS WITHIN!

I'm also a big, big fan of videogames. Here are some homages to the great electronic games that always seem to peeve overprotective parents and obnoxious politicians everywhere:

Chapter 1: Final Fantasy VII: Supposed to be Sector 7 instead of 17. A typo.
Chapter 7: Metal Gear Solid: Natalie and Nadine's stealth mission.
Chapter 10: Zero Wing: Chapter title is a dialogue from the main bad guy. It's also an internet meme.
Chapter 14: Nintendo DS: The guard is playing it.
Chapter 16: Eugene is creating a map. In gaming terms, it's the play area (level) of the game.
Chapter 18: Half-Life 2: Ravenholm is a name of a small village in one of their levels.
Chapter 19: Counter-Strike: Elsa describes a map in Counter-Strike called cs-assault or something.
Chapter 19: Metal Gear Solid 3: Naked Snake's first mission is called Operation Virtuous.
Chapter 19: Metal Gear: Solid Snake's inaugural mission is called Intrude N313.
Chapter 21: Prince of Persia: Rhonda performed moves like the Prince in the game.
Chapter 22: Splinter Cell: Spy equipments introduced by Phoebe.
Chapter 23: Splinter Cell: Nadine's infiltration.
Chapter 24: Monkey Island: Phoebe and PSG's fight.
Chapter 25: Resident Evil 2: Police Station sequence – getting the key from the maiden statue.
Chapter 26: Parappa the Rapper: Chapter title derived from a lyric line.
Chapter 26: Monkey Island: Phoebe and PSG's fight.

Cartoons and TV shows homage: SPOILERS WITHIN!

Homages from shows in TV land:

Chapter 9: Fairly Oddparents: Sid paraphrasing Cosmo's line, IIRC. "Ninjas! Hundreds of them!"
Chapter 12: Saturday Night Live: Sid singing 'What is love' Night at the Roxbury style.
Chapter 12: Farscape: Nadine and Sid watching Farscape: The Movie
Chapter 13: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Olga freaking out is somewhat inspired from Frankie freaking out in the World Wide Wabbit episode.
Chapter 16: Static Shock: Richie's a tech guy to Virgil, and I want Eugene to be the tech guy for the guys.
Chapter 17: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Gerald paraphrased a line from the theme song. "…where he was born and raised."
Chapter 21: MacGyver: Nadine's making the roach bait is homage to this show I guess. I mean, MacGyver could fashion a plastic explosive out of toothpaste and a fork if he wanted to.
Chapter 22: The Dukes of Hazard: The way Olga is driving.
Chapter 22: Kim Possible: Phoebe briefly takes Kim's role. Eugene briefly takes Wade's role.
Chapter 24: OldBatman show: The fight description.
Chapter 24: Rocko's Modern Life: The big burly guy that Rhonda and Nadine fight against is homage to Wallace, the big elephant guy.
Chapter 26: Naruto: The anime is described. Man this show sucks.
Chapter 26: Dave Chappelle's Show: Michael paraphrased a line from the famous 'I'm Rick James, bitch!' skit.
Chapter 28: Kim Possible: Phoebe briefly takes Kim's role. Eugene briefly takes Wade's role.

References to the Hey Arnold show: SPOILERS WITHIN!

What's a Hey Arnold fanfic without some references to the cartoon show, am I right? Many thanks to Don Del Grande's website for the episode lists.

Chapter 2: Gerald as the Keeper of the Tale. It seems that he still carries that title even in high school. Recurring theme.
Chapter 3: Helga is still bitter about Olga. But with some character development her attitude to Olga will change. Recurring theme.
Chapter 3: Dinner for four: Bridget told the girls about how she saved them from being mugged and such.
Chapter 4: Jamie O in Love: The girls are eating at Slausen's, the diner in this episode, IIRC.
Chapter 4: Phoebe's Little Problem: The lunch lady recognized Phoebe by remembering her as a gas passer. Worst episode ever, IMO.
Chapter 5: Career Day: Helga told Phoebe that she took jujitsu class.
Chapter 5: Phoebe Cheats: Phoebe's sword playing is explored in this chapter.
Chapter 6: Cool Jerk: Helga and Bridget's stakeout.It's the same place where Arnold was forced to break in by Frankie G. Apparently he still wants that stereo equipment after all these years.
Chapter 8: Voice actresses from the show made a 'cameo' appearance.
Chapter 13: Monkeyman: "Frightful cry from faraway", was a line from Gerald's poem about Monkeyman. His awesomeness is equal to that of Stoop Kid and above all the characters in the show.
Chapter 13: Arnold's Christmas: The play is a reference to Mr. Hyunh's sad story. One of the best episodes, IMO.
Chapter 14: Headless Cabbie: Ernie's job as a stagecoach driver is revisited.
Chapter 15: Again,Gerald as the Keeper of the Tale.
Chapter 16: Arnold's only appearance in this story. He's away to keep this story somewhat consistent to The Patakis.
Chapter 17: Das Subway: Gerald reminisces to Sid about the subway tale.
Chapter 25: The famous 'what city is Hey Arnold in' argument. Most fans said (and Craig) have mentioned that the city is a combination of Seattle, Portland and New York. I on the other hand took the three crappiest cities in America (IMO) – Detroit, Newark and Jersey City and kinda mashed them in. But I agree with the fans though, after all, it is canon.
Chapter 28: Dinner for four: Gerald and Phoebe are having dinner at Chez Paris.
Chapter 28: Helga's Parrot: Same thing happened to Rhonda, only it's with a pigeon.

The author's favorites

My favorite chapter: Chapter 27 – Victorious.
My favorite chapter to write: Chapter 5: The Training Part I: Basic.
My favorite fight scene: Anything that has to do with Phoebe.
My favorite dramatic scene: Chapter 12, when Helga is worried about her sister.
My favorite chapter title: Chapter 13 - Protect Olga. I don't know, to me it just sounds so awesome.
My favorite comedic scene: Chapter 2 – The Recruitment: Rhonda's line responding to Bridget really cracks me up every time I read it.
Chapter that I dislike writing the most: Chapter 18 – Revelation: A total bitch to write.
Chapter that I dislike the most: Chapter 11 – Trying to get along: Sorta lame, doesn't expand the story much.
Chapter that I pity the most: Chapter 4 – The Contemplation: Why so little reviews:cry:

Deleted scenes and unused ideas

- Originally there was a scene where I introduced the girls in a Charlie's Angels style sort of way in chapter five. It got cut because I thought it was too ridiculous and didn't feel very fanficky… hey I invented a new word. It went something like this: The girls were introduced in the flashiest of manner, with fire in the background, camera moving here and there and zooming in and out round and around, capturing the girls' each distinctive trait and features. Told you it was crazy.

- In Chapter 7, the heist was supposed to be perpetrated by an older Bart Simpson and his pals, but it got cut and I placed Hey Arnold characters in exchange. The absurdity is rediculous, given my absolute hatred for crossovers. A cartoon character should stay in his or her own universe, and no place else.

- This isn't actually a deleted scene, but I feel like telling. Lila's role is supposed to be the quietest girl of the group, not doing much, but I got carried away and made her kickass. Why? I'm a big, big, fan of Lila, and among the Hey Arnold girls, I like her the most. :) :Gets pelted by rocks and garbage by the female readers: Wait! Please stop! Bleeding! Medic!

- Sid is supposed to have a six year old sister called Stephanie. Her role is to make fun of Sid because he has a girlfriend (Nadine) when he talks about it to his father. Sid got pissed, and playfully picked his little sister up and started to tickle her. It's just sort of a scene to continue the theme of sibling relationship in this story. It got cut because she might not go well with the readers.

- I originally wanted Olga to die at the sniper's hand and have Helga hell-bent on revenging her sister's death, but I thought it was too depressing and too dark for a humor fanfic, so it was shelved.

- In chapter 17, I wanted Sid and Stinky to be the people who'll pass the information to Helga and Nadine at a mall. Sid and Stinky would be like Jay and Silent Bob, hanging out and basically being asses out of themselves. I'm glad that never took place. So I put Fuzzy Slippers and Harvey to act as the informants for the agency. They're better.

- In the chapter Escape, the girls meet with each other and hijacked a car to go to the base to tell Bridget about the current situation. They have Nadine driving it since she's the only one who has a learner's permit. Since she's still learning, she drives the car very carelessly and hits the road barrier, other cars and lights while the other girls scream in terror. Funny stuff.

- There's also a scene where Arnold pops up and advised the girls to keep on going. After the girls escape from their imprisonment, the girls meet with other in an alley and said to themselves that they gave up all hope because they were defeated by Michael. But then Arnold showed up out of nowhere and gave them an advice. Helga asked what the hell he's doing when he's supposed to be in San Lorenzo. Calmly Arnold replied that he's in the city for a day to visit his grandparents before his trip to the United Nations headquarters in New York. After the thoughtful advice, Helga walks over to him and kisses him. It got cut since I don't want Arnold to be in the limelight, because we know every time when Arnold is around it tends to develop around his relationship with Helga. Besides, Helga wouldn't dare confess openly to Arnold with her colleagues as witnesses.

- A scene in chapter 27 where I wanted the girls to parody Captain Planet, Power Rangers, and Teen Girl Squad from Homestarrunner. Seeing that they are in a group of five and is in the same batch together, Rhonda proposed that they'll become some sort of self-proclaimed elite LES team, for symbolic purposes. The others are like, 'whatever' and agreed. Rhonda proposed the name 'Teen Girl Squad' with herself as the 'Cheerleader', Lila as the 'What's-her-Face', Phoebe as 'So-and-So', and Helga as 'The Ugly One', but she then stopped, noticing that there are only five of them, as opposed to four of the original Team Girl Squad. Helga then sardonically added that Rhonda can't count properly to payback Rhonda's insult. Then Nadine came in and suggested the Power Rangers, but they all felt it was too politically incorrect and finally settled with Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Heart as their codenames, not to mention it's more politically correct. It was cut because it was too ridiculous and retarded.

Breaking the fourth wall

What's a fourth wall you ask? A fourth wall is defined a character directly addressing an audience, or actively acknowledging that the characters and the action is not real. In this fanfic, there are some instances and it is somewhat acknowledged by the characters that there are fourth walls being broken either by them, or by the author himself. Why am I referring myself in third person? Here are some examples where the fourth wall is being broken:

Chapter 5: Helga: Like I'm in a bad fanfic or something.
Chapter 10: Rhonda: I'd blame the bad writing.
Chapter 12: Author: Referring to other chapter.
Chapter 20: Author: Referring to other chapter.
Chapter 22: Author: Another 'wonderfully' written context.
Chapter 23: Author: Bad words are a no-no, Lila.
Chapter 26: Author: Too lazy to write the Rhonda/Nadine/Guy fight.
Chapter 27: Rhonda: Criticizing the story for being inconsistant and having too many plot holes to count.

Acknowledgements

To my readers and reviewers, thank you so much. I want to thank acosta pérez josé ramiro, ahhelga, Amber Stag, BellaMay76, Blonde Cecile, DarthRoden, Demile, gracie320, Helgas little secret, HunGuy, King Cheetah, La cuca rocha, LostScorpionGirl, Luvya, mpcp13, Number6, ShanniC, Skeye, Smoking Panda, SpriteSux-MountainDewReignsSup, TheBaldOneMpls, Till, VindicatedAiress, w201, and Yardbird9 for reviewing this story.

I'm just happy to know that my jokes worked in written format and made you guys laugh. It's really a reassurance that I might just get a break into the cartooning business and make a show of my own. Call me crazy, but I… heh, always wanted to continue Craig's work on what he has envisioned. Maybe I could convince Nick to approve The Patakis show. Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?

Mostly the critiques that I received are mostly about my grammar. Yes, I admit it's true. I've got a problem with the tenses and I know it can be confusing to the readers sometimes. But as I write, I take the liberty to learn what is wrong with my sentences that I've written. I learn from my mistakes. I whole heartedly agree with everyone who criticizes my grammar. It's not perfect, but at least I'm trying to improve.

My thanks to all of you who has been reading and reviewing this story from the beginning to the end: acosta pérez josé ramiro, ahhelga, DarthRoden, Demile, Luvya, Number6, SpriteSux-MountainDewReignsSup and Till, you guys have been a great support and I am really grateful that you guys had spared a few minutes to read and review my story. Again, thank you all so much. Number6, I really want to thank you for writing all those constructive reviews and for reviewing each and every chapter that I've written. You're the best!

Extra Scene - Didn't see it coming, did you?

Several years later…

A young teenage girl opened the sliding door to the warehouse slowly. The door was huge, and it took some effort from her to make a space for her to at least squeeze in. It was dark inside the warehouse, as nothing could be seen. Only the light from the door she just opened revealed a portion of the large warehouse. She could see mice scattered as she made her way in. Every footstep she took echoed through the empty area.

"Hello?" it echoed many times throughout the area. Sudden she heard a few footsteps coming from behind her. She turned around, and was shocked to see that her rival and some unrecognizable faces were actually here in this place together with her.

"Yo! What are you doin' here?" she asked angrily.

"Akh!" the rival answered in bitter disgust. "I'm supposed to ask ye that!" she replied in her fake Scottish accent. "Is this be one of ye tricks?" she asked accusingly.

"Hell no!" she replied back angrily. "If I were to pull tricks on you, I be doin' a lot worse than this!"

Suddenly the large sliding door behind them closed slowly, to the shock of the five girls inside the room. But by the time they arrived at the door, it was already closed tight and could not be opened.

"Yo, what's this?" the girl asked worriedly to nobody.

And then came a booming voice from above them that said, "Ahh… Miss Timberly Johanssen, Campfire Lass…"

"Haha!" Timberly pointed to Campfire Lass as she laughed, "She still uses that dumb name to call you!"

"Akh, shut up…"

"And those other girls which names I've forgotten… I have been… expecting youuuuuuu…" suddenly a spotlight was switched on in front of them, revealing a girl which Timberly and Campfire Lass knew very well.

"HELGA?" the both of them replied in shock disbelief.