Author's Note: This fic is in serious need of update. I thought it'd be fun for the opening scene to have an episode of its own. I mean, what's not to like? It's fun, it introduces us to the Hey Arnold characters, and it's good. Not exactly memorable though, but cool.

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.

Episode 4: Here We Go

"Okay guys? Here we go, here we go! And a one, and a two…"

And an upbeat, catchy big band jazz music began to play with Harvey as the band leader. Though he was the friendly neighborhood mail carrier during the day, but during the night he was the man at a jazz club somewhere in Arnold's neighborhood. His band would play so loud, that sometimes during the really quiet times in the neighborhood; the music could be heard by everyone. But nobody complained though since it was melodious and easy on the ear. And right on at this moment, there were group of little girls playing jump rope in front of the Sunset Arms boarding house, seemingly oblivious to the threats of going out during the night in an inner-city neighborhood.

On the other side of the neighborhood in a particular house of a particular room however, there was little girl who couldn't join them, because she was stressed out since she couldn't find her book. She had searched everywhere and in every nook and cranny of her house, overturning chairs and tables, and yet she couldn't find her book. She was absolutely frustrated. She then stopped for a while and tried to retrace her steps, beginning from after school. She remembered that right after the bell rang, she rushed out of the class and went straight to the bus stop. As she waited, more and more kids arrived and they too waited for the bus. Phoebe came along and began to chat with her. She remembered that she held the book tightly and it would be impossible if she accidentally dropped it. So it was clear to her that the book was with her at that time. After the bus arrived, she trudged into the bus and sat next to the window, as other children took their seats.

But by the time Arnold got in, the only seat available was next to Helga. Arnold took a deep breath and decided to seat next to her. Hopefully she wouldn't be mean to him, he thought. He thought wrong. She pulverized him brutally with every mean word in existence and some that she made up. She even cut some of his hair off when he was not looking. When Helga's stop arrived, she deliberately stepped on his foot and laughed at him. As she turned around to leave, some of the books she was carrying hit one of the seats, and she could remember vaguely that Arnold called her, but she chose to ignore it, and at this point, Helga made her assessment:

"ARNOLD!" she shouted loudly as she ran to the boarding house. The book was with him.

"Did you hear that grandpa?" Arnold asked his grandfather. He and his grandfather were having dinner in the kitchen in company of grandma.

"Arnold, I'm a frail old man and my ears ain't what they used to be." Grandpa replied back, as he flipped the newspaper.

"I think I just heard Helga called my name." he said back. "I wonder what she wants with me. Maybe it's about that small book…"

"Well, you better go and see what she wants, Shortman. Or else she'll be bugging and pestering you all night, making you weak and sleepy on the next day. Oh, by the way, bring the flashlight with you because the streetlights are out tonight. I heard they're doing maintenance at the transformer building tonight on the radio."

"Will do grandpa." And so Arnold took the flashlight out from the broom closet and headed to the door. Helga wanted to throw a tantrum at Arnold as soon as he opened the door, but suddenly she began to get weak on her knees. Meeting Arnold? At his house? On the front door? In the middle of the night? Oh, such thing would be a bliss just thinking about it. The knee weakening was the first stage of her extreme fearfulness. The waiting for Arnold was getting too tense and she could see her hands tremble. She started to become paranoid. What would happen if she accidentally blurted her feelings to him? She couldn't take the chances and had to flee to the house next to the boarding house.

Arnold opened the door, and letting out of all the pets that his grandmother found on the streets. "Strange… where is she? Hey the streetlights aren't out…" he said as he scratched his head. Grandma and grandpa quickly came into view.

"Where's the girl who's been hollering your name?" grandpa asked him.

"Maybe she's too shy to talk with you Arnold." his grandma said teasingly.

"Grandma…" Arnold looked at her, disapproving her tease, "I think I'll go and check around for a while… I'm worried about her all of the sudden."

"Well, don't talk to strangers, Shortman." And grandpa closed the door.

Helga gazed at her love dreamingly from the second story of the house she just went into. She couldn't believe that Arnold was actually worried about her wellbeing. She wanted to tell him that she was fine, that she just wanted to take shelter for a while in this house she just barged in, as the family inside who was watching TV together looking at her incredulously. So, in an unthinking move, she shouted, "Hey, Arnold!" It accidentally blurted out from her mouth. She got scared again, and quickly moved away from the window as Arnold aimed the flashlight at the window. He thought the silhouette wasn't Helga, so he just shrugged and walked out of the house as he waved at Rhonda, Phoebe, Nadine and Sheena who were playing jump rope in front of his house. All the girls giggled softly and responded by waving at him back.

Arnold continued his search for Helga as he walked about in the neighborhood. He could hear noises coming from the basketball court in front of him. He went in and to his surprise, Gerald and Stinky was there shooting some hoops. The night belonged to Gerald apparently, as he saw Gerald just scored another two pointers in the hoop. Mrs. Vitello who was looking at the boys whilst hanging her clothes at her balcony could only shook her head in disbelief at them for actually braving the night just to play some basketball.

"Hey, Gerald." Arnold greeted Gerald with their handshake. He then turned to Stinky and greeted him too. "What you guys doing here?"

Stinky slapped his forehead. "Dang Arnold, don't cha remember?"

"Yeah, we're supposed to play three-on-three basketball with the guys! Didn't we already tell you when we were at school today?"

"Uh, no… I don't remember…" Arnold scratched his head.

"Of course he ain't remember a thing Gerald." Stinky said, "On account he was oglin' Ruth McDougal when we were discussin' about the match at school today."

"Arnold…" Gerald shook his head, sighing. "How many times do I have to tell you, man? Older women are bad, bad news, and not to mention she's way out of your league. And aren't you supposed to be head over heels over Lila? Ruth's been creeping back in your head again, isn't it?"

Suddenly they heard a crashing sound at the nearby alley, startling them for a brief moment. It was Harold, deliberately knocking a trash can down just because he could. He smiled when Arnold shone the light on him and but immediately came to disliking it. "Hey stop it Arnold! You're blinding me!"

"Heh…" he chuckled back. "Sorry Harold."

"So uh… am I the first one to be here?" someone said behind them. Both Gerald and Arnold turned around and saw Brainy, grinning broadly at them. The duo then replied back by doing the same.

"Looks like you're a little bit late, man." Gerald replied, as Arnold, Stinky and Harold walked over to Harold and smiled at Brainy.

"H-hey, Brainy." Harold said to him, "Do that thing you always do. Hey Arnold, give him your flashlight!"

Arnold nodded, and tossed his flashlight to Brainy. He was eager to know what Brainy do that made Harold like it so much. Brainy then put the flashlight under his chin and made spooky noises, much to Arnold's disappointment.

"That's it?" Arnold sighed, "I thought he was going to smack himself silly with it." he grabbed the flashlight again after Brainy tossed it back at him.

"Hay, look over yonder, it's Sid and Eugene!" Stinky pointed to the street at the front of the court. Indeed, Sid and Eugene were there, crossing the street.

"Five… six… seven…" Arnold counted in his thoughts as he muttered quietly, "Hey, there are seven people here. I thought we were playing three-on-three."

"Well, Eugene over here volunteered himself to be the referee." Sid said as he patted his back.

"Isn't it exciting, guys?" he said enthusiastically, "being the only authority on the court, as people conform to your every decision?" he then tripped on his own legs, and fell down face first to the ground. "I'm okay…" he said as he got up, rubbing his nose.

"HEY ARNOLD!"

"What was that?" Arnold said, slightly startled upon hearing someone shouting his name. He looked around and saw nothing but his friends, the neighborhood buildings and huge… large… yellow… bolded… giant text… just floating about above him, with his name in it, with the word 'HEY' next to his name, and an exclamation mark on the other. And right at this moment, he thought that he should layoff his intake of chocolate sundaes for the time being, before he loses it. Apparently, not any of his friends saw the giant floating text, after he asked them regarding it. And they thought Curly was crazy. But they did however, hear someone shouted for Arnold. This relieved Arnold since he might land in the nuthouse if he kept going on saying that he heard or saw things that other people didn't notice. So he asked them to join him to search for the mysterious voice who called him.

"What about basketball?" Sid protested.

"C'mon guys…" Arnold pleaded. "This is a mystery that we should investigate. The youthful curiosity in me demands it. Doesn't your curiosity also want to know the source of it as well?"

"Well uh…" Brainy said, "Not me uh… Not that I uh… want to go with you… uh… guys… but I think I'll stay here and guard the court… uh, yeah…"

"Okay. Anyone else?" Arnold asked to the rest of them.

Everyone else reluctantly agreed. Strangely enough, they were eager to know too. So they off walking to the place where they thought the voice originated. Along the way, they saw Nadine and Rhonda playing that rhythmic song hand clapping game (which real name escapes me right now… or there aren't any specific name for it at all…). It seemed that Phoebe and Sheena were at someplace else, doing something. And then the guys thought that the street they were walking along were pretty much deserted, and decided to walk in the middle of it. Very, very, smart decision.

"Arnold."

"There it goes again. Did you guys hear that?" Arnold asked his friends. Most of them nodded and looked around to see if there was anyone near them. But they couldn't find any. Up on the roof of a random house, Helga chuckled at the guys for seeing them getting more and more perplexed. She then decided that she should get the book tomorrow, since it was late anyway. So she got up on the bus and took a seat at the back. Suddenly she rethought of her decision again. She remembered that in one of the pages, she wrote something that absolutely nobody should read. She stuck her head out of the bus and shouted:

"Arnold!"

Arnold was like, "WHOA!" and stuff, and looked around to find who the heck had been saying his name for several minutes repetitively.

Helga got out from the bus and went to an obscure place to soliloquize about her love. A few minutes wouldn't matter. "Oh Arnold… my ray of hope, my reason for escapism… my love." She spoke poetically as she gazed lovingly at a bored picture of Arnold in her heart shaped bo—… locket. Yeah, locket. Not box, locket. "The dashing visage of your odd and somewhat disturbing head shape longs for my affectionate display of zeal. Oh how do I want to gently run my hand through your soft, flowing yellow maize hair and whisper softly to your ear that I, Helga G. Pataki love you." She put the locket back inside of her shirt and pulled out a chalk out of her pocket.

"And with this yellow colored chalk that I just so happen to have conveniently lying around in my pocket I will carve the name of my beloved on the street to show my affection towards that wonderful man…boy, child." She said dramatically and began to write his name on the street. Every letter was written in perfection and without any sort of error at all. After etching the last letter, she looked at her flawless work in admiration, thinking that her love was also as flawless as the word 'ARNOLD' that she wrote on the street.

HONK HONK

No, it wasn't Skeeter. A car was zooming through the road and the driver blare the horn to ask Helga to move away. Helga screamed and quickly moved away to avoid from getting hit. The car rubbed off some of the chalk that Helga had earlier meticulously written and left with the word '4PVUI)'. Helga looked at her flawless work in sadness. She devoted five minutes of her life just to write the name of her beloved and suddenly that car just waltz in and destroy it.

Oh well, she shrugged. She was still young and there would be plenty of time to devote herself to do street art, otherwise known as graffiti. She then smacked her forehead – she had forgotten all about her book the she supposed to take it back from Arnold.

"Arnold!" she shouted. But the weirdest thing happened. Arnold didn't replied back nor he went to her to meet her, but instead Phoebe, Rhonda, Sheena, Nadine and Ruth (of all people) came to her.

"Hey, I called Arnold, not you guys." Helga said to them in a slight quizzical tone.

"Well, we and the girls," Phoebe replied, "think that it'd be the best if we just group together and aid you in search for Arnold."

"What's your beef with him this time Helga?" Rhonda demanded, with her arms crossed and skeptical looks and all, "Meh, it doesn't matter." She shook her head, "I'm helping you just because I want to see Arnold getting pummeled by you."

"Rhonda… I'm shocked…" Nadine said in surprise, putting her hand on her mouth. She had always thought that Rhonda enjoyed good friendship with Arnold.

"It's nothing, Nadine." She assured her friend, "It's just that I haven't seen a good fight ever since the fiasco between Big Gino and Chocolate Boy last week."

"I think violence is bad." Sheena said, which was her only line in this story. Poor girl, always got the short end of the stick.

"Eh, what do you know you pacifist." Helga scoffed at her. She then shifted her eyes at Ruth and looked at her murderously, "And what the heck are you doing here? You want to hang out with us or something?"

"Hanging out with fourth graders? Eww, as if!" Ruth replied back. "I'm just so happen are on my home. Don't mind me."

"So if you're not hanging out with us then how come you're walking with us?" Nadine asked her.

"Hel-lo! My house is just down the road!" She pointed towards. "I'd be caught dead if someone sees me with a bunch of fourth graders!"

"It's times like this I sure prefer Lila to be here right now rather than her…" Helga thought irately. "Speaking of which where is she?"

"IT'S TIME FOR AMERICA'S MOST HUMOROUS SELF-INFLICTED INJURIES!" the announcer in the television said.

"Ooh, daddy! Come on, the show is about to start!" Lila shouted to her father from the living room. Her daddy was in the kitchen, making some popcorn.

Helga and the gang then walked out of the alley and into the middle of the road. And so were the boys. Apparently both of the gang wasn't afraid at all of the dangers of walking in the middle of the road. This could be the moral lesson of the story, be careful crossing streets. Always look left and right before crossing. And if a stranger wanted to give you a ride, just nod and agree to the offer. …Okay, don't follow that last part.

So, both of the boys and girls gang stopped in front of each other, with their eyes provoking for a fight. They stared at each other murderously, as if they were at a showdown in O.K Corral. The only things that were missing were their cowboy garments, dirt road, wooden buildings and horsies. Arnold made the first step forward, followed by his best friend Gerald, then Harold and Stinky. "So it's Helga who's been saying my name all the time…"

Helga just had this slight smirk on her face, and stepped forward. "ARNOLD…" the neighbors along the street opened their windows and poked out to see the commotion was all about. Why was a bunch of kids standing in the middle of the street shouting to each other and basically disrupting their peace?

"HEY YOU KIDS SHUT UP!" Mr. Hyunh scolded them and promptly shut the window. The other neighbors concurred with him and told the kids to shut up too. And then they went back to their business.

Time was short, and Helga thought she needed to end this fiasco quick. Rhonda, Nadine and Phoebe, stopped forth next to her. Arnold let a slight smile carved on his face, and chuckled a bit. He walked towards the girls. Helga was temped, and she too walked up to him. Then the two big adversaries stopped in front of each other, sizing each other up.

"Holy crud Helga is taller than me…"

"Oh my gosh, he's sooo cute when he's so up front!"

"So Arnold, is that a book in your pocket or you're just happy to see me?" Helga asked her, with half of her unibrow lifted, her eyes looking at him irately with her arms crossed.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Arnold then took the little book out from his pocket and gave it to her. Helga scoffed and just snatched it away from him and quickly put it inside her pocket. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't read a single word from that book."

"Well, that's good to hear." Helga nodded back.

"But I'm curious though, could you just give some—"

"MOVE IT FOOTBALL HEAD!" Helga screamed suddenly at him. The force of her breath was so strong that it made Arnold's hair blew away and nearing making himself fell to the ground. But he managed to gain back his balance back, and like a gentlemen, let the lady walked by him. His friends were disappointed; that the entire hullabaloo was for a dumb book and no fights at all?

"HEY, ARNOLD!" his friends shouted collectively. "You've got some serious explanation to do, man!" Gerald said to him.

Arnold turned around for an unexplained reason, "AND IT JUST HAPPENED AGAIN!" he screamed in his mind. He again, saw a giant yellow text appeared just below his waist that read 'CREATED BY' and 'CRAIG BARTLETT' just below it. And on this moment on, he thought not of his mental condition, but the philosophy behind his own existence. Created? By who? Were he, his family and his friends were just an image of a creation of a man? What was his purpose in life? Was he purposely created just because for monetary benefits of a capitalistic corporation? Or was he created in the name of creativity and to give hope and happiness to millions of children worldwide? The question was just as ultimate as the question of life, the universe, and everything itself. And where the heck he left his flashlight?

It's very lighthearted for sure, since I need a getaway from the serious drama from enveloping from that story that I'm writing right now. The upcoming chapter for 'Run' will be available next week hopefully, as I am still contemplating over the contents in that chapter. Well, thanks for reading and please leave a review.