Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or any of the characters. Hey Arnold is the property of Nickelodeon and Craig Bartlett.
A Trip through Time
Chapter 7: Questions and Answers
About 5 minutes ago
"Uh G, remember how a few days ago, you told me about the time portal thing..." Andy started.
"Yep I did and the legend is true!..." Great grandpa Phil said dramatically.
"Yeah, I don't need convincing on that..." He muttered under his breath, unable to believe this entire day.
"What was that?..." The old man asked.
"I...today, me and Kiara went to the woods, where you said the portal was supposed to appear to check it out and well...something happened. .."The blonde boy started, feeling pretty anxious.
Just how do you explain time travelers to your great grandfather without sounding like you need to see a child psychologist?!
"Well, come on...out with it, what happened? Did you see the time portal today? It's not supposed to appear till next week?..." Phil asked in confusion.
"Not exactly...you see, the thing is..." Andy started but then sighed.
He had to stop beating around the bush at some point, it might as well be now. Gathering all of his courage, he just decided to be blunt about it.
"The time portal is real, we didn't see it but we know because…'He paused again.
"Because what?..."Phil asked.
"Because…because….Becausewewentthereandwefoundagroupofkidsthatcamefromtheyear2000whowerelostandconfusedandifthatsnotcrazyenoughitsmomdadunclegeraldandauntphoebeaskidsandtheysaidthetimeportalbroughthemheresotheyneedourhelptogetthembackhomebeforesomethingbadhappensbutwedon'tknowwhatodo!HELP!..."Andy said at hyper speed and screamed the last part out.
Now he was panting, trying to catch his breath, while his great-grandfather looked completely lost.
"Calm down short-man, you know that when you get worked up, I can't understand a single thing you're saying…"Phil said.
'Sorry G…"Andy said, now that he was calmer.
"Now what's the problem and please, say it slowly now…"Phil insisted.
"I said…Me and Kiara went to where the time portal is supposed to appear because…next week, we wanted to check it out and we decided to memorize the route while mom was busy and…when we got there, we ran into a group of kids who were from the year 2000…"Andy said.
"What?...'Phil exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah and get ready for the crazy part…. It's mom, dad, Uncle Gerald and Aunt Phoebe when they were my age…'Andy said and he braced for impact.
"WHAT?!..." Phil bellowed at the top of his lungs, and Andy was certain that Kiara and his young parents and god parents could hear from outside.
"Short-man, if you're trying to pull one on me, it's not funny…I'm 105 and I'm too old for these kinds of jokes…'Phil said and Andy sighed.
He knew that his grandfather would have trouble believing this…Heck, he still found it unbelievable.
"It's true, they are outside…I'll show you but first…"Andy suddenly ran through the whole living room and grabbed each picture of his parent's wedding or any picture that has his mother with his dad.
"What are you doing?..."Phil asked.
"Being safe, my dad might know I'm his son but my mom doesn't yet and Kiara says it's not a good idea to tell them, since it might cause something…'Andy said as he placed all of the family pictures in a closet and closed the door.
"Now come on, they are right outside…"Andy said.
He knew that his great grandfather still didn't believe him but he decided to humor him and follow him to the door. Once there, Andy opened the door and he pointed to his younger parents and god parents.
"See? I told you..." Andy said and noticed the look of shock on his great-grandfather's face and he instinctively covered his ears when he was finally out of his state of shock.
"HOLY TOLEDO! I SEE IT BUT I DON'T BELIEVE IT!..."The old man exclaimed in complete shock, his voice echoing a bit.
"Hi there grandpa..." The child version of Arnold said weakly, not sure what else he could say.
The rest of the children were silent, unsure of what to say now.
"You were right Andy...Oh man, come on, get them in the house before anyone sees them...'Phil said as he pushed the time misplaced children inside the house.
"You weren't kidding short-man, this sure is a doozy you got yourself into..."The old man said in an obvious tone.
Andy cringed as he and his great grandfather went back inside the boarding house, locking the door behind them. Now they were in the living room with the four little time travelers and Kiara.
This was going to be one heck of a meeting, wasn't it?
Inside
Present time
The group of missed-matched people was now in the Boarding house living room. Andy was looking nervous, Kiara was just as nervous, Pepper joined the many boarding house pets and the time traveled children were still quiet as Phil just kept looking at them in amazement.
"I still find it unbelievable…you're all are actually here…"Phil said, scratching the back of his head.
The time travel children were quiet, until Helga lost her patience and started tapping her foot.
"Yeah, yeah…Look, I know that this is hard to sink in…believe me, I'm still wondering if this is a hallucination or not but the fact remains that we are stuck in the future and we want to go home and these two over here said that you're the only one who can help us…" Helga said as she jerked her thumb in the direction of Andy and Kiara.
"So, can you?..."Helga demanded and Phil, now that the shock was ebbed, gave a chuckle.
"I almost forgot what a firecracker she was at that age…'Phil thought in amusement before addressing them… "Alright, alright…" Phil said easily.
"Okay…So you need my help to get back…'Phil muttered.
"Yeah G, you said you know and seen the time portal before, so how do we make it send them back?...'Andy asked in a hopeful tone of voice.
Suddenly Phil looked guilty about something and Arnold and Andy both had a bad feeling about it.
"Grandpa…. Is there something you're not telling us?...'Arnold asked with his arms crossed.
"Yeah G…What's up?...'Andy asked in an almost angry tone, crossing his arms and unintentionally making the two of them look even more alike at this moment.
Phil sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at the younger version of his grandson and his very angry great-grandson.
"Actually, I kind of exaggerated about…the story…"He said, getting a dirty look from the kids.
"How much?...'Arnold asked, not liking this at all.
It was because of him that they had went to go find the time portal to start with!
"The truth is that I first heard about the time portal from my own grandpa back when I was a kid but I never seen it…and I didn't really think it was real…" Phil confessed, making the kids look upset.
"If you didn't think it was real, why did you tell us?!..." Andy demanded, getting angry.
"Because I thought it wasn't real…Jeepers short-man, if something dangerous like that really did exist, I never would actually tell you to go there…You were all upset about losing your Wi-Fi privileges that I just wanted to give you a fun, little mystery because you were bored…"Phil confessed.
Andy was about to say something only for his younger father to interrupt.
"Huh? Wait, you call him "short-man" too?..."Arnold asked in a surprise tone, since it was his own nickname.
"That's not the key issue right now!...'Helga suddenly shouted and made herself directly at Phil and pointing at him accusingly.
"You were wrong and the only reason we all went there was because of you! So fix this!..."Helga shouted, feeling very peeved now.
"Okay…Okay…Let me remember the legend…The time portal comes only once every 25 years and in about a week, it's coming again…Since it first brought you all here, maybe it can take you all back…'Phil suggested.
"Or maybe it will send us to another 25 years in the future and then we'd be even further away from home!...'Helga shouted, about to become hysterical.
"Calm down Helga…"Arnold said, only for Helga to glare at him.
"HOW CAN I BE CALM?! We're trapped in the future, you're grandpa is clueless about how to get us home and we have no place to be in this world and…and…"Helga was panting now, her anger being overpowered by her nerves and Phoebe went in to calm her down.
"Don't worry Helga…Like Mr. Shortman said, maybe the next time portal can send us back…" Phoebe said, trying to be optimistic for the sake of her friend.
Helga still looked upset and Arnold felt sorry for her, however before he could try and play peacemaker again, Andy beat him to it.
"Don't worry, I promised that I would help send you guys home and that's what I'm going to do…I know that if something could bring you here, then there's something out there that can take you guys back…so please calm down and let me and Kiara and G figure things out…"Andy said in a calm voice making Helga silent.
"He really is a lot like Arnold…" Helga thought, feeling a mixture of emotions.
Andy took her silence as a good sign that she was calming down and soon turned to the rest of the group.
"I mean it to all of you…I'll fix things or my name isn't Andy Shortman…'He vowed, making Arnold at him.
'Thank you…"Arnold said, feeling a smile on his face.
Sure he was scared by this whole situation but still, it was an amazing experience to meet your future child. Andy's a great kid and he felt a strange sense of satisfaction of knowing that he was going to be his son.
He wasn't the only one feeling strange about the future football headed child. As Andy continued to try and cheer up the rest, Helga was looking at him with an unreadable expression.
She desperately wanted to be Andy's mother and the unknown was killing her! If she was going to be trapped in the future and never get home, then she at least needed the closure of knowing whether or not she finally got Arnold in the end.
If not, she wasn't sure what she'd do.
With Kiara
The dark haired girl had remained silent during the entire exchange, feeling both worried for her fate, Andy's and their younger parents. She saw Andy try and give them a pep talk and she hoped that he was right.
Since so far, despite all the bumps that have happened today, she thought it was a good sign that she and Andy were still around and nothing change yet, unlike in her science fiction novels but still…
This was dangerous.
'I can't believe this…When the heck is the time portal supposed to appear again?..."Young Gerald asked out loud and before the old man could answer, Kiara beat him to it.
"It's supposed to appear on 15th, that's a week from today…next Saturday…'Kiara said, only to become quiet when Gerald was looking at her.
Kiara hadn't really talk to him much, but it felt really weird. She loved her daddy and was really close to him but this was so weird, talking to him like he was the same age as her…which he technically is now.
"How does Andy handle this?..."Kiara thought, still finding this whole thing freaky.
'So we got to be in this place for a week…" Gerald muttered.
"Don't worry kids, G has a lot of spare rooms here, so it's not like you guys will be out on the streets…" Andy said, trying to stay positive.
"What about the other borders and grandma? We can't exactly hide up in my room for a whole week can we?..." Arnold pointed out and the other's look to Phil.
"Don't worry, you know that your grandma is pretty mellow, so we can tell her and you don't have to worry…most of the old borders have moved out…Ernie married that Lola lady and moved in with her…Mr. Hyuen now lives with his daughter and her family out in the country and I kicked that lousy bum Kokoschka out years ago for failing to pay his rent…So you guys are safe…"Phil explained.
"G!..."Both Andy and Kiara shouted, upset that he said such important information all willy-nilly.
"What?...'Phil asked.
"We already said that we didn't want them to know too much information It could be dangerous!...'Kiara shouted, feeling fed up with how this entire day is going.
"Oh calm down…If finding out about you two didn't change things, then I doubt that this will…" Phil said, making the girl pout in frustration.
"You're room is still intact Arnold, though no one has lived in there since you moved out…Pookie only ever goes there to air it out…" Phil muttered and Arnold nodded.
Andy was smiling on the outside but on the inside he was a nervous wreck. His dad was coming home in just a few hours, his mom was going to pick him up to meet him and the entire family, including his great-grandparents were supposed to welcome him home once he arrived and he knew the drill whenever his dad returned from one of his out of town trips.
His mom would first kiss him and then his dad would hug him, Megan and Henry and go on and on about how much he missed them, then tell him about how his trip went and then his mom would make a big feast to celebrate his arrival and his dad would try and spend as much time with the rest of the family before settling in.
How the heck was he going to keep his younger dad and his regular dad away from each other until the time portal appears?!
"What am I going to do?..."Andy said silently.
He soon felt a hand on his shoulder and saw that it was Kiara giving him a secret look, the kind she always gave him when she knew that he was worried about something. This look basically meant that everything would be alright. Kiara was really something special since, aside from his parents, she was the only person who could always figure out how he was feeling, even when he tried to hide it.
"Don't worry, like you said, we'll figure it out…"Kiara whispered to him, making Andy smile at that.
Soon, with everybody now calmed down, G went to marvel over the younger version of Arnold, who looked sheepish by the attention.
"Man, it's been a long time since I saw you at this size short-man…'Phil said in a nostalgic tone as he squatted down and soon ruffled Arnold's hair.
"Grandpa…" Arnold said, feeling weird by this sudden attention.
"Man, this takes me back…So long ago and yet it feels like it was just yesterday you were still living in your old room, running around the house, playing with your friends and getting into all sorts of childhood shenanigans…'Phil said in the same tone.
'To me, it technically was just yesterday…'Young Arnold said, making his grandfather chuckle.
Andy smiled and at the scene, he was going to remain calm and not give up so soon.
Things would work out, he was sure of it.
Unknown to his, the younger version of his mother, Helga G. Pataki slipped out of the room while Phil continued to gush over his "young" grandson. She knew she had a break.
"Okay, time to find some clues…"Helga thought as a sneaky grin formed on her face.
She knew the ins and outs of this Boarding house and if there was even the slightest bit of proof here that she was Andy's mother and thus Arnold's future wife, she would find it.
She figured that since they literally met Arnold's future son, seen the future children of their classmates, talked to Arnold's older grandfather and learn of the living situation of the borders and nothing bad has happened, then she had nothing to lose and if she didn't find something, she was just going to burst at this uncertainty She couldn't take it anymore. She needed answers and she was going to get them.
She was going to find out the truth about her future and nobody was going to stand in her way!
-To be continued-
Next time on A Trip through Time
Andy vs. Helga
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewers:
Metalheadrailfan: We'll see…
Call Me Nettie: Well, Phil has his work cut out for him and Helga is up to her old tricks…It's sure to be interesting next chapter…
The J.A.M. a.k.a. Numbuh I: Yep, it bite him in the butt and now he has to clean this mess up…
Invader Johnny: Well, their only hope is the next time portal, and at least the kids have a place to spend the night…So, we'll see how it goes for now…
Guest: I can, there is nothing that can keep those two down :)
Ajay435: Here's your answer and it looks like Phil's exaggerating finally caught up with him. Also, good call on Helga's attempts to find proof, it really is in her character. Also thank you, I try hard to show off their love for each other and their family.
Bookworm116: I hope that this will do :)
DeepVoice'06: Thank you and sorry about the author note. I sure hope that this chapter makes up for it.
:) Till next time beautiful people, remember to read and review :)