The Hey Arnold! Fantasy Adventure Epic [COMPLETED]

Chapter 9

That evening, Phoebe and Hela sat morosely around a campfire, with Helga sitting across form Phoebe while the fire roared.

For the longest time they sat in silence. Phoebe stoked the fire while Helga gripped her knees and stared into the flame.

At last Phoebe sat down and looked earnestly at Helga. "So that's it, then? You're just going to give up on him?"

"He abandoned us, Phoebe," Helga said bitterly, still looking at the fire. "He's the Peacekeeper and he has a mission. And it doesn't involve us."

"...but it could," Phoebe added meekly.

"What do you want me to say?!" Helga said angrily, standing up to challenge her friend. "He's found his Messiah! He's going to save the world, and we should be so lucky to have been a part of it for that brief moment."

She grabbed the stick from Phoebe's hand and stoked the flame herself as Phoebe continue to stare at him.

"But you love him....don't you?"

Helga paused mid-stoke to take in what Phoebe had said, then she stood up and cracked the stick in half over her knee.

"Let's go, Pheoebes. Messiah or no Messiah – we should be there for him."

Phoebe smiled, then saluted. "Aye aye, captain."

Helga and Phoebe followed the trajectory of the sparkling white orb to find the whereabouts of the Messiah, and were surprised to find themselves at the foot of a foreboding cave.

Phoebe sniffed. "This does not seem appropriate for the domicile of a Messiah."

"Yeah..." Helga commented absently. "I wonder where the boys are...."

They descended stealthily down into the cave until they reached a cage. Inside, they found Gerald crouched in the corner of the cage, shivering."

"Gerald!" cried Phoebe, running to the cage. Only then was Gerald aware of their presence, and immediately crawled over to the opposite side of the cage.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" he said grasping onto Phoebe's hands.

"Gerald, what happened? Why are you trapped in here? Where's Arnold and the Messiah?"

Gerald shook his head vehemently. "We were tricked....it happened so fast...that girl....she's not the Messiah?"

"Where's Arnold?" Helga repeated.

"Shh!! Keep your voice down...." Cautioned Gerald, pointing beyond his cage to the shadow of a figure behind the corner. Helga and Phoebe crept over to the corner and discovered that the red-headed girl was using her powers to suspend Arnold in a green miasma of energy, which was kept hovering several feet off the ground.

"Hey!" yelled Helga, jumping out from her hiding place. "Put him down!"

The girl slowly turned around, and grinned as though she was regarding a friend. "Oh. I'm surprised you actually came. Though I'm ever so certain that you've sealed your doom...."

As she said this, the red-headed girl morphed into a ferocious, fire-breathing dragon.

"Oh crap," Helga said as she leapt to dodge a wall of flames that the dragon had exhaled. She ran over to Gerald in the cage. "You didn't tell me she could transform in to a dragon!"

"Well! I didn't know!" responded Gerald, shrugging. Another wall of flames came her way and Helga jumped out of the way to dodge the attack. Gerald was left defenseless, but just when he thought his goose was cooked, Phoebe stood in the path of the flames. She pulled out a vial of some green liquid and chucked it at the flames, causing them to freeze instantly and shatter onto the ground.

Gerald looked on in amazement. "You're an ALCHEMIST?"

Phoebe turned and shrugged at Gerald, smiling sheepishly. "There was never really an apt opportunity to bring it up...."

"Hey Phoebe! I could use a little help right about now...!" Helga was being backed into a corner by the ferocious green-scaled dragon.

"Excuse me for a mement..." Phoebe ran towards the dragon and, pulling out a very large Erlenmeyer flask of blue liquid from some unknown compartment in her clothes, threw it wth all her might towards Helga.

"The pen is mightier than the sword...give me strength," Helga pulled out her large white feathered quill pen and spun it around in her hands. The feather grew larger and larger until it became a full-sized sword. As the flask came to her, Helga slashed it with her sword, imbuing it with powers. She then thrust it with all of her might into the chest of the dragon, causing it immediately to turn into ice. The dragon then dropped to the ground and toppled over, shattering into a million pieces.

In that instant, the green force field around Arnold's body suddenly vanished he fell to the floor. Helga came rushing to his aid.

"Are you alright?" she asked, cradling his head as he regained consciousness.

Arnold's eyes fluttered open to Helga's concerned visage. "Helga?"

Helga nodded and brought him close for an embrace. "I'm so glad you're OK. If I hadn't come..."

Still a bit disoriented, Arnold slowly patted Helga on the back.

Phoebe used her alchemy to quickly undo the locks on the cage, and the two of them joined Helga and Arnold at the spot where the dragon was slayed.

"Hey man!" exclaimed Gerald. "How are ya feeling?"

Arnold got to his feet slowly, with the aid of Helga. "Good, I guess....the last thing I remember was seeing this red-headed girl and then...nothing."

Helga folded her arms. "Well, I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume that she was definitely NOT the Messiah."

Arnold turned to look at Helga. "You saved my life."

Helga tried to nonchalantly wave him off, but he grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently in both of his. "No. Really. Thank you so much. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

Helga blushed and looked down. "I was having so fun being a part of your party for truth and justice. I didn't want it to end."

"And it doesn't have to," chimed in Gerald. "If this Messiah was a phony, then I guess our mission is still incomplete!"

"So what do you say?" said Arnold. "Want to be a part of this adventure a little longer?"

For the first time, Helga let her guard down. Her features softened, and she was about to reply with an emphatic "YES!" when the light of several torches came into view.

The group of four approached the exit of the cave and found themselves face to face with a troop of soldiers on horses. Some of the soldiers were holding a large black banner with the silhouette of an electronic white box in its centre.

Gerald gulped.

Phoebe gasped. "It can't be,"

"Oh Criminy..." Helga muttered under he breath.

"Helga, what's going on?" asked a confused Arnold. "Do you know these men?"

"Sure do..." Helga said, with a tinge of melancholy to her voice. "They belong to the Beeper King....my father."