Hey, Arnold! Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Helga ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

[ A - All Readers ]

Note:

For the sake of clarity, whenever a character is in their transformed state, their name will be given in italics.

For example:

Helga G. Pataki = Helga

Sailor Moon = Helga

---

"Well, come on now. Lemme see it," goaded the diminutive Mrs. Smith.

"Yeah," replied the equally diminutive Mr. Smith. "Let's see how it looks on you."

The two adults sat patiently next to each other on the loveseat within their living room. Down the hallway, the door to the bathroom opened, and out emerged their pride and joy, their daughter Patty Smith (known infamously to the kids around the playground as Big Patty). Slowly she walked to the centre of the living room, her eyes downcast to the carpet.

"Don't you look precious...?" cooed Mrs. Smith, clapping her hands together. "What a perfect little outfit!"

"So? What do you think?" asked Mr. Smith.

Patty cautioned a glance at herself in the mirror hanging on the wall within the living room. Rather than wearing her favorite blue-themed ensemble of sweater and plaid skirt, she was instead dressed in a white-and-brown blouse with brown sailor collar trimming and matching brown skirt. Her blue hair bow had been swapped for a hairtie, and her tiny ponytail sat atop her head pitifully. She looked away, back at the carpet.

"I hate it," replied Patty, succinctly.

"But your Grandma Mosey made it especially for you! It's the same kind of school uniform your grandmother wore when she was a young girl in school!" said Mrs. Smith.

"Do I really have to wear this...?" bemoaned Patty.

"We promised Mosey that you would," explained Mr. Smith, as-a-matter-of-factly. "Just for one day, then if you still decide that you hate it, we'll send it back. Sound fair?"

Patty bit her upper lip. "Alright. Just this once. For Grandma Mosey."

"Atta girl!" clapped Mr. Smith.

Patty cringed as she recalled the conversation from earlier. In hindsight, she regretted her decision to wear the outfit in public.

Since kindergarten, Patty Smith had always been ostracized because of her size. Even as an 8th grader, where she assumed that everyone else's growth spurts would even out the playing field, Patty still felt like the odd man out. As a result, she had few friends. She knew that wearing her grandmother's old school uniform would do little for her popularity, or lack thereof. But she decided to grit her teeth and bear it.

"After all," she said to herself while walking down the hallway of P.S. 118. "It's only for one day. What's the worst that could happen?"

Patty opened her locker and was met with a deluge of green lime gelatin. The other students in the hallway bore witness to the incident and responded by pointing and laughing.

"A-ha!" yelled Helga, as she appeared from around the corner, only to go a deathly pallor of white.

Patty turned and indignantly stared down the hapless sixth grader, marching after her down the hall. Helga was forced to walk backwards away from her, not daring to turn her back on the menacing behemoth.

"Did you do this?" asked Patty, in her calm voice that did little to convey the sheer rage and desire she felt to beat Helga to a bloody pulp.

"I-It was an accident! I thought your locker belonged to someone else, I swear!" Helga cowered underneath the water fountain. Patty lifted her fist in preparation to strike, but paused when the school bell ring. The fist turned into a threatening finger, pointed dangerously close to Helga's nose.

"I'll deal with you later, after school," promised Patty, her finger sharply jabbing Helga's nose once before she turned and stormed off.

Phoebe quickly came to her best friend's aid. "Helga, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I guess," muttered Helga. "I thought you said 696 was Rhonda's locker number?"

"No, you read it wrong – I said 969," corrected Phoebe. "And I also counseled against playing a prank on her. Now Patty has a vendetta on your head!"

"Relax," assured Helga, dusting herself off as she stood. "I've dealt with Big Patty in the past. Remember when I told those jokes behind her back in the 4th grade?"

"Yes, precisely my point," said Phoebe. "You were pummeled unmercifully."

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, Phoebes," Helga replied, unwilling to reveal what had actually transpired in that deserted gymnasium two years prior. Yes, Patty was going to beat her up on that fateful day, but at the last second had a change of heart, thanks to Arnold's quick-thinking diplomacy. Personally, Helga felt no animosity towards Big Patty, but for whatever reason, she always found herself in the middle of some grave misunderstanding that consistently left her with a black-eye and a fat lip. "Besides, I know how to outsmart ol' Patty..."

---

It was the end of the day and the students were filing out of class. As the students were putting away their things, Sheena and Eugene were going around the class and talking to each of them. When they got to Rhonda she was looking at herself in a vanity mirror, inspecting her hair for any stray flyaways.

"How are you, Rhonda?" asked the ever-cheerful Sheena.

"Make it quick, please," Rhonda said, unwilling to tear herself away from her own reflection. Eugene handed her a sheet a paper, which she looked at disdainfully. "What is this?"

"It's a flyer," responded Eugene. "Mrs. Ryle's a widow that lost her kitten. Sheena and I are combing the area look for it; we thought that you might be interested in helping us."

"There's a cash reward..." enticed Sheena, but the promise of money fell on the spoiled, deaf ears of Rhonda, who simply waved them off.

"Pass...I've got better things to do than search for a flea-bitten hairball machine..." Rhonda then proceeded to file her nails, and Sheena and Eugene walked away.

"Psst! Hey Phoebes!" whispered Helga as Phoebe walked by her desk.

"What is it, Helga? Are we still going to your house after school?"

Helga quickly shook her head. "No, scratch that. Patty knows where I live; she'll just follow me home and pound me into the ground. What we're going to do is go to the Park."

"Oh," said Phoebe. "Okay, but...why the Park?"

Helga brandished the flyer. "I want to try and find this lost cat. I swear I saw one just like this lurking about the other day, and I can use the extra dough. So are you in or are you out?"

"Well...I suppose that I can transpose to the Park for a brief while..."

"That's what I want to hear. Now let's hurry so we can pick up some supplies."

And so, with Phoebe as her guide – since her view was obscured by the obscene amount of cat toys she was carrying – Helga walked down the paved path of City Park.

"How much do you suppose that old bat is paying, anyway...?" wondered Helga.

"Say, isn't that Lila talking with Arnold?" said Phoebe.

"WHAT?" Helga dropped all of her items onto the ground. "Where?"

Phoebe pointed farther down the paved path to where Arnold and Lila were standing and conversing. Helga was livid; she grabbed her best friend and dragged her into a nearby bush so that she could continue to spy inconspicuously.

"I thought Arnold was over her," Helga said aloud, to herself.

"Perhaps they're just conversing, Helga..." but Phoebe's reassuring words did nothing to belay the anger and disappointment she could see in Helga's eyes and in her hand-wringing.

"...What's Miss Perfect got that I don't got...?" she muttered bitterly.

"Helga, maybe we should go-"

"NO! We're staying right here. I want to see what this is about."

"This is absurd. You can't even hear what they're saying!"

"So? Maybe I can read lips! Now pipe down!"

Lila brushed her bright red, shoulder-length hair away from her face, and wiped a tear from her eyes with her black t-shirt. "Really, you don't have to do this, Arnold..."

"But I want to," retorted Arnold, holding Lila's hand within his own and giving it a reassuring pat. "You're going through a tough time right now, and I just want to help..."

"That's ever-so-kind of you, Arnold," Lila began. "But I just don't think I could live with myself if I accepted your handouts."

"But Lila..."

"Thank you, we'll be fine," Lila forced herself to smile for Arnold's sake. "Once Daddy finds a steady, decent-paying job that he can keep, we'll be alright...things should get better."

"Okay, well...if you need anything, anything at all, you know where to reach me."

Lila nodded and departed, but not before planting a quick kiss of appreciation on his cheek.

"Thank you ever-so-much, Arnold," she said as she turned and made her way home.

Meanwhile, Helga was attempting to make out the nature of the conversation, only to have her suspicions seemingly confirmed following the kiss.

"I think they're talking about alligators and...cans of beans...SHE KISSED HIM!" Helga stood up and was prepared to storm out of her hiding place, had it not been for Phoebe holding her back.

"Helga, calm down!" Phoebe cried. "You're acting hysterical!"

"I don't care – I'm going down there right now!" But instead she was staved off by Phoebe, who desperately held onto her clothes. At last, Helga fell backwards and onto her back.

As she looked up, her eyes met with an angry set staring down at her in a green gelatin-stained ensemble.

"P-Patty! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," replied Patty, displaying minimal emotion in her voice. "Did you forget that we had a little business to take care of after school?"

"After school? O-oh yeah, after school!" Helga sat up. "Funny story about that, actually. I had forgotten that my Phys Ed. teacher assigned us fitness homework; she said we had to...to run around the park! Twice!"

"Funny," came a familiar voice. "I don't remember any Phys Ed. assignment..."

Helga looked past Big Patty and sure enough, there stood Rhonda and Nadine. Rhonda kept her hair the same length over the years, but now wore a red headband to compliment her red vest-black skirt ensemble. She looked at Helga smugly, causing Helga to scowl.

"I should've known you'd rat me out, Rhonda-loid!" said Helga.

Rhonda blew off the rebuff. "Well, what did you expect? I heard that you were planning to sabotage my brand new outfit. This is a direct import from France! Have you no shame?"

"Oh, give me a break. Crappy clothes are crappy clothes, no matter where the locale."

"Well, at least I won't be struggling to get bloodstains out of my 'crappy clothes' for a week," retorted Rhonda slyly. "She's all yours, Patty."

Patty lifted Helga off her feet so that her legs were precariously dangling a few inches above the ground.

"I'm going to enjoy this," said Rhonda. "Nadine, get the camera ready. I want pictures for my vlog."

---

"Thurston! Thurston!"

Sheena cupped her hands over her mouth and called as loud as her voice would allow. "Here, kitty kitty kitty!"

Both she and Eugene had also started their search for the missing feline at the City Park, but had so far come up empty.

Eugene inspected the MISSING flyer once again. "It says here that he also goes by the name "Cupcake" - maybe that will help."

"Good idea. CUPCAKE! HERE, CUPCAKE!"

The faint sound of mewing caught their ears. Both Sheena and Eugene turned around and were met with the feeble cries of a tiny brown cat with a cream-colored spot on its chest and bright blue eyes.

"Cupcake!" Cupcake (nee Thurston) approached Eugene and walked right into his outstretched arms. As he picked up the small cat, he looked at Sheena with glee. "I don't believe it. We did it, we did it!"

Sheena jumped up and down in excitement and Eugene did the same...at least until he tripped and fell flat on his back. Sheena caught the animal as it slipped out of Eugene's grasp and momentarily sailed through the air.

"...I'm okay," he muttered.

As she petted the cat, Sheena spotted something underneath Eugene's head. "Hey, what's that?"

"Huh?" Eugene sat up and inspected the item partially buried in the ground. It was a dark, sharp-looking item that seemed to be made of crystal. Eugene quickly dug out the item and looked at it with curiosity. "It looks like...a lamp?"

"Do you think it's worth something?" inquired Sheena.

"I don't know. Looks like this whole thing's made of glass..."

"I bet someone lost it here. We should look for the owner."

"Yeah!" agreed Eugene, excitedly. "And when we find the owner, maybe they'll give us an even bigger reward! We'll have enough money for a new dance studio in no time!"

"Things really seem to be going our way today!"

"I'll say! I wish that this lucky streak would never end!" As he said this, Eugene was rubbing the lamp, trying to remove some of the excess dirt. All of a sudden, a thick black cloud of smoke began to seep out from the opening of the black crystal lamp. Eugene was paralyzed with fear as the smoke encircled his body and consumed him, entrapping him inside a cocoon of dark haze.

---

"Look, Patty, listen," Helga pleaded, still dangling above the ground. "You don't want to do this!"

"Why not?" said Patty.

"Because...because..." Helga desperately searched her mind for a good excuse. "Because you're better than this! If you beat me up now, you'll just be perpetuating that horrible notion that you're just some brain-dead bully like the rest of them, and you don't want that!"

The thought had never crossed her mind before. Patty slightly lowered Helga and pondered for a moment.

"Don't let her trick you, Patty!" yelled Rhonda. "Remember what she called you in the fourth grade! Or did you forget: 'Fatty Patty'?"

Patty furrowed her brow and looked at Helga angrily. She did forget. That did it – Patty raised her fist and prepared to strike...

There was a loud high-pitched wail, and the group of girls looked about with a start.

"What was that?" asked Nadine.

"Sounds like someone's in distress," deduced Phoebe.

"Maybe we should check it out..." said Patty.

"YES! Please do!" pleaded Helga, still bracing herself for the punch. But at last, Patty dropped her on the ground and followed other girls to find the source of the noise. Helga followed as well. Eventually they bumped into Sheena, who was still hysterically screaming and breathing very heavily, as if she had been running for a long time.

"Sheena!" cried Nadine.

"I...I was searching for a lost cat with Eugene," panted Sheena. "When...when we stumbled upon...and then...it's got Eugene!"

Sheena passed out.

"Sheena? Sheena! Wake up!" Nadine shook her classmate, but it garnered no reply.

"I think she said something about Eugene," said Rhonda.

"Yeah," added Helga. "But where is the little jinx? Probably got himself into an even bigger mess. What do you suppose happened?"

Nadine rubbed her chin introspectively. "I dunno...but whatever it was, it practically sucked the life out of Sheena."

Helga looked at Phoebe, who in turn looked back, the same thought had crept into their minds. Could it be...?

"Uh, listen..." said Helga, edging away from the group. "I think I'm going to go...check out and see if Eugene's okay..."

"Me too," said Phoebe, who followed Helga.

They were met with perplexed stares from Nadine and Patty, but neither of them impeded their departure. This made Rhonda upset. "Hey! Are you just going to let them make a break for it? I'm going after them. Honestly...!" And with that she chased after Phoebe and Helga.

When the three girls were alone, Rhonda placed a hand on Helga's shoulder. "And where do you think you're going?"

Helga angrily shrugged off Rhonda's touch. "Save it, princess - this is serious." She then turned to her best friend. "You thinking what I'm thinking...?"

Phoebe nodded. "It's highly probable."

"What is?" asked a confused Rhonda. Suddenly her eyes widened as she realized what the others were talking about. "You don't suppose...?"

"Oh, I suppose alright," Helga said quickly.

"There's just no way...!" remarked Rhonda. "I thought we were done with this mess when the school exploded! It's been, what, two years – why hasn't anything happened since?"

"I don't know," said Phoebe. "But the signs are all conducive of an attack..."

"Well, we better get to the bottom of this," said Helga, who continued to lead the way.

The three girls reached an area of the park where they found Eugene standing by himself, facing away from them. They looked at each other, then Helga slowly approached the boy.

"Hey Eugene! Yo!" called out Helga.

Eugene turned to face the girls. Something was not right. His skin was an eerie shade of grey, and his eyes were red. On his face was a twisted, malevolent grin, and he laughed at the trio menacingly.

"Eugene...?" repeated Rhonda, this time with a twinge of uncertainty.

A purple-black flame engulfed Eugene then quickly extinguished to reveal him in new attire. Gone were his white shirt and blue shorts; instead he was adorned in a white and purple jester outfit with matching hat. His right eye was adorned with a painted black star.

"Man...do I hate being right..." groaned Helga. She looked over her shoulder at the others. "You guys ready?"

Phoebe adjusted her glasses and Rhonda brandished her hand with the ruby ring. Both nodded in conviction.

"Alright then..." Helga gripped her chest, closed her eyes and sighed. "Here we go again...MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"MARS POWER, MAKE-UP!"

"MERCURY POWER, MAKE-UP!"

In an instant the civilians Helga, Phoebe, and Rhonda had vanished, transforming for the first time in two years into their sailor senshi counterparts, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars, respectively. Together they took up their fighting stance against the transformed Eugene.

"SO did not want to get out of retirement for this!" Helga charged Jester-Eugene at full speed. Suddenly, Helga was stopped abruptly, as if she had run into to a brick wall. She was then propelled back several yards away.

"What the heck?" she said. Helga charged a second time, and once again she was propelled backwards, only this time she was thrown to the ground, rolling.

"Fire Soul!" Rhonda launched a stream of flames toward the jester, but rather than hit its target, the flames were halted by the same mysterious barrier that had stopped Helga, and simply extinguished.

"You've got to be kidding me..."

Phoebe squeezed her earbud and a blue visor appeared across her eyes. After scanning the situation for several seconds, she frowned. "This doesn't look good," she said. "I'm getting a reading of a probability barrier surrounding Eugene."

"English, please?" asked Rhonda.

"Well, in layman's terms, anything we throw at him within a 10-foot radius will have a 0.00001% chance of hitting him."

Helga rolled her eyes. "Fantastic."

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Rhonda, frustrated.

"I dunno..." admitted Helga, also frustrated. "I'm thinking, all right?"

"I wish Luna was here...We've never had to fight without her before."

She was right; without the constant council of their female feline companion, the team was handicapped against this new, formidable opponent.

"Oh!" remarked Phoebe. All of a sudden, her visor had vanished and she transformed out of her sailor attire and back into her regular clothes. At the same time, Rhonda's sailor suit had vanished and she went back to her regular clothes as well.

"What happened?" asked a perplexed Rhonda.

"I don't know," said Phoebe. "But this definitely isn't good..."

---

Meanwhile, Patty and Nadine were still tending to an unconscious Sheena. At last Sheena began to come to, and slowly tried to sit up. "C-cupcake..." she mumbled.

Patty face scrunched up. "What did she say?"

"I think that's the name of the cat she and Eugene were searching for," explained Nadine. "They were going to find it and return it to its owner for the reward money."

"But I lost it..." sighed Sheena.

There came the sound of light mewing from the bushes. For a brief instant, the silhouette of a tail could be seen flicking from the bushes before promptly vanishing.

"That's Cupcake! I've got to go after her!" But as Sheena tried to stand up she simply wobbled a bit before stumbling back to the ground.

"You're still too weak," reprimanded Nadine.

"Maybe you can go after her..." suggested Sheena.

"I'll do it," volunteered Patty. "You stay here – I'll be right back." And with that she went to pursue the runaway feline.

Patty was led far away from Sheena and Nadine, to a more secluded area of the park.

"Mew..."

Patty looked up and spotted a cat in the tree, looking down at her patiently. Patty spit in her palms, rubbed them together, and then literally tackled the tree, slowly ascending upwards on the trunk.

The cat made no move to flee as Patty grabbed the branch on which it was resting and carefully lifted herself onto it. Slowly, she scooched herself towards the cat, who casually went about licking its paws.

Patty extended a hand for the scruff of the cat's neck. "Easy does it. I got ya."

Patty grabbed Cupcake and then jumped off the tree towards the ground below. She placed her free hand on her back and stretched. "That was simple enough..."

Patty heard the light mewing again, only it wasn't coming from Cupcake. She turned around and saw a tiny grey kitten, about the same size as Cupcake, nuzzling against her leg. Patty smiled. "Hey there – are you lost, too? Want me to help you find your owner?"

But as she went to pet the grey cat, she froze when she spotted the odd-shaped marking on its forehead, resembling a crescent moon.

"Actually, Miss Patty, it would appear that I have found you!" remarked the grey cat.

---

"Listen..." said Helga to Rhonda and Phoebe at her side. "I don't want you guys to get hurt. Get out of here while you still can."

"Are you kidding?" scoffed Rhonda. "And leave you to fight this thing all by yourself? Uh-uh – we're staying put."

"You guys don't stand a chance without your powers!"

"But we're a team," remarked Phoebe. "And powers or no powers, we're sticking with you to the end."

"You guys..." Helga was touched. She quickly regained her composure and focused back on the task at hand. "All right, then. I'll try to move in for an attack. I want you girls to distract him."

"Right," said Rhonda and Phoebe. Helga darted dead ahead towards Jester-Eugene, while Rhonda and Phoebe attempted to ambush him from the sides.

The jester pulled out a deck of cards seemingly out of nowhere, bent them in his hand, and allowed them to splay out in a fashion set for 52-card pickup. Except that, rather than falling harmlessly on the ground, the cards sailed out in erratic patterns, their corners sharp, deadly projectiles. Helga, Rhonda, and Phoebe had ducked out of the way effortlessly, dodging the cards at the last second.

Helga went in for the blow; she raised her fist and prepared to strike. Unfortunately, the Jester-Eugene had a literal trump card; he pulled out an ace-of-spades card and threw it at point-blank range at Helga. It hit its mark, and not only was Helga knocked back, she was entrapped within a giant spade-shaped barrier.

Helga banged on the spade-barrier with all her might, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Rhonda and Phoebe were still trying to catch their breath from their evasive maneuvers - they were defenseless, powerless, and open to attack.

Jester-Eugene was preparing to strike again, when he saw something sail overhead. A dark figure in a tuxedo, cape and top hat, and a football-shaped head landed on the very top of the spade-barrier and faced his opponent.

Helga looked up at the newcomer with wide-eyed realization. "I-it's you!"

The masked boy pulled out two roses; one was red and speckled with black stars, the other was blue and speckled with white stars. "Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars – catch!"

He threw the roses at the two girls, which hovered in front of their faces. He then jumped down to the ground to be face-to-face with Helga within the barrier.

"Arnold..." she placed both hands on the wall of the barrier and looked at him earnestly.

The masked boy smiled and winked at her. "You've lead strong team, Sailor Moon. Don't give up yet."

Helga leaned in and closed her eyes, planting her lips on the barrier for a kiss. But when she opened her eyes again, the masked boy had vanished as soon as he appeared.

Suddenly, the roses the masked boy had given Rhonda and Phoebe began to glow, and they each transformed into henshin pens. When they grabbed onto the pens they were suddenly transformed back into senshi.

"Whoa," said Rhonda.

"Amazing," said Phoebe.

"All right!" cheered Helga. "We are back in business!"

Phoebe activated her visor once again and scanned the barrier that contained Helga. She then pointed to the apex at the very top where the masked boy was previously standing. "There," she said. "That's the weak point."

"Fire Soul!" Rhonda directed a line of flames towards the apex and it spiraled down, engulfing the entire perimeter of the barrier before shattering it completely.

"Ha! Still got it!" Rhonda said, proudly.

The three girls turned their attention back on Jester-Eugene.

The jester said nothing, merely cackling as he sent another barrage of playing card in the scouts' direction; this time a group of kings, queens, and jacks. As they approached the scouts, they grew in size and pointed their sharp-suited weapons menacingly.

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

Lightning flashed and the cards were vaporized instantly. The jester looked around for the culprit, as did the girls. Standing on a hill within the park, several metres from where the others were standing, was a girl in a green sailor senshi uniform. Her hair was styled in a warrior braid. Across her cheek she wore a scar. (Her whole tough-girl aura was almost humorously offset by the blue bow atop her head). The mysterious newcomer clenched both of her hands in a fist and stared down the enemy.

"Who the heck is THAT?" asked Rhonda.

Helga squinted her eyes in an attempt to get a better look, then slapped her hand on her forehead. "Criminy..." she exclaimed. "Not ANOTHER one...!"

The green senshi held her ground. She crossed her arms around her chest and as she did so, an antenna grew from her tiara. The sky directly above suddenly gathered with dark clouds, and as an electric charge grew from above, the tiara had conducted a bolt of lightning that was directly targeted for the cards.

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

The lightning continued to strike, going for Eugene and hitting the barrier around him. The jester-Eugene wiped his forehead with his hand out of relief, but then suddenly fell backwards to the ground.

Phoebe gasped as she got an interesting reading on her visor. "The barrier – it's gone!"

Rhonda looked at Phoebe. "It's gone? Are you sure?"

Phoebe nodded. "Positive. In fact, when the lightning struck the ground adjacent to Eugene, it somehow caused a polarity effect which totally reversed the range of the probability force field. Now all the bad luck has been turned inward upon Eugene himself!"

"Heh. Some things never change." Helga made a motion for her tiara. "Time to finish this. MOON TIARA MAG-"

"WAIT! STOP!" cried a tiny voice. Suddenly, the tiny grey kitten had appeared in the open and ran towards the scouts. "You mustn't use your tiara!"

"Luna?" said Rhonda in disbelief.

"That's not Luna, that's some other talking cat," corrected Helga. "And I can't believe I actually said that."

"Please, do not use your tiara!" pleaded the cat. "Doing so will harm the person inside the monster! The tiara is meant for destruction – what you need is a tool for healing!"

Helga blinked. "A tool for...healing?"

"Yes! Allow me, miss!" And with that, the grey cat flipped high into the air; at the peak of her jump materialized an item. The item was wand-shaped and adorned with a large yellow crescent-moon shaped jewel. Helga grabbed the device.

"This is the Moon Wand – use it to heal the boy. Just say "Moon Healing Escalation",

"Uh...okay," Helga turned to face the jester-Eugene. She then held the moon wand high above her head and spun it in a wide circumference from the ground back to its starting point above her head.

"MOON HEALING ESCALATION!" A bright beam of light shone from the wand and went straight for the jester. Suddenly, the jester apparel was no more and all that remained was a frazzled Eugene, kneeling on the ground.

"I'm okay..." he muttered before passing out completely.

"We did it!" cheered Helga.

All three girls jumped in the air to give each other a high-five.

"We did it! We did it!" repeated the little cat, jumping up and down in excitement to the bemusement of the girls. Only when she noticed the stares did she stop.

Helga looked at the cat. "Thanks for your help and all but...what the heck is going on?"

"I'd like to know too."

The three scouts had almost forgotten about the fourth sailor scout on the hill, who was now standing before them. Both Helga and Phoebe's jaws had dropped in surprise. Rhonda, oblivious to her teammates' reactions, simply scrutinized this new person briefly with her eyes before giving her a thumbs up.

"Nice boots," she said.

---

"Thank you so much for finding my kitty!" said the gracious Ms. Ryle.

Patty handed the brown and white cat back to its owner in front of its house. "You're welcome." She said. With a free hand, Ms. Ryle reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a small coin purse. When she had opened it, Patty raised her hands in protest. "Oh, no...it's okay. Really."

"I insist," said Ms Ryle firmly, not taking no for an answer. "Cupc—er, Thurston is the only friend I have in the world. Bringing him back means more to me than you can ever imagine. Take the reward money."

And with that she shoved a couple large bills into Patty's hand and closed her fist. Patty nodded and wished the elderly woman well before descending down the stairs and back onto the sidewalk. She looked at the money and frowned, wondering if she had made a mistake accepting payment. Perhaps it would be a nice gesture if she offered the money to someone else...

As luck would happen, Patty spotted Sheena and Eugene across the street, both with morose looks on their faces.

"I can't believe we lost Cupcake..." muttered Eugene.

"It wasn't meant to be, I guess..." replied Sheena. "And anyway, it's no big deal. We still found that lamp."

"Actually..." said Eugene, sheepishly. "I kinda lost it after the attack. Are you mad at me?"

Sheena shook her head and smiled. "I'm just glad that you're okay, Eugene."

Eugene blushed and looked down. "Heh...well...I'm always okay...but I'm glad to see that you're alright, too..."

Sheena blushed in response.

This brief moment of reverie was cut short when Patty crossed the street to talk to them.

"Hey, Patty," said Sheena. "Thank you again for your help. I'm sorry for all the trouble that we caused."

"It was no trouble at all," replied Patty, who then held out her hand containing the money. "Listen, I found the cat and brought it back to the old widow-lady. You can take the reward money."

Sheena looked at the money with surprise, then both she and Eugene looked at each other with wide-eyed interest before looking at Patty with some degree of hesitance. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," said Patty. "I wasn't even looking for the cat. Besides...I think I found something a bit more interesting."

Patty handed Sheena the reward money, and as she walked away she could hear the two best friends laughing giddily and dancing for joy. She smiled, proud that she was able to do a small act of kindness.

But there was still that other thing of interest.

When Patty had turned the corner, she dug her hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out a green pen-shaped object. As she looked at it, she turned it over several times in her hand.

Patty stopped and turned her attention straight ahead. Standing before her were three sixth-grade girls, and in front of them stood the talking grey cat.

"Okay..." sighed Patty, brandishing the pen in front of her audience. "Mind telling me what this is all about?"

The grey cat approached Patty and grinned. "Gladly."