Sailor Helga SGR - Chapter 8

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

Abner squealed anxiously as he made his way home. Normally, the rotund pig was the leader of a motley crew of pets that filtered out into the streets whenever a tenant of Sunset Arms passed through the front door, but this time, due to the violent winds outside, the domesticated animals were all making a hasty retreat to the safe confines of four sturdy walls.

Meanwhile, the boarders decided to ride out the storm in the safety of the cellar (more specifically, inside Grandpa's cozy furnished secret bathroom).

"Do you think the storm has passed yet?" asked Mr. Kokoshka.

"How should I know?" snapped Ernie. "Why don't you go upstairs and check?"

"No, it's too dangerous – Suzie, why don't you check it out?"

"Oskar, you are stepping on my foot!" said an angry Mr. Hynnh. "I do not like it!"

"Ow!" yelled Ernie. "And will you get your elbow outta my nose, Hynnh! Sheesh, this isn't like the first tornado drill we've had!"

"We have been getting an awful lot of bad weather lately..." mused Suzie Kokoshka.

"Should someone go up and get Grandpa?" asked Oskar.

"He won't budge," said Ernie. "The old bird neither. It's like they just stopped caring...since Arnold went missing."

The mood became momentarily somber in that cramped bathroom as they thought of Arnold's grandparents shunning the storm, diligently sitting in the kitchen, looking out the window in hopes that they would see their grandson return.

---

It had been 2 months since Arnold's disappearance. For a while a dark cloud of sadness hung over Hillwood, especially over those who knew him well – his teachers, his peers, his grandparents and extended family, but most of all, Helga.

Helga had not left the house since the day of the incident, and had fallen into a deep depression. Most days she just laid in her room, in the dark, barely moving. She didn't go to school, and she didn't talk to the other girls. For the longest time, she just stopped existing, refusing to move on. Because, deep within her heart and soul, she felt that her involvement as a sailor senshi made her responsible.

As a direct result, without the guidance of their leader, the sailor scouts had also ceased to function. For them, life did go on, but very tentatively, and with a lingering sense of foreboding, for they knew in their hearts that their mission was not yet complete, yet they had no idea what their next move was.

The only good news to come the girls' way was that Lila's father had finally found a stable job. The erratic night shift hours meant he would seldom be home, which left Lila to fend for herself on most days.

"I have to get going," said Lila's father, as he put on his coat and headed for the door. "I'll see you later, okay honey?"

"Okay, daddy – I love you!" said Lila.

Later that night, Lila was awoken by the sound of noises coming from outside her room. The phone was in the kitchen, so she would have to take her chances that she wouldn't run into the alleged intruder.

Lila tiptoed down the hallway, a flashlight brandished in her hand. Suddenly, she felt herself bump into something. Instinctively, she turned the flashlight on and pointed it at the stranger, who was caught by surprise and tripped over a rug, bumping his head on a coffee table.

Lila turned the hall light on. There on the ground lay an unconscious teenage boy, about Lila's age, with red hair and freckles. He was dressed in all black. For a second Lila could have sworn he looked dramatically different when she flashed the flashlight upon him, but perhaps it was her frightened mind playing tricks on her.

For some reason, Lila couldn't bring herself to call the police on the trespasser. Instead, she decided to nurse him back to health, and find out more about him.

The redhaired boy awoke on the couch, with a blanket over him and a damp rag over his forehead.

"Where am I?" he said, half in a daze.

"You're in my house," said Lila. "Trespassing, I might add."

The boy groaned. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"What are you doing here? Are you trying to rob us?" Lila was met with the ultimate cosmic irony; one, because she was once a burglar herself, and two, because she and her father were so poor, they'd have nothing of value to take.

The boy shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. I'm just looking for a place to stay."

"I'm ever-so-certain there are already establishments for that," retorted Lila. "Why did you feel the need to break into my house?"

"I'm...running away from home."

"Running away?"

"Yeah. I'm fairly new around the area, and I have nowhere else to go. Please, let me stay here for the night. I promise I won't be a bother."

Lila knew she should have said no. A stranger breaking into her home asking to spend the night? That was just asking for trouble. But something about the boy put Lila at ease. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but somehow she knew that she could trust him. She knew that she would be safe.

"Alright," said Lila. "You can stay. But only for tonight."

"Thank you," smiled the boy. "By the way, my name is Liam."

"Lila," replied. They shook hands.

"What pretty red hair, Lila," said Liam.

"I'm ever so certain I can say the same thing about you," they shared a brief laugh. "Well, good night. See you in the morning."

Lila turned off the light and left Liam in the darkness of the living room, where he felt the most at home.

"...In other news, scientists are still baffled by the recent string of catastrophic events occurring in Hillwood...," said the reporter on the tv screen.

"Nothing but bad news..." grumbled Big Bob, who was straightening out his newspaper. "How am I supposed to run a successful beeper emporium when the world is in such disarray?"

"Oh, B," sighed Miriam. "You're acting like it's the end of the world."

"Earthquakes? Tornados? That unexplained hole in the sky? Sure seems like the end of the world to me."

"Oh...well, will you look at who finally decided to go to school," Miriam turned to look at a downcast Helga, who had finally made an appearance in the kitchen. "Feeling better, honey?"

Helga nodded her head solemnly, but was still looking at the floor. Big Bob made a disparaging noise. "She better be, she's been out of school for weeks."

"Would you like me to drive you to school, honey?" asked Miriam, a consoling tone to her voice.

"No...if it's alright with you, I think I'll walk," replied Helga, her voice dull.

"Oh...okay. The fresh air should do you good." Helga said nothing as she listlessly left the house.

Big Bob shook his head. "That girl's got some issues."

"She just needs some time to recuperate, B," defended Miriam.

"From WHAT?" Big Bob exploded. "There's nothing wrong with her! She's not sick! She's been like this ever since that funny-headed boy disappeared a while back! When is she going to get better?"

Miriam sighed. "I don't know, B...I wish I knew."

---

Helga ended up not going to school. Instead she just walked out and about the city, thinking. She decided she'd deal with the imminent tirade from Big Bob for missing school, but for now she'd rather be alone with her thoughts.

Helga sat on the park bench, looking straight ahead at nothing in particular. She felt like crying, but no tears came out of her eyes; she was all cried out. Instead she just looked up at the clouds passing by overhead.

"Miss Helga?"

Helga jolted back to reality; she turned to see Diana sitting next to her on the park bench.

"Oh, it YOU," she said, a hint of resentment in her voice.

"I haven't seen you in weeks. All you alright?"

"I'm living."

"Oh...it's just that....we need you to come back, Miss Helga. Our mission's not yet completed and..."

"Oh, right! The mission! Heaven forbid we neglect that!" Helga said sourly, looking away from the cat. She stood up and began to walk away.

"You've seen the hole in the sky, have you not?" asked Diana. At that, Helga froze. She was aware of the weird occurrences taking place in Hillwood. The city had not had a tornado in over 60 years, never mind the unprecedented floods, earthquakes and surprise snowstorms. Something was definitely going on; their work was far from over, and yet...

"I can't deal with these things right now, Di," Helga said finally. "I'm not ready. I don't know when I'll ever be ready..."

"We don't know how much more time this city has!" cried Diana. "It's...it's failing. You know it...we both know it! Eventually Hillwood will cease to exist, and if we don't come up with a solution soon..."

"Look, why do you even need me?" snapped Helga. "I have the Crystal, sure, but why can't one of the other girls take over for me? I don't even remember my other life! I didn't ask for any of this!"

"I'm sorry, but it has to be you. You're our leader. We can't go on without you. We're willing to wait, but..."

"Yeah, well you can keep on waiting. I'm outta here." Helga stormed off. Diana sat alone on the park bench and sighed in defeat.

Helga kicked an empty aluminum can down the street as she walked. She passed by a parked ice cream truck, where the Jolly Olly Man was leaning and reading a magazine.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" remarked the Jolly Olly Man.

Helga stopped and shot him a dirty look. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"No paying customers until after 3," he replied. "Besides...what the boss don't know won't hurt him." He closed his magazine and took a second look at Helga. "Hey...aren't you that crazy kid who ran in front of my ice cream truck 2 years ago to save a cat?"

"No...that was someone else. And right now I wish that he hadn't. He's gone now."

"Sucks. Then again, that's life for you – just one big perpetual suckfest."

Helga scoffed. "Tell me about it."

The Jolly Olly Man stuck his hand into the back of his truck and tossed Helga a wrapped ice cream bar. "Here. My condolences."

Helga caught the bar, then made a face. "Thanks, but I'm allergic to strawberry."

The Jolly Olly Man shrugged. "Not my problem."

Helga scowled. "Jerk." She walked away, tossing the ice cream to the ground and stepping on it.

"I hate kids," said the Jolly Olly Man when she was out of earshot. He opened his magazine to continue reading, when his truck began to shake violently. "Great, not another earthquake..."

But then the top of his vehicle exploded, raining out his profits, along with an unexpected guest.

Helga lay alone in her room once again. She stared up at her ceiling in silence. Her closet was still full of her poems and her shrine of Arnold, but she didn't have the heart to even think of those things.

Her cell phone rang. She picked up the phone and glanced at the number; it was Phoebe. She let it go to voicemail and listened to the message.

"We need you right now!" said Phoebe, frantically. "There's a creature freezing things left and right! Please pick up!"

Helga deleted the message.

"Who cares what happens to this rotten place?" Helga said to no one in particular. "I hope the whole city just disappears off the face of the Earth."

"Come on, you don't mean that."

Helga shot up in her bed. "Arnold?"

She had heard his voice, but when she looked around, there was no one in her room.

"You've got to go help them."

That's it, she thought, I'm finally going nuts. I'm hearing Arnold in my head now.

Regardless she decided to reply back. "I can't. It hurts too much. I miss you."

"They're your friends, Helga. They're counting on you."

Helga shook her head, finally feeling tears come out of her eyes again. "No..."

"I'll be with you," said the invisible voice. "But you have to help them. You can't let Hillwood die."

Helga breathed in harshly. Helga wiped her eyes and stood up from the bed. She walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer. After throwing all her clothes to the ground, she finally got to the bottom of her drawer and pulled out the one item she hoped to never see again.

"Venus Crescent Beam!"

A bright streak of orange light hit the ice creature point-blank, but it had no effect. The creature directed a pointed claw at Lila's feet and almost instantaneously her boots were frozen to the ground.

"Supreme Thunder!"

Patty punched the monster with the full force of her attack, staggering it momentarily. In that instant, Phoebe used to visor to analyze the situation.

"Anything?" asked Rhonda.

Phoebe shook her head. "Nothing. It's all blank. There's no weakness, not even to your fire."

"Fantastic!" Rhonda said in exasperation. "Did you try calling Helga? Is she coming?"

Phoebe frowned and shook her head. Rhonda swore in frustration.

"Stay focused, girls!" ordered Diana. "Somehow we have to subdue this creature!"

"Don't you think we've been trying?" snapped Rhonda.

"Need any help?"

The four girls and cat turned to see a familiar scout with waistlength pigtails approach them. Gripped in her hand was the moon wand, but with an extra addition; the Crystal (formerly her locket).

"Helga! You're back!"

Helga nodded. "Alright. Let's finish this." Helga waved the wand at the creature, who tried to attack with a blast of icy snow. "Moon Healing Escalation!"

The monster's attack was deflected and it howled as the light from the wand washed over it. The Jolly Olly Man faded into view and kneeled down on the ground.

"I hate my job," he grumbled before passing out.

"You did it, Sailor Moon!" said Diana.

"Good work, Helga," whispered the voice in Helga's head.

"Arnold?" she looked around hopefully, but of course he was nowhere to be found.

"Helga...are you alright?" asked a concerned Phoebe.

Helga paused, not looking at her team. She closed her eyes, let out a small laugh, then turned to face the girls.

"Yeah. You know what? I am alright. I'm back, and I'm here to stay."

"You are?" said Lila hopefully.

Helga nodded with conviction. "Absolutely. Because now I have a reason to keep going. Because now I know that somehow, someway...Arnold's still alive. And he's out there...somewhere.."