Disclaimer
(Just so I won't get sued…)
All related characters and settings found below are strictly based on the TV series Hey Arnold! created by Craig Bartlett as seen on Nickelodeon.
Status
(Just for you to know…)
Finished, with eleven chapters.
Kidnapped!
1: Code Red
One fair, sunlit Sunday, Arnold and his friends had just ended their baseball game. With nearly all of them save the boy sporting lumps on their heads (he still was a Dangerous Lumberjack), on they were strolling to their respective homes when they chanced by Phil's TV. The twenty or so television sets on display were all tuned to one program: the news.
"Hey," Arnold pointed at the TV screens. "Isn't that a kid from P.S. 119? Why is he on TV?"
His buddies traded shrugs and murmurs.
"We wouldn't know, man." Said Gerald.
Stinky piped up. "Yeah, on account of we don't even go to the same school with 'im."
"THIS JUST IN!" declared the newscaster on TV. The fourth graders whirled and watched. "KIDNAP-FOR-RANSOM IS TERRORIZING OUR TOWN!"
The kids gasped.
"As of five minutes ago, three public school children had been abducted and taken hostage by two members of an unidentified kidnapping syndicate, thus totaling the most recent tally of victims at a lofty eleven. The families concerned and the authorities have been promptly alerted…"
With widened eyes, the fourth graders walked off.
"We have to be on our guard," said Arnold. "The news said the kidnappers are after kids like us."
"Yeah, Arnuldo." Scoffed Helga. "News flash: they wouldn't be called kidnappers if they didn't kidnap kids!"
"You mean they put us kids to sleep?" inquired Stinky.
The girl with the pink bow glared at the tall country bumpkin. "Stinky…"
His puzzled eyes met her blazing ones.
"…You're an idiot."
"Arnold's right, you guys," said Sid. "We gotta be really careful. If any one of us disappears, we gotta look for him."
"Or her!" Added Rhonda. "Who knows, those kidnappers might get me." She bounced her hair. "What with my wealth and high class…"
"Oh, brother." Helga rolled her eyes. "The only reason anyone would be dumb enough to get you is to shut your mouth."
"That's a swell idea…" Curly's lips curled up enigmatically as he rubbed his hands together. He cocked his head, and the lens of his glasses thickened (it had always been hard to see what was going on behind those opaque specs of his). He laughed to himself.
All eyes rested on him. Some eyebrows were raised, too.
"What?" Thaddeus whirled about him, his hands half-clenched mad-scientist style.
The kids shook their heads.
The following day, Mr. Simmons stepped inside his classroom as his students trawled for their seats. "Class, I just got a call from Lorenzo's mother."
Twelve pairs of eyes opened out and darted across the room towards the desk on which their elite classmate sat the previous week.
It was vacant.
Harold gulped. "Was he… kidnapped?"
The students traded suggestive looks amongst each other.
Mr. Simmons' breath caught. "Oh heaven forbid, no!"
The class released one unified sigh.
"She phoned me to inform us that due to the rampant crime situation these days, Lorenzo won't be joining us for class until the scare is over."
The class ooh-ed and ahh-ed.
"Let us keep in mind that his being special is a possible reason for the kidnappers to take interest in him."
"Y' mean his being stinkin' rich!" corrected Sid.
Mr. Simmons shook his head. "No, Sid. This is not about riches or wealth. We mustn't overlook the fact that you are all in danger because all of you are special."
"I thought he said we were an endangered species," elbowed Helga.
The class doubled over.
Mr. Simmons held his hands up for quiet. "Class, this is not a laughing matter. I'd like all of you to take this social issue seriously. Together we must look after each other to put an end to this heinous crime plaguing our city."
"Like anyone would kidnap you, Simmons." Helga wisecracked again, eliciting the same response from the rest. "Those beefcakes can't possibly carry you off to their li'l hideout."
The fourth grade teacher clapped his hand on his forehead to calm himself as the P.S. 118 bell rang for lunch break. "Now class, keep each other company—don't stray off the campus like you did last week, Harold—and have your lunch. I'd like to see all of you back in this room before the final bell. We can't risk having at the most one of you going missing."
The students stood and exited their room while exchanging small talk.
Nadine opened her locker and deposited her books as Rhonda waited.
"You heard what Mr. Simmons said, Nadine," Rhonda flipped her hair. "We must stay with each other for safety reasons."
Nadine reached inside her locker for her lunch money. "Don't worry Rhonda, we always stay together." She slammed her locker shut and faced her best friend. "Rhonda?"
The arachnid-smitten girl gasped. "RHONDA?"
"She was right here, standing on this very spot," The distressed Nadine motioned close by her locker. "I was just leaving my books and getting my lunch money when she disappeared. She was even talking to me a couple of seconds before that! It's all my fault!"
She buried her face in her palms, sniffling.
The fourth graders shook their heads and clicked their tongues. Helga whistled. "Who would have thought Princess would be victim number one?"
Arnold clapped his hand on Nadine's shoulder. "It's no one's fault but the kidnapper's, Nadine. Don't blame yourself. All we gotta do is look for Rhonda all over the school. If we can't find her, we've got to get the authorities involved."
Gerald clapped his hand on Arnold's shoulder. "There's only one problem, Arnold. She could be anywhere in the whole city! Or the bad guys could've hitched a plane and dragged 'er all the way to China!"
He flung his hands into the air for emphasis, and the others mumbled in agreement.
Arnold placed his hand on his hips, his eyes half-lidded skeptically. "Well, they couldn't have gone to China…"
"It's too late, Arnold. They've already got 'er, hook, line, and sinker."
"It's not too late, Gerald! Nadine says she's been gone for only two minutes. Her abductor couldn't have dragged her too far yet. Guys, we've at least got to try!" He turned to his classmates.
The kids trained their eyes on Helga. Apparently, in her lay the final say.
Helga glanced from the sobbing Nadine to the voicelessly pleading Arnold and sighed. "Fine, let's just get this over with! Personally I'd love to see Rhondaloid being dragged away!"
The fourth graders pumped their fists into the air.
"LET'S GO SAVE RHONDA!"
End of 1: Code Red
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Arnold and the P.S. 118 fourth graders encounter fear and shock twice as one is found and another lost in chapter 2: Saving Princess Rhonda.