"Do they allow pets?" Cherry asked.
"It should be fine," Arnold allowed. "I have a pet pig named Abner."
"If they do allow pets, then I think we don't have to worry." Atticus smiled.
The four of them made it to the boarding house and they walked in as Arnold's pig and various cats and dogs chased each other down the stairs.
"Does that happen a lot?" Cherry asked.
"Occasionally." Arnold replied like it was normal.
"Wow, so almost like a stampede of pets." Atticus said.
Arnold walked ahead of them and called for his grandfather.
"That's my name!" Grandpa called as he was looking over some old things in their home. "Don't wear it out!"
"Um, sir, what are you looking for?" Atticus asked.
"Just lookin' around..." Grandpa mumbled as he looked around. "Who're your friends?"
Arnold gave their names with a small smile, but it shaped into an instant frown once he wondered what might happen to him and his grandparents or the other borders with the neighborhood destruction. There was then an old woman in a cheerleader uniform and started to make up some cheers.
"Grandpa, we're worried..." Arnold told his grandfather.
'If I know Atticus, this plan will work.' Patch thought to himself and smiled.
Arnold glanced to Patch curiously, but listened to his supportive grandfather.
"Don't worry, Arnold, we're not going to sell the boarding house, we're with you and your friends all the way, right, Pookie?" Arnold's grandfather asked his wife.
"Home team, home team, woo!" Grandma cheered as she had a lot of energy and did exercises like a free spirited teenager would, instead of a broken down old lady.
"What if Sheck makes everyone else sell, sir?" Cherry asked the old man.
"Then I guess they'll bulldoze down the neighborhood, short man," Grandpa sounded grave, which made Arnold a little sad about the possibility of everyone he knows and loves might be gone forever. "Pookie and I will have to move to an old folks' home and who knows what'll happen to you. You'll probably be sent to a foster home in some Midwestern state like Manitoba or... Wait. No, that's not a state, that's a province. Oh, no, Arnold! You'll be a Canadian!"
Arnold narrowed his eyes slightly. "Grandpa, we're serious..."
"Yes, sir, this is serious." Atticus added in.
"I know, you all, but we're not cooked yet," Grandpa soothed. "Whatever happens, we'll all be okay, even if your new friends have to know us as Canadians. They have very good bacon there... Canadian Bacon!"
The others glanced at him before rolling their eyes slightly, even Patch followed suit.
"This thing on?" Grandpa tilted his head. "Come on, one of you work with me!"
"Come on, guys, I'll let you stay in Mr. Smith's room while he's out of town." Arnold told his guests, leaving with them. "Good night, Grandpa... Good night, Grandma..."
"GO TEAM!" Grandma cheered as Grandpa accidentally sat on an open bear trap.
"Thanks, Arnold, and sounds like your grandfather sat on something painful." Atticus winced.
"Grandpa..." Arnold rolled his eyes and shook his head, and finally came to the room. "Here we go... It's nothing like my room, but I hope you guys enjoy it..."
Cherry, Atticus, and Patch walked in, there were a couple of twin beds with new sheets and pillows, the room had been cleared out a little for guests, almost as if the boarding house had been expecting them.
"So, what brings you guys to the neighborhood?" Arnold asked.
"We don't know." Atticus shrugged.
"I just got this email saying that I needed to come here and I decided to bring the boys with me," Cherry explained, showing the paper she printed from her computer. "I didn't wanna trust it at first, but they insisted."
"Yep, huh? Hey, where's Patch?" Atticus asked as soon as he noticed the Dalmatian wasn't with them in the room.
Patch was now following a scent and where it seemed to lead up to an upstairs bedroom.
"Hey, where are you going?" Arnold followed the puppy in case he went into something dangerous.
Patch seemed to open up the door easily and where he seemed to like the room especially the view above it. "Wow, this is so amazing." he smiled.
Arnold gave a small smile, allowing Patch to look at the room. "Okay, you can explore..."
Patch looked around and then suddenly saw a picture in a picture frame a went to get a closer look at it. "These must be his parents." he wondered.
Arnold went to his bed and straightened everything out. Patch came to Arnold with the picture in his mouth.
Arnold turned and took it, it was a blonde man with a brown-haired woman, both appeared to be in jungle clothes. "Hey... Where'd you get this, huh?"
Patch looked very curious. Patch pointed over there and then went up to the picture and tapped his paw on it and then pointed to Arnold.
"These are my parents..." Arnold told him. "I always hope of them coming back, but they haven't... They're jungle explorers... For all I know, they could be dead..."
Patch frowned and nuzzled against him for comfort. Arnold put his arm around the puppy and softly sighed.
"Um, say, Arnold, could Patch stay with you while we're here." Atticus said.
Patch nodded.
"I see nothing wrong with that..." Arnold said with an exhausted yawn. "He can stay on the couch if he doesn't shed."
"Oh, don't worry, Patch doesn't shed." Atticus reassured.
Arnold took out a remote and made his wall open up to show a couch with a blanket and pillow on it.
"WOW!" Patch was surprised that he could do that.
Arnold smiled, he then got his pajamas ready.
"I wish I could let Arnold understand me, so then I could speak to him like I do with Atticus and Cherry." Patch said.
Unknown to him, Arnold suddenly felt something as a star in the sky glowed green and then stopped glowing. Patch looked to Arnold in concern.
"That was weird..." Arnold rubbed his head after he got his pajamas on and went to sleep, feeling very sleepy. "Good night, Patch."
"Good night, Arnold..." Patch yawned as he got himself comfortable on the couch.
Arnold looked at the Dalmatian puppy oddly, wondering if he imagined that or not due to being extremely tired, but he shrugged for right now and went straight to sleep.
The rest of the night was peaceful, but something was happening outside that no one could hear from inside the Sunset Arms boarding house. Cherry was the only one who could hear it due to rarely sleeping and she went outside to investigate. Atticus, Patch, and Arnold met, deciding to explore too once they noticed the noise.
"What's going on?" Arnold asked.
"You must be a sound sleeper, Arnold," a tall country boy known as Stinky told him. "They've been hammerin' on it all morning."
"Look!" Sid pointed to a screen that read '30 DAYS UNTIL CONSTRUCTION BEGINS'.
"Wilikers!" Stinky gasped.
"It's so wicked awesome!" Sid cheered.
"No, it's not." Atticus said.
"It's terrible," Arnold added in. "Read it, we got 30 days to save the neighborhood!"
Suddenly, the screen changed to show the man they all saw yesterday.
"It's that Sheck feller." Stinky noticed.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Cherry deadpanned.
"My name's Stinky, but yer welcome..." the boy told her.
Cherry groaned with an eye roll.
"We've got to get to work into saving the neighborhood." Patch said.
'It's time for a new world,' Sheck told the people like he did yesterday. 'Out with the old, in with the new. I have seen the future and it's Future Tech Industries.'
"He sure gives me the willies..." Stinky shivered.
"But you gotta admit," Gerald smirked. "He sure looks good in a suit."
"Who cares if he looks good in the suit?" Patch growled.
"Gerald." Arnold said to his best friend.
"I know, I'm just sayin'." Gerald shrugged innocently.
"Come on!" Arnold told him, deciding to make the most out of the time they had to get people to stop Future-Tech Industries.
"Hopefully one of these does work." Patch hoped.
Arnold and Gerald made paper copies about stopping the industries and even gave out hot dogs to people. The girl from earlier even bought a hot dog, but when she saw that it was to stop the FTI, she crumbled up the paper and walked away with a deep scowl.
"What's her problem?" Patch asked.
"That's just how Helga is..." Arnold sighed, not surprised that the girl had done that.
"Wait, Arnold, did you just speak to me?" Patch asked with a smile.
Arnold looked to the puppy, a little shocked. "I... I guess I did..."
"B-But how?" Patch asked.
"Wait a minute, last night, I felt something strange happen to me before I went to bed." Arnold told the Dalmatian.
"You did?" Patch tilted his head in curiosity.
"Yeah..." Arnold replied. "I'm not sure how to explain it though..."
Patch smiled. "Well, I'm glad that it happened."
Arnold smiled too, he then decided to give Patch one of the leftover hot dogs.
"Thanks." Patch smiled before eating the leftover food.
Arnold smiled as he and the others still tried to convince the others. The days were going by really fast and so far, Future-Tech Industries still refused to give in to their petty attempts. Nothing seemed to be working.
"Six days left." Patch frowned.
"Six days to go and then sayonara, suckers!" the Jolly Olly Man laughed as he slammed his ice cream truck window shut.
"Man, the days go by, don't they?" Cherry sighed, sounding more miserable than usual. "Now what do we do?"
"Six days..." Arnold sighed as well. "Enough time to try maybe one last big thing. But what?"
"How about a party?" Rhonda suggested. "You always throw the most outré parties, Arnold."
"Yeah, a party is a perfect idea." Patch smiled.
"A block party." Arnold had a high hopeful smile. "With music and food..."
"And finger sandwiches." Rhonda gushed.
"Yeah, and food!" Harold added as he ate a chocolate ice cream bar.
"We should do a concert," Cherry suggested. "The music would be so loud that the news would see us and then that would have to make Future-Tech back off and people would be excited!"
"That would have to make the mayor change her mind." Arnold added in to that.
"So what should the party be called?" Atticus asked.
"How about 'Save the Neighborhood Debutante Ball'?" Rhonda offered.
The boys, even Cherry, didn't like the sound of that.
"'Block Power', baby!" Gerald offered, rising his fist.
"Blockenanny!" Stinky offered.
"Block Til Ya Drop!" Eugene offered before he instantly fell down.
"It's a 'Block Thing'," Gerald folded his arms. "Y'all wouldn't know."
"Block party, uh, party?" Sid offered.
"Arnold what about Blockapalooza?" Patch asked.
"Blockapalooza?" Arnold asked.
This won the other kids over though, liking that name.
"Okay, I'll need paper, WiFi access, and a copier," Cherry stepped in, being the artistic one. "I'll make flyers."
"Perfect." Atticus smiled.
"This is going to be so awesome!" Patch yipped.