The Big Little Mess
By: LA Suka
Stephanie invited all her friends over to play in her new slip and slide. It was a pretty hot day so she thought it would be a great way to cool off. Soon all of her friends showed up and started playing with her accept for Stingy.
"Hey Stephanie!" A familiar voice called just when she started to wonder where he was.
"Stingy! Do you want to play with us?" Stephanie smiled happy to see him.
Stingy didn't want to get wet even though it was hot. He looked at his friends disapprovingly and shook his head.
"No thank you, but look what I found." He said holding up a strange looking gun.
"Wow!" all the kids said gathering around Stingy.
"What does it do?" Pixel asked.
"It shrinks stuff!"
They all looked at him like he was crazy.
"I don't believe it. Prove it." Trixi said crossing her arms.
Stingy looked around for something to shrink and saw a big rock.
"There!" He said pointing to the rock. "I'll shrink that rock and prove it!"
"I don't think this is a good idea." Stephanie said as usual being the voice of reason but did he listen...
"Okay... prepare to be totally amazed!" He said pointing and pulling the trigger. A bright red beam came out of the gun hitting the rock. Instantly the rock shrunk to the size of a pebble."
All at once, everyone started saying how wonderful and amazing.
"Wow! That's amazing! Can I try it?" Ziggy asked reaching for it. Stingy quickly pulled it away.
"No! This is MINE... and no one else can use it."
"Stingy, where did you find that? I don't think you should be playing with it. Some one could get hurt." Stephanie said.
"I found it under the big bill board. And don't worry Stephanie; I'll be careful with it."
"Stingy I really think we should tell some one. Besides, how would you feel if you lost something special and then some one else found it and didn't return it?"
Stingy was getting tired of listening to Stephanie go on about how dangerous the shrinking gun was. "Well that would never happen to me because I'm careful with my stuff. They should have been more careful! "
"Well that's not very nice..." Ziggy muttered. Stephanie shook her head sadly and walked away. She couldn't understand how her friend could be so selfish and stupid.
"Come on guys! Let's play!"
"Yeah I don't need no stinking shrinking gun to have fun!" Trixi shouted looking back and giving Stingy a dirty looking.
Stingy turned and left his friends. He would go have to go and play some where else with his new toy where nobody would try to take it away from him.
What nobody knew was that Robbie Rotten had watched the whole thing.
Underground...
Robbie Rotten shut the periscope angrily and pushed it away hard. It bounced and came back at him hitting him square in the back knocking him over the railing screaming.
"ouch..."
He pulled himself up grabbing onto the railing but he was having a lot of difficulty. His arms were shaking like jelly from the strain.
Finally he stood up on wobbly legs and wiped away the imaginary sweat from his brow.
"That's my shrinking gun! I was wondering where that thing went to. I spent months working on it, and now those kids have found it!"
Trying to vent his anger he kicks at his chair and stubs his big toe.
"Ahhhhhh!" He screamed grabbing his injured toe and started hopping around the room.
When the throbbing finally stopped he leaned over the back of his chair trying to get his breath back.
"I must … gasp! get my shrinking gun back! I was going to use it on Sportabutt!" He spat out the name like it was the nastiest thing he'd ever tasted.
Back up in Lazytown...
Stingy was walking home when some strange kid came up to him out of no where.
"Wow your tall!" He said looking up at the Robbie in disguise. Robbie quickly thought up an excuse.
"Well I uh... I eat lots of candy and um... watch a lot of TV all day! Yeah! That's it! That's why I'm so tall!"
"Wow! I thought doing that stuff was bad for you!" He said thinking about what Sportacus always tells them.
"Well of course it's good for you if you want to get tall like me."
"Oh... What's your name? My name is Stingy."
Robbie forgot what his name was supposed to be! It took him a few second to remember.
"Oh, my names Jimmy!" He said patting his chest.
"Well nice meeting you Jimmy but I have to go…" Stingy said trying to get away but Robbie jumped in front of him.
"What's that hanging on your pants?"
Stingy stopped and looked down at his gun. He didn't really want to tell Jimmy about the shrinking gun. Now he wished he'd stayed with his friends. At least he really knew that they wouldn't try to steal it from him. Could he trust this new kid?
"Uh… Well it's my shrinking gun." He explained covering protectively with his hand.
"That's really neat. Can I look at it?"
Stingy started to shake. This kid looked a lot bigger than him and if he wanted to, he could just steal the gun from him. He started backing away without realizing it and Jimmy followed him.
"No… I don't think so. Sorry Jimmy but I really have to go home now." Stingy said trying to get around him but he kept stepping in his way.
"Hey stop! Let me go!"
Robbie laughed and snatched the shrinking gun away from Stingy before Stingy could stop him.
"Hey that's mine! Give it back!" He cried jumping up to try and reach it but Robbie held it high above his head.
Earlier at Stephanie's house...
Everyone was having a good time but Stephanie. She couldn't stop worrying about the shrinking gun Stingy had. What if he shrunk something he wasn't supposed to and got in trouble? Was there a way to reverse the shrinking in case he shrunk a person or something?
"Stephanie come on! Come slide in the slip and slide!" Trixi yelled taking a dive on the slip and slide. Pixel and Ziggy laughed at her.
Stephanie couldn't just stand there anymore she had to do something.
"I'll be right back!" She called running into the house to get a piece of paper and pen.
The others stopped playing and watched her.
"What's Pinky up to?" Trixi wondered out loud. The other just shrugged and kept playing.
In her uncles house Stephanie was writing a quick letter to Sportacus.
Sprotacus! Come quick! Stingy is in trouble!
Stephanie
She threw down her pen, quickly stuffing the letter into a mail tube. She ran outside to the mail box and slipped the letter inside. Praying it reached it's destination, she pulled back the handle and released it. The letter shot up into the air and disappeared in the clouds.
Up in the airship Sportacus was eating a healthy lunch.
"Whole wheat bread, turkey, broccoli sprouts, a little mustard and baby carrots! Yum!"
He took a bit of his broccoli sprouts and then realized he didn't have anything nutritious to drink.
"I know! Orange juice!" He shouted to no one. He did his famous move with his arms and leg and then did a back flip/twist to the door.
"Door!" He shouted at it. Everything in his air ship was voice activated so the door slid right open letting in the bright sun light. It was a beautiful day today in Lazytown and Sportacus couldn't wait to get out and see what everyone was doing.
He flipped and landed on his hands onto the platform outside. He easily walked to the edge of the platform balancing on his hands, ending with another flip back onto his feet.
"I need some fresh fruit!" He shouted and grabbed a bungee cord. With his impressive slightly above average hero powers, he swung the end of the bungee cord around and around at his sides until it snapped into place at the end of the platform under him, securely locking it into place.
He gave it a good tug to make sure it wasn't coming out and nodded his head with satisfaction. Confident he was safe, he wrapped the other end of the bungee cord around his ankles as he spun up in the air. Once it was wrapped good around his ankles he leapt off the edge of the platform and started plummeting towards the Earth.
A few hundred feet below was a little orange grove. Just before he hit the ground head first the cord stopped him and he grabbed a big ripe orange off of a little orange tree. In just a few seconds Sportacus was standing safely back up on the edge of the platform holding his orange.
He gave it a big kiss. "Ahh! Now for some freshly squeezed orange juice!" He was about to head back in when he noticed something coming up fast from the ground. He squinted his eyes and looked harder. As it got closer, he saw what it was.
"Some one is sending me mail!" He said excitedly and ran in to receive it. He did some more of his flips and turns and landed just in time to catch the mail.
He quickly opened the tube and read the letter.
"Stingy is in trouble! Come Quick!" Sportacus read out loud holding up the paper.
"Don't worry Stingy! I'm on my way!"
Just as he went to grab his stuff his crystal went off.
"Oh no! Stingy really is in trouble now! I better hurry!" He shouted jumping into the pilots seat and flew the air ship over Lazytown.
Back down on the ground…
Robbie Rotten finally had his shrinking gun back.
"Now I can shrink Sportajock! Then, I can put him in a box and ship him to Timbuktu! Hahahahaha!" He laughed insanely running down the road. Up ahead he spotted Stephanie waiting by the mail box. He smiled mischievously and sneaked up behind her.
He could shrink the annoying pink girl first to see if it still worked properly. Stephanie didn't see him coming and the other kids were too busy playing to notice Robbie Rotten sneaking up on her.
He was about to zap her when out of the sky a blue elf landed in front of him.
"Robbie! Drop it right now before some one gets hurt!" Sportacus said drawing everyone's attention to him. Stephanie turned around and gasped.
"Sportacus!" She said happy to see him.
Sportacus looked back at her and winked. She gave him a enthusiastic thumbs up and ran for cover behind a tree.
He turned back to Robbie and held out his hand.
"Now Robbie. Give me the gun."
Robbie simply laughed and fired at him. Sportacus saw it coming and dodged it just in time. Robbie soon got fed up trying to shoot Sportacus so instead aimed once again at Stephanie who was out from behind the tree.
Terrified for Stephanie Sportacus jumped in front of her, taking the hit instead. Instantly, Sportacus was shrunk down to the height of a oh… say a celery stick!
All the kids stood there stunned!
Robbie couldn't have been happier. He was so happy he actually felt like dancing!
To everyone's dismay, he did start dancing around in a circle shouting out… "I did it! I did it! I shrunk the blue elf! Hahahahaha!"
Stephanie snapped out of it and ran to Sportacus getting down on her knees.
"Sportacus! Are you okay!" She cried on the verge of tears.
Sportacus didn't say anything at first. He was too stunned and dizzy.
He looked like he was going to fall over so Stephanie gently picked him up and held him in her hands.
Meanwhile Robbie wasn't even paying attention to them; he was too busy dancing around and singing to himself like an idiot.
"Sportacus?" She asked softly praying he was okay.
Finally he shook his head and looked up at her face.
"Stephanie, I think I'm okay…" He said feeling a little woozy. "But, we have to get that shrinking gun back from Robbie before he shrinks some one else!"
"What do I do?" She asked.
"Just go over there and grab it while he is not paying attention and grab it."
"Okay!"
"But please be careful, Stephanie!"
Stephanie nodded and gently put him in her pocket. Trixi, Pixel and Ziggy ran up to her and stared at Sportacus sitting in her pocket sticking his head out.
"Oh my…." Trixi started to say but Stephanie interrupted her.
"Guys! You have to help me get back that shrinking gun. If he stops dancing around, can you'll distract him while I sneak up behind him and grab it?"
"You can count on me Stephanie!" Ziggy said standing like Sportacus always does with his chest out and his hands resting on his hips.
"Me too Stephanie! You can count on me!" Pixel said also posing.
"And me! You can bet I'm going to help too!" Trixi added. Stephanie smiled at her brave friends.
"Thanks guys, I knew I could count on you." She said looking over at Robbie.
"Okay, here goes!" She said making Sportacus's famous move before sneaking up to Robbie but then he stopped dancing.
"Oh no! He stopped!" She whispered to Sportacus.
"Quick Stephanie, hide behind that wall!" Sportacus said pointing.
She quickly hid behind the wall like he said and waited for her friends to distract Robbie.
Trixi, Pixel and Ziggy saw Robbie stop dancing.
"Hey Robbie! You stink like yesterday's tuna!" Trixi yelled getting his attention. Robbie glared at her.
"What did you say you little peep squeak!" He growled.
"I said you stink like old rotten tuna Robbie!"
Ziggy squeaked behind her.
"Trixi, don't make him too mad!" He whimpered. Trixi rolled her eyes at Ziggy and stuck her tongue out at Robbie when she was sure he was looking at her.
"Hey Robbie stinky toes! I bet you can't even hit the broad side of a barn with that thing!" Pixel said getting the others to laugh.
By now Robbie was turning purple in the face. How dare they insult him!
"Oh yeah? Well I bet I can hit you!" He said aiming at them. The kids screamed and hid behind a bench.
"Now Stephanie! Grab the gun!" Sportacus yelled.
Stephanie sprang up and ran up behind Robbie. He fired and hit the bench shrinking it. Now the kids were totally exposed.
Robbie smiled and took his final aim at the kids but before he push the button to fire, the gun was yanked out of his hands. Spinning around he saw Stephanie, and now she had the gun pointed at him.
He shrieked and held up his hands.
"Don't shoot me, please!" He begged pathetically.
"Your pathetic Robbie. Why shouldn't I shoot you? You shrunk Sportacus and you were trying to shoot my other friends!"
Robbie didn't want to be shrunken! He got down on his knees and started begging.
"Wait! Wait don't shoot! I know how to reverse the affects!"
Stephanie smiled. She knew she could get to tell her how to change Sportacus back if she just threatened him a little bit. He was too chicken to try anything else.
"How?" She said threateningly still aiming the shrinking gun at him.
"All you have to do, is pull out that little piece of metal from the bottom of the barrel of the gun!"
Stephanie watched him out of the corner of her eyes while she looked under the gun like he said to and sure enough there was a little piece of metal sticking out. She grabbed it and pulled it out but nothing happened.
"Now what?" She demanded impatiently.
"Now the gun works in reverse. What ever was shrunk, can now be unshrunk!"
"Robbie if your making this up I promise I'll shrink you!"
"No, I'm not making this up! I promise!" He begged nearly crying.
Stephanie reached down so Sportacus could jump into her hand. He back flipped into her hand and she lowered him to the ground.
"Are you ready?" She asked him nervously.
He nodded his head in response and stood up tall. "I'm ready Stephanie! Do it!"
She aimed the gun at Sportacus but couldn't get her finger to push the button.
"I… I can't Sportacus. I'm too afraid." She said trembling.
"I know you can do it Stephanie. I trust you." He said smiling. "You've been so brave already."
She smiled feeling a little better. Well if he trusted her, then she could do it and everything would be fine.
"Okay… here goes!" She said pushing the little red button on the shrinking gun. Now instead of a red beam coming out, a blue one did. Just like that, Sportacus was back to his old self again.
Stephanie sighed with relief and almost dropped the gun. Sportacus walked up to her and bent down to give her a hug.
"Thank you Stephanie." He said giving her a soft kiss on her forehead. She gave him the gun and he stood up looking at the other kids.
"Thank you guys! I wouldn't have been able to do it without you too!" Trixi, Pixel and Ziggy all blushed.
"And now, time to destroy this thing!" He said raising it up in the air and throwing it as hard as he could to the ground. The shrinking gun smashed and shattered into little pieces at his feet.
Robbie groaned and slumped over on the ground sobbing over dramatically.
"Go home Robbie and don't invent anything like this ever again." Sportacus said giving him a stern look. "Because if anyone would have gotten seriously hurt from your shrinking gun, I don't think I could have been able to forgive you this time."
Robbie bit back a nasty remark and ran off tripping over a thorny bush. He quickly got back up yelping and pulling thorns out of his butt. The kids laughed and waved at him.
"Bye Robbie Stinky toes!" Pixel called and the others laughed harder.
Then all at once the kids started jumping up and down cheering for Sportacus.
"Sportacus! It's so good to have you back to normal!" Ziggy said.
"Yes! It feels good to be back to normal!" He laughed patting himself.
"Hey guys!" Stingy yelled joining them. "What happened here?" He asked looking down at the smashed Shrinking gun. His eyes got real wide.
"What happened to my gun!"
Sportacus shook his head and the others groaned loudly.
Stephanie put her hand on his shoulder. "It's a long story Stingy but everything is okay now." She said looking up at Sportacus holding her other hand out to him. He smiled and took her hand. It was time to dance!
Everyone danced along as Stephanie and Sportacus danced and sang their song.
Bing Bang digga rigga Dong
Funny words I sing when I am dancing
Bing Bang digga rigga Dong
Silly words that can mean anything
Get on up it's time to dance yeah
It's so much fun being up on our feet
So we go up up
To the top
Move around and clap your hands together
Down down turn around
Having fun is what it's all about
Stephanie and Sportacus waved good bye to each other as Sportacus climbed up his ladder.
The End