Chapter Two

Lina woke up around five in the morning before she looked out her apartment's window; Robbie's home was a few meters away. She decided to eat some fruit before she brushed her teeth and changed her clothes for going out. Very few people were outside this early, yet she was glad. She breathed in the morning air and letting it out. She wondered, though, when Robbie's usual time to wake up was. If he was going to sleep all morning, she had to change that. It was unhealthy of him to be sleeping too much while sleeping too little would do the same. She would just let it be and observe first before she tried to do something. She then left to the sports field and just smiled.

"If there was hockey, it would be perfect," she whispered before she picked up a basketball.

She began to bounce the basketball a few times before throwing it and scoring. She continued to play basketball for a while, and she scored every time while doing so. It wasn't long before she met the blue-uniformed man falling from his airship. For some reason, she wasn't so surprised at his sudden appearance.

"Hi! My name is Sportacus," he greeted warmly while smiling his famous smile. He showed his hand for her to shake before she did so.

"My name is Lina. Lina Leisurely. Nice to meet you," she greeted back with her own smile. They both stopped shaking hands before Sportacus strikes up a conversation.

"I haven't seen you around before. Are you new?" He asked.

"I'm not new per say. I was born here, you see, and returned to meet a friend," she told him. Sportacus just nodded before he remembered her playing basketball.

"Want to play one-on-one?" He asked, pointing at the basketball. Lina smiled and nodded.

"Sure, but I've got to say, I'm a toughie," she playfully warned him. Sportacus nodded.

"Thanks for the warning. Would you like to play offense or defense first?"

"Eh, I'm not picky. You choose," she told him. Sportacus nodded and thought for a bit before he smiled.

"I'll play defense then," he told her. She nodded with a smirk.

"Don't regret it later."

They started the game with Lina bouncing the ball. Sportacus followed her every move, not letting her shoot a basket. She then faked a right before going left and shooting and scoring.

"One point for me," she told him with a smile. He nodded.

"I guess so."

They started to play again, and this time it was Sportacus' win.

"And a point for me," Sportacus said with a victory gesture.

"Oh, but for how long?" Lina smirked before checking the ball to him.

Sportacus tried to score again, but Lina took the ball from his hands and started dribbling it. Sportacus went on defense, blocking Lina's every move. She faked a right then faked a left. She went right once again and Sportacus took the bait and went left. She jumps and shoots, scoring one more score for her.

"You're good," Sportacus told her. She winked at him.

"But of course, practice helps."

They played like that for thirty minutes. And in those thirty minutes, Sportacus won one score more than Lina. They took a break while Sportacus got some apples and bottles of water for both of them.

"Thanks," Lina said before cleaning the apple with water before biting into it. "Such a good workout, I must say."

Sportacus nodded in agreement. After taking a sip of H2O and eating an apple, he stood up and started to do pushups. Lina watched him while doing so and smiled.

Not before long, Robbie Rotten woke up earlier than he had ever expected. Something felt wrong to him, so he immediately got out of his comfy armchair and looked through his periscope. He looked around and then screamed. He watched Lina and Sportacus together, chatting and smiling at each other. Robbie scrunched his nose in an unpleased manner and crossed his arms while doing so. His shoulders rose to his neck.

"What is she doing with him? Why is she smiling?" He asked loudly only to himself.

He paced back and forth unhappily. He then decided to get dressed and get to where she was. He wouldn't let her get mesmerized by that Sportakook if that was the last thing he would ever do. When he got to the two adults, he was immediately greeted by Lina followed by Sportacus.

"Morning, Robbie," she greeted and then grinned happily at him.

"Woah, this is the first time you woke up this early, Robbie," Sportacus commented with his own smile. Robbie flinched in disgust at the shining above average hero.

"Whatever. Why are you two together," Robbie asked, sounding rude like always.

"Are you jealous, Robbie?" Lina asked, smiling mischievously. Robbie reacted with widened eyes of shock and his mouth open. He turned back to normal after several seconds.

"Of course not! Psh, why would I be jealous of Sportakook?" He said, making his face easily readable that he was.

"Then you wouldn't mind playing basketball with me since that was the reason why we were chatting in the first place," Lina told him, trapping him to workout. Robbie gasped but then coughed.

"I do not play. It's too much work," Robbie told her. Lina shrugged in reaction, not showing that much of a surprise.

"Well, if that's what you want, I will just ask Sportacus to play then," Lina told him and looked over at Sportacus with a smile.

Robbie became shocked once again. He looked from Lina to Sportacus and then from Sportacus to Lina. He suddenly swung his arms around and about like a little kid with a temper tantrum and got between Sportacus and Lina.

"I'll play!" He yelled angrily, crossing his arms.

Sportacus winked at Lina as she winked at him back. Lina then looked over at Robbie with a smile and her hands on his shoulders and started messaging them. Robbie felt his shoulders relax and his arms released the tension with his arms now at his sides. When he saw him relaxed, she suddenly slapped his back lightly and smiled.

"Now, we need to work out before we play basketball. We don't want any cramps to come up when we play," Lina told him while Robbie became shocked but muttered incoherent words before doing so.

They started to stretch their bodies before doing jumping jacks. By that time, Robbie was already tired. Lina shook her head and gave him an apple. Robbie's nose scrunched once more in disgust and pushed it back to her. She shrugged and bit off the apple.

"Ready to play basketball, Robbie?" She asked while Robbie was sitting on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Does it look like I am?" He yelled angrily. Lina sighed and sat by Robbie.

"I guess we shouldn't play basketball then. Well, Sportacus, it's nice to meet you, but I'm going to take Robbie back home," Lina told him as she saw that Robbie used up too much energy that only those with unhealthy habits have.

"I'll do it. I don't think a girl carrying a guy is a good idea," Sportacus told her as Lina shrugged.

"No way! I'm not letting him carry me anywhere!" Robbie yelled before coughing.

"Don't worry, Sportacus. I don't think he'll lose his dignity when you, him and I are the only ones here. And anyways, I'm quite strong," she told him before she gave Robbie a piggy-back ride without any problems. "See ya, Sportacus."

She started walking while Robbie's head lay on Lina's shoulder. Her scent smelled like fruit. Even though he hated the disgusting stuff, he liked that smell on her. He felt quite relaxed with just that and then he started to snore. Lina looked over at her side and just shook her head and smiled.

"Rest well, Robbie," she whispered.

When she finally got to his home. She gently laid him down. Robbie moved around before he felt comfortable and continued to snore. Lina chuckled at his silliness before she opened the hatch to his home. She gently nudged Robbie, but he continued to snore. Lina sighed before she nudged a bit harder. He suddenly sat up with his face only an inch away from Lina's.

"Wah!" He yelled before Lina stood up and covered her nose.

"Woah, Robbie. Your breath smells terrible," Lina told him. Robbie smelled his own breath and shrieked.

"Oh, well..." He started as Lina sighed.

"Why don't you go inside and rest? I'll spend my time by myself. It would've been fun to spend it with you though," she said before she left.

Robbie watched her leave while touching his chest. He felt rather weird. He didn't know whether it was a good or a bad thing. But after entering his lair, he couldn't sleep afterwards. He tossed and turned. And being frustrated, he yelled.

Meanwhile, Lina went back to walking around the park. She then found the teenagers from yesterday. They saw her and gathered around her.

"Good morning," Lina greeted them.

"Good morning!" They yelled in unison.

"How do you like Lazytown so far?" Pixel asked while Lina shrugged.

"Haven't stayed long enough to know," she answered.

"Oh yeah, we never got to introduce ourselves. My name is Stephanie," the teenage girl in pink told her.

"I'm Pixel," The gadget guy greeted.

"My name is..." The snooty one paused for effect before he crossed his arms, turned his head away, and said, "Stingy."

"The name is Trixie," the teen wearing three ponytails greeted.

"And I'm Ziggy!" The hyper one yelled excitedly.

"Ah, nice to know you all. And just to remind you all, I'm Lina," she told them. They all nodded.

"Welcome to Lazytown!" They all said in unison.

"Thanks for welcoming me," she told them.

"Do you go to work?" Stingy suddenly ask.

"Me? Well, I'm on vacation," she said.

"Really?" Ziggy asked. Lina chuckled and nodded.

"I just came from BusyCity. You see I'm a freelance photographer for many magazines. Part of my work includes traveling around to photograph things that peaks my interest," she told them with a smile.

"Do you make a lot of money?" Stingy asked, his mouth wide open waiting for an answer.

"Well, I guess you can say that. I do get paid enough for my traveling expenses," she answered.

"Can I see your camera?" Pixel asked. Lina smiled.

"Maybe tomorrow. I didn't bring it today."

"Have you- have you met Sportacus yet?" Ziggy asked.

"Oh yes, played basketball with him about an hour ago. He won by one point," she told them.

"It's no surprise though. He always wins," Pixel said. Everyone agreed.

"So what sport do you like?" Trixie asked.

"Oh, I must say either track or street hockey," she answered. "You guys have quite a lot of questions, don't you?"

Everyone chuckled.

"Well, it's because you're new," Stephanie said.

"You know, we're curious now. Why were you with Robbie Rotten yesterday," asked Trixie. "You seem pretty nice to be with someone as rotten as him."

"Well, I used to be a bully," she started but then she was cut off by everyone gasping before she finished. "But it was because of Robbie who helped me change for the better. Never bullied ever since."

"You mean... Robbie did something good?" Trixie asked, her mouth still wide open.

Lina smiled and said, "Yes, of course."

"What did he do?" Pixel asked. "It doesn't sound like the Robbie that we know."

"I can't say. But I can tell you this, the Robbie you see right now was way different from back then," she told them.

"Yeah, he's more rotten," Stingy said as everyone agreed. Lina sighed before she looked up at the sky.

"Have you ever heard of a hero that wore a number nine on his uniform?" She asked before looking at them in the eyes.

"No..." Ziggy, Stingy, Trixie, and Pixel said in unison.

"I did. A long time ago. It was when I first came here and asked Sportacus for help," Stephanie answered.

"He was the hero of Lazytown back when I was a child, and a very active one at that just like your hero, Sportacus. He was also one of the reasons why I've changed as well. Robbie looked up to our hero and wanted to be just like him, yet his parents were such mean people. They caused chaos to Lazytown. Mind you, Lazytown was just as active as it is now. Children were always playing in the playground or at the park. Those were fun times until things started to turn for the worse," Lina said with a frown.

"Then what happened?" Trixie asked, rather into the story. Everybody nodded as well.

"Maybe another time. Got to give you all some suspense, you know," she answered while they looked disappointed.

"So, did Robbie Rotten really looked up to Number Nine?" Pixel asked.

"Don't tell him this, but yes. He had the whole uniform with the cape and mask. He even tried to be active as Number Nine too.," she told them until Robbie Rotten started stomping towards them.

"Stop right there!" He yelled, cutting in between the teenagers and Lina.

"I thought you were napping, Robbie," Lina told him as he glared right at her.

"I couldn't because of you. You were talking about me," he whispered as Lina shrugged.

"I guess I can't hold my tongue. It's not that bad that they knew you were good once," she told him. He put his hands around her shoulders and started to drag her away from the teens to speak to her privately.

"That's the problem. I don't want them to know. You're making all my hard work go away. Can't you at least keep your mouth shut," he angrily demanded.

"Robbie Rotten. Don't you use that tone on me. If you don't want me to talk about you then fine. Now get your hands off of me," she told him, pushing his hands away.

He flinched but stood up straight and smiled.

"Good," he said while straightening his vest. "Now about spending time with me..."

Lina's hand covered Robbie's mouth while she looked unhappily at him.

"No need. I'll spend it with someone special. If you please excuse me, I've got my time to spend. Now, goodbye," she told him, turning her head away from him before walking away. She bid the teens farewell before she left them as well.

"Someone special?" He questioned to himself with a nervous and disappointed look. "Who would it be?"

"Did you see that? Robbie must've said something mean to her. I can't imagine him being good at all," Pixel said as the teens nodded in agreement.

While he was thinking, Robbie felt someone was watching him. He turned around to see those blasted teenagers and growled.

"What are all of you staring at?" He yelled before stomping off to his home to think quietly once more.

Robbie started to pace as soon as he stood inside his lair. He tapped his right temple with his index finger, hoping to help his brain start working for an answer. It was only a few seconds later that he stood up and gasped horribly.

"No! It can't be. It shouldn't be. It better not be." He crossed his arms with a frown while his shoulders tensed up. "In no way will I let her go near him."