AUTHOR'S NOTE: "Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in." Well, okay then! Ya gots to give 'em what they want! Here we go! Day 3!

WARNING: This chapter gets a little graphic in the middle but I think it serves the story well. ;)

DAY THREE: LOOSE ENDS

The day started out the way it always does in LazyTown. Stephanie, Pixel, Ziggy, Stingy and Trixie were playing baseball in the field, having a great time when a storm cloud suddenly came into view.

"Uh-oh." Ziggy said as he looked up. "Storm's-a coming."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Ziggy!" Stephanie said as she went up to bat. "Let's finish this game and we'll figure out what to do next."

Everyone concurred and went ahead to finish the game they had started. Ziggy held the baseball in his hand and waited a few moments before making his pitch.

"C'mon, Ziggy!" Trixie called out. "Are you going to pose all day or pitch!?"

"Shh! I'm trying to concentrate!" He snapped.

Stephanie then started to razz the blue-eyed boy. "Why? Did you read a carton of OJ again!?"

The pink-haired girl snickered as Ziggy furiously growled and hurled the ball towards her. The ball zoomed straight towards the young girl, knocking her in the face and onto the floor as the plastic pink bat shot out of her hands and thwacking Pixel in the face.

"Hey, man!" Pixel whined. He then noticed Stephanie lying motionless on the ground. "Stephanie?" He asked, hoping for a response.

The children quickly huddled around their friend and stared at her unconscious face, wondering what to do now.

"Are you happy, Ziggy!?" Trixie shouted. "You killed Stephanie!"

"I, uhh…" Ziggy was now incredibly nervous. "I didn't mean to!"

Stingy then got an idea. "Well you know what that means, right?"

"What?" Pixel asked.

"Her bat's mine! I called it first! It's mine now!" Stingy then ran off to get the pink baseball bat.

Stephanie slowly opened her eyes and got back on her feet, unharmed and acting like nothing had happened. She noticed her friends giving her a concerned look.

"What?" She asked.

"Are you okay?" Ziggy ran over and hugged her then sobbed. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kill you! It was an accident! You were right! I did read a carton of OJ that said 'concentrate'! Please! don't' die! Don't--oh, wait a minute." He immediately let go of her. "Never mind."

A few bolts of lightning later and the kids soon found themselves hanging out at Pixel's house, playing video games.

"Yo mama! Yo mama!" A pixilated character from the game quipped.

"Ooh! You got owned, Ziggy!" Trixie laughed as she shoved the blond-haired boy playfully.

"No! You cheated, Pixel!"

"No, I didn't. You're just bad at this game." The boy smirked.

Moments later, the kids had played every video game on the console and still the rain kept falling. Stephanie looked out the window, bored and desperate to do something.

"What now?" Stingy sighed.

"I don't know. Let's see what's on." Pixel said as he flipped through the channels on his TV set.

One of the channels began showing a talk show as its announcer introduced the host. "And now it's the Tony Danza Show!"

"Eww!" The kids moaned as Stephanie noticed her skin starting to itch.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Trixie asked her friend.

"I don't know." Stephanie said as she started to scratch her arm, which was immediately developing a rash. "Ch-change the channel, man."

Pixel nodded then kept flipping through the channels until he stopped on a rainy day movie already in progress.

"And now we return to Barbara Streisand in 'Yentl'!"

"No!" Stephanie screamed as her skin started to smoke and sizzle. "Make it stop, Pixel! Make it stop!"

"Whoa, okay! Hold on!" Pixel quickly flipped through more channels.

"What's wrong, Stephanie!?" Ziggy was worried.

"The TV! Bad shows! Awful talk show hosts! Skin… burning! Make it… stop!" She wailed in pain as Pixel continued channel surfing.

"Okay, I think I found something!" Pixel said as he stopped on a news program. "There. It's only the news."

"Hello and welcome! I'm Geraldo Rivera!" The douche-bag anchor said as his face appeared on the screen, startling everyone in the room and causing Pixel to drop the remote.

"Noooo!" Stephanie screeched as her skin went out of control, boiling and sizzling with a severe amount of smoke poring through.

"Oh, no!" Pixel desperately tried to pick up the scattered batteries from the floor. "You guys! Help me!"

"I can't find the other battery!" Ziggy said in a panic.

"Is this it?" Trixie asked as she held up a dead rat.

"That's a rat, you idiot! Not a battery!" Pixel shouted.

"I know!" The girl burst out laughing. "It's fake though, so don't worry about it!"

"We don't have time for this!" Stingy griped. "Can't you see Stephanie's burning up!?" The sleepy-eyed brat then rushed over to his burning, pink friend. "Stephanie? If you don't make it, can I have your stuff?"

While still in pain, Stephanie punched the boy out as her skin continued to boil, sizzle, smoke and blister. "K-kill me…" She said under hear breath.

"Oh, forget this!" Pixel said as he head-butted the television set, destroying it completely.

Moments later, the smoke cleared and all the blisters and boils on Stephanie's skin died down but she was still badly burned. She was breathing heavily as her lungs desperately tried to support enough oxygen.

"Ooh, that's nasty." Trixie said.

"You guys, we've gotta do something!" Ziggy said.

"You're right." Pixel nodded. "Where's Sportacus?"

¬¬¬¬¬ SPORTACUS' AIRSHIP ¬¬¬¬¬

"What do you mean I'm being audited!?" The hero shouted on the phone.

¬¬¬¬¬

Back inside his home, Pixel sighed heavily and looked at his friends. "Well, I guess it's up to us then."

"What are we going to do?" A teary-eyed Trixie asked.

TWO HOURS LATER…

In a hidden room somewhere in Pixel's house, a burned up Stephanie lied on a medical table as several machines and wires were hovering above, supplying her with oxygen and treatment for the burns.

"Where… where am I?" An out of breath Stephanie asked.

Suddenly, Pixel, Ziggy, Trixie and Stingy appeared in the room wearing white lab coats and face masks.

"Okay." Pixel said to one of his machines. "Strap on the suit."

The machine nodded and slipped a black, leathery suit over Stephanie's body and tucked it in place. The suit had a black cape that draped back and a chest plate that had an empty frame.

"Lower the panel!" Pixel commanded another robot.

A slender looking robot lowered a control panel on the chest plate's frame and drilled it in tight. The panel had red, white and green switches with various knobs and lights. Pixel then pressed a few buttons on his computer wristband, calling forth yet another robot.

"What's that?" Stingy asked.

"The finishing touch." Pixel said with a grin.

The robot slowly lowered a familiar looking helmet as the infrared lenses began to blip, causing Stephanie to look up in awe. As the helmet covered Stephanie's face completely, the airlock hissed and indicated the suit's respirator was now in use. A deep and eerie breathing noise could now be heard coming from the young girl behind the mask.

"You did it, Pixel!" Trixie said with joy.

"Stephanie…" Pixel said in a raspy voice. "…Rise."

The medical table slowly tilted upward as a cloud of steam fogged the area. Stephanie was now wearing a familiar looking black suit and helmet with an eeire breathing noise known throughout the world.

"It's a miracle!" Ziggy giggled.

Just then, the head on the young girl's body fell back and onto the floor, prompting everyone to exchange looks.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Stingy asked.

Pixel thought for a moment. "Hmm… there was nothing wrong with her head to start with, was there?"

Everyone shook their heads as Pixel sighed and slapped his hand on his face, embarrassed by the critical error he had made. "Crap." Was all he said.

TWO MORE HOURS LATER…

The girl in the mechanical suit arose once again but without the same dramatic effect. As she remained shackled to the table, Stephanie looked around and noticed the suit she was wearing.

"Hé, que porte-je ? Où sont je ?" A deep French voice came from the suit.

"What did she say?" Stingy asked.

"Oh, wait. Let me change the translation settings." Pixel said as he adjusted a few knobs on the suit's chest plate.

The same deep voice came out of the helmet but it was in plain English this time. "What happened to me? What did you do?" She said through the deep breathing noises.

"I'm afraid this was the only way to save you." Pixel said. "The burns on your skin were severe."

"What? No, you idiot! That always happens when I'm around bad TV! The burns go away in less than an hour!"

"Really?" Everyone asked.

"Yes, really!" The deep voice sighed. "Now get me out of this thing!"

"Uhh… we can't." Pixel said.

"What do you mean you can't!?"

"I mean I can't! The seal on that suit's permanent! There's no going back now! You're stuck in it!"

Angry, Darth Stephanie ripped through her shackles and slowly walked on the floor, shaking everything around her.

"Noooooooooooo!" She shouted with agony.

LATER THAT DAY…

After the rain had gone, Stephanie returned home and sat on the couch in her new high-tech suit and a juice box in her hand. The breathing sound remained constant now but she had no choice but to live with it.

"Well… I guess I could get used to this." She said as she unleashed a pink laser blade from a funny-looking tube.

Just then, Milford walked in the living room and was startled at the black-suited menace. "Oh, dear! Who are you!? What do you want!?"

Stephanie slowly got up and approached her uncle but the man just backed away some more until he cornered himself without any hope of escape.

"Let me explain…" Stephanie's new deep voice started. "Your not going to believe this but--"

"Of course I do!" The mayor interrupted. "You're an evil menace!" He then gasped. "What did you do to Stephanie!? Where is she!? Where's my niece!?" He gasped again. "Oh, dear. You did something to her, didn't you!?"

Stephanie shook her head. "No. I am your niece…"

"Noooooo! That's not true! That's impossible!"

NOTE: Okay, that's it for Day Three. As I said, I'll only update this story as long as you let me know you want more. In the meantime, I'll be working on my other LazyTown story and update this one in between. I can multitask, folks! It's no problem! So send in those reviews and let me know what to do next! Please? I'll cry if you don't…. actually, I can't. No tear ducts.