A/N: Sooooo...it's been over a year since I updated this. But like I said before, I will never abandon this. I already know how it's going to go, I just haven't typed it. You'd think that being done with college would mean lots of free time, and yet oddly enough, it doesn't. However, I don't want to give a bunch of excuses for why it's been so long. Instead, please accept my apologies and this update!
To brittany: I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one!
To Doubletrouble14: Admittedly, I drifted away from Lazytown for a while. It's actually the "We're Number One" meme that pulled me back in, and I was all, "I never finished 'Green Bracelet'! I'm going to do that!" Also, the whole Magnus being the name of Amy's 'boyfriend' makes me snicker every time I remember it. I'm glad you enjoyed that, haha.
Amy slept through the entire rest of the day. When she woke up the following day, she was disoriented. Not to mention slightly feverish and nauseous. She crawled out of her bed to use the bathroom, then slowly crawled back into it, shivering as she got under the blankets. No sooner had she gotten herself situated than she felt a slight itch inside her nose.
"Oh, no—AH-CHOO!" she sneezed. The itch persisted, and she sneezed several more times before the itch stopped.
"Amy?" a small voice asked from across the room. Amy looked up to see Stephanie peeking into the room.
"Oh, hi, Steph," she said with a smile. Well, she hoped it at least resembled a smile. It felt more like a scowl. "What's up?"
"I brought you some breakfast," the pink-haired girl explained, opening the door wider and entering the room.
Amy took one look at the tray of yummy food and felt like she was going to throw up. "Thanks, Steph, but I'm really not feeling like eating right now." She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her mouth.
"But this'll help you feel better!" Stephanie persisted. Amy shook her head, regretting it almost instantaneously. Now she had a headache, too. "At least drink water." Stephanie set the tray down on Amy's desk and brought over a tall glass of water.
Amy took the glass and chugged it. She swallowed a bit too much too fast, though, and started coughing. "Sorry," she apologized in a rough voice when she had stopped. Great, now she'd coughed all over Sportacus and Stephanie. It would be a miracle if they didn't catch her cold.
Stephanie paid no mind to Amy's apology. "It's okay," she said with a smile. "I'm gonna go outside and hang out with the others for a while, but I'll be back to bring you lunch, okay?"
Amy watched as her cousin picked up the tray and left the room. "Thanks, Steph," she called hoarsely. She stared at the closed door for a minute before turning her back to it. "Sleep is good," she mumbled to herself, and was asleep again in moments.
Robbie paced back and forth in front of his disguises. On one hand, this was a perfect opportunity to cause some trouble, and trouble was his middle name! On the other hand, what about Amy? What if she decided not to be friends with him anymore after this? He thought of her in her green bed, sleeping. He mentally glanced about her room but snapped out of it upon spying her suitcase.
It wasn't like their friendship really mattered, did it? She was leaving soon. She would be heading back to school once summer ended, leaving him once more friendless and alone. He would no longer be Robbie, but Robbie Rotten, reclusive and villainous.
The thought darkened his mood and made the decision for him. He pulled down the lever with a sneer. When he'd finished spinning, he was wearing a doctor's coat, complete with that weird thingy that doctors used to listen to people's hearts and such. He also had a small medical bag full of dohickys and whatnots of a doctor-y type.
Robbie grabbed the bag and made his way up to Lazytown, leaving thoughts of how disappointed Amy might be at him below in his home.
Stephanie ran outside to the field where her friends were waiting.
"How is she?" Ziggy asked, empathic as always. "I can give her some of my candy if that'll make her feel better!" He pulled off his backpack to dig out a piece of taffy.
Stephanie smiled at her friend. "Thanks, Ziggy, but Amy just needs to sleep and drink lots of fluids."
"How sick is she, anyway?" Trixie wondered. Stephanie shrugged.
"I don't think she's that sick. She's more tired than anything. She coughs a lot." Stephanie felt a tickling sensation in her nose. She suddenly sneezed and sniffled.
"Are you getting sick, Stephanie?" Ziggy asked, concerned now for his friend.
Stephanie shook her head. "No, I don't think so. It was just a sneeze." She looked at her small group. Even though Amy had only been there for a few weeks, her absence was noticeable. "Okay, so what do we want to play today?"
"I vote we pretend we're pirates!" Ziggy exclaimed, waving around his taffy like a sword. Stephanie laughed.
"That's booo-ring!" Stingy said, rolling his eyes. "I think we should just give me presents all day."
"It's not your birthday, Stingy," Trixie told the spoiled boy. "No presents."
"What if we just hung out in the treehouse?" Pixel suggested.
An idea began to form in Stephanie's mind. "That sounds fun! But what if we made getting to the treehouse a game?"
The other kids stared at her blankly. She grinned. "Let's pretend the ground is lava!" She watched as everyone's eyes widened in excitement. "You can't touch the ground! So we have to jump from place to place." She demonstrated by leaping onto a nearby bench, then from the bench to the wall, where she ran to another bench and jumped to it. "See?"
Her friends immediately started jumping around, trying to avoid the 'lava'. Her grin grew wider as Ziggy pretended to almost fall into the 'lava', only to be pulled up by Pixel. Stingy immediately picked up his piggy bank (why he brought it with him, she would never know) and shouted, "I'll save you, piggy!"
She sneezed, then continued to jump from place to place.
Today would be a fun day, she knew.
She sneezed again.
Amy heard the doorbell ring, but she didn't think much of it. She groaned and rolled over in an attempt to ignore it. Fortunately, her uncle was home, and she heard him answer the door. There was muffled conversation, Uncle Milford exclaimed, "Oh, dear!" once, and then sounds of agreement. She drank the rest of the water Stephanie had brought her before going back to sleep.
In her sickened state, she hadn't recognized the voice of Robbie Rotten with a superfluous accent as he told her uncle to not give her any fruit or healthy foods, or else she might get worse. She didn't hear as Uncle Milford mentioned that sportscandy was actually supposed to be good for sick people, and as Robbie, under the guise of Dr. Robbenstein, argued against it by claiming that he was a doctor and he knew best. She heard the sounds of agreement, though, and was asleep when her door cracked open and Robbie peeked in.
Robbie closed the door softly before tiptoeing back to the living room. "She's sleeping," he told the mayor gruffly. Part of him was disappointed, but more of him was relieved that she hadn't witnessed his deviousness. "I'm going to go now," he added after a pause.
Mayor Meanswell opened the door for him to leave, but a pink blur rushed in, coughing. Well, to Robbie, everything even remotely fast looked rushed, but then he realized that Pinky was actually moving slower than usual. "Stephanie! Are you okay?" Mayor Meanswell asked her.
Stephanie grabbed a glass of water and took several gulps in an attempt to stop the coughing. "I don't feel so good," she said.
Robbie almost leaped for joy. His plan was working even better than he expected! If Pinky was getting sick, then she'd probably already spread the germs to her rascally friends. Soon they would all be in bed, and he could finally have Lazytown to himself! Well, after he dealt with Sportadoofus and the gross sportscandy, that is.
"Oh dear," Mayor Meanswell said, eyes widening. He looked to Robbie. "Dr. Robbiestein, can you see what's wrong?"
It took Robbie a few moments to realize the mayor was talking to him. "Me?" He pointed to himself.
"You are a doctor, so you can tell what's wrong with Stephanie!"
Robbie looked from the expectant mayor to the pink girl. He could tell right away that she was sick, or starting to be. Her face was flushed, her eyes looked glassy, and she seemed to lack the usual bouncy energy that a small child might have. However, to keep his disguise intact, he knew what he had to do. He dug out his listening device (what the heck was that called? A stethothingy? A listeningscope?) and placed it on the girl's chest. She immediately started coughing. He placed one finger on her forehead to see if it was warm—which it was. "She's sick," he explained plainly. "She needs to get into bed and not move around. At all."
Pinky didn't even argue with him, so sure she was of him. He almost felt bad for tricking her, but why would this make him feel bad?
He knew why and refused to admit it.
"Go to bed, little pink girl," he found himself saying gently. He patted her on the head and turned her towards the hallway. "Now."
She went down the hallway slowly, finally making a left and going into the room next to Amy's. Robbie turned back to the mayor. "Remember what I said about how to make sure they feel better?" he asked.
The mayor nodded. "Keep them in bed, give them soup and water. I remember."
"And?"
"And?" The mayor seemed confused.
"And no sportscandy!" Robbie almost yelled.
Mayor Meanswell nodded. "Oh, yes, I remember now. No sportscandy!"
Robbie went to the front door. "No sportscandy," he reminded the mayor before exiting. He ignored as the mayor called out a thank you, choosing instead to head back to his lair.
When he arrived, he saw what remained of his and Amy's cake. They had been so close to finishing it! But seeing it gave him an idea. He grabbed the rest of the cake and took it to his fake sportscandy machine. Usually, he would dump just plain sugar into it, but this time he had something even more sugary than sugar. He tossed the cake in and pulled the lever. After a few bangs and whistles, out emerged a bright green apple. He stared at the apple for a minute, once again doubtful. He turned away from it and walked towards his costume machine, fully intending to change clothes and go tell the truth to the mayor. He couldn't do it! Not while Amy was in Lazytown, at least.
Without warning, he tripped, stumbling on a random shoe. He fell backwards (which really defied logic, because he should have fallen forward, but only one person in the world can trip and fall like that, and that was Robbie Rotten), landed on a skateboard (why was there a skateboard there?), rolled backwards and bumped a giant button on one of the many machines that crowded his lair. There was a great sucking noise, and he waited for a bit to see what would happen. Nothing happened except a loud thud in the distance, where the entrance to his home was. Robbie extracted himself from the machine and skateboard to investigate. When he lifted up the hatch, however, he was shocked to see a bunch of fruit and veggies all clustered together, hovering mid-air. Once the hatch was fully open, the assorted fruits and vegetables zipped down. He watched them, confused, until he heard another thud come from the lair.
Everything became clear then. He must've fallen against the machine that attracted sportscandy and activated it. Typically, it had to be closer to Lazytown for it to work, but a while back he'd been bored and made some adjustments to it, which apparently enhanced it. "Huh," he said to himself. "That worked much better than I expected."
It was too late now. He'd already told the mayor about no sportscandy, and now he had inadvertently sucked all the healthy food out of Lazytown! No one would believe that it was accident. He was Robbie Rotten, the laziest man ever, who hated healthy stuff and exercise. They would label him 'villain' once more, and nothing he said would change their minds.
Robbie stalked back down the ladder to the green apple. "I might as well," he grumbled. "It's too late now."
Robbie found a small box that he could send up to Sportacus's airship. He scribbled a small note, shoved both it and the apple into the box, and taped it shut. There was no going back. He was a villain, through and through.
Sportacus woke up feeling a little sluggish, which was very unusual for the almost-hero. He glanced at his clock and felt a twinge of worry: it was 8:15. He usually woke up at 6:00am every single day to ensure maximum health and efficiency as a superhero.
The second thing he noticed was that there was a knock at his door. He jumped out of bed, ready to go, and realized that he was still tired. That was even stranger. Since when was he tired?
He went to the door and opened it. There, on the platform outside his door, was a small box. "I've got a package!" he announced happily to himself. He picked up the box and brought it into his home. "Table!" he called. A white table emerged from the wall. He set the box on it and opened it. Inside was a bright green apple and a note. He pulled the note out first.
"Sportacus,
Thank you for your help with Amy the other day.
Robbie."
The elf smiled. He knew that Robbie could be a good guy when he wanted to be—it was just a matter of him wanting to be. Amy was bringing out the good in the scheming man, that was for sure. He only hoped the changes lasted once Amy left.
He took a look at the apple. It looked delicious and healthy. It was good to see that Robbie was trying. He would've expected a piece of cake from the man (which he wouldn't have eaten, but would have appreciated nonetheless). Suddenly, Sportacus sneezed. He froze after recovering. He was not supposed to sneeze unless there was an abundance of pepper in the air. Why was he sneezing?
Was he getting sick?
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away," he said loudly. He grabbed the apple, threw it in the air once, and took a big bite out of it.
He immediately fell to the floor, unconscious from all the sugar that had been inside the disguised apple.
"Do we have any orange juice?" Amy asked her uncle as he bustled into the room with breakfast. "I'm craving orange juice." Her voice was gravelly from all her coughing and sneezing.
"We do not have any orange juice. We are out," her uncle replied. "And besides, the doctor told me that you were to not have sportscandy."
Amy scrunched up her face in confusion, but relaxed when that gave her a headache. "What doctor?"
Uncle Milford set a tray on her desk that contained a bowl of cereal. "Dr. Robbiestein, dear. He came over yesterday."
She vaguely remembered hearing voices yesterday, so that made sense. She saw the bowl of cereal and promptly forgot about asking her uncle more details, because she had barely eaten yesterday and she was hungry. Uncle Milford made a contented noise and left the room, presumably to bring food to Stephanie, who was also sick now. Who knew a cold could be so contagious?
After she gulped down the cereal, she felt sleepy again. She trudged back to bed and went right back to sleep.
The next time she woke up, she was once again hungry. She meandered out of her room and into the kitchen. At first she was confused because no one else seemed to be awake, then she glanced at a clock and saw that it was just after one in the morning. "That would explain that," she muttered to herself.
No longer concerned about the lack of people, she opened the fridge to grab some juice. Except…there wasn't any juice in the fridge! "That's weird," she said. She examined every drawer, hoping maybe for some grapes or something. Try as she might, there was no fruit or veggies in the fridge. She turned to see if maybe they were on the counter. Nope. Nothing. "That's even weirder." She sat on a nearby stool. "I'm hungry and all I can find is non-healthy food." She frowned. "This sounds like one of Robbie's evil schemes that Stephanie told me about."
She sneezed, effectively ruining her train of thought. "I guess I'll just drink water, then." She rose from the stool, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water. She carried the glass back to her room, where she sat on her bed and started reading. "Stupid sickness ruining my sleep schedule," she grumbled.
She finally fell back asleep around 3am.
