Robbie Rotten's Friday began well enough. He was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of cake and Sportacus. He would alternately eat a cake, then throw another one at Sportacus who was chained to a wall. Robbie smacked his lips and jerked violently in his sleep when he threw the cake. Sometimes he would giggle. Through all these actions, he slept. Until...

Robbie woke with a start. He could hear the pounding of feet running wildly on the Earth's surface and screeching. Robbie rolled his eyes and shook his head. He emitted a weeping sound as he struggled up from his fuzzy orange chair. He stalked over to his periscope. He could see the kids running around, it looked like they were playing tag. Robbie could see the remnants of a picnic lunch next to the clubhouse.

"...and is that paint?" He could see cans sitting outside the door of the clubhouse. "It looks like disgustingly cheery colors, too." Robbie continued to look at the paint cans. There were splotches and runs of color down the sides. Something was wrong. Robbie frowned hard trying to think. Something was missing. Stephanie ran through his line of vision with Stingy right behind. Robbie flapped his hands trying to get them to move out of his sight. Suddenly, he knew what was missing. Pink! Where was the pink paint? His eyes darted back and forth looking for pink. No pink paint? Amazing! Robbie, much to his chagrin, was curious.

Robbie stealthily worked his way over to the clubhouse without being seen. He had one close call when Bessie came flying around a corner. She had obviously just had her hair done and was on her cell phone.

"... wonderful, Milford! And did you finish everything at the office? Good. Now, we will leave on the 7:30 train. Oh, and make sure your tuxedo is..." Bessie continued down the street past the tree Robbie had hidden behind.

Robbie stared after Bessie in irritation, then it dawned on him what she had been saying. She had been talking to the Mayor. They were leaving on the 7:30 train. Robbie pursed his lips and scratched his head in thought. 7:30 tonight? With or without Stephanie? And it they were going without Stephanie, what was going to happen to her?

"Ow, Trixie! Don't shove so hard. It's tag, not tackle!" Robbie could hear Stingy yell.

Robbie shook his head violently to clear thoughts of Bessie, the Mayor, and Stephanie. Back to the matter at hand.

Just as Robbie reached the clubhouse, the kids quieted down and went inside to admire the painting they had done that morning.

"Of course, once I make it all the way over here they settle down! Naturally! Grrrr." Robbie growled in frustration. "Why couldn't they have done this sooner? Or better yet, not at all." He peaked in the window of the clubhouse and evesdropped on their conversation. When Trixie yelled for a game of ball tag, he winced, started to yell no, and promptly threw both hands over his mouth before he gave himself away.

"Ziggy, aren't you coming?" Robbie heard Stephanie ask. Robbie put his ear a little closer to the window. As he listened to Ziggy and Stephanie's conversation, Robbie started grinning. Then he began rubbing his hands together. This was too good. This was great information! Now, what could he use it for? Surely, he could come up with a plan using this information to his advantage.

As Stephanie and Ziggy left the clubhouse to join the ball tag game, Robbie slowly stood from his crouching position. Very slowly. He was stiff and out of shape. Robbie shook himself all over to loosen up.

"Hmmm. Tomorrow will NOT be a repeat of today. I will come up with a brilliant plan and ruin their day, not they ruin MINE." Robbie pounded his chest for emphasis which made him loose his breath and stagger backwards into the tree.

Robbie stomped off to his underground lair rubbing his head and grumbling about the noise.

When Robbie reached home, he immediately went over to his disguises. He was sure he could find something suitable. A doctor? Done that. A fairy? Done that. He ran through his disguises with twisted and mean thoughts in mind. He really wanted to do the dinosaur again. Especially now that he knew Ziggy and Stephanie's secret. But, that disguise was really hot, and it took him hours to get out of the head. Nope, dinosaur was out.

What would throw them off guard the most? What would they not be expecting? Robbie moved past the pirate disguise and came face to face with IT. Oh, this was brilliant. Robbie began laughing and jumping around for joy. No one would suspect him in this disguise. They would never recognize him! Robbie tried it on. Perfect. He looked like a big kid. An everyday, normal, big, kid. He walked over to look in a mirror. Oh, yeah. "And handsome, too." Robbie sighed in satisfaction.

Robbie was dressed in a light green T-shirt and jeans. Somehow, he had managed to squish his chin into near normalcy. He had short, dark, curly hair. His eyes sparkled. Anyone seeing him walking down the street would undoubtedly think, there goes a good-looking, big, kid.

Robbie stuck his hand out toward the mirror as if to shake hands with his image. Yup, the perfect disguise.

"Hi there. Just call me Karl," Robbie giggled. "Stefan Karl."

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Blood of the Wolf - have a great trip, be careful, and there will be more when you get back.

Thanks for the break guys. Nothing like sitting in the doctor's office for close to two hours to jump start the writing process. You will be happy to hear I have some idea where this is going.