AN: More plot! Huzzah! I'm getting sillier than I meant to with this, but then, Lazytown kind of lends itself toward that.
Disclaimer: checks Nope, still don't own it.
Sleep came easily to Robbie Rotten, especially when his feathered orange earplugs were set just so, as they were today. The silence between his ears was blissful, and so his mind was sluggish to realize that a weight had pressed into his lap, and that there was something tickling his nose.
A faint murmur invaded his peace, and it was that that finally forced Robbie's eyes open. At first all he could see was a mass of pink, which caused him to snort in surprise. The pink disappeared, to be replaced by the shining brown eyes of Stephanie. Her lips moved and he heard the murmur again.
"What possible reason--" Robbie paused, then popped the earplugs out. Ambient sounds flooded back to him, and he continued, "What possible reason do you have for being in my home, you pink porpoise?"
Stephanie gave him a beatific smile, and put her head down so that she could snuggle into his chest. "Because I love you, silly," she said cheerfully. "It's about time you woke up anyway. It's a beautiful day outside!"
Robbie shuddered dramatically and made a gagging noise in the back of his throat. He stood quickly, sending a tangle of blanket and girl tumbling to the ground. Stephanie giggled as she rolled on the orange carpet, and sat up with a grin when she came to a stop.
For Robbie's part, he ignored her. He stormed over to his plants, and picked up a manual that had come with the seeds. He flipped through the index.
"Abatement of symptoms...ablepsy issues...admission of guilt...ah ha! Adoration complexes." Robbie quieted, his lips moving quickly as he read that section closely. Stephanie was still watching him, and had begun to hum a happy tune as she swayed happily back and forth with his blanket around her shoulders.
"The adoration complex is the most common side effect of a poorly managed persephonus maximus. The grower should be reminded that for proper inhalation of the pollen, the persephonus maximus must be placed immediately beside the subject's face while he or she sleeps," Robbie said, his voice rising with despair as he read on, "Should the subject inhale too little pollen, temporary and/or permanent side effects such as the adoration complex may occur."
"I liked the flower you gave me," Stephanie piped up. He turned to stare at her in horror. She beamed back. "I put it in the window by my bed, so everyone can see it too."
"Permanent," Robbie murmured, taking a step back from the pink horror that he'd created. Perhaps it wasn't all bad, though. Perhaps she had breathed in enough of the mind-control pollen: enough to make this disaster somewhat salvageable. "Er, Stephanie," he said slowly, "I command you to tell Sportacus to leave Lazytown...forever?" His tone rose in hopeful optimism with the last word, and he was rewarded with only a faint "forever? forever?" echo about his home.
Stephanie looked pensive, with her head tilted to one side. After a moment, she gave her head a lazy shake. "Nope, I think I'll skip that. I like Sportacus." Her thoughtful expression reverted back to one of abject devotion. "But don't worry, I like you best, Robbie."
A scream of terror ripped through Lazytown, sending flocks of birds fleeing from their perches and otherwise complacent dogs to barking. Sportacus and the other kids stopped in their tracks to look around for the source. Stingy paused for only a moment, then stole the soccer ball that Sportacus had abandoned and began to kick goal after goal. "Mine, mine, mine, mine!" he cheered in delight.
"W-what was that?" Ziggy asked, coming to stand beside Sportacus in case it happened again.
Sportacus' brow was furrowed in confusion as he tried to place the vaguely familiar sound, but before he could respond, his crystal lit up. "Someone's in tr--"
A shrieking purple and blue blur zipped past Sportacus, sending him into a spin. When he caught his balance again, he and the children stared at the cloud of dust that streaked from the billboard, across the soccer field, and away towards the town hall.
"Was that..." started Ziggy.
"Robbie Rotten?" Pixel asked.
"It looked like the right colours, anyway." Trixie added. "Who knew he could run that fast?"
A familiar pink form followed Robbie's trail. Stephanie stopped when she came to the bewildered group. "Hi, guys!" she said cheerily. "Have you seen Robbie anywhere?"
"Yes," Sportacus said, eyeing her warily. "He was headed towards the center of town. But he was frightened of something. Do you know what's wrong?"
Stephanie laughed and shook her head. "Well, I'm not quite sure what he's all upset about," she explained. "First he gives me this flower last night, and then when I came to see him this morning, he gets all upset and says that he accidentally gave me an adoration complex." She giggled, apparently unconcerned about this. "Can you imagine? I feel great! I'm just trying to get him to settle down now so I can teach him how to dance with me.
"Oh! That reminds me." Stephanie touched Sportacus' sleeve lightly, until he bent down far enough that she could whisper in his ear. He could feel the heat of her flushed cheeks from this distance. "Robbie's not too keen on you. He said he wants me to tell you to leave, so I suppose I should." When Sportacus gave her a peculiar look, Stephanie shook her head vigorously in response to the unasked question, and laughed again. "No no, I don't want you to leave. I love having you here. But at least I can tell him that I passed along the message. And if he asks you, you can tell him I did too, okay?"
"Stephanie, I think that Robbie might be right about the, ah, 'adoration complex'," Sportacus told her gently. He put a kindly hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps we should go to Pixel's house to see if he can fix up something to help you..."
"No time now!" Stephanie interrupted, and slipped out from his grasp. She grinned at the others and gave them a happy wave. "He's got a head start now, and I've gotta catch up before he's too tired to learn how to dance!"
And with that, she skipped off toward the center of town.
"That was..." Ziggy started.
"Abnormal?" offered Pixel.
"Disturbing?" Trixie suggested.
Ziggy turned to look at them both. "Weeeeird," he finished. All three nodded.
Sportacus sighed as his crystal began to flash again. "I am not sure who to save, Robbie or Stephanie," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. He turned to the kids. "I think I am going to find out more about this. You stay here and get out of Robbie's way if he comes through again, okay?"
After the kids nodded, Sportacus flung his arms first one way, then the other, and then took off after the distant pink figure of Stephanie.