He thought about leaving but where would he go? For the past couple of years Lazy Town had been his home and he could think of nowhere else to go. He thought of staying but would the Mayor allow it? Would the kids want him to stay? How long would Robbie put up with him? He also thought about whether or not he'd be able to save anyone again, his confidence in his ability had been shaken badly by his not being able to save Stephanie. Would the same thing happen again? He pondered these things for a while, such a long while in fact that when Robbie awoke from his nap Sportacus was still sitting in the same place he had been when he'd gone to sleep and didn't seem to have moved.
"Something on your mind Sporta-?" Robbie was about to say 'kook' but thought better of it for once, "-Cus"
Sportacus looked up roused from his reverie by hearing Robbie actually call him by his proper name rather than 'Sportakook' or 'Blue Elf' or other manifestations that Robbie had come up with. Sportacus shook his head to indicate he'd done thinking what he'd been thinking. Robbie nodded back, he knew Sportacus had been thinking but wouldn't push the issue, it would just end up with him losing his temper at Sportacus again and he wasn't in the mood for an argument anyway.
The pair sat in silence for a little longer, neither knowing what to say. A little bored with the silence and hungry Robbie went to fetch himself some cake. Sportacus got some fruit out of his bag as he too was hungry but had only realised it when Robbie got himself something to eat. Both men sat in silence yet again to eat after sitting back in their respective positions. The silence was broken by a loud clattering coming from the pipes.
"What the - ?" Robbie began but stopped when Ziggy flew out of the pipe, Sportacus caught him before he hit the ground.
"Thanks Sportacus," Ziggy said breathlessly.
Sportacus set the boy back on his feet and waited for him to get his breath back and say whatever he wanted to say. Robbie frowned at the unwanted intruder but said nothing and stomped over to the periscope leaving the two friends alone,
"KIDS!" he muttered under his breath.
"Oh, Sportacus, I tried sending mail to your airship but you didn't come so I guessed you weren't there. I didn't know where else you would be so I tried here. If you weren't here I was going to ask Robbie if he could use his periscope to try and find you. If he couldn't find you I was going to get myself in trouble so you would come and rescue me." Ziggy explained rather quickly, "I just wanted to find you to say that I don't blame you for what happened and I don't want you to leave, please don't leave!"
Ziggy added sounding more and more panicked the more he said. Touched by what Ziggy had said and the fact that Ziggy had risked Robbie's wrath to come and find him Sportacus bent down and hugged him. Robbie found the whole scene rather nauseating and was struggling to keep his cake in his stomach; he hoped the sissy exchange would be over soon.
"You needn't worry Ziggy, I won't leave. Thanks for caring and saying it wasn't my fault." Sportacus hoped he wouldn't have to leave and was truly grateful for what Ziggy had said.
He released Ziggy from the hug and stood up. Ziggy turned to go back up the pipes but stopped short, he turned back round to Sportacus and without saying anything Sportacus knew what he wanted and helped him up into the pipe.
"Thank mercy for that, if he hadn't had left when he did this place wouldn't have been as tidy as it is at the moment. How can you stand it?" Robbie grumbled, he grimaced again at the memory and decided that cake would make him feel better.
"Perhaps it's because I'm not rotten," Sportacus answered plainly.
He expected some kind of retaliation or reaction from Robbie but didn't get one except for a shrug of the shoulders. Robbie was too busy making a cake with the cake machine to really do much else and enjoyed being called rotten; after all it was his name.
"So," Robbie turned round to face Sportacus and continued, "Are you going to stay? If you do stay what are going to do with yourself?"
"I don't know. It's something I have to think about and perhaps discuss with the Mayor; after all it's his town." Sportacus shrugged.
He wanted to avoid another confrontation, his stomach did too. Perhaps after a good night's sleep he would know what he wanted to do, the problem was his sleep the previous night had been anything but good. He was haunted by visions about what had happened and Stephanie's face peering up at him. In one particular vision she blamed him for her death and said she would never forgive him. This particular vision haunted him the most. He looked up at the crooked clock on the wall and realised it was actually quite late, the time read 7.58pm. Robbie turned to look at the clock and noticed that it was almost time for Sportacus to sleep. After finishing his cake Robbie thought of sleeping also but would go see the Mayor first, he wanted to speak to him.
It was half past eight when the knock came at the door. The Mayor and Bessie had been talking for quite a while after eating dinner and were surprised to see how the time had passed. They were more surprised by who the person at the door was.
"Can I come in? I won't stay long. All I want to do is talk." The familiar figure of Robbie Rotten said. Shaking off his confusion the Mayor motioned Robbie to come inside and closed the door once he had entered.
"What do you want to talk about?" Bessie asked defensively not sure what Robbie really wanted.
"It's about Sportakook, er, I mean Sportacus. I think he wants to come and talk to you himself but I doubt he will, he's probably too worried about getting punched again." Robbie directed a level glance at the Mayor when he said the last words.
Looking down the Mayor replied, "What does he want to talk about?"
"Whether he should stay or go I guess. If he stays what does he do? He if goes where does he go? Can he still be a hero or will you find something for him to do?"
"These are all questions I've asked myself Robbie. As upset as I am over what happened to Stephanie part of me can't trust Sportacus with people's lives anymore but another part wants me to. Do I give him a second chance and watch him waste it by failing again? I can't make a decision yet, perhaps I never will."
"Surely you know that people can't get things right all the time. You can't save everyone all of the time. Sportacus was on his way, he was swinging down and was just a split second late for catching Stephanie. It's not as if he watched her fall and the guy is suffering right now. He doesn't know how much but I do, I can see it in him. For the last day or two he hasn't flipped, ran, jumped, somersaulted or anything. He sits still rather than doing all his moves. He walks like you and me instead of flipping and flying all over the place. What's worse is he's staying with me and seems to be enjoying it; I think I'm even starting to like him. If you're worried about what the kids will think about him staying I'm sure Tricky won't object and that little candy kid wants him to stay. He even said that I couldn't find Sportacus when he was looking for him he'd get himself in trouble so Sportacus would save him," Robbie drew several deep breaths after his small speech, he couldn't believe he was defending Sportacus again and had even admitted to almost liking him.
The Mayor and Bessie were equally shocked and after some minutes of silence from the three the Mayor agreed to take into consideration what Robbie had said and would give him an answer the next day. Robbie agreed and showed himself out of the house and headed back to his lair. He wanted to sleep and would be glad of sitting down. If the Mayor couldn't come up with a resolution to the matter of what would be done with Sportacus Robbie would have to take matters into his own hands and one of his most brilliant plans yet was forming in his mind. If it worked everything would be almost back to normal in Lazy Town and he would have his lair to himself once again.