Chapter 3: Chilly Down

Robbie groaned, reaching up to rub his eyes. He blinked them open slowly and looked around.

A garbage dump.

It figured. What was next? He shakily stood, and climbed to the top of the nearest pile. Garbage, a lot of it, everywhere. There was a hazy building in the distance, but his eyes didn't want to focus on it. He tried climbing down the pile again. There was a mess of wiring and plastic at the bottom, and he crawled over it and down onto the ground. The pile moaned, and he jumped backwards and shrieked as it moved. The whole thing turned, to reveal a wasted away figure, attached to all that electrical wiring and junk. Thin arms, dead eyes…

Orange hair.

Robbie nearly choked.

"Watch where you're walking," the wasted away figure of Pixel snapped. Even angry, he sounded tired. Worn out. Dead.

"S-sorry," Robbie muttered back, too shaken to do anything else but apologize. Pixel looked at him carefully, and the half-dead gaze made Robbie shudder.

"What are you doing here anyway?" he croaked. Robbie paused.

"I'm… not sure," he answered slowly. "I was looking for something…" Flashes of the blue elf's face, then of pink, skidded across his mind, but they wouldn't stick.

"Oh," Pixel murmured, picking up a stray tin can and attaching it to some wires so that it was now part of him. Robbie stared at him. He remembered Pixel. Annoying kid. Too eager to please. But quite possibly the only kid in that pack of brats that was tolerable in any way. He was quiet, for the most part, and he liked staying indoors. What's more, he was the only one with half a brain within 100 miles. He wasted that talent more often than not, but sometimes there was a spark of brilliance…

"What happened to you?" he found himself asking. Pixel barely glanced up, shuffling along and eyes trained on the ground for any more useful scraps.

"What do you mean?"

Robbie opened his mouth to say what he meant. Where had the spark gone? Why was he reduced to a pathetic shuffling dead thing, who probably couldn't think creatively to save what little pitiful life he had left? What had gotten so bad that he physically attached himself to his gadgets at the cost of his mind and soul?

He couldn't force the words out. He was struck dumb by the feeling of something being terribly, achingly wrong. And the giant building in the distance, the castle, came sharply into focus as every memory shot free of the dam holding them back and flooded into his head again. He shuddered and closed his eyes. Castle. He had to get to the castle. Everything was wrong here, and he had to make it right. Who knew, maybe there'd be a reward at the end? Maybe he'd be the hero, and get noticed finally? Who knew. He gave one last sad look at the figure that used to be Pixel.

"See ya," he said and started walking. Pixel didn't respond.

He had gotten to the gates of the rundown city before he encountered the last little member of the happy crew.

He was almost glad.

"HOLD!" a childish voice bellowed, as much as a childish voice could bellow anything. Robbie stopped and looked. There, running on short legs towards him, was a blonde-haired overweight brat dressed in knightly clothing. Thankfully, the child (Ziggy, he reminded himself, Ziggy) stopped before he crashed right into Robbie's legs. He stood panting for a moment before straightening up.

"What ist thou wandering about here for?" Ziggy demanded. Robbie felt like he should bristle at being demanded anything, but surprisingly he didn't have the energy. His encounter with what was left of Pixel had been unnerving.

"I'm going to that castle," he replied, and pointed to it. Ziggy followed his gesture and his blue eyes widened.

"To the king!" he exclaimed.

"The king?"

"Oh, you must be trying to regain yon fair maiden!"

"Fair maiden?" Robbie blinked. Fair maiden? He didn't know any.

"The angel!" Ziggy clarified, his eyes taking on a fervent gleam as they did only when talking about candy. "The lovely angel who sings and dances with the King, a vision of beauty."

"Sounds interesting," Robbie commented. Ziggy nodded, oblivious.

"Rumors abound that His Highness intends to make her His heir."

"Really?"

"Oh, verily. Though, to see the kingdom done up in pinks as vibrant as yon maiden's hair…"

Robbie opened his mouth to reply again, but the words fell into the back of his mind. Pink.

"Oh god," he said instead. Ziggy didn't so much as glance at him, continuing to rattle on about the girl and her fairness, his concern that the King, no matter how good a king he was, would corrupt her. Robbie barely heard any of it.

Oh, it figured it'd be Pinky who was the one he needed to save. The king was Sportacus, the fair maiden Stephanie… what was he?

"Ist thou off to save fair maiden trapped within the castle?" Ziggy interrupted his thoughts, peering up at him hopefully. The wide blue eyes threw Robbie off guard.

"U-um…" He tried to shake the memory of dancing away. "Yes." Ziggy's face lit up.

"Wonderful!" he cried happily, brandishing a large candy-stick and waving it enthusiastically. "I shall help you in your journey! Now, to open these doors…"

Ziggy thrashed at the unguarded crank to open the doors until they finally creaked open wide enough to admit the two of them. They were greeted by an empty city.

"Is it always like this?" Robbie asked. Ziggy nodded.

"His Highness is always alone. Once there were great feasts and dances and much singing- but no longer. Nevermore does a living soul reside in these walls, save for the King."

"So he shut himself off from everyone? " Robbie thought about the air ship. "That's… not surprising, actually." Ziggy acted like he didn't hear, and charged forward through the city with Robbie following behind. In no time they were at the castle.

"I must leave now," Ziggy said, looking regretful.

"Why's that?"

"Because… that's just how it's done," Ziggy replied. He paused and contemplated for a moment before he lunged forward and caught Robbie in a hug around the legs.

"But thou shalt always be my brother! Thou hast shown remarkable bravery, coming this far, and, and…" he seemed to pause for a moment, and his eyes got wider. "You can share my candy anytime you want to Robbie! I like you!" The momentary lapse into his normal self finished, Ziggy turned and trotted away, disappearing behind a lopsided house. Robbie blinked in confusion for a moment before turning back to the castle.

"A pink angel, huh?" he mused.

He pushed open the doors with much difficulty, and stepped across the threshold.

Alarms went off in the throne room. Sportacus snapped to attention from the chasing game he had been playing with his pink pet, and his eyes narrowed as he identified the source.

"Stephanie," he said, smiling handsomely at her. "Would you like to play a different game?"

AN:

I love Pixel. He is totally that character. I skipped over the mayor as Ludo solely so I could get to Pixel faster. Well... and also because I didn't feel like writing it out. But whatever.

This chapter is dedicated WorstWitch from GaiaOnline. People are brining me to get chapters out now? XD Allow me to bask. And wear my nifty new elven ears. I hope Gaia programmers make it where you can match the skin tone for those soon. But until then I enjoy them. X3

I gotta say, I'm continuously surprised by the amount of people who like my fics. (WHY AREN'T YOU ALL REVIEWING, EH?!) I mean... PBBS started out terrible! But I apparently have fans now (and I shall lavish you all with luvs, even if you don't review) and that's so weird for me!

I should be doing homework. You see what you guys make me do?

... I still haven't finished the ending chapter for this fic. Shame. I'm off to watch Play Day now.