DISCLAIMER: No poseo LazyTown: Spanish for "I don't own LazyTown." I think…at least that's what google tells me. Yo también que no hace ningún dinero de esto.
A/N: My God! I've updated! I'm sorry it took so long, I feel really badly about it…but once I had seen all the episodes (except for "Pixel's Pics" or something like that) I sorta lost interest and got into a bunch of other things…but I found my way back again, luckily. I hate it when other people abandon their fics, and I hope to never do that to one of my own. It might take months in between, but I will finish, I promise.
And I'm real sorry I stopped replying to reviews. I started feeling guilty about how long it was taking me to update, and I guess I'm lazy…but thank you all SO MUCH for leaving me such wonderful comments: Fallen Iceangel, AnonyMiss731, Kytten, Shi Rurouni of the Aphrodesiac, Chewing Gum, Ugly Narcissist, LoveTHYconan, The Shekinah, SaphireMMTPX, Ranma Higurashi, Sekhmet's Moon, Pocketface, authoraisarete, Bad Wolf, Dying Redemption, and KrysSaiyan. I adore you all!
So here's the next chapter. I do believe there will only be one more after this. And I have it outlined and everything so it shouldn't take five months to write! Yay!
On with the show!
A Slippery Slope
Chapter 5: Swaying
Robbie gasped as he spotted the tower of chocolate, which was leaning slightly since both the tallest cake carriers, Pinkie and Carrot Stick Head, were supporting it on the same side.
It was marvelous creation. The frosting glistened and the lollipops sparkled in the bright morning sunlight. The suckers he would save for later; hard candy was his least favorite of all the variations of sugar, but they would do in a pinch.
A twinge of regret fluttered through Ziggy as Robbie took the candies off the cake, carefully licking away the frosting from the sticks before tossing them down the hatch. A wave of pride quickly snuffed the feeling however, as Ziggy reminded himself that Sportacus needed help, and he would do anything to aid the superhero.
The children held their breaths as Robbie took a forkful of the gorgeous chocolate cake. The future of the town hero depended on it. If it wasn't good enough, Robbie might decide he needn't help them. Everything rested on the first impression. Similar thoughts raced through their minds. 'Did we put enough sugar in? Had the butter been sitting on the counter too long? Was it the right kind of frosting?'
"My God!" Robbie gasped.
They cringed, expecting the worst.
"This is the best cake I've ever eaten!" He quickly shoved in another mouthful. "You all are now my cook-slaves."
Ziggy laughed nervously while the others exchanged looks of horror. They set the cake down on the ground and slowly backed away.
Robbie took no notice of their fear. "Okay, tell me why Sportacake needs rescuing while I eat the rest of this thing," Robbie demanded before stuffing his face.
Their story was a little hard to follow, since all five of them attempted to tell him at once. Fortunately after a speaker was delegated it went much smoother. As the children outlined the events of the morning, stressing their worry for the hero's safety repeatedly, Robbie continued to eat, but at a slower rate that usual. His stomach was doing some very odd flips and twists, making it hard to feel much like eating. But he forked down as much as he could, not only to keep his strength up, but to save face in front of the brats.
After their story was finished, he stuck his utensil in the desert and tossed what was left of it (more than he would have liked, leftovers were never as good) down his hatch.
"Won't that be a mess, just throwing it down there like that?" Stingy gasped.
Robbie glared at him. "No, Mr. Anal Retentive. Nothing is ever a mess when I throw it down there."
"Oh," Stingy replied, making a note to look up 'anal retentive' when he got home.
"Anyway, sounds to me like Sportacus just needed a day to sleep in after being up all night," Robbie shrugged.
"Who ever said he was up late?" Trixie said in her customary tone, which always sounded accusatory no matter what she said.
A faint pink tinge colored Robbie cheeks and he tensed. "No one, I suppose." His eyes shifted sideways and he crossed his arms. The memory of larger, stronger arms than his own encircling him made him frown.
Stephanie's eyes flashed. "Maybe he was…"
"You don't think he was up playing video games do you?" Pixel suggested.
Stingy laughed, "Sportacus doesn't play video games. He likes the real thing, remember?"
"Yeah, but what else would he be doing?"
"Oh, I don't know, anything. Looking at shiny things, counting the money in his piggy…"
"Why don't we ask Pinkie?" Trixie asked. While Pixel and Stingy had been pondering the late night habits of the superhero, Stephanie had fallen unusually silent.
"Huh? Ask me what?" She blinked and shook her head, as if dragging herself out of the muck.
"What do you think Sportacus was doing last night?" Trixie flung the words at Stephanie like daggers.
"Well, I dunno…" Stephanie answered evasively.
Trixie glared at her "You can do better than that, Stephanie."
She glanced at Robbie. "At one point he was outside my window."
Robbie started. She knows? Wait, what does she know? He continued to watch the debate between the children play out.
"Doing what?"
Stephanie shrugged. "I couldn't tell. It was too dark to see much of anything." Which was true, really. She didn't mention that she could hear everything that was said. She looked over again at Robbie, trying to read his expression as he glowered at her. Anger, confusion, and a glimmer of…apprehension? Her eyes widened.
Ziggy didn't like this at all. Everyone was so tense, he wasn't used to this kind of atmosphere. It never lasted long when Sportacus was around. But Sportacus wasn't around, that was the thing. And he was never going to be around if they didn't stop this silly glaring contest, or whatever it was, right now and go find him!
"Hey!" Ziggy blurted, startling everyone out of their standoffs. "We need to find Sportacus, not accuse each other of seeing him or not seeing him yesterday!"
Most of them had the grace to look abashed for a few seconds. Robbie was having none of it, however, and continued to seethe. However, when all ten little eyes turned to him in expectance, and something akin to hope, his anger subsided slightly.
"Alright, fine. We will walk to his blimp, and check if he is sleeping. If not, we'll think of something else." Unless he's sleeping someplace other than his bed… An image of the blue elf sleeping on park bench under a few dirty newspapers flitted through Robbie's mind. He shook his head and puzzled at it. What an odd picture…
The rest of the gang cheered as they tramped towards the floating blimp.
oOoOo
Sportacus rolled onto his stomach and pulled the covers tighter. He hadn't slept later than five in the morning in a very long time, and it actually felt kind of nice. Although he was a lot more tired than he would have liked. The hours of the evening were more beneficial for the body than the hours in the morning. The body naturally likes to go to sleep and wake up with the sun. Sportacus shook his head and smiled. "The world doesn't end if you stay up past your normal bed time every once in a while though," he chuckled.
Sportacus snuggled further into the bedding, planning on dozing for another hour or so. Unless the crystal went off, which he was fully prepared to respond to. But hopefully it wouldn't. "Maybe the town will give me the morning off today..." he mumbled sleepily to himself.
Not only did Sportacus stay out late last night rescuing Robbie, but after he returned to his blimp he stayed up even later looking for something he urgently wanted—no, needed—to show the stubborn man.
Sportacus' eyes popped open. "That's right, I need to talk to Robbie." He threw off the comforter and hopped out of bed. "There's no use trying to sleep any longer now that my brain has started worrying about things." He shook his head. "But first thing's first," he looked around the room. "Making my bed and having a healthy breakfast."
oOoOo
tbc...teehee.