"Sportacus," Stingy sputtered, "what are you doing with my car?"

Robbie considered Stingy with a cool look. He should have known one of the brats would find the remote again. He'd wasted time knocking over trash cans and turning a couple goalie nets upside down in his own futile search. By the looks of it the gizmo guy had fixed his headband for him, too. The kids had been passing his Mind-Me-Matic around like a game of hot potato all day. It was about time they got burned.

"Care to make a trade?" Robbie proposed, coming closer. "I should warn you, though," his teeth peeked out in a wolfish grin as he hefted Stingy's car up off the ground in both hands, "I drive a hard bargain."

Stingy's eyes bugged out. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Those things don't belong to you," Robbie said. "Give them to me."

"Don't, Stingy," Pixel hissed. Stingy's lower lip started to jut out in a pout.

Stephanie took a tentative step forward. "It's okay, Sportacus, we're taking all this stuff to Robbie just like you wanted. You don't have to—"

"No," Robbie cut her off, his grin vanishing. He lifted the car and braced it against his chest, glowering over its bumper at the kids. "Are your ears painted on your heads? I said hand them over or there's going to be an automobile accident happening very soon."

"Geez, Sportacus, chill out," Trixie said. "You wouldn't wreck Stingy's car, would you?"

Robbie narrowed his eyes at the pigtailed girl. He raised the car up over his eye line, glaring out from its undercarriage. "Wouldn't I?" The kids shifted under its shadow, shrinking in together. "Unless you think you can catch it."

Stingy whimpered, eyes riveted on his car looming over his head. The ray gun was clamped tightly in his grip, all but forgotten. Pixel reached towards Stephanie to draw her back but she resisted, holding her ground, although her face had paled substantially.

"I don't understand," the pink girl said, "why are you doing this?"

Something cruel twisted the corners of Robbie's lips. Pixel closed his eyes, unable to look at him any longer.

"Who's going to stop me?"

"Robbie!"

Robbie jolted on the spot and almost dropped the car on his feet. He managed to keep his grip and jerked his head to the side to see who had called. It had been a child's voice, but weren't all of the kids here at his mercy?

"Wait for me, Robbie!" Ziggy shouted between pants for breath, running as fast as his little legs could carry him, but he was still falling behind the man in the purple striped suit.

Robbie stared, scarcely able to comprehend what he was seeing. It was himself, in the flesh! The oddity of watching his body rushing towards him was enough to make his head spin but the look on his own face, contorted in anger, kept him rooted to the spot. It might have been validating to know just how intimidating he looked from the outside if he wasn't the target of that concentrated rage.

"What," the approaching Robbie Rotten growled, and it was so disturbing for Robbie to have his own deep voice roaring in his ears and raising the hairs on his neck, "do you think you're doing with those kids!"

Robbie said nothing. He let the car drop from his hands and it hit the ground with a crunch, earning a strangled squawk from Stingy. He turned away and ran, and the Robbie Rotten ran after him.

Ziggy joined the rest of the kids in the wake of the two men, gasping and wheezing.

"Ziggy, you're okay!" Pixel exclaimed. Ziggy bent over double to catch his breath.

"I… never knew… Robbie could run like that..." He swallowed mouthfuls of air. "Whoo… I could use some more candy."

"What was that about?" Trixie asked. "Why would Sportacus run away from Robbie?"

"Who cares about that? What about my car?" Stingy knelt beside his totaled vehicle. The front fender was all bent out of shape and one of the side view mirrors had snapped off.

"Oh, Stingy." Trixie shook her head, then waved her arm to beckon Stephanie along as she broke into a trot. "Let's go after them. Come on, Pinkie!"

"Wait up, Trixie!" Stephanie hovered around Ziggy for a second but her curiosity pulled her after the other girl.

"Hey, wait!" Stingy called, but they were off. He stood up from his car and grumbled. "Sportacus better have some good insurance." Adjusting his grip on the ray gun he ran after the girls. Pixel was close behind him. Ziggy took in a few more big gulps of air. He groaned and went after the group.

Sportacus chased after himself. The blue suited renegade darting and weaving in front of him was tinged slightly red in his vision by his maddened state. From his march to the park Sportacus had seen evidence of Robbie's actions today using his body. He could forgive all of that to an extent. Robbie would be Robbie, and it wasn't wholly unexpected that he should get some mischief in at Sportacus' expense. But he had gone too far. How could he, how dare he do anything that would seriously endanger any of the kids?

If it weren't for his sugar high it probably wouldn't be possible for Sportacus to make Robbie's body run like this, certainly the lazy man had never wanted to push it this hard before. But Sportacus wanted to. He pushed through the stitches flaring in his ribs, pounded sore feet against the sidewalk and extended long cramped legs to their full reach, and let the air tear through his gasping lungs in snarls.

He should have found Robbie right from the start, but it was too late for that now. Now, he would do the next best thing and catch the impostor elf.

Robbie did not want to know what would happen if Sportacus managed to catch him. He'd seen the hero angry at him before but it was a new and harrowing experience to be pursued by a vengeful doppelgänger. At least sprinting off in Sportacus' body was a breeze— mostly. After a full day of throwing his ill-gained strength around Robbie may have overexerted himself. He was running low on energy.

Even running flat out wasn't enough anymore, and Sportacus was gaining on him. Was there nowhere he could escape to that the crazed elf couldn't follow? If only he could get some of his lead back and divert a little of his dwindling energy to thinking.

Behind him Sportacus lunged forward with outstretched arms and managed to graze Robbie's back with his angled fingers. It wasn't enough to grab hold of his vest but the scrape of fingernails lit a fire under Robbie's feet. He tapped into a last panicky reserve and leapt forward, flinging himself entirely off the ground as though he could take off and fly away from his problems.

The well conditioned body took control for Robbie when he needed it most, reaching out and rolling into a tumble when he touched back down on the ground. It didn't make him any less dizzy as he jumped back up on his feet but at least he was unharmed from his last gambit to get ahead. He heard a shout and a thud behind him. Robbie glanced back to see what had happened. He had to stop in his tracks and look again.

It was the pit he'd dug this morning. Robbie had jumped clear over it without even thinking. Sportacus, on the other hand, had not.

Robbie drew closer to the edge of the hole, staring in as a wave of déjà vu washed over him to see his own body sprawled in a heap at the bottom. "Does that count?" he murmured. All he'd wanted from the beginning was for Sportacus to fall into his trap, and finally he did— but he'd done it while being Robbie Rotten, so technically— but still, maybe? The adrenaline from the chase had Robbie bouncing on his feet while confusion kept him from leaving. With a hysterical laugh he broke into a dance around the pit.

"That counts! That counts!"

Sportacus could hear the sound of his own voice jeering over his head. He didn't understand what it meant and couldn't be bothered to figure it out. His immediate concern was taking stock of all his limbs. He'd received a few more bumps and scrapes and had the wind knocked out of him for the second time that day from the nasty fall.

None of it mattered. Sportacus lumbered to his feet, driven by the blood pounding in his ears. The rim of the hole was just above his shoulders and gave him a clear view of the spectacle going on at its edge. He shot his arms out and grabbed the blue suited man by the ankles, yanking him hard off his feet. The man hit the ground flat on his back, nearly knocking the cap off his head.

"Got you now," Sportacus growled, and pulled himself up out of the pit.