Author's Note: Did you guys know that this fanfic has more views than any of my other ones? And I've actually updated THOSE this month.
Chapter 15
Stephanie, contrary to prediction, did not stay asleep. She woke up some time around 3 feeling rather refreshed and more like herself. Much to her surprise as it would be to anyone else. She thought for sure her energy would have been gone forever.
She wasn't much surprised when Sportacus was absent from her bedside. He still had things to do for sure. But she thought she'd ask her uncle anyway.
"Where did Sportacus go?" She asked, startling Uncle Milford out of some sort of reverie.
"Oh! Stephanie, you're awake." Uncle Milford sounded very surprised.
"Yeah." Stephanie said. "I guess I just needed a nap. I feel much better now."
"It's good that you're feeling more yourself." Uncle Milford affirmed.
"So where did Sportacus go?" Stephanie asked again.
"I believe he mentioned something about going off to check on Pixel. To see how he's doing on the remote." Uncle Milford answered.
"Well, I'll go join them. See if Pixel needs to take another picture of me or something." Stephanie said.
"A picture?" Her uncle asked.
"Oh... Umm... nevermind. I'll just go see how they're doing." Stephanie explained.
"Would you like me to walk you over there?" Uncle Milford asked.
"I'm fine Uncle. Besides, I know a shortcut to Pixel's house from here." Stephanie waved off his concern as she started to the door. "It's only a short walk. And I'll have Sportacus to walk me back."
"Well, do be careful!" Her uncle shouted as she went out the door. Stephanie, already out of sight, shook her head with a fond exasperation at the advice.
Stephanie got to Pixel's place in record time and just let herself in like always. She fully expected to find Pixel slowly and patiently trying not to get frustrated with Sportacus over some technical detail. Which was usually how things went when Sportacus was waiting for some sort of gadget to be done or fixed. So when she got there and the room was silent, except for Pixel's usual gadgetry, she was confused.
"Sportacus isn't here?" She asked, startling Pixel out of his computing.
"What? No. Sportacus hasn't been here since this morning." Pixel answered. He yawned. Stephanie paused. She hesitated, both confused and concerned.
"Uncle Milford said he was..." Stephanie didn't finish the sentence. She was too distracted by how ragged Pixel looked.
"Pixel, how long have you been awake?" Stephanie asked.
"Umm..." Pixel looked around for a clock.
Stephanie knew that Pixel kept odd hours. Partially because his work didn't call for exacting hours, and partially because of all the artificial light he got at night because of his computers. This worked pretty well for him, but it occurred to Stephanie that this morning might've been at the end of one of his days. So presenting him with the remote and asking him to work on it might've interrupted his sleep cycle. She sighed.
"Pixel, get some sleep. The remote can wait." Stephanie said with exasperation.
Pixel just looked at her with confusion. Stephanie just shook her head.
"You're just going to screw up if you work on it without getting any sleep. You know that." Stephanie warned. Pixel just waved her off with a mumble, looking a bit like he was going to concede.
"Alright alright alright." Stephanie said. "Anyway, I'm gonna go see where Sportacus has run off to."
"See ya later Stephanie." Pixel mumbled into his desk.
Stephanie left with a sigh. Pixel never slept enough when he had some sort of puzzle to solve. He got his first Rubik's Cube when he was 10 and didn't sleep for a week before it was finished. For about a year whenever Trixie was really mad at him she'd come in and scramble it again. That stopped working after a while though, because eventually Pixel got good enough at it that he could finish one in just a few minutes.
Stephanie was facing a small puzzle of her own. If Sportacus wasn't at Pixel's like he said he was going to be, then where was he? She was sure he wouldn't have left her uncle's house without good cause. Not with how worried he was about her before she'd fallen asleep.
The only thing she could think of was that his crystal had probably gone off and he had to go rescue someone. But how long could that have taken? She'd been asleep long enough that that would have been done and over with.
Stephanie decided to wander the long way around town. If she didn't find Sportacus then she'd just have to assume that Sportacus would show up when he was good and ready. Even if it was a bit out of character for him. So she meandered around the town, enjoying the walking now that she wasn't tired.
Where she wound up running into Sportacus was a surprise.
Author's Note: Filler chapter is filler. But I just posted this to let you know that I'm working on this fanfic again. I've been on a road trip for the last 2 months and working on a couple of my other fanfics. So this one went a little on the back burner.
But it's back! So enjoy.