Title: Pride of Lazytown (Part One)
Author: PTMalvik
Rating: PG13
Summary: A Sports Day disaster leads to strange revelations and some unlikely heroes.
By the time the second annual Sports Day rolled around, Lazytown was much better prepared than ever before. Stephanie's uncle had made it his goal to turn the sports field into the pride of the town - versus the dump it had been in its previous incarnation.
The green grass sparkled. The chalk lines were fresh and whiter than white. The netting for the goals and basketball hoops were newly woven. Not a trace of litter or weeds could be seen.
Stephanie was impressed. It looked even better than the pristine sports field she was used to at home. "Great job, Uncle Milford! I know this is going to be the best Sports Day ever."
"With the best turnout ever, I hope," he replied, giving his niece a warm hug. "You know, I never considered this place as a tourist attraction, but if we clean it up, get things moving around here ..."
From somewhere below, a groan was heard. Both Stephanie and the Mayor glanced around. "Did you hear that?" he asked. "I wonder where that came from?"
"I don't know," Stephanie replied. She was about to take off and investigate a little, when she felt a bump against her shoulder. Turning around, she laughed at the sight of one of her friends. "Trixie!"
"What's up?" Trixie asked, her brown pigtails bouncing. Trixie was smart and only a little bit bad. But when that bad part came out to play ... "Wanna go and roll in the grass?"
"No," Stephanie chided. "We have to keep the place looking nice until Sports Day. But afterwards ..."
Trixie laughed. "Okay, okay. I hear you. What event are you in this year?"
"Soccer," Stephanie replied with a determined look. She didn't care if she was the only person on the team; she missed the game too much to let a little thing like a lack of teammates stop her this year.
Befuddled, Trixie squinted at her. "You can play that with one person?"
"No," Stephanie sighed. "But I don't care. The other team can win. I just want to get a couple of kicks in."
"Who's going to get kicked?" Another voice chiming in, this time Stingy's. "I'll hold them down for you if you give me their toys when you're done."
It took effort, but Stephanie refrained from rolling her eyes. She liked her friends, even enjoyed their quirks, but every now and then ... "I'm talking about kicking a soccer ball for Sports Day. Do you want to join me, Stingy?"
Stingy played with one of his watches. He always wore three of them -- a wristwatch, a chain watch and a pocket watch, just to show off how many he had. "Depends. What do I get out of it?"
"The satisfaction of being a good friend," Trixie replied, a little sarcastically. She turned to Stephanie. "I'll play with you. There isn't a lot of running around in this game, is there?"
Biting her lip, Stephanie hemmed and hawwed. She really wanted to play and telling Trixie that soccer required you to run nonstop for hours on end wasn't going to help her in that goal. But outright lying wasn't really her style. "A bit" Hesitantly. "You know, kinda."
"You'll be running like faucet," Pixel chimed in, hopping over a small concrete wall to join them. "Sort of like your mouth, Trix." He laughed at Trixie's cross look. "Jus' kidding. Say, is Sportacus joining in again this year? We'll be lost without him."
"He'll be here," Stephanie said with confidence. She thought for a moment. "But it wouldn't hurt to make sure," she conceded. "Anyone have a piece of paper and a pen?"
Some negative murmurs all around, including a few sticky ones from Ziggy who had arrived, with a mouth full of lollipop. Finally, Stingy replied, "I do, but it's mine."
"Stingy!" They cried in unison. "Give her the paper, man," Pixel ordered with a glare. "Or you're not going to even see my new, improved version of Roboshoot 1000. The one I made all those one-of-a-kind levels for."
An obvious war was fought inside of Stingy, but he finally relented, handing Stephanie a tattered piece of looseleaf and a worn-down pencil. "And I want that pencil back when you're done."
"Sure," Stephanie replied, skipping over to a nearby bench and sitting down to write her letter. "Dear Sportacus," she began, trying to keep her handwriting neat. She didn't know why, but somehow it felt respectful to her friend to send him only neat letters -- except during an emergency, then any old scribble would do. "I hope you'll be able to play with us again on Sports Day this year. We had so much fun the last time you were with us and the field looks extra nice. Please let us know if you can. Love ..." Here, she blushed, not exactly knowing why. "Stephanie."
A small flourish at the end of her name and the letter was ready. The sky tube was procured from Stingy's pocket (only after Trixie and Pixel threatened to hold him upside down by his ankles and shake it out of him) and together they headed down to the hydraulic tube shoot, next to the town's mailbox.
A pull of the bright yellow handle and the missive was away. Smiling, Stephanie watched as it breached the clouds, marveling at how it always unerringly reached its destination. She wondered what Sportacus was up to in his airship, what miraculous feats he was pulling off at that very moment probably and if he thought as often about his friends in Lazytown and she ... they ... thought about him.
Stingy's voice broke into her thoughts. "Pencil, please," he said, his hand held out.
"Oh, Stingy," she replied with a laugh, handing him back his battered writing instrument. She was about to suggest a rousing game of kickball to pass the time, when a loud "WHOOSH!" was heard over their heads.
A blur of blue and Stephanie felt her heart leap. "Sportacus!" she cried joyfully, laughing when he gracefully landed in front of all of them.
"Sportacus!" her friends yelled in unison, rushing in for a hug from their superhero friend.
He gave them each a big one, coming over to Stephanie last. Pulling her into a warm embrace, he rested his cheek for a moment on the top of her head. "I got your letter and of course, I'll be here for Sports Day. I wouldn't miss it."
Looking up at him, Stephanie grinned. "I knew we could count on you."
"We want to win this year, Sportacus," exclaimed Ziggy. "Do you think we can?"
"I'm sure you can, but it's going to take practice," Sportacus replied heartily. He leapt up into a backflip that neatly ended on the upper bleacher of the new sports' field. "So who's with me for some soccer?"
Stephanie's heart jumped happily. Not only would she get to play soccer, but with Sportacus and maybe all her friends too. It didn't get any better than this. "I am!"
The others looked at each other for a moment before nodding in unison. "We are," they chimed, not quite as excitedly, but it was enough.
Together, they headed out after Sportacus, through the grass and onto the field to play one of the first soccer games Lazytown had seen in what seemed like forever.
With much fanfare, well, as much fanfare as Miss Busybody could create with a case of streamers, balloons and a lone helium tank, not to mention the office coffee maker, able to spew out fifty cups at a time before overheating, Sports Day arrived.
The weather was perfect, a combination of sun and low humidity, with only a couple of white, puffy clouds in the sky. The competing towns had arrived early and Stephanie's couldn't believe all the happy, active folks she saw stretching and warming up, getting ready for some good natured competition.
With a quick adjustment of her pink sweatsuit (bought especially for the day by a smiling Uncle Milford), Stephanie ran out onto the field, soccer ball in hand. She didn't see Ziggy or the others, nor Sportacus, but she wasn't worried. This was the biggest event in Lazytown in a year -- no one was going to miss it.
But one person was there, one of the last she'd expected to see.
"So, little girl," said Robbie Rotten, perpetual sneer properly in place. Thin arms crossed over a thinner chest. "You and your pal Sportakook think you can take over this town and turn everyone into some hopping, skipping, jumping waste of flesh, do you?"
"I know we could never do that to you," Stephanie sighed. She could never figure Robbie out. Sometimes she thought he was mean, other times just misguided ... even funny sometimes. But at that moment, he was just annoying. "You certainly are good at avoiding all of those things."
"I certainly am," Robbie sniffed. He turned on her with a scowl. "And you should be too, Pinkie, if you know what's good for you."
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Not listening to you is the best thing for me, Mr. Rotten," she said curtly, before running off and leaving him to grimace in the far distance.
The group stretching turned into jumping, then to impatient milling about the green grass. Stephanie hopped excitedly when she saw a familiar blue blur in the distance, followed by the sound of Stingy's car rolling toward the field. Soon, she was surrounded by her team -- The Lazytown Jumpers.
She'd thought of the name herself, even hand-sewing little Velcro "LJ" patches for everyone to put on their jerseys. She jumped up and down to get their attention and soon was surrounded by her friends.
Ziggy in particular was excited about the game. Stingy wanted the patches -- all of them, and a small fight broke out between him and Trixie over the last one. Pixel stared lovingly at the new electronic scoreboard, the one he'd personally created the software for. Sportacus began to warm up in his usual frenetic way.
In the distance, Robbie Rotten scowled some more.
A whistle was blown and quickly, Stephanie chose the team positions -- Trixie as a defender, Ziggy and Stingy as midfielders, Pixel and herself as forwards.
Finally, Sportacus was chosen as the goalie. To Stephanie's surprise, he looked a little nervous. "I'm usually a midfielder," he said with a tight grin. "But ... I will try my best."
She giggled. "I'm sure you'll do just fine," she assured him, with a squeeze to his hand. "I have complete faith in you."
"Thank you, Stephanie." Sportacus clapped his hands together and cried, "All right, Lazytown Jumpers. Let's get this game on the move!"
The other team went into position. Suddenly Stephanie didn't feel so badly about having an adult at the goal. These out-of-town kids were huge for their age, lording over them in both height and weight. But, it's all for fun, Stephanie thought, so ...
The starting whistle went off and Stephanie's illusion about it all being for nothing but fun went right out the window. Immediately, the ball was snatched out from under her feet, as another was planted in her way, effectively tripping her. Down she went, getting a face full of grass for her trouble.
Spluttering, Stephanie rose. "Wait a minute," she cried, as Trixie was also sent flying with a trip. Stephanie gaped at them, and at the crowd who seemed to be cheering them on, oblivious to the cruel cheating that was going on.
Just like Lazytown not to notice something like that, she thought furiously, annoyed to the very core.
Poor Ziggy looked like he wanted to run away, as did Pixel. Only Stingy went after the other team with gusto, loudly proclaiming ownership of the ball, but soon he was in the dirt as well, looking stunned.
The out-of-town team steamrollered to the goal, where Sportacus was waiting, with a grim expression. Kick!, the ball went flying toward a huge opening in the defense, but he was too quick for them. Leaping sideways, he caught the ball easily, landing in a crouch. Rising gracefully, he waved forward the Lazytown team.
"Come on guys, don't be afraid," he said, even as the other team practically snarled like dogs at them. "Bad sportsmanship never wins in the end."
Stephanie wondered about that, but she tentatively came forward, as did a steaming mad Trixie. Stingy was still after the ball, but Ziggy kept to the sidelines clutching a lollipop close. Pixel was looking up something on his wrist computer, but there was no time for anything as the ball came flying to them.
Stephanie knocked it down and ran as fast as she could toward the opposite goal. She might have been smaller, but she was quick, as was Trixie. Together, they passed and ran, passed and ran, until they almost got within kicking range of the goal.
BAM! An elbow to a soft part between her ribs, and Stephanie gasped and fell, one leg slipping beneath her falling body in the still damp grass. An audible pop! and a burning pain in her ankle made her scream out loud.
Somewhere through the haze of agony, she thought she could hear Robbie Rotten -- perhaps even the entire town -- laughing at her and the tears began to flow uncontrollably, even as she tried to hold them back.
"I'm not going to let them -- or Robbie -- see me cry. Not going to ...
It was useless. The pain was excruciating and the time-out whistle blew as she sobbed, wondering what she'd done to deserve this. Immediately, Sportacus was at her side, holding her hand, telling her it was going to be all right. Her friends' pale faces hovered above and she could hear her Uncle Milford calling out for help somewhere on the field.
Eventually it was Sportacus who waved over the paramedics who were hired for the day. He didn't let go of Stephanie's hand as they stabilized her leg, as well as her neck, then carefully lifted her onto a stretcher. From somewhere, Uncle Milford appeared, smoothing her hair away from her forehead, murmuring soothing nonsense.
Standing next to him was an unwelcome visage. It was Robbie Rotten's long face and Stephanie couldn't help herself. He was the personification of what was wrong with everything in Lazytown, everything she wished would just disappear.
"I HATE YOU!" she screamed, pushing herself up on the stretcher, half out of her mind with pain. The words kept coming, even as the world wavered in front of her, making it hard to see who she was yelling at. "I NEVER HATED SOMEONE SO MUCH! I WISH YOU'D JUST DIE!"
"Stephanie ... Stephanie," Sportacus embraced her as she sobbed. He gently lowered her back onto the stretcher. "Shhhhhh. It's okay."
Robbie seemed taken aback. "I ... I ..."
"Not now, Robbie," Sportacus said sharply, helping the paramedics lift their burden. "We'll talk later."
Stephanie closed her eyes against the agony. Clenching her jaw and fists, she decided she was through trying and didn't care anymore. Not about Robbie Rotten, not about sports or dancing or singing ... not about Lazytown, not even her friends who stood there and let her get beaten to the ground and laughed at. She was through with all of them.
Forever.
0o0o0o
to be continued