Trapped in Time

Chapter 4: Trouble

The next morning, Sportacus was busy making a banana smoothie. His airship was landed just outside of Lazy Town. After pouring some of his smoothie into a cup, he hears a soft knock at the door. "Someone's at the door!" he exclaims, flipping over to open the airship's door for his visitors.

After the door abruptly opens, he notices his mentor... and Glenn? "Oh! It's so nice to see you!" Sportacus greets, pulling his mentor into a loving embrace. Glenn coughs when they hug for a bit too long. "My turn," Glenn scoffs, hugging Sportacus. The elf snickers some at this comment before hugging the villain. "I wanted to come here with a grumpy expression, man, but you make it hard to do so." Glenn huffs. 

After a few moments of chatter, Number 9 speaks up. "So, what is actually happening with Robbie?" Glenn is immediately interested at the sound of his little cousin's name. "Indeed," he inquires. "Well, you see..." Sportacus began telling the story of how he found Robbie.

"... and I took him back to his lair, which I thought was fine because, y'know... I've been there so many times." Glenn cuts Sportacus off at this statement. "You've what now?" he raises an eyebrow. "Do elaborate." Number 9 replies, crossing his arms over his chest. Sportacus stutters a bit before his reply. "N-No, sometimes I take him back to his lair after he gets injured. Or sometimes he wants company." 

"What type of company?" Glenn implies with a wink. Number 9 elbows Glenn in the side, "No, we don't need to know any of that information. So, what seems to be the problem?"

"Well, Robbie yelled at me. And started throwing stuff," Glenn cuts him off once more. "I mean- what was he yelling about?" he teases. Sportacus quickly replies innocently, "For me to get out, of course!" Number 9 steps in front of Glenn before he can make any more comments.

"So he seemed to be real upset, huh?" his mentor questions. "You know that I can help out with most types of physical problems, but when it comes to mental..? The best I can do is help calm down an upset child!" Sportacus sighs. 

"Well, Robbie does act like a child sometimes." Glenn pipes in. "This is more than that, Glenn!" Sportacus retorts. "At first I felt that maybe I overstepped a boundary, but I suppose it's more than just that... Stephanie wrote me a letter."

The older elf nods at this information. "And is Penny in town?" Glenn asks the blue elf. "No, no, there's no one named Penny here." Sportacus returns honestly. For the first time, Number 9's face is not caught up with a smile. 

The sports elf notices the change in his mentor's demeanor. The reasoning must be pretty bad...

Number 9 begins to speak, "I think Robbie may be seeing flashbacks from his past. He's known to have illusions... but his head injury could've just triggered him to live in the past. Robbie is a very... special case." he says quietly.

Sportacus urges the elder to continue, "He never got proper help. We think he has PTSD, and maybe some other things. These flashbacks appear, in his eyes, to be real life." 

Glenn finishes Number 9's statement. "He can't tell what's real and what's not. Penny was apart of the trauma. His ex, I think? He never really knew, but Number 8 really messed it up." 

Sportacus' eyes widen at the new information. He needed to know more. Number 9 looked down at Sportacus before beginning to speak, "Do you remember how I told you that Number 8 was not a true hero? He only appreciated the fame and glory. Not to mention his unethical methods, and Robbie... he's a product of it all."

Sportacus felt a sudden rush of sadness. Number 9 continued to speak, but everything sounded drowned out for a bit. 

"I didn't help Robbie... as a child... when he needed it the most. I was too blind to be able to see what that monster was truly doing. I-I only realized when it was too late. When Robbie saw me as no better than that monster. I was supposed to help him. I let him harm Robbie. It's all my fault-" and with this statement, Number 9 began to cry. 

Sportacus didn't know how to feel at this point. Glenn quickly rushes over to his partner in order to comfort him.

"What I'm hearing is that Robbie is in deep trouble."