Someone in Trouble

Chapter 8: Here to Help

High, high above LazyTown Sportacus' airship circled in a holding pattern. Inside the town's resident hero was going through his usual practice routine. He performed a chain of backflips from stem to stern, wall kicks from port to starboard, and full body aerial twists landing in one-hand-stands from the top of the dome to the deck. All of it kept him sharp and in shape and ready to act at any moment's notice.

Not that there had been much call to action for the sports elf lately. But he didn't dwell on the fact if he could help it. Instead he kept himself busy training for the sake of training, moving because he loved to move, and doing his best to fill his time with as much activity as he could, whether that included saving people or not. Even if saving people may have been one of his favorite things to do...

A faint whistling noise outside grew sharper and louder as some fast moving projectile streaked towards the dirigible. With impeccable aim the object's flight path intercepted with just the right part of the hull, setting off sensors to be granted access inside for delivery.

"I've got mail," Sportacus was pleasantly surprised by a canister shooting up through a specially designed chute in his floor. He somersaulted across deck and caught the airborne metal tube with ease. Without any delay he unscrewed the lid to the capsule. "I wonder what it says?" He unrolled the letter with a shake of his hand. A smile tweaked his mustache as he scanned it over.

'Sportacus

Please meet us in the park at 3

It's important

Stephanie'

Sportacus would never turn down a friend in need. He checked the clock mounted in the wall of his ship for the time. It would be three o' clock in only a little while, but he couldn't wait. With an extra spring in his step Sportacus gave a skip and cartwheeled over to the pilot's seat. He wouldn't be late to help the kids this time.

Once the ship had been navigated over the park he ordered a quick method to disembark by "Ladder!" The rope ladder could barely unfurl fast enough for the man's rapid descent and he jumped off about two thirds of the way down anyway. Nobody was there yet to see him stick the landing. He eyed one of the vacant park benches before dropping down and using it for some impromptu pushups, anything to burn off some of his restless energy.

"Hey, Sportacus!" Stephanie's voice was music to his ears. She sounded just as happy to see him as he felt to hear her. He sprang up on his feet and slipped into his normal stance with arms akimbo. The girl had brought Pixel along for this meeting. Too bad none of the others seemed to be in attendance, but Sportacus was happy to see any of them.

"Hi, guys," Sportacus returned the greeting. "I got your letter. Is everyone all right?"

"Everyone's A-OK," Pixel said. "There's something else we need to talk to you about."

"That's great," Sportacus said. "I'm ready to help with anything."

"We don't really need 'help,' exactly," Stephanie said. She glanced at Pixel, seeking confirmation. "We're not really sure... It's about Robbie Rotten."

"Robbie?" Sportacus dropped his hands from his hips. "What about him? Is he causing trouble again?"

"No," Stephanie said. "Actually, we even got him to play with us."

"That's—... Wow," Sportacus said. There were some things that were even impressive to a hero. The kids nodded, acknowledging the achievement. "Then what's the problem?"

"Well," Stephanie said, "trying to play with him didn't go as well as we'd hoped."

"It crashed worse than my hard drive," Pixel said. "Robbie is totally incompatible with any of our normal games. It's like he's running on a completely different OS."