Someone in Trouble

Chapter 11: Friendly Foe

After that day something was different between the kids of LazyTown and Robbie Rotten. Where before the villain had always tried to ruin all of their games, now they had found ways that the man would actually play with them. It took some getting used to at first, having to slow down and quiet down. But it was worth it each time Robbie showed up at their invitation and didn't leave in a huff, but with a grin on his face.

They convinced Robbie to venture out into Lazy Woods with them for bird watching. He didn't appreciate the hike but once there it was just a matter of finding a place to hide quietly, watch, and wait. They appealed to Robbie's sneakier tendencies and he even managed to disguise them all as bushes to help them blend into the trees so that the wildlife would not be spooked by their presence.

Not only did they see the full spectrum of plumage in birds from cardinals to goldfinches to blue jays, but many of the winged little raptors went so far as to land on Robbie's shrub costume, giving the kids an up close look at nature's fauna. They only took flight when Robbie sneezed from all the feathers in his face. Despite the slight upset Robbie was more pleased to have his disguise used successfully than anything else.

Appealing to one of Robbie's other passions, eating, the children got him to come out into the wide open of a field for a picnic. It was almost a disaster. Robbie refused to touch any of the sportscandy, juice, or... gag... potato salad... that had been packed in the basket. Luckily the man had the foresight to bring his own version of sportscandy that he could eat— candy corn, sugar apples, jellybeans, and of course a big slice of cake— after which he seemed content enough to lie sprawled out on the picnic blanket staring up at the sky.

Curious as to what had Robbie so captivated the kids lay down as well to see. They ended up spending the rest of the picnic looking at all the clouds floating peacefully by. It became a game to see what kind of shapes or pictures they could make out of the fluffy white wisps. Trixie and Stingy both saw a car and argued over who saw it first. Stephanie saw less controversial objects like bunnies and ballerinas. Pixel saw a satellite, or was it the real thing? And Ziggy and Robbie both saw lollipops, at least until Robbie fell asleep. Then he only sawed logs.

Not only were they finding new things to do together, but over time the kids and Robbie realized they had more in common than they ever could have guessed. For instance didn't both Ziggy and Robbie love all kinds of sweets and candy? And what better way to share in this love of sugary treats than by baking together? It was a piece of cake with the right recipe. Even easier still when Robbie brought out one of his inventions that could shoot out wholly formed slices of cake with the twist of a knob and pull of a lever.

In fact, Robbie's penchant for inventions gave him more to talk about with Pixel than any of the other kids. It became almost like a competition to see who made the better inventions— although Robbie's creations had the unfortunate tendency to malfunction or outright blow up more often than not, they still made quite the first impression. Between Pixel's programming savvy with his computer and Robbie's tinkering and hodgepodge machines they had plenty to compare notes over.

And when they weren't talking shop, Pixel had found a new person to teach the joys of video games to. Robbie was easily persuaded to try anything that mainly involved sitting in one spot. As he got the knack of the controls he was jumping around in his seat and yelling at the screen just as much as the kids. It was all well and good until Stingy wanted HIS turn to play the game. The fancy boy had a hard time wrestling the remote control out of Robbie's hands.

Despite their equally selfish tendencies Stingy and Robbie could get on fairly well when they wanted something from each other. More specifically, when they wanted something material that the other one had. Stingy was a proud owner of all the finer things in life, not to mention money. Robbie was a packrat of the highest order who had expensive and hard to get things of his own. He could trade with Stingy anything from a mountain of comic books to coins from all over the world (including Iceland), to a coffee cup with a map of Texas on it. Their bartering and bargaining could get heated at times much to the amusement of the other kids, especially Trixie, who liked to tease them for being so intense over something as boring as collections.

When she wasn't making fun however Trixie and Robbie could be thicker than thieves. Her mischievous jokes and pranks found a like-minded soul in the villain who had a long history of playing tricks on everyone in LazyTown. While Robbie didn't care for Loud-Girl's noisy daredevil stunts he was plenty amused whenever she pranked the other kids. Their combined forces left no one safe to sit down without fear of a tack or a whoopee cushion, to open a door without checking for a bucket of water balanced on the top of the frame, or to take a friendly pat on the back without checking for a note stuck onto them that said "kick me."

Then there was Stephanie. Out of any of the kids she may have had the hardest time relating to Robbie. After all she was the pink tornado, the one who had turned everything the townspeople knew upside down when she first arrived to stay with her uncle. She was the one responsible for bringing that blue elf in to shake it all up into a dancing, singing, and playing filled headache for Robbie, the laziest, grumpiest, no-do-anythingist guy in all of LazyTown. They were at odds with each other almost as much as Robbie was with Sportacus, and that was an impressive thing to match.

With all of that being said, as Stephanie kept trying her best to get along with Robbie, she saw more and more how Robbie got along with the rest of her friends. Beneath the sneaky, snarky, and sour exterior was the core of a man who just really liked cake and to relax. Sometimes he did funny stuff that even she could laugh at. She wouldn't dare to say it to his face but Stephanie could confide in her diary what she really thought of him: that mostly, Robbie was kind of a big softy.