Chapter Two

It was far too nice a day to be indoors. So, the children of Lazy Town were doing what they did best; playing. They were totally oblivious to Robbie Rotten's plans for their Superhero friend or that it had gone badly wrong. But their active afternoon was about to be disturbed by the oncoming revelations.

The hatch to Robbie's hideout opened. The alternate world Stephanie poked her head above ground cautiously, a habit born out of years of conflict and having to dodge gun fire. Robbie Rotten had been right, this Lazy Town was quiet and green and certainly didn't have any conflict going on.

Steph felt sad as she emerged from the underground base, Robbie following her, a little uncertain. He had no idea what to expect from this woman, who had literally appeared out of thin air from a different reality, or so she claimed. A Lazy Town that looked more post Apocalyptic that his Lazy Town. It made his head hurt. So Robbie decided he would stop all this thinking lark. Thinking about over complicated stuff got you nowhere, he convinced himself.

"So, um, what do you plan to do now?" Robbie asked uncertainly.

Steph seemed lost in thought for a while, like she was processing multiple thoughts at the same time. Then a look of pain seemed to cross her face for the briefest of seconds, so brief Robbie wasn't sure he actually saw what she saw.

"Is...is he still here? Sportacus? He's still here in your world, isn't he?" Steph looked at him, she seemed pained.

Robbie nodded. Steph took a deep breath to try and steady herself. In her version of Lazy Town, Sportacus was long dead, murdered by her alternate reality Robbie Rotten. This was going to be difficult and complicated but she knew Sportacus would be the one who would know what to do, to get her back home.

The children of Lazy Town were outside playing as Steph approached the town. She was thankful that she had managed to get this far unchallenged. Seeing the children so care free and happy made her smile. Make the most of it she thought to herself then scolded herself for being a pessimist. Why should she assume this Lazy Town would go the same way as her own? The Robbie Rotten she had met here was harmless compared to the one in her world. Certainly not capable of becoming a mass murderer. A massive pain in the backside, yes, but not a mass murderer.

Then she saw her. The little girl with the pink hair, probably no older than her early teens, about 12, 13 maybe. She looked so happy messing about with her friends and Steph couldn't help but feel a little envious, remembering when her life was that simple. Sitting down on the ground, Steph suddenly had the overwhelming urge to cry. Why couldn't life just go back to way it was, before itv went all nuts? It all looked so normal in this reality.

The alternate world Stephanie was so caught up in her own musings and generally brooding over the unfairness of her own reality, that she never even noticed him approach her. But when she felt the hand on her shoulder, Steph jumped a foot in the air. It was him, it was Sportacus! Steph could hardly breath and it felt like her brain had completely disconnected from her body. She just couldn't react in any way. Her Sportacus was dead and here he was, alive again. No, no, he's not my Sportacus, he's dead. This one belongs to this world, not mine. This was going to get really screwy, really quickly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Sportacus said as he stood up and helped her to her feet. "You just looked like you needed help."

Finally dragging her voice out of herself, Steph asked "is it that obvious?"

"Who are you? I guess you're new around here. I don't remember seeing you around before."

"You could say that," Steph replied "and it was you I was looking for. I need your help."

Sportacus raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

Steph took a massively deep breath. She knew she was going to sound like a complete nut job but she needed to take that step. He still had a hold of her hand from where he had helped her stand up.

"You're probably not going to believe this and you'll no doubt think I'm a crazy person..." she paused and then said "I'm Stephanie...I came here from an alternate universe. Robbie Rotten brought me here by accident. And I need your help to get back."