Slowly a pressing feeling on his chest broke the darkness of sleep. Brian slowly opened his eyes only to see a pair of large black eyes staring at him. "Ah!" He yelled out of surprise. The sprite let out a startled whistle and fell backwards off of the bed.
The earth boy leaned over the side of the bed to look at the sprite which glared at him. Unlike the other colorful sprites, the sprite had a circle shaped spot over one eye and looked like it had an encounter with the monstromurk. Brian frowned when he thought of Murky's creation.
He still remembered the feeling when the ray hit. Like all of the joy and life was being sucked out of his body. Only the thought of his friends kept him standing. Afterwards his color was quickly restored and he had been brought back home to earth. Unknown to his Rainbowland friends, there had been an unforeseen side effect. For the next week he had come down with a particularly nasty case of the flu and had often been too weak to move from his bed.
Naturally Brian sympathized. "The monstromurk got you too huh?" The monochrome sprite stared at him before placing the top of his mitt in his mouth. Slowly he moved his hand. "Noooo." The sprite whistled carefully.
Brian looked at the sprite in confusion. "Did you just say what I thought you said?" The sprite smiled and replaced his hand. "Yeeess." Brian smiled as well and helped the sprite back onto the bed.
From Brian's understanding, only Rainbow Brite's sprite Twink spoke English. All the others communicated in the sprite speak. As Brian thought he noticed the room for the first time. The walls were a cheery yellow and besides a simple drawer and closet, it was devoid of any clutter. There was also a small open balcony off to one side that you could look out from. A quick look outside showed the day sky had given way to the dark blue of night. Brian turned to look back from the balcony at the sprite who accompanied him. "I'm in the color castle aren't I?" The sprite nodded, before his eyes widened. He ran over to the door and opened it carefully.
The sprite suddenly let out an alarmed whistle and then raced towards the balcony. "What is it?" Brian questioned, but the colorless sprite didn't answer. With a quick hop he landed outside the color castle and quickly ran off to Brian's disappointment.
"Brian!"
The earth boy turned around and noticed the color kids had come into the room. "How are you feeling Brian?" La La Orange questioned. Brian smiled. "Better then I did." He said before his eyes were drawn back over to the balcony. Red Butler sensed the taller boy's thoughts instantly. When you didn't wake up, Rainbow went down to talk to Russell. She should be back soon." The red haired boy explained. Brian nodded. "So what happened while I was out?'
"He fainted!" Red Butler said in disbelief as everyone stared at the still earth boy. Nearby Shy Violet nodded. I'm not surprised Red. Brian's been training almost every single day to get ready for the race and something like this was enough to put him over the edge."
"We better get him back to the color castle." Rainbow Brite said. Before she could call her own horse, Earth Dancer neighed loudly and knelt down slightly. Though the horse couldn't speak the meaning was clear.
As the colorful group walked away, the colorless sprite watched with worried eyes. Tickled Pink had noticed and walked back to the sprite. "Don't worry, he'll be okay." She smiled. The sprite looked at her and whistled before following the other kids.
"I haven't seen that sprite since then." Tickled Pink finished. "I hope he's okay." She added after a moment. Patty O'Green was quick to comment. "The only time I've seen someone lose there color like that was from Murky's Monstromurk. That poor sprite must have been hit by the beam like Brian was."
Brian shook his head. "That's what I thought too, but he said no." Red Butler immediately pounced. "How do you know that?" Brian realized his slip and sighed. "He was here when I woke up." As expected it caused an immediate reaction. "Is he still here Brian?" Rainbow Brite said as she walked into the room.
"Rainbow! What did you-" Rainbow smiled brightly before answering the unasked question. "Russell talked to your mom and she agreed to let you stay here with your friends for the weekend. Brian smiled back. Thanks Rainbow."
Rainbow Brite beamed. "Now can you answer my question Brian?" Brian sighed. "No. He left from there." He said pointing at the balcony. "That's odd. We'll tell the other sprites to keep a lookout for him." Brian smiled at the Rainbowland leader, but inwardly couldn't help grinning. The sprite hadn't been with him for very long but somehow he knew the sprite would be found when he wanted to be.
Canary Yellow knocked gently on the guest door early the next morning. "Brian? Are you up yet?" she questioned. After a moment had passed she slowly opened the door. Brian to her surprise was gone. She shrugged and continued down the hall. To get to the color console room she needed to first go through the dining area. To her surprise most of the other kids were already there and munching on what looked like several small cakes. La La Orange caught her eye. "Good morning Canary."
Canary smiled at the orange clad girl and returned the greeting. "Mini cakes for breakfast?" "They're muffins. Brian left them here for us." Indigo said softly. Patty O'Green handed the yellow color kid one of the strange muffins which she accepted.
"I didn't know Brian could bake." Canary said before taking a bite. Patty giggled. "That's what Red said too." He and Buddy just went over to the track to help Brian." Canary looked at her for a moment before taking another bite. "I hope this turns out better then the last time." She said simply before taking another bite.
When the color kids of red and blue had arrived at the track Brian was already hard at work. The ropes they had used as makeshift hurdles were back across the track and had been moved up even higher.
"Look how high they are." Buddy Blue commented from the sidelines. Next to him the red color kid agreed. "No one can jump that! Not even Starlight!" Or so they thought. To their astonishment, Earth Dancer jumped over the ropes easily as she followed their earth friend around the track.
Brian could feel the heat rising in his face and heard his heart beating loudly in his chest from his run. As he paused to regain his breath he noticed the other boys had followed him. "Well I don't think you'll have to worry about the jumping portion." Red Butler commented. Buddy Blue smiled as well. "Keep that up and you'll win for sure!" The blue color kid said happily.
Brian smiled back. "Thanks guys, but if I know Randall, I'm in for a rough ride." Earth Dancer and I are going to be ready for anything." Red looked at him. "Don't you think you're over doing it?" Brian's smile disappeared and his features harden. "No." He said simply before running over to his horse. Buddy and Red exchanged a look before they followed him.