The Prophecy of the Keys

A/N: Wooooo! I'm having *so* much fun with this story! I have so many new ideas, hee, can't wait
to type them up. Oh, yes, to the readers, I'm going for at least fifteen chapters for this story,
twenty or twenty five would be great, though, I might try for that. But the chapters are pretty
long compared to some stories' so I dunno. ^^ Ok, ok, I should stop rambling and answer a question:
To Ame Yumeko, no, I don't *really* like Sailormoon, but it's ok- I used to love it, though!


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" More color kids? You can't be serious. How? " asked Rainbow, staring at Violet, who was looking
up at her, still in the chair and holding the magnifier.


" Anything's possible here. You don't know what could happen down in the pits. The Dark One created
lifeforms- Murky and Lurky! He could make others, too. Or Murky and Lurky might have their own
Color Crystal. The fact that Niji found it to be a larger area span in the future might be the
same thing as normal color crystal: it grows. Or, it could be when Color Crystal isn't mined for
a while, it loses it's color. But as far as I'm concerned so far, this is just plain old color crystal
that has no color. So... crystal, I guess. " said Violet, looking calm.


" No, that can't be true, you have to realize that. " said Rainbow, looking frustrated. " How can
something lose it's color? "


" The same way we grow old. Really, Rainbow, let me study it further, perhaps I'll discover something. "


" Alright. " said Rainbow gloomily. " Come, Niji. Ugh, I'm treating you like a mother, when I'm not-
not yet, anyways. "


" That's ok. " said Niji swiftly, following her out.


Shy Violet stared after them, watched them leave, then put a hand to her head and groaned. " The
things I do for science. " she muttered and went to the book.


***


" They looked worried as they came out of the cave. " said a strangely high-pitched man. " ... Lurky,
are you listening? "


" Yes, Murky. I was just looking at the pretty colors on the castle. "


" Idiot. Look here. " a large, brown creature, Lurky, lumbered over to the smaller, green tinged
man, who was rolling out a scroll on a table.


" See, look. This is a prophecy. I found it in one of our secret passageways. "


" A property? Like the castle? It is a property! " said Lurky brightly.


" No! A prophecy, it's kinda like a... a whatchamacallit... it's something... oh, wait a minute. "
Murky went to a shelf and brought down a heavy book marked 'Dictionary.' After flipping a few pages
he said, " Oh, here. 'A prediction of a future event that reveals the will of a deity.' "


" A die-dy? "


" Diety, Lurky, Diety. A higher being. Know who that is? "


" Who? "


" The Dark One, of course! Now, the prophecy reads that the Dark One created five beings to rule
over Rainbowland if he was so defeated. " Murky stared up at Lurky. " We are two. The Dark One left
us behind, and if I'm not mistaken, we're two. "


" Where are the other three? " asked Lurky, looking confused.


" I don't know! It says here that there are five. Wait, let me read more. 'They will come when the
keys unite. ' " Murky scratched his head. " Hmm. Keys. "


" I know two keys! " cried Lurky.


" Quiet, Lurky, I'm trying to think! "


" But I know two keys! " whined Lurky.


" Shut up! I'm thinking! "


" I know what they are! "


" BE QUIET, LURKY! "


" But Murky!! "


" WHAT IS IT?! "


" I read in a book last night about two keys. " said Lurky, looking put out.


" ...You can read? " Murky stared blankly at Lurky.


" Here. " Lurky got a small, thin book off the shelf. It was marked ' Legends of Rainbowland. '
" I was reading it because of the pretty pictures. " he said.


" Yes, yes, but what keys? "


" Look, this page. " Lurky flipped to a page and it showed a picture of two keys: one was silver with
a blue gem at the handle and one was gold with a red gem. " This is the Key of Time. " he said,
pointing to the silver one. " This is the Key of Light. " he pointed to the other, then read from
the bottom, " The keys of light and time are leg- leg- legin- leg- "


" Oh, give me that! " spat Murky impatiently, grabbing the book. " The keys of light and time are
legendary in Rainbowland. Time is said to allow the holder to go forward or backward in time. Light
allows the holder to change things in the past or future. An example, you might go backward in time
with the time key, but then use the light key to change something unpleasent, like who won a battle.
Another, less common legend claims that, united, they can release three divine beings, said to create
destruction. ' ...Lurky, with these two keys we could rule Rainbowland!! " he cried gleefully. " And
it says here it releases them! Once we find them, we can rid the world of color! "


" But why no color? " asked Lurky blankly.


" Because my mommy... oh, never mind. " said Murky sheepishly. " Come, we have research to do! We
must find those keys! "


***


" What's new, girls? " Rainbow and Niji heard a padding of hooves behind them. Both froze and turned
around. Rainbow turned a brilliant shade of red, and Niji stared at the ground.


" Red Butler playing a trick on your face, Rainbow? " Starlite cocked his head to one side. " Er...
Rainbow? " the girl was silent.


" I have to go. " she muttered and grabbed Niji by the hand, dragging her to the castle again.


" Rainbow, what's wrong? " asked Starlite, concerned, coming up next to them.


Rainbow felt extremely embarassed. She could never imagine herself with her faithful horse, doing-
ugh! She didn't want to think about it.


" I don't feel well. " she fibbed. " I'm going to lay down. You can go, you'll probably catch something. "
Feeling extremely guilty, she walked inside the castle.


" Ooh, great lie. " giggled Niji sarcastically.


" How could I do that with Starlite? " cried Rainbow once he was out of hearing range.


" Well, I'm sure glad you did, otherwise I wouldn't be here. " said Niji pointedly.


" I guess so. It's just, I thought I wouldn't ever need to have kids. Goodness, what if you have
kids then your kids have kids and their kids have kids and their kids have kids- wow, Rainbowland
would be full of people because we live forever! " cried Rainbow.


" I don't think so... " said Niji. " Starlite died, didn't he? " she shuddered. " Even though I've
never seen him like this... it's so creepy... to see him alive... "


Rainbow's face clouded. " I suppose we will die, once we reach a certain age equivalent to that of
a human. But since there is no disease here- How old was Starlite? "


" I think around earth age twenty seven. "


" So he must have caught something. " said Rainbow thoughtfully. " How old was I when he died? "


" You were twenty six, but Red Butler was twenty eight so I'd bet he did. "


" We can die? " said Rainbow, confused.


" Lilac- Shy Violet's daughter- said that we would likely die at earth age fifty- you wouldn't want
to be working in the mines at *that* age, would you? "


" I guess not. " admitted Rainbow. " And I suppose it makes sense. "


Niji nodded, and was about to say something, but Shy Violet charged into the room, looking flustered
and holding a thin book, titled ' Legends of Rainbowland. '


" Look! " she opened the book and read the last sentance on the page of the keys: " ' Another, less common
legend claims that, united, they can release three divine beings, said to create destruction. ' "


" And? " asked Rainbow, confused.


" Don't you get it? Three beings, three colors of neutral crystal! It makes sense! Nothing has happened
with the neutral crystal because the keys haven't been united! Niji has one, but the other has yet
to be found! "


" So, you're saying, we have to avoid finding the other key, and we'll be alright? "


" Exactly. I believe that the three beings just might be color kids. " said Shy Violet. " Anti
Color kids in grey, black, and white. Who knows what they could do to Rainbowland released. "


Rainbow nodded, looking slightly relieved. " Where did my future self find the Key of Time? " she
asked Niji.


" The Indigo Acres. " said Niji.


" It makes sense, it's such a quiet area of Rainbowland, no one would think to search there. " said
Rainbow. " Hmmm... now, since Niji's wearing the time key, if she chances upon the light key, the
evil creatures will be released for sure. So our best bet is to make sure Niji doesn't go off exploring. "


" Don't worry about me. " said Niji, looking calm. " I'll be ok. "


" Right. So we've figured this out. Violet, can the neutral crystal be turned into star sprinkles? "


" Yes, as a matter of fact, I had IQ do one this morning. " Shy Violet took out a black color crystal.
" Try it out. "


Rainbow held it to her belt and a beam of rainbow light shot out of the star and circled the room
before fading.


" Brilliant! " cried Rainbow. " Wow, all we have to do is be careful from now on and we'll be ok! "


" I hope. " said Niji.


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A/N: Wow! Two chapters in one weekend! I'm on a roll! :)