Chapter Four: Ice-Girl

Canary looked at the island. "Believe me, there's living things there
you'd never imagine." She took a deep breath and Rainbow sent out the
power from which her name resulted. Starlight galloped forward, three Kids
running along behind. Skydancer, with thunderclaps, jumped into the air
and ran along beside the Kids, to ensure their safety. On-X's jet feet
blasted on and he hovered over next to Starlight.

They all landed on Black-and-White Island together. It didn't look too
strange, but all the land they could see was covered in five-foot-wide
stripes of black and white except the Angel Palace, which was gold and
silver with rainbow spires and flags bearing stars, hearts, and moons.

"Definitely a little eerie..." Violet admitted.

"Scared?" Krys asked challengingly. Violet whipped her head to look at
him and made a face.

"No, of course not." She replied, crossing her arms.

"Then what are you waiting for?" he pried. Violet indignantly whipped her
arms to her sides, hands balled in fists.

"I - I'm not!" and she marched forward toward a white pond. Something
small and (you guessed it) white poked it's head out of the milky water.
She squatted to take a close look at it. It opened yellow-green eyes to
her.

"What is it, Violet?" Red asked after a long moment.

"I'm not perfectly sure..." she began. "But I think it's a White
Quadrapus. I wasn't aware they lived on this planet, but that's what it
seems to be..."

"Uh... Violet?"

"Yes?"

"What's a Quadrapus?" Violet blushed.

"Oops! Well, this is." She picked the creature out of the water. It
resembled an octopus, but much smaller and with only four tentacles. "And
it's a WHITE Quadrapus, Red. These creatures are identified not only by a
name, but a color too." The pale creature squirmed out of her hands and
back into the water. "They're usually easy to train, but sometimes are set
on being difficult. We, however, are going to leave this one here." Pinkie
frowned.

"Ok, well, the wildlife is great but let's get to the castle. We have a
better chance of finding the missing Sprites and creatures on the way than
just standing here." Prism interjected before things could get
uncomfortable.

"Good idea." Moonglo said. Prism looked over at her for a moment.

'Is that in thanks for saying her idea was good last night?'

"Nite Sprite really wanted to find that Sunlight Sprite he mentioned."

"Let's go!" Patty exclaimed in a loud voice, making a slight mockery of
'Fluffy's Adventure' (if you've never played it you ought to it's too
funny). They started forward, walking (riding in Rainbow and Stormy's
case) along a white stripe. They passed through a cover of large, white
trees and stopped, gaping.

"A Sprite village?" Lala asked, in awe. Milling about a black ice cream
stand were two white sprites, being served a white slushie by a black
sprite. A white, blob-like creature with a red ponytail raced past the
Color Kids and Prism, then skidded and circled around behind them. Two
young gold sprites pursued it. It jumped up into Rainbow's hands. She
stared at it in surprise for a moment.

"How interesting!" Violet said, examining it. "It appears to be a White
Bilguss. I've never seen one of these here on Silvera either."

"Miss?" a voice asked. All the kids whipped around to look a the Sprites.
"Miss, could we have our White Bilguss back?"

"You... speak English?" Rainbow asked after a silently astonished moment.
They looked at each other. One shrugged.

"Yea." the other replied. "We do. So can we have her back please?"

"Oh! Of course." She handed the skittish creature to the little gold
Sprite.

"Hello there." Prism greeted them, completely unfazed. "You wouldn't
happen to know where I could find a gold Sprite named Sunlight, would you?"

"Sunlight?" One of them asked, turned to the other.

"Iunno, maybe we could take them to Karena."

"But only Sprites and the Old Chosens are allowed to see Karena."

"Old Chosens?" Prism asked.

"Yes. The ones who came from the old land who were partners of the
legendary Angel Warriors." Prism tapped her chin, and Pinkie beat her to
speaking.

"And what would you say if these Angel Warriors showed up looking for
their old friends?" The little Sprites laughed.

"They wouldn't come to US for help."

"Yea, but you people seem smart so we'll take you to see Karena anyway."
The little gold Sprites started leading them into the village. "Hey Mika,
does that tall girl look familiar to you?"

"I dunno, Kami. She does look a little like the ice-girl."

"Ice-girl?" Prism asked.

"Oops. Yea, the ice-girl. What about her?" Mika asked.

"I was just wondering who she was." The little Sprites gaped at each
other as they continued walking.

"You don't know who the ice-girl is?" Kami asked. "EVERYBODY knows who
the ice-girl is!" Prism shook her head.

"Well..." Mika looked up. "She's as big as you and has the same fire hair
and forest eyes." Prism nodded. "She's in that big castle over there." she
pointed to the Angel Palace.

"But why do you call her the ice-girl?" Prism asked shakily.

"Because," Kami began, "She's in a big ice-cube." He paused. "Actually,
the grownups call it... uh... Sun Crystal or something and say that only
the Light Angel can free her. But I dunno what that means." Prism had
become as white as half the land. Red, too, looked pale. But before
anybody could ask, they reached a black tent.

"You can try to go in, but you'll need luck." Mika said. "Bye!" And they
ran off, White Bilguss in hand.

"That was strange." Indigo commented. Prism was already headed for the
tent. Suddenly, silver glaivetips crossed in front of her. Two masked,
black Sprites guarded the tent.

"You may not pass unless you prove yourself worthy." One said.

"Fine." Prism replied, looking more determined than ever. "What do I have
to do?" The Sprite pointed to a silver tepee across from the tent.

"You go there. The Starred Sprite will tell you if you are worthy." Prism
raised an eyebrow, but went to the entrance of the tepee.

'A silver, star-antennaed Sprite... I wonder...' Canary came up behind
her and hung onto one of her legs as she stood.

"Come in." A deep, but distinctly feminine voice said. Prism, instead of
the revered silence the other Kids were giving, laughed.

"Moonlight! It IS you in here giving the psychic readings!" A silver
Spite emerged from the darkness in the tent.

"Prismatic Light, by the Moon Crystals, where have you BEEN the past 500
years? Your sister has needed thawing out!" She laughed at her own joke.
The kids watched this bizarre reunion of Light Angel and Silver Sprite
with some degree of confusion. "--why of COURSE you can go see Karena,
darling! And Rosabel goes with you. It should do her some good to meet up
with her again!"

"Thanks, Moonlight. You wait here and we'll go see Karena, then go thaw
Liona out."

"No problem." She said, and Prism grabbed Stormy's wrist and trekked into
the tent.

Inside, it was pitch black. There was no sign of light from any direction.

"What IS this place?" Stormy asked.

"I... guess this is Karena's house." Prism replied. "Kinda dark. Wish I
had some Sun Crystal, I haven't used my powers for so long I don't know if
I even can..." She groped around her neckline and grabbed the pendant on
her necklace. Stormy, of course, couldn't tell on account of the extreme
darkness.

"What are you doing, Prism?" she asked.

"Just seeing something... gimme a sec." After about a minute or so, a
faint but definitely real light began to shine from the red jewel on the
pendant. They could tell, after a minute's inspection, that they were
inside a sectioned off area of the large tent, and that there was a
cloth-covered doorway straight ahead of them.

"This place is really strange... I like it."

"Yea, I know." Prism peered into the blackness of the next room. "Should
we go?"

"Yea, we'll never meet this Karena Sprite if we don't." Stormy looked off
at a wall. "Karena... why does that name seem familiar?" Prism tugged her
wrist and they entered. As soon as they entered, they stopped and gaped.
The light from Prism's necklace reflected in a watery way off the walls of
the tent, shining silver and metallic blue. One spot, however, remained
purely black. Of course, that spot was Sprite-shaped.

"Uhh... Karena?" Prism tentatively asked.

"Who's that?" another female voice, slightly British in accent, spoke.

"It's Prismatic Light and Rosabel." Stormy said. The black area moved
forward, into the definite light.

"Rosabel?" Karena was a black Sprite, and had lightning-bolt antennae.
Stormy squinted at the Sprite for a long moment, then her eyes widened.

"It... it's YOU!" One of Stormy's hands trembled in a loose fist in front
of her chest. "I can't believe it..." Her other hand touched the Sprite's
dark fur. As soon as contact was made, electric sparks flew.

"It really is you, Rosabel." Karena said, smiling. "You've gotten
smaller."

"I know... an effect of the evil on almost all of us."

"Really? Since Liona is frozen in the teenager stage, I figured you all
had stayed that age. It never occurred to me that you could have
degenerated." Stormy-Rosabel nodded.

"Only Liona and Prism stayed that way. All the rest of us are little, and
only I retained powers. Wisp has helped immensely, though."

"Who's Wisp?"

"She's the one who drove the evil away. She has rainbow powers even
though she's small like us. Most of us call her Rainbow Brite."

"Ah... the Rainbow Angel. I did wonder if we'd ever see the dawn of her."

"Mm-hm." they shared a silent moment. "Well, let's go! Prism is going to
thaw Liona and turn us back to normal." Karena nodded and exited the tent
with them.

The only sound outside was the Color Kids talking. Pinkie stopped and
looked around. All the Sprites in sight had stopped what they were doing,
as if frozen in place.

"Uhh... what's going on?" she asked. Red looked around also, and spotted
the girls coming from the tent.

"I think it's that black Sprite there. Look at her antenna."

"Ohh... is she Stormy's Sprite? That would make DeeLite be quiet."

"Romeo, too." Karena looked at the Color Kids, sizing them up.

"Got your work cut out for you, I see, Prism." Prism blushed.

"Eh... not really. Just gotta make em grow up." Moonlight walked around
to the front of the group.

"Karena, you old nut, how the heck are ya?" Karena slapped Moonlight on
the back.

"Holdin' up pretty well. I got my Angel back so let's go thaw yours.
She'd better still be awake in there after a few hundred years of being
encased in Sun Crystal." They started toward the Palace, Color Kids and
Prism following. The observing Sprites continued to stare in shock even
after they left.


"Gee... it never looked this big back then." Canary said as she looked -
straight up - at the Angel Palace. Prism patted her on the head as she
walked up next to her.

"Dear, you were taller then."

"Oh yea."

Two Sprites stood at both ends of the drawbridge connecting the Angel
Palace to the mainland of the island. They all held glaives. The Sprites
immediately in front of her - a white and a gold - crossed their glaives,
barring access to the drawbridge. Prism looked unfazed and continued
inspecting the Palace.

"Halt!" The gold one finally yelled. Prism continued looking up, but
spoke.

"Hi Niji. Hi Kagi." the glaive of the white one wavered.

"How... how do you know us?" she asked.

"Oh, I met you a LONG time ago, Niji. But you were little tykes then."

"Just who are you?" Kagi (the gold one) asked. Prism finally looked at
them and laughed.

"Don't tell me you really don't remember me! I babysat you... you know,
with Sunlight. She, I'm assuming, lives in the Palace and that's why
you're guards here. You remember her." Niji looked at Kagi.

"Think she's serious?"

"Looks like it." Kagi replied. "Dunno what to think though. Sunlight's
Angel died hundreds of years ago, when we were..."

"Little." Niji finished for him. "We can follow them. If it turns out
they're up to no good, we can get rid of them quick." They turned back to
the group. "You may enter, but we must follow you."

"Fair enough." Indigo said and shrugged. The glaives uncrossed and the
group walked forward. Before long, they reached the actual Palace.
Something small and gold streaked by, something bronze in pursuit. Canary
and Indigo watched interestedly.

"What was that?" Rainbow asked in alarm.

"Don't mind the fire-lizards." Prism said. "They won't hurt you unless
they land on you, and then it's not intentional, they just have sharp
claws." She looked at the direction they flew in before she entered.
"Besides, Butterfly and Sparkle wouldn't hurt a soul." Offhandedly she
commented, "I wonder if they just reached mating age?" Niji and Kagi
exchanged glances.

"She knows the fire-lizards?" Kagi muttered. Niji shrugged as well as a
Sprite can. The inside of the Palace was magnificent, the front hall they
were in was built of gold and silver bricks and reached high above even
Prism's head. Soon they emerged into a large outer courtyard with many
windows and balconies visible. Most of the kids were looking around
adoringly, Prism, Moonlight and Karena looked determined but very happy.
Only Rainbow, Niji and Kagi looked nervous. A tense moment passed, then
finally Moonglo stepped forward, toward a side corridor of ruby and gold.

"It's even more beautiful!" She said and raised her hands into the air,
twirling. The guard Sprites, true to their jobs, raised glaivetips toward
her. A look of pure terror flooded onto her face. A sound not unlike
thunder filled everyone's ears. It was warning and yet comforting to the
kids. Moonglo looked overjoyed. "NIGHT!!" She exclaimed in ecstasy. Niji
and Kagi dropped their glaives.

"What was that?" Niji asked shakily.

"Maybe it's true... there are dragons in here." Kagi said. He put a hand
on Niji's shoulder and began to lead her away. "You need to get home." He
turned back to the group. "You all are fine here."

"Darn right they are!" A very soprano voice yelled from high up. Everyone
looked in it's direction. A golden glint revealed the speaker's identity.

"Sunlight..." Prism said emotionally. The golden Sprite came zooming down
on no less a ride than one of her rank deserved - riding a golden
fire-lizard. She jumped off at Prism's eye level and hung around the
girl's neck.

"Prism!" She exclaimed. "Thank goddess you're finally here! It's been
getting lonely." She made a sweet-pathetic face and Prism laughed.

"Oh Sunlight I'm glad you're the same! I bet you were planning that
entrance for years." The golden Sprite laughed.

"Still the same Prism, too." There was a slight pause. "Now what are we
standing around for? Let's go free Liona for pete's sake!" Moonlight
looked at Niji and Kagi, who were sneaking away.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked. "You two owe us all an
apology. EXPECIALLY for not recognizing me or Karena." They looked
sheepish.

"We ARE sorry. We didn't mean to block your way..." Kagi said.

"Well, actually we did. But that's our job." Niji corrected. "You'd be
suspicious too, if a whole gang of strange people came up and requested
access to the Angel Palace." Some of them nodded.

"I guess you're right." Krys said. "You're forgiven."

"Thank you so much." they chorused, and ran off. They all looked around
for a long moment.

"So... now what?" Patty asked.

"Well..." Sunlight began in her impossibly soprano voice, "I suppose we
go and thaw Liona." Moonlight smiled.

"Yes, let's go see her." Sunlight nodded. "Well, lead the way, sis."
Sunlight looked up at the golden fire-lizard who'd settled comfortably on
Prism's shoulder.

"C'mon, Firefly!" Firefly looked at Prism and nuzzled her neck. "Oh, you
can reminisce with Prism later! We have to show them to Liona!" Firefly
nodded and flew down. Sunlight hopped on her back, and motioned to
Moonlight.

"She can't hold both of us." Moonlight replied. Sunlight looked
thoughtful, then put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. Before many
seconds had passed, two more fire-lizards had flown down. "Oh!" Moonlight
pointed to a brown one. "Pan! I haven't seen you in a long time!" Red
tapped his foot.

"Could we please go?" He asked more nicely than he felt like. "Prism?"

"Yes. We really ought to. The glamouries are impressive, guys, but now
that we know about where this place is, we can come back at any point."
The sprites nodded.

"C'mon." Sunlight said. They were led down a giant hall to their front.
It was built of what looked like immense bricks of precious and
semi-precious jewlels in stripes like a rainbow. After not too long, they
reached a room built in the same manner. In the center was something that
resembled the Color Console, on the left side a four-paneled computer of
the same makeup, and in the back center, on a raised platform, were three
more. The center one was guarded by a tall figure that looked exactly like
Prism wearing battle clothes and weilding two large axes, and was encased
in a shining gold crystalline substance. Prism stared incredulously.

"Liona?" she whispered. The red-haired, green eyed girl inside remained
motionless. The color kids and sprites looked on in hushed awe.

"Prism?" Sunlight asked tenatively. "You know..."

"Yes, I know." She reached up and pulled off her bow necklace, touching
it to the crystal surrounding Liona. Two things happened at once: the
necklace began to absorb the crystal, and it started morphing into
something else. Prism was left gripping a large diamond heart attached to
a thick peridot chain. Liona fell to the ground, Prism accompanying her.