Back at the clearing, the Color Kids were eating lunch. Red was trying to start a fire using his red light. He thought it might be possible to lower his light into the infrared, and generate heat to ignite the wood. Lala was watching Red's experiment, offering comments and encouragement.
Patty was off in the brush somewhere, still taking samples of the plant life, and trying her green light on them to see what changes were made.
Buddy and Canary sat together on a fallen log, eating and discussing the mystery of Plock's death, his unexpectedly nice home and Doris, and remembering the times he had visited Rainbowland.
Violet sat sidesaddle on On-X, reading a book she'd brought from Plock's library, and absently munching a sandwich.
Beneath her, On-X sat motionless, but his sensors were active, sweeping the area for life forms that may be dangerous to those left in his care. His master Krys had instructed him to protect the Kids when with them. Battles along side them in the past had proven them to be competent fighters and not in need of his protection. This caused a minor conflict in his programming, until he resolved it by deciding it didn't matter. They had protected him when a situation fell outside his capabilities, so he would do the same for them.
A sudden movement drew his attention, but it lasted only an instant, and could not be localized. He searched his database for anything similar, but found nothing. He decided to wait until it happened again to say anything. Living beings tended to react emotionally if alerted for no real reason, and their response time lengthened with each 'false alarm.
Suddenly the movement happened again, this time encircling the entire clearing. He noted that Patty was outside the circle. He decided to act.
"Danger! Whinney! Danger!"
The Kids stood up and turned their attention to him.
"What is it?" asked Violet.
With a sucking sound many shadowlike things rose from the ground surrounding them on all sides. The stood on short, stumpy legs, had wide, red mouths, narrow, glowing eyes, and reflected no light.
On-X's database now identified the things as Slurthies, which were associated with Count Blogg and the Princess. He fired up his rockets and lurched, the sudden movement dislodging an unprepared Violet. She tumbled to the ground, losing her sandwich and book. Before he could take off, a Slurthie rose beside him and disappeared inside by finding a gap between two of his buttons. A second later his power shut down and he settled back to the ground. The Slurthie left the inert metal horse and fell on Violet before she could stand up.
Light of various colors sprang from the hands of the Kids, striking the Slurthies. This slowed them down by breaking them up into smaller creatures and scattering them, but the smaller ones were quicker, and harder to hit. Many of them would converge on a Kid, while some travelled to them underground. They would overwhelm the Kid, enfolding the one singled out into itself. The Kid would struggle briefly, then stop when they would lose consiousness.
Patty, some distance away, heard On-X call danger, so she dropped the plant she was holding and ran back to the clearing. The sounds of fighting grew louder as she approached, so she slowed and became more cautious. She peeked around a tree just in time to see Buddy and Canary be taken, and they were the last two. The Slurthies suddenly lept together, forming a large creature with the Kids inside. It reached over and absorbed the Kid's backpacks, then Violet's book. It picked up her sandwich, and ate it, making a yummy sound. It tried to absorb On-X, but could not. The horse's weight and metal construction was too much for it. Giving up the attempt, it turned and moved toward the bushes.
Patty started to follow, but it paused and looked back. She ducked back behind the tree, and was relieved when it showed no sign it had seen her.
It turned and lumbered into the brush, and was gone.
Patty slumped against the tree, crying, feeling lonely and helpless, and wishing she had some way of contacting Rainbow Brite.
There was silence in the room. Rainbow and Krys stared at Troy and Mist. Indigo looked at them also, but with joy. She went over and hugged them. "I am so happy to find you both still alive!" she said.
It was warm in the room and Rainbow stood up and took off her cloak.
"She has the Color Belt!" said Mist to Troy.
Troy stared, eyes wide. "How is it possible? The King of Shadows took it from Mist. He would've destroyed it! It's a major threat to his very existance!"
"Why don't you tell us your story, and we'll fill in the gaps for you," said Krys.
The couple was silent for a minute, looking down and collecting their thoughts. "We have tried not to think about what happened, but you all deserve to know why we did what we did, and why we are here.
"We left the homeworld with the Color Kids and Sprites on a mission to bring color and happiness to a small part of the Universe. Mist had been given the Color Belt and instructed on how to use it. I was trained as a Prism Warrior.
We went to Earth, since that world would be one of our prime responsibilities. That was a grey and dreary planet, violent and primitive. We got a taste then of what we were going to be doing.
Then we travelled to Rainbowland. The Color Castle had been built, the mine located and started, all it needed was Sprites and us.
We took up residence and started operations. We added color to things on both planets, and conditions slowly improved. We were happy for many long years.
Then one day, there was activity in the area known as the Pits.
Nobody lived there because the Color Belt didn't work in that area, and there was enough to do in the parts of the planet it did work in. The King of Shadows and his henchmen Murkwell Dismal and Lurky had arrived.
We never saw the King of Shadows until...
The dark and gloomy area began to grow, and take over what we had already colored. We fought it, turning more and more of our energy to holding what we had."
Indigo nodded. "I remember all of that very well." "We started having confrontations with Murky and Lurky, and they were often successful in stopping us from restoring the colors. One day they surprised us, and they used that gloom cloud weapon on us. We got over the effects quickly, and drove them off. After that, things took a turn for the worse. The dark areas grew more swiftly, and we were less and less able to do anything about it. Finally one day the futility of fighting it any more became obvious. We decided to make one last effort by confronting the King of Shadows directly."
He looked at Indigo, who looked horrified.
"So that's why you disappeared!" she said.
"We didn't tell the Color Kids because they would've wanted to go with us, and that was not their job, it was ours. We charged our weapons and went to the Pits, not really knowing what to expect.
The crushing gloom of the place took its toll on our emotions, which you know affect the potentcy of the Belt and Prism. The King beat us easily, and when we turned to escape, Lurky ran up and grabbed Mist. She struggled and got away, but Lurky managed to keep the Belt.
We got away, and stood and watched as the grey and gloom spread unhindered over the remaining parts of Rainbowland."
"We all tried our best to fight it," said Indigo, "But without you two we were overwhelmed."
Troy hung his head. "We snuck back to the stables, and took On-X and fled. We couldn't stand another minute on Rainbowland. We would have taken our own lives we were so depressed."
"It sounds like you didn't escape the effects of the gloom cloud after all," said Krys.
Troy's voice faltered and stopped. Troy looked at him, a strange expression on his face, then went on with the story.
"We went to Spectra, where I left On-X, the Prism, and the uniform you're wearing with a Sprite mage named..."
"Orin!" cried Krys.
"He's still alive?" asked Mist.
"Very much so! He raised me, and only a few years ago gave me the things you left!"
"We left Spectra secretly, and came to this planet, with its muted colors, to hide and to punish ourselves for giving up."
"What do you mean?" asked Rainbow.
"The two of us don't deserve to ever see colors again."
"NO!" cried Rainbow, as Indigo looked horrified, "You don't deserve that! Nobody does! I won't stand for it!"
"That's the fate we chose for ourselves," said Mist.
Rainbow didn't reply, and Indigo watched her fall into thought, so she took up the narrative.
"We couldn't find you anywhere, and the gloom was spreading rapidly. We decided to all set out together and look for you. Near the River we found the Belt, and then knew what had happened to you, or thought we did. It turned out to be a trap.
Before it was sprung, we recorded a message into the Belt for the one the Sprites were now saying would restore the colors at some time in the future." "The Shadow King captured all of us," she continued, "And we watched as he threw the Belt into the River."
"I'm glad to see one of you still lives," said Mist.
"He didn't kill any of us, just imprisoned us in scattered out sites around Rainbowland," said Indigo.
"I wonder why," said Troy, "He hated us all so much."
"We've debated that very point many times," said Indigo, "We lived miserable, drab lives for a long time. She reached over and took Rainbow's arm. Rainbow looked up from her thoughts, and smiled at Indigo.
"Long afterward Wisp arrived, fulfilling the prophecy, beating the King, restoring the colors, and has ruled Rainbowland with love ever since. Murky and Lurky stayed around and were trouble, but both are gone, now."
Suddenly Rainbow stood up.
"I want to try an experiment," she said. She touched the star on the Belt, and the rainbow appeared, shining directly into the eyes of Troy and Mist. They both drew back a bit, then sat still.
Rainbow finished the experiment, and looked into the pair's eyes.
They were now a clear blue, with no hint of shadow in them. Mist's hair shone more brightly, the rainbows growing more eye-catching, and the white of Troy's hair grew cleaner-looking. They sat up straight, tossing aside their cloaks.
"I--I feel like a great weight has been lifted off of me!" said Troy.
"Me too!" cried Mist, standing up and twirling. A smile grew on her face, and Troy's as well. They looked at Rainbow.
"What did you do?" they asked.
"You were still under the influence of Murky's gloom cloud. The rainbow has released you," replied Rainbow.
"After all this time?" asked Krys.
"Yes. And if depression, gloom, and despair become habits, they will never go away," answered Rainbow.
Some time later they settled down to discuss the original question they had been asked outside.
"We've seen this Sorrell the Sorcerer," said Mist, but know little about him. He came here years ago, bought a small castle north of town, and has pretty much kept to himself. I do know from talking to the vendors in the market that he used to be scrupulously honest in his dealings, but over the last couple of years has started cheating and intimidating them to get what he wants"
"There was some talk of making him leave, but nothing came of it. He is powerful, so his excesses are tolerated," said Troy.
"What has he done to bring you here?" asked Mist.
"He has stolen copies of the Books of Dal," said Rainbow.
"WHAT? How could he do that? They aren't allowed off our home world!" said Troy.
"I don't know how, but copies were taken from home. I've looked in them, and know they are real," answered Rainbow.
Troy and Mist looked at each other, then stood up.
"This can't be allowed," said Troy, "We have to get them back."
"Come on, we'll go back where the others are," said Krys.
"Others?" asked Troy.
"Yes, the other Kids are here as well," answered Indigo, "I'm sure they will be overjoyed to see you."
Troy and Mist had tears in their eyes. "Thank you, new friends and old. You have changed our lives!"
Rainbow smiled. "Happy to be of service," she said, "Now let's go."