It seems that weekends are the only time I really feel up to writing... teaching each day really drains me, and I usually only do the work required to be done for the next school day. So I look forward to the weekend, since that's when I feel not-so-tired and get my inspiration to write back. I know before I said 2-3 chapters left, but I don't think I can wrap everything up in chapter 12, so it looks like it might be 13 chapters at this point. I had a bit of fun with this chapter as well... see if you can catch the episode reference. It should be very easy to spot! Enjoy.

Chapter 9 Dismal Dreaming

Stormy awoke slowly, not wanting to open her eyes. She was aware of a dull pounding in her head. Instinctively, she moved her hand to her forehead, rubbing her temples. She tried to open her eyes, but the bits of light she glimpsed were painful, and she quickly closed them again, groaning. She listened to the sounds around her, and heard someone nearby. "Hey…" she called softly, not sure if it was friend or foe. She tensed up as she heard them suddenly stop.

"Shhh…" came the whispered reply. Stormy heard whoever it was come closer, and then heard them kneel beside her. "Don't speak… or they'll hear us."

Stormy scrunched her face up, trying to figure out where she had heard that voice before. It suddenly clicked. "Moonglo?" she asked weakly. She felt a finger being put to her lips to keep her quiet.

"Listen to me, Stormy… Murky's taken us both. There's nothing left of Rainbow Land. It's a colorless place now. He took everything and made Rainbow his slave. She does whatever he wants…there's no hope left."

Slowly, Stormy opened her eyes and found that she was laying on a cold, stone floor. She tried to sit up, but felt dizzy as soon as she tried. She laid back down on the floor, and stared up at the ceiling instead, which was also stone. "Where are we?" she asked.

"In the basement of the Color Castle. Murky keeps us here for now, but he is making plans for us. He makes Rainbow drain color from objects, just for fun. He thinks it's funny."

"Where is Rainbow?" asked Stormy.

"I don't know," replied Moonglo. "He sticks her in the cell next door at night. We talk softly sometimes and she tells me what's been happening."

"How long have I been out?"

"It's been about a week," answered Moonglo, shaking her head. "Murky plans to make everything dark, and then take over Earth."

"We have to stop him," replied Stormy stubbornly.

Moonglo sighed. "I don't think so."

Stormy turned to face Moonglo, and gave her a long, hard stare. "You used to be so positive. Now you're negative."

"I tried to be, but when things just keep going downhill, it loses its appeal after awhile, you know?"

Moonglo started to reply, but quickly closed her mouth when she heard the light pounding of footsteps. She placed a finger to her mouth. "Pretend to sleep…and don't wake up," she whispered quickly. Stormy lay quietly on the stone floor, closing her eyes. Moonglo's words echoed in her mind.

"Pretend to sleep….don't wake up…. Pretend to sleep…don't wake up…"

When Stormy opened her eyes the next time, she found that she was someplace different, someplace very familiar. The room was darkened, yet she knew that she had been here before. She was on a bed of some sort, and she wasn't alone. Someone slept beside her. Her head turned, finding that Rainbow was her companion, and at once she knew she was in Rainbow's bedroom. Realizing that she had been having a dream, she quickly tried to sit up, wanting to prevent what she had seen from happening in real life. She grimaced and cried out when a bolt of pain shot through her body, causing her to quickly lie back down. Slowly, she remembered her battle with Murky, and how her rash rush into action had backfired on her. She hadn't thought that Murky would have acted so quickly with the Color Belt, but now she knew.

Her eyes wandered to Rainbow, barely able to make out the features on her face in the darkness. Even now, she could see the distressed look on her face. Whatever was affecting her was not pleasant. Out of curiosity, she reached out a hand slowly to touch Rainbow's face, recoiling quickly when she felt how cold Rainbow's skin was to the touch. She shuddered involuntarily. She closed her eyes again, wishing that this was a bad dream as well.

She found herself wandering an empty, barren terrain. Everywhere around here rose red-brown cliffs, towering over her body. She could feel the dust that the wind scattered across the land, taste it in her mouth. The air was dry and stale; she began to wish she had a glass of cool water to wet her parched throat, though she couldn't remember her throat being parched before that very thought. Cacti sparsely dotted the landscape, adding green specks to brighten up the otherwise dull gloom. Stormy shielded her eyes to glance upward toward the sun, searching to figure out the time of day. The sun was high in the sky – noon.

Trudging onward, she continued to walk a straight path, never knowing why, but feeling as though that was the direction she should be heading in. She became thirstier, and wished again for a glass of cold water. She could picture it so easily in her mind. Her fingers twitched at her sides, and she decided that if she couldn't have a glass of cold water, she'd get it another way. She raised her right hand toward the sky, calling upon the moisture in the air, willing it to gather into clouds. For a few minutes she continued, barely producing tiny wisps of clouds in the end, nothing that could be called a rain cloud.

Sweat beaded together on her brow as she continued to attempt to create a rain storm, but it was no use. There simply wasn't enough moisture in the air to create any sort of storm. She glared up at the white cloud wisps, a mockery of her true power. Stomping a foot in frustration, she continued onward, searching for a pool of water in the bleak landscape. It felt as though hours passed, and yet she still continued onward, her feet beginning to give out on her and her body covered in sticky sweat. She used a hand to shield her eyes from the afternoon sun and glanced around the landscape. Though she had been walking for quite some time, it felt as though she were moving nowhere, that she was passing the exact same cliffs and cacti that she had seen before.

Overhead, a rainbow darted from cloud to cloud, unnoticed by Stormy, who continued in her search for a pool of water. The rainbow touched down in front of Stormy, who continued forward, thinking it to be some sort of mirage. She knew such things occurred in places like this, and she wasn't going to be fooled by her mind playing tricks. She walked directly into the rainbow, and came out the other side, stopping in her tracks. There in front of her was Rainbow, sitting atop a large cactus. Stormy didn't realize that she had been coated in rainbow colors too.

Rainbow giggled and looked at her, smiling and pointing upward. "Hey, why didn't you look up at the rainbow?" she asked, a smiling playing on her face.

"I…what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Why didn't you look up at the rainbow?" she asked again, smile never faltering.

"What's going on? How did you find me here?" asked Stormy, shocked.

"Come on now. I've been watching you. You want to find water, right?"

Stormy frowned. If this was a mirage, it was doing a pretty good job at convincing her it was real and not fake. She decided to play along. "Yeah, I do."

Rainbow pointed to her left. "Why, it's right there! See?"

Stormy looked to her left, doing a double-take when she realized Rainbow was right. There was a pool of water, surrounded by a large group of cacti that appeared to be providing a bit of shade from the harsh sun. Stormy raised a hand to her mouth, only then realizing that she had been affected by the rainbow. "I'm covered in color!" she exclaimed.

"Of course. You walked right into the rainbow."

"Get this off me, Rainbow. It's not funny." Stormy was quite certain she was going crazy. She was covered in colors and Rainbow was sitting atop a cactus, acting as though nothing was wrong. That's really got to hurt as it is… she thought to herself. She watched as Rainbow hopped down from the cactus, and gestured at her.

"Come over here. You can't expect me to get the color off you if you're all the way over there, do you?"

Stormy frowned, not really trusting Rainbow's words, but wanting her usual colors back. She walked closer to Rainbow, who stood next to the pool of water. Oh how blue the water was, and how cool it looked! Stormy was becoming thirstier just thinking about it. She stopped in front of Rainbow, but couldn't react quickly enough when she felt Rainbow's hands push her into the pool of water. The last thing she heard was Rainbow's laughter as the cool water touched her skin, beginning to sink.

Down, down she sank, deeper and deeper into the pool of water. She made to kick her legs, trying to swim to the top again. Her hands moved in rhythm with her feet, but she just couldn't seem to swim back to the top. The more effort she put into swimming, the faster she seemed to sink within the pool. Its deepness never seemed to end and she felt herself tiring, losing breath. She reached out for something, anything that would keep her from sinking, but her fingers grasped water. She felt herself losing consciousness, and slowly, she gave in to the comforting darkness…

It was some time later when Stormy was awakened by the sound of sprite chatter. Groggily, she worked to awaken herself fully, not being able to even understand what the sprite was chattering about. Her ears felt as though they were full of water, as though she had just come up from spending a long period of time submerged. She heard another voice join the banter and wondered what was going on. Her eyes came into focus, and she saw the sources of the excited conversation – Moonglo and Nite Sprite.

~Earlier~

Moonglo yawned as she walked into Rainbow's room. She was exhausted after completing her night's work. Nite Sprite trudged in after her, dropping the bag that now seemed twice as heavy as it had before and plopping directly on the floor. His antennae drooped and he yawned. "Don't worry, Nite Sprite. I just need to check on these two and then you can go." Nite Sprite replied in a worried voice. "No, I'll be fine. I can't sleep on the job; these two need me."

Nite Sprite continued to chatter, stamping his foot in disapproval. Moonglo watched him before she spoke, allowing him to get his frustration out. "Nite Sprite, I'm the only one left who Murky hasn't taken or hurt. I need to care for our friends. I know you want me to sleep, but I can't right now." Moonglo walked closer to the bed, wanting to check on both Rainbow and Stormy. She walked to Rainbow's side first, and began fooling with the covers. She looked at Rainbow's face, and that's when she saw it.

"Nite Sprite! Come quick!"

Nite Sprite hurried to Moonglo's side and quickly climbed onto the bed. He noticed that Moonglo was pointing at Rainbow's face, and he squinted his eyes to make out what was there in the darkness. His eyes grew wide as he saw the strange new appearance on Rainbow's face. "You see it too, don't you?" whispered Moonglo.

Nite Sprite nodded his head in confirmation. He too had seen the strange blackish spot on Rainbow's cheek, next to the purple star. It seemed to be a swirling circle, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Nite Sprite reached out to touch it, but Moonglo pulled his hand away. "Careful," she warned. "Something's definitely not right here."

Rubbing his chin in thought, Nite Sprite tried to figure out a solution. He snapped his fingers and began to explain his idea to Moonglo, who listened intently. Finally, she nodded her head in agreement. "All right, that might work, but hurry back with I.Q., all right."

Moonglo turned back to the bed, looking over at Rainbow. She worried about what the spot could mean, what it might be. She knew that I.Q. was the only one left in Rainbow Land who had a chance of diagnosing the problem. While she waited, she moved to the other side of the bed to check on Stormy. She caught the glint of green that looked back at her.

"What's going on?" asked Stormy in a soft, strained voice.

"Rainbow has a dark spot on her cheek… I'm not sure what it is, but it can't be good. Nite Sprite went to find I.Q. so he can check her out."

Stormy nodded. "What's happened to me?"

"Murky got to you. You're pretty hurt. Twink and I took care of you the best we could."

"He's gonna pay for what he's done! You should have seen him wearing Rainbow's Color Belt! It was all grey and black and he got it to work for him!" The anger Stormy felt was building. "He made it split into ribbons and cut me. He was able to control it just as easily as Rainbow!" Stormy's voice began to crack and she suddenly felt very tired. She lay back on the pillows, enjoying the soft warmth radiating from them.

Moonglo smiled softly. "Don't tire yourself out so quickly. You need to rest. It looks like we're going to have to fight back or give up Rainbow Land to him."

"Don't…give…up…" Stormy spat out in a tired voice.

Moonglo nodded. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna give up, but you need to rest so we can make a plan." Stormy nodded and relaxed against the pillows. Moonglo heard a shuffling behind her and found I.Q. and Nite Sprite standing there.

"I.Q., there's a dark spot on Rainbow's cheek. Do you think you could check it out and see what it might be? I know you don't have Shy Violet to help, but could you try?"

I.Q. nodded and hopped up onto the bed, motioning for Nite Sprite to follow him. Both sprites hovered over Rainbow's face. I.Q. made humming noises every so often, tapping his chin in thought. He and Nite Sprite quickly conversed in sprite language. Moonglo watched the quick exchange. Both sprites finished the exchange, nodding at each other before turning to face Moonglo. I.Q. held out his hands and began explaining what he'd found.

Moonglo's hand flew to her mouth. A spot that was shadowy. I.Q. suspected that it had to do with Murky's gloom potions, but he wasn't sure. Knowing Murky's liking of the familiar concoction in various forms made it likely that it was simply another variation. I.Q. had a feeling that this shadow spot was only the beginning. "At least we know what it is, right?" she asked.

I.Q. nodded, but began to provide another explanation. Moonglo knew that it didn't matter which explanation he came up with. The fact of the matter was that Murky needed to be stopped at all costs.

So Murky's invisibility potion wasn't all it was cracked up to be... how will Moonglo and Stormy deal with this new twist? Reviews welcome!