Right...so after I posted chapter 10 last Sunday, not only did I finish chapter 13, but I also finished chapter 14 in record time because I was so inspired. So this story is completely finished, with a total of 14 chapters. I'll still post chapters once a week as before, so unless you know where I've posted the rest of the story, you'll have to wait patiently. I'm currently working on story notes for my next long shot, which will be entitled "Lost Storms" and working on a side project called "The Color Kid Diaries". I won't post the CKD project here yet, as I want the first set to be completely finished. So far, I've received some great feedback on it, and hope that you all will enjoy it too.
Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think. Keep an eye out for chapter 12 next weekend!
Chapter 11 Revival of Rainbow
Murky cackled. "Oh you've done it now! You've given me the last piece for my plan. Watch what I do to her now!" The rainbow that bound Rainbow tightly began to sway back and forth, getting closer and closer to the edge. Stormy knew that Murky was taunting her, so she raised her hand to the sky, concentrating on drawing together a group of clouds separate from the ones that already were in the vicinity. White lightning crackled and boomed. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Rainbow still being tossed about. She directed her lightning strikes to where Murky stood. Murky side-stepped her attack and glared, before directing his eyes toward Rainbow.
Stormy could only watch in horror as he used the negative rainbow to toss Rainbow against a grouping of rocks. She was seething mad and turned her attention directly to Murky, concentrating more than ever on hitting her target. He continued to dance and sidestep her attacks, which only made her angrier. She had completely forgotten about Moonglo and Starlite when she saw the faint outline of a hand near Murky before it disappeared. She blinked, thinking she had been seeing things. Suddenly, the plan came back to her and she knew she hadn't been seeing things, only Moonglo signaling to her.
Again, Stormy began her attack, but deliberately missed Murky, who laughed at her sudden incompetence. "Seems you've lost your touch!" he called glibly.
Stormy ignored his remarks, her eyes focused on Murky's waist and the Color Belt. "Come on, Moonglo… come on…" she whispered to herself as she continued to miss hitting Murky. Each passing second felt like a minute to her, but finally she thought she saw the Belt loosening at Murky's waist. All of a sudden, the Belt swung free, and Murky quickly realized that he was missing his new toy.
A large bolt of lightning flew from the sky, striking Murky. It wasn't enough to do much harm to him, but it was enough to knock him out. Stormy grinned in triumph as she watched the Belt seemingly float away and disappear behind a group of rocks. Lurky rushed to Murky's side, forgetting to deal with Stormy or chase after the Color Belt. Stormy rushed to where Rainbow had been tossed and quickly checked her over for injury. Spotting nothing, she figured it'd be all right to take her back to Rainbow Land. She pulled Rainbow into a sitting position as Starlite leapt from behind the group of rocks that the Color Belt had disappeared behind. Moonglo sat triumphantly on his back, Belt in hand.
Sliding from Starlite, she rushed to the other side of Stormy, and together the two girls worked to put Rainbow's Color Belt around her waist. Belt secure, they lifted Rainbow onto Skydancer, who had knelt to the ground to make things easier. "Look!" called Moonglo. Stormy looked to where her finger pointed, and noticed that Rainbow's Color Belt was now faded in color, but it was no longer grey.
"We've got to hurry. Murky won't wake for a bit." Carefully, Skydancer rose and Stormy leapt onto his backside. Moonglo climbed back onto Starlite, with Twink sitting behind her.
"Let's head back to Rainbow Land!" called Stormy as Skydancer took off trotting. Starlite followed.
"Murky? Uhh, Murky?" called Lurky as he shook Murky's body. "It's not sleepy time, Murky." Lurky continued to try to wake Murky.
Meanwhile, Stormy crossed the border into Rainbow Land. She couldn't remember feeling so happy to be there. She quickly led the others to a clearing and dismounted. Moonglo and Twink followed suit. Skydancer knelt to the ground, and the girls worked to get Rainbow off his back and onto the forest floor.
"Twink, we need some good star sprinkles," instructed Moonglo.
Twink reached into the pouch at his side, and pulled out a handful of colorful star sprinkles. He deposited them into Stormy's outstretched hand. "What if this doesn't work?" he asked worriedly.
"We're not going to think about that Twink," answered Moonglo. She knelt on Rainbow's left side, trying not to look at the large shadow spot that covered most of her face and parts of her body.
"It's going to work," replied Stormy, leaving no room for argument. She held the star sprinkles to the Color Belt. At first, nothing happened, and Stormy frowned. This was what Rainbow had always done with the star sprinkles. She held the star sprinkles closer to the star on the Color Belt, and slowly, a soft white light began to glow. It was very weak, and soon the star sprinkles were gone from Stormy's hand. "I think we need more…that didn't seem like it did much."
"Look at the Belt, Stormy," interrupted Moonglo. "It's not so faded anymore."
"Murky musta drained the Color Belt completely," added Twink. "We'll need lots of star sprinkles to charge it again!"
"We don't have a lot of time!" said a frustrated Stormy.
"I'll take Twink to the other sprites," interjected Starlite. "I am the fastest horse in all the universe; I'll be back before you know it!"
Twink nodded in agreement and hopped onto Starlite's back. "We won't be long!" he yelled as Starlite dashed for the Color Castle.
Moonglo looked to Stormy, and saw the anger that was evident on her face. "How long will Murky be out?" she asked softly.
"A half hour at most. It was just a stunning shot more than anything. I needed to give us time to escape." Moonglo nodded, but didn't reply. The girls sat in silence, one on either side of Rainbow. Each of them wished that Twink and Starlite would hurry back.
Within ten minutes, Starlite galloped back into the clearing. Twink jumped from his back, a sack of star sprinkles as big as himself on Starlite. "I've got plenty!" said Twink as he pulled the bag from Starlite. Out spilled the star sprinkles of various colors. Stormy went to gather a handful, but didn't have the chance. The entire pile began glowing. At first, it was the same weak glow as before, but it grew in brightness. Stormy and Moonglo shielded their eyes from the brightness. Twink hid behind Starlite. A low humming noise could be heard, and Stormy dared to squint to see what was happening.
Suddenly, the glowing halted and there were no more star sprinkles to be seen on the ground. They had all been absorbed into the Color Belt, which now shown brightly around Rainbow's waist. "Moonglo, Twink, look!" she shouted, getting the other two to look at Rainbow. Starlite and Skydancer watched in silent amazement.
Without being touched, the Color Belt activated itself and a colorful rainbow shot forth, a sight to see in the grey landscape. It enveloped Rainbow in its light, and created a cocoon around her body. For a few minutes, the rainbow acted as a protective shell around Rainbow. She was raised into the air, and the rainbow grew brighter. Stormy, Twink, and Moonglo squinted and watched. As suddenly as it had begun, the rainbow cocoon lowered to the ground and unwrapped itself from around Rainbow before disappearing back into the Color Belt.
Twink blinked to adjust to the normal lighting and was the first to notice the changes. "Look! The shadow spot! It's gone!"
Stormy and Moonglo studied Rainbow's face, noticing that Twink was indeed correct. "You're right, Twink," replied Moonglo.
"Now the only question is what happens next," murmured Stormy, keeping an eye on Rainbow's face.
Slowly, Rainbow's eyes opened. She blinked, not used to the light. Slowly, she sat up, hand to her head. "Ohhh…what happened?" she asked groggily. "I feel like I've been murked out."
"Murky got you! And the Belt!" Twink cried.
Rainbow groaned, trying to wake herself fully. She had no idea why she felt so exhausted. "What do you mean?"
"We can tell you later," interrupted Stormy. "We've got to take care of Murky right now. He should still be knocked out, but we've got to get the Color Kids back."
"Murky has the Color Kids?!" This fully woke Rainbow.
"Yes, and he did have your Belt, but we got that back," added Moonglo.
"Murky's had fun with tricks and traps. We need to take care of him. We need a plan," stated Stormy.
Rainbow nodded. "We need to get him into Rainbow Land so I can take care of him."
Moonglo looked up. "What if we convince him that you never woke up?"
"What are you talking about, Moonglo?" asked Stormy.
"Murky knows what we were going to do with the Color Belt. We can trick him by saying that the Color Belt didn't restore Rainbow."
"That's a really good idea, Moonglo," replied Rainbow, nodding in approval.
"We need to figure out how to get the Color Kids back too," added Stormy.
The girls continued to talk, making improvements to the plan. It became more complex, but it was almost certain that Murky would fall for it. The idea was that Rainbow would return to the Color Castle with Twink. She would lay in her bed, feigning unconsciousness. Twink would cover her face and arms with black soil to represent the shadow spot. Twink would then pretend to mourn over her. Stormy and Moonglo would return to the Pits and surrender the Color Castle to Murky. They would tell him to come see for himself if he didn't believe them. It was expected that Murky would fall for the lies, and then it would be up to Rainbow and Twink to play convincing roles so that Rainbow could execute a surprise attack.
While all the action was taking place in Rainbow Land, Starlite would take some star sprinkles with him to the Pits, which would alert him to the location of the Color Kids. He would take Rainbow and Twink to the Color Castle first, then head the roundabout way back toward the Pits, taking care not to cross paths with Murky and Lurky. It was hoped that he'd have enough time to find the Color Kids and free them before Murky returned.
"Everyone know what to do?" asked Rainbow. Stormy, Moonglo, Twink, and Starlite nodded. "Then let's take care of Murky!"
Rainbow and Twink climbed aboard Starlite while Stormy and Moonglo climbed onto Skydancer. "Good luck!" called Rainbow.
"Good luck to you too!" replied Moonglo as Stormy guided Skydancer toward the Pits. Each group took off, feeling hopeful and optimistic for once since the whole ordeal had begun.
Starlite galloped quickly toward the Color Castle. "Are you sure Murky will believe them?" he questioned.
"Murky's pretty gullible," replied Rainbow. "And he'll do anything to get my Color Belt again."
"He won't get it this time!" added Twink.
"He may be gullible, but will he fall for this trick?" questioned Starlite again, still uncertain.
"We don't know, but we have to believe!" encouraged Rainbow.
Starlite stopped in front of the Color Castle and dropped his two passengers off. Twink quickly brought him a small brown cloth bag. "Here you go, Starlite. Enough star sprinkles to help you find the Color Kids."
"This is not very dignified," retorted Starlite as he took the bag in his mouth. He mumbled a goodbye to Rainbow and Twink and took off for the Pits.
"Let's get to work, Twink. You go get some of that black soil in the nearby forest."
"Right," replied Twink, nodding.
"I'll meet you in my room. We'll show Murky what the real owner of the Color Belt can do!"
Meanwhile, Stormy and Moonglo were discussing their parts to play while riding toward the Pits. "Do you think Murky will believe us?" asked Moonglo in a worried voice.
"I think so," answered Stormy. "It's going to be hard to pretend that we've given up."
"We have to do that or he won't believe us."
"I think Murky will believe anything… as long as it gets him the Color Belt back." When she didn't get a reply, she turned her head, noticing that Moonglo kept her eyes on her lap. "Rainbow thinks it'll work out. Trust Rainbow."
"Mmhmm" was the only reply Moonglo gave.
Stormy glanced ahead and saw that they were ready to cross into the Pits. "Here goes…Skydancer, lower your head some." Skydancer complied with his mistress's command.
"Murky! Wake up Murky!" Lurky had been attempting to wake him up for over twenty minutes and was having no luck.
Murky's fingers began to twitch as he returned to consciousness. His fingers slowly became fists, and he growled as Lurky continued to shake him. "Get…off… bozo…brain…" he instructed.
"Oh Murky! You're awake!"
"Yes… and Stormy will pay for this!" Murky slowly pulled himself into a sitting position.
Lurky glanced around the area, looking for Stormy. He spotted her upon Skydancer. "Look Murky! There she is!"
Leaping to his feet, Murky curled his hands into fists. "Good. We need something to get rid of her and Moonglo too."
"They don't look so happy, Murky," noted Lurky, pointing.
"Hmm…I wonder what they're up to…" mused Murky. "Perhaps this could work out for me after all…"
So...will their plan work? Or will it backfire right into Murky's hands?