The interior of the large vehicle was filled with activity. The long pathway that led to the exit was already packed with tourists, each carrying enough stuff to last a week rather then a day. From his seat in the back, the grey sprite frowned slightly in annoyance. After a few more minutes he had had enough.
A young girl stopped pulling on her dad's arm for a moment and stared wide eyed at a strange fuzzy creature climbing over and bouncing on the padded seats. She smiled happily and tried to do the same, but was quickly caught.
"Fuzzy Monster!" She explained pointing at the sprite. Her father had looked, but saw nothing despite the girl's protests. "Just your imagination." He stated firmly.
The sprite in response stuck his tongue out at the dad causing giggles from the young girl. The grey sprite then continued with his task. A few more seat climbs brought him to bus exit.
"Bye Bye Fuzzy Monster!" The little girl cried out as she waved. The sprite smiled and returned it before he left the bus. Almost immediately the monochrome sprite was drawn into a crowd of people moving towards a small building. The wave of people carried him inside and quickly dissipated. His eyes abruptly widened and he let out an awed whistle.
The search for the buses had not taken long at all. To their dismay, the buses had returned to the station… all empty. Stormy crossed her arms in a huff.
"This is just great! Brian could be ANYWHERE by now and we've LOST the only way to find him!" Shy Violet ignored the storm kid's rants as she studied the colorful buses and then a large sign. After a moment she smiled.
"It's not the color that's important though it does help. Look at the colored vehicles." Shy Violet pointed. The other kids looked back towards the buses. After a moment Red Butler frowned. "There everywhere! There in front, there in back, the middle…."
"Exactly Red! Shy Violet's smile became brighter as she focused her attention on her leader. "Rainbow, where did you see Brian?" After a moment Rainbow suddenly gasped. "The red and yellow buses! Brian was in between them!"
The other kids started to smile as well. So all we have to do is figure out where they went and we'll find Brian!" Patty O' Green said cheerfully bouncing up and down.
"So let's follow them already!" Stormy cried out as she climbed back onto Sky Dancer. "Uhh…actually Stormy, it's 6 buses… once you count the length of the whistle, the recovery time and the amount of people." Shy Violet corrected. Stormy's annoyed reply was fortunately drowned out by the roar of yet another bus rolling into the station.
Murky was in a lousy mood. Thanks to Lurky's short attention span, the Gloom Copter had crashed right in the middle of a construction zone. While it could be eventually repaired, it would take time. And tools...the reason he was on the wretched vehicle in the first place. To his surprise and delight, the unexpected stop worked in his favor.
"The Gateway? What's that?" Twink questioned as he scratched his head. The other kids seemed similarly befuddled. "The place all of the buses are going to!" Red Butler declared before frowning slightly. "I think." He added softly before studying his guide again. As the other kids studied their own guides, they were unaware of a bus door opening and a short grey clad man carefully sneaking by.
Rainbow Brite smiled brightly at her companions. "Well we won't find him just by standing here!" She closed her guide. "According to this the yellow bus leaves first. Patty O'Green… you and Shy Violet will ride it over. Both color kids beamed and started to run for the sunshine colored bus. Meanwhile Rainbow continued her orders. "Red Butler you'll take the next one." Red nodded and headed for the green bus. Stormy scowled. "And just what are we supposed to do?" She complained.
"We're going to find Murky and Lurky before they can cause anymore trouble." Rainbow Brite declared as she prepared to let loose her belt's power. Cries of surprise followed by a roar of an engine stopped her. She looked over towards the buses and gasped.
"Violet! Patty! Are you alright?!" Rainbow cried out as she quickly dismounted. The color kids of violet and green didn't answer. Motionlessly they remained lying down on the hard concrete.
With Red's help they were able to get the pair out of the street. Red Butler clenched his fists as he explained what had happened. "Murky was on the yellow bus and ambushed Patty and Violet with a gloom gun when they tried to get on the bus!" Rainbow frowned deeply. "I'll stay with them until there unmurked. Red get on the other bus, and Stormy go after Murky!"
Brian had long since disembarked from the violet colored bus and was currently looking around the packed building. Not far away was a raised stone step with a large stone lion….a popular spot for picture taking. Unknown to the smiling tourists, a grey ball of fur shared the lion's perch.
The sprite waved at Brian cheerfully, but Brian didn't share his enthusiasm. He waited impatiently for the tourists to leave before running over. "Hey Brian!" Or at least he tried too. Sighing inwardly he turned to face the person…and a smile appeared on his face. "Hi Joey." Brian greeted instantly recognizing his friend from the racetrack.
Joey Stargazer grinned at him from his wheelchair. "Check these out!" He said as he held up a pair of sunglasses with colored lens. "Uhhh…" Brian attempt at a reply was quickly interrupted. "Neat isn't it! You put these on and they zoom in on distant objects!" Joey said excitedly.
Brian smiled at his friend as he kept looking off to the side. The sprite hadn't moved and watched them curiously. Until there was a sudden crash… followed closely by a loud wail. The sprite let out a surprised whistle and took off down a pathway.
Brian quickly turned to Joey and tried to give a hasty goodbye, but the other boy grinned wider. "No way are you chasing after that thing without me!" Joey declared as he propelled himself forward. Brian stared at the path the sprite and his friend had gone down before turning back towards the source of the noise. A little boy had knocked something over upsetting him. Brian sighed inwardly before he ran after Joey and the sprite.
Imagi's Ramblings: Due to a very very SICK message I had received instead of a review my email address can no longer be viewed. Other then that I will update soon.
Imagi