Disclaimer: I do not own Rainbow Magic or any of its characters. This is purely a work of fanfiction. No profit is being made from it.
Author's Note: I would like to say a very big "thank you" to FairyGal11 on deviantART. I was inspired to write this after reading episode of 1 her Rainbow Magic fanfiction series.
Also this story follows the animated movie version more so than the books, but the differences are small.
Kirsty Tate smiled as she looked around and took in the sight of all the different trees and plants, many of which bloomed with colourful flowers. It was a lovely day with the sun shining brilliantly down from a clear blue sky. She listened to the sounds of birds singing as a gentle wind rustled the bright green leaves. She turned to her best friend Rachel Walker to see that she wore an identical smile.
"This is beautiful" she said. "Thank you so much for bringing me here."
"You're welcome Kirsty" her friend replied. "I used to come here all the time when I was little. I'm very glad to be able to share it with you."
"Thanks Rachel, I really appreciate that" she said warmly.
The two of them were enjoying a pleasant stroll in the woods not far from Rachel's house. They had returned just a few days ago from Rainspell Island where they had been reunited with their friends the Rainbow Fairies and had saved Fairyland from Jack Frost's giant snowman.
Rachel's happy expression faltered and became a frown as she recalled some other less pleasant experiences they had had on the island. Such as when her reaction to Lydia's bullying over believing in fairies had led her to unintentionally upset her best friend. She could all too clearly recall her saying "well I won't embarrass you anymore" as she started to walk away.
Kirsty noticed her change in mood immediately. "Rachel, are you alright? What's wrong?" she asked gently.
"Huh? Oh sorry Kirsty, I'm fine" she replied. "I was just thinking about some of the things I said on Rainspell."
Kirsty knew at once what she meant. "It's okay, don't worry about that" she said reassuringly.
"I know" Rachel replied, her face brightening immediately. She knew Kirsty didn't hold anything against her. If anything the experience had proven how strong their friendship really was.
They smiled at each other and continued their walk, making a game of how many different plants and flowers each could spot and point out to each other. After a few minutes Rachel spotted something and had to cover her mouth to keep from squealing in delight. She pointed behind her friend and said, "Kirsty, look there!"
She turned to see what it was and laughed happily as she saw that Rachel had spotted a small brown rabbit nibbling on the grass. It stopped and looked up at them with bright brown eyes, its nose twitching.
They giggled happily. "He's so cute" said Rachel.
Just then the rabbit's ears shot up and it darted away. Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other in surprise.
"What was that? Did something scare him?" Rachel wondered.
Before Kirsty could reply a sound reached her ears and she frowned. "Rachel, listen" she said. "Do you hear that?"
Rachel listened carefully and then she heard it too. "Someone's crying" she said quietly.
Concerned, they stood up and started walking in the direction the crying was coming from. The sound became increasingly louder as they neared its source.
Finally they came upon a strange creature sitting on a fallen log. It had greenish brown baggy skin that hung off of its body in folds and was covered in moles. Its head was large and swollen, with huge ears. The creature had its hands over its face as it continued to sob loudly.
Rachel and Kirsty looked at it sadly for a moment and then looked at each other. There was no doubt in either of their minds that this was a magical creature. "We have to help him" said Rachel.
"Yes you're right" Kirsty agreed.
They walked up to the sobbing creature which was still oblivious to their presence. "Excuse me"
It stopped crying and lowered its hands to reveal bulbous fish-like eyes, a piggish snout and a mouth full of crooked teeth. Upon seeing them it let out an alarmed cry and jumped to its feet. It turned and tried to run but tripped and fell on its face.
At once the girls went to help it up. "Are you alright?" Rachel asked as they did so.
"I'm fine" he replied in a deep rumbling voice. He looked at them and added in a puzzled tone, "but why aren't you running away?"
"We heard you crying and we wanted to help" Kirsty explained. "I'm Kirsty and this is my best friend Rachel."
"I'm Squonk" he replied. "Nobody's ever wanted to help me before. Because I'm so ugly everyone who sees me runs away, even though all I want is to make friends."
"Is that why you were crying?" Kirsty asked softly.
"Yes" he said unhappily. For a moment he seemed about to start crying again but then he looked at them curiously. "You really aren't afraid of me?"
"Not at all" said Rachel. "You seem very friendly."
Squonk stared at them for a moment. "So will you be my friends?"
"Of course we'll be your friends" said Kirsty.
He started to cry again, but this time he shed happy tears. "Thank you so much" he managed to say. "I'm so glad to finally meet people who don't run away as soon as they see me."
Then he noticed the amulets around their necks. "Oh wow, are those fairy amulets?"
"Yes they are" Rachel replied. "They were given to us by King Oberon."
"Wow, you're the girls who saved the Rainbow Fairies from Jack Frost? I'm so excited to meet you" he said happily.
"You know the Rainbow Fairies?" Kirsty asked.
"Well I've never met them myself but everyone in Fairyland knows about them. I ran away from Fairyland when I heard that two humans helped them. I thought maybe humans wouldn't be so scared of me, but every other human I've seen ran away too."
Rachel and Kirsty exchanged an alarmed look. If other humans ever found out about the existence of Fairyland or the magical beings that lived there then it would be a disaster!
Unaware of this he asked, "Can you please tell me all about how you saved the Rainbow Fairies?"
"We'd be happy to" said Rachel.
For the next few minutes the girls told him all about their adventures on Rainspell Island as he listened eagerly. After a while Rachel looked at her watch. "Oh no, I didn't realise the time" she said. "We need to head back or my mum will wonder where we are."
"I understand" said Squonk. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble."
"We'll come back and meet you here tomorrow" said Kirsty.
"Okay, I'll see you then" he said.
Fortunately Rachel and Kirsty were able to get back before Rachel's mum started to worry. After dinner they went up to Rachel's room to talk about their new friend.
"What are we going to do?" Rachel wondered. "If he stays in the human world people will eventually find out about Fairyland."
"I know" Kirsty agreed. "But if we try to tell him to go back then he'll think that we're just trying to get rid of him and run away again."
Rachel shrugged. "I suppose we'll just have to talk to him and help him understand."
"You're right Rachel" Kirsty agreed.
The next day Squonk was again sitting on his log. I'm so happy he thought to himself. I was starting to think I'd never find any friends here in the human world but Rachel and Kirsty are very nice. Maybe I'll get to meet other humans like them.
He was completely unaware that he was being watched by another human that wasn't running at the sight of him. Unlike the two girls he had met yesterday however, this one had no intention of making friends with him.
Hiding behind a tree, the man grinned fiercely. He was a large man dressed in outdoors gear including a red-chequered jacket and hat. His name was Jason Gibbs and he was a professional hunter who was determined to achieve fame and fortune by capturing the mythical creatures most people didn't even believe existed. He had followed reports of sightings of the strange, ugly creature and now his research had paid off.
It's right there in front of me he thought. It's time to put my name on the news.
He raised a tranquiliser rifle, took aim and fired.
Rachel and Kirsty were making their way through the woods when they saw Squonk waiting for them in the same spot where they had first met. Rachel waved to him and called, "hello Squonk."
He smiled and started to wave back when a small dart shot through the air and hit him in the side of the neck. He slapped a hand to it.
Was that an insect bite? That's strange, I suddenly feel so tired…
There was a sudden whoosh and anet shot through the air. Before anyone could react it wrapped around Squonk and he gave a small squeal of fright. The girls jumped back in surprise as he was then dragged back by a cable attached to the net.
"Come on!" Kirsty exclaimed as they ran after him.
At a break in the trees they came to a road. A man was loading the now unconscious Squonk into a cage on the back of a pick-up truck. The girls ducked behind a tree just in time as he cast a look in their direction.
"We have to help him" said Rachel firmly.
"And I think I know how" Kirsty replied with a small smile as she held up her amulet. Rachel also smiled and held up her own amulet as both began to glow brightly.
In a flash of rainbow light they shrunk down to fairy-size and soft gossamer wings appeared on their backs. Rachel had yellow wings and Kirsty had light blue wings.
They flew over to the truck as the man got inside and started the engine. He had covered Squonk's cage with a tarpaulin so that no-one could see inside.
"Wake up Squonk!" Rachel called as the truck started to drive off, but he didn't react. He was out cold.
"It's no good Rachel" said Kirsty. "That man shot him with a tranquiliser dart. We won't be able to wake him until it wears off. Besides we're on a road. We can't do anything here or there could be an accident."
"You're right" she agreed. "We'll have to hope that he doesn't drive too far away."
It did not take too long for the truck to arrive at a house on the outskirts of Tippington. It drove into a garage and came to a stop, the door lowering behind it.
Rachel and Kirsty hid as Gibbs got out of the truck and walked over to the wall. He put a key on a row of hooks, each one holding a key and then went around the back to check on his cargo. He removed the tarpaulin and grinned nastily at the unconscious Squonk. "You're about to make me a lot of money" he said.
Rachel clenched her fist angrily and was about to fly out at him but Kirsty stopped her. She nodded in understanding and calmed herself.
They waited until he had left through a side door and then flew out from behind the cage. Rachel pointed to the row of keys. "One of them must open the cage."
Fortunately the keys were small and light enough that they could carry them in their fairy forms. The girls each took one and fluttered back to the cage that held Squonk. Rachel tried to open the lock with her key but it didn't fit. Neither did Kirsty's.
"We have to hurry. He could come back at any moment" said Rachel.
After a few more tries they finally found the right key and unlocked the cage door. Now all they had to do was wake up Squonk.
Kirsty held up her amulet and chanted, "Rainbow Magic help our friend, bring his slumber to an end."
The amulet glowed and rainbow-coloured light shone down on Squonk for a few seconds. As it faded away he opened his eyes. "Hmm, hello girls" he said. "Where are we?"
"You were captured by a hunter" Rachel explained. "We have to get out of here before he comes back."
"Okay." He pushed open the cage, stepped out and went over to the garage door. As he started to open it an unfriendly voice called out, "What's going on there?" They heard footsteps approaching
"Oh no he's coming" said Squonk fearfully. He started to tremble and his eyes began to tear up.
"Don't worry, we'll slow him down" said Kirsty. "Just get outside and run for the trees."
"Be careful girls" he said.
"We will" Kirsty replied. She went over to Rachel and quickly whispered something into her ear. Her friend smiled. "Good idea Kirsty. Let's do it."
As Gibbs came charging in through the side door he failed to see the two fairies hovering above the floor on either side. Between them was a length of electrical cable and as he entered they flew up, each holding an end of the cable and pulling it taut. He gave a yell of anger as he tripped over it and fell to the ground.
Squonk pushed the garage door up and hurried out. Wasting no time he ran for the tree line.
Gritting his teeth in rage, Gibbs ran over to his truck, took out his tranquilizer rifle and then went to the open door. "You're not getting away from me" he growled as he raised the rifle and aimed it at the retreating Squonk.
He was totally unaware of Rachel and Kirsty hurriedly untying his bootlaces and then tying them together. Just as he was about to fire they pushed him in the back as hard as they could. Totally unprepared as he was it was enough to disrupt his balance and he again toppled over.
"What is going on?" he growled as he started to untie his boot laces.
Rachel, Kirsty and Squonk fled into the trees as Gibbs hastily finished re-tying his boots on, snatched up his rifle and raced after them.
"I'll meet you back at the log" said Squonk. Before they could reply he suddenly crouched down and started digging into the ground with amazing speed.
Gibbs came up behind him and started to aim his rifle again. Rachel and Kirsty flew up into the branches of a nearby tree and began throwing acorns at him as hard as they could.
"Agh what was that?" He exclaimed as the acorns hit him in the forehead and cheek. They hid behind the branch just in time as he looked up at the trees.
The distraction gave Squonk enough time to get underground. When Gibbs looked back he had disappeared.
"No!" He yelled in rage.
"Come on Kirsty let's get out of here" said Rachel.
"Right behind you" she replied.
Taking care not to be seen by the angry hunter they sped away into the woods.
The girls met up again with Squonk at the log where they had first met him. Rachel and Kirsty landed in front of him and changed back to normal, their wings vanishing as they grew back to human size.
"Thank you for saving me" said Squonk. He smiled, showing his crooked teeth.
They smiled back. "Its okay, that's what friends do for each other" said Kirsty.
"You can say that again" said a familiar voice.
Rachel and Kirsty turned to see a fairy in a red dress come fluttering towards them. "Ruby!" they exclaimed happily.
"Hello Rachel, Kirsty. It's nice to see you again" said Ruby with a warm smile. She turned to Squonk. "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."
He looked puzzled. "You were looking for me?"
"Of course I was. King Oberon and Queen Titania were worried when they heard you had gone missing. So were me and my sisters. King Oberon asked me to come here and bring you home."
"But, but I thought everyone was afraid of me" he said.
"Its okay" said Ruby. "King Oberon has spoken to everyone who ran away and told them that you don't want to hurt them. They're sorry for judging you."
"Really?" he said hopefully.
"Really" Ruby repeated.
Squonk looked a little uncomfortable. "I want to go home" he said at last. "I know I don't belong here. But I'll miss you Rachel and Kirsty."
"We'll miss you too" said Rachel.
"Thanks again for saving me" he said as Ruby waved her wand.
"Bye Rachel, bye Kirsty" she called.
"Bye Ruby, bye Squonk" they called back as their friends disappeared in a swirl of rainbow light.
Smiling happily Rachel and Kirsty set off for home.
Mrs. Walker, Rachel's mum, looked up as she saw them enter. "There you are girls. I was starting to worry."
"Sorry mum" said Rachel.
"It's alright" she replied. "Although…"
"Although what mum?"
"I've been hearing people talking about a strange creature in the woods. I thought it might be a bear or something like that."
"Oh I wouldn't worry about that mum" said Rachel.
"Yes I suppose so" she agreed. "Anyway, how would the two of you like some chocolate brownies?"
"Yes please" they both said eagerly.
As Mrs. Walker started to make the brownies, Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other and shared a knowing smile.