Chapter Six
The rainbow terminated just outside the moat surrounding the Color Castle, and as soon as the last skoot was off, it vanished.
"Welcome to Rainbowland!" said Rainbow Brite, as she and Twink slid off Starlite's back.
The five troll-girls sat and looked around in wonder. Even though the colors were not as bright as they should have been, Rainbowland was still beautiful.
The Color Castle was an imposing edifice, sitting just beyond the moat to their left. To the right the round domes of the dark orange sprite houses sat in neat rows. There was the occasional star-shaped tree, and in the distance the mountains sat. One far ahead had snow on it.
"Wow..." said Onyx in her monotone, while thinking 'Wish I had brought my shades.'
"This place is beautiful!" exclaimed Amethyst, smiling.
"I just love how everything is so coordinated!" said Topaz.
"Wonder if they have a mall..." thought Ruby, looking around.
Sapphire's light blue eyes followed the river from the moat back to Rainbow Falls and the Color Cave. "Hmm... I haven't studied color physics, but I'm pretty sure the rainbow colors in that waterfall aren't from refraction. They cover the entire fall."
"The river comes from the Color Cave, where we mine Color Crystal," explained Rainbow, "And the water picks up small particles of it. It naturally separates by color, so we get a rainbow waterfall. It also helps distribute the crystal all over Rainbowland, which is why the colors are usually so bright."
"What's Color Crystal?" asked Ruby.
Twink took a Starsprinkle from his pouch and gave it to her. "The raw crystal we make Starsprinkles from."
The small orange star-shaped crystal in Ruby's hand flashed and glittered. The other trolls came over for a better look.
"Something is definitely wrong, Rainbow," said Starlite, "The Kids and sprites would have greeted us by now."
"You're right," she answered, "We'd better get into the Castle, and find out what's going on."
She took off for the bridge over the moat, with Twink right behind her. Starlite waited for the troll-girls to remount their skoots and followed them to the door. They parked them to the right of the double doors, and left their helmets. They clustered behind Rainbow and Twink, each grabbing a spell bead, just in case.
Rainbow very quietly pulled the door open slightly and looked inside.
Murky was standing on top of the Color Console, gloom pistol in hand. The Color Kids were sitting at their stations, all of them crying. On the floor all around were buckets full of Starsprinkles, and the hoppers for them were open. Sprites were going back and forth, bringing more. Lurky was standing off to the side, watching everything with a concerned look.
"Get every one of those disgusting Starsprinkles out here!" yelled Murky, "Hurry up, or you'll meet the same fate as your 'beloved' Rainbow Brite!"
The sprites chattered, and tried to move faster.
The door was closed, care being taken not to be seen or make a noise.
"They're inside, all right," said Rainbow, unhappily. "Guess he found a way to make his ship faster."
"What is he doing, Rainbow?" asked Twink, looking up at her.
"I don't know, Twink, but we've got to stop him before it's too late!" she answered. She reached for the handle again, but held back when Ruby spoke.
"Wait a sec!" said the redhead, in a low voice, "Won't he be expecting someone this way? Isn't there another way in?"
"She's right," agreed Starlite, "You should go in another way, one he won't be expecting."
"How about from your room, Rainbow?" asked Twink, pointing to an open window above them.
"Great idea!" was the answer. A rainbow appeared and wound its way up to the window. "Come on!" She jumped on it, and looked at the others. With a second's hesitation, the trolls joined her and the white sprite.
"I'm too big, so I'll stand guard here," said Starlite.
The rainbow suddenly shifted, becoming a stairway, and moved them up like an escalator.
Topaz giggled, and Amethyst looked at her. "What's funny?"
"You know I like escalators, and I've never been on one like this before!" the blond troll answered.
"None of us have," put in Onyx.
They stepped off their ride and into Rainbow Brite's room. To their immediate left was a queen-sized bed on a platform. To their right a chiffarobe. A large globe of the planet was near the center of the room, and comfortable furniture past it. A door was in the opposite wall. There was a fireman's pole through a hole in the ceiling down through one in the floor.
"Nice," nodded Topaz.
"The stairs are this way," said Rainbow, heading for the door.
They crept down the stairs until they could see the main floor of the Castle. The situation hadn't changed.
"Are you sure that's all of them?" Murky asked a red sprite.
In answer, he chattered and nodded.
"What did he say?" asked the gray villain, looking at Red Butler.
"He said yes," was the answer. "What are you going to do, Murky?"
"This!" he answered. He pointed his gloom pistol at a set of buckets filled with violet Starsprinkles, and pulled the trigger. The gloom charge flew over to them and exploded, turning all of them gray. Sprites scattered as the smoke spread out, crying in fear.
The sprites and Kids all gasped, and Murky laughed.
"Oh, no!" said Twink in a whisper.
Taking aim, Murky fired at all the buckets, turning their contents colorless, gray and grungy.
"Now, load them into the -ugh- Color Console!" he ordered.
"But... that will destroy all the colors everywhere!" protested Indigo.
"Exactly!" Murky smirked, "And best of all, no Rainbow Brat to stop me!"
Taking her cue, Rainbow ran down a few more steps. "That's what YOU think, Murky Dismal!"
Every eye in the room turned to her. The Kids and sprites beamed, while Murky looked shocked and Lurky surprised.
"Hi, Rainbow Brite!" waved Lurky.
"RAINBOW! You're okay!" said Lala.
"Oh, yeah? Not for long," growled Murky. He swung the gloom pistol toward her.
"This plot is coming to an end, from gloom and sadness now defend!" chanted Amethyst, and threw her spell bead just as Murky fired.
The bead exploded, spreading out as a burst of pink magic. The gloom charge struck the barrier and exploded, but the gray clouds did not penetrate it. The pink gathered into a ball containing the gloom cloud, and vanished with a flash. The air was clean.
Rainbow touched the Color Belt's star and the rainbow appeared. It zipped toward the villain, who dived off the Console just in time. He fell head first into a bucket of gray Starsprinkles and it fell over. He sat, looking dazed as the small crystals fell off.
"Murky! Are ya all right?" asked his henchman, coming over to him.
The bad-tempered man shook his head and stood up. "Yeah, banana brain, let's get out of here!" He turned and headed for the door, Lurky right behind him.
"I don't think so..." murmured Onyx.
As he grabbed the doorknob, Murky turned and shook his fist. "I'll get you yet, Rainbow Brite! And your little sprite too!"
The white sprite put his hands on where his hips would have been had he been human. "My name is Twink, not Too!"
The five troll-girls winced, but Rainbow paid no attention. She ran down the stairs.
Murky opened the door and ran outside, but stopped when he heard a familiar voice.
"Hold it right there!" said Starlite, stepping between the villains and the bridge.
Without a moment's hesitation Murky fired his pistol, striking the white horse with the charge. He was instantly covered in gloom cloud.
Starlite's head drooped. "I couldn't have stopped you anyway..." he muttered morosely.
Murky, followed closely by Lurky, ran over the bridge and to the left, where the Grunge Buggy waited. A few seconds later it started with a wheeze and a cough, black smoke pouring out.
Rainbow Brite, the Color Kids, the sprites and the trolls spilled out of the Color Castle just in time to watch them head down the road toward the Pits. The smoke trailed behind and the noise slowly faded away.
There was a collective sigh of relief. It had been a near thing, but Murky was defeated once more.