Chapter Seven
Now that the danger was over, the Color Kids and the BFFL stood a few seconds, each group assessing the other.
"Who are they, Rainbow?" asked Buddy Blue.
"Trolls from Trollz World. They helped me a lot!" answered Rainbow, looking around, "But where are the others?"
"Omygosh!" exclaimed Patty O'Green, "Stormy's on Earth, but Murky locked Tickled Pink and Moonglo in their rooms!"
"I'll let them out," said Canary Yellow, heading back inside.
"Let's all go in, and we can sort everything out," said Rainbow.
Just then Starlite came over, still sad from the gloom cloud. "He got away. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Starlite, I'll help you," was the answer. The rainbow flashed, and the big horse's head raised and his ears perked up.
"Thanks, Rainbow, I feel a lot better now!" he said.
His rider stroked his muzzle. "You go rest. We need to fix the mess Murky left."
Inside, sprites were just finishing picking up the spilled gray Starsprinkles.
"I'll take care of this first," said the blond girl. She tapped the star and the rainbow appeared. It dove into one of the buckets, but nothing happened.
"It didn't work," said Twink sadly, looking in the bucket. The other sprites looked upset.
"I would guess Murky's gloom formula is too strong," said Shy Violet, picking up a Starsprinkle and looking closely at it. "The color is entirely gone."
"All these Starsprinkles, useless..." said Red Butler, getting angry. "This will put production back days, if not weeks!"
Rainbow's shoulders slumped. "I guess we'll need to take them to the Pits and dump them."
"Let us try!" said Ruby, and turned to her friends. "Magic of the Five!"
The sprites and Color Kids stepped away from them, having no idea what these visitors were doing. Just then Canary, Pink, and Moonglo came in.
The five troll-girls held hands, and started glowing with a purple nimbus. They each held up a spell bead.
"Gray and black, the shades of gloom,
Murky thought he'd seal our doom.
This place of beauty will be off-track,
Unless we bring the colors back!"
They threw the beads at the crystals, and with a flash and colored smoke, all were restored. There was cheering all round.
While sprites took the buckets of Starsprinkles back down to the storage bins to clear the floor, the trolls and the Kids all went to the dining hall to talk and have some refreshment.
"So, Rainbow, are you gonna let Murky get away with this?" Ruby asked a while later.
The Guardian of Color looked unhappy. "I kinda have to. I'd punish him if he was still here, but he went back to his home in the Pits, and the Color Belt doesn't work there."
"Why?" asked Sapphire, taking a drink of orange juice.
"The mineral that makes up the Pits absorbs all color," answered Violet, "And the wind blows particles of it around that block the rainbow."
"Sounds like my kinda gloomy," said Onyx.
"It's a terrible place!" exclaimed Moonglo.
"Yeah, there are all kinds of monsters there, and nothing grows very well, and quicksand bogs all around; it's not nice at all!" added Pink.
"Sounds like the Haunted Woodz at home," commented Topaz.
"Well, he's NOT going to get away with this, not if I have anything to say about it!" said Ruby, "How about it, girls? Want to go teach him a lesson?"
"Yeah!" answered the other four, in unison.
rb/bffl rb/bffl rb/bffl
An hour or so later Starlite, with Rainbow Brite and Twink on his back, arrived at the edge of the Pits. The BFFL stopped their skoots and looked around.
"I take it back, this ISN'T my kind of gloomy," said Onyx.
"It does look like the Woodz, though," said Sapphire.
"How do we get to his place?" asked Amethyst.
"Just follow the path. It ends at his front door," Rainbow answered.
"Let's go," said Ruby, and gunned her ride.
The troll-girls took the lead, a reluctant Starlite and passengers behind. The dead trees around them were scary, and they kept getting glimpses of things moving around them. But other than the wind and distant thunder, it was silent.
The trees soon ended, revealing the full expanse of the Pits. Gray rock stood in twisted shapes, and sudden deep crevasses filled with dark were to either side of them. Overhead the skies were full of dark clouds, heavy with rain. Lightning flashed constantly, thunder now louder in their ears. Rushing water of the No Return River could be heard as well. They all felt the crushing gloom working on their hearts and nerves.
"Ugh, I really hate this place," commented Topaz.
"Me too, Tope," answered Amethyst.
"This is worse than I ever imagined, but I'm not going to stop now," said Ruby with conviction.
"I'm with you," said Sapphire.
"This is bad even by MY standards," said Onyx with a shudder.
Another couple of miles of travel across narrow hairpin turns and loose rock rattling around brought them to Murky's door. It was a castle of the same gray rock looking like a bald monster's head, with windows for eyes and wooden door for a mouth. The wind picked up and the lightning drew closer.
They stopped at the front door. The view from here commanded a wide vista all around them.
"Should we knock?" asked Topaz.
"Oh, he knows we're here," said Starlite, "Count on it."
Just then Murky appeared in one window, Lurky in the other.
"Hi, Rainbow Brite! Hi, trolls!" called Lurky, cheerfully waving.
"How can he possibly be so happy in a place like this?" wondered Sapphire. She gave a halfhearted wave in return.
"I've asked myself the same question," answered Twink.
"What are you doing here?" called Murky.
"We're gonna teach you a lesson!" answered Ruby.
"Oh, really? How? You can't get in, and that horrible Color Belt doesn't work here," he answered, and laughed.
"You'll see," she answered, and stepped off her skoot. "Trolls?"
Taking each other's hands, the BFFL once again began to glow, but this time with a green nimbus. Murky gagged and cringed, putting his hand in front of his eyes, while Lurky laughed and clapped. "Pretty!"
"Magic of the Five!" they said, and the glow grew brighter. Twink, Starlite, and Rainbow sat silent, watching.
The trolls raised a spell bead each and their tummy gems flashed.
"Thunder, lightning, rain and hail,
The Pits is sure to make you wail.
Rock and pebble, water, sand.
Make this place like Rainbow Land!"
"WHAT! NOOOO!" cried Murky as the beads were thrown in different directions.
The magic smoke obscured the view around for a few seconds, then cleared up. Nothing had changed.
"HA! You failed!" jeered Murky.
Just then there was a rumble underground. The ground shook and broke, releasing trees that grew rapidly. Beneath them grass and bushes sprouted, and bunches of flowers. Overhead the clouds cleared out and the sun shone brightly. Murky's castle suddenly turned yellow with red trim. Flowers dotted it all over. The colors were bright on the leaves.
"AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" screamed Murky Dismal.
"WOW! Pretty colors!" exclaimed Lurky.
"Now DON'T make us come back!" yelled Ruby, pointing at the villain.
The trolls turned their skoots around and drove back to the others. Behind them, Murky hurled curses and threats, and was ignored.
"Great job!" said Rainbow with a huge smile.
"Yeah!" agreed Twink, giving them a thumbs up. 'Much improved!"
"Murky doesn't think so," said Onyx, smirking.
"Couldn't have done it better myself," said Starlite.
"It'll wear off in a few hours," said Ruby.
"Oh, too bad," said Starlite.
"But while it's there, it will give him plenty to think about!" added Amethyst.
"Rotten, evil, little man," muttered Onyx.
Topaz giggled. "But he does have one thing going for him."
"What's that?" asked Sapphire.
"His clothes. They were all monochrome, but at least they coordinated!"
Laughing, they all headed back down the path toward the Color Castle, where new friends were waiting.