The Adventures of Rainbow Brite

Episode #348: A Grey Day in Big Town
written by Robert Teague

High atop the tallest building in Big Town, two sinister
figures appeared.
"Bwahahaha!!" laughed The Murkster, "Now that I have
taken the tallest building in Big Town, I, The Murkster..."
"Don't forget me, the Lurkster," said a voice behind him.
"Er, uh..." stuttered the villian, "Will you be quiet?
You made me lose my place!"
"Uh, sorry, Murkster."
"Anyway, I, The Murkster...and my henchman, The Lurkster,
will take over Big Town! And after that, the WORLD!! HAHAHAHA!!
Turn on the machine, Lurkster!"
"Right away, Murkster!"
The tall, hairy henchman adjusted his black mask and
straightened his cape, then pushed a large green button on the
machine. With a loud 'CLANK!', the machine started draining
all the color out of the building. The effect travelled down
to ground level, and started soaking up colors from everything.
Seeing what was happening, the people panicked, running
in all directions.

Away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Big Town,
and unaware of the growing danger, on a quiet, tree-lined street,
two friends played hide and seek. One was Brian, and the other
his next-door neighbor and best friend Wisp (who, unknown to him,
is secretly Rainbow Brite).
Wisp crept up on a large cardboard box sitting in the
middle of Brian's back yard. With a sudden movement she tipped
it over, revealing Brian.
"I've found you!" she said, tagging him.
"Awww, I thought I'd found a good place. I figured if
it was in plain sight, you wouldn't check," said Brian, adjusting
his grey sweater with the number '10' on it.
She smoothed her blue dress, and tossed a strand of blonde
hair from her eyes. "I almost didn't," she said.
"Hey, Wisp, look at that!" said Brian, pointing.
She looked, and gasped. The color was being drained from
everything, and the effect was spreading rapidly.
"Something is draining all the colors!" said Wisp.
"I wonder what's causing it," said Brian.
There was no answer.
"Wisp?" called Brian, looking around. His friend had
disappeared.

Up in her room, Wisp looked out her window. Brian was
still standing there, scratching his head and looking around.
"Poor Brian," she thought, "I wish I didn't have to deceive
him. He's my best friend, after all."
She reached under her bed and pulled out a wooden box.
Inside was the Color Belt. She put it on and touched the star.
A bright sparkle, and she was Rainbow Brite, defender of
the colors and light, and everything good. The sparkle travelled
over to a shelf, where the statue of a white horse stood, and next
to it was a small stuffed white Sprite, and surrounded them. In a
moment, they had grown to life size, and transformed into Starlite,
the Magnificent Flying Horse, and Twink, her Sprite Companion.
"There's trouble, you two," she said, "Something's draining
all the color out of Big Town."
"We'd best go see what's going on, then," said Starlite.
"Let's go!" said Twink.
She touched the Belt's star again, and a rainbow emerged,
lifting up the secret trap door in the roof. Starlite hopped aboard,
and ran up the rainbow. It veered around toward the colorless area.

Down below, Brian stood watching the colors disappear. A
sudden movement overhead, and he looked up to see his hero, Rainbow
Brite, fly overhead on Starlite, with Twink behind her.
"Aw right!! Go Rainbow!" he called.
She started to wave, but held back.
"I've got to pretend I don't know him," she thought.
"Wow, Rainbow Brite, over MY house!" thought Brian, "Gee,
too bad Wisp wasn't here to see her... Hey, that's right! I never
see Wisp when I see Rainbow Brite! I wonder if there's a connection
there..."

But we'll have to wait and see if Rainbow Brite's secret
identity is in jeapordy. Right now, she's approaching the tallest
building in Big Town, where trouble awaits.
"Is that who I think it is?" asked Starlite.
"You're right, Starlite," said Twink, "It IS who you think
it is."
"I KNEW THAT!" said Starlite, testily, "It was just a
rhetorical question."
"I knew that," answered Twink.
"It's The Murkster, and The Lurkster!" said Rainbow.
"Hey, Murkster, look!" said the Lurkster, "It's Rainbow
Brite!"
"So, here you are at last, Rainbow Brat," said the Murkster,
pulling out his gloom pistol.
"What are you doing here, Murkster? I thought I'd seen the
last of you when the Dark Princess turned you into crystal.*
"Ha! Like any good bad penny, I keep turning up!" said the
villian.
"How can a bad penny be good?" asked Twink.
"He means he's good at being a bad penny," said Starlite.
"Oh," said Twink, "Now I get it."
"That's not all you're going to get!" replied the villian,
flipping his cape in a dramatic gesture. He aimed his gloom pistol,
and fired, sending a small glass pellet toward them. It broke against
the rainbow, and thick black smoke billowed around our heroes.
Before they could react, it surrounded them, choking them.
The rainbow disappeared from under Starlite's feet, and the horse
crashed to the roof. All three were knocked unconsious.
"I have you now, Rainbow Brite!" cackled The Murkster.

*It happened in Episode #302: The End of the Alliance of Evil

TO BE CONTINUED!


The Adventures of Rainbow Brite

Episode #349: The Murkster's Master Plan
written by Robert Teague

Rainbow Brite woke up slowly, her head pounding. She
tried to take her head in her hands, but found she had been
tied up to one of the legs of the color-draining machine.
"About time," said Twink.
He and Starlite had been tied to the other two legs
of the machine.
"All finished, Murkster," said The Lurkster, as he
turned it off.
"Good, good," said The Murkster, rubbing his grey
gloves together, "Now we start Phase 2."
"What's going on, Murkster?" asked Rainbow Brite.
"Ah, you're awake. I've used my Super Gloom Machine
to drain all the color out of Big Town. Now I will use my
Misery Collector to collect all the energy from the misery
people feel from being colorless. And I'll feed that energy
back into the Super Gloom Machine, and soak up the colors from
all over the world! Then it will be a simple matter for me to
take over the world!!  BWAHAHAHA!!"
"We'll stop you!" said Rainbow.
"Not this time, Rainbow Brat! I am prepared for you!"
"Yeah, but are you prepared for US?" said a voice
behind him. He turned quickly.
"THE LEGION OF COLORFUL KIDS!" he said.
Standing on the edge of the roof were all seven of the
superheroes that formed the Legion.
"As a matter of fact, I AM prepared for you!" he said.
"Give it up, Murkster," said Red.
"Yeah, your plans NEVER work," said Patty.
"Oh, yeah? What about my plan to turn all the lollypops
grey, so that nobody would know what flavor they were?*" he asked.
The Kids looked at each other.
"Well...yeah, it did work that time..." conceeded Buddy.
"And it's gonna work this time, too!" he said, and fired
his gloom pistol seven times. The gloom clouds stopped the heroes
from sending out their colored light, and choked them into
unconsiousness.
"That was easy," said The Lurkster.
"Yeah, it always is," answered The Murkster, "The hard
part is doing away with them, even when we have them helpless."
"And we'll make it even harder!" said a new voice.
Both villians turned.
"Wow, Murkster, it's the Legion of Subsl...Substa...sss...
what was that word?...sssSubstahtoot Color Kids!"
"I can see that, lamebrain!" said The Murkster.
And indeed, there were Stormy, Tickled Pink, and Moonglo,
sitting atop Skydancer.
"Just wait till I get my gloom pistol reloaded," said The
Murkster, working furiously on doing so.
"Uh uh, don't think so, said Moonglo, sending a stream of
stars and moons at him.
The Murkster dropped his gloom pistol and jerked back, trying
to get away from the colors.
"I'll get it for ya, Murkster," said The Lurkster, and
stepped forward.
"No you won't," said Stormy. She sent a static electric
charge at the furry villian, causing every strand of fur to stand
up. Blinded by his own fur, The Lurkster staggered around the roof.
Meanwhile, Starlite had chewed through the rope holding
him, and freed Rainbow and Twink.
"I'll get you next time," threatened The Murkster. He
grabbed The Lurkster's hand and ran toward the waiting Grunge
Flyer. He shoved his henchman inside, then grabbed a spare gloom
pistol in the ship. He turned and fired it. The pellet hit a steel
girder and broke, the released gloom cloud stopping the heroes
from following.
The Grunge Flyer took off, trailing thick black smoke
behind itself, the villian's laugh fading into the distance.
With a creak, the girder bent, toppling the Misery Colletor
onto the Super Gloom Machine.
"Let's get out of here!" shouted Twink. Rainbow used the
rainbow to scoop up the still unconsious Legionarres, and they
all got away from the roof just as the machines blew up.
Color was thrown in all directions, restoring Big Town
to it's former colorful self.

"Thanks for the help, Legion," said Rainbow, "And you
too, Substitutes."
"Next time he shows up, notify us," said Red.
"Yeah, you can't do it all alone," added Canary.
"We agree," said Tickled Pink.
"Okay, okay, I will," said Rainbow, "But now I have to
get back home. Brian must be getting suspicious by now."

She turned, and headed back toward her house. It was
starting to get dark, so she shouldn't have much trouble sneaking
back into it. She hoped.

*Way back in Episode #45: The Great Lollypop Caper.


Has Rainbow Brite's secret identity been guessed by Brian? Find
out in Episode #350: Secrets Revealed!