Rainbow Brite Gets
Rescued
by Gina Ingoglia
The Sprites were on their way home. They had been working all night
loading Rainbow Brite's magic Star Sprinkles into bags. Now they
could rest.
A low, smoky cloud was moving slowly up the road. It was coming from
Murky Dismal's Grunge Buggy.
Murky held seven bags of Star Sprinkles in his lap. "What luck!" he
said. "Only one Sprite was guarding these. All it took was a toss of
sneezing powder and he was so busy sneezing, he couldn't call for
help!"
"You're a real genius, boss," said Lurky.
"I know," said Murky. "Wait until we get home to The Pits, and
you'll see what i'm going to do with these Sprinkles." He laughed
out loud. "I'll bet that Sprite is still sneezing!"
Murky Dismal awas right. The poor little sprite was trying to talk
as fast as he could between sneezes. But he was sneezing so much,
none of the other sprites could understand him. Finally, though, he
stopped sneezing long enough to deliver his message.
"Oh, no!" said Twink, Rainbow Brite's favorite sprite. "Murky Dismal
has stolen seven bags of Star Sprinkles. We've got to tell Rainbow!"
At that moment, Rainbow Brite's helpers, the Color Kids, came along.
The Color Kids were the leaders of the sprites. As soon as they
heard the news, they began to search for Rainbow Brite all over
Rainbow Land.
Red Butler and his sprites looked in Red Region.
Canary Yellow and her sprites went all through Yellow Plains.
Patty O'Green and her sprites dashed around Green Grange.
"Sprites," ordered Buddy Blue, "cover every inch of Blue Zone!"
Shy Violet and her sprites hunted in Violet Valley.
Indigo tried to find Rainbow Brite in Indigo Acres.
"We won't miss a spot in Orange Meadows," promised Lala Orange.
And Twink went off to search on his own.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Brite and Starlite, her magical flying horse,
were out scattering green Star Sprinkles in a grassy field.
"This whole place needs a little fixing up," said Rainbow. "It's
getting brown."
Rainbow Brite hummed a little tune as she worked. Without realizing
it, she was nearing The Pits!
"I'll fly back to the mines and get some more Star Sprinkles,"
announced Starlite. "Looks like we'll need more than we thought."
And off he flew.
Inside his cave, Murky was very busy mixing all the Star Sprinkles
together. "Lurky, my boy," he said, "you're going to learn about
color. If you mix all the colors together, you get the most
beautiful color in the world -- gray!"
"It looks yucky, boss," said Lurky.
"Right!" laughed Murky. "We'll scatter it all over everything. The
whole world will be gloomy." He grabbed a big handful. "Let's go
outside and try it!" said Murky.
Murky ran to a patch of red flowers.
"They look kind of nice," said Lurky.
"Don't be silly," said Murky. "They'll look a lot nicer after i make
them gray." He tossed some Sprinkles on the
flowers.
"Still red," said Lurky.
Murky Dismal couldn't believe his eyes. "Nothing happened," he
gasped. He tossed some Sprinkles on the grass.
"Still green, boss," said Lurky.
Murky ran around throwing Sprinkles all over the field. But the
colors stayed the same. Murky let out a groan and threw himself on
the ground.
"I think i know what's wrong, boss," said Lurky. "The Star Sprinkles
won't work without Rainbow Brite's magic belt."
Murky jumped up. "You're right. I forgot all about that. I'll just
have to think of a way to capture her and get that belt."
Murky sat down to think. He didn't move for a long time.
"Any ideas yet, boss?" asked Lurky.
"Stop that humming and let me think," said Murky.
I'm not humming," said Lurky. "It's coming from over there. And
boss, guess who it is. It's Rainbow Brite!"
"What luck," said Murky.
"Looks like she's headed right for one of our sprite traps," he
cackled. "And she doesn't have that pesky horse around to save her!"
Before she knew what was happening, poor Rainbow Brite had fallen
deep into a sprite trap and was being carried off to The Pits in a
giant net. She could hear Twink calling her from far away.
"Twink!" she shouted. "Over here!"
But Twink didn't hear her.
Twink kept searching. "Rainbow," he called. "Where are you? Answer
me."
Then he came to the field Rainbow Brite had been coloring. He could
tell she had been there because of the nice fresh grass. But then he
noticed that a lot of it was left uncolored. Twink had an awful
through. "This is very close to The Pits. Maybe Murky Dismal has
captured her!"
Just then Starlite arrived carrying bags full of Star Sprinkles.
"Where's Rainbow?" he asked.
"Oh, Starlite," cried Twink. "I think something terrible has
happened. It's not like Rainbow Brite to leave a job half done!"
"You're right," said Starlite. "Murky must be up to his dirty tricks
again. Let's go to The Pits and see if we can find Rainbow."
Murky Dismal's cave was at the top of a weedy hill. Twink and
Starlite could see the Grunge Buggy parked out front. Quietly, they
walked past the KEEP OUT sign and tiptoed over the creaking wooden
bridge. Carefully, they peeked inside the cave. Twink had guessed
right. There was Rainbow Brite!
"I'm going to put a gloom cloud over Rainbow Brite to keep her
unhappy," Murky was saying to Lurky. "Watch her while i go
downstairs to get the potion."
When Lurky wasn't looking, Twink waved to Rainbow Brite. She moved
toward the cave opening.
At that moment, Lurky looked up. "Now don't go away," he warned.
"Oh, i won't," said Rainbow Brite.
Twink was close enough to Rainbow so he could slip her some Star
Sprinkles from Starlite's pack.
"You know what to do with these," Twink whispered. Rainbow Brite
winked back at him.
Then with a "WHOOSH," Rainbow threw a handful of Star Sprinkles all
over Lurky!
He began to giggle, and then he began to dance.
While Lurky was whirling and twirling about, Starlite kicked open
the wooden gate to the cave with his might hind legs.
Rainbow Brite dashed out of the cave and hugged her friends. "That
was easy!" she laughed.
"Let's get out of here," said Twink. "I'd hate to be around when
Murky gets back!"
A minute later, Murky was looking around the cave.
"Where is she?" he asked.
"Where's who?" answered Lurky, as he danced around. "There's no one
here by little ol' me, and i'm just as happy as i can be!"
"WHAT?" shrieked Murky Dismal. "Did you let that 'Rainbow Brat' get
away again?"
"What's that terrible noise?" asked Twink.
"Probably Murky," said Rainbow Brite. "He must be very angry. I'm
sure he'll be after us any minute!"
"Let's hope the Grunge Buggy won't start," said Starlite. "Since i
can't fly when i'm in The Pits, he could catch up with us, you
know."
"Then we'll just have to run as fast as we can," Rainbow replied.
The three friends raced towards home.
Murky Dismal scrambled into the Grunge Buggy and looked wildly
around for Lurky. "Can't you get out here any faster?" he shrieked.
Lurky stumbled out of The Pits and stuffed himself into the driver's
seat. He pushed the starter button. The Grunge Buggy began to rattle
and shake.
"We're off!" cackled Murky.
After several wheezes and a tiny snort, the Grunge Buggy was silent.
"It's broken again, boss," said Lurky.
Murky began to shriek in anger, so loudly that even Lurky couldn't
understand him. He climbed out of the car and staggered back to The
Pits, yelling all the way.
The Color Kids and the sprites came running up the road. "Hurray for
Twink!" they all shouted. "He's brought Rainbow Brite home!"
Twink and Starlite smiled proudly, and Rainbow Brite gave each of
her friends a big hug of thanks.
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