#6

By the time they returned to Rainbowland, everyone was gathered outside of the Colour Castle. There were plenty of confused and concerned faces when they saw Brian and Krys. As soon as Krys hopped off of On-X with Rainbow in his arms, there'd be an upraor.
"What happened?"
"Rainbow!"
"Is she okay?"
"What did this??"
Starlight stomped his foot, rearing his head back. "Enough!" There was silence at once. "All your questions will be answered, in time. But right now, Rainbow is hurt, and she needs rest."
Keeping quiet, they all stepped aside to make a path into the Castle. Red stepped forward, motioning for Krys to follow. "I'll show you where her room is."
Once Rainbow was laid down on the bed, Red headed back outside. Krys hung back at the door, gaze settled on Rainbow. "You keep doing things on your own. But we're here now. Don't you eve think of taking on the universe by yourself." He watched her for a moment longer, then turned and headed outside.
The kids and sprites were gathered around Starlight in front of the Castle. Once Krys rejoined them, Starlight cleared his throat to end the murmering.
"I'll do my best to explain what is going on, but frankly, Rainbow and I both don't really have any insight as to the cause of any of this. But I'll tell you what I know. The large patches of death are being caused by some creature that's poisoning the Earth. It seems it's as we are, and cannot be seen by humans."
Brian nodded. "The news hasn't said anything about what's causing it all."
"We confronted it, and at once fell under its attack. The poison, which leaks from its feet, has proven to have an adverse effect on the rainbow, and even damaged the belt."
"That's why you couldn't get through to Rainbowland?" Krys asked with a frown.
"We suspect so. Also, the creature has an immense physical strength. The rainbow, even before damaged, could not restrain him. On top of that, he was able to use the rainbow to chase after us."
Lala clasped her hands over her chest. "How are we going to fight this? Do we even know if the creature's working on its own?"
"We don't know much of anything. The biggest problem right now is the belt. We don't know the extent of its damage, or even how to fix it."
Krys spoke up then. "Do you think Orin would know? He seemed to know quite a lot about the belt the last time he met Rainbow."
"That's a good point. But we haven't heard from Orin in hears."
On-X's broken voice chimed in. "Orin is on mission. Journey to find beginning and end."