#32

"Are there others like me?" Rainbow asked Alpha as Starlight continued his tireless run across dimensions.
"There are other protectors of teh Universe," he replied carefully. "But none of them are like you."
"What do you mean?"
"He means you're better than the rest of them," Omi piped up.
"How?"
"Because you're Rainbow Brite," he said, matter-of-factly.
"I don't-"
"You will, in time," Alpha said reassuringly.
"I just feel like everything would make sense, and I'd know exactly what to do, if I could just understand what you were both talking about."
"Because you would," Omi said as he looked up at her.
Alpha knocked a knuckle against his head. "Quiet, Omi."
"He's right, though, isn't he?"
He sighed softly and rested his hands on her shoulders. "He is."
"Then explain it to her," Starlight said with agitation.
"I could, but that would not gurantee her understanding. It will be better for her to come into the knowledge on her own."
She sighed, her eyes drifting shut. "What if I never understand?"
"You will," Alpha said.
"You have to," said Omi.

Lala sat back from the console in the Castle. "It's not spreading as fast. They must have gotten it."
Patty stepped in from the doorway. "Shouldn't they have been back by now?"
Red leaned back in his chair. "Brian still had his two-way, didn't he?"
"There's no answer." Canary pulled the base's headphones down around her neck.
Krys hopped down off of the stairs. "I'll go search for them."
"I'll go with you," Moonglow said as she made her way over.
"You sure?"
She nodded. "I want to try to get a message to Rainbow through the stars. She'd probably feel better knowing the creatures have been stopped."
"Alright. Come on." They headed outside to where On-X stood on stand-by.

Upstairs, Violet and Dismal were bent over a table. The surface was covered with a patch of soil and grass from outside. Only half of it remained, from tried and failed experiments.
"Cross your fingers," Dismal said as he poured a bit of the poisoned earth onto a corner of the remaining grass. The poison began to spread, killing the grass one blade at a time. Violet held out a spray bottle filled with the latest experiment. She squirted some of the solution onto the poisoned earth, making sure to get all of it. They then stood back and watched. Nothing happened. The grass didn't grow back, but as they watched, they noticed that nothing more had died, either.
Violet let out a whoop of triumph. "Ha! It stopped!" She moved around to the other end of the table. "Do you think it could prevent the poison altogether?"
"Only one way to find out," Dismal said as he followed her around to the fresh grass.
She sprayed the solution over a patch of the grass, giving it a healthy dose, just in case. After a moment, Dismal poured more of the poisoned earth onto the grass. And nothing happened.
"We've done it!" Violet cried.
Dismal didn't look so sure. "It buys us time. But it doesn't fix things."
Violet frowned and looked over at him. "You're right...But fixing things isn't our job. Buying time is. Now come on, we ned to make a ton of this stuff, and fast." She looked over at IQ, who'd been helping them the whole time. "Go tell the others we came up with something." She handed it a list. "Tell them we need as much of these ingredients as they can get. Tell them this is priority over everything else!"