Kibum found his voice first. “This is crazy.”

                Xander looked down at the side dish still in his hands, then dropped it to the ground. Reactions went from disbelief into anger rather quickly. The consensus seemed to be something about ‘getting out of this group acid trip.’

                Rainbow narrowed her eyes. She may have been known as the sweetest little girl in the world, but she was still a Color Leader and a soldier. She’d fought off her share of Dark Kids and other Color Leaders who wanted to run her planets, and she knew two things for sure. One, you didn’t keep your Color Belt long without the respect of your Color Kids, and two, that sometimes, fear was necessary for respect. And it looked like these nine could use a good dash of fear right about now. She stepped forward, put her fingers in and let loose a piercing whistle. The commotion quieted as everyone looked at her.

                “Go ahead. Run.” She indicated the path before folding her arms. “Let’s see how long you last without help. Even if you don’t run yourself directly into The Pits by accident, Murky will eventually realize that there’s no one guarding the Color Castle. Even if you managed to evade him when he takes over Rainbow Land, even if you manage to find a way back to Earth, it won’t do you any good. Your world will die if he takes the Castle.” She glared at them. “And we have to go help the others. If we don’t and the Dark Kids take over, Murky will just get stronger. It’ll be harder to keep him from taking over here. Your world will be at a much higher risk of dying. We aren’t the only Color World getting temporary replacements. Don’t worry, when we return, we’ll send you right back to Earth.” She took a deep breath. “Although, should any of us fall, we’ll need to keep you a bit longer, until we can find a permanent replacement.”

                What she said sunk in, and Soohyun stepped forward. “You’re really going to war? But…you’re just children.”

                Rainbow smiled a bit. “We may look like children, but we’re much older than you think. We were around at the beginning of this world, and, if I have my way, we’ll be here until the end of it.” The Color Kids nodded. “And this isn’t the first war we’ve had to fight. We’ve fought off our fair share of Dark Kids and other Color Leaders who’ve wanted to take over. We know what we’re doing.”

                Everyone was silent as they thought over what Rainbow had just said. Then, Kevin stepped forward.

                “I’ll help.”

                Eli moved next to him. “Me too.”

                One by one, the UKISS members nodded and came forward, even Kibum. The Color Kids and Rainbow looked elated.

                “Great! Now, each Kid has chosen one of you. They’ll take you in, get you your uniform, and give you the bare bones basics. The sprites will help you the rest of the way.”

                Each of the Kids came forward and grabbed one of the guy’s hands. Rainbow took one herself, but that left one still standing.

                “Okay, does this mean I get to go home?”

                “Nope,” said a voice behind him. He whirled around to see a boy dressed all in white with long rainbow colored hair in a ponytail. “You’re mine.”

                “Wait a minute. Weren’t you a horse a few minutes ago?”

                The boy nodded. “Yup. And the Kids are going to need someone to pull the chariot. And guess who that is? Don’t worry, you can stay in human form until you’re needed.”

                Worriedly, the nine allowed themselves to be pulled into a room in the huge castle. Nine doors faced them, and the Kids, Rainbow and the human Starlight pushed them into their corresponding doors. “You’ll find the uniform in the wardrobe. When you put it on, your hair will automatically change color too.”

                It wasn’t another two minutes before the rattling of doorknobs and pounding on the doors could be heard.

                “You are out of your mind!” came a cry from behind the blue door.

                “Not a chance in any hell in the universe,” said an angry voice from the violet door.

                “Is this really necessary?” whined the voice behind the yellow door.

                “Um…how about no?” spoke a quiet voice from the indigo door.

                The Kids leaned against the walls, hands on their mouths to stifle their laughter as Rainbow shouted at the doors. “You have to wear them. It’s the only way for you to gain the powers. The fate of the world, and even the universe, relies on you wearing that uniform.”

                The yelling subsided, but whining, sighs and grumbles could still be heard from the doors. Finally, movement in the rooms indicated everyone was done.

                “Well, let’s see you then!”

                Slowly, all nine doors opened and the members of UKISS stepped out.

[Okay, so this chapter is a bit more serious than I meant it to be, but it was almost 0200 when I wrote it and I got this AMAZING idea about how the Color Kids and Rainbow Brite and whatnot all ACTUALLY live, and there's something in my notes about them being soldiers (I hurt my back again, so I'm on muscle relaxers. I wrote this chapter on two Flexoril and two Melatonin tablets. I honestly don't remember writing half of it. I also took a message on the phone that I couldn't remember taking. I had to call them back and ask who it was when I regained consciousness about 12 hours later. >_<) and...yeah.

Anyway, who wound up what color was determined by the roll of a D8. (I already knew who I was having Starlight pick.) So, don't kill me when you read the next chapter, arraso?]