by David Lewman
DJ Suki and Guy heard the sounds of Evil Cloud Guy walking away. Guy tried to peer through the gaps between the sticks and branches, but they were too narrow. He couldn’t see much of anything. Besides, the chamber was dark and shadowy. Still, he kept working his way around it, trying to find a weak spot, or at least a place with a bigger peephole. When he got almost back to where he’d started, he saw something.
“Colors!” he said, surprised. He turned to DJ Suki. “Come here! Look at this!”
She hurried over and peered through a gap in the tightly woven limbs. It was hard to see in the gloom, but she saw a quick flash of color. She gasped. “Is it…the rainbows?”
Guy nodded. “I think so. Maybe Evil Cloud Guy is keeping the stolen rainbows in another trap right next to us! We’ve got to get out of here and set the rainbows free!”
“Agreed,” DJ Suki said. “But how?”
“I don’t know,” Guy admitted.
Then they heard something. TAP! TAP! TAP!
It was coming from the other side of the stone slab.
“Hello?” asked a familiar voice. “Anybody home?”
It was Cloud Guy!
Guy and DJ Suki rushed over to the stone slab. “Cloud Guy!” they cried. “You came back!”
“Yeah,” Cloud Guy said from the other side of the rock. “I realized I was sick of getting blamed for all the rotten stuff Evil Cloud Guy does. It’s time to stand up to that bully! Or at least help you two escape from his trap.”
“Thank you!” Guy Diamond said.
“No problem. Now let’s move this rock. It’s really in the way of you escaping.”
“We tried that already,” DJ Suki said. “It’s too heavy.”
“Hmm,” said Cloud Guy. “Well, how about this? Now we’ve got three of us to move it. And remember: I’ve been working out! Why don’t you two grab the top of the rock and pull? I’ll push on it from this side, and maybe we can tip it over. Ready? One…two…three…PULL!”
Guy Diamond and DJ Suki grabbed the top of the stone slab and pulled with all their might. Cloud Guy pushed on the other side, grunting and straining. “ERNGH! GRUNGH! URRNGH!”
The rock started to move! Guy and DJ Suki jumped out of the way just as the heavy stone slab fell into the chamber. WHOMP!
“WE DID IT!” DJ Suki cheered as Cloud Guy crawled in. They all hugged.
“Okay,” Cloud Guy said. “Now let’s get out of here!” He got down on his hands and knees and started to crawl out of the tunnel.
“Wait!” Guy cried. “What about the rainbows? We have to get them back. And what about standing up to Evil Cloud Guy?”
“Yeah, kinda getting cold feet about that,” Cloud Guy confessed, “in spite of my comfy gym socks. Let’s just run back to the escape-route tunnels and call it a day.” He kept crawling. Guy and DJ Suki crawled after him, all the way out of the tunnel. They got to their feet.
“Now we have to go back for the rainbows,” Guy said. Cloud Guy started to protest, but Guy held up his hand. “Here’s my plan….”
Evil Cloud Guy finished eating and decided to check on his prisoners. He was walking back toward the outside of his trap when he heard something strange.
Music! But not evil music. It was a happy, bouncy little tune.
“This is the Increasingly Dark Forest,” he growled, “not the Happy, Bouncy Forest! Who’s playing that music?”
He followed the sound. It seemed to be coming from behind a huge old tree stump. He tiptoed around the stump and then leapt forward threateningly. “AHA!” he cried.
He saw DJ Suki blowing through a leaf, playing it like a flute. She was tapping on a hollow log with her foot. The happy, bouncy tune was coming from her.
“What are you doing?” Evil Cloud Guy said, utterly mystified.
“Distracting you,” DJ Suki said.
“From what?”
“Them!”
Before Evil Cloud Guy could turn around to see who she meant, Guy Diamond and Cloud Guy had sprinted around him, each holding one end of a strong vine. In a flash, Evil Cloud Guy was all tied up!
“Got you!” Guy said triumphantly.
“Let’s go!” Cloud Guy said, tugging on the vine like a leash.
“Where are we going?” Evil Cloud Guy asked.
“To the rainbows,” DJ Suki answered. “Lead the way!”
They found all the rainbows hidden in a chamber similar to the one they’d been trapped in. Evil Cloud Guy opened the chamber, and the others started pulling the rainbows out, releasing them into the sky.
“Why’d you do it?” Guy asked. “Why’d you steal all the rainbows?”
To everyone’s surprise, Evil Cloud Guy started to cry. “I just wanted attention! I’m lonely. Nobody wants to hang out with an evil guy! I’m tired of being evil. I want to be popular!”
“What were you going to do with the rainbows?” DJ Suki asked.
“I thought maybe I could open a theme park,” Evil Cloud Guy admitted. “People would come to see the rainbows, and I’d be popular.”
Guy Diamond actually felt sorry for him. Then he had an idea.
* * *
Back in Troll Village, the young Trolls were looking gloomy.
“Come on!” Poppy said, trying to cheer them up. “Didn’t we have fun today, playing games and singing songs about rainbows?”
“Yes,” Jody said. “But it just doesn’t seem like a Rainbow Rave without any rainbows.”
“Look!” Biggie cried, pointing. “Up in the sky!”
Sure enough, one rainbow sprang into the sky, and then another, and another, and soon DOZENS of rainbows filled the sky with beautiful colors! The young Trolls jumped up and down with excitement, clapping and cheering. So many rainbows!
Then one rainbow stretched down from the sky and touched the ground in the main square of Troll Village. Guy Diamond, DJ Suki, Cloud Guy, and Evil Cloud Guy came sliding down it and landed right in the center of the village.
Poppy ran up to them. “Guys, you did it! You found the missing rainbows! I knew you’d do it!” They all hugged, except Evil Cloud Guy, who hung back shyly. “Um, who’s that?” she whispered.
“That’s our new friend!” Guy Diamond explained. “And he’d like to help with our Rainbow Rave!”
Guy asked Biggie if Evil Cloud Guy could hand out the rainbow cupcakes.
“Sure!” Biggie said. “That’d be GREAT!”
Evil Cloud Guy got to hand out the cupcakes with rainbow frosting to all the Trolls in the village. This made him VERY popular! He did not feel lonely at all.
From then on, Evil Cloud Guy was known as Used to Be Evil Cloud Guy!
And even though the rainbows had arrived a little late, thanks to Guy Diamond, DJ Suki, and Cloud Guy, it turned out to be one of the best Rainbow Raves EVER!
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