All The Trucks Unload Beyond The Gopher Holes

Untitled Part 1

The Color Kids and the Sprites were mining for color crystals in the Color Caves when part of the ceiling of the cave collapsed. Luckily, no one was hurt, but Winter White and Vulcan Vermillion were now trapped in a dead end branch of the caves, their escape blocked by literal tons of rubble. Some nearby color crystals provided light, but it would be a while before anyone came to rescue them. For now, all they could do was wait.

"Why wasn't I in the TV show?" Vulcan signed. When he found out that he, and in fact about half of the Color Kids weren't in the cartoon Brian's father had pitched, he was understandably quite angry.

"Are you still upset about that?" Winter responded, rolling his eyes that he was going to have to have this conversation again, decades after the first time.

"Yes! There's no good reason why I shouldn't be in it!"

"Brian told you, Rainbow told you, everyone's told you, a lot of earthlings think that the rainbow is just ROYGBIV. And besides, it's difficult to have over a dozen main characters and give them all something to do."

"That doesn't explain Tickled Pink or Moonglow or Stormy!"

"Vulcan, you do realize that earthlings don't make up even one percent of one percent of the population of the universe, right? If this is because you want attention, just show off some of your paintings at an art exhibition of some interstellar empire."

"It's not an attention thing, it's just that I think that if you're talking about the Color Kids, you should talk about all of them, not just half of them," Vulcan paused to adjust their beret, their fiery hair sticking out from under it, "Aren't you mad about it too?"

Winter stopped to think for a moment, "At first, I was kind of annoyed, but it's never really bothered me that much. I'm actually kind of grateful I wasn't included."

A look of absolute bewilderment crossed Vulcan's face as he signed, "Why?"

"Have you seen some of the stuff people have drawn of the ones that were?"

Vulcan looked uneasy, "...Do I want to?"

"Trust me, no you don't."

***

"Just admit you and Magenta are a thing." Vulcan exasperatedly signed.

"No! We're just friends!" Winter answered, visibly blushing

"Winter, everyone can see it. You instantly light up whenever he enters the room."

Winter paused, "Okay, maybe I like him a little bit..."

Vulcan continued, "And ever since he said that likes the smell of dragon fruit, you've been using dragon fruit shampoo."

Winter exhaled. "Okay, fine. I like him. Happy now?"

Vulcan nodded.

Winter smiled mischievously, "Now that I've told you about me and Magenta, it's only fair you admit you've got a crush on Mary Gold."

Vulcan blushed, "I don't know what you're talking about! I mean, yeah, I do go surfing with her from time to time, but that doesn't mean anything—"

***

"The cartoon was absolutely ridiculous."

Winter groaned loudly, "Not this again..."

Vulcan shook their head, "No, it's not about the number of Color Kids this time. Some things about it just aren't accurate and don't make sense."

Winter raised an eyebrow, "Like what?"

"Rainbow being human; she's been here for as long as anyone can remember. The Sphere of Light or Baby Brite. What even was that? It adds nothing to the story, has no basis in reality, and is incredibly confusing for no reason at all. The King of Shadows. If the Color Kids were imprisoned for as long as it's implied they were, the universe would be uninhabitable and there'd be nowhere for Rainbow to come from, and Inky fills the role of controlling black and darkness—"

"Why are you getting so worked up about this?"

Vulcan paused. "Because it's based off us, and I think it should be accurate?"

"Vulcan, it's fiction, made by people who wanted it to be entertaining and profitable. Of course it's not going to be completely accurate."

Vulcan couldn't think of a response to that, so he signed something that would definitely not be allowed in the cartoon.

Winter recoiled in shock. "Woah, you touch your mother with those hands?!"

Vulcan rolled their eyes. "We're eternal, ageless beings that have existed since the beginning of the universe. We don't have parents."

"It's a figure of speech."

***

"Is it just me or do the Color Kids on the red end of the spectrum tend to be heavy sleepers?"

"What do you mean?" Vulcan signed.

"I mean, we often have to get someone to wake you or Red up..."

"I've never known Lala or Tickled to need to be woken up."

Winter couldn't remember a time that anyone needed to do that. "Alright, fair enough, but two out of four is still significant, isn't it?"

"I think it might just be a Red thing, and, well," Vulcan gestured to his ears, "Traditional alarm clocks don't really work for me."

"You could get one that flashes a light or vibrates your pillow," Winter smirked snarkily, "Or you could try having a consistent bedtime."

Vulcan looked offended. "Hey! I can't control when inspiration strikes!"

***

Winter and Vulcan didn't know how much time had passed, but it felt like several hours.

Winter touched Vulcan's shoulder to get his attention. "What if they're not coming?"

"We both saw that they weren't crushed by the cave-in. They know we're here. They're going to rescue us, sooner or later."

"Yeah, but I would think I'd have heard them digging or something. I haven't heard anything like that."

"Be patient, Winter, I'm sure they're working on it."

Just as Vulcan finished their sentence, a beam of light shone forth from the pile of rubble, indicating that the two were finally about to be rescued. After a few minutes, the rubble was cleared, and the day's work resumed as usual.