Lost Storms: Stormy's Forgotten Past
by DigiExpert is a dark Rainbow Brite fanfic themed around giving Stormy a backstory.
Stormy comes from a family that can control the weather. While out with her mother one day, 6-year old Stormy is kidnapped and sold into slavery. She's sold to Murky, who plans on using Stormy to help him defeat Rainbow Brite.
Lost Storms: Stormy's Forgotten Past focuses on Stormy, her past, and her relationship with Murky, Rainbow Brite, and Skydancer.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: For all the abilities Stormy had on the show, making tornados was NOT one of these. Murky also counts, especially after he wins the color belt and modifies it to his liking.
- Adapted Out: The prologue explains that Moonglow and Tickled Pink hadn't yet come to Rainbow Land during the time when the story takes place.
- All Girls Like Ponies: Once he's been trained, Skydancer becomes Stormy's best friend out of everyone in the Pits. It helps a lot that he can fly into any cloudscape, granting Stormy a place of refuge whenever she wants out of Murky's sight.
- Break the Cutie: And Rainbow Brite is very much broken, first mentally and later physically-especially when she's shown the ruins of the former color castle. The color kids aren't very much better off.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Subverted. When the color kids attempt to challenge Stormy's "victory" (she did attack Rainbow and Starlite with lightning strikes during the race), Murky wastes no time drawing out his gloom gun and taking his ill-gotten prize.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: During the (ill-fated) night picnic, each of the Color Kids made or brought food of their own color. What's more: all of it was either fruits or pastries. (For what it's worth, Rainbow Brite made fruit punch.)
- Dark and Troubled Past: Stormy can't remember much of her past anymore, but it was a troubled one. She was kidnapped at age six and forced into working as Murky's servant for several years.
- Dark Fic: The story gives Stormy a Dark and Troubled Past involving human trafficking and abuse by Murky. The fic is much darker than canon.
- Dream Sequence:
- There's a dream sequence where Rainbow meets a mysterious girl. A second dream has Stormy reveal herself, newly "won" color belt and all.
- Murky has a sequence where he dreams of what could happen if he defeated Rainbow Brite and enslaved the Color Kids. It ultimately inspires him to create the Mighty Monstromurk (which he initially planned to use
''in conjunction with Stormy!'')
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: How does Murky Dismal reward Stormy for single-handedly winning him the color belt? By confining her to her room while he and Lurky celebrate their victory. This only further convinces Stormy that she'd be better off doing things her way.
- Easily Forgiven: The Color Kids' reaction (especially Red Butler, Buddy Blue and Patty O'Green) to Rainbow Brite offering Stormy a place in Rainbow Land after she destroyed the color castle and very nearly killed Rainbow Brite in the process.
- Evil Is Petty: Most of Stormy's earliest tasks are filled with this trope (scare the sprites, destroy paint, spoil a picnic, etc.) Stormy is not amused, but does the jobs anyway. (And succeeds every time!)
- Glad I Thought of It: After disciplining Stormy for sneaking into Rainbow Land against orders so she could challenge Rainbow Brite to a horse race (comprising his initial plans for her), Murky quickly comes up with a Plan B-which is to double down on said horse race, with added stakes-namely possession of the color belt!
- Gone Horribly Right: Once Stormy takes matters into her own hands, she accomplishes much more than Murky ever had planned for her-up to and including the near-death of Rainbow Brite and total destruction of the color castle. The latter of which was something Murky did not want at all! (as he expected to move in after taking over.)
- Heel–Face Turn: Stormy slowly starts to go through this in the final chapters, eventually culminating in her decision to stay in Rainbow Land and join the color kids. The reason it takes a while is because she feels undeserving and untrusted. (She's not wrong on the latter point.)
- Honor Before Reason: Rainbow Brite sees no problem with walking head on into a tornado in an attempt to talk Stormy out of her mission of total destruction. At this point, Stormy is in no mood to make peace, and things only deteriorate even further.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Stormy gets this immediately upon achieving her goal of "killing" Rainbow Brite. She feels so guilty that she instantly rushes to start digging up her enemy's body and hope for anything but the worst. Unfortunately, she can't quite convince the color kids that it's Not What It Looks Like.
- Never Grew Up: In Rainbow Land, people don't age. Stormy hasn't grown more than a few centimeters since she arrived there.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Lurky, in typical fashion, shows up at exactly the wrong moment and single handedly costs Murky his battle with the now-reformed Stormy and loses them the color belt. Cue Murky handing his minion a major No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Not Quite Dead: But Rainbow Brite comes pretty damn close. All of the color kids are beyond horrified when they see her condition-comatose, numerous broken bones, severe external and internal bleeding, the list goes on. Shy Violet even considers that she might not be able to heal Rainbow. Fortunately, Rainbow does eventually return to full health. (though it's never explained how; there's not any talk of how they might have sent her back to Earth without giving themselves away.)
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You know how serious things are when the Sphere of Light goes back to calling Rainbow Brite by her human name of "Wisp". (Even if it IS in a dream.)
- Pyrrhic Victory: On both sides! While Rainbow Land is still very much as colorful as ever once Stormy's tornado dissapates, a comatose Rainbow Brite, a destroyed color castle and the color belt still in Murky's possession (for the time being) suggests it's not going to stay that way for very long. Conversely, Murky might finally be rid of his arch nemesis- or so he thinks-and have her signature weapon, but he's also lost his would-be palace and must now "rule" from the Pits; not to mention the added problem of having a rouge Stormy to deal with.
- Really 700 Years Old: Stormy is at minimum 700 years old.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Red Butler attempts this on Murky after the latter sends Rainbow Brite falling into a nearby river. Thanks to the villain's gloom-modified color belt, it doesn't go well for him at all!
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Stormy learns she's been demoted to a diversionary weapon instead of the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny Murky swore she would eventually have, she decides she's done doing things his way. Then her Heel Realization sets in, and now she wants out completely. Murky for his part, is not willing to let so many years of planning go to waste so quickly.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Once the reality of Stormy's actions set in, she does everything possible to accomplish this new goal, regardless of whether anyone forgives or even trusts her. (Rainbow does, most others don't.)
- Sugar Apocalypse: Played with, Rainbow Land never does end up losing its color-instead it just loses almost everything else!
- Superhuman Trafficking: Human Traffickers take a special interest in Stormy due to her powers.
- We Used to Be Friends: At one point, Stormy flashbacks to a memory of her meeting Rainbow Brite/Wisp long before either of them knew about Rainbow Land. Sadly, Stormy has lost almost all recollection of her former life and so never realizes that the girl in her memory is the same one she's spent well over a decade trying to kill.
- Would Hurt a Child: Or more accurately, would brainwash a child to the point where she completely forgets her old home and family. Once Murky's completed this, Stormy herself falls into this trope hard!!
