A PERFECT DAY
Roy and Cmy were out past the breakers, sitting on their boards with their legs dangling in the warm Pacific water. Roy on his red board, Cmy on her yellow one. Hawaiian shirts. Salt in their hair. Not a care in the world.
The San Diego sun was high and golden. The kind of day where the ocean sparkles so bright you have to squint. They'd been out since morning, catching wave after wave, laughing and one-upping each other on every ride.
THE SKY OPENS
Then the sky cracked open.
A massive cloud formation swirled into existence above the horizon, dark and unnatural. Within it, black spinning portals tore open like wounds in the atmosphere. And from those portals, they came.
Dark Suns. Dozens of them. Black, glossy, spiky creatures with jack-o-lantern grins and hollow burning eyes. They poured from the portals and began drifting downward at different depths, slow and relentless, rotating with subtle ink-like trails behind them.
Behind the cloud, just barely visible, the tip of something massive and alien. A ship. Black as void, half-hidden in the swirling vortex.
THE DARK SUNS
Black, glossy, spiky sun creatures with menacing jack-o-lantern faces. Wherever they drift, color drains from the world. Slow but relentless. Always watching.
RIDE THE WAVE
The kids reacted instantly. No time to think. They turned forward as a massive wave rose behind them, and in one fluid motion shifted from sitting to riding.
The wave built rapidly — bright turquoise water with heavy white foam, dynamic spray crashing around them. They surfed side-by-side, leaning forward with determined expressions, Hawaiian shirts flapping in the wind.
Behind them, the Dark Suns followed. Floating, drifting forward at different depths. Their movement was slow but relentless. Slightly rotating. Ink-like trails bleeding from their spikes. Getting closer.
WIPEOUT
They almost made it.
As they neared the shoreline, the wave became unstable and crashed violently. A huge explosion of white water filled everything. One surfboard launched into the air, spinning end-over-end. The other was thrown sideways.
Roy and Cmy tumbled forward into the shallow water near the beach, thrown like ragdolls by the force of the wave.
WASHED ASHORE
Silence. Just the sound of waves lapping over them.
They lay face-down in the wet sand, exhausted and motionless. Small splashes of water rolled over their arms and legs. Their surfboards rested nearby, slightly tilted and glistening.
In the sky behind them, the Dark Suns remained. Hovering. Watching. Smaller now but still ominous. Still drifting closer.
Roy lifted his head first. Then Cmy. They turned toward each other, breathing heavy, soaked, water dripping from their faces. The look they shared said everything:
"We're not done yet."
COLOR DIES
And then it happened.
Like a switch being flipped, the color drained from everything. The blue ocean turned to gray. The golden sand went ashen. The green palms, the bright sky, the warm sunlight — all of it, gone. Sucked away.
The whole world turned black and white.
From the left edge of the world, a single Dark Sun appeared. Bigger than the rest. Eyes like a carved jack-o-lantern, mouth split into a wide, burning grin. It drifted forward with terrible purpose.
Roy and Cmy scrambled to their feet and ran. The Dark Sun chased them across the colorless beach, its grin never fading, pushing them off the edge of the screen and into the unknown.
The world had lost its color. And the only ones who could bring it back had just been chased into the fight of their lives.
NOW IT'S YOUR TURN
Pick up your fists, your paint sword, and your crayon blaster. Rally your friends. Fight through four stages of enemies. And paint the world back to life, one swing at a time.
The Dark Suns stole the color. You're going to take it back.