Rainbow Wars!

By Rodd Symian

About the Book
Rainbow Wars! is book number one in a thirteen-book series. This story follows Rodd and Natalie on a journey to save Blossom and Lily, the protector and princess of Choms, from the evil Lady of the Mountain. This is a story of friendship, bravery, and love. Just when you think the adventure is over, the Rainbow Wars only just begun!

About the Author
Rodd Symian is the author of both Angel Face and Diva Queens: The Promised Ones. He has been writing since the sixth grade but has recently decided to publish his written work. Although born in San Antonio, Texas, the author moved frequently due to a parent in the military. Rodd is also a recording rock/pop music artist. He draws most of his enjoyment from performing live.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company
• Release date: Apr 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9781639379712

Book preview

Chapter One

6

YOU JERK! she shouted.

Of course, this was after a long chase across the school track. This chase involved two individuals. She’d never admit it out loud, but one thing the girl in question was well aware of, was this; this chase was because of her. That’s right. Call it what you want; love triangle, winner gets the girl, or whatever, it was her fault, and she knew it was. However, she didn’t do it deliberately. Well, at least she didn’t believe she did. Or did she? With girls, anything is possible. Isn’t it funny; winner never gets the girl if the girl doesn’t want the winner? The other guy may get the girl even though he wasn’t the winner. Which would make the guy who wasn’t the winner the winner anyway, even though the guy who wasn’t the winner may have gotten his butt kicked by the guy who really was the winner. Because, the winner is the guy who wins the fight. But that doesn’t always mean the guy who wins the fight gets the girl. So, in this case, who is the real winner? The guy who wins the fight, or the guy who gets the girl? This is only if one guy can get one and the other guy gets the other. This is only if neither guy could have both. So, who is the winner? The guy who wins the fight, or the guy who gets the girl? Now, the guy who was running from the other guy sort of liked the girl, but he didn’t like the girl as much as the guy who was chasing him. That was obvious. So, imagine what was going on inside the mind of the girl. Rodd may have been only eleven years old, but it didn’t matter. He really liked this girl. And right now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was determined to prove it. Indeed, he would see to that. Emanuel was almost the same age as Rodd. Rodd was quite a few months older than Emanuel.

NO! STOP! the girl shouted.

Rodd was almost there. Emanuel was fast, but not as fast as Rodd. It looked as if Emanuel was running towards one of the main buildings. After making his getaway across the track, he made his way down the hill leading up to the track. Rodd was right on his tail. Once at the bottom of the hill, Emanuel only had twenty yards to go before he was there. However, he never made it. It didn’t take too long before Rodd caught up to him. They were still running when Rodd reached out, grabbed the back of Emanuel’s shirt, yanked him back for a moment, and then pressed Emanuel forward. With the momentum of the speed they were running, and the force he was pushed with, Emanuel was sent flying straight ahead, and down. In fact, Emanuel’s feet were no longer touching the ground. Almost like a plane making a crash landing. S OS! S O S! Emanuel 1, 0, 8 6! WE’RE GOING DOWN! BRACE FOR IMPACT! He nearly hit the ground face first, but, instead, Emanuel landed on his chest and stomach. It wasn’t really a rough landing. In fact, it really didn’t hurt him. That mainly had to do with where he landed. If he hadn’t landed safely on a patch of school yard grass, it would have been a lot worse. After Emanuel came to a screeching halt, all he could do was just lie there on his stomach wondering what was going to happen next.

Oh, this guy’s really lost it. He thought. When Emanuel turned over, there stood Rodd standing over him. Hands raised, fist clenched, Rodd was ready for action. Emanuel thought, Well, unless Ramon jumps in to help me, I’m gonna get clobbered.

And he was right. Rodd was all business. Rodd was getting ready to reach down and grab him by the throat, but then, something happened. Emanuel could see the expression on his face when it did. Suddenly, his face changed expression. To Emanuel, this was what it looked like: It was as if, whatever spell that was over him had departed. As if he’d awaken from a deep sleep. Instead of Rodd reaching down and grabbing Emanuel by the throat, he extended his arm, and opened his hand. Though reluctantly at first, Emanuel reached up. Rodd took hold of his hand and pulled him up to his feet. Rodd wasn’t the strongest kid in school, but he was a lot stronger than Emanuel. Not a word was spoken between the two boys. What was up with Rodd? One word, remorse. Emanuel dusted himself off. All this brown eyed Americanized German kid suffered was a large patch of green lawn grass down the front of his shirt. It was right about that time when others joined them. They wanted to see the action as well. Some wanted to see if there was going to be a big fight, and the others were coming to try and stop a murder from taking place. Not a literal murder of course. But it could have gotten really nasty. First it was Ramon, then Shantrees, Shantrees was rumored to be Ramon’s girlfriend, but you know how that goes. Especially with rumors. Then a few other students joined them. However, the girl in question was still making her way there. She was accompanied by a friend of hers. This friend was a girl named Margery. When Ramon and Shantrees arrived on the scene, they stopped and looked back and forth from Rodd to Emanuel. Ramon wanted to ask Emanuel if he was all right, but said nothing. Rodd backed off. Remorse wasn’t all he was feeling right now. He was a little ashamed. Well, just a little.

She wasn’t quite there yet, but the girl in question shouted, YOU’RE A JERK, RODD! A real jerk!

Rodd didn’t say a thing. Why not? Well, he didn’t just like the girl in question. It was quite a bit more than that. So, he kept his trap shut. Why would he do a thing like that? She called him a jerk! Why didn’t he say something? Okay. Let’s get real. Let’s tell the truth. Maybe, just maybe what he felt for this girl was a little bit more than your average crush. Normally, if someone called him a name, more likely than not, he would call them something back. But not today. And especially not this girl. So, without a single word, Rodd walked away. Several minutes later they were all back in class. And the thing is, none of the school faculty was informed about what took place. It was almost as if it never happened. But surely it did.

Her name was Natalie. Natalie was ten years old herself. She’d known Rodd liked her almost right away. At first, it wasn’t quite love, but, before too long, it began to develop into that. She didn’t realize it at the time. She rarely thought about it. Rodd wasn’t a mean guy, she knew that. But, one thing she would never say out loud. Well, not unless it was in the company of her most trusted friends, but not all of the time. And that was this; she enjoyed this. Really, she did. A boy was fighting over her. She wasn’t sure about the other boy, but she was sure about this boy. And that made her feel good. It was power. That’s what she felt. POWER! If it was most anyone other than Natalie, they may have abused that power. But not Natalie. Maybe it was because, she liked him, too. At least in her own way she did. Not in the same way a person would like to see a dancing frog doing the Cha, Cha, Cha on a hot sidewalk. And if she felt as strongly about him as he felt about her, she wouldn’t let him know that. Not now at least. Rodd said nothing to anyone. He waited for the final bell. Then school would be out for the day. He was fine with that. He just wanted this day to be over with. The final bell tolled. It was 3 o’clock p.m. He didn’t take the school bus. It was a ten- to fifteen-minute walk from school to home. On his way home, he spoke to no one.

This was Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Rodd tended the General Myers Elementary School. His mother joined the army early to mid-eighties. Right now, it was early October 1986. In November, it would be his twelfth birthday. On his way home, Rodd thought to himself, If I could travel back in time, and do it all over again, what would I do differently? He was referring to the chase on the school track. Emanuel may or may not have deserved to have his face kicked in, but one thing was for certain, during that chase, for some reason, this kid felt free. For once, somebody kept pushing and pushing and pushing him until finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He blew his top. No, not quite, but he’d had enough. And for once, he could do something about it. There was no one there to stop the hands of justice from lowering the boom. He just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Rodd thought, referring to Emanuel. Just like at home. He thought out loud. Rodd has a younger brother. Sometimes he’s the same way as Emanuel is. He’ll push and push and push and he won’t stop until Rodd has finally had enough. He knew his little brother was doing it on purpose. How did he know? Because for the most part, the little brat would only do it when mama was around. That’s right. Never was that little meatball ever dumb enough to try it when mama wasn’t around. Well, not all the time at least. Sometimes he would. Well, sometimes brothers do get on each other’s nerves. That was normal. However, Rodd chasing his annoying little brother around was for different reasons than when he went after Emanuel. Rodd and his brother never fought over girls. Even to this day. That was the difference. Even though it was the month of October, it was still a warm Arizona day. After coming out of the school doors, and quickly walking across the school yard lawn, he went through the front gate, crossed the street, and headed on home. It was a straight walk until two or three blocks. After that, he turned right, and started downhill. This was the Fort Huachuca Military Base, so most anywhere you traveled was usually up or down hill. From his school, to where he actually lived, it was downhill most of the way. This hill wasn’t very steep, nor did it have to be. It was at least steep enough to where you didn’t have to push the peddles on your bicycle as you rolled down. It was smooth coasting. Walking or running up this hill could certainly whip you into shape. It took him ten minutes to get home. There was one thing Rodd had to look forward to. His two favorite cartoons. Aside from Bugs Bunny, it was The Transformers and GI Joe. After that, it was the Thunder Cats. Rodd wasn’t into the Thunder Cats. Not yet anyway. As for his younger brother and his younger brother’s friends, that was a different story. They loved the Thunder Cats. Rodd wouldn’t get into the Thunder Cats until a year or two later. When he got home, he was the only one there.

Good. He thought. After what happened today, the last thing I need is…

And just as the thought entered into his mind, his little brother came in the door. Dwayne was his name. Mama was still at work. So was Mark. Mark was Rodd’s stepfather. Rodd never saw it that way. More on that later. Their stepbrother, Mark Jr. was on his way home. Right away, Dwayne darted for the television, and clicked it on. At least they could sit down and watch cartoons together without any trouble. Most times, anyway. Before sitting down to watch cartoons, Rodd went to the bathroom. After taking care of his business, he looked in the bathroom mirror. He remembered something. When he was just a little boy, say, from birth up until the time he was maybe five or six, these thoughts never even crossed his mind. Oh no. As a child that young, it wasn’t even on his radar. Not until other kids at school started talking about it. At first, he didn’t quite understand what it meant. Nor could he understand why someone would, or wouldn’t like him because of it. He was eleven, but still tall enough to see his face in the mirror. And what did he see? What did he see that made him remember what other kids were saying? One word; color. That’s right, color. Rodd was black. Well, technically he was more of a light caramel brown, but for some reason, somebody thought it would be a good idea to call all colored people black. Especially the ones with woolly hair. He wondered who this person was. Or was it a group of people? And, as for this person, or group of people who decided to name all colored people black, he oftentimes wondered what color those folks were. Seriously, he wondered. Maybe he would do some research on it. But where would he look? His school library? Yeah, right! Would his school library books tell the truth about something like that? Maybe he should ask an adult. Yeah, a very powerful black man. Okay, maybe not super powerful. All he needed was to find a very strong intelligent black man who would tell him the truth. Black woman for that matter. But who? Malcolm X died years ago. Even before Rodd was born. So, now, how many strong, fearless, honest black men were left? Black women for that matter. Anyway, what wise guy decided that it was a good thing to call a person with brown skin black? Black is black, and brown is brown. And as for white, well, Rodd had never met anyone who was really white. Not unless they were seriously ill. He remembered one day on his way home from school, he was thinking about something another boy said when he was in the fourth grade. It was a boy named Mark Marino. Not his stepbrother Mark Jr. But the Mark who was in his same class when Rodd was in the fourth grade. Mark was popular with the girls. Now, even though Mark was considered white, Mark looked as if somewhere in his family line there may have been a little bit of color in his family tree. At least Native American Indian, and maybe even black. If that were true, and Mark found it out, Mark wouldn’t want anyone to know about it. Especially the other kids at school. Especially, especially, especially, THE GIRLS! Rodd thought about what others would say about people like that. It was called, somebody trying to pass. In other words, if Mark Marino said he was white, and he really wasn’t, then Mark was really passing for white. White, Caucasian, same thing. Mark wasn’t very nice. He was a real jerk. No, he was worse than that.

How did Mark put it? Oh yeah, that’s right. He said, Black and white don’t mix.

5

You see, Rodd really liked this one girl in his class. Her name was… What was it? Crystal? Christie? No, they called her Christine, but her name was Christina. That was her name. Christina. Not the Christina he went to school with when he was in the second grade. The one he met in the second grade was Christina Petez. No, this Christina was another girl, the one he met in the fourth grade. Well, Christina found out Rodd liked her. So, she said she liked him, too. Had it not been for what happened next, then, another racial barrier would have been broken. Because, this girl really did like Rodd. Mark Marino wasn’t having that. Can you say; JEALOUSY?! So, Mark decided he would butt in with something that didn’t have anything to do with him. And, get this, even though she was very cute, Christina wasn’t even Mark’s girlfriend. That’s when he said it. He said black and white don’t mix. And Rodd said, yes, they do. And a girl named Glyn said, no they don’t. Wait a minute, Rodd thought out loud to himself, didn’t Glyn say she was a Christian? She sure did. That had crossed his mind a lot. Why? Because something about that didn’t make any sense. None whatsoever. Rodd knew there had to be a word for people like that. The only problem was, rarely are people like that ever held accountable for what they say, or their actions. But he knew that one day, they would be. BLACK AND WHITE DON’T MIX! BLACK AND WHITE DON’T MIX! BLACK…AND WHITE…DON’T MIX! Thinking back, as Rodd could recall it, Mark didn’t even have the guts to say it to his face. He sent a girl to do it for him. And that girl was good old Glyn. Mark Marino; Little coward! Mark Marino said that black and white don’t mix. But as far as Rodd was concerned, coward and jealousy mixed quite well together. They weren’t just girlfriend and boyfriend, but they were almost… well, you know… married. Well, Rodd wasn’t quite sure if Mark sent her to do it, or if she did it of her own accord. All he remembered was, Glyn was the one who said it. Gee, Rodd thought, wonder if I’ll see good old Glyn standing at the Pearlie Gates someday, wondering why Jesus looked a lot different than she thought He would? He could see her look at Jesus and he could hear her say to Him, HEY, WAIT A MINUTE! YOU LOOK DIFFERENT THAN I WAS TAUGHT IN Sunday School! I THOUGHT YOU WERE!!! Christina stopped talking to Rodd after that. And that was too bad. Because, even if Rodd and Christina never turned