Morning Routines

Buck stretched his long legs and yawned, his antlers catching the morning sunlight streaming through the windows of Atomic Crayon Tower. The city of Antler Metropolis sparkled below, its mix of human and deer citizens already bustling through the streets.

"Another peaceful day," he muttered, adjusting his light blue mask. His magic crayon sat on the nightstand, glowing faintly.

The phone buzzed. Mayor Hartwell's voice crackled through the speaker. "Buck! We need you downtown immediately. Something's happening to the colors."

"Colors?" Buck grabbed his crayon and flew to the window. The city looked normal from here—red brick buildings, green trees, blue sky.

"The park, Buck. Hurry!"

He soared over the familiar towers, four light blue crayon-shaped structures surrounding his home base. Everything seemed fine until he reached Antler Park. His enhanced vision focused on the scene below, and his heart skipped.

The roses had turned completely gray.

The Gray Creep

Buck landed hard in the park, his hooves crunching on the gravel path. The gray roses looked even stranger up close—not dead, just completely drained of color like someone had sucked the red right out of them.

"What could do this?" he muttered, touching one petal. It felt normal, just gray.

A jogger rounded the corner, her bright yellow running shirt catching Buck's attention. She stopped when she saw him, her ponytail swinging.

"Atomic Crayon Buck! Thank goodness you're here." She pointed toward downtown. "It's spreading fast. The mail boxes on Fifth Street turned gray about ten minutes ago. And the bakery—all their colorful cupcakes went gray while customers were eating them!"

Buck's enhanced vision swept the horizon. Sure enough, gray patches dotted the city like a spreading disease. His magic crayon pulsed in his hand, its light blue glow seeming brighter against all the gray.

"Did you see who or what caused this?" Buck asked.

The jogger shook her head. "It just started happening. No one saw anything weird, just colors disappearing one by one."

Buck's phone buzzed with more emergency calls flooding in.