Quote:Year 1

Chapter 2: Berry Drifting


Four days had passed after the day we moved four gem berry trees from the wilderness to a greenhouse in Emerald City. I had discussed with Henry about the possibility of using gem berries as fuel for the generator we were going to make, and in the end we were still uncertain whether it was a good idea or not. First, we were still blank on what kind of energy the gem berries contain. Second, it was still unknown whether the gem berry trees could be cultivated in Emerald City. And third, even if it turned out the gem berry trees could be cultivated, we still had no idea if the berrykins would allow us to do it in Emerald Castle courtyard. Henry's status as The Great Wizard of Oz would help, but the status wouldn't last forever, and it probably would cause a backlash when Henry decides to reveal the truth someday.

This morning, after we were done with our breakfast, a messenger from Emerald City came to Emerald Castle bringing a letter. Glinda was the one who received it, and after reading it she called all of us to meet her. It only took a few minutes until all of us gathered at the castle's balcony.

"What's the matter, Glinda?" Strawberry asked.

"This letter just came from Emerald City," Glinda said, showing the letter. "It came from the mayor."

"What does it say?" I asked.

"It says that he wants all of you to come to his office as soon as possible," she said.

"All of us? Why? What we're gonna do?" Angel asked.

"Are the berrykins still afraid of us?" Orange asked.

"Don't worry," Glinda said. "The gem berry trees in the greenhouse are growing well, and he wants to thank you all personally. He also has further reinforced the news that all of you are no threat to the berrykins."

"Really? That's berry good to hear!" Strawberry said, followed by everyone else getting relieved.

"Took him long enough," Peppermint said.

"So, are we going there now?" Huck asked.

"If none of us has anything important to do right now, I suggest so," I said.

"Nope, I'm as free as a bird in the sky right now, yessire!" Ginger said.

"I can teleport you all to the city hall if you want me," Glinda said.

"Thank you, Glinda. But I think we will walk. I don't want to surprise any of the berrykins," Strawberry said.

"I see. I'll only teleport you to the castle's front door then," Glinda said. "Shall we go now?"

Everyone agreed to go immediately, and Glinda casted her teleport spell to transport us all to the front door of Emerald Castle. From there, we walked to the city hall of Emerald City. The berrykins we passed along the way still whispered to each other when they saw us, but they neither escaped on sight nor did other negative reactions any longer. It only took us less than ten minutes until we arrived at the city hall. Thanks to Glinda, we could enter the mayor's office right away. He looked enthusiastic when he saw us coming.

"Ah, welcome to my office!" he greeted. "Please be seated over there!"

All of us including the mayor then sat on a set of chairs and sofa around a table.

"First of all, thank you for coming here," the mayor said. "As you may already know, the gem berry trees are growing really well in the greenhouse. We will not have to worry about running out soon. And for that, we thank you."

"Despite that, I think all the berrykins should still use them properly," I said.

"Of course! I will always try my best to remind my people on that point!" the mayor said.

"That's good to hear!" Angel said.

"Yeah, it really is!" Orange said.

"I believe now we're no longer monsters in the eyes of the berrykins, right?" I asked.

"Ah, that's the other reason I called you all here," the mayor said.

"Is something wrong?" Huck asked.

"You see, even though I have spread and reinforced the news that none of you brings any kind of threats, my people are still cautious about you," the mayor said.

"Even after all of that?" Peppermint said, looking upset.

"The thing is, we berrykins are always cautious to those we don't know. Even Glinda had her difficult times back then, a very long time ago" the mayor said.

"So, what do you expect us to do now?" Peppermint asked, still looking irritated.

"First, I want to tell you that next week will be the day of the annual Berry Drifting Festival," the mayor said.

"Berry Drifting Festival?" I asked.

"We berrykins love berries. We love seeing them grow all over the land, and we have this festival to convey our hope for that," the mayor said.

"What do people do in the festival?" Strawberry asked.

"The main part of the festival is our high priestess giving her blessing to a large basket full of berries, then the berries are distributed to all people, and finally they go to the river just outside Emerald City and throw their berries into the river. The berries will then drift away, bringing our hope for them to spread and grow throughout the land," the mayor said.

"That sounds like a berry beautiful festival!" Strawberry said.

"You bet it is! Yessire!" Ginger said.

"Apple wants berry drifting!" Apple said.

"Outside that, it is just like any other festival you probably know already," the mayor said. "Food stands, game stands, a stage, all in the town square."

"Can we go to the festival? Please?" Angel asked.

"Sure," the mayor said. "In fact, that is what I was going to ask you. By participating in the festival, the people will hopefully get to know all of you more, and eventually accept you."

"Wow, that's actually a very nice idea! Yep, it sure is!" Ginger said.

"Thank you berry much for the information!" Strawberry said.

"This is not mandatory, but I personally think it will be much better if you all perform on the stage," the mayor said.

"All of us at once?" Orange asked.

"Some of you or all of you, you make the call," the mayor said. "Just tell me within three days from now, and I'll add you to the list."

"Sounds good. That gives us enough time to plan ahead," I said.

"That's all from me," the mayor said. "Any questions?"

There was a few seconds of silence. I wanted to ask if I would be allowed to grow gem berries inside the Emerald Castle, but I was too hesitant to even say a word.

"Looks like that's it for today then," the mayor said, getting up from the chair he sat on.

"Once again, thank you berry much for the information!" Strawberry said. "We will let you know as soon as possible!"

"It was no problem," the mayor said. "Now if you don't mind, I've got a city to keep."

We then left the City Hall with the upcoming festival in mind. People were still looking cautious at us, but we just walked all the way to Emerald Castle while thinking what to perform at the festival. After we arrived at Emerald Castle, we gathered at the castle's conference room to discuss about what to perform and who would do the performance.

"Any idea?" I asked.

"I think we should not think to hard about it and just have fun performing anything we can come up with, right?" Ginger said.

"But is it really gonna work?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, we could just have fun back in Strawberryland because all the audiences were our friends," Orange said.

"Things probably work differently with the berrykins, huh?" Huck said.

"Glinda, do you know anything about the Berry Drifting Festival? What do people usually perform on the stage?" Strawberry asked.

"Nothing, actually," Glinda said, which surprised everyone else. "The berrykins are generally shy, so the stage has been used only for the mayor to give speech at the opening and closing of the festival, and also for the main event where the high priestess gives her blessing to the berries."

"So there's pretty much no information. In fact, this might be worse than I thought," I said.

"Why is that, Blackberry?" Strawberry asked.

"If there has been no performance on stage, ignoring the stage has probably become a habit for the berrykins," I said.

"Hmph! So there will be no point performing," Peppermint said. "Let's just forget it then."

"No, Peppermint! We should never give up!" Strawberry said. "And there's nothing wrong in trying."

"As always," Peppermint said. "So, do you have any great ideas now?"

"Well..." I said. "How about the thing all of you are really good at?"

"Huh? What is it?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, Blackberry. What thing we all are good at?" Orange asked.

"Singing," I said. "The amount of songs you all have sung is just numerous, not to mention that most of them were spontaneous."

"That's a berry good idea, Blackberry!" Strawberry said.

"That's a good one, Buddy!" Huck said.

"Oh yeah, we can sing loudly and there's no way nobody would notice us!" Ginger said.

"I guess that can work," Peppermint said. "But you forgot something."

"What is that, Peppermint?" Strawberry said.

"The instruments," Peppermint said. "Or maybe you expect to just use vocals like you have always been?"

"Well, as much as I don't like that point, you're right," I said. "On the rare times we use instruments, all of them were modern instruments."

"Glinda, do we have any kind of music instruments in here?" Strawberry asked.

"Unfortunately no, but I know some berrykins who are musicians," Glinda replied. "I think maybe if you perform together with them you will show that you can get along with the berrykins."

"You have a point there, Glinda," I said.

"Can we ask for their help?" Orange asked.

"Maybe the right question is, are they gonna help us?" Angel said.

"I will try asking them," Glinda said, and then she teleported away. Less than ten minutes later, she came back. "They agreed to help, and they will come soon."

"That's berry good to hear!" Strawberry said.

"I guess for now all we have to do is wait and see," I said, and everyone else agreed.

About half an hour later, three berrykins came to Emerald Castle. When they arrived at the conference room where all of us were still gathered, I was a bit surprised looking at how they looked.

"Hey, Huck," I whispered. "Don't you think they look like Blueberry, Rainbow, and Lemon?"

"Yeah, but let's not think about it," he whispered back.

"Hello, newcomers! I'm Lemon, and I play an ukulele!" the berrykin in yellow greeted.

"I'm Blueberry, and I play a flute!" the berrykin in blue greeted.

"I'm Rainbow, and I play a trumpet!" the berrykin in colorful outfit greeted.

"We are the Melodies of Emerald City!" all three said at the same time, while striking a pose.

"Hello, there! I'm Strawberry Shortcake! It's berry nice to meet you!" Strawberry said.

"Berry nice to meet you too!" Lemon said.

"Yeah! Absolooootely!" Blueberry said.

"Other berrykins might be still cautious about you, but we don't!" Rainbow said. "Because we know that you all are good people!"

"How nice of you!" Angel said.

"Thank you berry much for your trust on us!" Strawberry said.

"We heard from Glinda that you want to sing at the Berry Drifting Festival, and you need our help!" Lemon said.

"So here we are!" Rainbow said.

"We absoloootely are glad to help!" Blueberry said. "Tell us what to do!"

"Heh, I'm out of here," Peppermint said, walking away from the conference room. "I can't stay any longer with these weirdos."

"Please forgive Peppermint," Strawberry said. "She always has a hard time making new friends, but I'm berry sure she's a nice friend once you get closer to her."

"No worries! We understand!" Rainbow said, followed by the other berrykins agreeing.

So, the rest of the remaining days before the festival were spent for practicing the performance. I decided not to take part in it because it had become common knowledge since a long time ago that I couldn't sing. Peppermint also didn't take part and would rather watch, at least that was what she had said. The mayor was notified, and he added the group to the list. I really hoped everything would go well.

And so, the day of the Berry Drifting Festival came. Like the mayor had said, the town square of Emerald City was filled with various stands all over the place, with a large stage at the north part becoming the center of crowd's attention because the mayor was about to give the opening speech. Glinda had casted a spell on the stage, so any sounds coming from the stage would be greatly amplified, just like how microphone and loudspeakers worked in modern days.

"Hello, my people! Today I'm very happy to say that once again we are having our annual Berry Drifting Festival!" the mayor said, and the crowd cheered. "I'm also very happy to say that for the opening of this festival, we will have a special performance by our special guests! So, without further saying, Melodies of Emerald City and Children of Strawberryland!"

After saying those, the mayor left the stage and my friends entered along with the three berrykins. The ones who performed on the stage along with the three berrykins were everyone except me and Peppermint, who was watching like me. Only Strawberry and Angel who would be the main vocals. The rest would only provide additional vocals on moments where the song would be sung in choir.

"Ready?! One, and two! And three!" Strawberry said, and the group started singing a song which was pretty much the Berry Blossom Festival song with its lyrics modified to fit with Berry Drifting Festival theme. I was pretty impressed by the fact that they managed to sing well despite limited instruments. I looked around a bit, and I saw that the crowd watching seemed impressed just like me. Seeing my friends work together with the berrykins shed a light of hope that we would finally be truly accepted by the people of Emerald City.

After the song was over, the crowd cheered with an applause as my friends bowed down. The mayor then returned to the stage.

"Thank you for the impressive performance! Now, I declare to all people of Emerald City that the Berry Drifting Festival is officially open!" the mayor said. The crowd cheered once again and then they spread around the town square. All my friends got off from the stage, looking very happy and satisfied.

"Berry great job, everyone!" Strawberry said.

"You said it!" Huck said.

"I'm glad it went all right," Orange said.

"Yeah! I actually was really nervous I thought I was gonna mess up!" Angel said.

"Apple Dumplin' love singing!" Apple said.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Peppermint said. "It's still morning and the main part of this festival will be at nightfall."

"Well," Strawberry said. "Just walk around and enjoy ourselves!"

"Yeah! You're right, yessire!" Ginger said.

"Let's meet here again at nightfall then," I said. We then spread out to walk around the town square, enjoying the festivities. I actually wondered why the main part of the festival was done at nightfall. The lightings in Emerald City was barely enough to see things happening on the stage, let alone at the river. I had asked Glinda about it, but she only had told me to wait and see. I then decided to comply and not think too much about it. I would get to see the answer soon anyway.

Later, nightfall finally came and all people including stand owners gathered in front of the stage. A decorated basket, about the size of Ginger's trike and almost fully filled with various kinds of berries, was put at the center of the stage. As I had expected, even with the gem berry lightings around I still didn't have a clear view of the stage. They could at least put more lanterns around the stage, but why didn't they do so? While I was wondering, the mayor stepped on the stage and began a speech.

"Hello there, my people!" he said. "I hope you all have been enjoying the festivities of the Berry Drifting Festival! Now, without further saying, here is the moment we all have been waiting for: The Blessing!"

The crowd cheered as the mayor stepped off, and then they fell into silence quickly.

"Are you as excited as I am?" I whispered to Huck, who was standing right next to me.

"Of course. This is the first time I see a festival outside Strawberryland," he whispered back. "I bet the others feel the same too."

"I'm eager to see what the High Priestess looks like," I whispered. Before Huck could reply, suddenly a tune was heard from the stage. The melody was chilling, yet also soothing. I could recognize that the melody came from the instruments played by the three berrykins, but I couldn't see them anywhere. Then, someone came out from the back of the stage. I was surprised that it was Glinda, wearing white robes instead of her usual purple dress.

"The High Priestess is Glinda?" I said in confusion.

"Yes, since ten years ago," a berrykin standing next to me said. "Now please be quiet. This is a solemn moment."

"Oh, sorry," I said. I then quietly watched the stage. I was stunned watching Glinda, who gracefully waved her wand singing in a language I didn't understand. Some sparkles were coming out from the wand as she did those, making the view even more beautiful. The singing lasted for about five minutes, and the she took a gem berry from one of the stage's lightings. She then walked to the large basket, and she slowly put the gem berry into the basket. I couldn't see the berries inside the basket from where I stood, but I could notice that the glow from within the basket grew larger and larger. I then realized that somehow the other berries within the basket were shining just like gem berries. The music then faded away, and the crowd kept silent.

"Now, it is time for me to share the berries to all people," Glinda said. She then waved her wand and all the berries in the basket floated above the crowd. The berrykins then raised one hand, as if they were ready to receive the berries. My friends and I understood the clue, and we all raised our hand as well. The berries then scattered, and each of them floated right into the hand of the people. Either coincidence or not, I received a glowing blackberry. Having it in my hands felt somewhat comforting.

All people then went to the river near the outskirts of Emerald City. There was no lighting at all in the area, but the moonlight was bright enough to provide visibility. Every people then scattered to various parts of the river, which was shallow enough for them to cross without a bridge, and then one by one they put the berries in their hands into the water. I saw Strawberry doing the same to her glowing strawberry, and then she watched it drifting away with other berries. I then remembered to do the same with the glowing blackberry in my hands. I went down into the river, put my hands slowly into the water, and I watched as my glowing blackberry drifted away. All the glowing berries drifting away made a very beautiful view, like a large group of fireflies. As I watched them, I heard a soothing music played, with Strawberry singing.

Berries
On the table of life
Wishing
That they all could be mine

Berries, I love berries
Made with sun from up above
Berries, give me berries
Pick them fresh with lots of love
With lots of love

Bunches
Of each flavor and type
Wishing
That they soon will be ripe

Berries, I love berries
Made with sun from up above
Berries, give me berries
Pick them fresh with lots of love
With lots of love

Berries
I love berries

Berries
In the fruit bowl or pie
Wishing
That they could multiply

Berries, I love berries
Made with sun from up above
Berries, give me berries
Pick them fresh with lots of love
With lots of love
With lots of love
Berries
They're the fruit that I love.


-End of Chapter 2-

As most of you may have been wondering, this site, among others hosted by my friend Chris at TGTAP, has suffered from a week-long downtime due to a hard drive failure. Here's what he has to say about it:

Quote:We're back!

First off, we're sorry about the lengthy downtime we suffered during the past week. For the most part it was completely beyond our control. We did unfortunately suffer some data loss, some of which was simply due to corruption. Now if you continue reading I'll explain what happened, or just skip to the end if you don't care and just want to know wtf is up with the site right now.

Back in the February we suffered some downtime, over 24 hours in fact. Scanning the system logs we were able to pinpoint this to an issue with one of the hard drives, but it was difficult to determine which one (we have 4 in a RAID 10 array) when the tools we have available were reporting them all as healthy! Fast-forward to last week, one of the hard drives decided to completely fail on us. Those of you who know about RAID will know that a single hard drive in the array failing is not a problem, so we simply asked the server techs to replace it for us. No big deal. As I was submitting the support ticket, I was running tests on the other 3 hard drives to check they were ok - turns out they weren't. A drive in the second pair was also failing, and as the test finished running, it did fail. This brought the server into a read-only state, we rebooted to allow the techs to replace the first bad disk. This was done, but we had to wait practically a whole day for it to finish filesystem checks and rebuild itself into the array.

The bad news got worse after that and long story short, the OS had become corrupted and we were unable to get the server to boot up. Combine this problem with incredibly slow support staff and you see where this is heading...
In the days that followed, they eventually replaced the second failed disk for us, and within another couple of days they finally got it into rescue mode and were able to get the server back online (today).

Unfortunately this was when I discovered quite a lot of file integrity loss, corrupted files everywhere. After working all night to get the server back into a workable state, we realised that unfortunately our database system was completely fucked, for lack of a better phrase. Worse still, our on-site nightly backups were mostly lost. The most recent off-site backups we had were over 2 weeks old, but these had to do.

What I've done is restored a database backup from 13th March. Anything that happened since then has been lost. As for files and uploads, we believe most of this is ok, but chances are there's some missing files we aren't aware of. Please let me know (in this topic) if you are experiencing errors or other weirdness on the forums or anywhere else on the website.

While no one is to blame (except myself for not having more recent backups available) for what happened, we feel the support staff made us wait unreasonably long times to both replace the failed hardware and recover the system for us. Downtime was almost inevitable with these kinds of failures, but it certainly should not have been this long. For this reason, we will be transferring TGTAP (and our other sites) to a new server within the next couple of weeks. We don't expect there to be any downtime while this happens, though the forums will be turned offline for approx 15 mins to ensure we have successfully migrated the data.

That's all.

The main character of the anime "Daisuki BuBu ChaCha"

Official character description:
"A highly curious 3-year old boy who matures through his experiences and friendship with ChaCha. His interest lies in everything he sees, and learning about anything excites him."

He is usually called BuBu by almost all of his friends and families because he always says that BuBu is his name. He has a lot of exciting adventures accompanied by his best friend ChaCha, his pet dog who died protecting him from a car crash and returned as a soul possessing Randy's toy car.

What I draw here is his 8 years old self. All of his special friends, including ChaCha, have gone back to the stars. Ever since that happened, Randy often goes alone to an open field at night and see the stars above, recalling the memories of his special friends he will never forget.

Quote:Year 1

Chapter 1: Gem Berries


As Henry and my friends had suggested, I had decided to take a few days off from working on building a new spaceship. I spent the first day off with my friends playing catch at the courtyard and other games such as hide and seek inside the castle. I pretty much enjoyed the free days, though sometimes I still couldn't stop thinking about where to start with the spaceship project. I and Henry had figured out that the first step should be providing electricity to the workshop because we would make modern tools to complete the project, and the tools would not work without electricity. However, I still had no idea what kind of generator would suffice to provide electricity for the project. Coal generator would probably make too much air pollution. Windmill generator would be too dependent on weather, and the same could apply to solar generator, unless we could make the generator capable of storing a large amount of excess energy. I then decided not to think too much about it for then, mainly because I still had no idea what kind of resource was more abundant and accessible in Oz. I had to find that out first before deciding on what kind of generator to make.

However, we couldn't leave Emerald Castle for a while because of what had happened in the second day when we had walked outside the castle into Emerald City. The inhabitants of Emerald city, namely berrykins, were afraid of us. None of us had any idea why, but all of them ran away on sight. Some of the brave ones even threw things at us. We were lucky that Glinda appeared to teleport us back into Emerald Castle safely, but after that Glinda had asked us to stay inside the castle while she handled the matter.

In the morning of my second day off, all of us were in the dining room having our breakfast.

"Glinda, have you figured out what was wrong with the berrykins?" I asked.

"Well... yeah," Glinda said. "I was about to tell you all after this breakfast."

"Better tell us now," Peppermint said. "I can't stand the thought of being hated without knowing why."

"Yeah. We want to know why so we can clear things up," Strawberry said.

"Okay then," Glinda said. "Among the berrykins, there is a legend. The legend says that someday a fire from the sky would fall upon Oz, bringing curse and disaster throughout the land. That is the cause of what has happened."

"Please tell me that the fire is not our spaceship, I sure hope it is not!" Ginger said.

"Oh man, that definitely is the case," Huck said.

"Indeed. The village where your ship fell was inhabited by berrykins, although Gladyy recently took over the village and she was building her second castle there when you fell down there. The berrykins who were about to move to Emerald City saw your spaceship falling, and the rumor spread quickly," Glinda said. "In fact, I knew about your arrival when I heard from some newcomer berrykins panicking that the fire from the sky has come bringing eight monsters."

"Monsters?! Us?! That's very disturbing!" Peppermint said.

"That sure is an unfortunate misunderstanding," Orange said.

"In addition, right now the berrykins in Emerald City actually believes that I am imprisoning you here and attempting to banish you all to where you came from," Glinda said.

"This is starting to sound funny," I said. "Though I kinda want the last part to happen for real."

"Unfortunately, I can't do such thing," Glinda said.

"We need to talk to them and clear things up!" Strawberry said. "I don't want the berrykins to rest uneasy for days because of a misunderstanding!"

"Apple Dumplin' not want hate," Apple said.

"Them? Rest uneasy? Who cares about them? I only care about clearing our name!" Peppermint said.

"The main goal here is exactly that, anyway," I said.

"To make matters worse..." Glinda said. "The berrykins are running out of gem berries lately, and they believe that it is because of your presence."

"Gem berries? What are those?" I asked.

"Have you noticed all the lightings inside the castle, and also the lights over Emerald City whenever you happen to look outside the window?" Glinda asked back. "Those are gem berries."

"What? I've been thinking that they're just some kind of magical lanterns," I said.

"What you said is actually true," Glinda said. "Gem berries are magical berries which radiate light. They are used as lightings mainly in Emerald City and Emerald Castle."

"Why are they running out?" Angel asked. Glinda was silent for a while.

"They brought it upon themselves," Glinda finally said. "The energy of gem berries are limited. To preserve their energy, they must be closed, wrapped by their leaves, whenever they are not used. But the berrykins just forgot to do that. They took the gem berries for granted. Because of this, the gem berries get replaced too often, more often than their growth can handle."

"Whoa, that sounds like how we back in Strawberryland must turn off the lights every morning, am I right?" Ginger said. "And the berrykins keep the lights on all day long, am I right again?"

"That's berry terrible!" Strawberry said.

"We must knock some sense into them!" Peppermint said.

"Yeah, immediately!" Orange said.

"Calm down, youngsters!" Henry, who had been just listening, said. "I agree that what the berrykins do is terrible. However, you cannot just barge in and speak to them."

"Henry is right," I said. "Remember that right now we are monsters to them. Bringers of curse and disaster. There is no way they will listen to us."

"Then what is your plan, kid?" Peppermint said, sounding upset.

"I don't know. At least, not yet," I said.

"Henry and Blackberry are right, everyone," Glinda said. "The berrykins are very firm with their beliefs. Simply talking to them won't work. We need a plan to convince them."

"Hmm... Henry, do the berrykins know you?" I asked.

"They only know me as The Great Wizard of Oz, and none of them has seen me in person," Henry said.

"I see," I said. "Glinda, do the berrykins in Emerald City have some kind of leader among them?"

"There is a mayor," Glinda said.

"That's good. I have a plan, then," I said.

Just less than one hour later, Glinda came into the City Hall of Emerald City. The mayor was in his office room doing his daily office work. Glinda got into his room easily because she had a special privilege to enter his room anytime without appointment.

"Ah, Glinda! How are you?" the mayor greeted when he noticed Glinda entering.

"I'm fine. Thank you," Glinda said with a smile.

"What can I do for you?" the mayor said. "Perhaps you need help in banishing those monsters? I sure hope not, because we can't do anything! And you have The Great Wizard with you there, right?"

"I'm here to tell you that you have been summoned by The Great Wizard of Oz," Glinda said, which surprised the mayor. "Please come immediately."

"What?! Me?! Summoned?! Have I done something wrong? Or perhaps he indeed needs help?" the mayor said in panic.

"Calm down. You will be fine," Glinda said. "Just come with me."

"Oh... Alright," the mayor said. He then walked with Glinda to the Emerald Castle. When they arrived at the throne room, a large fireball appeared above the throne. The mayor kneeled in front of the fireball.

"Greetings, mayor of Emerald City," the fireball said with echoing voice.

"Oh, Great Wizard of Oz. I humbly kneel before you, to listen to what you want to say," the mayor said.

"As you know, I and Glinda have been trying to banish the monsters from the fallen fire back to where they came from," the fireball said. "Unfortunately, that is not possible."

"What? But what will become of Oz with them around bringing the curse upon the land?" the mayor said in fear. "What will become of the gem berries?"

"Listen to me to the very end without cutting me off, will you?" the fireball said.

"Y-yes! Please forgive me! I will now listen to the end!" the mayor said.

"Alright," the fireball said. "Indeed banishing them back to where they came from is not possible. However, we have found that there is no such thing as curse within them. Each of them is no different than a regular person. Therefore, I ask you to spread the news that they do not pose any danger upon the land so you and other berrykins will treat them fairly. Do you have anything to say about this?"

"That is a good thing to hear! However, I need to say that as long as our problem with depleting gem berries still exists, people will not fully believe that there is no curse!" the mayor said.

"That is why I am going to send them to Emerald City to check the problem and give a solution. I really hope for the cooperation from you and other berrykins," the fireball said. "Spread the news within the rest of this morning. After lunch time I will send them to Emerald City."

"Yes, your majesty! As you command!" the mayor said. The fireball then faded away and the mayor left the place in a hurry.

"You can come out now," Glinda said, and Henry came out from behind the folding screen which had been hiding him from view. All eight of us also came into the throne room from the door near the place where Henry had been hiding.

"That went really well," I said. "Thanks, Henry."

"I still don't feel right seeing him behaving as if I'm a high king," Henry said.

"Is it alright to keep lying to people about you being a great wizard?" Strawberry asked.

"It sure doesn't feel right..." Angel said.

"Yeah," Orange said.

"Hey, I'm not for lying myself. Not anymore," Peppermint said. "But did we have any other choice?"

"Maybe we could have tried talking to them," Strawberry said.

"Oh, please," Peppermint said with her hand on her forehead and sighing.

"I feel the same way as you, Strawberry," I said. "But there are times when simply talking just doesn't work. This was one of those times, and that was why we used an alternative."

"I guess you're right," Strawberry said. "But I think you have to tell them someday that you actually are not a wizard."

"I will consider that. But for now I think we should figure out the solution for another problem," Henry said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"How to convince the berrykins that they are running out of gem berries because of themselves," Henry said.

"I have been thinking about that too," Glinda said. "I'm not sure if telling them outright will work. Despite what we have done to the mayor, the other berrykins probably still don't fully trust what you will say."

"No matter how hard I think about it, the only thing that will matter is how we talk to them," I said.

"Then I suggest only the ones who are good at talking and convincing to be the one going," Henry said.

"Oh, that means..." Huck said. He then looked at Strawberry. The others except Strawberry herself also did the same.

"Huh? Me?" Strawberry asked.

"Who else?" Peppermint said. "All the time in Strawberryland, you have always been the first one to become friends with newcomers."

"Yeah, Strawberry. You're the best at making friends with new people!" Orange said.

"Strawberry, good friends," Apple said.

"Yeah, for this case talking can work," I said. "And you're the best at it."

"I'm berry flattered, everyone," Strawberry said. "Alright, I will try."

"I will go with you," I said. "I want to know further about the gem berries."

So, it was settled that only I and Strawberry would go to Emerald City to somehow convince them that their depleting reserves of gem berries were caused by their own ignorance. As Henry had promised, after lunch time the two of us went to Emerald City. When we arrived, the mayor was waiting for us along with a number of citizens who seemed to be whispering to each other. Probably because of the bad rumor about us still around, and maybe also because the two of us were quite bigger in size than the berrykins, whose body were just as big as a berry ball. Their rather short arms and legs didn't help at all.

"Welcome to Emerald City. Only two of you?" the mayor asked.

"Berry nice to meet you! I'm Strawberry Shortcake!" Strawberry said, shaking hands with the mayor.

"Uhh, yeah. Nice to meet you too," the mayor said.

"I'm Blackberry Bun. Henr- I mean, the Wizard of Oz only sent the two of us because he believed we wouldn't need unnecessary crowd," I said.

"I see. Come with me then. I will show you the problem you need to solve," the mayor said. He then brought us to the town square with many townspeople whispering to each other as we passed by them. He stopped under an inactive street light. I noticed that the lamp of the street light seemed to be wrapped by leaves.

"Here we are," the mayor said. He then used a lever near the base of the street light, and the leaves wrapping the lamp opened, revealing a shining berry.

"It's berry beautiful!" Strawberry said.

"Indeed it is, but our problem right now is that we are beginning to run out of these gem berries," the mayor said.

"That's berry terrible!" Strawberry said. "Do you know what might be the cause?"

"Well..." the mayor said. "This is embarrassing, but I admit that it is because of ourselves."

"Really? Could you please explain?" Strawberry asked.

"Well, you see, the energy of gem berries are limited," The mayor said, using the same lever. The leaves then wrapped the gem berry again. "Whenever we don't need them, we must preserve their energy like this. But for quite a long time we just forgot to do that. Not only that, the younger berrykins often use the gem berries as balls for playing catch."

"Do you all like the gem berries?" Strawberry asked.

"Of course! The gem berries are valuable to us!" the mayor said.

"Well, if I like something... I will treasure it," Strawberry said.

"It was all our fault, for that I agree," the mayor said. "That's why we have stopped using the gem berries as toys, and we now regularly close the gem berries whenever they are not used."

"I'm berry happy to hear that!" Strawberry said.

"So that means your problem is solved, right?" I said.

"No, not at all," the mayor said. "Instead, it got worse. The gem berries are running out even faster recently."

The mayor's last sentence surprised both of us. It turned out the problem of the berrykins was not what Glinda had told us. It was something else.

"Great galloping gooseberries! How come?" Strawberry asked.

"We have no idea! The gem berry trees were just fine in the field one night, but in the following morning we found some of them withered," the mayor said.

"Could you show us the field where it happened?" I asked.

"Ah, sure. Let me show you the way," the mayor said. He then brought us to a gem berry field located a bit far from Emerald City, about half an hour walk. When we arrived there, what we saw was a rather barren field with most trees having no life in them. The amount of gem berry tree still living on the field could be counted with two hands.

"This is just... berry horrible," Strawberry said.

"My people believed that the cause of this is the curse you all brought when that fire fell from the sky and you came out from it," the mayor said.

"That's berry not true! It was..." Strawberry said.

"I know," the mayor interrupted. "Well, actually it just came to me right after the wizard spoke to me this morning. This mystery started happening before you came, so you shouldn't be the cause of this."

"That's a relief!" Strawberry said.

"So, now we need you to solve this mystery. Without the gem berries, Emerald City will no longer be... emerald," the mayor said, looking somewhat pitiful.

"Well, I'm new to this place so I'm not sure. But..." I said, pausing briefly. "Is it possible to move them all into a greenhouse or something in Emerald City and cultivate them there?"

"Well, none of us have tried that," the mayor said. "But I think it's worth a try. Not all of them, though. I don't want to risk it."

"Alright, let's get to it immediately," I said.

With the help of the mayor and some of the berrykins, the two of us then put three of the remaining trees into a pot and brought them into Emerald City. Fortunately and conveniently, the city already has a greenhouse, so we could place the trees there. After planting the three trees inside the greenhouse, we decided to check the gem berry field once more. We walked there with the mayor, and to our surprise, when we arrived there was only one tree left. The other trees have withered with thin dark smoke coming out from the dead trunk.

"Oh, no," Strawberry said, running to one of the smoking trees.

"It happened again!" the mayor said.

"Something happened while we were away. But what?" I said while following Strawberry. Suddenly, I heard a familiar laugh coming from above. I looked at the source and found that the laugh came from Gladys, riding her winged monkey.

"I hate gem berries! I will destroy gem berries!" Gladys shouted while laughing.

"You no good witch!" I shouted. Gladys just simply laughed.

"But first, I'm getting rid of some meddlers!" She then pointed her wand at Strawberry, and a green lightning came out from it. I had no idea what was in my mind. My legs just moved by themselves, pushing my body to leap to Strawberry, pushing her out of the way. Immediately, I was the one who got hit by the spell instead of Strawberry, and I fainted, having no idea what happened next.

I woke up later, having no idea where I was and how long had passed. I then immediately noticed that I was on the bed in my bedroom. From the morning sunlight coming from the window, I could notice that I had slept for at least one night.

"Welcome back, Blackberry," a voice I immediately recognized as Glinda's said. I was still unaware of her position because I couldn't see much without my glasses.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You blocked Gladys' spell with your body. Because of that, you fainted for the rest of the day," she said.

"Oh, I see," I said. "What happened after that? Is Strawberry all right? And the last tree?"

"Yes, don't worry," she said. "After you blocked her spell, her wand broke into pieces and she went back home. Strawberry is fine, and the last tree has been moved to the greenhouse and planted along with the other three trees."

"Glad to hear that," I said. "Where's my glasses by the way?"

"Right here, you stupid kid," another voice I recognized as Peppermint's said.

"Uhh, what?" I asked as I took my glasses from Peppermint's hand.

"Jumping in front of Strawberry and taking the attack, what made you do such thing?" she asked, sounding upset.

"I-I don't know. Maybe..." I said. "Maybe because once someone did it for me."

"You mean... Black Currant?" she asked.

"Yeah..." I said, getting up from bed. "What he did back then, might be the thing that drives me to do the same for my friends."

"Alright, I see what you mean and I appreciate that. We appreciate that," she said. "But do you know why I said that it was stupid?"

"Uhh, no. Why?" I asked. Suddenly, the rest of my friends came into the room, looking very delighted.

"Blackberry! I'm berry glad you're all right!" Strawberry said, hugging me.

"Uhh, Strawberry, I only fainted for one day but you act like I've been in coma for a long time," I said.

"I just can't understand you," Peppermint said while sighing. "You have the heart to sacrifice yourself for others, yet you still doesn't understand how we feel."

"Maybe I'm indeed that stupid," I said after chuckling.

Later, after having breakfast I went to the workshop to discuss with Henry about the possibility of making a generator fueled by gem berries. The rest of my friends and also Glinda were still in the dining room after I left, and a conversation happened without me knowing.

"So, do you think he should know that what he did was stupid?" Peppermint asked.

"Better not," Huck said.

"Yeah, better not," Orange said.

"It's not gonna be a good thing to make him look like a fool," Angel said.

"What he did was not stupid, everyone," Strawberry said. "It's true that I could actually reflect back Gladys' spell with this magic mirror Glinda gave me, and that was what I did when Gladys casted the spell again after Blackberry got hit by the spell. But we should remember that he didn't know that I had this magic mirror, and in his mind I was in danger and defenseless. He is a really good friend, and I will never replace him with anything."

"My oh my, Strawberry. You're right, very right! Yep, you sure do!" Ginger said.

"I think the same too!" Huck said.

"Hmph, well said," Peppermint said.

"By the way, is Gladys going to destroy the gem berries again?" Orange asked, looking at Glinda.

"I don't think so for now," Glinda said. "The reflected spell broke her wand, and making a new one takes some time."

"That's berry good to hear!" Strawberry said.

"But like I have told you when I gave you that mirror, it can only reflect a spell once. Making a new mirror takes longer than making a new wand, so you all need to be more careful from now on," Glinda said.

"We will! Thank you, Glinda!" Strawberry said.

-End of Chapter 1-

It's mine!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

I'm just leaving for a little while... I'll be back soon...

Anyone here familiar with an old program called "Klik & Play?"

If not, let me fill you in. "Klik & Play" was an old Windows 3x program that allowed you to create multi-level games just using your mouse.... a WYSIWYG game IDE. Being WYSIWYG, the results can be very absymal to very great. It just depends on how creative you are and how much skill you have in regards to the limitations of said program.

My first experience with Klik & Play games was an old "300 Arcade Games" CD-ROM I bought at RadioShack. I still have it. It's a typical bargain bin game CD-ROM filled with shareware games of varying quality, but it had some free games on it as well. And I found "Atom Boy 2" in the games list. I tried it, and it was rather fun if not somewhat hard. But after playing, I discovered how it was made, as almost every KNP game has a window at the end advertising it.

More on Atom Boy 2: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.create-games.com/download.asp?id=7773">http://www.create-games.com/download.asp?id=7773</a><!-- m -->

Later on, during the PBSKidVid golden years, I gave KNP a try. Normally you would have to pay for it, but they offered a free version intended for classroom use. I downloaded it and used it regardless, and it was quite interesting. As I was learning the ropes of KNP, I was starting to develop a game based on the "Clifford the Big Red Dog" TV show...

.. "Save Birdwell Island!"

I can't recall all the specifics, but being a lot younger than I am now, the premise was rather crazy. Apparently Birdwell Island was in trouble from an alien invasion or some other calamity, and you would pilot this helicopter to try and stop the threat. I got about halfway done with the game when for whatever reason, I abandoned it. If finished, it would have been uploaded to PBSKidVid.

I wonder where those files went. I'm sure I backed them up somewhere. Then again, even if I did find them and try to finish the game now, it would be pretty much useless since nearly every computer made today is x86-64, and Microsoft doesn't support 16-bit applications in their 64bit versions of Windows.

Still, if I ever find these files, I may try finishing the game just for a sense of completeness.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/20/4009940/playstation-4-tech-specs-hardware-details">http://www.polygon.com/2013/2/20/400994 ... re-details</a><!-- m -->

Quote:Sony revealed the first hardware specifications of its PlayStation 4 today, promising "supercharged PC architecture," an X86 processor and 8GB of GDDR5 unified system memory.

"We wanted to hear from developers," said Mark Cerny, lead system architect, at Sony's PS4 unveiling. "We spoke to dozens of the best teams in the world. We wanted to know what was important to them. We wanted to make them happy. Our goal was to create an architecture that would facilitate the expression of their ideas."

Cerny called PS4 "a platform by game creators, for game creators."

The next-gen PlayStation will come with a "massive" hard drive, Cerny added.

Quote:Prologue: Year 1, Day 3


Two days had passed since the day I, along with Strawberry Shortcake, Apple Dumplin', Ginger Snap, Orange Blossom, Angel Cake, Huckleberry Pie, and Peppermint Fizz, had ended up in Oz, a planet located in a different universe from Strawberryland. Why we had been stranded here, it had been because of me. I had created a spaceship which I named Albatross, and I invited my friends to ride it with me. I had never thought that just a minute after we got to see the view of space, we got sucked by Black Hole. We managed to get out from the empty void within by overcharging the engine, but as the result Albatross had malfuctioned and fallen down into this planet.

During the first two days, we met a wicked witch named Gladys with her flying monkey, a good witch named Glinda, who was Gladys' sister, and a scientist named Henry, who apparently came from another universe and was trapped in Oz, just like us. Many things have happened in the first day, but in the end we were allowed by Glinda to live in Emerald Castle. The castle was the place where The Great Wizard of Oz lived, or so it was known. Apparently, The Great Wizard of Oz was actually Henry, who used technology to make himself appear as if he had magic. Glinda knew that, and she brought us to Henry because he was a scientist, so he probably could help me find a way to get back home.

The day we met them was also the day we learned that Oz was actually another planet in another universe. The only way to get back to Strawberryland was to repair Albatross, which seemed impossible because Albatross was badly wrecked and the technology of Oz was as primitive as fairy tales. Even with the help of Henry, I honestly doubted if we would ever get back home.

In the second day, in a workshop located at the back of Emerald Casle, I and Henry tried to salvage anything that could be used from the remains of Albatross. We finished salvaging after dark, and the result was... nothing. A big fat zero. Everything from the remains of Albatross were better off in a garbage pile, which meant instead of fixing Albatross I had to built a new spaceship from scratch. The new spaceship had to be strong enough to fly through the black hole, and I had to build such monster with primitive technology. Knowing that made me frustated, and Henry suggested me to take a break for a few days. I didn't say anything and just went to sleep.

This morning, I woke up a bit late. By the time I got to the dining room to have breakfast, only Henry and Glinda was still there. The others had already gone somewhere.

"Good morning, Blackberry Bun," Glinda greeted.

"Hello there, son. Did you sleep well?" Henry asked.

"Not really," I said. "The thought of the impossible task kept haunting me."

"It's not impossible, son," Henry said. "You need to believe."

"Look, Mr. Henry. The spaceship I built with modern tools got wrecked by a black hole. We were very lucky that we could get out," I said. "Now, to get back home I need a stronger spaceship, strong enough to fly through the same black hole, and I have to build such thing with primitive technology. Do you still think it is not impossible?"

"Yes, son. You just need to try, one step at a time," Henry said.

"Easier said than done," I said, taking a seat. "I don't even know where to start."

"Don't think too much about it for now, son," Henry said as I ate my breakfast. "Go relax for some days first."

"I can't do that. My friends are waiting for me to bring them home. I can't afford to make any delay!" I said.

"Blackberry, you actually have a point," Glinda said. "However, that thought also puts you under pressure, and because of that you cannot think clearly. If you keep it like that, you will delay even more."

"Also, you should remember that your friends agreed that you must not stress yourself. Why do you seem to forget that in just one day?" Henry said.

"I know, and I still remember it," I said. "But they are all trapped here because I brought them with me to space. I dragged them all into this mess. I have to be responsible and make amends!"

"I believe none of them blames you, Blackberry," Glinda said as I finished eating.

"I'm sure they do. They just don't want to show it," I said, standing up.

"Always happy to blame yourself as always," suddenly someone said from behind. I looked and saw that it was Peppermint. "If you really want to be blamed, then I'll gladly be the one to blame you, because the others are just too soft."

I was just speechless as she walked to me and stopped right in front of me.

"It's all your fault! If only you did not make that junk of a spaceship, none of us would be here right now, trapped in the middle of nowhere! You better find a way for us to get back home fast, or you're nothing more than a stranger to me!" she said. "There! Happy now?"

I was still speechless.

"Look, kid. Everything may or may not be your fault, but you have shown to everyone else that you want to bring us all home, and that's enough," she said. "I don't care how long it will take. Just finish your job and bring us home. If you need help from any of us, just say so."

"Peppermint..." I said as she turned away and walked.

"The others are at the courtyard playing ball if you want to know," she said without stopping or looking at me. After she was gone, I sat down again and mused.

"That was a bit harsh," Glinda said.

"She actually has a point, though," Henry said.

"That's the Peppermint Fizz I always know," I said.

"So, what are you going to do now, Blackberry?" Glinda asked.

"I'm going to see the others, and after that I'll decide what to do next," I said. I then went to the castle courtyard, and indeed like she had said, the others were there playing catch. As soon as I arrived, Strawberry noticed me.

"Hey there, Blackberry!" Strawberry said.

"Oh, hey, buddy! Wanna join us?" Huck asked.

"I think I'll pass," I said as Huck threw the ball. "I need to get back to work soon."

"You should take a day off from fixing the spaceship once in a while," Angel said, catching the ball and throwing it again.

"Yeah, Blackberry. We don't want you to overwork yourself," Orange said as Ginger caught the ball.

"I started just yesterday, why should I take a day off already?" I asked with a bit of chuckling.

"Because all the things happened when we arrived here were exhausting, am I right?" Ginger said.

"Ginger is berry right, Blackberry," Strawberry said. "Also, I believe everyone else here have agreed that you should not stress yourself out. Just do it one step at a time, and if you need our help we will berry gladly help you!"

"That's right," Angel said.

"Come join us, Blackberry!" Orange said.

"Apple Dumplin' want Blackberry have fun!" Apple said.

"Everyone... Thank you," I said. I then joined them in playing catch with a very big relief. From a distance, without any of us noticing, Peppermint looked at us while leaning to a wall and with arms folded, and Glinda stood beside her.

"Hmph, took him long enough," she said.

"Thank you for your help, Peppermint," Glinda said.

"I just can't stand having a friend who keeps blaming himself and stressing himself out," Peppermint said.

"And thanks to you, he no longer does that. He should be able to think more clearly for his work now," Glinda said.

"I do hope so," Peppermint said. "I really miss my home."

Later, I went back to the workshop. Henry was there disposing the remains of Albatross.

"Oh, you're here, son. I thought I told you to take a few days off," Henry said.

"I know, but at least I want to make a plan for the spaceship first," I said. "Can't start without it."

"Good point, son!" Henry said.

"Let's see..." I said. "To assemble a spaceship we need the frame, the body, then..."

"The engine, also thrusters," Henry said.

"That's right. And then the wings and windshield," I said. "Inside there will be the cockpit and seats."

"Don't forget the cables to connect the parts, especially the engine," Henry said.

"That's quite a lot," I said. "Better take notes."

I then took a blank scroll and a quill with the ink, and then I wrote all the mentioned parts on it. I then looked around the workshop, seeing that the available tools were too primitive and almost completely useless.

"You know, Mr. Henry," I said. "I think before we begin building the spaceship, we need to get the proper tools for it first."

"You made another good point, son!" he said.

"But the problem is, the tools in my mind are modern ones, and there's one important thing missing for them to work," I said.

"Electricity isn't it?" he said, and I nodded. "Well, I have the batteries for my holographic device."

"We will run out of batteries before we even finish assembling the frame and body," I said.

"You have another point, son," he said.

"Electricity isn't invented yet in this world," I said. "I guess we have to do the inventing ourselves."

"In other words, make a generator," he said.

"Yes, that should be our first step," I said. "Though I don't know what the generator will be fueled by."

"In any case, we need to get the materials to build it," he said.

"Well, that's a lot of work already," I said. "This will indeed take a long time."

"Take it easy, son. You have done enough for today. Go take a few days off like I said, maybe you'll get bright ideas during those days," he said.

"Alright. See you later, Mr. Henry," I said.

"Just call me with name only," he said while smiling.

I then left the workshop thinking about all the works we had to do just to prepare for the main project of building a spaceship. Indeed it would take a very long time, and I somehow felt that there would be many obstacles along the way. However, I was determined that I would never give up. I would bring everyone back to Strawberryland, and I would definitely make that happen someday.

-End of Prologue-

OK, fine, I have a short attention span and I often get distracted easily. My prob is that my employer, i.e. my brother, tends to raise his voice or yell at me for even a single trivial question or issue, and when I bring the question as to whether I can resign, it's either him that's subjecting me to drivel as to what I'm going to do afterwards, or my parents berating me for how I work.

It's hard for me to focus on one thing, but I'm trying to. It's just that I tend to be quite sensitive and get buzzed off whenever someone yells at me for any reason.

/vent