Quote:Chapter 30: Journey West


Over three days after solving Summer's problem, the weather gradually became cooler, which implied that Summer was finally able to sleep again. I watched the leaves falling outside the window in joy of successfully restoring the natural weather. While I was still watching over the scenery, I heard someone shouting.

"Hey, Blackberry!" the voice shouted. I looked outside the window and I saw that it was Strawberry. "To the club!"

I didn't know what her intention was, but I immediately took Swallow's Flight which was coincidentally lying on a table next to me, put it on my shirt, and jumped out of the window. I landed safely on the ground because of my lighter body, and Strawberry was a little bit surprised.

"Faster than going down the ladder," I said, pointing at the wing-shaped badge. "Shall we go now?" I continued as I removed the badge from my shirt and put it into my pocket.

"Yes, come quick!" Strawberry said in excitement.

Both of us then ran to the clubhouse taking Blueberry, Rainbow, Apricot, and Peppermint along the way. When we arrived at the clubhouse, everybody else had been already there.

"Okay, now that everybody's here, what are you going to say?" Raspberry asked.

"Yeah, Strawberry. What are you gonna tell us?" Angel asked.

"I just thought of a berry great thing, and I can't wait to tell you all!" Strawberry said still in excitement.

"Okay, so what is it? I hope you're not going to waste my time," Peppermint said.

"The good thing about the Friendship Club is that there's always room for more friends," Strawberry said.

"You said that once," Orange said.

"And then we sent invitations to everyone all over the world, am I right? And it was a success, am I right again?" Ginger said.

"Yeah, but this time..." Strawberry said, pausing for a moment. "How about the other way around?"

"The other way around?" Lemon asked.

"Umm, what do you mean, Strawberry?" Huck asked.

"How about we going out there and looking for new friends ourselves? I'm berry sure it will be an exciting trip!" Strawberry said.

"It will?" Lemon asked.

"Well..." Blueberry said with a brief pause. "I don't know, but it doesn't sound that interesting to me. I mean, having new friends is always great, but the trip..."

"Hmph, just as I thought. This is a waste of my time," Peppermint said.

"Why I don't feel that excited?" Raspberry said, thinking.

"Yeah, me too. It's not so cool for me. Why is it?" Apricot wondered.

"Oh, I think I know why," I said. "Lemon, Raspberry, Apricot, Blueberry, and Peppermint. All of you have done such trip with me, and that is why you don't feel so excited about the idea."

"Oh, yes. Now I remember," Raspberry said, and the other girls I had mentioned nodded, which meant that they agreed with me.

"So, how about the rest?" I asked.

"Count me in!" Huck said.

"Me too! That's a great idea!" Angel said.

"Yeah, count me in as well, will you huh Strawberry Shortcake?" Ginger said.

"I will go along too!" Orange said.

"Count me in, matey!" Rainbow said.

"Apple not want," Apple said, which surprised everyone a bit.

"Oh, why is it, Apple? This time you can go with us if you want," Strawberry said.

"Apple did trip, with Blackberry," Apple said.

"Oh, yes. Apple was one of them too," I said.

"Then you can stay with someone who will stay," Strawberry said.

"Okay, then. When will we go?" I asked.

"How about... now?" Huck suggested.

"You must be joking. We need to prepare first, you know," I said.

"Tomorrow morning then?" he said.

"That's better. Anybody else agree?" I asked, which was replied by a nod from the others.

"Okay, now that it is settled, see you t'morrow morning!" Ginger said, leaving the place.

"She sure is enthusiastic," I said.

Soon, I left the clubhouse and went back to my home. Then I spent the rest of the day preparing for the trip next day. I did maintenance works on all my devices and put them all into my backpack, and it was done right before bedtime. After I finished the works I went to sleep. At the next day, all of the kids who participated in the trip gathered in the clubhouse. As I had thought, the participants were the main five plus me and Rainbow.

"So, now that we are all here, shall we go now?" I asked.

"Yeah, what are you waiting for, huh Strawberry Shortcake?" Ginger asked.

"By the way, where are we gonna go?" Angel asked.

"I don't know. Let's just go wherever the rail will take us," Strawberry said.

"The rail? You mean, the train station in Upper Truffle?" Huck asked.

"Sounds so," Orange said.

"Let's go then, mateys!" Rainbow said.

All of us then walked to Upper Truffle, the only place which had a train station. I was glad that I brought quite an amount of blackberries in my backpack because I would need some of them to trade for the train ticket for me. When we arrived at the train station, we immediately went to the booth where we could buy tickets.

"Each of us has berries to buy the ticket, right?" Strawberry asked, and everyone else nodded. Then we queued in front of the booth.

"One full day trip, please," Strawberry said.

"What berries do you have?" the officer inside the booth asked.

"Strawberries," Strawberry said.

"That would be six strawberries, please," the officer said.

"Here they are," Strawberry said, giving six strawberries to him.

"And here's your ticket. Have a pleasant trip," the officer said, giving a ticket.

It was the first time for me to know that each kind of berries had its own value in trading. I saw next that Orange had to pay with four oranges, Huck with ten huckleberries, Angel and Ginger with six strawberries as well, Rainbow with eight cherries, and finally it was my turn.

"One full day trip, please," I said. "I have blackberries."

"Blackberries? Then it would be five blackberries, please," the officer said.

"Five blackberries," I said, and my backpack threw it into my hands. Then I gave them to the officer. "Here you go."

"And here's your ticket. Have a pleasant trip," the officer said, giving a ticket.

After that, all of us went to the platform of the station. There was a train there which was scheduled to run to the west. All of us agreed to ride that train, and then we went into the train. Inside the train was quite spacious and also comfortable with all the seats. All of us then took our seats and waited for the train to start running. Six of us took two seats facing each other, while one had to sit on the seat across.

"This is the first time I ride a train," I said, sitting next to the window.

"Me too!" Strawberry said, sitting in front of me.

"I believe it's the same for everyone else as well," Huck said, sitting next to me on the right, and everyone else nodded.

"I can't wait for the trip!" Angel said in excitement, sitting in front of Huck.

"Yeah me too! I have never left Strawberryland this far!" Orange said, sitting next to Angel who was on her right.

"That's right. The furthest we have gone was Ice Cream Island, am I right? Or was it the Berry Fairy Fields?" Ginger said, sitting next to Huck.

"I have been much further than that, matey," Rainbow said, sitting on the seat across. "But it was on my boat. I have never done it on land."

"Let's wait and see what kind of surprises we will see," I said.

Soon, the train finally departed. All of us looked through the window, seeing Strawberryland for the last time until our return. Then we spent time talking together while occasionally looked at the scenery outside. Later, we heard a voice.

"Tickets, please!" the voice said. We realized that it was the ticket collector so we immediately had our tickets ready. We waited until the officer came to us, and once he did, I was surprised. The ticket collector looked just like the dog catcher I had met in Pearis. I then remembered that the dog catcher had a twin brother.

"Your tickets, please," the officer asked us, and all of us gave him our tickets.

"Excuse me, sir. Do you have a twin brother if I may ask?" I asked.

"Why, yes! How did you know?" the officer replied.

"I met him some time ago in Pearis. He saved me from a stray dog," I said.

"Ah, now I remember! I met him too, although not much," Strawberry said.

"I see. Did he say anything about me?" he asked.

"Well, he told me to say hello to you if I met you by chance. He's a really nice man," I said.

"I'm glad that he's doing fine. Oh, here are your tickets," he said, returning our tickets.

"Merci!" I and Strawberry said, and then the officer left. The trip continued for a while until we heard an announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Next stop, Watermelon Patch," the announcer said.

"Should we get off there?" I asked.

"We aren't that far yet," Angel said. "But why not?"

"Yeah, I have never been there, and everyone else too, am I right?" Ginger said.

"Yeah," Orange said.

Everybody else agreed, so we got off on the train station in Watermelon Patch. When we got out from the train station, we saw that the scenery was not much different than Strawberryland, only that the amount of lollipop trees was much less. However, in their place there were watermelon bushes.

"Do you think we will find a new friend here?" Angel asked.

"I'm berry sure we will! Let's try and look around," Strawberry said.

"You sure are optimistic," I said.

We then walked around the area while occasionally taking photos with Ginger's camera. There was nothing really special at the area other than the abundance of watermelons which had never happened in Strawberryland. Some of us even thought of taking one or two watermelons, but because they seemed to have someone owning them we decided not to do it. We kept walking until we saw a house in a shape of a glass of beverage. Looking at the red color of the ``liquid`` and a watermelon slice placed on top of the house, we could notice that the house was shaped like a watermelon beverage.

"Do you think there's someone in there?" Orange asked.

"I think so," Rainbow said.

"If there is someone there, is that someone gonna be our friend?" Angel asked.

"We won't know until we try," Huck said.

"Let's go there and give a visit," I said, and we all walked to the house. Once we arrived, I pressed the doorbell button I found and waited for a moment. Soon, someone opened the door and it was a girl with green hair and watermelon-themed dress.

"Hi there! Anything I can help you with?" she greeted.

"We are travellers looking for new friends! I'm Strawberry Shortcake, this is Angel Cake, Orange Blossom, Ginger Snap, Huckleberry Pie, Rainbow Sherbet, and Blackberry Bun," Strawberry said.

"I'm Watermelon Kiss. Welcome to my humble home!" the girl welcomed.

"You live alone here?" Orange asked as we all came into her house.

"Well, yes. My friends here are only squirrels, birds, butterflies, and such," Watermelon said. "Oh, please have your seats!"

"Don't you feel a bit... lonely?" Angel asked. There was a silence for a brief moment.

"Well..." Watermelon said. "I kinda feel lonely sometimes, but what can I do? There's nobody around in miles and miles!"

"We can always be your friends!" Strawberry said. "Come to Strawberryland sometime! You'll be berry welcomed!"

"Really? Oh, thank you very much!" Watermelon said. "I sure will come!"

All of us then spent one hour together. During the hour Watermelon Kiss learned about many things in Strawberryland, including other friends there. All in all, Watermelon was a nice new friend.

"Oh, I think it's time for us to go," Strawberry said.

"Why so soon?" Watermelon asked.

"We are travelling to look for more friends," Strawberry replied. "We will be waiting for you to come sometime."

"I will," Watermelon said. "Oh, here, take some watermelons with you."

"Thanks, but..." Angel said, looking at the watermelons. "They're kinda... too big and heavy."

"You bet. If we bring these with us we will be exhausted and fall down really fast, am I right?" Ginger said. "But hey, it's not that I don't like it."

"Okay, leave it to me, then," I said, taking one watermelon and throwing it upwards. My backpack understood perfectly and sucked the watermelon into it.

"Your backpack sure is special," Huck commented as I threw another watermelon into my backpack.

All of us then left Watermelon's house waving hands, and she did the same. We walked to the train station to ride the next train available. We looked at the schedule and saw that the next train going west would arrive in the next five minutes. We also looked at the route map.

"Now we are here at Watermelon Patch. Where should we stop next?" I asked.

"Well..." Rainbow said, looking at the map. "How about here? Corn Country."

"That's a good idea. We never see corns in Strawberryland," Orange said.

"Why not? Everybody else agree?" Angel said, and everyone nodded.

We then got onboard the train which soon arrived and took our seats in the same formation as the previous ride. We didn't have to buy new tickets because our previous tickets could be used for the whole day. The ride lasted for about one hour, and during the ride some of us, to be exact me, Angel, and Orange, fell asleep.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Next stop, Corn Country," an announcement was heard.

"Oh, that's our stop! Wake up everyone!" Strawberry said in excitement.

Soon, all of us got off from the train at Corn Country train station. The scenery outside the station was again not much different from Strawberryland, but it had more country feeling on it.

"Smell that country air," I said after taking a deep breath.

"It really feels nice," Angel said.

"I like it berry much," Strawberry said.

"Let's walk around and see if we can find a new friend here," Orange said.

"Yeah, let's go right now, huh everyone?" Ginger said.

We then walked around the area taking photos on the way. On one occasion we came across a farm, but it was empty and looked abandoned. We even went inside it to make sure, but indeed the farm was abandoned looking at the amount of dust inside.

"Seems there's nobody here at all. Nope, not ever," Ginger said.

"Let's just get out of here before..." Angel said, coughing. "Before the dust kills me."

All of us agreed and left the abandoned farm. At first we gave up on looking for a new friend in the area, but soon we could see another farm downhill. The farm we saw seemed more alive than the one we had just left. We then decided to give that farm a visit.

"I'm sure we will meet someone there," I said.

"I sure hope the person will be a nice one too," Huck said.

Soon, we arrived right in front of the farm's door. Strawberry knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

"Hello, anybody there?" Strawberry shouted. There was no answer.

"Ahoy!" Rainbow shouted. There was no answer.

"Maybe the person is on the field?" Huck said.

"Let's try splitting up and look around. Everyone agree?" I said.

Everyone agreed on splitting up to look around and find out if there was anybody on the field. I went towards one fenced area where sheeps were kept, and saw nobody there. I walked around a bit more until suddenly I heard something.

"Everyone! Come quick!" a voice I recognized as Strawberry shouted. I then quickly ran towards the source, which seemed to be the corn field. I arrived there at the same time with others. We saw strawberry in the middle of the corn field, but we only could see her head because the corns had grown quite tall that they covered her from neck to toe.

"What's the matter?" Orange asked, panting.

"Yeah, what's the matter, huh Strawberry Shortcake? Did you find someone, huh Strawberry Shortcake?" Ginger asked.

"Come and help me, everyone! There's someone fainted here!" Strawberry replied.

All of us got surprised and immediately approached Strawberry. Indeed next to her there was a fainted girl with brown hair, blue overall, and white shirt. All of us then carried the fainted girl together towards the house. Fortunately, the door was not locked so we could get inside and put the girl on a sofa we found there.

"Is she gonna be fine?" Angel asked.

"No fever, so I think she will be fine," Strawberry said.

"Let's wait until she wakes up," Huck said.

We waited for a few minutes until the girl finally opened her eyes. When she did, she saw us and got surprised that she jumped into sitting position.

"Relax, matey. We are not here to harm you," Rainbow said.

"We found you fainted at the corn field, so we brought you here," Strawberry said.

"Oh..." The girl said, holding her forehead with one hand. "Sorry, I was just so... surprised. By the way, I'm Carmel Corn."

"It's okay," Angel said. "I'm Angel Cake."

"I'm Strawberry Shortcake. This is Orange Blossom, Ginger Snap, Huckleberry Pie, Rainbow Sherbet, and Blackberry Bun," Strawberry said.

"What happened that you fainted out there?" Huck asked.

"I think..." Carmel said with a brief pause. "I got exhausted while taking care of the corn field."

"You take care of the whole farm all by yourself?" Orange asked.

"Yeah..." Carmel replied. "Before moving here, I thought that living in a farm of my own would be nice, but it was the worst choice I have ever made."

"Worst choice?" I asked.

"All the works are too much for me alone. Chickens, cows, pigs, sheeps, the corn field, everything. This is really the worst place ever. I give up," Carmel said, lowering her head.

"No, you can't give up now," Strawberry said.

"Why shouldn't I? There's no way I can handle all those alone," Carmel said.

"Not if you have helping hands, yessire!" Ginger said.

"Helping hands? Who? How?" Carmel asked.

"Hey, Blackberry. You still bring that dimension door with you, am I right? Could you please lend it to me?" Ginger asked me.

"Time Remote Mark II," I said, and my backpack gave the device to me. "Here it is. But what are you going to use it for?"

"Just wait and see! Back in a flash!" she replied, running off with my remote.

"What is she going to do?" Carmel asked.

"I'm sure that everyone here is as clueless as you do," I replied.

We then waited for Ginger Snap to return to us. The wait didn't last that long because half an hour later she came back.

"Hey, everyone! I'm back, yessire!" she said from the front door.

"Where did you go?" Angel asked.

"I went home," Ginger replied. "I made these helping hands. Come outside and see for yourselves, will you huh everyone?"

As told by Ginger, all of us went outside the house and saw that she had returned bringing a four-handed robot and a cart full of materials and tools.

"What is this robot?" Strawberry asked.

"This is The Amazing Helping Hands! It will lend you not just one or two or three, but four helping hands! It can help you in any kind of works, yessire!" Ginger said.

"That's amazing, matey. But what about those things on the cart?" Rainbow asked.

"These? Just wait and see, huh will ya'?" Ginger replied, and then she brought the cart into the cow barn. There was a lot of noise heard from inside, and we could only watch from a distance.

"What is she doing there?" Carmel asked.

"Whatever it is, we will see soon," I said. "When it comes to machines, her speed is unmatched. She could build a huge boat in just one night."

"She did that?" Rainbow asked.

"When did she do that? I don't remember her doing something that amazing," Angel asked.

"I remember..." Orange said. "But it was in a dream, right?"

"Uh oh..." I said with low voice so nobody heard it. "I mean, she is so fast that it seems like she can build a boat in one night."

"Oh, I see," Huck said.

A few minutes later, Ginger came out from the barn with black marks all over her clothes and face. She was really dirty that all of us wondered what she had actually done inside the barn.

"Come inside and look, huh everyone?" she said, and we did as told. Inside the barn, we saw that there were contraptions installed all over it.

"What are these contraptions?" Carmel said.

"This is what I call The Amazing Helping Hands: Cow Caretaker Edition!" Ginger said. "They will do everything for you! Feeding, milking, you name it!" Ginger replied. "Now I'm on to the next part of this farm!" she continued, taking her cart.

"Wait! Hold on!" Carmel said.

"What is it, huh Carmel Corn?" Ginger asked.

"You see, I'm grateful that you made all these for me," Carmel said with a brief pause following. "But if you make these all over the farm, what will I do?"

Carmel had a point. If Ginger made contraptions all over the farm, then Carmel would have nothing to do there, and that would defeat the purpose of living in a farm. There was a silence for the next few seconds.

"I realize that I said about the farm having too much work to do, but I don't want it to have nothing for me to do at all," Carmel said. "So, I'm grateful for the things you have made here, Ginger, but it's already enough for me now."

"Well... if you say so, then okay no problem yessire!" Ginger said.

"But could you leave the materials here? I might want to use them someday," Carmel asked.

"No problem at all! Use it as you like!" Ginger replied.

So, once again we got a new friend on our journey west. Like Watermelon Kiss, Carmel Corn was also a nice new friend. She had difficult times not to give up in bad situations, but she was still a nice one. We spent some hours together until we noticed that the sun was setting.

"I think it's time to take our leave," I said.

"Why so soon?" Carmel asked.

"It's getting dark, and as you can see one of us is really exhausted," I replied, looking at Ginger who was sleeping on a sofa.

"I see. Thanks for everything," she said.

"I didn't do anything," I said. "Hope you will lead a successful farm."

"Thanks," she said.

All of us then left Carmel Corn's farm waving our hands and she did the same to us. We then walked to the train station to see if there was any train available to take us back to Strawberryland. All of us were aware that we could just use my remote to go home, but the trip on train felt so nice that we wanted to do it again. Our tickets were still valid anyway so we would have nothing to lose.

We were lucky that there was a train going to Strawberryland right when we arrived at the station. We then immediately got onboard and took our seats in the same formation as before. From the window we could see a view of sunset, and it was a very nice view. Soon, the train departed and all of us spent time talking together on how our journey west had been a complete success. We enjoyed our trip until we heard an announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Next stop, Upper Truffle. Please don't forget your belongings when you get off,"

--End of Chapter 30--

Quote:Chapter 29: Hot Autumn


Summer was near its end. Signs of autumn coming such as leaves starting to change color were all over Strawberryland. However, the weather was still very hot despite all those signs. I wondered about it for a while to the point of considering to visit the Land of Seasons, but in the end I decided to wait a bit longer.

One day, in the midday, I was standing on the rooftop of my house looking at the scenery around. Indeed leaves have become yellow, and some of them had already started to fall down. However, the weather was still very hot. The temperature was so hot that it felt unnatural. While I was wondering about that, suddenly I heard a voice.

"Hey, long time no see, kid!" a voice greeted from above. I looked upward and saw that it was Summer, still in his flower shirt, brown trousers, and beach sandals. However, his crane wings were missing.

"Oh, hi, Summer," I greeted back as he landed next to me. "Where are your wings?"

"I felt silly having those wings, so I made them invisible with a little bit of magic," he replied. I then tried touching somewhere behind his back, and indeed the wings were actually still there.

"Yeah, I can feel your wings," I said. "What brings you here?"

"I suppose you notice something weird about the weather, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's so hot that it feels... unnatural," I said.

"It's actually natural if it's still in the middle of my season, but indeed this hot weather is unnatural at this time period," he said.

"Do you know what caused it?" I asked. "Oh, and I never used my weather controller anymore, even though I have repaired it."

"I knew that I could trust you," he said.

"Umm, you haven't answered my first question," I said.

"Know the cause you asked? Not only that. I'm the cause of all these," he said with a sigh, lowering his head.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked, surprised.

"I suppose you know a few things about the season bringers, don't you?" he asked back.

"Yeah, a little bit. While one season bringer works, the others sleep," I replied. "Hey, but you..."

"Exactly. I'm supposed to at least start sleeping by now, but as you can see, I'm still awake," he said, sighing again.

"How come?" I asked.

"Well, that's because..." he replied, but there was an interruption.

"He can't sleep. That's why," a female voice said from above. I looked upwards and saw a lady who was around Sour Grapes' age. She wore a brown long dress with autumn leaves images on it. She had brown wavy hair and her shoes were brown high heels. Her wings seemed like they were made from three large dried leaves on each side. All in all, she had an elegant look which fit an autumn theme.

"Mom, couldn't you just let me finish my sentence by myself?" Summer said, which surprised me.

"You said... mom?" I asked.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Lady Autumn, the one who brings fall season," the lady said. "I'm not his mother, but all of us were so close to each other like a family."

"Yeah, for me Spring is like my sister, Lady Autumn is like my mother, and Old Man Winter is like my grandfather," Summer said.

"You said that Summer can't sleep? Why?" I asked.

"None of us know, dear. If we knew why we would come with a solution right now," Lady Autumn replied.

"Yeah, I tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I felt so tired but I couldn't fall asleep. If I don't sleep soon, more problems will arise," Summer said with another sigh.

"Indeed. For now we have a hot fall season, and later the trees won't be able to decide between letting their leaves to fall or not. As the result many of them will wither and die," Lady Autumn said.

"What? We can't let that to happen!" I said, surprised.

"Of course we can't. That's why I came here," Summer said. "To meet you."

"Huh? Me? Why me? I'm just a kid," I asked, wondering.

"I have the same question too, dear," Lady Autumn said.

"You're a kid, but not an ordinary one. You can make a weather controller and that dimension door I saw," Summer said. "So maybe you can think of something."

"Well, it's so sudden for me. I can't think that fast," I said. "Give me a moment."

"As you wish, but don't take too long," he said.

I then started to think about Summer's problem. According to what he had said, his problem was similar to an insomniac. However, I hadn't made any sleep-inducing devices or such, and I didn't know if I could make something like that or not. While still thinking, suddenly I remembered something.

"Dream fairies," I said. "Maybe they can help."

"Dream fairies, huh? I don't know much about them because unlike berry fairies, they don't have any kind of cooperation with us," Summer said. "Not to mention that I have never seen a dream fairy by myself in my whole life."

"You never dream in your sleep?" I asked.

"Of course we do. It's just that there's nothing special between us and the dream fairies," he replied.

"Oh, okay," I said.

"Okay, so how the dream fairies can help me?" he asked.

"They usually induce sleep powder to insomniacs. Maybe it will work on you as well," I said.

"I see. How can we go to their place, then?" he asked again.

"This," I answered, taking Time Remote Mark II from my pocket.

"Ah, your dimension door I see. Then, shall we go now?" he said.

"Right away if you want it," I said. "The Land of Dreams!" I spoke to the remote, and a dimension door appeared in front of us.

"I will stay here. I need to maintain the season," Lady Autumn said.

"Okay, see you later. Love you, mom," Summer said.

"Love you too, son. Good luck," Lady Autumn said, and the two of us entered the dimension door.

We ended up right in front of the Dream Fort. I then walked to PJ's building and Summer followed behind me. As we arrived in front of the building, the lady I knew opened the door and welcomed us with her usual pencil and notepad.

"Blackberry Bun and Summer. Welcome to PJ's. Please have your seats," she said.

"Is she a dream fairy? She looks different than the berry fairies," Summer whispered to me as we walked to a table.

"Of course not. She is PJ, the owner of this building. The real dream fairy will come soon," I whispered back.

We then had our seats and a glass of sundae immediately appeared in front of me.

"Thanks. It's really what I need after being in a hot weather," I said. "But why my friend didn't get one?"

"I don't eat anything, and it seems she knows it," Summer said.

"Indeed, my dears. And I know that you came because of a problem," PJ said. "She is on the way and will arrive soon."

"She? Who?" Summer said.

"That would be me. Diana Dusk, chief of the dream fairies. Daisy and Mary are still sleeping so for now I'm the one in charge," a voice said from the front door. It was indeed Diana who came.

"Ah, Diana! It's nice to meet you again," I said.

"Me too, actually. Although you have to remember that you were exiled from here, and once again you came bending our rules," Diana said, shaking her head.

"You were exiled...?" Summer asked.

"Well, it's a long story," I replied. "Anyway, I suppose you already know why I came, right?" I said to Diana.

"Of course. That's why Her Majesty made an exception to that rule. This is a very crucial problem for us as well," she replied.

"Really?" I asked.

"Unnatural weather will put negative minds into the heads of all people. Negative minds feed nightmares, and then nightmares will take over the whole Land of Dreams! This is serious business!" she shouted.

"Okay okay, now I understand. So, what are we going to do now?" I asked.

"If he was a normal people, I could just give him sleep powder or use my Tranquilizer spell all by myself," she said. "But he's a deity. All those I mentioned will be useless."

"I don't think I'm so great to be worth mentioned as deity, but whatever. So, what are you gonna do?" Summer asked.

"I said ``all by myself``, didn't I? Let's go outside for now," Diana said, flying towards the door. Summer and I followed her, and once we got outside we saw that the field had been swarmed by dream fairies. It seemed like the whole Dream Fairy Fields residents had been called to gather there.

"Why so many dream fairies?" Summer asked.

"All of us will try to gather our power into one big Tranquilizer spell. This is the only way we can think of, so if this fails we won't have any more idea," Diana said.

"I see. Let's try it then," Summer said.

"Okay, stay still and relax. We will begin the spell soon," Diana said, then she flew away to join the crowd of dream fairies. As instructed, Summer stood still near the crowd while closing his eyes, and I waited alongside PJ right in front of the door of her building. Soon, all dream fairies pointed their wand upwards and a blue ball of light started to appear above them. The light kept growing larger until its size ended up as large as Strawberry's house. Then the dream fairies pointed their wand towards Summer, who kept standing still with his eyes closed. The light then slowly moved towards him and stopped a few distances above his head.

"Ready, everyone?" Diana shouted.

"Ready!" the crowd answered.

"On the count of three! One, two... three!" Diana shouted, and a thin laser beam came out from each dream fairy's wand towards the ball of light. It then shattered and showered blue sparkles on Summer. The shower lasted for a few minutes, and once it ended Diana approached Summer who was still standing with his eyes closed.

"Did it work?" Diana said, observing Summer's face.

"No, it didn't," Summer said, opening his eyes. "I didn't feel anything."

"Oh, we give up," Diana said, falling down to the ground.

"Why giving up so soon? There must be a way," Summer said.

"The spell we just did have used up all our energy. We can't do anything more," Diana said. "Sorry, we can't help at all."

"Oh... but thanks for trying. I will try to find another way, then," Summer said.

So, the two of us returned to Strawberryland without any result. After coming out from the dimension door which led us to my rooftop, Summer looked around with his hands on his hips and sighed.

"Everyone will be in trouble if I don't sleep. Why can't I sleep?" he asked himself. Then, Lady Autumn came flying to us.

"So, it didn't work, son?" she asked as she landed.

"No, mom. I have no idea why this happens," Summer said.

"Usually, people can't sleep because they have something in mind that prevents them from sleeping," I said. "Do you have something in mind? Something that feels like a burden?"

After I asked my question, Summer fell into a deep silence. Nobody said anything for the next few seconds.

"Son, is there something in your mind? Tell us, maybe it will ease your mind," Lady Autumn said.

"Well..." Summer said with a brief pause. "Truth to be told, there is one thing..."

"What is it?" I asked.

"I... I made Spring cry," he said, which surprised both me and Lady Autumn.

"What? What did you do, son? How could you do that?" Lady Autumn asked.

"When it was time for the season to change from spring to summer, I met her. We had a talk for a moment, and we ended up fighting over a small thing," Summer said.

"What small thing if I may ask?" I asked.

"Well..." he said timidly. "About whose season is more important."

"Son, you know very well that all seasons are equally important," Lady Autumn said.

"I know, mom. But she kept saying that her season was the most important of all. It seemed like someone has told her so, or something similar to that," Summer said.

"Oh, then what happened next?" I asked.

"She was so stubborn no matter how hard I tried to advise her. In the end..." he said, pausing for a moment. "I couldn't hold my emotion and scolded her..."

"Oh my. You know that Spring is sensitive and fragile when it comes to that, son..." Lady Autumn said.

"I know, but I just couldn't help myself. When I realized that, it was already too late when she left me crying," Summer said. "She shouted ``I hate you!`` before that."

"I think we find the cause of your insomnia," I said. "Your guilty feeling is the cause."

"You should have told us from the start, son. We could have saved some time if you have," Lady Autumn said.

"Sorry. I was... embarassed," Summer said.

"Okay, now that we know why, it's time to end it. Let's go to her and try to be in good terms again with her," I said.

"It's not as easy as it sounds, but let's go there anyway," he said.

"Land of Seasons," I said, and my Time Remote Mark II responded perfectly. All of us then jumped into the dimension door it had created, and ended up right in front of the entrance of Land of Seasons. We then walked into the Spring area until we arrived in a large field of flowers which was very beautiful with all the colorful flowers there.

"What a sight," I said.

"This flower field is where Spring usually sleeps," Summer said.

"Where can we find her?" I asked.

"Just a little bit more, dear," Lady Autumn said, and we walked again. Just a few minutes later, I saw a small mound which was covered by colorful flowers like the rest of the ground, and Spring was sleeping right on the mound, still in her green dress. We approached her and saw that there were tears on her cheeks.

"So, are you going to wake her up and apologize?" I asked.

"It's easier said than done. I can't wake her up," Summer said.

"And before you ask why, dear, waking her up can be dangerous," Lady Autumn said. "There must not be three season bringers awake at the same time. Even two is already dangerous if they are on the opposite side."

"But I saw Old Man Winter awake last summer and nothing bad happened," I said.

"He was still deep inside Gumball Bluff, that's why. Even though of that, if he had been awake longer something bad could have happened," Summer said.

"That means, you and Old Man Winter had never met with each other while awake?" I said.

"Exactly, dear. The same applies to me and Spring," Lady Autumn said. "We only can visit our counterpart while the other is sleeping."

"Pity..." I said. "So, there's no way at all to apologize to her now?"

"I'm afraid no," Summer said with a sigh.

"Oh, there is a way of course. Believe in yourself," a voice suddenly said from behind us. We looked towards the source and saw that it was Sandman.

"Sandman! Long time no see!" I said.

"Who is he?" Summer asked.

"Summer, this is Sandman. The owner of the Dream Factory in the Land of Dreams," I said.

"I heard that you have a problem because you can't sleep, so I came to you to help," Sandman said.

"Not to doubt you, but if a whole army of dream fairies couldn't help me, how can you help?" Summer asked.

"I came here not to help you sleep. I came here to help you apologize to her," Sandman replied.

"What? How?" Summer asked.

"Kneel beside her and close your eyes," Sandman said, and Summer did as instructed. Sandman then put one hand on Summer's forehead and the other hand on Spring's. He then began concentrating and his hands started to shine.

"Spring..." Summer said, still with his eyes closed.

"Summer..." Spring muttered, still fast asleep.

"I see," Lady Autumn said. "He is connecting Summer to Spring's dream. That way they can talk without waking her up."

"Smart way. Let's just hope they can get along well," I said.

We waited for a moment while hoping for a happy end. However, we were too hopeful. They started arguing over the same thing again, and in the end Summer lost his mind again that he scolded Spring.

"I hate you!" Spring shouted, although still fast asleep. Then Sandman ended his connection.

"Son, you made the same mistake again..." Lady Autumn said.

"I can't help myself. She is too stubborn," Summer said, standing up.

"Now the situation isn't getting any better," Lady Autumn said.

"Well..." I said, thinking. "When brother and sister fight, the mother will become the middleman to solve it."

"So you are saying that I should talk to Spring now?" she asked.

"Yes, because you are like a mother to both of them, so maybe you can help," I replied. "Sandman, can you connect both Summer and Lady Autumn to Spring's dream?"

"Unfortunately, no. I only have two hands you see," Sandman said. "But don't worry. Help is on the way."

"Help? Who?" Summer asked.

"I'm already here," a voice said from behind. We looked towards the source and it was PJ.

"Very well. Let's start immediately, then," Lady Autumn said.

Soon, Summer and Lady Autumn kneeled on each of Spring's side. Sandman connected Summer while PJ connected Lady Autumn. This time, nobody said or muttered anything so I didn't know what happened over there. It lasted for quite a long time until I noticed all three of them smiling, and the connection ended.

"Thanks, mom. I couldn't have done it without you," Summer said.

"You're welcome, son," Lady Autumn said. "And I thank you as well. Because of your fighting we have a chance to meet each other."

"You're welcome, mom," Summer said. "And both of us thank you too, PJ and Sandman, for what you have just done."

"It was no problem at all, dear," PJ said.

"I think we will take our leave now. I have left my factory for too long," Sandman said. "Farewell for now."

"Farewell," Lady Autumn said as the two Land of Dreams residents flew away.

"So, all ended well?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm now in good terms with Spring again. Thanks," Summer said.

"Hey, I didn't do anything," I said.

"You figured out the cause of my problem, and you also figured out how to solve it. That's why I thank you," he said.

"Well... yeah, okay. You're welcome," I said, blushing a little.

"Now that it's all over, I'm getting sleepy," he said, yawning. "I will go to my place and sleep."

"I'd like to see your place for once," I said.

"It's not much different than this field. Just replace these flowers with green grass and some trees, and you got it," he said. "I sleep on a hammock attached between two coconut trees."

"I see. Then I wish you sweet dreams," I said.

"Thanks. See you on the next summer," he said, and he flew away.

"Now that he can sleep, the weather should go back to normal soon. You have my gratitude, dear," Lady Autumn said.

"Don't mention it," I said. "I guess I will take my leave as well. I wish you luck in bringing autumn season to everyone all over the world," I said.

"Thank you dear," she said. I then spoke out my district's name to my remote and jumped into the dimension door that appeared.

--End of Chapter 29--

Quote:Chapter 28: Competition


Just two days after reviving the mermaids, someone came to my house while I was in the middle of making a new device. I opened the door and it turned out that the guest was Strawberry.

"Oh, hi Strawberry," I greeted, going down the ladder. "What's up?"

"Hi, Blackberry. Would you come to the Annual Nearly Twice A Yearly Strawberryland Pet Show tomorrow?" she asked.

"Umm, what...? Annual Nearly Twice A Yearly Strawberryland what...?" I asked, confused by the long name of the event.

"Pet show," she replied. "There will be berry much fun there!"

"But Strawberry, you know that I can't come. I don't have a pet," I said.

"You don't need to have one to come. Everyone's invited!" she said.

"Oh, what things will happen in this pet show?" I asked.

"Well, many things! Just come and join the fun!" she said in excitement.

"If you say so, I will be there with pleasure," I said.

"Great! See you tomorrow, then!" she said. "I'm going to invite other frinds."

"Okay, see you tomorrow," I said, and she left my place.

After she had left, I went back to my working table and continued my work. While working I kept thinking about the same event which had happened one year before. That event hadn't gone smoothly because of Peppermint's cheating spree on all other pets. However, I was sure that Peppermint had learned the lesson and hoped that this next event would be better than before. Then again, I thought about myself not being able to participate because of one simple reason. Other kids somehow had their pets without remembering how they had first met, with the exception of Strawberry's Pupcake. On the other hand, I didn't have any pet at all since the beginning. While all the questions were occupying my head, suddenly I heard something entering one window of my house.

"Huh? Who's there?" I asked, looking towards the window. I could see a shadow of a bird there.

"It's me, kid. Don't you remember me?" a voice asked back.

"Raven? It's been quite long. How do you do?" I said as he approached me.

"I'm all fine. Although, lately I feel kind of lonely. Everywhere I turn only fillies and nothing else!" he replied. "That's why I decided to come here and give a visit to one or two kids. Or maybe ten, but whatever."

"You miss your boss?" I asked out of curiosity.

"No way! He never cared about me! I remember nothing good about him! There's no way I will miss him ever!" he replied.

"I see," I said.

"By the way, you look troubled, kid. What's the matter?" he asked.

"Oh, so you noticed it," I said, then I told him about the pet show.

"I see. Okay, I will be your pet then," he said.

"Huh? Are my ears playing tricks to me?" I said, not believing what I had just heard.

"No, kid. I mean it," he said. "But only for that one day. After that, it's all over."

"Thanks! You have my gratitude!" I said. "But, what will you do there?"

"It doesn't matter, right? The show is only for fun anyway," he answered.

"Yeah, but we can't come with nothing at all to show," I said. "Do you have any special thing you can do?"

"Hmm..." he said, thinking. "I think I know something."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Just wait and see, kid. But don't expect much," he said, starting to fly away out of the window he had entered. "See you tomorrow!"

"Okay, I'll be waiting!" I shouted at him from the window.

After he had gone away, I continued my work and later I finished the new device. It was not really a new device, though. What I had just done was modifying my watch so it could function as a flashlight as well. After trying it for a while in my house, I decided to call it a day for making devices and went out to walk around. My first visit was Raspberry's house, and when I arrived she was playing ball on her own. Without noticing me coming, she kicked the ball high upwards and then she jumped to attempt an overhead kick. However, her kick didn't hit the ball perfectly, resulting the ball flying slowly towards me. I caught the ball easily as she landed on the ground.

"Nice try, Raspberry," I said, approaching her.

"Oh, hi Blackberry," she greeted. "No, it's not nice. I missed."

"I won't be able to do something like that. It's a nice try if you ask me," I complimented.

"Don't flatter me. I know someone who can do much better," she said. "She can jump on a fence, do the same thing as I just did, and land on the same fence."

"Wow, who is this amazing one?" I asked, wondering.

"Orange Blossom," she replied, which was quite surprising for me. "Oh, and she can do a handstand with one hand, on a fence."

"Okay, that's... surprising," I said. "By the way, are you coming to the Annual Yearly Nearly... wait, what was it?" I said, forgetting the event's name.

"That pet show, right? I sure will," she said. "I will come with my Rhubarb."

"What will your raccoon do there if I may ask?" I asked.

"Just wait and see," she replied.

Later, I visited some other friends and their answers were pretty much the same with Raspberry. I could feel that the pet show would be much merrier because the amount of participants would be much more than the year before. I hoped that Raven would do something at least good enough not to lose shamefully.

At the next day, everybody were gathered at the center outfield of Strawberryland. The stage of the pet show had been prepared similar to the previous year, and every pet owner were sitting on the audience seats in excitement for the pet show to begin. I was among them, sitting between Peppermint and Apricot. Raven was still yet to come, making me anxious. A few minutes later, Honey Pie Pony came out to the stage.

"Ladies and gentlekids, welcome to the second ever Annual Nearly Twice A Yearly Strawberryland Pet Show! I'm Honey Pie Pony who will be the judge. And because I will be the judge..." she announced, which kept going without anyone listening much.

"Last year I just stopped her long speech, but I guess I will let it by this time," Peppermint whispered to me.

"Is this a pet show, or an oration?" Apricot whispered to me.

"...and then, how should I continue? Hmm..." Honey Pie Pony asked herself.

"If I may suggest, why don't you continue by starting the show?" a voice said from above the stage. Everyone looked towards the stage's top and realized that it was Raven.

"My oh my, isn't it our friend Raven? It's been berry berry long, am I right?" Ginger said.

"Indeed quite long, kid. Anyway, I want to ask if I'm allowed to... participate," he said.

"Why not? The more the berry merrier!" Strawberry said.

"But who's gonna be the owner?" Angel asked. "I mean, this is a pet show. There must be an owner for every pet."

"I came here for that kid, so he will be the one," Raven said, looking at me. He then flew to the back of the stage.

"Well, it looks like we have a new participant. Can someone handle the registration, or we don't need any? Anyway, let's start with Custard and Pupcake!" Honey Pie Pony announced and moved aside. Soon, Strawberry's two pets came out to the stage and performed what seemed like a folk dance, which seemed quite weird to me. But because everyone applauded when they finished I followed what the crowd was doing. Later, other pets also performed on stage.

Vanilla Icing played a trumpet.

Marmalade played a harp.

Chocolate Chipmunk moved around the stage riding a monocycle.

Shoofly Frog jumped through obstacles which had been put around the stage for his performance.

Cola performed a hide and seek game for the audiences. They were told to try to find him several times while he was hiding disguised in the background of the stage.

Cheesecake were given math questions randomly asked by the audiences, and he gave the right answer for each question by writing on a whiteboard.

Triple Ripple sang with rhytm, similar to how people do a beatboxing.

Rhubarb Raccoon performed similar to Chocolate Chipmunk, although the monocycle was replaced by a beach ball.

Sourball Skunk got nervous on stage that she accidentally let her nature as a skunk manifested, causing some pets to faint. Even some kids almost fainted because of the stench. Luckily, Ginger had a device she had named The Amazing Odor Removing Machine, which she immediately took from her house and used to clear the air from the stench.

Hopsalot Bunny and Apple Ducklin' didn't perform much other than moving around the stage.

As the pets performed their part, I got more and more anxious because Raven's turn were getting closer and closer. Although I knew that the pet show was all just for fun, I could feel that deep down in my heart I wanted to win. I really hoped that Raven would perform something impressive, but remembering his last sentence at the previous day made me feel pessimistic.

"Alright then, now we are on to the last contestant. The one and only, Raven the crow!" Honey Pie Pony announced, and then she moved aside. Raven then came out to the stage.

"Hi, kids!" Raven shouted.

"Hi, Raven!" everyone greeted back.

"Do you like stories?" he asked.

"Yes, Raven!" everyone answered.

"Good, then I will tell you a story," he said, clearing his throat. "Once upon a time, there was a pirate captain. People called him Captain Cocoberry, and he was feared by everyone!"

"Everyone?" Lemon asked.

"Yes, everyone and everywhere. On oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, swamps, even water puddles!" he said, and everyone laughed.

"He's funny!" Peppermint commented, still giggling.

"One day, while he was walking to get onboard his ship, he tripped off and fell into the water," Raven said while acting to fall down. Everyone laughed. " ''HELP! I can't swim! Someone throw a life ring!'' he yelled in panic," Raven continued, acting like a drowning person, and everyone laughed.

"A pirate captain... can't swim? Yeah right," Peppermint said, still giggling.

" ``We don't have life rings! Do you want a swimsuit?'' one sailor asked," Raven said, and everyone laughed again. The story kept going for the next few minutes with unstoppable laughing from all audiences. I hadn't ever realized that Raven was such a good story teller, especially when it came to funny stories like the one he had just told.

After Raven had done telling, everyone were given a piece of paper and pencil. Each was instructed to secretly vote on two pets that were not his/her own pet. I personally liked Cola's performance the best so I voted on him, followed by Cheesecake's performance. After everyone had done voting, Honey Pie Pony started counting secretly behind the stage. Everyone waited in excitement, except me who was waiting in anxiety. Later Honey Pie Pony came out to the stage and began speaking.

"Alright then. Now that the counting is finished, it is time to announce the winner!" she announced. "The winner is..."

There was a silence for the next seconds which felt like forever to me. Everyone waited in excitement while I could feel my heartbeat increasing. I really expected to hear Raven's name coming out from Honey Pie Pony's mouth.

"Cola Chameleon with his Hide And Seek game!" she announced. Everyone then applauded on Peppermint, gave her a handshake, and some even hugged her. However, I sat still like a statue because the fact that I hadn't won had shocked me like a huge lightning bolt.

"Thanks, everyone. And I can assure you all that this time I didn't cheat," Peppermint said.

"Then, at the second place..." Honey Pie Pony announced. "Cheesecake with his mathematic performance!"

Everyone then did the same to Blueberry as what they had done to Peppermint. The announcement felt like a second lightning bolt to me, and I still didn't move at all from my place.

"Finally, the third place..." Honey Pie Pony announced. "Kinda unbelievable, but it's Sourball Skunk! With her... unforgettable performance if I might say,"

Lemon then received the same patronage from everyone, while I still didn't move at all from my place. I couldn't believe how making a stinky air pollution could be better than a good story telling everyone had loved. I tried to convince myself that it didn't matter because the event was all just for fun, but my inner heart still refused to accept.

"Here is the list of votes!" Honey Pie Pony announced, and then Cheesecake put a piece of paper on the stage's wall. Some of the kids, including me, went to the piece of paper to see who got how many votes.

Custard and Pupcake: 1

Vanilla Icing: 1

Marmalade: 0

Chocolate Chipmunk: 2

Shoofly Frog: 1

Cola Chameleon: 6

Cheesecake: 5

Tripple Ripple Toucan: 1

Sourball Skunk: 4

Rhubarb Raccoon: 2

Hopsalot Bunny: 0

Apple Ducklin': 0

Raven The Crow: 3

"Congratulations for the winner, and for those who didn't win, better luck next time!" Honey Pie Pony announced.

"Fourth place..." I said.

"Like I said, kid. Don't expect much," Raven said.

"It's fine. Thanks for your help," I said, even though my inner heart said otherwise. And so, the day ended with me trying to hide my sorrows.



One week later, Strawberry came to my house again. This time she told me about another event named Nearly Once A Yearly Strawberryland Games. I knew some things about the event because I watched the event the year before with Eagle Eye. Like the pet show, the games didn't run smoothly because of Peppermint's cheating on all games.

"Strawberry, you know better than me that I'm not into sports," I said. "I will just lose in every games."

"It doesn't matter who wins or who loses. It's all about going out there and putting your heart into it. That's the really fun part!" she said.

"Well, to be honest... it matters for me," I said, lowering my head and leaning on the tree of my house.

"Why?" she asked.

"I don't know why, but it seems I have a hard time trying to be a good sport," I said. "No matter how hard I try, something from the inside wants me to win."

"That's why you should come," she said. "You can try again, and you will become one eventually."

"Are you sure? It's easier said than done for me," I said.

"Berry sure!" she said.

"You sure have confidence. Okay, I'll come and see what will happen there," I said.

"Great! See you tomorrow, then!" she said, and she left the place.

After she had left, I thought about what would happen on the next day. I could imagine myself facing humiliations for losing every single game, and once again my inner heart told me to do something to win. I didn't know why I had done what I did next, but it really happened. I made a badge-shaped device I named Superiority. The shape of the badge was like a thunder, and whenever I wore the badge it would stimulate my body, resulting an increase in my physical abilities. After making it, I doubted on using it because I would be just the same like Peppermint in the previous year if I did.

At the next day, I came to the center outfield where the event would be held, already wearing Superiority on my shirt. When I arrived most of every other kids were already there, and with their pets as well. I joined the crowd and waited for the event to start.

Shortly after, everyone have arrived so it was time to start the event. Once again, Honey Pie Pony was the judge but she didn't begin with a long speech like in the pet show. Instead, she immediately began the event after a short speech. The first game was a skateboard race, and because there were twelve contestants the game was divided into two waves, and then two winners from each wave would compete in the third wave. I got the second wave so I watched the first wave first. The participants in the first wave were Strawberry, Huck, Orange, Apricot, Blueberry, and Lemon.

"On your mark, get set... and go!" Honey Pie Pony shouted, and the race began.

"Who do you think will win?" I asked Raspberry.

"If you ask me, I bet Huck will be the first," she answered. "But I'm not sure about the second. Probably either Orange or Strawberry."

Raspberry was right. Huck left the other racers far ahead while Strawberry and Orange followed with the former slightly ahead of the latter. The rest fell behind by a lot of distance. Later Huck came out as the winner while Strawberry came out as the runner up. Orange was behind her by only a split second.

"Nice one, Huck!" I said as he came back to the crowd.

"Thanks! By the way, I haven't seen that badge before," he said, looking at Superiority.

"Oh, this is just something to lift my spirit up," I lied.

Soon, the second wave began with me having to race against Raspberry, Ginger, Angel, Rainbow, and Peppermint. I doubted, but in the end I decided to keep wearing Superiority. In my thinking even with the badge on I would still lose because I didn't know how to skate, so with it on at least I would not lose shamefully.

"On your mark, get set... and go!" Honey Pie Pony shouted, and the second wave began.

Superiority turned out to be quite better than I had thought. I could skate on the track with relative ease, and I soon got in the third position with Raspberry quite far ahead and Rainbow right in front of me. Peppermint was close behind and the rest fell behind quite far. Later Raspberry came out as the winner while I crossed the finish line side-by-side with Rainbow. There was a small debate on who got the second place.

"Well, who got the second place?" I asked.

"Well, I don't really know," Rainbow replied. "But I think it was you."

"No, I think it was you, Rainbow," I said.

"Nah, it was you, matey," she said.

"You," I said.

"No, you!" she said.

"Alright, alright. Debate's over!" Honey Pie Pony interrupted. "As the judge, I decide that..." she continued, pausing for a moment. "Both of you got the second place, so all of you will be on the third wave."

Later, the third wave had five contestants. I knew that there was no way for me to win even with Superiority because of the presence of two tough opponents, so I decided to keep wearing it and see how far I could get.

"On your mark, get set... and go!" Honey Pie Pony shouted, and the third wave began.

It was just as I had thought. Huck was far ahead with Raspberry and Strawberry following behind him. Rainbow and I fell behind quite far away, but something I hadn't been expecting happened. Raspberry and Strawberry tried to overtake Huck, but all three of them bumped to each other. As the result, Huck and Raspberry fell off from the course while Strawberry got slowed down significantly. Both I and Rainbow noticed the chance so we overtook Strawberry and once again the race between us happened. I completely forgot that I was actually cheating and gave eveything I got. I didn't look anywhere else other than front. Right before crossing the finish line I suddenly lost my balance and fell down to the ground, seeing Rainbow to overtake me. I didn't realize what had happened when I stood up, but I saw that everybody were cheering over me.

"Huh? What happened?" I asked.

"You won, that's what," Peppermint said.

"Huh? Wasn't it Rainbow?" I asked again. "I fell down, right?"

"You fell down right on the finish line, just a split second before Rainbow crossed it," Honey Pie Pony said. "And that qualified you as the winner."

"Really? It's kinda... unbelievable for me," I said, not believing.

"Yeah, you got the first place! Congratulations!" Strawberry said. I was very happy for a moment, but then I realized something.

"Thanks, everyone. But, I have to say this..." I said, lowering my head and pausing for a moment. "I don't deserve to win."

"Huh? Why not?" Angel asked.

"This badge," I said, pointing at Superiority. "It's not just for lifting my spirit up like I had said. It actually increases my abilities. I cheated..."

"What? Why did you do that?" Raspberry asked. Everyone else also seemed surprised.

"I can't do any games, I feared that I would lose shamefully in every games. So I made this just so at least I wouldn't look like a fool," I said. "But I ended up winning because of this, and that didn't feel right," I continued. There was a silence for the next few seconds. Then we heard Honey Pie Pony clearing her throat.

"Okay, according to the rulebook page 235 paragraph 4, stimulants in any kind of form are not allowed. So, as the judge I have no other choice than disqu..." she said before interrupted.

"Hold on a second!" Huck said, coming to me. "May I try that badge?"

"Huh? Well, okay..." I said, taking Superiority off from my shirt and giving it to Huck. He then put it on his vest and tried skating around. Then he attempted a few stunts on it and did them all successfully. After that, he came back to the crowd.

"Nice moves, Huck!" Orange said.

"Yeah, totally cool!" Ginger said.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Apricot said.

"Was it because of the badge?" Raspberry asked.

"Hmm, I don't think so. I usually can do those by myself, and I didn't feel any change," Huck said, taking Superiority from his vest. "I don't think this badge works if you ask me. Someone else wants to try?" He offered.

"I will," Lemon said, taking Superiority and putting it on her clothes. Then she attempted some skating moves and failed in every attempt. She then returned to the crowd. "I didn't feel any change at all."

"Hold on, stand out, let me see!" Ginger said, taking Superiority from Lemon's hand and observed it. "There it is. This is why, am I right?"

"What is it?" Strawberry asked.

"You see, this badge has a tiny little switch to turn it on and off. And now its position is off, am I right?" Ginger said.

"Oh, you're berry right!" Strawberry said, noticing the switch on the back side of the badge.

"So I have forgotten to turn it on all this time?" I said. "And that means..."

"That means you won by yourself, fair and square," Raspberry said. "Congratulations!" she continued, and everyone else applauded me as well.

"Okay, now shall we begin the next game?" Honey Pie Pony asked.

"Yes, of course," I said, putting Superiority back on my shirt without touching the switch. "This will always be my spirit lifter," I continued, and then once again the fun wonderful time began.

I still wondered though. Had I really forgotten to turn it on...? While still wondering about that, I looked at Huck and he gave me a wink.

--End of Chapter 28--

Quote:Chapter 27: The Untold Legend of The Lost Treasure


As the five mermaids left the sea serpent and her group, a shadowy creature secretly watched them from high above. Nobody seemed to realize the presence of the creature as it slowly descended down to the latter group.

"I should have realized it from the beginning..." the creature said with low voice. It continued to come closer to the group, and the sea serpent turned her head.

"Oh, you! No, don't come here! Please don't!" the serpent said with fear. The fishes around her also became afraid that all of them ran away leaving her alone.

"You know what you will get for getting in the way of my ambition..." the creature said, coming closer to the serpent.

"NO...!!!" the serpent screamed in agony, but there was nobody to hear it.

At a quite far distance, the group of five mermaids were swimming together in joy of having successfully reunited as friends they had been before. Because the day almost ended, they intended to go back to their homes and sleep. However, suddenly Strawberry stopped and looked back.

"What't the matter, Strawberry?" Coco asked.

"I don't know. I felt like I heard a scream," Strawberry replied.

"I didn't hear anything," Rainbow said.

"Me too," Seaberry said.

"Absoloo-tely nothing at all," Blueberry said.

"Maybe you just imagined it?" Coco said.

"Yeah, maybe it was just my imagination..." Strawberry said.

The group then continued to swim, but that didn't last long because suddenly a big red fish they recognized as one of the sea serpent's underlings came to their front and stopped them. Its face showed great fear.

"What happened?" Seaberry asked the fish, then the fish replied in a language only she could understood. After hearing those, Seaberry got surprised and started to leak tears as the fish left the group.

"What did he say?" Strawberry said.

"No... That can't be..." Seaberry said, lowering her head.

"What happened?" Coco asked.

"Something really bad?" Rainbow asked.

"We won't know if you don't tell us," Blueberry said.

"The sea serpent..." Seaberry said, pausing for a moment. "She died..."

"What?! How could that happened?" Coco asked in surprise as the rest became as surprised as her.

"Not long after we left her, she got attacked by a sea gorgon," Seaberry replied.

"Sea gorgon?" Strawberry asked.

"I thought sea gorgon is just a legend," Blueberry said.

"You know about it?" Coco asked.

"Yeah, a sea gorgon is a horrible creature. It looks just like us mermaids, but the lower part of the body is more like a snake. Snakes cover its head like hair, and any creature who look at its eyes will become stone," Blueberry replied.

"How horrible..." Coco said.

"Let's go back and help," Strawberry said.

"No! We have no chance at all against a horrible creature like that!" Rainbow said.

"Yeah, and he told us those because he didn't want us to come back there only to run into trouble!" Seaberry said.

"We can try to do something or go home and wait until the sea gorgon come into our home. What's your choice?" Strawberry said.

The last sentence Strawberry had said seemed to struck the other mermaids right into their heart. They fell into complete silence for a few moments until Rainbow spoke out.

"You're right, Strawberry. Let's go back there," Rainbow said.

"Yeah, count me in too," Coco said. Blueberry and Seaberry stayed in silence.

"How about the others?" Strawberry asked, looking at the two.

"Well..." Blueberry said, pausing for a moment. "I'd like to see a living legend for once. I'll go with you."

"I..." Seaberry said, pausing briefly. "I'll go too. You were right, Strawberry."

After everything had been settled, the five mermaids went back to the place where they had left the sea serpent. Once they arrived there, they saw a shattered stone statue of the sea serpent on open field. The face part of the statue showed a sign of great fear.

"No... Why should this happen to you...?" Strawberry said, leaking tears.

"Blueberry, do you know any way to get her back?" Coco asked.

"Well..." Blueberry replied, pausing briefly. "The only way to dispel it is by killing the sea gorgon. However, the statue has been destroyed so it will be of no use..."

"Indeed..." suddenly a heavy voice said from behind the mermaids. "Killing me is the only way to dispel my stone gaze, but that will never happen!" the voice continued, followed by an evil laughter.

"Oh no! Run away and don't look back!" Blueberry shouted, and all the mermaids did what she had told them. However, some snakes from the sea gorgon's hair quickly elongated and bound the tail of all the mermaids. Then they were dragged closer to the sea gorgon. They covered their eyes with their hands to prevent themselves from being turned into stone, but they knew that the situation was hopeless.

"Relax, little mermaids. I won't turn you into stone just yet," the sea gorgon said.

"What do you want from us?" Coco asked, still covering her eyes.

"The Lost Treasure. That's what I want," the sea gorgon answered. "By the way, can't you just look at me?! You all are covering your eyes and I take that as an insult!"

"But we will turn into stone if we don't do this," Rainbow said, still covering her eyes.

"Heh, that will happen only if I use my stone gaze, which I don't right now. Now open your eyes and see me! Or, would you rather being eaten by my snakes instead?" the sea gorgon threatened.

All mermaids took the message and slowly opened their eyes. Then they looked towards the sea gorgon. The size of the sea gorgon was quite larger than the sea serpent, and indeed its traits followed the description Blueberry had said. They looked at the sea gorgon's face, which was like a beautiful lady. But the beauty on her face was defeated by her pale blue skin, snakes on her head, and the gaze of her eyes which felt very evil. None of the mermaids were turned into stone after looking at her eyes so they knew that the sea gorgon hadn't lied about her ability.

"You said The Lost Treasure? Those sand dollar?" Blueberry asked.

"Not exactly, dear. The real Lost Treasure is more than just those silly gold coins. But indeed for now I want you all to gather those gold right here," the sea gorgon said.

"But most of them were lost in a sea quake," Seaberry said.

"I know. That's why I want you to work hard for me and gather EVERY SINGLE piece of the remaining ones!" the sea gorgon said, followed by her evil laughter.

And so, all the five mermaids were forced to gather the remaining pieces of gold coins. Some snakes from the sea gorgon's head had been separated from the sea gorgon to watch over the mermaids. As the five mermaids gathered the gold, the snakes swam around the area while occasionally gazing at the mermaids.

"Now we're back into this situation. Only that now the watchers are snakes," Blueberry said.

"And it all thanks to someone who somehow convinced us to run into this trouble," Rainbow said with upset face.

Strawberry heard what they had said, but she kept herself silent. While still gathering the gold, she kept thinking of a plan to defeat the sea gorgon. Everytime she picked up a gold coin, she saw a reflection of herself and that gave her an idea. However, she still couldn't think of a good way to pull it off so she kept silent and continued working.

The work took three days until all the remaining gold coins were gathered in front of the sea gorgon. During those three days the mermaids were only allowed for little rest, so they were quite exhausted. As the mermaids brought the treasure chest taken from the castle where the sea serpent kept her last gold, the sea gorgon waited with evil smile on her face.

"Here it is. The last of the gold," Coco said as they came close to the sea gorgon and put the chest on the pile of gold in front of her.

"Well done, my dears. Now that you have completed your work, I no longer have any need on you," the sea gorgon said, then the five watch snakes quickly bound them. Their hands were still free, but they couldn't move away from their position.

"What are you going to do to us?" Seaberry asked.

"I will just turn you into stone with my stone gaze!" the sea gorgon said. "However, I'm not someone without gratitude. I will let you see the real Lost Treasure before turning you all into stone," she continued, followed by her evil laughter.

After finishing her laughter, the sea gorgon started to concentrate with her hands put towards the pile of gold. The snakes on her head seemed to understand what she was doing, and they all gazed at the gold. There was a silence for the next few seconds, and then the gorgon's hands started to shine. The pile of gold also started to shine brighter than before. The sea gorgon then slowly lifted her hands, and then the mermaids saw that slowly the light of the gold started to separate from the coins. One minute later the golden light were completely separated from the pile of gold coins, which have lost their golden color and looked more like they were made from sand.

"This is much less than I expected, but it should be still enough," the sea gorgon said, looking at the golden light. Then, she concentrated once more and the golden light started to shrink. It kept shrinking until it finally disappeared, leaving an object behind which looked like a small crystal with gold color. The sea gorgon then took the crystal with smile of satisfaction.

"Is that the real Lost Treasure?" Blueberry asked.

"That tiny crystal?" Rainbow said.

"Indeed, my dears. This crystal contains incredible magical power. With this the world will be mine!" the sea gorgon said, followed by her evil laughter.

"We're done for..." Coco said.

"Now I will start by turning you all into stone," the sea gorgon said, looking at the five mermaids. Then she closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again. Lights came out from her eyes towards the five mermaids.

"Goodbye, dears!" she said, but at the last second each mermaid took a gold coin which she had been hiding in her dress and held it towards the sea gorgon. All of them ended up petrified along with the coin each of them held, but the coin managed to reflect some light back to the sea gorgon.

"No! Curse you, mermaids!" the sea gorgon shouted as her body slowly turned into stone. "You have ruined my ambition! That's it! I will put my final curse into all of you! You all will remain as stone forever even after I die!"

After saying those, the sea gorgon casted her magic upon the five stone statues. Right after finishing the magic, the sea gorgon screamed in agony and her body completely turned into stone. Its petrified body then fell to the side and hit a rock, resulting it being shattered into pieces. The snake which bound the statues of the mermaids disintegrated right at the same time, and then the statues fell into the ground still intact.

Not long after, a lot of fishes including the sea serpent's underlings came. After realizing what had happened, they all mourned over the mermaid statues.

After all were done mourning, it was decided that the five statues of the mermaids would be preserved on the spot as memorials. For evermore, all sea dwellers would never forget the sacrifice of the mermaids.

--The End--



After I finished reading the untold part, I began to understand why Seaberry didn't want to tell that untold part. Even though it was quite a happy ending in general, for the five main characters the ending was not happy at all because they had ended up stuck in stone forever. Not to mention that the sea serpent had died not long after reforming. I then realized that it was already over bedtime after I had finished reading the book. I then put the book into my bookshelf and went to sleep.

At the next day I decided to visit Seaberry at her house to talk a little bit about that legend. So, after having breakfast I immediately got onboard Falcon and flew it towards Seaberry Shore. Once I arrived there I switched Falcon into underwater mode and let it to slowly descend down into the water. After I was completely underwater I piloted Falcon towards the cave where Seaberry's house was located. However, on the way I noticed Seaberry feeding seaberries to sea sweeties. She also noticed me, so with my hand movements I told her about visiting her house. She seemed to understand it perfectly and began to swim towards the cave. While on the way I wondered how Seaberry could hold her breath that long, but I decided to put that aside.

Soon after, both of us arrived right inside the cave. Seaberry welcomed me warmly and then we entered the house.

"So, what happened that you came here?" she asked.

"Well, I have read the whole book," I replied. "And now I understand why you didn't want to tell the untold part."

After I had said those, there was a few seconds of silence and Seaberry lowered her head.

"Is there something wrong? I mean, it's just a... legend, right?" I asked.

"Actually, there is something more to the legend," she said.

"Huh? What is it?" I asked.

"Come with me. I will show you," she said, walking away.

I then followed Seaberry outside her house. She then walked to the stairs behind her house which I had actually been wondering about but I had forgotten to ask. Both of us then climbed the stairs for a few minutes until we reached a door at the end of the path. The door had no handle, keyhole, or such, but I noticed an insertion at its center which looked like a group of sea shells. Seaberry then took her hair ornament and put it into the insertion. The hair ornament perfectly matched the shape of the insertion, and then the door opened inwards. Seaberry then took her hair ornament back from the door.

"Come inside," she said, putting her hair ornament back on her head.

I then entered the room behind the door, which seemed not so spacious at the first sight. However, I couldn't believe what I saw next. In that room I saw statues of five mermaids put in line, and all of them looked exactly like the friends I knew. Their positions were also the same as described in the legend: holding a stone sand dollar in front.

"The... mermaids? So that means..." I said, looking at Seaberry.

"I found these statues while swimming around, and I brought them here into my storage room with the help of my fish friends. And yeah, the legend is true," Seaberry said.

I then observed all the statues of the mermaids. All of them had petrified tears on their cheeks, and I could feel their deep sorrows and frights. Looking at all those made me feel very bad about them.

"Is there any way, to get them back?" I asked.

"You know it yourself, Blackberry. The curse will stay forever and nobody can change that," she replied. I then began thinking for a while until an unsure idea came to my mind.

"The crystal," I said. "The crystal has an enormous magical power. Maybe, just maybe, it can dispel the curse."

"You mean the Lost Treasure?" Seaberry asked. "But Blackberry, that crystal has been lost for long. There's no way we can find it again."

"I know. But still..." I said, looking at the five statues. "I wish I could do anything to get them back. They didn't do anything to deserve something like this..."

As I said those, I started to leak tears. I then wiped them immediately because it felt embarassing for a boy like me to cry.

"Ah, sorry. I don't know why I became a crybaby just now," I said.

"Blackberry..." Seaberry said, pausing for a moment. "Actually, there is something that might work."

"Huh? What is it?" I asked.

Seaberry then took her hair ornament off from her head. Then, she took something from the inside of one of the sea shells. It was an oval teal stone which emitted light of the same color.

"This is Cerulean Lapis, a magical stone. Of course this is not as powerful as the Lost Treasure, but this might still be able to dispel the curse," she said.

"You have something like that? Why didn't you use it from the beginning?" I asked.

"I believe you remember about what you asked two days ago, right?" she asked back. "About my differences."

"I remember of course," I replied, then I realized something. "Hey, did you mean...?"

"Yeah, by having this stone in my hair ornament, I can see well underwater, and I even can breathe underwater," she said, lowering her head. "If I use this to free them, it probably will vanish and I will not be able to see my fish friends. I even won't be able to leave this cave..."

"Oh..." I said, running out of words. There was a silence for the next few seconds.

"But... now I realize that it was just a selfish reason. They sacrificed themselves for others, why shouldn't I sacrifice this little stone for them?" she said, looking at the Cerulean Lapis.

"seaberry..." I said, and suddenly the Cerulean Lapis shined its teal light brighter than before. It then floated away from Seaberry's hands towards the five statues.

"What happened?" I asked, moving away from the statues.

"I don't know. I have no idea," she replied.

After the Cerulean Lapis had been right in front of the five statues, it shined even brighter that our eyes were blinded by its light. We could barely see anything under the blinding light, but we still could see that it started to crack and the crack quickly spread all over the small stone. Soon, the Cerulean Lapis shattered, but the next thing we saw was a shining gold crystal revealed under the shattered stone.

"A gold crystal...?" I said. "Don't tell me it's..."

"That can't be... the Lost Treasure? I have been carrying it all this time?" Seaberry said.

While we were still wondering, the gold crystal floated closer to the five mermaids and shined even brighter to the point that we had to cover our eyes with our hands. That kept going for the next few seconds until we felt that the light had faded slightly. We then opened our eyes only to see that the five statues had disappeared while the crystal was still there. The crystal then floated out from the storage room.

"Let's follow it," I said, running towards the door. Seaberry soon followed.

Both of us followed the shining crystal all the way to the water surface where I had parked Falcon. The crystal stopped above the water surface and then it once again shined so bright that we had to cover our eyes again. Once the light slightly faded, we opened our eyes and saw the five mermaids on the water surface, de-petrified, alive, and well. The crystal then slowly floated back to Seaberry's hands and completely faded its light.

"We're... back?" mermaid Blueberry asked, looking around her body.

"It seems so," mermaid Rainbow said.

"The sea gorgon's curse has been dispelled?" mermaid Coco asked.

"So that's the power of the Lost Treasure..." mermaid Seaberry said.

"Thank you berry much for bringing us back!" mermaid Strawberry said to us.

"No, it wasn't us. It was this crystal all by itself," Seaberry replied.

"We didn't do anything at all," I said.

"But still, we are grateful to be back," mermaid Blueberry said.

"Come play with us sometime," mermaid Coco said.

"I'd be happy to," Seaberry said, pausing for a moment. "Although, I don't know if I can," she continued, looking at the crystal in her hands which had almost completely lost its light.

"Why? Is there something wrong?" mermaid Strawberry asked, then Seaberry answered by telling about how the Lost Treasure, which somehow had been disguised as Cerulean Lapis, had enabled her to see and breathe underwater.

"Now that it almost lost its power, I don't know if I can do that anymore," she ended her speech.

"Hmm..." mermaid Strawberry said, thinking for a moment. "Maybe this can work," she continued, showing a golden sand dollar she had been holding.

"Oh, a golden sand dollar! That seems worth a try," I said.

"Let's try it then," Seaberry said.

All the mermaids then gave their golden sand dollar to me. I then held the five coins close to the crystal in Seaberry's hands. At first nothing happened, but slowly I noticed that the crystal started to absorb the gold color from the coins. Soon, the gold color was completely removed from the coins leaving them to become regular sand dollar, while the crystal started to shine and float from Seaberry's hands. There was a short moment of blinding lights, and when we regained our vision we noticed that the Lost Treasure had once again become a Cerulean Lapis.

"Oh, my Cerulean Lapis!" Seaberry said in excitement. The stone then floated back into Seaberry's hands and she put it into her hair ornament. Then she jumped down into the water and came back a few seconds later. "It works! Thank you very much!"

"I'm berry happy for you," mermaid Strawbery said.

Later, the five mermaids left the place to start their new life. I was glad that all had ended well for everyone. The mermaids had been given a second life while Seaberry hadn't lost her precious magic stone. Because there was nothing more to do, I decided to go home. After saying goodbye to Seaberry, I got on Falcon and departed back to Blackberry Bushes, my home sweet home.

Although, I still felt sorry for the sea serpent who died just after reforming...

--End of Chapter 27--

Quote:Chapter 26: Prologue to The Untold


One week had passed after the friendship festival. All of the new friends had returned to their homes, and life continued without anything so special. I hadn't made any more new devices because I had no new idea, so over the one week I only walked around visiting friends from time to time. Sometimes I remembered the day one year before, when I still had no friends at all. I didn't know what I would have done without them. Thanks to them I had completely removed my inconfidence and had started to go out more. I could imagine me not being my current self if I hadn't met them.

After having lunch on that day, I decided to give Strawberry a visit because I hadn't seen her in the last four days. I walked to her house, but only to find that she was not at home. I didn't know what had happened, but I noticed that the ripe berries on her garden were all over the ground like if someone had thrown them around. Looking at the mess I decided to pick all the berries up and put them on a basket I found nearby. After I was done, I decided to visit Angel Cake so I walked to Cakewalk. Once I arrived there I knocked on the door and she opened it.

"Hello, Blackberry," she greeted. "Please come in!"

"Hi there, Angel," I greeted back. "What are you doing right now?"

"Not much," she replied.

"Same here. That's why I walked around visiting here and there," I said. "By the way, Strawberry is not home. Do you know where she might be going?"

"She went to Seaberry Shore three days ago with Rainbow," she answered. "She said Coco Calypso needed some help."

"And let me guess... she left her sister again, right?" I said.

"Well, that's not exactly right," she said. "Apple didn't want to go with her. I don't know why, though."

"Oh, really?" I remarked. "Who is taking care of Apple now?"

"Orange Blossom. Custard and Pupcake are there as well," she replied.

"Hmm... I feel like visiting them there. Do you want to come with me?" I said.

"Why not?" she replied, and the two of us walked to Orange Blossom Acres.

When we arrived there, we climbed the stairset to her house and knocked on the door. Orange opened it soon after, but she put her pointer finger in front of her lip and pointed inward. From the door we saw Apple sleeping on the sofa along with Strawberry's two pets.

"Nap time I see," I said with low voice.

"We can talk outside," Orange said, slowly closing the door from the outside.

"I just wonder why she didn't want to go with Strawberry this time. Has she said anything like that?" I asked.

"No, she has not said anything about that. But maybe it's because she has been there a few times," she answered.

"I see. Then there will be no problem," I said.

Soon after, I left the place along with Angel Cake to let the three of them to have their rest. I then separated ways with Angel Cake and went to my home. On the way I kept thinking about Seaberry Shore, especially the sea. I hadn't ever thought about going underwater before, and I was sure the sea had many wonderful things to see. With that in mind, I decided to modify Falcon's engine so it would be able to run underwater like a submarine as well. Once I arrived home I put the thoughts into realization over the next four hours. As the result, Falcon could then run underwater although the speed would be very slow while underwater. The modification also reduced its flight speed by around one quarter, but it didn't really matter for me.

After the work was done, I immediately piloted Falcon towards Seaberry Shore. On the way I thought of visiting Coco Calypso first before going under the sea, so I decided to land near her house first. Once I arrived I noticed Rainbow Sherbet's boat docked near one field of sand, and then I landed on that field of sand. I got off and walked towards Coco's house, then I knocked on the door but there was no answer. I then thought that they could be at the beach, so I walked there. However, when I got close to a large stone, I heard something from behind it.

"Where are you two going?" a voice I recognized as Coco asked.

"Just a little something we need to do," a voice I recognized as Blueberry said.

"Together," a voice I recognized as Rainbow said. Then there was a silence for a few seconds.

"Seaberry, the legend didn't end there, right?" a voice I recognized as Strawberry said.

"Heh, yeah. It was actually just the beginning of something horrible which happened next," a voice I had never heard before replied. "I wish I didn't know about that part..."

"How did you know, Strawberry?" Coco asked.

"The way Seaberry told us the legend," Strawberry replied. "It seemed that she was hiding something. But let's not mind about that."

"Yeah, some things are better left unknown," Seaberry said.

"Let's join our friends," Coco said, then I heard footsteps fading away.

I then walked to follow the footsteps towards the beach, and once I arrived at the beach I saw five girls in swimsuits on a distance. I could recognize four of them as my friends, but I had never seen the last one. I then thought that she must have been who they had called Seaberry. I then decided to wait near Coco's house until they returned, so I walked back.

Around half an hour later, while sitting on a rock, from a distance I noticed the girls returning from the beach, and they were already in their regular outfit. They seemed to notice me because they waved their hands to me.

"Hi, Blackberry! When did you come here?" Strawberry shouted.

"Not long ago!" I replied, approaching them.

"Too bad. If you have come earlier you would have heard Seaberry's story," Coco said.

"Yeah, it was absoloo-tely the best story I have ever heard!" Blueberry said.

"It's fine. By the way, I see someone I don't know yet here," I said, looking at the new girl.

"I'm Seaberry Delight. Nice to meet you," she said.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm Blackberry Bun," I said.

"By the way, Blackberry. We are leaving for home now. I'm berry sorry that we cannot stay here for longer," Strawberry said. "I wish we could, but I'm starting to worry about Custard, Pupcake, and Apple Dumplin'"

"And I'm now absoloo-tely worried about Cheesecake," Blueberry said.

"I see. I guess I will stay for a little while longer. That is, if nobody minds," I said.

"Why should I? You can stay as long as you like!" Coco said.

Later, Strawberry along with Blueberry and Rainbow left Seaberry Shore. The sun was already setting so there was no point in going under the sea because there would be nothing to see because of the darkness. I, with Coco and Seaberry, then had dinner of seaberry treats while Seaberry repeated the story she had told to the others for me. Indeed she told me the story in a way that she seemed to be hiding something.

"Thanks for repeating the story for me, Seaberry. It is really a nice story," I said after she finished. It was already dark by then.

"It's not a problem," she replied. "Oh, I think it's time for me to go home."

"Where do you live?" I asked.

"Under the sea. You have to swim if you want to visit my house," she said.

"Under the sea...? I kinda don't get it," I said, wondering.

"There's a cave which leads to my house under the sea," she replied.

"Oh, okay. Now I understand. But... can you see clearly underwater? Especially in this darkness?" I asked.

"Everyone can, right?" she asked back.

"No, I can't see well underwater, let alone without sunlight," I replied.

"I can't too. You're the only one who can I think," Coco said.

"Oh..." she said, lowering her head. "So I'm the only one... different?"

"Ah, never mind that. Different or not, we are and will always be friends," I said, which seemed to cheer her up again.

"That's right, Seaberry. We'll always be friends no matter what," Coco said.

"Thanks," Seaberry said. "I guess I will take my leave now. See you tomorrow."

"Could you come again tomorrow? I'd like to visit your house tomorrow," I said.

"Even if you didn't ask, I sure will," she replied, and then she left the place swimming.

That night, I stayed in Coco's house. Because she didn't have any extra bed I my only option was to sleep on her sofa like the last time I had been there. Even though of that, the bamboo sofa felt comfortable. At the next day, Seaberry came as promised and then the three of us agreed to go to her house together.

"But... how to get there?" Coco asked. "I can't see much underwater."

"You remember my flying car, don't you Coco?" I said. "It now can dive underwater as well, so we can use it to get there."

"Oh, that's really good to hear! Where is it?" Coco asked, and then I took Falcon's remote from my pocket and pressed one button to reveal it from its invisibility.

"Right there. Let's go in," I said, walking towards Falcon. The two girls followed me as well.

After all of us had gotten onboard and put the seatbelts on, I piloted Falcon to fly over the sea for a few distances away from the beach. After that I slowly landed on the water surface and switched it to underwater mode.

"This is the first time I go underwater. Is it going to be safe?" Coco asked.

"It will be. Just relax and enjoy the ride," I replied.

"Okay if you say so," she said.

I then piloted Falcon to dive underwater, and it slowly sank into the sea. The next thing we saw was the beautiful underwater scenery of corals, many kinds of plants, and animals. The thing that attracted me the most was a group of fishes which looked very cute and beautiful.

"Those fishes are very beautiful," I said.

"Yeah, they are so cute," Coco said.

"Those are the sea sweeties I have told you about," Seaberry said.

"I see. So, where's your house?" I asked.

"Let's see..." she replied, looking around. "Ah, it's there, on the right. See that cave?"

"Ah, okay. Let's go there," I said, piloting Falcon towards the cave Seaberry had just mentioned.

"Is the cave large enough for this car to enter?" Coco asked, looking at how small the cave entrance was.

"We won't know until we try," I said, attempting to enter the cave.

Squeezing through the cave was apparently not as difficult as I had thought. Soon after, Falcon resurfaced from the water and a house with the shape of a giant seashell was the first thing we saw.

"That's your house?" I asked.

"I have never said it wasn't," Seaberry replied.

"What a beautiful house," Coco commented.

"Thanks," Seaberry said.

The three of us then got off from Falcon and walked to the house. At the inside, we saw that all the furniture there was made from seashells. The space inside was not that large, but it was comfortable enough for all of us.

"Your house sure is nice," Coco said as we all sat down on the chairs in Seaberry's living room.

"Thanks. Would you like something to drink?" Seaberry offered.

"No, thanks. I will save it for later," I kindly refused.

"Me too," Coco added.

"Okay then, now that we are all here, what are we going to do?" Seaberry asked.

"Well, you see, that legend..." I said a little bit timidly. "It doesn't end there, right?"

"Oh, you realized it too..." she said.

"Yeah, and now I want to know the missing part," I said.

"Well, I actually don't want to tell anyone else about that part," she said, lowering her head.

"Oh, too bad..." I said. I didn't insist because I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"But, if you really want to know it, I can show you," she said, which surprised me a bit.

"You said show?" I asked.

"Wait a moment," she said, standing up. She then left us and came back a few minutes later bringing a book.

"What is this book?" I asked.

"This book is the one which told me about the legend, and the untold part as well," she said, giving it to me. "You can have it."

"For me? Really?" I asked.

"I have done reading it, so it's better to give it to someone else rather than having it to collect dust," she said.

"Thank you very much," I said.

The next few hours were spent talking together and then enjoying underwater sceneries with Falcon. After we were done, with proper goodbye I left Coco and Seaberry at Coco's house. It only took a few minutes until I arrived at my house again. Once I got in my bedroom I immediately started reading the book Seaberry had given to me. I quickly read through the parts I had already known from Seaberry, and then I got to the untold part...

--End of Chapter 26--

Quote:Chapter 25: A Festival of Friends


We arrived at Strawberryland 30 minutes later without any trouble. I then piloted Blackbird towards my home and landed smoothly there. Once all of us got off, I put it into invisibility like usual.

"We're home again at last," I said.

"Thanks for the trip, Blackberry," Blueberry said.

"Apple Dumplin' happy," Apple said.

"By the way, do you know when Strawberry might arrive here?" Blueberry asked.

"Well..." I said, pausing to think. "Around midnight maybe."

"Midnight? Are you sure?" she asked again.

"Not really, but even if I made a mistake it shouldn't be too far," I replied.

"That's absoloo-tely not a good time to arrive," she said.

"Yeah, she might fall asleep and forget to land," I said.

"We should tell this to other friends," she said. "Let's gather them all in the clubhouse."

"Okay. Let's use Falcon then," I said, taking Falcon's remote from my backpack.

The next thing we did was going to each house of other friends and taking them to the clubhouse. Everything took around half an hour until every single kid in Strawberryland were gathered in the clubhouse.

"All right. Now that everyone's here, what's the matter?" Raspberry asked when I arrived at the clubhouse with Apricot.

"Yeah, what are you gonna tell us?" Angel asked.

"Hmph, I bet it'll be just a waste of time," Peppermint said.

"Okay," Blueberry said, clearing her throat. "Everyone, we all know that Strawberry is away to Pearis, right?"

"Yeah," Orange said.

"Something happened to her?" Huck asked.

"She's on her way back here now," Blueberry said. "But Blackberry noticed something bad."

"Huh? What is it? Is there a wind coming to blow her balloon away? Or a storm going to flip it over? What is it, huh Blackberry Bun?" Ginger asked.

"It's not that bad. It's just that..." I said, pausing for a brief moment. "Her arrival here will be around midnight."

"It will?" Lemon asked.

"Wait! That's it?" Apricot asked.

"Are you asking us to prepare a welcome back party?" Peppermint asked. "In... midnight? Yeah, right."

"We can't do that. Midnight is over bedtime," Orange said, then she seemed to realize something. "Oh! Now I understand!"

"I just realized it too, matey," Rainbow said. "She might fall asleep on her balloon."

"Yes, and then there will be absoloo-tely nobody to land the balloon," Blueberry said.

"What we're gonna do?" Angel asked, seeming worried.

"Apple worry," Apple said.

"We are all worried, Apple. You're not alone," I said.

"I'm thinking of having all of us watching for her in turn tonight," Blueberry said.

"We all? How?" Lemon asked.

"Let's see..." I said, thinking. "There are... twelve of us, right?"

"Yeah, I think," Huck said, looking around and counting. Almost everybody else did the same.

"We'll split into three groups of four," I said.

"Huh? For what?" Raspberry asked.

"Yeah, what we're gonna do with three groups?" Angel asked.

"I remember three places where we can have a good view over Strawberryland. We will put one group on each place," I said.

"Where are the places?" Orange asked.

"The tower of this clubhouse, Huck's fort, and the rooftop of my house," I replied.

"Sounds worth a try," Peppermint said.

"Let's get going then! What are you waiting for, huh everyone?" Ginger said.

"Yeah, that will be cool," Apricot said

After everything were settled, each group went to the place it was assigned on. The three kids who were with me to watch on my rooftop were Orange, Peppermint, and Rainbow. When the four of us arrived at my house, the sky was starting to get dark.

"Okay, now who's first to watch?" I asked. "The others should get some sleep now."

"Hmph. I will, but first you have to show us the way to your rooftop," Peppermint said.

"Oh, okay. Come here," I replied, walking towards one switch on the wall. "This is the switch you have to use to go to the rooftop,"

I then pressed the switch, resulting a ladder to come down from the ceiling. Then I climbed it and opened the trapdoor at its end. The three girls followed me after that, and soon the four of us were on the rooftop of my house.

"What a beautiful view!" Orange said.

"Hey! I can see my boat!" Rainbow said, pointing to Punch Bowl Pond.

"I can see the clubhouse from here," Peppermint said, looking towards a direction.

"Okay, now that it's settled, let's get some sleep," I said.

So, I along with Orange and Rainbow went to sleep on one sofa in the living room of my house while Peppermint stayed on the rooftop to watch for Strawberry's balloon. I didn't know how well the other groups were doing, especially the group with Apple because I knew Apple wouldn't be able to stay awake so that group pretty much only had three people, but I really hoped they were doing well.

Peppermint walked around my rooftop, occasionally using the binoculars I had left there. She didn't know how much time had passed during her turn, but she felt like she had been there for hours.

"Heh, the things you do for your friends," she mumbled in anxiety, still walking back and forth on my rooftop. She kept doing that for a while until later she came down to wake Rainbow up and switch with her.

"Rise and shine, kid!" she said, shaking Rainbow's shoulder.

"Huh...? Aye Aye, Captain," Rainbow replied, slowly getting up.

"You better do it right!" Peppermint said, and then she went to sleep on the part of the sofa where Rainbow had slept.

Rainbow then went up to the rooftop with drowsy eyes, leaving the rest of us sleeping on the sofa. It turned out that Peppermint couldn't stay still in her sleep because she kicked me several times, waking me up. In the end she fell to my side, forcing me to get away from the sofa. I couldn't sleep again after that, so I decided to switch with the one on the rooftop. I climbed the ladder to the rooftop, only to find Rainbow asleep there.

"Hey, Rainbow," I said, shaking her a little. She slowly woke up.

"Uh... Oh, I fell asleep? Sorry..." she said.

"Go back to sleep. I'll take it from here," I said.

"Oh, okay..." she said, yawning and walking to the trapdoor.

Once she was gone, I watched around for a while, occasionally using the binoculars. It only took a few minutes until drowsiness attacked, and I couldn't help sitting on the rooftop. In another few minutes I lied down and finally succumbed to the drowsiness.

"Hey, wake up you lazy bum!" A voice woke me up, and I recognized it as Peppermint's voice.

"You fell asleep too, matey?" Rainbow said.

"I didn't even get to watch," Orange said.

I slowly woke up, realizing that the sky was already bright. I had missed my watch, and that could mean bad things to Strawberry.

"Oh my, we better check on other groups and hope they did fine," I said.

"I don't think they did if you ask me," Peppermint said.

We then quickly went to Huck's fort, the closest of the two other places. When we arrived there, it turned out that Peppermint's thought was true. All four kids who had been placed there, to be exact Huck, Ginger, Angel, and Raspberry, were fast asleep.

"Hey, wake up, lazy bums!" Peppermint shouted, which woke them up in surprise.

"Huh? What?! What happened?" Huck asked.

"Yeah, what happened?" Angel asked.

"Come on, you all! Did you forget what you were doing last night?" Peppermint asked in upset tone.

"Yeah I remember of course. we are supposed to watch over Strawberry's balloon, am I right?" Ginger said. "But hey, I didn't get to watch at all. Nope, not ever did. Someone fell asleep, am I right again?"

"I watched for her last night, and then I switched with... Angel Cake," Raspberry said, then everybody else looked towards Angel Cake, who seemed to be timid at that time.

"Umm... Yeah... I fell asleep again after Raspberry woke me up... I'm sorry," she said, looking down.

"What's done is done. Our group fell asleep too, and I take all the blame," I said. "Let's go to the last group and hope they did well."

The eight of us then quickly went to the clubhouse. The situation there was not any better, because we saw Blueberry, Apple, and Lemon being fast asleep in the clubhouse's bedroom. I also found Apricot being fast asleep on the tower. After waking them up, we all gathered in the main room.

"So, none of the groups made it?" Blueberry asked.

"Seems so," I said.

"Apple worry," Apple said.

"What we're gonna do now?" Angel asked.

All of us fell into a silence, having no idea about what to do, when suddenly something happened.

"Hi, everyone! I'm back!" a voice we all recognized as Strawberry greeted loudly. We looked upon the front door, and indeed it was Strawberry who came. She was still wearing the new outfit I had seen briefly at the previous day.

"My, oh my! It's our friend Strawberry Shortcake! How was your trip, huh Strawberry Shortcake? And how did you get this nice dress, huh Strawberry Shortcake?" Ginger asked.

"Yeah, Strawberry. How did you get that?" Angel asked, seeming relieved.

"Crepes Suzette made this for me! Isn't this berry nice?" Strawberry said.

"Yeah, it sure is," Angel said.

"Oh, and it's berry rare to see everyone here together. Is there a party here?" Strawberry asked. Nobody answered so there was a brief silence.

"Umm, yeah. There is," Peppermint said suddenly.

"Really? What party is it?" Strawberry asked.

"What else? A welcome back party for you!" Peppermint replied, which surprised Strawberry and everyone else quite a bit.

"Yeah... That's... right," Raspberry said.

"It is?" Lemon asked right before Raspberry quickly handgagged her mouth.

"Welcome back, Strawberry," I said.

"Oh, that's berry nice of you all. Thank you berry much, everyone!" Strawberry said.

So, the next few hours were spent having an ''Emergency Welcome Back Party'' thanks to Peppermint's quick thinking. During the few hours everyone attacked Strawberry with questions on how her trip had been, and Strawberry answered them all with pleasure. During those few hours everyone learned about the things which had happened in Strawberry's trip to Pearis.

"By the way, how did you know that I was coming?" Strawberry asked.

"Well, looks like it's now my turn to tell tales," I said, then I told her about my trip to follow her along with Blueberry and Apple. From my tales she learned about Blackbird, how her balloon's sandbag almost had harmed someone, and also the existence of another new friend from Pearis.

"We saw your balloon leaving Chez Crepes, so I could estimate when you would arrive here," I said, ending my tale.

"Yeah, but he somewhat did a mistake. He said you would have arrived last midnight," Raspberry said.

"We waited all the night watching for you, worrying that you would fall asleep on the balloon and fly over Strawberryland," Huck said.

"Not really, though. We all fell asleep," Blueberry said.

"Well, actually..." Strawberry said. "Blackberry was berry right."

"Huh, what do you mean, Strawberry Shortcake?" Ginger asked.

"We arrived at midnight," Strawberry replied. "Custard and Pupcake fell asleep, but I didn't."

"You didn't?" Lemon said.

"If you didn't fall asleep, then..." Angel said.

"Then that means all our worries were for nothing. Hmph!" Peppermint said, looking at me.

I could feel that everyone's eyes were looking at me and Blueberry. Both of us had made them all worried so much that they were willing to abandon sleep, but it all had been for nothing. There was a silence for a few seconds, and then Strawberry spoke out.

"Thank you everyone..." Strawberry said, starting to leak tears smiling. "I'm... berry happy to know that you all cared so much for me."

"Uh... no, it was nothing," Huck said.

"Yeah, Strawberry. It was no problem for us," Orange said.

"Still, I'm berry grateful to you all," Strawberry said, then she yawned.

"Are you tired, Strawberry? You should rest now," I said.

"Yeah, I think I still could use some sleep after all my adventures," she said.

"You can use the bedroom here if you're too tired to walk home, am I right?" Ginger said.

"Don't worry. I can walk home," Strawberry said, walking to the front door. "See you later, everyone."

"Wait! Let me take you there," I said, following her and calling Falcon at the same time.

"Thank you, Blackberry," she said as Falcon came landing near us.

Both of us got onboard and then I piloted Falcon towards Strawberry's house. The trip only lasted a little over one minute so there was no conversation. After I had landed Falcon, Strawberry got off and went into her house waving her hand to me. I did the same to her and then I departed back to the clubhouse. After landing there, I got off and went inside. Everyone were still inside as I entered, and they all looked at me in silence.

"Okay, everyone. I'm sorry that I have made you all worried for nothing," I said.

"No, it was not for nothing," Orange said.

"Yeah, we've made Strawberry happy," Angel said.

"And it all thanks to you, Blackberry," Huck said, putting his hand on my shoulder. So, all ended well for that day.

At the next day, I decided to visit the clubhouse again after having breakfast because I wanted to compare the difference between the scenery on its tower and on my own rooftop, especially because I had never used the clubhouse's tower before. When I arrived there, Strawberry was there along with her pets and the other three main girls. They seemed to be making decorations.

"Hi, everyone," I greeted as I entered.

"Hi, Blackberry!" Strawberry greeted back.

"Is there going to be a party here?" I asked, looking at all the decorations they were making.

"Well, not really. You see, we don't know when and what time the friendship festival will take place, am I right? That's because we don't know when and what time the new friends will come, am I right again?" Ginger said.

"So, we're gonna prepare some early decorations for it," Angel said.

"I see. Anyway, I'm going to the tower for now, and after I'm done I will come down to help you," I said.

"Okay, Blackberry. Be careful there," Orange said.

I then climbed the stairset to the second floor. As I climbed the stairs, I still could hear Custard saying "This glue is so... sticky. How many decorations are we going to make, Strawberry?" but I didn't hear anything more after that because I was already too far from the bottom by then.

I arrived at the tower of the clubhouse, and I tried the telescope right away. The view was indeed enjoyable, but because the telescope was static I couldn't use it to take a look at the other way. Then I looked around without the telescope, and compared with the view on the rooftop of my house I personally preferred the view on this tower. Probably it was because of the clubhouse being placed on a hill, unlike my house which was located at a lowland. While enjoying the scenery, I noticed three butterfly letters coming to the clubhouse. They then entered the main room below and I didn't know what happened there next. I then went down the stairs to see if the butterfly letters were what I had thought of. As I arrived down, Angel Cake left the clubhouse.

"Where is she going?" I asked.

"The guests are coming, and Angel Cake going to make a friendship cake for the festival," Strawberry said.

"The guests? Who are they?" I asked.

"Crepes Suzette is one of them," she said.

"Then there's one with the name Frosty Puff. She's coming all the way from South Pole," Orange said.

"Also there's one coming from deep in a rain forest. Her name is Tangerina Torta," Ginger said.

"And also someone named Tea Blossom. She's coming from the whole other side of the planet," Strawberry said.

"Heh, so they are finally coming," I said.

"Huh? What do you mean, huh Blackberry Bun?" Ginger asked.

"Those three pictures on the wall are the ones you all just mentioned," I said, pointing at the three pictures at the wall Peppermint had drawn.

"Oh? I thought those are the pictures of imaginary friends put by someone," Orange said, looking at the pictures.

"Yeah, me too. Did you thought so too, huh Strawberry Shortcake?" Ginger asked.

"Well, I did," Strawberry said, pausing for a brief moment. "But sometimes I believed that they were true."

"They are, I met them while I was putting Blackbird into its first use," I said. "Peppermint was with me as well, and she made those pictures."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Orange asked.

"Well, I wanted to let it become a surprise," I said. "But I changed my mind just now."

"Well, okay. Anyway, we're done here so now we are going to my house to prepare there. Are you coming with us, Blackberry?" Strawberry asked.

"I think I will go to Angel Cake. Maybe she could use some help," I replied.

I then left the clubhouse first and walked towards Angel Cake's house. When I arrived there she seemed flustered. I could notice her having quite a bit of trouble looking at the mess in the kitchen.

"Hi there, Angel Cake," I greeted.

"Oh, hi, Blackberry," she greeted back.

"Do you need some help?" I asked.

"No, I can do it all by myself. No sweat!" she replied.

"No sweat, huh? No sugar, no flour, and no eggs as well I see," I said, looking at the empty bowls and shelves in her kitchen.

"Well, okay. Actually I kinda need some help," She said timidly. "But I told them I could do this alone."

"Alright. I'll give you the ingredients you need. I still have plenty in my kitchen and I'm not going to use them anytime soon anyway," I offered.

"Thanks, Blackberry," she said.

"I'm going home to take them first. I think you should go to Strawberry's house and tell your friends that you need some help," I said.

"Well, I..." she said, looking down.

"It's your call. Anyway, see you soon," I said, leaving her house.

I then walked to my house to take all the ingredients I had there. Once I arrived there I put them all, along with my kitchen utensils, in my backpack and went back to Angel Cake's house using Blackbird. When I arrived there she was nowhere to be found, but soon I saw her coming along with Tangerina Torta.

"Tangerina Torta! How have you been?" I greeted.

"Hiya, Blackberry Bun!" she replied in excitement.

"Huh? You know each other already?" Angel asked, wondering.

"Yes, we met one week ago," I answered. "Anyway, I have the ingredients for you,"

"Thank you, Blackberry," she said.

The three of us then went inside the house. After Angel Cake showed the room for her guest, Tangerina stayed there to unpack her bag while Angel Cake and me went to the kitchen. I took all the ingredients and utensils from my backpack and put them on the table there.

"What are these?" Angel asked, looking at the utensils. "I already have those of my own."

"If you like, you can use them. They can do their job faster than any other utensils of the same kind," I said. "I made them all myself. Just be careful not to..."

"Blackberry, you have been helping me alot," she interrupted, pausing for a moment. "But no, thanks. I'm gonna make the cakes with my own utensils."

"Okay, but I'll leave them here in case you change your mind," I said. "See you later."

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Pearis. I don't want her to miss this," I replied, which she understood clearly.

After leaving Angel Cake's house, I got on Blackbird and ordered it to go to Pearis. With the usual keyword, Blackbird departed to Pearis. 30 minutes later I arrived in Pearis and landed on the usual lake. It seemed that the people had gotten used to Blackbird because nobody stopped to stare at me anymore. I then walked towards Cherry's house hoping that she would be there so I could just take her to Strawberryland without having to look for her first. Once I arrived there I took Speak All from my backpack and put it on my head, then I knocked on the door.

"Blackberry!" A voice I recognized as Cherry called from behind.

"Cherry!" I said as I turned around and approached her. "How have you been?"

"Cherry fine," she answered. "Where other friends?"

"They are all in Strawberryland. Would you like to come there?" I said. "There will be a friendship festival there."

"Friendship festival?" she asked.

"There are lots of new friends you have never seen before," I said.

"More friends?" she asked.

"Yes. So, would you like to come?" I asked.

"Cherry come!" she said in excitement.

So, everything was settled and the two of us departed to Strawberryland. The flight went without any trouble and we arrived 30 minutes later. However, as I piloted Blackbird over Angel Cake's house, I saw that the house and the ground in front of it had been flooded with doughs. I then landed Blackbird on nearby clean ground and got off along with Cherry, whom I had given Speak All to. We then approached the group who were standing near the edge of dough flood.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"Well, I had a big little accident," Angel replied.

"How accident?" Cherry asked.

"Well, I had to start over because of another little accident. I ran outta time so I used the things Blackberry had lend to me," Angel said.

"And you used them all in maximum power I guess?" I said, and she nodded with guilty feeling. "Yeah, that was the thing I wanted to tell you. Maximum power can cause something like this."

I didn't know what to say next because I was probably the one to blame as well for not properly warning Angel Cake. There was a silence for a few seconds, then I remembered something.

"By the way, where's Strawberry?" I asked.

"Well, she got really depressed and told us to call the festival off, then she left us. I sure could feel that she was really sad, right everyone? So what should we do now, huh everyone?" Ginger said.

"Yeah, maybe zee iz crying now in 'er 'ouse," Crepes said.

"Maybe we should go to her and cheer her up," Frosty said.

"But what about the festival? Is it really cancelled?" Tangerina asked.

"No, it is not and it will not be," I said. "Let's clean all these up and make the cake again, all together this time."

"You're right, Blackberry. Nothing will stop us, nope, not ever will!" Ginger said.

"But what about Strawberry?" Orange asked.

"I will go. It was my fault anyway for not being honest from the start," Angel said, taking her apron and chef hat off. Then she walked away leaving the rest of the group to do all the cleaning up. It was not that difficult, though. With everyone working together, and also with the help of Ginger's cleaning machine, the cleaning up only took less than one hour. Angel Cake returned right at the time we were done.

"Wow, you all have cleaned my house so fast. Thank you berry much!" she said.

"It was no problem. Nope, not at all!" Ginger said.

"Anyway, how's Strawberry?" I asked.

"She's fine. She will come with Tea Blossom soon, and then we can start making the friendship cake together," Angel replied.

"That's good to hear. I will get other friends to come here in the meantime," I said.

"Cherry go with Blackberry?" Cherry asked, pulling my shirt.

"Okay if you want to," I replied. "Shall we go now?"

"We go," Cherry said.

Then, the two of us left Angel Cake's house to invite the remaining friends who were yet to come. To be exact, they were Huck, Blueberry, Raspberry, Lemon, Apricot, Rainbow, and Peppermint. We walked to their homes and asked them to come with us to the festival, and all of them agreed with pleasure. As the nine of us arrived at Strawberry's house, where the festival was supposed to be held, we saw that they had finished making the friendship cake. So, all of us approached them and let the wonderful fun time to start.


--End of Chapter 25--

Quote:Chapter 24: Little Cherry


At the next day after the trip to Pearis, I went to Blueberry Muffin's house to ask if they wanted to go to Pearis again to look for Strawberry, whom I assumed to be still there.

"Apple Dumplin' not want," Apple said, which surprised me a bit.

"Oh, why is that?" I asked.

"Apple Dumplin' play here. Tomorrow go," she replied, which I could clearly understand.

"Tomorrow then?" Blueberry asked.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow then," I said, and I left the place.

Even though it had been settled, what I had seen at the previous night still worried me. Strawberry couldn't drive a car, and I had seen her driving a bus. Not to mention the man who had been chasing her. Because I was very curious, I decided to go to Pearis again on my own.

Right after arriving home, I took my backpack and got onboard Blackbird. I then turned its engine on, set the destination, and spoke the usual keyword. "Hit it, Blackbird!"

The flight went without any trouble, and 30 minutes later Blackbird arrived in Pearis. I then switched it into manual control and piloted it to land on the lake where I had parked it at the previous day. After completing the landing, I put Speak All on my head, got off Blackbird, and put the vehicle into invisibility. Like in the previous day, some people stared with confused face, but I ignored them and walked away.

While walking towards Chez Crepes, where I expected Strawberry to be, I noticed a bus parked nearby as the bus I had seen at the previous night because the man who had chased the bus was standing right next to it drinking a cup of coffee. I then approached the man.

"Hello, sir," I greeted.

"Good day, how can I help?" he replied.

"Well, I'm curious about what happened last night," I said. "I saw you chasing this bus."

"Oh, that... Two kids accidentally made my bus run while I was sitting at a nearby cafe having a cup of coffee," he replied. "That's why now I have my coffee right here. I don't want it to happen again."

"Oh, but I heard you yelling ``Stop! Thief!'' that time," I said.

"I was surprised and panicked. But when I found out that they were kids, I then understood," he said.

"Did anything bad happen to them?" I asked.

"No, they found the brake at the right time," he replied.

"Glad to hear that," I said.

"Are they your friends?" he asked.

"Umm, yes," I said.

"One of them gave me money for damage, but they only broke the gear shift stick. The amount she gave was too much. Maybe I can ask you to return this to her?" he said, taking some money from his pocket and giving it to me.

"Oh, okay," I said, accepting the money.

"Well, it's time to work again. I better get going," The man said, looking at his watch. "Do you want me to take you to her place?"

"Hmm, no, I'll walk myself. Thanks," I replied.

"Okay, then see you later, kid," he said, getting on his bus, and then the bus went away.

With the information I had just obtained, I had no reason to stay in Pearis for any longer. I then decided to go home immediately and let Strawberry have her good time with her new friend for that day. While walking back to where I had parked Blackbird, Someone called me from behind.

"Hey, Blackberry!" the voice I recognized as Cherry called.

"Oh, hi, Cherry!" I replied, turning around to see her.

"Where Blackberry friends?" she asked.

"They are home. I come alone today," I replied. "And I'm going back home now."

"Why so fast?" she asked.

"I'll come again tomorrow. Don't worry," I replied.

"Cherry can go to Blackberry home?" she asked, which kinda surprised me.

"Uh, well, my house is... far away," I said.

"Cherry can walk far," she said.

"No, I mean, umm..." I said, running out of words.

"Blackberry not like Cherry?" she asked.

"Of course it's not like that. It's just that..." I said, pausing for a moment. I doubted on granting her wish because like how I felt about Apple, Cherry was still too little to do a long trip. However, like before, pity defeated it. "Alright then, come with me."

"Thank you!" she said, clapping her hands in excitement. Then I brought her with me to the place I had parked Blackbird.

"Wait a moment..." I said, digging through my pocket to find Blackbird's remote.

"Okay," she replied as I found the remote. I then put Blackbird out of its invisibility, which then surprised her. "What this?"

"This is Blackbird. Now do you still want to come to my house?" I asked.

"Cherry want," she replied.

"Then get inside, otherwise we won't get there at all," I said. She then got inside and sat on the left back seat as I sat on the pilot seat.

"This car? Or this plane?" she asked as I turned the engine on and set the destination.

"I can say... plane. Hit it, Blackbird!" I replied, and Blackbird departed to Strawberryland.

"Aaaa!" she shouted, being pressed by the force of acceleration.

"Hold on! It will pass!" I told her, and soon the acceleration stopped.

"Cherry surprised," she said.

"It's fine, don't worry. We will arrive in 30 minutes," I said.

"Where Blackberry home?" she asked.

"A place called Strawberryland," I answered.

"Strawberryland?" she said. "Many friends?"

"Yes, there are a lot of friends there. You have met Blueberry Muffin, right. She really loves books and she has a lot of them in her house," I said.

"More friends?" she asked.

"Yes. There's also this Angel Cake. She is..." I replied and ended up telling her everything about every friends I knew. Even when Blackbird arrived in Strawberryland, I was not finished yet.

"More friends?" she kept asking.

"It's better to meet them yourself. We're here," I replied, noticing that Blackbird had stopped right above Strawberryland. "Switch to manual."

While piloting Blackbird manually towards my house, I noticed a group of friends, who were Raspberry, Orange, Huck, Ginger, Apple, and Angel, playing ball in the outfield. I then thought it would be better to land there so that Cherry could meet them soon, and i decided so. I then piloted Blackbird towards the group and landed next to them. I could notice their confused face because they hadn't ever seen Blackbird yet, but then I got off.

"Hi, everyone," I greeted them.

"Hi, Blackberry!" Raspberry greeted back. "See? I told you that it must have been him!"

"I thought so too, but that is not the flying car I remember," Orange said.

"So you've made a new flying car, huh Blackberry Bun? What's the difference, huh Blackberry Bun?" Ginger asked. "And what's with that thing on your head, huh Blackberry Bun?"

"Well, we can save that for later. Let me introduce you all to a new friend," I said.

"A new friend? Who? Where?" Huck asked.

"Come here, Cherry!" I said towards Blackbird, and Cherry came out from it.

"Cherry!" Apple said.

"Aww, she's so cute!" Angel commented.

"Cherry not understand," Cherry said, which put everyone else besides me into a confused face.

"Huh? What did she say?" Orange asked.

"I don't understand," Raspberry said.

"Oh, I forgot..." I said, taking Speak All from my head and then putting it on Cherry's head. "There. Now introduce yourself, Cherry."

"Hi, everyone. Me Cherry Cuddler," Cherry said.

"Hi, Cherry. I'm Angel Cake," Angel said.

"The name's Ginger Snap. Like in snap!" Ginger said, snapping her finger.

"I'm Huckleberry Pie," Huck said.

"I'm Orange Blossom," Orange said.

"Raspberry Torte," Raspberry said.

"Cherry know Apple Dumplin'" Apple said.

"Where do you come from?" Angel asked.

"Pearis," Cherry answered.

"Pearis? The place Strawberry is going to?" Orange asked.

"Certainly," I replied, then I told them all about my trip with Blueberry and Apple and how we had met Cherry for the first time. After I was done telling, all of us began to have a fun time playing together. The wonderful time lasted for several hours until Cherry began to look tired and drowsy.

"Cherry tired," she said, yawning.

"Huh? But there are still a lot of time before bedtime," Huck said, looking at the bright blue sky.

"In Pearis it's almost bedtime," I said, looking at my watch. "Come, Cherry. I'll take you home."

"We meet again?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, of course," Raspberry said.

"Let's play again someday," Huck said.

"Come here, Cherry. Let me hug you first before you go," Angel said, offering open arms.

"Cherry love hug," Cherry said, approaching Angel and then the two of them had a big hug.

Cherry then got onboard Blackbird and I followed as well. She waved her hand to the kids and they did the same to her, saying proper goodbye as I closed Blackbird's door. Soon, Blackbird departed to Pearis leaving the kids on the outfield of Strawberryland gazing at the bright blue sky.

Half an hour later we arrived in Pearis, and indeed it was already dark over there. I got off Blackbird expecting Cherry to follow, but she didn't. I then had a bad feeling and took a look at the back seat, and indeed the feeling was right. Cherry fell asleep on the seat, and looking at her peaceful face I couldn't make it to wake her up. I then carefully took Speak All from her head and put it on my head. Then I carefully put her on my back and carried her on it.

I intended to somehow find Cherry's house and carry her all the way there, although I still didn't know how. I remembered her saying that her house was close, so I then decided to ask people around if they knew about Cherry and her home. Just as I started to walk away from Blackbird, someone called from behind.

"Hey, kid!" the voice I recognized as the dog catcher called.

"Oh, good evening, sir," I replied, turning around.

"I see that you are indeed a visitor like I thought," he said, looking at Blackbird which I had forgotten to put invisibility on.

"Yeah, I come from a far away place," I replied. "Its name is Strawberryland."

"Strawberryland?!" he said with surprised face.

"You know it?" I asked.

"Well, you see, I have a twin brother and he works there as a ticket collector on trains," he replied. "Anyway, what happened to Little Cherry?"

"Oh, you actually know her?" I asked.

"Almost every people around here know her as Little Cherry. Everyday she walks around and greets every single person she meets," he answered.

"Oh, that's good to hear. She visited Strawberryland and fell asleep on the way back here. Now I'm looking for her house so I can carry her there," I said.

"I see. Then I'll take you there myself," he said.

"Thank you, sir!" I said.

The dog catcher then escorted me all the way to Cherry's house, which was not much different than Chez Crepes in terms of size. It was indeed close from the place I had parked Blackbird at.

"Does she live alone here?" I asked as we stood right in front of her house.

"Yes," he replied. "But with so many friends she has around, I can't say that she lives alone."

"I see..." I said.

"Let's go in. She welcomes anyone to come so she never locks the door," he said, opening the front door.

"Isn't it dangerous?" I asked. I thought that it was possible for someone as mean as Licorice Whip or Purple Pie Man to exist in the city, looking at the amount of people living in it.

"Many people think so too and tried to advise her, but well..." he replied. "She is too trusting when it comes to this."

"Oh, I see," I said.

We then went all the way to Cherry's bedroom, which in my opinion was nice and cozy. I then carefully put her on the bed there and covered her with the blanket on it. I took one last look on her cute and peaceful face and then the two of us quietly left the bedroom and the house as well.

"Thank you for the help, sir," I said, closing the front door.

"It was no problem," he replied. "By the way, the poodle found its owner."

"That's good to hear," I said as both of us started to walk back to my Blackbird.

"The owner is the girl who owns Chez Crepes," he said. "Oh, and I saw the girl in strawberry hat with her too,"

"I see. I'll come again tomorrow to visit her," I said.

Later we arrived at the place where I had parked Blackbird. I then got onboard and turned the engine on, but before closing the door I said my farewell to the dog catcher.

"Bye for now, sir. Once again thanks for your help," I said.

"You're welcome, kid. And say hello to my brother for me if you meet him someday," he said.

I nodded as a reply, and then I closed Blackbird's door. After setting the destination and speaking the usual keyword, Blackbird departed to Strawberryland, leaving the dog catcher gazing at the night sky and waving his hand.

30 minutes later I arrived back in Strawberryland. I saw that the same kids were still playing in the outfield. I then landed next to them and got off.

"She's now asleep in her house," I said.

"I sure hope to meet her again," Orange said.

"Yeah, she's very nice," Huck said.

"She's so cute and cheerful! And hugging her felt so nice!" Angel said.

"You can say that again," Raspberry said.

"By the way, Blackberry. You haven't answered my question, am I right? I bet this new flying car has something special the other car doesn't, am I right again? What is it, huh Blackberry Bun?" Ginger asked.

"Well, alright. This is Blackbird. It is much faster than Falcon and can travel in much longer distance," I replied, looking towards Blackbird. "However, there are many things which Falcon can do while Blackbird can't."

"Really? What are those things, huh Blackberry Bun?" she asked again, and I replied telling her the same things I had told Blueberry at the day before. The rest of the day passed without anything special.

At the next day, as I had promised, I went back to Pearis with Blueberry and Apple. On the way of the flight, I told Blueberry about the bus chase which happened to Strawberry, and the money I had to return to Crepes Suzette. After we arrived I landed Blackbird on the usual spot, and then the three of us walked towards Chez Crepes. However, while we were getting close, at a distance we saw Strawberry's balloon floating up leaving the city.

"Binoculars!" I said, and my backpack gave me the item which I used to take a closer look at the balloon. Indeed the passengers were Strawberry and her pets, although I noticed Strawberry wearing a different outfit.

"I think we are a little too late," Blueberry said.

"Late," Apple said.

"Let's go there anyway. We haven't seen the new friend, right?" I said.

"You're right. Let's go there," Blueberry said.

"Apple want see new friend," Apple said.

The three of us continued walking until we arrived at Chez Crepes. We noticed one mannequin in the display wearing Strawberry's outfit and then we went inside. There was a girl looking away from us, seeming not to notice us entering. The girl wore Strawberry's outfit, but because of her long pink hair I could notice that she was not Strawberry.

"Strawberry Shortcake? Is that you?" Blueberry said, seeming not to notice the difference. The girl then looked at us.

"Good day! 'ow can I 'elp you?" she said.

"Oh, you're not Strawberry," Blueberry said.

"No. I'm Crepes Suzette. Strawbelly S'ortcake iz my friend and ze 'az gone 'ome," she said.

"Is my Speak All not functioning well, or is she trying to speak in our language? It's kinda hard to understand her," I whispered to Blueberry.

"She's trying to speak in our language," Blueberry said.

"I see," I said, then I put Speak All off from my head.

"We are friends of Strawberry too. I'm Blueberry Muffin," Blueberry said to Crepes. "Nice to meet you, Crepes."

"Apple Dumplin' is Strawberry sister," Apple said.

"I'm Blackberry Bun," I said. "Oh, before I forget. Please take this," I continued, giving her the money from the bus driver.

"What iz zese money?" Crepes asked.

"The one you gave to the bus driver. I met him yesterday, and he said it was too much so he asked me to return this," I answered.

"O' I zee. T'ankz," she said, accepting the money.

"So, are you coming to the festival?" I asked.

"Feztival? W'at feztival?" she asked, pausing for a brief moment. "Oh, Strawbelly's friendz'ip feztival! I zure will!"

"That's good to hear," I said.

"But not now! You zee, t'ere iz a fas'ion contezt t'morrow and I'm going to be t'ere!" she said. "After t'at I will write 'er a letter and t'en I'll come!"

"I see. Then I wish you luck on the contest," I said.

"Merci!" she said. "T'at means t'ank you!"

Soon, the three of us left Chez Crepes. There was not much left to do because we had walked around town two days before, so at first we intended to go home. However, I soon remembered something.

"By the way, how about visiting Cherry's house?" I asked.

"That's absoloo-tely a great idea!" Blueberry said.

"Where Cherry house?" Apple asked.

"It's close from Blackbird like she has said," I replied, putting Speak All back on my head.

"Then let's go there," Blueberry said, and then we walked towards Cherry's house.

The trip towards Cherry's house didn't take long. Soon we arrived in front of her house, and I knocked on the door. We waited for a moment but there was no answer. I knocked the door once again, but like before there was no answer at all. I then tried opening the door, but it was locked.

"It's locked..." I said. "That's weird."

"Probably she's walking around town like before," Blueberry said.

"No. I was told that she never locks her door," I replied. "I have a bad feeling... Vision!"

My backpack then gave me the device I had asked for, and then I replaced my glasses with it. Using the device, I observed the inside of Cherry's house. At first I only saw empty rooms, but once I got to see Cherry's living room I got surprised. I saw a man whose face was covered in cloth and shades digging through all shelves, cabinets, and drawers in the house. In the same room I saw Cherry sitting on the floor leaning to the wall. Her arms and legs were tied up and her mouth was gagged with a cloth.

"Oh no. There's a thief inside, and he has taken Cherry hostage," I said.

"What?!" Blueberry said, surprised.

"Call the police, quickly!" I said, taking Replicator and copying Speak All to Blueberry's head.

"What about you?" she asked as the copy of Speak All materialized on her head.

"I will go inside to make sure Cherry will be fine," I said, taking Blind Spot and putting it on my shirt.

"Okay, be careful," she said, and then she left with Apple in a hurry.

I then used Key Master to open the door quietly. Once I got inside I closed and locked the door again, and then I quietly walked to the living room. When I got there the thief was still in there searching for things to steal. I had no idea about how to buy time so the police would come before the thief escaped or harmed Cherry any further.

While thinking, I got careless and bumped on a small shelf, resulting the fall of some things which had been put on it. The thief got alarmed and looked towards the place I was standing on. Of course he didn't see me because Blind Spot kept me invisible.

"Who's there?!" he shoutes, and I kept myself silent.

Because there was no answer, the thief then continued searching. I still got no idea at all, so for then I decided to approach Cherry and calm her down, because she seemed very afraid. I then quietly kneeled next to her and started whispering.

"Cherry..." I whispered.

"Mmm?" Cherry mumbled, looking around.

"It's me. Blackberry Bun," I whispered. "Don't worry, Cherry. I'm here to keep you safe. Just calm down, okay?"

"Mmm..." Cherry mumbled, nodding. Her face no longer showed any fright.

"Hey! Who are you talking to?!" the thief suddenly asked.

"Mmmm!" Cherry mumbled, shaking her head.

"Don't say you're talking with a... ghost!? I'm afraid of ghost," he said, starting to show signs of fear.

"Mmm," Cherry mumbled and shook her head again. Then the thief continued his search.

What had just happened gave me an idea. I then took Telekinator and used it to lift a small vase and put it again quickly so it made a noise. The thief noticed the sound and looked at the vase. I then lifted the vase and put it down once again. The thief started to show greater signs of fear.

"G-g-ghost?" he said, trembling. Then I lifted more things with both telekinator and my own hand, and I also shook some furniture in the room. Seeing all those seemed to frighten him so greatly that he became speechless and didn't move at all.

"D-d-don't come near me!" he said, trembling greatly. Another idea came to my mind and I put it into practice immediately.

"I'm the guardian of this house! You have trespassed into my home, and you will be punished!" I shouted with heavy voice.

"N-n-no! Please no!" he begged, running away towards the front door. I followed him and saw him trying to open the door I had locked. He was so afraid that he didn't notice the key of the door hanging in the keyhole.

"What punishment should I give you for breaking in?" I shouted with heavy voice again.

"No! Please don't! I... I have learned my lesson! No more breaking into a house! I promise!" he said, leaning to the door and trembling. I then heard a sound of siren coming close.

"Then turn yourself in to the police outside!" I shouted.

"O-okay! I will!" he said, calming down.

He then opened the door and turn himself in to the police Blueberry had called. One policeman immediately went inside after the thief had confessed to have a hostage in the house. In the living room he saw Cherry still tied up and gagged there, and immediately released her.

"Are you okay, Little Cherry?" he asked.

"Cherry afraid..." Cherry said, hugging the policeman.

"It's okay, Little Cherry. It's over now," he said. "Next time please lock the door and don't open it for someone you don't know okay?"

"Cherry promise..." Cherry said.

After everything had been over and the policemen had left, there were only Cherry, Blueberry, and Apple left inside the house. I then took Blind Spot off from my shirt and threw it back into my backpack.

"I'm glad we were here at the right time," I said.

"Thank you, all," Cherry said. "Cherry promise Cherry lock door."

"That's good to hear," I said.

All of us then spent some fun time together until Cherry's bedtime came. With proper goodbye the three of us then left Cherry's house and walked back to where I had parked Blackbird. Soon, we arrived there, got onboard, and then with the usual keywords Blackbird departed to Strawberryland.

--End of Chapter 24--

Quote:Chapter 23: Pearis


Two days have passed after my trip around the world with Peppermint. During the two days I had repaired Blackbird's recharger and put protection seals on the engine so it wouldn't have any more sand coming into it. I also made a new device named Speak All, the shape of which was a headset with a mike. If I wore it whenever someone spoke to me with a different language I didn't know, it would translate the language and I would hear everything in the language I knew. It also worked the other way so I would have no problem at all talking with anyone. I had made the device because I had known someday I would travel to a place where people speak in different languages.

After having lunch, I decided to go to the rooftop of my house and see the scenery around. I climbed the ladder which led to the rooftop and opened the trapdoor at its end. I then stood on the roof and saw that the scenery was quite enjoyable on that day, looking at the nice weather and the summer breeze I felt. I spent some minutes gazing at the scenery until I noticed something.

"A hot air balloon?" I thought, looking at the strawberry-shaped hot air balloon passing by. I then quickly came down into my house and returned to the roof with my spyglasses. I used it to take a closer look at the balloon and saw that the passengers were Strawberry and her two pets. I wondered where she was going to, but then I remembered something and decided to go to her house immediately.

I walked to Strawberry's house quite fast because I was curious about her sister. If Strawberry was away, then who would take care of Apple? With that in mind I kept walking towards her house. The trip went without anything happened on the way, and I arrived ten minutes later. I knocked on the door and then someone opened it. To my surprise, it was Huck who opened the door.

"Hi, Blackberry," he said.

"Hi, Huck. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Strawberry is away visiting a new friend, and I take care of the house in the meantime," he answered. "Not much to do, though. Just a little cleaning up daily and then done."

"A new friend? Who?" I asked.

"I heard that the name was Crepes Suzette. She lives in a place named Pearis if I remember it right," he answered.

"I see. By the way, I wonder about Apple. Where is she now?" I asked.

"Apple stays in Blueberry Muffin's place for now," he replied.

"Strawberry left her sister just like that? That does not feel right for me," I said.

"Can't be helped. The trip might be too dangerous for her. That's what Strawberry said," he said.

"I think I'll visit her now," I said. "See you later."

"Wait. I'll go with you. I'm done cleaning anyway," he said.

Later, the two of us walked to Blueberry Valley to visit Blueberry Muffin and Apple Dumplin there. The trip went without anything happened on the way, and as we arrived we heard something from inside the house.

"Apple Dumplin' go!" a voice we recognized as Apple said.

"It might be dangerous, Apple. And you're still..." another voice we recognized as Blueberry said.

"Apple Dumplin' not too little!" Apple said.

We immediately entered the house to see what was happening. Once we entered, Apple noticed us and walked to me. Then she hugged my left leg.

"What's happening here?" I asked.

"Apple Dumplin' follow Strawberry," Apple said.

"Follow Strawberry? How?" I asked again.

"Blackberry car follow Strawberry," Apple replied.

"She wants to follow Strawberry with the help of your flying car. What was the name... Falcon wasn't it?" Blueberry said. "But I said..."

"Apple Dumplin' not too little!" Apple quickly interrupted, still hugging my leg. Then she started to pull my shirt. "Blackberry help Apple Dumplin'"

"Umm... I'd like to help but..." I said, pausing for a moment.

"Blackberry think Apple Dumplin' too little too?" Apple asked, looking at me with sore eyes.

"No. I mean... Falcon can't go that far," I replied. "It will run out of energy and fall into the ocean."

My last sentence unexpectedly depressed Apple very bad. I could see her sad face as she released her hug and walked away from me.

"Apple Dumplin' go sleep," Apple said with weak voice, and Blueberry took her into her bedroom. A few minutes later Blueberry returned to us.

"She's asleep now. But... she leaked some tears before that," Blueberry said.

"Pity..." I said.

Soon after, me and Huck left the place. On the way there was a conversation between us.

"I really feel bad about Apple," Huck said.

"Me too," I said.

"Is it true that Falcon can't go that far?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's true..." I said, pausing for a moment. "Although..."

"Although what?" he asked.

"Never mind. It's not possible," I replied, and then the two of us separated right in front of my house.

I spent the next hour thinking about Apple. Falcon indeed couldn't go all the way to Pearis because of its limited energy. Of course Blackbird could do that easily, but because it only had two seats that meant I would be the only one watching over her. I kinda hated to admit it, but Apple Dumplin' was indeed still too little to do such a long trip to a far away place. There had to be at least one other person watching her. So, I decided to modify Blackbird a little so it would have three seats instead of two. I had to sacrifice half of its speed, but it was still much faster than Falcon after the modification.

At the next day, I immediately went to Blueberry's house after having breakfast. I saw that Apple was still quite depressed when I arrived there.

"Apple Dumplin' go..." Apple mumbled while sitting anxiously on a sofa.

"She still wants to follow Strawberry?" I whispered to Blueberry.

"Yes, she absoloo-tely wants to," she whispered me back.

"If let's say we can go to Pearis, would you let her?" I whispered.

"I would, if you take me as well. Strawberry entrusted Apple to me, and I absoloo-tely have to watch over her," she whispered back.

"I see... I suppose you have to start packing your bag now," I whispered, and then I approached Apple.

"Do you really want to go?" I asked Apple.

"Apple Dumplin' go," she replied.

"Okay, I'll help you," I said, which surprised her. "But promise me one thing."

"Apple Dumplin' promise!" she replied with excitement.

"I haven't even said it. Anyway, promise me to stay close to us, okay?" I said.

"Apple Dumplin' stay close," she replied, still in excitement.

"Your Falcon actually can go there?" Blueberry asked.

"Meet me at my house later and see for yourselves," I said. "Now I'll go home and prepare."

"Okay," Blueberry said as I left her house.

I went home and filled my backpack with all of my devices, then I waited for the two girls to come. Some minutes later I heard a doorbell and I opened the door. Indeed the guests below were Blueberry and Apple as expected.

"Okay, now that you are here, we can go immediately," I said, taking my backpack and then going down the ladder.

"Where Blackberry car?" Apple asked.

"Come with me," I said, walking to the back side of the house.

The two girls followed me to the back of my house. I could see Apple being cheerful again like the usual Apple I had been knowing. Blueberry was also happy to see that as she walked hand-in-hand with the little girl. Once we were near Blackbird, I took its remote from the side pocket of my backpack and pressed one button to reveal it from its invisibility. The two girls were quite surprised seeing the new vehicle.

"This no Blackberry car," Apple said.

"Yeah, this is absoloo-tely not Falcon," Blueberry said.

"This is Blackbird. I made it one week ago," I said.

"Oh, then where is Falcon?" Blueberry asked. I then took Falcon's remote from the other side pocket of my backpack and pressed the button to reveal it.

"It's right there. Like I said, Pearis is too far for Falcon so we will go there with Blackbird," I replied. "Come aboard."

Then all of us got onboard Blackbird with me sitting at the front as the pilot and the two girls sitting at the back side-by-side. I turned the engine on and as usual the monitor displayed the map of the planet and a flashing red arrow to mark the current position.

"Pearis, France," I said, and then a flashing green dot appeared at the east of current position. "Have you put your seatbelt on?"

"Yes," Blueberry replied.

"Apple Dumplin' too," Apple said.

"Okay. Hit it, Blackbird!" I said, and Blackbird floated high. There was a pause for a few seconds, and then it began accelerating. Like before, the acceleration pressed us all to our seats.

"Woooow!" Blueberry shouted.

"Aaaa!" Apple yelled.

"Hold on. It will pass soon," I said, and then a few seconds later the acceleration gradually ended. "All right. 30 minutes and we're there."

"That fast? This one is absoloo-tely better than Falcon," Blueberry said.

"Not really. There are some points where Falcon is better than Blackbird," I replied.

"What are they?" she asked.

"First. As you can see, there are only three seats," I replied. "I can't use this to bring many friends to travel with me,"

"Oh..." Blueberry said.

"Then, Blackbird is fast only in long distance trips. While flying around in an area it is very slow," I said.

"Apple understand," Apple said.

"Also, I can't call it to come to me like I can do with Falcon," I continued.

"Are there more?" Blueberry asked.

"Yeah. It can't become invisible while flying. And lastly, it doesn't have a harpoon," I said.

"Falcon has a harpoon? For what?" Blueberry asked.

"Its useful for many things," I replied, remembering what had happened around one year before in the Land of Dreams and also another occasion where the harpoon had saved Rainbow.

The trip continued without much conversation. Later Blackbird finally deccelerated, implying that the destination was near. Once it completely stopped, we looked around and saw that we were right above a big city. For me, the city felt like a pastry-themed Greenhill.

"Switch to manual," I said, and a steering wheel came out.

"Where are we going to land?" Blueberry asked.

"There's a lake over there," I replied, pointing at a visible lake on a distance. "Blackbird can float like a boat, so landing on water will not be a problem."

I then piloted Blackbird to land on the lake I had just seen. The landing was smooth and went without any trouble. I then docked it at the edge of the lake so all of us could get off on the ground instead of having to swim first. Once I finished docking, the three of us got off, but not without some people staring at us with confused face.

"Some people are looking at us," Blueberry said.

"Probably they are not used to seeing a vehicle like Blackbird," I said, putting Blackbird into invisibility. "I say just ignore them."

"Oh, alright," Blueberry said, and the three of us walked away from that place.

The walk inside the city didn't feel so great for me, probably because I had seen and walked in a big city before. However, for Blueberry who had never seen such, and for Apple who had not seen much of Greenhill, the walk seemed to be an astonishing one.

"Is Strawberry here already?" Blueberry asked.

"I don't know. But looking at the speed of her balloon, she should be here..." I said, pausing for a moment to think. "Well, about now."

"Apple Dumplin' see Strawberry," Apple said.

"What? Where?" Blueberry asked.

"Strawberry balloon," Apple replied, pointing upward.

All of us looked upwards and indeed we saw a strawberry-shaped hot air balloon I recognized as the same one I had seen at the previous day. However, I noticed a huge hole on it.

"It looks like trouble," I said.

Then, to make matters worse for people below, Strawberry started to drop sandbags. The first one dropped on the ground, but I saw her going to drop the second one right above a little girl whose age was just slightly older than Apple.

"Telekinator!" I shouted and my backpack threw it right into my grip. I then quickly used it so the sandbag stopped right above the girl's head. Then I slowly moved the sandbag to the ground. The girl seemed to notice everything happening.

"Are you okay?" I asked, approaching the girl. Blueberry and Apple followed me as well.

"Merci!" the girl replied.

"Uh... what?" I asked.

"It looks like the language here is different," Blueberry said.

"Oh I see. Speak All!" I said and my backpack threw the device into my grip. I then wore it on my head and turned it on.

"What is that, Blackberry?" Blueberry asked.

"Something I made two days ago," I replied, then I asked the little girl again. "Are you okay?"

"Me fine. Thank you," the girl replied.

"I'm Blackberry Bun. What's your name?" I asked.

"Me Cherry Cuddler," the girl replied. "And me go home now."

The girl then left us waving her hand, and we did the same too.

"You know, I was confused seeing you speaking in her language all of the sudden," Blueberry said.

"Apple Dumplin' too," Apple said.

"This is Speak All, and I suppose you already know what this is for," I said, pointing at the headset I wore and throwing Telekinator for my backpack to suck. "I guess I'll keep wearing this for now."

"Yeah. By the way, who was she?" Blueberry asked.

"Her name was Cherry Cuddler," I replied. "Anyway, let's go to Strawberry."

"Yeah, let's go," she said.

The three of us then walked towards where Strawberry's balloon seemed to had fallen. On the way we saw another sandbag on the road, but we couldn't find the balloon or Strawberry herself.

"Where could she be?" Blueberry asked.

"I don't know," I answered.

"Apple Dumplin' not know," Apple said.

"Let's ask around," I said, looking around to see if there was any people to ask.

"You're the only one who can," Blueberry said.

I then asked some people around if they had seen the hot air balloon. After asking some people, I returned to Blueberry and Apple.

"They said she had gone that way along with another girl," I said, pointing to a direction.

"Another girl? Who?" Blueberry asked.

"I was lucky. One person recognized the girl as Crepes Suzette, the owner of a nearby boutique named Chez Crepes," I replied. "And she's also the new friend Strawberry wanted to visit, looking at the name."

"That's absoloo-tely good to hear. Let's go now," she said.

The three of us then walked towards the boutique one person had mentioned. Because all of us had never been in Pearis, there were some occasions where we got lost and had to ask around again. In the end we finally found the building with ``Chez Crepes`` on it.

"There it is," I said.

"Let's go in," Blueberry said.

"Apple Dumplin' can not wait," Apple said.

I knocked on the door a few times, but there was no response at all. Out of curiosity, I tried opening the door and it turned out that it was not locked. All of us then quietly went inside to see if there was anybody there. However, we couldn't find any people inside.

"Where are they now?" I said, wondering.

"Well..." Blueberry said, pausing for a moment. "Maybe they are walking around the city now."

"That's possible. Maybe we can walk around the city as well and see if we can meet her along the way by chance. What do you think?" I asked.

"Apple like walk around," Apple said.

"That's an absoloo-tely good idea," Blueberry said.

So, the three of us walked around the city for sightseeing while also hoping to meet Strawberry on the way. We enjoyed the walk very much that without our knowing it started to get dark. Luck was not on our side because even after the night arrived we hadn't met Strawberry.

"It's night now, but..." Blueberry said, pausing for a moment. "Why Apple isn't sleepy yet?"

"Apple not sleepy," Apple said.

"Different time zone. In Strawberryland now there are still some hours before bedtime," I answered.

"Oh, I see," Blueberry said.

"Apple Dumplin' not understand," Apple said.

"You'll understand in time," I said.

While still walking, suddenly we heard a dog barking and a girl screaming. We immediately ran towards the source of the voice, and found a wild dog cornering a little girl who was no other than Cherry Cuddler.

"Cherry!" I shouted.

"Blackberry! Cherry scared!" Cherry said, trembling and leaking tears. I immediately ran to her, grabbed her, and brought her running away from the dog. The dog chased the two of us and it kept doing that until I finally ran out of stamina in an alleyway. The dog then cornered us both, making the situation hopeless.

"Cherry scared..." Cherry said, sobbing.

"I'll protect you, Cherry," I said, hugging her even though I was trembling as well.

"There you are!" we heard a voice. We looked on the source and found out that it was from a dog catcher. He then ran towards the dog, ready to use his net to catch the dog. The dog seemed aware of the dog catcher and immediately ran away. The catcher kept chasing the dog, leaving both of us in the alley. However, later he returned without the dog.

"Heh, that dog sure can run," he said with upset face. "Are you two okay?"

"Cherry Cuddler fine," Cherry replied.

"How about you, boy?" he asked.

"I... I'm just fine," I replied, running out of breath.

"Glad to hear that. Stray dogs often cause trouble," he said, and suddenly rain fell down so the three of us decided to take shelter under a nearby canopy.

"You catch stray dogs everyday?" I asked.

"Yes, and I just caught a poodle a few minutes ago," he replied.

"A poodle?" I asked.

"That one seemed like a lost dog. I'll put an announcement at the pound so the owner can retrieve the dog later," he said.

"Oh, I see," I said.

"Rain stop," Cherry said, noticing that the rain had stopped.

"If you two are okay, I guess I can leave you here now," he said.

"Yes, thank you for the help, sir," I said.

"You're welcome," he replied and then he left us.

"Thank you, Blackberry," Cherry said.

"I... I did nothing," I replied.

"You tried," she said.

"Well... okay, you're welcome. But now I'm separated from my friends," I said, realizing that I had left Blueberry and Apple.

"Blackberry friend?" she asked.

"Yeah, I hope they won't get into trouble," I said. "Let's look for them."

The two of us then walked in the alley for some minutes until we saw the dog catcher we had met before. He seemed to be upset, looking at the cage on his truck.

"Hello again, sir. Something wrong happened?" I asked.

"Yeah. The poodle escaped somehow," he answered, pointing at the opened cage.

"Escape?" Cherry said.

"I'll go looking for the dog," he said.

"By the way, sir. Have you seen my friends? A girl in blue with blueberry hat, and a little girl in yellow with apple images on it," I asked.

"Hmm... no. I have just seen a girl in strawberry hat, but no girl in blueberry hat," he replied.

"Strawberry hat? That could be my friend as well! Where did she go?" I asked.

"That way," he replied, pointing to a direction.

"I see. Thank you, sir!" I said, immediately walking to the direction.

"You're welcome," he replied and left the place as well.

The two of us walked towards the direction, only to end up lost again. Cherry actually knew the place because she had been living there, but because we were looking for Blueberry and Apple or Strawberry, and we didn't know where they were, that was the same as lost.

"Stop! Thief!" suddenly we heard a voice.

"What was that?" I said, wondering.

"Cherry not know," Cherry said.

We looked around to see if we could find out what was going on, and saw a bus running wild towards us. We immediately stepped aside to avoid it, and to my surprise I could recognize the driver as Strawberry. Not long after that, someone I assumed to be the real driver of the bus passed by running while yelling the same words I had heard.

"What is Strawberry doing? Stealing a bus?" I thought, wondering.

"Blackberry!" someone, whose voice I recognized as Blueberry, said from behind. "I was looking for you!"

"Blackberry no leave us again," Apple said.

"Sorry, but that was an emergency," I replied.

"Blackberry friend?" Cherry asked.

"Yes. This is Blueberry Muffin, and this is Apple Dumplin'" I answered.

"Apple Dumplin' tired," Apple said, yawning.

"Oh, it's almost her bedtime, isn't it?" Blueberry said. "We don't bring anything for sleeping. We have no choice other than returning to Strawberryland."

"Well, by coincidence the lake where I have parked Blackbird is right there," I said, pointing to a lake I recognized as the place I had parked Blackbird at.

"Cherry tired too," Cherry said, yawning.

"Oh, we'll take you to your home first. Where is it?" I asked.

"Cherry home close. Cherry walk alone," she said, then she left us waving her hand and we did the same.

After Cherry disappeared from our sight, all of us agreed to return to Strawberryland and come back to Pearis at the next day. I didn't tell Blueberry and Apple about what I had seen. I could only hope Strawberry didn't get into big trouble.

--End of Chapter 23--

Quote:Chapter 22: In 80 Minutes


"You really can't do anything?!" Peppermint shouted as Blackbird flew at maximum speed towards South Pole.

"I can't! It has set the next stop as South Pole and I can't cancel it!" I replied.

"Ohh, I should have stayed home!" she said.

I didn't reply at all, and the flight continued for the next few minutes until Blackbird finally deccelerated. After the decceleration, Blackbird went down and landed roughly on the icy surface. After that the engine stopped working and I couldn't turn it back on. Because we were in the South Pole, of course the weather was freezing and the fact that we weren't wearing warm clothes didn't make things any better. Not to mention the blizzard outside.

"Can we just get out of here? It's freezing here!" Peppermint said.

"Nothing is working! I'm trying but..." I said, then I noticed something ahead. "Look, there's a house."

"A house? In this kind of place?" she said. "And it's made from... ice blocks? Yeah right."

"Let's try going there. It's much better than staying here anyway," I said.

The two of us left Blackbird and walked to the house I had just seen, while bracing ourselves from the cold, freezing blizzard. When we were getting closer, someone opened the door. It was a girl dressed in a seemingly very warm clothes.

"Come inside quick!" The girl shouted, and both of us ran into the house. After we were in, the girl closed the door.

"Thanks for the shelter," I said, trembling from the cold.

"It's no problem. Now please sit by the heater and use the blankets there," the girl replied. "I'll make hot chocolate for you both."

Both of us then sat down by the heater and covered ourselves in blankets. Soon after, the girl came to us bringing two glasses of hot chocolate. After drinking some sips of it, we felt much better than a few minutes before.

"Feel better now?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, thanks for the help," I replied.

"Yeah... thank you..." Peppermint said.

"Oh, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Blackberry Bun," I said.

"Peppermint Fizz..." Peppermint said.

"I'm Frosty Puff. Welcome to Niceland," the girl said as a penguin came to her. "And this is Freezer Pop."

"It's nice to know you both," I said.

"Where are you from? You don't look like anyone around here," Frosty asked.

"A place named Strawberryland," I replied.

"Strawberryland? The place mentioned in this letter?" Frosty asked, taking something from her pocket and showed it to us. It was indeed another of Strawberry's butterfly letters.

"That's right," I said.

"You wrote the letter?" she asked.

"No, it was our friend," I replied.

"I'd like to come there. But you see, I can't go out in this blizzard. This will last for one more week I think," she said.

"What?! So now both of us are stuck here, inside these blocks of ice, for one week?!" Peppermint said. "Ohh, I really should have just stayed home!"

"Well, maybe not," I said, searching inside my pocket.

"Great! You still have that dimension door thing, right?" she asked in excitement.

"Unfortunately no. I filled my pocket with my tools when making Blackbird. I left all my devices home," I replied. "I'll repair Blackbird and then we can go."

"No, no, no. The blizzard will freeze you. Forget all I have said," Peppermint said, surprised.

"She's right, Blackberry. I don't know what you were talking about, but please don't go out from here until the blizzard let up," Frosty said.

"Hmm... yeah, I guess you're right," I said, looking at the blizzard outside.

So, both of us decided to stay in Frosty Puff's house until the blizzard let up around one week later. During our stay, Peppermint's feeling towards Frosty Puff was at first the same as the one she had had towards Rainbow Sherbet, but she gradually started to like Frosty Puff and at the end they became close friends. Peppermint also drew a picture of Frosty and another of Tangerina to put in the clubhouse for everyone else in Strawberryland to see. After staying for five nights, the blizzard finally let up and I decided to repair Blackbird immediately.

"Wear these. They will keep you warm," Frosty said, giving me her extra mantle, gloves, and boots.

"Thanks," I said and I wore those.

I then went out and found Blackbird covered in snow. I immediately cleaned all the snows from it, which took half an hour, and then started to clean all the sand from the engine. After I was done cleaning the engine, I did a check on the engine to see if there was any more problems. Once I were done, I moved Blackbird right in front of the door of Frosty Puff's house.

"How's the plane?" Peppermint asked as I came in.

"It's fine. We can go anytime," I replied, which excited her. "Although..."

"Although what?" she asked as her excitement stopped.

"The sand has broken the recharger, and I can't fix it here," I replied.

"Recharger?" Peppermint asked.

"To make it simple, it no longer can refill its energy. We can only use the remaining energy and that's it," I said.

"What?! How much do we have?" Peppermint said, seeming worried.

"Don't worry so much. Its energy is still enough for 80 minutes of flight. Still more than enough to go around the world if you want," I replied and Peppermint calmed down.

"Okay, that's good to hear," she said.

"So, you are leaving now?" Frosty asked.

"Yes, we have stayed here long enough," I replied. "I'm sure we will meet again in Strawberryland."

"I will come for sure," she said. Suddenly the blizzard came again, although not as hard as the previous.

"Again...?" Peppermint said.

"No worries. Blackbird can endure this easily," I said.

"Once the blizzard stops I will send a reply letter," Frosty said.

"I'm sure everyone will be waiting for that to come. Bye for now," I said.

We then left Frosty Puff's house and got onboard Blackbird. I turned the engine on and the monitor in front of each of us displayed the world map, current position, as well as a timer of 80 minutes which immediately started to count down.

"So, are we going home now?" I asked.

"Well, I sorta like this trip and don't want it to end so soon..." Peppermint replied, pausing for a moment. "But if you say so, go right ahead."

"Like I said before, the remaining energy is still enough to go around the world before going home. How about going to the other side of the planet first?" I asked.

"That would be great," she replied.

"Okay, then let's go... here!" I said, touching one part of the map, which immediately displayed the name of the place. "Great Wall of Chocolate... Hit it, Blackbird!"

Blackbird then floated high and accelerated towards the place. As usual the high acceleration pressed both of us to our seats, but it later ended as Blackbird reached its maximum speed.

"35 minutes and we're there," I said.

"Are you sure we will have enough to go home?" Peppermint asked.

"Yes I'm sure of it," I replied. "Just relax and enjoy."

The flight continued without any trouble. Later Blackbird deccelerated and stopped right in front of a very long wall made from chocolate, which both of us assumed as the Great Wall of Chocolate. Because we were on the other side of the planet, it was starting to get dark while in Strawberryland we knew it was still morning over there. The sunset view we saw was so breathtaking that I regretted for not bringing a camera.

"Nice view isn't it?" I said.

"Yeah, sorta," Peppermint replied.

"Let's try landing and see if we can meet another new friend here," I said, switching Blackbird into manual control.

"As long as we still have enough to go home," she said.

"Don't worry about that. And look, there's a house there," I said, pointing at a house below. We then landed on an open field near the house and got off. Then we walked towards the house with a hope of meeting a new friend. However, when we came closer, a voice was heard from behind.

"Hey, who are you and what are you doing here?" the voice said. We looked on the source and saw a girl in red clothes looking at us with angry face.

"Umm... we just came to visit," I replied, then we heard another voice.

"Don't be so harsh, Mint Tea. They are my guests," the voice said. We looked back and saw another girl right in front of the door of the house we had been walking to. "Please come in!"

"Hmph!" Mint said as both me and Peppermint went into the house.

"Please have a seat. I'll talk with her," the girl said and she went out. Then both of us heard a conversation right behind the door.


"There's something wrong with those two."

"Something wrong? But what..."

"They're different! That's what."

"Mint!"

"The way they look, the way they came, just about everything! I don't want to be their friend and you shouldn't either!"

"Mint! Don't say that right here! They will hear!"

"So what? The sooner they leave the better. That's all I want to say!"

"Mint..."

"Oh, and consider my words again about you going to that place!"


As we heard the conversation, I noticed Peppermint starting to leak tears. I knew that the whole conversation hurt her feeling, so I approached her and tried to cheer her up although I knew it wouldn't work.

"I know it hurts, but please be strong," I said.

"No... that's not it..." she replied, wiping her tears.

"Huh?" I asked.

"It's because..." she replied, but stopped because the girl who had the house entered.

"Please forgive Mint Tea," she said. "She has difficult times to accept new people."

"It's fine. By the way, I'm Blackberry Bun," I replied.

"Peppermint Fizz," Peppermint said.

"I'm Tea Blossom. Welcome to Plum Blossom Province," the girl said as a panda came to her. "And this is Marza Panda. She's the great great granddaughter of the panda queen."

"It's nice to know you," I said, then I noticed something on the table in the middle of the room. "Hey, that letter..."

"It's a letter from Strawberryland. You know about that place?" Tea Blossom asked.

"Know about it? We live in Strawberryland," I answered. "So, what do you think about that?"

"I will surely come. It's always nice to meet new friends," she replied.

"It's nice to hear that," I said.

Then, we spent the remaining time we had until Tea Blossom needed to go to sleep. During the few hours Peppermint drew a picture of Tea Blossom, but she didn't speak much and her face expression was not so happy. Tea Blossom wondered about that and asked but Peppermint replied with an answer that she had been fine.

"It's almost your bedtime, isn't it? Then I guess we will leave now," I said, looking at the clock in the house.

"We will meet again, right?" Tea Blossom asked.

"We sure will. Everyone will be waiting for you to come to Strawberryland," I replied.

"I will send a letter once I can come," she replied, and I left the house with Peppermint.

Both of us got on Blackbird and I turned the engine on. Like before, the monitor displayed the world map, current position, and the timer which were at 39 minutes 25 seconds and counting down. I then touched one part of the map and it displayed the name of Strawberryland.

"Hit it, Blackbird!" I said, and Blackbird flew towards our home, Strawberryland.

"By the way, what did you want to say back then?" I asked.

"Huh? About what?" Peppermint asked back.

"When we heard Mint Tea..." I said.

"Oh... that..." she said, pausing for a moment. "It did hurt, but what hurt me more was that..." she continued and paused again.

"What was it?" I asked.

"I was... I was just like that when Rainbow came. To remember that I have ever been that mean... it really hurts..." she said.

"Oh..." I said, then I was speechless for a moment. "But it's a past, and now you are close friends with her. That's all that matters."

"Heh, yeah. Sorry for being a crybaby just now," she said.

"Nah, there's nothing wrong with it," I replied, and the flight continued without any more talks.

Later, we arrived at Strawberryland when the remaining time was 8 minutes 27 seconds. I immediately landed Blackbird right on the ground next to my house where it was placed before.

"Home again at last," I said, getting off.

"That was quite a good trip," Peppermint said, getting off as well.

"So, you're going to put your drawings in the clubhouse?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course," she answered.

"I think I'll go with you if you don't mind," I said.

"Hmph, why should I?" she said. "It's your call."

So, the two of us walked to the clubhouse to put Peppermint's drawings on its wall. When we arrived at the clubhouse, there were three friends inside, who were Raspberry, Apricot, and Rainbow.

"Oh, hi Blackberry and Peppermint," Apricot greeted as the two of us came in.

"Hi, Apricot. How are you today?" I replied.

"I'm just fine," she replied.

"Where have you been? I came to your house two days ago and there was nobody there," Raspberry asked.

"Around the world in 80 minutes," I answered, which made them confused.

"Uh, what? You mean 80 days? The book?" she asked.

I giggled a little and then I told them about my trip around the world with Peppermint which actually had not been 80 minutes. I had said that because the actual trip around the planet had happened in that 80 minutes. As I told them the story, Peppermint put the drawings she had made on the clubhouse's wall.

"And those three are the new friends," I said, pointing at the three drawings.

"You know..." Raspberry said, looking at the drawings. "They look kinda... different."

"Yeah, indeed," Apricot said.

"But that's what makes friendship interesting," I said.

"Yes, you're right, matey," Rainbow said.

"Don't tell anyone else about them until they come here," I said.

"Why not?" Apricot asked.

"Let it become a surprise for Strawberry and the others," I replied.

"That's an interesting idea," Raspberry said. "Okay, I won't say anything."

"That will be cool," Apricot said.

"Leave it to me, mateys," Rainbow said.

And so, all of us agreed not to tell anyone else about the new friends. I could imagine the day when all of them come to the friendship festival and all the fun that would happen. I couldn't wait for the day when the new friends come.

--End of Chapter 22--

Quote:Chapter 21: Around The World


It was in the middle of Summer, one week after the trip to Old Man Winter, when Strawberry found an old building on the top of a small hill. The building's shape was like a cake similar to Angel Cake's house, although the building looked abandoned. Nobody knew who had built it and for what, but Strawberry spoke her idea out as the main group of five plus me stood right in front of the building.

"This building sure is old and could fall apart anytime. What are you going to do with this, huh Strawberry Shortcake?" Ginger asked.

"Let's fix this building!" Strawberry said in excitement.

"Huh? For what?" Huck asked.

"Yeah, what we're gonna do after that?" Angel asked.

"Who will use it?" Orange asked.

"We all will use it. We and all other friends!" Strawberry answered, still in excitement.

"Huh? What do you mean, Strawberry?" I asked.

"We all will use this as a clubhouse!" she answered.

"Clubhouse? What club?" Orange asked.

"What else? Friendship Club!" Strawberry answered.

"Friendship Club? What we're gonna do with a Friendship Club? I mean, we're all friends already," Angel asked.

"You see, this building is right on a place where every part of Strawberryland can come. Has any of you ever wanted to visit a friend or two, but can't decide who? Then you can just come to the clubhouse and see who is there, and also inviting anyone on the way. And also, we can use the clubhouse to gather everyone around Strawberryland to have a party. Isn't it berry great?" Strawberry said in high excitement.

"Well, now that you mention it..." Angel said, thinking for a moment. "That's a great idea!"

"Yeah, let's do this!" Orange said.

"But repairing this will be hard and take a long time," Huck said, looking at the building in doubt.

"If we work together, we can do it!" Strawberry said. "We all remember Blueberry's house, right?"

"You're right, Strawberry Shortcake! I'll go home and take my tools. Back in a flash!" Ginger said, going away.

And so, the six of us worked hard to repair the abandoned building. I didn't know how we did it, but the work seemed to progress much faster than I had thought. In the next one hour the building had been cleaned up from dust and trash, and the next thing to do was to fix broken parts. Again, that was done in one hour. After the broken parts were fixed, it was time to decorate the exterior.

"So, how we are going to decorate this building, huh anyone?" Ginger asked.

"How about decorating this with strawberries?" I suggested. "I mean, this is Strawberryland after all."

"Great idea. Let's do it," Orange said.

"Yeah, I agree with that," Angel said.

"Me too," Huck said.

So, the exterior of the building was decorated to be strawberry-themed with red paint job and all strawberries on it. It had been done in just two hours. After that it was time to fill the interior with furnitures and all. Most of them were made by Ginger and me in her factory, while a few were taken from our houses. With the help of Falcon and Telekinator for delivery, all were done in the next three hours.

"There! All done!" Ginger said in excitement.

"Nice work, Ginger," Orange said.

"Berry nice work, everyone!" Strawberry said, looking at the brand new building.

"What a nice clubhouse this building will become," Huck said.

"Hey, where's Blackberry?" Angel asked, looking around.

"Hey, everyone!" I said, approaching them from behind.

"Where were you?" Huck asked.

"I was making this," I replied, showing them a pink badge with a simple image of a strawberry on it. "A badge for our club."

"Wow, nice. So what does this badge do, huh Blackberry?" Ginger asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked.

"I know things you make are always full of surprises, like that flying car, the remote to lift things, even a badge that makes you disappear, am I right? So this badge also has a surprise for us, am I right again?" Ginger said.

"Well, uh... this badge... is the sign that each of us is a member of the Friendship Club," I replied.

"That's all?" Orange asked.

"Really? That's it? No superpower or flight or anything? Absolutely nothing at all?" Ginger asked.

"I really hoped for something better," Angel said.

Huck didn't say anything while still looking at the badge. Everything that had been said struck me like lightning bolts and rendered me completely speechless. I hadn't been aware that they had expected so much from me. All that had been in my mind while making the badge was to make something to mark that the person wearing it was a part of the Friendship Club. There was a silence for the next few seconds.

"That's a berry great badge, Blackberry!" Strawberry said, which quite surprised me. "May I try it on?"

"Uh... yeah, sure," I said, giving the badge to Strawberry, who immediately put it on her shirt.

"I like it berry much! Thank you, Blackberry!" she said. "It is great to have something to show that we are part of the club, right everyone?"

"Umm... yeah, sure," Angel said.

"Of course it is," Huck said.

"I think the same too," Orange said.

"Alright then. If it is settled, then you should make one for everyone all over Strawberryland, will you, huh Blackberry?" Ginger said.

"Well... sure, no problem," I said, shooting copy-mode Replicator, which I had been hiding behind my back, to Strawberry's chest. The green laser hit the badge she had put on, then I set Replicator into paste-mode and shot everyone else's chests including my own. In the end each of us had a badge on the chest.

"Thanks, Blackberry," Orange said.

"Woow, you've made a copy-gun too? You're simply amazing, am I right?" Ginger said.

"Thanks, Blackberry. Umm... I'm sorry for what I said," Angel said.

I was silent for a few seconds, then I said, "Umm, no, it's fine. You didn't do anything wrong. Really."

And so, that was the beginning of the Friendship Club. Every once in a while, each resident of Strawberryland visits the clubhouse and most of the time at least one other friend would be there. In the clubhouse everyone could spend time talking, baking cookies, watching TV which I had provided with better antenna, taking a nap in the bedroom, or looking at the scenery around on the tower at the top with Huck's telescope which he had put there. All in all, Strawberry's Friendship Club was a great success.

One day, when I was walking to the clubhouse, I saw the main four girls throwing what seemed like the butterfly letters I had ever seen a long time before. I looked at the letters flying away, then I approached the girls.

"Hi, everyone," I greeted.

"Hi, Blackberry!" Strawberry replied.

"What letters are those, if I may ask?" I asked.

"Those are invitation letters," she replied.

"Invitation? For who and what?" I asked.

Then, I learned about Strawberry's idea to make more friends from outside Strawberryland and then to invite them in a big friendship festival. Hearing about her idea suddenly gave me an inspiration. I then immediately said my thanks and left the place towards my home.

I then spent the rest of the day working behind my house to put the inspiration into realization. Even when bed time came, the work was still half done. Because I didn't want to repeat what had happened when chasing Rainbow Sherbet, I decided to sleep and continue at the next day. Right after having breakfast at the next day, I immediately went to the back of my house and continued the work. I was concentrating so much on it that I didn't realize someone visited me until she greeted me.

"Hey, Blackberry. Working hard?" A voice I recognized as Peppermint said.

"Oh, hi Peppermint. It's a surprise that you come here," I said, stopping my work, which actually had just been finished.

"Have I been away from here for so long that you said that?" Peppermint said.

"Not really, but... yeah maybe," I replied.

"Hmph. Anyway, what are you working on now?" Peppermint asked, looking at the thing behind me.

"This is Falcon. I mean... this was Falcon," I replied.

"Your flying car? What have you done to it?" she asked, looking that the shape of the thing was so different than the Falcon she remembered.

"I modified it so it can fly much longer," I answered, then I told her about Strawberry's idea and how it gave me inspiration to travel around the planet and meet new friends along the way.

"So now your... Falcon can travel in longer distance?" Peppermint asked.

"Yes, although some things have to go. You see, now the seats are only enough for two," I said. "And this is not Falcon anymore. I'll give it a new name..."

"A new name, huh?" she said as I began to think.

"Blackbird," I said a few seconds later, snapping my finger.

"Yeah of course. This thing is black, and you made it to look like something between a car and a plane," Peppermint remarked and sighed.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, noticing Peppermint's sigh and sore face.

"You know, I liked your old flying car. It helped us to chase Rainbow... and it saved her as well," she said, pausing for a moment and sighing.

"Umm... Peppermint..." I said, but she continued before I could say anything.

"I had good memories of it, and now that it is gone..." she said and paused again.

"Peppermint...?" I said, but she continued again.

"It's just... doesn't feel right..." she said, looking down.

"Hello, Peppermint? Could you hear me once?" I asked. "Falcon is still here."

"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked, a little bit surprised.

"Here," I said, taking Falcon's remote which was lying on the ground and pressed one button. The dark blue flying car everyone in Strawberryland had been knowing about appeared next to Blackbird out of its invisibility.

"Falcon...? But you said..." Peppermint said.

"Sorry, I should have said it earlier. You know this, right?" I said, pointing at one other thing lying on the ground.

"Your copy-gun...?" she said, looking at Replicator. Then a few seconds later her face expression changed from confusion to surprised. "Oh!"

"You realized it, I suppose?" I asked.

"You copied the car," she said.

"Yes, that Falcon is the one you remember. Blackbird is made from the copy," I said.

"Yeah, you should have said that earlier, silly! Now I have wasted my tears for nothing!" she said, wiping tears from her eyes with upset face.

"Yeah, I apologize. Care for a trip around the world with Blackbird for my apology?" I asked.

"Huh?" she asked, a little bit surprised.

"Blackbird is done. All that left is to make use of it," I answered. "So?"

"Well... uh... only the two of us?" she asked.

"Of course. There are only two seats. One at the front and one at the back," I replied.

"Well... umm... okay..." she said timidly. "But are you sure this is safe?"

"You can count on me," I answered, getting onboard.

"Alright," she said, getting onboard as well.

I then turned Blackbird's engine on. A small monitor in front of me displayed the map of the planet with a red arrow to mark the current position.

"You can choose where to go. You can see the map as well, right?" I said.

"Yeah I can see that of course," she replied, looking at another monitor in front of her. "But you decide first."

"No, you decide first," I replied.

"You want to argue over this all day? I insist you first," she said.

"Well... alright," I said. "Let's go to a close place first... here!" I continued, touching a part of the map with my finger. Then a text appeared on both monitor, displaying the name of the place I had just pointed. "Tangerine Bosque... I have been there once, but whatever. Hit it, Blackbird!"

After I had said that, Blackbird floated high and then turned around until it faced the direction towards Tangerine Bosque. There was a pause for a moment, then Blackbird accelerated. The acceleration was so high that both of us were pressed to the seats quite hard, but then the acceleration decreased as Blackbird reached its maximum speed.

"At this speed we will arrive in... around ten minutes," I said.

"You said you have been there once. When, and how?" Peppermint asked.

"It was last autumn. I intended to go to Lower Lollipop with Falcon, but I went too far. I didn't land, though," I replied.

"You said Falcon? But..." Peppermint asked.

"Tangerine Bosque is still close enough for Falcon, but it took one and a half hour to go there, and another one and a half hour to go back," I replied. "Not to mention that Falcon's energy almost ran out after that trip,"

"Oh, I see," she said, and then there was no conversation until Blackbird decelerated, implying that Tangerine Bosque was close. Some seconds later Blackbird came to a complete stop high above ground and we looked around. There was nothing but trees below, but at a distance we could see a beach.

"Switch to manual," I said, and a steering wheel came out from below the map.

"Huh? You haven't been driving it?" Peppermint asked.

"Blackbird is auto-pilot when travelling at high speed, and manual when flying around slowly like now," I replied. "We can't land in a forest. Let's land on that beach."

I then smoothly landed Blackbird at the beach. After both of us got off, I noticed something on the ground.

"Isn't this..." I said, picking the thing up. "One of Strawberry's butterfly letters?"

"You mean the invitation letters they sent yesterday?" Peppermint asked.

"Indeed, looks like this one didn't make it to anyone's hands," I said, looking that it didn't move anymore. "Too bad."

"Yeah, too bad. But whatever, this place doesn't look like something with someone inside anyway," Peppermint said.

"Let's at least look around," I said, putting the poor letter into my pocket.

We then walked into the forest. It was not so long until we found a place with some houses either on ground or on a tree.

"So there's someone here after all," I said.

"Someone lives in the middle of a... forest? Yeah right," Peppermint said.

"Let's try giving this letter," I said, walking towards the houses. "Hello! Anybody here?!"

"I'm here!" there was an answer from above. I looked upwards and saw a girl at the balcony of one tree house. The girl had long orange hair with green bandana around her forehead. She then went down and approached the two of us.

"Hiya, I'm Tangerina Torta," the girl said.

"I'm Blackberry Bun," I said. "This is Peppermint Fizz."

"Uh-huh. Yeah, hi," Peppermint said.

"Welcome to Tangerine Bosque," Tangerina said as a monkey came and jumped into her. "And this is my pet monkey Banana Bongo,"

"It's nice to know you both. By the way, have you received a letter like this?" I said as I gave the butterfly letter to Tangerina.

"Well, no. Let me see," she said and then she took a few minutes to read the letter. "Strawberryland? Is it far from here?"

"Well... kinda," I answered.

"It does not matter! I always like to have new friends!" she said in excitement. "I'll definitely come! But not now, though."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I have this special flower and I need to take special care of it everyday. I'll look for someone else to take care of it for me first and then I can go. It can be tomorrow or next week, or even the week after that. I'm not sure," she replied.

"Special flower?" Peppermint asked.

"Yes, it blooms only once every ten years! The last time it bloomed was five years ago. That's what I heard from the one who lived here before," she replied.

"I see," I said.

"I'll send a reply letter once I can come there," she said.

"Alright. Then it is time for us to go," I said.

"Oh, why so soon?" she asked.

"We are going to meet more new friends. I'm sure we will meet again in Strawberryland," I replied.

"Okay, then. I'll see you again soon," she said, and we went back to where Blackbird was parked. When we arrived both of us got onboard and I turned its engine on. It went smoothly at first but then it floated high and accelerated without me giving order, not to mention that there were disturbances on the monitor and the flight went with a lot of vibrations.

"What's wrong with this thing?" Peppermint asked.

"I don't know. I..." I said when I suddenly remembered something. "Oh, no..."

"What is it?" Peppermint asked.

"I didn't put protection seals on the engine. Sand from the beach is in it now..." I said with pale face.

"What?! Can't you do something?! Anything?! We are heading right into the South Pole!" Peppermint said, looking at the disturbed map.

"I can't! All we can do now is just wait until it stops by itself!" I said as Blackbird carried us away without any of us being able to stop it.


--End of Chapter 21--