Quote:Chapter 20: Deep into The Cold


One week had passed since the day we met the dark berry fairies. After the three of us returned home, there were no more special trip because for unknown reason suddenly my Time Remote Mark II had broken down into an aftermath like the original Time Remote. So, once again my ``Danger! Do not touch!`` shelf had something in it, and I had no motivation to do any repairs. I had decided to spend the week walking around Strawberryland visiting one or two friends from time to time.

Three days before, I visited Orange Blossom at her house. Coincidentally, Angel Cake, Blueberry Muffin, and Rainbow Sherbet were there as well. The five of us had some talks together, and then someone started to ask something related to that device.

"By the way, Blackberry. I heard you did special trips with Raspberry and Lemon," Angel said.

"Umm, yes. What's with that?" I asked.

"Why you never invite us?" she asked back.

"Well, in the first trip all of you had already planned a garden party with Strawberry. Then for the second one Raspberry said all of you were either too tired, busy, or already had a plan for the day when she invited," I answered.

"Well..." Blueberry said, pausing for a brief moment. "You're right. Now I remember."

"Oh yes, me too," Orange said.

"I still would like to have that trip once," Angel said.

"It's not as good as you might think," I said. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it," she replied.

"How about the others?" I asked.

"I'd like to," Orange said.

"I always want to see the world for real, not just in books," Blueberry said.

"Seeing new things is always a pleasure for me," Rainbow said.

"I need three days to prepare. Is it fine for you all?" I asked, and everybody else agreed.

So, the last three days had been spent repairing Time Remote Mark II. Actually I did the repair in just one day, but I had to make sure nothing would go wrong in the trip. The other two days were spent checking all the devices I would bring in the trip so I could be sure they would work when needed.

At the D-day, I was worrying everything had to be cancelled because the day was so windy that I could feel my house swaying left and right. Sometimes I was also worried that the tree where my house was on would fall, so I braced myself with all soft things I could find in my house. While I was waiting for the wind to calm down, suddenly I heard something from one window of my house. I went to the window and saw Margalo on its other side, being pressed by the wind. I quickly opened the window to let her slide in, and then she entered my house along with a strong wind. I quickly closed the window again and she landed on the table in my living room.

"Are you okay Margalo?" I asked, approaching her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What a windy day today, isn't it?" she said.

"Indeed," I said, sitting down on the sofa right in front of the table.

"I was just doing my daily work this morning, and then suddenly this strong wind blew me away and I ended up right here!" she said.

"Make yourself at home while waiting for the wind to calm down," I said.

"Thanks," she replied.

"By the way, how's your sis?" I asked.

"She's doing great! Now all of us have a lot of friends in the Berry Fairy Fields!" she answered with excitement.

"That's good to hear," I said.

"Although, I worry about this one fairy..." she said.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Sherry Bobbleberry. She's so clumsy that nobody wants to be her friend," she answered.

"Did you try to befriend her?" I asked again.

"I did, but you know..." she said, pausing for a moment. "Her clumsiness makes it hard to like her. That's also one reason she's still F.W.F.P.F.C."

"Fairy World Fairy Princess..." I said, trying to remember the abbreviations.

"Fourth Class," she continued for me. Then she looked outside the window and sighed. "I'm worried that this wind will blow her away like how it did to me."

"I wish I could do something," I said.

"You can of course. You can make devices right? Make a weather controller," she said.

"I actually have already made one a long time ago," I said, remembering about that one device.

"Then use it, will you?" she said.

"Give me Misty Lady!" I said to my backpack, which I had put beside me.

"What?" she asked as my backpack threw a device with the shape of a libra scale with buttons. The scale on each side was shaped like a sun and a cloud.

"This is Misty Lady, a weather controller I have made," I said, putting the device on the table.

"How does it work?" she asked.

"Press this main button, and tilt the scale to the weather you want, but..." I said.

"Right away!" she said, immediately pressing the main button and tilting the sun side all the way down.

"No!" I shouted, but it was too late. The device let out a bright light, seeming to explode anytime soon. I quickly grabbed it, ran to the nearest window, opened the window, and threw the device out. Soon there was a very bright light coming from the outside along with a loud sound, and when we realized it the weather had become really nice.

"Umm, did I screw up?" Margalo said, seeming to feel guilty.

"Kind of actually. Half centimeter is already enough to stop the wind, but you overcharged it," I said.

"Oh..." she said.

"This is why I'm not sure about using it. The scale is too sensitive and one wrong move can result in what just happened," I said.

"But hey, now the weather's really nice," she said, flying towards the window where I had thrown Misty Lady.

"Not really. Now the weather will be really hot for a few days. I'm glad that it is summer now. If it was winter, the snow would melt and cause flood all over Strawberryland," I said, looking outside.

"Snow...? Flood...? Oh no!" Margalo shouted.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Gumball Bluff! Snow always covers its top, and Berry Fairy Fields is just down the hill from there!" she said.

"What?! If the snow melts the Berry Fairy Fields will be flooded!" I said, surprised by her words.

"Exactly! Everyone is doomed and it's all my fault!" she said in panic, and then suddenly someone rang the doorbell. I opened the door and it turned out the guests were the girls I had made a promise to travel with, with the addition of Huck.

"Hi, Blackberry. We're here for the special trip," Angel said.

"I invited everyone else, but they are tired, busy, or already have a plan for today," Blueberry said. "Except Huck, so he is coming along."

"Hey, Margalo! You are here too?" Orange said, noticing Margalo.

"I'm happy to see you come, but the time is not right..." I said, then I explained what had happened.

"That's really bad," Rainbow said. "Is there anything we can do?"

"I have no idea about this," Blueberry said.

"Do you have any device for this?" Huck asked me.

"No, and weather control device is hard to make. Repairing that broken one or making a new one will take three days," I answered.

"That will be too late!" Angel said.

"Now everyone will hate me for sure," Margalo said.

"Hey, maybe we can ask Old Man Winter to help us?" Orange said.

"Old Man Winter?" I asked.

"He's the one who brings winter season," Orange replied.

"Oh, like Spring?" Angel asked. "Where can we find him?"

"He, along with Spring and the others, lives in what they call Land of Seasons," Orange said. "It's very far from here."

"I see. Give me Time Remote Mark II!" I said to my backpack and it gave me the device. "Land of Seasons!"

A dimension door appeared for us to jump in, and everyone jumped in. I was the last to jump in because I took my backpack first before following them. When we came out, we were standing on an open field of grass. We walked around for a few minutes looking for the Old Man Winter whom Orange had mentioned, but it was of no success. However, suddenly we heard a voice.

"Hey, kids. What are you doing here in the Land of Seasons?" the voice asked. We looked around but we saw nobody. "I'm up here!" the voice said again, and we looked upwards. There was a boy quite older than us wearing green shirts with flower images on it, brown trousers, and beach sandals. He was floating with what seemed like crane wings on his back. His hair was short and black like mine.

"Hi, Summer. They are my friends," Margalo said.

"Isn't that Margalo? It's been a while since the last time we met," Summer said.

"You know him already?" I asked.

"Yes, this is Summer. The one who brings summer season. We berry fairies know all the season bringers because we have been having a cooperation since a long time ago," Margalo answered.

"Cooperation?" Blueberry asked.

"We bring seasons to the land, and then the berry fairies maintain the crops suitable for each season. It's just that simple," Summer said. "Anyway, what happened that you come here?"

I then explained all that had happened in my house. Summer listened to my words seriously that sometimes his face expression turned into what seemed like anger, which kinda scared me. But he seemed to notice so he changed it back. When I finished, he sighed and began speaking.

"Nature is not something to play with, you know," he said, which rendered me speechless.

"It was my fault, Summer. Don't blame him," Margalo said.

"He made the device in the first place," Summer replied. "Anyway, Old Man Winter is sleeping right there. But I don't know if you can wake him up."

"Right there where?" Margalo asked.

"The place you have been worrying about. Gumball Bluff," Summer replied. "There's a cave on its top, which leads all the way to the heart of the hill. Old Man Winter sleeps there."

"I see. We will go there right away," I said.

"Good luck in waking him up though. And kid, I say this to you: Don't control weather unless it's really needed. Promise me okay?" Summer said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Umm... okay, I promise," I replied and he smiled.

We then went to Gumball Bluff with the usual dimension door. Indeed the place where we ended up was covered in snow. However, even with all the snow we didn't feel cold at all. Not to mention that I noticed that some parts of the hill were slowly melting.

"Where's the cave Summer mentioned?" Rainbow asked, looking around.

"Let's split up and look around," Huck suggested, and everyone agreed. The search continued for a few minutes until someone yelled.

"I found it, everyone! There is a cave here!" Margalo yelled and everyone came to her. Indeed there was a cave with its entrance big enough for us all to enter.

"Well done, Margalo," Angel said.

"Let's go in," Orange said, and all of us went inside. Margalo, who was the last to enter, noticed something after all of us had entered the cave by quite a number of steps.

"Huh?" Margalo said, looking towards the entrance which was barely visible because of the distance.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking at her. I also could see that there was a blizzard outside the cave, but it was a small one which probably would stop soon.

"I think I heard someone yelling ``Help! Not more wind!`` out there," she replied, still looking towards the entrance.

"I didn't hear anything. Maybe you just imagined that?" Blueberry said.

"Yeah... maybe," Margalo said, and the trip continued.

We walked for the next few minutes. The further we walked the light became darker and darker until the point where we could barely see our own hands.

"Everyone, are you still there?" I asked, stopping my steps.

"I'm right here!" A voice I recognized as Huck replied.

"Blueberry? Orange? Angel? Rainbow? Margalo?" I shouted, and then I heard answers from each of them.

"I'm here," Blueberry answered.

"Right here," Angel said.

"Over here," Orange answered.

"Ahoy!" Rainbow said.

"Anybody has lights? I can't see anything here!" Margalo shouted.

"Wait a moment. Give me my flashlight!" I said, and my backpack threw a flashlight into my grip. "Give me Replicator!"

My backpack then gave me the device I wanted, and I used the device to make copies of my flashlight until the amount was enough for everyone. I didn't make a copy for Margalo because she was too small to carry the flashlight. After I threw Replicator into my backpack, the trip continued.

"Stop, everyone!" Huck suddenly said.

"What is it?" Orange asked as everyone stopped their steps.

"There's a staircase leading down. Watch your steps," he replied, continuing his steps.

The staircase we had found was a very long one. The time we spent walking down the spiraling staircase felt like hours, or maybe it was really hours. Nobody was aware of time, and the trip continued without anyone talking much.

"Stop, everyone!" Huck suddenly said.

"What is it again?" Angel asked as everyone stopped their steps.

"The staircase... ends here," he answered.

"A dead end?" I asked from behind.

"No... from here it's... it's a slide made from ice," he answered.

"A slide? We have to slide?" Angel asked, surprised.

"It looks like so," he said.

"No way. It looks dangerous," Angel said, looking at the slide.

"But if we don't, we won't find Old Man Winter," Blueberry said.

"Alright. I'll go first," Rainbow said, stepping forward.

"Be careful," Huck said.

"I will," she replied and went down the slide. "Wheeee!"

"Who next?" Huck asked.

"Why not you yourself?" Angel said.

"Alright..." he answered, going down the slide. "Woohoo!"

"Blueberry..." Angel said, looking at Blueberry.

"Why not going yourself instead of keeping asking other people?" Blueberry asked back. Angel Cake was speechless.

"Okay, I'm next," Orange said, going down the slide. "Aaaaa!"

All of the sudden, there was a vibration inside the cave. The rest of us hugged each other to brace ourselves. When the vibration stopped, it all seemed to be over. However, soon I heard a sound of water.

"Oh, no... water is coming down here!" I said.

"What?! What should we do?" Angel asked, starting to panic.

"Jump down the slide. That's the only way!" Blueberry said.

"What? No way... I'm scared," Angel replied.

"Jump by yourself, or you would rather wait until the water makes you do it?" Blueberry said.

"Oh, alright..." Angel said, going to jump into the slide. She trembled and doubted at first, but then she jumped down. "Aaaaaa!"

"I hope you'll follow quickly, Blackberry," Blueberry said, going down. "Wooow!"

"Come here, Margalo," I said to Margalo while throwing my backpack into the slide. "Stay in my hands."

"Okay," Margalo replied, coming to me. Then I held her in my grip and went down the slide. I started to slide down just right before the surge of water arrived. I didn't scream like the others while sliding, but I was quite scared not only because I was sliding at high speed, but also because a large surge of water was right behind me. The slide continued for the next one minute until I saw a glimpse of light ahead. After entering the light, I realized that I ended up in a spacious room made from ice. Everyone else were there waiting for me, and Huck already got my backpack.

"Run!" I said, getting up and starting to run as fast as I could. Soon the surge of water came out from the hole I had come from, and everyone ran away from it. We ran as fast as we could, but the water was faster. The situation seemed hopeless, but suddenly we noticed an old man standing at a distance in front of us.

"Get down and slide, kids!" the old man shouted. We did as he said, and he waved his hand towards the surge of water. A big blue crescent appeared and went past right above us. Then it hit the water surge, creating a bright light. When we regained our sight, we saw that the surge of water had become ice.

"Thank you, sir. You saved us," Blueberry said as everyone stood up.

"Old Man Winter! It's nice to see you again!" Orange said.

"He is Old Man Winter?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes, I am Old Man Winter, dear," the old man said. Then he sighed and continued, "Can't get much rest this year. That quake woke me up from my sleep."

"I'm sorry..." Margalo said.

"It's fine, my dear. And I suppose the snow above is melting, right?" he said.

"Yes, that's right," Margalo said.

"I have stopped it from melting more, but I can't do much about the parts that had already melted before I woke up," he said.

"What?! Berry Fairy Fields will still be flooded?!" Margalo said, surprised.

"Don't worry, dear. Look at this," Old Man Winter said, waving his hand. A large plate of ice appeared, and then Old Man Winter took an ice crystal from his pocket. The crystal then emitted a light onto the plate, and then images of the berry fairies working together to make a dam appeared like if we were watching a large TV.

"See, they can take care of themselves, dear," Old Man Winter said.

"Hey, isn't that Strawberry Shortcake?" Rainbow said, pointing at the plate.

"And that's Ginger Snap!" Orange said, also pointing at the plate.

"Have the berry fairies grown large or..." I asked, noticing that the two girls were the same size as the berry fairies. But then I saw Custard and Pupcake being much larger than them. "Our two friends shrunk?"

"Yes, you have to be smaller to fit in our world," Margalo said, then I remembered that I also had shrunk in Dream Fairy Fields. We kept watching until we saw that the dam was a success in repelling the water surge that came later.

"I'm relieved," Margalo said.

"I believe we all are," I said, then Old Man Winter put the crystal back into his pocket and waved his hand to make the plate of ice disappeared.

"Now that it is over, I'm going back to sleep. I expect to meet you again at winter," he said, waving his hand once more. A bed made of ice appeared and then he lied down there.

"Wait! How can we get out of here?" Angel asked, but it was too late because soon a bright light appeared, and when we regained our vision Old Man Winter had been already encased in ice.

"That's Old Man Winter. Always leaves us to find the way ourselves," Margalo said.

"Not much of a problem, though. Give me my backpack, Huck," I said and he returned my backpack. "Give me Time Remote Mark II."

The backpack then gave me the device I wanted. Then I asked everyone, "Where shall we go now?"

"I want to see Strawberry and Ginger," Angel said.

"Me too," Orange said.

"I'd like to," Blueberry said.

"I think we all do," Huck said.

"Okay. Berry Fairy Fields!" I said, and a dimension door appeared for us to jump in. When we came out, the city of the berry fairies was right in front of us.

"Let's go in," Huck said in high-pitched voice. "Hey, what happened to my voice?"

"What... huh? My voice too," Orange said, then she looked at Margalo who was already the same size as us.

"It's the side effect of being smaller than usual," Margalo said. "It will be gone once you return to your normal size."

"Where are Strawberry and the others?" Blueberry asked.

"Probably at Her Highness' castle," Margalo answered.

"Can we go there?" Rainbow asked.

"Today is Her Highness' birthday, and everyone's invited to come. So yes, we can go there," Margalo replied.

We then walked through the city and later arrived at the Berry Fairy Queen's castle. At the front yard we saw a group of fairies cheering over one fairy in purple. We also saw Strawberry and Ginger standing next to the fairy.

"Sherry Bobbleberry? You have the tiara? You did it!" Margalo shouted in joy, noticing the tiara worn by the fairy in purple, who seemed to be Sherry Bobbleberry according to the name Margalo had mentioned.

"Margalo! I did it! Now I'm first class!" Sherry said in excitement, coming to Margalo and then hugged her.

"Margalo! I'm happy to see you again!" Strawberry said, approaching Margalo.

"My oh my oh my! Looks like all our friends are here as well! Bet nobody ever expected it. Nope, not ever!" Ginger said, noticing us.

"Now why so many outsiders in Her Royal Highness' royal palace?" a fairy in cyan said, looking at us.

"Everyone's invited, Periwinkle. So that's not a problem," a fairy who seemed to be the Berry Fairy Queen said.

"All right if Your Highness say so. But once the party is over, the outsiders have to leave, right?" Periwinkle asked, approaching the Berry Fairy Queen.

"Yes, but they are welcome to return here anytime in the future," the Berry Fairy Queen said.

"What?! But... okay, as you wish, Your Highness," Periwinkle said.

And so, the party at the Berry Fairy Queen's castle continued. Everyone in the party had a wonderful time with all the music, food, and everything else there. The party was over when the sky was starting to get dark.

"I think it's time for us to leave," I said to Margalo.

"I hope you will come again someday," Margalo said.

"We will," Huck said. "This is a very nice place to visit."

"Absoloo-tely" Blueberry said as I made the dimension door to Strawberryland.

"Bye for now," I said, and I jumped into the dimension door. Everybody else followed soon after.

We ended up right in front of Strawberry's house, and I was sure that we were in the correct Strawberryland because I had saved the world in the remote just like Greenhill. With proper farewell, Strawberry entered her house.

"Strawberry! Where you go?" we heard a voice we recognized as Apple from the house after Strawberry entered.

"You know, sometimes I feel that Strawberry does not care much about her little sister..." I said as we all started to walk away.

"Well, I don't know about that," Angel said.

"I mean, she just left her sister in the house alone, and it has happened not only once or twice," I said.

"We can talk all day about that, but let's not," Blueberry said. "As long as we don't see Apple complaining, it'll be just fine."

"Well, okay if you say so," I said, and the walk continued until we arrived at Cookie Corners and Ginger Snap left us.

"Sorry that we didn't get to do any special trip after all," I said as we all walked.

"Huh? But we did a special trip," Orange said.

"Yeah, it was really a great one," Rainbow said.

"Huh? So you count our trip to Old Man Winter as a special trip?" I asked.

"Of course! That was really great, especially that slide," Huck said.

"Absoloo-tely the best trip I've ever had," Blueberry said.

"But it was really scary..." Angel said.

"I told you that it wouldn't be as good as you think," I said.

"Yeah, but it was still great for me, although it was scary..." Angel said. "Did something like that happen in your trips before?"

"Kinda, and Raspberry was always the unlucky one. In the first trip she was almost eaten by a crocodile," I replied, which surprised everyone else. "And then in the second trip... well, she got captured and held hostage until rescued."

"Your special trip sure is... special," Huck said, and we arrived in one point where we separated and went to each own home.

--End of Chapter 20--

Quote:Chapter 19: Dark Berry Fairies


Two days have passed since our last visit to the Land of Dreams. During the two days I didn't leave my house because I was busy doing maintenance works on all my devices. Nobody visited me so I didn't know what had happened in Strawberryland. I had finished the works so I decided to go out and see if I could meet someone. My first visit was of course Huck's fort, the one closest from my house. I went there and when I arrived I saw that Apple was there as well.

"Apple Dumplin' is here too huh?" I said.

"Yeah, it looks like Strawberry is busy at her house again," Huck said.

"As always, what's happening this time?" I asked.

"There's an injured fairy at her house and everyone, I mean she, Angel Cake, Orange Blossom, Ginger Snap, and Blueberry Muffin are taking care of her," Huck said.

"Apple Dumplin' too little again," Apple said with upset tone.

"You don't come there?" I asked Huck.

"You should see for yourself. Everyone's serving her like a queen already. No need to add more," he answered.

"By the way, you said ``fairy`` right? What fairy?" I asked.

"Well, I heard that she's a berry fairy," he answered.

"Berry fairy...?" I asked, remembering about my one random thought.

"She said that without her our berries would be green as hard as rocks. At least that's what Strawberry told me," he answered.

Later I went home thinking about what we had talked about. When I received the letter from the dream fairies I had a random thought about the existence of berry fairies, looking at the size of the berries in Strawberryland. However, I had not expected that it would have been true. While walking home I suddenly noticed that all the berries around were in bad condition. They were brown, small, and wrinkled.

"Oh, no. Is this because the berry fairy isn't doing her job?" I said, looking at the dying berries.

I quickly went home and met Raspberry along with Lemon right in front of it. They told me that the berries around their place were also dying and they asked if I could do something about it.

"Probably this is because the berry fairy isn't doing her job," I said.

"You mean, the one in Strawberry's house now?" Raspberry asked.

"Who else? I might be able to do something but I can't promise it," I answered, taking Nature's Blessing from my shelf.

We went to the outfield of Strawberryland, towards one place which I estimated to be the center of the whole region. I then put the device under one bush and turned it on. Because I felt the area it covered by default was not enough, I pressed its overcharge button to significantly increase the coverage. It then let out a green aura and the dying berries around started to recover. However, their color ended up green instead of their usual colors.

"Did we did it?" Lemon asked.

"I think not," Raspberry said.

"Let's see," I said, checking one of the berries. "Green and as hard as rock."

"At least... they don't look dying anymore," Lemon said.

"Yeah... looks like my device is only an emergency stop gap. We still need the berry fairy," I said, taking Nature's Blessing which started to let out black smokes because of the overcharge.

"But look at the time," Lemon said, pointing at the setting sun.

"Yeah, let's go to her tomorrow," Raspberry said.

Each of us then went to each own house. I spent the rest of the day repairing Nature's Blessing, and after I finished I went to sleep. I woke up a little bit late at the next day. I then had my breakfast and went towards Strawberry's house, meeting Raspberry and Lemon on the way.

"You woke up late too?" I asked.

"Yeah... I cannot sleep last night," Raspberry said.

"Me neither," Lemon said.

"How come?" I asked again.

"How could I sleep with the dying berries in my mind?" Raspberry asked back.

"Me too," Lemon added.

However, as we had conversation, I noticed that the berries around were already at their usual color.

"Look, the berries!" I said, running towards one strawberry and checked on it. "Red, and ripe."

"So the fairy is back on the job. I'm glad," Raspberry said.

"Me too," Lemon said.

"I guess there's no need for us to go to Strawberry's place anymore right?" I said.

"Yeah I guess," Raspberry said.

"By the way, want to have a trip again?" I asked, taking Time Remote Mark II from my pocket and showing it to the two girls.

"Great idea! Let's do it!" Raspberry said with excitement.

"I'll go home and change first," Lemon said.

"I'll also go home to change and take my backpack," I said.

"I'll ask if there's anybody else to come along," Raspberry said. "We will meet at your house."

I then went home, changed into my hiking outfit, and took my backpack. Then I waited as told by Raspberry until a few minutes later I heard a doorbell. I opened the door and it turned out that nobody else wanted to come along because the guests were only Raspberry and Lemon.

"Some are busy, some others are tired, some others already had a plan for today," Raspberry said.

"I see. Well, it can actually be good," I said.

"Why is that?" Lemon asked.

"I have been wondering where the dream fairies have taken Ginger's Dream Boat away. If there's nobody else with us we can try looking for it," I said.

"Sounds interesting. Let's do it," Raspberry said.

"Ginger Snap's Dream Boat!" I said to the remote and it made a dimension door where we jumped into.

When we came out, Raspberry noticed that we were in Dream Boat's engine room. We then went to the deck and see if we could look around the boat and find where it was put. Looking at the bright sun above and the scenery around, I could recognize that the boat was put in Strawberryland, but I didn't know which part of Strawberryland.

"This is Strawberryland right?" Raspberry asked.

"I think so," Lemon said.

"Lollipop trees, gumball mountain and all, how could this not be Strawberryland?" I said.

"Then which part of Strawberryland?" Raspberry asked.

"I don't know. I can't recognize this area," I answered, leaning my back on the fence of the edge. "The letter I once got told me that this boat has been entrusted to another group of fairies,"

"That would be us, the berry fairies," a voice said from behind. I looked on the source and saw a fairy with orange hair and green dress.

"And you're...?" Raspberry said.

"Margalo B. Berryglow. F.W.F.P.F.C." the fairy answered.

"F.W... what?" Lemon asked.

"Fairy World Fairy Princess First Class," Margalo answered. "Anyway, you have to get out of here quick!"

"Why is that?" Raspberry asked.

"Just get out of here before..." she answered before there was an interruption.

"Intruders! Get them!" a voice yelled and a group of three fairies dressed in darker outfits came.

"Oh, too late..." Margalo said with a sigh.

"What's happening? Who are they?" Raspberry asked.

"Intruders have no right to speak!" one of the dark fairies said, waving her wand. Suddenly a cloth appeared around Raspberry's mouth and gagged her. At the same time another dark fairy waved her wand and materialized ropes which then tied Raspberry's arms and legs, resulting her fall to the floor.

"Raspberry!" Lemon yelled, running to Raspberry. However, the last dark fairy waved her wand.

I didn't just stand and watch everything happening. I quickly bumped the tip of my right shoe to the floor three times, resulting both of my shoes having bright lights around them. Then with unbelievable speed I ran to Lemon, grabbed her, and jumped out of the Dream Boat. I landed on the ground well but I could feel a lot of pain on my legs. I ignored the pain anyway and continued to run away.

"They got away!" one dark fairy said.

"No worries, Tina," another dark fairy said.

"Why no worries, Rose?" the last dark fairy asked.

"I bet they will come back for their friend, won't they Stephanie?" Rose answered with smile, looking at Raspberry who was looking back at them with anger but couldn't do anything because she couldn't even move her body at all. "And what are you doing here, Margalo?"

"Rose, I... I..." Margalo answered timidly.

"I don't have time to talk with you. Go away," Rose said.

"But Rose... please..." Margalo begged.

"I said... Go away!" Rose answered with high voice, and Margalo unwillingly left the place.

Meanwhile, I was still running carrying Lemon. The last fairy's magic had already taken effect because I noticed Lemon was already bound and gagged. The pain on my legs kept getting worse and I could see black smokes starting to come out from my shoes, so I quickly entered the first forest I could see and kept running until I felt I had entered deep enough. Then I stopped under one of the trees and put Lemon there.

"Give me... my scissor," I said to my backpack and it gave me a scissor. I then used it to free Lemon from her bondage.

"Blackberry, what actually happened? Who were they?" Lemon asked once I removed her gag.

"I'm as clueless... as you are... Lemon," I answered, running out of breath.

"We have to help Raspberry!" she said.

"We will... but first I have to... ugh..." I replied, trying to sit down leaning to the tree. I could see thick black smokes coming out from both of my shoes, which were black from the burn. The pain on them was so bad I felt like I could faint anytime soon.

"Give me... Phoenix Tear..." I said to the backpack and it gave me the metal sphere. I then used it on my legs and then the pain disappeared, although my shoes were still toast and my stamina was still depleted.

"What did you actually do?" Lemon asked.

"My shoes... were actually devices I have made... since long time ago..." I answered. Then with breath running out I slowly told her that my shoes were actually capable of giving me the ability to run as swift as the wind, at the cost of what she had seen. The name of the shoes was Quickflash.

"It's only... for emergency..." I said, then I fainted because of the fatigue. Later when I woke up, I realized that I was still under the same tree but I also noticed that the fairy in green was with us as well.

"Aren't you... Margalo?" I asked. "How did you find us?"

"It was not that hard to follow your trail, you know," Margalo replied, looking at the trail of burnt footprints I had left. "Don't worry. They are not chasing you."

"How long have I been sleeping?" I asked.

"Only one hour," Lemon answered. "Margalo came a few minutes after you fainted."

"I see. Could you explain about what have happened?" I asked Margalo.

"Well... umm..." Margalo said in doubt.

"They got our friend. We need to know who they are and why they did that," I said.

"Alright..." she said, pausing for a moment. "They are dark berry fairies."

"Dark berry fairies?" I asked.

"They are the same as us berry fairies, at least they were, but they cause nothing but trouble," she explained.

"How come they became like that?" Lemon asked.

Then, Margalo told us that originally the dark berry fairies were the same berry fairies like others, but because they had used a forbidden magic as a desperate measure when they were chased by a crow, the negative energy from the magic affected their mind and they became what we had seen. Dream Boat was originally put there without any use, but the Berry Fairy Queen later used it to exile the dark berry fairies until they could find a cure.

"Her Royal Highness' magic was put around it so none of the dark berry fairies can leave the boat," Margalo said. "And no berry fairies can enter too,"

"But we could get out," Lemon said.

"It seems the magic does not affect humans," Margalo replied.

"Can they be cured?" I asked.

"Until now there's no known cure," Margalo said.

"Are those three the only dark berry fairies?" I asked.

"Yes..." she answered.

"May I know who they are?" I asked.

"They are Tina Tulip, Stephanie Starfruit, and... Rose B. Berryglow..." she answered with a deep sigh.

"Wait! The last one... Rose B. Berryglow? And your name is Margalo B. Berryglow..." I noticed the similar names.

"You're right..." she said with tears leaking. "One of them is my sister. It happened to her two days ago when I was away..."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that..." Lemon said.

"I was chased by a crow too yesterday, but I got help. I should have used the magic, so I can be with Rose now..." Margalo said, crying.

"No, you should not," I said.

"Huh?" she asked.

"If you become a dark berry fairy, who will help your sister?" I asked back, which seemed to strike her mind directly. She thought for a while and then I said to her, "Let's go back there to help your sister,"

"But your legs..." Lemon said.

"Only burnt shoes. Phoenix Tear has completely healed the wounds," I replied, removing my shoes, throwing them into my backpack, and standing up. "Let's go."

"Yeah, let's go," Margalo said, seeming to have regained her spirit. All of us then began walking back to the Dream Boat.


Meanwhile, in the engine room of Dream Boat, Raspberry was held captive by the three dark berry fairies. She was sitting on the floor leaning to the wall of the room, still bound and gagged. On her side was Rose floating around with anxiety.

"Ugh... guard duty is so boring!" Rose yelled. "Why I never get lucky in flipping coins?!"

"Mmph..." Raspberry mumbled.

"What is it? You want to say something?" Rose asked.

"Mmph..." Raspberry mumbled again.

"Tsk... fine, go ahead and speak," Rose said, waving her wand and then Raspberry's gag disappeared. The latter then took a deep breath.

"At least give some room to breathe. It was killing me you know," Raspberry said, panting.

"Oh, I thought you would yell ``let me go!`` repeatedly with anger," Rose said, a little bit surprised.

"Hmph, like if you would do that if I did," Raspberry replied.

"Oh... yeah you're right. I won't," Rose said with a giggle.

"See?" Raspberry said and both of them giggled.

"You know, I'm starting to like you. My name is Rose B. Berryglow," Rose said, offering her hand.

"I'm Raspberry Torte. But you see, we can't do a handshake," Raspberry said and both of them giggled again. Then suddenly Raspberry's face expression changed.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"Your name... Rose B. Berryglow? Margalo's surname is the same as yours... that means..." Raspberry said

"Yes, Margalo is my sister," Rose said.

"You have bad relationship with her?" Raspberry asked.

"No, we are inseparable. I mean... we were inseparable" Rose said.

"Then why...?" Raspberry asked before an interruption came.

"What are you doing, Rose?!" Another fairy came in yelling. "Why did you release the hostage's gag?!"

"Guard duty is boring so I decided to talk with her. Do you mind Tina?!" Rose replied.

"Ha! You talk with the hostage? I thought the hostage would just yell ``let me go!`` repeatedly," Tina said.

"Hmph, I'm not that stupid to do such useless thing," Raspberry said, looking away from Tina.

"Rose! You...!" Tina said, and then there was a brief silence. "May I join? It's been so long since the last time I talk with someone other than you and Stephanie."

"Be my guest," Rose said, and a happy conversation continued for a while until the last dark berry fairy entered the scene.

"Well well well, having fun talking with the hostage?" the fairy asked with her hands on her hip and angry face.

"Yeah, so what? Anything wrong with that Stephanie?" Tina asked back.

"Yes, there is something very wrong with that," Stephanie said, and there was a brief silence. "You did not invite me to join! I like having conversations!" She said with a smile, and then she joined the conversation. The conversation continued in a very happy manner, and Raspberry enjoyed the conversation with the dark berry fairies even though the ropes started to hurt her. During all the talks she also learned about the origin of the dark berry fairies and their exile in the Dream Boat. The conversation kept going on for quite a while.

"Now I only hope for my friends to rescue me," Raspberry said, looking upwards.

"You still have faith in your friends?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes of course. I believe in them," Raspberry answered.

"Even after you saw them running away?" Tina asked.

"They will come back for me. I'm sure of it," Raspberry said.

"I wish I could be as faithful as you..." Rose said.

"Oh, you sure can," Raspberry said.

"No, I can't. If any of my friends does something wrong I will lose faith of them, and then the friendship will be ruined," Rose said.

"Anyone can do something wrong sometimes. Even I did," Raspberry said and there was a brief pause. "But my friends never lost faith on me. I should do the same to them."

"But you know... we of course won't let that to happen," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, if they come back we will stop them. We will even try to capture them and put them here with you," Tina said.

"Then what will you do afterwards?" Raspberry asked.

"Well, exchange you all for our freedom I think," Rose said.

"Don't be silly, Rose. You know that the Queen does not care much about outsiders," Stephanie said.

"Then what to do with the hostages once we have them?" Rose asked. Nobody could answer so there was a silence for a few moments.

"You want friends... I can feel that," Raspberry said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Tina asked.

"She's right..." Rose said. "Deep inside my heart I am desperate for friends..."

"Now that you mention it... you're right... I want friends..." Stephanie said.

"When I was still a berry fairy, nobody wanted to be my friend..." Tina said.

"My attitude was so miserable that nobody was willing to be close to me. Everytime someone see me, they go away," Rose said. "After I became a dark berry fairy, things became even worse."

"Same..." Tina and Stephanie said at the same time.

"Tina... Rose... I think it's time for us to change," Stephanie said.

"Yes. Let's ask for Her Highness' forgiveness and change ourselves towards the better," Tina said.

"I know it will be difficult, but we need to have faith. I know we can do it," Rose said, and the three fairies had a group hug. Suddenly, while they had their tender moments, a bright light covered them. Then black mist came out from their bodies and disappeared to the outside. Their outfit was no longer dark, which meant they were no longer dark berry fairies. They had reverted back into berry fairies.

"Oh! Look, we are back!" Tina said, and the three of them were overjoyed. "Oh, don't worry Raspberry. We didn't forget you," She said, waving her wand. Then Raspberry was released from the ropes.

"So in the end I rescued myself," Raspberry said, getting up into standing position.

"I helped a little. But yeah, you rescued yourself," a voice said, which Raspberry recognized as my voice.

"Blackberry? Where are you?" she asked, looking around.

"I'm right here," I said, taking Blind Spot from my shirt with my left hand so I became visible again. I also had Inner Heart in my right hand. Nobody there realized that I secretly shot all the three fairies with it right after Raspberry had spoken about them having desire for friends.

"You were watching everything?" Rose asked.

"Not really. I came in at the same time Stephanie did. But yeah I watched everything afterwards," I said, throwing the two devices upwards for my backpack to suck them in. "Thanks for your trust on us, Raspberry."

"Hmph!" Raspberry replied, looking away from me. I could notice her blushing.

"Sis!" a voice was heard. I then saw Margalo flying in and quickly hugged Rose.

"I'm sorry, sis. I should have not used that magic," Rose said.

"It's okay. Now that you are here I could care less," Margalo said with tears of joy, still hugging Rose.

"But how...? The barrier..." Tina asked, wondering how Margalo got inside.

"Her Highness told me that the barrier would disappear once all of you were no longer dark berry fairies," Margalo answered.

"Raspberry!" Lemon shouted, running in. Then she hugged Raspberry tight.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. But I won't be fine if you keep hugging me," Raspberry said, running out of breath.

"Oh, sorry. I was so happy to see you well," Lemon said, releasing her hug.

"I know, but don't overdo it," Raspberry said.

Later, the three of us decided to go home and rest because Raspberry's body still felt strange after being tied up for quite a while, and I needed to get new shoes to replace Quickflash which had become a pile of ash. So all of us had the final conversation on Dream Boat's deck. I already had Time Remote Mark II in my hand by that time.

"We will return to Berry Fairy Fields and start over," Tina said.

"We will try to get friends," Stephanie said.

"It will be hard, but we have faith in ourselves," Rose said.

"You know, all of you already look like friends," I remarked, and they looked at each other. There was a brief silence.

"You're right. I didn't realize that..." Stephanie said.

"Me too..." Tina said.

"Same for me..." Rose said.

"Sounds like a good start, right sis?" Margalo said. "Even better, Strawberry Shortcake taught me how to make new friends. We do what she told me and we all will make new friends in no time."

"You said Strawberry Shortcake?" I asked, noticing the name Margalo mentioned.

"Yes, I was in her place and... I did a few mistakes, but in the end she taught me how to make friends," she replied.

"I see. I suppose it's goodbye for now," I said, pressing Time Remote Mark II's repeat button. "I wish you luck for making new friends,"

"Thank you!" All of the fairies replied, and the three of us jumped into the dimension door that had appeared.


--End of Chapter 19--

Quote:Chapter 18: Reunion Dream


Summer had come once again. None of us had heard any more news about Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes, and they were yet to come again to Strawberryland. Over these weeks I had remade Scarecrow and also had repaired Time Remote Mark II although I had promised myself not to use it again unless needed, looking at its low reliability. All in all, things have been going normally without anything special after the time I was locked up by Pie Man along with Peppermint, Rainbow, and Apricot.

One day, I decided to visit Ginger at her house. I thought maybe she would give me some inspirations for new devices because I haven't had any idea at all until then. I walked all the way to Cookie Corners without any trouble, and when I arrived at her house she was nowhere to be found. I thought that maybe she was in her cookie factory so I went there. My thought was right because as I approached the factory I started to hear noise of someone working. I then entered the factory and saw Ginger making some kind of device.

"Hi, Ginger. What are you making now?" I asked.

"Oh hi, Blackberry. I'm now making something that will be great! Yep it sure will!" she answered.

"Oh, do you need help?" I asked.

"Well, I will make this in the same amount as our friends, so maybe you can look at me making one and then you can make more of them for me, huh will ya Blackberry?" she replied.

"Eh, okay." I said.

Actually I could just go back home and take Replicator to make copies of the device, but I thought that it wouldn't be interesting so I approached her and took a closer look at the thing she was making. At first I didn't know what it was, but as she made progress I started to realize it.

"Ginger...isn't this a TV?" I asked.

"Yep it sure is, but my real newest invention won't be just this. There will be more so just wait and see will ya huh?" she said.

"If it is really just a TV, I can start right away." I said.

"Okay, the materials are right there. Go ahead and use them as you like." she replied.

I was a little bit disappointed because the device she was making was no more than an ordinary TV. I had thought that it would had been something great like she had said to me, but because I had agreed I went to her material shelves and started making more TVs.

"Oh, and make them different for each friend will ya Blackberry? Same shape will be boring am I right?" she said.

"All right, got it." I replied.

In the next few hours we were done making televisions for everybody in Strawberryland, with different shapes for each friend. Delivery was not hard at all with the help of my Falcon and Telekinator. After we were done with deliveries, I wondered what would be the use of the TVs, especially that there were no TV stations anywhere nearby. The simple antenna each TV had would not be enough to get any channels. After the last delivery, which was my own house, I asked Ginger about that.

"By the way, what will be the use of the TVs?" I asked.

"What else huh Blackberry? For watching of course am I right?" she answered.

"I mean, there are no stations anywhere nearby. I doubt the antenna each TV has will be enough." I said.

"That's why I said my invention wouldn't be just that, isn't it?" she said.

"You're going to make your own station? Cameras, lights and all?" I asked.

"Yep that's what I'll do. Yessire!" she replied with excitement.

"Okay, good luck with that." I said.

After she left, I tried turning on the TV and saw that the antenna was indeed not enough to get any channels. I then turned it off and lied down on my bed hoping that I would get an idea of something interesting to do. After thinking for a while I fell asleep without getting any idea.

In that sleep, I dreamt about a sea of stars and I was flying through them in high speed. In the flight I saw not only the stars but also a comet flying around, planets with and without rings, asteroids, and all in all they made a very beautiful view. While I was enjoying the scenery suddenly I saw a huge comet flying right to me. I was very afraid of the impact I would have with the comet and because of the panic I only could stay there and brace myself. At the very last second I woke up from my bed.

"What a dream..." I said to myself. Then I suddenly remembered something about dream but still couldn't get it from the top of my head. After thinking for some more seconds I remembered about the Land of Dreams. It had been a very long time since the time I, along with Raspberry and Lemon, had been exiled from the place. I had a thought about visiting the place again, so I went to Raspberry's and Lemon's house to ask if they would come along with me.

"Visiting Land of Dreams?" Raspberry asked after I told her. "Aren't we... exiled from there?"

"I know, but at least we can try right?" I replied.

"Hmm... sounds interesting. I kinda miss PJ, Sandman, and others too," she said.

"Let's ask Lemon too and then we can go," I said.

Both of us then went to Lemon's house. She also doubted it at first but in the end she was convinced and the group was complete.

"Only three of us?" Lemon asked.

"Can't be helped. We are the only ones who know that the place is really real. Additional people will mean additional break to their rule, and I think we have to respect that," I replied.

"Their silly rule..." Raspberry said, sighing. "But yeah... can't be helped."

"How do we get there?" Lemon asked.

"Of course we cannot use Falcon because there's no sleepbug at this time of day, so I'm thinking of using this," I said, taking Time Remote Mark II from my pocket.

"Okay, let's try it," Raspberry said.

"Land of Dreams!" I spoke to the remote, and it made a dimension door we jumped in.

When we came out, it turned out that the remote had done a very good job. We recognized the area where we were as the bottom level of Land of Dreams because we could see PJ's building and the Dream Fort in front of us. We then immediately walked to PJ's building and like before she opened the door and welcomed us with her usual pencil and notepad.

"Blackberry Bun, Raspberry Torte, and Lemon Meringue. Welcome to PJ's. Please have a seat," She said, and when we did what she had said a glass of sundae appeared in front of each of us.

"You sure can read our mind. Indeed the weather was really hot out there," I commented.

"You sure like to bend our rules huh?" a voice said from the door. All of us recognized the voice and looked towards the source. Indeed it was Mary Midnight.

"Mary! I'm happy to see you again!" I said.

"I'm happy to see you again too," Raspberry said.

"And me too," Lemon said.

"Yeah okay. Just enjoy your sundae first and we can talk later," Mary replied with a little giggle. We did what she said and the conversation continued afterwards.

"Okay, now that we are done, what do you want to say?" Raspberry asked Mary.

"You know for yourselves that you are all exiled. According to Article 1C paragraph 21, exiled individuals who enters the Land of Dreams again are obliged to leave immediately," Mary answered.

"And if we refuse?" Raspberry asked.

"Paragraph 22: refusal is not an option. Those who refuse will be forced to leave by all authorities of Dream Fairy Fields," Mary replied. There was a brief silence and I could see Raspberry's and Lemon's face changing towards the worse. Mary then continued her speech. "However, the Queen has the right to postpone it and let the exiled individuals to stay for a while as her majesty sees fit."

Raspberry and Lemon noticed the last sentence and their face seemed hopeful. That also happened to my face as I heard those. Mary then continued again by saying, "You are lucky that Her Majesty was in her generous mood once again. Her Majesty allowed you to stay until Strawberryland's bed time."

Hearing those of course made us happy. For a moment I had thought our visit would be very short, but bed time was still quite a number of hours ahead so we had enough time to walk around the Land of Dreams.

"Blackberry, I'll be your fairy during your stay. Now you can use Dream Power anytime you want in the Land of Dreams," Mary said.

"Dream Power?" I asked.

"Well, try believing that you can fly," she replied and I tried doing that. Mary waved her wand and suddenly a jetpack appeared on my back, bringing me to fly around the room. "Your dream is full of mechanical things so that's what appears for you."

"Hey, forgot about us?" Raspberry interrupted.

"We can't use Dream Power..." Lemon said, repeatedly seemed trying to gather some kind of power like the last time in Dream Fairy Fields. It was of no success, but suddenly she transformed into what she once had described as ``Princess of Fairies``.

"Who said we forgot you?" a voice said from somewhere.

"Of course you are not forgotten. It's just that we come a bit late," another voice said.

"Daisy! Diana! Late as always huh?" Mary said, and two fairies appeared near Raspberry and Lemon. Unlike Mary who was themed on dark blue, the two fairies were themed on orange color with same dress. The only difference easily noticed from them was that one had long wavy hair like Blueberry while the other's hair was short and spiky, very similar to Strawberry Shortcake.

"You're the one too concerned about time!" the one with long hair answered. "It's not that we're late so much."

"That thought in your head is what makes stray nightmares escape easily, Daisy!" Mary said. "Now I wonder why Her Majesty made you and Diana chiefs!"

"It's us who wonder why Her Majesty made chief out of someone as narrow-minded as you!" the other of the two, who seemed to be Diana, said.

Mary then flew towards the other two fairies and then each of them made a scary glare from her eyes pointed towards each other. It was a two-on-one against Mary, but she seemed not afraid. The glare kept going for a moment without any of us saying anything to them, and then suddenly all three of them started to smile. Soon after that they burst into laughter.

"Almost everyday like this, and always end up the same," Mary said.

"Very true," the two fairies answered at the same time.

"I don't know why Her Majesty chose us, but Her Majesty has put her trust on us and we must not let her down," Mary said. "Oh, and why don't you do a proper introduction to our guests?"

"Oh, I see. Hello everyone. My name is Daisy Dawn, the chief of dream fairies. Pleased to meet you all," one of the two said.

"And my name is Diana Dusk, also the chief of dream fairies. Pleased to meet you all," the other of the two said.

"Three chiefs? I thought there's only one chief," I said, wondering.

"You know that your planet is round right? Also about the time zones and all?" Mary asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"I don't know," Raspberry said.

"Me neither," Lemon said.

"Well, to make it simple, now it is still midday in Strawberryland, but on the other side of the planet it is still midnight," I explained.

"Oh I see now," Raspberry said. Lemon also nodded, implying that she understood it too.

"And to make myself simple, while I rest they work, while Daisy rest me and Diana work, and while Diana rest me and Daisy work. It rotates everyday so the works of dream fairies continue while none will not suffer from lack of sleep," Mary said.

"But now you are all here," I remarked.

"Her Majesty ordered us to watch over the guests during their stay, and in the meantime another fairy will replace each of us," Daisy said.

"Cut all the talk. You have plenty of hours to spend, but that doesn't mean your time is infinite. Make good use of the time while you have it," Mary said.

"I wanna fly around the Land of Dreams!" Lemon said, starting to fly around the room in her fairy princess form.

"I'd like to see the Dream Factory. I didn't get the chance the last time I was here," I said.

"I still don't know where to go. But, at least I want to be able to fly too," Raspberry said, starting to concentrate. Diana waved her wand and a pair of bat wings appeared on Raspberry's back.

"What? Why do I have the wings of the nightmares?" Raspberry said, seeming upset.

"Can't be helped. Your dream is full of nightmares, or at least it was. Even though you have turned them into good dreams, some memories might still remain," Diana answered, which didn't make Raspberry feel any better. I couldn't take it anymore so I started to speak.

"Those are bat wings Raspberry, not nightmare wings," I said.

"What's the difference?" Raspberry asked.

"Remember what Mary once said: Nightmares are entities without definite shape. They are often seen as bats because for unknown reason they are fond of that shape," I said. "I just can't stand it that bats often get misunderstood. They are just animals like birds and butterflies."

"Alright. But that doesn't change the fact that..." she said, pausing for a moment and sighing. "I don't like these wings,"

"It's yourself who can change that, Raspberry. I only can materialize your dream," Diana said.

"I'll try," Raspberry said, concentrating once more. Diana waved her wand but nothing happened. Raspberry let out a sigh and said, "I guess I have to live with this,"

Soon after that, all was settled and the three of us separated. Each of us went to the place we wanted to visit: Lemon went towards the Dream Fort with Daisy, Raspberry said she wanted to visit Dream Fairy Fields once more so she flew towards the second level of the Land of Dreams with Diana, and I wanted to see the Dream Factory.

"PJ said I need to ride a butterscotch butterfly to get there. Wouldn't this jetpack enough?" I asked Mary.

"Try and see for yourself," Mary replied, yawning.

"Something wrong? You look tired," I said, noticing tired expressions on her face.

"Oh, nothing. Really," She replied.

"Okay if you say so..." I said.

I then tried flying to the top level of the Land of Dreams where the Dream Factory was located. On the way I kept noticing Mary yawning and almost fell asleep several times. I then decided that I would talk to her once I arrived at the Dream Factory.

Later I successfully landed at the Land of Dreams' top level, and I immediately started a conversation as the jetpack vanished from my back.

"Is that the Dream Factory?" I asked, looking at a big building on a distance.

"Yes of course. What else?" Mary answered, yawning.

"Mary, you should go home and rest." I said.

"Eh, why should I?" she asked.

"I know it. Now is supposed to be your rest time right?" I asked back.

"Eh, no. I mean..." she said timidly.

"You can't hide it from me. You have been yawning several times and almost fall asleep while flying." I remarked.

"Okay...you're right... I'm supposed to sleep at this time." she confessed.

"Why staying awake just for me? I mean, aren't there anyone else?" I asked.

"Only chiefs are strong enough to give Dream Power... to someone who has been here... more than once..." she replied.

"Go home and rest. I don't need Dream Power to visit the Dream Factory." I said.

"I can't... I..." she said.

"Keep staying awake is not good. Believe me, I have experienced it," I said.

In the end I managed to convince her to go home and rest. After she left I walked towards the Dream Factory on my own. Once I arrived to the front door I knocked on it and there was no response. I tried pushing it and apparently it was not locked. I entered the factory and walked inside.

Inside the factory was very confusing. I was in a corridor with a lot of doors on each side. I tried opening some of them but all of them were locked. I kept walking through the corridor, occasionally trying to open doors with no success.

"This factory doesn't feel like a factory at all," I thought when suddenly one door I tried opening was apparently not locked like other doors. I then entered the room.

The room was dark because the lighting was poor. I coughed and sneezed several times because of the amount of dust in the room. I thought of leaving the room as soon as possible, but suddenly my eyes noticed something. I walked towards the thing and took it. It was the same doll I saw in Raspberry's hug when she fell asleep on Ginger's Dream Boat along with everyone else. How could the doll end up there? I then decided to bring the doll with me and ask Raspberry later about it.

I came out of the room and it turned out some people had been waiting there. All of them were boys and girls similar to those I had seen in my first visit. However, one of them was a fat old man with thick beard and moustache.

"Well well, we have a visitor here," the old man said. "Friend of Strawberry Shortcake I suppose. Blackberry Bun isn't it?"

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Because there are lots of things we know, dear," a voice said, which I recognized as PJ, and it really was her.

"Come with us. We'll take you around my Dream Factory," the old man said.

"He is Sandman, the owner of the factory, and also the one who built the factory with his own hands," PJ said.

"I know every inch of this place," Sandman said, walking away along with the children.

"That's kinda the help I need right now," I said, following him. PJ left us afterwards.

With the help of Sandman, I got to see the Dream Factory as it was meant to be. All the machines and mechanical things inside were a pleasant sight for me. I got to see how the Dream Builders make the dreams for everyone on the planet. Sandman also told me everything that happened when Pie Man came and also how Strawberry and the others helped him to end the problem. I was looking around the production room when the window opened and someone entered.

"Look! The wings! It's a giant nightmare!" one boy yelled, and panic was spread throughout the room. It seemed Sandman and I were the only ones who were still calm because we knew that it was actually Raspberry.

"This is why I don't like these wings," Raspberry said as she landed and the wings vanished. "I caused that panic in Dream Fairy Fields as well."

"Yeah, I can see that. By the way, why did you come here?" I asked as the panic started to end.

"Because we met Mary in the Dream Fairy Fields. She told me everything and I felt that I was done visiting so me and Diana agreed to come to you," Raspberry answered.

"I'll try giving Dream Power to both of you. Although I can't promise it," Diana said.

"Why is that?" Raspberry asked.

"Mary told me that giving Dream Power becomes more difficult to those who have visited more than once," I answered.

"That's correct. I was here when you had your battle with Pie Man, and I could give Dream Power to all of you that time. But now I doubt if I can give it to you both at the same time," Diana said to Raspberry.

"By the way Raspberry, this doll..." I said, showing her the doll I had found before.

"My doll! But how...?" Raspberry said, taking the doll from me and then hugging it.

"Oh... well, I... umm..." Diana said timidly.

"Yeah I know. The fairies took it to keep the secret," Raspberry said, still hugging the doll.

"Yeah that's right. I was the one who took it. I'm sorry..." Diana said.

"May I keep it this time after I go home?" Raspberry asked.

"I have to ask Her Majesty. Wait a moment," Diana answered, and then she started to concentrate. A few minutes later she opened her eyes and said, "Her Majesty approved it. You may keep the doll with you,"

"Oh, thank you so much," Raspberry said, hugging the doll again.

"By the way, it's almost time. We must leave now," Diana said.

We all then went to the front of the Dream Factory. Sandman went along with us because the inside of Dream Factory was like a labyrinth and he had to show us the way. When we arrived at the front, it was time for me and Raspberry to fly to the bottom level.

"You first, Raspberry," Diana said and Raspberry started to concentrate. A pair of wings appeared but this time they were butterfly wings.

"My wings! The nightmare wings are gone!" Raspberry said happily, and Diana also smiled.

"Bat wings, but whatever..." I said quietly so nobody heard it.

"Your turn, Blackberry," Diana said and I started to concentrate. However, nothing happened. "My power is not enough. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I can walk," I said.

"You don't have to, son," Sandman said and he whistled. Soon one giant butterfly came. "My butterscotch butterfly will give you a ride."

I got on the butterfly's back and then it started to fly leaving the Dream Factory. I waved my hand to Sandman and he did the same. The ride to the bottom level of the Land of Dreams was as breathtaking as the ride I had on Santa Claus' sleigh. I also noticed that Raspberry also enjoyed her flight with her new wings while hugging her doll.

We later arrived at PJ's. Lemon was already there waiting with Daisy on her side, and she was already in her usual form. PJ was also there standing beside Lemon. As Raspberry landed her wings disappeared and I also got off the butterfly as soon as it landed.

"I hope you have had a great time my dears," PJ said. "We will miss you,"

"Me too," Raspberry said.

"It was really great!" Lemon said.

"I will miss this place too," I said, taking my remote from my pocket. I then pressed a new button I had made. The function of the button was to make an exact copy of the dimension door previously made, so that meant we would be transported back to Lemon's house, in correct time and correct Strawberryland without any doubts.

A dimension door appeared and the three of us waved our hands to PJ and the two fairies. They did the same and we jumped into the dimension door. When we came out we were indeed in Lemon's house.

"The repeat button worked well," I said.

"Let's go home. I'm tired now," Raspberry said, yawning. "Thanks for the great trip, Blackberry. And thanks for finding this for me."

"Oh, that's the doll!" Lemon said, noticing the doll Raspberry was still holding. The two girls then hugged each other.

Later, me and Raspberry went back to each own home. I was also tired so once I arrived I immediately went to sleep. I woke up quite late at the next day, so I had no breakfast. I then did some maintenance works on my devices, had lunch, and decided to walk around. At first I went to Strawberry's house, but inside there was only Apple alone. I saw that she was watching the TV from Ginger, and I also saw that there was a cooking show run by the girls. Because I was not interested in such show I left the place and decided to go home. However, when I was by Huck's fort I heard something.

"Hahaha! This is turning out to be a pretty good show!" a voice I recognized as Huck said.

I then entered the fort and in his TV I saw that there was a chaos on the show, looking at how dirty the girls on TV had become.

"Don't you think they need help, Huck?" I asked. "Maybe we should go there."

"Don't worry. I bet they do that on purpose to make us laugh," Huck answered.

"Well, I hope you are right..." I said, still looking at the TV in doubt, and then I left the place to go home.

"I'm pretty curious now. I'll watch once I get home," I thought on the way home.

--End of chapter 18--

Quote:Chapter 17: Distressed


It has been one month since the Berry Blossom Festival day, and the blossoms had been replaced by half-ripe berries over the month. I couldn't leave my house that day because I had accidentally twisted my ankle two days before, and two days prior to that I had used Phoenix Tear to heal an injured squirrel so I had to wait until either my ankle heals itself naturally or Phoenix Tear finishes recharging. Nobody knew about my injury because I didn't want to worry everyone else, and maybe because of pride as well. I just didn't like being pitied by someone else, let alone by all my friends.

On that day, I decided to repair my Time Remote Mark II. Actually I could just make a new one, but repairing the old one was much faster. The catch is, while repairing I had to be extra careful because it would emit electricity waves in the process of repairing. While I was concentrating on the repair, someone rang the doorbell but I didn't hear it. Because of no response, the guest curiously and quietly opened the door and took a look inside. After that the guest approached me and started a conversation.

"Hey, Blackberry. Working hard?" the guest asked.

"Oh, hi Huck," I replied, stopping my work and turned my chair facing him. "Not really, just doing something to let time pass."

"What is this?" he asked, taking the Time Remote Mark II and ended up getting zapped by the electricity waves.

"Not again..." I said, facepalming.

"Whoa, what was that?" he asked in surprise.

"Something for playing pranks," I said.

"Oh, really?" he asked.

"Of course...not! This is my Time Remote Mark II, and I was repairing it. Now you just repeated the accident," I said.

"What accident?" he asked.

"The accident that erased your memory, remember?" I said.

"What?! So I'm going to forget everything about you?! All memories of us will be gone?!" he asked, starting to panic.

"Calm down, I'll check," I replied, taking Time Monitor from the shelf. I then put it on the table in the living room and turned it on. Although it was not so clear, I could see the effect of the shock to Huck.

"What's going to happen to me?" he asked.

"This time it's not so bad. You will only forget the looks of all friends but your memories of them will remain," I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, what's my name?" I asked back.

"Of course you are...wait...what's your name? Who are you?" he asked, implying that the memory loss had already happened.

"Blackberry Bun," I said.

"Oh yes! You are Blackberry!" he said. "Now I remember!"

"Now you see what I mean? You still remember that you have a friend with the name ``Blackberry Bun`` and you still have your memories of him. But you forgot his looks, so even if the person is in front of you, you won't recognize him until he says his name," I explained. "And the same applies to all other people you know."

"I think I understand, but it's still confusing," he said.

"You remember Strawberry Shortcake?" I asked. "All your adventures with her and all?"

"Yes of course," he replied.

"What kind of hat she wears? What color is her shirt and pants? What color is her hair?" I asked.

"Well... I don't know..." He replied, pausing for a brief moment. "Okay, now I understand what you mean, but it will be embarassing if I have to ask for their names again."

"The best thing is if I go with you and whisper their names everytime we see someone, but look at my foot," I said, pointing at my left foot which was covered in bandages. "I accidentally twisted my ankle two days ago and I had used Phoenix Tear two days prior to heal an injured squirrel."

"I guess I have no choice now..." he said.

"Oh wait! Camera Drone!" I suddenly remembered.

"What?" he asked, wondering.

I brought Huck to my bedroom, where I had put the monitor which saved all photos taken by Camera Drone, a device I had made a few days after the first time I had seen the kids who were then my friends. I turned the monitor on and let Huck examine all the photos displayed there. I also told him who had what name and it only took a couple of minutes until Huck memorized them all.

"All right, now the problem is over," I said.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Maybe you'll feel a little bit strange at the first time, but there will be no problem," I said.

"Okay if you say so," he said.

"So far the only photos not saved by this monitor are photos of myself and you," I said.

"Wait, I can understand if there aren't any photos of yourself, but why me too?" he asked.

"I don't know. The drone takes pictures randomly, and it still does," I replied, shrugging.

Soon after, Huck left my place because he didn't want the strange feelings of memory loss to stay any longer. He headed to the berry fields which Strawberry and some other friends were supposed to tend every midday. Right after he left, I activated Eagle Eye to watch over Huck for that day.

When he arrived at the berry fields, I was surprised that instead of the girls I saw Purple Pie Man there. Huck of course didn't recognize him because I didn't have any photos of Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes from my Camera Drone. I listened to their conversation and learned about a nearby dance studio where Strawberry and the others were. Huck seemed to be convinced to go there so I controlled Eagle Eye to immediately fly to the place.

When the satellite arrived at the place, I could briefly see from the window that the teacher of that studio was no other than Sour Grapes in disguise. However, Pie Man's berry birds were suspicious about the satellite and attempted to attack. I had no other choice than withdrawing it back to the berry fields and see what Pie Man was doing over there, although I could already guess that he was going to steal all the berries.

My guess was true after all. One by one he took the ripe berries from the bushes and loaded them into his carriage. I suspected that the dance studio was made as a distraction so he could freely steal all the berries. However, the amount of berries on the field was very large so if he wanted to completely empty the fields he would need more than one day, maybe even a week. There was nothing I could do because I couldn't even walk out of my house. The accident that had just happened has broken Time Remote Mark II into a pile of useless scrap metal, and I just realized that making a new one was actually impossible at that moment because I ran out of materials. In conclusion, I had no other choice than waiting until I could walk freely again.

The next three days were spent only for waiting and occasionally watching over Pie Man. He had gone through nearly half the berry fields and strangely nobody noticed. I knew that Strawberry, Angel, Orange, Ginger, and Huck were distracted by the fake dance studio, but how about Raspberry, Lemon, Blueberry, Rainbow, Apricot, and Peppermint? With that question in mind I controlled the satellite to fly to each of their home.

The first stop was Blueberry's house. In there I saw her reading books, and there was a big pile of them next to her. It was obvious that she would not get out of her house for the next few days. Then the next stop was Raspberry's house which was also a fitness center, and in there I saw her training hard with one equipment. Once she finished, she took a note and wrote something.

"Okay, this one is still in good condition," she said before sitting on a bench. She seemed quite tired.

"Can't believe there are still a lot of them to be checked. This will take another three days at best," she said, looking at all the equipments around her.

It was clear that Raspberry was out of the question, so I flew the satellite to the next stop: Lemon's house which was also a beauty salon. I saw a lot of dwarfs, fairies and other creatures similar to the ones I had seen in Holidayland although they were all female this time, and they made quite a long queue into the house. I flew the satellite into the house to see what was happening there. Once inside I saw Lemon treating one female dwarf.

Looking at the amount of customers, Lemon was also out of the question, so the next stop was Apricot's house. However, Apricot was nowhere to be found. I gave up looking for her so I flew the satellite to Peppermint's house. Peppermint was also nowhere to be found, so I flew the satellite to the last stop, which was Rainbow's boat. Once again, the person I was looking for was nowhere to be found, and this time I couldn't even find the boat. Wondering about that I flew the satellite high into the sky so I could get wider views on all the rivers in Strawberryland. I searched for a couple of minutes until I finally found her boat. However, there was another boat nearby. The other boat was better said as a junk scrap metal, looking at its very bad condition. I attempted to get a closer look, but once again the satellite was attacked by berry birds so I had to withdraw it.

I thought that there was something with that boat, so I decided to go there and check. Phoenix Tear had recharged, but because my leg has recovered, although there was still some minor pain when walking, I decided not to use it. In preparation for repelling the berry birds I brought Scarecrow with me.

I walked all the way to the place where the boat was. When I came near, I put Scarecrow near a bush and activated it. The device worked perfectly and the berry birds in the area flew away. Then I got onboard the boat and examined it to find any hint about Rainbow's boat nearby. However, when I was looking around, suddenly the berry birds came back and attacked me. They didn't physically attack me, but having them flying around my head with a lot of noise was really annoying. I also wondered why Scarecrow suddenly stopped working but I was too busy driving the birds away myself.

"I suppose this thing of yours is the one driving all my minions away, kid?" a voice said. I looked at the source and it was Pie Man himself. Scarecrow was in the grip of his right hand.

"Uh-oh, busted," I thought, immediately trying to run away. However, because of the berry birds' attack I tripped on something and fell down hard to the wooden floor of the boat's deck.

"Come on, kid. I will not hurt you so bad. That is, if you don't resist," he said, throwing Scarecrow into the river and approaching me.

It was the very first time I directly faced the villain Strawberry and the others had faced bravely. Unlike them, I was afraid of his evil presence and voice. Because of the fright I couldn't do anything so I just decided to bear with anything he would do to me.

He pulled me to make me stand up, but the fall that had just happened apparently had twisted my ankle again, so I immediately fell down again with pain in my left leg. He seemed to notice the pain.

"You're hurt, kid?" he asked, and I didn't answer. Then he sighed and said, "Get on my back!"

He turned around and crouched so I could get on his back. Because I had no other choice anyway I decided to obey and got on his back. He then carried me on his back towards Rainbow's boat. Once we were onboard, he put me on one of the chairs in the main deck and went into the cabins. Shortly later he came back bringing a first aid box.

"Give me your leg," he said, opening the box. "You're lucky that the girl has one of these."

The next few minutes were spent for him giving treatment to my leg. A big question appeared in my head, which was why the evil Purple Pie Man did something that nice to me? I had been thinking that he was a no good villain who caused nothing but trouble to Strawberryland, but right at that moment I became very confused.

"Done. Be thankful that when I was little I had a sister who often got injured," he said as he finished. I was still speechless.

"Don't get me wrong kid. I did this just to make sure that you will still be fine once I release you later," he said.

I didn't resist at all when he later tied my hands and threw me into the storage room of Rainbow's boat. He then immediately shut the trap door tight and locked it firmly. The light inside the storage room was quite dim and I could not see much in there.

"All right, now Blackberry is here. Who will be next?" a voice said, which I recognized as Peppermint. I looked upon the source and I saw not only her, but also the other two missing girls, Rainbow and Apricot. Their hands were also tied to the back like me, except Rainbow whose hands were tied to the front.

"Probably I'm the last. The others are too busy for themselves," I said. "May I know what happened to you all?"

"Well, I was sailing around Strawberryland when I saw this strange boat. I anchored Rainbow Float and walked onto it to check, and when I was looking around I got attacked by these strange birds and then that man caught me," Rainbow answered. "That happened two days ago I think."

"Hmph, I saw him stealing all berries in the berry fields, but when I was going to tell that to everyone else his birds noticed and attacked me. And you know what happened next," Peppermint said. "It happened yesterday."

"I'm the same as Peppermint, but it happened this morning," Apricot said.

"I guess we are all stuck here until who knows when, huh?" Peppermint said. "That no good Pie Man!"

"Umm... I don't know if you will believe this but..." I said as I told them all about what had happened to me.

"He did that? So after all he has a good side too," Apricot said.

"But don't be fooled. Look at what he did to us, and to Strawberryland," Peppermint said.

"Yeah, but still..." I said, pausing for a moment. "Anyway, we have to find a way to get out of here and tell everyone."

"I know, but you see, this knot is too tight. I cannot release it," Rainbow answered, looking at the ropes which tied her hands. "And the door is locked from the outside."

"Hmm... By the way, don't you feel hungry after being locked here for two days?" I asked Rainbow.

"This storage room has plenty of food for us to eat, and he knows it," she answered, and I looked around. Indeed there was a lot of food in there. "Glad that he tied my hands to the front so I could still grab the food and help everyone else."

"Why only you? Why not all of us so we can just help ourselves when we want to eat? It's sorta embarassing you know, having you to feed me," Peppermint said.

"I feel the same too, but do we have any choice?" Apricot said.

"Okay, calm down everyone. I know a way to get out of here," I said. "But we have to do it fast or the berry birds will get in the way."

"What? How?" Peppermint asked.

"Rainbow, can you take something from my pocket? It looks like a key," I told Rainbow, and she dug through my pocket until she found Key Master.

"This?" Rainbow asked, showing me the device.

"Yes. Okay, here's the plan. You see the purple button on that device?" I said.

"Hmm...yes," she replied.

"Aim the device to the trap door above and press the button. The door will open," I said.

"But the birds will notice," she said.

"That's why I said we must do it fast. Once the door is opened, quickly go to the cockpit of this boat with Peppermint and Apricot, and sail this boat away as soon as possible," I replied.

"How about you?" she asked.

"I can't walk well you see? Only the three of you can do it," I answered.

"Sounds worth a try. Better than doing nothing," Peppermint remarked.

"Yeah, that will be cool," Apricot said. "I will take care of the anchor."

"Okay, you ready?" I said.

"Yeah," all three girls answered.

"Then let's do it," I said.

As planned, Rainbow pressed Key Master's overcharge button which then made the device shot a laser beam to the trap door above. Then the door opened and the three girls climbed the stairs with haste. Because of my leg, I only could follow them by walking slowly. By the time I got out of the storage room I saw Rainbow and Peppermint in the cockpit preparing to sail away while Apricot was trying to raise the anchor. I could see them having difficulties because they had to do everything with tied hands. I looked towards another direction and noticed a flock of berry birds coming.

"The birds are coming! Hurry!" I shouted.

"We are ready here! Apricot, raise the anchor now!" Rainbow replied

"I'm on it!" Apricot replied, still struggling to raise the anchor. "Come help me, someone!"

While trying to ignore the pain on my leg, I quickly approached Apricot and helped her in raising the anchor. It was still difficult but the anchor finally showed itself out from the water surface. The boat then started to move and sailed away just in time. We all cheered in joy as we knew we had escaped from Pie Man's grasp. Then Rainbow took a scissor from one shelf and used it to cut the ropes on our hands. However, the joy did not last long because later Rainbow realized something.

"The wheel is not working!" she said.

"What?! We will end up in open seas if it keeps going this way!" Peppermint shouted.

"I can't even turn off the engine now! It looks like it has been sabotaged!" Rainbow said.

"That no good Pie Man!" Peppermint said. "Drop the anchor now!"

Apricot dropped the anchor, but because it was dropped while the boat was sailing in high speed the rope couldn't stand the force made by the speed of the boat and broke, leaving the anchor at the bottom of the river. The boat slowed down for a moment but then it sped up again towards the open seas.

"Now that's just great," Peppermint said.

"Our only option is to repair the engine and the wheel now," Rainbow said.

"Can you do it?" Apricot asked.

"I'll try, although I don't know how long it will take," Rainbow replied.

"I'll help," I offered.

Repairing the engine was easier said than done. Because we had to repair it while it was still running, some parts were too dangerous to reach. There was no other choice than breaking the engine down with force and violence, and then repair it again. The whole process took two nights, and by the time the boat was finally ready to sail again I could bet that Pie Man had already emptied the berry fields. I regretted not bringing Falcon's remote with me, but what's done was done and we sailed back to Punch Bowl Pond anyway.

"Hey, how can you dock the boat if you have no anchor now?" I asked Rainbow.

"I have another, but I need help bringing it from the storage room because it is much heavier than the one that we lost," she answered.

"I'll help," Apricot said.

"Yeah okay, I will help too," Peppermint said.

The three of them went down to the storage room and came back with a new anchor. I could see them struggling to bring it to its place. That time I wished that I had brought Telekinator, but because I didn't I could only watch. Once the boat was anchored, we all got off and decided to tell Strawberry about Pie Man's evil plan although we knew it was already too late.

"Wait! Blackberry, he cannot walk," Apricot said.

"Don't worry. I will catch up later. Just go now," I replied.

"Hmph, I will go with you," Peppermint said, and everyone else agreed.

Peppermint and I walked towards my house first because I had to heal my leg with Phoenix Tear first. Once we arrived in front of the tree, I unhid the ladder and climbed to the inside of my house. In there I immediately used Phoenix Tear on my leg and walked back out to catch up with Rainbow and Apricot.

"Maybe they are still in the fake dance studio. I forgot to tell Rainbow and Apricot about that," I said.

"Oh, that Rita Rutabaga... I suppose she is Sour Grapes in disguise huh?" Peppermint said.

"You knew?" I asked.

"Strawberry told me about that studio. She invited me to come along but I was not interested," she replied.

"Oh I see..." I said.

The two of us went to the dance studio assuming that Strawberry and the others were there. When we arrived there we saw the main five waving hands to Sour Grapes, who also waved her hand to them. What we saw had left a big question in our mind, so after Sour Grapes disappeared from sight we approached the main five. By coincidence Apricot and Rainbow arrived with us as well.

"Hey Blackberry, Peppermint, Apricot, Rainbow," Strawberry greeted.

"Once again you missed something awesome, am I right? You often miss things, am I right again?" Ginger said.

"How can we not miss it if we had been locked up by Pie Man?" Peppermint said, which surprised all the main five. Then the four of us told them what had happened to each of us.

"But never mind that. We all are here safe and sound now," I said and the other three agreed with me.

"Now I want to ask about what just happened. You know, that Sour Grapes..." I said.

From Strawberry I learned that Sour Grapes had softened up and turned into their side. She had helped them to sneak the stolen berries out of Pie Man's carriage and in exchange put sunflowers in. However, I doubted if it would last for long. Sour Grapes was Pie Man's sister, and the bonds between siblings were not something that can be easily ignored. However, because for that moment all had ended well, I decided to put that aside. I could only hope for the best of the two siblings...

--End of Chapter 17--

Quote:Chapter 16: Chasin' Dumplin'


The day of the Berry Blossom Festival had come. In the morning I woke up in excitement for the festival. My heart was determined that it would be an event I would not miss. I immediately had my breakfast, and while I was having it someone rang my doorbell. I wondered for a while because it was uncommon to have a guest that early but I opened the door anyway and it turned out that the guests were Apricot, Peppermint, and Apple.

"What a surprise! Please come in!" I welcomed them.

"I came to ask if you will go to Berry Blossom Festival," Apricot said.

"Yes of course! That's an event I won't miss!" I replied.

"Apple Dumplin' met Apricot, and Apple Dumplin' go with Apricot," Apple said.

"Strawberry was not with you?" I asked.

"She had to attend a tea party as the opening of the festival. Hmph, formal things are not for me," Peppermint said.

"And not for me either," Apricot said. "I always become timid in events like such,"

"Me too actually. Shall we go now?" I said.

"I don't think so. The real festival will be right before midday, unless you want to sit and wait there until they finish their tea party. Boring if you ask me," Peppermint said.

"Yeah, that would be uncool," Apricot said.

"I see. Then make yourselves at home," I said.

All of us waited in my house for the main part of the festival to start. In the meantime we had some talks and played with some of my devices. Apple seemed to walk around my house on her own.

"By the way, I went to Rainbow's place before meeting Apple Dumplin' and Apricot," Peppermint said, randomly lifting things with Telekinator. "She won't come to the festival."

"Oh, why is that?" I asked.

"Her boat's engine suddenly broke down making smokes and leaking oil. She said repairing it would take the whole day," she answered.

"Couldn't she repair it tomorrow?" Apricot asked, copying some random things with Replicator.

"I told her that, but that kid told me oil coming out would dirty the river if she didn't repair it soon," Peppermint replied.

"Then I think I will help her. With me helping her she might make it to the festival today," I said.

"Yeah, indeed," Apricot said. "I'll try to help too."

"Let's get going then, if you say so," Peppermint said.

When all of us had gone down the ladder, I felt that something was missing but I couldn't recall it.

"Are we missing something?" I asked.

"Yeah, I feel it too," Apricot said.

"Come on you two! Don't you realize that we are missing one person?" Peppermint said.

"Oh yes, we forgot Apple!" I said, facepalming. "I'll go get her."

I climbed the ladder again, then when I opened the door and looked inside, I couldn't believe what I saw. I saw a dimension door in the middle of the living room. Apple probably had played around with Time Remote Mark II which I had left in the shelf that day. I quickly ran towards the dimension door because there was no other way to get her back, but it was too late. The dimension door disappeared right at the time I attempted to jump into it, leaving me hitting the floor. Right after that the other two girls came in.

"Hey, what happened?" Apricot asked.

"Where's that kid?" Peppermint asked. There was a brief silence.

"She's gone..." I answered, getting up.

"Gone? Gone where?" Peppermint asked. There was another brief silence.

"I don't know..." I replied.

"What do you mean?" Apricot asked. Another brief silence came.

"She...she...played around with...Time Remote Mark II..." I answered.

"What?!" Apricot said, surprised.

"I don't know where she went, or to what time..." I said, starting to panic.

"Hey, I don't know your problem but panicking will not help. Calm down and think of something," Peppermint said.

She was right about that. Panicking would not help at all. I then started to calm down and think of a way. I then remembered about Time Monitor, which I had not touched at all since the accident that had happened to Huck. Because Time Remote Mark II was made from the original Time Remote, Time Monitor might still worked. I quickly took it from the shelf and put it on a table, then I turned it on.

"I hope we can get some information from this," I said.

In the monitor all of us saw Apple playing around while holding Time Remote Mark II.

"Listen carefully to anything she says," I said.

"Okay," Apricot said.

However, probably because of Time Remote Mark II being not the same device Time Monitor was supposed to monitor, the voices coming out were quite unclear. We attempted quite a number of rewinds to hear what Apple Dumplin' had said before the remote made the dimension door.

"Is the last word ``Home``?" I said, wondering.

"Yeah, I think so too," Apricot said.

"Does that mean she is at Strawberry's house now?" Peppermint asked.

"No, I didn't make the remote to recognize the person holding it. She must be somewhere else now. A place called ``Home``," I said.

"Okay, now we know where she is going to, but how can we get her?" Peppermint asked.

"Can you make another remote?" Apricot asked.

"I can, but it will take two days. It will be too late," I answered. "Ah, Ginger!"

"What's with Ginger?" Peppermint asked.

"She has a remote with the same function!" I answered, climbing down the ladder bringing Falcon's remote. I quickly revealed Falcon from its invisibility and got onboard. Peppermint and Apricot also followed me quickly and went onboard as well.

"You don't have to go along. The trip might be dangerous," I said.

"There's no way I would not help a friend in need," Apricot said.

"I haven't apologized for what I had done to her," Peppermint said, although I could feel that it was not the main reason.

I quickly flew Falcon Towards Ginger's house. I even rushed the landing that it almost crashed to the ground. I then ran into the cookie factory because I knew Ginger had been keeping her remote somewhere inside it.

"Is it okay to just come in?" Apricot asked when we got inside. "And shouldn't we tell everyone about this?"

"This is an emergency. I will apologize later, and there is no need to spread the panic to more people," I answered, and at the same time found Ginger Snap's Dimension Door Remote.

I then typed ``Home`` and drew a circle with its antenna. A dimension door was formed and we all jumped in. When we came out, we were inside some kind of building with quite a number of adult people looking at us in confused face.

"Err... We come in peace," I said to whoever heard it.

"Who are you and where did you come from?" one person asked and approached us. The man was middle-age and had no hair on his head, his face was quite scary but still had some kindness.

"It's difficult to explain. We just come looking for a little girl of this height in yellow dress with images of apples on it," I answered, explaining the looks of Apple.

"I see... indeed there was a little girl here with the same traits as you just explained," the man said.

"That's a relief! Where is she now?" Apricot asked with excitement.

"She's in my room now. It seems she was afraid of us, so I let her rest there for now," the man answered. "Come with me now."

With relief we followed the man walking inside the building. There was a conversation along the way.

"By the way, you haven't answered my question," the man said.

"Well, our names might sound weird for you," I replied.

"I wouldn't be surprised, the girl said her name was Apple Dumplin' or something like that. I suppose all your names are like that?" the man said.

"Well, indeed. I'm Blackberry Bun," I replied.

"I'm Apricot," Apricot said.

"Hmph... Peppermint Fizz," Peppermint said.

"I see... My name is Cid. Pleased to meet you all," the man said.

"By the way, what is this place if I may ask?" I asked.

"This is the building where all of us, the Al Bhed, live. It has been built since a long time ago by our ancestors in the middle of a desert. We call this building ``Home``," he replied.

"Al Bhed? What is that?" Apricot asked.

"Our race. There are other kinds of races outside. Guado, Ronso, and Hume for example. I think Humes are the ones resembling you all the most," he answered.

Not long after, we arrived in front of the door which Cid addressed as his room where he kept Apple. When he opened it, we were surprised that instead of Apple we saw a dimension door.

"Quick! Jump in before it disappears!" I told Apricot and Peppermint. "I wish I could stay for longer Mr. Cid, But we have to chase her. Farewell!"

All three of us jumped into the dimension door, leaving Cid without proper farewell. I could hear him saying ``Good luck!`` though. When we came out, we realized that we were in a dark alley. We were lucky that this time nobody saw us, but we still couldn't find Apple.

"Okay, now where are we now?" Peppermint said, looking around. "It's so dark in here."

"Let's just keep looking for her," I said.

We kept walking in the dark alley without any result. We even thought that we got lost in the alley because occasionally we saw an area familiar to us. I didn't know how long we had been walking, but it felt really long.

"I can't take this anymore. We have been walking for so long without finding either Apple or a way out of this alley," Apricot complained.

"Face it. We're lost here," Peppermint said.

I couldn't speak any words out. Even I started to feel a frustration in my mind. The situation seemed grave, but suddenly I saw something that looked like a house.

"Look! There's a house there!" I said.

"A house in this dark alley? Yeah right," Peppermint said.

"Let's go there. Apple might be there as well," Apricot said.

We walked to the house, and as we came closer, we realized that it was not a house but an antique store. We entered it anyway and saw that inside the store there was a lot of shelves filled with various things such as puppets, marrionetes, toys, and other things.

"Whoa, look at these things!" Apricot said, astonished.

"Come on, they are just pieces of junk," Peppermint said.

"I don't think so. They still look good," I remarked. "And there's no dust on them. Somebody must be taking good care of them all."


"Is anybody here?" Apricot shouted. There was no answer at all.

"This store is starting to scare me. Let's get out of here," Peppermint said.

"But we still don't know if Apple is here or not," I replied.

"Come on! She should have heard Apricot shouting if she has been here," she said.

However, suddenly all the puppets started to move and make noises. Nobody seemed to be moving them. They seemed to move on their own, and little by little the noises they made turned into music.

"This is freaking me out!" Peppermint said.

While we were wondering, someone came from the back of the store. It was a man wearing nice coat, but his face was covered in makeups of a clown. His face was smiling and full of kindness, but he still seemed strange and a little bit scary for us.

"Who are you?" Apricot asked, but the man did not answer.

"Hey, can you speak?" Peppermint said.

The man did not answer at all. But he started to wave his hands in a certain pattern, and the puppets seemed to react on the movements and gradually the music played by the puppets became better. We didn't realize that we actually started to watch him in awe instead of being afraid of him. Later he finished the music and we all clapped hands. Then he took something from one of the shelves and gave it to me. I observed the thing which looked like a treasure chest and opened it. A music came out from it, so I knew it was a music box.

"It's nice, but I can't pay for it," I said, and the man shook his head. "You give this to me?" I continued and he nodded. "Thank you!"

"Could you tell us about a little girl of this height?" Apricot asked. "Have you seen her?" she continued and the man shook his head.

"Oh well, could you show us the way out of this alley?" Peppermint asked and the man pointed to the door. We looked onto it and saw a busy road visible at a distance straight from the antique store.

"Thank you sir! I wish I could repay your kindness," I said as we left the place. I could see him waving his hand for us and we did the same.

We walked towards the exit of the alley into the crowd of the city. Once we were out, all of us looked around and indeed we were in the middle of a city. However, I felt something familiar with the city.

"Something looks familiar..." I said.

"Yeah, I feel that too..." Apricot said.

"While I don't feel something like that. Let's just find her and get back home fast," Peppermint said.

While the two of us were wondering about the familiarity of the city, suddenly a voice greeted us.

"Blackberry! Apricot! It's you!" the voice shouted, and the two of us recognized the voice. We looked upon the source and indeed the voice came from Buddy, who as usual was riding ChaCha.

"You know him?" Peppermint asked. "And also the strange creature he is riding?"

"Peppermint, this is Buddy and ChaCha. Buddy and ChaCha, this is Peppermint Fizz," I said.

"So we are now in Greenhill? How could Apple got here?" Apricot asked.

"I think she pressed the history button. I saved this world in the remote so I can just press the button whenever I want to visit this world again," I said.

"I'm happy to see you again. There are still a lot of things to show to you. But where are Lemon Meringue and Raspberry Torte?" Buddy asked.

I explained to him that we actually came there not for visiting him, but to find Apple Dumplin' who accidentally came. I explained the looks of Apple and asked if Buddy and ChaCha had seen her before.

"No, I haven't seen her," Buddy answered.

"Oh, I guess we have to look for her somewhere else in this city," I said.

"That girl you described sounds like the girl in my house right now," an echoed female voice was heard. Peppermint was the only one not knowing what voice it was.

"That's a relief! Let's go to the house right away!" I said, and we all started walking.

"Hey, who was talking back there?" Peppermint asked me.

"Sarah. My friend," Buddy answered.

"Why I couldn't see her?" she asked again.

"We couldn't see her too. It's hard to see her in the afternoon because...she's a ghost," I answered and Peppermint stopped walking.

"A...ghost? You're friends...with a ghost?" she said.

"Yeah, anything wrong with that?" I said.

"Yes, I mean...no. Err...I mean..." she said timidly.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Well...umm...I'm afraid of ghost..." she said. "Now laugh all you want."

"I won't laugh. It's fine, she's not someone to be scared of," I said.

"Well...alright..." she said with doubt, and we continued walking.

"By the way, Buddy. Have you told anyone the truth about us?" I whispered to Buddy.

"Yes. Sarah, Hippo Truck, Leopard, Cindy..." Buddy answered.

"Pretty much everyone you have met before except Buddy's mom and dad," ChaCha said.

"I see," I said. "By the way, I got this from someone in an antique store," I continued, showing the music box to Buddy.

"Ah, you found the antique store?" Buddy said.

"Something wrong with that?" Apricot asked.

"No. Actually Buddy and I entered that store once, but after that we never found it again," ChaCha said.

"Oh, that's weird," I said.

"It seems that it is a magical store you only can find if you are lost," ChaCha said.

"This city sure has interesting things," I said.

"Greenhill is a city where miracles happen. That's what people say," Sarah said, and I noticed that our destination was in sight.

Just as we arrived, an old lady I had never seen before rushed from the house. She seemed to be panicking.

"Sarah! The little girl!" she shouted, and we had a bad feeling.

"What happened?" I asked.

"A black hole appeared and sucked her into it!" the lady said, still in panic.

All of us rushed inside to the guest room, and we saw a dimension door disappearing right at the time we entered. However, this time I found my Time Remote Mark II lying on the floor. I picked it up and examined it, only to find that it was broken.

"When I asked where she came from, she answered Strawberryland and suddenly that thing created this black hole right next to her!" the lady said.

"And then she was sucked into it?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. I was really afraid and hit that thing with my stick to stop it from making the black hole!" the lady said.

"Oh great. Now we lose our transport," Peppermint said.

"Your transport?" ChaCha asked.

"This remote is what makes our travel to this world and back to our world possible," I said, which surprised the Greenhill residents there. "Don't worry, I still have another one with me."

"Oh, that's a relief. I thought I had made our guests unable to return home!" the lady said.

"Oh yes. I suppose you haven't met her before. She is the lady who lives here as well. I call her Grandma because we are so close and I feel like she is my grandmother. I have told her everything about you all," Sarah said.

"I see. I wish we could stay for longer but we have to chase her. I suppose it's goodbye again," I said, typing Strawberryland with Dimension Door Remote and then drawing a circle with its antenna.

"Please come again someday," Buddy said as a new dimension door appeared.

"I will. Bye for now," I said and the three of us jumped into the dimension door.

We ended up in a forest, but from the surroundings we recognized that we were in Huckleberry Briar. We walked around shouting Apple's name but there was no answer.

"Hey, I think we should just go to the festival. Maybe she has gone there already," Peppermint said.

"You have a point, but I want to go home first to put my remote and this music box there," I said. "You can go to the festival first if you want."

"I will go with you," Apricot said.

"Hmph, me too I guess," Peppermint said.

We walked towards my house in Blackberry Bushes, and when we arrived we saw the little girl we had been looking for standing right there.

"Apple Dumplin'! I'm glad to see you!" I shouted in excitement, running towards her.

"You really made us worried!" Apricot said.

"Apple Dumplin' sorry. Apple Dumplin' play with Blackberry remote," Apple said as I hugged her.

"That's fine. Now you are here, I could care less," I said. "Let's go to the festival now, after I put this remote and music box inside first."

However, when I was going to enter my house I saw that the button to reveal the ladder was not in its place. I walked to the back and found that Arrowhead was not there. I then came back to the three girls who were waiting at the front.

"This is the other Strawberryland, not our home" I said.

"What do you mean ``Other Strawberryland``?" Peppermint asked. Then, I explained to her about the other Strawberryland where everyone were different. Some girls had completely different looks, Strawberry's hair had different color, everyone were slightly older than in our Strawberryland, and the fact that I didn't exist in this Strawberryland.

"That means it's a lucky catch that we end up here. Otherwise Apple will be stuck here," Apricot said.

"Yeah, but that's not important now. Now all we have to do is to keep transporting to Strawberryland until we are in the correct Strawberryland where we live," I said.

Even though I had said that, it was easier said than done. At the first try we were transported to Ice Cream Island, where we had to walk for some while until we met Honey Pie Pony there who did not recognize me, which meant we were still in the other Strawberryland. The next try transported us to Lower Lollipop and we had to walk again. When we got close to the outfield, we saw a girl we couldn't recognize.

"Who's that girl?" I asked.

"I don't know," Apricot replied.

"You expected me to know? Yeah right," Peppermint said.

"Apple Dumplin' not know," Apple said. Then the girl seemed to notice us and immediately approached us.

"You are... Blackberry Bun?" the girl asked.

"Yes, who are you?" I asked back.

"Strawberry told Apple Dumplin' about you," the girl said. "A friend from a different world."

"You are... Apple Dumplin'?" Apricot asked.

"Yes, Apple Dumplin' is Apple Dumplin'" the girl answered. I scratched my head, seeing that the older Apple Dumplin' still used third person to mention herself, but I decided not to talk about that.

"We're still in the wrong world after all," Peppermint said. "I'm getting tired."

"Me too," Apricot said with a sigh.

"Apple Dumplin' tired," the younger Apple said.

"Me too actually. Let's rest under that tree," I said, pointing at a nearby tree. Then all of us sat down under the tree and had some talks with the older Apple Dumplin'. We forgot about the time and when we realized it, the sun was already setting. We then said goodbye to the older Apple and started our next try. The next try transported us right in front of the tree where my house was supposed to be hidden, and when I examined the tree I found the button to reveal the ladder and pressed it.

"Okay, now we are back in our Strawberryland," I said as the ladder went down and I climbed it.

"That's a relief," Apricot said.

"Now we have missed the festival. That's just great," Peppermint said, looking at the sky which was almost dark.

"Sowry..." Apple said.

"Nah, no need to say sorry," Peppermint replied as I went down the ladder. "Let's go there anyway. We might still be able to see the closing."

All of us then walked towards the place where the Berry Blossom Festival was held. When we arrived there, we saw everyone on the main stage of the festival. Strawberry was wearing something that seemed like a crown instead of her hat.

"Seems we indeed have missed the festival huh?" Peppermint said. "And maybe the closing as well."

"It seems so, but that was quite an exciting adventure we had," I said.

"Yeah, that was totally cool," Apricot said.

"Hmph, yeah I sorta agree with you on that," Peppermint said.

And so, all of us approached the rest of our friends and tried to enjoy what the festival had left to offer.

--End of Chapter 16--

Quote:Chapter 15: Inner Heart


It had been a few weeks after the event where all of us had used my Falcon, which I had repaired right after that event, to chase Rainbow Sherbet and convince her to stay in Strawberryland. In the end Rainbow had decided to return to Strawberryland and once again had docked her boat at Punch Bowl Pond. I was glad that she was willing to tow broken Falcon all the way back. She didn't get to meet Coco Calypso though, because it was already bed time when we passed her place. However, Strawberry told Rainbow about Coco and she hoped she would get to meet Coco someday.

Also, over the few weeks leaves had started to grow over the tree where my house was located, which meant my house would become hidden again. That was not a problem though, because everybody already knew where my house was. I looked around from the window, seeing the leaves being accompanied by blossoms as well. I felt that it was a nice day to go out so I went out for some leisure trips.

While walking, I thought about Inner Heart, the device I had made to seek truth under Peppermint's steel heart. I had not used it at all because eventually my talk had been enough to make her speak the truth of her feelings towards Rainbow. I still brought it with me in my pocket because its size was very small so it didn't take so much space in my pocket. However, I doubted if I would ever need to actually use it because Peppermint who I believed to have the hardest heart of all was actually not so hard-hearted.

Not long after, I noticed a poster placed on a tree. The poster was about an event named Berry Blossom Festival, a festival to celebrate the berry blossoms blooming all over Strawberryland. I read through the poster and thought that it would be an event I would not miss.

"Strawberry, you can make a party out of anything. That's also another thing I like from you," I thought, walking away from the poster.

I then met Raspberry who seemed to be walking around as well. I approached her and a conversation started.

"Hi, Raspberry," I greeted.

"Hi, Blackberry. How have you been?" she replied.

"Leaves start to hide my house again, but other than that I have been fine," I answered.

"I see. Where are you going now?" she asked.

"I'm just walking around. By the way, have you heard about Berry Blossom Festival?" I asked back.

"Heard about it? I'm the one handling decorations!" she replied with excitement

"Oh, that's cool. Are you doing well?" I asked.

"Definitely! Just wait and see," she replied.

"I'll be there, you can mark my words," I said.

"You bet! Oh, I'm running out of time! See you later!" she said, running off.

"Where are you going?" I shouted.

"Blueberry's house!" she shouted back as she disappeared from my sight.

After that, I decided to follow her to Blueberry's house. I only walked though, because I was not in a hurry. When I arrived there I entered and inside I saw not only Raspberry and Blueberry but also Strawberry, Ginger, Orange, Angel, and Lemon.

"Is there a party here and I'm not invited?" I asked with intention of kidding.

"Well, if you want to try one of Blueberry's fancy dress, go on ahead," Raspberry answered with giggle, followed by everyone else's laughter.

"I'll pass of course," I replied with a little laugh.

"By the way, do you want to come to my formal tea party?" Angel asked.

"Formal tea party? With formal clothes? Formal table manners and all?" I asked and she replied with a nod on all questions.

"Tomorrow morning there will be a pretend party at my house to rehearse on how it should be done. Do you want to come?" she asked.

"Hmm... I think I'll pass. Formal parties are not for me," I answered. "And I don't have formal clothes."

"I see. But you will still come for the main festival right?" she asked.

"Definitely," I answered.

Right after that, everyone left the place to get busy on each own task. Because I didn't want to become a bother, I went to Huck's fort and saw him along with Apple there when I arrived.

"Hi, Blackberry! Have you heard about the Berry Blossom Festival?" he asked.

"How can I not hear about it if that's everyone's first question whenever they meet someone else?" I answered with laugh.

"Yeah, and now that Strawberry is very busy, as you can see Apple is with me again," he said.

"Apple Dumplin' want to help Strawberry too," Apple said, seeming upset.

Looking at Apple, I could see that Strawberry still didn't want Apple to help because she thought that Apple was still too little to do any help. Actually she had a point, but I could feel that the constant denial had made Apple upset. I then approached her and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, the time will come," I encouraged.

"Time for what?" Apple asked.

"The time when you will be free to help Strawberry as you like," I answered.

"Apple Dumplin' cannot wait for time," she said.

"We need patience for all things, dear," I said. "Anyway, wanna fly around Strawberryland?"

"Apple Dumplin' want to fly! Blackberry can make Apple Dumplin' fly?" she asked.

I brought both Huck and Apple outside the fort and called Falcon using its remote, which I always carried in my pocket along with Key Master, Time Remote Mark II, Inner Heart, and Paraplu. Speaking of them, I was glad that Time Remote Mark II and Falcon's remote were the only ones with relatively large size so I could put each in each side of my pants pocket and squeezed other devices along with them. I had left my walkman in my house because there were no more new songs from Universal Recorder and I had listened to all songs many times.

As Falcon came landing in front of the fort, both Huck and Apple seemed surprised.

"It is the flying car Apple Dumplin' see in Apple Dumplin' dream!" Apple said, recognizing Falcon.

"That vehicle was in my dream too! Does that mean it was not a dream?" Huck said.

Huck's and Apple's sentence struck me like a lightning bolt. I completely forgot that I had to keep Falcon a secret to Huck and Apple as requested by dream fairies. All other people were fine because they had not seen Falcon the first time they had been in the Land of Dreams so knowing about the vehicle would have not revealed the secret.

"Well... no... I mean..." I said while thinking of a way to save the secret.

"What is it?" Huck asked.

"It's a... dream. Yes! It was a dream I made to come true!" I said as I suddenly got an idea.

"Apple Dumplin' not understand," Apple said.

"I dreamed of this vehicle as well, so I made it to make my dream come true," I said, trying to be convincing.

"Oh I see now," Huck said.

"Apple Dumplin' now understand too," Apple said, which made me feel relieved.

"All aboard!" I said as I got inside. The two followed soon after.

The rest of the day was spent flying around Strawberryland. I could hear Huck and Apple pointing at all houses they saw. I also could see some friends walking around but they didn't notice us because I had put invisibility mode on, and Falcon's engine did not make loud noise. The flight ended after all of us watched a beautiful sunset scenery.

At the next day I made another new device I named Blind Spot. It was a badge with the shape of an eye, and whenever I wore it I would become invisible. However, the invisibility only lasted for one hour and then it would need another hour to recharge by itself. I tried wearing it and indeed I became invisible because I couldn't see myself in the mirror. I then removed it and put it in my pocket because somehow I got a feeling that I would need it later on that day.

I then left my house to walk around. It was already midday and I assumed the pretend party at Angel Cake's house had been already over, so I decided to visit Strawberry at her house. In front of the gate of her house I met Custard who seemed to be having her nap. At first I didn't want to bother her but she noticed me.

"Hey, Blackberry," she greeted with half-closed eyes and yawning.

"Is Strawberry here?" I asked.

"Yes, and everyone else as well. But I don't think you want to come in," she answered.

"Why not?" I asked, and suddenly I heard something that seemed to be a fight inside the house.

"Better see for yourself," she said as she started to fall asleep once more. "But don't worry too much. It's not like what you think."

I walked to the house's window and tried looking inside. I couldn't believe what I saw next. I saw Angel Cake licking jam with her finger, Strawberry drinking from a plate, Lemon drinking right from the pitcher, and other gross things.

"Is this what they call formal party...?" I thought, and then I remembered Custard's message. "I better wait and ask later."

Once everybody left, I knocked on the door but there was no response. I knocked it once more and this time Strawberry opened it. She was already in her usual outfit.

"Oh, hi Blackberry," she greeted. "Please come in. Sorry, I was changing my clothes. And also sorry that my house is not in a good shape right now."

"Well, that's what I was going to ask. What happened actually?" I asked, seeing all the mess inside.

Then, She told me about her plan to teach Raspberry that manners actually matter. They had just given Raspberry a party with no manners, and later there will be another party with good manners at Blueberry's place. It was actually a pretty good plan but then I remembered about Peppermint's reaction to Strawberry's plan. Raspberry was not as bad as Peppermint in attitude, but chance still existed.

"I see, but you know... the last time you had a plan..." I said.

"I know, but everything's worth a try," she answered.

"Okay. Oh, I'll help you cleaning all these," I offered.

"Thanks, but don't worry," she refused, and right after that everybody else that was in the party except Raspberry came. Like Strawberry, they were already in their daily outfit.

"That was great, everyone!" Strawberry said.

"You betcha!" Ginger replied.

"It was hard but we did it," Blueberry said.

"Okay, now it's time to clean these up," Angel said.

Right after Angel Cake's words were spoken, everybody got busy on cleaning up the mess they had made themselves. Because it seemed they didn't need any more people, I left the place after saying goodbye and went towards Huck's fort. Like yesterday, Apple was there as well.

"Strawberry told Apple Dumplin' to play outside because Strawberry said the house would become a mess," Huck said.

"That's right. Her house is a mess right now," I said, and I told both of them what had happened and about Strawberry's plan.

"I actually doubt that will work," I remarked. "Raspberry is quite a difficult person to convince."

"I think we have the same thinking," Huck said.

"Apple Dumplin' not sure," Apple said.

"I think they will need this," I said, taking Inner Heart from my pocket.

"What is that?" Huck asked.

"Inner Heart, to seek truth inside a person's heart. If in her heart Raspberry actually wants to have good manners, this will help her letting the feelings out," I answered.

"I see, but even with that we will be still taking chances," Huck said.

"I will go to Blueberry's place to see the situation. I'll tell you later," I said, going to leave the place.

"Good luck," Huck said.

I went to Blueberry's house and she was already there preparing. I helped her a bit and had some talks about Strawberry's plan, but I didn't tell her about my doubt and my plan of using Inner Heart.

"I will watch quietly from upstairs. I hope you all will succeed," I said after the preparations were completed.

Later, while keeping my presence unnoticed, I watched the party going with manners unlike the previous party. Raspberry seemed much happier than before, but I noticed that it probably was because this time she got to eat the cookies and all, not because of good manners. My thought were further proved by her denial when everybody started talking about manners. She got really angry and left the place. As everybody else were still in silence, I went down the stairs.

"It didn't work..." I said, looking at the door Raspberry had just shut. "Just as I thought."

"Well, we tried our best..." Strawberry said.

"Don't give up hope yet, Strawberry," I said as I took Inner Heart from my pocket and left the place.

I then followed Raspberry, not forgetting to put Blind Spot on my shirt first. To make most use of Inner Heart, I had to shot her while she was talking about what just happened, so I kept following her until she finally started to speak to herself.

"I don't see what their problem is!" She spoke to herself. I then aimed Inner Heart at her.

"Why do manners matter so much to them?!" She spoke again, and I shot her. I then watched her with high hopes, and it seemed to succeed because her talk started to change towards the better.

I kept following her while staying invisible, and it turned out she went to Strawberry's house. I watched their conversation in joy because my device was a success after all. Once they went inside, I walked away from the place as Blind Spot started to lose its effect.

I immediately went to Huck's fort to tell him about the success. Apple was still there when I arrived.

"My device was a success," I said happily.

"That's great!" Huck replied.

"Apple Dumplin' happy for Blackberry too," Apple said.

"Now we only have to wait for the main festival," I said. "I think I will go home for now."

"Apple Dumplin' goin' home too," Apple said.

"Okay, see you at the festival," Huck said and the two of us left his fort. I couldn't wait for the festival day to come.

--End of Chapter 15--

Quote:Chapter 14b: Chasing The Rainbow


"We can always use this," I said, showing Time Remote Mark II to everyone.

"Oh, the dimension door!" Strawberry said with excitement.

"Dimension door?" Orange asked. "The same with Ginger's?"

"Yep, it sure is the same," Ginger said.

"How we're gonna go to Rainbow with this?" Angel asked.

"Just say the name of the place and we're there," I replied.

"Do you know where she is now?" Peppermint said.

Peppermint's question made me lose words. I forgot that none of us knew where Rainbow was. My remote was useless without knowing the name of the destination. There was a silence for a few seconds.

"You don't know?" Blueberry asked.

"We're screwed," Peppermint said with a sigh. "And it's all my fault."

"Don't give up hope yet. I still have this," I said, taking Falcon's remote from my pocket.

"What is that?" Strawberry asked.

"Come outside," I said, pressing one button. One minute later Falcon came landing in front of Peppermint's house.

"Wow, Blackberry! You've made a flying car too? You're simply amazing, am I right?" Ginger said.

"Not really. Unfortunately, there are seven of us and Falcon's seats are only for six persons. One of us has to stay," I said.

"Who will stay?" Angel asked.

"I have to apologize to her, so I must go," Peppermint said.

"What about the rest?" Strawberry asked.

"Flip a coin or whatever. We have to be quick!" I said, getting onboard. I didn't know how they decided it, but as the rest got onboard, I saw that Blueberry was the one to stay. I then flew Falcon towards the river near Strawberry's house, which was the last place we had seen Rainbow.

"I hope there's no branch on this river," I said, piloting Falcon to follow the flow of the river.

"This river goes to Coco Calypso's place," Strawberry said, sitting between the other two girls on the back seat.

"Coco Calypso? It's been a long time since the last time we saw her, am I right?" Ginger said, sitting at my left.

"Yeah, I miss her," Angel said, sitting on the right side of the back seat.

"She makes the best seaberry treats ever!" Orange said, sitting on the left side of the back seat.

"Yeah of course. She's the only one who makes them," Peppermint said, sitting at my right. "But yeah, her seaberry treats are sorta delicious."

"Am I the only clueless one?" I asked while still piloting Falcon.

"Oh yes. Blackberry doesn't know Coco yet," Strawberry said. "She lives in Seaberry Shore, and sometimes she gives us seaberry treats she has made."

"Oh, I see. How long have you been knowing her?" I asked.

"Hmm, almost one year I think. We met her when we visited Ice Cream Island," Strawberry answered.

"Yeah, one day the waves pushed our raft off the course," Angel said.

"Hmph! I told you that the weather was not good," Peppermint said.

"But we had to! It was almost bedtime and we brought no tents!" Orange replied.

"Yeah, we forgot about time," Strawberry said.

"And then we landed right in front of her house, am I right? We really surprised her, am I right again?" Ginger said.

"By the way, do any of you think we are going lower?" Orange asked, looking outside.

"Blackberry, something wrong with this car?" Angel asked, but there was no answer.

"Hey, give us some answer, will ya Blackberry?" Ginger asked, looking at me. "Oh my, this is bad. Yep it sure is."

"What happened?" Strawberry asked.

"He fell asleep on the wheel! Hey, wake up!" Peppermint shouted, shaking my body.

"Oh... Huh? What?" I asked, waking up.

"Come on! You are driving! Don't fall asleep!" Peppermint said.

"My oh my! Someone's drooling, am I right? He's so sleepy, am I right again?" Ginger said.

"This is berry dangerous. You should stop and rest," Strawberry said.

"Uh... yes, you are right. This way I'm endangering you all..." I said, still half-asleep.

"Hey, isn't that Coco Calypso's place? We can stop there, am I right?" Ginger said, looking outside.

"Alright... I'll land there..." I said, piloting Falcon to land on one open field of sand. The landing was quite rough because I did it while half-asleep. I just realized that staying up all night at the night before had taken its toll.

"Get some sleep or you'll kill us all," Peppermint said, getting off and then walking towards Coco's house.

"My oh my! You look so sleepy! Didn't get good sleep last night?" Ginger asked.

"Kinda... I didn't sleep at all..." I replied, which surprised everyone else except Peppermint because she had walked too far away to hear anything from me.

"How come?" Orange asked. I noticed that Peppermint was at quite a distance so it was safe to talk.

"I made this all the night," I replied, showing Inner Heart to the girls. Then I also told them the purpose of the device. After I finished explaining, I said to them, "Please don't tell Peppermint about this. She might react like the last time if you do."

Soon, Peppermint came back along with another girl I had never seen before, and there was a conversation.

"Coco Calypso!" Strawberry said, hugging her. "I'm happy to see you again!"

"Me too, Strawberry. Peppermint told me that someone needs help," Coco said.

"Oh yes. This is Blackberry Bun. He's berry tired and needs some sleep," Strawberry replied.

Coco kindly offered her place for me to get some sleep. And so I went to sleep on a sofa inside her house, and woke up four hours later. There was only Coco with me when I woke up, and another conversation started.

"Feeling better now?" Coco aksed.

"Yeah, I think," I replied, yawning and scratching my head.

"I talked with the others about the boat you are chasing. I saw that boat passing by yesterday but I didn't see much," she said.

"Do you know where that boat might be going?" I asked.

"Ice Cream Island, I think. All boats must go there first anyway because other courses are full of rocks," she replied.

"I see. I'll go now. The sooner the better," I said, standing up. "It's nice to know you. I hope we can meet again someday."

"Me too, Blackberry. Be safe in your trip," Coco said, and the two of us had a hug.

I then walked outside, where everyone else were waiting. With the info we had obtained from Coco, I piloted Falcon towards Ice Cream Island. The flight went smoothly without any trouble and soon we arrived at Ice Cream Island.

"Should we land here?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think. Maybe we can ask Raven if he has seen Rainbow," Angel said. I then remembered about Raven, the crow who once had been a pet of the villain I had seen using Eagle Eye. After leaving his owner he had been living on Ice Cream Island along with the fillies there. I had visited the island along with some other friends several times after that and it seemed that he had been leading a happy life.

"Everyone else agree?" I asked, and they agreed. Then I landed Falcon on one open field.

"It's been a while," Peppermint said, getting off.

"Yeah it sure has," Orange said as everyone got off. Then, a crow we recognized as Raven approached us from above.

"Hey, kids. It's been a while. I see you no longer need that raft, don't you?" he said, landing on Falcon's roof.

"Hi, Raven. How are you?" Strawberry greeted.

"I'm doing fine. My boss never returned after causing that flood all over this island. He said he would open his circus somewhere far away and would never return here again," Raven answered.

"I hope he will do good things this time," Strawberry said.

"I hope so too, but my boss isn't an easy person to change. Anyway, I guess you come for that rainbow girl, right?" Raven said.

"How did you know?" Angel asked.

"She came here last night and made a firecamp with yummy marshmallows. I talked with her and learned about things that happened when she was in your place," Raven replied, looking at Peppermint.

"Hmph, yeah it was my fault. She said bad things about me, right?" Peppermint said, looking away

"No, she just said that she liked you, but she realized that there were things in her that made it difficult for you to like her in return," Raven replied.

"Did she say where she would go?" I asked.

"She said she had nowhere to go, and would go anywhere the sea would carry her boat," Raven said. "Oh, and did I say that she was still here one hour ago?"

"No, you haven't," Angel said as everyone else got surprised.

"That means she's not berry far away yet!" Strawberry said with excitement.

"She went that way if I remember it right," Raven said, pointing to a direction.

"Thank you berry much for your help, Raven!" Strawberry said.

"No problem, kids. I wish you luck," Raven said, flying away.

All of us then got onboard Falcon again and I flew it towards the direction Raven had pointed. We all were excited and happy about how close we were, but that happiness didn't last for long because I noticed something ahead.

"Everyone, there's a huge storm ahead. Fasten your seatbelts," I said, and everyone did it.

I was glad that I had made Falcon to be able to endure storms. However, even though of that, the wind from the storm still shook Falcon left and right, and the heavy rain kept pushing it downwards. Not to mention that vision was greatly reduced.

"I'm scared..." Angel said.

"Me too..." Orange said.

"Don't worry. You can trust me that Falcon will not lose to this storm," I said to encourage everyone there.

"I'm berry worried about Rainbow..." Strawberry said.

"Well, looking at this storm, I can predict that even the strongest of ships will be flipped over and sink all the way down. Yep, it sure will," Ginger said, which of course didn't make anyone happier. "But I can be wrong too."

"Hey, look there! Isn't that Rainbow's boat?" Peppermint said, pointing to the right side. Everyone looked to the direction and indeed Rainbow's boat was there struggling against the storm. I piloted Falcon to approach the boat, and then all of us were surprised on what we saw next. The storm had somehow created a giant whirlpool right in front of Rainbow's boat, and due to the reduced vision Rainbow seemed not to notice earlier. We saw the boat turning around to avoid the whirlpool, but it was too late. The boat was already in the whirlpool's range and it started to suck the boat in.

"No! We can't let this to happen!" Strawberry said.

"Of course I won't!" I said, pressing one button. Then Falcon shot a harpoon which hit the boat's front side and attached itself without damaging the boat. Then with the engine at full power I attempted to pull the boat away from the whirlpool. However, force of nature was not something to be taken lightly. The whirlpool pulled the boat stronger than Falcon, thus both vehicles were dragged into it. The situation seemed hopeless.

"Everyone, I need you all to brace yourselves. This is going to be rougher than now..." I said, then I pressed Falcon's overcharge button.


Later, we were out of the storm. Rainbow's boat was safe and sound under the bright blue sky. However, Falcon's condition was very bad. Black smokes come out from all over it and all engines were no longer working. All it could do then was just staying afloat on the sea with its harpoon still attached to Rainbow's boat. All of us were already on the deck of Rainbow's boat. Rainbow herself was there as well.

"Umm... Rainbow, I..." Peppermint said timidly. "I'm sorry about all I have said. I... I... I was kinda scared of you because you're different. But... but I have realized that I actually like you because... because you're different," she continued, and there was a silence for a few seconds. "I... I don't know what to say, and I don't even know if... if you will ever forgive me..."

As Peppermint said those, she started to leak tears as well. I could feel that everybody else were speechless. I then saw Rainbow starting to smile and put her hand on Peppermint's shoulder.

"Why shouldn't I? Of course I will," Rainbow said.

"You forgive me? After all I have done?" Peppermint asked, still with tears over her cheeks.

"Yes, everybody deserves a second chance," Rainbow replied.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" Peppermint said, and the two girls had a big hug.

--End of Chapter 14b--

Quote:Chapter 14: Tribute to Animation Emir


Even though I had felt I could sleep for the whole day, I woke up in midday after all because my stomach asked for lunch. The rain had stopped and a rainbow appeared, making it a good time to have lunch. After having the proper lunch I decided to go to my working table and start making a new device. In the next three hours I finished repairing Time Remote Mark II and making a gun-shaped device I named Replicator. Its function was to make a perfect copy of any non-living thing it shot. While testing it, I set it into copy mode, aimed it towards Eagle Eye's satellite, and pulled the trigger. It shot a green laser, which hit the satellite. Then, I set it into paste mode and shot it towards the floor of my house. It shot a purple laser, which hit the floor and instantly materialized a perfect copy of the satellite. I took the satellite and tried using it like the real one. It worked well, implying that Replicator worked well too.

While I was having my joy of successfully making a new device, someone knocked on my door. I opened it and the guest turned out to be Strawberry. As she entered I, with intention of joking, aimed copy-mode Replicator at her. She was surprised seeing me aiming a gun at her.

"Whoa don't shoot, Blackberry! It's me, Strawberry Shortcake!" she said with a little fright, but I shot her anyway and the green laser hit her hat.

"Oh, sorry," I said, setting Replicator to paste mode.

"What was that? It's dangerous you know," she said as I shot her again. This time, I shot her hand and a copy of her hat materialized there.

"Replicator," I answered with smile. "You didn't think that I would make a dangerous thing for real, did you?"

As she examined the copy of her hat, she giggled and said "I knew you wouldn't, but you still scared me. You are always full of surprises with your things."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," I said with a giggle. "Anyway, what happened that you come here?"

Then, she told me about a new friend with the name Rainbow Sherbet living in a boat docked on Punch Bowl Pond. As she told me that, I looked towards Punch Bowl Pond visible from my window, and indeed there was a boat that had not been there before. She also told me that at the next day there would be a welcoming party at her house and she invited me to come.

"I see, thanks for inviting. I'll see if I can come tomorrow," I said, and she left.

Not long after that, someone knocked on my door again. However, this time the guest was Ginger Snap.

"Oh, hi Ginger. What happened that you come here?" I asked.

"Y'know. Tomorrow there will be a party to welcome a new friend. There will be tens and hundreds and thousands and dozens of cookies and cakes so I'm going to make an automatic cookie-icin' machine to help everyone out," she said.

"Dozens are less than hundreds and thousands. Keep going anyway," I remarked.

"Okie dokie. Well, I thought you could come and help me out on it. Will you?" she asked.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do. Shall we go right away?" I said.

"Definitely!" she answered and we went towards her cookie factory.

At first, I thought the work would be a piece of cake with the two of us together. However, apparently me and Ginger had different thoughts about the machine we were going to make, making the rest of the day spent mostly arguing on how the machine should be made. Some accidents happened making both of us covered in icings, and we had quite an amount of laughs together. We forgot about bedtime and continued working on the machine until we fell asleep inside the factory. When we woke up, it was already bright and Ginger panicked seeing that.

"Uh oh! It's almost time! And the machine is not finished yet! There's no way we can finish it in time! Nope, not at all!" she shouted.

"Hmm, I think you can go there and buy some time. I'll finish this meanwhile," I said.

"Really? Thanks a zillion! I'll be back in a flash! Yep, I sure will!" she said, leaving the factory soon after.

Surprisingly without Ginger the work was much faster and I didn't know why. I finished the machine in the next ten minutes, and right after that Ginger came back with sore face.

"The party's cancelled," she said.

"How come?" I asked, and she told me what Strawberry had told her. Peppermint didn't like the new friend for a reason she couldn't say, and she had told Strawberry about her feelings towards Rainbow, without realizing that the person in particular had been actually there as well and had heard everything.

"And so now the machine has no use. Nope, not at all," she said.

"We still can use it whenever there's another party in the future," I said. "You better go to Rainbow, she might needs some encouragement."

"How about you?" she asked.

"I'll go home first and change into cleaner clothes," I answered. "You better do the same too."

I then went home to change my clothes, which were full of pink icing all over them. Midway I thought about how Peppermint could do such thing. I knew she was not as nice as the others, but to drive a new friend away still didn't feel like her. I was sure there was something more, but no idea came to my mind.

After changing into clean clothes, I went to Punch Bowl Pond and saw Orange, Angel, Ginger, Blueberry, and a girl I had never seen before. The girl I assumed to be Rainbow seemed depressed while the others tried to cheer her up. I then approached them to ask about what had happened.

"Hi everyone," I greeted as I came closer. "What happened here?"

"Hi, Blackberry. Well, Rainbow taught us about a new game to play with ball, but Peppermint didn't like it and... well..." Blueberry answered.

"She said something bad again I assume?" I asked.

"Her last sentence was ``I'll come back when she's gone!`` when she left. It was bad, am I right? It made Rainbow sad, am I right again?" Ginger said.

"That's fine..." Rainbow said, still with depressed face.

"No it is not fine," Angel said.

"Strawberry is now talking with Peppermint again. I don't know if she will succeed this time..." Orange told me.

"It does not matter anymore," Rainbow said, walking to her boat.

"Rainbow..." Angel said, following her. But Orange stopped her.

"I think we have to leave her alone for now," Orange said, and we all left the place.

At home I thought about the new friend. There were things that indeed made her different than the others. First, she lived in a boat instead of static house. Second, she wore her belt tilted, which frankly felt strange for me. Third, her outfit was so colorful, which fit her name but still seemed strange in my eyes because other friends didn't have so many colors on them. However, I decided to put all those things aside because I would be no much different than Peppermint if I kept all those thoughts.

At the next day, early in the morning, Strawberry came to my house rushing.

"Blackberry. I need your Replicator," she said, panting.

"Hold it. Tell me what happened and what's your plan with it," I replied.

She then quickly told me that Rainbow was going to leave Strawberryland forever on that day unless something was done quickly. So she had a plan to make a costume party with everyone.

"I want to have everyone wearing the same costume as Peppermint and act like her to let her know what will happen if everybody is like her," she said.

"I see, but that means I have to shoot her, and that won't be easy," I said.

"Please think of something, Blackberry. We need to have Rainbow stay, and this is the only way, not to mention that I already gave invitations to everyone," she said.

"Strawberry, this is not like you to rush on an unsure thing," I said, pausing for a brief moment. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

I quickly tweaked Replicator a bit and also launched Eagle Eye towards Peppermint's house. In the monitor we saw which costume Peppermint was going to wear. I zoomed the camera to focus on the costume, and shot Replicator to the monitor. Then, I set it to paste mode and aimed it on the floor.

"Now cross your fingers, Strawberry..." I said as I shot the floor. Something materialized there and it turned out to be the costume we had wanted to copy.

"Great!" she shouted in joy.

I shot the floor a few more times so the amount of copy was enough for everyone else.

"Now I need to bring these to my home quickly. Thanks for your help, Blackberry," she said, taking all the costumes.

"Wait, I have something to bring you there in a flash," I said, taking Time Remote Mark II from my shelf. "Strawberryland! Strawberry Shortcake's house!"

A dimension door appeared. Strawberry recognized it as the same dimension door Ginger had used to help me, and jumped in happily. I followed her to make sure she wouldn't end up in the different Strawberryland like I had experienced. The door transported us into Strawberry's house, and because everyone else minus Peppermint were there waiting and asking about the costume party, I could rest assured that we were still in the same world.

"I'll go back home. I can't wear a girl costume right?" I said, and I re-entered the dimension door to go back home.

I then watched the costume party with Eagle Eye. Everyone had worn the costume and were waiting for Peppermint to come. Not long after, she came and was quite surprised seeing the costume of everybody else. Then everyone played their part well on how they should act, however Peppermint seemed to become more and more upset as time passed. (A.N. Now the fanfic will clash with the original story of the episode)

"Just what are you all doing?!" she shouted with anger, surprising everyone else. "Everybody wear the same costume as me, eat the same food and didn't leave any for me, all these craziness is really making me mad! You all are playing tricks to me!" she scolded, leaving everyone else speechless.

"Peppermint, I..." Strawberry started to speak.

"I know! This is your plan to change my mind about that kid, huh? Too bad, I'll never change my mind. She's different and weird, there's something wrong with her! And I won't feel any better if she's not gone yet! Screw everything, I'm out of here!" she said and left the place.

Her reaction which was not as planned left everybody else speechless. A huge depression covered everyone's face, and I could feel how broken their hearts were, especially Rainbow. I used Time Remote Mark II to quickly come to the place, with intention to give them some encouragement although I doubted if it would work. When I arrived there, everybody was still in big depression. I saw Rainbow removing her mask and approached Strawberry.

"It's okay, Strawberry. You did your best," she said to Strawberry, with her hand on the latter's shoulder.

"But Peppermint still..." Strawberry said with sad face.

"Never mind about that. It's fine for me. If I can't be friends with her then so be it, we can't force free-will," Rainbow said.

Sad but true, Rainbow was right in my opinion. There were things Peppermint and Rainbow had which didn't match well with each other, making friendship between them near to impossible. However, Strawberry had a thinking that if both Peppermint and Rainbow were her friends while the two couldn't maintain good friendship, something must have been wrong and should have been fixed. The event that had just happened was actually good to teach Strawberry a bit of reality, and I hoped she could learn the lesson well although I actually doubted it.

"I guess it's time for me to go," Rainbow said, putting off her costume.

"Rainbow, no...!" Strawberry said.

"Please don't go..." Angel said.

"We all like you," Orange said.

"Thank you all, but I don't want to get in the way. And it seems I'm destined to be a traveller after all," Rainbow replied. "And please don't keep any ill-feelings towards Peppermint after I go. It's not her fault at all."

After saying those, Rainbow walked away to her boat which was docked on a river not far from Strawberry's house. Everyone else followed her, and watched in silence as the boat sailed away. Everyone waved their hands in tears, saying their final farewell, and kept looking at the boat until it disappeared into the horizon.

Everybody went home after that, and I could feel that they were mourning over what had just happened. I was afraid of something that might happen later, which was Peppermint losing all her friends because of what she had just done, despite Rainbow's final message. I knew and agreed with Rainbow that friendship couldn't be forced between some people, but it seemed that everyone else were still yet to learn about reality, especially Strawberry. I felt this would have a chain reaction which might ruin everyone's friendship towards each other, and something must be done.

That night, I spent all the time I had to work on another device. Because the device would function on something which was somewhat against one thing Rainbow had said, the work was indeed very difficult, much harder than any other devices I had ever made. I finished the new device when the sun was already rising, which meant I had spent the night without sleep. But the plan must go on so I immediately left my house.

Later, I arrived at Peppermint's house and knocked on the door. Soon she opened the door and a conversation started.

"Blackberry? What is it?" she asked.

"This is about Rainbow," I answered as both of us entered the house.

"That kid huh? If you're here to change my mind, forget it," she said.

"She left," I said.

She had a brief silence and then while facing away from me she said, "That's good,"

"Are you happy with it?" I asked.

Still facing away and with a brief silence before the sentence, she answered, "Yes, of course. That weird kid is gone, and that is the happiest thing in my life,"

"Are you sure on your answer? Is it really what comes from your heart?" I still asked.

Still facing away and with a longer silence coming first, she answered, "Why you keep asking? Of course it is!"

"The way you answer does not sound so," I remarked. There was a silence for a few minutes.

"She was sorta different the first time I saw her, and it kinda scared me," she finally started to speak.

"Is that so?" I asked.

"Yeah... The way she speaks, living in a boat, so many colors on her outfit, tilted belt, and everything! All those things kinda scared me, and made me want her to go away!" she said, finally turning around facing me. "But... But... Later I realized that her differences were actually not things to be scared of. I started to like her because of those differences..."

As she said those, she also started sobbing. Then, she continued.

"That night, I couldn't sleep because I felt guilty. I wanted to apologize to her, but I didn't know what to say. Then, the next morning an invitation came and I thought that would be a good chance..." she said.

"Then why you didn't?" I asked.

"...How do you feel when someone tells you to do something, while you were already doing exactly the thing?" she asked me.

"Well... I would feel kinda... insulted I think," I answered. "Oh!"

"You realized it huh?" she remarked my last word.

"Strawberry's plan insulted you..." I said.

"Exactly, and I think you know what happened next..." she said. "Now I don't know what to do, and I don't even know if everyone will forgive me..."

"Why wouldn't we?" a voice said from the door. The door then opened and we saw Strawberry, Angel, Orange, Ginger, and Blueberry coming in.

"Huh? You all were listening?" Peppermint asked.

"Hmm, yeah. All words from the beginning," Blueberry answered.

"It was Blackberry who brought us here. Yep, he did," Ginger said.

"We all are friends and will always be," Strawberry said. "I'm sorry about what happened. I hope you will forgive me too."

All in all, I had saved the circle of friendship within everyone there, without using the device I had just made which I had named Inner Heart. Its shape was like a gun but much smaller than Replicator, and anyone shot by its pink laser would speak from the deepest depth of the heart. I had thought I had to use it to seek the truth within Peppermint's steel heart, but in the end I hadn't. The next thing that happened there were everyone having a big group hug, although that had to end because someone remembered about something.

"What about Rainbow?" Orange asked. "We need her to come back and stay."

"And I need to apologize to her, but it seems it's already too late..." Peppermint said.

It was not a problem, because I had Time Remote Mark II in my pocket, and it was in perfect working order.

--End of Chapter 14--

Quote:Chapter 13: Confusion


We landed on the outfield of Strawberryland. Like in Greenhill, the sun was setting so all of us decided to go home, rest, and continue the trip at the next day. Thus, we parted and walked to his/her own house. Because Time Remote Mark II ran out of energy, I had to walk to my house. It was not a problem for me though. However, when I arrived at the tree which hid my house, I couldn't find the button that revealed the ladder to the entrance. I walked around the tree and found that both Falcon and Arrowhead weren't in their place.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Give me Vision!" I spoke to my backpack and it gave me a pair of glasses similar to what I usually wore, except that they had green lenses and some cables around the frame. The function of that device was to see through things like if they were semi-transparent. I replaced my glasses with it and looked towards the tree. Then, I saw that my house had disappeared.

"Somebody has stolen my house?" I wondered. "But that cannot be..."

While I was still wondering, Raspberry came to me with her face expression really weird. It seemed that she had seen something terrible.

"Blackberry, you won't believe what I just saw..." she said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You won't believe," she said.

"Try me," I said.

"Better see for yourself," Raspberry said, pulling me.

Raspberry brought me to her house, and asked me to look into one of the windows. I did what she told me to do, and I couldn't believe what I saw. I saw another Raspberry Torte having dinner inside the house.

"When I came here, I saw the lights on. I remember that I didn't turn them on, so I looked into the window and..." she said.

"Okay, I see what you mean..." I said.

"Did you transport us to a wrong time?" she asked.

"No, I set the remote only to make a portal for dimensional travel, not time travel, not both," I answered.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes I'm really sure. We spent one night in Greenhill so it must be only one day passed here as well," I answered.

Not long after, Lemon and Apricot came to us with similar stories. There was another Lemon and another Apricot inside their respective house. However, unlike Raspberry, they had entered the house because they hadn't been aware so they ended up meeting their ``twins``.

"Really? Did they say anything?" I asked.

"She thought she was dreaming and immediately went to sleep," Lemon said.

"For me, she was surprised and asked from where and how did I come," Apricot said.

"And what did you tell her?" Raspberry asked.

"Well, I told her everything about our travel to another dimension with Blackberry. However..." she answered.

"However...?" Raspberry asked again.

"She said she didn't know someone with the name Blackberry Bun," she answered, which surprised everyone else.

"That cannot be!" Raspberry said.

"But it was really her answer," Apricot said.

"Come to think of it... my house is gone..." I said, which once again surprised everyone else.

"What?! How come?" Lemon asked.

"I have no idea," I answered. "In any case, we need to find a place to sleep tonight."

"Well, my twin offered the place," Apricot said.

So, we went to Apricot's house. Indeed there was another Apricot inside and she welcomed us warmly. I had to introduce myself to her, and then all of us had some talks. Also, I observed that the other Apricot was slightly taller than the Apricot I knew.

"Are you really sure that you didn't bring us to a wrong time?" Raspberry asked the same question again.

"Yes I'm really sure. I say this once again: I didn't set the remote to make a time portal, only a dimensional portal," I said.

"Then what's the explanation of this?" she asked. "It seems we are now in a near future. You see, our ``twins`` are slightly taller than us."

"I have no idea at all," I replied. "Let's sleep for now and think about that tomorrow."

So, all of us slept using our sleepbags in Apricot's house. While trying to sleep, I still had some thinking about what was happening. One idea came to me but I wasn't sure of it so I let it by and went to sleep. At the next day the four of us left Apricot's house and walked around Strawberryland. While walking we saw something coming from the front, and I noticed it as the carriage of Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes.

"Hide!" I told everyone, and we quickly hid ourselves behind a nearby tree. While the carriage was passing, I could hear some words said by the two adults.

"I told you that it was not going to work!" Sour Grapes said.

"Grr... that Strawberry Shortcake always ruins all my brilliant plans!" Purple Pie Man said.

After the carriage went away, we came out from our hiding and continued on with our walk. As we came closer to Strawberry's house, we started to hear someone singing.

"Do you hear what I hear?" I asked.

"Yes," Raspberry said.

"Someone is singing," Lemon remarked.

"I think it is Strawberry's voice," Apricot said.

I recognized the song as the one I had recorded with my Universal Recorder. The one song that was my most favorite song ever, the one about home being where the heart is. I wondered for once because my Universal Recorder wasn't supposed to record something from the future, but I put that aside because it was not important for me. We continued walking until we arrived at her house, and we couldn't believe what we saw.

"Are they the ones we know?" I asked.

"I think, but I think not too," Raspberry said.

We saw a group of five girls, three of them still easily recognizable as Ginger Snap, Angel Cake, and Orange Blossom. However, the last two still needed further observing until we knew that they were Strawberry Shortcake and Peppermint Fizz. Ginger Snap still had her straight pigtails, but much longer. Angel Cake's hair style was similar to Lemon. Orange Blossom's hair was much longer with mat style and five thin braids. Peppermint's hair also was much longer, with broom-shaped ponytail. However, the one that surprised me most was Strawberry's hair. Not only it reached halfway of her back, the color was maroon instead of orange. We approached the group and then a conversation began.

"Hi, Raspberry, Lemon, Apricot! And who is this new friend?" Strawberry asked.

"You don't know him? Any of you?" Raspberry asked.

"No, never seen him. Yep, never did," Ginger said.

"What happened to you all? He has been our friends for quite some time!" Raspberry said.

"I don't remember him at all. Really," Angel Cake said.

"Okay, my name is Blackberry Bun. I myself also don't know what is going on here," I said. "Or maybe..."

"Maybe what?" Raspberry asked.

"But first, I want to ask you, Strawberry. What happened to your hair?" I asked Strawberry.

"My hair? What's wrong with my hair?" she replied with question.

"The color. Wasn't it orange before?" I asked.

"No, my hair has been this color since I was little," she answered.

"I see... my thought is true after all..." I said.

"What thought?" she asked. So, I told her everything about my Time Remote Mark II and the trip I had with Lemon, Raspberry, and Apricot.

"Then?" Raspberry asked.

"This is not Strawberryland. I mean, this is not the Strawberryland where we live," I answered.

"... I don't understand..." Raspberry said.

"By coincidence the remote transported us to a place with the same name but in a parralel world," I said.

"You are making smokes to come out from our head you know," Raspberry said, and indeed everyone else had a confused face.

"Okay, to make it simple, we are still in another world. Like Greenhill, but this world is very similar to our Strawberryland," I answered.

"Oh... I think I understand now," Lemon said.

"Yeah, in this Strawberryland everyone are different. You see, some have completely different looks, Strawberry's hair has different color, everyone are slightly older than in our Strawberryland, and..." I said, pausing for a moment. "I don't exist..."

"Wait! What was the last point?" Apricot asked.

"In this Strawberryland I don't exist. There is nobody with the name Blackberry Bun here. That explains why my house was not in its place when I went there last night," I answered.

"Oh... that's a pity..." Raspberry said. "So, what should we do now?"

"Use the remote again, I think," I answered. "Give me Time Remote Mark II!"

The backpack threw the remote into my grip, and I said Strawberryland's name into it, followed by my district's name. The remote then made a dimension door ready for us to enter.

"Strawberry, it was nice to know you although only for a short time. I hope we can meet again someday," I said to Strawberry.

"Me too, Blackberry. Please be safe in your trip," she said.

"By the way, the song you just sang... was that the first time you sing it?" I asked.

"Home Is Love? Yes, that was the first time," she answered.

"I see. Goodbye then," I said, jumping into the dimension door along with Raspberry, Lemon, and Apricot.

We landed right in front of the tree where my house was supposed to be located. I looked for the button which revealed the ladder and I found it in the usual place, then I pressed the button with relief.

"My house is here, so we are back in our world," I said as the ladder dropped down. However, suddenly I heard a loud noise from the back.

"What was that?" Apricot asked.

"Sounds like an explosion," Lemon remarked.

"Let's go check," Raspberry said.

"Make it quick. I have a bad feeling about this..." I said. "I think I know that noise."

We quickly went to the back of the house, at there we saw something we couldn't believe. We saw another Blackberry Bun lying down on the ground, unconscious with wounds all over his body. Right next to him was a vehicle I recognized as the old Falcon. We then quickly approached my ``twin`` and examined his condition.

"Oh my gooseberries! His condition is very bad!" Raspberry said.

"We need to take care of his wounds!" Lemon said.

"Give me Phoenix Tear!" I said to my backpack, and it threw the metal sphere into the grip of my hands. I then turned the device on and let the blue radiance covered the body of my ``twin``, which was soon healed completely.

"That is totally cool," Apricot said.

"Okay, now get out of here before he wakes up. I'll explain later. Hurry!" I said, and without further questions we all went away quickly. We then stopped at an area deep inside a nearby forest.

"Care for an explanation?" Raspberry asked.

"Well, Raspberry... You were right," I said.

"Right about what?" she asked.

"We haven't been in correct timeline," I said. "We are in the past now."

"That makes sense, looking that your twin is somewhat smaller than yourself," she remarked. "Any more details to share?"

"Okay... I don't know since when, but my remote has been transporting us not only to another world, but also to the past," I answered. "I don't know about Greenhill, but the other Strawberryland we saw was also the past."

"How did you know?" she asked.

"The song we heard, I had recorded it before with my Universal Recorder. But Strawberry said it was the first time she sang the song," I answered.

"Okay... Any further explanation about what just happened? You haven't said anything about that," she said.

"Alright, that explosion was an accident I experienced when I was trying to make Falcon. I remember the pain I had all over my body, and for once I thought that it would have been the end of me. However, later I woke up without any wounds on my body. I have been wondering about that miracle until now, and now I know the answer," I said.

"Wow, it sounds too good to be said a coincidence..." Apricot said.

"Indeed, but that's what happened. Anyway, now we have to go back to the correct timeline," I said, setting the remote to make a time portal instead of a dimension door.

"Is it going to work? I mean, with what just happened, you know..." Apricot asked.

"I'm as unsure as you are, but this is still better than doing nothing," I replied, also speaking a date. A vortex appeared and then all of us jumped in.

Once again, we ended up right in front of the tree which hid my house. It was raining so I quickly dropped the ladder down and told everyone to come inside. When we were in, we got surprised once again because we saw a dimension door in the middle of my house, which disappeared soon after.

"Oh, I think I know..." I said.

"What is it?" Raspberry asked.

"That's the dimension door I used to go to Apricot's house. Dimension doors made by my remote only last for one minute so that means we're back into our departure day," I answered. "By mistake I mentioned our departure date instead of two days forward."

"So that means right now the other ``we`` are thinking of a name to visit?" she asked.

"I think so. Now we can choose to go home and continue living like if our trip never happened if you want. There will be no problem," I said.

"That's a relief. I'm now so tired that I feel I can sleep the whole day today..." she said.

"Me too..." Lemon said.

"Me three..." Apricot added.

After saying those, all three of them went to each own home. I was quite tired as well so after changing my clothes I got onto my bed and went to sleep. There were so many confusions experienced on that day...

--End of Chapter 13--

Quote:Chapter 12: Greenhill


It rained that day, while I was preparing for the trip I would have using Time Remote Mark II. A few days before I had asked if Strawberry and the others would have liked to join my trip, but she already had made a promise with Ginger, Orange, Angel, and Blueberry for a garden party. Also, Huck was kinda lazy at that time so he had passed on that. In the end my travelling companion would be Raspberry, Lemon, and Apricot. I actually had asked Peppermint as well but she had not been interested.

"I wonder what will happen to Strawberry's party with this kind of weather..." I thought. "Anyway, it's almost time. I have to meet them at Apricot's house."

Because I didn't know how my trip would be, I wore my hiking outfit and brought a backpack filled with a lot of things. The backpack was not an ordinary backpack. With a technique similar to Ginger's Dimension Door Remote, The backpack could fit infinite amount of things while keeping its weight low. Like the Time Remote Mark II, it used voice commands so I could just say the name of the thing I needed and the backpack would give the thing.

"Give me Time Remote Mark II," I spoke to the backpack and it threw the remote from its pocket right into my grip. "Apricot Cottage!"

The remote successfully transported me to the inside of Apricot's house. Raspberry and Lemon were already there waiting, and they welcomed me with enthusiasm. I saw that Lemon also wore hiking outfit just like me, probably because her regular outfit was not good enough for a trip. Raspberry and Apricot still wore their usual outfit.

"Let's go right away," Raspberry said. "We were ready since long ago."

"Yeah, that will be totally cool," Apricot said.

"Agree," Lemon added.

"Well, what's our first destination?" I asked. "Just think of a random name."

"Hmm... Big Blue?" Lemon said.

"We may end up in the middle of the ocean, or high in the sky," I remarked. "Too risky."

"White Land?" Apricot said.

"Might lead to snowy place. And you see we are not prepared for cold weather," I said.

"Okay... How about Green Hill?" Raspberry said.

"That sounds like we will end up on a hill green with plants. Nice idea if I might say," I said

"Yeah, that is cool for me," Apricot said.

"Me too," Lemon added.

"Then let's go. Green Hill!" I spoke to the remote and it made the vortex where we jumped.

When we came out, we realized that we were not on a green hill like we had hoped. We were on the edge of a city. The city itself astonished us pretty well because that was the first time in our life to see a big city, and also to see it not themed around fruits like how Strawberryland was.

"Nice city, but we are not on a green hill," Raspberry remarked. "Something wrong with your remote?"

"I don't think so," I answered, throwing my Time Remote Mark II upwards, and my backpack sucked it into the pocket. "Look at that board over there," I continued, pointing at a board which showed the name of the city.

"Oh, the city's name, it's Greenhill," Apricot noticed.

Raspberry was a little bit upset because we ended up in a place different than what she had hoped, but she accepted it in the end and we all agreed to enter the city and look around before going somewhere else.

"Oh, and I think we should change our names," I said.

"Why should we?" Raspberry asked.

"You see, nothing in this city is themed around fruits. I'm pretty sure the same applies to people's names. If by chance someone greets us and ask for our names, imagine if we answer with these names," I answered.

"Okay... that's sensible enough..." Raspberry said.

"Yeah, that will be cool," Apricot said.

"So what will be our new names?" Lemon asked.

"Let's think of a name for ourselves," I said, starting to think. Everybody else also started to think.

"I think my name will be Abigail," Lemon said.

"My name will be Angel," Apricot said. "Funny that Angel Cake's name is already not around food if I remove the ``Cake`` part."

"Okay, mine will be... Patricia I think," Raspberry said. "How about you, Blackberry?"

"Hmm... my name will be..." I said, still thinking.

"Hey, decide fast will you?" Raspberry said.

"Okay, my name will be... Sandy," I said.

"Sandy...? I'm not so sure but it sounds like a girl's name for me," Raspberry remarked.

"It does?" Lemon asked.

"Okay, if you say so, then I'll change it into... David," I said.

"Now that sounds better for me," Raspberry said, and we went into the city.

We walked through the city, but because we didn't know anything about the city, we only walked around randomly without definite destination. Later, the smokes coming out from cars started to become annoying so we decided to look for a place with less cars. After asking around, we ended up at the city's park which was quite large. The park had pavements with benches and a fountain in one part while in the other part it was made to look like a natural forest with a small river, swamp, and many trees. As we were walking in the forest part of the park, we stopped on a small bridge which had been built over the small river.

"This park reminds me of Huckleberry Briar," I said. "Except this park is more beautiful."

"Yes indeed," Raspberry said.

"I want to stay here for longer," Lemon said.

"Me too, that will be cool," Apricot said.

"I feel the same, but in the end we will have to go home. Don't worry, we can visit this place again someday," I said.

"Yeah..." Apricot said with a small sigh. "Hey, did anybody just see what I saw?" She continued pointing towards the river.

"Indeed, I saw something moving down there," I said, looking down.

"I'll go check," Raspberry said, going towards the river under the bridge.

"Be careful," Lemon said.

Raspberry examined the area under the bridge slowly. At first she didn't see anything strange, but suddenly there was a small movement. Raspberry took a closer look to the source, and all of a sudden a big creature came out jumping with its mouth widely opened. It was a huge crocodile.

"Oh no! Raspberry, run!" Lemon yelled.

"It's going to eat you alive!" Apricot yelled. However, Raspberry didn't move at all. It seemed that she was frightened so badly that the fright nailed her to the ground she was on.

"How can a crocodile that big live here!?" I said, rushing towards Raspberry to help her.

I tried to grab Raspberry and pull her away, but the slope I had to climb while pulling her didn't make it any easier. As the crocodile came closer, the situation seemed hopeless. I almost gave up when suddenly I heard a voice.

"That's fine!" the voice said, which sounded like the voice of a little kid. "Mr. Crocodile does not eat you."

I looked towards the source of the voice, and found that it indeed came from a little boy, who was not much older than Apple Dumplin', riding a yellow toy car. I looked towards the crocodile again and I saw it stopped right in front of Raspberry and didn't move anymore. The boy then walked towards the crocodile and put his hands on the crocodile's nose.

"Cold, but also feels warm," the boy said. "Try it."

However, right at that time I saw that Raspberry was already unconscious. I still had to carry her to a place where she could properly lie down.

"Give me a hand please," I said to my other friends.

Then, the three of us lifted Raspberry up and put her on a flat grass surface.

"Why she fell asleep, ChaCha?" the boy said.

"That's not sleep, Buddy. She fainted, maybe because she was afraid," a weak voice answered. I wondered for a while but because Raspberry was more important I put that aside.

All of us, including the boy, sat beside Raspberry waiting for her to wake up. It took only a few minutes until she finally woke up.

"Welcome back," I said.

"Oh, I fell unconscious...? How embarassing..." she said, getting up to a sitting position.

"It is?" Lemon said

"No it is not," Apricot said.

"If it was me, my reaction would have been much worse," I said. "It's not embarassing, don't worry."

"Oh, wait, we haven't introduced each other properly. I am... Angel. What's your name?" Apricot said to the boy.

"I am Buddy, and this is ChaCha," the boy answered, putting his hand on his toy car.

"I am Abigail. Nice to meet you," Lemon said.

"I'm David," I said.

"And me... I'm Patricia," Raspberry said.

"You named your car ChaCha?" I asked.

"ChaCha is not a car. He is my friend. He became a star but he returned for me," Buddy replied.

At first I thought it was just the imagination of a kid, but remembering the weak voice I had heard I doubted it. I then closed my eyes and kept speaking ``I believe`` in my head. When I opened my eyes, I was quite surprised seeing what I saw. Buddy's car became alive. To be more specific, the windshield became eyes, the engine ventilation became mouth, the side mirrors became ears, and the antenna on the back became tail.

"ChaCha, what is David doing?" Buddy asked.

"I have no idea, Buddy," the car ``ChaCha`` replied.

"I was trying to believe, and it seems I have succeeded. Now I can see what ChaCha really is," I said.

Raspberry, Lemon, and Apricot were speechless looking at me. I thought they were confused seeing me ``following a kid's imagination`` so I told them to try it. However...

"No, that's not it," Raspberry said.

"Huh?" I wondered.

"We can see him already," Lemon said. "I mean, ChaCha."

"Yeah, since the first time we met him," Apricot added.

"You were the only one who had to try to believe," Raspberry said.

After hearing all those, I felt really embarassed. All my friends could see ChaCha from the beginning while I couldn't. That implied that I was a person without good belief. However, none of them seemed to care further about that. The next few moments were spent talking together in a happy manner. I learned that ChaCha was originally Buddy's pet dog, but he died protecing Buddy from a car accident. However, because there was a deep connection and love between Buddy and ChaCha, ChaCha's soul returned and possessed Buddy's toy car. In the end of the conversation Buddy agreed to take us walking around the city of Greenhill.

Our first stop was a house located near the center of the city. Despite its location, the house looked like it had been abandoned for many years. The paints had been worn away, some windows were broken, and other things that made the house seemed haunted. When we arrived there, Buddy started to call out a name.

"Sarah!" Buddy yelled.

"Your friend lives here?" I asked.

"Yes, and also Papa Rat," Buddy answered.

The name of the other friend sounded weird for me and probably the others. Papa Rat, father of rat? How did he get that name? When I was wondering, The house's door opened by itself and Buddy entered it. We followed him although there was some doubt.

Inside the house, it was quite dark. Sunlight had to struggle to enter the house. Despite that, the house itself was apparently clean at the inside. All of us entered a room which looked like a guest room, which was brighter than the hallway because the window was opened, and sat on available chairs. As we were waiting for someone to come, suddenly we heard a voice.

"You have new friends, Buddy? I haven't seen them before," the voice said, which sounded like a girl's voice with some echo.

"Yes, they are David, Abigail, Angel, and Patricia," Buddy answered. "They believe about ChaCha so I want them to know you too."

"Oh, I see," the voice answered.

"Umm, Buddy. Who are you talking to?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can hear her but I can't see her," Raspberry said.

"Me too," Lemon added.

"And me too," Apricot said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. In midday it's quite difficult to see me," the voice answered, which gave us a quite bad feeling.

"Are you.... a ghost...?" I asked.

"Yes I am. You can close the curtain if you want to see me more clearly," the voice said.

The last sentence surprised us quite a bit. However, the fact that there was a ghost right in front of us didn't frighten us. Probably because the voice sounded kind and warm, and also because Buddy had said that the ghost had been his friend. Raspberry then closed the room's curtain, making the room quite darker. Then, as we were seeing the chair Buddy was talking to, a figure of a girl around the same age as us started to appear. The girl's hair was brown, wavy, and its length reached slightly above her hip. She wore a white overall skirt with green lines on the edges.

"We haven't introduced each other properly. I'm Sarah, and I'm happy to meet you all," The ghost said.

"I'm David. This is... Patricia... umm... Abigail... and... umm... Angel," I said trying to remember my friends' new names.

"Is Papa Rat home? I want them to know him too," Buddy asked Sarah.

"I'm here, Buddy," a voice said. We looked towards the source and saw a small toy police car with a shape similar to a mouse.

"Hi, Papa Rat. These are my new friends," Buddy said.

The introduction was repeated and then all of us had a happy conversation. Before we knew it, the sun had started to set, telling that it was going to get dark soon.

"Oh, I should go home now," Buddy said. "Too bad... There are still places I want to show, and many other friends..."

"Where do you all live?" Sarah asked.

"Umm... Well... Very far. We are on vacation," I answered.

"Does that mean that... you're going to leave...?" Buddy asked with eyes starting to leak tears.

"Well... eventually we will have to leave... But I think we can stay here for a while. That is if the others agree with me," I answered.

"That's fine for me," Raspberry said. "This city is quite nice anyway."

"Me too," Lemon said.

"That will be cool for me," Apricot said, and Buddy's face became happy again.

"May I ask where you will sleep tonight?" Sarah asked.

"We have sleepbags and tents, so we can sleep anywhere no problem," Raspberry said.

"Come to my house, I have place for everyone," Buddy said.

"Umm... Buddy, you don't. Your room is too small for all of them," ChaCha said.

"How about Mom and Dad's room?" Buddy asked.

"No, that will not be right," ChaCha answered.

"Why not?" Buddy asked again.

"It is not a good manner to have guests sleep in the same room as your parents, Buddy," ChaCha answered.

"But I want to introduce them to my parents too," Buddy said.

The conversation between Buddy and ChaCha kept going for quite a while. Buddy insisted on bringing the four of us to sleep in his house that night, while ChaCha insisted against it because of manner reasons. In the end Buddy was the winner, and all of us left the haunted house soon after because it was getting dark. When we arrived, we saw that Buddy's house was a simple one-story house with a garage and quite a wide garden, although the garden was mostly just grass. Right at that time a red car came and parked into the garage of Buddy's house.

"Ah, Dad's home!" Buddy said, and a man came out of the car and approached us.

"Hi, Buddy. Were you waiting for Dad? And who are they?" he asked.

"No, I have just arrived. These are my friends David, Patricia, Abigail, and Angel," Buddy answered.

"I see. Please come in," he said, and all of us went into the house.

Inside the house, a woman who seemed to be Buddy's mother welcomed us and a conversation started.

"Welcome home, Dad and Buddy. Oh, who are these kids?" she said.

"They are my new friends, Mom. He is David, then she is Patricia, Angel, and Abigail," Buddy said. "Ah, I want to go to toilet," he continued and went to the toilet with ChaCha.

"Have you just moved to this city?" she asked.

"No, we are on vacation. Our home is... very far," I answered.

"I see. You travel with your parents?" she asked again.

"No. We travel on our own," I answered, which pretty much surprised Buddy's mother and father.

"Oh, wouldn't your parents be worried?" she asked.

"Well, umm... We..." I said, running out of words.

"We don't even know if we ever had parents before. All these years we have been living on our own," Raspberry answered the question for me.

Raspberry's answer struck both of the parents quite significantly. They ran out of words after hearing that, and I could see that their face expression changed from curiosity into pity. Then, Buddy came out from the toilet and looked at his still-silent parents.

"Mom, Dad, why are you so silent?" Buddy asked.

"Umm, anyway, you all must be hungry. Let's have dinner now," the mother said, trying to change topic.

At dinner time, we found that the food they served was very strange for us. Even the smell was so different than what we used to eat. All of us didn't want to add more bother to the parents so we decided to eat the food anyway. However, the parents noticed our face expressions and asked about it.

"Well... to tell the truth... we have never eaten this kind of food... we even have never seen this food..." I answered.

"What? So what have you all been eating everyday?" the father asked.

"Only fruits and sometimes cookies and cakes," I answered and all the three girls nodded agreeing with me.

"Oh my, I'll go get some at the shop," the father said. "All of you have been used to that kind of food. This sudden change may be bad for your health."

"No, please don't bother. We actually brought some in our backpack," Lemon said.

"Then you can keep the ones I will give to you for your following days," he said and then he left the house.

So, all of us ate the berries we brought inside our backpack. Later the father came back bringing quite an amount of fruits and cookies. We gladly accepted his kind offer. The next hour were spent talking together until Buddy's bedtime came. Then the mother brought Buddy into his bedroom to accompany him until he fell asleep. The father then asked us about the place we were going to sleep.

"We bring sleepbags and tents, so we can sleep anywhere no problem," I answered.

"Oh, well, you can sleep here tonight. It's cold outside," he replied.

"Thank you, sir. You are too kind," I said.

That night, the four of us slept in the house's living room using our sleepbags. When I assumed everybody had fallen asleep, I was still awake even though I had tried to sleep because I kept thinking about what had happened, especially about the absence of our parents.

"Still awake, Blackberry?" a voice asked, which I recognized as Raspberry.

"Yeah, I'm concerned about what just happened," I answered.

"You mean, about parents?" she asked.

"Exactly... now that it has been mentioned, I wonder why none of us has parents. Also, how did I live when I was as little as Buddy? I can't remember at all. It seems like I just appeared out of nowhere already at this age..." I said.

"You know... I have never given it a second thought back in Strawberryland and the place I had lived before. But yeah, now I wonder about it as well," she answered.

"Me too," another voice answered, which I recognized as Lemon.

"And me three," another voice answered, which was of course from Apricot.

"So you are all still awake like me huh?" I said and we laughed a little. "In any case, I will just live my life as it is."

"Agree," all the three girls answered, and we all went to sleep.

At the next day, after breakfast the four of us went with Buddy and ChaCha to other places we had not visited yet. During the trip we met creatures which were quite the same as ChaCha such as a hippopotamus in a truck, a leopard in a car, and an elephant in an excavator. Buddy said there were more but they lived far away so we couldn't visit them. We then went to a place people called as Orgel House. It was a building placed just next to the sea, with its backyard having fountains which performed water attraction every hour. it was said that sometimes we could see dolphins if we were lucky. We waited for one performance and watched it, but we weren't lucky enough to see dolphins. All in all, we had a wonderful time until the day started to mark its end with the sunset. We were already in front of Buddy's house at that time.

"I guess it is time for us to go," I said.

"Will you come back...?" Buddy asked, starting to leak tears again.

"Yes we will. Don't worry about that," I answered. "Thank you, Buddy. For being a nice friend to us."

"Don't forget about me," Buddy said.

"We will never forget you," Raspberry said.

"Of course we will not," Lemon added.

"Yeah, that will be uncool if we do," Apricot said.

"Wait, I want to ask one thing..." ChaCha said.

"What is it?" I said.

"All of you are... from another world right?" ChaCha said, which struck all of us.

"How can you say that?" I asked.

"Well, you could see me from the first time you meet us. Even children younger than you other than Buddy cannot see me, you know. Then you had never eaten rice, you could still live without adult supervision, and most of the time you had a hard time mentioning the names of your friends even though you seem to know each other very well. I suppose those names aren't your real names right? You all changed your names because you felt your real names sounds weird here," ChaCha said.

"Umm... well... you're right. We are from another world named Strawberryland," I said.

"What is another world?" Buddy asked.

"It's hard to explain, Buddy. All I can say is that they live in a place with different things than what we used to see," ChaCha answered.

Because it had been figured out, I told them everything about Strawberryland, starting from Berries that grow as large as beach balls, rivers of chocolate, caramel, and juice, and lollipop trees.

"Wow, sounds yummy," Buddy said.

"Indeed, but if you live there you will have problems with your teeth, Buddy," ChaCha said.

"Also, my name is actually Blackberry Bun. This is Raspberry Torte, Lemon Meringue, and Apricot," I said.

"Your names sound yummy too," Buddy said, laughing, and we all laughed as well. "I'll tell you my real name too. It's Randy."

"I see. Then, I suppose it's goodbye now," I said.

We then said our final farewell to Buddy and walked away. As we left the city, I took Time Remote Mark II from my backpack.

"Next destination?" I asked.

"Let's go home for now. I'm quite tired," Raspberry said.

"Me too," Lemon said.

"And me three," Apricot said.

"Strawberryland!" I said to the remote which then made the dimension door we jumped in.

--End of Chapter 12--