Blackberry's Second Journal: Chapter 11

[Blackberry Bun]

Chapter 11: Return to Greenhill


At the morning after the night when Almond had told me his true identity, I woke up like in any usual day. I then left my bedroom and found him still sitting on the same sofa.

"Morning, bro!" he greeted.

"Morning..." I said, still half asleep.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"Not really," I said. "I couldn't get you off my mind."

"Eh, why?" he asked.

"Unlike any other kids, you don't sleep," I said. "It must be boring, having to spend every night alone without sleep."

"Not at all!" he said with a giggle. "Do you know what I do every night?"

"You haven't told me anything about that. How should I know?" I said.

"Alright alright," he said. "I watch life."

"Watch life? What do you mean?" I asked.

"By telepathically connecting myself with this planet's soul, I can watch everything happening on the planet. It never gets boring because there are so many things to see and life always changes," he explained.

"I'm glad to hear that," I said. "By the way, is that how your scanner actually works? And also how you hear what I hear?"

"You nailed it!" he said with a grin. I smiled to him with a relieved sigh.


Later, I was working on my desk while Almond was reading my books. I made electricity noises and sparkles which drew his attention. He then approached me out of curiosity.

"Hey, what are you making?" he asked.

"Well, I just remembered another friend I haven't met for years," I replied.

"Then let's go! I'll take you there no problem!" he said.

"You can't," I said.

"Eh? Why?" he asked.

"He lives in a different world," I said. "That's why I'm making this."

"What is it actually?" he asked.

"I'm recreating Time Remote II. I still have no idea about how to make Time Remote III so this is what I'm making now," I replied.

"I see," he said. "Could you tell me about this friend?"

"Well..." I said. "His name is Randy, but he's usually called Buddy. He lives in a big city named Greenhill."

"And then?" he asked.

"Let's go and see for yourself," I said. "The remote is done."

"Right behind you!" he said in excitement.

"Greenhill!" I said, activating the remote. A dimension door appeared and both of us jumped into it. When we came out, we ended up just outside the edge of a big city which was very familiar to me.

"This sure brings back memories," I said.

"What a big city!" Almond said. "And very different than Strawberryland!"

"Let's go to his house," I said, starting to walk.

"Like I said, I'm right behind you," he said, following me. "By the way, this planet has no soul. My scanner won't work here."

"Alright," I said while still walking. "Oh, before I forget, in here we go by different name. My name here is David, though Buddy knows my real name already."

"Is that so? Then I'll be..." he said, thinking.

"Alby," I said.

"That name again? Fine, whatever," he said.

We walked through the city, looking around to find our way to Buddy's house. The city roads were still mostly the same as the last time, so it didn't take me long to find the way. Soon, we arrived at Buddy's house which haven't changed at all.

"Here we are," I said.

"So this is Buddy's house?" Almond said. "Pretty nice,"

"Let's go in," I said. I then went to the front door and pressed the doorbell button. Soon, someone opened the door, and it was Buddy's mom. She looked at me for a few seconds, then she looked surprised.

"David? What a surprise! It has been a long time!" she said, hugging me. "And who is this lovely boy?"

"Meet Alby. He's my brother," I said.

"Good afternoon," Almond said.

"Please come in!" Buddy's mom said. We then entered the house. "Make yourselves at home!"

Both of us then sat on a sofa while Buddy's mom went to the back of the house, probably to get a drink for us.

"Is she Buddy's mother?" Almond said, and I nodded. Soon, she came back bringing three glasses of red syrup. She then put all three glasses on the table in front of us and sat on a couch next to the table.

"I actually kinda forgot how long since the last time I was here," I said, taking one glass. "About five years I guess?"

"I remember Randy being three years old back then, and he will become eight in four months," she said. "Yes, almost five years."

"I see. How has the family been doing?" I asked, taking a sip.

"We're doing great!" she replied with a smile. "How about you?"

"We're all as fine as ever," I said. "Where's Buddy? Oh, I mean... Randy. He's no longer called Buddy, I suppose?"

"Indeed, he stopped being called with that name since he turned six," she said. "He's visiting Mary and Candy next door. He should be back soon."

"I see. I think I will wait here, then," I said.

"I'm home!" suddenly we heard a voice of a kid entering the front door. We still couldn't see the kid because our view to the front door was obstructed by a wall.

"Welcome home, Randy!" the mother said. "Your other friends are here."

"Who? Nick and Terry?" the voice asked.

"No, see for yourself!" the mother replied. Soon, the kid came to our view. He was as tall as Apple Dumplin' and he no longer wore his blue overall. Instead, he wore green short sleeve shirts which had a thick black stripe at the tip of each sleeve and also across the chest. He wore black pants like mine, and his shoes were white and blue. He saw me and became silent for a while.

"...Blackberry?" he asked.

"Long time no see," I said.

"Nice to meet you," Almond said, getting up to approach him. "I'm Alby, his brother."

Almond approached Randy to offer a handshake, but Randy bowed his head and kept silent.

"Something wrong?" Almond asked.

"... away," Randy said in low voice.

"Huh?" Almond asked.

"I said GO AWAY!" Randy yelled, surprising everyone else there.

"Randy, you're not supposed to yell at your friends!" the mother said, getting upset.

"If they don't go away, then I'll go away!" Randy said, and then he immediately ran outside the house. There was a silence for a brief moment.

"I'm sorry. He's usually not like that," the mother said.

"It's fine," I said. "Actually, that made me wonder if there's something wrong with him."

"I have no idea, unfortunately," the mother said. "Randy is always nice to any of his friends. That was the first time I saw him like that."

"I see..." I said. "We will go look for him."

"You don't have to. He will eventually come back," the mother said.

"We have to," I said. "There's definitely something wrong with him, and we want to help him."

"Thank you for your concern," the mother said, and we left the house. We then stopped at the roadside just in front of the house.

"Hey, I know that we want to help him, but do we know where he is now?" Almond asked.

"No, but I can think of some possible places. Though I don't know if he still visits those places. It has been years after all," I said.

"Hey, you two!" suddenly we heard a voice of a girl. We looked at the source and saw a girl about Almond's height looking at us. "I believe you don't know something!"

"Uhh, that's right," I said.

"You have to know that not knowing something is forbidden, because not knowing is a sin, and sin is forbidden!" she said.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Almond said. The girl then sighed.

"This doesn't work anymore," she said. "I used to do this to him all the time, and he would get confused. Now everyone's too smart for that."

"Him? You mean Randy?" I asked.

"And I used to make fun of his name, and then he always said that his name was Buddy," she said. "Not fun anymore. Growing up really sucks!"

"So it was him indeed," I said. "You see, he went off somewhere and we don't know where he went."

"I know some places," she said. "I'll take you there."

"You go with her, Alby." I said.

"Me? What about you?" Almond asked.

"Splitting up will be faster to look for him," I said. "I'll look for him in places I remember."

"If you say so," Almond said. "But how can we meet again?"

"I'll return right here by sunset," I said. "Oh, I haven't introduced myself. I'm David."

"So you're the guy he once told me about!" the girl said. "He said that your name was Blackberry something, but you don't really have such silly name, right?"

"This is my brother Alby," I said.

"Now that's a silly name! Who gave you that name?" she asked.

"This silly guy," Almond said, choking my neck with his left arm and grinning.

"Anyway, I'm Mary. I have a sister, but Candy is now taking a nap," she said. "Shall we get going?"

"Sure," Almond said.

"Good luck finding him," I said.

"You too," Almond said, and then we split up to begin our search.


--To be Continued--

Yep, I'm crossover-ing with Daisuki BuBu ChaCha anime again. Here's a picture of the characters to help imagining their looks. Though you have to imagine yourselves on how they look five years later. =P


From left to right:
Back row: Connie Rand (Mother), Forest Rand (Father), Catherine (Cousin)
Front row: Nick & Terry (Friends), ChaCha, Buddy/Randy Rand, Mary (Neighbor/Friend)

[Stella Grapes]

Admittedly, I have still not seen Daisuki BuBu ChaCha. I think it's interesting that you decided to revisit its world, although I cannot comment on whether the characters are in-character. My guess is they are, since you are good at characterization. Look forward to seeing what happens, even though I didn't have much to say this time!

[Blackberry Bun]

The main reason for revisiting is that I once wrote a series of fan fiction about the anime, but it never got to see a conclusive end. Mainly because I lost interest. Therefore I wrote this to finish the series by showing the "aftermath" of the universe.

Spoiler: It will be quite a downer.

[Stella Grapes]

Oh dear. Well, I am intrigued!