02-03-2011, 12:48 AM
Quote:Chapter 7b: True Dreams
The three of us: Me, Huck, and Apple were still following Ginger Snap's Dream Boat using my aircraft I named Falcon, which was connected to the boat by Falcon's invisible harpoon, when we saw what our destination came to be. It was a beautiful three-level land made of mostly clouds.
"So this is what they call as The Land of Dreams..." I said.
The Dream Boat flew around The Land of Dreams, which was not good for Falcon's harpoon. The force from the propelling movement broke the harpoon loose from the boat, and if I haven't done anything Falcon would have been thrown far away. I attempted to turn on the main engine and luckily it has cooled down enough. Our rough ride started again.
The Dream Boat did not have a better luck either. Because of the sudden loose of the load, it became nearly uncontrollable and we saw it landed very roughly at the second level of the land.
"We will land there as well right?" Huck asked.
"I'm trying to," I replied. "But to tell you the truth, I have never landed this aircraft."
"What? Are you serious?" Huck said, surprised.
"Yes, all this time I only have gone as far as testing the engine without making it fly. This is really my first flight..." I answered, which was certainly not a pleasant answer.
I attempted to smoothly descend down to the part of the land near the Dream Boat. However, luck was not on our side. Falcon's main engine overheated again and this time it exploded along with most part of the float engine, giving Falcon no choice other than a near-free fall.
"Huck, brace yourself and Apple. This is going to be a very rough landing," I said, and he did it immediately. Falcon fell down hard to a place quite distant from the Dream Boat and all three of us fell unconscious.
We didn't know how long we have been unconscious. The thing that woke us up was the sound of a violent thunder.
"Are you two okay?" I asked, rubbing my head without looking at them.
"I'm okay, I think," Huck answered.
"Pretty much..." Apple answered. However, when we looked at her, she was not the same toddler we knew. What we saw was a girl with the same age as us.
"Apple? What happened to you? I mean, you're now... different..." I asked.
"Apple Dumplin' don't know," she answered.
"Anyway, let's get out of here first," Huck said, which we agreed.
We went out of the aftermath of Falcon. When we looked back at it, what we saw was an unrecognizable wreck. Falcon was damaged beyond any kind of repair.
"Woah, can't believe that we made it out unscathed," Huck said.
"Well, I can't believe it as well. But this is The Land of Dreams, so anything is possible I think. Like the thing that happened to Apple," I replied, looking at Apple. "Anyway, let's move. We have to help our friends,"
We walked until we arrived at a place where we could see two buildings. The bigger one looked like some kind of castle, while the smaller one had a clock on its front. We went to check the smaller one first, and when we arrived right in front of it, the door opened and a lady greeted us.
"Come in here, kids," She said with a friendly tone, and we came in right away.
"Welcome to PJ's. Do you have reservations?" She asked.
"Well, no I think..." I replied.
"Let's see... Table for three: Blackberry Bun, Huckleberry Pie, and Apple Dumplin' right?" She said, holding her notebook and pencil.
"That's right. But how did you know?" Huck asked.
"I know many things in The Land of Dreams," She answered with a wink.
We sat down around a round table, and a glass of hot chocolate appeared right in front of each of us out of nowhere. "Anything can happen in the Land of Dreams, right?" I said.
"That's right, dear. Now tell me why you are here," She replied.
So I told her everything that happened starting from the moment I had overheard the sleepbug until the moment we ended up at her place.
"I see. You come with a good intention at heart. But unfortunately, you can't help them..." She said.
"What? How come?" Huck asked, surprised.
"Your friends are now in Sandman's Dream Factory. To get there the only way is to ride Butterscotch Butterflies, and unfortunately your friends have used all of them," She answered.
"So now our friends are there and we can't help them? Oh man..." Huck said with a little bit upset tone.
"If only I can repair Falcon..." I murmured.
"You can, dear. You only have to believe," She said, which I didn't really believe.
"Anyway, now that we are here, can you tell us what happened to Apple Dumplin'?" I asked.
"Well, she was supposed to be... younger right?" She observed. "In the Land of Dreams we can become anything we want to be, and this is no exception,"
"Yeah... Apple Dumplin' wants to be bigger, as big as Strawberry and Friends," Apple replied. "Apple does not want to be too little to do anything. Apple does not want Strawberry to limit Apple because Apple is too little anymore"
"Hmm, I once saw you playing around Strawberryland all by yourself. Is that what you call "limiting"?" I asked.
"Strawberryland is safe so Strawberry let Apple play around alone," She answered. "But Strawberry never let Apple help her in tending garden, making cookies and cakes with her, any other thing. Apple wants to help her but..." She continued with a little sob.
"Strawberryland is safe? Maybe I should not tell about what happened to the group at that Telekinator accident day," I thought. Then I was going to say something to comfort her, but a violent thunder sound interrupted. A boy in pajama rushed in with a frightened face.
"PJ, this is bad! The Dream Fort has been struck by a big lightning bolt and is now on fire!" He shouted in panic.
All of us rushed outside, only to be presented to a horrible scene. The castle-like building we had seen before was covered in flames. A large number of boys and girls in pajamas were crowding the open field in front of PJ's.
"Is everybody here?" PJ shouted, calming the crowd down.
"Some Dream Senders are still inside! They are so scared that they won't move from their place!" One of the boys answered.
"Dream Senders...?" I asked.
"Come on Blackberry! They have no time to explain that! We have to do something fast or the ones inside will be burnt!" Huck interrupted.
"We don't have anything to put the fire off, so we have to focus on rescuing the ones trapped inside," PJ said. "Someone will have to enter and escort them to outside,"
Nobody offered to enter, until someone raised hand. That person was nobody other than Apple Dumplin'. "Apple will do it,"
"But Apple, it's too dangerous! You'll be hurt, or even worse!" I said.
"Apple not too little! Apple believes Apple can do it!" She replied, which left me speechless as she went inside the Dream Fort.
"I will go too!" Huck said, going inside following Apple.
I could feel some embarassment struck my chest as they went in. The cowardly me, standing around doing nothing outside. What would others say if they knew about this? I would lose friend again for sure. Nobody would want to be friends with a coward. I tried to gather all the courage I had until I finally said those words.
"I... I... I'm going in too!" I said, starting to move towards the Dream Fort. But suddenly PJ grabbed my arm. I looked at her, and she pointed her finger towards the Dream Fort with a smile. I looked at the way she pointed and saw both Apple and Huck, along with a number of children in pajamas, coming out of the Dream Fort. They had succeeded.
"Anybody can do anything in the Land of Dreams. You just have to believe. And you have a more important thing to do, dear. Remember, you have to believe in your dreams, and in yourself," PJ said, pointing at my chest. I immediately understood and ran towards Falcon's aftermath.
When I arrived there, and saw the wrecked Falcon once again, I doubted. But I had to believe in myself so I closed my eyes and concentrated. "Believe in my dream, believe in myself," I said in my thinking over and over again.
When I opened my eyes, suddenly all Falcon's problems became clear in my mind, as well as the solutions that could be done, and even new ideas that could make Falcon better than ever. "Now I need a toolbox to realize all these," I thought, and a toolbox appeared immediately at my grip. I was delighted, and began working immediately.
I didn't know how long it took me. All I knew then was me standing, looking at the new Falcon, and said to myself, "Talk about a dream come true."
Huck and Apple came at me running. Huck said to me, "Hey, Blackberry. PJ is looking for you because... Wow... You have fixed Falcon? Not only that, you have made it much different than before... Wow... Neato..."
"Apple thinks so too. This is great, Blackberry," Apple said.
"Believe in my dream and believe in myself. That's the key. Anyway, why is PJ looking for me? As soon as I'm done we will go to help our friends," I replied, which made Huck and Apple giggled. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"You took so long to do your work, Blackberry. Our friends have already solved the problems themselves," Huck answered. "Now the Land of Dreams residents are fixing the Dream Boat and our friends will depart soon,"
"What? Oh... Sorry, I'm not as fast as Ginger Snap. Now we came here for nothing..." I said.
"Not for nothing. Apple and Huck saved the Dream Senders, and Blackberry made his dream come true," Apple interrupted.
"Umm, yeah. But still, we didn't help our friends after all," I replied.
"Not really. I haven't told you why PJ is looking for you, right? The Dream Boat's damage turned out to be far worse than it looks. Even after it is fixed, it will still can float, but not be able to fly properly. So with your Falcon..." Huck said.
I immediately understood that we would be having the trip in a reverse order. On the first trip the Dream Boat had towed Falcon, and now Falcon would be towing the Dream Boat on the trip home.
"Oh, on a side note, none of our friends know about us being here. Me and Apple and many others were so busy restoring the Dream Fort back to the way it was. Not so long after we had finished it, through a window we saw our friends celebrating for their success," He said.
"Then Apple and Huck heard a loud noise from everywhere. When Apple and Huck stepped out of Dream Fort, PJ came and told us to tell Blackberry what Huck had explained to you," Apple continued.
"Okay, I see. I think it is better for them not to know about us being here after all. I cannot imagine how everyone's face will become if they see both of you, especially Apple, having that kind of face. Haven't both of you realized that your face is full of black marks from the fire's smokes and whatever you were doing back then?" I said, giggling a little. The two of them looked at each other and giggled as well.
"We have, but you didn't realize about yourself, Blackberry. We giggled at the first time because your face wasn't much different than us," Huck replied, and the three of us laughed together.
Later, I had attached Falcon's invisible harpoon to the Dream Boat, with Falcon itself being in Invisible Mode. The three of us waited until the Dream Boat turned on its main engine and floated, then I controlled Falcon to tow Dream Boat smoothly. I could hear everyone outside wishing our friends, and us as well, goodbye. I also could hear a beautiful song coming from Dream Boat.
It's never silly to believe
And in the morning when you wake
If you take your dreams with you
You can make all your dreams come true
So good night, and with the morning light
You can make your own sweet dreams
Come true...
"Beautiful song, isn't it?" I said, but there was no answer. I looked at Huck and Apple, to saw that both of them had fallen asleep. Also, Apple has already reverted back to the toddler she was. "Ah, well. I'll just let them have their peace,"
I landed smoothly in front of Strawberry's house, and waited for the crews to get out. However, nobody stepped out of the Dream Boat. I went aboard it to check, and realized that all of the crews were fast asleep.
"Okay, now what should I do?" I said to myself, scratching my head, until a number bright lights that seemed similar to the Sleep Bug but quite bigger, came and circled around Dream Boat. I could hear one of the lights speaking to me, "We will take care of the rest. Thank you for your help and have a sweet dream,"
The next thing I knew, I was already home on my bed, as well as Apple and Huck, who were still fast asleep on theirs. I was under impression that all that happened last night was just a dream, but then I took the same remote from my drawer and went outside. I pressed one button to put Falcon's invisibility off, and what I saw next was the new Falcon, not the old one.
"Yeah, all the things that happened last night was not a dream after all," I thought, before finding a note stickied to Falcon. I took it and read it.
Blackberry,
What we were doing last night was putting your friends on their bed and rewriting a small part of their memory so they would think that everything was just a dream. We actually did the same to you, but in the end this vehicle of yours would prove that you were not dreaming, so I put this message for you: Please do not tell anyone about the existence of The Land of Dreams.
It has been a regulation for a long time not to let anyone in the awake realms know the existence of The Land of Dreams. They are openly welcomed on occasions where they somehow able to come. But after they go home, we the Dream Fairies will do the same like what we have done last night. Although I can feel that you and your friends are trustworthy, I cannot risk any more break to the regulation after this case of yours. So please do your best to keep the secret.
Kind Regards,
Dream Fairy Chief
P.S. If you are wondering where we took the Dream Boat away, I will let you know one thing: We have entrusted it to a different group of fairies, and you can rest assured that it is in good hands.
"Dream Fairies, huh? And a different group of fairies? Now I wonder if there are Berry Fairies as well, looking at the size of the berries in this land..." I said to myself, putting the note in my pocket and walking back inside my house. When I got inside, I put the remote back into my drawer and then the daily alarm clock rang, waking the two friends up. "Rise and shine everyone. It's already seven thirty,"
"Apple has just had a strange dream..." Apple said with drowsy eyes.
"I think me too. I went into this amazing place... But it was just a silly dream... wasn't it?" Huck said.
"Well, it might be a dream, but it was not a silly one, I believe," I said, when Apple walked to my desk and gazed at one drawer.
"Apple dreamt that Blackberry had a remote inside this drawer, which revealed a flying car outside," she said, opening the drawer.
"Apple, it is not nice to open someone else's drawer," Huck interrupted, which made Apple close the drawer without seeing what was inside.
"Oops, sowwry," Apple replied.
"No problem," I replied, although I was really scared just a few seconds before. "Who's hungry for breakfast?"
After having our breakfast, we all agreed to check on Strawberry and friends. We went all the way towards Strawberry's house. When we were nearby the garden-to-be field, we saw our friends there as well as the two villains. We didn't hear what they had said, but after seeing the two villains went away, we were assured that now the field is safe.
"I will revert Nature's Blessing back to its original function," I said, walking to the place where I had hidden the device. After I had finished tweaking it, I put it back and turned it on. It emitted its usual bright green light, but then it malfunctioned with black smokes coming out from it.
"Whoa, what happened?" Huck asked in surprised tone.
"Overheated, or maybe a hint that I should not play with nature..." I said with a straight face. "A good garden is grown not with a machine,"
"But with what?" He asked.
"Wove..." Apple said.
"Yes... Love is what makes a garden grows, not this machine. Machine can help but love is the most important one," I said.
"Oh, yes. Forgot about that," Huck agreed. "But what about the Growing Better All The Time garden? This device succeeded right?"
"Well, I don't know about that. Anyway, I'm taking this home. You can go ahead and visit her," I said, walking away with the device in my hand.
"Apple will go with Blackberry. Apple still wants to know Blackberry more," Apple said, following me.
"I will go with you too," Huck said. "Strawberry already has five friends accompanying her now. Seven if we count Custard and Pupcake in as well. But you now only have the two of us,"
Of course I couldn't refuse. The three of us then went back to my home, not knowing anything about what happened next. We learned about it in the afternoon that the garden had finally grown, and it grew faster than the other garden I had helped growing with my device.
"Indeed, love is a strong power," I thought, gazing at the beautiful garden Strawberry and friends have made with hard work, faith, and most importantly... Love.
-To Be Continued-
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