Blackberry's Second Journal: Chapter 18

[Blackberry Bun]

Chapter 18: Talk It Out


A week had passed since the day I, along with Almond and Strawberry, went into two storybooks using the new device I had made. The device had not been named that time, but later on that day I had decided to name the device as Book Diver. Speaking of Book Diver, the three of us actually had tried going into both storybooks once again at the next day. My predictions had turned out to be true. In both books the story had restarted and nobody had remembered us. In the second book, both Purple Palm Pie and my thief look-alike had not existed when we entered the book again. I had no explanation for their one time existence, and I saw no possible way it could have happened. Therefore, we had decided to keep the memories of them in our heart.

By the way, Strawberry actually had taken my idea seriously, and she really had written a story of both my look-alike and Purple Palm Pie. None of us knew the full name of my look-alike, so she made up the name Burglar Blackberry. In her story, Purple Palm Pie was the son of Professor Grapes whom she always left home alone because she was busy teaching Princess Rapunzel. One day, the two characters met by chance and eventually Purple Palm Pie convinced Burglar Blackberry to return the things he had stolen and live an honest life from then on. The End.

Of course the story is much longer than that. But this is my journal, so I have to tell my own story, don't you agree? Anyway, I will begin for real now.

Almond had been sleeping endlessly for the past three days. Turning back the time apparently had costed him more than just two weeks worth of soul power reserve. It also had disrupted the flow of energy supply from the Sun Stone to his human body. Because of that, he had fainted quite often while playing outside. Of course, it had made me worried sick about him so he had decided to hibernate until his soul power reserve is refilled. He also had convinced me that his hibernation would speed up his recovery, so I had allowed him to do it. However, I still had no idea how long he would stay asleep.

Without anything to do, I decided to visit Blueberry Muffin at her house. When I got there, I was a bit surprised to see that she was not alone. There were Strawberry, Orange, and Angel with her, and they seemed to be preparing a set of a TV studio, complete with costumes, lights, and camera.

"Hi, there," I said.

"Hello, Blackberry! It's berry nice to see you!" Strawberry said.

"Hi, Blackberry," Orange greeted. "Is Almond awake yet?"

"Not yet," I said. "By the way, what are you all doing here?"

"We're going to make a movie!" Strawberry said in excitement.

"Movie? Seriously? Why all of a sudden?" I asked. Then I learned from Strawberry about a closed down theater and their intention of reopening it by making a movie.

"I can be wrong, but I don't think we can save a theater with only one movie," I said.

"It never hurts to try, and we will never know the result if we don't try!" Strawberry said.

"Well, alright if you say so. Do you need help?" I asked.

"That will be berry appreciated, Blackberry!" Strawberry said.

"Alright, let me look around and see what you all have done so far," I said. I then walked towards the almost-finished set of a pirate ship.

"What do you say, Blackberry?" Angel asked.

"It's fine, but we're not going to make a movie with only this one set, right?" I said.

"Of course not! There will be more!" she said.

"Making other sets will take too much time and energy. I think I know what to do here," I said.

"That is gonna be great!" Angel said.

"I'll be back soon," I said, going back home. Not long later, I returned bringing a device which looked like a disco lamp along with a portable control panel.

"What is that, Blackberry?" Strawberry asked.

"Something I made years ago," I said. Putting the control panel on the floor. "Its name is Scenery Creator."

"What does it do?" Blueberry asked.

"We're very curious!" Orange said.

"Give me a minute," I said, activating the 'disco lamp' and throwing it upwards. It then floated at the center of the room. I then sat in front of the control panel and activated it. "Listen, friends. Do not move from your position no matter what!"

"Huh? Oh, okay!" Strawberry said.

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Orange asked.

"Alright if you say so," Blueberry said.

"Here goes!" I said, pressing a button on the control panel. Everything around us went static and blurry, and then suddenly we were on a beautiful coastline.

"Wow..." Strawberry said.

"What just happened?" Blueberry asked, looking around.

"Did you just teleport us?" Orange asked.

"This is amazing!" Angel said, starting to run towards the sea.

"No! Don't...!" I shouted, but it was too late. She suddenly crashed onto something hard.

"Ouch! What was that?" she asked, rubbing her nose. I then deactivated the device with the control panel, and we were instantly back to Blueberry's house.

"That's why I told you to stay put. We're actually still in this same room. Running around will cause what just happened to you," I said.

"You should have said that before!" she said, being very upset.

"Angel Cake, he told us to stay put," Strawberry said.

"He did not explain why we should stay put!" Angel said. "And what's the use of that thing if we cannot move around?!"

"Angel Cake, don't say it like that," Strawberry said.

"It's fine, Strawberry. She has a point," I said. "I guess I have to make a few adjustments to this device."

"You better do that or you will cause more accident," Angel said.

I was frankly a bit upset with Angel Cake's attitude. She could have said those with nicer way of speaking. I didn't want to repeat the averted history, though, so I just kept silent about it.

Later, the sky was getting dark and the weather was getting very windy. We have decided to call it a day and go home. I left Scenery Creator and my tools in Blueberry's house because I thought it was easier than bringing them back home.

"Be sure to close all your windows, Blueberry," I said at the front door. Everyone else were holding their hats because of the strong wind.

"Yeah, it's going to be stormy tonight," Angel said.

"It does look stormy," Blueberry said. "Don't worry. I'll do it right now."

"See you in the morning!" Strawberry said, and all of us went back home.

Later that night, I couldn't sleep. I just came to realize that it was the first time I left my device at someone else's house overnight. Would the device be okay? Had Blueberry remembered to close the windows? All my paranoia prevented me from getting any sleep at all. So, I decided to check on Blueberry's house. It was already over midnight and the weather was still very windy, so I decided to ride Arrowhead to go to Blueberry's house. When I arrived there, I was surprised seeing the window wide open. I immediately closed the window, although I knew I was too late.

"Ah well, I guess I'll have a lot of work to do tomorrow," I said before going back home.

At the next day, when all of us were back at Blueberry's house, we were horrified to see everything inside being a complete mess. What really surprised me was the fact that the window I had closed at midnight was wide open again.

"What happened here?" Angel asked, then she saw the window. "Oh, Blueberry! You didn't close the window!"

"But I did close them," Blueberry said. "Though I remember something..."

"What is it, Blueberry Muffin?" Strawberry asked.

"About midnight, a noise woke me up. I was curious, so I looked through the window in my room," she said.

"What kind of noise? Did you see anything?" Orange asked.

"It was an engine noise, and..." Blueberry said, looking at me. "I saw you, Blackberry."

Everybody was pretty surprised hearing that. I knew that I soon would become a victim of a misunderstanding.

"Is that really true, Blackberry?" Strawberry asked. "Were you really here last night?"

I was completely torn between denying and accepting. I didn't want to lie and deny, it was not a right thing to do. But accepting would put me in a really bad misunderstanding situation.

"I... Yeah... I was here," I said, deciding not to lie.

"Why did you do that?! That's just mean!" Angel said.

"I said I was here, not that I opened the window on purpose," I said, trying to hold myself from getting enraged.

"Would you explain to us, Blackberry?" Strawberry asked.

"It's useless," I said. "Nobody will believe me."

"Of course we would! Why shouldn't we?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said with upset face and arms folded. "I did not open the window. That's all I want to say. If you don't believe me for that one, then I will just leave."

"Maybe we should just get back to work," Orange said.

"Right! We can't let something like this stop us!" Strawberry said. We all then went back to work. I was glad that I had managed to contain myself, but I still felt something burning in my chest, and it did not feel good at all. In any case, I was lucky that the storm did not cause any damage to Scenery Creator, so I didn't have much to do.

"We'll have things ready to go in no time flat! Maybe sooner!" Strawberry said once most of the mess were cleaned up.

"The costumes seem to be okay, just a little dusty," Blueberry said, clearing dust from her costumes.

"My work is done. I'm going out for now. Be back soon," I said, then I left the place. Outside, I just walked aimlessly with nothing in my mind. I still felt upset because of Angel Cake, and I had no idea where to vent it out. Without my knowing, I was already halfway home. I had nothing to do at home, so I turned around and went back to Blueberry's house. When I arrived and entered, everyone there were gathering near the costume rack and they looked at me.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Look at these messes," Orange said, showing the costume she held. It was too small for her, but maybe could fit Margalo. I then noticed that the others were also holding a messed up costume. Strawberry's pirate hat was half red and half blue. Angel's coat had an extra sleeve.

"How could this happen?" I asked.

"Well... I actually noticed something," Orange said. "I noticed at one moment that some costumes were missing from the rack, but I only thought that they were being cleaned. And then..."

"And then what?" I asked, hoping that I would not fall to another misunderstanding.

"When I looked again, I saw a hand putting these messed up costumes on the rack," she said.

"And at that time you were the only one not with us," Angel said. That was when I knew I would fall victim again. "Are you trying to ruin our movie?!"

"Why would I want to do that?" I asked with arms folded.

"I don't know, maybe you're mad because you don't get any role?" Angel said cynically.

"Say whatever you want," I said, walking away from them and getting out from the house again. Once outside, I put on Blind Spot and walked around the house. When I got close to an open window, I heard something, so I decided to stop and listen.

"We need to talk, Strawberry," a voice I recognized as Angel's said.

"About what, Angel Cake?" Strawberry asked.

"About him. Blackberry," Angel said. "He's definitely trying to ruin our movie."

"That's not a nice thing to say, Angel Cake," Strawberry said. "Why would he do that?"

"Because he doesn't get any role!" Angel said.

"He never asked for it, and if he really wants a role we can always give him one," Strawberry said.

"One more thing, Strawberry. He did not deny that he did all those. That's more than enough proof that he is not as nice as we have been believing," Angel said.

I did not hear anything more than that. I was already hurt badly by all I had heard, that I immediately left the place with major pain on my chest. After removing Blind Spot, I kept walking aimlessly without anything but grief in my mind. Without my knowing, I stumbled upon something very familiar. It was Purple Pie Man's carriage, parked at a pretty obscure place. I then examined the storage space at the back of the carriage, and I found pirate costumes which had probably been stolen from Blueberry's house. I also found a stack of paper which turned out to be the script for the movie. All things I had found were more than enough proof that our movie making had been being disrupted by Purple Pie Man. I was about to immediately return to Blueberry's house, but suddenly I was grabbed by none other than Purple Pie Man himself.

"Snooping little kid. Not so fast," Pie Man said, holding me.

"Why were you trying to ruin our movie?" I asked.

"There's no use talking about it," he said. "Sour Grapes, find me a rope!"

"Is confining me going to do any good for you?" I asked. "My friends will eventually know."

"Do you think I haven't heard everything there? They are no longer your friend. They believe that you're the one ruining their movie," he said. "And I didn't even try to frame you. You did it to yourself."

"I guess you're right," I said after sighing. Soon, Sour Grapes came bringing a rope. I knew that once again I would waste time being tied up by Pie Man. It had happened so many times that I was embarassed of myself for easily getting into this mess.

However, suddenly a very loud lightning strike occured. It surprised all of us so much that Pie Man released his grip and I fell down to the ground. I immediately stood up and realized what had happened.

"What was that? Lightning strike? How?! There is no cloud!" Pie Man said.

"Why should I know?" Sour Grapes said. Immediately, Albatross came and floated near us.

"What is that thing?" Pie Man asked.

"Remember when I said 'jet plane' the last time we met?" I asked back. "That's my jet plane. Albatross."

After I said that, the canopy opened and my dear brother Almond jumped out from it. He landed right in front of Pie Man, who was startled.

"Brother! I'm glad that you're okay!" Almond said, running past Pie Man towards me.

"Yeah, thanks for your help, Almond," I said as he hugged me.

"Hey, what happened here?" suddenly I heard Strawberry's voice. I looked and indeed Strawberry was there along with Angel Cake, Blueberry, and Orange.

"I don't know myself, but I know that Pie Man here captured my brother and I came just in time," Almond said.

"Hey, aren't those our costumes?" Blueberry said, noticing the costumes.

"And that looks like our script!" Angel said, noticing the papers.

"So you're the one who have been trying to ruin our movie!" Orange said.

"Why did you do all those, Pie Man?" Strawberry asked with slightly upset face.

"Well I... That is to say... What I mean is I..." Pie Man said in panic. "Oh, I don't wanna talk about it."

"No! Go on, tell them!" Sour Grapes said.

"Grr..." Pie Man grumbled.


Soon after, all of us were sitting on logs in a circle formation. Albatross had reverted into the necklace worn by Almond.

"So, Blackberry. Why didn't you say that you were not the one ruining our movie?" Strawberry asked.

"I just thought that talking it out was useless because nobody would believe me, and I didn't want to argue. So I thought I could just leave you all thinking that way while I look for the real culprit," I said.

"You didn't have to do that, Blackberry. You should have talked it out. We are friends, we will always believe you. Right, everyone?" Strawberry said.

"Absolutely," Blueberry said.

"Of course we do!" Orange said.

"Yeah, and... umm... Blackberry... I'm really sorry for all I have said. I should have never been so mean," Angel said.

"What's past is past," I said. "Anyway, I wonder how did you all got here."

"We were looking for you, Blackberry," Orange said.

"Although, we actually lost your track," Blueberry said.

"We found you thanks to Albatross. His lightning cannon noise was what led us here," Strawberry said.

"What did you say? Lightning cannon?" Pie Man said, probably realizing that he had been in grave danger back then.

"Only for the surprise," Almond said. "I don't want to harm anyone, unless someone has gone too far..." he continued, grinning towards Pie Man.

"Okay, Pie Man. Please tell us what happened," Strawberry said.

"I... I want to stop your movie because I want to use the old theater as a store to sell my pies," Pie Man said.

"Couldn't you sell pies at the theater if it was open?" Strawberry said.

"Ha! Now there's an idea, eh?" Sour Grapes said.

"Well, I suppose it would be a possibility. But the old theater is closed now so it hardly matters anymore, does it?" Pie Man said. As he talked I noticed his thin moustache moving and curving around, and it was a pretty funny sight.

"It will be open if we finish our movie," Strawberry said. "Pie Man, do you think you can help us?"

"Oooohh what fun that would be! Wouldn't it, Pie Man? Wouldn't it?!" Sour Grapes said, looking very excited.

"Well, guess we could help," Pie Man said. "A little."

So, our movie production continued with two new crews. We got so busy that hours and days passed without our knowing. The production went very smoothly without any meaningful obstruction, and finally we finished everything after 2 weeks. I didn't know what happened next because Strawberry was the one taking care of putting the movie into the theater. All I knew was that one week later all eight of us were at the premiere of the movie. Strawberry, Orange, Angel, Blueberry, Pie Man, and Sour Grapes came to the theater through the front door and the cheering crowds with their best formal clothes, while I who couldn't handle crowds and Almond who couldn't change outfit entered through the back door.

Soon enough, the seats of the studio were filled and the movie started...

--End of Chapter 18--

[Stella Grapes]

Don't have much to add here. Tone changes with Blackberry's level-headed manner as opposed to Blueberry's sensitivity, heh.