02-07-2011, 11:47 PM
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--
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