Blackberry Bun's Journal: Chapter 13

[Blackberry Bun]

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--