02-07-2011, 11:50 PM
Quote:Chapter 15: Inner Heart
It had been a few weeks after the event where all of us had used my Falcon, which I had repaired right after that event, to chase Rainbow Sherbet and convince her to stay in Strawberryland. In the end Rainbow had decided to return to Strawberryland and once again had docked her boat at Punch Bowl Pond. I was glad that she was willing to tow broken Falcon all the way back. She didn't get to meet Coco Calypso though, because it was already bed time when we passed her place. However, Strawberry told Rainbow about Coco and she hoped she would get to meet Coco someday.
Also, over the few weeks leaves had started to grow over the tree where my house was located, which meant my house would become hidden again. That was not a problem though, because everybody already knew where my house was. I looked around from the window, seeing the leaves being accompanied by blossoms as well. I felt that it was a nice day to go out so I went out for some leisure trips.
While walking, I thought about Inner Heart, the device I had made to seek truth under Peppermint's steel heart. I had not used it at all because eventually my talk had been enough to make her speak the truth of her feelings towards Rainbow. I still brought it with me in my pocket because its size was very small so it didn't take so much space in my pocket. However, I doubted if I would ever need to actually use it because Peppermint who I believed to have the hardest heart of all was actually not so hard-hearted.
Not long after, I noticed a poster placed on a tree. The poster was about an event named Berry Blossom Festival, a festival to celebrate the berry blossoms blooming all over Strawberryland. I read through the poster and thought that it would be an event I would not miss.
"Strawberry, you can make a party out of anything. That's also another thing I like from you," I thought, walking away from the poster.
I then met Raspberry who seemed to be walking around as well. I approached her and a conversation started.
"Hi, Raspberry," I greeted.
"Hi, Blackberry. How have you been?" she replied.
"Leaves start to hide my house again, but other than that I have been fine," I answered.
"I see. Where are you going now?" she asked.
"I'm just walking around. By the way, have you heard about Berry Blossom Festival?" I asked back.
"Heard about it? I'm the one handling decorations!" she replied with excitement
"Oh, that's cool. Are you doing well?" I asked.
"Definitely! Just wait and see," she replied.
"I'll be there, you can mark my words," I said.
"You bet! Oh, I'm running out of time! See you later!" she said, running off.
"Where are you going?" I shouted.
"Blueberry's house!" she shouted back as she disappeared from my sight.
After that, I decided to follow her to Blueberry's house. I only walked though, because I was not in a hurry. When I arrived there I entered and inside I saw not only Raspberry and Blueberry but also Strawberry, Ginger, Orange, Angel, and Lemon.
"Is there a party here and I'm not invited?" I asked with intention of kidding.
"Well, if you want to try one of Blueberry's fancy dress, go on ahead," Raspberry answered with giggle, followed by everyone else's laughter.
"I'll pass of course," I replied with a little laugh.
"By the way, do you want to come to my formal tea party?" Angel asked.
"Formal tea party? With formal clothes? Formal table manners and all?" I asked and she replied with a nod on all questions.
"Tomorrow morning there will be a pretend party at my house to rehearse on how it should be done. Do you want to come?" she asked.
"Hmm... I think I'll pass. Formal parties are not for me," I answered. "And I don't have formal clothes."
"I see. But you will still come for the main festival right?" she asked.
"Definitely," I answered.
Right after that, everyone left the place to get busy on each own task. Because I didn't want to become a bother, I went to Huck's fort and saw him along with Apple there when I arrived.
"Hi, Blackberry! Have you heard about the Berry Blossom Festival?" he asked.
"How can I not hear about it if that's everyone's first question whenever they meet someone else?" I answered with laugh.
"Yeah, and now that Strawberry is very busy, as you can see Apple is with me again," he said.
"Apple Dumplin' want to help Strawberry too," Apple said, seeming upset.
Looking at Apple, I could see that Strawberry still didn't want Apple to help because she thought that Apple was still too little to do any help. Actually she had a point, but I could feel that the constant denial had made Apple upset. I then approached her and put my hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, the time will come," I encouraged.
"Time for what?" Apple asked.
"The time when you will be free to help Strawberry as you like," I answered.
"Apple Dumplin' cannot wait for time," she said.
"We need patience for all things, dear," I said. "Anyway, wanna fly around Strawberryland?"
"Apple Dumplin' want to fly! Blackberry can make Apple Dumplin' fly?" she asked.
I brought both Huck and Apple outside the fort and called Falcon using its remote, which I always carried in my pocket along with Key Master, Time Remote Mark II, Inner Heart, and Paraplu. Speaking of them, I was glad that Time Remote Mark II and Falcon's remote were the only ones with relatively large size so I could put each in each side of my pants pocket and squeezed other devices along with them. I had left my walkman in my house because there were no more new songs from Universal Recorder and I had listened to all songs many times.
As Falcon came landing in front of the fort, both Huck and Apple seemed surprised.
"It is the flying car Apple Dumplin' see in Apple Dumplin' dream!" Apple said, recognizing Falcon.
"That vehicle was in my dream too! Does that mean it was not a dream?" Huck said.
Huck's and Apple's sentence struck me like a lightning bolt. I completely forgot that I had to keep Falcon a secret to Huck and Apple as requested by dream fairies. All other people were fine because they had not seen Falcon the first time they had been in the Land of Dreams so knowing about the vehicle would have not revealed the secret.
"Well... no... I mean..." I said while thinking of a way to save the secret.
"What is it?" Huck asked.
"It's a... dream. Yes! It was a dream I made to come true!" I said as I suddenly got an idea.
"Apple Dumplin' not understand," Apple said.
"I dreamed of this vehicle as well, so I made it to make my dream come true," I said, trying to be convincing.
"Oh I see now," Huck said.
"Apple Dumplin' now understand too," Apple said, which made me feel relieved.
"All aboard!" I said as I got inside. The two followed soon after.
The rest of the day was spent flying around Strawberryland. I could hear Huck and Apple pointing at all houses they saw. I also could see some friends walking around but they didn't notice us because I had put invisibility mode on, and Falcon's engine did not make loud noise. The flight ended after all of us watched a beautiful sunset scenery.
At the next day I made another new device I named Blind Spot. It was a badge with the shape of an eye, and whenever I wore it I would become invisible. However, the invisibility only lasted for one hour and then it would need another hour to recharge by itself. I tried wearing it and indeed I became invisible because I couldn't see myself in the mirror. I then removed it and put it in my pocket because somehow I got a feeling that I would need it later on that day.
I then left my house to walk around. It was already midday and I assumed the pretend party at Angel Cake's house had been already over, so I decided to visit Strawberry at her house. In front of the gate of her house I met Custard who seemed to be having her nap. At first I didn't want to bother her but she noticed me.
"Hey, Blackberry," she greeted with half-closed eyes and yawning.
"Is Strawberry here?" I asked.
"Yes, and everyone else as well. But I don't think you want to come in," she answered.
"Why not?" I asked, and suddenly I heard something that seemed to be a fight inside the house.
"Better see for yourself," she said as she started to fall asleep once more. "But don't worry too much. It's not like what you think."
I walked to the house's window and tried looking inside. I couldn't believe what I saw next. I saw Angel Cake licking jam with her finger, Strawberry drinking from a plate, Lemon drinking right from the pitcher, and other gross things.
"Is this what they call formal party...?" I thought, and then I remembered Custard's message. "I better wait and ask later."
Once everybody left, I knocked on the door but there was no response. I knocked it once more and this time Strawberry opened it. She was already in her usual outfit.
"Oh, hi Blackberry," she greeted. "Please come in. Sorry, I was changing my clothes. And also sorry that my house is not in a good shape right now."
"Well, that's what I was going to ask. What happened actually?" I asked, seeing all the mess inside.
Then, She told me about her plan to teach Raspberry that manners actually matter. They had just given Raspberry a party with no manners, and later there will be another party with good manners at Blueberry's place. It was actually a pretty good plan but then I remembered about Peppermint's reaction to Strawberry's plan. Raspberry was not as bad as Peppermint in attitude, but chance still existed.
"I see, but you know... the last time you had a plan..." I said.
"I know, but everything's worth a try," she answered.
"Okay. Oh, I'll help you cleaning all these," I offered.
"Thanks, but don't worry," she refused, and right after that everybody else that was in the party except Raspberry came. Like Strawberry, they were already in their daily outfit.
"That was great, everyone!" Strawberry said.
"You betcha!" Ginger replied.
"It was hard but we did it," Blueberry said.
"Okay, now it's time to clean these up," Angel said.
Right after Angel Cake's words were spoken, everybody got busy on cleaning up the mess they had made themselves. Because it seemed they didn't need any more people, I left the place after saying goodbye and went towards Huck's fort. Like yesterday, Apple was there as well.
"Strawberry told Apple Dumplin' to play outside because Strawberry said the house would become a mess," Huck said.
"That's right. Her house is a mess right now," I said, and I told both of them what had happened and about Strawberry's plan.
"I actually doubt that will work," I remarked. "Raspberry is quite a difficult person to convince."
"I think we have the same thinking," Huck said.
"Apple Dumplin' not sure," Apple said.
"I think they will need this," I said, taking Inner Heart from my pocket.
"What is that?" Huck asked.
"Inner Heart, to seek truth inside a person's heart. If in her heart Raspberry actually wants to have good manners, this will help her letting the feelings out," I answered.
"I see, but even with that we will be still taking chances," Huck said.
"I will go to Blueberry's place to see the situation. I'll tell you later," I said, going to leave the place.
"Good luck," Huck said.
I went to Blueberry's house and she was already there preparing. I helped her a bit and had some talks about Strawberry's plan, but I didn't tell her about my doubt and my plan of using Inner Heart.
"I will watch quietly from upstairs. I hope you all will succeed," I said after the preparations were completed.
Later, while keeping my presence unnoticed, I watched the party going with manners unlike the previous party. Raspberry seemed much happier than before, but I noticed that it probably was because this time she got to eat the cookies and all, not because of good manners. My thought were further proved by her denial when everybody started talking about manners. She got really angry and left the place. As everybody else were still in silence, I went down the stairs.
"It didn't work..." I said, looking at the door Raspberry had just shut. "Just as I thought."
"Well, we tried our best..." Strawberry said.
"Don't give up hope yet, Strawberry," I said as I took Inner Heart from my pocket and left the place.
I then followed Raspberry, not forgetting to put Blind Spot on my shirt first. To make most use of Inner Heart, I had to shot her while she was talking about what just happened, so I kept following her until she finally started to speak to herself.
"I don't see what their problem is!" She spoke to herself. I then aimed Inner Heart at her.
"Why do manners matter so much to them?!" She spoke again, and I shot her. I then watched her with high hopes, and it seemed to succeed because her talk started to change towards the better.
I kept following her while staying invisible, and it turned out she went to Strawberry's house. I watched their conversation in joy because my device was a success after all. Once they went inside, I walked away from the place as Blind Spot started to lose its effect.
I immediately went to Huck's fort to tell him about the success. Apple was still there when I arrived.
"My device was a success," I said happily.
"That's great!" Huck replied.
"Apple Dumplin' happy for Blackberry too," Apple said.
"Now we only have to wait for the main festival," I said. "I think I will go home for now."
"Apple Dumplin' goin' home too," Apple said.
"Okay, see you at the festival," Huck said and the two of us left his fort. I couldn't wait for the festival day to come.
--End of Chapter 15--
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Now I know the story of "
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