03-21-2011, 03:27 AM
Quote:Chapter 6: Future As You Make It
As I walked out of the house, I was aware that Strawberryland was big and I needed Albatross to quickly search for Peach Streusel since I had no clue about her location.
"Albatross, I kinda need you right now. Can you come here?" I spoke in my mind, hoping that I had been right thinking that Albatross could read my mind.
Within seconds, I saw Albatross in the distance closing in. Its right thruster had regenerated and was fully operational. Suddenly, it rolled itself around and flew upside down. It then opened its canopy while still flying upside down, and right at the moment it was above me, I got sucked into the cockpit. The canopy then closed and Albatross rolled back into normal position.
"Internal gravity field manipulation," I said, sitting on the pilot seat. "That was also how you got us in here back then at Porcupine Peak, right?"
"Correct," suddenly a robotic voice was heard echoing within the cockpit, which surprised me a bit.
"That's great, now you can talk," I said, still wondering how it could had happened. "Anyway, I need you to find Peach Streusel if you can."
"Scanning the region..." Albatross said. "Target found. Moving to target area."
Albatross then turned around and flew towards an area I remembered as the wood located not far from Blueberry Valley.
"Target area reached," Albatross said, coming into a complete stop above the edge of the wood.
"Alright, let's land here," I said, and Albatross landed. I then got off and walked towards the wood. Soon, I saw a girl I didn't know. She didn't see me because I came from behind her. It seemed that she was keeping watch of something behind the bushes nearby. The bushes were as tall as her neck and she was on the top of a small upward slope so I couldn't see what was behind the bushes. I then tried approaching her.
"Hello," I said midway, and she looked at me.
"Huh? Aren't you...?" she said, walking down the slope to approach me. "Blackberry Bun from the past?"
"Eh, you know me already?" I asked. "I suppose Peach Streusel, the twins, or Jackfruit Jam has told you about me?"
"No! I know you myself! Don't you recognize me?" she asked back.
"Eh...?" I said, wondering. I then looked at her more closely. I looked at her red and white boots, her white pants, her red coat, her long spiky orange hair, her green eyes, and her hat which was the one which made me realize who she was. "Apple Dumplin'?"
"You're right!" she said. "Hahaha! You look funny wearing Jackfruit's hat, Persimmons' scarf, and Mango's coat! Too many colors on you!"
"Yeah, indeed," I said. "And now you don't mention yourself with name anymore."
"Oh, Apple Dumplin' still do sometimes!" she said with a giggle.
"By the way, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"Just see for yourself," she said, pointing at the bushes behind her with her thumb. We then walked up the small slope. Once we arrived, I was surprised to see what Apple had been watching. I saw Peach Streusel sitting on something which looked like a box with her feet tied to it. A pole stood on each side of the box and her wrists were tied to the poles. Her mouth was gagged with a cloth.
"Eh? Why is she tied up like that?" I asked.
"It's a part of a roleplay game," Apple said. "I kidnapped her and the other friends must find and rescue her."
"So now others are looking for her?" I asked.
"Yes, there is a time limit and it will end within ten minutes," Apple said, looking at her watch. "If they don't find her before the time is up, I will win."
"If you ask me, tying her up isn't necessary," I commented.
"It's just to make the game feel more real and exciting," Apple said. "Don't worry, the knots are not tight enough to hurt her."
"Is this the first time this game is done in winter?" I asked.
"Yeah, why?" Apple asked.
"Oh my, we have to release her now," I said.
"Eh?" Apple asked, but I rushed to Peach before she could say anything more. She then followed me immediately and we released the ropes which bound Peach. I then released her gag, but right after that she suddenly fell to her knees. Fortunately, we held her in time so she didn't fell down to the snow.
"Peach! What's wrong with you?" Apple asked, looking worried.
"My legs..." Peach said. "They hurt..."
"Albatross! Pick us up now!" I said, and then within seconds the ship came and sucked the three us into it. We then put Peach on the pilot seat.
"What's wrong actually?" Apple asked, still looking worried.
"Her legs were frostbitten," I said.
"What?! How could that happen?" Apple asked.
"Well you see, her legs aren't fully covered from the cold weather. She's usually fine because she moves and runs around, keeping them warm enough. But if she's tied up sitting still like that..." I replied, which seemed to put Apple in shock.
"I'm... I'm so sorry, Peach! I should have known better!" Apple said with tears leaking.
"Don't worry, Apple. It's... ugh... fine..." Peach said, trying to endure the frostbite pain.
"Calm down, it's not that bad. We only need to warm her legs," I said, looking around for any usable thing.
"Use the Sun Stone," Albatross suddenly said.
"The Sun Stone? That's a great idea, Albatross!" I said.
"Sun Stone? That stone you took from the Sun Temple?" Apple asked, and I nodded.
"It is a source of warmth and energy, and it is now Albatross' main source of power," I said, walking to the back of the passenger space. I then opened a small lid located on the floor at the back. Under the lid there was a glowing round yellow stone attached into an insertion which had a number of cables connecting it to other parts of the ship. The stone had a rune with the shape of a sun imprinted on it. I was about to remove the stone when Apple interrupted.
"Wait! Shouldn't we land first? I mean, how can Albatross fly without fuel?" she asked.
"No worries about that," I replied, removing the stone from the insertion, which caused the engine and everything in the passenger space to go off. "The Flame Stone in each thruster and everything in this room indeed will go off, but the magic of Blue Rainbowberry extract painted on the whole body will keep the ship floating for five minutes. That's more than enough."
"Sun Stone? Flame Stone? Blue Rainbowberry? Magic?" Peach asked. "You sound like this ship is magical."
"It is magical," Apple said. "Most, if not all, parts of this ship are magical and cannot be found anywhere in this planet."
"Eh? This planet you said?" Peach asked.
"It's a long story," I said, "For now, just relax your legs and do nothing."
Peach did what I said, and then I put the Sun Stone on her thigh. The stone then radiated a yellow aura which then covered Peach's legs. Both Peach and Apple were astonished by the glow. I then took the stone from Peach and it stopped glowing.
"How do you feel now?" I asked.
"Well..." Peach said. "It felt like the pain has never happened!"
"Oh Peach, I'm so glad!" Apple said, hugging Peach.
"Hey, I told you not to worry!" Peach said as I put the Sun Stone back into the insertion. Immediately, everything inside the cockpit went back on and the engine roared once again.
"Thank you for the idea, Albatross," I said.
"No problem," Albatross said.
"You know, your ship is truly amazing!" Peach commented. "It's almost like it is alive! Or maybe it is really alive!"
"I think the same too, Peach," I said. "Anyway, it's lunch time. We should go back to your house."
"Yeah, let's go back home," Peach said. "You can come with us, Apple."
"No, Apple Dumplin' will go home," Apple said. "Strawberry will come home to visit today, so I must be home."
"I see," I said. "By the way, what about your other friends? They might be looking for you for real now."
"Don't worry. Time ran out just now," Peach said, looking at Apple's watch. "We have agreed that if time ran out we would just go home and have lunch."
Soon, we dropped Apple off at what used to be Strawberry's house and flew back towards Peach's house. Within seconds, we arrived at the destination and Albatross landed in front of the log cabin. Both of us then jumped off and the ship immediately left the place. "By the way, I think we should not tell anyone else about what had happened."
"Why is that?" she asked.
"We don't want to make them worry about you, right?" I said, and she nodded.
"I'm home!" she shouted while opening the door.
"Welcome home, dear," Grapes said from inside. "Come join us!"
After putting off some of our warm clothes the two of us joined the family to have lunch together. There was a bit of conversation during lunch time.
"Where have you been, sis?" Persimmons asked.
"Playing with friends. What else?" Peach replied.
"See, Jackfruit? There was nothing to worry about!" Mango said.
"Eh, did I miss something?" Peach asked.
"Jackfruit was worried about you," I said. "That's why I came to look for you."
"It was not like you to be late for lunch," Jackfruit said. "But maybe I was just too paranoid."
"Oh, Jackfruit. I'm sorry to make you worried!" Peach said. "I have to thank you for that too!"
"Eh? Why is that?" Mango asked. "Did something really happen?"
"Eh.. Umm... I mean.." Peach said, realizing that she had almost blown her cover.
"I think she meant that she is very grateful that you worried about her because that means you love her." I said.
"Of course! Why shouldn't I love my family?" Jackfruit asked. "They are the first family who really love me..."
"Alright, chit chat's over!" Grapes said with a loud clap of her hands, which removed all gloomy atmosphere. "Finish your lunch soon before they get cold!"
The remainder of the lunch time passed without any more speech. After we were finished, we left the parents and went to the living room.
"What are we going to do now?" Mango asked.
"Blackberry, I want to ask you something," Peach said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"How far can your ship go?" she asked.
"Well..." I said, thinking. "It's actually a spaceship, so it can go anywhere."
"Really? May I ride your ship again?" Peach asked.
"Of course. Why not?" I asked again.
"What are you going to do, sis?" Persimmons asked.
"I want to go to space!" Peach said. "It has been my dream since a long time ago!"
"I see," I said. "Come with me then. Anyone else want to come along?"
"I'm sorry, but count me out out..." Mango said, bowing her head. "I... I'm afraid of heights."
"Really?" I asked.
"Mango was not like this before, but after that thing happened..." Persimmons said.
"Eh? What happened?" I asked.
"Please don't remind me," Mango said.
"To make it short, she dangled over a cliff," Jackfruit said.
"I see," I said.
"I can't leave her alone. I'll stay too," Persimmons said.
"I don't feel like going outside now," Jackfruit said.
"So it seems only two of us then," I said, looking at Peach.
"Do you want to borrow our warm clothes again?" Persimmons asked.
"No, thank you. This time we will stay inside the ship so it is not really needed," I said.
"Have a nice flight," Jackfruit said.
"I will!" Peach said as she wore her coat and gloves, and the two of us walked outside. Within next seconds we were already inside Albatross. I still wondered how it could read my mind, how it had become alive, and how it had gained the ability to talk, but I once again decided to let it by for then.
"Go to space, Albatross," I said as I sat on the pilot seat, and the ship started to fly upwards.
"Entering Limit in The Sky in 15 seconds," it said.
"Limit in The Sky? What is that?" Peach asked.
"Something that prevents anything to go to space. But Albatross can go through it easily," I replied.
"3...2...1..." it said, and then the engine roared louder than before. But, within another 10 seconds the engine reverted back to normal and the view outside became black with white dots.
"Here we are. What do you think?" I said, but Peach did not reply. I looked at her face and noticed that she was too astonished to say anything. The scenery of sparkling stars, the sun far away, and the planet beneath was indeed beautiful.
"This is amazing..." she finally said after one minute of silence. "Look! A shooting star!"
I looked at the direction she pointed, and indeed there was something white with trails passing by far away. I knew it was actually a comet, not a shooting star, but I decided not to spoil her fun. She kept looking at the comet until it disappeared from sight. She then looked at another direction, and suddenly her expression changed.
"Blackberry, what is that?" she asked, pointing. I looked at the direction and noticed that she was pointing at the very same thing which had brought me and my friends to Oz. I didn't want to frighten her so I decided to lie a bit.
"That's a dimension door. Behind that door there is a different world," I said. "Albatross is from that world."
"Really? Can we go there?" she asked.
"Sorry Peach, but I think we cannot," I replied. "Nobody knows how much time will have passed once we return. Time flows in a different way over there."
"Your ship can time travel, right? We can use that ability!" she said.
"No, we better not. I realized in my trip to this time that time travelling with Albatross is dangerous. I almost got destroyed that time, and truth to be told I'm kinda afraid I won't be so lucky on my way back to my time," I said, remembering the thing that had happened.
"Oh..." Peach said, looking disappointed.
I was about to say something to cheer her up, but suddenly something passed by from behind the ship at very high speed. I looked to the front and saw something which left a short trail of blue flame. It turned around at a pretty far distance and went back to us.
"What is that thing?" Peach asked.
"I have no idea. I think we should avoid it and go back home," I said. "Let's go, Albatross."
"No need," Albatross said. "Let it come."
"Eh? What do you mean?" I asked. Immediately, the mysterious thing stopped right in front of us. Both Peach and I were very surprised. The mysterious thing was another Albatross. Before we could speak anything, a dimension door suddenly appeared in the middle of the passenger space and someone came out from it. I stood up from the pilot seat, and it didn't took me long to recognize that the person was my future self. As Grapes had said, my future self was already as tall as her. He still wore the same shirt and pants as mine, which implied that Glinda's magic on me would work for years to come.
"Hey there," he greeted.
"Let me guess!" Peach said. "Blackberry Bun from the present, right?"
"That's correct," he said.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"What else? To take Peach to the other side of the dimension door," he replied.
"Really? But your past self said..." Peach asked, looking hopeful.
"I know that," he said. "Don't worry about that. My Albatross is much stronger than this Albatross. No offense to you, Albatross."
"It's fine. I know that," my Albatross said.
"Your Albatross is stronger than mine? What do you mean? How come?" I asked.
"I want to tell you, but unfortunately I must not," he replied. "To avoid time flow disturbance, I must not give important knowledge to my past self."
"I understand. But at least you can tell if I will figure it out, right?" I said.
"Hey, if I want to tell you, that means I have figured it out!" he said with a little laugh.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that," I said. "Anyway, can I trust her to you?"
"Hey, come on!" he said. "You always trust your friends, but now you can't trust your own self?"
"No, I mean..." I said. "What should I say to her sisters and Ms. Grapes when I return?"
"Don't worry about that," he said. "I'll take care of everything."
"Well, what do you say, Peach?" I asked.
"You are my friend and I trust you, why shouldn't I trust your bigger self?" she replied.
"Let's get going then," he said. Peach agreed and then the two of them went back into the dimension door, which immediately disappeared. Then, the other Albatross went away to the Black Hole and disappeared from sight.
"It looks like you are more mysterious than you seem, Albatross," I said.
"Whatever you say," Albatross said.
"Now that you can speak, maybe you can tell me what you actually are?" I said.
"I am the ship you have made in Oz," it replied.
"Not that one! It's obvious!" I said. "Don't you understand me!?"
"I am... your ship," it replied.
"This is no use," I said as I dropped myself into sitting on the pilot seat. "Either you really don't know the answer, or you don't want to tell me."
"Second," it said.
"Fine..." I said, leaning back to the seat with a sigh. "Let's go back to Peach's house and hope my future self will indeed take care of everything."
Before Albatross started moving, suddenly I saw the same blue flame trail at a distance. Within seconds, the thing which was indeed the other Albatross stopped in front and the same dimension door appeared in the middle of the passenger space. Then, Peach and my future self came out from it. Strangely, Peach was wearing her casual outfit instead of her winter outfit.
"So fast?" I asked.
"See?" he said, looking at Peach, who immediately giggled.
"We spent a week in Oz!" Peach said.
"Oh, time travel," I said. "How was Oz?"
"Well, a lot of things happened," he said. "Glinda and Henry were confused seeing me becoming so tall in just a few months after I had left."
"Yeah, I can see that," I said.
"We got to see a lot of places and met a lot of people. I mean, the berrykins, berry fairies, berry sprites, and others too," he said.
"What about your outfit, Peach?" I asked. "Where did your warm clothes and boots go?"
"Oh, this is Glinda's magic," he said. "The weather in Oz was still too warm to wear warm clothes, so Glinda magically changed her outfit to her usual outfit. All Peach needs to do to revert back is to speak out a password."
"Serenity winter!" Peach said, and within a blink of an eye her outfit changed into her winter outfit.
"So, did you have a great time, Peach?" I asked.
"Of course!" Peach said with a big smile.
"Then I'm glad. Let's go home now, shall we?" I said, and Peach nodded. I then approached my future self and whispered to him.
"Did she meet Gladys?" I asked.
"No, Glinda told me that Gladys was going somewhere far to search for some potion ingredients," he whispered back.
"I see," I whispered.
"What are you two whispering about?" Peach asked.
"Uh, nothing!" both me and my future self replied together.
"Okay, time for me to go then," he said. "Good luck figuring that mystery out!"
"Okay, bye!" I said, and then he entered the dimension door, which immediately disappeared. The other Albatross then went away back to the planet.
"What mystery did you talk about?" Peach asked.
"Nothing important," I replied. "Let's go home."
After I said those, Albatross flew back towards the log cabin. We arrived there shortly without trouble. After Albatross landed in front of the cabin, I opened the canopy.
"I think this is goodbye," I said, standing up from the seat.
"So fast?" Peach asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Thank you for all this time. I really had a great time."
"Will you come again?" she asked.
"If I can, I will," I said. "By the way, I want to ask one thing."
"What is it?" she asked.
"Have you ever met my future self before this?" I asked.
"Nope, never," she replied. "Why is that?"
"Nothing..." I said. "Goodbye."
"Goodbye," she said, and then she jumped out from the ship, which then immediately flew away and disappeared to the hyperspace tunnel of time.
"Is this going to be safe?" I asked, sitting on the pilot seat.
"I don't detect any upheaval for now," Albatross said.
"Let's go then," I said, and Albatross started flying against the flow of time. "By the way, Albatross..."
"Yes?" it said.
"Did this travel disturb the flow of time in any way?" I asked. "I have been believing that traveling forward won't cause any disturbance, but after hearing what my future self had said I kinda doubt it now..."
"I cannot give any answer. I have no knowledge about the flow of time," it said.
"I see..." I said. "Peach said that she has never my future self before. Does that mean I have to avoid meeting her until that time?"
"Sorry, I cannot answer that," it said. "But I can tell you this."
"What is it?" I asked.
"Believe in what you think is right. Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one," it said, which made me speechless for a moment.
"Thank you, Albatross," I finally said.
"No problem," it said as it kept flying through the tunnel of time.
--End of Chapter 6--
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