Month: January 2016

The Search for BlackBerry Bat Part2

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FluffBats

An hour later, all the Bushel were gathered at the top of the Banana tree, the tallest in the grove, where they could hang from one of the many giant leaves and look out across half the island. The sun was coloring the sky a rainbow as it slid west. Soon it would pull the edge of the world over it’s head for the night.

Kiwi Bat pulled a hollow reed from her backpack and grabbed one of the early dewdrops from the leaf where she hung. Sliding the drop down into the reed, she put it to her eye, and it became like a sea captain’s spyglass!

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Grape asked Watermelon Bat. “We’ve never left the grove before.”

“Sure it’s a good idea!” Mandarin answered for Watermelon, giving Grape a slap on the back. “It’s YOUR idea, Grape!”

“It is?”

“We wouldn’t be here without it!”

Grape Bat flashed a worried smile at the others.

During this exchange, Kiwi scanned the forest for signs of BlackBerry Bat. “Um, what exactly do you think I should be looking for?” she finally asked, lowering her glass and glancing around at her friends.

The Bushel exchanged looks, shrugging their wings.

“Wait, I know!” Apple said, dropping from her perch and doing with a twirl in the air. “We should call the FluffBats! Maybe they’ve seen something helpful!”

“An excellent idea!” Watermelon replied.

“Horray!” the Bushel cheered as they flew up over the banana tree and surveyed every direction of the island. As the last of the pink light of the sunset started to fade, Kiwi cried out “I see them!”

Squinting their little eyes in the direction in which Kiwi’s spyglass pointed, sure enough a tiny puff of white floated just above the trees way on the far side of the island.

“Beep bop, skippitty dop,” Batnana said, bouncing excitedly on one of her banana leaves.

“Yes, yes! Sound the shell!” Strawberry translated with equal excitement. A moment later she remembered that blowing the conch shell was her job, she fluttered down to where Kiwi had strapped it into a tree. She took a deep, deep breath, and blew as hard as she could!

BBBWAAAAAhhhhhhh! went the shell!

Not a second later that tiny puffy cloud turned and started heading toward the fruit grove. It grew bigger and bigger until it was so close they could see that it wasnt a cloud at all, but a gigantic group of tiny, cottony white FluffBats with golden-yellow wings! The itty bitty bats came in for a landing, tumbling and giggling and grabbing onto the FruitBats with their little wings and toes.

“HI!” they all cried in unison. “YOU CALLED?” The FluffBats always mamaged to say the same thing at the same time. Grape hadn’t quite worked out how yet.

Unable to resist their cuteness, Blueberry scooped up three of them for a snuggle. “Yup, we are looking for a lost member of the Bushel,” she told them.

The tiny bats looked around at the FruitBats around them. “YOU LOOK LIKE YOU ARE ALL HERE.” they said.

“But there should be a BlackBarry Bat, because there is a blackberry bush,” Grape informed them.

The confused FluffBats huddled together as if to discuss this information, but they didn’t say anything, just wiggled their ears at eachother.

“We do drop seeds from our wings sometimes, maybe you have seen another bush someplace?” Grape added.

Another minute of ear wiggling and the fluffy bats turned to face their audience.

“THE PLACE YOU SEEK IS ONLY A MILE FROM HERE, BUT IT IS IN THE DEEPEST, DARKEST PART OF THE DENSE FOREST,” they warned. “THERE ARE INDEED SEVERAL SMALL BLACKBERRY BUSHES THERE, IN A SMALL CLEARING. THEY ARE COVERED IN THORNS, BUT VERY FEW BERRIES BECAUSE THEY DON’T GET ENOUGH SUNLIGHT.”

“Oh, of course it is,” Lemon lamented. Lime put a wing around his shoulders.

“WE HAVE NEVER SEEN A FRUITBAT THERE, BUT A DARK FIGURE HAS BEEN SPOTTED, FLAPPING IN THE SHADOWS.”

“Maybe he’s shy?” Blueberry suggested, but didn’t sound very confident.

Having delivered the needed information, the FluffBats re-formed their cloud and rose up into the sky. “GOOD LUCK!” They called as they floated away on the evening breeze.

The Bushel contemplated this new information seriously. The deepest, darkest part of the forest did now sound like a terrible inviting place after all, especially for their first time adventure form the grove.

“I still say we need to investigate,” Watermelon insisted when he say their enthusiasm flagging. “If it were any of you in the deepest, darkest part of the forest, wouldn’t you want us to find you?”

They all exchanged wary looks, but couldn’t help but recognize what he said was true.”Of course,” Pear piped up, “But what if BlackBerry doesn’t WANT to be found?”

Watermelon considered this. “I guess that’s possible, but we should at least ask, and in order to do that, we have to find

 

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The Search for BlackBerry Bat Part 1

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blackberrybat1

For several weeks the FruitBats stayed in their grove and played together under the protective leaves of their trees, bushes and vines. Watermelon led them in many games. Kiwi invented fun gadgets. Grape learned from other animals about the island. Mandarin created tasty treats. Pear and Apple sang songs. Batnana made art. Strawberry always lended a hand with building and Blueberry was sure to help if anyone got hurt. Lemon and Lime gathered the whole Bushel together to host fun parties whenever they found an excuse.

One late afternoon (for that is morning to a bat) Watermelon woke up and swooped out of his hollow watermelon house. Everyone was getting up, but Grape Bat, sitting in his favorite clump of grape vine leaves, looked awfully contemplative for having just awoke. Watermelon decided to go over and find out what’s up.

“Sure is early for thinkin’ so hard,” he said, landing on a leaf and having to scramble up to where his tiny toes could grab the vine. Grape didn’t appear to hear him, so Watermelon poked his ear. “Hello?”

Finally paying attention, Grape wiggled his ear. “Oh, hi, I’ve been thinking!”

“I can tell,” Watermelon replied, “But about what?”

“Well,” Grape looked out across the fruit grove, “About all of us.”

Watermelon tilted his head like a confused puppy.

“You see,” Grape explained, “When the shooting star spread it’s magic over the grove, every fruit plant grew one fruit that became a bat.”

“So we’ve come to learn, yup.”

“So, logically, there should be a BlackBerry Bat!”

Watermelon looked to where Grape was staring, and sure enough, on the edge of the cliff that overlooked the bay, there grew a blackberry bush.

Grape leapt into the air and started flapping his way toward the bush, so Watermelon came along. The other bats, now alert and following their conversation, began to stretch their wings and join them.

“Maybe the magic just missed it,” Lemon suggested shyly as they all gathered in front of the bush.  It’s dark, plump berries looked juicy in the low afternoon sun.

“But what if it didn’t? What if BlackBerry is out there somewhere all alone?” Blueberry chimed in. “That would just be awful!”

“Yes, I don’t think we should take the risk. If there is a BlackBerry Bat out there, then they should be a part of the Bushel!” Watermelon declared.

“Flippidy-piboppidy-wop,” Batnana said as she did a loop-de-loop and landed smack in the blackberry bush with her wings open for a hug. A second later she fell out, hopping around with her eyes crossed in pain. “Owowowowow!” Sticker thorns were all over her. Blueberry and Strawberry came to the rescue: Strawberry holding her still while Blueberry gently and expertly plucked the thorns form Batnana’s belly. Strawberry told them that Batnana was agreeing they needed to find their lost Bushelmate.

“Well that’s one exciting way to start an adventure,” Mandarin Orange Bat said as he joined the circle of on-lookers. “Haven’t even left the grove yet and we have our first accident. I’ve heard of a prickly pear, but a prickly banana is new to me!”

“What adventure?” Apple asked, checking Pear Bat for thorns. The Bushel turned expectantly toward Watermelon.

“We,” he said, lifting one wing into the air dramatically, “are going to find BlackBerry Bat!

“We are?” Grape asked, looking a little worried. “Oh my.”

 

 

The Origin of the FruitBats

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FruiBatslogoOne night, before the sun rose and most creatures were still asleep in their dens, a star fell over Willowyck Island. As it streaked over the fruit grove that overlooked Crescent Bay, some of its magic stardust sprinkled over the fruits like sugar crystals.

The very next day, as the sun warmed the fruits, everyone on the island agreed that it was the best bunch of fruit they had ever seen in the grove. In fact, the colors were so bright and brilliant that nobody wanted to pick any of them because they were afraid they would spoil. This was a good decision, because something very strange was about to happen; just as the sun began to roll over the horizon for the night, the fruit began to tremble, then to down-right shake!

Suddenly, they started popping! On the grape vine, a bunch of grapes grew a pair of purple wings. A moment later, a purple face with big ears and beady black eyes appeared as grapes went dropping to the ground below. Nearby, on the lemon tree…

…a yellow face emerged from a lemon as the rind peeled back, likewise a green face came out a few inches away from a lime on the lime tree next door.

Next came Apple Bat and her brother Pear. Climbing out of their fruit they begin flapping their wings, which had seeds in them, and shaking off their juice. On the orange tree, the biggest, plumpest orange wiggled and wiggled, and all of a sudden Mandarin Orange came out. He shook off the orange juice and proclaimed that he was hungry, so he ate the rest of the orange!

From the little kiwi tree, one of the fuzzy brown fruits unfolded and it turned out not to be a fruit at all, but Kiwi Bat! Awkward on her new wings, she wobbled over to the banana tree, where a small bunch of ripe yellow bananas swung back and forth. Out of the bottom, a little yellow bottom popped out. It gave a brief wriggle, then went back in and a moment later, Batnana’s head emerged instead. Kiwi helped her get out the rest of the way and they went tumbling down into the strawberry patch.

When they landed, they were beside the biggest Strawberry ever to grow on the island! And as they watched, Strawbatty pushed her way out, and sat licking yummy juice from her wings.

Over in the watermelon patch there came a thumping. All the bats heard it. In the center of the patch lay a watermelon that bounced with every thump. They flew over to investigate. With one last BANG, the top of the watermelon cracked, and a second later, it cracked more. Then, a head peeked out: a green head, with bright pink in its ears.
Watermelon Bat looked around at his fellow FRUITBATS. All were colored like their fruit of origin, and they had seeds on their wings. They looked on him with their new eyes, curious and surprised at their own existence and the giant bouncing fruit. It is an awfully strange thing to wake up one day and be a bat, when just the day before you were a fruit!

Watermelon looked at is fellow fruits-become-bats and thought: “This is going to be one big adventure, we better stick together!”

Introductions #9 Strawbatty

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Strawberry Bat, or Strawbatty, is the strongest FruitBat in the grove! She is the only one who can blow the conch shell that Kiwi put up in her tree to use for calling other parts of Willowyk Island. She is bursting with energy and ready to do the heavy lifting to help a friend. Her best friend is Batnana, and she is the only one who can understand Batnana’s funny way of talking. She is not afraid to get messy and her favorite game to play in the grove is knights. To play, the bats use the dried stamen from a tulip tree flower as a sword, a walnut shell as a shield and gum balls as a swinging flail. Blueberry always gets nervous when the bats decide to play knights, because she is always worried someone will get hurt. Strawbatty tells her a few scratches are good for you!

Introductions #8 Blueberry Bat

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blueberrytradecard

Meet Blueberry Bat. She is the nurturer of the bushel. Whenever anyone gets hurt, she is there with her little first aid bag and knowledge of herbs to make them all better, and lots of hugs of course! It’s always a good idea to have a healer on an adventure, and that is Blueberry’s purpose. She also has a weakness for adorable things, and will go all squishy when those puffy little cotton ball FluffBats come by to gossip about Willowyk Islands current news!

Introductions #7 Kiwi Bat

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Kiwi is an engineer. She is constantly planning and building new things for fun in the orchard, and her inventive mind is always useful when the Bushel goes on adventures. She helped Mandarin build a stone oven so he can create his baked goodies, and her understanding of mechanics is key in the first of the FruitBat’s adventures out of the fruit grove! Her favorite tool is her spyglass (two hollow reeds one inside the other) which she puts a dew drop inside to see things far away. Great with weights and pullies, she hauled a big conch shell up to the top of her tree and cut off the tip so that they use it to blow an alarm, or to call Willowyk’s fastest news service, the FluffBats, over for a chat.

 

Introductions #5 Lemon and Lime

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bestfriendsl&l

lemontradecard limetradecard

Lemon and Lime are always together and will not be separated! They complement each other perfectly. Lemon is shy and sweet, easy to startle but always optimistic. He loves making lemonade for the Bushel on warm evenings, and at the parties that Lime is so fond of throwing. Lime loves to plan and host parties for the whole Bushel. When he plans a party in his Lime tree, the whole orchard lights up and it’s the best event on Willowyk Island. He’s loud and hyper, and always up for fun. When Lemon gets skittish if an adventure gets scary, Lime is always there to cheer him up and promises to protect him. He always finds ways to get Lemon to come out of his shell.

Introductions #4 Mandarin Orange Bat

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Mandarin Bat is the “class clown” and also passionate about cooking! When things get serious, you can rely on him to get the mood fun again. He spends lots of his time baking, creating new tasty treats for all the Bushel to enjoy. One of his favorites is dream sickle cinnamon rolls with orange drizzle. YUM! In fact, there is a whole story based around his cooking. If you know about the CupCake Bat, you have met one of his proudest creations! She is his masterpiece, and he fell quite head over tail for her, but that’s a whole story, so we will get to it after the introductions!

Introductions #3 Batnana

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batnanatradecard

The Bushel would all agree, Batnana is the cute one. And the artistic one. And the weird one. Batnana is like the little sister, even though all the bats came to life on the same night. They feel very protective of her.  She has never gotten over the fact that she is now a bat, and will follow behind the rest of the Bushel doing barrel rolls and loop-de-loops in the sheer appreciation of being able to fly! Batnana never goes anywhere without her paintbrush and is always drawing and painting. Adding to her eccentricity, Batnana is unable to speak the same language as the other bats, as she only communicates in a cute version of Jazz scat. Luckily, her best friend Strawbatty has come to understand her, and can translate to the others. Fun fact: Batnana is the only of the fruits to have an eye color other than black. Around her eyes is a sparkling blue. The others guess this is because she just seems to see the world a little differently from everyone else.

 

Introductions #2 Grape Bat

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grapetradecard

Grape Bat is the Spock to Watermelon’s Kirk. Watermelon Bat likes to keep him close while on adventures, because Grape Bat is a keen observer and very well read (for a Bat that came to life from a fruit)! He is logical and thoughtful. Sometimes it’s hard to get him out of his head long enough to come on adventures, but once the Bushel gets going and there are problems to solve and new things to discover, he forgets his hesitation. To Grape Bat, nothing is more important than knowledge! He likes to tell everyone in the fruit grove about all the things that he learns, even when they might be busy with other things. Mandarin Orange likes to poke fun at him sometimes for being such a bookworm, but it’s all in fun. On a sunny day on Willowyk Island, you are most likely to find Grape Bat snuggled up with a book in the grape leaves.