Mysterious Flower

First of all, I have to admit that I am not a native speaker, so there might be a few mistakes, but if you write me a message to tell me about them, I will correct them as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Level 5, and I don't earn my money with these stories.

Randall looked at his map. "I'm sure, it's here somewhere." He looked around. They were still close to the house, the Ascot Mansion could be seen on the horizon, but here the meadow slowly went over into the forest.

"Master Randall," Henry spoke timidly, "please remember that we're not allowed to go into the forest."

"What?" Alphonse laughed. "You afraid of the trees?"

Henry looked up at the large pine trees. "N-no, of course not. But that's the rule."

"Pah. Sticking to the rules is boring." And as if to prove his point, Alphonse walked over to the next pine tree and put his hand on its bark.

"Y-you shouldn't!"

"Don't worry, Henry," Randall said. "According to my map this flower should be next to the forest, but not inside it." Again, he looked between the map and his surroundings. "Let's try over there." He led his friends further down the meadow where the stream went by.

"Is this map even real?" Alphonse asked and peered sceptically at the map.

"Of course, it's real," Randall replied. "I found it in the library." His eyes began to gleam. "The library is amazing, there are tons of history books and adventure stories and even a section with maps, like this one. I believe I'll find loads of treasure around Stansbury in the next few years."

Alphonse laughed. "As if you could really get rich by finding treasure. That's something you only see in films or read in one of your adventure novels. I on the other hand will become rich with hard work by owning the largest hotels in the whole area."

Randall smiled benevolently. "You'll do your thing, and I'll do mine." He looked at the map again. "Okay, according to the script here at the corner, we're looking for a single flower with large blue petals."

"Does this flower do anything?" Alphonse asked while fixing his stare on the ground in front of him.

Randall shrugged. "It doesn't say so on the map, but we can find out."

"Maybe it's just pretty," Henry suggested.

Randall smiled. "I bet it is."

The boys continued to look for this mysterious flower all along the edge of the forest.

"There!" Randall suddenly cried. "I saw something blue." And he dashed off with the other two following swiftly. They halted next to a rather large bush with many dark green leaves. And there under its shadow was a bright blue flower. "That must be it," Randall said and sat next to it on the floor.

"Hm," Alphonse said. "I guess it's okay."

"Okay?" Henry lay down on his stomach to see the flower better. "I think it's simply wonderful." He looked up. "Thank you, Master Randall, for brining me along."

"Of course, Henry. You can't have an adventure without your friends."

Henry grinned at Randall, then studied the flower. "I wish I was good at drawing," he said quietly.

Randall looked at the flower and his two friends. Being an adventurer was truly wonderful. Then he saw someone coming towards them. "Hey guys, Angela's coming."

But the others weren't listening anymore.

"That's a cool robot you've got there," Alphonse said and took the toy out of Henry's backpack.

"Hey!" Henry stood up at once. "That's mine! Give it back!"

Alphonse started to twist the robot's arms. "You know what. I think this is way more interesting than some kind of flower. I wanna play with this."

"No!" Henry whimpered. "Please be careful, it's very dear to me."

But Alphonse kept playing with the robot, so Henry burst into tears.

"Hey!" Randall stepped in front of the much larger boy. "This isn't yours. Give it back!"

"Pah," Alphonse said. "What are you going to do about it?" He held up the robot high above his head.

Randall tried to reach it but couldn't get it. He jumped, his arms high, but Alphonse was taller. "Give it back!" Randall shouted again and stormed against Alphonse. He tried to punch his arm down, but Alphonse was also stronger and just held back Randall.

"What is going on here!" A shrill voice made the boys stop their fighting. Hildegard, the maid of the Ascot household, had come, holding the hand of Angela who apparently had run back to get help.

"Alphonse took Henry's robot!" Randall said at once.

But Hildegard didn't seem to hear him. She went to the boy and touched his shoulders and head. "Master Randall, are you alright? You look dirty. Did these boys do something to you?"

"What? No! We were on an adventure, and we found this wonderful flower and then suddenly Alphonse just took Henry's robot and I tried to get it back."

Hildegard looked at the robot. "You mean your robot, Master Randall."

Randall groaned. "I told you before, it's Henry's. I gave it to him, it belongs to him!"

"Alright, alright." Hildegard went to Alphonse who didn't look as strong and confident as he was a few minutes ago. "Young man, give the robot back to Henry this instance."

"Urg, yeah, of course." Alphonse mumbled, then went to Henry. "Sorry, Henry, I just wanted to play with it."

Henry sniffled as he took back the robot and hugged it. "Just ask next time and be careful!"

"Okay."

"Great," Randall beamed. "Good that we're friends again." He looked at the boys and Angela, then at the maid. "Hildegard, I think this calls for a picnic."

"I'll be right back, Master Randall." And she hurried off back to the mansion.

"I hope you're not mad at me," Angela suddenly said.

Randall stared at her. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"That I went to get Hildegard. I feel like a rat now." She had her head down and held her hands.

Randall smiled. "Don't worry, Angela. Sometimes boys need girls to rat on them."

Angela looked up surprised and saw Randall grin.

"It's for their own good."

This made Angela chuckle. "Shall we play something together?"

Henry and Alphonse were in it too and soon the four friends played tag on the meadow. They ran and laughed and all the trouble over the robot was forgotten.

"Children!" Hildegard called when she came back, and the friends ran towards her. Soon a blanket was on the meadow and on it tons of snacks and drinks.

"You know what," Alphonse said, one sandwich in his hand, his other arm around Henry. "Today was a great adventure. Thanks for that, Randall."

"Anytime," grinned Randall, happy that they had found the flower and that he and his friends could have so much fun together.

"What were you doing here anyway?" Angela wanted to know, and the boys told her about the map and the flower. "Oh," she made round eyes, "I want to see it."

When most sandwiches were eaten and all children were fed and happy, Hildegard started to pack in. "It's time to go home, Master Randall," she said and sternly watched the sun that neared the horizon.

"One minute," Randall said and dashed off towards the woods.

"Master Randall!"

But before Hildegard could get a fit, Randall was back. With red cheeks, he stood in front of Angela and said: "Here!" And in his hand was the mysterious flower, its blue petals shining in the last sunrays.

"Oh," Angela made and gently took the flower. "It's beautiful."

Further back Henry and Alphonse watched the play and chuckled. "I bet you one dollar that Randall's gonna marry that girl one day," Alphonse said.

"I believe you're right," Henry grinned and swore at that moment to do everything in his might to make this possible.

"But Randall," Angela said, turning sad. "Now the flower will wither. It's such a special flower. How could you just rip it off?"

"Don't worry," Randall smiled. "I found more behind the bush where this was. Turns out it's not that mysterious after all."

Angela smiled. "I still think it's wonderful."

THE END.