The Dangers of Love

Hamtaro was laying his head on the clubhouse table and was very bored. After all, the only hams in the clubhouse were Bijou, Boss, Oxnard, Snoozer and himself. No one wanted to play acorn soccer, it wouldn't be too fun without the others to go to Acorn Mountain, and the ham-hams didn't have any other ideas. He looked around to see the others in the same positions as himself.

"C'mon, hams! There's got to be something we can do today!" Hamtaro yelled. The loud noise made each ham fall over in fright and Oxnard lazily got up.

"Maybe we should just go dig."

"Oui. Or vee could do crafts."

"Maybe lets go out for some sunflower seeds."

"Zu..Zu…Zu."

Hamtaro sighed at their ideas because the ham-hams always did those things. He looked outside and saw that the pond nearby was frozen solid.

"Hey, hams! Maybe we can go ice skating!" Hamtaro exclaimed. Boss and Bijou looked shocked and Oxnard shuddered.

"Ice skating?" Boss asked in awe. Hamtaro nodded happily as Bijou and Oxnard looked at Hamtaro in confusion.

"Yeah! Laura goes ice skating all the time!" Hamtaro cheered.

"But, vee don't know 'ow to ice skate!" Bijou pointed out.

"Good point, Bijou. I was just about to say the same," Boss said as he blushed. Oxnard rolled his eyes and said, "What if my seed falls through the ice?"

"Yeah, and what if we freeze to death?" Boss said. Bijou nodded in agreement and Hamtaro rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I haven't exactly figured that out," Hamtaro said slowly. Boss nodded his head in pride and said, "Yeah, that's right! We can have fun right here at the clubhouse."

"Zu.. Zu… You never know until you try…" Snoozer said sheepishly as he went back to sleep. Hamtaro smiled and said, "See? Even Snoozer agrees with it. We've never tried ice skating and it might even be fun!"

Boss frowned while Bijou and Oxnard exchanged looks.

"Oh, all right, Hamtaro. But this had better be good," Boss grumbled. Hamtaro jumped in the air with glee and went out to pick out ice skates.

"I hope my seed doesn't fall through the ice!" Oxnard exclaimed. Bijou nodded and Boss thought that she was just so cute when her pigtails were bobbing up and down that he could only gawk at her.

"Um, Boss?" Bijou asked. Boss snapped out of it and thought, Ice skating is really romantic. Maxwell told me all about it so he must be right! I'll get Bijou to ice skate with me and she'll be falling for me before she knows it! It's perfect! And Hamtaro can't ruin it!

Soon, they all headed out towards the frozen pond. It glistened as the four hams saw the pure whiteness and beauty of the- wait. That one dot is orange!

"What do you suppose that is, hams?" Hamtaro asked.

"I don't know. Eet is really peculiar for it to be moving, non?" Bijou said.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm going to find out what it is," Boss announced as he jumped onto the ice.

"Boss, wait for me!" Hamtaro said as he followed after Boss.

"I think that we should go too," Oxnard said sheepishly. Bijou nodded and the two trailed behind the other hams.

"Yeah! Here comes the Stan Man!"

Hamtaro, Bijou, Boss, and Oxnard slid to a stop to find ice skating and shaking his maracas.

"Stan?" Hamtaro said in disbelief. Stan looked at the hams and fell over in shock.

"I didn't ditch Sandy's rhythmic gymnastics competition for ice skating!" Stan blurted out.

"We didn't say anything about that Stan. Do you want to ice skate with us?" Hamtaro asked in his own friendly way. Stan nodded and started to speed skate around the pond.

"Hey, we should make a race. The first one to do a lap around the pond should win, right hams?" Stan said. Boss went face to face with Stan and realized that this was his chance to impress Bijou.

"I'll be against you! And don't think that I'm going to go easy on you," Boss said proudly. Stan laughed out loud and insulted, "You think that you could drag all that fat around the pond. You're cracking me up!"

Boss growled making the fur on Stan's back shoot up.

"Uh, all right there Boss," Stan quickly said, worried that Boss would start a fight.

"I'll be the announcer!" Hamtaro volunteered.

"Do you even know what an announcer is?" Stan asked.

"Uh, I think it's a guy who watches the game and announces stuff," Hamtaro said.

"Oh, I hope you announce when fresh sunflower seeds will be brought out," Oxnard said as he sniffed his own sunflower seed. Stan groaned and Boss and him finally got into their positions. Bijou was the referee.

"Alright! On zee count of 3! Une! Deux! Trois!" Bijou counted in French and the two hams took off. Stan was way ahead of Boss who was tripping all over. Stan laughed, but it was not to last. The tiger ham tripped over a stone and slid into a tree.

"HA! Look who's laughing now!" Boss yelled in excitement as he rounded the second corner. Bijou will be mine, Boss thought.

Just when you'd think that Boss would win, Stan caught up and slammed into the giant hamster. It didn't knock Boss over, but it did enough to get him angry. Boss shoved Stan and soon enough, it was a real battle for the finish. Bijou was ready with the flag when she saw that Boss and Stan drove into her.

Bijou screamed as her head hit the ice, but it was the pain that made her shriek. It was the many cracks that were forming around her. Boss and Stan watched in horror as the French hamster floated on top of a mini iceberg.

"Bijou!" the two yelled. Just when it wasn't about to get any worse, the raft made for Bijou flipped over, making her fall into the icy depths.

"Agh! Bijou!" Boss yelled in terror.

"Ah, cats. What have we done?" Stan said as he slapped himself. Hamtaro stepped up and dove into the water.

"Wait! Hamsters can't swim!" Oxnard yelled as Hamtaro plunged into the chilly waters.

Hamtaro opened his eyes to see Bijou just floating smack in the middle. He guessed that she was trying to kick up, but it was tiring. He swam towards her and grabbed her paw. Hamtaro tried to swim back up, but the current was too strong. It washed them away to another part where the ice was hard and stiff. He could see the hams above running, trying to save him and Bijou.

"Boss! Get your shovel!" Stan yelled. Boss obediently yanked his shovel out of the ice and slammed it down onto the ice. Stan and Oxnard took part in the rescue by cracking the ice. Their work prevailed.

Hamtaro gasped for breath as he heaved Bijou and himself out of the frigid waves.

"Is she ok?" Stan choked.

Hamtaro listened for a heartbeat.

"Yeah! She's alive! C'mon, Bijou!" Hamtaro chanted.

Bijou was lost in her own mind. It was all black and only slurred voices could be heard, but when someone said her name, she popped awake.

"Bijou! I'm so happy that you were alive!" Boss yelled. Bijou held her head up to view every ham around her.

"Vat happened?" Bijou asked. Her head spun. Her lungs hurt. She felt awful.

"Hamtaro saved you from drowning! And the rest of us helped you get out of the ice," Oxnard announced. Bijou immediately looked at her savior and grinned.

"Merci, everyone," Bijou weakly replied.

"So, who won?" Boss asked.

"Uh, I zhink dat it was a tie," Bijou said. Stan and Boss shook their heads.

"We mean who won? Who do you like more, Bijou?" Stan explained. That threw her off.

"Uh, um. The winner is…" Her voice trailed off with fright. Boss and Stan eagerly crowded her and Bijou gulped.

"NOT YOU TWO!" Bijou yelled in desperation. Boss's face fell while Stan scowled. It was the truth. It wasn't Stan or Boss. It was a certain orange and white hamster whom she always had loved dearly.

But Bijou wouldn't tell him. Not now.

Later on.

THE END.