Chapter 1: Like any ordinary day
The story opens up in Laura's bedroom. The sun is shining through the window so brightly that it wakes Hamtaro up. The sunlight hits and bounces off of the bars of his hamster cage into his bright, young shining eyes. He widens his mouth with a yawn. He looked up at Laura's bed to see her still sleeping in it, then turns to look at the clock.
"Heke?" he squeaked as he glanced at the face of the clock which now read 7:25. "Laura and I are usually up by 7:00! I wonder why we're up so late? Hmm..." the young hamster pondered and tried to think back at other mornings when they woke up by their regular schedule. "Oh yeah, now I remember! We're usually woken up by that loud noise that the clock makes when it tells us to get up! I remember yesterday it even started singing to us. I wonder how it does it without a guitar? Hmm... I'll bet Jingle would know! He's a musical expert!" Hamtaro thought, not understanding yet that the alarm clock was a radio.
"Well, I better wake her up. Laura sure gets grumpy if her mom has to wake her up!" Hamtaro thought, and with that, he made his way out of the cage and scurried up to the bed. As he ran along the bedroom floor, he could feel the softness of the carpet. A small tuft of it even got caught between his toes, but was quickly shaken out by his running. "Wait a minute... How do I get up here again?" he thought as he arrived at the end of the bed. "Kushi-kush... Kushi-kush," he rubbed the fur on his forehead, which, as you may or may not know, he and many other hams do when they are confused or need to think. "Aha!" he cried out as he saw a bit of her bed sheet draping down. "Oopaaah!" he exclaimed while jumping at the sheet and doing his best to dig his claws in it like a feline. This attempt failed, so he quickly began running up the sheets instead. "Badda-badda badda-badda," the hamster said as he climbed up the bed sheets. Before he knew it, he was beside Laura's shoulder. He could hear her soft breathing as he climbed up.
Hamtaro sighed as he saw his dear caretaker sleeping. "Just look at her. She looks so peaceful. I wonder what she's dreaming about?" the rodent pondered, watching his human friend lie peacefully. "Well, time's a-wastin'!" he thought, and with that, he stood up on two paws on her neck and began pawing and sniffing at her ear. With that, he heard a sound come from her mouth.
"Mm... Travis," she said with a giggle.
"Heke?" Hamtaro wondered. He knew he had heard of this "Travis" before; he knew it sounded familiar. "If only," he thought "I could remember what it was!". He sniffed her ear again, and she continued giggling. He knew he had heard that specific giggle before too. It wasn't the giggle she would utter when she heard something funny, like when Kana would tell her a joke or something... but what was it? Then he suddenly remembered; a storm of memories ran through his hamster brain, which contained much more knowledge than most humans would think. He remembered it was the giggle he heard when she would put on her ribbons in the morning, talking about Travis. Then he remembered that Travis was the human whom she had been secretly admiring for some time now; he knew this because she would always talk about him while writing in her diary and adjusting her hair bows. And while he was thinking about ribbons, he suddenly looked down at his foot and realized that he was still wearing Bijou's favorite ribbon which she had generously bandaged his paw with after he had stumbled down a hill. He also remembered the walk home, when Bijou uttered those two words: "Come, Hamtaro," he could still hear her soft voice echoing in his head.
He blushed at this thought, but soon shook it off remembering that he had to wake up Laura. He kept trying to paw her ear, but only heard more giggling and talk of Travis. Hamtaro knew what he had to do, and he knew he would regret it. He also knew that Laura would be very angry with him if she ever found out that he did it. But there was no other way, and he figured that he might as well get it overwith. "I'm sorry Laura, this is gonna be tough..." he squeaked in his sad little hamster voice. Then, Hamtaro did what he never thought he would be doing. He shut his eyes, opened his mouth, and gave a rough chomp to Laura's ear. Shortly after, he found himself clinging to the side of the bed; Laura had sat up straight, causing him to tumble down off her neck. He felt nervous, wondering what her reaction would be, yet he felt lucky that he hadn't plunged to the floor. Then again, the carpet was very soft, as he recalled. But that didn't matter anyway. What mattered was that he had done what he had to do and it was finally overwith. But he could still hear the screech that Laura had let out when she sat up in what he couldn't distinguish as shock or pain.
Laura looked at the clock right away and was very confused. A river of questions flowed through her mind. "Why didn't the radio go off? What woke me up? And why did it have to be that part of the dream? It was just getting good! Oh no, where did the outfit I picked last night go?" Added to all this, she heard Hamtaro's cries. "Aah! Hamtaro!" The anxious girl picked up her pet and set him next to her mirror on the dresser. "How did you get on my bed? Ahh... Did you eat my outfit?! Ugh... What am I saying?" The girl was having trouble keeping her priorities straight. "Stay there!" she told her hamster, out of breath. She found her outfit. Turned out she hadn't left it on the bed at all, but under it. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. In the meantime, Hamtaro found a very tasty looking hamster treat in an open drawer...
About ten minutes later, when Laura had calmed down, she was fixing her hair again. This time, she put in some glittered barettes instead of ribbons. "If I were you, I'd stick with ribbons. Guys like ribbons more than barettes; trust me, I know!" Hamtaro thought, and giggled afterward. Then he sort of scared himself realizing that he had giggled. Was he turning into a girl? He walked in front of Laura's vanity mirror to make sure he wasn't growing eyelashes or anything. He wasn't and sighed out of relief.
"Hey little guy, what are you doing? Trying to clean yourself up for someone special?" Laura said to her hamster. But Hamtaro didn't hear her. He was too busy trying to figure all this out. Why was he giggling? He remembered hearing Laura giggle, of course. He remembered hearing Sandy giggle when she asked him to tell Maxwell about her feelings for him. He didn't think he had ever heard a ham-boy giggle before until he finally remembered.
"Maxwell!" he thought. "I remember Maxwell would kinda giggle when he was talking about Sandy! But what does it all mean? Kushi-kush... Hmm, I better ask Maxwell about it since he's had experience in this whole giggling thing. Gosh, I hope I'm not sick or something!" he thought. When Laura said goodbye to him, he was sad to see her go, but was overcome with joy, realizing he could now leave forth to the Ham-Ham clubhouse! And the sooner he left, the sooner he would find out what was going on with all this giggling nonsense. Or was it nonsense at all? He was so anxious that he could barely think. Then he decided he should just go, and try to think about it as little as possible, since it was slowing him down. But how couldn't he think about it? "Oh well," he thought. "I'd better just go," And off he went through his gutter pipe route outside. "Hmm, I wonder if Brandy would know anything about it?" Hamtaro thought as he slid down the pipe.
The story opens up in Laura's bedroom. The sun is shining through the window so brightly that it wakes Hamtaro up. The sunlight hits and bounces off of the bars of his hamster cage into his bright, young shining eyes. He widens his mouth with a yawn. He looked up at Laura's bed to see her still sleeping in it, then turns to look at the clock.
"Heke?" he squeaked as he glanced at the face of the clock which now read 7:25. "Laura and I are usually up by 7:00! I wonder why we're up so late? Hmm..." the young hamster pondered and tried to think back at other mornings when they woke up by their regular schedule. "Oh yeah, now I remember! We're usually woken up by that loud noise that the clock makes when it tells us to get up! I remember yesterday it even started singing to us. I wonder how it does it without a guitar? Hmm... I'll bet Jingle would know! He's a musical expert!" Hamtaro thought, not understanding yet that the alarm clock was a radio.
"Well, I better wake her up. Laura sure gets grumpy if her mom has to wake her up!" Hamtaro thought, and with that, he made his way out of the cage and scurried up to the bed. As he ran along the bedroom floor, he could feel the softness of the carpet. A small tuft of it even got caught between his toes, but was quickly shaken out by his running. "Wait a minute... How do I get up here again?" he thought as he arrived at the end of the bed. "Kushi-kush... Kushi-kush," he rubbed the fur on his forehead, which, as you may or may not know, he and many other hams do when they are confused or need to think. "Aha!" he cried out as he saw a bit of her bed sheet draping down. "Oopaaah!" he exclaimed while jumping at the sheet and doing his best to dig his claws in it like a feline. This attempt failed, so he quickly began running up the sheets instead. "Badda-badda badda-badda," the hamster said as he climbed up the bed sheets. Before he knew it, he was beside Laura's shoulder. He could hear her soft breathing as he climbed up.
Hamtaro sighed as he saw his dear caretaker sleeping. "Just look at her. She looks so peaceful. I wonder what she's dreaming about?" the rodent pondered, watching his human friend lie peacefully. "Well, time's a-wastin'!" he thought, and with that, he stood up on two paws on her neck and began pawing and sniffing at her ear. With that, he heard a sound come from her mouth.
"Mm... Travis," she said with a giggle.
"Heke?" Hamtaro wondered. He knew he had heard of this "Travis" before; he knew it sounded familiar. "If only," he thought "I could remember what it was!". He sniffed her ear again, and she continued giggling. He knew he had heard that specific giggle before too. It wasn't the giggle she would utter when she heard something funny, like when Kana would tell her a joke or something... but what was it? Then he suddenly remembered; a storm of memories ran through his hamster brain, which contained much more knowledge than most humans would think. He remembered it was the giggle he heard when she would put on her ribbons in the morning, talking about Travis. Then he remembered that Travis was the human whom she had been secretly admiring for some time now; he knew this because she would always talk about him while writing in her diary and adjusting her hair bows. And while he was thinking about ribbons, he suddenly looked down at his foot and realized that he was still wearing Bijou's favorite ribbon which she had generously bandaged his paw with after he had stumbled down a hill. He also remembered the walk home, when Bijou uttered those two words: "Come, Hamtaro," he could still hear her soft voice echoing in his head.
He blushed at this thought, but soon shook it off remembering that he had to wake up Laura. He kept trying to paw her ear, but only heard more giggling and talk of Travis. Hamtaro knew what he had to do, and he knew he would regret it. He also knew that Laura would be very angry with him if she ever found out that he did it. But there was no other way, and he figured that he might as well get it overwith. "I'm sorry Laura, this is gonna be tough..." he squeaked in his sad little hamster voice. Then, Hamtaro did what he never thought he would be doing. He shut his eyes, opened his mouth, and gave a rough chomp to Laura's ear. Shortly after, he found himself clinging to the side of the bed; Laura had sat up straight, causing him to tumble down off her neck. He felt nervous, wondering what her reaction would be, yet he felt lucky that he hadn't plunged to the floor. Then again, the carpet was very soft, as he recalled. But that didn't matter anyway. What mattered was that he had done what he had to do and it was finally overwith. But he could still hear the screech that Laura had let out when she sat up in what he couldn't distinguish as shock or pain.
Laura looked at the clock right away and was very confused. A river of questions flowed through her mind. "Why didn't the radio go off? What woke me up? And why did it have to be that part of the dream? It was just getting good! Oh no, where did the outfit I picked last night go?" Added to all this, she heard Hamtaro's cries. "Aah! Hamtaro!" The anxious girl picked up her pet and set him next to her mirror on the dresser. "How did you get on my bed? Ahh... Did you eat my outfit?! Ugh... What am I saying?" The girl was having trouble keeping her priorities straight. "Stay there!" she told her hamster, out of breath. She found her outfit. Turned out she hadn't left it on the bed at all, but under it. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. In the meantime, Hamtaro found a very tasty looking hamster treat in an open drawer...
About ten minutes later, when Laura had calmed down, she was fixing her hair again. This time, she put in some glittered barettes instead of ribbons. "If I were you, I'd stick with ribbons. Guys like ribbons more than barettes; trust me, I know!" Hamtaro thought, and giggled afterward. Then he sort of scared himself realizing that he had giggled. Was he turning into a girl? He walked in front of Laura's vanity mirror to make sure he wasn't growing eyelashes or anything. He wasn't and sighed out of relief.
"Hey little guy, what are you doing? Trying to clean yourself up for someone special?" Laura said to her hamster. But Hamtaro didn't hear her. He was too busy trying to figure all this out. Why was he giggling? He remembered hearing Laura giggle, of course. He remembered hearing Sandy giggle when she asked him to tell Maxwell about her feelings for him. He didn't think he had ever heard a ham-boy giggle before until he finally remembered.
"Maxwell!" he thought. "I remember Maxwell would kinda giggle when he was talking about Sandy! But what does it all mean? Kushi-kush... Hmm, I better ask Maxwell about it since he's had experience in this whole giggling thing. Gosh, I hope I'm not sick or something!" he thought. When Laura said goodbye to him, he was sad to see her go, but was overcome with joy, realizing he could now leave forth to the Ham-Ham clubhouse! And the sooner he left, the sooner he would find out what was going on with all this giggling nonsense. Or was it nonsense at all? He was so anxious that he could barely think. Then he decided he should just go, and try to think about it as little as possible, since it was slowing him down. But how couldn't he think about it? "Oh well," he thought. "I'd better just go," And off he went through his gutter pipe route outside. "Hmm, I wonder if Brandy would know anything about it?" Hamtaro thought as he slid down the pipe.