Hamtaro: The Tale of Ryosuke
An original idea created by OneLonelyPickle
Chapter 1: Little Hamsters, Big Adventures!
Ham-ha!
"My name is Hamtaro! I live in Japan, with my owner Laura! She talks to me a lot and gives me food, but I also have other friends too; the Ham-Hams! There's a whole bunch of us; there's Boss, and Oxnard, and Bijou, and a ton more! But you'll learn all their names later! Right now, I have to hurry off to the Clubhouse- oh, that's the place all us Ham-Hams hang out and play and stuff!"
Hamtaro escaped from his cage in the usual manner and ran for the hole in the wall behind Laura's bed. Every day, the little orange and tannish white, fluffy hamster would go on this same route, to visit his hamster friends, the Ham-Hams. Once in the hole, it was a short pitter-patter to the roof of the house, where he would then jump into the rain gutter and slide all the way to the ground. Like always, Brandy (that's Laura's dog, he's big, brown and white, and a real friend to the Ham-Hams) was in his doghouse, minding his own simple, doggy business.
Hamtaro soared through the air and landed on Brandy's head.
"Morning Brandy! Boy it sure is warm out, huh?"
The dog just yawned and returned to the sleeping position he was in before. Hamtaro hopped down and ran towards the Clubhouse. On the way, past wispy bushes and tall, swaying trees, he met up with his best friend, Oxnard. Oxnard was a hamster like Hamtaro, but taller and with circles of grey on parts of his body, the most notable one around his nose.
"Hey Oxnard!" he exclaimed as his friend took a running position beside him.
"Morning Hamtaro- say, do you know what 'goatmeal' is? I was sitting in my cage and Kana came over and started talking about it. She says it's really good."
"Hecke? Never heard of a 'goatmeal' before... maybe it's what goats eat."
"Ya maybe- hey Hamtaro, what's a goat?"
"I don't really know, but Laura says they go 'Baaa!' and eat grass. I guess they're like cows or something."
They continued with their conversation until reaching the Clubhouse at last. Outside, Panda was hammering down a small sign to the right of the entrance. Hamtaro and Oxnard spotted their little friend; he was the same shade of tan as every other male hamster, but he had rings of grey around his eyes, and also had grey ears and arms. He is just a tad shorter than Oxnard, and a bit taller than Hamtaro.
"Panda! Ham-ha!" shouted Hamtaro and Oxnard, rushing towards him with beaming, early morning smiles.
"Ham-ha guys!" replied Panda, who had just finished jamming the sign firmly into the ground. It read 'Welcome to the Ham-Ham Clubhouse! All hamsters welcome!". It was painted with a beautiful blue undercoat and streaks of red, green and yellow adorned it. In the top right corner was a sunflower.
"Awesome sign Panda." said Oxnard.
"Ya, it's really good!" chimed Hamtaro.
"Thanks! But you should also thank Sandy; she's the one who painted it."
Sandy was another one of the Ham-Hams. She has an orange-brown color of fur on the top of her head that extends down to her mid-eye level, and across her back. There are three brown stripes of fur that go from her head to just above her eyes, and also the same stripes on the back of her head. The rest of her body is white, a shade of which is much lighter than the boys. She has a cute little red bow tied to her tail. She has a twin brother named Stan, who, aside from his darker shade of body fur, looks identical to her. Where Sandy is a graceful, athletic hamster, Stan is sort of boastful and very flirtatious, much to his sister's annoyance.
"So why'd you make a sign anyway? Did someone forget where the Clubhouse was?" questioned Oxnard.
"Boss said it would be a good form of advertising. Most hamsters would probably walk right by without knowing this big tree is actually a hamster clubhouse down below."
"That's a really good idea! Maybe we'll meet some new friends now!" said Hamtaro.
Panda placed the hammer into the toolkit at his feet and picked it up.
"Comon guys let's go inside. Everyone's waiting for you two."
As they made their way back, the three hamsters heard a familiar old voice calling them from behind.
"Oi! Ham-hams! Good morning!"
Turning around the three saw Elder Ham, who was carrying a large, purple book under his left paw, and holding out his cane in the right. Elder Ham is a furry, old and dark grey and white hamster who tends to doze off at inopportune moments, but he really is a great source of wisdom.
"How are you three?"
"Good morning Elder Ham! We're fine!" Hamtaro, Oxnard and Panda said in unison. Elder Ham noticed the colourful sign behind Panda and admired it for a few moments.
"My, what a nice sign! Did you make it Panda?"
"Well, it wasn't all me... Sandy helped too!"
Elder Ham nodded.
"I'm sure it will attract lots of hams- oh that's right I almost forgot why I came! Here, come inside with me, ham-hams, I have something to show you all!"
"The Tale of who now?" exclaimed a puzzled Boss. Boss is a tall, strong field hamster who is the owner of the Ham-Ham Clubhouse. He's got a tan fur coat, save for the patch of black around his mouth and nose, on the tops of his ears, and on his bottom. He always wears his yellow hat with the green strip across it and the Red Crescent in the centre.
"The Tale of Ryosuke." Elder Ham held up the book to show all of the hamsters the cover. It was bare, save for the title, embroidered in gold. Every one of the twelve present at the round table leaned in to get a closer look.
"That's, like, so big..." commented Sandy.
"Yes it's certainly not your average picture book is it?" said Dexter. Dexter is an intellectual male hamster with tan fur everywhere but above his eyes, which are circled by light brown rings. These rings connect via a strip of brown going from eye to eye, giving the appearance of glasses. Aside from that, he has a simple red bow tie on his chest.
"It could make for a cool hat though!" cheered Cappy. Cappy is a young hamster with a love for hats. He's shorter than most of the other hams, and his fur is a simple tan with brown ears. Most of the time, he has just his green tuque on, but others he can be seen with a small red pot covering him, which he uses as an oversized hat.
"Oh dear me no! This book is far too rare to be used for such things! You see, this is the only copy of this book ever made! I myself came about it merely by accident; and what a great accident it was! Errr, well, I wont get into details, but it's an amazing find I'll tell you!"
Boss sat with his arms crossed the entire time, finally cutting in before Elder Ham continued.
"Ok so it's a special book- so what? What's it about? Is it magic or something?"
"I agree. I seen lots-a books before and I'll tell you this don't look too much different than most. It looks a lot like one-a Maxwell's books, actually." This interjection came from the brown and tan hamster, Howdy. The red apron wearing, bad joke telling, Southern accent ham pointed to Maxwell as he spoke.
Maxwell, the brainiac, book worm hamster with brown fur just above his eyes covering the top of his head and the ears that stuck up straight, just shook his head with arms crossed.
"That may be true but I've never actually heard of this book before, to be honest. Though I have heard bits and pieces about Ryosuke before."
Everyone around the table began to chitter-chatter away at this point, about the book, Ryosuke and other such interruptions (as far as Elder Ham was concerned). Pashmina; oh, she's a cute white girl hamster with light brown fur above her eyes who loves scarfs; turned to her friend Penelope; again, another little hamster, only Penelope is much shorter than the rest of the hamsters and wears a yellow blanket to cover her white and brown body, on account of being just a baby and all; and began to ask her about the situation, whereas she would and could only reply with "Okyoo!".
Elder Ham was shaking in impatience and mild anger and threw his paws up.
"Quiet!"
Everyone looked over at the old, sniffling ham and straightened themselves out. Elder Ham cleared his throat.
"Now if you're all finished, I'd like to continue my explanation... you see..."
Right before he could begin, however, Hamtaro spoke up, after he had looked around the room many times.
"Hey everyone...where's Bijou?"
A now very frustrated Elder Ham silenced himself as Boss answered Hamtaro's question.
"You know what, you're right! I haven't seen her all day. Any of you guys seen her yet?"
Everyone gave their own variations of "no". Hamtaro got up and started for the door.
"I'm going to go to Bijou's house and see why she's not here!"
"H-hey, wait up!" said Boss, following after.
"Ya, I'm coming too!" called Oxnard.
As the three left, the rest remained to converse once more. Elder Ham shouted desperately, "Doesn't anyone around here want to hear my story!".
Well it seems someone's a bit flustered, no? Bah, you don't know the half of it, bien sûr! And where is Bijou? Could this be the start of a new adventure for our hamster friends? There's only one way to find out, mon ami. Why, you must read the next chapter, bien sûr!