CFB: Blahhhh....sorry this is late. And happy belated holidays! But the chapters are long, so hopefully that makes up for it. I only have two days of break left and wanted to get this up.
This time: Joy begs the ham-hams to help out Dreamland, but what will it entail? Can they really go off on a whirlwind adventure so soon after Hamwall? The payoff is certainly enticing. And Laura suffers from more drama...Travis comes face to face with the relationship-wrecker and the heart-breaker. Plus, some fun with balloons.
Thanks: To all who reviewed or favorited or alerted this story/me! I appreciate it.
Awsomewriter123: Thanks for reviewing again! I hope you continue to like this story!
Dbzgtfan2004: Thank you! And I agree...Hamtaro and Bijou forever!
Sandyandmaxwellfanatic: Thank you very much for reviewing twice! It's a great confidence boost. I'm glad you like this so far, and I hope you enjoy the rest of this story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hamtaro or any of its' characters. I own all characters and concepts not related to the original Hamtaro franchise. (I suppose I can't really OWN Dreamland, though...just my version of it...)
I'm probably the only person who got the 'mean girl' vibe from June on the show. That will come out more in this chapter...
Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Dream Vacation
A dead silence followed Joy's declaration. She stood proudly in the doorway, amber eyes flitting from weary face to weary face, waiting patiently for some kind of response from these brave heroes. The ham-hams, speechless and in shock, had been caught off-guard so badly no one could find a thing to say in return. All they could do was stare slack-jawed at the valiant Protector of Slumber and the Staff she wielded.
"You...you..." Boss finally managed to blabber, though he couldn't sort out any other coherent words. "You..."
"Ah! How silly of me!" Joy giggled, her laugh like the tinkle of a bell, beaming. "I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Joy, Protector of Slumber and Wielder of the Staff of Dreams of the great hamster kingdom of Dreamland!"
There was another long pause. Joy grew slightly nervous as their wide-eyed stares bored into her, unwavering. Were they going to say anything? She fidgeted slightly, her smile faltering, though she tried not to let on that they were making her uneasy with their unyielding staring. Was there something about her that had shocked them into speechlessness? Surely heroes of their calibur were used to requests and visitors like this...
"I'm sorry...did you say...Dreamland?" Maxwell asked, disbelievingly.
Joy, pleased that someone had articulated an actual sentence, turned to him and nodded. "Of course! I came here from Dreamland, at Princess Hamorette's request. Nobody ever leaves Dreamland unless granted permission by the princess herself, you see!" She explained, as if what she said wasn't very strange, or common knowledge to everyone.
"B-but..." Dexter spluttered. "I thought Dreamland was just a legend! A fictional place! We've heard about it in several fairy tales, but no one has ever actually proven its existence!"
Siren murmured, propping her chin up on the table with her paws, not quite as surprised as some of the others were,"Well now, ham-hams, I think we all learned a lesson or two about doubting legends a few weeks ago after a certain legend came true, didn't we?"
The ham-hams could not argue with that logic. Joy nodded along with them, pleased. "I assure you, Dreamland is real. And the legends about it are often wrong...you see, it is not held in place by a fleet of a thousand doves, nor do all of the inhabitants glow in the dark. But, Dreamland is responsible for the sleep of hamsters everywhere, as almost every legend states! And, it's just as wonderful and magical as you can imagine, I'm sure!" The cheerful, semi-oblivious note to her voice only bewildered the ham-hams even more.
She turned her eyes back onto Siren, whom she had noticed when the newest ham-ham had first spoken. Tilting her head to one side and squinting her eyes, Joy asked Siren, voice slow and thoughtful, "You look very....familiar. Like you remind me of someone I know. Have we met before, young ham?"
Siren didn't recall ever having met Joy, but figured she knew why she looked familiar. "I get that a lot..." She murmured, face tinted with scarlet.
More awkward silence followed. At last, Hamtaro managed to snap out of his surprised daze, and he merrily hopped to his feet. He strutted straight up to Joy, smiled warmly at her, and extended his paw for her to shake. Even though she had caught them unawares, it was important to make an effort to welcome any ham-ham to the Clubhouse. "Hamha, Joy! My name's Hamtaro, and we're the ham-hams! This is Oxnard, Bijou, Boss, Howdy, Dexter, Stan, Sandy, Maxwell, Pashmina, Penelope, Cappy, Siren, and Panda! Oh, and Snoozer, over in the corner. Pleased to meet you!"
She transferred the Staff of Dreams to her wounded paw and shook his paw, offering him a bright smile of her own, and then directing it at each of the ham-hams. "Pleased to meet you all. It's always a great pleasure to meet great heroes such as yourselves!"
"Heke? Heroes?" Hamtaro titled his head to one side, confused. "What do you mean?"
Joy was surprised. "Why, I'm speaking of your decisive defeat of the evil hamster Spyke just a few weeks ago, of course!" She replied, equally as puzzled as he. How could they not know what she was talking about? "Your victory had all of Dreamland abuzz for days! Princess Hamorette was thoroughly impressed; that is why she sent me here, to find you!"
Siren was taken aback this time, so much so she nearly fell off her stool. The other ham-hams faces mirrored her shock. "How do you know about that?" She demanded, befuddled. "We were the only hamsters in Hamwall that day! No one could have known about us beating Spyke, since we were the only ones who saw!" The very thought that someone other than the ham-hams had witnessed the spectacle at Hamwall made her flush with embarrassment.
Joy smiled faintly, a mysterious twinkle to her eye. "There was one other you did not notice. Princess Hamorette sent a Watcher, a hamster who scopes out the outside world in the best interest of Dreamland, to Hamwall on that fateful day, just to see if the Legend of Fate would prove true. And it did! He even got a few pictures and followed you brave hamsters back here, to your home, so we would know where to find you should the need ever arise. And now, it has!"
That news fell like a bomb on the ham-hams. They exchanged stunned glances and a few whispers, while Joy stood nervously watching them, still lingering in the doorway. A strange hamster, hailing from Dreamland, had just suddenly shown up on their doorstep asking for their help, and claiming to know all about their actions at Hamwall earlier that summer. It was way too much for them to absorb all at once, especially when they were so exhausted on top of it all...their brains were all jumbled, a mess of confusion, surprise, and weariness.
While they digested her words, Joy decided it was time to reveal something she knew would catch their attention.
"I know about your nightmares."
They snapped out of their surprised stupors at that and all eyes shot back to Joy, wide once more. Her face had turned stern, amber eyes glowing faintly with a mixture of concern and determination, mouth set in a firm line. She went on in a serious, no-nonsense voice, "And, more importantly, I know what, or rather, who, is behind the nightmares."
At these words, the ham-hams erupted into a frenzy of questions, bombarding her with dozens of 'why's' 'how's' and 'what's.' Bewildered, she momentarily froze, taken aback by their sudden change in attitude. The large field hamster, Boss, raised his paw to silence everyone and soon, their questions died, though Joy could see the yearn for answers burning behind their purple-rimmed eyes. Hamtaro beckoned for her to come inside, and he shut the door behind her. Now, it was time for her to get down to business. She had a mission to complete.
She stepped up to stand in front of the table, the anxious faces of the ham-hams turned to her, all of their attention centered on her next words. Snoozer, dozing in the corner, let out a discontented grumble, and began to toss and turn in his sock, just as Joy had opened her mouth to speak again. A look of concern flashed across Joy's face, and she quickly scampered over to where the snoozing hamster lay in an uneasy rest, always ready to help a sleeping hamster in need.
"Zuzuzu...get away, monster...zuzuzu...stop...stop laughing..." Snoozer muttered, his face scrunched up in pain.
The ham-hams watched as Joy, her eyes closed, gingerly held the Staff of Dreams over the sleeping form of Snoozer. The sun attached to the top of it began to glow a faint gold color, and she waved it gently in front of Snoozer's crumpled face. In an instant, his expression relaxed and he was snoring contentedly again, lulled into a peaceful, nightmare-free slumber. The staff ceased glowing, returning to its normal state.
Satisfied, Joy turned back to the ham-hams only to find that they were staring at her in amazement, their mouths agape. Giggling nervously, she realized that there were many things she needed to tell them before she could officially ask for their help.
"Perhaps I should explain...from the beginning."
Travis was every bit as handsome as he always was. Even though he only sent a few butterflies off inside her stomach as opposed to the dozens he used to, Laura couldn't help but feel very glad to see him. That happiness took a hit, however, once she saw the look on his face.
He had been smiling as he entered, but that smile abruptly faded once he caught sight of Mika and Reese, sitting closely together and clearly not trying to hide anything. Mika had gone still as a statue, blue eyes wide in surprise and what looked like fear, but unable to tear themselves from her recent ex. Reese was also completely still, but his piercing grey eyes had narrowed and his mouth was pressed into a firm line as he eyed his rival. Gina indifferently pulled a nail file from her bag and set to work, though Travis plainly wasn't happy to see her either.
"Trav!" Lance, sensing the awkwardness, waved wildly at the raven-haired boy, whose attention was called away from Reese and Mika. "I saved you a seat next to me, bro!"
Smiling gratefully, Travis swiftly headed over to sit in the seat directly behind Laura, next to his soccer buddy Lance. "Hi Laura!" He greeted her warmly, waving. His voice was at its normal, cheerful level, as if the steely, uncomfortable exchange of silence between him and Team Mika hadn't even happened. "I was hoping to see some friendly faces when I came in."
"Hi Travis!" She returned, hoping she sounded happy as well. She was glad to see him, though she wished it were under better circumstances, and hoped that she didn't sound sympathetic, lest he think she just felt sorry for him. "Good to see you too!"
"Hey, June..." He turned his cobalt-colored eyes onto the miffed girl, and she nodded at him in response. For a moment, Laura could detect a gleam of mutual understanding between their gazes, but it was so fleeting she easily could have imagined it.
Travis glanced quickly over at Reese and Mika again, but they had returned to talking quietly together. Reese had put his hand on Mika's shoulder, but, strangely, Mika swatted it away, blushing. Reese gazed at her questioningly, but she just hissed something incoherent at him and began absently rifling through her bookbag for something. Agitated, Reese crossed his arms over his chest and slumped back in his chair, a scowl on his face. Gina frowned at this, but went on filing as if nothing was wrong.
"Don't know why she's trying to hide it all of a sudden..." June murmured next to Laura, low enough that Travis couldn't hear. "It's common knowledge now."
After hearing June's quiet, but angry remark, Laura suddenly wished that Kana was there with her. Having a best friend beside you, someone who also wasn't siding with anyone else, was a comfort, but here, Laura found herself alone and trapped in the middle of an argument she wasn't even a part of, and it wasn't a position she liked much. She had a bad feeling that if she tried to stay friends with both sides, more and more feelings would be hurt, in an unending cycle until they were all torn apart.
And it was only morning...
"Hey, Laura?"
Laura jumped out of her seat as Travis tapped her gently on the shoulder, bringing her back to reality. Blushing madly, she stammered, "Erm, yeah?"
He smiled at her, blue eyes regaining some of their old twinkle, and he held out his schedule for her to take. "Didn't mean to startle you. I was just wondering if we had any classes together."
"Oh..." Laura, cheeks flaming, took his schedule and compared it with hers. It was hard to ignore that her heart beat faster when she saw that they had Science, Math, History, Lunch, and Gym together; that was over half the day. And she felt her stomach tighten when she realized that she had Math and Gym with Mika as well, which meant that Mika would be in class with Travis, and it didn't appear as if they were on speaking terms. She could feel the awkwardness already...and it had to be even worse for Travis.
"We have these five together," Laura pointed them out to him, turning around to speak with him face to face, though she found she had to keep her eyes lowered onto the desk to keep herself from blushing. "That's more than I have with anyone!"
"Awesome!" Travis beamed. Laura felt a few more butterflies start up, along with a new wave of dread she couldn't quite explain.
Suddenly, the final bell sounded loudly, and the welcome back announcements commenced over the intercom, sending the students scrambling to find seats near friends. The teacher reluctantly got rid of his walkman and crossed the room to shut the door, cutting off all forms of escape. The announcements finished, and the teacher prepared to begin the long, tedious lecture on classroom rules, while Laura fished her notebook out of her bookbag, painfully aware of who was sitting right behind her and what his smile was doing to her emotions again...
"So, this evil hamster...his name is Steel?"
Joy nodded, taking a long sip of tea, refreshing after her journey. "Yes. He was once a friend of Dreamland, and a childhood friend of the royal family, Princess Hamorette in particular. But, ever since he lost his family in a terrible siege...he's been a very vengeful ham, taking all of his anger out on Dreamland."
The ham-hams had dragged Boss's faded yellow armchair to the head of the table, providing Joy with a place to sit and tell her story where everyone could hear her. All of their fatigue was more or less forgotten; their ears pricked eagerly forward as the Protector of Slumber spoke, eyes shining eagerly. As she spoke of Dreamland, a beautiful princess, and brave knights, the ham-hams couldn't help but feel she was sharing a fairy-tale with them, and had to keep reminding themselves that she was speaking of reality, albeit a reality they had never imagined.
"He's been after the Stone of Slumber for years, but the knights were always able to fend him off. Until yesterday..." Her expression darkened, as she remembered what had happened. "He had a better plan. While he distracted the knights, he had his little hench-ham Nikolai sneak into the Chamber of Peaceful Rest and steal the Stone. Nikolai's a gifted thief, and a native of Dreamland as well. Before anyone knew what was happening, he and Steel were gone with the Stone, as well as many of Princess Hamorette's riches. But the Stone was the biggest loss."
"Zat ees terrible!" Bijou frowned, ears drooping slightly. "Why would he want zis Stone of Slumber? You told us zat ze stone ees what makes ham-hams fall azleep at night, non? Why would zat 'elp 'im?"
Joy's face fell grim, and the ham-hams tensed. "It's not just the Stone he was after. With the Stone, he can make any hamster fall asleep at will. But, there was something else he wanted, and that was the Staff of Nightmares." Just the idea of such a staff and what it was capable of sent chills up the ham-hams' spines.
"Like your Staff of Dreams?" Cappy asked, eying the tool in Joy's wounded paw.
She smiled, and replied, "Yes, but while my Staff is responsible for giving hamsters sweet dreams, the Staff of Nightmares gives hamsters nightmares. It's important to have a balance of both nightmares and dreams, you see! But it's more important to keep the staffs in the right paws for that balance to be reached. My partner, Fury, the other Protector of Slumber, was in charge of the Staff of Nightmares. When we went to attack Steel and reclaim the Stone, he managed to hamnap her. Now, somehow, he's gained control of the Staff of Nightmares..."
Maxwell nodded along with her, stroking his chin as his eyes glazed over with thought. "I think I understand now. This Staff of Nightmares, paired with the Stone of Slumber, in the paws of this Steel character, is what gave all of us the nightmare last night?"
"Correct!" Joy smiled, pleased that they were understanding. "And, from what you've told me of your nightmare, I'm fairly sure the hamster in it is Steel, and the glowing scepter he holds has the Stone of Slumber embedded in it. As for the creature..." Her expression darkened mysteriously, alarming the ham-hams. "Well...it certainly sounds terrifying, but I'm not sure I know what it could be." The look on her face said otherwise, but no one pushed the topic.
"Well, if yeh got the Staff er Dreams, why don'tcha use it ter stop the nightmares?" Howdy asked. "Yeh sure made Snoozer calm down earlier!"
Joy shook her head sadly, amber eyes downcast. With a sorrowful twang to her voice, she went on, "It's not that simple. The Staff of Nightmares and the Stone of Slumber, when in the wrong paws, are a force far greater than the Staff of Dreams by itself. I could help your sleeping friend in the corner, but that's about the limit of the affect I can have, and as far as my power can reach. Because of that, I can do little against Steel alone. And that is why I've come here, seeking your help!"
She looked from one ham-ham to the next with a pleading, hopeful look crossing her face. Her amber eyes suddenly rimmed with tears, startling her audience, but showing just how serious she was. "Please, brave ham-hams!" She begged them, her voice wavering with emotion. "You must help us stop Steel and rescue Fury! If you don't, Dreamland, not to mention the rest of the hamster world, will be in great danger!" She clasped her paws together in front of her, the Staff of Dreams clenched between them.
"You are our only hope."
The ham-hams exchanged nervous glances as her weighted words collapsed on their shoulders. Joy made it sound like they were a group of super-hams or something! How would she react once they found out they were just a bunch of ordinary ham-hams, save Siren, who just happened to be part of the Legend of Fate and they had simply been caught up in it all? They weren't even sure they could replicate their heroics at Hamwall!
"Erm..." Dexter spoke up. "We're not exactly heroes by trade, you see..."
"The whole episode at Hamwall really wiped us out!" Boss admitted, scratching his left ear idly. "That was probably the most heroic thing we've ever done, and we didn't even know what was going on until we got there. Before that, we were just a bunch of regular hams, meeting at the Clubhouse each day for tea, seeds, and a few games."
"Well, I've often heard that heroes such as yourselves are quite modest...really, there is no need to deny your abilities," Joy assured them.
"It's not modesty, baby!" Stan piped up, winking at Joy. "While I myself am quite a stud, we're not exactly high-quality heros, if you catch my drift!"
"Yeah...Hamwall was kind of a one time thing," Panda added hesitantly, not wanting to hurt the pleading Joy's feelings. "And really...we didn't do much. Siren and Hamtaro are the ones who did most of the work. The rest was just, well...beyond our control." How could he explain that all they had to do against Spyke was focus their friendship, and the battle had been won? It had more or less been a fluke.
Joy then set her sights on Siren, who flinched under her gaze, knowing full well what Joy was going to say. She knew she shouldn't have revealed her identity..."You are the Guardian of all Hamsterkind, correct?" The Protector of Slumber asked the young hamster eagerly, eyes still sparkling with an undying hope. "Then you, of all hams, must lend us the paw we need! It is your duty to help all hamsters in need, is it not?"
Siren looked torn, but she could never deny the duty that had been placed on her by powers unseen. Squirming on her stool, and unable to raise her hazy azure eyes to meet Joy's pleading amber, she replied in a pained voice, "Technically...yes. But if this Steel hamster can control sleep, even I won't be any match for him. The Guardian needs sleep just as much as I do."
Joy was about to rebuke, but she had a change of heart when she looked around the room, and saw the worried, reluctant looks on the weary faces of the brave heroes she had held such high faith in. None of them looked very willing to answer her plea; not even the Chosen One, Siren! Joy could easily sense their hesitance, and was confused, as well as bewildered. Princess Hamorette had been counting on these hamsters to help them! They had taken out an evil hamster before, so what was so different this time around? If they refused, and it looked as if they were going to, Steel would prevail and sleep for hamsters everywhere would be plunged into an eternal nightmare. Dreamland, as well as several other hamster kingdoms, would be surrendered to his corrupt paws.
"Please, noble ham-hams..." Joy poured her heart and soul into one last glimmer of a chance. "If Steel gets away with this, the repercussions will be dire. He aims to gain control of Dreamland and any other hamster kingdom he can get his filthy paws on! If he were to succeed, each night will be filled with nightmares! Some even worse than the one you experienced last night!"
The ham-hams watched Joy carefully, a bit of their reluctance melting away. Clearly, Joy was counting on them, and they hated to disappoint fellow ham-hams; especially ones in such dire need. Seeing the slight shift in their demeanor, Joy hopped off the chair and placed her good paw on the table, leaning forward, as if hoping that would help convey the severity of the situation. This was her last shot, and she had to make it a good one.
"Sleep is a valuable thing, and so long as Steel controls it, it will never be peaceful again. He has my hamigo imprisoned, and she has hams who care and are worried about her back in Dreamland. I can't do this alone! I need you. All of Dreamland needs you!"
There was another long, thick silence. This time, her words seemed to have more of an effect, as the ham-hams began to murmur quietly amongst themselves, weighing their options. But it was Hamtaro, their valiant leader, who stepped forward with an answer. However, instead of speaking to Joy, he climbed up on Boss's armchair and stood looking out over all of his friends, a look of defiance playing across his face. All eyes turned to him, some surprised, others expectant.
"What are we doing, ham-hams?" He asked them, voice resonant and somewhat incredulous. "A fellow ham-ham has come to ask for our help! She traveled hundreds of miles - "
"Well, only a few miles, actually..."
" - from Dreamland just to come and see us! And we're turning her down? A ham in need is a hammo indeed, I always say! We may not be heroes exactly, but I know that true ham-hams never refuse to help a new friend in trouble! And it sounds like Joy really needs our help. We may not think we can do much, but every little bit helps! We've saved the world before, and I'm sure we can do it again if we try hard enough! Am I right, ham-hams?"
His words sunk in slowly, but seemed to be effective. After a thoughtful pause, Stan stood up so suddenly his stool was sent crashing backward with the force of his motion. "The dude's totally right!" The tiger-striped flirt agreed, bobbing his head to further his point. "This pretty little hamgirl needs our help, and as long as there's a beautiful princess involved, you can totally count me in!"
"Me too!" Panda raised his paw. "But not for..you know...the princess. I just want to help!"
Boss shook his head in disbelief, slapping an incredulous paw to his forehead. "I can't believe we almost refused! This lack of sleep must be getting to our heads guys, because ham-hams never leave a fellow ham-ham hanging! I'm in! This Steel character is going down!" He pumped a fist in the air and struck a heroic pose.
"I think visiting a place as legendary as Dreamland would be an amazing educational experience!" Maxwell marveled, eyes agleam with the possibilities. "And, of course, if we can help make our sleep peaceful again it is a journey I'm willing to make."
"Count me in!"
"Me too!"
"A land in ze clouds? Zat ees somezing I would very much like to zee!"
"And I'm bound by some unseen law to help any hamster in need, so yeah, I kind of have to..."
"Dreamland, here we come!"
"Ookwee! Ookwee!"
As the cries of agreement filled the Clubhouse, Joy's spirits were lifted immensely, and the tears in her eyes changed to tears of her namesake. "Does this mean we have your support, brave ham-hams?" She asked hopefully.
"You bet!" Hamtaro bobbed his head eccentrically, beaming. "True ham-hams are always up for a new adventure!"
Joy reminded him warningly, "Dreamland is a magical place, noble hams, but this mission won't be all fun and games. While Princess Hamorette will make sure you are accommodated and get to look around our homeland during your stay, stopping Steel is the top priority, and cannot be taken lightly."
Hamtaro considered that, but his optimism was not diminished as he altered his previous statement, "Well, really true ham-hams are always up for a new adventure with some danger on the side, right ham-hams?"
"Yep-P!" The rest of the ham-hams chorused, and the matter was apparently closed.
"We did beat that Spyke feller..." Howdy admitted.
"And he was evil!" Cappy recalled with a shudder. "So another evil hamster will be old news!"
Joy was overjoyed. Bowing deeply with gratitude, she said, voice thick with emotion, "Thank-Q, from the bottom of my heart, brave heroes. And I'm sure Princess Hamorette will say the same once she meets you. With all of you lending a paw, I know we will beat Steel and restore sleep to it's natural balance! And, once victory is claimed, we will be eternally in your debt. I doubt we can ever thank you all enough!"
"Is this Princess gorgeous?" Stan questioned innocently.
Joy replied hesitantly, somewhat confused, "Erm...well, several hamsters from all the great hamster kingdoms of the world have asked for her paw in marriage, not to mention several admirers from within Dreamland itself, though she turned them all away. Many a love song has been written in her honor, as well, not to mention poetry...."
Stan grinned mischievously, flirtatious twinkle in his eye as he rubbed his paws eagerly together. "That's all the thanks I need, Joy-sweetie!" He replied smugly. Sandy, disgusted, barked, making her twin flinch, "Touch one fur on that princess and you'll like, regret it, Stan!"
"And is there delicious food?" Oxnard asked eagerly.
Joy grinned. "Heaps. Some delicacies that are only found in Dreamland are quite delectable, in my opinion."
That was all Oxnard needed to hear to be fully on board. "All right, now I'm totally convinced! When are we leaving? Those delicacies aren't going to eat themselves!" He asked, raring to be on the way to delicious foreign food from the land in the clouds.
"Well..." Joy answered, also eager to return to Dreamland with the delightful news and reinforcements in tow. "The journey is a couple hours, at the least, when using a carrier dove. That's how we travel in Dreamland, you see. If we leave now, we will arrive between noon and one o'clock, I expect, as long as the wind is on our side and the skies are clear, and the sooner we reach Dreamland, the better! Steel is growing stronger with each second. It may be daytime here, but elsewhere in the world, hamsters are still sleeping!"
"Then there's no time to waste!" Boss declared bravely, chest puffed out. "Let's go to Dreamland, ham-hams!"
"Alright! We'll leave now, give that Steel guy a piece of our minds, look around Dreamland, and then be home in time for me to hear about Laura's first day of school!" Hamtaro remarked cheerfully. "Let's get a move on, ham-hams! A new adventure awaits!"
Joy's face darkened at these words, and, once they saw her reaction, more chills wound their way up the ham-hams' spines. Something was clearly wrong, and the Clubhouse fell eerily silent, the ham-hams' good cheer forgotten. With a nervous edge to her voice and paws slightly fidgety, Joy told them, her amber eyes both apologetic and uneasy, "I apologize if I misled you, ham-hams, but I fear that this journey will take somewhat...longer than you anticipate."
While Maxwell, Dexter, Siren, Boss, and a few others picked up on what Joy meant straight away, Hamtaro remained blissfully unaware of what she had been trying to convey. "Oh...will we be back by 8:06, then? That seems to be a recurring time for us...we could make that work too!"
"Yeah, we're used to that!" Cappy added brightly.
Joy shook her head, and Hamtaro's face fell. With sad eyes, Joy faced them all and continued regretfully, "I'm afraid I didn't realize that you ham-hams would be on a time limit. You see, getting to Dreamland is easy enough, but Steel is a tricky hamster, and it's going to take a while for us to defeat him if he utilizes all of the power in his paws. If you factor in planning and gathering the right team of knights to accompany us..."
Her next words made them freeze. "...This mission will take a couple of days at the least."
After a long hour in homeroom, during which the bored-looking teacher outlined the rules, proper behavior, and how to correctly use lockers, the bell finally rang and Laura's first day as a seventh grader officially began. She scooped up her books and shoved them into her backpack, hurrying, although her class was just a few doors down the hall. Mika, Gina, and Reese had already departed, as well as half the class, but Laura had been one of the few students in the room who actually took the time to copy the rules down in her planner, and hadn't been finished by the time the bell sounded.
As she went to place her new pencils back into her bag, they slipped from her grasp and landed with a dull thud on the linoleum. She was about to bend down and retrieve them, but someone else beat her to it.
"Hey, Laura, how about we walk to Science class together?"
Travis stood waiting by her desk, already packed up and ready to go, holding her pack of pencils for her to take. The request was cordial and friendly, and his expression serene. Laura found her cheeks burning red again as she took the pencils with mumbled thanks, and inwardly cursed herself for it, sure she looked like the fool she felt like. "Calm down Laura...It's just Travis, and you're going to the same place anyway..." She tried to soothe her nerves, replying out loud and as cheerfully as possible, "Sure, sounds great!"
"Great!" Travis smiled warmly as they headed for the door, June and Lance having left a few seconds earlier for their own classes. "Our teacher is the soccer coach, so I think this class will be pretty hard. He always drills us in practice, anyway."
"Aw..." Laura crinkled her nose as they entered the hallway, filled with streaming students and hawk-eyed teachers, searching for rule-breakers. "I'm not very good at science..."
Travis laughed as they strolled side-by-side toward room 218. "I'm sure you'll be fine. You've been getting better grades than me since the fifth grade, anyway."
Laura's cheeks turned pink again, though they had already been flushed when Travis accidentally bumped her shoulder to avoid another student. She had been around Travis plenty of times, and, even though she had convinced herself she didn't see him as her crush any longer, she still couldn't help but feel nervous and jittery being so close to him. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it did add to the slowly-consuming feeling of dread that was slowly dawning over her. Like a really terrible sense of deja vu...
At first Laura had been lost in thought and keeping her gaze on the tiled floor in front of her, but, after almost running into a particularly large eighth grader and earning a chuckle from her companion, Laura thought it best to keep her eyes ahead. When she looked up, she saw another familiar face and a shock of orange hair through the crowd, and instantly, relief swept over her like a wave. He was standing by the stairwell, waiting against the wall for the rush of students to die down before heading to the lower floor.
Before she could control herself, Laura shouted, "Hey, Roberto!"
His head snapped up at the sound of his name and he looked around the swarms of students, finally settling his gaze on a frantically waving Laura and the boy beside her. At first, he looked somewhat stunned, but then his attitude changed completely. He didn't smirk or wave back, as Laura would have expected from him, but his narrowed brown eyes flickered from Laura, then to Travis, and back and forth, like he was watching ping-pong. Lips pressed tightly into a line, Roberto turned on his heel and, deciding against the more comfortable alternative of waiting, rudely shoved his way into the throng of students heading down the stairs, disappearing without so much as a hello or a return wave.
Laura was surprised, and a little but confused by his actions. She and Roberto had been on much better terms lately than they had been in the past, becoming good friends over the summer, but now he was, for some reason, acting like the Roberto of old. Suddenly, she felt a small burst of anger and frowned indignantly. "Well, how do you like that!" Laura growled lowly, hands on her hips. "Can't even give me a decent hello! What a jerk!" Despite this, as she recalled the miffed expression on his face, she couldn't help but feel her heart sink a little. They had been making such good progress...
"There's our class Laura," Travis, ignoring the Roberto issue completely, grabbed Laura's arm and pulled her over to the other side of the hallway, where an open door beckoned.
Thankfully, he let go of her arm before they actually entered the classroom, full of beakers, plants, and other lab equipment that looked very dangerous. The teacher, Travis's soccer coach, was standing at the lab desk in the front, preparing for his first lesson. The desks were two-person lab tables, and nearly all of them were occupied already. Dawdling in the hallway and in homeroom had taken longer than Laura had thought.
Kana was already seated alone near the back, and, once she saw Laura enter, motioned frantically for her best friend to come and take the vacant seat beside her. "There's Kana, I'd better get back there before someone steals my seat!" She tossed a quick smile at Travis before scurrying to the back of the room and joining her best friend, leaving him alone by the door.
"What took you so long?" Kana hissed as Laura sat down next to her. "Your homeroom is right down the hall! I was worried I would have to sit beside someone I don't know!" A fearful gleam shone in her eyes, though her expression was one of relief.
"Sorry..." Laura apologized. "I had a bit of trouble packing up in homeroom, and then I was walking with Travis when we saw Roberto, and he totally blew me off!" Remembering made her even angrier, though her heart cringed slightly. "It was really...strange. And rude, but then again, that's Roberto for you..."
Kana frowned as the late bell sounded, making a few jittery students in the front jump. "Weird. I thought you two were getting along better since Mika's party a few weeks ago."
"So did I..." Laura sighed, and, as the teacher clapped his hands loudly to get everyone's attention, she and Kana faced the front of the class.
"Welcome to the world of seventh grade Science, young ones! My name is Mr. Kazuma, but you can call me Coach Kaz. I will be your teacher this year, and I'm also the boys soccer coach!" The teacher, a jovial-looking man in his late-thirties, declared, spreading his arms out wide. "It's going to be a fun year, I assure you. Well, after today. First, we have those annoying 'get to know you' games and stuff the principal makes us do year after year..."
At this, there were several groans, Coach Kaz included. "I know, I know...but it must be done! Now, I have a paper for every - "
He trailed off and looked over the door, where something had caught his interest. Laura followed his gaze and was surprised to see that Travis was still standing in the doorway where she had left him, his eyes steely and his face like stone. Coach Kaz frowned, and said, "Well, Travis, if you'd like to sit down, that would be nice. Class began thirty-seconds ago."
Travis didn't budge. His eyes were locked on a table near the windows, and, only when Laura looked over to see what it was did she understand his behavior.
The only available seat in the room was next to Reese, of all people, who was staring rigidly forward with his glacial grey eyes, refusing to return Travis's glare. He was like a statue, unmoving and emotionless. Laura had failed to notice the stoic boy at first, but now, his presence was undeniable, and the heated anger radiated from Travis and the coolness exuding from Reese clashed, and made the entire room uneasy. "I sense trouble ahead..." Kana murmured worriedly under her breath. Laura silently agreed, but couldn't look away, much like the rest of the class.
Coach Kaz also followed Travis's eyes, but, once he assessed the situation, he let out another loud groan, clearly agitated. Laura realized instantly that he also must know about the feud between the two star soccer players, being that he saw them each day in practice. And he looked equally as annoyed by it as Roberto and some of the other guys had for the past couple of months.
"Look, guys!" He growled lowly, grabbing Travis by the shoulder and leading him over to the empty seat by a stiff-looking Reese. "I really don't care about this little tiff between you two, I really don't...just sit here and learn stuff for forty-five minutes a day, okay?"
It still took Travis a good several seconds to actually sit down, dropping his bag on the floor carelessly and reluctantly perching himself on the stool beside his rival. As soon as he was seated, he scooted his stool as far away from Reese as it would go, while still allowing him table space. Begrudgingly, he pulled out a pencil and sat staring at the black tabletop, falling moodily silent. Reese hadn't even moved, and Laura couldn't help admiring his restraint. Travis looked about ready to lunge across the space between them and strangle the blonde.
Coach Kaz began speaking again after that, but his words were just a dull hum in Laura's ears as she stared at the backs of Travis and Reese. They were on the opposite side of the room from her, closer to the front, but still, she swore that she could feel the hostile animosity, more bitter than ever, sparking between them like a fire that could not be doused.
"Take a good look at the person you're sitting beside...because they will be your work partner for the entire year!"
The announcement only made things worse. Travis's narrowed blue met Reese's icy grey and the raging antipathy rolling off of them grew even more intense. The hate between them was almost tangible, and the pair of girls sitting in front of them squirmed uneasily in their seats, horribly aware of the silently sparring pair behind them. Suddenly, as her brow furrowed with concern and her stomach gave another painful lurch, Laura had a feeling that there would be several broken beakers, and maybe a few broken noses, in the future of this class...
"Nikolai! Bring me some food! Enough for two!"
The furry little hamster cringed as Steel's bellowing voice wafted down to him from the throne room as he sat fiddling with his hat in the foyer. Eager to please his master, the shaggy hench-ham scurried into the long-unused kitchen to gather some of the acorns, seeds, and berries he had gathered for their stay in the castle. Arms laden with enough food for a couple of hamsters, he scrambled up the stairs, nearly toppling over under the weight of the plates, which were almost as big as him.
A chill slithered up his spine as he entered the throne room, still lit with only a couple of small, barely effective candles, though daylight now filtered in. Steel was perched, humming softly, on his golden throne, gazing out at the bright blue morning beyond the various windowpanes. Beside him Fury stood, slightly hunched, her eyes still listless and lifeless. As Nikolai set the plates of food down carefully on the table set up in the corner, he avoided looking at the zombified Protector of Slumber, Staff of Nightmares hanging limply in one paw as she stooped. The void expression on her face and the lightless emptiness in her stone-colored eyes made his fur stand on end every time he glanced her way.
After setting the food down, Nikolai's stomach growled. Mouth watering, he reached for a deliciously ripe strawberry, only to have his paw swatted away by Steel, who had come up behind him, azure eyes annoyed. Nikolai jumped in surprise, rubbing his stinging paw.
"That food is not for you, Nikolai!" Steel snapped, eyes flashing. "This food is for me and Fury."
Nikolai's stomach gurgled again, but he knew better than to defy Steel. While his master took time off from sleep-conquering to eat a few acorns, Nikolai picked up the strawberry and hauled it carefully over to Fury, who had not moved once. Her expression remained remote as Nikolai stood nervously before her, holding out the large strawberry for her to take. She didn't move.
Steel caught sight of this as he downed a hazelnut, and quickly barked in Fury's direction, waving the scepter containing the Stone of Slumber that never left his paw, "Eat!"
Before Nikolai knew it, Fury had sank her teeth right into the strawberry, narrowly missing his paws. Letting out a wheezy squeal, Nikolai skittered away from the brainwashed hamster, as she decisively and mindlessly chewed the fruit. Something about the way the red juice clung to her white teeth made Nikolai's shaggy fur stand on end.
"M-master..." Nikolai stuttered, shuffling up to stand by Steel. "Can't...Can't she eat by herself?"
Steel chuckled and shook his head. "Sleep is a powerful thing, Nikolai. Fury, right now, is in a dream-like, sleep-walking state. I can control all of her actions so long as the Stone is in my possession. And anyone else I can use the Stone of Slumber directly on will be in my power the same way, which is how I will gain control of the great hamster kingdoms. Then, no one will dare defy me, the hamster of their nightmares!"
Nikolai shuddered to think of more brainwashed hamsters, all of them bigger and stronger than him, most likely. Fury was scary enough for him. He was just glad he had left his home in Dreamland and followed Steel semi-willingly, or else he would be going through his duties mindlessly as well. It was starting to look like he had chosen the correct side after all.
Once Steel had finished eating, he returned to his royal perch, and sank into the velvet cushions with a contended sigh. However, his relaxation was short-lived, as he sat bolt-upright, scepter glowing faintly red in his sturdy paw. "More hamsters are falling asleep as we speak. They cannot be allowed to slumber in peace. Fury!" He commanded.
The will-less hamster's back became instantly rigid, and her face became more alert, though the eyes were still lightless and hollow. She clenched the Staff of Nightmares tightly in her paws, and it too, began to glow a sinister crimson. Steel grinned at her and crooned, "Show them just how much they should fear me, Fury. Give them the nightmare to end all nightmares!"
Monotonously, Fury responded, "Yes, Master."
She extended the paw with the Staff of Nightmares, and the windows across the room flew open with a clatter, startling poor Nikolai, who cowered under the food table. The moon sitting atop the Staff of Nightmares began to shine a brilliant shade of scarlet, and shot a beam of the blood-colored light out into the brilliant blue sky, where it rocketed across the heavens and into the minds of any hamster asleep at that time. Soon, their peaceful sleep would be filled with hungry beasts, a laughing Steel, and more fear than real life could ever provide.
The news fell like yet another bombshell on the exhausted, overwhelmed ham-hams. "Days?" Hamtaro's jaw fell open in astonishment. "But...I can't go away for days! Laura will miss me if I'm gone that long, and I don't want her to worry!"
"Kana too!" Oxnard added meekly.
"And I do not like to zink how Maria will react to zeeing my cage empty for zo long!" Bijou fretted, nervously adjusting one of her bright blue ribbons. "Ze poor girl will notice zat I'm gone for sure!"
Boss and Siren exchanged a perplexed glance. They were the only two of the ham-hams who didn't have to worry about being gone from home for a while, as they lived alone, Siren in an oak tree by the river and Boss in the Clubhouse. Panda, also, had no reason to fear. Mimi knew that he went out to see the ham-hams daily, and he was sure she would understand if he happened to disappear for a couple of days, and she would have a nice, full bowl of seeds waiting for him upon his return. Everyone else, however, had owners they were concerned for, owners who would panic if their hamsters vanished for more than a few minutes.
"Kip and Sue will probably call the police!" Cappy exclaimed, wide-eyed. "And I remember how sad they were last time I was away for a day or two. I don't ever want to make them that sad again!" His ears drooped low.
"And what about June and Kylie?" Pashmina asked, Penelope squeaking quietly in agreement. "Not only will they be sad if we aren't in our cages when they get back from school, but they'll talk to each other about it. Two hamsters going missing is pretty strange, don't you think? Not to mention that they're also friends with Laura and Kana. Two hamsters missing is one thing, but four, all on the same day?"
"And Laura's like, friends with Hilary too! And Hilary will totally tell Noel if I go missing, and Stan will like, be gone too!" Sandy and Stan glanced at each other, mirroring each other's concern.
"And Laura ees friends with Maria as well!"
Maxwell nodded, eyes glazed over with thought. "It will be like a chain reaction..." He deduced, scratching his chin. "One owner realizes his or her hamster is gone, and, soon enough, all of the owners know. While I can't say that my owner will be aware of the other missing hamsters, my guess is the other owners might suspect something, with so many hamsters gone. Although, I highly doubt they will be able to figure out where we really are."
"They might begin to 'spect that someone's stealin' hams! And I ain't talkin' pigs, yeh get it? Hams? Har har!" Howdy looked around, waiting for someone to laugh, but nobody even cracked a smile, not even Joy. He hung his head and grumbled, "Fine. See if I ever try and cheer y'all up again..."
Hearing this talk made Joy nervous. Only a moment ago, she had been thrilled that the ham-hams were willing to lend Dreamland their aid, but now it sounded like they were having second thoughts. She wanted to break in and repeat how important their support was and what it could mean for the rally against Steel, but she was too anxious to speak, worried to hear that they might turn her down after all, despite the fact that a fellow ham-ham was in need. She hadn't even begun to think that the brave ham-hams, heroes at Hamwall, could be domestic hamsters, with owners to keep in mind.
Hamtaro had closed his eyes as the other ham-hams chattered on about the potential troubles that could arise with leaving their owners. He recalled the terrible nightmare, and how it had affected him and his friends so badly. Then, he tried to imagine spending every night, tossing and turning in his woodchips, suffering through the same nightmare again and again...it wasn't something he liked to picture. And to think that hamsters all over the world would be suffering in the same way...
"I think..." He murmured, voice so quiet that it was almost inaudible and all of his friends had to prick their ears forward to hear him. "I think that we have to go."
"Heke? But what about Kana?" Oxnard asked, still worrying.
Hamtaro faced his friends solemnly, eyes shining with several different, mixed emotions. "Laura is really important to me, and I hate to make her unhappy in any way. But just think about it ham-hams! If we don't help out, we'll never sleep peacefully again! No hamster in the world will! Think of what's at stake! So do we leave for just a little while and lend a paw, or stay and have to have nightmares every night? It's only a couple days, and we'll be back with our owners before they miss us too much!"
Some of the ham-hams still seemed rather reluctant; unwilling to be onboard knowing that it would only cause their owners pain. One, however, had a change in heart.
"Hamtaro ees right!"
Bijou stood up proudly by her stool, surprised eyes flickering onto her immediately. A look of defiance shone in her cerulean eyes, and she went on, "Zis hamster ees evil, perhaps even more evil zan Spyke was! I love Maria and feel terrible about making 'er sad, but I am certain she would understand why I left, eef only I could zpeak to 'er! She would want me to lend a 'elping paw if it would 'elp bring ze 'amster world to balance!"
Hamtaro was astonished that the normally soft-spoken Bijou had so proudly supported him, and he stared at her determined snow-white face in shock. But the shock soon dissolved into happiness and gratitude, and he and Bijou shared a thankful, understanding smile that made both of their hearts beat a tad faster.
That final statement seemed to be the trigger to erase all of the doubt. "Oh, I'll miss June but this is really, really important!" Pashmina agreed, indecision gone. "I can't say no! I want to help the very best I can!"
"Ookwee, ookwee!"
"Ah, our store's bin mighty busy this week..." Howdy relented, scratching his head. "I don' reckon I'll be missed all that much. 'Sides, we gots us a nightmare-givin' ham ter stop, 'fore things really get outter paw!"
"Again, I have no choice..." Siren sighed, though she wore a small smile. "I just hope we can live up to expectations. I have a bad feeling that this time around, things are going to be harder than they were at Hamwall, but if we hamteam I'm sure we stand a good chance of beating this Steel guy!" Her Guardian instincts were in full swing, now, though she still felt both apprehensive and a bit worried about the situation.
"Kip and Sue will just have to wait patiently for me to come home!" Cappy declared, pumping a fist, a clear imitation of his role model, Boss. "I wanna show this Steel guy a piece of his own medicine!"
"I'm willing to sacrifice a couple of days in my cage if it's for the good of the hamster world!" Maxwell decided, before casting his gaze onto those who ad not declared their intent yet. "All in favor?" He asked, raising his paw high in the air.
Each ham-ham raised their paws as well, the brilliant smiles shining on their faces, as always. A sense of thrilled excitement overtook them, tough nerves tugged lightly at their stomachs. They had just gotten finished wit one adventure, and were now prearing to go off an a whole new one, perhaps even more harrowing than the last. But that was a risk they were willing to take. Hamwall had shown them a thing or two about what teamwork and unity could do, and if they aligned with the Dreamland hamsters, they were confident that bringing this Steel guy down may even prove to be less of a challenge than Joy anticipated.
"Then it's settled, ham-hams!" Hamtaro declared, voice ringing with a sense of finality. "It's off to Dreamland! Hip hip - "
"Hamha!" Everybody chorused.
Joy breathed a deep sigh of relief, ecstatic. She couldn't wait to see the look on Princess Hamorette's face when she showed up with the Guardian and the other brave ham-ham in tow. She had gotten the reinforcements they so desperately needed, and now felt more assured than ever that they stood a fighting chance against Steel and his nightmarish abilities. Now, she would believe that dreams could come back, and Fury would be rescued.
"I know that I am asking great deal from you, and we have little to offer you in return for your services. But, if I can just begin to repay you, I think we can halt this trip until tomorrow. I would like to give those with owners some time to say goodbye, if that will be of any help..." She trailed off, reconsidering. "Of course, that means that you will all suffer from the nightmare again tonight, and I know you don't want to. I can give hamsters in a small area relief with the Staff of Dreams, but only if they're all in one place, or else Steel's power will overwhelm mine. I feel horrible asking you to just pick up and leave your lives behind so suddenly."
The ham-hams were appreciative, but also reluctant to take her up on that offer. They didn't want to endure that awful dream for one more night. "Well..." Boss muttered, eyes clouding over. "How about we all meet back here at midnight? Just stay awake until then. All of your owners should be asleep by that time, so you can all sleep over here and Joy can keep the nightmare away from us for the night. We can leave first thing in the morning."
"Sounds like a plan," Panda agreed. "We could all use a good night's sleep before going on this mission anyway. Otherwise, I don't think we'll be much help."
"Just one question..." Dexter said, looking to Joy expectantly. "Exactly how are all of us going to get to Dreamland if it's floating around in the clouds? You came here by dove, but I'm afraid we rely on our paws or other flight-less means to get places, and that dove won't hold all of us."
Joy hadn't thought of that. She, and Princess Hamorette, had assumed that such amazing heroes would have their own flashy forms of transportation; perhaps a hawk, or a falcon. The possibility of bringing a few more carrier doves hadn't even crossed her mind. While the ham-hams eagerly awated to hear what form of luxurious air-travel Joy had set them up with, said Protector of Slumber gigged nervously and replied,
"...Good question."
For Laura, the morning zipped by, though it was full of it's own awkward moments. She managed to survive Science, History, English (1), and Math with only small incidents, none of them relating to her directly, but concerning her friends. And she could see the small tear separating her friends spreading dangerously close to ripping totally in half.
During History, June had been surly and grumbled about her 'ex-friends' the entire period, with Travis glaring out the window in front of her, and English she had been with Gina and Josh, not hearing their side of the story, but hearing instead how absolutely stubborn June was being. Luckily, she had Math to be with Kana, but had forgotten that she also had that class with Mika and Travis. The female teacher, blissfully unaware of the raging awkwardness, luckily placed the exes on opposite sides of the room, but Kana and Laura were separated as well. The only bright spots in the seating arrangement were that Travis had the chatterbox Kory beside him for distraction, and Kana had Lance, her crush, while Laura sat beside a quiet, studious Mika, who was apparently focused on math and not the raven-haired boy on the other side of the room.
Lunch came, and Laura and Kana took their packed lunches to eat outside in the fresh air. With every student eating at the same time, the courtyard of the school was open, as well as the sporting fields if people wanted to eat or exercise there. The pair fortunately located a vacant bench by the soccer fields, and sat down together to discuss the first half of their day.
"You could cut the tension in math class with a knife!" Kana remarked with a sigh as she fished a sandwich out of her lunchbag. "I could feel Travis's glare from behind me."
"Mika seemed fine all period," Laura confessed, still unsure of what she should think about the quiet girl who had broken her friend's heart. "But Travis sits so far away she might not have noticed him as much."
"What a situation..." Kana muttered sadly. "And everyone else got sucked into it by picking sides. Now June won't talk to Gina, Mika or Josh, Lance and Travis won't talk to Josh, Mika, Gina, or Reese...it's so confusing. I knew Junior High was a big step up from Elementary School, but I seriously wasn't expecting this much drama. This is high-school level!"
Laura, mouth full of her own sandwich silently agreed. Once she swallowed, she chipped in, "I just hope they're not going to make us choose sides. I want to stay friends with everybody, and I'm sure there are parts of the story that no one's heard yet."
"Don't you agree with June, though?" Kana asked, mildly surprised. "I mean...the whole story about how Mika and Reese got together is a bit suspicious, even if we don't know all the details."
Laura thought about it, but shrugged. "I really can't say. I like to think the best of all my friends, but when they tell me all sorts of different things I don't know who to believe. June was ranting about Gina and Mika in History, but Gina did the same in English to June."
"Kylie, Kory and I talked about it in History, while Gina was talking to Mika and Reese up front. They're pretty annoyed with June, actually. Kylie says that she needs to get over it and stop complaining, and Kory...well, he always agrees with Kylie. Kylie still talks with Gina when June isn't around, and Kory still hangs out with Josh and Reese sometimes. Apparently, it was June who got so adamant about people choosing sides, and everyone else just went from there."
"Kana! Laura!"
The pair looked up to see Gina, sitting a few feet away on the grass by the soccer fields, waving at them invitingly. Josh sat loyally at her side, devouring the first of his two slices of leftover pizza, while a couple of other soccer guys Laura didn't know chatted with him between bites of their lunches. Mika and Reese, calmly talking and eating side-by-side, completed the cozy circle. Kana waved in return.
Gina excused herself from the group and trotted over to the two friends, smiling warmly. "Hi guys! How do you like Junior High so far?" She asked, voice friendly and even, acting like the normal, slightly bossy Gina she had always been.
"It's been...alright." Laura replied, somewhat tentatively. She liked her teachers, and how her classes were spaced so she got to all of them on time, but the tension and the awkwardness between her divided friends she could have done without. Kana nodded in agreement with Laura.
Gina motioned to where her little group was enjoying the free hour of lunch. "If you guys like, you can join us. We might get a game of soccer going later if Reese gets off his butt..." Here, she raised her voice and glared over at Reese, who looked up for a split second before deciding to ignore the redhead. "...and goes to get the soccer ball in his locker. Boys versus girls! We need a couple more to have a fair game...Mika and I can only do so much alone."
Laura thought it sounded like fun, and was about to ask Kana if she wanted to when June's loud, commanding voice sounded over the idle chatter surrounding them, "Kana! Laura! What are you doing?"
The girls whirled around to see June standing just behind their bench, hands on her hips and eyebrows arched. Her lips were pressed into a thin white line, and she didn't appear pleased to see the three of them together. Kylie, Kory, and Lance stood a little ways off from June, watching the scene with wide eyes and uncomfortable expressions, as were several other bystanders. Gina, upon seeing her former friend, exhaled huffily and rolled her eyes, waiting for the feuding to commence.
"What do you mean?" Kana, startled by the anger in June's voice, asked shakily, embarrassed as several eyes found their way to the scene.
June scowled, and jerked her thumb at Gina, who shot her a frosty glare. Through gritted teeth, she demanded, "What I mean is why are you talking to her? She's the enemy! She betrayed my trust, and you're still talking to her?"
Gina rolled her eyes, annoyed. "Quit the melodrama, June. We're not in primary school anymore. Feelings are going to be hurt, but you just have to move on sometimes!" Her normally toned-down haughtiness emerged viciously.
Kana and Laura, caught between the two arguing girls, looked from June's furious face to Gina's impassive one with nervous expressions, their stomachs tightening. They could feel the animosity brewing between the two like a small tempest, but ready to turn full-blown hurricane at any second. Josh, sensing that his girlfriend was in trouble, ran over to her like a shot, while Kylie reluctantly came in to back June up. Lance and Kory looked on from one camp, while Reese and Mika stared from the other.
"Get over it?" June shouted shrilly, garnering more attention from onlookers. "Real nice coming from someone who's supposed to be one of my best friends! But if you'd rather support that - " She flung an arm out in Mika and Reese's direction, making the former flinch and the latter frown slightly, " - than be a good friend to me I can see you were never really nice at all."
"Get over it and get over yourself, June. The world doesn't revolve around you!"
"I'm not the only one who got hurt! Remember Travis?" June's eyes narrowed and she directed her rage in Josh's startled direction. "He was supposed to be one of your good friends, Josh, and you also had a part in hurting his feelings, along with your big mouth girlfriend here!"
"Shut it, June!" Josh snapped, uncharacteristic of his usual, serene nature. "We had our reasons, okay? This is really getting old, you know. I'm sick and tired about hearing how mad you are, when I could really care less."
"That goes both ways!" June countered. "I see both of you roll your eyes at me all the time, and I'm sick and tired of that!"
Suddenly, Gina turned her cool green gaze onto the two girls practically shrinking into the bench. Scoffing at June, she told them, tone kinder now, "You two don't have to keep taking this garbage from June. I bet all she's telling you about all of this is just lies. Come and eat lunch with us, where we can have normal conversations that aren't about anybody or their problems."
June also focused her livid hazel eyes onto her two good friends. "Don't listen to her, guys! She's lying to you! She's trying to get you onto their side, but she'll just betray you in the end!"
Laura and Kana exchanged worried, somewhat frightened glances as Gina and June's imploring stares bored into them. The fight was intensifying, and they could feel it heating up. It wouldn't be long before their once close, comfortable group of friends would be split straight down the middle, ripped in half, and Laura didn't want to imagine picking between them. She had known June and Kylie longer, but Gina seemed to be less bitter...either way, only more and more feelings would get hurt.
Sensing their reluctance, June added threateningly, voice scathing, "If you pick her side, then I'll have no choice but to consider you guys my enemies too. I hate to do it, but that's the way things have to be!"
"Things don't have to be that way!" Gina rebuked. She then told Laura and Kana in a friendly voice, green eyes softening, "Look, I don't want you two to get dragged into this mess. I don't want to force you to pick sides, and if you go with June, my feelings won't be hurt. I won't hold it against you. We totally get it if you want to avoid the drama...though it might be better to come with us if you do..."
"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Gina!" June sneered. "I've known Kana and Laura longer than you. They're going to pick my side because they agree with me, not just because you said you don't care!"
Laura felt her heart sink. She didn't know which side to believe; which to go with. A tiny voice, nagging at the back of her head, told them that both of the girls were wrong, but that little inner-monologue was of little help, as that did nothing to solve the siding problem. If she didn't pick one, her friends might think less of her. And did Gina, bossy, overconfident Gina, really not care if they chose to go with June? Laura didn't want to go with June if she didn't agree with her, but didn't want June to be angry with her if she went with Gina. June looked far more wrathful...
Kana, feeling the same as Laura, meekly spoke up, "Um...actually, we just kind of want to stay here and eat our lunch, if that's okay..." She hoped, by giving this noncommital response, that June and Gina would drop the matter and go their separate ways, but, alas, that was not meant to be.
"Fine!" June sniffed, plunking herself down in between Laura and Kana with a dignified crossing of her arms. "I think I'll join you guys. Real friends know how to stick together!"
Gina shrugged her shoulders, unfazed. "Fine."
"Fine." June had to have the last sneer.
"Fine!" Gina threw her hands up and turned sharply on her heel, grabbed Josh by the arm, and dragged him back to where the rest of their posse sat watching. As they rejoined the circle on the grass, Laura saw Mika whisper something worriedly to a silently fuming Gina, with Reese adding something in as well, though Gina and Josh both waved their hands as if it were nothing and returned to eating their lunches.
Soon, the curious stares ceased and Kylie, Kory, and Lance had come to sit on the ground by the bench, not wanting to abandon June while she was so furious and needed people to vent to. As the lunch period ticked slowly by, June ranting all the while and her supporters trying to be attentive while not showing how annoyed they were, Kana and Laura exchanged several troubled glances over their milk cartons. They hadn't officially sided with anybody yet, and they had a dreadful feeling that the matter was going to come up again. If so, they weren't so sure they would have a definitive answer.
As Laura secretly peered over her shoulder at a now cheerful looking Mika and Reese, playing rock-paper-scissors to see who would go and get the soccer ball, the felt her heart wrenched in two separate directions. Side with her newer friends, who were making less of a deal about the situation, or with her older friends, who were dwelling on it?
This was going to be a lot harder than Algebra, she knew that much.
"Balloons?"
Joy stared confusedly at the basket the ham-hams had set up in the clearing where her dove still stood loyally, allowing the female hamsters to admire it's glistening, snowy plumage. As of now, it was just a simple, green and brown woven basket, with plenty of room inside, but Panda was sprawled out in the grass beside it, making notes and scribbling on a piece of graphing paper. His eyes were focused intently on his work, and no one dared disturb him.
"You bet!" Boss replied smugly, slapping the side of the basket with one paw, as if he were a proud parent. "We got to Hamwall by tying a whole bunch of balloons onto this baby. If we did it once, we can do it again!"
Joy was a bit perplexed, as she had assumed the ham-hams would have a far more extravagant idea, but was impressed nonetheless. They were certainly a resourceful group of hamsters, making their own transportation with whatever they could find. She wasn't sure she would have been able to think of that, had she been without her dove.
Stan remembered the event, perhaps better than anyone else. "We had a lot of trouble getting the balloons here though, remember hamdudes? First we had to find some, and we were lucky those peeps were having a party that night, and then we had to make about twelve trips between Maxy, Boss-man and me, and man, I don't think we have that in us again. I almost floated away last time."
Siren raised a paw. "I can fly to Dreamland, and a couple of ham-hams would fit on my back, so you won't need as many balloons this time. I can also pull the basket behind me again, but it will still need something to keep it in the air."
Joy added thoughtfully, "My dove has room for at least one more hamster, other than me."
"So, that leaves ten ham-hams who will use the balloons," Maxwell calculated. "Which isn't too bad, considering we had thirteen last time. I think it's certainly feasible, so long as we can find enough balloons. Stan was right about last time; finding about two dozen balloons in one front yard was incredibly lucky."
"Isn't that new food court opening downtown tomorrow?" Dexter asked. "My owner's shop is right near there. Last I saw they were setting up for their grand opening, and they probably have a plethora of balloons there!"
"Great idea, Dex!" Hamtaro crowed. "Now we just have to get them!"
This proved to be a difficult task. Siren transformed into her Guardian form, which Joy took a few short minutes to marvel at, and flew off, staying carefully hidden among the trees, with Boss and Stan, the losers of the rock-acorn-seed game, on her back. Staying unseen in town however, was the hard part of their task. Once the park transformed into buildings and bustling streets, Siren changed back to hamster mode and the trio of ham-hams dashed on foot toward Dexter's shop, soon spotting the large, new food court set up a few places down.
There were, indeed, quite a few balloons tied to the 'Grand Opening' sign propped up out front. But there were also a good number of people around, though only a few paused to read the sign - it had been in place for weeks, and only now had balloons on it. Stealthily, Boss led Stan so they were directly under the sign, while Siren sat in wait behind the corner of the shop, in the alleyway, ready to transform once Boss and Stan executed their plan.
The two ham-hams under the sign threw their weight against the wood, and it gave, sending the sign toppling forward. And, luckily, the balloons remained tethered in place. Stan and Boss acted fast, before someone had a chance to pick up the sign, and chewed the balloons free. They held on tight to the ribbons with their paws while lifted into the air by the mass of multicolored balloons, and, once they were a good ways up and out of sight, Siren flew up to catch them and fly them back to the clearing, where the rest of the ham-hams awaited.
Upon landing, Stan and Boss teetered woozily off of Siren's back, while she held at least two and a half dozen balloons in her snout, barely able to keep her own ground. The ham-hams evenly divvied up the balloons between themselves and attached them to the tied-down basket. After five minutes of teamwork and more close-calls with floating away, the balloon basket was ready. Joy was deeply impressed with how the ham-hams worked so flawlessly together, and felt now more than ever, that Steel would soon be vanquished.
Siren reverted back to her normal hamster form and plopped down beside an exhausted Stan and Boss, who were still breathing hard. A chipper Hamtaro, flanked by the rest of the grateful ham-hams, leaned over the drained trio and tittered, "Great job, guys! Now we'll get to Dreamland no problem! Thank-Q!"
"No problem., Hamtaro..." Boss breathed weakly, arms quivering from clutching the balloons so tightly as they had risen into the air.
"All in a day's work..." Siren added.
"Just one thing, ham-dudes and dudettes..." Stan pointed one limp paw toward them, eyes squinted as he glared through the sunlight.
"Like, what is it?" His sister asked, worried as she knelt down beside his tired form.
"Next time, I'm not getting the balloons. I've had enough of them for one lifetime."
Laura relaxed against her desk chair that night with a content, grateful sigh, Hamtaro peering at her curiously from his cage. After the tumultuous first day of school, Laura had not had much time for relaxation, and her shoulders had been tensed nearly the whole day. It felt so good to be home, where she could leave all of her worries behind in favor of comfort and tranquility.
As Laura wrote, she read quietly aloud, so her hamster could hear about her day as well.
"Dear Diary, Junior High isn't quite what I expected! I knew it was going to be different, with switching classes and having lockers and everything, but I wasn't expecting to see my friends split up! And all over Travis and Mika breaking up! At Lunch, June tried to make Kana and me pick sides, but I don't know who to pick! And all of my classes were so awkward! In Art class the teacher sat Travis and Mika together, and Reese with Kana and I. And then, in Gym, everybody was together, and no matter who I spoke to, somebody got upset."
Hamtaro, doing a few lackluster trots around his whiz-wheel, frowned. "That's awful, Laura! I'm sorry your friends are fighting. I don't know what I'd do if the ham-hams were arguing! Well, other than Howdy and Dexter of course. And what's 'breaking up?' Did their arms come off or something? That would be really pooie!"
"But to make matters worse, I saw Roberto twice today, once in the hallway and in gym class, but he ignored me both times! I thought we were starting to get along better, but maybe I was wrong..." As she wrote this, Laura's expression grew sad, and somewhat longing, as she recalled the few, fleeting good times she had enjoyed with her orange-haired friend. She hated to think that those times were over.
"Aw, Laura....that's the guy that calls me a rat! But if he's your friend, then he should talk to you! Next time I see him, I'll give him a good bite on the hand!" Hamtaro made an over-dramatized biting motion, earning a giggle from his brunette owner.
"Oh, Hamtaro! You always manage to brighten even the worst of days!"
"Anytime, Laura. Just call me Dr. Hamtaro."
However, her gloom soon returned. "A lot of my friends had really hurt feelings over the situation. Travis looked really angry at Reese, but I could tell he was upset about it too. Reese looked more annoyed than anything, while Mika was nervous every time she got really near Travis or June. June is angrier than I've ever seen her, but Gina also seems just agitated rather than really angry. It's so confusing! And I just know there's more to the story than what I've heard!"
She sighed. "And whenever I'm around Travis, he seems like his usual cheerful self, but I get really nervous and jittery. Like I used to. But I also get a strange feeling like something bad is going to happen, and I can't explain it."
"Don't feel bad, Laura! There's lots of stuff I don't understand!"
"Oh, Hamtaro..." Laura said, closing the cover of her journal and casting conflicted eyes onto her furry friend. "I really, really hope that tomorrow is better than today was. Maybe, everyone will have gotten over the whole thing by the time I get to school tomorrow, and we can all be friends again!"
"Tomorrow..." Hamtaro muttered with a confused tilt of his head. "Gee...I have a feeling that something important is supposed to happen tomorrow. Something really important..." He scratched the back of his head with one paw, trying to remember what it was.
"I should take you with me to school, little guy!" Laura crooned, poking her finger between the bars of his cage with a smile that reflected some of her old cheerful nature. "You're such a brave little hamster, after all, you could probably solve all of my problems for me!"
"Brave...hamster..." Hamtaro sat down in his woodchips, only to stand bolt upright with wide-eyes, remembering with a jolt the important thing he had forgotten. "Oh, cats! Laura! Tomorrow I'm going on a trip to Dreamland to help save sleep, and I'm not going to be back for a couple of days! There's an evil hamster that has to be stopped! I don't want to leave you for so long, but I have to!Oh, Laura, I can't believe I almost forgot!"
He motioned wildly with his paws, expression frantic, but all Laura heard was a series of tiny, frenzied squeaks. She chuckled again, and poked a few fresh sunflower seeds through the bars for him. "You're such an eccentric little guy, Hamtaro!"
"No, really, Laura!" Hamtaro began to jump up and down. "I have to go away! But I promise, I'll come back as soon as I can, and you can tell me all about school, and this 'breaking up' stuff, and even that guy who calls me a rat! I won't be gone long, you can count on that!" He had never wished more than now for the ability to communicate with his human owner.
"Calm down, Hamtaro..." Laura muttered, surprised by his panicky demeanor. "It's okay."
Even though he knew that she didn't know what he had been actually saying, Hamtaro settled down and smiled a small, sad-tinged smile up at the thirteen-year old. He would have to make do with what she had said, even if she didn't mean it as he had hoped. An image of Laura, saddened, drifted into his mind, and his heart sank. It was going to be harder to leave than he had imagined.
"I hope so, Laura. Just don't miss me too much...I wouldn't even go if it wasn't important for hamsters everywhere! I'll try to be a hero again, just for you, Laura!" He stared determinedly down into his now-scattered woodchips, as Laura, clueless to Hamtaro's intentions, settled down into her sheets with a content sigh, shutting off the light in the process.
"Goodnight, Hamtaro...see you in the morning!"
"Heke? I only wish you could, Laura."
Hamtaro fought sleep off until the glaring green numbers of Laura's digital clock struck 11:50PM, around the time he was supposed to head for the Clubhouse. Carefully, he slipped out of his cage, closing the latch behind him, hoping that perhaps Laura wouldn't notice his absence for a little while if he did so. On silent, stealthy paws, he scrambled up the side of Laura's bed and stood next to her face, a sorrowful expression crossing his tired face.
"I'll miss you Laura..." He brushed his paw against her cheek as a farewell gesture, though she did not stir. "But I'll be back. Promise!"
And with that goodbye, he crawled behind the bed and to the hole in the wall. The slide down the drainpipe was colder this time of night, and the grass was already dewy and damp. Brandy lay slumbering in his doghouse, and Hamtaro patted him on the nose in farewell. "See you soon, Brandy. Watch over Laura while I'm gone, okay?"
The dog shuddered slightly in his sleep, but let out a snore and rolled over instead of waking, nearly crushing the tiny hamster. Sighing with relief that he hadn't been squashed, Hamtaro crossed the road, but turned around once he had reached the opposite sidewalk, staring up at the window to Laura's room, his chocolate brown eyes swirling with a mixture of several different emotions.
After a long moment under the watchful stars, Hamtaro turned his back on his home and marched off proudly into the bushes, ready to try and be a hero once again.
CFB: There you have it! The ham-hams are off on a new journey, and Junior High is full of strife for Laura. The bits with Laura will not be so long in future chapters...these first two were just setting stuff up.
SORRY IT'S REAL LONG. (I wanted to take out the balloon segment, but couldn't...) I never meet page requirements in school...I EXCEED THEM. And I DON'T KNOW HOW. Um....I'll probably TRY to make them shorter in the future. At least updates will be faster that way, eh? I make no promises, though. I have three more chapters already written, and at least two are longer than this one...I might halve them, though, so it makes six.
Tell me what you prefer! Long chapters, or shorter chapters?
(1) - English class in Japan....I don't know much about their classes, or their schools. So instead of butchering it, I just modeled Laura's school after a junior high you might find here.
Next time: It's off to Dreamland! The ham-hams reach the wonderful land in the clouds, and prepare to meet the Princess. How will she react to meeting them? And Laura realizes Hamtaro is gone, as is Oxnard. And will the awkwardness at school improve? Or will things get worse? And what's this....a surprise?! *cackles evilly* I hope no one can guess....haha.
