The Mystery of Snoozer
Chapter 5: The Return of Neteru
In a dark underground burrow, sat a dark and evil looking hamster. She sat there meditating when she heard the sound of her aid walking into the room. The aid was a small hamster covered in light orange fur that covered his entire body. The aid walked timidly towards the evil hamster which sat before him.
"Why do you disturb my meditation?" said the sinister looking creature.
"W-we have j-just received w-word th-that our n-ninjas had f-failed to capture M-Moonbeam." stuttered the aid fearing for his life.
"I know." said the evil hamster. Its voice sent chills down the aid's spine. "My divinations revealed that a bard named Jingle had defeated the ninjas I had summoned. While I was tracking down Jingle I also made another interesting discovery. Neteru is still alive." The aid just stood there shaking with fear.
"But how?" asked the aid.
"Even though Neteru is under my sleeping curse, Neteru had still been able to escape my clutches." said the evil hamster. "He had some how hidden himself in a place I would have never thought to look. No matter." The monstrous hamster lifted her staff into the air and said. "Recdom locka milloca sonday ivena monka da lamea dea cao." The stone at the end of the staff glowed an orange glow and from the staff, six ninja hamsters emerged, all armed with ninja-tos, shurikens, and chakrams.
"I wont you all to locate Moonbeam and bring her back to me alive." said the evil hamster. "Kill Neteru when you see him and don't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in your way." The ninjas all bowed down to her and then left the burrow to fulfill their orders.
After the Ham-Hams discovered the truth about Snoozer being a sorcerer named Neteru, the Ham-Hams, Jingle, and Moonbeam had been working to cure Snoozer. However, at the moment, only Jingle is working because before they can work on awaking Neteru, Jingle has to find out how. Jingle was currently digging through Maxwell's personal library located in a spare room at the Clubhouse. Jingle was searching through the tittles of all the books. Maxwell stood at the entrance into the library watching Jingle search through the books.
"Uh Jingle, I don't think you will be able to find anything about counter cursing sleep spells by searching though all my books." said Maxwell.
"You're right, unless I use a more faster method." said Jingle. He swung his guitar in front of himself and began to play a few notes. As he played the guitar, he sang a magical incantation, "Haragu malala da a oh." Suddenly, an eerie green light surrounded the books and Jingle. Jingle just stood there as if he was lost in deep thought. The glow stopped and Jingle reached for a book at the far corner of the shelf. The book was one that Maxwell rarely looks at. It was entitled "Magical Lore" and Maxwell forgot he had that book. Jingle brought the book out of the library and placed it on the table. He flipped through the pages of the book and located a section on the sleeping curse.
"Here it is." said Jingle. All the Ham-Hams gathered around Jingle as he read out loud the cure for the counter curse. "The counter curse for the the sleeping curse can only be performed by a specially made potion made out of salmon scales, the shredded petals of a buttercup, a piece of pure cotton, chalk dust, and all of it boiled in water for thirty minutes. Once the potion is cooked, a sorcerer must repeat the following incantation: Leda da par da gee la da ulla gaw."
"Where are we going to get boiling water?" asked Boss. "I can get water from the nearby river but I don't know how I am going to boil it."
"I could bring one of my pots here," said Cappy, "and if we start a fire, we could boil the water right outside."
"Oxnard and I can go to the docks and collect the salmon scales." said Boss. "Humans sell salmon on the docks."
"But the list mentions something about buttercup petals," said Hamtaro, "and I don't know what a buttercup looks like."
"I've seen pictures of buttercup's in books." said Maxwell. "I might be able to spot one."
"Good idea." said Hamtaro. "Laura's mom grows flowers where she works so me and Maxwell can go there and hopefully find a buttercup."
"Good, now where are we going to get the cotton?" said Jingle.
"My human, Noel, owns some old cotton shirts." said Stan
"Perfect, me and Stan can go to Noel's house and get the cotton." said Sandy.
"Great, now all that's left is some chalk." said Jingle.
"My human has chalk." said Howdy frustrated that he couldn't come up with a joke, for once.
"Okay, me and Howdy can go out and get the chalk." said Dexter.
"Okay, and the rest of us will stay here." said Jingle. The Ham-Hams all cheered and ran out the door to get the supplies they require.
Oxnard and Boss went to the docks to get the salmon scales they require. The day was fairly warm making the smell of fish even more pungent in the air. Both Oxnard and Boss knew where the fish were and all they had to do was find where they keep the salmon. "Ticky-Ticky" they repeated while walking on top of the glass that hovered over the fish. The two searched through the ice and fish filled baskets below, making sure that they were not too conspicuous incase a human sees them.
"Hif-hif." said Oxnard as he sniffed the air. "Hey Boss, do you know what salmon smells like?"
"No, fish tend to smell the same to me." said Boss.
"Then how are we going to tell if we had found the salmon?" asked Oxnard.
"All the fish are clearly marked by signs." said Boss pointing to all the signs above the fish. The two came across one sign that was marked "salmon."
"Hey Boss, what's sal-mon?" asked Oxnard.
"Oxnard, that's not sal-mon its salmon." said Boss.
"Really, then why is it spelt with an L?" asked Oxnard.
"I don't know but since we found the salmon we need, lets go get some." said Boss. Boss ran over to the edge of the glass and landed next to the basket full of salmon saying "Daplunk" when he landed. Oxnard landed next to him and walked over to the salmon.
"This ice is cold." complained Oxnard as he walked across the ice that the salmon lay on.
"Well then let me do all the work and get off the ice." said Boss. Oxnard did as he was told as Boss ripped off a shred of salmon scales with his teeth.
"Okay, I got the scales, now lets get out of here." said Boss. The two hamster scampered away as the owner of the shop noticed a tare on one of his salmon.
Meanwhile, Hamtaro and Maxwell were at Marion's classroom looking for buttercups. It wasn't easy finding the building Marion worked at since Hamtaro had never been there but with Maxwell's help, they managed to locate the building and Marion's classroom. Marion was in the middle of a class session right now making it harder to sneak in unnoticed. Marion teaches the art of flower arrangement so there is plenty of flowers in the green house Marion teaches her class. Right now, Marion was giving lectures to everyone so the flowers remained unattended. Hamtaro and Maxwell took the opportunity and was searching through all the flowers.
"Do you see any buttercups, Maxwell?" asked Hamtaro.
"Not yet." said Maxwell. Maxwell was searching through the forest of flowers until he noticed a group of flowers with yellow petals. Maxwell pulled out the blue book he was carrying and flipped through the pages. There, he found a picture of a buttercup and certainly enough, it was a match.
"Hamtaro, I found a buttercup." said Maxwell. Hamtaro rushed over to Maxwell with anticipation.
"Good work, Max." said Hamtaro as he ran over repeating "Badda-Badda" along the way. "So how are we going to get at the petals?"
"We could grab the one that fell off." said Maxwell as he pointed at the petal lying in the soil.
"Good eye, Maxwell." said Hamtaro.
"Now, if everyone would please accompany me to the flowers, we can begin my demonstration." said Marion at the other end of the classroom. Hamtaro and Maxwell watched as Marion and the rest of the class got up and walked towards the flower pots. Hamtaro and Maxwell panicked. Hamtaro quickly grabbed the petal and ran along side Maxwell repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. They managed to escape the flower pots before the class saw them but Marion cot a glimpse of Hamtaro running through the door that was open ajar. Marion shook her head thinking, "It couldn't have been him."
Bijou, Pashmina, Penelope, Cappy, Panda, Moonbeam, and Jingle were all outside the entrance to the Clubhouse. Cappy had returned with a yellow pot that wasn't hamster size. Jingle had already filled the pot with water and using his magic, he lit some twigs on fire and began to boil the water. Boss and Oxnard ran over carrying the salmon scales that they had collected.
"Welcome back, Boss." said Jingle. At that moment, Stan and Sandy showed up.
"Noel's going to have a huge hole in his shirt but we got the cotton." said Stan holding up the piece of torn cotton up. About a minute later, Howdy and Dexter came by holding a piece of chalk about one centimeter long.
"Yeeha, we got the chalk you wanted." said Howdy.
"Good, now all we have to do it grind it up and put it in the water." said Jingle.
"How are we going to do that?" asked Panda.
"I could use my shovel." suggested Boss.
"No need, Boss." said Jingle. Jingle took the chalk from Howdy and placed the chalk on the ground. Jingle plucked a note on his guitar and said, "Vinia." very quickly. Instantly, the spell reduced the chalk into dust. Boss sweat dropped.
The water in the pot had already begun to boil and Hamtaro and Maxwell had not arrived yet with the buttercup petal.
"What's taking them so long?" asked Moonbeam.
"Ya, the water would evaporate by the time those two show up." said Jingle. From out of the bushes, Maxwell and Hamtaro emerged running as fast as they could saying "Badda-Badda" along the way.
"Hey Ham-taco, where have you been?" said Jingle.
"Good grief, my name is Hamtaro not Ham-taco." snapped Hamtaro.
"Sorry we're late, we had some difficulties finding the right building." said Maxwell. Jingle took the petal and began to tare it to pieces with his teeth. He then took the petals, chalk dust, cotton, and salmon scales and placed it all in the boiling water. Since the water had to boil for thirty minutes, many of the Ham-Hams had gone inside to wait. Only Boss, Hamtaro, Cappy, and Jingle remained outside to make sure that the water was boiling properly. Once the thirty minutes had passed, Jingle took the pot off the fire and said, "Now that the water is done boiling, we just take this pot inside so Moonbeam can enchant it."
"Why can't you enchant the water?" asked Boss.
"The instructions specifically say that the potion must be enchanted by a sorcerer and Moonbeam is the only one here." said Jingle. "Cappy, will you please put out the fire for us."
"Sure thing." said Cappy. As the others went into the Clubhouse, Cappy was scooping up dirt and was putting out the fire. As he was doing this, Cappy noticed something black off in the distance. He recognized them as ninjas and they were heading this way. Cappy kicked the last bit of dirt onto the fire and ran towards the Clubhouse.
Moonbeam was inside sitting next to Neteru/Snoozer. She stared into Neteru's face and couldn't help but wonder where she had seen this hamster before. She looked at Neteru's staff which lay beside him. As she examined the wooden staff, she realized that the staff as well looked familiar. She couldn't help but wonder where had she seen this ham before. Jingle was nearby pouring the substance in a cup.
"Okay Moonbeam, come here." said Jingle. Moonbeam walked over to the mixture and examined it. "All you have to do is place both of your paws on both sides of this cup and say the incantation written in the book. Don't forget to concentrate." Moonbeam was about to place her hands on the cub when Cappy ran in frantically slamming the door.
"Everyone, barricade the door, there are ninjas coming." said Cappy. Everyone did as they were told and leaned against the door saying "Grooba" as they pressed against the door. Moments later, the ninjas had pressed against the door and was using all their might to force the door open. The Ham-Hams exerted all their strength but even though there was only six ninjas, the ninjas were slowly overpowering the combined strength and weight of the Ham-Hams. Moonbeam had to work fast. She placed her paws on the cup and said the incantation, "Leda da par da gee la da ulla gaw." The water began to glow a purple color and the water began to change from nothing but a filthy mess to a creamy purple substance. Moonbeam ran over to Neteru and hastily poured the potion down Neteru's throat. Neteru drank the concoction ignoring the fact that most of it was dripping down his face. Once the potion was ingested, Moonbeam waited anxiously for the potion to work. Suddenly, the door swung open and six ninja hams appeared, ninja-tos drawn and ready. Jingle drew out his sword ready to fight but he was no match for all six of those hamsters. Jingle tried to hold them as best he could but in no time at all, one of the ninjas snuck up behind him and his ninja-to was driven right through Jingle's back. Upon hearing Jingle's cry of pain, Neteru opened his eyes for the first time in a year. He quickly realized that Jingle was in trouble and he pulled himself out of his sock and grabbed his staff. He stood up and in a voice that was more clear and louder than his usual quiet and dreamy voice, he said, "Gibbaba tang da." Orange bolts of electricity fired from the emerald on Neteru's staff and they all struck the six ninjas tossing them to the walls. Jingle fell to the ground with the sword still in him. The ninjas quickly got to their feet and was charging towards Neteru.
"Banka zoa." said Neteru. All of the ninjas were lifted off the ground by telekinesis and suspended in the air.
"Nethlek magana dag mi." said Neteru and some green energy fired from the staff. The ninjas were surrounded by the energy and vanished. Remembering Jingle, Neteru ran over to the wounded Jingle who lay there on the Clubhouse floor bleeding. Neteru gently pulled the sword out of Jingle and said, "Rectom oo getta." Both Jingle and Neteru glowed blue and soon, Jingle's injury had vanished. Jingle looked at Neteru and said, "Neteru, you're awake at last."
"That I am, old buddy," said Neteru. "That I am."