The Mystery of Snoozer

Chapter 6: The Rising of the Dark Sorceress

Everyone gathered around Neteru, amazed at how he destroyed those ninjas.

"Wow Neteru, that was amazing." said Hamtaro.

"It was nothing, Hamtaro." said Neteru modestly.

"You know my name?" said Hamtaro.

"I know all of your names." said Neteru. "Although I was asleep, I was still more or less aware of my surroundings." Neteru turned to Jingle and said, "It is great to see you again, old friend."

"It's great to see you too." said Jingle

"And Moonbeam," said Neteru turning to Moonbeam, "It is a wonderful sight that you should still be alive and well. I haven't seen you in so long." Moonbeam just stared blankly in response

"Have we met before?" asked Moonbeam. Neteru was rather surprised.

"It's me, Neteru." said Neteru. "I'm a good friend of your family. Don't you remember?" Moonbeam shook her head indicating "no." Neteru scratched his chin thinking to himself. He then came to a conclusion.

"It's just as I feared, that spell must have caused your memory losses." said Neteru.

"Spell?" said Moonbeam.

"Yes, I rogue spell had struck you and that is what caused your memory loss." said Neteru. "I maybe able to remove the magic that is suppressing your memories." Without another word, Neteru pointed the staff at Moonbeam. He then said an incantation: "Magorma dacya dun via." From the green gem on his staff, Moonbeam was struck by a yellow light that surrounded her. Moonbeam fell to her knees and clutched her head as if she had a head ache. The other Ham-Hams watched with concern as this took place.

Finally, the light faded. Moonbeam opened her eyes in astonishment. Neteru helped her to her feet and he said to her, "Do you remember now?" Tears began to well up in Moonbeam's eyes.

"Yes, I remember everything now." said Moonbeam. Moonbeam cried in Neteru's chest and Neteru just patted her back in comfort.

"What's wrong, Moonbeam?" asked Hamtaro.

"My family is dead." said Moonbeam. "I remember it all now." There was a string of gasps from all the Ham-Hams.

"Zat's terrible." said Bijou.

"I know how you feel, Moonbeam." said Sandy trying to comfort Moonbeam. "When I was separated from my brother, Stan, I felt completely alone and helpless."

"How did her family die?" asked Hamtaro.

"Perhaps I should explain the whole story." said Neteru. Everyone, including Neteru, sat down as Neteru began to tell the story. "Long ago, before life evolved on this planet, a powerful goddess named Neanna created a magical artifact called the Giga Stone. The Giga Stone has the power to control the planet and create life and with its power, Neanna created the planet and all the life forms within it. Neanna used the stone to influence and guide the evolution of all species. But when humans came, Neanna, for reasons only known to her, left Earth leaving behind the stone. However, the stone has the power to control the Earth to however the user commands. If dark forces ever possessed the stone, it could mean the extinction of all life. To protect the stone, she created a species who were as small as her and looked like her. She created a species she called Ham-Hams." There was a string of gasps from the Ham-Hams.

"You mean we were designed to look like Neanna?" asked Pashmina.

"Yes, all ham-hams are based off of her physical appearance." said Neteru. "She also gave us the gift of communication. She created our language and even the phrases we often say."

"Wow, that's amazing." said Panda.

"She gave the stone to the ham-hams and left it to them to guard the stone until Neanna returned." continued Neteru. "Over the centuries, the stone was past down to ham-ham to ham-ham. However, an evil spirit named Ulzogga wanted to use the stone to take over the world but some powerful ham-ham wizards had imprisoned Ulzogga in a magical amulet created by the ham-hams and Ulzogga had remained there since then."

"Well that's good." said Pashmina.

"Ookyoo." agreed Penelope.

"Unfortunately, it didn't contain her forever." said Neteru. "About a year ago, a sorcerous friend of mine named Mara had uncovered the artifact. Unaware of the evil within the thing, Mara attempted to tap into the power of the amulet but in the process, she unwillingly allowed Ulzogga to possess her body and mind. Mara's body is controlled like a puppet to Ulzogga and Ulzogga has been using Mara and her magic to find the Giga Stone."

"How terrible." said Bijou. "And your friend was never the same?"

"Yep." said Neteru. "Moonbeam's entire family was guarding the stone at the time. They were a family of sorcerers like Moonbeam was and I was a friend of the family. But Ulzogga discovered they had the stone and killed Moonbeam's family." There was a string of gasps from everyone. Hamtaro looked at Moonbeam and noticed there was a still a few tears in her eyes.

"Poor Moonbeam, no wonder she was so upset when she remembered her family." thought Hamtaro.

"Moonbeam would have died with her family and Ulzogga would have obtained the stone if I hadn't stepped in to help." said Neteru. "I saved the stone and Moonbeam but I knew that Ulzogga could use her rituals to sense the stone's location. I had to shield its magic. In a stroke of inventiveness, I put a spell on the stone so that the stone would merge within Moonbeam."

"What, you mean the stone is inside Moonbeam?" said Boss.

"That's right." said Neteru. "I would have put the stone in myself but I knew that putting it inside Moonbeam would be less obvious. However, once I put the stone in Moonbeam, one of Ulzogga's samurai had discovered us. He tried to cast a spell on use but I shot a reflect spell back at the samurai. The spells reverberated off of each other and struck Moonbeam knocking her unconscious. I killed the samurai and ran off carrying Moonbeam. I thought she was just conscious at the time. I had no idea she suffered memory loss. I took her to a pet store owner who had the gift to understand hamsters. He was the owner of a good hamster friend of mine named Tick. I explained to the pet shop owner about Moonbeam and agreed to make sure she is kept safe."

"So that is where Jake got Moonbeam, from that same pet store owner." thought Hamtaro.

"I knew that it would be too dangerous to remain in that pet store so I went back to my own home." said Neteru. "I didn't realize it but one of my seeds had a powerful sleeping curse on it. Ulzogga probably put that there as a trap. I ate the cursed seed and I fell asleep immediately. Luck was on my side when Tick came over and discovered my sleeping self on the floor before any of Ulzogga's henchmen found me. Tick realized that I was under a sleeping curse so he decided to take me to safety. He placed me in a sock to help conceal my identity and placed my magic staff inside. He carried me to Boss's Clubhouse and left me there."

"So Tick was the one who put you in the Clubhouse?" asked Boss.

"Yep. Why he put me there, I do not know." said Neteru.

"So Ulzogga is still out there after me?" asked Moonbeam.

"I'm afraid so." said Neteru. "She may have discovered me or discovered that you possess the stone."

"What are we going to do?" asked Boss.

"For now at least, the Clubhouse is no longer a safe place to be." said Neteru. "I recommend that everyone return home until this whole thing blows over. Boss, Jingle, do you two think you can find another place to stay at?"

"I'm sure we can find something." said Jingle.

"Good." said Neteru. "I'll go out and try and find out where Ulzogga is." The Ham-Hams all left the Clubhouse thinking about what they had just learned. Of-course, the same question ran through everyone's mind: Will the stone be taken by Ulzogga?

The next morning, Hamtaro was sleeping in his cage when he was awoken by a scream. Laura awoke as well wondering what was happening. She got out of bed and walked to the source of the scream. She discovered Jake searching frantically through all his things.

"What's wrong." asked Laura.

"Moonbeam is missing." said Jake.