The Mystery of Snoozer
Chapter 8: The Final Stand
Author's Note: Since Ulzogga shares a body with Mara, I will be using the two names interchangeably.
They couldn't, technically, see Ulzogga since she was inside Mara's body. Mara was a tall hamster, about as tall as Oxnard but as thin as Maxwell. She had bright yellow fur all over her body but since she was under the control of Ulzogga, it made her facial features more dark and mysterious. Also, her normally black and glossy eyes were blood red. In her paws were a steel staff that was more thinner and pointer than Neteru's staff. Attached to the tip of the staff was a glass icosahedron which made small rainbows as the light reflected off of it.
"You never cease to amaze me with your foolishness." said Ulzogga in a cold an unearthly voice. "Hiding the stone within Moonbeam may have blocked its power from my senses but not from my divinations. It took me a year to find her but when she came close to my power, I knew she and the stone would be nearby. I sent one of my ninjas to find her and now I have her." Ulzogga walked over to Moonbeam stroking Moonbeam's fur on her belly.
"I'm glad you could come because I was about to perform the ritual that will extract the stone right out of Moonbeam." said Ulzogga. "A quick but painful death for her." Moonbeam shook with fright, helpless as she remained tied to the table. "Unless of-course, you wish to die before her."
"Leave her alone." said Hamtaro threateningly. Ulzogga directed Mara's cold red eyes towards Hamtaro. The feeling of her gaze caused a shiver to run down Hamtaro's spine.
"You must be Hamtaro." said Ulzogga. "Yes, my meditations also detected you as well."
"You wont get away with this." said Neteru.
"I don't see how you can stop me and my army of samurai." said Ulzogga. The samurai all drew out their weapons and held them like knives and forks as if they were ready for a Thanksgiving feast.
"Know any spells?" asked Neteru to Jingle.
"I know a spell that is powerful enough to put them in a daze." said Jingle. "But the spell is not powerful enough for all of them."
"Well, if it is power you need, then I can give it to you." said Neteru. "Prepare to cast the spell on the count of three. One. Two. Three." Neteru cast a spell while Jingle began to cast a spell with is guitar.
"Dugmia dumba guddun su megdun." said Neteru. At the exact same time, Jingle sang his incantation: "Oolla iya alya mia." The samurai charged at Neteru and Jingle as they were performing the spells, but they had finished their spells before the samurai could reach them. Once Neteru had finished his spell, a beam of green light fired from his staff and it surrounded Jingle's guitar. Neteru's spell enhanced Jingle's enabling it to pass to all the samurai and ninjas. All of the samurai and ninjas fell to the ground completely paralyzed. Jingle was capable of keeping the spell from harming his companions but even with Neteru's enhancement, Ulzogga was naturally immune since she was a spirit.
Ulzogga looked at all of her samurai lying on the ground paralyzed. Furious, she said, "You think that was very clever but your power is no match for mine. Lets see how well you can wheeled that staff." Ulzogga held up Mara's staff and suddenly, the glass icosahedron on top of it began to glow a yellow color.
"Magna dorock." said Ulzogga. There was a flash of yellow light and suddenly, the staff was replaced by a large metal sword that glowed yellow. Neteru held up his staff and said the same incantation. With a flash of green light, Neteru's staff changed into a green glowing sword.
"Ulzogga is too advanced in sword fighting for hand to hand combat." said Neteru to his friends. "Don't fight her unless it is at a distance." Without another word, Neteru charged at Ulzogga and she did the same. Their swords clashed in mid air creating a loud "ching" sound as the metal collided. With amazing agility, Ulzogga and Neteru battled it out in a battle of swords using moves which neither Boss, Hamtaro, Moonbeam, or Jingle had ever seen. It was obvious they were using magic since their movements were impossible by ham-ham standards. Perhaps the best way to describe the fight would be a fight from the movie "The Matrix" but at a some what slower speed but still uncannily fast. Both Neteru and Ulzogga battled it out with pure furry in their eyes as their weapons clashed on each other. So far, none of them had been hit but Neteru looked like he was beginning to tire.
"Jingle, isn't there something we can do?" asked Hamtaro.
"None that I can think of at the moment." said Jingle.
"But what about your magic?" asked Boss.
"A spell in this situation could be dangerous because I could accidentally hit Neteru or the magical energies they are emitting could alter the spell and kill both of them at once." said Jingle. "Besides, I don't know any spells that can help in this situation." Jingle began to rub his head saying "Kushi-Kushi" in embarrassment. Hamtaro looked at all the sleeping samurai and ninjas and suddenly, he was thunderstruck with an idea. Without a word, he ran towards the nearest ninja and picked up his chakram. Hamtaro held the ring shaped weapon and headed strait for Neteru and Ulzogga. Hamtaro hoped that once he got a chance, he could use it on Ulzogga possibly braking her concentration or something.
Suddenly, Neteru was kicked in the abdomen by Ulzogga and then his sword was knocked away. There was another kick and Neteru was on his back. Ulzogga put one foot on Neteru holding him down. Ulzogga raised the sword over Neteru's face preparing to stab him. Hamtaro, who was right behind Ulzogga, took this as a cue to throw the chakram.
"Prepare to join Moonbeam's family." said Ulzogga. But before she could deliver the fatal blow, Ulzogga was struck in the back by the chakram. Taken completely by surprise, Ulzogga shouted out in pain. Neteru took the opportunity by telekinetically drawing his sword towards his paw. He caught the sword and slashed at Ulzogga causing a long cut along Mara's front. With an amazing boost of strength, Neteru pushed Ulzogga off of him and then ran his sword through Mara's chest.
"Deama dora do." said Neteru. The spell forced Ulzogga out of Mara's body. Like smoking coming out of a chimney, Ulzogga emerged from Mara in the shape of black smoke. For the first time, they all saw Ulzogga in her true form. She looked like a triangle shaped creature made out of the black fog but her arms were clearly long and visible. She had an evil looking face that was feature less aside from a horrible grin on her face and burning red eyes. Before Ulzogga could react, Neteru leaped into the air and took a good stab at Ulzogga's chest with his sword. Ulzogga screamed in pain as the sword that was still in her chest glowed green and suddenly, with a monstrous scream, she exploded into a puff of smoke. All of the ninjas and samurai that Ulzogga had conjured also vanished as Ulzogga's magic was dispelled forever.
Neteru landed next to Mara as their staffs reverted back to their original form. Mara lay on her belly bleeding from her wounds and gasping for breath. Neteru kneeled down and placed both paws on her.
"Rectom oo getta." said Neteru and both him and Mara was surrounded by a blue aura. The wounds on Mara had completely vanished and her gasps had stopped. Once no longer in pain and bleeding, Mara got to her feet and picked up her staff. Now that she was no longer under the control of an evil spirit, she no longer had any evil presence or glowing red eyes. She was the way she had been before she was possessed.
"Are you all right?" asked Neteru. Instead of answering, Mara wrapped her arms around Neteru.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." said Mara with tears in her eyes. "I put you and everyone else in danger."
"Mara, it wasn't...." began Neteru.
"But it is my fault." interrupted Mara. "If I had listened to you and not tried to tamper with the amulet that held Ulzogga, those ham-hams that I killed would still be alive right now." Mara began to sob into Neteru's chest, crying over her guilt. Neteru gently pulled Mara away from him so he could look at her face.
"Now you listen to me, Mara." said Neteru gently. "The way I see it is you have two choices. One is that you could cry about your mistake and constantly feel guilty about it or you can try and make up for what you have done. There are still evil forces out there that would be after the Stone and together we will keep it away from them. But no matter what mistakes you have done, you are still my best friend and nothing is going to change that. For the first time in ages, a smile crossed Mara's face. She wrapped both of her arms around Neteru and said, "Thanks Neteru, you're the best friend a ham could ask for." The moment was so sweet that it brought a tear to Jingle and Hamtaro's eyes and it made Boss cry a flood of tears which came out like water fountains.
"Hello, can some one help me here." said Moonbeam irritable. She was still tied to the table. Boss ran over to Moonbeam and began to carefully cut her ropes with his ax. Hamtaro wanted to help cut the ropes but the sword he was carry had vanished. The spell that kept the sword at his side had worn off.
Once freed from the table, Moonbeam sat up.
"Are you all right?" asked Neteru.
"Ya, just a little sore around the wrist and ankles." said Moonbeam.
"We better go then." said Neteru. "Your owner is probably worried sick by now."
"Oh no." said Hamtaro. "Laura must have noticed that I had disappeared by now."
"Then we best move immediately." said Neteru. They all left the empty castle and ran over to Herbert where he was waiting. Neteru used his magic to conjure another ear of corn so Jingle can attach it to the end of his fishing rod. Upon seeing the corn again, Herbert ran at top speeds carrying the six hamsters home. Upon arriving, both Laura and Jake were relieved to see their hamsters again. As Moonbeam and Hamtaro stayed at home, Boss, Jingle, Neteru, and Mara went all over town telling the Ham-Hams about the good news. Thrilled that the danger was over, they all had a party at the Clubhouse to celebrate.
The next day, it was time for Moonbeam and Jake to go home. This time, Laura's parents were going to drive Jake to the train station. Jake placed Moonbeam on the middle seat of the van and after words, he was helping Marion put the rest of his things in the van. Neteru and Mara intended to go with Moonbeam so that they can make sure she is safe and train her so she can improve on her magic. All the other Ham-Hams stood inside the car seat to say "good bye" to their new friends.
"I'm going to miss you guys." said Hamtaro.
"Don't worry about it." said Neteru.
"We're only going to Moonbeam's home so that we can become familiar to both places." said Mara. "Once we have become familiar with Moonbeam's home, we would be able to use a teleportation spell to teleport between Moonbeam's home and the Clubhouse."
"Heke." said Hamtaro. "What's 'teleport?"
"Oh, you'll find out." said Neteru.
"Bye-Q everyone." said Moonbeam. "I will miss you all."
"Bye-Q, Moonbeam." chorused the Ham-Hams. The Ham-Hams realized that Jake was getting ready to get into the car so they jumped out. Neteru and Mara hid in the seats as Jake sat down next to Moonbeam.
"Bye Laura. Bye uncle Forest." said Jake.
"Bye Jake." said Laura. Jake closed the car door and Marion drove Jake, Moonbeam, Neteru, and Mara to the train station. All the Ham-Hams hid behind a bush waving "good bye" to their two new friends and one old friend that they just got to know for the first time. And thus ends the mystery of Snoozer.
The End
Author's note: Want to see more of Neteru and Mara? Well, read the sequels to this story. This story is the first of a quadrilogy following the adventures of Neteru and the Ham-Hams and each story is filled with more adventure, fantasy, foes, and friends then the next. The stories are in the following order: Walk a Mile in Your Shoes, Journey to the Island of Halastia, and Temple of the Zodiac. All stories are currently on under the Hamtaro section.