Walk A Mile In Your Shoes
Chapter 3: See Through Another's Eyes
Author's Note: For those of you who have never read "The Mystery of Snoozer," I thought I should tell you that both Neteru and Mara are sorcerers.
The Ham-Hams began to introduce themselves to Laura and the others one by one. As they did, Neteru eyed the visitors suspiciously. It is said that sorcerers tend to have a sixth sense when it came to powerful magic. Neteru never believed in that concept but none the less, he felt like there was something not right about the visitors.
"Over here is Neteru and Mara." said Hamtaro as he introduced Neteru and Mara to Laura and the others. This statement snapped Neteru out of his thoughts.
"Hello and welcome to our neck of the woods." said Neteru politely. Laura and the others were rather surprised that both Neteru and Mara were carrying what appeared to be decorative walking sticks but in reality they were magic staffs. Neteru's staff was wooden and it was lumpy as if the creator was having difficulties keeping the sander steady. The staff was in a cone shape and at the base of the cone was a large green diamond. Mara's staff looked like a metal golf tee with a glass icosahedron on the top of it.
"What are your names, strangers?" asked Maxwell.
"Uh." said Laura. They were not sure whether they should tell them the truth that they are really humans. "Well, the fact is, we're not hamsters."
"Heke?" chorused the Ham-Hams. Boss sniffed Laura saying "Hif-Hif" as he did.
"You smell like a ham-ham." said Boss.
"And you look like a ham-ham so that means you are a ham-ham." said Howdy.
"No, you don't understand, we are humans who were turned into ham-hams." said Laura assuming that "ham-ham" means "hamster."
"Humans?" said Neteru some what surprised by this news. "How did you become ham-hams or hamsters as you like to call us?"
"Well, we found this glowing object just lying on the ground and...." began Kana.
"....you tried to pick it up." finished Neteru.
"Yes, and we just fell unconscious and when we woke up, we were hamsters." said Travis.
"So they are humans?" said Boss.
"Yes." said Neteru.
"Really, then that means...." said Hamtaro. Hamtaro's mouth was wide open as he turned his head towards Laura and the others. "Laura?" Laura nodded her head. Hamtaro was speechless. "I can't believe it, you're actually Laura." Hamtaro was absolutely ecstatic.
"But if you guys were once humans than who are you?" asked Oxnard to Kana.
"I'm Kana." said Kana. Oxnard instantly fainted. "Oxnard!" Kana ran over to his side trying to see if he is okay.
"Don't worry, Kana." said Pashmina. "I know how to wake up Oxnard." Pashmina pulled out a sun flower seed and waved it in front of Oxnard's nose. Oxnard sniffed the sun flower seed saying "Hif-Hif" as he did. Oxnard instantly sat up and said, "Do I smell food?" Oxnard noticed the seed that Pashmina was holding and dove for it but Pashmina immediately pulled the seed away.
"Uh uh, sorry Oxnard but you promised you would stick to your diet." said Pashmina.
"Uhhh." groaned Oxnard. Oxnard rubbed his head with his paws saying "Kushi-Kushi" as he did.
"What about the rest of you?" asked Mara to June, Kylie, and Travis.
"I'm June." said June.
"No way." said Pashmina.
"And I'm Kylie." said Kylie.
"Ookwee, ookwee, ookwee." repeated Penelope excitedly and ran over to hug Kylie. Kylie was rather surprised by this.
"And what about you?" asked Boss to Travis.
"My name is Travis." said Travis.
"Oh yeah, we've seen you before." said Boss.
"Neteru, how do you think this happened?" asked Hamtaro.
"Well, from what I can figure, that item they had touched was some kind of powerful magical artifact." said Neteru. "The spell that turned these humans to ham-hams must have been some kind of trap to prevent theft but a transfiguration spell seems like such an odd choice for a self defense spell."
"You can change them back, can't you?" asked Boss.
"I know a spell that might be able to revert them back to normal." said Neteru.
"Great, give it a try." said Boss.
"What's he going to do?" asked Laura.
"Don't worry, Laura." said Neteru. "Me and Mara are sorcerers. We specialize in magic. Now just stand still in a group so I can cast this spell."
The humans all got close together as all the ham-hams got out of the way of the spell. Hamtaro was actually some what sad too see Laura changed back so soon. Neteru raised his staff and it began to glow green.
"Nethaba gaoaga dooga." said Neteru. A glowing beam of green energy shot from Neteru's staff but instead of hitting Laura and the others, the beam struck some kind of invisible barrier that surrounded the former humans and instantly, a red wave of energy shot from the shield and struck Neteru hard in the chest causing him to be thrown into the air and land hard on the ground.
"Neteru!" said Mara in concern. They ran over to where Neteru lay as still as a corpse.
"Neteru, speak to me." said Mara.
"Ouchichi." groaned Neteru in pain as he sat up.
"What was zat?" asked Bijou.
"There appears to be some kind of magic shield surrounding the humans." said Neteru.
"Magic shield?" asked Cappy.
"Yes." said Neteru. "What ever spell it was that changed them into ham-hams, it also created a powerful block that has repelled my magic. I've never seen anything like this before."
"So are we stuck as hamsters forever?" asked Kylie worried.
"There has to be some way." persisted Mara. "Perhaps if we combined our magic, maybe we would be able...."
"No." said Neteru. "That wont work."
"Why not?" persisted Mara.
"Because this magic doesn't seem like anything an ordinary ham-ham can produce." said Neteru. "It's difficult to explain but my instincts tell me that who ever it was that put that spell on that item was extremely powerful." There was a silence as Neteru said this.
"You don't think it was deity magic, do you?" asked Mara.
"Could have been." said Neteru. "I'm going to the Clubhouse and see if I can find anything to dispel that spell. Vica hoggen barohoga." After saying the incantation, Neteru teleported back to the Clubhouse in a flash of white light.
"So what are we going to do now?" asked June.
"Why don't we continue our game of soccer." suggested Sandy.
"Great idea." said Hamtaro. "Do you guys want to play?" Laura was a bit taken aback by the question but said, "Sure, we will give it a try." They all divided into teams and also placed the former humans in the game as well. Laura and the others were rather surprised that ham-hams could play soccer but they quickly got into the game. Laura and friends were actually having the time of their lives even though they all stunk at socce except for Travis. Even the ham-hams were doing a better job than them but they didn't care. They were having too much fun to care.
"Okay everybody, lunch time." said Maxwell as he pulled out a bag full of sun flower seeds. Everyone left the game and began to gather around Maxwell, eager to eat. Laura and the other former humans were also rather hungry so they went over to the bag of seeds.
"Are you sure there is enough for our guests?" asked Howdy. "And since Oxnard is here, there is no guarantee we will have enough."
"I'm sure that we can manage and even if we don't, there is enough acorns here anyway." said Boss. The hamsters all grabbed a sun flower seed from the bag except for Oxnard who went strait for an acorn he had found. Maxwell handed Laura and her friends some sun flower seeds. They looked at the seeds wondering how to eat these things. Hamtaro noticed their facial expressions and decided to help.
"It is easy to eat sun flower seeds." said Hamtaro. "Just nibble on the edges until the shell comes off. Then rip the shell off and eat the insides. Watch how I do it." While repeating "Packa-Packa," Hamtaro gnawed the shell off the seed exposing the food inside. He said "Krrmp" as he took a bite out of the seed. Hamtaro made it look easy but Laura and the others had difficulties at first. Once they managed to take a bite out of their seeds, they realized that the seeds tasted really good. In no time, they were krmping down on those seeds with all the other Ham-Hams.
As Laura gnawned on her seed, she remembered how Cindy didn't hear her when she spoke and this memory brought up a question in her mind.
"Hamtaro, why is it that I can hear you speak when I'm a hamster and I couldn't when I was human?" asked Laura. Hamtaro pulled out the sun flower seed in his mouth so he could talk.
"Well, all ham-hams are gifted with their own language." said Hamtaro. "This is a language only other ham-hams can understand or hear. However, there has been certain exceptions."
"Exceptions? Like what?" asked Laura.
"Well, it is believed that certain circumstances enable humans to briefly understand us but so far, it is an unproved fact." said Hamtaro. "But there are some rare humans who have a gift to understand our language."
"You mean that some humans have the power to understand ham-hams?" asked Laura surprised.
"Yeah." said Hamtaro.
There was a soft rumble of thunder as the clouds overhead began to get thick. Boss began sniffing the air.
"Hif-hif. Uh-Oh, I smell rain coming." said Boss. Everyone began to sniff the air including Laura who hadn't noticed that her sense of smell was stronger.
"Hey, I can smell it, too." said Oxnard.
"We better seek shelter in the Clubhouse." said Hamtaro.
"Pack up everything and lets get out of here." ordered Boss.
"But I'm not done with my seeds." protested Oxnard.
"Well, finish them in the Clubhouse." said Boss. Everyone packed up their supplies and began walking towards the hole leading into the Clubhouse but it wasn't long until a sudden rain storm started to fall drenching the Ham-Hams. At that point, they all started running repeating "Badda-Badda" as they went. Laura and the other former humans realized they were repeating "Badda-Badda" as well. They didn't know why but some how it felt so natural. They all ran into a nearby hole and marched down the hole single file. Laura had no clue where she was going but at least she was out of the rain.
They finally came across a small wooden door which Boss opened and allowed everyone inside. Laura and the others were surprised to see a large underground room filled with hamster size furniture plus stairs and even a ceiling fan.
"What is this place?" asked Laura.
"This is the Clubhouse." explained Hamtaro. "We come here all the time, it's like our own headquarters, sort of speak."
"You mean you come here often?" said Laura. "Like you actually escape out of your cages and come here?"
"Well, yes." said Hamtaro. "The majority of us are house pets and whenever our humans get out of the house, we come here to the Clubhouse and then we come back home before our humans come home."
"But how do you guys managed to escape the house like that?" asked June.
"We have our ways." said Hamtaro. While standing behind Hamtaro, Boss cupped his paws over his mouth and shouted out, "Hey Neteru, where are you?" There was no response.
"I wonder where Neteru is?" asked Boss out loud.
"I though he said he was going to my library." said Maxwell.
"Ookwee, Ookwee." repeated Penelope as she hopped up and down pointing.
"What is it, Penelope?" asked Pashmina. Penelope walked over to the huge round table and picked up a note that was sitting there. Boss picked up the note and read the letter out loud.
"Dear Ham-Hams," read Boss, "I couldn't find anyway of changing the kids back to humans so I have gone out to find other sources of information. I may be gone all day so Mara should expect me back by late tonight."
"Heke?" said Dexter. "Look in other sources? Where else could he look?"
"He's going to find a way to change us back, wont he?" asked Kylie.
"I trust Neteru that if there is a way to bring you back, he would find it." said Mara.
"In the mean time, we can play some indoor games." said Hamtaro.
Laura, Kana, June, Kylie, and even Travis had fun that day. They spent much of the day inside the Clubhouse playing games. Kana was very surprised when she learned that Oxnard knew how to use tarot cards and he even could make predictions with it. The Ham-Hams also told the humans stories about their adventures including those times when they helped their humans. Eventually, it was late and it was time for the Ham-Hams to head on home. The Ham-Hams agreed that they would take their humans home to sleep while Travis spends the night at the Clubhouse.
Hamtaro led Laura back to the house. It was dark out and hard to see but Hamtaro had broken in and out of the house enough times to know his way around. He led Laura up the drain pipe and through the small hole behind the bed repeating "Ticky-Ticky" the whole way.
"So that's how you get out of the house." said Laura as she squeezed her way out from between the bed. The room was dark but there was a beam of light coming out from under the door. Hamtaro led Laura through the dim light to the cage. He opened the door and aloud her inside first. Laura felt rather odd to be inside a cage. She never realized how different the world was like when you're this small.
"This way, Laura." said Hamtaro. Laura followed Hamtaro to a small blue box where Hamtaro slept. Laura stepped into the dark box stepping onto the hay that covered the ground.
"We can spend the night here." said Hamtaro. "Just curl up and make yourself comfortable." Laura got onto the ground and curled up like a little furry ball. She was surprised at how comfortable it was to sleep like this on a pile of hay. Hamtaro curled up next to Laura and said, "Good night, Laura."
"Good night, Hamtaro." said Laura and in no time at all, they both fell asleep saying "ZuZuZu" as they slept.