Journey to the Island of Halastia
Chapter 2: The Storm After the Sun Shine
A week has past since the day Terra and Moonbeam moved into the neighborhood and already the two have become used to their new surroundings and new friends. It seemed like nothing could spoil their everyday lives until one night, while Terra was sleeping, she had a strong vision in her dream. She dreamt she was standing on top of a tree in the park and overlooking the town. In the distance, she saw a blood red fog that began to engulf the town. Terra stared opened mouthed in horror as she watched the light pass through the town like an evil blanket. The light past through Terra harmlessly but once the light had past, Terra realized that the light had turned everything else into stone. Terra stared open mouthed at the sight of the city which was now as stiff as stone. It was like being in a stone carving of a city. Then Terra heard a soft yet powerful feminine voice who said, "Terra, a terrible curse will befall the people of this city at midnight. There is no way to stop this from happening and you must escape. Your friends will need you so you must escape the city and return once the curse has past."
Terra suddenly awoken from her dream with the message still ringing in her head. Terra breathed heavily as she thought about her dream. She knew that it was a vision she had seen, a vision warning her to get out of town. She sat up out of bed and looked at her clock which revealed that it was 11 o'clock PM. One hour until midnight. Terra wanted to warn her friends of the danger but she knew better than to disobey an instruction from a psychic vision. Terra slipped out of bed, ran up the stairs to her door, and then ran out into the darkness of night. She used her psionics to give her night vision so she could see in the dark. She ran as fast as she could through the park and even into the open streets. She used her powers to keep track of the time and, like an internal clock, she was capable of counting the minutes until midnight as she ran. After so much running, Terra finally reached the outskirts of town and into the surrounding forest. She leaned onto a nearby tree with one paw in order to catch her breath. Knowing that there was only a few minutes left until midnight, she climbed up the tree she was leaning on as fast as she could until she reached the top of the tree so she could see the city before her. From there, she anxiously waited. She wasn't sure what was going to happen but she knew it will happen. The divine forces wanted her here to keep her safe but she had to find out why.
Terra shivered as a sudden wind picked up. She looked out over the city, waiting for some sign of danger. According to the internal clock she had created using her psionics, she knew that it was already five minutes after midnight. She wasn't sure what to think about this and figured she must have heard the warning wrong. She was about to climb down the tree and go back into the city when she suddenly saw a flash of red light in the distance. She watched the light source as it shot out from the center of the city and into the sky like a pillar. The crimson light then spread out from its original spot and past through the whole city like a tidal wave of light. Terra watched in stunned silence as the wave of light started moving towards her. Terra was about to make a run for until the light suddenly stopped then vanished before it could make contact with her. A fraction of energy came from the light and it past through Terra, causing the quills on her back stand on end. Whatever it was that had just past through the city, it was obviously powerful in nature. Something like that must have come from a possibly divine source of power or something close to that kind of power. Terra was fearful for her friends so she immediately teleported back into the park.
She directed her teleportation to send her to her front door. Once she reached her home, she immediately ran next door to Neteru and Mara's home. She was concerned the strange spell she had witnessed had harmed her friends so she had to find out if it did. She opened the door to Neteru and Mara's underground home and immediately ran down the steps leading to the door.
"Neteru. Mara." cried out Terra as she frantically searched the living room. They weren't there so Terra ran into Neteru and Mara's bedroom. She turned on the light switch and found Neteru and Mara lying in their bed. The two of them were asleep until Terra turned on the light and woke them up. They opened their eyes and looked up at Terra.
"Terra, what are you doing here?" asked Mara irritably.
"I'm terribly sorry for waking you two but something just happened." said Terra. She to their bed side and began to explain to Neteru and Mara about her vision and about how she escaped the town in time to witness a curse pass through the town.
"I don't know what that spell did but it must have been powerful if it affected the entire town like that." said Terra.
"Have you found out what the spell has done?" asked Neteru.
"I have not." said Terra. "Infact, I haven't seen anything out of place." Neteru sighed in thought.
"I don't know what that spell could be but I think we should wait until morning because I'm tired." said Neteru. Terra would have argued but after losing an hour of sleep and spending that hour running across town had really warn her out.
"Okay, we can deal with it in the morning." said Terra. Without another word, she walked out of the bedroom.
"Good night, Terra." said Mara as Terra left. As she did, Terra turned off the light, filling the room with darkness once again. Once Mara and Neteru curled back into bed, Mara asked, "Neteru, are you sure this is a good idea? Investigating the cause of the spell later, that is." Neteru sighed.
"I honestly don't know." said Neteru. "I believe Terra when she said that this is serious but I'm tired and we probably can't do much in the dark anyway."
"I suppose you're right." said Mara. The two leaned over and kissed each other. "Good night, Neteru."
"Good night." said Neteru who managed to fall asleep immediately after words.
The next morning, Laura was startled to wake up in complete darkness. It was so dark that Laura couldn't see anything.
"What the..." said Laura. When she managed to return to full awareness, she realized that the reason why she couldn't see was because some kind of large and heavy covering was covering her body. Laura began to panic because she realized how hard it was the breath. "Where am I?" said Laura in panic. She began to work her way out from out of the large covering until she finally managed to reach an opening. Now that she was in the light, she was shocked at what she saw. The large covering that hid her was her blanket. Her bed and her entire room was so much bigger now, as if she was in a world of giants.
"Am I dreaming or did I shrink during the night?" asked Laura too herself. She scratched her head in thought and when she did, she felt soft, round ears. Laura froze in terror as she realized what this meant. She looked at her hands and realized that they had been replaced with hamster paws. Laura then looked at the rest of her body and realized she was completely nude and was covered in soft fur. In a panic, Laura ran to her desk and leaped onto her desk. She located her hand-held mirror which sat on top of her desk. She looked down upon the mirror and gasped as she realized she had turned into a hamster once again. Laura had transformed into a hamster that was covered completely in brown fur, same color as her hair color and she even had miniature hair clips on her head. Her frightened expression was clearly visible in her reflection, revealing one scared looking hamster.
She ran over to the side of her desk and noticed Hamtaro's cage with Hamtaro sleeping in the little box in the cage. Laura cautiously climbed down the desk and she worked her way into the cage. She ran over to the box and found Hamtaro sleeping inside.
"Hamtaro, wake up." said Laura desperately.
"Zuzuzu." was Laura's only response from Hamtaro.
"HAMTARO!" shouted Laura into Hamtaro's ear. Hamtaro screamed in shock as he was suddenly awoken. When Hamtaro looked at Laura, he suddenly realized how much Laura had changed.
"Laura, is that you?" asked Hamtaro.
"Yes, it's me." said Laura.
"But Laura, you're a ham-ham again." said Hamtaro in disbelief. "How could this be?"
"I don't know." said Laura in fear. Hamtaro crawled out of the box.
"Calm down, Laura." said Hamtaro.
"Calm down?" said Laura. "I'm a hamster again and I might not be able to change back. What if my mom comes in here and finds me gone?"
"I'm sure there's..." said Hamtaro but he cut his sentence short when he noticed something. "Laura, do you hear that?" Laura cupped a paw to her ear.
"I don't hear anything." said Laura.
"Exactly." said Hamtaro. "Normally I can hear your parents down stairs and I don't hear them anymore."
"You're right." said Laura. "You don't think they've been turned into hamsters too?"
"We better find out." said Hamtaro. Hamtaro opened the door to his cage, allowing Laura out first before exiting the cage. The two of them scampered over to the door to the bed room, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran. When they came to the door, Laura asked, "How do we get through the door when we're too small to reach the knob?"
"Easy, we just have to squeeze under it." said Hamtaro. He got onto his bully and crawled under the door. It was a bit of a struggle but he managed to wiggle free and escape to the other side of the door. Laura followed his example and crawled under the door. It was tight squeeze but with Hamtaro's help, she made it through.
The two of them scampered throughout the house, looking for Forrest and Marion.
"Mom, Dad, where are you?" shouted Laura. Hamtaro and Laura scampered through the house, looking for some sign of Forrest and Marion. During the search, Hamtaro walked up to Marion and Forrest's bedroom and a thought occurred to him.
"Wait a minute, they could still be sleeping in the bedroom." thought Hamtaro. With that, he scampered up to the door, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as he did. The door was slightly open so it was easy for Hamtaro to push the door open saying "Grooba" as he did. The bedroom was lit only by the morning sun that spilled through the windows. The room was still fairly dark but there was enough light to enable Hamtaro to see Forrest and Marrion still sleeping in bed.
"Oh there they are." said Hamtaro. "I better go up and see if they are okay." Hamtaro ran up to the bed, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as he did. He then scurried up the legs of the bed and leaped onto the mattress itself shouting "Oopaa" as he did. Hamtaro walked up to Forrest's head and said into his ear, "Wake up, it's morning" even though he knew that Forrest wouldn't be able to hear him. When Forrest didn't move, Hamtaro tapped onto Forrest's head and discovered that Forrest was cold and was as hard as stone. When Hamtaro examined Forrest closely, in the dim light, he discovered that Forrest had turned to stone.
"What the..." said Hamtaro in shock. "How can this be?" Hamtaro climbed over Forrest's head and when he got on top of the nose, he noticed that Marion was also stone.
"Laura, I've found them." cried out Hamtaro. Laura ran into the bedroom, repeating "Badda-Badda" as she did. She noticed her dad on the bed and immediately climbed up the bed to join Hamtaro.
"Hamtaro, what happened to them?" said Laura in a panic as she came up to her father's head.
"I don't know." said Hamtaro. "This doesn't make any sense. We should go see Neteru and Mara. They would know what to do."
"Where are they?" asked Laura.
"In the park." said Hamtaro. "Just follow me." Hamtaro and Laura climbed down the bed and she followed him to her room where they squeezed under the door again and they escaped through the hole in the wall.
The two of them escaped through the hole in the wall behind the bed, scurried across the roof and leaped down the drain pipe. Laura and Hamtaro slid down the drain pipe and Hamtaro shouted "Oopaa" as he and Laura came out the other but when they flew out of the pipe, they landed on something hard.
"Ouchichi." said Hamtaro rubbing his rump. "What did I just land on?"
"Oh no, it's Brandy." said Laura.
"Heke?" said Hamtaro in surprise. He looked down upon what he stood on and gasped when he realized it really was Brandy he was standing. Brandy had turned to stone, just like Forrest and Marion.
"What is going on here?" asked Hamtaro.
"Hamtaro." said a voice nearby. Laura and Hamtaro turned their gaze towards the direction of the voice and discovered it was Oxnard. He stood outside of the bush and along side him was another ham-ham. The hamster was brown like Laura but her front was completely white in an oval shape on her chest and belly and a white circle on her face. She also wore hamster size glasses. Recognizing the glasses, Laura realized that was Kana. Hamtaro and Laura immediately ran up to Kana and Oxnard, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did. Laura immediately came up to Kana and said, "Kana, are you okay?"
"Laura, is that you?" said Kana. She immediately hugged Laura and said to her through her tears, "Oh Laura, I thought something might have happened to you."
"Hamtaro, something has happened." said Oxnard. "Kana's parents had been turned to stone."
"It's the same thing in Laura's house." said Hamtaro. "We got to see Neteru and tell him what has happened."
"Before we go, can we stop for breakfast first?" asked Oxnard.
"Oxnard!" chorussed Laura, Kana, and Hamtaro.
"Sorry." apologized Oxnard. The four ham-hams ran towards the nearby hole, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did, and they were on their way to see Neteru.
Hamtaro opened the door to the Clubhouse and shouted, "Ham-Hams, something terrible has happened." It was then that he noticed that along with the other Ham-Hams, there was also two additional ham-hams whom Hamtaro recognized as June and Kylie. June had turned into a hamster that was covered completely in yellow fur that was more lighter in color than Mara's. Kylie changed into a hamster that was completely covered in orange fur. She also still had her pig tails. Both girls were shaking with fear. As Hamtaro stared at the two ham-hams in disbelief, Oxnard, Laura, and Kana squeezed out from behind Hamtaro and saw them.
"June, Kylie, what are you two doing here?" asked Laura as herself and Kana came up to them.
"Oh Laura, how can this be?" asked Kylie. "I just woke up like this."
"Me too." said June.
"So you guys turned into hamsters too?" asked Hamtaro.
"Actually, only June, Kylie, Laura, and Kana are hamsters." said Panda. "Everyone else's humans have been turned to stone. My humans are rock solid, including Mimi."
"My humans are so bored, they are as stiff as stone. Hehehe." said Howdy laughing at his bad joke.
"Howdy, enough with the bad jokes, we got a problem on our paws." said Dexter irritably.
"What do you think happened, Moonbeam?" asked Maxwell.
"Obviously some powerful form of magic had cursed the town but how and what, I do not know." said Moonbeam. "And what is even more baffling is how come they became ham-hams while everyone else is stone."
"Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they've been hamsters before." suggested Boss.
"But if that was the case, then that must mean..." Laura was about to suggest that Travis must be a hamster too but she was interrupted when Travis, the hamster, came into the room. Travis's hamster form is a gray hamsters with black tiger stripes located in the same position as Sandy and Stan's brown tiger stripes.
"Travis." said Laura in surprise.
"What has happened here?" said Travis. "I'm a hamster again."
"I know this doesn't look good but I think Neteru can help us." said Laura.
"He better because my parents have changed into stone statues." said Travis irritated.
"You're not the only one, Travis." said Kana. "Our family is stone too.
"We'll explain it to you on the way." said Hamtaro to Travis. "We better go to Neteru right away. Everyone, follow me." Hamtaro ran out the door while everyone else followed, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did.
Neteru and Mara were in their kitchen, eating breakfast when Neteru suddenly heard the sound of someone knocking on his door.
"I wonder who that could be." said Neteru. He walked out of the kitchen, leaving Mara behind, and he headed up the stairs. He opened the horizontal door and was surprised to see all of the Ham-Hams in front of his door.
"What's going on here?" asked Neteru.
"Neteru, something terrible has happened." said Hamtaro. It was then that Neteru suddenly noticed Laura and her friends and his mouth dropped open in shock.
"How did they become ham-hams again?" said Neteru.
"We don't know but some how, they turned into ham-hams while everyone else had turned to stone." explained Oxnard nervously. Realizing that this is serious, Neteru called Mara to come up. Once Mara was outside, everyone explained about what had happened to the town. When they were finished, Mara suddenly remembered what Terra said to them last night.
"Neteru, this must be what Terra was talking about." said Mara. "Whatever that spell was that she saw must be what caused everyone to turn into stone."
"You're right, we better ask her." said Neteru. They all walked over to the next door, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as they did. Using his feet, Neteru knocked on the door. It took several knocks before Terra poked her head out from her door. She yawned loudly as she stepped out of her home.
"Hello, Ham-Hams." said Terra. "Sorry I over slept."
"Terra, I want you to tell me what happened here last night." said Neteru.
"Oh yeah." said Terra as she remembered. She told them how she had the vision and she left the town to see a powerful spell sweep the town.
"Did you see where it came from?" asked Neteru.
"No, it was way too dark out then." said Terra. "I couldn't tell for sure."
"Well, we'll need to find out where the spell originated." said Neteru. "Once we find out what happened then hopefully we'll find a way to reverse it."
"Where should we start?" asked Hamtaro.
"I think the spell may have occurred somewhere in or around Laura's school." suggested Terra. "Perhaps it originated there."
"Good idea." said Neteru. "What's the fastest route to Laura's school?"
"Kana and me used to walk there all the time so we can show you." said Laura.
"Looks like we're following you." said Neteru. The huge collection of hamsters all followed Laura and Kana to school, unaware that at the moment, another person was waking up to find out he was a hamster.