Journey to the Island of Halastia
Chapter 3: A Grudge Against Humanity
Roberto awoken to find himself smothered in bed sheets.
"Hey, what gives?" said Roberto irritably as he tried to push the sheets off him. When that didn't work, he managed to crawl out from underneath the sheets, gasping for air a bit as he did. "What happened?" Once he could see his room, he now realized that he had shrunken making the rest of the room seem larger than it did.
"Whew, this must be some weird dream." said Roberto. "I hope I wake up soon." He tried pinching his arm in a vain attempt to wake himself up and when he did, he realized that he didn't pinch through clothing. He pinched through soft fur. Curious, he examined his body and discovered that he was unclothed and his body was furry with paws for hands and feet. Recognizing the body he was in, he shook in horror as he said, "This can't be." Roberto needed to find a mirror to confirm his suspicions. He ran towards the edge of the bed, repeating "Badda-Badda" as he did. He leaped off the edge of the bed and landed on the nearby chair with the grace of a cat. He then leaped off of the chair and ran for his mirror. Roberto had a fairly messy room so there was a lot of junk lying around the floor. Junk that formed obstacles for Roberto as he swerved and dodge all of it in order to get to his mirror. He managed to reach the mirror that was screwed into his wall. The mirror was human size with a thin metal frame. It was more than large enough for Roberto to enable him to see himself and once he managed to get himself into a position suitable so he could see himself, he gasped as his suspicions were confirmed. He had been turned into a hamster that was entirely covered in crimson colored fur. The fur on top of his head stuck out everywhere in the same hair fashion Roberto's hair was in when he was human. Upon seeing himself, he began to feel afraid.
"Oh no, not again." said Roberto. "This can't be happening." In his panic, he aimlessly ran past all the haphazardly placed belongings on the floor as if he was trying to escape from his reflection. When he reached his bedroom door, he squeezed himself under it.
Once he had managed to escape his room, he was greeted by the sight of his dog, Samba, who towered over him. Seeing that small dog bigger than him made Roberto shout out in horror but when he realized that Samba was not moving, he looked at the dog curiously.
"Samba, what's wrong?" asked Roberto. Samba gave no response to Roberto. Roberto walked up to Samba and when he noticed the marble-like coloration and constancy that Samba was made of, he realized that the dog was made out of stone. The position of the dog statue was suggestive that Samba was sniffing at something underneath Roberto's bedroom door when he was turned to stone.
"What's going on here?" asked Roberto to no one. "First I've been turned into a hamster, now my dog is a statue. I got to figure out what's going on here." Roberto continued to search through the house in order to find his parents, repeating "Wasa-Wasa" as he did. When he didn't find them in the living room and in the kitchen, he then searched into his parents' room. Just as he did before at his own room, he squeezed underneath the door to get inside. He gasped when he found them both in their bed as stone statues, the same way as Samba. Their bodies lying on the beds as if they were still asleep. Roberto's breathing came out shaky out of fear.
"Oh man, what's going on here?" said Roberto to no one. "I got to find out who did this." Roberto's gaze landed on his parents' bedroom window which was wide open. "And I guess I'll have to go out to find answers." He ran towards the window, climbed up the dresser, and then leaped onto the open window. Looking over the edge, Roberto began to feel dizzy from the sight of being so high off the ground (from a hamster's point of view, it was high). Taking in a shaky breath, Roberto began to climb down the side of the house and once he reached the ground, he ran out into the outside world, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as he did.
Meanwhile, the Ham-Hams and Terra were all running towards the school, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they did. Oxnard was beginning to grow weak from hunger and from all the running and when his stomach growled loudly, Oxnard said, "Can't we stop for a snack, I haven't even had breakfast yet."
"Me neither." said Cappy, also growing weak from hunger.
"We're almost there." said Laura. "Normally it doesn't take this long but then again, we're always used to having to walk there as humans, not hamsters." Oxnard was about to complain some more but didn't when he saw that the school was finally within view as they approached it.
"I hope they still have food in there." said Oxnard hungrily.
The huge collection of hamsters, and one hedgehog, ran as fast as they could across the street and into the school's parking lot, unaware that someone was watching them from in a tree. The sinister looking individual glared evilly at the Ham-Hams, waiting to strike once they are close enough. His sinister gaze was briefly felt by Terra, sending a shiver down her spine. Terra shouted, "Stop" before abruptly stopping her sprint. Stan was directly behind Terra when Terra sudden stopped and it was so unexpected that Stan would have ran right into Terra's quills if Sandy wasn't behind him to grab onto his shoulders to stop him. Regardless, Stan did stop uncomfortably close to those sharp quills.
"Watch it, babe." said Stan. "I nearly got a free acupuncture."
"I'm terribly sorry, Stan, but I felt the presence of some kind of evil force nearby." said Terra. "I think something powerfully evil is watching us."
"Evil force, yeah right." said Howdy. Neteru, however, was more aware of Terra's warning and when he noticed someone in the trees, he cried out, "Volucambara." Instantly, a clear dome of energy surrounded the Ham-Hams. Neteru's staff glowed bright as he maintained the spell. The figure in the tree said, "Docamenday valo causzocyo." From his paws, he fired a green ray of negative energy towards the Ham-Hams. The energy took the form of a human hand as it flew towards them. The hand struck the shield created by Neteru and the force was so powerful, the shield was destroyed, causing Neteru to fall backwards from the force of it. Mara, who was right behind him, managed to catch him as he fell backwards.
"Neteru, are you okay?" asked Mara.
"Yeah, I'm fine." said Neteru. Neteru got back onto his feet and held out his staff towards the figure in the tree. Mara and Moonbeam did the same.
"Show yourself." ordered Neteru to the figure. When Neteru got no response, he said, "I demand you come down here and face us like a ham."
"But I am no ham-ham." said the figure in a cold voice. "I am something much more." The mysterious figure jumped off from the tree branch and landed gracefully onto his feet without hurting himself. The figure then walked up to them and as he did, they were capable of making out more details about this strange creature. He appeared to be a ham-ham but he seemed more devilish in appearance. He was as tall as Boss and he was covered in dark brownish red fur. His eyes were completely white (as oppose to the usual dark eyes with highlights) and his ears were pointed. Around his neck was a necklace with an upside down pentacle hanging from it. Many of the ham-girls quivered in fear at the sight of the devilish looking ham-ham.
"I must admit, I'm surprised to see that there are survivors." said the devilish ham-ham. "I guess the spell really doesn't affect ham-hams."
"Spell?" said Neteru. "You mean that you are the one who changed everyone into stone?"
"Yes, with the help of this." said the devilish creature. He pulled out (seemingly out of nowhere) a dome like object that looked like half of a pearl with a metal covering at the bottom. By hamster standards, the stone was large enough to be carried with both paws.
"This is a little trinket I've managed to swipe from Ankorbak." said the fiend.
"Just who are you?" asked Neteru threateningly.
"I am Glabrezu." said the demon. "Scourge of all humankind. And what ham-ham are you supposed to be?"
"I'm Neteru." said Neteru
"Neteru?" said Glabrezu. "Sounds familiar. Have we met before?"
"I make a habit of not associating with such vial creatures." said Neteru.
Meanwhile, Roberto had wandered into school grounds when he suddenly noticed Glabrezu and the Ham-Hams.
"What's going on over there?" asked Roberto to himself. He sneaked over to the confrontation cautiously, tip toeing and sneaking behind the trees and bushes.
"Why would you do such a horrible thing?" asked Pashmina.
"Ookwee." said Penelope. Glabrezu just laughed.
"You foolish ham-hams." said Glabrezu. "Why do you care so much for these humans? They think they are so smart and superior with their tall stature and technology. Humans are nothing more than parasites that need to be irritated."
"That is not true." said Hamtaro. "They are our best friends and..."
"If you are supportive of the human race and then you are a traitor to all of ham-ham kind." said Glabrezu.
"Why did you change the humans into stone?" demanded Moonbeam.
"My reasons are my own." replied Glabrezu.
"And what about us?" asked Laura. "Why did you change us into hamsters?"
"You're humans?" asked Glabrezu.
"Yes, or we used to be humans, no thanks to you." said Laura
"Whoever it was that changed you into ham-hams was not me but I think the change is a real improvement." said Glabrezu.
"You didn't change us into hamsters?" asked Kana.
"No, the spell I cast was designed to change everyone into stone." explained Glabrezu. "I have no idea why you've been changed into ham-hams."
Roberto had been listening to the conversation and he was shocked and mad.
"Why that jerk." said Roberto angrily. "I autta pound his head in." He found a rock nearby and using his skills learned through soccer, he kicked the rock like a soccer ball and the rock struck Glabrezu in the back of the head.
"Ouchichi." said Glabrezu. Angered, Glabrezu spun around to face Roberto and shouted "Jevio." A gray beam of light fired from Glabrezu's finger tips and the beams struck Roberto in the head, knocking him unconscious. While Glabrezu was distracted, Terra manifested her psionics to grant her telekinetic powers. She used her telekinetics to grab the stone out of Glabrezu paws. Glabrezu quickly realized what she was doing and immediately cried out, "Vrog neagyok." Once the spell was spoken, Glabrezu immediately stomped onto the ground and a fissure began to form like a growing tare in a piece of paper. The fissure moved away from Glabrezu's feet and before it could reach Terra, Mara quickly pushed her out of harms way just as the fissure formed right under the spot where Terra was seconds before. However, that push had completely disrupted Terra's concentration and the stone fell down the fissure. As it fell, Glabrezu used his own telekinetic powers to bring the stone to himself and he clutched the stone tightly in his paws once he had it.
Moonbeam raised her staff and said, "Neloga baloca." From the jewel on her staff, a gust of freezing snow shot from it. Glabrezu saw the attack coming and he held up his paw and the ice melted as if his raised paw was conjuring an invisible wall of heat.
"You really think you have the power to beat me." said Glabrezu mockingly. "I'm no mere mortal. I am a demon from Hell itself. My power is far greater than your powers."
"We'll see about that." said Neteru. Both Mara and Neteru stood side by side as they raised their staffs and said, "Jeenallaw bock." The spell joined the two staffs in a beam of energy that formed a purple light.
"Neloga baloca." chorused Neteru and Mara and from the energy that joined the two staffs, a huge cone of swirling ice and snow shot forth and struck Glabrezu hard in the front, causing him to drop a piece of paper that he had been carrying. The paper landed onto the ground where Glabrezu used to stand. Glabrezu himself hit the ground hard, covered in cold snow, but he still held onto the stone tightly. Realizing that he was outnumbered, Glabrezu said, "You will not stop me so easily. My master, Bocka, will see to it that you will die with the rest of the human race." In a flash of purple flame, Glabrezu teleported away.
The other Ham-Hams stood there in silence.
"Do you really think he is from Hell?" asked Terra to Neteru.
"I don't know but the idea of a monster escaping from Hell is supposed to be impossible." said Neteru.
"Now what are we going to do?" asked Howdy. "We're in more trouble than a cow that is about ot be milked by a farmer with cold and needle covered hands. Hehe!"
"Despite your lousy hummer, Howdy, you're right." said Neteru. "If that stone really is from Ankorbak then it would be too powerful for me to undo. Our only chance of undoing that curse is to get that stone from Glabrezu."
"Can't we just use the Ankorbak Pylons?" asked Travis.
"No because we don't know how to work the Ankorbak Pylons and there is no way we can get everyone in town into Ankorbak in order to break the spell." said Neteru.
"So how are we going to find Glabrezu?" asked Moonbeam.
"I guess we have to relay on divination." said Neteru. Bijou's gaze turned in the direction Glabrezu was and noticed Roberto
"Look, zat poor ham-ham eez injured." said Bijou, pointing to Roberto who lay under the tree.
"We better help him." said Neteru. They ran over to Roberto, repeating "Chick-ah Chick-ah" as they did. Along the way, Bijou noticed the piece of paper that Glabrezu had left behind and she had picked it up as she ran past it.
They all gathered around Roberto as he groaned in pain. As he lay on the ground, he opened his eyes and looked up at the ham-hams.
"Are you okay, mister?" asked Sandy. Roberto sat up as he stared at them. He quickly got back onto his feet, backed up against the nearby tree, and said, "Who are you? Get away from me."
"We're not going to hurt you." said Laura.
"Leave me alone." said Roberto again. "I don't like hamsters." After hearing that statement, Laura suddenly recognized his voice.
"Roberto, is that you?" asked Laura. It was then that Roberto recognized the voice that was speaking to him.
"Laura?" asked Roberto. "is that you?"
"Yes, it's me." said Laura.
"Who's Roberto?" asked Terra. Roberto first noticed Terra when she spoke and he was surprised to see a hedgehog since he had never seen one before.
"He's a friend from school." explained Kylie to Terra.
"It's okay, Roberto." said Travis.
"Travis?" asked Roberto in surprise. "How can this be? How is it that I have become a hamster again and become surrounded by about a dozen more hamsters and a porcupine?"
"I am not a porcupine." protested Terra. "I am a hedgehog."
"Again?" asked Laura. "You mean you have been a hamster before?" There was a long pause before Roberto said, "Yes." It was then that Neteru noticed the piece of paper Bijou was holding in her paw.
"Bijou, what is that?" asked Neteru.
"Eet'z just a piece of paper." said Bijou. "Glabrezu had dropped eet."
"He did?" asked Neteru. "Let me see it." Bijou gave Neteru the paper and he examined it closely. Neteru looked at the page curiously and judging by the tare along the side of the paper, Neteru could tell that the paper must have been torn out of a book of some kind. As he looked at the writing on the paper, he realized that the paper was a map of an island called Halastia.