Temple of the Zodiac
Chapter 6: The Bungi Day Carnival
Upon reaching Seamore and Barrette's photo shop where they live, the Ham-Hams smelt like salt water and their fur was rough and sticky. All of them had to spend some time in the shower just to get the salt water out of their fur. After showering, Seamore and Barrette offered to let the Ham-Hams stay for the night and the team willingly agreed.
The Ham-Hams slept on camping mats in Seamore and Barrette's living room. The living room was small and cramped but luckily, there wasn't too many furniture that was blocking their way, making it easier to move the furniture to the side. Panda, June, Maxwell, Moonbeam, and Kylie slept soundly inside the small living room with nothing but thin blankets to keep them warm. By the next morning, they were awakened by the smell of breakfast.
"What's that delicious aroma?" was the first words that left Moonbeam's mouth as she woke up.
"It smells like something's cooking," said Panda.
"Lets go over and have some breakfast," said Maxwell.
"Okay, but my neck is still sore from this mat, though," said June rubbing her neck. The Ham-Hams got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. The kitchen was just as plain looking as the living room with some simple white cabinets, green counters, and a blue oval shaped table. Across the kitchen, they saw Barrette next to a waffle iron making waffles. She saw the Ham-Hams enter the kitchen and she said, "Hello, want some sun flower seed waffles?"
"Okay, I sure could go for some," said Moonbeam.
They all gathered around the table and began to have breakfast. Eventually, Seamore came in and joined them all for some waffles.
"So, where is the next Caidoz piece located?" asked Barrette as she poured some syrup on her waffles.
"According to the clue, it said 'the next piece is located somewhere in The Bungi Day Carnival' or something like that," said Panda.
"The Bungi Day Carnival?" said Barrette in surprise. "What a coincidence, we were planning on going there ourselves."
"You were?" asked June before taking a bite out of her waffle.
"But what is The Bungi Day Carnival?" asked Kylie.
"Today is a Halastia holiday called Bungi Day," explained Barrette. "Bungi Day celebrates the day a ham-ham sailor named Bungi had first set foot on this island and gave it its name. Using his great leadership skills and wilderness survival techniques, Bungi scoured the island and mapped it. Shortly afterwards, Bungi began the construction of cities there and years later, his grandson organized Halastia's first government."
"Bungi Day is celebrated every year with a carnival that takes place in a neighboring city called Bonnlay," said Seamore.
"But why would the piece be at the carnival?" asked Maxwell as he grabbed another waffle.
"We've never been there before but we do know that the carnival has many contests where contestants win all sorts of valuable and expensive prizes," explained Seamore.
"So the Caidoz piece must be one of the prizes of the carnival," said Maxwell and he poured syrup on his waffle.
"Sure looks like it," said Seamore.
"How will we get to the carnival?" asked June.
"Our train leaves at ten AM so we should be there at the train station very soon," said Barrette.
"Then we better eat a good breakfast because we've got some games to play," said Moonbeam.
After breakfast, the Ham-Hams, Barrette, Seamore, and the hamans got ready to go to Bonnlay to see the carnival. The Ham-Hams once again got to admire the sights of Zolphville as they all walked to the train station. The train looked more like a toy train, even from their perspective, yet it still ran like any ordinary train. The interior of the train's cars were filled with rows upon rows of soft fabric seats which were more comfortable to sit on than they looked. Once the Ham-Hams arrived at Bonnlay, they once again had to walk through the town of Bonnlay to get to the carnival. Bonnlay was a much more smaller town than Zolphville. It had small buildings and simple dirt roads that exist along miles and miles of open land. It didn't have fancy public transportation like Zolphville nor did it have large crowds of ham-hams.
"Are we there yet?" asked Panda. "My feet are beginning to hurt." After walking non-stop for over an hour, all of them was beginning to become tired.
"Don't worry, we should be there any minute now," answered Seamore but as soon as he said that, their first sight of the carnival was spotted by Moonbeam.
"Look, I see it," said Moonbeam pointing forwards. In the distance, they could see what defiantly looked like a carnival of some kind. There were clearly some crowds of hamsters gathering around the entrance to a small carnival and they could see all the large tents and rides even from a distance. Excited, the Ham-Hams ran towards the carnival, repeating "Badda-Badda" as they ran.
As they got closer to the carnival, they began to see the large wooden banner over the entrance which read, "Bungi Day Carnival." There were crowds of Ham-Hams who had gathered in line to buy tickets to the carnival and the line stretched far into the streets.
"With this line, we could be standing here all day just to get in," said Kylie.
"Don't worry, we bought our tickets online," said Barrette. "All we have to do is go to the entrance and show them the tickets we printed out."
"Oh great," said Maxwell. "Lets go inside." They walked over to the ticket master in a booth beside the entrance. The ticket master was light orange in color and he wore a red and white striped shirt with vertical stripes and he also wore green sun glasses. He leaned over to the speaker on the window and said, "Ticket's please." Barrette showed him some printed pieces of paper which had ticket information written on it. The ticket master took the papers and then opened the small gate, allowing the Ham-Hams inside the carnival.
At first glance, the carnival looked no different than the Ham-Ham Fun Park except that it had a bigger crowd of hamsters who were waiting in lines to ride the rides and play the games. Many of the games were located in the tents either out of sight or with one end of the tents open to allow others to see what's inside. All the tents had red and white vertical stripes just like the shirt the ticket master was wearing. The Ham-Hams repeated "Ticky-Ticky" as they walked through the carnival, admiring all the rides and all the games that were around them.
"Wow, this is so cool," said June. "I want to play on some of those basket ball hoops."
"I want to try the ring toss," said Kylie.
"Look, a shooting ring," said Panda. "I got to try that."
"Now guys, we didn't come here just to play a few carnival games," said Maxwell. "We came here to find that Caidoz piece."
"Oh yeah," said Panda miserably. "But how will we find the piece?"
"I could use my powers to find it," said Moonbeam. "I can cast a spell that will enable me to sense any form of magical relic here in this city."
"Well, give it a go," said June. Moonbeam placed the stone the end of her staff to her forehead and began to say an incantation, "Vurok monnaugic zoogan vifga." As she talked, the stone on her staff began to glow, causing a few passerby's to stare in curiosity as as she performed the spell. Once she was done pronouncing the spell, the staff stopped glowing and Moonbeam removed the staff from her forehead.
"Did you find it?" asked Kylie.
"I senesced a magical force in this direction," said Moonbeam as she pointed to her right.
"Well lets go and see if we can find it there," said Maxwell. The Ham-Hams ran off in the direction of the Caidoz piece, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they ran.
Eventually, the Ham-Hams encountered a crowd which had gathered around a wooden stage. Everyone in the crowd was anxiously awaiting for something but the Ham-Hams couldn't tell what it was.
"Are you sure that the piece is here?" asked Maxwell.
"This is where I felt the magical energy," insisted Moonbeam.
"Perhaps if we wait here, we would be able to see it or find out how to win it," suggested June.
"Well, I don't think we have much other choice in the matter," said Maxwell.
"Very well, then we wait," said Moonbeam. They didn't have to wait long because at that moment, a rather fat looking hamster walked onto the stage. He was light brown all over and he wore a dark gray vest and a black top hat. The crowd cheered as the hamster walked on stage as if he was a celebrity of some kind. The fat ham-ham walked up to a microphone and talked into it, causing his voice to echo from the stereos.
"Welcome my fellow ham-hams," said the fat ham-ham. "My name is Morigun, owner of Solvix Inc. and the sponsor of this years carnival. As you may all know, this is the time where we start off the Bungi Tournament. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a contest that is held every year where two teams of five will compete in four different challenges, earning points for their team."
"What is the the Bungi Tournament?" asked Maxwell to Barrette while Morigun kept talking.
"The tournament is a traditional event to the carnival," explained Barrette. "I heard that the challenges for each year changes and they don't reveal the new challenges until the day of the contest." Maxwell nodded his head in acknowledgment before turning his attention back to Morigun.
"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what the prize will be this year," continued Morigun. "Well, this year's prize has been donated courteously by Ruby's Jewels. It's an actual hand made necklace made of authentic stones and jewels making this little piece of jewelry worth over four hundred keyomes." (AN: keyomes is a form of ham-ham currency) Morigun walked over to a large chest on the stage and opened it with a key. Morigun then reached into the chest and pulled out a large gold necklace. There were some cheers from the crowd as they all got to have a look at the necklace. The string of the necklace was covered in gold beads that wrapped around the necklace. Attached to the necklace was several beautiful stones that decorated the front of the necklace. But the one quality of the necklace that really caught Maxwell's attention was that hanging from the necklace was a Caidoz piece.
"Heke?" said Maxwell in surprise. "You guys, there's a Caidoz piece hanging on that necklace."
"Heke?" chorused the Ham-Hams.
"Are you sure?" asked June.
"Positive," said Maxwell. Before they could discuss the situation, Morigun began talking again.
"And now that we have our prize, lets bring out our contestants." From off the stage, five Ham-Hams climbed onto the stage and walked up to Morigun. The five ham-hams waved at the crowds in a show-off kind of fashion as if they were self-centered actors enjoying the applause of their fans. They stood side by side right next to Morigun who said, "You may all remember these five as last year's winners. They are Drake, Marcy, Tia, Doji, and Toritaka." The audience applaud loudly as the names of the contestants were announced. Drake was a rather tall hamster with orange fur on the back and white on the front and long droopy ears. Marcy was gray in color and had too long pig tails tied with blue ribbons on the end of them. Tia looked like Marcy but she had charcoal gray fur and no pig tails. Doji had a dark gray head with the rest of his fur white. He also had squinted eyes. Toritaka had flaming red fur with a matching head band tied to her head. The head band had a yin/yang symbol on the front.
"These five contestants are team one of the tournament," continued Morigun. "Now lets bring out team two." The crowd began to applaud, expecting team two to come out, but for some reason, the next team did not come up. Everyone was confused about this, including Morigun who stared blankly. A ham-ham walked up to Morigun and whispered something into his ear. Morigun then turned to the crowd and said, "Ladies and gentlehams, I'm afraid to announce that the second team has not shown up to the tournament." Disappointed ham-hams moaned in frustration. "It looks like we will need a replacement team in order to continue the tournament. Who wants to be in the tournament?"
"We do!" cried Maxwell from the crowd.
"I see we have a volunteer," said Morigun.
"What are you doing, Max?" asked Moonbeam.
"This is our chance to win that Caidoz piece," said Maxwell.
"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" said Morigun from the stage. "Come on up." nervously, the Ham-Hams worked their way through the cheering crowd to the stage.
The Ham-Hams made their way to the stage and they climbed up on top of it so they could join Morigun.
"So, what are your names?" asked Morigun. The Ham-Hams introduced themselves by name and then Morigun said into the microphone, "I now bring to you team two which includes Maxwell, Moonbeam, Panda, June, and Kylie. These two teams will battle it out for the grand prize." The crowd cheered with excitement. "Well, enough with the introductions and lets begin the game." The crowd continued to cheer loudly and applauded for the ham-hams in the tournament. Meanwhile, Panda leaned over to Maxwell and said, "I hope you know what you're doing."
The Ham-Hams, as well as their opponents and the audience, were led across the carnival to what appeared to be a pool that was one foot in diameter and three inches deep (which is about the size of a large kiddy pool to a hamster's perspective) and within this pool was some small red, blue, and green balls that floated on the surface of the water. Each of the balls had rings attached to their tops. The Ham-Hams, as well as their opponents, were led to the side of a small wooden platform with rectangle shaped blue buckets nailed to the side. Morigun stepped onto the platform and said to the gathering crowd, "Everyone, welcome to the first round of the tournament. The rules of this game is simple. One ham-ham from each team shall sit on this platform and, while using these custom made fishing rods, they will try and fish these balls out of the pool within three minutes. The green balls are worth five points, the blue balls are worth ten points, and the red balls are worth twenty points. Each contestant has five minutes to catch as many balls as they can. The winner of this game will win their team one point. Now, will your teams please step up and pick who will play this game." The crowds began to cheer as the two teams began to talk amongst each other to find out who would be the best for the round.
"So who's going to be in this game?" asked Moonbeam.
"Well, hardly any of us are good at fishing except for Boss but he's not here right now," said Panda.
"I've never fished in my life," said June.
"Neither have I," said Kylie.
"Well someone's going to have to get up there," said Maxwell.
"Fine, I'll do it," said Moonbeam.
"Do you know how to fish?" asked Kylie.
"Well, my dad used to fish with me before he died," said Moonbeam. Moonbeam never did mention to the humans how her entire family had been brutally murdered, especially since Moonbeam didn't like to talk about it.
"Okay Moonbeam, you can be in this game," said Maxwell. Moonbeam gave her staff to Maxwell and then made her way to the platform. She climbed onto the platform and as she did, her opponent got onto the platform next to her. Her opponent was Toritaka who gave Moonbeam a sinister grin which was made even more sinister with her head band on. Moonbeam cast a nervous glance at Seamore and Barrette who stood in the crowd watching her. Both gave her reassuring smiles despite how grim the situation is.
Moonbeam and Toritaka were handed two long fishing rods with a short line and a hook attached to the end of it. Morigun shouted out to the two contestants, "Okay, begin fishing in five, four, three, two, one, go." Moonbeam and Toritaka began to use their lines to fish out the little balls that floated on top of the small pool. The Ham-Hams began cheering words of encouragement to Moonbeam as she fished the little balls out of the pool. Moonbeam attempted to catch the red balls but their rings were a lot smaller than the green or blue balls. After an entire minute had past, Moonbeam had managed to catch only one red ball and had placed it inside the bucket attached to the side of the platform. Meanwhile, Toritaka had managed to catch five balls already, four of them were blue balls while one was a green ball. Beginning to panic, Moonbeam began to focus on all the green balls. The green balls were easier to catch but after another minute, she had only caught five of them which was worth only 25 points. With only one minute remaining, Moonbeam struggled to catch some of the blue balls but at this point, Toritaka had already taken a lot of the green and blue balls and she already started on catching the red balls. Desperate to catch up, Moonbeam went for the red balls and managed to catch three of them before the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the round.
Moonbeam and Toritaka stepped off the platforms and waited next to their teams as the judges counted all the balls they had collected.
"I did a horror job," said Moonbeam who was on the verge of tears.
"Oh, don't cry, Moonbeam," said Panda. "None of us could have done any better."
"Yeah, and we still have four more rounds," said Maxwell. "There's still hope." The crowd began to fall silent as Morigun came up and said, "Okay, the score has been counted and points stand thus. Moonbeam has managed to earn a score of 1520 points in this game but Toritaka has managed to earn a grand total of 2475 points making team one the winners of this round." There were cheers as team one began to celebrate their victory.
"Now folks, if you all come with me, we will begin the next round," said Morigun over the cheers.
The crowd was led to a tent located not far from the fishing game. Part of the tent was wide open, revealing one of those old fashioned shooting rinks with all sorts of targets such as wooden ducks, cowboys, rabbits, etc. As the crowd gathered around the shooting rink, Morigun said, "Now in this round, our contestants will take these guns and shoot at the targets." Morigun picked up one of the rink's riffles to present to the crowd. "These guns are specially designed to keep track of the shooter's score which is displayed on this small screen." Morigun pointed to a small screen located just behind the riffle's sight. "The ham-ham with the highest score is the winner of this round. Okay teams, pick your contestants." The Ham-Hams huddled together to talk to each other.
"Who of us has had experience with firing weapons?" asked Maxwell.
"Well, I did use an old sling shot when I was just a ham-babe but that was a long time ago," said Panda.
"I guess you will have to do," said Maxwell.
"Okay, I'll do it," said Panda nervously before walking over to the shooting rink, ready to begin the game.
Panda's opponent was Doji who picked up his rifle with total confidence. Panda was nervous since he had only read about how to use a rifle. He held the gun with both hands and prepared to get ready to shoot.
"Okay, you have three minutes to finish the game," said Morigun to Panda and Doji. "Ready, go." Once again, the crowd began cheering as Panda and Doji fired at the moving targets in the rink. Loud "bangs" and "clinks" were heard as Panda fired at the targets with determination however, he was having a hard time hitting the targets. Doji on the other hand worked his gun with professionalism and he easily hit each of his targets. When the buzzer rang, signaling the end of the game, Morigun said to the crowd, "Now, I shall check each of their guns to see who won this round." Morigun walked over to Panda and looked at the numbers that were displayed on the gun.
"28 points," announced Morigun and the crowd cheered in response. Morigun then walked over to Doji and looked at the score on his gun. "54 points, we have a winner." As the crowd cheered in celebration, the Ham-Hams once again groaned in defeat. They were now losing by zero to two. This was not good.
The next round was held at what appeared to be one of those miniature basket ball games you commonly see at carnivals with the nets enclosing a miniature version of a basket ball court. However, in this game, there was four hoops instead of two.
"This game is a simple basket ball game," explained Morigun to the crowd. "Two contestants from each team will compete in this game and since this game is worth two points instead of one, this could mean victory of defeat for team two. The way how it is played is that two contestants from each team will come up to a chosen hoop and their goal is to get the ball into their hoops to win points. The team with the most points wins. Now teams, pick your players." The Ham-Hams huddled again so they could talk.
"I've never played basket ball," said Panda.
"Nether have I," said Maxwell.
"Kylie and I can do it," said June.
"You could?" asked Moonbeam.
"Oh yeah, we are good at shooting hoops," said Kylie.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" asked Moonbeam. "Get over there and good luck."
June and Kylie's opponents were Marcy and Tia who stepped in front of the next two baskets over beside Kylie and June. As before, the two teams had three minutes to earn as many points as they could. Once the buzzer rang, they began throwing basket balls at the hoops. Electronic numbers indicated how much points they were earning as the contestants threw the balls into the air. To everyone's surprise, June and Kylie really were good at basket ball and their scores were climbing faster than Marcy and Tia's. When the buzzer finally rang, the judges counted the score and told Morigun the winner.
"Looks like the winners of this round rests with June and Kylie who won by 58 to 44, bringing the final score tied by two and two," said Morigun. The crowd cheered with joy but their cheers were not as loud as the Ham-Hams who were congratulating June and Kylie for a job well done.
"You two were wonderful," said Maxwell.
"Yeah, you were great," said Panda.
"Thanks, I told you we would beat 'em," said June.
"Lets not get over excited," said Maxwell. "There is still one more game left and the result of this next game will decide it all."
With the tension thick, everyone followed Morigun through the carnival to their next round. Strangely enough, the next round was located outside of the park and into the bare dirt grounds that surround the carnival. Waiting for them was what appeared to be a small table of some kind and upon closer inspection, the Ham-Hams realized that what they were looking at was nothing more than a small table with a chess board on top. Everyone gathered around the table, anxious to find out what will happen. Morigun stepped up to the table and said, "This is our fifth and final round. The winner of this round, wins their team the prize. Now, as you can see, this is but an ordinary chess game. The object of the game is to capture as many of your opponent's pieces as you can within five minutes. Each of the pieces offers points and the one with the most points is the winner. Pawns are worth one point, knights and bishops are worth two points, Rooks are worth three points, and the queens are worth five points. If one of the players manages to get a checkmate within the five minutes, the game ends with that ham-ham as the winner regardless of the score. Now teams, pick your players." The Ham-Hams gathered together as they began to talk about what they are going to do.
"We should have Maxwell be in this one since he is the only one who knows how to play chess," said Panda.
"True but I've never had to play a game of chess within five minutes," said Maxwell.
"You've got to try, Max," said Moonbeam.
"Yeah, you're our only chance," said June. Maxwell sighed, knowing how much rested upon him.
Maxwell and his opponent Drake sat down in small wooden chairs located on opposite sides of the table. Maxwell got the black pieces while Drake ended up with the white. Morigun stood over them and said, "Now, you all know how to play chess so you both must play by the rules which means that Drake should have the first move since he is the white piece. Remember, you have only five minutes to take down as many of your opponents pieces as possible. Ready, set, go." Drake and Maxwell began the game, moving their pieces quickly while not allowing themselves too much time to think about the consequences of their chosen moves. Maxwell allowed himself more time to think about his moves while Drake was more random and aggressive. Maxwell's slow and steady plan was not having much affect because Drake's aggressive maneuvers continued to take down Maxwell's pieces. Maxwell's pieces were dropping like flies and after four minutes, he was left with only a few pawns, a queen, his king, and two rooks. There was now only one minute remaining and with the few pieces that he had captured from Drake, it seemed that Maxwell was going to lose. As Maxwell began to examine his board, he realized a mistake that Drake had made. Maxwell had taken the time to keep his king safe while Drake had not been paying attention to his king at all. Infact, it stood on the other end of the board right behind a line of pawns which blocked it from moving. If a queen or a rook were to reach the far end of the board, it would result in a checkmate, enabling Maxwell to win the game but Drake's queen was in the way. If he could some how move the queen, he could checkmate the king and win the game but how was he going to do that?
Thinking fast, Maxwell deliberately placed his queen in position where the piece could be captured by Drake's queen. Drake took the bait and captured the queen. Seizing the opportunity, Maxwell moved his rook to the other end of the board and said, "Checkmate." Drake's eyes bugged out of his head as he realized his mistake. When Morigun leaned over to examine the board, he said, "He did make a checkmate. Maxwell is the winner." There were cheers of joy from the crowd, especially from the Ham-Hams who had been ready to pass out from all the anticipation. The crowd of ham-hams gathered around Maxwell and lifted him over their heads. The crowd began repeating Maxwell's name over and over again in celebration and all Maxwell had to do was sit back and listen to all the applauds.
After winning the necklace, they all walked towards the train station, repeating "Ticky-Ticky" as they walked. Maxwell's attention was on the necklace where he attempted to remove the wires that held the Caidoz piece to the necklace.
"Grooba," said Maxwell as he pulled the last wire off, enabling him to hold the Caidoz piece now free from the necklace.
"So, what are we going to do with this prize?" asked Moonbeam.
"Well, after I cut off these wires, I'm going to give them to Sandy," said Maxwell, blushing a bit.
"Oh, going to give it to your girlfriend, huh?" said June tauntingly. Maxwell blushed so much that his face looked bright red. He was so embarrassed that he began to rub his head, repeating "Kushi-Kushi" as he did.
"By the way, we still have to activate the piece," said Kylie.
"Oh yeah," said Maxwell. "I'll do it first." Maxwell placed his paw on the Caidoz piece and said the incantation. "I am the sun, I am the moon. I am the clear blue sea. A gift from the stars, a gift to all. May this piece show it's sign to me." Instantly, the piece began to glow brightly in a purplish red (also known as burgundy) light which, just like the other pieces, lit up the area in its glow. Right before Maxwell's eyes, a zodiac sign engraved itself onto the piece. The symbol looked like an "M" with the third point on the far right end ending with an upwards raised arrow. This was Maxwell's zodiac sign: Scorpio. Eventually, the piece stopped glowing, leaving behind the burgundy colored symbol which softly glowed.
"Wow, which sign is that one?" asked Panda.
"This is Scorpio," explained Maxwell.
"As in scorpions?" asked Barrette.
"Yep," said Maxwell.
"You know, now that we have the piece, that means our work here is done," said Panda.
"Yep, we can now leave for the next boat back home by tomorrow," said Maxwell.
"That's great," said Moonbeam. "I just hope the others are doing okay." Little did Moonbeam know that the other Ham-Hams were already in the middle of their own adventures.
