The Journey

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It seemed like Hamtaro had just fallen asleep when he heard Laura's happy morning peppiness. "Good morning Hamtaro!" she squealed at him as she usually did. Why was she so happy all the time? Hamtaro shook his head and yawned. "Bye Hamtaro!" she said as she ran out the door. Hamtaro began to think of what he had fallen asleep thinking about. 'It's crazy,' he told himself. 'But I think it has to be done.' He squeezed under his door and between the crack again. Down, down, down, plop.

"Hey Brandy!" Hamtaro said as he fell off and scurried towards the park. Brandy yawned and went back to sleep. Hamtaro ran as fast as his feet could carry him, he didn't want to miss Panda. "Eeek!" he screamed as a tire almost ran him over, crossing a street. He continued to scurry towards the forest. He had been by here yesterday, the forest was past the field they had been in. He ran through the wheat, finally reaching the beginnings of the forest. He stood in front of the tree that Panda had been behind the day before. He decided to practice what he would say on the tree.

"I want to come with you," he began. "Everyone is worried but maybe we could get everyone to come." Suddenly Panda walked around from behind the tree.

"Really?" he asked. Hamtaro jumped a bit.

"Um, yes." he said, blushing for some reason.

"Then lets grab some food and go, and I'll introduce you to him."

"Really?"

"Yup." Hamtaro slowly got next to Panda. "And we're off!" Panda said as he started walking into the field again. "Do the Ham-Hams know your coming?"

"No, I didn't tell anyone I wanted to join you. I didn't even tell anyone that I knew where you were," Hamtaro said proudly.

"Good."

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They continued through the field, more slowly this time, not in any kind of hurry. Hamtaro started wondering what his new life would be like. Adventurous, fun, new. But then he thought of how sad Laura would be...he shook the thought out of his head. Suddenly, before he knew it, they were at the park. "Alright, we're here!" Panda said triumphantly.

"Huh?" Hamtaro asked. "What can we get here?"

"Why of course, a drink from the fountain and sunflower seeds!" he said running off towards a huge fountain in the middle of the park. "But hurry, if you dont go quick someone will see you!" Hamtaro nervously looked around and ran in Panda's direction. He climbed up the side of the fountain, and into the shallow water. He drank big gulps of it, thirsty from running to find Panda. Then he saw Panda getting out so he followed him.

"Where are the sunflowers?" Hamtaro asked. He hadn't been to the park very much.

"Right here," Panda told him as he stopped. Hamtaro looked up and saw at least a dozen tall sunflowers. Then he looked down by his feet. Hunderds of sunflower seeds lay there on the ground. It was truly hamster heaven. He began picking up as many as he could carry. Panda carefully packed him into a tiny back pack and carried some in his arms. "We can share, it'll be plenty before tomorrow." he said with a smile. "Lets go, so you can meet Yuji." Hamtaro looked confused.

"Who's Yugi?" he asked.

"The human boy, duh!" Panda laughed. "Come on."

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Hamtaro and Panda walked slowly back through the field again, making sure not to drop any sunflower seeds. They finally got to the forest again. This is as far as Hamtaro had ever came. He looked into the big forest with the many trees. "It was scary at first," Panda said, breaking the silence.

"What was?" Hamtaro asked.

"Going into the forest," he replied back.

"How did you know thats what I was th-" Hamtaro started.

"I know." Panda replied. It was silent for a second. "But, it gets better." Panda grabbed Hamtaro's hand and led him into the dark, cold forest.

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"Where is he?" Bijou asked impatiently and worried, deffiently more worried then she was about Panda.

"Maybe he's.." Cappy yawned. "Gone missing too."

"Where the heck IS everybody!" Boss asked irritably. "Hamtaro wouldn't just wander off on his own."

"He seemed nervous yesterday," Oxnard said, playing with his sunflower seed. Suddenly everyone crowded around him.

"Nervous?" Maxwell asked. "How? This could be valuable information to my 'case'."

"What case?" Dexter asked.

"The Case of the Missing Hamsters, of course!" Maxwell said as he pulled out a book. "This book is about a detective. He solves all sorts of mysteries. I bet I could be just like him!"

"I know where they are!" Howdy laughed. Everyone was quiet, obviously waiting for an answer. "They're not here! Hyuk hyuk hyuk!" he laughed stupidly. The Ham-Ham's just shook their heads, as in thinking 'Do I know him?'

"Well anyways, answer the question. How was he nervous?" Maxwell asked, looking at Oxnard again.

"Uh, well, he wasn't listening to me at all, and he was real fast to get back to his house." Oxnard scratched his chin as in thinking. "Thats about it."

Maxwell thought hard about this for a moment. "I have no idea why." The Ham-Ham's sighed.

"And he's supposed to be the smart one!" Howdy laughed.