CFB: Well, here's the LAST installment of Guardian Towers. It's been a fun ride. I meant to have this up last night (I was on editing stuff and whatnot till, like, 2AM, but I fell asleep watching some horror movie...) but I don't think anyone was on reading then...oh, well, unless I factor time zones...anyway, it's here now. Lol. It's a sad feeling. But gratifying.
Thanks:
Macarov: Thank you very much! I was going to do the sequel no matter what people said anyway...but I'm glad you want one! I'm also glad you liked the ending, I hope you like the epilogue, and I hope the sequel will be up to par. And I also look forward to your next fic. I'm sure it's going to be great, since your first one was so good.
Awsomewriter123: Thanks! I'm glad you found the adventure enjoyable, and I hope you like the last chapters when you get to them. I look forward to reading more of your work, too, now that I have time.
And, overall, I thank Dolphinsweetheart16 (my first reviewer) Crystalgurl101, Awsomewriter123, Michaia, Macarov, and CN. Plus, anyone else who reviews this at a later date and I won't have a chance to thank. There's nothing better than being favorited (in some cases) and getting good reviews from such great writers. I appreciate it.
This time: We find out what happens to the ham-hams, Laura, and even Spyke after Hamwall and such. Plus, at the end, a small summary of the sequel.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hamtaro or any of its characters...I own all characters and concepts not related to the original Hamtaro franchise.
Enjoy!
Epilogue: All I Ever Wanted
"What's going on?" Siren demanded playfully, a smile gracing her face as she was led down the dim tunnel, hazy eyes covered by a blue and grey checkered blindfold. Panda, who was leading her, just smirked teasingly and said in a sing-song voice, "You'll see..."
It had been exactly on week since the fateful visit to the ruins of ancient Hamwall and the defeat of Spyke. Siren had been resting and healing during that duration, still stopping by daily at the Clubhouse to see her friends. However exhausted she was by defending the world, no force in the galaxy could prevent her from finding time to spend with her new friends, the ham-hams, who she knew would stick with her through thick and thin and vice versa. Hamtaro was equally as fatigued as she, but came to the Clubhouse every day with a smile, regardless, and even went to pick up Bijou each day so they could make the walk together.
Siren shook her head, still grinning her lopsided grin, but continued walking, Panda holding her paw for guidance. Soon, Siren could hear excited voices, and she knew they were nearing the familiar green door to enter the Clubhouse. Her heart began to beat faster, and she began to feel an odd sense of deja vu. "Remember, no peeking!" Panda warned loudly, and, as they heard him, the voices on the other side of the door fell silent and the door creaked open.
Suddenly, Panda untied her blindfold and a shocking sight met Siren's blinking eyes.
Confetti cascaded down upon her head, blue, gray, red, and gold, in honor of the Guardian's two forms, and an eruption of noise filled her ears. Swatting the confetti away from her face, which had been released from a ball hanging from the ceiling and then opened by a string pulled by Stan, Siren asked, bewildered, "Wh-what's this?"
"SURPRISE!" the ham-hams, all wearing matching, bright blue party hats, cheered loudly, blowing on party favors and smiling brightly at the surprised ham-ham. Blue and gold streamers hung all around the room, accenting the heap of confetti that now clung to the floor like a new rug. It didn't take long for Siren to realize that the setup was for a party, but, as Cappy bounded up to her and strapped a bright party hat to her head, she couldn't help but wonder what the party was for.
She soon got her answer. "We realized that, since we never knew the real you until after we went to Hamwall..." Hamtaro started cheerily.
"We deecided to have a one week anniversary party, celebrating ze first week we really knew everyzing about you, Siren!" Bijou finished, daintily fixing her cerulean party hat and adjusting her matching ribbons.
Siren was in awe, eyes dancing with a surprised happiness. "You guys didn't have to do that..." She mumbled, blushing ten shades of scarlet.
"Of course we did!" Boss exclaimed, slapping her on the back and making her teeter forward. "You're an official ham-ham for life, and you and Hamtarp did save the world, after all..."
"Yeah, there's that..." Siren agreed jokingly, smiling wider, her lopsided grin lighting up her once tired features. She noticed a long, rolled up banner hanging on the wall and being held up by a grinning Howdy and Dexter, standing precariously on stepladders. From the excited looks on the ham-hams faces, she could tell that it was important. "What's that thing?" She asked, tilting her head to one side, filled with curiosity.
A smile lit up on every single ham-ham's face as Siren stared wonderingly at the rolled up banner. All of a sudden, Dexter and Howdy both released their ends, unfurling the vibrant and illustrious poster that would be the biggest and best surprise of the entire party.
Siren was stunned.
There, emblazoned on the banner, were the two astounding forms of the Guardian. They were both flying gracefully, though in opposite directions, on raven wings and phoenix wings, with cold blue eyes and intense crimson ones. Siren saw herself reflected in the splendid artistry, from the black marks on both faces of the beasts to the tips of the flowing, ribbon-like tails, twisting in the wind. They were the two sides of her inner self, and she had never seen it depicted so beautifully. This art was unmatched, even by the official depiction of the Guardian in the books.
"Tadah!" The ham-hams cheered, awaiting her reaction.
It took her a moment to overcome speechlessness and find her tongue. "It's amazing! Who...?" She asked, barely able to choke the words out through the tears of joy forming in her eyes.
Panda stepped forward proudly. "Me," He said simply, but then added, "Pashmina and Bijou helped a lot with the painting, and Cappy really helped with the drawing, and Boss provided the paper. Maxwell got me a copy of the picture of the Guardian to look at, but we had to wing the other form. I did the basic outline and then selected the shades of color and mapped where they should go, making sure it fit the appropriate dimensions so it wouldn't look disproportionate from any angle."
Siren stared at him blankly, blinking. "I understood about one word of that. But it's awesome!" She suddenly wrapped both him and Cappy, her two closest hammos, in a vicious bear hug, while Bijou, Sandy and Pashmina giggled.
After the embrace, Siren said, voice growing thick, "I don't know how I can ever thank you guys..." She wiped a tear from her eye. It was true. She was now enjoying life as a ham-ham, as they had graciously invited her to do, and had the best friends she could ever imagine. How could she ever express her gratitude enough for such gestures?
"Just one thing..." Sandy started.
"Name it!"
"Next time the world is in danger because of an evil Emperor being reincarnated and an old legend or prophecy is about to be fullfilled and you're a huge deciding factor in it...tell us!" Maxwell finished.
This brought laughter to the entire room, lifting spirits, and Siren regarded her new friends with bright azure eyes, looking to each one with an ear-to-ear grin. She could now say she was truly happy, really and honestly happy, for the first time in her young life. And the creature harbored in her inner self felt the same, as she could feel its powerful emotions intertwining with her own. This place was where she honestly belonged, and she had the ham-hams to thank for making her feel so alive.
"Deal."
"Hello?"
"Hey Laura! It's Kana."
"Hi Kana, what's up? You seem very cheerful today..." Laura grinned cheerfully, twirling the phone cord around her finger as she sat backwards on the kitchen chair, her parents watching a television movie in the next room. It had been a week since the fateful pool party, and her life had fairly reverted back to normal, except for a couple of things. Hamtaro, for one, seemed a lot more...heroic, lately, and she didn't quite know why. But every now and then she would catch him waving one paw around like it was a sword or something.
"I am cheerful! You see, Kylie's having a pool party at her house in two days and she asked me to call and ask if you can come! It'll be great fun! and Lance called to ask if I was going, which makes it even better," Kana chattered excitedly. "Everybody's coming. Think you can make it?"
Laura pondered this, realizing that she didn't have any plans for the rest of the summer. "I probably can..." After what had happened at Mika's, she wasn't sure if she was ready to face that kind of drama again, with the whole love triangle thing going on with Mika, Travis, and Reese, and games she wasn't sure she was ready for. But instantly, an image of a certain orange-haired nuiscance filled her mind, and she decided otherwise. Maybe it would be fun...
She ran into the other room to ask her parents, praying that they would agree. A split second later, she bounced back into the kitchen, grinning hugely. "Yeah, I just asked my parents and they gave the okay. It sounds great! Hey..." She asked innocently, tracing her finger absently along the frame of the chair she was sitting in, hoping Kana couldn't hear the eager edge to her voice over the phone, "Do you know if Roberto is coming?"
There was a pause, and Laura could imagine Kana's brow furrowing with confusion, as her best friend had just uttered Roberto's name without growling or snarling it. But she replied, a bit hesitantly, "Uh...last I heard he was. Why?"
"...No reason."
"Finally."
His voice was raspy from dehydration, crimson eyes drained of their luster. He was literally dragging his tattered body across the barren wasteland, panting, muscles screaming with the effort. Even breathing was a chore for him now, having gone days without substantial food an surviving on what little water and scraps there was in this scorched terrain. The sun was pounding relentlessly upon his battered form, black cape ripped and full of ragged holes, but still hanging limply from his thin, bony shoulders. He had been traveling for a week now, back to the place he had always despised, but the only place he could go to now, after such a horrifying defeat.
The Dark Lands, his native home.
The now useless Sword of Havoc was strapped across his back, concealed by his tattered cape, the only proof he had ever been at Hamwall when the legend was fullfilled by Siren, Hamtaro, and those blasted ham-hams. He had prayed that he could eventually pretend that the whole humliating loss was all a bad dream, but the dead sword on his back was a constant reminder of his great tragedy.
As he dragged himself over a blistering hill, he could at last see the sturdy huts made from the dark, blackened sand, looming before him and coming ever closer as he inched slowly forward. Soon, he was among them, and felt a tightening in his stomach as he entered the place of his birth. He collapsed in the middle of town square as soon as he reached it, no sounds around him, his final ounce of strength spent. He lay there alone, physically and emotionally drained, sun blaring down on him and making his fur feel like it was ignited.
Suddenly, he heard the padding of footsteps, many of them, coming nearer and nearer as he lay weary in the blazing sand. He could feel many pairs of intense eyes, from blue to crimson, like his, trying hard to place his weathered face in their memories. He dared not open his eyes, lest they remember quicker.
Still, one remembered him instantly.
"Ah. Spyke! You have returned to us."
Spyke used a great amount of effort and rolled onto his back, squinting through the bright sunlight to see the owner of the voice. A gruff looking hamster, somewhat similar in appearance to himself, approached him with his head held high. He had mahogany colored ears and a large brown spot over his left eye, as well as heavy bangs obscuring his vivid red eyes, startlingly akin to Spyke's scarlet orbs. He alone stood over Spyke's fatigued body, no one else daring to venture closer, a crooked grin twisted on his handsome, furry face as his shadow cast itself across Spyke's exhausted body. It was the face that had haunted Spyke for a long time.
"Shut it, Sprint."
Sprint shrugged Spyke's harsh tone off and said, "We wondered when you would return." He tossed a canteen of water up, hitting Spyke in the stomach and causing him to grunt with pain. Spyke, reluctantly muttering his thanks, guzzled the water without taking a breath. When he finished, he tossed it away carelessly, sitting up and wiping the corners of his still-dry mouth.
Sprint's brilliant eyes narrowed into a ferocious glare, though he cast his eyes to the sky instead of looking at Spyke. In a clipped tone, he said, "Mother and father have worried so much about you. Unfortunately, they are not here to greet you. They worried terribly, especially mother, and both grew depressed. It led to their death, big brother. We are the last remaining of our clan. Is that what you were aiming for, when you left?"
Spyke seemed unfazed by this news. His parents hadn't believed in him, either, and hadn't invested much in him when he was younger, instead choosing to relay their affections and attention onto his 'remarkably-talented' little brother, Sprint, so, naturally, he missed them not. Even if they had been upset when he left, it was their doubt he would always remember. Sprint picked the discarded canteen up and replaced the cap, telling a stout, young hamster to go and refill it with fresh, cool water from one of the many wells in the town. Now all the hamsters surrounding the two brothers were whispering, finally remembering the Dark Land native Spyke and his strange disappearance a year before.
"Is that the lad who went off in search of that legend?"
"Yeah, didn't he actually believe it?"
"What a fool!"
"I think he was just humiliated that he was the only one who believed!"
"Pathetic..."
Spyke, trying in vain to ignore the whispers all around him, was focused on the sneering face of Sprint. He was taller now, even taller than Spyke, despite being a full year and a half younger. His face had matured, and he had a regal air about him, like he had grown up in more ways than just physically. He was instantly reminded of how he had been mercilessly compared to his younger brother since the latter's birth, and felt even worse, seeing Sprint so much more intimidating than he had ever been. He would never amount to what Sprint was, especially in this emaciated, humiliating state.
"So...brother. Did the Legend come true?" Sprint asked innocently, though his tone was biting. He had never known the full reason why his older brother had abandoned them, so there was a trace of resentment in his voice.
Spyke glared at him, a flicker of his old animosity glowing in his scarlet eyes. "Why do you care, Sprint? You wouldn't believe me anyway..." He spat angrily, feeling helpless against the mob that surrounded and towered over him. He tried to push himself up to a standing position, but fell down on his tail immediatley, limbs too shaky and fatigued to support him. As he fell, the crowd gathered around him chuckled a bit at his expense.
Sprint replied, crimson eyes burning with the same animosity as Spyke's, and sarcasm dripping from his voice, "When you leave our land for your own selfish desires to fullfill some legend and gain ultimate power I'm obviously going to care, brother!" Hushed voices rang out in the crowd, hissing and curious, searching for anyone who held answers, but the only one who did was the one sitting wearily on the ground, being interrogated by his own flesh and blood.
There was a pause, during which the crowd fell silent. "It did..." Spyke said softly, eyes cast to the ground. "The Chosen One was this little hamster with black jagged markings on her face and gray ears. Hardly worthy of such immense power...but there was little I could do about that. She had backup from a foolish band of hamsters calling themselves the ham-hams."
Sprint laughed. Following his example, several members of the crowd began to chortle too. "And how long did it take you to come up with that story, brother?" Sprint asked, as the young hamster returned with the canteen. He tossed it to Spyke, who managed to catch it. He guzzled it again, thirst still unsatisfied.
"I told you you wouldn't believe me..." He said bitterly, once he had finished.
Sprint laughed again, his laugh much more smooth than Spyke's shrill chuckle. "Why should I have any reason to believe you? Where's your proof? No wait! Don't tell me! You have the fabled Sword of Havoc with you? Right! Ha!" He brushed the fur out of his eyes and muttered, "It would be easier for you to just admit that you were a fool brother, unless you want to suffer even more humiliation..."
Spyke felt his old gleefulness returning to him as his brother spouted these mocking words. Had he said anything else, the following moment wouldn't have been so amazingly sweet. He merely reached behind his black, tattered cape and drew out the Sword of Havoc. Even though the fabled weapon was mostly drained of power, it was still intimidating and gave off an air of chilling evil. Silence fell across the crowd as dozens of wide eyes caught sight of Havoc. The look that now spread across Sprint's face was one of shock and horror, eyes wide with fear, making the moment even greater for Spyke.
"I-It can't be! Y-you must have made a fake!" Sprint stuttered, angered, but shock overruling all other emotions.
Spyke smiled, content. The sword, with its last few spurts of power, was encircled in a hue of lavender purple from the violet gem encrusted in the hilt. Gasps rang out among the crowd and several shocked glances were exchanged. Sprint himself looked more stunned than everybody else, his paws trembling and his eyes wide. "Think what you may..." Spyke snarled, crimson eyes regaining their old fire, and voice raising to its old, commanding volume, "I may have not recieved ultimate power, but proving you wrong, Sprint, is all the sweeter."
Before Sprint could gather his jumbled thoughts, the mob closed in on Spyke, amazed, wanting to know more about his adventure. Sprint stood a little ways back, not joining the converging throng, but standing just outside of it, able to see his brother's tired form over the heads of those gathered around him. However, he listened from the sidelines as his brother launched into the year-long story of his travels, even telling of his failures, at ease now that he was believed, and, in an odd way, admired. Sprint noticed that his brother looked calm, and, for once in his life, happy, even though he had failed. A small, proud smile wound its way onto his face despite himself. He had never seen his older brother look so content.
"Wow, mister! Can I touch your sword?"
"Were you really at Hamwall? The Hamwall?"
"Tell us more!"
Sprint smirked at the mob enclosing his battered, worn brother. A look of understanding flashed into his bright red eyes as he muttered, "Stubborn big brother. He never gave up. He was right all along..." He, seeing the error of his ways, plopped down in the dark sand and listened as his older brother told his amazing story, his attention fully focused on the words Spyke weaved. He knew that his brother's story, though it did not have the ending Spyke wanted, would forever be remembered in the Dark Lands.
Spyke told his story with a slight smile dancing across his weathered face. He had failed, and had not achieved the ultimate power he had thought he was destined for. But he had proved his colony wrong, and he realized, that was all he ever really wanted in the first place, and what had motivated him to set out in search of glory in the first place. Now he would become a legend in the young eyes of the next generation, and maybe his legacy of almost achieving hamster world domination would continue on after his death. He had become someone worthy to be noticed and remembered, even if his goal was unmet. Now, he was finally accepted.
And that was all he really ever wanted, after all.
CFB: And that, my friends, is all you will ever see of Guardian Towers.
But here's a sneak peek of the sequel!
Preview for Rain of Nightmares: Laura's first day of seventh grade is about to begin, but what exactly is going on with her and Roberto? Junior High drama enters her life as she tries to establish who she is the new environment that is junior high school. But what happens when a shocking breakup between two of her friends results in her having to choose sides? How much heartbreak can one split cause? Meanwhile, at the Clubhouse, everything is going smoothly since Hamwall occurred. But when a battered hamster shows up at the Clubhouse, desperately asking for help, they get tangled up in another adventure, this time more epic than the last. Throw in a were-ham, some love connections, family reunions, and a land in the clouds, and it's bound to be an adventure twice the size of Hamwall. But they better not get caught up in their dreams, or it's bound to be a nightmare!
If you want the long version of the summary, it's in my profile right now.
Bye!
