Part 10: Don't play that song.

Update 09: Don't play that song.



Welcome back, folks. After saving Barrette from Spat's latest sinister machinations, we managed to uncover something new to attend to while we track the mischief maker down. Let's take a look at this, shall we?




Mysteries can indeed be intriguing... However, even one so extremely musically untalented as myself should be able to recognise what this is.

Anyway, onward in search of treasure!





Oh, or a little chat is good too. And yep, the whole thing turned out alright in the end.







Hamtaro, you're so adorably clueless. Perhaps we should take that cruise, since there's not much left to do around here.



Ah... Guess we're going to have to deal with that first.



Fortunately, we know who's most likely to have seen the captain, seeing as only one hamster stands in sight of the pier.



The dude with the totally cool place on the beach...





Thanks, Broski. You're alright by me.

As you can probably tell, the little green rocks with musical notation on them are the rocks that the captain decided to Tack-Q, and the riddle we just found is the order to strike them in.



Which would be this order, or to put it another way:
01) The lone rock by the famous hamster
02) The rock closest to the dock
03) Same as step 1
04) The rock closest to the captain's wife
05) The rock below the treasure hunter
06) Same as step 5
07) Same as step 4
08) Same as step 1
09) The rock slightly further from the dock
10) Same as step 2

If you can't read music, feel free to just Tack-Q all the rocks. The game will tell you which note it is after you hit each one.



Until eventually... this happens.



If you hadn't already guessed that the large musical rock was going to react to the smaller ones, I don't know what to tell ya.



Since the tunnel has been uncovered, this new Ham-Jam tune has materialised out of the ether... Hidden Riches is very short, but I enjoy it. (Use Tack-Q to knock it down.)



Now, moving onwards!



...Oh. If this is the treasure island, then it seems we've been beaten here. We can reasonably assume this is our missing captain though, so at least it's not a total wash.



You want to know if I'm feelin' blue? Well, I did a blanko on the ol' wedding anniversary, you know?



Yep, captain confirmed. Really wouldn't want to be in his position...



That would be a good first step, though.



Eh? My job? Yep, I'm the proud captain of the ferry, the S.S. Missis. But I'm a bad captain... Hahhh...

...I think we might need to help out here too, goons.



Perhaps we should let the captain know that his wife's worried about him.



Yeah... My brain land-locked, and I pulled a blanko on my wedding anniversary. I want to do something nice to make my missis happy.
Yep... Ain't nothin' goin' on here, not even work.



Uh... Okay then? At least he's headed back to the beach.



In the meantime, we have another round of rocks to gather up inside the cave, plus another of these big-keyholed doors to wonder about.

Before we go back to the beach and see what's going on, there are a few minor things to look into back at the Clubhouse.



For one thing, Harmony has decided to drag her backside out of bed for once. Let's see what's up...



Tee hee hee!♥



Hamtaro! Bijou! I see you're getting along like peaches and cream, and your love's getting stronger!
And♥ that's♥ why♥ I, Harmony, will teach you a special Ham-Chat!♥ Ok?♥



Ready?♥



OK... To tell you the truth, I made that up myself! Tee hee hee!♥ It's really good, huh?♥

...That was an ordeal. And did she really have to use so many hearts?

On the plus side, this is actually quite a valuable thing that Harmony does for us. We won't be able to use the Ham-Chats she comes up with for very much, but they are still important.





Let's also make a quick stop inside the Rubrub room, where the Love Boost from the end of the last update can be put to good use.



Each time our love power changes colour, we can polish rocks an extra time... which means that we can now uncover two-star gems!









There happens to be a few nice ones we can uncover now, which hopefully won't be used to destroy any cities.

That's it for our Clubhouse detour; let's get back to the sun, sand and surf.



...Hang on a second. Something's missing.



Oh, my... you must be hardcore fans to seek me all this way... OK, I'll sign a few autographs, so line up!
Huh? That's not it? Oh. I thought you were more adoring fans.♥

Looks like our starlet got her private beach after all.



Howzit goin', you two? Did ya make it to the treasure island yet? I suspect if I can't, you kids can't either.

Shows what you know, buddy. Anyway, it's the captain's wife we're after here.



By the way, my hubby has started operating the ferry again. He still hasn't shown his face here though... I'm no longer mad that he pulled a blanko for our anniversary, but...

Ah... Perhaps we can do something to help here, instead?



Like maybe telling her how much hubby cherishes her, especially given the name of his ferry.



I know that I am his lovedove, but it was better. There was a time when I was even more lovedove. *Sigh...
Once, I told him that I wanted a rare hibiscus, and my hubbie just got mad and vanished! Kind of like he did this morning... So when he got back, he was carrying an orange hibiscus for me. I was so thrilled...
*Sigh... But now... he's so different. So very different...

That's quite a story... Who out there suspects that we may have to go flower-picking before all this is over?



Oh, and this is a thing that the captain's wife will try to do whenever you talk to her. Three of the jars on the beach will respawn, so this is another decent way of farming for seeds.



Anyway, time for us to be moving on. I don't know if anything we did really helped the captain, but he seems to think so.



I must be careful with my next step...
So, you're lookin' to set sail for the island? You've been such great help, this one's free!
Does the wind blow you toward the island?

I guess so, Cap'n. Not like there's much to do here for right now.



Oh, and another thing... If the ferry's gone, just stand on the pier and heyhoo! I'll come sailin' quicker than an eel on ice!



A quick blast on the horn, and just seconds later...



We're on that island that Hamtaro and Bijou managed to Lookie at from the pier. But before we go wandering...





Dance contest, you say? Time to show off our sweet Ham-Jam moves, then!





There's little to see on the first screen aside from our second Ham Boutique, so I'd like to take a moment to say something here.

The music in this game is generally of high quality, to the point where I would be glad to add Tindeck links to these updates if I could actually find the soundtrack somewhere. However, this little island's music (which isn't the same track as the beach) is goddamn appalling. It's like a hula dancer's backing music being played just slightly slower than it should be.

It's really not to my taste in music, would be what I'm getting at. I'm sorry to spoil the atmosphere, but it honestly deserves mention for being so far below stuff like Spat's theme in terms of quality.



Anyway, moving upward and onto happier times!





...Or maybe not. These two are Pashimina and Penelope, one of which usually acts as a protective big sister to the other.



Needless to say, something is screwy here.



Ookwee, ookwee.

C'mon, let me borrow it!









...This is just all kinds of wrong. Penelope loves that blanket, and Pashmina would never be so cold about ripping it.



We had better try to cheer her up... (Despite our questionable track record with that today.)

Ookwee, ookwee.

What? Pashmina has suddenly started acting kind of strange?

Ookwee, ookwee.

But, Pashimina's always so nice... I wonder what's up.

Ookwee...





Sounds like a good plan, Bijou. We need to get to the bottom of this.



There's another path off this screen, but let's go ahead and head after Pashmina first.



...Wait a minute. How... How did Penelope get past us?



Uhhh, uhhh...



Ookwaa, ookwaa!

Penelope... Stop it! Uhhh, uhhh...

Ookwaa, ookwaa!





Oh boy, this is getting rough.





We've definitely got to sort out this mess, before things get any weirder.





Mmm-hmm... Time to investigate!





...We're not going to get much out of Pashmina like this, though.



So let's give her scarf back first.





I don't know... Penelope just grabbed my scarf and jumped on it! Uhh, uhh!



But, Pashmina, didn't you just make Penelope cry over there?



I would never do something like that!!



Ah... We may have upset Pashmina further, but at least we can deduce that we didn't really see her try to borrow Penelope's blanket. But who did we see...?

(Guess, and win a fabulous no-prize!)



The scarf-stomping Penelope went west, so let's follow after.



Hmmm... What have we here?













...A hamster who goes 'pfpth' and has a bad attitude? Where have we seen this before...?



Take care of things!



So, perhaps we should go after this mysterious bad-tempered hamster.





...Oh, this guy wants some dancing credentials first.





There's nothing left to see over here, so let's go follow the green guy and see if he'll tell us what we need to enter the contest.





...Yep, this is about what I expect from an island resort or the like.



We have some new hamsters to talk to here, but one of them is sadly useless.



Sure... Kind of. I mean, we'll probably have to win it at some point to progress the plot.



Is this your first time in the hula contest? I see... Then take this. Please.



Hey guys, guess which piece of background music had its first half turned into a Ham-Jam? If you like slow hula tunes, Dizzy for You has got you covered.



Oh, be still my beating heart.

It shows you're in the contest and gets you into the green room! Contestants for the hula contest warm up in the green room. ...You can practice your moves in front of the mirror there, too!!



Alright then... Thanks, I guess.



Before we move on back toward the green room, there's one more hamster in here that may be familiar.



Unfortunately, he happens to be asleep.



We can fix that, though.



I never dreamed I'd see you two here...



So... This is the Elder. He's old and very sleepy, and there's not much more to it. (But just watch Quillpaw prove me wrong for saying that...)





Oh, no... Everyone knows an old person who's like this, I'm sure.

Long ago, there was a very wise hamster. Now this wise hamster had three children... One day, he asked them to break a single arrow... The arrow broke easily, of course. But... He then tried the three pieces together...



...Yeah, Elder Ham has a habit of falling asleep during his own stories. Let's just let him rest this time.





Well, at least getting into the contest was relatively painless. Now, let's go see what that mysterious hamster is getting up to...



Hmmm... Something is definitely fishy here.



Are you two entering the hula contest? OK... well, do your best...

The suspicious-acting Pashmina has quite the long dialogue tree to run through, so I think we might cut it off here for today and save the rest for next time. See you then, folks.

Bonus video:

One is the loneliest number...