It was supposed to be a regular morning for the King as he awoke to the sound of training in the courtyard. His eyes fluttered open, but the morning light peeking between the curtains and reflecting off of his golden bed made him shut them again. His giant bed made a sound like an old door, creaking high-pitched and slow, as the King shifted his weight into an upright position. 

As big as the man was, he was a kindhearted soul who loved his kingdom and everyone in it more than anything. A big yawn escaped the man’s mouth, but to any ordinary person, it would sound like a roaring lion. The Queen was very used to loud noises as she heard them plenty of times every day. 

“Rise and shine, big boy, ” said the Queen, while she tied her hair with a big blue bow, “we have another exciting day ahead of us!”

It was battle season in the Clash Kingdom, a time that was extremely looked forward to among the many clans in the country. During these few months, intense battles would be fought, each clan fighting to win the Mighty Clan title. In the last 11 years, the Clashion Kingdom had won, and this year, they intended on winning again. 

The King and Queen, now fully ready in their traditional light blue and gold dress attire, made their way through the palace halls that surrounded the spacious training courtyard. Pleasant sounds of swords clashing and spells being cast were let in by the blue-tinted windows and brown oak doors. Stunning chandeliers lit by dozens of candles hung from the high ceiling. The best part of all was the shining strawberry red carpet that sparkled when you stepped upon it. The design of the palace was perfect.

“Thank you very much Dorothy,” the King said, grabbing a mug of elixir off the cart as it wheeled by. Everyone would need loads of that bubbly pink drink for the battles ahead. 

The couple stopped in front of the crown room, where the King’s crown was kept overnight. It was supposed to be a safe space. Smiling to himself, the King pushed open the large decorated steel doors that had the names of all the previous Kings engraved in gold. 

The door swung open, revealing the worst nightmare possible. The warm smile disappeared off the King’s face just as fast as it had come and a deep reddish-purple replaced the normal colour of his skin. His eyes seemed to change shape completely, bulging, and his eyebrows narrowed as he squinted with shock. The room's temperature seemed to drop. The entire palace shook as the King bellowed in anger. 

The Queen’s hands flew to her mouth simultaneously as the loud footsteps of all 107 Clashions crowded around the open doors to catch a glimpse of the brutal sight of broken glass everywhere. 

This could only mean one thing. The King’s crown had been stolen.

He whipped around in a flash, glass crunching under his massive boots and turned to face the crowd. 

“WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS STUNT?” 107 pairs of frightened eyes stared back at him, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?” 

The King stumbled on the last few words as his voice got progressively softer until he was sobbing into his sleeve. 

The Queen stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on the King’s elbow, as that was the highest point she could reach. 

“Everyone please go back to your chambers until further notice,” the Queen exclaimed in an authoritative voice. “Magic Archer, Bandit, and Pekka, please stay here for a few more minutes.”

The Clashions trickled out quickly until all that was left were the three soldiers who looked as nervous as ever. 

“We believe one of our enemies has stolen the King’s crown, and I am entrusting you three to find the culprit and retrieve the crown before battle time,” the Queen started. “You all know how important the Mighty Clan title is to our kingdom and I know that if anyone can find the crown, it’s you guys.”

The Clashions fell to one knee and bowed low, honoured to be chosen for this task. The Queen ushered the King out of the room and gave them a final weak but determined smile as she disappeared behind the doors. 

The Magic Archer was the first to talk, “Okay, this is how this is going to work. First, I am going to be the leader of the group and everyone is going to follow me and do exactly as I say.”

He ran a hand through his silvery hair, sleek and tight to his head. He was an intimidating man with glowing white pearls for eyes, soft, bushy black eyebrows and a long blue cape. No one wanted to get on Archer’s bad side as it was known far and wide how sharp and magical his arrows were. 

“Nuh uh,”  said Bandit, “that is totally not happening”. 

Bandit shook her head, and her snowy white hair chopped right at her shoulders moved from side to side in her hood. She was short, which made it very easy to sneak into places unnoticed. Bandit was arguably the speediest Clashion in the kingdom. Her deadly dash was so fast, it dealt a lethal blow to her enemies purely from impact. 

“Excuse me, do you expect Pekka and I to listen to a short little girl who no one can even see?” Archer replied, and thus began the usual intense argument between Archer and Bandit. They somehow had pure hatred for each other and no one knew why.

Meanwhile, Pekka was already investigating the scene, carefully examining the broken pieces of glass. 

She was a huge machine made of a couple of tons of titanium, with bright pink bull horns and shiny pink eyes. In combat, she was a brutal tank but she was soft at heart. She also had an obsession with butterflies.

The argument between Archer and Bandit stopped as Pekka began to speak, ”Evidence found."

Her low robotic voice echoed. 

The room suddenly became hushed as the team quickly came over to where Pekka was standing in the corner of the room. Archer scooped some of the purplish-brown goop into his finger. It was sticky and still warm. He put it to his nose and sniffed a long, aggressive breath in. 

He shook the substance off his fingers, immediately looking nauseous, “Bad news guys… the Night Witch stole the crown.”

The three went silent, eyes widening with sheer shock and fear while mulled over the new information. The Night Witch was an evil former Clashion who was banished many years ago. 

Bandit's voice was barely audible, “S-she has come to take her revenge!”  

“I guess we’re going to the Night Estate,” Archer said with a sigh. “Get ready guys, we are going to leave in exactly five minutes!” His voice claimed authority and Bandit glared at him with anger but obeyed, and the team left to get their supplies. 

They travelled for hours on foot, over steep hills and huge valleys glowing with tiny red and yellow flowers. It was something out of a children’s storybook with the orange ball of sun high in the sky, radiating warmth and light. The Clashions often forgot about the beauty that lay beyond their palace as they always travelled by airship to their battles. 

Soon they reached the rocky caves and stopped in front. The expanse of jagged stone walls towered over them as if warning them of danger. The pitch-black magical darkness swirled with the sound of bat wings furiously flapping or occasional shrieking that sent shivers down their spines. There was a musty aroma as if the air in the cave had never been circulated.

“We must hurry,” Pekka exclaimed and began walking into the cave. 

The team quickly followed and the darkness replaced the light as if it had swallowed them whole. 

The Estate was wide, and huge towers with pointed tops sat on top of the body of the building. The metal exterior was falling apart and the light shone through the windows casting gloomy shadows on the stone floor around them. 

They inched towards the doors with their weapons in their hands, ready for anything the Witch would throw at them. They reached the doors that creaked open, and the excruciating sound of metal on metal made the team cringe. 

As they stepped into the big throne room, the Witch was already waiting for them sitting on her pointy throne with bats nesting on every inch of available space. A sly smile was on her face almost as if she were happy to see them. 

She was tall, with a black hood staying close to her skin and head. Her entire outfit was as black as the night with a slight purple tinge. She had glowing, light bluish turquoise eyes, and held a staff shining the same colour. It smelled as if the Witch had tried on a hundred different types of cheap perfume to hide the smell of stinky bats. 

If the Witch wasn’t enough to give someone the chills, her estate was. There were cobwebs in every corner and purple goop all over the walls and ripped curtains. Stolen treasure stood on small pedestals which held all sorts of cursed magic objects.

Her evil high-pitched cackle filled the room, “Bring it to me, my bats”.

Just then, a swarm of bats came from a nearby room carrying the King's crown. The Witch took it and put it on her head. The pure gold crown with a blue band around the bottom looked out of place on her head. 

“GIVE IT BACK,” Archer roared with a disgusted look on his face. It angered the Clashions to see their King’s crown on the Witch’s head. 

“You funny little people will never be strong enough to defeat me,” said the Witch.

“Give the crown to us and we will leave peacefully,” Archer replied.

“If you want it so-” 

The Witch never got to finish her sentence because the Bandit went in on her attack, using her dash in hopes of dealing some damage. The stealthy move caught everyone off guard including the Witch, who deflected her at the last second. One thing was for sure, the battle had begun. 

In the next few moments that followed, the team began the full-fledged attack. Archer whipped out his bow and pulled arrow after arrow from his quill, and Pekka’s eyes glowed up as she got revved for battle. 

The sounds of battle erupted from the Estate, Archer shot his arrows at maximum speed, and Pekka and Bandit fought at close range. With her magic staff, the Witch was fending off all of the attacks with ease. Suddenly, the Witch’s eyes glowed brighter and her speed increased significantly. The tables turned as the Clashions went from offence to defence and the Witch’s blows were starting to take a toll on the team.

“This is not working, we’ve got to do something!” said Archer, with exasperated breaths. He almost couldn’t feel his arms, as he continued to shoot arrow after arrow. 

“You dumb people are not the only ones who have gotten stronger!” the Witch cackled again with way too much excitement.

It was obvious that the team was struggling to hold up the fight against the Witch. Bandit had taken off her hood which she rarely ever did, and Pekka’s eyes started to flicker with fatigue. It was clear that they couldn’t hold up the fight much longer. 

It was as if a miracle occurred when one of Archer’s arrows tore the cloth in the Witch’s side. She yelped in pain and began to look tired. Her attacks became scarce as thick elixir was dripping from her open wound and forming a puddle on the cobblestone floor. Nevertheless, she still held up the battle against the two, who had to up their game as Bandit was unconscious. 

Meanwhile, Pekka had had enough. This was not going to continue one minute longer. He couldn’t watch his friends suffer. He had been practising a speed move for some time and decided it was worth giving a try. 

“Cover me,” Pekka said and he seemed to blur as he picked up speed. Soon he was a metre away from the Witch. He gathered all his strength and courage and with a final blow, brought his huge 10-ton sword on the Witch. It was timed perfectly as Archer released an arrow simultaneously. Time seemed to slow as the arrow and the sword rushed towards the Witch. She knew she was done before it hit her. She couldn’t decide which one to defend. There was barely time for her to scream as she exploded into elixir. The crown fell, but Pekka caught it just in time. The Witch had been defeated. 

Bandit sat up and smiled weakly at the disgusting but happy sight. The team finally relaxed for the first time all morning.

“LET'S GOOOO! PEKKA YOU ARE SO AMAZING!” Archer yelled happily.

Pekka grunted with satisfaction and helped Bandit to her feet. 

The team started on their way home all the way together each taking turns to hold the crown. 

“You’re not so bad Archer,” Bandit said as she walked beside him.

Archer did a double take in complete surprise at the words she had just said. He chuckled nervously and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink.  

“Haha thanks. You too, you worked so hard you nearly got killed!” Archer replied.

At that moment, a butterfly flew over their heads and Pekka chanted, “Butterfly! Butterfly!” as he chased it down the path.

“Wait up!!” Archer and Bandit yelled as they chased him.

The team headed home together smiling and laughing. Each had made two new friends that day.  It was a comforting thought that Battle Day would not be cancelled and everything would be all right again.