It was the height of the 6th century, a time of ruthless fire breathing dragons, magical wizards, just kings, knights in shining armor, and damsels in distress. But here in Avalon, an island ruled by King Arthur, the order of nobility worked a strange way. Here on this enchanted island, animals had magical abilities; they could talk, walk on two legs, and were different colors. Some powers extended beyond that, and because of these special talents, each animal was given the rank of knight. Now because they were animals they could not become a noble, lord, or king even. From birth they were trained to become a knight, learn the code of chivalry, and master the art of swordsmanship. They were to just protect the kingdom, nothing more. But the king had his favorite knights of course, and he made them the Knights of the Round Table. Lancelot the most powerful knight on the table, he was an ebony hedgehog, and he had red eyes and red stripes on his quills. His powers outside of talking and walking were the ability to slow down time, teleport, speed and form spears from pure chaos energy. Gawain the powerhouse of the knights, he was a red echidna, with purple eyes and dreadlocks. His powers were that of strength, thus making him the power house. Percival, the knight of the Holy Grail, she was a purple cat with gold eyes, and she had a red jewel in the middle of her forehead. Her powers were being able to control the power of fire at her own will. Then there was Galahad, Lancelot's son and the youngest of the Round Table, he was a white hedgehog with gold eyes, and long white quills down his back. His power was that of telekinesis, he could control anything with his mind. There four were the most ultimate, strongest, bravest, and youngest of the Round Table, and they were who the king turned to for help.
It was a warm an peaceful day in the middle of June on the island of Avalon. The town on the island was small and in the center stood the castle of the king. Most kingdoms had peasants, and paupers, but this kingdom flourished. There were no starving citizens to be found. Now at the back of the kingdom, inside the walls of the castle, the knights had their own quarters and training grounds. Supplied with horses, armor, swords and fighting dummies. The knights took advantage of this peaceful day off and went to the training quarters to spare against each other to keep in shape and to be prepared in case of an attack. Gawain challenged Percival to prove that he could not be beaten by a female. Lancelot and Galahad sat on the railings of the stables and watched the two spare. The battle raged on for a long period of time, and Percival was becoming bored.
"The king has been very quiet as of late," Percival inquired to break her boredom as she lunged at her partner.
Gawain dodged the attack and replied back, "Now that you hath mention it you are right. Lancelot, why don't you go see what is on the Kings mind? You are his favored knight after all."
Lancelot gave a soft smile, hearing them admit that he was the favored, "I believe he is fine, but for your sake of mind I shall go talk with him." He stood from the framing and told his son to stay there. He walked from the quarters and into the castle halls. The cold stone hall breeze felt good to blow through his chest fur. Since there weren't any attacks there was no need to have his armor on. After ascending the large main stairwell he reached the doors that led to the king's throne room. They were large red doors with gold improvements. He pushed them open and inside there were tapestries hanging from the high ceilings, a gold and velvet throne sat in the center of the room and he also noticed the king was pacing back and forth. The king was a tall and strong man; he had brown hair and bread that matched. His green eyes showed confusion in them as Lancelot grew closer. "Your majesty?" He bowed down before the king to show his respect.
The king waved his hand in disgrace, "Lancelot, there is no need for that. Stand up and speak your peace."
Lancelot gave a nod and stood before the king. "Your majesty, what is troubling you?"
"It is a neighboring kingdom, called the crystal kingdom. It flourishes with the crystals that grow in their caves. Even the castle is made of crystal. But the thing that troubles me is their princess has been kidnapped by rogues and is threatening to kill her and then take the crystals in the kingdom. They have requested that my strongest knights assist theirs and help bring back the princess." The king walked to one of the many windows in the room and pointed to the east, "That is where the kingdom lies. It is about a 2 day journey but for you and the knights it would only take a matter of minutes. Now I must tell you, the crystal kingdom works different than what this kingdom does."
"What do you mean sire?"
"In the crystal kingdom, animals are nobility; the princess that you will be rescuing is a hedgehog like yourself. And she rules that kingdom by herself; there is no king or queen there. I'm not sure how she came into power but I am sure she will tell you everything when you save her."
"Majesty, you speak with such confidence."
"That is because I know my knights are superior, and can do any task that is put before them. Now go and gather Percival, Gawain and Galahad, they shall accompany you on this journey."
Lancelot bowed out and walked out of the room. He walked back through the stone corridors and to the training ground. When he arrived he saw that Percival had yet again beaten Gawain.
"What did the king say?" Percival questioned as she put her sword back in its sheath.
"We have a quest." He explained the nature of their mission and they all nodded. Each knight went to their quarters and placed on their armor. Their armor wasn't a full body suit like a human knight needed. Lancelot had a metal face mask with slits to see and from the middle of the mask, his ears poked through the holes designed for them and a metal covering went down one of his quills. He put on his metal gloves and shin guards, and then placed his chest plate over his chest fur and tied it together. He then reached over and grabbed his scared sword Arondight. This scared sword was said to never lose its edge. Gawain also had a face mask with slits for the eyes; it had a single silver piece that went down to the bottom of his head. His armor was a red bronze metal that was just as strong as he was. His metal gloves had points at his knuckles so he could smash through rock or metal. He also had shin guards and a chest plate that he tied together. He then grabbed his two scared swords Galatine. The two swords were like two large axe sword, and were praised for their sharpness. Percival had a face mask with horizontal slits and one aquamarine jewel in the center; unlike the boys hers only covered her face and not some of her head. She had a purple chest piece that slid over her clothes and fit them perfectly. She had metal gloves with gold trim and an aquamarine jewel. Her metal shoes had a heel to them that extended up her shins. After putting her armor on she grabbed her scared sword Laevatein. Her sword was that of a rapier, but it was much stronger and could withstand her flames, same as her armor. Galahad placed on his blue silver face mask and his slits were shaped like diamonds, and had a gold trim at the top. His mask was like Percival's, it only covered his face. His chest plate though went over the spikes on his back and down his arms to his metal gloves. On his gloves there was a circle that was a sky blue and when he would use his power it would light up. His metal boots went up to his knees and had no need for shin guards. He grabbed his sword Seacae, this sword can only be wielded by those true of heart. The knights were ready.