"Sir Blaze! Sir AJ!" Purple Knight greeted the duo as they approached the castle. "We are so glad that you're here!"
"We heard that there's an emergency," Blaze spoke as AJ dismounted. "What happened?"
"It is the King!" White Knight exclaimed. "He is feeling quite unwell and has asked us knights to gather!"
"Then let's go see the King!" AJ nodded.
"Right this way!" Green Knight urged them to follow them.
They all headed inside the palace, with Blaze and AJ transforming into their knight armours as they headed through the halls. They soon made it to the King's room, with the Yellow Knight knocking on the door.
"Your majesty?"
"Come in, come in, my dear knights,"
The King's weak voice came from inside. The Knights all looked worried as they pushed open the door. They found the King inside, laying on his bed. Blaze and AJ drove forward and bowed.
"Your majesty,"
"Ah, Sir Blaze, Sir AJ, good of you both to join us," the King gave a cough. "And I'm honoured to be surrounded by most loyal knights of all time,"
"We have gathered, as you requested, your majesty," Purple Knight.
"Aye, what is it that you wanted us to gather for?" Yellow Knight asked.
"Of course, of course," the King reached out to his pet dragon. "Zeek, hand me the royal parchment, please,"
"Zeek, Zeek!" Zeek flew over with the parchment in his mouth.
"Thank you, Zeek," the King patted his dragon before opening the parchment. "I, the King, as a royal with no children and no other family members at mind, am holding a tournament for my royal knights to pull the legendary sword from the stone. Whoever shall succeed shall have the right to take my place as the next king or queen and would be my heir to the throne!"
"What?!" the Knights' jaws dropped.
"But why, your majesty?" AJ asked. "You still seem healthy,"
"Aye, for now, but I'm growing old day by day, and I will soon need an heir to take my place as king," the King explained. "This kingdom must be prepared for a new king or queen!"
"But your majesty, what if neither of us succeed?" Purple Knight asked.
"Indeed, that would be a problem…" the King sighed. "If that would be the case then I would open the tournament to anyone who might be interested. For now, I am interested to know if any of you have what it takes to be chosen by the sword,"
"We won't let you down, your majesty!" Blaze promised.
"I know that neither of you won't," the King smiled. "The tournament will take place tomorrow, at 10am, do you all understand?"
"Yes, your majesty!" the Knights bowed.
X
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{The Next Day}
It was 10am in the kingdom, and the citizens had all gathered at the arena where the Sword In The Stone was displayed. The King was at his throne while Blaze, AJ and the rest of the Knights were lined up at the edge of the arena, right near the sword.
"Ladies and gentletrucks, I declare the tournament to… commence!" the King announced. "First up; the White Knight!"
The crowd cheered as the White Knight drove forward. He headed to the stone and gripped on the sword's hilt before giving a tug. They all watched in anticipation as the knight attempted to pull on the sword.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tugged, the sword wouldn't budge. The White Knight sighed in defeat and backed up, shaking his head at his comrades and his king.
"Oh…" the King gave a nod and cleared his throat. "Up next is the Yellow Knight!"
Another round of cheers came as the Yellow Knight drove forward and approached the stone. He gripped on the sword's hilt and pulled as hard as he could with a growl. One tug, two tugs, three thugs, four… but the sword just wouldn't budge.
Sighing in defeat, the Yellow Knight backed up and returned to his comrades with a shake of his head.
"Okay, okay," the King sighed and nodded. "I call next the Purple Knight!"
Purple Knight drove forward as the crowd cheered for her. She made her way to the stone and grabbed onto the hilt of the sword, as tight as she could. She pulled on the sword with a grunt and a hiss, with all of her strength.
But after a while, the sword was still intact and still stuck to the sword, causing her to sigh in defeat. She let go of the sword and turned away to head back to her comrades with a shake of her head.
"Oh… um…" The King started to grow nervous as he cleared his throat. "I will now call on the Green Knight!"
Green Knight drove forward towards the stone as the crowd cheered. He took a deep breath before reaching out to the sword. He gripped the hilt as tight as he could before grunting as he pulled on it.
Tug and tug as hard as he could, however, the sword still wouldn't budge. He hissed and tugged as hard as he could, but the sword is still in tact, causing him to sigh and shake his head as he made his way to his comrades.
"Oh dear… uh…" The King gulped. "Up… Up next is Sir Blaze and Sir AJ!"
Blaze and AJ glanced at each other with a smile before heading forward. The crowd cheered as they made their way to the sword, ready to try and pull the sword. Together, they gripped tight to the hilt and pulled with all their might.
They pulled and pulled and pulled…
…but were they able to pull it…?
Sadly no.
The crowd were disappointed as the duo failed to pull the sword. They twisted and tugged again and again, but no matter how hard they tried, the sword wouldn't budge. With a heavy sigh, they turned back to their comrades and shook their heads.
"We're sorry, your majesty, but the sword just wouldn't budge," the red truck admitted.
"Oh… I see…" the King cleared his throat and turned to the crowd. "It seems that… none of my knights are worthy enough to take my place as the next king…"
"Not even Sir Blaze?!" Joe and Gus cried out from the crowd.
"Not even Sir Blaze," the King nodded sadly. "And that is why I am now announcing for all my citizens to try and attempt to raise the sword! Perhaps one of you hold the destiny to take my place as the heir to the throne!"
The audience erupted in excitement and amazement before they headed down to try and attempt. The Knights all went forward and helped organise the crowd, making them fall in line and everything.
But at the end of the day, half of the citizens had their chance, but neither of them could pull the sword. By nightfall, the King promised to let everyone else who haven't tried to try it the next day.
But that night, things were as eventful as the day…
"Look, Crusher, look at this sword!" Pickle cried as he focused his flashlight at the sword's golden hilt.
"Ooh! It's so shiny!" Crusher's eyes lit up.
"Yeah! Isn't it awesome?! I heard people were trying to get it earlier!"
"But why? Is it THAT precious?" Crusher asked as he neared the sword.
"I don't know, I never got full detail," Pickle admitted with a shrug.
"Well, if no one else had gotten it, then I'LL be the one to take it!"
Crusher grinned and gripped tightly to the hilt before tugging on it. The sword gave a clinking noise before it was pulled out from the stone.
"See? Super easy!"
"Wow! That DID look easy!" Pickle gasped.
"Come on, I want to try it!" Crusher grinned and grabbed onto him. "Come on, come on, come on!"
With that, they zipped away into the night, heading home with the sword.
X
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{The Next Day}
"OH MY!" Purple Knight gasped as she headed over to see the empty stone.
"Purple Knight?" White Knight asked as the Knights all drove to her. "What is thou problem?"
"The sword! It has disappeared!" Purple Knight cried, pointing to the stone.
"Oh dear!" Green Knight let out a gasp.
"But who?? Who could have taken the sword?!" Yellow Knight asked.
"And HOW?!" White Knight yelled. "Neither of us could even MOVE the sword! Let alone TAKE it!"
"Don't worry, everyone, we'll go and find the one who took the sword!" Blaze claimed.
"Whoever it was IS the heir to the throne, after all," AJ pointed out.
"But how will we find whoever it is, Sir Blaze, Sir AJ?" White Knight asked.
"We'll track him or her down using the tracks left on the ground," Blaze pointed to the tracks on the dirt beside the stone. "Come on, Knights!"
They all drove off, following the tracks all the way through the kingdom. They soon made it through the village and found the tracks leading up, out of the kingdom and towards Axle City.
"Huh, so the heir is NOT from our land," Purple Knight observed.
"It's from ours…" Blaze hummed in thought. "but let's not have that stop us. Come on!"
They all drove off to follow after the tracks, heading up and over the cliff and towards the city. When they got there, the tracks led them through the park, where they found some trees wrecked and cut.
"Woah, it looks like someone's been using the sword," AJ gasped.
"And their aim is surprisingly impressive, with how clean the cuts are," White Knight realized.
"Let us keep going to find the next king!" Green Knight declared.
They zoomed to keep following the tire tracks on the ground. They soon came upon a house, with green walls, a blue roof and aquamarine windows, along with a blue green door, just at the edge of the city.
"The tire tracks stop here," Purple Knight spoke up.
"I'll knock on the door," Blaze offered.
He drove forward and knocked on the wooden door. Tires driving towards the door could be heard, along with a familiar voice.
"COMING!"
The door soon swung open, and the Knights all blinked down to see…
"Pickle?"
"Oh, hey, Blaze and AJ! And hi, Knights!" the green truck greeted with a giggle. "What'cha doing here?"
"Following tire tracks," AJ replied.
"Hey, Pickle, have you or Crusher been to the kingdom?" Blaze asked.
"Yep! We went last night!" Pickle nodded. "It was a pretty cool night! We saw that awesome sword in the stone, and Crusher really, REALLY wanted it. I told him that so many tried to get it but failed for some reason, and he went over to get the sword. He grabbed it, pulled on it then he took it back here. We MAY have stopped at the park, so he could try showing off his skills, and, and--"
"Wait, wait, wait." Blaze stared at the other in shock. "Did you say Crusher just… grabbed the sword?"
"Yep!"
"No cheats, no nothing…?" AJ asked. "Just… grabbed it, pulled on it and left with it?"
"Yep! Pretty much!" Pickle nodded. "Why did he need to cheat? It's just a sword, right?"
"That sword is the legendary Sword From The Stone!" Purple Knight cried.
"Anyone who is able to pull on the sword would be declared heir to the throne!" White Knight added.
"We all had tried to pull on the sword and failed!" Green Knight spoke.
"Wow!" Pickle's jaw dropped. "Crusher is HEIR to the throne?! That's awesome!"
"What's awesome?" Crusher asked as he drove forward, the sword in his tires. "Oh, what are you all doing here?"
"Our future king!" White Knight declared and gave a bow.
"What?" Crusher looked confused as he blinked at them. "Uh, Blaze, what the hell is going on?"
"YOU pulled the Sword In The Stone!" Blaze exclaimed. "From what the King says, whoever pulls the Sword from the stone would be deemed worthy of being the next heir to the throne!"
"Wait, WHAT?!"