Chapter One: The Heist Begins
In the village of Oddville, there existed an unusual group of characters. Their names were as fantastical as the quests they had undertaken, yet none of them had ever done anything remotely competent.
First, there was Sir Reginald, the knight who was more concerned with polishing his armor than actually fighting anything. Then, Whiskers, the cat, who had somehow ended up in Oddville after getting lost in an interdimensional wormhole during a nap. And finally, Carrot, a sentient vegetable who had long given up on finding any real purpose in life.
But none of these oddballs were as important as Merlin, the time-traveling wizard. Unfortunately, Merlin had a small problem: he frequently forgot the very spells he was supposed to cast. That, or he cast the wrong ones.
“You will help me steal the unicorn, right?” Merlin asked the group, his hands crackling with magic that had no apparent direction.
“Unicorn?” Sir Reginald scratched his head. “You mean, like, the horned horse thingy?”
“Yes, Reginald. The magical creature with a horn. I’m sure you’ve heard of them,” Merlin replied impatiently.
“I thought that was just a myth,” Carrot chimed in. “Kind of like how I thought I could become a world-class chef.”
“Focus, Carrot!” Whiskers barked, even though she was technically a cat and had no business barking at anything.
“Right,” Merlin nodded. “The point is, I need to steal the unicorn from the magical fortress, and I need your help. The fortress is heavily guarded, and the unicorn is extremely valuable.”
The group stared blankly.
“Why exactly are we stealing this unicorn?” Sir Reginald asked. “Couldn’t we just… ask for one?”
Merlin’s eyes glazed over. “Trust me, it’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.”
Chapter Two: The Plan
Merlin waved his hands, attempting to cast a spell that would definitely help them sneak into the fortress. Instead, he accidentally turned Carrot into a giant carrot cake.
“Merlin!” shouted Sir Reginald, shaking the cake. “You turned Carrot into a dessert!”
“Oh, right. That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Merlin mumbled, then snapped his fingers, accidentally turning the entire cake into an angry goose.
“Well, I’ve never been turned into a goose before,” Carrot said, now flapping around in a rage. “This is the most ridiculous thing that’s happened to me today, and that’s saying something.”
Whiskers, feeling the situation spiral out of control, had an idea. “Why don’t we just disguise ourselves? You know, like a clever heist! A really… smart one!”
“Disguises?” Sir Reginald scratched his chin. “I can do that. I’ll just wear my shiny armor, and they’ll never recognize me as a knight!”
“You’re literally the only knight in town!” Carrot, still a goose, honked loudly. “How would they not recognize you?”
“You got a better idea, goose?” Sir Reginald snapped back.
Carrot honked in frustration.
Chapter Three: Infiltrating the Fortress
After much more debate, and Merlin’s accidental transformation of half the team into random objects, they arrived at the fortress—which was more of a glorified barn than anything imposing. The unicorn was locked in a glittering stall that emitted sparkles of pure chaos—essentially, the opposite of security.
Sir Reginald stood in front of the door and tried his best to act intimidating, but everyone could hear him muttering to himself, “Why is this so hard? It’s just a door. It’s just a door…”
“Sir, it’s a magical door,” Merlin said with an eye roll. “You need to think… magically.”
“Fine,” Sir Reginald grumbled, attempting to kick the door down. Instead, he tripped and slammed face-first into the wall.
“Brilliant,” Merlin muttered, shaking his head. “Carrot, do you have any ideas?”
At that moment, the goose—formerly Carrot—had a realization. “Why don’t we just ask the unicorn if it wants to leave?”
There was a long pause.
“Ask it?” Sir Reginald asked.
“Yeah,” Carrot said, flapping his wings proudly. “Why steal it if we can just ask?”
Chapter Four: The Unicorn’s Reply
Inside the glittering stall, the unicorn was peacefully munching on what looked like cotton candy clouds. It looked up with an air of complete disinterest when the team approached.
“You’re here to steal me, aren’t you?” the unicorn asked, without a trace of fear.
Merlin blinked. “Well, yes… but we were wondering if, you know, you wanted to come with us. We were going to steal you, but now we think asking might be a better approach.”
The unicorn paused, then burst into laughter. “Steal me? Oh, you poor souls. I’ve been waiting for someone to come and ask. I was getting bored in here.”
“What… do you mean?” Sir Reginald asked, blinking.
“I’ve been waiting for someone to figure out that I’m actually contractually obligated to join whoever asks first. So congratulations, you’re stuck with me now!”
The team stared at the unicorn, who winked and trotted out of the stall.
“I’ve always wanted to be a part of something ridiculous,” the unicorn said, grinning.
