“There you are!” Cleo said to her pet cricket 

Snapper as she caught him and put him in his tiny cage. 

Snapper is always getting out of his cage and hopping 

away as fast as his little cricket legs can hop away. This wasn't the first time he had gotten out of his cage, he liked to explore the woods around Cleo's house whenever he got out.

 As Cleo was walking down the trail in the tiny forest in the tiny kingdom of Hamland after catching 

Snapper, she came upon a sign nailed to a tiny tree. 

“I wonder what the sign says?” Cleo said to 

Snapper, who just chirped in return.

“KNIGHTS WANTED”

“Sign up for training” The sign said.

 “You know what Snapper?” Cleo said, “I am 

strong hamster! I think I would make a great knight!”Cleo ran home as fast as her paws could take her. 

She ran to her room, put Snapper back in her kennel, and 

burst through the family room door of her tiny little 

burrow just under the tallest tiny tree on the edge of the 

kingdom.

 “What’s the hurry Cleo?” her siblings wanted to 

know. The two young hamsters played with their toys.

“Why are you running in the burrow?” her 

mother needed to know. 

“I figured it out! I know! I now know what I 

want to be! I want to be a knight! A hamster knight!” 

shouted Cleo. 

“Knock yourself out!” explained Cleo’s mother, “But the 

real challenge, try explaining that one to your father.” Later that night when her family were all done eating 

supper and her siblings had already left the table, in 

which to not have to clean up, Cleo was finally alone 

with her father. 

“Dad, can I talk to you a minute?” Cleo asked. Her father 

looked at her and raised an eyebrow. More than likely 

afraid of what Cleo may be up to. “I want to be a knight! 

I want to sign up to start my training! I’ll be a great 

knight!”

 “A fragile little hamster being a knight?” was 

all he said while trying to hide his smile. “Dad, I am not fragile!” Cleo started her 

argument. “I would grow stronger in training. I want to 

learn a skill that will make a difference and fight for my 

kingdom. And I’m signing up and going to start training, 

because I am going to be a knight!” she finished folding 

her arms across her chest. Then her mother walked in, 

“What is going on, what’s with all of the 

shouting?” 

“Cleo want to become a knight.” Her father said. 

“Yes honey, but she probably wouldn’t get in” 

her mother responded. She walked over to her husband 

and laid her paws on his shoulder. 

“Maybe, but I am not going to let her anyways.” 

Dad reassured her. “Just let me have a chance. Please!” Cleo 

pleaded. 

“Fine!” her mom finally yelled. “Your dad and I 

will talk more about it, and we then will let you know 

what our decision is. We need to know that this is truly 

what your heart wants. Knight training is not only hard 

physically Cleo, but mentally, you need to be prepared to 

give up your little hamster life to protect the kingdom.” 

“Now, go on to bed.” her dad commanded.

#

She got ready for bed. When she was done, she 

laid there with her pet cricket, trying to fall asleep. She 

said, 

“Snapper, I really want to be a knight.” but of 

course, like every other time, 

“Cricket, Chirp, Cricket,” was all he said.

“Can you understand me, Snapper?” she thought. 

After carefully putting her pet back in his pen, she went 

back to bed and slowly fell asleep. 

#

In the morning Cleo woke up quickly, ate 

breakfast, and changed. Once she was finally ready, 

Cleo called, “See you later” to her mom and walked out 

the door.

“Good luck Cleo!” She could hear her mother call as she 

closed the door.

 “Cleo!” her friend Alexia called. She is one of 

Cleo’s very best friends. She is a ginger hamster and is 

stubborn enough to prove it. Cleo quickly joined her as 

they ran to their friend’s house. Cleo was dying to tell 

Alexia she was trying to convince her parents to let her 

sign up for knights training, and that she could think of 

nothing better in life than to proudly be a brave strong 

knight protecting and defending her kingdom. Alexia would make a great knight as well Cleo 

thought. With as stubborn and bull headed as Alexia 

was, Cleo couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to pick a 

fight with her. She can definitely hold her own. As they 

walked, she wondered if she should bring it up, but 

decided to wait til she was with the rest of her friendsThe two hamsters arrived at a small cottage. 

This cottage houses a family of three golden hamsters. 

One of which is the two girls’ friend, Prince. As amazing 

of a guy as Prince is, he just doesn’t fit his name. He 

may be one of the bravest hamsters that Cleo knows and 

he absolutely loves action and adventure, but he is 

skinny, petite, and a little bit socially awkward. After 

Cleo knocked on the door, he walked out into the sunny 

day. His light blond fur shined brightly in the sun. “Hey 

guys, ready to go to the twins’ house?”

“Actually Prince, Cleo suggested we stop at the 

market and pick up a surprise gift for them.” Alexia replied. Prince ran to catch up with the girls who turned 

to walk away“I suppose they would like a gift from their 

friends” he said while catching up to walk side by side 

with his two friends. The three hamsters walked down 

the dirt path chatting and occasionally passing neighbors 

until they reached the center of town. The town square in 

Hamland was quite large and always bustling with 

activity. Three sides were covered with shops and the 

north side holds the gate into the castle. Behind that gate 

there was another smaller gathering area for 

announcements and ceremonies. In the common area of 

the square, a market was held almost every day. 

Hamsters who didn’t have permanent stores and 

merchants from all over sold their goods and services. 

The three hamsters were drawn to a mystical looking tent 

while searching for a formidable last-minute present for the twins. This tent was owned by a squirrel. After 

inquiring, he said that he collected and sold oddities 

from across the world. Impressed, the three hamsters 

decided this was the place to find the perfect gift. “So, 

what kind of gift should we get them?” Alexia asked. 

The three of them walked around admiring the random 

objects surrounding them.

“Should we get them two separate things, or 

matching things?” Cleo responded. She looked around 

for something that looked good for a pair.

“Maybe jewelry?” Prince suggested. He held a 

jewel from a necklace up to the sun. The two girls 

turned to look at him and the necklace. 

“Jewelry is too ordinary. Someone definitely 

already got them jewelry.” Alexia said with a hint ofdisgust. While Cleo listened to her friends bicker, she 

remembered that she wants to ask her friends to go to 

knight training with her. Maybe this gift could be a 

segway into that conversation. She slowly made her way 

towards a shelf with weapons on it. At first, she didn’t 

see anything worthwhile, but then when she crouched 

down to check out the bottom shelf, she noticed a label 

that said the twin blade. It looked like one, dual bladed 

Stolen story; please report.

dagger at first glance. Cleo was unimpressed, but then 

she noticed a mechanism in the center of the handle. 

Trying to be as careful as possible, she grabbed the 

handle and pressed in one of the buttons. To her surprise, 

the dual blade became two. “Perfect” she whispered 

under her breath.“You want to get them knifes?” Alexia 

questioned. Cleo hesitated a second to think of her 

explanation. She thought she’d wait til they’re all 

together to say her idea.

“Well, yeah.... Don’t you think they’re perfect for 

two feisty girls?” Cleo answered slowly.

“They do look pretty cool” Prince interjected. 

“Well that settles it.” Alexia said, “We found our 

gift!”

After purchasing their gift they thanked the 

squirrel and walked out of the tent. While they crossed 

the square a hurried hamster slammed into Cleo. She fell 

to the ground, but the hamster didn’t stop to help her.This hamster only yelled “Pardon me!”By the time Cleo turned around, she only caught 

a glimpse of the hamsters long, white fur before she 

disappeared into the crowd. Cleo gave her friends a 

questioning look while they helped her up, but the 

conversation she was going to start was stopped by a 

clock chiming twelve times. “Wow! We really need to 

get to the twins’ house.” Prince exclaimed. Alexia 

grabbed the gift that Cleo accidentally dropped and gave 

it back to her. She took the daggers wrapped in a white 

cloth and slipped them into her crossbody bag.

“You’re right, Prince. Let’s go.” Cleo said 

leading the way through the crowd.

#

Finally, they arrived at an eerie, dwarf hamster 

sized house. None of them were afraid of the eerie feel, they had been there a hundred times and were long over 

it. It seemed as though the party had already started. 

Cleo went to knock on the door, but heard a muffled 

voice through the door. “Oh good. They’re here”

They were welcomed in by the twins’ mom, “Hi, 

guys. The girls are in their room with their cousins, I’ll 

go get them.” She walked down the hall and yelled, 

“Victoria, Veronica! Cleo, Alexia, and Prince are here!” 

Two identical dwarf hamsters ran down the hallway. 

They both had dark brown fur with a black strip down 

their back and white under bellies. Veronica and 

Victoria, or Verry and Vikky as they liked to be called, 

were twins who were separated at birth. Cleo never knew 

why, but she was still supportive of her friends. Each 

year they celebrated their reunion. It wasn’t a big thing, only their relatives and friends went, but it was 

important. All their relatives were walking around in 

their house, most of them were dwarf hamsters who had 

a similar look as Vikky and Verry. 

“Hi guys, we’re so glad you’re here.” Verry said.

“Yeah, we just had to play with our little cousins 

for an hour. It was torture.” Vikky added. The five of 

them stopped to watch the little cousins run out of Vikky 

and Verry’s room and to their parents. Without stopping 

their conversations, the parents shooed their children 

away.

“Okay, well we can go into our room.” Verry 

said continuing their own conversation. 

“Won’t your relatives want you to be with 

them?” Cleo asked.“Oh no, many of them just come to visit and eat 

food. They wouldn’t mind.” Vikky replied, so the five 

hamsters walked down the hall to their room. The room 

felt narrow from the beds against either wall. They all 

took their respective spots when they came in. The twins 

sat on one bed, Alexia and Cleo sat on the other, and 

Prince took the chair at their shared desk. The group of 

friends began to catch up.

After talking for a while, Prince decided it was 

time to give the twins their gift, “So, did you guys get 

anything good from your relatives?”

“Ugh, no” Verry replied. Vikky continued her 

sentence.

“The older we get, the worse the presents are!” 

The two of them were obviously bothered. They furrowed their furry faces and crossed their arms. The 

other three friends looked at each other and nodded in 

agreement.

“Maybe our gift will change that” Alexia said 

smugly. The disappointment on the twins’ faces quickly 

turned to excitement. They turned Cleo as she pulled the 

wrapped gift from the bag. She then handed it to Vikky, 

who set it in between her twin and herself on the bed. 

Verry opened the wrap to reveal the blade underneath. 

“It's amazing” Verry said. She lifted it up 

carefully and admired its details. 

“Yeah, but why only one?” Vikky questioned.

“That’s the cool part,” Prince replied, “It comes 

apart and becomes two daggers! Perfect for you two. 

Right, Cleo?”“Right. Apart they are two daggers but together 

they are a powerful weapon, just like the two of you.” 

Cleo explained. Verry detached the two daggers and 

handed on to her sister. The two twins got a feel for each 

dagger. They played with them a little and then Verry 

handed hers to Vikky, so she could put them back 

together.

“That’s so thoughtful! Thanks, you guys.” Vikky 

said. She set the blade down onto the cloth.

“Yeah, I don’t know how we could live without 

you guys.” Verry added.

“You’re welcome. I hope this group stays 

together forever.” Alexia replied. Everyone agreed and 

nodded. Cleo stood up to say something to all of them. 

She took the blade into her own paw.“That’s why I chose this gift. There is a way we 

can all stay together and do our own thing. Prince can 

become the strong hamster he’s always wanted to be, 

Vikky can improve her archery skills, and we all can 

make a difference in this kingdom like we’ve always 

wanted to. Next week Knight training starts and I think 

we should join. We could become our own team, fight 

together on the battlefield, and help save this kingdom in 

times of need.”

“Wow Cleo, I’ve never thought of joining the 

army, but maybe I would make a good archer.” Vikky 

said. She imagined having a real bow, instead on the one 

she made from a branch. Whenever she saw a high-

quality bow she liked, she could never afford it. “Yeah,” Verry added, “but I’m not sure where I’d 

fit as a knight” Cleo expected such a reaction from 

Verry. She was neither aggressive or violent, but Cleo 

was sure there was a place for her as a knight.

“I’m sure training will help you find your place, 

Verry. That’s why we should go, so that we can learn 

how to be strong.”

“Yeah! I like the sound of that.” Prince snapped 

out of his daydream of being a strong knight. He didn’t 

need any convincing, although he knew that training was 

not going to be easy. “What about you Alexia?” She 

hadn’t said anything yet, and she looked concerned. 

“You guys know my parents, They’re so 

overprotective. It would take a lot of convincing to get 

them to let me go to training. Otherwise, I would love to.” Cleo saw her friends looked dejected after Alexia’s 

confession.

“Then that will be our first mission as a team!” 

She said triumphantly, “We will convince Alexia’s 

parents to let her come with us to knight training.”

“Sounds like a plan to me, and then we go to 

knight's training and do actual missions.” Vikky said 

agreeing with Cleo’s plan. 

“Well, let’s hope the plan works.” Alexia added. 

She knew it would be a difficult task, but all her friends 

were so excited that she decided to worry about that later 

and have fun with her friends.

Cleo was relieved that her speech went well. Her 

friends meant so much to her, she wasn’t sure she could go to training on her own. Now she was sure her dreams 

of saving the kingdom with her friends would come true.

The rest of the night the hamsters continued to 

celebrate the twins, even after all their relatives left. 

They were all excited for what the future may hold.