Chosen for MagicA Magical Mission Story

Akanksha was walking home from school when something caught her eye. There was something glittering in the air. She walked towards it and tried to touch it.

Immediately, the dust swirled around like a tornado, and before she could even think of anything, the dust stopped swirling around her and settled down. But now, she was in a strange place where she knew nobody.

Just as she was beginning to panic, a kind fairy approached her and said, “Hello Akanksha! I’m Amaya, the Head of Heroes. Congratulations on being chosen.”

Akanksha was a bit dazed. “How do you know me? What do you mean ‘chosen’?” she asked.

“We know everything about our heroes. We need to understand them before we choose them. We chose you because we found certain qualities needed in our heroes in you. Now, would you like to choose your sidekick?” said Amaya.

“OMG! I get to choose my own sidekick! How do I choose?” asked Akanksha.

“Depends,” replied Amaya. “Now, let’s get on with it.” She pulled out a book from the air and handed it over to her. “Are you ready?” she asked Akanksha.

“Let’s do this!”

It was a lovely early morning. Akanksha woke up to the sound of knocking on her room door.

“Akanksha, I want to see you in exactly 30 minutes. Is that okay with you?” asked Amaya.

“Yes, I’m good with that.”

Akanksha got ready and was about to leave when she remembered about her sidekick. Where on earth had he gone? A soft snoring sound could be heard from under her bed. When she looked there, she saw her sidekick sleeping on a pile of clothes.

“Wake up!” said Akanksha. No response.

“WAKE UP!”

Still no response.

“ARE YOU DEAF? WAKE UP!”

“Five more minutes,” he muttered.

“No five more minutes. Amaya said we had to see her in 30 minutes. We’re going to be late,” said Akanksha. But he didn’t budge an inch. In the end, Akanksha had to carry him all the way to the hall, where Amaya was waiting for them.

“Good morning, huff, your majesty. I mean — huff — Amaya, huff — did you, huff, sleep well?” panted Akanksha as she finally let go of her sidekick and sat him on a chair. “Sorry we’re late. We had a few ‘problems,’ but everything is fine — don’t worry.”

“Oh, I see you and your sidekick have become close,” said Amaya.

“Yes, very close,” replied Akanksha in sarcasm.

“I have called you as I need to give you a mission. A little while away, there is a villain called Willium. We think he is a villain as he has tried to steal many of our heroes’ powers, but I am getting reports from a few spies that he has a reason for being mean and bad to everyone. I need you to find out the reason.

“I will give you some advice that may help you. Willium has a sidekick called Meera. He used to be a hero too, but now he left and became bad. Meera is very kind and generous. I’m sure your sidekick knows about Meera.”

“Oh yes! She was my best friend. She’ll be glad to see me again,” said Sidekick.

“Okay… but what does that have to do with our mission?” asked Akanksha.

“I thought you can ask Meera for information,” replied Amaya.

“Oh! I’m sure that will work. It seems a bit easy, you know,” said Akanksha.

“Easy! How can it be easy?” asked Amaya.

“We just need to get to his place, find Meera, ask her a few things and get our answer,” Akanksha replied.

“Now that you put it like that, it does seem easy. We will all be grateful if you can find out this reason. We have been trying to find out for a long time, but we always get caught. I hope you will be successful,” said Amaya.

“Goodbye Amaya! See you soon. Don’t worry — we’ll come back with the answer to our mission,” said Akanksha as she waved goodbye and set off towards Willium’s house… or at least what Sidekick thought was Willium’s house!

Sidekick — “I’m so excited to see Meera again! It’s been 365 years since I saw her! Or was it 9000 years since I saw her?”

Akanksha — “Seriously, why don’t you have any time sense?”

Sidekick — “You think we had digital watches and clocks hung on our walls, or in my case, pages?”

Akanksha — “What did you even do in that book?”

Sidekick — “Oh, eat food Amaya magically gave us, slept…”

Akanksha — “And annoyed!”

Sidekick — “I’m not as stupid as you think.”

He suddenly vanished into thin air.

Akanksha — “Where’d you go? Cooee! Where are you?”

Sidekick — “Cooee ooo!”

Akanksha — “Ahem! I repeat, where are you?”

Sidekick — “Cooer ooee ooo!”

“CAN YOU KINDLY REAPPEAR BEFORE I LOSE MY TEMPER???!!!”

“Fine,” he replied reluctantly, and then reappeared.

“Why didn’t you tell me you could do that?” asked Akanksha.

“You never said or asked me what I could do.”

“Maybe I’ve judged him too harshly,” thought Akanksha. “He may be clumsy and senseless at times, but there’s no harm in him — and at least he isn’t brainless!”

To Sidekick, she said, “Sorry I judged you too hard. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Hey, no worries. Even I could have been more civil,” he replied. Then he put out his odd-looking paw, which was just black, and said, “Peace?”

Akanksha shook it happily. He wasn’t so bad after all.

“Why are you nameless, black and faceless?” she asked.

“Time will tell,” he said in a mysterious voice. “Look — straight ahead is Willium’s house. The easy part is over. Now we have to figure out how to get in without being seen.”

“I’ve got it,” said Akanksha. “You can become invisible and sneak into his house. Then you can listen to their conversation, talk to Meera and come back!”

“Hey, I’m a sidekick, not a hero. I can’t do your job for you,” he replied.

“Hmm, okay — you listen to their conversation and I’ll talk to Meera. Sounds okay?” asked Akanksha.

“Okay, but once you finish your talk with Meera, call me. I want to see her again. OMG, I’ve not seen her in 1200 years… or was it 1500 years?” said Sidekick.

Akanksha giggled. He really was funny.

“Well, let’s go to his house, which by the way looks like a haunted house,” she said to him. They said goodbye and split up, hoping for the best.

Sidekick had just sneaked through the gates. It was easy — once he became invisible, he could go through objects like a ghost. He was now hunting the place to find Willium. After an hour of hunting, he finally found him.

Willium was sitting on a chair and Meera was standing next to him. Meera was a cat with angelic wings. Her power was to change her shape into anything. Willium and Meera were now discussing something.

Willium — “It’s been 10 years since I left the heroes, but I still miss being one.”

Meera — “Why don’t you confront Amaya?”

Willium — “You know what happened, don’t you.”

Meera — “Well… I’ll tell you all I know. Your old friend, Spike, laid traps for you so you would fail your first mission — and then you did fail it — and you fought with Spike, but didn’t want to ruin his reputation and thought he’d stop, so you didn’t do anything. Then he tried to steal my powers and probably would have if you didn’t warn me and face him yourself. You and Spike had a huge fight and you lost again. He then spread rumours about you and everyone except for Amaya believed him. You felt hurt and left the heroes.”

Willium — “Yes, that’s pretty much what happened.”

Meera — “I know I’ve said this before, but thanks for all you’ve done for me.”

Willium — “And thanks for staying by my side. Now, I want to be alone in my room. Allow me to go and don’t disturb me.”

Meera — “Of course.”

Willium walked out of the room. Meera sighed and went to the garden, where luckily Akanksha was waiting.

“Hello Meera, I’m a hero — Akanksha. I know you are Willium’s sidekick. Can I talk to you?”

“About what?” asked Meera.

“About how I can help Willium?” she replied.

Meera thought for a while. She wasn’t allowed to talk to heroes, but she sensed Akanksha had good intentions. She couldn’t resist this chance to help him. “Okay,” she replied. They walked to the fountain and sat on a bench.

Akanksha — “Is Willium really… bad?”

Meera — “No. You see, a friend of his exposed him and he got mad about it and left them.”

Akanksha — “Do you know how I can help him?”

Meera — “Call Amaya. I’m sure she’ll comfort him.”

Akanksha — “Oh, okay.”

Meera — “By the way, who’s your sidekick?”

Akanksha — “I don’t know his name and he looks like a black amoeba, but he can become invisible, has bad time sense, is wacky — and apparently you’re his BFF.”

Meera — “I do remember having a friend like that. He used to say, ‘I’ve not eaten any food for 100 days… or was it 1000 days?’”

Akanksha — “Yep, that’s him.”

Meera — “He’s good at heart though.”

Sidekick appeared from nowhere and gave Meera a hug. “Meera, how nice to see you again. It’s been 1500 years since I saw you. Or was it 2000 years?”

Meera — “To be exact, it has been 10 years.”

Sidekick — “Oh, but it felt like a million years.”

Meera — “You really should learn how to tell time.”

Sidekick — “Thanks for the compliment.”

Akanksha — “He’s gone bonkers.”

(They all laugh.)

Akanksha and Sidekick said goodbye to Meera and set off back to Amaya’s house. Amaya was surprised to see them so soon, but welcomed them happily.

Amaya — “I hope you have found out the reason why Willium is acting so strange.”

Akanksha — “Yes, we have.”

(They explain everything to Amaya.)

Amaya — “Good work! I did give you an easy task, to be honest.”

Sidekick — “Yeah, I guess so. I was so happy to see Meera again. It’s been 10 years since I saw her.”

Akanksha — “That’s the first time you didn’t exaggerate about it.”

Amaya — “Good for you, Sidekick. Now I think we three should go and talk to Willium.”

(They walk to Willium’s house, where Meera is waiting for them.)

Meera — “Amaya, it’s been a long time since I saw you.”

Amaya — “Yes, it has been quite a long time. Do you have any idea about how to tackle Willium?”

Meera — “You’ve got to be quick if you want to do anything. Otherwise he might get annoyed.”

Akanksha — “Leave it to me — I’ve got an idea.”

(They make their way to Willium’s room.)

Meera — “Amaya has come to see you.”

Willium — “Does she… think the worst of me?”

Akanksha (to Meera) — “Can I ask him a few questions?”

Meera — “Okay, but be quick.”

Akanksha (to Willium) — “Are you okay?”

Willium — “I guess.”

Akanksha — “Physically?”

Willium — “Yes.”

Akanksha — “Mentally?”

Willium — “Yes.”

Akanksha — “Amazingly?”

Willium — “Yes.”

Akanksha — “Superbly?”

Willium — “What kind of nonsense is this?”

Akanksha — “Emotionally?”

Willium — “………………”

(Long silence.)

Amaya — “Don’t worry. Spike will be banished from the heroes forever. Would you like to take his place?”

Meera — “You said you missed being a hero.”

Everyone (except Willium) — “Pleeeeeeeaaasssseeeeee!”

Willium — “Okay.”

Everyone — “Horaaaay!!!!!!!!!!”

(The following day)

Spike was banished, replaced by Willium. A huge party was arranged. Akanksha and Sidekick were officially heroes — and the best thing ever happened.

It all started with a conversation.

Akanksha — “You know, you’re not so bad after all — face or no face.”

Akanksha (to Sidekick) — “I learnt how to ask like that from the expert.”

Sidekick — “Aww… I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.”

Akanksha — “Why?”

Sidekick — “Don’t you know that heroes are supposed to draw how their sidekick looks?”

(Silence.)

Akanksha — “LET’S GOOOOO! Now I can draw you a face!”

Sidekick — “HOORAY! Now it’s time for you to draw me any way you want, and even give me my own name. Here is your sheet! Have fun drawing me.”

Anshika left this page blank on purpose — so Akanksha can invent, name, and draw a sidekick of her own!

Tip: print this page and fill it in by hand — or type your answers after printing to PDF.

The End… for now

Made with friendship by Anshika, for Akanksha.