CHAPTER 1 – An unexpected arrival.

It was a slightly drizzly day in Camelot. It was cold, the sky was overcast and rain was inevitable. All in all, a day like any other. That is, until a large swirling portal appeared in the sky and shot five people out of it. And then it started to snow. Whoopdee-freaking-doo. As the five landed with a solid thud on the ground one of the nearby guards came to arrest them for sorcery.

"By the order of Uther Pendragon you are hereby under arrest for practicing magic in the kingdom of Camelot," He said, whistling for assistance before grabbing one of the teenage girls that had been unceremoniously dumped in the castles courtyard.

"Crap," The girl said rather loudly. She had blonde hair in a bun and was wearing glasses.

More guards came and tried to arrest the girls but the one with brown and red hair went, to put it simply, ballistic. She threw a punch at the man who tried to grab her and her fist connected with his jaw with a sickening crunch. Two more guards came at the girl and one of them received a solid kick to the face, knocking off his helmet and making him fall to the ground. The other grabbed her from behind and she crushed his instep with a solid stomp before whipping her head back into his nose making him let go. That was when the knights got involved.

The other girls had been got but were struggling wildly against their captors in an attempt to escape. The still free girl eyed the knights warily and took up a loose fighting stance. The knights drew their swords and the girl simply smirked. "Surrender now and we will not harm you," Arthur said from the front of the group.

"Fat chance," One of the knights laughed at the girl.

"You're tiny, you can't beat us," Percival said.

"And you're a girl," Arthur stated.

"And you're an idiot, captain obvious," The girl replied.

The knights laughed again and the girl rolled her eyes.

"He's not a captain, he's a princess," Objected Gwaine with a dejected sigh, this time getting laughs from the captured girls.

Arthur turned to glare at Gwaine, giving the girl enough time to jump at Arthur and spin-kick his face. Merlin raised his hand to perform a spell to defend Arthur but decided against it at the last second. The girl's foot hit the prince's face with a wet crack, dislocating his jaw. As Arthur fell to the ground from the impact of the blow, he grabbed the girl's leg and threw her to the stone that paved the courtyard. The girl tried to get up, wincing as she did so, only to be grabbed by Percival. When she tried to stamp on his foot he lifted her into the air and she continued to struggle quite humorously, shouting profanities as she did so.

With that the knights and their 'captives' began to traipse back towards the castle.

When they reached the castle they were brought before King Uther.

"What have we here?" He asked.

"That is the most clichéd line, ever." The black haired girl stated, "Hi. I'm Rebecca."

"She's right you know. I'm Katie," The blonde said.

"'What have we here' usually indicates that you are the bad guy in a situation. Having not given us a chance to explain ourselves proves my theory correct," The brown, curly haired one explained. Everyone looked at her weirdly. "And my name's Lili if you want to know."

"That was insightful. My name's Holly," Holly commented.

The other one just banged her head against the wall. She stopped for a moment and looked up. "Emma," She said simply.

"We don't care what your names are, sorcerers," Uther retorted.

"We plead innocent?" Holly said unsurely.

"There is no innocence in your crimes," Uther retaliated, "The practise of sorcery is forbidden and for it you shall be executed."

"Well, that's a bit unfair," Rebecca protested.

"Indeed! We, uhh, we… what do we do now?" Emma looked to Lili.

"We petition the kingdom for the right to… uhh… live?" Lili improvised.

"Or play netball," Katie said.

Holly slapped Katie upside the head before realisation dawned on her, "We petition the kingdom for the right to play netball, gambling with our lives. Should we win, we are to be let free."

"We refuse to play this ball of net that you seem so adamant about," Uther protested.

"Then you are disqualified by default," Lili said.

"That means we win," Emma pointed out.

After a short and whispered exchange by Prince Arthur and his father, Uther turned back to them and spoke "We will grant you this game of "net and the ball" our team will naturally be made up of the knights of Camelot, and I (he drew himself up pompously) will umpire."

A collective "ah" came out from the expectant girls and the knights looked momentarily confused.

"Scared of losing?" Smirked Sir Gwaine with a glance between the five girls before him.

"I don't think we are the ones that should be worried" replied the girl who introduced herself as Emma.

"It's the idea of an extremely biased umpire which may cause us some problems" muttered Holly to Katie who nodded in agreement, but just loud enough so that the mildly confused King could hear.

"Enough!" Yelled Uther making Gaius immediately wake up from his peaceful doze he had been having at the table. ("How long had he been there!?" Whispered Lili to Emma who merely shrugged.)

"You shall stay in the cells until the game, which shall be held tomorrow, starts." Said Uther, suspicious that they might use sorcery to escape.

"Sire, if I may speak?" Leon asked, not wanting to enrage the King further. A nod from the King and he continued.

"Should we not show our hospitality and let them stay elsewhere in the castle? After all there are lots of guest rooms…?"

"No" Replied Uther and he wandered out of the council chambers slamming the door behind him, just as Elyan and Lancelot walked in after being on patrol on the northern borders. They cast a worried glanced at each other at the Kings apparent rage and stopped suddenly when they saw five teenage girls in the council chambers, along with a shell shocked Leon, laughing Gwaine and Merlin and Arthur, who had the distinct air about him of losing a fight.

There was a crash and a yell from somewhere down the corridor and those knights who weren't still rolling on the floor laughing ran out to see what the commotion was. 27 seconds later (It appeared Rebecca had counted) they came back in with a grin.

"The King had fallen over a table" Lancelot declared as serious as he could. At this point Gwaine and Merlin had just finished laughing at Leon, and therefore immediately started laughing again, much to Arthur's distress.

"Pull yourselves together will you!" He half shouted at his knights, clearly amused himself. Then he turned to the girls.

"I am deeply sorry about my fathers…inhospitality, but… well you shouldn't have practised magic in the first place!"

"We didn't" said Holly and she launched into an explanation into how they ended up in Camelot.

"You know what?" Arthur said with a sigh "I just don't want to know. Lancelot and Elyan looked slightly less confused about the proceedings but still unclear what was to happen.

"It was a good story" murmured Katie with a knowing glance between her companions "But if you insist Sire" she added with what could only be described as a sarcastic smile.

"Leon, Percival, Lancelot and Elyan, would you please escort these girls to the guest bedrooms near the kitchens" Ordered Arthur, clearly choosing to ignore his father's requ…demands. Leon threw him a 'Is that wise' look earning him a shrug and a "as if my father would check the cells" from Arthur. The girls brightened up and this and Rebecca even went as far as to let out a small "Yippee!"

"And," he announced tiredly glancing at his knight and manservant "If you two don't shut up soon it will mean the stocks for both of you!" Gwaine and Merlin quickly stopped laughing and walked towards the door.

"Clotpole" murmured Merlin.

"Princess" replied Gwaine.

The girls and knights chuckled and it even drew a small smile from the irritated prince. As the knights went to lead the girls out, they thanked the prince and left him alone (well, with a dozing Gaius). As soon as they were out of earshot Arthur practically skipped over to his sleeping physician and prodded him, hard.

"Whaaaaat?" Asked a sleepy Gaius with a yawn.

"How on earth do you play netball Gaius!?" Asked Arthur desperately.