After the strange scene within the stairwell of the academy, the three of them made their way into the main hall of the academy.
This was the place where the true gala was taking place at, and when Chase seen the tables of lavish food at the other end of the room, his eyes sparkled.
"I'll catch you guys in a minute!"
He called out to Michael and Equan, as he made his way through large groups of obnoxious students his age.
Skipping the entire line, he grabbed a plate and started to load just about everything remotely edible onto it.
Once his food was piled onto his plastic plate, he happily made his way through the groups of people dancing to some bardic music that was echoing through the academy halls.
Sitting down on one of the benches that were put out for the event, he dug into his food. That was at least until he saw a vibrant ivory dress that nearly blinded him from the other side of the hall.
It was Poppy, and she looked quite angry even from over where he was sitting.
Her crimson eyes were darting across the hall, as if searching for someone.
Sighing, Chase continued to happily eat his food.
In fact, he had actually originally planned to leave the gala once he was finished ravaging the buffet set out for the night's festivities.
He wasn't even halfway done with his large pile of potatoes, and mixed meats when someone cleared their throat in front of him.
Slowly looking up, he tilted his head at Poppy who had her arms crossed with a dangerous expression on her face.
"Where's Neo?"
"How the hell should I know?"
Chase responded in-between large bites of what could have been manticore meat for all he knew.
"I don't know, aren't you two friends?"
"Nah."
"Huh?"
"Yes mam!"
Immediately regretting his snarky attitude in fear of being stabbed in the shoulder, he glanced around the room swiftly.
"He isn't here."
"I already know that..."
Poppy complained.
"Why do you need him?"
"I don't, he's the one who made me go to this stupid g-galia."
"Gala."
Chase corrected her stuttered speech for no good reason.
Reaching toward her outer thigh, she lifted a small wooden handle.
"Sorry!"
He pleaded, nearly dropping his plate of food.
Then she quickly sat down on the bench next to the gluttonous Stray.
Glancing at The Ivory Princess out of the corner of his eye, Chase truly realized for the first time just how beautiful the false heir of the kingdom really was.
Her crimson eyes shone like rubies in the magical lighting of the gala, and her white dress looked like something out of the fairy tales that his father had used to read to him when he was younger.
"Don't you have friends you can go hang out with?"
It sounded kind of harsh after the words came out of his mouth, but he didn't necessarily care, he just wanted to eat in peace if he was being honest.
"No, none of them showed up..."
"Ah."
He sighed, and was about to apologize, but of course every time he planned on apologizing to this damned girl something terribly random always occurred.
And of course, the bench flipped to the side, and with a yelp the two of them fell into a dark abyss with the ceiling closing shut above them.
Luckily the fall was no where near as horrendous as the mimic's nightmare world that the two of them and Neo had ventured into during a fateful detention.
With a thud the two of them landed in a small tunnel lit only by occasional lanterns here and there.
"Wha-"
Before Poppy could scream out for help, a hand covered both of their mouths instantly.
"Shhhhh! Dear friends, it's not what it looks like!"
A familiar snaky voice whispered with a sense of humor from behind the two of them; however, it was the smell of lavish exotic furs that quickly gave his identity away.
"Mrian! Mhph! Memph meph moph!"
Chase mumbled, as he cursed the damned merchant.
"If you will stay silent as a mouse my dear Phoenix."
Dorian joked with an amused tone, as he lifted his cold hand from his mouth.
"Ensure the silence of the girl please, allthough it was not my intention too drag the bastard into my tunnels."
He paused.
"Please do forgive me dear girl, I would hate too make enemies with the Aries clan."
Dorian winked, sounding quite sarcastic.
Poppy scowled at the man dressed in exotic clothing, but appeared quite calm as he removed his hand from her mouth.
"Now! My dearest companions."
"We aren't your companions..."
Chase and Poppy replied simultaneously, causing his face to heat up, much too his surprise.
"Anywho, I have a another favor, that will of course be paid in full if you can successfully pull off what I am about to ask of the both you..."
As Chase nervously glanced around the poorly lit tunnel, he doubted just how dangerous this task was about to be based off of what he had been tasked with in the underbelly.
"And that is...?"
Chase asked slowly.
"Oh yes of course, I require the both of you too taint the fruit punch with the most finest of beverages..."
A frown followed onto the boy's face, as Dorian pulled two expensive looking bottles of wine from underneath his fur cloak.
"You're kidding."
Poppy looked completely shocked at the fact that this man had just asked two students too slip alcohol into the academy punch.
"Why?"
Chase quickly asked with narrow eyes, feeling that there was a much more dreading reason for this stunt.
"I have a job to fulfil boy, and this requires quite the distraction if you will."
That was all that Dorian had too say, before he stepped back into the shadows after handing the two, the expensive wine bottles.
"Just great..."
Poppy complained with several curses, as she stomped her foot into the cold underground dirt.
Chase scratched the back of his neck, as he studied the wine bottle in his left hand.
"Maybe, it will be fun."
She looked at the boy, as if he had been possessed by a mimic.
"Are you crazy?"
Then just as she asked that question, the tunnel walls began to shift. Then in only moments, the wall opened up with a passage lit by a single lantern.
Chase stepped into the passage, with a strangely determined look on his face.
"You can't be serious!"
Then in pure outrage, Poppy followed the boy up the passage, and back into the side of the main hall.
As the festivities continued too take place, the both of them slowly made their way over to the large set of tables that held numerous amounts of food and drink.
'Let the true fun begin, I suppose...'
With the final thought, he steadied himself and a strange smirk grew at the corners of his lips.