Chapter 6: Reunion

“Alright guys lunch is served! I made it myself, hope you enjoy!” Carolyn says giving the gang a wink.

“Lady Carolyn insisted she make lunch today, so who am I to say no?” Fluffy remarks to the group

Carolyn serves the food to Aria and Lance but their faces start to turn blue

‘What in the world is she serving us mud?!’ Lance thought to himself

“Hey Carol, what is this?” Lance asks nervously

“Can’t you tell? It’s spaghetti and meatballs silly!” Carol replies says with a smile

‘Last time I checked spaghetti wasn’t green and mushy. Matter of fact where's the spaghetti? All i see is green mush. But she DID go through all the trouble of making this, I might as well try it out’ Lance thinks to himself as he nervously gets a spoonful of the “spaghetti”.’

*SLURP*

“Well how is it Lance?” Carolyn asks eager to find out what he thinks

Lance sat still for what seemed like several seconds with nothing but a smile on his face then all of a sudden faints.

“LANCE ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!” Carolyn asks in shock as she nudges him in an attempt to wake him up.

While Carolyn is distracted, Aria realizing the direness of the situation, quickly disintegrates the food on her plate with her magic

‘Mmmm wow big sis that was delicious!’ Aria says smiling nervously.

Carolyn with a huge smile on her face yells out “Aww thanks Aria! You’re sweet. Here have some seconds. A growing girl like you needs the proper nutri-.”

Aria with a mortified look on her face screams (telepathically of course)

‘NOOOO NO THANK YOU I’M FULL!’ and quickly floats off into the forest

Carolyn with a confused look on her face replies

“O-Okay then”

She then proceeds to serve herself a plate of her “spaghetti”.

“More for me then. Bon Appetit,” Carolyn says as she grabs a spoonful and puts it into her mouth

She freezes with the spoon still inside her mouth and begins to slowly fall backwards

‘DISGUSTING! Did I really make Lance and Aria eat this?! Aria, Lance, I sincerely apologize’ she thinks to herself before passing out herself.

“It’s times like these where I’m glad I no longer have a functioning stomach or tastebuds..” Fluffy marks after witnessing the result of Carolyn's cooking.

Now to dispose of this before anyone else suffers the same fate as Sir Lance and Lady Carolyn.

*Whoosh* 

As he walks towards the pot Fluffy is hit with a strong blast of wind and sent flying into a tree effectively breaking it in half.

“Halt! Who goes there.” Fluffy yells beginning to release his pent up spiritual energy.

He is greeted by the mysterious bounty hunter who's holding an unconscious Aria by the back of her dress.

“The Name’s Allen Kirkwood! Here I think this is yours”  he says as he tosses Aria towards him.

“No.. Miss Aria! What have you done to her you scoundrel?!”

 “Relax, I just hit her with some of my special tranquilizer. It’d be problematic if I had to go up against a mage of her caliber. Don't worry her life isn’t in any danger, but she won’t be waking up at least for the rest of the day.” Allen casually replies

He then walks towards the unconscious Lance and picks him up by his shirt.

“I’ll be taking the Exalted. My client is most interested in this one, I believe y’all know him as Hellhound?” He says to Fluffy with a mischievous grin

“As if I’d let your run off with the young Sire!” Fluffy yells as he jumps towards the man gathering a vast amount of spiritual energy into his right paw

"Oooh wouldn’t wanna get hit by that.. Time for us to go Lance," Allen says to himself

As Fluffy’s punch is inches from making contact, Allen vanishes with Lance into thin air. The punch instead hits the ground leaving a large crater in its wake.

“He vanished! This is bad.. Of all the times for Aria to be out of commission. Forgive me Sire, I’ve failed you as an aide,” Fluffy remarks to himself with a look of grief.

 

Several Hours Later

“Wh-what happened?” Carolyn says as she begins to wake up

“Lady Carolyn, thank goodness you’re awake. The situation is dire, and time is of the essence.”

“Huh? What do you mean,” she asks dazed and confused

“A mysterious man who goes by the name of Allen Kirkwood ambushed us. He knocked out Aria and took off with Lance while the two of you were unconscious. I tried my best to stop him, but due to my incompetence he got away. As we speak he may be taking him to Hellhound’s hideout.” Fluffy explains to Carolyn with disappointment and anger towards himself

Carolyn in shock begins to blame herself “No.. This is all my fault! Lance was fine until he ate my lunch. If only I had been more-“

“No Lady Carolyn don’t blame yourself. Sir Lance would never put blame on you. In fact he’d probably blame himself for letting himself get knocked out. So don’t let it get to you. The young Sire can hold his own with the best of them, but if this Hellhound is truly an Exalted like the rumors say then we need to act fast. For now we must focus on waking Miss Aria as soon as possible. She’s our only in hope in tracking down Sir Lance’s location.” Fluffy says to Carolyn

Carolyn regaining her composure replies “Y-You’re right, Lance needs our help right now, I don’t have time to be moping around.”

‘Don’t worry Lance, we’re coming to get you.’ Carolyn says to herself with strong conviction in her eyes

Meanwhile a few kilometers away from Hellhound’s hideout in Lyssandria Forest

“Wh-where am I,” Lance says as he wakes up.

He then notices he’s tied up

“What the hell is going on?! Why am I tied up like this,” Lance mutters out in frustration

“Hmph, so you’re finally awake! You’ve always been a heavy sleeper haven’t ya”?

Lance quickly recognizes the face and voice

“A-Allen? Is that you?”

Allen replies with an angered look on his face

“It’s been a while.. Buddy.”

WHAT IS LANCE’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ALLEN KIRKWOOD?