The 5 Sublords of Shabranigudo were busily preparing themselves for dinner. All of them were wearing their best clothes, since they will be eating with their head lord, Shabranigudo.

Fibrizo was the first one to get to the dining room and he was excited for they will be having fettuccine carbonarra and it’s his favorite. He sat on one end of the rectangular table and waited for the others to come.

Xelas Metallium entered, looking well-poised. Fibrizo knew that she is the one with the best manners and her manners are much better than better when having dinner with an important person, say the LON, their mother. She sat on the right side of the table, close to Fibrizo. They were quiet, waiting for the others.

Then, Dolphin, Garv and Graushaila entered, babbling and talking to each other. They went to their seats. Graushaila sat beside Xelas, Dolphin sat on the left side, facing Xelas and Garv sat beside him, facing Graushaila. Fibrizo clapped his hands and the servants came with the appetizer.

"Master Shabranigudo isn’t here yet, and you’re already serving the appetizer?" Xelas asked. "He’ll come here, you just wait! And it’s better so that we could start immediately when he comes!" Fibrizo told her.

"This is the first time that we are having dinner with our master. I wonder why he chose to have dinner with us tonight?" Dolphin asked.

"Yeah, usually, the ones having dinner with us is mom." Garv said. "LON?" Graushaila said.

"I am nervous." Fibrizo said. "Why?" Xelas asked. "This is the very first time that we are having dinner with our master! And I hate this coat and tie, the tie is making me sick!" Fibrizo said. Xelas sighed. "Because you tied it in the wrong way!" she said. Dolphin came to Fibrizo and helped him with the tie. "Thanks, Dolphin." Fibrizo said. Dolphin went back to his seat. "Sure, anytime!" he answered.

Then, they stopped talking when they heard footsteps. "Shh!" Graushaila said. All of them sat properly and placed their hands on their laps.

And their guest of honor came. "Good Evening, sir." They greeted in unison. Shabranigudo was in his human form like them, and he smiled and laughed out loud. "Looks like we have a big feast tonight, huh?" he asked, patting Fibrizo’s head and ruining the hairdo, making it look fuzzy. When Shabranigudo went to his seat, which was on the other side of the table, facing Fibrizo, Fibrizo fixed his hair again. Xelas chuckled at the sight of the annoyed Fibrizo, yet he couldn’t make any remark for Shabranigudo is stronger.

"Let’s eat!" Shabranigudo said happily. He looked at the appetizer, while the others have started eating theirs.

Then, Graushaila noticed that their master isn’t eating. "What’s the matter, sir, is there something wrong with the food?" he asked with a smile.

Shabranigudo scratched his head. "What is this stuff?" he asked.

"It’s the appetizer, sir. It’s seaweeds, century egg slices and Chinese ham bits." Graushaila answered.

Shabranigudo smiled. "Oh! So this is seaweed! I thought these are worms with yellow color!" he told them.

Xelas almost choked with her food. Graushaila patted and rubbed her back. Fibrizo jerked and looked at Shabranigudo. Dolphin smiled weakly. "It’s a special kind of seaweed, it came from my Sea of Darkness." He told Shabranigudo who’s currently enjoying his appetizer but eating it sloppily. Garv raised an eyebrow as he looked at Shabranigudo from the corner of his eye. "My gosh…" he muttered to himself. Dolphin pinched his arm and Xelas gave him a warning look.

Xelas smiled. "Well, we are glad you love it, sir!" she said, trying to look cheerful. Then, they continued to eat theirs.

"By the way, fellows, how was the human world today?" Shabranigudo asked while his mouth was full. Fibrizo swallowed his food and said. "I haven’t been there today. I’m planning my attack before I go." He answered.

"Nothing special there sir. But I created another commotion in the river wherein I placed some of my piranhas there." Dolphin answered. "I just threatened and punished some humans today for disrespecting me. Imagine, calling me ruthless!" Graushaila said. Garv and Xelas were silent.

Shabranigudo laughed and some bits of meat came out from his mouth and almost hit Garv and Graushaila who’s near him and Fibrizo who’s on the other end if only the didn’t duck. Xelas and Dolphin were shocked. "What kind of Dark Lord is this if he doesn’t know any manners!?" Xelas thought.

"You guys oughtta be rewarded by our dear LON! She is very busy nowadays, taking a vacation…" and Ruby Eye turned to Graushaila. "How’s the North Pole?" he asked.

Fibrizo turned to the servants and told them to bring in the main course. The servants began brining in the food.

Graushaila twitched and jerked. "Uh…it’s fine there!" he answered.

"You left your general there all by herself? You should have taken her along with you!" Shabranigudo teased. Graushaila blushed. "Uh…what do you mean by that, sir?" he asked. "And you might have at least taken her on a date instead of attending this dinner with me and your fellow leaders because you are already looking so bummed and bored!" he told him. Graushaila shook his head and tried to smile. "Uh, no! You’ve got it all wrong, sir! And don’t worry about Shaila, she is fine back there…" he answered, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

The servants took their appetizer plates and served them the main course. Shabranigudo smiled and licked his lips. "Hmmm…Looks so yummy! What’s this worm-like thingy with thick white sauce?" he asked. "That’s fettuccine carbonarra, sir." Fibrizo said. "It’s my favorite and mom likes it too!" he continued. "Really?" Shabranigudo said, as if talking to a child. Then, he turned to the roasted turkey. "Is it Thanksgiving today?" he asked. "No, but in special occasions like this, we got used to having turkey for dinner." Garv answered. "I believe the LON likes it too, ne?" Shabranigudo asked with a smile. "Yeah and she loves it especially if it is stuffed." Xelas answered.

"Don’t we have any veggie dish?" he asked.

"Oh, a vegetable dish? There, salad with thousand island dressing." Dolphin said, referring to the food in the middle of the table. "You just help yourself with it, sir!" Fibrizo told him.

Shabranigudo smiled. "Why thank you!" he said. Graushaila handed him the salad bowl and he grabbed it from him immediately. Then, he put some …no! He put ½ on his plate, leaving only the other half for the others. The 5 weren’t unable say anything but they were exchanging confused looks. They tried to ignore it but the sound Shabranigudo makes was so very annoying and noticeable that a well-poised person could easily walk-out the room upon hearing ill-mannered noises. Yet, Xelas kept her poise and thought of other things in her mind, like what is Luna doing now, or how can she torture Dolphin again that night.

Graushaila was thinking. "I shoulda just gotten his advice and took Shaila on a date…" he told himself.

Shabranigudo and the others began to eat their pasta. Garv stood up and got the knife for the turkey. He began to cut and slice it and placed some on their plates. "Hey, make mine bigger! I love turkey!" Shabranigudo said. "Sure, sir!" Garv answered, trying to sound cheerful. Then, the servants poured in their wineglasses some wine. "Ooh..wine!" he said. "This was made in Zefielia. I am sure this is great-tasting." Xelas told him. "Zefielia? Isn’t that the place where Lina lives?" Shabranigudo asked. "Yeah!.." Xelas answered. "And Luna gave that wine to me…" she said in her mind. Fibrizo was eating quietly.

Shabranigudo took a sip of wine but he suddenly saw something funny, just staring at Garv’s face, he spurted out the liquid and laughed. "Garv, you look so funny in that necktie!" he told. Graushaila, Xelas, Fibrizo and Dolphin got their table napkins from their laps and wiped their faces. Xelas bit her lip, Dolphin tried to act as if nothing happened. Fibrizo was already frowning and thinking that if Shabranigudo weren’t a Dark Lord, he would’ve smashed its marble right away. Graushaila was already frowning and muttering to himself. Xelas stomped on his foot to make him shut up. "Aiiee!" he screamed in pain. Xelas immediately covered his mouth with her right hand. Shabranigudo stopped laughing and turned to them. "Is anything the matter, fellows?" he asked. Xelas smiled sweetly at him. "Nah! He’s just having a little…a little pain in his foot! You know…he has this corn which is…infected coz he never washed his feet and it got dirty and wounded and…" Xelas said, thinking of a good excuse. "A corn!? Why I never!…"Graushaila thought, glaring angrily at Xelas. Shabranigudo laughed. "Well, whaddya’ know!? Our Dynast has a corn on his foot!" he told them aloud. Graushaila turned red. He removed Xelas’ hand from his mouth. "I don’t have any corn…" he answered sheepishly but with a normal smile. Fibrizo giggled. Dolphin bit his lip, trying to control his laughter. Garv continued to eat, ignoring them. Graushaila shot Xelas a how-dare-you look. Xelas smiled sweetly at him and giving him an I’m-innocent look. Graushaila turned away and continued eating, swearing to himself that he would leave right away after dessert.

As they continued their meals, Shabranigudo choked on his pasta and turkey for he ate 2 mouthfuls at the same time. Xelas stood up and moved away a bit. Fibrizo sat there and watched. Graushaila and Garv stood up and rubbed his back. Dolphin performed the Heimlich maneuver on Shabranigudo and the spit out the food and it landed on the floor with a splat. Xelas looked away, a sour look on her face. Fibrizo had this disgusted look on his face. "Are you okay, sir?" Garv asked. "Yeah…I’m fine…gee, Dolphin, nice move there!" Shabranigudo told him. "Uh…it’s Heimlich maneuver." He Dolphin answered. They all sat down and ate again, then Shabranigudo sneezed hard and scattered some goo on his food and it even reached the middle of the table. All of them had surprised and disgusted looks on their faces.

"Yare, yare…" Xelas said.

"YUCKS!!!" Graushaila reacted.

"Cool! Nyehehe!" Fibrizo said with a wicked smile.

Dolphin covered his mouth. Garv was already muttering curses.

Dolphin covered Garv’s mouth.

"G…Gezundheit, sir!" Fibrizo answered.

Shabranigudo blew his nose with his hand and coughed a bit. "Oh boy, I think I have colds!" he said while sniffing. He wiped the…um…the "goo from his nose" on the table cloth. "There! All fine now!" he told them.

"Excuse me, sir, but that’s the table cloth…" Xelas reasoned. Shabranigudo glared at her. "So?" he asked.

Xelas was dumbfounded. "Um…nothing special, sir…it’s just that, the table cloth is soo pretty!" she said sarcastically.

"Indeed it is…" Ruby Eye told them.

"I can’t wait till dessert…I wanna get outta here…" Fibrizo thought.

Then, they continued to eat, the 5 of them were quiet, but their Dark Lord kept talking and talking and talking about unimportant and disgusting things, Graushaila almost lost it.

Then, they finished their dinner, and Fibrizo ordered the servants to bring them their dessert.

Shabranigudo stared at the dessert. "What’s this?" he asked.

"That’s banana split, sir…would you like some whipped cream with it?" Xelas answered through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, sure!" he answered.

Garv handed him the whipped cream. When he pressed the top part of the container so the whipped cream would come out, it went out of control and so he shot whipped cream all over the place. His 5 Leaders of Darkness all hid under the table at once.

"Whoa! Nice cream!" Shabranigudo remarked.

"I wanna die!" Xelas wailed to herself. "SHH! He might hear you!" Dolphin warned. "If his position was lower than me, I screwed up his neck hours ago before dessert!" Garv told them through clenched teeth.
"Makes me wanna follow his advice about Shaila…" Graushaila told them.

"You can come out now, guys, the whipped cream catastrophe is over!" Shabranigudo told them. "No, I’m not coming out!" Fibrizo told his companions stubbornly.

"Yes, you are, Hell Master!" and Xelas pulled out Fibrizo with her. The other 3 came out as well and went back to their seats. Fibrizo wanted to cry but it would be so much embarrassing if he does that in front of Ruby Eye.

All of them finished their desserts at once, but Shabranigudo was playing with the bananas and the whipped cream.

They couldn’t stand such behavior. "Shit! Imagine a Dark Lord whom we all think should be decent is playing with his food!? I’d be damned by mom if I were him!" Graushaila told himself.

"This is bad…but I shouldn’t lose my poise!" Xelas reminded herself.

Finally, dinner was over.

The 5 took sighs of relief.

Shabranigudo smiled and laughed at them. "Very good dinner! I loved it! Maybe I could join the 5 of you again some other time!" he told them.

"NANI!?" Fibrizo yelled, anger in his face. Dolphin dove onto Fibrizo and covered his mouth.

Xelas flashed their master a sweet smile. "Sure, master! Anytime! We’ll just plan it again sometime…but definitely not this weekend coz…coz….coz Graushaila’s gonna treat his corn!" she answered.

Graushaila flashed her another angry look.

Xelas winked at him.

Garv was silent, praying that Shabranigudo would leave right away.

Then, Shabranigudo stood up. "Well, guess I’d better leave now! I’ll be counting on the invitation you will send me!" with that, he teleported.

All of them felt better.

"I’m glad that he left!!! Mwhahaha!" Fibrizo laughed after Dolphin removed his hand from his mouth. "Thank goodness! My prayers have been answered!" Garv told them happily with a silly smile.

"I can’t believe he mistook my seaweeds for worms!" Dolphin told them.

Graushaila frowned. "Xelas, you owe me an explanation why you told him that I have corn in my feet!" he told her. "Hey, don’t be pissed at me! I needed a good excuse! That’s the only one I could think of!" Xelas told him.

"But it’s the most funniest excuse I’ve ever heard of!!!…plus I don’t have any corn!" Graushaila answered.

"At least he believed it and won’t dine with us in the weekend!" Dolphin told them.

"Oh well…at least we had great food…" Fibrizo said, remembering the pasta.

"Maybe we could invite another decent dark lord next time." Garv said.

"No, we dine with mom next time." Xelas told them.

"No, we dine with our minions!" Graushaila said, thinking about how it is dining with Shaila.

"You’re just taking advantage of that…trying to get a chance to eat with Shaila…" Dolphin teased.

"I ain’t!" Graushaila told him.

…