"Oh, don't worry!" Her companion waved her words away with the flick of a paw. The two 'pets were crouching behind some bushes, peering at the towering silhouette of the Chocolate Factory. Their surroundings were deserted.

"Seriously, Lottie..." The Chocolate Chia looked around nervously, expecting a figure to emerge from the shadows any second. "I'm scared."

"Don't be such a wimp," Lottie snapped, exasperated. "Let's go."

They crept across the deserted grounds of the Bazaar. Lottie sped up as they neared the factory, and Cecily raced to follow.

"How are we going to get in?" Cecily's voice trembled, partly due to fear and partly because she was running. Well, mostly due to fear.

"I persuaded Donald to lend me his key. Having a friend working at the factory has its benefits!" Lottie flashed a wicked smile.

They had reached the front door. It loomed before them, surprisingly foreboding in the darkness. Lottie reached inside a pocket and pulled out a silver key. She fumbled for a few moments, trying to discern the keyhole. Then, with an eerie creak, the door opened.

"Come on!" Lottie marched inside.

Cecily's heart thudded in her ears as she stepped inside. The darkness swallowed her immediately. She stuck her arms out in front of her as she navigated what must have been the lobby of the factory. She was about to call out to Lottie when the lights turned on, temporarily blinding the Chia. She whirled about to see Lottie standing by a switch.

"Much easier this way." Lottie grinned.

"What are we looking for?" Cecily asked. The faster they finished this, the better.

"They keep their stores near the back," Lottie replied, and the two started making their way ahead. “This year’s Chocolate Ball is going to be unforgettable…”

Cecily followed her friend out of the lobby. It wasn’t as bright in the main part of the factory, which made Cecily feel much more comfortable than the brightly lit lobby had. Honestly, had Lottie seriously planned a break-in that involved flipping on every light switch in the building? They were halfway across the floor of the main factory before the meaning of Lottie’s words hit her.

“Wait… what are you talking about?” Cecily asked. She stood frozen in the middle of the dimly lit room; her earlier fear had turned into a solid lump in her throat.

“You didn’t think we were breaking into the chocolate factory just to take something on the eve of the chocolate ball, did you? Come on. There are way better times to do something like that.” The Chocolate Usul looked at her friend with an earnest excitement that made that new lump of terror drop from Cecily’s throat down into the pit of her stomach.

“Actually… that’s exactly what I thought Lottie,” she hissed. “So what are we doing here?”

Lottie grinned, eyes sparkling in a way Cecily found decidedly sinister. “We’re going to hide out and crash the party. If you hadn’t noticed already we’d make perfect decorations.” She posed dramatically. “Being chocolate does have its advantages. Now all we have to do is get to the store room and wait.”

The Chocolate Chia looked down at her trembling hands. “No. No. I think I’m going to go home and—”

Something made an echoing thud on the other side of the factory floor. Cecily’s eyes went wide and Lottie grabbed her hand and pulled her to the back of the factory, as far away from the sound as they could get. For a tense moment they both held their breath, hiding in the shadows cast by the unmoving equipment, but nothing else happened. Cecily half wished they would get caught, at least then this night would be over before anything truly crazy happened.

“Psst! Cecily!” Lottie said.

The Chocolate Chia spun around to find her friend gesturing excitedly towards a large door that was slightly ajar. The Usul mouthed the words “store room” at her and slipped inside. She jostled the door slightly on her way in and the soft, thin screech of the hinges made Cecily wince in horror. She followed, unwilling to leave her friend behind. She still couldn’t believe she’d somehow just agreed to join Lottie on this mad quest to crash the chocolate ball—only the most affluent and secretive gathering in all of Neopia. Yeah. This was going to be great fun.

“Cecily! You have to see this!”

The Chocolate Chia tried to gather as much enthusiasm as she could muster, which wasn’t a whole lot. At that moment, the lights clicked off…

“Cecily, you need to see this.” Lottie repeated. The door hinges creaked as the Chia crept forward into the storeroom to join her friend, and she let her eyes adjust to the darkness. The room was cavernous, stretching far back into the shadows, with a high ceiling and a floor of cold concrete; it was completely empty.

“What are you talking about?” Cecily snapped. She was scared, impatient and now regretting the fact that her friend had convinced her to come on this venture at all. “There’s nothing to see!”

“Exactly!” Lottie said animatedly. “This is where we were going to hide out, but there’s nothing here.” The storeroom, usually packed to the ceiling with chocolate goodies of all types, was deserted; there wasn’t even a single cardboard box, bag, or empty wrapper.

Cecily’s eyes widened. “There has to be another storeroom then, or maybe factory employees moved it…somewhere…” She struggled for an explanation, but her friend shook her head.

“This is the factory’s only storage room,” Lottie insisted, “and the Chocolate Ball is by far the biggest event of the year. The employees here have been preparing for months!”

“I guess we’d better leave then, seeing as there’s no way for us to sneak into the ball. Or maybe there won’t even be a ball this year…”

“Don’t be silly. We’ve gotten too far to give up now!” Lottie said.

The chocolate Chia rolled her eyes. “You can stay if you want,” Cecily said. “But I’m getting out of here before someone catches us, or thinks that we had anything to do with this!” She edged toward the door of the storeroom, but as she turned to leave something caught her eye…

"Well, so much for 'getting out of here'," Lottie muttered, rolling her eyes as she followed her friend.

Cecily picked up the hat, carefully turning it around in her hands as she studied it. Lottie squinted at her in confusion. "Are you into knitting now or something?" she asked.

Cecily dangled the beanie in front of Lottie's face. "Does this look familiar to you?" she asked.

Lottie frowned. "C'mon, Cecily, that could be anyone's ratty old hat. Now, if you're going to stay here, can we at least find out where the secret Chocolate Ball is being held? We don't have much time left until sunup, you know."

Cecily ignored her impatient partner's comment. "This is definitely the hat worn by Meerouladen, one of the Meerca Henchmen."

Lottie's eyes widened. "You mean the thieves who stole Coltzan's crown some time ago?"

Cecily nodded. "Do you think they're the ones responsible for this empty storeroom? Maybe to try to steal the new, unreleased chocolate goods or something?" she inquired excitedly.

Lottie sighed in exasperation. "Cecily, I didn't come here to play detective," she grumbled, pulling at her candied hair, "I came here to be part of the most extravagant event of the year! We're already trespassing; do you really think the Chia Police are going to believe us if by some miracle we did manage to catch the chocolate thieves?"

But Cecily wasn't listening. Lottie could tell from the concentrated expression on her face that the Chocolate Chia wanted to follow through with her impromptu investigation, and there was no stopping her now. Cecily scanned her surroundings wildly, and she pointed at a nearby cart with what seemed to be ropes and a lock-picking kit. "Look, their stuff is still here," she said.

Lottie gulped as she realized what her friend was implying. "You mean… they're still here?"

And at that moment, the storeroom door slowly creaked open again...

"Hey!" the Blumaroo said in alarm, "What are you two doing here?"

"Ah, actually," Lottie thought fast, "My uncle works here and he promised to give us a tour. Surely you know him? But see, we ran off and got lost looking for the bathrooms... We're sorry!"

The Blumaroo stared at them for a good two seconds before saying, "At this time of night?"

"Actually, we've been here for a few hours," Lottie made a disappointed face and slumped a little. "My uncle really likes to talk about what he does, but he never stops so that's why we ran off. We wanted a break for a few minutes."

The more she said, the more it sounded ridiculous to her, but then Cecily spoke up, "Sir, would you be so kind as to give us a small tour while we're here?"

"What?" Lottie looked to her friend in surprise. Didn't they want to get the custodian off their tails?

Cecily only gave her a determined look in return, though, and she understood that her friend wanted to have some more time to look around and find more clues.

Slightly dismayed, Lottie was about to argue...

"Everything's gone!" he exclaimed. "Where did--how did--?"

He looked at Lottie and Cecily, gaze half-bewildered, half-accusing. Lottie was instantly on the defensive, "Look, I like chocolate just as much as the next gal, but I promise, I didn't eat an entire storeroom full of it. It was empty when we got here!"

"Look," said Cecily, holding the beanie out to the Blumaroo. "We found this in here."

His face knitted in consternation as he took the beanie, turning it over in his hands. Then the color drained from his face. "Oh, no," he said. "This isn't..."

Cecily let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "It has to be," she said.

There was a visible quake in the Blumaroo's hands now. "This explains the power going out so suddenly," he said. "But then that must mean that..."

"They're still here," said Cecily and the custodian together. And then they felt sick, because they weren't the only ones who said it.

Looking up, towards the dark, cavernous store room, they saw two figures...

Lottie gasped in horror and clutched at Cecily's hand, trying to drag the Chia out of the room with her, but Cecily didn't budge. Instead, Cecily shook her paw free of Lottie's, put her paws on her hips, and glared upward at the two thieves.

"What do you two think you're doing, taking all the Chocolate Ball goodies?" she asked haughtily. "That's a horrible thing to do!"

Lottie, eyes as round as saucers, gaped at Cecily in stunned amazement. Who was this brave new 'pet who had taken her quiet, timid friend's place?

Meerouladen laughed and pointed at Cecily. "You have a lot of nerve passing judgment on us, since you two are trespassing! I heard your plan to sneak into the Chocolate Ball, too." He paused as a thought occurred to him. "Listen," he went on, "maybe we can help each other out here."

Cecily eyed the Meerca, skepticism plain on her face. "What in the world do you think you could do for us?"

"Well, if you let us sneak on out of here and finish the heist, we'll give you a cut of the loot," Meerouladen said.

"Yeah," Heermeedjet, Meerouladen's brother and partner in crime, chimed in. "There's some really great stuff in here I know the two of you will love!"

"I don't think so," Cecily declared bravely. And anyway, what about the jan--"

Cecily abruptly stopped speaking as Lottie jabbed her painfully in the ribs. She turned toward the Usul in annoyance, but as the two made eye contact, Lottie subtly tilted er head toward where the Blumaroo janitor had been standing. Cecily now realized the janitor was gone, and the two thieves hadn't seemed to notice.

Lottie gave Cecily a look that plainly said play along, okay? as she began to speak. "Gee, I don't know Cecily, maybe we should take them up on their offer. I mean, there isn't going to be a Chocolate Ball anyway with all this stuff missing, so why not take what we can get?"

Cecily understood right away that Lottie was trying to stall in hopes that the janitor had gone for help and would be back soon. She pretended to consider the brothers' suggestion. "Hmmm, I don't know..." she said slowly, as if considering her options. "Do you have any Hazelnut Whirls? Those things are amazing, and too expensive for me to buy."

Heermeedjet opened his mouth to reply when suddenly...

"What in the...!" Heermeedjet exclaimed, falling over backwards and dropping his bag of pilfered chocolates.

"Brother!" Meerouladen shouted out, but before he could make a move, a wet mop splashed onto the side of his head, knocking him for a spin as well.

"This out to teach you two a lesson!" The custodian shouted out, grabbing his push broom and sweeping the two Meerca's off of the perch they had been on. The twin thieves tumbled down before coming to a stop, dangling in the air. Their ropes had latched onto a beam, and they were helplessly stuck together, unable to climb up or down.

"That should clean up this mess." He said, wiping his hands together, "Thinking you can steal chocolates on my watch!"

The Blumaroo looked over the large bags of stolen sweets and opened the ends of them. Every last bit of stolen chocolate was safe and sound.

"I'll go let the owner know that we had a minor setback," The custodian said, looking down on the two chocolate pets, "But thanks to you stalling them long enough, the Chocolate Ball is safe!"

"Thank goodness," Lottie said, "I was afraid something might happen when I noticed they left their tools."

Meerouladen looked over to his brother. "How could you forget the tools?" He chastised, still dangling helplessly from the beam.

"You were the one in charge of them!" Heermeedjet shot back.

Cecily chuckled a bit at the two foiled crooks, but then looked over to her friend.

"We should get going." She said to Lottie, "We did sort of sneak in too. I don't think we want to explain that to the authorities."

"Good point." Lottie said.

The pair quickly took their leave from the storeroom, and exited the Chocolate Factory as quickly as they could, leaving the janitor to clean up the mess.

The next morning, on the day of the Chocolate Ball, both Cecily and Lottie woke up to find invitations in their mail. Each personally signed by the Kiko owner himself.

"I guess I will get some Hazelnut Whirls after all..." Cecily thought to herself.

The End