He was extremely tired and rather pissed, due to the fact that several Talons had been shooting him strange glances in the hallway. Now, he just wanted his bed and a good war tactics manuel to send him off to dream-land.
But no, as soon as he was in his room, he saw a Message Crystal, sitting on his desk. Probably from Cyclonis, he reasoned, before picking it up and activating it.
"Dark Ace, come to the throne room immediately," the voice said. He sighed, finding it strange that she was summoning him by crystal. Come to think of it, a lot of things were strange around here, today. There weren't that many Talons around, for one. Where had they all run off to? But he couldn't rightly disobey a direct order, so he grabbed his sword and trudged down to the throne room, stepping through the doors.
"Master, wh-WHOAAA!"
His foot had landed right in a little circle of rope, which had tightened around his ankle and swept him off the ground. Now, he was hanging upside down, by his left leg, shouting bloody murder.
About three or four Talons, Ravess, Snipe, and of course, the Master herself, stepped out of the shadows, gloating. Ravess walked right up to him and laughed.
"You didn't tell us it was your birthday, Dark Ace," she said, teasingly. "Good thing Master Cyclonis let it slip."
"We didn't know you hated surprise parties," Snipe added. Cyclonis just stood in the background and grinned, like the cat that ate the proverbial canary.
"I HATE YOU ALL!" he bellowed, but was silenced when someone, (presumably a Talon behind him,) stuffed a piece of cake in his mouth.