"Well it's not that i couldn't have evolved yet, it's the fact that i have stopped myself." Hades used Psychic on the door handle to pull it down and open the door as he was to short to reach. Stepping outside he carried on talking "Remember, I was told I was a 'monster' so I stopped myself from evoving, I doubt i'm strong enough to evolve into a Gardevoir yet though"

Ste, Eli, and Xes took a chained-up Shard into Psyche territory and began their mission. "Remember, Shard, your job is to act like a prisoner and do what we say. Put up only enough resistence to make this look convincing."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember, I remember." Shard mumbled. The last thing he wanted to do was blow this mission and end up being reported to Tyrant.

The plan was simple, act like a prisoner and have Ste, Eli, and Xes take a long scenic route through Psyche territory and scout out how powerful the area is for Sand, who would give that information to Tyrant himself. If Tyrant believed it could be done, he would order a gang war against the Psyche Gang to increase Inferno territory. But there was still one thing Shard didn't understand.

Why would Tyrant care about Psyche territory? They aren't exactly our friends, but I can't remember any problems we've had with Psyche other than just basic gang conflicts. Now that I think about it, everyone in the top ranks has been acting pretty strange since that report about the pokeblocks found in the river.

"Quit your stalling worthless Inferno member!" Xes yelled as Shard received an iron tail in the back of the head. "Must keep up the act." Xes said with a grin.

Alex woke up, happy that he took a later shift in the day. Right now it was 4 o'clock, while his shift started at six. He got some lunch, and made his way down to the Psyche HQ. No sense in waiting, since there wasn't all that much to do at his apartment, and at least HQ had some friendly people he could talk to.

When he got there, he was met by a Metang

"So, I heard you were at Fivestars last night..." He began

Alex groaned inwardly and expected the next response, but what Metang said next caught him off guard.

"Did you bring anything back?" He grinned.

"Um, what?" Alex asked, a little weirded out

"The boss wants to know if the food there is good, since he's eating out tonight. He knows it's in Solar territory, but it's not like anybody is going to attack him."

"Well, uh, yeah. The food is awesome. However, Fivestar got muscled last night by one of the Solar thugs because he was serving to a bunch of non-Solars. I don't think it would be in the bosses best interest to actually go there."

"Heh, I'd like to see any of those Bugs try anything on our boss. I'm sure it won't matter," he smirked again, "And besides, if it does... all the more reason to expand right into Solar..."

*in Psyche HQ*
As paul walked Hades too the academy he noticed a trio of steelix that he didn't recognise, bt what he did recognise was the charmeleon they were holding it was Shard from five stars. paul walked over too them, they didnt have any higher authority badges so he could only asume they were cadets. "Stand down cadets, what do we have here?" he asked

Oh crap, crap, crap, crap. It's the politoad from Fivestar's restaurant. Go away. Just go away.

"We are taking this charmeleon into Hydro territory." Ste said. "Apparently, the Hydros have a bounty on this one and our commander told us to cash in on it."

Xes moved towards Paul holding a document in his mouth. "The official paper work is all right here, sir."

((Muahahaha, you're not safe inside your thoughts with Hades around, Ralts can sense people and pokemon emotions))

"Hey Shard, why are you so why are you so nervous to be here, but yet not scared for your life as you are supposedly being handed over to your emimies Hydro? Let me have that paper work" Hades used his Psychic attack on the piece of paper and made it float down into his hands. "Paul have you got a copy of the leaders Signature?"

Go away, go away, go away. If Tyrant catches even the slightest wiff that this mission is going bad because of me, I'm dead. Gotta say something tough.

"Why should I be scared, you shiny freak?" Shard said, trying to put up a convincing act for Ste, Eli, and Xes. "As soon as I'm in Hydro turf I'll take them all on and go back home. I'm only 'behaving' because Hydro members'll be more of a challenge then a bunch of metal heads, fortune-tellers, and lightbulbs."

Eli sprayed Shard with a light dragonbreath. "Ignore him." He said as he took back the documents. "But who are you, young ralts, to demand anything from us? You are so young, I doubt you have even been to the acadamy yet."

Ste looked at Paul. "I beg your pardon, sir. However, we are on a schedule and I don't think anyone here wants to tell Commander Blink that we were delayed because of issues with documentation. Being as fast of an alakazam as she is, she has little patients for unkept schedules."

"Ah yes commander blink" Paul said knowing that commander was recently out of action. "I'll take it from here cadet, You should know such a procedure like this should be carried out by only some of our top agents"

"I don't mean to question you." Xes said. "But I believe you are referring to prisoner exchanges. This is simply collecting bounty."

It was while he was speaking that Shard noticed something. The three steelixes were spinning there segments in varying orders, speeds, and direction as the situation went on.

Are they talking to each other with their body segments? Shard wondered.

"Approved" he said as he walked through the group jamming a tracer inbetween the segment of the steelix on the far left. He knew the code door at the other side of the HQ would stop them.

"Thank you sir." Eli said as the group continued on.

"Thank god that's over." Shard mumbled.

"Be quiet." Ste snapped. "We don't want to risk anyone else suspecting us."

The coffee must have done the trick, because Fivestar was wide awake, and doing his special live performences. After word got out that only Solars were allowed in Fivestar's, almost everyone there was either Bug, Flying, Grass, or Normal, but there were still some brave souls who came for good food.

He stir fried, he baked, he grilled, chopped, etc; he did everything, and they loved it. It was a performance to remember, but he couldn't help but think about the events that happened the past 24 hours.

((Ah, good to be back. And cool, I haven't missed dinner with Jasmine.
Oh, and daveshan, I absolutely love the names of your Steelixes.))

Phillip arrived at the door to Fivestar's, and noticed that virtually all of the pokemon in line were Team Solar types. He didn't exactly fit in, but then, as a part flying, he didn't exactly stick out like a sore thumb either. It was just a few minutes before Jasmine arrived, and the two of them walked in and found a table.

A Pidgeotto waiter came up to Philip and asked him, "How many, sir?" He then handed him one of those buzzy thingys, "The wait should be no longer than 15 minutes, sir."

Fivestar had finished all his live performances for now. He checked his schedule and was relieved that he only had 1 more to do today.

As he and Jasmine waited for a table, they made small talk about the weather, and about the pay scales working for Midnight. The table beeper went off, and they weny towards the Pidgeotto Majordomo to get their table.

((Wait, what is Jasmine again, I forgot >.>; ))

"Ah yes, your table is right over here, just follow me." he said, walking down a bit to an empty table. "Your waiter will appear momentarily, but I can get you your drinks. What would you two like?"

((An Altaria. (And yes, I the new emoticons. /gloat) ))

Phillip spoke first, while pulling out the chair for Jasmine. "I'd like a tall glass of ice water. Jasmine, what do you want?"
As she sat, Jasmine inquired, "What are Fivestar's specialties?"
"Well, we take pride on making all of our drinks first-rate, but I would especially recommend the lemonade." Replied the majordomo.
"Well then, I'll have a glass of that. Thank you very much."

((You lied to us JsXtm, you said you would be back on the 18th. This is only the 17th. I will never trust you again. And thanks for the comment on the steelixes' names.))

Shard and Ste, Eli, and Xes continued to the outside of the building.

"This is the last security check point in Psyche HQ." Xes whispered to Shard. "Just act normal through this and we are home free."

Shard replied with a few arrogent comments to disguise the message that he understood. Ste, Eli, and Shard passed through the outer gates without difficulty. When Xes stepped through the gates, however, sirens blared and the guards sprang to attention and called for back up.

"I know I'm not supposed to say anything out of character," Shard began. "But I have an overwhelming urge to say, 'Oh f***'."

"Excellent choice. I shall be back with your drinks momentarily," said the majordomo as he then put two menus on the table, on in front of each of them. The Pidgeotto shortly returned with the drinks, placing the drink they ordered in front of the Pokemon that ordered it.

((Um, yes, whoops. I forgot that I was getting home at about noon today (MST). I'd just kinda blocked off the whole week from the 11th to the 17th as "not home". Oh well. ))

As they were looking over the menus, Phillip asked Jasmine, "So, why do you think Midnight is working on developing a substance that will induce 'shininess'?"
"Honestly, I'm not sure. Midnight does a lot of things that the other gangs don't do; As I'm sure you know, we devote more of our resources to R&D than the other four gangs combined. As such, our territory and standing 'security' forces are somewhat smaller, but Midnight somehow survives in seemingly better shape than the other four gangs, as well. Frankly, I think that part of it is that the gang's entire strategy is different. Where the other gangs seem to rely more on brute force, Midnight prefers to work behind the scenes, with much more subtle methods. But anyway, I think I'm going to have the Shellder soup. What about you?"
Phillip, who had been listening intently to this discourse, was about to answer when he noticed something out of place. A Scyther, flanked by a pair of Heracrosses, and followed by a Meganium and a Parasect, had just entered Fivestar's. There was something about them that made them seem out of place, and caught Phillip's eye.

Since Fivestar had another half an hour before his final performence of the day, he chose to go outside and get some fresh air, as it was too hot for him being in the ktichen the whole day. He stepped out of the kitchen and made his way out of the restaurant, being greeted by some adoring fans on the way there.

"Wait a second?" he mumbled. "That Dragonite looks familar..." he said softly as he scurried his way over to that table.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I swear I've seen you somewhere before, or maybe I'm confusing you with another Dragonite."

Temporarily distracted from the newly-entered Solar gang members by Fivestar's question, Phillip responded in a low voice. "Yes, Fivestar. I'm Phillip, the Dragonite who ate here last night. However, I would suggest you look towards the door. Since my being here is probably not going to help your case with Solar, I'd be glad to help you fight those goons, if you'd like." While he was saying this, Razor and the other Solar goons, having spotted Fivestar, were muscling their way through the crowd towards Phillip's table.

Numerous pokemon came charging at the quartet as Ste broke Shard's chains. "We'll need all the help we can get to get out of here." Ste said as his segments began twisting in a new pattern.

Eli and Xes understood the message and all three let out roars at the same time, spooking most of the attacking pokemon.

Xes picked up Shard by the tail and put him on the back of Ste's neck. "Hang on Shard. We are going to dig our way out. Eli, lead the way."

Wasting no time, Eli began digging a whole which Ste and Xes entered as well. "Don't worry about them following us." Xes said. "I'm closing the tunel behind us with my rock slide."

Alex heard the siren, and found out that there was a security breach on one of the outer gates. Making his way quickly, he saw three Steelixs, and a Charmeleon. Seeing one of the Steelixs digging his way out, Alex said, "No you don't." And ran at them, smacking the Charmeleon hard with a slash. Knowing full well how ineffectual his attacks would be, he called for his friends Sar, the Metagross, and his buddy the Medicham.