The group of fighters walked slowly as the Fighter's Inn was finally coming within eyesight. Volpe, Miko, and Heagy were in their usual good mood. The rest of the group was not so happy about such a long hike after the battles and such. Kay helped Ayame along as they hiked along the road while Volpe walked slightly behind with Miko and Lilly, Meliza and Yang right behind them. Ryu Dragon walked silently in the front of the group with his arms crossed and a slight scowl covering his face, John right behind him forming a chi sword before letting it dissapate and repeating the process.

"Stupid rental....." Ryu Dragon finally broke the silence as the group approaced the Inn. "Sorry 'bout the hike guys... didn't know the van was so bad...

"Ain't your fault... the guy who rented to you is the one to blame..." Heagy said quietly as he continued forming the sword.

"And besides! A nice little moonlight hike with all these women is nothing to complain about!" Volpe said as he gave a big thumbs up and grinned.

"Speak for yourself... I'm exhausted..." Ayame commented as he leaned against Kay a bit more.

"Well... we're finally here... so we can all take an extremely long and well deserved rest." Ryu Dragon added before opening the door slowly, his expression showing more relief than annoyance now.

"I'm hungry....." John said as he let the sword disapear one last time as he followed Ryu Dragon.

"I wonder how Locke's doing..." Meliza said to no one in particular as she followed the rest of the group inside.

Locke Koh sat silently as he unloaded the clip from his pistol and begin cleaning out the barrel, his expression cold as he glanced up at Memphis. 'Can't believe I'm still stuck with this guy.... oh well... that's a good amount of zeros for just bringing in a few heads and having to stick with this guy.'

Memphis Long was a bit occupied himself. Memphis sat silently on the couch with a huge grin on his face as he watched the television. Another scantly clad woman ran by on the screen.

Locke sighed slightly then thumbed another cartridge into the clip. Okay, so maybe a few more zeros for sticking around with this guy but other than that, it was a pretty easy for such a large sum. Putting the last bullet into the clip he slapped the magazine home before chambering a shell and putting the weapon in it's holster. Glancing over at Memphis again, he briefly glanced at the screen then shook his head. Only one particular woman was in his mind right now. 'No! You've got a job to do.'

There was a loud knocking on the door, causing Locke to instinctively draw his weapon and take aim towards the closed door. Memphis however wasn't as worried and simply walked towards the door and opened it slowly. Glancing around for a moment, he saw no one and poked his head out the door, no one around either. Looking down, he noticed a medium sized package in plain brown paper, the name neatly printed on was Locke Koh.

"Hey Locke, looks like it's for you... you get it yourself."

Locke grumbled slightly then holstered his gun and walked towards the doorway. Picking up the package, he wordlessly walked back in and placed it on the table.

"Locke... if this is a bomb... you're paying for damages..." Memphis added with a smirk.

Locke didn't respond as he tore the package open quickly. Inside was nothing but a cell phone, some bubble wrap, and a piece of paper. Picking up the slip, he read it silently. 'A pin number... must be my account...' He thought before quickly memorizing the numbers then ripping the paper to shreds. Looking over at the phone, he smiled slightly the placed it in an inside pocket of his jacket.

"Guess we're in business, eh Memphis?"

At the Fighter's Inn, most of the group was relaxing and lounging around. Volpe was eating a bowl of lime green, sugar free jello while typing away on a small laptop as he'd been doing for the past hour. 'Military reports... they're the real killer...' he thought silently as he continued to type up the recent chain of events. For some reason, the Inn was rather quiet, no sounds of chaos or mayhem. Something was very wrong. Glancing up from his laptop slowly, the detective begin to slowly analize the situation. 'Let's see... RD and Yang are catching some Z's... Zero1 is watching the tube...Crimson's counting something at the table... Ryu, Heagy, and Kaze are battling over the fridge...' Volpe sighed once before shaking his head. 'Looks like we'll be buying supplies... but I don't think that would set off my danger instincts... wait a minute...'

"Where are all the ladies!" Volpe cried out as he quickly glanced around.

"They've gone on a little shopping spree... say goodbye to any funds." Crimson answered calmly, briefly glancing over his shoulder at Volpe.

"We're lucky we managed to talk them into a girl's outing... otherwise we'd be toting bags for a while.." Zero1 added as he glanced up.

Volpe sighed once more before glancing down at his jello, which was probally gonna be the last good meal he had for a good long while.

"I got dibs on the next bowl of instant ramen!" John shouted as he quickly rushed towards the table with a huge bowl of steaming noodles.

"I've got all the hamburgers!" Kay added as he joined Heagy and Crimson at the table, carrying a plate stacked with hamburgers. Ryu soon followed with some steamed rice and vegatables.

Crimson grinned as he watched the three sit down on different sides of the table then looked around slowly. All three were in position to eat. Nodding once, Crimson raised his right hand and glanced around one last time.

"Ready... set... GO!" Crimson shouted as he slapped the table open handed.

No sooner had the words "Go" left Crimson's mouth than the three fighters begin to quickly devour their respected meals. John quickly slurping down vast amount of the noodles while Kay took bite after bite of hamburger, neither one slowing though Ryu was moving at his own pace, raking in large amounts of rice before chewing quickly and swallowing.

"It seems like Kay is in the lead right now but John is catching up fast!" Crimson continued giving his bite by bite narration of the meal. "John seems to be slowing down now and Kay is making those burgers disappear fast! But wait folks! What is this? Ryu has just passed them both, can he finish?" Ryu replied by simply raking in the last bit of rice into his mouth, "And he does! Ladies and gentlemen, I've never seen such an intense dinner before. Ryu is the undisputed winner!"

"A warrior cannot fight his best unless he fights with a full belly." Ryu said calmly as he pushed his plate away.

"Spoken like a true champion." Crimson grinned as he glanced over at Kay and Heagy who had just finished their meals.

"Rematch!" they both said in unison. The three were once again in the kitchen, cleaning out what was left of the food supply while Crimson wrote down the score on a small scrap of paper.

Volpe sighed once more then shook his head as he slowly finished his jello off. Typing the last few lines of the report, he wondered if he should actually leave that line. Shrugging once, he decided it was neccassary for the survival of the entire group. 'On second thoughts, let's bold it... underline it... and double the font size... there done' Volpe sighed once more before hitting the enter key. The last line reading : "Send more money!"

"Hey Locke, I signed us up for the next part of the tournament." Memphis shouted from the kitchen as he heated up a bowl of pasta leftover pasta.

"That's fine...." Locke said calmly as he played a game of solitude, unfortunately losing pretty badly to. "What!?" Locke suddenly glanced up as Memphis' words finally gained access.

"Something wrong?" Memphis asked as he crossed his arms in the doorway.

"Why'd you do something like that you idiot! We want to be very subtle in getting these guys..." Locke said as he glared up at Memphis.

"Think about it. We'll have clean one on one shots with each of the Essances and their allies, we'll get to show how tough we are, and if we win, we'll get the prize from that along with out payment." Memphis replied easily as he smirked slightly, "Good plan, eh?"

As much as Locke hated to admit it, it was a pretty good plan. Locke nodded once silently then glanced back down at his game of solitude, frowning slightly as he glanced over the cards.

"You know... if you put that five on that six there..." Memphis suggests as he stands over Locke.

In the kitchen, there is an annoying beeping breaking Locke's concentration even worse. As he reached out to pick up a red seven, an explosion lit up the kitchen. Before the fire alarm even goes off, Locke is on the ground sending three shells into the kitchen.

Memphis however simple shakes his head then walks into the kitchen. Glancing around, the microwave is in ruins, there is pasta all around, and the countertop was burning slowly.

"Looks like the microwaves out!"

Locke could actually feel the vein in his forehead begining to throb as he holstered his gun. 'I wonder if I could get a bonus for kicking this guy's butt as well...'

"I'm tired of your constant failures and excuses!" Bison shouted as he slammed his fist onto the arm of his chair, psycho energy begining to swell in his fist.

"But..." Vega began.

"No buts!" Bison let out a deep sigh then closed his eyes, "And what of our two assassins... Memphis Long and Locke Koh?"

"Umm... we haven't heard from them since..." Balrog said in a low voice before trailing off.

"Fools! I have fools working for me! Tell me you didn't pay them in advance..."

Vega and Balrog both shifted slighted before hanging there heads.

"Agr!" Bison shot a bolt of energy, destroying a nearby computer. He turned back towards the pair with an extremely annoyed look. "You two had better get your acts together... I want you two to participate in the the tournament when its start back up... This'll be your last chance... do not mess up..."

"Yes sir!" the pair said in unison as they bow their heads and exit the room quickly.

"What now Vega?" Balrog asked as he walked along side Vega.

"Hmm... I bet they are all tired right now... Let us go to town and see... if we can't find something to do until then..." Vega replied as he slowly slid his mask on.

"We're back!" Miko chirped up loudly as she slammed the door open. Every single one of the male fighters gasped at the amount of bagage they had managed to fit onto the jeep.

"How did everything go detective?" Chun Li asked as he walked inside.

"Well... I managed to get the report out... and umm... oh yeah.... your boyfriend, Kay, and Heagy ate this week's supply of food..." Volpe replied quickly as he pointed towards the four guys at the table.

"Is that so... hmm... Zero, RD! Unload the jeep... Crimson and Heagy! You've got grocery duty... Kay! You get to clean up this mess in the kitchen... and Ryu, I'm gonna give you the biggest lecture in history about moderation...." Chun Li shouted out orders to the guys, who almost instantly begin to get to work.

"How did they possibly get this much onto one jeep?!" Zero1 shouted as stared at the jeep, his eyed wide.

"How come I'm getting punished?" RD asked as he followed Zero1 outside.

"Umm... Miss Chun Li ma'am...." John began as he started to figit slightly in his seat under Chun Li's fiery glare.

"You've got the jeep loaded down... how are we supposed to get anywhere?" Crimson finished for him as he stood up.

"Guess..." Chun Li answered as she smiled innocently.

"You mean we've gotta walk all the way?!" Crimson shouted in disbelief.

"Correct. You need to burn off some of that food you just ate anyway." Chun Li turned and begin to walk towards Ryu, who simply sat calmly, a few drops of sweat begining to run from his forehead as he watched her approach. Crimson sighed once then motioned to John before they both left the inn slowly.

Zero1 and Ryu Dragon were grumbling as they unloaded countless packages from the jeep. Kay, in the kitchen, was grumbling just as much. It seems they had created quite a mess. Kay sighed once before shaking his head and continuing to scrub the dishes.

"The tournament? I hadn't even really thought much about it... considering everything that's been going on." Volpe begin to rub his chin slightly as he nodded.

"Yeah, the tournament's starting up again. A bunch of people got a fight coming up soon in fact. Most aren't fighting for a couple of days though." Victoria answered as she glanced at the list of names, times, and places.

"So everyone's fighting again... why don't you tell me some of the fights?" Volpe inquired.