Ryo sighed as his vision came into focus on a familiar room, he glanced to his right and smiled when the dog appeared beside him. Luck must have been on his side that he wasn't making any deliveries at the time of his disappearance. He looked over at the black ball, was this his life now? Getting called to this room every so often in the middle of the night? A moment later, Ryo watched as his team began to appear in the room with him. "Hey old man, how's it going?" he greeted Jiro as the old man appeared.

Jiro smiled a greeting "Fine thank you, how about you?"

Ryo gave him a thumbs up "Can't complain too much, I didn't lose my job at least"

"That's good, after all, it was my fault that you're here"

"I told you not to worry about that"

Soon Yoko appeared in the room, she waved over at them and said "Hi, it's nice to see you both" they smiled in reply, she bent down and slapped her thighs "Hi puppy!" the dog bounded over to her and she tickled his head and he licked her face. "I'm happy to see you too"

"That's disgusting" Yoko looked up and Nishi was stood beside her, she stood up-still stroking the dog. "You know a mutt washes himself right?"

Yoko huffed "It's just affection, it doesn't have a disease"

"That you know of"

The group were silent for a moment "So" Ryo began "You think it's going to be just us?"

"I'm not sure" Jiro replied

"Well I've been thinking, black ball sounds kind of boring, maybe we should name it"

Yoko looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said "You want to name the ball?"

"Why not? It is sort of a big part of our lives at the moment"

Nishi placed his hands in his dark red hoodie, he looked over at the ball and said "I agree"

Ryo was surprised "You do?"

"I know, surprised me as well"

"Ok, so what should we name it then?"

"There are rumors that government organizations hide advanced technology from their countries. Some of which are so sophisticated, they might actually be 'alien'"

Ryo snorted "Come on! You seriously think the government is behind this?"

"I didn't actually say that now did I? it would explain a lot though"

"You're just riling me up, there's no way our government is behind this; it's too...irrational"

"They have done some pretty wild things"

"Stop it, they can't...it's just not possible. It's too out there, besides, nobody can see us while we're fighting those aliens and more to the point; no one has seen the aliens either"

Jiro walked in between the two before anything could escalate into an argument "While there might be a chance that both of you are right, we should focus on trying to survive, in order to do that, we need to work together"

Yoko nodded "He's right, to be honest, I don't think we'll ever truly know what's going on or how this happened at all"

Ryo scowled at her "That doesn't bother you?"

"Actually, yes it bothers me, but staying alive is more important to me. If I really can be free if I reach a hundred points, then what does it matter?"

Ryo sighed "I suppose you're right. Still think it needs a name though" he looked up with his arms folded, as if the ceiling was going to give him the answer. "Gantz, that sort of means advanced technology right? It's a bit urban I know-"

"Gantz I think, will do fine" Jiro agreed

"So the ball is called Gantz or the man inside it?" Yoko asked

"Given that the man inside is basically connected to the ball in every way, it's safe to say they're both Gantz, one in the same" Nishi replied

"Sounds logical I guess" Ryo said. All of a sudden, a laser colouring began to spew from the Gantz ball. "Holy shit, do you think it's giving us someone else?"

"It might replace whoever died on the previous mission with new ones" Yoko said as the person in questioned fully appeared in the room "Of course, that's just a guess"

"It does make sense" Nishi said

"W-Where the hell am I? Who are you people?" the male questioned quickly. He was short and wore glasses, he had an average build and wore a suit.

Jiro walked up to the man and cleared his throat "There's not much time to explain I'm afraid. You were brought here by that black ball-"

"Gantz" Ryo interrupted

"Y-Yes, you were brought here and were sort of saved-what's the last thing you remember?"

"Saved? What do you mean brought here? How?"

"Gantz can bring you here just moments before you die, it transfers your body through that" Yoko said

"What are talking about?"

"You died man" Ryo said "Don't you remember?"

"No, that's impossible, I just went to bed"

"That's the last thing you remember? Going to bed?" Yoko said

"Yes!"

"Looks like four eyes died in his sleep" Nishi commented

"I can't be dead! I have an important story to publish"

"Reporter"

The man pointed his finger in no particular direction "Oh I know, this is a set up; to get me not to talk, to stop me from leaking my story"

"Yep, I'd say someone stopped you all right"

"Well, you can't hold me here, I'm leaving" the man walked over to the balcony doors and reached for the latch "What is this!?" he turned around "What's going on? You can't hold me here, I have rights!"

"Think he was murdered?" Ryo said

"Somebody obviously didn't want him revealing whatever it was he had found out, an accomplice perhaps sought out the wrong kind of people, before you know it- the source is terminated" Nishi said

"Got it all figured out huh?"

Nishi shrugged

"It wasn't like that! I'm not a bad person, I Just wanted my story published"

"Please listen, there's not much time to explain-" Jiro started but was interrupted by the sound of an old exercise song. "Oh dear..."

The previous players turn to the ball "Too late" Nishi said

"Too late? Too late for what?" the man questioned

"Look, put everything you know to one side for now. Soon we will be told to kill some kind of alien and then the ball will open" Yoko explained quickly

"What?"

"Aliens, plural" Ryo said

"Oh, right, aliens. We all get weapons and strange suits. We haven't figured out a whole lot about them, but the weapons work and the suit provides good protection as far as we can tell"

"Are you all crazy?"

"I wouldn't bother telling him anything else" Nishi said "It's obvious he's not going to believe any of it"

The Gantz ball began to display the information that they would need to complete their next mission. "See, right there" Yoko pointed "Gantz is telling us about the alien"

The man turned to look at the ball, he squinted at it's strange dialect "What kind of script is that?"

"Relax poindexter, It's really not all that hard to read" Nishi scoffed

"Just replace the three's with E's" Yoko explained

"Please go and eliminate this alien, you bastards" Ryo read aloud

Th3 w33p3r ali3n

Traits: fast

Lik3s: bombs

"It's going to open now" Yoko said

Even though the group-who were familiar with the situation were expecting it- the ball opening so suddenly still made them flinch. "And-And you've all done this before?" The man asked as the group began to gather the cases containing the suits that were located inside.

"Just the once so far" Yoko said as she left the man's side to collect her suit. She left the room and proceeded to change in the hall way.

Jiro held onto his case and held one out in front of the man. "Yuuma Daikei. That's you I'm assuming, you should put on the suit that's inside"

The man looked over as Yoko came back from the hallway, he caught a glimpse of the suit just as she putting her blue jumper back on over her head. "You've got to be kidding right? Don't you think you're all a little old to cosplay?"

"Might look that way, but this baby saved my life" Ryo said as he tapped the case with one hand-holding it up with the other. He then disappeared into the hallway.

"It isn't a joke sir, you should really put on the suit" Yoko said

Nishi sighed, he didn't know why they were still trying to convince him. He had this feeling that there wasn't going to be that many people who would come to this room and figure it out like they had done. He wasn't sure it was necessary to tell anyone else about the situation, if they couldn't figure it out for themselves, they weren't worth it. The old man thought otherwise and Nishi had no qualms with him, he'd let him do whatever he felt was right. Out of their group, Jiro was the only one he appreciated, because even though he wanted to help everyone; he would do what needed to be done.

Every player was now in their assigned suits, including Daikei and including the dog-courtesy of Ryo. "He looks adorable" Yoko said, smiling down at the dog.

"Why did you bother? He'll only run off like the last time, we won't see him again until we're back here" Nishi said as he grabbed the small gun, followed by the GPS. The rest of the players followed suit, each grabbing their choice of weapons.

The man stared at them, while he had listened and put on the suit, he absolutely refused to pick up any kind of weapon. "You really intend to shoot someone with those?"

"Hey, I don't like it either, but if you knew what's waiting for us; you'd be picking up a weapon too" Ryo replied "It's kill or be killed bro"

"I'm a pacifist!"

Nishi laughed "That's not going to do you much good, you'll die within seconds"

"Nishi. It isn't wrong to not want to kill for certain beliefs" Jiro said

"It is when you're on the verge of getting torn apart"

"I absolutely refuse to hurt anyone or anything! You're all insane!"

"As opposed to all the people you might have hurt in some way when you release those stories of yours?"

"I'm not- the public has a right to know what I find! I'm just doing my job"

"And what if the people you exploit were just doing theirs?"

"Stop messing with me kid! I'm a good person!"

Nishi laughed again "Whatever helps you sleep at night" he then grinned "But I suppose that didn't work, otherwise you wouldn't be here"

"You're kind of an ass hole ya know" Ryo said

Nishi just snorted "You were thinking it, I just have the guts to say it aloud"

They look to the ball as it told them to go, more prepared for what was to come their way. "Do not be alarmed, we're going to be transferred outside now" Jiro told their new player.

After a few seconds everyone appeared outside. They looked around, the streets were less lit around the area then their last surroundings. The large open area gave little to hide themselves as there weren't a lot of building material. "Where are we?" Yoko asked

"I don't know, but we're not that far from that alien" Ryo said as he looked at his transmitter. As soon as the words left his mouth, the pathway close to them blew upwards, gravel rained down around them as they raised an arm to shield their eyes.

Nishi frowned and looked at Ryo "Can you say warning!?"

Ryo met Nishi's scowl "That wasn't me!"

"Look!" Yoko shouted and pointed upwards. They followed her line of sight, there above them, was what looked to be a black ball, much smaller then the one in the apartment room.

"It looks like that ball in the room" Daikei said as he hid himself slightly behind Jiro.

Nishi glanced at him in disgust Leech

"It doesn't look like what Gantz showed us" Ryo said as they watched it merely hover in the air.

"I think it must have been what caused that explosion" Jiro said

Nishi reached for his gun and pulled it from it's holster. He aimed it at the ball, two fingers on the trigger. "Well we all figured that out gramps"

"No you didn't!" Ryo yelled, Nishi grinned.

Daikei stepped out from his hiding spot, staring up at the ball. The weeper floated lower down and two eyes suddenly appeared across it, followed by a big white tooth grin. "It has a face!"

"That is one creepy ass face" Ryo said as his hands twitched around his rifle. He was all for destroying the alien, but it had to attack first, at least that way he could say it was somewhat self defence; or so he wanted to tell himself. Black short spikes appeared next, growing from it's round frame. "Ok, now I see the resemblance to that alien Gantz showed us"

"How ironic" Jiro said "It's name is weeper, therefore, mindsweeper comes to mind"

"What? Aren't they those weird little bomb things from that late eighties game?"

"Well, I don't think that really was it's intention to take on that persona, it's just that's what it looked like"

"It doesn't matter, it's a bomb, and if we don't blow it up, it's going to be us that does" Nishi said, aiming his gun again

"No don't!" Daikei shouted, Nishi exhaled and before he could fire, Daikei grabbed his arm. "You can't! It has a face, it's alive!"

Nishi gritted his teeth and tried to yank his arm free "Get off!"

"Daikei! We don't like it either but it has to be this way, you have no idea what that thing could be capable of" Jiro shouted

Daikei tried to wrestle the gun from Nishi's hand, the boy clenched a fist, was this guy trying to get them killed?

"I think it's going to attack, it looks angry now" Yoko said as she grabbed her own gun.

Nishi growled at Daikei "If you hadn't have grabbed for my gun, it'd be dead now" Nishi yanked his hand away and aimed it once again at the weeper.

A spike from the weeper shot out toward them "Lookout!" Yoko shouted and they jumped away, the spike stuck into the ground and they surrounded it, weapons at the ready; Daikei waved his arms at them to stop. They each fired their weapons, the end of the guns opening and forming a white light as they pulled the trigger. Evidently they succeeded, but it was unclear who made the kill shot. Black goo splattered those closest and covered the pavement.

Daikei shook, frozen on the spot he stood in "You killed it, you actually killed it"

"No thanks to you" Ryo scolded "Did you not see what it could do to us!? That's not even the half of it!"

"There are still two more, and they might not even be the final alien" Jiro said as he looked at his transmitter "We should split up"

"Are you crazy!?"

"It will cover more ground"

"Agreed, besides there is a time limit, or did you forget that part?" Nishi said

"But-yeah, ok, I guess that's the best plan"

"Nishi and Shin, you stay with me, I am the oldest after all, I should take care of the young" Jiro said

"What!? Are you seriously going to leave me with him?" Ryo shrieked

"You are more then capable of leading someone Ryo"

I can't believe they're ditching me! What the hell? I thought we were a team, this sucks! Ryo sighed "Sure"

"It's a natural response for an old man to want to protect the youngest, but when did we discuss who was in charge?" Nishi asked

Jiro chuckled, the boy obviously had issues with taking orders, he reminded Jiro of one of his young aggressive soldiers back in the day. "Is it not also natural for the oldest to be in charge too? I was a soldier of war you know, I do have experience" Nishi relented with a pout and turned his head, he didn't like being told what to do. "Ok, be careful Ashi, keep your guard up" Jiro held his rifle tightly and smiled at Ashi

Ashi tightened his grip on his own gun "If I die, one of you will wish me back right?"

"Fat chance" Nishi said without hesitation

Yoko gave him an apologetic smile and Jiro turned around and walked forward. "Oh yeah!? Well screw you too!" Ryo turned to walk in the opposite direction. "Assholes"

Daikei stood and watched Ryo walk away before running to catch up "Erm, where are we going?"

"To find the other aliens"

"But, I thought you beat it already"

"In the last game, there were others, we figure there's a possibility there's going to be more then just one"

"What can you really tell me about all this?"

"Not much I'm afraid" why do I have to get stuck with this guy?

"This just can't be happening"

"You're questioning it all now? After everything that's happened already?"

"You're not?"

"Believe me, I was totally shitting myself last time, I still am; but at least I'm more prepared-" Ryo stopped talking and stilled his movements

"What's wrong?"

"There's one ahead"

Daikei peered over Ryo's shoulder "What do we do?"

Ryo watched the red dot move closer to their location, he slid the device under his sleeve up his wrist. He gripped his weapon with both hands "If you're not prepared to get this thing, then you should stay out of the way" before he knew it, the weeper was almost right in front of him. Oh shit, why me The ball spouted spikes and something flew out from his mouth

Nishi fired his weapon four times, the ball moved and zig zagged across the air. "Fuck!"

"It's too fast" Yoko shrieked. Jiro moved to the side and a black spike flew toward him, it sheered right through his suit and out the other side of his leg. "Sama no!" Yoko ran toward her companion but the weeper floated up, lifting Jiro up with it.

Jiro screamed out as he was whisked around, Nishi gripped the gun Stay still you fucker Jiro bit down on his screaming and began firing his weapon at random. Nishi's eyes widen, they had no idea where those hits were going to land. Three simultaneous explosions hit the ground, Nishi and Yoko moved their arms to their face. Damn, he's going to kill us A fourth shot was fired and the ball made a shrill noise and exploded, and Jiro dropped to the ground.

"Jiro!" Yoko ran to his side and placed her hand on his chest. "Are you ok? Talk to me"

Jiro's eyes opened, oddly enough, the pain felt like nothing compared to what he had endured in the past. "I'm alive...?"

Yoko smiled "Yes! Yes you are!" she hugged him as he struggled to sit up

"I'm glad you're happy about that" Jiro chuckled

Nishi rolled his eyes and looked at his transmitter "One more to go" he noticed that the location where Ryo was, the red dot had disappeared. "Shit" so Ryo had obviously got one, and Jiro, which meant they both had gained points. This one has to be mine, I have to get some points, time is running out

"Can you stand?" Yoko asked as she held out her hand out for Jiro to take

"I-think so"

Nishi swiped across the directional buttons, the screen changed it's display and in capital letters read: STEALTH MODE. His thumb hovered over the button, unsure whether to risk it, he wasn't exactly sure what it did.

Yoko draped Jiro's arm over her shoulder "Nishi, are there any more? Jiro's leg is pretty bad" Yoko noted there was a lack of response, she turned round "Nishi?" there was no sign of her team mate. "Where'd he go?" There was a fuzz of electricity and soon enough Nishi appeared in front of them again. "What happened!? How'd you do that?"

Nishi looked down at the transmitter in shock "This thing, it's more then just a locator it would seem"

"How extraordinary" Jiro said

Nishi grinned up at them "I think I just found our advantage"

"What do you mean?"

"Meet me there" Nishi then disappeared again, it was a weird sensation, one that he would have to get used to. He knew the device had to do something more, he was happy to be the one to find it.

"You shouldn't go off on your own!" Yoko shouted into the night air, she sighed, she knew he had probably already gone.

"Brave boy" Jiro said

"Can't you scold him for once?"

Jiro chuckled "You're not that much older then him you know"

"Shhh" They could hear a shuffling noise and slowly turned to the sound. "What is that?"

From the shadow created by the street lamp, a figure appeared, still shuffling. They looked down and the sound of something dripping on the floor echoed in the near silent street. "Hey...guys"

"Ashi! What happened!?"

"Next time, you guys get the newbie" Ryo fell to his knees, his arm from the stem of his bicep was hanging by the thread of muscle.

"Where is Daikei now?" Jiro asked

"Is he dead?" Yoko said next

"No! The little shit ran off after we got attacked, I saved him from that spike thing and he totally ditched me"

"He's obviously scared I suppose"

"Scared my ass, he saw his opportunity of escape and he left me to die, only by fluke I managed to blow the thing before it could finish me off. I dropped my big weapon though" Ryo then noticed Jiro's condition "Are you ok old man?"

"I will be, I think"

"Where's the kid at? He ok?"

"He's fine, at least I think so" Yoko replied

"You think?"

"Nishi discovered something on the transmitter, it was some kind of cloaking mechanism" Jiro explained

"It turned him invisible? Sweet!"

"We should catch up with him, if there's a bigger alien out there, he might still need our help" Yoko said, they nodded in agreement and followed the transmitter.

"I can't believe- he-ditched-me" Ryo said between shallow breaths, he was lagging behind, holding his arm that had been leaving a trail of blood behind them.

Yoko and Jiro stopped and turned back "Are you ok to keep going?" Yoko asked

"Don't worry about me, I'll be ok"

Yoko covered her mouth "But your arm, it's-"

"Hanging in there. Heh" Ryo chuckled lightly "Come on, let's go find the kid"

Yoko and Jiro carried on ahead and Ryo shuffled along behind them. "We're almost there, I think we just turn the next corner" Yoko said as she looked at her device.

The two men follow Yoko's lead as she walked in line with the device. As they turned the next corner, the ground rumbled and they found themselves staring up at a large black blob. It wasn't solid like the small weepers had been, it was jelly bodied and there were no signs of any spikes. "Gross" Ryo said as he remained stood by the wall.

"Where's Nishi?" Yoko said as they looked around the immediate area.

"I don't see him" Jiro said

"Well he did discover that cloak thing, he's probably here, we just can't see him" Ryo replied, he stared at the blob in front of them "Hey. That thing, it doesn't have a face this time"

"We should shoot it, right?" Yoko asked, aiming her gun toward the top of it's body. Just then, it's large blobbed body slithered all the way around. It was then they saw within the blackness, red eyes and dripping saliva from a mouth.

"Ok, it still has a face!" Ryo shouted, it was creeping him out, just looking at the grin was enough to give anyone nightmares. "I think you should shoot it now!"

"Ready Yoko?" Jiro asked

"But where's Nishi?"

"We'll find him, but we need to get the blob first"

Yoko nodded and the two aimed their weapons high into the air. The end of the guns opened, white light emitting, but before they could pull the triggers; black goo began to explode from the edges of the alien. Parts of it's jelly body hit the pavement and splashed up against the wall.

"What's happening!?" Yoko shouted as she grimaced when some of the black goo landed up her leg.

"You guys are awesome! Keep going!" Ryo cheered

"That's not us" Jiro said

"What? Then what's causing it?"

"It's Nishi, it's got to be" Yoko said, though they couldn't see any sign of their companion.

More of the alien's black goo separated and blew outwards, they watched in horror and fascination as an electric current began to surround the rest of the alien and then a rain of black goo covered them and half the pavement. Yoko dropped to her knees and vomited, the smell was unbearable. "It's gone" Ryo said.

"Then it has to be over then" Jiro said

Yoko looked up "Nishi?"