Cling

The Door to the Honky Tonk had just opened… Hevn had just waked in…

"What're you doing here?" asked a tall man standing in a corner.

"What do you care, Ban! " Ban simply 'tsk-ed' at her, then said "well?" in an annoyed, kind of irritated tone.

"I have a job for you guys" she said in her sweet, usual voice.

"Really!" said a cheerful Ginji suddenly jumping up from his sleep, as soon as he had heard about the mission.

"You bet!" Hevn answered, "We just need to wait for the others"

"OTHERS!" ban said surprised, and angry.

"Do you mean Kazuki and the guys?" said Ginji, still smiling.

"OF COURSE SHE DOES, DIMWHIT! Honestly Ginji, your thinking skills are awfully slow sometimes…"

"Really now?" said a soft voice as the door opened once again

"Kazuki!" Ginji called happily, rushing to give is good friend a hug.

"Hey Yarn Ball…" Ban greeted.

"Hello Ban, Ginji. So Hevn, you guys are early again? Hehe…at least I'm not last this time." Kazuki greeted, smiling, trying to get away from Ginji's grip.

"So, where's Zoo Boy?" Ban asked.

"Probably with Jubei" answered Kazuki "he went to pick up Haruki and the others."

"HEY! HEY!" screamed a voice

"Shut up Haruki!" said Shido.

"Sorry…" said Haruki. Then he shut up, as told to do so.

"Hey Kazuki," said Jubei, "hey guys"

"So, are we all complete now?" asked Ban, in his annoyed voice.

"Nope." Said Hevn "we're still waiting for-"

"Me?" said a voice by the door.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, and saw a woman, standing by the light.

"Hey Himiko." Said Ban from his corner.

"Hey" she said with a smile.

"Now we're all here…" interrupted Hevn "shall we go then?" said Hevn


After a short walk, the stumbled upon a door, and stopped.

"But this is…" said Kazuki.

"Yes, Maze City" answered Hevn "we will be meeting our client here."

Then the door opened, and led to a dark room.

"Is that you, Hevn?" said a cold voice.

"Yes, Mr. Hiroshima. You may begin now."

"I will not be the one to brief you on your mission today, kids. But Mr. Amano please step outside with me for a while."

Ginji was shocked. He wasn't expecting to be called to a one-on-one like that. Questions were flashing in his head. Questions like: 'why me?' or "what does he want with me?' but before he could speak, Mr. Hiroshima started to speak. "Do you know why you're here Ginji?"

"No sir," Ginji said.

"Well, I'm sure you will be shocked. Let me start by saying, I knew your father…"

Ginji was surprised. It was the first time anyone had ever spoken to him about his father. However, he wanted to know. So he just stood there, mystified.

"Yes, he was a good man. Cheerful, like you in many ways. He was my best friend. We wanted to start a business together. A business similar to the Get Backers, but we couldn't. Why? Because of something he gave to you."

"To me?"

"Yes Ginji, he gave you the power you posses today. But along with this, he gave you a curse."

"A… Curse…" Ginji whispered to himself

"I know it's too much to handle, but you need to know this for your own safety. Ginji, this will be very hard on your part, but if you don't find the other cursed ones, you may kill yourself and all your friends as well.

"!"

"Yes, but there is a condition. You must find all the cursed ones. The rulers of fire, water, wind,

light, darkness and earth. Go together with them and you will be safe."

"That should be easy…"

"You may think so, but to do this, you must leave your friends…"

Ginji was stunned. He didn't see that coming. He didn't want to leave them. But he knew it had to be done. He trusted this man. He has seen the power of the curse. It was the power that drove him to leave Maze City. He would do anything to protect his friends, his greatest treasure.

"Ginji," Mr. Hiroshima said, raising his hand "you did not hear anything from me." Then he hit Ginji so hard that Ginji collapsed.


Meanwhile

"You will be sent to defuse and recover a bomb attached to a disc, mainly containing the maze city archives."

"Easy…" said Ban in a sarcastic tone.

"What's the catch?" added Shido

"Good Mr. Fuyuki. The disc is located in Babylon City."

"WHAT!" said Kazuki, shocked. "getting across the Belt Line is deadly, what more Babylon City!"

"That's why the mission will pay, hmmm, let's see, 5 million yen?

"5 MILLION!" they all screamed together…

"(ehem… clearing his throat) Ban said "fine by me…"

Then before anyone could speak…

BOOM


They heard a loud noise from where Ginji was. Ban being Ginji's best friend, ran to the rescue. Then he stopped, and fell to the ground. He started glowing red and collapsed.

Everyone was shocked. What had happened to Ban? And what about Ginji?


Want to know what's next? Wait for the next chapter… The Lord of Flames awakens!