Fifteen minutes earlier.

Osaka was decimated, cars and buildings were set ablaze, and even though many had been defeated, it appeared the city was overrun by the plant aliens that Gantz had sent the players to kill. Kato turned sharply at the sound of cries for help below the bridge where people had tried to flee. Kato abandoned his position to help, jumping from the bridge to land on the ground below. Kishimoto turned around and gasped. "Kato!"

Kato fired his x-gun at a plant that had someone entrapped in its mouth. The teen ran toward the now dead alien to reach up and pull the male free from the alien's hold, but upon doing so, he realized it was too late. The person's legs had already been eaten, and Kato dropped the male with a grimace. "I'm sorry..."

"Kato!"

Kato turned when he heard Kishimoto shout his name and realized another plant had grown from the ground, its mouth widening before sinking its teeth into Kato's shoulder and upper torso. Kato cried out and dropped his weapon.

Kishimoto yelled in horror, fearing for Kato's life, and quickly fired her weapon to release him from the plant's attack. Kato fell to the ground when the plant blew up, a firm grip on his injury. "Kato! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

Kato slowly nodded in response before raising his arms up to see his suit leaking. "My suit..."

Kishimoto helped Kato to stand up and dragged him over to the other side to sit him down. "I think - you should be fine if you stay here."

Kato looked up at Kishimoto in defeat, annoyed that his suit was damaged and that he was useless to them now. "I won't let you fight them alone."

Kishimoto shook her head. "It's not your fault. Please just stay here. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Kato grabbed her hand. "And what about you? Please don't go."

Kurono and Sei fended off the last of the aliens scattering the bridge, cringing at the ordinary people's dismembered bodies; how had things gotten this bad? When did their missions become a warzone? Kurono turned and killed a plant just as it crawled up from the ground. "Sei, are you alright?"

Sei jumped away from one of the plant's roots before it tried to grab her ankle and blew it up quickly. "This is insane!" Sei retook her position near Kurono's side. "Kei, if we don't make it..."

Kurono gritted his teeth. "Shut up, damn it. Just stay close, and don't stray from my sight. We'll be fine." Kurono glanced around at the destruction, chewing his lip; they'd come too far to lose now. We're gonna make it, all of us, we're gonna do it!

Sei looked to the side when a shout that sounded like a child pierced the air. Sei covered her mouth when the plant towered above the kid. "No!"

Before the child met his end, Kurono jumped in, shoved the alien hard with his strength, and immediately blew it apart. Kurono turned to the kid with a small smile. "Run now, find a safer place to hide." The child sniffled and quickly scampered away.

The scene caused Sei to smile. He's just amazing. I can't believe a guy like that is mine.

"Sei!"

The sound of Kurono's desperate tone snapped Sei out of it. Sei looked ahead of her to see an alien only a few feet in front, and as she raised her weapon to kill it, the plant heaved and spat what looked like a small stone. The stone was impossible to avoid at such close proximity but seemed to disappear when it hit Sei in the chest. Sei raised a hand to her chest with a look of utter confusion as Kurono ran toward her.

Kurono smiled and sighed with relief when Sei appeared to be unharmed. "You're okay, thank god."

Sei looked at Kurono and smiled, still wondering what had happened. "I guess so."

Kurono nodded. "Come on, let's regroup with Kishimoto and Kato. I think they're under the bridge."

The two started walking toward the edge when Sei suddenly froze. Sei began to breathe heavily, and her body trembled. "Kei..."

Kurono stopped and turned to see his girlfriend had stopped following. "What is it?"

"Something's wrong..."

Kurono stepped forward, concern showing on his face now. "What do you mean?"

As Kurono came closer, several thorns suddenly sprouted from Sei's body from the inside. Kurono gasped in horror at the sight of his lover's impaled bloody body as it fell to the ground. It seemed as though the object they thought was a stone was actually a seed used for surprise attacks. "Sei!" Kurono fell to his knees and lifted Sei toward him. "Sei...it's alright, you're gonna be alright." Tears slowly fell from Kurono's eyes. "Just hang on a little longer."

Sei's trembling hand lifted up to Kurono's face as she choked blood from her throat. "Please live, Kei..."

Kurono gasped.

Please live, live for us.

Kurono gritted his teeth. "Sei! Just hold on! Stay with me!"

"I love you...Kei Kurono..."

Tears fell from Kurono's cheeks as he threw back his head and yelled.

Kishimoto and Kato looked up to see someone coming toward them. Kishimoto prepared to fire before she realized it was Kurono. Kato stood up to stand at her side. Kishimoto covered her mouth when they soon discovered that Kurono was carrying someone and that someone was Sei. "Kurono, is she..."

Kurono didn't reply and soon dropped to his knees with his girlfriend's body.

"No, she can't be..."

Kurono cradled Sei despite the thorns that almost dug into his skin. "We - didn't even see it coming..."

Kato looked at Kurono mournfully, unable to quite believe what had happened; they were doing fine when he left them, right? Now he felt guilty for not staying with his team. "Kei...I'm so sorry."

Izumi, who had been watching for some time out of sight, grinned before walking away. "Interesting."

...

Nishi watched him for a moment, slightly unnerved by the information; while Nishi had managed to survive for a long time on his own, he still had players to use if he needed to, but Izumi was single-handedly completing missions on his own. That's a little disconcerting.

"Oh, by the way, watch out for their seeds, and don't worry, I'll let you and your team defeat the boss on this one. Can't hog all the fun; after all, I'm the one who'll get the perfect score, so I should let you have some fun while you can."

Nishi watched with narrowed eyes as Izumi jumped from the roof and then disappeared. "Over my dead body."

Nishi sighed, stepped away from the edge, and turned around with his x-gun held firmly in his grip. "I suppose that bastard killed all the plants up here. What a pain." As Nishi stepped forward, he felt a tug on his ankle. Nishi looked down with a scowl, ready to shake off whatever his foot was caught on before his eyes widened when he noticed a plant root had discreetly curled itself around his foot and continued to slowly wrap around his leg. "Damn..." Nishi's first instinct was to aim his gun, but not knowing where the root was coming from concerned him. "I could end up blowing my leg off." Nishi narrowed his eyes at the tightness accumulating around his leg, and now was the time he regretted giving Kato the weapon he'd won. "Shit."

The ground suddenly split across as the stem lifted to finally reveal the alien. Now that Nishi had something to aim for, he could rid his leg of the roots, but as he raised the gun, the plant spat something small from its mouth. Nishi gasped, remembering the warning Izumi had just given him. Within seconds, Togo appeared in front of the teen, defending him and allowing the small object to disappear against his chest before raising his weapon to kill the plant, thus, releasing Nishi's leg from entrapment.

"Nishi!"

Nishi turned to see the rest of his team running toward him. Togo turned to Nishi with a frown of frustration. "How many times do I have to tell you to-"

Nishi rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, whatever," he muttered, shaking off the now loose roots from his leg. "I know how to handle myself."

Togo clicked his tongue. "Oh? Is that why I just had to save your ass from-"

Nishi scoffed. "Well, it sure took you long enough." When Nishi didn't get a reply, he realized Togo had frozen mid-sentence and wasn't moving. Nishi huffed. "Let me guess, you're mad now?"

Togo frowned and looked down at his now trembling body.

"What's wrong?" Yoko asked.

"Hey big guy, you good over there?" Ryo added, stepping forward.

Nishi was splattered with blood when thorns sprouted from the inside-out of Togo's body. Nishi stepped back slightly from shock and watched Togo's almost lifeless eyes lock onto his. Togo managed to smile. "Take care... of yourself... kid." Togo fell backward with a final gasp of breath.

Nishi gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on the gun. "Fuck."

Yoko, Ryo, and Jiro stepped forward with solemn expressions. Yoko lifted her arm to lay a comforting hand on Nishi's arm. "Nishi?"

Nishi batted Yoko's hand away with a mumbled 'I'm fine,' before turning away from Togo.

Suddenly, they felt the building shake beneath them.

"The ground's shaking!" Ryo shouted.

Nishi looked up in the near distance to see a large creature emerging from the water under the bridge. "What the..."

"Holy shit! Look at that thing, it's-"

Nishi swiftly turned to Ryo and said, "If you give one more movie reference I'll blow your fucking head off."

Ryo closed his mouth.

Nishi turned back to Togo's body; something didn't seem right. It had been some time since they'd had a boss, so why now all of a sudden.

"Oh, by the way, watch out for their seeds, and don't worry, I'll let you and your team defeat the boss on this one. Can't hog all the fun; after all, I'm the one who'll get the perfect score, so I should let you have some fun while you can."

Nishi's eyes widened. "That can't be..." Nishi fired multiple shots at Togo's body without warning, causing his team to gasp and yell.

"What the hell man! Is that your fucking version of a cremation or something!" Ryo shrieked.

Without replying, Nishi grabbed Togo's x-rifle, turned and ran toward the edge of the building before parkouring off down to the ground.

Yoko ran to the edge. "Nishi, wait!"

"Come on! We can't afford to lose him!" Jiro said as he too followed after Nishi, Yoko, and Ryo soon not too far behind.

...

"We've got to get away from it now!" Kishimoto shouted, fear in her tone as she ran slightly ahead of Kato and Kurono. This can't be happening! Kishimoto dared a look behind; the alien had drained the river of water and towered over them at least fifteen feet, smashing nearby buildings with its long, thick roots. There's no way, no way that thing is Sei! Kishimoto turned back with tears in her eyes. The moment Sei's body transformed into that giant, hideous plant monster would be forever embedded into her mind.

Kato ran to try and catch up with Kishimoto, but his injury wasn't the only thing that slowed him down as he dragged a catatonic Kurono with him. "Kei! You have to snap out of it! Please!" Kato grabbed onto Kurono, following Kishimoto to the other side of the dried river.

Nishi and his team reached the bridge and stopped when they saw the cause of recent destruction.

"That thing is huge!" Ryo stated.

Nishi frowned as he scanned the area for Kurono. You better be alive; I'm not killing that fucking thing by myself, asshole.

"Look!" Yoko pointed before the alien spat a ball of flame at the bridge.

"Everybody move!" Jiro yelled.

The team jumped from the bridge in the direction of their other teammates as the attack hit the bridge, and it collapsed, leaving nothing in the alien's path.

Kato and Kishimoto sighed in relief, glad to see them alive. "Where's Togo?" Kato asked.

Nishi looked at the alien slowly making its way toward them. "Dead," he replied bluntly. "Am I right in thinking this giant plant is Sei?"

Kishimoto gasped. "How do you know?"

Nishi swallowed the lump in his throat. "I had a hunch when we were attacked on the roof." Nishi gritted his teeth. A damn fucking good hunch.

"Okay, next question, how the hell do we kill it!" Ryo yelled.

Nishi looked to the side to see Kurono slumped on the ground, his bangs covering his face slightly. He could see the alien closing in on them and lifted his gun, ready to attack. "Kei! Wake the fuck up already!"

"Nishi!" Yoko shouted as she and the others began to fire their weapons.

Putting aside his hatred for Kato, Nishi turned to him and shouted, "Kato, use that sword and try to slice its roots!"

Kato took one last glance at Kurono before nodding and complying with the order.

Nishi had no intention of becoming the leader, but until Kurono snapped out of it, he didn't have a choice. Nishi trusted Jiro to take care of himself and distract the alien while Kato took care of its roots.

Kato swerved around the thick stems, swinging his sword with great precision, slicing off many of the aliens' limbs, causing a deep shrill cry every time.

Nishi looked for a higher vantage point so he could put his sniping skills to better use, but the alien had almost destroyed all of the buildings nearby with its roots. They must be pretty deep under the ground too. Nishi could see several other roots clinging to what was left of the buildings. What kind of alien is this thing... There was no way of getting close to the body while the thick roots could still attack. Kato, hurry up already. Nishi glanced down at Kurono and seethed. "I've had enough of this bullshit." Nishi grabbed Kurono by the neck and punched him hard across the face. "She's dead, get over it! You can't do anything about it now, but if you really must mourn, then do it later, otherwise you won't be alive to do that either! I thought you were better than this, but I guess I was wrong."

Kurono glanced up at Nishi with a frown, finally paying attention to his surroundings. "Don't you dare talk about Sei like she was nothing." Kurono stood up and walked toward Nishi.

Nishi scoffed. "She's dead isn't she? That tells me she wasn't all that great after all, right?"

Kurono curled his hands into fists. "You son of a-" Nishi cut him off by shoving an x-gun against Kurono's chest. Kurono looked down and took hold of the weapon before frowning back at Nishi.

"You're no good to us if you're a catatonic moping lump."

Kurono realized Nishi's words were spoken purposefully to snap him out of it, and although he suspected the younger teen didn't care, it seemed to have helped.

Nishi and Kurono turned as Kato flew through the air and landed with a painful thud on the ground.

Kishimoto ran toward him and skidded next to him. "Kato! Speak to me!"

Kato opened his eyes but could barely move. He'd taken off quite a few of the roots, but some still remained. "Kishimoto...I'm sorry I couldn't help..."

Nishi sighed in frustration. "So much for that." Kurono told the teen to shut up and watch his back before bolting up into the air toward the alien. "Kei!" Nishi watched Kurono descend toward the alien's large, open mouth. Kurono planned to attack from the inside, and like previous times before, when fighting a large creature, it usually worked. "Well I could have done that," he mumbled even though he wasn't confident enough to try. This alien was unlike anything they had faced before.

The rest of the team now stood in front of the creature, ready to attack if Kurono failed. The team could see flares of the Gantz gun within; thick roots began to extract from their positions as the alien blew apart from the inside.

The team gasped when the water that the alien had absorbed came rushing out toward them like a tsunami, knocking them off balance and carrying them off before settling to a somewhat calmer flow once more.

Kishimoto pulled herself from the water first, crawling up with her suit's strength. "Kato," she spluttered, coughing water as she did so. Kishimoto looked up over the streaming water. "Kato!" There was no sign of Kato, nor did she see what happened to Kurono or the rest of her team.

Further along the river, Jiro helped Ryo out of the water, clinging to a bent lamp post. A nasty gash adorned Jiro's head, and Ryo couldn't help the gasp of pain escaping his throat at the pull on his dislocated arm. "Shit..."

As Jiro looked across the other side, Nishi burst from the water, spluttering as he reached for the edge and grabbed onto another post. "Nishi! Are you all right?"

Nishi pushed himself up and collapsed over the edge, breathing heavily. "Fuck..." After a moment, Nishi dragged himself up and pulled Yoko from the water with the last of his strength. "I swear...if you're dead...I'll kill you..."

Yoko opened her eyes with a light chuckle as she spat water. "No...I'm alive."

The transfer started, and the team began to return to the apartment.

Kishimoto's eyes clouded with tears when Kato finally appeared next to her, and she hugged him tightly. "Kato! You're alive!"

Kato wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay, don't cry."

Nishi rolled his eyes before they locked onto Yoko, and he frowned. "Don't say a word. I didn't risk my life or anything, so it doesn't matter."

Yoko smiled and simply lay her head on his shoulder, to which Nishi shrugged off immediately, causing Jiro and Ryo to laugh.

Kato then gasped. "Where's Kei?"

The team's victory turned grim at the possible loss of their greatest member. Nishi frowned at the Gantz ball as the timer continued counting down. Don't you dare fucking die Kei, you think I'll use my points to bring you back?

"Someone's coming!" Kishimoto shouted.

Kurono appeared in the room with a sigh, not quite willing to celebrate their completed mission since his girlfriend was no longer beside him.

Nishi huffed but refrained from saying anything for now.

Kurono curled his hands into fists. "Sei...she's gone..."

Kishimoto looked down with sadness. "I'm sorry Kurono."

"It's hard to lose a teammate, but harder to lose a loved one," Jiro told him.

"Yeah, sorry man, I know she meant a lot to you guys," Ryo added.

Nishi looked at the Gantz ball before stepping in front of it. "If you ask me, it seems fitting with how things turned out." Kurono's part of the team frowned. Nishi faced them with a slight grin, knowing what he said annoyed them because they didn't understand. Nishi locked eyes with Kurono. "Isn't this just how we started? Those of us who survived are precisely the same ones who we started with on our first missions. Doesn't that tell you something?"

Without warning, the room shook, and the lights flickered until they blacked out with a loud pop. The team looked through the window, and to their horror, a vessel the size of a small island began to appear in view above Tokyo tower.

Nishi ignored his fear and curled his hands into fists. "That's it, no more missions. Katastrophe is here."

Kurono and the others watched the vessel with horrifying realization.

While Nishi's words angered Kurono, he understood them, and whether he liked it or not, it was a fitting team to have for the end.