The Devil Gene

It has been four years since that race. Kofi, Rory and Hitomi were now Year 5 pupils in a primary school called Sir Thomas Abney. It was a very big school; it looked more like a set of distribution buildings than a school, and from satellite view, it looked like an 'E' and 'H' joined up together. It was known for having the most balanced set of pupils in London; exactly half of the pupils in the school were good, half were mischievous troublemakers.

The school had three very big playgrounds; one for the infants, one for the juniors and the 'Quiet' playground. This was a playground for the pupils with learning and behavioural difficulties. It was divided from the infant and junior playgrounds by one of the buildings of the school. The junior playground was divided from the infant one by another building that was joined with the other building which blocked the 'Quiet' playground. It was held by very big blue pillars, which acted as a sidewalk for teachers and pupils alike to get in and out of the buildings. Most of the juniors (Year 4 to Year 6) used the pillars as goals for soccer.

It was the fourth of July. It was lunchtime, and was very sunny and cool in temperature. Kofi, Rory and Hitomi had already eaten, so went to the junior playground. Kofi decided to join his friends at football and asked Rory if he wanted to play. He declined. Kofi laughed before heading to the playground. He had noticed Rory's hand entangled in Hitomi's own.

This hadn't been the only time that Rory and Hitomi were showing signs that they fancied each other. Lately Rory has been abandoning Kofi to be with Hitomi, which Kofi didn't mind at all. This morning their teacher, Mr. Cromwell, who was a bulky but very kind and generous man, asked them to draw anyone in their class. Rory sat next to Kofi, while Hitomi sat next to a very pretty long blond named Danielle at the far end of the class. However, when two people on the same table would normally draw pictures of each other, it didn't stop Hitomi and Rory drawing a portrait of each other.

Kofi played soccer for half an hour; when he finished, he decided to head to the quiet playground to have some thought on his own. He told Hitomi and Rory, and then went into the school building to get there.

None of them knew they were being watched. None of them knew that the very close friendship between Hitomi and Rory had sparked envy in a gang of boys in Year 6 known as the 'Under-Age Criminals' (U.A.C), who were known for vandalism, bullying and more, and a couple of others who joined them recently. The U.A.C normally wouldn't allow any more members, but they all but one had two things in common: they all fancied Hitomi, and wanted Rory out of the way. They were also very afraid of Kofi; two terms ago, he fought the strongest boy in the school named Jonathan, nicknamed Juggernaut after the X-Men character because of his big build and strength, and led the gang cleverly too, because of his envy over Kofi's friends. He sent him to the nearest hospital with all his arms and legs dislocated. Jonathan missed the first term because of it. Since then Kofi has been the most feared boy in the school, but hasn't been popular to the older kids mainly because of his coolness even in the biggest of incidents, but teachers loved him because of his 'mature' personality at a very young age. Since then also Jonathan has been eager for revenge by taking it out at Rory, Hitomi, or Kofi, or maybe all at once.

Now that he was out of the way, they assumed that Rory and Hitomi's vulnerability gave them an advantage, made bigger because of the staff on playground duty. Most had their backs against the window showing the playground. They then headed to the bench where Hitomi and Rory were sitting. Jonathan spoke first.

"Where's your bodyguard?" he asked sarcastically, his gang laughing.

"Clearing his head," Rory answered coolly, not looking at him. He already reminding Jonathan of his traumatic incident with Kofi, and was making his temper rise faster than a blast furnace.

"That boy fucked me up since that fight," he said with gritted teeth, and tightening his right hand into a fist.

"I know," Rory answered, smiling. "It's called 'trauma'."

Whether it was that comment that caused Jonathan to charge at him, or Hitomi's fits of giggles after, or the gangs gasps, it didn't matter to either of the boys, for Jonathan was too angry to care anymore, and Rory was ready for him.

Kofi was enjoying the quietness and beauty of this playground. He particularly found this useful, since his father met a Japanese friend he hadn't seen since the second King of Iron Fist Tournament. She had shoulder-length ebony hair, an oval but pretty face, and something about her that he felt was odd but appealing, since he was always refreshed with her. He never did catch her name, so he just called her 'aunty'. She had also brought her son with her, who although didn't look like her, was a lot like her in personality. Also Japanese, he had a very handsome face; his hair was smooth and spiky at the back with a couple of fringes at the front. Ha also had an odd aura, but Kofi felt that he had a dark side he didn't know about, and yet felt very similar to his – almost like they were the same. He began to ponder on the familiar aura…

Then he felt trouble coming from the junior playground. He felt that Rory and Hitomi would be able to neutralise the negativity, but at the same time felt that not everything would go to plan… whatever it was.

Jonathan swung a right punch at Rory, rather recklessly. Rory caught his arm with both hands, and pulled him forward so that his right shoulder was level and so close to his right shoulder, brought his right foot in between Jonathan's legs, and pushed it forward, sweeping Jonathan's foot off the ground, and causing him to loose some balance. Rory, not finished with the sweep, lifted his leg to reach above Jonathan's arm, and held it there for a few seconds, letting his left hand off Jonathan's arm but keeping his right hand on Jonathan's wrist , before the heel came crashing down at the back of his head, sending him face down to the ground in full force.

Rory let go of his arm, his face blank.

"Who's next?" he said, his mischievous playfulness gone, replaced with a dark sense of justice.

If anything, they felt that if they had to face a martial artist, they might as well rush them with no space to breathe. So they slowly surrounded him in a circle. This got Rory confused and increasingly afraid – he was claustrophobic. His stance was starting to shake in anxiety and panic. Hitomi wasn't going to let anything happen to him. She got off the bench…

But the boys jumped on him before she could get to them.

Then Kofi knew that it didn't go to 'plan'. He ran to the scene as fast as his legs could take him, with a little help from the gauntlet on his right arm.

Rory wasn't sure if he was able to take this much pain since he fell into that trench last year. First a kick in the stomach, then a kick to the face, then at the back, then another kick to the face…

Well, he heard the sound, but didn't feel the last hit. Maybe he was numb. Maybe he was dead. He painfully opened his eyes.

The sun that shined upon him was blocked by a figure. A figure who had jumped above him, flung his leg forward till it was straight, kept his left leg inwards, and looked like a professional martial artist who had perfected this technique to the T. it was certainly a bigger blow to the defendant's face than the kicks he got put together. Rory's eyes followed his every move. When the person landed, the boy was a few metres away from him, the opponent another few metres from him, crumpled up on the concrete floor.

He could hear a couple of blow from the other side of him. He knew it was Hitomi, able to defend herself from them. He has to help her somehow…

He yelped in pain trying to get up. The boy who had ended his misery caught his head before it hit the ground.

It was Kofi. And he was desperately clinging on to him, hardly noticing Jonathan getting up fast to join in the fray not far from him.

"Rory… Rory, are you okay?" he asked. Rory laughed weakly, knowing that was a rhetorical question.

"Look… I'll be fine… I just… need to… rest," he said weakly, before his head limped, his eyes shut. Kofi looked at him, his anger at the gang already reaching boiling point. Soul Calibur sensed this.

"Rory going to be alright, he's just knocked out. He's going t…"

It stopped talking, firstly because it knew that Kofi wasn't listening, secondly because it was starting to feel an evil aura from him… an aura it could sense was taking over his mind, body and soul, an aura celebrating its rebirth through human genes, an aura even Kofi didn't know of, an aura that wasn't going to let anyone or anything get in its way of taking Kofi's anger to maximum levels. This same aura was beginning to change his body, and for the first time in a long time, it was afraid. Afraid of being taken over by this… thing… taking over him. Afraid that this aura will spell danger to all who approach him.

Like now. Kofi's legs felt weak, and he stumbled to kneeling. If anything, he felt sleepy. He never thought of the evil arising from him, he decided to go inside to have a rest…

Soul Calibur begged. 'Please, don't go to sleep. You don't know… oh my…'

Kofi was changing – mentally… physically… rapidly…

His metamorphosis had now sent the whole school to silence in shock, fear… they felt the same way as Soul Calibur. Kofi slowly stood up…

Then Hitomi screamed in horror.

Black markings had appeared everywhere on his body up to his neck, slithering like snakes. He also had black markings on his forehead, with a small red oval-shaped object in the middle which suspiciously looked like a ruby. His hands were grey, his fingers replaced by thick, rock-like talons, his knuckles looking like rough pearl stones, slowly fusing with the rest of his arms, horns sticking out of his elbows. Most frightening were his eyes, the iris' burning red with the evil he never knew he had. Hitomi was frozen in shock and fear, telling herself in her brain…

This wasn't Kofi. This is…

Then she remembered both her father and his father said to both she and Rory…

A week ago…

'You two would have to watch him sometime soon…' Emmanuel said with concern.

'Why?' they both asked, pretty annoyed. It's not like he's mad or something. He can take care of…

'He won't be able to take care of himself soon, that's why!' said her father, getting pretty frustrated. 'Well, in temporary cases any way,' he added.

'Look,' Emmanuel said coolly, more or less failing to conceal his concern for his son, 'Kofi has a sickness, that might make him do something… stupid… dangerous… psychotic…' his voice was quietening until he stopped talking completely.

'How would we know whether he'll be sick, then?' Hitomi asked.

'When…' Martin paused. Should he tell his daughter, or be equivocal?

'When you won't… when you won't recognise him.'

She couldn't recognise Kofi, because she knew Kofi wasn't there. He had accidentally hidden himself…

And this demon replaced him.

This demon was now heading for Jonathan, having absorbed Kofi's anger…

This day was forever going to be called 'The Day of God's Wrath'. Kofi called this day 'The Awakening of the Devil Gene'.