Komo's Return

Outside on the rooftop, where there were metal railings on the outside, alongside a view of a destroyed Tokyo city, bodies littering the streets like discarded cigarettes.

"Hey, you!" Dominic screamed, clutching his axe. Gene had fear strung across his face when he did that, and Ayana finally got to see the man tormenting Japan. All she knew was that he had to die.

Komo turned around, a smugness across his face. From what Ulrich could see, he looked bulkier. But overall, same old Komo.

"Well then. Who would you be, exactly?" Komo said with joy in his voice, probably imagining the ways he would maim this random child.

"My name is Dominic Edgeworth, and I will be on the team that defeats you!" Dominic roared. The other seven slowly stepped out, and Komo eyed Gene, Vivian, Sapphire, Ulrich and Lainey, and then shifting to Bartholomew and Ayana.

"Oh ho!" Komo yelled out in glee, looking at Vivian. "This is your whole crew, then? You need to get wiped out again?"

Vivian calmly closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to talk to him." She pointed to Gene, slowly getting next to Dominic, thrusting his sword in mid-air to match Dominic's axe.

Komo looked at Gene, then back to Vivian. "Not the best coping method, have to admit."

But without any further words, he swung a giant fist, and Gene and Dominic jumped back. Dominic ran up once again, and Ayana jumped off his shoulder, stabbing Komo in the eye with her dagger. Komo threw up an exaggerated arm, grasping the air. And before Ayana knew what was happening, he regained his posture and laid the hand down on her skull, clutching her head. Ayana could barely breathe, she hearing Dominic scream something underneath his hand before she went flying headfirst into the handrail. Her messed up eye once again starting to bleed. Sapphire looked in horror. She flew by so fast, that she couldn't even do anything to help her. Komo stepped over to inspect her, and Ulrich and Dominic immediately rushed in before he could do anything. Ulrich focused the heat from his middle finger into his palm, setting his hand alight, and Dominic merely flashed his axe. Ayana took a vial of blood out of her bag and drank its contents.

"You'll survive this, right?" Dominic asked. Ayana nodded with an uneasy smile. Dominic, out of real options, ran up to Komo and kicked him in between the legs. He didn't know what he expected, but his eyes popped. For a brief second, and then he just looked angry. Dominic ran to the other end of the building, and while Komo ran to follow him, Ulrich unleashed his energy into Komo's greasy, bald head. And before he could even turn around, Bartholomew threw an uppercut into his jaw. Komo swiped at him but he blocked, white energy covering his hands. He was able to block more of Komo's hits, dodging at the last second. Komo looked in confused anger, only to find he couldn't move. He turned his head, and Vivian had her gloved hands aimed like a finger gun at his feet, which were frozen. Komo grunted something that sounded like a different language, and then the ice around him shattered. Sapphire waved her hands around, pushing everybody back.

This guy was mad.

He noticed Sapphire first, moving everyone out of the way. Sapphire shot down a few wind mines, but this man just ran past them. She launched a wind blast where she was, allowing her to leap upwards and land a short distance away. Komo ran after her, getting hit by a stream of fire to the head. And then a chunk of ice, making the fire sting just that much more. He turned around, receiving an icy fist to the stomach. Vivian matched her left hand by coating her right in ice and threw some more punches. Ulrich shot some more fire out of his hand into him, and Komo just grabbed and threw Vivian. Sapphire tried hitting her with a wind blast to cushion her fall, but a hit to the face by Komo made her nearly fly off the rooftop.

"Shit!" Ulrich yelled, fuelling his left arm into a panicked punch, which he gave with all his might. It pushed him forward slightly, and he batted Ulrich away onto the floor. With just Sapphire left on the elemental front, she continued fighting, firing wind blasts that Komo just wasn't being phased by. She moved back slightly, moving her left hand in front of her face, and her right hand in front of her stomach. Komo went in for a punch, but the air in front of Sapphire burst, sending him back in surprise. Sapphire tried to land a kick to the face, but it didn't work. Komo merely grabbed her leg, throwing her against the railing.

Sapphire went across the building, landing on something soft. Lainey. She got up, slowly approaching Komo, taking the gem out of her pocket.

"Lainey? What are you doing?" Ulrich asked, trying to get up. He couldn't. His entire left side was feeling absolutely demolished, and his right side was trying to spread the heat to the rest of his body.

Gene tried shooting a beam to stop Komo, and he stopped for a second, but powered through it. Komo stood above her for a second. He squatted, lowering himself down to her level.

"Well, that wouldn't happen to be one of our gemstones, would it?" Komo asked calmly. "Could I borrow that from you?"

Lainey stood, gemstone in front of her. "Daisy Whitehurst and Maya Jacobi. Where are they?"

"Hm? They your friends?" Komo asked, scratching his head. "Hell if I know. Could be dead, could be in the other space. I don't really keep track."

Lainey looked at him in pure disgust. She thrust the gem forward, and nothing happened.

"Well, this is new. Do you…not know how to use those?" Komo cackled. Lainey shot a terrified look at Dominic.

"You gotta throw it!" He shouted back at her, covering Ayana, slowly getting back up.

But before she could do anything, Komo slashed downwards. Lainey jumped back, holding the gem above her head.

And she was fine.

She let out a gasp and looked down. There was Sapphire, using her powers to push his arm back. Pushing her left hand upwards in a desperate attempt to stop him.

"Come on, Lainey!" She grunted. "Hit him already!"

Komo pushed down on Sapphire, and she tried anxiously to steady her breathing. She tried to tilt her wrist, moving the energy down to her arm. She was holding her breath at this point, and she gave one final push.

And was hit square in the back.

She heard Lainey scream. Electric energy was surging through her. She tried desperately to release a final blast of energy. She created one more surge of wind to carry the electricity towards Komo.

Komo started screaming. Sapphire felt the entire world go numb around her, Lainey's voice echoing through her mind.

Lainey stood frozen over Sapphire. She was breathing, barely. Komo ran towards her, and Lainey was frozen in fear. Dominic dived towards her, barely saving her from being picked up by Komo.

Komo looked towards Sapphire’s unconscious body. He picked it up, slamming her on the ground with enough force to leave a small dent in the concrete top. He held up Sapphire and her clearly broken arm, before throwing her unmoving body off the building.

“Sapphire!” Lainey screamed out.

“What, you helped kill your friend?” Komo laughed, watching Lainey tear up. “Well, you won’t be around enough for the pain to set in! So, net positive!”

Lainey turned to the door of the building, but Vivian froze it.

“I swear she’ll be fine! But we have to focus on killing him now!”

Gene pointed at Ulrich, and Dominic nodded, running to him and picking him up. Komo ran towards Gene, who was deflecting all his attacks. Gene threw a few beams when an opening was made. Enough to stop him for a brief second, and to roll the gemstone to Dominic.

Dominic set Ulrich down next to Ayana. Dominic tried remembering what Lewis did to activate his bombs, and just tried thrusting the gem out. Sure enough, that worked. A black sphere was next to Komo. But it was a maximum of three, right? Komo lunged towards him, and he ducked out of the way, making another sphere appear in front of him. Dominic quickly darted behind him, placing one last bomb. Komo was surrounded, but the blast from the rooftop would definitely hit the rest of the team, and probably Lainey, too. But he came this far, so he had to do it.

Komo glared at him, looking angry, but sounding frantic. "Kid, do you even know what you're doing?"

"I know how to duck." Dominic replied, trying to sound badass. "Guys, watch out!"

He threw the axe through his sweaty palms, hitting one of the bombs, and the explosion hit the other bombs, causing the entire floor to collapse.

Ulrich woke up inside the rubble and crawled out of it. He was weak, and could barely make a spark, but he was alive. As was Ayana, standing in front of Komo, who was blindly screaming. He made his way over, accidentally standing on Lainey. She was still alive, it seemed, covering the child. She was also breathing, as was Bartholomew. He made his way to Komo.

"Boss! Boss!" He was screaming at the portal, still dispensing demons over the city. Ulrich looked, and his legs were completely gone.

"Shut up!" Ayana was aggressively kicking him in the face, trying to get him to stop. "Hey, fire boy. Kill this bastard already!"

Ulrich tried flaring up his right hand, with no results. And before he could do anything, he heard a voice.

"Oh, no. No, no, no."

He looked behind him, and Vivian managed to get in. She fell to her knees, looking up in despair. Ulrich looked up and felt his heart sink. His legs started shaking.

Something was leaving the portal.

Something human shaped.