Sorry to keep you all waiting, but school's a killer. Here's the next chapter. I do not own the song 'Jack's Lament' from The Nightmare Before Christmas, but the lyrics I put in were from me.
The Dark Jester II
Vestige of Identity
Chapter 2
The Party
Loud music, drinks, food, and hundreds of people chattering. What more can a party have? Celebrating the victory against the Tamachi Tigers, Davis' soccer team held a party at the school. Along with the team, they invited several of their friends to celebrate with them.
"Where is he?" Yolei asked, "Of all events, Davis has to be late for this?"
"He'll show up." TK said, "He always does, regardless of being late."
Outside the school, a car pulled up the main entrance of the gym. Davis got out of the car and closed the door behind him.
"Thanks for the ride Tai." Davis said before goin into the gym.
Tai drove off from the school and onto the main road. As he drove towards home, he passed by several police cars that were parked outside a bank, sirens on. As Tai slowly passed them, he managed to hear what the issue was.
"The criminals are still there. The hostages are alive, but their gonna get killed if we don't meet their demands." He heard from one of the officers.
Tai simply grinned as he parked his car by the curb a few feet away from the scene. He reached over to the back seat and grabbed a fairly large bag and left the car with it. Locking the door, he ran towards the crime scene, but first dashed into the nearby alley. He unzipped the dufflebag and when he parted the zipper, the white and black face of the Nightmare Clown was there.
"Hey guys." Davis walked into the gym, being blasted by the loud music and hot air from people's breathing.
"There you are." Yolei said, "I almost thought you wouldn't even show up for your own party."
"When have I ever not show up to special occasions?" Davis asked.
"Well..." Before Ken could speak, Davis interupted him.
"The one with the New Year's party doesn't count." Davis quickly said, "Yolei gave me the invitation at the last minute."
"Dammit." Ken muttered.
"What are we doing here?" TK asked, "Let's hit the dance floor."
"Wanna dance Davis?" Kari asked with a bright smile.
"Sure." Davis answered. This was like a dream come true, Kari was willingly asking Davis for a dance. No more pity dances out of lonliness, this was the real thing. Kari had finally asked Davis for a real dance. Kari grabbed onto Davis' hand and pulled him over to the dance floor. The two went to the center of the gym and danced to the upbeat music. As Kari swung her hips around in a very attractive manner, Davis had the urge to place his hands on her hips as she moved them. As if she read his mind, Kari reached over and wrapped her right arm around Davis. Davis reacted by wrapping his right arm over her waist and let her body come close to his. "Wow, never seen you dance like this before."
"You're never around to see." Kari smiled, "You're pretty good yourself."
From outside the gym, a car pulled over with a group of four friends. They each got out of the car once it was parked.
"Finally. We're here." One of them said, "Why couldn't you keep your uniform on, instead of going home to change?"
"Cause it was covered in blood." The other replied, "Davis' nosebleed was all over it, cause I had to help him clean it."
"Who cares. You did remember the booze right?" The other asked.
The first one reached into the back seat and pulled out two boxes of alcoholic drinks.
"Where's our money?!" One of the terrorists yelled, "What kind of bank has no money?!"
"Move In!" the sound of the police officer came, signalling for his troops to prepare for their strike against the terrorists.
"Shoot their asses down!" The terrorists pulled out their automatic rifles and began to fire away, aimlessly. The raging bullets fired and broke through the glass and walls, occasionally hitting the cops. With only several left, the survivors backed away, not wanting to face the same fate as their comrads.
"My, my, my. Such violence." A dark voice creeped into their ears.
"Who's there?" The terrorists asked.
"Oh come now, you must know perfectly well who I am." The voice creeped again.
"Its him, The Dark Jester." One of the terrorists began to tremble.
"Its only a matter of time before I strike." The voice said, "Are you ready for it?"
For what was at least a minute, it seemed longer. The terrorists waited impatiently for Saji to come out. With no sign of him, one of them lost it.
"AAAHHH! I can't take it anymore!" He ran out of the building, only to be met by a black cape with the clown's face.
"He's out there!"
Saji rose from the body of the fallen terrorist. He looked down at his first victim and looked over to the others. He reached for his back and pulled out two of the four black wrapped ninja swords that now replaced the six different swords from the past. "Prepare for your judgement."
"Ok remember, only give it to people who ask for it." one of the four late-comers said.
"Got it." The four of them began to pour some of the alcoholic drinks into the punch, but made sure no one got some, "Save me a drink."
"Me too."
Two cups were filled with the drink and they were set down on the table where the four were. They paid no attention to it, due to that they had to make sure the drinks were hidden to avoid notice that it was alcoholic.
"You thirsty?" Davis asked. The two had walked away from the dance floor to be away from the intense heat.
"Yeah." Kari answered, "Let's get something."
The two walked over to the refreshment stand. There was a large lineup for drinks and the two were at the back. While waiting, Davis looked over and noticed that there was another table that had drinks. He grabbed Kari's hand and took her to the empty table.
"Where's the punch serving guy?" Davis asked. He saw that there were two cups filled with the drink among the empty ones. He took them both and gave one of them to Kari. "Cheers."
As Davis brought the plastic cup to his lips, he began to notice a small strange stench from the drink. He pulled his lips away from the cup and looked at the drink. It seemed to look normal. A blue raspberry punch drink is meant to look blue. He brought the cup to his nose and took a sniff at it. "Uh Kari, I think these drinks are a little..." Davis looked over to Kari, but realized that she was now pouring herself another cup from the large bowl, "spiked!" Judging as to how Kari was moving and how much of the spiked drink she had consumed, she was indeed drunk.
"This stuff is great." Kari said with a strangely formed smile, "You should try some."
"Uhh...I already did." Davis lied, as he hid his drink away from Kari, "Kari, I think your a little drunk."
"Of course not." Kari hiccupped a little, "I'm fine, just a little woozy from drinking so much punch."
For the next few minutes, Davis had to be with Kari as she walked around the gym, tripping on almost everything and saying 'hi' to people she never knew before and shaking their hands. The embarrassment was not much for Davis, he was just worried about her. What would Tai say about this? Would he blame Davis for not keeping an eye on her?
"Kari, I really think your drunk. This isn't like you." Davis said, "The Kari I know doesn't walk in a clumsy way."
Kari didn't say a word, she began to look down to her shoes. Did he say something offensive to her? "Oh god." That was all Kari said as she rushed through the people and out the gym. Davis ran after her, but lost sight of her as he made his way outside. He looked all over the place, but found no trace of her. When he turned to go back inside, giving up on searching, he heard the sound of retching from the nearby bush. He slowly walked over to the bush and found Kari lying on the grass, with her head in the bush.
"Sweet Jesus." Davis muttered. He picked up Kari and got her to rest her arm around his shoulder, "You alright?"
"Not really. "Kari said, right before burping, "I don't feel to good."
"You wanna go home?" Davis asked.
"That'll be nice." Kari answered, "My car's just over here."
"Not so fast." As Kari pulled out her car keys, Davis swiped them from her hands. "You're not driving in the condition your in. I don't care what you say about how sober you are, cause I know you're not."
"The how do we get home?" Kari asked.
"We're taking the bus." Davis said, "Unless you want a criminal record or get killed."
"Fine." Kari muttered, "Then what about my car?"
"I'll ask Yolei to bring it to your place." Davis replied, "She took the bus to get here. Just stay close to me."
Davis took a hold of Kari's hand and the two went back into the gym to find Yolei.
Saji stood over the bodies of his fallen victims. Blood filled the floors of where the bodies laid. As Saji looked over at them all, flashes of their death entered his mind.
"I'm gonna kill you!" One of the criminals aimed his gun at Saji.
"Not so fast." Saji pulled out a shuriken form his gunmetal grey utility belt and threw it at the gunner. He fell to the floor when the star came in contact with his forehead.
Saji looked over at the other remaining criminals. He reached for his hat and pulled out the purple feather that rested on the right side. He held the feather between his fingers like a pen and aimed it towards them.
"Appearances can be deceiving." Saji said, "This feather is no exception."
Saji ran towards them and with the feather tip, he slashed at them all, cutting the skin on their faces and finishing them off with a piercing blow to their throat. One by one, they fell to the floor, dead from the impact.
Saji looked over at the doorway and saw that the police were about to enter. Behind them, he saw that the SWAT team was there too. Saji didn't hesitate; he snapped his fingers and a large cloud of smoke consumed him. When the smoke cleared, Saji was no where to be seen.
Davis and Kari both made their way outof the gym. They would have been out sooner, but Kari had another throw-up incident which landed on someone and Davis had to help clean the mess up. With Kari still unbalanced from the drink, Davis carried her on his back to the bus stop. Ignoring the comments of people that he passed by them, he continued to carry Kari down the street. As he came to the bus stop, the bus was there, about to take off. Davis ran as much as he could, without upsetting Kari's stomach and managed to get the bus to stop. The two got inside the and they sat down near the rear exit.
"How you feeling Kari?" Davis asked.
"I'll be better soon." Kari said, "I'm really sorry for making you leave the party so early."
"Hey, don't worry about it." Davis replied softly, "This was more important."
Without a word, Kari closed her eyes and rested her head on Davis' shoulder. Davis simply smiled from this. He put his arm over Kari and held her closer to himself, stroking her cheek with his thumb as the bus drove off to thake them home. This was what Davis alwaysdreamed of, He waited for the day that he could touch Kari like this. With desire in him, he hoped that he could go further than this when he told Kari his true feelings for her, but he chose to save it for another time.
Saji stood at the roof of a building. Looking down on the streets and the cars.
Its amazing. It hasn't even been a full year and already, crime rates have lowered because of Saji's presence. Not many thugs were out on the streets in the middle of the night causing trouble, unless they desired to be met by the cold metal blade of Saji.
My name is Saji. I've been Odaiba's protector for about 8 months. Throughout the course of my time, I acquired new changes to myself to better suit me.
Starting from head to toe:
My hat remains the same; black stetson with a purple band around it. The only change I made to it was the feather. To show the might of the magician, the feather doubles as a sharp piercing tool. The feather itself is made of sharp thin metal strands that can scratch diamonds.
My mask is the one thing I never plan to change for it is where I recieve my hidden specialties.
My cape his changed to a more deceptive appearance. The right end of the cape comes over to the left side to further hide my body. My swords have been replaced with four ninja swords to better suit the art of stealth, deception, and agility. My shirt is changed from a black dresshirt, to a black tunic.
My boots still conceal the special blades at the sole for the sneak attacks.
Overall, concealment was the main change I made for myself, and it has improved my work dramatically.
Saji looked up at the moonlight as it flew over the city, illuminating the darkest corners of the city. Saji felt very relaxed by the darkness.
There are few who deny, at what I do I am the best,
for my talents are renowned far and wide.
When it comes to surprises in the moonlit night,
I excel without ever even trying.
With the slightest little effort of my Jester charms,
I have see grown men give out a shriek.
With the skill of deception and stealth and fear,
I have swept the very bravest off their feet.
And time after time, it's the same routine,
Criminals see me and give out a scream.
For I am Saji! The Nightmare Clown.
Will these fools ever learn of my presence in this town?
Oh somewhere deep inside of my soul,
An emptiness begins to grow.
Unknown of what it desires from me,
tormenting me, with what I can't see.
Yet...
I'm a master of fright and the Jester of Night,
and I scare fools out of their skin.
Throughout my hometown, I make no trace of sound.
Deceiving criminals and kill them within.
And since a clown is what I am, I make jokes with what I can,
For my enemies need manipulation.
No animal or man, can scream loud as they can,
until they take my presence in consideration.
But who in this world would ever understand,
that the Jester with the suspicious grin on his face,
grows tired of the crime. They never, ever learn.
Do they wish to be caught, to be killed, to burn?
Saji slowly walked towards the edge of the building. He looked down upon the people that were there. No doubt that they all must have done some sort of crime at least once, but what can he do about it? He hasn't seen it commited yet. He then slowly turned around to look back.
Oh, an empty place inside of me,
shows something i cannot see.
The crime just grow, no matter hard,
I try to stop it, no matter how far.
With that, he fell back slowly, he felt his feet lose contact with the concrete surface of the rooftop. He fell down to the ground below, but before making contact with the surface, Tai heard the sound of Saji in his head.
Its not time yet.
His cape then came alive, warpping itself around Saji, forming a black coccoon-like object. As the coccoon hit the concrete sidewalk, the caped figure disappeared into the ground. People who had witnessed this all looked shocked at what they had just seen.
Tai opened his eyes. He found himself back on the rooftop, looking down on the street below. He had his mask in his gloved hand.
Its not time yet.
The words echoed in his mind. No, it wasn't time for Saji to die yet. He put the mask back on and jumped off the rooftop. As he was in midair, he fired a cable from his wrist and swung himself to the building in front of him, landing on the roof.
That concludes this chapter.
For those of you who are a little confused of what just happened;
Tai is getting sick of the fact that what he does isn't enough to stop the crime in Odaiba(thus leading him to having a partner)
The amount of death he brought upon the criminals is beginning to haunt him. He now visualizes his actions after he performed them.
Deep inside him, he seems to have a desire for something, but can't understand what it is and it torments him.
Hope you like it, I'll have the next chapter up soon. It'll bring the turning point of Davis' actions and what he does to become what I plan for him to become. I'll also introduce the 'Smoke-man' and how he becomes the 'Smoke-man' next chapter.
Please Review.