Nice to see that lots of you are reviewing my fanfic. Sadly, this is the last chapter of my current story, but let that upset you too much. In due time, I'll have the sequel up. There's going to be a small teaser 'trailer' for my sequel as my final chapter to this story.

The Dark Jester

Chapter Ten

It Ends Here

It was dark, very dark. Not that he wasn't used to it, it was just he was in an uncomfortable position in the dark. But why would he be uncomfortable with the darkness itself? He's been using the darkness for his methods for some time now and has no reason to hate it. This is what is going on in the mind of Saji, The Dark Jester.

He opened his eyes and looked around in the dark warehouse. Not much to look at, just old crates and a very old wall. Tai tried to get up, but something held him down. He looked over to his arms and found that something metal was wrapped around them. They were chains, and they were very thick. Tai struggled but made no luck in getting free, the weight and strength of the chain forced Tai to kneel on the unclean floor.

"How could they do this to me?" He asked himself, "How could they betray me like that? What did I do to make them turn me in like this?"

Tai then noticed a dim light from afar. The light filled up small areas in where Tai was, he found that he was definitly on the balcony of the warehouse, and that the light was coming from the center of the warehouse. He then heard the sound of loud cheering and roars of applause from where the light was coming from.

"It has finally arrived!" A familiar voice said, the voice of Apocalymon, "The clown has been captured and put to rest."

"Our moment to rise has arrived at long last!" Apocalymon yelled. He stood in front of an enormous fire that was burning in a giant pile of wood on a raised platform in the center of the warehouse, "This night will be the night the Digimon rule both worlds." The cheering grew louder as Apocalymon made his speech, "But first, bring out the sacrifices."

From the crowd of black cloaked figures, Sora and Matt were carried to the center, where the large fire was. The two had their hands bound behind them and their arms wrapped by thick ropes. The two struggled to be free from their bondage, but the ropes were tightly knotted and thick.

"You lying bastard!" Matt yelled, "You swore you would let us leave unharmed."

The cheering stopped and Apocalymon looked over to the two. "Did you actually think I would keep my word? Did you actually think I would come to terms with the DigiDestined?" The whole congregation laughed at the remark. "You should have known that you cannot trust your enemies. Thanks to you, I have gotten two wishes granted; the capture of the clown and the destruction of the DigiDestined."

"You know there will still be more of us." Sora said, "You can't kill us all."

"Well, I can try." Apocalymon smiled evilly, "Prepare the ritual!"

The fire dimmed out and a large wooden pole stood in the middle of the fire wood. Several of the cloaked figures that stood at the front came up to the raised platform and grabbed the two humans. They carried them to the giant pole and proceeded to tie them on. The struggled seemed useless, the two of them were tied to the post and unable to move.

"What do plan to do with us?" Matt asked.

"There is a portal." Apocalymon began, "A portal that connects this world to the Digital World. The fire that you are will soon be consumed in is the location of the portal. By sacrificing the burning blood of a human, the portal will be opened and my dreams of a human realm ruled by Digimon will happen."

"But why kill us both like this?" Matt asked, "At least let her go."

"I plan to make this ritual succeed. Two sacrifices are always better than one." Apocalymon said, "Now if you excuse me, I have a congregation to speak to."

The cloaked minions gagged the two and made their way off the platform and joined the rest of the group. Matt and Sora continued struggling, having hope that something will happen and they would be savedfrom their demise.

From the top floor of the warehouse, Tai forced enough strength in himself to crawl over to the edge of the ledge and looked over the whole event.

Oh no. Tai saw that Matt and Sora were tied to the pole of where the fire was once standing. This can't happen. Not like this. He saw Apocalymon standing before them all and proceeded to speak to them.

"And now!" He began his speech, "To begin my ritual, The powers of my greatest enemy, will be offered to show great gratitude to the portal." He raised the mask of Saji up for all to see. The entire congregation booed and jeered when they saw the mask. "With this mask, the power to open the portal will be less difficult to accomplish and our Digimon will finally arrive!"

The cheering resumed and Tai brought himself closer to the ledge, focing himself on his knees. "I can't let him do this." He said, "He has to be stopped."

"We shall see the end of the human world!" Apocalymon said. He turned around and raised his arm to the firewood, "And we will send these humans to their doom, where they belong." The fire burned and the two victims paniced in fear as the heat ignited and began to come close to them.

"NO!" Tai got up on his feet and forced the chains to come out. The pressure held him back, but Tai continued to fight through, the bondage. The wall of which the chains were attached to began to slowly form cracks. Tai kept forcing his way through, breaking his way out of the chains that kept him away from doing what he could. With the last bit of strength in him, the chains broke off him, taking parts of the wall with it. Tai kneeled from the forced exhaustion, but the anger inside him fueled him up with more energy and brought him back to his feet.

"No, he's loose." Apocalymon saw what Tai was doing, "Stop him!"

Tai removed the last strands of chain on him and proceeded to run towards the ledge. He jumped off and grabbed ahold of the rope that hung on the ceiling. The swung down to the ground and managed to reach Apocalymon. He snatched the mask out of his hand and as he swung to the other side, he put the mask on. He swung back and when he came close to the bonfire, he released his grip on the rope and fell into the fire. His cape covered up the pole and soon, the cape burned in the flames.

"He's gone." Apocalymon smiled with delight, "What a fool, falling to his own demise."

"Funny, a fool is what I've always been." A voice said from the fire, "What makes this any different?"

"What?" Apocalymon saw that the fire began to settle and fade out. Saji stood there with Matt and Sora behin him, unbound from the ropes, "Still alive?! No!"

"Stay hidden." Saji told the two. His voice had a small sense of anger in him, "I'll deal with you later."

Sora and Matt both ran off the platform and ran to hide somewhere secure and away from the battle. Sora took no second thought to look back, knowing full well that Tai was not in any mood to look at Sora at the current situation he was in, as well as after what she had done to him.

Saji jumped over Apocalymon and off the platform, landing on the ground, in the middle of the large mass of cloaked minions. "Kill Him!" Apocalymon ordered. With no swords at his disposal, Saji had to rely on hand to hand combat if he wanted to survive this fight.

"Hundreds of us against one clown." One of them remarked, "What hope does he have?"

"Just a fool's hope." Saji replied in a whisper.

(Go to youtube to see this video. If you've seen Tony Jaa's movie Tom Yum Goong, or The Protector, the fight where he beats hundreds of guys by breaking their bones, thats the video.)

Saji walked towards the foot of the platform, leaving the broken bodies of Apocalymon's minions behind him. From their hiding place, Sora and Matt saw the immense bonebreaking that Saji caused and the pain coming from them. While Matt hid from the action, Sora got a full view of what had just happened and she was extremely shock from what she saw.

Such anger. Sora thought to herself, I've never seen Tai act this angry before in my life.

"You may have defeated my soldiers, but I won't be easily defeated." Apocalymon said.

"Perfect, a challenge. Haven't had one for some time since our last encounter." Saji replied calmly.

"What hope do you have against me?" Apocalymon threw his cape aside from covering his body and let it hang over his back. In his hand, he held Saji's Crusader sword, "How do you plan to fight me weaponless?"

"I'm not weaponless." Saji pulled out several shuriken from his belt and threw them, one by one at Apocalymon. Apocalymon blocked each star with the sword, but when the last one came, Saji followed, with a knife in each hand. He jumped up and slashed down on Apocalymon, but the sword was already in position to block the blow.

"Knives against a sword? Really, what makes you think you can win like that?" Apocalymon asked, "You're going to die tonight and you know it."

"I know that someone will die, but it will not be me." Saji took the time to look up to the wall behind Apocalymon. The katana and ninja sword were still there, pierced to the wall, with bodies stuck with it. Saji ran towards Apocalymon, holding both knives forward. He threw each of them at Apocalymon and jumped over him. The knives created a distraction for him to jump over without trouble. Saji landed on the other side and pulled out the ninja sword, letting the bodies fall to the floor. "Now let us dance."

The two engaged in a brutal sword fight; slashing at eachother while spinning and dodging each blow that came at them. Metal clashed with metal as the two fighters in black capesmoved around the large warehouse, attempting to overpower the other.With the sound of the metal clanging and objects breaking, its a miracle that no one outside the warehouse could hear. As the two continued in their epic swordplay, Saji managed to knock Apoaclymon into a pile of crates that gave him a temporarily break. He ran over to Matt and Sora,with the sword still in hand.

"What is wrong with you two idiots?"Saji asked, forcefully, "Call the police, tell them to come here."

Apocalymon broke free from the bondage of large crates and charged at Saji. Saji spun around, holding the tip of the blade in the other hand. As he came face to face with Apocalymon, Saji released his grip on the metal blade end and the the blade slapped Apocalymon across the face, breaking his balance. Saji attempted to stab him from behind, but Apocalymon caught on to the attempt and slid away from the blade. He got up and the two continued to engage in metal on metal.

"You came close to defeat when you were in a team." Apocalymon remarked, "You have no chance on defeating me alone."

With that, Apocalymon got his moment; he found a window of oppurtunity from Saji and took the chance. He used the hilt of the sword and smashed it at Saji's face. Saji fell to the floor and lost his sword. Apocalymon kicked the sword aside and grabbed Saji by his face. He swung a punch at Saji and he flew across the warehouse and slammed into a wall, creating a large dent on the metal surface. He fell to the floor and stayed down there, too much in pain to move. Apocalymon slowly walked over to the body and held his sword forward. Saji slowly got to his feet and tried to maintain his balance.

"Looks like you're out of tricks."Apocalymon grinned.

He raised his sword and shot it forward, aiming for Saji's head. The blade came in contact with the mask and pierced through the face. "TAI!" Sora screamed as she saw the killing blow that Apocalymon made.

As Apocalymon smiled at his victory blow, The body began to disappear into dust. From behind Saji appeared, fully unharmed and with his mask on. "Not quite, my worthy foe."

Saji swung his fist and punched Apocalymon right at the face. He lost grip to his sword and it fell to the floor. Saji continued to swing massive punched at Apocalymon as he staggerd back from the blows. Saji clicked his heels twice and the blades from under the soles unsheathed out. Saji began to kick at Apocalymon with them, piercing him with the strong metal blades, and cutting through him. Saji made the final kick,by landing a kick to Apocalymon's side and pushing the blade to come through and out his back.

"Stop." Apocalymon begged, "Please...have mercy."

"Mercy? For you?" Saji laughed, "After what you did to me, and what you planned to do to the others you expect mercy from me?"

Saji raised his arms and aimed them at Apocalymon. He shot out the metal cables and they shot through Apocalymon through the shoulders. Saji pulled on the cable and Apocalymon was forced to fall forward. Clicking his heels again, the blades on his boots sheathed back in. Saji walked over to the body and kicked in to roll over, having Apocalymon's face looking at his. "I want you to know this before you die. You will not die at the hands of Saji." He reached for his mask and removed it from his face, showing the face of Taichi Kamiya, "But at the hands of me." He slammed his knee on Apocalymon's chest and with that, he grabbed for his throat and began to squeeze.

Apocalymon kicked and struggled for air, but the anger in Tai prevented that. Tai continued to squeeze with all his might, wringing the life out of his enemy. This was the brutal side of Tai, but he didn't care, if this brings the end of Apocalymon, then so be it. With the remaining force leftin him, Tai gave one last push and Apocalymon finally ceased struggling.

It was over.

It was done.

It was finished.

Apocalymon was defeated.

"The police are on their way." Matt said. He looked over to Sora and saw that she was wlaking over to Tai, who had now put his mask back on.

"Tai?" Sora tried to get his attention, "Tai, I know you can hear me."

"Of course I can hear you." Saji rpelied, "But do you honestly think I would forget what happened several hours ago?"

"Tai, I'm..."

"Its Saji."Saji interrupted, "My name is Saji."

"Tai."Sora chose not to be corrected. This was the name she knew, "I'm so sorry."

"You think apologizing will make this all better?!" Saji raised his voice, "You think apologizing will make me forget that you almost had me killed?"

"Tai, please."

"Be gone." Saji looked away from Sora, "You have lost my respect. From here on forth, I will not be protecting you."

From afar, the sound of sirens grew louder and louder. "They're here." Matt said, "Come on Sora."

The sirens were at their loudest. They arrived at the warehouse and the police broke inside. They ran over to Matt and Sora. "Are you two alright?"

"Yes, we're fine." Matt answered.

"Good god, look at this." The police looked at the large amount of dead bodies that were lying on the floor, "Youthink it was him?"

"Who else?" Another answered, "No one else I knop could do that."

"Come on kids, let's get you home." The police said, "Your parents will be glad that you're both safe."

The two teenagers were led outside by the police and taken to the police cars for a ride home. Matt got inside the car, but Sora did go in yet. She was still thinking about him. The rain began to come and Sora was getting splattered little by little from the drops.

From the top of the warehouse, the caped figure of the clown stood in the rain. He held a large cape in his hand that had a helmet to it. As the lightning cracked, it gave off a shadow of Saji down on Sora. She looked up and saw Saji standing on the roof.

"Look, on the roof." The police got a view of Saji as he stood there.

From here on forth, I will not be protecting you. Those words echoed in Sora's mind as she stared at Saji in the night sky.

Saji looked down at the cape that he held. The helmet that was attached to the cape wasn't some ordinary helmet, it was the mask that covered the face of his greatest foe, Apocalymon. With his hand and his hand alone, he crushed the mask and let the pieces fall on the ground. He thrusted his hand up and held the cape high up to the sky, showing his trophy.

He gave out a large laugh, but not just any laugh. This was laugh of a clown, or the clown. Instead, it was the laugh of The Dark Jester.

This laugh echoed through the night, signifying the greatest victory of the Clown. The victory of The Dark Jester.

The End

That concludes the first book of The Dark Jester. The next story will be up in time, but don't expect it for another few months. Anyways, please review.