Hey everyone, sorry about taking so long with this.

Things haven't been going great at my school, and if any of you are curious as to why, its because I go to York University. If you guys have been keeping up to date with the world, you would have known about the strike and how its been giving us students tons of work when it ended. But now the load has lightened and I can get back to work.

Well, now that the plot is moving forward, let's finally bring Saji back.

Blood Rose looked around the colorless beach. This place was definitely new to him, he had never seen any place like this before.

"Where am I?" Blood Rose asked himself, "Hello!?" No one answered, so he tried again. "HELLO!?" Blood Rose decided to walk along the beach, hopefully he might find something, or someone that could help him with his situation. "What is this place? No color, its kinda creepy." He then stopped when he noticed that up ahead, there was a lighthouse. But the light that was coming from the lighthouse was no ordinary light, it was as if the lighthouse was emitting shadow instead of light. "Ok, now that's creepy. Maybe there might be someone there."

While Blood Rose began to walk towards the lighthouse, behind him, small puddles of darkness began to form and trail behind him.

Blood Rose stopped in his tracks, feeling like someone was following him. He turned around, but saw nothing. "Hello?" He called out to whoever it could be that was following him. "Anyone there?" He kept looking from side to side, but there was nothing, no one. "What the hell is going on here?" When he turned to continue walking, he came face to face with a shadow creature, which opened its jaws and roared at him. "What the..!" Blood Rose drew out his rapier and stabbed the creature right in the chest. "What the hell are you?"

Blood Rose turned around when he heard more roaring from behind. He was now surrounded by several more of these shadow beings.

"Looks like we have a new arrival." One of them hissed, "Maybe this one will be easier to take down."

"Maybe..."

Blood Rose looked around, they surrounded him from every direction, he had no chance of just running off. But then again, he could always teleport his way out. Blood Rose closed his eyes and focused his power on a location away from the center of attention. When he opened up, he was still in the same spot. "What?" Nothing happened. Was this place draining him of his ability? If that were the case, he'll have to rely only on his weapon if he planned on surviving. One of them charged at Blood Rose, but he avoided the strike. He swung his rapier at the monster and it disappeared after a slice through the torso. The monsters all jumped at him and one by one, they fell to Blood Rose's blade. Normally, he had a thing against killing people, but these things were clearly not 'people', they were exceptions to his rule. The fact they disappeared back into shadow was proof of that, Blood Rose was better off with them being an issue for him.

From the foot of the lighthouse, the black caped figure continued to watch the events unfolding with this new arrival. "Interesting, very interesting." From his view, this new person was doing very against the monster, but he knew that he wouldn't last long. He could tell by his fighting style that it won't be long before they overpower him. "Well, as they always say, 'The enemy of my enemy is also my friend.", unless they no longer say that." The figure proceeded to move towards the action.

Blood Rose continued to fight his way out of his situation, but these dark monsters continued to respawn. "My god, you guys are like dog shit, YOU'RE EVERYWHERE!"

While Blood Rose tended to his own set of monsters, the black figure walked towards him, cutting down the monsters that charged at him. All he needed to do was slice at them once with his sword with no effort whatsoever. As one of them approached the caped figure, he grabbed its head and dragged it along as he slashed at the others that spotted his presence. When he got fed up with carrying the extra weight, he brought his sword to the monster's neck and sliced it right off, bringing the monster to fade away into shadow.

"Look, he's here." One of the creatures said, looking towards the approaching enemy. "Fall back."

On cue, all the shadow creatures faded into their own shadow, until even their shadow faded away. Blood Rose looked around, wondering where they were all going, wondering if this was a trick, and they were just waiting for him to drop his guard. He then spotted the caped figure, the one that forced the monsters to retreat. The figure covered most of his body with his cape, but what Blood Rose could clearly see was the mask he wore. The mask looked as though it was something a person could get at a circus. The mix of black and white with red eyes seemed to match the attire this caped person wore.

"Who the hell are you?" Blood kept his weapon up, ready in case this newcomer did anything funny.

"I could ask you the same question as well." The dark caped figure responded. "Its not common to find a newcomer in the Dark Ocean."

"The Dark Ocean?"

"Yes, this is the Dark Ocean." He answered, "And don't get too comfortable, for that word doesn't exist out here."

"Dark Ocean, dark clown. I think I can make the connection." Blood Rose charged at the clown.

The two clashed in a fight with blades, constantly going back and forth on the beach, neither of them backing down.

"Well, some friend you turned out to be. You really think you can kill me?" The clown asked, "I've fought and killed these monsters for years, I doubt this year will be any different. I doubt you'll be any different."

"Shut up, freak."

Blood Rose charged at his enemy, striking at him with the swing of his rapier, but the clown deflected each blow with his own swords. The clown lunged forward for a stab, but Blood Rose sidestepped to the left to avoid it, blocking the sword with his rapier in the process. He then moved forward, sliding his blade against the clown's, moving towards the head. The blade made contact, but instead of going for the throat as Blood Rose had intended, it went slicing across the face, or in this case, the mask. The clown pushed Blood Rose back, at the moment the blade left the mask.

"Not bad." The clown said. He touched his mask, running his finger along the slash across the face, which went from the left cheek location to the right temple. "But that's going to cost you."

He ran forward, drawing out a second blade. He swung his two swords, spinning as he did. Blood Rose dodged and deflected the swords as they came at him, but he wasn't doing too well. The clown finally landed a strike right at Blood Rose's right arm, directly at the bicep. Blood Rose grabbed the wound, unsuccessfully trying to stop the bleeding. "What's going on? Why am I not healing?" This dark world must be affecting all his powers, not just his teleportation. Looks like he'll have to manage like an ordinary human being in here. Ignoring the wound, Blood Rose carried on with the fight. The fight carried them across the beach and towards a cave on the rock face, near the lighthouse. Although his focus was on the fight, he couldn't help but notice that this cave was lit with torches, was if somebody was living in this cave. Blood Rose blackflipped away from the clowns attempt to scissor his head off and leaped forward for a stab. The clown threw up his cape and caught the rapier with it. He then threw his cape to the side, yanking the blade off of Blood Rose's hand. This didn't stop Blood Rose, he knew how to fight against armed opponents when he didn't have his sword, although he did have his powers to help him out a little bit. As the clown moved towards him to strike, Blood Rose ducked under him, tackling the legs and sending the clown on his back. Blood Rose ran for his rapier and aimed the tip at the clown.

"You have talent to last this long against me." The clown said. "And you still have the nerve to keep fighting."

"Well, I don't kill you, what does that leave me?" Blood Rose asked. He swung his sword at the clown, but it was blocked by the clown's own sword. "I've already had my share of freaks, I don't need you to make it worse."

The two stood in place, fighting with force to overpower the other with their blade.

"I'll say it only once." The clown said, "Freak is a derogatory term for me. Either you call me a fool..." He put his force into a push, forcing Blood Rose back. "...a clown..." He went for a stab, but Blood Rose flipped away from it, moving further into the cave. "...or a Jester!" He ran at Blood Rose, swinging both his swords in a horizontal motion, like a charging army of scissors were coming towards the crimson knight. Blood Rose backflipped his way to avoiding the blades, but he knew it wouldn't last, it would wear him out. Blood Rose timed his coming backflip, and when the moment came, he put in more force into his arms, pushing him up to have his feet touch the ceiling of the cave. With the momentum, Blood Rose pushed himself off the ceiling and landed right behind the clown. Blood Rose slashed at his back, but only managed to get his cape, leaving a large slashed hole in it. The clown retaliated by throwing his sword at Blood Rose, but he hit it back, sending it further into the cave.

"Impressive." The clown said.

"You got anymore tricks?" Blood Rose taunted.

"I have plenty." He ran at Blood Rose, but instead of bringing his sword up to strike, he grabbed the feather from his hat. He then swiped it across Blood Rose's neck, and as if ran along his skin, it cut into it. Blood Rose grabbed the side of his neck, realizing that the feather was just as dangerous as any weapon the clown had. "Deception, can't be a jester without it."

"God dammit." Blood Rose looked at his hand, sure enough his neck was bleeding, but at least it wasn't serious. Blood Rose charged at the clown, rapier forward. The clown grabbed his sword arm and threw him over his shoulder. Blood Rose landed hard on his back, but got up as quickly as he could. The clown walked towards him, picking up the sword that he threw earlier. The two raised their swords and slashed at each other, but none made any progress in gaining the upperhand. The two found themselves in another sword lock, struggling for dominance. After some time of struggling, Blood Rose ended it by headbutting the clown, forcing him back. The two panted heavily as they stared each other down, waiting for the other to strike first. The duel had carried them to what seemed to be the end of the cave, clearly evident by the dead-end wall. The black-clad swordsman suddenly lowered his guard after noticing something on Blood Rose.

"Your...your sword."

"What about it?" Blood Rose asked, still keeping his rapier held up.

"The design on the hilt resembles the one on the wall behind you." He pointed out. Blood Rose turned his attention to the wall and realized that this clown faced person was telling the truth. The clown sheathed one of his swords back in its scabbard. "Who are you, why are you here, and more importantly, how did you get here?"

"I was brought here from some shadow portal created by a monster named Havik." Blood Rose answered, "When the shadow consumed me, I blacked out. When I came to, I found myself here."

"Havik you say? Then we may share a common enemy." The clown sheathed his other sword, "I've been hiding from these monsters that serve someone named Havik. Although I've never seen him in person, I can assume he is the same Havik that brought you here."

"Maybe." Blood Rose said. He turned his attention back to the wall, "What is this anyways?"

"It was just something I carved out." He answered, "Recently, I've been receiving these strange dreams and all of them had that rose. I believed that it may have been a sign for something, and on the day I finish it, you appear. It cannot be mere coincidence. Perhaps you've been sent here to free me."

"Free you?"

"I'm sorry, perhaps I should properly introduce myself. My name is Saji, The Dark Jester." Saji made a small bow in respect, "But, reality-wise..." Saji took his feathered hat off and then removed his mask to reveal a human face underneath. "My name's Taichi Kamiya, and I've been trapped here for way too long."

"Ah.." Takato grabbed his shoulder, the same shoulder where the wound was.

"Oh, here, sit down." Tai helped Takato sit down on the ground. "Let's take a look at that."

Somewhere within this dark world, Havik had found his way inside. As he stood alone in what appeared to be an open field, shadow pools formed around him and the same shadow monsters came out from within the pools.

"Master..." They all hissed.

"The news you tell me better be good." Havik said, "What have you done with Blood Rose?"

"He still lives." One of them said.

Havik said nothing. Instead, he took up his morning star and smashed it at the creature, killing it. "You failed me?"

"What could we have done?" Another asked, "Saji appeared."

"Saji? The clown?" Havik asked, "You mean to say that he is still alive?!" Now completely enraged, Havik attacked all his minions, killing them with one blow from his weapon. Once his rage subsided, only one shadow creature was left. "Go tell the rest of your pathetic race, Blood Rose and Saji will die. If you can't kill them, then I will kill you and your race." With that, Havik opened up a portal and walked into it, leaving the dark world.

"There you go." Tai finished tying a knot with the makeshift bandage wrap he made with his cape. The wrap was put over the wound that he given Takato, the least he could do was tend the wound. He had already tended to the one he made on Takato's neck, which wasn't as harmful as the shoulder wound.

"So you're the Dark Jester I've heard about on the news." Takato said, "I always wondered what happened to you."

"Well, I guess you can tell, I've been trapped here." Tai said. "I'm just lucky that all this hasn't made me crazy."

Takato took this time actually take a good look at this person. He looked as though he was around his late 30s, maybe even in his 40s. His clothes were ripped, the edge of his cape was ripped, there were holes in his clothes, the only thing that seemed to be in good condition was the mask he wore, save for the slash he put on it.

"I've been trapped here, kept away from home, from everybody that I love." Tai said, "I can't believe that I've been trapped here for almost two decades."

"Whoa, hold on. Two decades?" Takato asked, "Dude, the news has been saying you were missing for no more than two years."

"What? Just two years?" Tai asked, "That can't be right. I know how long I was in here, and I'm damn sure that it was a lot longer than just two years."

"Well, if you're telling the truth, how is time here flowing differently than in the real world?"

Tai took the tie to think that question over, until he got an answer after several seconds of thinking. "It's not the first time I've seen something like this. The Digital World was no different." Tai said, "I remember when I first ended up there; while I thought days, maybe even weeks went by, it wasn't even an hour in the real world. If you're serious about this, then maybe Sora's still waiting for me."

"Sora? You...have someone back home waiting for you?" Takato asked.

"At least, I think she's still waiting for me." Tai said. "She was all I could think about, she's the reason why I keep living on. I keep hoping that I'll get out of this place and see her someday."

"Well, you will." Takato said. With his wound wrapped up, he put his shirt back on. "If your dreams are meant to say that I'm supposed to get you out of here, then that's what I'll do."

"Really? That's great." Tai's face brightened up. "Well, um....that's great and all, but how do you plan to get us out of here?"

"How do I know?" Takato asked, "You're the one with the dreams, I assumed you would know."

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it.

I don't really have a reason as to why I made Tai feel like he was trapped in the Dark Ocean for almost 20 years, when in reality it was only 2. I guess my only reason is that I wanted you all to understand the torture he had to endure all this time. Pretty much the same torture you guys went through while waiting for me to update this.

Well, I want the plot of this story to move and not lag behind with redundancy, so I'll be sure to have them out of the Dark Ocean and into the real world by the end of the next chapter.

Please leave me reviews. Its been a while since I got one.