Well, now that Tai's back home, he's gonna have to readjust to his old life.

Be prepared for some good funny moments between these two heroes. I took a lot of time to make this chapter work.

Enjoy :)

"I'm finally back." Tai looked around himself, looking at the surrounding. Despite being night time, Tai could see the colors of the place, the presence of colors brought tears to Tai's eyes.

Takato recognized the place as the area he was before being taken to the Dark Ocean, it was the junkyard that he fought Havik. It was as if he never left; he could hear the sound of the criminals that he had previously subdued and the faint ringing of the police sirens in the distance. Takato looked over to Tai, and it was then that he noticed something. "You've changed."

"What?" Tai asked. "What's changed about me?"

Takato pointed to Tai's face. "You suddenly look younger. You look less than a few years older than me." The age lines on Tai's face, the ones that would've made him seem like a man of 30 or 40 had now disappeared. wrinkles on his face were now gone, leaving behind a young face.

"I...I guess my body changed back to the way it should be according to this year." Tai said. He couldn't exactly see how he looked, he hasn't seen his own reflection ever since he ended up in the Dark Ocean. The water from the beach did no good in giving him a clear reflection. Nothing looks clear in darkness. "Maybe Izzy can explain it to me."

"Who's Izzy?"

"My tech guy."

"You have a tech guy?"

"Don't you?"

Takato paused briefly. "No."

"Well, I do recommend you get one." Tai said. "Really comes in handy." Tai looked up to the sky. This was the first time in a long time he loved to see the night sky. the stars made this darkness feel beautiful, nothing like the darkness of the beach he was trapped in. Takato took it a deep breath to breathe in the fresh air of the real world, but instead of fresh air, a strange stinging smell went up his nostrils. It definitely wasn't the smell of trash, and it was coming from Tai. "Oh dude, you reek."

"What?" Tai looked at him in question. Tai lifted his arms and sniffed his armpits, his eyes widened from discovery of his odor. "Oh, shit." Tai quickly threw his arms down. "I really to wash up, I'll see you later." Tai turned to leave the junkyard

"Wait." Takato quickly stopped him. "Why don't you stay at my place? Take the time to clean up and get some food."

Tai stopped walking. He turned around to face Takato. "You sure? Cause I can just find a hotel to stay at for the night before I go back to Odaiba."

Takato walked up to Tai. "I don't think so. First, you have no money for a hotel. And second, Odaiba's a long way from Shinjuko." Takato put a hand on Tai's shoulder. "This'll be quick." Takato closed his eyes and concentrating, the two suddenly disappeared from the junkyard, and just in time; once they had left the scene, the police had just arrived.

When Tai regained his composure, he found himself indoors. He looked around the place and saw that it wasn't the junkyard.

"Welcome to my place." Takato said with a smile. "You're probably hungry, so help yourself to anything in my kitchen." Takato pointed to where the kitchen was located. "You'll also probably want a change of clothes. I'll go shopping for some."

Tai removed his hat and cape and dropped them on the floor, where he left the mask. He walked over to the sofa and slumped on it.

Takato looked at the cape and hat in disgust. "Uh, try not to make a mess while I'm gone." Takato picked up the cape, hat, and mask and put them in the broom closet and put them at the top shelf. "I'll just leave these up here." Takato went to his room and quickly got changed into some casual clothes and threw his costume on his bed. He could put them away later. Takato left his room and went out the front door. "Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can."

When Takato left, Tai looked around the place. "Some food actually sounds nice." Tai went to the kitchen and looked around the place for something to eat. Heck, considering what he's been living off of, he grabbed anything that was edible.

Takato unlocked his door and opened up. He carried a large bag that had several articles of clothing, including shirts, pants, and even some underwear. Upon entering the apartment, he was hit with a strong and horrible stench. "What the hell happened here?!" Takato looked at the state of his apartment. Food was all over the place, empty cans of pop were lying on the tables and floors, and scraps of leftovers were everywhere. It appeared as though Takato had a party in this place, but the only person who was here and snacking on all of this was Tai. While Takato was standing, distressed by the state of his place, Tai was slouching on the sofa with a bag of chips to his right, and a can of pop in his left hand. He had removed the rest o his clothing, being left in nothing but his underwear.

"Dude...where does it all go?" Takato asked. "You've practically eaten a week's worth of food in less than an hour."

Tai looked around the place. "Huh, would you look at that." Which was all he could say. "Well, having eaten nothing but fish and some unknown berries, I'd eat anything."

Knock knock

"Takato?"

"Crap!" Takato looked over to the door, he recognized the voice as Rika's. "Uh...." He looked around the place, no way in hell would he be able to clean this up in time. "Give me a minute!" Takato kicked some trash off the floor as he made a path to the door. He opened the door, but only enough so that Rika couldn't see inside. "Hi."

"Is...something wrong?" Rika asked.

"No. Nothing's wrong." Takato said, "Just need to do some cleaning."

"Well, why don't I help?" Rika let herself in the door.

"Rika wait." When Takato turned to stop Rika, she had already seen the state of the place. "Maybe today was a bad time for you to drop in."

"What the hell happened here?" Rika asked. "Did you have a party here?" Rika walked around the apartment, trying to avoid stepping on any trash that was on the floor. Even the furniture seened ti dirty for Rika to put her bag. When she entered the living room, she was greeted by Tai, who was slouched on the sofa with the TV on. "Who the hell is this?"

Tai wasn't exactly paying attention, it was all focused on the television program. "OH, COME ON!!! TENDOU, DON'T BE A DICK! KAGAMI'S JUST TRYING TO HELP!!!" Apparently, Tai has gotten the Kamen Rider fever and was into the show as much as Takato and Rika.

"Uh..." Takato rubbed the back of his head. "That's Tai. Believe it or not, he's the Dark Jester."

"What?"

"Sup." Tai said, raising a hand.

"You've got to be kidding me." Rika said. "He's nothing like the Dark Jester I've heard on the news." Rika turned back to Takato. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"What, no. It really is him, look." Takato went to the broom closet next to the front door and pulled out Tai's Dark Jester costume. "Here's his mask."

Rika took the mask and gently moved her hands around the mask. "Oh my god... So it really is him." Rika looked back to Tai. "Where have you been this whole time?" She still found it hard to believe that this was the Dark Jester. Maybe it was because of his appearance at the moment, the lazy couch potato appearance made the image of a nighttime vigilante rather impossible to see.

Tai first responded with a fairly loud belch. "Trapped. I was trapped in a dark place for...how long did you say?" Tai looked over to Takato.

"Two years." Takato answered, while he proceeded to clean up the large mess in his home. "Wait a minute..." Takato picked up a glass bottle and brought his nose to the top to smell it. "Where the hell did you get beer?"

"The guy next door." Tai said, pointing to the wall where the neighbor's room was. "Nice guy."

"I hate him." Takato said. "He keeps me up with all night with loud sex."

"He just has his own ways of expressing his love for the lucky lady." Tai said.

"He's never had a woman at his place before."

"Then how did he..." Tai took the time to think that over. "Oh..."

"Yeah, that's why its more annoying than it should be." Takato said. "Look Tai, if you plan to stay here, you're gonna have to clean up the place." Takato looked around the place some more, then something caught his eye, it wasn't alcohol, but it still caught his attention. "Hey." Takato picked up an empty bag of BBQ potatoe chips. "This was my bag of chips. I love BBQ!" Takato looked around some more to see if Tai got to anything else that was meant to for him. Takato then picked up a small jar, it was empty, but what the label said made him a little concerned. "Tai, why's the jar of wasabi empty? I bought it last week and never touched it."

Tai looked over to see the jar. "It gave the chips a nice kick."

Takato looked away from Tai in disgust and looked back to Rika. "Sorry, but tonight isn't a good time for me. I'll call you later tonight."

"Alright." Rika smiled. "And maybe the next time I come back here, it smells a little more nice." Rika walked to the front door and exited the apartment.

Takato leaned his head at the door after closing it, sighing deeply. "Not what I had in mind." Takato then noticed the familiar stench. "And dude, SHOWER!!"

Tai ran his hand through his hair as the hot water soaked him. He hasn't felt the good feeling of warm water for so long, he forgot how great it was. The dried blood on his skin had already washed off, whatever dirt he had in his hair and on his skin had left his body and fell into the drain. Tai had already gotten his hair clean with the shampoo and his skin cleaned with the soap, but the soothing feeling of the water was what he wanted right now, he simply stood under the shower letting it soak him from head to toe as he closed his eyes, falling into a comforting trance. After washing himself off for a decent amount of time, Tai turned off the water, leaving the steam to keep him warm. He came out of the shower and grabbed the towel that was hanging on the rack. He placed it on his head and dried his hair off, slowly moving from the head and going down until his feet were dried.

Having cleaned himself in the shower, he felt different, better. The feeling of being clean was something he didn't think he'd ever feel. He turned towards the mirror in the washroom. He wiped the fog away from the mirror, giving himself a reflection to look at. He moved all his hair off his face to get a good look at himself; he looked exactly the same as he did before he was trapped, before he was taken from Sora. But the one thing that changed was his hair; apparently, the Dark Ocean didn't give him back the hair he used to have. His hair had grown out past his shoulders, that needed to go. His facial hair also had to disappear, he was never a fan of a beard or even a stubble. He looked to the table next to the sink. Takato had also bought some bathroom supplies for him. Apparently, Takato saw that Tai wouldn't want his facial hair so he bought a razor and some shaving cream. A pair of scissors were already waiting for him along with everything else, so he didn't need to leave the bathroom.

Takato had just finished cleaning up his apartment, putting all the trash into a large garbage bag and leaving it outside his apartment. "I'll put that away later." Grabbing the can of air freshener and began to spray it around the apartment, eliminating the stench that Tai had left from his mess. After a minute or two of spraying, the stench had finally faded and the smell of a fresh spring morning filled the place.

Right after Takato sat down on his couch, resting from the cleaning, the bathroom door opened. Tai came out with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Huh, you clean up pretty well." Takato said, looking at how much younger Tai had now looked after losing the excess hair.

Tai rubbed his hand under his chin, admiring the smooth skin. "You think so? Well, that's good to hear." Tai grabbed the bag that had the clothes Takato bought for him. He looked through the contents, impressed by Takato's taste of fashion. "Oh, and you got me underwear. How sweet."

"Eh, I got a thing against going commando." Takato said. "I did you a favor." He pointed to the direction of his bedroom. "You can change in there."

Tai took the clothes and went into the bedroom as Takato said. Taking the clothes out of the bag and setting them on the bed, Tai removed his towel.

Some time passed by and Tai was looking at himself in the mirror with his new clothes on. Tai admired the style Takato picked out, but he admired it more with the way it looked on him. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans that had a natural fit to it; not too baggy, but not to tight to constrict his extremities. He had a pair of black Nike running shoes that blended well with the dark color of his jeans. Tai also wore a black leather bikers jacket with the zipper going up the middle, with a gray t-shirt underneath that had a unique design at the front. Because of the design, Tai had left the jacket unzipped. Along with the clothes, Tai also had a decent watch strapped around his left wrist and a small chain around his neck.

Tai left the bedroom now dressed in his new clothes. He went to the closet and grabbed his Dark Jester outfit, mask and all. "Whoa, Tai where are you going?" Takato asked.

"What does it look like? I'm going back home." Tai said. "I've got family waiting for me, friends, and...Sora." The very mention of her name had him thinking back to her. He needed to go back, he had to see her again. "I need to go back home."

"Well, if you're that desperate." Takato got up from the couch. "I guess this is good-bye." Takato offered his hand. "It was great to meet you. And it was great to finally meet the Dark Jester face to face."

Tai smiled and shook his hand. "It was good to meet you too."

"Here, let me give you a bag." Takato went to the closet and grabbed a small backpack from the bottom and offer it to Tai. "So, you don't have to carry your costume around out in the open."

Tai took the bag and put the Dark Jester outfit inside, zipping it closed. "Thanks, Takato. I hope we see each other again. And maybe we can meet under different circumstances." Tai walked to the front door and opened it. He looked back to Takato one last time before leaving the apartment. Takato closed the door and locked it. Somehow, Takato had the feeling that this was definitely not going to be the last time they see each other.

By this time, it was now dark and Takato was sitting alone in his apartment watching TV. The program suddenly changed to a news report.

"We interrupt this program to bring you a terrifying report."

The TV screen changed to a video of the front of a bank and several police cars around it. A news reporter stood in front of the camera.

"We are standing just outside the National Bank just downtown." The reporter said. "There is a robbery taking place right inside. Police have reported that there are a total of eight shooters inside and over twenty hostages trapped inside." A sudden sound of gunfire erupted inside the bank.

Takato immediately stood up from sit seat. "Oh great." Takato turned off the TV and went to his room, where he had left his Blood Rose outfit and his Rose weapon. Eight shooters and more than twenty hostages; this was going to be a challenge for him. Finishing his outfit with his mask, Blood Rose looked out the window. The bank was pretty far, so simply teleporting there was not an option. The least he could do was teleport somewhere far from his apartment so no one would see him coming out of this balcony. Focusing on the distant alleyway down below, Blood Rose disappeared from his balcony and reappeared right at the alley.

Tai was on his way to the train station. He had previously stopped by there to find when the next train to Odaiba was leaving and after finding the time, he left to pass the time. While he was on his way to the station, he suddenly heard the sound of sirens. "Huh?" Tai saw two police cars rushing through the street with their sirens and lights blaring. "What was that about?" While he was walking by some people at a bus stop, he overheard a conversation.

"Did you hear what's happening at the bank?"

"Yeah, I have it on my ipod."

Tai stopped to see what this was about. Without any of them noticing, Tai leaned over looked at what was on the ipod screen.

"We are standing just outside the National Bank just downtown." The reporter said. "There is a robbery taking place right inside. Police have reported that there are a total of eight shooters inside and over twenty hostages trapped inside." A sudden sound of gunfire erupted inside the bank.

Tai reacted with surprise. A bank robbery? Tai looked at his watch; he couldn't just ignore a call for help, but if he went, he was going to miss his train. "God dammit." Tai ran in the direction of where the bank was. The sound of the sirens was enough help to locate where the bank was. He stopped right at the corner of the bank and saw that it was indeed a big issue. He backed away into the nearby alley, pulling his bag out and grabbing his costume.

Once he was clad in his Jester gear, Saji now stood at the roof of the building across the street from the bank. "Time to do some good once more."

Well, that took a while to update.

Sorry it took so long to get this new chapter up, but...hey, its up. I hope you liked it.

Please be sure to review.